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South Korea on Wednesday banned its financial institutions from dealing in virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency soars in a bubble fuelled by retail speculators, many of them from the country. The hyper-wired country has emerged as a hotbed for cryptocurrency trading, accounting for some 20 percent of global Bitcoin transactions -- about 10 times its share of the world economy. About one million South Koreans, many of them small-time investors, are estimated to own Bitcoins, and demand is so high that prices for the unit are around 20 percent higher than in the US, its biggest market. World Bitcoin prices have surged globally this year, soaring from less than $1,000 in January to $17,000 this week. And at the weekend futures trading in the digital currency started on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the first time it has appeared on a traditional platform. It is also expected to list on the rival Chicago Mercantile Exchange next week. The Prime Minister's Office said Seoul would ban financial institutions from dealing in virtual currencies -- including buying, possessing, or holding them as collateral. Prices on Bithumb, South Korea's biggest Bitcoin exchange, fell nearly five percent after the announcement. But the measures fell short of speculation that authorities might ban Bitcoin trading in South Korea altogether, or tax profits from it. Nonetheless initial coin offerings (ICOs) -- where companies sell newly invented cryptocurrencies to investors for real money -- will be outlawed, the Prime Minister's Office said in a press statement.
Emirates Stadium played host to The Arsenal Foundation Ball on Wednesday night, with the Club's annual charity fundraiser raising more than £300,000 to help transform the lives of even more young people in the UK and overseas. Hosted by popular comedian and Arsenal fan Matt Lucas, and attended by Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal first-team squad and a host of Club legends, the night proved to be a spectacular occasion fusing fundraising and entertainment. All money raised on the night will help The Arsenal Foundation support more education and sport projects both locally and globally, including those of the Club's global charity partner, Save the Children. The night got underway with Wenger welcoming assembled guests before introducing a video highlighting the work of The Arsenal Foundation over the past year and announcing four new ambassadors - Liam Brady, Martin Keown, Robert Pires and Bob Wilson. They will share their vast knowledge and presence as the Foundation looks to extend its work further and deeper in the future. To celebrate Bob's new role as an ambassador, the Club also announced a new three-year partnership with the Arsenal legend's charity, Willow Foundation, which provides special days for seriously ill young adults. Speaking about the partnership, Bob said: "Having been involved with Arsenal for more than 50 years, first as a player, then coach and subsequently with my charity, it's a huge honour to be chosen as an ambassador for The Arsenal Foundation. Formalising my role at Arsenal means I can look forward to many more happy years with the Club, which is so close to my heart. And for Willow Foundation to become an official charity partner is an enormous boost for the charity, with a host of exciting opportunities over the next three years." Star of the X Factor, Jahmene Douglas and The Voice's Tyler James then wowed guests with live performances before the players and guests got stuck into the live and silent auctions. A number of money-can't-buy items were on offer throughout the evening and the players were keen to get involved. Jack WIlshere successfully bid £5,000 for a shirt, signed by members of the famous 'Invincibles' squad and also picked up a replica 1971 goalkeeping jersey, signed by Wilson. Wojciech Szczesny, meanwhile, bid £2,000 for a framed and signed pair of running spikes from Arsenal fan and Olympic hero Mo Farah, while Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott entered a bidding war for a game of fourballs at Gleneagles - home to the 2014 Ryder Cup. The Welshman eventually prevailed with a winning bid of £1,000. To wrap up the evening, the Club launched an emergency appeal for Save the Children, which will enable children affected by the crisis in Syria to regain a sense of normality by providing temporary learning spaces to help them continue their education in a safe environment. The entire first-team squad showed incredible generosity to donate £75,000 towards the appeal, with Arsene Wenger personally giving a further £25,000. An extra £15,000 worth of donations from guests means that Save the Children will benefit from a total of £115,000 towards its critical emergency work in Syria. For more details about the work of The Arsenal Foundation, click here.
Firefighters were censored from telling Morwell residents that they were exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution during the Hazelwood mine fire, new evidence to the fire's inquiry claims. Health authorities also raised the safe level of air pollution for residents in Morwell without having the new guidelines peer reviewed and still chose not to evacuate after receiving data suggesting the higher threshold had been breached. Firefighters attend the Hazelwood mine fire. Credit:Jason South Fire reached the Hazelwood coalmine on February 9 and shrouded Morwell and district in thick smoke and ash for weeks. In a new submission to the Morwell mine fire inquiry a MFB firefighter with 12 years' experience says he was ordered not to discuss high levels of pollution in the town during the fire.
A recent Politifact fact check found that California Senator Kamala Harris’ statements arguing that it costs $33,000 a year nationally to incarcerate an inmate are in fact correct. Harris told the incarcerated women’s advocacy group Women Unshackled in Washington D.C. in July that it costs $75,000 a year to lock up an inmate in California. “Let’s look at the fact that there is an issue around how much we are paying — and again, this gets back to the economic cost — it costs us about $33,000 a year to lock somebody up. In California it costs about $75,000 a year,” Harris told the forum. RELATED: Republican Senator Rand Paul and Democrat Kamala Harris are teaming up to seek bail reform Harris, a Democrat, recently teamed up with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on bipartisan bail reform legislation to prevent accused minors from sitting in jail for their offenses if they can’t afford bail. An op-ed written by the senators targets the current “discriminatory and wasteful” bail system and its crippling effects on young offenders. “Our justice system was designed with a promise: to treat all people equally,” the op-ed reads. “Yet, that doesn’t happen for many of the 450,000 Americans who sit in jail today awaiting trial because they cannot afford to pay bail.” The Senators argue that an accused’s jail time is often determined by their economic status or available connections. Senators Rand Paul and Kamala Harris talk about how they’ve come together to work on criminal justice reform https://t.co/qhM0OElsZI — The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) July 25, 2017 “Whether someone stays in jail or not is far too often determined by wealth or social connections, even though just a few days behind bars can cost people their job, home, custody of their children — or their life.” Harris and Paul argue that bail reform could potentially save American taxpayers “roughly $78 billion a year.” Politifact analyzed Harris’ figures and other reports and found her statistics to be correct. “We interpreted Harris’s claim about per inmate expenses to mean the operational costs to house male and female inmates, including security, health care, facility upkeep and employee compensation,” Politifact said. “Advocates for criminal justice reform often argue that just looking at the operational costs of running prisons ignores the social costs of incarcerating Americans.” “We looked at those costs as well, but based our rating primarily on the evidence supporting the numbers Harris cited in her Women Unshackled appearance.” RELATED: Congress can get rid of a lot of unconstitutional mass surveillance by doing nothing at all A Vera Institute report examined the cost to house inmates at prisons nationwide. Data from 45 states found the total cost per inmate to be approximately $33,274 a year. Additionally, a June 2017 article by the Associated Press estimates that it costs the state of California $75,560 per fiscal year to house an inmate. This number comes from funds Governor Jerry Brown set aside in the 2017 budget California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. “Sen. Kamala Harris recently claimed ‘it costs us about $33,000 a year’ (nationally) to lock somebody up’ … ‘In California it costs about $75,000 a year.’ A recent study that examined costs in 45 states plus data from California’s departments of corrections and finance support the senator’s statement. The evidence supports the figures she cited. We rate Harris’ claim True,” Politifact concluded.
AUSTRALIAN authorities announced on Thursday plans to combat terrorism and crime through the use of facial recognition technology and data sharing frameworks between several governmental agencies, in a move that has led an outcry from rights groups. Several government agencies signed an intergovernmental agreement on what is known as the National Facial Biometric Matching Capability, a platform that will allow law enforcement agencies to rely on “passport, visa, citizenship and driver license images” to identify potential threats and terrorists. “Close cooperation and interoperability between Commonwealth and state agencies is critical to Australia’s ability to counter terrorism,” said the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), an intergovernmental forum that includes ministers from the federal, territorial and local levels, in a statement on its website. “[The Capability] will help to protect Australians by making it easier for security and law enforcement agencies to identify people who are suspects or victims of terrorist or other criminal activity, and prevent the use of fake or stolen identities.” The new framework will open up a database containing drivers’ license photos that will form the backbone of a facial recognition database. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that the main goal of the formation of the network was to enable law enforcement officers to “keep Australians safe” from terrorist attacks. AUSTRALIA PROPOSES LAWS TO COMPEL TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES TO DISCLOSE ENCRYPTED MESSAGING Australia has been a target of a handful of terror attacks, including a foiled July attempt to blow up a plane departing from Sydney. According to an op-ed on ABC News, a total of five Australians have been the victims of domestic terrorism in the last twenty years. “More Australians have died at the hands of police (lawfully or unlawfully) in 10 years (50 at least from 2006 to 2015) or from domestic violence in just two years (more than 318 in 2014 and 2015) than from terrorist attacks in Australia in the last 20 years,” wrote Professor Greg Austin, an international security expert at the University of New South Wales, in The Conversation last year. Agreement was unanimous from leaders all across Australia’s states and territories, and if passed, the law could affect 19 million Australians aged 16-years and above. “Imagine the power of being able to identify, to be looking out for and identify a person suspected of being involved in terrorist activities, walking into an airport, walking into a sporting stadium,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters Wednesday, as reported by CNN. The announcement has attracted criticism from rights groups all over the country, many of whom said that the framework is in violation with the civil liberties of the Australian people. AUSTRALIANS PAY MORE FOR WORSE BROADBAND INTERNET – REPORT David Vaile, the chairman of Australian Privacy Foundation, told Tech Wire Asia that Australians were particularly vulnerable to such encroachments of their human rights as the country has no formal framework that allows citizens to hold government to account or sue them for infringements of their privacy. Vaile said that citizens in the US and Europe had provisions in their constitutions and laws that provided avenues of recourse for those who have found their privacy breached by governments or companies, however no such right is enshrined in Australia. Those laws in other countries act as limitations on the extraordinary powers police have, and have developed over decades of investigations into the importance of privacy. “[Those laws] are targeted and often based on getting a warrant from a judge,” he said. “One of the big question about [the new policy] is whether it creates a mass surveillance system that is untargeted, warrantless and suspicionless,” he said in a phone interview. He explained that many people were first happy to provide their information as drivers given the caveat that the information be used correctly, however authorities have slowly but surely been spreading the scope of such information. The data that is being shared across the new framework is not isolated to just the images of citizens, but is bundled with five other distinct programs that are cross-connected. “If you look at the agreement the COAG put out as the basis for the scheme, you’ll see automated face recognition capabilities, and allowing state information to federal, even when it’s been collected under a different law or purpose,” he said. AUSTRALIA TO PUSH FOR GREATER CONTROL OVER ENCRYPTED MESSAGING AT ‘FIVE EYES’ MEETING “The community does not yet understand the real implications of facial recognition technology and how fundamentally the way people can access public spaces like airports, sporting facilities and shopping centers will change,” said Angus Murray, vice president of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties, in a joint statement with advocacy group Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA). The COAG paper also noted that the laws are “not legally enforceable”, meaning that everyday people will not be able to hold anyone accountable for any potential breaches, whether they be from the government or businesses. Vaile went on to explain how the expansion of the surveillance powers of law enforcement could adversely affect ordinary, innocent people due to the nascence of facial recognition technology. He said that the technology might work well on a one-to-one basis (meaning that a program is trying to match identities based on a singular person) but that falls apart once the technology is applied on a mass scale. The results could be the arrest of innocent people who may be unfairly implicated through the poor development of the technology. “It’s still pixels at this point,” he said. Furthermore the implementation of such technology could prove to be a “honeypot” for everyone from law enforcement officials, who want access to the information, as well as hackers and identity thefts, and the framework in many ways reflects the naivete of a government that isn’t quite looking at the whole picture. The pooling of resources is resulting in a “data lake” that could become the target of many different hackers who want access to the information in that database. “Nobody can say ‘you cant trust me with this data’ anymore,” Vaile said, citing the views of the well-respected cryptographer, Bruce Schneier. “It’s almost impossible to keep out a motivated hacker.”
A bunch of the internet’s most-loved crafty blogs are joining forces this week to show our state pride. When I was invited to join this project, Illinois (where I live now), Michigan (where I went to college) and my home state of North Dakota were all up for grabs. I emailed the organizer of this state pride blog hop, Beckie from Infarrantly Creative, to check which state I should do, and she asked if I’d please rep the most under-repped state in the union, North Dakota. I was obviously delighted to oblige. The state before mine in the blog hop schedule was New Mexico at Positively Splendid, & you can check out the full 30-state tour here. North Dakota Nice North Dakota is an unusual place to be from, and it’s a place people really like to make fun of. What the North Dakota naysayers don’t realize is how nice everyone from North Dakota is! The friendly phenomenon even has a nickname, North Dakota nice, which means different things to different people. For me, though, it basically means that most people smile a lot in NoDak, they’re often non-confrontational, and you can have an hours long chat with a stranger at the grocery store without seeming anything but normal. There’s not much out there, even on Etsy, that represents North Dakota. So while I’m just sharing just a couple templates and printables, I hope this helps fill the empty void – even just a little – that is cute North Dakota-related designs. Click either image below for a full-size version to use however you like above and beyond today’s tutorial. (See? North Dakota people are nice.) Supplies North Dakota nice or putting the heart in heartland template computer printer iron transfer sheets plain fabric surface (t-shirt, tote bag, pillow cover, etc.) iron Directions Make sure your t-shirt/tote is clean, dry and ironed. Print out either the North Dakota Nice or putting the heart in heartland since 1889 template using special iron transfer sheets, and cut out the excess paper around the image. I formatted both templates specifically for iron transfer use: the PDFs are sized to the standard 8.5×11 inch sheet dimensions, and the images are flipped so the text will read correctly when ironed on. Make sure your iron is heated up to the settings recommended on the iron transfer package’s instructions. (My transfers required high heat, no steam, and no ironing board.) Center your image on your shirt, flip your image transfer colored-side down, and iron your transfer down, applying even pressure over the whole transfer. Let cool completely. In one steady motion, remove the backing from the image transfer. Again, you shouldn’t do this until your shirt has cooled. And that’s it! A super simple image transfer shirt. Next up in the blog hop is Kansas over at Skip to My Lou. If you want to share your best state pride project with the world, you should visit Infarrantly Creative on Monday the 23rd and to join Beckie’s state pride link party.
Transit takers lose trousers for 2016 annual No Pants BART Ride Ashleigh Plasterer reads a book during No Pants! Subway Ride 2016 in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, January 10, 2016. Ashleigh Plasterer reads a book during No Pants! Subway Ride 2016 in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, January 10, 2016. Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 110 Caption Close Transit takers lose trousers for 2016 annual No Pants BART Ride 1 / 110 Back to Gallery It might have been a cold 50 degrees in the Bay Area on Sunday afternoon, but that didn't stop groups of bold, bare BART riders from stepping onto the train without their pants. The No Pants BART ride, a tradition begun by New York's Improv Everywhere years ago, annually inspires denizens of cities across the world to ride public transit half-dressed, just because. "You do not know any of the other pantless riders," the event page wrote of how participants should behave if someone why they forgot a crucial part of their outfit. "If questioned, tell folks that you 'forgot to wear pants' and yes, you are 'a little cold.' Insist that it is a coincidence that others also forgot their pants." See the above slideshow to see some of this year's riders from all over the world.
Russian servicemen salute as air force pilots arrive to board a Russian Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter jet before departure on a mission at the Russian Hmeimim military base in Latakia province, in the northwest of Syria, on December 16, 2015 (AFP Photo/Paul Gypteau) Russia’s defence ministry denied Sunday that a Russian jet that intercepted a US Air Force plane earlier this week had acted unsafely, dismissing the Pentagon’s criticism. The Pentagon said Saturday that a Russian SU-27 had flown in an “unsafe and unprofessional” manner while intercepting a US Air Force reconnaissance plane above the Baltic Sea on April 14. “The entire flight of the Russian plane was conducted in strict compliance with international rules on the use of air space,” defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement. “There were no emergency situations.” Moscow said the SU-27 had been dispatched to identify an “aerial target travelling toward the Russian border at high speed.” The aircraft detected by Russia was an American RC-135 plane, which the Pentagon said was conducting a routine flight. When the RC-135 established visual contact with the Russian jet, the American plane “changed its flight route away from the Russian border,” Konashenkov said. Pentagon spokeswoman Laura Seal said Saturday that the US aircraft had “at no time crossed into Russian territory.” The incident came shortly after Russian aircraft repeatedly buzzed the USS Donald Cook this past week, including an incident Tuesday in which a Russian Su-24 flew 30 feet (nine meters) above the war ship in a “simulated attack profile,” according to the US military’s European Command. US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the warship flyby earlier this week, saying it was “dangerous” and could have lead to a shoot-down. Russia said that it had observed all safety regulations in its flights. Ties between Russia and the West have plunged to their post-Cold War nadir over Moscow’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Kiev and its support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Eric Lichaj and Nottingham Forest got the better of Jonathan Spector and Birmingham City on Tuesday, with Lichaj and Forest notching a 1-0 away win to move into a tie for seventh with the Blues in the English Championship standings. Both Lichaj and Spector went the full 90 for their respective clubs. Lichaj put in a solid performance at right back for the visitors, making some strong tackles and playing a major role in limiting opportunities for Birmingham. Things didn’t go as well for Spector, who saw Jamie Ward slip a pass by him to setup Dexter Blackstock’s 54th-minute goal. Danny Williams also suffered a defeat on Tuesday, with the USMNT midfielder coming on in the 63rd minute of Reading FC’s 1-0 home loss against Derby County. Reading went down a man in first-half stoppage time, when they lost Portuguese forward Orlando Sá to a straight red card. Derby took the lead shortly after Williams entered the match, with midfielder Thomas Ince bagging the winner in the 69th. All three players will be back in action this weekend, with Spector and Birmingham set to travel to Ipswich Town on Friday before Lichaj and Nottingham host Middlesbrough and Williams and Reading travel to Bristol on Saturday.
[Spoiler warning: This article includes important plot details from the second season finale of “Fargo.”] Adam Arkin, who directed tonight’s second season finale of “Fargo,” has become one of FX’s go-to directors. Earlier this year he helmed the series finale of “Justified,” and has previously directed installments of “The Americans,” “Sons of Anarchy” and “Terriers,” among others. He was initially approached to direct episodes in “Fargo’s” first season, though scheduling conflicts kept him out of the mix. Instead he made his “Fargo” bow directing last week’s penultimate installment, with the epic motel shootout (and UFO return). “I took it as a huge vote of confidence that they would entrust me with (the last two),” Arkin says. He also pulled double duty onscreen in the tiny role of Kansas City crime boss Hamish Broker — who amusingly “promotes” Mike Milligan (Bokeem Woodbine) to a desk job in the finale. First seen in the season premiere, all of Hamish’s scenes were shot later in the run to overlap with Arkin’s time at the series’ Calgary locations. Variety spoke with Arkin about directing the finale, working with the actors on some of the season’s most emotional scenes, collaborating with showrunner Noah Hawley and what it took to pull off last week’s shootout. What were you most looking forward to filming after you finished reading the finale script? Adam Arkin: There was a part of me that knew that everything that took place in that final scene between Peggy and Lou in the car was gold. I also knew that ironically from a logistical standpoint it was one of the less demanding scenes to shoot, you have two characters in a car talking. There’s not going to be a lot of technical showmanship going into that. I knew the heart of these characters was being revealed in a very real way. That was something I definitely wanted to protect and honor in the way we approached it. What kind of conversations did you have with Patrick Wilson and Kirsten Dunst about that scene? I was interested in exploring the disconnect between the two of them. There’s a tendency when something has as much heart as what’s written in that scene to use it as a catalyst for connection. I think it’s a default that people go to when (characters) are discussing things that have a certain amount of intimacy to them. There was something in those initial rehearsals that didn’t feel completely accurate. I remember discussing with Kirsten the idea that although Lou is obviously telling this very personal story about his experiences in the Vietnam war, that I wanted to explore the possibility that Peggy was actually not really listening. That given her dangerous level of self-involvement, and that part of her that unfortunately is the catalyst for so much that goes wrong over the course of the season for her character and for Ed, that it would be interesting if she was still in her own head a little bit. There was also something about her state of shock over the previous night that seem to lend itself to that. The minute they both committed to being in their own world the scene became, to me, even more heartbreaking. In these moments when they were revealing some of the deepest parts of themselves they still weren’t really connecting. I found that interesting and somehow true to those characters. The tragedy of Peggy comes through in that scene as well. Maybe if she had never been in this town to begin with, things could have turned out very different for her. A lot of the things that she’s listing as the unfair expectations laid on women, the feeling of that unfairness especially when the women’s rights movement was much earlier in its genesis — a lot of what she’s bringing up is legitimate. It’s just the timing at which she’s bringing it up that makes it unfortunate. There’s been so much destruction and loss of life, and much of it related to choices she’s made. She’s just incapable of really taking that in. Can you talk about the stylistic choices you made with the scenes of Hanzee stalking Peggy and Ed, which we find out only happened in Peggy’s mind? There were lots of discussions about the use of light, the use of sound, even at times the lensing and choices we were making in terms of the look that gave subtle clues we were veering away from realism. Even down to the logic of how much (Peggy and Ed) would be affected by the smoke at that point — and their ability to be in the room if it really was filling up with smoke to that degree — the passage of time and the overall look of that freezer. It was important to not give away the fact that it was a hallucination but in retrospect have elements there that allowed people to track the fact that her sense of reality was being altered. And in the midst of that, Kirsten delivers another great monologue as Peggy talks to a dying Ed. The conversations we had there were about the commitment to the fantasy world that she’s in and the need to commit to that as the reality around her was getting more and more horrible. She’s so resolute in not seeing how bad and desperate their situation is — when it’s clear that Ed has been mortally wounded, I think it triggered her into an almost hallucinatory state of grief and shock, and that pushes her into reimagining the film, and even allows her to continue carrying on a conversation with Ed, who’s no longer really a participant in that conversation for obvious reasons. It’s kind of like all of “Fargo”: funny and sad, tragic and wonderful, at the same time. And Ed’s tragic last speech to her, saying “I’m always going to want things to be back the way they were.” They’ve moved beyond being able to have that. Even if he were to survive there’s no sense that — they might have something new, possibly, but the odds against that seem pretty great, and they’re never going to have anything back to the way they were. Reality has to be acknowledged and their reality is a very different one at this point in the story. In addition to directing, you also acted in one of my favorite scenes of the finale, when Hamish shows Mike Milligan his new office. How do you feel about that ending for Mike? Mike seems to end up being a victim of his own successes. He’s had a romanticized idea of what moving up the food chain in the organization is going to mean in terms of an autonomy. I think Noah’s nod to corporate mentality is the more success and the higher up you go, the more you have to answer to the system. You oftentimes are less your own boss when you have a bigger title. It goes hand in hand with the overall theme that seems to be inherent in the season — the loss of empire, that empires devour themselves. The correlation between the destruction of a romantic notion of empire and the reality of a corporate bureaucratic way of doing things — you see Milligan having to let go of his own idea of an empire in that scene rather quickly. Hank lives! At least for now. Talk about working with Ted Danson on the scene where Hank tells Betsy and Lou about his new language. Ted was a complete delight. It was the first time I’d ever worked with Ted although I’ve worked with his wife, Mary, three or four times now. I’ve adored her and every chance I’ve had to work with her. Working with him was a continuation of that kind of amazement that two people with the history, the track record and the reputation that the two of them share present in these two people who are the most collaborative, open, friendly and game actors I’ve ever gotten to be around. I just loved working with him. 95% of what I would do with Ted was just watch what he brought to stuff. There’s such heart in him and his take on Hank was so dead on that, basically, why tamper with perfection? I think he truly loved playing that character and it shows. The thing that would kill me about the way he played Hank is the obvious depth to which he’s being affected by his daughter’s illness and his fear of losing her, but the inability of the character to be overly emotional or maudlin about it. You also directed the penultimate episode with the epic motel shootout. How complicated was that to pull off? The gunfight was logistically one of the more challenging things I’ve ever had to take on as a director. I asked for a lot of input and a lot of help in the planning of it. One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about the transition into directing has been the increased appreciation of how much expertise is around you in a crew, certainly a crew of the caliber that was working on this show. I relied very heavily on Dana Gonzales, the d.p., and Phil Chipera, my first a.d., both of whom were very experienced. There was a lot of time and thought that went into the logistics and the architecture of those scenes. That was definitely the sequence that kept me up at night. Time is always in short supply on TV shoots, how long did you have for that sequence? It’s a little hard to say exactly because there were at least two solid nights of night work and additional work we had to do during the day. It was also complicated because the sequence involved stuff that had to be shot on the stage as well — the interiors of some of the hotel rooms — so those were separate days. I’d say altogether we probably spent three and a half or four days on that sequence. We knew that’s where a certain amount of time would have to be taken. One of the finale’s biggest surprises was the return of Allison Tolman, Colin Hanks, Keith Carradine and Joey King — who I understand all flew to Calgary to film their cameos. What was it like to have them back on set? The unfortunate reality is that I did not get to work with them in those scenes, as much as I wanted to. There were actor availability issues that involved them needing to come (to Calgary) after principal photography had been completed and I had another commitment that conflicted with it. Those scenes were done after I had left Calgary, Noah actually directed those. Was Noah around and available on set while you were directing, or was he in LA for post-production? He was in LA during a lot of the earlier point of my shooting. He was (in Calgary) for awhile in prep and then was around quite a bit during the latter point of my shooting. I got to consult with him quite a bit on some of the sequence in the freezer. There’s a very specific tone to the show. Is that something you would look to Noah for guidance on as well? Noah’s input was invaluable in terms of filling out the details of what he had been envisioning when he wrote. I think his selection of directors paid a lot of attention to whether there was an inherent understanding of that tone and the line you have to walk with that tone — the drama and the absurdity of it; the comedic moments that surprise you in the midst of scenes that are dramatically very high stakes. I think it’s safe to say that the stable of directors he brought on were all people who were very conversant with the Coen Brothers library, and a desire to walk that line. But having Noah’s additional personal perspective on all of that was invaluable. I don’t think I’ve ever worked for a showrunner who has a more specific idea of where he wants things to be heading. He’s very specific and very meticulous. There’s a feeling about Noah that he keeps working, it doesn’t feel like it’s done until it’s done. The creative layering and additional ideas keep percolating well after the point when many people would say, “We’re on our way now, we can sign, seal and deliver this.” I found that very inspiring. We don’t know what season three is about yet, but would you want to direct more episodes? I would love nothing more. I really like the whole experience has been one endless highlight for me. I felt like I had a chance to learn a lot and work with people who are as good at what they do as anybody in the business. It was really fun.
TORONTO — Saying “I do not get it,” an Ontario Superior Court judge Monday bemoaned the passivity of Ontario police forces on illegal native barricades and issued a lament for the state of law-and-order in the nation. “…no person in Canada stands above or outside of the law,” Judge David Brown said in a decision that was alternately bewildered and plaintive. “Although that principle of the rule of law is simple, at the same time it is fragile. Without Canadians sharing a public expectation of obeying the law, the rule of law will shatter.” Judge Brown was formally giving his reasons for having granted CN Rail an emergency injunction last Saturday night, when the railway rushed to court when Idle No More protesters blocked the Wymans Road crossing on the main line between Toronto and Montreal. That protest ended about midnight the same night, but as Judge Brown noted dryly, “not, as it turns out, because the police had assisted in enforcing the order” he granted. When the judge read in the media Sunday morning that the blockade had ended, he asked CN to submit an affidavit how it had happened. As the same judge who last month watched — “shocked,” he said later, at “such disrespect” — as Sarnia Police ignored his court orders to end another Idle No More blockade on a CN spur line, he was right to be skeptical. And sure enough, what Judge Brown learned was that once the local sheriff got a copy of his order, by about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, she contacted the Ontario Provincial Police on scene. The staff-sergeant there told her “it was too dangerous” to attempt to serve the order – on all of 15 protesters. But, the judge said, he’d made “a time-sensitive order” precisely because the evidence showed that the railway suffered “from each hour the blockade remained in place, yet the OPP would not assist the local sheriff to ensure the order was served… “Such an approach by the OPP was most disappointing,” Judge Brown said, “because it undercut the practical effect of the injunction order. “That kind of passivity by the police leads me to doubt that a future exists in this province for the use of court injunctions in cases of public demonstrations.” Judge Brown said that while he appreciates that Ontario Court of Appeal has said the rule of law can be applied in a “highly textured” or “nuanced” way when protesters are aboriginals involved in a land claim dispute, that doesn’t apply “to 15 people standing on the CN Main Line saying they were showing support for First Nations Chiefs in a forthcoming meeting with the Prime Minister. “Such conduct had nothing to do with the process involved in sorting out land or usage claims…” the judge said. “…it was straight-forward political protest, pure and simple. Just as 15 persons from some other group would have no right to stand in the middle of the Main Line tracks blocking rail traffic in order to espouse a political cause close to their hearts, neither do 15 persons from a First Nation.” The judge expressed “astonishment” that Sarnia Police failed to enforce court orders for almost two weeks, and then that protesters again blocked the Main Line for five hours, just a week after another demonstration in the same area. He already had concerns, he said, stemming out of what occurred in Sarnia, about the willingness of police forces to enforce injunctions involving native protesters, but issued the order Saturday night because CN lawyers showed how serious were the effects of the blockade of the main line. Furthermore, Judge Brown said, police already have sufficient tools under the Criminal Code to remove illegal protests. “In light of those powers of arrest enjoyed by police officers,” he wondered, “why does the operator of a critical railway have to run off to court to secure an injunction when a small group of protesters park themselves on the rail line bringing operations to a grinding halt? “I do not get it,” he said. As a member of one part of the law-and-order equation, Judge Brown said, “I remain puzzled why another part – our police agencies and their civilian overseers – does not make use of the tools given to it by our laws to ‘ensure the safety and security of all persons and property in Ontario’,” which he said is the first principle governing police services. He warned “we seem to be drifting into dangerous waters in the life of the public affairs of this province when the courts cannot predict, with any practical degree of certainty, whether police agencies” will assist in enforcing court orders.
Liza Bramlett was a slave. She lived on a cotton plantation in the Mississippi Delta, during the 19th century. White men raped her repeatedly throughout her life. They traded her body amongst themselves in exchange for calves and piglets. In the end, Liza gave birth to 23 children, 20 of whom were conceived by rape. One of Liza’s daughters, Ella Townsend, was born after emancipation, but remained in the bondage of sharecropping in rural Mississippi. As an adult, she carried a pistol with her in the fields, determined to protect herself and the surrounding children. One day, a white man on horseback rode into the fields. He had come to abduct a young Black girl. Ella, carrying her pistol in a lunch pail, intervened. “You don’t have no Black children and you’re not going to beat no Black children,” she told the intruder. “If you step down off that horse, I’ll go to Hell and back with you before Hell can scorch a feather.” “I do not believe that we can stop them, Samori, because they must ultimately stop themselves,” Ta-Nehisi Coates says of white racists in the final paragraph of his bestseller, Between the World and Me, written as an open letter to his son. Coates describes racism as galactic, a physical law of the universe, “a tenacious gravity” and a “cosmic injustice.” When a cop kills a Black man, the police officer is “a force of nature, the helpless agent of our world’s physical laws.” Society is equally helpless against the natural order. “The earthquake cannot be subpoenaed,” says Coates. In a widely replicated gesture, Coates locates the experience of racism in the body, in a racism that “dislodges brains, blocks airways, rips muscle, extracts organs, cracks bones, breaks teeth.” In the slim volume, fewer than 300 pages, the word “body” or “bodies” appears more than 300 times. “In America,” he writes, “it is traditional to destroy the black body.” Another brooding passage dwells on the inevitability of this violence. It had to be blood. It had to be nails driven through a tongue and ears pruned away. It had to be the thrashing of a kitchen maid for the crime of churning the butter at a leisurely clip. It could only be the employment of carriage whips, tongs, iron pokers, handsaws, stones, paperweights or whatever might be handy to break the black body. Yet Coates’s descriptive language and haunting narrative are not mere metaphors. They act as an ontological pivot, mystifying racism even as it is anchored in its physical effects. Metaphor has long been used to capture racism’s almost unimaginable brutality. Lynching became “strange fruit” in Abel Meerpool’s song, made famous by Billie Holiday. In a wry, tragic innuendo, rape was referred to in Black communities as “nighttime integration.” The use of metaphor is not in itself an obfuscation. But Coates wields metaphor to obscure rather than illuminate the reality of racism. What we find all too often in Coates’s narrative universe are bodies without life and a racism without people. To imbue race with an ontological meaning, to make it a reality all its own, is to drain it of its place in history and its indelible roots in discrete human action. To deny the role of life and people — of politics — is to also foreclose the possibility of liberation. * Ella knew her mother Liza’s unimaginable suffering, but her memory was not a yoke on her shoulders. It provoked something in Ella. As an adult, she did not see the white predator stalking the fields as some helpless agent. She took matters into her own hands. There was no tenacious gravity strong enough to break her will or loosen her grip on her pistol. Her efforts rippled beyond those cotton fields. Ella taught her own daughter, Fannie Lou Hamer, not only to struggle, but to resist. Fannie Lou was born into a sharecropping family in rural Mississippi, but would go on to become a beacon of the Civil Rights movement. She is best known for her tireless work registering Black voters in Mississippi, most famously during 1964’s Freedom Summer, at great personal risk. Police arrested and beat her. White racists shot at her. Lyndon Johnson dismissed her as an illiterate. In 1973, an interviewer asked her, “Do you have faith that the system will ever work properly?” By then, Fannie Lou had seen a decade of setbacks and false dawns since first walking off her plantation in 1962 to fight for Civil Rights. She responded, We have to make it work. Ain’t nothing going to be handed to you on a silver platter. That’s not just black people, that’s people in general, masses. See, I’m with the masses… You’ve got to fight. Every step of the way you’ve got to fight. She marched. She sang freedom songs. She testified. She co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. For her, the logical solution was political: uniting a powerless many against a powerful few. White racists could be stopped. Black people could resist, and Fannie Lou and so many others did just that. Fannie Lou knew that the wages of racism were measured on the body. “A Black woman’s body was never hers alone,” she once remarked. White doctors sterilized her without her consent during a minor surgery, a barbaric intrusion so common she called it a “Mississippi appendectomy.” However, though she knew racism’s physical toll, she drew inspiration from stories of Black resistance passed down orally across the generations. She recalled her grandmother’s will to survive and her mother’s weapon of protection. These intergenerational resistance narratives, according to Charles Cobb in his book This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed, “underlay a deep and powerful collective memory that was invisible to whites but greatly affected the shape and course of the modern Freedom Movement.” As a result, Fannie Lou and so many others possessed an intimate knowledge not only of their own human dignity, despite the racist brutality they endured, but also of the very real human frailty inherent to their racial oppressors. In the years before Fannie Lou’s political struggle began, whole communities, Black women and men, rose up against the violence that was forced on Black women’s bodies. Feminist historian Danielle McGuire argues this anti-rape community organizing in Alabama laid the foundation for what eventually became the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She observes, “The majority of leaders active in the Montgomery Improvement Association in 1955 cut their political teeth demanding justice for black women who were raped in the 1940s and early 1950s.” Despite being a poor, Black sharecropper drowning in the poverty and racial terror endemic to rural Mississippi, Fannie Lou held fast to her forebearers’ stories of resistance. She did not resign herself to fatalism, as Coates does. * Coates too takes a multigenerational view. Between the World and Me is framed as a letter to his son. However, rather than seeing a legacy of resistance, he finds a lineage of Blackness defined by fear and dysfunction. “When I was your age the only people I knew were black, and all of them were powerfully, adamantly, dangerously afraid,” he writes. “I felt the fear in the visits to my Nana’s home in Philadelphia,” Coates continues. “And I saw it in my own father.” My father was so very afraid. I felt it in the sting of his black leather belt, which he applied with more anxiety than anger, my father who beat me as if someone might steal me away, because that is exactly what was happening all around us. Coates describes his condition, and that of all Black people, as a “birthmark of damnation.” The resistance stories passed down to Fannie Lou and so many others spurred them to march. Coates’s narrative, riddled with fear and futility, begs us to retreat. Though Coates has never explicitly cited it as his theoretical framework, the dour outlook of his work evokes the themes of Afro-Pessimism. The pivot to the ontological that is apparent in Coates’s rhetoric is a hallmark of Afro-Pessimism. “Ontology by definition is the study of being, and to speak of Blackness as an ontological condition means analyzing the state of Black bodies through the lens of slavery,” Afro-Pessimist scholar Michael Barlow Jr. writes in the academic journal Inquiries. However, for Barlow, the relation of slavery that ontologically defines blackness is not a matter of political economy, but rather a “libidinal economy.” In this ontological pivot, labor and ownership — that is, political economy — are merely incidental to racial slavery. Instead, it’s the white imagination and its depraved “metaphysical desires for Black flesh” that both predated and catalyzed racialized chattel slavery. Racism is reduced to the spiritual, more a matter of a sinful nature than a political struggle. Coates has echoed this retreat to interiority, to the spiritual, to consciousness. It’s the ontological pivot that leads Frank Wilderson, perhaps the world’s foremost Afro-Pessimist, to declare in his foundational text “Gramsci’s Black Marx: Whither the Slave in Civil Society?” that Black people are no more than cows in a slaughterhouse. Wilderson posits that “death of the black body is foundational to the life of American civil society,” just as a cow’s death is essential to the slaughterhouse. Flippantly, Wilderson asks, “how would the cows fare under a dictatorship of the proletariat?” Coates adopts a similar impotence. He characterizes struggle as aimless toil — an apolitical end to itself. “The struggle is really all I have for you,” he tells his son, “because it is the only portion of this world under your control.” Yet, how are we to struggle against earthquakes and physical laws? How can we fight gravity? Both Coates and Wilderson speak of power in terms of dreams. Coates writes of monolithic white “Dreamers,” those whose investment in the American Dream requires a faith in their own whiteness. Similarly, Wilderson sees America as enacting two distinct dreams. For Wilderson, “the dream of black accumulation and death” is separate from “the dream of worker exploitation.” Ultimately, in both Coates’s and Wilderson’s respective frameworks, solidarity is unimaginable and class struggle is rendered futile. Though Coates does not go to the lengths Wilderson does to position himself in opposition to materialist politics, the result is effectively equivalent: a separation of race and class combined with a deep skepticism of class-based solidarity, reforms, or even revolution. This is a deviation from the Freedom Tradition embodied by Fannie Lou Hamer. For her, the problem of racism wasn’t cosmology or ontology, it was an expression of politics implicated in class antagonism. Fannie Lou Hamer stood “with the masses,” both white and black. Solidarity through struggle from below — class struggle — formed her path to victory. Coates’s ontological pivot is more muddled than Wilderson’s. Fleetingly peppered throughout his work are allusions to material reality, betraying the superimposition of metaphysical abstraction that ultimately drives his perspective. “We did not choose our fences,” he writes. “They were imposed on us by Virginia planters obsessed with enslaving as many Americans as possible.” Coates knows that Virginia planters did not invent gravity or earthquakes. Yet this historicizing impulse does not prevent him from essentializing racism when he confronts it head on. In string of tweets from December 2016, Coates conceded that racism is not transcendental, noting that “at its very root it was always economic.” But acknowledging racism’s economic impact has not led him to embrace class struggle. Even Frank Wilderson can acknowledge that racism has an economic impact, but he still believes that class struggle and racism exist on distinct planes. Coates holds a similar belief; that racism is wholly different in kind from class. In the same series of tweets, he concluded that “in America, ‘class’ isn’t the only kind of class.” Just as he mystifies racism, even while locating its impact in the bodies of Black people, here he once again performs a muddled ontological pivot. Coates cannot address material politics on its own terms, preferring instead to retreat to a contrived mystification. He replaces action with interiority. As he recently told an auditorium of eager Northwestern students, “The process should not be… people looking out at the world and saying, ‘I would like for there to be change in the world, how do I do that?’” Instead, he implored the crowd to engage from the “inside-out, not outside-in… because if you are in the business of justice, and making this society more democratic, you might get a lot of disappointment.” Consciousness matters, of course. “Baby you just got to love ’em,” Fannie Lou Hamer would say of the white segregationists who routinely threatened her life. “Hating just makes you sick and weak.” This was Hamer in a reflexive moment, but it was no retreat. In the very next breath, she warned, “I keep a shotgun in every corner of my bedroom and the first cracker even look like he wants to throw some dynamite on my porch won’t write his mama again.” Fannie Lou truly was her mother’s daughter. Reflection, whether through intergenerational story or her own thoughts, enhanced her resistance. The same cannot be said of Coates. Instead of in political action, Coates finds relief in a cookout at Howard’s homecoming, surrounded by Blackness. He fantasizes that he is “disappearing into all of their bodies,” as the music and dancing, the Black cultural zeitgeist of the moment, cure him of the “birthmark of damnation.” The curse is lifted. Blackness is transfigured, becoming a space “beyond the Dream.” It’s another ontological pivot, this time allowing Coates to conclude that The Mecca’s cookout has a “power more gorgeous than any voting rights bill.” It’s a fantasy of retreat, as if Black culture were beyond the machinations of capitalism, as though Black cultural expression existed in the world but was not of it. Between the World and Me concludes with Coates considering climate change. He sees climate change as a manifestation of a polluted white consciousness, rather than the unfettered excess of industrial capitalism. It is a “noose around the neck of the earth,” allegedly resulting in large part from white flight, the mid-century exodus of negrophobic white families to the suburbs and the pollution caused by the cars that took them there. Coates’s words here are poetic, but grossly inaccurate. They mimic Afro-Pessimism’s emphasis on the white libido, relegating his rhetoric to the realm of interior life, the souls of white folks, and stopping well short of the political domain. To Coates, climate change is “more fierce than Marcus Garvey” — a reflection of Coates’s pessimism. For Coates, the Civil Rights movement was not a struggle to alter a material world; rather the “hope of the movement” was merely to “awaken the Dreamers.” Black politics is only relevant as far as it can arouse white consciousness, which he sees as a largely futile exercise, due to “the small chance of the Dreamers coming into consciousness.” Coates sees common interest between the Black élite and the Black poor, as he marvels at “the entire diaspora,” from lawyers to street hustlers, present at Howard’s homecoming. Yet he cannot conceive of anti-capitalist class solidarity across racial identity. He has a darker vision, of a kind that Corey Robin has described as “apocalypticism.” Coates’s ultimate hope is not in collective human action, but rather the total annihilation of the world and all those living in it— another feature that unites him with Afro-pessimism, which calls explicitly for the “end of the world.” As he says of the Dreamers, “the field for their Dream, the stage where they have painted themselves white, is the deathbed of us all.” Paradoxically, though he can see a collective fate in apocalypse, he rejects shared struggle for liberation. “The Dreamers will have to learn to struggle themselves,” he declares. The problem is, the whole of capitalist enterprise, both past and present, cannot be reduced to race as Original Sin, and its poisoning of all existence. Left out of Coates’s mythology is the fact that colonial enterprise, in what would become the United States, relied first on European indentured servants, most of whom died within a handful of years after arriving on the continent. It’s Coates’s reading of race as sin that pushes him to imagine quasi-salvation in the fantasy of apocalypse. In this racial fatalism, reparations for slavery emerges as the anticipation of the inevitable Judgement Day. It is therefore no surprise that Coates has taken up racial reparations as his cross to bear, not to change the world, but to condemn it. *** For the better part of two years, Ta-Nehisi Coates has been the most visible and combative supporter of reparations in politics. Coates calls reparations “the indispensable tool against white supremacy.” In 2016’s “My President Was Black” and “Better Is Good,” Coates refers to the “moral logic” of reparations. They are a measure that could atone for what he called in 2014’s “The Case for Reparations,” the “sin of national plunder.” There he claimed that the nation owes a “moral debt” that must be remedied by the “spiritual renewal” that reparations would facilitate. Reparations for slavery is Coates’s ontological pivot fully realized. These days, we find Coates touring prestigious universities and making his case for reparations in keynote addresses to packed auditoriums. “I think every single one of these universities needs to make reparations,” Coates said to thunderous applause at a March 3 conference at Harvard University. The day-long conference, “Universities and Slavery: Bound By History,” began with Harvard’s president admitting that the university “was directly complicit in slavery from the college’s earliest days in the 17th century.” Coates pushed the university to “use the language of reparation,” as a measure that would “acknowledge that something was done.” Though Harvard acknowledged its history, no race-specific remedy was forthcoming. Last fall, Georgetown did Harvard one better. They not only used the language of reparations, the school also put forward a program of financial and symbolic atonement. The university admitted to selling slaves in 1838, “a transaction that helped save Georgetown from financial ruin.” In 2015 Georgetown convened a commission to “reflect upon our University’s history and involvement in the institution of slavery.” The commission recommended granting preferential admission for descendants of the 272 slaves the university sold two centuries ago, in addition to gestures like changing the names of campus buildings from those of slavemasters to those of slaves and free people of color. Georgetown’s example is the closest actualization of reparations policy that has taken place during Coates’s three years of evangelizing. Coates said of the plan, “folks may not like the word ‘reparations,’ but it’s what Georgetown did. Scope is debatable. But it’s reparations.” Coates wants “special acknowledgment” from above, in the service of spiritual renewal — which explains his penchant for means-tested trickle-down anti-racism. But if he had faith in the masses, as Fannie Lou Hamer did, he’d see that the renewal and acknowledgement he seeks comes from below, from class solidarity in the struggle for universal emancipation. Harvard has a $37 billion endowment. Mere months before Coates’s appearance, dining workers at the school were locked in a protracted battle for a living wage. Many of these workers are themselves descendants of slaves, but the university was unmoved by their struggle. The dining workers spent the better part of a month on strike, before finally forcing Harvard to concede to their demands. The university was quicker to take the less expensive measure of admitting that the school was complicit in 17th century slavery than it was to pay its workers fairly today. I’m a former staffer for UNITE HERE, a hospitality union. Last year, I worked on a campaign in a multiethnic, multiracial university cafeteria in Chicago. The campaign’s primary demands were for wage increases and healthcare, using the slogan “Dignity and a Doctor.” Negotiations with the subcontractor had stalled, and strike preparations were under way. Pressures ran high. Workers were afraid. However, just as stories catalyzed resistance for Civil Rights leaders, stories anchored the worker organizing in our campaign. Though workers’ struggles with poverty wages and a lack of health coverage were crucial, one story stood out above the others. Workers continually shared stories that their Chinese colleagues were being abused for speaking Chinese on the shop floor. Managers would walk past, and upon hearing Chinese, they’d smack the speaker on the back of the head commanding the worker to “speak English!” Most of the workers were people of color, but the majority were not Chinese. The largest plurality in the workplace was made up of African-Americans, virtually all of whom only spoke English. But everyone could identify with the indignity of the story, the asymmetrical relations that empowered the bosses to abuse any one of them for any reason. Workers from a whole range of identities fought in solidarity with the Chinese workers. Discrimination on the basis of language became a central demand in the broader campaign. The campaign attached the specificity of the Chinese workers’ situation to all the workers’ common struggle against the boss. It was class struggle; not enough to overcome racism the world over, but a brief glimpse of solidarity across backgrounds and experiences, through acknowledging the shared indignity of class exploitation. In the end, the workers won. As the campaign victories were listed, the excitement in the room was overwhelming, a type of energy that I’d only ever felt at a particularly intense church service or while attending a high-stakes game in a packed stadium. The organizer announced that healthcare had been won. We clapped. We celebrated as the wage increases were added up. But when the organizer revealed that the contract guaranteed the right to speak non-English languages in the workplace, the room erupted. The Black workers were palpably just as invested as the Chinese workers, and everyone was ecstatic. Because he fails to deeply consider the real, material resistance of the masses, the kind that guided Fannie Lou Hamer, Coates idealizes racism. He evokes metaphors of earthquakes and physical laws to describe its magnitude. But for the workers in that university cafeteria, racism was a smack from a boss. For millions of poor Black people, racism is the corrosive water pipes poisoning their bodies. School closures, crumbling and unstable housing, and all the intimately practical things necessary for everyday life are the measure of racism. These racist realities are not separable from questions of class. In fact, they are expressions of class politics. The racialized tragedies faced daily by the masses require us to embrace class struggle, not Coates’s demobilizing metaphysical maxims about how white people “must ultimately stop themselves.” Solidarity from below, between cafeteria workers, truck drivers, secretaries, and any number of everyday people is worth magnitudes more than special acknowledgement from elites. This solidarity through shared struggle, as Fannie Lou Hamer recognized, is the foundation for social transformation. Where Coates would have us retreat, she called on us to march. She knew that the only way to defeat racism was to fight it, every step of the way.
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While plenty of people found humor in the recent news that officials in Florida and Wisconsin are censoring state workers' ability to talk about, much less work on, climate change, other states are not necessarily laughing. In fact, several political and environmental experts told InsideClimate News they could use it as a model to imitate. Florida Gov. Rick Scott became the leader of this potential trend last month when news emerged that he had ordered environmental staffers not to use the terms "climate change" or "global warming" in communications or reports. Wisconsin established a similar policy last week, voting to ban staffers who manage thousands of acres of forests from working on or talking about global warming. Experts now say that conservative lawmakers and public officials were far from embarrassed by the censorship revelations; they were emboldened by them. It could lead to a bevy of Republican lawmakers enacting similar policies in other states. "It seems like they are dusting off a playbook from the Bush administration years," a period when federal officials removed or downplayed climate change research from government reports, said RL Miller, founder of Climate Hawks Vote, a super PAC that works to elect climate-conscious candidates. "I wouldn't be surprised if other deep red states follow suit." In states with substantial conservative bases, shutting down climate action through things like censorship has become a "risk-less position for a local Republican official to take," said Walter Rosenbaum, an expert in environmental and energy policy at the University of Florida. If more leaders follow Wisconsin and Florida's lead, it "will suffocate a lot of needed public discussion on the seriousness of this issue," he said. While the number of Americans' who accept human-driven climate change has gradually increased in recent years, the issue is still a politically polarizing one. The ideological divide is partly driven by conservatives' mistrust of science and their belief that climate action requires Big Government policies. Republican lawmakers can often score big points in their districts if they hinder what has become labeled a liberal priority, experts said. While Wisconsin and Florida are the first states to outright ban their employees from working on climate change, at least publicly, Republican legislators have long tampered with how governments address global warming. In the early 2000s, White House official Philip Cooney removed or altered climate research findings in several federal reports. In 2012, North Carolina legislators voted that sea level rise predictions be ignored for planning purposes and Virginia lawmakers voted to only approve a study of risks to the state's coastline if it didn't deal with climate change. "This is a situation that George Orwell would have recognized," said Michael Gerrard, director of Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, referring to the author of the dystopian novel 1984. "It is very worrying that we are seeing public entities telling their employees to act like ostriches, to put their heads in the sand. Society thrives through innovation and insight, not willful blindness." Silence, Please The Wisconsin policy centers around the Board of Commissioners on Public Lands, which manages money from the sale of millions of acres of property over the last century to fund education initiatives. It also manages timber production on more than 70,000 acres. The policy came at the request of new Wisconsin State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk, a republican who sits on a three-panel board overseeing the agency. Since taking office, Adamczyk has "targeted" Tia Nelson, the group's executive secretary who is also the daughter of former U.S. Senator and founder of Earth Day Gaylord Nelson, said Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette, who also sits on the advisory board. Adamczyk disapproved that Nelson sat on a global warming task force back in 2007 and 2008 at the behest of then-Democratic Governor Jim Doyle, calling it a "waste of time," in a board meeting March 17. On April 7, Adamczyk and Attorney General Brad Schimel, a Republican who also oversees the agency, voted 2-1 to ban staffers of the public land board from working on climate change, or even responding to emails about it. "To tell the staff of the board that manages more than 70,000 acres of timber that we should not communicate with other foresters and scientists on an issue they are very concerned about is ridiculous," said La Follette. The board currently earns about $250,000 from its timber production every year, La Follette said. In total, it loans and gives out approximately $35 million every year to schools and libraries. Adamczyk did not respond to InsideClimate News' request for comment. Change Ahead? The censorship in Wisconsin and Florida comes at a time when the Republican Party might be forced to evolve in its position on climate change. Political experts said there is growing awareness that winning the White House in 2016 will be difficult for Republicans without the support of younger voters, the vast majority of whom see climate change as a significant threat. One Republican, former congressman Bob Inglis of South Carolina, who directs the Energy and Enterprise Initiative at George Mason University, wrote an Op-Ed last week in the Charlotte Observer that said he believed conservatives were beginning to come around on the subject. Many Republicans leaders have shifted their stances slightly in recent years, from outright denial to instead sidestepping the subject by saying things like, "I'm not a scientist." Even so, the GOP still has a long way to go before it can be seen as a pro-climate action party—and efforts to censor government employees on global warming won't help, said Inglis told InsideClimate News. "If they think these are victories, they are very temporary victories," he said. "In Florida, the facts on the coast will disprove that." InsideClimate News reporter Neela Banerjee contributed to this report.
One of the most anticipated events outside the con, The Nerd Machine finally released some information on next week’s Conversations for a Cause panels for Nerd HQ 2012. Named our top favorite moment of SDCC 2011, the offsite convention started by Zachary Levi looks to one-up its freshman year with some huge names rivaling even the most popular panels across the street at the San Diego Convention Center. Note the announcement was listed as a “preview”, so additional details on these panels will be forthcoming over the next few days. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, July 6 at 12PM ET/9AM PT for the following events: Thursday July 12 9:30am – Expendables 2 Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture 11:00am – Psych 12:00pm – Chuck 2:30pm – Seth & Robot Chicken Friday July 13 10:00am – Stan Lee 12:00pm – Man with the Iron Fists followed by a signing 3:00pm – The Rise of the Guardians with Guillermo Del Toro and Friends 4:30pm – Nathan Fillion 5:30pm – Assassin’s Creed 3 Saturday July 14 10:00am – NTSF: SD SVU 12:00pm – Tomb Raider 3:00pm – Joss Whedon 5:45pm – Grimm with signing earlier in the day (11am) Sunday July 15 3:00pm – Jared Padalecki Check out the announcement on The Nerd Machine’s website for schedule and ticket links. Which Conversations are you most excited for? What difficult schedule decisions do you have to make between SDCC and Nerd HQ? Let us know in the comments.
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What You Aren’t Being Told About The World You Live In How The “Conspiracy Theory” Label Was Conceived To Derail The Truth Movement How Covert American Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations July 5, 2015 Obama Moves 2,500 Feared Ukrainian-Nazi Fighters To Colorado For “Reasons Unknown” By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers A new report circulating in the Kremlin today prepared by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) states that this past week’s nearly non-stop nighttime US military flights taking off from Kiev’s Boryspil International Airport (BIA) were “satellite-tracked” flying to Peterson Air Force Base (P-AFB), located in Colorado (USA), and whose “human cargo” contained up to 2,500 fighters of the feared Ukrainian neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, all of whom have now joined the massive Talisman Sabre 2015 war-game that began today. The Talisman Saber 2015 war-game, this report explains, involves nearly 35,000 troops of the Australian Defence Force and the United States Military across six locations in northern and central Australia, the Coral Sea, and in Honolulu (Hawaii), Denver (Colorado) and Suffolk (Virginia). As to the “strategic integration” of these neo-Nazi Azov Battalion terrorists into the US military structure enabling them to participate in this war-game has long been noted by the MoD, this report states…and after having provided the US Congress with overwhelming evidence proving these Azov Battalion neo-Nazis atrocities against the Ukrainian peoples, US Congressman John Conyers, Jr. and Congressman Ted Yoho caused to be passed last month a new law blocking all American military aid and support for them. Despite this new law forbidding the US military from training these neo-Nazi terrorists though, this report continues, American troops belonging to the 173rd Airborne Brigade have continued training them at their base in Lviv located in western Ukraine . And with the founder and head of the Azov Battalion, Andriy Biletsky, clearly stating that “The historic mission of our nation in this critical moment is to lead the White Races of the world in a final crusade for their survival”, this report warns, it becomes even more perplexing as to why the Obama regime would even want such racist and radical neo-Nazi terrorists in their homeland at all. Even this past week, this report shockingly notes, when American reporters from the Daily Beast News Service attempted to find out why these neo-Nazi terrorists were still being trained in spite of the law forbidding it, they were stunningly replied to by a US State Department representative, Press Officer Yarina Ferentsevych of the American Embassy in Ukraine, who told them, “Neo-Nazis, you know, can join the U.S. army too.” To exactly why the Obama regime has flown such a massive number of these Azov Battalion neo-Nazi terrorists to Colorado, MoD intelligence analysts in this report say it is still “uncertain” and for, at this time, “reasons unknown”. However, these same MoD intelligence analysts do note that in early May (2015), the US military dropped the State of Colorado from being a part of its much feared Jade Helm 15 war-game exercise, and then immediately dispatched a “significant element” of the Fort Carson, Colorado, based US Army’s 10th Special Forces Group (who had been scheduled to participate in Jade Helm 15), and who operate under United States European Command (EUCOM), to Ukraine to “integrate and operate” within the Azov Battalion. And as these nearly 2,500 neo-Nazi Azov Battalion terrorists are now, undoubtedly, under the command of the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Carson, this report warns, it is a further destabilizing action being committed against the Federation by the Obama regime as the military troops stationed at this US military base have begun training for what they call a “new type of warfare” they have labeled as “high-intensity combat” and “maneuver warfare” that is focused on conquering territory, smashing enemy positions and fighting to win rather than fighting to win hearts and minds…in other words, “total war”. Prior to the State of Colorado being dropped from Jade Helm 15 in May, MoD intelligence analysts also state that they noted an increase of American alternative news sources reporting that their US military contacts were telling them back in March about “Russian” speaking soldiers being trained at Fort Carson for Jade Helm 15…and which could have only been Azov Battalion neo-Nazi terrorists, and certainly not Federation forces. And, perhaps, most chilling in this report is a concluding MoD appendix noting that the “greater part” of these neo-Nazi Azov Battalion terrorists currently at Fort Carson are “hardened battlefield criminals” responsible for some of the most gruesome “ISIS-Style” war crimes in the Ukrainian Civil War…and whomever the Obama unleashes them against should prepare for “hell on earth”. So today, as the massive Talisman Sabre 2015 war-game begins, and which will soon overlap, on 15 July, with the equally fearsome Jade Helm 15, it is wise to remember Obama’s words in 2011 when he “gave the game away” when addressing Australian troops in Darwin after announcing the stationing of US Marines there stated: “You can’t tell where our guys end and you guys begin…” Those same words now apply to the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion as well…and which now makes understandable why the United States, Canada and Ukraine became the only three nations in the world to defeat the United Nations resolution against Nazism and Holocaust-denial this past November. July 5, 2015 © EU and US all rights reserved. Permission to use this report in its entirety is granted under the condition it is linked back to its original source at WhatDoesItMean.Com. Freebase content licensed under CC-BY and GFDL. [Ed. Note: Western governments and their intelligence services actively campaign against the information found in these reports so as not to alarm their citizens about the many catastrophic Earth changes and events to come, a stance that the Sisters of Sorcha Faal strongly disagrees with in believing that it is every human beings right to know the truth. Due to our missions conflicts with that of those governments, the responses of their ‘agents’ against us has been a longstanding misinformation/misdirection campaign designed to discredit and which is addressed in the report “Who Is Sorcha Faal?”.] America Before World War III: “Who Was Left To Tell The Truth?” They Are Going To Come For You…Why Are You Helping Them? Return To Main Page
It was the subject of a lawsuit, called a “major embarrassment for Toronto” during TIFF and went $4 million over budget. But the three-year project to widen sidewalks and resurface Bloor St. from Church St. east to Avenue Rd. is finally complete. The four-lane road is open — with a shared curb lane for bicycles and cars — and the fencing that made getting into the area’s upscale stores a hassle has been taken down. “It’s fantastic. We couldn’t be happier that it’s finished,” said Alan Whitfield, the general manager of Harry Rosen, on Bloor St. near Yorkville Blvd. The company is so excited it is emailing clients to tell them “there should be no hesitation in coming downtown any more.” The menswear store also plans to rent a billboard to herald the end of the project, said Whitfield. “I don’t think it was good for business.” Pedestrians seem equally enthusiastic about the transformation. “I think it’s exciting,” said Barb Maxwell, who had just made a diagonal crossing on the new scramble intersection at Bay and Bloor Sts. “It’s as exciting as being in the middle of that intersection, where everything stops and you can just walk through.” Article Continued Below East of Yonge St. this week, workers were completing cosmetic touches, installing granite benches and a total of 20,000 tulip bulbs in large stone containers on the sidewalks, which have been widened by more than a metre on each side. Mature London plane trees, which are expected to outlast typical urban trees by decades, were planted last fall. The disease-resistant sycamores should live at least 50 years because of engineered soil and a unique material installed under the sidewalk that directs tree roots deeper down. Similar work will be done west of Yonge in the spring. The catalyst for the street’s transformation came more than a decade ago, when the city told merchants that water mains along Bloor needed replacement, said Briar de Lange, executive director of the Bloor Yorkville BIA. The BIA used the opportunity to re-create the street, which was inspired by the Magnificent Mile, an upscale shopping district in Chicago, and will contribute $20 million to the project. “That’s pretty much unheard of,” said de Lange. “That a business community would pool its resources and pay for public property is amazing.” The BIA will officially open the street in the spring, when it will also unveil a $1.3 million artwork it commissioned. Transforming Bloor Street Article Continued Below Fall 2007: City replaces water mains. July 2008: Construction begins on section of Bloor St. from Church St. west to Yonge St. August 2008: William Ashley China Ltd. goes to court to try to stop the project, saying the city should have carried out an environmental assessment. October 2008: Judge rules against William Ashley China Ltd January 2009: Phase two is scheduled to begin, but Toronto Hydro discovers vibrations from construction could damage fragile lines in utility corridors and cause blackouts. A long delay ensues while repairs are made. October 2009: Phase one is completed. May 2010: Phase two, west of Yonge, begins. November 2010: Phase two finishes and the road reopens; the city is repairing a Toronto Hydro vault under the northwest corner of Bloor and Church Sts. Work is to be completed by month’s end. Spring 2011: BIA will unveil $1.3 million commissioned art work and officially open the road.
It started with relative simplicity from Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert when it came to the free-agency courtship of his once-and-possibly-again teammate Gordon Hayward, the free-agent forward who now has a decision to make. So, as NBA players do, Gobert took to Twitter. As in: The Miami Heat are garbage, the Boston Celtics something even more foul, and the Jazz could be championship bound with a Hayward return. Hayward is considering those three teams, having flown to Boston for an interview after a Saturday meeting at AmericanAirlines Arena with the Heat. That led to Heat center Hassan Whiteside, who was among Heat players to meet Saturday with Hayward, to later offer his own emoji counter on Twitter. As in: Since the turn of the century, the Celtics have won one championship, the Heat three and the Jazz, well they've been limited to cartoonish success. Before that, Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas offered his own counter, making note that those are the only three championships in the Heat's history, compared to the Celtics' 17 and the Jazz's great big zero. Of course, when it comes to Whiteside, there always is the fallback of the Snapchat game. iwinderman@sunsentinel.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat or facebook.com/ira.winderman For daily Heat mailbag go to sun-sentinel.com/askira
With a small yet telling gesture, U.S. President Donald Trump generated international rebuke and scorn on Thursday after video surfaced of him rudely pushing a fellow head of state out of the way during a photo opportunity at the NATO summit in Brussels. The clip shows Trump stepping in front of Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic while pushing him aside with one hand. Trump then plants his feet and straightens his jacket without regard for Markovic. Montenegro is the newest member of the alliance. Watch: During his visit to NATO headquarters, Trump moves in front of Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic to be in front of the group pic.twitter.com/kYDfshnVrp — POLITICO (@politico) May 25, 2017 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 And in slow motion: Slow motion Trump at NATO physically moves aside Montenegro PM Dusko Markovic to get in front! pic.twitter.com/1FQsoDJR2i Aggression intended. — R Beaupre (@benaxor) May 25, 2017 Trump was already receiving low marks and a cold reception for his remarks at the summit, but the lack of etiquette opened a fresh round of criticism for the president on his first trip representing the U.S. abroad. Social media users quickly condemned and ridiculed Trump's behavior: Tweets about Trump Montenegro
A little over two weeks ago, the Regional Plan Association (RPA) put forth its much-awaited Fourth Regional Plan for New York's tri-state region. The plan was most discussed, including on Curbed, for its proposal to end 24/7 subway service in the city. But it includes far-reaching proposals in many areas, including massive infrastructure investments: three new rail tunnels under the Hudson River, two more under the East River, and many subway projects. The RPA has been in business for nearly a century; its First Regional Plan, from the 1920s, proposed many urban highway projects, such as the George Washington Bridge. With such deep roots, it talks to political stakeholders throughout the region, and assimilates their views. The result, as seen in the Fourth Regional Plan, is a hodgepodge of different projects, supported by different political stakeholders. But there are good reasons for skepticism—namely, because the RPA plan seems to be cramming every politically supported public transportation proposal, no matter how unpopular with transit experts, into this new plan. Three specific items stand out: a tunnel from Penn Station under the East River, dubbed Gateway East, that would address Long Island's demands; the Brooklyn-Queens Connector (BQX), the waterfront streetcar favored by Mayor Bill de Blasio; and a circuitous AirTrain LaGuardia project, touted by Governor Andrew Cuomo. All three are questionable, and yet they appear on the RPA’s Fourth Plan, often for dubious reasons. Gateway East On Long Island, the problems have to do with turf battles. Long Island politicians oppose Metro-North's Penn Station Access project, which would send some trains from the New Haven Line to Penn Station using the same tracks currently used by Amtrak, with new stations in transit-deprived areas of the Bronx. That plan would use the same tunnels to access Penn Station that the LIRR does today; these tunnels are not at capacity, but the LIRR is worried about future expansion of service, even though the MTA’s East Side Access plan will bring a new set of tunnels to Grand Central for dedicated LIRR use. The RPA's plan includes Penn Station Access—but it also includes a Gateway East project adding two rail tracks between Sunnyside and Penn Station, a continuation of the planned Gateway project adding two new tunnel tracks from New Jersey to Penn Station. RPA President Tom Wright defended the decision to include the new tracks, saying that Long Island was worried about capacity. When pressed on the new capacity coming from East Side Access, Wright said that much of Long Island was committed to building transit-oriented development, which would induce more demand for Manhattan-bound travel than current capacity. In reality, Long Island builds practically no housing: Per data from HUD, Long Island permits less than one annual housing unit per 1,000 residents, compared with 2.5 in New York City. Here, the RPA let Long Island's politicians define its priorities. Gateway East, which Wright said would cost about $7 billion, is especially frustrating in light of the Fourth Regional Plan's rhetoric about unifying the three commuter rail systems in the region: the LIRR, Metro-North, and New Jersey Transit. Instead of proposing coordination between various suburban projects, the RPA proposes unnecessary infrastructure just because the LIRR is loathe to share its tunnels. Brooklyn-Queens Connector Though it’s a priority for Mayor Bill de Blasio, the proposed Brooklyn-Queens waterfront streetcar—which could connect Astoria to Sunset Park—is unpopular with some area transit advocates, including Second Avenue Sagas’s Ben Kabak, and Streetsblog's Ben Fried. International transit consultant Jarrett Walker believes that light rail should be placed parallel to the busiest buses in the city: “The best case for a rail project is an overcrowded bus line,” he says. The buses along the waterfront are far from the busiest in the city, and the nearest subway line is the G train, infamous for its low frequency, shorter trains, and low ridership. Still, the RPA’s fourth plan fully incorporates BQX, and also includes several streetcar routes connecting to it, in Brooklyn and Queens, all paralleling weak bus routes. Elsewhere, the plan's proposed subway and light rail extensions for the most part track the busiest buses, especially in the Bronx and along 125th Street in Harlem. But the BQX itself does not follow this rule, nor do the proposed streetcar extensions emanating from it; there, the RPA preferred building on De Blasio's pet project to proposing a better alternative. AirTrain to LaGuardia Airport The most egregious example is another transit project favored by a political heavyweight: the LaGuardia AirTrain, championed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. Though he touts it as a one-seat ride from Midtown to LaGuardia, the vast majority of airport travelers going to Manhattan would have to go east to Willets Point (a potential redevelopment site) before they could go west. Even airport employees would have to backtrack to get to their homes in Jackson Heights and surrounding neighborhoods. As a result, it wouldn’t save airport riders any time over the existing buses. Once again, it’s proven unpopular with transit experts and advocates: Kabak mocked the idea as vaporware, and Yonah Freemark showed how circuitous this link would be. When Cuomo first proposed this idea, Politico cited a number of additional people who study public transportation in the region with negative reactions. Despite its unpopularity—and the lack of an official cost for the proposal—the AirTrain LaGuardia is included in the RPA’s latest plan. But there is an alternative to Cuomo's plan: an extension of the N/W train, proposed in the 1990s, which would provide a direct route along with additional stops within Astoria, where there is demand for subway service. Community opposition killed the original proposal, but a lot can change in 15 years; Astoria’s current residents may well be more amenable to an airport connector that would put them mere minutes from LaGuardia. Cuomo never even tried, deliberately shying away from this populated area. And the Fourth Plan does include a number of subway extensions, some of which have long been on official and unofficial wishlists. Those include extensions under Utica and Nostrand avenues (planned together with Second Avenue Subway, going back to the 1950s), which also go under two of the top bus routes in the city, per Walker's maxim. There is also an extension of the N/W trains in Astoria—though not toward LaGuardia, but west, toward the waterfront, where it would provide a circuitous route to Manhattan. In effect, the RPA is proposing to stoke the community opposition Cuomo was afraid of, but still build the easy—and unsupported—airport connector Cuomo favors. The result: a hodgepodge of politically-motivated proposals In all of these areas—Long Island rail capacity, streetcars, and a rail connection to LaGuardia—the RPA could have chosen to lead. It could have stood firm against Long Island's apparent belief that the tunnels to Penn Station are its private fief; against De Blasio's BQX proposal and for streetcars following the busiest buses in the city; and against Cuomo's circuitous LaGuardia train and for a more direct route via the N/W trains. Evidently, in places where the plan did not touch any political priority, the lines shown are well within what transit advocates would want to see, including subways and light rail lines on the streets hosting the busiest buses in the city, and investments into regional rail. But where there was a politically-motivated proposal, the RPA put it in, no matter whether it was good or bad transit—and the result is a melange of ideas that are often bad on their own merits, and usually don't work well together. The RPA has been around for 90 years, and will outlive Cuomo, de Blasio, and the people in charge in Long Island today. It could have chosen to lead, but instead preferred to follow politicians whose priorities are not always the best possible infrastructure investment for the region. Alon Levy grew up in Tel Aviv and Singapore. He spent ten years in math academia and has blogged at Pedestrian Observations since 2011, covering public transit, urbanism, and development. Now based in Paris, he writes for a variety of publications, including Vox, Streetsblog, Voice of San Diego, PlanPhilly, Urbanize.LA, Railway Gazette, and the Bay City Beacon. You can find him on Twitter @alon_levy.
Buy Photo Gov. John Carney wants residents' input on how to fix Delaware's budget woes. (Photo: Jason Minto, The News Journal)Buy Photo To fix Delaware's $350 million budget problem, Gov. John Carney and the General Assembly are going to have to make some painful choices. On Thursday, Carney made a pitch to the Delaware public: Help me come up with some ideas. "This is a challenge for all of us," Carney said. "The solution is going to be hard. But I'm confident we can do it." Carney will attend a series of "community conversations" in locations throughout the state: Jan. 30 – Timothy’s on the Riverfront, Wilmington, 7:30 a.m. Feb. 15 – Drip Café, Hockessin, 7:30 a.m. Feb. 21 – Drip Café, Hockessin, 8 a.m. Feb. 22 – Downtown Dover Partnership, 9 a.m. March 1 – Nanticoke Senior Center, Seaford, 9 a.m. April 5 – Café Gelato, Newark, 8 a.m. The meetings will be held in the morning, around 7:30 to 8 a.m. Exact times will be available on a website. Lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, will join Carney. Residents can submit comments online at governor.delaware.gov/BudgetReset, or send an email to BudgetReset@state.de.us. MORE: See what kinds of taxes and cuts might be necessary to fix the budget There will be a telephone town hall of Feb. 22 in which residents can call in to listen to Carney's presentation and offer their thoughts. Carney's administration will present information on the scope of the budget problem and some ideas on how to fix it. For example, Carney said they might present a budget that solves the gap only through cutting spending and also show a budget that only raises taxes — Carney has said the solution lies in a "balanced approach." But the governor said most of the time will go toward listening to residents. Carney said he hopes to hear what programs residents think are most important as he and legislators look for places to trim spending. He also wants ideas on ways government can run more efficiently. "My job is bringing Dover to Newark," said Rep. Paul Baumbach, D-Newark. "There is no easy solution to this budget, and the more we can bring the community in to be part of the solution, the better." House Minority Leader Danny Short, R-Seaford, said the meetings could get intense. "The coffee will be hot," he said. "The conversation might get hotter." Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2428 or on Twitter @TNJ_malbright. RELATED: Legislators slap down pay hikes for top officials Read or Share this story: http://delonline.us/2k91udj
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama’s 2012 budget plan would slash the deficit by $1.1 trillion over 10 years, officials said on Sunday, but Republicans were unimpressed and vowed to push for deeper cuts in spending. U.S. President Barack Obama makes a statement about Egypt in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington, February 11, 2011. REUTERS/Jason Reed White House budget director Jack Lew said the proposal to be unveiled on Monday puts the government on track to halve the federal budget deficit by the end of Obama’s first term in office, which extends through 2012. “We are reducing programs that are important programs that we care about, and we’re doing what every family does when it sits around its kitchen table: we’re making the choices about what do we need for the future,” Lew said on CNN. One Democrat familiar with the document said that by 2015 or 2016, under Obama’s proposal, federal budget deficits would fall to about 3 percent of GDP, from the current 9.8 percent. But Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, said Obama’s proposed cuts would not do enough to rein in the growing deficit and promised their own plan would go further. “He’s going to present a budget tomorrow that will continue to destroy jobs by spending too much, borrowing too much and taxing too much,” House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Representative Chris Van Hollen, the senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee, warned that many members of Congress “are not going to like the individual” spending cuts contained in the Obama budget. In a telephone interview with Reuters, Van Hollen said, “These are deep cuts but they’re not the hatchet job we’re seeing in the Republicans’ 2011 reductions” that will be debated on the House floor this week. Among Obama’s proposed budget cuts, according to a Democrat who did not want to be identified, are $1 billion in grants to large airports and $1 billion in savings by cutting federal aid to water treatment plants and other infrastructure. The source, who is familiar with the administration’s budget proposal, said that higher Medicare payments for the elderly to doctors over two years would be paid for with spending cuts totaling around $60 billion. CONTENTIOUS DEBATE Obama’s budget proposal kicks off what is certain to be a contentious debate with Republicans, who made big gains in November’s elections fueled by conservative Tea Party activists who want to cut spending and reduce the size of government. Republican House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan would not say whether Republicans would oppose Obama’s plan until he saw the full text. “We’ll see the details of this budget tomorrow, but it looks like to me that it is going to be very small on spending discipline and a lot of new spending so-called investments,” Ryan said on “Fox News Sunday.” The budget deficit is forecast to reach $1.48 trillion this fiscal year, or 9.8 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. This would be down from 10.0 percent of GDP in 2010, but still very high for the United States on a historical basis. The 2012 fiscal year begins on October 1. The White House intends to get two-thirds of the $1.1 trillion in savings from spending cuts and one-third from tax revenues, including closing several tax loopholes, according to sources familiar with the budget. That figure is higher than the $400 billion in savings that Obama promised in his State of the Union address in a five-year spending freeze on non-discretionary domestic spending. “The challenge we have is to live within our means but also invest in the future,” Lew said. For some financial analysts, the Obama proposal was a sign Democrats were serious about deficit reduction. “It’s bullish (for bonds) if it’s anything, but the message is that the Democrats are on the alert after the GOP victory in November to borrow the deficit responsibility agenda. So skepticism aside, we’re impressed,” said David Ader, head of government bond strategy at CRT Capital Group in Connecticut. A Democratic aide said the budget would reduce Pentagon spending by $78 billion over five years. Defense cuts would include the C-17 aircraft, the alternate engine to the Joint Strike Fighter and the Marine Expeditionary Vehicle that the Pentagon says it does not need. Democrats and Republicans in Congress have clashed over how far to go with spending cuts to trim the deficit. Obama argues some spending increases are necessary to make the U.S. economy more competitive, while Republicans push for deeper cuts and oppose any tax hikes. A test of whether the parties can work together will be a deadline in April or May for Congress to approve allowing more federal debt or risk the United States falling into a debt default that could cause economic havoc globally. The White House wants to keep the debate over a long-term fiscal plan separate from the bill to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, and separate from legislation to replace a stop-gap government funding measure for this year that expires on March 4. Boehner refused to rule out the possibility of a government shutdown when that stopgap measure runs out. “Our goal is to reduce spending, it is not to shut down the government,” he said. (Additional reporting by Richard Cowan)
Police near Tacoma, Wash. say they discovered two people shot in the head after a 69-year-old man called authorities and told them he had shot his two adult children. Police arrived at a home in Puyallup, Wash. where they talked the man into putting down his gun after receiving the call around 3:30 a.m. local time, according to King5.com. Inside the home, police found an adult male and an adult female each shot in the head in different rooms, authorities said. The victims appeared to have been shot in their sleep. The female died and the male is reportedly in critical condition at Tacoma General Hospital, according to KING 5. Two young children and the suspect's wife were found in the home unhurt, according to police. Authorities believe the male shooting victim is the father of the two smaller children.
to post! Don't have an account? “Steve!” I whipped around to see my friend and climbing partner sliding towards the abyss. I never saw him again. It was May 1979. Jeff was 19, a tall, amiable guy with a layer of baby fat that belied his strength. We had known each other since fourth grade. We had arrived in Yosemite Valley the night before after a high-speed drive from Los Angeles. Jeff negotiated the winding road into the Valley while I curled up in the passenger seat trying not to heave my guts. I had picked up a nasty case of food poisoning at a Denny’s on Highway 99 that looked iffy even by truck stop standards. After bailing on a fruitless search for a secret climber’s camp we’d heard of, we drove into the crowded Valley to find a place to sleep. I desperately needed to be motionless and horizontal, so when we found a parking place with some promising bushes where we thought we would be able to sleep for a few hours without being rousted I gratefully crawled into my sleeping bag. The sky grew pale lavender after a few miserable hours of intense discomfort. We sat up in our bags and munched a handful of cookies Jeff had brought from home. It was all I could keep down. After a brief discussion of objectives, the piss-poor state of sanitation in corporate-run diners, and life philosophy, we determined that we might as well get on with it. We had decided to tackle an easy route on the Royal Arches as a warm-up for our week in Yosemite. At 5.6 or so, the route would not stress our abilities, but it was long, and promised to be a fun outing. We stuffed our packs with water, munchies, and gear and headed for the approach. Neither of us talked much as we made our way up the broad ledges that lead to the base of the climb. The sun had not yet hit the valley floor. The sweet, dry scent of pine duff, and the otherworldly grandeur of Half Dome filled our senses to overflowing. Pitch after pitch of easy climbing led us ever higher. At each stance it seemed that another dimension of the universe was revealed. At lunch, Jeff regaled me with stories about his sister’s boyfriend Mark. Jeff was very protective of Cheryl, and took pride in telling anyone who would listen about how he kept Mark in line. Once, while Mark was visiting their family he lost his balance and nearly fell backwards onto Cheryl, who lay on the couch behind him. Instinctively, Mark put out a hand to catch his fall, and planted it squarely on her breast. This prompted a vigorous dope slap and peals of laughter from everyone except Mark. Jeff always added at the end, “If she hadn’t smacked him I would have!” That was Jeff in a nutshell. About two-thirds of the way up the difficulties, such as they were, ceased, and all that remained was a few hundred feet of scrambling to the “jungle”, which offered a way through the formidable overhangs at the valley rim. By that time we had spent so much time socializing and ogling the crags that we feared we would not make it down by dark. Neither of us had a flashlight, let alone a headlamp. Minimum-wage food service jobs made even a decent rope seem like a luxury. The climbing was secure. We decided to unrope for speed, and soon reached the traverse that led to the jungle. All that lay between us and the trail back down was a hundred feet or so of low-angle slab glistening here and there with seeps of water over black-stained white granite. We had often talked about our philosophy regarding the use of protection. In 1979 the current practice of push climbing, extreme soloing, and lightening-fast, minimalist ascents were just barely being established. We had absorbed everything we could about Reinhold Messner, and other star alpinists. Although we both knew we were far from that league, we enjoyed the thought that we too could apply their approach to our own climbing. We felt bold, even daring. I set out in the lead. The slabs were trickier than they appeared. The holds were covered in powdery dust and pine needles. I spent as much time excavating as I did climbing. With the tree-covered ledge just a few yards away I encountered the last obstacle; a broad stream of water that was just a bit too wide to step over. I had made the mistake of trying to use a foothold in one of these seeps near the start of the traverse, only to discover that the black discoloration was not some benign chemical reaction of water and mineral, but a skating rink-slick film of algae. For a gut-wrenching instant I felt my center of gravity accelerate towards the valley floor. I yelled back at Jeff to avoid the water, and pressed on, now so intensely focused on my movement that the only thing that existed for me was the placement of hands and feet on rock. I quickly ruled out a step across, since if I lost my balance even a little bit, there would be nothing between me and eternity except the time it took to hit the valley floor. Fortunately, it was much narrower about ten feet up. I moved up, stepped across, and ran into the trees. I yelled over at Jeff to stay put, that I was going to set up a belay for him. I don’t know if he heard me, or just disregarded my advice. I was uncoiling the rope when I heard him scream. I don’t know how others who have witnessed death respond to the experience, but I find it hard to imagine that anyone could escape the sense of unreality I felt. I was at once intensely focused, and watching my own actions as though I were a disinterested bystander. On full autopilot, I tied one end of the rope to a sling around a tree, and the other end to my swami belt. In the interest of speed, I eschewed setting up a mechanical brake for a Dulfersitz rappel, ignoring the burning on my neck as I called out Jeff’s name. It was an act that was as necessary as it was hopeless. I knew that once he went over the edge there was nothing between him and the ground for over a thousand feet. Hanging at the end of the rope I overcame my fear of what I might see and scanned the ground for any sign of my friend. Nothing. I batmanned back up the rope, collected the gear, and ran as fast as I could down the steep climber’s trail. Just as I reached the outskirts of a campground I stopped dead in my tracks. In front of me were three deer. They stood motionless except for their huge ears, which twitched as flies buzzed around their heads. I fancied for a moment that my friend’s spirit had taken up temporary lodging in their bodies, their big brown eyes were his, looking at me with tenderness, as though they wanted to comfort me. We stared at each other, and then I raced on. A family of four was kind enough to stop when I ran into the middle of the road outside Yosemite Village, waving my arms and yelling, “My friend has fallen! I need help!” I sat squished in next a young boy and gobs of car-camping paraphernalia until they pulled up in front of the Park Headquarters. I called out a hurried “Thanks!” and bolted for the front door. When the climbing rangers hauled out a pile of binders filled with glossy black and white aerial photos of every crag in the valley it struck me how utterly commonplace my situation was. Their unhurried, methodical approach to the situation clashed with my sense of urgency. I was frustrated when each statement I made was greeted with a calm, “Are you sure?” Yes, damn it, I’m sure. And I was appalled when they said they would wait until first light to go look for him. What they knew, and what I refused to admit, was that this was not a rescue. It was a recovery. I was given a camp site and told to wait until I was contacted. Despite my exhaustion, I couldn’t sleep. I kept wondering if they would make me identify the body. On one hand, I would be willing to do almost anything for Jeff, but on the other, I wasn’t sure I could handle seeing his broken corpse. I finally fell asleep cocooned in the car around dawn. A couple hours later there was a knock at the window. A uniformed ranger informed me that they had found Jeff. They didn’t need me to identify him. The magnificent valley that the day before had filled us with a sense of wonder now seemed oppressive. The towering cliffs were imbued with a sinister, threatening power that made me want to get out of there just as fast as humanly possible. Before leaving I made a phone call I never want to make again. I called Jeff’s house. I suspected the rangers had already called the family, but I had to call them myself. Mark answered. “Did you hear about Jeff?” I asked. “Yeah. He’s dead.” It was hard not to imagine a tone of accusation in his voice, though if there was he never said so. There wasn’t much else to say except that I would be home in a few hours. The long drive back seemed empty. Jeff should have been sitting beside me. He should have been driving. We should have been talking about our adventures, close calls, and dreams of the future. We should have been commiserating about our crappy jobs and the price of climbing gear. He should have been telling me for the umpteenth time about how Mark had accidentally groped his sister in front of the whole family. Back in LA I was asked if I planned to continue climbing, and simultaneously urged not to give it up. Although quitting climbing was the furthest thing from my mind, it was the last thing I wanted to think about. I wanted to understand what it meant for my friend to be dead. I wanted to know how the world would be different, and how it would remain the same. That evening my buddies Tom and Robert wanted to go to the beach. As we sat on the rocks at Malaga Cove pitching stones into the gently lapping waves of the Pacific Ocean, even tears seemed futile. A jug of wine, and then another disappeared into our grief, and still the grief remained. Our parents pooled their money and rented a motor home for the three of us to drive up to Yosemite, then over Tioga Pass and down to Bishop, where the funeral was to take place. In retrospect it seems the height of folly to give three grieving teenagers the keys to the car, but that’s what they did. We drove and drank, drank and drove, imagining that we were somehow “maintaining”. We survived, and eventually arrived in the Valley, bleary-eyed, hung over, staring up at the Royal Arches. Tom and Robert wanted to know all the details, but I had few to offer. The few things I wanted to say they didn’t want to hear. I had done nothing wrong, I was told, but I knew that his death was partly my fault, and I felt horribly sorry. Jeff died doing something he loved, they said, but it seemed to me that what mattered was that he lived doing what he loved, and it was just a damn tragedy that he had to die while doing it. The valley walls pressed in on my mind like those action movie rooms that suddenly begin to shrink on their occupants, threatening to crush them unless the hero finds a way either to escape or stop their progress. We buried Jeff in 100-degree heat just outside Bishop. Jeff’s family thought he would like it there. During the service I kept gazing off to the west, towards the enormous hulk of Mt. Tom, and the jaunty trapezoidal summit block of Mt. Humphreys. Jeff didn’t want to be in the ground. He wanted to be up there, and I wish he were as well.
Juan Williams: My Words Were 'Not A Bigoted Statement' toggle caption FoxNews.com Update at 8:30 p.m. ET. There's a fresh post here headlined "Juan Williams: NPR Went After Me Because 'I Appear On Fox'." Update at 4:30 p.m. ET. Juan Williams, the news analyst who had his contract with NPR terminated earlier today after comments he made about Muslims were deemed by editors to violate the network's standards, has now posted a piece on FoxNews.com with the headline "I Was Fired For Telling The Truth." In it, he writes that in his opinion NPR has: "Used an honest statement of feeling as the basis for a charge of bigotry to create a basis for firing me. Well, now that I no longer work for NPR let me give you my opinion. This is an outrageous violation of journalistic standards and ethics by management that has no use for a diversity of opinion, ideas or a diversity of staff (I was the only black male on the air). This is evidence of one-party rule and one sided thinking at NPR that leads to enforced ideology, speech and writing. It leads to people, especially journalists, being sent to the gulag for raising the wrong questions and displaying independence of thought." NPR CEO Vivian Schiller told the network's David Folkenflik earlier today, though, that "our reporters, our hosts and our news analysts should not be injecting their own views about a controversial issue as part of their story. They should be reporting the story." Meanwhile, the Tribune bureau in Washington writes that Williams has signed "a new three-year contract for nearly $2 million" with Fox News. If you're just catching up to this story, scroll down and "read up" if you prefer to see things chronologically. Later, when Fox News' O'Reilly Factor goes on the air at 8 p.m. ET (Williams will be a guest), we'll be back to update The Two-Way with what's said. Update at 3:30 p.m. ET. NPR CEO Vivian Schiller just released this statement: "I spoke hastily and I apologize to Juan and others for my thoughtless remark." That follows, as you'll see below, her comment earlier today that now-former NPR news analyst Juan Williams should have kept his feelings about Muslims between himself and "his psychiatrist or his publicist." Update at 3 p.m. ET. NPR Ombudsman: Williams Should Have Been Given Choice: Rather than terminating news analyst Juan Williams' contract, "probably the better thing for NPR to have done is to have said 'Juan the situation is not working,' " NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard just said on Talk of the Nation. Then, she continued, Williams could have been given a choice: If he wanted to stay at NPR, he would have to stop doing commentary on Fox News Channel. Or, if he preferred to continue with Fox, he and NPR could part ways. We noted earlier that Alicia has previously written about the perceived conflicts between Williams' roles at NPR and Fox. She's planning to publish a post about his termination within the hour. Update, at 2:20 p.m. ET: NPR CEO Vivian Schiller says Williams should have kept his views about Muslims to himself, "his psychiatrist or his publicist." Update at 12:40 p.m. ET: Since we first put this post up at 8:38 a.m. ET, the story of the termination of news analyst Juan Williams' contract with NPR over remarks he made on Fox News Channel about Muslims has only gotten hotter. Williams was on Fox this morning and defended what he said earlier this week on The O'Reilly Factor -- that he gets "nervous" if he's at an airport and sees "people who are in Muslim garb." "It's not a bigoted statement," Williams said today on Fox. "I said what I meant to say, that it's an honest experience. ... I have a moment of anxiety, of fear, given what happened on 9/11." The Fox video from earlier today is here. Meanwhile, reaction continues to pour in: -- It's "total censorship," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-GA, said on Fox News this morning. He called on Congress to investigate. -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who now hosts a show on Fox, issued a statement saying "I will no longer accept interview requests from NPR as long as they are going to practice a form of censorship, and since NPR is funded with public funds, it IS a form of censorship. It is time for the taxpayers to start making cuts to federal spending, and I encourage the new Congress to start with NPR." For the record, here's a link to charts that break down where NPR and its member stations get their money. -- Former Alaska governor, 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and Fox News contributor Sarah Palin tweeted that "NPR defends 1st Amendment Right, but will fire u if u exercise it. Juan Williams: u got taste of Left's hypocrisy,they screwed up firing you." -- As for the liberal side, Earl Ofari Hutchinson writes at The Huffington Postthat if NPR "had the ounce of integrity and fairness that it incessantly brags about (it) should have dumped Williams a long time ago for his equally great offense. And that's his two decade con job as a liberal, civil rights expert and even supporter." Fox News' Bill O'Reilly (it was on his show where Williams made the comment about Muslims), just said on the air that Juan will be back on The O'Reilly Factor tonight. Our original post -- "After Comments About Muslims, NPR Terminates Juan Williams' Contract": "NPR News has terminated the contract of longtime news analyst Juan Williams after remarks he made on the Fox News Channel about Muslims," the network's David Folkenflik writes this morning. It's some of the hotter news on the Web right now. Here's the statement NPR from CEO Vivian Schiller and Senior Vice President for News Ellen Weiss released just after midnight: "Tonight we gave Juan Williams notice that we are terminating his contract as a Senior News Analyst for NPR News. "Juan has been a valuable contributor to NPR and public radio for many years and we did not make this decision lightly or without regret. However, his remarks on The O’Reilly Factor this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a News Analyst with NPR. "We regret these circumstances and thank Juan Williams for his many years of service to NPR and public radio." As for what Juan said on O'Reilly, as David writes: "O'Reilly has been looking for support for his own remarks on a recent episode of ABC's The View in which he directly blamed Muslims for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set in the middle of his appearance. "Williams responded: 'Look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.' "Williams also warned O'Reilly against blaming all Muslims for 'extremists,' saying Christians shouldn't be blamed for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh." Conservative bloggers and commentators, such as Michelle Malkin, are weighing in. She says NPR "caved into left-wing attack dogs." From the left, Salon's Glenn Greenwald sees what Juan said as "anti-Muslim bigotry." NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard has previously blogged about "Juan Williams, NPR and Fox News" and that he has been a "lightning rod" for things he's said while providing commentary on Fox. We won't be surprised if Alicia writes about Juan's termination in coming days. You can send comments to her here. Juan told David late last night that he isn't ready yet to talk about what's happened.
Cuban has, at the same time, teased journalists with rising frequency about a potential 2020 bid for the presidency. Business Insider recently discussed Cuban's newfound political profile - his possible future presidential plans - in an email exchange with Cuban, the owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and star of ABC's "Shark Tank." This interview was edited for clarity. Allan Smith: What does your family think about your expanding political presence? Mark Cuban: We discussed how much of a threat I believed Trump to be. We discussed why it was important to me to get involved. That if I could have an impact and didn't try, it would have left me guessing forever. Even having tried and failed, we all feel like we started on the right path and set a foundation to have a platform and voice for the future. Smith: You gave a pretty good teasy quote to CNBC at [South by Southwest] about a future run. Late last year, you were saying it was a definite "no" when asked [about a future presidential bid.] What changed? Cuban: The obvious. What I do depends on how things play out for the country. Smith: How has becoming more vocal on politics affected your businesses? And what do you have to say to critics who think it's been a negative for the Mavs? : Nothing one way or the other. For every hate email there was a positive one as well. Remember, Clinton won Dallas County. Smith: IF you ever decided to run, what would you do with your businesses? Cuban: I have so many private business investments that it would be impossible to sell them. I would put them in a blind trust but make it clear I would still be available on a limited basis for those companies. It wouldn't be fair to those companies if I just bailed on them. I would also be very transparent - truly transparent about what I was doing. And yes, I would make my [tax] returns available. Smith: Some people have compared your entry into politics to Trump's, who spent years building up a political brand by giving his opinions on all kinds of issues on places like CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and so on. Do you see any similarities? Cuban: No. He has talked about running for office for 30 years. I started talking about politics this year, after avoiding them the last almost 20 years, because I thought it was important to do so. Smith: Any thoughts on the American Health Care Act? [Editor's note: Business Insider asked prior to the bill's failure, and the question was originally framed around House Speaker Paul Ryan.] Cuban: All involved are ignoring the basic question. And I think Sen. [Bernie] Sanders brought this up, is healthcare a right or an opportunity in the United States? I believe that, given we all face the exact same genetic and wrong place, wrong time risks, coverage of most chronic and life-threatening illnesses or injuries should be a right.
Jeb Bush is out, Bernie Sanders is down ... and the race is shaping up for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Three time zones apart, the eight presidential candidates from two parties vied for the hearts, minds and votes of South Carolina and Nevada. And if Saturday night’s results were any indication, many Americans are starting to really see the 2016 campaign as an opportunity for revolution. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Trump speaks at his election night party in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images Here are a few quick takeaways from the third round of a gauntlet toward the White House: Bush family values only get you so far Nearly every Republican presidential candidate applauded the campaign run by Jeb Bush, who dropped out after a bitterly disappointing fourth-place finish in South Carolina, a state that helped make the Bush dynasty. Ted Cruz called him “a man who ran a campaign based on ideas, based on policy, based on substance – a man who didn’t go to the gutter and engage in insults and attacks”, a clear reference to Donald Trump . called him “a man who ran a campaign based on ideas, based on policy, based on substance – a man who didn’t go to the gutter and engage in insults and attacks”, a clear reference to . “He’s the greatest governor in the history of Florida, and I believe and I pray that his service to our country has not ended,” said Marco Rubio, Bush’s one-time protégé who vanquished the mentor and came second by a tiny margin over third-place finisher Cruz. And yet ... Despite his principled stand against Trump – Bush was, for a stretch, the only candidate willing to take on the New York billionaire – the voters wouldn’t, or couldn’t, embrace him. The success of Cruz’s campaign tactics in Iowa and, to a point, in South Carolina only underscore the reality that a willingness to play hard and even dirty is the most effective weapon in a campaign like this. Clinton has cooled the Bern – for now A few months ago, Hillary Clinton was expecting to take the Nevada caucuses at a walk. A loss on Saturday would have represented an existential crisis for Clinton, but a single-digit win in a diverse, working-class state like Nevada is hardly the victory the former secretary of state was hoping for. South Carolina and the so-called “Super Tuesday” states of the deep south promise to be more hospitable ground for Clinton. But it’s going to take the kind of work that usually stops after the New Hampshire primaries. Verdict: we shall see. The Republican ‘establishment’ still doesn’t have a candidate Bush was frequently criticized for selfishly using his Smaug cave’s worth of campaign cash to wage a one-man war against Marco Rubio, who many in the Republican establishment see as the party’s best chance at winning the White House in the general election. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mr Second-Place. Photograph: Erik S. Lesser/EPA Should Bush drop out, the criticism went, Rubio’s road to the nomination would be cleared for mainstream Republican support. But even with Bush gone, Ohio governor John Kasich remains in the race, galvanized by his surprise second-place finish in the New Hampshire primaries and ready for a long-haul primary campaign until his home state votes on 15 March. Even if every one of Bush’s supporters had voted for Rubio in South Carolina, the Florida senator still would have come in second to Trump, who won 32.5% of the vote. Rubio needs every “establishment” vote the polity has to offer, and Kasich has no intention of giving them up without a fight. Meanwhile, Trump’s delegate count will continue to climb ... Donald Trump has cleared a path to the nomination Yes, you read that right. With the notable exception of the 2012 primary campaign, every candidate who has won two of the first three contests has secured the Republican nomination. Trump captured a guaranteed 29 delegates from Saturday’s win in South Carolina, and the likelihood is that he’ll win the vast majority of the state’s remaining 21 district-based delegates, too. As the great man said: “When you win, it’s beautiful.” Trump is now on the verge of having more than twice as many delegates as his nearest Republican rival. Cruz and Rubio may decry “the pundits” who have called the race for Trump, but mathematics don’t lie. You say you want a revolution? Well, almost Two months ago, Clinton’s lead in Nevada appeared nearly insurmountable. Six months ago, the notion that the billionaire Donald Trump could actually win two primaries would have gotten you locked in a padded room. And yet ... here we are. Dissatisfaction with the political status quo is no longer easily dismissed as the capricious anger of the perennially dissatisfied; it’s the motivating force behind the two most ascendent political campaigns on the national stage. Oh, and expect Ben Carson to drop out after the Nevada caucuses on Tuesday – earlier, if he has to go home for a fresh change of clothes.
FOXBORO — Malcolm Butler actually called his shot last week. The only problem? He somehow underestimated himself. In a Gillette Stadium meeting room, Butler told his fellow defensive backs that he was going to get a pair of interceptions in the Patriots’ Christmas Eve game against the Jets. He did just that, to give him a career-high four picks this season, and he added a fumble recovery for good measure. It was the latest in a string of strong performances for the impending free agent, and Butler’s surge has mirrored the defense’s rise as a whole. Though he has had some historic moments and impressive stretches in the past, this might be the best he has ever played. “You could possibly say that,” Butler nodded. “Just trying to keep making plays, do whatever to help the team and steadily build off the momentum.” Over the past four weeks, quarterbacks targeting Butler are 6-for-15 (40 percent) for 126 yards, three interceptions and a 30.8 passer rating, and Butler has three pass breakups. Those numbers are even more impressive when looking closer, as Butler allowed a 66-yarder to Rams wideout Kenny Britt during garbage time and surrendered a 21-yarder to Broncos receiver Emmanuel Sanders with the outcome in hand. Take away those two connections, and Butler allowed an average of less than 10 yards per game in competitive coverage situations. Butler has had a solid season, allowing two or fewer completions in eight of his 15 games, including the last three. He also leads the team with four picks and 14 pass breakups. “Malcolm is an exceptional football player,” safety Duron Harmon said. “We all see it week in and week out. He plays man-to-man probably as good as anyone in the NFL. When he plays at a high level, it elevates everybody else. It elevates the defense. It makes the job for the safeties a lot easier when you know Malcolm is basically canceling that one guy over there.” Butler will become a restricted free agent if the two sides don’t reach a contract extension. Surely, it’d make plenty of sense for the Patriots to hit Butler with a first-round tender, estimated at about $4 million for the 2017 season, and invite another team to negotiate a below-market deal that the Pats would then match. But since the Pats are staring at $61 million in salary-cap space in 2017, which is the second most in the league, they could opt for the more aggressive approach without fearing any financial repercussions. It’d also eliminate the chance of a competitor bowling over Butler with a massive offer sheet. The Steelers, for instance, could upgrade their cornerbacks, will own a low first-round pick, have $37 million in projected cap space and may seek a dose of revenge after the Pats tried to pry away Emmanuel Sanders in 2013. Butler steered clear of discussing his contract status, merely stating his play takes precedence. His performance will warrant a lucrative deal, and there’s no longer any denying Butler’s sustainability with the defense after his career essentially launched with a Super Bowl interception that may never be topped, by himself or anyone else. Butler’s numbers are better across the board this season. Last year, he allowed 50 completions on 94 targets (53.2 percent) for 822 yards (51.4 per game), seven touchdowns and two interceptions for a 98.2 passer rating. He was flagged seven times. Through 15 games in 2016, quarterbacks are 46-of-89 (51.7 percent) for 692 yards (46.1 per game), four scores and four picks for a 73.8 rating. Butler matched last season’s total with 14 pass breakups and has been flagged just three times in coverage. Considering Butler will turn 27 in March, his progression should have been expected. “I’m still learning every day, still learning from mistakes,” he said. “The mistakes help you. You’re going to have some good ones. You’re going to have some bad ones. But most of all, you want to stay consistent and try to play the best way you can.” Last week, Butler was anxious to make up for a difficult performance against the Jets in Week 12 when he allowed two touchdowns and seven completions without an incompletion for the first time in his career. This week, it’s more of the same, as he gets another crack at Dolphins wideout Jarvis Landry, who in Week 2 joined Steelers receiver Antonio Brown as the only players to beat Butler for 100 yards in a game. It’d be a nice time for Butler to continue his dominant stretch, especially with the playoffs on the horizon, as well as a Brinks truck shortly thereafter. But he’ll continue to compartmentalize because short-term success breeds long-term gains, unless he’s got another shot to call. “Just sticking to the grind, working hard no matter the situation,” Butler said. “Just going out there and trying to execute the game plan.”
In a surprising move, the Los Angeles Kings terminated the lengthy contract of two-time Stanley Cup champion Mike Richards on Monday. It was expected that the Kings would buy out the remaining five years of the underperforming center's 12-year contract -- the team placed him on unconditional waivers on Sunday -- but they resorted to terminating him for being in violation of his contract. The Kings would not specify why they terminated the contract of veteran Mike Richards, who still had five years remaining on his deal at $5.75 million per season. Jared Silber/NHLI/Getty Images The Kings did not say why Richards is in violation of the deal, although several sources told ESPN.com it involves an off-the-ice incident. "The Los Angeles Kings today have exercised the team's right to terminate the contract of Mike Richards for a material breach of the requirements of his Standard Player's Contract," the Kings said in a statement. According to a source, the Kings did inform the league about their intent to terminate Richards' contract, even before putting him on unconditional waivers Sunday. The NHL Players' Association has a right to file a grievance for Richards and is in the process of gathering information before deciding whether to take that route. "We are in the process of reviewing the facts and circumstances of this matter, and will discuss the situation with the player in order to determine the appropriate course of action," NHLPA spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon said in a statement. Several sources told ESPN.com the Kings were made aware of the situation Friday, approximately an hour after the first round of the 2015 NHL draft had begun. The team was already in the process of trying to trade him -- discussions were in place with both the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames -- but Kings general manager Dean Lombardi immediately informed both teams upon learning about the situation that he had no prior knowledge of the incident and halted those talks, according to a source. Editor's Picks Strang: What does Richards contract termination mean for Kings? Terminating Mike Richards' contract could get the Kings out of a deal that threatened to haunt them for years. "He came right over to me," Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli confirmed to ESPN.com. "He pulled me aside and said, 'Hey, Pete, this is going to come out. I had no idea. This is important you know so that talks [don't go any] further.'" Lombardi did the same with Flames GM Brad Treliving on the draft floor, Treliving confirmed. It is not immediately clear when said incident took place. Richards was earning $5.75 million per season as part of a $69 million deal that was scheduled to run out in 2020. Richards, 30, had cleared unconditional waivers on Sunday. The deadline for the first buyout window is June 30. The move to terminate the contract means Richards' $5.75 million cap hit will not count against the team's salary cap, and the veteran immediately becomes an unrestricted free agent. Although the team is no longer on the hook for his cap charge, the cap-recapture penalties are effective immediately. The Kings could have used a compliance buyout on him last summer -- the last window in the new CBA for teams to do so without a cap penalty -- but Lombardi, out of loyalty to Richards and believing that the veteran center would bounce back and raise his level of play, decided not to. Lombardi told ESPN.com in an interview earlier this month that he regretted not exercising the compliance buyout on the Kenora, Ontario, native. "It could be the worst decision I've ever made," he said. "But for all the right reasons." ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun and Craig Custance contributed to this report.
LA Galaxy is one the most successful clubs in North America. The players' success with the club often results in those players receiving call-ups to represent their national team. Since 1998, the Galaxy has had 18 players from 8 different nations participate in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The club has had players represent Canada, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, and the United States in the tournament. The 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup has five LA Galaxy players participating in the tournament, the most in LA Galaxy and Gold Cup history. 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup Mauricio Cienfuegos (El Salvador) Martin Machon (Guatemala) 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup Robin Fraser (United States) Cobi Jones (United States) Greg Vanney (United States) 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup Danny Califf (United States) Cobi Jones (United States) 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup Carlos Ruiz (Guatemala) Tyrone Marshall (Jamaica) Danny Califf (United States) 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup Michael Umaña (Costa Rica) Guillermo Ramirez (Guatemala) Tyrone Marshall (Jamaica) Landon Donovan (United States) 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup Kevin Harsme (Canada) Ante Jazic (Canada) Landon Donovan (United States) 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup Donovan Ricketts (Jamaica) 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Donovan Ricketts (Jamaica) Landon Donovan (United States) 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup Landon Donovan (United States) Omar Gonzalez (United States) 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup Giovani Dos Santos (Mexico) Jaime Penedo (Panama) Omar Gonzalez (United States) Alan Gordon (United States) Gyasi Zardes (United States) Only five LA Galaxy players have scored in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, combining for a total of 16 goals. Landon Donovan leads the three with thirteen goals during his time on the roster. No LA Galaxy player has ever scored a hat trick during the tournament. 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup Cobi Jones (United States) vs. Haiti, Peru 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup Carlos Ruiz (Guatemala) vs. Colombia 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup Landon Donovan (United States) vs. Cuba (double), Canada 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup Landon Donovan (United States) vs. El Salvador, Panama, Canada, Mexico 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Landon Donovan (United States) vs. Mexico 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup Landon Donovan (United States) vs. Belize, Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras (double) 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup Gyasi Zardes (United States) vs. Cuba Omar Gonzalez (United States) vs. Cuba Of the five LA Galaxy players to score in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Landon Donovan is the only player to have finished the tournament as the top scorer, having done so twice. On both occasions, Landon shared the Golden Boot award with another player. 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup Landon Donovan (United States: 3 goals) 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup Landon Donovan (United States: 5 goals) Landon Donovan is also the only LA Galaxy player to win the MVP/Golden Ball award of the Gold Cup, having done so in the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup. This was a memorable tournament for Landon, as it was his return to regular international play following his sabbatical in early 2013. Donovan finished the tournament having scored five goals and providing seven assists. Of the eighteen LA Galaxy players to participate in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, only five players have won the tournament while being part of the club. Landon Donovan won it three times during his time with the Galaxy, making him the player with the most Gold Cup wins. In 2015, Giovani Dos Santos became the first player that isn't American to win the tournament. Giovani Dos Santos (Mexico: 2015) Danny Califf (United States: 2002) Landon Donovan (United States: 2005, 2007, 2013) Omar Gonzalez (United States: 2013) Cobi Jones (United States: 2002) StubHub Center (formerly known as the Home Depot Center) has hosted a variety of CONCACAF Gold Cup matches since it opened in 2003. Every match has taken place during the group stage phase of the tournament. No Galaxy player has ever scored at StubHub Center during their Gold Cup participation. 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup South Africa vs. Mexico Guatemala vs. Jamaica 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup United States vs. Guatemala El Salvador vs. Trinidad and Tobago Guatemala vs. El Salvador Trinidad and Tobago vs. United States 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup Canada vs. Jamaica Costa Rica vs. El Salvador 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Jamaica vs. Grenada Honduras vs. Guatemala 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup Costa Rica vs. Jamaica El Salvador vs. Canada
Brazile: GOP's 2012 game plan is to keep voters home Across America, Republican lawmakers have talked a big game about cutting budgets, but they also are seeking reductions to something much more fundamental: Americans' voting rights. From coast to coast, the GOP is engaged in what appears to be a coordinated, expensive effort to block voters from the polls. The motivation is political — a cynical effort to restrict voting by traditionally Democratic-leaning Americans. In more than 30 states, GOP legislators are on the move, from a sweeping rewrite of Florida's election laws to new rules for photo identification in Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina and more than 20 other states. USA TODAY OPINION Columns In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes a variety of opinions from outside writers. On political and policy matters, we publish opinions from across the political spectrum. Roughly half of our columns come from our Board of Contributors, a group whose interests range from education to religion to sports to the economy. Their charge is to chronicle American culture by telling the stories, large and small, that collectively make us what we are. We also publish weekly columns by Al Neuharth, USA TODAY's founder, and DeWayne Wickham, who writes primarily on matters of race but on other subjects as well. That leaves plenty of room for other views from across the nation by well-known and lesser-known names alike. Contributors Board How to submit a column As a result, 11% of Americans —21 million citizens of voting age who lack proper photo identification — could be turned away on Election Day. And these people tend to be most highly concentrated among people of color, the poor, the young and the old. Florida's mess The Florida Legislature recently sent an overhaul of the state's election code to Republican Gov. Rick Scott. Among other things, this bill would slash early voting from 14 days down to eight. And it would, according to the non-partisan League of Women Voters, impose fines on voter registration drives for all completed voter registration forms that are not returned to the state within 48 hours — a big reduction from the current 10-day deadline. Yet another hurdle: Voters who had moved to another county (potentially millions of people) would not be able to update their addresses at the polls on Election Day. Under the proposed law, these voters would have to cast a provisional ballot, which used to be cast when a voter's eligibility was questioned. Such ballots sometimes are not counted. Do we really want to see Florida's 2000 election controversy replayed? In the states pushing for strict photo ID requirements, Republican lawmakers have argued that voter impersonators need to be stopped. Yet in Ohio or Wisconsin — two swing states where GOP legislatures are pushing for mandates — there is no record of this ever happening. Unnecessary, costly But not all Republicans support voter IDs. Jon Husted, Ohio's secretary of state, says "a better way" would be to rely on a utility bill, government-issued check, or bank statement at the polling place — as now permitted in Ohio. In the largest disconnect from their campaign rhetoric, Republicans ignore the high cost of these laws. In the four years since Indiana passed the nation's first such requirement, it has spent more than $10 million to provide free state ID cards. The Institute for Southern Studies estimated that a similar ID law in North Carolina would cost $18 million to $25 million over three years — money that could be used to keep cops on the street or teachers in the classroom. So these voting hurdles won't improve the integrity of our elections, but they will change the face of the electorate. President Obama was swept into office with overwhelming support from newly registered voters, minority voters and youth voters. I suppose it's not a surprise, then, that heading into the 2012 election, these are the groups who will be most affected by these restrictions. In my career, I have felt the elation of a hard-fought, successful campaign and the crushing defeat of an equally grueling loss. I've learned that campaigns are about which side makes the more compelling case to the electorate. This is what makes our democracy great. What the GOP is attempting to do is change the rules of the game, leaving only their players on the field. Donna Brazile, former interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, is a syndicated columnist, an author and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to For more information about reprints & permissions , visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com . Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com
Originally Posted by Naoki_Yoshida Originally Posted by Hi, this is Producer/Director Yoshida here. I understand your concern on the number of concurrent users. Actually the world merge is currently in plan. We will first analyze the number of players in the game after the billing service begins. Based on that analysis, we will be running a simulation where the maximum concurrent access during the peak hours will become somewhere around 1500 to 2000 per World. * The above number is provisional and not a finalized number. And with the method on how the world merge will be done, it will not be done in a simple method where World A and World B will merge into a single new World. In order for EU players to gather on the same server in a certain mass, we are planning to go with the method where the players from a World with a less population can designate the World they wish to transfer to. With the details such as when and how it will be done, they will be announced once they are confirmed. (I'm assuming that the next update should become available in mid-January.)
A GLOBAL asset management firm says Telstra is "uninvestable" as the telco continues to be plagued by election uncertainty. Bennelong Security Global Investors portfolio manager Scott Klimo said election doubt and Telstra's shaky guidance (as its shares languish at all-time lows) meant he could not recommend the stock to any client. SGI manages assets worth more than $21 billion, but no Telstra stock. "At the end of the day, there is just too much uncertainty to consider Telstra as an investment candidate for our portfolio or anybody's portfolio, and the market is coming to the same conclusion," Mr Klimo said. Read Next Telstra stock shed another 4c yesterday to hit $2.76, almost $1 less than the share price investors paid the government in 2006. On Monday, Telstra shares dropped 19c to hit a record low of $2.75 when the company went ex-dividend with a 14c payout to shareholders. The telco's stock has suffered as the fate of its $11 billion deal with the government to participate in the national broadband network hinges on a Labor victory. Mr Klimo said election doubt was hurting all of the nation's listed telecommunication companies, but Telstra was hit hardest because of its poor showing in recent financial results. "Their performance has been quite dire and when management comes out and gives guidance of high single-digit EBITDA declines, it's just uninvestable," he said. "Even if Labor wins the election and the national broadband network goes ahead, Telstra is still left with this transitional period between 2010 and 2013 and 2014 before the network gets up and running and Telstra will have to manage its business within that window. "I think it will be very difficult for them to come up with any conviction in how they will perform in that environment in terms of their cashflow generation, their margins and their ability to continue to remain defensive." The Coalition has pledged to scrap the NBN should it gain enough support to form a minority government. In that event Telstra's $11bn deal with the government would be worthless. If the Coalition win, Telstra could remain vertically integrated, allowing it to milk its monopoly copper network for longer, but analysts have started to turn against this as a favoured outcome as the telco continues to bleed revenues from its fixed line business at unprecedented rates. "Telstra's yield is attractive no doubt, but to say whether the stock is cheap or expensive we need to get more certainty on its earnings base and trajectory. Investors are and will likely remain a bit cautious until we find out the election outcome, the NBN and see what comes from the strategy day in September," Nomura analyst Sachin Gupta said. Mr Klimo lamented Labor's NBN, saying global investors would be more willing to invest in local telecommunications stock if governments did not intervene in markets. "As an American my preference is that governments stay out of the private sector because the history of that sort of thing is not particularly enviable," he said. "These are services that should be provided by the private sector. I understand the arguments that you need to provide (broadband) access to people all around the country and that it's difficult for private enterprise to provide that on a cost-effective basis, but on the other hand is it that important?" Setting the agenda for Australia's $150BN agribusiness sector The program for Australia's premier agribusiness conference - The Global Food Forum - is set. Hear from more than 30 industry leaders including PepsiCo's CEO, Danny Celoni, Jayne Hrdlicka, CEO of A2 Milk Company, Barry Irvin, Executive Chairman, Bega Cheese and Costco's Managing Director, Patrick Noone. Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park Book Now
US President Barack Obama is on a three-day, three state bus tour to discuss his plans for helping the country's economic recovery [EPA] Journalists are not supposed to have political opinions, and yet we all do. Our "biases" are usually disguised, not blatant or overtly partisan, and can be divined in what stories we cover and how we cover them. Even "just the facts, ma'am" journos for big media have to decide which facts to include and which to ignore. Our outlooks are always shaped by our worldviews, values and experience, not too mention the outlets we work for. Which brings me to the challenge of seeking truth and recognising it when you see it. I have to admit that I was seduced by the idea of Barack Obama. Here's a guy who seemed really smart, not just because he went to Harvard but because professors there I liked were impressed with him. (I taught at Harvard, and know very well how many not-so-smart many students there are!) In the end, it doesn't mean much, but in that period he lived about a block away from the house I once shared on Dartmouth Street in Somerville. Is that a degree of separation? He had been a community organiser, starting in politics at the grass roots in Chicago. I also worked at Saul Alinsky-style organising and even knew the master organiser personally. Is that another degree? Top-down elitism I didn't know how close he later gravitated to the Chicago political machine or tried, but failed, to knock off the former Black Panther-turned-Chicago congressman, Bobby Rush, in a primary. He's invoked the spirit of the civil rights movement but was not part of it. He treated Dr Martin Luther King as a monument before the new memorial, embracing him as a symbol of the past, not as a guide to the future. He took an anti-war stance on pragmatic grounds only, preferring Afghanistan to Iraq. He hasn't extricated us from either battlefield. His strategy borrowed heavily from the Bush Doctrine. What's the difference, really, as US troops now intervene worldwide? There was a lot I didn't know. I didn't know the backgrounds of those that groomed him and funded him. His relationship with the DLC was murky as were the details on the services he performed for a shadowy firm, Business International, said to have CIA links. There were those who warned, but I guess I didn't want to listen. In a way, I didn't want to reinforce my own skepticism and sense of betrayal over the years. I feigned at being hopeful even as I took quite a few critical whacks at his positions in my blog. His deviations from a liberal agenda and his paens to the "free market" were seen as necessary for his "electability". I was also influenced by the euphoria overseas which had become infectious and has since soured. To be honest, I was so disgusted with eight years of George Bush for all the reasons we know, that I wanted him gone full stop, as did millions of Americans. Hillary didn't appeal to me, not because she's a woman but because of her slavish affinity for the Israel lobby and centrist Democrats. (Yes, Obama did his mea-culpa to AIPAC too!) I was denounced as a super-sexist by a few for not buying into her Clintonista crusade. She had gone from a student advocate to part of a ruling family; he went from bottom-up activism to top-down elitism. When she joined his "team", you knew they were always in the same league. The idea of a black President, the idea of a young President, the idea of a man married to a stand-up woman from a working-class family had appeal. When the right bashed him for associating with radical Bill Ayers, whom I knew, it made me suspect he might even be cooler than I thought, even as he raced to distance himself. His membership in Reverend Wright's church hinted at a deeper consciousness until he buckled in the media heat and threw the man that married him under the bus. And yet, I wanted to believe because I needed to believe, needed to believe it was possible to change the American behemoth, to believe that, as he kept saying, "it could be different this time". As the late writer David Foster Wallace put it, "In the day-to-day trenches of adult life … there is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship … else (what) you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things - if they are where you tap real meaning in life - then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough." So, in a sense, I became a worshipper like so many, not of the man or the dance he was doing in an infected political environment, but because I convinced myself that I worshipped possibility, that there are times when the unexpected, even the unbelievable occurs. After all, how does a progressive blast a President who has Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger singing the uncensored version of "This Land Is Your Land" at his inaugural? Yet there was a nagging question: was he with us or just co-opting us? Yes We Can? Slowly, despite the glow and the aura, deeper truths surfaced, realities I had ignored. Yes, I knew, I may have been rationalising a false god. He was only another, if more attractive, politician who says one thing and does another in a political system where power, not personalities, prevails. Like many of his predecessors he would be "captured" by the power structures, by the military men and contractors at the Pentagon and the money men on Wall Street. He was in office but never in charge. He didn't have the votes to enact a change agenda. His own party was long ago bought and paid for. He never had a chance, even if as I wanted to believe, he wanted one. He knew that enough of the public was fed up, and open to someone new even if they had no clue as to who he was. Anyone remember President Washington Outsider Carter's "Jimmy Who?" appeal? Everyone runs "against Washington," even a senator who was part of it. And so I held my nose and voted, cheering inside. I even made a positive film about the campaign that showed how he used social media and texting to mobilise new voters. When I tried to get a copy to the White House, through an insider there, I found they couldn't be less interested. By then, he had gone from playing the "outside game" to opting into the inside game with all its compromises in the name of "pragmatism", or "getting it done", in his words. In the end, he was a rookie who may have outsmarted himself. He couldn't get rid of his most passionate and issue-oriented followers fast enough. While his backers were still hot to trot, he became cooler toward them, and, in effect, turned to stone with few progressive appointments. He put on his flag pin and relished the symbolism of the "office". He became the master of the uplifting speech disguising a quite different policy agenda. He spoke for the people but served the power. His wanted the other side to love him too even as his stabs at "bi-partisanship" proved folly. When you lie down with those "lambs," (or is it snakes?) you betray not only supporters but their hopes. FDR is spinning in his grave. I am not surprised that knowledgeable critics of his economic policies not only consider him bull-headed and wrong, but actually corrupt, aligned and complicit with the banksters who are still ripping us off. No wonder he's "bundled" more donations from the greedsters and financiers this year than in 2008! No wonder he turned his back on Elizabeth Warren and is trying to stop prosecutions of fraud in high places. Christopher Whalen, who writes for Reuters, says there will a cost for his doing nothing. "The path of least resistance politically has been to temporise and talk. But by following the advice of Rubin and Summers, and avoiding tough decisions about banks and solvency, President Obama has only made the crisis more serious and steadily eroded public confidence. In political terms, Obama is morphing into Herbert Hoover." Yet at the same time, many of us who now know how we have been used, will vote for him again, because, as he rightly calculates, there is no one else, and the alternative is even worse. Watch today's critics become conciliators. The search for truth and reality has hit a wall but has to continue. The lessons need to be learned. We have to say we were wrong, when we were, not in our beliefs, but in pinning our hopes on an adept, opportunistic, and double-faced political performance artist. While people who still back him dismiss the accusation that's he's a hidden socialist, Kenyan, or space alien, all too many suspect he may be a secret Republican. Let's give David Foster Wallace the last word: "The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. The alternative is unconsciousness … "It is about simple awareness - awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over…" Danny Schechter edits Mediachannel.org. His new film, Plunder: The Crime of Our Time, tells the story of the financial crisis as a criminal tale. He directed "Barack Obama: People's President" for a South African media company, and can be reached at: dissector@mediachannel.org The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
The incident has also opened up — again — a call by the police union for officers to be issued stun guns. Berkeley and San Francisco remain the only city police departments in the Bay Area that don’t arm their officers with the devices. Carlos Alberto Delagarza, 43, was arrested after the short struggle on Bolivar Drive along Aquatic Park, adjacent to Interstate 80. He remains in custody without bail at the Berkeley City Jail after being released from a hospital with minor injuries. “This was an extremely brutal attack,” said Berkeley police union President Sgt. Chris Stines, adding that the officer, on the force for a decade, is now “doing well” despite “fairly severe” injuries. His name was not released. He will be on leave until at least the end of this week, Stines said. Officers were originally called about 10:30 a.m. Monday for a report that Delagarza, who police said has a history of mental health issues, was on a roof pouring liquid onto the street and lighting it on fire, police said. In an odd twist, the officer who was assaulted has worked to develop programs for the mentally ill in Berkeley and has done street counseling and crisis intervention with many mentally ill people over the years, Stines said. While the officer recovers, the incident has renewed a call for stun guns within a department that has never had them and has had requests repeatedly rebuffed by Berkeley’s nine-member Police Review Commission for at least the past 15 years, said Stines. Over the past six months, police have responded to at least two different calls of knife-wielding men who could have been subdued with stun guns, Stines said. Berkeley police also do not have police dogs, a helicopter or armored vehicles, he added. Berkeley is one of only three law enforcement agencies out of 113 in the Bay Area that does not use stun guns or is not currently investigating their use. In a survey of Berkeley citizens last year, 83 percent of the respondents said they support the Berkeley Police Department at least investigating the use of stun guns to deter and control violent individuals when negotiating alone will not work. “It is a known fact that Tasers save lives,” Stines said. After the officer was knocked unconscious, he came to and found the suspect trying to remove his gun from its holster. The suspect had also jumped on top of him, police said. Police said Delagarza then took off running and jumped in the lagoon at Aquatic Park. Several officers got him out of the water and he was arrested, a police spokesman said. In addition to his arrest on suspicion of attempted homicide, Delagarza was a arrested on suspicion of taking a firearm from a police officer, second-degree robbery, battery against an officer and battery with serious bodily injury. He is being held without bail. Reach Kristin J. Bender at kbender@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow her at Twitter.com/kjbender.
commit 3bad5540018f191ce61ce8c8df4e096275044d14 log] tgz] author Dianne Hackborn <hackbod@google.com> Mon Apr 22 13:07:44 2013 -0700 committer Dianne Hackborn <hackbod@google.com> Mon Apr 22 13:07:44 2013 -0700 tree f717e63ff44877af27be482482c58413a1481646 parent b6c2e6b60cd9c01b853b31c29ad1c7ebbcfe2f5a diff] Here lies JB MR2: In with a whimper, out with a bang. Change-Id: Id75e084b8447234cf5d2c26ccd0e13111dde6684 @@ -168,6 +168,19 @@ $(call add-clean-step, rm -rf $(PRODUCT_OUT)/system/app/) $(call add-clean-step, rm -rf $(PRODUCT_OUT)/obj/APPS/) +# So... funny story. Recall when I mentioned above the +# "JB MR2" thing? I didn't mean that. In fact, while I was +# writing JB MR, my head was thinking 4.2, and things got +# cross-wired as they are wont to do, and we ended up with +# JB MR2, which didn't actually exist. +# +# Well, didn't exist then. +# +# Now it does. Say hi, JB MR2! +$(call add-clean-step, rm -rf $(PRODUCT_OUT)/system/build.prop) +$(call add-clean-step, rm -rf $(PRODUCT_OUT)/system/app/) +$(call add-clean-step, rm -rf $(PRODUCT_OUT)/obj/APPS/) + # ********************************************** # NEWER CLEAN STEPS MUST BE AT THE END OF THE LIST # **********************************************
WASHINGTON - The government is expected to cooperate with the Unites Nations' investigation into May's deadly Navy raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday following a discussion with his top six ministers and talks held in the past few weeks in a bid to ensure that the panel and its mandate would be balanced and fair. The decision was made following a firm request by the UN chief, which was relayed to the Israeli government during a personal meeting between Ban and Defense Minisetr Ehud Barak Post-Flotilla Antalya mayor calls on Israelis to return Yoav Zitun Amid sharp drop in Israeli tourism due to crisis over flotilla raid, mayor of Turkish city tells reporters he opposes Erdogan's policy, promises Israelis will be welcomed with open arms. 'Relationship between our countries crucial to entire region's stability,' Mustafa Akaydın says Antalya mayor calls on Israelis to return Goldstone Report , which accused the Israel Defense Forces of committing war crimes in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead Following his conversation with Ban on Monday, Netanyahu said that "Israel has nothing to hide. Quite the opposite: The State of Israel's national interest is to ensure that the factual truth on the entire raid incident will be known to the world." Ban announced Monday that the panel would be led by former Prime Minister of New Zealand Geoffrey Palmer as chair and outgoing President of Colombia Alvaro Uribe as vice chair. The Panel will have two additional members, one each from Israel and Turkey. It will begin its work on 10 August and submit the first progress report by mid September. In a statement issued from the UN headquarters in New York, the UN chief said that "for the past two months, I have engaged in intensive consultation with the leaders of Israel and Turkey on the setting-up of a panel of inquiry on the flotilla incident of May 31. Today I am very pleased to announce the launch of the Panel. This is an unprecedented development." He thanked Israel and Turkey's leaders for their "spirit of compromise and forward looking cooperation" and expressed his hope that the panel's activity would "impact positively on the relationship between Turkey and Israel as well as the overall situation in the Middle East." Israel seeks guarantees against Hague Netanyahu and Barak shared the same opinion regarding the need to accept the UN chief's demand, in order to prevent an escalation in the relations and the establishment of a one-sided commission of inquiry. They both agreed that there was "no choice" but to accept. The seven-minister forum decided to give the UN secretary-general a positive answer in principle, but the details have yet to be finalized and the name of the Israeli delegate has yet to be given. According to a senior state official, Ban requested an answer by the end of this week. The official added that Israel sought to clarify additional points regarding the committee's authorities, including preventing pro-Palestinian organizations from appealing to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Washington shared the pressure on Israel to cooperate with the investigation, and similar messages were conveyed to Jerusalem by Minister Barak following his meetings with senior American officials and US President Barack Obama's senior advisors. Netanyahu said during the cabinet meeting last week that the committee appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the flotilla raid was "similar to the Goldstone Committee with unsympathetic trends, to say the least." According to Netanyahu, Jerusalem was deliberating "how much technical material to provide them with, if at all." Roni Sofer contributed to this report
Sun Media's Sunshine Girls are packing their bikinis for a trip behind the paywall. The newspaper chain will activate paywalls at its Sun newspapers in Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton on Dec. 4, as it joins the ranks of Canadian publishers trying to make up for print advertising losses by asking readers to pay for online content. While some content will remain free, such as breaking news updates and content produced by bloggers, the rest will come at a cost. The company told employees premium articles will include "all content created by Sun Media columnists, investigative reports by experienced journalists, complete access to all photo and video libraries, packaged/related content bundles, Sunshine Girl swimsuit and calendar footage." Story continues below advertisement The newspaper industry has been rocked by falling print revenue and stagnating digital revenue, with some saying that for every $7 papers are losing in print they are only picking up $1 online. The Globe and Mail put a metered paywall on its site in November that allows users to read 10 articles each month for free, and the Toronto Star and Postmedia Network Inc. (publisher of metro papers such as the Ottawa Citizen and Calgary Herald) have announced plans to implement paywalls early in the new year. "Sun Media is deploying a metered access strategy in the five Sun markets as a means of generating new sources of digital revenue to help offset the decline in traditional print newspaper revenue," the company told its employees in an internal question-and-answer document preparing them for Tuesday's launch. "Fast, accurate and entertaining news reporting is one of the cornerstones of a great society." The chain has already dabbled with paid content, putting up paywalls at the Journal de Montreal and Journal de Quebec in September. In a separate note, the company said "early results of this launch are very positive and lay a great foundation as we move towards the second phase of our launch." Sun Media, which is owned by Quebecor Inc., said this month that it would cut 500 jobs at its 36 daily newspapers and more than 200 community papers to deal with the loss of revenue. The media division had 5,680 employees at the end of last year. While Quebecor posted an $18-million profit in its last quarter, most of that was driven by its cable and cellphone divisions. Its news division suffered a lackadaisical third quarter, with revenue falling 3 per cent to $227-million compared to the same quarter a year ago. Advertising revenue dropped 7 per cent. Revenue fell 3 per cent at its Sun papers, while revenue at its smaller papers in communities such as Peterborough, Ont., and Portage La Prairie, Man., slipped 6 per cent. The Sun papers will allow non-subscribers to read 20 premium articles a month before asking for a membership to its Sun+ service, which will cost $5.99 after an initial 99 cent trial. That gets readers access to one of the five papers – the company said it will create bundles that will allow users to browse content from out-of-market Sun papers as well. While there are no plans to put up paywalls at its smaller papers, any stories posted from a Sun paper will redirect readers to the story's original site where a meter may be installed. The company's mobile apps will continue to be free, but will only contain condensed versions of the chain's stories. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement "Like all things worth doing, professional journalism comes with a price," the company said. "Sun Media employs an extensive team of experienced journalists across the nation and across all media platforms. Deploying a paid digital strategy ensures that our visitors and readers can continue to count on us for quality and reliability."
Verizon Firmware on the Galaxy Note 7 Sucks, but You Can Probably Replace it There’s been a lot of talk recently about the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and the firmware inside of it. But if you picked up the phone from Verizon, you might be talking on a different note than the rest of us. While some of us may think that TouchWiz can certainly do better after all these years, those on Verizon would absolutely agree that Verizon could do better than interfere with TouchWiz at all. Essentially, and as Droid-Life showed, the whole situation is another of those classic examples where Verizon takes something good and makes it Verizon. What they did with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was remove a bunch of Samsung additions, only to replace them with inferior Verizon counterparts. They replaced the Samsung Cloud app and its free 15GB of cloud storage with Verizon Cloud and its free 5GB of cloud storage, and with no easy way to go back to Samsung Cloud if you even wanted to. Then, they messed around with the Settings menu. The layout and ordering are subjective preferences, so I wouldn’t give them as much heat on it. But, of course, they did not stop there. They went on to remove the settings suggestion area which gave you hints on related settings if you did not find what you were looking. They removed this feature and replaced it with… nothing. Verizon also made clear their preference of Android Pay when they replaced Samsung Pay on the Note 7. You can sideload Samsung Pay from the Play Store, but it does make sense to have a superior homegrown payment solution with support for the additional and exclusive technology on your own flagship device. And then there’s Verizon bloatware. You get Verizon services which you will barely use, along with placeholders for games. While the original article at Droid Life was regarding Samsung still getting bent by Verizon on what they could do with their own flagship which will sell a lot, we would like to remind XDA users that there just might be a way you could make your life less Verizon-y if you did purchase the device from Verizon. You see, similar situations existed for the Verizon Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. Verizon’s firmware for the same had its share of bloat differences from the unlocked variant of the devices. But, there were ways around it as some of our users already know. And there’s a very good chance that the same would apply to the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Once the stock firmware of the unlocked variant are released publicly, you can install the same on your Verizon branded device through ODIN as the hardware is the same this time around, and the software has Samsung’s signature. You would need to root the device to apply Verizon specific fixes, such as enabling Verizon VoLTE and more, which could be troublesome. But that’s about it. You now have a device on Verizon without all the things that disadvantages that come with that firmware. Granted, you do lose out on warranty if you go down the root route (well, technically you don’t). Ideal case scenario, you should vote with your wallet and not buy things you do not like. But if your choices are limited and you absolutely need to remain restricted to Verizon, or would like that deferred payment, this will bring your device experience at par with rest of the carrier variants. For now, though, we must wait until the magical unlocked variant is released. What are your thoughts on the Verizon messing around with the firmware on the Samsung Galaxy Note 7? Let us know in the comments below!
AUSTIN, TX -- The University of Texas at Austin is poised to welcome its largest class ever next week -- more than 8,500 students. In a news advisory, UT-Austin officials announced plans to stage their "Gone to Texas" celebration that introduces new Longhorns to the school's traditions. The official welcome for new students, the event is presented by the Office of the President, officials said. The upcoming event welcoming new students -- which include freshmen and transfer students, graduate and law students -- is scheduled Aug. 23 from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Main Hall on the south side of the UT Tower. University officials note that the "Gone to Texas" event is traditionally staged during the evening before the first day of fall semester classes. "The rite of passage brings the newest members of the Longhorn community together as a group for the first time, kicking off the academic year with a showcase of UT Austin's culture and traditions," officials wrote. The event will feature live performances, the official welcome from President Gregory L. Fenves, guest speakers and presentations, and a finale by the Longhorn Band. The UT Tower will be lighted in burnt orange light showcasing the school color to celebrate the arrival of the newest members of Longhorn Nation. "Gone to Texas" is one of a series of free events for incoming students during Longhorn Welcome, officials added. Longhorn Welcome kicks off with "Mooov-In" on Aug. 19, and the festivities continue through Sept. 4 with dozens of events including "Beat the Heat," "Horns Up Night" and "Party on the Plaza." The celebration wraps up Sept. 4 with a watch party for the first football game of the season as the Longhorns take on the University of Notre Dame. " 'Gone to Texas' is a nod to a chapter in Texas history 200 years ago when adventurers across the nation, seeking a fresh start in life, pulled up stakes and headed to Texas," officials said. "As they left their homesteads, they etched "GTT" on their doorways, revealing that Texas was their destination.
OAKLAND — Once considered a long shot, there is a renewed push to sell the Coliseum site as the ideal home for an Oakland A’s stadium development, weeks after the team’s plans to build near Laney College collapsed. Preferences aside, you won’t hear a dinnertime debate this holiday season over whether the East Oakland site is the quickest route to a new ballpark. It has the backing of several Oakland council members and activists, lots of room, and has already passed environmental hurdles, unlike perceived Plan B, Howard Terminal next to Jack London Square. But those two sites might as well be Plan Z as far as team President Dave Kaval is concerned. He has steadfastly refused to consider either one for different reasons, and although fans may not understand why, some stadium experts bolster his position. So if there is no second or third or even fourth choice in Oakland, what exactly is the future of the East Bay’s baseball team? “Laney is probably the best they had,” said Roger Noll, a professor emeritus at Stanford University who has studied stadium developments. “I think they are in deep trouble.” Noll pointed out that Portland, Oregon, Indianapolis and Charlotte, North Carolina, are among cities wanting an MLB franchise. While those potential markets are smaller than Oakland’s, he said the clock is ticking. “I think the ‘we are going to stay in Oakland’ story has another year of life if they don’t find a new place to build,” Noll said. A ‘shocking’ twist The Peralta Community College Board’s abrupt decision on Dec. 6 to sever talks with the A’s left the team shocked and Kaval silent; an A’s spokeswoman said he is currently not doing interviews on stadium developments. His bold September announcement — coming after months of suspense — that the team was committed to staying in Oakland and wanted to build an intimate ballpark on 15 acres tucked between Laney College and the Interstate 880 freeway, was a surprise in some ways, given the challenges of its location, including concerns about traffic and community dislocation. But it also made sense; its proximity to downtown followed the path of modern sports facilities, from Pittsburgh to San Diego. Stadium experts say projects flourish in one notable way: as a 365-day shopping center anchoring a stadium and bringing revenue year-round. In Sacramento, the new Kings arena is coupled with downtown retail. The proposed football stadium for the Rams and Chargers in Southern California includes 3,000 units of housing, a casino, and thousands of square feet of retail. While the Coliseum sits at the nexus of public transit, freeway access, and the Oakland International Airport, “it may not draw the same sort of customers for longer periods of time,” said Rick Eckstein, a professor at Villanova University who has written about stadium developments. “I’m not defending this logic but I have seen it at work in other places,” including the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn. “I think the team wants to build a stadium where it can maximize all revenue streams, not just those directly related to the game,” Eckstein added. “The team believes, rightly or wrongly, that there is more potential revenue away from the current Coliseum site.” Noll was more blunt about why the Coliseum, set in East Oakland and cut off from neighborhoods, will not work. In Sacramento near the arena, “you can walk in there at any time and there’s stuff to buy.” “The problem with the existing Coliseum site is it’s in a dumpy area,” Noll said. “It would take billions upon billions of dollars to convert the area into a destination.” If they build it, will they come? Chris Dobbins, a member of the Coliseum authority and season ticket holder, supports rebuilding at the existing site but understands it may not draw people from Walnut Creek, Pleasanton or other suburbs year round. The A’s have projected a downtown stadium would draw an average of 30,000 fans a game, as opposed to 18,000 at the Coliseum. “I don’t think the A’s believe the Coliseum would attract the Contra Costa money on non-game nights,” he said. This viewpoint is not lost on other Coliseum supporters. Alvina Wong, of StAy the Right Way Coalition, said an A’s departure from East Oakland signals more disinvestment from the area. Walmart on Hegenberger Road closed in 2016. The Eastmont Mall is a shell of what it once was, Wong said. The coalition opposed the Laney site due to its proximity to Chinatown and Eastlake and the very real likelihood that plopping a stadium there would gentrify the area and push out working-class residents and small businesses. Although Wong prefers more investment, including a new stadium, in East Oakland, it must be planned carefully for it to work for the team and for the community. “Unregulated growth in East Oakland is just as bad as building a stadium at Peralta,” Wong said. Scott McKibben, executive director of the Coliseum authority, isn’t buying into the criticism of the East Oakland location. McKibben said baseball stadiums set apart from downtown in Kansas City, Texas and Los Angeles have worked. The Dodgers spent hundreds of millions of dollars to renovate their stadium in Chavez Ravine, which is the third-oldest in baseball, he said. “Dodger Stadium is about the same distance from the downtown heart of Los Angeles as the Coliseum is from the downtown heart of Oakland,” McKibben said. “They draw well.” A few days after the Laney decision, McKibben said he sent a text to Kaval, asking for a sit down. Kaval, according to McKibben, initially responded that there was no reason to meet. “I didn’t take it personally one bit,” McKibben said. He replied, “Let’s get the holidays behind us and have lunch.” The executive director, who oversees operations at the Coliseum and Oracle, plans to make his pitch about a partnership with a “world class” developer, which sounds similar to a previous plan to build a “Coliseum City.” With the Warriors and Raiders leaving Oakland, more land at the site would be freed up, opening the option of selling or leasing the land to the A’s and developing around it. At the same time, Alameda County supervisors are reigniting negotiations to possibly sell their half of the Coliseum complex to the city of Oakland, according to Supervisor Nate Miley. One fewer government entity tied to the land could smooth out stadium talks. Miley speculated that building at the Coliseum might require the city or county to help finance it, something Mayor Libby Schaaf and others have staunchly rejected. “What they are saying is they can finance a downtown stadium but they couldn’t finance a stadium at the Coliseum site,” said Miley, who is chairman of the stadium authority board. “That could be an indication that if we want them to stay at the Coliseum, we’d need to put some money toward that.” Peralta is currently evaluating the district’s needs before it enters into any deal to sell or lease district headquarters at East Eighth Street and Fifth Avenue, the parcel the A’s wanted. On Friday, Chancellor Jowel Laguerre didn’t exactly slam the door shut on the A’s. “In this world you can never say something is over,” he said. “You never know what conditions could change. But for right now we are not in a position to say yes or no to anyone.”
Image copyright Glenn Wilkinson Image caption Glenn Wilkinson uses a quadcopter drone with the Snoopy software built inside to gather smartphone data Security firm SensePost has unveiled its Snoopy drone, which can steal data from unsuspecting smartphone users, at the Black Hat security conference in Singapore. The drone uses the company's software, which is installed on a computer attached to a drone. That code can be used to hack smartphones and steal personal data - all without a user's knowledge. It does this by exploiting handsets looking for a wireless signal. Glenn Wilkinson, who developed Snoopy, says that when the software is attached to a drone flying around an area, it can gather everything from a user's home address to his or her bank information. "Every device we carry emits unique signatures - even pacemakers come with wi-fi today," Mr Wilkinson tells the BBC. "And - holy smokes, what a bad idea." 'The machines that betrayed their masters' Many smartphone users leave the wireless option constantly turned on on their smartphone. That means the phones are constantly looking for a network to join - including previously used networks. "A lot of [past] network names are unique and it's possible to easily geo-locate them," says Mr Wilkinson, who explains Snoopy uses a combination of the name of a network a user is looking for as well as the MAC address that uniquely identifies a device to track a smartphone in real-time. Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Snoopy can identify the exact location and user information of a specific smartphone Beyond that, Snoopy demonstrates how someone could also impersonate one of those past networks in a so-called karma attack, in which a rogue operator impersonates a past network that a user then joins, thinking it is safe. I've gathered smartphone device data from every security conference that I've been at for the last year and a half Glenn Wilkinson, Sensepoint Once the user has joined the disguised network, the rogue operator can then steal any information that the user enters while on that network - including e-mail passwords, Facebook account information, and even banking details. This is why Mr Wilkinson says that smartphones and other devices that use wireless technology - such as Oyster cards using RFID (radio frequency identification) or bank cards with chips - can betray their users. 'Am I on candid camera?' Mr Wilkinson - who began developing the Snoopy software three years ago as a side-project - gave the BBC a preview of the technology ahead of its release. Pulling out a laptop from his bag, Mr Wilkinson opened the Snoopy programme - and immediately pulled up the smartphone information of hundreds of Black Hat conference attendees. With just a few keystrokes, he showed that an attendee sitting in the back right corner of the keynote speech probably lived in a specific neighbourhood in Singapore. The software even provided a streetview photo of the smartphone user's presumed address. Image caption SensePost has used the Snoopy software attached to cheap commercial drones like DJI's Phantom "I've gathered smartphone device data from every security conference that I've been at for the last year and a half - so I can see who was at each event and whether or not they've attended multiple events," says Mr Wilkinson. He then shows this data to conference attendees - who often ask, when presented with a photograph of their home or office, if they're on candid camera. Bringing awareness Mr Wilkinson is quick to acknowledge that the Snoopy software is not new technology - but rather, just a different way of gathering together a series of known security risks. "There's nothing new about this - what's new is that Snoopy brings a lot of the technology together in a unique way," he explains. Find out more Drones are controlled either autonomously by on-board computers, or by remote control They are used in situations where manned flight is considered too dangerous or difficult Also increasingly used for policing and fire-fighting, security work, and for filming Drones: What are they and how do they work? Watch BBC News' camera drone in action For instance, the Snoopy software has been ground-based until now, operating primarily on computers, smartphones with Linux installed on them, and on open-source small computers like the Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone Black. But when attached to a drone, it can quickly cover large areas. "You can also fly out of audio-visual range - so you can't see or hear it, meaning you can bypass physical security - men with guns, that sort of thing," he says. It's not hard to imagine a scenario in which an authoritarian regime could fly the drone over an anti-government protest and collect the smartphone data of every protester and use the data to figure out the identities of everyone in attendance. Mr Wilkinson says that this is why he has become fascinated with our "digital terrestrial footprint" - and the way our devices can betray us. He says he wants to "talk about this to bring awareness" of the security risks posed by such simple technologies to users. His advice? Turn off the wireless network on your phone until you absolutely need to use it.
Washington (CNN) On Tuesday night, Democrats flipped two Republican-held state legislative seats -- one in Oklahoma, one in New Hampshire -- that Donald Trump carried in the 2016 election. That makes six turnovers from Republican to Democrat in contested state House and Senate races so far in 2017 -- and 26 out of 35 races (at the state legislative and congressional level) in which the Democratic nominee has overperformed Hillary Clinton's showing last November. (Worth noting: Republicans have yet to flip a Democratic-controlled seat so far this year.) Republicans will, rightly, note that in each of the contested special elections for US Congress, Democrats may have improved on Clinton's performance but they weren't able to actually win. Close doesn't count in politics. Which is true! As is the fact that Republicans picked up a massive amount of state legislative seats in the Obama era -- well over 900 -- and were bound to give some of them back eventually. And that each race, of course, is unique -- and not necessarily indicative of any broader national trend. But, we also know from the history of congressional wave elections that there do tend to be canaries in the coal mines -- a race or a set of races that reveal that something is happening out in the country that we need to pay attention to. And the numbers I cited above suggest that something just might be happening.
In the wake of the Friday the 13 terrorist attack in Paris, the biggest threat to us now is not further attacks from ISIS (ISIL, DAIISH), but our leaders giving in to fear and anger by ramping up military and security. These decisions are often rash, with no long-term strategy, and result in the further radicalization of terrorist recruits and an increased suspension of citizen's civil liberties. Our greatest weapon is not justice, but compassion. How can there be justice when there are so many deaths on both sides? How can this justice be restorative if it is fueled by vengeance and seeks to punish? Acts of war will get us nowhere. They will only take us further away from a unified world of peace. Monuments and embassies around the world have been lit up with the colors of the French flag in a show of solidarity. Individuals have taken to Twitter to show Paris their support. The media was quick to report on the solidarity from particular parts of the world, but neglected to emphasize the showing of support from individuals across the Middle East and North Africa, from Muslims and non-Muslims alike. At the same time, Islamophobia came out in full force, causing Muslims and their allies all around the world to defend themselves and declare that #MuslimsAreNotTerrorist. This hatred will lead to more fear, more violence, more war, and deeper divisions within humanity. This hatred is what we must fight against. It is why we must be compassionate. We live in an interconnected, interdependent and arguably cosmopolitan world. The outpouring of solidarity shows that our cultures, our histories, our identities have collided. For many of us, we feel a sense of pride, a sense of oneness, a hopeful optimism and compassion towards our fellow human beings. However, there are individuals all over the world that feel left out. They feel marginalized and oppressed by the international world order. They have lost their local sense of identity, but have not been accepted into the larger international community. This is reflected in the systemic violence, prejudice, and economic disadvantage they face. No where is this greater than within the territories ISIS has taken over, and for young Muslims across the world. Wahhabism, the foundation for radical Islam, is not representative of the history and ideology of Islam, nor the culture and identity of the Arab world. It thrives on fear and hatred, and it preys on young, disenfranchised youth. With every declaration of war, with every outpouring of violence, with every condemnation the international order declares against those it has ignored, these individuals feel an even greater desperation and need to join the only alternative they are offered for community. These are the individuals we have failed. These are the humans who need our compassion the most. ISIS is a symptom of disparity and disenfranchisement, not the embodiment of all that is evil in the world. Even if we manage to destroy their leadership and dismantle their operations, the underlying cause still festers, yearning for a new form to take. The best weapon we have against our greatest threat is compassion. We must seek to end the disparity, to invite all to share in the wealth and joy of humanity. This will not be easy -- it requires time, caution and very difficult conversations on values and cultural beliefs. However, the world has come a long way in a very short time. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris back in 1948, has demonstrated our capacity to overcome differences and find common ground for the rights of humankind. It was a collaborative international effort that received recognition from nations all over the world, and became the foundation for a human rights regime that has transformed all nations of the globe. We have not just hope, but evidence that we are overcoming our differences and sharing in the common good. Let us continue to invite more and more people to the table to continue the fight against injustice; especially towards our fellow human beings who call us their enemy. Our violence will strengthen their rage while our compassion will transform them. Let's share our compassion and show solidarity not just with Paris, but with each other, and with the members of ISIS. That compassion is the single greatest threat to the continued existence of ISIS.
Share. Nintendo explains how testing Zelda on Switch played a major role in removing the game’s touch features. Nintendo explains how testing Zelda on Switch played a major role in removing the game’s touch features. During an interview at the Game Developers Conference, Nintendo explained why the touchscreen shown in an early demo of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was removed from the final game. "When we were developing the game for the Wii U, we had touch features implemented as you have seen," Zelda: Breath of the Wild director Hidemaro Fujibayashi told IGN. "Once we began to develop the game in tandem for the Switch, we aimed to provide the same gameplay experience across both on Switch and Wii U." Exit Theatre Mode Fujibayashi was referring to a demo from The Game Awards 2014, where Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto and series producer Eiji Aonuma played an early build of the game with touch controls displayed on the Wii U GamePad. According to Fujibayashi, the team reluctantly approached the early testing phases on Switch. "In doing our testing without the touch features we noticed looking back and forth between the Gamepad and the screen actually took a little something away from this type of Zelda game," he said. Exit Theatre Mode "Without the touch features it actually turned out to be a really strong gameplay experience," he explained. "After more experimentation and testing out, we realized that this is the best way to experience the game. That’s how we ended up with the current gameplay style in the production version." Fujibayashi told us it wasn’t a difficult decision for the team to take out the touch features since it led to a better experience. "There was no hesitation or reluctance in removing those features because we felt the way it is now is the best way to play the game," he added. Check out IGN on Thursday, March 2 after 3:00 AM PT/6:00 AM ET/11:00 AM GMT/10:00 PM AEDT for our full The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild review. Jose Otero is an Editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat. You can follow him on Twitter.
First there were porters, then beasts of burden, then mechanized vehicles. And now we’re back to beasts of burden – and I mean beast! Yesterday Boston Dymanics took their Alpha Dog for a walk in the woods. After putting the LS3 prototype through the rigors of warehouse testing, like trying to kick it over with all their might, they decided it was ready for a real terrain test. The Army considers physical overburden one of its top five science and technology challenges. Soldiers in the field can end up carrying gear weighing 100 lbs and the physical strain takes its toll. The LS3 (Legged Squad Support System) Alpha Dog is DARPA’s solution to lightening the solder’s load. But more than just navigating rugged terrain, yesterday’s demonstration tested the robot’s ability to follow a person using its “eyes,” a set of sensors that enable it to distinguish between trees or other obstructions and humans. You can actually see in the video that it follows the leader pretty well. With the strength to shoulder up to 400 lbs, the Alpha Dog will definitely be a soldier’s best friend. It also serves as a mobile power source that troops can use to recharge batteries for radios and other devices. It is still quite loud, however, so sneaking up on the enemy with Alpha Dog trailing probably wouldn’t be very smart. This summer, DARPA and Boston Dynamics will begin an 18 month test period during which they will sharpen Alpha Dog’s capabilities. Its vision will be fine-tuned to follow individuals or designated objects and its ability to autonomously navigate over and around terrain obstacles will be evaluated. One planned test will see if Alpha Dog can complete a 20-mile trek while loaded with 400 lbs and without refueling. In addition to improving its vision, hearing technology will be added so that it can respond to commands like “stop,” “sit” or “come here.” At the end of testing, the robot will be given a chance to work with real Marines as they carry out field exercises. After watching the video, I’m pretty confident Alpha Dog will be ready. [image credits: DARPAtv via YouTube and ieee spectrum] image 1: Alpha Dog image 2: Alpha Dog video: Alpha Dog
International hotel booking portal Hotel.info has released results of a survey of 6 million customers rating the cleanliness of hotels in select international cities. Tokyo scored the highest rating with 8.93 on a scale of one to 10, followed by Warsaw at 8.76 and Seoul at 8.73. The lowest-rated city on the list was Rio de Janeiro, which scored 7.29. This result might shock travelers to that city who have been paying exorbitant prices for hotel rooms and restaurant meals—the result of Brazil's runaway inflation. Other poorly rated cities included London (7.52), Oslo (7.53), Amsterdam (7.58), and Paris (7.63). The rankings have little correlation with the destination preferences of American travelers. Japan, Poland, and Korea were the 13th, 28th, and 15th most visited countries by Americans in 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce (PDF here). The UK was the third most visited country, attracting more travelers than Japan, Poland, and South Korea combined.
Tom Hanks was among the Hollywood coterie visiting The Washington Post on May 25. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP) Okay, everyone, be cool. Washington Post headquarters went on high alert Thursday morning: There were V-VIPs in the house — director Steven Spielberg and actors Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. They were touring the building and meeting with Posties to do research for their upcoming movie, “The Post,” about the newspaper’s handling of the Pentagon Papers. (Hanks plays executive editor Ben Bradlee and Meryl Streep publisher Katharine Graham.) But the directive — issued by higher-ups in emails and in whispered admonishments — was to refrain from gawking and snapping pics (no doubt to elicit social-media envy). Tom Hanks, and Spielberg, are sitting in on the @washingtonpost news meeting for upcoming movie on Pentagon Papers. pic.twitter.com/IzI0DKqQg6 — David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) May 25, 2017 The lookee-loo factor was mostly kept to a minimum as the group, which also included producer Amy Pascal, Spielberg’s DreamWorks partner Kristie Macosko Krieger and screenwriter Josh Singer, spent the morning at the 13th and K streets HQ. Their itinerary included a morning tour and meet-and-greet with Publisher Fred Ryan, then sitting in on the regular morning news meeting, where editors and reporters pitch their stories for the day, hoping to secure good real estate on the homepage and in print. OH in the newsroom: "I thought you were joking when you said Meryl Streep is here." — Gene Park 3DS XL (@GenePark) May 25, 2017 Spotted through the conference room’s glass walls, Spielberg (wearing white Adidas, a baseball cap, tie and blazer), Hanks (gray denim jacket, no tie), and Streep (navy blouse and slacks) looked more engrossed and attentive than your average attendee. And Hanks himself wasn’t under a camera-phone ban, and after the meeting, took a selfie and then snapped a photo of the placard identifying the man the room was named after: his character, Bradlee, who guided The Post through the Watergate and Pentagon Papers stories. “There are gonna be a lot of broken hearts,” he said as he left, likely referring to the poor reporters whose stories wouldn’t get primo play. The group huddled in Executive Editor Martin Baron’s office for a debrief, then met in an upstairs conference room with Post veterans who could help the Hollywood contingent understand the era and the people portrayed in the film. Then it was time for a field trip — to The Post’s production facility in Springfield, Va. Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks just met MARTY BARON at Wapo pic.twitter.com/iaS03qlO6U — Andrew Heining (@andrewjh) May 25, 2017 “They wanted to see when you say, ‘stop the presses!’ what that really means,” Ryan tells us. The Hollywood contingent was curious about just about everything about the paper, he said. “They asked very thorough questions — everything from ‘what’s a slug?’ and how a story comes together, from the reporting to how legal gets involved,” he said. And after showing off The Post’s fancy digital “hub,” which features a massive screen displaying Web traffic, Ryan said he was surprised at what seemed to impress Spielberg the most. That would be the triangle chimes, Ryan said, referring to the long-standing traditional alert that indicates that news meetings are about to start, a sound created by a decidedly lo-fi process of ringing an actual triangle in front of a microphone. “He loved that.”
Manager Tony Mowbray is confident Middlesbrough can retain Chelsea's Josh McEachran for the rest of the season. The 19-year-old midfielder joined the Teessiders on a season-long loan in August and has made 23 appearances. "I've had conversations with some of the Chelsea hierarchy and they're 99.9% sure he won't be recalled in January," Mowbray told BBC Tees. "Unless they have a catastrophe with injuries, I think Josh will be staying with us until the end of the season." McEachran - They said... England Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce: "Chelsea think extremely highly of him and you can see why. He's got ability and vision. All of our cutting passes probably came from him." Tottenham boss Andre Villas Boas [managed McEachran at Chelsea]: "In the changing room you see him getting ready to go and train and he looks nothing like a footballer. His power and pace is in his head." Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers [coached McEachran as a youth at Chelsea and on-loan at Swansea]: "He's a wonderful technician with the ball, with great vision. He is an immense talent, which he will demonstrate over the next number of years." McEachran, who had a stint with Premier League side Swansea City last season, has made 22 outings for his parent club. Meanwhile, Boro booked their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup with a convincing 4-1 win against non-league side Hastings United, to seal a home tie with Aldershot Town. Nottingham Forest loanee Ishmael Miller, 23, was among the scorers - his sixth goal in 19 games - but missed a penalty on a mixed afternoon at the Riverside. "He's got to tighten his game up a little bit and yet he got his goal," Mowbray said. "He seems to score every time he comes on the pitch. "He had a few other opportunities, a very similar opportunity to his headed goal last week when he put it over the top rather than glancing it in. "He did OK, and yet there are parts of his game to tighten up but he knows that."
The UN has announced its own inquiry into attacks that hit its facilities during the conflict By Bethany Bell BBC News, Jerusalem There have been numerous calls for investigations into whether war crimes were committed during the recent Israeli offensive in Gaza. The Geneva Conventions and additional protocols prohibit the destruction of property, "except when rendered absolutely necessary by military operations" and "indiscriminate attacks" affecting civilians. Concerns about the number of civilian casualties and damage to buildings in Gaza have been raised - among others - by the United Nations, by the Palestinian Authority, the Arab League and by human rights groups. But it is not clear whether the alleged violations count as war crimes or how people responsible might be held accountable. 'Appalling acts' During the three-week conflict, the United Nations says more than 40 people were killed when Israeli shells landed near a UN school and that warehouses at its main compound in Gaza City were hit by Israeli white phosphorus shells. The UN says many people were sheltering in the school and the compound at the time of the attacks. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the attacks, although he did not use the term "war crimes". He has demanded "a thorough investigation into these incidents and the punishment of those who are responsible for these appalling acts." Mr Ban has also announced a UN inquiry into the "casualties and damage" at United Nations property during the conflict. Human rights groups, like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, say this is not enough. They want a comprehensive international investigation into all the alleged violations of international law during the conflict - by Israel, by Hamas and by other Palestinian armed groups. Human Rights Watch says it has been in Gaza investigating a number of allegations. Both sides accused the other of putting civilians in harm's way The claims against Hamas include firing unguided rockets at residential areas. The allegations against Israel include firing on ambulances or preventing them from reaching people in need. The claims against both Israel and Hamas include the indiscriminate use of weapons such as heavy artillery in densely populated areas, and using civilians as human shields. Amnesty International says it has found "compelling evidence" that white phosphorus weapons were used by Israel in crowded parts of Gaza. The substance, which can cause severe burns, is not illegal to use on the battlefield. But the international convention on the use of incendiary weapons says it shouldn't be used in civilian areas. Mr Ban says such allegations should be investigated but not by the UN inquiry. He said these issues should be dealt with "by a proper judiciary, organisations, agencies at a national level". 'Highest regards' Under international law, it is the responsibility of the state whose forces are accused to conduct their own inquiry, although the UN Security Council (and the General Assembly) has the power to establish special international tribunals, such as those set up for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Israel says it has the matter in hand. The Deputy Spokesman at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andy David, told the BBC that "Israel investigates all its actions regardless of outside calls." He said the country did not need "external intervention to conduct any investigation". He said: "Israel acts according to international laws and with highest regards to morality during combat, even beyond the requirement of the law." A spokesperson for the Israeli army said the hits near the UN school and on the UN compound were being investigated. Some rights groups say images from the conflict prove the illegal use of phosphorus The army says its "operations in the Gaza Strip were carried out in compliance with the rules of warfare under international law". It says it took "numerous measures to avoid causing harm to the civilian population". In a written response to a BBC query, the army said it "always permitted the traffic of convoys and ambulances to deliver humanitarian aid and to perform emergency evacuations". Regarding the use of white phosphorus, it said the army only used weapons "that are permitted by international laws and conventions. Even so, the matter is included in the inquiries conducted" by the military. Human Rights Watch says Israel has a "poor record" of investigating allegations of serious violations by its forces and bringing prosecutions. Israeli rights groups and some columnists have called for an independent commission to be set up in Israel, saying it is not sufficient for the Israeli military to investigate itself. 'Completely baseless' The Israeli army, and a number of human rights groups, say Hamas violated the rules of war by using civilians as human shields. Human Right Watch says Hamas has done nothing to investigate. A senior Hamas official, Ahmed Youssef, said allegations of violations were "completely baseless and nonsense", the result of the "Israeli propaganda machine of fabrication". He said there were "no violations by Hamas." Mr Youssef added: "It was ridiculous to say human shields were used. No Palestinian would use another Palestinian as a human shield". He said Human Rights Watch was not a credible institution, taking its findings from Israel. "They need to ask the people of Gaza what happened," he said. Legal options Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wants the International Criminal Court, the ICC, in the Hague to look into whether war crimes occurred in Gaza during the conflict. But that is problematic. The court's prosecutor can only instigate his own proceedings against a state that belongs to the court. Israel is not a formal member. The UN Security Council can refer cases against non-members to the court, but such a move would likely be blocked by the United States, Israel's strongest ally. A state party to the court can ask for a referral - but there is no Palestinian state. At the end of January, in a bid to get the ICC involved in a Gaza investigation, the Palestinian Authority lodged a declaration recognising the authority of the court. The ICC's prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, is now examining whether the PA has the legal power to accept the court's jurisdiction. He is also analysing whether the alleged violations fall within the category of crimes the Court has authority to deal with (genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes); and whether national proceedings are taking place. The legal issues are very complex and could take years to work out. Other international lawyers say it is more likely that suspects could be prosecuted by a court in a third country under the principle of universal jurisdiction. A Spanish judge is currently investigating the role of Israeli soldiers and security officials in a bombing in Gaza in 2002, in which a top Hamas militant, Salah Shehada and 14 other people were killed. There is concern in Israel that more cases like this could emerge. In 2005, Israeli commander Brig Gen Doron Almog escaped arrest on war crimes charges after receiving a tip-off at Heathrow Airport. An Israeli official had warned him not to leave his plane, as a UK court had issued a warrant for his detention. European arrest warrants may discourage other Israeli commanders from travelling to Europe. Israel's government has said it will provide legal protection for its soldiers against any foreign prosecution that may arise as a result of its military operation in Gaza. The names of IDF commanders who took part in the Gaza offensive have not been published because of worries that foreign courts may pursue what the army calls "politically motivated legal action". Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version
No. 4 LSU (5-0, 1-0 SEC) at No. 10 Florida (4-0, 3-0 SEC) Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET Florida Field, Gainesville, Fla. CBS Three storylines 1. Measuring stick: Has Florida narrowed the gap between where the program has been the past two seasons and the SEC’s elite teams? This game will give us the answer. LSU has one of the league’s top running games and one of the nation’s top defenses. UF’s offensive line has a lot to prove, too. For months we’ve heard that it is tougher and stronger, but if it gets handled the way it did last season we’ll know that nothing has changed. Jeff Driskel can expect a lot of heat from LSU's front line on Saturday. Jim Brown/US Presswire 2. Pressure on the QBs: Both teams have a young QB in his first season as a starter, and the best defense against an inexperienced QB is to bring a lot of pressure. LSU will try to do it with just its formidable front four, particularly DEs Barkevious Mingo and Sam Montgomery. UF is going to try to take advantage of LSU’s weak spot at left tackle (Chris Faulk is out for the year, and Alex Hurst and Josh Dworaczyk have struggled). LSU QB Zach Mettenberger has looked shaky and has committed five turnovers. Florida QB Jeff Driskel has been efficient and has steadily improved in his three starts. 3. Tricky: UF has gotten burned by a fake field goal and a fake punt against LSU in the past two seasons. LSU coach Les Miles hasn’t attempted a fake this season, but he earned the nickname "the Mad Hatter" for a reason. The first time the Tigers line up to punt, expect UF to be especially vigilant. Getting faked out three years in a row would be embarrassing. Gators to watch RB/FB Trey Burton: He had a big game against Tennessee but missed the Kentucky game with back spasms. Expect him to have a significant role in the offense against LSU if he’s completely healthy. He’ll play in the Wildcat and will be a factor in the passing game. LB Jelani Jenkins: He will be playing his first game since he suffered a fractured right thumb Sept. 8 against Texas A&M. He’s going to play in a cast. Jenkins might not play as many snaps because of his conditioning, but UF coach Will Muschamp said the linebacker will have no limitations on when he will play. WR Quinton Dunbar: UF is going to need to make some plays in the passing game, and Dunbar has started to emerge as a dependable target. He has had at least three catches in all but one game so far this season and caught a touchdown pass against Kentucky. Tigers to watch RB Kenny Hilliard: The 6-foot, 231-pound sophomore is a bruising runner who leads the Tigers in rushing (366 yards). He has already rushed for six touchdowns and is averaging 6.9 yards per carry. WR Odell Beckham: Beckham is averaging 17.9 yards per catch (16 catches for 286 yards) and is LSU’s best downfield threat. He caught five passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns against Towson. FS Eric Reid: Reid is one of the nation’s top safeties and he has amassed 26 tackles, one interception and three pass breakups. He’s the most experienced player in a young secondary. Key matchup Florida LTs Xavier Nixon and D.J. Humphries vs. LSU DE Sam Montgomery: Nixon has struggled this season and was benched for the second half of the Kentucky game for Humphries, a true freshman who enrolled in January. Even if Nixon starts, Humphries will be on the field a lot. They draw a tough task in Montgomery, an All-American who has 26 tackles for loss and 13 sacks in his career. By the numbers 4 -- Number of times both teams have been ranked in the top 10 at game time (2012, 2009, 2007 and 2006). UF won two of those games (2006, 2009). 7 -- Consecutive victories for LSU over SEC Eastern Division teams. The last time the Tigers lost to an East team was 2009, to Florida (13-3 in Baton Rouge, La.) 16 -- Victories for LSU in the 17 games with Les Miles in which the Tigers have scored a special teams touchdown.
The director of the Miss World pageant in Mexico, Hugo Ruben Castellanos, has been killed in the city of Culiacan in north-eastern Sinaloa state. Mr Castellanos was abducted along with two other people from a bar early on Sunday, just hours after he crowned the winner of the Miss Sinaloa contest. The two other people were later freed but Mr Castellanos' body was found in a stolen car riddled with bullet holes. The motive behind the killing is still unclear. Witnesses said Mr Castellanos first attended a party with the Miss Sinaloa contestants before moving on to the bar from which he was abducted. Abductions and murders are not uncommon in the state of Sinaloa, the birthplace of Mexico's infamous drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Sinaloa's murder rate has gone up since Guzman was recaptured in January. Analysts say the rise is down to rival gangs trying to wrest control of the region from Guzman's cartel.
Without consent, records will only be released if an adopted person signs a statutory declaration not to contact their birth parent Ireland to allow adopted people to get their birth records for first time Ireland will allow tens of thousands of adopted people access to their birth certificates for the first time under proposed legislation that some advocacy groups say could still deprive many of their identities. International laws say all children should be able to establish their identity but adopted people in Ireland, many of whom were sent for adoption in secret by Catholic institutions, have no automatic right to their birth records or access to tracing services. The Catholic church sold my child Read more Successive governments had argued a 1998 supreme court ruling prevented them from opening adoption files because it emphasised the mother’s right to privacy. But children’s minister James Reilly said on Monday any adopted person should have a statutory right to apply for a birth certificate. “It’s all too easy for those of us who know where we come from not to appreciate the profound importance of this information,” Reilly told a news conference, adding it was critical birth parents’ right to privacy was protected. Birth records will be given to an adopted person, including those illegally adopted, with the consent of their birth parent. Without any consent, records will only be released if an adopted person signs a statutory declaration not to contact their birth parent and once the legislation has been in place for a year. The new laws, which face a tight timeframe to be voted through parliament before elections early next year, will only permit access to other identifying information in adoption files – including family medical history – with a parent’s consent. In contrast, any adoption effected after the commencement of this bill will allow shared access to a birth certificate, the adoption order and any other information. Many adoptees’ birth certificates contain incorrect names and addresses for mothers and no details for fathers. While some adopted people welcomed what one group described as the end of “decades and generations of secrecy”, Ireland’s Adoption Rights Alliance said tracing of identities will remain incredibly difficult. Many adoptees’ birth certificates contain incorrect names and addresses for mothers and no details for fathers. With Irish child protection services already stretched after years of budget cuts, they also feared delays in processing the requests relating to an estimated 100,000 people, including those adopted illegally or informally before records began. “When it comes to older adoptions, a birth cert might be next to useless, it is just a slither of the picture. Adopted people want our file and nothing but the file,” Adoption Rights Alliance co-founder Susan Lohansaid. “When you think how many natural mothers are dying and that adopted people are now dying due to old age, it is not a great cause for celebration when we could be looking at years down the road before anybody sees results.”
Curfew was imposed in Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas after a youngster who was injured in clash between two communities died on Saturday, police said. Narendra Rajoria, 24, a resident of Dewas and a MBA student was injured at Mukti Marg in Kharibawadi on Friday night, died at a hospital in Indore, said Shashikant Shukla, superintendent of police, Dewas. A clash erupted among two groups in Shurkravariya Haat in the town at 7 pm over an old dispute and soon rumours spread to other neighbourhoods of the town, he said. Rumours reached the Kharibawadi neighbourhood, about half a km from the market, where members of the Hindu and the Muslim communities started pelting stones at each other, residents said. Stone pelting continued for more than an hour until police reached the spot and brought the situation under control, said Naib Qazi of Dewas Abul Kalam , who lives in neighbourhood. “When I reached the neighbourhood, I found people were pelting stones at each other…I first called the city superintendent of police, then the additional district magistrate and finally the collector and told them to send police force as the situation was getting worse,” he said. Police recovered an injured Rajoria outside the Kharibawadi neighbourhood where he had gone to a friend after attending a marriage party, police said. “More than 50 people from the two communities have been arrested from Kharibawadi and Mali Mohalla and eight handmade bombs were recovered from a Mosque in Kharibawadi. Police also recovered stones stored on the roof of some houses,” said Shukla. Senior officials, including superintendent of police and collector, are camping in the area and additional police force has been deployed, said Rakesh Gupta, deputy inspector general of police (Ujjain), who visited the area in the evening. Prohibitory order under Section 144 of the CrPC was imposed in Kharibawadi from Friday night, he said. “The situation is under control and all possible attempts will be taken to maintain peace and communal harmony in the city.” First Published: Jan 17, 2016 17:18 IST
Coming in September from Phat Company is this 1/7 scale Rem figure in a wedding outfit that manages to be a stunning combination of cute and sexy. Rem is reaching out her hand looking all too happy to spend the rest of her life with you when you bring her home. This figure is based on an image taken from the upcoming PS4 title Re:Zero Death or Kiss which I covered back in December. The figure brings the image to life quite well with the sculpt and paint job. I imagine the idea for this is also based on the “what if” light novel story where Subaru and Rem get married and have children. If you love Rem (and c’mon, who doesn’t?) this is the perfect figure for your collection. When your favorite girl offers you her hand, you take it, damn it. Pre-order here: CDJapan Play-Asia
Kenton Tilford, a 26-year-old political consultant and freelance writer, on Sunday formally created a campaign committee called "Run The Rock 2020" to draft actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a presidential candidate in 2020, according to Federal Election Committee records. "I've been discussing (this committee) with friends for some time, but I ultimately decided to create the committee because America is incredibly divided," Tilford told CNN in an email interview. "I know it's almost a cliche at this point, but I think it's tragic that our President (Donald Trump) has not made a serious effort to unite the country. With this level of vitriol and anger, I believe we desperately need a leader who can unite us and not just pander to a small base of supporters." For Tilford, the ideal leader is Johnson. "I'm a fan of The Rock," he said. "He's an amazing entertainer and the causes he champions (for example Veterans advocacy) are truly inspiring to me. ... Of course, he doesn't have the experience in government that has been typical. But I think we've seen voters reject the notion that inexperience disqualifies you from serving. His broad, uniting appeal is without parallel in our divided country." The committee's overall goal is "to build a grassroots community of Americans to show to Mr. Johnson that his incredible popularity as an actor and public figure can translate into politics seamlessly," Tilford said. "And I hope it influences him to take the plunge and run in 2020." Tilford also created a Twitter account called "Draft the Rock" for the committee. "A grassroots movement to send The People's Champion to the White House in 2020," the Twitter bio reads. "#MakeAmericaRockAgain." As stated in the FEC form, the committee "supports/opposes only one candidate and is NOT an Authorized Committee." Representatives for Johnson did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. The celebrity has yet to weigh in on Twitter. Tilford has not reached out to the Rock, or his team, yet. But he said his "hope is to provide an outlet for existing supporters out there and make his decision to run as easy as possible." Speculation around the Rock as a presidential nominee ticked up in May, when GQ published an article with the headline "Dwayne Johnson for President!" "I think it's a real possibility," Johnson told the publication when asked if he would ever run for president of the United States. Johnson -- who said he didn't vote for either Trump or Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton -- opened up to the magazine about why he could see himself holding public office. "Personally, I feel that if I were president, poise would be important," he said. "Leadership would be important. Taking responsibility for everybody." Later in May, while hosting "Saturday Night Live," Johnson announced that the rumors are true. "Now, in the past I would have never considered running for president. I mean I didn't think I was qualified at all," Johnson said during his opening monologue. "But now I'm actually worried I'm too qualified." Johnson was also joined on stage by his planned -- perhaps jokingly -- 2020 running mate, Tom Hanks. But a Hollywood persona becoming president is not all that far-fetched. "Ronald Reagan often noted that his experience as an actor was great preparation to be President and I think that's hard to argue with," Tilford noted. And Trump, like Johnson, had a highly visible career in the entertainment industry, most notably as host of the reality show "The Apprentice," and experienced something in 2013 that Johnson has not yet in the world of professional wrestling: Induction into the WWE Hall of Fame. If he were president, Johnson told GQ he would try to do a better job of bringing people together than the current President. "We all have issues, and we all gotta work our sh*t out," Johnson said. "And I feel like one of the qualities of a great leader is not shutting people out. ... The responsibility as president -- I (would]) take responsibility for everyone. Especially when you disagree with me. If there's a large number of people disagreeing, there might be something I'm not seeing, so let me see it. Let me understand it."
Image copyright AFP Image caption Mickael Dos Santos in a grab from an Islamic State propaganda video France has named a second Frenchman in a video showing the killing of Syrian prisoners by Islamic State (IS) militants as Mickael Dos Santos, 22. The Muslim convert comes from an eastern Paris suburb. The other French militant was named as Maxime Hauchard, a convert from Normandy. In the same video, the severed head of US hostage Abdul-Rahman Kassig was displayed for the camera. About 1,000 French jihadists are thought to have gone to Syria and Iraq. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said after a security meeting in Beauvais, north of Paris, that "close to 50" French citizens had died in Syria. "Sadly, we are not surprised to learn that French citizens or residents of France are found at the heart of these cells and taking part in this barbarity," he added. Meanwhile, new IS video has appeared which shows a small group of gunmen burning what appear to be French passports before three of them make appeals to French Muslims to abandon France and join IS, or stay there and attack "enemies of Allah". It is unclear where the video was filmed but it was released by al-Hayat, the media arm of IS. In other developments: US Central Command said it had carried out six air strikes on IS targets in Syria since Monday and been involved in 24 coalition strikes on IS in Iraq in the same period France said it was sending six Mirage jets to Jordan to carry out air strikes against IS in Iraq 'Kill any civilian' Confirmation of the second French militant's identity came from the Paris prosecutor's office after unofficial reports in France's media. France 2 (in French) quoted a friend of the militant who recalled how he had surprised his family when he suddenly converted to Islam. Of Portuguese origin, he was born in the French town of Champigny-sur-Marne and is believed to have left for Syria in the autumn of 2013. French intelligence became aware of him after he published an online video in October calling for "all brothers living in France" to "kill any civilian" in retaliation for air strikes carried out by France against IS in Iraq. Image copyright AFP Image caption Maxime Hauchard went to Syria in August 2013, French authorities believe French media review - BBC Monitoring Most news sites lead on the story with Liberation asking, "What is known about the second French jihadist in the video?" Le Figaro describes Mickael Dos Santos as a recent convert to Islam who had adopted the nom de guerre Abu Othman. According to Le Monde, more than 1,100 French nationals may be involved in jihadist activity in Iraq and Syria, with more than 375 active in front-line fighting. Le Figaro features a video on its front page of a young Frenchman who recently converted to Islam. He says that he was approached by Islamic State to join in their jihadist campaign as soon as he converted. French President Francois Hollande said officials had not established the "exact role" of the two militants. He called for families to be given more information about the danger of jihadist websites and urged families to be "vigilant" in stopping young people from being recruited by extremists. Earlier this week, Mr Hauchard was named by a French prosecutor as one of those leading Syrian prisoners to their deaths. Bare faces In the latest IS video - unlike previous ones showing beheadings - several militants appeared with their heads uncovered. Image copyright Kassig Family Image caption Abdul-Rahman Kassig was an American aid worker who was captured in Syria last year The footage showed 18 Syrian prisoners, described as soldiers, forced to kneel in front of the militants before being beheaded. The men were described as pilots and officers loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Reuters news agency reported. The video also shows the severed head of Abdul-Rahman Kassig, a US aid worker who was kidnapped in Syria last year. IS said the video was shot in the Syrian town of Dabiq, which features in Islamic prophecies as the site of a final battle between Muslims and their enemies. Foreign fighters Image copyright AP Image caption A Jewish museum in Brussels was attacked by a French gunman in May and reopened in September Concerns about the involvement of French citizens in the conflict were heightened after a gun attack earlier this year on a Jewish museum in Brussels. The attack, in which four people were killed, was carried out by 29-year-old Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman who had fought as a jihadist in Syria. France has the largest Muslim community in the European Union, and is thought to provide the biggest contingent of Western jihadists in Syria and Iraq. More than 100 French citizens fighting in the Middle East have already returned to France, with the vast majority now facing charges under terrorism legislation, the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Paris reports. Earlier this month, France convicted its first such returnee with a jail term of seven years, our correspondent adds. The government has also given police new powers to confiscate passports, to prevent people travelling abroad to join militants.
Alain Daussin / Getty Images Related Five Myths About Stick Shifts Edmunds Sales of new manual-transmission cars are up significantly this year, on pace to hit the highest rate of stick shifts sold since 2006. That news must put smiles on the faces of the dwindling breed of drivers who prefer stick shift over automatic. But the happiness might be short-lived, as analysts predict manual transmission will basically disappear over the next couple of decades. In 1987, 29.1% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. were manual transmission, according to the EPA. By 2010, however, the rate had fallen to just 3.8%. It appears as though something of a stick-shift renaissance has since occurred, with 5.1% of new cars being manual last year. And a new report from Edmunds.com indicates that stick shifts are on pace to account for roughly 7% of cars sold in 2012. (MORE: 10 Things You Should Be Buying Used) It was in the stick-shift sales doldrums of 2010 that Eddie Alterman, the editor of Car and Driver, launched Save the Manuals, a movement (or “crusade,” in his words) to teach more young drivers how to drive stick and lobby automakers to produce more manual-transmission vehicles. Car and Driver has since added a regular feature in which readers must “name that shifter” after looking at a photo of a stick shift. A line of Save the Manuals T-shirts and pins is available for sale as well. Supporters of the movement must be pleased with what seems to be a comeback for the stick shift. Through the first quarter of 2012, 6.5% of new cars were manual, and the rate of sticks sold has risen slightly since then. The manual could be on its way to being saved. Except it’s not. The Edmunds post lists several misconceptions about stick shifts, starting with the idea that they get better mileage than automatics. Edmunds clarifies: Vehicles with manual transmissions generally are always more fuel-efficient than their automatic counterparts, but not always, and not by much. The 2012 Honda Fit and the 2012 Ford Focus are examples of vehicles that can get better fuel economy with an automatic transmission. (MORE: Drivers Have Embraced Small Cars — Will Minicars Be Next?) Stick shifts aren’t necessarily less expensive than their automatic counterparts either. It’s because of these reasons, as well as larger trends, that experts say the manual transmission is supposedly doomed: “A combination of factors – from the growing age of vehicle trade-ins bringing more manual drivers back to market, to a greater proportion of smaller cars on the road – is creating a small spike for stick shifts,” says Edmunds.com industry analyst Ivan Drury. “But even though manual cars are on the rise now, they’re on track to be virtually extinct in the next 15 to 20 years.” (MORE: Stick-Shift Extinction? The Battle to Save the Manual Transmission) The rise of stick-shift sales, then, isn’t so much a growing trend as a blip in the opposite trend that’s been in the works for decades: the push toward manual-transmission extinction. Tuttle is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @bradrtuttle. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.
We live in dark times in America and the outrage abroad is justified. The government is spying on its citizens, exiling whistleblowers, and the justice system is out of control. Statistics show us that, to a degree, there is a race problem, with African Americans more likely to be arrested for certain offenses. While this is true, the fact has been exploited to perpetuate violence abroad. Black supremacy group Black Lives Matter and like-minded groups and activists have exploited multiple tragedies to create social unrest. Whether it be Ferguson or Charlotte, the response to an innocent African American human being shot has been more violence, including violence against innocent American citizens. Small businesses are destroyed, corporations looted, people injured, and private property damaged in the process of “protesting”. But what happens when a white man is shot and killed? This is the question being answered in the case of 19-year-old Zachary Hammond. Zachary Hammond was a young teenage boy who was out on his first date when he was shot dead by police. The reason for the undercover operation that led to the young unarmed man being gunned down was due to ten grams of marijuana. After they shot her date, they arrested Tori Morton for possession. Does having a little bit of a plant in your possession justify a big undercover operation that results in shooting down an unarmed young man? As we saw from Trayvon Martin in the most recent Charlotte incident, whenever an innocent or unarmed African American citizen is gunned down, it’s a big story. This is true even when one African American shoots another and race cannot possibly come into play, but somehow it still becomes an issue. The result is rioting and violence, as Black Lives Matter and other black supremacists seem to support. Where are the riots after an unarmed 19-year-old is gunned down in front of his date while she ate ice cream? Is there no supremacist group named White Lives Matter to torch businesses, storm the streets, and pick fights with police? Obviously, color should not be a factor in these issues. Violence is violence no matter the victim and it is wrong. The skin color does not change the severity of an unarmed teenager being shot. We should be armed at excessive force and police brutality, regardless of whether the victim is black or white. Unfortunately, the rioters in Charlotte, and the Black Lives Matter activists before them, believe otherwise. They’re not protesting violence against all American citizens or standing up for all Americans. When they smash windows, vandalize property, and encourage violence, they’re doing so while encouraging racism and singling out skin color. This won’t improve race relations, but will – if anything – worsen the divide. The lack of riots in support of an unarmed white teenager being shot dead by police shows that there is racism. To a good portion of society, white lives do not matter. The truth is, however, all lives should matter, and violence isn’t any less wrong because of the victim’s skin color.
The following correction was printed in the Observer's For the record column, Sunday May 31 2009 In the article below we said incorrectly that a debate between Farage and former Europe minister Denis MacShane was "discreetly taped" by the hosts, the Foreign Press Association. The FPA openly records all its briefings and in most cases puts them on its website after the event. The leader of the UK Independence party (Ukip), which wants to lead Britain out of the EU, has taken £2m of taxpayers' money in expenses and allowances as a member of the European Parliament, on top of his £64,000 a year salary. Nigel Farage, who is calling on voters to punish "greedy Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem MPs" at the European elections on 4 June, boasted of his personal expenses haul at a meeting with foreign journalists in London last week. The admission threatens to flatten a bounce in the polls for Ukip that has seen the party climb to around 17% over the last fortnight as angry voters flock to smaller parties regarded as untainted by the Westminster expenses scandal. During a debate about Europe at the Foreign Press Association - which was discreetly taped by the hosts - Farage was asked by former Europe minister Denis MacShane what he had received in non-salary expenses and allowances since becoming an MEP in 1999. "It is a vast sum," Farage said. "I don't know what the total amount is but - oh lor - it must be pushing £2 million." Taken aback, MacShane then joked: "Is it too late to become an MEP?" Farage insisted that he had not "pocketed" the money but had used the "very large sum of European taxpayers' money" to help promote Ukip's message that the UK should get out of the EU. When asked later by the Observer to justify how he could claim so much while running a campaign attacking Westminster MPs for their extravagance, Farage was unapologetic, saying that, while MEPs were "very expensive", he was entirely happy that the money had been used for the best of causes." Last night, as Ukip circulated new party literature saying Westminster MPs had "ripped off taxpayers", Farage, who employs his wife to help run his office and pays her from his allowances, faced a backlash as opponents accused him of hypocrisy. MacShane suggested that Ukip's attempt to pose as more honourable on expenses than other parties had been exposed as shameless and hollow. "Far from being the party of the little man in Europe, Nigel Farage's astounding £2m raid on the taxpayer shows he is up there with any other politician, happy to line his pockets with gold," he said. Ukip's opponents now hope the admission will halt the party's advance which Farage's supporters believe could see it overtake Labour and secure second place in the European poll. At the last European elections in 2004, Ukip enjoyed its greatest success, installing 12 MEPs in the European Parliament after securing 16.1% of the vote. But the success rapidly turned sour as one of the dozen, Ashley Mote, was expelled from the party - and later jailed - for benefit fraud. Another, Tom Wise, is now facing prosecution for alleged false accounting and money laundering relating to his EU expenses. He denies the charges. Television presenter Robert Kilroy-Silk, who won the East Midlands for Ukip, later left to form another eurosceptic outfit, Veritas. With the pressure on all parliamentarians mounting, Farage insisted on Friday that from next month all his MEPs would publish their expenses online. "From the moment any Ukip members get elected, all elected MEPs will provide a clear and traceable quarterly statement of their expense accounts," he said.
Washington (CNN) FBI Director James Comey in recent weeks decided that when the bureau's investigation into Hillary Clinton was completed, he alone would make a public announcement on the findings of investigators, but the surprising orchestration was propelled in part by the political chaos over the last week.The result -- clearing Clinton while simultaneously upbraiding her for her conduct -- could help cement a legacy that shows skill in navigating some of the nation's biggest political controversies. Comey well understood, according to officials, his decision either way would influence the election. On Tuesday, Comey held a press conference with little advance notice, on the same day President Barack Obama was to campaign with Clinton in North Carolina. Comey noted that he had not told his boss, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, or any other agency in the government about his decision to not recommend charges be brought against anyone in the Clinton investigation. "They do not know what I am about to say," Comey said, with about a dozen FBI agents and high-level officials who helped oversee the probe standing in the back of the room. Indeed, very few knew, with most inside the FBI seemingly unaware of what he was about to say. The notice to the press only saying Comey would "speak to reporters" with no topic disclosed. Senior law enforcement officials described the deliberations inside the FBI and Justice Department in recent months for this account. The FBI said Comey's remarks were the only ones that would be made public. The Justice Department didn't comment. Comey's solo appearance Tuesday stood out for historical reasons, because it's highly unusual for the FBI to make public findings when investigators have decided no charges should be brought. And Comey occasionally has publicly described his discomfort with the power wielded by the FBI's first director, J. Edgar Hoover, particularly the surveillance of suspected enemies of the era. But his public announcement on Clinton underscored how, arguably, Comey has become the most powerful FBI director since Hoover. It's the power that Comey wielded Tuesday that prompted some former Justice officials to publicly criticize the FBI director. Matthew Miller, the former top Justice spokesman under Attorney General Eric Holder, called Comey's announcement "outrageous." "The FBI's job is to investigate cases and when it's appropriate to work with the Justice Department to bring charges," he said on CNN. Instead, Miller said: "Jim Comey is the final arbiter in determining the appropriateness of Hillary Clinton's conduct. That's not his job." Comey last navigated politics this turbulent in 2004, when he was deputy attorney general and he was at the center of a dramatic showdown with the White House over a surveillance program ordered by President George W. Bush. Comey and other Justice Department and FBI officials threatened to resign in the dispute, and Comey, a Republican, emerged a hero to the political left. Photos: Clinton scandals through the years Photos: Clinton scandals through the years Hillary Clinton answers questions from reporters March 10, 2015 at the United Nations in New York. Clinton admitted that she made a mistake in choosing, for convenience, not to use an official email account when she was secretary of state. Hide Caption 1 of 13 Photos: Clinton scandals through the years The Democratic 2016 candidate is pictured here speaking to the press about a new initiative between the Clinton Foundation, the U.N. Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies in New York City on December 15, 2014. The Clinton Foundation confirmed on May 21, 2015, that it received as much as $26.4 million in previously unreported payments from foreign governments and corporations for paid speeches by the Clintons. It's the latest in a string of admissions from the foundation that it didn't always abide by a 2008 ethics agreement to disclose its funding sources publicly. According to foundation officials, the income -- at least $12 million and as much as more than twice that -- was not disclosed publicly because it was considered and tallied for tax purposes as revenue, rather than donations. Hide Caption 2 of 13 Photos: Clinton scandals through the years Hillary Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill on January 23, 2013 in Washington, D.C. Lawmakers questioned the former secretary of state about the security failures during the September 11, 2012 attacks against the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that led to the death of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Hide Caption 3 of 13 Photos: Clinton scandals through the years The Clintons at a celebration of the Breast and Cervical Cancer Act of 2000 at the White House on January 4, 2001. Weeks later, on his final day in office, Bill Clinton would pardon an unusually large number of people including fugitive Marc Rich, a move that was dubbed "Pardongate." Hide Caption 4 of 13 Photos: Clinton scandals through the years On February 12, 1999, the United States Senate voted on two articles of impeachment and acquitted former President Clinton. He was impeached by the House for perjury and obstruction of justice, related to statements he gave regarding his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Hide Caption 5 of 13 Photos: Clinton scandals through the years Former President Clinton stands to the side as he waits to be introduced at an event at the White House on October 8, 1998. Later that afternoon, the Republican House majority adopted a motion to launch an impeachment inquiry into Clinton's presidency. Hide Caption 6 of 13 Photos: Clinton scandals through the years Former President Clinton listens to Hillary during an education event at the White House on January 26, 1998. During the event, Clinton made a statement about his alleged affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The President vehemently denied the allegations, saying, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky, I never told anybody to lie, not a single time." Hide Caption 7 of 13 Photos: Clinton scandals through the years On February 25, 1997, the Clinton administration released the names of 800-plus people who stayed overnight in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House. Bill Clinton defended the practice of inviting friends and supporters to stay overnight. The White House also released several hundred pages of documents, such as this one. with his handwritten notes from Clinton enthusiastically supporting the idea. President Bill Clinton's guests in the Lincoln Bedroom gave a total of at least $5.4 million to the Democratic National Committee during 1995 and 1996, according to a study for CNN by the Campaign Study Group. Hide Caption 8 of 13 Photos: Clinton scandals through the years The Clintons opened the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta on July 20, 1996. A few months earlier, Hillary Clinton made a trip to Bosnia as first lady, and said she landed in the war-torn country under sniper fire. Years later, she was criticized by the Obama campaign for exaggerating her account of that trip. Hide Caption 9 of 13 Photos: Clinton scandals through the years Hillary Clinton arrives to testify before a federal grand jury in connection with the failed Whitewater land deal in Washington, D.C., on January 26, 1996. Hide Caption 10 of 13 Photos: Clinton scandals through the years This image of White House intern Monica Lewinsky standing beside President Bill Clinton at a White House function on November 17, 1995 was used as evidence in Kenneth Starr's investigation into allegations of an inappropriate relationship between the intern and Clinton. Hide Caption 11 of 13 Photos: Clinton scandals through the years The women involved in the sex scandals: Paula Jones, left, who in 1994 accused former President Clinton of sexual harassment; Monica Lewinsky, center, the former White House intern with whom former President Clinton admitted to having an "inappropriate relationship" and Gennifer Flowers, right, who claimed in 1992 to be then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton's lover. Hide Caption 12 of 13 Photos: Clinton scandals through the years President Bill Clinton speaks to a group of business leaders from the East Room of the White House on February 11, 1993. Months later, seven White House staffers were fired in a Clinton scandal dubbed "travelgate." Two years later, a Republican-led House committee approved a report concluding that the Clintons condoned the firing of staffers on the urging of Hollywood producer and big-time Clinton donor, Harry Thomason. Hide Caption 13 of 13 He is no stranger to Clinton political controversy either, having served as deputy special counsel on the Senate Whitewater Committee and also having investigated the pardon by President Bill Clinton of donor Marc Rich. The Clinton probe posed similar thorny issues. Comey closely managed the probe, getting updates daily. With the Democratic convention just weeks away, the fate of Clinton as presumptive nominee was in the hands of the FBI. Earlier this year, top officials at the Justice Department and FBI began formulating a rough plan for how the findings in the unusual Clinton probe would be announced, officials close to the matter said. The idea that some top officials supported was that the FBI and the Justice Department, which have jointly managed the probe, would announce their decision together and at the same time announce how they came to it. This would prevent the spectacle of the FBI concluding its investigation then handing over recommendations to the Justice Department for review, with a final decision to be announced by Lynch. But as the investigation drew to a close in the late spring, Comey began having other thoughts. The political furor of the investigation was reaching a fever pitch. FBI officials and Clinton's lawyers began discussing plans for her interview and possible dates when she could come by FBI headquarters, preferably without a mob of reporters following her. There were some internal disputes about timing, with some at the FBI believing the interview could have happened weeks ago and Justice lawyers pushing to wait for more investigative work to be completed. And last week, just when the political atmosphere surrounding the FBI investigation couldn't seem more charged, things took a new bizarre turn. Former President Bill Clinton charged uninvited onto Lynch's plane parked on the tarmac at the Phoenix airport. Lynch and the former president said they discussed nothing related to the probe and kept the visit to social matters. JUST WATCHED Loretta Lynch addresses Bill Clinton meeting Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Loretta Lynch addresses Bill Clinton meeting 01:39 Officials said Comey was already of the view that he had to make the FBI's announcement alone. The Clinton-Lynch debacle didn't sway him, but underscored why it was important for him to stand alone, the officials said. Across the street at the Justice Department, Lynch already was looking for her own ways to make sure the public knew that political considerations would play no role in her final decision. Even before the untimely visit by the former president, she and her staff were weighing how to publicly describe the internal process at play, and that career prosecutors and investigators would be the ones steering any final decision. On Friday, amid controversy over her meeting with the former president, Lynch said she would accept the decision of career officials in the department and at FBI. It was a clumsy announcement and Justice officials took pains later to make clear that Lynch wasn't recused and Comey wasn't now in charge. A day later, Clinton left her home in Washington and drove a few miles to FBI headquarters for her long-awaited interview. Officials said it was already clear that there wasn't enough evidence to bring criminal charges. The interview cemented that decision among FBI and Justice officials who were present. By Monday night, Comey and other FBI officials decided the public announcement should come at the earliest opportunity. The fact that Tuesday would also mark the first public campaign appearance by Obama alongside Hillary Clinton didn't enter in the calculation, officials said. Comey notified the attorney general that he planned to make a public announcement but didn't provide any details, officials said. A little after 11 a.m., as Hillary Clinton was about to take the stage at an event nearby in Washington, he entered the FBI conference room and began what he called, simply, "an update on the FBI's investigation."
It wasn’t just another Tuesday night win. For TCU, it was a résumé-stacking Tuesday night win. That’s how much the Horned Frogs thought of their 6-2 victory against Dallas Baptist at Lupton Stadium. “They’re as strong and as talented and as well-coached as anybody in the state of Texas,” TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “We’re in the process of building a résumé. The goal is to win as close to 40 games as we can against a great schedule, and this is a step in that direction.” Sign Up and Save Get six months of free digital access to the Star-Telegram Dallas Baptist, No. 20 in the USA Today baseball poll, came in with as many wins as the Horned Frogs and holding the top RPI rating in the country. And after two innings, the Patriots led 2-0 against TCU starter Tyler Alexander, and the fourth-ranked Horned Frogs hadn’t gotten a ball out of the infield. But TCU (25-6), now 9-5 against ranked opponents, put together four consecutive singles with two outs in the third inning, taking advantage of three errors (two overthrows and a misplay in the outfield) for a 5-2 lead. Jeremie Fagnan’s home run to right field made it 6-2 in the fourth, and Alexander cruised through the eighth. Riley Ferrell threw a 12-pitch ninth inning, appearing for a third consecutive game for the first time this season. “It was a great win,” Schlossnagle said. “There wasn’t a whole lot available between Alexander and Ferrell. We pitched some guys Monday night, so we needed Tyler not only to pitch well, but to pitch deep into the game, and he did.” And Ferrell? “He’s pitched in three of the last three games with just one day off,” Schlossnagle said. “You see how strong that guy is even on the third day. That was a really good sign for us, too.” Outside of the rocky start, Alexander (2-2) looked sharp against a DBU (24-6) lineup hitting .292 with 27 home runs. He walked none and struck out five, throwing 70 strikes in 102 pitches. “The best time to get a really good pitcher is early, when he hasn’t found a feel for his pitches,” Schlossnagle said. “You have to be able to throw off-speed pitches behind in the count against that team. They are set dead-red on fastballs. But as soon as he found his breaking ball and changeup, that kept them off his fastball. And we played really good defense.” The eight innings were a season-high for Alexander, a sophomore left-hander from Southlake Carroll who brought his ERA down to 3.40 after giving up five earned runs at UT Arlington last week. “My last couple of starts, especially in the first inning, I’ve kind of struggled,” he said. “I’ve seemed to get a little better as the game goes along. I feel confident in all my pitches right now. I just need to get the first inning out of the way.” The next chance comes next week. Against UTA.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The ruling Congress party, which surveys suggest will be ousted from power in elections due by May, called on Wednesday for opinion polls to be banned during the campaign after a TV news report alleged survey data was routinely manipulated. Supporters of India's ruling Congress party attend a rally being addressed by Rahul Gandhi, Congress party vice president and son of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, ahead of the 2014 general elections at Bardoli in the western Indian state of Gujarat February 8, 2014. REUTERS/Amit Dave The News Express channel said a “sting operation” using hidden cameras had exposed malpractices by a clutch of polling agencies that included fudging numbers at the behest of political parties, sometimes for money. Two large media groups said after the News Express report they would suspend polling usually carried out on their behalf. The party of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty first made its call for polling to be banned in the world’s largest democracy last year, but the opposition Hindu nationalist party called it an attempt to suppress bad news in the run-up to the election. After 10 years in power, the Congress party-led ruling coalition is facing an uphill battle to convince voters, dismayed by a string of corruption scandals and a sharp slowdown in economic growth, that it deserves a third consecutive term. Ajay Maken, a senior Congress leader, said in a Twitter comment that the TV channel investigation had “vindicated our stand” that opinion poll data is deliberately massaged. He said he had gone to the Election Commission on Wednesday to voice support for its proposal to restrict opinion polls. The commission has long sought to halt such surveys once election dates are announced and wants the government to enact a law to that effect. They are currently only banned 48 hours before voting begins. India’s size and diversity means that election issues can vary widely between districts and local leaders hold great sway, making results notoriously tricky to predict. A first-past-the-post system for winning parliamentary seats makes it even harder to extrapolate results from projections of vote shares. In the run-up to the last national election in 2009, most opinion polls by large agencies correctly forecast that the Congress would win more seats than the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party but underestimated the size of its winning margin. Several other major parties have previously voiced support for tighter restrictions. “It’s shocking,” said Yogendra Yadav, who made a name for himself analysing polls and elections before joining the recently formed Aam Aadmi - or “Common Man” - Party, which grew from a wave of mass protests over corruption in 2011. He said it should not prompt a hasty ban on polling. “(But) it does prove that people like me were mistaken, that manipulation was of a much higher order,” he said in a TV debate. “These organisations appear to be willing to change their forecasts depending on who the sponsor is.”
With the recent arrival of Rengar, and soon after that, Syndra, League of Legends will have a total of 104 playable champions and it doesn’t seem as if they’re slowing down anytime soon on the champion releases. As is natural with most games of this size, not everything is going to be necessarily ‘viable’ in the standard ‘meta-game’ and Riot is no exception to this rule and the regular updates that happen to the game look to solve these issues by either ‘buffing’ those considered weak or ‘nerfing’ those considered too strong. For the most part, Riot does a good job in trying to make a lot of champions viable for play and different types of play too but they aren’t perfect. For every Ezreal or Graves, there’s an Urgot or Varus who just aren’t played as much because they can’t do as much as others. I'm not your typical AD Carry There is a variety of reasons as to why this happens, it can come down to their abilities, how much damage they can dish out, how much utility they have or don’t have, etc. A notable problem that has been occurring recently is the power of recent champions upon their release. Zyra’s safe distance, high damage burst and area-of-effect (AOE) utility made her almost impossible to beat if she was played right. With her win statistics averaging over 50% against every other common mid lane opponent – she was deemed bad enough to be ‘hot-fixed’ which meant she was nerfed in-between patches, she was that much of a nuisance. Not even close... Diana is also proving more and more of a problem if played competently because of her ability to chase as well as burst down hard thanks a to combo of Q-R-R (thanks to a refreshing cooldown on her ult) with passive bonus hitting for a whopping 990 base magic damage at level 18, not taking into her account her shield which also deals damage and an AOE pull-in with a slow to help with her chasing. Darius had a problem with the ‘grace period’ on his ultimate that let it refresh the cooldown even without getting the last hit on an enemy champion. While he was, and still is, easily shut down by any form of crowd control (CC), he still got a nerf because he was stomping on games in lower ELO too hard and this is one of the reasons balancing League of Legends is so hard. There are several dynamics to the game itself, first off is the range of people playing the game. There are those who do it for a living, flying around the world to participate in tournaments for fame, glory and money and then there are those playing for fun and just for something to do with friends. Within this there are other groups and overall, various range of skill levels and to favour one, would be to neglect others – that’s why you see Darius getting nerfs when he’s playable against because there’s a majority who can’t play against him. I'm not OP, I promise!... PENTAKILL There’s also the factor of trying to release champions so that they can be viable in the current meta-game, it’s something Riot champion designer Xypherous pointed out on the League of Legends forums recently: "It’s funny how the majority of OP champions can be found in top lane. They were created for each other." While he’s talking mostly about top lane itself, this can be indicative of the other lanes as when you release a champion, you don’t want them to be unviable because they’re weak against what’s popular and strong right now. You need to make something that can go up against that champion, which is also an attempt to balance out those champions considered strong. It’s a difficult business working out what to buff, what to nerf and with some of the LoL community having potty mouths and aggressive attitudes, I can imagine it being particularly tough when something goes ‘wrong’ such a champion becomes unviable or a rework is looked down upon as a nerf (see Evelynn) or a champion ends up being too strong. For as long as League of Legends stays active in producing new champions, maps and other content, no doubt the Great Balancing Act will continue and while they may never perfect it, it’s nice to know they’re trying.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday touted Charter Communications Inc’s decision to invest $25 billion in the United States and a plan the company announced before he was elected to hire 20,000 workers over four years. At a White House event with the second-largest U.S. cable company’s Chief Executive Thomas Rutledge and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Trump praised Charter for planning to close its offshore call centers and move them to the United States. Much of the announcement was not new. Charter said last May that it planned to add 20,000 jobs as part of its merger with Time Warner Cable and acquisition of Bright House Networks. As early as June 2015, Rutledge said Charter would need an additional 20,000 employees after those deals. On a number of occasions, Trump has touted job announcements at the White House that had been previously planned or announced The company said more than a year ago in February 2016 that it planned to close foreign Time Warner Cable call centers and move the jobs to the United States. On Friday, Trump said, “We’re embracing a new economic model - the American Model. We’re going to massively eliminate job-killing regulations - that has started already, big league - reduce government burdens, and lower taxes that are crushing American businesses and American workers. “You’re going to see thousands and thousands and thousands of jobs, of companies, and everything coming back into our country.” Charter, which has 24 million residential and business customers in 41 states, said on Friday it had committed to Trump to hiring those workers within four years. It plans to invest $25 billion in broadband infrastructure and technology in the next four years. In May 2016 Rutledge said in a recorded interview there would be some overlap in management positions (after the TWC merger) but said the company would hire about 20,000 people over four years. Rutledge said the broadband investment was being made “in the right regulatory climate and right tax climate ... We’re committed to spending that predicated on the kind of regulatory consistency and efficiency that we expect as a country.” Charter agreed in May 2016 to make significant broadband investment under a deal with the Federal Communications Commission that was part of winning approval to acquire the cable networks. At that time Charter agreed to extend high-speed internet access to another two million customers within five years, with one million served by a broadband competitor. Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement on Friday that the commission was “working to set rules of the road that encourage companies to build and upgrade broadband networks across the country.” He credited the FCC’s “investment-friendly policies” in part for Charter’s commitments. The agency is considering a petition by the American Cable Association to strike the requirement Charter extend service to areas already served by companies because it could harm smaller competitors. Charter Communications CEO Thomas Rutledge (R) and Texas Governor Greg Abbotts (L) speak to reporters after their meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 24, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Charter also touted its plans to open a new bilingual call center in McAllen, Texas and said it expects to employ 600 there by the end of 2018. Plans to open a call center in Texas were announced last October. In December, Trump announced that telecommunications group Sprint Corp and U.S. satellite company OneWeb would bring 8,000 jobs to the United States, and the companies said the positions were part of a previously disclosed pledge by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. In January, Sprint Chief Executive Marcelo Claure said of its decision to shift 5,000 call center jobs to the United States that the company “had plans to do this for a while.”
This study investigated the association between breakfast skipping and risk of type 2 diabetes by considering the influence of the body mass index (BMI). The aim of this study was to examine associations of dairy intakes with bone mineral density among adults with and without adequate serum vitamin D status. Biomarkers of Nutrition for Development (BOND): Vitamin B-12 Review This report on vitamin B-12 (B12) is part of the Biomarkers of Nutrition for Development (BOND) Project, which provides state-of-the art information and advice on the selection, use, and interpretation of biomarkers of nutrient exposure, status, and function. As with the other 5 reports in this series, which focused on iodine, folate, zinc, iron, and vitamin A, this B12 report was developed with the assistance of an expert panel. Read more
The war against Islamic State has resulted in a cyber attack on US soil, and other such attacks are likely, according to a new report from Bat Blue Networks. According to the security firm, the cyber vandalism of websites for a sheriff's office and cultural center in Etowah County, Ala., is particularly surprising given that the hacker who claimed responsibility is affiliated with a group that has been pro-American in the past. This particular attack was very unsophisticated, said Bat Blue CEO Babak Pasdar. The attackers found a vulnerability on a server owned by a web hosting company and defaced multiple sites. "We believe it was just one attack that compromised one system with multiple websites," he said. "It was not separate attacks." The virtual vandalism was a message that began with "Hacked by MuhmadEmad," referred to themselves as Kurdish hackers, and ended with a condemnation of ISIS. The Kurds have had a reasonably friendly relationship with the U.S., and have actually been fighting against ISIS on the ground. "When you look at the factions out there, the Kurds have been the most successful in battling and actually forcing Islamic State soldiers back," said Pasdar. [ ALSO ON CSO: ISIS online strategies and recruiting techniques ] But while the Kurds and the U.S. might be on the same side when it comes to ISIS, there is a major area of frustration. Turkey has been using the conflict with ISIS as an opportunity to go after terrorists in general -- and that has included its own independence-minded Kurd population -- and the sentiment on the ground is that the U.S. hasn't done much to protect the Kurds, Pasdar said. In particular, Turkey has been bombing Kurdish separatists in Syria and Iraq, which has led to civilian losses, Pasdar said. "The U.S. is leveraging their bases in Turkey to wage the war against the Islamic State," said Pasdar. "And has been silent on this whole thing because they don't want to cause any friction with Ankara." At least 40,000 people have died over the past three decades, according to reports, as a result of violence in southeastern Turkey. "The Kurds are feeling frustrated that the Turkish military is waging a war on them that has an impact not just on the paramilitary but on the civilians," said Pasdar. Launching cyber attacks against the U.S. doesn't seem like the best move, politically, to get the U.S. to step in on the Kurdish side of the conflict. "You're talking about people who don't necessarily lead with diplomacy," said Pasdar. "The type of folks who would wage a cyberwar typically lean towards the younger side, typically very emotionally charged, and they're fresh with the memories of Kurdish civilian losses and they want to lash out. The fact is that these guys are feeling frustrated because they feel that the U.S. is standing idly by." The attack in Alabama was most likely an opportunistic one, he said, designed to get their message out, and an indication of the sentiment on the ground. "And when one attack occurs, there are usually follow-up attacks," he said. "There are usually people who jump on the bandwagon -- especially hackers."
The Miami Dolphins finished 6-10 this season and have a lot of key decisions to make in an effort to improve in 2016. Hiring new head coach Adam Gase and promoting a new general manager in Chris Grier provides a fresh set of eyes on an overpaid roster that underachieved last year. With that said, ESPN.com’s Dolphins page created a series this week called “Stay, go or restructure.” Next up is Miami’s starting tight end: Stay, go or restructure: TE Jordan Cameron Experience: Five seasons 2015 stats: 35 receptions, 386 yards, three touchdowns 2016 salary/cap charge: $7.5 million/$9.5 million cap Analysis: The Cameron experiment did not work for Miami. The Dolphins signed Cameron to a two-year contract last offseason in hopes that the former Pro Bowler would revert back to form. Cameron worked hard and stayed healthy. However, he never found his rhythm with quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Cameron’s best game was against the Washington Redskins in Week 1 when he recorded four catches for 73 yards -- both were season highs. Now Miami must decide if Cameron can have a much better 2016 in which his $7.5 million salary can match his production. Share your thoughts on whether Cameron should stay, go or restructure. You can comment in the section below or via social media on Twitter or Facebook.
It may not be a surprise that a company with such significant conservative propaganda value would be a takeover target for a private equity company like Bain Capital. It also should not surprise you then that such a company as Bain — once owned by one of the wealthiest men in the country, who just happened to be running for president — might simultaneously see that takeover target as a cash cow. If these two goals conflict — well, no one ever became filthy rich while mired in too great a concern for details. Clear Channel is a conglomerate, but is principally two companies: the radio network division, and the outdoor billboard division. More than 97% of Clear Channel’s quarterly revenue comes from these two divisions. Early this year, largely as a result of the Bain takeover, Clear Channel was in debt more than 19 billion dollars. Last March, Bain Capital took an additional 2.2 billion dollars out of Clear Channel, so the debt is now greater than 21 billion. Big debt comes with harsh deadlines. Clear Channel has to come up with $500 million in debt payments by the end of 2013, a payment of $1.1 billion due in 2014, and then a much larger payment of $12 billion due in 2016. One might expect that a conglomerate would necessarily be profitable in order to deal effectively with such debt. So far it appears that such speculation is flat out wrong. Clear Channel lost $4 billion in 2008, and another $4 billion in 2009. But by 2011 Clear Channel was making great strides, reducing its losses to a mere $302 million. The 2012 first quarter loss was $141 million. Loss in the 2012 second quarter was $28 million. Why the continued losses? In spite of crushing debt, Clear Channel's radio division has been "splashing the cash" in "an attempt to rebrand itself as a hip digital music giant." Some analysts had already downgraded Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, the Clear Channel billboard division, and recommended investment in their competition. So Clear Channel has since decided to restructure $2 billion of its debt. This has been described as "kicking some debt down the road", meaning that all of the 2014 payments, and a small part of the 2016 payments, will now be due in 2019. The significant drawback to rescheduling this debt is higher interest payments, which have been estimated at an additional $100 million per year. And Moodys says that more of the 2016 debt will need to be rescheduled. Now think about this circumstance. Mitt Romney's Bain Capital bought Clear Channel and financed their purchase with deep debt. Their corporate austerity requirements have forced layoffs, the most recent of which occurred on March 30 of 2012. That was just two weeks after Bain Capital raided Clear Channel's assets by forcing a two billion dollar dividend payment, paid for with a loan arrangement which prompted lawsuits. Just six months later, Clear Channel (as one of Bain Capital's piggy banks) finds it necessary to seek two billion dollars in debt relief (imagine that!) by "kicking the [debt] can down the road". One year of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, the billboard division. The sharp drop illustrates the dramatic impact of the Bain Capital enriching special dividend payment on the stock price. Note the resulting trend. Because Clear Channel's radio division is privately held, such explicit information for that division is more difficult to come by. [From Google Finance.] Let us do a very rough back of the envelope calculation on this arrangement. Clear Channel gains five years of relief, from 2014 to 2019, at 9 percent priority guarantee note interest, or a cost of approximately $500 million dollars. The total interest, in other words, is something like 25 percent of the $2 billion in debt relief. But this $2 billion in rescheduled debt is roughly one/sixth of the Clear Channel debt that needs to be rescheduled. With another ten billion or so to reschedule before 2016, one might expect interest payments to rise by another half billion dollars a year over and above current debt service. Not healthy for a company that is already more than twenty billion dollars in debt. Raiding assets and replacing them with crippling corporate debt is one of the mechanisms by which Mitt Romney has made his hundreds of millions of dollars, and by which Bain has made its many billions. What does this heavy debt burden do to such a company's ratings? The restructuring offer "has received a Caa1 rating from Moody’s. Meanwhile, Clear Channel’s Corporate Family Rating remains unchanged at Caa2, and its Probability of Default Rating remains at Caa3." Caa1, Caa2, and Caa3 are "rating[s] within speculative grade Moody's Long-term Corporate Obligation Rating. Obligations rated Caa3 are judged to be of poor standing and are subject to very high credit risk." [emphasis added] Moody's says, "Even if Clear Channel is able to refinance its 2016 maturities, the company will remain vulnerable to a slowdown in the economy... the company will remain poorly positioned to withstand another economic downturn in the future." MarketWatch elaborates: [excerpts] Clear Channel's ability to address its capital structure also hinges on a relatively benign macroeconomic environment. A severe downturn will quickly remove the refinancing alternatives provided by these amendments. The company's operations are tied to the overall advertising environment, and the largely fixed cost base can drive outsized EBITDA declines in a downturn. This would serve to increase leverage and reduce FCF, severely impeding the company's financial flexibility and negotiating position with its lenders... Fitch believes a default is a real possibility. [emphasis added] —MarketWatch: Fitch Affirms Clear Channel's Ratings; Outlook Stable Does anyone believe there will be no downturn in the seven years prior to 2019? When Bain forced the special dividend, it used the stronger billboard division as a piggy bank, forcing it to loan cash to finance the dividend. The perception of unfair terms for the loan is what prompted lawsuits. Fitch sees the possibility that Bain could raid the company again: [excerpt] [T]here are strong operational ties [from the billboard division] to the weaker parent, including centralized treasury and senior management overlap. Additionally, the parent can pull cash out of the sub (with restrictions), which it will rely on to service a portion of its debt. —MarketWatch: Fitch Affirms Clear Channel's Ratings; Outlook Stable With Bain Capital's sorry history of bankrupting other companies, would you trust Bain not to take out billions more from Clear Channel, just because it can? As if all of this wasn't enough to cause anxiety in Limbaugh Land, El Rushbo's favorite advertiser Angie's List is in a special kind of trouble. — Rush Limbaugh received a contract worth $400 million in 2008. Because he received $100 million of that amount as a signing bonus, he is scheduled to receive $38 million per year from now through 2016. Sandra Fluke, Rush Limbaugh When Limbaugh infamously went on his three day tirade against Sandra Fluke, the fallout wasn't limited to his show. The reaction of corporate PR Departments to the media firestorm about "sluts", "prostitutes", and "sex tapes" was so severe that there was a backlash against all of conservative talk radio. In just ten days, talk show hosts Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Tom Leykis were also being flagged as potentially controversial talkers, and national advertisers wanted no association with any of them. Radio was already fragile before the Fluke controversy; one month before the advertiser exodus, Forbes referred to the Clear Channel radio division as a "loss leader". Demographic shifts and technology had already put radio — and especially talk radio — on the ropes, and Limbaugh's indiscretions threatened to push it over the edge. The first major, controversy-inspired blow against talk radio came when 98 corporations with nationally recognized brand names announced they were leaving. This hit the news by accident precisely one week after the "slut" controversy; Premiere Networks posted a memo that wasn't meant for public consumption. When the news broke, the memo was immediately removed, but by then it was too late. Not only was the corporate backlash unprecedented, Premiere simultaneously announced that it was suspending all national advertising for two weeks. If that seemed a severe hammer blow against talk radio, the entire radio industry was under the gun: the disaster began to spread, infecting even stations with an all music format. There is an Internet meme that "Limbaugh's show is free to the local stations that carry it", and that's how he keeps his empire intact. It is pretty much false; noted radio consultant Holland Cooke observes that "in many markets, The Rush Limbaugh Show costs more than a solid local host would." Limbaugh was such a big sell a few years ago that many radio stations signed contracts requiring them to give up radio ad slots in the show and outside the show, in addition to paying Limbaugh's standard content fee. Some are even required to give up three hours on Saturday for a recap of Limbaugh's weekday shows. All of this represents potential revenue that could be going to the station. And it all happened because Limbaugh's alleged "twenty million audience" seemed such a great advertiser draw. But the twenty million claim has since been proved false, with estimates now of less than fifteen million. Limbaugh, of course, refuses to admit to the diminished measurements. Post Fluke, everything has changed. Now Limbaugh's high dollar contract puts pressure on the balance sheets of many radio stations. National advertising support, not just for Limbaugh but for all of conservative talk radio, continues to "dwindle". As Media Matters explains it, Clear Channel is "paying Limbaugh $750,000 weekly for a show that's shedding $1 million from its bottom line every seven days." One might expect that Limbaugh would acknowledge his loss of clout and his increasingly weakening position, and soften his language, if not the his sharp-tongued political partisanship. While it occasionally seems that Limbaugh is wary of once again touching that hot stove, all too often he cannot resist "going there". And "there", as often as not, means continuing to harass Sandra Fluke. His continuing Fluke diatribes routinely incorporate themes such as condoms, body fluids, abortion, birth control, pregnancy and, tangentially, even rape. Radio industry professionals are well aware of the danger. Talkers Magazine recorded a quotation from Phil Boyce, Vice President of Spoken Word for Salem Communications, who warned about http://stoprush.net, "There is a website out there listing all the advertisers Rush still has [and] encouraging the protestors to go after [them]." —Talkers Magazine: Talk Radio/Media Industry News Boyce was on a National Association of Broadcasters panel that, in essence, had just advocated firing Limbaugh and replacing talk radio with an all news format. It seems that trepidations in the radio industry run deep. With Limbaugh's continuing indulgence in racism bigotry , and implicit threats of violence , there must be a great concern that week after week, Limbaugh inspires ever increasing cadres of anti-Rush activists to join those already dedicated to his demise. Limbaugh seems oblivious; he still brags about his industry experience and his business acumen, even as his efforts to counter the opposition go awry. In spite of his braggadocio, he was forced to hire a crisis manager in the wake of the Fluke scandal to pull his fat out of the fire. He might have saved himself a lot of money and grief if he'd simply consulted a level headed radio professional about his Fluke flurry. Holland Cooke, for example, predicted the permanent damage Limbaugh was doing to himself while Limbaugh was still ensconced in his three day Fluke harangue. Ahhh, arrogance, thy name is Rush. How is it all likely to end? In spite of potentially disastrous foibles, Limbaugh has built an enormous radio empire, and for years was credited with revitalizing the AM band. No vast empire falls in a day. Indeed, the cracks are only just beginning to show. Many have predicted that next summer will be a critical period — some 40 Cumulus stations are believed to have contract expirations then, and it seems possible that Rush could lose those stations to Mike Huckabee. If so, that could mark the beginning of the end of the Limbaugh empire. Rush Limbaugh's talk radio career is in a slow downward spiral in part because of the activism of consumers, volunteers, and activists who seek to hold Rush accountable for his hate speech. One very active group in this cause is Flush Rush on Facebook. Flush Rush and other, similar groups use the StopRush Database to inform advertisers about where their ads are appearing. Please consider joining. Small donations are also accepted to fund data storage; visit StopRush for more information. The Media Action Center is dedicated to "Putting the Public Back into Broadcasters' 'Public Interest Obligations'." It may be found here. The diarist is active in Flush Rush on Facebook.
Alabama Judge, Ordered to Recognize Same-Sex Marriage, Denies Second-Parent Adoption The same probate judge who was taken to court for denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples is being sued again — by the same couple whose marriage he was court-ordered to recognize. The Alabama probate judge who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples until a court order forced him to do so is now being sued again — over his refusal to process an adoption petition from the couple whose lawsuit brough down the state's marriage ban. Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis has refused to process a second-parent adoption petition that would allow Cari Searcy to be legally recognized as a parent to the son she and Kimberly McKeand have been raising since he was born in 2005, reports AL.com, a site for several Alabama newspapers. McKeand gave birth to the child, who was fathered by a sperm donor who has waived parental rights, but Alabama law has not recognized Searcy’s role in the boy’s life, even though the women were married in California in 2008 — a situation that led them to challenge Alabama’s same-sex marriage ban, which was struck down by a federal judge last month. Even after U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade's January ruling in Searcy v. Strange (which invalidated the ban) took effect February 9, Davis initially refused to issue same-sex couples marriage licenses. That prompted four couples to seek — and earlier this month, receive — guidance from the Judge Granade, explicitly ordering Davis to allow same-sex couples to marry. That clarification formally named only Davis in his capacity as Mobile County probate pudge, but probate judges across the state took the guidance to mean they too were required to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Despite the end of the marriage ban, Davis is now refusing to recognize Searcy and McKeand's marriage for the purposes of a second-parent adoption, which would ensure the women's son has two legal guardians. Davis last Friday issued what is called an "interlocutory decree," granting Searcy certain parental rights on a temporary basis, but it also included this wording: “It is further ORDERED by the Court that this Decree is qualified in nature, and the Court will not issue a final adoption order until a final ruling is issued in the United States Supreme Court on the Marriage Act cases before it.” Davis was also the same judge who denied an earlier second-parent adoption petition from Searcy by citing the marriage ban, leading to the couple’s ultimately successful original suit against the ban. Davis declined comment on the matter to AL.com, while David Kennedy, a lawyer for Searcy and McKeand, expressed exasperation. "I'm disappointed," he told AL.com. "The United States Supreme Court made a decision with the ruling in the Searcy case [declining to extend the stay on Granade’s ruling]. We don't think that it's fair or equitable to Cari Searcy to wait until the Supreme Court has ruled on some Sixth Circuit case." That case involves the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling upholding marriage bans in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee; the court will hear it this spring. The temporary order, he added, gives Searcy only limited protection. If McKeand were to die before a Supreme Court ruling, relatives could challenge Searcy’s parental rights, and she would not necessarily get custody of their son. "That's actually very much an open question," he said. "It's the reason we filed the [original] lawsuit."
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my Privacy Policy for more details. Southwest Roll Ups – an easy appetizer perfect for parties. Full of black beans, spinach, peppers, onion, cilantro and a dairy free southwest flavored ranch dressing. They make a great lunch too! These Southwest Roll Ups are kind of like my Smoky Mexican Bean Dip meets Black Bean Pasta Salad meets Veggie Tortilla Rollups. They make the perfect little party appetizers. Especially for Cinco de Mayo coming up, but really they are perfect anytime of year. You could even make them into wraps for lunch or dinner instead of cutting them into bite size pieces. You could easily swap out the veggies for whatever you have in the fridge (corn would be a great addition!), or even use a different kind of bean (pinto beans would be great!). Versatile and delicious – you’ve gotta make these! We’ve been eating a version of these Southwest Roll Ups for many years. In fact, the very first day my son went to Kindergarten (4 years ago!), he requested black bean rollups in his lunchbox. Can’t argue with that, right?! The bite size pieces, while obviously being party perfect, are also toddler, little kid, and tiny hands friendly. I didn’t even use my dairy free Ranch Dressing back then, just added a few tablespoons of salsa for flavor. But, the dressing adds a creamy factor that helps hold the tortilla rollups together. And it’s a delicious flavor complement as well. There is so much flavor packed into these little bites. They are sure to be a hit with vegetarians and omnivores alike. Full of fiber and plant protein, vitamins and minerals, you can have several (many, even!) without feeling guilty. So grab that margarita and enjoy! Southwest Roll Ups I hope you loved these Southwest Roll Ups as much as we do. If you try them, please come back and leave me a comment below with your feedback and star rating. You can also find me on social media. Be sure to tag @veggie_inspired and #veggieinspired so I’m sure to see it. Enjoy! 5 from 2 votes Print Southwest Roll Ups Prep Time 10 mins Total Time 15 mins Course: Appetizer Cuisine: dairy free, egg free, gluten free, oil free, refined sugar free, vegan Servings : 12 Calories : 128 kcal Author : Jenn S. Ingredients 15 oz can black beans 1/4 of a red onion (diced) 1 sweet bell pepper, any color 1/2 of a zucchini (diced) 1 jalapeño pepper (ribs & seeds removed) (diced) 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste) 1/4 tsp cumin 1/4 tsp smoked paprika juice of 1/2 lime fresh spinach leaves cilantro leaves 6 large tortillas (use gluten free, if desired) 1 recipe Creamy Cumin Ranch Dressing Instructions Make the Creamy Cumin Ranch Dressing and set aside. In a small mixing bowl, combine the black beans, red onion, sweet bell pepper, zucchini, jalapeño, salt, smoked paprika, cumin, and lime juice. Mix well. Lay a tortilla flat on your work surface. Spread 1-2 tbsp of Creamy Cumin Ranch Dressing all over the tortilla. Add a few fresh spinach leaves, then 1/2 cup of the bean mixture, followed by a few cilantro leaves. Roll up the tortilla tightly. Cut into bite size pieces. Serve right away or place in the fridge until ready to serve. Recipe Notes ~You can make the Creamy Cumin Ranch Dressing ahead of time and keep in the fridge for several days until needed. ~This will server about 12-15 people as an appetizer. You can also make these as a wrap for lunch or dinner. Simply cut the rolled tortilla in half instead of bite size pieces. Will serve 4-6. Nutrition Facts Southwest Roll Ups Amount Per Serving Calories 128 Calories from Fat 27 % Daily Value* Total Fat 3g 5% Monounsaturated Fat 1g Sodium 176mg 7% Potassium 164mg 5% Total Carbohydrates 20g 7% Dietary Fiber 5g 20% Sugars 4g Protein 5g 10% Vitamin A 71% Vitamin C 208% Calcium 4% Iron 11% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. More Southwest Inspired Recipes to Love: The Best Guacamole Southwest Pumpkin Risott0 Vegan Queso
Our first DLC for The Last of Us launches tomorrow when the PlayStation Store updates. Want to see it in action now? Here it is: You can buy the Abandoned Territories Map Pack for £7.99/€9.99 stand-alone or, if you’re looking for a great value, the map pack is included in the £15.99/€19.99 The Last of Us Season Pass. We recently detailed our future plans for all Season Pass DLC and the 75% savings you’ll get by purchasing one. The Season Pass will be available for a limited time so grab it via the PlayStation Store or at your local game retailer today. We’ve also patched certain aspects of the game. In fact we re-doubled our patch version 1.04 efforts decided to skip straight to 1.05. You can hear about the major changes via Patch 1.05 in this video: If you want to see all changes with Patch 1.05, here’s our list. Patch 1.05 will be rolling out globally over the next 24 hours. Multiplayer: Abandoned Territories Map Pack DLC DLC playlist added for each game type. This includes both the retail maps and the DLC maps, but the DLC maps should appear much more frequently in the vote. Gameplay Fixed an issue where players on the winning team would occasionally get fully crafted items or machetes from caches, while players on the losing team would get incorrect items. Players should no longer get comeback weapons (pre-crafted molotovs / bombs / purchase weapons) when they are winning by more than a small margin. Fixed the consistency of comeback weapons spawning- there should be less comeback weapons in close matches and more consistent spawning in severely unbalanced matches. Once a player receives comeback weapons, however, they will not receive them again until a certain amount of progress has occurred in the match. 2×4 Spawning logic has been adjusted in Supply Raid and Interrogation: Fixed a bug where it would occasionally be impossible for a player to receive a 2×4 in a game. Reworked the initial 2×4 spawning logic to make the first 2×4 spawn a bit later to balance the escalation of the match. Lowered the overall number of potential 2x4s that could spawn in a match by including weighting based on match progress. The additional hit on modded melee weapons has been moved from Brawler Level 1 to Level 2, and the health gain from melee hits moved from Level 2 to 1. Added a Parts bonus for late joiners, based on when you join a match in progress. This bridges the gap between players who started from the beginning of the game and might have a Parts advantage over the late joiner. When late-joining beyond the first 2 minutes that match will no longer count towards any clan progress or missions. Fixed an issue on Checkpoint and Lakeside that had locations where some items could not be picked up. Made a fix to prevent players from being able to climb the tilted flag pole on the High School map. Fixed an issue with level graphics dropping out on The Dam. Interrogation Mode Fixes Games no longer end in ties unless both teams are on the same section of the unlocking process. If one team has more interrogations than the other, that team will win the match. The additional parts bonus for winning by a large margin is only awarded when the lockbox is fully unlocked. Otherwise only the standard win bonus is awarded. Killcard now correctly describes whether your character was executed or interrogated. Fire on the ground (from a Molotov) now damages the player when they attempt to unlock the lockbox and will properly interrupt the unlock process. Sounds have been added to the Interrogation animation Fixed a bug where the end-of-match music was not playing in Interrogation mode. Technical Fixes Intro speech should no longer occasionally be heard twice at the start of the game A flashing exclamation mark will be shown on DLC option for when new items are added Single player: Tweaks to a couple of art assets in the game. That’s just the start as we’re already working on the next patch. For now, hop online, enjoy the new maps and let’s all endure and survive. See you online!
The New York Times has a history of supporting a certain degree of climate change science denial, while at the same time supporting some very good journalism in this area. Just now, the Times jumped over one big giant shark by adding Bret Stephens to its opinion page staff. Stephens comes to the Times from the Wall Street Journal, a Murdoch anti-science rag you are all familiar with. In 2011, he wrote, Consider the case of global warming, another system of doomsaying prophecy and faith in things unseen. As with religion, it is presided over by a caste of spectacularly unattractive people pretending to an obscure form of knowledge that promises to make the seas retreat and the winds abate. As with religion, it comes with an elaborate list of virtues, vices and indulgences. As with religion, its claims are often non-falsifiable, hence the convenience of the term "climate change" when thermometers don't oblige the expected trend lines. As with religion, it is harsh toward skeptics, heretics and other "deniers." And as with religion, it is susceptible to the earthly temptations of money, power, politics, arrogance and deceit. "OK," you say, "That was like six years ago. Maybe he stopped being a jerk since then." Nope. According to Joe Romm, ...in 2015, he wrote that climate change — along with hunger in America, campus rape statistics, and institutionalized racism— are “imaginary enemies.” "OK," you say, "That guy is even more of a jerk now than he was then!" Indeed. Romm also quotes climate scientist Michael Mann on Stephens' hiring. “sadly, the New York Times itself seems to have fallen victim to this malady, hiring one one of the most notorious climate change deniers, Bret Stephens, to promote climate denial propaganda on the once-hallowed pages of the Grey Lady.” Media Matters has assembled a number of examples in which Stephens mislead readers on a number of matters including climate science. For example: So global warming is dead, nailed into its coffin one devastating disclosure, defection and re-evaluation at a time. Which means that pretty soon we're going to need another apocalyptic scare to take its place. [...] As for the United States, Gallup reports that global warming now ranks sixth on the list of Americans' top 10 environmental concerns. My wager is that within a few years "climate change" will exercise global nerves about as much as overpopulation, toxic tampons, nuclear winters, ozone holes, killer bees, low sperm counts, genetically modified foods and mad cows do today. Something is going to have to take its place. The world is now several decades into the era of environmental panic. The subject of the panic changes every few years, but the basic ingredients tend to remain fairly constant. A trend, a hypothesis, an invention or a discovery disturbs the sense of global equilibrium. Often the agent of distress is undetectable to the senses, like a malign spirit. A villain—invariably corporate and right-wing—is identified. [The Wall Street Journal, 4/6/10; Media Matters, 4/6/10] My friends at DeSmog Blog, a central clearing house for information on climate science deniers, will probably do something as well. I'll link to it here should that happen.
If it’s hard to imagine, say, Joel Osteen enjoying Coffinworm’s “High on the Reek of Your Burning Remains” or Ophis’s “Necrotic Reflection,” it might be because there’s a sense of inevitability and inescapability to a good doom song. Lurking in the shadows of our culture’s towering prosperity gospels, doom offers a suffocating, dead-end corrective to saccharine rushes. The longer you listen, the deeper you go, the more you hear your options being eliminated. No soaring melody is coming to airlift you to safety, no witty couplet will lighten the mood. To press play is to submit. Don’t get up from your sofa. The sun’s going down. The future is hopeless. We’re on the brink of collapse. The country doctor is on the loose. You are doomed. Or maybe not. In the midst of this sonic dismay, Pallbearer works like contractors hired by Black Sabbath and HGTV to renovate doom’s underground bunker, by installing major-scale emergency exits and unexpected, lovely chord changes that function as skylights. (Who says you can’t be heavy while standing in the sun?) While some doom purists may resent the gentrification, Pallbearer’s facility with melody, song structure and heart-on-your-sleeve singing has kept it inching toward the edge of crossover success, which is a strange place for a doom band to be. Categorizing Pallbearer as prog-rock makes its commercial situation slightly less novel, and is appropriate to its ambitious compositions. (As the critic Michael Nelson has noted, many of its songs manage to be catchy without having choruses.) But no matter where you file its records, Pallbearer still honors doom’s prime directive: Make it heavy. When I asked a friend who studied music theory to explain why certain moments on “Heartless” sounded so powerful, his answer included “DRAMA,” “churchy,” “gravy,” “LOW” and “sweet, thick feeling.” The guitarists Devin Holt and Brett Campbell play in drop-A tuning, which means fifths and octaves ringing in low registers. Their fastest songs still feel burdened. Though the classic pop chords at the end of “An Offering of Grief” are uplifting, the fact that C, G, F and the gang are slowly crashing down at 64 b.p.m. means you’ll probably never hear them in a Toyota commercial, unless Toyota starts selling cement mixers. Like all those records I played at the wrong speed, Pallbearer’s leave space to soak in each chord, even if you can’t see to the bottom. At its best, Pallbearer’s infusion of fresh harmonic blood into doom’s turgid circulatory system is exhilarating. The emotional power of a pivot to a B-flat major chord during “Lie of Survival” kept surprising me, until I realized it reminded me of one of my favorite moments in sacred music: the climactic hallelujahs in Edward Bairstow’s 1925 setting of “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.” Indeed, when I saw Pallbearer perform in the spring, I was struck by the sight of headbangers with eyes closed and arms upraised, swaying like megachurch attendees coming down with the holy spirit. And as the band pounded through the wordless opening of “A Plea for Understanding,” a chord progression of punishing melancholy that seems sweetly protective of its A-major home, I realized I was on the verge of tears.
Forum List » Value Ideas and Strategies Share and discuss value investing ideas and investing strategies. Jump to forum ... Gold, Silver, Oil, and Other Commodities Guru News and Commentaries Value Ideas and Strategies Value Research on Demand Requests Income Investors' Forum Small Cap, Spin-Off, Risk Arbitrage How to Use GuruFocus Business News and Headlines Suggest New Gurus Job Board Goto Thread: Previous•Next Goto: Forum List•Message List•New Topic•Log In Game Group (GME): Is This Time Different? Or Is It Barnes & Noble (BKS) All Over Again? Geoff Gannon (IP Logged) Posted by:(IP Logged) Date: September 21, 2011 06:43AM I read your BKS analysis. I just want to give you a hint… The problem with books is you can easily download them to an electronics device and the e-book is not tied to special hardware. I think video games are another story completely (I won't recommend GameStop (GME)). You need a special device for games, games and their hardware are completely interwoven. The data volume is much larger than for books — no easy download and especially not via mobile networks. Last but not least some companies have a used games business that seems very immune to competition (despite several tries, no one succeeded). Of course used games is GameStop. I think GameStop has a much higher probability to survive than Barnes & Noble. The short ratio at 31% is nearly as high. Here comes the clue: In the UK there is a mini version of GameStop, The Game Group. Roughly one-sixth the size, with 1,300 stores, 600 in the UK. Additional problems are the euro crisis in Spain and a retail war in the UK. Due to Tesco et al, prices in the UK are the lowest in the EU for video games. Game is the market leader in used games sales. The figures speak for themselves: micro cap, 21 pence share price, 347 million shares, 150 million pounds in cash, 150 million pounds revolving credit facility, 350 million current assets, 320 million current liabilities, a couple dozen millions in long term liabilities. Price to sales is 0.043 Earnings not so long ago 17p, last year reported 4.5p. 8.5p FCF last year according to my calculations. What do you think? That's 8x or so cheaper than GameStop based on sales. I think there is a risk here but that price seems extremely low. Best Regards, Claas You’re right. There is a risk here. And the price is extremely low. I had heard of What are the customer routines? Will they change? Those are the key questions. The issue with Barnes & Noble (BKS) was not the shift to digital books itself. The issue was the amount of capital spending and operating losses Barnes & Noble was willing to endure making the shift. I actually think Barnes & Noble and Amazon (AMZN) had much stronger positions in print books and a better future in digital books than anyone in the video game space. This is because of the industry structure. Customers interact with video games differently. Distribution is different. Amazon and Barnes & Noble were the point of contact for book buyers. In video games the point of contact is really the console. The thing in your living room. Microsoft (MSFT), Sony, and Nintendo are the real point of contact between video games and customers. And they have already been welcomed into the home. This is very different from the book business. In the book business Amazon and Barnes & Noble have a very strong blocking position that keeps them closer to the customer than anybody else in the industry. So there was a clear channel of distribution. They had big advantages. Whether e-books will be profitable for Amazon and Barnes & Noble is another question. But their competitive position relative to other potential e-book sellers was strong. I do not believe this is true of video game retailers. As you explained, a large part of the video game retail business is used games. A shift to digital will crush the used game business. Video game retailers are in a much weaker position than the book retailers were. They're not as close to the customer. You can get around them. That's a big problem. Regarding data volume, you have to remember that people can connect their consoles to the Internet by wire. This is how my own Xbox is connected. Ethernet in the house is fast, so download speeds are really driven by the cable entering the house. More importantly, you have to assume that at least some voracious readers are not big Internet users. I'm not sure this is true of video game buyers. They have to have at least some familiarity with electronics. And with the importance of multiplayer games I assume they spend a lot of time on the Internet. Video game buyers are not necessarily that young anymore. I don’t have data on the UK. But in the U.S. the average video game buyer is the age of the average American. There’s no bias towards youth when you ignore the issue of who buys the most games and just look at who buys games. But regardless of age video game buyers came up in an environment where they probably used electronics heavily. These people know a lot about computers. They're comfortable with them. I think the move to digital download may be a lot faster than you assume. I can tell you my personal habits. I prefer both digital download of games and reading of e-books. That sets me apart from much of the population. Will it permanently? Or am I just an early adopter? I don't know. When I bought Barnes & Noble stock I had not been in a bookstore in a very long time. That's not entirely true. I went to Barnes & Noble stores to research the stock. But I never went there to buy books for myself. I always bought print books at Amazon. And once I had a Kindle I stopped buying print books altogether. A lot of people assume that people read e-books rather than print books because they're cheaper. For me, price is definitely not the appeal of e-books. It’s convenience. I buy more e-books than I would print books. A lot more. It’s an issue of inertia. Inertia is the enemy of every business. It is the reason the infomercial business exemplifies good marketing better than any other business. It’s one thing to sell someone a bottle of wine in a wine store. Any advertiser can do that. The real difficulty is not in getting someone who is actively searching for a product to settle on yours. The far greater challenge is getting someone off their butt and over to the phone. Or out the door and into a store. Or out to a movie theater. That kind of marketing is tough to do successfully and is very expensive. It’s also uneconomical to reach certain groups. One reason why so few movies are marketed to folks over age 30 is that it’s too hard to get them all in one place, exposed to your ads, and chattering amongst themselves ahead of the opening weekend. They are too socially isolated. You can’t get a bandwagon going. The friction is too great. E-books reduce friction. If I hear about a book on T.V., I can buy it this instant. When I see a book cited in a book I’m reading, I go straight to Amazon and check if that book is available on Kindle. Would I remember to check for this cited book the next time I was in a bookstore? Hell no. That sale would never happen in a bookstore. It only happens because I have a Kindle. Because a Kindle allows for frictionless movement from the moment of interest to the moment of purchase. I can’t tell you how many e-books I’ve bought because they were cited in a book I was reading. It’s a very high number. And what about books by the same author? Also a very high number. E-books make it very easy to gorge on a particular subject or author. All because they reduce friction. I can quickly go from having the spark of interest appear in my head to having the book in my hands. That’s impossible in an offline world except for the few moments where you are actively browsing the shelves of a bookstore. This is the real appeal of e-books. And it will be equally appealing in games. The other appealing part – and I realize this is only a concern to a tiny fraction of the population – is that I don’t need shelves. I had filled several rooms with printed books. Now Amazon can keep the books for me and I only see them when I need them. Lovely. So the Kindle has become my bookstore. In fact, it’s become much more than my bookstore. It is my bookstore, my personal library, and a friend who suggests new titles to me much better than any bookstore employee ever could. Bookstores bring book buyers and publishers together. This is true whether the bookstores are online or off-line. Think of the analogous matchmaker in games. Is it the video game store? Or is it the console? I say it's the console. The console can easily become everything to gamers that the Kindle is to readers. So I don’t agree that video game retailers are more insulated from downloads. I think they're less insulated than booksellers were. You may find The Game Group’s business can change very quickly. The only thing stopping people from downloading video games en masse is the attitude of video game companies. This was once true in books as well. E-books were not something the public was clamoring for. Just as tablets were not something the public was clamoring for before the iPad. E-books were pushed on the public by Amazon. Then Barnes & Noble followed. Whether a product is adopted or not does not depend on customers alone. Sometimes it does not even depend on customers primarily. Companies try to anticipate needs. Companies can mold customers. Creating a customer is one of the biggest jobs of any company. Amazon moved first. Barnes & Noble followed. The two of them together set the agenda in books. The agenda in video games will be set by the publishers and the console makers. Primarily the console makers. Of course the console makers are dependent on the publishers for substantially all of their economic profit. Consoles do not sell themselves. Games sell consoles. If both publishers and console makers think they can make as much money off downloads you will see the download business snowball very fast. The appetite is there. The distribution system is there. The consoles are already in people's living rooms. Distribution is easier than in e-books. The situation in video games is actually much more accommodating to quick change than it was in the pre-Kindle book business. So I disagree with you on the difference between the threats digital poses to video games and the threats e-books posed to bookstores. The only difference we’ve seen is that in books Amazon decided to push e-books on an as yet unwilling customer. Barnes & Noble followed. That unprompted push is the only thing lacking here. Video games are every bit in danger of change as e-books were. You mention the used game business. I doubt this is very instructive. But I can tell you a little bit about my own experiences here. As a kid I actually sold used games to people. l only sold computer games. Not working at a store. Just dealing in used games myself. Selling my own games at first. And then buying games off people and selling them to other people for a nice profit. Why does this work? Really, you're not a used game retailer — you’re a dealer in used games. There’s a difference. All that is necessary to make a market in used games is to be a place where gamers congregate. That's it. A person can do it. A store can do it. But it’s hard for a general retailer to do, because they know retail but they don’t know gamers. They’ve got it backwards. Knowledge of retail isn’t important. Knowledge of gamers is. The reason it's hard to sell used games anywhere else is because you need to have buyers and sellers — the people who are making the actual trades — come together around you for you to make a market. I think download presents disastrous problems for used games. The games I would sell people fell into two categories. One category was old games. You could call these golden oldies. They were once hits. But they were no longer being published. They were well known but tough to find. Download kills that business. You put the backlist on download. You make more money. It's like reprinting a book. It's very easy to do. It makes perfect sense to do digitally. The economics of backlist publishing are excellent. The other category of games that were profitable to sell was what we’ll call cult classics. If you knew someone liked RPGs you could sell them Arcanum. Arcanum is not a great game. It’s a great idea. But it's unevenly executed. Kind of annoyingly buggy in places. It’s a standout B title. Nothing more. However, there are a group of people who will buy it. And they will love it. You can sell War Along the Mohawk to people who like that kind of strategy game. Again, War Along the Mohawk is not a great game. In fact, it’s nowhere near as good as Arcanum. But it appeals to a certain kind of person. Someone who can't get enough of a certain kind of game. There’s a market for bad horror movies. There's a market for bad science fiction. There’s a market for bad romance books. Where there are niches that people want to see filled and not enough new material being published in that niche you can sell B grade content in that niche and make money. You just need to know the folks who live in that niche. You need to be the place they come to. Finally, you can make money selling used goods anywhere you have buyers who are perpetually short of cash. There is a market for used games in the same way there's a market for rent-to-own furniture. There are people out there who just don't have cash and can’t get credit. So used cars and used video games and pawn shops exist. They exist because some people have things and need cash and other people need things but have no cash. Those are the three ways you make money in used products: moving product from old owners to new owners, selling backlist titles, and accepting product instead of cash. The question I ask myself when I look at a business in danger of becoming obsolete is: If this business didn't exist would someone create it? Could you create this business today and be successful? Is there a need for it? Or is it just a relic of business evolution? A vestigial organ? I would say video game retailers will become a vestigial organ of the video game industry. Once you have consoles and the ability to download games to those consoles, the need for brick and mortar stores is basically nil. A computer or console is connected to the Internet. Your game-playing friends are connected to you through that console. You can interact with them better at your console than in a store. So the need for brick and mortar stores in the video game business seems low to me. I don't think anyone would imagine starting one if they didn't already exist. There's a bigger issue here. The Game Group just isn’t the kind of stock I normally buy. I don't normally buy retailers. And I don't normally buy companies that are so inflexible they depend on a very specific distribution system that could be rendered obsolete by changes in customer behavior. Barnes & Noble broke both those rules. My investment in Barnes & Noble was a mistake. In part it was a mistake because it broke those rules. The rule breaking was a necessary but not sufficient reason for the investment to fail. When combined with the actions that management took it ruined the investment for me. I will not try to dissuade you from buying The Game Group. It's a very cheap stock. And when buying a cheap retailer works out well it works out very well. Retailers are outside my circle of competence. So personally I have no interest in buying shares of The Game Group. But there's no doubt that the stock is cheap. And there's no doubt it has plenty of upside potential. Let's take a look at their operating margins. I'm taking this from Sharelockholmes, going from the furthest past to their most recent year we see operating margins were: 6.9%, 5.8%, 5.6%, 5.7%, 1.7%, 4.1%, 5.5%, 6.8%, 5.4%, 2.7%. That's very similar to the kind of operating margins you see at places like Barnes & Noble. In fact it's very similar to the kind of operating margins you see at grocery stores. Think about the moat around your local grocery store and think about the moat around The Game Group. The moat around your local grocery store is much wider. The risk of volumes fluctuating in the grocery business is low. The risk posed by online sales of groceries is very low. Online grocery sales simply cannot be done at the same low prices as brick-and-mortar grocery sales. If there were no grocery stores today I have no doubt people would be building grocery stores as we speak. Online sales of groceries is not cost competitive with going to the local grocery store yourself. Online groceries are a logistical nightmare. I don't see anything like those kinds of competitive advantages – the kind enjoyed by an established grocery store – in an established video game retailer. I really don't think there would be any need for them to exist if the only way to buy games was by downloading them to your console. I honestly think that is how people would buy video games if there were no retailers. And they wouldn’t think twice about it. So I think these stores are a vestigial organ of the video game industry. That doesn't mean they won't survive. That doesn't mean they can’t be jerryrigged into serving some other purpose. You see that kind of adaptation all the time in business. It's natural. We build on the material we have it hand. New things are built from old capital. Businesses transition. The original business Western Union was in doesn't exist anymore. Western Union still does. It evolved. Evolving is hard for a retailer to do. Retailers are specific. They are prone to extinction. Retailers are often so fit they can’t survive anywhere but in the specific place and time where they grew up. They are built to suit an environment. When that environment changes, they die. Retailers have a lot of leverage built into the business. They have operational leverage in the sense of low operating margins. They have financial leverage in the sense of leasing stores. You can see this in the balance sheet of a retailer. There’s nothing wrong with The Game Group’s balance sheet. But it’s not the kind of balance sheet I’d like to see if I were buying a net-net. It’s not the kind of balance sheet you want if you need to transition into something else. Liabilities are too high. There’s cash. But not enough net cash to buy time. There are much more attractive stocks from a pure balance sheet perspective. So an investor who buys The Game Group is buying the stock for its sales. I think the risks to The Game Group are real. And they're really quite high. But, as you said, the price to sales ratio is low (0.04). You are getting $25 in sales for every $1 you spend on the stock. I agree that The Game Group is a better buy than GameStop (GME). GameStop is just better known. But it really comes down to this. I agree with the points you made about the cheapness of The Game Group. I do not agree with the points you made about the defenses of video game retailers against the threat of downloaded games. I think the threat is at least as great as the one posed by e-books. In fact I think it's greater. We just have to agree to disagree on this point. I don't see technology as the biggest impediment in the switch to digital distribution. The established routines of customers are usually a bigger hindrance to rapid change than the technical limits of companies. And I see the possibility of routines being altered as at least as likely in the video game space as in the book space. I do however agree with you about The Game Group’s cheapness. It’s a very cheap stock. I think this is a risky bet. I think it has a lot of upside. I think it has a lot of downside. That’s not the kind of bet I want to make. It may be the kind of bet you want to make. But I think it's much more similar to the bet I made on Barnes & Noble than you are willing to admit. Follow Geoff at Gannon On Investing Someone who reads my blog sent me this email:You’re right. There is a risk here. And the price is extremely low.I had heard of The Game Group (GMG:LN) . Richard Beddard wrote about it awhile back. I agree it is cheap. However, I do not agree with your reasoning when it comes to video games. You overstate the importance of technology. Customer behavior is more important.What are the customer routines? Will they change?Those are the key questions.The issue withwas not the shift to digital books itself. The issue was the amount of capital spending and operating losses Barnes & Noble was willing to endure making the shift. I actually think Barnes & Noble andhad much stronger positions in print books and a better future in digital books than anyone in the video game space. This is because of the industry structure.Customers interact with video games differently. Distribution is different. Amazon and Barnes & Noble were the point of contact for book buyers. In video games the point of contact is really the console. The thing in your living room. Microsoft (MSFT), Sony, and Nintendo are the real point of contact between video games and customers. And they have already been welcomed into the home. This is very different from the book business. In the book business Amazon and Barnes & Noble have a very strong blocking position that keeps them closer to the customer than anybody else in the industry.So there was a clear channel of distribution. They had big advantages. Whether e-books will be profitable for Amazon and Barnes & Noble is another question. But their competitive position relative to other potential e-book sellers was strong.I do not believe this is true of video game retailers. As you explained, a large part of the video game retail business is used games. A shift to digital will crush the used game business. Video game retailers are in a much weaker position than the book retailers were. They're not as close to the customer. You can get around them. That's a big problem.Regarding data volume, you have to remember that people can connect their consoles to the Internet by wire. This is how my own Xbox is connected. Ethernet in the house is fast, so download speeds are really driven by the cable entering the house.More importantly, you have to assume that at least some voracious readers are not big Internet users. I'm not sure this is true of video game buyers. They have to have at least some familiarity with electronics. And with the importance of multiplayer games I assume they spend a lot of time on the Internet.Video game buyers are not necessarily that young anymore. I don’t have data on the UK. But in the U.S. the average video game buyer is the age of the average American. There’s no bias towards youth when you ignore the issue of who buys the most games and just look at who buys games. But regardless of age video game buyers came up in an environment where they probably used electronics heavily. These people know a lot about computers. They're comfortable with them. I think the move to digital download may be a lot faster than you assume.I can tell you my personal habits. I prefer both digital download of games and reading of e-books. That sets me apart from much of the population. Will it permanently? Or am I just an early adopter?I don't know. When I bought Barnes & Noble stock I had not been in a bookstore in a very long time. That's not entirely true. I went to Barnes & Noble stores to research the stock. But I never went there to buy books for myself. I always bought print books at Amazon. And once I had a Kindle I stopped buying print books altogether.A lot of people assume that people read e-books rather than print books because they're cheaper.For me, price is definitely not the appeal of e-books. It’s convenience. I buy more e-books than I would print books. A lot more. It’s an issue of inertia. Inertia is the enemy of every business. It is the reason the infomercial business exemplifies good marketing better than any other business. It’s one thing to sell someone a bottle of wine in a wine store. Any advertiser can do that. The real difficulty is not in getting someone who is actively searching for a product to settle on yours. The far greater challenge is getting someone off their butt and over to the phone. Or out the door and into a store. Or out to a movie theater. That kind of marketing is tough to do successfully and is very expensive. It’s also uneconomical to reach certain groups. One reason why so few movies are marketed to folks over age 30 is that it’s too hard to get them all in one place, exposed to your ads, and chattering amongst themselves ahead of the opening weekend. They are too socially isolated. You can’t get a bandwagon going. The friction is too great.E-books reduce friction. If I hear about a book on T.V., I can buy it this instant. When I see a book cited in a book I’m reading, I go straight to Amazon and check if that book is available on Kindle. Would I remember to check for this cited book the next time I was in a bookstore? Hell no. That sale would never happen in a bookstore. It only happens because I have a Kindle. Because a Kindle allows for frictionless movement from the moment of interest to the moment of purchase.I can’t tell you how many e-books I’ve bought because they were cited in a book I was reading. It’s a very high number. And what about books by the same author? Also a very high number. E-books make it very easy to gorge on a particular subject or author. All because they reduce friction. I can quickly go from having the spark of interest appear in my head to having the book in my hands. That’s impossible in an offline world except for the few moments where you are actively browsing the shelves of a bookstore.This is the real appeal of e-books. And it will be equally appealing in games.The other appealing part – and I realize this is only a concern to a tiny fraction of the population – is that I don’t need shelves. I had filled several rooms with printed books. Now Amazon can keep the books for me and I only see them when I need them. Lovely.So the Kindle has become my bookstore. In fact, it’s become much more than my bookstore. It is my bookstore, my personal library, and a friend who suggests new titles to me much better than any bookstore employee ever could.Bookstores bring book buyers and publishers together. This is true whether the bookstores are online or off-line. Think of the analogous matchmaker in games. Is it the video game store? Or is it the console?I say it's the console.The console can easily become everything to gamers that the Kindle is to readers. So I don’t agree that video game retailers are more insulated from downloads. I think they're less insulated than booksellers were. You may find The Game Group’s business can change very quickly. The only thing stopping people from downloading video games en masse is the attitude of video game companies.This was once true in books as well. E-books were not something the public was clamoring for. Just as tablets were not something the public was clamoring for before the iPad. E-books were pushed on the public by Amazon. Then Barnes & Noble followed. Whether a product is adopted or not does not depend on customers alone. Sometimes it does not even depend on customers primarily. Companies try to anticipate needs. Companies can mold customers. Creating a customer is one of the biggest jobs of any company. Amazon moved first. Barnes & Noble followed. The two of them together set the agenda in books.The agenda in video games will be set by the publishers and the console makers. Primarily the console makers. Of course the console makers are dependent on the publishers for substantially all of their economic profit. Consoles do not sell themselves. Games sell consoles. If both publishers and console makers think they can make as much money off downloads you will see the download business snowball very fast. The appetite is there. The distribution system is there. The consoles are already in people's living rooms.Distribution is easier than in e-books. The situation in video games is actually much more accommodating to quick change than it was in the pre-Kindle book business. So I disagree with you on the difference between the threats digital poses to video games and the threats e-books posed to bookstores. The only difference we’ve seen is that in books Amazon decided to push e-books on an as yet unwilling customer. Barnes & Noble followed. That unprompted push is the only thing lacking here. Video games are every bit in danger of change as e-books were.You mention the used game business. I doubt this is very instructive. But I can tell you a little bit about my own experiences here. As a kid I actually sold used games to people. l only sold computer games. Not working at a store. Just dealing in used games myself. Selling my own games at first. And then buying games off people and selling them to other people for a nice profit. Why does this work?Really, you're not a used game retailer — you’re a dealer in used games. There’s a difference. All that is necessary to make a market in used games is to be a place where gamers congregate. That's it. A person can do it. A store can do it. But it’s hard for a general retailer to do, because they know retail but they don’t know gamers. They’ve got it backwards. Knowledge of retail isn’t important. Knowledge of gamers is.The reason it's hard to sell used games anywhere else is because you need to have buyers and sellers — the people who are making the actual trades — come together around you for you to make a market.I think download presents disastrous problems for used games.The games I would sell people fell into two categories. One category was old games. You could call these golden oldies. They were once hits. But they were no longer being published. They were well known but tough to find. Download kills that business. You put the backlist on download. You make more money. It's like reprinting a book. It's very easy to do. It makes perfect sense to do digitally. The economics of backlist publishing are excellent.The other category of games that were profitable to sell was what we’ll call cult classics. If you knew someone liked RPGs you could sell them Arcanum. Arcanum is not a great game. It’s a great idea. But it's unevenly executed. Kind of annoyingly buggy in places. It’s a standout B title. Nothing more. However, there are a group of people who will buy it. And they will love it. You can sell War Along the Mohawk to people who like that kind of strategy game. Again, War Along the Mohawk is not a great game. In fact, it’s nowhere near as good as Arcanum. But it appeals to a certain kind of person. Someone who can't get enough of a certain kind of game.There’s a market for bad horror movies. There's a market for bad science fiction. There’s a market for bad romance books. Where there are niches that people want to see filled and not enough new material being published in that niche you can sell B grade content in that niche and make money. You just need to know the folks who live in that niche. You need to be the place they come to.Finally, you can make money selling used goods anywhere you have buyers who are perpetually short of cash. There is a market for used games in the same way there's a market for rent-to-own furniture. There are people out there who just don't have cash and can’t get credit. So used cars and used video games and pawn shops exist. They exist because some people have things and need cash and other people need things but have no cash.Those are the three ways you make money in used products: moving product from old owners to new owners, selling backlist titles, and accepting product instead of cash.The question I ask myself when I look at a business in danger of becoming obsolete is: If this business didn't exist would someone create it?Could you create this business today and be successful? Is there a need for it? Or is it just a relic of business evolution? A vestigial organ? I would say video game retailers will become a vestigial organ of the video game industry.Once you have consoles and the ability to download games to those consoles, the need for brick and mortar stores is basically nil. A computer or console is connected to the Internet. Your game-playing friends are connected to you through that console. You can interact with them better at your console than in a store. So the need for brick and mortar stores in the video game business seems low to me. I don't think anyone would imagine starting one if they didn't already exist.There's a bigger issue here. The Game Group just isn’t the kind of stock I normally buy. I don't normally buy retailers. And I don't normally buy companies that are so inflexible they depend on a very specific distribution system that could be rendered obsolete by changes in customer behavior. Barnes & Noble broke both those rules. My investment in Barnes & Noble was a mistake. In part it was a mistake because it broke those rules. The rule breaking was a necessary but not sufficient reason for the investment to fail. When combined with the actions that management took it ruined the investment for me.I will not try to dissuade you from buying The Game Group. It's a very cheap stock. And when buying a cheap retailer works out well it works out very well.Retailers are outside my circle of competence. So personally I have no interest in buying shares of The Game Group. But there's no doubt that the stock is cheap. And there's no doubt it has plenty of upside potential.Let's take a look at their operating margins. I'm taking this from Sharelockholmes, going from the furthest past to their most recent year we see operating margins were: 6.9%, 5.8%, 5.6%, 5.7%, 1.7%, 4.1%, 5.5%, 6.8%, 5.4%, 2.7%. That's very similar to the kind of operating margins you see at places like Barnes & Noble.In fact it's very similar to the kind of operating margins you see at grocery stores. Think about the moat around your local grocery store and think about the moat around The Game Group. The moat around your local grocery store is much wider. The risk of volumes fluctuating in the grocery business is low. The risk posed by online sales of groceries is very low. Online grocery sales simply cannot be done at the same low prices as brick-and-mortar grocery sales. If there were no grocery stores today I have no doubt people would be building grocery stores as we speak. Online sales of groceries is not cost competitive with going to the local grocery store yourself. Online groceries are a logistical nightmare.I don't see anything like those kinds of competitive advantages – the kind enjoyed by an established grocery store – in an established video game retailer. I really don't think there would be any need for them to exist if the only way to buy games was by downloading them to your console. I honestly think that is how people would buy video games if there were no retailers. And they wouldn’t think twice about it.So I think these stores are a vestigial organ of the video game industry. That doesn't mean they won't survive. That doesn't mean they can’t be jerryrigged into serving some other purpose. You see that kind of adaptation all the time in business. It's natural. We build on the material we have it hand. New things are built from old capital. Businesses transition. The original business Western Union was in doesn't exist anymore. Western Union still does. It evolved.Evolving is hard for a retailer to do. Retailers are specific. They are prone to extinction. Retailers are often so fit they can’t survive anywhere but in the specific place and time where they grew up. They are built to suit an environment. When that environment changes, they die.Retailers have a lot of leverage built into the business. They have operational leverage in the sense of low operating margins. They have financial leverage in the sense of leasing stores. You can see this in the balance sheet of a retailer.There’s nothing wrong with The Game Group’s balance sheet. But it’s not the kind of balance sheet I’d like to see if I were buying a net-net. It’s not the kind of balance sheet you want if you need to transition into something else. Liabilities are too high. There’s cash. But not enough net cash to buy time. There are much more attractive stocks from a pure balance sheet perspective. So an investor who buys The Game Group is buying the stock for its sales.I think the risks to The Game Group are real. And they're really quite high. But, as you said, the price to sales ratio is low (0.04). You are getting $25 in sales for every $1 you spend on the stock. I agree that The Game Group is a better buy than. GameStop is just better known.But it really comes down to this. I agree with the points you made about the cheapness of The Game Group. I do not agree with the points you made about the defenses of video game retailers against the threat of downloaded games. I think the threat is at least as great as the one posed by e-books. In fact I think it's greater. We just have to agree to disagree on this point.I don't see technology as the biggest impediment in the switch to digital distribution. The established routines of customers are usually a bigger hindrance to rapid change than the technical limits of companies. And I see the possibility of routines being altered as at least as likely in the video game space as in the book space.I do however agree with you about The Game Group’s cheapness. It’s a very cheap stock. I think this is a risky bet. I think it has a lot of upside. I think it has a lot of downside. That’s not the kind of bet I want to make. It may be the kind of bet you want to make.But I think it's much more similar to the bet I made on Barnes & Noble than you are willing to admit. Stocks Discussed: GME, BKS, AMZN, Rate this post: Currently 3.91/5 1 2 3 4 5 Rating: 3.9/5 (23 votes) Options: Reply To This Message•Quote This Message•Report This Message Re Game Group GME Is This Time Different Or Is It Barnes Noble BKS All Over Again Adib Motiwala (IP Logged) Posted by:(IP Logged) Date: March 12, 2012 01:18AM "_ I agree that The Game Group is a better buy than GameStop (GME). GameStop is just better known" ---- Just buying cheap stocks is not enough...there are other things at play. GameGroup did not turn out to be a better buy even it was cheaper 8x on a P/S basis. Game Group looking for a buyer. Ironically, GameStop may be interested."_ I agree that The Game Group is a better buy than. GameStop is just better known" ---- Just buying cheap stocks is not enough...there are other things at play. GameGroup did not turn out to be a better buy even it was cheaper 8x on a P/S basis. Stocks Discussed: GME, BKS, AMZN, Rate this post: Currently 0.00/5 1 2 3 4 5 Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes) Options: Reply To This Message•Quote This Message•Report This Message Goto: Forum List•Message List•Log In Please Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.Please Login if you have an account or Create a Free Account if you don't
A year ago, Jabhat Al Nusra rebranded itself as a Syria-first local organisation, having previously been recognised as an official branch of Al Qaeda. The disengagement was framed as a break-up with the global extremist group, but the real reason for the change has remained a subject of debate among observers. Recent events in Idlib provide much-needed clarity about what the jihadist group aimed to achieve with such a move. After the rebranding, the group shifted strategy. Jabhat Fateh Al Sham, as it was renamed, moved towards a consolidation of its influence in rebel-held areas in the north west. It sought to do so by leading a consortium of rebel factions to break the siege in Aleppo, which it briefly managed to do. The momentum was short-lived and the regime reimposed the siege and, in December, expelled the rebels from eastern Aleppo. The focus of the group then shifted to Idlib, which it helped capture along with Ahrar Al Sham in spring 2015. A month after the fall of eastern Aleppo, the group changed its name again, and began a more forceful campaign to tighten its grip in that area. For the first time, Ahrar Al Sham, with which it had long had a special relationship, was a target of its campaign. Tension had risen between the two groups over another jihadist faction — the now-defunct Jund Al Aqsa — that rebels accused of serving as a front for ISIL. After brief clashes between Ahrar Al Sham and Jund Al Aqsa in Hama in October, the latter pledged allegiance to Jabhat Fateh Al Sham. In January, Ahrar Al Sham renewed its calls to bring leaders of Jund Al Aqsa to justice for past acts of murder, which went unheeded. _______________________ Read more: Al Qaeda’s Syria branch breaks away with new name and flag Syria’s new rebel alliance threatens Assad’s grip on power _______________________ The biggest friction then took place in late January, when hundreds of Ahrar Al Sham’s members defected to the group, now rebranded for the second time under Hayat Tahrir Al Sham. The group under the new name then demanded that other militias join it or face eradication. Some small factions in Idlib sought protection from Ahrar Al Sham. But, by the end of the campaign in February, Hayat Tahrir Al Sham had deeply fragmented its rivals and further increased its dominance in the north west. A second round of consolidation in Idlib began a week ago. Hayat Tahrir Al Sham cracked down on Ahrar Al Sham, the group that contributed most to its normalisation and integration in the Syrian insurgency. The latest operation followed weeks of reports about a prospective Turkish troop deployment to Idlib as part of a ceasefire monitoring mission, something that Hayat Tahrir Al Sham saw as a threat to its dominance there. The clashes were directly triggered by differences over the control of the Bab Al Hawa border crossing and the raising of the Syrian uprising’s “green flag”, a byword for moderation in the insurgency today. The series of events since Jabhat Fateh Al Sham’s rebranding a year ago highlight a key aspect of the group’s strategy in Syria. The purpose of disengagement from Al Qaeda was forceful consolidation. After the failure to grab control of the Syrian insurgency through integration, the group shifted its attempts to a campaign that intended to degrade its rivals and absorb some of their disaffected individuals. Although Hayat Tahrir Al Sham differs from ISIL in how it seeks to reach its final objective of establishing an Islamic state, the two groups share a critical strategy: to establish themselves as the only conduit of Sunni militarism. Any viable rivals must be weakened and ultimately eradicated. ISIL did that in Iraq, and Hayat Tahrir Al Sham seeks to do the same in Syria. According to the announcement made by the group and a representative of Al Qaeda, the rebranding was an “advanced phase” in its operation in Syria. The idea of an advanced phase was once mentioned by Ayman Al Zawahiri, the current leader of Al Qaeda, in a letter to Abu Musab Al Zarqawi in Iraq in 2006. The letter followed a decision by Al Qaeda in Iraq to dissolve itself and form the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC). After Jabhat Al Nusra’s rebranding, I compared the move to the establishment of the MSC in Iraq. Even though the methods are different, the two groups recognise that the single greatest setback to their dominance is the rise of groups or structures that appeal to the same popular base they claim to represent. After the recent campaign, Hayat Tahrir Al Sham has emerged even more dominant than six months ago, and its attempts to dominate are far from over. It will continue to pursue its goal of ensuring no internal rebellion emerges from the areas it currently controls. Hassan Hassan is a senior fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy
Andrew Wiggins has logged 2,640 minutes, most of it as a teenager, during this rookie season, the fourth most in the entire NBA. The 2014-15 season of Minnesota Timberwolves basketball is aging like a beached fish in the morning sun. On Monday night at Target Center versus the Utah Jazz, the Wolves trotted out the most absurd starting lineup yet in their clown-car campaign for a high lottery draft pick: A trio of rookies and two second-year journeymen who had logged more time in the D-League minors than the NBA before this season. Zach LaVine, drafted by the Wolves nine months ago, had seniority status in team tenure among the quintet. Before the season started, the Wolves were marketing a brilliant slogan to corral paying customers: “Eyes on the Rise.” It disingenuously conflated the leaping ability of the team’s cadre of new athletic acquisitions with the tantalizing prospect of a similar elevation in the standings. This second part of the “more dunks = more wins” equation was always a bit of a hoax, of course. Having swapped their superstar, Kevin Love, for a collection of beguiling jumping jacks, the Wolves were not about to “rise” above their 40-win, 10th place standing in the rugged Western Conference. But when injuries wiped out a trio of complementary veteran starters within the first three weeks of the season, the Wolves unofficial slogan inexorably became Guise on the Demise, as the team began figuring out ways to tank games in favor of developing youth and positioning themselves for this summer’s draft. Before this year’s pratfall, the largest decline in win total in the 26-year history of the franchise (not counting the abbreviated strike season) was 14, from 58 victories in the magical 2003-04 season to 44 during the dysfunctional 2004-05 campaign that prematurely ended coach Flip Saunders’ first stint with the Wolves. Even if the current ragtag remnants of the Wolves’ roster were to miraculously win the team’s final eight contests of the 2014-15 season, they’d finish with a record of 24-58, or 16 wins behind the 40-42 mark posted in 2013-14. No matter. As the Wolves face-plant themselves into another cruel April, there is optimism within the organization and among the fan base that is in stark contrast to the dolor generated by the team’s failed playoff chase and the impending departures of Love and coach Rick Adelman a year ago. This sunny outlook isn’t simply a refraction from the fool’s gold of slogans and wishful thinking. It is based on the cornerstone of a budding star with unfathomable potential who refused to be blinded or otherwise struck dumb by the glare of the hype. It is based on the fact that during his rookie season, Andrew Wiggins has consistently delivered the goods. Last man standing When second-year center Gorgui Dieng missed Monday’s game due to a concussion, Wiggins became the only member of the Timberwolves to appear in every game the team has played thus far this season. But that fact represents just the tip of the iceberg of what Wiggins has endured. He has logged 2,640 minutes, most of it as a teenager, during this rookie season, the fourth most in the entire NBA. Two of the three players ahead of him, James Harden and Trevor Ariza, are teammates in Houston. The other one, John Wall, is a fifth-year veteran most commonly playing beside Marcin Gortat, Paul Pierce, Bradley Beal and Nene Hilario. Three of those four are holdover starters alongside Wall from last year’s playoff team in Washington; the fourth, Pierce, is a 37-year old former star and sage professional. By contrast, Wiggins has played 447 minutes more than any of his teammates, the largest gap in the NBA. Only one teammate has been on the court with him for more than half of his minutes — Dieng, a second-year backup center with just 3011 career minutes. After that, it is Thad Young, who lasted 48 games in Minnesota before being traded away in February. The most commonly deployed three-man combination on the Wolves has been Wiggins, Dieng and Young, but at 862 minutes, the combo represents slightly over a third of Wiggins’ total court time — and will never be replicated now that Young is gone. In other words, Wiggins has been thrown into the maw of adjusting to the NBA in an atmosphere of total chaos. He is the polestar among a rapidly rotating crew of mostly motley characters. From the start, he was a teenager given the arduous task of defending the opponent’s best perimeter scorer. By January 10, he had already logged more minutes than his sole season in college at Kansas. And by that January night, the Wolves had already been without starters Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Martin for nearly two months. Throughout the season, storylines have come and gone. Consider the point guard position alone. When Rubio went down, callow Zach LaVine leapfrogged over Mo Williams into the starting lineup and proved so stupendously unprepared for the task that he was mercifully replaced. Williams erupted for a team-record 52 points and was soon peddled to Charlotte. Before that, Corey Brewer, nicknamed the “drunken dribbler” by the Wolves’ faithful, logged some surprisingly effective minutes at the point before he was shipped out to Houston for dimes on the dollar. Then there was the night Lorenzo Brown played all but a few seconds of the game against Cleveland. But most often it has been LaVine at the point when Wiggins is playing. Anyone who has watched LaVine play knows that, to put it charitably, he cannot play point guard in anything but a rudimentary fashion. Consequently, Wiggins has shot 39.1 percent from the field and 24.5 percent from three-point territory during the 1101 minutes he has played alongside LaVine and 46.4 percent from the field and 39.1 percent behind the arc during the 1539 minutes LaVine has been on the bench. Folks who want to decry his wayward shooting percentage may want to file away that fact. Indeed looking at Wiggins’ statistical shortcomings without considering the context is malpractice in punditry. Basketball is a team sport. If you consider Wiggins’ own youth and inexperience versus the responsibilities he has been handed and environmental shambles of his situation — the constant losing, the roster that has never stopped churning, the gross incompetence — nobody in the NBA has toiled so mightily and been provided with less support this season. He has had no “team” to speak of, no place to fit in and flourish with familiarity. On the contrary, he has been buffeted by temporary pecking orders and challenged by head coach and President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders, tromping the throttle on his development. Kevin Martin returned and starting jacking up jumpers. Nikola Pekovic returned and re-established his primacy in the post. Ricky Rubio returned anxious to feed his familiar veterans and showcase his new shooting stroke. Kevin Garnett created a tsunami of goodwill and sold-out crowds, then proclaimed that he’d rather instruct his teammates in practice and skip the games, even though scheduling, health, and a ravaged roster ensured that the Wolves rarely practice. Through it all, it was up to Wiggins to do the adjusting, not vice versa. When asked if Martin was taking shots away from Wiggins, Saunders replied that it was up to Wiggins to seize those shots if he wanted them. Later, the coach added that he wasn’t going to call plays for Wiggins anymore. Apparently the rookie didn’t have enough on his plate and had to start hunting for his own spots on the floor and moving with the ball — before returning to guard a high-powered wing scorer on the defensive end. Imagine Kevin Martin trying that. Or any other member of this roster. Standing proud And yet, Wiggins has made both Saunders and himself look good by streaking to the finish line of his rookie campaign. Two months ago, Saunders was noting that he’d hit the notorious “rookie wall.” Seven games ago, back home in Toronto for the only time this season to play against the Raptors, Wiggins conceded that he was tired but determined to play all 82 games. Since then, he has averaged more than 42 minutes, 21 points (abetted by nine trips to the free throw line), four rebounds and two assists per game. That stat line culminated on Monday night against Utah, when Wiggins took the floor beside four teammates who all would have been better off playing in the D-league this season. Before the game, he was the topic of conversation from both coaches. Saunders remarked that, “These last four games are probably as good a stretch as he’s had from the perspective of playing aggressive. He’s finding different ways to play.” At the other end of the hallway, Jazz coach Quin Snyder said, “He’s putting a lot of pressure on the defense. Anytime a player can get his shot, it puts the defense in a position where, in order to defend him they have to be more aggressive. He’s taking advantage of that by making basketball plays — shot fakes, step-throughs and things like that.” Utah has surged in the second half of the season on the crest of premiere shot-blocker Rudy Gobert, who stands 7 foot 1 inch, has a nearly 7-foot-9-inch wingspan and a 9-foot-7-inch standing reach. Just four minutes into the game on Monday, Wiggins drove up down the middle of the paint and delivered a slam-dunk beside the outstretched arm of Gobert. With five minutes to play in the first half, he topped that spectacular feat with a more impressive dunk. Gobert was ready for him this time, and got himself set. Instead of trying to fly by him, Wiggins planted both feet and rose, exceeding Gobert’s hand well above the rim and slamming it home. When he landed, for the first time in memory, Wiggins allowed himself a celebratory roar as the crowd, players, everyone in the building, erupted. It didn’t matter that minutes later, Gobert squashed Wiggins’ third dunk attempt at another miraculously high level and sent him tumbling backward from the clean block. And for this one night it didn’t matter that Wiggins finished with the horrible plus/minus of minus 38 in a 20-point loss. It was ironic that in a rare game where his overall performance actually hurt his team, everyone was too fixated on his high-flying joust to notice — “Eyes on the Rise” indeed. His ineffective play was a rare chink in the armor of a season where Wiggins has been the consummate pro, grinding away at the dirty work in a losing cause. If more celebratory roars and moments of joy can find their way through those chinks, let them come. Andrew Wiggins has nothing left to prove this season.
SEAN SIMMERS / The Washington Post / Getty Images Gabriel Weinberg, CEO and creator of DuckDuckGo, the search engine that does not track users history and information, in 2012. With continuing revelations about the scope of the National Security Agency’s surveillance of phone and Internet communications, many people are thinking more carefully about how to ensure their privacy online. That’s led to a spike in users for a variety of Internet tools that promise a more anonymized experience compared to web giants like Google, Facebook, and Yahoo. The search engine DuckDuckGo, for instance, has had its number of human search queries almost double since June 6, when Google was identified as one of nine companies that are part of Prism, a secret data-gathering program the government uses to target foreign threats. Its 3 million daily direct searches is still a drop in the bucket compared to the billions Google executes every day, but CEO Gabriel Weinberg says the site’s privacy features are steadily attracting more users. DuckDuckGo does not store personally identifiable information about peoples’ search queries on its servers. Google, Bing and Yahoo hold onto that data for between nine and 18 months, whether you’re logged into accounts on those sites or not. (MORE: NSA Scandal: Tech Titans Jockey to Be the Most Transparent of All) “That aspect of our site has been more attractive to a growing portion of users,” Weinberg says “It was pretty creepy when you think about how much the search engine actually knows about you because it’s arguably the most personal set of data that you share on the Internet.” Other web services have also seen a boost in recent weeks. Cryptocat, a chat program that encrypts messages before they’re sent, saw downloads double in the week after the Prism story broke. Its creator, Nadim Kobeissi, says neither he nor law enforcement officials that might subpoena a conversation can see the content of the messages. “It’s less vulnerable to having your conversations monitored or intercepted,” he says. “The way Cryptocat is built, we are unable to comply with law enforcement requests even if we wanted to or even if we were forced to.” Tor, a software program that allows users to surf the Internet anonymously by making IP addresses difficult to trace, saw downloads increase between 20% and 30% following the NSA news. Overall the program has been downloaded 36 million times in the past year and has more than half a million daily users, according to Tor executive director Andrew Lewman. Anonymization does have its drawbacks. DuckDuckGo isn’t as adept as Google at anticipating what you’re looking for before you type it. Using Cryptocat means convincing friends to also download the program instead of just logging onto Facebook or Gmail. Tor has been known to attract illicit activity — and in some cases the users who help to hide others’ IP addresses end up having illegal actions attributed to their computers. (MORE: You Probably Agreed to NSA Snooping When You Accepted That Website’s Terms of Service) Kobeissi points out that even if these tools help with anonymisation, they can’t completely deter dedicated government surveillance. “The real solution is not just telling people to depend on these tools. The real solution is to get an honest political discussion going on to limit or get rid of these surveillance tactics.” Here’s a list of some privacy-focused alternatives to the tools most people use to chat, search, and store data online. These are fairly straightforward to install and use, but for the tech-savvy set there are more extensive lists at Tactical Tech and Prism Break. For Web Browsing: Open-source software program Tor makes your IP address almost untraceable by routing your web traffic through three different computers scattered across the world before settling on the destination you’ve clicked online. The technology was originally developed by the U.S. Navy and is still funded mostly by the government. For Web Searches: DuckDuckGo doesn’t save users’ search history, unlike the major search engines, which means the company would have much less data to offer up if subpoenaed. For Online Transactions: Bitcoin, the decentralized electronic currency, has burst into the mainstream consciousness this year and is now being accepted everywhere from New York bars to dating website OKCupid. Buyer beware though: Bitcoin values are extremely volatile. For Cloud Storage: SpiderOak provides similar functionality to DropBox and Google Drive, but is a “zero-knowledge” client, meaning the company can’t see the content of user files, which are automatically encrypted. Taking your data into your own hands has its drawbacks though: SpiderOak can’t retrieve your password for you if you forget it. For Instant Messaging: Cryptocat can be installed on your web browser and encrypts your messages locally before they’re sent through Cryptocat’s servers. The tool is popular with everyone from journalists to members of LGBT groups trying to ensure private conversations. Mobile apps like TextSecure offer the same functionality on the go.
Getty Images Ever see those crazy guys in the park playing speed chess? They're flying along at warp speed, trusting their instincts and trying to avoid one mistake that might get them checkmated. That's what doing an online chat is like. Writing a column is like chess; you have time to mull strategies and move pieces into the right places. But an online chat? Speed chess. My Friday chat on ESPN.com drew 42,000 questions. The total transcript was 9,600 words, and because I probably typed two-thirds of them, that means I banged out about 6,400 words in three hours. When I wasn't typing, I was sifting through questions looking for a good one to post. Didn't pee. Didn't get a drink. Didn't even stand up. Just emptied my brain on a keyboard. Now here's why I rarely do chats anymore: Under speed chess conditions, it becomes exceedingly possible that either (A) I might say something inappropriate, (B) I might infuriate my bosses in some way or (C) I might argue a point incorrectly without realizing it until later. On Friday, I made a mistake comparing the 2010 Tiger Woods to the 1970 Muhammad Ali, saying Tiger's comeback would be much tougher because "everyone under 35 was rooting for Ali." Total hyperbole that never would have happened had I spent more time thinking about it. More importantly, I botched a quality point that could have made for an interesting column. Let's return to my admittedly rushed thesis When Tiger Woods returns to golf, he will face a level of pressure that well surpasses anything any other transcendent athlete has faced in my lifetime. Yeah. Absolutely. Let's hop on the course and play nine holes (in the form of points) to bang home the point that, yes, Tiger's presumed return to golf in 2010 will be significantly more difficult than Ali's return to boxing in 1970. Hole No. 1 (par 4) Tiger hasn't played golf competitively in four months. As far as we know, until this week he hasn't played a single hole since mid-November. Just Tuesday, there was a news article saying Tiger has returned home and is "trying to get back into a routine that includes golf and fitness." Trying to get back into a routine? That sounds ominous. Hole No. 2 (par 4) The man is coming off two significant derailments: Reconstructive knee surgery (summer 2008) and a self-imposed exile (winter of 2009-10). In a 41-month stretch from 2005 through the 2008 U.S. Open, Tiger reeled off 25 PGA Tour titles (six of them majors). Is that guy gone? How many times have we seen an imposing golfer lose his way and never regain his mojo? Remember when Tom Watson stopped making big putts? Remember when Greg Norman lost his confidence after too many collapses? Golf is a mental sport. You need a ton of self-confidence, you need an unwavering belief in your own talents and you need to be able to tune out any and all distractions. Hell, Tiger could barely handle someone's camera clicking during his backswing. He's going to be able to handle this? [+] Enlarge AP Photo/Rob Carr Tiger would undoubtedly love to turn the clock back to 2006, when he won the PGA Championship. (Note: When Ali returned from his exile with rusty skills, he stopped dancing as much, absorbed more punishment and learned to pick his spots. As his skills slipped even further later in his career, he absorbed insane amounts of punishment and banked on his innate will to prevail in the end. That's the main reason he can barely say a sentence right now. If Tiger comes back with similar rust, I can't imagine him being able to change his style on the fly as Ali did. Either it comes back or it doesn't.) Hole No. 3 (par 3) Don't discount Tiger's advancing age (34) at this point. Watson never won another major after he turned 34; neither did Arnold Palmer, Fred Couples, Seve Ballesteros or Curtis Strange. Nick Faldo won only one major after 34 -- the 1996 Masters that Norman choked away. Only Jack Nicklaus thrived from 34 to 40 (16 PGA Tour titles, three majors), although Norman (eight Tour titles, one major) and Lee Trevino (six titles, one major) also fared pretty well. Tom Kite peaked after he turned 34. Nick Price won two majors at 37; Mark O'Meara won his only two at 41. And sure, Tiger was better than all of those guys. But none of those guys had to keep winning while rebuilding his life after a DEFCON 1 public humiliation. Hole No. 4 (par 4) Winning his wife back will require significant effort -- certainly more than Tiger spent on his family pre-Thanksgiving. Ali, Jordan, Tiger pre-2010 part of what made them great was that they weren't family men. Families were just another thing they owned, no different from cars, houses or whatever. Everything was compartmentalized, and nothing was allowed to affect the overall brand. The brand came first. Always. Because Tiger appears to be serious about keeping his family intact, how could that not affect his golf routine to some degree? And what about dealing with the day-to-day stuff any philandering husband faces while trying to win back a wife battling trust issues? Why didn't you answer when I called? Why does your BlackBerry have a password again? Who's going on this trip with you? When Ali's second marriage finally fell apart while he was training for the George Foreman fight in Zaire, he simply fell for someone else (the beautiful Veronica Porsche, who later dumped him right around when the Parkinson's started kicking in) and dumped his dutiful wife, Belinda. (Brutally, actually. She heard about him squiring around with someone else, then flew across the world to confront him. Didn't work.) Ali ended up winning the two biggest fights of his career in succession: Foreman and the third Joe Frazier fight. He didn't care about hurting his brand; if anything, the media in Zaire covered up the love triangle. Had he been more worried about his brand, losing everything he had, keeping his family together and rehabbing his public image, wouldn't that have affected his performances in the Foreman and Frazier fights at least a little? Hole No. 5 (par 4) Once upon a time, everyone left Tiger alone, partly because the media didn't want to piss him off, partly because he crafted such a good buffer between himself and the outside world, and partly because there wasn't anything sexy or interesting about him. That's how he lived from 1997 to 2009. Even named his boat "Privacy." And really, he had it. Not anymore. Tiger will spend the rest of his playing days as Jordan did in the latter half of his Chicago career -- trapped in hotel suites and charter planes, occasionally emerging to play sports, and if he needs to blow off steam, his options are "the nearest high-stakes gambling area," and that's about it. I'm not saying Tiger's life was normal before Thanksgiving, but he didn't have paparazzi stalking him, tabloids making up things about him, bloggers chronicling his every move and people taping him with camera phones everywhere he goes. Fish, meet bowl. And he's a big-ass fish. How will he handle it? We don't know. [+] Enlarge AP Photo/Ed Kolenovsky Ali's court case received plenty of media attention, but it was nothing like today's 24/7 news cycle. Hole No. 6 (par 5) Forget about Ali; not even Jordan faced anything like the current sports/celebrity climate. It can't even be called a 24/7 news cycle anymore. It's like 72/7. TMZ, Us Weekly, People, Star, gossip blogs, sports blogs, 24-hour sports radio, ESPN talking heads, six mainstream sports Web sites, camera phones, message boards, YouTube, flip cameras, Twitter are you kidding me? Would you want to be a famously shamed athlete striving to regain past success in 2010? Plus, Jordan had the buffer of a basketball court. Ali had the buffer of a boxing ring and just a few fights per year. Golf? Doesn't work that way. You're walking among fans for hole after hole. They're right there. Always. Studying every move you make from as close as five feet away. And you can't come and go; you need to be out there swinging your sticks week after week after week in city after city after city. Which means this will be a traveling sideshow, at least for the first few months. Hole No. 7 (par 4) How will the fans react? Do we know? Do we have any inkling? I could see the turmoil eventually turning him into a sentimental underdog; after all, we watched him go through the Celebrity F--- up Car Wash, dissected it, made our jokes, broke it down at cocktail parties, and now, selfishly, we're ready to see him reclaim "best golfer ever" status. That's the most idealistic view of how it plays out. But we don't know. And I guarantee you, neither does Tiger Woods. Remember, everybody has been rooting for him since he was wowing Mike Douglas as a 2-year-old. Although we've seen tournaments when another golfer swayed the gallery from him, Tiger always knew where he stood with fans. But what about now? (On Wednesday, an ABC News/ESPN poll revealed that only 39 percent of the 1,000 respondents surveyed had a favorable impression of Tiger, compared with 85 percent in 2005.) Golf and tennis are the two worst possible sports for any elephant-in-the-room situation, thanks to dead silence nearly all the time. Every heckle will feel like an uber-heckle. Every cheer for a competing golfer will feel even more biting than usual. Again, think of how he reacted on the golf course pre-Thanksgiving. How will he handle it? (Note: The 2008 U.S. Open catapulted Tiger to a different level. Winning it on one leg did for him what the Foreman fight did for Ali and the 72-win season did for MJ: It made everyone say, "We're now at the point that I'm going to be telling my great-grandkids that I watched this guy. So let the winning continue!" As long as we don't have a hometown favorite involved, we're always going to root for greatness over anything else. That's the best place to be as an athlete -- people pulling for you, always, week after week, with the athlete feeding off their strength. Can he win that back?) Hole No. 8 (par 3) When Ali returned from his Vietnam-related exile, he had two massive groups of people pulling for him: Black America and the anti-war movement. He was part of something bigger than he was; that gave him additional motivation to persevere, and if anything, he fed off those two worlds. Tiger isn't part of anything. Where will he draw that extra strength from if the fans don't come through for him? (Note: I thought about delving into the whole "women hate Tiger" angle here, but I'm not sure it has anything to do with anything. Just know that if he plays the 2010 Masters, my wife will be rooting for him to accidentally club himself in the head on every swing. And I don't think she's alone.) Hole No. 9 (par 5) The biggest wrinkle nobody is mentioning: What if this starts out badly? What if Tiger plays a couple of tournaments and just stinks? What if he can't get anything going? What if the dominant story becomes, "Will Tiger Woods ever get it back?" What if he's dealing with that question constantly, day after day, week after week, city after city, over and over and over again, and that doubt seeps into his head? Ali fought only every few months and had the luxury of picking cream-puff opponents if need be. Tiger will be competing against himself week after week -- not just his potential, but the ghost of what he could once do. There's no greater pressure in sports. Now, there's a chance golf will become something of a sanctuary for Tiger Woods -- a little like what basketball meant to Jordan in those final Chicago seasons. Including playoffs, Jordan played 310 of a possible 310 games in three seasons from 1996 through 1998. Why? Because he was a hypercompetitive maniac, but also because a basketball court was one of the few places that made him happy. I could see this happening with Tiger. Potentially. There's also a chance Tiger could come roaring out of the gate in Eff You Mode and give us an exhilarating stretch of golf like we've never seen in our lives. Everything's in play. At gunpoint, if I could wager on any conceivable scenario, I would wager on Tiger coming back in severe Eff You Mode, like a seething MJ in Game 1 of the 1992 Finals. The greatest ones have a way of channeling negativity and fueling it toward whatever makes them great. Jordan made a habit of it. So did Ali. But they were also larger-than-life personalities, whereas Tiger was always just someone who was freakishly good at golf and that's it. So it remains to be seen whether Tiger has Severe Eff You DNA. But if you were him, would you have rather had this saga happen in 1970 or 2010? It's no contest. He's being picked apart like a biology frog right now, and we won't know whether three months (and counting) of ridicule and shame permanently derailed his confidence in any way. Only when he emerges from hiding and starts playing again will we have our answer. [+] Enlarge AP Photo/Joe Holloway Jr. By the time Ali returned to fight Jerry Quarry in 1970, he had legions of supporters. That brings us to Ali. His exile lasted almost 43 months, with the former champ finally returning for an exhibition in Atlanta (September 1970), then his first official fight against Jerry Quarry a few weeks later. Unlike Tiger, Ali loved the limelight and remains the greatest natural resource the sports media ever encountered. He traveled to dozens of college campuses and spoke out about racial injustice and his stance against the war. He had two enormous allies in Howard Cosell (the most powerful sports broadcaster at the time) and Sports Illustrated (the most powerful sports magazine), as well as a phalanx of big-name writers (George Plimpton, Dick Schaap, etc.) who attached themselves to him and sang his praises. He never had to deal with a 24/7 news cycle; if anything, it was a once-a-week cycle. Either way, it wouldn't have mattered. Ali always loved being the center of attention. You can't overstate how much Ali's life changed from 1967 (when he was considered a draft-dodging, uppity, outspoken negro who had the gall to adopt a Muslim name, and if that's not enough, it seemed as though he was headed for jail) to the fall of 1970 (when he had been reinvented as something of a visionary in a country now obsessed with the Vietnam quagmire and equal rights). Heading into the Quarry fight, he still had Old-School White America against him (then again, so did Jim Brown, Bill Russell and Lew Alcindor), as well as pro-war zealots (then again, so did countless celebrities and musicians who also spoke out against the war) and even some prominent writers (most notably Red Smith and Jim Murray) still excoriating him. His biggest issue was a suspension by Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad -- a rift that healed only because Ali became a cash cow postexile, so of course the Nation of Islam quickly made amends -- that briefly worried his camp about his safety. But the pressures of Ali's exile (especially in the first two years) shouldn't be confused with the pressure of his actual comeback (which wasn't nearly as daunting as you would think). By the fall of 1970, Ali wasn't getting hounded by paparazzi or picked apart by an obsessive media. If anything, he lost a little fame as the exile dragged along, and he fell out of public consciousness to some degree. Sports Illustrated put him on its cover in May 1969, then deemed him unworthy of another until the month of the first Frazier fight nearly two years later. In the weeks leading up to the Quarry fight, most of the anti-Ali stuff had died down or disappeared entirely. He had evolved into a "political and social force," as biographer Thomas Hauser described him. In Hauser's book, longtime boxing promoter Jim Jacobs described in detail how things had changed for Ali after getting stripped of his title: "A substantial portion of the American public disliked him, and worse, they were getting tired of hearing what he was about. But the exile turned that around. It showed people that Ali was sincere. It made him an underdog. And traveling around the country, speaking on college campuses, Ali was able to bring his message to tens of thousands of young men and women. In a way, it was like a Presidential candidate sowing the seeds for future caucuses and primaries. And of course, people began to feel that whether or not they liked Ali, he shouldn't have been forced out for his beliefs (when he came back against Quarry), Ali was paid more money for that fight than he'd ever been paid before." Here's how Sports Illustrated's Martin Kane described Ali's first exhibition fight in Atlanta: "The roof did not fall in. No one threw a bomb. Fire and brimstone did not rain down from heaven and no one was turned into a pillar of salt. There wasn't even a picket outside the Morehouse College gym in Atlanta -- just a pretty girl distributing election campaign pamphlets. Not a peep of protest had been uttered -- in Atlanta or elsewhere -- during the few days of promotion that preceded the event." By that time, Ali had softened much of his pro-Islam rhetoric, picked his words more thoughtfully and started caring about the potentially unflattering actions of the people around him. Sports Illustrated's Mark Kram visited him before the Quarry fight and described him like so: "The suspension by Elijah seems to have jolted him into extreme caution; a need and desire for money so that he can ensure the future of his family seems to have made him conscious of the practical aspects of the world. Where he was once one of the indefatigable consumers anywhere, a one-man war against recession, he now behaves like a careful prince of commerce. Even his camp, once so virulent with contempt for others, is of a different character. Cap'n Sam, Ali's bodyguard and inspired white hater, is gone, and Ali's craftily obedient brother is obviously absent. Only Bundini, his phrasemaker and 'witch doctor,' remains. 'All I think about now,' says Ali, 'is providing for my family so they won't have it as difficult as I did. So my three little darling girls can get a good education and learn from the beginning how to read and spell. Not like me.'" When Ali finally returned to the ring for real, a considerable number of Americans were rooting for him -- not "everyone," as I stupidly overstated in the chat, but a sizable chunk -- and the event itself captured the revolutionary spirit of that era. Activist Julian Bond described the Quarry fight "like nothing I've ever seen, the black elite of America was there" and decided it was "more than a fight because that night, Atlanta came into its own as the black political capital of America." Ali's comeback tapped into something larger than just boxing. And he knew it. Within three years, Muhammad Ali would become America's most popular athlete since Babe Ruth. He changed some; the world around him changed even more. But I skimmed through my collection of Ali books, read the old Sports Illustrateds and even sifted through the New York Times articles from that year, and at no point in the fall of 1970 did anyone wonder whether Ali might fold from the pressure of that comeback. He had come to peace with everything that had happened to him. He just wanted to reclaim his career. Sure, there were concerns for his safety in such a violent era -- in fact, policemen and security guards blanketed Atlanta for the exhibition and for the real fight -- but those concerns proved to be unfounded. Nothing happened. Forty years later, many people (including me) wonder whether Tiger Woods might fold under the pressure of his comeback. It's a fair concern. The pressures aren't nearly as meaningful as the ones surrounding Ali -- one of the most important, courageous and influential athletes ever -- but they remain pressures nonetheless. Add them together, and it's no contest. When Ali actually returned in September 1970, it was a cakewalk compared with what Tiger will face this month or next month or whenever he actually returns. Regardless, I probably shouldn't do chats anymore -- not because I screwed up but because it's dumb to waste points better served in a larger format such as this column. The greatest golfer of his generation, and possibly ever, has to rebuild three things -- his family, career and brand -- while trying to win tournaments and recapture old glories. The most private superstar athlete of his generation will live under unbearable public scrutiny for the next few months at the very least. They are the same person. And if you claim that you can predict exactly how that person will emerge from this twisted mess you are lying. Bill Simmons is a columnist for ESPN.com and the author of the recent New York Times best-seller, "The Book of Basketball." For every Simmons column and podcast, check out Sports Guy's World. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sportsguy33.
Book Review Book Review A Torch Against The Night A- Book Review A Torch Against The Night A- A- A Torch Against The Night Author Sabaa Tahir Publisher Razorbill Sabaa Tahir’s bestselling debut novel, An Ember In The Ashes, showed the author’s potential, but too easily drew comparisons to other YA series. Both protagonists in the fantasy book were torn between two love interests, and most of the action took place at school where magically chosen youth undergo a series of kill-or-be-killed trials at the behest of powerful adults. But while the action of A Torch Against The Night picks up right where the first book in the series ended, it quickly leaves behind Blackcliff Academy and the genre clichés, developing into something fresh and exciting. Advertisement Set in a fantasy world that mixes the politics of the Roman Empire with Arabian myth, Tahir’s series primarily follows Laia, an escaped Scholar slave hoping to save her brother and possibly her people, and Elias, a deadly warrior and traitor to the Martial Empire. While she doesn’t get equal treatment, Elias’ best friend and fellow Blackcliff graduate Helene gets added to the narrating duties in A Torch Against The Night, tasked with tracking down and killing Elias at the command of the new emperor. Tahir’s setting is a cruel one and she’s shown a willingness to kill characters and unleash horrors on her heroes that would make George R.R. Martin proud. Tahir doesn’t let up in A Torch Against The Night, but she has become more sophisticated at penning her characters’ reactions to the violence around them, and to the compromises they must make to survive and achieve their goals. There’s still lots of brooding, but events that seem like they could derail a character for chapters, like Laia being traumatized by killing a man trying to capture Elias, get just enough treatment to show their impact without dragging on too long. Spending less time exploring her protagonists’ emotional states lets Tahir devote more space to developing her world. As Elias and Laia travel to Kauf Prison to stage a jailbreak, Tahir fleshes out the other peoples of her world, their relationships with the Empire, and how the power dynamics are shifting based on the events of the first book. Helene was the most intriguing character in An Ember In The Ashes and her narrating chapters don’t disappoint. She provides perspective on the Empire’s internal power struggles, navigating political intrigue, duty to her family and emperor, and the constant tests of competence required of a young woman in a male-dominated world. Advertisement The fantasy aspects just creeping on the edges of An Ember In The Ashes also become more prominent here, with new magical powers and beings revealed, and more hints at the machinations of the jinn lord known as The Nightbringer that serves as the primary existential threat to Tahir’s world. Tahir has shown a remarkable talent for penning complex villains, which continues in A Torch Against The Night where a plot twist turns The Nightbringer from omnipotent big bad to a surprisingly sympathetic, if still terrifying, antagonist. Marcus—who started as a sort of Draco Malfoy stand-in to the Harry- and Hermione-like Elias and Helene—has come further in one book than J.K. Rowling’s character did in seven and Tahir hints that the character has hidden depths and secrets that promise to make him even more compelling as the series continues. Tahir manages to give those characters new weight without doing a disservice to the primary villain of An Ember In The Ashes, the commandant of Blackwatch Academy, who remains as twisted and cunning as ever. But there’s only enough room for so many bad guys and her newest one, the Warden Of Kauf, falls short. Lacking nuance or pathos, the Mengele-like character might make sense in Tahir’s genocide narrative, but doesn’t produce the same chills as the other characters. Another refreshing shift away from YA tropes comes from characters that stop pining for each other and actually have consensual sex. Tahir’s got a talent for romantic descriptions, but all her lines about skin set aflame and characters melting into each other were a relentless tease in An Ember In The Ashes. She seemed to be heading for a repeat in the early chapters of A Torch Against The Night, where Elias spends most of his time trying to keep Laia at arm’s distance to avoid hurting her, but Tahir acknowledges that young people finding physical comfort in each other in times of extreme stress is likely and natural. While she’s not explicit in her descriptions, she doesn’t leave room for second guessing what’s transpired. Tahir has made some extremely dramatic plot and character decisions in both of her books, showing a willingness to change dynamics as she continues her series (there are two more novels on the way). It should be fascinating to watch both her characters and writing talent continue to mature. Advertisement Purchasing via Amazon helps support The A.V. Club.
honestly i dont like volcanion that much rn lol. with 70 speed it cant do all that much in such a fast paced meta, and while bloom doom is cool in theory, a lot of times you'd wanna be using ur zmove slot on something else. without a boosting item its not all that strong, with choice specs you cant switch your moves which it really wants to half of the time, and with lo youre really putting a strain on its passable bulk, and it already gets worn down enough thanks to sr weakness despite having water absorb. i dont think its anywhere near the level of the other things nominated since its pretty easy to pressure, although that could very obviously change later on. idk, maybe its just me but i hate running the kind of balances that were so good in oras right now because there are a fuck ton of threats that you need to account for and if you try to cover everything you just end with a meh team a lot of times. with that being said, sylveon / mew / keys are being slept on in my experience atm, and if i were to use some kind of balance id definitely use one of those
Wikileaks has been very busy in recent years. They have uncovered and released untold amounts of documents showing just how corrupt governments across the globe have become. The US has been the primary target of the organization, and they have revealed some very dark secrets about our government. Wikileaks latest document dump is called “Vault 7,” and it concerns the CIA and all the details about their fancy hacking tools and targets. As reported at Viral US Politics, more than just hacking info has been found buried within the documents. It appears that a “conspiracy theory” surrounding the death of journalist Michael Hastings in 2013 has been given a new level of credibility. Hastings was researching a huge story about government surveillance when he began acting “paranoid” according to those close to him. He told relatives that he would be “going off the radar” for a while. Before he could publish his next story, Hastings died after his car inexplicably caught on fire and crashed. Just hours before he died, he had sent a panicked email to Wikileak’s lawyer, claiming that the FBI was investigating him. He had also expressed concerns that his car had been tampered with. Many believed then that Hastings was assassinated by some agency and that his car was hacked to do it. Well, the Vault 7 documents have revealed that the CIA is very capable of hacking vehicles and seizing control of them. Hastings was a vocal critic of the Obama administration and had penned many scathing articles outlining the rampant spying being conducted against American citizens. The final article he published before his untimely death was titled, “Why Democrats Love to Spy on Americans.” He was beginning to gain a large audience and expand his media, which would certainly be a reason for him to at least be spied upon. We know that the government has been spying on journalists and citizens alike, so it’s easy to see how a famous writer criticizing the government could be targeted. The Vault 7 documents also make the assassination theory even more plausible than it already was. The situation surrounding his death is just too strange. Regardless of why he died, Hastings was a patriot in pursuit of the truth. What he uncovered and what has been uncovered since should outrage every American. Our governments have no right to treat us like criminals and invade our privacy. But they will continue to walk all over us until we combine our voices and votes to put an end to such disgusting and abusive acts. The time for that is now. Source: Viral US Politics [playbuzz-item url=”//www.playbuzz.com/graciethemeifwa10/what-kind-of-assassin-are-you”]
The Protect-the-ADC composition is a terrifying, powerful strategy when executed correctly, but it requires strong coordination within one's team. Each team member needs to fully understand both their role and the roles of other team members in order to ensure the team's success. Everyone needs to be on the same page not just when building the team in draft phase, but within the game itself. When executed properly, however, this composition makes for a dangerous adversary. General Strategy: Protect-The-ADC compositions are primarily late-game oriented, teamfight compositions where the ADC is the primary damage threat. Because of this, the team needs to play around the power spikes of their ADC. The team needs to focus on ensuring the ADC does not fall behind, as that places the team at a severe risk as they will not have the damage to fend off strong mid-game teamfights. The main focus of the composition is to protect the ADC during fights so that they can focus on dealing the maximum amount of damage to the enemy team without being burst down. Because of this, there are several roles that the composition needs to have. The AD Carry: The AD Carry is the main damage threat on the team, and in most cases the only true pure damage member. Because of this, the AD Carry should be a hypercarry. These champions are strongest in the late-game, requiring the completion of several items before they come online. Once they’ve reached their power spike, however, they can rip through the enemy team, frontline or backline, with ease. AD Carries should play the early game passively, focusing on farming up as much CS as possible. They should not actively push for advantages unless a clear opportunity arises, often with help from the rest of their team. Once they’ve achieved the necessary items, then they can be more aggressive as long as they have protection. In teamfights, they should position to damage the enemy team, but be sure they do not stray too far from the team and get caught. There is only one AD Carry per team. Examples of Hypercarries: Twitch, Kog’Maw, Jinx. The Support: Contrary to what one might think, the support is NOT exclusive to the bottom lane. Support in this example means any champion that provides protection and buffs to the AD Carry, as well as crowd control to keep back the enemy team. These champions can be in the mid lane, jungle, and/or bottom lane depending on where the champion picked is strongest and how they fit into the draft as a whole. They provide the main bulk of direct protection to the ADC. This is done by negating damage with shields or healing, or by providing speed boosts and crowd control to prevent them from taking it in the first place. Supports should position themselves near the ADC in fights, so that they are always in range of their spells and able to receive protection. If a support is cut off from their ADC, then the ADC is more vulnerable to enemy damage. If the team is splitting into a 1-3-1 or 4-1 composition with a splitpusher, the supports should stay near their ADC to provide protection. There are usually two supports per team. Examples of support champions are as follows: Jungle: Ivern. Mid: Orianna, Karma, Lulu Bottom: Karma, Lulu, Nami, Soraka. The Tank: The tank refers to a frontline champion that itemizes heavy defenses and health, as well as providing strong, hard crowd control. Typically played in the top or jungle position (though they can be played in the bottom lane as well), their job is to prevent the enemy carries from getting to the ADC and damaging them. Their other main job is to engage fights. Since these champions provide strong crowd control, they can be used to set up fights for their team and keep targets locked down for the ADC. Tanks should actively position themselves at the front of fights. This allows them to either engage on vulnerable enemies, or disrupt engages from the enemy team. If the tank has a teleport or other strong map movement ability (Such as Shen or Galio), they can split push to draw pressure away from the rest of their team, but must be ready to join a fight should one break out. Examples of tank champions are as follows: Top: Shen, Galio, Nautilus. Jungle: Gragas, Sejuani. Support: Braum, Alistair, Thresh. The Secondary Carry: The secondary carry is the team’s other damage threat. They can be a hybrid from another role (such as a mage in the midlane that provides both strong damage and supportive qualities) or a pure damage threat themselves. They are usually strong in the early to mid-game, and are used to help cover the weakness of the ADC in the early stages of the game. They provide a second damage threat for the enemy to focus in teamfights, stopping the ADC from being the enemy's sole focus. As well, their early strength can be used to create early advantages through strong ganks, especially alongside the jungler. The secondary carry should be actively looking for kills during the laning phase. Either kills in their own lane or on other lanes in order to make themselves more powerful. If they can create an advantage in the bottom lane and speed up the ADC’s power spike, then the team will be able to come online sooner. In the event of an early deficit for the team, the secondary carry should be enough of a threat to dissuade from fights or to make picks and turn the game around. If the carry player is using a hybrid champion such as Orianna, then they have the role of a support as well, and must focus on protecting their carry, as well as making aggressive plays. There should be only one per team. Examples of pure carry champions: Top: Rumble, Kled. Jungle: Rengar, Kha’Zix. Mid: Syndra, LeBlanc, Zed. Examples of hybrid champions: Jungle: Lee Sin. Mid: Orianna. Composition Example: A good example of a standard Protect-The-ADC composition is Phoenix1’s draft in Game 2 against Team EnVyUs in the 2017 Summer Split. Here, Derek “Zig” Shao’s Shen plays the role of a tank. He provides hard CC with Shadow Dash, protection from damage with both Stand United’s shield and the autoattack block from Spirit’s Refuge. Rami “Inori” Charagh’s Ivern plays the role of a support. He provides hard crowd control with Rootcaller and Daisy’s knockup to lock down targets, as well as keep them from attacking the ADC. Brushmaker and Triggerseed both provide protection to the ADC, making them invisible to the enemy team and providing a shield, respectively. Sang Wook “Ryu” Yoo’s LeBlanc is the team’s secondary carry. While she does not have the supportive qualities of the rest of the team, she can easily burst down the enemy backline with her damage. Dong-hyeon "Arrow" Noh’s Twitch is the team’s hypercarry. The sheer amount of damage he can deliver with his high attack speed build coupled with his poison and Contaminate’s burst allows him to melt the enemy team once he reaches his core build. Combine that with the AoE of his ultimate, Spray and Pray, and Twitch can easily rip through a team. Jordan “Shady” Robison’s Lulu is the team’s main support. She is the main defensive champion in the lineup. Her Glitterlance provides a slow to keep enemy champions from catching up with her ADC. Whimsy either speeds up Twitch to achieve better positioning, or polymorphs an enemy so they cannot CC or damage Twitch. Help, Pix! provides both a shield to Twitch and even more damage on his autoattacks. Finally, her ultimate not only heals Twitch, but also knocks up all enemies in Twitch’s vicinity, allowing Twitch to easily escape them. Overall, this is a strong example of a standard Protect-The-ADC composition. It has all the necessary components to keep their ADC safe, in addition to having a strong secondary carry to help mitigate Twitch’s early game weakness. In-Game Strategy: Using Phoenix1's game as an example, we will look at both what a team should, and should not do at each stage of the game. The Early Game: The majority of the team should be playing passively within the early game. Only the secondary carry (in this case, Ryu) should be actively looking for kills. At 5 minutes in, Ryu goes for a kill on Jun-Sik "Pirean" Choi’s Taliyah, with Inori positioned to assist. They get the kill, securing an advantage for Ryu, who retains it for the rest of the laning phase. This is exactly how a secondary carry should be playing. However, after a small skirmish in the bottom lane at 9 minutes, all of Phoenix1’s bottom lane summoner spells are down, as well as Zig’s Stand United. In addition to this, Phoenix1 has very scarce warding around their bottom lane. This requires them to play safe and focus on farming, as Arrow’s Twitch is very vulnerable, and already down about twenty CS. Despite this, Arrow and Shady decide to engage on Apollo "Apollo" Price at ten minutes in. They do not have the vision to see Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent in the river bush, nor do they see Tae-yoo "Lira" Nam’s Zac waiting over the wall to engage. Arrow and Shady do not have summoner spells to disengage with, and although Ryu does Teleport in, Arrow is already dead before he arrives. Though Shady does pick up a return kill on Hakuho, the fight ends disastrously, putting Arrow even further behind. A bottom lane with this composition should only go for a fight if the victory is assured. They did not have any support, except for a slow Teleport from Ryu, no summoner spells to disengage with, and no proper vision of the enemy team. All of those things are needed in order to make this a safe play. The Mid-Game: Despite the early missteps, Phoenix1 play their mid-game well. After EnVyUs tries to engage at 28 minutes in, Phoenix1 fights back. At this point in the game, Twitch has completed a Blade of the Ruined King, Runaan’s Hurricane, Berserker’s Greaves, as well as boots. Phoenix1 is strong enough to fight, and so takes the advantage. This fight illustrates exactly how the team should work to protect the ADC. Though Arrow receives a lot of damage from the enemy team, he is protected through strong shield stacking from his team and good juking and positioning, allowing him to survive the fight while he dishes out damage. In addition, Ryu provides strong burst damage to finish off the kills. All this is accomplished while Zig is split pushing in the bottom lane. The Late-Game: Finally, near the end of the game, Twitch has fully come online with the completion of Infinity Edge. Ryu gets a kill on Apollo at 36 minutes, leaving him dead for the next fight. Phoenix1 push up the midlane, knowing EnVy cannot defend. EnVy tries to engage on Arrow with the Zac ult, but the team is able to protect him. This leaves Arrow free to play near the frontline, fully protected by his team, and dish out damage. Phoenix1 can take this fight because their team has reached its major power spike. Arrow is too difficult to kill with the team’s protection, and deals a ton of damage. This is the point in the game where Phoenix1 can play aggressive with their composition, and they do exactly that. Counters to the Composition: The biggest counter to a Protect-The-ADC composition is a strong early game team who can put the ADC too far behind to catch up. Because of this, it is best to ban champions such as Caitlyn, Lucian, and Zyra who can bully the ADC/Support in lane, as well as early game junglers such as Lee Sin and Kha’Zix. If these picks do get through, then make sure to play safe and avoid giving them any advantages. Overall, the Protect-The-ADC composition is a strong strategy when executed correctly. This team composition works best with strong communication, so trying it out with a full or partial premade with voice communication is recommended, but not necessary. It can work just as well in solo queue, so long as everyone knows their role. If everyone on their team knows the duties of their role, along with when the team is at its strongest, they can truly be a force to be reckoned with. Give this strategy a try on the Rift, it’s both effective and a lot of fun to see the coordination pay off. Good luck! Like our content? Support us by getting our merchandise in our shop
This post contains affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here. This vegan Thousand Island Oil-Free Dressing is creamy, flavorful and much healthier than store-bought varieties. Now you can have that classic dressing without all the unnecessary ingredients. Thousand Island Dressing is my all-time favorite dressing. It’s rich, creamy, tangy, sweet & spicy. It goes well on almost any salad, sandwiches, fries and it even makes a great dip. It’s so easy to make at home, so I created this vegan Thousand Island Oil-Free Dressing. Back in the day, I wouldn’t even think twice about buying the popular store-bought brands, but over the years, I started to learn what was in that bottle of “goodness”. Even before going vegan, I started to pay attention to nutrition labels on bottled dressing and I was horrified. Take a look at the ingredients for this well-known brand: INGREDIENTS: SOYBEAN OIL, WATER, SUGAR, SOUR PICKLE RELISH [CUCUMBERS, VINEGAR, SALT, WATER, CALCIUM CHLORIDE, ALUMINUM SULFATE, TURMERIC (COLOR)], DISTILLED VINEGAR, TOMATO PASTE, SALT. CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: EGG YOLK, PROPYLENE GLYCOL ALGINATE, SPICES, ONION POWDER, XANTHAN GUM, NATURAL FLAVOR, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (USED TO PROTECT QUALITY). Horrifying, isn’t it? I couldn’t believe that they seriously had propylene glycol in there. Well, this sparked me to start making my own. I learned how easy it was because it’s primarily just made up of condiments. Typically, Thousand Island Dressing is made with ketchup, mayonnaise, relish, spices and sometimes egg. Back then, I did use egg in my homemade version, but after going vegan, I realized it never needed it. So I just began using the typical condiments and spices without the cruelty. Easy-peasy! Wholesome After a while, I wasn’t happy with just dumping condiments on my salad anymore. I wanted to keep the classic flavors of Thousand Island Dressing, but make it more nutritious. Instead of mayo, I use cashews and almond milk for the creamy, rich texture we all love. They will also provide some protein, vitamins & minerals to the mix. Instead of ketchup, I used sun-dried tomatoes for that tangy tomato-y flavor. You’ll also get a dose of vitamin A, vitamin C, Iron and more. Sounds like a nice exchange, huh? I really love sweet relish in this dressing, so I used an organic store-bought variety. It just adds a nice zing and sweetness that I can’t seem to replicate. To complete this batch of loveliness, I added fresh lemon juice, a dash of pure maple syrup, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, dill, sea salt & fresh ground pepper. I made this dressing oil-free because it doesn’t really need it. However, feel free to add a tablespoon of olive oil to the mix, if preferred. Once you make this homemade version of Vegan Thousand Island Oil-Free Dressing, you’ll probably never buy store-bought again. You’ll be saving money and loads of unnecessary ingredients. Plus, this dressing only takes about 15 minutes to make, so you’ll be saving lots of time. Note: This doesn’t include the time for soaking the cashews, which is about 2-4 hours (or overnight). Soaking them creates a creamy & smooth consistency in many recipes. I just put them in water and pop them in the fridge overnight to make it a breeze the next day. So, are you ready to bring this vegan Thousand Island Oil-Free Dressing into your home? I promise you won’t regret it. It has all the classic flavors we love, but with a much healthier twist. Let’s do this! Thousand Island Dressing This Vegan Thousand Island Dressing is creamy, flavorful and much healthier than store-bought varieties. It's dairy-free, oil-free and gluten-free, too. Now you can have that classic dressing without all the unnecessary ingredients. 5 from 1 vote Print Pin Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 15 minutes Servings: 6 Calories: 72 kcal Author: Melissa Huggins - Vegan Huggs Ingredients 1/3 cup raw cashews , soaked in water 2-4 hours (See note) 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (soaked in hot water for 10 minutes to rehydrate) 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or any plant-based milk) (See note) 1 tablespoon lemon juice (sub apple cider vinegar) 1/2 teaspoon pure maple syrup 3/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt (or preferred salt), more to taste 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon dried dill 1/4 teaspoon paprika Fresh ground pepper , to taste 1/4 cup sweet relish Instructions Rinse cashews and discard soak water. Place in blender. Drain soaked sun-dried tomatoes and place in blender. Add almond milk, lemon juice, maple syrup, spices, salt & pepper. Blend on high for 2-3 minutes, until creamy and smooth. Scrape down sides as needed. Taste for seasoning and add as needed. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the sweet relish. Serve immediately or store in fridge for 5-7 days. Enjoy! Notes If you don't have unsweetened almond milk (or other varieties) you can use filtered water instead. The dressing will be slightly thinner, but still creamy and delicious. Prep time doesn't include the soaking time for the cashews. Cashews: I put them in water and pop them in the fridge overnight to make it a breeze the next day. If you have a high-powered blender, you could skip the soaking all together and the dressing will still be creamy. Personally, I still like to soak them, because it releases more nutrients and make the cashews more digestible. If you don't have a high-powered blender and you forgot to soak the cashews, don't fret, just boil some water, pour over cashews and cover for 20-30 minutes.If you don't have unsweetened almond milk (or other varieties) you can use filtered water instead. The dressing will be slightly thinner, but still creamy and delicious.Prep time doesn't include the soaking time for the cashews. Nutrition Calories: 72 kcal \| Carbohydrates: 9 g \| Protein: 2 g \| Fat: 3 g \| Sodium: 373 mg \| Potassium: 204 mg \| Fiber: 1 g \| Sugar: 5 g \| Vitamin A: 4.1 % \| Vitamin C: 3.4 % \| Calcium: 4.5 % \| Iron: 5.5 % Tried this recipe? Follow me @veganhuggs and mention #veganhuggs If you are interested in more heathy recipes, you might like this Avocado, Black Bean & Corn Salad w/ Cilantro-Lime Dressing. It’s hearty, healthy and oh-so delicious! If you make this Thousand Island Oil-Free Dressing, or one of my other recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think. It would really make my day. You can also follow me on Instagram and share your creation with me, Just tag me @veganhuggs and hashtag #veganhuggs. Wood Floordrop by Ink & Elm *Pin for later 🙂 MORE DELICIOUS RECIPES FROM VEGANHUGGS
Share 0 SHARES THE TAOISEACH Enda Kenny was found chuckling mercilessly to himself as he recalled the time, in late February, when he led his Fine Gael colleagues and the Nation to believe he would step down and clear the path for a successor to the position of Taoiseach to be selected. “Ha, remember I said I’d step down. That was gas,” Kenny said doubled over with laughter, slapping his thigh enthusiastically at the memory of intimating to those in his party that he would vacate his role of leader, “and people say I’m a dry shite with no sense of humour”. “And then everyone just left me alone to get on with it, taking me at my word. Look at me here over in Canada like nothing was ever said, you’ve got to laugh,” added the leader,who is in Canada for a few days of not stepping down as leader of the country. Kenny admitted that it tickled him no end that the weeks since calls for him to step down were first issued in earnest, the country has slouched from one outrageous news item to the next and yet he is still in place. “God, you’re right,” remarked an aide of the Taoiseach’s, who wasn’t laughing, “we’ve had the breathalyzer stuff, the maternity hospital, Irish Water, the Grace report, what else?” “I feel like I’m missing some big ones,” added the aide who forgot to mention how rivals for the leadership Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney have used the intervening weeks to make up figures about social welfare fraud and new house builds. “I know,” grinned the Taoiseach while bursting into uncontrollable laughter once more. “It’s literally that easy in this place, say one thing, keep the head down, let others mess up and ride out the storm”.
The operation will be tricky, because just finding the 4x4-inch satellites is going to be difficult. As such, the researchers are developing a high dynamic-range camera and image processing system that can spot bright reflections coming off the SwissCubes as they spin in space. Meanwhile, if the net doesn't deploy just so, the cubes could bounce off the cleanup satellite and end up in a worse spot than before. The team rejected several capture options, including articulated arms with claws and a "tentacle" scheme. It settled on a cone-shaped net that unfolds and closes back down, saying "this system is more reliable and offers a larger margin for maneuvering than a claw or an articulated hand." After the Clean Space One satellite gobbles up all the cubes, it will de-orbit and burn everything up on the way back down to earth. The team has now passed the prototype phase and hopes to develop the first engineering models, with the aim of launching the space junk collection satellite by 2018.
BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Amateur robot enthusiasts in China will soon have a chance to send their creations into battle, as Robot Wars, the British TV show, looks set to come to China this year. "We are looking to Chinese partners to exchange expertise and experience and explore the possibility of bringing our content to China and Chinese content abroad -- Robot Wars is definitely on top of that list," said Ron Jones, executive chairman of Tinopolis, a Britain-based production company. In the show, "combat" robots, created by teams of engineers, university students, school teachers and hobbyists, are sent into an arena where they must avoid fire, spikes, pits, and the House Robots to be crowned the champion. Robot Wars has been exported to over 90 countries across Europe, Africa and Asia, according to Ron Jones. "[It has] great potential in the China market. This is why we are keen to work with local partners, who have a much clearer understanding of the market and can advise us on cultural and regulatory issues." "We've met quite a few potential local partners here in China over the past week, and watched many Chinese reality shows," said Arwel Rees, chief executive of Tinopolis. "Though the language is hard to penetrate, the techniques are impressive." Tinopolis produces more than 2,500 hours of factual, entertainment, sport, drama and digital media content for broadcast television. Many productions are already available in China, including Worst Driver with SMG New Media's online video platform and Extreme Sailing on LeTV.
twhitehouse: This is a postcard my wife and I made to bring to the Gallery Nucleus event, in hopes that we would be able to give them to Mike and Bryan. Tashi and Nima is a free fan webcomic, taking place during and after the destruction of the Northern Air Temple. Avatar: The Last Airbender inspired us so much that we just had to create a fan comic to express our love for A:TLA. We didn’t get to meet them, but I asked a staffer if she would give these postcards to them and she said she would!! I wish I had made more, since I ran into Giancarlo Volpe later that night, and he was kind enough to shake my hand and take a photo with me! It would be so cool if I could personally thank everyone who has worked on those shows over the years. I really can’t wait to get home tonight and get back to my sketchbooks and my computer!
The Cato 2017 Free Speech and Tolerance Survey, a new national poll of 2,300 U.S. adults, finds that 71% Americans believe that political correctness has silenced important discussions our society needs to have. The consequences are personal—58% of Americans believe the political climate prevents them from sharing their own political beliefs. Democrats are unique, however, in that a slim majority (53%) do not feel the need to self-censor. Conversely, strong majorities of Republicans (73%) and independents (58%) say they keep some political beliefs to themselves. Full survey results and report found here. It follows that a solid majority (59%) of Americans think people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions in public, even those deeply offensive to others. On the other hand, 40% think government should prevent hate speech. Despite this, the survey also found Americans willing to censor, regulate, or punish a wide variety of speech and expression they personally find offensive: 51% of staunch liberals say it’s “morally acceptable” to punch Nazis. 53% of Republicans favor stripping U.S. citizenship from people who burn the American flag. 51% of Democrats support a law that requires Americans use transgender people’s preferred gender pronouns. 65% of Republicans say NFL players should be fired if they refuse to stand for the anthem. 58% of Democrats say employers should punish employees for offensive Facebook posts. 47% of Republicans favor bans on building new mosques. Americans also can’t agree what speech is hateful, offensive, or simply a political opinion: 59% of liberals say it’s hate speech to say transgender people have a mental disorder; only 17% of conservatives agree. 39% of conservatives believe it’s hate speech to say the police are racist; only 17% of liberals agree. 80% of liberals say it’s hateful or offensive to say illegal immigrants should be deported; only 36% of conservatives agree. 87% of liberals say it’s hateful or offensive to say women shouldn’t fight in military combat roles, while 47% of conservatives agree. 90% of liberals say it’s hateful or offensive to say homosexuality is a sin, while 47% of conservatives agree. Americans Oppose Hate Speech Bans, But Say Hate Speech is Morally Unacceptable Although Americans oppose (59%) outright bans on public hate speech, that doesn’t mean they think hate speech is acceptable. An overwhelming majority (79%) say it’s “morally unacceptable” to say offensive things about racial or religious groups. Black, Hispanic, and White Americans Disagree about How Free Speech Operates African Americans and Hispanics are more likely than white Americans to believe: Free speech does more to protect majority opinions, not minority viewpoints (59%, 49%, 34%). Supporting someone’s right to say racist things is as bad as holding racist views yourself (65%, 61%, 34%). People who don’t respect others don’t deserve the right of free speech (59%, 62%, 36%). Hate speech is an act of violence (75%, 72%, 46%). Our society can prohibit hate speech and still protect free speech (69%, 71%, 49%). People usually have bad intentions when they express offensive opinions (70%, 75%, 52%). {snip} {snip} Original Article Share This
In this latest show by Kris Kuksi, at Joshua Liner Gallery, it looks as if the line between Guan Yin and Jenna Jameson might be starting to blur. By my completely subjective estimation, the central godlike figures seem, overall, less pacifistic than in previous shows and the chaste Athena-like goddesses have been replaced by more sexualized figures sometimes just bearing the trappings of religiosity, sometimes just bearing themselves. It is as if we are witnessing a turning point in the relationship between religion and society, where the feedback loop is changing traditional religious iconography by infusing it with human sexual desire, a lust for power and greed. Traditional images once embodying ideals to challenge egocentric predispositions seem now to negate the pro-social and exult the will to everything Schopenhauer and Nietzsche drooled over. My first take on Kuksi, a few years ago, based on his iconic church-tanks and pieces similar to these in this show, was that he seemed interested in the paradox in which only terrifying weapons and various types of awe-inspiring military deterrence could possibly create the possibility for a peaceful spiritual pursuit within a nation that possessed this type of might. After all, Chairman Mao, for example, showed the people of Tibet that you cannot pursue your religious goals unless you have an army to protect those goals and indigenous religious practices were obliterated by the force of U.S. military technology. Is Kuksi saying there can be no pacifistic spiritual quest outside of a society that does not protect that quest with a zillion-dollar weapons’ industry and military complex? Gandhi, for example, opposed violence even against the Nazis during World War II. The implication was, I am assuming, that true pacifism and non-violent resistance must be followed even if it meant the thugs and beasts would temporarily take over the world. This would be the ground zero from which real world peace would germinate. Kuksi’s pieces might also be asking: Should we take the gamble that REAL world peace can only be ultimately created by following extreme and true pacifism (and let the monsters take over) or should we keep hedging this bet with our weapons systems (just today Boris Johnson said the free world exists under America’s nuclear umbrella)? North Korea and ISIS seem to have shown that the monsters can, however, create hopeless self-contained systems and how many Jews and others were going to be killed by Hitler before Gandhi’s pacifism really kicked in and germinated enough to change the system? Is this paradox of religions of peace propped up by weapons of war the best we can do in this imperfect world? It could also be that the godlike and heroic idols, in Kuksi’s work, are the ones generating the warlike preparations and actions. This, in fact, seems to be an interpretation easier to gravitate to in this as opposed to earlier shows, where I feel Kuksi showed more ambiguity about who was starting what. Also, the variety of sizes of figurines, interestingly, makes it impossible for us to tell which are ‘alive’ and which are statues or dolls being worshipped or toyed with. Obviously they are all figurines, but within the context of the diorama, for the diorama to work, we need some of them to be ‘real’. Are the central images real beings surrounded by dolls and figurines of their imagination or are some of the small figurines real and worshipping giant statues while playing with dolls? Or is there another reason for the wild discrepancies in the sizes of the figures? If this is not enough to ruminate on, Kuksi, to me, could also be parodying the idea of the allegorical spiritual fight to attain perfection, which is also a paradox. This goes way back. Seth represents an aggressive and destructive inner trait that destroys the inner peace and humanity that Osiris represents and Horus is that within us which has to knock off Seth, after Seth knocks off Osiris, to re-establish real inner peace for us. There seems to be a belief that, in order to attain peace and humanity, some battle between agents of the light and dark must happen (within us but represented by symbols). This is not always the case, however, as Buddha attains Enlightenment by sitting under a tree for 40 days and Jesus gets basically the same thing by fasting for 40 days – nary a demon, uncle, usurper or adulterer killed between the two of them. But it is always more fun when you can violently conceptualize your humane development in terms of slaughtering stuff that deserves to be slaughtered for an allegedly ‘higher’ end. In his artist statement Kuksi says that he is fascinated by the design of pipework and mechanized systems as well as the flourishes of the Baroque. His ultimate goal, perhaps, therefore, is an abstract baroque design structured according to the principles of a piping system. You get the utilitarian structure to optimize space supplemented by a design that both obfuscates and glorifies the function of the piping. The placement of the figurines and their sizes, therefore, may have more to do with this need for Baroque design than their place in the overall spiritual war-hive. The baroque beauty is provided by the cumulative effect of figurines of violence and especially a type of violence which cannot be separated from religion. Considering that the core of the Baroque Era was the 30 Years War between Protestant and Catholic national leaders, it should be no surprise then that the medium is clearly the message in these pieces. The show closes on November 11.
This piece is based on the recently released Atlantic Council Issue Brief “A Maritime Framework for the Baltic Sea Region” by Magnus Nordenman and Franklin D. Kramer. The Baltic Sea region has emerged as one of the friction zones between an aggressive Russia and the United States and its NATO allies in northeastern Europe. Recently the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) was twice buzzed by Russian Sukhoi Su-24 Fencers during an exercise in the Baltic Sea. The Cook incident is just the most recent of a string of close encounters between Russia and the West at sea and in the air over the Baltic Sea over the last two years. Russia is also building a powerful anti-access/area-denial network in the Kaliningrad enclave in the southeast corner of the Baltic Sea. Built around the S-400 system and Iskander missiles, it would make U.S. and NATO operations in the region hazardous in a crisis or during wartime. Russia would also be able to quickly move its mobile Bastion anti-ship missile system into Kaliningrad, which would further threaten U.S. and allied maritime operations in the region. The relatively small size of the region also means that Russian systems reach well into, and in some cases, over the Baltic Sea. And while Russia’s Baltic Sea fleet is not very big, its submarines could still cause serious problems in a sub-surface domain that is famously challenging for anti-submarine warfare forces. This is a critical problem for the United States and NATO, as it must reach its NATO allies Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on the other side of the Baltic Sea with reinforcements in case of a serious crisis or war. NATO’s forward presence in the Baltic States is certainly increasing, but it is not enough by itself to deter Russian aggression. Defense and deterrence in the region therefore hinge on reinforcements, and this is where access to the maritime domain and NATO’s ability to establish sea control is crucial. The situation is, however, far from hopeless. While the navies of the region are all relatively small, they all pack some punch. The German navy operates 15 surface combatants along with five submarines. Poland is in the process of a major modernization of its naval forces, and Sweden operates one of the finest conventional submarine fleets in the world, albeit a small one. The Baltic States have built up considerable experience in mine-hunting since regaining their independence in the early 1990s. The nations of the region also operate considerable airpower, including F-16s, Eurofighters, F-18s, and JAS-39 Gripens.Norway is currently introducing the F-35 into service. All in all, there are over 400 modern combat aircraft in the region, some of them capable of conducting electronic warfare as well; an important aspect of defeating A2/AD networks. The missing ingredient is thus not capabilities, but an approach that would allow the navies of the region to work together to align capabilities (especially maritime domain awareness, anti-submarine warfare and mine hunting), devise a long-range plan for maritime exercises, and develop regional command-and- control arrangements. Of course, the role of U.S. naval forces must be considered as well, as only it (and perhaps the U.K. and France) could provide key high-end capabilities (such as strike from the sea and amphibious landings) in case of war in the region. In order to accomplish this the NATO nations of the Baltic Sea region could use a framework approach, where one nation takes on the role as leading the development of maritime capabilities, planning, and command-and-control in the Nordic-Baltic region. NATO has used this approach before with considerable success. A framework approach could also allow the NATO-partner nations Sweden and Finland to plug into the effort and contribute their forces to the framework as well. That will not work, however, without the direct involvement of the U.S. maritime forces. They are needed both for the capabilities that they bring to the table, but also in the form of U.S. naval leadership that can catalyze action from the nations of the region. The Baltic Sea is likely to remain tense for quite some time, and the A2/AD challenge in the region will become ever more apparent. A maritime framework led by the region, but directly supported by the United States could do much to bolster the defense of U.S. allies in northeastern Europe and deter an increasingly aggressive Russia.
Apparently seeking to showcase the Congress' soft Hindutva, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday offered prayers at four temples in Gujarat before wrapping up his three-day visit to the poll-bound state, a move his party said was aimed at countering the hardline Hindutva of the BJP and RSS. However, the ruling BJP took a dig at Gandhi, saying the Congress vice president was visiting temples as his party has failed to win elections in the state for long time. Day 3 begins with a visit to Chamunda Mataji Temple, Chotila. #NavsarjanWithRahul pic.twitter.com/FMZJZ1GTnz September 27, 2017 In New Delhi, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram deprecated attempts at reading any political meaning into Gandhi's visit to temples. Gandhi, who had kicked off his tour after offering prayers at the Dwarkadhish temple on Monday, resumed his road-show this morning by trekking up the famous Chotila temple in Surendranagar district. Starting his tour from Rajkot this morning, Gandhi came to Chotila, the first stop today, and began the steep climb immediately. He climbed around 1,000 steps in about 15 minutes without a break. After he had offered prayers, the priests apprised him of the importance of the shrine. The Congress leader climbed down the stairway in another 15 minutes, greeting devotees on his way back. In the evening, Gandhi visited Khodal Dham temple in Kagvad village to offer prayers to Khodiyar Mata, the reigning deity of the Leuva Patel community. A section of Patels are up in arms against the state's BJP government over their demand for reservation in government jobs and educational institutions. On his arrival, Gandhi was greeted by a large number of Patidars, who chanted their signature slogan - 'Jai Sardar, Jai Patidar' to welcome the Congress leader. On his way to Jetpur from Kagvad, Gandhi also paid a visit to a temple dedicated to Dasi Jeevan, revered by Dalits and Buddhists. He also made an unscheduled visit to another shrine-- Jalaram temple--in Veerpur in Rajkot district. "I don't think you should read political meaning into that. I think there is much else that is happening in his visit to Gujarat. I think we should focus on that," Chidambaram said in the national capital. "We have always held that each one is entitled to practice his own faith, we treat all faiths equal. That is the position of the Congress party. From the days of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, that is the stance of the Congress party," he said, while dismissing suggestions that the temple visits were an attempt to woo Hindu voters. Commenting on Rahul Gandhi's visit to temples, Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said the party was deliberately projected as anti-Hindu by the BJP and the RSS. "Rahul Gandhi's visit to various temples during his tour is aimed at countering the hardline Hindutva campaign of BJP and RSS," Doshi said. "The RSS and BJP have deliberately tried to portray the Congress as anti-Hindu, which is not true," he said. AICC spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said, "Our idea of secularism is different from them (BJP), as we visit religious places of all the faiths. This is nothing new. Our former PM Indira Gandhi used to do the same." However, a state BJP leader said Gandhi was visiting temples as his party was not winning elections. "Rahul Gandhi has started visiting temples and shrines as his party is not winning elections in any state," state BJP spokesperson Raju Dhruv said. Yesterday, Gandhi also attended a garba event organised by MLA Indranil Rajyaguru in Rajkot and performed 'aarti' in front of the idol of goddess Durga. "The day ends well with garba in Rajkot," the Congress vice president had tweeted. On his way from Chotila to Kagvad, Gandhi addressed people at some places. In his speeches, he promised that the Congress would waive all farm loans within 10 days of assuming power after the elections, which are due later this year. In the last two days, Gandhi repeatedly attacked the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on GST, note ban and farm polices. He had also invoked Sardar Patel's legacy to woo the Patel community ahead of the crucial state polls. Gandhi had also expressed confidence about his party winning the Assembly elections, claiming that there was a strong undercurrent in favour of the Congress in Gujarat.
CLOSE Paul Branch was shocked with a Taser stun gun 10 times by Knox County Sheriff’s Office deputies on Jan. 16, 2017, outside his apartment on North Cedar Bluff Road. KCSO Paul Branch, shown in this undated photo, was shocked with a Taser stun gun 10 times in a January 2017 incident. (Photo: Submitted) Knox County Sheriff’s Office internal investigators cleared deputies of any wrongdoing after they repeatedly used stun guns against an unarmed man who is now suing the department, according to the investigative file. “We were giving verbal commands, and he was not complying at all,” Deputy Christian L. Gomez said of Paul Edward Branch and why he and Deputy Paul Saah repeatedly fired their Taser stun guns into Branch’s body. KCSO’s policy does not allow the use of a stun gun to force compliance with orders, and it does not list the act of passively resisting an order as just cause to shock someone. The policy treats a stun gun much like a bullet-firing one and limits its use to situations in which a deputy is fighting with a suspect, trying to protect another deputy fighting with a suspect, or protecting a citizen being attacked by a suspect. ► More:Unarmed man repeatedly shocked with stun gun sues KCSO Branch, the Sheriff's Office's video shows, did not attempt to hit, kick or otherwise assault the deputies. KCSO’s Office of Professional Standards deemed Branch’s claim of excessive force in the January incident to be “unfounded” and made no recommendations for disciplinary action or additional training on KCSO’s stun gun policy. Paul Branch was shocked with a Taser stun gun 10 times by Knox County Sheriff’s Office deputies on Jan. 16, 2017, outside his apartment on North Cedar Bluff Road. Branch is suing the Sheriff's Office. (Photo: KCSO bodycam) Review after notice of lawsuit Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones has declined to comment, citing the pending lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by attorneys John Barnes and Stephen McGrath on behalf of Branch. The agency did not launch an investigation until the attorneys notified the Knox County Law Director’s Office of the lawsuit in August. Gomez, a trainee, and Saah are accused in the lawsuit of excessive force by repeatedly using their Taser stun guns against Branch even though he wasn’t fighting. Saah’s body camera footage showed Branch largely complied with commands, according to the suit. Three deputies had their hands on him, pressing his face against a firetruck, when Saah shot him with the Taser in the back of the neck. The video showed Branch was seated on the ground with his hands behind his back when a second round of 50,000-volt shots was fired into his chest. He was shocked 10 times over 64 seconds. Knox County Sheriff's Office Deputy Paul Saah (Photo: Knox County Sheriff's Office) Investigative file investigated USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee conducted a review of KCSO’s investigative file. It showed the following: Branch, 31, ran out of his West Knox County apartment at 3 a.m. in January and asked a neighbor to call for help after he had doused a fire on his stove and himself with water, records show. He was shirtless and shoeless. He had on athletic shorts, and he was dripping with water, the file showed. He took a seat in an unlocked Rural/Metro Fire Department truck and was groping at the dash and equipment and speaking in “mumbling” fashion, interviews showed. Rural/Metro alerted KCSO, but Deputy Nathan Stachey told investigators Branch wasn’t posing a threat when he, Saah and Gomez, his trainee, arrived. “There were 10 grown men standing around the truck when we got there,” Stachey said of firefighters. “And they, I mean, they weren’t talking to him anymore. They asked us to remove him.” Branch got out of the truck when Saah ordered him to do so, the video showed. Saah, Gomez and Stachey each said in separate interviews Branch was “resisting” by refusing to follow commands. None alleged Branch threatened violence or struck them. According to arrest warrants, Saah says Branch resisted arrest by “pulling away” and “not giving his hands.” Leading questions? The internal investigation was assigned to investigator Walt Schmidt, and he began each of the three interviews with the deputies with a silent Capt. Tom Cox in the room. But midway through Gomez’s interview, Cox took over. He did so again with Stachey and Saah. Knox County Sheriff's Office Deputy Christian L. Gomez (Photo: Knox County Sheriff's Office) “Could you tell if he was wet like he’d been emerged in water possibly? And in your experience, and I realize you haven’t been on patrol a great amount of time, in your experience … is it harder to take physical control of somebody that’s wet and partially clothed, where their upper body is nothing but skin and not wearing shoes, you don’t have a shirt to try to grab and control him with, he’s only clothed in some sort of short pants?” Cox asked Gomez. “Correct,” Gomez replied. Cox told Stachey that Stachey “made a comment earlier” that Branch was “one of the strongest individuals that you’ve seen.” Neither the recording nor the transcription of Stachey’s interview shows that statement by Stachey. Stachey agreed, though, when Cox suggested Branch's strength was an issue. Under control? Stachey said he was able to use a “pain compliance” technique to lift Branch off his feet, and that each time Branch was stunned with electricity, he was “under control.” NEWSLETTERS Get the Knoxnews newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Daily news headlines, without having to open the newspaper. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-844-900-7097. Delivery: Daily Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Knoxnews Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters Cox responded, “Would it be more accurate to describe the influence of the Taser of just periods that he wasn’t resisting because of the effect of being struck with Taser darts? And not to put words in your mouth, I was going to ask you so, would it be more accurate to say he wasn’t in control, the effect of the Taser was to limit or decrease his acts of resistance? And you can’t really touch him during those periods when he has electrical current?” “Yes, sir,” Stachey responded. Cox pressed, “Can you?” “No, sir, it … ,” Stachey said before Cox interrupted. “So you didn’t have the opportunity to like, you know, pounce on him and cuff while an electrical charge is in his body?” Cox asked. “Yes, sir,” Stachey then replied. “I just wanted to clarify that,” Cox said. “I’m not trying to get you to say anything one way or the other. But in listening to you, I didn’t get the impression that he was under control.” Paul Branch was shocked with a Taser stun gun 10 times by Knox County Sheriff’s Office deputies on Jan. 16, 2017, outside his apartment on North Cedar Bluff Road. Branch is suing the Sheriff's Office. (Photo: KCSO bodycam) 'He was ripped' Cox also pressed Saah on Branch’s threat level. “Was it cold?” Cox asked. Saah responded, “It was freezing that night.” Noting Branch was wet and shirtless, Cox asked, “So that was, fair to say, unusual behavior?” “Yes, sir, very unusual,” Saah said. Cox asked, “Do you remember anything else unusual about him? Other than his behavior. Physically?” “He was very, very ripped, had very little body fat,” Saah said. Paul Branch was shocked with a Taser stun gun 10 times by Knox County Sheriff’s Office deputies on Jan. 16, 2017, outside his apartment on North Cedar Bluff Road. Branch is suing the Sheriff's Office. (Photo: KCSO bodycam) Cox continued, “Were all the officers present in uniform? And (Branch) still continues what could be interpreted as criminal behavior in front of several police officers? So that’s fair to say that you interpreted this as very unusual and potentially dangerous behavior?” “Yes, sir, that’s very reasonable because I,” Saah responded and then paused. “I’ve never in my entirety in law enforcement have ever seen something of that unusual behavior before out of a certain individual.” Branch was charged with public intoxication. The warrant cites his behavior, not any evidence of alcohol or drug use, as probable cause. He also is charged with resisting arrest. The cases are pending as is the lawsuit. Read or Share this story: http://knoxne.ws/2yc09ac
Twitter is testing an expansion of its promoted tweets advertising unit that displays the sponsored messages even if someone doesn’t sign in to its service. The test could help Twitter address one of its core problems: People don’t have to sign up for its service to take advantage of the public nature of its contents. Anyone capable of searching for someone on Google, or following a direct link to a public tweet, can peruse the platform even if they tweet something themselves. Advertisement Many people take advantage of this fact. Re/code reports that roughly 500 million people who don’t have Twitter accounts visit the service each month. That’s greater than the 320 million users who log in to the site each month, according to Twitter’s usage statistics, and a valuable audience for advertisers. “By letting marketers scale their campaigns and tap into the total Twitter audience, they will be able to speak to more people in new places using the same targeting, ad creative, and measurement tools,” Twitter said. “Marketers can now maximize the opportunities they have to connect with that audience.” According to the blog post, promoted tweets will be shown to visitors without Twitter accounts whenever they view a user profile or a tweet’s detail page. The experiment is currently limited to the desktop Web and being tested by “selected advertisers” across the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, and Australia. This isn’t the first time Twitter has tried to appeal to new or potential users. Earlier this year the company introduced a new homepage meant to lure people into signing up for its service. It built “instant timelines” for people who sign up without knowing what to do next. The service has done everything short of making it so people can post, like, or retweet something without an account. These promoted tweets seem like an admission that not everyone who visits Twitter will grok the value in creating an account. But someone deciding not to sign up for the service can still be monetized as long as they’re willing to visit the site every once in a while and focus even a moment of their attention on an ad.
Rand Paul gets his war debate Congress may get a chance to debate an authorization of military force against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after all. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) attempted to force a vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday by offering his legislation declaring war on the Islamic State as a last-minute amendment to an unrelated clean water bill that was scheduled for a vote. But he eventually relented under the promise that he’d get a debate — and a vote on a stand-alone amendment — next week. Story Continued Below “I’m going to reserve my amendment ’til next week if I’m guaranteed a vote on an AUMF,” Paul told reporters. He ultimately pulled his amendment from legislation aimed at increasing safe drinking water across the globe. ( Also on POLITICO: Terrorism insurance deal takes shape) Paul’s move comes not because he is agitating for more war but as an articulation of his frustration with the lack of congressional action authorizing the fight against ISIL. However, congressional leaders had hoped to take up the authorization of military force issue next year, so Paul’s latest stand threatened to complicate things for a Congress eyeing the exits after a grinding lame duck session. Asked if he was satisfied by the turn of events, Paul replied: “A hearing and a vote — that’s what I’ve always wanted.” Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) proposed the committee assemble next week to address the authorization independently. Secretary of State John Kerry might be available on Monday to testify at such a hearing, Menendez said, but added that “we are so late in the process, we don’t know that would actually help us.” ( Also on POLITICO: Bhopal’s Long Shadow) Menendez said he would then draft his own legislation following the hearing and hold a mark-up on Wednesday where committee members could propose amendments. Ranking member Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) was quick to oppose Paul’s move to submit his war authorization amendment in the water bill at the start of the meeting — not because he is against a war authorization, but because Paul’s amendment rushes important decisions. Corker said he believes such a serious move must be weighed carefully and should align with the Obama administration’s strategy, which is still unclear. “This is not the right thing to do today,” Corker said. “Is there not some other way for us to deal with this where we actually have hearings, understand it more fully?” Corker, as a main sponsor of the clean water bill, at first asked to pull the bill rather than have it turned into a vehicle for Paul’s proposal. “We worked on this for years. Forget it. I don’t want to demean this committee.” ( Also on POLITICO: Lawmakers iron out money details for a deal) While he supported Menendez’s approach, Corker warned the process would likely open up contentious debate over issues on which lawmakers are divided, such as sending combat troops to Iraq, which could snarl next week’s war authorization process. Paul’s demands for a debate resonated with some of his colleagues. But Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said he supported having an AUMF debate — though he believes the president already has authority to take on ISIS, and articulated some misgivings about the process chosen by his colleagues. “I do share these concerns [about] something of this magnitude voted on in this committee without a hearing,” he said, but noted he understood why it had to happen that way. Given the expiring lame duck session, he acknowledged that inserting Paul’s amendment into the clean water bill was “the last train leaving the station.” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he was “totally conflicted” on the mechanism being used to try to authorize force. “I said we were going to do it in a lame duck session. It appears this may be the only place and time we may discuss it,” he said. Several other committee members also mulled presenting their own legislation to authorize the use of force in order to counter Paul’s push. Still others at Thursday’s committee meeting complained about Paul’s effort. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) has filed a proposal that would override Paul’s language in one effort to counter the Kentucky senator’s move. A fierce proponent of authorizing the expanding air war against the Islamic State, Kaine’s proposal would authorize strikes against the militant group. But Kaine’s legislation doesn’t amount to a formal declaration of war and also includes language to arm moderate Syrian rebels, which Paul’s legislation lacks. Paul’s bill would essentially chart a new course for foreign conflicts, repealing both the 2002 AUMF used in Iraq and the 2001 AUMF used to justify attacks on Al Qaeda. Kaine also pulled his amendment at the end of the meeting, as the safe drinking water bill passed the committee. Corker suggested that if an authorization is approved during the lame-duck session, it be more temporary in nature, giving the administration more time to work on its strategy while a better AUMF is drafted. If Menendez is able to muscle through an AUMF, it remains unclear if there would be time for Senate leaders to engineer a floor vote. The Senate still must approve a government funding bill and the annual defense authorization next week, which, depending on whether any senator places a hold on those bills, could take several days and make it nearly impossible to consider a war authorization. Jeremy Herb contributed to this report.
For the 2012 album by Monkey House, see Headquarters (Monkey House album) 1967 studio album by The Monkees Headquarters is the third album issued by the Monkees and the first with substantial songwriting and instrumental performances by members of the group itself, rather than by session musicians and professional songwriters. After a struggle for creative autonomy with their record label, the group had been allowed to record by themselves. Headquarters reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified double platinum in the United States with sales of more than two million copies within the first two months of release. It peaked at #2 on the UK charts. It is included in the 2006 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Early history and concept [ edit ] While the original concept of their third album was to follow the same format and production of the first two albums, after the release of More of the Monkees the group was becoming increasingly frustrated by the limited creative input they were allowed by Don Kirshner, and continued to fight for more creative control and independence from him. Kirshner had already begun supervising recording sessions with studio musicians for their third album, with Davy Jones recording vocal tracks for some of the songs, while the group recorded two songs featuring them both singing and playing ("All of Your Toys" and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere"), for their next single. The hope was to pacify the group, particularly Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork, by gaining some of the input they were asking for, even though the track would feature as the b-side, with the a-side featuring one of the aforementioned Jones-vocal tracks. Tensions came to a head when Kirshner released the third single (in Canada), with Jones tracks on both sides ("A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" and an early version of "She Hangs Out"), completely ignoring the group's request, and without the approval of record executives. This was the last straw and it led to Kirshner's dismissal from the Monkees project and the group was finally given full creative control of their next album. The single was withdrawn from Canada and pulled from scheduled release in the US. Since "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" was already announced as the next single, it was retained as the a-side and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" as the b-side (a publishing error prevented "All of Your Toys" from being used), replacing "She Hangs Out". The remaining Kirshner-supervised tracks that had already been finished were discarded so that the group could finally produce an album where they would decide the songs, the arrangements, etc. More importantly, they would provide all the vocals and instrumentals, using sessions musicians only as an addition to their own. Release [ edit ] The album was released on May 22, 1967 and charted at the No. 1 in the U.S. It stayed at that position for only one week, and was then replaced by The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It then began a run of 11 consecutive weeks at the No. 2 position as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band remained at No. 1. The album was issued on the compact disc format for the first time by Arista Records in 1989, remixed from the multi-tracks, then later from the original stereo mastertape in 1995 with several bonus tracks on Rhino Entertainment. In 2000, Rhino Entertainment, through its Rhino Handmade division, issued The Headquarters Sessions, a 3-disc box set of outtakes from the session as well as the album's original monophonic mix presented in an alternate running order that was rejected before release. In 2007, Rhino issued a two-disc deluxe edition of the album. The CD set was housed in a digipak with a slipcase and featured original album artwork (including replicas of the original Colgems vinyl labels on each disc), as well as a booklet of essays and session information by Monkees historian Andrew Sandoval. The discs contained both the stereo and mono mixes of the album, remastered, as well as alternate mixes and outtakes. Album cover [ edit ] The original rear album cover features a collage of photos including one of the band with producer Chip Douglas and engineer Dick Bogert. However the photo was mislabeled: it identifies Hank Cicalo as sitting next to Chip Douglas. This is known as the "Producers Cover". Colgems/RCA corrected the error by substituting a different photo rather than revising the caption. Peter, Micky and Mike were sporting light beards while Davy's shoulder-length hair had been cut off; this has come to be known as the "Beard Cover". This is the corrected version because it was standard practice for RCA to add an "RE" to the catalog number when any one side of a record sleeve had a revision. The "Beard Cover" has a catalog number of COS/COM-103 RE.[6] Track listing [ edit ] Original 1967 Colgems vinyl issue [ edit ] Side 1 Side 2 Aborted track listing [ edit ] The album's preliminary track lineup was compiled shortly after the sessions had ended. It would have included the following songs:[7] Side 1 "For Pete's Sake" "I'll Spend My Life With You" "Forget That Girl" "You Just May Be The One" "Shades Of Gray" "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" "Band 6" Side 2 "Sunny Girlfriend" "Mr. Webster" "You Told Me" "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (second version) "Zilch" "Early Morning Blues And Greens" "Randy Scouse Git" 1995 Rhino CD reissue [ edit ] Tracks 1-14: Original album in stereo "All of Your Toys" (Early Mono Mix) (Bill Martin) - 3:02 "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (Second Recorded Version + Mono Mix) (Nesmith) - 2:38 "Peter Gunn's Gun" (Jam Session) (Henry Mancini) - 3:38 "Jericho" (Studio Dialogue + Mono) (Traditional, arr. Tork) - 2:02 "Nine Times Blue" (Demo Version + Mono) (Nesmith) - 2:07 "Pillow Time" (Demo Version + Mono) (Janelle Scott/Matt Willis) - 4:00 1996 Sundazed vinyl reissue [ edit ] Bonus track at the end of Side 1: "All of Your Toys" (Early Mono Mix) (Martin) Bonus track at the end of Side 2: "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (Second Recorded Version + Mono Mix) (Nesmith) 2007 Rhino deluxe CD reissue [ edit ] Disc 1 Tracks 1-14: Original Album in Stereo "All of Your Toys" (Stereo Remix) (Martin) - 3:10 "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (Second Recorded Version, Stereo Remix) (Nesmith) - 2:52 "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" (Stereo Remix) (Neil Diamond) - 3:02 "She Hangs Out" (Stereo Remix) (Jeff Barry) - 2:45 "Love to Love" (Stereo Remix) (Diamond) - 2:36 "You Can't Tie a Mustang Down" (Stereo Remix) (Barry) - 2:58 "If I Learned to Play the Violin" (Stereo Remix) (Joey Levine, Artie Resnick) - 2:47 "99 Pounds" (Stereo Remix) (Barry) - 2:29 "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (Single Version, Stereo Remix) (Nesmith) - 3:02 "Randy Scouse Git" (Alternate Version) (Dolenz) - 2:30 "Tema Dei Monkees" (Stereo Remix) (Boyce, Hart) - 0:59 Disc 2 Tracks 1-14: Original Album in Mono "All of Your Toys" (Early Mono Mix) (Martin) - 3:03 "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (Second Recorded Version, Alternate Mono Mix) (Nesmith) - 2:38 "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" (Mono Single Remix) (Diamond) - 2:48 "She Hangs Out" (Mono Single Mix) (Barry, Ellie Greenwich) - 2:36 "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (Mono Single Mix) (Nesmith) - 2:39 "Nine Times Blue" (Demo Version) (Nesmith) - 2:08 "She'll Be There" (Acoustic Duet) (Sharon Sheeley) - 2:33 "Midnight Train" (Demo Version) (Dolenz) - 2:28 "Peter Gunn's Gun" (Jam Session) (Mancini) - 3:41 "Jericho" (Studio Dialogue) (Traditional, Arr. Tork) - 2:02 "Pillow Time" (Demo Version) (Janelle Scott, Matt Willis) - 7:22 Session information [ edit ] During the early months of 1967, the four Monkees sequestered themselves in the RCA Victor Music Center of the World Studios, on Sunset Boulevard near Vine Street in Hollywood. Many of the songs were written by the four group members, or came together organically in jam sessions. A few of the songs were also written by songwriters Boyce and Hart. Michael Nesmith recruited fellow folk musician Chip Douglas, a member of The Modern Folk Quartet and The Turtles, to produce the album. Douglas, credited under his birth name, Douglas Farthing Hatlelid, also contributed bass guitar and a song. "You Told Me" Written by Michael Nesmith Lead vocal by Michael Nesmith Backing vocals: Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork Electric 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith Bass: Chip Douglas Drums: Micky Dolenz Banjo: Peter Tork Tambourine: Davy Jones Zither: Micky Dolenz The opening parodies the Beatles' "Taxman," from their album Revolver . The two songs also have similar basslines, though this appears unintentional. . The two songs also have similar basslines, though this appears unintentional. Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 3 (7:30 P.M. - 12:00 A.M.) and 9, 1967 (12:30 P.M. - 12:00 A.M.) "I'll Spend My Life with You" Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz Harmony vocals: Peter Tork Electric 6-String Guitar: Micky Dolenz Acoustic 12-String Guitar: Peter Tork Steel Guitar: Michael Nesmith Bass: Chip Douglas Tambourine: Davy Jones Organ: Peter Tork Celeste: Peter Tork A remake by the band; the earlier version was recorded during the sessions for More of the Monkees which featured studio musicians which featured studio musicians Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 4 (12:00 P.M. - 1:00 A.M.), 9 (12:30 P.M. - 1:00 A.M.), 10, 11 (12:00 P.M. - 12:00 A.M.) and 18, 1967 (12:30 P.M. - 2:30 A.M.) "Forget That Girl" Written by Douglas Farthing Hatlelid (aka Chip Douglas) Lead vocal by Davy Jones Backing vocals: Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Chip Douglas Electric 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith Bass: Chip Douglas Drums: Micky Dolenz Maracas: Davy Jones Electric Piano: Peter Tork Acoustic Guitar: Unknown Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 7 (12:30 P.M. - 2:00 A.M.) and 8, 1967 (12:30 P.M. - 12:00 A.M.) "Band 6" Written by Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork Spoken words by Micky Dolenz and Chip Douglas Electric Guitar: Peter Tork Steel Guitar: Michael Nesmith Drums: Micky Dolenz A studio exercise, based on the Looney Tunes theme theme Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 2, 1967 (7:00 P.M. - 12:00 A.M.) "You Just May Be the One" Written by Michael Nesmith Lead vocal by Michael Nesmith Harmony vocals: Micky Dolenz Backing vocals: Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Chip Douglas Electric 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith Acoustic Guitar: Michael Nesmith Bass: Peter Tork Drums: Micky Dolenz Tambourine: Davy Jones A remake by the band; the earlier version which featured session musicians including Glen Campbell was recorded during the sessions for the Monkees' debut album; this earlier version was used several times during Season One of the Monkees' television series. It was eventually featured on Missing Links Volume Two and also subsequent reissues of the first album. and also subsequent reissues of the first album. Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 2, 1967, and March 16 (12:00 - 7:00 PM) "Shades of Gray" Written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil Lead vocals by Davy Jones and Peter Tork Backing vocals: Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork Steel Guitar: Michael Nesmith Bass: Jerry Yester Drums: Micky Dolenz Tambourine: Davy Jones Piano: Peter Tork Maracas: Davy Jones Cello: Frederick Seykora French Horn: Vincent DeRosa Some compilations credit songwriting to Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and production to Boyce, Hart and Jack Keller. Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 16 (12:00 - 7:00 PM) and 22, 1967 "I Can't Get Her Off My Mind" Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart Lead vocal by Davy Jones Backing vocals: Micky Dolenz Electric 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith Bass: Jerry Yester Drums: Micky Dolenz Percussion: Davy Jones Tack Piano: Peter Tork A remake by the band; the earlier version was recorded in July 1966 during the sessions for the debut album featuring session musicians Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 17 (12:30 - 7:00 PM) and 19, 1967 (2:00 - 11:00 PM) "For Pete's Sake" Written by Joseph Richards and Peter Tork Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz Backing vocals: Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork Electric Guitar: Peter Tork Organ: Michael Nesmith Bass: Chip Douglas Drums: Micky Dolenz Tambourine: Davy Jones An edited mix became the closing theme for the second season of the band's NBC-TV sitcom Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 23 and 24, 1967 (1:00 P.M. - 2:30 A.M.) "Mr. Webster" Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz Backing vocals: Davy Jones Electric 6-string guitar: Micky Dolenz Steel Guitar: Michael Nesmith Bass: John London Tambourine: Davy Jones Piano: Peter Tork A remake by the band; the earlier, slower version with session musicians was recorded during the sessions for More of the Monkees and is featured on Missing Links Volume Two and is featured on Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, February 24, 1967 (1:00 - 7:30 P.M.) "Sunny Girlfriend" Written by Michael Nesmith Lead vocal by Michael Nesmith Harmony vocals: Micky Dolenz Backing vocals: Davy Jones Electric 6-String Guitar: Peter Tork Electric 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith Acoustic Guitar: Michael Nesmith Bass: John London Drums: Micky Dolenz Shaker: Micky Dolenz Mike and Micky recorded the song's vocals on a separate track featuring Mike on guitar and Micky with shaker. Recorded at RCA Victor Studio A, Hollywood, February 23 (2:00 - 10:00 P.M.) and Studio C, April 18, 1967 "Zilch" Written by Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork Spoken words by Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Michael Nesmith A fugue made up of disparate phrases; the Monkees would sometimes enter public places performing it (Peter's) Tork had heard the phrase "last boarding call for Mr. Dobalina, Mr. Bob Dobalina" coming from an airport intercom, [8] (Davy's) "China Clipper..." came from the movie China Clipper , (Micky's) "Never mind the furthermore..." from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! , and (Mike's) "It is of my opinion..." from a political speech. (Davy's) "China Clipper..." came from the movie , (Micky's) "Never mind the furthermore..." from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical , and (Mike's) "It is of my opinion..." from a political speech. The line "Never mind the furthermore, the plea is self-defense" is also performed on the song "No Time". "Zilch" was the 'hidden meaning' of it all; it added up to...nothing. It was simply entertaining nonsense, a fact betrayed by the laughter of Micky and Mike as they break up during the session. The Headquarters Sessions compilation features the four spoken tracks separately to reveal everything that was said compilation features the four spoken tracks separately to reveal everything that was said "Zilch" was used in the TV series episode "The Picture Frame" during the police interrogation scene when Mike, Micky, and Davy are commanded by the Sergeant (Dort Clark) to "start talking!" and the boys initially respond with "Zilch"'s lyrics. "Zilch" was sampled on "Mistadobalina", a 1991 song by alternative hip hop musician Del Tha Funkee Homosapien. The line, "Never mind the furthermore, the plea is self defence" features in the They Might Be Giants song "Memo To Human Resources". Zilch itself is occasionally part of the They Might Be Giants live show, and was performed throughout the 2010 tour promoting their children's album, Here Comes Science . . In the stereo release of the composition, Peter and Micky can be heard through one speaker while Davy and Mike can be heard through the other. Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 3, 1967 (7:30 P.M. - 12:00 A.M.) "No Time" Written by the four Monkees (according to Peter, composition was done primarily by Micky and Mike), but as a reward for his hard work on the album, the band decided to credit the song to recording engineer Hank Cicalo, guaranteeing him a large royalty check. The released version of the song was the second version recorded for the album; the first included session help from guitarists Keith Allison and Jerry Yester, but the released version has only Chip Douglas assisting the quartet. Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz Backing vocals: Davy Jones, and Unknown Electric Guitar: Michael Nesmith, and Unknown Bass: Chip Douglas Drums: Micky Dolenz Tambourine: Davy Jones Piano: Peter Tork Micky's "Rock on, George, for Ringo one time" refers to The Beatles' version of "Honey Don't." The musical style of the song is also very similar to that of The Beatles' version of "Boys." "Andy, you're a dandy, you don't seem to make no sense" is a reference to Andy Warhol. Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 17 (12:30 - 7:00 P.M.) and 22, 1967 "Early Morning Blues and Greens" Written by Diane Hildebrand and Jack Keller Lead vocal by Davy Jones Harmony vocals: Peter Tork Electric 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith Bass: Chip Douglas Drums: Micky Dolenz Jawbone: Davy Jones Maracas: Davy Jones Electric Piano: Peter Tork Organ: Peter Tork Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 18 (12:30 P.M. - 2:30 A.M.), and 22, 1967 "Randy Scouse Git" Written by Micky Dolenz Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz Backing vocals: Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith Electric Guitar: Michael Nesmith Bass: Chip Douglas Drums: Micky Dolenz Timpani: Micky Dolenz Organ: Peter Tork Piano: Peter Tork Title is a British slang phrase gleaned by Dolenz from television, likely the UK sitcom Till Death Us Do Part ; it roughly translates as "lustful fool from Liverpool" (Wiktionary: randy, Scouse, git) (though in fact, to call someone a "git" in Britain is the equivalent of "jerk" or "prat"). In the series the word was aimed by Alf Garnett at his son-in-law, played by Tony Booth, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's father-in-law. ; it roughly translates as "lustful fool from Liverpool" (Wiktionary: randy, Scouse, git) (though in fact, to call someone a "git" in Britain is the equivalent of "jerk" or "prat"). In the series the word was aimed by Alf Garnett at his son-in-law, played by Tony Booth, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's father-in-law. To avoid offence in the UK the song was billed as "Alternate Title." "The four kings of EMI" is a reference to The Beatles, who were signed to EMI's Parlophone label at the time. The opening drum riff of "Randy Scouse Git" can be heard in the Season One episode, "Monkees A La Mode," played absentmindedly by Micky on a table. During rehearsal and set-up for recording of "Randy Scouse Git" a demo of Mike's instrumental "Cantata & Fugue In C&W" was inserted in the mistaken belief that it was part of Micky's guitar demo of his song. Recorded at RCA Victor Studio B, Hollywood, March 2 (7:00 P.M. - 12:00 A.M.), and Studio C, March 4 (12:00 P.M. - 1:00 A.M.) and 8, 1967 (12:30 P.M. - 12:00 A.M.) Several instrumental jams (available on The Headquarters Sessions) were taped by Chip Douglas which The Monkees apparently intended for inclusion on the album. The group (with bassist John London) jammed an instrumental cover of the song "Memphis Tennessee" in which Peter's guitar grooving (and some of London's bass work and Davy's tambourine) overshoots the ending; after Micky good-naturedly curses out Peter ("Aw, Peter! You had to screw it up!") and bashes his drums for effect, he decides, "We'll cut him off, just cut off the track (for the ending)," to which Mike replies, "No, don't cut off the track, it was groovy until [the ending]." Following this jam the group broke into a ferocious three-minute improvisation (dubbed "Twelve-String Improvisation" on The Headquarters Sessions) led by Mike's take-off of the guitar riff from The Beatles' "Day Tripper" and quickly joined by Peter's riffing, Micky's drums, London's bass and Davy's tambourine. Following the jam Micky is heard laughing and says, "Whoa! I gotta hear this!" and Peter asks Douglas, "Can we hear that back?" while a surprised Mike says, "Oh, they didn't tape that, did they?" Another instrumental track intended for the album was a rock number, "Masking Tape" (credited to Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil but authorship has also been listed as unknown) which the group recorded with bassist Jerry Yester. One take was recorded: before the take Micky and Chip Douglas run through one of the song's verses. At the end of the performance Micky exclaims, "Whoa! That was it!" but producer Douglas protests, "No, that wasn't it, it slowed down in the middle, but it's getting close." For some reason the song was never finished. Peter, Mike, Micky and his sister Coco recorded demos early in the sessions. Peter's demo of "Seeger's Theme" was instrumental, while Mike's and the Dolenzes' demos ("Nine Times Blue" and the Buffy Saint Marie composition "Until It's Time for You to Go" by Mike (who had first released it as a single in 1965); "She'll Be There" and "Midnight Train" by Micky and Coco) featured full vocals over acoustic guitar. Mike and the Dolenzes' demos took place in one session, as before Mike's demo of "Until It's Time" Chip Douglas is heard teasing that Mike is demoing under his old pseudonym 'Michael Blessing' to the laughter of Micky and Coco. Bonus tracks session information [ edit ] "All of Your Toys" (Early Mono Mix) Written by Bill Martin Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz Backing vocals: Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork Electric 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith Bass: John London Drums: Micky Dolenz Tambourine: Davy Jones Harpsichord: Peter Tork Unused track that was the proposed A-side of the next Monkees single, but song was not controlled by the Monkees' publishing company, Screen Gems; publisher Tickson Music refused to sell the copyright. Originally featured on Missing Links in stereo. The track is also included on the Listen to the Band and Music Box sets in slightly different stereo mixes, and Monkeemania (The Very Best of the Monkees) in the same stereo mix presented on Missing Links . in stereo. The track is also included on the Listen to the Band and Music Box sets in slightly different stereo mixes, and Monkeemania (The Very Best of the Monkees) in the same stereo mix presented on . Recorded at Goldstar Studios, Hollywood January 16 (10:00 A.M. - 6:00 P.M.), and RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood, January 19, 23, 24, 1967, and 26 (8:00 - 11:00 P.M.), 28 (2:00 - 6:00 P.M.), 30 (10:00 - 12:00 A.M.), 31 (2:00 P.M. - 12:00 A.M.), and February 2 (8:00 - 10:00 P.M.) "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (Second Recorded Version + Mono Mix) Written by Michael Nesmith Lead vocal by Michael Nesmith Backing vocals: Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork Electric 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith Acoustic Guitar: Peter Tork Bass: John London Drums: Micky Dolenz Tambourine: Davy Jones Harpsichord: Peter Tork First known recording for the Headquarters album album Originally recorded with just electric guitar (played by Mike), acoustic guitar (Peter), drums (Micky), bass (John London), and tambourine (Davy), a complex harpsichord piece was added when Peter accidentally played the harpsichord during a rehearsal and the note that came out blended with the song to the enthusiastic satisfaction of Mike. Recorded at Goldstar Studios, Hollywood January 16 (10:00 A.M. - 6:00 P.M.), and RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood, January 19, 23, 24, 1967, and 26 (8:00 - 11:00 P.M.), 28 (2:00 - 6:00 P.M.), 30 (10:00 - 12:00 A.M.), 31 (2:00 P.M. - 12:00 A.M.), and February 2 (8:00 - 10:00 P.M.) "Peter Gunn's Gun" (Jam Session) Written by Henry Mancini Spoken words by Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith Steel Guitar: Michael Nesmith Drums: Micky Dolenz Tambourine: Davy Jones Piano: Peter Tork This was one of numerous studio jams the boys concocted during recording. Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 11, 1967 (12:00 P.M. - 12:00 A.M.) "Jericho" (Studio Dialogue + Mono) Traditional, arranged by Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Chip Douglas Lead vocals by Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork Vocal by Chip Douglas French Horn: Davy Jones This was recorded during a break from regular sessions when Davy starts fooling around with a French horn, Peter and Chip make fun of his playing. Micky soon cuts in with a shtick about "Jericho's Wall" after Douglas mentions it and amid the laughter, the conversation spirals into a spontaneous vocal jam by Peter and Micky of the song "Jericho." A longer, unedited version appears on the Headquarters Sessions compilation compilation Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 10, 1967 (12:00 P.M. - 12:00 A.M.) "Nine Times Blue" (Demo Version + Mono) Written by Michael Nesmith Lead vocal by Michael Nesmith Acoustic 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith Later re-recorded during the sessions for The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees and released on Missing Links and released on Recorded at RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood, February, 1967 "She'll Be There" (Acoustic Duet + Mono) Written by Sharon Sheeley Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz Harmony vocal: Coco Dolenz (Micky's sister) Acoustic Guitar: Micky Dolenz Micky and his sister Coco were responsible for the arrangement of the song "She'll Be There". However it was unknown exactly who wrote it at the time, and as a result no official writer's credit was given. Originally released on Missing Links Volume Three Recorded at RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood, February, 1967 "Midnight Train" (Demo Version + Mono) Written by Micky Dolenz Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz Harmony vocal: Coco Dolenz Acoustic Guitar: Micky Dolenz Later recut during the sessions for The Monkees Present and released on Changes and released on (available on "Headquarters Sessions") While Micky Dolenz is officially credited as the writer of the song, several sites and sources claim Chris McCarty, Kenny Lee Lewis and Steve Miller to have co-written the track. [9] Originally released on Missing Links Volume Three Recorded at RCA Victor Studios, Hollywood, February, 1967 "Pillow Time" (Studio Dialogue + Mono) Written by Janelle Scott (Micky's mother) and Matt Willis Spoken words by Micky Dolenz and Hank Cicalo Zither: Micky Dolenz This was recorded when Micky was helping engineer Hank Cicalo with studio echo effects. Micky also plays on a zither that can be heard on the opening of the original album. A longer, unedited version of this session is featured on the Headquarters Sessions compilation. compilation. Later recorded and released on The Monkees Present Recorded at RCA Victor Studio C, Hollywood, March 14, 1967 (12:00 P.M. - ?) 2007 deluxe CD reissue bonus tracks session information [ edit ] all tracks produced by Chip Douglas unless otherwise specified. "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" (Stereo Remix) Written by Neil Diamond Lead vocal by Davy Jones Backing vocals: Neil Diamond, and Unknown Guitars: Al Gorgoni, Don Thomas, Hugh McCracken Bass: Louis Mauro, James Tyrell Drums: Herb Lovelle Piano: Stan Free Organ: Arthur Butler Tambourine: Thomas Cerone Produced and Arranged By: Jeff Barry Engineered By: Ray Hall Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, January 21 (11:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M.) and 24, and February 4 and 6, 1967 "She Hangs Out" (Single Version + Stereo Remix) Written by Jeff Barry Lead vocal by Davy Jones Backing vocal: Unknown Guitars: Al Gorgoni, Don Thomas, Hugh McCracken Bass: Louis Mauro, James Tyrell Drums: Herb Lovelle Piano: Stan Free Organ: Arthur Butler Tambourine: Thomas Cerone Produced and Arranged By: Jeff Barry Engineered By: Ray Hall The song was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. However, only Barry received writer's credit Later re-recorded and released on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, January 21 (11:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M.) and 24, and February 4 and 5, 1967 "Love to Love" (Alternate Stereo Remix) Written by Neil Diamond Lead vocal by Davy Jones Guitars: Al Gorgoni, Don Thomas, Hugh McCracken Bass: Louis Mauro, James Tyrell Drums: Herb Lovelle Piano: Stan Free Organ: Arthur Butler Tambourine: Thomas Cerone Produced and Arranged By: Jeff Barry Engineered By: Ray Hall "Love to Love" is considered to be in an alternate mix, even though as of 2001 it is by far the most commonly used mix to date. The reason the mix is considered as such could be because it is a 1967 song featuring a Davy Jones vocal that was re-recorded in 1969. Or maybe because it had been remixed prior to release. A new vocal track was recorded by Jones for The Monkees Present , but left unreleased until Missing Links Volume Three . In 2016, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork contributed new backing vocals to the 1969 version for Good Times! . , but left unreleased until . In 2016, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork contributed new backing vocals to the 1969 version for . Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, January 21 (11:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M.) and 24, and February 4 and 5, 1967, and August 5, 1969 "You Can't Tie a Mustang Down" (Stereo Remix) Written by Jeff Barry, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Lead Vocal: Davy Jones Guitars: Al Gorgoni, Don Thomas, Hugh McCracken Bass: Louis Mauro, James Tyrell Drums: Herb Lovelle Piano: Stan Free Organ: Arthur Butler Tambourine: Thomas Cerone Produced and Arranged By: Jeff Barry Engineered By: Ray Hall Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, January 21 (11:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M.) and 24, and February 4, 1967 "If I Learned to Play the Violin" (Stereo Remix) Written by Joey Levine and Artie Resnick Lead vocal by Davy Jones Other personnel unknown Produced and Arranged By: Jeff Barry Engineered By: Ray Hall Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, January 26 (11:00 A.M. - 6:30 P.M.), and February 4 and 6, 1967 "99 Pounds" (Stereo Remix) Written by Jeff Barry Lead vocal by Davy Jones Backing vocals: Unknown Guitars: Al Gorgoni, Don Thomas, Hugh McCracken Bass: Louis Mauro, James Tyrell Drums: Herb Lovelle Piano: Stan Free Organ: Arthur Butler Tambourine: Thomas Cerone Produced and Arranged By: Jeff Barry Engineered By: Ray Hall Recorded at RCA Studio B, New York City, January 21 (11:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M.) and 24, and February 4, 5 and 6, 1967 "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (Single Version + Stereo Remix) Written by Michael Nesmith Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz Backing vocals: Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork Electric 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith Acoustic 12-String Guitar: Michael Nesmith Bass: John London Drums: Micky Dolenz Tambourine: John London Harpsichord: Peter Tork Recorded at RCA Victor Studio A, Hollywood, February 23, 1967 (2:00 - 10:00 P.M.) "Tema Dei Monkees" (Stereo Remix) Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, with Nistri Lead vocal by Micky Dolenz Harmony vocals by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart Other personnel unknown Produced by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart In another key than the English version Recording info unknown Personnel [ edit ] Michael Nesmith: vocals, 12-string guitar, pedal steel guitar, 6-string guitar, organ Davy Jones: vocals, tambourine, jawbone, maracas, etc. Micky Dolenz: vocals, drums, 6-string guitar, zither, timpani Peter Tork: vocals, keyboards, 12-string guitar, bass guitar, 5-string banjo Chip Douglas: bass guitar John London: bass guitar on "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" and "All of Your Toys" Vincent DeRosa: French Horn on "Shades of Gray" Fred Seykora: cello on "Shades of Gray" Jerry Yester: additional guitar on "No Time" Keith Allison: additional guitar on "No Time" Charts [ edit ] Album [ edit ] Single [ edit ] Year Single Chart Peak position 1967 "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" Billboard Hot 100 39[16] Certifications [ edit ] Region Certification Certified units/Sales United States (RIAA)[17] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^ *sales figures based on certification alone ^shipments figures based on certification alone References [ edit ] Bibliography The Monkees: The Day-By-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation by Andrew Sandoval by Andrew Sandoval 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery, ed (2006).
in The latest census numbers review the gender breakdown in Brampton, as well as the amount of dwelling types in the city and who is living in what kind of housing. You might be asking yourself why there are still census numbers coming out if they released it a few months ago, showing the population numbers. The national census was scrapped during the previous Conservative government, so the 2011 Census had less than adequate information available. So people may not remember that the last time a complete census was done, in 2006, that the data was so voluminous that the information was released in stages. For the 2016, this week marked the release of the age / sex breakdown as well as type of dwelling for various communities, including Brampton. There will be information released throughout the rest of 2017 regarding income, language, education and other criteria, but for now, let's look at how many men and women live in Canada's ninth largest city, as well as the type of housing people in Brampton are choosing. Breakdown of Population by Gender (Men and Women) Total Population: 593,640 Male: 293,535 Female: 300,105 So you can see here that Brampton has slightly more women than men (50.55 per cent of women versus 49.45 per cent of men). That is just slightly below the national average for the gender breakdown (50.88 per cent women across Canada). The census numbers also specify that 407,125 Brampton residents are between the ages of 15 to 64, but that pretty much means just about every other person. Type of Dwelling for Brampton residents Total number of occupied private dwellings: 168,010 Single detached houses: 87,550 Apartments in buildings with 5 or more stories: 17,535 Apartment in a building that has fewer than five storeys: 7,945 Apartment or flat in a duplex: 11,235 Semi-detached houses: 23,035 Row houses: 20,670 So in regards to private dwellings, what is striking is that in comparison to Mississauga, which has 37.68 per cent of residents in single detached houses, Brampton has 52 per cent of private dwellings as single detached houses, which shows a much stronger base (or reliance/appetite?) for the traditional single detached home. Even putting together both apartments in buildings under five storeys and at five storeys or above, they only account for 15 per cent of total private dwellings in Brampton. So you can see that there seems to be a reluctance in providing alternative means of housing beyond the stereotypical suburban vision of a detached house. There was a story this week about how the city wants to 'crack down' on multi-residential dwellings for large families. The way we house people is continuing to be a prevalent issue in Canada's ninth largest city. Perhaps one area the City of Brampton can work on as a solution is the provide more townhomes and row houses, which the census numbers show account for a quarter of Brampton's private dwellings. The next batch of information from the 2016 Census to be released will be on August 2, pertaining to families, households, marital status, as well as languages spoken in Brampton. We will keep you up to date once those numbers get released. Follow me on Twitter at @thekantastic
Build your programming language with ZetaVM Zaiste Blocked Unblock Follow Following May 7, 2017 Interview with Maxime Chevalier-Boisvert before PolyConf 17 Maxime Chevalier-Boisvert completed a PhD degree with a concentration in compiler design at the Université de Montréal. Her thesis was focused on Just-In-Time (JIT) machine code optimization techniques for dynamic programming languages (e.g.: JavaScript, Python, etc.). How did you get into programming? I first played with Microsoft’s QBasic when I was about 10 years old. I didn’t speak much english then, and there wasn’t anyone to teach me, so I didn’t have an easy time. I would browse through the QBasic help pages and try to understand what I could. I wrote many programs with lots of spaghetti code that implemented colorful animations, but I didn’t know what a function was. I found old books about basic at the school library, but the programs usually didn’t work in QBasic, because they were aimed at 1980s computers like the Commodore 64. I got into programming more seriously when I was 15, circa 2000. I was somewhat more fluent in english then, and had internet access at home. I was able to find tutorials and helpful people online. I started learning C++ and working on a 3D game engine. Like everyone else, I wanted to create an epic video game. It took me about a year to have a moderate level of competency in the language. I never did complete my video game, I kept adding new features to my 3D engine and never quite finishing them, but I did have a lot of fun learning to program. What is your presentation about? My presentation is about ZetaVM. It’s a virtual machine I’m building for dynamic languages. One of its core objectives is to make it easy for anyone to create their own programming language. It’s aimed at making it easy to build a language with semantics similar to Python, JavaScript, Lua, Ruby or Scheme. The VM will have built in support for garbage collection, dynamic typing, extensible arrays, an object model similar to JS, etc. Right now it comprises an interpreter only, but I did my PhD in compiler design, and I intend to built a JIT what will deliver competitive performance. ZetaVM will do things differently than other platforms. I see an experiment and an opportunity to try constructing a system with different building blocks from other more traditional VMs. For instance, I intend to encourage people to do graphics (both 2D and 3D) purely procedurally, using pixel shaders only (think demoscene and raymarching). The aim is for ZetaVM to eventually provide transparent GPU acceleration for code written in any language running in the VM. ZetaVM will not give you access to a million UI objects as the Java VM or the HTML DOM do, it will have a more functional approach to graphics, where you assemble your own constructs by assembling simpler primitives. This probably sounds like lunacy to many people, but it will produce interesting results. To make things clear, I’m building ZetaVM for fun. I would like the end result to be a useful system, but I also want the system to be free of constraints imposed by trying to satisfy the needs of every possible use case in the industry. This platform will be different, and I don’t know if it will ever become widely popular, but I’m sure that it will get people talking, and if it ends up inspiring other platforms and programming languages down the line, I consider that a good outcome. What concepts do you recommend people be familiar with to maximize their experience with your presentation? People should have some idea how a parser works, they should know what bytecode and a stack machine are. Familiarity with JavaScript will come in handy. Some experience with pixel shaders and functional programming may also be useful. What are you excited about in 2017? In all honesty, I’m excited about my own project, and the features I will be rolling out. I really enjoy working on ZetaVM. I think that, because I’m taking a different approach in the design of this system, doing things that fly in the face of the design of other platforms, ZetaVM will get people talking (it already is!). I hope to be able to show people that some things they didn’t think were possible are actually quite possible. That’s when things will get really interesting :) Can you tell us something surprising or amusing that you’ve learnt recently about programming? I don’t know about amusing, but I think it was quite fascinating and scary to see the work that was done by Google on the Neural Turing Machine and such. They are already able to automate some very basic programming tasks. I think they’re still quite far from being able to automate the work of every programmer at this point, because it seems to me that you would need a machine with truly general artificial intelligence to do that, but it raises interesting questions. If programmers automate programming, they will eventually themselves out of a job. In general, we tend to think that programming jobs are the last jobs that will be automated, but that might not be true, because you don’t even need a physical body and a real-world presence in order to write code. Some people believe that automation will turn the world into a utopia, but seeing the way our society has distributed the increase in wealth due to technological progress in the last 30 years, I have my doubts.
Yesterday a report surfaced from The Information claiming that the long-rumored Google wireless service is nearly upon us under the name Project Nova, piggybacking off of Sprint and T-Mobile’s networks as an MVNO. We have to wonder, what exactly does Google hope to accomplish by entering into this space? Obviously the biggest goal could be disrupting the cellular industry, but in what ways would Google be able to accomplish this? While we have no way of knowing for sure what Google plans, we can certainly look at the limited evidence around us and speculate a little. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what a Google-ran carrier might look like and how it could potentially change the game. Google Wireless: the technology behind it So how might Google’s service differ from traditional carrier services and other MVNOs? That’s a good question. While initial reports haven’t given us much to go on, yesterday Android Police reported that this isn’t the first time they’ve heard of Project Nova. Reportedly they received a tip last year that they hesitated to report on due to a lack of further information. Based on this tip, Nova could be a data-only service that uses data for everything including calls. Furthermore it would reportedly offer unlimited data, though it would push calls and other operations over to Wi-Fi whenever possible The original AP tip also claimed that Google Voice would serve as the backbone of Nova’s data plans, though that was before GV features started integrating into Hangouts. In a nutshell, that means Google Wireless (or whatever they call the final product) could give you a data-only plan and a voice number that would work through Hangouts. The end-product would be an experience that acts a lot like a traditional carrier and yet relies on cellular data to make all the magic happen. Google's wireless service could offer unlimited data, though it would push calls and other operations over to Wi-Fi whenever possible. If this sounds familiar, that’s because the model described is very similar to Republic Wireless, with the biggest change being the reliance on Google Hangouts for calls. This is Google though, and that means there has to be more to their service. After all, Google wouldn’t step into this space if they didn’t have a bigger ambition that goes beyond what we’ve already seen from competitors. So what other kind of technologies might Google bring to the table, other than simply relying on a data-only MVNO model? According to the Wall Street Journal, Google has been lobbying the FCC to free up vast amounts of low-quality wireless spectrum. This type of spectrum can’t transport wireless signals across long distances, but Google could use the signals across smaller ranges (like specific cities) as a way to improve wireless networks. As Google said during a recent letter to the FCC, these frequencies could be used for “the next generation of unlicensed broadband services” or “entirely new technologies and innovations”. Using a network of Google Fiber driven Wi-Fi and new technologies that potentially utilize higher-frequency spectrum, Google could provide a faster phone service that reverts to using Sprint and T-Mobile networks when folks are away from publicly available Wi-Fi networks. What the plans might look like, where they might be offered There’s quite a few ways that Google could go about this. First, it could offer its services for free as part of a Google Fiber subscription, making the use of Fiber-backed public and private networks free for their wireless service. Second, they could make it dirt cheap and maybe even somehow ad advertising to augment costs, though we have a feeling consumers wouldn’t care for this ad-driven approach too much. We also have to wonder if their MVNO would be prepaid, postpaid or come in more than one flavor. Given the “open nature” of Google (in most things), we’d say that they likely won’t subsidize their devices too heavily, if at all, and so a no-contract model is probably more likely. Regardless, at the very least we can expect pricing to be more aggressive than most other carriers out there. As for availability? I personally have the feeling that the rollout will be limited, especially if the service is tied into special technology that goes beyond a typical MVNO setup. Obviously this is speculation, but we shouldn’t be too surprised if Google targets the same cities that currently offer Google Fiber — though it would be amazing if they end up having a wider launch of the service that goes beyond a few metro areas. The phones Here’s an interesting question: what phones would Google support? Would they allow you to bring any compatible GSM (for T-Mo) or compatible CDMA (for Sprint) device? Would they offer their own products? It seems like a safe bet that the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 Wi-Fi would be made available, but that’s a pretty limited selection. That means Google either needs to embrace the BYOD model, create new GPe devices, or open up its service to OEM-skinned products from Motorola, Samsung, HTC and others. We also have to wonder how the network would work, considering it is using both a CDMA-based and a GSM-based carrier. Would customers choose either a Sprint-based plan or a T-mobile-based plan? It is also possible that Google could use both networks simultaneously, though that would mean relying on LTE only (as legacy frequencies like 3G would add extra headaches) and ensuring all phones that are compatible with the service play nicely with all necessary frequencies. Possible killer weapons Quicker updates There are many times when unlocked or global devices start receiving updates significantly quicker than carriers, with AT&T and Verizon being two of the worst offenders when it comes to update timeliness. While it seems obvious that Nexus device on Google Wireless would get extremely quick updates, what if Google did the same with OEM-skinned devices that were compatible with its network? A US network that offered updates nearly as quickly as unlocked devices? If Google could actually pull this off, that would be amazing. That said, I’ll admit I’m not sure if the fact that Sprint and T-Mobile are providing the cellular network would get in the way of this or not. Still, I suspect that quicker updates would be just one of many weapons in Google’s arsenal. Being more open, and near-bloat free Another way that Google could stand out is by simply being more open, embracing the idea of custom ROMs, modding and keeping carrier bloatware to a minimum. If Google is simply utilizing services already tied into Android (such as Hangouts), Google’s service could be the most “pure” bloat free experience on the market. Think of Nova as the “Nexus” of carriers The Nexus program is designed to be a reference platform, not just for developers and modders, but for OEMs as well. The idea is that a Nexus device is showing what a Google-driven experience can and should look like, armed out of the box with the newest version of Android. The hope is that OEMs follow their example with their own OEM-skinned offerings. I sincerely doubt that Google is getting involved with the wireless industry in order to just make money. This is just another way — alongside Project Loon and many others — to get more folks online and connected to their services. It also will hopefully serve as a shining example for carriers on how to make a consumer-friendly service that breaks conventions. While T-Mobile is already doing its fair share to shake up the wireless industry, more innovative players in this space certainly can’t hurt any. Whether I personally think that Google can disrupt this industry? While they certainly have the means, I don’t think it will happen anytime soon — at least given the slow rollout we’ve seen with Google Fiber so far. What do you think, would you like to see Google get involved in the wireless game or are they best left sitting this one out? How to do you think Google might change up the wireless game?
When the Alexandria attack led to call for Congress to pass national reciprocity so citizens can protect themselves, the New York Times responded by suggesting no one wants to live in society where everyone is armed for self-defense. The NYT said the desire to arm up for self-defense is “an entirely reasonable reflex” after such an attack, but the editorial board believes actually doing it is a step too far. According to NYT, “The reaction of some [the Alexandria attack] was that the only solution is yet more guns. Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama, who was among those who came under fire on Wednesday, said, ‘It’s not easy to take when you see people around you being shot and you don’t have a weapon yourself.'” The newspaper admitted that “all people in that situation, unarmed and under fire, would want long to be able to protect themselves and their friends,” but quickly hedged in the admission by positing: Yet consider the society Americans would have to live in–the choices they would have to make–to enable that kind of defense. Every member of Congress, and every other American of whatever age, would have to go to baseball practice, or to school, or to work, or to the post office, or to the health clinic–or to any other place mass shootings now take place–with a gun on their hip. Note to NYT–this is already how Americans lives their lives in their home states. You usually do not see the guns, for that reason it is called ‘concealed carry.’ It is legal in all 50 states and every day, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, business owners and business patrons, carry handguns for self-defense as they go about their day in their respective home states. And the “mass shootings” are not occurring where Americans carry guns daily. Rather, they are occurring in the gun-free zones which the left and anti-gun business owners established in society. In those places, law-abiding Americans must give up their hope of self-defense and, sadly, often become sitting ducks for criminals who ignore gun-free signs. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.

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