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"Signs of Doom, Part 3", known as "Towards Our Future" in the Japanese version, is the sixty-fourth episode of the Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's anime and the last episode of the Dark Signer arc. It first aired in Japan on June 24, 2009 and in the United States on March 18, 2010.
Due to the effect of "Wiraqocha Rasca", Jack is blasted from the Duel. Now, only Yusei can save the world from Goodwin and stop the King of the Netherworld from reaching New Domino City.
The Duel continues with Yusei and Jack Dueling Rex Goodwin, while Crow remains out of action. The King of the Netherworld proceeds to draw closer, sending his minions to attack Yusei and Jack. Akiza and Luna fend them off with Black Rose Dragon and Ancient Fairy Dragon. With the King of the Netherworld quickly approaching, Goodwin says that once it reaches the shrine, the Signers will be sacrificed and darkness will reign; but first, they must take some destruction. Yusei says that no matter what, they will keep fighting. Jack agrees, saying that they will not give up.
Goodwin begins his turn. Yusei, Jack and Goodwin's SPC go to 10, 9 and 6 respectively. Yusei realizes that Goodwin will attack Jack, seeing as his field is open. Jack plays "Fiendish Chain", negating the effect of "Sun Dragon Inti" effect and stopping it from attacking or being Tributed. Goodwin reminds Jack of what the latter had once said, "no matter how much a person casts aside, people don't become lonely" and refutes it by saying that people fall into loneliness easily and that loneliness is death. Before death, a person thinks about neither his friends nor himself, much less about bonds and that it's an obvious thing since he falls into death alone. He offers to return Jack to his former self, when he was King of Turbo Duels, by restoring his feelings of loneliness and despair. Using the effect of "Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca", Goodwin reduces Jack's Life Points to 1. With Jack's Life Points below 1000, "Fiendish Chain" is destroyed, allowing "Inti" to attack Jack directly. Goodwin invites Jack to look at and feel the death before his eyes and orders the King of the Netherworld to sacrifice him. The King sends a blast across the city in the direction of the Duel, causing Jack to lose control of his Duel Runner. Goodwin asks Jack if he feels death and despair, but Jack replies that he feels despair and loneliness, but only because death isn't before them. Jack then crashes into the geoglyph flame and flies off from his Duel Runner, excluding him from the Duel. As he leaves, he tells Yusei that, even though his Duel Runner is no longer beside him, his feelings are. Jack then looks at the face-down card that he had Set earlier. Crow adds that even though their Life Points are at 1, their feelings are at 10000. Leo and Trudge encourages Yusei to win.
Yusei continues the Duel, saying that he has received everyone's feelings. Goodwin asks Yusei if he is trying to lessen the fear of death before his very eyes. He then sets one card and ends his turn. Yusei takes his turn and draws a card. Yusei's SPC go to 11 and Rex's SPC go to 7. He then activates the effect of "Junk Archer", but it gets negated and destroyed by Goodwin's Trap Card "Passion of Baimasse". Yusei then Summons "Shield Warrior" with 1600 DEF and ends his turn by Setting one card. Goodwin mocks him by asking if "Shield Warrior" is everyone's feelings. He then tells Yusei that defense is meaningless against "Wiraqocha Rasca", saying that he shall let Yusei taste death and loneliness; that there, bonds don't exist. Rex takes his turn. Yusei's SPC go to 12 and Rex's SPC go to 8. He tells Yusei that he'll take him where Jack and Crow are. He then activates the effect of his "Earthbound Immortal", reducing Yusei down to 1 Life Point and his SPC down to 9. Goodwin tells Yusei to feel despair and death, but Yusei says that he will not be discouraged, not yet; saying that, as long as there is hope, he won't despair and the support for that hope is the bonds he shares with his friends.
Yusei takes his turn. Yusei's SPC go to 10 and Rex's SPC go to 9. He activates "Speed Spell - Angel Baton", drawing two cards, then discarding one. He then Summons "Debris Dragon" with 1000 ATK and Special Summons "Sonic Chick" from the Graveyard via the effect of "Debris Dragon". He then tunes them together, along with "Shield Warrior", to Synchro Summon "Stardust Dragon" with 2500 ATK. Goodwin tells him that this is as far as Yusei goes because his ATK Points are too low. Yusei denies it, saying that through his friends' bonds, hope will not be weakened. Goodwin asks what he means, which prompts Yusei to activate Crow's Trap Card "Blackwing Anchor" which increases Yusei's ATK by the ATK of "Blackwing Armor Master". Yusei then destroys "Sun Dragon Inti" with "Stardust Dragon" and Tributes his own monster to prevent the effect of "Inti". Rex's Life Points go down to 5900 and his SPC go down to 8. Goodwin sighs and says that the cycle of Signers and Dark Signers won't end this way. He then attempts Special Summons "Moon Dragon Quilla" but is unable to due to Yusei activating Jack's Trap Card, "Conquest of the Supreme Ruler". With that, Yusei ends his turn telling Goodwin that as long as they aren't lonely, they won't fall into despair. After that, "Stardust Dragon" returns to the field.
Goodwin tells Yusei that he has fallen into complete darkness and perfect despair. He continues to tell him that he can't reset the world until he becomes a God. Yusei then asks if he has forgotten Roman Goodwin to which Rex Goodwin doesn't understand. Yusei explains that Goodwin went against fate once when he went off the Daedalus Bridge, but only because he wanted to reach his brother. Yusei reminds Goodwin that the arm he has is Roman's. Goodwin replies that it doesn't matter as Yusei's Life Points are at 1 and the King of the Netherworld is getting closer and closer. He tells Yusei that as long as Jack and Crow can't resume riding, victory is his once he defeats Yusei.
It's Goodwin's turn and he draws a card. Yusei's SPC go to 11 and Rex's SPC go to 9. Goodwin decides to use the effect of "Wiraqocha Rasca" to attack Yusei directly, eliminating the rest of Yusei's Life Points. The "Earthbound Immortal" goes straight for the Signer until Jack tells Yusei to use one of his cards on the right. Yusei then understands why Jack didn't use the card earlier and activates the Continuous Trap Card "Scrubbed Raid" to end Goodwin's Battle Phase by sending one card from the field into the Graveyard. Shocked, Goodwin activates the Trap Card "Meteor Prominence", discarding 2 cards to inflict 2000 damage to his opponent. Yusei counters by activating the Trap Card "Joint Future", sending 1 card from his hand to the Graveyard to negate the activation of a Spell or Trap Card, saving Yusei. Goodwin activates the second effect of "Meteor Prominence", which allows the user to add it from his Graveyard to his hand next turn in exchange for skipping his Draw Phase. Yusei counters with the other effect of "Joint Future" shuffling the negated card into the opponent's Deck. With nothing else to do, Goodwin ends his turn.
Yusei asks Goodwin if he really wants to become a God. Thinking he is messing with him, Goodwin tells Yusei that he cannot become a God unless he surpasses his brother. Yusei tells him that he is wrong, because people have things they can never forget. Yusei then thinks back to his father. Yusei says that it's in their hearts and that Roman is in Goodwin's heart. Yusei tells him that Goodwin isn't trying to surpass fate but go against it with Roman, asking him "Isn't that we call a bond?" A young Roman appears before Goodwin and shakes his head at him as if forsaking him. Yusei's Deck then lights up. The Crimson Dragon birthmark then leaves Goodwin's chest and returns to their respective Signers. The Dragon Tail birthmark then disappears from Yusei's arm and is replaced by the Dragon Head birthmark; the Dragon Tail birthmark appearing on Crow's arm. Goodwin is shocked and asks why the Crimson Dragon isn't lending him the power to be a God. Yusei tells him the Crimson Dragon has chosen bonds and that their bonds will surpass fate. The Crimson Dragon birthmark then appears on Yusei's back once more as everyone puts their hopes into him.
Yusei takes his turn and draws. Yusei's SPC counters go 12 while Goodwin's go to 9. Yusei draws "Majestic Dragon". Due to "Stardust Dragon" being on the field, Yusei Special Summons "Stardust Xiaolong" to the field from the Graveyard. He then Normal Summons "Majestic Dragon" and tunes them together to Synchro Summon "Majestic Star Dragon". The King of the Netherworld begins to make its final approach toward the altar and everyone runs away. Yusei activates the effect of "Majestic Star Dragon", negating that of "Wiraqocha Rasca". Yusei activates "Synchro Baton". Since there are four Synchro Monsters in the Graveyard, its ATK becomes 6200. "Majestic Star Dragon" attacks and destroys "Wiraqocha Rasca" with "Shooting Blaster Sonic". "Majestic Star Dragon" then gives the Crimson Dragon a physical form and the Crimson Dragon proceeds to attack the King of the Netherworld. The King of the Netherworld shoots a beam but the Crimson Dragon flies right through it. Before it attacks, Yusei is seemingly transported to another dimension.
Yusei awakens to find all of the Dark Signers, except Carly, unconscious on the ground. Goodwin, before he becomes a Dark Signer, appears before Yusei along with Roman. He tells Roman that they have seemingly chosen the wrong path and, without Yusei, they would've never realized it. He tells Yusei that the means of fighting against fate is the human's friend's bonds and that it has been right in front of him the entire time. Goodwin then asks Yusei to take care of all those who were Dark Signers. Goodwin then turns to Roman and tells him that they will settle fate with their bonds. Since they became Dark Signers by choice, they get no second chance. Roman agrees and both begin to walk toward a bright light. Yusei yells for them to wait but they don't respond and disappear into the light. The Crimson Dragon follows through on its attack and blows out of the King of the Netherworld's back. The King then becomes engulfed in a giant beam of light and disintegrates. With Goodwin defeated, the temple vanishes along with the Condor geoglyph. Jack and Crow fall off the geoglyph but are saved by Majestic Star Dragon, which flies around the sky. Leo, Luna, Akiza, Mina, and Trudge all wave. It begins to rain sparkling gold as the world returns to normal and Majestic Star Dragon disappears into the sunrise.
With the Dark Signers defeated, New Domino City returns to normal and everyone resumes their normal lives and recall nothing about the Dark Signers or the geoglyphs, much to Carly Carmine's disappointment. Akiza, Leo, Luna, and Mina sit at a table, looking at Misty Tredwell's latest pictures and that she looks great as usual. Kalin Kessler and Greiger have taken trips somewhere. Devack's whereabouts are not mentioned. Luna notes that none of them have returned yet. Leo mentions that Yusei is late when Trudge pulls up noting that Jack and Crow haven't shown up either. Carly, disguised as an old man, reveals herself and is shocked that the two haven't shown up, thinking there could be a scoop. Trudge asks her if she already has a scoop but Carly remarks that no one remembers anything and she doesn't remember anything after she became a Dark Signer. Akiza smiles and is thankful that everyone in New Domino City and Satellite have returned.
Back at Satellite, Yusei, Jack and Crow stand at the Daedalus Bridge. Crow says that they finally did it and it's no longer a dream. Jack smiles and says that it was a tough battle. Yusei says that, with this, New Domino City and Satellite will finally be one again. The Legend of Daedalus Bridge has finally become a reality as a highway that connects the two has been built. Jack says that there is still something left undone. Crow agrees and all of them hop onto their Duel Runners, start a duel, and race down the new bridge. Yusei say that they will ride towards their future. As they race down the bridge, Yusei yells out "Riding Duel, Acceleration!"
Featured Duel: Yusei Fudo, Jack Atlas and Crow Hogan vs. Rex Goodwin
This Duel is a 3-on-1 Duel. Rex, who was alone, started with 3 times Life Points, 12000. Yusei, Crow and Jack each got separated fields, Decks and Life Points.
Turn 11: Rex
Rex draws "Passion of Baimasse". During the Standby Phase, the effect of "Speed World" activates (Jack's SPC : 8 → 9; Yusei's SPC : 9 → 10; Rex's SPC : 5 → 6). Jack activates "Fiendish Chain" by targeting "Sun Dragon Inti". Now as long as Jack's Life Points are more than 1000, "Sun Dragon Inti" can't attack, its effects are negated, and it can't be Tributed. Rex activates the effect of "Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca" and targets its effect on Jack (Jack 2500 → 1). "Fiendish Chain" is destroyed shortly after. Rex sets a card. Due to the King of the Netherworld's minions, Jack crashes and becomes unable to continue.
Turn 12: Yusei
Yusei draws. During the Standby Phase, the effect of "Speed World" activates (Yusei's SPC : 10 → 11; Rex's SPC : 6 → 7). Yusei then activates the effect of "Junk Archer" to remove "Sun Dragon Inti" from play until the End Phase, but Rex activates "Passion of Baimasse" to negate the effect of "Junk Archer" and destroy it. Yusei Normal Summons "Shield Warrior" (800/1600) in Defense Position and sets a card.
Turn 13: Rex
Rex draws. During the Standby Phase, the effect of "Speed World" activates (Yusei's SPC : 11 → 12; Rex's SPC : 7 → 8). Rex activates the effect of "Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca" and targets its effect on Yusei (Yusei 4000 → 1). Yusei loses three Speed Counters (Yusei's SPC: 12 → 9).
Turn 14: Yusei
Yusei draws. During the Standby Phase, the effect of "Speed World" activates (Yusei's SPC : 9 → 10; Rex's SPC : 8 → 9). Yusei then activates "Speed Spell - Angel Baton" to draw two cards ("Sonic Chick" and "Debris Dragon") and send "Sonic Chick" from his hand to the Graveyard. Yusei Normal Summons "Debris Dragon" (1000/2000) in Attack Position. He then activates the effect of "Debris Dragon" to Special Summon "Sonic Chick" (300/300) from his Graveyard in Attack Position with its effects negated.
Yusei then tunes "Shield Warrior" and "Sonic Chick" with "Debris Dragon" in order to Synchro Summon "Stardust Dragon" (2500/2000) in Attack Position. Yusei then activates the effect of Crow's "Blackwing Anchor", sending it to the Graveyard in order to increase the ATK of "Stardust Dragon" by the ATK of "Blackwing Armor Master" until the End Phase ("Stardust Dragon": 2500 → 5000/2000).
"Stardust Dragon" attacks and destroys "Sun Dragon Inti" (Rex 7900 → 5900). Rex loses two Speed Counters (Rex's SPC: 9 → 7). Rex activates the second effect of "Sun Dragon Inti" to destroy "Stardust Dragon" and inflict its ATK as damage to Yusei, but Yusei Tributes "Stardust Dragon" to negate the effect of "Sun Dragon Inti". Rex activates the first effect of "Moon Dragon Quilla" to revive it, but Yusei activates Jack's "Conquest of the Supreme Ruler" and sends it to the Graveyard in order to negate the Special Summon of "Moon Dragon Quilla". On Yusei's End Phase, he Special Summons "Stardust Dragon" (2500/2000) from his Graveyard in Attack Position via its second effect.
Turn 15: Rex
Rex draws. During the Standby Phase, the effect of "Speed World" activates (Yusei's SPC : 10 → 11; Rex's SPC : 7 → 8). "Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca" attacks directly via its own effect, but Yusei activates the effect of "Scrubbed Raid" to send itself to the Graveyard and end the Battle Phase.
Rex activates "Meteor Flare" to discard 2 cards and inflict 2000 damage to Yusei, but Yusei activates "Joint Future" to negate the effect of "Meteor Flare" and return it to Rex's Deck by discarding a card ("Stardust Xiaolong") (This prevents Rex from activating the final effect of "Meteor Flare", which would allow Rex to add "Meteor Flare" from his Deck to his hand during his next Draw Phase).
Turn 16: Yusei
Yusei draws "Majestic Dragon". During the Standby Phase, the effect of "Speed World" activates (Yusei's SPC : 11 → 12; Rex's SPC : 8 → 9). Yusei then Special Summons "Stardust Xiaolong" (100/100) from his Graveyard in Attack Position as he controls "Stardust Dragon". Yusei then Normal Summons "Majestic Dragon" (0/0) in Attack Position. He then tunes "Stardust Dragon" and "Stardust Xiaolong" with "Majestic Dragon" in order to Synchro Summon "Majestic Star Dragon" (3800/3000) in Attack Position.
Yusei then activates the effect of "Majestic Star Dragon" to negate the effects of "Wiraqocha Rasca" and grant "Majestic Star Dragon" those effects until the End Phase. Yusei then activates "Synchro Baton" to increase the ATK of "Majestic Star Dragon" by 600 for every Synchro Monster in his Graveyard as well as his teammates'. There are four in total ("Majestic Star Dragon": 3800 → 6200/3000). "Majestic Star Dragon" attacks and destroys Earthbound Immortal Wiraqocha Rasca. (Rex 5900 → 0).
Difference in adaptations
- The scene where the King of the Netherworld got destroyed is cut short.
- Dialog was added between the others in the restoring scene.
- The dub does not explicitly say that Roman and Rex go to the afterlife. It is implied that they may or may not have been revived along with the rest of the Dark Signers that were revived, since Rex stated that he and Roman "had some catching up to do".
Dub Mistakes
These following mistakes are created by the dubbed version:
- In the dub when Yusei activated "Scrubbed Raid" he said it was Jack's card when it was Yusei's card.
- In the dub, when Rex Goodwin activated "Meteor Flare" he said that he could add it to his hand since it was still the Draw Phase, but this was merely its second effect and not the time to use it.
- In the dub, the words "Yusei" and "Goodwin" appear when Speed Counters are added during each player's Standby Phase. Usually, these names would have been cut.
All Versions Mistakes
These following mistakes are present in the Original and the Dub:
- When "Scrubbed Raid" is activated in this episode, the card flips up like it was being activated for the very first time, when it was activated in the previous episode.
Featured cards
The following cards appeared in this episode. Cards in italics debuted here.
- ↑ This card is shown in Jack's Graveyard when Yusei counts up the Synchro Monsters in his, Crow, and Jack's Graveyard for the effect of "Synchro Baton".
- ↑ This card is shown in Crow's Graveyard when Yusei counts up the Synchro Monsters in his, Crow, and Jack's Graveyard for the effect of "Synchro Baton".
- ↑ This card is shown when "Stardust Dragon" attacks "Sun Dragon Inti".
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Episode 64 "Towards Our Future"". Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's World. http://yugioh5ds-world.net/article/122317806.html.


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Ankle physiotherapy is often the best solution after suffering from an injury such as a fracture, sprain or damage to the ligaments. Ankle physiotherapy exercises can help patients to regain full movement, to restore function and to protect against further injury. By following a rehabilitation physiotherapy regime, you should be back to full mobility within 2 to 12 weeks depending on the severity of your original injury.
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Sprained Ankle Rehab Timeline
The amount of time taken for your ankle to recover from a sprain depends on the severity of the original injury. Ligaments take a minimum of six weeks to be fully healed, however the strength in the muscles, the range of movement and the return to complete function may vary dramatically between cases. As a general guideline, a mild injury will heal completely within 2 -3 weeks, however for full maturation of the scar tissue to occur, 6 weeks will be required.
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For a moderate injury to the ankle ligaments, a recovery period of between 4 and 6 weeks will be necessary, and a more extensive and complex rehabilitation process will be required. If the patient has suffered from a very severe injury such as a ruptured ligament or fracture, an even longer time will be required for rehabilitation of between 6 and 12 weeks. You may be even be eligible for free physiotherapy in your area to aid with the recovery process, just give us a call and we'll let you know right away.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Mumbai Indians skipper and Indian opener Rohit Sharma added another feather to his cap by becoming the first Indian cricketer to throw the 'First Pitch' ahead of the Seattle Mariners game at Safeco Field. Rojit is currently on a three-city US tour as part of 'Desh-Legends of Cricket Series'.
Team India is currently preparing to face Afghanistan in their historic debut Test match in Bangalore, but some of the players have been rested with the crucial England tour coming up. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, who is injured at the moment, among others have been given some rest to recuperate and prepare themselves for a lengthy season up ahead.
While others have chosen to kick back and spend some time at home with family, Rohit had other plans in mind. The MI skipper recently became the first Indian cricketer to make the ceremonial 'First Pitch' at the Seattle Mariners game at Safeco Field in the US. On June 4, as part of pregame activity threw the ceremonial first pitch before the MLB at the Safeco Field, home ground of Seattle Mariners who took on the Tampa Bay Rays after that.
The Major League Baseball tournament is the American equivalent of the Indian Premier League and has a huge fan following in the US like the IPL has all across the globe. The MLB is composed of 30 teams: 29 in the United States and one in Canada. American and Canadian Baseball clubs have always had a historic ritual of inviting a guest of honor to throw out a ceremonial first pitch which signaled the start of a game.
Indian cricketer @ImRo45 throwing the ceremonial 'First pitch' at a baseball game between the Seattle @Mariners and Tampa Bay @RaysBaseball, earlier today. #GoMariners @BCCI pic.twitter.com/yIm77kda1H— pH (@turmerictown) June 3, 2018
Great fun throwing the first pitch for @Mariners with my lady by my side 😁 @SafecoField pic.twitter.com/jlLnQfhTWY— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) June 4, 2018
The Indian vice-captain is managed by IMG Reliance Talent Management and is currently on a three-city US tour as part of 'Desh-Legends of Cricket Series'. Rohi will be visiting San Francisco/Bay Area, Seattle and Los Angeles where he will participate in a series of cricket clinics and fan meet and greets.
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Ten Reasons
Hire An Artist
Susan Stamper Brown, 7/17/2012 [
Obama's Foreign Policy Communicating Wrong Message Globally
Obama's Foreign Policy Communicating Wrong Message Globally
By Susan Stamper Brown
Awhile back, I drove past a sun-tanning salon sharing a property line with a cemetery. The salon posted a sign that, in my opinion, was positioned too close to the cemetery's property line. The sign read: "Walk-ins Welcome." Obviously, the owners failed to communicate the message they intended, but did their part to lighten up the normally somber atmosphere around the cemetery. Playwright George Bernard Shaw was right when he said, "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion it has taken place."
Without a doubt, George W. Bush received a lot of flak over what some viewed as ineptitude in communication skills, but anyone can be made to look like a chump if everything he says is scrutinized under a host of antagonists' microscopes.
It's quite entertaining to observe the grace now bestowed upon President Obama by the same people who had nothing positive to say about Bush. Obama has had his own share of gaffes -- with and without his most beloved teleprompters. Mainstream media have pretty much overlooked occasions when Obama has lost his bearings like the time he said he had visited all "57 states". Or his verbal slip-up in Las Cruces, New Mexico, when he said he saw "fallen heroes" (dead people) sitting before him in the audience, or when he mispronounced the word "corpsman" as "corpse-man" during a prayer breakfast.
Innocent communication blunders by our leaders are funny, and should not be turned into character assassination tools by the mainstream media or by overweight, BVD-adorned, middle-aged basement-dwellers (bloggers).
Liberals also criticized Bush for the way he communicated his foreign policy and claimed the world loathed us because of it. Bush's strong-armed approach effectively protected us from another 9/11 for nearly a decade. Bush understood that pansy-bottomed diplomacy antics like bowing and apologizing foster disrespect, and do little to promote America's image globally. Communicating niceties like "please or thank you" may not compute in the minds of those living in a part of the world where the chopping off of body parts aptly communicates just punishment for theft.
As good as that moment was, the taking out of Osama bin Laden did not sound foreign policy make. Peace has not come to the Middle East from the marginalization of our long-term ally Israel while buddying-up to her enemies. Nor has it come with the betrayal of former friends like Egyptian ally Mubarak. Diplomacy has not reduced the saber-rattling of Iran's trigger-happy nut job Ahmadinejad.
A June 2012 Pew Global Attitudes poll "Global Opinion of Obama Slips, International Policies Faulted," found global approval of Obama's policies has "declined significantly" since 2009. Of 19 countries including Europe polled, just 23% approve of Obama's drone war tactics. Although Obama's approval ratings in Muslim countries are better than Bush's 2008 numbers, 69 percent of Muslim countries polled (including Egypt) have no confidence in Obama.
Despite his Cairo speech and his effervescence, healing of the nations has not occurred under Obama's watch.
Another Pew poll on July 10, 2012 conducted in 21 countries found Obama's policies have hurt our image and his in the Arab Spring countries of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia, as well as in Turkey and Pakistan. 55 percent of those polled said they consider America an enemy of democracy! In Tunisia, where the Arab Spring purportedly began, 57 percent said they had zero confidence in Obama's ability to handle international affairs.
To no surprise, Obama remains a rock star to youth in the nanny states of Europe, but his approval numbers are nearing rock-bottom in countries he bent over backward to not offend and forward to befriend.
The administration's ham-fisted communication skills and foreign policy blunders have left citizens of the world with the task of muddling through mixed messages sent by way of sugary speeches, ally betrayals, and drone attacks. The Obama era has not made the world a safer place, and as to being more dangerous, history will reveal in due time.
Susan Stamper Brown is an opinion page columnist, motivational speaker and military advocate who writes about politics, the military, the economy and culture. Email Susan at firstname.lastname@example.com or her website at susanstamperbrown.com.
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Fireflies Live Wallpaper
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January is a natural time to reflect and set goals. It's a new year; a fresh start. It's when many of us make resolutions in the name of self-improvement.
To me, New Year's resolutions bring up mixed feelings. I made them year after year in my youth and always came up short.
That's because my goals were vague, lofty, and unfocused. "Get toned arms"; "Learn a new language"; "Save more money". The intentions were there, but how exactly did I think I was going to make any of these dreams come true?
Finally, I realized what I'd been doing wrong. I'd been following every rule in the "How to give up on your New Year's Resolutions by February" guide. A few years ago, I was given some excellent advice: to make a specific, realistic goal with a timeline built right into it. I decided to try one new thing every week. Not only did I succeed, my resolution had turned into habit by April. I've been setting – and achieving – realistic goals ever since.
I know I'm not the only one who's struggled to see a resolution through to December, so I came up with a list of what to do and what not to do. I hope you find a relevant tip in here that will help you achieve all of your goals this year!
DON'T: Set it and Forget it. You've come up with your goal. You're motivated. You know exactly what you want. But come January 1st, you realize you don't have a first step. You might get distracted with work, household chores, everyday life, and by mid-January you've forgotten all about your goal.
DO: Set Mini-Goals. You've come up with your end-goal – great! Now it's time to dig a bit deeper. What do you need to do today to help you get there? How about tomorrow? Next week? Set daily, weekly, and monthly goals to serve as benchmarks towards the big one. Breaking your goal down into a bunch of smaller goals makes it a lot less scary.
DON'T: Keep it quiet. Your goal lives only in your mind. You haven't shared it with anyone and you haven't written it down.
DO: Shout it from the rooftops! Okay, so you don't need to tell your entire neighbourhood about your resolution. But sharing your goals with someone you trust, such as your partner, a close friend or a family member is a good way to keep you present and accountable. If you're not comfortable telling anyone your goal, that's okay. Just tell yourself, over and over! Write it down and keep it somewhere you will see it on a daily basis – the fridge, your bedside table, your bathroom mirror, etc.
DON'T: Get Discouraged and Give Up. You started off the New Year on the right foot. You made resolutions, you created an action plan, and you stuck to it for a few weeks or maybe even a few months. But all of a sudden, life gets in the way. You miss a few mini-goals and lose momentum. Frustrated, you decide you'll never manage to catch up. You vow to try again next January.
DO: Go with the Flow. Life is unpredictable. You're likely to face a setback at some point in the year that may threaten to disrupt your carefully mapped out plan. No biggie! Realistic goals are adaptable ones. Build some wiggle room into your plan and give yourself the time and space to reflect daily, weekly or monthly on what is or isn't working. Journaling about your progress is a great way to do this. The beauty behind regular reflection is that you're able to course-correct without losing time or momentum. Remember: adjusting the plan is perfectly acceptable, and often necessary, when it comes to reaching a goal.
If you've ever made a resolution or set a goal for yourself and failed to achieve it, ask yourself:
- Was it SMART? (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely)
- Did I have an action plan?
- Did I ever check in with myself on my progress?
- Did I modify my goal and adapt my plan if it wasn't working?
This time around, try setting mini-goals, share them with others, and don't fret if you fall behind. Just show up the next day, and keep showing up again and again, and by this time next year, you'll be a resolution-achieving machine! Good luck!


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On Tuesday, the social worker is late to work and has to park on the top level of the garage. Instead of the elevator, she takes the stairs down to the bridge which crosses into the hospital and regrets it. She's feeling fat and old, neither of which are true, but her knees and ankles are already telling her that the heels are a mistake. She has flats in her office, but before she even goes down there, she has to see a few people. The tearful drug addict who needs rehab. The man with no family who needs help at home (that should really be a case management issue). And Manuel.. She's not thinking about Manuel, not until she has to see him. She has to talk to Manuel's wife, Alicia. She hasn't been in yet. Does she even know?
Two hours later, she needs a cigarette and a few excedrin. And a nap. She needs to go boxing. In addition to everything else, she's had to council two patients trying to leave against medical advice and one of them threatened to hit her. Again sir, she said, I'm just doing my job. I'm required to talk to you, just to make sure you understand the ramifications of leaving.
I'll give you ramifications, the man yelled, and the social worker left the room. Ostensibly she's not paid to be abused, but some days, really, she is. And she's not paid enough, either.
"Am I a terrible person if I hate him for that?" she asks one of the nurses. "Don't answer that." She's still got to see Manuel, but she calls Fiona and they walk across the street to get coffee.
She leans against a warm brick wall in the sunshine. She doesn't smoke, not offically, but every once in a blue moon, a patient twists her kindness into shrapnel and cuts her and she needs a drag. She thinks about Manuel.
"Jesus, Fiona," she says. "Some people have all the luck. I mean, this kid left his country, fought in Libya, and he came home alive. Fine. He got married, he's going to school and now he's got cancer."
Fiona drops her cigarette and looks at her watch. In their line of work, exceptional tragedies are everyday realities. "What kind of cancer?" she says.
"I don't know. I don't think the docs know," the social worker says. "The nurses say he screamed when he found out. I mean here is this kid, so tough and so composed and he's screaming."
"Why isn't he on the oncology floor?"
"I don't know. I'm going to try to move him there today." She looks up at the sky. "Time to go."
But when she gets to Manuel's floor, he's not there. The bad news is that he's been moved to the ICU. The even worse news is that it's her ICU. Somebody hates me, she thinks. Somebody really hates me.
She goes in to meet Alicia.
The social worker is good at what she does. She's not afraid of verbal abuse, of tense family meetings, of emotional catharsis. She's probably too good, because she carries these things with her wherever she goes. She once went hiking (that was a bad date) to a place where the ground was all smooth rock, but filled with thin, deep, fissures, and it seemed to her, if one was strong enough, canny enough, one could wrench open those fissure and the earth's secrets would spill out. People are like that to her. She can find their fissures, open them up. She knows denial, anticipatory grieving, dysfunctional coping, and when she opens a person, like a book, like a crack in the earth, she can help them. She helps them more than they'll admit and more than she knows. But she can't crack Alicia.
Manuel's wife is standing at his bedside, staring down impassively. Manuel himself is beyond caring. A ventilator regulates his breathing and a sedative drips into his veins. Metastatic carcinoma of unknown origin. It's not testicular and probably not from the colon. An exposure in the military? Or something he's been keeping, like a dirty secret, a remnant of his impoverished childhood in the slums of San Salvador. Radon-rich groundwater or contaminated air breathed in 15 years ago, manifesting itself today as an orphan maker.
In the stroller, the baby kicks and smiles at the social worker. The social worker cannot help herself. She is delighted. She smiles back. She introduces herself to the baby, whose name by all rights, should be Sunny. She talks to Alicia.
She does all the right things. Introduction, open ended questions, non-judgmental attitude. Leading statements. Alicia answers only yes or no and sometimes she does not answer at all. She's a well dressed, good looking young woman and she keeps staring at the social worker, as if she's wondering why the profession exists. As if she's saying, this is my tragedy. What right to do you have to lay claim to it? Finally, Jessica picks up the baby and turns her back. The interview is over.
Alicia watches the social worker close the door and then rub alcohol gel on her hands. What the hell does she know about Manuel? She allows herself to scowl at the woman's back. That perfectly thin woman with her life together and her good job, coming to work every day to dissect human agony. Probably eats sorrow for dinner and grief for dessert. When she's done, crumbs of hopelessness remain on her plate.
Sunny giggles at one of her toys, and chews thoughtfully on her hands. Jessica touches Manuel's arm. It's already not the arm, not the body of the man she married. He feels unstable and unanchored, like a strong wind could whisk him off to heaven any moment now. This is what she'll do. See him as a different person. As the twin he never had.
She won't see him as the veteran who cried about the children in Soyapango, or the shy boy who proposed to her by whispering in her ear during a late night, half-drunk slow dance when they'd only been dating for two months. She won't think of him as a frustrated student, struggling with some of the English words, and laughing at himself when he said (his words, not hers) that he sounded like an immigrant.
This man laying in bed, this sick and bloated remnant of a person is not her husband. He's a brother. She's looking in on him while Manuel is visiting his mother.
Manuel is 26. He's getting chemo, but he's already critically ill. He's going to die and Alicia is going to lose her husband and the father of her beautiful baby. She sets her face like a flint. She is not going to crack.
Over the next few days, Manuel gets worse. The social worker has a lot of other patients to see, but she always checks in with Alicia. She's persistent, if not effective. I'm here for you, she says. Alicia smiles that tight little smile. Sunny smiles with her whole body, kicking her legs and laughing.
"My god," she tells Fiona. "That boy is going to die. He's going to die and the baby isn't going to have a father and is Alicia even going to cry? This woman is like made of steel or something. I can't imagine. I just don't get it."
But she does imagine. She imagines Sunny without a father and she feels tears prick the corners of her eyes. It isn't fair. She gives up smoking again, and goes to boxing. She punches cancer in the face, again and again, but cancer won't die. Cancer won't be defeated. It roars back.
In the waiting room, Sunny charms. Other families smile at her and talk to her. They use her as a buffer for their own sorrow, looking into her eyes forgetting for a moment that the world has teeth and it can bite. Alicia doesn't mind. She's glad to share. Glad for the distraction. It means she can avoid the pity.
It's more than the social worker. She's seeing pity in the eyes of the nurses, the oncologists and she swears the parking garage guy is in the know. All these people wanting to reach out and comfort, so they can forget their own snarled lives and smelly entanglements. She's just a convenience for them; her tragedy is the gristle of their dinnertime conversation and the meat of their self-avoidance. They can feel bad for her, reach out to her, but she's not going to help them.
Down the hall, Manuel has taken a turn for the worse. The nurses have asked her to leave for a little bit. There's blood coming out of his lungs. Alicia stands in the warmth of a sunny window and pushes the stroller back and forth. She needs to find a baby-sitter.
Two weeks after he has been admitted to the ICU and five weeks after he has been diagnosed with cancer, after 25 blood product transfusions, four thousand dollars worth of chemo and several hundred hours of nursing care, Manuel dies. The social worker watches the doctor talk to Alicia and hears the words between them, even though she's not close enough. She sees Alicia nod, sees her eyes close for a minute and sees the grief etched on her face. For a moment, Alicia cracks.
At the bedside, in a room full of machines and beeps, the nurse sets down a syringe of morphine. This is to help him, she tells Alicia. He's going to feel like he can't breathe, and the morphine will help.
Alicia stands in the corner. She knows there's nothing more they can do, she's known it for a few days now and she's not ready for this, but what's the point in waiting. She's trying to stay out of the way, but really, she's scared out of her mind. She tries to put the fear in a box, push it away as the respiratory therapist removes the breathing tube and the nurse turns off the IV pumps and gives the morphine. They seem to certain. How can you be so sure, Alicia screams inside her head. She's on thin ice, barely intact over a dark and chilly river of doubt.
Manuel jerks. He coughs and his face turns a horrible color. The nurse turns. She is crying.
"Come hold his hand," she says. "Come be with him."
Alicia does. She does not think, does not feel. She takes her mind away to a cold gray place where no smiles or tears exist. She stands biting her lips so hard they bleed while the life slips out of her husband. Manuel coughs and then his breathing slows. There are no last words, no final gaze. This is not how it is on TV.
The social worker sees the nurse come out of the room and close the door. They stand at the desk and watch the monitor as Manuel's heart slows and stops. She has never seen this nurse cry before, but they are both thinking about Sunny. Who will teach her to ride a bike or walk her down the aisle?
"Why do we do this?" the social worker asks. She does not expect an answer.
The nurse wipes her eyes and blows her nose. "Who else should?" she says. "We did everything. I mean, we couldn't have done more."
The social worker nods. She's going to take this one home; they both will. But they've done everything they can. There's nothing more.
"We all failed," the social worker says. She thinks of all the failures, and Alicia, standing, cold and remote at her husband's bedside.
The nurse wants to tell the social worker that she didn't fail, helping Alicia get childcare and locating Manuel's long lost mother. But the nurse's voice is full of tears and she says nothing.
Alicia leaves. She pulls out of the parking garage and gets on the highway. She makes it to the first exit before the first spasm wrack her body. By the time she reaches an empty parking lot, she barely has control of the car. She jams it into park and curls up in a ball of anguish. She wails. It's like being possessed by a hurricane. There isn't enough space in her body for the volume of grief trying to fill it, and yet it grows and grows, this loss this desolation, this utter agony. How can the human heart hold so much pain and go on beating? This is why the Sioux women cut themselves, to bleed out the pain. She wants to slip into a hole and never be seen again. She wants to drive for hours until she reaches the ocean and drive in. She wants to be alone forever. She grips the steering wheel, beats it, rests her head on it, and grieves.
Sometimes there are no good answers. There aren't any lights at the end of the tunnel, or happy endings to smile at. Fate is capricious and tragedy is real and cruel and I can testify to this. I was that nurse who stopped the drips and pushed the morphine and told Alicia to hold his hand. I sat in the back room afterward and cried. In telling Alicia's story, I want a moral to it, something good to hang onto, but there is nothing. This is what happened. It was not an everyday tragedy; it was extraordinary, and yet Alicia, the social worker and I, we bear no scars. Maybe I am feeding off her grief, thanking God that it is not my own. The social worker and the doctors and I see so many cases where illness and tragedy could have been forestalled if a person had been more careful or come to follow up appointments, but here, nothing could have been changed. It happened and its ending was foretold as soon as it began.


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New Delhi [India], Jan 16 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Denmark Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod on the Raisina Dialogue 2020 sidelines and held discussions on the prospect of a 'Green Strategic Partnership' between the two countries.
"Very productive talks with FM @JeppeKofod of Denmark. Explored the prospects of a Green Strategic Partnership. Agreed on the importance of multilateralism in world politics," Jaishankar tweeted.
Kofod is visiting India to attend the Raisina Dialogue-- India's annual global conference on geopolitics and geo-economics.
The flagship conference jointly organised by the MEA and the Observer Research Foundation has been India's contribution to global efforts to discover solutions, identify opportunities and provide stability in a century that has witnessed an eventful two decades. (ANI)


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All eyes were on St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar the night he dropped by the St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy to teach Class 193 the foundation of building searches.
"When they hit the street, this is something they're going to be doing all the time," Belmar said of building searches. "Alarm soundings go off, they find open doors... They're going to have to go in these open spaces and figure out how to do it safely."
Before becoming police chief in 2014, Belmar worked in several precincts and specialized units throughout the county including Tactical Operations, Arson and Explosives, Crimes Against Persons and Special Operations.
"It's a wide array that we have to teach recruits in six months," he said. "I give them the very best. These instructors are outstanding."
Belmar spent hours with the class watching as pairs of recruits navigated a hallway and a dark room full of obstacles.
"The fact that he cares so much about our education and what we're doing really means a lot to me," said Recruit Trevor Green.
Belmar offered honest feedback on each recruit's performance. He offered compliments and critiques as needed. He encouraged recruits to ask questions.
"You can learn about it in a PowerPoint, but when you actually go out there and you're feeling the movements and thinking about where your gun is pointing, and flashlight management, it becomes a whole different ballgame," said Recruit Mary Mills.
For their safety, academy instructor Eric Austermann teaches recruits to treat every building search as if there is a potential threat inside. Officers often have little to no information when they are called out to search a building and because of that, there can be a lot of anxiety with those types of calls.
When it comes to building searches, Austermann said, officers are systematically searching spaces. If there is someone inside, they are often hiding and do not want to be found.
In an active shooter situation, police are looking to stop the person or persons engaged in deadly actions at any cost and as soon as possible.
As part of the training, Austermann brought in actors to play victims. The actors wore ripped clothing and costume make up to appear as if they were injured.
Recruits were equipped with airsoft guns. Two of their instructors were identified as "shooters" at the beginning of the exercise so recruits knew who their targets were. The "shooters" also carried airsoft guns. Recruits, instructors and actors wore safety masks to protect their faces.
The goal of the training was to over stimulate the recruits' senses and exhaust them physically. They began outside in the field behind the academy. They worked in groups of four to strategically approach the building.
When recruits entered the building the lights were dim and loud music played through the hallways. The music simulated noise the recruits might come across as officers like a fire alarm, sirens or a crowd of people yelling.
Recruits had to continue working in their group of four to navigate the hallway to find the target. They learned they had to be loud and clear with their commands.
"A lot of us took a couple rounds to the back because we didn't know there was a threat," said Mills. "Not because the person wasn't identifying there was a threat there, but we didn't hear it."
The recruits also struggled to hear over the screams of the "victims" begging for help. While recruits knew the actors were staged and no one was actually injured, this element to the training provided an important lesson.
"Even though you don't want to, you have to basically walk past them," said Recruit Octavia Hearon. "You can't save anyone if there's still someone shooting people."
In a four-man diamond, one officer will lead the group. They communicate with the others about which rooms to clear, and they keep an eye on the potential threat coming at the group from up ahead. The rear command is responsible for watching their backs to make sure no threat approaches from behind.
In one scenario, recruits reach a room where they're told an active shooter had just shot someone. They quickly strategize among the group of four how to enter the room and who will go first.
"They always say the first person who goes most likely is the person who's going to get shot," said Green who was the first person to enter the room in his group. He was greeted with several rounds of airsoft pellets fired by an instructor acting as the active shooter. The recruits again had figure out how to approach the threat and work together to stop it. Once the instructor surrendered, the recruits cleared the room of any other potential threats.
In another scenario, a group of four was working their way down the hallway when, suddenly, they were ambushed from behind by an instructor acting as an active shooter. This challenged the rear command who had to call out the threat and get the other three members of the group to redirect their attention.
Austermann said most officers will never face an active shooter, but every officer should know what to do when duty calls. Calling in specialized units takes time, and, statistically, most active shooter events are over within minutes.
"The first police officers there, the uniformed officer, those are the officers that are really neutralizing it and winning these types of scenarios. Those are the people that are saving lives."
Class 193 of the St. Louis County and Municipal Police Academy graduates Thursday, December 14, 2017.
Tune in on Monday, January 15, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. as Fox 2 brings together some of the recruits and instructors for a live 30-minute special to recap the experience and discuss the training the new officers are getting in the field.
To watch all of Fox 2's exclusive series of reports "Inside the Academy," visit fox2now.com/academy.


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What if I told you that you could get a gorgeous and classy-looking wedding cake for just $50? You'd probably look at me like I have two heads, but luckily, I have the photo to prove it.
A DIY Instagrammer, Jessica of @cottagefarmhouse, posted about her brother Jeremy's extremely frugal wedding. Jeremy and his wife Gosia wanted to save as much money as possible, so they didn't really have a flower budget or a cake budget to speak of.
Instead of shelling out hundreds of dollars for a wedding cake, Jeremy and Gosia made one themselves with the help of Jessica and a pastry chef relative.
They bought two sheet cakes from Costco, then resized them and shaped them into tiers.
Then they re-frosted the cakes and covered them with $10 worth of flowers from Trader Joe's.
The result is stunning and definitely looks like it's worth more than $50! Costco and Trader Joe's are just the best.
Getty Images


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[EXPIRED]Shoaling Reported South of Fernandina Beach, AICW Statute Mile 719.5, 5/13/2014
This shoaling seems to lie two miles south of Fernandina Beach harbor just north of the Waterway's turn into Kingsley Creek.
NOTICE that the USCG has established a "TEMP Buoy 2" to mark these shallows!!!
FLORIDA '" AICW '" ST SIMONS SOUND '" TOLOMATO RIVER '" FERNANDINA BEACH : Shoaling
There is excessive shoaling visible at low tide in the vicinity of Fernandina Beach LT 3 (LLNR 37990 [30°38.7979N / 081°29.0248W, 30.646632 / -81.483747]). The Coast Guard has established Fernandina Beach TEMP Buoy 2 in position 30-38-54.689N 081-29-03.486W (30°38.9115N / 081°29.0581W, 30.648525 / -81.484302) . Mariners are advised to exercise extreme caution while transiting the area. Chart 11489 LNM 19/14
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To A "Navigation Alert" Position at Light #3
Comments from Cruisers (1)
Encountered less than 3′ at near high tide 300 meters north of Temporary Red #2. Time was Approximately 1330 Hours on 9/4/16. Pulled out port shaft attempting to get off. About ninety minutes later while awaiting tow, observed outboard run aground near same spot. With outboard trimmed up
operator was blowing substantial amounts of sand.
You must favor the green side when approaching Green #3 from the north or departing Green #3 from the south. Came through this area northbound in late June and did not have any trouble.


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Scary Stuff March 21, 2012Posted by Fritz in Yachts and other things that float.
Tags: Iran, Israel, nuclear attack
UPDATE: Saw this article yesterday after I wrote my 'Hawk' post. It lends itself to my theory that Israel will bet the Iranian people will rise up after a devastating conventional attack on their country's nuclear sites (and air defenses) and see that they have a chance to stop the theocracy that is keeping them in the Middle Ages. The smart Iranians will understand that by overthrowing the Mullahs, they save themselves from a retaliatory nuclear strike by the Israelis.
Should Iran ever get and use a nuke on Israel, the game will have changed from two sides just trading vitriol via spokesperson to an all-out race to annihilate the other side.
Here's a scenario. Iran pops a nuke somewhere in Israel. It causes devastating destruction but, like the stick poked in the bee hive, doesn't kill all the bees—it just releases a torrent of vengeful stings. Since Israel probably has enough nukes to evaporate Iran, they do. Now the rest of the Islamic world is out for blood but the only Islamic country with nukes is Pakistan. Since Pakistan is not really the West's ally (they hid Bin Laden for God's sake), they decide to slip one or more of their nukes to a terrorist group willing to pull off the ultimate suicide bombing. Chances are the group can't get the nuke into the US so they pick the best US target outside our country like a major military installation. You can see how this will get very bad very quickly.
Unless we have some very good spies in the right places we won't be able to stop Pakistan from passing off one of their nukes. Our only recourse might be a preemptive strike on them. Yep, it's getting uglier.
So this is why Iran can never have a nuke. Whatever it takes, whatever the cost and I'm pretty sure Netanyahu knows this.
No comments yet — be the first.


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Friday, January 10, 2020 - 2:00pm to 3:00pm
218 Anne Belk Hall, CAE Classroom 222
If it's so touted by educators as a key classroom strategy, why do students roll their eyes when they see it listed on the syllabus? Learn strategies for designing a peer review setup that will make a difference for both your students and you. Register and learn more!
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Two weeks ago, Rolling Stone came out with "Did Bush Steal the 2004 Election?" — a masterful investigative piece by Robert Kennedy, Jr., arguing that Bush & Co. stole their "re-election" in Ohio, and pointing out exactly how they did it. Primarily because of Kennedy's good reputation, and the mainstream credibility of Rolling Stone, the article has finally opened many eyes that had been tightly shut to the grave state of American democracy.
One week after Kennedy's article appeared, Salon posted an attack upon it by Farhad Manjoo, the magazine's technology reporter. That piece contained so many errors of fact and logic, and was throughout so brazenly wrong-headed, that several hundred readers sent in angry letters, many of them brilliantly refuting some of Manjoo's misconceptions and mistakes, and quite a few demanding that Salon cancel their subscriptions.
A few days later, Joan Walsh, Salon's editor, tried to calm the storm with a defense of Manjoo's writings on the theft of the 2004 election — a theft that he had frequently addressed before, as he had been trying to "debunk"it ever since that infamous Election Day. Walsh did not answer any of the criticisms of Manjoo's attack, but merely re-asserted Salon's confidence in all his work for them.
At this point I decided to reply, both to Manjoo's piece (which, as I note below, had wrongly used my own work on election fraud to further slander Kennedy's) and to Joan Walsh's apologia. My point was not just to pile on (there was no need for that), but to attempt an explanation as to why so many reasonable people — many of them self-described "progressives" — keep refusing to perceive the copious and ever-growing evidence that this regime has never been elected. It was my hope that Salon might at least consider moderating its position on election fraud, which now demands more serious treatment than the magazine has thus far given it.
I sent the letter to Salon on Tuesday. June 13. Two days later, I received an email from them telling me that they would not be posting it. "In terms of the Ohio election fraud issue," wrote Jeanne Carstensen, "we don't feel your letter, as passionately argued as it is, adds anything substantially new to the debate, which we've covered the hell out of already."
I believe that that assertion too is wrong, and that the issues here are far too grave for "the debate" to be thus prematurely halted; and so I'm very pleased that HuffPost has agreed to run my e-mail as an open letter.
Dear Joan,
I'd like to thank Salon for touching off this spirited debate on Farhad Manjoo's argument with Robert Kennedy, Jr., and also want to thank you in particular for your own personal defense of Manjoo's writings on election fraud. I am especially impressed by your desire "to place this debate in its proper political context." Such careful explanation is exactly what we need; and so I'd like to help shed just a bit more light upon that context, by clarifying the record as you have described it.
In defense of Manjoo's writings since Election Day 2004, you claim (just as he has often claimed) that Salon cares tremendously about the problem of election fraud, and always has: "Salon has aggressively covered Republican efforts to suppress Democratic voter participation going back to December 2000," and has "followed the story doggedly ever since." In 2002, you claim, "Manjoo expanded Salon's coverage of our flawed election system with a special focus on the problems with electronic voting." Since then, you write, "[h]e has approached his stories on the massive problems with voting in this country in the same way, with an open mind." In his zealous drive to learn the truth, you say, "he did not find evidence" of any widespread fraud in Georgia in 2002 (where Democrat Max Cleland lost his Senate seat, surprisingly, to Saxby Chambliss, and Democrat Roy Barnes was, also surprisingly, ousted as governor by Sonny Perdue). And, two years later, you remind us, Manjoo found nothing to confirm the view that fraud decided Bush's re-election in Ohio.
And so Salon has, for the last six years, been searching earnestly for "evidence" of fraud, and finding nothing but "unproven charges." If I may say so, this version of your history is not credible. First of all, it begs the question — for there is vast evidence of fraud, as the letters you've received make wholly clear. Certainly you have the right to keep insisting that there is no evidence, and Manjoo certainly has every right to quibble with whichever single claim he may perceive as bogus or exaggerated. Neither move per se, however, can negate the copious, precise and ever-growing evidence of massive fraud in 2004, any more than the tobacco companies could negate the evidence that cigarettes are lethal, or the US religious right suppress the evidence of natural selection, or of global warming. As it's the evidence that matters above all, Salon's readers ought to be encouraged to study it themselves, and not accept mere claims about it, whether yours or mine.
So let me move beyond that fundamental argument, and make a more specific criticism of your recent statement in defense of Salon's treatment of election fraud. That statement obscures the fact that Manjoo's attitude toward his subject — and, therefore, Salon's position — has been strangely inconsistent. On the one hand, you are surely right to say that he has done some excellent reporting on the looming danger of election fraud — before Nov. 2 of that fateful year. Back then he did a fine job covering several sinister developments, including the shenanigans of Nathan Sproul, a theocratic activist whose firm, Sproul & Associates, conducted bogus voter-registration drives in at least six states, covertly registering people as Republicans without their knowledge, and often trashing forms filled out by Democrats. (As I point out in Fooled Again, my book on the 2004 election, SEC records suggest that Sproul may also have abetted the subversion of the recount in Ohio.) In fact, I thought so highly of Manjoo's reporting pre-Election Day that I was often guided by it in my own research for Fooled Again, and therefore even thanked him warmly in the book's acknowledgments (p. 349). Considering such trenchant work throughout the presidential race, it seemed, to say the least, quite odd that Manjoo suddenly and absolutely shifted ground as soon as Bush's unexpected victory was official. Where he had indeed been dogged and impartial in exposing some real threats to the integrity of the election, ex post facto he seemed far less interested in dealing with the evidence of GOP malfeasance than in jeering every effort to discuss it. Instead of careful scrutiny of that evidence, he resorted mainly to sarcastic hooting and ad hominem assault — the same tactics that the Bush Republicans themselves have always used to cast all argument about their unexpected win as sheer insanity.
That is what Manjoo did in his review of Fooled Again, accusing me of "fraud," "pseudo-journalism," lying and venality. (My reply to that piece is here.) In his attack on Robert Kennedy's article he has done the same thing once again — trashing Kennedy's motives, and accusing him, essentially, of plagiarism: "Nothing here is new. If you've … read Mark Crispin Miller's 'Fooled Again,' you're already familiar with everything Kennedy has to say." That claim
is quite false. Kennedy and Rolling Stone have given us a shattering new view of the Ohio travesty, based both on prodigious journalistic synthesis and remarkable firsthand research. Its interviews alone — especially with Lou Harris, the polling eminence, who deems Ohio stolen by Bush/Cheney — are, or ought to be, big news. While I am proud to say that Kennedy considers Fooled Again a major inspiration, I cannot claim that he derived much information from my book. His focus is entirely on Ohio, whereas Fooled Again devotes only some 15 pages (out of 350) to the crimes and improprieties committed in that state. My book deals with the election fraud committed nationwide in 2004 — as Manjoo knows. Why, then, would he say that Kennedy had cribbed it all from me? Far from wanting Salon's readers to assess the evidence themselves, he seems to want people not even to know about it — certainly a strange objective for a writer with "an open mind."
What explains this eagerness to kill all conversation on an issue of such grave importance? This is not a question just about Farhad Manjoo and/or Salon, because your way of dealing, or not dealing, with this all-important matter has been typical of the entire US political establishment throughout Bush/Cheney's reign. This general silence has prevented us from facing an enormous threat to our democracy, which is now at unprecedented risk. We might start to illuminate this problem by doing now exactly what you claim you want to do: "place this debate in its proper political context." Let us therefore reconsider your reporter's violent post-election U-turn, which had him all at once reflexively deriding the very story that he had himself been very capably reporting.
What Manjoo did after Election Day was simply gallop off into the journalistic herd as it went thundering rightward, parroting the Bush machine's own talking points. According to Ken Blackwell, Tom DeLay, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Karl Rove and others, the election was a simple slam dunk for the president, however many and astounding the anomalies, and even if the numbers actually did not add up, or the official explanation ("family values") make a lick of sense; and anybody who suggested otherwise was, a priori, a "sore loser" and/or "paranoid," a "moonbat" venting mere "conspiracy theory," etc. "No voter disenfranchisement occurred in this election of 2004," said Tom DeLay. "It was, at the end of the day, an honest election," said Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA). Between such propaganda and the post-election coverage in the US press there was no difference whatsoever. With the heroic exception of Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, right after Election Day the mainstream press re-echoed the Republican barrage with groundless catcalls of its own. "Election paranoia surfaces; Conspiracy theorists call results rigged," laughed the Baltimore Sun; "Internet Buzz on Vote Fraud Is Dismissed," chuckled the Boston Globe; "Latest Conspiracy Theory — Kerry Won — Hits the Ether," the Washington Post giggled; and the New York Times was most derisive of them all, with a broadside — "Vote Fraud Theories, Spread by Blogs, Are Quickly Buried" — that mocked not just the rampant "theories" of election fraud but cyberspace itself, with its "Web log hysteria," "on-line market of dark ideas," and "breathless cycle of hey-check-this-out," etc.
Such was the consensus that Manjoo too suddenly embraced, thereby bringing Salon fully into line with all the corporate media; nor was Manjoo's a lonely voice in the progressive media, which also either laughed off or ignored the evidence of fraud. No left/liberal publication, whether on- or off-line, focused on that evidence, nor did the story make a national splash on leftist radio, nor, aside from John Conyers and Jesse Jackson, did any lefty media stars take up the cause. By and large, the left press based its blithe dismissals of the issue not on any careful sifting of that evidence but on the mere say-so of certain politicians. Mother Jones ran a piece by Mark Hertsgaard, purporting to debunk the "theory" that Bush/Cheney stole Ohio. For evidence Hertsgaard relied on the assurances of various Ohio Democrats, who swore to him that there had been no fraud. Posting on TomPaine.com, Russ Baker likewise mocked the widespread "theories" of election fraud, on the basis of a brief trip to Ohio where he also talked to Democrats who swore to him that there had been no fraud. Once Election Day was past, The Nation also, like Salon, at once forgot its pre-election coverage of impending problems — in particular, a powerful overview by Ronnie Dugger — and simply dropped the subject, other than to ridicule the "theory" that Ohio had been stolen; David Corn, for instance, took that line, basing it on what he'd heard from certain Democrats who swore to him that there had been no fraud. And when we look back at the corporate media's non-coverage of this crucial story, we find that the consensus came not only from the bellicose Republicans, but also from those Democrats who swore repeatedly that there had been no fraud.
On the other hand, those maverick Democrats who had seen evidence of fraud, and who were keen to publicize it — Conyers, Jackson, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones and others — weren't consulted by the press, which largely snubbed those activists and statisticians who had studied the election fraud in depth. (Robert Koehler of Tribune News Services was a heroic exception.) Thus the media, both corporate and left/liberal, favored only those who genuflected at the party line, which both parties were assiduously toeing. According to the journalistic groupthink, any Democrat who duly exculpated the Republicans was necessarily (a) well informed about what really happened on Election Day, and (b) being completely honest, on the record. In fact, some of those Democrats were clueless, or reluctant to go public with the truth. For instance, Bill Anthony, the Democratic chair of Franklin County's Board of Elections, has quietly contradicted what he said both to Manjoo and Baker, telling Bob Fitrakis, on the record, that he does believe Bush/Cheney stole Ohio, largely by fiddling with the numbers in the rural counties in the state's Southwest (a major vote-theft, as Kennedy explains in Rolling Stone). On the issue of election fraud, the Democrats observed the code of omerta. In Who Counts?, Dorothy Fadiman's forthcoming documentary on Republican election fraud, Bob Hagan, a Democratic state senator from Youngstown, tells of having had his own e-vote for Kerry flip to Bush — a glitch that wiped out Kerry votes throughout Ohio (and at least a dozen other states), and yet the Democrats told Hagan not to mention it: "The Kerry campaign said, 'Leave it alone. Don't talk about it. It's not something we want to get out.'"
So much for the democratic spirit of the Democratic Party, which, in burying the most important civic issue of our time, has been just as complicit as the GOP, although they cloud the issue far less rudely. Take "Democracy at Risk," the DNC report on the election in Ohio, which came out in the summer of 2005. The document appears to be a very damning study of Republican malfeasance in Ohio. It offers many harrowing statistics, and some strong firsthand accounts, of Democratic disenfranchisement throughout the state — only to deny that fraud had anything to do with it. The problem, rather, was "incompetence," which was somehow epidemic in Ohio on Election Day, and which, stranger still, invariably helped Bush/Cheney and hurt Kerry/Edwards. The report is not exactly readable, with long abstruse equations covering page after page — a haze of math that does not quite conceal the bald self-contradictions that distort the document like heavy cracks across a windshield. For instance, the report confirms, in various ways, that there were far too few machines only in Democratic precincts, while the number of machines in GOP strongholds was mor
e than adequate. Then, out of nowhere, toward the end, we're told that members of both parties were affected equally by the statewide shortage of machines, so that the glitch did not, of course, affect the outcome of the race.
The whole report is twisted thus, the authors tortuously bending over backward to assure us that DeLay et al. were right: "No voter disenfranchisement occurred in this election of 2004." If we look deeper into the report (and also read the pertinent exposés by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman at freepress.org), we find that it is less an earnest study of the fraud committed in Ohio than a political statement, meant primarily to distance the committee, and the party, from John Conyers and those other Democrats who had been so tactless as to harp on the abundant evidence of systematic fraud by the Republicans. This fact is highly relevant to Manjoo's attack on Robert Kennedy, as Manjoo's case is heavily dependent on the DNC report. Manjoo invokes it several times, accusing Kennedy of quoting only certain parts of it and pointedly ignoring all those later parts that clear the GOP of fraud. Your reporter calls this a "deliberate omission of key bits of data." And yet that charge is groundless, as the DNC report is only partly accurate, and Kennedy, quite rightly, quoted only its sound figures and ignored its weird exculpatory spin.
The DNC report is typical of that cowed, calculating party, whose managers consistently deny the evidence of fraud, even though the consequence is their assured political castration. Why exactly would they take that suicidal course? The reasons generally given for their silence on the subject are preposterous on their face. Kerry won't discuss the issue frankly on the record, we've been told, because he's worried that the media will smack him for it. ("They're saying that, if I don't concede, they'll call us sore losers!" he reportedly said to a stunned John Edwards just before he called it quits the morning after.) That may be what Kerry, among others, actually believes, but it's absurd, as no amount of public scorn, however withering, could ever be as frightening to a democratic politician as the twilight of democracy itself.
We also hear that Democrats have been reluctant to speak out about election fraud because they fear that doing so might cut down voter turnout on Election Day. By such logic, we should henceforth utter not a peep about election fraud, so that the Democratic turnout will break records. Then, when the Republicans win yet again, because they've rigged the system, how will all those Democratic voters feel? Maybe those who haven't killed themselves, or fled the country, will recover just enough to vote again. Would it then be prudent for the Democrats to talk about election fraud? Or would it still seem sensible to keep the subject under wraps?
The argument is idiotic, yet the people who have seriously made it — Bernie Sanders, Markos Moulitsas, Hillary Clinton's and Chuck Schumer's people, among others — are extremely bright. The argument, as foolish as it is, does not bespeak a low I.Q., but, I would suggest, a subtler kind of incapacity: a refusal and/or inability to face a deeply terrifying truth. The Democrats refuse to talk about election fraud because they cannot, will not, wrap their minds around the implications of what happened in 2004, and what is happening right now, and what will keep on happening until we, as a people, face the issue. In short, whatever clever-sounding rationales they may invoke (no doubt in all sincerity), the Democrats won't talk about election fraud because they're in denial, which is itself based on a lethal combination of inertia, self-interest and, above all — or below all — fear.
Such fear is understandable. For the problem here is not simply mechanical or technological, legal or bureaucratic, requiring that we merely tweak the rules and/or build a better mousetrap. Any such expedient will naturally depend on a consensus of "both sides" — and there's the rub, because in this great clash the "other side" detests American democracy itself. The movement now in power is not conservative but radical, intent on an apocalyptic program that is fundamentally opposed to the ideals of the Enlightenment, on which, lest we forget, this revolutionary secular republic was first founded. The movement frankly disbelieves in reason, and in all the other worldly goods that every rational American still takes for granted: pluralism, checks and balances, "the general welfare," freedom, progress, the pursuit of happiness. For this movement, condom use is worse than death by AIDS, however many millions the disease may kill; the ruination of the planet should be hastened, not prevented, as it means that He will be returning soon; the "war on terror" is a matter not of geopolitics but metaphysics, as our national enemy is "a guy named Satan"; homosexuals should not be citizens, the US having been conceived as a "Christian republic"; and — most relevant to this debate — the movement's adversaries, which means all the rest of us, are not human beings with divergent interests but literal "agents of Hell," demonic entities against which any tactic, however criminal or sinful, is permissible, because they are likely to use any tactic, regardless of its sinfulness or criminality, to force their evil program on the Righteous Ones.
Of course, that theocratic bloc does not comprise the whole Bush/Cheney movement, which, at the top, is heavily dominated too by frank neo-imperialists, corporate profiteers, careerist sociopaths and livid paranoids compelled by the intense self-hatred typical of such perennial types as Richard Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover. Revolution tends to work by unifying the energies, or bile, of only roughly complementary interests. This revolution certainly is no pure upsurge of religious fervor, for its plutocratic animus is just as powerful, apparently, as its crusade to "Christianize" the world. However, while it would be very foolish to ignore the movement's secular agenda (i.e., the avarice and power lust of Cheney/Rumsfeld and their corporate cronies), it is just as foolish to imagine that the movement's theocratic program is mere smoke, calculated just to daze the pious masses so that Congress and Wall Street can rob them blind.
This theocratic program is no secret, as the conquest of the GOP has been the top priority of US Christianist extremists since the early Nineties. It was their aim to put George W. Bush in office, and then to keep him there, despite the will of the electorate; and having done so, they have rapidly transformed our government into an instrument of their crusade. "George W. Bush is our agenda!" as the Rev. Lou Sheldon, head of the Traditional Values Coalition, boasted candidly to Salon's Michelle Goldberg a few years ago. He had every right to crow. The executive departments and top federal agencies are now in theocratic hands, and this government pursues no policy, foreign or domestic, that has not been devised or vetted by the party's theocratic apparat. The government now generously subsidizes many theocratic groups that proselytize explicitly, pushing both their own creed and the interests of the Bush Republicans. And now that Congress too is full of theocratic militants (who seem to have no strong opponents), the Supreme Court is just one seat away from an entrenched majority as frankly hostile to the church/state separation as it is to voting rights for all Americans.
The power and fury of the US theocratic movement have been amply documented by a range of keen observers, including Esther Kaplan, Paul Craig Roberts, Kevin Phillips, Stephenie Hendricks, Max Blumenthal, Frederick Carlson, Katherine Yurica, Michael Lerner and Salon's Michelle Goldberg, among others, as well as in my own books Cruel and Unusual and Fooled Again. The threat has also sounded strong alarms on solid Christia
grounds, in writings by Jim Wallis, John Danforth, Jimmy Carter, Davidson Loehr, Rich Lang and Bruce Prescott. (Of course, the theocratic program is explicit also in the oratory and writings of the theocrats themselves.) It now remains for us to face the crucial fact that this regime's miraculous "re-election" in 2004 depended heavily on the countless block-the-vote activities of theocratic true believers, who did whatever they could do, from coast to coast, to cut the Kerry vote and pad the Bush vote. That effort was essential to the regime's inexplicable political success. Of all the interests collaborating in Bush/Cheney's drive against democracy, the theocrats alone have a grass-roots constituency — not large enough, by any means, to sway elections honestly, but large enough, and fierce enough, and with sufficient funds and discipline, to help Bush/Cheney disenfranchise the majority. Although the corporations and the neo-cons wield awesome clout, they have no grass-roots muscle. The theocrats alone can claim that necessary asset, and it has given them enormous power.
It is a terrifying development — although not insurmountable, unless we let ourselves be blinded and/or paralyzed by fear. Since the last Election Day, that terror has silenced nearly every sector of what ought to be the opposition, including most top Democrats, the press, a lot of principled conservatives — and outlets like Salon. In his dogged effort to explain away the massive evidence of fraud by the Republicans, Manjoo has based his case not on the facts but, finally, on denial — as he himself made very clear in his review of Fooled Again. "If you want to improve how Americans vote, here's one piece of advice," he wrote:
Don't alienate half the country by arguing, as Miller does here, that the president and his followers — whom Miller labels "Busheviks" — think of their political enemies as "subhuman beings" and believe they must "slaughter" their opponents in the same way that religious fanatics slaughter their holy foes. Even if you believe this to be true, and even if it is in fact true, shut up about it; this sort of unhinged rhetoric can't help, and can only hurt, our capacity to solve the problem of voting in America [emphasis added].
That an American reporter would make such a statement, and that any liberal magazine would publish it, suggests how thoroughly we have repressed all memory of what America was once supposed to mean. "Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day," wrote Thomas Jefferson in 1816, in a spirit of scientific progress and republican self-liberation. "Even if it's true, shut up about it," Farhad Manjoo wrote in 2005, in the spirit of Bill O'Reilly. Luckily, Manjoo was not a major player when the colonies were trying to get their act together, or we'd all be subjects of the House of Windsor. Although they once were a minority, the first republicans did not "shut up," but made their case until the people came around and finally took the crucial step toward liberty for all. In any case, Manjoo's command is as illogical as it is craven, for there is no convincing evidence that "half the country" voted for Bush/Cheney's re-election, nor is it clear how "shutting up" about the theocratic threat to our democracy could help "improve how Americans vote." The assumption there is that the theocratic movement might somehow be lulled into allowing us to have a functioning democracy, if we're very careful not to tell the truth about them, which will only make them mad. "Even if it's true, shut up about it." That is not the statement of "an open mind," but a plea for willful ignorance and wishful thinking.
If that were just Farhad Manjoo's position, Joan, I certainly would not have written you this letter. I write because that view of his, and yours, has paralyzed the whole political establishment, the press included; and Manjoo's latest piece, and your defense of it, provide a fitting opportunity to point that out. If, as you say, you want to see the system fixed, you must admit that it needs fixing now — a great step forward that has just been taken by Bob Herbert of The New York Times as well as Robert Kennedy and other reputable people. It is past time to take that step, for there is every indication — as Salon should now be pointing out — that the Republicans are readier than ever to subvert the process once more on this next Election Day.
While they gear up to strike again, the Democrats and media keep trying to "solve" the problem of election fraud by claiming endlessly, and groundlessly, that there's no problem, or by charging that the problem somehow lies with all those trouble-makers who insist on trying to talk about it, or that the problem is not partisan malfeasance but "incompetence." Salon must finally break away from that impossible consensus, which means no longer seconding the Democrats as they keep struggling to avoid the issue, but calling on them to behave, at last, like democrats — and, for that matter, like republicans — which is to say, at last, like good Americans.


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Posts Tagged Find Wine
My Two-Penneth On Cheap Wine
When the editor of Decanter magazine had the temerity to suggest that "it's pretty impossible to get a decent wine at £3.99 or £4.99" he was accused by Asda of being a snob. And if you look at the comments below his Guardian article, Asda were not the only people to take umbrage.
Much more has been said in defence of Guy Woodward's comments – my favourite being from Anthony Rose in The Independent. Touché.
A Smooth, Dark Crowd-Pleaser
OK – so I've missed my chance to be Find Wine's very own critic. Blame it on the late arrival of the bottle to be reviewed for the competition, combined with my kitchen being ripped out.
However, I did eventually get to open One Chain's The Opportunist Shiraz 2008, from Australia's Limestone Coast.


text: Fowl tactics 15 Jan 2018 When you approach with food, it's like "alle hennen aan dek", like "all hens at deck". Wait, that makes no sense in English. We keep steadily approaching the release of Brood - Winter Sovereign 冬王, the dev blogs of which you can still find here. I thought I'd do a warm up with our favorite chickens, and perhaps next time we'll throw in an actual winter wren. Share Notes from readers No notes so far. Why not share your thoughts? Name* E-mail (required but private)* Website Comment* leave a note