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Our president is defending–not condemning–neo-nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups
There is no room for equivocal statements when neo-nazis are marching through our cities. Sure, they have the right to freedom of speech, and I know that the message of love and unity will always defeat the message of hate and division in the marketplace of ideas. So give these philistines their march with their worn out, hateful ideas. But in response to these marches a large number of people who subscribe to a philosophy of unity and love will be there to counter-protest.
Before recent events, I would expect any president of the United States to unequivocally support the counter-protestors and their sacrifices, including the acknowledgment of the counter-protestor who lost his life for his belief in love and unity.
I would expect any president to expound on his abhorrence of all hate groups, particularly the recently active hate groups of white supremacists, neo-nazis, and Klansmen. I expect The President to extol their message as one of hatred and division, and an extremist view with no place in mainstream politics.
Instead, Trump blames both sides. The President equated white supremacists with folks who believe in a tolerant America with its deep roots in pluralism and diversity. Then he amends his previously callous remark with a delusion: "the alt left [which doesn't exist] is also to blame." If prior to this tragedy in Virginia, one didn't see that the alt right and white supremacists make up Trump's base, it is now painfully visible.
For example, At a press conference about infrastructure spending, three days after neo-nazis took to the streets of Charlottesville, VA, The President was given ample opportunity to condemn David Duke and disavow the support shown to him by white supremacists, and neo-nazis.
He came back to the podium as if he were going to answer the question, "Do you, Mr. President, disavow support from nazis?" Alas, he approached the podium to say he would sign the manufacturing bill inside (the evasion and criticism of the free press by Trump is alarming–it's a tactic employed by despots). As he walked away, he was once again asked by a forceful voice that caused all other questions and sounds to fade into background noise: "Do you disavow the support you receive from white supremacists?" President Trump clearly heard the question, and his shaking head, and nervous body language betrayed his attempt to pretend that he wasn't listening. He walked away.
He walked away from the moral leadership that presidents of the United States have assiduously displayed time immemorial: President Bush's appearance at ground zero, FDR's fireside chats, President Obama's response to the Sandy Hook Shooting and the Boston Marathon Bombing.
We allowed a person to become president who has never once shown the propensity to serve his fellow man or his country or honor its timeless traditions and principles, but has instead shown the proclivity to wrap himself in the American Flag only to serve his own base interests. The only consistency in Trump's moral life is his consistent racism.
He was sued by the federal government for racial discrimination for steering African Americans away from his properties; he has tried with some success to ban folks from certain Muslim majority countries from entering the United States; he has made asylum to the United States more difficult to obtain (a process that was already nearly impossible to get through) and that many of these folks aided the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Furthermore, Trump's father was arrested after marching in a parade-turned-riot in which two Italians were killed by KKK members and sympathizers. The flyer passed around that no doubt induced Mr. Trump to march was thoroughly anti-Italian and anti-Papist (anti-Catholic).
And we are aware of the words that have come out of President Trump's own mouth: of Mexican undocumented workers, he said "they're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists"; at the Republican National Jewish Conference, he stated, "Is there anybody that doesn't renegotiate deals in this room? This room negotiates them — perhaps more than any other room I've ever spoken in."
His fallacious comment that equated inner-cities to war zones, enraged my neighbors and me–a lifelong resident of the inner-city. First of all, our inner-cities, like Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and New York City are bastions of the American melting pot. I participate in Caribbean Day, Dorchester Day, Saint Anthony's Feast, and Saint Patrick's Day, and, even though I'm an Irish kid originally from the Irish Projects (Old Harbor a.k.a. Mary Ellen McCormick), I learned about my brothers' and sisters' culture. Yes, I refer to my fellow Bostonians as brothers and sisters, and they refer to me the same way–Boston is a brotherhood/a sisterhood. It is not a war zone. Nor are America's other great cities.
Certain issues will exist in any densely populated neighborhood, particularly neighborhoods that are home to those struggling socioeconomically. But Trump doesn't understand these complexities. For Trump, the "inner city war zone" comment was coded racism to his white supremacist base. Trump does not care about demeaning us and patronizing the inner city folks (particularly black folks) who actively struggle on a daily basis to make these cities function–these cities that are not war zones but proud symbols of American diversity and pluralism.
Trump has failed to provide us with any moral guidance. Yes, speech is protected under the 1st Amendment, but before Trump, the moral leadership in this country, especially with the election of a black man as president, caused people to keep their ignorant, racist beliefs hidden. Folks turned to the Obama Campaign with such passion and hope that we spoke of a post-racial age. Not until Trump won the presidency did these "brave" men come out from hiding (my neighbors didn't unfurl their Trump campaign sign until the day after Election Day). The people look to the president for moral leadership.
The inaction and equivocal moral statements of this president in the wake of Charlottesville, VA will have devastating ramifications for this country's race relations. The event has proven that there is a vacuum of moral leadership right now, which will lead to racial and societal breakdown. Please, all you brave Americans, do not stop resisting this message of hate with the message of love and unity. Pankaj Mishra in the The New Yorker in "Václav Havel's Lessons on How to Create a Parallel Polis":
The "power of the powerless," he argued, resides in their capacity to organize themselves and resist "the irrational momentum of anonymous, impersonal, and inhuman power.
– Mishra, Pankaj. "Václav Havel's Lessons on How to Create a Parallel Polis." 8 February 2017. Accessed 20 August 2017. http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/vaclav-havels-lessons-on-how-to-create-a-parallel-polis
The Jewish Roots of Catholicism; Jesus was a Jew
In 414, an entire community of Jews were violently assaulted by Christians to the point of extinction. This ignorance comes from the inability of those Christians to read the history and comprehend the early Christian Church, and the Nicene Creed created by Constantine who no longer tolerated other faiths; nor did he tolerate various thoughts (heresies) within the Christian Church. To this demagogue who created the much of Catholicism's dogma, a "heresy" endangered his unified Roman Empire, and his mind must be expelled.
The early Church was made up of Jews who were followers of Christ. They practiced Jewish Rituals, went to Temple, and adhered to Jewish Scripture. Even later on, after Constantine promulgated the Edict of Milan, Jews and Christians began sharing rituals once again, just as the early Jews who followed Jesus did.
Constantine turned Christianity into the religion of state, and adopted the Cross as his military banner, and thus made Christianity a religion of power–a religion of state. This presaged the schism
between Judaism and Christianity. A schism that led to the deaths of millions of Jews.
Constantine had a "celestial vision" in the night's sky that if he and his army cross the Milvian Bridge and cross the Tiber and into Rome with the Cross of Jesus as their unifying symbol, Constantine would be victorious. The Cross was to be formed by a spear and a traverse bar. It was to become a symbol not only of Christianity, but of state power represented metaphorically by the spear.
It is more likely that the well-educated, politically astute (a man just as politically astute as Karl Rove, David Plouffe, and David Axelrod) Constantine saw that upon crossing the Rubicon and Tiber and entering Rome, that he would need a passionate base to secure his position. Although not in the majority, Christians provided Constantine with the political strength he needed to maintain control of Rome:
They were a minority, but a well organized one. And no claimant had the allegiance of a majority. Fierce Christian devotion to a conqueror whose miraculous conversion proved the truth of their faith would have made Christians powerful political allies. – James Carroll, Constantine's Sword. New York: Mariner Books, 2002, p 182
Realizing that the sudden conversion to Christianity may jeopardize the good will he had amongst his pagan troops and followers, he met with his sole adversary, Licinius, and they issued the Edict of Milan, which granted religious freedom to pagans, Jews, and Christians.
Referred to as "man's free choice", one can already see the sprouting seeds of the Enlightenment, and dare I say, the genesis of a seedling witnessed in the words of the Edict of Milan, which divined that one day men and women would accept and fight for God's Natural Laws and the freedom and rights inherent in those laws. e.g., freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of speech.
Many, Romans, having those purely progressive human characteristics of unity, hope, and love, had that innate desire to relate to other cultures. Our early progressives felt the innate desire to relate to their Jewish kin. Once again Christians found their Jewish roots and began practicing the rituals of their mother religion–the rituals that Our Savior practiced. How could that be sinful? Yet Constantine saw this as a danger to the unification of the empire and issued the Edict of Milan:
The decree signals the success Jews were having in attracting Christians to their culture and calendar. Moreover, the decree was prompted by a widespread Christian wish to maintain a lively connection with the Jewish origin of faith in Jesus. (Ibid. p. 185
But Constantine, now proving himself a demagogue who passes and abolishes laws according to how these laws will benefit him and his quest, not just to unify the Empire, but to unify the Empire under his name, passed a law that restricted Jews from proselytizing (an act that Jews are not well-known for–attraction to the faith is their preferred method of propagation).
Thus Constantine and the Cross permanently separated the religions of Judaism and Christianity. These religions might have been inseparable if not for the ignorance of the historical context of Jesus and for The Emperor Constantine. After all, Christ and his followers did not alter their Jewish Rituals and beliefs.
Constantine became the sole ruler of the empire. The dogmatist in political matters became the dogmatist in religious matters. Constantine was not baptized; yet he set the Church's policy for 1700 years. And that policy was not decided by Catholic Intellectuals, but by a dogmatist who wasn't baptized, and who merely sought to unify his empire.
It is important to emphasize that this need [for Constantine to answer the questions debated in The Church since Jesus' Day], which has so dominated Roman Catholicism that even now the Church cannot break free from it, was first defined not by the Lord, a Jew who identified with dissenters; nor by his apostles, who did not hesitate to differ from one another; nor by his successor bishops who defended interests; nor by evangelists who produced not one version of the Jesus story but four … but by an all-conquering emperor for whom one empire had come to equal one religion. (Ibid. p. 189)
We say the Nicene Creed weekly at Mass. The words of the Emperor Constantine. It has taken a Jesuit Pope, Pope Francis, to finally see the sin in uttering a politically motivated doctrine for the Church set by an Empire, who though not baptized, took it upon himself, and himself only to set the dogma of the Church.
Prior to Pope Francis, The Catholic Church finally made an attempt to amend the doctrinal past that caused the Church as an institution to behave so contrary to the words of Christ. Historically, the Church has often been at odds with the sagacious words and actions of Christ. As the Roman Catholic Church, would the Church perpetuate the Roman Empire or perpetuate the words of Christ?
O'Malley [Reverend and Georgetown University Professor] says a theme of the documents was reconciliation. In keeping, they allowed for Catholics to pray with other Christian denominations, encouraged friendship with other non-Christian faiths, and opened the door for languages besides Latin to be used during Mass. Other new positions concerned education, the media and divine revelation. – Jordan G. Teicher, "Why is Vatican II so Important?" Religion. NPR (10 October 2012) Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2012/10/10/162573716/why-is-vatican-ii-so-important Accessed on 18 August 2017
Constantine corrupted our faith. Jesus demonstrated that dissent was a universal good. His acts of protest and dissent mark some of the greatest stories in the New Testament. The turning over of the tables in the Temple used for the marketing of goods is a crowd pleaser. Dissent is the application of the greatest gift that God gave us: the gift of human reasoning. Jesus wanted there to be questions meditated on by rigorous minds like Augustine and other intellectuals. Jesus wished his theology of unity, love, hope, and, yes, of dissent, to be questioned and studied by erudites of various backgrounds. And most importantly he felt dissent a freedom that if suppressed by a tyrannical demagogue would lead to the brainwashing (the removal of rationality, the gift of reason, and the love that we feel towards those whom we disagree) and the mass hysteria of whole nations of people, as a way for those to pervert Christianity and promulgate hate, as we saw in the death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau
Now we have a Pope who truly understands that human reasoning is God's greatest gift to man, that truly wants his bishops to think, and even his flock to think. He is the anti-demagogue. The antipode to Emperor Constantine. He wishes the Church to go back to the days when regional bishops had greater responsibility and participated in the development of Catholic teaching. As a Jesuit Catholic Jewish Deist, and as follower of Jesus, not just the Jesus of the Bible, but of the historical Jesus so often over-looked, I think it is about time that The Church has come to realize that it isn't kosher to have an Emperor–not baptized and a complete demagogue–as the power-thirsty, greedy, and very fallible man who has the final say in a religion that worships a man who denied Satan's offer of empire, power, and riches, and instead wondered the dessert for 40 days.
Pope Francis yesterday gave an address to the profoundly divided Synod on the Family in which he confirmed his plans to decentralise the Catholic Church – giving local bishops' conferences more freedom to work out their own solutions to the problems of divorce and homosexuality … One statement in particular horrified the conservatives. Francis told them that 'the sense of faith impedes the rigid separation between the Teaching Church and the Learning Church, because the flock possesses its own "sense" to discern the new roads that the Lord reveals to the church… – Damian Thompson, "Pope Francis is now effectively at war with Vatican" The Spectator (18 October 2015) Accessed on 16 August 2017
Pope Francis' radical belief that a layperson can have astute observations about the Catholic Faith and that the likelihood that The Holy Spirit can be revealed in the adept reasoning of a layperson, seem to be radical beliefs only within the institution of the Catholic Church.
Many prophets of Christ have appeared even in recent history, and they were blessed with the Holy Spirit in their rhetorical skills. MLK and Bobby Kennedy come to mind. They too, like the Jesus that they not only worshipped, but tried their outmost to live their lives as he would, suffered execution as Jesus did. But the Holy Spirit within them lives eternally.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. – MLK Speech to garbage workers on 3 April 1968
Martin Luther King Jr. was slain by a bullet fired in hatred the next day on 4 April 1968. Like many other prophets he presaged his own untimely death. These words came earlier in the same speech and are just as meaningful:
Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we've got to stay together. We've got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. (Ibid.)
Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we've got to stay together. We've got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. (Ibid.)
Jesus died on the Cross and while resurrected blessed us with the gift of the the eternal Holy Spirit, and thus his message of unity, strength, hope, and love is eternal.
The message of Jesus is antonymic to hate or fear. We can not stand idly by as fascists take to the streets with their malfeasant message of hatred and tribalism. We cannot allow any more pogroms under our watch. As long as we have that eternal Holy Spirit within us, or for those who can't relate to that statement, as long as the power of love keeps us moving as a hopeful people towards the removal of a tyranny based on bigotry and hatred, and instead towards unity and love, we will not stop, we will not falter, we will not quit until the light drives out the darkness.
Hopelessness and Heroin
"I've seen the needle and the damage done" sings Neil Young. We can relate to that verse. Due to overdoses, A whole generation of young men and women are dead, dying, lost. I have lost so many family members and friends to this insidious disease. Collectively, we shed a sacred river of tears. Today, I thought of the endless list of my friends who have succumbed to addiction.
Social psychology is a passion of mine–I often feel compelled to ask questions and arrive at some basic truths. So when it comes to a social issue that has resulted in the death of some of the most kind, loving, and gentle souls that God blessed me with the opportunity to befriend, I am duty bound to ask the question "Why?" and to research and explore, and find some answers.
And I'm not writing this article not for MD's and PhD's. I am writing it to you, my friends: the addict, the addict's friend, the addict's family member. And if I start to lose your attention because of my choice of words or my citing of research, please be confident that in the end, you will understand what I have to say.
Please believe in your ability to produce a positive change. Your questions, answers, and experiences matter to me, and matter to someone out there whose life you could save. Always remember what our goal is here: we are trying to figure out why all our friends are dying to a vicious disease–a disease that, if we're being honest, wants me dead, and I bet wants you dead too. So don't let any my intellectual snobbishness prevent you from addressing an epidemic that has changed all of our lives forever.
Already some of you have open-and-closed my research. "Addiction is a progressive disease that if left untreated results in death." I agree with that statement, and so doesn't the American Medical Association. But addiction is not a unique psychological illness. There are social/environmental causes that precipitate the disease.
One need only compare the rates of addiction in The United States with that of other countries.
It is highly unlikely that everyone with the biological trait that makes addiction more probable, somehow ended up in the United States.
Something precipitates addiction in American society, whether it is political or sociological/social psychological. There is an anomaly (something different) in the United States that leads to the highest rates of addiction in the world. The answers to the question, "Why have I lost so many people to this disease?" is closer to being answered when we discover these anomalies–these variables.
Let's take a look at the political anomalies. The United States has a political system that requires candidates to consistently raise money. A congressperson is required to raise $15,000 a week to hold on to his or her seat. That money is not coming from you or me. It is coming from the pharmaceutical lobby. (Aliyah Frumin, "How much does it cost to win a seat in Congress? Well, if you have to ask…" Hardball with Chris Matthews. MSNBC. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/how-much-does-it-cost-win-seat-congre Accessed on 17 August 17)
So far this year, the lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry has spent $1,657,260,107 on bribing your federally elected representatives to pass laws that benefit the pharmaceutical industry (retrieved from OpenSecrets.org on 9 March 2017).
Money has already had harmful influence on our government, but senators like the statesmen Senator John McCain witnessed the greed and harm that infected our federally elected politicians. Senator McCain pushed for limits on the amount of money special interests could donate (or legally bribe) to our elected representatives (keep in mind, as I speak highly of McCain, a Republican who subscribes to a political philosophy that I oppose, still garners my absolute respect and admiration. He is an American–and a hero–who realizes that money is corroding our democracy). With Senator Feingold he wrote legislation that would limit soft money contributions to campaigns.
The conservative Supreme Court's Decision with Citizens United turned corporations into entities protected by freedom of speech. Even though corporations exist solely to seek profit in the short term without regard for the harm they do to human beings, they are allowed to donate as much money as necessary to sway the electorate. They achieve this through the use of Super-PAC's, which supposedly have no connection with a candidate's campaign, even though the campaign directs their people to donate to their particular super PAC, which is run by people who are close to the candidate's campaign. The SJC's decision has turned this country into a corporatocracy. The echo of "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people" grows more and more distant.
Why is this important to the issue of addiction? The money donated to campaigns by OxyContin's producers, Purdue Pharma, "greased the wheel" for FDA approval. And at the time, there were no laws prohibiting companies like Purdue Pharma from enticing doctors and medical professionals from prescribing certain drugs.
How many people do you know received an injury and were given opiates like OxyContin? Did the Doctor tell these people how addictive opiates are and how a tolerance builds that requires one to ingest the same amount just to not feel sick? These drugs were pushed on medical professionals by pharmaceutical industries. According to Forbes Magazine:
The FDA approved the medication in 1995 and it soon took off. By 2003 OxyContin sales hit $1.6 billion as the drug helped drive a huge nationwide spike in opioid prescribing. At its peak in 2012, doctors wrote more than 282 million prescriptions for opioid painkillers, including OxyContin, Vicodin and Percocet – nearly enough for every American to have a bottle. (Chase Peterson-Withorn, "Fortune of Family Behind OxyContin" Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2016/06/29/fortune-of-family-behind-oxycontin-drops-amid-declining-prescriptions/ accessed on 9 August 2017)
Let's discuss the corrosive proclivities that exists in the social psychological make up of American society. A pervasive sense of hopelessness in the souls of most Americans suggests a lack of fulfillment.
The genesis of this spiritual malady begins at a young age. We are exposed to commercials and advertisements that darken our souls with the belief that happiness is an external search. We seek money and material goods more than we seek peace, happiness and serenity, which can only be found in the deepest recesses of our minds. The Jesuits at BC High taught me that happiness requires that we commit acts of justice–we must be "men for others". And I never feel more fulfilled while engaging in acts of justice–particularly social justice. I always hoped that achieving my Bachelors Degree would allow me to be a man for others.
But we who were "lucky enough" to attend college, are corporate slaves in two ways. Most of the jobs available have a corporate atmosphere that engage in individual competition. We are stuck with jobs that promote an "Ayn Rand" philosophy. We owe a lifelong debt to Corporate America, not for helping us achieve a higher education, but for billing us with minimum payments that ensure that we will remain a mucilage nobody, a number, a sucker, to corporates America.
The American Dream is exactly that, a dream. Conservative, Friedman economic policies have made the American Dream elusive for folks seeking forward mobility. Despite my BA in Political Science and my 3.4 GPA, I am a cement mason for local 534. And I am lucky to have found this union. Being a corporate slave or stuck working retail with no options, one can be tempted to numb oneself.
You did everything right, yet you still lack independence. A BA doesn't get a person as far as it once did. Because of conservative policies, starting with Reagan, which continued with Clintons and the DLC who sought to turn the Democratic Party into a fiscally conservative party, the middle class has slowly disappeared. No jobs, the inability to take care of your family, the rampant hopelessness, all lead to drug use. (Carl Latkin, PhD.; Aaron Curry, PhD; Wei Hua, MD, MS; Melissa Davey MPH, CHES; "Direct and Indirect Associations of Neighborhood Disorder with Drug Use and High Risk Sexual Partners" American Journal of Preventative Medicine Vol. 32 Issue 6 (2007) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749379707001110 Accessed on 16 August 17
The United Nations has been able to quantify the happiness of each country. The countries that are the most happy are Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland. What do these countries have in common: universal healthcare, union membership of 80-90%, free day care, good schools, lack of corruption in business and governance. (Retrieved from http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2017/) Essentially these countries learned–a long time ago, at around the same time we were unlearning it–that the economic power of the United States came from the strength of the middle class created by the social programs promulgated by FDR: social security and medicare. Now we have a population of folks who have gone from the middle class to dependency on the government to feed themselves. This is an erosion of their independence and liberty. They are victims of bad government policies and are left with shame and guilt. Some numb that economic hopelessness and the erosion of help in the form of social programs with drugs and alcohol.
Our friends that have succumbed to this diabolical disease are not just the victims of their genetic make up. They are the victims of a society the values money and materialism over human life. Our society is based on the lie that materialism and self-interest are the traditional traits of American Society
We must strive to live the truth. We are meant to serve one another, and be selfless. We are meant to to be "men for others". When we subscribe to an ideology of selflessness, we can achieve genuine. happiness. Alcoholics Anonymous states that we must give back what we were freely given in order to maintain our serenity. When we refuse to become a cog in a corporate machine that propagates selfishness and greed, we are protecting ourselves from avarice, evil, and even relapse.
Enlighten friends about the materialism and selfishness rampant in our society. Create the "power of the powerless" as Václav Havel would refer to us. Fight back against the political forces and the spiritually sick sociological state in which we live that has cost so many young lives. Václav Havel writes:
THE PROFOUND crisis of human identity brought on by living within a lie, a crisis which in turn makes such a life possible, certainly possesses a moral dimension as well; it appears, among other things, as a deep moral crisis in society. A person who has been seduced by the consumer value system, whose identity is dissolved in an amalgam of the accouterments of mass civilization, and who has no roots in the order of being, no sense of responsibility for anything higher than his own personal survival, is a demoralized person. The system depends on this demoralization, deepens it, is in fact a projection of it into society. (Vaclav Havel, "Power of the Powerless" retrieved from http://www.vaclavhavel.cz/showtrans.php?cat=eseje&val=2_aj_eseje.html&typ=HTML accessed on 16 August 2017
As Vaclav Havel states in this quote, when we feed into the selfishness of a consumerist society, we become demoralized. What does a demoralized person turn to? Drugs. When we live a life dedicated to the service of your fellow man, you will find that elusive happiness.
Pharmaceutical corporations created the synthetic heroin known as OxyContin that led many of my people to become heroin addicts. The pharmaceutical industry pays an astronomically high price to our politicians for the right to deal drugs.
Corporations have reduced us to consumers who seek happiness through external means. When we seek happiness externally we are bound to be unhappy. Corporate greed and the milieu it has created has formed a society of demoralized citizens. This demoralization of our society is the reason we have lost so many friends. Are we going to fight back, or will we continue to allow the demoralization of society by corporate America?
Trump antonymic to American and Christian Values
MLK beautifully writes of Aquinas' view of human law: "An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality."
To my fellow American Catholics and Christians, I ask you to ponder Aquinas' view of human law. Then I ask you to ponder if laws that involve building walls, propagate homophobia, harm our planet's environment, and ban people of a certain religion from entering this country, pass Aquinas' test of human law: does it follow the divinely gifted natural law and uplift the human personality?
The Bill of Rights were born out of the natural law. We have a right to them. And indeed our Founders believed natural law came from God, just as Aquinas did. John Quincy Adams writes:
The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.
Jesus, Aquinas, and The Founders sought not to divide us into factions; instead they sought to unite us under God's Natural Law. Trump and his supporters iniquitously seek to divide us according to skin color in The United States, and to divide the world into the Muslim World and the West. It is a complete deviation of Catholicism, Christianity, and American Principles. I am offended and incensed at the folks who voted for Trump and those who support such a deviation from our national principles, especially when so many have fought and died for those principles.
Two wars are often cited when one speaks of men and women making the ultimate sacrifice for our natural rights bequeathed by God: The Revolutionary War and in World War II. And then there are folks, who blasphemously wrap themselves in the American flag while harboring the most hateful, racist beliefs. They have not the faintest notion of what that flag represents.
They voted for a man who is antonymic to the principles that those Americans died protecting. The only solace of those who made the ultimate sacrifice was that these great, sacred, and undeniable American values would be eternal, and that generations of Americans would be blessed to live in a country promulgated with a belief in God's Natural Rights. The Preamble to the Constitution states:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal. That they were endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. – Thomas Jefferson
Already Trump has clearly extolled his disbelief that all men are created equal; his ubiquitous racist and sexist remarks prove that. Tax breaks to the wealthy and a vindictive drive to destroy the American Affordable Heath Care Act (Obamacare) means more to him than the lives of thousands of Americans.
Obamacare has saved the 50,000 American lives (retrieved from https://www.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/professionals/quality-patient-safety/pfp/interimhacrate2013.pdf on 3 August 2017) Even if you question the methods of the cited article, it is accurate to say that many Americans diagnosed with cancer would have went bankrupt, lost their homes, and their possessions. But because of Obamacare, they're able to stay in their homes, keep their possessions, and focus on getting treatment, without worrying about where they would find the money to stay alive.
And this is what Trump is lobbying Congress to repeal. The Consitution guarentees the right to life; nowhere does it say that you have an undeniable right to life, only if you have a pre-existing condition–only if you have Blue Cross. His tax breaks and bloated military budget take from the "least of these" and give to those who have plenty.
The most egregious form of Trump's trampling over our natural rights enshrined in our Constitution is his colluding with the dictator of a belligerent, completely self-interested enemy of The United States–treachery not experienced since Benedict Arnold.
And then there are Trump's treacherous lies. He lost by 3 million votes, and overwhelming evidence proves that he is lying to the American people when he claims that millions of illegals voted–another testament to his lack of moral fabric, lack of character, lack of honesty and overall unfitness to lead anything, especially this great country–a country whose greatness lies in its values and not in a hateful demagogue who has no respect for life.
The most egregious of Trump's treachery is his collusion with the Russian government to damage his opponent. This makes his election illegitimate. He is a pretender who has committed treason. He has demonstrated his scorn for the sacred right that is an essential component of any healthy democracy. It is our natural right and the people's sovereign power to elect their leader without undue, outside influence.
The United States has an important role to play in international relations. Yes, we have done terrible things throughout history, both internationally and domestically. No institution, church, or society is without sin, and that's because we are human. We an only hope to keep progressing and learn from our mistakes We are not a completely self-serving country. Right now in Venezuela, where a brutal civil war rages, we have enacted sanctions to stop the pernicious Nicolas Maduro–who has already torn the Venezuelan Constitution to shreds–from becoming dictator,.
Our most powerful tool in international relations is our soft power: the ability to influence the behavior of other international actors (other countries) by the appeal of our values and by our benignant actions.
We are losing our soft power. The world does not want to revert to tribalism and fight a clash of civilizations. Even our Western Allies are beginning to abandon us. The people of the world, including most Americans, want to progress towards a world that follows the standard set by Aquinas, Jesus, and The Founders. Does American Law follow God's natural law and uplift the human spirit?
Every president should respect and revere God's Natural Law set forth in both the Constitution and Christianity. Donald Trump, who constantly attacks the way people look, whose vindictiveness and hatred lead to vitriolic rhetoric; who espouses racist beliefs; whose treacherous use of Russian intelligence to influence the election (he actually asked for Russian assistance during a debate), was nothing short of a coup. He is antonymic to God's Natural Law, The Constitution, and Christianity.
Paul Adams Jr.
The Trump Doctrine? Ask Putin
Trump has already damaged our international reputation. His first act as Commander-in-Chief resulted in the death of an 8 year old, and the death of one of our best, a Navy SEAL, Chief Petty Officer Owens and three other injuries Yet, unlike his predecessor, Trump, most likely due to his Johns Hopkins' diagnosis of malignant narcissism, blamed President Obama. Ironically (perhaps not for someone suffering from Trump's personality disorder) President Obama never signed off on this raid. He questioned the wisdom of getting even more embroiled in Yemen with special forces. Trump went on to blame the generals after not getting the traction he wanted in the story that blamed Obama.
At the end of his predecessor's presidency, the United States enjoyed an 89% rating in Germany, an 84% approval rating in France (yes, France), and a 79% approval rating in the U.K.–our most important ally. These numbers are mind blowing in how Trump managed in 8 months to turn Germany's approval rating of 89% to 11%. France went from 79% to 14%. The UK–I'll reiterate "our most important ally"–from 79% to 22%.
These are our allies; our fellow NATO members; the countries that are supporting our attempt (or at least our former attempt under Obama) to curb Russian aggression–the country who interfered in our election and has recently committed more cyber attacks against us; the country that invaded Georgia and Ukraine.
I do not believe this country has ever seen such blatant incompetence in The White House, especially in matters of international relations. We have gone from being the Leaders of the Free World to an isolated country whose allies are bewildered by Trump's cozying up to the dictator we are supposed to collectively hold in check.
Trump is quite audacious to call President Obama's foreign policy weak. President Obama decimated al Qaeda, pushed ISIS out of Iraq, and gave the order to kill bin Laden, all while increasing the popularity of the United States in the Middle East and Europe, which allowed for the genesis of nascent democratic movements in countries with ultra-conservative, inherently undemocratic Sharia Law.
President Obama allowed the Reform Party of Iran enough room to breath by pulling most troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. This strategy resulted in the victory of the Reform Party of Iran and the ouster of one of the world's most dangerous despots, known for chanting "death to Israel" while secretly maintaining a nuclear program: Ahmedinijad. Without firing a single shot, Obama ridded the West of one of its biggest problems. Not only did Obama's strategy rid the world of one of its unstable despots, but for the first time since the Iranian Revolution, we have a government in place where hatred of the "Great Satan" (The US) doesn't seem to be a requisite in serving in the government.
Yet the president did not yield from aggressively pursuing terrorists in The Middle East. Instead of wielding a sledgehammer and deploying divisions of troops on the ground and destroying cities and their infrastructures, President Obama wielded a scalpel by using targeted drone attacks (I know folks protest the morality of drone attacks, and this is an important debate) and by deploying the best trained, most disciplined, and most courageous special forces units in the world, we have successively killed the new leader of ISIS every time someone was chosen for the job. After the series of successful raids by "an elite team of American Commandos" not one of the incipient leaders wanted to take the leadership position.
His Middle Eastern Foreign Policy was the the work of a brilliant statesman. Calling it weak, was a Republican talking point that unfortunately caught on with some folks, particularly Trump supporters.
The trouble is that most Americans are too inundated with work, domestic issues, their families, or maybe even "weapons of mass distraction" to study Middle Eastern foreign policy (Even after studying it and keeping up with it for four years, I still have questions, and I definitely don't have all the answers). So a simple sound bite, "Obama is weak on foreign policy", although a mindless sound bite and the antithesis of the truth, was affective. And as rhetorically gifted as President Obama is, he and his surrogates were not gifted enough to explain Middle Eastern Foreign Policy in 30 second sound bites.
If jihadists are keeping Russia's client state Syria, and, therefore, the Russian military busy why bother putting boots on the ground? And why play brinksmanship by firing Tomahawks into a Syria that contains Russian military hardware and military personnel. I may sound harsh and illiberal. I know innocent folks are getting killed, but there isn't any good outcome for the United States. Putting US Troops in Syria would create regional unrest, propaganda for terrorist organizations, and would accomplish nothing.
Just as Saudi Arabia is our client state–and thus allowed to perpetrate some of the worst human rights' abuses in the world–Syria is Russia's client state–and thus, since Putin's Russia views Western ideas of natural law and human rights as a threat to the power of the state, Syria commits even worse human rights' abuses, such as the use of sarin gas on a civilian neighborhood. Syria most assuredly made it difficult for President Obama to sleep peacefully. It had already cost Trump some sleeplessness back in April of this year.
However, U.S. Intelligence claims no evidence exists that supports Trump's claim that a sarin gas strike by Assad back in April of this year ever took place. The Russians even supplied the United States with the intelligence that in Khan Sheikhoum high level jihadists were planning a meet. The meeting would take place on the first floor of the building, but in the basement, Jihadi rebels had stockpiled propane, insecticides, fertilizers, chlorine, etc., forcing the local population to deal with the jihadi rebel economy.
The Russians and Assad are close to winning this war, and both are rational actors. Why use sarin gas when you just got the newly elected President Trump to agree to allow Assad to stay in power? American Intelligence said no sarin had been used–that it was the chemicals stockpiled in the basement that caused chemical poisoning. Furthermore, this was a Russian made guided missile.
Trump–despite all of his advisors advice–needed to bomb something because he alone thought there was a sarin gas strike. So his advisors told Russia and Russia told Syria about the upcoming strike. I think of the belly laughs emanating from a Russian diplomat explaining to his Syrian colleague that a bombing was being staged solely to soothe the ego of America's megalomaniac. Syria removed its most important aircraft out of harms way. The only punishment doled out was to the American taxpayer. Assad and Putin laughed at us that night.
At least President Obama realized that sometimes the greatest move in "the three dimensional chess" that is international relations, is to not make a move until you see all the pieces on the board–until you have all of the necessary intelligence (rather than ignore the necessary intelligence). President Obama may not have had a straightforward move in Syria, but he at least did not give up. He kept our Russian adversaries busy in a Middle Eastern quagmire of their own by arming the folks he thought to be the least of the evils and of course the least threatening towards the United States. Russia undoubtedly felt the effects of the American rebels. The Russian military interceded and bombed the positions of American rebels.
It is almost comical for Trump to have audacity to call Obama weak on foreign policy. Trump has destroyed American credibility with his treatment of allies and his embracing of Putin. Let's not forget that Obama sent weapons to the Ukrainians to fight Putin's Russia–the country that took it upon itself to annex Crimea because the soft power that Obama wielded (more on that later) brought Ukraine over to our side.
To prevent Russia from violating the sovereignty of yet another country, he put American military hardware and American troops on Polish frontier bordering Russia, knowing that Russia would not dare to attack US troops, thus protecting the territorial integrity of Poland. Similar DMZ's with American advisors were set up in other friendly Baltic states. With Obama at the helm, the world was on our side, once again viewing the United States as the benevolent superpower.
Then Trump with the help of Putin succeeded to the presidency. He insults our Western Allies and questions the legitimacy of NATO–the alliance with our Western allies that helped us win the Cold War. Trump alienates our NATO allies at a time when NATO's importance is as great as it was during the height of the Cold War.
Perhaps just as distasteful is how Trump praises Putin. He truly emulates the man who single-handedly dismantled liberal democracy in Russia. Putin is one of the biggest villains we have seen since Nazi Germany.
Yet Trump wants to get along with Russia? A country that has troops in one of our ally's sovereign territories; a country that suppresses free speech; arrests and even kills opposition leaders; a country that has no other foreign policy goal than the furthering of its own interest. Trump must be psychologically projecting when he calls Obama weak; not in the course of history have we had a president so weak. It is beyond weak: it is cowardice; it is treachery; it is ignorance.
And our friends have already had enough. The United States was isolated at the G20 Summit. We were the only country not to sign the environmental accord–it is not often that one country comes out of the G20 as the only country not to be a signatory of an agreement. These events are pre-planned by an advance of diplomats to prevent such an embarrassment. The leaders of our Western Allies did not even want to be seen with him or have their pictures taken with him.
Just like that, Trump turned Obama's "three dimensional chess" of international relations into bowling, knocking down ally after ally. Now we find ourselves alone in the world and friendless. A friendless country, now hated by the allies that have helped us shape the world order for over 72 years, a country made weak by the lie who still o
The only foreign policy strategy that I've seen out of The White House is talk loudly and carry a small stick. Unless you are really ready to turn North Korea into "fire and fury" don't say it. Trump has served to display every negative stereotype used by our enemies around the world to Bd ree c3 brainwash their citizens. He essentially gave Kim a huge win just by uttering such an idiotic phrase. The greatest president, in my opinion, was a Republican: Theodore Roosevelt. He changed the importance of the presidency and was able to achieve a far greater role for the executive branch. His words were "talk softly and carry a big stick." TR's stay at what he dubbed The White House, were the years America became a great power. The construction of the Panama Canal and the manufacturing an American Navy that could rival any Old Europe's navies. Although economically progressive, he believed in a strong military. His sage advice in foreign policy, "talk softly and carry a big stick," was adhered to by President Obama. His foreign policy prowess is something that will be reflected in American History when one studies his legacy.
It is, therefore, unfortunate that Putin is getting exactly what he wanted with Trump. After Congress–no doubt protecting its own hindquarters with November fast-approaching–passed sanctions against Russia for interfering in our election, Trump refused to sign it for a week. Trump put some serious thought about whether to be loyal to his Party or Putin. But Putin, a brilliant man, of course had his puppet sign his own Party's legislation, especially with enough votes to override the veto. Trump was not happy about having to sign it, and he said so publicly. He essentially admitted signing the bill so that the Trump White House would not be rendered toothless. At least he's honest about why he screwed the Russians.
But Putin already got what he wanted: A weakened West, a weakened United States that is globally hated, an incompetent White House with an undignified, offensive, obtuse president who is presiding over the loss of the superpower status of the United States, and a cabinet and staff laden with people who have worked for Putin's interests, including a Secretary of State who considers Putin a friend.
Can the Executive Branch of The United States escape from Putin's clutches? Will ever regain superpower status? Unless we elect a truly competent president, well-respected by the world, in four years–a person who can rebuild our relationship with Europe, reimplement Obama's foreign policy, and explain that Trump won because of Russian interference and an antiquated electoral college system without coming across as the dreaded "apologist"–then American hegemony may be forever lost.
Our own allies publicly speak of moving on without the United States. Some Trump supporters may not care or may even celebrate our cutting ties with Europe and the rest of the world, but that is because they are philistines with no concept of international relations and the globalized economy.
The United States does not just help protect Europe because of our benignant behavior. In a globalized world of interconnected economies and limited resources, our Western Allies are just as necessary to us as we are to them. They help protect our shipping, they help us counteract Russia's attempts to gain more-and-more natural resources (and it is important to note here that Russia uses its natural resources like oil as a form of international extortion), our Western Allies are on the front lines with Russia. helping us protect any further violations of the sovereignty of neighboring states by Russia; Europe, particularly Germany is the home of important American military bases that allow us to respond to situations rapidly; our European allies share intelligence with us; they are our allies in fighting Muslim extremism.
Furthermore, the United States has soft power (or we did have soft power until Trump single handedly destroyed it). Soft power is our ability to affect another international actor's behavior based on the appeal of our values, based on the popular support of The United States within the country whose behavior we seek to affect, and based on whether-or-not a country views our goals as benign.
Soft power is a major asset for the United States. Ukraine's decision to vote for a pro-Western/pro-American government was soft power at work. However, when we act against our principles soft power no longer works effectively. By praising Putin and picking Paul Manafort (yet another Trump associate connected with Putin–the rest we know of are pictured below) for a campaign manager. Manafort worked for the Russian government by expanding Russian influence in Ukraine–a US ally.
Putin has managed to interfere with our sacred democratic voting process. Putin purposely damaged a candidate who would have continued Obama's policy as defining Russia as an adversary. He helped a man win the presidency whose obtuseness, especially with foreign policy, gives Putin what he needs to continue to behave nefariously.
Even as a candidate, Trump questioned the necessity of NATO. And since it damages our leverage and soft power, it can be assumed that with America's low approval ratings around the world, including amongst our strongest Western European allies that Putin is planning on posing half-nude somewhere in the Russian wild.
Western-Russo relations have not been this tense since Reagan first got elected. Putin with his sociopathic brilliance sewed dissension between Western Europe and The United States–a successful divide and conquer strategy. He has plenty of Russian associates in the White House, and an American Secretary of State who met with Putin several times since 1999, made several lucrative deals with him, and was awarded the Russia Order of Friendship by Putin personally.
We may have gotten a brief break from the Cold War in the 90's, but Reagan's famous "Tear Down This Wall" moment, and the victory he and Pope John Paul II are credited with, was definitely not the finale to the Cold War.
Welcome to Cold War 2.0, and America we are losing. Putin an ex-KGB official and Russian Dictator used one of America's greatest strengths as a weakness: the sacred democratic process of electing our own president. When a country interferes in our democracy to ensure the weaker candidate, Trump, who, if involved with Russia himself, has chosen many people for his inner-circle who once promoted Putin's interest. This was nothing short of a successful coup–a coup that just might have caused the most powerful country on earth since the 40's to lose its hegemonic status. But Putin has his weaknesses too.
The United States should continue arming Syrian rebels and draw Russia to the point where they are sending ground forces. Russia wants Syria as a client state, then let them Russia be the great evil in the eyes of ISIS and jihadists. As that happens there needs to be a build up of weapons and paramilitary forces in the Crimea. Finally, the Caucuses will disintegrate again into a conflagration. During this time period, we move one fleet into the narrow Bosporus Strait of the Black Sea. At the same time, we renew our ties with our European Allies, by electing someone personable, who believes in international liberal institutions, who treats world leaders with respect. With our Western Allies, we covertly fund the Russian opposition, and use the NSA to the best of our ability. A liberal democratic movement exists in Russia, but they are afraid of the power of the state. Weaken Putin a little through sanctions, proxy wars, and a reunited NATO, these weaknesses might make him look vulnerable at home.
Are You American
America is isolated from its allies. We are embroiled in scandals that could very well prove this president the 21st century Benedict Arnold. He has ruined the dignity of the office with his immature tweets and cyber bullying. His maturity level is that of a teen. His actions are ensuring that the hardliners will continue to gain support in Iran; unlike Obama he won't stay out of the Saudi/Iran Sunni/Shia feud. He doesn't have the courage to stand up to Putin and Netanyahu–the biggest bullies in the international community who refuse to respect the sovereignty of their neighbors.
And when Israel builds settlements on Palestinian land, who do Muslims blame: The United States. That is the major reason why Wababi Muslims attempt to attack us. Netanyahu is aggressively encroaching on Palestinian sovereignty which is a danger to Israel, and to The a United States. And there's only been one President who had the brains and the balls to allow the UN to censure Israel for ignoring international law, and that's President Obama. And I get a kick out of the folks who call him anti-Semitic for allowing the censure to go through; you realize that these settlements put both the US and Israel in danger. Even a growing number of Israelis say enough-is-enough with the settlements.
Putin has violated the sovereignty of two neighboring states in recent years. Who do you think was arming the Ukrainians who were fighting the Russians?–Obama. Who promulgated sanctions against Russia?–Obama. And now who wants to be buddy buddy with the Putin and is trying to stop the new sanctions from going through?–Trump. Who has 7 associates that met with Russian men and women tied to the government during the campaign?–Trump. Come on people! Wake up! His own son met with someone with ties to the Russian government.
And I hear this argument from Trump supporters: it's good to get along with Russia. You guys sound like a reincarnation of Chamberlain. Why would we abandon our Western Allies for an adversarial country who interfered in our election; who has attacked Ukraine; who is a dictator who suppresses free press; violently stamps out any political opposition; acts solely on the self-interest and the interest of the oligarchy; who is committing cyber war against us? Are you people American? Do you believe in our sacred Democratic principles and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights written by Eleanor Roosevelt?
When President Obama was in office for 8 years, America became a world leader again. 69% of folks saw the US in a positive light. Now we're sinking down to 49%. If you think that doesn't matter, then you know nothing about international relations. Soft Power–the ability to influence nations based on trust and on the appeal of your principles–plays a very important and powerful role in international relations.
Ironically, the people that voted for Trump are some of the same people that called Obama a Muslim Terrorist despite the fact that he destroyed al Qaeda, gave the order to kill bin Laden, and forced ISIS out of Iraq.
Now we have a president who is protecting America's adversary. Who had several people meet with Russian officials during the election and conveniently forgot about it, including his own son. Yet I don't hear any outrage from Trump
supporters. You allowed an arrogant, wealthy, sorry excuse for a human being whose goal is to take away the benefits and programs of two of our greatest presidents: Theodore Roosevelt and FDR. He's cutting your benefits to give tax cuts to the wealthy, he's gutting the federal government, including TR's National Park Service, he's gutting education to ensure that more working class people are stupid enough to vote against their own interests by using racism to pit working class people against each other, and he's trying to do away with Obamacare–a bill that has saved countless lives.
So I ask you this? Are you for American values? Or are you with Trump and Russia? Pick a side. I choose The United States of America!
African Americans Teach us to Maintain or Hope
To be an Afro-American, or an American black, is to be in the situation, intolerably exaggerated, of all those who have ever found themselves part of a civilization which in no wise honorably defend–which they were compelled, indeed, endlessly to attack and condemn–and who yet spoke out of the most passionate love, hoping to make the kingdom new, to make it honorably and worthy of life. (James Baldwin, No Name In The Street, (1972)
James Baldwin, wrote these words in 1972. They are profoundly prophetic and apropos. I'm reminded of the political revolution led by an African American, President Obama, whose treatment by many ignorant people, including the current president, was abhorrent, slanderous, and racist.
Yet Obama did not allow racial division and hate to give way to hating; he did not allow hatred and condemnation to nix his capacity to love; he inspired unity among blacks, Hispanics, educated whites, and even among the demographic Democrats find so elusive, working class whites. We were, in the words of James Baldwin, "hoping to name the kingdom new, to make it honorably and worthy of life." And I am forever grateful to President Obama for renewing my hope that politics can bring about positive changes in people's lives.
Despite the years of enslavement and persecution, African Americans have faced over the years, black people have refused to relinquish their hope–in fact, despite the "sweltering heat of oppression" America's black leaders have spoken far more eloquently than any other demographic about maintaining hope in the face of injustice–in the face of tragedy.
I emulate the black community–a community I admire just as much as my own communinity–and I will not let the tragedy of the 2016 Election rob me of my hope, nor my motivation to seek a more perfect union through political participation.


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Welcome to BMAA
What's new:
Area Solar Eclipse Activities and Events
Solar Eclipse Activities on August 21st 2017
This is only a list of activities/events that we know about.
Upper Moreland Free Library 1- 4 PM Click here for details
109 Park Avenue Willow Grove, PA
Southampton Free Library 1:30 – 3 PM Click here for details
947 Street Road Southampton, PA
Warminster Free Library 1 – 2 PM (Event is fully booked)
1076 Emma Lane Warminster, PA
Margaret R. Grundy Memorial Library 1 – 4 PM Click here for details
680 Radcliffe Street Bristol, PA
Tyler State Park 1 – 4 PM Safe solar viewing through a telescope
101 Swamp Rd, Newtown, PA
In parking lot closest to the Newtown-Yardley bypass
Bucks County Community College 1 – 4 PM Click here for details
275 Swamp Rd, Newtown, PA
The Franklin Institute 12 – 4 Click here for details
222 N 20th St, Philadelphia, PA
Norristown Library 1:30 – 4 PM Click here for details
1001 Powell St, Norristown, PA
Eclipse Live Streams
ABC TV two hour special from 1 – 3 PM EST
Pinhole Projector Links
Welcome to BMAA
You can contact us at – firstname.lastname@example.com
Eclipse Web Links
Total Eclipse Live Streams https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/eclipse-live-stream https://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse What time is the eclipse? https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/ Pinhole Viewers https://youtu.be/vWMf5rYDgpc http://hilaroad.com/camp/projects/eclipse_viewer/eclipse_viewer.html Eclipse Safety https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/safety https://www.space.com/35555-total-solar-eclipse-safety-tips.html Eclipse Information https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/ https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/solar.html Certified Solar Safe Eclipse Glasses (where to buy) Rainbow Symphony https://www.rainbowsymphony.com/eclipse-glasses/ American Paper Optics https://www.amazon.com/American-Paper-Optics/pages/10809333011 Thousand
2017 Perseid Meteor Shower
People have fond memories sitting out on warm summer nights enjoying this annual meteor shower. It often gets some exposure by the media, but rarely do they take the time to explain some key aspects of the event. Let's review some
June 7 Monthly Meeting: Preparing for the August Solar eclipse!
We will have a special video presentation by Fred Espanek. This talk was actually given at the 2016 NEAF meeting. It's one of the best, detailed explanations describing all of the potential weather and observing conditions across the entire U.S. path for the 2017 eclipse. So if you're planning to
May 3 meeting: Telescopes, our favorite tools!
The special presentation will deal with aspects of the telescope for observing; types, advantages/disadvantages, selection and maintenance. We will also have a silent auction for a variety of telescopes that have been donated to BMAA (large, small and in-between). Our meetings, starting at 7:30 pm, are open to the public

subset: commoncrawl


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NCL Recruitment 2017, NCL Released Job Openings Notification, Northern Coalfields Limited Jobs 2017 released for Trade Apprentice posts at nclcil.in.
NCL Trade Apprentice Notification 2017: Northern CoalFields Limited is all set to announce Rojgar Samachar for Trade Apprentice job profile through its official web page www.nclcil.in. Registration process has already started from 24th February, 2017 which will last till 13th March, 2017. As mode of registration process is online so just by sitting at your place aspirants can be a part of current recruitment announced. Total number of vacancies is on limited scale I.e. 432 seats.
NCL Recruitment 2017
Candidate who will register themselves in between mentioned dates only their application form will be taken into consideration. 10th Passed or ITI completed aspirants are eligible to take part in recruitment announced by them. Before engaging yourself into job notification announced by them make sure that contender has successfully gone through its official advertisement published by them. Educational qualification, age limit, selection procedure, pay scale etc. need to go through.
Total number of vacancies is on very limited scale so dream of only 432 candidate will get fulfill to get employment in government sector. Various selection rounds will be scheduled by organization based on their performance on it final merit list will be prepared. While submission of application form certain documents is needed to upload in its official website which is mentioned on its official notification published by them.
NCL Trade Apprentice Recruitment 2017 Notification
|Institute Name:
|Northern CoalFields Limited (NCL)
|Official Web Page:
|Job Act:
|Trade Apprentice
|Total number of vacant seats:
|Post wise vacant seats:
|Job Area:
|Job Class:
|Semi Government Job
|Starting date of registration process:
|24th February, 2017
|Final date of registration process:
|13th March, 2017
|Mode of application process:
NCL Vacancy 2017 Eligibility Criteria
Education Accomplishment:
- In order to be a part of current recruitment process it is mandatory to accomplish 10th class from well recognized board of India.
Age Boundary:
- Lower age of candidate should be 16 years & its upper age limit should be 24 years, reserved category appellants will be given age relaxation according to government rules and regulations.
Procedure for Selection:
- Written Exam & Personal Interview Round will be scheduled for all successfully registered aspirant their performance will be judged from its selection round.
Examination Fee:
- To get more information of application fee refer to its official notification.
Salary Scale:
- Refer to its official notification where post wise pay scale is defined.
Steps to apply for NCL Online Application Form 2017:
- Aspirants who are going to be part of current recruitment process should refer to its official web page.
- After landing into home page of it click on its official notification & have a look at every detail such as educational qualification, age limit, selection process, pay scale etc.
- Fill each & every detail in application form click on submit button after submitting examination fee.
- Download it, save it for future use.
Click here to Download NCL Jobs Notification 2017
Click Here to Download NCL Jobs 2017 Application Form
After referring to complete article candidate can share their views or thoughts via below given comment box related to NCL Recruitment 2017.


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Marathi PaniniKeypad IMEFree
This is an IME (input method editor), that allows one to type in Marathi any where inside the phone. One can type sms, email, chat, ,messages, facebook, twitter, whats app etc. PaniniKeypad is an fast & easy way of Marathi typing on android phones & tablets. Letters along with words are appearing on keypad & preview bar. You can select the word or continue typing. There are two rules of typing: 1. Look for your characters on screen & touch it. 2. Press 'NEXT' for more characters. Watch Jodakshar typing video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCvvr_iwUn4 For Jodakshar or half letters, put Halant in between two consonants. Halant is a character (with +sign) shows with RED colour, easy for recognition. Ex: माझ्या = म+ा+झ+् (Halant)+य+ा Twice press space button to put fullstop. Installation: 1. Download and install this application on phone. 2. Go to "Settings"-Language & input-Select PaniniKeypad IME-check on. 3. Go to "Settings"-Language & input-
Downloads: 8,257+ (for Android)Report app for spam or abuse!
Recommended apps
Vidmate - HD Video downloader and live TV Free
Vidmate is an app that lets you download videos and songs from loads of multimedia sites
UC Browser International Free
No more freezes. Enjoy the smoothest surfing. Compresses data, speeds up navigation and saves MBs


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Check out this cool light bulbs. They look like they are melting. This is the creation of Dutch designer Pieke Bergmans as part of her ongoing Design Virus project.
The bulbs are hand made and inside there are LEDs. Interesting to decorate a library for example. Too bad that you can't buy them on the market.
[ via ]


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Pest Control
Why Hire Us
Our Team
Customers' Pets
3003 Bennett Dr, Bellingham, WA 98225
Find us on:
Sign In Customer Portal
Click Here to Get a Quote
Click Here to Leave Us a Review
Rodent Pest Control Services
In Mt. Vernon & Anacortes, WA
We offer
full Pest Control services
to residential and commercial accounts throughout Whatcom and Skagit counties. We are active members of local and nationwide associations which allows us the resources to stay current on the newest and most effective pest control treatments available. Please see links below for additional information on each association. Please see links below for additional information on each association.
Stinging Insects
Pavement Ants
Odorous House Ants
Carpenter Ants
Yellow Jackets
Store Sale Items
Away With Geese
EndZone Fly Stickets
Bumble Bees
Wood Boring Beetles
Moisture Ants
Damp Wood Termites
Rodent Exclusion
Bird Exclusion & Clean Up
Stinging Insects
House Mouse
The House mouse is a commensal (living in close association with Humans) The house mouse is usually light grey or brown and is 3"-4" long and weighs 1/2-1 ounce. The muzzle is pointed, the ears are large, & the eyes and body are small.
The House mouse may produce 8 litters per year averaging 4-7 young per litter.
The House mouse may spread salmonella contamination & leptospirosis.
The house mouse can cause damage by gnawing plumbing, electrical, & damage to insulation.
Roof Rat
The Roof Rat is a commensal (living in close association with Humans) The Roof rat is dark brown to black in color & measure 13"-18" in length including tail. They weigh 5-9 ounces. The muzzle is pointed, eyes and ears are large.
Adult Roof Rats may produce 4-6 litters per year each averaging 6-8 young per litter. Adults may live from 9-12 months.
Rats can spread disease. Sometimes they transmit disease directly by contaminating food with their urine or feces.
Roof Rats can cause damage by gnawing plumbing, electrical, & damage to insulation.
Norway Rat
The Norway Rat is the largest of the Commensal (living in close association with humans) rodents. The Norway Rat is grayish-brown with a pale grey belly and can grow up to 18" long including the tail. They weigh 7 to 18 ounces. The muzzle is blunt, eyes and ears are small and the tail is shorter than the head and the body.
Adult Norway rats may produce 3-6 litters per year each averaging 7-8 young 'Adults may live from 6-12 months.
Rats can spread disease. Sometimes they transmit disease directly by contaminating food with their urine or feces.
Norway Rats can cause damage by gnawing plumbing, electrical, damage to insulation, & damage to foundation & structures from burrowing.
The most common spiders in the Pacific Northwest are. The Aggressive house spider sometimes called the Hobo spider is a member of the (family Agelenidae) commonly called the funnel-web spider or funnel weavers. These spiders build funnel webs in dark moist areas, often in basements, and sit in the mouth of the funnel waiting for prey. Wolf Spiders (Family Wcosidae) These are large, dark, and somewhat hairy spiders that hunt down prey on the ground. They often wander into homes in the cool autumn. Jumping spiders (family Salticidae) These compact, active and usually colorful spiders often are found on window sills and ceilings where they stalk and pounce on unsuspecting flies and gnats Orb weaving spiders (family Araneidae) These belong to the largest family of spiders. All construct the circular, flat, wheel-like web in which they trap flying insects. Sheetweb spiders (family linyphiidae) These small drab spiders engineer dew speckled webbing that enshrouds fields and forest in the early morning. Hackled Band Weavers (family Amaurobiidae) A robust spider. Is common crawl-space inhabitant of houses in western Washington.
You really have to work to get bitten by a spider, because they do not want to bite you. Spiders tend to avoid people and have no reason to bite humans because they are not bloodsuckers and do not feed on humans. When spider bites do happen, they will tend to occur because the spiders are surprised by a person reaching into a glove or rolling over on a spider in your bed. Even then however, the majority of spiders are not toxic to Humans. Many spiders are not even cable of piercing human flesh. The Black widow and Brown Recluse are not native to the pacific Northwest.
There are several types of fleas, but the most common is the Cat Flea. Fleas are very small brown in color and range in size from 1/12" -1/6" long, and are wingless, latterly flattened, and have piercing/sucking mouth parts. A flea can jump 7 to 8 inches vertically and 14 to 16 inches horizontally. Fleas go through a complete metamorphosis (Egg, larva, pupa, & Adult) After each blood feeding female fleas will lay 4-8 eggs at a time. Eggs hatch in about 10 days, pupal stage could last up to 20 weeks. Development from egg to adult requires from 16 days to a year or more. Vibration will stimulate and speed up this process. Adult Fleas feed on blood with their piercing/sucking mouth parts. Typically, they will seek a blood meal within 2 days of becoming an adult. Many people don't even know they have a flea problem until they and their pet are away from the house for an extended period of time. This happens because the fleas will get hungry while the host is away. This will cause them to become highly active when returning to the home.
Stinging Insects
Social Wasp (yellow Jackets, Bald Faced Hornets, Paper Wasp) Social wasp have the typical wasp body type that features a very distinct head with the chewing mouthparts, short-elbowed antennae, and large compound eyes. Paper wasp are colored yellow, black, brown, and red, depending on the species, with 1/4"4" long slender bodies. They build paper nest of a single comb no paper covering. Yellow Jackets usually are marked with bright yellow and black pattern. They appear to be hairless and are about 3/8"-5/8" long. Bald Faced Hornet is similar in appearance to the yellow jacket except that it is black and white in color and S/8"-3/4" long. Yellow Jackets and Hornets build their paper nest in stacks which are surrounded by a paper envelope. Yellow Jackets usually build their nest below ground and in other protected locations. Bald Faced Hornets build their nest in trees and on the sides of buildings. Social wasp contains three individuals, or castes: Queens, workers, and males. Fertilized Queen will overwinter in a protected area until spring. In the spring the queen emerges and builds a new nest. In about 30 days the first workers emerge. By summer there is a great increase in the number of workers and the nest expands rapidly. By late summer the worker populations are at their peak and the workers become pestiferous; the production of the new queens and males begin. In early fall, the new queens and males emerge. The colony starts to decline. The new males and queens mate, the males die and the fertilized queens seek sheltered places to overwinter. The nest is gradually deserted and the nest will disintegrate with the onset of cold, wet weather. (If nest survives the winter it will not be reused.) The cycle repeats the following year.
The Bumble Bee is a big hairy black and yellow bee. Their size ranges from %"-1 /2" in length. There are over 200 types of Bumble Bees in the world. Bumble Bee nest are typically in the ground. Fertilized Queen bees come out of hibernation in the spring and start a new colony in a new location. The first batch of larvae is daughter which are workers, they will immediately start working on building the colony. The queen will continue to lay eggs for the rest of the summer. Towards the end of the summer the queens will start to produce drones and young queens. The young Queens are fertilized by the Drones, then fly off to hibernate. The colony's remaining drones and workers stay in the colony and die during the winter season.
Bumble Bees are very important, beneficial insects for pollinating, and should be left alone unless they are a danger to people or pets.
One of the most Familiar insects in the world is the Honeybee. This member of the insect order Hymenoptera plays a key role in the human and natural world. Honey Bees are normally about 3/4" if in length. Honey is a thick liquid produced by certain types of bees from the nectar of flowers. While many species of insects consume nectar, honeybees refine and concentrate nectar to make honey. Bees make lots of honey so they will have plenty of food for times when flower nectar in not available, such as winter months. Unlike most insects, honeybees remain active through the winter, consuming and metabolizing honey in order to keep from freezing to death. Honeybees are social insects. In the wild they create elaborate nest called hives containing up to 20,000 individuals during the summer months. Domestic hives may have over 80,000 bees. Honeybees work together in a highly structured social order. Each bee belongs to one of three specialized groups called castes. The Castes are Queens, Drones, and Workers. There is only one Queen in the hive. The Queen's job is simple. Laying the eggs that will spawn the hives next generation of bees. If the Queen dies, workers will create a new Queen by feeding one of the worker females a special diet of food called royal jelly. The elixir enables the worker to develop into a fertile Queen. Queens also regulate the hive's activity by producing chemicals that guide the behavior of the other bees. Male bees are called Drones. Several hundred drones live in each hive during the spring and summer, but they are expelled for the winter months when the hive goes into a lean survival mode. Workers are the only bees that most people ever see. These bees are female that are not sexually developed. Workers forage for food (pollen and nectar from flowers). Build and protect the hive, clean, circulate air by beating their wings, and perform any other social functions. These are the only bees that can sting. Males bees do not sting. As the field bees (Older Workers) forage for nectar, pollen sticks to the fuzzy hairs which cover their bodies. Some of this pollen rubs off on the next flower they may visit, fertilizing the flower and resulting in better fruit production. Some plants will not produce fruit at all without the help of honeybees. In the United States alone, it is estimated that honeybees accomplish % of the pollination needed for all fruit produced for human consumption, an estimated $10 billion worth of work each year. Whenever possible you do not want to kill honeybees. The preferred method is to have bee's removed by a beekeeper.
The Pavement Ant Tetramorium Caespitum (Linnaeus) is an introduced species and is one of the most commonly encountered house infesting ant. Pavement ants are 1/16"-1/8" long and vary in color from dark brown to black. They are a two node ant with a 12 segmented antennae.
Very little information is known on the Pavement ant colony. Most colonies are located under sidewalks, building slabs, large rocks. It is common to see sand piles and small soil particles in structures near cracks in concrete slabs, foundations or cracks in sidewalks.
Pavement Ants feed on a wide variety of food. Sweets, including sugar, nectar, fruits and syrups, but they prefer meats and greases.
The Odorous House Ant (Tapinoma sessile) is a native species, found throughout the United States. It earns its name by producing a foul coconut odor when crushed. Worker ants are 1/16" — 1/8" long and are a brown to black color. They are a single node ant with a 12 segmented antennae.
Odorous house ants may mate in nest forming new colonies by budding from the original colony. Colony size may range from 100 -10,000 and may have several Queens. (which makes this a hard ant to control)
Odorous House ants travel in trails and prefer sweets
Carpenter ants have several species (Camponotus species) The 2 most destructive species in the Western United States are the C. modoc and the C. Vicinus. Carpenter ants are among the largest ants in north America with workers ranging from 1/8"- 34" long. The modoc Carpenter Ant is black in color while the Vicinus Carpenter Ant varies in color but is usually red and black.
Mature colonies may range from several thousand to 15,000 including satellite nest. Carpenter Ants complete their life cycle in about 60 days. Swarmers do not appear in the colony until usually 3-4 years.
Carpenter Ants do not consume wood but excavate it to make their nest. This often begins in an area where there is damage from water or wood decay. From here they will expand the nest into sound wood and compromise structural integrity. They will nest in wall voids, hollow doors foam insulation, & fiberglass insulation.
Carpenter Ants feed on sugar solutions from honey dew producing insects such as aphids, sweets and the juices from insects they capture.
In the Pacific Northwest there are four cockroach species that may be encountered in structures. The two most common in the pacific Northwest are the Adult Brown Banded cockroach & the German cockroach followed by the American Cockroach, & the Oriental Cockroach.
Brown-Banded Cockroaches are about 1/21" long when mature, light brown in color and have two light yellow brown bands running across their bodies. Nymphs and females are broad when viewed from above, while the male is slender. The males' wings cover the abdomen, whereas the females wings are short, exposing the Abdomen.
Female Brown-Banded Cockroaches produce about 10-20 egg capsules each and could hold 14-18 eggs. The egg capsules get carried for 24-36 hours before they get attached to a protected area. Nymphs then emerge in approximately 70 days, molting 6-8 times before becoming adults within a 90 to 270 day time frame. Adults could live for about 6 months.
German Cockroaches are M"-5/8" long when mature, light brown to tan in color with two dark brown lengthwise stripes on the shield behind the head. Adults are fully winged but rarely fly. Female German Cockroaches produce 4-8 egg capsules each containing 30-40 eggs. The female carries the egg capsule till approximately 1-2 days before hatching then she will deposit them in a safe protected area. Nymphs molt 6-7 times before becoming adults. The process requires approximately 100 days, which allows 3-4 generations per year. Adults live up to 12 months. Because German Cockroaches produce more eggs and has more generations per year than any other cockroaches, a troublesome infestation can rapidly develop.
Most of the woodboring beetles found in structures in the northwest belong to the family Anobiidae, the death watch beetle. The western death watch beetle is responsible for most of the damage to wooden structures along the coastal areas of western north America. People rarely see these insects. Adult beetles range from 2-5 mm long and are reddish to chocolate brown in color. Eggs are 0.5 mm long, white, and teardrop shaped. Larvae are white, c-shaped and 5-6 mm long when fully developed. Pupation takes place just beneath the wood surface.
Adult beetle mate during July and August, and females soon lay 10-30 eggs singly or in groups of 2 to 10 within natural depressions of wood. Eggs hatch in about 3 weeks, and newly emerged larvae bore directly into wood or, quite commonly, leave the oviposition site to find a more suitable place to feed. Anobiids may spend 5 to 6 years or longer in the larval form feeding on wood. In late spring early summer, mature larvae bore tunnels to within a few millimeters of the wood structure to pupate and change into adults. Adult beetles chew a small circular exit hole and emerge. This cycle will continue until all available nutrition has been depleted. Structure-infesting anobiids occur primarily in older homes that have crawl spaces or damp basements. These beetles also infest outbuildings, such as barns or garages. Wooden support timbers, floor joist, and subflooring are commonly infested. The insects will attack new hardwoods (maple, walnut, oak) and softwoods (Douglas- fir, cedar, hemlock or those that have been in service for many years.
Rodent Exclusion is a process of finding entry points where Rats and mice may be entering the structure. After entry points are found they will be sealed or repaired with a method that Rodents will not be able to gain access to the structure again.
Bird exclusion is much like rodent exclusion. Find entry points of birds remove nest if possible, sanitize area of nest and seal off entry point. Bird exclusion may also consist of netting, or bird spikes if required.
Moisture Ants are yellow to a brown in color and are a monomorphic species which means all workers are the same size, and range in size from 3-5 mm long.
Reproductive swarming occurs in the late summer, this is when most people realize they have an infestation. These ants frequently appear associated with rotting wood in houses. While several species may bring moisture into the wood structure to increase damage, the colony initially started in wood in an advanced stage of decay. These ants are not considered structural pest as the problem invariably existed before the colony was established. Moisture ants need moisture to survive. If decayed rotted wood is replaced with sound lumber problem will be taken care of. Chemical control measures act as a temporary solution by killing the ants.
Dampwood have three castes: Reproductives, workers, and soldiers. Dampwood Termites are generally much larger than Subterranean termites. The swarmers may be up to 1" in length. Including their wings and are kind of a mahogany color. The winged reproductive (swarmers) have a pair of long, equally sized wings attached to the last two thoracic segments. The wings are broken off after swarming. Termite antennae have bead like segments. The soldiers of the Dampwood Termite have a large reddish-brown head and large multi-toothed mandibles and are 3/8"-3/4" long. The workers are white to cream color, have dark abdomens and are 1/8"-1/3" long.
In most cases, control can be achieved by eliminating or repairing structurally unsound wood and correcting moisture problems. Spraying alone will not eliminate this pest.
Memberships & associations
Washington State Pest Management Association
National Pest Management Association
Building Industry Association of Whatcom County
Environmental Pest Control
Bellingham, WA
will accept calls and emails to book your next pest control service. Whatcom
or Skagit


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Milky Oats and Tulsi Potion
$ 12.00
This is my most popular medicine and I highly recommend it to those who wish to gently and sweetly heal their nerves and help their body deal with it's day to day stress. In this potion I have paired mineral rich Milky Oat tincture and mood-boosting Tulsi honey together into an easy to take powerful medicine.
Milky Oats come from the seed pod of the Oat plant. We cultivate organic oat seed and harvest the oat tops before they are fully mature and at their peak milkiness. The milk is rich in vitamins and minerals and is valued as a nourishing food for the nerves. Milky oats like milk itself nourishes the body in many different ways and with regular intake aids in healing stress related issues like anger, exhaustion, loss of sleep and muscle tightness. Milky oats are gentle, kind and enriching. One of my favorite daily tonics.
Tulsi is a delicious herb in the basil family, also know as Holy Basil. Sacred to India and cherished for it's immune, anti-inflammatory, and overall mood boosting qualities. Tulsi is best know for being an adaptogen and will help the body and mind deal with stress when taken regularly. Tulsi is one of my favorite herbs to cultivate, it's sweet bubblegum aroma brings joy to those within smelling distance. Just like the smell, as a medicine it promotes joy and ease to those who partake. One of my favorites for taking every day both as a tincture and as a tea.
Contains: Garden fresh Milky Oat (Avena sativa) tops extracted in organic gluten free cane alcohol and fresh Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) flower & leaf extracted in local raw honey. Sold in a 1oz. or 2oz. (depending on the size you choose) amber glass bottle with dropper
Recommended dosage: Take 1-3 dropper-fulls (1.25 ml-3.75ml) up to 3x a day or use as needed. Because it is slightly sweet and the alcohol is diluted with herb infused honey you can take this potion right on your tongue as well as in a beverage of your choice.
*I am not a medical doctor I am a community herbalist. I am not diagnosing or attempting to treat medical conditions. Please practice safe herbal medicine usage. Especially during pregnancy, while breastfeeding, giving herbs to children and if you are already taking medications.


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A Self-Evident Truthby Phong Bui
"For milk to become yogurt, it needs culture."
—Willem de Kooning
In Germany, under Hitler's regime, artistic expression was banished as a form of Bolshevism. In Russia, under Stalin, it was denounced as "bourgeoius cosmopolitanism". In mid-50s America, Abstract Expressionists met with aggressive censorship by members of the House Un-American Activities Committee. More recently, in October of 1999, Rudy Giuliani threatened to cut off city funding for the Brooklyn Museum because he deemed a painting in one of its shows to be "offensive." And last month, Governor George Pataki issued highly publicized threats against the International Freedom Center and the Drawing Center for their display of "anti-American art."
History has not been kind to those who attack the creative spirit. Nor should it be. Freedom of expression is our birthright as Americans. And so we dedicate this issue to all our comrades in this genuinely patriotic "war for freedom." All of us here at the Rail wish you a great summer!
ContributorPhong Bui
HOUSE OF LADOSHA with Laila Pedro
MAR 2016 | Art
For the past several years, the relentlessly multi-tasking, reinventing, genre-blending House of Ladosha has drawn on a seemingly endless lineage of references and influences to produce immersive nightlife, performance, and installation experiences. Working across and beyond intersections of gender, race, humor and politics, House of Ladosha has created a world of meaning and connection that is fully embodied by its members even as it transcends its own social context.
by Joseph Nechvatal
Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color
MAY 2016 | ArtSeen
An initial question intrigued me on visiting the American modernist painter Beauford Delaney's Parisian show Resonance of Form and Vibration of Color: How did a black gay painter remain so full of light and joy during the struggle against racial and sexual bigotry taking place in the 1960s?
From Welcome to Farewell:
by Felix Baum
Germany, the refugee crisis and the global surplus proletariat
JUL-AUG 2016 | Field Notes
In the summer of 2015, almost overnight, Angela Merkel transmuted in international public perception from a brutal whip of austerity policies, relentlessly squeezing already impoverished populations in the crisis-ridden South of the European Union, to the last defender of the humanist values Europe likes to take pride in.
Standing with Syrians: An Open Letter to an Anti-Imperialistby Philip Rizk
FEB 2017 | Field Notes
Eva is a real person whom I have known since 2007, as described in this article. But in this text Eva stands for many politically engaged individuals, whether outspoken or silent supporters of the Syrian regime and its allies. I will not re-post her photo here. In a world flooded with images, it is important to maintain our ability to imagine a moment.


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About GTVI
Glamour Television's
Classic Erotique
presents the fine art of erotica culled from a divergent spectrum of sculptural pictorials. The aim is to restore the requisite elegance and sensibility traditionally imparted to all
things well-intentioned. Eroticism is not measured or explicable in terms of beauty; but at Glamour Television
style is a cardinal hallmark. Welcome to Glamour Television.


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Clip comes from two-night stand at the Metro in 2008
Longtime producer Tony Visconti says Bowie may do a single concert to celebrate new LP
Check out the pop phenomenon's cover shots and read the stories
Clip accompanies song from the soundtrack to HBO's 'Girls'
Put your smartphone away, stop shouting 'Freebird!' and start enjoying the show already
Former Smiths guitarist releases new single from 'The Messenger'
Singer re-recorded song that first appeared on a 1998 LP
New documentary trailer packs in behind-the-scenes footage
Late singer's daughter, Alia Rose, talks about her mother's final songs
'Rihanna is a pothead and so am I, so we're real cool. Weed is going to bring us together as a generation'
SoCal vets get a charge out of tour openers
Two rival proposals aim to end Senate obstructionism this year
New album from New York rockers to hit stores on April 16th


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Murder in Los Feliz
Upscale Los Feliz was rocked this morning by an apparent robbery attempt that ended in murder.
Cops were dispatched to the Chevron gas station at North Vermont Avenue and Los Feliz Boulevard, a business well known to locals, at 5:25 a.m., according to Los Angeles Police Department Officer Irma Mota.
"A male suspect entered the Chevron gas station and attempted to rob the location," she says. "He shot multiple rounds at the clerk and struck the clerk."
The shooter fled in a vehicle, but there was no good description of either, according to police. The victim was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, Mota says.
The identity of the deceased was not immediately disclosed.
On Facebook the Los Feliz Village Business Improvement District posted the news. "Sad day in Los Feliz Village," the group stated. "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the clerk."
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Rhubarb Custard Pie
READY IN: 1hr
Recipe by Barbasol
Another recipe from my dear friend Mary. It's the only way I have eaten Rhubarb. You can adjust the sweetness or tartness to your taste with the amount of sugar.
Top Review by Miss Diggy
I had some rhubarb that I had boecause I bought when I was craving some. This recipe was easy and stood out to me with very few ingredients. It is SUPER! Nothing less than fabulous, and I am glad I stumbled across this one. Thanks so much for adding this here.
See Discussion:1 Review
Ingredients Nutrition
Directions See How It's Made
- Prepare your favorite flour based pie crust, (no top needed).
- Beat eggs.
- Add sugar, flour, rhubarb, salt.
- Pour into shell, bake 45 mins.
- at 350 degrees till it doesn't"jiggle" in the middle.


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Kusti Manninen
Muita ideoita: Kusti
http://www.tipsforplanningaparty.com/howtothrowakaraokeparty.php has some advice on how to put on a karoake event at home or at a club.
Los Angeles, California #LA #Palms
animal head grunge hipster vintage indie polaroid style
Pinterest ☼☽ emyasmin ☾☼
Turn the f$!#k uppppp
Legendary Los Angeles nightlife
In a recent survey, it has been claimed that if given a choice most men prefer Audi R8 over girls/women. Description from audiindia.blogspot.co.uk. I searched for this on bing.com/images


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Nationwide Concrete Flooring the industrial concrete flooring specialists
has just completed the design and construction of a new cast instu concrete
floor slab for a speculatively constructed warehouse on the outskirts of
Middlesborough in Teeside. The concrete floor slab was 6,000m2 in area and
the entire construction duration on site for Nationwide Concrete Flooring
was just two weeks following the initial design period with the client, main
contractors and consulting engineer.
The concrete flooring contractors work began with the laser graded sub base
levelling of the final 40mm layer of stone. The Korec levelling machine that
Nationwide Concrete Flooring utilise trims the final working platform to a
tolerance of +/- 5mm from overall datum with a quality graded stone
Signature joints manufactured by Permaban were installed as both the day
joint and construction joint. Should you require further information on the
Signature joint please see the specific steel joint section within our
Readymixed concrete supplied by Cemex Materials UK Limited was supplied at
the rate of 42m3 per hour in order to keep up with the demand required by
the concrete flooring contractors Somero SX-P D laser screed concrete
levelling machine.
On the completion of the concrete power floating process, the floor slab was
sealed using Sika Proseal curing agent and dust inhibiting compound. The
joints were subsequently sawn induced and then sealed with Instant Seal 101
the concrete contractors own joint sealant product.
For further details on this industrial concrete floor slab in Teeside or
indeed any other concrete flooring projects please contact one of our
estimating team on 01405 704722 or alternatively e-mail us at