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Evangel University is launching the fall semester with its traditional Spiritual Emphasis Week, taking place September 3-6.
Daily sessions will take place Tuesday through Friday mornings at 10 a.m. in the university's chapel auditorium. There will also be evening sessions Tuesday through Thursday at 7 p.m. (see schedule below).
All are open to the general public.
"Evangel has students from a wide variety of academic disciplines and church backgrounds," said John Plake, campus pastor. "During Spiritual Emphasis Week, we come together to connect with one another around our faith in Christ. It's a very refreshing time for everyone."
The featured speaker for the week, Dr. Bryan Jarrett, will be speaking on the theme of Possibilities in Evangel's chapel auditorium. Jarrett is pastor of Northplace Church in Sachse, Texas, a northeast suburb of Dallas.
No stranger to Springfield, he has spoken at Evangel in the past, earned his bachelor's degree from Central Bible College and holds a Doctorate of Ministry from Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.
This year, with CBC and AGTS consolidating into Evangel, it is the first opportunity to schedule events as a comprehensive university.
"Bryan has a great feel for where we are — he understands the dynamics at all three schools, and he is respected at all three," said Plake.
Additional speakers include Rev. Doug Clay, General Treasurer of the Assemblies of God USA, and Rev. Brian Schmidgall, lead pastor at MiddleTree Church in St. Louis, Mo. He and his wife, Mary, planted the inner-city church in 2009.
For additional information, contact the Spiritual Life Office at 417-865-2815, ext. 7396.
Date | Times | Speaker |
Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013 | 10 a.m. & 7 p.m. | Dr. Bryan Jarrett will speak on the theme of Possibilities. |
Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013 | 10 a.m. | Dr. Bryan Jarrett will continue his series on Possibilities. |
Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013 | 7 p.m. | Doug Clay, General Treasurer of the Assemblies of God (USA) will speak on church-planting. |
Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013 | 10 a.m. & 7 p.m. | Dr. Bryan Jarrett will continue his series on Possibilities. In the morning service Evangel will play a 5-minute video about Brian Schmidgall's church in St. Louis. The film is titled Glow. |
Friday, Sept. 6, 2013 | 10 a.m. | Brian Schmidgall will speak on church planting and specifically on his work in St. Louis. |


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First grade marks a transition to a more academically oriented approach to learning. Children may now be in a full program after half-day kindergarten, and may now sit in rows instead of circles or in peer groups.
Math instruction becomes more academic, too. Lessons are more structured, and there are new facts to master. But unlike math classes of days past, when 1st graders were given rules and facts to memorize and then practiced endlessly on worksheets, today's best teachers emphasize experiences that deepen and strengthen kids' understanding of the ideas behind the computations.
Focus on Sums
First grade teachers may spend half the year or more on addition and subtraction. Most states have standards that aim for all 1st graders to know the addition facts, and corresponding subtraction facts, for sums to 20. But before kids can master these basics, they need to understand the nature of adding and taking away. Subtraction tends to be a concept that is especially difficult to comprehend. "There should be a lot of time spent on experiencing and understanding what the operations mean," says Cathy Seeley, President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. "If you introduce the rules when a subject is only partially set in a child's mind, he'll become confused."
To that end, teachers use objects and games and challenge their first graders to think creatively about numbers. They may show children a group of objects and ask them, "How many ways can we make 6?" and together come up with 2 and 4, 3 and 3, 1 and 5, and 6 and 0. They will teach "fact families," a term for using the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction to solve problems. For example, 5, 4 and 9 is a fact family. If 5 plus 4 equals 9, then 9 take away 5 must equal 4.
Shortcuts to Learning
Most 1st grade teachers employ little tricks to help kids master addition and subtraction. They'll grab almost any object to show how to get 3 and 6 to make 9. They generally won't suggest counting on fingers, which can become a tough-to-break habit later. But they have other time-tested learning aids, such as making tally marks with pencil and paper (a series of parallel lines, with the fifth line in every "bundle" crossing the other lines diagonally), and counting forward for addition and backward for subtraction.
Knowing the sum of doubles, like 8 plus 8, and learning to skip-count (count every other number) is another shortcut. Many teachers encourage 1st graders to memorize their doubles up to 20, and to be able to count by 2's, 5's, and 10's to 100. For example, if your child knows instinctively that 8 plus 8 is 16, he simply has to add one to know the answer to 8 plus 9.
Once the concept of adding and subtracting has clicked, kids need to gain fluency. Teachers play fun games that take advantage of the growing importance of peers in first grade. My son's teacher plays a game called "four corners." Kids rotate through four different math centers in which they play different games. In the first, they take turns showing each other subtraction flash cards; in the second, they roll dice and add the two numbers that appear; in the third they use cards with fact families and try to create as many addition and subtraction facts as they can; in the fourth, they practice addition with flash cards. "Emotional and social interactions are so important to first graders," says Addie Fasulo, a 1st grade teacher at Brookdale Avenue School in Verona, New Jersey. "Pairing children together is a great way to motivate them to learn math."
Money, Time, and More
Word problems are a staple on standardized tests, and your child will get her first taste of them this year. She'll learn that word cues like "all together," "put together," and "in all" indicate that the numbers should be added, while phrases like "how many more," "compare," and "find the difference" suggest subtraction.
Your child will also learn about place value, which provides the foundation for learning to "carry over" or "regroup" when adding or subtracting multiple-digit numbers. To help kids understand the concept of the 1's, 10's and 100's place, a common strategy is to use a bundle of straws or Popsicle sticks to represent each place. For instance, to show 24 in Popsicle sticks, you'd put 4 sticks in the "ones" bundle and 2 in the "tens" bundle.
Money is also part of the 1st grade curriculum. A valuable skill in and of itself, it is also a hands-on way to practice adding and subtracting and understand place value. Your child will learn to exchange dimes for pennies and count and make change, perhaps in a pretend classroom store.
Other continuing math concepts include telling time to the nearest half-hour, recognizing shapes, reading thermometers, and using measuring tools, such as rulers. You can also expect your child to do elementary algebra with addition and subtraction problems that involve figuring out which part of the equation is missing, rather than the sum. (Eddie had 14 balloons. Some floated away. He had 5 left. How many did he lose?) He'll learn to organize and compare data, estimate, and continue patterns. Perhaps most vitally, he'll learn the "why" behind his answers, and get in the habit of explaining his reasoning. Even though some parents may be eager for their kids to push ahead to regrouping and other higher-level math skills, teachers realize that these concepts will come more easily when they're built on a solid understanding of the basics.


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You won't find a shortage of clever tricks to boost your iPhones volume with everything from paper to ceramic bowls. Seedio is a new app that seeks to solve the same problem, but it does it by turning several iPhone's into one large speaker.
In order to use Seedio, you need to have the app installed on every iOS device you want to turn into a speaker. Set up one of the devices as the hot spot by adding a list of songs, and then every other device receives music directly from the original. When it's all set up, every iOS device you have connected is synchronized and plays the same music at the same time—effectively boosting the speaker volume for each device you add. You can add up to five devices at once (we didn't have that many to test).
Seedio works surprisingly well. Running it on an iPhone and an iPad created a noticeable volume improvement. It could come in handy for that BBQ when everyone has an iPhone, but no outdoor speakers. If volume isn't your thing, you can also use Seedio to share what you're listening to live with friends in the immediate area, or even as a remote if you have two devices in your house (one connected to the stereo receiving music, the other seeding music from your pocket).
Seedio is free for a limited time in the iTunes App Store.


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Cardinal: Church's Humanitarian Work Must Have Christian Identity
A top Vatican official has told the Catholic Church's aid arm that it must retain a vibrant Christian identity.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, was speaking at the general assembly of Caritas Internationalis, the international alliance of Catholic aid and development agencies.
In the homily to open the assembly on Sunday, he told the charities that their work "could never be limited to assisting people's material needs."
He warned them against neutrality, saying that it would encourage recipients of their charity to be materialistic.
Such an act of care would not, he maintained, reflect the "full dignity" of people.
"The Church's charitable activity, like that of Christ, could never be limited to assisting people's material needs, however urgent and immediate those needs might be," he said.
"A humanitarian assistance which would habitually prescind from its Christian identity, adapting a 'neutral' approach seeking to please everyone, would risk, even in cases where it obtained its immediate goals, failing to offer men and women a fine service consonant with their full dignity."
He continued: "Thus, even without wishing to do so, they would eventually foster in those whom they assist a materialistic mentality which the latter would then bring to other relationships and to their approach to social issues.
"In a word: the Church must not only practice charity, but practice it as Christ did."
Caritas' General Assembly opened on Sunday in Rome and will run until Friday. The agenda includes discussions on the strategy for the next four years and the election of the next Caritas Internationalis president, treasurer and secretary-general, as well as representatives for its board and executive committees.


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January 10, 2008
The MIT Center for International Studies, in cooperation with the History and Democracy Project and the U.S. Section of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, convened a one-day meeting on January 10, 2008, at the Wilson Center to explore the liberal tradition in U.S. foreign policy. Seven scholars and three interlocutors, and an invited audience of forty, provided insights on Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and others, and how they informed and shaped this tradition with respect to democratization and rights, global economic equity, war and peace, and other topics. This exceptionally rich conversation is captured on this video. Click here to see the agenda.
Conference Papers
FDR's Four Freedoms and Midcentury Transformations in America's Discourse of Rights More than Multilateralism: Economic Dimensions of Liberal Foreign Policy A Man Ahead of His Time? Wilsonian Globalism and the Doctrine of Preemption The Liberal Moral Sensibility Writ Globally Wilson, Bush, and the Evolution of Liberal Foreign Policy Wilson and the Founders: The Roots of Liberal Foreign Policy |
Panelists and Organizers
James G. Blight
James G. Blight is a professor of international relations at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. He began his academic career as a cognitive psychologist, but later turned his attention to a new method, critical oral history, for investigating post-world War II U.S. foreign policy conflicts and crises. He is the author and co-author of twelve books on the recent history of U.S. foreign policy, including Sad and Luminous Days: Cuba's Struggle with the Superpowers After the Missile Crisis and Wilson's Ghost: Reducing the Risk of Conflict, Killing and Catastrophe in the 21st Century. He has served as a consultant on several documentary film projects, and is the co-author, with Janet Lang, of the forthcoming companion book to Koji Masutani's film, "Virtual JFK: Vietnam, If Kennedy Had Lived."
Elizabeth Borgwardt
Elizabeth Borgwardt is Associate Professor of History at Washington University in St. Louis, where she teaches courses on the history of human rights ideas and international law and institutions. An international lawyer as well as a historian of twentieth century America, her book A New Deal for the World: America's Vision for Human Rights (Harvard, 2005) has garnered awards for the Best Book in the History of Ideas, Best First Book in U.S. Foreign Relations, and the History Honor Society's Best First Book Award.
Nick Bromell
Nick Bromell is the founder and Executive Director of the History and Democracy Project, and an Affiliate Fellow of the Center for American Progress. He is Professor of English and American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the author of By the Sweat of the Brow (Chicago University Press, 1992) and Tomorrow Never Knows (Chicago University Press, 2002). His articles and essays have appeared in Fortune, Harper's, The Boston Globe, The American Scholar, and numerous other publications.
Rachel Glennerster
Rachel Glennerster is Executive Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT. She was senior economist at the International Monetary Fund, and has taught at Harvard's Kennedy School, among other posts as an economic adviser and scholar. She is coauthor of Strong Medicine: Creating Incentives for Pharmaceutical Research on Neglected Diseases (Princeton University Press, 2004).
Charles Maier
Charles Maier is a historian of modern European and international history at Harvard, where he has directed the Center for European Studies. He has written on European politics and economics throughout the twentieth century and on American foreign policies in the Cold War era. His book, Among Empires: American Ascendancy and its Predecessors, appeared in 2006. An essay: "Beyond Statecraft: American Foreign Policy and Global Social Transformation," will appear in a collection on "Foreign Policy after the Bush Administration," slated for publication in summer 2008.
Erez Manela
Erez Manela is Dunwalke Associate Professor of American History at Harvard University, where he teaches international history and the history of the United States in the world. He is the author of The Wilsonian Moment: Self-Determination and the International Origins of Anticolonial Nationalism (Oxford University Press, 2007). He has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Baruch/Marshall Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, and the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard, among others. Professor Manela is currently working on a history of the global campaign to eradicate smallpox in the twentieth century.
Julie Mertus
Julie Mertus is Associate Professor and Co-Director of the MA program in Ethics, Peace, and Global Affairs at American University. A graduate of Yale Law School, Professor Mertus has twenty years of experience working for a wide range of nongovernmental and governmental human rights organizations. Her book, Bait and Switch: Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy (Routledge, 2004) was named "human rights book of the year" by the American Political Science Association Human Rights Section. Her other books include Human Rights and Conflict (editor, with Jeffrey Helsing); The United Nations and Human Rights; Kosovo: How Myths and Truths Started a War, and The Suitcase: Refugees' Voices from Bosnia and Croatia.
Tony Smith
Tony Smith is Cornelia M. Jackson Professor of Political Science at Tufts University. His most recent publications include America's Mission: The United States and the Worldwide Struggle for Democracy in the Twentieth Century (Princeton University Press, 1994); Foreign Attachments: The Power of Ethnic Groups in the Making of American Foreign Policy (Harvard University Press, 2000); and A Pact with the Devil: Washington's Bid for World Supremacy and the Betrayal of the American Promise (Routledge, Taylor, Francis, 2007).
Amy Sayward Staples
Amy Sayward Staples is the author of The Birth of Development: How the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization, and World Health Organization Changed the World, 1945-1965 (2006) as well as several related articles. She is currently serving as the Co-Chair of the Program Committee for the 2008 annual meeting of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) and as Chair of the History Department at Middle Tennessee State University.
Philippa Strum
Philippa Strum is Director of the Division of U.S. Studies at the Woodrow Wilson Center and Broeklundian Professor of Political Science Emerita at City University of New York-Brooklyn College. She is the author of numerous volumes including Louis D. Brandeis: Justice for the People; When the Nazis Came to Skokie: Freedom for the Speech We Hate and, most recently, Women in the Barracks: the VMI Case and Equal Rights (University Press of Kansas, 2002).
John Tirman
John Tirman is Executive Director of the MIT Center for International Studies, where he is also Principal Research Scientist. Previously, he was Program Director at the Social Science Research Council, Fulbright Senior Scholar, and Executive Director of the Winston Foundation. Among his ten books on international relations are Multilateralism Under Challenge? (UNU Press, 2006, coeditor and coauthor), and Terror, Insurgency and the State (Penn Press, 2007, coeditor and coauthor).
Robert Westbrook
Robert Westbrook is a professor of history at the University of Rochester, where he has taught for over twenty years. He is the author of John Dewey and American Democracy (1991), Why We Fought: Forging American Obligations in World War II (2004), and Democratic Hope: Pragmatism and the Politics of Truth (2005). He has recently written regularly about the Iraq war for The Christian Century and is at work on a book about the American moral imagination in World War II. In 1994 he served as senior counselor to then Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ).
Ted Widmer
Ted Widmer is the Director of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, and the author of several works of early American history. He was a speechwriter for President Clinton from 1997-2001. His book, Ark of the Liberties: America and the World, is forthcoming.


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[PLEASE NOTE: Updates to this analysis have moved to a new page, here.] Here we go again! The latest quarterly TV viewing figures from Nielsen are in, giving us 6-and-a-half years' worth of Americans' traditional TV viewing habits to examine. If you've been keeping track of these quarterly updates, you know by now that youth are watching far less traditional TV than they used to. Is there anything new in this latest study [download page], covering Q2 2017? Let's take a look.
Before getting to the data and trends, a quick note on methodology. The below data in large part concerns "traditional TV" viewing, which averages out all live and DVR/time-shifted TV viewing (such as video-on-demand) during each quarter. As such, it is a measure of legacy TV viewing on set-top boxes, and does not include viewing via connected TV devices. While time-shifted TV viewing is growing, it still represents only a fraction of total "traditional TV" viewing. For example, among the total 18-24 population, weekly live TV viewing averaged 11 hours and 22 minutes per week in Q2 2017, while DVR and time-shifted TV viewing averaged 1 hour and 21 minutes per week.
Editor's Note: Given the popularity of this analysis, we have expanded it into a premium report, The State of Traditional TV Viewing, covering a 5-year period from Q1 2012-Q1 2017. The study examines viewing figures and trends for both the total population and TV viewers across all age brackets and race/ethnicities, acting as a perfect complement to this article. The report also analyzes the influence of on-demand viewing, traditional TV's share of screen time across demographic groups, and traditional TV's position in the wider video content landscape. The report is now available for purchase here.
Below the analyses of viewing trends, this article contains:
- Data concerning changing habits as Millennials age, from the Q4 2015 Nielsen report;
- Research from another recent Nielsen study (the Comparable Metrics Report) that looks at audience sizes and consumption across various media channels;
- Income and race/ethnicity data outlined in recent Nielsen studies; and
- Results from other sources that compare linear and streaming TV viewing.
Now, on to the data…
Nielsen's most recent "Total Audience Report" indicates that Americans aged 18-24 watched a weekly average of about 12-and-three-quarter hours of traditional TV during Q2 2017. What does that mean?
It's now less than 2 hours per day of traditional TV for this young group, the lowest figure yet.
In terms of a year-over-year change, Q2's figure represents a sizable decline of 2 hour and 25 minutes per week. In other words, 18-24-year-olds as a group went from watching about 2 hours and 10 minutes per day during the second quarter of 2016 to about 1 hour and 49 minutes per day during the second quarter of this year.
The year-over-year decline in traditional TV viewing among the 18-24 population was the largest since Q1 2015.
In sum, between 2012 and 2017, second quarter traditional TV viewing by 18-24-year-olds dropped by almost 10 hours a week, or by roughly 1 hour and 25 minutes per day.
In percentage terms, Q2 traditional TV viewing by 18-24-year-olds was down by a huge 15.7% year-over-year and has now fallen by 43.6% since 2012.
In other words, in the space of 5 years, close to half of this age group's traditional TV viewing time has migrated to other activities or streaming (more on that to come).
The interactive chart below offers a visual presentation of traditional TV consumption figures for each age bracket, showing how this type of TV viewing is trending down (sloping to the left) for younger demos, while slightly increasing (sloping to the right) for the oldest group.
A couple of notes regarding the chart: a vertical line chart is used there because it better portrays the varying trends among age groups than a typical horizontal line chart. Also, the trends are exaggerated by making the horizontal axis range 10-55 hours per week rather than 0-55 hours per week.
Here's what the data looks like as a horizontal line chart with no vertical axis limits applied:
The above figures are averaged among the entire population, meaning that they include those Americans who don't watch traditional TV. That number is more prevalent among youth: Nielsen's recent "Comparable Metrics" report indicates, for example, that in Q4 2016, TV's weekly reach was just 79% among 18-34-year-olds, well below the 89% average for all adults.
Interestingly, the drop-off in viewing among 18-24-year-olds is larger when looking just at persons in TV households (TV viewers). Among 18-24-year-old viewers, the Q2 2017 average of 64 hours and 21 minutes per month was down from 76 hours and 55 minutes per month during Q2 2016, representing a drop of about 12-and-a-half hours per month.
That puts the per-day decline among 18-24-year-old viewers at about 25 minutes, larger than the viewing drop among the 18-24 population overall (about 20 minutes per day). This indicates that viewing losses are not the result just of cord-cutting or a growing cord-never population: 18-24-year-old viewers are also watching less traditional TV.
We examine the declines in viewing among the total population and the viewing population in more detail in our new premium report, The State of Traditional TV Viewing, which is available for purchase here.
What's the upshot of all these declines? Millennials (18-34 in this case) as a whole spend more time accessing apps and the web on smartphones than they do watching traditional TV.
What About Other Age Groups? (Updated Data)
Of course, there are other age groups of interest when analyzing traditional TV viewing, including teens (a potential leading indicator) and older Millennials (aged 25-34), who might be more apt to watch traditional TV as they round into life stages such as parenthood and home ownership. (More on that coming.)
Again, you can purchase the report for more insights into how these various age groups stack up in viewing, but for now the latest data indicates that:
- Teens (12-17) watched 11 hours and 47 minutes of traditional TV per week in Q1, a substantial 17.6% drop year-over-year (much larger than in Q1 2017) and a massive 45.5% contraction since 2012;
- Older Millennials (25-34) watched 18 hours and 23 minutes per week in Q2, a 12.2% decrease year-over-year that was larger than Q1's drop, along with a considerable 32.2% drop over 5 years;
- Gen Xers (35-49) watched 26 hours and 59 minutes per week, a 7% decline that continues to accelerate over time (Q1's drop was 4.8%; Q4 2016's was 1.6%), and representing a 15.8% contraction over a 5-year period;
- Adults aged 50-64 watched 39 hours and 35 minutes per week, down 1.8% year-over-year (weaker than in Q1), but relatively flat (-1.1%) over 5 years; and
- Adults aged 65 and older watched 48 hours and 4 minutes per week, down by 1.2% from the previous year (the first decline since Q1 2015) and up by 6% over 5 years.
Of note is that TV viewing trends were weaker in Q2 2017 than in Q1 2017 for all of these age groups.
Also, let's stand back for a moment and re-iterate 4 of the above findings:
- Both teens and young Millennials have seen their traditional TV viewing evaporate by more than 40% over the past 5 years, with teens down by almost half;
- Teens' traditional TV viewing time fell by almost 20% in a single year;
- Even older Millennials are getting in the act, with almost one-third of their traditional TV viewing gone over the space of 5 years;
- The oldest bracket (65+) watched less TV for just the third quarter in the past 20.
If you're looking for one chart that says it all (the TL:DR version), here it is:
Those results demonstrate the age-related skew in traditional TV viewing, with declines easing off with each age bracket and turning into a slight viewing increase among the oldest age group.
Looking at the overall picture, live TV consumption by adults averaged 3 hours and 55 minutes per day in Q2, down 14 minutes per day from Q2 2016 after dropping by 2 minutes per day between 2016 and 2015. Clearly, the declines have accelerated of late.
How Does Traditional TV Measure Up With Streaming Video? (Some Data Updated)
So yes, 18-24-year-olds are continuing to watch less traditional TV with each passing quarter, likely due in part to increasing consumption of digital video and more time spent with their smartphones.
It's worth remembering that Q1 2016 marked the first time that streaming video services were in 50% of US TV households. That was up 8% points from just a year earlier. By contrast, DVR penetration had remained flat at 49-50% for the prior 6 quarters. (More adults in TV households now have access to Netflix than to DVRs, another milestone.)
Consider also a recent report from TDG which found that among dual-service users, adults ages 18-34 would choose streaming services over pay-TV if forced to make the choice. (All age groups over 35 made the opposite choice.)
Keep in mind that Netflix now has more paying subscribers in the US than all of the top cable TV companies, combined, as we exclusively reported earlier this year.
What does Nielsen data have to say about streaming versus traditional TV? According to the data presented by Nielsen, traditional TV is still the single largest video consumption source. It's also clear that measurement concerns persist, as its Comparable Metrics report notes the various video metrics included and not included in consumption counts. For example, smartphone and tablet video figures do not include content available through applications and the web where video is not the primary focus, such as Facebook. Even so, the methodology does include apps and sites where one might expect most long-form video consumption, such as Netflix and HBO GO… It's worth keeping those disclosures in mind when looking at the following chart.
Note that the above chart measures video consumption among users of each medium; those 18-34-year-olds who don't watch video on their smartphones are not diluting the average. Were one to average these figures out among the total population (bearing in mind that this would dilute viewing time for digital devices such as tablets to a greater extent than traditional TV), the gap would be greater.
Indeed, recent research from Nielsen indicates that linear TV accounts for 62% share of Millennials' video viewing time. That is well below the 82% for all adults, however. (Want that figure for each age group and race/ethnicity? Purchase our State of Traditional TV Viewing study, which is a great supplement to this article.)
This data seems to lend support to the notion that digital video is complementing more than replacing traditional TV, as total video hours continue to grow. The alternative view is, of course, that if almost half of youths' traditional TV viewing has migrated to other activities, the most likely destination is streaming video. (And research does suggest that streaming is at least partly to blame for Millennials' decisions to forego pay-TV.) The SVOD vs. legacy TV choice is also examined in our premium report, which makes the data-driven case that viewers are increasingly choosing content over platform.
The online-offline comparison is obviously up for debate as Nielsen itself is in the thick of a vibrant discussion about total audience measurement, and that's why the prevailing focus of this article is on trends within a single viewing source (traditional TV). Nevertheless, the above data offers some insights as to why the industry is abuzz over digital video and not traditional TV.
The following two charts from MarketingCharts' upcoming report, the 4th annual edition of our US Media Audience Demographics study (register here to be notified of its release), offer another reason.
Here's broadcast TV's audience breakdown, by age:
And here's the age breakdown of monthly online TV program viewers:
(Note that these aren't apples-to-apples comparisons, as they measure different base samples and viewing frequencies. They're nonetheless illustrative of the demographic gap between TV audiences.)
Whether or not one agrees that Millennials are a more valuable demographic than, say, Baby Boomers (these financial stats might suggest otherwise), the online TV viewing audience is probably the choice for most marketers today, if all of the hullabaloo about Millennials is to be trusted.
(Sign up to be notified when we release our report on media audience demographics for more data about the audience composition – age, household income and race/ethnicity – of broadcast, cable TV, and online video viewers, along with audience data for about a dozen other major online and offline media.)
Due to methodological changes that Nielsen has put into place for its latest Comparable Metrics report, we can't report on year-over-year trends. But it is worth noting the increasing prevalence of TV-connected devices. (Their growth has been documented recently here and here.)
In Q4 2016, TV viewers in the 18-34 bracket watched TV on average during just 4.7 days per week, about one day less than the 5.6 average among all adults. But 18-34-year-old users of TV-connected devices spent an average of 4.1 days per week with them, above the adult average of 3.6 days per week.
In this case, TV-connected devices refers to DVDs, game consoles, multimedia devices and VCRs (and includes time spent playing games on game consoles), so it's difficult to ascertain to what extent this relates to streaming video via multimedia devices. Still, the latest Total Audience Report indicates that 18-34-year-olds spend about as much time with multimedia devices as they do with gaming consoles, suggesting that a large portion of the more than 11 hours per week that 18-34-year-old users spend with TV-connected devices is spent watching video.
The following are some other takeaways from the Q4 2016 Comparable Metrics report (the latest available) specific to the 18-34 bracket:
- Radio maintained the broadest reach of any platform (92.3%) among 18-34-year-olds during the average week in the Q4 period, while the smartphone (app + web) audience was considerably larger than the TV audience (91% vs. 78.8%);
- Weekly reach was higher for smartphone video (62.9%) than for PC video (26.3%) and tablet video (17.8%) for this demographic; although
- Time spent by the total 18-34-year-old population was higher for PC video (172 minutes per week on average) than for smartphone video (73 minutes) and tablet video (28 minutes);
- Among 18-34-year-old users of these various media, PC video (654 minutes per week) far outstripped tablet video (158 minutes) and smartphone video (116 minutes) in weekly time spent; and
- More than half (53.8%) of 18-34-year-olds used TV-connected devices during the average week in Q4 2016, with users averaging more than 11-and-a-half hours a week with these devices.
What About Race/Ethnicity and Income? (Race/Ethnicity Data Updated)
When sorting by race/ethnicity, consumption data in the most recent Nielsen reports reveal that:
- African-Americans continued to consume the most traditional TV among races and ethnicities on a weekly basis in Q2, almost quadruple the amount of time spent by Asian viewers, who spent the least amount of time watching TV (40:08 vs. 13:04) – with viewing figures and trends among races and ethnicities examined in much more detail in our premium State of Traditional TV Viewing report;
- Among Black American adult users of each medium, time spent with traditional TV was down by almost 15 hours per month from Q2 2016, while AM/FM radio was relatively flat, and time spent with smartphone web and apps up by more than 50%; and
- Similar patterns were observed with Hispanic and Asian-American adult users of each medium.
The Total Audience Report for Q3 2015 analyzed media consumption and device ownership patterns by household income, with some interesting conclusions highlighted below.
As one might expect, device adoption is greater among higher-income ($75k+) households than among lower-income households (<$25k), with this true for all devices measured:
- DVD/Blu-Ray player (85% for the higher-income households versus 67% for the lowest-income households);
- DVR (65% vs. 29%);
- Enabled Smart TV (29% vs. 9%);
- HD TV (98% vs. 83%);
- Multimedia device (34% vs. 12%);
- PC with internet (95% vs. 51%);
- Any smartphone (92% vs. 64%);
- Subscription video-on-demand (66% vs. 27%); and
- Any tablet (74% vs. 34%).
As those results demonstrate, the penetration gaps are larger among newer technologies and services.
What's more interesting, however, is what the examination of consumption among users found: in each case, lower-income media users spent more time with the specific medium than higher-income users. This again was true for all media measured:
- Traditional TV: 211:14 monthly among the lowest-income users versus 113:41 among the higher-income users;
- AM/FM radio: 75:28 versus 58:02;
- DVD/Blu-Ray device: 16:00 versus 7:16;
- Game console: 42:22 versus 17:58;
- Multimedia device: 39:09 versus 18:25;
- Internet on a PC: 51:29 versus 33:38;
- App/web on a smartphone: 56:19 versus 44:43; and
- App/web on a tablet: 29:18 versus 27:32.
Overall, TV accounts for a larger share of total media time for the lowest-income households than the highest, with this attributed to lower-income adults watching TV more throughout the day. When looking at time-of-day activity (not specific to users of each medium):
- TV usage is highest among lower-income adults across the entire day, with the delta largest during the daytime and overnight;
- Radio listening has the smallest difference between high- and low-income adults throughout the day;
- TV-connected device usage is actually highest among the mid- and high-income adults during prime-time, but lower-income adults have the highest use outside of prime-time;
- The lowest-income adults have the greatest usage of digital devices in the evening hours but the least usage until 5PM.
Meanwhile, looking at device adoption among households with income of at least $50k, the study finds that:
- DVD/Blu-Ray Player and DVR penetration are higher among Blacks and Hispanics than among Asian-Americans;
- Hispanics (34%) and Asian-Americans (34%) have higher rates of enabled smart TV penetration than African-Americans (26%);
- Half of Asian households (with income of at least $50k) own a multimedia device, far outstripping Hispanics (32%) and Blacks (28%); and
- Subscription video-on-demand and tablet penetration are highest among Asian households ($50k+) than among Hispanic and Black households.
What Happens When Millennials Move Through Life Stages? (Not Updated)
An argument can be made that youths' media habits will change as they grow older and progress through life changes such as starting a family and owning a home. Twin pieces of research released by TDG back in 2013 illustrated this potential phenomenon. The first survey showed that few 18-24-year-olds living with their parents were "highly inclined" to get pay-TV once they struck out on their own, with 1 in 4 saying they were "highly disinclined" to do so. But, in a separate survey of 18-24-year-old broadband users who had moved into a non-college residence, TDG found only about 1 in 10 saying they had never signed up for a cable or satellite service after moving out on their own for the first time.
Nielsen's Q4 2015 Total Audience Report took a deeper look at the impact of life stages on Millennials' media habits, segmenting 18-34-year-olds into three distinct groups: "dependent adults" (living in someone else's home, mostly their parents'); "on their own" (living in their own home without children); and "starting a family" (living in their own home with children).
Nielsen's data showed that virtually all (97% of) 18-year-olds live in someone else's home (or presumably in a dorm), while almost 90% of 34-year-olds live in their own home, about 3 in 5 with kids. (If nothing else, this is a solid argument for not treating Millennials as a homogenous group…)
Comparing the technology ownership of these groups yielded some interesting results:
- Dependent adults (those living in someone else's home) are the most likely to have DVRs, DVDs, and PCs, though in each case penetration among those starting a family is higher than those living on their own without children; and
- Millennials who are "on their own" have the greatest adoption of multimedia devices and subscription video-on-demand (SVOD), in each case by a fairly sizable degree.
From those results, one could surmise that as Millennials get their own place, at least some drop DVRs and DVDs in favor of multimedia devices and SVOD services, while the opposite trend occurs when they have kids. However, it's worth remembering that this data measures different segments of 18-34-year-olds, and doesn't look at the same group as they grow older. It's entirely possible that the Millennials examined who have kids are composed more of older Millennials who are simply more akin to Gen Xers in their media habits than the younger Millennials who don't have children.
Nevertheless, a similar pattern emerges when looking at pay-TV penetration (measured as service from an MVPD – wired cable, DBS or telco): use of these services was highest (88%) among dependent adults, falling to the lowest point among those who are on their own (72%), but then higher again among those who are starting a family (79%).
The presence of children seems to have some impact on pay-TV penetration, as across all Millennial age brackets (18-24, 25-29, 30-34) penetration was higher among those living in their own with children than those living in their own home without children. Again, age may be a greater factor than the presence of children, as it's difficult to separate these disparate factors.
The pattern, though, translates into live TV consumption also. Looking at 18-34-year-olds' weekly TV screen usage during Q4, Nielsen finds that live TV viewing averaged:
- Slightly more than 2-and-a-half-hours per day for "dependent adults" (living in someone else's home); but
- Was almost half-an-hour less among those living on their own without kids (2 hours and 6 minutes per day); while
- Soaring to roughly 3-and-a-quarter-hours per day among those living in their own home with children.
Meanwhile, time spent with TV-connected devices was highest among those living on their own without kids (1 hour and 32 minutes per day), and lowest among those living in someone else's home (1 hour and 11 minutes per day). And in examining the TV versus TV-connected device mix, 53% of Millennials "on their own" use such a device on any given day that they use a TV set, compared to only about 4 in 10 from the other groups.
Overall, the "starting a family" group most closely resembles the "dependent adults" segment in its viewing. This suggests (but certainly doesn't confirm) that as Millennials have kids, they fall into similar patterns as they had when they were living with their parents.
For more details on Nielsen's methodology, access the latest reports here:
The MarketingCharts report on media audience demographics – which not only sizes the audience by demographic but also shows the breakdown of audiences in a way not portrayed by Nielsen (e.g. 29.4% of the monthly online TV program viewing audience is aged 25-34) – will be available for purchase here.
The State of Traditional TV Viewing study can be purchased here.


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Casillas vows to fight for Real Madrid
MADRID - Agence France-Presse
Real Madrid's Spanish goalkeeper, Iker Casillas, gestures during a press conference held after the training session at Valdebebas Sports Complex in Madrid, Spain, 01 January 2013. EPA photo
Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas admitted Tuesday the players are unhappy after dropping 16 points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona but denied any tensions in the changing room and vowed to fight to regain his spot after being unexpectedly left on the bench last month.Casillas tried to calm a storm of speculation over splits in the club after coach Jose Mourinho dropped him from the starting line-up on December 23 against Malaga at La Roselada, a game Real Madrid lost 3-2. Mourinho insists the decision was taken on technical grounds alone.
Asked about any tensions in the dressing room, the 31-year-old keeper said: "The word is not tension. The situation in the league, when we have had certain defeats, is not what we want. We all want to win and when things don't turn out well we are sad because we want to win for ourselves and our fans." In his first news conference of 2013, the Real Madrid captain said he hoped the Christmas break would help the team recover, recalling their defeat to Malaga and the number of points they have now allowed to ratch up behind the first division leaders.
"We cannot carry on like that and it is not what we expected. We must not give up. We have to carry on, to run more, train more and let the results come on the field. Now, in 2013 we have to try to catch up points and know that the situation is difficult but not impossible." Casillas said he felt fit, however, and would battle to regain his place for Sunday's match against Real Sociedad.
"I feel fine, really. I am training. I think I have to improve every day. I am not a machine. I, too, have to learn from my mistakes and of course there are moments when you are better or worse but sincerely I feel fine," he said.
Asked if he had lost his hunger to win more titles, the Spain captain said: "When I don't have that hope I won't be sitting here." Casillas said he agreed with Mourinho that "our aim is to have the ambition and the will. I have to fight and battle and try to regain the spot. That is the goal I have set out and I hope the coach will count on me in the starting line-up this Sunday." The captain said he had spoken to Real Madrid defender Pepe, who fed the rumours swirling around the troubled club last week when he told a newspaper in Portugal that Portuguese players were under pressure in La Liga.
"He was referring to when we go other pitches and play away. They always have an excitable reception. We have to call for calm in football in general. People should support their team but keep up a certain appearance," Casillas said.
The hugely popular player said he expected a tough match against Real Sociedad this weekend at the Bernabeu.
"It is going to be difficult. They have had a very good streak and they have been preparing for the match for some time. Teams look at us differently than they did last year but it is up to us to gain respect. They are coming to the Bernabeu and will do their best. We have to try to win and forget the past."


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Diary of a Network Administrator: Project Management
- Welcome to IT Project Management
- Research, Research, Research
- Plan on Planning
- Now You Know How Magellan Felt
- Time Is Money
So I'm sticking my head into the drop ceiling, insulation is finding its magical way into my shirt, and I'm sweating like Richard Simmons in a pastry shop. As I swivel my flashlight around, I see two red dots just a few feet away from my face.
No, I've not been eating mushrooms. I'm starting a network upgrade project for my new client, and it all begins with planning. Of course, not all of planning is done on white boards, in Microsoft Project, and on the back of napkins. Planning, real planning, requires that you get familiar with all of the work the project entails so you can planand priceaccordingly.
The first article in this series introduced you to my new client and all the excitement the staff is having with their network. As a reminder, they've got a bunch of NT 4.0 domains, servers that Noah had on the ark, printers by Gutenberg, lousy network cables, and workstations the Smithsonian has inquired about. As you can imagine, their network has more errors than the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
After my initial review of the network, it was time to create a project plan. A what? If you're like many network administrators (wait, it's not you, it's a friend) you may be tempted to just hop in get to work on any assignment. You can't just yell, "Release the hounds!" and then rush through IT projects. Why?
What starts out as a simple upgrade, or adding a new switch, or configuring some IP properties turns into nights and weekends of agony. Not to mention the time lost to complete the workand the hours of production time that may be impacted. Production time? Sure. Consider the time lost by your company's employees if your "upgrade" puts them out of work for even 10 minutes. Consider 10 minutes or 10 hours of lost profit.
Welcome to IT Project Management
What needs to happen at the onset of any project is to create an effective yet flexible project plan. This is project management. Project management is the ability to envision the end result of a project, create a plan to reach that vision, and then implement the plan to arrive at the vision.
So what's vision? Vision is the ethereal substance that allows network administrators to see the invisible and to feel the intangible before either exist. I know, I know, after reading that sentence you're convinced I'm eating mushrooms. I promise you I'm not.
Simply put, vision is the ability to see the end result before you begin. Without vision, how can you adequately plan?
My client had a vision not of a Windows 2000 domain, with multiple domain controllers, file and print servers, roaming profiles, and policies, but of a network that just works. Their vision was a day of not suffering through slow transfers, printer spools hanging, and server crashes. They didn't care what technology got them therejust that they would indeed arrive.
My job (and yours)is to take the vision of clients offer and snap-in the realities of technologies to reach those goals. The only way, okay the best way, is through IT project management.


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Adorable Baby Ocelot Makes Debut at Seattle Zoo [VIDEO]
Residents in Seattle now have access to one of the best pick-me-ups ever.
A baby ocelot named Evita finally made an appearance Monday morning at the Seattle Woodland Park Zoo. The 3-month-old spotted feline was born in early 2011 and has since been bonding with its mom behind closed doors.


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Sixth Grade Culinary Throwdown
From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Will he cook? To be sure! Will he be a cook? I suspect not. His smile, for a least another year, is blinding bright, but it's a perfect match for an upbeat disposition, that as yet, shows no signs of teenage angst. He loves numbers and music and, having seen Wright's Falling Waters, concluded he would like to be an architect. His fallback plan, at least this year, is plasma physics. Zach is my oldest grandson. His love of food and cooking has convinced me that there is a recessive gene for food that scientists have yet to identify. There has to be an inherited component to this addiction we pass on to our children. Zach is wearing chef's whites, because food service providers in his school district sponsored a culinary "throwdown" and invited seventh graders to participate. Zach loves to cook and was one of the first of his classmates to register for the competition. The book of life will show their dishes took no prizes, but they won hearts and the team spirit award for their congeniality. That's my guy!
Our children and grandchildren learn to cook at an early age. It starts with pancakes on Saturday morning and they graduate to more involved cooking as they get older. This summer, I've worked on recipes the older grandchildren can make on their own while they're visiting with us. While the dishes are easy to prepare, they are also delicious and I hope the boys will have fun making them. I won't be posting most of them because they are so simple to make, that I'm afraid I'll offend you. You can be sure that those that make it to One Perfect Bite are "best of show" and will work well, especially for those of you who will be feeding teens this summer. Here's the first recipe I want to share with you.
Sloppy Joes...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite
2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1-1/4 cups ketchup
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
8 sandwich buns, split
1) Cook beef and onion in a large skillet set over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain.
2) Stir in ketchup, water, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, mustard, chili powder and allspice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 35-40 minutes or until heated through.
3) Spoon about 1/2 cup meat mixture onto each bun. Yield: 8 servings.
One Year Ago Today: Hawaiian Banana Bread
Two Years Ago Today: Morning Glory Petal Bread
You might also enjoy these recipes:
Beer Burgers - The Four Points Foodie
Spicy Beef-Bean Taco Filling - Hungry Harps
Sophisto Joes - The Teacher Cooks
Meatloaf with Tomato Relish - Family Spice
Taco Seasoned Ground Beef - Closet Cooking
Easy Sloppy Joes - Cooking Alliance
Sloppy Joes - Pioneer Woman Cooks
Crockpot Sloppy Joes - Jenn CooksEasy Sloppy Joes - Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice
Sloppy Joes - Fabulously Frugal


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It's not just you. Aol Mail was hacked affecting an untold amount of accounts that were seemingly spoofed. The Twitter hashtag #aolhacked is filled with first-hand accounts of spam being sent from either the hacked email account or an email account spoofed to look like the original.
We've reached out to Aol for further clarification. The company said in a statement earlier today that they were working on resolving the issue. The Aol Twitter account @aolmailhelp is scrambling to respond to requests for help and directing people to this help page for more info.
Sources close to the company believe the impact was less than 1 percent of all users and that they expect the issue to be quickly remedied.
This issue seemingly first surfaced three days ago. If you receive a link in an email from an Aol email address, it's best not to open it, and make sure they know their account was compromised. The hack seems widespread, although Aol has yet to comment on the scope of the incident.
Disclosure: TechCrunch is owned by Aol. This is not a spoof account. Or is it?


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Tobacco Science & Technology, 2012, 10, p. 5-8, ISSN.1002-0861
Effects of redrying means on processing quality of tobacco strips
(1) Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute of CNTC, Zhengzhou 450001, P.R. China; (2) China Tobacco Fujian Industrial Co., Ltd., Xiamen 361022, Fujian, P.R. China; (3) Longyan Golden Leaf Redrying Co., Ltd., Longyan 364102, Fujian, P.R. China
To overcome the shortcomings of current redrying technologies, such as larger standard deviation of moisture content, higher shrinkage rate of large strips, loss of tobacco aroma, etc., the strips redried by way of traditional apron conveyor...


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Learn Hypnosis View All Sessions
Maximum 5 downloads per order. Offer excludes CDs and special packages. Downloads are delivered as MP3 files. You can play MP3 files on your computer, burn to an audio CD, or copy to your MP3 player. Box images for illustrative purposes only. This hypnosis session is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.


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The Supreme Court's McCutcheon ruling will be remembered as a decisive battle in a determined and wealthy minority's war against the popular will. It is not the first such battle, nor will it be the last. And the people will continue to lose – unless and until the rules of engagement are changed.
One compelling way to look at this ruling is by contrasting its immediate and long-term effects with the American people's aspirations for their government. They are at cross purposes. Even before this ruling, 64 percent of those polled believed that our country's economic rules unfairly favor the rich. This ruling will rig the game even further.
(Unless otherwise noted, polling results were drawn from PopulistMajority.org.)
People vs. Money
The immediate effect of this ruling is to give the wealthy even more political power than they have today. That's diametrically opposed to the people's will, since the public clearly wants money out of politics. Seventy-nine percent of those polled in one study support limiting the amount of funds that political candidates can raise and spend. Seventy-one percent believe the candidate with the most money wins. And, despite the fact that neither party is advocating public financing of elections, a Gallup study shows that the idea already has the support of 50 percent of the voters (while only 44 percent oppose it).
In the most striking statistic of all, 97 percent of voters in one poll believe it is important to get corruption out of politics. In his withering dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer makes it clear that this ruling will have the opposite effect. Breyer writes that "the plurality relies heavily upon a narrow definition of 'corruption' that excludes efforts to obtain 'influence over or access to' elected officials or political parties.'"
Justice Breyer notes that, by design, the majority's definition of corruption does not include efforts to "garner 'influence over or access to' elected officials or political parties." Adds Breyer: "We specifically rejected efforts to define 'corruption' in ways similar to those the plurality today accepts."
The public is already feeling alienated from the political process. Eighty-five percent of those polled in another study believe that members of Congress are more interested in serving special interests than the people they represent.
To a large extent, this disaffection is beginning to land on both parties. A study shows that 69 percent of voters believe that the policies of the Republican Party generally favor the rich. No surprise there. But 69 percent believe the Democratic Party should do more to address the needs and concerns of middle-class voters.
Policy for Sale
The long-term effects of this ruling will make it even more difficult for public opinion to influence public policy. As Chris Cillizza and others have explained, national party organizations like the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will have significantly greater fundraising ability – and therefore significantly much greater influence over the selection of local candidates and the kinds of campaigns they choose to run.
It's facile to suggest, as some do, that "there is no difference between the two political parties." But they are far closer than they should be, especially at the national level and especially on economic issues. Thus we have the spectacle of a Democratic president proposing Republican-backed cuts to Social Security and Medicare, while those in Washington who express the majority opinion against these cuts are marginalized as "extreme."
In fact, 73 percent of those polled in another study believe that deficit reduction should be secured by raising taxes on the wealthy and not by cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. And yet under this ruling we are likely to see the same undemocratic spectacle repeated again and again, as popular opinion is increasingly marginalized in the mad rush for money.
Altered States
Fundraising committees aren't the only big winners in the McCutcheon ruling. State candidates are also likely to find themselves able to access much larger pools of money, as Cillizza points out. Corporate and billionaire donors have already targeted state governments through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and other organizations, and have met with considerable success.
States like Michigan and Wisconsin are feeling the painful effects of this effort in initiatives that include "emergency manager laws" that overthrow city governments, tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, high-handed moves against unions, and even the notorious "stand your ground" laws that led to the tragic death of young Trayvon Martin.
As money increasingly dominates all levels of government, corporations and wealthy individuals will reap the benefits – while the rest of the public pays the price. Here are some other examples of public aspirations that are more likely to be crushed now that this ruling has been handed down:
- 57 percent think upper income Americans pay less than their fair share in taxes;
- 66 percent say the richest 2 percent should pay more in taxes;
- 73 percent believe that corporations pay too little in taxes and that America should eliminate corporate loopholes to stimulate the economy;
- 69 percent of the respondents in one poll believe that tax loopholes for corporate meals and entertainment should be eliminated;
- 83 percent believe that corporations should pay as much on foreign profits as they do on US profits;
- 73 percent of those polled in another study believe that corporations pay too little in taxes and that America should eliminate corporate loopholes to stimulate the economy;
- 68 percent want to eliminate the carried interest loophole that allows Wall Street hedge fund managers to pay a lower tax rate than middle-class taxpayers;
- and, 79 percent want to close tax loopholes to ensure that American corporations pay as much on foreign profits as they do on profits made in the U.S.
Without a significant change to the political process, very few of these public goals are likely to be met.
The Pageant
Instead we're likely to see more displays like the embarrassing spectacle of Republican presidential candidates presenting themselves to gambling billionaire Sheldon Adelson as if they were pageant contestants in the "talent" portion of the competition. (Uh-oh! Chris Christie uses the phrase "occupied territories" and the buzzer sounds!)
It would be amusing – if it weren't so offensive to our core American values.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, declared that "government regulation may not target the general gratitude a candidate may feel toward those who support him or his allies, or the political access such support may afford."
Whichever of Sheldon Adelson's contestants is ultimately granted his largesse will undoubtedly feel a deep, if "general," gratitude toward the billionaire. And the "political access" that is already difficult for most Americans to obtain will move even further out of reach.
The Challenge of Our Time
The stakes couldn't be higher. Economists like Thomas Piketty are telling us of the enormous risks we face as wealth and power are increasingly accumulated in the hands of a tiny minority. Other investigations, like this NASA-funded study, suggest that the stability of our civilization is at risk if we cannot restrain corporate exploitation of the planet's human and natural resources.
Both public opinion and the forces of demographic change are working against the billionaires and the corporations, so the response is to maximize the power of money and minimize the power of democracy. This court's partial overthrow of the Voting Rights Act was a response to the shifting composition of the American population. This week's ruling, like Citizens United and others that will inevitably follow, is designed to give corporations and the wealthy near-complete control over the political process.
"Where enough money calls the tune," said Justice Breyer in his dissent, "the general public will not be heard."
Wealthy interests are taking this struggle very seriously. This ruling is the result of a decades-long strategy to repopulate the American judicial system with political partisans willing to act boldly in the interests of corporations and the wealthy. That does not mean that all is lost. There is a national mood of deep dissatisfaction with a status quo based on privilege and inequality. Sometimes all that is needed is a galvanizing moment, after which a mood becomes a movement. With luck, and if we work to make it so, this could be that moment for a movement to restore democracy in the United States.
Previous generations rose to the urgency of their moments: to end slavery, to give women the vote, to rebuild after the Great Depression, to establish civil rights and end wars. Today's ruling points us to the defining struggle of today's generation – a struggle for democracy itself. This defeat could ultimately lead to victory – if we respond to the urgency of the moment.


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When word came down that the five "American Idol" finalists would be taking on songs made famous by the Rat Pack, it prompted a cynical sneer. How would these young whipper-snappers ever be able to channel the style and swagger of Frank, Dean, Sammy and the crew? But damn if Kris Allen — clad in suit and tie and performing a velvety-smooth rendition of "The Way You Look Tonight" — didn't have me feeling like I was kicking back at the Sands in Vegas with a glass of scotch in my hand and a dreamy cloud of smoke wafting through the room. The increasingly likable Kris, dubbed an "Idol game-changer" this monring by USA Today, set the tone for a truly enjoyable night of consistently remarkable retro standards capped off by Adam Lambert's flashy "Feeling Good." Who could have expected that? … And who could have expected Jamie Foxx to be one of the best guest mentors of the season? (He doesn't exactly conjure up images of the Rat Pack). The actor-singer-comedian clearly was feeling it. Passionately prodding his charges, he brought out the best in most of them. It was almost enough to make me forgive him for subjecting us to "Blame It" — one of the most lame and annoying songs I've heard in years.
Now, here's what our Readers Judges Panel had to say about Rat Pack night:
COLLEEN GONZALEZ: I was worried about tonight's genre, but these kids kicked booty! What a classy night. As a Mom, it was great to see all my Idol's dressed up and looking sharp. I wanted to pinch all their cheeks.
I have to say that I was a little disappointed in Adam. Sure, vocally it was perfect, but I only wish he would have put a lid on it and stayed more true to the genre. It was too much vocal acrobatics and not enough hipster jive.
But during Kris' performance, I melted like butter! Talk about bringing your "A" game! Kris and Allison Iraheta started the night with a one-two punch. Don't count either of these kids out just yet. What fantastic performances by both of them. Kris looked utterly adorable, and his voice was smooth as he hit the right notes everywhere! Allison's raspy "Somewhere To Watch Over Me," was so gut wrenchingly tender, I felt it all over.
Danny Gokey looked sharp and cool and brought mad vocals tonight. I'm glad all the judges agreed that he had all cylinders working. Matt Giraud managed to hit the big note, but the rest of the song sounded off. I actually thought Matt would do well tonight, and I don't know what Simon heard, but he'll regret those comments when he hears the playback. Bye Matt!
ALTHEA BATTLE: Danny simply blew me away! He is a real singer and he proved he just may have this competition under his belt! I've been rooting for him since Day 1, but now I'm sure he's back on top! Allison sung lovely, but she is not standing out in the crowd. I love Jamie Foxx, and he was a great asset in helping the contestants with advice. His expertise shined through during each performance.
Meanwhile, Adam is the ultimate contestant! He stole the show again, and is constantly proving his star quality! Adam is here to win! Matt and Kris need to step their game up or else it's the boot for them. Allison shouldn't be in the bottom, but will have to see if America can look beyond her quirky personality, and acknowledge she is one of the best SINGERS in this competition this season!
CARRIE HULTS: Rat Pack? Who the heck are they? I have no clue, but that doesn't matter because everyone sang very well.
The Bottom 2 tomorrow will be Kris and Matt, but Matt will go home. Kris will have to choose the right song next week if he wants to stay longer. Kris sounds best when he sings upbeat songs. The second part of "The Way You Look Tonight" was better than the first, because it was a faster tempo. I agree with Randy about Matt. He was really pitchy and flat. Simon was wrong about him having a great performance; I didn't like it at all.
The Top 3 will be Allison, Adam, and Danny. Allison looked and sounded beautiful. Her outfit was soft, and her voice flowed perfectly and wasn't pitchy at all. She controlled the song, it didn't control her. As usual, Adam sang fantastically but was overly dramatic. His performance was borderline creepy, though. The red lights and the freaky eyes gave me the heebie-jeebies. Danny was great, as always. He may always be the same, but why mess with perfection? He had a cool swagger tonight too, and it was the most creative performance he's had so far.
TOM HART: Five incredible talents were showcased tonight! I want to say that this is a five-horse race running stride-for-stride straight to the wire only to be decided in a photo finish … but I can't. Adam continues to captivate with an other-worldly performance that began with his first step down the staircase and ended with a seemingly never-ending sustained note of vocal ecstasy!
Adam's unparalleled ability to not only superbly perform but also uniquely entertain week after week cements his place in the finals. I'll say it again … if given a Las Vegas style venue of his own, Adam could play to a sold-out audience every night of the week.
EDDIE ESTRADA: From the get-go, I knew tonight was going to be a slow night. The Rat Pack is famous for their slow crooning tunes. Most of the performers tonight followed in their footsteps while others didn't do as hot. Tonight I am going to start with Adam. He has NO competition whatsoever right now. He kills it every single week! He is already a superstar in my book. Danny? … yawn. … You changed from what is the usual for you, and it didn't work. You can't win 'em all buddy.
Allison's performance tonight was beautiful. I loved it! Hopefully this performance will keep her from going home. Matt had another lackluster performance. GOODBYE! (finally). Finally, Kris was my favorite of the night and of the competition right now (besides Adam of course). He just keeps getting better. An amazing song performed by a truly amazing singer. Keep it up like this Kris, and hopefully we will see you in the finals.
(NOTE: Panelist Karen Long is undergoing surgery for complications stemming from a recent injury. Our best wishes are with Karen and we hope to get her back with us soon).


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Franklin Graham: IRS Targeted Samaritan's Purse, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
Evangelist Franklin Graham has stated in a letter to President Barack Obama that the Christian charities he is leading were also targeted by the IRS along with conservative groups last year.
Graham sent a letter to President Obama on Tuesday outlining how Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association were the subjects of an IRS probe during the 2012 campaign season.
"In light of what the IRS admitted to on Friday, May 10, 2013, and subsequent revelations from other sources, I do not believe that the IRS audit of our two organizations last year was a coincidence – or justifiable," wrote Graham.
"I am bringing this to your attention because I believe that someone in the Administration was targeting and attempting to intimidate us. This is morally wrong and unethical – indeed some would call it 'un-American.'"
Last week, the Internal Revenue Service acknowledged that it had targeted conservative organizations applying for tax exemption under section 501(c)4, or the "social welfare" classification.
Lois Lerner, head of the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, apologized for the biased targeting of groups whose applications involved terms like "Tea Party" or "Patriot."
"That was wrong. That was absolutely incorrect, it was insensitive, and it was inappropriate. That's not how we go about selecting cases," said Lerner in a statement.
In his letter, Graham explained that the IRS sent agents to review the tax exempt status of Samaritan's Purse and the BGEA in the fall of 2012 due to their buying newspaper ads urging voters to support candidates "who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel."
"After the election, we did receive official notice that our organizations continue to qualify for exemption from Federal income tax, and that our returns were accepted as filed," wrote Graham.
"Unfortunately, while these audits not only wasted taxpayer money, they wasted money contributed by donors for ministry purposes, as we had to spend precious resources servicing the IRS agents at our offices."
Since the IRS acknowledged its targeting of conservative organizations, calls have been made by both congressional Republicans and the White House to conduct an investigation into the matter.
In a statement by President Obama as released by the Office of the press secretary, Obama referred to the actions of the IRS as "intolerable and inexcusable."
"The federal government must conduct itself in a way that's worthy of the public's trust, and that's especially true for the IRS. The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial way, and its employees must act with utmost integrity," said Obama on Tuesday.
"I expect everyone who serves in the federal government to hold themselves to the highest ethical and moral standards. So do the American people. And as President, I intend to make sure our public servants live up to those standards every day."
According to a recent statement by Attorney General Eric Holder, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will look into what was happening at the IRS during the 2012 election season.


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Keeping Parents Entertained while Camping
Camping is a great way to spend family time. It provides great opportunities for you kids to explore new places and try new activities. Even a campsite near home can open up a new world of excitement. At times though it is hard for you to share these new worlds with your family. If you are looking forward to your camping trip this summer, but are worried about keeping your parents entertained, here are a few easy suggestions.
Try a New Outdoor Sport Together
If you are camping in a wooded or mountainous area, try mountain biking. Encourage your parents to bring their bikes along on your camping trip. Flying along together through the bike trails near you campsite will be an exhilarating experience for you and your parents alike. Remember to bring along your helmet, so your parents don't have to worry about your safety and make sure they bring theirs as well.
Go canoeing or kayaking with your parents. Encourage your parents to rent a canoe or kayak. You can paddle downstream if you are camping on a river, or you can glide across the lake from one shore to another. If your parents like to fish and your camping trip is during fishing season, bring along your fishing gear. You can go out in the canoe in the early morning to experience the best fish. Then later in the day you can cook your fish over the campfire.
Bring Along Craft Supplies
When you go camping with your family, bring along some basic craft supplies, like paper, glue and scissors. While exploring the nature around your campsite pick up anything interesting you might find. With these treasures you can create all types of craft projects to take home to remember your camping trip. If you are near the ocean you could collect shells with your parents and make a seashell mobile.
You could collect interesting leaves and sticks and create a fairy house. If you and your parents find any treasures that you want to remember your trip by, ask your parents to save them. With these treasures, you can create a stepping-stone with your family with all the treasures you found on your camping trip. All you need for this project is a little bit of cement mix, the treasures from your trip, parent supervision, and a little creativity.
Practice your Nature Identification and Survival Skills
If you and your parents share an interest in nature, find a good insect, bird, plant, animal or tree identification book. Try to recognize the different species that you come across with your family. Collect different species of leaves and try to identify them with your family. If this becomes something that you can share with your parents, you could dry the leaves and add to your collection each time you go on a family camping trip.
You could also learn camping survival skills with your parents. Have your parents teach you to fish or try to make fire using traditional methods. If you and your parents like a challenge, you could learn to identify different types of animal tracks that you may come across during your explorations.
Winding Down in the Evening
Finish your night by making s'mores with your parents. You could even make your own marshmallow roasting sticks during the day. While you are enjoying your s'mores, you and your parents could share stories or read a favorite book aloud. If your family enjoys a thrill, you could find a few ghost stories before you leave and share them over the fire during your camping trip.