text:
The background to this
ordeal is well-known. A 10 year old Austrian girl was abducted by a lone captor
and kept prisoner for eight and a half years, or precisely the 3,096 days which
she took as the title of her autobiography. Her composure when she was first
interviewed on television after her release, and the quality of her speech and
vocabulary astounded everyone. There was
immense interest as to how she was able to survive, and understandably the
focus was on the horrific trauma and the resilience she showed under almost
unbelievable stress. Although I have met Natascha and sat in on a long television
interview she gave in London in 2010 I do not have any privileged knowledge
about her, have not had a private conversation with her, have not been part of
her of her clinical management, and am basing my comments entirely upon facts
which are in the public record, particularly her many interviews and her
3,096 Days. Penguin 9 September
The reason that Natascha
Kampusch survived, and did not become a corpse in a cellar, is that she
out-psyched her captor, despite him having absolute physical control over her,
and despite her being a young and helpless child.
She was far brighter
than him, and had a far more balanced personality. Intelligence is always
protective in psychological disorders, because the intelligent can try out
different ways of looking at the situation, can formulate and put into effect
different strategies, refine those strategies as circumstances demand, take a
long term view and restrain immediate impulses. She realised that one day she
would replenishment her personal capital, and that helped her deal with long
periods of being emotionally overdrawn. Miss Kampusch was working on her
abductor from the start, and managed to survive the most dangerous first 24
hours of her kidnapping, when being murdered and dumped in a lonely wood was
the most likely outcome.
And what a task! She was at the mercy of a deluded,
socially isolated, paranoid, obsessional-compulsive, who felt so totally
inadequate he wanted a child-slave to dominate, in compensation for his lack of
status in society, and his inability to get women of his age. Self conscious
about his appearance, particularly his nose, he presented himself in public as
conventional, conformist, and even dependable in the eyes of his one friend and
occasional work mate. However, an un-named policeman in his neighbourhood whose
report was ignored saw him, perfectly accurately "as a
'loner' who has extreme difficulties relating to his environment and problems
dealing with other people… with a penchant for children with regard to his
sexuality". In private he was a tormented and tormenting bully, with an inner life
of self justifying delusions. His obsession with cleaning rituals took up much
of his time, and he had a rigid world view and a heartless lack of empathy
which would have driven even the most dedicated mental-health professional to
distraction. I doubt that many would have maintained professional calm if
forced to spend a day or two in the same room with him on their own. He was a
grisly festival of psychological disorders, but he held the power of life or
death over her. His madness was her most essential reality.
In the early years of
her captivity she had allowed him to accept her as a child. Such was his
retarded emotional state that they were almost equals in developmental terms,
though he was in full physical control of whether she lived or died. It was a
Mad Hatter's tea party, with two children eating meals together. Once she was
old enough to menstruate he became violent because he was confronted by a real
woman. Menstruation made his obsessional-compulsive disorder even worse. More
cleaning rituals and general abuse were heaped on Miss Kampusch as a consequence
of her achieving this normal milestone. As the years of abuse and
semi-starvation went by eventually she let him hope that the story would have a
perfect ending, and sometimes believed it herself. The child-slave would
metamorphose into the submissive young girlfriend, obedient to his every wish.
He would be able to show her off in public, and very cautiously started doing
In all this, the cost
to her was great, as with all escapes from hell. She had to become a slave so
that he could be satisfied as Master, and would then gradually accept what she
was teaching him: that she had needs and wishes and ideas which he might allow
her to enjoy, within his own very strict limits. The captor was by far the most
essential element of her young life, and he accounted for well over half of her
conscious memories, and all of the most terrifying ones. He subjected her to
considerable physical abuse, and had ample time to demolish her boundaries, her
memories and her world view (saying her parents would not pay a ransom for
her). His relentless torture resulted in her accepting a new name, symbolic of
having abandoned her old self. This is fairly common among the few known cases
of early childhood abduction. The child apparently accepts being a new person
with a new life, when the alternative is death. However, she got him to comply
with her intellectual requirements. The captor brought
her most of the books she needed. In this very odd way she had her own home school.
She watched highly educational programs. She was a scholar monk: in a cell,
mortified in her flesh, liberated in her mind.
Questioners who lack
understanding often ask abused victims why they do not escape. It seems so
obvious one should do so, yet thousands of women who undergo physical abuse
from men often do not, or flee only to return, hoping for the best. They have
been ground down into such a state of dependency and self hatred that they
cling to the abuser, since he is sometimes kind enough to forgive them for their
many faults. In these dreadful relationships it is the intensity of the emotion
which seems to bind victims to their tormentors, rather than whether the
emotions are positive or negative.
Questioners want the
details of her confinement, the more intimate the better, but are not so
interested in nuances of emotional experience, particularly when they go
against their expectations. They feel it legitimate to ask this young woman
exactly what was done to her as a defenceless child, questions they themselves
would avoid about an unhappy love affair. The public want those juicy bits for
their own needs, and the long pondered dilemma of how to survive against
impossible odds is of secondary interest. Also, they ignore the impact of
moments of reprieve, which Primo Levi so graphically described, those small
islands of relief in a raging sea of horror, which make any sort of life have
its half-happy moments.
Identifying with a
captor is often a sensible survival strategy. Even to do that, and survive, it
is necessary enter the captor's world. In his self-concept, the captor imagined
he had done Miss Kampusch a favour by saving her from sex, drugs and rock and
roll. He had also, in his mind, saved her from the gang, entirely mythical, who
had contracted him to kidnap her, and whom he used as a further threat to
terrify her into submission. He was profoundly paranoid, and saw himself as the
victim of a society which did not appreciate him, even though it very clearly
had no reason to.
Questioners are very
happy to accept the "Stockholm syndrome" as the explanation for Miss Kampusch's
unwillingness to join the public in absolute condemnation of the captors' acts.
However, Miss Kapusch is making a more
subtle point. Entirely unwillingly, she had more intensive exposure to a highly
deranged individual than is normal even for experienced health professionals.
Against her will, she carried out the ultimate observational study of a man
with profound and dangerous mental health problems. She is able to say, quite
accurately, that there were moments of tenderness and understanding, in which
she understood the humanity within the perpetrator who treated her inhumanely.
Outsiders demand that she should wish him dead. They find it inconceivable that
she should wish him saved. She saw moments when he might have been capable of
compassion, and treasured them because her life depended on it. Those moments
were real nonetheless. She can assert that she saw them, without condoning his
Surprising as it may
seem, Miss Kampusch was right to accept ownership of the house of her abuser.
It was the place where she had the worst moments of her life, and very probably
the worst moments of any life, and it belongs to her for as long as she wishes,
in the way that Auschwitz belongs to Germany . When their clients feel
ready for it, psychologists always try to return with them to the scene of the
trauma, so as to confront the demons of imprinted memories, and attempt to
understand even the most impossible cruelty by looking, touching, and smelling
the place where it happened. In this
particular case the house was almost her entire world, and she does not want it
to be a lost continent, submerged by the intrusion of others.
She was not so well
advised to enter the media world as a presenter. Television appealed to her in
captivity, showing her presenters who served as parent substitutes: friendly normal
personalities who were reliable and trustworthy companions. Nevertheless,
although she is usually very skilled and composed in front of the camera, this
was a bridge too far. The audience felt aggrieved that she had illegitimately
crossed a boundary, from admirable victim to glittering film star. I think she has worked out that what she
needs is an ordinary real life, with the usual ups and downs experienced in
privacy, not an exciting, artificial, and thoroughly public one. With any luck
this biography will be a chance to close the door.
What she is almost
able to make us forget, is that Miss Kampusch was subjected to sensory
deprivation, brutal torture, threatened execution, sexual harassment and
psychological abuse, for a sustained period of 3096 endless days. By rights no
one should be able to survive this, because in its intensity and duration it exceeds
all normal limits. That she contemplated suicide, and made a few self harming attempts
is unsurprising.
Even when the captor
was thrashing her she was able to dissect him. In an even greater leap, she was
able to understand and forgive. Towards the end there were probably times when
she could have killed him. She did not do so, but when she raised the courage
to escape she exposed his final lie. There were no explosives tied to all the
doors of her caged life. He had been responsible for everything he did to her.
There were no excuses. She was not his child, not his family, and not his
girlfriend. When killing came, he killed himself.
I praise her dignity,
her courage, and the triumph of her intellect.


text:
The Courtship of Lance Stephenson
What happens when a rare, young, and volatile talent hits the NBA free-agent market?
Lance Stephenson's free agency should be a mega-event. He's just 23, with solid two-way skills at a position where talent is so scarce, Klay Thompson's agent will be able to keep a straight face when trying to wring a max-level extension from Golden State.1
And Stephenson is an unrestricted free agent. Players this talented almost never hit the market unfettered so early in their careers, and when they do, crazy stuff tends to happen. Gilbert Arenas's sooner-than-usual unrestricted free agency resulted in a massive contract from Washington and panicked rule changes in the collective bargaining agreement.
Any team with cap room and some guts could try to persuade Stephenson to be a fixture on the wing for the next half-decade. Rebuilding teams can't even use the excuse about not wanting to splurge in free agency ahead of schedule; Stephenson's age makes him a natural fit on any team at the start of its upswing. Nabbing Stephenson comes with the bonus of snatching a crucial piece from an Eastern Conference heavyweight, leaving Indiana capped out and without any means to sign an equal talent.
Come on, people! Stephenson is the gleaming big-screen TV on the oldWheel of Fortune carousel of otherwise crappy prizes. Just drop the cash and you might be able to have him!
But the chatter around Stephenson's free agency is quiet, for two reasons:
1. He's a difficult personality. Executives on some teams with the requisite cap room recoil in horror at the very mention of his name. Teams with minor burbling locker-room discontent are hesitant to toss in another volatile personality. Stephenson's embarrassing antics in the Eastern Conference finals inflamed the perception of him as a rogue loon whose "personality" will nearly cancel out all the good he might do on the floor. And the question lying just underneath those (legitimate) concerns: What happens when a guy who should be on his best behavior in pursuit of his first giant NBA paycheck actually gets that paycheck?
2. It's hard to tell exactly how good Stephenson is, and how good he might one day be. This is the challenge of player evaluation — separating out a player from his current roster and figuring out how he might do in a different place, with a different role and different teammates. Stephenson can fade into a limited role within Indiana's killer starting lineup, and he played almost all of his minutes in lineups that struggled to space the floor.
He looks like a ball-dominant scorer, but Stephenson actually used just 19 percent of Indiana's possessions2 while on the floor this season. If a five-man group divided possessions evenly, each guy would soak up 20 percent; Stephenson's usage rate was very low for a borderline All-Star.
He drove the ball to the rim only about 4.2 times per game, according to SportVU tracking cameras, a mark right around those of so-so penetrators like Patrick Beverley, Nate Wolters, and Shaun Livingston.3 He's a good 3-point shooter, but not a great one, and certainly not one other teams fear when he's away from the ball. Opposing defenders were willing to take an extra step or two off of Stephenson to clog the lane:
Watch the tape, and his pick-and-rolls appear to have a go-nowhere quality — especially when opposing teams have their big man drop back into the paint to contain Stephenson's drive. Presented with that obstacle, Stephenson sometimes pulls the hoops equivalent of nonsense conversation to buy time — hesitation bounces, head fakes, meaningless crossovers, dribbles that somehow result in him going backward.
All that fancy stuff resulted in a heap of ugly turnovers. Stephenson coughed up the ball on 24 percent of the pick-and-rolls he finished, a mark that ranked 145th among players who ran at least 50 of those suckers, per Synergy Sports.
He doesn't have a reliable midrange jumper to shoot over those big guys, like Chris Paul's sniper shot from the right elbow, which means there is no in-between on his pick-and-rolls. They either lead to crazy drives or nowhere.
His assists in the half court are mostly unspectacular. He rarely got into the teeth of the defense for drop-off passes that led to juicy shots at the rim; the Pacers, after all, ranked 27th in shot attempts within the restricted area, per NBA.com.
Stephenson is a highlight reel in transition, but his dimes in the half court were mostly run-of-the-mill stuff any competent ball handler could manage — pocket passes to David West and Luis Scola for midrange jumpers, post entries, and skip passes around the perimeter. A full one-third of Stephenson's assists came when throwing the pass from behind the 3-point arc on the right wing, per SportVU data provided exclusively to Grantland.
That would seem unusual, and both Paul George and LeBron James, for instance, have more evenly distributed assist-origination charts:
James Harden has a 33 percent cluster above the arc, but it's in the middle, which is more profitable territory, and he's also doing a ton of damage dishing from the elbow:
It's almost enough to convince you that Stephenson isn't too dynamic a player. He got to the line only 2.6 times per 36 minutes this regular season, a piddling amount for a rumbling freight train. Hell, Stephenson isn't even as productive in transition as he seems. He turned the ball over on 26 percent of his transition chances this season, per Synergy, one of the worst marks in the league.4
The Pacers' stuck-in-gum offense needed Stephenson's jolts of fast-break energy, but it's unclear how much he really helped in the long run. He loves going 1-on-3, or even 1-on-4, and if just one defender can at least slow him up, another one often reaches in and pokes the ball away.
Stephenson probably led the league in the number of times an unseen defender trailing from behind reached in for a steal.
He zooms in without a plan, which means a lot of ugly jump passes and desperate wraparounds in the tight area underneath the basket. He loves going for all-in deep routes, like a quarterback throwing a bomb to a streaking receiver through double coverage. This may shock you, but lots of those passes end badly. Stephenson might be the league's only player who committed multiple turnovers last season by tossing blind outlet passes backward over his head:
There are a ton of warning signs here, and they can trick you into thinking Stephenson is overrated. But look a bit deeper and you can find signals that Stephenson may be in the early stages of a breakout career. Those wild drives on the pick-and-roll happen a lot, and there is a method to the wildness.
On possession-ending pick-and-rolls in which Stephenson goes around the screen — meaning he actually uses it — he drives to the basket area nearly 45 percent of the time, a monster number relative to the league average, per Synergy. He took the same percentage of his shot attempts from inside the restricted area as LeBron James, per NBA.com, and he hit nearly 70 percent of them.
He is a creative player with an arsenal of tricks that compensate for his lack of a midrange game. He has a killer hesitation dribble; just when an opposing big man thinks his help duties are over and begins his retreat, Stephenson will blow by him:
He's smart about faking toward a pick, getting the defense to commit in that direction, and then bolting the other way:
And when he gets into the lane, he has indeed shown that he can make the sorts of close-range passes that lead to the very best shots in the game.
Fans think Stephenson is selfish, but he's not. He was probably Indiana's best passer this season, and he's especially good at reading the floor from the perimeter. He's a step ahead in terms of understanding when a cutter will come open along the baseline, and he's dynamite at making the extra swing pass from up top to a spot-up shooter in the corner.
He has also learned to cross up big men backpedaling to shut off his drive, and when he knows that defender is a ground-bound sieve, Stephenson will go right at his chest and bulldoze his way to the rim:
And remember: He's playing within a peculiar context in Indiana. The Pacers don't have a single big guy who can catch the ball south of the foul line and finish without a dribble; sometimes, their big men struggle to catch the thing at all. A lot of Stephenson's assists lead to midrange jumpers because those are the shots West and Scola prefer.
Chris Paul's assist-origination chart is even more perimeter-heavy than Stephenson's:
You can do outside-in damage when your bigs can run and jump. And Stephenson's assist chart isn't so dramatically different from those of other creative players that it should make a team blanch. About 42 percent of his dimes led to a shot attempted within 10 feet of the rim, a number on par with those of LeBron (45 percent) and George (44 percent), and not so far from Paul's figure (49 percent), per SportVU data.5
Indiana's driving lanes are always tight because the team doesn't have a power forward with killer range beyond 18 feet. Its perimeter players have an awful habit of standing in the way, in no-man's-land around the baseline, instead of spacing out to the corners. Stephenson is part of that problem sometimes; he loves to linger near the paint and cut in for offensive rebounds.
Plop him amid more shooting and with an explosive leaping big man, and Stephenson might become a different player — especially if he's something like a no. 1 option. His driving numbers aren't that low once you account for how many times he touches the ball. He'll develop a midrange shot, and he has flashed a bullying post-up game in favorable matchups.
He's already a solid defender, and he has learned good habits in Indiana's killer system. He stays close to corner shooters, cheats only off of guys who have earned that treatment, and generally sticks to the scheme. He's tenacious, and he's a freaking brute — a human cinder block with a measured wingspan north of 6-10, big for a shooting guard. The dude battles, and that counts for a lot in the NBA. Defense is unglamorous, and he seems to like it.
Stephenson conceded to me early in the season that he had occasional blips in his focus on defense, especially in recognizing when an opponent was about to nail him with a pick. That still happens; he'll die on a screen now and then:
He can get a bit jumpy tracking his man, and Bradley Beal roasted him enough that Frank Vogel shifted George onto Beal by Game 2 of the Pacers' second-round series against Washington.
But Stephenson is a good defender, and there's no reason to expect that to change.
I feel like I'm at the end of a Shark Tank pitch: So, teams, who wants to dive in with this two-way shooting guard who might be kind of crazy?
If some team takes the plunge, the Pacers might be in trouble. George making an All-NBA team added another couple of million to their cap figure for next season. If the Pacers want to keep Scola — and remember, they gave up a ton to get him — they'll only be around $7 million or $8 million under the tax before addressing Stephenson.
They can buy out Scola for about $1.9 million, saving themselves nearly $3 million, but they'd have to fill an extra roster spot. They could also use the stretch provision on Chris Copeland, or find a salary-dumping ground for a bit player like Ian Mahinmi. But those moves carry costs, both on the court and in real dollars. Regardless of the cap gymnastics involved, the Pacers can, if they wish, offer Stephenson about $10 million per season. But they can be outbid.
Let's scour the list of teams with cap room and/or a need at the position to find the likeliest candidates for a Stephenson splurge:
Probably Out
Dallas: The Mavs will have cap room, but ESPN.com's Marc Stein has reported that they aren't interested, and that matches what I've heard.
Utah: For a host of reasons, no.
Orlando: The Magic are rebuilding, and Stephenson could be the heir to Arron Afflalo as the shooting guard who rises up with the franchise. But the Magic are unusually concerned with gathering high-character guys, and Stephenson would be a gamble for them.
Sacramento: Multiple executives from other teams have mentioned the Kings as a potential landing spot if Rudy Gay opts out of his contract, but that doesn't appear to be Gay's plan. The Kings just spent a lottery pick on Ben McLemore, and Yahoo! has reported that they might have their eye on a bigger target — Kevin Love.
Phoenix: The Love thing hovers over a lot of potential free agents as the domino that needs to fall first. Phoenix has a million extra first-round picks and an intriguing young piece in Eric Bledsoe, and may well try to suss out the Love situation before moving elsewhere.
And a lot of the Orlando "character" concerns apply here, even though Phoenix needs long-term wing help. The team is in a happy place after clearing out Michael Beasley and other toxins.
The Wild Cards
Los Angeles Lakers: The Lakers need to, like, field a team for next season, and they'll have north of $20 million in cap space. Opening the vault for Stephenson wouldn't take them out of 2015 free agency, since Stephenson isn't going to command anything close to a super-max contract.
And here's another wrinkle a lot of front-office guys are kicking around: We now live in a world where half the league enters each offseason with a ton of cap room, just as the cap is rising at a fast and unpredictable rate. Every team is trying to chart the cap and figure out smart ways to spend in this environment. A lot of executives are wondering if teams with room will try to use it up by offering mammoth one- or two-year contracts to "risky" players, and/or structuring deals so that the guaranteed salary declines each year.6 What if the Lakers offer Stephenson a one-year, $15 million contract, or a similar deal with incentives in Year 2?
Stephenson knows he's considered a character risk, and will surely try to lock up as much long-term cash as possible. But it's an interesting potential curveball.
But the Lakers already have a shooting guard, as well as loftier free-agency goals for the next two summers.
Atlanta Hawks: No one can figure these guys out, which means Danny Ferry is doing his thing. They have cap flexibility and a good roster, though they dangled Al Horford at last year's trade deadline in a very targeted fashion, per sources around the league.
I love DeMarre Carroll, but any team starting him has a need on the wing. Look at this starting lineup: Jeff Teague, Stephenson, Kyle Korver, Horford, Paul Millsap. Hell, you can start Pero Antic at center and bring Millsap off the bench. Anyone in the East dying to face that team in the playoffs?
But Ferry comes from the Spurs tree, which means he prizes coachability and quiet workers. Mike Budenholzer is a shooting zealot, and Stephenson might not be a good enough marksman yet to pique his interest.
Chicago Bulls: They're reportedly deep into the tunnel of Love, and they'd need to use the amnesty provision on Carlos Boozer to open up the requisite space. Jimmy Butler is entrenched at shooting guard, but that brings up a larger point: The wing positions are basically interchangeable on most teams. Butler and Stephenson are both long and strong enough to guard most NBA small forwards; Stephenson at least made LeBron work for it in the conference finals until the Pacers rolled over in Game 6.
The two together could be terrifying, and Stephenson is a more advanced ball handler, capable of easing the load for Derrick Rose — something in which the Bulls should be very interested now.
But the Bulls are looking at other options, and Stephenson is likely too combustible for their taste. They'd love to find a better shooter, especially with Butler's plateau as an offensive player last season.
Milwaukee Bucks: O.J. Mayo flopped, and the team needs a shooting guard who can help Brandon Knight run the show. Stephenson is young enough to be a long-term rebuilding cog.
But the Bucks had some dicey locker-room issues last season, and the team's new owners are preaching patience. The Bucks are probably fine being bad again next season, doing the rebuild thing slowly.
The Sign-and-Trade Possibilities
Denver Nuggets: Denver is looking at zippo cap flexibility until July 2016, and it has a bunch of interesting players on movable contracts. The Nuggets just seem ripe for … something. Stephenson has a good relationship with Brian Shaw, and Randy Foye isn't the long-term answer at shooting guard. Both teams need to be careful about the tax implications of engaging in a sign-and-trade, and the odds are always against a complex deal coming together. It's unclear if the front office is interested, regardless of Shaw's feelings.
New Orleans Pelicans: Lots of rival executives mentioned the Pelicans, but it's hard to see a match on either side.
The Best Possibilities
Charlotte Hornets: Michael Jordan is talking big, and the Bobcats have money to spend. Gerald Henderson and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist are nice players, but MKG is in the midst of a full-blown shot reconstruction, and Henderson can't reliably shoot from deep or create off the bounce.
Stephenson would provide some juice for an offense that needs it, as well as ensure that Kemba Walker isn't overburdened. He just spent four years learning a defensive system that isn't much different from what Steve Clifford runs. Charlotte got a taste of winning, and they're hungry for more.
Detroit Pistons: Welcome to the job, Stan Van Gundy! The Pistons need anyone with some offensive skill on the wing, and they'll have about $12 million in cap room even accounting for Greg Monroe's cap hold. Stephenson's off-the-bounce skills would ease Brandon Jennings into more of a hybrid role after a miserable season, and Van Gundy likes fighters.
But you can bet that Detroit is weighing the risk of adding a thorny personality into what was a sour locker room last season. Still: Don't be shocked if they make a play.
Indiana Pacers: The Pacers' issues with Stephenson are well documented. He stole rebounds from teammates to inflate his own stats, he went on some haywire vengeance tour after the coaches left him off the All-Star roster, and everyone with the team grew tired of his on-court circus act against Miami.
But he's a skilled 23-year-old player, and if he bolts, the Pacers would have no ready means to replace him. They could split the full midlevel exception between two wing players, but go that route and you're paying combinations like Jerryd Bayless–Nick Young.7
And this is a two-year team now for the Pacers. Both West and Hibbert have player options for the 2015-16 season, and if they exercise those, they'll be free agents in July 2016. The team will have to find a successor for West soon. The league expects the tax line to rocket up to $81 million for 2015-16, and Indy players have no potential bonuses that could screw up their cap figure, according to several league sources. The Pacers could pay Stephenson $10 million per year, duck the tax in each of the next two seasons, and go forward building the next iteration of the team.
Indiana has three bold deal-makers in Larry Bird, Donnie Walsh, and Kevin Pritchard. It will shock no one if they pull something unexpected to sort this out and accelerate any transition they think is necessary. Trading Hibbert probably isn't off the table, and unloading George Hill's contract would give them some breathing space and the chance to search out a more dynamic lead ball handler.
Stephenson should fit any long-term picture the Pacers have of themselves; they know him best and he's comfortable there. But price could be an issue. Indiana is hoping Stephenson has cost himself some money, and there are lots of teams waiting around to see if the market starts in the $6 million–$8 million range — a spot at which they might dive in. The Pacers would outbid that, but it takes only one daring team to take a leap and smash that market apart.
Objectively, in basketball terms, some team should do it. But the non-hoops issues are what make Stephenson the most interesting free agent of the summer. — Grantland

subset: commoncrawl


text:
By Terry Weiss, Money Morning
Richard Duncan, formerly of the World Bank and chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Mgmt., says America's $16 trillion federal debt has escalated into a "death spiral, "as he told CNBC.
And it could result in a depression so severe that he doesn't "think our civilization could survive it."
And Duncan is not alone in warning that the U.S. economy may go into a "death spiral."
Since the recession, noted economists including Laurence Kotlikoff, a former member of President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers, have come to similar conclusions.
Kotlikoff estimates the true fiscal gap is $211 trillion when unfunded entitlements like Social Security and Medicare are included.
However, while the debt crisis numbers are well known to most Americans, the economy hasn't suffered a major correction for almost 4 years.
So the questions remain: Is the threat of collapse for real? And if so, when?
A team of scientists, economists, and geopolitical analysts believes they have proof that the threat is indeed real - and the danger imminent.
One member of this team, Chris Martenson, a pathologist and former VP of a Fortune 300 company, explains their findings:
"We found an identical pattern in our debt, total credit market, and money supply that guarantees they're going to fail. This pattern is nearly the same as in any pyramid scheme, one that escalates exponentially fast before it collapses. Governments around the globe are chiefly responsible.
"And what's really disturbing about these findings is that the pattern isn't limited to our economy. We found the same catastrophic pattern in our energy, food, and water systems as well."
According to Martenson: "These systems could all implode at the same time. Food, water, energy, money. Everything."
Another member of this team, Keith Fitz-Gerald, the president of The Fitz-Gerald Group, went on to explain their discoveries.
"What this pattern represents is a dangerous countdown clock that's quickly approaching zero. And when it does, the resulting chaos is going to crush Americans," Fitz-Gerald says.
Dr. Kent Moors, an adviser to 16 world governments on energy issues as well as a member of two U.S. State Department task forces on energy also voiced concerns over what he and his colleagues uncovered.
"Most frightening of all is how this exact same pattern keeps appearing in virtually every system critical to our society and way of life," Dr. Moors stated.
The work of this team garnered such attention, they were brought in front of the United Nations, UK Parliament, and numerous Fortune 500 companies to share much of their findings. Click on the short video above to see a sample. to see charts, facts, and details.
"It's a pattern that's hard to see unless you understand the way a catastrophe like this gains traction," Dr. Moors says. "At first, it's almost impossible to perceive. Everything looks fine, just like in every pyramid scheme. Yet the insidious growth of the virus keeps doubling in size, over and over again - in shorter and shorter periods of time - until it hits unsustainable levels. And it collapses the system."
Martenson points to the U.S. total credit market debt as an example of this unnerving pattern.
"For 30 years - from the 1940s through the 1970s - our total credit market debt was moderate and entirely reasonable," he says. "But then in seven years, from 1970 to 1977, it quickly doubled. And then it doubled again in seven more years. Then five years to double a third time. And then it doubled two more times after that.
"Where we were sitting at a total credit market debt that was 158% larger than our GDP in the early 1940s... By 2011 that figure was 357%."
Dr. Moors warns this type of unsustainable road to collapse can be seen today in our energy, food and water production. All are tightly connected and contributing to the economic disaster that lies directly ahead.
According to polls, the average American is sensing danger. A recent survey found that 61% of Americans believe a catastrophe is looming - yet only 15% feel prepared for such a deeply troubling event.
Fitz-Gerald says people should take steps to protect themselves from what is happening. "The amount of risky financial derivatives floating around the globe is as much as 20 times size of the entire GDP of the world," he says. "It's unsustainable and impossible to unwind in any kind of orderly way."
Moreover, he adds: "People can also forget that the FDIC can only cover a fraction of US bank deposits. It's a false sense of security. Just like state pensions, which could be suspended at any time. A collapse could wipe out these programs. Entitlements like Social Security and Medicare are already bankrupt and simply being propped up."
We can see the strain on society already.
In two years, Congress won't have any money for transportation, reports the Washington Post. Cities like Trenton, NJ have layed off one-third of their police force due to budget cuts. And other cities like Colorado Springs, CO removed one-third of streetlights, trashcans, and bus routes, reports CNN.
Fitz-Gerald also warns of a period of devastating inflation. A recent survey, reports USA Today, notes that in the coming years it could take $150,000 a year in household income for a family to afford basic living expenses - and maybe go out to a movie.
Right now, in fact, "52% of Americans feel they barely have enough to afford the basics."
"If our research is right," says Fitz-Gerald, "Americans will have to make some tough choices on how they'll go about surviving when basic necessities become nearly unaffordable and the economy becomes dangerously unstable."
"People need to begin to make preparations with their investments, retirement savings, and personal finances before it's too late," says Fitz-Gerald.


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/EINPresswire.com/ — BALTIMORE, MD — (Marketwired) — 08/06/15 — MedStar Sports Medicine was selected as one of only six sites in the nation to host the prestigious American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) 2015 European Traveling Fellows. As one of the premier sports medicine programs in the country, MedStar Sports Medicine's participation in this international exchange program fostered collaboration among colleagues worldwide, inspiring innovation and advancing the field of sports medicine.
MedStar Sports Medicine hosted the fellows from July 2-5 in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. During their visit, the fellows gained insight into the integrated sports medicine program of one of the nation's largest health care systems. MedStar Sports Medicine brings together nearly 20 fellowship-trained sports orthopaedic surgeons and a network of primary care sports medicine providers, certified athletic trainers, physical therapists, nutritionists, sports performance professionals, and sports-specific researchers under a single tent covering the Baltimore/Washington corridor.
The fellows, including João Espregueira-Mendes, MD, of Portugal, past president of the European Society of Knee Surgery; Sebastian Kopf, MD, of Germany; Nicolas Pujol, MD, of France; and Christiaan van Bergen, MD, of the Netherlands, met with clinical and research leaders, toured MedStar Sports Medicine's facilities, and spent time observing clinics, surgical procedures, lectures and labs.
AOSSM's traveling fellowship program is an annual scientific and cultural exchange among orthopaedic sports medicine physicians in North America and Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. The program is a unique opportunity for individuals to witness orthopaedic sports medicine techniques and surgeries from around the world. The program offers a rich experience with opportunities to:
- Foster an exchange of scientific information, stimulate research and develop partnerships among physicians who practice sports medicine in North America, Europe, Latin America and Pacific Rim countries
- Serve as a bridge that may be used to forge the future of sports medicine worldwide
- Provide a stimulus for leadership by recognizing young physicians who have made a significant contribution to sports medicine
- Participate in social and cultural activities with the local sports medicine community
MedStar Sports Medicine also hosted the AOSSM Latin American and Asian Traveling Fellows in 2012. This most recent visit makes MedStar Sports Medicine one of the few sports programs that have had the opportunity to work with all three traveling fellowships in the past five years.
About MedStar Sports Medicine
MedStar Sports Medicine, an initiative integrated throughout MedStar Health, is one of the premier sports medicine programs in the country. Over the past 30 years, MedStar Sports Medicine has grown to include more than 36 physicians, 23 certified athletic trainers and a network of therapists, nutritionists, and support staff at MedStar's ten hospitals and diversified services. Focused on patient care, education, research and team relationships, this network of medical professionals is dedicated to enhancing the health and performance of all active people. More than 40 sports organizations, including the Baltimore Ravens, Washington Nationals, Chesapeake Bayhawks, Baltimore Blast, and US Lacrosse, have chosen MedStar Sports Medicine as their official medical team. Visit us at MedStarSportsMed.org, or call 888-44-SPORT (888-447-7678).
About MedStar Health
MedStar Health is a not-for-profit health system dedicated to caring for people in Maryland and the Washington, D.C., region, while advancing the practice of medicine through education, innovation and research. MedStar's 30,000 associates, 6,000 affiliated physicians, 10 hospitals, ambulatory care and urgent care centers, and the MedStar Health Research Institute are recognized regionally and nationally for excellence in medical care. As the medical education and clinical partner of Georgetown University, MedStar trains more than 1,100 medical residents annually. MedStar Health's patient-first philosophy combines care, compassion and clinical excellence with an emphasis on customer service. For more information, visit MedStarHealth.org.


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DevShed has posted a new tutorial introducing PHP and MySQL interaction by developing a simple online IQ test.
If you are a school administrator wanting to have an IQ test online, then this tutorial is for you. It can be used not only in the field of academics, but in the instances where you need to draw user interest to your website. An IQ test is a popular feature to incorporate into your website, and will attract a large amount of web traffic over time.
The test takes a few things into consideration - how long it takes the person to take the test, the user-friendliness of the interface and the speed that the results are given back to the user. It also includes the scoring system behind the test (weighted based on age and test question levels).


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Happy days are here again! Stock markets are strong, company profits are up, bankers are making record profits and bonuses, unemployment is declining, and inflation is non-existent. Obama and Bernanke are the dream team making the US into the Superpower it once was.
Yes, it is amazing the castles in the air that can be built with paper money and deceitful manipulation of all economic data. And Madame Bernanke de Pompadour will do anything to keep King Louis XV Obama happy, including flooding markets with unlimited amounts of printed money. They both know that, in their holy alliance, they are committing a cardinal sin. But clinging to power is more important than the good of the country. An economic and social disaster is imminent for the US and a major part of the world and Bernanke de Pompadour and Louis XV Obama are praying that it won't happen during their reign: "Après nous le déluge". (Warm thanks to my good friend the artist Leo Lein).
Moral and financial decadence
A deluge of an unprecedented magnitude is both inevitable and imminent. The consequences of the economic and political mismanagement will have a devastating impact on the world for a very long time. And the consequences will touch most corners of the world in so many different areas; economic, financial, social, political and geopolitical. The adjustment that the world will undergo in the next decade or longer, will be of such colossal magnitude that life will be very different for coming generations compared to the current social, financial and moral decadence. But history always gives us lessons and the one that is coming will be necessary and eventually good for the world. But the transition and adjustment will be extremely traumatic for most of us.
We have reached a degree of decadence that in many aspects equals what happened in the Roman Empire before its fall. The family is no longer the kernel of society. More than 50% of children in the Western world grow up in a one parent home, either being born by a single mother or with divorced parents. Children are neither taught ethical or moral values nor discipline. Many children consider attending school as optional and education standards are declining precipitously. Most families do not have a meal around the dinner table even once a week. Sex and violence are common place on television and in real life. Both press and television create totally false values and ideals. Everyone must be young and beautiful often enhanced by surgical or digital means. Old people have little value and their wisdom is not benefitting the younger generations.
The Golden Calf or materialism is the ultimate value that is worshipped and no means are eschewed to attain material goals. Since most of the prosperity that has been achieved in the last 40 years is based on printed money and debt, it is totally false and unsustainable. A major part of the Western world has improved their living standard, by exchanging services and swapping houses at ever rising prices financed by printed paper and credit. The perceived wealth that is created out of this is illusory and ephemeral. We have created a world economy which is based on debt and thin air.
The Gini coefficient of income and wealth is now reaching extremes in many countries. This measures the inequality between the rich and the poor. In the US the Gini coefficient is now at the same level as in the 1920s before the depression. In countries like the US, the rich are getting richer whilst 45 million people live below the poverty line, 43 million receive food stamps and over 700,000 are homeless. With a real unemployment rate of 22% and urban youth unemployment much higher, the US will soon experience social unrest.
But it is not only the US that will experience financial misery, famine and social unrest. This will also hit most European countries and in particular the UK, southern Europe, Eastern Europe and the Baltic States as well as African countries, the Middle East, Asia, yes in fact the whole world.
Are boom and busts inevitable?
Well if you listened to the former British Labour Prime Minster Gordon Brown, he proudly declared that he had abolished booms and busts and thus economic cycles. But he was expeditiously thrown out at the next bust which of course had nothing to do with him since he blamed the US sub-prime market for his ill-fated destiny.
Cycles or ebbs and flows are a natural part of both economic life and nature. And right at the point when something could be done to limit the damage, most nations seem to have the uncanny knack of selecting the political individuals who will put fuel on the fire and make the situation catastrophically worse.
Greenspan was one such individual. During his 19 years as Chairman of the Fed, he could have limited the economic and social damage that the US would suffer. Instead he took every single measure possible to ensure that there would be a catastrophe with uncontrollable consequences. But we shouldn't just blame the incompetence of Greenspan. It was sickening to watch every sycophantic congressman and senator licking Greenspan's boots and praising his wisdom. Because Greenspan's money printing and incompetent interest rate management created one of the biggest financial bubbles in world economic history. But the politicians loved this. It made the stock market boom, and house prices surge. Thus the politicians were all loved by their voters who did not understand the dire consequences that were looming. And Bernanke de Pompadour is continuing the same disastrous policies of creating money out of thin air. When will they ever learn that creating money out of thin air and running astronomical deficits that never will be repaid with normal money leads to the road of total ruin? When will they ever learn? The very sad answer is that they won't and therefore they are leading the world into a hyperinflationary depression that will have uncontrollable and cataclysmic consequences for current and future generations.
Empty stomachs are rioting
We have for years warned about hyperinflation leading to famine, misery and social unrest. Well, this is exactly what is happening in many parts of the world. The protests and overthrowing of regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya are primarily due to a major part of the peoples of these nations having no job, no money and little food. It is their empty stomachs that are rioting. In addition they are protesting against the leaders of these countries stealing from the people.
It is virtually certain that these riots will spread to many countries in the Middle East, Africa and the developing world. This will lead to new regimes and new political orders that could either be far left or far right politically or religious extremists. But the new regimes will not be in a position to change the root of the problem which is famine and poverty. In Egypt for example there has been a quiet military coup. It is unlikely that a democratic regime will take over from the military. So the people will protest again and again. And this will be the same in most countries. Eventually the people will take the law into their own hands since no regime will be able to give them the food that they need.
The hyperinflationary deluge is imminent
Although food and fuel inflation is rampant worldwide already, we are only seeing the very beginning. Massive oil price rises are likely to continue as a result of the geopolitical situation as well as peak-oil. The Middle East is a time bomb waiting to go off. Israel is in an extremely precarious position and the involvement or non-involvement of the US in this conflict would both have dire consequences for Israel and peace in the world. Food prices will continue to rise dramatically. Major parts of the world are living below the poverty line today and this will increase exponentially.
The lethal concoction of rising food and fuel prices is already affecting the Western world. The Continuous Commodity Index – CCI, (60% food, 17% energy and 23% metals) has almost doubled since the low in early 2009 and has gone up 42% in the last 12 months. The almost vertical rise of the CCI is one of the best indicators of hyperinflation being imminent. A catastrophe of astronomical proportions is looming. This will hit the world at a time when there is no capacity whatsoever to take any real measures that could alleviate the problems.
Most countries are already running major deficits which will increase dramatically in the next few years. The banking system is bankrupt and is only holding together due to false valuations of toxic debt and derivatives. This is done with the blessing of governments since virtually no major bank could face an honest valuation of its assets. Unemployment and especially youth unemployment is currently a problem worldwide and it will get much worse. In 2010, the US government spent 60% more than its revenues. In order to balance the budget individual and corporate income taxes would have to double.
Never before in history has the world run out of real money as well as (affordable) food and fuel simultaneously. But his is exactly what is happening now and it will get substantially worse in the next few months and years.
Financial misery, famine and high unemployment combined with governments that will not be in a position to give real help are a recipe for disaster that will lead to social unrest and revolutions not only in developing countries but also in the West. Hungry people are desperate people and desperate people do desperate deeds. We could see already in 2011 food shortages, and riots both in Europe and in the US.
Hyperinflation Watch
The following are INDISPUTALBLE FACTS:
- The US dollar is down 82% against gold since 1999
- The US dollar is down 49% against the Swiss Francs since 2001
- The Dow Jones is down 81% against gold since 1999
- The Continuous Commodity Index is up 100% since 2009
The above facts are clear evidence of an economy that has been totally mismanaged. But more importantly most of these trends are now starting to accelerate – a clear sign that hyperinflation is just around the corner.
With years of negative net worth and negative cash flow, the US is bankrupt today. The Federal deficit is forecast to increase by at least another $ 5 trillion in the next 5-7 years. Add to this the State deficits, the Municipal and City deficits that are rising at a galloping rate and we have a country that is going to haemorrhage to death in the next few years. One wonders when the totally ineffective and clueless rating agencies are going to fathom this. Not that it will matter if they once do. One also wonders what Mme Bernanke de Pompadour and his court are thinking. "She" and her courtiers should have above average intelligence and could not possibly avoid seeing the facts that we all see today (of course, some of us have seen it coming for over a decade). But "she" has to please her master King Louis XV Obama and her devotion to the king goes above all reasonable common sense, or rationale. So the two of them will continue to crank up the printing press and drown their people and the world in worthless paper.
Stock Market
To believe that the current money printing liquidity boom is real and sustainable would be a very serious and expensive mistake. The temporary and illusionary pickup that we are now seeing in the economy and stock market is the normal initial phase of a hyperinflationary economy. It must not be mistaken for a real improvement in the economy.
The normal pattern at the beginning of a hyperinflationary period is that stock markets surge. This is the result of the increased liquidity and a flight to more inflation proof assets. This was the case in for example the Weimar Republic and Zimbabwe. Just look at the chart below of the Zimbabwe stock exchange that went from 1,420 in January 2005 to 5.4 trillion in June 2008, a 3 billion per cent increase. That was of course in Zimbabwe dollars. In US dollars the stock exchange went sideways with major volatility. So in hyperinflationary terms stock markets could continue to rise initially thus making them a better investment than cash. However, measured against real money, the Dow has gone down 82% against gold since 1999 and 86% against silver since 2001 (see chart above). We are currently seeing a dead cat bounce but we expect the Dow to decline a further 90%, at least, against gold in the next few years. So even if stock market investments will initially give the illusion of protecting investors, it will be a very poor hedge against the ravages of hyperinflation in real terms.
Bond market
In January 2009, we warned investors that long term interest rates were bottoming. Since then the 30 year bond yield is up from 2.6% to 4.6% an 80% rise. But more importantly the 30 year is currently in the process of breaking a 17 year downtrend line which dates back to 1994. This confirms that rates will now start a major and rapid rise which is likely to reach the mid-teens or higher. Governments will attempt to keep short rates low due to weak economies but eventually the rising long rates will put strong upward pressure on the short rates. So the flight to government bonds that we have seen in the last few years will soon reverse into a massive rush for the exit. This will coincide with rapidly increasing financing requirements by the US, UK, EU and many other governments. The poisonous concoction of rising rates and rising financing needs will create a vicious circle of collapsing bond markets and unsustainably high financing cost. This will continue to drive interest rates even higher which will further increase deficits and necessitate even faster running printing presses. Add to that a collapsing currency and the hyperinflationary picture is complete. It is our very strong view that investors should exit bond markets entirely if they want to avoid a total destruction of their assets.
Currency Market
As we have explained for many years, hyperinflation is created by the government destroying the currency as a result of money printing to finance deficits. This leads to the cost push inflation that we are now experiencing. Add to that, shortages in commodities worldwide, thus creating the perfect hyperinflationary scenario. The Dollar, the Pound, the Euro and many other currencies will continue to decline. They can't all decline against each other at the same time so the market will take turns in attacking one currency at a time. But all currencies will continue to decline against gold. We believe that the dollar will soon start a very rapid fall against gold and against many currencies. Investors should exit the Dollar and also the Pound and the Euro. There is no currency better than gold or silver but for any small amounts of cash we prefer the Swiss Franc, the Norwegian Krone, the Singapore dollar and the Canadian dollar.
Wealth Protection
A hyperinflationary depression will destroy the value of money as well as most assets that were financed by the credit bubble (property, stock market). Wealth protection is now critical and urgent. We see no better way of protecting assets against total destruction than physical gold and silver stored outside the banking system. Thereafter, precious metals, energy and food stocks are our preference. But it must be remembered that any asset including stocks that is held through a bank is dependent on a sound and surviving banking system.
The real move in precious metals is still to come as we have outlined in many articles. Less than 1% of investors own gold. Before this economic cycle is over we are likely to see a mania in physical precious metals that will drive prices exponentially higher. And luckily for investors, this is a mania which is unlikely to end in a collapse since gold most probably will be part of a future reserve currency.
Finally we are again quoting von Mises who clearly understood that "le déluge" is inevitable:
"There is no means of avoiding a final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved." – Ludwig von Mises
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ATLANTA – The Atlanta Hawks are trying to stay upbeat.
Yet, they know the playoffs can't keep going like this.
Beaten up and blown out in the first two games of their opening-round series against the Indiana Pacers, the Hawks were pondering lineup changes heading into Game 3 Saturday night. Coach Larry Drew said he's looking for improvement at both ends of the court, but it's clear that he's mainly concerned about getting tougher defensively.
The Pacers averaged 110 points in taking a 2-0 lead in Indianapolis. Their average margin of victory was a comfortable 16 points.
"We may look to change the lineup a little bit," Drew said Friday. "It's about adjustments. We've done some good things in the first couple of games, but there are some things we need to do better. Some changes may push us over the edge in that respect."
The Pacers have a huge size advantage, and they've taken full advantage of it so far. The Hawks had no answer for Paul George, who put up a triple-double (23 points, 11 rebounds, 12 assists) in the series opener, then added 27 points in Game 2.
With Atlanta focused on trying to stop George, David West and big center Roy Hibbert, guard George Hill has turned out to be another big weapon for the Pacers. He's averaging 20 points in the series.
"When they kick it out, he's knocking down shots," Hawks guard Jeff Teague said. "He's killing us."
Atlanta doesn't have a lot of options on the inside, especially after rugged center Zaza Pachulia went down with an Achilles injury late in the regular season.
Drew's most likely option is to go with little-used 7-footer Johan Petro at center, which would have the ripple effect of moving Al Horford to power forward and Josh Smith to small forward, allowing 3-point specialist Kyle Korver to come off the bench.
But it's not like Petro is suddenly going to become an All-Star-caliber player. Sure, he's got size, but there's a reason he played only 31 games during the season.
"Certainly, minus Zaza, that kind of puts us behind the eight-ball," Drew said. "But I feel confident we can match up. We have ability to go big. We have ability to go small. The first couple of games, we played a lot of small. We tried to utilize our speed and our quickness. Now we may change a little bit. "
Teague conceded that Pachulia would have been a valuable weapon against a team such as Pacers.
"Zaza brings a physicality to the game," Teague said. "I don't think too many people in the locker room bring that. But we just have to take a piece of what he does on the floor and implement it in our game. Petro is going to come in and play big for us."
Indiana certainly has no intention to change the way it's playing.
The Pacers manhandled Atlanta on their home court, and they hope to do the same in a building where they haven't had much success in recent years. Indiana has lost its last 11 games at Philips Arena.
"We haven't won down there for a couple of years, so what's a better time to change it than playoff time?" Hibbert said. "We know we have to get at least a split down there. Our mindset is to get both."
George promised a different Pacers team than the one that's struggled so much in Atlanta. They plan to stick with the bruising style that's worked so well in this series, most notably creating a huge disparity in free throws. Indiana is 51 of 63 at the foul line, while Atlanta is just 18 of 34.
"We're real confident," George said. "Physicality is our brand of basketball and that's how we play. We'll step up to the occasion."
Hill and fellow guard Lance Stephenson sat out part of the practice Friday in Indianapolis before the Pacers flew to Atlanta. But they are merely nursing minor ailments, nothing that was expected to keep them out of Game 3, coach Frank Vogel said.
For Indiana, this is a chance to gain a stranglehold on the best-of-seven series.
"We don't think about losing or a team coming back on us," George said. "We just want to keep our foot on the gas."
Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com.pnewberry1963


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French forces have killed Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, one of the most feared commanders of al Qaeda's north Africa wing, during an operation against Islamist fighters in mountainous northern Mali, Algeria's Ennahar television said on Thursday.
Abou Zeid was among 40 militants killed three days ago in the foothills of the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains near the Algerian border, said Ennahar, which is well connected with Algeria's security services.
French and Chadian troops have been hunting fighters there after a lightning campaign to dislodge them from northern Mali.
A spokesman for France's Elysee presidential palace declined to comment. Algeria's government, Malian and Chadian officials could not confirm Abou Zeid's killing.
A U.S. official said the reports that Abou Zeid had been killed appeared to be credible and that Washington would view his death as a serious blow to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
A French army official, who would not comment on Abou Zeid, confirmed that about 40 Islamists had been killed in heavy fighting over the last week in the mountainous Tigargara region.
The official said 1,200 French troops, 800 Chadian soldiers and some elements of the Malian army were still in combat to the south of Tessalit in the Adrar mountain range.
Ten logistics sites and an explosives factory had been destroyed in the operation as well as 16 vehicles, she said.
France launched the assault on January 11 to retake Mali's vast desert north from AQIM and other Islamist rebels after a plea from Mali's government to halt the militants' drive southward.
The intervention swiftly dislodged rebels from northern Mali's main towns and drove them back into the surrounding desert and mountains, particularly the Adrar des Ifoghas.
Abou Zeid, regarded as one of AQIM's most ruthless operators, is an Algerian former smuggler turned jihadist who is believed to be behind the kidnapping of more than 20 Westerners in the lawless Sahara over the last five years, earning AQIM tens of millions of dollars in ransom payments.
He is believed to have executed British national Edwin Dyer in 2009 and 78-year-old Frenchman, Michel Germaneau, in 2010.
Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, in an account of his kidnapping by another Islamist cell in the Sahara, recounted how Abou Zeid refused to give medication to two hostages suffering from dysentery, one of whom had been stung by a scorpion.
After a loose alliance of Islamist groups seized northern Mali from April last year, Abou Zeid took control of the ancient desert trading town of Timbuktu, employing a violently extreme form of sharia, including amputations and the destruction of ancient Sufi shrines.
Timbuktu elders who dealt directly with him during the Islamist occupation described a short man with a grey beard and a quiet, severe manner who was never seen without an AK-47 rifle.
Locals said that when he fled Timbuktu, before the town fell to the French-led military advance, he took several blindfolded Western hostages in his convoy.
Born in 1965 in the Debdab region of Algeria's Illizi province, close to the Libyan border, Abou Zeid joined the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) during the 1990s civil war, which later transformed itself into AQIM.
Abou Zeid is regarded by some as one of AQIM's radicals, unwilling to negotiate or make concessions, compared with the more diplomatic approach of his fellow Saharan commander Belmokhtar, the mastermind of the mass hostage taking at the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria last month.
Fowler, the Canadian diplomat who encountered them both while held hostage, told Reuters last month that Abou Zeid in person was more genial than the austere, "all-business" Belmokhtar.
The two very different men are reported to have a strong rivalry within AQIM, which some analysts have suggested was behind Belmokhtar's decision to found his own brigade last year.


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Tune In
By Mark Lewisohn
By Mark Lewisohn
By Mark Lewisohn
By Mark Lewisohn
By Mark Lewisohn
Read by Clive Mantle
By Mark Lewisohn
Read by Clive Mantle
Category: Arts & Entertainment Biographies & Memoirs | Music
Category: Arts & Entertainment Biographies & Memoirs | Music
Category: Arts & Entertainment Biographies & Memoirs | Music | Audiobooks
Paperback $22.00
Oct 11, 2016 | ISBN 9781101903292
Buy the Audiobook Download:
Wild Tales
Can't Buy Me Love
In the Pleasure Groove
A Freewheelin' Time
Sticky Fingers
Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink
The First Four Notes
"An epic unprecedented in rock 'n' roll biography, and a great read . . . there's a surprise on every page." —Mojo
"Beyond essential . . . a wildly evocative portrait . . . The saga is clearer and richer here than it's ever been. Lewisohn writes in novelistic detail and with the obvious conviction that none of the previous Beatles biographies have ever been good enough."—Entertainment Weekly
"A radical event and a joy to read . . . Lewisohn's work stands as a monumental triumph, a challenge not merely to other Beatles biographers but to the discipline of biography itself. If only all important subjects had their Lewisohn." —Washington Post
"The biggest, deepest Beatles book ever."—Rolling Stone
"The widest possible angle on an extensive and engrossing group biography built on a well-raked mountain of exacting new research . . . expertly controlled and propelling."—New York Times
"Lewisohn manages to fill in blanks that no one knew were empty."—The New Yorker
"A triumph. Not only an enthralling account of the Beatles group's origins, far superior to anything that has gone before, but also an essential piece of social history . . . Lewisohn has set out to do the Beatles justice and write the definitive history. I think he is succeeding." —The Times (UK)
"A book with a difference, one that ensures all previous rock tomes will gather dust on high cobwebbed shelves . . . Lewisohn has set the benchmark in popular music history that he alone can match." —Huffington Post
"Every single page brings the Beatles back into focus and moves them away from legend. Common myths fall apart under Mr. Lewisohn's research." —New York Journal of Books
"In its close focus and historical ambition, the trilogy may be compared to Robert Caro's biography of Lyndon Johnson or John Richardson's A Life of Picasso; it is unlikely to be surpassed." —Daily Telegraph (UK)
"A game-changing study which raises the bar in a genre characterized by pap or pretension. A meticulous piece of work – I can't wait for volume two." —The Independent (UK)
"I can think of no greater praise for Tune In than to say that it gives the Beatles the beginnings of the biography they deserve. It is hard to imagine the subsequent volumes, covering more familiar ground, matching the gripping quality of this constantly surprising work." —Financial Times
"This is the story told in Proustian detail, told so definitively that, after this, that really should be it." —The Guardian (UK)
"With imagination, energy and a gripping plotline, Lewisohn manages to put flesh and blood on the story as never before." —The Sunday Times (UK)
"Packed with revelations and demystifications." —The Economist
"A major event in music publishing . . . the definitive account of the Beatles." —GQ
"Lewisohn treats his subjects seriously, as historical, if ultimately remarkable, figures, and eschews the myriad myths that have grown up around the band in favor of the sorts of details and minutiae, wrapped in a serious but breezy narrative, that give us the fullest picture of who John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and, eventually, Ringo Starr were." —Esquire
"A fast-moving page-turner overflowing with warm humor, passion, and (of course) music. Likely to become a principle text in 20th-century studies, a sort of Complete Shakespeare with a much better soundtrack." —VH1.com
"As a Beatles scholar, Mark Lewisohn has no serious rivals. [This is] nothing less than a lifetime's work embracing the cultural and personal history of the Fab Four, a multi-volume epic written on a scale unprecedented in its genre." —Irish Times
"Tune In is brilliant in describing the addictive power of rock and roll when there was no imaginable alternative in a doomed town. [Tune In] turns up the colors in a world that has faded to grey." —Herald Scotland
"Unearths searing new facts that change our historical perspective of what we've always been told, setting history on its ear."—Examiner.com
"A definitive history of the band."—The Wall Street Journal
"Written with passion, authority and vitality, this is an absorbing book."—Edinburgh Evening News
"Epic in its scope, forensic in its detail, Tune In is like reading the Beatles' story for the very first time."—R2/Rock 'n' Reel
"Lewisohn has a knack for underscoring the moment, the precise moment, when things change."—Slate.com
"A clear-eyed appraisal of rock's most beloved band."—CNN.com
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Homer musicians Timothy Robb and Lindanne Sarno present a concert, "Pull, Hammer and Slide," at 8 p.m. Saturday at Bunnell Street Arts Center. Tickets are $10 to $20 on a sliding scale. The concert explores semi-tones for lute, viola, violin and piano, with slide tone guitar.
Music includes original compositions and some adaptations of pieces by Bach and traditional North American roots tunes, blues, Americana and renaissance music.
Robb plays an 8-course lute and various guitars strung in unusual ways. Sarno performs, teaches, composes and records music in Homer. At her studio, Music Garden, located on Pioneer Avenue, she offers instruction in violin, viola, piano, guitar, mandolin, music theory, composition and songwriting.
Her most recent CD is "Arctic Child Suite," music she composed for the video documentary "Arctic Son."


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Yes, there really is a "Chuck", and his name is Charles "Chuck" Rolles. Chuck graduated from the Cornell Hotel and Restaurant School in 1956, and then moved to Hawaii, and in 1959, opened the first of a number of restaurants that bear his name in Waikiki. After opening his second steak house in Waikiki, he was the first to bring the steak house and salad bar concept to the Continental United States.
Ken Williams was the first of Chuck's partners to bring the concept to the East Coast. Ken opened the first Chuck's Steak House in the East with its salad bar operation over 35 years ago, in West Haven, Connecticut. It was then that Chuck and his partners opened the first of a number of Chuck's Steak Houses that stretch from California to the East Coast.
Customers fell in love with the informal atmosphere, the open grills, all you could eat salad bars and high value concept. By combining the finest aged Western choice beef available which we cut on site daily, with the open hearth cooking, Chuck's Steak House has long established a solid reputation.
Many have tried to copy the Chuck's Steak House and salad bar concept over the years. Most have met with varying degrees of success.


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What will you be doing on New Year's Eve? The old guy will be doing the same thing he has done for the last few years. Since he no longer drinks or does drugs, the only way he knows to celebrate is to eat. So he will have his big carton of Vanilla bean Breyer's ice cream and some Hershey's syrup and watch the Times Square ball drop. He will stay up at least one hour after he has finished off his ice cream so his tummy does not ache all night. That usually means he will be up past 2 a.m. thinking about those crazy people walking the streets of New York City all night.
Breyer's is the Insider's favorite ice cream. The folks at Chesapeake Bay Farms do a nice job, but the old guy is queer over Breyer's. He likes Vanilla bean and Vanilla Fudge Twirl. Those are his favorites, but there's no bad flavor for the old guy. When Insider first picks up this newspaper, he always flips straight to the circulars inside and looks for the discounts and specials, particularly the coveted two-for-one Breyer's deal. It's those colorful circulars, then this eloquent column, the wordy editorial pages and then back to the stories on the front page. It seems about once a month either Food Lion or Superfresh will run the ice cream special. When that happens, there's a mad dash to the stores by local folks, particularly the seniors, and the ice cream lockers are hit hard. Insider immediately heads straight to the store and buys a half dozen or so cartons of Vanilla bean and the Twirl. A couple go in his kitchen freezer and the rest go in the basement freezer. That's usually enough to last him until the next special runs. To those who have never had it, Insider recommends a Vanilla bean/Vanilla Fudge Twirl milkshake. The old guy goes heavy on the ice cream and light on the ice and milk. That way it's nice and creamy.
Things The Old Guy Dislikes: infidelity; bratty kids; cookies with nuts in them; brownies with nuts in them; cake with nuts in it; stepping in dog poop; infestation; rude service men; when the dryer does not do what it's supposed to do; excuses that are more like lies; getting bills in the mail; mortgage interest rates; new car commercials; rap music; Nancy Grace; and food that is tart.


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OCEAN CITY – An Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer arrested and charged with driving under the influence last week after a holiday party was terminated by Chief Bernadette DiPino on Monday following an administrative hearing.
OCPD Officer Wilbur Thomas Jesson was arrested early last Wednesday morning in Delaware when his car left the roadway along Route 113 after leaving an Ocean City Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 10 Christmas party. Jesson was driving on Route 113 near Georgetown, Del., short before 1 a.m. last Wednesday when his vehicle left the roadway and struck road signs before becoming disabled.
Delaware State Police responded to the accident scene and believed Jesson to be under the influence of alcohol. He was taken into custody and charged with DUI before being released to another OCPD officer. Jesson earlier had left a Delaware restaurant around 1 a.m. after attending a Christmas party sponsored by Ocean City's FOP Lodge 10. Other attendees realized Jesson had too much to drink to drive and made arrangements for him to get a ride, but he apparently snuck out and decided to drive.
On Monday, Jesson's position with the OCPD was terminated following an administrative hearing. His dismissal was announced after a meeting with DiPino on Monday morning.
"This is a very disappointing day," the chief said. "Here is a young man that has so much potential. He was a fine, new officer, but his poor decision led to the end of his career with the OCPD I feel bad for him personally, but this was not acceptable conduct for an Ocean City Police officer."
Jesson graduated from the Police Academy in June after a career in the U.S. Marines and had been with the department for a little under a year. While his dismissal after the administrative hearing on Monday closes the Ocean City portion of the case, Jesson still faces charges in Delaware for the incident.
See Friday's print and website editions of The Dispatch for all of this week's news.


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These figures are interesting and telecommuting certainly offers many benefits to many people. But what the figures presented here don't take into account is whether every worker can work at the same level of productivity at home as they can at work.
I telecommute on occasion - bad weather, waiting for repair person/delivery, etc. And I know that I am not nearly as productive at home as I am at work. Part of that is that a majority of my work is done over a network and requires large amounts of computing power. My home interent connection and company issued laptop just isn't fast or powerful enough to keep up. Even remoting into my desk top machine doesn't alleviate all of the problems. So, a better home office set-up would be required...at least for me. Additionally, many of my projects are collaborative and/or I need help from our "tool elves" who build and maintain our software tools. At work, our main elf sits is my cubemate. So getting help is as easy as tossing a little ball of paper in his direction so that he takes his headphones off and can help me. We have communicated via email, phone and IM when one of us is telecommuting before, but it is not as effective and does take longer. I also know that, for my personality, I work better when I'm in an office situation. Not everyone is like this, but I know many who are.


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Someone emailed me a question recently indicating that they'd come here and seen what I've written and wanted to know something about Starcraft 2 strategy building.
While I did email him back, I still think that gaming.se is a good place for such questions so I've reproduced it here (I may have slightly summarized some of the things he said).
Lately I've been having a lot of trouble getting my economy going to the point where I can support a large army. I was wondering of anyone had advice on:
- When to power drones?
- How to best expand?
- Knowing when to tech?
- When to switch from powering drones to producing units?
I've included a replay so you can help analyze anything I might be doing wrong
I intentionally left the user's name out in case he did not want to be associated with the question, but he can always indicate it in comments.


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Some U.S. television stations could make tens, or even hundreds, of millions of dollars by giving up their spectrum so that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission can sell it in an upcoming mobile broadband auction.
Full-power, over-the-air TV stations in New York City, Los Angeles and Philadelphia could clear more than US$400 million in the FCC's so-called incentive auction, projected to happen in mid-2015, the FCC said Wednesday in a report to broadcasters. Full-power TV stations in Chicago, the San Francisco area, Boston and Washington, D.C., could receive $130 million or more by voluntarily giving up their spectrum holdings, the FCC said.
Low-power TV stations would get less money under the FCC projections, with spectrum value based on interference with neighboring spectrum. Still, low-power TV stations in Los Angeles and New York could profit to the tune of more than $350 million, while low-power stations in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., could clear more than $90 million, according to the estimates.
The auction, which will rely on voluntary participation by TV stations, will offer "potentially significant financial benefits" for broadcasters, but not just in the largest U.S. markets, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wrote in a letter to broadcasters. Some smaller TV stations, particularly those in markets just outside major metropolitan areas, could also see major windfalls, FCC officials said. Demand for more mobile broadband spectrum is highest near large cities.
For example, full-power stations in Providence, Rhode Island, and Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, could see $150 million from a spectrum sale, and a station in Palm Springs, California, could earn $180 million, according to the FCC estimates. Full-power stations in the West Palm Beach, Florida, market and the Flint, Michigan, area could receive $100 million, the agency said.
TV stations that sell spectrum in the auction have a handful of options, including going off the air, moving from a UHF to a VHF channel, or sharing a channel with another broadcaster. Stations that participate in the auction can pull out if bidding doesn't match their target sale prices, FCC officials said.
The FCC will begin sending information packages on the auction to TV stations Wednesday, and FCC staff will tour the country to talk to stations in the coming weeks, agency officials said at a press briefing.
The FCC letter to broadcasters explains their bidding options in the auction as well as the tax implications of a spectrum sale.
Some broadcasters and trade group the National Association of Broadcasters have been slow to embrace the FCC incentive auction, which was authorized by the Congress in 2012. The FCC's goal for the auction is to open up more spectrum for mobile broadband use as U.S. customers flock to data-enabled smartphones and tablets.
Mobile providers and other tech companies have been warning for years of an upcoming spectrum crunch.
Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's email address is firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Runboard.com support pages
[Back to main support page] | [Runboard.com support forums]
Communities :: About
Communities :: About :: What is an "online community"?
Anyone can create and manage an "online community". This is a fairly broad term and, at this time, it mainly means a message board. Soon, we will add more functionalities to the communities, such as web pages, live chat, member directories, private messaging, weblogs, newsgroups, and other cool stuff. Right now, however, you will be able to create, or just participate in a message board.
Communities :: About :: Do I need to create one?
You don't have to, but you can. In other words, you might as well just take part in an already existing community, if you find one that matches your interests. However, if you feel like starting your own community, nothing is easier. It is free, and can be set up in only 2 clicks.
Communities :: Creating your community
Communities :: Creating your community:: Choose the name wisely
So, you decided to create a community, great! The only mandatory thing you have to choose is its name. Even though you can change this at any time after the community is created, it is advised to find out a good name from the start for technical reasons. A good name would be one that reflects the community's purpose, i.e. "Joe's Bar" if your name is Joe, or "Wild Dragons Clan" if the community will be mainly used for your video game guild/clan called "Wild Dragons Clan". The reason is that even though you will be able to change the name of the community later, you won't be able to change the web address of it - which will resemble the original name you have chosen. If you create a community called "Forward Somersault", its web address (URL) will be something like https://com1.domain.com/bforwardsomersault - and this web address is fixed (you will not be able to change it). You will still be able to change the full name of the board, though.
Communities :: Creating your community :: Keywords are important
Indeed they are. If you want people to be able to find your community faster and more easily, please make sure to enter the correct keywords when creating it. You will be able to change these keywords after the creation as well. Those keywords will be used to classify your community in our directory, as well as used in user searches. If your community is going to be about, say, the computer game "DOOM", it would make sense to set "games, computer, 3D, action" as keywords.
Communities :: Creating your community :: So is the description
The description of your community is as helpful for people trying to find a community as are the keywords. A correct description makes it more likely for the right people to come and visit your community. Feel free to write a lenghty one, but remember that a user will not spend 10 minutes reading it - the user must have a quick idea of what your community is about in just a few seconds of reading - or they'll just skip it.
Communities :: Creating your community :: Create it
Creating your community is surprisingly easy and quick. Just click here and fill all the fields. It is free of charge, and the community will be open and available immediately. You will be able to manage it using your Control Panel right away. Remember, you must be a registered global user to create a community. Registering is free, immediate and hassle-free. If you do not have a global account, you can quickly create one by clicking here.
Here is a brief description of the fields of the community creation form fields:
Full community name:
Enter here the full name of the community you want to create, such as "Foo's bar", or "The Fishing board".
Community description:
Enter here a brief description of your community, such as "Foo's bar is the place where all the foos meet at".
Search keywords:
Enter here a few keywords that you deem most descriptive of your community. For a community centered around fishing,
you'd want to enter "fishing, sport, bait, pole", or something to this effect.
Time zone offset to UTC:
Enter here a digit between -12 and 12. This will be the number of hours that separates you (or your community, or both), from the GMT (Greenwich Mean Time - also known as UTC, Coordinated Universal Time) time zone. This will affect how all the
times and dates are shown on your message board to the users. You will be able to change it at any time later.
Communities :: Managing your community
Managing your communities is done through your Control Panel. Obviously, you need to be logged on to access it.
If you are the Owner, an Administrator, or a Moderator of a given community, its name will appear at the bottom part
of the main page of your Control Panel, and you will be able to select it.
Many options are available for managing a community. Some of the options are only available to the Owner of the community (there can only be one Owner for a given community), some are only available to Administrators or Owners, and some are available to Owners, Administrators and Moderators. Depending on your access level to the community, only the available options will be displayed.
Should a problem arise, your best bet is to ask about it at the Support forums which are available off the home page Home page.
Communities :: Advertising your community
Soon, there will be an automatic tool available that will help you submitting your board to major search engines and directories. At this time you'll have to do this manually. Your best bet is to check out the following search engines and directories and submit your board to them manually:


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The economy of Egypt depends mainly on agriculture, media, petroleum exports, and tourism; there are also more than three million Egyptians working abroad, mainly in Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf and Europe.
Cairo is a megacity and a global city serving as the capital of Egypt. Cairo is the center of Egypt, as it has been almost since its founding in 969 AD. 15% of all Egyptians live there. The majority of the nation's commerce is generated there, or passes through the city.
Cairo has an overall cost of living index which equates it with middle cost of living locations. The overall cost of living index is comprised of the prices for defined quantities of the same goods and services across all 13 Basket Groups.
The latest cost of living rank for each of the 13 Basket Groups is now available.


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A short drive from Rockford, Grand Rapids Lighting Center, is your one stop lighting shop. From tableside lamps to high-end fluorescent kitchen lighting, outdoor lighting, ceiling fans and more, our Grand Rapids lighting showroom serving Grand Rapids selection provides affordable solutions for better living.
Whether you're looking for lighting to remodel your home or want to brighten things up in your office, we guarantee you will find what you are looking for. We are the Grand Rapids largest lighting showroom serving Grand Rapids and we only carry the best lighting products.
Our staff of lighting experts will help you with all of your questions. If you are looking for inspiration or ideas, come to our showroom and have one of our experts offer advice. We are here to help with all of your Rockford, MI home lighting needs.
Whatever your lighting needs are, our experienced staff is more than happy to help. Contact us here for a free design consultation or call us directly at 616.949.4931. We offer 100% customer satisfaction!


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What God has done through the modern creation of Israel in 1948 is nothing short of a miracle of Bible prophecy.
Over the years I have accompanied thousands of people to the Holy Land. I am always thrilled to see people on these tours with their Bibles open, eagerly reading Old and New Testament passages that identify the very places they are seeing for themselves. I'll never forget an elderly gentleman in one group who kept peppering me with questions about biblical prophecy such as: "When Jesus returns, exactly where will He appear?" and "What else must happen before the Second Coming?"
His questions reflect an understanding about Israel that is so important for us as Christians to have. It is that everything God does on this planet, He does according to His dealings with Israel.
God's Word makes it clear that before Jesus' return, we will see the "restoration" of Israel. The apostle Peter, prophesying of a future event, told the Jews: "That [God] may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things" (Acts 3:20-21, NKJV).
Earlier, Jesus' disciples had asked Him to explain when these things would happen. They wanted to know: "'What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?'" (Matt. 24:3).
If you look closely at this verse you notice that the followers of the Lord wanted to know the sign—singular—of Christ's return and the end of the age. Jesus, however, began by detailing a lengthy list of what they should be looking for, including false prophets, wars, famines, earthquakes, the gospel being preached to the nations and much more (see Matt. 24:4-31).
Many of these events began to unfold immediately after Christ ascended back to the Father and have continued to this very day. But what was the one "sign" that would be unmistakable? As Jesus often did, He answered their question in the form of a simple story:
" 'Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place' " (Matt. 24:32–34).
The fig tree is Israel. And God's Son was prophesying of the time to come when the nation was re-established—when its tender branch was putting on new leaves.
It is essential to understand that in 1948, Israel the fig tree was not newly planted—it simply was awakening and sprouting new growth once more. Israel was born when Joshua took possession of the land God promised to Abraham. Jesus didn't say the end would come in the generation after the tree was planted or grew branches but when the tree put on fresh leaves.
Connected to the Church
The most significant aspect of this parable is that from time the leaves would begin to blossom again " 'this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place' " (Matt. 24:34). One sign! One generation! What does this mean for you and me?
It is important to note that on God's timetable, a generation is 100 years. When God told Abraham of Israel's captivity in Egypt, He said: " 'Your descendants … will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. … But in the fourth generation they shall return here' " (Gen. 15:13, 16).
Since this is true, and the Lord was speaking about Israel's rebirth in 1948, the 100 years for these things to be fulfilled means they will all come to pass before 2048.
You see, we simply cannot unravel or understand what is taking place in the Middle East or on the world scene without recognizing the central role of God's time clock—Israel.
I believe it is more than coincidence that when Israel was revived as a nation in 1948 God's hand began moving upon the Christian church worldwide in a new fashion. He started restoring the gifts of the Spirit.
Several years ago, my dear friend and mentor, the late Derek Prince, wrote a book titled Israel and the Church: Parallel Restoration. In it he pointed out several historic events in Israel's restoration and their correlating spiritual breakthroughs in the church. Here are a few examples:
- Just before the turn of the 20th century, the first Zionist Congress embraced Theodor Herzl's concept that the Jewish people should be returned to their biblical homeland. Within 10 years, outpourings of God's Spirit began in Topeka, Kansas, and Azusa Street in Los Angeles.
- In 1948, Israel declared its independence and became a sovereign nation. At the same time, the church began to experience the Latter Rain Movement and the launch of Billy Graham's evangelistic ministry.
- In 1967, Israel experienced a mighty victory in the Six-Day War. The same year, the Holy Spirit was poured out on Roman Catholics at first Duquesne and then Notre Dame universities, beginning the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Sadly, most Christians know very little about how Israel and the church are connected. They read the Scriptures, but they don't seem to be able to link the two together.
Today, because of misinterpretation, people are saying we—the church—are Israel. They're wrong!
Until recently, the Jewish people have not been open to hearing the message of Christ because Christianity was identified with the Crusades, Hitler and so much more. However, I can tell you personally that in the last few years we have begun to see a dramatic turnaround.
I vividly remember a day about 15 years ago when a Jewish cab driver forced me out of his taxi in Jerusalem for mentioning the name of Jesus. But recently I was in a stadium in Israel preaching the gospel to Jews and Arabs, publicly proclaiming, "Jesus! Jesus!" And together they were singing, "Alleluia! Alleluia!"
Only a few years ago, it was the Palestinian Christians who were preaching the gospel to the Jews. Now you can find Jews who have accepted Christ preaching to the Arabs!