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Politics & Government
America's Saying No to Prison Inc.
Like many states in the "tough on crime" era, Minnesota is struggling to reduce overcrowding in its prisons and jails. For now, the state's government is paying counties to house over 500 incarcerated people that its prisons can't hold. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the notorious private prison operator, says they have a long-term solution for Minnesota.
But Minnesotans, backed by the criminal justice reform movement sweeping the country, are responding with "No thanks!"
CCA wants to reopen the shuttered Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, MN, and lease space to the state. They deny they're lobbying in Minnesota, but a politically connected lobbying firm, Goff Public Affairs, is pushing state officials to reopen the prison. That would be a costly mistake for both moral and economic reasons.
The company has a long rap sheet of cutting corners for the sake of profit, often understaffing facilities and overworking and underpaying correctional officers. Over the course of one month in 2013, CCA lost contracts in four different states after several prisoner deaths and riots under their watch. One of those contracts was with the state of Idaho for a prison so dangerous its prisoners called the facility "Gladiator School."
In 2012, CCA sent a letter to the nation's governors offering to buy prisons from states with "challenging corrections budgets." In exchange, they wanted the state to guarantee 90 percent prisoner occupancy for at least 20 years. To sell the deal they touted the recently purchased Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Ohio. But only a year into CCA's control of the facility, state audits found staff mismanagement, delays in medical treatment and "unacceptable living conditions," including a lack of access to toilet facilities, which forced prisoners to defecate in plastic containers and bags.
It's no accident that CCA wants Minnesota taxpayers to foot the bill to reopen Prairie Correctional Facility. Once operational, the facility could hold up to 1,600 prisoners, which would leave over a thousand open beds beyond Minnesota's needs. CCA actively markets open beds to state and local governments across state lines as an opportunity to ease overcrowding. As of late 2013, 10,500 prisoners were housed outside of their home states in for-profit prisons. This practice incentivizes more incarceration within and across state lines–with beds to fill and profits to be made, a publicly traded company like CCA will work hard to fill them.
Their financial chicanery doesn't end there. A few years ago CCA converted its corporate structure into a type of real estate company called a real estate investment trust (REIT). In addition to tax benefits, the change allows CCA to own the prisons it operates, meaning it earns profits as both landlord and operator.
Minnesotans fighting for good jobs and a humane criminal justice system aren't alone in standing up against the private corrections industry. Last week, in a significant decision to limit privatization's impact on prisoners and families, the Federal Communications Commission capped the price of prison phone calls. And presidential candidate Hillary Clinton recently stopped accepting campaign contributions from the private prison industry, including CCA.
There are much wiser ways for Minnesota to reduce overcrowding. Across the country, states are starting to have the hard conversations required to rebuild our underfunded mental health system, create job training programs and roll back mandatory sentencing for nonviolent drug offenses.
"We need to restore families, not destroy them," said Toya Woodland of the faith-based group ISAIAH, which is opposing the CCA deal. That should be the standard for our criminal justice system, not whether there's profit to be made.
(This post was crossposted on Huffington Post and is republished with permission.)
Politics & Government
Big Pharma Bankrolled Pro-Trump Group As Trump Pushed Pharma Tax Cut
In 2017 the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America gave $2.5 million to America First Policies Inc. — a major dark money group supporting President Donald Trump's political and economic agenda.
The major dark money group supporting President Donald Trump's political and economic agenda raked in millions of dollars directly from the pharmaceutical industry's main lobbying group — at the same time Trump backed off his position on a major drug issue and promoted a tax plan that was a windfall for the industry.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America gave $2.5 million to America First Policies in 2017, according to IRS documents. America First Policies was formed by former Trump advisers in 2017 and proudly touts itself as a pro-Trump organization. The PhRMA money represented more than 10 percent of America First Policies' revenues in 2017, according to the group's own IRS filings.
The IRS documents were obtained by MapLight, a nonpartisan group that tracks the influence of money in politics.
While campaigning for president, Trump pledged to take action to generally reduce drug prices and to allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices for prescription medications. He then appointed a former pharmaceutical executive to run the Department of Health and Human Services, and slammed the Medicare negotiation concept after a meeting with pharmaceutical executives.
"I'll oppose anything that makes it harder for smaller, younger companies to take the risk of bringing their product to a vibrantly competitive market," Trump said. "That includes price-fixing by the biggest dog in the market, Medicare."
While Trump has moved to allow limited negotiation in some parts of Medicare, he has rejected the larger policy he campaigned on, leaving it out of his prescription drug proposal released earlier this year.
Trump also passed a tax cut that benefited the pharmaceutical industry, but that has not corresponded with a drop in prescription drug prices. America First Policies launched an ad campaign to promote those tax cuts, and spent the end of the 2018 campaign promoting them. PhRMA also gave $1.5 million to the American Action Network, which aired an ad campaign in support of the tax-cut legislation.
Copyright Capital & Main
ICE's Stealth Campaign to Expand Its Budget
The new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives could pose a challenge to the agency's chronic overspending — and to its aggressive detention and deportation policies.
In June the Dept. of Homeland Security asked Congress to allow it to transfer $200 million to ICE to cover agency overspending, continuing a pattern of such requests.
Big spending on immigration enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security promises to be a major sticking point as Congress prepares to negotiate a budget deal early next month.
Even though illegal immigration to the United States appears to be at its lowest point in 46 years, spending on immigration enforcement is at an all-time high. (The U.S. Border Patrol reported that in 2017, the last year for which statistics are available, apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border had dropped to 303,000, and had been declining nearly every year since 2000, when a record 1.6 million people were arrested.)
By overspending its congressional allocation, ICE is effectively writing its own budget.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's detention operations exceeded the agency's budget this year, while ICE spending on its vast system of immigration jails shows no sign of slowing.
But a newly elected Democratic majority in the House of Representatives could pose a challenge to the agency's chronic overspending — and to its aggressive detention and deportation policies.
ICE jailed so many immigrants in 2018 that it ran out of space in its more than 200 lock-ups, and placed 1,600 people in medium-security prisons.
Congress set detention and deportation spending for 2018 at $4.4 billion, enough to detain some 40,520 people annually.
However, by June, 44,000 men and women languished in immigration detention, filling 4,000 more beds than Congress authorized. DHS asked Congress to allow it to transfer $200 million to ICE to cover agency overspending. The department plucked the funds from several of its agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration.
Critics of ICE say that by overspending its congressional allocation, the agency has engineered a stealth expansion of the U.S. detention system, effectively writing its own appropriation, and skirting the Constitution's separation of powers in which Congress, not the executive branch, has the authority to set spending limits.
Congressman: "We shouldn't be using FEMA as a piggy bank to fund detention beds."
"It allows them to quickly expand the detention system contrary to congressional intent," said Heidi Altman, director of policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center, a non-profit immigrant rights group.
Such intradepartmental funds transfers aren't uncommon, but a congressional staffer who asked that his name not be used for this story said this one was controversial because nearly all of the money went to ICE for detention and deportation. ICE has received other big budget increases in the past two years. In March 2017, the agency got a $2.6 billion supplemental appropriation; three months later, ICE was back, requesting that Congress approve a $91 million funds transfer.
The $200 million June 2018 transfer, wrote DHS spokeswoman Katie Waldman in an email, was "in line with the FY 2019 president's budget request for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement."
However, the additional funds covered FY 2018 overspending – not future shortfalls in 2019; Congress has yet to agree to a permanent fiscal year 2019 budget. Waldman didn't answer an email asking to clarify her comments.
Congressional Staffer: Whenever ICE outspends its budget and adds detention beds, it gains leverage for the next round of budget negotiations.
The same congressional staffer who discussed the controversy surrounding the $200 million DHS funds transfer also noted that when ICE outspends its budget and adds detention beds, it gains leverage for the next round of budget negotiations because reducing beds would mean freeing detainees and, ICE argues, their release could jeopardize public safety.
Growth by funds transfer also generally avoids public scrutiny. Transfer documents submitted by government agencies are not released to the public. But earlier this year, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) released DHS's June 2018 transfer and reprogramming request, noting that $10 million had been taken from FEMA just as Hurricane Florence was making landfall in North Carolina.
DHS shot back, claiming the funds were administrative and weren't earmarked for hurricane relief. But according to Ur Jaddou, director of the advocacy group DHS Watch, and a former Chief Counsel at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the DHS agency that oversees immigration and citizenship applications, "The government these days doesn't operate on a plethora of administrative resources. It's really functioning on a very limited budget. When they say they're using unused money, it's just a ruse."
Congress has shown its frustration with ICE's disregard for its authority, but hasn't acted to rein in agency spending.
Congress has scolded ICE for its "lack of fiscal discipline and cavalier management."
In budget recommendations for fiscal year 2019, the Senate Appropriations Committee wrote, "In light of the Committee's persistent and growing concerns about ICE's lack of fiscal discipline, whether real or manufactured, and its inability to manage detention resources…the Committee strongly discourages transfers or reprogramming requests to cover ICE's excesses."
Two years before, the explanatory language in the supplemental appropriations bill was even harsher. Appropriators pointed to a "lack of fiscal discipline and cavalier management" of detention funding, saying the agency seemed to think its detention operations were "funded by an indefinite appropriation. This belief is incorrect."
"We shouldn't be using FEMA as a piggy bank to fund detention beds," said Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD). "Unelected agency heads shouldn't unilaterally shift taxpayer dollars for purposes they weren't intended."
Still, despite congressional annoyance with ICE's free-spending ways, it hasn't conducted meaningful oversight of the immigration detention system, said Greg Chen, director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
"The current leadership in Congress hasn't been interested in conducting hearings on detention spending and whether detention is even necessary at the scale it is now," Chen said.
When President Trump issued an executive order calling for no-holds-barred arrests of undocumented immigrants in January 2017, the border patrol reported that apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border were lower than at any time since 1972 — when the detention population was a fraction of its current size.
ICE reported that in fiscal year 2017, 41 percent of crimes of which detainees had been convicted were traffic- or immigration-related. Just 11.4 involved murder, sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery or assault.
Chen argued that ICE has a legal responsibility to screen each person in its custody for risk – either of flight or to public safety. "ICE is just not doing that and defaulting to the practice of detaining people."
Democrats in Congress could take on a more robust role in overseeing ICE spending, now that they've gained a majority in the House. They could put conditions on spending, call for Government Accounting Office reports and hearings, cut funding, demand answers if ICE overspends and bring its actions to the attention of the press, said DHS Watch director Ur Jaddou, who is also a former congressional staffer.
"The next time they [ICE] need something," Jaddou said, Congress can respond, 'Do you really want it? You better listen.'"
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Will New York Fund Amazon Subsidies or Student Debt Relief?
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo made headlines begging Amazon to site its second headquarters in the state. Now, however, prominent Democrats in the state Senate and Assembly have slammed the idea of offering taxpayer subsidies to the retail giant.
Co-published by Splinter
Elections have consequences, and they may have particularly immediate consequences for billionaire Jeff Bezos, as newly empowered New York Democrats appear to be positioning themselves to try to block new state subsidies for Amazon, now that the online retailing titan has chosen New York City and Northern Virginia as new headquarters locations.
A day before last week's midterm elections, when Amazon's choice was still up in the air, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo made headlines begging Amazon to site its second headquarters in the state. "I'll change my name to Amazon Cuomo if that's what it takes," said Cuomo, as reports surfaced about Amazon potentially moving in to Long Island City.
The next day, though, Democrats won control of the state Assembly and state Senate. Now, prominent Democrats in those chambers have slammed the idea of New York offering taxpayer subsidies to Amazon. And one lawmaker wants the legislature to decide between giving Amazon taxpayer largesse or addressing the state's student debt crisis.
Democratic Assemblyman Ron Kim announced that he will introduce legislation to slash New York's economic development subsidies and use the money to buy up and cancel student debt — a move he said would provide a bigger boost to the state's economy. The legislation, says Kim, would halt any Cuomo administration offer of taxpayer money to Amazon, which could reap up to $1 billion in tax incentives if it moves to Long Island City. The deal is a goodie bag for Amazon: It includes everything from a $325 million cash grant to a promise that taxpayers will help secure a helipad for Amazon executives.
"Giving Jeff Bezos hundreds of millions of dollars is an immoral waste of taxpayers' money when it's crystal clear that the money would create more jobs and more economic growth when it is used to relieve student debt," said Kim, who recently published an op-ed with law professor Zephyr Teachout criticizing the Amazon deal. "Giving Amazon this type of corporate welfare is no different, if not worse, than Donald Trump giving trillions in corporate tax breaks at the federal level. There's no correlation between healthy, sustainable job creation and corporate giveaways. If we used this money to cancel distressed student debt instead, there would be immediate positive GDP growth, job creation and impactful social-economic returns."
New York has the most expensive set of corporate subsidy programs in the country, and a report by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research found that such subsidies "are not cost-effective, with either no statistically significant effects or large costs per job created." Kim noted that in 2015 alone, New York gave out more than $8 billion in corporate incentives. He pointed to a recent study by the Levy Institute that found cancelling student debt would result "in an increase in real GDP [and] a decrease in the average unemployment rate."
In New York, student debt has ballooned. A 2016 report by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office found that "the delinquency rate among New York student loan borrowers rose by more than a third over the past decade while average borrower balances in the State increased by nearly 48 percent, to $32,200." A memo outlining Kim's bill says the legislation would empower New York officials to "exercise their eminent domain powers to buy, cancel, and/or monetize the state's out of control student debt," which the memo says totals more than $82 billion.
Kim's move followed criticism of a possible Amazon deal by Senator Michael Gianaris, who led Democrats' successful effort to win control of the chamber, and who is expected to be in one of the Senate's top jobs.
"Offering massive corporate welfare from scarce public resources to one of the wealthiest corporations in the world at a time of great need in our state is just wrong," Gianaris and City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, both of whom represent Long Island City, said in a press release. "The burden should not be on the 99 percent to prove we are worthy of the one percent's presence in our communities, but rather on Amazon to prove it would be a responsible corporate neighbor."
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2018 Election Results
7 Takeaways from California's Elections
Two of the biggest shockers happened in Los Angeles and Orange counties, in races that have historically drawn the most conservative voters: sheriff and district attorney.
Official voting results are weeks away from getting verified for the 2018 general election, but big, historic trends are already emerging: some old, some new, some bad — and a lot of Blue.
1. Real estate interests prove again that they're some of the evilest people in California history
The people who helped to bring to the Golden State housing covenants, redlining, Proposition 13, the overturning of the Rumford Fair Housing Act, McMansions in canyons that always burn and so much more housing nastiness were on the wrong side of history again this election cycle. They spent at least $74 million to demonize Proposition 10—which would only allow municipalities the right to consider rent control—to the point where even renters felt it was a nefarious plot to destroy property values and bankrupt elderly landlords. Unsurprisingly, Prop. 10 lost by a nearly two-thirds majority, and real estate special-interests groups will spend even more if another such measure ever goes statewide again.
2. The Democrats' next big battleground will be the Central Valley
Most of the Dems' millions were spent on flipping Orange County blue, but as I wrote for the Los Angeles Times recently, the Democrats can learn a lot for 2020 by what's happening in the Central Valley. There, Latino candidates have climbed the political ladder from school board seats to a majority of the Valley's state Assembly and state Senate seats, flipping two of the latter with Latinas (Anna Caballero in the 12th, Melissa Hurtado in the 14th) on Tuesday. What they yet don't have is one of the congressional seats held by the region's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: David Valadao, Jeff Denham, Kevin McCarthy and Devin Nunes, all whom won their races this time around (although Denham is still sweating his out). Expect the Dems to groom some rising stars for 2020—and expect them to mine data from the Valley about how to attract rural voters.
3. People in Southern California mistrust law enforcement more than ever before
Two of the biggest shockers happened around elected positions that have historically drawn the most conservative voters: sheriff and district attorney. In Orange County, Supervisor Todd Spitzer handily beat 20-year incumbent DA Tony Rackauckas, who has been dogged by a jailhouse snitch scandal for years. But even more surprising was the Los Angeles County Sheriff's race, where Jim McConnell—supported by virtually the entire L.A. political class—lost to former deputy Alex Villanueva. Villanueva will be the first Democratic sheriff in more than 100 years.
4. Los Alamitos is now unofficially Southern California's City of Hate
The tiny northwest Orange County town made news earlier this year when the city council decided to pass an ordinance protesting California's sanctuary state law. The councilman who pushed that resolution, Warren Kusumoto, was reelected this week. But also winning a seat was former councilmember Dean Grose, who made national headlines in 2009 when he emailed a racist cartoon of a watermelon patch growing outside the Obama White House.
5. AIDS Healthcare Foundation needs to stop wasting money on propositions
The nonprofit giant spent over $23 million on the Yes on 10 battle, two years after spending $4.5 million on Proposition 60 to mandate condoms on adult films sets in California and more than $14 million on Proposition 61 to regulate prescription drugs bought by the state. Last year, it spent $5.5 million on Measure S, an anti-development ordinance in Los Angeles. All that money went to nothing, as each measure lost handily. Maybe AIDS Healthcare Foundation head Michael Weinstein should've spent that $47 million on services?
6. The California GOP's last, best hope are Asians
The party has long been dead in the state, but a glimmer of hope has emerged for it in Orange County. Asian-American Republicans there now hold one congressional and state Senate seat, two state Assembly spots, three of the five chairs on the Board of Supervisors, and multiple school board and city council positions. And the new mayor of Anaheim, Orange County's largest city, is Indian-American Harry Sidhu. Leave it to Orange County to get minorities to side with the Party of Trump!
7. With five of seven congressional seats now Democrat, this ain't your dad's Orange County anymore
It's not even your Orange County. A brave new OC awaits all of us, indeed….
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Why Was Climate Change Omitted From Colorado's Debate Over Fracking?
Co-published by Westword
The total absence of climate change discussion in Colorado's 2018 election was striking, considering the state's intensified floods, droughts and wildfires.
Over eight debates between gubernatorial candidates Jared Polis and Walker Stapleton, Colorado's press corps mustered just three questions about climate change.
Co-published by Westword
It is no overstatement to say that Colorado's Proposition 112 and Amendment 74 were two of the most significant and far-reaching climate change measures in America's entire midterm election. But don't blame yourself if you didn't know that. While the initiatives sparked a pitched battle about the fossil fuel industry just as scientists were issuing a dire warning about climate change, that term — "climate change" — was largely absent from the state's political conversation in 2018, even though some local officials say climate change could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in the near future.
While Colorado's oil and gas industry was asserting that burning carbon-emitting fracked gas is "helping to reduce carbon emissions," it sponsored an anonymous website attacking journalists who report on energy and climate issues.
Oil and gas corporations spent roughly $40 million to oppose 112, which would have mandated larger distances between fossil fuel extraction sites and schools, hospitals and residential neighborhoods, and likely restricted some fossil fuel development. Some of that money also went into promoting 74, which would have empowered those same oil and gas companies to sue towns that try to restrict drilling and fracking. While the industry offered a smorgasbord of arguments in its campaign — it would defund schools, it would kill jobs, etc. — those criticisms were all based on one central premise: that the setbacks measure would allegedly ban all new oil and gas exploration.
Had climate change been a central topic of conversation, that assertion could have boomeranged on the industry — proponents could have argued that an all-out ban was in fact urgently needed in light of a recent United Nations report warning of a full-fledged dystopia if new fossil fuel development is not halted. And they might have found a receptive audience: Recent polling from the University of Colorado has shown that 70 percent of Coloradans say they are at least somewhat concerned about climate change — and that survey was done before a summer of climate-change-intensified wildfires.
Even though Prop. 112 was not a total ban on fossil fuel extraction, at least a few national voices noted that it represented an important front in the climate change battle.
However, the Colorado press corps barely mentioned climate change in its coverage of the fight, and groups pushing the proposition never made climate change a central argument in their campaign.
An analysis by Media Matters found that out of 12 Colorado newspaper editorials about 112, just one — that of the Boulder Daily Camera, which endorsed the measure — even mentioned climate change. News coverage of 112 focused alternately on the health and environmental hazards highlighted by activists and industry doomsaying about its economic and budgetary implications, but reporting on fossil fuel-related carbon emissions and their contribution to climate change was almost nonexistent.
That was true not only of the fight over 112, but of the state's wider political discourse. Over eight debates between governor-elect Jared Polis and opponent Walker Stapleton, the Colorado press corps mustered just three questions about climate change, accounting for less than 10 minutes of discussion during eight and a half hours of debate.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association was sponsoring an anonymous website attacking journalists who report on energy and climate issues. And as a backup measure to defang any potential climate arguments, the industry also ramped up its production of promotional PR asserting that burning carbon-emitting fracked gas is "helping to reduce carbon emissions," as COGA insists. That assertion relies on the public never realizing that it's only true in comparison to burning coal, but not actually true overall: Natural gas is a fossil fuel, so carbon is emitted when it is burned — no matter what COGA tries to insinuate.
The defeat of an explicitly climate-related ballot measure in Washington State suggests that many voters are not willing to support even modest efforts to frontally address climate change.
That context, though, is rarely noted in a political arena that has long been dominated by armies of fossil fuel lobbyists and millions of dollars of fossil fuel campaign spending. This year, much of that money was spent on ads designed to narrow the debate to one primarily about jobs and economic impact, thereby precluding 112 campaigners from broadening the conversation to one about the climate change dangers of fossil fuel extraction. Colorado Rising, the group behind Proposition 112, was boxed into making arguments only about better protecting the public health and safety of those living near fracking rigs, and to defensively insist that the measure wasn't an actual ban.
In a media environment that was already erasing climate change from the conversation, there was no space for them to more straightforwardly argue that dramatic reductions in fossil fuel extraction are necessary to address climate change.
"What the polling is showing is that if people are really convinced that it's an outright ban, they aren't going to vote for it," Colorado Rising's Anne Lee Foster told Capital & Main when asked why climate change wasn't a more prominent part of the campaign. "It's not about what the actual percentage [ban] is, it's proving that they have been blowing this out of proportion the whole time."
At times, 112's proponents ended up publicly asserting that the measure would not significantly reduce fossil fuel extraction at all, even as climate scientists argue that's exactly what's necessary.
"The oil and gas folks out there will still be able to do their thing," said Mark Williams, a former Democratic congressional candidate, at a Longmont town hall where he promoted 112. "My concern is you have all these operators that are out there that are trying to make a quick buck, [but] Colorado does not have strong enough regulations."
There's no guarantee 112 would have been more successful had the proponents tried to focus the fight on climate change; the oil and gas industry's success in defeating an explicitly climate-related ballot measure in Washington State suggests that many voters are not willing to support even modest efforts to frontally address climate change.
However, the total absence of the issue in Colorado's 2018 election was striking, considering not only the IPCC report, but also the state's own specific struggles with the effects of climate change. After all, leading scientists say that climate change is already intensifying Colorado's floods, droughts and wildfires. And although COGA has demanded that "natural gas must be part of the climate change conversation," many of those scientists disagree.
"There is more than enough carbon in the world's already developed, operating oil, gas, and coal fields globally to exceed 2°C," wrote a group of 26 climate scientists in a July letter to California Governor Jerry Brown, urging him to immediately halt the approval of all new oil and gas drilling. "There is simply no room in the carbon budget for any new fossil fuel extraction."
"Absolutely no new fossil fuel developments. None," said climate scientist Will Steffen, when asked earlier this year what the U.S. needs to do to help avoid global catastrophe. "That means no new coal mines, no new oil wells, no new gas fields, no new unconventional gas fracking. Nothing new."
This is why even though 112 was not a total ban on fossil fuel extraction, at least a few national voices noted that its potential to somewhat reduce that extraction represented an important front in the climate change battle.
In a guest column for the Denver Post, former NASA scientist James Hansen encouraged Coloradans to vote for 112 because it would "help prevent climate change by making oil and gas harder to access." Senator Bernie Sanders, who has called for a nationwide ban on fracking, also endorsed the measure on climate-related grounds. And toward the end of the campaign, 350.org founder Bill McKibben promoted the measure as part of his organization's nationwide push to combat climate change.
But by that point, the industry's PR machine was already skilled at suppressing any discussion of climate change and transforming every 112 argument into economic alarmism. An editorial in oil magnate Phil Anschutz's Colorado Springs Gazette was emblematic: In attacking McKibben, it didn't even bother to mention climate change, much less address his substantive argument.
Instead, its headline simply screamed, "Out-of-stater comes to kill Colorado jobs."
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2018 Election Results
CA-49: A GOP District Realigns With Democrats After Mike Levin Victory
Republican Diane Harkey ended her dispirited campaign by attempting to distance herself from Trump's personality but supporting him on "substance."
Was the victory of Democrat Mike Levin in the 49th Congressional District race a decisive one? It seems so. Levin's roughly seven point victory over Republican Diane Harkey might make newcomers to the district – running from southern Orange County down the coast to northern San Diego – wonder how Republicans have dominated that stretch of California for so long.
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Demographic shifts explain part of what happened. Educated high-tech workers have moved into the area, and Levin targeted Latinos and women in this "year of the woman." Levin was also blessed with a weak opponent plagued by her husband's financial scandals.
But perhaps something beyond political math was also taking place. Decades ago political scientist Walter Dean Burnham worried that American political parties had deteriorated to such an extent that they could not deal with critical national and international issues. Burnham lamented the decline in voting participation, particularly among the lower classes, and trained his analytical eye on "realignment" elections that led to durable shifts in political coalitions and public policy. The results in the 49th district could be such a realignment where a general political crisis can force a breakthrough and renewal.
One sign of how much has changed in the 49th is that Levin brought Bernie Sanders to campaign with him in the final week of the campaign, a risk in what most political observers regard as a "centrist" district. Sander's message denouncing the state of our health care system and the cost of higher education is neither scary nor politically costly when it resonates with the realities of so many people's lives.
Harkey ended her dispirited campaign by attempting to distance herself from Trump's personality but supporting him on "substance," meaning the "booming" economy she said he created.
For many voters, the "substance" now is their aesthetic and existential disgust at how President Trump is attempting to re-create our country.
The current battle may lead to the rebuilding of a political force on the progressive side that is able to fight more effectively by forging broader, more sustainable coalitions. That rebuilding is certainly under way in the 49th Congressional District.
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2018 Election Results
Proposition 11: Emergency Crews Lose Out
Framing Prop. 11 as necessary to protect public safety was a strong argument, but it didn't help that the opposition failed to file paperwork in time to have their arguments against the measure included in the state's voter guide.
Proposition 11, which rewrites California's Labor Code to allow private ambulance companies to require paramedics and EMTs to be on call during breaks, cruised to an easy victory on election night, with 60 percent voter support. The result wasn't surprising; polling showed the measure was leading by a two-to-one margin. Prop. 11's primary supporter, private ambulance company American Medical Response, vastly outspent the opposition, pouring $22 million into the campaign to argue that response times to emergencies would increase if the measure were defeated.
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The proposition came in the wake of a 2016 California Supreme Court ruling that private security guards are required to be given uninterrupted rest breaks. That ruling likely would apply to the state's private sector EMTs and paramedics, who are also on call during breaks, and who have filed several lawsuits challenging the practice, including one against AMR. Last year, a legislative attempt to solve the problem stalled in the face of AMR opposition; one of the sticking points was whether the bill would protect AMR from active lawsuits. (As written, Prop. 11 shields AMR from liability regarding breaks in pending litigation.)
Framing Prop. 11 as necessary to protect public safety was a strong argument, but it didn't help that the opposition, led by the United EMS Workers, an American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees local, failed to file paperwork in time to have its arguments against the measure included in the state's voter guide. (Disclosure: AFSCME is a financial supporter of this website.) AMR largely drowned out the local's attempts to highlight the grueling working conditions faced by emergency workers, and the need for extra staffing to allow more predictable breaks.
What remains to be seen is whether Prop. 11 will in fact shield AMR and other private ambulance companies from pending lawsuits, a decision likely to be determined in court. Jason Brollini, president-executive director of United EMS Workers, estimates that AMR could owe workers as much as $100 million in settlements if the cases are allowed to proceed.
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2018 Election Results
CA-25: Katie Hill Ends Knight Reign in Changing District
While Hill's youth, bisexuality and comfortably modern persona got the attention of Vice and other media, Steve Knight was seemingly out of touch with his own constituents.
Katie Hill went to bed last night at the end of an excruciatingly tight congressional race, not knowing if her home district was red or blue. At stake was California's 25th District, where Hill spent the last 18 months on an unlikely quest to unseat two-term GOP Rep. Steve Knight. By six this morning, Hill, a 31-year-old first-time candidate, appeared to have won by more than 4,000 votes.
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The seat was among several Republican-held offices targeted by the Democratic Party, in districts won by Hillary Clinton in 2016, but it was never going to be easy. CA-25 had been in Republican hands since 1993, representing territory stretching from northern Los Angeles County to parts of Ventura County. It may have been tilting from red to purple, but Hill wisely shaped her campaign to the immediate kitchen-table interests of the district, and avoided all discussion of presidential impeachment, Russia or special counsel Robert Mueller.
"We're not running an anti-Trump campaign," Hill told Capital & Main early in the campaign. "I just don't think that's the issue that people care the most about here."
Hill grew up in the tiny district town of Rosamond and, later, in Santa Clarita, and now resides in rural Agua Dulce. She was a cop's daughter running against former LAPD officer Knight. Hill began her campaign after working eight years at PATH, one of the largest homeless services providers in California. Growing homelessness in CA-25 was one of her core concerns, along with health care and economic opportunity.
While her youth, bisexuality and comfortably modern persona got the attention of Vice and other media, Knight was seemingly out of touch with his own constituents, many of whom commuted daily to Los Angeles. He was on record as supporting legislation banning gay marriage and voted with President Trump 99 percent of the time, including the failed attempt to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. If her lead holds through the week's final ballot count, Hill will join an unprecedented wave of women elected to Congress and presumably will take a new and far different path than Knight.
Capital & Main
2018 Election Results
CA-10: AP Calls Election for Josh Harder Over Republican Incumbent
Four-term Central Valley Congressman Jeff Denham appears to have been defeated after a week of ballot counting.
UPDATE, Nov. 13: The Associated Press tonight has declared Democratic challenger Josh Harder to be the winner over GOP incumbent Jeff Denham in the hard-fought 10th District race. According to AP, "With votes continuing to be counted, Harder's edge has grown after Denham grabbed a slim lead on Election Day. After the latest update, Harder had a 4,919-vote lead out of about 185,000 votes counted, a margin too large for the congressman to overcome with remaining votes."
A TV ad
A TV adfor incumbent Republican Congressman Jeff Denham stated that his Democratic challenger Josh Harder "shares Nancy Pelosi's liberal San Francisco values." The ad, running in the Sacramento media market and on digital platforms throughout California's 10th District, went on to state that Harder, if victorious, would leave residents of this Central Valley district with dramatically worse health care options.
Read More Election Coverage
It was a puzzling claim, considering Denham voted with his party to repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, several times, and voted for the Republican replacement, the unpopular American Health Care Act.
As of Wednesday morning, Jeff Denham clung to a lead of 50.6 percent of the vote, with Harder claiming 49.4 percent. While 100 percent of precincts had reported, the race had not been called, pending the counting of mail-in and provisional ballots. Democratic activists said enthusiasm and campaign cash were up. Harder raised more than $7 million in this cycle to Denham's $4.4 million.
Back in February, most of the volunteer canvassers trying to boost Democratic registration in Modesto, the heart of the district, were from the Bay Area. They said they had driven east to turn this purplish district solid blue. CA-10, which voted for Hillary Clinton by three points in 2016 while giving Denham a similar margin of victory, was one of the top Democratic targets for flipping in 2018.
Whether Denham or Harder end up winning, the trend of people relocating from the pricey Bay Area could end up re-shaping the electorate in the district. New research from BuildZoom and the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley shows a growing connection between the Bay Area and its neighbor to the east, CA-10. "More than 55 percent of Bay Area out-migrants in households earning less than $50,000 a year stayed in California, [heading to] more affordable markets, such as the Sacramento region or Central Valley metro areas, like Modesto or Fresno," the study said.
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2018 Election Results
CA-21: TJ Cox Reverses Tally to Declare Victory
Throughout the campaign, Cox was on the offensive, blasting the GOP incumbent's votes for the unpopular Republican tax reform bill, and the even more unpopular American Health Care Act (ACHA) or "Trumpcare."
UPDATED November 28: Late ballot counting continues to show Democratic Party candidate TJ Cox with a slight lead (currently 506 votes) over GOP incumbent David Valadao. Cox has declared victory. The following story was written when election-night returns showed Valadao ahead by 4,400 votes.
California's 21st District seemed like a plausible target to flip from red to blue in 2018 even though incumbent Republican Congressman David Valadao had beaten his Democratic challenger Emelio Huerta by 13 points in 2016. Hillary Clinton handily carried the district, and the demographics also looked good for a Democrat. The district is 71 percent Latino, a group that gave Clinton 66 percent of its vote nationwide two years ago. Republicans account for 27 percent of registered voters in CA-21, 16 points lower than Democratic registration. According to the political forecasting site FiveThirtyEight, Valadao voted with Trump policies nearly 99 percent of the time.
Read More Election Coverage
Despite those headwinds for Valadao, and visits from Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Democratic challenger TJ Cox fell far short. By early Wednesday, Valadao claimed 53.7 percent of the vote to 46.3 percent for Cox with provisional and mail-in ballots still to be counted.
Throughout the campaign, Cox was on the offensive, blasting Valadao's votes for the unpopular Republican tax reform bill, and the even more unpopular American Health Care Act (ACHA) or "Trumpcare."
Valadao claimed the Republican tax plan saved families thousands of dollars in a district with a far lower median household income than California as a whole. He also touted his willingness to break from Trump in a failed attempt at immigration reform earlier this year.
Valadao's strong ties to the district may have given him an advantage. A dairy farmer, small-business owner and son of Portuguese immigrants, Valadao grew up in the district, and has given unwavering support to agribusiness interests, a very important position in this largely agricultural region. Cox, an engineer who has never held elected office, owns a home just outside the district in Fresno and earlier in the election cycle claimed a home in suburban Washington, D.C. as his principal residence.
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Hey Stanford Fans!
This has been a crazy couple of months for me, being a freshman and new to the Stanford family. From summer school, to travelling to Italy with the team, to the start of the fall quarter, and now to our first games of the season, this has definitely been a very busy and exciting time in my life. I am so happy to share this new experience with my four other freshmen teammates, Kailee, Lili, Bri, and Erica ("Bird").
Each of us have had a couple bumps on the road, whether it is Bird falling off her bike over the handle bars, Kailee locking herself out of her room without her bike key and running 15 minutes to a 6:30 a.m. lift, Lili's bike breaking more than once, Bri losing all of her keys (her I.D., room key, bike key, P.O. box key) but luckily finding them, or me constantly getting lost and calling Bonnie to give me directions to my class or even back to my own dorm.
Besides these minor challenges, the freshmen class and I are getting accustomed to the Stanford Way both in practice and academics. We are all very excited for what the rest of the year has in store for both us and the Stanford Team
Go Card!

subset: commoncrawl


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beadsbling necesitaba un nuevo diseño de banner publicitario y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 56 diseños de 11 diseñadores freelance.
We are the largest bead and jewellery accessory supply shop in Ireland (http://www.beadsandbling.com) and we run a wide range of classes teaching customers to make their own jewellery and hats.
Our shop is in Dublin (Ireland's capital city) but our customers come not only from all over Ireland, but also from overseas. We sell a lot of products over our website, but our website needs a makeover and we are in the process of changing it. These new banner ads are a key part in this process. These banners will be the primary visual attraction on our home page and will help us drive targeted sales.
99% of our customer base is female, aged between 25 and 60. These banner ads will appear to all visitors to our website and will tie in with our periodic newsletters to our customer database.
7 static banner ads. All different, all eye catching & all identical in size (width 584 pixels, height 200 pixels). The banner ads will appear in the centre of our home page & will rotate (i.e. they all fit in the same space). When clicked on, each ad will lead through to the relevant offer.
For similar examples on other beading websites see:
While the banners must be the same size, they do not have to be identical in terms of position of wording or images. The background graphics within the banner are for you to choose. Each banner must be different. All images used must be original or copyright free & should have some connection to jewellery, beads, jewellery accessories, etc. Positioning of the wording is flexible, as is font, colour and size.
The seven banners and the wording to be contained within the banners are:
Reduced to Clear!
- Help us empty our warehouse!
New items!
Bestselling Items!
- See what everyone else has been buying this month
Monthly Specials!
Classes this Month
- Make the most of your free weekends and evenings
Sale items!
Design Ideas
- Step-by-step inspiration. Free!
When posting designs for review, for each entry please post one image containing all 7 banners. Final files in JPEG and Photoshop (.PSD) format.


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Poyet issues Borini warning
Sunderland head coach Gus Poyet has warned top transfer target Fabio Borini he is primed to switch his attention elsewhere as the transfer window draws to a close.
- Randall: Black Cats primed for United upset
Borini enjoyed a successful 2013-14 season on loan at the Stadium of Light from Liverpool and Poyet has made the capture of the 23-year-old Italian a priority, but is yet to get the answer he craves with time running out.
The Uruguayan remains confident Borini wants to sign for the Black Cats, but despite having an offer which could eventually amount to 14 million pounds accepted, the proposed transfer is yet to materialise.
Poyet's optimism is not necessarily shared by sources on Wearside, and even the manager admits the time will come when he has to draw a line under his pursuit.
Asked if the club would set a deadline, he said: "I have asked myself many, many times. I don't know, to be honest, I don't know if we need to put a date on it or not. I don't know.
"It's a daily thing. If something incredible comes in and we need to make a decision then, a player that we cannot say no to, then I am sure there will be a few phone calls saying 'now or never' both ways.
"But at the moment, we haven't found that player, but we will see."
However, Poyet revealed Sunderland came close to having to make that decision after just missing out on a deal for Chile international Eduardo Vargas before he opted to join promoted QPR on loan.
"We were very close to getting Vargas," he said. "It was a matter of decisions between everybody -- clubs and cities, living and possibilities and things, and in the end, everything didn't come through for us to get the player.
"That was close to us making a decision on whether Fabio was coming or not coming. It's daily. We haven't put a date on it, but it's daily and we are looking for options."
In the event, Poyet will head into Sunday's home clash with Manchester United with the situation unresolved. He has been encouraged though by the changes he has been able to make to his squad and a solid preseason, luxuries which he did not enjoy on his arrival in October.
He said: "I know the players very well, there are no doubts. Last year, I had too many doubts. Now I know exactly the players we have.
"The squad at the moment is very compact and it's easier to control. Everybody knows exactly what we want apart from the new players, who are trying to get used to it very quickly, so it's better for the team.
"There are fewer and fewer and fewer excuses, which is good for me."
The Black Cats, who will be boosted by the returns of Billy Jones and Santiago Vergini to the squad, will host a United side desperate to bounce back from an opening-day home defeat by Swansea which did little to dispel the misery of last season.
Poyet, whose victory at Old Trafford in May was a key factor in their successful survival fight, said: "It's very difficult to see Manchester United losing two games in a row.
"It's a difficult game. They have got quality and I am sure they are going to be up for it, they won't let it go past. For us, it's a special day -- at home, it's the first game of the season.
"We need to play better than last week [a draw at West Brom] and be good on the ball to have a chance."
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Investment Tip of the Day
Safeguarding Your Assets — Prenups
Getting married is a special time for many people. It is a union of two people who love each other with high hopes of living happily ever after. However, the reality of the issue is that most marriages end in divorce. And when that happens all that trust you had for your significant other is out the door with half your belongings.
Prenuptial agreements help to reduce the headache when a divorce happens. It serves as a form of insurance for both parties in the marriage. The problem with prenups is that it gets a bad rap as being insensitive; after all, if one brings it up one can't help but wonder if love is the most important thing in that relationship or is it money? So if you are sitting here wondering if your partner will take offense to the idea then think no further they most certainly will. And I still say you must do it. Thankfully perceptions are changing and people are becoming more accepting of it.
Prenups have been a common practice by the rich to help protect their investments and other assets from people who think they can get rich quick by marrying into it. But prenups have begun to trickle down as a tool used by non-wealthy individuals too. Think about it: If you grew up on a family cottage as a child but later in life got married it would be detrimental to be forced to sell this cottage to fulfill the 50-50 split obligation. It's situations like this that make prenups always a necessary obligation prior to marriage, regardless of income level.
Many people in Canada think that prenups aren't enforceable which can easily be renegotiated when the time comes. If you are one of those types who think that then I hate to burst your bubble because legally it is binding. When you sign the dotted line that is pretty much it. There are some exceptions that the judge can consider that might help adjust the 50-50 divide such as if one had racked up an enormous amount of debt while married.
Each province has different requirements for prenuptials. For example, in Ontario each partner must list their assets before the marriage and again when they leave it. So in Ontario what you bring into a marriage is what you take out, excluding the family home — that will be divided for sure. Any increase in value of existing assets, or new acquired assets, while in the marriage will be split 50-50. That includes any business value increases. In British Colombia this is slightly different. You may be required to split all of your assets, even ones that were acquired prior to your getting married.
Although divorces are rarely pretty prenups help keep things clean and less costly for everyone. But in the end the biggest winners, prenup or not, are the lawyers. You can expect to pay anywhere between $500 and $2,000 for a simple prenup to be written. You could skip using a lawyer and write your own agreement on a piece of paper but doing so leaves it open to potentially be nullified because you did not provide the necessary legalese to cover specific conditions. So be careful if you do not use a lawyer.
If one is to live happily ever after in this day and age it is always advised to take your emotions out of the game and think long-term. Prenuptial agreements may not always be the most romantic of things to deal with but in the long-term, as a smart investor, is the best investment you can make.


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Green Fluorescent HairsprayItem: 179-187
Add Colored Hairspray to Highlight Your Halloween Costume
Add the final touch to any Halloween or circus costume by coloring your hair to match. Pay attention to the details of your Halloween costume to make it unforgettable.
- Three ounces of green hairspray.
- This item can only ship with standard shipping and within the Continental US. Express and international shipping are not available for this item.
We have the Halloween costume accessories that you need. Everything to help you add the finishing touches to your perfect Halloween costume. Plus use the colored hairspray to support your team; it's great for team events like football, basketball, soccer or volleyball games.


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This is a collection of 3 corporate, business and inspirational tracks. Best for successful business presentations and projects, corporate videos, social media, websites, TV and radio commercials and other audiovisual media… Actually this is 50% off from the real price of this themes.
Track list:
1. Inspirational to Success – 2:31 This is a uplifting, inspirational and motivating track with airy piano,bouncy bass and drums create confidence,good moods and charge of positive energy
2. Lucky Day
a) Piano start - 2:12
b) Harmonics start - 2:12
Positive and uplifting corporate track with motivational harmonies and melodies.
3. Be Successful – 2:31 Very positive feeling with strong rhythm, taking you on a motivating for successful business.


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Jan Ullrich, the only German winner of Tour de France, admits to doping
Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong's great rival Jan Ullrich — the only German winner of Tour de France — has for the first time admitted to doping with the help of Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes who ran a large-scale doping network.other Updated: Jun 23, 2013 01:13 IST
Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong's great rival Jan Ullrich — the only German winner of Tour de France — has for the first time admitted to doping with the help of Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes who ran a large-scale doping network.
"Yes, I had access to treatment from Fuentes," the 1997 winner of the Tour de France told the Focus weekly in its edition to appear on Monday. "At that time, nearly everyone was using doping substances and I used nothing that the others were not using."
Ullrich, who rose to prominence in cycling when he won gold and silver medals at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, said he was motivated by the desire to be competing on a level playing field with his main rivals.
"In my view you can only call it cheating on my part when it is clear that I have gained an unfair advantage," he argued. "That was not the case. All I wanted was everyone to have the same chances of winning."
He also told Focus that he believed that the main factors contributing towards success in cycling were pure talent, effort, team spirit and the will to win and that the damage he had done by doping was mainly to himself.
"It was myself who suffered most because of this episode as concerns my public image and what it meant for my own health." he said. "Now it is time to bring down the curtain on all of this. I want to look to the future and no longer be dragged back to the past."
Ullrich's doping admission comes months after a similar public pronouncement by his greatest career rival and nemesis Armstrong, the cancer survivor whose seven Tour de France wins had placed him in the pantheon of sporting legends.
Armstrong, however, admitted to doping throughout his career in January and was stripped of his Tour titles and banned for life.
Ullrich had three second-place finishes behind Armstrong in the Tour de France in 2000, 2001 and 2003 and was also runner-up behind Italian Marco Pantini in 1998, the year after he won the race.
"We are both guilty," said Ullrich, referring to the American. "I am no better than Armstrong, but no worse either. The great heroes of old are now people with failings that we've got to come to terms with. I always knew that even Lance Armstrong would not get away with it."
Ullrich was barred from the Tour de France in 2006 amid speculation that he had used illegal substances. He retired from cycling in February, 2007, denying that he had ever cheated.
He was later found guilty of a doping offence by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in February, 2012, and retroactively banned from August of that year with all results gained since May, 2005, wiped from his slate.
First Published: Jun 22, 2013 15:35 IST


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Acquisition to broaden automation and control systems offering for wind and solar energy
Darwin based Powercorp employs around 30 people and offers automation and intelligent control solutions to manage renewable energy generation in isolated grids, ensuring utility grade power quality and grid stability. This enables very high levels of wind and solar power penetration into isolated diesel powered grids, thus reducing emissions and dependency on fossil fuel.
"Powercorp brings expertise for the integration of renewable energy generation into conventional micro and remote island grids," said Peter Leupp, head of ABB's Power Systems division. "This bolt-on acquisition will add specialist know-how and solutions to our control systems offering and further strengthen our position in the renewable space."
Powercorp has installed several systems to integrate renewable power into remote grids and keep generation in balance with consumption. The company also supplies systems that dynamically store and release energy in response to frequency and voltage deviations, to stabilize small or remote grids.
"Joining forces with ABB is a logical next step for the growth of our business," said Alan Langworthy CEO of Powercorp. "It will expand our global reach and help create optimal solutions for higher and better use of renewable energy generation."
The transaction is expected to close before year end.
ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 130,000 people.


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If my N900 died today, the Note would probably be my choice - though possibly a Galaxy Nexus for ICE. Just gave a Nexus to my wife for Mother's Day, and she loves it dearly.
If the Ubuntu / Android combo or a Tizen phone makes its appearance by Christmas, and I'm still in the market, then I'll seriously consider that option first. I'd still prefer a pocket Linux PC to a mere phone.
Fantastic bit of hardware that. Shame about Nokia intentionally making it's N910 child a still-born by limited production runs and lack of consumer availability. My own N900 remains on the desk until I decide how to re-purpose it.. maybe a dedicated airodump capture device. (anyone know of an Android app that does proper packet capture?) I've been using new hardware now for over a month and it's just not the same as having a proper Debian forked distro in my pocket. Here's hoping someone gets such a device to market by the time I'm ready to upgrade again.
I also went Nexus when the time came to upgrade and it's been a great introduction to the Android OS. I'd just suggest sticking close to the Nexus line rather than some manufacturer molested knock-off distribution fork of Android.
One irony is security. One can either have a locked device which get's prompt system updates but leaves you with the broken program permissions system or one can root the device and have proper and affective permissions (LBE Privacy Guard and similar) but not be able to apply system updates directly.
If you do go the rooted path, I'd recommend looking at Wug's root tools. Hardest part is getting the Android and Fastboot device drivers installed. After that, unlock/rooting is painless. It also has an option to backup third party programs and data so you can flash the latest factory image then easily restore your installed apps/data from backup. I did the ICS 4.0.4 update in about an hour instead of 20 min + a few days of reinstalling/reconfiguring apps.
If you go Android; insist on the Nexus line for a proper Google Android instead of a molested fork distribution and get Wug's so you can root it and make security software actually have some affect.


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Hi All,
My wife and I recently moved here from Perth, and would like to get fit again and that means getting some km in the legs!
We're a bit wary of cars and prefer to ride on purpose built cycle ways, I've seen the paths along the M1 and along the southern expressway, the paths are perfect ... except that we're a bit unfit and the HILLS in Adelaide are a shock after such flat cycling in Perth!
So are there any paths similar to those cycle ways - but on less challenging terrain?
Thanks in Advance.
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new to Adelaide
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2012 12:35 pm
new to Adelaide
Postby SteelRoady » Sun Dec 23, 2012 12:42 pm
- Posts: 2531
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- Location: Flagstaff Hill, Adelaide SA 5159
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Re: new to Adelaide
Postby Dr_Mutley » Sun Dec 23, 2012 2:30 pm
Linear park bike track:
From mouth of torrens into the city and beyond... Only negative is the pedestrians...
Victor Harbour to Goolwa veloway:
Bit out of the way but flat and scenic... Nice drive/ride over the holidays...
Semaphore to outer Harbour...
There's a bike track off the road that many recreational cyclists use...
From mouth of torrens into the city and beyond... Only negative is the pedestrians...
Victor Harbour to Goolwa veloway:
Bit out of the way but flat and scenic... Nice drive/ride over the holidays...
Semaphore to outer Harbour...
There's a bike track off the road that many recreational cyclists use...
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- Location: mount gambler SA
Re: new to Adelaide
Postby scott w » Sun Dec 23, 2012 4:31 pm
i have stayed in adelaide a couple of times recently at adelaide shores at west beach and have cycled out to outer harbour and back , on the return trip up military road keep an eye out for the steel lids ( sewer or what ever they are ) in the cycle lane as i almost come off a while back when i hit one .
its a very popular area for bike riders
its a very popular area for bike riders
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Re: new to Adelaide
Postby SteelRoady » Mon Dec 24, 2012 7:47 am
thanks for the info - will try out semaphore to outer harbour first.
merry xmas
merry xmas
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Re: new to Adelaide
Postby you cannot be sirrus » Mon Dec 24, 2012 6:22 pm
http://www.bikesa.asn.au/RiderInfo-Wher ... d-Bikeways
A few to try there.
A few to try there.
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|2010-12-07, 09:41
|Link #19541
Join Date: May 2009
Also, one reason Alliance through Dawn don't show Eva surviving (well, technically neither End nor Dawn show her dying either) may be that Hachijou (or whoever) was trying to "push it." Featherine and Hachijou both seem to share an almost twisted interest in just how far a story can be taken off the beaten path yet still be considered to hold the core truths of the message bottle stories. Since the message bottles don't depict Eva surviving, it's not necessary that they actually conform to anyone's survival.
Also: Bear in mind that "Rokkenjima Prime" is just a theoretical concept for the "real world" within the Umineko framework. We've never seen it, and we don't know what it looks like. People seem to think Ange's 1998 is believed to be that; I don't think most people who subscribe to fiction theories believe that. I do think, and I think most do think, that Rokkenjima Prime is similar to Ange's 1998, but it may not be as similar as we think. I do believe that Eva's public survival is a condition of R-Prime, if only because it's conspicuously happened twice now and we've only ever seen one Ange background (if Eva doesn't survive, Ange living to 18 seems quite unlikely anyway).
I also think we're being bashed over the head with Battler's survival, which didn't provably happen in any episode (though in ep7 he just vanishes and in every other episode but ep3 he's still technically alive at the time of the incident). It's possible that in R-Prime he did survive but didn't show himself, but that would create a host of questions. On the other hand, if he did publicly survive, Ange's 1998 cannot be R-Prime.
|2010-12-07, 09:54
|Link #19542
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: forever lost inside a logic error
I think Ryuukishi is definitely the kind of author that would play "the game of the three cards". The concept is basically:
-show three cards face down
-tell the sucker that one of the three cards is the right one
-keep the real right card up your sleeve.
This is a very good strategy to keep someone wondering about a solution without letting him having any chance of finding the right answer. You basically just make people think about which among three solutions is the right one, while the real solution is a fourth one.
This is basically what I think Ryuukishi planned, except there were only two cards.
From the very beginning, he never gave us any assurance that this story was a mystery. Rather it showed us two cards: anti-mystery and anti-fantasy. So he made us wonder for quite a lot of time if this was a mystery or fantasy, as if these were the only two available options. In the beginning he showed us the evil side of fantasy, so everyone was kind made to react to fantasy as the evil to defeat. However in the Umineko Chiru we suddenly see the evil side of mystery, and the main character switches to the fantasy side.
So is this story a fantasy or a mystery? I say neither. The right solution is the third one. It's all the result of a tragic incident that wiped out a whole family in a single day, and because of some incredible circumstances it gave birth to a plethora of discussions conjectures and theories about crazy murders, conspiracies and even esoteric interpretations.
My main point to support this theory is the fact that Erika never even tried to find a real culprit. In EP5 from the very beginning she tried to frame Natsuhi while being perfectly aware that she wasn't the one. In EP6 she aimed to a logic error from the very beginning.
Why would someone who flaunts so much her brain cells and only lives to prove that she's right would resort to such cheap methods? My answer is: because there isn't a culprit.
|2010-12-07, 09:56
|Link #19543
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
e- There is a mystery novel where an overzealous detective went about sleuthing to solve a crime, after he connects all the pieces he goes about on the diner table to present who the culprit is. One of the persons dining there says that sounds great and all, the problem is that the person the detective picked as the culprit wasnt actually the culprit. That the killer was in fact himself and goes about telling us how he committed the apparent crime.
I want this to be a mystery but not one bounded by the normal conceptions of who commits the crime and why, the game has beaten into our head that its either greed, love or revenge. I want neither of these to be the reason for the (if there really was) crime in Rokkenjima.
Regarding Battler Surviving
I would be very disappointed if Battler survived the events in Rokkenjima and Ange still got to have the horrible upbringing she suffered. The whole idea of him being Akamusa and not actually going back to Ange pisses me off and it would need to have a cop out like him getting AMNESIA for him to not look like a total ass.
Last edited by Cao Ni Ma; 2010-12-07 at 10:10.
|2010-12-07, 10:16
|Link #19544
Join Date: May 2009
I doubt he's Amakusa (if he is he's a dick or has stupid amnesia). If he's alive, he better have a damn good reason for not returning. However, I think there are possible reasons why he wouldn't or couldn't.
Plus, is Ange's 1998 the real 1998? Is the Ange we're shown what the "real" Ushiromiya Ange was like? We can't be so sure. Our Ange is the sad Ange who lost her whole family and was distant from her aunt. Who can say for certain that's what her life was like, besides Ange herself?
|2010-12-07, 10:50
|Link #19545
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Buffer overflow
The papers have reported his death, which means he can move in absolute secrecy. He has time to train overseas and build up his skills. Time to sneak into Eva's organization as a different person and eventually grab a place as Ange's bodyguard. Time even to get in Okonogi's good graces enough that the assassination of Ange is tasked to him, possibly. All told, 12 years is a very short time to accomplish all of this.
Of course, he could just tell Ange what he was planning, but remember that Ange was just a little girl for most of this time. While Eva was alive, she would have no reason to let Ange die, but if Battler told Ange his secret and she let it slip to someone else, both he and Ange could be in serious trouble. By keeping his plan to himself, he was minimizing her risk and removing the burden from her. Plus, it would be much easier and much more convincing for her to act her part if she didn't know the full plan and the possible dangers. It was essential that Okonogi picked up no trace of knowledge on her part.
At the end of EP4, Amakusa managed to get rid of the rogue Kasumi faction and could probably convince Okonogi's side that Ange was out of the way. For the time being, all threats against Ange had disappeared. I imagine that Battler's reveal would come shortly after that, now that he knows Ange will be safe as long as she keeps a low profile.
|2010-12-07, 11:27
|Link #19546
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
|2010-12-07, 12:22
|Link #19547
Zero of the roulette
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Finland
Age: 24
If part of Chronotrig's example, or at least the end, would be true, I guess that's a happy end Ange could get. EP4 end scroll tells that Ange died in 1998, but that might be only 'the official record'.
About Amakusa, it was mentioned a similar character with some codename I don't remember which pointed to the number 13 meaning of Juuza. The Higurashi manga portrayed this character strikingly similar to Amakusa. There is 15 years between the Hinamizawa incident and Ange's future. But can we really determine a person's age from Ryukishi's sprites...? Amakusa looks quite young, but he might be around 30. If the assassin from Higurashi is the same Amakusa Juuza, he would have to be about 15-18 in Higurashi, which I think is not TOO far-fetched.
If Battler is Amakusa, that means he was working for Okonogi somewhere between 1980-86, which fits with Higurashi. And at that time he was 12-18 years of age, 15 when Higurashi took place, which fits with my age estimation. An assassin at the age of 15... Battler had been taking steroids, right?
Amakusa might even have been the last name of Asumu's parents. That could be too noticeable though.
Returning to the subject of the 1998 of EP4's Ange is the future of Rokkenjima-Prime, I remembered something from ???? of EP2. It seems that at that time Beatrice had noticed Bernkastel not being a mere observer. Does that mean Bernkastel already had Ange as her piece even before EP3? The Witches' Tanabata tells how ignoring Eva was part of making Ange Bern's piece. If this had been put to work before EP3, could that be evidence of Eva surviving being part of Rokkenjima-Prime? If not, what action had Bernkastel taken before EP3?
I think Eva surviving is against there being no culprit, because if there were no murders what is Eva bitching about to Ange? Unless she imagined all that, or got traumatized/brain-damaged by a certain volcano.
P.S. Was it Chronotrig who said that the day when Kinzo died was 11/29? Where was that confirmed? I found it curious as it's the last four numbers of the EP3 number 07151129.
|2010-12-07, 12:28
|Link #19548
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: A Distant Planet
Age: 27
If we go by Higurashi and what Bern says, firm destinies are always created by somebody's strong will. I don't think someone could control something like a volcano erupting or any other kind of natural disaster, so if something like that did kill them it would seem really undramatic.
I actually wouldn't mind if most of the characters turn out to be culprits(or potential culprits, if we believe that Rokkenjima Prime is the one true universe), all acting independently of each other. I mean, most of them have motives; the adults need ALOT OF MONEY RIGHT NOW, and George and Jessica are apparently willing to kill for their love lives(but their victims turn out to be playing dead, shouldn't that screw up the love trial? lol).
|2010-12-07, 12:56
|Link #19549
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
|2010-12-07, 13:01
|Link #19550
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
|2010-12-07, 13:21
|Link #19551
Join Date: May 2009
The adults needing money has always made me intensely suspect them not to be culprits, if only because it is so blatantly obvious from the first moment the discussion happens in ep1. Throw "dad's secret gold stash" in and it reaches Scooby-Doo levels.
Not that I would be at all opposed to a Scooby Uu~ ending as a gag end in ep8.
|2010-12-07, 13:48
|Link #19552
Dea ex Kakera
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Sea of Fragments
A possibly meaningless data point: including Ange, there are 13 people in the Ushiromiya family ranking, and Amakusa's given name means "13". Ange herself isn't the 13th in the ranking though, if I understand the rules correctly.
|2010-12-07, 13:56
|Link #19553
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
|2010-12-07, 15:20
|Link #19555
The True Culprit
Georgema. "Jinkies!"
|2010-12-07, 15:55
|Link #19556
Join Date: May 2009
"I wouldn't put it past him."
"And I would've gotten away with it if it hadn't been for you meddling kids... and your witch."
|2010-12-07, 17:36
|Link #19558
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
No no no, it was the old boat captain Kawabata!
He was getting back at the Ushiromiya family, mainly Krauss. He was told that a fancy resort was gonna be built on Rokkenjima and he would be in charge of ferrying the customers to the island. So he bought a big fancy boat since he couldn't keep his old clunker as the resort is supposed to be high brow. So he buys his new boat but no resort gets built, no resort no customers, no customers no money to pay for fancy new boat. So he plots his revenge on the family. Eva survives but gives him money in exchange for him keeping quiet and helping her get the gold off the island.
It could work........ not really.
A Scooby style ending would explain the goat masks though.
|2010-12-07, 17:45
|Link #19559
Join Date: May 2009
And they'd trap Beatrice by dropping a net on her.
Honestly, if he did this as one of the fake endings I'd be very pleased, but I'm not sure how popular Scooby-Doo is in Japan. It's certainly an intolerable watch for a fan of mysteries though, so much so that the recent series makes fun of the ridiculous engineering skills of all of its perpetrators.
|2010-12-07, 19:03
|Link #19560
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Okay, seriously, now I'm just imagining Eva running down one of those endless Hanna-Barbera hallways, away from a wave of volcanic Lava.
Ahem. Anyway, I don't think I can buy a natural disaster because if I recall correctly, Eva was found at Kuwadorian, and refused to speak of the incident. The two ideas, "Eva survives", and "It was a natural disaster" don't mesh together very well for me...
|Thread Tools


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The Orioles have made a flurry of moves today, with Brian Matusz and Ryan Flaherty joining the team and Tommy Hunter and J.C. Romero leaving it.
Hunter, who gave up nine runs on Wednesday, will be sent down to Double-A Bowie, and it would be a surprise if he didn't rejoin the club when he is eligible after 10 days. Rosters will be expanded by then.
Hunter was 4-8 with a 5.95 ERA in 23 games (20 starts).
"I'm going to go pitch, somewhere other than here," Hunter said before his destination was announced. "We don't know where ... I don't know where I am going, but I'll step in line and take the ball."
Romero has been designated for assignment. The lefty reliever was 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA in five games.
Brian Matusz, who has been a starter all his career, was moved to the bullpen at Triple-A Norfolk last week. He'll come back to Baltimore as a lefty in the pen for now.
"It's never easy switching [roles]," Matusz said. "The way I look at it is It's still pitching. You still have to get hitters out."
Flaherty had been on the disabled list with an illness, originally called tonsilitis. He has been activated and is batting eighth and playing second base tonight against Toronto.
"It was one of those things, I got better but in three days I had lost like 10 pounds," Flaherty said. "It probably took three days before the [swelling] went away. After that I was fine."
In other news, right-hander Jason Hammel threw a simlated game, his next step in recovery from right knee surgery.
Here is the Orioles' lineup for Friday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays: Markakis 9, Hardy 6, McLouth 7, Jones 8, Wieters 2, Davis DH, Reynolds 3, Flaherty 4, Machado 5. Britton 1.


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Teaching Jobs: Seoul + metro areasRussell Recruiting
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