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The welfare of cats has been put firmly on the political agenda with Scotlands first feline manifesto being delivered to politicians.
Cats Protection, the UK’s leading cat charity, unveiled its 10-point document at a reception at the Scottish Parliament on Thursday. It was hosted by Christine Grahame MSP and supported by Petplan.
Cats Protection is calling for existing and prospective MSPs to get behind the Manifesto for Cats: Scotland in order to ensure that one of the nation’s best loved pets is fully protected by policies and the law.
Its 10-point manifesto calls for:
Updating the law to control the breeding and sale of cats to reduce the number of unwanted kittens and ensure good welfare;
The Licensing of Animal Dealers (Young Cats and Dogs) (Scotland) Regulations 2009 sets out some licensing requirements for those who sell young cats under 84 days old, but this is not adequately enforced;
Reviewing and updating the laws on pet sales to protect cats and kittens sold online;
Making it compulsory to microchip owned cats in Scotland; enforcing and monitoring new air gun licensing laws to prevent injury or death to cats shot by such weapons (Stricter legislation of air guns under the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 is set to come into force in 2016);
Reviewing the effectiveness of Dog Control Notices as a way of preventing dog attacks on cats;
Animal welfare education: include animal welfare in the Curriculum for Excellence, so that children learn about responsible pet care;
Ensuring the Scottish Government recognises the needs of people with cats and other pets in rented housing and care homes, to allow people to keep their pets;
Ensuring Scottish Government recognises the benefits cats and other companion animals bring to health and personal wellbeing;
Labelling toxic products: clearly label flowers, plants and household products that are toxic to cats so cat owners know which to avoid;
Banning snares: bringing in an outright ban on snares on the basis they are inhumane and cruel and inflict suffering, injury or death upon animals caught in them, including cats;
And creating a national database to ensure that a central record is kept of all cats entering the UK legally so those entering illegally without a rabies vaccine can be identified without delay.
Jacqui Cuff, Cat Protection’s advocacy manager, said: “Over the past few years, we have been contacted about a worrying number of issues that our supporters and the general public want us to raise with the Scottish Government.
“Nearly one in four Scottish households owns a cat, so the issue of feline welfare is very relevant to Scottish voters.
“Delivery of the manifesto for cats would improve the lives of thousands of cats in Scotland and prevent them from harm. We’re hoping that politicians will back our call to improve the welfare and wellbeing of thousands of cats. There’s much more that Scottish government and local authorities can do to ensure a better world for cats.”
Christine Grahame MSP added: “As a cat owner myself, my cat Mr Smokey, has been microchipped and I would encourage other owners to do the same. | {
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Revenue is expected to be $1.35 billion, plus or minus two percent.
GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins are expected to be 57.7 percent and 58.0 percent, respectively, plus or minus 50 basis points.
GAAP operating expenses are expected to be approximately $500 million. Non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be approximately $445 million.
GAAP and non-GAAP tax rates for the second quarter of fiscal 2017 are both expected to be 20 percent, plus or minus one percent.
Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $30 million to $40 million.
Launched GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070, based on the new NVIDIA Pascal architecture, bringing the biggest performance gains over the previous generation of processors in a decade.
Expanded the NVIDIA VRWorks software development kit with Simultaneous Multi-Projection, which heightens realism with new display capabilities, and VRWorks Audio, which delivers physically modeled positional audio.
Introduced NVIDIA Ansel, an in-game photography tool that lets gamers compose shots from any angle and share them as single images or 360-degree panoramas for viewing in VR.
Expanded the NVIDIA SHIELD platform's gaming content available for streaming from GeForce NOW with new titles from Sega, Square Enix and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
Extended NVIDIA Quadro leadership in pro visualization markets, with the high-end 24GB Quadro M6000, the mid-range Quadro M2000 and new NVIDIA Iray physically based rendering solutions.
Unveiled Iray VR, which creates interactive, photorealistic virtual 3D worlds with unparalleled fidelity, enabling the immersive viewing of buildings and products not yet built.
Expanded NVIDIA's VR Ready program into the professional market.
Hosted the seventh annual GPU Technology Conference with 5,500 attendees, 600 technical sessions and 200 exhibitors, focused on artificial intelligence, VR and self-driving cars.
Unveiled the NVIDIA Tesla P100 GPU, the most advanced accelerator ever built, based on the Pascal architecture.
Revealed the NVIDIA DGX-1, the world's first deep-learning supercomputing in a box, with the computing throughput of more than 250 servers.
Joined Massachusetts General Hospital as the founding technology partner of the MGH Clinical Data Science Center to advance healthcare by applying AI to improve the detection, diagnosis, treatment and management of diseases.
Received VMware's Global Technical Partner of the Year and European Regional Technical Partner of the Year awards for partnership with NVIDIA GRID and VMware ESX.
Made history as NVIDIA-powered WEpods became the first self-driving shuttles to take to public roads.
Introduced HD Mapping, an end-to-end mapping platform for self-driving cars.
Announced that NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2 will power all vehicles in ROBORACE, a new autonomous car-racing circuit to debut later this year.
NVIDIA today reported revenue for the first quarter ended May 1, 2016, of $1.30 billion, up 13 percent from $1.15 billion a year earlier, and down 7 percent from $1.40 billion in the previous quarter. GAAP earnings per diluted share for the quarter were $0.33, up 38 percent from $0.24 a year ago and down 6 percent from $0.35 in the previous quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.46, up 39 percent from $0.33 a year earlier and down 12 percent from $0.52 in the previous quarter."We are enjoying growth in all of our platforms -- gaming, professional visualization, datacenter and auto," said Jen-Hsun Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer, NVIDIA. "Accelerating our growth is deep learning, a new computing model that uses the GPU's massive computing power to learn artificial intelligence algorithms. Its adoption is sweeping one industry after another, driving demand for our GPUs."Our new Pascal GPU architecture will give a giant boost to deep learning, gaming and VR. We are excited to bring a new wave of innovations to the markets we serve. Pascal processors are in full production and will be available later this month," he said.During the first quarter, NVIDIA entered into a $500 million accelerated share repurchase agreement and paid $62 million in quarterly cash dividends. For fiscal 2017, NVIDIA intends to return approximately $1 billion to shareholders through ongoing quarterly cash dividends and share repurchases. NVIDIA will pay its next quarterly cash dividend of $0.115 per share on June 20, 2016, to all shareholders of record on May 26, 2016.NVIDIA's outlook for the second quarter of fiscal 2017 is as follows:During the first quarter, NVIDIA achieved progress in each of its four major platforms.Gaming:Professional Visualization:Datacenter:Automotive: | {
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Unsurprisingly, nearly every move is due to a coaching change (22 of the 25 listed). The three that aren’t (Omaha, American, and CCSU) are due to last year being an outlier in that coach’s history, and the data naturally wants to slink back to its comfort zone. There can be advantages found in those teams: if last year was indicative of a long-term stylistic shift, rather than a flash-in-the-pan adjustment, the projected regression will prove incorrect.
Of course, if the oddsmakers’ data already includes the coach-related tempo changes (like those above), the edge is gone - unless you think the change will be even more pronounced than forecasted. That’s tough to prove, and although I think there may be some possibilities among those teams, I will largely stick to teams not on this list.
Where an advantage can be gleaned is on teams/coaches with no history, complicating the projection. New head coaches (or new to Division I) are a potential inefficiency, and below, I looked at several teams that may present an opportunity early in the year:
Gas Pedal Gang
Note - all tempo rankings listed below are via KenPom.com. To clarify, I expect these teams to play faster than their listed 2020 projections.
Holy Cross (last year tempo rank: 336, projected 2020 rank: 259)- Brett Nelson takes over for longtime Division I staple Bill Carmody, whose glacially slow teams were easy to peg year-to-year. Nelson, though, played for Billy Donovan and assisted under two of his assistants (Donnie Jones, John Pelphrey), and he’s spend the last five years under Steve Wojciechowski at Marquette (average tempo rank in that span: 115.8). All of that history - and Nelson’s own insinuations - indicate a massive uptick in tempo in Worcester, even though the Crusaders will have an incredibly young roster.
Siena (last year tempo rank: 352, projected 2020 rank: 322) - Despite the presence of All-MAAC star freshman Jalen Pickett at point guard, Jamion Christian dropped anchor last year, dragging games to a halt due to his team’s lack of depth and athleticism. His old assistant Carmen Maciariello now takes over, and he’s made it quite clear he will remove the training wheels:
"I can tell you our pace will be faster just because of how I like to play," he [Maciariello] said. "Our pace won't be the second-slowest, but that's easy to say, right?"
South Alabama (last year tempo rank: 241, projected 2020 rank: 172) - The Jaguars are a different case from the others listed, as they experienced a coaching change last offseason. In his first year, Richie Riley wasn’t always comfortable pushing the pace, especially with questionable depth and three key transfers sitting out. Now with a fully stocked roster, Riley has made it clear he’s planning to ratchet up the tempo to where he had it in year two at Nicholls, when his squad ranked 12th in the country. From Blue Ribbon:
“We want to get back to that [playing fast]. Last year, from a sheer numbers standpoint, it was hard for us to play at the tempo we wanted. But now with the depth that we have, we think we can do that.”
UNC Asheville (last year tempo rank: 350, projected 2020 rank: 351)- Like South Alabama, the Bulldogs did not have a coaching change this offseason. Mike Morrell enters year two after an extremely trying debut in which his team ranked dead last in the country in experience. With such youth (and a lack of depth), Morrell simply couldn’t play the pace he wanted, instead opting to “park the bus,” to borrow a soccer term. Now that his team has more experience, plus two valuable transfers in LaVar Batts (NC State) and Jax Levitch (Fort Wayne) that are accustomed to uptempo systems, Morrell is primed to crank the pressure and speed things up. From an excellent Brian Hamilton piece at The Athletic:
“When we were at VCU, we always wanted to play fast and pressure people. That’s how I wanted to play. I couldn’t play like that in Year 1. We didn’t have the depth and we just weren’t ready to do that.”
Cal Poly (last year tempo rank: 255, projected 2020 rank: 196) - This one is pretty simple - there’s no data for new coach John Smith, but he’s spent the last six years under Dedrique Taylor at Cal St. Fullerton, where the Titans had an average tempo ranking of 112.5. Plus, it’s highly likely he trusts his backcourt to push in transition, considering it’s made up of his son Jamal and nephew Keith.
Other Possibilities: Michigan (depends on how much NBA “pace-and-space” you think Juwan Howard brings to Ann Arbor), Vanderbilt (same for Jerry Stackhouse in Nashville), UMES (Jason Crafton played quickly at times at D-II Nyack and was in the G-League), Idaho (Zac Claus was at Nevada for awhile under Mark Fox and David Carter)
Hit the Brakes Brigade
I expect these teams to play slower than their listed 2020 projections.
Lipscomb (last year tempo rank: 12, projected 2020 rank: 46)- Old boss Casey Alexander set a blistering baseline for the program, ranking in the top 12 in each of his final three seasons in charge. Plus, Scott Sanderson played quickly before him, too. Lennie Acuff, a newcomer to Division I from D-II Alabama-Huntsville, played a more methodical style; see the graphic below, borrowed from my Lipscomb preview on our site: | {
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Sushma Swaraj said Pakistan had no right to point fingers at India over the unrest in Kashmir.
Highlights Sushma Swaraj responds to Pak PM Nawaz Sharif on Kashmir remarks
Pakistan in 'unabashed emrbace of terrorism', uses 'dirty money'
Pak can "dream to the end of eternity" of Kashmir being its: Sushma
In its sharpest remarks on Pakistan in recent months, India today accused Islamabad of an "unabashed embrace of terrorism" and warned that its stated goal of detaching Kashmir from India will "not be realised to the end of eternity."The unflinching censure came from Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and was levelled directly at Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for instigating the recent violence in Jammu and Kashmir where nearly 50 people have died and 3,000 been injured in clashes after the shooting of 22-year-old terrorist Burhan Wani.The Pakistani Prime Minister and his top ministers have eulogised Wani who was shot dead on July 8, triggering a searing cycle of violence - the worst in six years - in the Kashmir Valley with thousands of people, many of them young stone-pelting protesters, defying curfew to retaliate against security forces.Last week, Mr Sharif called for protest against what Islamabad has described at the United Nations and elsewhere as India's blatant violation of human rights in Kashmir.Home Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament this week that Pakistan has sponsored the unrest; all opposition parties have backed India's stand - a cohesion praised recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi."All of Kashmir belongs to India," Ms Swaraj said today. Her ministry recently said in a statement that Pakistan should withdraw from the parts of Kashmir it has illegally occupied.Wani who belonged to Kashmir's largest terror group, the Hizbul Mujahideen, used social media effectively and expansively to recruit young men like himself who accuse the state of indiscriminate force in dealing with dissent.With hundreds of civilians being treated for eye injuries caused by pellets from non-lethal weapons, the Home Minister has said that security forces have been urged to proceed with caution. Ms Swaraj said today that 1,700 personnel of the police and other forces have also been injured in recent days. | {
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How One Kenyan Teacher is Lifting His Students Out of Poverty With Science
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Mar 20 2019 (IPS) - Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Nakuru County, situated in a remote, semi-arid part of Kenya’s Rift Valley, could pass for an ordinary secondary school in any part of Africa. But ordinary it is not.
Maths and physical science teacher Peter Tabichi’s love for science is changing the lives of Keriko’s 480 students for the better.
In a region frequently blighted by drought and famine, Tabichi’s students come from poor families–almost a third are orphans or have only one parent–with many going without food at home. The students have mixed experiences from drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, early school dropout, young marriages and there have been cases of suicide.
Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School reflects the challenges of education access in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa; lack of teaching and learning resources, high student to teacher ratios, high drop-out rates and teacher demotivation.
According to the United Nations Education and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO), of all regions, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of education exclusion, with over one-fifth of children between the ages of about 6 and 11 not attending school.
Further, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) data states that almost 60 percent of youth between the ages of about 15 and 17 are not in school. The organisation warns that without urgent action, the situation will likely get worse as the region faces a rising demand for education due to a still-growing school-age population.
Filling the education gap with science
Tabichi, a member of the Franciscan Brotherhood, donates 80 percent of his monthly income to help his students in need.
But it is his dedication and passionate belief in his students’ talent, that has embolden the poorly-resourced learners to take on Kenya’s best schools in national science competitions.
Through his mentorship, Tabichi’s students participated in the 2018 Kenya Science and Engineering Fair where they displayed an invention that allows blind and deaf people to measure objects.
Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School came first nationally in the public schools category competition organised by the science fair. The maths and science team qualified to participate at the INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair in 2019.
Using the school’s only computer, and despite the poor internet connection and a student-teacher ratio of 58:1, Tabichi has impacted his student’s impoverished lives. He started a Talent Nurturing Club and expanded the school’s Science Club, helping pupils design research projects that are of such a high standard that 60 percent of them now qualify for national competitions.
“My four colleagues and I also give low-achieving pupils one-to-one tuition in Maths and Science outside class and on the weekends, where I visit students’ homes and meet their families to identify the challenges they face,” Tabichi told. “I use ICT in 80 percent of my lessons to engage students, visit internet cafes and cache online content to be used offline in class.”
In February 2019, Tabichi was named one of the top 10 finalists for the Varkey Foundation’s Global Teacher Prize 2019. The one million dollar award recognises an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession and highlights the important role of teachers. Tabichi and nine other finalists were selected from over 10,000 nominations and applications from 179 countries around the world.
The Global Teacher Prize was established five years ago and aims to recognise the exceptional work of teachers all over the world.
Tabichi is excited about his nomination for the prestigious award, describing it as a God-given honour.
“I did not anticipate it,” Tabichi, told IPS. “But I feel that I deserve it since I have transformed the lives of many students. Also, the nomination makes me view all the hard-working teachers throughout the world as superheroes that the world needs to give recognition for bringing a positive change to society.”
Turning challenges into opportunities
Raised in a family of teachers, Tabichi said he recognises the great contribution teachers bring to their communities through their dedication and passion. He added that he was inspired by his father to perceive a teacher’s role as that of enlightening others on how to tackle the challenges of life.
On what can be done to make education, especially at early and primary level accessible to all, Tabichi believes that making it free, equitable and raising the quality of education is a start.
Asked what he will do with the Global Teacher Prize, should he win?
“The main focus will be on the community and school. For example, I would strengthen the Talent Nurturing Club, the Science Club and inter-school science project competitions,” said Tabichi. He added, “I would also invest in a school computer lab with better internet connectivity. In the community, I would promote kitchen gardening and production of drought tolerant crops.”
Congratulating Tabichi for his nomination, Founder of the Varkey Foundation and the Global Teacher Prize, Sunny Varkey hoped Tabichi’s story would inspire those looking to enter the teaching profession.
“The thousands of nominations and applications we received from every corner of the planet is testimony to the achievements of teachers and the enormous impact they have on all of our lives.” | {
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12:01 am
at
on
by Alan
Imitation is the sincerest form of CREEPY…. | {
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“It is an outrage that they should be commonly spoken of as Intellectuals. This gives them the chance to say that he who attacks them attacks Intelligence. It is not so. They are not distinguished from other men by an unusual skill in finding truth nor any virginal ardour to produce her…It is not excess of thought but defect of fertile and generous emotion that marks them out. Their heads are no bigger than the ordinary: it is the atrophy of the chest beneath that makes them seem so.” —C.S. Lewis, “The Abolition of Man”
Western news organizations are falling all over themselves to censor images that raise the ire of violent terrorists, and C.S. Lewis predicted their exact behavior over 70 years ago when he published “The Abolition of Man,” his treatise on how the corruption of language leads inevitably to the corruption of mind and soul. Which brings us to the pathetic and censorious response by so many media organizations to the Islamic terrorist attack against Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical publication.
The main photo for this story is courtesy of the New York Daily News. (The absurd pixelation of the cartoon on the front page of the Charlie Hebdo paper was done by the New York Daily News, not by The Federalist.)
The New York Daily News’s censorship is emblematic of the response of far too many media organizations to the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Peaceful people who are offended must deal with offense, but violent sociopaths who are thrown into murderous rages by cartoons? Their feelings must be respected. Welcome to 2015, where polite requests for decency are ignored, and childish temper tantrums are exalted as the means by which developmentally stunted neanderthals get whatever they want. Which brings us to CNN.
Following the Charlie Hebdo attack, CNN allegedly issued a memo to staff detailing what types of images and words would be banned by the network and what would be allowed:
Although we are not at this time showing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet considered offensive by many Muslims, platforms are encouraged to verbally describe the cartoons in detail. This is key to understanding the nature of the attack on the magazine and the tension between free expression and respect for religion.
Video or stills of street protests showing Parisians holding up copies of the offensive cartoons, if shot wide, are also OK. Avoid close-ups of the cartoons that make them clearly legible.
It’s also OK to show most of the protest cartoons making the rounds online, though care should be taken to avoid examples that include within them detailed depictions of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons.
Where to begin? For starters, note that the network is apparently afraid of even using the word Muhammad. Instead, the Islamic religious figure is referred to by CNN merely as “the Prophet.” Not a prophet. And not even the prophet. “The Prophet,” with a capital P.
If we are to take CNN’s memo at its word, no other prophets existed before or after Muhammad. He is literally the only one. Forget Moses. Forget Abraham. Forget that both are major prophets for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Nope. Muhammad is the only one (even if that statement itself is heretical to the ideology they’re desperately trying not to offend) and he will be faux-respected by fearful news executives, even if that faux respect results in the blatant disrespect of other religions that outright reject Muhammad’s alleged teachings. Your offense is only worthy of note if comes packaged with a death threat.
I look forward to CNN referring to Jesus Christ as “the Messiah” from now on. I look forward to CNN referring to God as “G-d” out of respect for Jews who believe it is sinful to utter His name. And I really look forward to never seeing another historically illiterate Eastertime screed masquerading as news about how Jesus is just a silly myth who never really existed and that people who put any stock in the most well-attested historical documents in all of antiquity are just a bunch of nutty kooks.
I mean, if we’re talking about respect for religion, surely that must mean respect for religions that don’t send masked terrorists to gun down your news bureau whenever it publishes something stupid and insensitive, right? Or do my views only deserve respect insofar as they refuse to acknowledge your right to even exist?
For the Men Without Chests, however, history, theology, and even grammar must bow before the altar of terrorism.
CNN, a television network that exists to broadcast images to the world, instructed its employees to avoid the use of pictures and instead use words to describe the cartoon images. Did I mention that CNN is a TV station? And that the whole point of TV is to display images? Because it is. That’s why TV exists. To display images. Unless you’re CNN. And how did CNN justify its ban on pictures? It said it was necessary because “[verbal descriptions] are key to understanding the nature of the attack on the magazine and the tension between free expression and respect for religion.”
A TV executive with with an allegedly functioning brain actually wrote that the key — not a key, but the key — to understanding a murderous attack over cartoon images is to…only use spoken words to describe the images, rather than, oh, I don’t know, show the actual images.
But at least CNN gave its staff the freedom to publish cartoons protesting the killings in Paris, though. At least CNN had the decency to show images protesting the barbaric attacks in Paris. Right? Right??
It’s also OK to show most of the protest cartoons making the rounds online, though care should be taken to avoid examples that include within them detailed depictions of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons.
Oh. Okay, then. We wouldn’t want a news organization to air detailed depictions of the raison d’etre for France’s deadliest terrorist attack in two decades. And we certainly can’t have a news organization faithfully reporting on criticism of the attackers or their ideology. That would just be too much.
I don’t personally believe in modern day, post-Christian prophets, but if I did, I’d have to assume C.S. Lewis was one of them, because he saw this nonsense coming. He saw how the deliberate corruption of language leads inexorably to the degradation of society and the eventual corruption of mankind. We are seeing it now: let’s pretend that certain things don’t mean what they mean so that we may hopefully be the last up against the wall when the violent and perpetually offended hordes finally take control.
Maybe if we just call him “The Prophet” and tut-tut his detractors under our breath, his zealous followers will leave us alone and instead attack those fools who called him “a prophet,” or — gasp — used his actual name, or — even worse — drew a picture of him. Maybe they will look upon us with favor and spare us as a way of repaying our subservience to their ideology. Maybe our deliberate corruption of language in service of a violent strain of religion will signal that we mean them no harm. Maybe our weakness will be seen as strength. Maybe our lack of spine will be seen as courage. Maybe up will be down, hot will be cold, and slavery will be freedom.
“In a sort of ghastly simplicity,” C.S. Lewis wrote, “we remove the organ and demand the function”:
We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.
This is a society of men without chests. This is CNN. | {
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An investigation reveals that the fake news sites that flourished in Macedonia in 2016 weren’t just the work of local teens — and that security agencies are probing possible connections to Russia.
A joint investigation by BuzzFeed News and partners has uncovered new information that rewrites the story of the fake news boom in the Macedonian town of Veles.
A week before Election Day in 2016, BuzzFeed News revealed that young men and teens in Veles were running over a hundred websites that pumped out often false viral stories that supported Donald Trump. Media outlets from around the world descended upon Veles to tell the story of how the so-called fake news teens — many of whom had a shaky understanding of English — made large sums of money from digital ads shown next to their misleading stories about US politics. But after reviewing social media posts, government records, domain registry information, and archived versions of fake news sites, as well as interviewing key players, BuzzFeed News, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and the Investigative Reporting Lab Macedonia can now reveal that Veles’ political news industry was not started spontaneously by apolitical teens. Rather, it was launched by a well-known Macedonian media attorney, Trajche Arsov — who worked closely with two high-profile American partners for at least six months during a period that overlapped with Election Day.
Danilo Agutoli for BuzzFeed News Paris Wade
One of those Americans, Paris Wade, is now running for office in Nevada. Arsov also employed other American and British writers, including at least one who currently works for US right-wing conspiracy site the Gateway Pundit. The investigation also reveals that at least one member of Russia’s “troll factory,” who has been indicted by US special counsel Robert Mueller for alleged interference in the election, was in Macedonia just three months before the web domain for the country’s first US-focused politics site was registered. Reporters did not find any evidence connecting the Russian, Anna Bogacheva, to the Veles sites. Arsov denies any links to Russia. But now Macedonian security agencies are cooperating with law enforcement in the United States and at least two Western European countries to probe possible links between Russians, US citizens, and the pro-Trump “fake news” websites, two senior Macedonian officials said. Bogacheva and Arsov are among more than 20 people being looked at in two overlapping investigations in Macedonia, according to the two officials, who hail from different agencies in the country and were interviewed separately. The investigations are “still in a very early phase,” one of the officials told reporters. As of publication, none of the Americans involved with Arsov’s sites are known to be under investigation. A senior FBI agent familiar with the Macedonia case confirmed that the bureau is assisting with the investigations. The agent said that information determined to be of interest to Mueller is being shared with his office, but declined to comment further. Macedonian security officials said it’s not clear that anyone involved in the Veles fake news operations broke the law. But what is clear is that the powerful forces of Facebook, digital advertising revenue, and political partisanship gave rise to an unlikely global alliance that increased the spread of misleading and false news in the critical months before Election Day.
Left: Ben Goldman; Right: Paris Wade, the cofounder of US conservative site Liberty Writers News, and a current candidate for the Nevada State Assembly.
Patient Zero The stereotype of the Macedonian fake news publisher is of a teenager in Veles who knows little English, doesn’t care about journalism or US politics, and excels at using spammy techniques to make plagiarized misinformation go viral. Trajche Arsov is none of these things. But he is the godfather of US politics sites in the country. Arsov, 33, is a lawyer based in the capital of Skopje who comes from Veles, and commonly goes by the nickname Tale. He is a self-described libertarian who counts Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz among his political idols.
Danilo Agutoli for BuzzFeed News Trajche Arsov
During more than a decade in which Macedonia was ruled by an authoritarian conservative government, he was one of only a few lawyers willing to defend independent journalists. (In a twist of fate, a coauthor of this story was formerly one of Arsov’s clients; Arsov was dropped as counsel after his publishing activities were uncovered during this investigation.) By reviewing domain registration records of Macedonian politics sites, reporters were able to determine that Arsov, along with his brother, Panche, registered the domain name of the first politics site in Veles, USAPoliticsToday.com, on Sept. 23, 2015. The site would soon set off a chain reaction in Veles, spawning many imitators. The Arsovs eventually established their own network of nearly half a dozen sites and associated Facebook pages — which had a total of over 2 million followers — that operated until the social media site finally took them down this April. Reporters met Arsov in mid-May in a hotel lobby in downtown Skopje, across from a museum commemorating Mother Teresa. He first denied any involvement in the sites. But when confronted with documents, he began to open up. In a series of interviews held in person and via WhatsApp and telephone, he gradually revealed details behind the enterprise, including information about his collaborators in Britain and the United States, which were later verified by reporters. He vehemently denies any connection to Russia’s propaganda operation. According to Arsov, it all began in the fall of 2015 with an approach from his brother, who usually goes by Pane. For years, Veles had played host to a multitude of sites that churned out viral articles on healthy food, supplements, muscle cars, motorbikes, and other niche topics. Some local men had made small fortunes from online advertising services such as Google AdSense. Pane, who was unemployed, wanted in on the action, Arsov said. (In response to requests for comment, Pane denied any knowledge of any investigations into fake news sites and said, “I am positive I’ve done nothing wrong.”) Arsov said the brothers briefly tried running a car site, but soon discovered that politics — especially of the conservative brand — performed better.
“I follow the Macedonian politics, the US politics, Russian politics,” Arsov said. “My idea was, ‘OK, you can start with something different, not healthy food, not sport, no cars. You can start with politics.’” Though Arsov considers himself a right-leaning libertarian, he says he first attempted to also crack the market in liberal content. But on Facebook, republishing conservative articles was just better business, he said. “We found that the names of the groups where we could stay longer, where our profiles were not removed, were related to conservatives, to Republicans, to Trump,” he said. “If you found 100 groups for conservatives, you could only find 10 for liberals.” In the first interview with reporters, Arsov claimed that his sites did not publish hoaxes; rather they initially ripped content from mainstream conservative sites, such as Fox News, Breitbart, the Daily Caller, and the Washington Examiner. “I’m against the mainstream media [because of its] bias to Democrats, CNN and all others. ABC — they are also biased,” he said. An examination of archived pages from the now-defunct site, however, shows a raft of right-wing conspiracy theories. “Obama’s Ex-Boyfriend Reveals Shocking Truth That He Wants To Hide From America,” reads one early headline. “Putin to NWO Agents and Satan Worshipers: I’m Coming for You!” was another, as was “HUGE Scandal – Chelsea isn’t Bill Clinton’s Daughter?” In at least one instance, the site republished an article from the satirical website the Onion, presenting it as real news. A number of early stories were also favorable to Russia, though Arsov repeatedly denied in interviews that his publishing business had any connection to Russia or anyone who might have operated as a proxy for the country. He simply used such content because it was readily available, he said. The Arsovs’ first site, called USA Politics Today, grew quickly. Word began to spread in Veles that the brothers had come up with a new topic that could make money. Soon, Pane’s friends began launching their own politics sites. One was Orce Stankovski, who had previously spent six months unhappily working on a pig farm, according to Arsov. Stankovski launched USAPoliticsInsider.com and USADailyPolitics.com, domain registration records show. Others, mostly young men, soon created their own US politics sites in Veles. Stankovski hung up on a reporter when contacted for comment.
USA Politics Today
International Partnerships By the summer of 2016, Veles was home to a cottage industry of US politics sites. For youngsters in a country where just under half of the youth population is unemployed, the opportunity to earn US dollars through Google AdSense and other ad networks was transformative. They bought new cars and spent wildly at local clubs. Meanwhile, Tale kept running the website and built a stable of new brands: Guerrilla News (and its misspelled sister site, Guerilla News), Read Conservatives, New Conservatives, and Conservative Army. The profits piled up, and the brothers wasted no time spending them. In 2016, Pane and Tale each took separate trips to Thailand, later posting photos online posing with captive tigers. By 2016, Tale Arsov had also made an important new contact. He said he began exchanging Facebook messages with Ben Goldman, an American writer and publisher who, along with his partner, Paris Wade, had founded Liberty Writers News, a hyperpartisan conservative site based in the United States. The pair would achieve a certain level of infamy after a late November 2016 profile by the Washington Post portrayed them as misinformation merchants who were getting rich by stoking fear and anger. Wade is now a Republican candidate for the Nevada State Assembly.
Danilo Agutoli for BuzzFeed News Ben Goldman
Both Arsov and the Americans, Goldman and Wade, initially downplayed their relationship, and changed their stories when confronted with new evidence. When first contacted by phone, Wade told a reporter that “I don’t know anything about” collaborating with a Macedonian publisher. Goldman, however, eventually issued a written statement that acknowledged the partnership. Arsov initially said he mostly knew about Goldman and Wade from the Washington Post profile. He then said that their only connection was that he had commissioned a small number of articles from Wade’s brother, Alex. Only after more than two weeks of interviews did Arsov disclose their extensive cooperation. Arsov said that Goldman had asked him to help stop other Macedonian publishers from stealing Liberty Writers content, which he says he did in his capacity as a lawyer by sending letters to Veles site owners. Goldman’s statement, however, denied this: “We never utilized any of his legal services in any capacity, and the relationship was strictly journalist-to-journalist.” Both Arsov and Goldman said the relationship began when they shared each other’s content on their respective Facebook pages, and grew from there. Wade eventually wrote more than 40 articles for Arsov’s Macedonian site, USA Politics Today, between the summer of 2016 and January 2017. His brother, Alex Wade, also wrote for the site, authoring at least 670 articles using the pseudonym Alexander Warren.
Arsov also hired other American writers to work for him. He said all of the other publishers in Veles were plagiarizing, while he himself wanted to avoid running afoul of Google’s rules that require its advertising partners to publish original content. “No one, literally no one, in Veles created his own articles,” Arsov said. One American who worked for Arsov is Johnny Roberts. He said he was hired after contacting the USA Politics Today Facebook page to offer his services as a writer. “Sent him a message saying I had yrs of experience blogging, so he gave me a shot,” Roberts wrote in a Facebook Messenger chat with a reporter. He said the fact that Arsov was based in Macedonia “was weird at first but I didn’t think much of it. Just thought he was smart building a big page and bringing in the money.” Another American who worked for Arsov is Alicia Powe, who says she applied for a job and was able to “write as many articles as I want.” She did not reply to subsequent questions sent via Facebook Messenger. Powe now writes for the Gateway Pundit, a site that frequently traffics in falsehoods and conspiracy theories. A British former writer for Arsov, Oliver Dollimore, also contributed to the Gateway Pundit as recently as April last year. He did not reply to questions sent via Facebook and Twitter.
“Accurate and Legitimate Journalism” As the 2016 election approached, Arsov and his partners at Liberty Writers continued pumping out a torrent of viral, often misleading, pro-Trump news via multiple websites and Facebook pages. So did the copycat publishers in Macedonia and the Russian trolls working for the Internet Research Agency. On Nov. 3 that year, BuzzFeed News published its initial story about the websites in Veles. Just over two weeks later, after Trump won the election, the Washington Post published its profile of Goldman and Wade. Both stories went viral, but at the time almost no one knew that the Macedonians and the Americans had been working together for months.
BuzzFeed News
Ultimately, the influx of attention would cause both groups to effectively lose their businesses. Facebook, Google, and other platforms began cracking down. The Veles sites were kicked out of AdSense and later began losing their Facebook pages. Exactly one year to the day after Trump’s election victory, Wade said that his and Goldman’s Facebook page and its more than 1.8 million fans were gone. Wade subsequently made a video in which he cites the removal of the Facebook page in a pitch asking for donations to his political campaign. Facebook pages linked to Arsov’s sites, with their more than 2 million fans, survived longer than his American partners’ page. The hammer finally came down in early April of this year, when Facebook removed them all on the same day. A source with knowledge of the removals said they were taken down in line with Facebook’s push to have financially motivated “inauthentic” content removed from the platform. Just last month, Facebook unveiled new measures aimed at reducing the reach of pages run by foreign-based publishers like those in Veles. Now, as Facebook continues to target English-language publishers in Macedonia, the country’s authorities are pursuing their own investigations into those responsible for spreading political misinformation during the 2016 election. Goldman and Wade said they were unaware of any official investigations into the Macedonian sites prior to being informed of them by reporters. In his statement, Goldman said, “we believe that our activities and reporting were accurate and legitimate journalism.” Officials say the investigation involves trying to determine the key players behind the sites and whether there was any foreign involvement in their creation and operation. Clint Watts, a former FBI agent and the author of Messing With the Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians, and Fake News, said that the investigators are likely focused on whether there is a Russian connection to the creation and operation of the sites, whether their content shows any sign of coordination, and whether they received any outside funding. "The biggest for me is: Where did they get the money to start their efforts?” Watts said. “I know websites are relatively inexpensive to set up, but the basic infrastructure and know-how must come from somewhere. Where did they get the idea to start a clickbait site with such a deliberate focus on the US election? And who gave them the resources and skills to get it off the ground?”
Danilo Agutoli for BuzzFeed News Anna Bogacheva
“Not discussing my work” One person of interest to investigators is Anna Bogacheva. Bogacheva was one of 13 Russian nationals indicted by Mueller in February over alleged interference in the US election. The indictment focused on the role of the St Petersburg–based Internet Research Agency — often referred to as a “troll factory” — which produced online propaganda and spread messages via social media aimed at helping Trump and defeating his rival, Hillary Clinton. According to the indictment, Bogacheva at one point oversaw the “data analysis group” for the agency’s US operation. Along with another agency employee, Bogacheva allegedly traveled around the United States for about three weeks in June 2014, gathering information for an intelligence report that was shared with her superior at the agency. Exactly a year later, she arrived in Macedonia. Immigration records obtained by reporters show that Bogacheva was in Macedonia in mid-2015, leaving the country by land to Greece on June 26 that year. No record could be found of her entering the country. Bogacheva’s posts on Russian social media site VKontakte show that her trip also took her to Austria and possibly Italy. When contacted by reporters via VKontakte to ask why she was in Macedonia in 2015, Bogacheva said, “sorry, I'm not discussing my work." She did not respond to subsequent messages. Reporters found no connection between Bogacheva and the Macedonian sites. Arsov maintains that the first site had been his own idea. Like Wade and Goldman, he appeared to be unaware of the existence of the investigations prior to being told about them by reporters. He says he’s unconcerned about what authorities might find. “There is no crime here. Nobody can charge me,” he said, adding that he believed that any Macedonian investigations would be the result of US pressure. Arsov still has his law practice, but Facebook’s crackdown has killed off many of Veles’ politics websites. “When [your] Facebook page is removed, you cannot work anymore,” Arsov said. Not long after Facebook killed his pages, Arsov tuned in to watch Mark Zuckerberg being grilled by members of the United States Congress over the company's data protection practices in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. He was particularly interested in what Sen. Ted Cruz would ask Facebook’s CEO. Amid the hearings, Arsov sent an email to the senator’s office to decry what he described as Facebook’s unfair censorship of conservative voices on its platform. “I’m the owner of USA Politics Today,” the email began. “The conservative media is under Facebook attack, we are looking for support and help to spread this news everywhere.” Cruz’s office did not reply. Arsov may be a supporter, but he’s not a constituent. ● | {
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AM I THE ONLY ONE AROUND HERE
122 shares | {
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And a total of 81 percent of the people who would lose coverage work either full or part time, and 82 percent have modest incomes, but are not poor, the report said.
In a new report issued Thursday that looked for the first time at the demographics of that group, the researchers said that 61 percent of the 6.3 million people who would lose health coverage are white, and 62 percent of them live in the South.
The researchers earlier this month found that 6.3 million people would lose health coverage because they would no longer be eligible for subsidies if the Supreme Court rules that such federal financial aid issued to customers on the HealthCare.gov Obamacare insurance exchange is illegal, as plaintiffs claim. Without those subsidies to help pay for premiums in the 37 states served by the federal exchange, the plans would become unaffordable for that number of people, the Urban Institute said.
Obamacare enrollees who are white, live in the South and have jobs with modest incomes would be disproportionately affected by an adverse ruling for Obama at the high court, which could come this June, the study by Urban Institute researchers found.
The kind of people who were more likely to vote for Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama in the 2012 election also turn out to be the same kind of people who would be most likely to lose their Obamacare health insurance if a looming Supreme Court case goes against the president, according to a new analysis .
Conversely, the Obamacare enrollees who would be more likely to be able to afford the insurance without the subsidy assistance or get coverage from another source after a Supreme Court ruling against the subsidies are more likely to have higher incomes, to be white, highly educated "and to live in regions outside of the South," the study said.
"We now have a clearer picture of who stands to lose financial assistance and join the ranks of the uninsured if the Supreme Court rules in favor of King," said Andy Hyman, senior program officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded the study.
"The court will decide if people living in some states will continue to receive financial help buying coverage while their neighbors in the next state will not and remain uninsured," Hyman said.
Read MoreObamacare ruling could take insurance from millions
Every state in the South, with the exception of Florida and Virginia, voted for the Republican challenger Romney over the incumbent Obama in 2012. Support for Romney was particularly strong among white residents in that region.
And, "most whites in general, but particularly whites from the South, have unfavorable views toward [Obamacare], and that goes for the middle-income group as well," said Mollyann Brodie, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, citing recent public polling by that health-care policy research organization.
Every state in the South with the exception of Kentucky is served by the federal Obamacare exchange HealthCare.gov, since their governments rejected the option of running their own ACA marketplace. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia are operating their own health insurance marketplaces.
The Supreme Court case hinges on a purported legal distinction between a federally run exchange and one operated by a state. The high court is set to hear arguments in the case on March 4.
The ACA explicitly says that subsidies or tax credits to help pay for premiums as well as for out-of-pocket health costs can be issued to customers of a state-established exchange. Although the ACA talks about the creation of a federal exchange in states that choose not to run their own marketplace, it doesn't say anything explicitly about such subsidies being issued to customers of such an exchange.
Read MoreHealthCare.gov hits 7.1M sign-ups
The Obama administration nonetheless claims the HealthCare.gov subsidies are legal because the ACA contemplates the need for HealthCare.gov, and that the ACA's goal of significantly reducing the number of uninsured implicitly means that tax credits have to be available to customers nationally, regardless of the particular flavor of exchange.
The tax credits are worth billions of dollars, and helped to lower premium costs for a large majority of enrollees of HealthCare.gov. Such tax credits issued to customers of state-run exchanges are not at risk from the Supreme Court challenge.
The administration filed a brief Wednesday night with the high court outlining its position in defense of the subsidies. | {
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Members of the organising teams of all four major Elm conferences – elm-conf, Elm In The Spring, Elm Europe, and Oslo Elm Day – come together to discuss what goes into a successful Elm conference, the lessons they've learned along the way, and what we can expect at their next conference!
Thank you to our sponsors, Ellie, Culture Amp and Joel Clermont.
Special thanks to Xavier Ho (@Xavier_Ho) for editing and production of this episode!
Recording date: 14 April 2019
Guests
Blake Thomas (@dijjnn)
Danielle Pham (@quelledanielle)
Erik Wendel (@ewndl)
Thibault Assus (@tibastral)
Show Notes
00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:50 Sponsors
00:06:53 Blake: How Elm In The Spring got started
00:08:43 Danielle: How they joined NoRedInk and elm-conf
00:10:08 Thibault: How teaching led to Elm Europe
00:11:53 Erik: Oslo Elm Day was “the ambitious approach”
00:14:30 Blind CFPs and curating for diversity
00:27:13 Doing it all again next year
00:29:35 The organising teams
00:31:04 Elm In The Spring coming up soon
SPRINGTIME10 – 10% off Elm in the Spring
00:32:39 Blind CFPs and curating for diversity (part 2)
00:35:44 The organising teams (part 2)
00:39:06 Lessons: Respect the schedule
00:41:55 Lessons: Audience Q&A is usually a bad idea
00:45:37 Evan and Richard’s involvement
00:48:29 Elm Europe coming up in June
ELMTOWN10 – 10% off elm-europe until the end of April 2019
00:49:01 Be there for the hallway track
00:52:35 Speaking at a conferece
00:54:38 Outro | {
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<!--pattern>looter</pattern-->
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<MBFastDialogue.Settings>
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Special thanks to @Aragasas for rewriting most of the mod with Harmony support.Interacting with looters, bandits, and enemy lords now uses menus instead of dialogue interactions. This removes at least two unnecessary loading screens.Source: https://github.com/DonoA/MBFastDialogueFeel free to submit any PRs!Recent Fixes:- Bandit lair boss fights (1.2)- Compatibility with other mods (1.2)- Apply to lords (1.3)- Apply to all map interactions (1.5)To configure which parties will be affected by that mod, edit the settings.xml file in the mod folder:By Default it looks like:To make only looters and bandits affected, change it like so:You may add or change the patterns as you see fit. To make all parties affected again, simply leave the list blank or comment out the entries in it like in the default settings.xmlManual Install:- Extract the zip file to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Mount & Blade II Bannerlord\Modules.- Make sure that SubModule.xml and the bin folder are now in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Mount & Blade II Bannerlord\Modules\MBFastDialogue- Navigate to "Modules > MBFastDialogue> bin > Win64_Shipping_Client" in your game files.- Right click the "MBFastDialogue.dll" and click properties- If you see an unblock at the bottom, click it. (Visual reference: https://www.limilabs.com/blog/unblock-dll-file)- Start the Bannerlord launcher and then tick MBFastDialogue in the Singleplayer > Mods tab.When interacting with villagers for example, you first see this menu. Converse allows you to use the normal dialogue options if you want to do more complex interactions. | {
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President Donald Trump’s vicious tweets about MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski, whom he called “low I.Q. Crazy” and said “was bleeding badly from a face-lift” when he saw her around New Year’s Eve, have re-energized the evergreen complaint that he is diminishing his office. “Inappropriate. Undignified. Unpresidential,” sputtered Jeb Bush. “Mr. President,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham chided, “your tweet was beneath the office and represents what is wrong with American politics, not the greatness of America.” His colleague Ben Sasse pleaded, “Please just stop. This isn’t normal and it’s beneath the dignity of your office.” And Brzezinski herself, in a Washington Post op-ed with Joe Scarborough, her Morning Joe co-host and fiancé, wrote that “concerns about his unmoored behavior go far beyond the personal. America’s leaders and allies are asking themselves yet again whether this man is fit to be president.”
Trump isn’t staining the presidency so much as redefining it. He’s shown that anyone can be president, even someone who completely lacks the ability or experience to do the job. Thanks to Trump—the first president never to have served in the military, worked in government, or held elected office—the pool of prospective candidates is overflowing. Whereas only politicians or the occasional general, like Dwight Eisenhower, could credibly compete for the White House, today billionaires and celebrities of all sorts are imagining themselves in the Oval Office. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recently toured small towns in Iowa, as part of his “year of travel,” and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has openly entertained a run for office. “I’ll be honest, I haven’t ruled politics out,” he said last year. “I can’t deny that the thought of being governor, the thought of being president, is alluring. And beyond that, it would be an opportunity to make a real impact on people’s lives on a global scale.”
As National Review senior writer David French wrote in a piece touting Johnson:
Since it’s 2017—and since a less popular celebrity made it to the White House—the question has arisen: Will The Rock bring the people’s eyebrow to politics? Will we see the rhetorical equivalent of the people’s elbow delivered to the solar plexus of his political opponents? Questions that once seemed crazy to ask are now a normal part of American political life.
In January, I joined the bandwagon, too, making the case that perhaps Democrats should “take a page out of the Republican playbook and put a celebrity up for national office.” A “magnetic, attractive movie star would have a far better chance” of turning out the Democratic base than “just another accomplished, dowdy politician,” I argued. “The party could recruit [Meryl] Streep and others to bait Trump, and perhaps, as [Michael] Moore suggested, groom some to be presidential candidates. In 2020, the Democrats could run Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, Beyonce, Matt Damon, or Rosie O’Donnell.”
Now, more than five months into Trump’s disastrous presidency, I’m having second thoughts. Just because almost anyone can be president—provided they are over 35 and a natural-born U.S. citizen—doesn’t mean that the Democrats should follow the Republicans’ lead by putting up an angry, anti-political celebrity for president. In fact, history suggests that trying to replicate Trump is the exactly wrong approach for Democrats. While there’s merit in appealing to the frustration with political elites, which Trump has exploited, the smarter move would be to embody that message in a candidate who otherwise contrasts with Trump. Because after four years of Trumpian chaos and incompetence—if, that is, he even serves out his full term—America is going to be desperate for the opposite. | {
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The Department of Labor released the numbers for last week’s unemployment filings. 3.28 million for the country. For The New York Times, Quocktrung Bui and Justin Wolfers show the numbers relative to the past and a breakdown by state:
This downturn is different because it’s a direct result of relatively synchronized government directives that forced millions of stores, schools and government offices to close. It’s as if an economic umpire had blown the whistle to signal the end of playing time, forcing competitors from the economic playing field to recuperate. The result is an unusual downturn in which the first round of job losses will be intensely concentrated into just a few weeks.
You can find the recent data here. | {
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Initial coin offerings are the latest fad for many emerging cryptocurrency companies and projects. From the recently completed Lisk, Waves and Mycelium coin offerings to the historic crowd sale by the DAO — which was subsequently hacked for about $60 million — to Bitland, Project Decorum, Elastic Project and a good number more sales, the trend is clear.
Cryptocurrency organizations are viewing their initial coin offerings as an opportunity to build capital and to provide a near-seamless method to distribute a percentage of their digital coins in exchange for a vested interest or stake in the organization. The stake in the corporation will naturally vary from offering to offering.
ICOs are similar to initial public offerings issued by corporations: They are essentially the first sale of stock in the form of an organization's cryptocurrency. ICOs can be bought with fiat currency or with another digital currency at a set exchange rate. Unlike what may be found in a typical IPO — especially the most popular ones such as last year's Ferrari, First Data and FitBit IPOs — an ICO lets people of all classes and ethnicities participate because of the low barrier to entry. Further, the sale occurs online, so it's borderless.
The entire phenomenon is an interesting mechanism carried out by cryptocurrency developers who have recognized the potential of digital currency and decentralizing technology. However, most if not all cryptocurrency varieties now emerge with esoteric blockchain-based features, capabilities and/or applications. Therefore, coin offerings are also pigeonholed by existing within a niche sector: anything blockchain-based.
Sure, there are many ways you can subdivide or subcategorize cryptocurrencies. However, the resounding and important question is: Can every blockchain-based project to emerge produce something innovative and of future value?
Ethereum's offering in the summer of 2014 is a strong, if not paramount, example. The coin sale's immediate aftermath was a bumpy road. With a supply of 72,524,960 ether (abbreviated ETH), Ethereum's market capitalization opened at around $180 million before plummeting to $42 million to finally moving up to $122 million — all within the first week and a half.
No one then could have known how the cryptocurrency would become worth more than $1 billion market capitalization — rivaling the world's most valuable cryptocurrency, the one that kindled it all in 2009.
But Ethereum offered, and continues to offer, a unique platform within the blockchain space. It incorporates smart contract capability with other emerging features and it allows developers to build applications on top of its blockchain layer. It is an innovative platform that offers and inspires innovation in a wide array of use cases, via products and services that can be based off of the Ethereum's blockchain. It has also spawned some of the most successful crowd sales of recent: the DAO, Augur and DigixGlobal.
Yet, great ideas — whether an autonomous, crowdfunding organization (the DAO), a decentralized prediction market (Augur) or an asset-tokenization to apply to physical assets (DigixGlobal) — are not a dime a dozen. Not every token sale or ICO will turn out like Ethereum's.
Therefore, ICOs may just serve to dilute the appeal of cryptocurrencies and reduce esteem so critical to the success of emerging technologies. Put another way: The greater quantity of ICOs, the greater the risk of creating a stale investment environment. From a practical investment perspective, whether every cryptocurrency will reach heights set by current giants in the space is something to consider as well.
In an article on prospective shifts in computing paradigms published by the nonprofit Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a nonprofit based in Connecticut, Melanie Swan described:
" … a continuously connected seamless physical-world multidevice computing layer, with a blockchain technology overlay for payments, and not just payments, but micropayments, decentralized exchange, token earning and spending, digital asset invocation and transfer, and smart contract issuance and execution; all as the economic layer the web never had."
The "connected world" paradigm envisioned above is the beautifully envisioned endgame. Initial coin offerings thus stand at the starting point. Therefore, they should be gauged by two practical factors:
Is the technology useful? In other words, does the use case purport to help move toward something beyond the current computing paradigm or what is currently in the market?;
How well has the organization moved to achieve its outlined objectives?
Only so many companies or teams will innovate and only some will endure. The more projects funded — and that ultimately fail — the worse the result for the general advancement of the industry. Sure, it will not stall the ecosystem; however, it may compound doubt within an already often misunderstood area of technology.
The cryptocurrency ecosystem operates on the fringes of tradition, with coin offerings announced, talked about and carried out largely via online forums and without regulation. The entire phenomenon is high-risk and should be treated as such. Steer clear of anything that appears too good to be true, devoid of any clear value proposition and with a lack of transparency in design, leadership and direction. Exercise caution, and do research and a speculative analysis of the value proposition being claimed in coin offerings.
Analysis on whether the technology being offered is something that advances or will help advance the current computing paradigm is necessary. Perhaps, in the end, skepticism around every new ICO is a positive sentiment.
The wonder is whether too much of one thing will begin to strain the investment environment, especially if promising projects like the ones mentioned fizzle out with no return — and if probability stands true, they wouldn't be the first, nor the last.
Brandon Kostinuk is the communications lead at the Vanbex Group, a professional services firm that provides consultation and marketing services to clients in the digital currency and blockchain space. He can be reached at [email protected]. | {
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Sağlıklı Beslenme Piramidi
Menü Planlaması Yaparken Dikkat Edilmesi Gereken Hususlar
Hizmet verilen grubun yaşı ve cinsiyetine göre besin ögesi gereksinimleri
Besin çeşitliliğinin olması ve besinlerin kalitesi
Hizmet verilen kişi ya da grupların özel durumları, fiziksel aktivite düzeyleri ve beslenme alışkanlıkları
Mutfak harcamalarına ayrılan bütçe
Yemek yiyen günlük kişi sayısı
Mutfaktaki araç ve gereçler
Mutfaktaki personel sayısı
Bulunan bölgenin iklimi ve coğrafi özellikleri
Neden Menü Planlaması Yapılmalı?
Yeterli ve dengeli beslenmeyi sağlaması
Yemek artıkları oluşmasının önüne geçmesi
Biyolojik olarak doyum sağladığı gibi psikolojik olarak da doyum sağlaması
Maliyeti kontrol altında tutması
Yemek yapan kişinin, aile bireylerinin, restoran çalışanlarının ve yönetimin huzurlu olması
Satın alma konusunda kolaylıklar sunması
Toplu beslenmede başarı
Menü Planlaması ile Sabah Kahvaltısında Dikkat Edilmesi Gerekenler
Kahvaltıda her gün peynir, süt, yumurta gibi besinlerden en az birisi mutlaka olmalıdır.
Kahvaltılık temel yiyecek olarak yumurta, peynir, yağ-reçel ve zeytin kullanılır.
Kahvaltıda içeceğin yanında temel yiyeceklerden en az 2 tanesi kesinlikle olmalıdır. Yumurta haftada 2 defa listede olabilir.
Kahvaltılık temel içecekler; süt, çay, ve taze sıkılmış meyve sulardır. Süt, haftada en az 2 defa listede yer almalıdır.
Yağ ve reçel kahvaltılık tek çeşittir. Ayrı olarak değerlendirilmemelidir.
Kahvaltının monotonluğunu engellemek için peynir olarak; beyaz, kaşar ve tulum kullanılabilir. Aynı şekilde zeytin ve reçel çeşitliliğine de yer verilebilir.
Menü Planlaması ile Öğle ve Akşam Yemeklerinde Dikkat Edilmesi Gerekenler
Yemekler arasında renk, tat, şekil ve kıvam uyumu olmalıdır.
Yemekler, birinci, ikinci ve üçüncü grup şeklinde en az 3 kapta bulunmalıdır.
Etli sebze yemekleriyle birlikte zeytinyağlı sebze yemekleri ve dolmaların yanında da pilav, makarna gibi yemekler verilmemelidir.
Pilavın, böreğin ve makarnanın yanında tatlı olmamalıdır.
Zeytinyağlı sebze yemekleriyle birlikte salata verilmemelidir.
Genel olarak çorba, akşam yemeklerinde, kuru baklagiller ise öğle yemeklerinde yer almalıdır.
Yemek Gruplarının Oluşturulması
Birinci Yemek Grubu : Menü planlama yapılırken ilk olarak et, yumurta, kuru baklagiller grubundan yemeklerin belirlenmesi gerekir. Her çeşit etli yemek, balık, yumurtalı yemekler, etli sebze yemekleri ve dolmalar ana yemek olarak seçilir. Bu gruptaki besinleri barındıran çorbalar ise birinci yemek sayılır.
: Menü planlama yapılırken ilk olarak et, yumurta, kuru baklagiller grubundan yemeklerin belirlenmesi gerekir. Her çeşit etli yemek, balık, yumurtalı yemekler, etli sebze yemekleri ve dolmalar ana yemek olarak seçilir. Bu gruptaki besinleri barındıran çorbalar ise birinci yemek sayılır.
İkinci Yemek Grubu : Bu grup, ilk gruba göre değişmekle birlikte tahıl ve sebze yemeklerinden seçilir. Ana yemek et, yumurta, tahıl, balık, tavuk gibi bol proteinli besinlerden oluşuyorsa, ikinci yemek sebzelerden yapılabilir. Eğer ana yemek etli sebze ise, ikinci yemeğin makarna ve börek gibi karbonhidrat açısından zengin olan yemeklerden yapılması gerekir.
: Bu grup, ilk gruba göre değişmekle birlikte tahıl ve sebze yemeklerinden seçilir. Ana yemek et, yumurta, tahıl, balık, tavuk gibi bol proteinli besinlerden oluşuyorsa, ikinci yemek sebzelerden yapılabilir. Eğer ana yemek etli sebze ise, ikinci yemeğin makarna ve börek gibi karbonhidrat açısından zengin olan yemeklerden yapılması gerekir.
Üçüncü Yemek Grubu: Üçüncü yemek grubu da birinci ve ikinci gruba göre değişiklik gösterir. Öğünde sebze yemeği yoksa, üçüncü yemek olarak salata ya da meyve verilir. Menü planlaması ile süt grubuna yer verilmemişse, yoğurt, cacık ve ayran üçüncü yemek grubuna eklenebilir. İkinci yemek tahıllardan oluşmuşsa, bu grupta ise hamur tatlısına yer verilebilir.
Bir Günlük Menü Planlama Örneği
Sabah
Peynirli Omlet
Domates
Siyah Zeytin
Çay
Öğle
Orman Kebabı
Pilav
Yoğurt
Akşam
Erzincan Çorbası
Izgara Tavuk
Zeytinyağlı Pırasa
Çikolatalı Puding
Menü planlama ve yöntemi hakkında bilgiler vermeye devam ediyoruz. En yaygın günlük menü listesi, 3 ana öğünde her besin grubundan yeterli miktarlar ile hazırlanır. Yemek gruplarını ise şunlardır: | {
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(CNN) Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser on Wednesday declared a state of emergency and a public health emergency as the nation's capital looks to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The move -- which will help free up resources and funding -- came alongside news of six new cases in Washington, bringing the total number to 10.
"While this is an administrative action, largely, it will give me more authority to implement and fund the measures that we need to monitor and respond to Covid-19 in our community," Bowser told reporters.
The announcement came just hours after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic with more than 1,200 cases in the US and growing clusters of the disease forcing many Americans to change their daily lives.
In Washington, this includes the suspension of visitor tours in the US Capitol, according to a Capitol official. Additionally, a city health advisory published earlier Wednesday recommended that "non-essential mass gatherings, including conferences and conventions, be postponed or canceled" through the end of the month.
Read More | {
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“Intensify forward fire power!”
- Admiral Piett, Return of the Jedi
Establish galactic control with prizes from the Quarter 1 Tournament Kit for Star Wars™: Armada! Quarterly Tournament Kits provide prizes for a local game store to award to players for competing in their events and a new kit will be released each quarter with refreshed prizes to invigorate participation. Contact your local game store today to see if they are hosting any tournament kit events and join in on the fun!
What Prizes are in the Star Wars: Armada Quarter 1 Tournament Kit?
Core Prize Card - 16 copies of the alternate art card “Turbolaser Reroute Circuits” - a favorite upgrade of Admirals who are willing to risk lowering their defenses for a little more punch.
Elite Prize Card - 2 copies of the alternate art card “TIE Interceptor”. When you want a squadron that exists simply to destroy an enemy squadron, look no further than the TIE Interceptor.
Elite Prize Item - 2 sets of 5 acrylic Engineering Tokens. Our team of engineers have been working hard to bring these to you and they’re finally here!
An additional copy of each prize card is included for the organizer to keep or award, at their discretion.
What Can I Expect at a Tournament Kit Event?
Every Star Wars: Armada Tournament Kit comes with an optional outline for a tournament that your retailer may choose to follow.
If your local retailer announces they are hosting a Fleet Patrol event, you can expect to play two matches of Star Wars: Armada. If you do well in the competition, you will be eligible to earn some cool prizes, as detailed in the Event Outline below.
Retailers can also choose to create their own tournaments and special events, such as demo days, charity events, or alternate play formats in order to support their gaming community. If this is the case, they may have different plans on how they would like to award these prizes. Make sure you contact your local game store to see what kind of event they are hosting!
Be a Part of the Growing Star Wars: Armada Community
Each quarter, there will be a new set of tournament kits for our Organized Play supported games! Keep your eyes out for the contents of the next kit and make sure that your local game store has ordered theirs for the season!
Note: The alternate art cards in this kit are produced via FFG's In-House Manufacturing and may appear slightly different in color and texture from the game's other cards. | {
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Is Coinbase going to solve the thorny challenges of proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain governance or centralize those systems even further?
That’s the question experts in the space are pondering with the recent announcement that Coinbase Custody will offer staking support for Maker, Tezos and Cosmos. The move means institutional investors will be able to vote on blockchain governance matters directly through their Coinbase accounts.
“We’re hoping to bring online, frankly, the majority of institutional investors,” Coinbase Custody CEO Sam McIngvale told CoinDesk. “We’re growing these three assets under custody and hoping to see an increased turnout of these votes.”
That this is possible is because blockchains like Cosmos, Tezos and Maker use staking to guide their networks.
Staking relies on participants essentially buying into the blockchain’s decision-making council. In addition to backing their votes with deposits – staking their claim with real assets – in Tezos and Cosmos stakers can also earn token rewards for fueling the network’s growth. But, in turn, these networks are beginning to face the same challenge democracies have grappled with for centuries:
How do we incentivize voting?
Lessons from Maker
This Coinbase Custody addition was driven by institutional demand, since few PoS token holders so far are actually participating in governance.
According to Becker, nearly 10 percent of Maker tokens were involved in a recent vote to hike fees related to ethereum-pegged stablecoin loans. While cryptocurrency researcher David Hoffman estimated only 0.58 percent of unique wallets holding Maker participated, Becker told CoinDesk the turnout was high among institutional holders that are able to vote. Indeed, he said the most recent fee-raising proposal had the highest turnout to date with 61 voters.
For many institutional holders, Becker argued, compliance requirements can still complicate the logistics of using tokens to vote.
“If you’re an institution and you represent third-party investors,” Becker explained, “you do need third-party custody as extra protection, to make sure those assets are looked after in a safe manner.”
That’s where the recent move by Coinbase comes in.
On one hand, a Coinbase voting interface could boost turnout by being convenient for the largest Maker holders, including Polychain Capital (founded by Coinbase’s first employee), 1confirmation (founded by an early Coinbase employee) and Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto fund (co-managed by a Coinbase board member).
On the other, Tezos holder and veteran crypto investor Meltem Demirors tweeted that Coinbase Custody could become a “wallet-driven proxy voting platform that influences, gathers, aggregates, and reports on user behavior.”
In response, Coinbase’s McIngvale said the custody solution is a business-to-business tool for institutions, not individuals. So there is scant “user behavior” to track.
Plus, he said there aren’t currently any plans to analyze or utilize voting data, adding:
“We are here to provide support, pure infrastructure and services to enable our clients to participate in these networks however they want to. What they’re doing is not really our business. In fact, our business is to protect their anonymity as best we can, and the security of their funds.”
McIngvale said the exchange already custodies roughly 4 percent of Maker tokens, less than the 6 percent Andreessen Horowitz owns by itself. Meanwhile, the Maker Foundation, which employs MakerDAO COO Steven Becker, owns more than 22 percent of the total Maker supply and only sells these tokens to institutions that previous holders like Polychain deem to be committed to participating in governance, according to Becker.
Tendermint Inc director Zaki Manian, co-creator of the Cosmos ecosystem, told CoinDesk each of the three PoS assets Coinbase Custody will support requires a unique approach to governance options based on whether the systems automate changes, like Tezos, or merely show sentiment, like Cosmos.
Either way, governance is often inseparable from politics.
“If a big validator [staker] votes for something early, it gives that proposal a lot more legitimacy,” Manian said, adding:
“I have a thesis that they [Coinbase Custody] are going to have a hard time keeping them [stakers] because … custody is designed not to be a nimble business and staking has to be a nimble business.”
So far, staking votes have appeared to revolve around money rather than infrastructure. Comparable to semi-automated Maker votes about stability fees for stablecoin loans, the first Cosmos vote was an affirmative move toward inflation.
“It’s going to be interesting because part of the dynamics of proof-of-stake is how frequently do people just vote to give themselves more money?” Manian said.
Binance wants in
Coinbase is hardly the only giant entering the game of stakes.
On April 3, Binance’s custody provider Trust Wallet also announced plans to support Tezos staking features by the end of Q2 2019. Unlike institution-centric Coinbase Custody, retail-friendly Trust Wallet will create delegation features on the mobile wallet first, then potentially add voting options down the road.
“We’re already talking to the Cosmos people to bring that [staking] technology to them,” Trust Wallet founder Viktor Radchenko told CoinDesk. “It’s going to be all open source so that any community, like Maker, who would like to come in and have this functionality will be able to do it.”
Radchenko said he believes custody providers and wallets should offer simplified interfaces for users “to be involved in the blockchain itself” when it comes to PoS governance.
From Manian’s perspective, exchange competition will benefit stakers and token buyers.
“Binance and Coinbase are both going real hard on bringing these features to various customer bases,” he said.
Additionally, Manian said the “elephant in the room” is whether exchanges like Binance and Coinbase will offer governance derivatives – the ability to buy votes without owning the underlying assets – to retain institutional stakers as the competition heats up.
So far no exchange has announced any intention to offer such derivatives. To the contrary, Radchenko said that token holders and issuers may be too preoccupied with voting dynamics these days, given how nascent the technology is.
“We plan to bring that functionality [voting] a little bit later just because there’s less usage [than staking],” Trust Wallet’s Radchenko said. “Governance features will come a little bit later, maybe not even this year.”
As for the value Coinbase aims to offer institutional players, McIngvale said:
“We’ll work with our clients to figure out how to grow their impact as they start to participate in more and more governance processes.”
UPDATE (April 17, 13:40 UTC): Added clarifying information about how staking operates for the Tezos, Maker and Cosmos blockchain networks.
Coinbase image via Shutterstock | {
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Editor’s note: The following is from the chapter “Introduction to Strategy” of the book Deep Green Resistance: A Strategy to Save the Planet. This book is now available for free online.
by Aric McBay
I do not wish to kill nor to be killed, but I can foresee circumstances in which both these things would be by me unavoidable. We preserve the so-called peace of our community by deeds of petty violence every day. Look at the policeman’s billy and handcuffs! Look at the jail! Look at the gallows! Look at the chaplain of the regiment! We are hoping only to live safely on the outskirts of this provisional army. So we defend ourselves and our hen-roosts, and maintain slavery.
—Henry David Thoreau, “A Plea for Captain John Brown”
Anarchist Michael Albert, in his memoir Remembering Tomorrow: From SDS to Life after Capitalism, writes, “In seeking social change, one of the biggest problems I have encountered is that activists have been insufficiently strategic.” While it’s true, he notes, that various progressive movements “did just sometimes enact bad strategy,” in his experience they “often had no strategy at all.”1
It would be an understatement to say that this inheritance is a huge problem for resistance groups. There are plenty of possible ways to explain it. Because we sometimes don’t articulate a clear strategy because we’re outnumbered and overrun with crises or immediate emergencies, so that we can never focus on long-term planning. Or because our groups are fractured, and devising a strategy requires a level of practical agreement that we can’t muster. Or it can be because we’re not fighting to win. Or because many of us don’t understand the difference between a strategy and a goal or a wish. Or because we don’t teach ourselves and others to think in strategic terms. Or because people are acting like dissidents instead of resisters. Or because our so-called strategy often boils down to asking someone else to do something for us. Or because we’re just not trying hard enough.
One major reason that resistance strategy is underdeveloped is because thinkers and planners who do articulate strategies are often attacked for doing so. People can always find something to disagree with. That’s especially true when any one strategy is expected to solve all problems or address all causes claimed by progressives. If a movement depends more on ideological purity than it does on accomplishments, it’s easy for internal sectarian arguments to take priority over getting things done. It’s easier to attack resistance strategists in a burst of horizontal hostility than it is to get things together and attack those in power.
The good news is that we can learn from a few resistance groups with successful and well-articulated strategies. The study of strategy itself has been extensive for centuries. The fundamentals of strategy are foundational for military officers, as they must be for resistance cadres and leaders.
PRINCIPLES OF WAR AND STRATEGY
The US Army’s field manual entitled Operations introduces nine “Principles of War.” The authors emphasize that these are “not a checklist” and do not apply the same way in every situation. Instead, they are characteristic of successful operations and, when used in the study of historical conflicts, are “powerful tools for analysis.” The nine “core concepts” are:
Objective. “Direct every military operation toward a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective.” A clear goal is a prerequisite to selecting a strategy. It is also something that many resistance groups lack. The second and third requirements—that the objective be both decisive and attainable—are worth underlining. A decisive objective is one that will have a clear impact on the larger strategy and struggle. There is no point in going after one of questionable or little value. And, obviously, the objective itself must be attainable, because otherwise efforts toward that operation objective are a waste of time, energy, and risk.
Offensive. “Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative.” To seize the initiative is to determine the course of battle, the place, and the nature of conflict. To give up or lose the initiative is to allow the enemy to determine those things. Too often resistance groups, especially those based on lobbying or demands, give up the initiative to those in power. Seizing the initiative positions the fight on our terms, forcing them to react to us. Operations that seize the initiative are typically offensive in nature.
Mass. “Concentrate the effects of combat power at the decisive place and time.” Where the field manual says “combat power,” we can say “force” more generally. When Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest summed up his military theory as “get there first with the most,” this is what he was talking about. We must engage those in power where we are strong and they are weak. We must strike when we have overwhelming force, and maneuver instead of engaging when we are outmatched. We have limited numbers and limited force, so we have to use that when and where it will be most effective.
Economy of Force. “Allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts.” In order to achieve superiority of force in decisive operations, it’s usually necessary to divert people and resources from less urgent or decisive operations. Economy of force requires that all personnel are performing important tasks, regardless of whether they are engaged in decisive operations or not.
Maneuver. “Place the enemy in a disadvantageous position through the flexible application of combat power.” This hinges on mobility and flexibility, which are essential for asymmetric conflict. The fewer a group’s numbers, the more mobile and agile it must be. This may mean concentrating forces, it may mean dispersing them, it may mean moving them, or it may mean hiding them. This is necessary to keep the enemy off balance and make that group’s actions unpredictable.
Unity of Command. “For every objective, ensure unity of effort under one responsible commander.” This is where some streams of anarchist culture come up against millennia of strategic advice. We’ve already discussed this under decision making and elsewhere, but it’s worth repeating. No strategy can be implemented by consensus under dangerous or emergency circumstances. Participatory decision making is not compatible with high-risk or urgent operations. That’s why the anarchist columns in the Spanish Civil War had officers even though they despised rulers. A group may arrive at a strategy by any decision-making method it desires, but when it comes to implementation, a hierarchy is required to undertake more serious action.
Security. “Never permit the enemy to acquire an unexpected advantage.” When fighting in a panopticon, this principle becomes even more important. Security is a cornerstone of strategy as well as of organization.
Surprise. “Strike the enemy at a time or place or in a manner for which they are unprepared.” This is key to asymmetric conflict—and again, not especially compatible with a open or participatory decision-making structures. Resistance movements are almost always outnumbered, which means they have to use surprise and swiftness to strike and accomplish their objective before those in power can marshal an overpowering response.
Simplicity. “Prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and clear, concise orders to ensure thorough understanding.” The plan must be clear and direct so that everyone understands it. The simpler a plan is, the more reliably it can be implemented by multiple cooperating groups.
Many of these basic principles fall into conflict with the favored actions of dissidents. Protest marches, petitions, letter writing, and so on often lack a decisive or attainable objective, give the initiative to those in power, fail to concentrate force at a decisive juncture, put excessive resources into secondary efforts, limit maneuvering ability, lack unified command for the objective (such as there is), have mixed implementation of security, and typically offer no surprise. They are, however, simple plans, if that’s any consolation.
In fact, these strategic principles might as well come from a different dimension as far as most (liberal) protest actions are concerned. That’s because the military strategist has the same broad objective as the radical strategist: to use the decisive application of force to accomplish a task. Neither strategist is under the illusion that the opponent is going to correct a “mistake” if this enemy gets enough information or that success can occur by simple persuasion without the backing of political force. Furthermore, both are able to clearly identify their enemy. If you identify with those in power, you’ll never be able to fight back. An oppositional culture has an identity that is distinct from that of those in power; this is a defining element of cultures of resistance. Without a clear knowledge of who your adversary is, you either end up fighting everyone (in classic horizontal hostility) or no one, and, in either case, your struggle cannot succeed. | {
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Le continent africain maintient les avancées réalisées depuis 2000 en matière de mobilisation des ressources intérieures, les recettes fiscales étant restées stables en 2016 selon l’édition 2018 des Statistiques des recettes publiques en Afrique, une étude réalisée conjointement par l’OCDE (Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques), le Forum sur l’administration fiscale en Afrique (ATAF) et l’Union africaine (UA). D’après les données internationalement comparables concernant les 21 pays couverts par ce rapport, « le ratio moyen impôts/PIB s’est établi à 18,2 % en 2016, au même niveau qu’en 2015, ce qui représente une nette amélioration par rapport au chiffre de 13,1 % enregistré en 2000 », explique l’OCDE dans un communiqué publié le 31 octobre.
Le ratio impôts/PIB varie « considérablement » d’un pays à l’autre
La troisième édition des Statistiques des recettes publiques en Afrique, lancée officiellement à Paris à l’occasion du 18e Forum économique international sur l’Afrique, montre toutefois que le ratio impôts/PIB varie considérablement d’un pays à l’autre au sein du continent africain, de 7,6 % en République démocratique du Congo à 29,4 % en Tunisie en 2016. Six pays – l’Afrique du Sud, Maurice, le Maroc, le Sénégal, le Togo et la Tunisie – affichent des ratios impôts/PIB supérieurs ou égaux à 20 % pour l’année 2016. En comparaison, le ratio moyen impôts/PIB était en 2016 de 22,7 % dans les pays d’Amérique latine et des Caraïbes et de 34,3 % dans les pays de l’OCDE, poursuit le communiqué.
La publication fait ainsi apparaître des tendances contrastées. « Entre 2015 et 2016, les recettes fiscales rapportées au PIB ont augmenté dans 11 des pays couverts et diminué dans dix d’entre eux. C’est le Botswana qui a enregistré la plus forte hausse (1,3 point de pourcentage), suivi du Mali (1,2 point de pourcentage). C’est en République démocratique du Congo et au Niger en revanche que les baisses les plus sensibles (de plus de 2,0 points de pourcentage) ont été observées. Les variations des ratios impôts/PIB sont principalement dues à des facteurs économiques. Le déclin des prix du pétrole, conjugué à un ralentissement de l’activité des compagnies minières et pétrolières, est à l’origine du repli des recettes fiscales constaté en République démocratique du Congo et au Niger alors qu’au Botswana, les recettes ont été dopées par une forte expansion des ventes de diamants. Au Mali en revanche, le mouvement ascendant des recettes fiscales, exprimées en pourcentage du PIB, s’explique pour partie par le renforcement de l’administration fiscale », souligne l’OCDE.
La contribution de la fiscalité des revenus s’accroît
Les économies africaines dépendent beaucoup de la fiscalité des biens et des services, qui procure 54,6 % des recettes fiscales totales si l’on se réfère à la moyenne des 21 pays africains concernés par cette publication. La taxe sur la valeur ajoutée (TVA) à elle seule représente 29,3 % des recettes fiscales encaissées. Cependant, « la contribution de la fiscalité des revenus s’accroît : les recettes provenant des impôts sur les revenus et les bénéfices représente 34,3 % des recettes fiscales totales à l’échelle du continent africain en 2016 et elle a été le principal moteur de la croissance des recettes fiscales depuis 2000, celles-ci étant passées de 2,6 % du PIB à 6,2 % du PIB entre 2000 et 2016. Les recettes fiscales tirées de l’impôt sur les bénéfices des sociétés ont progressé de 1,4 point de pourcentage pendant cette période pour atteindre 2,8 % du PIB tandis que les recettes tirées de l’impôt sur le revenu des personnes physiques ont été portées de 2,1 % à 3,00 % du PIB en 2016, un record historique », souligne le rapport.
La publication contient également des données relatives aux recettes non fiscales, dont le déclin se poursuit en moyenne en 2016 dans les 21 pays couverts par l’étude, mais qui demeurent une source importante de recettes pour certains pays. Les recettes non fiscales, qui englobent des recettes tirées de ressources naturelles et des dons, ont excédé 5 % du PIB dans neuf des 21 pays couverts par la publication.
L’OCDE souligne que les Statistiques des recettes publiques en Afrique est un volet important de la Stratégie de l’UA pour l’harmonisation des statistiques en Afrique. « L’édition 2018 contient un chapitre spécial dédié à cette stratégie, décrivant la démarche suivie pour mettre en place un système statistique efficace qui embrasse le développement et l’intégration de l’Afrique sur le plan politique, économique, social, environnemental et culturel », conclut le communiqué.
N.B. | {
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« pas de souci » ou « pas de soucis » ? – orthographe
« Il n’y a pas de souci, je peux le faire. Pas de soucis aujourd’hui. »
Les expressions commençant par « pas de » posent souvent problème : faut-il mettre le mot qui suit au singulier ou au pluriel ? Un exemple très utilisé dans le langage de tous les jours est « pas de souci ».
Alors faut-il écrire « pas de souci » ou « pas de soucis » ? Voici la règle pour ne plus hésiter.
Faut-il écrire « pas de souci » ou « pas de soucis » ?
La règle : après « pas de », on peut écrire le nom qui suit au singulier ou au pluriel. On écrira « pas de souci » sans « s » s’il s’agit d’un souci particulier, du sentiment d’inquiétude. « Souci » (ou tout autre nom) sera également au singulier après « pas de » s’il décrit une réalité abstraite, non dénombrable. En revanche, on peut parler de plusieurs soucis à la fois. Dans ce cas, on écrira « pas de soucis » dans le sens « il n’y a pas de problèmes » avec l’idée qu’il pourrait y en avoir plusieurs.
Exemples : Pas de souci pour sortir ce soir. Je n’ai pas de soucis ce mois-ci.
Attention toutefois, selon l’Académie française, l’usage de « pas de souci » (au singulier ou au pluriel) est erroné malgré son adoption large dans la société. Ne l’utilisez donc pas dans vos écritures formelles :
On entend trop souvent dire il n’y a pas de souci, ou, simplement, pas de souci, pour marquer l’adhésion, le consentement à ce qui est proposé ou demandé, ou encore pour rassurer, apaiser quelqu’un, Souci étant pris à tort pour « difficulté », « objection ». Selon les cas, on répondra simplement oui, ou bien l’on dira Cela ne pose pas de difficulté, ne fait aucune difficulté, ou bien Ne vous inquiétez pas, Rassurez-vous.
Par ailleurs, on voit que les occurrences dans la littérature française de « pas de souci » sans « s » sont plus nombreuses que « pas de soucis » :
En conclusion, l’écriture de « pas de souci » peut se faire avec ou sans « s » à la fin. Tout dépend du sens que l’on souhaite donner à notre propos et de la réalité que représente « souci ». N’hésitez pas à parcourir les autres articles pour pouvoir écrire français sans soucis.
Vous pouvez aussi partager l’article et laisser un commentaire. | {
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Concealing spoilers is all in a day's work for Marvel-movie stars
'Ant-Man' stars Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly and Paul Rudd say that when it comes to plot spoilers, silence is golden in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (June 29)
AP | {
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Bill Potter wasn’t eager to abandon his high-end house last month during evacuations forced by a massive Idaho wildfire, but he felt reassured when his insurance company sent a team to protect his home near the world-class ski resort of Sun Valley.
“I was more than impressed,” he said of the water tanker truck and crew privately contracted by his insurer to patrol his road and keep watch over his family’s home, custom-crafted from parts of antique barns.
Potter is a member of the AIG Private Client Group, which is geared toward wealthy policyholders and offers a personal wildfire-protection program for customers in select areas in the western United States.
The program, still considered a novel service in a niche market, operates under the premise that it is cheaper to defend multimillion-dollar homes against fire than to replace them.
Companies such as AIG, Chubb and Fireman’s Fund are competing to offer extra layers of protection to “gold-plate” properties owned by the well-heeled, said Jim Whittle, assistant general counsel with the American Insurance Association.
Services range from clearing trees and brush from around a home before a fire can start to applying flame-retardant chemicals to the perimeter of a property in the midst of a blaze, according to industry literature.
Jack Dies, head of Sun Valley Insurance and an AIG broker, said premiums for such policies average up to $7,000 a year but those costs are dwarfed by the value of properties at stake.
Whittle could not quantify how widespread privately funded wildfire protection has become since first emerging less than a decade ago. But insurance plans offering such services have grown more popular as homes increasingly encroach on the “wildland-urban interface,” where the fringes of communities meet undeveloped, often rugged terrain.
Between 2000 and 2010, 10 million U.S. homes were built in or bordering fire-prone wild lands, representing two-thirds of all houses built during that period, according to research conducted by the U.S. Forest Service and others.
“It’s entirely likely it will be a continued pattern and approach,” Whittle said of private fire protection.
The presence of private firefighters gained greater attention this summer as dozens of large blazes raging across the drought-parched West strained traditional government firefighting resources at the local, state and federal levels.
Property losses are estimated to have run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
AFFLUENT MOUNTAIN COMMUNITIES
Potter was one of thousands of residents forced in August to flee a wildfire in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains that threatened a scenic river valley whose homeowners included celebrities such as actor Tom Hanks. Land and properties in the area are collectively valued at up to $8 billion.
Hundreds of federal firefighters fought the blaze, battling flames door to door with support from water-dropping helicopters and airplane tankers. By the time it was over, the so-called Beaver Creek blaze had blackened 112,000 acres (45,300 hectares) of tinder-dry pine forests and sagebrush flats.
Just one home was lost in the blaze.
None of several insurers – including AIG – that underwrite multimillion-dollar homes in fire-prone regions agreed to interviews about wildfire protection services.
On its website, AIG Private Client Group pledges to use a proprietary wildfire mapping system to determine which of its insured homes are most vulnerable and to automatically send crews to take measures such as blanketing a house with fire-resistant foam. Homeowners are not required to alert the company or even be on the premises for the emergency fire protection clause to kick in.
Potter said he was unaware that his policy provided for such services until the AIG private fire crew arrived on his street.
“It must have been in the fine print of the contract. But I was duly impressed with their presence,” Potter said.
COSTLY POLICIES
Dies said crews hired by the company consist mostly of trained firemen with extensive fire-protection backgrounds.
“The theory is, if they can save one house, their bottom line is a whole lot better,” he said.
Firefighting experts still are evaluating how to best integrate insurance-hired resources.
Private crews out to protect specific individual properties in the midst of mass evacuations can pose a challenge to federal fire managers trying to marshal manpower and resources over a wide area, said Steve Gage, assistant operations director for fire and aviation management for the U.S. Forest Service.
He said the agency has sought to accommodate insurance company contract crews and engines in recognition of the valuable services they provide for certain homeowners. But tactics and objectives sometimes differ between traditional wildland firefighters and private asset-protection operations.
In some cases, the industry can end up competing with the government for a limited supply of contract fire engines and residents become concerned about what seems to be government crews working their neighbor’s home but not theirs, Gage said.
“The industry is about profit and loss and they’re in business to make money,” he said. | {
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AUSTIN, Texas—As South by Southwest approached, tech and cultural leaders from more than a hundred countries were preparing to flock to the festival this weekend to network, build buzz and down a few drinks.
Walt Disney Co. rented out a sausages-and-beer restaurant to create an immersive experience promoting its X-Men spinoff movie, “The New Mutants.” DTSQ, a South Korean rock band, was ready to fly halfway around the world to play for 40 minutes on a rooftop bar. Austin food truck owner Kati Luedecke was preparing to order 1,200 turkey legs from a nearby town.
Then last week, city officials abruptly canceled South by Southwest. The same global crowd that made the festival a major moneymaker now made it a potential public safety threat in a time of coronavirus.
The rapidly spreading virus is now expected to cut into global economic growth this year. It has already been brutal for the fast-growing global events industry. Organizers of Coachella, the annual music and arts festival that draws 200,000 people to the Southern California desert, postponed the event for six months. The BNP Paribas Open, a high-profile international tennis tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., called off this year’s event.
That doesn’t count dozens of smaller professional conferences and sporting events canceled across the globe that reliably pump cash into regional economies. Even the Tokyo Summer Olympics might yet be curtailed. | {
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Property Lines is a column by Curbed senior reporter Patrick Sisson that spotlights real estate trends and hot housing markets across the country. Comments, tips, and suggestions on where Property Lines should head next are welcome at [email protected] .
If you’ve ever wondered how different cities’ signature parks, like New York’s Central Park or Chicago’s Lincoln Park, would look if they were designed in the 21st century, keep your eyes on Raleigh, North Carolina.
Dorothea Dix Park, currently taking shape on a former mental hospital campus adjacent to the southern city’s growing downtown, may be the nation’s most exciting park project right now. It’s being described as the Central Park of North Carolina—and it’s not hard to see why.
How many cities get to build a new, 308-acre downtown park on protected land that’s mostly been spared the last century of urban development and redevelopment? How many get to do so after projects like the High Line, Beltline, and others have showcased the promise and peril of contemporary parks as engines for both redevelopment and displacement?
In February, the city council approved a new master plan for the Raleigh park from Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the landscape design firm behind Brooklyn Bridge Park and Maggie Daley Park in Chicago. It features a multifaceted design incorporating community spaces, botanic gardens, water features, and secluded woods.
“Operating a park while planning a park, this isn’t how things normally happen,” says Kate Pearce, planning supervisor for Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh. “This will continually challenge us to be bold, but it’ll also be a testing ground for new ideas.”
While a spokesperson for the firm wouldn’t comment on the plan—“the project is just emerging from the planning stage and not yet a landscape design”—others have described it as balancing between two visions, acting as both a bridge to a more bustling 21st-century civic center and an escape into nature in the middle of the city. The city’s parks department and the public-private conservancy that will manage Dix will begin updating park infrastructure this year, in anticipation of breaking ground on phase one next year. There’s no final price tag on the project, but Pearce has previously said similar projects cost about a million dollars per acre.
Modern parks create place, and define a lifestyle
City leaders hope the park will be not only a major amenity for current city residents, but also a magnet for talent and development. Mayor Nancy McFarlane, who helped spearhead the push to purchase the land and develop the park, says part of the drive to develop Dix is rooted in economic shifts.
“Twenty years ago, you recruited the business, and then everybody moved,” McFarlane tells Curbed. “Now, it’s the reverse: In a global economy, we’re finding that people pick where they want to live first. Economic development is about providing the quality of life to attract the best talent.”
In Raleigh, McFarlane says, “we’re surrounded by top-tier universities graduating great talent. My job is to get them to stay, and Dix Park is a huge piece of offering them the quality of life they seek.”
But in the push to build the city’s next great public space, will Dix Park disrupt communities adjacent to the park, especially in lower-income areas? New green developments, especially signature parks, have been seen as both a benefit and an accelerant for gentrification in other cities. Neighborhoods near the park, especially Fuller Heights, Caraleigh, and Carolina Pines, offer affordable living options that don’t have many protections from speculation or rising property values fueled by the new park.
“This kind of green space is a great way to create value in urban space without having to make as significant an investment,” Winifred Curran, a DePaul professor who teaches sustainable urban development, told Curbed. “It’s easier to build a park than a housing complex.”
Like many other U.S. cities, Raleigh, one of the fastest-growing cities in North Carolina, is in the midst of a prolonged development boom raising serious concerns about affordability. Roughly $2 billion in downtown commercial development has been delivered, planned, or announced since 2015, and a leading developer just pitched a $2 billion multi-use soccer stadium complex that aims to reshape Raleigh’s downtown.
Pearce says the entire team working on Dix has been mindful that a successful park needs to be successful for those who live here, and must care about the sustainability of place as much as it does ecological sustainability. In addition to the lengthy community outreach that helped shape Dix Park’s master plan, a two-year process that engaged more than 65,000 residents, the city is currently working on what it is calling an “edge study” to determine how park development, and adjacent real estate development, can be harnessed and steered to create a more equitable future.
“I think in Raleigh—especially with the development trends and the fear of displacement and the actual displacement that’s happening—housing is a big issue,” Jacquie Ayala, a member of a park advisory committee made up of local residents, told Next City. “What we want to do is make sure that folks who have historically not had opportunities, that we can use the park as a place to really foster that true community development.”
Dix can be more than a park, says Pearce. It can be a platform to address issues of housing and social justice. Park and city staff are already looking at creating programs such as workforce training or teen volunteer corps that could lead to permanent jobs.
“We could have just designed the park and the 300 acres and that would be it,” says Pearce. “But because it’s so important to the city, and it has a rich history and legacy, we’ve been intentional thinking about how it’ll impact the city.”
Turning a space on seclusion into one of inclusion
Creating a new signature space for Raleigh and its residents requires connecting with the surrounding community. The land’s history makes that a unique challenge. Named after Dorothea Dix, a pioneering advocate for better prisons and treatment for Americans with mental illness, the hospital site has always stood apart from the city. Original developers chose Dix Hill because it was seen as a “place of perfect health with a commanding view of Raleigh.” Purchased by the city for $52 million in 2015, the campus has long been self-contained and shut off from the surrounding urban landscape, ringed by roadways.
“Dix Park was so cut off from the community, many people who have been in Raleigh their entire life never entered it,” says Pearce. “Because it was a closed mental health hospital campus, due to stigma, it wasn’t on the radar, it wasn’t a place you should or would go.” But that seclusion has proven to be a benefit.
“We want to continue its role as a therapeutic center,” says Pearce. “That’s the legacy we’ve tried to address in the master plan, and something we’ve tried to use to transform the place. The goal is to change the narrative and bring the community inside.”
Mayor McFarlane wants the city to improve transit access and offer more car-free options to get to Dix. That means more bike and pedestrian connections, as well as adding a stop to the in-development bus rapid-transit system and a link to a nearby rail line.
A great park for the future of the entire community
As workers begin upgrading the park and look ahead to the first phase of the park’s design, there’s also the question of what happens to existing buildings on campus. While the mental hospital has shut down, roughly 200 state workers, employed by the Department of Health and Human Services, still show up to the campus each day. By 2025, all state work will have stopped, and the park conservancy will have a total of 85 buildings and roughly one million square feet of indoor space to redesign, reimagine, and program.
The beginnings of the new section of Dix Park may be found in a project to convert a campus chapel into a community space.
Right now, a big part of building the new park is making locals aware of the possibilities. Last year, organizers planted a massive field of sunflowers, which became a social media sensation and drew many to Dix for the first time (the plantings will be repeated this year).
Dix Park will grow, and redefine, the city’s park system, says Pearce. The sheer scale and possibilities of Dix—tested with a recent hip-hop music festival, Dreamville, organized by J. Cole—will help the department evolve.
Pearce believes that as the contours of the city’s great new public space take shape, it’s these kinds of events that encourage the community to take ownership of the city’s new communal backyard.
“How will Dix park change surrounding space and be this democratic space for everyone?” says Pearce. “The park will be of the city, and push the city forward. But, as we’re creating a great park for the future of the community, if we don’t look at how it impacts the community as a whole, we’re going to have unintended consequences.” | {
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Despite its iconic status as the king of dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex biology is incompletely understood. Here, we examine femur and tibia bone microstructure from two half-grown T. rex specimens, permitting the assessments of age, growth rate, and maturity necessary for investigating the early life history of this giant theropod. Osteohistology reveals these were immature individuals 13 to 15 years of age, exhibiting growth rates similar to extant birds and mammals, and that annual growth was dependent on resource abundance. Together, our results support the synonomization of “Nanotyrannus” into Tyrannosaurus and fail to support the hypothesized presence of a sympatric tyrannosaurid species of markedly smaller adult body size. Our independent data contribute to mounting evidence for a rapid shift in body size associated with ontogenetic niche partitioning late in T. rex ontogeny and suggest that this species singularly exploited mid- to large-sized theropod niches at the end of the Cretaceous.
Moreover, by histologically quantifying the ontogenetic age of BMRP 2002.4.1 and BMRP 2006.4.4 and inferring skeletal maturity, we present new data that can be used to evaluate competing taxonomic hypotheses regarding these and other mid-sized tyrannosaur specimens discovered in the HCF, specifically whether BMRP 2002.4.1 (and by proxy other specimens) represents an adult “pygmy” genus of tyrannosaurid, “Nanotyrannus.”
Here, we examine the femur and tibia bone microstructure of two tyrannosaur skeletons of controversial taxonomic status recovered from the HCF: BMRP (Burpee Museum of Natural History) 2002.4.1, a largely complete specimen composed of nearly the entire skull and substantial postcranial material, and BMRP 2006.4.4, a more fragmentary specimen. Respectively, we estimate these specimens to be 54 and 59% the body length of FMNH (Field Museum of Natural History) PR 2081 (“Sue”) ( 6 , 7 ), one of the largest known T. rex. The ontogenetic age of BMRP 2002.4.1 was previously reported by Erickson ( 8 ) as 11 years based on fibula osteohistology. However, because the fibula grows more slowly than the weight-bearing femur and tibia, it does not reflect annual increases in body size or relative skeletal maturity as accurately [e.g., ( 9 )]. We use femur and tibia data to (i) provide detailed comparative intra- and interskeletal histological descriptions, (ii) quantify the ontogenetic age and relative skeletal maturity of these specimens, and (iii) allow empirical observation of annual growth rate, with emphasis on variability during the life history of tyrannosaurs ( 10 ).
After the publication of its discovery from the famous Hell Creek Formation (HCF) in 1905, the carnivorous dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex ( 1 ) was met with intense scientific interest and public popularity, which persists to the present day ( 2 ). Numerous hypotheses concerning T. rex biology and behavior result from decades of research primarily focused on skeletal morphology and biomechanics [e.g., ( 3 ) and references therein]. Only within the past 15 years has bone histology been applied to investigate the aspects of T. rex life history inaccessible from gross examinations, addressing questions concerning ontogenetic age, growth rate, skeletal maturity, and sexual maturity. In 2004, two teams independently assessed the growth dynamics of T. rex using osteohistology. Their results suggest that T. rex had an accelerated growth rate compared with other tyrannosaurids and achieved adult size in approximately two decades ( 4 , 5 ). The teams focused on growth curves, rather than on detailed analyses or interpretations of bone tissue microstructures. However, osteohistology is critical for establishing a baseline against which skeletal maturity and growth changes in cortical morphology related to life events in this taxon can be tested. Identifying the timing of growth acceleration and empirically quantifying juvenile T. rex growth rates are of special importance because the juvenile growth record is lost in older individuals because of bone remodeling and resorption ( 4 , 5 ).
Prondvai et al. ( 13 ) demonstrated that inaccurate bone microstructure interpretations are possible if the mineralized tissue is observed in only a single plane; specifically, the more slowly formed parallel-fibered mineral arrangement could be mistaken for the rapidly deposited woven-fibered mineral arrangement, which has direct bearing on growth rate interpretations. Therefore, the femur of BMRP 2006.4.4 was longitudinally sectioned in an anterolateral-posteromedial plane, and the tibia of BMRP 2002.4.1 was sectioned in a medial-lateral plane to accurately assess tissue organization and associated relative growth rates ( Figs. 1C and 2B , and figs. S2, B and C, S5, and S7). In the femur of BMRP 2006.4.4, vascular canals are arranged parallel to the plane of section and to the shaft of the long bone. Adjacent to the vascular canals, bone fibers are highly anisotropic in CPL and contain osteocyte lacunae with long axes arranged parallel to the vascular canals and plane of section. Tissue of the laminae between primary osteons varies locally in degree of isotropy, with corresponding variable shape in osteocyte lacunae. On the medial side of the longitudinal section through the tibia of BMRP 2002.4.1, vascular canals are arranged obliquely with numerous communications (fig. S5B). From the mid- to the outer cortex, vascular canals are more uniformly parallel to the bone shaft, with fewer transverse Volkmann’s canals (fig. S5C). Adjacent to vascular canals, fibers of the primary osteons are anisotropic in CPL with longitudinally flattened osteocyte lacunae. Fibers within the primary laminae vary locally in isotropy and osteocyte lacuna orientation ( Fig. 2B ). The lateral cortex is thinner than the medial cortex, and vascular canals are more closely spaced with fewer communicating canals (fig. S5D).
In the femur of BMRP 2006.4.4, there is an annulus at the periosteal surface on the medial side ( Fig. 1D ), but when followed posteriorly, the annulus is within the outer cortex, while fibrolamellar tissue makes up the cortex of the periosteal surface ( Fig. 1E ). Within the innermost cortex on the anterolateral side, six LAGs are closely spaced ( Fig. 2D ). Because of resorption from the medullary drift, these LAGs are absent within the innermost cortex of the posterior and lateral sides.
Cyclical growth marks (CGMs), resembling tree rings in transverse thin section, were observed in the femora and tibiae of both BMRP specimens. Studies on extant vertebrates demonstrate that CGMs result from brief interruptions in osteogenesis, occurring with annual periodicity and typically coinciding with the nadir ( 12 ). The annual pauses in bone apposition are recorded as CGMs in cortical microstructure as either pronounced lines of arrested growth (LAGs) or diffuse annulus rings. On the basis of counting CGMs, BMRP 2002.4.1 was at least 13 years old at death (13 CGMs in the femur and 10 CGMs in the tibia), and BMRP 2006.4.4 was at least 15 years old at death (15 CGMs in the femur and 13 to 18 CGMs in the tibia). Typically, vertebrate long bone cortices will exhibit widely spaced CGMs within the cortex when young, corresponding to high annual osteogenesis. In subadults, CGMs become more closely spaced as osteogenesis decreases approaching adult size [e.g., ( 10 )]. In contrast to these frequently observed patterns, the spacing of CGMs was unexpectedly variable throughout the femur and tibia cortices of both BMRP specimens.
Of special note, within the medullary cavity of the femur and tibia of BMRP 2006.4.4, isotropic, vascularized, primary tissue is separated from the cortex by a lamellar endosteal layer. These features are morphologically consistent with medullary bone ( 11 ); however, additional studies on the systemic nature of this tissue throughout BMRP 2006.4.4 and biochemical tests on this tissue are necessary to test this hypothesis.
In the tibia transverse section of BMRP 2002.4.1 ( Fig. 2A and fig. S4), longitudinal primary osteons are isotropic in circularly polarized light (CPL), but fibers of primary osteons encircling laminar, circular, and plexiform vascular canals are anisotropic. In contrast, primary osteons in the tibia of BMRP 2006.4.4 are frequently isotropic regardless of vascular canal orientation. Because of its proximal sampling location, the cortical shape of the tibia from BMRP 2006.4.4 in transverse section differs from that of BMRP 2002.4.1 and incorporates the fibular crest on the lateral side (figs. S2D and S8, A and F). Highly vascularized reticular woven tissue is present on the anterior and anterolateral periosteal surfaces ( Fig. 2C ). In both individuals, the thickest tibial cortex is located anteriorly.
( A ) Transverse mid-cortex thin section of BMRP 2002.4.1. Longitudinal POs are evident, and PPL emphasizes osteocyte lacuna density and variability in shape within laminae. CPL reveals varying birefringence associated with bone fiber orientation, but with a weak arrangement of fibers parallel to the transverse plane of section. Many POs are composed of highly isotropic fibers with rounded osteocyte lacunae. ( B ) Longitudinal thin section of the mid-cortex of BMRP 2002.4.1. Vascular canals appear as near-vertical, dark columns. Adjacent to the vascular canals, the POs contain laterally compressed osteocyte lacunae. CPL demonstrates that the laterally compressed osteocyte lacunae of POs are embedded within a uniformly birefringent matrix (anisotropic), indicating that the lamellae of POs are LP. Osteocyte lacunae orientation varies in the thin laminae between POs. In CPL, the laminae are weakly isotropic, corresponding to the weak arrangement of parallel fibers in transverse section. ( C ) In transverse thin section, the periosteal surface of BMRP 2006.4.4 on the anterior side consists of reticular POs within laminae of highly isotropic, woven tissue. ( D ) Within the anterior and anteromedial innermost cortex of BMRP 2006.4.4, in transverse thin section, six closely spaced LAGs are visible interstitially. Blue lines highlight the LAG trajectories.
( A ) Mid-cortex of the transverse thin section of BMRP 2002.4.1. Plane-polarized light (PPL) emphasizes osteocyte lacuna density and variability in shape within the laminae, as well as longitudinal primary osteons. In CPL, there is a weak preferred fiber arrangement parallel to the transverse plane of section reflected by regional birefringence. Many primary osteons (POs) have uniformly isotropic fibers with rounded osteocyte lacunae. ( B ) Mid-cortex of the transverse thin section of BMRP 2006.4.4. Osteocyte lacuna density and variability in shape within the laminae are evident in PPL. CPL reveals varying birefringence associated with bone fiber orientation, but there is a weak preferred fiber arrangement parallel to the transverse plane of section reflected by regional birefringence. Many POs are composed of uniformly isotropic fibers with rounded osteocyte lacunae. ( C ) Longitudinal section of the mid-cortex of BMRP 2006.4.4. Vascular canals appear as near-vertical, thin, dark columns. As in the transverse section, the primary laminae between POs contain variably arranged osteocyte lacunae. In CPL, the laminae are weakly isotropic (I), corresponding to the poorly organized parallel orientation of fibers in the transverse plane. The laterally compressed osteocyte lacunae in POs are embedded within a uniformly birefringent [anisotropic (AN)] matrix in CPL, indicating that the PO lamellae are longitudinally oriented parallel-fibered bone (LP). ( D ) On the posteromedial side of the transverse section of BMRP 2006.4.4, there is a parallel-fibered annulus located at the periosteal surface (thickness indicated with blue line). Photographed in CPL. ( E ) In the transverse section on the posterolateral side, the annulus shown in (D) (blue lines) is overlain by highly isotropic woven-fibered laminae.
For detailed, orientation-specific histology descriptions, refer to the Supplementary Materials. In general, the femur and tibia cortical bones of BMRP 2002.4.1 and BMRP 2006.4.4 can be classified as a woven-parallel complex. Vascularity and osteocyte lacuna density are uniformly high throughout ( Figs. 1 and 2 ). In the femora, the primary and secondary osteons surrounding vascular canals are frequently isotropic in the transverse section ( Fig. 1, A and B ) and anisotropic in the longitudinal section ( Fig. 1C ). Also in the transverse section, femur primary tissue exhibits moderate anisotropy regionally and weak anisotropy locally, corresponding to a loose arrangement of mineralized fibers in parallel (e.g., Fig. 1, A and B , and fig. S3B).
DISCUSSION
Limb bones exhibit moderate growth rates and tension loading Comparison of BMRP 2002.4.1 and BMRP 2006.4.4 bone fiber organization in the transverse and longitudinal sections using CPL confirms that primary tissue is generally poorly organized parallel fibered to weakly woven. Dense osteocyte lacunae and poor bone fiber organization, in combination with a rich vascular network of reticular, laminar, and plexiform primary osteons, are characteristics that empirically correspond to elevated osteogenesis ranging from 5 to 90 μm/day (10). Nonetheless, the frequency of longitudinal vascularity, as well as regionally prevalent poorly organized parallel fiber bundles within the transverse sections, suggests that annual growth rates were nearer the lower bound (10). The BMRP individuals did, however, experience occasional periods of faster growth indicated by bands of regionally isotropic woven laminae with reticular vascularity (e.g., Figs. 1E and 2C, and figs. S6D and S8, C and D) (10). In both BMRP specimens, the majority of primary osteons as well as some secondary osteons were isotropic in the transverse section. Corresponding anisotropy in longitudinal examination confirms that the fiber bundles within osteons are longitudinally arranged (Figs. 1C and 2B, and fig. S5, B to D). Studies on long bone response to loading show that longitudinal collagen fiber orientation within secondary osteons is commonly found in habitually tension-loaded regions (14), which may also apply to primary osteon collagen fiber orientation. As such, future studies on tyrannosaurid locomotion biomechanics may benefit from incorporation of osteohistology.
Relative skeletal maturity Rather than exhibiting an external fundamental system (EFS) (Fig. 3), a woven-parallel complex extends to the periosteal surface in both tyrannosaurid specimens. Thus, histology supports morphological observations that BMRP 2002.4.1 and BMRP 2006.4.4 were skeletally immature individuals at death (10). In lieu of epiphyseal fusion, which most reptile taxa lack, an EFS is the only way to conclusively confirm attainment of asymptotic adult body length from the long bones of a vertebrate. When present, the EFS occupies the periosteal surface as either closely spaced LAGs (separated by micrometers) (Fig. 3A) or as a thick, primarily avascular annulus (Fig. 3B) (10). CGMs close to the periosteal surface can sometimes be mistaken for an EFS. In the case of BMRP 2006.4.4, an annulus is present at the periosteal surface of both the femur (Fig. 1D) and tibia (fig. S8E), but when the annulus is followed around the cortex, in both cases it becomes embedded within the outer cortex and superseded by woven primary tissue (Figs. 1E and 2C). The proximity of the annulus to the periosteal surface instead suggests that BMRP 2006.4.4 died soon after growth resumed following the annual hiatus and that cortical osteogenesis was directional. Fig. 3 The presence of an EFS at the periosteal surface of a long bone indicates skeletal maturity, while the absence of an EFS indicates that the bone is still growing at the time of death. (A) An EFS composed of tightly stacked birefringent LAGs (between blue arrowheads) at the periosteal surface of an Alligator mississippiensis. (B) The EFS (between blue arrowheads) in an ostrich (Struthio camelus) is made of nearly avascular, birefringent parallel-fibered to lamellar primary tissue. (C) No EFS is present at the periosteal surface of the femur of BMRP 2002.4.1, (D) the tibia of BMRP 2002.4.1, (E) the femur of BMRP 2006.4.4, or (F) the tibia of BMRP 2006.4.4. All panels are shown in transverse thin section, with CPL.
Ontogenetic age On the basis of femur CGM count, BMRP 2002.4.1 was >13 years old at death, which is 2 years older than the original estimate by Erickson (8) based on fibula CGM count. The slightly larger BMRP 2006.4.4 was >15 years old. The number of CGMs missing due to medullary expansion is unknown, precluding an exact age at death for BMRP 2002.4.1 and BMRP 2006.4.4. Although the number of missing CGMs could be predicted on the basis of innermost zonal thicknesses and a process of retrocalculation [e.g., (5, 10)], the variable spacing between CGMs observed in BMRP 2002.4.1 and BMRP 2006.4.4 and other tyrannosaurs (15) renders the technique unreliable in this case, and it was not attempted. Within the innermost cortex of BMRP 2006.4.4, there is a tight stacking of six CGMs (Fig. 2D). Because the CGMs remain parallel about the cortex and do not merge, they either represent a single hiatus in which growth repeatedly ceased and resumed (totaling 13 years of growth) or up to 6 years where relatively little growth occurred annually (totaling up to 18 years of growth) (9, 16). This tight stacking of six CGMs is not observed in the femur of BMRP 2006.4.4, which preserves 15 CGMs. The CGM count from the partial tibia of BMRP 2006.4.4 is questionable because the proximal sampling location away from midshaft incorporates the fibular crest, introducing associated regions of remodeling and directional growth affecting apposition interpretations. Because of this and their absence in the femur, the observed grouping of six CGMs is conservatively interpreted as a single hiatus event. Similar instances of a single hiatus represented by narrowly spaced LAGs are reported in other tyrannosauroids (15). If this grouping of CGMs instead represents 6 years of protracted growth, then BMRP 2006.4.4 demonstrates the extent to which these individuals could adjust growth rate based on resource availability, in this case prolonging the ontogenetic duration of BMRP 2006.4.4 as a mid-sized carnivore. Bone tissue organization was similar across femora and tibiae, suggesting that both bones record annual increases in body size equally well. If the stacked CGMs of BMRP 2006.4.4 reflect a single hiatus, then each femur preserved more CGMs than the associated tibia. Previous studies demonstrated that intraskeletal inconsistencies in CGM counts are due to variable rates of medullary cavity expansion or cortical drift across elements (9, 17, 18) when sampled at midshaft. Therefore, our preliminary assessment of T. rex intraskeletal histology suggests that the femur is more informative than the tibia, despite regions of cortical remodeling from tendinous entheses about the cortex. Additional intraskeletal histoanalyses of tyrannosaurid specimens are necessary to test whether the femur is the preferred weight-bearing bone for simultaneous assessments of annual growth rates and skeletochronology. In addition to ontogenetic zonal thickness variability within the cortex, zonal thickness also changed with respect to cortical orientation. That is, zones were often much thinner relative to one another on one side of the transverse section and much thicker on another side (e.g., fig. S4, G and H). This pattern is particularly noticeable in the tibia of BMRP 2002.4.1 (medial cortical zones are thickest) and the femur of BMRP 2006.4.4 (posteromedial cortical zones are thickest). This observation implies that directional cortical growth occurred over ontogeny and stresses the necessity of complete transverse sections for histological analysis: Obtaining a fragment or core for study from one orientation may result in erroneous interpretations of growth rate and skeletal maturity.
Variability in annual growth as a response to resource abundance Interpretations of relative maturity in nonavian dinosaurs often rely on reported trends in the thickness of cortical zones between CGMs from the inner to the outer cortex (10). Zone thickness is typically greatest within the innermost cortex, corresponding to rapid annual growth early in life. Zones become progressively thinner in the mid- to the outer cortex of older individuals, as annual growth rate decreases approaching asymptotic body length. These general trends provide the interpretive foundation for the two previous histology-based ontogenetic studies on Tyrannosaurus growth (4, 5). The spacing of CGMs within the outer cortices of BMRP 2002.4.1 and BMRP 2006.4.4 (Fig. 4) is narrower than between some CGMs deeper within the cortices, which suggests that, although not adults, the specimens were approaching a body length asymptote at about one-half the body length of FMNH PR 2081. However, annual zonal thicknesses between CGMs deeper within the cortices of BMRP 2002.4.1 (Fig. 4A) and BMRP 2006.4.4 (Fig. 4B) are variable, and zones do not consistently progress from widely spaced within the inner cortex to more closely spaced in the outer cortex. Because of unpredictable spacing within the cortex, reduced zonal thickness near the periosteal surface is likely an unreliable indicator of skeletal maturity in BMRP 2002.4.1 and BMRP 2006.4.4. Variable zonal thicknesses are, thus, likely to be observed in ontogenetically older T. rex individuals. To test this hypothesis, we examined femur and tibia thin sections from T. rex specimens USNM PAL (National Museum of Natural History) 555000, MOR (Museum of the Rockies) 1125, MOR 1128, MOR 1198, and CCM (Carter County Museum) V33.1.15. In all individuals, variability in annual zonal thicknesses was observed. In particular, compared to zone spacing within the mid-cortex, noticeably thinner zones are present within the innermost cortex of USNM PAL 555000 (Fig. 4C) and MOR 1128 (Fig. 4D). These results contradict the mathematically predictable zonal spacing in T. rex long bones reported by Horner and Padian (5), which used some of the same specimens reassessed in the present study. Results further suggest not only that BMRP 2002.4.1 and BMRP 2006.4.4 had not yet entered the accelerated growth period proposed for this taxon (4, 5) but also that the accuracy of the generalized T. rex body mass curve from Erickson et al. (4) would be affected by undetected individual variation in annual growth. Fig. 4 Examples of variable CGM (blue lines) spacing in tyrannosaurids examined for this study. (A) The variability of CGM spacing in the femur of BMRP 2002.4.1 and (B) the tibia of BMRP 2006.4.4 may imply that these individuals were approaching asymptotic body length. However, CGMs within the innermost cortices of much larger T. rex specimens (C) USNM PAL 555000 and (D) MOR 1128 demonstrate that the CGM spacing is not a reliable indicator of relative maturity status. All panels are shown in transverse thin section. Variable LAG spacing is reported in ornithomimids, ornithopods [(19) and references therein], and other tyrannosauroids (15) and may correlate with annual resource abundance (12, 19). Our data suggest that this trait also characterizes T. rex: Because the level of bone tissue organization within zones remained the same from the innermost cortex to the periosteal surface in the BMRP specimens, growth rates were within a similar range from year to year. To produce these extremes in annual bone apposition, the duration of the growth hiatus must have varied annually. On the basis of the larger T. rex specimens examined here for comparison, the adjustment of annual growth hiatus duration in response to resource abundance is a physiological characteristic observed throughout T. rex ontogeny. Regardless of cause, unpredictable CGM spacing observed here and in previous studies stresses caution when inferring relative maturity based on cortical LAG spacing (19). The observation of closely spaced CGMs within the innermost cortices of larger T. rex validates our interpretation that the thin zonal spacing observed in the outermost cortices of BMRP 2002.4.1 and BMRP 2006.4.4 are not reliable indicators of relative maturity when an EFS is absent.
Implications for the Nanotyrannus hypothesis The bone microstructural interpretations discussed here not only provide insight into T. rex ontogeny but also have bearing on discussions concerning CMNH (Cleveland Museum of Natural History) 7541 and Nanotyrannus. CMNH 7541 consists of a small isolated skull 572 mm in length (20). Inferred to be sympatric with T. rex, it was originally named Gorgosaurus lancensis (21). In 1988, Bakker et al. (22) redescribed CMNH 7541 as an adult specimen of a new genus, Nanotyrannus. Using an extensive empirical dataset, Carr and Williamson (23) formally synonymized Nanotyrannus into Tyrannosaurus in 2004, supporting the interpretation of CMNH 7541 as a juvenile T. rex proposed by Rozhdestvensky in 1965 (24). Presently, most tyrannosaurid specialists consider CMNH 7541 and possible referred specimens to be juvenile T. rex based on morphological skull features shared with those found in undisputed juvenile individuals of other tyrannosaurid taxa [e.g., (2, 20, 23, 25–28)]. Nonetheless, several publications have since argued for the validity of Nanotyrannus based not only on morphological characters of the CMNH 7541 type skull but also on characters from the somewhat larger skull of BMRP 2002.4.1 (720 mm in length) [e.g., (29–33)], which some researchers have assigned to Nanotyrannus based on shared morphological characters they consider adult autapomorphies of the taxon [e.g., (29–33)]. Currently, BMRP 2002.4.1 is the only accessioned specimen with postcranial skeletal elements preserved that is specifically argued by proponents of Nanotyrannus as belonging to that genus [e.g., (29–32)]. Because CMNH 7541 lacks the postcranial skeleton and proponents of Nanotyrannus refer BMRP 2002.4.1 to that taxon, the limb bone histology of BMRP 2002.4.1 (and additionally BMRP 2006.4.4; see the Supplementary Materials for taxonomic discussion) reveals the life history of CMNH 7541 by proxy. Here, we provide histological data that can be used to reject the hypothesis that Nanotyrannus was erected on the basis of a skeletally mature “pygmy” individual, resulting in two remaining alternative hypotheses: (i) Nanotyrannus is a valid taxon, but the holotype and all currently referred specimens including BMRP 2002.4.1 and BMRP 2006.4.4 are immature, with no skeletally mature individuals yet known; and (ii) CMNH 7541, BMRP 2002.4.1, BMRP 2006.4.4, and other mid-sized tyrannosaurid specimens collected from the HCF represent juvenile ontogenetic stages of T. rex. Thus far, the femur and tibia of BMRP 2002.4.1 and BMRP 2006.4.4 are the only weight-bearing bones of Upper Cretaceous HCF tyrannosaurids described histologically from complete transverse sections, and these universally demonstrate features characteristic of actively growing juvenile dinosaurs that had not yet entered an exponential phase of growth (as demonstrated by our new data identifying noticeably thinner zones within the innermost cortex of large-bodied T. rex specimens such as USNM PAL 55500). On the basis of these data, the latter hypothesis is most parsimonious and is congruent with the morphology-based conclusions of Carr (20) and Carr and Williamson (23). Incorporating additional mid-sized HCF tyrannosaurid specimens into this histology-based relative maturity assessment is necessary to further support or refute the parsimonious hypothesis. | {
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VICTORIA, B.C. - Andrew Weaver, leader of the B.C. Green Party, responded to the government’s announcement that it anticipates it will bring legislative changes to enable ridesharing in Fall 2018.
“I am very disappointed that the government will not keep its promise to bring ridesharing to British Columbians by the end of this year,” said Weaver.
“It has been five years since ridesharing was first introduced into B.C. There have since been reports that ridesharing companies are operating without proper oversight, regulation and insurance. Further, all three parties agreed to bring in ridesharing in the last election and have now had significant time to consult stakeholders and assess the various ramifications of regulating this industry in British Columbia.
“The creative economy and innovation are the future of our province. We cannot be tech innovators if we’re not willing to embrace innovation. As new technologies emerge, government should proactively examine the evidence and openly debate the issue in a timely manner so that we do not fall behind the curve.
“On Thursday, for the third time, I will introduce legislation that will enable ridesharing to finally operate in a regulated fashion in B.C. I hope both parties will take this opportunity to engage in a substantive debate on the details of this issue so that we can move past rhetoric and vague statements and finally get to work delivering for British Columbians."
-30-
Media contact
Jillian Oliver, Press Secretary
+1 778-650-0597 | [email protected] | {
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Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on Tuesday defended controversial efforts by Florida Gov. Rick Scott to purge the Sunshine State's voter rolls, denying it has targeted Hispanics.
"I wouldn't characterize it as an effort to purge Latinos from the voting rolls," Rubio told reporters at a breakfast hosted by Bloomberg News. "I think there's the goal of ensuring that everyone who votes in Florida is qualified to vote. If you're not a citizen of the United States, you shouldn't be voting. That's the law."
Rubio, the highest-ranking Hispanic official in Florida, is seen as a potential pick by likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney as a running mate. Scott is also a Republican.
The Justice Department on Tuesday filed suit against the state to stop the voter purge, arguing in part that it violates a federal law that bans such steps within 90 days of a federal election. (Florida's primary is Aug. 14.) The ACLU of Florida also has filed a lawsuit, saying the effort violates the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which protects minority groups.
The civil liberties organization says Hispanics make up 14% of the Florida electorate but are 61% of several thousand registered voters who have been told to provide proof of citizenship or lose their right to vote.
Meanwhile, Florida is suing the federal Department of Homeland Security to get access to a database the state says could help identify non-citizens on the voter rolls. So far, state officials say 96 ineligible voters have been identified.
Rubio said there could be "a legitimate debate" about how to carry out the purge, but he called it a worthwhile effort.
"We know that there are at least 80 to 90 names on the list that don't belong," he said. "We should be concerned about that. We should be concerned about people that are registered in multiple states. And we should be concerned about our list that includes the names of people who have passed away, because I think that could lend itself to mayhem and madness." | {
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1. The U.S. transportation secretary called for an inquiry into the F.A.A.’s certification of the Boeing 737 Max 8.
Elaine Chao asked her agency’s internal watchdog to audit the approval process, which has been under scrutiny since the crash last week of an Ethiopian Airlines jet — the second deadly crash involving the aircraft in less than five months.
One concern is the role that Boeing employees played. Since 2005, the agency has allowed manufacturers to choose their own employees to act on behalf of the F.A.A. to help certify new aircraft. | {
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a nonpartisan speech today in Washington, DC, asking for Congress’s support in preventing a nuclear Iran. He pledged his desire to protect his people, while thanking America for her unrelenting support of his state – from Presidents Harry Truman to Barack Obama. Nevertheless, congressional Democrats decided it would be appropriate to bash the prime minister’s appearance during a press conference directly following his passionate address.
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) decried the Israeli Prime Minister’s speech as ‘condescending’ and was offended that Netanyahu was ‘telling us how to operate.’ He even invoked the name of Dick Cheney, “This is right out of the Dick Cheney playbook” and bluntly told the prime minister, “He can go home.”
Congressman David Price (D-NC) then dared to say that House Speaker John Boehner should ‘never’ have invited Netanyahu to speak in front of Congress at this time.
The Fox News "Outnumbered" cast was shocked and outraged by the Democrats’ response. Andrea Tantaros called them ‘arrogant’ for such comments and Harris Faulkner likened their words to ‘vocal flame throwing.’
In all, 57 Democrats boycotted Netanyahu’s speech – with reports that number could have been even higher. Their decision to skip the speech was largely due to claims that Netanyahu’s timing in Washington was too close to Israeli elections. Netanyahu has repeatedly pledged, however, that visiting DC for political purposes was ‘never his intention.’
As for President Obama and Vice President Biden, they were no shows as well.
Netanyahu’s speech was apolitical, focusing instead on the threat of a nuclear Iran. He urged the White House to ditch an arms deal with Iran, which he warned would only pave the way to a more dangerous country.
“Its rapid appetite for aggression grows more every year…This deal will not change Iran for the better, it will change the Middle East for the worse.”
Shame on Democrats for ignoring Netanyahu’s important warnings and for turning their backs on Israel at this fragile time. | {
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The Story of the Dodo Bird
A Reference Site for The Dodo Bird and it's History
The Dodo bird or Raphus Cucullatus was a flightless bird native to the island of Mauritius, near the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The closest relatives to the dodo bird are pigeons and doves, even though dodo birds were much larger in size. On average, dodo birds stood 3 feet tall and weighted about 40 lb. Unfortunately, due to aggressive human population, dodo birds became extinct in late 17th century.
The Dodo Bird Location
Dodo Birds, while now extinct, were found only on the small island of Mauritius, some 500 miles east of Madagascar, and 1200 miles east of Africa.
The complete isolation of this island let the Dodo Birds grow and evolve without natural predators, unfortunately to a fault that led to their extinction.
Learn More » What Would You Do? » | {
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dispensary Hyperlocal dashboard
Pivotal Data About Your Dispensary, All In One Place.
Managing all your marketing tools can be time consuming and cumbersome. Let us do the heavy lifting and bring all your tools into one, easy to use, reporting dashboard. Manage & track rankings, SEO metrics, social metrics, analytics, GMB insights, and more from our all in one HyperLocal Dispensary Dashboard. | {
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WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said on Friday that despite Russian attempts to undermine the presidential election, it has concluded that the results “accurately reflect the will of the American people.”
The statement came as liberal opponents of Donald J. Trump, some citing fears of vote hacking, are seeking recounts in three states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — where his margin of victory was extremely thin.
A drive by Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, for recounts in those states had brought in more than $5 million by midday on Friday, her campaign said, and had increased its goal to $7 million. She filed for a recount in Wisconsin on Friday, about an hour before the deadline.
In its statement, the administration said, “The Kremlin probably expected that publicity surrounding the disclosures that followed the Russian government-directed compromises of emails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations, would raise questions about the integrity of the election process that could have undermined the legitimacy of the president-elect.” | {
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Housed in Asian American Studies Department, The Bulosan Center is product of grassroots volunteers
On Sep. 29, a fundraising dinner marked the opening of the Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies. Formed within the Asian American Studies department and located on the third floor of Hart Hall, the center will serve as a space for undergraduate and graduate research and advocacy.
The Bulosan Center — named for Filipino writer Carlos Bulosan — was initiated and completed under the leadership of Asian American Studies Department Chair and Professor Robyn Rodriguez. After completing her undergraduate studies at UC Santa Barbara, Rodriguez went on to graduate school at UC Berkeley where she and her peers noticed a need for Filipino representation among faculty.
Rodriguez, who became a professor, was recruited by UC Davis for her work with the Filipino diaspora.
“Having had the experience I had at graduate school and knowing the state of the field, knowing that I was probably one of only a handful at any UCs to do this kind of work, I thought this could be an opportunity to form a center,” Rodriguez said.
The Bulosan Center is also a result of the department’s work on the preservation of Filipino-American history.
Assemblymember Rob Bonta, the first Filipino-American California assemblymember, proposed Assembly Bill 123, mandating the inclusion of Filipino-American curriculum in K-12 history and social studies. In response to the need for corroborated accounts, the Asian American Studies department began a grant-funded project for an archive of the Filipino contribution to the 1960s farm workers struggle titled the Welga! Digital Archive.
“The problem was there isn’t a whole lot of scholarship or research on that topic and as a community we didn’t have any central archive where our experiences have been recorded and preserved,” Rodriguez said. “Even if teachers wanted to include this history there was very little to work with.”
In 2017, according to the UC Office of the President’s Disaggregated Data, there were 12,623 Filipino students in the UC system. Of those, 1,759 were from UC Davis. The Bulosan Center is the first of its kind as a space for Filipino-American Studies at a research university.
“It was about time … to have a specific space catering to not just our history but also issues facing our communities locally as well as nationwide as well as back in the Philippines,” said Wayne Jopanda, a Ph.D. student in the Cultural Studies Department and a volunteer at the Bulosan Center. “It’s not just a place for research. It’s a place for community engagement and to build those bridges between academia [and] our community, as well as other marginalized communities.”
In the summer of 2018, Rodriguez and a community of graduate and undergraduate students formed a coalition of volunteers interested in expanding the work of the Welga! Project. The idea became the conception of a center for Filipino studies on campus.
Volunteers collaborated with the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, Migrante, LEAD Filipino, Philippine National Day Association and UC Davis Filipinx undergraduate student organizations to raise funds and lead up to the center’s launch on the Sep. 29.
“It wasn’t until I came to UC Davis and started taking Asian American Studies courses and joined the [Filipino-American] community did I begin learning just how rich Fil-Am history was. I learned what an integral role our predecessors played in shaping my present,” said Leigh Bagood, third-year communication major and one of the center’s social media volunteers.
The effort was composed of a core group of volunteers that collected donations internationally and nationally, from the Davis community and from their own personal contributions to amass an amount of approximately $30,000. Their goal is to sustain their donorship for a consistent intake to fund their work in research and expansion.
“We want to serve not just the UC Davis community on campus, but the UC system as well,” Jopanda said. “Whether that be through workshops, whether that be through Know Your Rights campaigns, whether that be through connecting with students in Public Health or the medical school and bringing folks around to provide potential health care services for folks who may not have health care or have access to that care. It’s really going to be reactionary to what’s needed in our community.”
Future projects for the Bulosan Center include expanding the Welga! Project to archive Filipino contributions to politics and activism, researching the consequences of trafficked Filipino immigrant workers and the funding for a national survey on Filipino health and mental health.
Rodriguez attributed the distinctiveness of the Bulosan Center in its capacity for research and its focus on Filipino-American history, compared to other collegiate Filipino centers of study who focus primarily on the Philippines.
“If you don’t have representation or support for research for your community from research institutions, and this is true for all minorities, then there’s a real risk that people’s histories and experiences won’t get preserved,” Rodriguez said. “People in the field of Filipino Studies recognize that this is huge even to have a tiny little space at a major research university where you have a center of gravity of people who are working hard and promoting this field of study.”
Written by: Elizabeth Mercado — [email protected] | {
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At subanaesthetic doses, ketamine, an N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, has demonstrated remarkable and rapid antidepressant efficacy in patients with treatment-resistant depression. The mechanism of action of ketamine is complex and not fully understood, with altered glutamatergic function and alterations of high-frequency oscillatory power (Wood et al., 2012) noted in animal studies. Here we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) in a single blind, crossover study to assess the neuronal effects of 0.5 mg/kg intravenous ketamine on task-related high-frequency oscillatory activity in visual and motor cortices. Consistent with animal findings, ketamine increased beta amplitudes, decreased peak gamma frequency in visual cortex and significantly amplified gamma-band amplitudes in motor and visual cortices. The amplification of gamma-band activity has previously been linked in animal studies to cortical pyramidal cell disinhibition. This study provides direct translatable evidence of this hypothesis in humans, which may underlie the anti-depressant actions of ketamine. | {
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Вышедший из порта Джейхана 5 марта танкер с азербайджанской нефтью Azeri Light для Мозырского НПЗ пришвартуется в порт Одессы 12 марта во второй половине дня. Нефтепроводные системы двух стран – "Одесса-Броды" на территории Украины и "Броды-Мозырь" на территории Беларуси готовы к прокачке, сообщил агентству "Интерфакс-Запад" пресс-секретарь концерна "Белнефтехим" Александр Тищенко.
"Танкер с азербайджанской нефтью прибудет в Одессу сегодня во второй половине дня, нефтепроводная система готова к прокачке", - сказал Тищенко.
Он также отметил, что НПЗ в Мозыре имеет опыт переработки легкой нефти. Пресс-секретарь также сказал, что система прокачки нефти из Одессы в Беларусь выстроена таким образом, чтобы не оказывать влияние на транзит российской нефти по нефтепроводу "Броды-Мозырь".
Как сообщалось, Госнефтекомпания Азербайджана (ГНКАР) в марте поставит для Беларуси три партии нефти общим объемом около 250 тыс. тонн через порт Одессы и нефтепровод "Одесса-Броды". В том числе Socar Trading поставит в порт Одессы еще два танкера - 80 тыс. тонн нефти сорта Urals из Новороссийска и 80 тыс. тонн нефти сорта Azeri light из Супсы.
Как сообщалось ранее со ссылкой на председателя концерна "Белнефтехим" Андрея Рыбакова, Госнефтекомпания Азербайджана может поставить в Беларусь в 2020 году до 1 млн тонн нефти.
Поставки нефти из Азербайджана в Беларусь через Одесса-Броды осуществлялись в 2011 году. Контракт предусматривал поставки 4 млн тонн, однако фактический объем отгрузок составил около 900 тыс. тонн.
Поставки нефти в Беларусь на южном направлении через Украину возобновлены из-за отсутствия импорта от крупных российских НК из-за разногласий в цене.
Премьер-министр Беларуси Сергей Румас после переговоров в среду в Москве с премьер-министром РФ Михаилом Мишустиным заявил, что Беларусь будет ежемесячно закупать не менее двух танкеров нефти из альтернативных РФ источников даже в случае достижения договоренностей с крупными российскими НК о возобновлении поставок нефти в республику, которые отсутствуют с начала этого года из-разногласий в цене поставок. | {
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The basis of “American Dream” macroeconomics theory is this: when workers are scarce, wages rise, and the supply of workers increase. This is the way it should work and most of us have been told it does.
But that’s the lie.
In reality, what happens is that workplaces set their payroll budgets months ahead of time, get anchored to a price, and incentivize mid-level managers to find workers at those wages, no matter what. Those mid-level managers exert more and more effort to find worse and worse employees until some other problem reduces demand or increases the supply of workers. Then, next year, because it worked last year, mid-level managers are incentivized to keep payroll level. If it’s a good year and there’s revenue to spend, it gets spent on more staff, not better pay for the same staff.
To understand why this is a problem, you need to understand “Elasticity”-the amount of change a party will endure before changing behavior. You know it best in regards to price: how much can gas go up before you drive less? That decision reflects your price elasticity in regards to gas. If you’re going to buy, in the same amount, no matter the price, you are very elastic. If you start cutting back as soon as gas rises a few cents, you are very inelastic.
I can feel your eyes glazing over as my 4th graders do in group dynamics when I start talking about effective communication, but let me explain how this applies to camp counselors and male staff specifically: There is also wage elasticity, and men are (in general) far less elastic about the jobs they’ll take.
(I’d like to leave the subject of the wage gap to longer and better articles, as much as I can. It is a thing and it is a problem, and this is one of the effects, but I don’t want to get away from my point. Men have more and better choices in the American economy, and that’s wrong. )
Men between 18 and 22 have a lot of options for summer jobs that are less open to women- basically any outdoor labor job, among others. Women are also more likely to take a job despite low pay. Women are also directed towards jobs in childcare, so it’s natural that they are more motivated to find a job in camping.
That motivation makes women more elastic than men- willing to accept more problems, lower pay, harder work, etc, and still take the job. I’m certainly not advocating that men should be paid differently than women in camping. I’m pointing to your struggles to find male counselors as a symptom, a tell-tale about the problem.
Why is it hard to find male counselors?
Because your camp doesn’t pay counselors enough.
You just don’t.
The time has come, with low unemployment and years of no wage growth in camping, that elasticity has stretched to its breaking point. It’s no longer worth it. | {
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Bad news for "gold-bugs"—bullion's current beginning-of-the-year rally will not only lose steam, but prices could drop sharply by the end of 2014, according to Goldman Sachs' Jeffrey Currie. Currie, Goldman's head of commodities research, told CNBC on Monday he had an end-of-year price target of $1,050 per ounce for gold, a 16 percent drop based from current prices of $1,251. The main culprit? Economic recovery. "Our view there really is driven by the expectation of the U.S. economy reaching escape velocity," Currie said on "Squawk on the Street." "Essentially when you think about a short on gold ... it's essentially just a bet on a substantial recovery in the U.S. economy." (Read more: Gold inches off 1-month high as rally evaporates)
Sebastian Derungs | AFP | Getty Images
Gold prices ballooned in the years since the 2008 financial crisis, driving prices to record highs thanks to ultra-low interest rates from the Federal Reserve's economic stimulus programs. Prices dropped last year amid fears the Fed would scale down those programs earlier than expected, but a weaker-than-expected December employment report re-ignited interest in gold last week.
Currie said gold still worked as a hedge against inflation; he just doesn't see any strong inflationary pressures in the next few years. He said once the economic recovery picks up more momentum, inflation would follow and gold may become attractive again. Gold's early 2014 rally won't last, he said. (Read more: 'Lofty' market ripe for at least 10% drop: Goldman)
"I get it all the time—'Why are you bearish on gold when you expect the U.S. economy to recover?'" Currie said. "You have to think about it in different phases of the business cycle." (Read more: Gold jumps after weak US jobs report) | {
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View Transcript
Transcript
Wally says, "I need to spend the next year optimizing the WDNW system" Boss says, "I've never heard of the WDNW system." Wally says, "You only hear about the systems that have problems." Wally says, "If everything goes as planned, you'll never hear about WDNW again." Boss says, "What does the WDNW system do?" Wally says, "It keeps our zeros and ones from accidentally forming tens." Boss says, "That can happen?" Wally says, "Not on my watch." Dilbert says, "How's the 'Wally Does No Work' project?" Wally says, "The acronym helped." | {
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For years, the appendix got no respect. Doctors regarded it as nothing but a source of trouble: It didn’t seem to do anything, and it sometimes got infected and required an emergency removal. Plus, nobody ever suffered from not having an appendix. So human biologists assumed that the tiny, worm-shaped organ is vestigial a shrunken remainder of some organ our ancestors required. In a word: Useless.
Now that old theory has been upended. In a December issue of The Journal of Theoretical Biology, a group of scientists announce they have solved the riddle of the appendix. The organ, they claim, is in reality a “safe house” for healthful bacteria the stuff that makes our digestive system function. When our gut is ravaged by diseases like diarrhea and dysentery, the appendix quietly goes to work repopulating the gut with beneficial bacteria.
“In essence,” says William Parker, a chemist who co-wrote the paper, “after our system crashes, the appendix reboots it.” The theory may explain the location of the appendix: Positioned at the beginning of the colon, it often escapes being voided when a sick colon violently empties itself out the bottom.
If the appendix is indeed crucial, why don’t people who have their appendixes removed die? Because in the modern world hygiene and medicine can keep our levels of healthy bacteria adequate. The appendix may have evolved its rebooting function back when our ancestors lived a more vulnerable life and an entire village might suffer catastrophic diarrhea. In that situation, each gut had to rely on its own resources to recover after a collapse, so the appendix was crucial. | {
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Ruby Passeys’ condition means she is extremely selective (Picture: Mikey Jones/Mercury)
A mum claims her autistic daughter is starving because Tesco discontinued the only food she would eat for dinner.
Nicola Passey’s daughter Ruby, 5, will not eat dinner unless she is served Tesco own-brand Potato Alphabet Crispy Letters.
Mystery over where £50,000,000,000 of UK banknotes are
Her condition means she is extremely selective and her mother says she would rather starve than eat anything else.
The 31-year-old said the situation is so serious it is now ‘life or death’ as the family only have four bags of the frozen potato bites left.
‘She would rather starve than eat anything else,’ said Nicola, from Rugeley, Staffordshire.
Her mum, Nicola, says the situation is now a matter of life or death (Picture: Mikey Jones/Mercury Press)
‘Her condition means that she doesn’t like change. It has to be the Tesco’s own brand potato alphabet shapes.
‘If they smell different, are different sizes, are a different colour, she just won’t eat them. She’ll always have them with either Birdseye chicken dippers or Bernard Matthews turkey dinosaurs.
Lancashire 'to be placed under coronavirus curfew on Friday'
‘But if she doesn’t have the potato letters she won’t eat them either. She’s had the letters for years.’
Nicola first discovered that Tesco were discontinuing the frozen potato letters around three weeks ago after she tried to buy some online.
Local stores informed her they also stopped stocking the product and she has since contacted the chain’s headquarters begging them to change their mind.
Nicola has started a petition to reintroduce the frozen shapes to stores (Picture: Mikey Jones/Mercury)
‘She’s more anxious now and she’s started to make excuses to not eat already, saying things like she has tummy ache. She’s drinking less now too,’ she added.
‘People who don’t really understand autism might think that I’m being petty, but it really is that serious.’
Map shows coronavirus hotspots as North East is met with a curfew
Nicola has gathered hundreds of signatures on a petition calling for Tesco to bring their potato letters back for her daughter’s well-being.
A Tesco spokesman said: ‘We constantly review the products that we sell, and always try to have the right range and products available for our customers.
‘Unfortunately this particular product is no longer available at Tesco but we will speak to the customer to find if there are other ways we can help.’
MORE: Virgin Trains staff announce 48-hour strike later this month
MORE: Emirates expertly trolls United Airlines over doctor being dragged of flight | {
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Where do u get ur outfits from ?
I assume you’re asking about the latex, that comes from www.honour.co.uk 🖤 | {
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No one should have a problem with the way Mizzou's AD conducted this search. | {
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Intel has confirmed that recent patches to its Linux graphics driver were related to its continued work on preparing the ecosystem for its new line of discrete graphics cards.
Phoronix reported that Intel released 42 such patches with more than 4,000 lines of code between them on February 14. The main purpose of the patches was to introduce the concept of memory regions in "preparation for upcoming devices with device local memory." (Such as, you know, discrete graphics cards.)
The integrated GPUs found in many of Intel's CPUs don't rely on this memory region setup, so all signs pointed towards the Linux drivers being part of Intel's plans to build standalone GPUs. Just in case those signs weren't obvious enough, however, Intel has confirmed the motivation behind these drivers in a tweet:
"Our journey toward a new visual computing experience is underway, and that includes a commitment to the #OpenSource community. Local memory implementation is the first of many steps toward robust Linux support for our future discrete graphics solutions." (Followed by a link to the patches.)
Intel has been clear about its intentions for the graphics market. The company said in December 2018 that it's working on everything from integrated GPUs and discrete graphics for gaming to GPUs for data centers. Those products are set to make their debut in 2020; of course, Intel's testing the drivers required to make them run.
That also tracks with Phoronix's observation that Intel typically releases preliminary Linux drivers roughly a year before new hardware debuts. (Or at least when Intel plans to release that hardware, barring any delays.) The company will probably release similar patches in the coming months.
Still, any information about Intel's graphics plans is welcome. Right now the graphics market is dominated by AMD and Nvidia, and as we noted in December, Intel is probably the only company that even has a possibility of successfully introducing a new discrete graphics architecture. Why not enjoy the occasional glimpse behind the curtain as that architecture's being built?
Want to comment on this story? Let us know what you think in the Tom's Hardware Forums. | {
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NEW YORK (AP) — As Donald Trump approaches his inauguration, young Americans have a deeply pessimistic view about his incoming administration, with young blacks, Latinos and Asian Americans particularly concerned about what's to come in the next four years.
U.S.President-elect Donald Trump speaks to members of the news media with television personality Steve Harvey (R) and businessman Greg Calhoun after their meeting at Trump Tower in New York, U.S., January 13, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton NEW YORK (AP) — As Donald Trump approaches his inauguration, young Americans have a deeply pessimistic view about his incoming administration, with young blacks, Latinos and Asian Americans particularly concerned about what's to come in the next four years.
That's according to a new GenForward poll of Americans aged 18 to 30, which found that the country's young adults are more likely to expect they'll be worse off at the end of Trump's first term than better off. Such young Americans are also far more likely to think Trump will divide the country than unite it, by a 60 percent to 19 percent margin.
Fifty-two percent of young whites, 72 percent of Latinos, 66 percent of Asian-Americans and 70 percent of blacks think Trump's presidency will lead to a more divided nation.
"Minority people are very afraid of all the rhetoric that he ran upon (in) his campaign," said Jada Selma, a 28-year-old African-American graduate school student living in Atlanta. "Anytime he mentioned black people, he would talk about poor people or inner city. He would think that all of us live in the inner city and that we're all poor."
"If you're not a straight white male, than I don't think he's looking out for you as an American," she said.
GenForward is a survey of adults age 18 to 30 by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago with the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The first-of-its-kind poll pays special attention to the voices of young adults of color, highlighting how race and ethnicity shape the opinions of a new generation.
The poll found that 54 percent of young people overall say life for people of color will be worse with Trump as president. About two-thirds of young blacks, Asian-Americans and Latinos think things will get worse for people of color, and whites are also more likely to expect things to get worse than better for minorities, 46 percent to 21 percent.
Overall, 40 percent of young adults think they personally will be worse off four years from now, while just 23 percent expect to be better off. Young people of color are significantly more likely to think they will be worse off than better off, while young whites are more split in their personal expectations.
Kuinta Hayle, a 21-year-old African-American from Charlotte, said she is worried that Trump's selection for attorney general, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, could roll back civil rights. She said Trump's foray into "birtherism," during which he propagated the lie that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, still bothered her.
"That was very meaningful. It still hurts," Hayle said. "He doesn't know anything about my life or the lives of people who aren't like him. I feel Donald Trump is only for rich people. Obama was for people who didn't have much."
Demonstrators hold signs outside Trump Tower during a protest march against President-elect Donald Trump in Manhattan, New York, U.S. November 9, 2016. Andrew Kelly/Reuters
Although he had a decisive win in the Electoral College, Trump lost the overall popular vote to opponent Hillary Clinton and has done little to reach out to those who didn't support him in November's election. He focused his post-election "Thank You" tour on states he won, settling scores on stage as he boasted about his surprising electoral victory.
Over the weekend, Trump tore into Georgia Rep. John Lewis, among the most revered leaders of the civil rights movement, for questioning the legitimacy of his victory and saying he would not attend Friday's inauguration.
As for Obama's presidency, young Americans are split on whether he has done more to unite or divide Americans, 38 percent to 35 percent, with 26 percent saying it did neither.
Young blacks (57 percent to 16 percent), Latinos (57 percent to 19 percent) and Asian Americans (46 percent to 27 percent) are far more likely to say Obama united than divided Americans. But young whites are more likely to say, by a 46 percent to 26 percent margin, that Obama's presidency was a dividing force.
Indeed, not all young Americans are pessimistic about the incoming president.
"He'll be good for the economy. He's a businessman and he'll bring more jobs back," said Francisco Barrera, 26, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, who voted for Trump. "I think he's going to do good and he's going to end this political correctness. You can't even say 'God' in the schools no more. Trump will put him back."
A majority of young adults think Trump will go down in history as not a very good president or a poor one. Young people of color are particularly likely to think Trump's presidency will be not good or poor, but even young whites are more likely to expect that than to think it will be good or great, 48 percent to 27 percent.
Young Americans are divided as to whether Trump will accomplish his campaign promises. While most think he'll probably cut taxes for the rich and more than half of young people (59 percent) think Trump will deport millions of immigrants living in the country illegally, just 39 percent expect that he will be successful in building a wall along the Mexican border.
However, about half of young Hispanics think that Trump is likely to build a border wall. And more than 7 in 10 young people believe he will definitely or probably succeed at repealing the Affordable Care Act.
"He's not even been inaugurated yet and he's already alienating people," said Greg Davis, a white 28-year-old graduate student living in Columbus, Ohio. "He's still parroting the alt-right's messages. His policy ideas I think would be awful. His nominees for Cabinet positions are disastrous. He's nominating people who have the exactly the wrong ideas."
"I think it's going to be a disaster," Davis said.
___
The poll of 1,823 adults age 18-30 was conducted Dec. 9-12, 2016 using a sample drawn from the probability-based GenForward panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. young adult population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The survey was paid for by the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago, using grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods, and later interviewed online or by phone.
___
Online:
GenForward polls: http://www.genforwardsurvey.com/
Black Youth Project: http://blackyouthproject.com/
AP-NORC: http://www.apnorc.org/
___
AP Polling Editor Emily Swanson reported from Washington. | {
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Tupac Shakur's plans for a restaurant will finally be fulfilled. 20 years after the iconic rapper's death, Tupac's Powamekka Café is set to become a reality. Take 3 Burgers has partnered with Fresno Grizzlies Marketing Director Sam Hansen to create a one-day, pop-up restaurant using sketches for the café drawn by Tupac before his death.
"Tupac Shakur left behind detailed sketches and notes for the logo and menu of the restaurant he planned on opening before his death," reads the caption of an Instagram post of the sketche. "Pac's vision becomes a reality on September, 13th. @take3burgers #powamekkacafe *you can zoom in on IG now."
Tupac was going to open the Powamekka Café in Los Angeles before his death. The rapper's dream will now come to life at the Take 3 Burgers location in the Fulton Mall in Fresno. The menu will feature such items as the California Love chicken sandwich and Thug Passion cake pops.
The restaurant's creation is thanks in large part to the work of Sam Hansen who previously collaborated with Kanye West on designs and merchandise. Hansen also gained some notoriety for transforming a Fresno Grizzlies concessions stand into a version of the fast food chain featured in the cult classic Good Burger.
"Working on Powamekka Café makes me feel like I’m bringing Pac’s vision to life like I used to do for Kanye," Hansen told the Business Journal.
The Powamekka Café will only exist on Sept. 13, so diehard Tupac fans better make travel arrangements quickly. The event will be capped off by local musicians playing covers of Tupac's work. | {
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© NASA TV
Despite ongoing sanctions, Russia is about to get a big infusion of cash from the U.S. government.NASA recently renewed a contract that allows Russia to ferry U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station.The United States is, essentially, cutting Russia a $457.9 million check for its services - six seats on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, training and launch prep, landing and crew rescue and limited cargo delivery to and from the International Space Station.This contract also adds additional support at the Russian launch site.NASA has announced it is cutting some contacts with Russia after the country annexed Crimea, including meetings and teleconferences.The move came after President Barack Obama last month signed an executive order allowing restrictions on dealings with some of Russia's largest sectors, including financial services, energy and defense.The United States is currently considering additional sanctions against Russia.But some NASA initiatives just can't be stopped, underscoring the reliance the United States has on Russia for its space program.The most important is, essentially, the taxi service to the International Space Station.Although the United States operates the International Space Station, it is dependent on Russia to get astronauts there. When the United States retired the space shuttle, it left NASA with no way to get astronauts to the space station. So it inked a contract with Russia to provide rides to the Space Station, which is 240 miles above Earth.Steve Swanson was the most recent astronaut to hitch a ride with Russia, launching off to the International Space Station from a base in Kazakhstan last month. He will, eventually, have to get back to Earth. Russia charges about $71 million per seat on the Soyuz, which makes the price of even a first-class transatlantic airline seat seem like a pittance.NASA is partnering with private companies including Space-X and Orbital Sciences to develop rockets that will be able to send astronauts to space from American soil. But because of budget battles in Congress, those won't launch until at least 2017. The companies have made limited cargo deliveries to the Space Station.Obama has asked for additional money toward the program that would help build equipment to launch Americans into space, but Congress has not fully funded the requests. But attitudes in Congress are changing as many realize just how much money NASA gives to Russia.Last month NASA Administrator Charles Bolden scolded Congress, saying the lack of funding essentially shuttles money to Russia."The choice moving forward is between fully funding the President's request to bring space launches back to American soil or continuing to send millions to the Russians," Bolden wrote online last month. "It's that simple."There's no doubt NASA is using latest contract extension as leverage with Congress."NASA is hopeful Congress will approve the president's budget request for next year so that we can launch our astronauts from U.S. soil and no longer be required to make additional purchases from the Russians," said David Weaver, NASA's associate administrator for communications. | {
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Waving her hands from side to side as if conducting an orchestra, Monica Galvan stood on the edge of the lagoon’s platform and looked down at Alfonz as he hoisted his 580-pound frame half way out of the water to twirl about.
His perfect pirouette, prompted by Galvan’s hand signals, brought a smile to her face and, for a few moments, made her forget about the plight faced by other bottlenose dolphins like Alfonz.
An uptick in strandings of the marine mammal along Florida coastlines in the past year has created a sense of urgency in the University of Miami grad student, who is concerned that growing environmental threats such as climate change and toxic algae are increasingly putting these animals at risk. And that’s one of the biggest reasons she signed up for a one-of-a-kind UM course aimed at safeguarding and ensuring that dolphins and other marine mammals survive.
Taught during the spring semester, Marine Mammal Applied Behavior Analysis and Managed Care teaches students about the care, rescue, and rehabilitation of not only dolphins but also whales and manatees. Everything from population management and behavioral medicine to research ethics and laws and legislation affecting marine mammals is covered.
But it is the location that sets this Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science course apart. The once-a-week class meets at Dolphins Plus Marine Mammal Responder (DPMMR), a Key Largo-based rescue, conservation, and research facility where Alfonz and seven other “super intelligent” dolphins live in a natural ocean-water lagoon.
Training and swim sessions with DPMMR’s star resident dolphins are a key component of the class. And during a recent Friday session, Galvan, a master of professional science student from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and her nine classmates interacted with the 26-year-old Alfonz and some of his aquatic mates, using unique hand signals to prompt the dolphins to wave their tail flukes, bow, jump out of the water, and even whistle.
“We have an entire catalog of hand signals, and our students have to learn them all,” said Nancy Cooper, a Rosenstiel School lecturer and DPMMR president, who teaches the course.
Some of DPMMR’s resident dolphins, she said, know as many as 80 hand signals.
For Galvan, using those signals to communicate with the mammals has helped her establish a connection with them that “only gets stronger as I learn more about their behavior,” she said. “The more I learn, the more confident I feel with them, and that is a rewarding experience.”
Callie Cole, a marine mammal science student from Grasonville, Maryland, described a previous swim encounter with the dolphins as “super cool.”
“I got the chance to be a member of the pod, to see how they react with each other in the natural environment. I could hear their clicks underwater and feel my skin tingle,” said Cole, referring to dolphins’ use of echolocation, or sonar, in which they send out sound waves that bounce off objects in the ocean, allowing them to navigate, hunt, and protect themselves from predators.
“We all love these animals for so many reasons, “ Jill Richardson, a senior lecturer in the Rosenstiel School’s Department of Marine Ecosystems and Society, told the students during a recent lecture at DPMMR that preceded their dolphin demonstrations. “Physiologically, biologically, and intellectually, they’re incredible. They’re underwater athletes. They have advanced social skills, exhibit complex group hunting techniques, and devote an incredible amount of time and energy to the care of their offspring.”
They have endured in myth and legend—Chinese and European explorers often shared tales of how dolphins rescued sailors and ships in trouble.
“In the last 15 years, they’ve also become sentinels for ocean health—early-warning creatures that tell us when things are out of balance,” said Richardson.
And their message is that our oceans are in peril.
As of March 28, more than 150 dolphin deaths have occurred along Florida’s southwest coast, where a severe red tide outbreak has devastated the region since November 2017. Dolphin strandings have been reported in Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Sarasota, Manatee, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, forcing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to declare an “unusual mortality event.”
“With the increase in storms, especially after Hurricane Irma, we’ve seen a lot of out-of-habitat animals,” said Cooper. “So we’ve responded to strandings of dolphin in shallow Everglades areas where they shouldn’t have been.”
“The bottom line is we’re under the sixth extinction where so many species are being decimated,” said Cooper, referring to Elizabeth Kolbert’s 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning book “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History,” in which the author argues that the Earth is in the midst of a modern, man-made, sixth extinction and compares previous mass extinction events to the accelerated, widespread extinctions of our present time.
“We’ve got to be activists,” said Cooper. “That’s why it’s so important that our students learn the importance of zoos and aquaria and proper management facilities, and our role in the rescue and reintroduction into the wild of certain species.”
Although some people are wary of zoos and aquaria, Cooper said their existence is critical because they provide the means to rehabilitate injured animals such as dolphins. “People don’t realize today that zoos and aquaria are responsible for the conservation efforts today,” she said. “Without them, there’s not a lot of conservation of animal species that would happen.”
Most of the dolphins at DPMMR are born there, but sometimes the animals come to the facility because they are found at a stranding and cannot be released back into the ocean. Cooper’s husband, Art, a UM alum who is vice president and director of operations at Dolphins Plus, DPMMR’s sister facility, helped found a stranding network in the Florida Keys in the late 1980s.
If a stranding occurs, he has a team of professionals and volunteers that he takes with him, and if the animals are in good enough health to receive medical care, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission often asks DPMMR to rehabilitate them. The commission later decides which marine facility is suitable for the animals. But in the meantime, the animals need to learn how to behave in captivity. And this is why training students in ethical behavior modification techniques as well as marine mammal care is important, Cooper said.
During the spring semester class, students get a close-up look at caring for marine mammals, preparing fish for them to eat and even taking them to get x-rays and check-ups if they have difficulty breathing, reproducing or if they are pregnant.
Cooper has worked for Dolphins Plus since 1998 as a marine mammal trainer. She soon became an animal care and staff supervisor, and was later promoted to director of training. In 2018, when Dolphins Plus Marine Mammal Responder separated from Dolphins Plus to become its own nonprofit, Cooper was named president and director of training. Last spring was the first time she co-taught the course with Richardson, mostly to graduate marine science students.
“My hope is that the class becomes popular,” said Cooper, who took the class when she was a Rosenstiel School graduate student. “I’d love to teach it in the fall, too.” | {
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Manchester United are in talks with Jose Mourinho over transfer targets for both January and next summer's transfer windows and appear ready to back their manager, Sky Sports News understands.
Mourinho remains keen to bring in a new central defender after failing to acquire one in the summer and the club will make a move if the right man becomes available in either of the next two windows.
Tottenham's Toby Alderweireld and Leicester's Harry Maguire were both targeted by Mourinho in the summer but he was not backed by the board, and Maguire has signed a new long-term Foxes contract while Alderweireld's Spurs deal can run until 2020.
0:49 Jose Mourinho revealed his frustrations over transfer inactivity during the summer Jose Mourinho revealed his frustrations over transfer inactivity during the summer
The ongoing discussions suggest United are planning for the long-term with Mourinho, however, after intense speculation over his future during the first part of the Premier League season.
Mourinho charge dropped by FA
The spotlight was firmly shone on the Portuguese and his relationship with the board after he spoke out about failing to get his targets in the summer and then said he was the victim of a "manhunt".
United were forced to deny reports he would be sacked regardless of the outcome of the Newcastle game on October 6, which they won 3-2, and their league form has since picked up with a draw at Chelsea and victory over Everton.
0:56 United's owners must support Jose Mourinho with cash when the transfer window opens in January, says Manchester United Supporters Trust spokesman Sean Bones United's owners must support Jose Mourinho with cash when the transfer window opens in January, says Manchester United Supporters Trust spokesman Sean Bones
Yet they remain with the fifth-worst defensive record in the division so far this term, having conceded 17 goals in 10 games, including eight at Old Trafford.
In their first two seasons under Mourinho they conceded 28 and 29 respectively, but United are currently on course to let in some 65 goals before the season's over.
United signed three players in the summer - midfielder Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk, young right-back Diego Dalot and second-choice goalkeeper Lee Grant - spending in the region of £70m in total. | {
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Between The Winds
The last thing Annette really wanted to see was her spouse drooling and crawling over an entire warehouse worth of ammunition.
If nothing else, Elvira seemed amused by The Builder’s antics. She also seemed to hope that they’d wipe their slobber off of everything.
“I take it you like what you see, no?” The Builder just answered her with unintelligible blathering.
Elvira then turned to Annette again. “Well, while your partner has a ball there…” She then pulled out a folded piece of paper, and handed it to her. “This time, we’ll make it easier for you. Just wait until the noise outside dies down first. Then go looking.”
Unfolding it, Annette realized she was really looking at an old photograph. But that wasn’t what shocked her.
What did shock her was who it was being photographed.
…
Harwood was fast asleep in bed tonight. Sinbad quietly watched as he dozed off, easing off into dreamland. His ever-present cane gun was leaning against the wall.
As for Marc, he couldn’t wait to use the as of yet unfinished cabin on the other end of town. He was apparently there now, having left with the same entourage Sinbad saw him with last time.
Sinbad himself couldn’t get to sleep. He sat on his bed, half-naked and wide awake.
The wind was blowing outside, drowning out the sounds of traffic and nightlife. He could hear something rattling, possibly a flowerpot having tipped over.
He was personally surprised that Marc could even think about sex in this gusty weather.
Quietly getting up so he wouldn’t wake his father, Sinbad stepped out into the other main room. The digital displays of the various clocks cut through the darkness.
Although it was going to be spring time in a few weeks, he still shivered and wrapped his arms around himself.
Treading over to the kitchen area, Sinbad felt around for the stove and teapot. He tried to muffle his profanity when he stubbed his toe on the table leg.
…
The family was glad they stayed one more night at the hotel, if only so they weren’t at nature’s mercy.
Shark was huddled under the blankets, covering his ears to block out the howling outside. He was amazed that his parents could sleep through it.
Next to him, Sagebear was on watch, ever the dutiful guard dog. She took a stance and growled at the sounds outside, and gave the occasional “boof”.
When Shark poked his head out, he then put a hand out to know where Sagebear was. In response, she turned to lick his hand, and rub against it.
Knowing where she was now, Shark sat up and wrapped his arms around her. He gently squeezed the soft, chubby dog like a pillow.
Sagebear didn’t seem to mind this too much, given the way her tail began thumping against the mattress.
…
Annette could somehow hear boxes smashing against the pavement as she trekked outside into the relentless gales.
Each time something came flying at her, she ducked away just in time. Annette made doubly sure that the photograph was safely in her pocket.
She was at least grateful that The Builder elected to stay behind and continue making a bigger fool of themself than usual.
“Couldn’t I at least have had the address?!” She shouted, but her words were lost in the wind around her.
When the gusts began picking up around her again, Annette clutched onto the nearest thing tied down. A large tree threatened to uproot and fall over a few yards away.
She crouched down to the ground, and clawed her way to a hopefully sturdy-looking streetlight.
“I don’t remember this city being so fucked-up weather wise!” Once again, she could barely hear herself.
Seeing the nearest shelter, Annette steeled herself, and dug her hands into the dirt again.
…
“Ow! Fuck, that’s hot…” Sinbad made the mistake of touching the stove burner while it was heating. “Is that blistering? Okay, no. It looks fine… Yeah, fuck it.”
Stumbling over to the light switch, Sinbad had a hard time turning it on. When he managed to, he was able to properly look over his palm.
“All right, I’m good-” He was startled by the phone ringing. Checking to make sure it didn’t wake Harwood up, he answered it. “Hello-”
“Bro!” Marc sounded far cheerier than he usually did. “What’s happening? Hey, do me a favor. Can you bring me my-Guys, shut up!- bring my medication here? I’m probably gonna be here all night.”
Raising an eyebrow at what Marc had apparently planned, Sinbad then rolled his eyes and sighed. He didn’t want to go out in the horrific wind, but he understood why Marc probably wanted to stay there.
“Yeah, hang on. Let me put some clothes on…”
…
Stepping out into the hallway, Shark made certain he had the hotel key card and Sagebear with him.
The wind outside was more muffled than it was in the room. Shark was at least grateful for that as he walked out to the lobby.
Counting the spare change he’d gotten out of his pants pocket, he then stood in front of the vending machines.
“What should I get, Sagebear? Chips, candy bar, fruit gummies?” Sagebear just tilted her head at his question. Still he went on as if she answered.
“Gummies it is.” After making his selection, Shark then wandered over to the pop machine, and looked for anything that would count as juice.
After choosing there, Shark then sat up against the wall, beginning to snack on his choices. Sagebear sat in his lap, trying to sniff at his snack.
“No, Sagebear,” he said to her as he leaned in to touch her nose, “these could make you really sick. We don’t want that.”
…
Elvira waited until The Builder was done mooning over their prized acquisition before speaking to them.
“So tell me,” she said in a voice not without smugness, “how do you intend to transport all this ammunition back to your base?”
The Builder looked up and pulled their knife out, not even bothering to wipe the slobber from their face. “Way ahead of you, Draculara!”
Quickly running into another room in the warehouse, The Builder could be heard apparently ripping something open.
“All right, get out here! All of you!” They were heard shouting.
A minute or two later, they came back with their assistants. The Builder then directed the four of them to bring everything back to base.
Watching with amazement, Elvira was admittedly stunned at how much fear The Builder could drive into their assistants.
…
Annette had just gotten to the safe place she’d seen, when a recognizable black truck with flame decals whizzed by.
Her face lit up at once. Still grabbing on to her shelter, she called out to it.
“Sinbad! Sinbad, it’s me! I need help! Hey!” Annette’s shouting proved to be futile. Sinbad’s truck just kept going by without so much as slowing down.
Downtrodden, Annette slunk back to the safety of the house she’d found. It only took a bit of picking a lock for her to open the door.
There was something eerie about the place she’d chosen for her temporary haven. It seemed up to date, but at the same time it felt like something was holding it back.
Trying to think nothing of it, Annette stood in the kitchen, and looked for anything that could be made with the dusty looking oven.
(Song the chapter title came from: ) | {
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If You Encounter a Lion | Stay Safe | Coexisting Video | Lions at Rancho | Identification
New Mountain Lion Conservation Research to Begin in Fall 2020 Midpen biologists and Santa Cruz Puma Project scientists are beginning a five-year mountain lion collaring study that will help us better understand how these secretive animals are using popular open space lands near urban areas, such as at Rancho San Antonio, Picchetti Ranch and Fremont Older preserves. This information, along with a concurrent study using wildlife cameras, will help us best manage our public open space preserves for the protection of both mountain lions and preserve visitors. We hope you’ll follow along and learn more about the many challenges these important big cats face, how we can best safely coexist to help them survive and thrive in the Santa Cruz Mountains region and beyond.
Background
Mountain lions, also known as pumas and cougars, play an important role as predators in our local ecosystem. Their primary food source is deer, but they can also prey on smaller animals like raccoons, rabbits. Occassionally, they opportunistically prey on domestic pets and livestock. More than half of California, including most of undeveloped San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, is prime mountain lion habitat. Mountain lions are a specially protected species in California.
Mountain lions face many challenges. They need large habitats, and as open space in the Santa Cruz Mountains has become hemmed in by roads and development, some are pushed into the wildland-urban interface. This is one reason why wildlife corridors like Midpen's Highway 17 Wildlife and Trail Crossing, are critical for allowing wildlife to move safely across the landscape to access the resources they need to survive.
Download Mountain Lion Fact Sheet
If You Encounter a Mountain Lion If you encounter a mountain lion, take these safety precautions: DO NOT RUN!
Keep children and pets close.
Do not approach the lion.
Do not turn your back on the lion.
Do not crouch down or bend over.
Back away slowly while paying attention to how the lion is reacting to your movements. If you are getting farther away from their young, the lion may relax or walk away.
Leave the area and inform other preserve visitors of the potential danger.
and inform other preserve visitors of the potential danger. Fight back, if attacked.
Report sightings immediately to 650-691-2165.
Stay Safe in Mountain Lion Country
Stay alert when visiting a preserve.
Do not hike, bike or jog alone.
Avoid hiking or jogging when mountain lions are most active – dawn, dusk, and at night.
Keep a close watch on small children.
Do not wear headphones.
Coexisting with Cougars Video Presentation
Learn all about mountain lions with Midpen Resource Management Specialist Matt Sharp Chaney. Matt provides an overview of mountain lion biology, habitat and research. He also shares how hikers, families and neighbors can stay safe in mountain lion habitat.
Mountain Lion Activity at Rancho San Antonio
Mountain lions have been observed in Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve. Though seldom seen, they also roam most Midpen preserves.
Map is illustrative to demonstrate ongoing mountain lion presence across the preserve in a given year, it is not intended for analytical purposes.
Identification
The mountain lion has a small head and small rounded ears. It has a very long tail that is about 2/3rds the length of its body.
Color: Generally tan, but can range from gray to brown, with a whitish underside. The ears and tail are tipped with black. Cubs have camouflage spots that fade as they mature.
Generally tan, but can range from gray to brown, with a whitish underside. The ears and tail are tipped with black. Cubs have camouflage spots that fade as they mature. Size: Adult males can reach 8 feet in length from nose to tail; and weigh 130-150 lbs. Adult females can reach up to 7 feet in length and weigh 65-90 lbs.
Adult males can reach 8 feet in length from nose to tail; and weigh 130-150 lbs. Adult females can reach up to 7 feet in length and weigh 65-90 lbs. Tracks: Unlike a dog, mountain lions don’t leave a nail mark and their pads are shaped like the letter M.
Unlike a dog, mountain lions don’t leave a nail mark and their pads are shaped like the letter M. Behavior: Adult pumas are solitary and territorial animals. Males can have territories up to 100 square miles and females’ territories can range up to 60 square miles. They are most active between dusk and dawn, and generally avoid contact with humans, but have been known to stand their ground.
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Tenemos algo para ofrecerte Con nuestra suscripción digital disfrutás de más de 300 artículos exclusivos por mes y navegás sin límites nuestros sitios. Tenemos newsletters premium, una comunidad exclusiva para vos, descuentos con Club La Voz y más. Quiero suscribirme desde $30
El ex ministro de Economía Roberto Lavagna aseguró hoy que no tiene decidida una candidatura presidencial y afirmó que el gobierno de Mauricio Macri “dejará una herencia peor” que la que dejó Cristina Kirchner en 2015.
“Acá estamos, reuniéndonos y poniendo ideas sobre la mesa”, dijo y al ser consultado sobre si ya decidió ser candidato presidencial, respondió: “No, no, en absoluto. Las candidaturas siempre tienen que venir al final, primero las ideas”.
El economista aseguró que la “grieta” entre Macri y la senadora líder de Unidad Ciudadana “no conduce a ningún lado” a la Argentina y aclaró que este año el país acumulará su octavo año de recesión, por lo que está con una “debilidad notable”.
“Los cuatro años de Macri serán peores que los últimos cuatro años de Cristina Kirchner. En estos últimos años en lugar de intentar superar la herencia, Cambiemos profundizó la crisis”, apuntó Lavagna en declaraciones a radio Metro.
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El economista, que fue ministro de Eduardo Duhalde y Néstor Kirchner, contradijo al presidente Macri al sostener que el país no está en recesión por culpa de los shocks externos sino por la “mala praxis” del gobierno actual
“El contexto económico fue espectacularmente favorable, contra todo lo que se dice. La tasa de interés, que para la Argentina y los países en desarrollo es muy importante, ha estado por debajo del 2% en promedio, cuando en la crisis anterior estaba en 5,5%”, apuntó.
Y agregó: “El precio de la soja, que es el principal producto de exportación de la Argentina, aun habiendo caído está en 350 dólares la tonelada, cuando en 2002 rondaba los 220 dólares la tonelada. Estos son sólo dos datos externos que fueron “positivos”.
Para respaldar sus declaraciones, el economista pidió que se busque si en el mundo hay un país del tamaño de la Argentina que haya sufrido lo que sufrió la Argentina en 2018. “No lo va a encontrar”, afirmó.
Consideró que hay una parte de la herencia del kirchnerismo en esos problemas, pero aclaró que los inconvenientes actuales “son por acumulación: tras cuatro años malos (2011-2015), si uno no cambia en la buena dirección obviamente acumula otros cuatro años recesivos”.
Publicidad
“Obviamente hubo un cambio en la política económica, pero este cambio no sirvió. No se puede cambiar por cambiar. Se han acumulado otros cuatro años de recesión, que se suman a los cuatro años anteriores”, se quejó el economista.
Y evaluó que el nuevo gobierno partirá el 10 de diciembre próximo de una base de ocho años de recesión, con una caída muy fuerte del Producto per cápita de los argentinos, una tasa de inflación mucho mayor que en 2015 y una deuda que en aquel momento no existía y ahora es muy importante.
“Ocurre que si uno no corrige las herencias, termina dejando una herencia peor, que es lo que va a pasar con Macri”, afirmó Lavagna.
SÍNTESIS POLÍTICA Información exclusiva y el mejor análisis, los lunes en tu correo. Ingresá tu correo electrónico Enviar ¡Gracias por suscribirte! Ha ocurrido un error, por favor intente nuevamente más tarde. | {
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Sign up to FREE email alerts from Mirror - Arsenal FC Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email
Arsenal defender Nacho Monreal could miss the start of the season after suffering an injury scare, writes John Cross in Nagoya.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger will check on the extent of a back problem for the Spanish left back who is missing from the Asia tour after being given an extended break after the Confederations Cup.
Wenger is already concerned that Monreal and Santi Cazorla are behind on pre-season after being on international duty with Spain.
Laurent Koscielny and Wojciech Szczesny are likely to sit out Monday’s friendly with Grampus Eight in Nagoya after suffering ankle and back injuries respectively.
Arsenal captain Thomas Vermaelen is likely to be out for at least three months with a back injury. | {
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President Obama on Saturday signed a seven-day extension of government funding, which is the first part of an agreement to keep the government running through the end of the current fiscal year.
The bill was signed without fanfare 13 hours after Democratic and Republican congressional leaders reached a last-minute deal late Friday to avoid a government shutdown.
The agreement, which came after days of partisan sparring and rhetorical drama, would fund the government through the end of September and cut $78.5 billion compared to Obama's proposed but never enacted fiscal 2011 budget.
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Because it will take several days to translate the agreement into a legislative draft, both chambers passed the stopgap to keep the government funded until April 15. The short-term measure cuts $2 billion from the budget, the first of the $78.5 billion in total cuts.
House Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE (R-Ohio) claimed victory in a brief press conference before the midnight deadline.
"This has been a lot of discussion and a long fight," Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE said. “We fought to keep government spending down because it really will affect and help create a better environment for job creators in our country.”
Obama, in a televised address Friday night, also praised the deal while acknowledging that some of the cuts he agreed to will be “painful.”
The deal cuts a total of $38 billion from current spending levels over the next six months. Of that total, $17.8 billion came from mandatory spending programs, including $2.5 billion in House transportation spending, according to a senior Democratic aide familiar with the deal.
Democrats knocked off most of the controversial policy riders that House Republicans had included in H.R. 1, the package of spending cuts that passed in February.
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Republicans, however, won the inclusion of a rider to expand the District of Columbia’s school voucher program and to authorize a Government Accountability Office study of a financial oversight board established by the Wall Street reform bill.
Most significantly, Democrats won the disagreement over funding that included Planned Parenthood, which provides abortion services.
A senior Democratic leadership aide said Boehner described the abortion-related policy riders as must-have priorities, but Obama and Democrats stood firm, arguing they would negatively affect women’s access to cancer screenings and other health services.
In return, Republicans won a promise from Senate Democrats to schedule next week's votes on two bills — one defunding Title X and Planned Parenthood and another to defund the 2010 healthcare reform law — at the same time as consideration of the spending deal. Democrats also agreed to reinstate a ban on taxpayer funding for abortions in Washington, D.C., for the next six months.
GOP amendments that would have blocked the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to implement a variety of regulations and would have eliminated federal funds for NPR also fell by the wayside.
Negotiators battled over the size of the Defense Department's budget and finally agreed to spending $2 billion below the amount the House approved in the package it passed in February.
Both sides seemed relieved to have averted a shutdown that polls showed would probably have done political damage to both parties.
“In the final hours before our government would be forced to shut down, leaders in both parties reached an agreement that will allow our small businesses to get the loans they need, our families to get the mortgages they applied for and hundreds of Americans to show up at work and take home their paychecks on time, including our brave men and women in uniform,” Obama said.
Asked if he were happy about the deal, Boehner paused and told The Hill, "It's as good a deal as we could get."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Harry Mason ReidGOP senators confident Trump pick to be confirmed by November Durbin: Democrats can 'slow' Supreme Court confirmation 'perhaps a matter of hours, maybe days at most' Supreme Court fight pushes Senate toward brink MORE (D-Nev.) praised Boehner for eventually reaching a compromise, despite the opposition of some conservative House members.
Rep. Jeff Flake Jeffrey (Jeff) Lane FlakeHow fast population growth made Arizona a swing state Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Republican former Michigan governor says he's voting for Biden MORE (R-Ariz.), who's running for Senate in 2012, said he was "disappointed.”
"A lot of us are quite disappointed with the level" of spending cuts, he said.
In remarks on the Senate floor, Reid said, “I first of all want to express my appreciation to the Speaker and his office, it’s been a grueling process. We didn’t do it at this late hour for drama, we did it because it’s been very hard to arrive at this point.”
Boehner presented the bipartisan deal to his caucus at a meeting that began at 9:45 p.m. Friday evening, even though it had not been finalized.
Negotiators, which included Boehner's chief of staff Barry Jackson, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s chief of staff David Krone and Rob Nabors, a senior adviser to Obama, agreed to the broad outline of a deal by 8 p.m. They exchanged final handshakes around 10:30 p.m., just as the House GOP meeting broke up.
Lawmakers said the conference meeting was particularly moving.
After a week of partisan sniping and the uncertainty over a potential government shutdown, members rallied behind Boehner in a major show of support for the deal. "There were more people that were very adamant for it," according to a source who was in the room.
"The one who got the most emotional was Marsha Blackburn Marsha BlackburnNetflix distances from author's comments about Muslim Uyghurs but defends project Hillicon Valley: Subpoenas for Facebook, Google and Twitter on the cards | Wray rebuffs mail-in voting conspiracies | Reps. raise mass surveillance concerns Key Democrat opposes GOP Section 230 subpoena for Facebook, Twitter, Google MORE [R-Tenn.]; she was emotionally in favor of it, she broke down," a GOP source told The Hill. "I mean, Blackburn, nobody could believe it," the source added.
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Unlike Boehner, who is notorious for his tears, Blackburn, is not one for crying in public.
And her plea to colleagues struck a chord in many members, according to several attendees. Boehner, too, shed a tear during Blackburn's remarks.
Sean J. Miller contributed to this report.
This story was updated at 2:20 p.m. and was originally published at 1:45 a.m. | {
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Scandal started off as a political thriller about Olivia Pope, a sharply dressed professional with a penchant for yelling “It’s HANDLED!” when asked to perform any task, from collecting a takeaway to covering up a crime. From 2012 to 2018, Kerry Washington played this powerhouse head of crisis-management firm Olivia Pope & Associates, whose employees included three lawyers and a former hitman.
Based extremely loosely on the experiences of Judy A Smith, a former deputy press secretary to George HW Bush, it was fascinating stuff. Each week, Olivia and her “Gladiators” tackled a different case, using spin and steam cleaning to help the rich and powerful cover up affairs, social media mishaps and, yes, the occasional killing. Some aspects of the show were hard to believe, from Olivia’s ability to keep her white sofa stain-free despite consuming a fishbowl of bordeaux every evening to her on-off affair with President Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn), the whiny married man she rigged voting machines to help elect.
But for the most part, Scandal was smart, soapy fun, another hit for TV titan Shonda Rhimes, creator of Grey’s Anatomy and exec-producer of How to Get Away With Murder. It tackled the impact of racism, treated same-sex marriage and abortion as commonplace and was revolutionary in the history of TV: Washington was the first African-American actress cast in the lead role in a drama for 38 years (Get Christie Love!, starring Teresa Graves, lasted one series from 1974 to 75).
After two seasons, however, Scandal started to fall apart. We learned that Olivia’s dad, Rowan (Joe Morton), was the head of a shadowy government agency B613, which used torture to protect people in power. While Morton’s natural charisma and room-shaking baritone allowed him to just about pull off pronouncements such as “I am the hell AND the high water” while remaining on the right side of parody, the show became a literal bloody mess, filled with stabbings, shootings and throat-slittings as almost every major character committed murder without being caught. Viewers went from being on the edge of their seats to on the verge of vomiting.
This increase in violence was accompanied by wild tonal swings (including a widely derided, overly idealistic take on police brutality that saw a victim’s father hug the president) and ridiculous plot twists, including Olivia discovering her long-dead mother was actually alive (and an international terrorist), and the vice-president having Olivia kidnapped so he could bribe the president into starting a war.
There was some sweet wish fulfilment towards the end, when Fitz’s ex-wife succeeded him in the White House, but that was the catalyst for yet more betrayal and bloodshed. In the final episode, we flashed forward to see two young girls admiring a portrait of Olivia in the National Portrait Gallery, implying that she went on to be president, too. But given all the immoral and illegal things she’d done, it was hard to get excited. Looking back, the real Scandal was that anyone kept watching. | {
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To stop to be a bed snake of the spoiled virgins membership, Simona needed to have lovemaking. And newborn made certain that her cherry lovemaking was once the hottest it might be. | {
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Some lads are more clever than others.
Mike Hayes of Rochelle, Illinois, long ago proved he was one of the more clever types. Back in 1987, while a chemistry freshman at the University of Illinois, he came up with a novel idea to solve his tuition and college expenses problem. Figuring that just about anyone could spare a penny, he brazenly asked everyone to do it.
He wrote to Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene, asking him to request each of his readers send Hayes a penny. The notion tickled the veteran columnist’s fancy enough that he was willing to go along with it, writing:
No one likes being used, but in this case I’m willing. It sounds like fun. Mike Hayes, 18, is a freshman science major at the University of Illinois in Champaign. He is looking for a way to finance his college education, and he decided that my column is the answer. “How many people read your column?” he asked me. I told him I didn’t know. “Millions, right?” he said. “All over the country, right?” I said I supposed that was true. “Well, here’s my idea,” he said, and proceeded to explain. I’ll break it down simply: Mike Hayes wants every person who is reading this column right this minute to send him a penny. “Just one penny,” Hayes said. “A penny doesn’t mean anything to anyone. If everyone who is reading your column looks around the room right now, there will be a penny under the couch cushion, or on the corner of the desk, or on the floor. That’s all I’m asking. A penny from each of your readers.”
You wouldn’t think a scheme like that would be wildly successful. But it was.
In less than a month, the “Many Pennies for Mike” fund was up to the equivalent of 2.3 million pennies. Not everyone was content to send merely a penny (hence the “equivalent” statement above) — many sent nickels, dimes, quarters and even more. There’s something lovable about a kid who asks you for a penny. Ask Debra Sue Maffett, Miss America 1983. Not only did she send a cheque for $25, but her donation was accompanied by a letter saying she admired him. “She even signed the letter ‘Love,'” Mike said.
Donations came in from every state in the United States, plus Mexico, Canada, and the Bahamas. Yes, he ended up with the $28,000 he’d set out to get.
But 1987 was a long time ago, you say. Whatever happened to this lad?
He went on to earn his degree in food science from the University of Illinois. As for why this scheme worked: “I didn’t ask for a lot of money,” Hayes said. “I just asked for money from a lot of people — 2.8 million people [of Chicago].”
Perhaps the last word is best left to the lad’s father, Bill Hayes: “When Mike first told me about his idea, I just laughed and said that I thought it was dumb. Which shows you that he’s smarter than I am.” | {
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A documentary by six-time Emmy nominee Alexandra Pelosi which immediately drew criticism and acclaim from predictable ends of the political spectrum. It's no easy task following up films like The Trials of Ted Haggard and Friends of God, but this interesting, sometimes terrifying insight, does a pretty remarkable job of pointing out what's right, wrong and downright kooky in middle America without taking any cheap shots.
This movie conspicuously lacks the nasty "gotcha documentary" feel of a Michael Moore or Bill Maher film, regardless of what you might hear from conservative commentators. Bill Maher isn't on the hook to be fair and Michael Moore honestly has to pander a bit to his base. Pelosi doesn't have it so easy.
In this film, Alexandra Pelosi (of the well known Pelosi's… yes, those Pelosi's) has to bend over backwards to just to paint a fair picture, if only because she shares the last name with her mother, the first female Democratic Speaker of the House. From the Republican standpoint, you could argue that the Pelosi surname is a double handicap, since it's also synonymous with Democrat impotence in the house, on top of the hurdles it surely caused in the course of shooting the piece. | {
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Last updated on .From the section Women's Football
Maria Thorisdottir's late strike earned a thrilling derby victory as Chelsea hit back to end Arsenal's perfect start to the Women's Super League season.
The Gunners led when Vivianne Miedema's astute pass picked out Danielle van de Donk, whose shot found the far corner.
Chelsea deservedly levelled after the break, Beth England neatly turning the ball home from a Fran Kirby cut-back.
And substitute Thorisdottir curled in a stunning winner to take unbeaten Chelsea above Arsenal and into second.
Thorisdottir hit the ball first time from fellow sub Ramona Bachmann's 85th-minute pass to ensure a third Blues league win in four and move them to within two points of leaders Manchester City.
There were some nervy moments for the hosts late against a Gunners side who had won their past 11 league games stretching back to last season.
But Chelsea just about held out and celebrated in raucous style in front of a crowd of 4,149 at the full-time whistle.
Van de Donk's early goal was reward for a bright start by the champions in an open match, but Emma Hayes' side gradually got on top.
Ji So-Yun fizzed a shot narrowly wide and a fierce long-range Guro Reiten shot came back off the bar.
The pressure told when Kirby scampered away and found England with a clever pass soon after the restart.
Both sides pressed for a winner and had chances, but it was the home side who took the points thanks to an unlikely source in defender Thorisdottir. | {
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Belgaum: Karnataka Janatha Paksha leader and former Chief Minister B S Yedyurappa will be admitted to BJP in a few days, state party chief Prahlad Joshi said on Thursday.
Joshi said he had raised the issue of Yeddyurappa`s homecoming with party`s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who was here today, for a function.
The matter was before central leaders, he said.
Yeddyurappa had also said three days ago that he has an "open mind" about joining BJP and a clear picture on his homecoming might emerge in the next four to five days.
Soon after the assembly polls in five states, senior BJP leaders from Karnataka had met party chief Rajnath Singh and urged him to start the process of bringing Yeddyurappa back into the party fold.
Yeddyurappa has supported Narendra Modi`s candidature for Prime Ministership and also written to NDA Chairman L K Advani to take KJP into its fold.
Yeddyurappa, who quit the Chief Ministership in July 2011 over illegal mining bribery charges, quit BJP last year and launched KJP. | {
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Illegale Einwanderer sollten festgehalten und abgeschoben werden – Reformbedarf im Asyl-, Ausländer- und Aufenthaltsrecht.
Am 28. August 2018 wurden 16 Eritreer in einem LKW auf der A 61 von der Polizei aufgegriffen und in die Ingelheimer Erstaufnahmeeinrichtung für Asylsuchende überführt. Inzwischen sind 13 von ihnen untergetaucht.
Dazu sagt Matthias Joa, migrationspolitischer Sprecher der AfD-Fraktion Rheinland-Pfalz: „Dass diese illegalen Einwanderer aus einer rheinland-pfälzischen Aufnahmeeinrichtung spurlos untertauchen konnten, ist ein weiterer Beleg für das Versagen der Landesregierung in Sachen Asylpolitik. Integrationsministerin Spiegel konnte schon in der Vergangenheit das Abtauchen von mindestens 3.000 Ausländern nicht verhindern. Auch im aktuellen Fall gibt sie sich wie immer machtlos, gleichgültig und verweigert beharrlich, die Realitäten anzuerkennen.“
Joa weiter: „Die bestehenden Gesetze sind den heutigen Herausforderungen illegaler Massenmigration offenkundig nicht mehr angemessen. Sie erzeugen ein gefährliches Zuständigkeiten-Chaos und große Verunsicherung bei allen Verantwortlichen. Vor allem die Ausländerbehörden scheinen überfordert zu sein und werden von der Regierung im Stich gelassen.“
Joa fordert: „Das wachsende Unvermögen des Staates, geltendes Recht durchzusetzen und seine Bürger wirksam zu schützen, verdeutlicht den zwingenden Reformbedarf im Asyl-, Ausländer- und Aufenthaltsrecht. Gleichzeitig bedarf es aber auch des politischen Willens der Landesregierung, illegale Einwanderer zuverlässig festzuhalten und konsequent abzuschieben. Die AfD-Fraktion wird dieses Thema sowie den aktuellen Fall in den zuständigen Ausschüssen thematisieren.“ | {
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Revealed: The face of the woman accused of brutal McDonald's beating... as it emerges she was arrested for assault last year at the SAME restaurant
Police have charged 18-year-old with brutal attack
It emerges she was charged with assault at same McDonald's last year
Transgender activists plan to hold protest today outside restaurant
Indicted: Teonna Brown appeared in front of a grand jury today
The teenager accused of brutally beating a transgender woman at a McDonald's in Baltimore County was arrested for assault last year - at the same restaurant.
Police today announced they had charged Teonna Monae Brown, 18, after a video emerged of her and another girl allegedly kicking, punching and stamping on Chrissy Lee Polis.
The attack was so violent the 22-year-old had a seizure.
Brown's own sister turned her in on Friday, telling police she and her alleged accomplice, a 14-year-old girl, had admitted to the attack.
News of her arrest came as transgender activists announced they would be holding a protest outside the Rosedale restaurant at 7pm today.
Yesterday Miss Polis revealed how she was 'afraid to go outside' after the April 18 assault, which she hinted could be racially motivated as the two attackers were both black.
And, in what could be a major blow for McDonald's family-friendly image, she claimed staff stood by and allowed the attack to continue.
One worker, Vernon Hackett, filmed the beating and later posted it online, where it attacked hundreds of thousands of viewers.
According to police Brown was arrested last July for allegedly attacking a mother after a dispute inside the same McDonald's.
In a handwritten police statement seen by the Smoking Gun, mother-of-two Danielle Dower, 38, described how Brown allegedly followed her out of the restaurant yelling : 'Did you call me ugly?'
Scroll down for videos
Traumatised: Transgender woman Chrissy Lee Polis, 22, said she was too scared to go outside after the April 18 attack at a Baltimore County McDonald's
She said Brown 'kept trying to badger us' after she said no and tried to move away with her two daughters.
Mrs Dower claims Brown pushed her, but when she pushed back she 'took her fist and threw a punch to my face.'
In an attempt to get her children to safety, Mrs Dower went into a nearby shopping centre, but claims Brown and two friends followed them inside.
As she called 911, the two friends allegedly seized her daughter by the hair and dragged her across the floor.
Shocking: Brown was indicted on assault and hate crime charges for the attack on Chrissy Lee Polis who was brutally beaten until she had a seizure
Brutal: The girl suffers blow after blow while staff duck out of the way, right
She wrote: 'I had to stop talking to the operator, get on top of my daughter and protect her while trying to fight off those girls.'
The fight left her with cuts to her face, and her eldest daughter suffered cuts to her knee and face as well as bruising to her forehead.
Brown was charged with two counts of misdemeanour assault, but according to the state attorney the victim later asked for all charges to be dropped, and the case never went to court.
Now she faces three first and second-degree assault charges in connection with the April 18 assault of Miss Polis.
The 14-year-old, who was also reported by Brown's sister, has been charged as a juvenile.
Seizure: The girl shakes on the floor uncontrollably after the attack
She has not been named, but police claim she admitted in an interview that she and Brown 'both got into a fight with a woman over using the bathroom.'
Yesterday state's attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said hate crime charges were being considered.
He said: 'If there is evidence that the crime was racially motivated, we will take a look at those charges and see if we meet those elements. We have the ability, if the facts are there, to upgrade the charges at a later date.'
Yesterday their alleged victim, Miss Polis, spoke out for the first time about the beating she received.
She said she was afraid to go outside after the attack. She said: 'They just hurt me really bad, and I'm afraid to go outside now because of stuff like this.'
In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, she said the violence kicked off after she had used the ladies' restrooms in the McDonald's outlet, but denied reports that this was the reason why the violence erupted.
Two attacks? Brown allegedly attacked another woman outside this Rosedale McDonald's last July
She said of her attackers: 'They just seemed like they wanted to pick a fight that night.'
She said she was approached by one of the girls, who accused her of 'looking at my man'.
When Miss Polis insisted that she was not even aware of the girl's partner, the physical abuse began with the girl spitting in her face.
She said: 'She started ripping my hair, throwing me on the floor, kicking me in my face.
'I got up and tried to hit the girl. I had her in a corner, to try to get her off me, and the other girl came up and started kicking me in my face, punching me in my nose, ripping my earring out of my earlobes.'
Miss Polis said there was no way to escape the attack, adding: ' Every time I tried to walk away they followed me.'
Fired: Vernon Hackett, the employee who shot the footage, has been sacked from his job at the McDonald's outlet
Miss Polis said: 'Everybody in that McDonald's sat there and watched me get hurt. Nobody did nothing at all.
'And then they tried to tell [the girls] to leave because the cops were coming, so they could protect them and not me.
'I remember the guy working at McDonald's was taping me on his cell phone, and I told him to get it out of my f***ing face. And he sat there, and he must have taped me even further.'
The fast-food chain has issued a statement about the safety of its customers being paramount, and Rosedale franchise owner Mitchell McPherson yesterday announced that employee Vernon Hackett had been fired.
At one point in the video he can be heard laughing hysterically at the violence.
Hackett raised the ire of his employers after claiming credit for filming the video on his Facebook account, which he has since taken down.
Mr McPherson said: 'My first and foremost concern is with the victim. I'm as shocked and disturbed by this assault as anyone would be. The behaviour displayed in the video is unfathomable and reprehensible.'
Mr McPherson added that action might also be taken against other restaurant workers.
Warning: Video contains graphic images and profanity
| {
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Living With Zika In Puerto Rico Means Watching, Waiting And Fearing Judgment
Enlarge this image toggle caption Marisa Penaloza/NPR Marisa Penaloza/NPR
Micaela Delgado is a beautiful dark-eyed baby girl with a ready smile. She's 8 months old. She's one of more than 1,000 babies already born in Puerto Rico to mothers with Zika.
Her mother, Yalieth Gonzalez, 22, says despite all her worries, so far Micaela's development appears normal. "She's very active, she's up on her own now, she's crawling," Gonzalez says. "She's saying, 'mama' and 'papa' already. She's a very happy baby. She has a lot of energy." But Gonzalez is on alert for signs of trouble.
Gonzalez doesn't know how she got Zika, which is spread by mosquitoes. She was just three months pregnant when she had symptoms and went to the hospital. Doctors monitored her baby's development with regular ultrasounds and warned her about the possibility of birth defects.
The worst part of her pregnancy was her delivery. Gonzalez says she was in labor for 22 long, agonizing hours and she spent that time worrying. "'What would I do if she was born with health problems?' I thought. I was young. What would my life be like? I wanted to see her, but at the same time, I was scared, scared of how I would feel if she was born with medical problems."
Since Zika appeared in Puerto Rico more than a year ago, doctors believe as many as a million people on the island have been infected. Some 40,000 of those cases have been confirmed, a number that includes some 3,200 pregnant women. Doctors in Puerto Rico are just beginning to assess the long-term consequences for children born to mothers with Zika.
Yalieth Gonzalez was treated at the High Risk Pregnancy Clinic at the University of Puerto Rico's hospital. Dr. Alberto de la Vega has seen one-fifth of the pregnant women on the island who tested positive for Zika. "Among those patients we've had at least 14 or 15 confirmed cases in which severe brain damage, caused by the Zika virus, has occurred," he says.
Some of those cases included microcephaly.
For babies born to mothers infected in the first trimester, de la Vega says the risk of brain damage is between 2 and 4 percent. But he's seeing many other problems in his patients infected with Zika, including mothers going into premature labor and a higher number of miscarriages.
What worries him most is that even in cases where babies appear normal, their brains show lagging growth. "What does that mean in terms of future development? No one has an idea," he says. "If you have a condition that can cause severe brain damage, it's not going to be an either-or situation. There has to be a spectrum of problems that are yet to be defined."
De la Vega and other doctors are also concerned about young children who contract Zika after birth, at a time when their brains are still actively developing. Puerto Rico's Health Department plans to monitor these children for three to five years.
Many are being seen at the University of Puerto Rico by Dr. Carmen Zorrilla. She runs the Maternal Infant Studies Center at the University of Puerto Rico hospital, which was established 30 years ago to help women living with HIV.
Zika, she says, presents some of the same challenges for pregnant women.
Zorrilla also compares the impact of Zika with that of rubella, which caused birth defects in tens of thousands of children in the U.S. until a vaccine was discovered in the late 1960s.
Years later, Zorrilla says, researchers checked back with adults who had been born to mothers infected with rubella but who appeared normal at birth. "They found an increased rate of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders in these people who were exposed to rubella while they were in utero," she says. "So, it's not until 20 years from now that we might say, 'Oh, Zika caused this or that.'"
With the rainy season approaching, the time when disease-carrying mosquitoes become active, Zorrilla worries many on the island have become complacent. One problem, she says, is that women who have babies with birth defects have been reluctant to go public because, like HIV, Zika carries a stigma.
Zorrilla has heard comments like, "Oh, you were not protecting yourself?," "You were not using the mosquito repellent?" or "You were not using condoms?"
"You have pregnant women with a viral disease that may cause birth defects which is serious," Zorrilla says. "And then you're blaming them for getting it."
That's how Yalieth Gonzalez felt when she found out she was infected with Zika. Concerned she would be judged, at first, she only shared the news with her mother and the baby's father.
Her daughter Micaela sees the pediatrician every month to check her development, head size and other benchmarks. Doctors are also monitoring the baby's vision and hearing. It all looks good now, but it could be years before any anomalies are identified.
It was only after Micaela was born that Gonzalez says she felt strong enough to share her story with friends. "People should know that Zika is real. I was lucky that my baby was born healthy. There are many people in Puerto Rico who don't take Zika seriously, and we should," she says.
Epidemiologists expect to see fewer cases in Puerto Rico this year than last, but the disease is now endemic on the island. That means, until a vaccine is available, Zika will continue to pose a risk for women who become pregnant, and for their babies. | {
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A Dutch criminal caught with a fake identity card in a luxury Dublin apartment during a Garda operation targeting the Kinahan gang has been given a one-month jail sentence.
Naoufal Fassih (35), who is of Moroccan origin, pleaded guilty to having a false instrument – a forged Belgian ID card – and possessing cannabis worth €40 when he was found in an apartment on Lower Baggott St on April 7 last.
He had already spent two and half months in custody on remand prior to his sentence hearing at Cloverhill District Court on Thursday.
Fassih, once described in court as a “man of means”, was wearing €800 runners and allegedly had three designer watches worth more than €80,000 when arrested. He has 12 prior criminal convictions for serious offences in the Netherlands dating back to 1998.
Garda Eoin Kane, of Kevin Street station's Drugs Unit, told Judge John Lindsay that courts in Amsterdam had previously given Fassih jail terms. In 2014, he was sentenced to 20 months, in 2002 he got a three and a half year sentence and in 2000 a two year prison term.
His earlier crimes included: two counts of unauthorised use of weapons, ammunition and explosives as well as extortion and attempted extortion and embezzlement, assault, openly joining forces to commit violence against other people and drugs offences.
However he had no prior convictions in Ireland. Fassih is also awaiting extradition to the Netherlands on other charges.
Gda Kane told the court that a warrant was obtained under the Misuse of Drugs Act to search the apartment. Fassih told gardai his name was Omar Ghazouani and he had Belgian ID card with that name and it had his photo.
Gardai also discovered a passport in another name and cannabis in the form of herb, resin and oil worth €40. He continued to maintain his name was Omar Ghazouani when he was detained for questioning at Kevin Street Garda station and during a subsequent court hearing when he was applying for bail.
However, gardai established his real identify through the assistance of Interpol and Fassih was refused bail on April 15.
Gda Kane agreed with defence counsel John Byrne (instructed by solicitor Barry O'Donoghue) that the search was a result of receiving confidential information which did not relate to Fassih. He also agreed with counsel that they did not expect to find him there.
Mr Byrne said his client's explanation for being in Ireland was that he was here for a girlfriend. Mr Byrne said the name on the ID card and the passport did not match up and the offence was amateurish.
Judge Lindsay said “all crimes are amateurish, when they're caught”.
Fassih sat silently throughout the hearing. His counsel said he would be resisting attempts to extradite him to the Netherlands where he faces charges for “three relatively minor offences”. He left school at 18 and worked in construction and his last sentence in 2013, which was a four-month prison term, was relatively modest, counsel said.
The maximum sentence for the forged document charge was 12 months, the court heard. Judge Lindsay noted he has been in custody on remand since mid-April and he imposed a one-month jail term for that offence. He gave the accused the benefit of the Probation Act for the drugs charge.
Fassih was initially refused bail on April 15 by Judge Cormac Dunne at Dublin District Court after the prosecution successfully argued that he was a fight risk. Gardai had said in evidence that he had €800 runners and three designer watches in total worth €83,000 when arrested at the apartment on Lower Baggott Street.
Garda Kane had also said that the man was arrested during an operation targeting members of the Kinahan organised crime gang.
Gda Kane also said that during the search of the apartment also found there were: €300, Stg £12,825, a Rolex watch worth €8,350, another Rolex watch valued at €35,000 and an Audamars Piguet Royal Oak limited edition Michael Schumacher watch valued €40,000.
Mr Fassih also failed in a High Court action to get released on bail.
Online Editors | {
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A messed-up order allegedly led a Huber Heights man to drive his pick-up truck through the front door of a local Taco Bell early this morning.
According to police, the unidentified customer complained to employees that a 99-cent taco was missing from his order. Though they provided him with a fresh taco, the man still felt the need to file his grievance with the restaurant's entrance using his vehicle.
Officers eventually tracked the driver down thanks to a trail of fluids he left in his wake, and arrested him for felony vandalism. He offered no alternative explination for his actions: He was simply mad about the missing taco.
"Usually people don't run into Taco Bell intentionally just for a missing taco," noted Sgt. Chris Kash.
[screengrab via WDTN] | {
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Every now and then you’ll find yourself in a position where you’ll need to address unacceptable behavior on the part of one of your students. Some of these behaviors include: cheating, plagiarism, sleeping in class, lying, being disrespectful, disruptive, or abusive. Whichever the case may be, it is always disappointing when students engage in these types of behaviors, and at times, you may feel frustrated, angry, or even helpless. At times like these, it is important to remember that an improper behavior on the part of your student, does not warrant an in-kind retaliatory response on your part.
I’m not saying you should ignore the behavior, on the contrary. I’m a strong advocate for addressing unacceptable behavior immediately. What I am saying is that your personal feelings towards your student’s behavior should not be the basis for your response. It will be difficult in the beginning to try to be completely impartial and to remain emotionally detached from the situation, but it gets easier with time and practice.
I am always disappointed when my students do something that warrants disciplinary action, but I don’t take it personally.
So, how do you deal with disciplinary problems?
Here are 5 tips that will help:
#1. School Policy: | {
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I Kungsträdgården i Stockholm står en tung, grön bronsstaty av Karl XII. Kungen har en dragen värja i handen och pekar österut i en manande gest mot den ryska björnen. Ända sedan den avtäcktes den 30 november 1868, på 150-årsdagen av kungens död i Norge, har statyn varit ett laddat nationellt monument och bråken började redan under invigningen. De bättre platserna nära statyn hade reserverats för överhet och borgerskap, arbetarna protesterade och massorna skingrades brutalt av beriden militär. Motsättningarna mellan rika och fattiga kastade sin skugga över ceremonin, som snarast varit avsedd att spegla nationens enhet och samling mot en gemensam yttre fiende. | {
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(ANTIWAR.COM) — The British Defense Secretary is announcing that 800 commandos are being deployed into Norway starting next year, and continuing every winter for at least a decade. The troops will join US and Dutch troops there, and are targeting Russia.
The program is built around claims of Russian aggression, and the idea that global warming will lead Russia to stake out new claims in the far north, near where old Soviet-era bases exist, for natural resources.
Britain has no natural claims this far north, but that isn’t stopping them from throwing troops at the region with an eye on clashing with Russia, and officials say it is vital to “demonstrate we’re there” in the Arctic Circle.
There has long been speculation of a rush to claim resources in the north, but NATO nations have been sending more and more troops to every Russian frontier area for years now, always nominally to counter “aggression” that exists purely as a talking point to justify more military spending.
By Jason Ditz / Republished with permission / ANTIWAR.COM / Report a typo
These articles were chosen for republication based on the interest of our readers. Anti-Media republishes stories from a number of other independent news sources. The views expressed in these articles are the author’s own and do not reflect Anti-Media editorial policy. | {
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel Blasts Trump on Trade; Claims Germany Invests 10x as Much in America as Vice Versa
On June 29, 2017, German Chancellor Angela Merkel blasted US President Donald Trump’s administration over its trade policy and rhetoric.
Merkel said Trump’s focus on America’s (enormous) trade deficit with Germany is misleading, and doesn’t accurately reflect the trade relationship between the two countries.
She went on to say that Germany invests ten times as much in the US than vice versa—in effect saying that the US benefited far more than Germany from their trade paradigm.
Merkel also pointed out that German-owned factories in the US are a major source of lucrative American exports. For example, she noted that BMW’s South Carolina factory is America’s most prolific automobile factory in terms of exports.
That’s great, but it’s not true–not even remotely true. Merkel is either lying, or grossly misinformed.
Here’s the real figures according to the latest publicly available data:
German foreign direct investment in the US totaled $16 billion in 2014.
US foreign direct investment in Germany totaled $9 billion in 2014.
That’s nowhere close to the “ten times” Angela Merkel mentioned—it’s not even double.
And if we’re being honest, the foreign direct investment flows pale in comparison to the size of the trade deficit.
America’s trade deficit with Germany was $64 billion in 2016—quadruple German direct investment in the US.
When this indirect investment is accounted for, the US actually invests significantly more in Germany than vice versa.
Merkel knows this, she’s just spinning the numbers for political purposes, much like how she handled the refugee crisis. Merkel is a master of fudging the numbers.
Now for those of you who don’t think the trade deficit is a problem, I urge you to read the linked article.
Trump’s right, America needs to start taking its deficit seriously. Germany is as good a place to start as any. | {
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Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
No native support of previous PlayStation games | {
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ISIS, the jihadist group in Syria, Iraq and Libya, has claimed it could purchase a nuclear device and transport same to the United States, through a network of countries including Nigeria, up to Mexico.
In its latest propaganda magazine, Dabiq, published two weeks ago, the group said the plan is workable the same way banned drugs are transported through West Africa to Western countries, saying it could even be easier with the presence of Boko Haram, the Nigeria-based group that recently pledged allegiance to ISIS.
ISIS also described the Nigerian Army as “an exhausted and smashed national army that is now in a virtual state of collapse”.
Currently, it said Boko Haram insurgents have taken control of much of Nigeria and their attacks are intensifying and pushing back the military.
That claim contradicts recent successes recorded by the Nigerian military which has recovered several towns seized by the militant group in the last.
In an op-ed piece titled, “The Perfect Storm,” attributed to a kidnapped British photojournalist, John Cantlie, it said the terrorist organisation which started as a movement in Iraq has suddenly turned into a global phenomenon that the West and the democratic world as a whole is ill-equipped to deal with.
Mr. Cantlie has appeared in many propaganda videos released by ISIS after he was kidnapped by the extremist group.
“Nothing on this scale has happened this big or this quick before. Huge swathes of Pakistan, Nigeria, Libya, Yemen, and the Sinai Peninsula are all now united under the black flag of tawhīd, gelled together as one by the Islamic State,” the piece said.
“They (Boko Haram) declared allegiance to the Caliphate in March, and they are the same group, remember, that Obama claimed just last year was being successfully pushed back by American intervention policy.
“Indeed, he claimed that the same model (cutting finances, recruitment tools, and the will to fight) that worked so ‘well’ in the degradation of the mujāhidīn there before their pledge of allegiance, would work just as well on the Islamic State. Some things just don’t work out as planned.”
The article said the idea of reaching the U.S. with a deadly nuclear device is not as far-fetched.
“Let me throw a hypothetical operation onto the table,” Cantlie wrote. “The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wilāyah in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region.
“The weapon is then transported overland until it makes it to Libya, where the mujāhidīn move it south to Nigeria. Drug shipments from Columbia bound for Europe pass through West Africa, so moving other types of contraband from East to West is just as possible.
“The nuke and accompanying mujāhidīn arrive on the shorelines of South America and are transported through the porous borders of Central America before arriving in Mexico and up to the border with the United States.
ADVERTISEMENT
“From there it’s just a quick hop through a smuggling tunnel and hey presto, they’re mingling with another 12 million ‘illegal’ aliens in America with a nuclear bomb in the trunk of their car.”
The Nigerian military did not comment on the article. Defence spokesperson, Chris Olukolade, did not respond to calls and text messages on Tuesday.
Related | {
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Forney Customers Can Save on Electricity
Energy Outlet gives you the POWER to CHOOSE the best Forney Electricity Rates.
Whether a business owner or resident in Forney, Texas deregulation has given you the opportunity to save big when it comes to energy cost. But with so many plans and companies to choose from, the process of signing up for a retail energy provider can be frustrating.
That’s where EnergyOutlet.com comes in – We can help you understand the deregulated energy process and walk you through your choices to help you find the energy plan that’s right for you.
What Rate Plans are Available in Forney?
Residents in Forney can choose from the following:
Variable rate plans (change with the energy market)
Price secured rate plans (stay consistent throughout energy contract term)
Prepaid plans
Popular Cities Around Forney: Houston | Pearland | Katy | {
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Bandai Namco has released the Gamescom 2018 trailer and screenshots for open-world One Piece game One Piece: World Seeker.
Here is an overview of the trailer, via Bandai Namco:
The trailer opens with our hero Luffy, in handcuffs, being brought in front of a mysterious character sat upon a throne, high above the clouds of Prison Island on a floating fortress. But what does this character have in-store for Luffy? And more importantly, why does Luffy look so happy to be captured?
Also revealed in the trailer are three new characters Luffy will come up against.
The first, Borsalino (Kizaru), is an admiral in the marines, he is one of the strongest enemies for Luffy and the Straw Hat Crew. He possess the Glint-Glint Fruit (Pika Pika No Mi), which allows him to control and manipulate light at will and can even transform himself into light, giving him the power of teleportation. He is the faithful servant of the Marin headquarters and will happily fight Luffy whenever the opportunity arises.
Another enemy Luffy will come up against is Admiral Issho (Fujitora). Despite being blind, he is a force to be reckoned with. Despite the mystery surrounding the exact nature of his power, he seems to have the power to control gravity, being able to subdue prisoners or even redirecting a meteoroid. Fujitora is different from the other admirals, for him what’s truly important is the security and safety of the citizens of Prison Island.
Last but not least Rob Lucci is a member of the CP-0, the intelligence organisation directly controlled by the world government. He ate the Cat-Cat Fruit which allows him to transform into beast form, half-human; half-leopard. As more characters arrive in Jail Island, the mystery of why all these people are here only deepens, with rumours that Lucci himself is the warden of Prison Island itself. | {
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Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
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randomized drug screening? this job doesn't pay enough to quit catnip | {
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Summary: Guest author Bernard Finel examines the public excerpts from the latest book of Woodward, stenographer to the greats of our Versailles-on-the-Potomac. What does this tell us about Obama? Nothing good. Nothing we did not already suspect.
A lot of people have been pitching the revelations in the Woodward book as Obama vs. the Generals. But, if it was a contest, it wasn’t much of one. The Gates, Mullen, Petraeus troika dug in their feed for a major escalation (on top of an initial 19,000 man increase, ordered immediately after Obama came into office), and Obama was apparently left floundering about — falling back on political constraints to limit the commitment. Really, the president could not come off worse than he does from the Woodward book.
Obama allowed the military to simply stonewall him on providing an alternative to a large escalation in Afghanistan.
“So what’s my option? You have given me one option,” Obama said, directly challenging the military leadership at the table, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen and Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, then head of U.S. Central Command.
“We were going to meet here today to talk about three options,” Obama said sternly. “You agreed to go back and work those up.”
Mullen protested. “I think what we’ve tried to do here is present a range of options.”
Obama begged to differ. Two weren’t even close to feasible, they all had acknowledged; the other two were variations on the 40,000.
Silence descended on the room. Finally, Mullen said, “Well, yes, sir.” Mullen later explained, “I didn’t see any other path.”
Then, when the President finally gets them to brief something of an alternative — still involving a 20,000 man additional commitment, he allows himself to get talked out of considering it due to a war game that was so rigged that LTG Douglas Lute – in theory the point man for the President on Afghanistan in the NSC (also a Bush holdover, btw) – boycotted it:
When word of the hybrid option reached Obama, he instructed Gates and Mullen to present it. Mullen had other ideas. He used a classified war game exercise – code-named Poignant Vision and held at the Pentagon on Oct. 14, 2009 – to support his case against the option. Believing the game was rigged, Army Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, Obama’s representative from the National Security Council, boycotted it. According to participants, Poignant Vision did not have the rigor of a traditional war game, in which two teams square off. This exercise was a four-hour seminar. Mullen and Petraeus both attended, as did Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair, a retired admiral who had once headed the Pentagon’s war gaming agency. Blair had suggested the game, thinking it might help in assessing various troop levels. As the exercise ended, Blair hinted at its limitations. “Well, this is a good warm-up,” he said. “When is the next game?”
But in the end, the President let Gen. Petraeus using this “war game” as a key argument against the hybrid model. Obama seems to have had an intuitive feel that the proposal he was being given was not in the national interest. He balks at the price tag. He promises not to leave the situation to his successor. Woodward seems to suggest that Obama would have preferred a smaller training mission in Afghanistan:
The military did not understand, he said. “It’d be a lot easier for me to go out and give a speech saying, ‘You know what? The American people are sick of this war, and we’re going to put in 10,000 trainers because that’s how we’re going to get out of there.’ ” It was apparent that a part of Obama wanted to give precisely that speech. He seemed to be road-testing it. Donilon said Gates might resign if the decision was 10,000 trainers, an option the military leaders had all rejected in the early stages of the review. “That would be the difficult part,” Obama said, “because Bob Gates is . . .there’s no stronger member of my national security team.” No one said anything more about that possibility.
But, he backs away out of fear that Gates might resign! The difficult part isn’t sending 30,000 men to Afghanistan. The “difficult part” is that Secretary Gates might resign if he doesn’t! Of course, pitching it as the politically “easier” option was hardly likely to win over the confidence of the brass. But the bigger issue is that Obama gave Bob Gates — President Bush’s Secretary of Defense — veto power over his decision on Afghanistan. Extraordinary.
Now, I don’t know whether Woodward has the story right. Maybe he’s spinning to sell books. I don’t know. But the message that comes out of this strikes me as clear. The President lacks confidence in his national security judgments. He feels he need approval from a “grownup” in the form of a Republican Secretary of Defense. The President may think this signals a balanced and thoughtful judgment. What it signals to me is doubt. And believe me, what it signals to others, in the military, is that Democrats and liberals can’t be trusted on national security. They can’t be trusted because they don’t even trust themselves.
This is going to be a common sentiment. Bush may have been wrongheaded, but he was decisive and a leader. Obama is more careful and analytical, but ultimately needs approval from others. I just don’t know that you can command the respect of your national security professionals if you allow them to stonewall you, rig analytical exercises, and then win debates through threats of resignation.
Worse, you can’t command respect when you’re final decision is announced like this:
Under the redefined mission, Obama told Gates, the best I can do is 30,000. “This is what I’m willing to take on, politically,” the president said.
Wow. Not a strategic decision. A political one.
After Obama came into office, the military asked for 19,000 more troops (which they got) and 40,000 (of which they got 30,000). Some people will call that “splitting the difference.” I call it turning over strategic decision-making on Afghanistan to the military. And look, that’s fine. Had President Obama run for office saying, “Look, I don’t know much about military affairs. And frankly, I don’t think we Democrats can be trusted to make decisions of war and peace. So, my role as commander in chief will be largely to rubber stamp recommendations coming from the military and Bob Gates,” then at least there would have been no surprises.
But that isn’t how Obama ran for office. He ran for office making a lot of powerful, sophisticated assessments of international affairs. And in the Woodward book, he comes off as someone who has very good instincts about Afghanistan – e.g. wanting to minimize the commitment, develop an exit strategy, focus on training. He has the brains and the instincts to make the right decisions, but apparently not the confidence to impose his will on the national security bureaucracy. If Woodward’s reporting is accurate, it is very, very disappointing.
About the author
Bernard Finel currently serves as Associate Professor of National Security Strategy at the National War College. His views are his alone and do not represent the position of the National War College, National Defense University, or the Department of Defense.
Before that he was senior fellow at the American Security Project, a non-partisan think tank located in Washington, DC. Previously, he was an Associate Professor of Strategy and Policy at the National War College and Executive Director of the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University.
At his website he writes about politics, national security, crime and justice, and social commentary. He holds a BA in international relations from Tufts University and an MA and Ph.D. in international relations from Georgetown.
Other posts about Obama vs. his generals
About the policies of the Obama Administration | {
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to "Valerie Solanas"
to June 3, 1968: Valerie Solanas shoots Andy Warhol
June 3, 1968 - The Shooting of Andy Warhol
Viva and Andy Warhol's mother after the shooting
11:00 am
Andy Warhol and Fred Hughes talk on the phone. Fred tells him how he was mugged the night before on 16th Street coming home from Maxs.
2:30 pm
Valerie Solanas goes to the Factory (33 Union Square West) and is told Warhol is out. She thinks that he is conspiring against her with Maurice Girodias, publisher of Olympia Press. (UV170/171) . She leaves and waits outside near 16th Street. (L&D296/7) She had once brought a script to the Factory for Andy to read called 'Up Your Ass'. Warhol looked through it briefly and it was so dirty, he . thought she might be working for the police department and that this was some kind of entrapment. When Warhol admitted to losing the script, Solanas started asking for money.
Andy Warhol (via Pat Hackett in POPism): One afternoon when she [Valerie Solanas] called, we were in the middle of shooting a sequence for 'I, A Man, so I said why didnt she come over and be in the movie and earn twenty-five dollars instead of asking for a handout. She came right over and we filmed her in a short scene on a staircase and she was actually funny and that was that. (POP271)
4:15 pm
Warhol arrives at the Factory in a cab, wearing a brown leather jacket over a black t-shirt , black jeans and black Beatle (Chelsea) boots. (L&D296) Previously, he had picked up a prescription for Obetrol, then browsed at Bloomingdales, and had also rung the bell of Miles White, the costume designer, who lived on East 55th Street, but he wasnt home. (POP270/DD71) When Andy arrives outside the Factory, his boyfriend Jed Johnson approaches from 17th and Broadway carrying some fluorescent lights. Valerie Solanas joins them and all three enter the building. While waiting for the elevator, Warhol notices that Valerie is wearing a thick turtleneck sweater underneath a trenchcoat on a hot summer day. Even stranger, she has on mascara and lipstick even though as a die-hard feminist she never wears make-up. Warhol also notices that she is bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet, twisting a brown paper bag in her hands."
Upstairs, Fred Hughes is sitting at his desk writing a memo, Paul Morrissey is talking to Viva on the phone who is ringing him from Kenneths Hair Salon where she is having her hair dyed in preparation for her role in John Schlesingers film Midnight Cowboy. Art critic and curator, Mario Amaya, is waiting for Andy in order to discuss an upcoming retrospective in London.
When Warhol, Jed and Valerie arrive, Paul leaves the office to go to the bathroom, leaving Andy to talk to Viva. (L&D) Jed goes into Warhol's private office in the rear corner of the room. Andy signals to Fred Hughes to take over the conversation with Viva.Valerie Solanas takes a .32 automatic from the paper bag and fires a shot. Viva hears the shot over the phone but thinks it is somebody cracking a whip left over from theVelvet Underground days. Andy screams "No! No! Valerie! Dont do it!" She fires a second time. He falls to the floor and tries to crawl under a desk. She fires a third time. The bullet enters Andys right side and goes straight through him, coming out the left side of his back. Warhol later tells friends "It hurt so much, I wished I was dead."
Thinking that she has killed Warhol, Solanas turns to Mario Amaya who is crouching on the floor and fires a fourth shot at him. She misses so she shoots again, hitting him slightly above the hip. The bullet goes through him without damaging any organs, exiting from his back. He gets up and runs into the back room, using the weight of his bleeding body to hold the doors shut.
Valerie Solanas points the gun at Fred Hughes who begs her not to shoot him. Im innocent, he protests. Please, just leave. She walks over to the elevator and presses the button then returns to him, aiming at his forehead with the gun. She pulls the trigger, but it jams. She grabs a back up gun, a .22 caliber from the paper bag but the elevator arrives and she leaves.
As soon as she leaves, Fred Hughes calls for an ambulance and the police. The phone rings. It is Viva, still at the hairdresser's, wondering what is going on. Fred tells her that Valerie just shot Andy and that there is blood everywhere, then hangs up the phone. Viva, thinking it is a joke, decides to have her hair trimmed before having it dyed. She tells the hairdresser to charge it to United Artists.
Gerard Malanga arrives at the Factory with Angus Maclise two or three minutes after the shooting. Gerard was preparing a one man show at the Cinematheque and was picking up money from Andy to pay for a film announcement. The scene at the Factory was "total mayhem." (GM193)
Warhol lies bleeding on the floor with Billy Name leaning over him crying, while they wait for the ambulance to arrive. (POP273)
4:35 pm
The ambulance arrives at the Factory. Instead of bringing a stretcher, the attendants arrive with a wheelchair to carry Warhol out. Andy: "I thought that the pain I'd felt lying on the floor was the worst you could ever feel... but now that I was in a sitting position, I knew it wasn't." (DD75)
The ambulance takes away both Warhol and the wounded Mario Amaya. The driver tells Mario that "if we sound the siren, it'll cost five dollars extra." Mario replies "Go ahead and sound it. Leo Castelli will pay." (DD75)
4:45 pm
Andy Warhol arrives by ambulance at the emergency room of Columbus Hospital on 19th Street between Second and Third avenue. (POP274)
4:51 pm
Andy Warhol is pronounced clinically dead. The doctors cut open his chest and massage his heart. They are amazed by the damage caused by the bullet which went through his lung, then ricocheted through his oesophagus,gall bladder, liver, spleen, and intestines before exiting his left side, leaving a large hole. He is dead for 1 1/2 minutes before they revive him. They operate for five and a half hours, removing his spleen. He is in critical condition, but survives.
8:00 pm
Valerie Solanas walks up to rookie traffic cop, William Shemalix and says The police are looking for me and want me. She hands the guns over to the cop saying that she had shot Andy Warhol because he had too much control of my life. (L&D296/03) She is arrested and sent to Bellevue Hospital for psychiatric examination, then to Elmhurst General in Queens. She is initially held without bail but eventually her bail is set at $10,000. (UV186)
Valerie Solanas: "I just wanted him to pay attention to me. Talking to him was like talking to a chair." (BC32)
Footage of Valerie Solanas being led from court to jail
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dAEFshPrXY)
9:00 pm
Fred Hughes and Jed Johnson are released from the 13th Precinct police station where the police had been questioning them. Fred later tells Andy: They questioned us until about nine oclock that night. They told us we were material witnesses, and I was so naive I didn't realize that that meant they were holding us as suspects... until after they booked Valerie, I guess. (POP278)
Fred Hughes: About eight plains clothes detectives came up, and they were running all over the place... like the Keystone Kops... and after theyd been poking around for at least two hours - every drawer in every cabinet was pulled out - I saw a paper bag sitting right on top of the desk where you [Andy] were shot... in this paper bag was another gun, Valeries address book, and a Kotex pad! (POP279)
Ivy Nicholson 1965
While Andy is recuperating in the hospital, Ivy Nicholson, (Batman Dracula/Couch/The Thirteen Most Beautiful Women/****/The Loves of Ondine/I, A Man),a tall beautiful model, sometime actress, and mother of four children, threatens to kill herself if Andy dies, thinking that Andy will marry her. Louis Waldon (Nude Restaurant/Lonesome Cowboys/Blue Movie) takes her home and keeps an eye on her while she calls the hospital every ten minutes, ready to jump at the fatal word. (UV173)
In a telephone conversation to Andy while he is still in the hospital, Ultra Violet asks him How do you explain it all? Why were you the one to get shot? He replies, I was in the wrong place at the right time. (UV178)
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to June 3, 1968: Valerie Solanas shoots Andy Warhol | {
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Holy Martyr Alban and Venerable Father Sergius, pray to God for us
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Bill Morneau in the hot seat, and looking back on 2 years of Trudeau and the Liberal Party | At Issue
Finance Minister Bill Morneau is in the hot seat over his personal assets. And what should we make of Trudeau and the Liberal Party after two years in office? Our At Issue panel has some answers. | {
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To learn more about Partner Voices, read our FAQ.
Partner Voices promotions are paid for by sponsors or the nonprofits featured here. They are not products of Voice of San Diego’s editorial staff. | {
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Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has hinted at a presidential run several times, and now a campaign committee has formally filed to draft the actor for president.
The committee, called "Run the Rock 2020," was filed on the "Moana" actor's behalf with the Federal Election Committee on Sunday, as first reported by The Hill.
"Sexiest Man Alive"
A freelance writer based in West Virginia named Kenton Tilford is behind the organization. A Twitter account for the campaign committee describes the organization as "a grassroots movement to send the People's Champion to the White House in 2020. #MakeAmericaRockAgain."
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Tilford told CBS News in an e-mail, "I don't have any relationship with Dwayne Johnson. The amazing enthusiasm and energy on the ground for Mr. Johnson prompted me to create the organization. The hope is that Mr. Johnson will see how much America desires the real leadership only he can provide and jumps in the race."
In May, the former pro wrestler told GQ that a presidential run is "a real possibility." At the time, he said of President Donald Trump, "I'd like to see a better leadership. I'd like to see a greater leadership."
Later, he jokingly announced on "Saturday Night Live" that he and Tom Hanks were running on a joint ticket. | {
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If there’s one thing the Republican field’s disgusting groveling for cash should show us once and for all, it’s how much money it takes to buy a nomination. This “donor primary” is shaping up to be as hard fought as any down-and-dirty local election between a hard core Tea Partyer and an old school main-street conservative. The amount of money being collected is going to be breathtaking. The main question now is whether or not the candidates can even find enough places to spend it all. (One imagines that political strategists and campaign operatives will be happy to stash some of it in their pockets.)
Still, it is a bit startling to see a hardcore rightwing firebrand like Ted Cruz cozying up to gay New Yorkers, even if they are billionaires:
[O]n Monday night, at a reception for him at the Manhattan apartment of two prominent gay hoteliers, the Texas senator struck quite a different tone. During the gathering, according to two attendees, Mr. Cruz said he would have no problem if one of his daughters was gay. He did not mention his opposition to same-sex marriage, saying only that marriage is an issue that should be left to the states. The dinner and “fireside chat” for about a dozen people with Mr. Cruz and his wife, Heidi, was at the Central Park South penthouse of Mati Weiderpass and Ian Reisner, longtime business partners who were once a couple and who have been pioneers in the gay hospitality industry. “Ted Cruz said, ‘If one of my daughters was gay, I would love them just as much,’” recalled Mr. Reisner, a same-sex marriage proponent who described himself as simply an attendee at Mr. Weiderpass’s event. Mr. Reisner and Kalman Sporn, who advises Mr. Cruz’s Middle East team and served as the moderator for the evening, said that the senator told the group that marriage should be left up to the states.
It seems like only yesterday that he was saying gays were waging “jihad” on good God fearing Christians. Well, actually it was two weeks ago:
[T]he GOP hopeful told a crowd of homeschooling activists to beware “the jihad that is being waged right now in Indiana and Arkansas, going after people of faith who respect the biblical teaching that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.” “We need to bring people together,” Cruz said, adding that Republicans and Democrats used to be in agreement about religious liberty and, he implies, condoning discrimination.
At that nice dinner party in Manhattan he went to some lengths to point out that one of his best donors is gay, the Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, so that’s nice.
Why any gay people, billionaires or not, would be attracted to someone like Ted Cruz remains a mystery, but perhaps the tax accountant wants what the tax accountant wants. According to the article, the gay billionaires believe that gay marriage is a done deal, and now that the messy business is taken care of they are free to be conservatives again. They say they like Cruz for his extremely hawkish foreign policy which is, apparently, the new radical chic.
Meanwhile, since Scott Walker’s untimely little slip about being against legal immigration may have cost him their early endorsement, the Kochs have decided to hold more auditions later this summer. Walker’s misfortune is the rest of the crowded field’s gain as they all get a chance to hone their act for the Hundred Billion Dollar Boys. Until then, there are plenty of other filthy rich one-percenters on whom to practice their act.
As it stands today, the top candidate for leading man is the babyfaced Marco Rubio, who seems to be doing a much better job of finessing the GOPs immigration quagmire than Walker. Being Latino himself certainly doesn’t hurt, but as my colleague Elias Isquith pointed out yesterday, his slipperiness on the issue is actually quite impressive:
After putting together a big, bipartisan and comprehensive immigration reform bill in 2013 — which passed the Senate only to die ignominiously in the House — Rubio has spent more than a year disowning his sole legislative accomplishment and urging heartbroken Tea Partiers to forgive him for his sins. His dalliance with “amnesty” didn’t mean anything; he promises he’ll “secure the border” first, if only they’ll give him the chance and take him back. The whole incident was embarrassing and led to his being “unceremoniously defenestrated,” as BuzzFeed puts it, from the rarefied air of the 2016 elite. But now there’s reason to wonder if what looked like a blunder was really part of a larger scheme — or at least that’s what Rubio wants donors (and the BuzzFeed-reading political class) to think. Rubio’s onetime support of comprehensive reform, BuzzFeed reports, “has proved to be a substantial draw within the GOP money crowd.”
And I’d guess there are a few gay Republican billionaires to whom he’d be happy to whisper his personal tolerance for marriage equality too. You can’t let Cruz corner the market, after all. Rubio would also certainly be one guy you could depend upon for a hawkish foreign policy, which seems to be a must among these super-rich puppet masters.
And what would you know, mega-donor Sheldon Adelson is smitten:
In recent weeks, Adelson, who spent $100 million on the 2012 campaign and could easily match that figure in 2016, has told friends that he views the Florida senator, whose hawkish defense views and unwavering support for Israel align with his own, as a fresh face who is “the future of the Republican Party.” He has also said that Rubio’s Cuban heritage and youth would give the party a strong opportunity to expand its brand and win the White House…
Since entering the Senate in 2011, Rubio has met privately with the mogul on a half-dozen occasions. In recent months, he‘s been calling Adelson about once every two weeks, providing him with meticulous updates on his nascent campaign. During a recent trip to New York City, Rubio took time out of his busy schedule to speak by phone with the megadonor.
Rubio really is a GOP dreamboat, isn’t he? He even calls when he’s on the road!
This donor primary is likely to get a little bit frantic with all the candidates jockeying for the role of the Republican party’s leading man. Will it be the Wisconsin cheesecake Scott Walker, the Texas beefcake Ted Cruz or the spicy Cuban manwich Marco Rubio? And don’t forget the rest of the chorus line. There’s the B-Actor Jeb Bush who could turn in a credible, if not transcendent, performance, or the Wild Arkansas Preacher Mike Huckabee, along with a whole crew of character actors who could be in a position to step up if they are given the chance. It’s wide open. If nothing else the contest should be wildly entertaining for the rest of us.
The only problem for the billionaires is that these candidates all have to eventually perform in a series of tryouts we call “party primaries” where the audience, also known as voters, gets a chance to weigh in. They may not agree with the billionaires’ choice, no matter which lucky fella they anoint in their auditions. Democracy is such an inconvenience that way.
These rich donors obviously believe that founder John Jay had it right when he said, “Those who own the country ought to govern it.” Unfortunately for them, he was outvoted. | {
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Depression is an astonishingly common mental disorder; it affects as many as 1 in 4 people during their lifetime, and between 5 and 10% of the population are suffering from the illness to some extent at any one time.
Despite extensive research into this area, the underlying causes of depression are not well understood, although many believe it could stem from changes in brain chemistry. In particular, two chemicals have taken center stage: dopamine and serotonin, which are often found in lower levels in patients with depression. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that this could be a symptom rather than a cause.
Another molecule that has recently piqued the interest of scientists is a protein called beta-catenin. β-catenin is known to play a variety of roles in the central nervous system, and its malfunction has been implicated in numerous mental illnesses, including depression. Supporting these links, a newly published study has suggested that our brain’s ability to cope with stress and resist depression is determined, at least in part, by the activity of this protein. These findings challenge current ideas about the etiology of depression and could eventually lead to novel and potentially more effective ways to treat the disorder.
As described in Nature, scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine started off by exposing mice to chronic social stress, which caused some animals to exhibit depression-like symptoms. They then examined their brains to see if any notable differences could be identified, and found a disparity in the levels of active β-catenin between mice that were resistant or susceptible to stress.
More specifically, they found the mice that showed resilience to stress possessed more active β-catenin in the brain’s reward and motivation center, the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Conversely, those that succumbed to stress and developed signs of depression were found to have inactive β-catenin in the NAc.
In support of this, the researchers also found suppression of this protein in the brain tissue of deceased patients that had suffered from depression, regardless of whether they had been taking antidepressants at the time of death.
Further examination revealed that the pro-resilient effects observed in the mice were mediated through interactions between β-catenin and a type of dopamine receptor called a D2 receptor. Taking this forward, the researchers blocked β-catenin from being able to interact with D2 receptors in mice that had previously shown resilience to depression, which rendered them susceptible to stress. Similarly, activating β-catenin in susceptible mice made them more resilient to depression after exposure to stress.
Lastly, by snipping out β-catenin from NAc neurons and examining the resulting gene expression patterns, the researchers were able to identify a network activated by β-catenin that is associated with resilience. Specifically, they found that β-catenin targets a gene called Dicer1 which produces a protein that plays key roles in regulating the expression of other genes. How these genes affect depression, however, remains unknown at the moment.
Although more work needs to be done, these initial findings suggest that targeting β-catenin could lead to a novel way to treat depression. Rather than undoing the negative impacts of stress, scientists may be able to activate natural resilience mechanisms.
[Via Nature and Mount Sinai Hospital] | {
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PARIS — Iran’s largest dissident group is getting a fresh burst of support in its decadeslong push for regime change, as pressure builds on the Islamic regime in Tehran from the inside as well as the outside.
A large, boisterous rally here over the weekend was led by the largest opposition organization in Iran of exiles, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a well-connected group that has found new prominence and influence in the strongly anti-Iran Trump administration.
The pressure in Iran has been mounting in the weeks since the U.S. pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal. President Trump announced a tightening of oil and other economic sanctions, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo unveiled a string of demands to increase the pressure on Tehran, and advocates of regime change such as National Security Adviser John R. Bolton were brought into the administration’s inner circle.
Saturday’s rally also was held amid a string of large street protests in Iran over the country’s faltering economy, including traders in the conservative Grand Bazaar in Tehran incensed over a plunge in the value of the currency and persistent workers strikes.
Gunfire erupted early Sunday as Iranian security forces confronted protesters rallying against water scarcity in the country’s south. Police officers were among the 11 people reported wounded, according to The Associated Press.
Many in Paris insisted that the Iranian regime is at its weakest point in decades.
In one measure of the NCRI’s growing clout, some three dozen current and previous officials from the U.S., Europe and Middle East attended the gathering. One of the most prominent U.S. notables was Rudolph W. Giuliani, now the personal attorney for President Trump and a veteran of many NCRI events.
Mr. Giuliani made a strong call to ramp up sanctions as the protests in recent months have spread to more than 140 cities.
“When they do that, and when these protests continue to grow and grow, this threatens to topple the regime, which means freedom is right around the corner,” he said. “This is the time to put on the real pressure. The sanctions will become greater and greater.”
Red and green confetti rained on the crowd, which organizers estimated to be 100,000, right before NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi spoke.
The stage became a waving sea of red tulips in homage to the 30,000 MEK members, an NCRI faction, who were executed by the Iranian regime in 1981, still a searing memory in the MEK’s checkered and tragic history.
The floral tribute was a nod to an Iranian folk song about red tulips rising from the blood of martyrs.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican, urged European nations that have balked at Mr. Trump’s tough line against Iran to get on board to tighten the economic vise.
“We need to insist that [European governments] join the sanctions once again,” Mr. Gingrich said at the rally.
The NCRI backed the ouster of the Shah of Iran with other revolutionary groups in 1979 but clashed with the Islamist forces led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini afterward. After losing a vicious power struggle, NCRI leaders now say they renounce violence.
On stage at the rally were photos of “ashrafs,” or cells of resistance in Iran. Covert activists inside Iran appeared with their faces covered because many face arrest and imprisonment from a regime that views the group as one of the prime challenges to its authority.
A question of influence
Despite its influential friends and sophisticated media outreach, analysts are divided over the relevance of the NCRI and other exile dissident groups to the political tensions inside Iran.
Mahan Abedin, a British-Iranian journalist for Middle East Eye, said he no longer tracks the group. “They are not important anymore in a strategic sense,” he said by telephone from London.
But many consider the group to be the only credible and organized opposition force outside of Iran, with extensive contacts inside the country. The NCRI has pursued its objective of regime change with discipline and laserlike focus.
Emblazoned along the stage was a giant banner, in English and Farsi for the #RegimeChangeIran, a hashtag that emerged right after Mr. Pompeo last month laid out a long list of conditions and concessions Iran would have to meet to escape future U.S. pressure.
Former Sen. Robert Torricelli, New Jersey Democrat, speaking to The Washington Times on the sidelines of the huge Paris gathering, praised the NCRI’s organizational strength and persistence.
“It’s their intensity, it’s their strength, it’s their willingness to sacrifice, and it’s the appeal of their messaging,” he said.
Ms. Rajavi inspired intense fealty from her large cohort of followers, an intensity that critics say verges on cult status. On Saturday, clad in her customary turquoise blue hijab and suit, she reiterated the NCRI’s plan for freedom and democracy in Iran, which includes separation of church and state, gender equality and freedom of expression in an Iran free of nuclear weapons.
After Ms. Rajavi spoke, the people in the crowd, wearing yellow vests to symbolize the sun in the Iranian crest, stood up to show the sign on their backs, which read, “Every moment for the uprising.”
The strong showing of dignitaries from leading Western countries included former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Stephen Harper, a former prime minister of Canada.
Among the U.S. officials present were Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh; and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey.
Donya Jam, a 23-year-old graduate student studying human rights and European history at George Mason University, took time off from her studies to help plan the rally.
A Christian whose parents fled Iran because of religious persecution, she has never visited Iran.
“I will not step foot in Iran until it is free,” she said.
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Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
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Finds golf club on the course Keeps it | {
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Today, a federal court in Miami permanently barred Jessyca Bernard from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order, to which Bernard agreed, was signed by Chief Judge K. Michael Moore of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The complaint alleges that Bernard, of Lauderhill, Florida, owned and operated Proper Taxes, Inc. in Miami Gardens, Florida. According to the complaint, Bernard fabricated losses for her customers’ side businesses in order to secure refunds to which her customers were not entitled. In one example cited in the complaint, Bernard prepared a customer’s tax returns that reported losses of more than $27,000 and $22,000 based upon fictitious expenditures for supplies, utilities, and medical expenses. Bernard also prepared a customer’s return that fabricated more than $11,000 in losses, including $8,000 in supplies for the customer’s side business of washing cars on weekends, according to the complaint.
Return preparer fraud was one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2018 and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. The IRS has some tips on its website for choosing a return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.
In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details. | {
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Käfer, Golf, ID.3: Volkswagen leitet mit der Vorstellung des ID.3 eine Revolution ein. Das batterieelektrische Kompaktauto könnte der Beginn einer völligen Umkehr beim Antrieb sein, weg vom Verbrennungsmotor. Der ID.3 ist das erste Auto des Konzerns auf Basis des flexiblen Modularen Elektrifizierungsbaukastens MEB. Ab dem Sommer 2020 erfolgt die Auslieferung. Schon 2021 sollen im Werk Zwickau sechs unterschiedliche MEB-Fahrzeuge verteilt auf drei Marken vom Band laufen.
Geplante Stückzahl: 330.000 pro Jahr. Bis 2028 sollen es kumuliert 15 Millionen sein. Zur Einordnung die Vergleichszahlen: Tesla hat seit Bestehen insgesamt gut 800.000 Model 3 (Test), X und S produziert. Nissan brachte über 400.000 Leaf auf die Straße – verkauft wird der Wagen bereits seit 2010. Volkswagen will also eine neue Dimension erreichen. Die Aufregung auf der IAA, gleichgültig, ob inszeniert oder real, ist groß.
In der Golf-Klasse
Der Volkswagen ID.3 ist ausschließlich als Viertürer erhältlich und gleicht bei den Außenmaßen einem noch aktuellen Golf (Test): 4,26 Meter lang. 1,81 Meter breit. 1,55 Meter hoch. Der Radstand beträgt 2765 Millimeter, was exakt acht Zentimeter mehr sind als beim Sportsvan. Bei einer Sitzprobe vor drei Wochen konnte heise/Autos feststellen, dass die Fahrerposition wegen des Batteriepakets erhöht und in der Folge die Kopffreiheit geringer ist. Das Platzangebot ist alles in allem großzügig. Die Karosserieüberhänge sind kurz, was in Verbindung mit dem Heckantrieb zu einem kleinen Wendekreis führen soll. Gegenüber einem Golf sind die Proportionen also etwas verschoben. Der ID.3 ist Van-artiger gestaltet, ohne ein echter Raumgleiter zu sein.
Im Innenraum erinnert manches an den BMW i3 (Test). Zwei Bildschirme, einer vorm Lenkrad, einer in der Mitte, zeigen die relevanten Inhalte von der Geschwindigkeit bis zum Ladestand der Batterie an. Um die Fahrstufe D einzulegen, gibt es einen Bediensatelliten in Griffweite wie beim i3. Insgesamt wirkt das Cockpit reduziert und simpel. Eine Verschiebung der typischen Funktionen – keine Umwälzung. Die Wolfsburger kennen ihre Käufer genau und wissen, was zumutbar ist und was nicht.
Drei Batteriegrößen
Volkswagen bietet für den ID.3 drei Batteriegrößen mit einer Nettokapazität von 45, 58 und 77 kWh. Die entsprechenden WLTP-Reichweiten liegen bei 330, 420 und 550 km. An dieser Stelle sei nochmals erwähnt, dass die Reichweite nicht der Quotient von Kapazität und Stromverbrauch ist, sondern in einem gesonderten Verfahren ermittelt wird. Zum Verbrauch gibt es bisher keine Angaben.
E-Motorleistung und weitere Zahlen sind vorerst nur für den ID.3 1st, die Sonderserie mit 30.000 Exemplaren, erhältlich. Der 1st hat das mittlere Batteriepaket mit 58 kWh. Maximal 150 kW sowie ein Drehmoment von 310 Newtonmetern wirken auf die Hinterräder. Die Höchstgeschwindigkeit ist auf 160 km/h limitiert. | {
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Brace yourselves, starting March 11, 2014, a new line of Game of Thrones-inspired clothing is coming from Black Milk. So far, they’ve posted a few pictures of the collection, but the full line has yet to be revealed.
[Source: Black Milk on Facebook] | {
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Emergency declaration allows for broad coordination of state agencies to respond to outbreak
WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney on Thursday issued a State of Emergency declaration to prepare for the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19). The State of Emergency directs the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) and the Delaware Department of Health & Social Services’ Division of Public Health to mobilize state agency resources to assist with Delaware’s response to the virus.
The declaration becomes effective at 8:00 a.m. on Friday, March 13, 2020.
Governor Carney’s emergency declaration also:
Requires the Delaware National Guard to take precautionary and responsive actions to assist with Delaware’s response to the coronavirus;
Advises event organizers in Delaware to cancel non-essential public gatherings of 100 people or more, to prevent community spread of coronavirus;
Allows the State of Delaware to conduct public meetings electronically to prevent unnecessary public gatherings;
Prohibits price gouging, or an excessive price increase of goods or services, during the coronavirus outbreak.
“We are taking this situation extremely seriously,” said Governor Carney. “We have been expecting positive cases in Delaware, and for the last two months we have prepared our state’s response in close coordination with the experts at the Delaware Division of Public Health and the Delaware Emergency Management Agency. Today’s emergency declaration will make sure we have the authority and resources necessary to effectively prevent the spread of this virus.
“There are things every Delawarean can do to stay healthy. Wash your hands. Cover your cough. Stay home from work or school if you are sick. It’s especially important for at-risk populations, specifically elderly Delawareans, to avoid large gatherings. And we’re advising Delaware organizations to cancel large, non-essential public events to prevent community spread of the coronavirus. We will continue to respond aggressively to this situation in close coordination with state and federal public health experts.”
Governor Carney’s emergency declaration WILL NOT:
Require schools or businesses to close their facilities;
Implement any driving restrictions in Delaware;
Close state office buildings.
On Wednesday, Governor Carney and the Delaware Department of Human Resources issued guidance to state employees about coronavirus and potential impacts on the state workforce. Full-time and casual/seasonal state employees may be eligible for 14 or 30 days of Paid Emergency Leave if they are forced to miss work due to a coronavirus impact, or to care for a family member.
Costs related to diagnostic testing for coronavirus (COVID-19) will be waived for Delaware families who are covered by the state’s health plan.
Delawareans with questions about COVID-19 or their exposure risk can call the Division of Public Health’s Coronavirus Call Center at 1-866-408-1899 or TTY at 1-800-232-5460 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, or email [email protected].
For the latest on Delaware’s response, visit de.gov/coronavirus.
###
Click here to read the State of Emergency declaration. | {
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Requires Xposed Framework!
whether true or not
Screenshots:
Video:
Compatibility:
Google Nexus 10
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung Galaxy Note II
Samsung Galaxy SII running Chameleon (mainly AOKP-based)
2012 Nexus 7 with CyanogenMod 10.2 (covers all CM10.2 devices).
2012 Nexus 7 with stock Google 4.4
LG Optimus L7
HTC One / HTC One (M8)
HTC Sensation
Sony Xperia Z / Z1
Galaxy S Advance GT-I9070 with CyanogenMod 10.1 (covers all CM10.1 devices).
Issues:
Download:
Source code:
Contribute to this!
Thanks to:
rovo89 for the Xposed Framework.
Nottach for his module's source code, it helped with the icon colours.
C3C076 for GravityBox, parts of the source code were used for keyboard detection.
rovo89 and Tungstwenty, I borrowed some of the UI code from App Settings.
Niek Haarman for his ListViewAnimations library.
Lars Werkman for Holo Color PIcker.
GermainZ for his suggestion on how to determine default icon colour and his many patches
GriffinSauce for the icon.
Developers!
Support development:
Inspired by iOS 6/7 and the latest Android 4.4 fake leaks (), implemented by Paranoid Android as manual tinting, and now, an Xposed module with automatic tinting for most apps.This module tints your status bar according to the currently shown activity, it also allows you to customize the tint color yourself on a per app basis. You'll need to do that for apps where auto detect doesn't work.It also allows you to have the KitKat gradient on devices that support this module, use 66000000 as the color to achieve that.All Jelly Bean and KitKat devices should be compatible. Some ROMs may introduce issues, if they're open source, I can look into it, if not, post a reply with a deodexed copy of your SystemUI.apkTested on:To report an issue, use Github, I can't track this thread due to how big it's become:Tinted Status Bar is licensed under GPLv3, including any parts of it in any of your code requires you to release the source code of it.I can't add default colours for all the apps that aren't auto detected. You can contribute to a list of colours that look great on the app.The quickest way to get the colours is to take a screenshot of the app and use an app like "Color Picker" from the store and using that to get the colour.Feel free to ask devs to add support for this!Get and add your colours here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...EE&usp=sharing Google Drive doesn't support transparency, so if you want to make a cell coloured, remove the first "ff"s, colours should be in the format "RRGGBB". My mod takes "AARRGGBB" too though.Here's the API, you can easily support this in your apps by using this class in your project: https://github.com/MohammadAG/Xposed...arTintApi.java If you found this mod useful, consider donating with PayPal or buying the Play Store donation package | {
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STT in Übernahme von No Tricks Zone, Pierre Gosselin
Wie in Südaustralien, so geht es in auch Deutschland: Der Versuch, mit Sonnenschein und Brise ein Industrieland zu versorgen, hat zu explodierenden Energiepreisen, Armut und Mangel an Energie und zu einem Versorgungsnetz am Rande des Zusammenbruchs geführt.
Der Blick von außen auf das deutsche Debakel von NoTricksZone, Pierre Gosselin, der hier einen Bericht auf Focus zusammenfasst:
Manager Magazin berichtet, wie Erneuerbare Energie Deutschland in einen wilden Abwärtsstrudel führt
Es ist das Paradoxon der deutschen Energiewende: Die Kurse an der Strombörse sind niedriger als je zuvor, doch die Konsumenten bezahlen inzwischen die höchsten Preise – ohne Begrenzung im weiteren Anstieg. Darüber hinaus, je mehr grüner Strom ins Netz eingespeist wird, desto mehr Kohle wird verbrannt.
Kommunistische Staatsplanung
Wenn die Beschreibung des heutigen deutschen Stromnetzes wie eine Horrorgeschichte des kommunistischen staatlich geplanten Managements klingt, dann weil es genauso so ist. Und überraschenderweise ist die ganze Industrie auf dem besten Weg zu einer sozialistischen Kernschmelze.
Dafür sorgt die ehemalige DDR-Kommunistin Angela Merkel zusammen mit ihren grätenlosen westdeutschen CDU-Kollegen, von denen viele eifrig bei der Abzockerei mitmachen und das Land in einen Abwärtsstrudel reißen, ohne das einer aussteigen kann.
Heute klärt uns der deutsche Manager Magazin über das grüne Stromnetz des Landes auf – mit Blick in die Leitwarte des Netzbetreibers Tennet. Manager Magazin nennt es das Herz der deutschen Energiewende. Hier entscheidet ein Team von Ingenieuren, wie viel wovon in die verschiedenen Netze eingespeist wird und welche Windparks liefern dürfen und welche nicht.
Balanceakt
Heute ist die Stromversorgung zu einem herausfordernden Balanceakt geworden. Betriebsleiter Volker Weinreich: „Wir müssen immer öfter eingreifen, um das Stromnetz stabil zu halten. Wir kommen immer näher an die Grenze heran. “
Der Grund für die Netzinstabilität: die wachsende Menge an schwankender Erneuerbarer Energie aus Wind und Sonne. Manager Magazin schreibt, dass es immer vier Mitarbeiter in der Tennet-Zentrale außerhalb von Hannover sein müssen, die die Netzfrequenz überwachen, um sicherzustellen, dass sie nahe bei 50 Hz bleibt. Zu viel Abweichung und Instabilität würde die „schlimmste denkbare Katastrophe bedeuten: Netzkollaps und Stromausfall“.
Weitere Preissteigerungen in der Pipeline
Deutschland hat inzwischen ein riesiges Überangebot an Strom der in das Netz flutet und damit sind die Preise an den Strombörsen auf nie zuvor gesehene Werte gesunken. Dennoch sind den erneuerbaren Stromerzeugern in den meisten Fällen außergewöhnlich hohe Energiepreise über einen Zeitraum von 20 Jahren garantiert. Das bedeutet, dass die Versorger Energie zu einem hohen Preis hereinnehmen müssen, aber dafür nur sehr wenig an den Börsen bekommen können.
Das deutsche Wirtschaftsmagazin schreibt dann, dass wieder die Verbraucher die Last tragen müssen, da die Einspeisezuschüsse um weitere 0,53 Cent-Euro im Jahr 2017 klettern, so dass der Einspeisetarif für Stromverbraucher auf 6,88 Cent -Euro für jede Kilowattstunde klettert.
Bayern steht vor dem industriellen Stromausfall
Ein weiteres großes Problem ist, dass Deutschland bis zum Jahr 2022 die verbleibenden Kernkraftwerke abschaltet, eine Quelle auf die sich Deutschlands industrieller Süden verlässt.
In der Zwischenzeit werden die notwendigen [genannten] Übertragungsleitungen zur Beförderung von Windenergie von der Nordsee nach Süden wegen starker Proteste nicht gebaut und bedingen dadurch Engpässe. Damit ist Bayerns Schwerindustrie gefährdet. Manager Magazin schreibt, dass die Übertragungsleitungen voraussichtlich nicht vor 2025 komplettiert sein werden!
Im 3. Teil berichtet Manager Magazin, dass der Betrieb eines Stromnetzes aufgrund der erneuerbaren Energien komplexer und kostspieliger geworden sei und die Energiewende zu einer „ökologischen Torheit“ geworden sei.
Weinreich beschreibt, wie an stürmischen Tagen Windparks gezwungen sind, herunterzufahren, um das Netz nicht zu kollabieren. Und je mehr Windkraftanlagen online kommen, desto öfter müssen Windparks abgeschaltet werden. Dies macht sie noch ineffizienter [aber ihren Betreibern ist das egal – die Vergütung wird trotzdem bezahlt, der Übersetzer].
Damit arbeiten nicht nur Wind- und Solaranlagen auf Teilzeitbasis, sondern jetzt auch die konventionellen Kraftwerke – alles nach den Launen des Wetters. Viel zu oft liefern sie Energie nur weit unterhalb der Nennleistung der Höchstleistung. Die Kosten dieser Ineffizienzen werden an die Verbraucher weitergegeben. Zehntausende Verbraucher mit niedrigem Einkommen wurden in die „Energiearmut“ gezwungen.
Zitat: Der Verlust an Konkurrenzfähigkeit ist erschreckend. Wenn die Leute entscheiden, ob sie in Europa oder USA investieren, das erste an was sie denken sind die Energiekosten – Paulo Savona, Vorstand der Fondo Interbancario, Italien
1400 Netzeingriffe
Weinreich berichtet, dass das Netz so instabil ist, dass es 2015 für Tennet notwendig war, etwa 1400 Mal einzugreifen. Mit den alten konventionellen Krafttagen waren es nur „ein paar Mal im Jahr“.
In Teil 4 berichtet Manager Magazin, dass alle Netzeingriffe und Abschaltungen von hochlaufenden Windparks die Verbraucher „Milliarden kosten“. Allein im Jahr 2017 schätzt Tennet , werden die Netzkosten um 80% steigen, weitere 30 Euro mehr an Belastung pro Jahr für jeden Haushalt bedeutet. Das Geld fließt natürlich von armen Konsumenten die sich nicht wehren können in die Taschen wohlhabender Solar- und Windparkbetreiber und Investoren.
Kein Wunder, dass viele Experten die deutsche Energiewende als die größte Vermögens Umverteilung von unten nach oben bezeichnen, die je erfunden wurde.
Erschienen auf No TricksZone am 28.12.2016
http://notrickszone.com/2016/12/28/manager-magazin-reports-how-renewable-electricity-is-taking-germany-on-a-wild-ride/#sthash.VaUUtBC6.qddOw0GC.dpbs
gefunden durch
https://stopthesethings.com/2017/01/13/germanys-energiewende-nightmare-grid-collapse-looms-due-to-erratic-wind-solar/
Dort ein Gedanke von Brian Johnston:
January 15, 2017 at 9:29 pm
… im Artikel steht:
Deutschland hat nun eine Überproduktion an Strom
Zuleitungen um überschüssigen Strom von Norden nach Süden zu leiten kommen nicht voran.
1) Antwort: Richtiger ist, dass Deutschland eine Überversorgung mit nutzlosen, aber gefährlichen Oberwellen aufweist. Das führt dazu, dass die Situation ständig überwacht werden muss
2) Warum geben Sie Milliarden für Übertragungsleitungen aus, um unbrauchbare und gefährliche Oberschwingungen nach Süden zu transportieren?
Übersetzt durch Andreas Demmig | {
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The cases are piling up.
Canadian Robert Schellenberg faces execution on drug charges after an unusually abrupt, accelerated and public retrial this week in a Chinese court. Two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, are being held by China for espionage — not yet charged, deprived of sleep and interrogated daily for more than a month now, according to Canadian diplomats.
Other Canadians in China have complained of surprisingly harsh treatment for minor infractions.
None of this violates Chinese law, which bends easily to Beijing's political objectives. But observers say it signals a new level of aggressiveness for a rising power quite prepared to throw its weight around when other nations' actions don't match its world view.
"Death-threat diplomacy" is what Donald Clarke called it on his blog. He's a professor of law at George Washington University Law School and an expert on the Chinese legal system.
Clarke said Beijing's actions against the three Canadians, underlined by Schellenberg's sentence, reinforce the message that "China views the holding of human hostages as an acceptable way to conduct diplomacy."
Clarke followed the Schellenberg case closely and found many aspects out of the Chinese norm, from the speed of the retrial to the high-profile way it was covered by foreign and Chinese media, to the way a 15-year jail sentence suddenly turned into the threat of execution at the retrial. He says fewer than two per cent of appeals in criminal cases in China are sent to a retrial.
Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou is escorted by a member of her private security detail while arriving at a parole office in Vancouver on Dec. 12. Neither Beijing nor Ottawa has drawn a public link between her case and the death sentence for Robert Schellenberg. but many experts say there is no doubt. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)
China's aim seems clear: to pressure Canada into releasing Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested while changing planes in Vancouver last month on an extradition request from Washington. Legal action against Canadians in China ramped up soon after. Beijing insists she has been "unjustifiably detained," according to official statements.
Neither Beijing nor Ottawa has drawn a public link between the cases, but many experts, including Clarke, say there is no doubt. Indeed, China's ambassador to Canada Lu Shaye wrote a column in the Hill Times, an Ottawa publication, comparing the cases.
"It's understandable that these Canadians are concerned about their own citizens. But have they shown any concern or sympathy for Meng after she was illegally detained and deprived of freedom?" asks Lu. He says they have not, because of "white supremacy."
There has been outrage in China as well, in both English- and Chinese-language statements.
The state-run tabloid Global Times, which sometimes reflects official thinking but always shows indignation, called Canada "rude" for its efforts to enlist international allies to push back against China.
"Unreasonable pressure from outside public opinion means nothing to China," an opinion piece said this week.
In this image taken from a video footage run by China's CCTV, Schellenberg attends his retrial in China's Liaoning province on Jan. 14. Schellenberg's death sentence on drug charges is an example of 'death-threat diplomacy,' says Donald Clarke, a professor of law at George Washington University Law School. (CCTV via Associated Press)
The official reaction has also been unyielding.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying rejected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's complaints about China's "arbitrary" application of its laws as the reason for the Schellenberg death penalty verdict and for Canada's increasing the level of warnings to travellers. She called the remarks "irresponsible."
She also said Trudeau was "making himself a laughingstock with specious statements."
Personal attacks like these against leaders of countries China normally considers friendly are unusual. But the indignant tone has been increasingly common under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
His message has been strongly nationalistic, firing up feelings that China doesn't get the respect it deserves and that the Western world is out to get China.
The reaction has often been swift and unyielding to comments by U.S. President Donald Trump on trade, to international courts when they rule against China on issues of sovereignty or to other countries when they criticize Beijing for its harsh anti-Muslim policies against Uighurs in the province of Xinjian.
In a case that the authorities deem sufficiently important, the courts will do as they are told. — Prof. Donald Clarke
"It's a clear demonstration of what I call the New China," said former Canadian ambassador Guy Saint-Jacques, who spent four years in Beijing. He said this is a China that is "a lot more assertive and aggressive, that acts in many ways as a bully."
In the case of Meng, China has chosen not to direct its anger at the United States, which initiated her arrest, likely because it doesn't want to risk upsetting Washington during sensitive trade negotiations.
Throughout the current dispute with Canada and the apparent crackdown on Canadians in China, Beijing has insisted that no such political motivation was possible. Its judiciary, said the Foreign Ministry, is independent and "free from any interference" from politicians.
Many experts disagree.
"Judicial independence is not even an ideal, let alone a reality" in China, said George Washington University's Clarke. "In a case that the authorities deem sufficiently important, the courts will do as they are told."
Will Canada's public complaints, and its efforts to enlist foreign allies, including the U.S., have an impact in Beijing?
Probably not, says Saint-Jacques.
High-level talks suggested
He suggests trying to arrange talks with a high-level body called the National Security and Rule of Law Dialogue, with officials from Canada and China. The group was set up in 2016 and helped influence the release of Canadian Christian Aid worker Kevin Garrett, who was also being held for political reasons.
Saint-Jacques also says if the strategy of enlisting allies to help Canada pressure China doesn't work, Ottawa may have to consider more severe moves — anything from cancelling training for Chinese athletes who may be in Canada to prepare for Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics to, ultimately, recalling Canada's ambassador to China or expelling China's ambassador in Ottawa "if things go very badly."
But if Ottawa takes any of those measures, he warned, Beijing will respond in kind.
"We have to keep our eyes wide open when we deal with China, and I'm not sure that people understand all that it implies," he said. | {
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I am a manatee, and I love you. Here is the official home of all calm manatees.
Here is where you can donate to Save the Manatees.And here is where you can take action save manatees!
Here's the FAQ! | {
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Angela Merkel endorses burka ban 'wherever legally possible' Published duration 6 December 2016
image copyright AFP image caption Mrs Merkel retains wide support but she faces a tough challenge from populists
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the wearing of full-faced veils should be prohibited in the country "wherever it is legally possible".
At a meeting of her CDU party, she backed a burka ban in schools, courts and other state buildings.
It is widely accepted that a total ban would violate Germany's constitution.
Mrs Merkel was re-elected CDU leader but faces a tough challenge by the right-wing anti-immigration AfD party in next year's polls.
She has seen her approval ratings slip since her decision to allow about a million asylum seekers into Germany during last year's Europe-wide migrant crisis.
However the centre-right chancellor, who has been power since 2005, still retains wide support.
She was re-elected Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader on Tuesday with 89.5% of the votes cast by about 1,000 delegates.
The politics of symbolism - Jenny Hill, BBC News, Essen
Mrs Merkel's comments drew thunderous applause from her party faithful but it will dismay those who have looked to her as Europe's defender of liberal values.
German constitutional law would probably prevent the CDU from seeking a complete ban on burkas in public. Nevertheless, Mrs Merkel made her distaste for full face veils clear.
In practice, very few women cover their faces in Germany. But this is about symbolism. Mrs Merkel has faced significant party and public anxiety about the integration of about a million asylum seekers.
She has gradually hardened her asylum policy, making it easier, for example, to deport foreign-born criminals.
And this is also about timing. Tuesday's speech in effect sets out the CDU stall ahead of next year's general election.
Mrs Merkel's conservatives, like other established parties, are losing votes to the AfD. Even she admits this will be the toughest election she has ever fought.
Mrs Merkel told the annual CDU congress in the city of Essen that it was right to expect integration from newcomers.
She expressed support for a proposal, outlined in August by Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, to outlaw the burka or any full-face veil in public buildings.
image copyright AFP image caption Mrs Merkel's right-wing opponents accuse her of presiding over the Islamisation of society
In German culture, she said, it was not appropriate for women to completely cover their faces and the full veil "should be banned wherever it is legally possible".
The BBC's Jenny Hill says it is the first time that the chancellor has made such comments in a major speech.
In recent months, the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) has capitalised on a wave of anger over last year's migrant crisis, and made strong gains in regional elections.
Polls suggest the AfD currently has 12% support nationally.
Its success is mirrored by that of populist, anti-establishment parties in other European countries where elections are also due next year.
In France - where the full-face veil has been banned in all public places since 2010 - the far-right National Front (FN) is credited with 30% support ahead of a presidential poll. | {
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I've been trying to build a UR deck involving my favorite card in Innistrad, Ludevic's Test Subject. The goal is to use Delvers and control early game to keep the field level, keeping a draw-go type deck.
Ludevic's abomination is a mana dump, and him flipping typically will win the match if he's not dealt with quickly.
Originally the deck had 4 fling, but I realized that the card really hurt my card advantage if not used sparingly. The prospect of flipping the Test Subject, Swing, Fling for 26 damage turn 5 is too hilarious to pass up however, so it stayed as a 2of. Fling also works wonders with the charmbreaker devils w/ the pike. And as a last resort, in response to a Doomblade or etc, fling as a last bit of oomph out of the bigger cards.
I've play tested it only slightly, and I'll be taking it to FNM this week. Please comment and critique! I want to build the deck as a direct response to a lot of the threats currently in the meta, and any constructive comment is a good one! Thanks! | {
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Framers work May 9 on the roofline of a home at Lennar's Plateau community in Somersett in Northwest Reno. The aggregate price for 1,000 board feet of common framing materials is up 60 percent from January 2016.
Courtesy Rob Sabo
RENO, Nev. — Tariffs enacted on softwood lumber imported from Canada are helping create a “perfect storm” of escalating construction costs in Northern Nevada.
In December 2017, the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed tariffs on five of Canada’s largest producers of softwood lumber such as fir, spruce and pine, which are commonly used to build single-family homes and multi-family apartment complexes.
And as anyone who has driven around greater Reno-Sparks or Carson City during the past year can attest, there’s no small amount of new construction going on.
The tariffs — set at 20.8 percent for the majority of Canadian softwood producers, and a bit higher for a few companies that were singled out for individual duty fees — are leading to increased construction costs for projects throughout Northern Nevada.
Don Tatro, executive director of the Builders Association of Northern Nevada, says the tariffs amount to additional materials costs of nearly $6,400 per single-family home and $2,400 per multi-family unit.
Coupled with white-hot demand for new housing and rising prices for fuel, land and labor, and it’s no wonder why housing and apartment prices across Northern Nevada have gone haywire.
“All of this has had significant impact and contribution to the increased price of constructing a home,” Tatro says. “When the cost of a home goes up $1,000, there are 2,077 families priced out of a house in Nevada, and 348 in Washoe County. Just with the lumber price increases, that is more than 2,000 people priced out of a home.”
Massive increases in lumber prices
Canada is the largest exporter of lumber to the United States. In 2016, the U.S. consumed 47.1 billion board feet of lumber, the National Association of Home Builders reports.
American mills produced 32.8 billion board feet of lumber, meaning it imported 14.3 billion board feet of lumber. About 95 percent of that wood was imported from America’s northern neighbor.
According to the National Association of Home Builders, framing lumber prices have spiked 60 percent in the past 27 months. In January 2016, the Random Lengths Framing Lumber Composite price was $312. In March of 2018 it was $502.
The price is an aggregate of 15 commonly used framing materials, such as 2×4 studs and other common lengths, calculated per one thousand board feet of material. The composite index does not include plywood and other types of sheathing common in residential and multi-family construction.
Regional homeowners are bearing the burden for additional materials costs in residential construction, and it’s the same for developers of commercial projects.
General contractor Frank Lepori says any increases in lumber costs typically are passed through to clients, but his team works diligently with subcontractors and vendors to lock in pricing and avoid potential cost increases for clients.
“At this point we have not felt any effects to our schedule and work load,” Lepori says, (but) at some point clients may stop building projects if the costs do not work in our clients’ pro formas.”
Boosting U.S. timber production is one way to counter the tariffs; however, any increases in the domestic supply of timber products requires a deep look at potential environmental impacts of increasing production on public lands, Tatro says.
More at play than just lumber
Lumber is just one aspect of rising construction costs. Perhaps more concerning to regional tradesman and advocacy groups such as BANN is the continued shortage of qualified labor.
Lepori says the strain of a tight labor market has had a greater impact on regional construction efforts than the duty fees being imposed on imported materials – although that could change if imports dwindle and materials become harder to source.
“Our biggest impact is the tight labor market,” Lepori says. “In our industry it takes years to be a first-rate foreman or supervisor, and that is the person most companies can’t find. Rising fuel costs are a concern, but they are not a show-stopper.
“Rising material prices (also) are a problem, but the bigger problem is the lead times on products or not being able to find the product that you need.”
Increasing regulatory costs and delays are the final piece of the puzzle that are pushing up construction costs. Tatro says tightening restrictions and lengthening delays on the regulatory side, coupled with the higher costs for homes and apartments, already has priced thousands of Nevadans out of the American Dream of home ownership.
The solution, he adds, is for regional construction experts and business leaders to focus on changing aspects of regional development that are within the industry’s control, such as creating additional training programs and speeding up the approval process for new development.
“We need to act fast,” Tatro says. “Whether it’s increased production of U.S. timber, or creating a pipeline of labor through through smart immigration and education of younger Americans in the trades – the average age of plumber in the U.S. is 57 years old – or increasing the speed at which we can move projects through and still conform to all local standards and master plans.
“If we don’t find solutions to increasing costs and delays, we are stuck with an unaffordable product that is in significant need and substandard housing for those who should be able to afford it,” he adds. “It’s critical that regulators and elected officials understand that these costs are real and have a direct impact on every one of their constituents.
“We can’t focus on a single type of housing; we need to focus on all types because we have demand for all types of projects, from infill housing to starter homes and luxury homes — we need them all.” | {
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Photography Angela Stephenson
In a London warehouse on a sunny day in June, Charli XCX is tied to the bonnet of a white Mercedes. Chris (formerly Christine and the Queens), her rescuer, is strapped to the boot. After Chris frees them both, the two clamber to the roof and writhe along to the lyrics Chris penned for their new collaboration, Gone, which debuted at Primavera back in June and hasn't been heard since... until now. Although Charli wrote the chorus line: “I feel so unstable fucking hate these people” is version 2.0. Her original version was “I feel so unstable fucking hate my label”. (“I wasn’t going through hate with them at the time or anything. I just thought it would be funny,” she clarifies).
The dim industrial space of the Colin Solal Cardo-directed video shoot evokes the same warehouse rave backdrop of other Charli videos like 5 in the Morning. It’s the aesthetic of the afterparty; the brand Charli has spent the last four years and two mixtapes cultivating carefully. As the yell of “lunch!” reverberates to the cavernous ceiling, the pair dismount and totter carefully off to eat salads from styrofoam bowls. Charli’s aspirational image-crafting of eternal partying has been so effective, it’s startling to see her doing anything so mundane.
Afterwards in a back room, the duo don towelly white bathrobes over their silver chains and black lace. (Charli’s corset and harness were designed by Fleet Ilya, her dress by Matilda Aberg). Settling side-by-side into a leather sofa in the corner, they’re still talking about Mark Ronson’s Club Heartbreak afterparty they attended together last night. Chris sensibly wanted to stay in given this morning’s early call time. Charli coaxed her out.
Last night’s frivolities belie the laser sharp focus she’s training on her upcoming album, Charli, announced last month. “I’m in work zone,” she says. “I’m never in the moment, I’m always like ‘What’s next? How can I make it better?’” She’s not exaggerating her workaholism; as well as recent album material like Gone and Blame It On Your Love ft. Lizzo, Charli has put out standalone singles like Spicy ft. Diplo & Herve Pagez, and the song she co-wrote for Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello just hit number one.
“You know we text every other day? I feel like I’m in a relationship!” - Charli XCX
As for Chris and Charli’s collaboration, it’s been a long time coming. Ever since they met a few years ago, the pair had spoken about working together. Then last year, Charli went to Sweden to do album sessions and found a beat she liked with collaborators Noonie Bao and Lotus IV. After Charli sent the fledgling piece to Chris, she fired back fully fleshed-out lyrics in twenty minutes. “I went to a museum, and by the time I got out you’d sent it back to me. I had to run back to my hotel to get headphones,” Charli laughs.
Chris’ enthusiasm about the collaboration is evident, but still kind of surprising. Musically, Chris has always been a lone wolf. “I’ve been writing songs on my own in my basement in Paris for the longest time. It’s all I know,” she says. “I’d tried to collaborate previously and I felt so fucking uncomfortable, I was like ‘what am I doing here?’”
Chris’ impact on pop in recent years has been monumental, but she’s an independent auteur. Her second album, where she reinvented herself as the androgynous Chris character and emerged from the chrysalis of ‘and the Queens’, was acclaimed for its exploration of her own queerness. Bringing her fiercely self-directed art to meet someone else’s was a challenge for her, and one she insists could only have been accomplished with IRL friend Charli. “You know we text every other day?” Charli blurts out. “I feel like I’m in a relationship!”
“It was the first time collaborating and feeling comfortable for me,” Chris confesses. “I’d never do it just for the sake of doing it. Sometimes my record label are like ‘can you try to collaborate more?’ but I can’t force it.” So what was different about working on Gone? “The fact that she let me write her lyrics was proof of trust. I was on a Charli track but being myself”.
Charli is a master of making people feel welcome in her sonic galaxy; in 2015, she abandoned conventional pop and has since spent four years honing the craft of collaboration. After her big US hits like Fancy with Iggy Azalea and Boom Clap, she got sick of waiting on a superstardom that never came. The anticlimax of mainstream charts drove her pivot to the weird PC pop team-ups that have become her trademark, and in the intervening four years she’s created a critically acclaimed body of work over two ten-track, non-charting mixtapes, Number 1 Angel and Pop 2. Her work in this period has been almost exclusively collaborative, and she has ongoing relationships with a who’s who of up-and-coming (largely queer) underground artists like SOPHIE, AG Cook, Dorian Electra, Kim Petras, and many others.
Charli’s reinvention has resulted in a dual identity. The mainstream recognise Charli as a peripheral songwriter of top 40 hits, while a growing base of queer and subcultural fans know her as a messianic cult figure with an alchemical knack for bringing unique artists together on insane, experimental bangers. The contrast between these two personalities couldn’t have been more pronounced than last summer, when she supported Taylor Swift on her tour the very same week that she performed her sweat-slicked, pulse-pounding Pop 2 show in London’s Village Underground. It felt like watching two completely different artists.
Charli is much more comfortable in the latter role; she sees herself and her collaborators as the future of pop music, and regularly updates her playlist on Spotify, unashamedly titled “the motherfucking future!”
“For me, Number 1 Angel and Pop 2, that was me really throwing all my cares about commercial success out the window. And not being hooked on stats anymore, like ‘oh, I need to be the Boom Clap girl forever!’”, Charli says steadily. “Fuck that girl. That girl’s not me. I think that’s when I really garnered an actual fanbase who would really care about an album. AG Cook and I originally wanted to do a third mixtape, but then we said ‘fuck it, now feels like the right time for an album’.”
Charli didn’t just reject commercial success after 2015, she rejected conventional release cycles too, declaring she would never release another album proper and having to initially record her Number 1 Angel mixtape without her label’s permission (which is why that altered “fucking hate my label” lyric piques interest). Her revision of that policy has left some wondering if the album signals another turning point for her. Is she boomeranging back at radio pop again, given that her recent collabs Boys and 1999 broke the UK top 40?
Charli insists that’s not the case; she’s trying to simply evolve the legacy she’s already created, not turn away from it. “There are elements of Pop 2 on this album,” she says. “There’s no real theme lyrically other than it’s my most personal body of work. It has more emotional moments, even though I’m not someone who particularly cares about having everything drenched in feeling”. (No kidding -- Charli’s 2017 track Drugs ft. ABRA declared her dealer was the love of her life). “Parties are emotional places where weird things happen; you fall in love, you break up. But there are other sides of parties that aren’t so emotional -- like, I write about cars a lot,” she says bluntly. “For me, this album is just like a train of thought. It feels quite conversational.”
Charli also reveals that Gone is her favourite song from the album (“Mine too,” jokes Chris) and that it’s the most representative of the whole body of work. “You kinda get everything that’s happening on the album from this one song,” she explains.
It feels so incredibly right that Chris and Charli should finally come together. They both know what it is to reinvent themselves, they both know what it means to push boundaries, and they deeply appreciate each other’s sounds and aesthetics. “When I was working on my second album, I was listening with my sound engineer a lot to your mixtapes,” Chris tells Charli. “What you were doing was really challenging for other artists. You know how to write a banger but you challenge what a banger means. You’re questioning the form.”
Chris hints insightfully that this is perhaps the mysterious link between Charli’s music and the queer community. She has worked with so many queer collaborators and the majority of the niche fans garnered from her mixtapes are LGBT. “Even an aesthetic can be deeply queer,” Chris analyses. “It’s the hybridity. The sound and production you have -- you’re in pop music but you’re questioning it, you’re not digested by it. I think that is quite queer.”
Most queer fans probably don’t devote that much incisive thought to why we love Charli. (We just replace our daily spamming of “release Taxi!” to demand that Charli “drop Gone!” instead). And while it’s hard to imagine workaholic Charli ever taking a break -- she says that, without the LGBT community, she wouldn’t have the career that she has. “I might even have stopped,” she says seriously. “I owe so much to the queer community. I feel comfortable in my own skin standing on stage singing songs to people that really care and believe in me. That’s been a life-changing thing for me.” It’s easy to forget, with all the acerbic memes, that gay stan culture harbours much sentimentality. And you’d better believe that Charli ft. Chris is a queer stan fever dream; release day will surely become an international holiday on the same level of Power Bottom Appreciation Day.
If there’s any ‘why’ question over this collab, it’s perhaps; ‘why now?’ Charli’s accelerating toward her self-titled album after several years of subterranean experimentation. It’s the heart-pounding climax of an upward journey. Chris, on the other hand, is winding down and back out of the spotlight after the massive self-mining operation that was her second LP. It seems like they’re at opposite points in their life-cycles right now, like they should be ships passing in the pop night.
“It was a really intense year for me personally and artistically,” says Chris. “I’m still touring the second album and just having daydreams of how to follow it. I’m writing weird diaries every day. I have instincts and images -- it’s just a case of figuring out if it’s a good instinct, and then acting on it. I was telling Charli earlier, I feel like I’m a novelist and I have to write the third chapter.”
Maybe it makes perfect sense then, that Charli XCX ft. Chris is happening right now. Both women are writing their third chapters, in a sense. This is a pivotal moment in Charli’s career -- she’s carved out a niche identity for herself over the last few years, defining herself by being rebellious against industry structures and pop norms, and now she’s faced with the challenge of integrating that oppositional spirit into something as conventional as an album.
As if to remind her of that pressure, her team swoops back in. Chris is whisked away for make-up. “Tie me back to that car!” Charli yells. And suddenly, they’re both gone.
Credits
All photography Angela Stephenson | {
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a rally in Bhopal, the state which goes to the polls alter this
year has once again hit out the congress party. Without mentioning the on-going Rafale controversy, P M Modi accused the Congress of indulging in mud- slinging against the government and running away from debating issues of development with the government.
The Prime Minister tweeted about his scheduled engagement in Bhopal
Looking forward to interacting with the hardworking Karyakartas of @BJP4MP at the #KaryakartaMahakumbh in Bhopal today. https://t.co/ZxPSqlIoxJ — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 25, 2018
Modi took a did at the Congress saying the 125-year-old party has been reduced to such a condition that it is “begging” with small parties for alliances.
He said even if the Congress gets allies, the coalition will not be successful. Modi said his government believes in social justice for all and that its ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’ (cooperation of all, development of all) campaign is not just a slogan.
He expressed confidence that the BJP would emerge victorious in the upcoming Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh as well as in the Lok Sabha elections next year. | {
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Two decades after it started spraying coca fields with herbicide, Colombia is torn between continuing to wage a US-sponsored war on drugs from the sky and mounting fears of health risks.
Launched in 1994, the spraying program was long treated as sacrosanct by Colombian officials, who gladly accepted billions of dollars in funding from Washington and succeeded in slashing the cocaine production that has fueled the country's five-decade civil war.
But since the World Health Organization warned last month that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide, is "probably carcinogenic," infighting has broken out in President Juan Manuel Santos's cabinet over whether to continue the air war on coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine.
Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria said last week that Colombia should "immediately suspend" spraying—a move vehemently opposed by Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon, who said it would "give criminals the upper hand."
The row erupted just as US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid a visit to Colombia, which the United States sees as one of its closes allies in the region.
The South American country has received $9 billion in US funding since 1999 under "Plan Colombia," a military and economic cooperation program aimed at fighting drug trafficking and the long-running insurgencies by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN).
Aerial spraying, carried out with American planes and pilots, is a key component of the plan. Blinken urged Colombia to continue using glyphosate, "the most efficient way to fight illegal crops."
He said the chemical—sold by US biotechnology company Monsanto under the brand name Roundup—was an agricultural product in widespread use in the United States and Europe.
"Glyphosate is used in every state in my country, and believe me, we would have taken measures if there were any problem with it," he told El Tiempo newspaper.
'High collateral cost'
Not everyone agrees.
Daniel Mejia, the head of Colombia's Center for Research on Security and Drugs (CESED), called for a moratorium on glyphosate.
"We carried out a study that showed fumigating caused dermatological and respiratory problems and provoked miscarriages," he told AFP.
Mejia said aerial spraying has "little effect" anyway, because it only achieves results on three percent of the surface area treated.
"That doesn't justify such a high collateral cost to people's health," he said, urging authorities to focus on clandestine drug laboratories and smuggling routes instead.
But proponents say aerial spraying works.
Thanks in part to the program, Colombia has succeeded in reducing its coca fields from more than 140,000 hectares (346,000 acres) in 2001 to 48,000 hectares in 2013, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
It recently lost its long-standing title as the world's top cocaine producer to neighboring Peru.
Less cocaine means less drug money fueling the long-running conflict that has drawn in a string of leftist guerrilla groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers.
The government has mainly used aerial spraying in the south of the country—a stronghold for the FARC, the largest guerrilla group, which authorities accuse of financing itself with drug trafficking.
The FARC, which was founded in 1964 in the aftermath of a peasant uprising, says it is fighting for the rights of rural communities where coca farming is sometimes the only way to make a living.
The FARC and the government have been holding peace talks since 2012, and in May last year reached a deal that aims to eliminate illegal drugs by supporting alternative crops and giving farmers incentives to voluntarily destroy their coca plants.
But a peace accord has remained elusive, and both sides say the drug plan is contingent on reaching a final deal.
In the meantime, President Santos has side-stepped the row over the aerial spraying.
His staff said the final authority on the matter is the National Narcotics Council, which falls under the Justice Ministry.
Explore further Colombia drug debate revived as herbicide deemed carcinogen
© 2015 AFP | {
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