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WELL MADE, OBJECTIVE DOCUMENTARY OF THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND. I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEE VIDEO OF THE KILLING OF THE BANK TRUCK DRIVER, WHICH AT THE TIME SEEMED UNJUSTIFIED TO NE. JUST A WORKING STIFF, WHILE THEIR PARENTS WE SEE ARE UPPER CLASS. I ALSO WONDER WHY THERE WAS NO COVERAGE OF PATTY HEARST? DID THEY FACE A SUIT IF THEY COVERED HER? I WAS AMBIGUOUS ABOUT THEM AT THE TIME, AND THEY LOST ME AS THEIR VIOLENCE CONTINUED. I WAS IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN THE SOUTH, ALONG WITH A LOT OF OTHER WHITE SOUTHERNERS. WISH SOMEONE WOULD COVER US BEFORE WE ALL DIE. MOST OF MY FRIENDS HAVE. I TOLD OCCUPY TO DO A SILENT VIGIL FR0M THE RICH PART OF PARK AVENUE IN NYC DOWN TO WALL ST. WE WOULD JUST STAND THERE, HOLD A SIGN OR NOT, BLOCKING NO EXITS OR ENTRANCES. MIC CHECKS AND DRUMMING ALL NIGHT WERE A GENUINE PUBLIC NUISANCE. SILENCE VIGILS GET AS MUCH COVERAGE AND ELICIT MORE RESPECT.
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5 APRIL, 2017 – Fortec Motorsports and Hampus Ericsson, younger brother of Formula 1 driver Marcus Ericsson, have agreed terms on a deal which will see the talented Swedish karter race in the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered Ford EcoBoost. Ericsson will compete in the series’ Ford F4 Challenge Cup where entrants contest a maximum of seven out of 10 meetings during the season.
“I’m really excited and happy to race in British F4 with Fortec Motorsports,” said Ericsson. “I cannot wait to start my first race at Donington Park.
“I wanted to make the step up from karting to cars and British F4 is the best place to do that. The championship is so competitive and the tracks look very interesting to drive.
“I raced with Alex Quinn in karting and he’s really strong. I also know Logan Sargeant well. To compete against talented drivers like them is what every driver wants to do to prove themselves.”
Ericsson finished runner-up in the Swedish Karting Championship’s KJ Junior class last year and in the top three in the Junior 60 class two years prior.
The 15-year-old joins fellow rookie Oliver York at Fortec Motorsports, who impressed in his maiden outing at the opening round of the UK’s leading single-seater series.
“I’m looking forward to racing alongside Oliver,” added Ericsson. “I think we can work really well together and achieve excellent results.”
Older brother Marcus was no stranger to success with the Fortec Motorsports team, winning the Formula BMW UK Championship in his rookie year and then recording a number of podiums with the team in Formula 3 before climbing his way up to Formula 1.
While Hampus will hope to emulate his brother, he’s keeping his feet firmly on the ground: “I did a couple of testing days in November with the team, but I definitely need to build up my experience of the car and that will happen as I do more and more laps.
“This year is very much a learning year. It will be my first year racing in cars. At the moment I’m not looking too far ahead in my career beyond British F4. I need to take things one step at a time, but it would be nice to be overtaking my brother Marcus in a Formula 1 race one day.”
Fortec Motorsports team owner Richard Dutton echoed the sentiments of his newest recruit: “2017 is very much a learning year for Hampus. He has missed pre-season testing so it’s not going to be easy for him, but we’re looking forward to the rounds at the end of the season to see how much he has developed. The first part of the year will definitely be about learning and building experience.
“Hampus has been very competitive throughout his karting career and I think he has the ingredients to succeed in cars. He set the lap record at the World Junior Karting Finals in Bahrain and performed very well so there’s no doubting his raw speed and talent.
“He tested with us in Valencia last November. It was his first time in the car, but he impressed. In an ideal world he would have done plenty of pre-season testing, but we’ll do the best we can.
“We have put together a very exciting programme for Hampus and I think he will become part of the Fortec Motorsports young driver programme too.”
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Gentrifizierung in Leipzig : Boomtown zulasten der Mieter
In Leipzig gab es lange Zeit viele bezahlbare Wohnungen. Das ändert sich nun. Doch die Menschen wehren sich.
LEIPZIG taz | „Wohnen unter Lebensgefahr“ – so schildern Rosa Bolmito und ihre WG-Freunde die Zustände in ihrem Haus im Leipziger Süden. Ins oberste Stockwerk regnet es rein, im Erdgeschoss brachen unter einer Badewanne die durchgeschimmelten Balken. Alle paar Monate schicke der Vermieter aus Baden-Württemberg eine Kündigung. Bisher konnten die gemeinschaftlich organisierten Mieter dagegenhalten. Denn sie verlangen nur eine Instandhaltung und wollen den Kiez nicht verlassen. Nach einer Generalsanierung würde der Quadratmeterpreis auf 9,80 Euro und damit um das Dreifache steigen.
Solche Konflikte zwischen Mietern und Vermietern sind aus vielen deutschen Großstädten bekannt, aber in Leipzig herrschte bis vor fünf, sechs Jahren noch ein Mietermarkt. Besonders in den verschlissenen Gründerzeitvierteln kann man bis heute günstig wohnen. In ganz Leipzig liegen die Durchschnittsmieten bei 5,50 Euro je Quadratmeter.
„Heruntergekommen, dreckig, ein wenig DDR-nostalgisch und erschwinglich“ beschreibt die Gruppe Prisma von der Interventionistischen Linken, einem Zusammenschluss linksradikaler Gruppen, den ersten äußeren Eindruck von Leipzig. Dieses „gewisse Gefühl von Freiheit“ unterscheide Leipzig von vergleichbaren Großstädten, heißt es in ihrer Broschüre über Gentrifizierungsprozesse in Leipzig.
Bedingt durch Deindustrialisierung und Abwanderung schrumpfte die Bevölkerung der Stadt in den 90er Jahren um gut 100.000 Menschen. Seit dem Jahre 2001 aber wächst die Einwohnerzahl wieder, zuletzt in schwindelerregendem Tempo. Allein im Jahr 2015 kamen knapp 16.000 Bewohner hinzu. Das ist in Relation zur Gesamtbevölkerung deutscher Rekord.
Es dominiert das Wörtchen „noch“
Auch mit dem Image als Boomtown. Das gilt sowohl für die Ansiedlung von Großunternehmen wie BMW, Porsche oder DHL an der Peripherie als auch für das hippe Stadtklima. Ein relativ aufgeklärter Geist, Kunstfreundlichkeit, eine intakte Innenstadt und das aus Braunkohletagebauen entstandene „Neuseenland“ im Süden verstärken den überall spürbaren Trend zur Urbanisierung noch.
Junge Zuzüge und eine steigende Geburtenrate ließen das Durchschnittsalter der Stadtbevölkerung auf knapp 43 Jahre sinken. Die Wohnungsleerstände haben sich nach Schätzungen der Stadtverwaltung auf rund 22.000 Wohnungen fast halbiert. Dieter Rink vom Leipziger Umweltforschungszentrum weist aber auf den hohen „nicht marktaktiven“ Leerstand hin. Unsanierte Wohnungen also, die einfach zu kaputt sind.
Wenn Rink über den Wohnungsmarkt in Leipzig redet, dominiert das Wörtchen „noch“. Leipzig sei noch eine der preiswertesten, aber eine der ärmsten Großstädte Deutschlands. Der mit dem wachsenden Druck auf den Wohnungsmarkt verbundene Umschlag erfolge langsamer als beispielsweise in Jena oder Dresden. Ab 2010 seien Gentrifizierungsprozesse eher „inselförmig“ zu beobachten, direkte Verdrängung mit rüden Methoden selten.
Zum Brennpunkt für Gentrifizierung wird immer mehr der Leipziger Osten. Immobilienspekulanten haben inzwischen den international gefärbten Kiez um die Eisenbahnstraße, in Sachsen einst als „gefährlichste Straße Deutschlands“ verschrien, entdeckt. Die Prisma-Gruppe listet hier verwurzelte Basiskulturprojekte wie die „Pilotenküche“ oder das „Japanische Haus“ auf, die bei Eigensanierungs- und Zwischennutzungsverträgen ausgetrickst wurden und denen nun die Schließung droht.
Stadt hat wenig eigene Flächen
Neben westdeutschen Kapitalanlegern tummeln sich auch Jörg Zochert und Holger Krimmling, die die KSW Projektentwicklungs GmbH betreiben, in Leipzig. Die beiden gehören zu den wenigen Ostdeutschen, die mit Immobilien große Geschäfte gemacht haben. Ihr nächstes Großvorhaben ist der Umbau der ehemaligen Hauptpost am Augustplatz zu einer Luxusklinik und zu einem nur wenige hundert Meter von der Uni entfernten Appartementhaus für reiche Studis.
Aber Leipzig wäre nicht die „Bürgerstadt“, wenn sich dagegen nicht ungewöhnlich breiter Widerstand organisieren würde. Es gibt „Häuservernetzungstreffen“ für bezahlbaren Wohnraum und gegen Zwangsentmietung. Eine Initiative, in der sich auch Bolmito und ihre Mitbewohner engagieren, nennt sich „87%“ – so hoch ist der Mieteranteil in Leipzig. Sie organisierte im November einen mietenpolitischen Ratschlag. „Für Einkommensschwache fehlen in Leipzig bis zu 4.500 Wohnungen jährlich“, konstatierte Forscher Rink bei dem Treffen.
Beate Ginzel vom Amt für Wohnungsbauförderung musste einräumen, dass „die Steuerungsmöglichkeiten der Stadt für bezahlbaren Wohnraum relativ begrenzt sind“, weil sie zu wenige eigene Flächen besitze.
Das Ende 2015 novellierte wohnungspolitische Konzept der Stadt verwendet viele Wendungen wie „Beratung“ und „Sensibilisierung“, bleibt aber bei harten Fakten dünn. Der Begriff „Milieuschutz“ taucht darin nicht auf. Immerhin will die in Leipzig regierende SPD zur Haushaltsdebatte im Februar eine „Voruntersuchung“ für bestimmte Stadtgebiete beantragen.
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hot brunette latina Martini Bows has Spanish Lessons With A Monster black cock. sexy pornstar undresses and shows her perfect body, awesome ass, and small titts. She sweats after hardcore sex until she makes that big black cock to spit the white fluid.
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Women challenge Turkey traditions for right to work By Mark Lowen
BBC Turkey correspondent Published duration 1 March 2018
image caption Ms Resuloglu and her friends meet every month in a tradition called "gün"
The piping-hot tea washes down the Turkish classics: stuffed vine-leaves, cheese pie and bulgur salad.
For Emel Resuloglu and her circle it's a monthly tradition: the women's get-together around the dinner table, or "gün" in Turkish, when one member of the group gets a little money or a gold coin.
Turkey cherishes its traditions. But there's one that some here feel is holding the country back socially and economically - that of women not working, cast only as the home-maker.
"I got a university place but my father didn't want me to go", Ms Resuloglu says, as a freshly-baked cake is added to the table. "So I didn't work, I married and had children at 21 and I regret not studying.
"Some women can't find jobs and others in Turkey are married off young. It's an old-fashioned mentality."
Just 34% of women in Turkey work, by far the lowest of the 35 industrialised countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) where the average is 63%.
image caption "I regret not studying," says Ms Resuloglu, who married and had children at the age of 21
Critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan say his rhetoric is worsening the situation. At a rally two years ago, he called women who aren't mothers "deficient". Previously, he's urged women to have at least three children and denounced birth control as "treason".
Turkey now ranks 130 of 144 in the gender gap index of the World Economic Forum, based on access to health services, educational attainment, economic participation and political empowerment.
But Ravza Kavakci Kan, an MP with the ruling AK Party, says the government has liberated conservative women by revoking Turkey's old ban on headscarves in public institutions.
"This enables women who choose to wear the headscarf to join the workforce and get an education", she says. "But it takes time for policies to apply to real life."
Is it, though, right for the president to tell women how many children they should have or criticise those who choose not to have a family?
image caption Ravza Kavakci Kan, an MP, says Turkey still has a long way to go towards gender equality
"As a president, he looks to the future of our society," she replies. "Turkey has an ageing population and we need more young people, so it's totally a demographic point of view."
There are just two female ministers in the Turkish cabinet - one is the minister for family.
"We're in a better place than we were - but we have a long way to go, just like many countries," concedes Ms Kavakci Kan.
Read more about Turkey
The economic impact of the gender imbalance is clear. A study by the consultancy firm McKinsey found that if women's participation in the Turkish workforce increased to the OECD average, it could boost the country's economic output by 20% by the year 2025.
To that end, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is providing financial support to 15,000 women entrepreneurs in Turkey. Among them is Aynur Gumussoy from the town of Kizilcahamam, in the country's conservative Anatolian heartland.
image caption Aynur Gumussoy says her business success has become an example for other women
Twenty years ago, she went from selling food products on a street table to opening her own bakery, delicatessen and breakfast café - traditionally male-dominated businesses here.
The bakery churns out bazlama - the local speciality of round flatbread. And the delicatessen is a kaleidoscope of rich jams, ripe olives and creamy cheeses.
"When I started, I really struggled," she says. "People frowned upon women who worked, they pitied me. Even my parents were almost ashamed of me. But now I've become an example for others", pointing out several shops in the town now owned by women.
"My message to women is be brave and look to the future," she adds, laughing. "If I'd lost faith, I wouldn't be here today."
image caption Ms Gumussoy overcame many obstacles to open her own business: "I really struggled"
But for much of the country, she is still an exception.
The general trend is towards an increasingly patriarchal society, where conservative values and religion are dominating ever more. And the culture of female subservience here has gone hand-in-hand with soaring domestic violence.
Around 40% of women in Turkey suffer physical abuse. Some 300 to 400 a year die from it.
Official statistics show a 1,400% increase in reported cases of domestic violence between 2003 and 2010. The government says it's because women are being more encouraged to come forward.
On a cold night in Istanbul, some 200 or so feminist protesters marched through the largely-secular area of Besiktas, brandishing banners and chanting for gender equality.
image caption Women held a protest in favour of gender equality in Istanbul
For activist Feride Eralp, keeping women housebound is a significant factor behind the rise in domestic abuse.
"The fact that women don't have economic freedom is one of the major reasons why they're unable to get away from violence in their lives," she says.
"They're forced to remain with partners who are violent because they're economically dependent on them.
"The mentality has to change here. From top to bottom, there's a view that women are unequal by nature and their place is within the family. They're expected only to be wives and daughters."
As the protesters snaked through the backstreets of Besiktas, they were ordered to stop by a group of policemen. They refused, pushing on to the heart of the area's fish market.
Theirs is a defiant voice, a call for women to work and stand up to male dominance. But in today's polarised Turkey, they are increasingly drowned out.
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AMALIA, N.M. — New details emerged Monday about the fate of one of the children found at a New Mexico desert compound raided by police 10 days ago. It came at a court hearing for five adults arrested on charges of abusing 11 other children at the compound.
At the bond hearing for Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and four others, prosecutors presented a disturbing update about his son, 3-year-old Abdul Ghani, whose body was found buried on an apocalyptic-looking compound authorities raided last week. Other children found there told investigators the boy died during a religious ritual.
"Some of the children have stated these ritual were intended to cast out demonic spirits from Abdul Ghani's body. All five defendants knew about these rituals," said Taos County Prosecutor John Lovelace.
The children also said they were instructed how to use firearms and how to clear rooms in case police came to the compound. One child was armed when police arrived.
Their ramshackle home was a trailer buried almost to the roof in the desert. In the filth, authorities found shell casings, gun manuals, broken childrens toys and books written in Arabic. They also found little food, and 11 malnourished children, along with the remains of a toddler.
Taos County Planning Department officials Rachel Romero, left, and Eric Montoya survey property conditions at a disheveled living compound at Amalia, N.M., on Tue., Aug. 7, 2018. AP
Jason and Tanya Badger own the land where the home sat. Jason Badger says he told authorities back in April a missing boy was living on his property.
"What other probable cause could you possibly need," he said.
Authorities insist they investigated but lacked evidence, and public defenders say prosecutors are overhyping the case. Prosecutors said that police recovered not only weapons but a CD on how to build an untraceable and a manual on combat training. However authorities have yet to elaborate on reports that the adults were training kids to become school shooters.
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العثور على جثث 40 نازحاً من الفلوجة قتلوا على يد الحشد الشعبي
العثور على جثث 40 نازحاً من الفلوجة قتلوا على يد الحشد الشعبي
2016-06-06 21:51:30
أربيل
وصلت جثث ما لا يقل عن 40 نازحاً، فروا من قضاء الفلوجة، يتوقع انهم قتلوا على يد مسلحي "الحشد الشعبي"، الى مستشفى عامرية الفلوجة.
وأفاد مصدر طبي عراقي من داخل المستشفى، في تصريح صحفي، اطلعت عليه شبكة رووداو الاعلامية، بأن "الجثث التي تعود الى سكان بلدة الكرمة وآخرين من النازحين الذين فروا من داعش بالفلوجة، واستقبلهم مسلحو الحشد الشعبي عند الممرات الآمنة، بعضها مقطوعة الرأس، وأخرى بلا أطراف وقد مثل بها، فيما دفن آخرون أحياء".
واضاف المصدر الذي رفض الكشف عن اسمه، "أن الشرطة وأبناء العشائر وجدوا الضحايا جثثاً هامدة قي ثلاثة مواقع بمحيط الفلوجة".
وقال العقيد محمد الهلالي من الفرقة الأولى بالجيش، "هناك جثث كثيرة لنازحين أعدموا ولا يمكن لنا في هذا الليل تحديد من فعل بهم هكذا، لكن المؤكد أنهم مدنيون أبرياء" مضيفاً أن "هناك بعض الضحايا من النازحين أكدوا تعرضهم للاغتصاب والتعذيب من قبل مسلحين بالمليشيات".
واشارت تقارير اعلامية، أن رئيس الحكومة أوفد ممثلين عن مكتبه في الساعة الحادية عشرة من مساء أمس، في محاولة لتهدئة الموقف بعد تهديدات أطلقها زعماء عشائر بوقف دعم الحكومة في قتالها تنظيم "داعش"، كما اعلن قائد عمليات الفلوجة، عبد الوهاب الساعدي، فتح تحقيق موسع بالحادثة. أربيلوصلت جثث ما لا يقل عن 40 نازحاً، فروا من قضاء الفلوجة، يتوقع انهم قتلوا على يد مسلحي "الحشد الشعبي"، الى مستشفى عامرية الفلوجة.وأفاد مصدر طبي عراقي من داخل المستشفى، في تصريح صحفي، اطلعت عليه شبكة رووداو الاعلامية، بأن "الجثث التي تعود الى سكان بلدة الكرمة وآخرين من النازحين الذين فروا من داعش بالفلوجة، واستقبلهم مسلحو الحشد الشعبي عند الممرات الآمنة، بعضها مقطوعة الرأس، وأخرى بلا أطراف وقد مثل بها، فيما دفن آخرون أحياء".واضاف المصدر الذي رفض الكشف عن اسمه، "أن الشرطة وأبناء العشائر وجدوا الضحايا جثثاً هامدة قي ثلاثة مواقع بمحيط الفلوجة".وقال العقيد محمد الهلالي من الفرقة الأولى بالجيش، "هناك جثث كثيرة لنازحين أعدموا ولا يمكن لنا في هذا الليل تحديد من فعل بهم هكذا، لكن المؤكد أنهم مدنيون أبرياء" مضيفاً أن "هناك بعض الضحايا من النازحين أكدوا تعرضهم للاغتصاب والتعذيب من قبل مسلحين بالمليشيات".واشارت تقارير اعلامية، أن رئيس الحكومة أوفد ممثلين عن مكتبه في الساعة الحادية عشرة من مساء أمس، في محاولة لتهدئة الموقف بعد تهديدات أطلقها زعماء عشائر بوقف دعم الحكومة في قتالها تنظيم "داعش"، كما اعلن قائد عمليات الفلوجة، عبد الوهاب الساعدي، فتح تحقيق موسع بالحادثة.
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A Republican Senate candidate in Massachusetts on Wednesday poked at incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth WarrenBiden's fiscal program: What is the likely market impact? Warren, Schumer introduce plan for next president to cancel ,000 in student debt The Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by Facebook - Don't expect a government check anytime soon MORE (D-Mass.), remarking that "only a real Indian can defeat a fake Indian."
Shiva Ayyadurai, an Indian-American who is running for the GOP Senate nomination in the state, made the remark on Fox Business's "Varney & Co." while discussing his bid.
“Well, I think only a real Indian can defeat a fake Indian,” Ayyadurai said.
The Republican candidate said he previously sent Warren a DNA test kit on her birthday and was “very sad” when she decided to return the gift.
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“But I’m looking forward to going against Warren. You know, I know how these elites work. I know I can defeat her,” he said.
Other Republicans, including President Trump and former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), have mocked Warren over her past claims of Native-American ancestry.
The Washington Post fact checker declined to provide a rating of Trump’s attacks, sarcastically calling Warren “Pocahontas.”
In 2016, the Post noted that there is "no official documentation" of Warren’s claim to be of Native-American descent based on family stories she heard growing up and advised its readers "to look into it on their own and decide whether Trump’s attacks over Warren’s background have merit.”
Ayyadurai has focused his run for Senate around Warren’s claim to Native-American ancestry, including the tagline “Defeat #FakeIndian Elizabeth Warren” on his campaign website.
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Article content
VANCOUVER, B.C.: Aug. 11, 2019 – Sunday’s weather will cap off the weekend with clouds and showers but it’ll only be a couple more days before we’re back to sun.
Monday will bring a mix of sun and cloud, with the sun lasting through the week.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Vancouver weather: Cloudy and rainy to kick off the week Back to video
Weather: Vancouver, B.C.
Today: Mainly cloudy with 30 per cent chance of showers. High of 21.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, 30 per cent chance of showers overnight.
Tomorrow: Cloudy, 30 per chance of showers early in the day. Mix of sun and cloud late in the day. High of 24.
Source: Environment Canada
Air Quality: Vancouver
Traffic: Vancouver
Zoom in and out to find incidents of note or to peek at a traffic camera.
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“You have bipolar? I don’t even know what that is”.
It was at this second that I knew I needed to spread the word about bipolar.
I was diagnosed with bipolar in July 2018 and when I realised there was a lack of understanding specifically around bipolar as an illness, I wanted to share my day to day experiences with anyone who was interested to show the ups and downs of having it.
I was so scared about telling people. I was worried that people wouldn’t believe me and I was worried that people would think that I am being an attention seeker. At the time I had concerns about telling my family that I had to take medication to help with my condition as I didn’t want to be judged or talked about, even though I knew it would support me with controlling my moods more. My family actually supported me with every aspect of my diagnosis and wanted to learn how to help me, so my thoughts were completely wrong and it was the paranoia that made me feel this way.
I decided to set up an Instagram page and I said to myself that I would be completely open with my feelings; my highs, my lows and everything in between. I didn’t ever expect the reaction that I have received purely for being so honest about my life.
Not only has it had a huge impact on my life, people have reached out to me to tell me how I’ve helped them normalise their feelings which in turn helped them not feel alone.
Once I started receiving positive messages online, I decided to be more open at work within my team. This was probably one of the best things I ever did. I feel my colleagues now have an understanding that there could be mornings that I come into work even though I don’t feel like I can face the day. The support I get from them is incredible; not only does it make me feel that I’m in a safe environment in my workplace, I know that no matter how I’m feeling I will never be judged.
There are people in my life who understand when I am having a depressive episode but there are also people in my life who doesn’t understand mental illnesses and have told me to ‘cheer up’. That was actually really hard to process and also made me question whether I should be feeling how I did. I am however very fortunate that one of my closest friends is a Samaritan and always reassures me that my feelings are valid. My other best friends have never judged any part of my mental illness, have never let me give up when I’ve wanted to and are there day and night when I need them.
In general, I would say now there have been more positives than negatives responses, as I am so open about having bipolar; the highs, the lows and everything in between. I speak to people about my triggers and how I deal with them and will ask for my friends’ and family’s opinions on how I could change my reactions moving forward.
Don’t get me wrong, there have been times where my happy mood has been misinterpreted as a hyper manic episode, but I work with such a great bunch of people that when I explain what a hyper manic episode is for me specifically, it helps them understand that not all high or low episodes are the same and that bipolar is different for each individual.
People have told me that I have inspired them by telling my story. I don’t think I’ll ever understand that as I am just being me, the real me.
If I hadn’t decided to speak openly about my mental illness I wouldn’t be being honest with who I really am.
I’d worry about how people would view my moods and maybe assume I was just being ‘grumpy’ rather than having a depressive episode and I wouldn’t have been able to help and support others who may be going through a tough time too.
Talking openly about having bipolar has truly been a blessing in my life and I have not once regretted telling people my story.
Find Emma's Instagram here.
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A good sign, and another signal about the great support that planetary exploration at NASA receives in Congress.
But let's focus on some of the good news.
Mars 2020 gets an increase—up to $228 million—to support the next stage in its development. The near-Earth object program gets a $10 million boost to $50 million to help identify targets for the asteroid retrieval mission. And, of course, the new start for Europa.
What's a "new start"? At its most basic level, it means that NASA can pursue the development process to create a mission to explore Europa. That's new, and that's important. Europa has moved from "mission concept" to "mission," with details to figure out, plans to draw, teams to assemble, and hardware to build (eventually). It's a step that Congress could not force NASA to take (NASA being an executive branch agency and all) no matter how much money it gave to them. The White House and NASA deserve credit for deciding to pursue this mission. In fact, I believe that this budget will occupy a small place in history as document that officially began the exploration of Europa.
Outside of planetary science, you have the Administration requesting significantly less money for SLS/Orion than Congress provided last year, and requesting significantly more money for commercial crew than Congress has ever provided. Expect both areas to be a point of contention during as this budget works its way through the Senate and House. NASA points out (correctly) that their contracts with Boeing and SpaceX require a higher level of spending for the next few years, and any decrease would delay the 2017 goal of launching astronauts from U.S. soil again.
The Asteroid Retrieval Mission continues its odd course. The Administration once again requests technology development funds for solar electric propulsion, NEO detection, and other related programs throughout the agency, yet only requests $38 million for pre-formulation studies of the asteroid capture spacecraft itself. NASA has yet to decide on which option (redirect a small asteroid or grab a boulder from a larger one) to pursue, and we are not sure when this selection will occur. This continued delay does not bode well for the future of this mission as proposed.
But overall, I think this is a budget worthy of praise. There are problems, sure, but overall this is a strong budget that moves NASA in the right direction. Let's keep running with these increases—all the way to Mars, all the way to Europa.
Fund NASA.
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The Beijing International Film Festival pulled Academy Award-winning gay romance "Call Me By Your Name" from its program, the movie's distributor said on Monday. The move reflects China's checkered relationship with LGBTQ themes in the creative arts.
The film, which won an Oscar earlier this month for best adapted screenplay, was withdrawn from the April festival, Sony Pictures Entertainment confirmed, declining to comment on the reason.
Still from 'Call Me By Your Name" "Call Me By Your Name" - Memento Films International / IMDB
Homosexuality is not illegal in China, but activists say conservative attitudes in some sections of society have led to occasional government clamp-downs.
In July last year, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender conference in the city of Chengdu was called off after the venue canceled the booking citing conflicting events. Lesbian dating app Rela was also shut down last May.
A blacklist of banned audiovisual online content last year also controversially included homosexuality, underlining a long-standing attitude in China toward same-sex relations despite often thriving gay scenes in major cities.
Tony Lin, a documentary filmmaker currently shooting in China, told NBC News there’s a huge LGBTQ community in the country, but it doesn’t receive any above-board representation because of tightening government restrictions.
“The community is still largely invisible and subject to all kinds of misunderstanding,” Lin said. “It’s also ironic. The LGBTQ-based economy is booming in China with the rise of the dating app Blue’d and many forms of pink economy, yet there’s little mentioning of the population in mass media whatsoever.” The "pink economy," which refers to business geared toward the LGBTQ community, is reportedly worth $300 billion a year in China alone.
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Despite government clamp-downs, Lin said moviegoers in China have found ways to see films like “Call Me By Your Name," but he said authorities in the country have in recent years increasingly cracked down on such content.
“LGBTQ issues along with feminist topics and ethnic diversity are viewed as ‘Western values’ and subject to scrutiny,” added Lin, whose documentary short about the lives of older gay men in Hong Kong, “A City of Two Tales,” won the Audience’s Choice Award at the Shanghai Pride Film Festival in 2015.
The pulling of "Call Me By Your Name" comes as China tightens its grip on media content. Parliament this month voted to scrap term limits for President Xi Jinping and hand control over film, news and publishing to the Communist Party's publicity department.
"Call Me By Your Name" follows the summer romance in Italy between a 17-year-old boy and an older graduate student. It was pulled after the screening proposal submitted was not approved by regulators, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Yanzi Peng is the director of LGBT Rights Advocacy China, a group advocating for the community in the region. He called the censorship of the film “unacceptable.”
“But there’s no surprise that a gay movie was censored,” Peng told NBC News. “We can never watch gay-themed movies on the screen in China, no matter how excellent they are.”
Peng referenced the regulation from China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Film and Television (SARFT) last year that explicitly banned gay content, saying Chinese producers could no longer make television shows depicting “abnormal sexual relations or sexual behavior” including “homosexuality” or “perversion.”
SARFT holds the annual film festival in Beijing where "Call Me By Your Name" was pulled. “Moonlight,” another Academy Award-winning American film with gay themes, was not screened in the popular film festival last year. The regulation of such content has inspired a lawsuit from LGBTQ advocates in China.
“I think screening ‘Call Me By Your Name’ is very important,” Peng said. “The touching and beautiful story will absolutely inspire empathy in straight people and in anyone. They can understand our love is universal.”
In the U.S., Zeke Stokes, the vice president of programs at GLAAD, an LGBTQ media advocacy group, echoed Peng’s sentiments in a statement to NBC News.
“It is disheartening to learn that audiences are being deprived of this moving story, simply because a few people don’t believe that love between LGBTQ people is worthy of representation,” Stokes said.
“Film is one of the U.S.’s biggest cultural exports, and as Hollywood steps up and creates more critically acclaimed and commercially successful LGBTQ-inclusive movies, this kind of censorship must become a thing of the past,” he concluded.
In an initial screening list dated March 16, the organizer of the Beijing festival had listed "Call Me By Your Name" along with other foreign films like "Lean on Pete" and art parody "The Square." The organizer has since declined to comment on the reasoning for the film being pulled, and China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television could not be reached for comment.
China has long censored violence or sexual content in film releases. Films with gay themes have met with a mixed reaction with some banned, though others have been given the go-ahead.
"There is no clear policy on this issue, so we are always confused," said Xin Ying, executive director of the Beijing LGBT Center, adding that following the recent reshuffle of the media regulators it was getting even harder to get clear direction.
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This is the tenth protest the local group has organized in Vernon this year
This is the tenth protest the local group has organized in Vernon this year. (Brieanna Charlebois - Morning Star)
A small group from Earth Strike Vernon took to the steps of the Vernon court house Saturday.
They braved the heat for three hours on June 1. Among them was Grade 10 student Kieran Grandbois, the spokesperson and organizer for the movement’s local chapter. He said this is about the tenth time that the group has protested this year.
The group is the local chapter for the global Earth Strike movement, which began in November 2018. Since its conception, the movement has spread to over 60 countries. Demonstrators have said they want climate change to be recognized as a crisis and, according to their website, are “demanding immediate climate action from governments and corporations worldwide.”
Grandbois noted that though the turnout was not as large as it has been in past protests, he wanted to assure the public that this was not due to a loss in momentum.
“Despite the membership turnout today, we’re still a very active organization,” he said. “The issue today was communication but we’re still here, we’re still strong as ever, and we’re still loud.”
Related: Earth Strike Vernon gains momentum
Related: Vernon students strike for climate action — again
To report a typo, email:
[email protected].
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Giacomo Bologna | Mississippi Clarion Ledger
Sarah Warnock, Clarion Ledger
Dr. Bryan Hierlmeier and his wife Lauren didn’t plan on living in Mississippi for long.
The pair fell in love at a college in Tampa and only came to the Magnolia State because of Bryan’s residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
Soon after moving, they went to a restaurant.
Lauren said she was holding her infant son when someone stood up and got the door for her.
“No one does that in Florida,” Lauren said.
Lauren never forgot that small — but powerful — gesture and she thought it meant Mississippi was a place where people truly cared for each other.
Bryan and Lauren Hierlmeier came to appreciate the slower pace of life, the kindness of strangers and the strong Christian faith of many Mississippians.
Bryan was named chief resident at UMMC in 2014 and had several job offers after completing a fellowship in North Carolina, his wife said. He and Lauren chose to move to Mississippi and make it their permanent home.
“I would never move anywhere else,” Lauren said.
Now, their decision is having life-altering consequences.
The fight begins
Bryan, 36, has brain cancer.
As a doctor at UMMC, he gets his insurance through the state of Mississippi, as do more than 185,000 state employees, according to the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration.
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Lauren said the state's insurance plan won’t cover the cancer treatment that she and Bryan believe he needs.
She wonders how many other Mississippians are being denied similar cancer treatment.
"It's hard to sit on the phone with these people who just look at a piece of paper and stamp it and go on to the next case. You don't know Bryan," Lauren said. "...If you're by yourself and you don't have someone to speak and fight on your behalf, you cave to the insurance company and you're (putting) your money in their pocket. I hate to say it, but it's true."
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, which administers the state's insurance plan, declined to comment on Bryan's case. The Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration, which oversees the state employees' insurance plan, did not respond to a request for comment.
While Lauren is taking care of their two children in Madison, Bryan is undergoing proton therapy at M.D. Anderson, a hospital in Houston, and will be there for several weeks.
She sat down with the Clarion Ledger for an interview May 21.
Story continues below the photo gallery.
View | 5 Photos
Health insurance denies Mississippi doctor's cancer treatment
A shocking diagnosis
Lauren and Bryan met through the athletics department of the University of South Florida.
She was a sophomore studying marketing and was on the cheer team. He was a senior studying pre-med and was on the baseball team.
They connected instantly, Lauren said.
"He's patient and calm, and I'm not as much," Lauren said, laughing. "I liked that about him."
Lauren described her husband as athletic, 6-feet tall with blue eyes and always smiling, always talking to someone.
"He's a people person. He's a doer. He's brilliant. He's selfless," Lauren said. "... He never wanted to be a doctor for money. It was always to help someone."
Dr. Doug Bacon, chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at UMMC, had nothing but positive things to say about Bryan, noting that he's especially beloved among the residents.
"His knowledge, warmth and charm are missed on a daily basis," Bacon wrote in a letter.
Bacon said Bryan is a skilled doctor, calling him "a master of transesophageal echocardiography."
"In the operating room, there is no anesthetic that Dr. Hierlmeier cannot perform," Bacon wrote. "...Universally, the surgeons like and respect Dr. Hierlmeier. Often they request him to give anesthetics for their most difficult cases."
Lauren said her husband keeps his body in shape and his mind sharp, so when he had his first migraine, she thought it was something minor, like a problem with his sinuses.
But they kept happening.
In March, about a month shy of their 10-year anniversary, Bryan had his fourth migraine.
It kept him awake through much of the night, Lauren said, and she knew it wasn't normal.
"I pretty much told him, 'Put on your clothes. I'm taking you to the hospital," she said.
There was a CAT scan, then an MRI.
Lauren said she remembered exactly what her husband said after the diagnosis: "I'm just glad that this is happening to me and not you because I'm tough and can handle it."
"I knew he'd be okay," Lauren said, tearing up. "And I still feel that way."
The doctors had to move quick.
Within a day of the diagnosis, the cardiac anesthesiologist found himself in a hospital gown.
Lauren said he was talking to the nurses about the narcotics they were using on him when he was told: "Take some time. Stop being a doctor and be a patient."
The surgery took three hours and left Bryan with a scar on the right side of his head that looks like the stitching of a baseball, Lauren said. She spent most of that time praying.
About a week later, Lauren said UMMC radiology oncologists said he needed radiation for the tumor and recommended he get proton therapy.
They were excited about the treatment, Lauren said. Then came the denial.
Proton therapy vs. photon therapy
Doctors first used radiation therapy on cancer patients more than a century ago.
Typically, radiation therapy works by using photons to damage cancer cells, but the treatment can damage nearby healthy cells.
In Bryan's case, the cancer was in his brain, and Lauren said doctors told them the radiation therapy could affect his vision and lower his IQ over the coming years, possibly ending his career as a doctor.
Lauren doctors recommended Bryan get proton therapy — that's proton with an "r."
There's no medical center in Mississippi that offers proton therapy.
The Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group tracks news about proton therapy treatment.
According to the group's website, there are 31 proton therapy treatment centers in the U.S. The first one opened in California in 1990, though most have opened within the last five years.
"It's not something that's new," Lauren said.
M.D. Anderson, the Texas hospital where Bryan is being treated, says proton therapy allows doctors to pinpoint where the radiation goes and limit damage to healthy tissue.
According to the Mayo Clinic: "Studies have suggested that proton therapy may cause fewer side effects than traditional radiation, since doctors can better control where the proton beams deposit their energy."
Lauren said Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi denied the claim for proton therapy claiming it was unnecessary and experimental.
Lauren suspects the claim was denied because she said Bryan's proton therapy is more expensive than traditional radiation therapy. They have been borrowing money from family to pay for the cancer treatment, which she estimated will cost $150,000 out-of-pocket.
A Blue Cross & Blue Shield spokesperson declined to speak to a reporter on the phone.
The spokesperson, who did not identify themselves, said via email that the company does not decide claims, it administers them.
When asked to explain the difference, the unnamed spokesperson declined.
A national issue
The merits of proton therapy — and whether insurance plans should cover the treatment — are being argued in courtrooms across the country.
A federal judge in Florida recused himself from a class-action lawsuit over proton therapy earlier this month, CNN reported.
The judge is battling cancer himself, CNN said, and called UnitedHealthcare "immoral and barbaric" for denying coverage for proton therapy.
According to CNN, the judge said he consulted with medical experts about his own cancer and that "all the experts opined that if I opted for radiation treatment, proton radiation was by far the wiser course of action."
KFOR News in Oklahoma City reported in 2018 that an Oklahoma jury awarded a family more than $25 million after Aetna denied coverage for proton therapy.
Lauren's uncle, John Lauro, is a New York attorney and former federal prosecutor.
Lauro said that if there is a final denial for Bryan's proton therapy, the family will file a lawsuit against Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi.
"This is no longer a question of judgement because the science and medicine have moved so quickly in favor of proton therapy when healthy brain cells could be affected," Lauro said. "... It's just dollars and cents when insurance companies deny the claims."
The fight continues
Lauren said she feels a responsibility to speak publicly about her husband's cancer and the insurance denial for proton therapy.
"That's his fight," she said. "This is my fight."
Everyone covered by the state's employee insurance plan is at risk if the plan will not cover proton therapy, Lauren said, and not everyone has the same support that she and Bryan have.
"I feel that this is my way to help because I have the energy to fight for this because I feel it's right. It's the right thing to do," Lauren said.
The spokesperson for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi emailed a statement from the company's chief medical officer, Dr. Tom Fenter.
“As Claims Administrator for the State and School Employees’ Health Insurance Plan, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi bases medical necessity of services for the State Health Plan, to include proton beam therapy, on medical policy supported by peer reviewed clinical literature and independent Physician Reviewers," the statement said.
Lauren said she has reached out to the governor's office for help, but has heard nothing.
Gov. Phil Bryant, through a spokesman, declined to comment.
Bryant has previously talked about the need to attract and keep doctors in Mississippi.
In 2018, the president of the American Medical Association said Mississippi ranked 50th in access to physicians.
Bryan Hierlmeier moved to Mississippi and decided to practice medicine here because he loves Mississippians and he loves treating them, his wife said.
Lauren said it's sad that a man who has dedicated himself to treating Mississippians was denied a cancer a treatment, in part, through the state of Mississippi.
For now, Lauren said she spends much of the day video chatting with her husband and praying.
Submitted photo
Lauren said she and their two children will visit him in Houston once school lets out.
They are trying to stay positive.
Lauren said Bryan thinks the experience will allow him to see medical treatment through a different lens and make him a better doctor.
"We feel like this will bring us closer and bring us closer to God and (we) trust that this is happening for a reason," she said.
Editor's note: A previous version of the story incorrectly stated the location of Bryan's scar. It's on the right side of his head.
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AMD kündigt die ersten beiden Prozessoren aus der Highend-Desktop-Serie (HEDT) Ryzen Threadripper 3000 für den 25. November 2019 an. Der Ryzen Threadripper 3970X mit 32 Rechenkernen und 64 Threads ist das vorläufige Topmodell für 2000 US-Dollar. Der Ryzen Threadripper 3960X wartet mit 24 Rechenkernen und 48 Threads für 1400 US-Dollar auf.
Trotz gleichbleibender Kernanzahl sollen die Ryzen Threadripper 3000 schneller sein als die Vorgänger Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX und 2970WX. Das liegt zum einen an deutlich erhöhten Taktfrequenzen: Der maximale Boost steigt um 300 MHz auf 4,5 GHz, der Basistakt beim Ryzen Threadripper 3970X von 3,0 GHz auf 3,7 GHz und beim Ryzen Threadripper 3960X von 3,0 auf 3,8 GHz.
Zum anderen hat AMD bei der zugrundeliegenden Mikroarchitektur Zen 2 neben Verbesserungen am Rechenkern die Organisation der Siliziumchips umgestellt: Die Ryzen-Threadripper-3000-CPUs haben einen zentralen I/O-Die mit integriertem Speicher-Controller, der die Daten auf vier CPU-Chiplets verteilt – die Aufteilung in NUMA-Nodes gegenüber dem Betriebssystem fällt weg. Beim Vorgänger Ryzen Threadripper 2000WX hatten nur zwei von vier Chips einen direkten Speicherzugriff, zudem war die Kommunikation zwischen den Dies langsamer. Den Level-3-Cache hat AMD im Zuge der Neuorganisation verdoppelt; daraus ergeben sich beim Ryzen Threadripper 3970X und 3960X 128 MByte L3-Zwischenspeicher.
Speicherseitig schaltet AMD vier Kanäle für Quad-Channel-RAM mit Taktraten von DDR4-3200 frei. ECC-Unterstützung ist dabei, wenn es die Mainboard-Hersteller wünschen.
Spezifikationen AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3000 vs. 2000WX Prozessor Kerne / Threads Basistakt / Boost L3-Cache TDP Preis Ryzen Threadripper 3970X 32 / 64 3,7 / 4,5 GHz 128 MByte 280 W $2000 Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX 32 / 64 3,0 / 4,2 GHz 64 MByte 250 W $1800 Ryzen Threadripper 3960X 24 / 48 3,8 / 4,5 GHz 128 MByte 280 W $1400 Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX 24 / 48 3,0 / 4,2 GHz 64 MByte 250 W $1300
Keine Upgrades für X399-Mainboards
Mit Ryzen Threadripper 3000 führt AMD einen neuen Sockel ein: den TRX4. Dieser hat wie der bisherige TR4 4094 Pins, ist aber elektrisch inkompatibel, weshalb Nutzer ein neues TRX40-Mainboard brauchen. Laut AMD findet der harte Schnitt unter anderem aufgrund "der Skalierbarkeit" statt – weitere Modelle innerhalb der Prozessorserie wollte AMD zwar nicht bestätigen, die spätere Vorstellung eines 64-Kerners als Ryzen Threadripper 3990X erscheint jedoch wahrscheinlich. Der große Chipträger bietet genug Platz für die erforderlichen acht 8-Kern-Chiplets.
Schon die Thermal Design Power (TDP) der 32- und 24-Kerner steigt von 250 auf 280 Watt, womit die Prozessoren die Spannungswandler auf den Mainboards stärker belasten. Die höhere Leistungsaufnahme kommt vor allem den Taktfrequenzen zugute. Dafür nimmt im Bereich über 3,0 GHz die Effizienz des Prozessors ab.
72 Lanes mit PCI Express 4.0
AMD legt die komplette TRX40-Plattform auf PCI Express 4.0 aus. Die Prozessoren der Serie Ryzen Threadripper 3000 bieten 48 PCIe-4.0-Lanes für Grafikkarten (zum Beispiel 3 × 16). Acht weitere können Mainboard-Hersteller beispielsweise für zwei x4-NVMe-SSDs oder acht SATA-6G-Anschlüsse verwenden.
Beim TRX40-Chipsatz drittverwertet AMD wie beim X570 den I/O-Die der Ryzen-3000-CPUs, aktiviert aber vier zusätzliche PCIe-4.0-Lanes. Diese setzt AMD für einen breiteren Link zum Prozessor ein: Erstmals findet die Kommunikation zwischen Chipsatz und CPU über acht statt vier PCIe-Lanes statt. Dank PCIe 4.0 vervierfacht sich die Übertragungsrate verglichen mit der X399-Plattform auf fast 16 GByte/s. Das bringt Vorteile, wenn zum Beispiel mehrere NVMe-SSDs im System stecken.
Für NVMe-SSDs, SATA-6G-Datenträger und zusätzliche Controller bietet der TRX40-Chipsatz 16 High-Speed-I/O-Lanes, welche Mainboard-Hersteller alle als PCIe 4.0 einsetzen können – das ergibt zusammen mit einem Ryzen-Threadripper-3000-Prozessor insgesamt 72 nutzbare PCIe-4.0-Lanes auf der TRX40-Plattform. Bis zu 8 × USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) und 4 × SATA 6G gibt es zusätzlich, vier weitere USB-3.2-Gen-2-Anschlüsse bieten die CPUs.
CPUs der Serie Ryzen Threadripper 3000 stellen 56 PCIe-4.0-Lanes zur Verfügung, der TRX40-Chipsatz 16. (Bild: AMD)
Intel senkt die Preise, AMD erhöht sie
Der 32-Kerner Ryzen Threadripper 3970X ist 200 US-Dollar teurer als sein Vorgänger 2990WX (1800 US-Dollar) und der 24-Kerner Ryzen Threadripper 3960X kostet 100 US-Dollar mehr als der 2970WX (1300 US-Dollar). Dagegen hat Intel die Preise seiner Core-X-10000-Serie alias Cascade Lake-X gerade erst glatt halbiert. AMD sieht sich aus Preis-Leistungs-Sicht trotzdem vor der Konkurrenz.
Die günstigeren Ryzen Threadripper 2000 und X399-Plattform soll es laut AMD nach der Vorstellung des Nachfolgers weiter zu kaufen geben.
In Anwendungen sieht AMD die Prozessoren der Serie Ryzen Threadripper 3000 vor Intels Core X. (Bild: AMD)
(mma)
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Article content
BY JESSICA BELL
We all know the Toronto Transit Commission has issues.
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The TTC needs $33 billion over the next 15 years for maintenance so rush-hour delays are the exception, not the expectation. Regional fares need to be integrated so people can travel throughout the GTA without paying double. And then there’s the sardine-overcrowding and the long, frustrating waits.
Doug Ford has been scheming to rip Toronto’s subways away from the TTC – a provincial takeover and TTC breakup, leaving the rest of the TTC and the City of Toronto owning just buses and streetcars.
This will make things even worse for commuters.
Once Doug Ford and his developer friends get their mitts on our transit system, they can manipulate the pricing structure and charge even more to ride the subway. They can set fares independent of TTC buses and streetcars. This means higher costs and less fare integration. It could lead to a pay-by-speed or a pay-by-distance model where families priced out of our downtown core and living in the furthermost reaches of the city are saddled with higher subway fares, further squeezing the family budget. For commuters, Ford’s plan means less coordination between routes, higher costs, and even more crowding.
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Posted by cmotbd on October 14th, 2011 at 07:40pm
Shopping for Mother of the Groom Dresses means a congratulations are in order, your son is getting married and now you need to start shopping for spectacular mother of the groom dresses. With all of the choices available to you, the first thing you need to do is narrow the list down just a bit. This is probably the easiest part.
If you are already thinking about what to wear to the wedding then chances are, the wedding is scheduled and you know what time of year this grand event will take place. You might even know if the wedding is outside and how formal the wedding plans are. The answer to these questions will help you determine what type of mother of the groom dresses you should be looking at: long sleeve or short sleeves, and what length of dress you prefer to wear: short, tea or a floor length gown.
Choices for Mother of the Groom Dresses
If the bride is wearing a short, knee length wedding dress, then it is traditionally accepted that the bridal party and both moms should also wear knee length dresses. However, if the bridal party is wearing a floor length or tea length dresses, then it is quite acceptable for the moms to wear longer gowns as well.
Another question you may be asking yourself right about now is what is the difference between a mother of the bride dress and mother of the groom dresses? The answer to that is simple. The only difference is that the groom’s mother will be wearing the dress and not the bride’s mother. Styles and formality of the dresses are the same for both moms.
Typically, both mothers tend to choose colors that do not clash with the colors of the wedding. Although they should not choose the exact same color as the color chosen by the bride for her attendants, the color should be a complimentary color to the bridal colors. Quite often, the moms wear the same color as suggested by the bride, perhaps not an exact match but within the same color family. For example, the bride may choose a dress that is light sage green for her attendants and might then suggest a darker green color for the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom dresses. This adds to whole color scheme of the wedding and will show nicely in the wedding photographs.
Stylish Mother of the Groom Dresses
Now it is time to start looking for that special dress. You want to look spectacular and sophisticated but you also want to look classic and elegant. Styles will range from the stunning and gorgeous long flowing gowns to the short sheath dresses that look so good. There was a time when dresses worn by either of the mothers tended to be kind of old fashioned looking. Suit style dresses and evening gowns were modest dresses that covered everything up nice and tidy and didn’t display much ornamentation.
That has all changed now. Stylish dresses that show a little or a lot of shoulder are perfectly acceptable for mother of the groom dresses. Don’t be afraid to add a little sparkle and pizzazz in your choice of gowns. Although this is bride and groom’s day, to be sure, this is a big day for you as well. You have earned the right to show some pride on this very special day and wear an exceptional gown that will allow you to feel and look extraordinary.
Many of the styles are showing gorgeous gowns with spaghetti straps or perhaps even strapless evening gowns for mature women. While you will look sensational at the reception, you may want to consider a matching jacket for wearing during the ceremony. Many of the newer designs of classic gowns feature a matching jacket for the dresses worn by the bridal party and the moms. An exquisite lace jacket would look simply marvelous over many of the mother of the groom dresses. Shawls and wraps are also a great idea for a simple cover-up that won’t detract from the look you are trying to achieve.
Figure hugging gowns were once only for the young, now the young at heart can wear them as well. Form fitting bodices with draping A-line skirts make a stunning silhouette on any woman and will look fantastic as a mother of the groom dress. Choose the neckline that you will feel comfortable wearing no matter how daring you think it is, within reason of course; this is the bride’s day to draw all of the attention. A halter style plunging V-neck may not be the right choice for you personally, but the style is absolutely perfect as one of many mother of the bride dresses being showcased by designers.
Where can you Find Mother of the Groom Dresses?
One of the first places to start your search should be window shopping on the internet. There you will find an array of dresses that, quite possibly, may overwhelm you. However, the style of dress you are looking for is in there and all you have to do is find it. Mother of the groom dresses might be listed under mother of the bride dresses so keep that in mind as you search.
Once you have the general idea of the style of dress you like, you might want to take that idea to your favorite ladies shop or bridal boutique to try on that particular to see how it looks and feels on you. If you look magnificent and feel delicious, then I think you have found the perfect dress for you to wear to your son’s wedding. Relax and enjoy. Your quest to find the one dress from the myriad of mother of the groom dresses is done. To visit our gallery go here > Mother of the Groom Dresses Gallery we also have numerous other galleries for all things dresses and weddings. Check back often for updates and high res images.
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Introduction
In our support work very often we face different environments. They can range from three VMs to a hundred of those, with the number of nodes from two to ten.
Today, I will tell you about the main features of Failover Cluster 2016, which are applicable to any environment.
Storage QoS
This feature was introduced in 2012R2, but it did not work in a cluster. In 2016, it is possible to work with it in a cluster. Shortly, you can leverage the performance of VMs using Hyper-V and Scale-Out File Server roles.
This feature distributes resources between VMs using the same file server and permits to configure min and max IOPs.
You can read more about QoS in 2016 at our StarWind blog.
Shared VHDX
One of the useful features of Failover Cluster 2016 is shared VHDX integration. It was implemented in 2012R2. It allows the VHDX file, which is stored on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV), to be connected to several VMs. It looks like a shared storage and could be used as a cluster storage for guest VMs.
The main difference between 2012R2 and 2016 is that the guest clusters are able to resize Shared VHDX without downtime.
Be aware that checkpoints and storage migration features do not work with Shared VHDX.
Evolving CSV Cache
The CSV cache is a write-through cache, which uses RAM, so all Hyper-V IO is unbuffered IO. This feature allows caching the frequently read data. Thus, CSV cache can accelerate the VM performance. It is disabled by default and also operates in file system redirected mode, thus allowing to work with Deduplication and Spaces Direct.
Active Dump
From the diagnosability perspective, the problem of the clients with Hyper-V systems having 128GB+ of RAM is that it is quite difficult to first collect the dump file and then to send it via the Internet to get any issues investigated. Usually, it takes plenty of GBs. Now such new feature as Active Dump makes the procedure much easier. Basically, Active Dump disregards all memory which is allocated to VMs, CSV cache etc. Eventually, the dump is about a couple of GB instead of 128GB+.
StarWind HyperConverged Appliance is a turnkey, entirely software-defined hyperconverged platform purpose-built for intensive virtualization workloads. Bringing the desired performance and reducing downtime, the solution can be deployed by organizations with limited budgets and IT team resources. Also, it requires only one onsite node to deliver HA for your applications that make the solution even more cost-efficient. Find out more about ➡ StarWind HyperConverged Appliance
Thunderbolt
If you are going to have some sort of internode communication, ThunderBolt is a good solution for that. You do not need to buy another dedicated NIC and configure the IPs. It has to be auto-configured IPv6 and will show up as a 20Gb cluster network. This results in simplicity of internode communication inside the cluster.
Source: technet.microsoft.com
VM Compute Resiliency
Compute Resiliency slows down the failover of a Hyper-V cluster. These days, the quality of hardware becomes higher to the point when hardware failures are not common, but transient failures are more common instead. Very often, the problem is related to networking or other external issues. Thus, by default, Microsoft decided to wait for the response for 4 minutes. This time is enough to understand that either a switch was restarted after a crash, or network had some hiccup, etc. During this period, a problem node is in an isolated state in the cluster and failovers will not occur. This feature is configurable, and if you prefer to disable it, you can do this.
VM Storage Resiliency
Further, Failover Cluster 2016 is resilient to the transient issues at the storage layer. It will freeze the VMs when storage goes unresponsive. This status retains all the session state. When storage is available again all VMs start working seamlessly from the client’s perspective.
Quarantine of Flapping Nodes
This is a new feature which was implemented in WS 2016. It definitely, relates to Virtual Machine Compute Resiliency.
Basically, after 3 failure events, the problem node becomes quarantined instead of isolated. QuarantineThreshold is configurable meaning, by default, it is 3.
The QuarantineDuration parameter which is responsible for defining the period of time, during which the problem node is not able to join the cluster. Usually, it is about two hours.
However, you can use PowerShell to get the node back to the cluster:
Start-ClusterNode -ClearQuarantine
Any VMs running there will be live migrated off to another node automatically. The quarantined node will be drained and all resources owned by that node will then be moved off.
VM Start Ordering
Do not worry about VMs start priority in WS 2016. Now you can group all VMs into tiers and configure start ordering for different tiers. Thus, you can set up to start the important VMs such as Active Directory, Appliance, etc in the first row. The other VMs will not start before VMs with higher priority are started.
Domainless
Before all servers, which are members of the cluster, had to be joined to the domain, and it had to be the same domain.
Now, you can have clusters, which have nodes from different domains, or even a domainless cluster.
Cloud Witness
The very important new feature is Cloud Azure Witness. So, you can configure the stress cluster with some nodes at one site, other nodes at the second site and the Witness could be at the third site. Thus, if a datacenter is lost the cluster can survive. It works almost the same way. It contains a small amount of data, rather than the whole copy of the cluster database. It has a tag that is used for determining, which node has to stay up and drop out. There is no sensitive information or node names.
VM Load Balancing
The environment may have a node which got rebooted some time ago. All VMs have failed over and now there is nothing running on it. You have got everything running on the partner node. So, it is a problem. For this purpose, the Microsoft team introduced a new feature that is called VM Load Balancing. It allows to identify idle nodes in the cluster and distributes VMs to utilize them. Utilization is determined by VM memory usage and CPU pressure. VMs are live migrated to idle nodes with no downtime.
Conclusion
Thus, I recommend upgrading the previous versions of Failover Cluster to the newest version. You can take advantage of all new features which are implemented there and get more resiliency and redundancy. If you are after this, take a look at the guide on how to perform Cluster Rolling Upgrade without any downtime at our blog.
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Introducing SONIC MANIA! A new 2D Sonic platforming adventure experience! https://t.co/6uZ4J0Pcok #Sonic25 — Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) July 23, 2016
From the trailer below, Mania looks unapologetically old school, replete with chiptune music and the series' trademark hyper-colorful pixel-art style. Three playable characters are on tap (Sonic, Tails and Knuckles) and in addition to a new move like the drop dash and new levels, Mania will apparently put a couple of twists on old stages as well. The only problem is that despite Sonic's expediency, Mania will be late to the series' anniversary party with its "spring 2017" release window.
But hey, with how the more recent games have turned out, fans would probably rather that developers Christian Whitehead -- who has worked on ports and remasters of the franchise in the past -- and Headcannon, along with PagodaWest Games, take their time to get it right.
Update: And for a more modern take, Sonic Team just announced it's working on 'Project Sonic 2017.'
Update two: The PlayStation Blog has a few additional details. Sonic Mania will "reimagine" zones from Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic CD and Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles. It'll be digitally distributed, available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (at the very least) and have new zones, acts and bosses.
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With fighting raging in Syria, spill-over effects becoming more apparent in Lebanon, violence increasing in Iraq, tensions simmering in Bahrain and clerical politicians like Hassan Nasrallah and Yusif al-Qaradawi launching calls for war, it is no surprise that sectarianism is the lens through which most outsiders are viewing events in the Middle East. Even the New York Times thinks so, so it must be true.
There is no denying that sectarianism is a real factor in the politics of all these places, and more places, in the region. But it is important to recognize the political context in which sectarianism becomes prominent in a country’s politics and to realize that neither sectarian conflict nor sectarian political alliances are immutable. While religious identities are extremely important and powerful elements of how people define themselves politically, they are neither always dominant nor do they always mean the same thing. The contemporary political context is more important for understanding how sectarianism plays into modern conflicts than is the history of the first Islamic century.
In the experience of the contemporary Arab world, the salience of sectarianism (and other sub-national identities, like tribalism and regionalism) rises as the power of the state declines. When the state is unable to provide basic security and services for its citizens, they have to look to those communities that will protect them and in which they feel safe. Thus, in Arab states like Lebanon and Yemen, where the state has always been weak, sectarian and tribal identities have played an outsized role in politics.
Syria and Iraq are a different kind of case. In each, the Ba’th Party established a dictatorial regime in the 1960’s that set about building a strong, overweening state. The core of the governing elite in each country was overwhelmingly from a sectarian minority – Sunnis in Iraq and Alawis in Syria. Over time, that core elite came to be identified more and more with a particular family from that sectarian minority. But the state did not govern as a sectarian state at the outset in either. Arab nationalism was the official ideology of the state, the focus of the state educational system and the approved discourse of the state media.
However, as the rulers’ control came to be challenged, they relied more and more on fellow sectarians for support, and their opposition came to be identified more and more by its own sectarian (and ethnic, in Kurdish areas) characteristics. By the time that the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, sectarian and ethnic identities dominated Iraqi politics as the power of Saddam Hussein’s brutal state contracted under the pressures of economic sanctions and political pressures. The American destruction of what was left of the Iraqi state apparatus exacerbated this trend. Likewise in Syria, what began as a popular, national protest against the Assad dictatorship devolved into a sectarian fight as the reach of the Syrian state contracted. The regime quickly identified its fight for survival as a sectarian struggle, and the opposition reacted in kind.
Even though Lebanon, Syria and Iraq started in different places, they have ended up as a crescent of state weakness in the Arab East, where sub-national sectarian and ethnic identities now dominate politics and drive conflict. But this was not an inevitable path. Had Saddam Hussein not entered into two disastrous wars in 1980 and 1990, perhaps Iraqi state-building, even with him at the helm, might have developed in a more salutary and less sectarian way. Had Bashar al-Assad actually followed through with his early promises of political reform, Syria might have avoided the protests of 2011 and the collapse of state authority it is now experiencing. The severe sectarianization of their politics was not the only result that could have occurred.
Nor is the sectarian line-up of political conflict in these countries necessarily going to dominate their politics in the future. Lebanon is an instructive comparison here. The weakness of the Lebanese state, a characteristic of the elite bargain that created the Lebanese political system decades ago, became even more pronounced with the civil war of the 1970’s and 1980’s. So it is not surprising that sectarianism remains the driver of its politics. But the axes of conflict and alliance have changed over time. At the height of the civil war, it was a Christian v. Muslim dynamic. Now, Sunnis and Shia square off, with Christians divided between support for the March 14 and March 8 coalitions. It is still sectarian politics, but the scorecard is very different. This is a useful reminder that politics and political choices are not completed controlled by a logic of sectarianism.
Syria, Iraq and even Lebanon are not condemned in the long term to the deep sectarian conflicts that now drive their politics. But to escape the destructive path they are all on, their political elites are going to have to find a way to agree on a way to reconstruct their states on a basis of inclusive citizenship rather than sub-national sectarian and ethnic identities. That is a hard, but not an impossible, task and one that I look forward to being addressed at the forthcoming U.S. Islamic World Forum in Doha this weekend.
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Muslim Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American lawmaker is raising funds for the lawsuit against President Donald Trump to help the woman known as Alabama’s ‘ISIS Bride’ return to the US.
We learned that Ahmed Ali Muthana, the father of the ISIS terrorist, Hoda Muthana, who voluntarily left the United States to become a terrorist in Iraq and Syria, is suing the Trump administration to try to force the US government to allow this ISIS terrorist to return to America.
This costly demand is being fully funded by the American-Islamic Relations Council, better known as CAIR. CAIR is arguing that Muthana should be allowed to return to the United States to “educate” others. They do not want her to go to jail. If they are successful with this lawsuit, they will have allowed an ISIS terrorist to return without penalty.
CAIR was designated as a real terrorist organization in 2014 by the United Arab Emirates, but successfully lobbied the Obama administration to prevent it from being added to the list of terrorist organizations in the United States. It is unclear why it has not been added since President Trump came to power, because in 2009, a federal judge in the United States ruled that the government “produced sufficient evidence to establish” CAIR’s links with Hamas, the terrorist organization Palestine.
The first Democratic Muslim congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, will be the keynote speaker at a fundraiser for the CAIR branch in Los Angeles on March 23 next month.
This organization has been caught financing terrorists in the past and they are doing it right now. They are literally funding a claim by an ISIS terrorist against the Trump administration. CAIR in California donated $ 5,000 for the Ilhan Omar campaign in 2018, so she is very involved with them.
It’s not hard to see why CAIR is financing this demand, in fact, it’s actually a bit scary. The undeniable truth is that radical Muslims are successfully infiltrating the United States and undermining this country.
We have an organization that funds a terrorist lawsuit against President Trump and the United States, and we have a newly elected congresswoman who will help this organization in its fundraising efforts.
That means that Ilhan Omar is literally helping raise funds to pay for an ISIS terrorist lawsuit against President Trump. Unfortunately, the fact that this is happening and we are in this crazy situation, shows that radical Islamic terrorists have managed to get into the government of the United States and are growing in power.
CAIR claims to be for American-Islamic relations, but what does that have to do with an ISIS terrorist? Do not Muslims publicly say that terrorists are not part of Islam? If terrorists are not part of Islam, why does the largest defense of Muslims in the United States fund a claim by an ISIS terrorist against the United States? There can be absolutely no other reason why they would pay for this terrorist claim than to support the terrorist ideology.
You must realize that suing the federal government is one of the most expensive and difficult things that can be done. They really do not care if they win the lawsuit, because their purpose is to distract and undermine our government. They know that at least some radical liberals will probably support the demand. Even by allowing this demand to be carried out, it humanizes the terrorists because it makes it look like they should have rights.
We have no words for what is happening here with this ISIS bride and we wish that this was not real, but the facts are the facts. We can only hope that people get informed and that someone in the Trump administration does something about it.
CAIR must be designated as a terrorist organization for explicitly helping an ISIS terrorist. Ilhan Omar must be forced to resign for helping this terrorist group in its fundraising efforts.
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実は、この動画を作ったのは、労働問題に取り組むブラック企業被害対策弁護団。出演しているのは、現役の弁護士たちだ。この動画は、なんのためのものなのか。どうして、ここまで体を張った動画を作ったのか。
自分でメモする大事さ「根付かせたい」
長時間働きすぎて病気になってしまった。せっかく働いたのに残業代がもらえなかった。弁護士のもとには、そんな相談がたくさん寄せられる。そんなときに大事になってくるのが「証拠」だ。しかし……
動画制作に取り組んだ明石順平弁護士は、BuzzFeed Newsにこう話す。
「残業代請求や労災申請をしようとしても、どれだけ働いたかを証明する証拠が手元に無いために、泣き寝入りを強いられるケースは非常に多いです」
「そこで、何とか『労働時間を自分で記録する』という習慣を根付かせたいと思い、動画を作ることにしました。しかし、普通に『記録しましょう』と呼びかけても中々広まらないと思いましたので、一度見たら忘れられないような動画にしました。この動画にはいろいろパロディも入っているので見つけてみて下さい」
動画では、例えばどんな風に記録を残せばいいかが紹介されている。
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Sea Shadow
Sea Shadow (IX-529) was a test craft developed under a combined program by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Navy, and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Company (LMSC). Its purpose was to explore a variety of new technologies for military surface ships, these included automated ship control, Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) advantages, automation for reduced manning, rough weather seakeeping improvements with stabilizer and canard, and radar and sonar signature control. She was later used as a test platform for advanced combat systems prototypes that emphasized passive (no active radar) identification and targeting.
To keep Sea Shadow out of the public eye, she was built inside HMB-1 and delivered in March of 1985. Night tests were conducted in 1985 and '86 off the Santa Cruz Islands in Southern California with the barge keeping the ship under cover for repairs and replenishment during daylight. The tests were suspended in 1986 and not resumed until spring 1993, when the ship was unveiled. In late 1994 the testing concluded in the San Francisco Bay and the Sea Shadow and Hughes Mining Barge were moved to San Diego and were docked at the 32nd Street pier. In May of 1999 she was reactivated for additional testing. She cost approximately $50 million to build and the total test program was approximately $195 million until she was stricken in 2006.
The Hughes Mining Barge 1 (HMB-1), is a uniquely designed submersible barge. She was originally built in 1973 as part of Project Azorian, the top-secret effort by the Central Intelligence Agency to salvage the remains of Soviet submarine K-129 from the ocean floor. HMB-1 was designed to be submerged under the Glomar Explorer to secretely load the large claw device that grappled the submarine, and to conceal the recovered submarine. In many ways her tank structure is more similiar to submarine than a normal floating drydock.
After the conclusion of Project Azorian, HMB-1 was cleaned and then stored at the Todd Shipyard in San Francisco, CA until November, 1982. She was then towed to a LMSC facility in Redwood City, CA, where she was significantly modified to become the floating drydock for the construction and operations of the Sea Shadow.
Upon completion of Sea Shadow operations in 2006, HMB-1 and Sea Shadow were moved to the Susuin Bay Reserve Fleet for storage. In 2012 HMB-1 with Sea Shadow still inside was sold to Bay Ship and Yacht in Alameda, CA. They dismantled Sea Shadow and are using HMB-1 as a working ship repair drydock.
An in-depth tour of the Seashadow is available on the HNSA website.
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Friend took me to a southern place today and I liked it this much, so hell yeah let's get fucking silly.
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin
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WARSAW, Poland — The leader of Poland's ruling conservative party has hailed a decision by NATO to create a military presence on the alliance's eastern flank, saying it means Poland will stop being a "second-category" member of the organization.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski made his comment in a speech Monday that largely focused on other political matters.
It comes as the U.S. plans to build up forces in Central Europe in response to Russian intervention in Ukraine.
Poland and several of its neighbors are nervous about the Russian actions, which include the annexation of Crimea and alleged involvement in a conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Kaczynski said "everything indicates that we will stop being a NATO member of the second category, that the eastern flank will be strengthened, that the US. Army will be on our territory."
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Hello VIRPILs,
We are very pleased to announce the launch of our new merged webstore combining our EU and Rest of World webstores - www.virpil-controls.eu.
This will bring the benefits of PayPal, Braintree card payments and courier delivery options provided via TNT/FedEx to our rest of world customers!
All prices will now be shown excluding VAT in Euros. Customers within the EU will have VAT added during the checkout automatically whereas our rest of world customers will pay the ex VAT price.
We will continue work to expand the VPC distribution network to offer the best ordering experience possible for all of our customers.
Our complete flightstick controllers product pages have also changed - you can now use a drop down menu on the product page of each base to add a compatible grip. Flightstick bundles (grip + base) are offered with a 10% discount that is automatically calculated on checkout. This offer applies to any order that includes at least 1 x VPC base and 1 x VPC grip!
Finally, we must announce some big news regarding our VPC MongoosT-50 base; this was released as our first high-end base in mid 2017, we are incredibly proud that so many users are enjoying their MT-50 flightsticks and we have received fantastic feedback from the community since it’s release.
We feel it is now time to move on and we will be launching the FINAL VPC MongoosT-50 base sale! Our remaining stock of VPC MongoosT-50 bases will be available with a 10% discount - so be quick, as this will be the last opportunity to purchase this base!
There is still a small number of orders from our old rest of world webstore that are pending dispatch, these orders are currently in the process of being prepped and will be sent out out ASAP over the next couple of weeks. Existing orders are our priority and our webstore will only be restocked after these orders are completed.
For any questions please do not hesitate to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Thank you for your continued support!
VIRPIL Controls Team
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17 Ağustos 2020 Chat Aşk
Sesli Sohbet Odaları Sesli chat ve Sesli sohbet kelimelerinde oldukça başarılı sıralamaya tabi tutulan sitemiz ile tüm chat severleri bir arada buluşturuyor, online ve görüntülü…
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"El Estado no es una bolsa de trabajo, no tiene que pagarle a una cantidad enorme de militantes de algún partido político", señaló Michetti, que remarcó la necesidad de ser un gobierno eficiente que le dé bienestar a la ciudadanía: "Cuando uno paga impuestos, lo que está pagando son servicios de educación, de salud, de seguridad y de Justicia".
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A work of art depicting Jesus Christ, Saint John, Mary Magdalene and the Madonna. (Getty Images)
LONDON: An ancient manuscript in the vaults of the British library is all set to change history.Jesus married the prostitute Mary Magdalene and had children, according to a manuscript almost 1,500 years old unearthed at the British Library.The so-called “Lost Gospel”, which has been translated from Aramaic, allegedly reveals the startling new allegations, according to The Sunday Times.Professor Barrie Wilson and writer Simcha Jacobovic spent months translating the text, which they claim states Jesus had two children and the original Virgin Mary was Jesus’s wife and not his mother.Many experts have downplayed the biblical figure’s historical importance but, according to the translators of the new gospel, she is of much greater significance than previously thought.Mary Magdalene already features in the existing gospels and is present at many of the important moments recorded in Jesus’s life.“The Lost Gospel” is not the first to claim that Jesus married Mary Magdalene.Mary Magdalene has already been recorded in important moments of Jesus’s life. Dan Brown in “The Da Vinci Code” made the same claim that Jesus married Mary Magdalene.Further revelations from the book, including the names of Jesus's children, will be released on Wednesday.The publisher, Pegasus, has confirmed the press conference will go ahead as planned.
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Google is amping up its use of artificial intelligence in email with a new Gmail feature called Smart Compose that tries to finish certain sentences for you.
The tool is an extension of Google's existing Smart Replies, which makes three suggestions for users to start their emails. Gmail recently rolled that feature out to desktop users.
In our tests, Smart Compose is best at filling in salutations or finishing simple questions such as "What's up with you?" or "Where are you?" It can also add contextual phrases such as "Have a great weekend" if you're blasting off an email on Friday. Or sometimes it will just accurately guess the few words that you want to use to wrap up a sentence.
The feature is dead simple to use: Just start typing an email as normal, and if Google recommends something that you want to use — in gray text that pops up ahead of your cursor — press the tab button to accept the suggestion.
Smart Compose won't be tailored to your writing style, at least for now, and with a rather limited scope of suggestions, it managed to save only a teensy bit of time, if any.
Still, the feature is fun to use and reflects Google's broader ambitions of injecting AI into its products to make everyday tasks more efficient. Smart Compose builds off the same email scanning methods that Gmail has long employed to weed out spam and phishing attempts (Google stopped using its scans to aid ad targeting last year).
The new feature will start rolling out for regular users in the coming weeks. People who use Gmail within organizations that pay for the premium G Suite will be able to try it in several months.
To turn it on, simply go to "Settings" and then enable "Experimental Access."
For now, the feature will only work on desktop and for English-language users.
Google announced the new feature at its big developers' conference, I/O, that's taking place in Mountain View, California, this week.
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In this Dec. 12, 2017, file photo, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director L. Francis Cissna speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House.
( AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File )
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Scott Pruitt has become the focus of multiple investigations in recent months. (AFP)
Facing ever-growing scandals over the spending and behavior of his environment agency chief, Scott Pruitt, President Donald Trump appears close to firing the man he appointed to dismantle Barack Obama's green legacy.
The list of accusations levelled against the 50-year-old head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has grown almost too long to itemize in a single article.
Pruitt has become the focus of multiple investigations in recent months, including by his own agency's inspector general, two other independent federal agencies and by Congress itself.
All the charges share a common thread -- that Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general reported to have close ties to fossil fuels industries, appears to have used the position he has held since February 2017 to enrich his own family's lifestyle in violation of federal law and has punished subordinates who raised objections to his behavior, or who failed to show sufficient loyalty to him.
It all began with his penchant for first-class and private air travel while on official business, a bill footed by the taxpayers, in contravention of usual government practice.
Then came the reports of the large number of bodyguards he kept around him 24 hours a day, doubling the cost of his predecessors' security detail.
He also ordered the installation of a secure telephone cabin in his Washington office at the cost of $43,000 (36,000 euros) which critics found excessive.
Then there was the question of his personal expenses. He rented an apartment linked to oil industry lobbyists in a pricey neighborhood of the capital for a mere $50 dollars a night, a sum he only paid for on nights he actually slept there.
He also tasked members of his staff with personal assignments, including finding him another apartment, getting his tickets to sporting events and trying to help his wife find a job.
This week, Kevin Chmielewski, a former EPA deputy chief of staff who was sacked in February, told MSNBC news that he saw Pruitt pay back a young member of staff $600 she had been forced to put on her own credit card for hotel rooms for Pruitt's family during the celebrations for Trump's swearing-in ceremony.
Chmielewski, a Republican and Trump loyalist, also told CNN news that Pruitt allegedly used secret calendars to hide contacts with industry insiders from his own staff.
He was just one of a number of whistle-blowers at the EPA to raise the alarm about Pruitt's behavior to Congress, where many Republicans now appear to be losing their patience with the environment chief.
'Not Happy'
Until now, the president has stood by his zealous lieutenant, praising his work to roll back Obama-era environmental regulations that Trump says hinder economic growth.
Trump, whose decision to quit the Paris climate accords was vociferously defended by Pruitt, may be changing his mind now though with November's mid-terms looming and Democrats knocking his pledges to "drain the swamp" of Washington graft.
Last month, while praising Pruitt's "fantastic job" at the EPA, the president admitted, "I'm not happy about certain things, I'll be honest."
On Tuesday, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley addressed the mounting ethical questions facing Pruitt and said "these things matter to the president as well, and he's looking into those."
The cooler tone towards Pruitt recalls the changing attitude to other cabinet members who have been dismissed by the president.
Last September Trump said he was "not happy" with his health secretary Tom Price after multiple reports about extravagant spending on air travel. Price resigned shortly afterwards.
In March, Gidley said the president still had confidence in his Veteran Affairs chief David Shulkin "at this point in time." Two days later, he was gone.
And the ouster of former secretary of state Rex Tillerson in January was preceded by a stream of barbed comments and public slights from the president before he finally sacked the former oil industry executive.
Pruitt's fate seemed secure for the rest of Wednesday at least, since it was Independence Day and the president had no scheduled public appearances aside from a picnic in the grounds of the White House.
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SCP-631
Item #: SCP-631
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: Extermination procedures for SCP-631 are to remain in effect until further notice. Information regarding civilian disappearances in SCP-631's environment (urban and suburban areas of the United States) is to be monitored, with particular regards to the areas outlined in Document-631-T. Disappearances related or believed to be related to SCP-631 are to be filtered (standard media blackout procedures apply). Said incidents are to be investigated promptly, and should an instance of SCP-631 be identified, it must be terminated immediately. In the event that no SCP-631 are in Foundation custody, the instance must be captured instead. Agents involved in SCP-631 recovery or termination must be supplied with thermal imaging equipment.
Mobile Task Forces Nu-11 and Omicron-17 are to be regularly deployed to the areas outlined in Document-631-T. The airspace of these areas is to be thoroughly examined via thermal imaging for SCP-631 instances.
One instance of SCP-631 is to remain in containment for study and secured in a concrete cell. The instance must be restrained at all times and exposed to artificial sunlight. It is to remain pacified by Serum-631-Gamma and delivered sustenance via IV feeding. Should the organism's status deteriorate, one (1) D-Class personnel may be allotted for SCP-631's natural feeding and reproduction activity. All the produced offspring save for one are to be terminated and the remaining instance is to be contained as instructed above.
Description: SCP-631 is a species of large predatory organism with a vaguely crustacean appearance. They possess a wing morphology consistent with the order Chiroptera and a reptilian tail terminating in a venomous stinger. This tail also contains the majority of the organism's reproductive systems. Mature instances of SCP-631 are roughly 135cm in length and 42kg in mass. SCP-631 appear to be gender-less.
SCP-631 are rendered imperceptible in the visual spectrum when exposed to sunlight. The mechanism for this remains unidentified; however, testing has revealed that this response is triggered by heightened levels of cholicalciferol (Vitamin D 3 ) in the organism's bloodstream. SCP-631 remain detectable by their heat signature; because of this, it is known that they remain almost entirely airborne during daylight hours.
SCP-631 do not sleep and remain active at night; furthermore, they demonstrate distress or panic in response to low light environments. This reaction worsens in intensity over time, and, it appears, can only be alleviated by immediate feeding or exposure to daylight. The organism will subsequently locate the nearest isolated sleeping human and impale the victim's throat with its stinger (thus preventing any vocal reaction). Following the injection of its paralytic venom, SCP-631 will remain in this position for 2-3 minutes while the victim expires. Then, it will quickly consume the victim's internal organs, replacing them with fertilized eggs produced via its tail. 10-15 minutes following the reproductive act, the original instance of SCP-631 will expire, its body putrefying rapidly.
The eggs require approximately 1 hour to hatch, at which point the newborn SCP-631 will consume the remainder of the victim's body. After their post-birth feeding, the instances will retreat to secluded locations and begin their growth period, during which they are inactive. Immature SCP-631 develop at an extremely accelerated rate, reaching their adult size within roughly four hours. Due to these factors, the lifespan of SCP-631 (including birth, feeding, reproduction and death) can be as short as 24 hours.
Observation of SCP-631's behavior have revealed that they do not eat during daylight, and will only prey upon sleeping and isolated human beings. In the absence of sustenance, SCP-631 are capable of surviving on average for thirty days.
Addendum [631-001]: Investigation and Findings
SCP-631 has been traced to a Dr. Alan Forsythe, and, subsequently, to a facility owned by said individual in ███ ████ ████, ██. The investigation of this site determined that it had been abandoned in 20██, and no personnel were discovered therein. What follows are excerpts of documents recovered from the site.
Rudimentary biological systems are functional. Circulatory, respiratory, reproductive, gastrointestinal…still working on some hiccups with neurological and endocrine. The subjects have stopped dying from their own venom, which is always a plus. Through some pheromone manipulation, we've tailored them to instinctively hunt Homo sapiens successfully, but we've hit a very troublesome snag. We can get them to hunt the proper prey, but can't control how and when they do so. Obviously this is a problem because we can't have them flying around killing people in broad daylight.
Electrolocation is working miracles. We can direct them to subjects in a NREM or REM cerebral state, and some careful tinkering with pheromone activity also predisposes them toward isolated targets. This should keep them restricted to the right prey, with a roughly 4% margin of error (we can't be entirely sure who doesn't sleep outside at night). The project is nearly ready for field testing, but there is still one crucial flaw we need to address. [DATA EXPUNGED] solar camouflage is functioning correctly, but we're having significant difficulty controlling their predatory behavior. Due to necessary metabolic alterations, the adults have no urge to feed. In testing, certain methods can be used to force such a response, but that is impossible in the field.
The following is handwritten and scrawled on a roughly cut piece of paper:
"fight-or-flight will work, but make it stronger, [DATA EXPUNGED] produce acetaldehyde, so it should result in something like a severe hangover. With that pheromone manipulation, it should equate physical pain with a desire to procreate. The rest is easy."
The following is also handwritten, but appears to be a formal letter:
Your offer is accepted. The payment will be transferred upon completion of the project. Those miserable reprobates are going to destroy any chance of my reelection if the situation is not handled swiftly. I don't care what you have to do to take care of it, do it. ████ ████████
Fingerprints on the letter are consistent with Dr. Forsythe and ███████ "████" ████████.
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PARIS — Calling itself a defender of free speech and a denouncer of religious backwardness, a French satirical newspaper on Wednesday published several crude caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, images viewed as a provocation by many Muslims and condemned by the French government as irresponsible at a time of violence and unrest across the Islamic world.
In South Asia and the Middle East, protests continued Wednesday over an amateur video, titled “The Innocence of Muslims” and produced in the United States, which also disparages the prophet. Given that context, the French government had urged the weekly newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, to reconsider printing the illustrations, some of which depict Muhammad naked and in pornographic poses.
The newspaper refused; after Charlie Hebdo arrived at newsstands on Wednesday, the government announced that French embassies, consulates, cultural centers and schools in about 20 countries would be closed Friday as a precautionary measure. Security will be raised at embassies and consulates, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, though no specific threats against French targets have been identified.
Accustomed to denunciations by the government, Muslims and almost every other religious or political group in France, Charlie Hebdo stood by its editorial choice. “We’re a newspaper that respects French law,” said Gérard Biard, the editor in chief. “Now, if there’s a law that is different in Kabul or Riyadh, we’re not going to bother ourselves with respecting it.”
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MUMBAI: Engineering major Larsen & Toubro has signed a technology transfer agreement with South Korea ’s Hyundai Heavy Industries to build carriers for liquefied natural gas (LNG) at its shipyard at Kattupalli, near Chennai.While L&T aims to bag order from staterun GAIL which is likely to re-launch tender for nine LNG carriers with this tie-up, the company hopes to get more orders in India and abroad. GAIL had issued a Rs 42,370-tender to charter nine LNG carriers in August last year which was later scrapped due to dismal response."We have signed a memorandum of understanding with Hyundai, the world’s largest shipyard, for know-how to manufacture LNG carriers for the GAIL tender. This will help bringing into India the complex technology involved," MV Kotwal, whole-time director & president (heavy engineering), told ET.In August 2014, GAIL had floated a global tender to charter nine newly built ships for transportation of LNG from the US. The tender found no takers as it required bidders to build at least onethird of the ships in India, a condition that could not be fulfilled by any company.While the Indian companies have not built LNG carriers before and did not qualify, International players who ere eligible to bid did not participate. Samsung Heavy Industries has also signed a pact to build LNG carriers with Cochin Shipyard. Samsung was one of the four Korean shipyards that qualified for GAIL’s tender requirements; others being Daewoo Ship Building and Marine Engineering, Hyundai Heavy Industries and STX Offshore and Shipbuilding.L&T’s Kotwal said that given India’s energy needs and softening of LNG prices, he expects more order to come up. India’s imports of LNG are set to almost double over the next five years, fuelled by sustained low LNG prices, rising industrial demand, and falling domestic gas production."India would be importing more LNG and there will be a significant future demand for more carriers. We will explore serving global requirements too," he said.The tie-up with Hyundai will help L&T improve utilisation of its shipyard at Kattupalli, which is housed under subsidiary L&T Shipbuilding. L&T set up the Rs 4,700 crore shipyard-cum-port complex at Kattupalli to manufacture warships, large commercial vessels and to augment the existing capacity at Hazira for submarines. The company hopes to make it the next major international destination after Colombo and Singapore ship repairs in the region.
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"Baywatch: The Retirement Years" would be an awesome show ... because TMZ has learned, 60-year-old David Hasselhoff just bought himself a brand new mansion for $1.95 million.
Sources close to the deal tell us, Hoff purchased the 5,767-sq.-ft. Mediterranean home in Calabasas last week.
The 5-bedroom, 6-bathroom house sits in a small gated community ... and it's even got its own basketball court.
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What's your most memorable beer moment?
The best beers are the beers you share with friends. I can think of a lot of great events I've had the pleasure of attending over the last few years, but one sticks out in my mind — the Brewfarm Classic. A friend of mine in MN conceived of the Classic a few years ago, an annual 70 mile bike ride from Minneapolis to Dave's Brewfarm in Wisconsin. The ride is harsh, but the reward is great — Dave's delicious beer, Natedogs quality weiners from a hotdog cart, and a night around the fire drinking and camping at the farm with 50 of your friends.
Favorite watering hole?
Depends on the city. I feel like it's almost cliche to say that Hopleaf is my favorite beer bar in Chicago, but there's a reason that it always makes the list of best beer bars in the nation — they do amazing food and the freshest beer you can drink in the city, 365 days out of the year. Bangers & Lace takes a close second for their eclectic draft list and unbeatable dogs. Back in Minnesota, I have to send some love out to Republic at 7 Corners. They're already known as one of the preeminent beer bars in the Twin Cities and every time I go back, I'm amazed that they've somehow gotten even better.
What was your greatest beer hunt?
I'm not much of a beer hunter anymore — for every rare, highly sought after, one-off beer out there on the market, there's usually 5 others that are just as good and can be procured without waiting in lines for hours or selling your first born child. That said, on a recent trip to Burlington, VT, I drove about 100 miles out of my way to go sample beers at Hill Farmstead. My GPS failed me a few times and my Kia Soul rental barely made it through the last mile and a half of gravel road leading up to the farm, but getting to talk with Shaun Hill and sampling Satsuma (a barrel-aged Saison with Satsuma Mandarins) straight from the tank made the trek well worth my while.
What's a beer on your wishlist?
Anything from Cantillon. Have they ever made a beer that wasn't solid gold?
Bonus: What's the biggest misconception people have of being a Master Cicerone?
Hard to say as I haven't been one long enough for people to form too many misconceptions about me (I hope!). However, I do feel that sometimes people will make jokes about me judging them for what they choose to drink. I love introducing people to new beers and helping them expand their horizons, but if you try a bunch of beers and decide that at the end of the day, you're still happiest with your PBR, well, more power to ya.
You can learn more about the Cicerone Certification Program, where Pat develops content and proctors exams here.
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Rep. Duncan Hunter pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to misuse campaign funds and is expected to resign from Congress before facing a prison sentence.
Hunter, who will be sentenced March 17, faces a maximum of five years in prison. Prosecutors plan to seek a minimum of one year and likely more, Assistant U.S. Atty. Phil Halpern said.
“I made mistakes and that’s what today was all about,” Hunter told reporters after the hearing.
Halpern countered that Hunter’s remarks were disingenuous.
“That is not consistent with the facts,” Halpern said. “The evidence is crystal clear that he knowingly and willfully [misspent] more than $150,000. ... It wasn’t an accounting problem that he went to Lake Tahoe and spent more than $1,000 ... with another individual. That’s a fact.”
The Lake Tahoe trip was a reference to a getaway Hunter took to the Heavenly resort with a lobbyist who was his mistress. He used campaign funds to pay for the long weekend, including skiing, room service and cocktails.
Hunter’s guilty plea, entered in federal court in San Diego, marked the culmination of a three-year investigation that included tawdry details about the Republican using more than $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for hotel rooms to entertain his mistresses, his children’s private school tuition, transportation for two pet rabbits and other expenses.
He and his wife, Margaret, who handled his campaign finances, were each initially indicted on 60 federal counts in August 2018.
The Hunters ultimately admitted to using six figures in campaign funds to fund their debt-ridden family’s lifestyle from 2010 through 2016, prosecutors said.
“Hunter violated the trust of his supporters by diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars they donated in good faith to his reelection campaign for personal expenditures,” Assistant U.S. Atty. David Leshner said in a statement. “This was not an accounting mistake by his campaign. This was a deliberate, years-long violation of the law.”
Margaret Hunter, 44, pleaded guilty in June to conspiring with her husband to violate campaign finance laws and agreed to testify against him. She is scheduled to be sentenced in April and faces up to five years in prison but is expected to be sentenced to less.
The Alpine congressman, who once said the investigation of his campaign finances was fueled by a “fake news” campaign by the media and a “deep state” plot in the federal government, on Monday said he decided to plead guilty and face prison time in an effort to protect his wife and their three children.
Rep. Duncan Hunter arrives at federal court in San Diego to change his plea in a sweeping campaign finance investigation. (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune)
“Whatever my time in custody will be, I will take that hit,” he told San Diego‘s KUSI-TV (Channel 51). “My only hope is that the judge does not sentence my wife to jail. I think my kids need a mom in the home.”
Halpern said Hunter’s resignation was not part of the plea deal, but prosecutors expect Hunter to give up his seat soon.
First elected to Congress in 2008, Hunter represents central and northeastern San Diego County and a small part of Riverside County. Once Hunter’s resignation is official, Gov. Gavin Newsom will have 14 days to call for a special election to fill the seat.
Hunter’s decision to resign increases the likelihood that Republicans will hold onto the seat in November because of the Republican tilt of his 50th Congressional District. Upon hearing of Hunter’s plan to plead guilty, nonpartisan analyst David Wasserman immediately changed the race’s ranking from “Lean Republican” to “Solid Republican.”
Darry Sragow, publisher of the nonpartisan California Target Book, which handicaps congressional races, points out that the GOP has a nearly 13-point voter registration edge in the district.
“Democrats could certainly hold out hope as long as Duncan Hunter was under a cloud and going for reelection,” Sragow said. “If the Republicans nominate a viable candidate for Congress, it can be expected that they will keep the district.”
This week’s developments mark a dramatic downfall for Hunter, the son of a longtime congressman and a 42-year-old combat veteran who at one point won reelection with more than 70% of the vote.
Hunter was 3 years old when his father, Duncan Hunter Sr., was first elected to Congress in 1980. Shortly after graduating from San Diego State in 2001, Hunter was inspired by the Sept. 11 attacks to join the Marine Corps. He served in Baghdad and fought in the battle of Fallujah. He was placed on reserve in 2006 but was called back to active duty in 2007 for a tour in Afghanistan.
When his father decided to run for president in 2007 instead of seeking another term, Hunter campaigned for his seat and defeated a fellow veteran with 56% of the vote. It made him the first combat veteran of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan to serve in Congress, where Hunter developed a reputation as a defense hawk like his father.
As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, he strongly opposed the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding gays and lesbians in the military, saying in an interview with NPR at the time that the bond between soldiers “is broken if you open up the military to transgenders, to hermaphrodites, to gays and lesbians.” He was one of the first House members to endorse Donald Trump and praised the president’s announcement that transgender people would no longer be allowed to serve in any capacity in the military.
Hunter was the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation subcommittee before he was pressured by then-House Speaker Paul D. Ryan to step down from all of his committee assignments after he was indicted.
Hunter’s use of campaign funds — notably more than $1,300 in video game purchases — first drew the attention of the Union-Tribune and federal election officials in 2016.
Hunter blamed his son for those purchases, saying the boy had used the wrong credit card to sign up for a recurring purchase. He said he was seeking a refund.
Further investigation by the Union-Tribune, federal elections officials and prosecutors found more unusual spending by Hunter’s campaign, including a now-infamous cross-country airplane rides for the family rabbits — “Eggburt” and “Cadbury” — and payments to nail salons, for home repairs and on exotic vacations.
Court filings showed that the Hunters’ bank account was overdrawn more than 1,100 times and that at one point Margaret Hunter told her husband to buy a pair of Hawaiian shorts he couldn’t afford with the campaign credit card and claim that the charge was to help “wounded warriors.”
Hunter’s campaign treasurer’s office was raided by the FBI in February 2017. The warrant for the search detailed that agents were looking for evidence showing whether campaign funds were used for personal reasons, whether there was a scheme to defraud a bank over video game purchases, and whether campaign finance reports were falsified to “impede or influence” FBI and House Ethics Committee investigations.
That same year, the family sold their Alpine home and moved in with the elder Hunter to pay off debts. Hunter has spent more than $800,000 on attorneys’ fees since then, while continuing to profess his innocence. But in the KUSI interview, Hunter conceded that he erred.
“I think it’s important that people know that I did make mistakes,” Hunter said. “I did not properly monitor or account for my campaign money. I justify my plea with the understanding that I am responsible for my own campaign and my own campaign money.”
There had been an increasing drumbeat of pressure for Hunter to resign rather than allow a reliably Republican seat to fall into Democratic hands. That argument drew former GOP Rep. Darrell Issa to enter the race.
While Hunter “deserves his day in court,” Issa said in September, according to NPR, “the 50th Congressional District does deserve the ability to maintain this as a conservative district and quite frankly to have a member who can show up and take all of his committee assignments.”
Issa is not the only candidate running in the district, but he has significant advantages — nearly two decades representing northern San Diego County in Congress, including a four-year stint as the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, when he was among the most public faces of Republican efforts to investigate President Obama. Plus, he’s worth more than a quarter-billion dollars and previously spent $10 million self-financing an unsuccessful 1998 U.S. Senate campaign.
Another Republican seeking the seat is former San Diego City Councilman and activist Carl DeMaio.
Other candidates in the race include Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, whom Hunter narrowly defeated in the 2018 election after he had been indicted.
Wire reported from Washington and Mehta from Los Angeles.
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Weltpremiere: Forscher haben erstmals einen Laser zum Radiogerät umfunktioniert – und damit einen Song von Dean Martin drahtlos übertragen. Möglich wird dies mithilfe einer Technologie, die interne Oszillationen eines Laser-Frequenzkamms in Radiowellen umwandelt. Das Laser-Radio kann dadurch sowohl Informationen senden als auch empfangen. Die neue Technologie ebnet den Weg zu ganz neuen elektronisch-photonischen Hybrid-Geräten.
Bisher funktionieren Radios nach einem simplen Prinzip: Schall wird in elektrische Signale und dann in elektromagnetische Wellen im Megahertz- bis Gigahertz-Bereich umgewandelt. Diese werden als Funksignale über die Luft gesendet und von Radiogeräten mittels Antenne empfangen. Der Empfänger wandelt die analog oder digital kodierten Signale wieder in Schall um – es ertönen Musik, Nachrichten oder sonstige Informationen.
Das Laser-Radio hat erfolgreich ein Musikstück übermittelt. © Marco Piccardo/ Harvard SEAS
Kamm aus Licht
Doch es geht auch anders, wie nun Marco Piccardo von der Harvard University und seine Kollegen demonstrieren. Sie haben das erste Radiogerät konstruiert, das auf Basis von Laserstrahlung funktioniert. Kern des Geräts bildet dabei ein Laser-Frequenzkamm, ein Lasersystem, das Licht in Form vieler scharf abgegrenzter Spektrallinien in gleichen Abständen produziert – wie die Zinken eines Kamms. Der große Vorteil: Jede „Zinke“ eines solchen Frequenzkamms kann ein Datensignal transportieren – dies ermöglicht große Bandbreiten.
Inzwischen haben Forscher diese Laserkämme soweit verkleinert, dass sie auf Mikrochips passen. Bisher allerdings wurde diese Technologie vorwiegend für photonische Anwendungen eingesetzt. Doch Piccardo und sein Team haben entdeckt, dass solche Frequenzkämme durch spezielle Resonanzeffekte auch Oszillationen im Mikrowellenbereich erzeugen – und damit in dem Bereich, der für die Radio- und Mobilfunkübertragung verwendet wird.
Laser-Radio sendet erstes Musikstück
Für ihr Laser-Radio manipulierten die Forscher einen Laser-Frequenzkamm so, dass er Informationen in den Oszillationen seines Lichts kodierte. Über einen Photodetektor wandelten sie diese Schwingungen dann in Mikrowellen um, die über eine Antenne als Funksignal ausgesendet wurden. Als Testsendung wählten die Wissenschaftler den Song „Volare“ von Dean Martin. Das Radiosignal fingen sie mit einer klassischen Antenne auf und machten es über einen Computer als Radioübertragung wieder hörbar.
Anzeige
„Damit zeigen wir, dass ein entsprechend konstruierter Laser Mikrowellen zu einem informationstragenden Signal modulieren und drahtlos emittieren kann“, konstatieren Piccardo und seine Kollegen. Das neuartige Laser-Radio kann dabei sowohl Informationen senden als auch empfangen, wie ein weiterer Versuch ergab. Dabei veränderten die Mikrowellensignale den Frequenzkamm. „Das öffnet die Tür zu einem ganz neuen Typ von hybriden elektronisch-photonischen Geräten“, so die Forscher.
„Großes Potenzial“
Nach Ansicht der Wissenschaftler könnte diese Hybrid-Technologie einiges an neuen Anwendungen ermöglichen. „Dieses integrierte Gerät hat großes Potenzial für die drahtlose Kommunikation“, sagt Piccardo. Sein Kollege Federico Capasso ergänzt: „Unsere Forschung ebnet einen Weg zu neuen Arten von elektronisch-photonischen Geräten und es ist der erste Schritt hin zu einem ultraschnellen WLAN.“
Die Forscher und ihre Universität haben bereits das Patent auf ihr neues Laser-Radio angemeldet und gehen nun Möglichkeiten nach, die Technologie für konkrete Anwendungen zu nutzen. (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019; doi: 10.1073/pnas.1903534116)
Quelle: Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
29. April 2019
- Nadja Podbregar
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New research shows, that the trade-off between gleaners and exploiters does not explain the diversity of biological species in the way that scientists expected. Our understanding...
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Apulaisoikeusasiamies: Rokotuksen ottaminen on terveydenhuollon työntekijälle vapaaehtoista
Rokottamattomuus sinällään ei voi olla varoituksen antamisen peruste, apulaisoikeusasiamiehen tiedotteessa sanotaan. LEHTIKUVA/Milla Takala
STT
Apulaisoikeusasiamies on antanut huomautuksen terveydenhuollon työnantajalle, joka oli antanut työntekijälle kirjallisen varoituksen siksi, että tämä jätti ottamatta influenssarokotuksen. Psykologi työskenteli Kuopion psykiatrian keskuksessa.
Työntekijän varoitusta oli perusteltu sillä, ettei hän ollut ottanut tartuntatautilain mukaista rokotussuojaa työnantajan kehotuksesta huolimatta. Hänellä ei myöskään ollut terveydellistä syytä kieltäytymiseen. Varoituksessa oli ilmoitettu, että samanlainen käytös jatkossa johtaisi palvelussuhteen päättämiseen.
Apulaisoikeusasiamies Maija Sakslin toteaa, että tartuntatautilaissa rokotusten ottaminen on vapaaehtoista. Työntekijällä on näin oikeus päättää näiden rokotusten ottamisesta. Toisaalta työnantajalla on velvollisuus huolehtia, että työntekijöillä on olosuhteiden vaatima rokotussuoja.
– Tartuntatautilaki velvoittaa työnantajaa huolehtimaan siitä, että sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon asiakas- ja potilastiloissa, joissa hoidetaan lääketieteellisesti arvioituna tartuntatautien vakaville seuraamuksille alttiita asiakkaita tai potilaita, käytetään työntekijöitä, joilla on säännöksessä tarkoitettu rokotussuoja ja vain erityisestä syystä henkilöitä, joilla on puutteellinen rokotussuoja.
Sairaanhoitopiiri muutti jo rokotuskäytäntöään
Apulaisoikeusasiamiehen mukaan varoituksen voi antaa vain, jos työntekijä rikkoo tai laiminlyö velvollisuuksiaan.
– Rokotuksesta kieltäytyminen ei merkitse virkasuhteesta johtuvien velvollisuuksiensa täyttämisen laiminlyöntiä tai velvollisuuksien rikkomista. Rokottamattomuus sinällään ei voi olla varoituksen antamisen peruste, apulaisoikeusasiamiehen tiedotteessa sanotaan.
Pohjois-Savon sairaanhoitopiiri on ilmoittanut oikeusasiamiehelle, että peruu kantelijan ja muidenkin työntekijöiden saamat kirjalliset varoitukset influenssarokotusten ottamisen laiminlyönnistä. Sairaanhoitopiiri on myös kertonut, että se on jo muuttanut rokotuskäytäntöä ja influenssarokotuksen ottaminen on työntekijöille vapaaehtoista.
Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriö totesi antamassaan lausunnossa muun muassa, että kokonaisuutena arvioiden psykiatrinen yksikkö ei ole tila, jossa pääsääntöisesti hoidetaan tartuntatautien vakaville seuraamuksille kaikkein alttiimpia ihmisiä.
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12th November 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Mughayir, Occupied Palestine
At 18:00 yesterday, the Israeli army closed the main entrance to Mughayir village until midnight. At midnight the army infiltrated the village and patrolled its empty streets for the next four hours.
Sometime between 2:30-3:30 am, villagers noticed that the mosque was on fire. Failing to put out the fire, the fire brigade was called, but by the time they had arrived from Ramallah, the fire had already spread along the ground floor of the mosque and the toilets.
While local media reported Zionist settlers as the culprits, witnesses in the village did not see who was responsible. Mughayir mayor, Faraj Na’asan stated, “Of course we know who did it. They’ve done it before in 2012. Everybody was in their houses because the soldiers were patrolling the streets. It was either the soldiers, or settlers under their protection.”
The Mughyir mosque is the second mosque to be burned by settlers this month. Meanwhile the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem is infiltrated by Israeli forces almost daily. The limiting of 50 Muslim worshipers a day, and the allowing of settler tours has sparked an upheaval in East Jerusalem and across the West Bank.
“It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last time that the settlers attack a holy sight and especially after the attacks on al-Aqsa mosque in these past few days,” stated Sais Mughayir. “We are facing a hard time locally and internationally. So we have to be united to enhance the existence of people in their land.”
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Millennials don’t value patriotism, family and religion as passionately as previous generations, according to a new survey.
“The values that Americans say define the national character are changing, as younger generations rate patriotism, religion and having children as less important to them than did young people two decades ago,” Wall Street Journal reporter Chad Day wrote about the results.
MAN SAYS HE WITNESSED CNN HOST DON LEMON'S ALLEGED ASSAULT: 'I WAS KIND OF MAKING FUN, I FEEL BAD NOW'
The survey, conducted by Wall Street Journal/NBC News, began 21 years ago when Americans were asked which values were most important to them and the majority responded that “principles of hard work, patriotism, commitment to religion and the goal of having children” were critical.
“Today, hard work remains atop the list, but the shares of Americans listing the other three values have fallen substantially,” Day wrote.
Patriotism being “very important” fell 9 percent, religion dropped 12 percent and having children fell a whopping 16 percent. Older participants still feel that patriotism is a priority, but younger people aren’t as enthusiastic.
CNN HAS BAD WEEK AMID APRIL RYAN, CHRIS CUOMO AND DON LEMON NEWS: ‘IT WAS QUITE EMBARRASSING’
“Among people 55 and older, for example, nearly 80 percent said patriotism was very important, compared with 42 percent of those ages 18-38 — the millennial generation and older members of Gen-Z,” Day noted before adding that the survey did find a few points of unity.
The study indicated that “a majority” of Americans are satisfied with the economy, while two-thirds aren’t confident the next generation will be “better off” than the current generation. The survey indicated the Democrats have changed more than Republicans.
“In fact, the views of Democrats over age 50 were more in line with those of younger Republicans than with younger members of their own party,” Day wrote. “In addition to differences in personal values, the poll lays out how the country has divided along partisan lines on many other views of society.”
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When asked if “the country is becoming more diverse and tolerant of different lifestyles,” 63 percent of Democrats agreed with the notion compared to 16 percent of Republicans. Roughly half of Republicans feel the country is in good standing when it comes to race relations, while only 21 percent of Democrats agree.
The survey was conducted with a sample of 1,000 adults from Aug. 10-14.
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Flair, creativity, swagger, speed, nimble footwork and a devastating eye for goal. Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior possesses all of these essentials in abundance. Blessed with the blistering pace and audacious skills of Cristiano Ronaldo, along with the stamina and awe-inspiring finish of Lionel Messi, this Brazilian wonderkid has it all in his locker. Not a week goes by without Santos’ star man being raved about all over the globe. Whether it be an impudent trick, an expertly-worked assist or a breathtaking finish by the little conjurer, football fans just can’t seem to get enough of him. At the tender age of 20, Brazilian compatriot Lucas Moura has already completed his big-money move to Europe (via PSG) to immerse himself in the ranks of the world’s elite. Neymar will most certainly be following in Lucas’ footsteps, although not necessarily anytime in the immediate future. Many believe that Neymar Jr. is making a wise move in staying at his boyhood club Santos, as he will give himself an opportunity to develop as a player, mentally and physically. As a striker in Europe, the intricate winger-cum-striker will need to make sure he is up to the task, as robustness is a key factor in the modern game, although Barcelona have managed to defy such a statement.
Growing up in Sao Paolo, football is a huge part in the life of most young boys. They all aspire to be the next Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, or Messi. Futsal is the preferred game of choice for youngsters in Brazil, and it has allowed for successful South Americans such as Falcao (Futsal Player) Robinho and Neymar to hone their skills before actually stepping out onto a real pitch. Neymar inherited his name from his father who is a former professional footballer, and his father has since become Neymar Junior’s advisor. In 1992, he moved to Sao Vicente with his family and soon began to participate in Portuguesa Santista’s youth system. Being touted for stardom and known nationally as hot property, Neymar began to draw attention from Brazil’s more established clubs. In the year of 2003 he signed for Santos FC. He was only 11 years old at the time. What many people don’t know is that the cunning speed demon had trials at Real Madrid when he was 14. He assuredly passed the trials, and was on the verge of sealing a move when Santos decided to pay him a fee of approximately €370,000 to stay with his club. The teenager accepted the lucrative sum of money, and it seems as if he has the reaped the rewards of not making the move too prematurely in his career.
After signing his first professional contract for Santos at the age of 17, Neymar was ready to become an integral cog in the first team, and cement his place there. He did just that, and a little bit more. In the season of 2009, Neymar made his professional debut. He scored in only his second game for the club, and ended the year on a high with a tally of 14 goals in 48 game. Not bad for a spotty-faced teenager eh? In 2010, the Brazilian continued his ascendancy in the game, and bagged 5 goals in an 8-1 rout against Guarani in the qualifying stages of the Brazilian cup. Later that season, Neymar was subject to a reported £12 million bid from West Ham United, and also a £20 million bid from Chelsea. Both offers were rejected, with Neymar pledging his loyalty to Santos. The thought of European football was enough to make the striker think twice, but he concluded that he would be better off staying in his home nation, waiting for the right time to make the big leap. Having ended 2010 with 42 goals in 60 games for Santos, Neymar was once again becoming a major talking point in European football. Such a goal-scoring record said a lot about the type of player Neymar Jr. was, and rumours were constantly circulating over his future with his club. He also made his debut with Brazil in a friendly against the United States in 2010, scoring a header only 28 minutes into his first game for the Canarinho (Little Canary).
When 2011 came a-knocking, big things were expected for the little man, and he produced ample performances to suggest that he is one of the world’s best in his preferred position. Neymar brought his side to the final of the Copa Libertadores, the South American equivalent of the Champions League. Santos faced Uruguayan outfit Penarol in the final stage of the competition. After the first leg being a stalemate, 0-0 draw, Neymar knew he had to perform in the return leg to bring home the gold. He opened the scoring for Santos in the 46th minute, and his side held on to record a 2-1 win over the Uruguayans. This was the first time Santos had experienced such success in this competition since the great Pele won it with his Santos side half a century ago. In a game against Flamengo later this season, Neymar scored after a stunning solo effort, in which he left 4 defenders for dead, before coolly dispatching a trivela-type dink over the onrushing goalkeepers’ outstretched legs. This heavenly goal helped Neymar to win FIFA’s 2011 Puskas Award for the best goal of the year. Pundits went googly-eyed over the ability of this sensational teenager, and he was soon being recognised in every corner of the world.
Neymar continued to dazzle in 2012, and managed to claim another nomination for the Puskas award, only narrowly losing out to Miroslav Stoch’s insane volley for Fenerbache. He was in inspired form for Brazil’s U-23 side that travelled to London for the 2012 Olympic games, and he stood out from a star-studded Brazilian squad that slipped up only against Mexico in the Final. He found himself victim of constant booing from onlookers of his matches, but he claimed that this did not bother him.
If Neymar were to have one major downfall, it would undoubtedly be his insatiable knack for diving. When he feels a brush of air sweep past him, he seems to go down sometimes. This is discouraging, although it can be fixed over time, with a simple slap on the wrist. He is also guilty of over-zealous behaviour at times. He got sent off for running to the crowd after scoring and taking a mask of himself only to put it on his face, he then received his marching orders. The attacker also can hold onto the ball too much at times, and when he has an off-day, he can be immensely frustrating to watch. His confidence is what makes him so unique, and some would say that he is reminiscent of a certain Cristiano Ronaldo.
But the boy-wonder has many of his best years ahead of him yet, and with Barcelona and Real Madrid suspected to be closing in on a deal for him, he looks to have the world at his feet. He’s certainly no Messi as of right now, but if he continues to keep on keeping on, the sky’s the limit.
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Bremerton doctor charged with raping female patients pleads guilty to lesser charges
Andrew Binion | Kitsap
PORT ORCHARD -- A Bremerton doctor accused in 2015 of raping female patients during exams pleaded guilty to significantly reduced charges and may face nine months in jail when he is sentenced next month.
Three-and-a-half years after first filing the charges against Darren Michael Chotiner, 49, of Poulsbo, prosecutors dropped all rape and indecent liberties charges against him and wrote in court documents they would not object to Chotiner serving his sentence on electronic home monitoring.
Chotiner had been charged with two counts of second-degree rape and five counts of indecent liberties, all felonies.
He pleaded guilty to a single felony, second-degree assault, as well as five counts of fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation, gross misdemeanors.
LAWSUIT: Clinic is responsible for doctor charged with sexual assault
Chotiner denied committing the crimes but acknowledged the “substantial risk” of going to trial on the charges prosecutors originally brought forth.
“Therefore, I wish to resolve my case by pleading guilty to these lesser offenses in order to take advantage of a favorable plea bargain,” Chotiner wrote in his guilty plea, filed July 13 in Kitsap County Superior Court.
In pleading to the reduced charges, Chotiner will not be required to register as a sex offender.
Chotiner had been free on bail following his charges and is on electronic home monitoring pending his sentencing hearing, scheduled for Sept. 24. Following Chotiner’s arrest in 2014, the state Department of Health’s Medical Quality Assurance Commission suspended his license.
Bremerton police investigated the case. Following publicity of his arrest on Dec. 2, 2014, for sexually assaulting two women patients he treated at a Peninsula Community Health Services clinic in Bremerton, investigators said several additional victims stepped forward.
A deputy prosecutor told one of the judges on the case that there could be as many as 15 women accusing Chotiner of sexual misconduct while he was claiming to treat them.
The charges to which Chotiner pleaded guilty give the initials of five women victims.
The women on whose behalf those charges were filed reported an array of misconduct. Two women said Chotiner fondled their genitals with his fingers under the guise of treating them and made suggestive comments. Some of the woman said Chotiner appeared to have an erection during the evaluations, and thrust into them while ostensibly giving them massages. One women said it appeared Chotiner had ejaculated in his pants, according to documents.
One woman who reported Chotiner kept “thrusting his genitals into her side” told Bremerton police she was not sure if she should call the police.
“She was not sure if the exam was inappropriate or not,” an investigator wrote in court documents. “She didn't want to accuse Dr. Chotiner and get him into trouble if what he was doing was right.”
Before his arrest, Chotiner had been restricted by the clinic from performing certain sensitive evaluations of women without a chaperone present after he was accused of kissing a female patient in 2011. The state Department of Health and Chotiner agreed to ethics and boundary training along with the chaperone restriction, which the department lifted in 2012.
However, the clinic kept a similar restriction in place that an assistant be present for evaluations when a female patient was “presenting in sensitive way.”
Women told investigators Chotiner behaved differently when a chaperone was present and would more consistently wear gloves during exams, but that the alleged misconduct took place without a chaperone present in the room.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Chad Enright acknowledged that the women feel they were sexually assaulted. He said part of the reason the case took so long to resolve was because authorities were following up with alleged victims, conducting interviews and “digging into the facts a little bit deeper.”
“Based upon the statements of all the witnesses, this is what we believe we could prove,” Enright said of the charges to which Chotiner pleaded guilty.
Chotiner’s attorney, Elizabeth Mount Penner, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Interested in the marijuana business industry? NJ Cannabis Insider is a new premium intelligence briefing that features exclusive weekly content geared toward entrepreneurs, lawyers and realtors. View a sample issue.
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By Payton Guion | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
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Shortly after Gov. Phil Murphy was elected, lawmakers said they wanted to get weed legalized in his first 100 days.
That deadline, at the end of April, came and went with little action.
Some lawmakers and advocates then set their sights on getting recreational marijuana passed by the end of June, when legislators traditionally take a summer break. It’s now looking like that deadline also will come and go.
As June 30 rapidly approaches, with little movement, it's becoming increasingly likely that legal weed will have to wait until later this year. Here's where things stand now.
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Andre Malok
The big, new legalization bill is dead
So far this year, two primary marijuana ideas have dominated discourse in New Jersey. The first is an expansion of the state's medical marijuana program, which Murphy called for earlier this year in an executive order. The other is legalizing the possession and personal use of small amounts of marijuana for adults at least 21 years old, along with a regulated commercial market.
Earlier this month, state Sen. Nicholas Scutari, a Union County Democrat who has been leading the push for legal weed, introduced a plan that tried to do both, upsetting lawmakers and advocates alike. It now appears that Scutari's plan is a non-starter.
Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, and three others familiar with efforts to push marijuana legalization through the Legislature said Scutari's merged bill was not moving forward, as reported exclusively by NJ Cannabis Insider.
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Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media
But there's another legal weed bill in the mix
The same day he dropped the merged bill that's now dead, Scutari also introduced a separate legal weed bill. It called for up to 218 dispensaries, 98 of which would be medical dispensaries. It also allowed consumption lounges, places where people could use the weed they just bought.
This plan would also allow expungements for people with low-level marijuana crimes and aims to help people in areas disproportionately affected by marijuana arrests.
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Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media
That one will probably have to wait
While Scutari's separate recreational marijuana bill has gotten a more favorable response than the combined bill, advocates and lawmakers say it leaves out a lot of what they were hoping to see.
"Simply put: This bill falls short of what New Jersey needs. We look forward to working with New Jersey's leaders to create a better one," New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform said in a statement shortly after the bill was introduced.
Lawmakers are still working on making changes to the bill, but it's unlikely that enough could get done before the June 30 budget deadline. Those changes could include easier expungements and more opportunities in the cannabis industry for women and minorities.
Assemblyman Jamel Holley, D-Union, has been working on the recreational bill in his chamber and said he thinks this bill is more likely to get done later this year.
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Medical marijuana expansion could still happen before June 30
But even if lawmakers can't get recreational marijuana across the finish line this month, a plan to expand Jersey's medical marijuana program could still get through.
Vitale introduced a bill to that end last month, and he said he continues to work with Senate leadership on the language and contents of his plan. Medical expansion enjoys strong support in the Legislature, unlike full legalization, which is more controversial.
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Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media
But it may not be necessary
Even if lawmakers fail to pass a medical marijuana bill, the program could still be expanded.
Rules proposed by the Health Department on Monday would allow the department to issue new licenses to separate cannabis businesses, as reported exclusively in NJ Cannabis Insider. The rules could go into effect as early as late August if adopted.
Donna Leusner, a Health Department spokeswoman, said the department "is monitoring legislation closely" and that the department will be moving forward with the expansion whether by legislation or by approval of the proposed rules.
The department's rules say the state could issue separate licenses for cultivation, processing and selling medical marijuana, which isn't currently allowed. The six medical marijuana dispensaries in the state are required to grow, process and sell in-house.
The Health Department hasn't set a cap on the number of licenses it could issue, with Leusner saying that would come once the department formally asks for applications.
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Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media
If not now, when?
So if legal weed isn't approved by the end of the month, when could lawmakers act on it?
Most likely later this summer or in the fall. Scutari has said that he'd like to get it done by June 30, but if it has to wait until later this year, he's not too worried about it.
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Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media
Why did June 30 matter anyway?
June 30 has been seen as an almost official deadline for legal weed, but that date has nothing to do with marijuana. It's actually the deadline for the state to pass its budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
In years when the budget is wrapped up by June 30, lawmakers typically take a break in July. Other years, like last year, the budget negotiations go past June 30, shutting down the government. New Jersey could be on the verge of another shutdown, but marijuana hasn't been seen as one of the sticking points.
If the end of the month passes with a budget and no action on legalization, it's not the end of the road. Scutari has said he'd be fully ready to restart the legal weed debate later this summer.
If that happens, expect marijuana to be one of the top issues being considered.
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There is still a tiny chance legal weed passes
However unlikely it seems now, the door hasn't slammed shut on recreational marijuana by the end of the month. Scutari is working with Holley and Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, to hash out something in the coming days.
"(Scutari's) open to everything. He's willing and I'm willing to negotiate to get to 21 votes on both" the legalization and medicinal marijuana expansion bills, Sweeney said.
"We're running out of time, but I would hope we can" get this done by June 30. "But who knows at this point?"
But remember if a bill does pass, it will likely take more than a year before a recreational industry could get up and running.
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More marijuana links
Are you interested in the N.J. cannabis industry? Subscribe here for exclusive insider information from NJ Cannabis Insider.
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Brent Johnson, Susan K. Livio and Justin Zaremba contributed to this story.
Payton Guion may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @PaytonGuion. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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ONDER DE WETSTRAAT HET MOERAS
De ophef over het verblijf van Carles Puigdemont in België, zet het dilemma tussen principes en pragmatisme op scherp. Volgens Noël Slangen krijgt elke partij die deelneemt aan de macht daarmee te maken.
De wijn in het water
Kunt u zich de Catalaanse kwestie voorstellen met een N-VA in de oppositie? De partij zou zonder aarzelen haar duivels ontbinden, geen woord zou hard genoeg zijn, en het ene onwrikbare principe zou op het andere gestapeld worden. De achterban zou verguld zijn en de kopstukken zouden floreren. Maar vandaag heeft de partij van Bart De Wever regeringsverantwoordelijkheid, en dat heeft een prijs. Mandatarissen laten hun tong de ingewikkeldste pirouettes maken om maar niets te zeggen, of ze schieten schichtig een portaal in als er een camera of microfoon op hen af komt. Behalve misschien Theo Francken, die – afhankelijk van de bron – een ongeleid of net een geleid projectiel is.
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This is such a remarkable butterfly that scientists are wondering how it has gone unnoticed for so long.
It is a relatively large insect, measuring some eight centimetres across. True to its name, the swallowtail butterfly has two elongated edges projecting from the hind wings, which trail as it flutters through the canopy of the forest in which the species was found.
It has striking black and white zigzags emblazoned on the top or its wings, and a cream and black speckled pattern underneath. All of this is gilded with soft yellows and blue eye spots.
John Tennent, a scientific associate at the Museum, says, 'The discovery of a new swallowtail in the Pacific is hard to believe.
'The new swallowtail is a big butterfly, recognizable from a distance. There were previously only two swallowtail butterflies known from the region, endemic to Fiji and Samoa. Both are large but dull in appearance.
'To find a third as large and colourful and unusual, with its long, sword-like tails really is remarkable.'
An incredible find
The butterfly was actually first found and photographed by the ornithologist Greg Kerr, who was working on the Natewa Peninsula on the Fijian island of Vanua Levu in 2017.
So striking was the butterfly that lepidopterists who first saw the photographs thought the images may have been faked. It didn't seem plausible that such an insect could have gone unnoticed all this time.
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Last updated on .From the section European Football
Rajtoral, pictured here in 2007, played 14 times for the Czech Republic with his most recent cap coming in 2014
Czech footballer Frantisek Rajtoral has died at the age of 31.
Rajtoral played 14 times for his country and was part of the squad that reached the Euro 2012 quarter-finals.
The defender joined Turkish top-flight club Gaziantepspor in 2016, having spent seven years with Viktoria Plzen, where he won the Czech league twice.
The Czech Football Association expressed its "deepest condolences to all his relatives".
Plzen paid tribute to their former player, saying in a statement: "Rest in peace Rajt, we will all miss you so much, we will never forget you."
Turkish media reported Rajtoral was found dead at his home after Gaziantepspor alerted authorities to his absence on Sunday.
"Unfortunately I can confirm that the news of suicide is true," the club's president Ibrahim Kizil told Turkish media outlet Sporx.
"His team-mates were concerned after Rajtoral didn't participate in today's training session.
"He had good spirits, he didn't seem to have any problem. I really don't know why he did such a thing."
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Riverdale type TV Show network The CW
Spoiler alert: This post contains plot details from the May 9 episode of Riverdale. Read at your own risk.
After a slew of attempted murders (and a few successful ones), some creepy phone calls to Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart), and nearly a year (we guess? We're never quite sure how time functions in Riverdale) of havoc and fear, the Black Hood has finally been revealed and arrested.
Or, at least, one of them has.
Following a heap of misdirection, the 21st episode of the second season brought the bombshell that, as Betty and fans had suspected, Hal Cooper (Lochlyn Munro) was the man under the hood. But he's not the only one — because he also told Betty and Alice (Mädchen Amick) he was not the man wielding the gun in last week's episode during the mayoral debate between Fred (Luke Perry) and Hermione (Marisol Nichols).
According to Hal, Grandpappy Cooper actually killed Grandpappy Blossom (not the other way around as Hal once told it) and took the Cooper name as cover. Hal's father was the man responsible for the Conway murders that left Joseph Svenson the only surviving member of his family massacre, and Hal was raised to believe that the sinners in Riverdale needed to die. Betty's impassioned speech at the Riverdale Jubilee triggered Hal to remember the promise he once made his mother and set him off on his path of deadly righteousness. (And we finally know why a serial killer would use a Nancy Drew codebook to write secret messages.)
Now that Hal has been safely locked away before he had the chance to enact his plan to murder Alice and Betty, EW called up Lochlyn Munro, the man behind the mask hood (despite the fact he's never actually worn it), to get the details on his reaction to the big reveal, how long he's known he was Riverdale'sMost Wanted, and what the future might hold for Hal. Munro warns fans that the case might not be completely closed just yet.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: From pretty early on, at least since Betty started getting closely involved, fans have speculated Hal was the Black Hood. How long have you known you're the one?
LOCHLYN MUNRO: [Laughs] Well, you're going to be shocked when you find out. Episode 21 is when I found out I was the Hood. I had my theories on who it was. I was starting to sweat when we started reading 19 and 20, but I thought, "It can't be me, it's just too on the nose." And then episode 21 [happened], so that was a big shock to everyone. What's cool about the writers is they keep everyone guessing all the time right up until the end.
Did you think it might be you and at what point did you start thinking that?
I didn't. I never ever ever thought it was me until all of a sudden episode 19 had Betty being very suspicious of Hal, and I was like, "Hold on a second, why's she so suspicious of me?" Because I totally thought I had it nailed as far as who I thought it was and then boom! It became a whole different thing. At first, I thought maybe I'm the red herring, something's going on, but yeah, I never ever thought it was Hal.
Who did you think it was?
Well, I gotta say, I kind of suspected it was Keller all along, especially when he shot Svenson at the bridge. I thought that's just too convenient that he shot Svenson. Maybe I'm not the [only] Hood though. Maybe there's three or four. I really don't know. I have no idea what they have planned from here. It would be a really interesting character to play; it's got a lot of depth. Being able to play this guy now knowing if, why, and how he became this person would be cool. I'm really hoping to explore that if, in fact, I get to be the only Hood.
Image zoom The CW
It's been a great misdirection to have another actor under the hood. In this episode, did you actually get to wear it in the scenes with Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch)?
I've never worn the Hood. I've never put it on. It's funny to me when people put my face next to the Hood and they're like, "It's Hal for sure! It's exactly him." I don't know how people think that's me, but that's a stunt actor playing all of that stuff as the Hood. Hopefully, I get a chance to now. I guess everyone would know it was me, right? The hard thing about wearing that hood is no matter who wore it who would have been the Hood, it's so obvious. If I put on that hood, you would still be able to tell it was me. So, no matter what they did, they needed to figure out a way to have a stunt actor play the Black Hood.
Last season, Hal was one of the top suspects for Jason's murder and all season he's been a top suspect behind the Black Hood – what has that been like for you to be at the center of this mystery two seasons running? Are you ever like, can I just not be a murder suspect?
Hal goes about things in the wrong way all the time so his anger comes through, and so, his personality lends to it. But there are moments when we get to flesh him out a little more. I had great moments in the first season. I remember one of my favorite episodes was episode 5 where I got to actually have nice moments with Betty when I was working on my car, and she came home from a date and we chatted about Polly, stuff like that. I really enjoy that stuff. Trying to flesh out every character on our show is really difficult for the fact that there are so many characters and, of course, being a parent, it's a B storyline. The kids are the stars of the show; I totally get that. What I'm really hoping [is] that in the third season, now that this has happened to Hal, maybe I can flesh some dimension out with him and see what makes him tick and why he ended up being the person he did. Maybe there's a way for him to exonerate himself and/or become a person that he wishes he was. That's what I'm kind of hoping happens, but I can see why people would always think he was a little bit of a suspect for the things going on in town.
RELATED: Get the lowdown on the Emmys with EW's CHASING EMMY podcast
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The lead-up to your reveal was very intense, with the creepy home movies and a clear intent to murder your wife and daughter. When you got the script, what did you think about how the Black Hood's sort of last hurrah was set up through the episode? How did you approach it on the actual day of shooting?
Sometimes it's hard for me to separate myself from characters. I'm such a family person. I didn't know at first because I really want to be part of the Cooper dynamic and I thought, "Okay, so now that I'm about to do this scene, how does that affect the Cooper family dynamic now?" Cause I always wanted there to be some bright days. I know it's Riverdale and all, but I thought if just one day Hal and Alice could actually smile at each other and maybe have an interesting conversation at dinner without everything being so dark and moody, that's what I wanted. And then when I got 21, of course, that's when I found out I was the Hood and then I had this scene. I had to separate myself from the character and what drives the plot and the story. So then I embraced it and had fun with it. It was actually kind of fun to play the menacing. Now when he goes into his dark past, we have to [wonder] did he just create Hal Cooper? How did he pull the wool over Alice's eyes for that long? That's what I had to think [about] and where it went, but it was crazy because I had to come up with a lot of stuff. The fact that I'd never played the Hood, I never played Hal as the Hood ever, and so then boom! All of a sudden I had to go into this transition with the character and go, "Woah, what do I draw upon now to be this guy?" It was challenging.
Do you think Hal would have been able to go through with it if it came to killing Betty?
In my heart of hearts, I would hope that Hal wouldn't ever actually do that. But obviously, he was very traumatized as a child and how he was brought up. I think how he was brought up will be fleshed out a bit more in the third season — who actually raised him, and who taught him his values and stuff. I'm hoping that all comes to fruition. I want to hope in my heart of hearts that he wouldn't harm his family, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure what they're going to determine his backstory is.
Hal isn't dead, just under arrest. Will we continue to see a lot of him? And with Hal seemingly in jail, that seems to clear the way for more Alice and F.P. love — what do you think about that pairing?
As an actor, [Alice and F.P. together] means I have less of a job to do. So I guess I'm not all that happy about it. Right away, I thought I was done. I thought, "Okay, so that's my last season of Riverdale and my last two episodes." And Roberto came up to me and adamantly said, "No, it's not over [for] Hal. We have a whole different story arc planned for that." I'm really excited to see what they come up with, so I can really jump into it. Because I now have really embraced this situation with him, and I want to see why he became the guy he is. It gives me more to do, and I look forward to it.
Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
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The Wire creator David Simon has confirmed on Twitter that he is adapting Philip Roth’s famous novel The Plot Against America into a six-part miniseries. The confirmation followed a profile of Roth in the New York Times that mentioned that Simon and Roth had met to discuss the book and its adaptation.
Not actually cool to be reminded by the paper of record that you are tasked with doing justice to greater work than any on which you have so far trespassed. Asshole now officially clenched. https://t.co/YIOK15fwpl — David Simon (@AoDespair) January 16, 2018
Simon added that he is still shopping his adaptation around to different networks.
The Plot Against America imagines an alternate history of World War II in which Charles Lindbergh, the famed aviator and member of the isolationist America First Committee, runs for president and defeats Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1940 election. His administration strikes a deal with Germany and Japan that keeps the U.S. out of the war and leads to the rise of widespread, state-sanctioned anti-Semitism in America.
There has been no shortage of comparisons between Lindbergh’s fictional, fascistic presidency and the election of Donald Trump—particularly given that Trump has invoked the slogan “America First”—but Roth wrote last year (and reaffirmed in his Times profile) that “it is easier to comprehend the election of an imaginary President like Charles Lindbergh than an actual President like Donald Trump.” He also suggested that Trump’s presidency could better be understood by a different novel: Herman Melville’s The Confidence-Man.
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The 32-year-old driver of the cab, which hit Union Minister Gopinath Munde's car in the wee hours in New Delhi on Tuesday at an intersection leading to his death, was allegedly speeding and had jumped the red light, according to police.
"An FIR has been registered against Gurvinder Singh under section 279 (rash and negligent driving) and 304(A)(causing death by negligence) at Tughlak Road Police Station and he was arrested after prima facie he was found at fault of jumping the red light and over speeding," said Additional Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) SBS Tyagi.
Singh, however, was given bail by Metropolitan Magistrate Puneet Pahwa after he was produced before him later in the afternoon.
Delhi Police said the Intelligence Bureau and the Special Cell were investigating whether any conspiracy angle was there behind the accident.
The incident took place around 6:30 AM at Aurobindo Chowk. Munde had started from his 21, Lodhi Colony home for airport. His Maruti Suzuki SX4 car was coming from Prithviraj Road and crossing the intersection to go on Safdarjung Road. Meanwhile, the Indica car, being driven by Singh, came from Aurobindo Marg at a high speed and hit Munde's car from the left side where the Union Minister was sitting, police said.
"Indica's bonnet and bumper were totally damaged due to the impact. The car skid for 31 feet from the point of impact, marks of which are there on the road. This prima facie suggests that the car was travelling at high speed," said Tyagi.
Munde, who was accompanied by Assistant Personal Secretary Surendra Nayar and driver Virendra Kumar in the car, did not stop on the spot and headed straight to the hospital. Kumar later told the police that the Union Minister had asked for water after the accident and told them that he should be taken to the hospital before he lost consciousness.
Munde's driver Virendra Kumar has told investigators that the signal was green when they passed it and there were 26 seconds left before it would have turned red again. Police have registered the FIR on the statement given by Kumar. Interestingly, it was Singh who had made a PCR call at 6:44 AM to the police after the accident took place claiming that a car with a red beacon hit his vehicle and fled.
He was brought to the Tughlak road police station and as it emerged that it was he who had broken the red light and hit the SX4 car which led to Munde's death, he was arrested. He later confessed to interrogators that he "committed a mistake", according to police.
"He has told us that the Indica car belonged to him. He works for a company which was contracted by a five star hotel at Janpath to provide transportation facility to its guest. He was going to report for duty when the accident took place. It seems that he was getting late and was speeding to reach on time when he jumped the red light and the accident took place," said Tyagi.
Gurvinder's car skidded for 31 feet before coming to a halt which means it was travelling at a high speed when the accident took place while there are no skid marks of the SX4, he said. Also, Munde's car was to Singh's right and in his line of vision clearly suggesting that he was at fault, claimed a senior official associated with the investigation.
Police's FSL team will reconstruct the incident to find out the exact circumstances. A special software of the Delhi Traffic Police will also be used to determine these things, include speed of the vehicles. The crime team of the Delhi Police was also called on the spot to gather crucial evidence.
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Mario Balotelli is Arsenal target and Puma could help Gunners sign AC Milan striker
Reports in Italy suggest sports manufacturer could help broker deal for Italy frontman
It is claimed Arsene Wenger will 'do anything' to bring Balotelli to London
Former Manchester City star is currently on World Cup duty in Brazil and will face England on Saturday
Arsenal remain keen on Bayern Munich striker Mario Mandzukic
Reports in Italy this week claim Puma will help Arsenal to sign Mario Balotelli from AC Milan.
The striker is sponsored by Puma, who also announced a partnership with Arsenal in January.
Balotelli’s future at Milan has been thrown into doubt after President Silvio Berlusconi confessed it was still to be decided and Sky Sport Italia pundit Mario Giunta suggested: 'Arsenal are very interested in Balotelli and Arsene Wenger would do anything to bring him to London.
Target: Reports in Italy suggest Puma could help Arsenal sign Mario Balotelli from AC Milan
Balotelli could be about to return to England having left Manchester City last year
'This operation could be pushed forward by the technical sponsor, who Balotelli shares with Arsenal. To have Balotelli in the Premier League for Arsenal would be an important investment.'
Arsene Wenger has an admiration for Balotelli but remains keen on Mario Mandzukic of Bayern Munich, as first revealed in SportsmailOnline, and is watching him play for Croatia in the World Cup, although he is suspended for the opening game against Brazil.
Another target, Alvaro Morata of Real Madrid, is in discussions over a possible move to Villarreal.
Blade Harry could cut it for Tigers as Davies talks continue
Hull City are showing interest in Sheffield United defender Harry Maguire and will open talks with Curtis Davies over a new contract.
The 29-year-old Davies has been outstanding this season and that has attracted interest from Newcastle and Everton.
It is a pivotal contract for Davies who has rebuilt his reputation under Steve Bruce's tutelage after an inauspicious time at Aston Villa which was hampered by poor form and injury. Bruce has made a new centre-back his priority for the summer along with the signing of Jake Livermore.
Tiger time? Sheffield United's Harry Maguire is being tracked by Premier League Hull City
Sportsmail reported last month that Crystal Palace have an interest in Livermore too but the player is keen to return to Hull if they can negotiate a suitable fee with Tottenham. That is not easy and will have a bearing on Bruce's other targets Michael Dawson and Joleon Lescott. Dawson is keen to see whether he has a future at Tottenham first.
Maguire, 21, has been the subject of two failed bids by Wolves and League One Sheffield United want more than the £2m that has been discussed so far.
Pepe is too pricey for Napoli as Spaniard returns to Liverpool
Napoli will struggle to take Pepe Reina back to Italy because of his wages. The Spaniard has returned to Liverpool and is waiting for talks with manager Brendan Rodgers about his future.
Rodgers has been looking to bring in a second goalkeeper to give competition to Simon Mignolet and was looking at Swansea's Michel Vorm until the Welsh club valued him at £8m.
Spot on: Pepe Reina saves a Balotelli penalty during his loan spell at Napoli this season
The belief is that Liverpool will look to strike a compromise and maybe subsidise Reina's departure to help him reach agreement with a new club over his salary.
Atletico Madrid did hold an interest but have signed Miguel Moya from neighbours Getafe and may look at Petr Cech in negotiations with Chelsea over Thibaut Courtois. Arsenal have also been contacted although they have spoken to Cardiff about David Marshall too among several others.
Ole eyes Dikgacoi with former Palace midfielder set to join Bluebirds
Cardiff City are in discussions over a deal for South African midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi. The 29-year-old turned down a new contract at Crystal Palace and is a free agent. He is poised to sign for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and will become the Norwegian's fifth summer recruit.
From Eagle to Bluebird: Kagisho Dikgacoi is poised to sign for Cardiff from Crystal Palace
Bouremouth have made a second bid for Coventry striker Callum Wilson after having a £1million offer turned down earlier this month.
Millwall have made an improved offer for Halifax Town striker Lee Gregory. They had an initial bid of around £150,000 rejected for the 25-year-old.
Joao's going nowhere for now as Atletico dig heels in
Atletico Madrid are refusing to negotiate over the transfer of centre-back Joao Miranda insisting clubs meet his buy-out clause of £24.2million if they want to buy him.
The Spanish champions are wary that coach Diego Simeone is growing frustrated at the sales taking place with Diego Costa and Filipe Luis heading to Chelsea with free agent Tiago. Midfielder Koke is also the subject of fevered interest but all interested parties are being referred to his buy-out clause of £48m.
Tight grip: Atletico Madrid are keeping on to defender Joao Miranda (riight), pictured with Roberto Soldado, then of Valencia
Simeone wants to build on the success of last season but with his squad being dismantled to pay off debts he is concerned at what will be left.
Miranda turns 30 in September and has reached an impasse in talks over a new contract. Manchester City, United and Barcelona have all shown an interest although United insist they have not made any offer.
City have Eliaquim Mangala and Roma's Mehdi Benatia at the top of their wishlist and will open talks with Porto over a deal for Mangala after the World Cup despite his public declaration of love for Chelsea and also admitting he was partial to United.
Atletico meanwhile are considering Mateo Musacchio of Villarreal to replace Miranda should he eventually go.
It's no Shaw thing but United are still Luke-ing to Saints star
Manchester United remain determined to conclude a deal for Luke Shaw.
The final sign off has been delayed while Southampton search for a new manager. The south coast club are keen to get the optimum price should they sell their players after initially intimating that around £27m would be enough. They are also looking at options of players in return although may struggle to attract some as they continue to lose their own big names.
Arsenal remain keen on Morgan Schneiderlin and Calum Chambers and Liverpool will re-package a bid for Adam Lallana but will only go so far. Dejan Lovren, Dani Osvaldo, Victor Wanyama and Jay Rodriguez are also looking to leave.
Saint is no Devil, yet: Southampton and England left-back Luke Shaw remains a target of Manchester United
Will Pape put pen to paper at Loftus Road?
Pape Souare is being considered by Queens Park Rangers as they weigh up potential recruits for left-back. The Senegal international who figured for his country at the Olympics currently plays for Lille in France. The 24-year-old has also had a spell on loan at Reims. Souare was linked with Arsenal earlier this season after their scouts watched several Lille games. Arsene Wenger was also asking for reports on Belgian starlet Divock Origi, 19, who plays up front at Lille.
Charley's got the Edge as he signs up to World Football agency
Everton youngster Charley Edge has signed up to Monaco-based agency World Football. The promising 17-year-old from Aberystwyth is a Wales U17 international and joined Everton at 14 after initially signing with Swansea then Stoke City.
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Sebastien Ogier took penalties to start last month’s Rally Sweden Power Stage late in an effort to run further down the order when the road offered more grip.
There is an expectation that the same thing will happen in Mexico on Sunday. In an effort to defuse this situation, the teams were contacted by the governing body and advised to come up with a solution.
There is no rule prohibiting a late check-in at any control.
The teams have not come up with a solution and, as one senior source told Motorsport.com: “How can it be our job to do this? Each team is going to do what is working the best for themselves. This is the job of the FIA.”
Hyundai team manager Alain Penasse told Motorsport.com: “There has been a precedent with Ogier. We thought about this same thing in Portugal with [Hayden] Paddon, but we didn’t do it because of the ethics of the sport and the live television.
"But it’s clear that if somebody did it once then we have to follow – there’s no other solution.
“I don’t say it’s the wrong thing for Ogier. The rules are there and I would do the same in his position. He didn’t do anything wrong, I give respect to the [M-Sport Ford] team. It takes balls to do what they did.”
Citroen’s Kris Meeke echoed Penasse’s feelings, but added: “Nobody could blame Seb for what he did in Sweden, it made complete sense.
"But after that event surely somebody could have come up with a simple regulation change to say that any late check-in for the Power Stage would result in them losing any points if they finished in the top five.
"Something like that would have put an end to all of this. But now we go to the Power Stage with the potential for there being nothing to show for 20 minutes – that’ll be great live television.”
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By Lily Dane
With the end of “tax season” nearly a week behind us, many Americans are likely moving through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, or acceptance. It is probably not shocking to anyone to hear that the IRS is among the most hated and feared of the government agencies (it has taken first place in many annual polls). A quick look at the history of the income tax might provide some hints as to why we despise the agency so much.
The modern income tax began in February 1913 when Congress passed the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, thanks to the administration of Republican William Howard Taft. The House passed the short amendment in July 1909, with a 318 to 14 vote: The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on income, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. The first tax bill came from the Woodrow Wilson administration in 1913. Wilson made the income tax a key part of his electoral campaign (the Republican party platform of 1912 did not mention the income tax).
This chart from Americans for Tax Reform shows just how much the income tax has grown since 1913:
As if that chart wasn’t painful enough to read, the nonprofit Tax Foundation (a nonpartisan research think tank based in Washington, DC) has published the following findings in its 2015 Tax Freedom Day article:
Tax Freedom Day is the day when the nation as a whole has earned enough money to pay its total tax bill for the year. Tax Freedom Day takes all federal, state, and local taxes and divides them by the nation’s income. This year, Tax Freedom Day falls on April 24, or 114 days into the year. Americans will pay $3.3 trillion in federal taxes and $1.5 trillion in state and local taxes, for a total bill of more than $4.8 trillion, or 31 percent of the nation’s income. Tax Freedom Day is one day later than last year due mainly to the country’s continued steady economic growth, which is expected to boost tax revenue especially from the corporate, payroll, and individual income tax. Americans will collectively spend more on taxes in 2015 than they will on food, clothing, and housing combined. If you include annual federal borrowing, which represents future taxes owed, Tax Freedom Day would occur 14 days later on May 8. Tax Freedom Day is a significant date for taxpayers and lawmakers because it represents how long Americans as a whole have to work in order to pay the nation’s tax burden. This year, Americans will work the longest to pay federal, state, and local individual income taxes (43 days). Payroll taxes will take 26 days to pay, followed by sales and excise taxes (15 days), corporate income taxes (12 days), and property taxes (11 days). The remaining 7 days are spent paying estate and inheritance taxes, customs duties, and other taxes.
Michael Hausam of IJReview reminds us that Richard Byrd, the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1913, warned what he imagined income tax would become:
Brave - The Browser Built for Privacy A hand from Washington will be stretched out and placed upon every man’s business; the eye of the Federal inspector will be in every man’s counting house. The law will of necessity have inquisitorial features, it will provide penalties, it will create complicated machinery. Under it men will be hailed into courts distant from their homes. Heavy fines imposed by distant and unfamiliar tribunals will constantly menace the tax payer. An army of Federal inspectors, spies and detectives will descend upon the state. Who of us who have had knowledge of the doings of the Federal officials in the Internal Revenue service can be blind to what will follow?
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said:
The American income tax is perhaps the most dramatic example of how government grows at the expense of liberty. Slowly. Constantly. Inexorably.
Indeed, it is.
Lily Dane is a staff writer for The Daily Sheeple, where this article first appeared. Her goal is to help people to “Wake the Flock Up!”
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Python has an unusual appendix to its looping structures. A “for” or “while” loop can also have an “else” clause. It was the topic of this exchange on Twitter:
@raymondh : else-clauses in #python’s for/while loops are trivially easy to explain but some minds just rebel at the thought: http://bit.ly/for_else
@holdenweb : @raymondh I think we can all agree that Guido may have taken his dislike of adding keywords a step too far with for/while ... else. #python
@raymondh : @holdenweb In 1991, “else” was the obvious choice because of the traditional way compilers implemented while-loops: pastebin.com/tY35CTJ4
If something is trivial to explain, but people aren’t getting it, maybe we should put more work into explaining it. Steve Holden knows a lot about Python, and feels that “else” was a stretch for this purpose, so even he doesn’t seem comfortable with for/else. It took me a while to get it too, but now it makes complete sense to me. Let me explain.
The classic (trivial) description of for/else is this: the “else” clause is executed if the loop completes normally, but not if it was interrupted with a “break”. This explanation is technically correct, but is also confusing. It seems like “else” should instead be “and also”, since the else clause isn’t an alternative to the loop, it’s added on, but only if the entire loop completed. So it seems like the wrong word. And Raymond’s resort to an examination of compiled code doesn’t help anyone understand it. One of the great things about Python is Guido’s insistence on usability of the language as a guiding principle in its design. There should be a user-centric explanation that makes sense.
Consider a common structure of a “for” loop:
for thing in container :
if something_about ( thing ):
# Found it!
do_something ( thing )
break
else :
# Didn't find it..
no_such_thing ()
Here you can see something interesting: there’s an “if”, and there’s an “else”. Those two words often go together, but not the way they are used here. But the pairing is important, and is the whole reason for the “else” keyword. When this loop is run, the “if” will be evaluated a number of times, and if it is ever true, the loop will break. A “break” means the “else” isn’t executed. Only if the “break” isn’t taken, that is, if the “if” is always false, will the “else” clause be run.
This is where the “else” keyword makes total sense. If you focus on the “if” statement, it is evaluated many times, and only if it is always false, will the “else” clause of the loop run. As the loop executes, the “if” becomes like a giant if/elif/elif ladder: each time around the loop adds another test of the condition, but only if all previous tests were false. The “else” clause caps it all off, just as it would in an explicit if/elif/else structure. And it works just like the explicit structure: if all of the conditions are false, then the “else” clause is run.
I think of the code above like this (informally):
if any ( something_about ( thing ) for thing in container ):
do_something ( that_thing )
else :
no_such_thing ()
This is the explanation that makes sense to me, because the “else” in my conceptual code is just like the “else” in the actual code. Maybe this isn’t a trivial explanation, but it’s one that makes sense to me, and I hope, to others.
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For those who are counting, the number is now five: State Rep. Tina Liebling of Rochester on Sunday added her name to the list of DFLers vying to be Minnesota’s next governor in 2018.
Liebling, a lawyer raised in Minneapolis, has served in the Minnesota House of Representatives since 2005 and said her willingness to speak up and fight for what she believes in sets her apart from other candidates.
“I’m a person that’s not afraid to articulate a bold vision for the state,” Liebling said. “People know that I am who I say I am.”
Liebling attended the University of Minnesota and later earned a master’s degree in public health and a law degree in Massachusetts. She and her husband returned to Minnesota in 1994.
Many Minnesotans feel left out, said Liebling, adding that she rejects the idea of deep divisions between Twin Cities residents’ priorities vs. those in the rest of the state. Environmental issues, health care and education are important to everyone, Liebling said, and the state shouldn’t move backward in those areas.
Health care is an area of expertise, Liebling said, with many of her committee assignments in health and human services. She supports a single-payer system.
Liebling
On her website, she champions raising the minimum wage, making the first two years of post-high school education free at public colleges, attaining 50 percent of Minnesota’s energy from renewables by 2030 and discussing the legalization of recreational marijuana.
Liebling enters a field of notable DFLers hoping to succeed Gov. Mark Dayton, who is retiring. Other candidates include St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, state Rep. Erin Murphy and State Auditor Rebecca Otto. Last Monday, U.S. Rep. Tim Walz joined the race.
No Republicans have formally entered the race, though many names have been tossed around.
Liebling said she plans to abide by the DFL nomination process. She said she may run for her House seat again if she doesn’t earn the DFL nomination.
Murphy issued a statement Sunday welcoming her to the race: “I’ve served with Tina for years and during that time she has always been vocal in her advocacy for the issues that drive her.”
The Minnesota Jobs Coalition, a Republican-aligned nonprofit, also prepared a news release reacting to Liebling’s announcement. In it, Executive Director John Rouleau said simply, “LOL.”
Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, said that in his mind, the more candidates running for governor, the better.
Liebling is “an incredibly committed candidate in what she believes and that itself is going to bring a lot to the race,” Thissen said. “She’s had a history of pushing the party to be its best self.”
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We’re still awaiting Paramount’s official announcement on the release of STAR TREK BEYOND on home video, but today we have our first idea of the bonus features expected to accompany the newest Trek film, from the UK’s film rating commission.
Similar to the MPAA of the United States, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) rates movies and home media releases for audiences in the UK, including ratings for the Value Added Material (VAM) – aka bonus features – that accompanies DVD and Blu-ray releases in that region.
While there’s no mention of any audio commentary track, the BBFC have rated two discs worth of VAM for the upcoming release. (Note: this list remains unconfirmed and subject to change until Paramount makes their official release announcement.)
The first disc of content clocks in at just over an hour, and includes about a minute of deleted scenes along with ten other features.
01:00 – DELETED SCENES
10:05 – BEYOND THE DARKNESS
04:28 – ENTERPRISE TAKEDOWN
08:13 – DIVIDED AND CONQUERED
05:12 – A WARPED SENSE OF REVENGE
03:03 – TREKKING IN THE DESERT
05:59 – EXPLORING STRANGE NEW WORLDS
08:01 – NEW LIFE AND NEW CIVILIZATIONS
07:48 – TO LIVE LONG AND PROSPER
05:01 – FOR LEONARD AND ANTON
05:10 – GAG REEL
The first disc’s content also looks to be included in the iTunes digital release of the film, which is previewed now on that streaming service’s BEYOND listing.
The iTunes listing also includes a synopsis of disc one’s features:
Step on board for an epic tour of STAR TREK BEYOND! Watch over an hour of behind-the-scenes featurettes with filmmaker and cast interviews, including Justin Lin, J.J. Abrams, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. Go beyond the movie’s incredible edge-of-your-seat action and see how an unprecedented 50 new alien species were created, including STAR TREK’s newest villain Krall and the rebellious alien warrior Jaylah. Explore the strange new world of planet Altamid and discover how Dubai became the inspriation for the Federation’s newest Starbase Yorktown. Enjoy a hilarious gag reel as well as the deleted scenes you didn’t see in theaters, and much more!
* * *
The second disc is another fifty-four minutes of features, some of which are the film’s theatrical trailers along with Rihanna’s “Sledgehammer” music video. Interestingly, the “Sledgehammer” making-of featurette released back in July is not included.
08:05 – SMALL WORLD
05:11 – THE BATTLE OF YORKTOWN
03:29 – PROPERLY OUTFITTED
04:58 – SET PHASERS TO STUNNING
06:03 – SPLICED
09:14 – BEATS AND SHOUTING
08:07 – VISUALLY EFFECTIVE
03:55 – RIHANNA – SLEDGEHAMMER [MUSIC VIDEO]
01:25 – BEASTIE BOYS TRAILER (aka Trailer 1)
02:23 – TRADITIONAL SCORE TRAILER (aka Trailer 2)
01:53 – RIHANNA SLEDGEHAMMER TRAILER (aka Trailer 3)
While still unconfirmed, our speculation is that this second disc is going to be a retailer-exclusive release in the USA, likely at Target stores – as both Best Buy and Walmart have already listed their variants – and Target isn’t likely to go without a retail incentive for this film.
Should our speculation pan out, this will look much like many other home releases, with a bonus disc at one retailer, a Steelbook at another, an accessory pack at another, and an online exclusive – while not ideal for collectors, it’s pretty standard fare these days in the United States.
Thankfully, since neither Best Buy or Walmart have bonus discs as part of their preorder listings, it looks like Paramount has learned from the crazy Star Trek Into Darkness debacle in 2013, when video content was split between several retailers (Best Buy, Target, iTunes, Xbox Video) and took until the Compendium edition re-issue to gather it all in one place.
For you packaging aficionados, though, you’ll still need to budget for separate purchases.
Once we have the official release information for STAR TREK BEYOND, we’ll be sure to keep you all posted – and of course, we’ll be reviewing all the different bonus features for you here when available.
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Wireless carriers are expected to start boosting LTE speeds and augmenting their 5G rollouts later this year with a swath of spectrum that, as of this week, is finally ready for commercial use. Many popular phones — including Apple’s iPhone 11, Samsung’s Galaxy S10, and Google’s Pixel 4 — already support the spectrum, so it’s possible people in the US will start benefiting from the new deployments later this year.
On Monday, the Federal Communications Commission opened the gates to wider usage of the spectrum, which sits around 3.5GHz, by issuing the first approvals to four separate companies to administer its usage and ensure interference is avoided. Once a carrier starts working with one of those four companies, they can broadcast on the new spectrum right away.
That frequency delivers data faster than typical LTE airwaves, and it’s farther-reaching than the much higher speed millimeter wave connections used for 5G’s quickest connections. Essentially, it offers a balance of speed and distance that’s particularly handy for 5G deployment.
It’s free... you just have to not interfere with the US Navy
Some of the spectrum comes “with virtually no cost associated with it,” says Dave Wright, president of the CBRS Alliance, an industry group focused on putting this spectrum to use for mobile phones. “So I think we’ll see the mobile operators using the spectrum [alongside their existing spectrum] to get increased capacity.”
The FCC has been trying to open up 3.5GHz airwaves since 2015, but it’s taken years to put structure around how it’ll happen. The trouble is, this spectrum is already being used by the US Navy, as well as a small number of companies. Particularly when it comes to the Navy, the FCC doesn’t want any of these new deployments getting in the way.
So the commission spent the last several years setting up a scheme to make it all work. Any company that wants to use the 3.5GHz spectrum will have to work with an approved company, known as a Spectrum Access System administrator, to manage their broadcasts. The administrator will then prioritize the Navy (along with other grandfathered parties) over all other signals. Four companies have been approved to offer administration services so far, with Google and Sony among them.
The FCC intends to auction off about half of the spectrum it’s opening up around 3.5GHz. The other half will be open for anyone to use, with the caveat that they still have to work through an administrator. Licensed users will also be prioritized over non-licensed users as part of the commission’s spectrum sharing scheme.
Despite the fact that they’ll have to share it, wireless carriers are eager to start using the new spectrum. Mostly, that’s because it’s free. Hardware support for this spectrum is also already available thanks to existing deployments in Japan and Europe, according to Wright. So for carriers, it’s likely to be an easy upgrade to their existing tech, without having to spend millions on new spectrum licenses.
Carriers are likely to try out the spectrum for free to see whether they want to pay for licenses later on, says Wright. The FCC is supposed to begin auctioning it off starting in June, and licensed usage is expected later this year. But if carriers can get the performance they need without paying, they may just take it.
“Why would I pay a license for this if you can be working perfectly fine [without it]?”
“That gives them the opportunity to kick the tires to figure out maybe in certain areas there’s not going to be a tremendous contention for the spectrum,” says Wright, pointing to suburban areas and enterprise users. “So, you know, why would I pay a license for this if you can be working perfectly fine [without it]?”
Light Reading reported last year that Verizon was already installing antennas to broadcast 3.5GHz signals and that it had been pushing smartphone makers to include support. T-Mobile has also spoken of “continued interest” in the spectrum, and AT&T plans to use the spectrum for LTE and later 5G, as well as fixed home broadband connections.
Wireless carriers relying on shared spectrum may seem unusual — most of the LTE signals we get come from airwaves that our phone carrier has an exclusive license to — but it’s already being done. Some of the speed gains seen in later LTE upgrades came from carriers taking advantage of spectrum that’s traditionally used for Wi-Fi. Light Reading reports that Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile all already take advantage of unlicensed Wi-Fi spectrum, too.
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May 29 A great thank you to the Mozilla and the Ford Foundation for their support to the new Open Food Facts app 4 months ago
Nov 05 The new Open Food Facts app to better decipher labels and participate in the common good. 11 months ago
Oct 25 1 million products and 1 million thanks to all Open Food Facts contributors! 11 months ago
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Hong Kong, China (CNN) -- Many Hong Kong residents blame factories in Southern China for the heavy pollution that hangs over the city, but local polluters are also to blame, including the ships that regularly pass through waters close to the congested city.
Roughly 12 percent of the world's container traffic comes through the Pearl River Delta, Southern China's industrial belt that includes Hong Kong.
Much of this shipping traffic still runs on bunker fuel, a heavy fuel derived from crude, which according to local NGO Civic Exchange emits "large quantities of highly toxic sulfur dioxide."
Now Maersk Line, the world's largest container shipping company, is making a move to reduce its contribution to Hong Kong's polluted skies.
As of Tuesday, the company will use low-sulfur fuel while at berth in the Chinese territory.
Maersk says the change will lower its emissions of sulfur oxides and particles by at least 80 percent and cost the company about one million dollars a year.
"In South China and in Hong Kong, you have a lot of maritime activity taking place in close proximity to centers of population," Maersk Line's North Asia CEO Tim Smith told CNN.
"Our fuel could have an impact on public health, if we can sort this out, we think we are making a good contribution to improving public health generally."
Maersk and the Civic Exchange are urging all Hong Kong carriers to join a voluntary initiative to do the same by the end of the year.
The company is also calling for greater regulation of shipping emissions by the Hong Kong and neighboring Guangdong governments, a move which would create an even playing field for businesses when it comes to costs.
Use of low-sulfur fuels at berth is already mandatory in Europe and in some U.S ports. "The Pearl River Delta has the most people, the most containers and the least effective regulation," says Civic Exchange's Veronica Booth.
CNN asked Hong Kong's Environmental Protection Department if it is considering making the use of low-sulfur fuel a requirement for all shipping vessels. It responded with a statement, reading in part, "We are keenly aware of the importance of addressing emissions from vessels to further improve our air quality. The voluntary switch will provide useful information for assessing the practicability of mandating the fuel switch."
Any positive moves on air quality will find a welcome audience among Hong Kong's population of seven million.
Residents have struggled through a particularly smog-filled month, with the government's Air Pollution Index reaching "very high" on multiple days.
The index measures the concentration of air pollutants including nitrogen dioxide, sulfer dioxide and carbon monoxide.
The government warns a "very high" reading could cause "some discomfort" for generally healthy people, while people with existing heart or respiratory illnesses may notice a "mild aggravation" of their condition.
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Two dogs had to be Tasered by police when they started fighting while out on a walk with their owner.
The ‘Staffy type’ dogs, who were both on leads, started attacking each other during an evening walk with their owner through Moss Side.
Officers were called to Sedgeborough Road just before 9pm on Tuesday (February 5) following reports of two dogs were fighting, police confirmed.
When officers arrived they decided that the only way to separate the pets was to use a police taser.
The animals were then seized by police under the Dangerous Dogs Act ‘in order to keep the owner and public safe’.
(Image: Google Maps)
Nobody was arrested during the incident however investigations are ongoing.
A post on the GMP Longsight anjnd Moss Side Facebook page read: “It's been a busy night for Moss side and Hulme neighbourhood staff.
“Unfortunately two dogs violently fighting with each other on Sedgeborough Road had to be tasered to stop the pain to them and risk to the public. Following this both were later seized in order to keep the owner and public safe.”
During a busy night for neighbourhood policing teams working in south Manchester, two police cars were rammed during a separate incident.
Police were called to Blanchard Street, in Hulme, following reports of “suspicious males” in a vehicle on the street.
But when they arrived at the scene the police vehicles were ‘rammed’ as a stolen car sped off from the area.
“On arrival two Police vehicles were rammed as a outstanding stolen car evaded the area,” staff on the GMP Longsight and Moss Side Facebook wrote.
“Fortunately all officers are safe and well and the investigation is ongoing.”
Anyone with information about the incident should call GMP on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously on 0800 555 111. Always call 999 in an emergency.
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Latest Bay Bridge misbehavior: A harrowing bike ride on the lower deck
@radhya took this photo of the backed up traffic on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge on Aug. 6th, 2018. @radhya took this photo of the backed up traffic on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge on Aug. 6th, 2018. Photo: Instagram / Radhya Photo: Instagram / Radhya Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Latest Bay Bridge misbehavior: A harrowing bike ride on the lower deck 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
There are no bike lanes on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge, which makes sense as bicycles are not allowed on the lower deck of the bridge.
But that did not stop a woman on a cruiser from pedaling across the span as cars whizzed by.
Instagram user laydbug caught the action Tuesday on her phone and uploaded a few seconds of footage. The cyclist is seen in the second and third lanes from the right, repeatedly looking back to see what might be gaining on her — which of course was every vehicle behind her on the bridge at the time.
At one point she is seen straying perilously out of one lane and into another.
She was not wearing a helmet.
A post shared by Alicia Cocchi (@laydbug) on Aug 20, 2018 at 6:10pm PDT
Evidently, she made it across without inducing any brake-squealing near-misses.
MORE: Car trouble on the Bay Bridge? Don't be this guy
The dangerous crossing comes only weeks after a family stopped their sedan and blocked an entire lane of the Bay Bridge in order to change a flat tire on the upper deck.
More recently, motorists were inconvenienced Sunday morning when the upper deck of the bridge was illegally blocked so multiple sideshow drivers could do doughnuts on the span. One man was arrested.
In May, two men, probably in their 20s, were seen riding motorized scooters at the entrance to the lower deck of the bridge and on the emergency pedestrian walkway on the left side.
Taking bicycles or motorized scooters (the stand-on type like Bird and LimeBike) on the bridge is illegal, according to the California Highway Patrol.
"On every highway approach, you'll see these black and white regulatory fines signs," CHP spokesperson Vu William told a reporter, noting that they prohibit the use of bicycles and motorized scooters on freeways.
Bicycles can be ridden on a bike path separated from traffic on the eastern span of the Bay Bridge.
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Read Mike Moffitt's latest stories and send him news tips at [email protected].
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I finally finished this.
Now I just need to draw rosewick and baked alaska,LOL!
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For the past several months, DreamHost has been working with the Department of Justice to comply with legal process, including a Search Warrant (PDF) seeking information about one of our customers’ websites.
At the center of the requests is disruptj20.org, a website that organized participants of political protests against the current United States administration. While we have no insight into the affidavit for the search warrant (those records are sealed), the DOJ has recently asked DreamHost to provide all information available to us about this website, its owner, and, more importantly, its visitors.
Records Requests
DreamHost, like many online service providers, is approached by law enforcement regularly to provide information about customers who may be the subject of criminal investigations. These types of requests are not uncommon; our legal department reviews and scrutinizes each request and, when necessary, rejects and challenges vague or faulty orders.
You would be shocked to see just how many of these challenges we’re obligated to mount every year!
Chris Ghazarian, our General Counsel, has taken issue with this particular search warrant for being a highly untargeted demand that chills free association and the right of free speech afforded by the Constitution.
Demand for Information
The request from the DOJ demands that DreamHost hand over 1.3 million visitor IP addresses — in addition to contact information, email content, and photos of thousands of people — in an effort to determine who simply visited the website. (Our customer has also been notified of the pending warrant on the account.)
That information could be used to identify any individuals who used this site to exercise and express political speech protected under the Constitution’s First Amendment. That should be enough to set alarm bells off in anyone’s mind.
This is, in our opinion, a strong example of investigatory overreach and a clear abuse of government authority.
As we do in all such cases where the improper collection of data is concerned, we challenged the Department of Justice on its warrant and attempted to quash its demands for this information through reason, logic, and legal process.
Instead of responding to our inquiries regarding the overbreadth of the warrant, the DOJ filed a motion (PDF) in the Washington, D.C. Superior Court, asking for an order to compel DreamHost to produce the records.
Our Opposition
Last Friday Mr. Ghazarian, with the help of his legal team and outside counsel, filed legal arguments in opposition (PDF) of the DOJ’s request for access to this trove of personally identifiable information.
This motion is our latest salvo in what has become a months-long battle to protect the identities of thousands of unwitting internet users. Mr. Ghazarian will attend a court hearing on the matter on August 18 in Washington, D.C.
We’ve been working closely with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and their counsel throughout this process. They’ve been nothing but supportive and helpful throughout, and we’re honored to have them in our corner. While the EFF is not representing us in this case, they understand our arguments and have been lending professional support.
Why Bother?
The internet was founded — and continues to survive, in the main — on its democratizing ability to facilitate a free exchange of ideas. Internet users have a reasonable expectation that they will not get swept up in criminal investigations simply by exercising their right to political speech against the government.
We intend to take whatever steps are necessary to support and shield these users from what is, in our view, a very unfocused search and an unlawful request for their personal information.
In Case You Missed It…
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Principia-Scientific.org is a site aimed at restoring legitimate scientific principles to the world. On its front page you'll find exposes of the "fossil fuel" fraud (we've written a lot about that) and, of course, global warming, among other rebuttals of "dominant social themes."
Principia Scientific and other such websites are doing important work to support and buttress the scientific method, which is surely under attack in this day and age. This phenomenon is little commented on, even in the alternative press, and so I want to take the time in this column to do so.
Nothing is much more important, in my view, than maintaining and supporting the validity of the scientific method, the idea of producing verifiable information that can be used to facilitate real social and cultural progress.
And the good news is that this website is only one of many aimed at debunking incorrect information that circulates around the world today and is too often used to create certain kinds of political consensus.
In fact, these themes – or memes – are generated by those who want to further their world control and are using various international organizations like the United Nations, World Bank and IMF to do so. In order to actuate such promotions, you need a crisis. Enter global warming, Peak Oil, food and water scarcity, etc.
Anything that gets people riled up and calling for expanded government intervention and "leadership" from sociopathic politicos and other rulers is to be utilized for this purpose. When a crisis isn't available, one is made up. And most of them are made up, if not all.
We don't need endless amounts of evidence to make this claim. We simply need what the Internet provides, which is a devastating portrayal of undeniable mechanical meretriciousness. Lies, in other words.
The Internet is a miracle because in one day you can look at as many articles and videos as you might be able to find in a year, pre-technology. Obscure articles, original source material and rare books are all available despite the best efforts of various gatekeepers to scour the Internet of material that contradicts the common wisdom.
Today, for instance, Principia Scientific is featuring an article entitled "Exposed: Academic Fraud in New Climate Science Consensus Claim." The article begins:
Authors of a new climate science consensus study trumpeted by mainstream media hacks for "proving" that most scientists blame humans for global warming are today being accused of fakery. Uproar ensued just days after publication of a controversial paper, 'Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature.'
Experts whose work was cited in the paper by lead author, John Cook … are aghast that their work has been used to justify far-fetched claims that there exists a "97% consensus" among scientists regarding human-caused global warming. Among those upset scientists cited in the new paper is Dr. Craig Idso. Idso reacted: "That is not an accurate representation of my paper."
Once again, we have "evidence" that proves not to stand up to scrutiny. It is an overwhelming pattern that the Internet provides to those who want to look. Anyone who recalls the global warming scandals of three years ago will grant that this particular alarmist orientation is truly and even pathologically questionable. At the time, a post at skeptical ClimateDepot.com explained,
Even the usually reliable news media has started questioning the global warming claims. Newsweek Magazine wrote in May 2010 about the "uncertain science" and how "climate researchers have lost the public's trust" from a "cascade of scandals" from the UN IPCC. Newsweek compared the leaders of the climate science community to "used-car salesmen. "Once celebrated climate researchers are feeling like the used-car salesmen" and the magazine noted that "some of IPCC's most-quoted data and recommendations were taken straight out of unchecked activist brochures, newspaper articles…Just as damaging, many climate scientists have responded to critiques by questioning the integrity of their critics, rather than by supplying data and reasoned arguments." For full list of Climategate related scandals See: Climate Scandals: List Of 94 Climate-Gates — 94 climate-gates total — 28 new gates — 145 links to reports with details.
This excerpt provides us with an important observation. The UN's IPCC is supposedly the leading authority on global warming but it turned out that much of the data and reports offered to the world's scientific community by the IPCC were simply lifted from newspaper and magazine reporting and positioned to suggest these provided a scientific foundation for global warming when they did not.
A scandal of this size, showing that a good deal of IPCC documentation was worthless, would have sunk almost any other hypothesis. But we do not live in a scientific age and the aim and intention of global warming is political.
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Those devoted to propagating this meme want to use global warming – now renamed climate change – as a way of controlling people's actions and access to energy. The goal, apparently, is to create even more binding globalist structures that can be used to justify further internationalist activism. It is a closed loop that is supposed to feed on itself until the infrastructure of world government is firmly emplaced … or so it seems.
What these efforts amount to, and there are many of them that the Internet has blessedly exposed, is the determination to replace science with propaganda. Even the most powerful of factual observations are to be ignored if they contradict the dominant social themes of the day.
How else can we explain the total lack of publicity surrounding most of the factual findings that show conclusively that promotions like global warming are inaccurate and not founded on anything remotely resembling science?
For instance, Principia Scientific also published an article entitled "New Discovery: NASA Study Proves Carbon Dioxide Cools Atmosphere." Here's how it began:
… A recent NASA report throws the space agency into conflict with its climatologists after new NASA measurements prove that carbon dioxide acts as a coolant in Earth's atmosphere. NASA's Langley Research Center has collated data proving that "greenhouse gases" actually block up to 95 percent of harmful solar rays from reaching our planet, thus reducing the heating impact of the sun.
The data was collected by Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry, (or SABER). SABER monitors infrared emissions from Earth's upper atmosphere, in particular from carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitric oxide (NO), two substances thought to be playing a key role in the energy balance of air above our planet's surface.
NASA's Langley Research Center instruments show that the thermosphere not only received a whopping 26 billion kilowatt hours of energy from the sun during a recent burst of solar activity, but that in the upper atmospheric carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide molecules sent as much as 95% of that radiation straight back out into space. The shock revelation starkly contradicts the core proposition of the so-called greenhouse gas theory which claims that more CO2 means more warming for our planet.
See where this leads? If there is a buildup of greenhouse gases – surely doubtful to begin with – it would have an effect that is opposite of what the proponents of global warming claim.
The calculated divergence of factual conclusions from scientific methodology is (is there another way to put it?) one of the great crimes of the modern era. What was once accepted as fact – that disinterested observation of phenomena could yield valuable information – has been replaced by willful statements supporting certain agendas.
Almost all important science seems increasingly tainted this way. Whether one is investigating the potential harmful evidences of vaccines, the possibility of various kinds of fundamental alternative energy or, of course, climate change itself, the determining factor seems to be whether or not the findings support further globalist activism.
So congratulations are in order when it comes to websites like Principia Scientific and others that have identified the Big Lies of our times and are determined to do something about them. This is one of the most important activities we can pursue as our cultures become more fractured and confused.
Increasingly, the dissemination of fear-based scarcity information as fact has been greeted with pushback on the 'Net. We've covered this phenomenon for years and watched how it has effectively eroded even the most determined inaccuracies. We have even taken the opportunity to name it as our reporting has evolved.
And so I say, "Principia Scientific," welcome to what we call the Internet Reformation. You are but one courageous voice among many, and that in itself is a hopeful sign. Much has been accomplished, though there is, of course, much more to do.
Reestablishing science and the validity of the scientific method is not an easy effort but it is one of the great and compelling tasks of our time and worth fighting for. The West's quality of life and retention of prosperity in part depends on the outcome of this struggle.
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Global Islamic Terrorism is universally recognized as today’s big threat and has been the justification for all sorts of changes, especially to life in the West after 9/11. The Islamic terrorists whom we are supposed to fear on a daily basis more or less believe in some form of Wahhabism, which grew up in and is spread from Saudi Arabia. Surprisingly the US and the Saudis have been and still are staunch allies. This makes little sense on the surface but Saudi exceptionalism extends to Russia as well. Russia and former parts of its territory have been some of the biggest victims of Wahhabism and still fight it to this day and yet President Putin just vowed to protect them from air threats via Russia’s top of the line equipment. So this raises the question by what logic would Russia want work with the Saudis who prop up the ideas that murder their citizens? The short answer is Multipolarity.
During the Cold War we saw two great powers with massive spheres of influence dividing the planet between themselves. This Bipolar (in the literal sense) structure forced everyone on America’s side to be Capitalist / Western-style Democratic and everyone on the USSR’s side to be Communist. So for every Communist revolution that succeeded Moscow’s sphere of influence grew while Washington’s shrank.
Now in the 21st century this dynamic is much different as the sole Hyperpower is fighting against any upstarts who challenge its status, which means that every nation that succumbs to the Washington status quo is a victory for Monopolarity, while any nation that begins to act on its own or under the influence of anyone besides the US/NATO/The West is a victory for Multipolarity.
This is why today, unlike during the Cold War Russia has a policy of being open to working with anyone who is willing to work with them regardless of ideology. Of course during the Cold War the US and the Soviet Union would work with countries outside their political theory of preference to some degree, but now Russia is free from the burdens of Communist ideology and is thus free to associate with anyone and Moscow is willing to work with anyone because any nation that rises up to a high level of sovereignty creates another crack in the monolith of Monopolarity.
This is why Moscow has been cooperating with Turkey who at times has been very aggressive towards them, shooting down a Russian plane, forcing their way into Syria and working against Assad’s and Russia’s interests in the region, and opening Turkish Universities across parts of the Former USSR challenging Russian cultural influence. These all sound bad, but Moscow has a bigger fish to fry and the upstart Turks, despite being in NATO are beginning to push for a more powerful sovereign pro-Turkish foreign policy, which is bad for Russia in doses, but on the whole is a huge stride towards a Multipolar World that Russia so desperately needs.
And this is the logic that applies to the Saudis. True the Saudi Wahhabism and loud inaction in terms of containing Wahhabism have lead to the deaths of many Russian-speaking people the world over, but the Multipolar mission takes precedence, thus Putin offered the Saudis to buy Russian S-400 systems because “Our (Russian) air defenses can protect you, like they do Turkey and Iran” and that “These kinds of systems are capable of defending any kind of infrastructure in Saudi Arabia from any kind of attack.”
Syria and Turkey are both major Multipolar victories so perhaps in Putin’s words there is a hint that Saudi Arabia could jump on the Other World Order’s boat by buying these defense systems. The S-400s in question could be used to defend against a local neighbor, but we could suppose that a massive surface-to-air set up would best be used to defend against NATO, who is the only serious missile launching threat.
To an extent it is very possible that this offer by President Putin to the parties indirectly responsible for a great deal of suffering in Russia could actually be an invitation to the Multipolar World.
Saudi Arabia has been very much the exceptional Arab nation in the Middle East when it comes to NATO’s actions, but nothing lasts forever. The Saudis have oil and little means to defend it, while at the same time maintaining an ideology that has been demonized by the Mainstream Media for almost 20 years, prepping the West with a casus belli when the time comes. The fear of Monopolar aggression could force the Saudis to buy into team Multipolarity.
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Microsoft is already working on the next version of Windows 10, currently known as "19H1," (even though, we're still waiting for the re-release of the October 2018 Update), and recently, the company made available build 18267 in the Fast ring, which is the tenth preview rolling out to participants of the Windows Insider Program with new improvements and features. Windows 10 build 18267 is still a minor update, but it ships with several changes, such as a new indexing feature to search your entire computer and improvements for the touch keyboard and Narrator experience. Alongside the latest preview, Microsoft has also released Windows 10 build 18262, 18252, 18247, 18242, 18237, 18234, 18219, 18214, and 18204, and while the majority of them didn't introduce significant changes, some of them added a few interesting improvements. Best VPN providers 2020: Learn about ExpressVPN, NordVPN & more
In this Windows 10 guide, we'll take a closer look at the enhancements that Microsoft has been working for the next feature update planned to come out sometime in 2019. Windows 10 19H1 latest features and changes Here are the most worthy improvements that the Windows team has been working on the first ten Insider Preview builds of the Windows 10 19H1 development: Sign-in screen Starting with Windows 10 build 18237, the Sign-in screen gains an acrylic effect, part of Fluent Design, which you'll see in the background as you transition from the Lock screen.
According to the company, the new effect should help to focus on the sign-in task. Taskbar In the notification area, Windows 10 now includes a new disconnected icon that aligns with the minimalist iconography design that we see across the OS. You'll see the new icon when no connection to the internet is detected for the wireless, Ethernet, or Cellular adapter.
Also, in the notification area, you'll notice a new microphone icon, which appears when your microphone is in use.
Settings Windows 10 build 18267 and previous releases are also introducing a number of changes to the Settings app. Printers & scanners On Settings > Devices, the Printers & scanners has been updated with build 18262 to include a link, under "Related settings," to quickly open and run the troubleshooter to fix common problems with printers and scanners.
Ethernet On Settings > Network & Internet > Ethernet, the Network page now includes an "IP settings" section that allows you to set static IP address and DNS preferences. The new interface includes options to configure IP version 4 and 6, and of course, there's an option to set the networking settings automatically using DHCP.
These settings are available starting build 18252 and later. Fonts On Settings > Personalization, the Font page now includes the Windows Ebrima font to view ADLaM documents and websites (usually used in western Africa). Also, the new font supports other African writings systems, including Osmanya, N'ko, Vai, and Tifinagh.
This new font is available beginning with build 18252 and later. Apps & features On Settings > Apps, the Apps & features page, beginning with build 18262, allows you to uninstall additional apps that come preinstalled with Windows 10, including: 3D Viewer
Calculator
Calendar
Groove Music
Mail
Movies & TV
Paint 3D
Snip & Sketch
Sticky Notes
Voice Recorder
This is in addition to the inbox apps that you're already able to remove in the previous version, which includes: Microsoft Solitaire Collection
My Office
OneNote
Print 3D
Skype
Tips
Weather In the next version of Windows 10, you can not only remove these apps using the Settings app, but you can also uninstall them from the Start menu by right-clicking the app and selecting the Uninstall option.
Language On Settings > Time & Language, the Language page is getting updated with build 18262 so that when adding a new language, you can set the new language as the "display language." In addition, the updated experience now offers separate options for installing packs, and you'll see a separate option for installing the Text-to-speech and Speech recognition features.
At the bottom of the settings page, there's a new link to access a new page, which allows you to select the input method to always use as default.
Searching Windows On Settings > Cortana, the Searching Windows page is new starting with build 18267, and it includes new settings to manage the content indexing feature on Windows 10. The page includes four sections. In the "Indexing Status" section, you can see the total number of files that have been indexed and are searchable using the search box in the Start menu and File Explorer. The "Find My Files" section, includes two options. The Classic option (default) only indexes files in the known folders, including Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, Downloads, and Desktop. You can click the Customize search location here link to access the "Indexing Options," using Control Panel, to add and remove indexing locations and customize some additional settings.
The Enhanced option is new with the 19H1 development, and it allows Windows 10 to search all the folders and drives connected to your device (except for those locations added in the Excluded Folders list). The "Excluded Folders" section allows you to specify the locations that the search feature will not use to look for content. The "More Search Indexer Settings" section only includes a link to access the Control Panel settings to configure the search experience further. If the search feature isn't working as expected, at the bottom of the page, you'll find a link to open the troubleshooter to fix common problems with this experience. Troubleshoot On Settings > Update & Security, the Troubleshoot page has been updated with a new Recommended Troubleshooting feature allowing Windows 10 to apply troubleshooting steps automatically when common problems appear on your device.
The page also includes an option to see a history of the times the OS ran troubleshooting steps on your behalf. Although this feature is officially new with build 18262, Windows 10 originally introduced "Recommended Troubleshooting" during the development of the October 2018 Update, but then it was removed. Touch keyboard Windows 10 build 18267 also ships with an updated version of the touch keyboard experience that now includes Vietnamese Telex and Number-key based (VNI) keyboards. In addition, when using the touch keyboard, you can now access more symbols and special characters by tapping the &123 button, and the tapping the omega (Ω) button.
Task Manager In build 18262, Windows 10 is improving the "Details" tab of the Task Manager, which now shows the scaling mode that apps support, per process.
If you don't see the new column, right-click the header of any column, click the Select Columns, and check the DPI Awareness option. Accessibility and input In a continued effort to make Windows 10 more inclusive, build 18267 and build 18262 ships with additional improvements for Narrator. For instance, starting with build 18267, Google Chrome users can use the up and down arrows in scan mode, navigate with the tab key, use continuous reading commands, and navigate by headings and links. Narrator Braille now bumps the version number to 5.6 and introduces USB support for Inceptor and Orbit 20 displays. Also, Baum displays can now use B9 and B10 interchangeably. When using USB the BrailleNote can now be recognized, and the Liblouis binaries and tables have been updated to version 3.7.0. The UI Automation framework now supports translating IAccessible2 information from Google Chrome, which according to Microsoft, enables clients to receive the IAccessible2 data through the UI Automation client interfaces. Also, starting with build 18262, Narrator introduces "Read by Sentence," which allows you to read next, current, and previous sentences using a hardware keyboard and touch. These are the keyboard shortcuts to use with Read by Sentence: Caps + Ctrl + . (period) : Reads next sentence.
: Reads next sentence. Caps + Ctrl + , (comma) : Reads current sentence.
: Reads current sentence. Caps + Ctrl + M: Reads previous sentence. Additional improvements Along with all the new changes, in the latest preview for Windows 10 19H1, you'll also find a few other minor improvements. For example, when using the Registry Editor, pressing the F4 key will add a caret at the end of the address bar to expand autocomplete drop-down.
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cbs sports
Week 2 notes: Injuries wreck weekend
Jimmy Garoppolo, Saquon Barkley and Nick Bosa were just a few of the many players struck by injury on Sunday
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Game 25: at Oklahoma
Game Date: Feb. 16, 2011
Tipoff Time: 8:05 p.m.
Venue: Lloyd Noble Center
Capacity: 12,000
NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS
Game: 25
2010-11 Record: 16-8, 4-6 Big 12
Head coach: Doc Sadler
Record at Nebraska: 86-66 (5th year)
Record at Division I: 134-84 (7th year)
Career Record: 254-123 (13th year)
OKLAHOMA SOONERS
Game: 25
2010-11 Record: 12-12, 4-6 Big 12
Head coach: Jeff Capel
Record at Oklahoma: 94-63 (5th year)
Career Record: 173-104 (9th year)
Huskers Take on Oklahoma Wednesday
The Nebraska basketball team hopes its first road win of the season comes sooner than later, as the Huskers travel to Oklahoma Wednesday night for the Big 12 matchup with the Sooners.
Wednesday's 8:05 p.m. game will be nationally televised on ESPNU with Dan McLaughlin (play by play) and Kara Lawson (analyst) on the call. The telecast can be seen locally on channel 235 in Lincoln; channel 220 in Omaha; DirecTV channel 608; and Dish Network channel 141.
Wednesday's game at Oklahoma will also be available on the 32-station IMG Husker Sports Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Matt Davison on the call, including KFAB 1110 AM in Omaha, KLIN 1400 AM in Lincoln and KRVN 880 in Lexington and on Huskers.com.
The Huskers (16-8, 4-6 Big 12) enter the week in the middle of a jumbled conference race. While Texas and Kansas have run away from the rest of the conference, only two games currently separate third from 10th in the Big 12 standings and a win in Norman would bolster the Huskers' postseason hopes. Nebraska is currently tied for eighth place with a 4-6 record following a 65-54 win over Oklahoma State last Saturday.
While Lance Jeter led Nebraska with 16 points against Oklahoma State, the Huskers' balance was evident against the Cowboys. Seven Huskers had at least seven points, as Nebraska wore down the Cowboys down the stretch. NU held OSU to just 30 percent shooting over the final 20 minutes and led by as many as 15 points in snapping a three-game losing streak.
More importantly, Nebraska controlled the boards against Oklahoma State, enjoying a 38-28 advantage on the glass. NU had been out-rebounded in each of the previous five games, a key factor in going 1-4 in that stretch, including a one-point loss at Texas Tech and a four-point setback at Baylor. Caleb Walker grabbed seven rebounds, while Jorge Brian Diaz and Andre Almeida combined for 11 caroms, as NU had out-rebounded 15 of its first 18 opponents on the season.
Nebraska's depth will be important against an Oklahoma team that is looking to snap a three-game losing streak of its own. The Sooners are coming off an 81-64 loss at Missouri Saturday afternoon. Cameron Clark's 16 points led three Sooners in double figures, as Missouri converted 18 Sooner turnovers into 24 points and shot 48 percent.
While Nebraska has used its depth and has only one player averaging over 25 minutes per game, Oklahoma relies on a shorter rotation, as all five starters average over 33.0 minutes per game in Big 12 play, including Clark's 36.9 minutes per contest.
QUICK LOOK AT OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma has been a pleasant surprise in Big 12 play, as the Sooners are 12-12 overall and 4-6 in the Big 12. OU, which was picked 11th in the preseason poll, will look to snap a three-game losing streak following an 84-61 loss at Missouri on Saturday. The Sooners have been streaky in Big 12 play, sandwiching a four-game win streak around a pair of three-game losing streaks. OU has been tough at home, winning 11 of 13 at home, with the losses coming against Texas and Texas A&M. As a team, the Sooners hit 45.7 percent from the floor, including 34.5 percent from 3-point range, but have been strong at the free throw line, hitting 72.7 percent to rank fourth in the Big 12.
Oklahoma, which features four freshmen and sophomores in the starting lineup, feature three players who average in double figures. Andrew Fitzgerald leads the Sooners in both scoring (13.6 ppg) and rebounding (5.2 rpg) while senior Cade Davis averages 12.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Steven Pledger is the third OU player in double figures at 12.2 ppg, including a 38-point effort at Iowa State on Jan. 29. Oklahoma's starters get the bulk of the minutes, as all five starters average at least 33 minutes per game in league play.
NEBRASKA-OKLAHOMA SERIES
Nebraska and Oklahoma square off for the 187th time Wednesday night in Norman. The Sooners lead the all-time series, 104-82, including a 10-6 mark in Big 12 play.
The series dates back to the 1920-21 campaign and Nebraska has won four of the last six matchups, NU's best winning 5-of-6 matchups from 1980 to 1983. Prior to that stretch, Oklahoma had won seven straight contests from 2000 until 2005.
The home team has won each of the last six regular-season matchups, as Nebraska enjoyed a 63-46 win over the Sooners last January in Lincoln. Nebraska's last win in Norman came with a 96-81 win over the 25th-ranked Sooners on Jan. 20, 1999.
Wednesday's matchup is only the third time in the Big 12 era where Nebraska has faced off against an unranked Oklahoma team in Norman. OU's previous AP rankings at game time are as follows: 1997 (unranked); 1999 (25th); 2001 (24th); 2003 (fifth); 2005 (21st); 2007 (unranked) and 2009 (sixth).
Nebraska is 2-2 against Oklahoma under coach Doc Sadler with the wins coming in 2008 and 2010.
Oklahoma has won 60 of 80 meetings in Norman, including 23 of 27 wins in the Lloyd Noble Center.
LAST TIME OUT
Lance Jeter reached double figures for the eighth consecutive game, as he scored 16 points to lead Nebraska to a 65-54 win over Oklahoma State Saturday evening.
Jeter's 16-point effort tied his second-best scoring output of the conference season. The point guard had been averaging nearly six assists per game in Big 12 action before tonight, but relied on his scoring against OSU as Nebraska snapped a three-game losing streak. Jeter hit 7-of-8 from the foul line, as the Huskers hit 15 of 18 from the charity stripe and out-rebounded Oklahoma State, 38-28.
While Jeter led Nebraska's balanced offense which saw nine players crack the scoring column, the Husker defense buckled down to hold OSU to 36 percent shooting, including 31 percent in the second half, as NU held its 14th opponent of the season under 60 points.
Nebraska took control of the contest in the final minutes of the first half, using a 10-2 run and holding OSU to one field goal over a seven-minute span to build a six-point halftime lead. The Cowboys pulled to within 37-32 early in the second half, but a 6-0 run capped by Caleb Walker's 3-pointer pushed the Husker lead to 43-32. Nebraska eventually pushed the lead to 15 at 60-45 and was in control the rest of the contest.
NOTING THE OKLAHOMA STATE GAME
Nebraska snapped a four-game losing streak to Oklahoma State that dated back to the 2006-07 campaign.
The Huskers held OSU to just 54 points, marking the 14th opponent Nebraska has held under 60 points this season. NU is now 13-1 this season when holding opponents under 40 points.
Lance Jeter reached double figures for the eighth consecutive game with 16 points, including season bests in both free throws made (seven) and attempted (eight).
Nebraska out-rebounded Oklahoma State, 38-28, marking the first time in six games NU had out-rebounded an opponent this season. The +10 advantage was the seventh time this year NU had at least 10 more rebounds than an opponent.
Nebraska went 15-of-18 from the foul line, the seventh time this season NU has shot 80 percent or better from the line. As a team, Nebraska is shooting 79 percent over the last nine contests dating back to Jan. 12.
With the win, Nebraska Coach Doc Sadler recorded his 86th win at Nebraska, tying Harry C. Good (1947-54) for fifth place on NU's career wins chart.
The Huskers improved to 15-1 at home, marking only the sixth time since the Bob Devaney Sports Center opened (1976) that Nebraska has won 15 or more home games.
Nebraska's bench out-scored Oklahoma State's 22-11, the 13th time this season NU has doubled an opponent's bench scoring.
A WIN AGAINST OKLAHOMA WOULD...
Be the Huskers' first win in Norman since 1999 and second-ever road win in Norman in the Big 12 era. It would also snap a five-game losing streak in Norman.
Be Nebraska's fifth win in the last seven meetings against Oklahoma, the longest sustained run against the Sooners since winning 5-of-7 matchups from 1980 to 1983.
Improve Nebraska's record to 17-8, giving the Huskers at least 17 wins for the fourth time in the last five seasons. NU had won 17 or more games twice between 1999-2000 and 2005-06.
Give Doc Sadler 87 wins in the first five seasons, matching Moe Iba and Danny Nee for the most wins by a Husker basketball coach in his first five seasons at Nebraska.
End a 13-game road losing streak in Big 12 play dating back to the start of the 2009-10 season, as well as be the first road win since Nov. 29, 2009 (at USC).
HUSKERS ENJOYING STRONG SEASON
Nebraska comes into the Oklahoma contest with a 16-8 record, already topping last season's victory total. Of the Huskers' eight losses this season, five are teams in the top 35 in the NCAA's latest RPI rankings (2 vs. Kansas, 1 each vs. Vanderbilt, K-State and Missouri). Of those five losses, only the Kansas loss was at home.
The record equals the Huskers' best 24-game record in the Big 12 era, accomplished three other times (2007-08, 2005-06, 1998-99).
The last time Nebraska had a better mark after 24 games was in 1994-95 when Nebraska was 16-7 and on its way to a berth in the NIT.
Nebraska's quick start was recognized on Jan. 10, when the Huskers received four points in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. It was first time since Jan. 16, 2006, that Nebraska had received any points in the coaches poll. NU received votes in both the AP and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll on Jan. 30, the first time that has happened in Doc Sadler 's five seasons.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
One of the keys to Nebraska's success this season has been the ability to get into close contests.
Nebraska has been within five points with 2:30 left nine times this season, including five times in conference play. NU has a 4-5 mark in those games this season.
In five of NU's eight losses (Vanderbilt, Davidson, Kansas, Texas Tech and Baylor), Nebraska was within five points with 2:30 remaining. In addition, at Missouri, Nebraska used a late run and cut a nine-point deficit to four points with 31 seconds left.
The 2010-11 season marks the first time in six years that Nebraska has been involved in multiple one-point games (63-62 win over Iowa State on Jan. 8; 72-71 loss at Texas Tech on Jan. 22).
A DEFENSE THAT WOULD MAKE THE BLACKSHIRTS PROUD
As is typical with Doc Sadler -coached teams, the Huskers' forte is on the defensive end. Nebraska is in the top 15 nationally in both opponent field goal percentage (.378) and points per game (58.9) entering this week's action. The Huskers lead the Big 12 in scoring defense and are second to Texas in field goal percentage defense.
The Huskers have held 14 opponents under 60 points and only four opponents have scored more than 70 points through the first 24 games. That fact is made more impressive when you consider that Nebraska has played four games currently among the nation's top 15 in scoring offense (Kansas-2x, Missouri, Colorado).
Nebraska has done a good job of controlling tempo for most of the season until a recent three-game losing streak (KSU, KU, BU) where NU allowed an average of 76.3 points per game. The Huskers bounced back and held Oklahoma State to just 54 points in Saturday's win. In Nebraska's eight losses, its has allowed an average of 71.2 points per game, while allowing just 52.7 points per game in its 16 wins.
Nebraska has allowed only two teams (Kansas and Baylor) to eclipse its season scoring average in the first 24 contests.
Nebraska has held seven teams (Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Vanderbilt, Hofstra, Eastern Washington, Grambling State, Kansas and Texas A&M) to season lows in points.
Nebraska held 10 straight opponents to under 60 points earlier this season, the longest stretch by a Nebraska team since a 21-game stretch covering the 1948-49 and 1949-50 seasons.
Nebraska's defense has been stingy at home, allowing just 55.1 points per game in 16 home contests.
The Huskers held four straight foes to under 50 points - the first time since February of 1949 that has happened at Nebraska.
Nebraska opponents have been held to 25 percent shooting three times this season, including 21.1 percent by Eastern Washington on Dec. 18.
The biggest beneficiary to the Huskers defense has been the fans at the Devaney Center. In 12 of 16 home games, fans have earned products from Runza Restaurants, whether it is a Runza or burger (50 or less), chili or soup (51-55) or an order of fries or onion rings (56-60).
Nebraska's defensive excellence has been established under Sadler, as the Huskers led the conference in defense twice in his first four years at NU (2007-08, 2008-09).
MORE THAN JUST DEFENSE
Nebraska's .470 field goal percentage is on pace to be the Huskers' best shooting since the 2000-01 squad that shot .487 and ranked 11th nationally in field goal percentage. That is Nebraska's best field goal percentage in the Big 12 era. The Huskers are currently fourth in the Big 12 and 35th in the country in field goal percentage.
While Nebraska typically relies on its defense and is 11th in the league in scoring offense, the Huskers' current scoring average of 67.9 points per game is on pace to be the highest in Doc Sadler 's five seasons (current high is 67.1 in 2007-08) and the most since averaging 70.7 points per game in 2003-04.
The Huskers have also been solid at the free throw line, as their .724 percentage from the charity stripe is on pace to be the team's highest free throw percentage since the 2002-03 season (.725). Over the last nine games, Nebraska is hitting at a 79 percent clip as a team, including 44 of 54 (.815) over the last three contests.
THE SUM IS GREATER THAN THE PARTS
When talking about the 2010-11 Huskers, Nebraska Coach Doc Sadler mentioned that this is the deepest team he has had in his five seasons. The Huskers have relied on that depth, as 10 players have averaged at least 13 minutes per game and no player is averaging at least 30 minutes per game. While the Huskers do not have a player in the top 20 in the league in either scoring or rebounding, they feature nine players averaging between 4.3 and 11.1 points per game.
NU has had 10 different players lead the team in scoring at least once, as the only regular who has not accomplished the feat is senior Drake Beranek .
A total of 11 players have scored in double figures at least once with Lance Jeter (16) and Jorge Brian Diaz (12) leading the way. NU has three current players who have scored 20 or more points in a game this season ( Andre Almeida vs. South Dakota; Brandon Richardson at Texas Tech and Toney McCray at Baylor).
JETER KEYS HUSKER OFFENSE
While the Huskers' offenive strength is their balance, the leader of Nebraska's attack is senior point guard Lance Jeter , who has started every game over the last two years since arriving from Polk (Fla.) Community College.
Jeter, who began his collegiate career as a wide receiver at the University of Cincinnati, has made his mark in two years at Nebraska and now ranks 16th on Nebraska's career assist list with 243 career assists. He is one of only three players on the top-20 career assist list who will play two seasons or fewer at Nebraska, and he trails Eric Johnson (247, 1988-89) by just four assists entering Wednesday's game against Oklahoma.
Last season, the 6-foot-3, 222-pounder was named to the Big 12's All-Newcomer team by the media after averaging 7.5 points and 4.1 assists per game, and he may be one of the league's most improved players this season.
Jeter leads Nebraska in scoring (11.1 ppg), assists (4.5) and steals (1.9), and is shooting at a 48 percent clip after hitting just 41 percent from the floor last season. He is second in the league with a 2.4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and is third in the Big 12 in steals and fourth in assists.
He has improved his play in Big 12 action, averaging 12.6 points, 5.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game, ranking among league leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.5-to-1. second) and assists (second), steals (fourth) and scoring (20th).
More importantly than his numbers, his leadership has been influential in helping the Huskers when they needed him the most.
In Nebraska's four games against ranked opponents this season, he is averaging 10.5 points and 6.3 assists per game while posting a 3.57-to-1 assist to turnover ratio.
Against No. 2 Kansas, Jeter turned in one of his finest efforts, totaling a season-high 10 assists and 10 points for his first double-double of the season. His 10 assists were the most by any player against KU in five seasons.
Jeter led NU with 16 points, including 7-of-8 from the foul line, in Saturday's win over Oklahoma State.
In the win over No. 13 Texas A&M, he scored eight of his 10 points in the second half, including six points and three rebounds in a 10-1 second half run that gave Nebraska the lead for good. He finished with 10 points, six rebounds and four assists. He also helped Nebraska commit only one second-half turnover (offensive foul on a ball screen) and shoot 50 percent after halftime against the Aggies.
He nearly led Nebraska on a comeback against Texas Tech, scoring 11 of his 19 points in the second half, as Nebraska erased an eight-point deficit before falling by one in the final seconds to the Red Raiders.
Jeter keyed the win over Colorado on Jan. 18, dishing out a season high nine assists while adding 10 points and six rebounds in helping NU snap the Buffaloes seven-game win streak. His nine assists against CU was the most-ever against the Buffaloes in Big 12 action.
He nearly helped the Huskers to an upset at No. 3 Kansas in Lawrence with 13 points and six assists.
Against Iowa State, he totaled 10 points, seven assists, six rebounds and five steals. His steal and drive in the final six seconds put him on the free throw line, where he sank the go-ahead free throw with 0.4 seconds left in NU's one-point win.
Against USC, he may have enjoyed his best game as a Husker in leading Nebraska from a 20-point first-half deficit. He totaled 13 points, a career-high eight rebounds and had five assists without a turnover.
He nearly broke the school record for steals against Alcorn State, recording a career-high seven steals and added 16 points and six assists in the win. His seven thefts were one shy of Nebraska's single-game mark.
Jeter holds the rare distinction of being one of only two athletes in Beaver Falls (Pa.) High School history to have his jersey retired, joining NFL Hall of Famer Joe Namath.
DOUBLE-DIGIT ASSISTS
With his 10 assists against Kansas on Feb. 2, Lance Jeter became the first Husker player in the Big 12 era to have a pair of contests with at least 10 assists. Jeter had a career-high 12 assists at Kansas State in 2009-10.
THE QUEST FOR THEFTS
Lance Jeter enters Wednesday's game at Oklahoma averaging 1.9 steals per game to rank fourth in the Big 12. He has 45 steals on the year after totaling just 29 in his first season at Nebraska and has multiple steals in eight of the Huskers' last 13 contests.
Earlier this season, Jeter had a personal best seven against Alcorn State, which was one shy of the school record. He is threatening to become the first Husker since Cookie Belcher (2.7, 2000-01) to average 2.0 steals per game, something only two Huskers have done in the Big 12 era.
RICHARDSON FINDING HIS TOUCH
Junior guard Brandon Richardson has become one of the Huskers' most reliable scorers in recent weeks. The Los Angeles, Calif., native is averaging 9.3 points per game over the last six contests, hitting 49 percent from the floor in that span. Prior to that stretch, Richardson was averaging just 5.3 points per game and was in double figures just twice in Nebraska's first 17 games.
He has been aggressive in getting to the free throw line, getting to the free throw line 25 times in the last seven games, after attempting 20 free throws in Nebraska's first 17 contests. Richardson has made the most of his opportunities at the line, going a perfect 25-of-25 from the charity stripe and now leads the league in free throw percentage in conference action at 96.7 percent. He still has a ways to go to match the school mark for consecutive free throws, which is 39 by Jack Moore in 1981-82. Moore also holds the school record for highest free throw percentage in conference play at 93.8 percent in 1981-82.
Richardson, who missed the Huskers' Big 12 opener because of a knee strain and was limited earlier in the year because of a sprained ankle suffered in NU's exhibition opener, enjoyed his breakout perfomance at Texas Tech on Jan. 22. In that game, he hit 5-of-6 shots from the floor and all eight free throws, including three foul shots with 11 seconds left to put NU up by a point. He has reached double figures three times in NU's last six games, including a 16-point effort against No. 2 Kansas on Feb. 5. Against Oklahoma State on Saturday, Richardson dished out five assists and added four points and four rebounds.
DIAZ LOOKS TO BECOME CONSISTENT INSIDE FORCE
Sophomore Jorge Brian Diaz has quietly put together a solid sophomore campaign for the Huskers. The 6-foot-11 center is second on the team in scoring (10.1 ppg) and rebounding (4.4 rpg) while hitting 55 percent from the floor. He is 10th in the Big 12 in blocked shots with 1.0 blocks per game. Diaz is quickly closing in on Nebraska's blocked shot career list. He has 66 blocks in his career and six blocks shy of 10th place on the list entering Wednesday's game with Oklahoma.
He started Big 12 play slowly from the floor, making nine of his first 32 shots, but has been more aggressive on the offensive end over the last seven games, averaging 9.9 points on 55 percent shooting. He turned the corner in NU's win over Colorado, hitting 7-of-8 shots from the floor to snap the Buffaloes' seven-game win streak.
He has been in double figures 12 times this season after reaching double figures in just 14 of 33 games as a freshman.
Diaz enjoyed his best game of the season in NU's win over No. 13 Texas A&M, scoring a season-high 16 points, grabbing five rebounds and blocking a pair of shots in NU's 58-47 win. The performance was more notable, as he played after the death of his aunt the day before the game and flew back to Puerto Rico immediately following the game.
-He has shot over 50 percent from the floor in 17 of the Huskers' 24 games this season, including a streak of 11 consecutive games earlier in the year.
-Diaz had led NU in scoring average until late January, and still has a chance to become only the third Husker sophomore to top Nebraska in scoring in the last 20 years, joining former NBA standouts Tyronn Lue (1996-97) and Eric Piatkowski (1991-92).
-He was instrumental during the Huskers' 11 game win streak earlier this season, averaging 11.5 points per game while shooting 61 percent in that stretch.
-He helped NU nearly end then-No. 3 Kansas' homecourt win streak with eight rebounds and eight points in a 63-60 loss.
-His best effort of the season came against TCU, when he recorded his first career double-double with 13 points and career highs in both rebounds (12) and blocks (three).
Diaz's season turned around at the Honda Puerto Rico Tip Off, where he played in front of family and friends. He was an honorable-mention all-tournament selection, as he tied for the team lead in scoring (10.7 ppg) while adding 4.3 rebounds, 1.0 blocks and hitting 57 percent from the floor. He totaled 13 points against Davidson, scoring eight straight second-half points to pull the Huskers within a point in the final two minutes, and a game-high 11 points in the win over Hofstra.
As a redshirt freshman, Diaz put together one of the best rookie seasons in program history in 2009-10. The 6-foot-11 center from Caguas, Puerto Rico, appeared in all 33 contests, averaging 8.8 points on a team-high 52.2 percent shooting, 4.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocked shots per game. He not only set a school freshman mark with 41 blocked shots, but also finished on NU's freshman top-10 list in field goals made (133, fourth), rebounds (133, seventh), points (291, eighth) and points per game (8.82, 10th).
MCCRAY ADDS DEPTH INSIDE
After losing nearly his entire sophomore season following Tommy John surgery on his left (non-shooting) elbow, Toney McCray has become a valuable part of Nebraska's offensive attack. He has played in all 24 games, averaging 7.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, ranking third on the team in scoring and rebounds.
The Missouri City, Texas, product has moved into the forward in mid-December, where his length and athleticism has helped provide matchup problems. He moved into the starting lineup in the final week heading into conference play and is averaging 10.3 points per game on 47 percent shooting over his last 12 contests. Prior to that, he averaged just 5.4 points in Nebraska's first 12 games.
McCray's emergence began against TCU on Dec. 11, when he came off the bench to record his first career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. McCray had 12 of his 15 points in the second half against the Horned Frogs, including six points in a 13-0 run to break open a one-point game. He set a career high in rebounds, grabbing 11 caroms in a rout of Eastern Washington on Dec. 18.
In Big 12 action, he is second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, while hitting 49 percent from the field. He has also connected on a team-best 42 percent of his 3-point attempts during conference play.
McCray put together his best offensive performance of his career in Nebraska's last road game, scoring a career-high 23 points and grabbing seven rebounds at Baylor on Feb. 9. He hit 8-of-14 shots, including a trio of 3-pointers, as his performance nearly allowed the Huskers to earn the win.
McCray, who reached double figures once in Big 12 play as a redshirt freshman, had 17 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, at No. 15 Missouri on Jan. 12, and enjoyed a then-career high 18 points and eight rebounds in a win over Colorado on Jan. 18. McCray's block of Alec Burks in the second half of the CU game was the No. 5 play on SportsCenter that evening. He came off the bench against No. 2 Kansas on Feb. 5, totaling 11 points, including a trio of 3-pointers.
WALKER ENJOYS SOLID JUNIOR SEASON
One of the unsung players on the Husker roster is junior college transfer Caleb Walker , who has been a starter on the wing for most of the season. The Hutchinson, Kan., native is averaging 6.3 points and a team-high 4.7 rebounds while usually facing the opponent's top perimeter threat. Walker has been consistent in Big 12 play, averaging 7.1 points and 4.7 rebounds, as he joins Lance Jeter as the only Husker to start all 10 conference games.
Walker was a two-sport athlete at Butler CC as a freshman in 2008-09, helping the school to an NJCAA national title on the gridiron before focusing solely on basketball as a sophomore.
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The Google Play Store often features free music downloads, but they’re typically for single songs, from obscure indie artists, and/or the really good stuff only comes every once in awhile. But the Play Store has recently been releasing new “The Very Best of” albums from top artists, and right now a chunky list of them are 100% free downloads.
Here are some of the top downloads available:
The rap albums are edited to removed the explicit albums, and let’s be honest, listening to the edited version of a Three 6 Mafia song is like watching a silent film with your eyes closed. So be warned in that regard.
We initially spotted this list from our friends at PlayStoreSales.com. If you want to look for more free “Best of” albums in the future, head on over to Google Play Music and search for “playlist” and “very best of”, then click “See More” next to the Albums result. Scroll through the results and note all the albums that say FREE. Target achieved.
If you download any of these albums, let us know what you snagged! Or maybe you’re like the rest of the world and just use Pandora.
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El Gobierno anunció por decreto que se hará cargo de una parte del salario de los trabajadores en relación de dependencia de empresas en crisis, en medio de los efectos económicos por la parálisis del país en cuarentena. Además, habrá créditos a tasa 0 para monotributistas y y autónomos con garantía del Estado Nacional.
Se trata del llamado Salario Complementario. El texto desarrolla: "Consistirá en una suma abonada por la Anses para todos o parte de los trabajadores y las trabajadoras en relación de dependencia cuyos empleadores cumplan con los requisitos establecidos".
Agrega: "El monto de la asignación será equivalente al (50%) del salario neto del trabajador o de la trabajadora correspondiente al mes de febrero de 2020, no pudiendo ser inferior a una suma equivalente a un salario mínimo, vital y móvil ni superar dos salarios mínimos, vitales y móviles, o al total del salario neto correspondiente a ese mes".
Qué es el Coronavirus Cómo se contagia y cómo son sus síntomas Mirá el especial
Este domingo, precisamente, se supo que más de 420.000 empleadores privados se registraron en el sitio web de la Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos para acceder al Programa de Asistencia al Trabajo y la Producción (ATP).
Desde el ministerio de Trabajo informaron que las medidas de este DNU se traducen en una asistencia más directa del Estado. "No hay mas REPRO, sino un salario complementario para todos los trabajadores bajo dependencia del sector privado", sostuvieron. En ese sentido, quienes se inscribieron hasta el viernes en los REPRO se van a reconvertir a este sistema.
En cuanto a los créditos para monotributistas y autónomos, el DNU especifica que el monto de la financiación no podrá exceder una cuarta parte del límite superior de ingresos brutos establecidos para cada categoría del Régimen Simplificado para Pequeños Contribuyentes, con un límite máximo de $ 150.000.
El financiamiento será desembolsado en tres cuotas mensuales iguales y consecutivas.
Asimismo, se elevan los montos de las prestaciones económicas por desempleo (seguro de desempleo) a un mínimo de $ 6.000 y un máximo de $ 10.000.
Desde el área de Trabajo también informaron que se mantiene la reducción de aportes patronales. El primer artículo del DNU señala: "Postergación o reducción de hasta el 95) del pago de las contribuciones patronales al Sistema Integrado Previsional Argentino".
Estas medidas se suman, entre otros, al bono de 10 mil pesos para quienes sus ingresos se hayan visto coartados por la cuarentena. Los $ 10.000 se pagarán entre la segunda quincena de abril y comienzos de mayo.
Desde la ANSES habían confirmado, días atrás, que 7.854.316 personas quedaron habilitadas para cobrar el bono de $10.000 del Ingreso Familiar de Emergencia para paliar parte de las consecuencias económicas de la cuarentena por el coronavirus.
Esos son los datos que surgen de la primera etapa de inscripciones, luego de los cruces que se hicieron para verificar quiénes cumplían con las condiciones y requisitos para acceder al beneficio. Entre los más de 7,8 millones aprobados están los 2.389.764 de padres que perciben la AUH por sus hijos y las mujeres que perciben la Asignación por Embarazo, que ya cobraron los $ 10.000. El resto de los beneficiarios empezará a cobrar desde el 21 de abril.
Alberto Fernández había confirmado que la cuarentena general se mantendrá hasta el domingo que viene, 26 de abril, sin cambios en las grandes ciudades, pero con la flexibilización de las restricciones en las zonas del interior con menor riesgo ante la pandemia del coronavirus.
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The Trump administration announced a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule Thursday aimed at giving states the independence to determine how to best dispose of coal ash, the toxic metal left from burning coal.
The EPA said that the deregulations would save utilities nearly $100 million per year in compliance costs and the regulated community between $31 million and $100 million per year.
“Today’s coal ash proposal embodies EPA’s commitment to our state partners by providing them with the ability to incorporate flexibilities into their coal ash permit programs based on the needs of their states,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt Edward (Scott) Scott PruittJuan Williams: Swamp creature at the White House Science protections must be enforceable Conspicuous by their absence from the Republican Convention MORE said in a statement.
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“We are also providing clarification and an opportunity for public comment — something that is much-needed following the public reaction to the 2015 coal ash rule.”
More than 110 million tons of coal ash are produced annually by coal-fired power plants, according to the EPA.
The move is a sharp departure from the Obama administration, which sought to better regulate disposal of the toxic metal.
In 2015, following a number of coal ash leaks that led to severely clogged waterways, the Obama administration proposed regulations that would increase inspections and monitoring as well as impose new requirements for storage liners. They would have also required companies to conduct water quality tests.
The rule met significant opposition from utility industry groups and were never implemented. Litigation against the regulations remains pending.
Pruitt announced in September that the Trump administration would be reconsidering the rule.
“It is important that we give the existing rule a hard look and consider improvements that may help states tailor their permit programs to the needs of their states in a way that provides greater regulatory certainty, while also ensuring that human health and the environment remain protected,” Pruitt said at the time.
EPA said Thursday the rule is one of two it plans to enact to amend coal ash disposal.
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SHE IS big, bold and proud of her body — but not everyone thinks American plus-size model, Tess Holliday, should be “applauded” for her size 22 frame.
Australian fitness guru Ashy Bines, who runs the successful transformation program known as the Ashy Bines Bikini Body Challenge, took to social media saying the fuller-figured Holliday was not a “good role model for young girls” and wasn’t a “healthy body image that should be applauded”.
But Bines, who has more than 646,000 followers on Instagram and more than a million supporters on Facebook, controversially compared the image of Holliday to that of an underweight runway model, saying neither frames were “healthy”.
It is unclear whether Bines knew that the underweight model was in fact Ana Carolina Reston, who died in 2006 of kidney failure, after reportedly living on a diet of apples and tomatoes.
At the time of her death, the 21-year-old Brazilian fashion model, who was 1.73m tall, weighed just 38kg.
Bines tells her followers there is “no perfect body and no two bodies are the same” but she hoped girls would find other role models to “help them achieve a healthy lifestyle”.
The 27-year-old Gold Coast fitness influencer, said that thin girls were slammed “A LOT” these days compared to larger women.
“The girl on the left is obviously underweight — yes she maybe genetically small but it's pretty obvious she is not healthy and has not been eating a well balanced diet,” Bines wrote in her post.
“[She] would be on 500 or less calories a day to achieve her body — nor is she a good role model for young women.
“The girl on the right [Holliday] I've seen in recent articles and apparently is an ‘inspiration’ to the younger generation — I also think she is not a good role model for young girls.
“I just think it's sad that women who are obviously eating a lot more than what they need and not moving their bodies to be fit, strong and healthy are getting praise.”
Bines seemed to acknowledge that her Instagram post was controversial. “Anyone who attacks me or calls me horrible names, you will be blocked,” she wrote.
The post has had more than 1500 comments, mostly positive, and it has received more than 9000 likes on Instagram.
She did praise Holliday for her confidence in a swimsuit, but raised concern over her idea of “health”.
“I think it's FANTASTIC she feels comfortable but at the same time I don't think it's a healthy body image that should be applauded,” she wrote.
“I'm not saying either are ‘ugly or ANYTHING like that,’ just don't think either are healthy role models and shouldn’t be given praise.”
This isn’t the first time the plus-size model has received criticism for glorifying an ‘unhealthy lifestyle’.
Hypnotherapist Steve Miller, who claims to be the ‘Simon Cowell of the slimming world,’ slammed the 30-year-old model in 2015, claiming her figure was “dangerous” and that it’s “ludicrous” if she believes fat is gorgeous.
“The last thing we want to see is a plus-size American barging into UK shores showing us how it’s cool to eat junk, eat huge portions and love your fat,” Mr Miller told the Daily Mail.
“Tess challenges the fashion industry’s preconceived idea of beauty and believes you can be gorgeous and fat which is ludicrous because fat isn’t great — it’s dangerous.”
Holliday, who is six-months pregnant with her second child, rose to fame in 2013 as a body positive activist and spearhead behind the #effyourbeautystandards movement on Instagram. In 2013, she was named by Vogue Italia as one of the top six plus-size models in the world. Two years later, Milk Model Management signed Holliday, making her the largest plus-size model to be part of a mainstream modelling agency. That same year, Holliday was featured on the cover of People magazine’s body issue, and featuring as a model in H&M’s sustainable fashion campaign.
With more than a million followers on Instagram alone, Holliday has used her platform to speak out against fat-shaming in the fashion industry.
“I’ve been called fat my whole life,” she said in an interview with the Guardian. “I am fat, so it’s kind of silly to get mad about it.
“To the people that fight on my social media: I don’t give a f**k. Get a therapist, phone a psychic or eat a f**kin’ burger... grow up.”
Bines has declined to comment.
News.com.au has approached Tess Holliday for comment.
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The most challenging stops
Of the 8 braking sections on the Circuit of the Americas, 3 are classified as difficult on the brakes, 2 as medium; the remaining 3 have a light incidence on the braking systems. It is worth noting that on the first braking section after the finish line, the bikes go from 311 km/h to 60 km/h in 206 metres, applying a load of 11 kg on the brake lever. As for the reduction in speed and brake space, curve 12 has the best; the bikes arrive going 337 km/h and have to go down to 70 km/h. To do so, the brakes are used for almost 6 seconds. Both of these braking sections present a deceleration of 1.6 g. Curve 20, the last on the track, has a medium level of difficulty, on the other hand. The riders use the brakes for about 3 and a half seconds, applying a load of 6 kg on the lever. The least challenging braking section on the circuit is number 9, which requires a drop in speed from 148 to 103 km/h, in 79 metres.
Brembo Victories
At the GP of the Americas, Brembo brakes monopolised the podium in all 3 of the contended editions. The winner was Marc Marquez, with Honda, each time.
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New muscular problem for Ramsey
By Football Italia staff
Aaron Ramsey has been ruled out of this weekend’s Lazio v Juventus clash with a muscular problem and it remains to be seen how long he’ll be out for.
It kicks off on Saturday at 19.45 GMT, click here for a match preview.
Wales international Ramsey has struggled with recurring muscular issues throughout his playing career.
A statement from the Bianconeri confirmed “an overload was detected on the left thigh flexors” and Ramsey will be “evaluated day by day.”
He seems to be out of Saturday’s clash with third-place Lazio, but it’s not clear how long Ramsey will be on the treatment table.
Watch Serie A live in the UK on Premier Sports for just £9.99 per month including live LaLiga, Eredivisie, Scottish Cup Football and more. Visit: https://www.premiersports.com/subscribenow
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Konnichiwa! Watashi no namae wa Moriin desu. Doozo yoroshiku! Or in Hirigana (one of Japan’s two phonetic alphabets): こんいち わ。 わたし の なまえ わ もりいん です。 どおぞ よろしく。
Ever since I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with Japan: the culture, the language, the fashion, the history, anime, manga and, of course, the food. It seems like Baltimore has no shortage of delicious Japanese food, with a strong ramen scene. But today, we will be venturing out for Sushi.
I love Hamden for its eclectic nature that speaks to my inner hipster. It is somehow an area where you both get the starving-hipster-artist vibe, while also getting the middle-aged-anitque-shopper vibe. It has the sleepy, residential feel, while also having the regional draw with events like Honfest and the 34th Street Christmas lights. Hampden speaks to me.
We started our Hampden adventure at Wymann Park, the green space that separates Hopkins University from Hampden. The main drag has a vibrant mix of restaurants, dessert places, shopping spots, and places to grab a drink. After perusing the selection of Carole King CDs, we decided it was time for a drink.
We stopped at The Food Market, which is a great little bar with beautiful atmosphere and great food and drinks. Brian got a watermelon and gin drink, that was spiced with chilies for that sweet and spicy flavor. I went for my usual of a refreshing glass of bubbly prosecco. Surprisingly, we have never actually had food at The Food Market, because they have such great drinks, and we enjoy moving from place to place for food and drinks.
The Food Market also seems to be the place to spot the self-appointed Mayor of Hampden, with his sunglasses, shorts in the winter, man bun, and his tricycle.
Seeing as the weather was nice, afterward we went for a walk to do some sightseeing. Hampden is known as the quintessential “Baltimore” beehive neighborhood, famous for the “Hon Fest” a very “Baltimorean” tradition featuring the “Hons” and their famous beehive hair. And during Christmas time, be sure to (if you haven’t already) check out 34th street and their amazing Christmas lights complete with hot chocolate or cider. My favorite thing about Hampden is that it’s quirky and unapologetically “Baltimore”.
There is nothing special about the arcitecture in Hampden, as it was originally developed as housing for workers at the mills down on the Jones Falls River. Baltimore has some spectacular architecture, but Hampden shines despite its modest bones. Murals, like the one shown to the left, show the heart that Hampden has. While the neighborhood is currently trading dive bars like Dimitri’s for upscale, exclusive ones like the Bluebird Cocktail Room, the neighborhood still has that “rough around the edges” feel that you just don’t get outside of Hampden, Remington, and Station North.
After our share of seeing the sights of the quirky downtown, we made our way to Yama Sushi restaurant. Technically, we are across the street from Hampden, in the tiny neighborhood of Hoes Heights, which was a farm established by freed slave Grandison Hoe.
Yama Sushi is a Japanese restaurant tucked in an unassuming strip mall next to Giant Food and across from an Auto Repair shop. It sets your expectations low, and then blows you away. We sat at the bar so that we could watch the artists at work.
Its a cozy little restaurant that probably can hold about 50 people. The decor added to the experience, but having the sushi chiefs out in front always is an indication that you are at a good spot.
While we waited, we enjoyed a Japanese Beer from Kiuchi Brewery, which is a lightly sweet beer that has a certain flavor of sake in the background. The one we had was a twist on a Hefeweizen and had a light orange spice flavor to it.
There are few pictures we have had on this blog that better express the beauty of a meal. It almost made us feel bad about digging in, except that we were pretty hungry. Tuna. Salmon. Yellow Tail. And it was all so well done. For the sushi, they did a great job of picking high quality ingredients and letting them do what they do. For the rolls, there was a great variety of flavors, textures, and sauces that made this boat really a culinary journey.
In it’s most basic form, sushi is quite a simple dish of sticky rice, seaweed, fresh seafood, vegetables or eggs. However, this blank canvas, while beautiful in its simplicity, has all sorts of potential to create delicious variety.
The meal was accompanied by traditional side dishes of Miso soup, a soup made of fermented soy paste, seaweed, onions and tofu and a simply dressed cucumber and fruit salad.
This was a fun excuse to get back into my love of Japanese culture. One example is the custom before eating, they say “Lets eat!” and afterwards you say “Thank you for the food” (in Japanese, obviously). It was also a great chance to head up to Hampden to enjoy one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city. For now, I will say Sayoonara (さようなら, goodbye) and Itadakimasu (いただきます! Let’s eat!)!
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Brussels, 8 October 2018: Nuclear power is essential if the world is to keep global warming to below 1.5 degrees, according to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC). Indeed, for electricity generation, the share of nuclear will need to increase significantly in order to meet global targets.
According to Debra Roberts, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group II, the aim of this report is to provide policymakers with the information they need in order to make the right choices in the fight against climate change.
“This report notes quite rightly that nuclear power has a key role to play”, says Yves Desbazeille, FORATOM Director General. “It comes at a perfect moment as the EU is currently working on its 2050 low-carbon economy strategy[1]. Renewables alone cannot solve the climate crisis and betting too much on CO 2 emitting gas could also have harmful lock-in effects in the long term. Low-carbon, flexible nuclear must form part of the energy mix – a reality which is often overlooked in Brussels. We hope that this report will encourage policymakers to embrace all low-carbon energy sources.”
Entitled “Global Warming of 1.5°C”, the report focuses on the potential impacts of global warming and related greenhouse gas emission pathways. In order to limit global warming to 1.5°C, “rapid and far-reaching” transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities are deemed necessary. CO 2 emissions would need to fall by about 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050. The contribution of nuclear power increases significantly under all IPCC scenarios which aim to keep global warming under 1.5°C.
More information: FORATOM’s position on the “Strategy for long-term EU greenhouse gas emissions reductions”
For more information, please contact Jessica Johnson: [email protected].
[1] Strategy for long-term EU greenhouse gas emissions reductions
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BOSTON—Before Andrew Yang took the stage Wednesday evening, a peppy campaign spokeswoman taught the 200-or-so supporters assembled on Boston Common a new cheer.
"Andrew says a lot of things about numbers," she explained. "He's really into the facts, which is very exciting. So when he says things like ‘when you look at the numbers,' I want you to put your ‘math' signs in the air. If I say ‘math,' you say—"
"Math!" the crowd screams back.
Many of their bright-blue campaign signs also say "Math." A few, customized for the event, are emblazoned with "Welcome to Math-achusetts." Every time Yang mentions a statistic during his 20-minute stump speech, he is cut off by the enthusiastic chants of "math" from the eager-to-please crowd.
Here, then, is some math for you: according to the most recent Morning Consult Poll, about 1 percent of Democratic primary voters are currently backing him, on par with such notables as Rep. Tim Ryan and Gov. Steve Bullock. Fifty-nine percent of respondents have never heard of the entrepreneur turned candidate; just 13 percent view him favorably, compared to 8 percent unfavorably.
But unlike such better-known presidential contenders as Gov. Jay Inslee (52 percent have never heard of) and Rep. John Delaney (46 percent), Yang has developed a small but devoted following. Together, they have propelled him over the 65,000-donor threshold required to make it to the debate stage in June.
Much of this momentum has come online: as Yang put it Wednesday, "I have a very internet candidacy." Many heard about him through podcast appearances; Boston natives Danny and John heard Yang on The Breakfast Club, and say they support him because he promises "radical change" and "feels human." A businessman-turned-candidate seems to them like he could have a real impact, unlike all of the elected politicians in the Democratic field.
To be sure, Yang's path to politics is different from Donald Trump's. Yang began his entrepreneurial life running a successful education firm, worked his way through the start-up world, and then founded Venture for America, a fellowship that sends recent college grads to start businesses in middle-American cities like Cleveland or Detroit.
This work led him to political influence, including recognition by the Obama White House. That, along with Trump's election, got him thinking bigger, specifically about the threat that automation—AI, robot workers, driverless cars, etc.—poses to American stability.
"He's talking about automation really," Joe from Connecticut told the Washington Free Beacon. "Everyone else is talking about things that aren't really applicable. He's the one that's talking about the future, not really these past issues."
During his speech, Yang rattles off a wave of statistics ("math!") about the future of automation. The median retail worker is a 39-year-old woman; the median truck-driver is a 49-year-old man; 30 percent of malls will vanish within the next three years; trucking will be mostly automated within five to 10.
The timing of modern automation and its effects on employment and the economy is something about which economists disagree. There is good reason to believe that robots reduce employment and will eventually replace lots of workers. But it is also possible that advancing technology will create new job-market opportunities. A lot depends on the form of automation and how it is rolled out.
In Yang's view the negative effects of automation are already here. He says Trump's 2016 victory was caused by the automating away of four million manufacturing jobs in key swing states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. This shift, Yang predicted, is just the beginning of mass technological unemployment.
"We're in the third inning of the greatest economic and technological transformation in the history of our country," he explained. "The first inning was the deregulation of financial services. The second inning was the decimation of manufacturing work. The third inning, which we're in the middle of, is the obsolescence of brick and mortar retail. The fourth inning will be autonomous cars and trucks. The fifth inning will be AI doing the work of not just call center workers but book keepers, and accountants and lawyers."
The result could be mass chaos. Yang described a recent strike in Indiana, where truckers convoyed up and drove their vehicles well below the speed limit on the highway, gumming up traffic in protest of new electronic logging devices.
"These dozens of truckers were protesting electronic monitoring of their driving," Yang said. "How do you think they're going to respond to a robot truck that never stops and is going to take their job? It's going to get really, really gruesome."
The solution to the problem of automation, in Yang's telling, is to buy peace through redistribution. A Universal Basic Income (what Yang calls the "Freedom Dividend") would give $1,000 a month to every American 18 to 64, regardless of income. Add to this Medicare-for-All and a suite of other proposals meant to create what Yang calls "human-centered capitalism." More radical proposals—such as a social credit system and mass amnesty—did not make the cut for his speech.
One local graduate student, Dan, explained how his support for Yang is driven by a willingness to talk about the threat Dan's own work in automation poses.
"I work in computation neuroscience, and we're using machine learning to analyze data—like big, big data—we're using it to automate away jobs that we'd normally hire a technician to do by hand," he said. "A year ago, we automated away a large part of what someone was doing. And I think things like that should be addressed by policy. And [Yang is] the only candidate that appears to have anything around automation."
Dan appears to be the rule, rather than the exception, for who composes the crowd. When Yang asks how many there are entrepreneurs or work in tech, a big cheer goes up. Later, when he asks how many know a trucker—he does not ask if anyone actually is a trucker—the response is much more subdued. When he polls the crowd for former Trump supporters, a single person raises his hand.
Based on Wednesday's attendees, Yang supporters are the people who will do the automating away of jobs, rather than have their jobs automated. They are students of, or have degrees in, engineering and computer science. They want legalized weed, but would never be arrested for smoking (several people in fact shared a joint during the event). They are, in short, the sort of person who would show up to a rally and chant "math" at their candidate of choice.
Although his income proposal is universal, Yang's appeal appears to not be: #YangGang members do not look like the people the robots will be replacing. But one is left with the sense that Yang prefers the adulation of a small crowd over the votes of a bigger one.
"Andrew Yang! Andrew Yang!" the crowd yells at the end of the speech.
"Chant my name! Chant my name!" Yang responds, grinning from ear to ear.
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CHICAGO, Il. — A homeless man in Chicago named Curtis Jackson has given thousands of dollars he earns panhandling to a struggling single-mother who lives out of a hotel room with her 10-year-old son.
Fox Chicago News reports:
Sandy’s Good Samaritan is Curtis Jackson, who’s been homeless since 2004. He pays for Sandy’s hotel room because she used to treat him with dignity and kindness when she did have a house — and he pays for it by panhandling and giving the money to her.
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Shocking details of the secret nuclear deal that Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson signed with Russia last year can, for the first time, be revealed. The text, which has been jealously guarded by her department and Russian nuclear company Rosatom, holds many dangers for South Africa.
It creates an expectation that Russian technology will be used for South Africa’s trillion-rand fleet of new nuclear power stations. And by laying the groundwork for government-to-government contracting, it appears designed to sidestep the constitutional requirement for open and competitive tendering.
Once the agreement comes into force, the Russians will have a veto over South Africa doing business with any other nuclear vendor. And it will be binding for a minimum of 20 years, during which Russia can hold a gun to South Africa’s head, in effect saying: “Do business with us, or forget nuclear.”
The agreement confirms the government’s intention to make “Atomic Tina’s” energy department the procuring agent for the nuclear programme rather than Eskom – where the country’s nuclear expertise lies, despite the utility’s travails. Joemat-Pettersson signed the agreement in Vienna on September 21 last year, three weeks after President Jacob Zuma held talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at the latter’s country estate.
It led to an immediate outcry as it appeared that Russia was being favoured over other vendor countries. But the energy department said the agreement merely “initiates the preparatory phase for the procurement for the new nuclear build programme” and it undertook to sign agreements with other nuclear vendors – France and China – next.
It asserted again this week that it is still “engaged in the preprocurement phase” and the “type and nature of [the] procurement process has not been approved by Cabinet”.
The department has refused amaBhungane and others’ requests under the Promotion of Access to Information Act for copies of the Russian, French and Chinese agreements, citing “the delicate process of negotiations … with other countries”.
The terms of the agreement lean heavily in Russia’s favour. They:
Indemnify the Russians from any liability arising from nuclear accidents during the reactors’ life. The agreement says South Africa is “solely responsible for any damage both within and outside the territory of the Republic of South Africa”;
Hand the Russians a host of regulatory concessions and “special favourable treatment” in tax and other financial matters, but offer South Africa no such incentives; and
Require Russia’s permission if South Africa wants to export nuclear technology it develops locally as a result of learning from the Russians, thereby hindering government’s aim that the nuclear new-build programme will develop a globally competitive local nuclear industry.
David Unterhalter, a University of Cape Town law professor and constitutional expert, this week said the agreement appeared to go far beyond the type of general framework document that government officials have declared it to be.
“While it could perhaps be argued that the [introductory] provisions could be understood as forming a general co-operation agreement, when one gets down among the weeds it seems pretty clear that this is not just an agreement to agree.
“There is a number of specific matters dealt with in a way that suggests this agreement is intended to give rise to executable obligations … in other words obligations that appear to be enforceable even if via diplomatic rather than legal channels.”
The agreement is to be tabled in the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces before it becomes binding, but there is uncertainty about the process to be followed.
AmaBhungane has obtained copies of the equivalent co-operation agreements concluded with Korea in 2011 and the United States in 2009. In contrast to the Russian agreement, these specify more general collaboration on nuclear matters, do not refer to specific technologies and do not use decisive language.
The department has concluded agreements with France and China since the Russian deal, but these remain under wraps.
Numerous officials in the department of energy, international relations, trade and industry, as well as in the treasury and the chief state law adviser, raised concerns about clauses in the draft Russian agreement, which the Russians first put on the table in mid-2013, after Zuma paid Putin a “working visit” to the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
But these officials were ignored and, in some cases, sidelined.
A comparison with an earlier draft shows some clauses to which they objected have been retained almost unchanged in the signed version, and others with only minor revision.
AmaBhungane understands chief state law adviser Enver Daniels provided detailed input on the draft agreement but was given no insight into the version Joemat-Pettersson signed. He was not privy to whether his advice had been followed.
Instead, the process of finalising the agreement was managed by a powerful group of officials in the energy department, two of whom accompanied Zuma to Russia on his “medical” holiday last August, a month before the deal was signed.
One official, Senti Thobejane, is nominally special adviser to Joemat-Pettersson, but is also believed to advise Zuma and the ANC on nuclear matters. The other official, Zizamele Mbambo, is deputy director general for nuclear in the energy department. Both officials were present at the signing ceremony in Vienna.
Mbambo denied ignoring other departments’ input: “[They] commented on the agreement and their comments were addressed.”
Rosatom said it needed to send answers it had prepared to the energy department for feedback first: “It would not be ethical in our minds to divulge information unilaterally on a bilateral agreement.”
Presidency spokesperson Mac Maharaj also said he was “awaiting feedback”.
Last night, Zuma told Parliament in his state of the nation address that “all … countries will be engaged in a fair, transparent, and competitive procurement process to select a strategic partner or partners to undertake the nuclear build programme”.
He set an ambitious target of connecting the first unit to the grid within seven years. – Additional reporting by Sam Sole & Stefaans Brümmer
How we got the secret document
The supposedly confidential agreement is published among the list of bilateral treaties on the website of the legal department of the Russian foreign ministry.
It was first obtained by South African environmental organisation Earthlife Africa Johannesburg by Russian anti-nuclear activist and head of Ecodefense Vladimir Slivyak, who got it from a source in the Russian foreign ministry. It is in Russian, and includes the signatures of Rosatom’s director general Sergey Kirienko and South African energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson.
A Russian translator commissioned by Earthlife to translate the agreement into English subsequently also found it publicly available on the ministry’s website.
amaBhungane has compared Joemat-Pettersson’s signature on the document with her signature on a current document; they are identical. amaBhungane has also commissioned its own translation of the agreement, which is available to download by clicking on the link at the top of this story. – Lionel Faull
* Got a tip-off for us about this story? Click here.
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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Catholic Church does not want people to donate “dirty money” earned by abusing low-paid workers, Pope Francis said on Wednesday.
“Some donors come to the Church offering profits from the blood of people who have been exploited, mistreated, enslaved with badly paid work,” Francis said during his regular weekly audience with pilgrims at the Vatican.
“I will say to them: ‘Please take your money away, burn it’,” said Francis, who has made safeguarding the poor and cleaning up Vatican finances central tenets of his papacy.
“The people of God... do not need dirty money, they need hearts that are open to God’s mercy,” he said.
The pope has branded money “the dung of the devil” and condemned the evils of unbridled capitalism, prompting criticism from some U.S. business leaders.
Francis has increased the power of the Vatican’s financial intelligence authority (AIF) but the European finance watchdog Moneyval said last year the Holy See still needed to be much more aggressive in prosecuting financial crimes.
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Wannabe celebrity Josie Cunningham last night confessed the chance of appearing on TV’s Big Brother was worth more than her unborn child’s life.
Puffing on a cigarette and rubbing her baby bump, the controversial model and call girl – who will have her abortion at a clinic this week – said: “I’m finally on the verge of becoming famous and I’m not going to ruin it now.
“An abortion will further my career. This time next year I won’t have a baby. Instead, I’ll be famous, driving a bright pink Range Rover and buying a big house. Nothing will get in my way.”
Josie, 23, is already 18 weeks pregnant by either an escort agency client or a Premier League footballer. But she claims her late life-or-death decision has nothing to do with who the father is.
She says it is based on the breakdown of negotiations with Channel 5 to appear on the reality show.
Josie – who caused outrage in 2013 when she demanded a £4,800 boob job on the NHS to become a glamour model – said: “Channel 5 were keen to shortlist me then they found out I was pregnant.
“Then they suddenly turned cold. That was when I started considering an abortion. After the operation I will be going back to them and asking if they will still consider me.
“I’ve also had loads of other offers to further my career – and I’m not willing to give them up because I’m pregnant.”
Get the latest news and reaction on this shocking story here - or read on for the rest of Josie's interview.
(Image: @JosieCOnline / Twitter)
Yet only nine days ago Josie was excitedly tweeting a scan picture of her unborn child.
She said: “At first I thought thank God it’s a footballer or a doctor and not a Big Issue seller and they have money.
“Suddenly I was pregnant and I could get free dental work on the NHS, so I got a tooth straightened for cosmetic reasons, and it all seemed great.
poll loading Would you boycott Big Brother if Josie Cunningham appeared on the show after an abortion? 14000+ VOTES SO FAR YES NO
“But then I started to think. I didn’t want to be famous for having a footballer’s baby or for being the girl who had a kid by someone who paid for sex.
“I want to be famous for being me – Josie Cunningham, a glamour model and celebrity in my own right. If I want to do that I need to put my career first.
“I want the attention to be on me, not on who fathered my child.”
(Image: Nicholas Bowman / Sunday Mirror)
Josie’s reasons for going ahead with the abortion fall outside NHS guidelines and the 1967 Abortion Act.
The law states terminations may be carried out if continuing the pregnancy would damage a woman’s physical or mental health.
Career plans and fame-seeking are not valid reasons – but celebrity-obsessed Josie is determined.
“I was excited at first but as soon as I noticed I was getting bigger, that was it,” she said. “I realised it would be at least a year before I could do any glamour modelling if I went through with it and, in my opinion, nobody wants to see a naked pregnant lady.
“People will disagree with my actions. They always do, but I don’t care.
“It’s not ideal situation and I wish I had never fallen pregnant. I’m not on the Pill and in December the condom split when I was sleeping with a client.
“Then I had sex with a footballer and didn’t use contraception at all. I’d known him for years and we’d had sex before. I didn’t even think about the morning after pill.”
(Image: Facebook)
The footballer and the client – who is a high-flying surgeon – both offered to support Josie financially if she had the baby. But she said no.
So the footballer agreed to pay for the abortion at a London private clinic.
The Sunday Mirror has seen the documents but has decided not to name the clinic.
Josie – already mum to boys Harley, six, and Frankie, three – said: “I’ve had five miscarriages so the one good thing about the pregnancy is that it has shown me I can still carry beyond 12 weeks.
“I’m a good mum but this is something I have wanted for so long. I can’t give up my big break for anything.”
The termination will cost £1,695. Josie did not to try to have this particular medical procedure to boost her career carried out on the NHS.
But that didn’t stop her before.
She begged NHS doctors for a breast enlargement in January 2013 to take her from a 32A to 32DD, claiming years of bullying over her flat chest had ruined her life.
But she later revealed her ambition to become a glamour model was the real reason to go under the knife. Her idol is Katie Price and she revealed she longs to be the star of her own reality TV series.
Now Josie – still smoking up to 10 cigarettes a day and drinking despite her bump – fears pro-life activists and online trolls will target her over her abortion decision.
(Image: Nicholas Bowman / Sunday Mirror)
So she is keen to point out what she is doing is for her two sons as much as for her.
“I want it for myself but I want it for my boys,” she said. “I love them and I want to be able to buy them the most expensive toys and to give them nice holidays. People will criticise me but I’m a good mother.”
She said doesn’t think she will be “particularly distraught” after the termination and is relieved she has made her decision.
“To begin with I stopped drinking and started a super healthy diet but I’ve totally relaxed now,” she said.
“The other night I treated myself to a couple of frozen Smirnoff cocktails and I can’t stop smoking.
“People ask me what I’m craving and the answer is Smirnoff Ice! Once this is all out of the way I hope I can go back to my life and the opportunities will still be there.”
Josie now hopes Channel 5 bosses will reconsider her for Big Brother – but she claims there is more in the pipeline.
“If not, I have a documentary which will hopefully be done towards the end of the year and another reality TV show is interested,” she said.
“It’s all happening and finally all the hate I’ve have from the public over the NHS boob job is worth it.
“All those people who have trolled me and hated me for being me are going to be put in their place when I make it. Why should I give that up to have a baby?”
The law
An abortion can be carried out in the first 24 weeks under certain criteria.
It must take place in a hospital or licensed clinic. Two doctors must agree it would cause less damage to the mother's health than going on with pregnancy.
NHS guidelines say women severely impoverished or unable to provide care to the child, can have the procedure.
An abortion should ideally be carried out before 12 weeks.
There are rare situations when abortion may be carried out after 24 weeks: "to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman" or if there is "substantial risk the child would be born with physical or mental abnormalities".
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Fan Art : Morning, Saber :D
I hope u like it. Thanks for Like & Share
#stcygnus #fanart #saber #fate
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BT Sport has announced an exclusive £897m three-year deal to broadcast live Champions League and Europa League football matches.
The broadcaster has won the rights to show all 350 fixtures each season from 2015 after talks with European governing body Uefa.
A BT spokesman said it had "shaken up the UK TV market" and would make some matches, including finals, free to air.
The news is a major blow to Sky and ITV, which currently share the rights.
BT Sport deal highlights Three-year deal costing £897m
All 350 matches in the Champions League and Europa League broadcast live each season from 2015
First time a single UK broadcaster has won the exclusive live rights
Champions League final will be shown for free from 2015
At least one match involving each participating British team for free every season
While BT said it was the first time a single UK broadcaster had won the exclusive live rights to all matches from the two tournaments, Sky said the deal was "far in excess" of its own valuation.
"I am thrilled that BT Sport will be the only place where fans can enjoy all the live action from the Champions League and Europa League," said BT chief executive Gavin Patterson.
ITV has been the free-to-air broadcaster of the Champions Leage since it launched in 1992.
"We were not prepared to pay over the odds in the latest live rights round," read an ITV statement.
"Viewers will be able to continue to watch both competitions free on ITV through to 2015 and we remain the home of live England football."
The new contract, priced at £299m a season, is worth more than double the current arrangement, which could mean significantly more money for clubs in the two European competitions.
Each of the 32 teams in the group phase of the Champions League currently receive a participation payment of around £7m and £396,000 for every match played in the group stages. The winners get more than £30m in total.
As part of the deal, BT has said it will show at least one match involving each participating British team for free every season.
"We are new to the market. The key for us is growing our broadband business. We are available on all platforms. If customers do not want to be BT broadband customers, they can pay for the service as well," Patterson told BBC News.
Dan Roan BBC chief sports correspondent "This is a staggering statement of intent from BT, changing the landscape of sports broadcasting and sending shock waves throughout British football. "Having already secured 38 Premier League games a season, BT has now taken its offering to a whole new level by going all out to land exclusive live rights to the most coveted tournament in club football. "BT must now hope these prized rights will significantly increase its subscribers and encourage more customers to buy broadband, phone and television services from them. "Uefa and the clubs will be delighted at the increase in television revenue, but both viewers and sponsors will be concerned that, for the first time since it began, live Champions League games will not be shown on terrestrial TV. "BT has agreed to show some games free to air, but this will be of little comfort to many fans. The deal represents arguably the biggest defeat Sky has suffered since it began sports broadcasting, and is further proof that its latest rival presents a much sterner challenge than predecessors Setanta or ESPN ever did. "It is also grave news for ITV which had already lost the FA Cup rights and must now hope it can cling on to the Champions League and Europa League highlights."
John Petter, boss of the company's consumer division, added: "Today, to get the whole competition, you typically have to pay Sky £40 or so a month. The pricing is not being announced today, but I can say that this will be far more affordable than currently."
However, Sky indicated its rival had paid much more than it was prepared to offer.
"We bid with a clear view of what the rights are worth to us. It seems BT chose to pay far in excess of our valuation," read a statement from Sky.
"There are many ways in which we can invest in our service for customers. We take a disciplined approach and there is always a level at which we will choose to focus on something else. If we thought it was worth more, we'd have paid more.
"Nothing changes until 2015 and we look forward to 18 more months of live Champions League on Sky Sports. We will now re-deploy resources and continue to bring customers the best choice of TV across our offering."
BT launched its UK sports channels on 1 August 2013 in a challenge to the dominance of sports coverage on Sky.
BT has already spent £738m over three years for the rights to show 38 live Premier League matches for the 2012-13 season, while Sky paid £2.3bn for 116 matches a season.
Other events in the BT portfolio include the rights to Premiership Rugby and motorsports such as Moto GP and Nascar, as well as taking over ESPN's UK sports channels.
Only last week, it said more than two million people had subscribed to its television sports channels since August and reported six month pre-tax profits of £948 million.
For its part, Sky announced in October that record numbers had tuned into the start of the football season external-link - with an average audience of 1.55m compared with 1.29m last year.
BBC News business correspondent Joe Lynam said: "Sky has achieved well over 10 million paying subscribers in the UK. The backbone of that success is well-presented live football coverage.
Gavin Patterson, BT: "You will have to pay a little bit - considerably less than you have to pay today"
"While Sky has seen off challenges from ITV Digital, ESPN and Setanta, BT is posing the most formidable challenge.
"BT is already in almost every UK home with a telephone line and is also the largest broadband provider in the market. It isn't charging anything to show live Premier League football for existing broadband customers but will be charging for some Champion League games from 2015, although no pricing structure has been published.
"Their aim of becoming the home of live football coverage in Britain takes a giant step forward with this announcement and might even have an impact on Sky shares when trading restarts on Monday."
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Jeremy Hunt has called on Boris Johnson not to be a "coward" by avoiding a live TV debate with him on Sky News this week.
Stepping up pressure on his rival, the foreign secretary insisted that while he has no interest in discussing Mr Johnson's private life, he wants to challenge him on television over his commitment to taking the UK out of the EU by 31 October.
In an article in The Times, Mr Hunt said: "A new prime minister needs the legitimacy of having made his arguments publicly and having them subjected to scrutiny.
Johnson needs to answer 'difficult questions'
"Only then can you walk through the front door of No 10 with your head held high instead of slinking through the back door, which is what Boris appears to want."
He added: "Don't be a coward Boris, man up and show the nation you can cope with the intense scrutiny the most difficult job in the country will involve."
Mr Hunt has maintained his commitment to a Conservative leadership hustings to be hosted by Sky News tomorrow night, and called on his opponent to confirm his own attendance or risk disrespecting the party's members.
"Sometimes in politics you can fudge, but on #Brexit you can't."
Jeremy_Hunt blasts "disrespectful" @BorisJohnson after the former foreign secretary declines a Sky News debate.
More on the #ToryLeadershipContest here: https://t.co/I3ufsIq63n pic.twitter.com/XjKPHvTp5m — Sky News (@SkyNews) June 24, 2019
He told Sky News: "It's important that in the next two weeks which are the only period in which party members can see us head to head before they get their ballots, that they hear from us.
"My worry is that Boris has got a coalition of people like Matt Hancock who wants no deal off the table and Mark Francois who wants no deal - that coalition is going to dissolve quickly when you have to make decisions.
"In politics you can sometimes fudge, but on Brexit you can't."
:: Listen to Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker
Mr Hunt urged Sky News to continue with the debate on Tuesday evening, leaving an empty chair if Mr Johnson doesn't turn up.
The foreign secretary also pointed to a claim made by Tobias Ellwood that there are about a dozen MPs prepared to "bring down a Johnson government" to avoid no-deal, and said a general election would be disastrous.
On Sunday, Mr Hunt told Sky News that he thought any candidate for prime minister needs to show he can answer "difficult questions".
Hunt: Johnson must answer questions
He said: "What Boris needs to do is to engage properly in this leadership debate, not to shy away from the Sky News live debate that's scheduled for Tuesday evening, which he's been invited to [and] I've said I'm willing to go to.
"This is an audition to be prime minister of the United Kingdom, and Boris needs to show that he's prepared to answer difficult questions."
Mr Johnson appeared to deliver a retort to his rival to be prime minister as he promised "we are not going to bottle it" on the EU exit date of 31 October - deal or no-deal.
Mr Johnson remains under pressure to explain why police were called to the home he shares with partner Carrie Symonds, but in his column on Monday for the Daily Telegraph, he attempted to switch attention back to political rather than personal issues.
He wrote: "We must leave the EU on Oct 31 come what may. It will honour the referendum result, it will focus the minds of EU negotiators.
"It is absolutely vital that we keep our eyes on the prize. It has been a long and parching march - but the oasis is finally in sight.
Ed Davy: Boris 'not fit' to be PM
"We are just over four months away from the date on which, by law, we must leave the EU; and this time we are not going to bottle it. We are not going to fail.
"This time we are not going to shrink in fear from the exit, as we have on the last two occasions."
Mr Johnson's campaign was rocked by revelations that police officers were called to the south London flat he shares with Ms Symonds by a neighbour who claimed to have been "frightened and concerned" after hearing shouting, "a loud scream" and banging coming from the property.
The police attended and found everyone was safe, with no offence having occurred.
When asked at hustings in Birmingham on Saturday about the incident, Mr Johnson said people "are entitled to ask about me and my determination, my character and what I want to do for the country", but he would not elaborate on the police visit.
Despite increasing calls to explain what happened, Mr Johnson has steadfastly refused to comment.
::Listen to All Out Politics on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker
A poll carried out after the reports emerged suggested Mr Johnson's support among Tory voters had dropped by more than half while among the general electorate it indicated he had slipped into second place behind Mr Hunt.
Questioned about Mr Johnson's apparent row with his partner on Friday, Mr Hunt told Sky News this morning: "We all have things that we would not want in the public arena.
"It would be an easy hit [to criticise Johnson] but it would be the wrong hit."
He added his belief that the public "don't want leadership candidates throwing brickbats at each other" but that it is "disrespectful" of Mr Johnson not to appear in head to head debates.
Boris Johnson refuses to address an alleged row with his girlfriend at Tory hustings.
Priti Patel, an MP in Mr Johnson's camp, told Sky News it was a police matter but it is now "done and dusted".
She denied that Mr Johnson had given insufficient information about his plans, saying he was out speaking to members, and had already done one debate and a hustings.
On Saturday, the neighbour who rang the police went public after suggestions that his recording of the row had been leaked to the Guardian with political intent.
Tom Penn said the allegations were "bizarre and fictitious", explaining in a statement to the paper that he dialled 999 after hearing shouting coming from his neighbour's flat.
Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt are expected to take part in a head-to-head ITV debate on 9 July hosted by Julie Etchingham.
Sky News is also due to host a debate on Tuesday, moderated by Kay Burley, which Mr Hunt has agreed to take part in - but Mr Johnson has so far refused to commit.
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A Virginia man is facing a lengthy list of charges after state police in Dauphin County said he was found naked and intoxicated at a truck stop along Interstate 81 on Monday afternoon.
But that's just the beginning of the problems caused by Craig Troccia, 54, of Roanoke, state police said.
Troccia was sitting in his truck at the Flying J along the 7000 block of Linglestown Road in West Hanover Township at about 4:30 p.m. when two men saw him smash the windshield of his vehicle then pour a cup filled with urine on the interior, police said.
Troccia then yelled at a black man that "he should go back to Africa" and then exposed his genitals to the man and everyone else in the parking lot, police said.
But Troccia still wasn't done racking up the criminal charges.
He then pointed a gun at the man and told him that he would 'kill him and everyone else at the Flying J," police said. Troccia then pointed the gun at a second man and threatened to kill him too, police said.
Then troopers arrived at the scene and Troccia continued threatening people.
"I'll (expletive) kill both of you for calling the police," Troccia shouted, police said.
Troccia then threatened the trooper who transported him from scene, as well as members of the trooper's family, police said.
While in the police cruiser, Troccia "slammed his body and head on the various panels of the vehicle," police said.
Troccia has been charged with 34 criminal counts including ethnic intimidation, aggravated assault, indecent exposure, open lewdness, public drunkenness, simple assault, terroristic threats, intimidation of a witness, resisting arrest, criminal mischief and harassment.
Troccia is currently being held in the Dauphin County Prison on $25,000 bail. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 31.
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A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Monday was one of the most powerful launched ever by Gaza militants, flying nearly 120 kilometers (70 miles) before it slammed into a house in central Israel, wounding seven people.
Over more than a decade, the Islamic militant Hamas group has built up a large arsenal of rockets and missiles. It started with crude short-range projectiles and now possesses rockets that can strike virtually anywhere in Israel.
Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, prompting Israel and Egypt to impose a blockade on the territory, largely to prevent the militants from amassing more weapons. But the blockade and three wars with Israel — the most recent in 2014 — failed to prevent Hamas from expanding its arsenal.
A network of smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian border is believed to have helped Hamas bring in advanced weapons and raw materials, though Egypt shuttered most of the tunnels around 2013.
In 2018, Gaza's Hamas chief Yehiya Sinwar boasted that the group had not only replenished the rockets it fired during the 50-day war in 2014, but had many more at its disposal. He said that what had been fired in 50 days "would be fired within five minutes" of any future Israeli offensive.
Monday's rocket strike was the furthest a Gaza rocket has landed since 2014, when Hamas struck the northern Israeli city of Haifa, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) away.
Hamas doesn't release details about its military capabilities.
Gabi Siboni, an Israeli military analyst, said Hamas "has a variety of advanced, precise, and effective weaponry." He said this includes guided anti-tank missiles and shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, both produced by Russia, as well as some drones.
ROCKETS
—Qassams: In 2001, a year after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising against Israel, Hamas first fired a cross-border rocket toward Israel, calling it "Qassam" after the group's military wing. The homemade rockets, aimed at Israeli border towns, had an irregular trajectory and sometimes landed inside Gaza.
—R-160: Hamas calls this its longest-range home-grown rocket. It was first fired in the 2014 war and at one point hit Haifa. The "R'' in the name refers to Abdel-Aziz Rantissi, a senior Hamas official who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2004. The number refers to the range, in kilometers.
—J-80: This rocket, also produced locally, is named after Hamas military wing commander Ahmed Jabari, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his car in 2012, setting off an eight-day war. Israel reportedly believes the rocket that hit central Israel on Monday was this model and blamed Hamas. The group has not claimed responsibility.
—M-75: Hamas unveiled this rocket in 2014, claiming it was homemade. But experts believe it is a version of the Iranian Fajr 5 rocket, which Iran acquired in the 1990s and is based on Chinese technology.
—Hamas also possess a variety of Russian Grad rockets. These projectiles, with a range of about 20 kilometers (12 miles), are believed to have been delivered via Iran.
___
TUNNELS
In recent years, Hamas has built a sophisticated network of tunnels. These include attack tunnels that run under the Gaza-Israel perimeter fence, for use by assailants to infiltrate Israel. Defensive tunnels, located away from the border, are used to store weapons and serve as hideouts.
Hamas first used tunnels in a 2006 cross-border attack in which it killed two Israeli soldiers and captured a third. The soldier, Gilad Shalit, was swapped for more than 1,000 prisoners in 2011.
Hamas also used the tunnels in the 2014 war, killing five soldiers in one cross-border raid.
During the fighting, Israel said it discovered and destroyed 32 tunnels. Since then, it says it has discovered and destroyed several additional tunnels.
To combat the tunnel threat, Israel has begun building an underground barrier running the length of the Gaza Strip, and this year it said it was reinforcing the Gaza fence with 20-foot-high galvanized steel.
___
IMPORTED WEAPONS
—Mortars. Hamas has fired hundreds of mortars at short-range targets just across the border. The mortars are believed to have been smuggled from Libya through Egypt.
— Laser-guided anti-tank missiles made by Russia. Last November, Hamas fired such a missile, known as Kornet, at a bus from which Israeli soldiers had just exited. One soldier was seriously wounded. In a 2006 war, the Lebanese Hezbollah militia killed dozens of Israeli tank soldiers using these weapons.
—Drones: Hamas has developed an early-stage drone program, displaying images of Israeli fields purportedly filmed by these aircraft. It's not known whether they have been used for attacks.
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Porsche’s mid-engined 911 RSR will be made available to customers beginning next year as part of the German manufacturer’s increased focus on GT racing, according to Porsche’s R&D chief Dr. Michael Steiner.
Steiner, a member of the Executive Board for Research & Development at Porsche AG, has confirmed that its race-winning GTE model is set to race in the hands of customer teams, in an move that will ultimately result in additional Porsches on the grid.
“Our most modern 911 RSR will be available for customer teams,” Steiner told Sportscar365.
“We have plans to widen up but also take care of all entry levels, like the next GT4 [car] and things like that. So the whole community should benefit.”
The refocused approach, which sees Porsche bring an end to its LMP1 program in favor of entering Formula E beginning in 2019, will also see additional GT efforts, according to Steiner.
Porsche’s factory GT involvement in the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is set to continue, with other series now under consideration.
“We’ll closely watch, mainly in Europe, championships we do not attend,” Steiner said. “There is some potential. We’ll also intensively think about what we could do to make customer racing more attractive.”
Steiner also has not ruled out seeing increased factory efforts around key endurance races in the future as well.
“You could expect maybe with some races that we add another car,” Steiner said. “But it’s not only about factory racing; it’s the whole racing business.”
The manufacturer will have a surplus of factory drivers for next year, with all six of its current LMP1 pilots expecting to remain under contract in 2018, former GT aces Timo Bernhard, Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber expected to shift their focus back to the production-based ranks, at least in the short-term.
Further details and decisions on Porsche’s expanded GT focus are expected to be confirmed in the next few months.
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The case of Jeffrey Epstein and the depravity of America’s financial elite
By David Walsh
13 July 2019
The resignation Friday of Alexander Acosta, Donald Trump’s secretary of labor, is the latest development in the widening scandal surrounding American financier and “money manager for the super-rich” Jeffrey Epstein. On July 6, Epstein was arrested at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport and two days later charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy to traffic minors for sex.
Acosta was forced out of office because of his role in 2007, as US attorney for Southern Florida, in organizing a sweetheart deal for Epstein, then facing a 53-page indictment and the possibility of a 45-year sentence in federal prison on sex trafficking charges involving dozens of underage girls. Federal authorities accused Epstein, according to the Miami Herald in November 2018, of “assembling a large, cult-like network of underage girls—with the help of young female recruiters—to coerce into having sex acts behind the walls of his opulent waterfront mansion as often as three times a day.”
“The eccentric hedge fund manager,” the Herald observed, “whose friends included former President Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew, was also suspected of trafficking minor girls, often from overseas, for sex parties at his other homes in Manhattan, New Mexico and the Caribbean, FBI and court records show.”
The deal agreed to by Acosta provided for Epstein to plead guilty to only two prostitution charges in state court. The plea deal included granting the multi-millionaire, along with several named co-conspirators and any unnamed “potential co-conspirators,” immunity from all federal charges. The agreement, “called a non-prosecution agreement,” reported the Herald, “essentially shut down an ongoing FBI probe into whether there were more victims and other powerful people who took part in Epstein’s sex crimes.”
Moreover, despite a federal law banning such an action, Acosta agreed that information about the agreement would be kept secret from the alleged victims. As a result, the deal was sealed “until after it was approved by the judge, thereby averting any chance that the girls—or anyone else—might show up in court and try to derail it.”
Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Instead of serving time in a state prison, he was housed in a private wing of the Palm Beach County Jail, from which he was released—again, against regulations— to work in his office up to 12 hours a day, six days a week. Upon his release after 13 months, he went back to his financial operations without skipping a beat.
There seems little doubt that Epstein is guilty of serious crimes. This is not an instance of “over-sensitivity” on the part of alleged victims or a case involving sexually ambiguous or confusing situations, much less outright #MeToo-type witch-hunting for career advancement, revenge or other motives.
By all accounts, Epstein, to satisfy his and others’ sexual or psychological needs, deliberately set out to prey on the poor and defenseless. Courtney Wild, who says she was 14 when she met Epstein, told the Miami Herald, “Jeffrey preyed on girls who were in a bad way, girls who were basically homeless. He went after girls who he thought no one would listen to and he was right.”
The newspaper later adds, “Most of the girls came from disadvantaged families, single-parent homes or foster care. Some had experienced troubles that belied their ages: They had parents and friends who committed suicide; mothers abused by husbands and boyfriends; fathers who molested and beat them. One girl had watched her stepfather strangle her 8-year-old stepbrother, according to court records obtained by the Herald …
“‘We were stupid, poor children,’ said one woman, who did not want to be named because she never told anyone about Epstein. At the time, she said, she was 14 and a high school freshman. ‘We just wanted money for school clothes, for shoes. I remember wearing shoes too tight for three years in a row. We had no family and no guidance, and we were told that we were going to just have to sit in a room topless and he was going to just look at us. It sounded so simple, and was going to be easy money for just sitting there.’”
Epstein, despite the seriousness of his crimes, was protected for years by his influential friends and maintained his connections to the rich and powerful.
Epstein’s rise says a great deal about American society in the past four decades in particular, and what it says amounts to an ugly and harsh indictment. A fawning 2002 feature article (“Jeffrey Epstein: International Moneyman of Mystery”) in New York magazine, a publication devoted to the worship of wealth and celebrity, provided a picture of how Epstein, from a relatively humble background in Brooklyn, made his way into America’s elite.
While teaching high school physics and calculus in Manhattan, Epstein came to the attention of Abe Greenberg, a senior partner at investment bank Bear Stearns. Greenberg, observed New York, “has long made it clear that it’s the hungry, brilliant guys lacking the fancy degrees that he favors at Bear. They even have an acronym: PSDs—poor, smart, and a deep desire to be rich. It was a description that fit Epstein to a T. He was a Brooklyn guy with a motor for a brain, and while he did love teaching, this close-up view of the rarefied Upper East Side life of his students gave him a taste for the big time.”
Epstein started at Bear Stearns as an assistant to a floor trader at the American Stock Exchange. He quickly found his lucrative niche in the world of Wall Street swindling. “At the time, options trading was an arcane and dimly understood field, just beginning to take off,” explained New York. Epstein possessed the mathematical skills to master the field. “Within just a few years he had his own stable of clients.”
He founded a firm of his own in 1982, J. Epstein & Co. “The premise behind it was simple: Epstein would manage the individual and family fortunes of clients with $1 billion or more… He would take total control of the billion dollars, charge a flat fee, and assume power of attorney to do whatever he thought was necessary to advance his client’s financial cause. And he remained true to the $1 billion entry fee. According to people who know him, if you were worth $700 million and felt the need for the services of Epstein and Co., you would receive a not-so-polite no-thank-you from Epstein.”
In 2002, New York gushed about Epstein’s wealth and his opulent life-style: “Epstein’s current residence in Manhattan—a 45,000-square-foot eight-story mansion on East 71st Street… There are other houses as well, including a sweeping villa in Palm Beach and a custom-built 51,000-square-foot castle in Santa Fe. Said to be the largest house in the state, the latter sits atop a hill on a 45,000-acre ranch.”
The magazine also included testimonials from one future US president and one past one. Donald Trump and Bill Clinton were true to their selves in their comments. Trump boasted, “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy … He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it—Jeffrey enjoys his social life.” In light of the allegations and indictments to come, the sinister implications of Trump’s remarks are obvious.
Bill Clinton, through a spokesman, offered New York this pompous and suspect tribute: “Jeffrey is both a highly successful financier and a committed philanthropist with a keen sense of global markets and an in-depth knowledge of twenty-first-century science … I especially appreciated his insights and generosity during the recent trip to Africa to work on democratization, empowering the poor, citizen service, and combating HIV/AIDS.”
Epstein may have been predisposed to certain forms of anti-social behavior, but it is safe to assume that the “irrational exuberance” of the Wall Street boom, with its accompanying uncontrolled egoism, greed and callous indifference to other human beings, amplified and “perfected” his inclinations. The filthiness and corruption of the financial and political circles, their conviction that they could do anything to anyone and get away with it, no doubt influenced his outlook and psyche.
This was the moral universe, after all, in which Enron electricity traders in 2001, as the transcripts of taped conversations later disclosed, laughed about all the money they “stole from those poor grandmothers in California,” and “when a forest fire shut down a major transmission line into California, cutting down power supplies and raising prices … celebrated, singing ‘burn, baby, burn.’”
“Force works,” the Wall Street Journal gloated in the aftermath of the first Gulf war, aimed at stealing the oil and energy reserves of the Middle East.
These were the conditions and atmosphere that gave birth to Epstein’s assembly line of sexual abuse and degeneracy, and later safeguarded it.
The financier counted among his friends many prominent figures, based on his ability to make more than a few of them tons of cash. To what extent Epstein might have entangled some of his powerful acquaintances in his sex activities and perhaps had a hold on them is unknown, but ill-gotten gains and “friendship” alone may not explain the extent to which very high-placed people protected Epstein.
And it was a bipartisan affair. Prior to Acosta’s resignation Friday, congressional Democrats postured as defenders of Epstein’s alleged victims and called for the labor secretary to step down. But Epstein had extensive ties to Clinton and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, a Democrat, and was a generous contributor to primarily Democratic Party candidates, including John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Charles Schumer, Richard Gephardt and Joseph Lieberman.
Ironically, one of the members of Epstein’s heavy-hitting team of lawyers back in 2006, in addition to Dershowitz, was Kenneth Starr, the former Whitewater special prosecutor who investigated Clinton’s sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky and produced a prurient and detailed report to Congress, fueling the impeachment vote by the House in December of 1998.
In a statement, Senator Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Republican, asserted that Acosta’s plea deal with Epstein was reviewed when Trump nominated him to be labor secretary. The agreement “was a prosecutorial judgment that was made by Secretary Acosta and was vetted by our committee,” Alexander said in his statement. He added, pointedly, “The Justice Department under the last three presidents—Trump, Obama, and Bush—have all defended his handling of the case.”
The social and political implications of the Epstein case are making some people nervous. The New York Times on Thursday editorialized against making politics out of it. Prior to Acosta’s resignation, the newspaper criticized House Democrats for “bringing their oversight authority to bear,” which they described as a “mistake.”
The Times went on: “Congress digging into this case, however, is a poor use of lawmakers’ limited time and resources. More dangerous, in the midst of the Trump administration’s war on congressional oversight in general, such hearings carry a high risk of turning the Epstein case into a partisan battle—and Mr. Acosta into a political martyr around whom the president and his followers feel moved to rally.”
A peculiar and, taken at face value, thoroughly cowardly stance. “Some outrages are best kept as free of partisan politics as possible,” the Times lectured. This from a newspaper that published the most lurid accounts of Trump’s sexual adventures during the 2016 presidential campaign as a central theme in its drive to elect Hillary Clinton, and has authored and led the #MeToo witch-hunt as part of its promotion of Democratic Party identity politics.
The Times is clearly anxious about anyone looking too deeply into the Epstein affair and drawing political conclusions.
The Times’ Michelle Goldberg argues that the “Epstein case is a reminder of the depraved milieu from which our president sprang,” and that the “Caligula Administration Lives On,” forgetting that the disgraced financier is a Democrat and that Bill Clinton, according to flight logs obtained by Fox News, “took at least 26 trips aboard Epstein’s Boeing 727, nicknamed the ‘Lolita Express,’ from 2001 to 2003.”
Helaine Olen makes a stronger case in the Washington Post that the Epstein scandal tells us something more far-reaching and important about “how our current age of wealth excess might come to an end.” She suggests that the affair “will come to be viewed in future years as one of the defining events that brings our age of excess to a close,” and that people will study it in years to come as they now do the conduct of Marie Antoinette and Rasputin on the eve of the French and Russian revolutions.
“Our era is one of exploding and all but unpunished crime by the wealthy and connected,” she writes. “The Epstein scandal blows holes through the foundational myths of our time, revealing them for the empty and sickening bromides used to justify obscene wealth and power and privilege that they really are.”
Strong words, whose implications Olen has undoubtedly not thought through. The issue is not so much individual retribution against Epstein, although he deserves punishment if he is found guilty, as it is the organization of mass political action by the working class to do away with the entire rotten social order.
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Cumpărăm mai puțin cu mai mulți bani în buzunare. Cu toate că românii au impresia că nivelul de trai a crescut în același timp cu salariile și pensiile, în realitate cheltuim mai mult pentru același coș de cumpărături comparativ cu anii precedenți. Creșterile salariale făcute din pix, necorelate cu productivitatea, au dus la inflație. România este țara cu cea mai mare rată a inflației anuale din Uniunea Europeană.
Dacă în 2015 cumpăram un kilogram de cartofi cu 1,70 lei, anul acesta cu aceeași sumă ne permitem doar 680 de grame.
Cu toate că avem mai mulți bani în buzunare, nu înseamnă că ne permitem mai mult. Inflația mușcă din puterea de cumpărare reală. Practic, dăm mai mulți bani pentru același coș de cumpărături și servicii, dar traiul nostru de zi cu zi, fără să schimbăm calitatea, a devenit mai scump. Creșterea salariilor și pensiilor a dus la inflație, pentru că nu au fost corelate cu productivitatea.
Femeie: Nu înseamnă nimic, crește paralel cu prețurile, așa că în cel mai bun caz e la fel. În cel mai bun caz, dar nu sunt convinsă. Am impresia că mă socotesc la fel de strâns.
Femeie: Mult mai puțin cumpărăm, nu mai au valoare banii. E foarte mare diferența, foarte, foarte mare!
Femeie: Mai mult cumpăram, mai mult, că făceam suc de roșii, făceam mai multe. Acum suc de roșii nu fac, zacuscă nu mai fac
Bogdan Glăvan, economist: Așa putem să ne dăm seama de impactul inflației: mâncăm mai scump decât mâncam în 2015, când TVA-ul a scăzut de la 24 la 9%. Degeaba avem noi pe hârtie salarii cu două zero-uri în plus sau cu mai multe cifre dacă nu putem cumpăra mai multe produse.
Un studiu realizat de jurnaliștii de la Hotnews, bazat pe datele de la Institutul Național de Statistică, arată că în aproape toate zonele din țară, românii cumpără mai puțini cartofi în 2019 comparativ cu anul 2015. Scumpirile s-au simțit și la produse nealimentare și servicii.
Bogdan Glăvan, economist: Există și factori care țin de ofertă, de condițiile de producție. De asemenea, mai sunt și diverse conjuncturi de piață care țin de bolile care afectează zootehnia sau agricultura, de secetă, de condițiile meteo și așa mai departe. Foarte important pentru întreaga societate este că toate prețurile, prețurile în ansamblu, prețurile bunurilor de consum au crescut masiv în ultimii ani și atunci nu mai putem pune acest lucru pe seama unei cutare conjuncturi de piață, ci pe seama faptului că a fost o politică intenționată.
Rata anuală a inflației a urcat la 4,1% în luna iulie. România are, de șapte luni consecutive, cea mai mare inflație anuală din Uniunea Europeană.
Editor web: Liviu Cojan
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Turkish government networks were hacked on Wednesday, compromising the private information of staffers in PM Tayyip Erdogan's office, a source in PM's office confirmed to Reuters. The attack was in support of the ongoing anti-government protests.
Staff email accounts were reportedly accessed after a phishing attack, and those affected were cut off from the network, a source said.
Anonymous hacked the Prime Minister’s official website (basbakanlik.gov.tr) and gained access to staff email addresses, passwords and phone numbers, the group said in a press release.
The group also stressed it will not share most of the hacked data because it “respects people's privacy” and “does not believe in the full use of power against the weak.”
At the same time, the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) hacked the website of the Turkish Ministry of Interior (http://icisleri.gov.tr) and released more than 60 email addresses and passwords.
The SEA declared it also hacked other government websites, including dosya.icisleri.gov.tr.
On Sunday the hacktivist group Anonymous has taken down the Turkish President’s website, along with that of the country’s ruling party, as operation #OpTurkey kicked off in support of the anti-government protests.
As of 22:40 GMT, the website of President Abdullah Gul has been offline, together with the website of the country’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the websites for the Istanbul Directorate of Security and the Istanbul Governor’s Office.
The hacktivists earlier targeted municipal governments in Mersin and Izmir.
The operation was kicked off in response to the police crackdown of protests which have taken the country by storm. The Gebze Institute of Technology has also come under digital fire.
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Elio Gaspari: se Haddad vencer, a tese da vitória sem legitimidade de Bolsonaro irá para a mesa
Publicado em 19 setembro, 2018 6:45 am
A Coluna de Elio Gaspari na Folha de S.Paulo fala sobre o delírio de golpe vindo de Jair Messias Bolsonaro para essa eleição. “Não é preciso ser um gênio para perceber que há um farfalhar golpista no ar. Bolsonaro—como Donald Trump— diz temer uma fraude na contagem eletrônica dos votos. Trump ganhou e não tocou mais no assunto. O general Hamilton Mourão sonha com uma nova Constituição, redigida por sábios e sagrada num plebiscito”.
E o jornalista desenvolve esse raciocínio: “se houver um segundo turno entre Haddad e Bolsonaro e o capitão reformado ganhar, será o jogo jogado. Se Haddad sair vencedor, a tese da vitória sem legitimidade irá para a mesa. A teoria do ‘conselheiro’ serve à sua retórica”.
Por isso, ele encerra a coluna recorrendo à história: “as vivandeiras civis associadas à anarquia militar contestaram a legitimidade eleitoral em 1889 e em 1930 (com sucesso), em 1950 (fracassando até 1954, quando Getúlio Vargas matou-se) e em 1955 (com a teoria da falta de maioria absoluta de Juscelino Kubitschek). Coisa do século passado? Em 2014, Aécio Neves contestou a vitória de Dilma Rousseff. Depois, contou que a iniciativa foi uma ‘molecagem’ para ‘encher o saco’. Vá lá”.
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*At launch, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered will contain only 10 MP maps from the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game. Additional MP maps will be made available by 12/31/2016. Modern Warfare Remastered is a full game download. Internet connection required. For disc-based Legacy editions of Infinite Warfare on PS4 and Xbox One, Infinite Warfare game disc must be inserted to play Modern Warfare Remastered. Internet connection required. For more information, please visit www.callofduty.com/MWR_FAQ
**Download Season Pass content from the Infinite Warfare in-game store. Pass purchasers should not purchase map packs separately, as additional charges will apply. Availability, pricing, and release dates may vary by platform and territory. Season Pass content may be sold separately.
© 2017 Activision Publishing, Inc. ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, MODERN WARFARE, CALL OF DUTY MODERN WARFARE, and CALL OF DUTY INFINITE WARFARE are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc.
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Bitcoin Atom (BCA) is a cryptocurrency . Users are able to generate BCA through the process of mining. Bitcoin Atom has a current supply of 21,000,000 with 18,418,931.25 in circulation. The last known price of Bitcoin Atom is 0.11274689 USD and is down -11.61 over the last 24 hours. It is currently trading on 1 active market(s) with $200.07 traded over the last 24 hours. More information can be found at https://bitcoinatom.io/
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O Presidente brasileiro, Jair Bolsonaro, decretou este sábado sem efeito o encerramento dos aeroportos e estradas decidido por vários governos regionais do país para combater a pandemia do novo coronavírus.
Bolsonaro publicou um decreto que atribui ao Governo a exclusividade para regular os transportes nacionais e internacionais e deixa sem efeito o encerramento dos aeroportos e estradas decretados em vários estados.
Segundo o diploma, os governos regionais e municipais só podem ordenar o encerramento de terminais ou vias de transporte com a autorização da Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (Anvisa), órgão regulador vinculado ao executivo.
No mesmo decreto, Bolsonaro garante o normal funcionamento dos serviços públicos e atividade essenciais, bem como a circulação de alimentos e produtos básicos para a população, incluindo material médico e equipas de saúde, necessárias para combater a pandemia pela covid-19.
Para o presidente brasileiro, a economia não pode parar e é necessário garantir o transporte de material de ajuda no combate ao novo coronavírus.
Entre os serviços e atividades consideradas essenciais estão os serviços médicos e hospitalares e o transporte entre municípios e estados brasileiros e as viagens internacionais de passageiros.
A medida de Bolsonaro vai permitir a milhares de argentinos e chilenos que estão há vários dias dormem nos aeroportos dos Brasil, impedidos de sair devido às restrições impostas pelo novo coronavírus, de poderem viajar para os seus países.
O Brasil contabiliza 11 mortos e 904 infetados pelo novo coronavírus.
Do total de mortes, nove ocorreram em São Paulo, que tem ainda 396 casos confirmados. O estado do Rio de Janeiro tem dois mortos e 109 infetados. Os estados de Roraima e Maranhão continuam os únicos sem casos registados.
O novo coronavírus, responsável pela pandemia da covid-19, já infetou mais de 271 mil pessoas em todo o mundo, das quais pelo menos 11.401 morreram.
Veja também:
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Labour’s Laura Pidcock sparked an outcry last year when she declared that she did not intend to "hang out" with Tory women.
In response, Tory MP Conor Burns called Pidcock "narrow minded" while Nadine Dorries accused the 30-year-old MP of having a "hands-over-the-ears juvenile attitude". But Pidcock refused to back down. She insisted that she is "perfectly civil" and "nice" to Conservative MPs, even if she doesn’t want to ever socialise with them.
Could she have done better? Jeremy Corbyn presumably thinks so, having taken a rather different approach to explaining how he gets on with Tory MPs.
Asked by The Guardian whether he was friends with any Tories, Corbyn did not quite admit to any cheery cross-party camaraderie. But neither did he go to Pidcock-esque lengths to distance himself from the other side.
"I have a civilised relationship with a number of Tories – I discuss issues with them. Listen, David Davis and I worked very closely to try to get Shaker Aamer back into this country," he said, referring top- the effort to get a British resident freed from Guantánamo Bay," he said.
"Indeed we went to Washington together – Andrew Mitchell, David Davis, Andy Slaughter and me – and we succeeded."
Pushed on David Davis, the Labour leader almost managed to pay the Brexit secretary something approaching a compliment. But not quite.
He said: "The Brexit secretary is a complex character because he and I have worked together on issues of justice."
Picture by: Jonathan Brady/PA Archive/PA Images
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This means that the speech Trump will deliver during the week-long commemoration of the Holocaust could be a critical step for him to appease some of his critics.
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Just a few months ago, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the president was criticized for a statement that failed to mention Jews and instead used a more general phrase, "innocent people."
"It is with a heavy heart and somber mind that we remember and honor the victims, survivors, heroes of the Holocaust," the statement said. "It is impossible to fully fathom the depravity and horror inflicted on innocent people by Nazi terror."
Afterward, Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect and a frequent Trump critic, blasted the president: "How can you forget, Mr. President, that 6 million Jews were murdered because they were Jews? You chose the vague phrase, 'innocent people.' They were Jews, Mr. President."
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And this month, White House press secretary Sean Spicer found himself apologizing profusely for another Holocaust blunder.
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In trying to condemn Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's alleged use of chemical weapons, Spicer falsely said that Adolf Hitler "didn't even sink to using chemical weapons." Hitler gassed millions of Jews.
As the comment gained traction on social media, a reporter asked Spicer for clarification, but he only dug himself into a deeper hole. He said Hitler did not use sarin gas "on his own people the same way that Assad was doing."
Spicer apologized hours later, calling his statement "inappropriate and insensitive." He apologized again during a forum at the Newseum the next day, acknowledging that his gaffe was compounded by the fact that it occurred on the second day of Passover, the most celebrated of all Jewish holidays in the United States.
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"I let the president down ... This was mine to own, mine to apologize for. Mine to ask forgiveness for," Spicer said.
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Spicer's gaffe and his subsequent apologies rocketed around the Internet, even inspiring another satirical Spicer skit on Saturday Night Live.
It also prompted a statement from Goldstein, who called on Trump to fire his press secretary. He described Spicer's remarks as "the most offensive form of fake news imaginable." Goldstein also didn't appear moved by Spicer's multiple apologies, calling them "a bureaucratic response to an outcry."
The week-long Days of Remembrance began Sunday.
During Tuesday's ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda, a Holocaust survivor accompanied by a member of Congress will light six candles in memory of the victims, according to a news release from the museum. The annual observance will open with a procession of flags from each of the U.S. Army liberating divisions to commemorate the American troops who liberated the Nazi concentration camps.
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Dahlin living up to hype at WJC as consensus No. 1 pick One year ago, Nico Hischier used the World Junior Championship to propel him down the track toward No. 1 overall. That train left the station long before this year’s tournament for Sweden’s Rasmus Dahlin, the consensus No. 1 pick for June’s NHL Draft, TSN's Frank Seravalli writes.
Frank Seravalli TSN Senior Hockey Reporter Follow|Archive
BUFFALO, N.Y. — One year ago, Nico Hischier used the World Junior Championship to propel him down the track toward No. 1 overall.
That train left the station long before this year’s tournament for Sweden’s Rasmus Dahlin, the consensus No. 1 pick for June’s NHL Draft.
The hype surrounding Dahlin had reached a fever pitch, but he’s lived up to every bit of it in Buffalo.
The silky skating Swede entered Sunday’s final day of preliminary round action tied for the lead in scoring with six points – as a 17-year-old defenceman in a tournament typically dominated by 19-year-olds. Dahlin can match Hischier’s output from last year with one more point. Four of Dahlin’s tournament-high six assists are primary
Scouts from all 31 NHL clubs have soaked in his every movement in Buffalo. Fans in Arizona, Buffalo, Ottawa, Detroit, Montreal, and Vancouver will ring in the New Year with dreams of Dahlin.
Hard to blame them. Dahlin isn’t just a generational talent. He is a franchise defenceman in the making.
“Rasmus Dahlin is to a franchise what McDavid and Matthews have meant to the Oilers and Maple Leafs,” TSN director of scouting Craig Button said. “He is to defencemen what those two guys are to centremen. He is a No. 1, elite defencemen who can play in the NHL right now. Right now.”
While Team Canada will wait until Jan. 11 to formally decide whether to use major junior players, Dahlin could become the first player to jump from World Juniors to the Olympics in just a few months since Eric Lindros did it in 1992.
Lindros, then 18 and already drafted No. 1 overall by the Quebec Nordiques, parachuted into the World Juniors and collected 10 points. He then re-joined the Canadian Olympic team and netted 11 points to help Canada to a silver medal.
U.S. Olympic hopeful Ryan Gunderson leads the Swedish Hockey League in scoring by defencemen and has played against Dahlin in the two seasons since he burst into the top men’s league as a 16-year-old.
“It’s hard to even explain his potential,” Gunderson said Saturday. “I can’t think of anyone to compare him to because his skating is so good. It’s insane. He cuts back on a dime, keeps his speed with his glide. He skates like Scott Niedermayer, but he’s more dynamic. And he has hands like Pavel Datsyuk.”
The name game has been a fascinating dynamic for Dahlin. He has been compared to everyone from Erik Karlsson to Nicklas Lidstrom in Sweden – heady praise considering the nine Norris Trophies between them.
“He is half Karlsson, half Lidstrom,” said TSN’s Ray Ferraro, who has seen Dahlin play about 12 or 13 times now. “He defends like Lidstrom and skates like Karlsson. He’s more physical than both. He’s not afraid to step up and make an open-ice hit.”
Even Lidstrom himself has chimed in, telling hockeysverige.se that he sees Brian Leetch in Dahlin.
“I think Rasmus Dahlin has incredible potential,” Lidstrom said. “The one I’m thinking about is Brian Leetch … he dared to go up with the puck and take advantage of his speed and take ice when there. He has a self confidence that is evident when playing.”
Dahlin would become just the second Swede ever to go No. 1 overall since Mats Sundin broke the barrier as the first European in 1989. Victor Hedman went No. 2 in 2009; Karlsson was 15th in 2008.
Karlsson weighed just 160 lbs. when he was drafted. Dahlin is 6-foot-2 and already pushing 190 lbs. Scouts in Sweden say Dahlin is well ahead of where Hedman, Karlsson and Lidstrom were at the same age in their development. That has left some to wonder whether they’re seeing a player who has simply just matured earlier than everyone else, or if he is the real deal.
That’s where some of the scouting bias comes in. See a player so many times and you begin to pick apart the faults in his game rather than seeing the big picture.
It’s a problem not many scouts are having with Dahlin.
“There’s really nothing to not like about him,” said one NHL scout on Saturday, whose team is in the Dahlin sweepstakes. “His skating is so effortless that sometimes you watch him, especially in a tournament like this one, that he almost seems bored or disinterested. That’s not the case. His head is always up, the puck is on his stick more than its not, and he is seeing the game develop about three seconds faster than anyone else on that ice.”
It’s almost easy to forget that Dahlin is still just 17. He netted a goal and an assist last year as a 16-year-old, the same age McDavid and Sidney Crosby were when they first appeared.
“I think there’s almost been some fatigue when talking about ‘generational’ this or ‘generational’ that with all of the players over the years,” the scout said. “But Dahlin is every bit as good – in a position that’s even harder to find.”
Contact Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @frank_seravalli
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