Of course, it never was going to last. Ramaphoria, I mean.
Ramaphoria is the warm, fuzzy feeling that washed over South Africa with the ascension of Cyril Ramaphosa to the presidency in December. With the departure of Jacob Zuma, the pall of gloom that had hung over the nation for almost a decade was lifted.
Suddenly all good things seemed possible again, in the “new dawn” that Ramaphosa proclaimed. The sun came out, the rand surged, optimism soared.
But Ramaphoria was never going to be the same high-octane potion as the Rainbow Nation mampoer that South Africans had got vrot on more than two decades ago. The Ramaphosa gilding of the ANC lily is already wearing off in patches, revealing the tacky, cracked plastic below.
The rand is in retreat. The public mood has soured and is again turning rancorous.
The degree to which corruption and looting has gutted the economy is only beginning to be apparent, with bankruptcies looming in both the corporate and state-owned sectors. The ANC’s Damascene commitment to expropriation without compensation has spooked investors, whatever the initial hopes that Ramaphosa would be able to limit the extent of the lunacy.
That the honeymoon is over was apparent in this week’s fractious parliamentary exchange between the habitually genial Ramaphosa and the DA chief whip, John Steenhuisen. Irritated by Steenhuisen’s continual sotto voce interjections while the president was outlining the benefits of the minimum wage, Ramaphosa lost his temper, telling Steenhuisen several times, in a torrent of anger, to “shut up”.
That is either uncharacteristic hyperbole or sudden disillusionment from Steenhuisen. After all, this is the man that City Press claimed earlier this year resigned from the DA’s campaign team, because of the party’s initially hostile reaction to the new president. Steenhuisen reportedly argued that the DA should have judged the public mood more accurately and welcomed Ramaphosa’s election with graciousness.
And that is how the scenery has shifted between acts in the Zuma-Phosa drama. The EFF accords a respectful silence to a president who has apparently embraced their most controversial policies, while a disenchanted DA fires barbs and, according to Ramaphosa, expletives.
For the phlegmatic Ramaphosa to lose his cool over some mild parliamentary barracking – his predecessor chortled happily through much worse – may indicate the pressure he is under. Not from the opposition gadflies, but from the hornets of which he has yet to draw the sting, nestling within the ANC.
Ramaphosa gained power by a narrow margin. While he has moved adroitly to consolidate his authority, the battle is far from over.
Zuma is clearly not contemplating an idyllic rural retirement. He is not going to be spending his time wallowing with wife-of-the-week in the Nkandla firepool.
Instead, Zuma is continuing his war of legal attrition, smothering every attempt at putting him in the dock with an avalanche of counter-motions. He is also trying to bolster his provincial powerbase, while white-anting Ramaphosa everywhere, at every opportunity.
The precariousness of Ramaphosa’s situation is illustrated by events in North West. Fury over the incompetence and corruption of the administration of ANC premier Supra Mahumapelo – strongly aligned with Zuma – has for week boiled over in violent protests.
There has been at least one death, as well as scores of injuries, as police clashed with tire-burning, shop-looting mobs demanding Mahumapelo’s resignation. Vigilantes have barricaded hospitals and clinics, undoubtedly causing further deaths and misery.
In April, Ramaphosa cut short his trip to the United Kingdom to address the unrest. The textbook response to such anti-government violence is first to restore public order, then to address the root causes of the disaffection.
Ramaphosa has taken a more circuitous approach. While he wants to placate community anger by getting rid of Mahumapelo, this has to be done diplomatically, so as not to trigger a revolt by the Zuma faction in the ANC.
It seemed to be working. After meetings with Ramaphosa, Mahumapelo’s resignation was announced on Tuesday. Then, just hours later, when it became apparent that Mahumapelo’s successor would not be from the premier’s camp, the resignation was withdrawn.
Instead, Mahumapelo has decided to go on “leave of absence” and has appointed Finance MEC Wendy Nelson to act as premier in his place, while the behind-the-scene machinations continue. Nelson is certainly in Mahumapelo’s camp – both he and she are accused in an alleged R160m fraud.
To survive for the long haul, Ramaphosa has to manoeuvre carefully in these fraught early stages. However, he may not have time on his side.
For years there have been sporadic and seemingly spontaneous eruptions of discontent in many parts of SA. This week a Human Sciences Research Council survey reported that 13% of North West residents now see public violence as an effective instrument of political change.
For a democracy, that is a chillingly high percentage. It makes for a vulnerable presidency and country.


GAZA • The Israel-Gaza border fell quiet yesterday under a de facto ceasefire after the most intense flare-up of hostilities between Palestinian militants and Israel since a 2014 war.
Militants from Hamas, the dominant group in Gaza, and Islamic Jihad fired dozens of rockets and mortar bombs at southern Israel throughout Tuesday and overnight, to which Israel responded with tank and air strikes on over 50 targets in the small, coastal enclave.
There were no reports of further attacks after Hamas announced early yesterday that it would cease fire if Israel did the same. Israel signalled it would halt its strikes if the rocket barrages stopped.
But even during the fighting, both sides appeared bent on avoiding wider conflict after weeks of violence along the fenced border. Hamas did not launch long-range rockets at Israel's heartland while Israeli forces targeted encampments that appeared to have been vacated in anticipation of an attack.
No deaths were reported by militant groups or by Israel, which said three of its soldiers were wounded by shrapnel from projectiles.
A Palestinian official said Egyptian mediation led to a ceasefire, and terms of the "understanding" did not go beyond "a restoration of calm by both sides". Hamas had largely abided by an Egyptian-brokered truce that ended the seven-week Gaza war four years ago.
Israel stopped short of declaring any formal ceasefire with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which it, along with Western nations, regards as terrorist organisations, but said any resumption of Palestinian attacks would bring a stronger military response.


A number of Gunners' supporters have called for Arsene Wenger's replacement after a string of bad results.
According to bookies, one of the possible candidates to take over from the legendary manager is the Germany national coach.
Check out our gallery above and find out how Arsenal's line-up could look if Low took over.


The massive corporations taking part in Giving Tuesday aren’t anonymous. They want positive pr, and for that they deserve serious scrutiny.
It’s “Giving Tuesday” on December 3. Following Black Friday, on Giving Tuesday, people all across the United States will be kicking off the holiday season not with shopping, they say, but with giving.
In just its second year, Giving Tuesday is attracting thousands of participants large and small. Whenever haves help have-nots that’s worthy of praise. Still, when massive global corporations want praise too, I get a little queasy.
Don’t get me wrong, GRITtv is viewer-supported. We’re all for charitable giving, and every day, we’re reminded of just how much generosity is out there. This year, an anonymous donor enabled us to hire a third team member and start a podcast. We thank that donor daily.
But the massive corporations taking part in Giving Tuesday aren’t anonymous. They want positive PR, and for that they deserve serious scrutiny.
Take Verizon. For Giving Tuesday, the Verizon Foundation says it will contribute to three large nonprofits as directed by the votes of Verizon workers. The company calls it giving back and “giving voice” to employees.
Call me cynical, but I bet most Verizon workers would have preferred more voice and fewer givebacks in their contracts. Over the last decade Verizon’s forced concessions on everything from wages to pensions to job security and the right to organize. Giving Tuesday’s nice, but Verizon workers give back every day.
It’s the same with Google. Google’s co-hosting a Giving Tuesday “Hangout-a-thon” for charities and socially conscious businesses. Lovely, but if it had a real social conscience, Google would let less of its wealth hang out in tax shelters. Last year, Google dodged about $2 billion in income taxes by funneling revenues into a Bermuda shell company. What it gives on Tuesday will be pennies on what it’d owe if it were to pay its fair share on tax day. And poor taxpayers might need less charity.
At Microsoft, well, at Microsoft, they’re matching dollar for dollar the contributions given to a group of youth charities on Giving Tuesday. It must be some mistake, but I’ve read the site five times and it seems to me that the tenth-most profitable corporation in the world has set a goal for the GivingTuesday campaign of just $50,000.
As the Verizon Foundation puts it, on Giving Tuesday “giving back has never been easier.” For huge corporations, it’s also never been cheaper.
For more qualms about charities, check out my interview with Peter Buffett, who says philanthropists like himself should aim to put themselves out of business. You can see all GRITtv’s interviews, free at www.GRITtv.org. And if you are that anonymous donor, thank you again. Anyone out there want to fund that staff person for a second year? For more information on Giving Tuesday, go to GivingTuesday.org.
Allison Kilkenny reports on the arrests of activists during Black Friday protests against Walmart.


Indonesian coffee businesspeople are now eyeing to increase its shares in the fast-growing coffee markets in China by exposing them to Indonesian coffees during a discussion with the Southern China-Indonesia Business Association (SCIBA) and Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia (SCAI) in Guangzhou, China, recently.
“We wanted to gather them so that we can formulate our efforts to increase coffee exports to China,” said Ratu Silvy Gayatri, the Indonesian Console General in Guangzhou, in Beijing on Monday as reported by Antara.
She explained coffee exports to China from January to September reached US$34.1 million. Indonesia is the second-largest coffee-exporter to China after Vietnam, whose coffee export value reached $368.8 million in the same period.
She expressed optimism that Indonesia would be able to increase its coffee market share to China because Indonesian coffee was competitive in the global market.
“Indonesia is one of the four largest coffee-exporting countries, together with Brazil, Vietnam and Cambodia,” he said, adding that the coffee market in China had grown about 15 percent annually, far higher than the global coffee consumption per capita increase, which was at 2.3 percent annually.
The Indonesian Embassy in China projected that in 2020, the coffee industry in China would reach US$442.87 billion.


Reign Clark, cultural resources director at Goshawk Environmental Consulting Inc., points out at a digging tool and other materials discovered at a historic burial site at the James Reese Career and Technical Center construction site in Sugar Land on Monday, July 16, 2018.
Sugar Land city council members recommended Tuesday that 95 human remains discovered at a Fort Bend ISD construction site be buried at the city's Old Imperial Farm Cemetery, despite a local task force vote to keep the remains at the school building site.
The latest development in the burial controversy comes as some members of the city's task force said they felt blindsided last week when they learned the school district and the city had formed an agreement, with one of the conditions being reburial of the remains at Old Imperial Farm Cemetery.
Some task force members said they were confused as to why the school district listed Old Imperial Farm Cemetery as the reburial place within its agreement with the city, even before task force members could vote on a burial option.
The school board on Oct. 15 approved the "interlocal" agreement. It is part of a memorandum of understanding between the city and the school district, which lays out both parties responsibilities concerning handling of the human remains and the interment process. City council members voted to approve the agreement during Tuesday's meeting.
Old Imperial Farm cemetery sits near the construction site and holds bodies believed to be from the convict-leasing system, where Texas state prisoners were contracted out to perform cheap labor. The human remains found at the construction site are believed to be African-American prisoners who were part of the convict-leasing system.
"I said four weeks ago when they presented these committees that this was busy work," said task force member Swatara Olushola during last week's meeting . "Come on, these our ancestors we are talking about. This task force is a show. It is a show."
Samuel Collins III, who spoke at Tuesday's city council meeting before the vote, resigned from the cemetery task force last week after learning about the agreement.
"It appeared the task force had been formed only to rubber stamp what the city and Fort Bend ISD had already agreed to," said Collins.
The city in August established the cemetery task force. Members were split into two committees to make recommendations concerning burial location and memorializing the remains. Over the last few weeks, they have presented ideas.
The school district has cited concern over whether it can legally turn the construction site into a perpetual care cemetery, which is why they recommended the remains be reburied at Old Imperial Farm Cemetery.
Jason Burdine, Fort Bend ISD board president, reiterated that message when he spoke during the city council meeting. He also noted the historical connection between Old Imperial Farm Cemetery and the bodies buried at the construction site.
"We know that we all share the desire to treat these individuals with respect," said Burdine. "Respect comes in many forms and we understand that some of the members of the task force prefer to re-inter the bodies at the James Reese Center on the Fort Bend ISD site. However, as a public school district we are charged with educating children and the feasibility of becoming a perpetual care organization is beyond our expertise and our means."
Despite the action during the city council meeting, the school district still has to receive permission from Fort Bend district court to re-inter the bodies at Old Imperial Farm Cemetery.
Andrea Collins, a cemetery task force member and Missouri City resident, also spoke during the council meeting and urged city officials to keep the 95 bodies at the school district construction site.
"I strongly believe all of our voices should be heard and taken seriously," said Collins. "At our previous meeting, I felt like the decision had already been made. It was very disconcerting because I spent a lot of time away from my family, my job to do research and work on this task force. I really feel like it's important to respect the vote that was made last week."


JAKARTA, Indonesia — The government of Indonesia aims to team up with a satellite operator to build, launch and operate a high-throughput satellite to bring internet access to unreached parts of the island nation.
A representative of Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Informatics said that the ministry intends to award a contract by the end of this year with the goal of having the satellite in orbit by 2022.
Indonesia, like Australia with its National Broadband Network and Brazil with its SGDC satellite, intends to use government satellite communications to ensure the availability of connectivity to citizens beyond the scope of existing infrastructure.
As things stand today, a 150 Gbps satellite — plus another 50 Gbps of capacity the government intends to lease from other satellites — would make Indonesia’s satellite program the highest capacity system designated purely for the purpose of closing a single nation’s digital divide.
Ismail said that Indonesia’s domestic telecom satellite operators — Telkom Indonesia, Pacific Satellite Nusantara, MCI, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Indosat Ooredoo — provide less than half of the nation’s satellite services. The majority comes from foreign operators that he described as needed but so far insufficient.
“To date, Indonesia’s satellite demand cannot be met by Indonesia’s satellite industry,” he said.
Indonesia is one of the world’s most dynamic markets for satellite communications. As the planet’s largest island nation, geography is a challenge to relying on fiber, cell towers and other terrestrial infrastructure to connect Indonesia’s population of 260 million spread across some 17,000 islands.
That same challenge has drawn the interest of numerous satellite operators. In a July 3 presentation, Telkom Indonesia said 44 foreign satellites provide communications services throughout Indonesia.
Two Indonesian satellite operators presenting immediately after Ismail said the broadband is a relatively new service for satellites, and they are adjusting to this new application.
Abdus Somad Arief, director of Telkom Indonesia’s Wholesale and International Service division, said most of the capacity on the company’s two satellites are busy backhauling traffic for the company’s Telkomsel cellular business. Telkom Indonesia’s upcoming satellite, the SSL-built Merah Putih (formerly Telkom-4) launches on a SpaceX Falcon 9 this summer to replace Telkom-1 — a satellite that exploded in orbit last year. Telkom officials have declined to state a reason for Telkom-1’s major anomaly, though the Lockheed Martin-built satellite was 18 years old, operating three years past its design life.
Adiwoso said the partnership arrangement calls for the private sector to procure the satellite, and then the government will take the entirety of its capacity for 15 years.
“The capex will be borne by the private sector and the revenue will be generated from the government contracts,” he said.
Ismail said Indonesia’s government does require the industry partner to provide the orbital slot. That stipulation means the industry partner will also need access to the Ku- and Ka-band frequencies Indonesia intends to use for broadband access.
Imran Malik, SES Networks vice president for the Asia Pacific, said SES is interested in participating in the government HTS program as part of a consortium with a local Indonesian partner.
“We are actively exploring discussions, and definitely if we can provide some value in the discussions for a multi-function satellite … then definitely there is interest in doing that from SES’s perspective,” he said. He did not name any prospective partners SES would work with on the program.


Rise-N-Shine to Anderson Cooper: Lose the Gray and We’ll Pay!
Paying celebrities to pimp your product is nothing new. From Gillette courting ZZ Top front men to shave (they declined), to Weight Watchers convincing Sarah Ferguson to endorse their slim-down system (she did), marketing gurus have long used star power to shine some light on their own products.
The newest target: CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and his gray hair.
New Jersey-based Rise-N-Shine has reportedly offered the newsman $1 million to take their “Go Away Gray” pills for 60 days and use Twitter and Facebook to share his experience. That’s about one-third the price for a 30-second Super Bowl ad, but with even more impact.
Unlike Super Bowl ads, which you can fast forward, Anderson’s head of closely cropped gray hair cannot be skipped. Or even ignored. Every time viewers watch him during those 60 days they’ll be watching his hair and whether it’s turning brown. Think of the video montage possibilities.
Damn interesting proposition and the economics (at least for the four-year-old company) make sense. Sold 60 pills at a time on Amazon, or a two-month supply for $24.99, the pills have nine customer reviews and just two stars.
Rise-N-Shine also sells “RoyalFlush” laxative pills, “MenoPause Chill Pills,” and others to help people wake up, fall asleep, lose weight, and remember things.
No word on whether Rise-N-Shine is seeking spokespeople for those.


NEW owners could be taking over care at 250 Southern Cross homes by the end of September.
The move comes after landlords within the company, which owns two homes in Hinckley, pulled out of restructuring talks and left the group, which has been facing a financial crisis for weeks.
By the end of October, the responsibility of all of the remaining 500 homes should be transferred back to landlords or to other new owners.
Southern Cross has also confirmed that plans released in June to make 3,000 members of staff redundant and change their contracts will not go ahead, good news for staff at the Hinckley Park and The Willows care homes in the town.
But despite the situation moving forward, the GMB union which represents staff at the healthcare company said it is “completely unacceptable” that other interested parties are not being involved in the decisions.
Justin Bowden, GMB national officer, said: “The current plan that only two parties, the landlords and the outgoing management as signatories to the proposed Business Purchase Agreement, will have a say in what should happen next at each home is completely unacceptable.
“Residents and their families and local councils and the NHS who pay the bills, the workforce who manage and run the homes and their union GMB, governments from across the UK and the Care Quality Commission have to be part of the decision making process.
“What happens next at Southern Cross must be subject to full public scrutiny and debate in council chambers and elected parliaments and assemblies across the UK.
It in not yet known which homes will go to which operators but all landlords are expected to make their decision on future operators by Monday. The Care Quality Commission will need help to register the 750 homes so local authorities will be responsible for the registration.


THE O'Molloy Clan Association is sponsoring a worldwide clan reunion in Tullamore, Co. Offaly on August 12 and 13, 2011. The reunion will include lectures by guest speakers, access to local genealogical records, tours of O’Molloy castles, homes and burial sites in the ancient ancestral territory, music, dance and story telling, and dinner at Charlevelle Castle.
You don’t have to be an “O’Molloy” to attend. Variant spellings include O’Maolmhuaidh, Molloy, O’Molloye, O’Mulloye, Mulloy, Milloy, Meloy, O’Meloy, Maloy, Malloy, Miley, Millea, O’Molwye and O’Molley.
For additional information contact Thomas Molloy at info@omolloy.com or John Malloy johnpmalloy@comcast.net. Further details may be found at http://www.omolloy.com.


Laboratory Equipment: What are some of the newest instrumentations and tools that will help propel sustainable crop production and agriculture in the future? Peiyu Zeng and Lynda McMaster-Schuyler: It is more about how we are using the tools, and for what purposes, than it is the newness of the tools. I would suspect many labs our size are using PCR thermocyclers, fluorescent cell imagers and spectrophotometers. We are too. But how we use those tools in our work is progressing. We would love to have a fluorescent cell imager, which would instantly become our gateway into looking at gene expression. As we move from crop to crop in our research it is one tool on which we would rely to determine the success of genetic transformation in our cultures of switchgrass, hemp and hops.
LE: What trends do you expect to see in the crop science research industry in the coming months and years?
to withstand more devastating droughts.
LE: What kind of monitoring equipment is used in crop/agriculture research?
PZ and LM-S: Tools that enable GPS monitoring of soil conditions are big ones we hear about, because for so long handheld instruments have been the norm. Not anymore. People who work with genetics in the lab rather than with seedlings in the field may take for granted how valuable it is for agricultural researchers to develop understanding of micronutrients in the soil. Precision agriculture techniques and advanced monitoring have necessitated tools with functions way beyond our ability to explain.
Handheld instruments, and even pieces of equipment like spectrophotometers and refractometers, are still common. We use them in the biotech lab, and the plant-scientists on our campus use them as needed.
LE: How is climate change impacting your research?
LE: Since new cultivars of plants and fungi are being discovered every day, how does scientific instrumentation keep up? PZ and LM-S: It is important to keep in mind that the creation of many of these cultivars are responses to laboratories getting their hands on innovative scientific instrumentation. But be it in the lab or in the field, portability is key. Not only do our instruments have added function when we can apply them in multiple environments, but portability is vital to providing our students opportunities for applied learning. Enhancing technology is great, but we really notice added value and increased efficiency with faster, portable instruments. Oftentimes we are looking to improve how we research, rather than turn our research on its head.


Step 1In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the vanilla and salt, and beat until fully combined. Slowly add the flour while beating, until all of the flour is fully incorporated, careful not to overbeat (overbeating will toughen the cookies).
Step 2Stir in the almonds, cashews and cherries by hand, making sure the nuts and fruit are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
Step 3Divide the dough in half and roll each half into a log about 2 inches in diameter. Press firmly to make sure the dough is holding together with the fruit and nuts. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Step 4Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Cut the logs into slices approximately one-fourth inch thick. Bake until the edges are golden brown, about 10 minutes. Cool the cookies on a rack.
My friend Fi shared this delicious red and green cherry with cashew cookie recipe that was passed on to her from her Danish mother-in-law. The Danes are expert bakers, and this recipe immediately became one of our family favorites.


Shelby Mustang GT500 was pulled over by police in Arkansas on Friday.
Not “a” Shelby Mustang GT500, but a man named legally named Shelby Mustang GT500 Miller.
WILL THE 2019 FORD MUSTANG SHELBY GT500 COME WITH 772 HP?
KSFM reports that the 29-year-old Mountain Home resident was arrested and charged with not wearing a seatbelt, not having proof of insurance and driving with a suspended or revoked license.
Miller’s car model wasn’t identified, but police said that he was not driving a GT500. He was released from custody on a $450 bond.
Unfortunately, Miller has made news before for breaking the law, and in a much less ironic fashion.
In 2014 he was arrested in Des Moines, Iowa, after he got into an argument at a bar, left and returned with an ax, which got him booked on charges of public intoxication, going armed with intent and violating parole, according to News.com.au.


A proposed class action against Uber on behalf of taxi and limousine licence holders and drivers will be extended to Queensland.
Maurice Blackburn has been investigating plans for a multimillion-dollar class action against ride-sharing giant Uber in Victoria.
The law firm was due to announce on Wednesday that it would extend its proposed class action to include Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia.
However, while arguing Uber should be held to account, the Taxi Council of Queensland stopped short of advising its members to join the class action at this stage.
Taxi Council of Queensland chief executive Blair Davies said members should take their time to fully consider all elements of the class action before deciding whether to join.
"Today's announcement by Maurice Blackburn gives Queensland taxi licence owners and operators an opportunity that wasn't available yesterday," he said.
"However, our advice to members would be to take the time to weigh up their options carefully before committing to join this class action."
Mr Davies said TCQ had been helping Maurice Blackburn for more than 10 months and had provided information about Uber's operations in Queensland between April 2014 and September 2016 when ride-sharing was illegal in the state.
He said it appeared the case was materially stronger for taxi industry members in Queensland compared with other states, especially Victoria.
"It would be a disaster for Queensland taxi and limousine licence owners and operators if they lost their ability to sue Uber as a result of joining a class action that floundered or was distracted by prioritisation of factually different circumstances in another state," he said.
The class action case has the support of UK-based litigation funder Harbour Litigation, meaning members will not be exposed to out of pocket costs.
In the case of a win, costs to either Maurice Blackburn or the funder will be deducted from compensation paid to members.
"TCQ is aware that class actions in Australia have not always delivered outcomes in line with their beneficiaries' expectations," Mr Davies said.
"We understand that Maurice Blackburn has a better history than some of its counterparts in that regard.
"However we would welcome more assurances being provided to taxi licence owners and operators about what minimum share of a successful settlement will ultimately remain to be distributed to them."
Taxi and limousine licence owners, operators and drivers in Queensland will have six months to register to join the class action, which was expected to run for two to three years.
It comes after plans by taxi licence holders to launch a $1 billion compensation claim against the Queensland government.
The value of Brisbane's taxi licences has dropped by 79 per cent in recent years.
Standard taxi licences in Brisbane were selling for an average of more than half a million dollars in 2014 but that price dropped to $103,828 in 2018.


Some started to believe that the worst of the terror wave is behind us, but the deadly shooting in the heart of Tel Aviv proves they were very wrong. A first test for Israel's new defense minister.
The shooting on Wednesday night in the very heart of Tel Aviv, in which four people were killed and six wounded, was the first lethal attack in Israel for exactly three months.


Abstract: Despite decades of repeated failure, President Obama and Congress continue to promote the myth that government can spend its way out of recession. Heritage Foundation economic policy expert Brian Riedl dispels the stimulus myth, lays out the evidence that government spending does not end recessions--and presents the evidence for what does end recessions. Hint: It's not another "stimulus package."
Proponents of President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus bill continue to insist that the massive government bailout played a decisive role in moving the economy out of the recession. Yet assuming no destructive government actions, the economy's self-correction mechanism was widely expected to move the economy out of recession in 2009 anyway. With a parade of "stimulus" bills the past two years (going back to President George W. Bush's tax rebate in early 2008), it was entirely predictable that some would link the expected end of the recession to whichever stimulus bill happened to come last.
During the 1930s, New Deal lawmakers doubled federal spending--yet unemployment remained above 20 percent until World War II.
Japan responded to a 1990 recession by passing 10 stimulus spending bills over 8 years (building the largest national debt in the industrialized world)--yet its economy remained stagnant.
In 2001, President Bush responded to a recession by "injecting" tax rebates into the economy. The economy did not respond until two years later, when tax rate reductions were implemented.
Keynesians believe that government spending can make up this shortfall in private demand. Their models assume that--in an underperforming economy--government spending adds money to the economy, taxes remove money from the economy, and so the increase in the budget deficit represents net new dollars injected. Therefore, it scarcely matters how the dollars are spent. Keynes is said to have famously asserted that a government program that pays people to dig and refill ditches would provide new income for those workers to spend and circulate through the economy, creating even more jobs and income.
Taking this analysis to its logical extreme, Mark Zandi of Economy.com has boiled down the government's influence on America's broad and diverse $14 trillion economy into a simple menu of stimulus policy options, whereby Congress can decide how much economic growth it wants and then pull the appropriate levers. Zandi asserts that for each dollar of new government spending: temporary food stamps adds $1.73 to the economy, extended unemployment benefits adds $1.63, increased infrastructure spending adds $1.59, and aid to state and local governments adds $1.38. Jointly, these figures imply that, in a recession, a typical dollar in new deficit spending expands the economy by roughly $1.50. Over the past 40 years, this idea of government spending as stimulus has fallen out of favor among many economists. As this paper shows, it is contradicted both by empirical data and economic logic.
Economic data contradict Keynesian stimulus theory. If deficits represented "new dollars" in the economy, the record $1.2 trillion in FY 2009 deficit spending that began in October 2008--well before the stimulus added $200 billion more--would have already overheated the economy. Yet despite the historic 7 percent increase in GDP deficit spending over the previous year, the economy shrank by 2.3 percent in FY 2009. To argue that deficits represent new money injected into the economy is to argue that the economy would have contracted by 9.3 percent without this "infusion" of added deficit spending (or even more, given the Keynesian multiplier effect that was supposed to further boost the impact). That is simply not plausible, and few if any economists have claimed otherwise.
And if the original $1.2 trillion in deficit spending failed to slow the economy's slide, there was no reason to believe that adding $200 billion more in 2009 deficit spending from the stimulus bill would suddenly do the trick. Proponents of yet another stimulus should answer the following questions: (1) If nearly $1.4 trillion budget deficits are not enough stimulus, how much is enough? (2) If Keynesian stimulus repeatedly fails, why still rely on the theory?
Moving forward, the important question is why government spending fails to end recessions. Spending-stimulus advocates claim that Congress can "inject" new money into the economy, increasing demand and therefore production. This raises the obvious question: From where does the government acquire the money it pumps into the economy? Congress does not have a vault of money waiting to be distributed. Every dollar Congress injects into the economy must first be taxed or borrowed out of the economy. No new spending power is created. It is merely redistributed from one group of people to another.
For example, many lawmakers claim that every $1 billion in highway stimulus can create 47,576 new construction jobs. But Congress must first borrow that $1 billion from the private economy, which will then lose at least as many jobs. Highway spending simply transfers jobs and income from one part of the economy to another. As Heritage Foundation economist Ronald Utt has explained, "The only way that $1 billion of new highway spending can create 47,576 new jobs is if the $1 billion appears out of nowhere as if it were manna from heaven." This statement has been confirmed by the Department of Transportation and the General Accounting Office (since renamed the Government Accountability Office), yet lawmakers continue to base policy on this economic fallacy.
First, if money is not going to be printed, it has to come from somewhere. If the government borrows a dollar from you, that is a dollar that you do not spend, or that you do not lend to a company to spend on new investment. Every dollar of increased government spending must correspond to one less dollar of private spending. Jobs created by stimulus spending are offset by jobs lost from the decline in private spending. We can build roads instead of factories, but fiscal stimulus can't help us to build more of both. This form of "crowding out" is just accounting, and doesn't rest on any perceptions or behavioral assumptions.
Second, investment is "spending" every bit as much as is consumption. Keynesian fiscal stimulus advocates want money spent on consumption, not saved. They evaluate past stimulus programs by whether people who got stimulus money spent it on consumption goods rather than save it. But the economy overall does not care if you buy a car, or if you lend money to a company that buys a forklift.
Government spending can affect long-term economic growth, both up and down. Economic growth is based on the growth of labor productivity and labor supply, which can be affected by how governments directly and indirectly influence the use of an economy's resources. However, increasing the economy's productivity rate--which often requires the application of new technology and resources-- can take many years or even decades to materialize. It is not short-term stimulus.
Critics' Objection No. 1: People Are Saving Instead of Spending, and banks Are Not Lending.By Borrowing and Spending these "Idle Savings," Government Can Circulate More Money Through the Economy.
This is the most common defense of government stimulus cited by policymakers. Indeed, among proponents of government spending there is a strong focus on whether people are spending or saving, with the implication that spending circulates through the economy while savings effectively drop out.
But savings do not drop out of the economy. Nearly all people put their savings in: (1) banks, which quickly lend the money to others to spend; (2) investments in stocks and bonds; or (3) personal debt reduction. In each of these situations, the financial system transfers one person's savings to someone else who can spend it. So all money is quickly spent regardless of whether it was initially consumed or saved. The only savings that drop out of the economy are those hoarded in mattresses and safes.
Some contend that recession-weary banks are hoarding savings well beyond the legal minimum reserves. Yet even when banks hesitate to lend their deposits, they invest them in Treasury bills to keep them circulating through the economy and earning interest. In fact, the federal funds market--where banks lend each other any excess cash at the end of the day--exists because banks refuse to sit on unused cash even overnight. Thus, even in recessions, one person's savings quickly finances another person's spending.
Advocates of the "idle savings" theory fail to specify the location of all these newly hoarded piles of dollar bills they believe have been shielded from spending in the financial system. Even more telling, they also fail to explain--even if there were massive amounts of idle savings--how the federal government is supposed to acquire them for injection as new spending. After all, even if individuals, businesses, and banks were hoarding dollar bills in mattresses and safes, why would they suddenly lend them to the government to finance a stimulus bill? The very idea of hoarding dollars suggests these people and businesses would not trust the financial system, and would be quite unlikely to attend the next Treasury bill auction.
Stimulus spending advocates must be able to show that nearly all money lent to Washington would have otherwise sat idle in mattresses and bank safes. Otherwise, Washington is merely a middleman transferring purchasing power from one part of the economy to another--and the justification for government spending as stimulus collapses.
Critics' Objection No. 2: Borrowing from Foreign Nations Can Provide "New" Money for the Economy.
Selling goods and services to Americans and receiving American dollars in return. For the United States, these imports raise the trade deficit and thus reduce domestic demand. The government's subsequent borrowing back and spending of these dollars merely offsets the increased trade deficit.
Critics' Objection No. 3: Government Spending Has a Multiplier Effect That Allows the Money to Re-circulate Through the Economy Multiple Times.
This point is correct but irrelevant to the question of stimulus. Yes, $100 in unemployment benefits can be spent at a grocery store, which, in turn, can use that $100 to pay salaries and support other jobs. The total amount of additional economic activity will be well above $100; but because government borrows the $100, that same money is now unavailable to the private sector--which would have spent the same $100 with the same multiplier effect.
In his 1848 essay, "What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen," French economist Frederic Bastiat termed this the "broken-window fallacy," a reference to a local myth that breaking windows would stimulate the economy by creating window-repair jobs. In reality, the window-repair spending comes out of funds that otherwise would have been spent (and created jobs) elsewhere in town. Today, the broken-windows fallacy explains why thousands of new stimulus jobs are not improving the total employment picture.
Critics' Objection No. 4: During a Recession, Government Spending Can Put Unused Resources to Work.
This restates the overall spending fallacy. Yes, government spending can put under-utilized factories and individuals to work--but only by idling other resources in whatever part of the economy supplied the funds. If adding $1 billion would create 40,000 jobs in one depressed part of the economy, then losing $1 billion will cost roughly the same number of jobs in whatever part of the economy supplied Washington with the funds. It is a zero-sum transfer regardless of whether the unemployment rate is 5 percent or 50 percent.
Critics' Objection No. 5: Government Reports Show That the Stimulus Has Already Created or Saved 640,000 New Jobs.
According to a White House survey, businesses have used much of the $200 billion in stimulus dollars distributed thus far to hire or retain 640,000 workers. These figures have been ridiculed for their absurdity, such as reporting $6.4 billion spent in congressional districts that do not exist, and the survey's assertion that a single lawnmower purchase in Arkansas saved or created 50 jobs.
The White House says zero. The White House job numbers assume that all $200 billion is new and supports jobs that would not otherwise exist. But that could be true only if the private sector would have otherwise hoarded the entire $200 billion in safes and mattresses, where it could not be consumed, invested, or deposited in banks for investment spending--but instead turned the entire $200 billion over to the government.
When dollars are transferred from one part of the economy to another, jobs will transfer accordingly. The White House's single-entry bookkeeping ignores the part of the economy that financed all these jobs. Not surprisingly, the nation's overall unemployment rate has continued to rise.
Critics' Objection No. 6: Government Should Subsidize Consumption, Which Represents 60 Percent of the Economy.
This confuses the creation of income with its application. All income is applied somewhere in the economy: most on private consumption, some on private investment (converted from savings via the financial system), and some by government (taxed or borrowed out of consumption and investment). In the short run, the distribution of spending does not affect the total amount spent. The only way to increase consumption spending immediately is to take it from investment or government spending.
Government Spending Can Have a Long-Term Impact.
Although it cannot immediately increase economic growth, government spending can have a long-term impact. Economic growth results from producing more goods and services (not from redistributing existing income), and that requires productivity growth and growth in the labor supply. Productivity growth requires some combination of: (1) a more educated and efficient workforce; (2) more private physical capital, such as factories and tools; (3) increased use of new technology; (4) more public infrastructure like roads and other utilities; and (5) markets to set prices and rule of law to enforce contracts. Government's effect on economic growth is determined by its effect on productivity and labor supply.
Only in the rare instances where the private sector fails to provide those inputs in adequate amounts is government spending necessary. Government spending on education, physical infrastructure, and research and development, for instance, could increase long-term productivity rates--but only if government invests more competently than businesses, nonprofit organizations, and private citizens would have if those investment dollars had stayed in the private sector. Historically, governments have rarely outperformed the private sector in generating productivity growth. Thus, mountains of academic studies show that government spending typically reduces long-term economic growth.
Tax Policy's Strong Effect on Economic Growth.
Taxes can affect growth, although not for the reason many people believe. Many tax cutters commit the same fallacy as do government spenders when asserting that tax cuts spur economic growth by "putting spending money in people's pockets." Similar to government spending, the tax-cut cash does not fall from the sky. It comes from reduced investment and a higher trade deficit (if financed by budget deficits) or from government spending (if offset by spending cuts).
However, certain tax cuts can add substantially to productivity. As stated above, economic growth requires that businesses produce increasing amounts of goods and services, and that requires consistent business investment and a growing, productive workforce. Yet high marginal tax rates-- defined as the tax on the next dollar earned--create a disincentive to engage in those activities. Reducing marginal tax rates on businesses and workers will increase incentives to work, save, and invest. These incentives encourage more business investment, a more productive workforce by raising the after-tax returns to education, and more work effort, all of which add to the economy's long-term capacity for growth.
Tax rebates fail to increase economic growth because they are not associated with productivity or work effort. No new income is created because no one is required to work, save, or invest more in order to receive a rebate. In that sense, rebates that write each American a check are economically indistinguishable from government spending programs. In fact, the federal government treats rebate checks as a "social benefit payment to persons." They represent another feeble attempt at creating new purchasing power out of thin air rather than focusing on productivity.
H. L. Mencken once wrote that "complex problems have simple, easy to understand, wrong answers." He may as well have been referring to the idea that Congress can foster economic growth simply by "injecting" money into the economy. Government stimulus spending is not a magic wand that creates jobs and income. Repeated failed attempts in America and abroad have shown that governments cannot spend their way out of recessions. Focusing on productivity growth builds a stronger economy over the long term--and leaves America better prepared to handle future economic downturns.
While the Obama Administration rhetorically emphasizes that it will "save or create" 3.5 million jobs, a January 2009 report by its economic team assumed creation of 3.3 million new jobs. The report projected that, through fall 2010, the baseline economy would lose 0.4 million net jobs (from 134.3 million to 133.9 million), while the economy with the stimulus would instead add 3.3 million net jobs (from 134.3 million to 137.6). See Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein, "The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan," January 9, 2009, p. 4, at http://otrans.3cdn.net/ 45593e8ecbd339d074_l3m6bt1te.pdf (December 7, 2009). Despite enactment of the stimulus, the number of jobs had fallen to 130.8 million through October 2009.
For more on the New Deal, see William W. Beach and Ken McIntyre, "Get Over It: New Deal Didn't Do the Job," Heritage Foundation Commentary, January 21, 2009, at http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed012109f.cfm. For more on Japan's failed stimulus experiment, see Derek Scissors and J. D. Foster, "Two Lost Decades? Why Japan's Economy Is Still Stumbling and How the U.S. Can Stay Upright," Heritage Foundation WebMemo No. 2307, February 23, 2009, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/AsiaandthePacific/wm2307.cfm, and Ronald D. Utt, "Learning from Japan: Infrastructure Spending Won't Boost the Economy," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 2222, December 16, 2008, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Economy /bg2222.cfm.
Press release, "Remarks by the President on Job Creation and Economic Growth," The White House, December 8, 2009, at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ the-press-office/remarks-president-job-creation-and-economic-growth (December 18, 2009).
Mark Zandi, "The Economic Outlook and Stimulus Options," Moody's Economy.com, testimony before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, November 19, 2008, Table 1, p. 10, at http://www.economy.com/mark -zandi/documents/Senate_Budget_Committee_11_19_08.pdf (December 7, 2009).
For quarterly economic growth rates, see Press release, "Gross Domestic Product: Third Quarter 2009 (Advance Estimate)," Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, October 29, 2009, Table 1, at http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/2009/pdf/gdp3q09_adv.pdf (December 7, 2009).
Ronald D. Utt, "More Transportation Spending: False Promises of Prosperity and Job Creation," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 2121, April 2, 2008, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/budget/bg2121.cfm.
"Employment Impacts of Highway Infrastructure Investment," Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, April 7, 2008. Report no longer appears on DOT Web site. Contact author for the original PDF file.
John H. Cochrane, "Fiscal Stimulus, Fiscal Inflation, or Fiscal Fallacies?" University of Chicago Booth School of Business, February 27 2009, at http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john.cochrane/research/Papers/fiscal2.htm (December 21, 2009). Also seeJ. D. Foster, "Keynesian Fiscal Stimulus Policies Stimulate Debt--Not the Economy," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 2302, July 27, 2009, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Economy /bg2302.cfm.
This paper has much in common with what has been called the "Treasury View" of the economy, which asserts that government spending displaces private-sector spending dollar-for-dollar. However, because this paper argues that government spending can eventually affect productivity rates and, therefore, long-term economic growth, it may be better described as offering a "soft" Treasury View.
Bill McMorris, "$6.4 Billion Stimulus Goes to Phantom Districts," Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, November 17, 2009, at http://www.franklincenterhq.org/2009/11/17/6-4-billion-stimulus-goes-to -phantom-districts/ (December 9, 2009), and Michael Cooper and Ron Nixon, "Reports Show Conflicting Number of Jobs Attributed to Stimulus Money," The New York Times, November 5, 2009, at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11 /05/us/05stimulus.html (December 9, 2009).
In the short run, $1 spent on consumption, investment, or government will each raise GDP by the same $1. In the long run, however, a dollar spent on investment is likely to increase labor productivity and help the economy create more income and wealth in the future. By altering the composition of an economy's spending either toward or away from investment (and affecting the quality of those investments), governments can affect long-term productivity rates and economic growth.
Dozens of these studies are summarized in Daniel J. Mitchell, "The Impact of Government Spending on Economic Growth," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1831, March 15, 2005, at http://www.heritage.org/Research /Budget/bg1831.cfm.
"Frequently Asked Questions," Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, at http://faq.bea.gov/cgi-bin/bea.cfg/ php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=490 (December 9 2009).
Daniel J. Mitchell, "Lowering Marginal Tax Rates: The Key to Pro-Growth Tax Relief," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1443, May 22, 2001, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/bg1443.cfm.
For more on the Bush tax cuts, see Brian M. Riedl, "Ten Myths About the Bush Tax Cuts," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 2001, January 29, 2007, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/bg2001.cfm.
For causes of the current recession, see J. D. Foster, "Understanding the Great Global Contagion and Recession," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 2331, October 22, 2009, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/ Economy/bg2331.cfm.


Saladin Ahmed is planning to announce his first creator-owned comic book title during a BOOM! Studios panel Thursday at New York Comic Con. The panel is "BOOM! Studios: Discover Yours" at 6:45pm Eastern on Thursday.
The project itself is expected to debut in early 2018, but no details on artist, title, or plot have been released.
Ahmed made his debut in comics earlier this year with Marvel's Black Bolt, and comes from a successful career as a prose author with the Hugo-nominated Throne of the Crescent Moon.


The LW-Mononofu robot is a dream come true for Japanese engineer Masaaki Nagumo, who had fantasised aboutsuiting up as a robot from Mobile Suit Gundam, his favourite animation series while growing up.
The 8.5m-tall, two-legged robot was developed with the the help of Sakakibara Kikai, a maker of farming machinery, and looks as if it walked straight out of a science fiction universe.
Weighing more than seven tonnes, it has a cockpit with monitors and levers for a pilot to control the robot's arms and legs. The machine can move its fingers and turn its upper body, and walk forward and backward - though only at a speed of 1 kmh.
But what it lacks in pace, it makes up for with power: The bazooka-like airgun on its right arm shoots sponge balls at around 140 kmh.
The maker, Sakakibara Kikai, has developed other robots, which it rents out for birthday parties and other entertainment. But the mighty Mononofu towers over the company's previous designs.
"As an anime-inspired robot that one can ride, I think this is the biggest in the world," said Mr Nagumo.
There is a slight problem however - Mononofu might be a bit too large. It is unable to leave the factory in Shinto now without being dismantled because it was built taller than the entrance.


Soft tacos seem to get all the love in Austin, so we're spotlighting the oft-overlooked crispy taco. Here are seven top Austin spots to satisfy your craving for the crunchy classic.
Amaya's tasty Village Tacos aren't your standard crispy fare. These puffy corn creations are fried until golden and crispy; stuffed with shredded chicken, beef, or fajitas; and topped with lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. Locations in North and South Austin mean you can get your fill no matter where you live.
The casual offshoot of Eastside Cafe has a very limited menu often lauded for its dessert lineup. But we suggest the savory pulled pork taco, a delicious bite served in a thick, crunchy shell with fresh pico de gallo. Order queso, salsa, or ceviche as an appetizer too.
This quaint, cash-only eatery on Oltorf Street has a filling selection of Mexican and Tex-Mex food, and most of the combo plates come with crispy beef tacos on the side. Check out the lunch special on Monday: two crispy tacos with rice and beans for $6.95.
The taco plate at this Burnet Road gem is all about choice. First, you choose between soft or crispy (obviously we're going crispy here), and then picadillo, chicken, or avocado. You also get to pick two sides from the varied selection, which ranges from the standard rice and beans to fresh options like nopalito salad.
It will be hard to find a better deal than a crispy taco with ground beef or chicken and lettuce, tomato, and cheddar for $1.99. Taqueria Arandinas has five convenient locations around town, from William Cannon Drive all the way to Round Rock.
Swing by Tex-Mex Joe's on North Lamar Boulevard to get your crispy taco fix at lunch or dinner. A special plate comes with three beefy shells and a side of rice and beans. On the run? Order online and grab your tacos to go.
This funky West Lynn eatery, sister restaurant of Galaxy Cafe, specializes in modern takes on Tex-Mex classics. The tacos del barrio plate is a crispy delight with your choice of ground turkey or beef topped with fresh veggies, cheese, pico de gallo, and salsa roja.


In an about-face, banking giant Goldman Sachs announced it will build its $2 billion headquarters near Ground Zero in New York, the site of the former World Trade Center, after all. Earlier this year, the company said it did not want the location because of security concerns and a proposed underground tunnel that would have brought vehicular traffic past its front entrance. But the tunnel plan ultimately was dropped and Goldman Sachs was granted more than $100 million in incentives by the state and the city to remain in downtown Manhattan. Construction for the new 43-story headquarters is expected to begin later this year, the company said. When ready for occupancy in 2009, it will bring together roughly 9,000 employees who currently are scattered among numerous Manhattan office buildings.
For the first time in four years, the Nikkei stock index closed above 12,500 in Tokyo Wednesday, buoyed by speculation that Japan's economy is on course to full recovery. The index, one of the world's most widely watched, finished up 29.33 points to end the session at 12,502, its best close since July 4, 2001. Experts said the rally was fueled by foreigners, in particular by buying banking stocks. One day after announcing the schedule for repaying billions of dollars in government bailout funds, Mizuho Financial Group's share price rose 4.6 percent to set a company record.
Temasek Holdings, a leading equity fund, said it would not comment on a published report that it plans to double investment in China Construction Bank (CCB) to $2.4 billion. Last month, the huge Singapore government-owned fund agreed to buy $1 billion worth of CCB shares in an initial public offering, plus additional shares of existing stock. Combined, those purchases give Temasek a 5 percent stake in CCB, China's third-largest financial institution. Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg.com said Temasek wants to increase investment overseas because of the slow growth of Singapore's economy.
Goldman resignation letter. Judge's critique. Now, the fallout?


It's a story that sounds too horrific to be a real... an eight-months pregnant newlywed — murdered, her stomach cut open and her fetus stolen.
Now the woman accused of the horrific crime is in court.
We'll talk about the charges, and what comes next.


When I first stepped inside 2 Quail, an attractive sandstone terraced house in the heart of town, I thought that its owner might be a little old lady whose home had become a perfect time warp, for it is neat as a pin and soberly furnished in a way that says ‘Edwardian’ or ‘40s’ or somewhere in between.
An attractive sandstone terraced house in Castle Street, in the centre of historic Dornoch with its traditional open Scottish Square, where Pipe Bands march, its Castle, Cathedral and famous Golf Club overlooking the Dornoch Firth.
When I first stepped inside 2 Quail, an attractive sandstone terraced house in the heart of town, I thought that its owner might be a little old lady whose home had become a perfect time warp, for it is neat as a pin and soberly furnished in a way that says ‘Edwardian’ or ‘40s’ or somewhere in between. Contemporary it isn’t; idiosyncratic, consistent, well executed and refreshingly different from the norm it is. And it’s not a time warp; it’s the deliberate creation of its owner, Kerensa Carr, who is certainly not a little old lady. Much of the furniture – dainty, brown and cream upholstered armchairs, side tables, standard lamps with fringed shades – are family pieces, and the hundreds of erudite hardbacks that line the walls of the cosy, velvet curtained parlour are courtesy of her late mother, a Mensa-member librarian.
Kerensa and Michael are committed, hardworking and welcoming. Ask Kerensa to show you the Dornoch Imp.
There are three bedrooms. Ours was soberly furnished, as downstairs, yet arresting, with its antique wrought iron bedstead (but good Hypnos mattress) and its well equipped bathroom with shower cubicle, Molton Brown toiletries, pile of thick fluffy towels; everything just so, everything you could need.
Great Scottish breakfast: she even peels the tomatoes and bakes the bread.
Like so many b & b hosts, Karensa works very hard for little reward.
Castle Street, Dornoch, Sutherland, Scotland IV25 3SN.


CHICAGO — It began in a way gun advocates have suggested would curtail violence. A gun comes out. Shots are fired. A “good guy with a gun” steps in to help before police can respond.
The tidy theoretical doesn’t account for the chaotic unknowns when police arrive and can’t tell a “good guy” with a gun from a “bad guy” with a gun.
The theory turned to grim reality at Manny’s Blue Room Bar in Robbins, Ill., outside Chicago early Sunday.
Police shot and killed the good guy. Jemel Roberson, 26, was working security.
“Everybody was screaming out, ‘He was a security guard,’ and they basically saw a black man with a gun and killed him,” witness Adam Harris told WGN.
That debate has gained urgency during the past year, as President Trump and others have repeatedly said security guards — specifically armed ones — could have prevented the nation’s mass shootings; earlier this year, Trump tweeted his support for the controversial idea of arming teachers.
And the Sunday incident has already provoked concerns that black men, even when legally carrying firearms or employed in a position that allows their use, can still become a target for police fire.
Roberson’s friends said he had talked all his life of becoming a police officer himself.
Details about the Illinois shooting were unclear Monday. Midlothian Police Chief Daniel Delaney said in a statement that officers from his department and the Robbins Police Department responding to a shooting found multiple victims inside the bar.
The statement said the “Midlothian officer encountered a subject with a gun” and shot him.
Delaney did not elaborate on what occurred before the police response.
The incident began with a confrontation involving several men, and a man left to retrieve a gun. He returned to the bar and opened fire, striking several people, the Chicago Tribune reported, citing remarks from Robbins Police Chief Roy Wells. At least four others were injured.
Roberson returned fire and apprehended one suspect, the Tribune reported, as officers from suburban police departments responded.
It is unclear how the killing unfolded from there — how and whether officers identified themselves, whether Roberson was holding a gun, or how much time passed before the officer fired at Roberson, who was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Illinois State Police will investigate Roberson’s killing by the Midlothian officer. Delaney did not answer a question about the administrative status of the officer.
More than half of those killed — 459 people, including Roberson — were said to have a gun when police killed them.
The oldest of four children, Roberson grew up in Wicker Park, a neighborhood in the North Side of Chicago located about 27 miles from Robbins. His family said he was in law school and served as a positive role model for his peers, inspiring young men to become involved with the church.
“He was dedicated to the Wicker community in a real positive way.” said Malik Harris, Roberson’s 20-year-old cousin.
Roberson’s friends and family say they are planning a way to memorialize him. According to the AP, Roberson’s mother, Beatrice, filed a lawsuit seeking $1 million from the community and officer who shot her son.
Justin Jouvenal and Wesley Lowery contributed to this report.


galaxies put together (New Scientist, Science, 24 October).
would be 1 if simple inflation and dark matter were the whole story.
of the University of Chicago.
need to invoke hot dark matter as well.
ago, when the entire Universe was smaller than an atom.
Focus: Guess what's coming to dinner? - Creatures created by genetic engineering are used in laboratories, and their meat could soon appear on supermarket shelves. Do these animals raise new ethical issues?


Preliminary artist rendering of what Guelph's Baker District redevelopment could look like once developed.
The City of Guelph is looking for feedback on the services and programs planned for Guelph’s new central library.
A survey has been posted online and residents have until March 3 to fill it out.
The City said the input they receive will be used to help create the final building program and functional plan.
“Whether you’re a regular library user or not, we need your insight and ideas to make sure our new central library delivers the programs and services that will meet our community’s needs through to 2040,” said Steve Kraft, CEO of Guelph Public Library.
The City has already posted a long list of programs that are planned, which includes topics on computer skills, fitness and exercise, language learning, cooking, gardening and crafts.
The City wants to know if other programs should be offered, as well as input on how multi-use and outdoor spaces planned for the library should be used as well.
Guelph’s 10-year forecast suggests construction of the library in the Baker District will begin in 2021.


The Bush administration announced it has decided to exercise its authority to auction off the statutory limit of five million barrels of oil a month from the nation`s 590-million-barrel Strategic Petroleum Reserve. . . . The world`s nations use tens of millions of barrels of oil every day, so an extra five million monthly from our SPR-or even 15 million barrels, the proposed new ceiling being discussed-is far too small an amount to have a significant impact on world oil markets.
Besides, although prices have jumped . . . since Iraq`s invasion of Kuwait two months ago, this increase has been due to anticipated rather than actual shortages. The embargo on Iraqi and Kuwaiti oil has diminished world supplies by about 120 million barrels monthly, but two-thirds of that shortfall has already been made up. . . .
Then why begin drawing oil from the SPR? Secretary of Energy James Watkins told Congress that the main objective is to test the process involved in deploying the strategic reserve system, which was created in 1975 but has never been used. Obviously, it is better to make repairs now than wait until we are in the midst of a real emergency. . . .
The strategic reserve is exactly what its name suggests: A repository that would serve as an indispensable source of oil when an extreme emergency leaves us with no reasonable alternative. It is not a mere convenience.


Communities desperate as they are unable to cross into Turkey to seek refuge.
Atma camp inside Syria near the northern border with Turkey is home to thousands of people forced to flee their homes.
But the area is too dangerous for aid agencies and charities to deliver food and clothes.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reports from Antakya.


Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry, a Democrat, said his office will seek justice on behalf of families; not because of immigration status.
Inside a courtroom Wednesday, Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry's office filed criminal charges against the twice-deported man arrested in a drunken-driving crash that killed two men, including an Indianapolis Colts player.
Outside, Curry issued a statement blasting President Donald Trump.
“We are disheartened that ghoulish and inappropriate public commentary has politicized this tragedy," said Curry, a Democrat. "Much of such commentary, including tweets by the president, fails to acknowledge that both Edwin Jackson and Jeffrey Monroe lost their lives on Sunday."
Friends and family of Jackson and Monroe have echoed similar sentiments.
On Tuesday, Trump used Twitter to say: "This is just one of many such preventable tragedies. We must get the Dems to get tough on the Border, and with illegal immigration, FAST!"
He also tweeted a message of support to Jackson's family.
Manuel Orrego-Savala, a 37-year-old Guatemalan citizen, was arrested early Sunday morning after State Police say he crashed a Ford F-150 pickup truck into a vehicle stopped on the shoulder of I-70, killing Jackson, a Colts linebacker, and Monroe, an Uber driver.
The allegations against Orrego-Savala have drawn Indianapolis into a national debate over immigration policies as Republicans and Democrats battle in Washington, D.C., over a budget deal.
At issue is both long-term funding for the U.S. government and the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed certain people who came to the U.S. illegally as minors to be protected from immediate deportation.
Trump's tweet, and statements from other Republicans, characterized Orrego-Savala's arrest as proof that stricter immigration laws are needed. Activists have responded by seeking to separate the alleged crime from the broader issue of immigration policy.
Orrego-Savala was charged with four local felonies on Wednesday: two counts of failure to remain at the scene of an accident and two counts tied to drunken driving causing death. The former charges are each punishable by up to 16 years in prison; the latter charges are punishable by up to 12 years.
He also faces a federal charge of illegal re-entry of a previously deported alien. That charge, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on Tuesday, could add 10 years in federal prison to any sentence Orrego-Savala might receive if convicted in the drunken-driving case.
Wearing orange jail garb, he appeared in Marion Superior Court on Wednesday morning for an initial hearing.
Judge Grant Hawkins read Orrego-Savala's rights. Orrego-Savala said he hired an attorney.
Prosecutors requested a DNA sample. A pretrial hearing was set for March 27.
After the hearing the defense attorney, Jorge Torres, told a gathering of reporters that the political rhetoric and media attention could make it impossible for his client to receive a fair trail.
"We have serious concerns," Torres said. The first thing posted in the media was his immigration status, he said.
"Drunk driving has nothing to do with immigration status."
Torres said it was too soon to say whether Orrego-Savala would request his trial be moved out of Marion County because of the publicity.
Torres said any future juror who lives in Marion County already has "been exposed to the negative attention brought because of his (immigration) status."
Orrego-Savala is believed to have entered the country illegally on or around July 1, 2004, according to ICE spokeswoman Nicole Alberico. He was convicted of driving under the influence in Redwood City, Calif., in 2005, Alberico said.
In October 2006, he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Francisco and deported in January 2007, according to a federal criminal complaint.
A little more than two years later, in March 2009, he was again arrested in San Francisco and deported that May.
Neither the federal complaint or local court documents shed light on when Orrego-Savala re-entered the U.S. or when or why he traveled to Indiana.
What is known is that Orrego-Savala was convicted last year in Boone County for driving without a license.
But he was arrested and charged under the name Alex Cabrera-Gonsales, one of many aliases that he has used, according to local and federal authorities. He used a similar name when State Police arrested him Sunday.
Variations on the spelling of Orrego-Savala appeared in several convictions out of California, including one for drunken driving in September 2005.
He was charged in Marion County under the name Orrego Zavala. In court, through a lawyer, he said his real name is Orrego-Savala.


Aug 29 (Reuters) - Grupo Oi SA, Brazil’s fourth-biggest wireless carrier, is in talks to sell its 25 percent stake in Angola’s largest mobile-phone company Unitel SA for more than $2 billion to other shareholders, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The stake in Unitel is owned by Africatel, a Portugal Telecom subsidiary in which Oi now has 75 percent ownership, meaning its economic interest in Unitel is 18.8 percent, Bloomberg reported.
Grupo BTG Pactual, one of Oi’s largest shareholders, is advising the carrier on the sale process, Bloomberg said.
“Unitel isn’t making any pronouncements on the subject,” a company spokeswoman told Bloomberg in an e-mail.
Both Oi and Unitel were not immediately available for comment to Reuters.


The upgrade of a former Soviet aircraft carrier for service in the Indian Navy and a project to build a helicopter carrier jointly with France are nearing complication, company officials said.
The state-owned ship building holding is under new management following a move to put Vladimir Shmakov in the role of general director— a post he assumed at the end of May.
Shmakov said during a meeting with Putin at that time that he sees "unconditional fulfillment" of military orders among his primary tasks.
The former president of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, Andrei Dyachkov, was dismissed in early May after coming under increased pressure from Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin for his lackluster performance. Rogozin oversees the defense industry.
The long awaited aircraft carrier, now named INS Vikramaditya—which translates from the Hindi as Brave as the Sun— is undergoing final testing. Though rescheduled several times, the most recently announced delivery date was November 2013.
Originally built in 1987 for the Soviet Navy and christened the Admiral Gorshkov, the craft has been undergoing modernization since 2004 when a contract worth $1.8 billion to modernize and deliver the ship to the Indian navy was signed between the two countries.
The United Shipbuilding Company subsidiary Sevmash is finishing work on the INS Vikramaditya at its testing facility in Severodvinsk, a company source said.
Over $1 billion of the contract value was allocated to purchase MIG fighter jets and helicopters to be used on the ship by the Indian Navy.
Though work was originally scheduled for completion by 2008, the project has suffered multiple delays, which have led to an increase in costs and brought the total sum of the contract $2.3 billion.
Meanwhile, the United Ship Building source also said Wednesday that its Baltic shipyard in St. Petersburg, which is assembling part of a Mistral helicopter carrier ship under French license, is "finishing preparations," to launch the stern section of the ship and transfer it to France in July for final assembly.
A source told Interfax, that Russia has fulfilled all of the obligations, under the contract, despite "delays" from the French side.
France announced in February 2010 an agreement to sell Russia a Mistral ship, with an option for three more vessels. On June 17, 2011 Russia and France signed a $1.7 billion contract for the joint manufacturing of the first two Mistral ships.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in December that it had postponed the construction of the second two Mistral-class helicopter and will build only the first two.
The Mistral deal was the biggest purchase of foreign arms by the Russian government in the post-Soviet era as well as the first contract on such a scale with a NATO country.


So you’ve seen “Captain Marvel” and now you have a bunch of questions about Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers, her history — and wait who was Marvel… or was it Mar-Vell? And what about Monica Rambeau.
Like every other film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Captain Marvel” only loosely adapts from the comic books, streamlining a hell of a lot. It does a fine job of bringing together characters who are only loosely-connected in the comics, and it boasts a strong, diverse cast to boot. But what is the actual history of Captain Marvel?
That’s a huge question. The answer involves not only characters like Mar-Vell and Carol Danvers, but a cosmic badass partly inspired by actress Pam Grier, some extremely convoluted alien relations, and the first Muslim character to headline a Marvel comic book. Strap in because it’s complicated, weird as hell (this is a good thing), and occasionally ahead of its time.
To start, in the comics Carol Danvers isn’t the first Captain Marvel, or even the second — she’s the seventh. The first is Mar-Vell.
Created in 1967 by Stan Lee and Gene Colan, Mar-Vell was a Kree warrior sent to earth on an observation mission with the ultimate goal of destroying the planet. Because of course.
Mar-Vell goes to work for NASA, where he meets Carol Danvers, NASA’s head of security. He develops feelings for Carol, and sympathy for humanity as a whole, and eventually turns on the Kree to protect the earth. A lot of crazy-as-hell comic book stuff happens over the years, and he even becomes the arch enemy of Thanos (yes, that Thanos).
Unfortunately, during one of his adventures Mar-Vell was exposed to powerful carcinogens, and because he was considered a traitor, the Kree denied him access to their advanced medical technology. So, unusually for a major comic character, Mar-Vell died for real, from cancer, in Marvel Comics’ first-ever graphic novel, 1982’s “The Death of Captain Marvel,” written by Jim Starlin.
Mar-Vell’s death cleared the way for a new hero to take over as Captain Marvel — but it wasn’t Carol (yet). Created by writer Roger Stern and artists John Romita Jr. in 1982, the second Captain Marvel — and Marvel’s first African-American female superhero — was Monica Rambeau.
Monica is a New Orleans Harbor Patrol lieutenant who gets exposed to extra-dimensional energy that gives her the ability to transform into any form of energy within the electromagnetic spectrum, super-speed, and flight.
Stern and Romita initially drew inspiration from actress Pam Grier, but went much more glam than noir on the page. As you can see, Monica adopts a completely dope black and white costume that is easily one of Marvel’s most iconic 1980s visuals. Though she eventually tones down the (awesome) Earth, Wind & Fire aspects of her first costume, Monica sticks with a variation on that striking color scheme in every subsequent costume.
Called the new Captain Marvel by the media, Monica accepts the moniker and with Spider-Man’s help begins training with The Avengers to get her powers under control.
Monica was even appointed the leader of the Avengers for a while, but in a 1988 storyline, she lost her powers and stepped down. Luckily she got them back, plus a few new ones, and returned a year later as the star of her own series, “Captain Marvel” vol. 2, which lasted from 1989 to 1994.
Eventually, in a 1996 storyline Monica adopts a new superhero name, Photon; in 2006 she becomes Pulsar; and since 2010 she’s been best known as Spectrum. And yes, she still rocks an amazing outfit. You can read a lot more about her here.
Monica became Photon is because of Genis-Vell, the son of Mar-Vell, created in 1993 by Ron Marz and Ron Lim. Genis started calling himself Captain Marvel, he and Monica argued about it, and eventually out of respect for Mar-Vell, Monica let Genis have it.
Awkwardly, Genis later started calling himself Photon. So, once again, Monica let Genis have the superhero name she was already using. It’s a, uh, weird writing decision, but at least it eventually got us to the much cooler Spectrum.
Genis was succeeded by Phyla-Vell (created by Peter David and Paul Azaceta) — read more about her here.
Phyla-Vell was succeeded by Khn’nr, a brain-damaged Skrull sleeper agent (created by Paul Jenkins and Tom Raney).
And Khn’nr was succeeded by Noh-Varr, who is currently known as Protector (created by Grant Morrison and J. G. Jones).
Which finally brings us back to Carol Danvers, and the hero she inspired, Kamala Khan.
Created in 1968 by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan, Carol starts out like her movie counterpart as a former air force officer.
Unlike the film, where her powers come from the Tesseract (read all about that here), in the comics Carol leveled-up the old fashioned way: by being bombarded with radiation. She’d been taken hostage by Mar-Vell’s nemesis, Yon-Rogg (played by Jude Law in the film), and as Mar-Vell tried to rescue her, she was exposed to a Kree weapon that, essentially, turned her half-Kree.
Though canceled two years later, it was groundbreaking for its expressly feminist subject matter, including Carol’s fight for equal pay in her civilian identity. After the series ended she was a frequent player in “X-Men” and “Avengers”-related stories — most notoriously in a hugely-criticized 1980 storyline where the Avengers fail to recognize she’d been brainwashed and raped.
Also Read: 'Captain Marvel': What the Hell Actually Is a Flerken?
Over the years Carol assumed other hero identities — Binary in 1982, Warbird in 1998, and a return to Ms. Marvel in 2006. She finally became the official, undisputed Captain Marvel in a 2012 storyline too convoluted to summarize here, and, judging from the $575 million-and-counting box office of the film, she’s likely not changing back any time soon.
Exposure turns Kamala into a polymorph — she can deform, expand, or compress any part of, or her entire body into any shape she can imagine. Already a huge Carol Danvers fangirl, Kamala calls herself Ms. Marvel in tribute to her idol and gets to work saving civilians. She must now balance the responsibilities of school, friendships, her familial relationships, and her cultural heritage while saving lives as a masked hero.
She’s big deal for the Marvel universe, not only because of her powers and dope costume. She’s the first Muslim hero to headline a Marvel series, and helped spearhead a serious push by the comics publisher for greater diversity and representation in its titles. And she’s also the focus of some really authentic, genuinely touching coming of age tales.
And before you ask, she doesn’t appear in Captain Marvel, but she’s had something of a mentor-student relationship with Carol Danvers in the comics. Here’s hoping when “Captain Marvel” gets its inevitable sequel, Kamala will make her big screen debut too.


Slices, hooks, tops, duffs, chunks, shanks, cranks, bombs, sallys, whiffs, pushes and pulls are all terms used to describe a "bad shot" in golf.
To eradicate these bad shots, golfers could spend hundreds of dollars on many lessons, new clubs, new golf balls, driving range buckets and aspirin.
Or, golfers could check www.poconorecord.com/golf every week for the latest tips as part of the 12-week, Pocono Record's Summer Golf Tips Video series.
"I think it (the video series) is a great idea," said Jeff Pietracatella, Head Golf Professional at Water Gap Country Club. "I think people will get a lot out of it. You're getting all the tips from PGA professionals."
Pietracatella, 38, and nicknamed "Peach", will host the first four lessons, while other local PGA professionals will host the remaining weeks.
The lessons will cover every aspect of the golf swing, and the numerous types of swings, from pre-swing mechanics to hitting bunker shots. The video tips will mimic a general lesson, but won't force the golf pros to give away their prized tips they save for individual lessons.
"Generally, we start most new players on a six-pack series of lessons, it's similar to what we're doing with the video series," Pietracatella said.
All the videos will be shot on location at each golf pro's respective golf course they manage.
The first week brought the video series to Water Gap Country Club in the Delaware Water Gap. The course offers scenic, mountainous terrain and a wide array of surfaces to swing from.
"Water Gap has history, Walter Hagen and Johnny Farrell played here in the late 1920s," Pietracatella said. "There are a lot of different lies. Anyone coming from flat terrain to here would definitely be challenged."
Pietracatella started playing golf when he was eight years old. Born in Staten Island, N.Y., he moved to the Poconos at a young age and grew up playing at Evergreen Golf Club. He turned professional as soon as he graduated from Pocono Mountain High School in 1988.
Since then, he has travelled back and forth between Florida and the Poconos, holding associate and head golf professional jobs until he landed the head job at Water Gap five years ago.
"People think that when you become a golf pro, you play golf all the time," Pietracatella said. "There are a lot of other things we do. We run the golf operations, run tournaments, manage merchandising, run the pro shop, manage staff and teach the game, it's not all playing, it's a business too."
Teaching is Pietracatella's favorite aspect of being a golf professional.
"I love to teach, teach is a great way to promote the game," Pietracatella said. "My biggest joy in teaching is seeing somebody improve; I like to see people get better."
Lessons are not the only thing a golfer needs to improve, Pietracatella said. Practicing is as easy as a short drive to the driving range, or a short walk to your backyard.
"Dry swings in the backyard are great," Pietracatella said. "The quality of the practice is better than the quantity of balls you hit at the driving range."
If this still doesn't help, lessons may be the only thing left to try.
"Don't be afraid to find a pro and take a lesson," Pietracatella said. "Make sure you're comfortable with who you're working with and set clear goals."


Alpha strikes again. Spoiler Alert: Stop reading NOW if you haven't watched Sunday's new episode.
Heads literally rolled on "The Walking Dead" Sunday night, as Alpha claimed not one, not two, but 10 new victims.
Echoing the comic books, the HBIC of The Whisperers infiltrated the big fair, kidnapped a number of its attendees and then decapitated them in brutal fashion. She then stuck their zombified heads on spikes, which marked the edges of her group's territory.
Alpha's victims: Ozzy and Alek (The Highwaymen), DJ, Frankie, Tammy, teenagers Adeline and Rodney, Enid, Tara and Henry. This list deviates from the source material, where Ezekiel and a pregnant Rosita were among the dead.
But while they were killed off in grisly fashion, they were last seen on screen in moments of heroism, as Siddiq explained how each of them joined together to fight off their attackers just before their deaths.
TooFab caught up with Enid herself, Katelyn Nacon, as she revealed when she found out her character's fate and hinted she may have kept her character's head for herself.
At what point did you learn you'd be one of the victims and what was that conversation like with the show runners?
I always knew it was a possibility that Enid would be one of the victims but didn’t find out until about a week before filming the actual episode. It was a relatively short conversation just about how I wanted to see Enid leave the show and all.
Were you surprised by some of the others who fell alongside you? It's a very different group than the comics.
Honestly, I had no clue who they were going to kill, so I would've been shocked if it went along with the comic books even.
You, in particular, got a badass moment in the final fight scene. Was it nice to go out in a shocking, but also heroic way?
Of course, it was good to leave on a fighting note, that was one of the main things I wanted to see from this episode for Enid.
What was the process like to make your head and your reaction to seeing it when it was all done?
It was really creepy. They put this slime substance all over my face that eventually hardens, and you have to peel off. Definitely don't want to do it again, but seeing my absolutely amazing decapitated head in the end made it all worth it.
Did you get to keep it?
We know everyone gets a goodbye dinner on this show, how was this one different, considering it was such a big group?
It was honestly just another night spent around amazing caring people, nothing too different.
Do you have a parting message to the fans out there who may be seriously bummed out right now?
I'm dead on the show, not in real life. I still have plenty more to give.
Last but not least, what's next for you?
Already have a new job in the works that I'm very excited about, so make sure to stay tuned!


Continuing their tradition of fantasy vacations and Roc diamond hand signs, The Carters jet off to Cambodia!
Let's stop what we're all doing right now and try to brighten up our post-holiday blues by living vicariously through Beyoncé's vacation pics, because they're far more fabulous than anything any of us are doing right now.
On the latest stop of the ultimate "Bey-cation," the Carters find themselves in Cambodia, and lucky for us, Queen B decided to share some of her sightseeing pics with her Beyhive.
Beyonce took in the sites, visiting some historic spots and mingling with locals.
She also looked positively regal posing at the Angkor Wat, one of the largest religious monuments in the world.
Fans caught Beyonce and Jay Z in action as they were spotted at the monument over the weekend acting like true tourists, taking pics, climbing stairs, and, of course throwing up those diamonds.
While in Thailand, they also went for a Vespa ride and hit up the beach, probably to warm themselves up from their recent stop in Iceland where they celebrated Jay's 45th birthday.
Bey sure had an endless stream of flawless vacation pics in 2014, so she definitely has a lot to live up to in 2015, but we have to say, she's off to a very good start.


Channel 4 has won the UK broadcast rights to Marvel’s Agents Of SHIELD.
Created by Joss Whedon, the eagerly-anticipated TV series premieres in the US on September 24 and Channel 4 will start showing episodes “soon after”, a press release confirms.
Marvel’s Agents Of SHIELD is the first ever live-action TV series from the studio behind The Avengers and revolves around a fictional worldwide law enforcement agency called SHIELD (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division).
Clark Gregg reprises his role as Agent Phil Coulson from last year’s The Avengers and Brett Dalton, Elizabeth Henstridge, Ian De Caestecker, Chloe Bennet and Ming-Na Wen play the select group of agents he assembles to handle strange new cases.


Jurickson Profar and minor leaguer Jared Hoying accounted for the two RBI hits with consecutive doubles in the seventh.
Rangers probable pitchers: LHP Robbie Ross, RHP Tanner Scheppers, RHP Joakim Soria, RHP Neftali Feliz.
White Sox probable pitchers: RHP Felipe Faulino, LHP Scott Snodgress, RHP Brian Omogross, RHP Deunte Heath, LHP Charlie Leesman, LHP David Purcey, RHP Nestor Molina.


Owners and insurers of a now-bankrupt Massachusetts pharmacy linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak have agreed to pay more than $100 million to compensate victims, families of victims and creditors.
The preliminary settlement announced on Monday, which requires court approval, would resolve many claims arising from tainted steroid injections linked to New England Compounding Pharmacy Inc of Framingham, Massachusetts.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 64 people died and 751 were sickened in 20 U.S. states by injections of methylprednisolone acetate, a drug typically used to ease back pain.
The outbreak occurred after NECC shipped tainted vials of the steroid to medical facilities throughout the United States.
NECC filed for bankruptcy protection Dec. 21, 2012, two months after shutting down as the outbreak began.
NECC’s owners, bankruptcy trustee Paul Moore and lawyers for a committee of unsecured NECC creditors also confirmed the settlement in a joint statement. The owners denied liability or wrongdoing.
Settlement funds are expected to come from the owners, insurers, tax refunds and proceeds from the sale of a related business.
“We are pleased that a significant amount of funds will become available for distribution to victims and their families as compensation for the deaths, injuries and suffering they endured as a result of this tragic meningitis outbreak,” said Moore, a partner at Duane Morris.
The accord requires final documentation and does not cover claims against various clinics that sold the tainted steroid or various vendors used by NECC.
According to NECC’s bankruptcy filing, the company’s equity shareholders were Carla Conigliaro with a 55 percent stake, Barry Cadden and Lisa Conigliaro Cadden each with a 17.5 percent stake, and Gregory Conigliaro with a 10 percent stake.
A lawyer for the owners did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case is In re: New England Compounding Pharmacy Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Massachusetts, No. 12-19882.


The public is ready to engage in a serious discussion regarding marijuana policy. It's unfortunate that their elected officials are not. The recent defeat of House Bill 103 on the Louisiana Senate floor epitomizes this divide between public sentiment and political action. Senators narrowly voted down this moderate reform measure, which sought to lessen criminal sentences for marijuana possession convictions from five years in jail to two (for second offenders) and from 20 years in jail to five (for third-time offenders).
Further, prior to voting down the measure, several senators in the chamber could be heard "inhaling and exhaling," according to media reports. Others chuckled and rolled their eyes.
While such juvenile behavior might be expected in the halls of junior high schools across America, we should expect better from our elected officials. Yet lawmakers' schizophrenic attitude toward pot and the public policies that punish the plant's users are, unfortunately, par for the course.
On the one hand, lawmakers act as if it is perfectly appropriate to publicly roll their eyes and crack jokes about cannabis on the Senate floor. Apparently, in their minds, marijuana -- and the criminal prosecution and jailing of those who use it -- is something to make light of. But on the other hand, lawmakers vote to uphold a public policy that maintains that the hemp plant is so potentially dangerous to society that it warrants incarcerating repeat offenders who consume it for up to 20 years in prison.
So which is it? Is pot just one big joke or is its possession and consumption criminal activity that warrants draconian sentences? Louisiana lawmakers apparently just can't make up their minds.
But a majority of the voting public has clearly done so. An April 2013 national survey commissioned by the Pew Research Center reports that 72 percent of Americans now believe that "government efforts to enforce marijuana laws cost more than they are worth," and a May 2013 Reason Magazine-Rupe nationwide survey -- conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International -- reported that more than nine out of 10 U.S. adults say that people who possess or consume small quantities of cannabis should not face any jail time at all. Moreover, recently published scientific surveys by respected pollsters Gallup, Pew, Quinnipiac University and Public Policy Polling all find that far more Americans now favor legalizing marijuana for adults than believe in its continued prohibition. Why? The answer has become obvious to virtually everyone but our elected officials.
The ongoing enforcement of cannabis prohibition financially burdens taxpayers, encroaches upon civil liberties, engenders disrespect for the law, impedes upon legitimate scientific research into the plant's medicinal properties and disproportionately impacts communities of color. Furthermore, the criminalization of cannabis simply doesn't work.
Despite more than 70 years of federal prohibition, Americans' consumption of and demand for cannabis is here to stay. Voters' recent passage of cannabis legalization measures in Colorado and Washington acknowledges this reality. These new, voter-approved laws intend to stop ceding control of the marijuana market to untaxed criminal enterprises and, instead, seek to impose common-sense regulations governing cannabis' personal use by adults and licensing its production. Unlike the federal government, which continues to define cannabis as an illegal commodity that is as equally dangerous as heroin, most Americans now recognize that a pragmatic regulatory framework that allows for limited, licensed production and sale of cannabis to adults but restricts use among young people best reduces the risks associated with its use or abuse.
Marijuana legalization is no longer a matter of if; it's a matter of when. It's time Louisiana lawmakers to get serious -- and to get with the program.
Paul Armentano is the deputy director for NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and is the co-author of the book, "Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?" (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2009). He is based in Vallejo, Calif.


HARDEEVILLE - The Hardeeville Police Department is investigating the Friday shooting death of Joseph Kilpatrick, 24, of Pineland. At 11:36 p.m., officers were called to an apartment in Jenny Green Apartments on Thatcher Road in response to reports of gunshots, according to police reports.
Kilpatrick was found on a couch in the apartment and was pronounced dead at the scene.
He had been living for a few weeks in the apartment in which his sister and her family lived. At the time of the shooting, Kilpatrick was watching TV and was alone in the house with her children, who were upstairs in the bedrooms, police said.
According to reports, three black men wearing masks entered the apartment through the rear door. Multiple gunshots were heard and the suspects fled the scene.
No further descriptions were available and no motive has been determined at this time.
Crime scene technicians with the State Law Enforcement Division responded and processed the crime scene.
Anyone with information is to contact Investigator Sgt. Alexis Webber at 226-0973 or Jasper County Dispatch at 784-6668.