As the Obama administration winds down more than a decade of war, the budget request — only fragments of which were released Thursday — is supposed to account for cuts of $487 billion in projected spending over the next 10 years.
Pentagon officials said their proposal represented tough choices, but the biggest cuts appeared to be in the Defense Department's plan to reduce the number of U.S. ground forces to slightly more than on Sept. 10, 2001, before the wars began.
At the same time, the department proposed increasing spending on technology and major weapons systems, after a strategic announcement earlier this month in which defense officials said they must be ready for all kinds of warfare and proposed greater use of unmanned aircraft and a more agile ground force.
It wants to raise spending on drones by 30 percent, delay spending on the costly and controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and fund a new bomber and a sea-based vessel that would allow drones and helicopters to take off from international waters. It wants to maintain current spending levels on missile defense and nuclear weapons while increasing spending on cybersecurity.
Tthe department sought to assert that it was simultaneously taking risks and not losing any conventional capability. It said it was responding to growing fiscal pressures because this proposal represented the biggest cut it had made in a decade.
Their proposal, officials have said, carries risks because the U.S. military no longer would be able to fight two wars simultaneously and might be required to make difficult decisions about military priorities.
"The primary risk lies not in what we can do but in how much we can do and how fast we can do it," said Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
For the 2013 fiscal year, the department requests a $525 billion base budget — a $6 billion decrease from the current budget — and an additional $88.4 billion in supplemental funding for the war in Afghanistan, down from $115 billion this year.
For 2014, the request for the base budget — which excludes war spending — jumps to $534 billion; by fiscal year 2017 it reaches $567 billion.
The department, which expanded the size of its ground forces quickly over the past decade to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plans to cut the Army by 2017 to 490,000 soldiers from the current 562,000. Over the same period, the Marines would shrink by 20,000 to 182,000.
That would still leave a larger military than before the wars started. In 2001, there were 480,000 soldiers and 180,000 Marines.
In line with the smaller forces, the Pentagon calls for retiring planes that transport troops, including 27 C-5As and 65 C-130s. The budget also proposes modest limits on pay raises that would take effect in 2015 — after the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan is expected to be over — and increases in health care premiums.
Panetta said the administration would ask Congress to authorize another round of cuts at U.S. military bases through the base realignment and closure process, which was last employed in 2005. He didn't offer specifics.
Regardless, the suggestion alone could spark outrage on Capitol Hill, especially in an election year. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that he wouldn't support closing domestic bases before U.S. bases in Europe were shuttered.
Rep. William "Mac" Thornberry, R-Texas, called the proposal for a new BRAC round "ridiculous, and there is likely little support in Congress for such a thing, on either side of the aisle or either side of the Capitol. It will cause disruptions across the services, yet offer little in terms of savings."
Announcing the results of a strategic review last month, the Defense Department said it would increase its focus on Asia. Its budget proposal reflects that, with spending for an 11th aircraft carrier and weapons system that could respond to China's growing military strength.
The department said it planned to cut two brigades from Europe and, according to Panetta, commit more troops to Asia, but he didn't offer specifics Thursday.
The department plans to save billions more by delaying production of the F-35, the most expensive weapons program in U.S. history. Bloomberg News reported that the projected expenditure on the system would be $9.2 billion, which would buy 29 of the fighters, 13 fewer than initially planned.
Officials said they hoped that the delay would give developers time to correct the myriad technical problems plaguing the program. But experts warn that prolonging production could raise its costs.
The Obama administration is expected to announce its full 2013 budget proposal in early February.


Sequester shmester. Judging by the number of construction cranes and bulldozers around these parts, the boom times have once again come to Charleston. Suddenly, there's a hotel boom on Upper King, while up in North Chuck, the new urban development at Mixson has finally crawled its way out of development hell. (Not only are they building new houses, but they're constructing a tennis and swim club.) And Mixson isn't the only Park Circle spot that is growing. The Oak Terrace Preserve neighborhood over by Academic Magnet and School of the Arts has just gotten started on its second wave of houses. And then there are the folks at Enough Pie, who think that the Neck and NoMo area are ripe for redevelopment, but judging by the thriving industrial businesses in the area and the delay of the highly touted 1600 Meeting Street arts complex, we're not sure that's going to happen anytime soon.


The following establishments that serve or prepare food were inspected by the Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services. The first score comprises critical violations, which must be corrected at the time of the violation or within 10 days. These violations are more likely to contribute to food contamination, illness or environmental health hazard. The second score comprises noncritical violations, which must be corrected by the next regular inspection. These violations pose less risk to the public.


Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said on Tuesday that if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad did not abide with efforts to establish a truce across Syria country, alternatives would need to be looked at.
"We believe we should have moved to a 'Plan B' a long time ago," Adel al-Jubeir told reporters after a meeting of foreign governments in Vienna.
"The choice about moving to an alternative plan, the choice about intensifying the military support (to the opposition) is entirely with the Bashar regime. If they do not respond to the treaties of the international community...then we will have to see what else can be done."


Belfast Giants coach Doug Christiansen aims to make a successful defence of the Elite League title.
The Odyssey team start their 2013/13 season in Scotland with a Challenge Cup game against Braehead Clan on Saturday night.
Scott Champagne, Greg Stewart and Graeme Walton also look ahead to the new campaign.


Schoolchildren across the Portsmouth area have been commemorating Remembrance over the last week. Here is how they remembered our fallen heroes.
Arundel Court Primary Academy in Portsmouth laid wreaths as part of their tribute to those who died in the First World War.
Deputy headteacher Rob Jones said: ‘Each class made a wreath and laid it in our school hall.
Schoolchildren in Gosport have been praised by their deputy headteacher for how they have approached the school’s remembrance commemorations.
The poppy display at the Tower of London was Copnor Primary School’s inspiration for their remembrance proceedings this year.
Pupils, parents and staff of Manor Infant School in Fratton designed an exhibition to teach children the significance of Remembrance Day.
Headteacher Ashley Howard said: ‘We wanted to raise the profile of the poppy, especially with it being 100 years since the end of the First World War.
A towering tribute was created by schoolchildren to honour all the men from Portsmouth killed during the First World War.
About 900 pupils from Miltoncross Academy united to create the impressive 8ft memorial.
The project was coordinated by teacher Mike Tumber, and has received praise from the academy’s principal, Fiona Calderbank.
She said: ‘I was very proud of all the students for wanting to take part in this project and for the respect that they have shown towards Portsmouth’s heritage.
Hundreds of children stood silently in the driving rain to pay their respects to all the area’s fallen war heroes killed in the First World War.
Children and teachers were joined by veterans, families of current-serving troops and the deputy mayor of Fareham.
Oliver Milnes, 15, read a story about a Fareham soldier killed during First World War, before thanking all of the veterans who had come to the ceremony for their military service.
‘It was a bit nerve-wracking but it felt good to stand up and pay my respects to the veterans,’ he said.
In honour of those who have lost their lives in wars and conflicts past and present, uniformed and public services students paraded through their college campus with pride.
Cadet Sargent Major Ivan Austin brought the parade to attention and dismissed the students.


"Laissez les bons temps rouler"
About Me Outgoing, I love to laugh and love being with people that I can laugh with, I love the outdoor life...and I live at the lake..cool huh?
Wild Fact About Me I don't think I know any...or have any...Oh no better get some..Oh yeah I'm a Poker playin Hippie Cowgirl...is that wild enough?
My Philosophy Let Love Be Your Highest Goal..
What/who changed my life and why the book "ROOTS" I cried for hours at what one human being can inflict on another.
Quotation "Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend and inside a dog it's too dark to read"
I come here once in a while. How have you been?
Very busy yesterday, Cloggers Christmas party. I sailed through the performance, my co- clogger didn't. I feel bad for her. HUGS to you! Enjoy the grandkids. God gave you something to enjoy the holidays with, no matter how they got there ya know?
I spent alot of time here this morning. It's a pretty neat place.
Thanks for adding me! I think we should get on as many sites as we can just because we can! LOL Hugs!


WOOSTER - Jo Anne Riley, 62, of Wooster passed away on Monday, February 11, 2019 at Ohio’s Hospice LifeCare in Wooster.
She was born October 22, 1956 in Elyria, the daughter of Joseph and Viola Libengood Kelly. She married David Alan Riley on May 1, 1982. He survives.
Jo Anne was an office administrator for Sustainable Foods, Inc. She loved rescuing dogs and adopting them. Jo Anne also enjoyed reading, and loved to spend time with her kids.
In addition to her husband, surviving are her children, Sarah (Tyler) Chapman and Jake Riley; siblings Mildred (Ron) Sutherland, Bonnie (Pete) Stiwald, Daryl (Evelyn) Kelly, and Randy (Linda) Kelly.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Larry Kelly.


La Jolla >> The Chico State men’s basketball team’s struggles continue as it fell for the second night in a row.
After falling to Cal State San Marcos by 18 points on Friday, the Wildcats suffered a lopsided 73-50 setback against UC San Diego Saturday night.
The Wildcats started the season out with a 9-2 stretch but have lost their third-straight game.
Chico State, making its return to RIMAC Arena, the site of last year’s West Region championship run, were hoping the location could spark a turnaround.
UC San Diego connected on its first six 3-pointers and 11 of its first 13 shots to race to a 30–11 lead and never looked back in a battle for third place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association standings.
The Wildcats shot just 29 percent (15-for-52), including 18 percent from beyond the arc (2-for-11).
Corey Silverstrom led the Wildcats with 11 points while Nate Ambrosini scored 10 and pulled down five rebounds.
Chico State starters combined to shoot just 25 percent from the field and fell behind 46-23 at the break.
The Wildcats (9-5, 6-4 CCAA) return home to host Cal State San Bernardino at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
UC San Diego 84, Chico State 48 >> The Tritons shot 54 percent from the field and posted 50 first-half points to overtake the Wildcats at RIMAC Arena.
Saturday’s loss — the most lopsided defeat since December 5, 1997, when the ’Cats fell 106-59 to Central Washington — snapped Chico State’s four-game winning streak and dropped the Wildcats to 8-6 overall and 6-4 in the CCAA.
UC San Diego won its ninth straight contest to improve to 13-2 on the season and 9-0 in conference play.
Madison Wong led Chico State collecting 12 points, McKena Barker and Aqeelah Williams scored seven points apiece, with Kayla Taylor and Brynn Thoming each adding six points.
The Wildcats shot 30.9 percent (17-55) from the field, and were out-rebounded by the Tritons 48-24.
Things actually got off to an encouraging start for Chico State. Baskets by Wong and Taylor gave the Wildcats an early 4-3 lead, only to see UC San Diego rip off a 15-0 run to jump out in front 18-4.
Before the quarter was over, the Tritons had connected for six 3-pointers, and even though Jo Paine and Vanessa Holland hit shots late in the period, the ’Cats trailed 30-10 heading into the second quarter.
Things didn’t get any better in the third quarter. The Tritons cooled off slightly on the offensive end, but on the defensive end, held the Wildcats without a field goal. Free throws by Wong and Whitney Branham were the lone Chico State points of the period, and UC San Diego boasted a commanding 69-26 lead into the fourth quarter.


Stock hits $19 per share, nearly half its original value, as major investors become eligible to sell their holdings.
Facebook’s stock plunged to a new low on Thursday after the expiration of a ban that had prevented some early investors and insiders from dumping millions of additional shares they own in the social-networking leader.
Major investment firms and several Facebook board members became eligible to sell their shares on Thursday, after the lifting of a ban known as a lock-up period. If many of them took advantage, Facebook’s stock could decline, because the market would be flooded with shares.
It's not yet known whether any of those investors had sold any stock because they have three business days to disclose sales, said Sam Hamadeh, the CEO of PrivCo, which researches privately held companies.
But many of them likely did, he said. "A lot of people have been waiting," Hamadeh said. "Facebook was expected to go public a long time ago."
Venture capitalists who invested in Facebook as early as 2005 were likely itching to sell at the earliest opportunity. Though the company is trading at about half of its IPO price, Hamadeh said Facebook's stock is still very expensive.
"With VCs, they know that waiting for a better price is a fool’s game," he said.
Thursday was only the first of several lock-up expiration dates for Facebook’s stock. The biggest one is coming in the fall.
Only 271 million shares became eligible for trading Thursday, but by the time all the lockups expire, that'll come to 1.91 billion. That’s nearly four times the 421 million shares that had been trading since Facebook began trading publicly 90 days ago.
Facebook's stock traded as low as $19.69 before bouncing back to $20.14 in afternoon trading Thursday. That’s still 5 per cent down, or $1.06, from Wednesday’s close, and about 47 per cent below its initial public offering price of $38. If the stock hits $19, it will have lost half its value since Facebook went public in May.
By 1:30 pm EDT [2030 GMT], nearly 120 million shares had traded, nearly four times the average volume on a full day.
It has been a rough run for Facebook. After one of the most-anticipated IPOs in history, Facebook suffered what may be the most-botched public offering as trading glitches marred its first day.
Investors have since been concerned about Facebook's ability to keep increasing revenue and make money from its growing mobile audience, even as many analysts hold positive long-term views.
Those eligible to sell stock on Thursday were the investors and directors who had participated in the May IPO. The exception was CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who will be ineligible until November. Microsoft, an early Facebook investor, was eligible to sell, though it was unlikely to do so because of partnerships it has with the social network.
Lock-up periods prevent insiders from unloading shares too close to an IPO and can help prevent volatility that might occur if too many shareholders decide to sell a newly traded stock all at once. They generally start to expire 90 days after a stock makes its public debut. Thursday marked 90 days since Facebook’s began trading publicly on May 18.
Other shareholders, including many Facebook employees, will be able to sell beginning in October. The last lockup period expires next May, a year after the IPO.
Facebook’s stock is likely to be volatile until the end of the year when the majority of the lockups expire. Hamadeh called them a "dark cloud on the horizon."
"There is no way around it. It'll be painful," he said. "But hopefully once that selling pressure is gone, it will find its floor and could be a basis for a more stable stock through 2013."


Hollywood superstar Christian Slater was spotted in Glasgow filming today for his upcoming movie “The Wife”.
The A-lister, 47, was joined by co-star Glenn Close, 69, and the pair was seen shooting scenes at a former hospital in the city centre.
Close earned a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians.
But yesterday the actress was much more pooch-friendly, seen walking her dog Pip in between shooting.
Close’s four-legged friend has been treated lavishly on the trip as well, being chauffeured in a luxury people-carrier and flying in to the airport on the actress’s lap.
He even has his own Instagram account, where he’s affectionately referred to as Sir Pippin on Beanfield.
Despite her celebrated role as Dalmatians’ greatest-ever villain, Close is a well-known animal lover.
In 2007 she and her husband, David Shaw, co-founded FetchDog, an Internet catalogue of dog accessories.
Christian Slater, who last year won his first Golden Globe for his role in the series “Mr Robot”, has also been enjoying Glasgow.
He was seen tucking into some shortbread while on set.
On Sunday he visited the Riverside museum to get a glimpse of the city’s historic ship-building heritage.
New drama “The Wife” tells the story of a writer who decides to leave her husband while traveling to receive an award.
It will also feature English actor Jeremy Irons and actress Frances McDormand, who has starred in numerous critically acclaimed films such as Fargo and Almost Famous.
Close’s daughter, 28-year-old Annie Stark, will also star in the movie, playing her mother’s younger double.


Officers have begun pulling over and questioning drivers in four Michigan counties in the hopes of catching a man suspected of shooting at other motorists nearly two dozen times over the past two weeks, including one driver who was wounded over the weekend.
Officers are searching for anything out of the norm during their traffic stops in Oakland, Livingston, Ingham and Shiawassee counties, where the suspect is believed to have fired on 22 other vehicles since Oct. 16, said Lt. Mike Shaw, of the state police post in Brighton.
Witnesses have described the suspect's vehicle as resembling a dark 1998 Oldsmobile Alero or a 1998 Toyota Camry. Police on Monday stopped the driver of a dark-colored Chevy Cavalier after a woman reported that something hit her car on U.S. 23 near Brighton.
"We've had 22 victims that have tried to identify a vehicle traveling at 60 to 70 mph," he said. "We're looking for more suspicious activities that go with four-door vehicles and those darker in color -- somebody that's pulled over on the side of a road or coming out of a wood line on the side of a freeway. Or if you see the same car driving around with no sense of purpose.
"We'd rather check that out and err on the side of caution."
Shaw didn't have any totals on the number of cars stopped, but said drivers "have been more than cooperative."
More than 100 local police, sheriff's deputies, state troopers and federal agents are involved in the investigation, which began with reported shootings in Wixom, about 25 miles northwest of Detroit.
A western Michigan man was shot in the buttocks Saturday while driving to Detroit along Interstate 96 in Livingston County. He is the only person wounded so far, but the suspect is believed to be shooting at people -- not just their vehicles, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Tuesday.
"It's been more of the grace of God than the guy intentionally missing people," Bouchard said. "We've had people who have been missed (by) inches. One bullet was lodged in a driver's seat."
The suspect is believed to be shooting at vehicles approaching from the opposite direction, Shaw said.
Some motorists didn't realize their vehicles had been hit until a quarter-mile or more later.
A task force put together to investigate the shootings has received more than 800 tips, including 200 that came in after the reward money for information that leads to an arrest was increased Monday from $12,000 to $102,000, Bouchard said.
Authorities say it's imperative that they catch the suspect not only to protect lives, but to stop the spread of fear affecting everyday life.
"For Halloween, we are going to do special patrols in each of our subdivisions so kids can have a normal Halloween," said Clarence Goodlein, Wixon's public safety director. "We're not going to be in the business of letting a thug and hoodlum bully us and change the course of our lives."


But while disruptive opportunities abound for AI, there’s also no shortage of challenges to overcome. Anyone who has tried their hand at training a fledgling AI will tell you, there’s one hurdle that eclipses them all: removing a human from the loop.
It’s no secret that scaling AI typically involves human agents operating as a safety net, working in the background and ready to take the controls when a bot gets stuck. Even Facebook, an early pioneer in AI and intelligent chatbots, needs an occasional human hand to ensure a high-quality user experience.
While this offers an effective way to get AI off the ground, complete autonomy is the ultimate goal. How do you get there? As we learned firsthand building Mezi, it starts with picking the right vertical and then mastering the hand-off.
One of the greatest misconceptions about the field of artificial intelligence is that there will be “one AI to rule them all.” In reality, we’re far more likely to see an AI landscape dotted with countless highly specialized AIs than one dominated by artificial general intelligence (AGI).
For this reason, picking the right vertical — the right type of specialization — is one of the most important decisions to make. When we first launched Mezi, we focused on a specific experience (shopping) and tested it on a handful of verticals, such as fashion, gifting, and travel. We quickly learned that the travel industry has all of the key ingredients for training and scaling an AI.
For one, the travel industry is highly fragmented. There’s no single app that can take care of booking and coordinating travel experiences from start to finish, from booking tickets to building itineraries. The industry is also highly commoditized. It’s easy to parse the different attributes of flights, hotels, cars, tours, and the like because the metadata is already out there in a structured format that AI can easily work with.
This is the type of environment where an AI can thrive. By employing natural language processing (NLP), deep learning, and neural networks, we can more easily understand user intent, action, location, and other attributes with high degrees of accuracy. This structured environment also makes it easier to understand user preferences and run a series of machine learning algorithms to provide highly personalized recommendations.
Another useful attribute to consider when selecting a vertical for an AI is the extent of business use cases in the market. In the case of travel, a considerable portion of the market is driven by business travelers. This not only creates an opportunity for repeat use and interaction — key goals for any software application — but it also means there’s a precedent for personal assistants. Business travelers already rely upon assistants to help them with booking trips, which makes them more likely to adopt a technology solution that can help them do the job better and faster.
It’s also important to keep in mind that making the leap from human-supported machines to fully autonomous humanlike machines is not some momentous, “flipping the switch” event — it’s an evolution that takes place one small hand-off at a time.
When we first launched Mezi, almost every single user interaction involved a human operating behind the scenes. We hired people who were cool, calm, and experienced customer happiness specialists and put them behind the wheel. Then we started building an AI that watched and learned from their interactions with customers — their tone, word choices, emojis, everything.
Before long, we began handing off some of these tasks to the Mezi AI — at first, simple parts of the human agents’ workflow, then ratcheting up to more complex tasks from there. Each time the AI takes on a new task, the human is freed up to focus on more complex challenges and identify new areas for the AI to study.
When we launched a pilot with one of the world’s largest financial services companies in early 2017, for instance, we experienced a massive spike in traffic and our AI — which by then was doing quite well — started to stumble. Our NLP systems weren’t prepared for such diversity in requests. Luckily, we had plenty of humans on hand to save the day and to train our NLP systems. We iterated almost every hour to make our AI smarter.
In the end, the event served as a useful stress test, helping us identify new areas for future strategy and improvement. It also served as an important lesson to start small and scale over time.
When scaling AI, don’t go and code in your entire interaction from the get-go. Instead, bootstrap it with humans and then learn to master the hand-off. This approach gives your AI an important scaffolding for getting itself off the ground and creating a codified system to iterate on quickly. Then, as the AI scales and gets smarter, simply remove one set of training wheels and trade them in for the next.
Snehal Shinde is the CTO and cofounder of Mezi, the travel and shopping app.


According to one study, eating kiwi fruit before bed helps deep sleep. But which other foodstuffs may aid a long and peaceful slumber?
Ahead of World Sleep Day next week – an awareness-raising exercise that should surely be renamed World Sleep Night – there has been increased focus on how much sleep we should be getting (more than we probably are) and how to get it. The event has prompted the strange claim that eating two kiwi fruits before bed leads to better kip – the result of a 2011 study at the Taipei Medical University – to resurface. However, the study was also “supported” by the world’s largest marketer of kiwi fruit, and had just 24 participants. Kiwis do have high levels of serotonin, which is critical to sleep – but what other foods could help?
Turkey and chicken contain high levels of tryptophan, which also boosts serotonin. “Foods that are high in tryptophan and vitamin B6 will help you make melatonin, the sleep hormone,” says Nerina Ramlakhan, sleep expert and author of Fast Asleep, Wide Awake. Other good sources of both are beans, lentils, cheese, tofu, tuna, eggs, whole grains, nuts and seeds.
Or you could consume melatonin itself. “This would include things such as tart cherries, cherry juice and oats,” says Ramlakhan.
“Foods that are high in potassium and magnesium help to relax the muscles because a lot of people suffer from things such as restless legs,” says Ramlakhan. Good sources of magnesium include whole grains, nuts and dark green leafy vegetables. Potassium-rich foods include bananas, potatoes, apricots and milk.
A study last year by the University of Colorado Boulder found that prebiotic fibre, found in foods such as chickpeas, artichokes and leeks, and which feed “good” bacteria in the gut, may improve sleep. The study was done on rats, so it is too early to say whether it could work in humans.
A Columbia University study, using 26 volunteers, found that a diet rich in fibre – foods such as beans, lentils, berries and whole grains – may lead to better sleep, while a diet with a “greater intake of saturated fat and lower intake of fibre were associated with a lighter, less deep sleep profile”.
Anyone who has gorged on a giant Sunday lunch will know just how sleepy it can make you afterwards, but smaller, regular meals are important for improved sleep, says Ramlakhan. “A lot of people feel sleepy after a big meal because they overeat and the rate of change in their blood sugar stimulates the insulin response which sedates them,” she says. “It’s not just what you eat, it’s also your patterns of eating that make a difference. Make sure you eat breakfast – it stabilises blood sugar and minimises your production of adrenaline.” It will help produce melatonin later on.


MELBOURNE man Lachlan Preston will go a long way to achieve a coveted Baden Powell Award – 1040 kilometres to be exact. The award – the highest accolade a Scout can achieve – is reached by completing four challenges and can take years to finish. Mr Preston is halfway through completing his first challenge, the Rambles challenge, riding from Sydney to Melbourne in 11 days. He has roped three of his mates into joining him on the 1040km trip and the group is doubling it up as a fundraiser for charity organisation Bicycles for Humanity. Bicycles for Humanity is a not-for-profit organisation which collects old and disused bikes and ships them off to developing nations. The struggling communities use the bikes to improve basic mobility for access to healthcare and education. “(The ride) is for Rovers, but we thought once we got the idea up and going we would get Bicycles for Humanity on board,” Mr Preston said yesterday just after the group arrived in Wagga. “If we were riding that far we thought we may as well do something for charity as well. “At the time we were looking for a charity we saw (Bicycles for Humanity) on the 7.30 Report and we thought it was perfect. “They get a lot of bikes donated already so they were pretty keen for the monetary donations we could get.” The group has set a target of $5000 to be donated to Bicycles for Humanity by the end of the trip, and has already received $1099 for the campaign. Mr Preston says once the actual ride is out of the way he will turn his attention to raising money. The group took off from Cootamundra yesterday morning and arrived in Wagga at lunchtime to mark the halfway point of the journey. The riders left from Sydney on Saturday and plan to ride into Melbourne on Wednesday, when the four adventurers can finally put their feet up and recuperate. Mr Preston says everything appears to be on schedule and the riding has been enjoyable. Anyone wishing to add to the donation pile can do so by visiting www.everydayhero.com.au/sydney_to_melb_ramblers.
MELBOURNE man Lachlan Preston will go a long way to achieve a coveted Baden Powell Award – 1040 kilometres to be exact.
The award – the highest accolade a Scout can achieve – is reached by completing four challenges and can take years to finish.
Mr Preston is halfway through completing his first challenge, the Rambles challenge, riding from Sydney to Melbourne in 11 days.
He has roped three of his mates into joining him on the 1040km trip and the group is doubling it up as a fundraiser for charity organisation Bicycles for Humanity.
Bicycles for Humanity is a not-for-profit organisation which collects old and disused bikes and ships them off to developing nations.
The struggling communities use the bikes to improve basic mobility for access to healthcare and education.
“(The ride) is for Rovers, but we thought once we got the idea up and going we would get Bicycles for Humanity on board,” Mr Preston said yesterday just after the group arrived in Wagga.
“If we were riding that far we thought we may as well do something for charity as well.
“At the time we were looking for a charity we saw (Bicycles for Humanity) on the 7.30 Report and we thought it was perfect.
The group has set a target of $5000 to be donated to Bicycles for Humanity by the end of the trip, and has already received $1099 for the campaign.
Mr Preston says once the actual ride is out of the way he will turn his attention to raising money.
The group took off from Cootamundra yesterday morning and arrived in Wagga at lunchtime to mark the halfway point of the journey.
The riders left from Sydney on Saturday and plan to ride into Melbourne on Wednesday, when the four adventurers can finally put their feet up and recuperate.
Mr Preston says everything appears to be on schedule and the riding has been enjoyable.
Anyone wishing to add to the donation pile can do so by visiting www.everydayhero.com.au/sydney_to_melb_ramblers.


JOHANNESBURG, Aug 28 (Reuters) - South African poultry producer RCL Foods’ reported a 50 percent jump in full-year profits on Tuesday, saying the restructure of its chicken business and growth in its grocery unit helped it improve its performance.
Diluted headline earning per share (HEPS) rose to 94.5 cents for the year ended June 2018, from 63 cents in the previous year. HEPS is the main profit gauge in South Africa, which strips out certain one-off items.
At RCL’s chicken unit, earnings before interest, tax, amortisation and depreciation (EBITDA) rose to 466.8 million rand ($32 million) from 57.1 million rand in the year earlier period, boosted by the company’s revised business model, cost cutting and profits from the sale of dormant farms.
“Everything that we have put in place regarding our chicken business is paying dividends and we have weathered some significant storms,” RCL Foods’ Chief Financial Officer Rob Field told Reuters.
RCL, which produces poultry, sugar and other foods, said in 2016 it would cut poultry production and staff numbers as part of a restructuring effort amid stiff competition from imports from Brazil, Europe and the United States.
Despite the improvement in its chicken unit the company faced challenges during the financial year including outbreaks of avian flu and listeria.
South Africa’s listeria outbreak in January last year, the world’s largest ever outbreak of the food-borne disease, killed more than 200 people and infected more than 1,000.
The health department recalled processed meat products known as “polony”, which RCL also produces, after the source of the outbreak was traced to a factory owned by Tiger Brands unit Enterprise Foods in March this year.
RCL Foods said the listeria outbreak resulted in a 158.2 million rand negative impact during the year ended June 2018.
The company said its groceries business reported a 15.4 percent rise in EBITDA to 518.4 million rand benefiting from favourable commodity prices.


Note: Following are questions submitted by The Daily Reflector to Pitt County district attorney candidate Faris Dixon and Dixon’s responses. District attorney is a countywide race in which all voters may cast ballots on Nov. 6 and in early voting, which is ongoing through Nov. 3.
Political Philosophy: I believe it is important to serve the public and provide honest and transparent leadership to the community.
■ Why are you running for district attorney and what distinguishes you from your opponent?
I am running for district attorney because I want to clean up the mess that my opponent and the current administration have made of the office. Glenn Perry is endorsed by District Attorney Kimberly Robb, and neither of them have provided leadership. They continue to contribute to the decline of the office and have no desire to improve it. Perry is unable to see those deficiencies and lacks the will and strength to clean up the office. As a well-balanced attorney I will bring back honesty, integrity and transparency to the office. I will take the politics out of the office and return it to the citizens of Pitt County.
My top priority is to protect the citizens of Pitt County. I will ensure the victims voices are heard by assembling an experienced staff. I will improve domestic violence cases by making sure that the attorney has knowledge and understanding of the cycle of violence. I will form the first mental health court east of I-95 by utilizing partnerships and other resources in the community. I will petition the Administrative Office of the Courts and the legislature to get additional funding to expand the drug court and address the opioid crisis. I will petition the Administrative Office of the Courts and the legislature to raise of the age of juveniles from 16 to 18 years.
■ In recent years there has been discussion about the need to emphasize treatment over incarceration for people with drug additions. Is this the correct approach? What challenges are involved and how can you overcome them?
When it comes to drug addiction, we must understand that addicts are in a constant state of recovery; therefore, no one’s addiction or treatment is the same. We must take a multifaceted approach to address it: through education, rehabilitation and when necessary incarceration. One of the challenges involved is lack of funding for drug court. I will address funding issues by obtaining grants and renewing support from the legislature which will better serve our community. Perry and the current administration have had no desire to help.
■ The majority of people arrested, charged and prosecuted for crimes in Pitt County are black, perpetuating the conviction among many African-Americans that the justice system is inherently biased against them. How do you respond to constituents who hold that point of view?
I listen to the constituents as they address their concerns about the present administration’s biases. I inform them that the office will be transparent. All cases will be handled on an individual and factual basis regardless of socioeconomic status. I reassure them that honesty and integrity will be returned to the office.
■ What steps can be taken to address the reality of the disproportionate number of black people, young men in particular, commit crimes?
Statistically all races commit crimes at about the same rate. The initiatives I will put in place will work to reduce recidivism by linking young men with outreach organizations in the community. I will work with community resources to provide educational and or vocational skills to link them with opportunities to learn to acquire entrepreneurial financial skills.
■ Do you think it is appropriate for a monument to confederate dead to stand on the grounds of the Pitt County Courthouse?
The district attorney’s office prosecutes criminal cases that are determined to have violated the N.C. General Statutes. The district attorney’s office has no control over placement of the monument. The placement of the monument on courthouse grounds is determined by the state legislature, the Pitt County Board of Commissioners and the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office.
■ Should the district attorney’s Office reduce the number of times it lowers the severity of charges against criminal suspects in order to obtain convictions? How would that impact the efficient administration of justice?
The purpose of the district attorney’s office is not to obtain convictions but the administration of justice. Through the course of the administration of justice it is sometimes necessary to reduce the severity of the charges. However, there should be a limit to the number of times. The facts and the evidence must support the new lowered charges. By making sure that the facts, the evidence and the new charges agree should speed up the process. According to WRAL, currently the Pitt County District Attorney’s Office dismisses or reduces 51 percent of its felony cases. This should not be an acceptable practice.
■ A common criticism of the criminal justice system is that the same people continue to commit crimes even after they are convicted multiple times. How can the district attorney’s Office better address recidivism?
We can address recidivism by linking individuals with community programs that will assist them with understanding their behaviors, while providing alternative options. The expansion of drug court will result in more people entering the program. Through education and rehabilitation people will obtain a better understanding of their addiction and maintain recovery status. Through mental health court individuals will come to understand that their mental problems could be the underlying cause for their criminal behavior. By understanding this connection, it will help individuals maintain their equilibrium.


Post Tagged with: "Socialist Action"
The following statement was presented at a recent meeting of Socialist Action (CWI in Hong Kong) to discuss the important political shifts taking place at the start of 2017.
Hong Kong: CY Leung forced out!
Now let’s change the whole corrupt system!


Maude Kerns Art Center�s annual �Art for All Seasons� exhibit and Club Mud Ceramics Holiday Show & Sale kicks off with a reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at 1910 E. 15th Ave. The exhibit features work by 75 of the center�s member artists, including painters Sarkis Antikajian and Patti McNutt (�Preston,� above), illustration artist Erika Beyer, sculptor and installation artist Martha Snyder and ceramicist Laura Jackson.
Prints from plates made by Eugene artist Tallmadge Doyle for the new Ford Alumni Center at the University of Oregon go on display Tuesday and run through Dec. 24 at the Karin Clarke Gallery in its new space in the Art Annex, 749 Willamette St. Doyle�s new work looks at Oregon�s flora and fauna in her delicate, almost Baroque artistic style. A reception will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 7.


"I want the mark I place upon the earth to be a positive one."
About Me I enjoy exploration and learning in general. I read, I sing, I express myself through art, and capture most things with my camera, because they are worth keeping and the human memory loses photographic details fifteen seconds after viewing any given thing.
Wild Fact About Me I am left handed, double- jointed in my left thumb, and paint with both hands.
My Philosophy No living being is more significant than another.
What Gives Me Hope The fire inside :).
What/who changed my life and why Pay It Forward, well, it's pretty obvious.


Menacing or cuddly, depending on how you look at him.
Meta Knight's Up Special Move, Shuttle Loop, changed quite a bit in this game. The glide is gone, and the attack slashes opponents twice while spinning in a large loop. This has turned into a highly technical and effective move.


The latest outbreak was swiftly contained by a fast, decisive response, acting as a model for containing infectious diseases in remote places.
As anti-climaxes go, it was a most welcome one. On May 11, the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) notified the World Health Organization that one of its citizens had been infected with the Ebola virus. The announcement marked the start of the country’s first Ebola outbreak since the historically unprecedented West African epidemic that infected 28,000 people between 2014 and 2016, and killed more than 11,000.
But after just 42 days, it was all over.
With the last confirmed patient having tested negative for the virus for the second time in a row, the WHO declared an end to the outbreak on Sunday. Just four people had died, and just four more had become infected.
But just as importantly, once the first cases were confirmed, the response was fast, decisive, and coordinated—all qualities that were initially missing in West Africa. The DRC response shows that when everything goes right, Ebola can be quickly brought to heel, even when it hits poor, remote places. “With the end of this epidemic, DRC has once again proved to the world that we can control the very deadly Ebola virus if we respond early in a coordinated and efficient way,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s new Director-General, in a statement.
The symptoms of Ebola are greatly exaggerated in the popular press. It’s not a disease of apocalyptic hemorrhaging from every orifice, and symptoms can easily be mistaken for other maladies. In this case, the first patient—a 45-year-old man who contracted the virus on 22 April—initially went to see a traditional healer. When that didn’t work, he took a taxi to a health center—and died on the way. (Both the driver, and a third individual who cared for the man, also eventually died.) The center quickly suspected Ebola and immediately sent samples to a national laboratory in Kinshasa. The staff there had the right knowledge, training, and connections—they ran some preliminary tests while also calling international colleagues. Rimoin flew over with the latest diagnostics.
After the first positive case was confirmed, the government immediately notified the WHO, which activated their emergency protocols. That inaccessibility of Likati was both a blessing and a curse—it made it harder for the virus to spread, but also harder for health workers to reach the infected zone. Fortunately, after the sluggish response to the West African Ebola epidemic, the WHO had set up a $41 million contingency fund to ensure that money would be readily available for future emergencies. This fund allowed them and other organizations to quickly rent helicopters for flying personnel, generators, and supplies into Likati. “Within 24 hours, we could start airlifting,” says Ibrahima-Soce Fall, director of the health security and emergencies cluster at the WHO’s African office.
The team set up a base camp and field lab in the grounds of a former convent. Health workers immediately started tracking anyone who had contact with infected individuals, eventually tracing 583 such contacts. There weren’t any good maps of the area, so the volunteers used their cellphones to start charting the region. They spread out through the region’s villages to improve accessibility by fixing bridges and forest tracks. With training from UNICEF and the WHO, they taught local communities how to stop Ebola from spreading, how to safely bury people who die from the disease, and how to disinfect affected homes.
The outbreak may be over, but the response continues. For the next 90 days, the WHO will continue to strengthen health services in the region, to ensure that local volunteers are trained to spot possible symptoms should the disease arise again. That, after all, is what preparedness is all about. A country’s ability to control diseases in a crisis depends on everything that it sets in place during peace-time.


Margo MacDonald burst on to the Scottish political scene when she won a stunning victory at the 1973 Govan by-election.
The SNP win - in a hitherto staunchly Labour seat - was a massive boost to the Nationalist cause.
Margo, then a 30-year old trainee physical education teacher from Lanarkshire, was dubbed the Blonde Bombshell of Scottish politics.
Her stint in Westminster was short-lived. She lost the seat at the General Election four months later but her impact was immense.
The 1974 Election saw 11 SNP MPs returned to Westminster. Although she was not one of them she was voted in as Deputy Leader of the Party, a post she held for five years.
Her politics were always left of centre and she was a forceful campaigner for Scottish independence.
She married former Labour MP JIm Sillars who switched to the SNP and, by coincidence, won the Govan seat for the Nationalist in 1988 - 15 years after his wife's victory.
In 1982 she resigned from the SNP in protest at the proscription of the Socialist 79 Group, of which she had been a member.
But she returned to the fold in the 1990s and was elected as an SNP member to the Scottish Parliament in 1999, representing the Lothians.
Her support for Alex Neil in the 2000 leadership contest saw her marginalised and her decision to stand as an Independent saw her leave the party acrimoniously in 2003.
Since then she stood successfully under the Independent banner at three elections and in 2007 lost out to Alex Fergusson in a bid to become Parliamentary Presiding Officer.
But the last 18 years of her life have been dominated by her battle against Parkinson's Disease and her bid to introduce a right-to-die Bill at Holyrood.
She said of her campaign: "The possibility of having the worst form of the disease at the end of life has made me think about unpleasant things.
"I feel strongly that, in the event of losing my dignity or being faced with the prospect of a painful or protracted death, I should have the right to choose to curtail my own, and my family's, suffering."
Her bill has twice been defeated at the Parliament.
Margo was born in 1943 and lived in the East Kilbride area during her childhood. When she was 22 she married her first husband Peter MacDonald and the two ran a pub in Blantyre for a few years.
She has four children, one of whom Petra is married to Craig Reid of the Proclaimers.


Cutting Iran's link to the Mediterranean Sea is a strategic prize worth the risk.
We’re not done with the possibility of an Israeli strike on Iran. Given that the current round of negotiations with the world’s major powers will not fundamentally change Iran’s nuclear program, the question of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is likely to return to center stage later this year. In addition to hard-headed diplomacy and economic sanctions, there is an important step the United States can take to change Israel’s calculations — helping the people of Syria in their battle against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Iran’s nuclear program and Syria’s civil war may seem unconnected, but in fact they are inextricably linked. Israel’s real fear — losing its nuclear monopoly and therefore the ability to use its conventional forces at will throughout the Middle East — is the unacknowledged factor driving its decision-making toward the Islamic Republic. For Israeli leaders, the real threat from a nuclear-armed Iran is not the prospect of an insane Iranian leader launching an unprovoked nuclear attack on Israel that would lead to the annihilation of both countries. It’s the fact that Iran doesn’t even need to test a nuclear weapon to undermine Israeli military leverage in Lebanon and Syria. Just reaching the nuclear threshold could embolden Iranian leaders to call on their proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, to attack Israel, knowing that their adversary would have to think hard before striking back.
That is where Syria comes in. It is the strategic relationship between the Islamic Republic and the Assad regime that makes it possible for Iran to undermine Israel’s security. Over the three decades of hostility between Iran and Israel, a direct military confrontation has never occurred — but through Hezbollah, which is sustained and trained by Iran via Syria, the Islamic Republic has proven able to threaten Israeli security interests.
The collapse of the Assad regime would sunder this dangerous alliance. Defense Minister Ehud Barak, arguably the most important Israeli decision-maker on this question, recently told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that the Assad regime’s fall "will be a major blow to the radical axis, major blow to Iran…. It’s the only kind of outpost of the Iranian influence in the Arab world … and it will weaken dramatically both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza."
The rebellion in Syria has now lasted more than a year. The opposition is not going away, and it is abundantly clear that neither diplomatic pressure nor economic sanctions will force Assad to accept a negotiated solution to the crisis. With his life, his family, and his clan’s future at stake, only the threat or use of force will change the Syrian dictator’s stance. Absent foreign intervention, then, the civil war in Syria will only get worse as radicals rush in to exploit the chaos there and the spillover into Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey intensifies.
U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has been understandably wary of engaging in an air operation in Syria similar to the campaign in Libya, for three main reasons. Unlike the Libyan opposition forces, the Syrian rebels are not unified and do not hold territory. The Arab League has not called for outside military intervention as it did in Libya. And the Russians, the longtime patron of the Assad regime, are staunchly opposed.
Libya was an easier case. But other than the laudable result of saving many thousands of Libyan civilians from Muammar al-Qaddafi’s regime, it had no long-lasting consequences for the region. Syria is harder — but success there would be a transformative event for the Middle East. Not only would another ruthless dictator succumb to mass popular opposition, but Iran would no longer have a Mediterranean foothold from which to threaten Israel and destabilize the region.
A successful intervention in Syria would require substantial diplomatic and military leadership from the United States. Washington should start by declaring its willingness to work with regional allies like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey to organize, train, and arm Syrian rebel forces. The announcement of such a decision would, by itself, likely cause substantial defections from the Syrian military. Then, using territory in Turkey and possibly Jordan, U.S. diplomats and Pentagon officials could start strengthening and unifying the opposition. Once the opposition knows real outside help is on the way, it should be possible over time to build a coherent political leadership based on the Syrian National Council as well as a manageable command and control structure for the Free Syrian Army, both of which are now weak and divided. This will be difficult and time-consuming, but we should remember that the Syrian civil war is now destined to go on for years, whether the outside world intervenes or not.
A second step worth serious consideration is to secure international support for a coalition air operation. Russia will never support such a mission, so there is no point operating through the U.N. Security Council. And given the reluctance of some European states, NATO may be difficult as well. Therefore, this operation will have to be a unique combination of Western and Middle East countries. Given Syria’s extreme isolation within the Arab League, it should be possible to gain strong support from most Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia and Turkey. U.S. leadership is indispensable, since most of the key countries will follow only if Washington leads.
Some worry that U.S. involvement risks a confrontation with Russia. However, the Kosovo example — where NATO went to war against another Russian ally, while Moscow did little more than complain — shows otherwise. In that case, Russia had genuine ethnic and political ties to the Serbs, which don’t exist between Russia and Syria. Managing Russia’s reaction to outside intervention will be difficult but should not be exaggerated.
Arming the Syrian opposition and creating a coalition air force to support them is a low-cost, high-payoff approach. Whether an air operation should just create a no-fly zone that grounds the regimes’ aircraft and helicopters or actually conduct air to ground attacks on Syrian tanks and artillery should be the subject of immediate military planning. And as Barak, the Israeli defense minister, also noted, Syria’s air defenses may be better than Libya’s but they are no match for a modern air force.
The larger point is that as long as Washington stays firm that no U.S. ground troops will be deployed, à la Kosovo and Libya, the cost to the United States will be limited. Victory may not come quickly or easily, but it will come. And the payoff will be substantial. Iran would be strategically isolated, unable to exert its influence in the Middle East. The resulting regime in Syria will likely regard the United States as more friend than enemy. Washington would gain substantial recognition as fighting for the people in the Arab world, not the corrupt regimes.
With the Islamic Republic deprived of its gateway to the Arab world, the Israelis’ rationale for a bolt from the blue attack on its nuclear facilities would diminish. A new Syrian regime might eventually even resume the frozen peace talks regarding the Golan Heights.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah would be cut off from its Iranian sponsor, since Syria would no longer be a transit point for Iranian training, assistance, and missiles. All these strategic benefits combined with the moral purpose of saving tens of thousands of civilians from murder at the hands of the Assad regime — some 12,000 have already been killed, according to activists — make intervention in Syria a calculated risk, but still a risk worth taking.
With the veil of fear now lifted, the Syrian people are determined to fight for their freedom. America can and should help them — and by doing so help Israel and help reduce the risk of a far more dangerous war between Israel and Iran.


If the past is a foreign country, then old cookbooks are some of the best passports we have. Consider, for example, the advice on how to choose beef in Amelia Simmons's 1796 American Cookery. "The large stall fed ox beef is the best, it has a coarse open grain, and oily smoothness; dent it with your finger and it will immediately rise again; if old, it will be rough and spongy, and the dent remain. Cow Beef is less boned, and generally more tender and juicy than the ox, in America, which is used to labor."
That's more than a description of meat; it's a picture of a vanished culinary world. When American Cookery appeared, cooks still knew their butchers, and expected to be able to lift and turn and prod a roast before buying. The meat itself might have been hauled to market in wagons pulled by oxen that would one day be meat themselves, over roads so rutted that they were best traversed when frozen.
Today, we worry about the costs of transporting corn-fed cattle. Could we still use a guide to beef written when cattle were the transport? To find out, I call Dave the Butcher.
When I first met Dave Budworth, he was breaking down half a grass-fed steer—outside. On a chicken farm. During a driving rainstorm. It was a fundraiser to benefit the farm, and Dave doled out cuts as quickly as he could carve them off the hanging carcass. Chickens roosted in nearby trees or strutted, hundreds strong, across an abutting pasture. The beef was slick, dripping with rainwater. The scene was both bizarre and somehow undeniably right; such parceling out of meat to eager crowds predates even butchers in the human experience.
When I ask Dave how he became a butcher, he just laughs. "I didn't have much of a resume for a long time," he says. Which is a gentle way of saying that it's hard to hold down a job when you're busy doing speed and being homeless near the Santa Cruz beach. When a friend got him a gig helping out at a now-defunct San Francisco market, it was the first step on a road paved mostly by curiosity. Dave was curious about the label Edible Feet on the waxed boxes he was hauling. He was curious about how bikers he met in Australia cut up a brace of kangaroos. Most of all, he was curious about how you could look at a single massive animal and see tri-tip and ribeye and top round.
Knowing beef takes exposure and practice; in Dave's judgment, the author of the American Cookery market guide had both. "This about 'open-grained' is interesting," he says. "If you shoot a deer, you end up with really tight, tough meat. A deer's been running and exercising its whole life. What she's talking about is an animal that's had more rest, that's spent time just standing around in a field."
"Maybe that's what she means by stall-fed?" I suggest. "It might be about its activity level instead of what it was eating."
"Yeah, I was thinking about that—you wouldn't have had much corn-fed beef until way later, maybe World War II or so. So why stall-fed? Maybe it just meant a steady food supply." That wasn't a given in Simmons's day. Along the western frontier (which might still have meant portions of New York State, where Simmons likely lived) and in the South, it was common to simply brand cattle and release them, letting them forage on whatever scrub and bracken they could.
"This about the female animal being the most tender is interesting too," Dave goes on. "All poultry is female now, unless you can find a capon—that's a neutered rooster. But cattle are almost all male, at least the ones being raised just for meat." Today, older dairy cows may be used for ground beef, but the young, fast-growing animals (slaughtered at three years or less) that become roasts and steaks are nearly all bullocks.
"Which brings us to that line about cattle being used to labor," I say.
Whether it came from cows or oxen, in 1796 beef was almost always from beasts at the end of long and laborious lives—what the writer Harold McGee calls "rural" meat. Dairy cows spent their time grazing, but also giving milk, which drained their fat stores and left lean meat. Oxen hauled wagons along roads distinguished mostly by being the muddiest part of the terrain, which made for leaner meat still. "Urban" meat, from animals bred and raised for the table, was only just beginning to appear in new pedigrees like the improved shorthorn (the Durham Ox, a famous early example of a massive beef breed, was born the year American Cookery was published). The best beef probably came from either comfortably housed oxen or from the dairy cattle vital for the North's essential cheese and butter.
"What about the advice for choosing beef?" I ask. "We can't really poke at our meat today—what should we do instead?"
I'm hoping for a piercing insight, something that will help me judge a quality piece of meat at a glance. But strikingly, Dave talks mostly about people. "You can tell this author knew that butchers might be pulling something, with all this about 'spongy old meat'—and it's true, an old piece of meat is just a spoiling piece of money, there's a lot of pressure to move it. Today, if I was out of my area, the first thing I'd do is try to find a small butcher shop or a decent meat counter. Then I'd try to get a friendly rapport going, maybe starting with the direction I wanted to go with cooking—'hey, I'm thinking about making a pot roast, any idea what might be best for that?' If you come in slinging attitude, like you know it all already, then there's no space for you to learn.
"Remember, most people know less than they think they do. That's true for me, it's probably true for you. I'm still listening to customers—there are so many ways to break down a cow. People will come in from Argentina asking for this one muscle we just don't cut the way they remember it. I love that. It's all about just treating the person across the counter like a human being."
He goes on and on. For Dave, choosing good meat begins with insisting on personal connections amid what is often a numbingly impersonal food system. It continues with curiosity, and a willingness to learn. Finding a good, honest supplier is as important today as it was in 1796. But if we want better butchers, Dave seemed to say, we need better eaters too.


Disagreement without disrespect — that's the formula for constructive dialogue across an ideological divide. U.S. liberals should try it.
Emmanuel Macron and President Trump don’t agree on much. Macron is a globalist; Trump is a nationalist. Macron is a free-trader; Trump just imposed protectionist tariffs on steel and aluminum. Macron wants the United States to remain in Syria; Trump wants to get out. Macron wants to preserve the Iran nuclear deal; Trump wants to scrap it. Macron wants the United States to rejoin the Paris climate deal; Trump withdrew from the accord.
And yet there they were, the French and American presidents air-kissing on the White House portico, clasping hands at the podium of a joint news conference, clutching arms as they walked down the colonnade and clinked glasses at the first state dinner of the Trump presidency. “He is perfect,” Trump declared of Macron (after brushing what he said was dandruff off of the French leader’s suit). The displays of amity have left Washington and Paris agog at le bromance.
How can two men so diametrically opposed get along so well? Simple. Macron holds his ground on issues that matter to him, but he treats the president of the United States with respect — and has found his respect reciprocated.
Democrats in Washington should try it.
After Macron delivered an address to Congress in which he warned against the dangers of “isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism,” many suggested that his speech was a “rebuke” to Trump. No, it wasn’t. Macron didn’t rebuke the president; he expressed respectful disagreement on a host of issues. Too many in Washington can no longer tell the difference.
Instead of simply applauding Macron’s words, perhaps Democrats ought to emulate Macron’s actions. Today, the Democratic Party is no longer the opposition; it is the self-proclaimed “resistance” that considers its job to stop Trump from doing or accomplishing anything. Even in areas where both parties traditionally cooperate, such as the approval of qualified nominees, Trump’s candidates face near unified Democratic opposition. While cooperation on difficult issues such as tax cuts or Obamacare may be a bridge too far, Democrats are so blinded by their contempt for Trump that they cannot bring themselves to work with him on issues where they profess to agree, such as infrastructure or extending protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. These failures hurt the millions of ordinary people who depend on leaders in Washington to work together for the good of the country.
Macron’s visit has shown that it does not have to be this way; people can vigorously disagree and still find ways to work together. We have no way of knowing what, deep down, Macron really thinks of Trump. Perhaps the warmth between them is genuine — modeled, as Macron suggested in his address to Congress, on how Lafayette and Washington “forged a tight relationship fueled by respect and affection.” Or perhaps Macron has chosen to behave with respect and decency for the good of France and the world, because he knows the stakes are too high to do otherwise.
Democrats might want to do the same. Here at home, there is no shortage of critical challenges Republicans and Democrats need to address — and the stakes are also too high to indulge feelings of contempt.
Perhaps it’s too much to expect a Trump-Schumer bromance, or Trump-Pelosi air kisses. But Macron’s visit should provide a lesson for Democrats: It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you treat the president of the United States with the respect and dignity his office deserves. To which I can only say: Vive la France!


Is the Mains Lane bypass a 'sticking plaster'?
The Wyre Labour Group recognises the incredible amount of work that went into the production of Wyre’s Local Plan, and we thank Planning Officers for their efforts.
Unfortunately, 0fficers have been let down by the Conservative administration who haven’t provided the required direction.
It’s bad enough that the plan is eight years late, but the Conservative administration have allowed the borough’s employment, transport, and open space problems to be swept under the carpet.
With around 9,000 homes to be built during the 20-year plan period, we cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of previous decades, but by continuing to ignore infrastructure requirements, those mistakes are now about to be compounded.
And with the road system at breaking point, you would have thought this was an ideal opportunity for the local plan to set out a vision for the reinstatement of the rail line from Fleetwood to Poulton. Inexcusably, it has failed to set out that vision.
A plan for housing is needed, but it must be a strategic plan that properly considers residents and their employment, transport, and open space requirements.
It’s hoped that on May 2, in the local council elections, there is an electoral backlash to this ineptitude, with residents across Wyre instead placing their faith in a forward-thinking and strategically-competent Labour administration who can then address decades of Conservative mismanagement.
Mother’s Day is around the corner and many people are buying cards, planning visits, and generally making this a special day.
This Mother’s Day, we’re asking readers to spare a thought for one particular mother - Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian charity worker who’s already spent three years in an Iranian jail after a deeply unfair trial.
For three long years Nazanin has been separated from her young daughter Gabriella, who only gets to see her mother on short prison visits in Tehran.
Recently, the Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced the Government was giving Nazanin “diplomatic protection” status, meaning her case is now officially considered to be the cause of a formal dispute between our country and Iran.
This is welcome. It means the UK is taking her plight seriously and is committing itself to using all its international influence to gain her freedom.
Readers can show their support for Nazanin by adding their name to our petition – www.amnesty.org.uk/nazanin – to the Iranian authorities calling for her release.
Why vote on the same thing?
I am an ardent Brexiteer, yet I can understand why Speaker Bercow did what he did. For you can’t keep raising the same matter week after week – most councils for instance have a six-month time gap before discussing an issue again.


Space.com gathered "Star Trek" baubles from far and wide for our 2016 holiday gift guide.
The Space.com offices are filled with cheer and also "Star Trek" gifts, and so we thought it was about time to host a holiday giveaway!
The giveaway's official rules are posted below, and don't forget to follow Space.com on Facebook and Twitter to get updates on the contest and our other live video events!


The 9th Summit of the Organization for Economic Cooperation D-8 has started in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Azerbaijan-Arab Business Forum has been held in Baku today.
Azerbaijan regards seriously all the undertaken commitments, including the ones to OPEC.
The limit of external and internal borrowing of Azerbaijan for 2018 has been established.
State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan’s (SOFAZ) assets increased by 8.67% by 1 October 2017.
The Director of UNEC Business school, associated professor Nazim Hajiyev was invited to explore in the centre of Davis Russia and Euro-Asian research centre for 10 months.
Azerbaijani insurer Atəşgah Həyat carried out a large payment on compulsory insurance against accidents in the workplace.
The Draft State Budget of Azerbaijan for 2018 has been published.
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) has announced the US dollar exchange rate on Friday.
The shareholders of Azerbaijani insurance company AZSIĞORTA will conduct an extraordinary meeting.
The Central Bank (CBA) and the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) have taken part today in the next bilateral foreign exchange auction.
The 67th meeting of the Council for Rail Transport of CIS & Baltic States is taking place in Riga, Latvia.
AzRusTrans, established by Azerbaijani Railways (ADY) and Rusagrotrans, started its activity on 10 October 2016.


CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The Academy of Business and Finance at Clarksville High School is adding up their numbers.
They have 72 incoming freshmen and, according to Academy administrator Shannon Cummings, they even took in a few extra sophomores.
The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System's topic-based academy system is designed to graduate college- and career-ready students.
Each high school has one of these “schools within a school” aligned with a specific career or college preparatory theme. These create small learning communities where a select group of students with a common interest share many of the same teachers, allowing educators to coordinate lesson plans and classroom activities around the academy theme.
Cummings said more than 10 percent of academy students from each freshman and sophomore class is from outside the CHS school zone.
Cummings feels that getting the word out about the variety of academies, and having guidance counselors talking to their middle school students, has helped.
Sophomore Cody Spurgeon thought last year was a good experience. He feels the academy taught him what planning he needs to do if he were to open a business. He thought one of the biggest challenges as a student was working together in groups. “We all had different ideas, so we just put them all together to get a grade,” Cody said.
Five teachers from the academy spent a couple days each on an externship with Clarksville Sporting Goods on Riverside Drive and with Legends Bank.
One of those teachers, Heather Bryant, is returning from last year. “This year, sophomores will be expected to have their plans more in-depth, and they will be held to a higher standard,” she said.
Bryant said the sophomores’ challenge this semester is to choose their own business and present the plan to either representatives from Legends Bank or Clarksville Sporting Goods.


Alex, flew out on a pre-agreed trip with Melanie Batty, 37, and David Batty, 58, for a week-long stay in the Benahavis area, near Marbella.
The grandmother of a missing schoolboy believes her daughter and ex-husband have taken him to live an "alternative lifestyle" abroad.
Police continue to be concerned for the welfare of Alex Batty, who did not return from a holiday to Spain with his mother and grandfather last year.
Alex, who turns 12 on Tuesday, flew out on a pre-agreed trip with Melanie Batty, 37, and David Batty, 58, for a week-long stay in the Benahavis area, near Marbella.
However they did not come back home as expected on Sunday October 8.
Inquiries have revealed they may have tried to sail on the same date from Malaga to Melilla on the Moroccan border.
Alex's guardian, grandmother Susan Caruana, 62, says her daughter and ex-husband previously lived on a commune in Morocco with Alex in 2014 as part of an "alternative lifestyle" which she believes lies behind the youngster's disappearance.
She said: "On the Sunday, they were due back in the afternoon and my husband was going to go and pick them up. I got this message on Facebook and it was a YouTube video of the three of them.
"They all spoke on it and Melanie said the reasons why they had done what they had done.
"Alex said it was a million times better being with his mum and granddad. Obviously it hurt me a bit but then my other concerns kicked in.
"The reason I believe they have done this is because basically my lifestyle, my belief systems, are not what they agree with - just simply living day to day, how normal people do.
"They didn't want him to go to school, they don't believe in mainstream school."
She added: "I just want to say to my grandson Alex, I love you so much and please, please just get in contact.
"We always did something nice with him on his birthday. We'd have a party or go bowling with his friends, his cousins or we've gone trampolining.
"He loved his birthdays and Christmas. I just hope they do something nice with him today."
Both Miss Batty - who does not have parental guardianship - and Mr Batty are wanted by police in connection with Alex's abduction.
Detective Sergeant Pete Morley, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "I would implore any of Melanie's or David's friends, who might have heard from them, to please contact police immediately. Alex's friends may have also heard from him.
"I understand this is an emotive situation but ultimately Alex should be at home in Oldham and there are genuine concerns about his welfare.
"He has been missing out on school and we don't know how the family are funding their lifestyle abroad."
Anyone with information should contact police on 0161 856 8972 (+44 161 856 8972 if you are abroad) or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.


For decades, U.S. schools have failed to provide students with an adequate civics education, which is integral to building and maintaining an engaged and informed voting population.
How bad is it? According to the 2018 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey, only 32 percent of Americans can name all three branches of the U.S. government. Even worse, 33 percent could not correctly name one branch.
Unfortunately, this lack of basic civics knowledge is not restricted to U.S. adults. In 2014, only 23 percent of American students earned a proficient score on the civics portion of the “Nation’s Report Card” exam. Needless to say, this does not bode well for the future.
Given these startling statistics, one would assume that American educators would be working feverishly to find new ways to improve civics courses. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Only nine states and the District of Columbia require a full year of civics education as a requirement for high school graduation. Thirty-one states require students enroll in only one half-year course.
Although several solutions have been proposed by educators and researchers to solve the civics crisis, none have been widely adopted. One of the most significant civics-related proposals is to require all high school students to pass the U.S. citizenship test, the same test that all immigrants must earn a passing score on before becoming a citizen. Although the movement started with much fanfare, it has since fizzled out; only 17 states have such a requirement.
Schools are failing miserably to educate millions of Americans in basic civics. However, all is not lost. With a few reasonable changes, a civics education Renaissance is more than attainable.
As a former public high school teacher, one who taught courses in both American government and U.S. history, I have firsthand experience in the civics classroom crisis. Like many who have taught these courses before, I believe it is virtually impossible to provide children with the civics education they need in an eight-week civics “crash course.” It’s simply not enough time to dive into this important and complex subject. Civics, at the very least, should be a full-year course, and students should be offered opportunities to take additional, more advanced civics courses as well.
Second, civics standards need a total overhaul. It’s not enough to teach kids how bills become laws, they need to know more about their rights as Americans and understand the history behind the constitutional protections they have been provided. The United States is an exceptional place, but most students are being taught the opposite is true. Yes, some truly terrible things have happened in America — just as they have in all countries — but the United States’ commitment to personal freedom has made America the most powerful, wealthy, successful nation the world has ever seen. Students need to understand these ideas. Civics isn’t about laws, it’s about rights and personal freedom.
Third, state standards are too narrowly focused on knowledge attainment. States typically don’t offer students any form of experiential learning as part of their civics standards. No wonder youth participation in politics is abysmally low. If schools want to improve civics scores, they should teach children why civics is important, and the best way to do that is by getting them directly involved with the lawmaking process through internships, volunteer opportunities, and field trips to local and state government buildings, including state capitols.
Another way to increase student engagement is to emphasize student government in schools. If students are able to get actively involved in the governance of their own schools, it’s likely they’ll have a greater interest in the governance of their communities in the future.
Fourth, and perhaps most important, students and parents should be given access to universal education savings accounts, which allow kids to go to any school their parents like. This would permit parents who care about civics to have the option of enrolling their children in schools that teach the values they are most concerned with.
Although these solutions will not solve the civics crisis overnight, they would be a step in the right direction. But in order for any of this to occur, teachers and parents need the freedom and flexibility to accomplish these goals — flexibility they have been denied by bureaucrats and some disinterested politicians who have proven repeatedly they don’t care about improving civics.
Achieving progress requires a completely different approach.
Chris Talgo is a former public high school teacher and an editor at The Heartland Institute. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.


but we had to overcome the past in order to build peace for present time .
Asian countries should overcome the differences, the past in order to build cooperative ties , promote peace and prosperity for Asia .
comfort women issue , is this a propaganda ?
as I know , one of the last comfort K woman married Japanese than divorced and remarried K man and whole time she chose to stay in Japan !
if she hated Japanese that much why she did not return to Korea ?
don’t listen to fake propaganda .
Why is Syria government doing chemical attack ?
he is not stupid even thinking of this attack .
This is just propaganda from UK again ?


Apple: dead in the water, or on top of its game?
Since I was reading this on my iPad Pro, which is probably the most useful electronic device I have ever owned, it came as a bit of a shock. But in fact Volker was really just articulating a truth about digital hardware, which is that the evolution of all such products (and a good deal else besides) follows a sigmoid curve.
It sounds complicated, but it isn’t really. Think of it as a version of the letter S that’s been flattened to form a graph whose vertical axis measures functionality while the horizontal axis represents time. What it tells you is that initially (at the lower part of the S) a new technology develops relatively slowly. Then there’s a point where the functionality increases dramatically over a relatively short period, after which the rate of improvement declines steadily and levels off. The iPad is now somewhere on that upper plateau, which means that it’s reached the point where one can only expect incremental improvements (faster processor, better screen, stereo audio etc). This is what Volker was getting at when he said that the device is “done”.
To the hyperactive tech media sector this means that the product is no longer of any interest and that Apple has “run out of ideas”. In some cases it is also taken as confirmation that the company has never recovered from the death of Steve Jobs. Excitable Wall Street analysts may also see it as evidence that Apple stock should now be downgraded to “sell”. All of which merely confirms the extent to which some of those who opine about technology don’t understand it.
So let’s put the iPad in its wider context. The device, as one expert, Horace Dediu, comments, has an installed base of 300 million users – which is far larger than the 100-150m Mac computers out there. And whereas the iPad built up this user base in roughly seven years, the Mac needed 33.
Digging deeper, Dediu finds that iPad sales continue to increase in the US and the UK, and that user satisfaction with the product continues to be very high. A survey conducted in November 2015 found a 94% consumer satisfaction rate for the iPad Mini, a 97% rate for the iPad Air, and 96% for the iPad Pro; and that browsing, shopping and app usage data also show continuing high utilisation on iPads. Among corporate purchasers there is a 96% satisfaction rate, with 66% intending to purchase more iPads.
Much the same applies to the iPhone, another Apple device that attracts the same kind of commentary – about Apple running out of ideas, that there are only incremental improvements between the iPhone 6 and the forthcoming iPhone 8, and so on. The truth is that that device is also on that upper plateau of the sigmoid curve. It too is “done”.
The same applies to the smartphone generally. So the question is: what next? According to Ben Evans, a tech analyst who seems to know what the industry is thinking, the main candidates are: artificial intelligence (AI); voice interfaces (like Amazon’s Echo, Apple’s Siri and Google’s Home); virtual reality (VR); and augmented reality (AR).
So we’re left with AR – a technology that will enable you to point your phone at something and see some digitally exhumed information about it overlaid on the image. It’s a nice idea, but it’s still on the lower end of the sigmoid curve. Some day, though, I hope to be able to point my phone at Dr Liam Fox, secretary of state for international trade and president of the board of trade, and see what he’s thinking. And if the screen goes blank, then I’ll know that the technology is working.


Qualification for the season-ending tournament closes Sunday. Twenty-five of the finalists have already been determined. The angler who has the biggest fish this week will complete the 26-angler field for Nov. 6 tournament. The biggest fish by weight on each boat trip each day is used towards determining the big fish of the week.
As of Oct. 7, the tourney fund totaled more than $6,700. The fund actually will exceed that as $1 from each paid fare through the final day of the regular season — Sunday — will add to the tournament fund.
Stormy weather had improved the bite the previous week on day two of the Angler’s Choice Tournament of Champions, but rain and strong winds made fishing the American Bass North TOC at Clear Lake on Friday and Saturday a real ordeal.
Atascadero’s Gene Gray and Dusty Kahler, the ABA Pacific Coast Region Anglers of the Year, had caught 30 fish on the second day of the previous tournament, placing fifth with a two-day weight of 43.32 pounds.
Kahler and Gray caught four fish Friday and two Saturday for 18.46 pounds for 48th place. Their Angler of the Year title paid $825.One hundred eighty-one teams were entered, but 31 blanked Friday when 34 five-fish limits were recorded. Dropouts trimmed the field to 90 teams Saturday when there were a mere 13 limits.
Solvang’s Clark Small and teammate Randy McAbee Sr. had the highest placing of the 15 teams that represented the Central Coast and the Pacific Coast Region specifically. The duo placed seventh with a 37.03-pound, 10-fish limit worth $600.
A Ranger/Mercury boat package, plus $1,870 in cash was claimed by champions Bill Siemantel of Castaic and partner Troy Linder of Los Angeles. Their 10-fish weight of 44 pounds even provided a 1.18-pound margin of victory.
Arroyo Grande’s Jared Lintner and partner Nick Salvucci from San Miguel finished 11th and earned $1,260 for a 9-fish weight of 35.66 pounds. Neither could be reached by phone for comment.
Darrin Bishop, Paso Robles, and his cousin Dean Miller from Tulare, the AOY winners in the North Traveler’s Division, did not compete at Clear Lake but their title was worth $1,650.
New Melones Lake, near Jamestown, hosted the W.O.N. Bass Tri States Championship Oct. 15 and 16. The Central Coast Anglers of the Year duo from Hollister, Will Duncan and Dylan Waldroop, placed eighth with a weight of 13.36 pounds for five fish. They had the second heaviest fish of the tournament, 8.87 pounds.
The title went to Kevin Burge and Jim Elsea with two limits (10 fish) that weighed 16.11 pounds.
The W.O.N. Bass website did not list winnings. Only 55 teams were entered.
Central Coast teams and their placings were: 16. Jim Keeney, Tom Ryan, Paso Robles, 10 fish, 10.80 pounds; 20. Shawn Lee, Arroyo Grande, Ken Sauret, Paso Robles, 8, 10.44 pounds; 24. Marc Hazuka, Atascadero, Al Rush, Paso Robles, 8, 9.48 pounds; 25. Tim Vaughan, Los Osos, Erik Zillig, Cambria, 8, 8.89 pounds.
W.O.N. Bass is looking for a new Central Coast Region tournament director. Jim Slusher, owner of Jim’s Pro Bass Tackle as well as a Paso Robles sheet metal business, advised that he is too busy to continue in the position.
John Byde of Cambria caught last week’s big fish, a 16-pound lingcod. Other jackpot winners were: Garrett White, Morro Bay, 13-pound ling, Robert Everett, San Bernardino, 9-0 red rockcod, Tom Emmons, Simi Valley, 6-0 ocean whitefish, and Davis Woods, Dinuba, 5-0 lingcod.
Arroyo Grande’s Joe Torres, the current leader in the sixth-annual lingcod contest with a 20-11 fish caught Oct. 14, had last week’s big fish, too, a 14-13 ling. Other jackpot winners were: Britney Ogden, Visalia, 14-6 ling, Alberto Cortez, Guadalupe, 14-0 ling, Ron Seitz, Templeton, 12-0 ling, Matt Chase, Visalia, 11-8 ling, Rodney Barula, Lompoc, 11-0 ling, Johnny Cash, Fresno, 8-7 barracuda, and Tom Pham, Visalia, 7-0 ling.
The catch by 193 anglers last week included: 31 lingcod, 271 red rockcod, 728 assorted rockfish, 722 bolina, 16 cabezon, and six barracuda.
Michael Huff of Humble, Texas, and Josh DeGama of Morro Bay were jackpot winners last week with catches of lingcod weighing 8 pounds and 7 pounds, respectively.
Only one trout was caught last week. It was an 8-inch rainbow that Ryan Hofstetter caught on worms and promptly released it last Thursday. Six anglers gave it a try. For the 135 days the reservoir has been open for fishing this season, 251 anglers have caught only 24 trout for their efforts.


By BERNARD MOMANYI, NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 25 – Kenyans are watching to see what action the government will take on shocking revelations that its security agents are involved in the execution of up to 500 Mungiki suspects.
The international community will also be interested to see if President Mwai Kibaki and his Coalition partner Prime Minister Raila Odinga will implement recommendations of the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Professor Philip Alston who was due to release his report on Wednesday.
A stunning video footage released by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) on Tuesday not only implicates the police in the murders but also signals what officials there termed as ‘state-sanctioned killings’.
Capital News was reliably informed that the video footage is part of the evidence the KNCHR presented to Prof Alston and will no doubt form basis of his investigations and subsequent recommendations.
And as questions abound on whether or not the video footage was genuine, the fact remains that the police force has been tainted and may take ages trying to redeem its image.
The footage is recorded from a former police officer Constable Bernard Kirinya who claims he participated in the killing of at least 58 Mungiki suspects, mainly those perceived to be leaders of the outlawed grouping.
Mr Kirinya was the officer murdered by unknown assailants after he expressed fears for his life.
According to Police Spokesman Mr Erick Kiraithe the officer deserted duty when he received a letter transferring him from the Special Crimes Prevention Unit headquarters in Nairobi to Lokori police station on October 3 2008.
“The testimony of the whistle blower implicates the police leadership not only with knowledge but actually sanctioning a campaign of abductions, illegal extortions, torture and cold-blooded murder of suspected criminals and those alleged to be Mungiki members,” the commission’s vice chairperson Mr Hassan Omar Hassan said.
Notable cases in the late Kirinya’s confessions include the killing of Kimani Ruo, a Mungiki leader who was abducted outside Nairobi Law courts in June 2007 moments after he was acquitted on charges of being a Mungiki adherent.
Others are the killings of the wife and driver of the jailed Mungiki leader Maina Njenga and two key Mungiki leaders Ndung’u Wagacha (Acting chairman) and Naftali Irungu (National Treasurer).
The slain officer also confessed having participated in the killing of a one time Kenya’s most wanted gangster Simon Matheri who was gunned down by police in February 2007.
In his 16-page documented confession which was re-played to journalists and family members on Tuesday, the slain officer tells of how they trailed, arrested, detained and killed many suspects by shooting or bludgeoning them to death in thick forests in the outskirts of Nairobi.
Police headquarters read a sinister motive in the timing of the video release and announced it was investigating some of the KNCHR commissioner’s alleged involvement in receiving bribes from Mungiki leaders.
“Police headquarters would also like to inform the public that the so-called confessions have been released after our detectives started investigations to the effect that some officers from the commission have been regularly receiving payments from the outlawed sect,” Mr Kiraithe said.
Families of about 200 victims who turned up at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) on Sunday told the UN panel probing the killings that they last saw their kin at police stations or in police vans.
“I last saw my brother in an interrogation room at Karuri police station where he was being interviewed by the police. They told me he will appear in court the following morning but that never happened,” a widow Grace Wairimu 42, whose husband was arrested in October 2008, said.
She had to turn up to provide evidence to the team led by Special UN Rapporteur for human rights Prof Alston who was invited by the government to probe the atrocities.
Mr Njuguna Gitau, the spokesman of the Kenya National Youth Alliance (KENYA), a political wing of the sect led the families.
“The list of missing persons could be higher, but we have strong evidence on 1000 cases. These are people who were arrested or were seen with the police shortly before they went missing,” he told Capital News.
Mr Gitau said he had presented Prof Alston with a detailed report of the disappearances and killings on their members which they believe were committed by the police.
“Bullet-riddled bodies of many of them were retrieved in forests or mortuaries. Who else could have killed them? We believe it is the police because most of them were last seen with them,” Mr Gitau said.
Prof Alston is in the country documenting evidence on alleged extra-judicial killings and would present a report which will be the basis of investigations on the part of the police who are accused of having arbitrarily killed hundreds of people during the post election violence of 2007.
“I am seeking assurance from the government because I want it to take serious recommendations in my report,” he said.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga who met the UN official on Monday said the report would be implemented.
“We are totally against extra-judicial killings. This country is governed by law and therefore, we look forward to getting this report. Action will have to be taken,” he said.


GOP Candidates Step Up Attacks On Each Other As the contests in Iowa and New Hampshire near, the Republican presidential hopefuls are no longer keeping their sniping focused on President Obama. In the past few days, the contenders have shown themselves to be ready to fight each other.
From left, GOP presidential candidates Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney participate in the Fox News/Google GOP debate at the Orange County Convention Center in September. Since then, the candidates have gotten tougher on each other.
Once upon a time, the Republican presidential contenders seemed to be mostly on the same page. They agreed on who the real enemies were — as Newt Gingrich explained at a debate in September.
"All of my friends up here are going to repudiate every effort of the news media to get Republicans to fight each other to protect Barack Obama, who deserves to be defeated," he said. "And all of us are committed as a team — whoever the nominee is, we are all for defeating Barack Obama."
Well, that team seems to have broken up. In the past few days, the contenders have shown themselves to be ready, willing and able to fight each other.
After Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain all took a turn at being the major conservative challenger to Mitt Romney, now it's Gingrich who's at — or near — the top of most of the polls. So on Wednesday, Ron Paul welcomed Gingrich to the big time with a video that questions whether he stands for anything but his wallet.
Gingrich has said he won't hit back at his rivals. Drawing "contrasts," however, seems to be okay, especially when it comes to his chief rival, Romney. There was no scary music or fancy editing — just his phone call a couple of days ago to a South Carolina radio station.
"I don't claim to be the perfect candidate," Gingrich said. "I just claim to be a lot more conservative than Mitt Romney and a lot more electable than anybody else."
More than any of the candidates, Romney has remained above the fray, saving his criticisms for Obama, as if he were already the GOP nominee. But most Republican voters remain unconvinced. Romney's percentage of support has generally been stuck in the high teens to low 20s. And now, he feels Gingrich breathing down his neck — or is it the other way around?
On Fox News, Romney went on the attack, calling Gingrich "a lifelong politician."
"I think you have to have the credibility of understanding how the economy works," Romney continued. "And I do. And that's one reason I'm in this race."
Romney also slammed Gingrich for saying that illegal immigrants who had been in this country for a long time, put down roots and raised a family shouldn't automatically be deported.
"If he's going to do what I believe he's said he was going to do for those people who would be allowed to stay permanently and become citizens, that would be providing for them a form of amnesty," Romney said, knowing that would be anathema to most conservative voters.
"It's time for him to show some teeth," says Republican political analyst Ed Rogers.
It's getting to be time to get undecideds to make a decision. It's getting to be time to build up yourself and diminish your opponents.
He says Romney has to protect his position as a leading candidate.
"And it's time for him to make sure that nobody builds up a head of steam where he really gets behind and has to become so harshly negative that it reflects poorly on him," Rogers adds.
Actually, says Rogers, 'tis the season for all the candidates to show some teeth.
"We're only five weeks away from the Iowa caucuses. ... So it's getting to be time to get undecideds to make a decision," he says. "It's getting to be time to build up yourself and diminish your opponents."
Perry was blunt about his intention to do just that. On Wednesday, he said on Fox & Friends that Americans are looking for an outsider to clean up Washington and that Gingrich and Romney are insiders.
"And we're going to be talking about that and we're going to be talking about it in harsh and strong terms over the course of the next four to five weeks as we get ready for those New Hampshire caucuses," Perry said.
Actually, it's the New Hampshire primary. Iowa's the state with the caucuses. But no doubt one of Perry's rivals will be glad to point out his mistake.