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Dan Simmons, for years familiar to fans of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, made his way to the general reader with two historical/horror hybrids. The Terror, published in 2007, was an enthralling and fantastical conjuring up of Sir John Franklin’s doomed voyage in search of a Northwest Passage. Drood, appearing two years later, was a creepily ingenious extrapolation of Charles Dickens’s unfinished last novel and his vexed friendship with Wilkie Collins. Then came last year’s Black Hills, a less satisfying story that posited an American Indian’s mystical union with the soul of General George Custer. So much for history. With Flashback, Simmons has, for the moment at least, put the past behind him and turned a righteous pen to a dystopian future. It is circa 2032, or more precisely, the 23rd year of Jobless Recovery. The U.S. is tottering, weighing in at only 44½ states, its mass eaten away by Mexico, its interior rotted out by floods of immigrants, by loss of faith in a free-market economy, by national health care and a myriad of other entitlement programs, by the global-warming hoax and green-energy boondoggles, and by drugs, the most pervasive being “flashback,” which allows its users to visit their pasts in a dream state. It’s a bad, bad time, and its fatal origins lie, we are instructed, with the Obama presidency, its spendthrift domestic programs and pusillanimous foreign policy. Highways are disintegrating, people live in former malls cut into cubicles, and, adding insult to injury, right-wing talk radio has been banned. Japanese overlords have set up “green zones” across the land and America’s once proud and powerful military is now hired out as mercenaries to fight for Japan and India. At the same time, a New Global Caliphate flourishes and Islam spreads. An immense and towering mosque sits at Ground Zero and annual celebrations commemorate the attacks of September 11, 2001. In Los Angeles, where much of the story takes place, the bells of Christian churches add their peels to “the cries of the muezzin…to show their solidarity, understanding, and forgiveness.” The Caliphate has obliterated Israel with eleven exceedingly dirty nuclear bombs, killing six million Jews. The survivors of this “Second Holocaust” are now sequestered in a former Six Flags amusement park in Denver by a U.S. government “terrified of angering the Global Caliphate” that is waiting to exterminate them. With all this going on (and on), there hardly seems room for a plot, and yet there is one, balky and encumbered by jeremiads though it may be. Nick Bottom, Denver resident, ex-policemen, and sometime private detective, has been addicted to flashback ever since his wife was killed in a car crash five years ago. The drug lets him relive their happy times, but it has ruined his actual life and alienated his son. This is Val, who has gone to live in Los Angeles with his maternal grandfather. But the boy, tumid with anger and angst, is going to the bad, having joined one of the many “flash gangs” that roam the disintegrating city, committing violent and unspeakable acts in order to revisit the thrill through flashback. Val’s gang has something big planned, but he himself just wants to get back to Denver to kill his dad for not phoning him on his birthday. Plus, L.A. is erupting into full-blown war; so Val and the old man join a convoy of big rigs traveling west over lurid and lawless highways and meet people with strong views, all thoroughly aired. Meanwhile, Nick has been hired by a Catholic, multibillionaire Japanese overlord to solve the six-year-old murder of his son, a case Nick had failed to crack when he was on the police force. Why call on him again? It’s a mystery and a growing source of great fishiness. Getting to the bottom of it involves quantities of flashback, some high-tech virtual-reality spectacles, an enormous, impassive Japanese warrior dude, a few ninjas, two futuristic armored personnel carriers, and one 2015 Chevy Camaro with gun slits for windows and a “raging 6.2-liter l99 V-8 engine” (delivering “603 horsepower and 518-pound-feet of torque”). If anything can plow through polemics, this baby can, and indeed, the battles and chases that interrupt their didactic flow provide the book’s only entertainment. In the end, the novel’s real mystery remains: How could the witty and potent imagination that produced The Terror and Drood wither to such smug and censorious dullness?

On this first day of fallout from Donald Trump's unilateral decision to take military action against Syria, a particularly stunning fact stands out: Not only did Trump fail to obtain authorization from Congress for the strike, but he informed the Russians first. Donald Trump’s decision to launch airstrikes on a Syrian airfield demands answers, as lawmakers in both parties criticize Trump for failing to seek authorization from Congress for the strike, as required by the Constitution. One particularly disturbing fact to emerge in the wake of the attack is that Trump not only failed to seek authorization, but he only informed Congress after his administration had warned the Russians. From Washington Post foreign policy reporter Josh Rogin: Trump administration told Russia about its war plans before they told the U.S. Congress. — Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) April 7, 2017 That is not to say that informing Russia to avoid an escalating conflict with them was necessarily a bad idea, or even that a heads up to Congress would have been sufficient, but the order of events places the administration’s priorities in stark relief. CNN also reported that Russia is “fully capable of intercepting cruise missiles if they so choose to.” Although Russia is now denouncing the strike, their actions suggest some level of complicity: Russia was warned of the attack before it took place, in accordance with deconfliction policies between the US and Russia over military activities in Syria. Nevertheless, Chance pointed out, Russia did not choose to use surface-to-air missiles systems in place in Syria that are “fully capable of intercepting cruise missiles if they so choose to.” “(This) implies a degree of tacit Russian consent to the strikes,” Chance said. Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden also pointed out that Trump’s priorities in this case may have badly hampered the effectiveness of the strikes: Of course, because Trump told the Russians who told them. And he told the Russians before Congress. https://t.co/P6hzRnRQKO — Neera Tanden🖖🏼 (@neeratanden) April 7, 2017 There will be many important questions about this action in the days and weeks to come, but the most immediate is this: Who does Donald Trump believe he answers to, and to whom is he really sending a message with this strike? var axel = Math.random() + ""; var a = axel * 10000000000000; document.write(' ');

Writing about Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, the Orientalist scholar W Montgomery Watt wrote: "Of all the world's great men, none has been so much maligned as Muhammad." His quote seems all the more poignant in light of the Islamophobic film Innocence of Muslims, which has sparked riots from Yemen to Libya and which, among other slanders, depicts Muhammad as a paedophile. This claim is a recurring one among critics of Islam, so its foundation deserves close scrutiny. Critics allege that Aisha was just six years old when she was betrothed to Muhammad, himself in his 50s, and only nine when the marriage was consummated. They base this on a saying attributed to Aisha herself (Sahih Bukhari volume 5, book 58, number 234), and the debate on this issue is further complicated by the fact that some Muslims believe this to be a historically accurate account. Although most Muslims would not consider marrying off their nine-year-old daughters, those who accept this saying argue that since the Qur'an states that marriage is void unless entered into by consenting adults, Aisha must have entered puberty early. They point out that, in seventh-century Arabia, adulthood was defined as the onset of puberty. (This much is true, and was also the case in Europe: five centuries after Muhammad's marriage to Aisha, 33-year-old King John of England married 12-year-old Isabella of Angoulême.) Interestingly, of the many criticisms of Muhammad made at the time by his opponents, none focused on Aisha's age at marriage. According to this perspective, Aisha may have been young, but she was not younger than was the norm at the time. Other Muslims doubt the very idea that Aisha was six at the time of marriage, referring to historians who have questioned the reliability of Aisha's age as given in the saying. In a society without a birth registry and where people did not celebrate birthdays, most people estimated their own age and that of others. Aisha would have been no different. What's more, Aisha had already been engaged to someone else before she married Muhammad, suggesting she had already been mature enough by the standards of her society to consider marriage for a while. It seems difficult to reconcile this with her being six. In addition, some modern Muslim scholars have more recently cast doubt on the veracity of the saying, or hadith, used to assert Aisha's young age. In Islam, the hadith literature (sayings of the prophet) is considered secondary to the Qur'an. While the Qur'an is considered to be the verbatim word of God, the hadiths were transmitted over time through a rigorous but not infallible methodology. Taking all known accounts and records of Aisha's age at marriage, estimates of her age range from nine to 19. Because of this, it is impossible to know with any certainty how old Aisha was. What we do know is what the Qur'an says about marriage: that it is valid only between consenting adults, and that a woman has the right to choose her own spouse. As the living embodiment of Islam, Muhammad's actions reflect the Qur'an's teachings on marriage, even if the actions of some Muslim regimes and individuals do not. Sadly, in many countries, the imperatives motivating the marriage of young girls are typically economic. In others, they are political. The fact that Iran and Saudi Arabia have both sought to use the saying concerning Aisha's age as a justification for lowering the legal age of marriage tells us a great deal about the patriarchal and oppressive nature of those regimes, and nothing about Muhammad, or the essential nature of Islam. The stridency of those who lend credence to these literalist interpretations by concurring with their warped view of Islam does not help those Muslims who seek to challenge these aberrations. The Islamophobic depiction of Muhammad's marriage to Aisha as motivated by misplaced desire fits within a broader Orientalist depiction of Muhammad as a philanderer. This idea dates back to the crusades. According to the academic Kecia Ali: "Accusations of lust and sensuality were a regular feature of medieval attacks on the prophet's character and, by extension, on the authenticity of Islam." Since the early Christians heralded Christ as a model of celibate virtue, Muhammad – who had married several times – was deemed to be driven by sinful lust. This portrayal ignored the fact that before his marriage to Aisha, Muhammad had been married to Khadija, a powerful businesswoman 15 years his senior, for 25 years. When she died, he was devastated and friends encouraged him to remarry. A female acquaintance suggested Aisha, a bright and vivacious character. Aisha's union would also have cemented Muhammad's longstanding friendship with her father, Abu Bakr. As was the tradition in Arabia (and still is in some parts of the world today), marriage typically served a social and political function – a way of uniting tribes, resolving feuds, caring for widows and orphans, and generally strengthening bonds in a highly unstable and changing political environment. Of the women Muhammad married, the majority were widows. To consider the marriages of the prophet outside of these calculations is profoundly ahistorical. What the records are clear on is that Muhammad and Aisha had a loving and egalitarian relationship, which set the standard for reciprocity, tenderness and respect enjoined by the Qur'an. Insights into their relationship, such as the fact they liked to drink out of the same cup or race one another, are indicative of a deep connection which belies any misrepresentation of their relationship. To paint Aisha as a victim is completely at odds with her persona. She was certainly no wallflower. During a controversial battle in Muslim history, she emerged riding a camel to lead the troops. She was known for her assertive temperament and mischievous sense of humour – with Muhammad sometimes bearing the brunt of the jokes. During his lifetime, he established her authority by telling Muslims to consult her in his absence; after his death, she went to be become one of the most prolific and distinguished scholars of her time. A stateswoman, scholar, mufti, and judge, Aisha combined spirituality, activism and knowledge and remains a role model for many Muslim women today. The gulf between her true legacy and her depiction in Islamophobic materials is not merely historically inaccurate, it is an insult to the memory of a pioneering woman. Those who manipulate her story to justify the abuse of young girls, and those who manipulate it in order to depict Islam as a religion that legitimises such abuse have more in common than they think. Both demonstrate a disregard for what we know about the times in which Muhammad lived, and for the affirmation of female autonomy which her story illustrates. • This article was amended on 17 September 2012. It originally stated that King John was 44 when he married Isabella of Angoulême. This has been corrected.

Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World. WASHINGTON – In a dramatic reversal of American policy on Syria and the brutal civil war there, President Donald Trump told several members of Congress on Thursday that he is weighing military options against Syrian President Bashar Assad for his use of chemical weapons against innocent children. Trump said he had not yet fully decided to take military action. But Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that “steps were under way” toward action and the ultimate removal of Assad from power, and Secretary of Defense James Mattis began preparing options for the president that would put the Assad regime in the Pentagon’s crosshairs. The April 4 chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun “requires a serious response,” Tillerson told press on Thursday. “There would be no role for him to govern the Syrian people.”Trump echoed Tillerson in brief comments on Air Force One on his way to Florida, where he is hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping. “I think what happened in Syria is a disgrace to humanity,” he said. “Something should happen.”The stunning development puts Assad’s regime in unexpected peril. Should Trump proceed, it would become the first intentional strike by the US against the Syrian government since a revolution against it broke out in 2011.He would not only be reversing former president Barack Obama’s policy against direct involvement in the conflict, but his own stated positions as a private citizen and a presidential candidate. Trump has long cautioned against getting mired in Syria, and publicly warned Obama against taking military action after Assad used chemical weapons that killed 1,400 civilians in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta in 2013.Obama came close to striking Assad at that time, sending five destroyers and an aircraft carrier to the Syrian coast. He ultimately stood down after Russia offered to broker a deal ridding Assad of the largest chemical weapons stockpile in the Middle East.The attack on Tuesday in Idlib province suggests that such an agreement did not fully hold. A nerve agent – which chemical-weapons experts think was sarin gas – was dropped on a civilian population, killing at least 74 people and injuring more than 550.Britain, France, Germany and the US have all expressed that there is no doubt the attack from the air was the work of the Assad regime. That places Western powers in a similar dilemma to that of four years ago, only now, as president, Trump said he feels the weight of responsibility and the necessity to act.“My attitude toward Syria and Assad has changed,” Trump said on Wednesday, standing alongside King Abdullah II of Jordan in the White House Rose Garden. “It crossed a lot of lines for me.”Trump said he would not preview any potential US military action.“It is now my responsibility,” Trump added. “These heinous acts by the Assad regime cannot be tolerated.”The Pentagon has been sitting on war plans for several years and can quickly present Trump with a range of options. He may choose a short, days-long operation, or a more sustained campaign against infrastructure.Alternatively, the US may use this crisis as an opportunity to change the course of the war, Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John McCain (R-Arizona) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said in a joint statement.“The United States should lead an international coalition to ground Assad’s air force,” McCain and Graham said in a statement. “This capability provides Assad a strategic advantage in his brutal slaughter of innocent civilians, both through the use of chemical weapons as well as barrel bombs, which kill far more men, women and children on a daily basis.“Ultimately, the grounding of Assad’s air force can and should be part of a new comprehensive strategy to end the conflict in Syria,” they added.Mattis was expected to brief Trump on Thursday in Florida on the range of options before him, sources said. The US is likely to rely on cruise missiles fired from the Mediterranean Sea instead of manned aircraft, which would be susceptible to both Syrian and Russian anti-aircraft systems.The Pentagon faces a challenge that was not present in 2013: the permanent presence of Russia that has permeated Syria’s military apparatus throughout the country since 2015. Any operation against Assad would bring Washington in direct confrontation with Moscow and could put Russian assets and personnel at risk.Thus, a complex political dimension is added to the decision: whether to challenge Russia amid an FBI investigation into Trump associates allegedly colluding with Moscow to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. Trump furthermore campaigned on a platform of collaborating with Russia in Syria against Islamic State, at the expense of the rebellion against Assad.Tillerson spoke by phone with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, in order to obtain “the Russian analysis or readout of what they thought had happened.” A State Department official said that Tillerson ended the phone call unimpressed by what he heard.Moscow claims that Assad forces struck a warehouse that, unbeknown to them, housed a terrorist organization’s chemical weapons cache.Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan encouraged Trump on Thursday to strike and committed to assist any US operation. “I thank him, but it should not remain unfulfilled,” Erdogan told Turkish television, when asked to comment on Trump’s potential military plans.In France, leading En Marche presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron said that he would support US action against Assad under the cover of a UN mandate. His rival in the elections scheduled for later this month, Marine Le Pen of the National Front, has yet to comment.Several Democratic senators – including Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Ben Cardin of Maryland – appear ready to support the president should he choose to take military action.“What remains to be seen is whether there will be strong US leadership and policy to hold Assad accountable,” said Cardin, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Later this month we will commemorate Yom Hashoah [Holocaust Remembrance Day]. We say ‘Never again,’ but it’s time we meant it, and it starts with holding Assad accountable.” Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>

Quote [–]Reddit4Play 4 points 3 days ago Giving the thief that move led to some weird readngs where other characters couldn't hide, I was reading this thread before I submitted any questions and this actually leads into one: as the fighter gets "Bend Bars, Lift Gates" as a move, what might you do if somebody else, you know, wants to bend bars and/or lift gates? Filling it in as Defy Danger is an easy solution, but I'm not sure if the consequences for less than a 10+ I could come up with would actually be less favorable than those in the Fighter's move, and I feel like since that's something special the Fighter gets that the improvised version should somehow be less awesome. What would you do (or have you done) there? permalinkparentpocket [–]sage_latorra 4 points 3 days ago Yeah, I've had the same concern with the fighter at times, but practically it hasn't been an issue that we've seen. I think this is because every single class has "Damage" written right there, bug and bold, so the ability to break shit is always on the table. Giving the Fighter the ability to break shit better doesn't stand out quite as much. If someone else breaks something in a way that leads to Defy Danger, that's cool. The Fighter's got a built in advantage that they get to choose. The Fighter is in control of their power. As the bars strain, the fighter gets to choose what to prioritize. Someone else, on the other hand, is just given a choice from the GM. It's a choice still, but their options have been limited by the GM. I was thinking over the same issue not long ago. Was tinkering with the idea of rolling 1d6+1d4 or even 2d4 instead of 2d6 on an improvised skill check.Luckily it was mentioned by Sage on reddit recently and I dropped my idea, because it's not too Dungeon World when you think about it.So I think that if the Cleric is brawny enough in the fiction /think Friar Tuck/ he should roll if he /with GMs help possibly/ comes up with the idea of how it is Defying Danger. Could be an old trauma or a recent wound that will tear a muscle even further/dislocate a joint or open and bleed, causing pain and maybe even damage if the Cleric puts too much effort into it. Could be the danger of raising the attention of guards or getting injured /and infected, hello sepsis/ with crude and rusty bars. Could be just the fact he's just going to be executed in the morning, I think.Now the GM can offer the Cleric the danger as a consequence and come up with another type of bad stuff /fighter's options, something you come up with/, presenting an ugly choice on 7-9. There should always be a real risk in such a situation - a risk the Cleric will have to consider before attempting to show that feat of strength thus Defyung Danger. And why not be happy for him if he rolls 10+ saving the day and not losing anything?As Sage says Fighter has easier time due to the fact he has at least some idea what are the risks and can pick and choose.

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Syrian President Bashar Assad said he considers his long-time ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin as the “only defender of Christian civilization” one can trust, a comment made in an interview with a French magazine following the Paris attacks. “When I look at the present state of things in the world, I realize that Vladimir Putin is the sole defender of Christian civilization one can rely on,” Mr. Assad told French magazine Valeurs Actuelles, Sputnik News reported. Mr. Assad said he would step down only if asked to by the Syrian people and the Syrian parliament. He said the matter of his possible resignation has not yet been raised on an international level. He also said that Syria would not share intelligence information with France until Paris changes its policies in the region to refocus its efforts on counterterrorism. “If the French government is not serious in its fight against terrorism, we will not waste our time collaborating with a country, government or an institution that supports terrorism,” Mr. Assad said in the interview carried out the day after several terrorists attacks left 129 people dead and 352 wounded in Paris. The full interview will be published on Nov. 19. “You have to first change policy so that it is based on one criteria, to be part of an alliance that joins countries only fighting terrorism and not supporting them,” Mr. Assad said, Sputnik reported. France was one of the first countries to join the U.S. in the international coalition to combat the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and Syria. France has maintained that Mr. Assad is the main threat in Syria’s civil war that has seen more than 220,000 killed in over four years. More than 11 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes, many of them migrating to Europe, sparking fears that radical islamist militants may be entering the European Union amongst the refugees. At least two of the attackers that carried out the bombings and shootings in Paris on Nov. 13 entered Europe via Greece with migrants from Syria. Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

Iran has enlisted tens of thousands of young Shiite men into an armed network that is challenging the US across the Middle East. The Trump administration is not prepared. BAGHDAD — Iran has built up a multinational network of tens of thousands of young men from across the Middle East, turning them into a well-drilled fighting machine that is outgunning the US on the battlefield, as Tehran outsmarts the White House in the corridors of power. These men can be found leading the defense of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, recapturing land from ISIS in Iraq, and fighting for control of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. The transnational militia of Shiite men — which has no official title — is now the dominant force in the region, enabling Iran to take full advantage in the absence of a coherent strategy from the Trump White House. Over six months, BuzzFeed News spoke to researchers, officials, and militia fighters who described what they knew about the Iranian program, overseen by the secretive Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and its infamous commander Qassem Suleimani — who often shows up on front lines in Iraq and Syria. Accounts by the fighters reveal the scale and structure of the program, and although many of the details could not be independently verified, BuzzFeed News was able to confirm all the fighters’ memberships in various armed groups. Their stories, collected independently, match one another — as well as accounts gathered by US military and intelligence officials. Mustafa al-Freidawi is one of those men. Freidawi, a compact man with a neatly trimmed black beard, fondly recalls his early days as a member of Iran’s militia. “It was a new adventure,” he said. “We were happy.” Speaking in a noisy restaurant in northern Baghdad earlier this year, Freidawi outlined how he was recruited, trained, and deployed to be part of a fighting force that aims to cement Iran’s influence in the Middle East, and beyond. Anadolu Agency / Getty Images Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani, September 18, 2016. Freidawi grew up the son of a bus driver in the rundown neighborhood of Ur in northern Baghdad, before following in his father’s footsteps. But that was never going to be enough for a young man looking to find meaning in his life. In June 2013 he answered the call to join a Shiite militia group known as Asaheb ahl al-Haq — or the League of the Righteous — notorious in the 2000s for its roadside bomb attacks against US forces, and alleged human rights abuses against Iraq’s minority Sunni population. Freidawi was given 10 days’ training at an Iraqi army base in the town of Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, before being dispatched to fight against Sunni insurgents. His first assignment was to join a team looking for three missing Iraqi soldiers in the town of Karma, east of Fallujah. Freidawi and his comrades stepped right into a terrible firefight. “I was so scared,” he said. “They were shooting at us like crazy. The other side believed we were broken. But we weren’t.” Over the course of the next few months, Freidawi demonstrated his bravery and was quickly ushered up the chain of command. He soon adjusted to the long hours of waiting, punctuated by brief, intense moments of terror that characterize the life of a militiaman. What had started out as a volunteer effort to do some good for his “collapsing country,” as he described Iraq, was quickly evolving into a new career: professional gunman. It was his talents on the battlefield that earned him the ultimate accolade for any young man fighting for the Shiite cause — he was recommended by his commanders for a 45-day military and ideological training program in Iran. And so it was that on a cold January day in 2014, Freidawi found himself on a bus filled with fellow Shiite fighters, their spirits high, as it made its way along the highways and rural roads leading out of Baghdad. Heading southeast toward the long border with Iran, they dedicated songs to Zeinab, the sister of the martyred Imam Hussein. “For Zeinab, we became servants. With our chests, we welcome darts,” they sang. It would be the first time many of these men had ever left Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis visit their wealthier, calmer neighbor each year to make the pilgrimage to its holy sites, or to access its health care. But instead of getting their passports stamped as they crossed the border in Shalamcheh, the men handed over their identification papers to Iranian authorities. They also gave in their cell phones — there would be no gleeful selfies on this trip. Though they had entered Iran, there would be no official trace of their presence. The men were then taken to the airport in Ahvaz, a city of 1 million in Iran’s furthermost southwestern corner, where they boarded an unmarked plane. Freidawi, then 23 years old, was excited — he had never flown before — and snagged a window seat. He watched in awe as snowcapped mountains appeared in the distance, perhaps on the outskirts of the Iranian capital, Tehran. To this day he’s not sure exactly where he was taken; no one told them and the men had been advised not to ask questions. Military training began right away. “No sleep, two hours of running every day. They taught us to be very hard and very patient ... We survived on little food and water,” said Freidawi. Smoking was banned, as were phone calls to friends and relatives back home. But by the time the course was over, Freidawi was ready for the next step of his adventure: to fight for Assad in Syria. BuzzFeed News Iran has been at odds with the West since 1979, when Islamic radicals overthrew the pro-US shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and established the country as a theocracy. Over the last decade Iran’s nuclear program has caused panic in Washington, DC, as successive administrations have struggled to work out how to deal with their regional bogeyman. This culminated in the controversial 2015 nuclear deal signed by Barack Obama — which Donald Trump now appears to have in his sights. While Washington obsesses over Iran’s nuclear program, officials in Tehran are busying themselves with the facts on the ground in the Middle East. Ever since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iran — a Shiite state — has had its eyes on its Shiite-majority neighbor, intent on taking over the levers of power, commerce, and the military. But this is just one part of Iran’s wider goal: to establish territorial dominance from the Gulf of Aden to the shores of the Mediterranean. Iran’s enemies see the Shiite militia as little more than mercenaries, but Freidawi and his comrades sincerely believe in their cause. In their eyes, the threat posed by the region’s Sunni extremists, the US, and its allies is very real — and demands that they take up arms to defend their nations and their faith. Alex Potter for BuzzFeed News A truck full of Shiite militiamen near the frontline in Tal Afar, Iraq, on January 21, 2017. In the summer of 2011, as the Arab Spring uprisings were shaking regimes across the Middle East, hundreds of young Syrian and Lebanese men gathered in the mountains of the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. They were watched over by military trainers from the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, according to Fidaa al-Itaani, a Lebanese journalist, who witnessed the scene. Back then, Itaani was a big supporter of Hezbollah, even occasionally picking up a weapon and training alongside the group. But he’s since publicly turned against Hezbollah, and agreed to speak out about his experiences and insights into the training program. After witnessing the spectacle in the Bekaa Valley that day in 2011, he said he later asked a contact in Hezbollah’s intelligence unit why so many men were being trained so aggressively. Were they preparing for another war against Israel, he wondered. “We are training them in everything,” Itaani said the Hezbollah official told him. “Municipal governance, self-defense, religion, how to use the infrastructure of the state, electricity, water, civil defense.” Joel Robine / AFP / Getty Images Hezbollah leaders meet in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, July 1985. Itaani said he was stunned by the ambition and scale of a project that had originally started during the 1980s Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon as a means for Iran to draw young aimless Shiite men off the street and against an invading force. Over the decades Hezbollah has become increasingly powerful as a tool of Iranian foreign policy and perpetrator of alleged violence in the Middle East, Europe, and even Latin America. Now these young men were being used to prepare for war across the border in Syria, where the Shiite were a distinct minority, and where Sunnis were battling to overthrow the Iranian-backed regime of Bashar al-Assad. “Assad may leave,” he described his contact as saying. “If so we will take a small part of Syria. If he wins, we will take all of Syria.” Since the start of the Arab Spring, Iran has drawn tens of thousands of Iraqi, Lebanese and Afghan fighters to fight in the war for Syria. Ely Karmon, at the Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya, Israel, estimates there are 5,000 to 7,000 Hezbollah fighters in Syria at any given time. The Fatemiyoun Brigade, a unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, an elite branch of the armed forces, is comprised of Afghan fighters, and numbers up to 17,000 fighters. Hisham Hashemi, an Iraqi security expert, estimates around 65,000 Iraqi militia fighters have received training, weapons, or funding from Iran. US and Israeli officials have voiced grave concerns about what appears be an emerging land bridge of fighting groups loyal to Tehran stretching from Iran’s Zagros Mountains all the way to the borders of Israel — but seem powerless in their attempts to stop it. Iran appears to be using these men in ever more creative ways, in an ongoing sectarian and geopolitical war that pits pro-Iranian Shiite countries and organizations against a Saudi-led bloc of conservative Sunni governments backed by the US. "Many will go home. But 500 or 1,000 is all it takes to organize a terrorist network." Others worry that building up a multinational network of highly trained and experienced combatants could have lasting consequences for a region already awash in arms, extremism, and overlapping conflicts. “What will happen with all these Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis fighting in Syria? Many will go home,” said Karmon. “But 500 or 1,000 is all it takes to organize a terrorist network. It will be a future threat. Their role is now strategic.” The Iranian training of militia fighters seems to be accelerating, with fresh recruits and veterans of past training missions planning trips to Iran this year, according to the fighters themselves. Recent recruits described being trained in the use of explosively formed penetrators (EFPs), which can pierce the armor of military vehicles and were used extensively against US forces during the occupation of Iraq a decade ago. Iran’s reach extends beyond Syria and its neighbors. US and other officials suspect that Iranian training of fighters in Yemen — where Tehran’s Houthi allies control the capital — is behind recent attacks on ships off the coast of Yemen that some worry could cripple crucial sea lanes. Fighting loosely organized and diverse armed groups of men who blend easily into civilian populations also presents a significant challenge to the US and its allies, one for which conventional tools of warfare rarely suffice. “It’s a huge threat,” said retired Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, a former adviser to Israel’s ministry of strategic affairs former and chief of the research division at the Israeli Defense Force’s Military Intelligence branch. “The fact that we have F-16s and F-35s is not relevant to this problem.” Iran’s ruling elite is opaque at the best of times, and figures within Tehran’s security apparatus have rarely disclosed details about the training program. No one outside Iran's circle of security leaders knows what it is called — one Iranian national security insider told BuzzFeed News that it doesn’t even have an official title. In the media, Iranian officials describe the fighters as “Defenders of the Holy Shrines,” in reference to their role in protecting Shiite religious sites. In rare moments when Iranian officials do talk about the program, they describe it in grand terms, linking its aims to the establishment of a just world order that will come about with the return of the Mahdi, the disappeared 12th Imam in Shiite theology, whose reappearance they say will herald a new age. It’s also a battle Tehran sees as a direct assault on US influence in the Middle East. “The Americans spent $3 trillion in the war in Afghanistan under the pretext of fighting al-Qaeda but they are still wandering lost in the region,” Ismail Qaani, deputy commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force said during a speech earlier this year commemorating the role of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, the mostly Afghan militia fighting for Iranian aims in Syria. “The United States and Israel should know that the Fatemiyoun is growing and resistance in the world has spread. This is just the beginning. America must pay attention.” BuzzFeed News sought comment from several Iranian Foreign Ministry and security officials, but none responded. Ali Omidi, a professor of international relations at the University of Isfahan in Iran, surmised that the main goals of Iran’s militia program are to maintain Iran’s security by weakening or eliminating radical Sunni groups; strengthening Iran’s strategic objectives by expanding the capabilities of its allies; keeping a balance of power favorable to Iran in the Middle East; and countering rivals such as the US and Israel. But he cautioned that the program remains shrouded in mystery. “These matters are categorized confidential and secret and there is no verified or reliable information about them,” he said. Even Iran’s critics marvel at the grandiosity of the Iranian vision, with its mixture of political and military power in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and other countries, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and even Nigeria, where an unarmed franchise of Hezbollah operates. US officials, struggling to build up the capacity of allies from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, grudgingly acknowledge Iran’s mastery of this particular style of warfare. “In Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen — anywhere we’ve trained — they suck; they can’t shoot straight,” one former US official said, in frustration. “The Iranians train these guys and they become good fighters.” Thaier Al-sudani / Reuters Shiite militia fighters in northern Iraq, October 18, 2015. Iran’s armed groups are made up of men like Mustafa al-Freidawi, recruited from the proud and pious poor of the Middle East’s slums. Across the region, a sort of modus operandi for recruiting them has developed over the decades. At first, small Hezbollah cells scout out the terrain for local grievances to exploit and recruits to draw. “After that they send special advisers to connect with people, pay money to rent, or, if possible, buy houses,” according to Itaani, the former Hezbollah supporter. “Later they send political and religious guys to start to convince people. Only much later, they start to train fighters and militias.” Freidawi and six others, including two Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, described a grueling application and vetting process for anyone joining an Iranian-backed militia. Recruiters want to know every detail about a potential militiaman: family, friends, distant relations, political views, religious habits. “They were shooting at us like crazy. The other side believed we were broken. But we weren’t.” Commanders seek recruits of a certain type: young neighborhood guys as comfortable with Shiite religious instruction as with Russian small arms. According to a groundbreaking 2008 report by the Center for Combatting Terrorism that cited transcripts of US military interviews with captured Iraqi Shiite militiamen, recruiters look for traits that include “open-mindedness,” physical stamina, maturity, organizational skills, and “responsibility” in individuals who are relatively docile and don’t ask a lot of questions. Recruits, in turn, draw others in their circle. Freidawi’s decision to join the militia had a knock-on effect, inspiring others in his neighborhood to join. Freidawi introduced one of them as his close friend, Mohammed Jabbar Kadhem, who signed up a year after him. The two men spoke at a morning meeting at the same busy restaurant that is their regular hangout. Kadhem said that he had been a mostly unemployed construction worker in northern Baghdad before he decided to follow Freidawi’s path. After months of hanging out with the militia as a volunteer, Kadhem formally joined the group in May 2014, and received a $150 signing bonus. Cash at first came occasionally, perhaps another $150 now and then. Both men said they felt well looked after by the group. “They ask us, ‘Do you need a salary? Do you have kids or are you supporting someone?’” said Freidawi. After training for 10 days in the Iraqi city of Abu Ghraib, Kadhem soon found himself on the battlefield, fighting alongside other Shiite militiamen against insurgents near Kirkuk. This was followed by an assignment in Diyala province, where three of his comrades were killed in a suicide bombing. Having impressed his commanders, Kadhem was recommended for a five-day engineering course in Lej Spring, a base 30 miles south of Baghdad, which Saddam Hussein had used decades earlier to prepare Palestinians to fight Israel. Kadhem learned how to place and remove roadside bombs, and to employ the same tricks that ISIS uses — including booby-trapped refrigerators and weapons attached to explosive tripwires — against the jihadis. He also said he learned how to make armor-piercing EFPs. The trainers spoke broken Arabic — Kadhem suspected they were Iranian, but wasn’t sure. “We didn’t ask because we thought if we asked it might create some problems,” he said. In return for loyalty, the fighters get salaries considered generous by local standards. Freidawi said he was paid around 5 million Iraqi dinars ($4,100) a year, but hopes that it will double under new rules that officially incorporate militias into the Iraqi state. Lebanese Hezbollah fighters receive relatively high-quality private education in the organization’s network of Iranian-funded schools. Once recruited into an Iranian-backed militia, the men must adhere to a strict set of rules, and are kept under constant surveillance. Iraqi and Lebanese fighters said they were banned from going abroad to any country outside of Iran, Syria, Iraq, or Lebanon without the permission of commanders. The price for disobeying orders was high — cross them, and you’re out forever, looking over your shoulders your entire life for fear of an assassin’s bullet. Itaani, for example, now lives in a rented house on top of a barren mountain 40 miles outside Beirut, protected by guard dogs and closed-circuit television cameras he has installed around the perimeter out of fear the Hezbollah fighters he once considered fellow travelers will kill him. Recruits head to Iran only when they are recommended for advanced training. After arriving for training near Tehran, Freidawi and his comrades were assigned to bunk beds in dormitory halls. The facilities were clean, but it was colder than anything they had ever experienced, with snow blanketing the valley surrounding the base. Thaier Al-sudani / Reuters Shiite fighters prepare their weapons during clashes ISIS militants in northern Iraq, October 2015. Iranian trainers showed them how to use machine guns, 14.5mm and 23mm high-caliber mounted guns. Courses were named after heroes of the self-described axis of resistance against Israel and the West: Mostafa Chamran, the Iranian guerrilla fighter who helped train Shiite fighters in Lebanon and died leading a battle against Iraqi forces; Imad Mughniyeh, the infamous Hezbollah commander assassinated in Damascus; and Fathi Shaqaqi, founder of Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian militant group. They focused on infantry training, commando, and rapid-response operations. During one training course, fighters were dropped off in the wilderness and forced to survive for weeks. Specialized training included firing medium-range rockets and testing military vehicles. One Hezbollah fighter said Iranian-trained Hezbollah pilots have been using aircraft in Syria. Another described training on Iranian Bourkan or Volcano and Zelzeleh rockets, which Hezbollah fighters have used frequently against Israel. Veterans of the training program said they or their colleagues had also trained alongside Pakistanis, Afghans, and Yemenis. Despite the harsh military regiment and strict rules, Freidawi said he was impressed with the regard their Iranian hosts showed them. “They were treating us very well,” said Freidawi. “Imagine: They used to clean our clothes and socks by hand. They called us mujahedeen, and said they would kiss our boots.” To overcome the language barrier, seasoned Lebanese fighters sometimes serve as trainers. One man who knows the entire process of recruiting, training, and deploying pro-Iranian fighters is Hoder, a Hezbollah commander who agreed to meet with BuzzFeed News earlier this year in southern Beirut. He asked that his last name and other identifying details not be published, out of fear of retribution. Hoder joined Hezbollah in the early 1990s and has fought repeatedly against Israel, including in the 2006 summer war that was the last major conflict between the two. He estimated that 2,000 of his colleagues had been deployed to Iraq to train militiamen, and said that Hezbollah trainers had also been dispatched to Yemen to prep the Iranian-allied Houthi fighters ahead of their 2015 takeover of Sanaa, the capital. Hoder himself has helped prepare fighters in Syria and Iraq. “We train them in all kinds of street weapons,” Hoder said. “First of all, we give them a good lesson in guerilla warfare. We take them to the field and we give lessons in the classroom. We go over previous losses and discuss what their mistakes were.” Those who are physically fit might be assigned to combat roles, while older or weaker men would be given a communications jobs, or taught first aid or a language, including Hebrew or Farsi. The entire system has been streamlined over the decades, turned into a machine for producing increasingly well-trained and motivated fighters loyal to Iran. “I’m glad there’s a fellow Muslim country that allows us to do this,” Hoder said of the training program. “What we learn, we used on the ground in [southern Lebanon] against the Israelis in 2006, and in Aleppo in 2015.” “And hopefully, in the Galilee someday soon,” referring to the northern part of Israel, mincing no words about the ultimate purpose of his efforts. Mohammed Huwais / AFP / Getty Images Newly recruited Houthi fighters chant slogans in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on February 2, 2017. One day last January, US trainers in Humvees accompanying a group of Iraqi soldiers on a training exercise arrived at a checkpoint at the entrance to the Hamrin Mountains north of Baghdad. They expected to be waved through. Instead, they were halted by the fighters of the Nujaba Hezbollah movement, who manned the checkpoint. An argument ensued. The militiamen stood their ground. The US and Iraqi forces ultimately retreated, heading back to their camp, according to Iraqi officials and local press accounts. “Iraqi volunteer forces blocked the US soldiers’ path to the mountain in northern Salahuddin and expelled them from the region once again,” said a convoluted version of the story that appeared in pro-regime Iranian media. The incident was one of many that show how Iranian-backed Shiite militias have few qualms about flexing their muscles throughout the region, and frustrating US goals. In Iraq, the war against ISIS has propelled the paramilitary forces into a formidable military and political force with as many as 172,000 men. Iraq’s Shiite militias now have their own TV stations, construction businesses, and even sponsor soccer clubs. They control vast patronage networks that provide jobs and a sense of purpose to thousands of mostly, poor young Iraqi men while empowering their political bosses in Baghdad. Last year, the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, announced plans to recognize the paramilitary groups, formally called Popular Mobilization Units, or PMUs, as a branch of the armed forces in recognition of their growing power. Iranian-backed militias including Asaheb ahl al-Haq have taken up positions on the front lines adjacent to the city of Tal Afar, complicating plans by US-led forces and the Abadi government in Baghdad to use the less controversial Iraqi army to retake the city from ISIS. On Saturday, Abadi said Iraqi militias, which include both Sunni tribal groups and Shiite fighters, would take part in the offensive to recapture Tal Afar, raising fears of further sectarian conflict. In Yemen, Houthi fighters allied with Iran seized control of the capital, Sanaa, driving out forces loyal to the United Nations–backed government. US and Israeli officials were shocked after the Houthis began using remote-controlled drone boats and firing land-to-sea missiles at ships along the crucial Bab al-Mandib strait, a major transit point for world energy supplies. The missiles had previously been used by Hezbollah to disable Israeli ships during the 2006 war in Lebanon. “That the Houthis have the anti-ship cruise missiles and the drone boats suggests there’s some level of training,” said Michael Connell, a former US Army officer who heads the Iran program of the Center for Naval Analyses, a federally funded think tank. “These are not something where you can just open the crate and start using it. This is not something where you can just read the manual. They have to be trained up, and that takes a couple of months.” More worrying to some is the way the militias use military power to cement potentially long-term political changes. For example, Iran’s intervention may have helped transform Yemen’s Houthis, from a tribal rebellion against the government in Sanaa into sectarian movement that has adopted the anti-Israeli and anti-Western slogans of Tehran and Hezbollah. “What worries me about the Houthis is not that they receive military support from Iran, but that they are becoming part of the ideological axis,” Ely Karmon said. “We are winning. Look who’s running Lebanon. Look who’s controlling Sanaa and Baghdad.” All across the Middle East, Iran’s allies feel the wind is at their back. Recently Donald Trump stood alongside the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and praised him for combatting Hezbollah, apparently unaware he was serving in a government that includes the militant group. “We are winning,” said Hoder, the Hezbollah commander. “Look who’s running Lebanon. Look who’s controlling Sanaa and Baghdad.” In Syria, stories abound of Shiite families from Iraq and Lebanon settling lands where Sunnis have fled the war. It has also become increasingly apparent that Iranian allies have been attempting to establish positions near the border at key Iraqi transit points, and at the frontier with Israel at the occupied Golan Heights. The US and Iran’s allies have also begun to lock horns inside Syria. On May 18, US officials nervously watching over a group of US commandos near a remote base in southern Syria spotted what appeared to be a convoy of 20 or so vehicles heading towards them, with 13 of them “advancing well inside an established de-confliction zone," according to a Pentagon statement. The US dispatched two fighter jets “as a show of force” to halt the advance of what later turned out to be a convoy of Iranian-backed militias. The convoy allegedly refused to turn back, and the US launched airstrikes that destroyed at least two vehicles. US officials have grown increasingly vocal about the Iran’s proxies, and are working on strategies to counter them. “We watch Iran's impact across the region from the militia they maintain,” said US Secretary of Defense James Mattis during a visit to Saudi Arabia in April. “Iran's got its own military inside Syria, continuing to hold Assad in power. Everywhere you look, if there is trouble in the region, you find Iran.” The US’s regional allies have poured resources into monitoring Iran’s militias. They use both electronic surveillance and networks of informers across the region. “Israel knows what Iran is building, who they’re working with, what the training is, and where the training is,” said Kuperwasser, the retired brigadier general and former research division chief. “We keep trying to find ways to start slow them down so when the big war starts they have less capability.” But other experts argue for a more nuanced approach to confronting Iran’s foreign legion, which includes an ideological as well as a military dimension. Any successful effort to counter Iran may need capitalize on political voices already opposed to Tehran’s actions. In Arab and South Asian countries where recruits are drawn, the Iranian program is highly controversial. Pakistan this year shut down a charity suspected of recruiting young Shiite men into the Zeinabiyoun Brigade fighting Syria. Afghan officials meanwhile have warned that up to 18,000 men fighting in Syria could return home and wreak havoc. Even Iranians are divided over the regime’s support for the militias. According to a survey released on July 28 by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland and IranPoll, 39% of Iranians would be open to curtailing the regime’s backing for Hezbollah and the Assad regime in exchange for reducing US sanctions, with 58% opposed. Within Iran there are the beginnings of an unprecedented public criticism of the program. On April 22 of this year, an Iranian student in the northwest city of Tabriz made waves when he spoke out against Iran’s support for armed groups around the region. “Your theory is a theory of horror and terror, and exporting arms and war,” he said, addressing Hassan Abbasi, who heads the IRGC’s think tank, according to a video of the event. “Your theory is supporting the dictatorial and murderous Bashar al-Assad.” A week later, Tehran’s former mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi, speaking at a public forum, questioned Iran’s dispatching of fighters across the region. “We want peace in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and such countries, support the oppressed and back up the Shiite,” he said. “But can this be accomplished just by giving money, buying weapons, killing, and beating?” Alex Potter for BuzzFeed News Women bring fruit and vegetables as a donation to Shiite militiamen near Tal Afar, Iraq, on January 23, 2017. The gunfire started early in the morning, and continued until sunset. Then the mortars and rockets struck the hills south of Damascus where Freidawi and his fellow fighters had been deployed in early 2014 to stave off an advance by Syrian rebels fighting against Assad. The fighting was terrifying and relentless — an experience for which all the training in the world couldn’t have prepared him. “We were assigned to a territory and told not to let the enemy enter,” Freidawi said. “It was a street battle. The first five days were the worst. It went on like this for 20 days. We lost so many men. So many were injured.” There was one saving grace. After being forced to abstain from tobacco and cell phones for those weeks in Iran, at least he could chain-smoke cigarettes and make calls to his family again. The mostly older fighters were impressed with Friedawi’s pluck. They gave him a nickname: “shibd al-assad,” or lion cub. Three weeks into the battle, a cry of joy went up. Lebanese Hezbollah fighters had arrived as reinforcements to begin a counteroffensive. The mood lifted as they began to fight back against the rebels. February snows started to melt as the tide of the war shifted with the help of Iranian-trained fighters from Syria’s neighbors. In Syria, as well as in Iraq and Yemen, the Iranian-trained fighters have proved invaluable assets backing Tehran’s allies. Syria has served as a finishing school for the recruits — a place where they refine their battle skills in combat situations, perhaps the most extreme and complicated war in a generation. “In Syria, there was not a single day I was not shot at by a sniper,” said one Iraqi fighter deployed repeatedly to the eastern suburbs of Damascus between weeks-long training courses in Iran. “In Iraq, we liberate 50 kilometers in one day. In Syria it takes 15 days to move 50 meters.” In the summer of 2015, Kadhem — Freidawi’s friend — was deployed to southern Aleppo. He flew from Iran’s Ahwaz Airport to Damascus and then went by bus to help try to break the siege of Fuaa and Kefraya, two Shiite towns surrounded by Sunni rebel fighters. He was assigned to a checkpoint. Just secure the ground were his orders. “We gave 40 martyrs. But the Iranians were alongside us. They were leading us. They needed us to back them up.” It turned into a summer of hell. The fighting was ferocious, the rebels armed with Coronet rockets and Katyusha missiles. “It was not like in Iraq,” he said, where he battled ISIS and its precursors. During one battle, they were lured from their position into a valley, and quickly ambushed. Badly outmanned and outgunned, they scampered into tunnels, where they were hunted down and shot dead. “We gave 40 martyrs,” he recalled. “But the Iranians were alongside us. They were leading us. They needed us to back them up.” While an occasional Hezbollah or Asaheb ahl al-Haq fighter might be cynical about the militia business, most are grateful to have a meaningful job. In their own communities, they are heroes, who risk their lives daily to protect their people. “There is an ideological commitment,” said Connell, of the Center for Naval Analyses. “It’s not purely self-interest that gets people to join. They do believe in what they’re doing.” During two lengthy talks, Freidawi spoke repeatedly about Salaam Abu Taiba, a famed Asaheb ahl al-Haq commander who recruited, trained with him in Iran, and fought alongside him in Iraq and Syria him before getting killed in battle against ISIS last year. Freidawi now wears his late mentor’s bulletproof vest. “In the early days we didn’t even receive salaries,” he said. “We fought for our beliefs, for the Shiite.” In January, when he and his friend Kadhem met with BuzzFeed, he was preparing to return to Iran, this time for two 45-day training missions. He said he was looking forward to it, even though he knew he’d be banned from smoking his beloved shisha and from using cell phones for another long stretch. “I feel like Iran is our mother,” he said. ●

Lobbyists Are Back on the Prowl The White House killed the notion of the “border adjustment” tax by excluding it from its plan, a victory for retailers, oil companies and other importers who have railed against the idea of taxing imports. But with the Trump administration preparing to ax all individual deductions except for mortgage interest and charities, not everyone is happy. The National Association of Realtors has already expressed its displeasure with the doubling of the standard deduction, arguing that it waters down the tax benefits of owning a home. Other trade groups and special interests will find other parts of the tax plan to attack or support. Helping the Rich, but the Rest? As a candidate, Mr. Trump suggested that rich people like him should actually pay more taxes. But nothing in his tax outline suggested that would be the case. The repeal of the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax and the extraordinarily low business tax rates suggest that the rich will do quite well under Mr. Trump’s plan. What is more, Mr. Trump’s advisers could not offer any insights into how middle-income Americans would fare under his plan. On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was asked on ABC’s “Good Morning America” whether the middle class wouldn’t be paying more taxes. “I can’t make any guarantees,” he said. And Then the President’s Taxes Since Mr. Trump insists on breaking tradition and keeping his tax returns private, they become a potent issue. From what is known about Mr. Trump’s wealth and the bits of his tax information that have been made public, he would have quite a lot to gain from his proposal. The repeal of the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax would be a boon for Mr. Trump, as would a lower corporate tax rate and a territorial system that would let foreign profits go untaxed. As each detail of his plan becomes clearer, critics of Mr. Trump will muddy the policy debates by using his taxes as a rallying cry of opposition.

A mid-2016 security incident led to Apple purging its data centers of servers built by Supermicro, including returning recently purchased systems, according to a report by The Information. Malware-infected firmware was reportedly detected in an internal development environment for Apple's App Store, as well as some production servers handling queries through Apple's Siri service. An Apple spokesperson denied there was a security incident. However, Supermicro's senior vice-president of technology, Tau Leng, told The Information that Apple had ended its relationship with Supermicro because of the compromised systems in the App Store development environment. Leng also confirmed Apple returned equipment that it had recently purchased. An anonymous source was cited as the source of the information regarding infected Siri servers. Apple has used a variety of other companies' server hardware—since the company got out of the server business itself and never used its own in datacenters—including servers from HP and storage from NetApp. A few years ago, Apple added Supermicro as a supplier for some of its development and data center computing infrastructure. But Apple has been squeezing the cost of its data center supply chain and moving toward more custom hardware much like the other cloud giants. In August of 2016, Digitimes reported Apple was increasing its orders for full-rack systems from the integrator ZT Systems and adding the China-based Inspur as a server supplier. Leng told The Information that Apple was the only company to report the firmware issue, and he said the servers are used by thousands of customers. He asserted that when his company asked Apple's engineers to provide information about the firmware, they gave an incorrect version number—and then refused to give further information. Update: A source familiar with the case at Apple told Ars that the compromised firmware affected servers in Apple's design lab, and not active Siri servers. The firmware, according to the source, was downloaded directly from Supermicro's support site—and that firmware is still hosted there. Apple issued the following official comment:

Three days after she was killed in front of her supermarket co-workers, Clémence Beaulieu-Patry’s friends made their way to the Montreal courthouse to see the only suspect in the case be charged with first-degree murder. Handcuffed with his head tilted downward, 19-year-old Randy Tshilumba wore a grey long-sleeve t-shirt and faded jeans as he was led into the courtroom by correctional officers on Wednesday. His eyes scanned the courtroom, but he sat in silence and barely reacted as he was arraigned. He was in and out within a matter of minutes, and no plea was entered. The group of friends, who had huddled together before entering the room, shook their heads and left together in tears. They held hands and wrapped their arms around each other’s shoulders as they rushed out of the courtroom. Beaulieu-Patry, 20, was a half-hour away from finishing her shift at an east-end Maxi supermarket Sunday night when it’s alleged Tshilumba stabbed her to death. While co-workers gathered around her on the floor, trying in vain to keep her alive, a suspect fled on foot. Police spent the night interviewing roughly 30 people who were present, and released screenshots of a suspect taken from surveillance camera footage to the public on Monday. They fielded more than 80 calls from Montrealers in the 48 hours that followed, and raided Tshilumba’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve apartment late Tuesday night. He did not resist the arrest, police said. Investigators spent Wednesday morning at the apartment, where they could be seen leaving with large paper bags filled with items that had been seized. Tshilumba and Beaulieu-Patry, only a year apart in age, had gone to high school together at École secondaire Louis-Riel, but police couldn’t confirm the nature of their relationship, or if they had been in touch more recently. During Wednesday’s brief court appearance, Crown prosecutor Sonia Lebel asked Quebec Court Judge Denis Lavergne to impose two conditions on Tshilumba while he is detained and waiting for his next court appearance. Lavergne agreed and ordered Tshilumba, who has no previous criminal record, not to communicate with any of Beaulieu-Patry’s family. He also can’t be in touch with one other person who was named in court, though Lebel wouldn’t comment on why or what the person’s connection is to the case. Beaulieu-Patry’s friends had welcomed the news of the arrest earlier on Wednesday morning, but were quick to point out that it doesn’t change the fact that their friend is gone. “It helps to know that (the suspect) isn’t walking around anymore,” said close friend Gabriel-Shawan Raymond-Ponce. “But of course it doesn’t bring Clémence back.” Raymond-Ponce, 19, described Beaulieu-Patry as someone who was always smiling, who loved life and always knew what to say when others were going through hard times. He’d known her for seven years after they met in their first year of high school. “She would never hurt anyone, and I don’t know why anyone would have wanted to hurt her,” he said. She had recently started studying at Collège de Maisonneuve and wanted to become a social worker, Raymond-Ponce said. The two had grown closer in the last three years after Beaulieu-Patry started dating his best friend. Many of Beaulieu-Patry’s Facebook photos are of her and her boyfriend. The two were like a fairy-tale couple, Raymond-Ponce said, hitting it off after meeting at a party two years ago. What he and his friends want most now, he said, is to know why it happened, why anyone would take her life. “She was loved by everyone,” he said. Raymond-Ponce said he last saw Beaulieu-Patry Saturday night, when their group of friends all had dinner together. She seemed absolutely fine, he said, smiling as always. “It’s not like we got to say our goodbyes,” he said. “It’s not like she died after being sick … No one was ready for this to happen, no one was ready for her to leave us like this. “It’s been three days that we’ve been waking up in the morning hoping that she’s going to send us a text message, that it’s not real, that she was lost somewhere and that she’s back.” Tshilumba’s case returns to court in two weeks. jfeith@postmedia.com Twitter.com/jessefeith

I voted this morning in Washington, D.C. at a local protestant church, with a huge cross with the words “Jesus Saves” imprinted on it and quotes from the Bible posted everywhere. What’s bothersome isn’t so much that Church and State are teaming up, though some have made that case (this year, the debate has been particularly fierce in Iowa, where one local church encouraged members of the congregation to vote after the service). My bigger concern is that the religious imagery and messaging might affect voter behavior, and determine the outcome of elections. It’s not far-fetched. Recent research at Cornell suggests that something as seemingly insignificant as having a hand sanitizing dispenser in the room makes people express more conservative views; people also expressed more conservative views when researchers made the room smell bad. It sounds weird, but these are well-documented effects. These subtle cues also play a role in the voting booth. A 2006 study [PDF] from Stanford University found that voters in Arizona were more likely to cast ballots in support of a state sales tax funding education if they voted in a school. In experiments, the researchers further found that voters were more likely to oppose stem-cell research if primed with religious images. These effects appear even if you control for demographics and political affiliation. There is a simple explanation for these voting patterns: Voting behavior — like human behavior more generally — is often not rational, and is affected by our social environment in ways we don’t even realize. Part of the problem is that, especially when faced with a dauntingly long ballot like Californians are this year, voters save time and effort by relying on social cues and their ingrained assumptions about how the world works. For instance, voters tend to assume reflexively that female candidates are less conservative than male ones, and also make assumptions about candidates based on race and occupation (if someone’s bio says they’re a small-business owner, that means they’re more conservative, right?). It’s part of an area of social psychology called “heuristics and biases,” and it looks at the ways in which our brains take shortcuts to reduce the cognitive load. What it reveals about us is unsettling: Could the outcome of something as crucial as the 2000 presidential election, which came down to a handful of votes in Florida, have been determined by the number of people voting underneath some huge painting of the crucifixion? Maybe — which is why I think we should all vote at home, online, and far away from a garbage can.

On Saturday, Peter Holley of The Washington Post published an article effectively blaming a pro-Trump radio station for inspiring James Hodgkinson to attempt a massacre of Congressional Republicans in Alexandria, Virginia. Targeting conservative radio host Bob Romanik, who runs a show on KQQZ 1190 AM in Belleville, Illinois, Holley insinuated that it was inflammatory pro-Trump rhetoric, not Hodgkinson's anti-Trump derangement, that caused the unapologetic Bernie Sanders supporter to short-circuit. Here is how Holley began the article: It’s not yet 11 a.m., and Bob Romanik, sitting behind the microphone at his radio station in a rundown strip mall in the middle of America, already has said the “n-word” out loud — and on air — at least a dozen times. Romanik is a surly 68-year-old former East St. Louis street cop. He hates Black Lives Matter and talks proudly about his Caucasian heritage to anyone who will listen. And do they listen. His controversy-courting radio program — he’s the self-styled “Grim Reaper of Radio” on KQQZ 1190 AM — reaches across this region, in and around Belleville, Ill. The suburban community about 20 miles east of St. Louis drew attention in recent weeks because it was the hometown of James T. Hodgkinson, the out-of-work politically frustrated home inspector who up and left, drove a van to the Washington area, and then shot four people at a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria. Holley continued to discuss how Romanik's commentary had caught the attention of disgruntled Democrats. He said that Romanik used the n-word on a handful occasions and quoted several individuals who described him as a bigot. While Holley quoted members of a Seventh-Day Adventist church who believed it was unfair to link Romanik's words with Hodgkinson's actions, Holley continued to push the radio show host's controversial image and rhetoric without contemplating the possibility that the left-wing terrorist was responsible for his own actions. This is not the first time that a mainstream media source like The Washington Post has flirted with the idea that those on the Right were responsible for violent actions by deranged individuals. Sarah Palin is currently suing The New York Times for defaming her as the inspiration for Jared Lee Loughner's attempted assassination of then-Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Instead of addressing Hodgkinson's actual political beliefs and attributing his attempted massacre to them, the mainstream media seems more interested in pointing fingers at others to keep a conversation aflame about left-wing violence. In the words of The Daily Wire's Andrew Klavan, that would constitute fake news. Follow Elliott on Twitter and Facebook.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton says his new son already has a couple of scholarship offers and has taken his first jog, but he hasn't dabbed. "He hasn't got the style yet," Newton said on Thursday, his first public comments about the birth of his son a week ago on Christmas Eve. "I'm pretty sure he's not too far from it." Newton, who became synonymous with the "dab" dance move after a touchdown celebration at Tennessee on Oct. 15, announced Wednesday night on Twitter that he and longtime girlfriend, Kia, were "blessed to have a son." Newton said he would reveal the name of his son in "due time," but the Charlotte Observer reported that the child is named Chosen Sebastian Newton. The baby weighed 9 pounds, 6 ounces and was 20 inches long. "He can dunk too," Newton said with a laugh. Carolina coach Ron Rivera said it's obvious Newton is "pretty proud" to be a father. That was evident during Sunday's 20-13 loss to Atlanta, Carolina's first of the season after a 14-0 start, when Newton did the "rock the baby" move after scoring on an 8-yard run. It was evident again as Newton spoke Thursday. "It was pretty cool, pretty cool," Newton said of becoming a father. "All fathers can speak on -- when you see life come into existence, it's a wonderful thing. These past couple of days have been so monumental for me. "I took him out for a jog yesterday. He was running alongside me ... No, I'm serious. He has a couple of scholarship offers already on the table. I'm not pushing him to be anything. He's just a 'Super' already." Newton, wearing a "Superman" sweatshirt, joked that reporters were overdoing it on his becoming a father with a steady stream of questions. But he made it clear that had nothing to do with Carolina scoring a season-low 13 points in the loss to Atlanta. "Yeah, I had a child," Newton said. "The people that needed to know have known for a while. Nothing's pretty much changed beside our record. The focus is still the same, to find ways to become 1-0. "We had a lot of distractions last week. The main one was the practice schedule more than anything. That's probably been the [least] amount of practice since I've gotten here." Between Christmas Day off and heavy rains, the Panthers got in only one full practice outside. They were forced to practice in the Charlotte Convention Center on Wednesday. Newton, who missed the last two segments of Thursday's practice to attend the birth of his son, said he wasn't making excuses for the loss. He just wants to make sure that doesn't happen again as Carolina (14-1) prepares for Sunday's regular-season finale against Tampa Bay with home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs at stake. "It shows," Newton said of Carolina's lack of practice last week. "You see the film. You see a lethargic team out there that's kind of waiting on the next man or waiting on somebody else to make plays. "That hasn't been our M.O. all season." Newton wants his M.O. as a father to be the same as that of his dad, Cecil, who was at the center of an NCAA investigation over whether money was sought in exchange for Newton to commit to Mississippi State. Newton went to Auburn, where he led the Tigers to the 2010 BCS National Championship and won the Heisman Trophy. "He was everything I could ask for and more," Newton said of his father. "For him to get bashed and tormented in the media, but our personal relationship has become stronger over the years. I respect that. I understand that. "Every man should have that father figure in their life. I know, especially where I grew up, it wasn't a lot of people that had men in their life. At times I questioned that sometimes my father was too hard on us. My mom could attest to that. Now that I'm lucky enough to have a son, I'm going to be the same way." Newton paused, smiled and added, "But cooler." Asked about his plans for New Year's Eve, Newton gave an answer that many might not consider so cool. "Burping," he said.

MILWAUKEE — A jury late Tuesday awarded more than $5 million in damages to two police officers who were severely wounded with a pistol that a local gun shop sold to a straw buyer in 2009. Deliberating only nine hours after a two-week trial in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, the jury of eight women and four men decided the unusual lawsuit here in favor of the plaintiffs. Gun-control advocates hoped the verdict would encourage more victims and lawyers to sue what they say is a small minority of gun stores that make questionable sales. The jury found that the store had been seriously negligent in selling the gun when there were signs that the ostensible purchaser was fronting for an 18-year-old who accompanied him to the store. One month after the purchase, the 18-year-old, Julius Burton, shot Officer Bryan Norberg in the face and Officer Graham Kunisch in the head and body, leaving him with brain damage and a destroyed eye.

The Jamie Vardy news came as a surprise. You knew there would be rumors of a move this summer, but normally sensible Arsenal? Really?!? That’s an unexpected source, but the details of a £20-30M bid and potential buyout clause were confirmed by a number of reliable sources over the weekend. Today I wanted to investigate what Arsenal might see in the 29-year-old striker, currently of the English National Team, but playing non-league football as few as five years ago. On the surface, Arsenal are thinking of buying an aging striker who is at max possible value, which is anything but standard operating procedure. Note: I am going to ignore the cultural issues here, but you are welcome to your own opinion. If I were doing this professionally, they would certainly factor into my evaluation and recommendation. The Context Before we get to the meaty analysis bit, we need to examine the current context of the Arsenal squad, since it’s going to give us some pointers on what the thinking might be behind the scenes. Welbeck is injured and his career as an elite forward could be over before it truly got started. Because of this, and also because Walcott had a sub-par post-ACL season, Arsenal’s attack lacked pace both centrally and wide. This was a problem and the attack suffered because of it. Arsenal probably needed another center forward this summer anyway. Giroud turns 30 in September, Yaya Sanogo is a bust, and Chupa Akpom is nowhere near good enough for Arsenal’s first team right now. Add in uncertainty about Walcott in a central role and Arsenal are definitely buying a center forward now. It’s not optional like it was last year – it’s a mandatory purchase in order to be able to compete next season. Vardy 15-16 Obviously this is good. Good enough to help Leicester City’s cinderella squad win the Premier League. Vardy’s shot map might just be the best in the Premier League this past year, and the number of throughballs in the box is ridiculous. Esteemed Managing Editor James Yorke offered up the following alternative as his visualization of Vardy’s shot map 17 shots off throughballs, 16 after completed dribbles – Vardy was getting a huge chance more than once a game. This by itself would be enough to bring scrutiny by a club in need of an elite striker, even with the age and personality concerns. Vardy’s expected goals per shot were exceptional, and he posted similar numbers in that respect in 14-15, though he played more of a hybrid role that season. However, there’s another element of Vardy’s game that is massive for Arsenal. Vardy creates goals for teammates. If you can’t set up teammates for shots, you can’t play center forward for Arsenal under Arsene Wenger. Only an average passer across the rest of the pitch, Vardy keeps his head up in the box and as a result he has produced assists consistently for teammates at the Premier League level (.23 per90 in 14-15, .13 in 15-16). A final factor that deserves note: Vardy drew 7 penalties this season, which was more than 18 of the 20 Premier League teams. Convert those into assists at a .78 rate, and his scoring contribution numbers look even better. He likely won’t generate as many penalties in the future, but it’s a valuable skill and one that is shared by another center forward whose release clause Arsenal tried to activate a couple of summers ago. It also further highlights how miserable Vardy and Mahrez were to deal with in and around the penalty box. But It’s Just One Good Season Well actually… *puts on his statsplaining cap* It’s just one elite season. (Though I agree with the general point here.) This season Vardy was 21st in expected scoring contribution (expected goals + expected assists) across Europe, and the six players around him were: Marco Reus, Alexis Sanchez, Aguero, , Mkhitaryan, Cavani, Ozil. That’s undeniably good. However, last season was still decent. In a bad team playing a couple of different positions, Vardy’s expected scoring contribution was still .48. A selection of the cohort around him yields Immobile, Mario Gomez, Keita Balde, , Haris Seferovic, Danny Ings and Jesus Navas. We are still camping in the realm of mostly good players. Oh, and amusingly, Riyad Mahrez was right there at .46. But He Doesn’t Fit the Style! Funny thing about that – almost no one does. There are very few elite possession teams in Europe these days, and even fewer that play anything like Arsenal. Fitting the style is always going to be an issue. One thing that Vardy does do is fit the league, which is always at least a minor concern when bringing players from abroad. He’s been pretty healthy too, though obviously he will end up horribly broken the moment he signs an Arsenal contract. Please, please please, tell me there are other options beyond Jamie Vardy! Well, there are… they are just a lot more expensive. The reason Arsenal have likely landed at Jamie Vardy is a basic disconnect between price and value. Vardy at £25M is mispriced in the current HOLY SHIT EVERYONE IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE HAS CRAZY MONEY market. Remember, Arsenal are definitely buying a forward, and everyone knows that, so teams will try to extract max value because of it. There’s an argument that if Wenger were truly thinking ahead, he probably would have addressed this issue a number of times over the previous 3 summers, taking small gambles on 20-22 year old players with big potential and hoping that one of them would grow into his center forward of the future. He kind of did that with Welbeck, but injuries wrecked the plan. Three summers ago he could have bought Aubameyang for 13m. Two summers ago it was Morata and Michy as standouts. Last year it might have been Santi Mina, Vietto, Borja Baston, or Sebastien Haller. Arsenal have a good recruitment department and resources that dwarf almost every other football club out there. At some point you’d think they’d let them gamble a little on the future, especially when Wenger has been destroyed by poor market reads again and again (FFP never really mattered, and the EPL TV deals meant that money spent in 2013 and 2014 was way more valuable than current dollars). ANYWAY, we are where we are, and unless he’s going to Looper into his past to fix things, Big Weng has to deal with the now, which means buying a forward. Assume Vardy turns Arsenal down for whatever reason – where do you go next? The obvious one that Arsenal were allegedly in contact about (both now and in 2014) is Alvaro Morata. The problem there is that Arsenal find themselves competing not only with Real Madrid for the player, but also with PSG and potentially Chelsea. It’s great to identify the player and all, but you still have to convince him to come play for you. Arsenal are rich, but they have never paid as much in wages as any of those clubs. Aubameyang? Great, but probably not available and if he is, it’s for £60M+. Higuain? He’s awesome, but same age issues as Vardy for twice the price. Ibrahimovic? This would have been a fascinating move, but he’d take Arsenal’s wage structure and break it in half. Lacazette? This would make sense and Lyon might be willing to sell at this point. There are questions about how well he would fit into Arsenal’s style, but he has pace and his expected scoring contribution was right there with Giroud this season. He also just turned 25, so the age doesn’t make me wince. As you go further and further down the list, it gets harder to get excited. Lukaku? 60m and style concerns. Harry Kane? Hahahahaha… No. If Arsenal strike out on the top targets, I wouldn’t be completely surprised to see them try to convert a wide man like Julian Draxler, or to take a punt on a mostly unknown from France (speaking of… they should have bought Ousmane Dembele to play wide, but whatever). Anyway, it’s a complicated problem and one that is compounded by past mistakes. However, these facts should guide future decision making. Elite center forwards are rare and a luxury good, meaning prices will always be absurd. Unless the well of football money dries up in a black swan event (and the new PL deal technically hasn’t even started), elite CFs are unlikely to get cheaper in the near or medium terms. Unlike Chelsea, Arsenal do not have a pipeline of good CF candidates coming through the academy, so they can’t rely on that method for the future either. Am I delighted by the thought of Jamie Vardy up front for Arsenal? Not really, but I can see the logic and he certainly fits a need. Basically, he’s the most cost-effective option on the market, and he leaves Arsenal a lot of flexibility for additional moves this summer. My bigger concern is how Arsenal are going to source that future CF. The academy isn’t producing them and Arsenal aren’t dabbling nearly enough in potential future superstars in the transfer market to overcome the issue. A Quick Note About Romelu Lukaku I read someone say Lukaku was overrated the other day, and people are “misguided about his goalscoring figures.” Needless to say, I disagree with this. xGxA in the Premier League 2012 (West Brom loan): .84 2013 (Everton loan): .53 2014 (Everton): .47 2015 (Everton): .65 He just turned 23, can be physically unplayable, and has spent the last 3 seasons playing for an Everton team that is tactically dysfunctional. Rom’s production last season was basically the same as Olivier Giroud, Daniel Sturridge, and Harry Kane while playing for a much worse team. (Talk about your mixed bag of over and under-rated Premier League forwards!) Verdict: Lukaku is very good and he’s just entering his prime. The only question is whether moving to a better team will continue his development, or whether last year is the best we’ll get. Related Article by Ted Knutson

A Chinese aircraft was forced to delay its landing after two air traffic controllers nodded off, sparking a wave of online anger about airline safety. The Boeing 737 was preparing to land at Wuhan airport in central China but had no response from the air traffic control tower for 12 minutes, reports today said. Contact was eventually made and China Eastern Airlines flight MU2528 from Sanya landed safely, the Sina.com news portal said. "Because air traffic control was asleep on duty, (the plane) called many times," civil aviation authorities said in a statement quoted by Chinese business magazine Caijing. "But there was no reply, and no contact could be made with the control tower." A separate investigation report cited by Caijing said two controllers had fallen asleep. The incident happened on July 8 and the statement was dated July 29. There was no explanation for the delay in making it public. "Air control work is truly exhausting, but it is unforgivable to sleep on duty," a post on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, said. "Hundreds of people's lives depend on the actions of flight tower controllers. We entrust our lives to you," the post continued. Another netizen added: "Such serious consequences. Should let him sleep as much as he wants in prison." © Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019

This story is part of a weeklong Yahoo series marking one year since the opening of relations between the United States and Cuba. President Obama promised in an exclusive interview with Yahoo News that he “very much” hopes to visit Cuba during his last year in office, but only if he can meet with pro-democracy dissidents there. “If I go on a visit, then part of the deal is that I get to talk to everybody,” Obama said. “I’ve made very clear in my conversations directly with President [Raul] Castro that we would continue to reach out to those who want to broaden the scope for, you know, free expression inside of Cuba.” Speaking in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Obama strongly hinted that he would make a decision “over the next several months.” The president said he hopes that “sometime next year” he and his top aides will see enough progress in Cuba that they can say that “now would be a good time to shine a light on progress that’s been made, but also maybe [go] there to nudge the Cuban government in a new direction.” White House aides privately describe an Obama visit – under the right circumstances – as the logical culmination of the new policy direction that he announced almost exactly one year ago. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro stand together in front of members of the media before a bilateral meeting in September 2015, at the United Nations headquarters. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP) On Dec. 17, 2014, Obama and Raúl Castro stunned the world by disclosing that they had held secret negotiations and were prepared to usher in a new era of U.S.-Cuba relations, starting with the resumption of full diplomatic ties. Embassies reopened in Havana and Washington, the United States removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, and the two sides took steps to increase travel and business opportunities. Obama has undertaken many changes using his executive powers, and indicated in the interview that he would continue looking at ways to do so in 2016. But Obama needs Congress to roll back the centerpiece of America’s Cold War-era pressure on Cuba and lift the trade embargo. Watch the full interview: See more stories on this topic >>>

NewsFamily STITTSVILLE, Ontario, January 31, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) -- Angry social conservatives blasted Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown at an Ottawa-area event on Sunday. They denounced him for rejecting them and turning the party into what they said amounted to a Liberal clone. “You do not accept social conservatives at all, you don’t…I’ve been shut down,” said Stephanie McEvoy of parents’ rights group My Child My Choice at the event, a group opposing the Liberal sex-ed curriculum. McEvoy lambasted Brown for suggesting his party represents “diversity” while under his leadership it rejects the party’s conservative base. About 15 people heckled Brown instead of listening to his litany against the Liberal energy policies at a Stittsville rally. They tore up their PC membership cards right in front of him during the event, reported the Ottawa Community News. “This man’s dishonesty and treachery needs to be exposed, and my sincere hope is we can build enough momentum to force a leadership review to replace this progressive with a true conservative.” McEvoy told Brown that her group represents “over 4,000 Ontario parents of a multitude of backgrounds” and that “no one has approached me, ever.” “And you know I exist … and I am not going to promote you,” she said. But Brown was unmoved. “First of all, Stephanie, everyone’s welcome in the party, whether you’re a fiscal conservative or a social conservative,” he said. Retorted McEvoy: “No, you have come out and said social conservatives are not welcome.” Brown has established a track-record of excluding social conservatism from the PC party since taking the party reins in March 2015. For example, after pro-life 19-year-old Sam Oosterhoff won the Niagara-West Glanbrook by-election, Brown stated in December that anyone coming to Queen’s Park “to push a divisive social issue...would be unwelcome.” The Toronto Star’s Robert Benzie reported that same month that Brown had rejected “at least” five aspiring candidates in nomination contests in an attempt “to stop social conservatives from running for his party in the 2018 election.” Most recently, Brown ordered pro-life MPP Rick Nicholls to apologize and withdraw his statement that the PC Party would move forward on social conservative issues once elected. After using the pro-life-and-family voting block to secure victory as party leader, he not only reneged on promises he had made to them, but jettisoned them as a group. Social conservatives will likely never forgive Brown for flip-flopping on his promise to oppose the Liberal sex-ed curriculum. They will also remember how he whipped the vote for Liberal Bill 28 that redefined the family — including substituting “mother” and “father” for gender neutral "parent" — to accommodate the homosexual lobby. Thanks to Brown, the bill was unanimously passed by 79 MPPs from all parties. Jay Tysick, a social conservative who attended the rally, said he cannot take Brown’s lies anymore. Brown is now “coming out and going no, no, we’re all welcome, we need to beat Kathleen Wynne, so we need your votes,” he told LifeSiteNews. But Brown should know that “it’s not Kathleen Wynne we dislike, it’s the policies she has that hurt us as Canadians and Ontarians,” he added. “Brown’s got exactly the exact same policy platform. So, what’s the difference? He can say what he wants, but his words have almost no value anymore. He’s lied so many times; he said he was against the carbon tax then he’s for it,” he said. Tysick has a further grievance with the PC Party. Last October his bid for the PC nomination in Carleton was denied when party brass disqualified him without providing a reason. Tysick says he will likely run as an independent in the Carleton riding in 2018. Jack Fonseca, senior political strategist for Campaign Life Coalition, lauded those who had attended the rally to protest Brown’s leadership of the party. It was “beautiful to see” Tory leader Brown “chastised over betrayal of social conservatives,” Fonseca told LifeSiteNews in an email. Fonseca hopes there will be more of the same. “I would encourage social conservatives and those opposed to job-killing, family-budget-destroying carbon taxes to find out every event where Brown is scheduled to attend, and protest him,” Fonseca said. “This man’s dishonesty and treachery needs to be exposed, and my sincere hope is we can build enough momentum to force a leadership review to replace this progressive with a true conservative,” he said.

Radios allow players to transmit short in-game messages across large distances. Radio communication requires two ingredients: a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter Edit The simplest transmitter is made of a jukebox, a sign, and a redstone power source. To transmit a message, place the sign on the side of the jukebox and then power the jukebox with redstone. The sign contains your message, and must have the frequency of your broadcast (that is, a number of your choosing) written in brackets on the first line of the sign. When the radio is powered, your message will repeatedly broadcast every few seconds, so no redstone clocks are needed. However, in this state, your radio won’t broadcast very far. To boost the range of your radio, you must give it an antenna. An antenna is a column of iron bars built on top the jukebox. The range of your broadcast increases exponentially with the height of the antenna. The receiver Edit A radio receiver is a compass. To use the compass as a radio receiver, it must be in your hotbar. Radio receivers have two modes: tune and scan. To tune a radio receiver to a specific frequency, hold the compass in your hand and type /radio tune <frequency>. The radio will then pick up messages broadcasted on that frequency, if the player is within range of the transmitter. To scan with a radio, type /radio scan. The receiver then has a one percent chance of picking up broadcasts from any transmitter within range of the player. Once a random message has been intercepted, the radio automatically stays on that frequency until it is reset to scan mode. The messages you receive may not come through with perfect clarity. If you are in the outer half of the transmitter’s radius, then the message will be a little bit scrambled. The transmitter can be configured so that message clarity drops off less quickly. FAQ Edit What can I set as the radio’s frequency? Any number you want. It can even have decimals, but will be truncated after two decimal places. (i.e. 100.1234 is the same as 100.12) How is broadcast range related to antenna height? A radio without an antenna will broadcast 300 meters. With an antenna, the radio’s range follows this formula: radius = 300*1.023^n where n is the height of the antenna. How do I make my message longer than one sign? You can continue your message by placing additional signs on the other sides of the jukebox. They will all be strung together to form your final message. You only need to write the frequency once, at the top of the first sign. Also note that spaces are NOT automatically added between signs, or between lines of signs. This lets you continue words from line to line for maximum space efficiency. How do I boost the clarity of my signal? If you put an iron, lapis, gold or diamond block between the jukebox and the antenna, then your message will retain clarity over longer distances. Diamond gives the biggest boost, and iron the smallest (in order of increasing effectiveness: iron, lapis, gold, diamond). This clarity-boost block is an optional configuration. Can I change the font color of my broadcast? Yes! You can do this (again, optionally) by putting wool block of the desired color between the jukebox (or clarity block, if present) and the antenna. I was receiving radio messages just fine, then suddenly they got all garbled! Why?

UNDER fire ref Mike Dean has been demoted to the Championship following a string of high-profile errors. The official attracted a huge amount of criticism for his shocking performance when West Ham hosted Manchester United earlier this month. Getty Images 2 Mike Dean was slammed for showing Sofiane Feghouli a straight red card for his challenge on Manchester United defender Phil Jones Dean sent off Sofiane Feghouli for a challenge on Phil Jones which was later rescinded. Keep up-to-date with all the latest transfer news and gossip ahead of the January window with SunSport's daily LIVE blog. And now he will have the pleasure of being in charge of Barnsley's clash with Leeds in the Yorkshire derby. It is just the second Championship clash he has taken charge of this season after taking centre stage when Birmingham City hosted Aston Villa in October. Dean, also known as the "celebrity ref", has awarded more penalties than any other league ref this season with ten. Remarkably, five of the last six red cards he has shown have been rescinded. And Dean received a scathing report from former Republic of Ireland international Stephen Hunt. Reuters 2 Dean has been demoted for the Championship clash Mike Dean has got Spurs vs Villa this weekend. Don't worry Villa fans, Mike will be totally neutral https://t.co/aJa3YSi4F3 — Football Fights (@footbalIfights) January 3, 2017 After being labelled "arrogant" by Niall Quinn, Hunt pulled no punches in his column for the Irish Independent newspaper by saying he is "probably the most arrogant man I've ever met". He added: "I’ve come across some big players in my time and there were times when you’d be thinking, ‘I can’t believe he’s said something like that’. But, even in that context, Dean takes the cake."

The World Mixed Martial Arts Association (WMMAA), will submit its application to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2017 for MMA to be recognized as an Olympic discipline. “In the next year we will give in our application to have MMA recognized as an Olympic sport. We already have our documents ready,” WMMAA president Vadim Finkelstein told TASS. “We have a very good chance to get a positive response, MMA is now the most popular sport on the planet, there are more than 60 countries in our federation. “I believe we have the that MMA will be in the Olympic program in the future, but it is not something achievable in the next year or two.” Since its inception in 2012, the WMMAA has held championships in Europe and around the world. The rise of MMA as a spectator sport has largely been down to the charisma of its elite competitors such as Conor McGregor and earlier Chael Sonnen. Read more UFC’s McGregor has established himself as one of the most recognizable names and voices in world sport over the last few years. The Irishman has become the first ever MMA fighter in the Forbes Top 100 Highest Paid Athletes list. The UFC featherweight champion is currently ranked at #85. His rematch versus Nate Diaz this year was watched by around 1.65 million pay-per-view customers. US fighter Sonnen, following his two-year suspension for failed drug tests, has recently signed to Bellator, one of the sport’s two major promoters, and will make his debut in the organization against MMA veteran and legend Tito Ortiz in Los Angeles on January 21, 2017.

Steam Link beta build 606 Improved performance for Bluetooth audio Added support for the Razer Wildcat controller The HDMI port is powered down when the Steam Link goes to sleep, and should have better compatibility with CEC enabled TVs Steam Controller right pad and triggers act as a mouse for native applications Upgraded Qt to version 5.8.0 and now the complete runtime environment is available for native applications Fixed sharing the Thrustmaster TX with the remote computer using VirtualHere Fixed using the PS4 controller locally after sharing it with the remote computer using VirtualHere Fixed timeout connecting to the remote computer when Big Picture starts slowly Updated streaming audio to opus 1.1.4 for a small performance improvement Fixed occasional problem with Bluetooth no longer scanning on the Bluetooth settings panel. Fixed increasing audio latency when the remote computer is sending audio faster than expected Implemented rumble support for the XiaoMi Bluetooth controller Prompt the user to put their Bluetooth controller in discoverable mode if the controller thinks it's paired with the Steam Link but the pairing has been removed (or factory reset) Implemented support for rumble over Bluetooth with the XBox One S controller Made it possible to cancel the controller mapping UI The controller mapping UI comes up if you connect an unknown Bluetooth controller Added support for the 8Bitdo NES30 Pro and iBuffalo SNES Controller Switched the default Wii U Pro Controller button mapping to match the physical layout of a Steam Controller Added support for entering a PIN code to start streaming, with the Steam client beta Improved controller mapping UI to support more third party controllers Added support for the Mayflash GameCube controller adapter Added support for some third party SNES controllers The Steam Link no longer wakes up when plugging in non-sound / non-input devices Added an option to disable video streaming in the advanced streaming settings Added an option to reset advanced streaming settings to default Added support for using the Logitech G920 racing wheel with VirtualHere Fixed a cause of the PS3 controller being unable to connect wirelessly Fixed Wake On LAN timing out early in some circumstances Upgraded to BlueZ 5.43 for improved Bluetooth device compatibility Automatically pair with the PS4 controller when it's plugged in via USB Fixed pairing with the Microsoft Foldable Keyboard Fixed delay on button presses when using the Steam Controller with local apps Fixed occasional difficulty connecting to wireless networks Disabled Bluetooth headsets by default, because of performance issues Added audio settings to change output (allowing use of Bluetooth headsets and PS4 controller headphone jack when plugged in via USB) Added controller settings to setup third party game controllers Automatically re-pair with Bluetooth devices that have been paired before and are put back in pairing mode while on the Bluetooth or connect input screens Added support for the XiaoMi Bluetooth controller (小米蓝牙手柄) Stopped waking when USB devices are unplugged You can add the USB VID/PID of devices that aren't waking the Steam Link by putting them in the file \steamlink\config\system\usb_blacklist.txt on a USB drive, inserting it in the Steam Link and power cycling it. The lines are in the form VID,PID, e.g. 0x2378, 0x1008 Fixed re-connecting to a network via WPS Increased the timeout for WiFi password entry to 5 minutes Increased the Wake On LAN wait time to 5 minutes Changes for build 606:Changes for build 600:Changes for build 597:Changes for build 589:Changes for build 587:Changes for build 585:Changes for build 584:Changes for build 582:Changes for build 581:Changes for build 578:Changes for build 575:Changes for build 574:Changes for build 572:

What's the future of Perl? Let's look ahead five years to the possibilities. (Note: once upon a time I believed that "Perl" referred to a language family, but I've changed my mind. When I use the word "Perl", I refer to the language that has versions 1 - 5. The thing called "Perl 6" should change its name. Who Uses What No one uses anything Perlish for new projects. Some people use Perl and some people use Perl 6. Most people use Perl and almost no one uses Perl 6. Most people use Perl 6. What do they use it for? New development. Maintenance of existing projects. Porting from other languages. What's the relationship of Perl to Perl 6? One has subsumed the other. One has failed and the other has survived. Perl is becoming Perl 6 as much as possible. Perl 6 allows you to use Perl in process. What New Features Does Perl Have? A foreign function interface A real object system with syntax and everything An improved exception system An improved concurrency system Function signatures Grammars Junctions Strictures by default None of these All of these Do You Still Use Perl? Yes No Is Perl Healthier Then Than Now? Yes No With all of your answers, you have a decision to make. Do you like this future? If so, great! If not (and here I admit to some concern myself), how can we make the future more appealing?

Roughly two dozen school-based student health centers in Maine lost their state funding this week because the state’s recent budget deal required the Department of Health and Human Services to eliminate $5 million in funding for the centers and other programs. “I don’t know when I’ve been any more upset with a decision that’s been made in state government,” said Calais School District Superintendent Ron Jenkins, whose center lost $46,200 in funding. About 80 percent of middle and high school students in the district are signed up to use the center, which provides medical and dental care, suicide prevention and drug and alcohol prevention services. Jenkins vowed to find the money to keep it open. “I am not going to allow it (to close) on my watch,” Jenkins said. “If I have to go door-to-door and beg for money, that health center is going to stay open. But I should not have to do that.” The direct cuts to the health centers, which provide basic medical care and referrals for students who are unlikely to have other access to a doctor, are the result of the final state budget redirecting $10 million over two years from the Fund for a Healthy Maine to maintain reimbursement rates for primary care physicians under MaineCare, the state’s version of the federal Medicaid program. It wasn’t clear Wednesday how many students and workers will be affected by the cut. DHHS spokeswoman Samantha Edwards said Wednesday that the department was directed to cut the money for Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention services from the Fund for a Healthy Maine. “The department recognizes this legislative directive will require significant changes to some programs, and results in reductions to numerous contracts held by the CDC,” Edwards said. Using money from the Fund for a Healthy Maine – which is financed by the $50 million in tobacco settlement money Maine receives annually – to help pay for MaineCare decreases the amount the state has to take from the general fund. In addition to cutting funding for the health centers, Edwards said funding also was reduced for District Coordinating Councils’ administrative services, anti-smoking advertising, evaluation contracts and pharmacy benefits regarding nicotine replacement therapy. She did not say how much money was saved by cutting the funding for the health centers, just that it was part of overall cuts totaling $5 million per year in the budget. Lawmaker Drew Gattine, the House chair of the Appropriations Committee, said the program cuts are “gut punches,” but were part of a compromise needed to hold off more drastic cuts to health services proposed in Gov. Paul LePage’s initial budget. “This is a battle we fight all the time. It was a debate about how that money should be used,” said Gattine, D-Westbrook. “These are terrible cuts. They are very painful. “If you look at it over time, the amount of money that has been moved into the MaineCare program and away from other health purposes has increased significantly. I think we really just have to watch for and try to protect our public health infrastructure. Because it continues to suffer under this administration.” School officials and health care providers who run the health care centers were notified this week that their three-week-old contracts, which began July 1, were canceled. Portland has four of the state’s centers, all in the high schools. Lewiston and Auburn have four, located in the middle and high schools. The one in Calais serves more than half the student body. Generally, the centers get some, but not all of their funding, from the DHHS contracts. In Lewiston and Auburn, the funding cut means the health centers will drop all medical care services and try to salvage just mental health counseling services, said Joan Churchill, chief executive officer of St. Mary’s Hospital’s community clinical services, which runs the centers. They lost a $200,000 contract, which makes up one-third to one-half of the centers’ budgets. “We have a number of students that, absent these health centers, they would not get health services,” Churchill said. Sheila Nelson, who coordinates the health centers program for the DHHS, made it clear that the cuts resulted from the budget compromise. “This was not the outcome that any of us were hoping for, obviously, and I know it’s devastating to the staff and the students they serve,” Nelson wrote in an email to Churchill. “I’m heartbroken that the cuts will affect such a valuable service. Please know (and please let staff know) that this was not in any way a reflection on the quality or importance of their work; this was directly a result of decisions made by the Legislature.” Portland Superintendent Xavier Botana learned of the cuts Wednesday. “It clearly is not good news,” said Botana, who was working with Greater Portland Health, which provides the care, to determine the impact on the centers and whether it would mean the loss of services to students. “We need to partner with the city, with Greater Portland Health, to figure out how do we continue to provide those services,” he said. Edwards said the department was working with the school-based health center vendors to help them find alternative funding. “In other states, the Department of Education partners with community health organizations to provide school-based health center services,” she said. Edwards noted that there were no cuts made to substance use prevention, tobacco prevention, obesity prevention, and positive youth engagement programs. The Fund for a Healthy Maine has been reorganized in recent months. In October, the department canceled existing contracts and discontinued the Healthy Maine Partnerships program to transition to a more centralized approach to health education. The money is directed to a number of prevention and tobacco cessation efforts, and to other health initiatives. The fund also was the subject of a 2015 political fight between the LePage administration and public health advocates after the administration proposed diverting $10 million from the fund to other areas of the state health budget. But after an outcry from public health advocates objecting to the cutbacks, the Legislature did not approve LePage’s proposal. The school-based health center cut will be particularly hard-hitting in rural Calais, said Sen. Joyce Maker, R-Calais. “It’s more important for us up here,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of doctors up here. That takes care of our students, and it does wonders.” “I’m really anxious to hear” what will happen to the school-based centers, said Maker, a member of the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. Jenkins, the superintendent, agreed, saying he didn’t think the DHHS even tried to find the $5 million in cuts elsewhere. “Instead of looking at all the programs DHHS offers, they went after the 23 school-based health centers,” he said. “They took essentially all that money away from some of the most vulnerable Maine citizens – the youth – and that really upsets me.” Plus, the health centers provide a critical service. “They want us to do everything for kids and one of the most important things is keep them healthy. One thing I know is, if they don’t eat and they’re not healthy, we can’t teach them anything” Noel K. Gallagher can be reached at 791-6387 or at: [email protected] Twitter: noelinmaine Correction: This story was updated at 8:01 a.m., July 27, 2017, to reflect that Joyce Maker is the Republican state senator representing Calais. Share filed under:

Matt, The Office Mortar July 16, 2009 Ah-ha! I have another ghost-blog entry, sent in by a tortured enterprise-peon who wishes to remain anonymous. (Personally, I like to imagine the voice of David Attenborough when reading this one.) Matt, The Office Mortar Like its military namesake, the mortar found in offices has one primary purpose - the lobbing of grenades. The Office Mortar often uses domain or technical knowledge, anecdotes or rule-lawyering to inflict heavy casualties. In an open, pluralist office where everyone is encouraged to speak up about problems it is difficult to deal with a mortar directly, but many people see them for what they are, constantly throwing out problematic issues that either need to be defused or blow up in somebody's face. Often used by insurgents keen to derail a project, a mortar placed in a strategic position such as testing, architecture or business analysis, can keep a team pinned down for weeks or months, and cause horrific loss of morale and productivity. Although the mortar likes to deliver its lethal payload by lobbing grenades indiscriminately into groups (in office parlance this is called a "meeting") mortars in the 21st century have devised a new means of spreading fear and error - grenades delivered by email! Now, Let's watch as this mortar unleashes a deadly barrage of nebulous issues, process meta-questions and second guessing. Organizer: We're here to finalize any remaining details of the user stories in the development cycle that's now underway... Matt the Mortar: Half these need to go. X isn't fully specified, and there's no point doing Y without it. And why isn't Z in scope? Organizer: Sorry Matt, we agreed on the list of stories last week. You were in that meeting, and as a group we all agreed on this list. Matt the Mortar: The whole process is broken! What's the point of saying we're agile if we're unwilling to change. Organizer: We value your opinions Matt, but perhaps this meeting isn't the best forum to... Matt the Mortar: There should be a full review of the process by which the list of stories is defined for the cycle, and I'd like the outcomes of any meetings where scope is discussed to be mailed to the whole team. Organizer: Now Matt, we held a retrospective meeting just last Thursday, and all of these points would've been excellent things to raise on that occasion... Matt the Mortar: Furthermore, let me say that I for one don't have any faith in these so called 'business reps' and whether or not they actually represent the business itself. You need to raise that back to the project sponsors. Organizer: The what? Look, getting back on track, we need to ensure the first user story is... Matt the Mortar: That story is completely broken -- it will never work with the FizzBuzz system they have in production. Organizer: Hold on, integration with the FizzBuzz system is strictly out of scope for this project. Matt the Mortar: No, I've been talking to other business reps and they're very keen to see a lot of improvements to FizzBuzz as soon possible including cloud based... And we leave our meeting there, irretrievably drowning in a deep vat of confusion. Matt will of-course have forgotten all of these bomb shells when the next retrospective is held. He will instead insist that the retrospective is a waste of time that stops them from implementing many important features that he alone understands. It is at moments such at this that managers around the world choose to bring in a highly successful counter measure: The Office Sharp-Shooter. But more on that topic next week. ;-) My book "Choose Your First Product" is available now. It gives you 4 easy steps to find and validate a humble product idea. Learn more.

History Lesson – Part II is a song from the 1984 album Double Nickels on the Dime by the American rock band Minutemen. The song, written by Mike Watt, is about the relationship of singer D. Boon and Mike Watt as they played music together.[1] The song is subtitled "Part II" as an earlier Minutemen composition titled "History Lesson" was included on their 1981 release, The Punch Line.[2] Lyrics [ edit ] The song was penned by Watt[1] and, as such, makes specific reference to Boon in the third person ("me and D. Boon, we played for years").[2] However, when the song was recorded, Boon performed lead vocals[1] and changed the third person references to Watt ("me and Mike Watt, we played for years").[2] The lyrics, as printed on the cover of Double Nickels on the Dime, contain the original references to Boon despite the difference in the actual recording. The song features the iconic first line "Our band could be your life," was used as the title of the book Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981–1991 by Michael Azerrad.[3] The first stanza of the song also includes the line "Punk rock changed our lives." The band Sublime sampled this line for their song "Waiting for My Ruca" on their debut album 40oz. to Freedom.[4] Additional references are made to E. Bloom of Blue Öyster Cult, Richard Hell of the Voidoids, Joe Strummer of The Clash, and John Doe of X, as well as to Bob Dylan. References [ edit ]

Hungary is obviously moving towards autocracy. But we have to ask ourselves two questions. Would it be useful for the EU to introduce measures against a country with democratic problems? Secondly, is Europe in the moral, political and economic state to be able to act? Both questions require thorough deliberation. Recently, democrats all over the world have felt compelled to somehow deal with Hungary’s shift towards autocracy. The situation is highly interesting, even from a theoretical viewpoint, since the country is a Member State of the European Union as well of the Council of Europe, yet the framework of an anti-democratic regime has already been created. Thus, the government has been continuing on the path it started in 2010, unstintingly introducing anti-democratic measures and destroying basic checks and balances in the country. However, I personally disagree with authors who claim that the country is already a dictatorship and I also disagree with calling the system despotic, even if these phrases do sound good and are useful for rallying European public opinion. We must understand that this Government receives strong support from its country’s citizens. Moreover, I also believe that most Hungarian voters support a number of its anti-democratic measures. Therefore this is not a completely illegitimate Government. The present situation in Hungary When discussing issues of democracy, it is necessary to highlight some important points that were crucial in re-shaping the foundations of the Hungarian legal system. I hereby only underline the most salient since there have been so many measures which are anti-democratic that they cannot all be mentioned here: * First, we must discuss the system of checks and balances. Crucially, a new constitution with some dubious content was adopted without any public debate. Moreover, nearly all of the most important pieces of legislation (Civil Code, Penal Code, etc.) were replaced. Electoral law was also rewritten. After heavy gerrymandering and with substantial media support, the incumbent party Fidesz received 43% of the vote, yet was rewarded with 67% of seats in the National Assembly, permitting it to continue enacting constitutional change (for detailed analysis see the OSCE report on the latest national elections). * The Government had allowed national citizenship to be granted to Hungarians living outside Hungary (e.g. in Romania). As a result, 95% of such foreign electors voted for the anti-democratic regime (in most cases those who had applied for citizenship tend to be more nationalistic, so this was a logical development, with voters also having been mobilized by activists). * Several powers of the Constitutional Court were curtailed. The new constitution abolished the formerly available actio popularis in Hungary. According to the preceding law, any citizen had the right to turn to the Constitutional Court if they found a constitutional problem with the existing legal system. Under the new laws, only a restricted list of people (including the Government, Ombudsman, President of the Supreme Court, etc.) may turn to the Constitutional Court after the adoption of new legislation by the Parliament. On the other hand, a new institution, the constitutional complaint was introduced, which can be used in an individual case. The change from actio popularis to constitutional complaint was a great error and a serious setback for democratic rights. It resulted in a situation where the Constitutional Court does not rule on the majority of cases because it says these complaints do not raise constitutional problems or that the applicants are not personally affected. * Furthermore, all members of the Constitutional Court are now appointed by the Government, in contrast with the past twenty years, when the opposition also used to delegate members. There are also serious claims that the public prosecutor is not acting independently: several members of the opposition were kept in prison for years without a formal charge against them, and later, even if such charges were made by the prosecutors, courts turned them down as unfounded. * Courts are also under substantial pressure: new officials were appointed to the top of the judicial system and older judges were retired in order to break the independence of the courts. The Central Bank is headed by the former government minister for economics, and the bank’s governing council is not independent, consisting exclusively of governing party delegates. * Several rulings of the European Court of Human Rights have not been properly enforced and legislation has not been amended in order to conform to the European Convention of Human Rights. The situation is the same concerning a number of important social and economic issues. Since the formal frameworks of democracy have remained in place, creating an economic group that completely supports the Government is indeed very useful. Thus, agricultural land leased by the Government has been restructured, with former lessees being denied access in favour of select groups. Tobacco products may now only be sold in special tobacco shops requiring strict permits, the allocation procedures for which have not been at all transparent. Businessmen loyal to the government receive billions of euros from the state for their services, partly out of EU money intended to support development. Academia is also infected: some university professors were fired or openly discriminated against because of their political opinions. A university loyal to the government was created for public services in which certain programmes will be partly taught by the ministries, and the Central Bank also plans to start a university because it is “not satisfied with the liberal agenda of other institutions”. The Central Bank is spending far more on this project than the state does on the whole educational system. Several research institutions have been founded for no-name scholars with dubious backgrounds in order to spread nationalist propaganda. A government-appointed Chancellor will be in charge of the financial affairs of universities. Teachers from lower level schools have had to register themselves, create an online profile and become directly employed by a centralized state agency instead of their schools or local authorities. Appointments of theatre directors are also made politically, with some putting on highly chauvinistic plays. Most of the media is loyal to the government, most TV news programmes only contain completely biased propaganda without proper information alongside absolutely trivial news items. A new media windfall tax of 40% (on income, not profit) has been introduced, especially targeting the largest independent commercial TV broadcaster in order to ease it out of Hungary. Leading journalists have been fired from independent newspapers following government pressure, while government-friendly publications receive lavish funding and state advertising revenue. The government has abolished the official designation of hundreds of former churches, which resulted in financial ruin for some of these communities. Independent NGOs who criticized the government have been attacked by government agencies and the Tax Authority, who have instigated tax audits into their operations with the aim of intimidation. The government also wants to cut off foreign funding for NGOs and has started to investigate funds received from the Norwegian NGO Fund in order to step up pressure on these organizations. Moreover, police also raided the offices of some independent NGOs, seized their computers and servers. In Eastern Europe, this unfortunate government intrusion into the non-governmental domain has always been present, even if relegated to the background. Today, however, someone with good ties to the government can achieve practically anything, even up against established independent institutions or NGOs. The government’s purpose is clearly the creation of a “soft dictatorship” as was in place in the country from the 1970s onwards. PM Orbán has recently declared that he desires an “illiberal state”, one that is “maybe not even a democracy”, and that he finds Russia and China good examples of such a system. This is in line with his moves to open up towards Russia: by 2018, one third of the country’s exports are due to go to Russia and that country has also been granted the gigantic project of expanding Hungary’s sole nuclear plant near the city of Paks. To fund this contract, Russia will lend Hungary 3000 billion Forints (approx. 10 billion euros). The EU’s moral dilemma: profit and politics vs. European values With all this taking place in Hungary, the European Union has faced a number of moral dilemmas it could not resolve at all. The lack of clear, moral answers has shown the EU up as an opportunistic community, one that places economic and political interests ahead of morality. Most of these problems have occurred in connection with foreign policy, and have shown how weak the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) really is, lacking any central control. Firstly, there was no proper answer given to the questions raised by Eastern Europe. While Russia goes as far as shooting down civil airplanes with hundreds of European travellers and simply occupies part of a sovereign country, Angela Merkel talks about allowing Ukraine to join Russia’s proposed Eurasian Union. The sanctions introduced against Russia have not been effective, nor severe enough. We have not heard any frank statements from EU leaders. Europe is acting like a powerless child against a giant, even though Russian economic power is dwarfed by the influence of the EU. Not talking straight, accepting Russian lies concerning Ukraine and not introducing strict punitive measures has effectively been a selling out of our basic common values. Of course, behind the situation we also find state politics: we could ask ourselves how shameful it is that France in such a moment still plans to support Russia with warships, and what nonsensical money-grubbing attitude is it that induces the EU to buy these ships using taxpayers’ money. It is also important to mention that PM Orbán does not support sanctions against Russia, currently his model country, even though a couple of years ago, Russia was one of the greatest enemies of Hungary’s nationalists. Hungarians have traditionally kept a distance from Russians (Hungarians have had two revolutions and in both of them were subjugated by the Russians). This may sound paranoid, but knowing that the Russians allegedly paid for a Hungarian Member of the European Parliament to spy for them, and lent 10 billion euros for the development of an atomic plant alone, now they have become the Hungarian Government’s model state. Only consider the additional fact that other eastern European countries mostly support lobbying in Brussels through euro-skeptic officials and EP members, and personally I would not be surprised if behind the Government of PM Orbán there was also strong Russian support. In the context of Russia’s intentions regarding Ukraine, this could be very rational. Secondly, the EU’s stance towards North Africa and the Middle East is also highly problematic. While the EU labels and bans some products made in the West Bank, it has excellent relations with actual terror-funding states (which also happen to be dictatorships) such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, more recently Iran, etc. When Christians (including children), representing our cultural values were massacred and persecuted in Iraq or when Coptic Christian churches were burnt down in Egypt, no measures were introduced either. When 200,000 people died in Syria and 3 million had to flee, everybody remained silent. Furthermore, we do not see appropriate responses when in Europe fundamentalists stage a Nazi march in London, try to burn down synagogues in France, when imams incite the killing of Jews in Berlin, when rabbis are beaten, shops are blown up, etc. Europe has seemingly accepted some of the values of fundamentalist Islam. And in a naïve way, the EU is not doing anything to strengthen European values, integrate migrants, support secularists and moderates, ease the pressure caused by migration on some states, etc. What is going on now is a senseless selling out of our basic values for money: for money stemming from oil rich states and for money coming from people used like slaves for extremely low wages in western Europe. Thirdly, important questions are being raised by the UK, where even PM Cameron has indulged in xenophobic talk against eastern European migrants. Such migrants represent nearly the same values as citizens of the UK and are highly useful when working for low salaries, which has boosted the economy. Obviously, 240 thousand immigrants a year is a huge number, and the UK may act to stop migration (even within the framework of EU rules it has a right to do so regarding third states, but populist British politicians do not like to mention this fact to their voters). However, the borderline racist talk of PM Cameron towards economic migrants from eastern Europe who use the welfare system is quite shocking. Furthermore, there is a possibility that the UK will leave the European Union entirely. Even if it remains in the Union, we can presume that PM Cameron will want to re-negotiate several areas and opt outs from certain EU rules, for example in the field of justice and home affairs. The unresolved attitude of the UK towards Europe makes the whole EU uncertain. The answers given by the EU to the abovementioned three questions have not been satisfactory. We are right to feel that the EU has reverted to a mode of economic cooperation with diminished focus on values, human rights and sub-political issues. It is also reasonable to conclude that the European public would not bear economic hardship in exchange for maintaining moral values. Following the financial crisis a few years ago, extremist parties have sprung up and received mass support in countries all over Europe. People have tended to move in this direction and would not like to be worse off “only” because it would be morally correct to do so. PM Orbán of Hungary has been shaping his autocratic regime in just such a moral vacuum, with the assistance of a weak European Union and a weak European demos. Back to Hungary: future scenarios for the application of Article 7 – would it do the job? As a consequence of the Hungarian political situation and of the underperforming economy, about 200 to 600 thousand Hungarians have already left the country, with heavy migration towards western European countries such as Germany and the UK. Europe should keep in mind that a major chunk of the elite has left the country and the process continues. However, it is useful to note that half of the population still supports the government: this is why it recently received 43% of the vote in national elections. Moreover, Jobbik, the far-right party also received about one-quarter of the votes. This means that about 70% of the electorate voted for anti-democratic parties. One explanation of this is that the current opposition is simply unable to present a viable proposition for voters as well as being unable to shake off its reputation for being highly corrupt. Knowing these numbers, what is presently going on in the country is merely making the legal system conform to the will of the people – or at least, to that of the majority, and thereby, interestingly, the country has become more democratic: its people simply do not want proper democracy. Hungary’s elite was able to prevent the country’s shift in this direction for twenty years, but evidently, not forever. For example, the elite resisted the reintroduction of the death penalty, while about 80% of the people would bring it back – I wonder when it will indeed happen. Slowly but surely everyday morality has succeeded and the democratically thinking 20 to 30% of society stands defeated. Thus, I consider PM Orbán a rational populist with strong social support, not the madman he is perceived to be throughout Europe. His strongman image is also a device to make people accept him, and it seems to be working. Many groups of society have been hurt by his government, yet there are no serious protests against his system. People have simply accepted the present situation. It is obvious that the EU could and should start proceedings against Hungary. Even newspapers such as the New York Times have proposed that the EU do so. Article 7 of the Treaty on the European Union states that proceedings may be initiated if there is a clear risk of serious breaches of fundamental rights being committed by a Member State. In addition, if the harm has already occurred, the European Council may determine the existence of a serious and persistent breach: as we have seen, several such breaches have occurred. In this case, the rights emanating from EU membership of the country may be suspended, including its right to vote in the councils. However, there is no mechanism within the current set of rules for excluding a member state from the EU: in order to achieve this, the founding treaties would have to be modified, requiring the approval of all Member States. Besides existing tools, scholars also propose the creation of an independent human rights tool that would separate politics from human rights. It is obvious that PM Orbán would never accept or support any related modification of the founding treaties, because it would create a new, independent forum for discussing human rights. On the other hand, there is a chance a tool could be created via secondary law, eg. through regulations, which seems to be a possible (if unfortunate) way forward for the future. From the point of view of the European Union, it is a moral obligation to start proceedings against Hungary. Especially the TEU Art. 7 procedure seems to be suited for such issues. However, I am neither convinced that such proceedings would achieve anything, nor would I be sure that the potential result for European politics would not end in disaster. If proceedings were initiated, then in the end, human rights would have to be enforced in Hungary. Obviously, its current government would not allow such pressure to affect its policies. Capital is held by supporters of the government, therefore financial sanctions against the country (e.g. stopping transfers of funds from Brussels) would mostly affect the development of infrastructure and poorer people. Agriculture could of course be subjected to great harm, but I am not certain that this would change people’s attitudes – just as EU actions didn’t in Austria during the days of Jorg Haider. If external EU pressure were to be used, people would be inclined to shift in an even more euro-skeptical direction. Furthermore, businessmen loyal to the government are unquestionably prepared to move to pastures new with the money they possess. Thus, I disagree with the assumption that financial sanctions could completely break the country’s economy, and even if they were effective, they would not affect the leading elite. The country would become even poorer but politicians could play their games over people’s heads. Moreover, there is a chance that such sanctions would eventually lead Hungary to leave the EU. Under such circumstances, other EU members (such as the UK) could start to pursue their own interests, since all funding documents would be up for renegotiation. At this time, it seems certain that some member states would blackmail the EU in order to gain more power and influence, while some others could leave it completely. This could lead to the whole union falling apart, meaning that one of the smallest states ends up destroying the whole project. All this notwithstanding, I still believe that the EU should begin proceedings because it is legally nonsensical to have common laws for human rights when they simply do not get applied. We could ask what other measures would be useful for strengthening democratic ideas in Hungary. The key to how a state develops is the propagation of democratic values and the slow transformation of society, and in the case of Hungary this could also be the key to moving back to democracy. Some scholars in Hungary claim that the key to all cultural development is people’s income and that minimum wages should be raised in order to make society healthier. I disagree with this view and believe that it stems from communist-era false thinking that everything can be changed through central governance. This view does not accept the fact that the market does not function this way. When there is a lack of innovative thinking, but widespread and institutionalized corruption, significant administrative barriers including a flawed tax system, there will be no economic development. This is why there are different societies existing in the world. People form societies, and what people accept becomes a part of their legal system – this is not a neoliberal agenda differentiating “rogue” from “better” states, this is reality. On the other hand I tend to accept that poverty in eastern Europe makes these societies unhealthy. Considering that in several western European countries extremist parties have become stronger as a result of the crisis even though people were only a little bit worse off than before, this seems to confirm this thesis. In Hungary, most people earn 300 to 400 euros a month on average, while western European salaries for the same jobs are 5 to 10 times higher. 4 million people in Hungary do not vote, because they feel they are so poor, their voice will change nothing: so they are completely excluded from public affairs. Thus, poverty is a crucial factor, even if not the only factor, in democratic development. From this perspective, the EU should change the allocation of funds and spend more on helping smaller businesses in poorer regions than supporting infrastructural development. There are many cities and villages in which huge amounts of EU money have been spent for nearly useless developments, while facilitating functioning businesses should receive a higher priority. I do accept that infrastructure is the foundation stone for any significant change, but spending should be far better organized in areas where businesses could receive a boost to create employment for people. We do not need more fountains, but jobs for people. Billions of euros are spent for useless innovations carried out by huge construction companies of businessmen loyal to Government. Additionally, assisting civil society in these countries is also fundamental, even if the notion that NGOs should be helped by the EU is a strange one. The EU could support far more action in this regard than it currently does. There can also be no democratic development if people do not know about reality due to the media being completely devoid of real news. Consequently, I can envisage the EU spending more money on bringing the basics of democracy much closer to people, especially in those places that are completely cut off from the world. However, the two latter options carry the great disadvantage of helping NGOs from outside against the government. An anti-democratic government can scarcely be defeated using democratic tools, especially if it has organized its economic underpinning to maintain its popularity with the people, or to exclude parts of society from the elections. Concerning the new EU rule of law initiative, it seems obvious that the EU should only support states that respect human rights, and that when those are breached, EU funding should be stopped until the problems have been fixed. I also agree with the final sentence of the related press report stating that “while banks and budgets are certainly very important for our economy, Europe is much more than simply banks and budgets”. However, only the future will prove whether we were naïve, and the EU will overcome its moral vacuum or sink back into a kind of nullity.

(Our favorite dip-chewin’, book writin’ sumbitch Matthew Polly is back, this time sharing some insider perspective on the recent drama in GeorgesLand) The question of fealty between fighter and coach seems to be the topic du jour this week. Several A-listers have tossed over their old entourage. Vitor Belfort left Shawn Tompkins, causing the former Xtreme Couture head coach to lash out, like Ryan Reynolds against Scarlett Johansson. Perennial nice guy, Georges St. Pierre managed his breakups with his manager (Shari Spencer) and trainer (Jon Chaimber) so deftly that both went on the record to say it was amicable, like Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. Of course, amicable is crap. When one of the top two best P4P fighters in the world and a major source of revenue and status fires you there is usually a little “rancor” and the spirit of “friendly goodwill” does not rule. Amicable is the shit you say publicly, while off-the-record or through surrogates or sympathizers (“pals” in the jargon of US Weekly) you leak damning stories to the press. One of those cropped up in a recent post by Cagepotato.com, complete with “sources telling Cagepotato” and “the reports we are hearing.” That is to say, a remarkable amount of reporting for a humor/commentary website. (At this rate, all of its bloggers may one day earn a byline.) The devil in these accumulated leaks and of the post’s conclusion turned out to be John Danaher, the no-gi instructor at Renzo Gracie’s Academy in Manhattan. And that’s the reason I’m posting. Full disclosure, I was a student of John’s for a year and I am very loyal. So while I’m a big fan of Cagepotato (the writers are remarkably smart, funny, and prolific), I feel the obligation to once more take a thwack and hope they forget by the time (2020?) my book finally comes out. To deconstruct: The “set-up” of the piece’s demonology is that GSP has made this “odd” decision to break-up his winning team, because he has come under “the influence” of John Danaher, who is, by their accounts, a Rasputin-like character whispering sweet nothings to GSP not only on training and tactics… But also on his life in general. The highly-regarded Renzo Gracie black belt instructor is a philosophy major who fancies himself somewhat of a pseudo life coach to the athletes he trains. It’s said that St-Pierre has accepted him as a guru and that the New Zealander has his ear… Where to start with this laughable paragraph? First, it is a cute bit of “objectivity” to stick in the phrase “highly-regarded,” without unpacking why he is highly regarded. (The answer: he is a very good coach.) Second, “fancies”? What are you, some Oxbridge poofter? And “pseudo life coach”? [Ed. note: “faux” is always better when you are being pretentious.] Where did you get that? I spent several days a year with John and knew most of his students and while he’s a brilliant mind and a brilliant jiu-jitsu coach, he had no interest in life lessons, and I was reporting on him. And even if he did, “life” was not his area of expertise. To be honest, when he was in one of his dark moods, he could be a frightening prick. Third, fallen under “the influence” of this “guru”? GSP came to Renzo’s after his last-second of round one, tap-out to Matt Hughes’s arm bar (UFC 50). GSP felt, rightly, he needed better jiu-jitsu instruction. That was in 2004. That’s six-plus years ago: a long time for a guru to work his magic. The post makes it seem like GSP suddenly drank the Kool Aid at Jonestown. And it should be noted that GSP connected with his first manager, Shari Spenser, was because she was the girlfriend of “The Witchdoctor.” I’ve never met her, but I did get a nice back-massage from him and a glimpse into his worldview, which is a great deal more New Age than Danaher’s—pure Western science. Third, “philosophy major”? Danaher was a PhD student at Columbia University. Before he fell for BJJ, his thesis was on the philosophical underpinnings of scientific paradigms. Calling him a “philosophy major” and a “guru” is like saying the professor of string theory at Harvard is a cult leader. And finally, the last paragraph of the piece suggests that GSP is relying too heavily on Danaher’s… “typically jiu-jitsu-heavy game plans” and it may turn out that “if results we have been hearing are true, his relationships might lead him to the slippery slope that ended with him on his back and unconscious on April 7, 2007.” What the post is referring to is GSP’s loss to Matt Serra. If you rewatch the turning moment, GSP moved his head forward to miss Serra’s right hook, which wrapped around his skull. It was Serra’s bicep that slapped against GSP’s ear, popped the drum, and threw his balance strange. Not a moment of that had anything to do with BJJ-strategy. Even if Danaher was BJJ-heavy in his instruction, which I never experienced, it would have nothing to do with GSP’s first fight with Serra. Whenever a major-name athlete changes his team, there will be disgruntled former members of the entourage. The losers will blame the winners in the “influence” game. And they will, with anonymity, leak damaging stories. Bloggers have a lower standard when reporting “hatchet” stories. It is part of their charm and part of their disgrace. But if they want to be journalists, they should, at the very least, contact and report the responses of the accused in question before running the story. (Matthew Polly often travels around the world writing interesting articles for Slate, which makes us wonder what the hell he’s doing writing here. Think of him like Elizabeth Gilbert if instead of Eat, Pray, Love, she Drank, Fought, and Had a Penis. His last book was about training with the Shaolin Monks back when that was a really big deal. His next is about his adventures in MMA, which as you can tell from the above article involved developing Stockholm Syndrome while training with John Danaher.)

Hello all, Allow me to introduce myself. I am Deeksha and I come from plains of North India. My tryst with embedded technologies has been 5 years long and every single day I am amazed with the vastness and learning involved. The thing with embedded technologies is either you are into it, or you aren't. You cannot just hang around half-heartedly (I guess that holds true for every field, for that matter).You have to keep the learning and sharing process going on. And that is the reason I am here. I look forward to the comments, feedback and questions so as the topics turn into an interesting voyage. To start with, I plan to write a series of posts on boot sequence in an ARM based embedded system. And I hope to learn a few things as I write this. Boot Sequence for an ARM based embedded system This post is going to explore the boot sequence for a Boot ROM based embedded system. It is based on my experiences with an ARM processor based embedded system, but the concept of an integrated Boot ROM is used by other modern CPUs and microcontrollers as well. In an ARM embedded system, at the time of power on, CPU is uninitialized and a basic clock setup, system specifics' setup is required before proceeding to the bigger and complex tasks. A piece of code is required at power on which does the basic system setup before handing over the control to the bootloader present in flash(already programmed) or to support the download tool for programming the flash and then handing over the control to the bootloader present in flash. For this purpose, a hardware bootloader generally called as Boot Rom is provided by vendor (pre-loaded into the processors’ internal ROM).This is hardwired at the manufacturing time. After a power on reset, that causes the processor core to jump to the reset vector, Boot Rom is the first code to execute in the processor. Responsibilities of Bootrom Bootrom performs the essential initialization including programming the clocks, stacks, interrupt set up etc. Bootrom will detect the boot media using a system register. This is to determine where to find the software bootloader. A particular sequence of probing for boot media is followed as defined by the manufacturer. This includes the order of looking for bootloader in external NOR/NAND flash, or probing for some specific characters on UART /USB for establishing connection with downloader to download the binary in flash. If no bootloader is found in any external memory, bootrom listens for a download request on UART/USB port to start the download process. Thus during the probing process, if the flash has already been programmed, software bootloader will be detected to be available in flash , if not so –it will be downloaded to the flash by bootrom.(This probing sequence will generally assign higher priority to external memory , so if bootloader is detected to be present in memory, it won't proceed to downloading the image again) For platforms using NAND flash , the bootrom will load this boot loader to internal RAM and set the program counter at the load address of the SW bootloader in RAM. For platforms using NOR flash, control is transferred to the external flash (NOR flash is XiP- Execute in Place). There is another point to be noted here regarding bad block management support in Boot ROM. If sw bootloader is residing only in block 0 of flash, no Bad block Management is required in Boot ROM as block 0 is guaranteed to be good by the manufacturer but if sw bootloader resides in block 1 onwards or is large enough to span multiple blocks, then ,Boot ROM needs to include bad block handling. Bad block management will include relocating the contents of the block in flash that goes bad in the process of accessing the block to a new block and updating the bad block/relocation table of the platform. Software Bootloader The main task of S/W bootloader is to load the OS and pass over the execution to it after setting up necessary environment for its setup. For this, the bootloader must first initialize the DDR memory (this includes setting up the controller, refresh rate etc).It must also perform bad block management while accessing the flash memory. After the system setup, bootloader’s responsibility would be to look for an OS to boot. Again, like Boot Rom, if OS is not already loaded to flash, it will load this from the boot media in flash and execute-in-place in case of NOR flash, or place it in RAM in case of NAND flash. It will also place some boot parameters in memory for the OS to read when it starts up if required. After all the necessary system setup, bootloader will pass over the execution to OS and go out of scope. In my upcoming posts, I plan to move on to the details that constitute a bootloader.An ARM bootloader specifically.Till then , happy booting!

America’s brand spanking new President Donald Trump on Saturday visited the CIA headquarters, where he gave a speech that evinced no insecurities whatsoever. Here’s the unedited pool report from S.V. Dáte, a senior political correspondent for The Huffington Post: The motorcade loaded up and is en route back to the White House at 1540. POTUS visibted with officials at the CIA headquarters and then delivered remarks for about 15 minutes. Transcript to follow, but highlights: -- POTUS explained why CIA was his first visit: because the dishonest media has made it seem like he was having a feud with the intelligence community -- He said the IC has not been utilized properly in recent years to help win wars -- He boasted that “probably everybody in this room voted for me ... because we’re all on the same wavelength.” -- ISIS is evil and must be eradicated off the face of the earth. -- He is very smart, and again pointed to his uncle the MIT professor. “Trust me, I’m like a smart person.” -- Said that after meeting Mike Pompeo, he wasn’t interested in meeting anyone else for the CIA job. -- He claimed the media are lying about size of the inauguration crowd -- he believes it was about 1-1.5 million people, not 250,000. -- critized yesterday’s mistaken pool report about the bust of MLK as further proof of the dishonest media. The speech was attended by about 400 CIA employees in the lobby of its building in Langley, Virginia.

Since 2009, the use of acupuncture has been recommended as a treatment for chronic back pain by the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS). But after a review of the scientific evidence for whether the procedure provides pain relief, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which draws up guidelines for patient care for the NHS, has concluded that the treatment is no better than a placebo in treating those suffering from sciatica and lower back pain, and should stop being used. “Regrettably, there is a lack of convincing evidence of effectiveness for some widely used treatments,” says Professor Mark Baker, clinical practice director for NICE, in response to the new report. “For example, acupuncture is no longer recommended for managing low back pain with or without sciatica. This is because there is not enough evidence to show that it is more effective than sham treatment.” In other words, acupuncture is no better than a mock procedure that mimics the therapy. The draft guidelines come after the authors compared multiple studies looking into the effectiveness of acupuncture in clinical trials, both as an addition to other treatment as well as a procedure on its own. They found that while in many cases it might appear to be providing benefit and pain relief to patients, it was in fact no different to the placebos. They also found that paracetamol on its own was not effective either. Instead, the draft guidelines recommend regular exercise “in all its forms” as the first attempt to treat low back pain, and if drugs are to be used, try non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen first. The evidence suggests that it is more the environment and context that helps the patients, rather than the acupuncture treatment itself. “So, the evidence showed that there was no clinically important difference between acupuncture and sham acupuncture for its effects on pain,” explains Dr. Ian Bernstein, a GP and musculoskeletal physician based in London. “The guidelines development group thought that acupuncture was unlikely to have a specific biological treatment effect, but was acting through contextual mechanisms such as seeing a caring and pathic health care professional, or the laying on of hands.” The review of evidence for acupuncture comes following another debate surrounding the prescription of homeopathy by the NHS. This has been met with great criticism from many researchers and scientists, who suggest that the NHS has a duty to ensure its funds are spent on the most effective treatments, and that homeopathy is not one. Last year, the government announced a review into whether or not the taxpayer should be funding these treatments.

by Jonathan Care | | Submit a Comment As reported in the news, Yahoo have been not so much popped, as exploded. I think the key points here are: Passwords as an authentication technology are rapidly becoming obsolete. We’re seeing many more internet organisations using familiarity signals and behavioural biometrics to authenticate customers. The good-old-bad-old knowledge based authentication is flawed. For better or for worse, the compromise of Yahoo shows that this information is not the “high-memorability low-latency” that was thought. For example, you can look on my Facebook profile, find an entity I’m linked to who is my mother, and she lists her maiden name as Wilks. We need to look at more intelligent ways of identity proofing and indeed, evolve this away from a one-off process to a continuous dynamic risk assessment, coupled with authentication and online fraud detection. Of concern is Yahoo’s statement that they have not yet been able to identity the intrusion associated with this theft. The implication is that Yahoo has overly focused on deploying protective technologies, and has not put in place effective analytics, detection and response systems and processes. Gartner recommends that organisations must engage in a fourfold strategy of: Predicting threats and understanding risk Protecting the organisation against threats Detecting threats in the clear and certain anticipation that there are well resourced, well-funded adversaries with skills and time that are in excess of our own. In addition it should be noted that the risk of insider threat rises when a company is in a turbulent process such as an acquisition or even downturn. We need to deploy machine analytics Responding with a well-rehearsed incident process to remedy an attack and restore normal business operation. This in many ways is the key role of the modern CISO – not to be the defender of the battlements, but to ensure business survivability]##]. engage in a fourfold strategy of: From what we do know, they attackers made use of cookie masquerading, pass-the-hash, and a state-sponsored actor. This gives strength to the importance of a strong detection plan as per 3c above. MD5 hashing is vulnerable to an attack type called “collision attacks” which means that an attacker can find a string of characters that will resolve to the same hash as a hashed (or encrypted password). MD5 is strongly deprecated and this points to troubling software development security practices in Yahoo or its suppliers. It’s clear that there will be an impact on the proposed acquisition, and the markets are reacting to the news. It is disturbing that it has taken so long for the breach to be made public in the light of the data breach notification laws in the USA and elsewhere. Clearly the upshot of this is that we need to realise that it’s no longer a case of “if we’re targeted/unlucky” but that we are all targets. Category: breach cybersecurity Tags: breach

The bad old days of the Lower East Side seem almost as quaint, and as distant, as the neighborhood’s heyday a century ago, when its streets were abuzz with immigrants spilling out of overcrowded tenements. Its once out-of-control streets have been tamed by New York’s great leveler, real estate development, which has turned shoebox-size studios into what now passes for luxury. But the rough-and-tumble days were never far from Clarence Elie-Rivera’s mind. Having moved to the area in the 1970s, when his block on Ludlow Street was lined with abandoned buildings and full of heroin dealers, he spent more than two decades photographing the changes that swept over the neighborhood. He had arrived there in his late teens, a young man whose love of motorcycles, and his penchant for popping wheelies on the street, earned him the trust of the guys on the block. Like the police officers doing surveillance, he often photographed street scenes, from his apartment on the third floor. But unlike the police, he got to know many of his neighbors intimately over the years, taking pictures at birthdays, weddings, funerals and camping trips. His record of the era is a complicated tale of young men, harsh streets and elusive dreams of a better life. He had lived on Manhattan’s Upper West Side until he was 12, until his father, a lawyer, felt the city had become too dangerous. His family eventually settled in upstate New York, in Livingston Manor, where Mr. Elie-Rivera became interested photography in high school. He moved to the Lower East Side in 1978 and took a job working at a motorcycle shop. The block where he lived on Ludlow Street was a world of basement social clubs, kids setting off fireworks in the street, nonstop dealing, discount clothing stores and cheap tailors. Photo “It was very quiet at night, but during the daytime it was an open-air heroin market,” he said. “The addicts lined up from Orchard, down Houston and around the block.” By the mid-1980s he had left his motorcycle job behind to take up photography in earnest, along with travel. Among his destinations was Puerto Rico, where he stayed in a house his mother had built; he went there with 200 rolls of Kodachrome and a couple hundred feet of black and white film in bulk. The stay helped him hone his style. “I would go to roadside bars, drink a beer and start photographing the people I was talking to,” he said. “I never photographed people ‘street’ style. I had to have some rapport with them. I had to know something about you to photograph you.” That approach guided him when he returned to Ludlow Street. Having befriended the young men on the street, they welcomed him into their circle. He got to know five young men, some of whom were in the drug trade, others just friends, well. “It morphed into a lot of different things,” he said. “Baby showers, christenings, graduations. I would just go and do whatever anybody asked me to do.” Sometimes he would take them upstate, near where he had once lived, for camping trips. “It was like the Fresh Air Fund for thugs,” he said. “They would loosen up, get crazy and chill out, shooting BB guns or fishing. Boy’s stuff.” Photo He watched as some of his friends tried to straighten out their lives, like Fernando, who had served a five-year sentence on federal drug charges. After prison he went straight, getting a job preparing taxes, buying a house in the Bronx and becoming a father. When he was denied life insurance because he was overweight, he had surgery to slim down. “Part of the band operation was, they put a filter in the vein by his groin,” Mr. Elie-Rivera said. “Two weeks later, the thing ripped and he bled internally. He went to the hospital where they told him his blood pressure was low. When he went back home, he collapsed and died, as he walked into his house.” Back on the block, changes had begun to transform the landscape. Little by little, it gave way to expensive boutiques, hipster bars and luxury apartments, as longtime residents and merchants were pushed out by their landlords. “I kept doing it until everybody started to move away,” said Mr. Elie-Rivera, now the staff photographer for AFSCME District Council 37, the city’s largest municipal labor union. “People were paid to leave, people went to Bushwick, or the shelter system.” By 1997, the future was as inevitable as the past was obliterated. “All these bars had opened up,” he recalled. “At three in the morning all these kids who didn’t even live in the neighborhood would come out, breaking bottles and throwing up on the street. And the cops did nothing. It was a real double standard.” A few days ago Mr. Elie-Rivera ran into an old friend from the block. “His family was one of the first families who were paid to move,” he said. “They ended up in Staten Island, which he hated. He made his way back there after applying for housing and getting an apartment by the Manhattan Bridge. He told me, ‘Bro, it’s so white around here. I remember when we hung out on the corner and the white people crossed the street to avoid us. Now, they don’t even care.’” Follow @dgbxny, @celierivera and @nytimesphoto on Twitter. Lens is also on Facebook.

I ordered an entire platter of cheese curds and a gourmet bowl of macaroni and cheese when I went out to dinner in Madison the night of the Duke-Wisconsin game. When I felt like crap two days later, I assumed it was because I had eaten 10 pounds of cheese. I was only partially right. As it turned out, Wisconsin not only gave me a clogged digestive system — it also gave me the flu. This explains why the most powerful power rankings in college basketball took last week off. But fear not — unlike the Michigan Wolverines, I refuse to lie down for two straight weeks. Although, I am still a little under the weather, so bear with me. I’ll try to gripe about how much I despise ball handlers who throw their head back to exaggerate contact. I’ll try to mention how hilarious it was that Karl Hess made his first appearance in Raleigh after almost three years, and four minutes into the game he T’d up Mark Gottfried. And I’ll do my best to discuss new announcer clichés. But I can’t make any promises. We’ve got a lot to catch up on, so let’s get to it. 12. Ohio State Ugh. I really don’t like including teams by default in college basketball’s most powerful power rankings. But I’ve got little choice here: Ohio State has steamrolled through its schedule, with the only blemish coming on the road against a top-five team in a game the Buckeyes trailed by three with a minute left. Meanwhile, Wichita State needed a miracle to escape Alabama at home on Tuesday. Iowa State was smacked in the mouth on a neutral court against Maryland not long ago. Oklahoma lost at Creighton. Washington squeaked by Eastern Washington. Miami lost at home by 13 to Green Bay. San Diego State scored 36 points in an entire game. Ohio State hasn’t done anything special to earn its ranking, but someone has to be 12th and the Buckeyes probably deserve it more than the other contenders. For what it’s worth, I like this Ohio State team. They play unselfish basketball and have great chemistry on both ends of the court. The 2-3 zone is working much better than I expected, Amir Williams is providing consistent effort, and D’Angelo Russell is good enough to single-handedly win the Buckeyes some NCAA tournament games. It’s just that Ohio State has played only one decent team all season and it looked like a steaming turd for a large chunk of that game. Yeah, the Buckeyes deserve respect for the way they clawed back against Louisville, but I just can’t shake how awful they looked in the first half. And games against Sacred Heart and Campbell teach us nothing except just how bad Sacred Heart and Campbell are. So I’m refusing to pass judgment on Ohio State until I see what happens Saturday against North Carolina. Check back next week, when we’ll know more. 11. Utah Kent C. Horner/Getty Images True story: I went on a road trip to Edmonton, Alberta, this summer and stayed in a small town in Montana along the way. I was there only about 12 hours, but that was long enough to visit a local dive bar. I entered on a Monday night expecting to find a couple of sad degenerates sitting around a smoky room. Instead, the place was packed and full of energy. One customer in particular seemed like the life of the party. Ten minutes after I sat down, my buddy and I made eye contact with the guy, and not long after, the bartender brought us a couple of beers and said, “Courtesy of the mayor” as she pointed to Mr. Life of the Party. We laughed because we thought the bartender was joking. She assured us she wasn’t kidding — the guy did buy us a round and he was, in fact, the mayor. After I raised my glass to Hizzoner, I pulled out my phone and Wikipedia’d my new favorite town in the world. And there in the notable residents section, I was greeted with a familiar name: head coach of the Utah Utes, Larry Krystkowiak. Is this relevant to Utah’s team? Of course not. I just wanted you to know that Krystkowiak’s hometown mayor buying me a beer is why I’ll be driving the Utah bandwagon all season. Oh, and it helps that in their last three games, the Utes beat Wichita State, which no other team has done in the regular season since March 2013; beat BYU in Provo, which no other team has managed since November 2013; and took Kansas to the wire in Kansas City. And Utah did all of this without its second-best player (Jordan Loveridge). There’s that too. 10. Kansas Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. It’ll be our secret, Kansas fans. Don’t tell anyone that the Jayhawks are 8-1 against the toughest schedule in college basketball, and that their only loss came against what could be a historically great team. Don’t remind people that Kansas was a young team that faced Kentucky without much of a scouting report because it was only the Wildcats’ third game of the season. Don’t explain how that game would look completely different if they played again tomorrow. Kansas would probably still lose, but it wouldn’t be a 32-point blowout. But don’t let anyone know about that. Let them keep thinking Kansas sucks because Kentucky boat-raced the Jayhawks in mid-November. Let them think Kelly Oubre is a bum who won’t have an impact this year. Let them think Frank Mason can’t run the point and Perry Ellis is overrated. Whatever you do, don’t tell the rest of the college basketball world that Kansas has beaten Tennessee, Michigan State, Florida, Georgetown, and Utah in its last five games, that four of those five games were played away from Allen Fieldhouse, and that Ellis, Mason, Oubre, Cliff Alexander, and Wayne Selden still haven’t all played their best in the same game this season. That way it’ll be more fun when people realize in January that Kansas is actually pretty damn good. 9. Gonzaga William Mancebo/Getty Images I watched the Gonzaga-Arizona game for the first time yesterday. I knew that Arizona had won in overtime, which I probably could’ve guessed anyway, given Arizona’s penchant for grinding out close games. Yet even though I had the box score right in front of me, I couldn’t accept that the Wildcats actually won until I saw Byron Wesley air-balling his first free throw with three seconds left in overtime. As I watched the game unfold, I couldn’t believe that Gonzaga would eventually let it slip away. The Zags outplayed the Cats for 40 minutes and ended up losing only because Arizona was put in the college basketball world to let opponents get the taste of an upset before ripping out their hearts. If this happened against any other team, I’d accuse Gonzaga of choking in a game it should have won. But it’s Arizona. If I start criticizing teams for losing close games to Arizona, I may never sleep again. By the way, let’s not gloss over some breaks that went against the Zags. They outplayed the third-ranked team on the road without a great game from their best player (Kevin Pangos). Plus, the Zags shot just 23.5 percent from the 3-point line and dealt with foul trouble through most of the game. If you’re looking for proof that it just wasn’t Gonzaga’s day, consider this: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Brandon Ashley, Stanley Johnson, and T.J. McConnell all made a 3 in the same game that Sean Miller was never shown coughing on the sideline. For Arizona, this is like seeing Halley’s Comet, finding a cure for cancer, and Kenny Chesney putting out a song about something other than the first 25 years of his life all rolled into one. We were a McConnell dunk away from the entire universe ceasing to exist. If Gonzaga plays defense like it did against Arizona, then it is a Final Four–caliber team. It proved this against Arizona and reaffirmed it a week later when it beat up a decent UCLA team on the road. Do yourself a favor and watch Gonzaga play at BYU on December 27. As long as Tyler Haws is able to return from an ankle injury, the over/under on points scored for that game will be something like 700 points. 8. Texas If Kentucky beats Louisville at the end of December, we’re going to start hearing endless discussions about which teams (if any) could beat the Wildcats. If that day comes, I suspect Duke and Arizona will get all the attention while Texas will be ignored, since the Longhorns came up short against Kentucky two Fridays ago. But writing off Texas would be a mistake. Texas had a perfect game plan against the Wildcats. It lost only because of foul trouble and the lack of a perimeter playmaker. Texas had the size to match Kentucky on the boards, it limited the Wildcats’ transition opportunities, and it frustrated Kentucky by going under screens in the 2-3 zone. But points were hard to come by for Texas, and understandably so. After all, we may end up looking back at Kentucky’s defense as one of the best of all time. Still, it’s hard not to wonder what difference Isaiah Taylor, who is out with a broken wrist for at least another few weeks, could’ve made. Javan Felix can have good moments under the right circumstances, but those circumstances do not include facing Kentucky’s suffocating pressure. Demarcus Holland did what he could, but the Horns desperately needed a player who could create his own offense, collapse Kentucky’s defense, and kick the ball to open shooters. The Horns needed a player who wasn’t going to be intimidated, someone they could rally behind. Texas needed someone who could get a couple of buckets in transition so Kentucky couldn’t set its defense every time down the court. In other words, the Horns needed Taylor. For at least three more months, Kentucky will be irrelevant to a Texas team that hopes to survive the Big 12 and knock Kansas off the conference throne. Be that as it may, the college basketball conversation will center on Kentucky all season long. The ultimate question for every team will be if it’s good enough to beat Kentucky. Texas certainly qualifies as one of the few teams built to beat the Wildcats, which is why I’m desperate for a Kentucky-Texas rematch when Taylor gets healthy. 7. Villanova I can’t decide if Ryan Arcidiacono is Villanova’s best player or worst player. And he’s not one of those inconsistent guys who you never know if they’re going to show up, either. Arcidiacono’s production across the board has dipped so much this season that you wonder why he averages more minutes than everyone on the team but Dylan Ennis. Arcidiacono is supposed to be a good shooter, yet he’s averaging only 29.7 percent from the field and he’s been so bad from the 3-point line that he might as well try shooting left-handed. His right hand was heavily taped against Illinois last Tuesday, so maybe he’s playing through an injury that’s affecting his shot. Whatever the case, Arcidiacono is a three-year starting point guard for a top-10 team who averages only 3.3 assists per game and is Villanova’s seventh-leading scorer. That could be better. On the other hand, every time I watch Arcidiacono play, I see him make a positive impact on the game. Arcidiacono is as good as any player in the country at moving the ball and making the extra pass. I know, I might as well say he’s the best at getting in triple-threat position, slapping the floor on defense, sliding over to take a charge, and making the scrappy play. But here’s why, in Arcidiacono’s case, this is a legitimate compliment: When the Villanova offense is at its best, the ball moves so quickly that defenders are left running in circles. This doesn’t happen by accident. Arcidiacono is a master at quickly swinging the ball to an open teammate on the perimeter. And just when a team gets used to him reversing the ball when he catches it, Arcidiacono throws in a pass fake, dribbles into the gap, and kicks it back out for a teammate to knock down a shot. The point guard’s job is to put his teammates in positions to succeed on offense. Sometimes when he does this, he racks up a ton of assists. Arcidiacono sets up his teammates by making sure the ball moves from side to side. Villanova is so deep, talented, and balanced that it doesn’t need to get the ball to a particular player a certain number of times. Arcidiacono knows that all it needs to do is keep the ball moving and eventually a capable scorer will be open. He doesn’t average many assists because the team doesn’t need him to dominate possession, probe the defense with his dribble, and then find the open man. That he’s playing the best defense of his career paired with the way he understands and facilitates Villanova’s strengths makes Arcidiacono if not the best player on the team then perhaps the most irreplaceable player, even if his stats suggest otherwise. Halftime Michael Hickey/Getty Images It’s halftime, which can mean only one thing: It’s time for Dick’s Degrees of Separation, the most mildly amusing Internet game involving college basketball! You know the drill: I give you the endpoint of a Dick Vitale tangent and you pick the path he took to get there. Let’s get down to business. During the Gonzaga vs. UCLA game played in Los Angeles on Saturday, how did Dick Vitale end up talking about Memphis? A. During a break in the action, Vitale turns to Dave Pasch and mentions how it’s great to work with him. Vitale then reminds viewers that Pasch typically calls games with Bill Walton. Pasch laughs, then Vitale tells him to ask Walton why he missed a couple of shots in the 1973 national championship against Memphis (then known as Memphis State). B. Highlights of the 2006 Sweet 16 matchup between UCLA and Gonzaga are shown as Pasch explains that UCLA scored the final 11 points of the game to win. Vitale then says that the Bruins ultimately lost to Florida in that year’s national title game. Vitale adds that it was the first of three straight Final Fours for Ben Howland, with the last one coming in 2008, when UCLA lost to Memphis. C. Pasch mentions that Mark Few has the highest career winning percentage among active Division I coaches, prompting Vitale to say that Few is second to John Wooden on the all-time list. Vitale then asks if Pasch knows who has the second-best percentage among active coaches. Pasch correctly answers Roy Williams. Vitale says that third on the list is John Calipari, who racked up wins at UMass and Memphis before starting at Kentucky. 6. Virginia Patrick McDermott/Getty Images Is it too early to say this year’s Virginia team looks better than last year’s? Of course it is, right? Virginia won last season’s regular-season ACC crown as well as the conference tournament. We can’t dismiss those accomplishments just because this year’s team is off to a hot start. And that’s to say nothing of the absence of Joe “Virginia’s Aaron Craft” Harris. It would be a slap to his beautiful, flawlessly constructed face to forget all he did for the Hoos just because of a few Justin Anderson dunks. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The hell with it, let’s get way ahead of ourselves. Let’s talk about how Virginia’s offense looks far better than it did at this point last season. Let’s talk about how there’s dynamism to this offense that Tony Bennett teams usually don’t have. This doesn’t feel like a system offense. Virginia is still methodical, and it still milks the shot clock. But the Hoos have also shown they don’t need to play system basketball to win. Anderson, Malcolm Brogdon, and Anthony Gill are skilled and athletic enough to create their own offense. London Perrantes’s shot isn’t falling like it should be by the end of the year, but he’s been really good the last two games and has shown great command running the point. There have even been some Evan Nolte sightings! With all the talent and depth Virginia possesses, watching the team no longer feels like watching a machine run by faceless cogs. Now, it looks like a group of talented players who run a very efficient offense. Unfortunately, Virginia’s improved offense seems to have come at a price. The Hoos defense didn’t look as sharp against Maryland and VCU as it normally does. The VCU game was particularly uncharacteristic for the Cavaliers. VCU has the right combination of shooters to space the floor and penetrators to attack the paint once the shooters stretch the defense, so it makes sense that Virginia’s defense wasn’t as dominant as usual. But most of Virginia’s problems in that game seemed to stem from poor effort and mental lapses rather than VCU’s play. It was as if the Hoos knew they didn’t need to play great defense because they could score easy baskets against the Rams. While that turned out to be true as Virginia shot an absurd 68 percent from the field, Bennett needs to make sure his team doesn’t lose its identity. If they can resume playing the lockdown defense they’ve played most of the season while maintaining their offensive efficiency, the Hoos will be scary good. 5. Louisville Indiana played balls to the wall, drained 3s all night, and actually got steady production from Hanner Mosquera-Perea against the Cardinals on December 9. If IU had valued possession more and slowed the game down, if it had missed four or five of those 3s, and if Mosquera-Perea had played like the Mosquera-Perea who makes Hoosiers fans want to throw things, I probably wouldn’t have ended up writing what you’re about to read. But none of those things happened, so here we are: Louisville’s half-court defense needs to get better. This is far from a unique problem for Louisville teams. In fact, it seems like I make a version of this point around the same time every year — Louisville has one of the best defenses in America because its press causes so many headaches, but when the press doesn’t force turnovers, it’s much easier to score against the Cards than it should be. This, of course, leads to Louisville fans explaining that this is how Louisville wants to play, and that the Cards don’t mind occasionally giving up easy points because over the course of a game, their press will create more easy baskets for Louisville than for their opponents. I get it. And I get that Indiana hitting so many early 3s forced Louisville’s defense to extend farther on the floor than Rick Pitino probably would’ve liked, which in turn led to more easy buckets for the Hoosiers. It’s just that Louisville botched so many simple actions against Indiana that I refuse to let the Cardinals solely blame their defensive lapses on stylistic preference. There’s a difference between giving up transition layups when the press gets broken and getting set defensively, facing screens a couple of times, and giving up a wide-open layup. Louisville’s players often seem more interested in making flashy defensive plays — blocks off the glass, open-court steals, intercepted passes that lead to runouts — than they are in playing fundamental defense. The Cardinals’ communication is bad, their understanding of defensive concepts isn’t much better, and their half-court effort is worst of all. It’s really just a slap in the face to their phenomenal press. Louisville is a legitimate national title contender. The Cardinals should be ranked in the top 10 all season. Their offense is tough to stop, especially when Terry Rozier, Chris Jones, and Wayne Blackshear are hitting 3s and Montrezl Harrell gets nasty on the offensive glass. And it should be noted that my critique of Louisville’s defense applies only when the press doesn’t work, which rarely happens. But just imagine if Louisville had Kentucky or Virginia’s half-court defense along with Pitino’s press. Imagine how dominant the Cardinals defense would be at its full potential. Serious question: Would you rather face a defense like that for 40 minutes or watch Harrell shoot free throws while explaining all the hairstyles he turned down before settling on his “Cheetos held in place by a cut-off T-shirt sleeve” look? 4. Wisconsin Mike McGinnis/Getty Images Let’s talk about Sam Dekker. That sound you hear is Wisconsin fans sitting up in their seats to see what might come next. But you already know what’s next, don’t you? It’s me throwing out a rhetorical “How good is Sam Dekker?” question. Then I point out his inconsistent play and his tendency to disappear in big games and wonder if he’ll ever live up to the hype. I mention how great he is on paper and how it makes sense that he’s a projected lottery pick. I mention that he should theoretically be a Gordon Hayward or Chandler Parsons and how rare a 6-foot-9 guy who can put the ball on the floor and shoot 3s off the dribble is in the college game. But then I circle back to how we’re still waiting on him to have that breakout game where he goes for 25 and 15 against a ranked team and knocks all of his critics on their asses. Finally, I wrap everything up by asking Wisconsin fans to decide whether Dekker or Traevon Jackson is the more frustrating Wisconsin player. Buzzcuts fans tweet me their answers, a discussion is started, and we ultimately solve nothing. That’s exactly what happens next. For what it’s worth, I’m a huge Dekker fan and I think the criticism of him is mostly unfair. The guy has performed well in plenty of big games, most notably when he went for 15 and 9 and 15 and 11 in back-to-back road wins at Michigan and Iowa last season. And let’s not forget that in Buzzcuts years, Dekker is still young. Yes, he’s a junior, but think about how Bo Ryan runs his program. Imagine playing with four seniors who average 20-plus minutes a game for an old-school coach who preaches buying in (BUYING IN!!!) and waiting your turn. Dekker should definitely be more productive than he’s been, but doesn’t it make sense that he might still be figuring out where he fits in with this team? Think about it: When was the last time a non-senior led Wisconsin in scoring for a Ryan team that started three seniors? The only example that comes to mind is Alando Tucker, who was a junior in 2005 when he led the Mike Wilkinson/Sharif Chambliss/Clayton Hanson Buzzcuts (who made the Elite Eight) in scoring. In other words, the only time it happened was almost a decade ago, and the guy who did it is Wisconsin’s all-time leading scorer. You can forgive Dekker for not stepping up to be THE MAN considering few in his position ever have. One thing’s for sure: Dekker can’t use his bum ankle as an excuse anymore. Maybe it could’ve explained his five-point effort against Duke or his 1-for-5 game at Marquette. But now that Dekker has scored 17 points in both of his last two games, we have to assume he’s healthy. Now we find out what he’s really made of. 3. Arizona Three things about the Wildcats: 1. Sean Miller deserves applause for Arizona’s nonconference schedule. Bill Self is the undisputed king of nonconference scheduling, but Miller is also doing a hell of a job. Arizona played in the Maui Invitational, it played Gonzaga and Michigan at home, and it’ll play back-to-back road games leading into conference play. It might not be the toughest schedule in the country, but there are a lot of coaches who would stay as far away from San Diego State and Gonzaga as they possibly could, since Arizona has little to gain in those games. But to his credit, Miller’s team will have played the Aztecs and Zags along with UNLV this year. If the basketball gods truly love us, this will become a tradition. How great would it be to know that every year we’re guaranteed Arizona games against San Diego State, Gonzaga, and UNLV? And what if the Cats rotated between playing BYU, New Mexico, and another Mountain West/WCC team as their fourth big nonconference game every year? Loading up on must-see games like that is how you combat the East Coast bias. 2. Zeus “Zeus” Zeuszeuski has been great. It’s easy to see that Zeus’s numbers are down from last year and wonder what went wrong with him, but the truth is that he’s just fine. Zeus has played only one bad game this season (San Diego State) and it’s little surprise that he’s rebounding less with Brandon Ashley back and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s role expanding. If you expected Zeus to be Jahlil Okafor or Willie Cauley-Stein, that’s on you. I wouldn’t mind seeing him get nastier on defense, but he’s been great as a space-eater who plays physical, cleans up the glass, and doesn’t force shots. He’s given everything Arizona needs from him. 3. Stanley Johnson is still my favorite freshman. In five games against power conference teams and ranked teams, Johnson is averaging 14.8 points, 6.6 boards, and 1.6 assists while shooting 46.8 percent from the field. He’s 6-7 and 245 pounds, yet he regularly hits floaters. He was named the MVP of the sport’s most prestigious early-season tournament. He wears a T-shirt under his jersey, he has an Afro, and he has stripes shaved into the side of his head. He quotes JFK on Twitter and apparently has a bromance with Frank Kaminsky. That is all. 2. Duke Here’s a Christmas joke for you: Who is from up north, likes to spread the wealth, pulls off miracles in December, and hauls around an enormous sack? Tyus Jones! I’m still reeling from my trip to Wisconsin to watch Duke play the Buzzcuts two weeks ago. (And by reeling, I mean coughing, sleeping, and blowing my nose. Thanks again for the flu, Madison!) Jones turned in one of the most impressive individual performances you’ll see all season against Wisconsin. Okafor looks more incredible every time I see him. Quinn Cook and Amile Jefferson are playing better than any sane person thought was possible in the preseason. Marshall Plumlee even played great at Wisconsin! Thousands of drunk Wisconsin fans packed into the Kohl Center in anticipation of a party. And then Duke did this. I was so impressed with the way Duke traveled to Madison and handled the no. 2 team in the nation that I actually considered power-ranking the Blue Devils no. 1. I thought about it for half a second, and then I realized the flu was driving me insane — but damn it, I still considered it. Because of final exams, Duke’s only game in the last two weeks was Monday’s lackluster win against Elon. But here’s the good news for everyone who’s eager to see Duke play another halfway decent team: The Blue Devils face UConn in East Rutherford on Thursday night. UConn is talented enough to upset Duke, and the Huskies are desperate for a marquee nonconference win. But will they pull it off? Or is this the game that convinces UConn fans it’s 2012 all over again and makes them give up on the season, only for the Huskies to tear through the American and pull the fans back in? I’m going with the latter. 1. Kentucky If Kentucky continues shooting the 3 like it did against North Carolina on Saturday, it’ll go down as the greatest college basketball team of all time. There’s no way to defend that much size and athleticism without stacking the paint, and if the Cats can stretch defenses by knocking down 3s, I honestly wouldn’t blame some SEC teams for forfeiting instead of spending their money to travel to Lexington and get their asses kicked. This is why Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker are maybe the most valuable bench players in college basketball. Let’s assume that Kentucky won’t always shoot so well from deep, though. Let’s assume that shooting performances like the ones Kentucky had against Texas and Columbia will outnumber the red-hot nights. In that case, the Cats don’t look quite so invincible. In fact, at this point the formula for beating Kentucky seems pretty obvious — win the rebounding, transition, and 3-point battles. For all of the Wildcats’ talent, they don’t have a great back-to-the-basket offensive presence like Julius Randle was last season. That means a team can negate Kentucky’s size advantage by taking away transition dunks, offensive rebounds, and pick-and-rolls. Texas was pretty good at this, except for a stretch early in the second half when Kentucky pushed the tempo. North Carolina did a great job of scoring before Kentucky’s defense could get set. And Columbia hit six more 3s than Kentucky did, which played a huge part in the Lions giving the Wildcats their closest game of the year. So far, however, no team has been able to do all three and sustain it for 40 minutes. This is why I’m so excited for Kentucky to play at Louisville. The Cards are one of the nation’s best rebounding teams. They have one of the best defenses in America, they score a ton of points in transition, and they have capable 3-point shooters. Remember, though, that Louisville’s half-court defense could be much better. So while it’s possible that Kentucky might struggle against the press, shoot poorly from outside, get destroyed on the boards, and ultimately get run out of the gym by Louisville, it’s just as likely that the Cats break the press, pick apart the Cardinals’ half-court defense, dunk all over the place, and laugh as Louisville’s offense struggles against Kentucky’s nasty defense. I could be talked into that game being a 20-point win for either team. December 27 can’t get here soon enough. The Tell-All Book of the Week Former Vanderbilt point guard Kyle Fuller is working on a tell-all book based on his time in Nashville that promises to “tell you what the NCAA does not want you to know,” and apparently Kevin Stallings isn’t happy about it. Fuller’s motivation for writing the book and the accuracy of his stories remain unclear and will be debated plenty. As a former college basketball player who wrote a book about my time at Ohio State, I’m on Fuller’s side insofar as I support the idea of college athletes sharing their life experiences with the public. Sure, based on the excerpts, it sounds like Fuller’s book will be little more than “SEX WITH CHICKS, MAN!” but whatever — if every college athlete wrote a book when they graduated, the world would be a better place. I know firsthand that there are plenty of great untold college sports stories, just waiting for the athletes to tell them. For example, did you know that some of these basketball players have SEX WITH CHICKS, MAN?! It’s true. I read about it online. The Dick’s Degrees of Separation answer is A. See you after Christmas.

If you are still in two minds about booking a vacation this winter to South India, here are some interesting facts that might make you reconsider your travel plans; for Andhra Pradesh will say 'atithi devo bhava' and welcome you in a way that might be a pure stroke of serendipity. And guess what? A village in Andhra is the only place in the southern region that snows! Cool wind keeps the hillock cool and foggy. Picture Courtesy:Twitter/traveldglobe Cool wind keeps the hillock cool and foggy. Picture Courtesy:Twitter/traveldglobe Lambasingi is a misty hill station located at an altitude of 1025 metres above sea level in the Chintapalli region of Arakku Valley. The place is also known as Korra Bayalu, which literally means, "if someone stays out in the open they would freeze like a stick!". Temperatures may not go below 0 degree Celsius every year, but when it does, the hill treats you with the most beautiful snowfall. Also Read: 15 pictures that will make you want to become a globetrotter What adds to the charm is that while the hill station is sparsely populated, it's home to an isolated tribal community that is engaged in pepper and coffee plantations. APTDC is promoting ecotourism in Lambasingi. Picture Courtesy:Twitter/bharath747 APTDC is promoting ecotourism in Lambasingi. Picture Courtesy:Twitter/bharath747 Replete with picturesque valleys, rich natural beauty coupled with chilling temperatures, Lambasingi is being developed as an upcoming offbeat eco-tourism destination. The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) is also making efforts to open a state-run resort with luring travel packages to welcome tourists. In fact, there has been an increase in the footfall statistics of late, owing to its proximity to Vishakhapatnam and other nearby tourist attractions. Temperature ranges between 0-10 degree Celsius in winter. Picture Courtesy:Instagram/srinath.77 Temperature ranges between 0-10 degree Celsius in winter. Picture Courtesy:Instagram/srinath.77 Reports reveal that Lambasingi enjoyed its last snowfall back in 2012. But who knows? You might just get lucky this year!

Abu Layla, commander of the YPG's North Sun Brigade ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region, has sent condolences to the family of Abu Layla, an outstanding Kurdish commander who died from injuries sustained from an Islamic State (ISIS) ISIS sniper bullet in Rojava earlier this month. "On a phone call with Yousif Abdul Aziz, a brother of martyred Faysal Saadun known as Abu Layla, [Barzani] sent his condolences to the family and relatives of Abu Layla who was martyred at the hands of the terrorists in fighting to liberate Manbij," read an announcement issued by Barzani’s office. The announcement added that Barzani described Abu Layla as a brave and courageous person of Kobani who dedicated his life to defend his homeland and obtain freedom for the Kurdish nation. Abu Layla was wounded in the Manbij operation on June 3. For treatment, he was sent to the Kurdistan Region. He died of his wounds two days later in hospital in Sulaimani. Abu Layla was wounded in battle many times but always returned to continue the fight. On June 25, 2015, ISIS launched a suicide attack on Kobane. The ISIS attacks continued for several days, killing at least 220 civilians and 35 YPG fighters. An injured Abu Layla battled them from his own balcony, his crutches leaning against the railing beside him. He was one of founders of the SDF and the Northern Sun Brigade. His outstanding leadership helped bring victory in the battle for Kobani. A letter he wrote to his young daughter reads: "We battle for you and future generations to live in a peaceful country and homeland. For your future we face all difficulties in order that you do not have to say ‘Our fathers and ancestors did not do anything for us.’ You will be proud of me either in my life or in martyrdom." YPG forces are participating in an Arab-led offensive to rout ISIS from the Manbij pocket, along the Syria-Turkey border west of the Euphrates. It was in this offensive that Abu Layla was martyred. The offensive has been renamed in his honour.

KAHLES RIFLESCOPE LOST IN THE 1970s, WAS FOUND - TECHNICALLY IN PERFECT CONDITION prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" / prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" / Cranston , Rhode Island ( August 24, 2004 ) - A professional hunter in Southern Austria inadvertently performed the longest, most realistic, environmental test on a riflescope in history. A Kahles Helia 6x42 riflescope, lost in the high mountain region of the Austrian Alps in the late 70s was recently found in technically perfect working condition. Back in September 1977 on a Chamois stalk, a Jaeg erm eister (Professional Hunter) from Southern Austrian Carinthia climbed to the top of "Kometeralpe", a 2,500-meter picturesque mountain. After shooting a Chamois with his Mannlicher Luxus 6.5x57 topped with a Kahles Helia 6x42 riflescope, the PH rested his firearm against a boulder and ascended to where the game was taken. After field dressing his animal he returned to the spot where he believed he had left the rifle. Unfortunately the PH had to spend the entire afternoon searching for his gear, however it was not found. In the ensuing days and weeks, he regularly returned to the area searching for his rifle, but was unsuccessful finding it. Weeks, months, years, and decades passed. High above the timberline, rifle and scope rested upright against the boulder � being abused by the harsh elements of nature at this high elevation. Summer heat and dust, followed by strong storms, heavy showers of ice and snow tested the durability of the scope and rifle. Almost three decades later, Hannes, a young Jaeg erm eister from Obervellach, a small village in the Austrian Alps, ascended the sam e mountain "Kometeralpe" stalking a Chamois. After making a good shot, Hannes proceeded down the slope to the Chamois. To his amazement, next to the Chamois, just barely visible, leaning against a gray stone boulder, was an old rifle. The rifles stock was rotten and bleached by the elements, and all of the steel parts were rusted throughout � a sad resemblance of what used to be a hunter�s pride. The firearm itself was in poor, unusable condition, however, when Hannes looked through the Kahles scope he couldn�t believe his eyes: the image quality was like that of his new modern riflescope, with the crosshair standing out crisp and clear against a sharp, brilliant and extremely bright image. The steel surfaces were rusty, yet all of the aluminum parts were unharmed. The mechanical parts, including both elevation and windage still worked perfectly and even after all those years in the most extreme of elements, the Kahles riflescope remained waterproof.

Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens wasted no time wading into national politics on Tuesday at a University of North Texas lunch event. "I am so into this election," he said as soon as he took the stage at the Hilton Anatole Dallas. "I wanted to ask everybody in here, could they vote for Donald Trump?" A few scattered hands went up, some tentatively. Moderator G. Brint Ryan, chairman and CEO of Ryan LLC, cajoled a few more, quipping, "There are no cameras in the room." Pickens shrugged it off before launching into a wide-ranging discussion. The almost 88-year-old billionaire has said he's backing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, citing Trump's potential to change Washington and apparent willingness to protect the U.S.'s energy interests abroad, particularly in the Middle East. On Tuesday, Pickens vowed to "remind people how little Hillary Clinton understands about energy." "She said we're going to shut down coal production ... and stop using fossil fuels," he said, referring to a widely criticized comment the Democratic presidential candidate made about putting coal mining companies out of business. "How could you stop that? You'd stop the world." Pickens added that "boy, I loved it when she was over in West Virginia," a state where coal is the dominant industry. Clinton has since described the comment as a "misstatement." Pickens predicted oil prices will reach $50 to $60 per barrel by the end of the year and $70 next year. He also claimed to have been the first Caesarean section birth in Oklahoma and joked that the first Republican presidential candidate he ever voted for was Abraham Lincoln. (It was actually Thomas Dewey, who was narrowly defeated by incumbent Harry S. Truman in 1948.) Twitter: @jillcowan

[3]Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (born Lawrence Joshua Chamberlain, September 8, 1828 – February 24, 1914)[4] was an American college professor from the State of Maine, who volunteered during the American Civil War to join the Union Army. He became a highly respected and decorated Union officer, reaching the rank of brigadier general (and brevet major general). He is best known for his gallantry at the Battle of Gettysburg, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. Chamberlain was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment in 1862 and fought at the Battle of Fredericksburg. He became commander of the regiment in June 1863. On July 2, during the Battle of Gettysburg, Chamberlain's regiment occupied the extreme left of the Union lines at Little Round Top. Chamberlain's men withstood repeated assaults from the 15th Regiment Alabama Infantry and finally drove the Confederates away with a downhill bayonet charge. Chamberlain was severely wounded while commanding a brigade during the Second Battle of Petersburg in June 1864, and was given what was intended to be a deathbed promotion to brigadier general. In April 1865, he fought at the Battle of Five Forks and was given the honor of commanding the Union troops at the surrender ceremony for the infantry of Robert E. Lee's Army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. After the war, he entered politics as a Republican and served four one-year terms of office as the 32nd Governor of Maine. He served on the faculty, and as president, of his alma mater, Bowdoin College. He died in 1914 at age 85 due to complications from the wound that he received at Petersburg. Early life and education [ edit ] Chamberlain was born in Brewer, Maine, the son of Sarah Dupee (née Brastow) and Joshua Chamberlain, on September 8, 1828. Chamberlain was of English ancestry, and could trace his family line back to twelfth century England, during the reign of King Stephen.[5] He was the oldest of five children. It is said that he was his mother's favorite while his father was tough on him. He was very involved in his church, mostly singing in the choir. His mother encouraged him to become a preacher while his father wanted him to join the military, but he felt a reluctance towards both options. He suffered a speech impediment until shortly after graduating from college. He entered Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, in 1848 with the help of a local tutor, professor William Hyde. Chamberlain learned to read Ancient Greek and Latin in order to pass the entrance exam. While at Bowdoin he met many people who would influence his life, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, the wife of Bowdoin professor Calvin Stowe. Chamberlain would often go to listen to her read passages from what would later become her celebrated novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was being published in serial form in the abolitionist paper, The National Era. He also joined the Peucinian Society, a group of students with Federalist leanings. A member of the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society and a brother of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, Chamberlain graduated in 1852. He had a dog named Kathy who died at age four. He married Fanny Adams, cousin and adopted daughter of a local clergyman, in 1855, and they had five children, one of whom was born too prematurely to survive and two of whom died in infancy. Chamberlain studied for three additional years at Bangor Theological Seminary in Bangor, Maine, returned to Bowdoin, and began a career in education as a professor of rhetoric. He eventually went on to teach every subject in the curriculum with the exception of science and mathematics. In 1861 he was appointed Professor of Modern Languages.[6] He was fluent in nine languages other than English: Greek, Latin, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac. Chamberlain's great-grandfathers were soldiers in the American Revolutionary War. One, Franklin Chamberlain, was a sergeant at the Siege of Yorktown. His grandfather, also named Joshua Chamberlain, was a colonel in the local militia during the War of 1812 and was court-martialed (but exonerated) for his part in the humiliating Battle of Hampden, which led to the sacking of Bangor and Brewer by British forces. His father also had served during the abortive Aroostook War of 1839. American Civil War [ edit ] Early career [ edit ] Chamberlain's younger brother, Thomas, who was the Lieutenant Colonel of the 20th Maine At the beginning of the American Civil War, Chamberlain believed the Union needed to be supported against the Confederacy by all those willing. On several occasions, Chamberlain spoke freely of his beliefs during his class, urging students to follow their hearts in regards to the war while maintaining that the cause was just. Of his desire to serve in the War, he wrote to Maine's Governor Israel Washburn, Jr., "I fear, this war, so costly of blood and treasure, will not cease until men of the North are willing to leave good positions, and sacrifice the dearest personal interests, to rescue our country from desolation, and defend the national existence against treachery."[7] Many faculty at Bowdoin did not feel his enthusiasm for various reasons and Chamberlain was subsequently granted a leave of absence (supposedly to study languages for two years in Europe). He then promptly enlisted unbeknownst to those at Bowdoin and his family. Offered the colonelcy of the 20th Maine Regiment, he declined, according to his biographer, John J. Pullen, preferring to "start a little lower and learn the business first."[citation needed] He was appointed lieutenant colonel of the regiment on August 8, 1862, under the command of Col. Adelbert Ames. The 20th was assigned to the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, V Corps in the Union Army of the Potomac. One of Chamberlain's younger brothers, Thomas Chamberlain, was also an officer of the 20th Maine, and another, John Chamberlain, visited the regiment at Gettysburg as a member of the U.S. Christian Commission until appointed as a chaplain in another Maine Volunteer regiment. The 20th Maine fought at the Battle of Fredericksburg, suffering relatively small numbers of casualties in the assaults on Marye's Heights, but were forced to spend a miserable night on the freezing battlefield among the many wounded from other regiments. Chamberlain chronicled this night well in his diary and went to great length discussing his having to use bodies of the fallen for shelter and a pillow while listening to the bullets zip into the corpses. The 20th missed the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863 due to an outbreak of smallpox in their ranks (which was caused by an errant smallpox vaccine), keeping them on guard duty in the rear.[8] Chamberlain was promoted to colonel of the regiment in June 1863 upon the promotion of Ames. Battle of Gettysburg [ edit ] Chamberlain's position on Little Round Top Chamberlain became most famous for his achievements during the Battle of Gettysburg. On July 2, the second day of the battle, Union forces were recovering from initial setbacks and hastily regrouping into defensive positions on a line of hills south of the town. Sensing the momentary vulnerability of the Union forces, the Confederates began an attack against the Union left flank. Chamberlain's brigade, commanded by Col. Strong Vincent, was sent to defend Little Round Top by the army's Chief of Engineers, Brig. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren. Chamberlain found himself and the 20th Maine at the far left end of the entire Union line. He quickly understood the strategic significance of the small hill, and the need for the 20th Maine to hold the Union left at all costs. The men from Maine waited until troops from the 15th Regiment Alabama Infantry, commanded by Col. William C. Oates, charged up the hill, attempting to flank the Union position. Time and time again the Confederates struck, until the 20th Maine was almost doubled back upon itself. With many casualties and ammunition running low, Col. Chamberlain recognized the dire circumstances and ordered his left wing (which was now looking southeast, compared to the rest of the regiment, which was facing west) to initiate a bayonet charge. From his report of the day: "At that crisis, I ordered the bayonet. The word was enough." While battlefield conditions make it unlikely that many men heard Chamberlain's order, most historians believe he initiated the charge. The 20th Maine charged down the hill, with the left wing wheeling continually to make the charging line swing like a hinge, thus creating a simultaneous frontal assault and flanking maneuver, capturing 101 of the Confederate soldiers and successfully saving the flank. This version of the battle was popularized by the book The Killer Angels and the movie Gettysburg, but there is debate on the historical validity of this account.[9] Chamberlain sustained two slight wounds in the battle, one when a shot hit his sword scabbard and bruised his thigh, and another when his right foot was hit by a spent bullet or piece of shrapnel. Chamberlain also personally took a Confederate prisoner with his saber during the charge. After initiating the maneuver, he came upon a Confederate Officer wielding a revolver who quickly fired, narrowly missing his face. Chamberlain remained steadfast, and with his sword at the officer's throat accepted the man's arms and surrender.[10] The pistol Chamberlain captured at Gettysburg can still be seen on display in the Civil War exhibit of the Maine State Museum. For his tenacity at defending Little Round Top, he was known by the sobriquet Lion of the Round Top. Prior to the battle, Chamberlain was quite ill, developing malaria and dysentery. Later, due to this illness, he was taken off active duty until he recovered. For his "daring heroism and great tenacity in holding his position on the Little Round Top against repeated assaults, and carrying the advance position on the Great Round Top", Chamberlain was awarded the Medal of Honor. Medal of Honor citation [ edit ] The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 2 July 1863, while serving with 20th Maine Infantry, in action at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for daring heroism and great tenacity in holding his position on the Little Round Top against repeated assaults, and carrying the advance position on the Great Round Top.[11] Siege of Petersburg [ edit ] In April 1864, Chamberlain returned to the Army of the Potomac and was promoted to brigade commander shortly before the Siege of Petersburg and given command of the 1st Brigade, First Division, V Corps. In a major action on June 18, during the Second Battle of Petersburg, Chamberlain was shot through the right hip and groin, the bullet exiting his left hip. Despite the injury, Chamberlain withdrew his sword and stuck it into the ground in order to keep himself upright to dissuade the growing resolve for retreat. He stood upright for several minutes until he collapsed and lay unconscious from loss of blood. The wound was considered mortal by the division's surgeon, who predicted he would perish; Chamberlain's incorrectly recorded death in battle was reported in the Maine newspapers, and Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant gave Chamberlain a battlefield promotion to the rank of brigadier general after receiving an urgent recommendation on June 19 from corps commander Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren: "He has been recommended for promotion for gallant and efficient conduct on previous occasion and yesterday led his brigade against the enemy under most destructive fire. He expresses the wish that he may receive the recognition of his services by promotion before he dies for the gratification of his family and friends."[8] Not expected to live, Chamberlain displayed surprising will and courage, and with the support of his brother Tom, was back in command by November. Although many, including his wife Fanny, urged Chamberlain to resign, he was determined to serve through the end of the war. In early 1865, Chamberlain regained command of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division of V Corps, and he continued to act with courage and resolve. On March 29, 1865, his brigade participated in a major skirmish on the Quaker Road during Grant's final advance that would finish the war. Despite losses, another wound (in the left arm and chest that almost caused amputation), and nearly being captured, Chamberlain was successful and brevetted to the rank of major general by President Abraham Lincoln. Chamberlain gained the name "Bloody Chamberlain" at Quaker Road. Chamberlain kept a Bible and framed picture of his wife in his left front "chest" pocket. A Confederate shot at Chamberlain. The bullet went through his horse's neck, hit the picture frame, entered under Chamberlain's skin in the front of his chest, traveled around his body under the skin along the rib, and exited his back. To all observers Union and Confederate, it appeared that he was shot through his chest. He continued to encourage his men to attack. All sides cheered his valiant courage, and the Union assault was successful. Appomattox [ edit ] Confederate General John B. Gordon was assigned the task to surrender all arms to Gen. Chamberlain. On the morning of April 9, 1865, Chamberlain learned of the desire by General Robert E. Lee to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia when a Confederate staff officer approached him under a flag of truce. "Sir," he reported to Chamberlain, "I am from General Gordon. General Lee desires a cessation of hostilities until he can hear from General Grant as to the proposed surrender."[12] The next day, Chamberlain was summoned to Union headquarters where Maj. Gen. Charles Griffin informed him that he had been selected to preside over the parade of the Confederate infantry as part of their formal surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 12.[13] Thus Chamberlain was responsible for one of the most poignant scenes of the American Civil War. As the Confederate soldiers marched down the road to surrender their arms and colors, Chamberlain, on his own initiative, ordered his men to come to attention and "carry arms" as a show of respect. In memoirs written forty years after the event, Chamberlain described what happened next: Gordon, at the head of the marching column, outdoes us in courtesy. He was riding with downcast eyes and more than pensive look; but at this clatter of arms he raises his eyes and instantly catching the significance, wheels his horse with that superb grace of which he is master, drops the point of his sword to his stirrup, gives a command, at which the great Confederate ensign following him is dipped and his decimated brigades, as they reach our right, respond to the 'carry.' All the while on our part not a sound of trumpet or drum, not a cheer, nor a word nor motion of man, but awful stillness as if it were the passing of the dead.[14] Chamberlain stated that his salute to the Confederate soldiers was unpopular with many Unionists, but he defended his action in his memoirs, The Passing of the Armies. Many years later, Gordon, in his own memoirs, called Chamberlain "one of the knightliest soldiers of the Federal Army." Gordon never mentioned the anecdote until after he read Chamberlain's account, more than 40 years later.[15] In all, Chamberlain served in 20 battles and numerous skirmishes, was cited for bravery four times, had six horses shot from under him, and was wounded six times.[16][17] Post-war service [ edit ] Chamberlain as the Governor of Maine Chamberlain left the U.S. Army soon after the war ended, going back to his home state of Maine. Due to his immense popularity, he served as Governor of Maine for four one-year terms after he won election as a Republican. His victory in 1866 set the record for the most votes and the highest percentage for any Maine governor by that time. He would break his own record in 1868. During his time in office, he was attacked by those angered by his support for capital punishment and by his refusal to create a special police force to enforce the prohibition of alcohol. 1866 Maine Governor Election Party Candidate Votes % 1867 Maine Governor Election Party Candidate Votes % 1868 Maine Governor Election Party Candidate Votes % 1869 Maine Governor Election Party Candidate Votes % After leaving political office, he returned to Bowdoin College. In 1871, he was appointed president of Bowdoin and remained in that position until 1883, when he was forced to resign because of ill health from his war wounds. He also served as an ex-officio trustee of nearby Bates College from 1867 to 1871. In January 1880, there was a dispute about who was the newly elected governor of Maine, and the Maine State House was occupied by a band of armed men. The outgoing governor, Alonzo Garcelon, summoned Chamberlain, the commander of the Maine Militia, to take charge. Chamberlain sent home the armed men, and arranged for the Augusta police to keep control. He stayed in the State House most of the twelve-day period until the Maine Supreme Judicial Court's decision on the election results was known. During this time, there were threats of assassination and kidnapping, and on one occasion, he went outside to face down a crowd of 25–30 men intending to kill him, and both sides offered bribes to appoint him a United States senator. Having gratified neither side in the dispute, he did not become a senator, and his career in state politics ended. Later life [ edit ] After resigning from Bowdoin in 1883, he went to New York City to practice law.[18][19] Chamberlain served as Surveyor of the Port of Portland, Maine, a federal appointment, and engaged in business activities, including real estate dealings in Florida (1885) and a college of art in New York, as well as hotels. He traveled to the West Coast to work on railroad building and public improvements.[18] From the time of his serious wound in 1864 until his death, he was forced to wear an early form of a catheter with a bag and underwent six operations to try to correct the original wound and stop the fevers and infections that plagued him, without success.[citation needed] Chamberlain later in life in Portland , wearing uniform and his medals In 1893, 30 years after the battle that made the 20th Maine famous, Chamberlain was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Gettysburg. The citation commends him for his "Daring heroism and great tenacity in holding his position on the Little Round Top against repeated assaults, and carrying the advance position on the Great Round Top." As in many other Civil War actions, controversy arose when one of his subordinate officers stated that Chamberlain never actually ordered a charge at Gettysburg. The claim never seriously affected Chamberlain's fame or notability however. This original medal was lost, and later rediscovered in 2013, and donated to the Pejebscot Historical Society in Brunswick, Maine. A second, redesigned medal issued in 1904 is currently housed at Bowdoin College.[20] In 1898, at the age of 70, still in pain from his wounds, he volunteered for duty as an officer in the Spanish–American War. Rejected for duty, he called it one of the major disappointments of his life.[citation needed] In 1905, Chamberlain became a founding member of the Maine Institution for the Blind, in Portland, now called The Iris Network. Chamberlain's wife herself was visually impaired, which led him to serve on the organization's first board of directors.[21] Beginning with his first election as governor of Maine and continuing to the end of his life, Chamberlain was active in the Grand Army of the Republic. Despite continual pain and discomfort from his wounds of 1864, he made many return visits to Gettysburg and delivered speeches at soldiers' reunions. He made his last known visit on May 16 and 17, 1913, while involved in planning the 50th anniversary reunion. Because of deteriorating health, he was unable to attend the reunion less than two months later.[22] Death [ edit ] Chamberlain died of his lingering wartime wounds in 1914 in Portland, Maine, at the age of eighty-five. He is interred at Pine Grove Cemetery in Brunswick, Maine.[4] Beside him as he died was Dr. Abner O. Shaw of Portland, one of the two surgeons who had operated on him in Petersburg 50 years previously. A full study of his medical history strongly suggests that it was complications from the wound suffered at Petersburg that resulted in his death.[23] He was the last Civil War veteran to die as a result of wounds from the war and considered by some the last casualty of the war.[24] Legacy [ edit ] The Joshua Chamberlain Museum Chamberlain statue erected in 2003 at his alma mater, Bowdoin College , in Brunswick , where he served as president His home, located across Maine Street from the Bowdoin College campus, is now the Joshua L. Chamberlain Museum and is owned by the Pejepscot Historical Society, which maintains an extensive research collection on Chamberlain. Memorabilia on display include the minié ball that almost ended his life at Petersburg, his original Medal of Honor,[25] and Don Troiani's original painting of the charge at Little Round Top.[citation needed] Tours of the home are conducted by volunteer docents from late May until mid-October.[citation needed] US Route 1A is carried across the Penobscot River between Bangor and Brewer, Maine by the Joshua Chamberlain Bridge, a two-lane steel plate girder bridge opened on November 11, 1954.[citation needed] The village of Chamberlain, Maine, in the town of Bristol, is named for him.[citation needed] Medal of Honor [ edit ] In September 2013, the original Medal of Honor awarded to Chamberlain in 1893 was donated to the Pejepscot Historical Society, which owns the Joshua L. Chamberlain Museum in Brunswick, after being authenticated by the Maine State Museum, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Awards and Decorations Branch of the Department of the Army. The donor, who chose to remain anonymous, found it in the back of a book bought during a church sale at the First Parish Church in Duxbury, Massachusetts; Chamberlain's granddaughter Rosamond Allen, his last surviving descendant, had donated her estate to that church upon her death in 2000. Chamberlain's alma mater of Bowdoin College has a 1904 Medal of Honor belonging to Chamberlain in its possession. The original 1893 medal is on display at the Chamberlain Museum.[25] Bibliography [ edit ] Maine, Her Place in History , his speech at the Centennial Exhibition (1877) , his speech at the Centennial Exhibition (1877) Ethics and Politics of the Spanish War (1898) (1898) Universities and Their Sons , editor (1898) , editor (1898) Property: Its Office and Sanction (1900) (1900) De Monts and Acadia (1904) (1904) Ruling Powers in History (1905) (1905) The Passing of the Armies (1915) A special edition of his Paris report on "Education in Europe" was published by the United States government (Washington, 1879). Command history [ edit ] Lieutenant Colonel (second in command under Adelbert Ames), 20th Maine (August 8, 1862) Colonel, commanding 20th Maine (May 20, 1863) Commanding 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, V Corps (August 26 – November 19, 1863) Commanding 1st Brigade (June 6–18, 1864) Brigadier General of Volunteers (June 18, 1864) Commanding 1st Brigade (November 19, 1864 – January 5, 1865) Commanding 1st Brigade (February 27 – April 11, 1865) Brevet Major General of Volunteers (March 29, 1865) Commanding 1st Division (April 20 – June 28, 1865) Commanding 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Wright's Provisional Corps, Middle Department (June 28 – July, 1865) Mustered out of volunteer service (January 15, 1866)[4] In popular culture [ edit ] Chamberlain emerged as a key character in Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize–winning historical novel about Gettysburg, The Killer Angels (1974), and in a prequel novel by his son, Jeff Shaara, Gods and Generals (1996). Chamberlain is portrayed by actor Jeff Daniels in the film Gettysburg (1993) and Gods and Generals (2003), based on the books. His portrayal in these books and films significantly enhanced Chamberlain's reputation in the general public, making him into a more popular and well known figure.[26][27] Tom Eishen's historical novel Courage on Little Round Top is a detailed look at Chamberlain as well as Robert Wicker, the young Confederate officer who fired his pistol at Chamberlain's head during the 20th Maine's historic charge down Little Round Top. Ken Burns's 1990 nine-part PBS film The Civil War featured Chamberlain prominently. Steve Earle's song "Dixieland" from his album The Mountain refers to Chamberlain and the Battle of Gettysburg: I am Kilrain of the 20th Maine and I fight for Chamberlain 'Cause he stood right with us when the Johnnies came like a banshee on the wind When the smoke cleared out of Gettysburg, many a mother wept For many a good boy died there, sure, and the air smelled just like death I am Kilrain of the 20th Maine and I'd march to hell and back again For Colonel Joshua Chamberlain—we're all goin' down to Dixieland The book The Lost Regiment and the subsequent series by author William R. Forstchen chronicle the adventures of the "35th Maine", a Union regiment from Maine having been transported to an alien planet. The regiment was based on the 20th Maine, with the main character and commander of the regiment, Andrew Lawrence Keane, also being a college professor.[citation needed] In the alternate history novel Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War, written by Forstchen and Newt Gingrich, Chamberlain is featured as a character. In the book, an alternate history of the Civil War, Chamberlain makes a heroic stand similar to the real life battle on Little Round Top. Unlike in real life, Chamberlain is overwhelmed, wounded, and forced to surrender, but he survives returns in the third book of the series, Never Call Retreat. A musical, Chamberlain: A Civil War Romance, with book and lyrics by Sarah Knapp and music by Steven M. Alper was commissioned by Maine State Music Theatre in 1993 and received its premiere at that theatre in July, 1996. That production starred Mark Jacoby as Chamberlain and Sarah Knapp as Fannie Chamberlain. It was revived in a revised form by Maine State in 2014.[28] According to its bookwriter, the musical is "an exploration of the perennial conflict between public duty and private devotion. This musical ... not only celebrates a great Civil War hero, but also examines a universal theme: How a person's sense of duty and destiny affect his personal life."[29] Another Forstchen work, "A Hard Day For Mother", is a short story from the first volume in the variety anthology series "Alternate Generals".[30] That work is based on the premise of: "what if Chamberlain was on the Confederate side at Gettysburg?" The story assumes that a decade before the outbreak of the Civil War Chamberlain had taken a teaching job at a Virginia military academy and developed a love for the state of Virginia; that with the outbreak of war he joined the Confederate side under Robert E. Lee; that in Gettysburg he gained the Little Round Top for the Confederacy, fighting against his own brother Tom commanding the 20th Maine; that thereby Chamberlain won the battle and the entire war for the Confederacy; that he later remained in the independent Confederacy and was eventually elected its President; and that his reconciliatory attitude towards the North led to Confederacy and the United States eventually holding referendums and freely deciding to re-unite in 1914, following Chamberlain's death. See also [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ]

Gibraltar Bows before the Tax Cartel The international tax system just became a little less competitive. Gibraltar has removed the distinction between onshore and tax-exempt offshore businesses in an effort to remove the nation’s reputation as a tax haven and become a “mainstream European financial services centre.” The state has signed 18 tax information exchange agreements and has others under negotiation. With the adoption of the Act, coupled with Gibraltar’s compliance with all EU financial services regulation, money laundering and co-operation rules, Gibraltar joins the group of mainstream European financial services centres, according to a government statement. The Act introduces tough anti-avoidance measures and default financial and legal penalties to help ensure everyone based in the tiny state pay the taxes. … Many previously tax exempt banks, insurance, investment, gaming and other companies will begin to pay profit tax in Gibraltar for the first time on the same basis as all other companies starting in July 2011. Gibraltar is still an attractive place to start a business: company tax rates will be cut from 22% to 10% as the new rules are introduced, and its English common law system is about the best available in the current uncompetitive market for law. Still, this is an indication of what happens when powerful nations work together to thwart competition. In most industries, such behavior is frowned-upon; in the market for governance, the default assumption seems to be that competition is harmful and collusion is the only response.

Nastiest debate ever? Catch up on what you missed CLOSE The second presidential debate of the 2016 was full of action. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Video provided by TheStreet Newslook The second presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in St. Louis was one for the history books. Catch up on all the highlights right here: Well, that was interesting Will Trump's attacks on the Clintons — both Hillary and Bill — steady his struggling campaign? Will Clinton's defenses and counter-attacks help build her lead? Aides will be examining polling data in the coming days for answers. We'll see you in 10 days for the third and final Clinton-Trump debate, this one in Las Vegas. — David Jackson They had (almost) equal time CNN has the stats, and some credit goes to the moderators for keeping this tight. — Donovan Slack Trump scores top moments on Facebook Though they weren’t necessarily all good. Facebook logged these as the top moments on the site. 1. Trump dismisses his running mate: “He and I haven’t spoken, and I disagree.” 2. Trump responds to Clinton saying it’s good someone like him isn’t in charge of the law: “Because you’d be in jail.” 3. Trump: “No, I’m a gentleman, Hillary. Go ahead.” And in overall Facebook buzz, which includes posts, likes and shares, Trump was referenced in 76% of the debate conversation on the site, while Clinton was referenced in 24%. Here are the top subjects Facebook users were talking about: • ISIS • Trump Tapes • Taxes • Government Ethics • Health care Over on Twitter, the same moments created the most buzz, although in a slightly different order: Top 3 Tweeted Moments of the US presidential #debate: pic.twitter.com/ZxUsdrLLMK — Twitter Government (@gov) October 10, 2016 — Donovan Slack A positive ending Question: Can one of you say something positive about the other? Clinton praises Trump's children — and laments the "conflict-oriented" election. Trump says he is very proud of his children — and praises Clinton's resilience. "She doesn't quit," he says. "She doesn't give up." Unlike the start, the debate ends with a handshake. — David Jackson Energy and the environment A town hall guests asks about energy policy — and how it might affect the environment. Trump says "energy is under siege by the Obama administration" and that Clinton wants to put coal miners out of business. He says he will lift regulations in energy companies — and says little about the environment. Clinton says Trump has put steelworkers out of business by buying steel that China has dumped in the United States. She says she would promote a variety of energy sources, including "clean energy" programs that can fight climate change. — David Jackson Supreme Court An audience member asks about the Supreme Court. Clinton says she wants justices "who understands the way the world really works." She says she wants the court to maintain abortion rights and marriage equality, while Trump backs judges who would reverse those rulings. Trump noted that the next president will be able to change the court, starting with the replacement of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. He talks about the importance of the Second Amendment. — David Jackson Divided nation — and election As it began, this debate is ending on a bitter note. Trump again hit Clinton for her "deplorables" comment, saying: "Believe me — she has tremendous hate in her heart ... she's got tremendous hatred." Asked whether Trump has the temperament to be president, Clinton said, "no." "I'm shocked to hear that," Trump replied. — David Jackson All the people Trump is asked: Can you be president of ALL of the people? "Absolutely," Trump says, taking the opportunity to hit Clinton over her comment that half of Trump supporters belong in a "basket of deplorables." Trump also says he will help the inner cities, something Clinton and the Democrats only talk about doing. Clinton talks about her 30 years in public service and says she wants to help all Americans "find a place" in the country — something some people fear about her opponent. "Maybe they wouldn't have a place in Donald Trump's America," Clinton says. Clinton says she regrets her deplorables comment: "My argument isn't with his supporters — it's with him." — David Jackson Syria — and Russia What to do about the Syrian civil war — and the refugees? Clinton says the situation is "catastrophic" and attacks Russia for its activity in Syria. She proposed a no-fly zone and safe zones in the country, and closer cooperation with allies on the ground — save Russia, which she again says wants Trump to win the presidency. Trump accuses Clinton of Syria policies adopted AFTER she left the State Department. Clinton "talks tough," Trump says, but she and the Obama administration have created "messes" in the Middle East. Trump also defends Russia, saying it wants to kill ISIS — and, for good measure, publicly disagrees with running mate Mike Pence's criticism of Russia. Says Trump: "He and I haven't spoken, and I disagree." — David Jackson Trump, the lurker? While the format allows movement by the candidates around the stage, some of the movements by Trump lurking behind Clinton as she answered questions were just well, weird. Trump points to someone off camera as Clinton talks #debatepic.twitter.com/ECOUMtrlHW — Mashable GIF (@mashablegif) October 10, 2016 Trump is just creepin' around the stage now #debatepic.twitter.com/MajNvjuFZX — Mashable GIF (@mashablegif) October 10, 2016 He's physically trying to intimidate her by standing right behind her this is cray #debate — Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) October 10, 2016 what is going on pic.twitter.com/V1oHeMPYe2 — andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) October 10, 2016 — Donovan Slack Throwdown on taxes Trump says he will reduce taxes and eliminate loopholes that benefit him — giving Clinton a chance to hit him over reports he may not have paid federal income taxes for nearly two decades. Trump also seems to confirm a New York Times report that he used a massive income loss in 1995 to write off taxes for years — a provision many Clinton supporters have also used. The New York businessman says he understands the tax laws better than any other candidate. Trump says Clinton will raise taxes, but Clinton says he is lying because "he lives in an alternative reality." Clinton says her tax plan will benefit the middle class, while Trump is looking out for the rich. "Donald always takes care of Donald and people like Donald," she says. The two also argued again over taxes and Clinton's career. "Here we go again," Clinton said at one point. — David Jackson The Russia case Clinton uses a question to raise questions about Trump's relations with Russia, and its alleged efforts to influence the election — and adds that he should release his tax returns to show if he has business relations with the Russians. Trump calls Clinton's claims "ridiculous" and says Clinton is upset because leaked documents show she has lied. And, no, he won't release his tax returns until after an audit, Trump says. — David Jackson A Muslim question A Muslim voter asks about discrimination. Trump said Islamophobia is "a shame," but the nation does face threats from "radical Islamic terror." He defends increased scrutiny of Muslim immigrants. "Whether we like it or not, there is a problem," Trump says. Clinton hammers Trump for "divisive, dark things" he has said about Muslims and said his "demagogic rhetoric" undermines cooperation with Muslim nations, helping terrorists. On a follow-up, Trump said his proposed Muslim ban has now "morphed" into what he calls "extreme vetting" of migrants. Clinton said migrants are in fact heavily screened, and the U.S. should take in more Syrian refugees from a "horrific war." Clinton hits Trump on his proposed Muslim ban, saying the U.S. should not have a "religious test." — David Jackson Obamacare — and intimidation After a health care question, Clinton explains her position — with Trump standing behind her, mugging her answers. Clinton criticizes Trump's plan to repeal Obamacare, saying that would eliminate all of its good features. Trump responds: "Obamacare is a disaster — we all know it." He pitches a more decentralized health care plan, while saying Clinton wants a "single payer" plan totally run by the federal government. Clinton is called upon to defend her husband, ex-president Bill Clinton, over his comment that Obamacare is a "crazy system." She said the ex-president "clarified what he meant" and that they want to fix problems in the system but keep the basics intact. Says Trump: "Everything is broken about it." — David Jackson It's apparent this will be the nastiest debate in presidential history ... Clinton says it's a good thing that someone with Trump's temperament won't have control of law enforcement. Trump shot back: "Because you'd be in jail." Clinton again calls her private email system a mistake but says she has been careful with classified information. Trump calls Clinton a liar and adds: "You should be ashamed of yourself." Clinton tells Trump he only wants to change the subject: "I know you're into big diversion tonight." — David Jackson Shut it down! The audience, which had been instructed by moderator Martha Raddatz to keep quiet, couldn’t seem to help itself, but Raddatz was having none of it. Trump has been arguing with the debate moderators all night. At one point, in a retort to Anderson Cooper, Trump described the debate as "one on three." — Donovan Slack and David Jackson The birther issue comes up Clinton hits Trump for the "racist lie" about President Obama's birthplace and says he owes the president an apology. Trump suggests — without evidence — that Clinton started the birther movement, and she owes the apology. For good measure, Trump says he will appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton's private emails. Clinton responds: "Everything thing he said is absolutely false — but I'm not surprised." — David Jackson The Trump tape Anderson Cooper goes there, asking Trump about the newly released tape. Trump denies the suggestion he was endorsing sexual assault. He again apologizes for his comments but downplays them as "locker room talk." He adds: "I have great respect for women — nobody respects women more than I do." Clinton also gets the question, and she says the tape again proves Trump is unfit for the presidency. "Donald Trump is different," she says, and the tape proves Trump is a man who doesn't like or respect women, not to mention immigrants, Muslims and others. "Yes, this is who Donald Trump is," she said. Trump replies to Clinton's attack: "It's just words, folks, just words." He attacks Clinton's record as U.S. senator, and is cut off — much to his annoyance. Trump goes there after another tape question, going after both of the Clintons. "Bill Clinton was abusive to women," Trump said. "Hillary Clinton attacked those women." Clinton said Trump made many false statements but can run his campaign however he sees fit. As for her: "When they go low, you go high." She also pointed out that Trump never apologizes for his transgressions. — David Jackson Yep, it’s all about Trump As the debate started, the folks over at Facebook culled the topics received the most buzz on the site, and here’s how they stack up. 1. Trump Tape 2. Wikileaks Release 3. Crime & Criminal Justice 4. Government Ethics 5. Iraq, Syria & ISIS — Donovan Slack Good behavior Right off the bat, a town hall questioner asks about the negative behavior in the campaign. Clinton goes the high way, saying she has "a very positive and optimistic view" of the country, and wants to "heal' it. Trump says "I actually agree with that" — and, while subdued, goes after "horrible things" like Obamacare, the Iran nuclear agreement and bad trade deals. No personal attack yet on Clinton (or her husband), however. — David Jackson No handshake The candidates did not shake hands — it's going to be that kind of night. Reaction was mixed: No handshake between candidates at a presidential debate is an unfortunate summary of the state of our politics today. — Kevin Madden (@KevinMaddenDC) October 10, 2016 No handshake and whole media center erupts in "Woooooooah!" — Paul Singer (@singernews) October 10, 2016 Focus group did NOT like Hillary Clinton leaving Trump hanging on the opening handshake. #Debate — Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) October 10, 2016 — David Jackson and Donovan Slack Trump ad reveals go-it-alone strategy During the debate, a pop-up ad on conservative Breitbart.com appears to reflect the candidate’s strategy at this point, trying to build on his anti-establishment candidacy and cult of personality. Trump's new ad out Sunday night ahead of the debate. (Photo11: Screenshot) — Donovan Slack This is, um, unusual debate prep Trump, flanked by Bill Clinton accusers, invited reporters to a short press availability before the debate: Cooper Allen has the full story on what appears to be a scorched earth strategy by Trump. The group is in the debate audience tonight as well: Women accusers of Bill Clinton sitting in front row of debate invited by Donald Trump... #2016 pic.twitter.com/3jhQW3FcKm — Alex Moe (@AlexNBCNews) October 10, 2016 Trump's campaign manager followed up the press availability with another broadside against Clinton. She linked to a tweet last year in which Hillary Clinton said "Every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported." We agree @HillaryClinton. Does that go for Juanita, Kathleen, Kathy and Paula? If so, acknowledge them from the stage tonight. #girlpowerhttps://t.co/hqvij2DPjA — Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) October 10, 2016 The Clinton campaign suggested in a statement from spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri that their candidate is not be rattled. “We’re not surprised to see Donald Trump continue his destructive race to the bottom," Palmieri said. "Hillary Clinton understands the opportunity in this town hall is to talk to voters on stage and in the audience about the issues that matter to them, and this stunt doesn’t change that. If Donald Trump doesn’t see that, that’s his loss. As always, she’s prepared to handle whatever Donald Trump throws her way.” Numerous Republicans asked (warned) Trump not to bring up sexual allegations against ex-president Bill Clinton during tonight's debate; Trump appears to have ignored that advice. As a rising number of Republicans call on him to exit the race, Trump seems very much on his own. — Donovan Slack and David Jackson The first NSFW debate? America apparently won’t have to wait long — the first set of questions tonight will be about the Trump tape, the recording that has the political world all atwitter and Republicans withdrawing support for their nominee in droves. CNN, whose Anderson Cooper is co-moderating with Martha Raddatz of ABC News, reports both candidates will be asked about the 2005 recording, in which Trump was caught on a hot microphone speaking vulgarly about pushing himself on women. "While everything is subject to change until air time, an ABC source said — perhaps confirming the obvious — that Trump and Clinton will both be prompted to address the matter. "A coin toss by the Commission on Presidential Debates determined that Clinton will speak first." The format will be a town hall, with an audience of undecided voters chosen by Gallup also asking questions. The subjects will be "topics of broad public interest." So basically anything goes. The prospect of gutter topics dominating a presidential debate for the first time had more than a few folks on Twitter discussing whether children should be allowed to watch. If you're a parent in America right now hoping to teach your kid about democracy, how young is too young to watch tonight? #debate — Rebecca Donaway (@rebeccadonaway) October 9, 2016 My son wants to watch the debate with us tonight. He's 8. I can't even explain the zillion reasons why this isn't a good idea...SO SAD. — Johanna💃🏻 Carrillo (@yoyicarrillo) October 9, 2016 Son asked to watch the debate with me. As a political scientist: I want the next generation to appreciate politics. I can’t let him watch. — Dr. Michael Bitzer (@BowTiePolitics) October 9, 2016 I'm old enough to remember when parents allowed their children to watch presidential debates. — Guy Raz (@guyraz) October 9, 2016 ​— Donovan Slack Trump > Brangelina? Speaking of broad public interest, it seems more people have heard about the Trump tape, which was released Friday, than they have about the divorce of Hollywood “it” couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie or the new iPhone for that matter, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll. Awareness of the tape is tied, though, with that of Clinton’s near-collapse from pneumonia. More Americans have already heard of the Trump video leak than of Pokemon Go, Brangelina divorce or iPhone 7. #2016 pic.twitter.com/424JPl4SM5 — Sadanand Dhume (@dhume) October 9, 2016 At the end of the day, that same poll found the tape may not be shaking the foundations of Trump’s support as much as many pundits have predicted. If the election were held today, Clinton would win 42%-38%. That’s relatively unchanged from a Politico/Morning Consult poll a few days ago that found her leading 41%-39%. As for all those Republicans abandoning Trump? That may not be what the party faithful wants: • 74% of Republicans surveyed said party leaders should stand by Trump • 41% said they would be more likely to support a candidate who continues to back Trump The true fallout of the Trump tape remains to be seen. And the race will no doubt be affected by tonight’s debate. ​— Donovan Slack Meanwhile, in the spin room… AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka notes an unfortunate misspelling on a sign designed to identify surrogates. (He’s with Clinton.) This is definitely a typo. There’s no Trump in Trumka #washudebate2016pic.twitter.com/8OuBJ26Zni — Richard L. Trumka (@RichardTrumka) October 9, 2016 — Donovan Slack Trump rips ‘self-righteous hypocrites’ The Republican nominee is clearly angry at the elected officials, including more than a dozen Republican senators, who have withdrawn support for him since the release of the tape on Friday. Tremendous support (except for some Republican "leadership"). Thank you. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 9, 2016 So many self-righteous hypocrites. Watch their poll numbers - and elections - go down! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 9, 2016 Trump also tweeted a story by conservative Breitbart News about women calling Clinton an enabler of her husband’s sexual misdeeds, offering a glimpse of a potential line of attack tonight (see pre-debate event with Clinton accusers above). He traveled to St. Louis with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, and he has been in contact today with running mate and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who condemned the tape but is so far sticking with Trump: ​— Donovan Slack Hillary’s silent game plan The Democratic nominee could unleash a firestorm on Trump over the tape tonight, but she and her camp appear to be holding their fire for now. Clinton campaign staying very quiet today no surrogates dispatched to spin room, on Tuesday they had someone every hour — Eliza Collins (@elizacollins1) October 9, 2016 Heidi Przybyla has the scoop from St. Louis, where she reports that Clintonland wants to “keep the media spotlight on an erupting war within the GOP, and for maximum effect as she condemns Trump in front of one of the biggest live television audiences of the campaign cycle.” “The Clinton campaign believes the timing of the release of the tape, two days before the second presidential forum at Washington University, is fortuitous because it allows Clinton to deliver her response early in the debate when most viewers are tuned in, according to a campaign official. President Obama, meanwhile, is not pulling any punches, telling the audience at a Chicago fundraiser Sunday that he wouldn’t repeat Trump’s comments. “There’s children in the room,” he said, adding that Trump has been "demeaning women, degrading women, but also minorities, immigrants, people of other faiths. Mocking the disabled. Insulting our troops, insulting our veterans. "That tells you a couple things," Obama said. "It tells you that he’s insecure enough that he pumps himself up by putting other people down. Not a character trait that I would advise for somebody in the Oval Office." He arrived back in Washington shortly before 7 p.m. and was mum on plans for this evening. Pres Obama returns to WH this evening in time for Pres Debate (or Giants/Packers game). pic.twitter.com/cP57U5gMxq — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) October 9, 2016 ​— Donovan Slack What do Americans actually want to hear about? On PresidentialOpenQuestions.com, where Americans submitted and voted on which questions they want the moderators to ask tonight, there are some clear favorites. Tonight's moderators have said they would consider asking questions from the site. Here’s the top five questions as of 7 p.m. ET: 1. How will you ensure the 2nd amendment is protected? (147,816 votes) "Too much crime is blamed on the tool, not the person. How will you protect law abiding citizens to protect themselves." 2. Would you support requiring criminal background checks for all gun sales? (131,955) "My son was murdered by someone who should have never had a gun. Gaps in our current system make it easy for felons & other dangerous people to buy guns online & at gun shows, no questions asked." 3. Do you support expanding, and not cutting, Social Security's modest benefits? (46,551) "We can easily afford to protect & expand Social Security by requiring the wealthiest Americans to contribute at the same rate as the rest of us." 4. As president, what are the steps you will take to address climate change? (46,110) "Climate change is the greatest existential threat facing the country and the world today. What are three things you will do as President to address the challenges posed by a warming planet?" 5. Would you act to repeal Citizens United? (44,462) "Take the insane amount of money out of the election process." — Donovan Slack #TrumpTapes killing it on social Data from the folks at Google shows Trump led searches of the two major-party candidates with 81%, compared with Clinton’s 19% over the past 24 hours. Of the phrase “Donald Trump on _______” the word “women” was the most searched word. “Howard Stern” came in second and “Tiger Woods” came in third. Aside from Friday’s tape, CNN posted audio on Saturday of Trump’s conversations with Stern, the shock-jock. The conversations touched on a variety of topics, but Trump described women (including his own daughter) in vulgar terms. One of the topics discussed was Tiger Woods’ marital infidelities. Since Friday, the controversy has garnered 28.2 million posts, likes and shares by 8.5 million users on Facebook. And over on Twitter, users tweeted the hashtag #TrumpTapes more than 1 million times. It is the second-most-talked-about moment of the election this year on Twitter. The most talked about (so far) was the first presidential debate. — Eliza Collins Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2ehbs9X

It was only a matter of time. At 5:42pm ET on Thursday, March 20th, Andrea Tantaros became the first Fox News host to discover a comparison between the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. During a segment on The Five about the distressed families of the missing passengers, Tantaros remarked that they reminded her of the families of the four Americans killed in Benghazi. After playing a montage of the reactions from loved ones of the people on board Flight 370, host Kimberly Guilfoyle imagined what it must be like for these people to still have no idea what happened to the passengers nearly two weeks later. “Think how long it took for them to get this kind of media attention,” Tantaros added. “I mean, living in Malaysia, the government seemingly ignored these people, they didn’t want their stories to get out. They weren’t talking to them.” After warning co-host Bob Beckel to plug his ears lest he explode with rage, Tantaros said it “feels like the families of Benghazi, just saying. And we’re better than that.” For his part, Beckel didn’t react much. Hey, at least she didn’t blame the plane’s disappearance on Obama’s handling of Benghazi like how Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) did for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Watch the video below, via Fox News: [photo via screengrab] — — >> Follow Matt Wilstein (@TheMattWilstein) on Twitter Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com

Drummer says he understands why some people have doubts about their 2003 comeback record Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has said the band recorded their eighth studio album ‘St Anger’ in a manner which would “hurt the listeners”. Speaking to Classic Rock, via Rock News Desk, about the album, Ulrich says the band now view ‘St Anger’ as “an isolated experiment”. The album was released in 2003, almost six years after the band’s previous studio effort. Asked about how the felt about the album, the drummer replied: “When we heard the recording from beginning to end, I felt – and it was mostly me – the experience was so pummelling that it became almost about hurting the listener.” He also that the band put the album out as they needed to “fuck with boundaries”, he added: “I view ‘St Anger’ as an isolated experiment. Once in a while, as we’ve been known to do, we have to fuck with the boundaries. We’d already done ‘Ride The Lightning’, which I believe is a fine record – it didn’t need redoing.” Ulrich also said that though he understood why some people rated ‘St Anger’ as the band’s worst album, he didn’t personally couldn’t rank Metallica‘s releases. He added: “I think it’s fair to say some people think it’s our worst album. But I can’t. The way I view the world, I can’t rank them from best to worst. That kind of simplicity doesn’t exist for me.” Metallica are currently putting the finishing touches to a collaborative album with Lou Reed.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Friday he would back a proposal that would decriminalize possessing small amounts of marijuana, the latest major U.S. political figure to support diminished penalties for the drug’s use. Under the proposed ordinance, to be voted on by the city council later this month, police officers in the nation’s third-largest city would be able to issue a written violation for possession of 15 grams or less. This is a modified version of an ordinance proposed last fall by a group of Chicago aldermen, who said the measure would help raise revenue for the city, save money and free up police to pursue more serious crimes. More than a dozen states and several of the largest U.S. cities have already taken similar steps. New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo is another supporter of pot decriminalization. Chicago Police Department statistics indicate that last year there were 18,298 arrests for possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana, according to a statement from the mayor’s office. Each case involves approximately four officers - two arresting and two transporting officers - and places an additional burden on the Cook County court and jail system, the statement said. “These arrests tied up more than 45,000 police hours,” Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said in the mayor’s office statement. “The new ordinance nearly cuts that time in half, which equals an approximate $1 million in savings, while freeing up cops to address more serious crime.” Currently, those caught with small amounts of the drug could face up to six months in jail. The aldermen’s original ordinance set the limit at 10 grams. When the ordinance was first introduced last year, Emanuel, who was President Barack Obama’s first White House chief of staff, had said he would ask the police to do an analysis to see if the reform would make sense. “The result is an ordinance that allows us to observe the law, while reducing the processing time for minor possession of marijuana - ultimately freeing up police officers for the street,” Emanuel said. McCarthy and Emanuel have been under pressure in recent weeks to quell a spike in gun violence in Chicago. Through May 13 of this year, there have been 185 homicides in the city, up from 116 during the comparable period last year, and the numbers have continued to rise. Emanuel had vowed to cut the city’s crime rate when he was elected last year. Fifteen states have reduced the penalty for possession of limited amounts of marijuana, according to Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML, a lobbying group working to legalize the drug. Other cities with similar policies include Seattle, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, as well as university towns like Champaign, Illinois, and Madison, Wisconsin. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana. “It’s a pragmatic move,” said St. Pierre, regarding Emanuel’s decision. Under a New York proposal approved by the State Assembly Wednesday and backed by Cuomo, patients could buy marijuana at pharmacies and hospitals or from non-profits certified by the state. The Republican-led New York Senate is not expected to allow a vote on the bill this session. Opponents of decriminalization have argued that it normalizes drug use, and results in a lost opportunity for intervention. The Chicago ordinance will likely be voted on during the City Council meeting June 27.

Safari Technology Preview Release 19 is now available for download for macOS Sierra. If you already have Safari Technology Preview installed, you can update from the Mac App Store’s Updates tab. This release covers WebKit revisions 208427-209238. Touch Bar Added support for Touch Bar in WebKit (r208452) HTML Form Validation Enabled HTML interactive form validation (r209060) Pointer Lock API Enabled Pointer Lock API (r208903) Input Events Fixed compositionEnd events to fire after input events when editing in IME (r208462) events to fire after input events when editing in IME (r208462) Fixed firing an input event with color data when setting the foreground color for selected text (r208461) URL Parser Changed URL Parser to prevent treating the first slash after the colon as the path for URLs with no host (r208508) Custom Elements Fixed document.createElementNS to construct a custom element (r208716) CSS Font Loading Fixed promises failing to fire for FontFace.load() and FontFaceSet.load() (r208976, r208889) Shadow DOM Fixed triggering style recalculation when toggling a class in .class ::slotted(*) (r208610) (r208610) Fixed event.composedPath() to include window (r208641) to include (r208641) Fixed slot to work as a flex container (r208743) to work as a flex container (r208743) Fixed the slotChange event to bubble and be dispatched once (r208817) event to bubble and be dispatched once (r208817) Fixed slot nodes that ignored transition events (r209065) Fixed document.currentScript to be null when running a script inside a shadow tree (r208660) to be when running a script inside a shadow tree (r208660) Fixed the hover state when hovering over a slotted Text node (r208630) Web Inspector Added support to shift-click on a named color value to cycle through different color formats (r208857) Added support for the Type Profiler and the Code Coverage Profiler in Workers (r208664) Changed selecting folders to display content in the Resources sidebar (r208441) Disabled Warning Filter in Debugger Tab by default (r208701) Improved name sorting in HeapSnapshot data grids (r209115) Improved Worker debugging to pause all targets and view call frames in all targets (r208725) Improved Debugger stack traces to display names for Generator functions (r208885) Improved Debugger to show execution lines for background threads (r208783) Improved Debugger to include showing asynchronous call stacks (r209062, r209213) Fixed URL Breakpoints that resolve in multiple workers to only appear in the UI once (r208746) Fixed layout and display issues in the Settings tab (r208510, r208591, r208686) Made checkbox labels clickable in the Settings tab (r208443) Rendering Fixed an issue where elements with a negative z-index could sometimes render behind the document body (r208981) Changed the way unsupported emoji are drawn from being invisible to being the empty box (r208894) Changed flex element wrapping to consider when the width is less than min-width (r209068) Indexed Database 2.0 Implemented IDBCursor.continuePrimaryKey() (r208500) (r208500) Implemented IDBObjectStore.getKey() (r209197) (r209197) De-duplicated the names returned by IDBDatabase.objectStoreNames() (r208501) (r208501) Added support for the IDBDatabase.onclose event (r208568) event (r208568) Fixed some issues with the firing of IDBRequest.onblocked events (r208609) events (r208609) Improved the performance of key (de)serialization during SQLite lookups (r208771) Improved SQLiteStatement performance throughout the SQLite backend (r209096, r209144) Agressively flush the client’s request queue to the server (r209086) Accessibility Changed the inverted-colors media query to match on state change instead of page reload (r208915) media query to match on state change instead of page reload (r208915) Fixed the implicit value for aria-level on headings to match the ARIA 1.1 specification (r208696) Exposed aria-busy attribute for authors to indicate when an area of the page is finished updating (r208924) WebDriver Exposed navigator.webdriver if the page is controlled by automation (r209198) if the page is controlled by automation (r209198) Changed the automation session to terminate if the web process crashes (r208657) Media Fixed an issue where some animated images would not animate after reseting their animations (r209131) Security Changed the keygen element to require 2048 or higher RSA key lengths (r208858) Changed window.name to be cleared after a cross-origin navigation (r209076) Bug Fixes

New York (CNN) -- Workers who were involved in the response to the World Trade Center attack will not have their cancer treatments compensated under a program set up after September 11, according to a controversial decision released Tuesday by the World Trade Center Health Program. There is inadequate "published scientific and medical findings" that a causal link exists between September 11 exposures and the occurrence of cancer in responders and survivors, program Administrator John Howard said in a statement. The decision forms part of the first periodic review of what the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act will provide. After a lengthy battle, President Obama signed the $4.2 billion legislation in January to provide health care for those who helped clear the rubble and search for human remains at the World Trade Center site in New York. "As new research and findings are released, we will continue to do periodic reviews of cancer" for the program, Howard said, with the next review expected in early to mid-2012. Some of the New York lawmakers who originally hailed the legislation are now speaking out against the exclusion of cancer. "As the sponsors of the Zadroga Act, we are disappointed that Dr. Howard has not yet found sufficient evidence to support covering cancers," Democratic Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler and Republican Rep. Peter King, who wrote the act, said in a joint statement. "This is disappointing news for 9/11 responders and survivors who tragically have been diagnosed with cancer since the attacks and are suffering day to day and awaiting help," they said. "So many people have gotten such rare cancers -- and at such young ages -- that it seems obvious there must be a link," Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer said in a statement. He labeled the report "premature" and said revision will "demonstrate that those who were exposed to the witches' brew of toxins at ground zero have developed serious illnesses, including cancer, and deserve justice." Many survivors are similarly disheartened. "It's very disappointing, very heartbreaking," said Reggie Hillaire, who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma cancer in 2005. Doctors told the New York police officer, who's 34, that developing such a cancer was "really, really rare so young." "I've met so many people who were police officers at the same time who have these cancers, and we're all about the same age." Hillaire, who worked at the site for 11 days and then at the Staten Island Landfill for 63 days, has also been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Cancer treatment being covered by the program "would have brought some closure. ... It feels like it's never going to end," he said. "It's very unfortunate. My doctors think (the cancer's) directly linked" to the September 11 exposure, said Al Schille, a New York Police Department detective who also suffers from multiple myeloma cancer.

Copyright by KOIN - All rights reserved Commissioner Nick Fish propsed 4.8% utility rate increase for City of Portland. February 4, 2015 (KOIN 6 News) Copyright by KOIN - All rights reserved Commissioner Nick Fish propsed 4.8% utility rate increase for City of Portland. February 4, 2015 (KOIN 6 News) KOIN 6 News Staff - PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN 6) -- Public comment could get heated Thursday night when Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish and the Portland Water Bureau will talk about the rate hike scheduled to take effect July 1. The proposed 4.8% sewer and water rate hike is not sitting well with many who live and do business in the city. The city utility rate review lets the public have direct contact with PWB, the Bureau of Environmental Services and Commissioner Fish. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at Montgomery Park on NW Vaughn. KOIN 6 News will have more information later in the day.

The great lesson from history that each consecutive generation seems to forget is that the tools of tyranny used outward will inevitably be turned inward. That is to say, the laws and weapons governments devise for supposed enemies abroad will always and eventually be used against the people they are mandated to protect. There is no centralized system so trustworthy, no political establishment so free of corruption, that the blind faith of the citizenry is warranted. If free people do not remain vigilant, they will be made slaves by their own leadership. This is the rule, not the exception. And it applies to America as much as any other society. The beauty of the con game that is the “war on terror” is that such a war is ultimately undefinable. An undefinable war has no set enemy; the establishment can change the definition of the “enemy” at will to any culture, country or group it wishes. Thus, the war on terror can and will last forever. Or, at least, it will last as long as corrupt elitists remain in positions of power. As I have outlined in past articles, most terror groups are creations of our nation’s own covert intelligence apparatus, or the covert agencies of allied governments. ISIS is perhaps the most openly engineered terror organization of all time (surpassing Operation Gladio), with U.S. elites and purported anti-Muslim terror champions like Sen. John McCain and retired Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely making deals with “moderate” Free Syrian Army rebels who immediately turn out to be full-fledged ISIS fighters (I’m sure they were not “surprised” by this outcome) and the Obama administration blatantly funding and arming more “moderates,” who again, in turn, seem to be crossing over into the hands of ISIS. Frankly, the whole idea that there is a moderate front in places like Syria where alphabet agencies reign supreme is utterly absurd. The bottom line is our political leadership, Republican and Democratic alike, created ISIS out of thin air. And now the American people are being expected to relinquish more individual liberties in the name of stopping this fabricated threat. Apparently, the Orwellian police state structures built under the auspices of the Patriot Act, the Authorization for Use of Military Force, the National Defense Authorization Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, etc. have not been enough to stop events like the Chattanooga, Tennessee, shooting from occurring. So what is the answer? Well, it certainly is not a reexamination of our insane foreign policy or an investigation into government-funded false-flag terrorism; that would make too much sense. Instead, the establishment claims we need more mass surveillance without warrants, tighter restrictions on individual freedoms and even, according to retired Gen. Wesley Clark, internment camps designed to separate and confine “disloyal” Americans from the rest of the population. Remember, all of this is being suggested in the name of stopping ISIS; but the language being used by political elites does not restrict such actions to ISIS-related “extremists.” Once again, the war on terror is an ambiguous war, so ambiguous that internment camps supposedly meant for those the government labels potential Islamic extremists could also be used for potential extremists of any group. Once the fuse is lit on the process of rendition, black bagging, internment and the assassination of citizens — any citizens — without trial, there will be no stopping the powder keg explosion to follow. I believe that the power brokers who dictate legal and political developments within our country are preparing to turn the full force of the police state machine against the American people, all in the name of protecting us, of course. I do not need their brand of “protection,” and neither does anyone else. It comes down to this. In the face of an increasingly advanced technological control grid, liberty movement activists and freedom fighters either must develop our own countermeasures or lose everything. And every generation after us will blame us for our inaction, if they remember us at all. Keep in mind a countermeasure must be decentralized. Bitcoin, for instance, is not a practical countermeasure, being that it relies on a centralized and monitored global Internet in order to function. It also does not encourage any tangible production capabilities or skill sets. Therefore, it does not provide for the function of a true alternative economy. It is a false solution and a useless countermeasure to a fiat-currency-based economy. A real countermeasure to a controlled economy, for instance, would be a localized barter economy in which people must develop ways to produce, rather than play make believe with digital cryptocurrencies. Countermeasures do not always have to be high-tech. In fact, I am a staunch believer in the advantages of low-tech solutions to high-tech tyranny. As many people are already aware, with the aid of Oath Keepers I recently developed a long-term wearable cloak system that defeats forward-looking infrared (FLIR) thermal imaging, including military-grade thermal imaging — something that has never been offered on the civilian market before. But this is only one countermeasure to one major threat. I will continue to work on defenses in other areas in which I feel I am best qualified. However, the movement needs more research and development. And we need it now before it is too late. I would like to suggest some dangers where people with far more knowledge than I have could create tools for defeating tyranny. Wi-Fi radar Active Wi-Fi-based radar systems have been developed over the past several years which can see through walls (to a point) and potentially detect persons hiding in an urban environment. A number of radio frequency-based radar projects have come out of the dark recesses of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. And each project appears to revolve around the goal of complete surveillance ability, or total information awareness. Such measures are not as effective against a technologically advanced opponent, but they could be very effective in dominating a lower-tech civilian population. Wi-Fi radar in particular is a rather disturbing concept, and not a field in which I am well-versed. I have seen some examples of radio-wave-based personnel tracking and have not been all that impressed with the visual results, but this is only what has been made available to the public. Sometimes, the Department of Defense will present a technology that does not work as well as it claims in order to strike fear in the minds of its enemies. That said, sometimes it also uses tech tools that work far better than it lets on. Luckily, radar countermeasure information is widely available to the public. And Wi-Fi blocking and absorbing materials exist also. Liberty champions would do well, though, to look into active countermeasures along with passive and to devise methods for jamming Wi-Fi radar altogether. RFID matrix Radio-frequency identification chips are a passive technology but rather dangerous under certain conditions. With a grid of RFID readers in place in an environment such as a city or a highway, a person could be tracked in real time every second of every day. He might not even know he is carrying a chip or multiple chips, the trackers being so small they could be sewn behind the button of a shirt. This is one threat that would probably have to be solved with higher technology. I have seen RFID jamming and “spoofing” done by civilian computer engineers, mostly from foreign countries. But this should not just be a hobby for computer experts in technical institutes. The liberty movement needs portable RFID-jamming and -spoofing capability to ensure that these chips, which are set to be ingrained in almost every existing product in the near future from clothing to cars to credit cards, can be rendered useless. Drones versus drones The Predator drone is not the biggest threat on the block anymore in terms of surveillance ability. DARPA has been working on other drone designs similar to the A160 Hummingbird and the MQ-8 Fire Scout, lightweight helicopter-style unmanned aerial vehicles that can stay in the air for up to 24 hours and provide overwatch in a 30-mile area. And let’s not forget about JLENS surveillance blimps, which can be and are outfitted with high-grade cameras used to track people (in the open) from 10,000 feet up in the sky. This is the future of combat operations and the lockdown of populations. Standard military units will be reduced as much as possible, while UAVs will be deployed en masse. Airpower has always been the biggest weakness of civilians seeking to counter corrupt governments, but this is actually changing. While they may be lower-tech in certain respects, civilian-based drones are actually keeping pace with military projects — if only because military projects are restricted by bureaucracy and red tape, while civilians are encouraged and emboldened by profit motive. Range and elevation limitations in the civilian market are purely legal right now, and such limitations will be of no concern once the SHTF. For the first time in history, common people now have the ability to field an aerial defense. The DOD is well aware of this and is already working on measures to counter enemy drones through its Black Dart and Switchblade program. The liberty movement needs its own Black Dart program. Long-distance radio and codes Regardless of the region where they live, liberty activists should be developing their own radio code methods for secure communications. There are a few existing frequency hopping and coded radio systems out there on the civilian market, but these are short range units usually with about 1 watt of power. This makes them ideal for quick operational comms and difficult to listen in on simply because their range is so limited. That said, longer-range radio communication will likely be essential for the spread of information from one region to the next; and no one should assume that regular phone and Internet will be available in the future. News must travel somehow. This means using ham radio, mobile repeaters to avoid triangulation and old-school coded messages. The research and development portion of this issue needs to be in the use of an automatic packet reporting system (APRS) for the liberty movement regionally and nationwide. This is a kind of “texting” through ham radio, and combining this with traditional low-tech cipher coding may be our best bet for long-range secure comms. It could also help defeat drones that intercept standard messages and use voice-recognition software to identify targets. Decentralized Internet Information sharing makes or breaks a society. Without the Web, the liberty movement would not have found the success it has today and the alternative media would not exist, let alone be outmatching the readership ratings of mainstream media sources that have otherwise dominated news flow for decades. Unfortunately, the Web is not a “creative commons,” as many people believe. It is, as Edward Snowden’s revelations on the National Security Agency proved, a highly controlled and monitored network in which there is essentially no privacy, even with the existence of cryptography. The great threat to the establishment is the possibility that people will begin building an Internet separate from the Internet, a decentralized network. Recently, an inventor named Benjamin Caudill was slated to release a device called “Proxyham,” designed to reroute Wi-Fi signals and remove the possibility of government monitoring of digital communications. Strangely, just before the release of Proxyham, Caudill pulled all devices with the intent to destroy them and will not be releasing the source code and blueprints to the public as planned. Clearly, something or someone scared the hell out of Caudill, and he is rushing to appease them. We don’t know who for certain, but my vote is on the NSA. And if this is the case, it means his project and others like it are a threat to the surveillance state and must be released to the public as soon as possible. If Caudill doesn’t have the guts to do it, then the liberty movement must. An alternative Internet would be a holy grail in the fight against tyranny, if only to show the world that people can indeed decouple from the system and create advanced networks themselves and do it better than the establishment. These are just a few of the areas that require immediate attention from those with ingenuity in the liberty movement. The time for talk is over. The time for tangible action has begun. Beyond the need for immediate local organization by those preparing for social and economic breakdown, there is a desperate need for out-of-the-box thinkers to develop countermeasures to technological fascism. It’s time for the movement to go beyond mere intellectual analysis and provide concrete solutions. There is nothing left but this. –Brandon Smith

“Household debt to GDP was recently about 43% for China, compared with 79% in the U.S. and 88% in the United Kingdom.“ —Andy Rothman “Household debt to GDP was recently about 43% for China, compared with 79% in the U.S. and 88% in the United Kingdom.“ —Andy Rothman Winni Wintermeyer for Barron’s Text size As Earth’s second-largest economy, China accounts for more global growth than the U.S., Europe, and Japan combined. Yet it’s also a source of endless investor apprehension, as economic growth has slowed from double digits to about 6.5% and its communist government works hard to steer China toward capitalistic consumption. With more than half of its 1.4 billion citizens already living in urban areas, the biggest boost from urbanization is largely behind it. Yet Andy Rothman, Matthews Asia’s strategist, continues to expect big things from China’s consumers. Rothman, 58, has watched China transform its economy over three decades—first in the U.S. Foreign Service, as head of macroeconomics in the U.S. embassy in Beijing, and then as CLSA’s China strategist. In 2014, he joined Matthews, which manages more than $30 billion invested in Asia. Recently, in a phone interview with Barron’sfrom his San Francisco office, he spoke about China’s economic prospects, Beijing’s coming leadership reshuffle this fall, and its trade tensions with the Trump administration. As a macro strategist, he declined to name stock picks. Barron’s: The People’s Bank of China has raised benchmark interest rates to a two-year high. What should we expect? Rothman: Beijing is engaged in what I call de-risking. Right now, the Chinese government sees a period of quite healthy economic growth, and this gives it an opportunity to tackle some of the more serious problems in its financial system. For example, there are concerns about the proliferation of wealth management products, so the government has progressively tightened the standards for these. The growth rate has come down, and today, only 16% of these are risky, hedge fund–like products, down from 21% in 2014. You see some determination not to let risks go unchecked and develop into a crisis. For instance, regulators are cracking down on insurers selling instruments that aren’t really insurance products. There are also small banks whose deposit base isn’t growing fast enough for them to keep issuing loans at the speed they wish to, and so they’re trying to manipulate the interbank market, and the government is stepping in to curtail that. What about the risk of capital flight? Early last year, the media and fund managers were all worrying that China might run out of foreign-exchange reserves by year end, which could cause the yuan to depreciate dramatically, by 20% or 30%. None of that happened. In fact, China’s forex reserves grew by $70 billion this year and remain above the $3 trillion threshold, so Beijing still has way more reserves than it needs. A majority of recent outflows aren’t capital flight; Chinese chief financial officers had issued debt in Hong Kong denominated in U.S. dollars. But since late 2015 and early 2016, when that carry trade no longer made sense, they moved money from the mainland to Hong Kong to repay those offshore loans and reissue debt onshore in yuan. Another factor is wealth diversification. Chinese people have become increasingly wealthy over the past decade, and their investments have largely been at home, and in real estate. Anyone who went to an advisor would be told they shouldn’t have all their money tied up in Beijing and Shanghai real estate. So more people are moving money offshore to diversify their investments. What’s your outlook for the yuan, now at $0.15? Matthews doesn’t issue a house view, so I’ll give you my view. The answer depends on the dollar’s outlook more than what’s happening in China. Last year, the yuan depreciated about 6% against the dollar, and this year, as the dollar weakened, the yuan has appreciated about 4%, still not by nearly as much as some other emerging market currencies. I believe Beijing accepts that the yuan’s direction will be determined by the dollar’s strength or weakness. But it will intervene to prevent the yuan from moving more than 5% or 6% in either direction against the dollar in any calendar year. So if you think the dollar will weaken further, then you might see the yuan up by 5% or 6% in 2017. What’s your outlook for China’s gross-domestic-product growth? In my view, the GDP growth rate is the least important statistic in China. While the number is not wildly inaccurate, the government does smooth it out. Instead, we should focus on cues about Chinese consumer health, because that’s the largest part of their economy, the part that drives growth and, not coincidentally, the focus of our investment strategy. So I look at income growth, consumer spending, inflation, and consumer sentiment, and where investment by privately owned companies is going. Real income growth is 7% this year, and real retail sales are up 9% in the first half. On top of that, consumer sentiment is positive, household debt is low, and household savings rates are high. That’s why for a long time I’ve been calling China the world’s best consumer story. Now, all these numbers are slower than a few years ago, and almost every statistic on China is decelerating year over year. We’re never going back to double-digit income or retail-sales growth. But the economic base for all of these has also gotten really big, and those growth rates are still phenomenal. Has China succeeded in steering its economy from exports toward more domestic consumer spending? People have been predicting China’s imminent collapse for years, and a central tenet is that an economy based too much on exports and investment isn’t sustainable. China has made tremendous progress in restructuring toward a more consumer-oriented economy. This may come as a surprise to people who go to Wal-Mart Stores , where it looks like everything in the U.S. is made in China. But net exports—the value of exports minus the value of imported pieces that go into them—accounted for just 2% of China’s GDP last year. This will be the sixth consecutive year in which tertiary industries (like real estate, finance, retail, and services that aren’t part of primary industries like agriculture, or secondary industries like mining and manufacturing) make up the biggest part of China’s economy. In other words, services and consumption will exceed manufacturing and construction for a sixth straight year. Services and tertiary industries rose from 43% of GDP in 2007 to 54% last year, which shows that China’s rebalancing is well under way, but not yet done. China remains the best consumer story in the world, and the only other thing that comes close is India. Does rising debt and overexposure to property change that story? Household debt to GDP was recently about 43% for China, compared with 79% in the U.S. and 88% in the United Kingdom. Yes, new home prices in the Tier 1 cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou are up 85% since 2011. But those four cities are about 4% of new-home sales in China, and they’re no more representative of the entire Chinese housing market than New York and San Francisco home prices are of the entire U.S. In Tier 3 cities—most of them have a million or more people—prices are up 10% over the same period. And Tier 3 cities account for 62% of the urban population and 65% of new-home sales by volume. In some ways, the Chinese housing market is like ours: In a few cities, prices have grown a lot, and there’s a serious social problem if a majority can’t afford to buy or even rent a home. China is dealing with this in Tier 1 cities and spending money on low-income housing. But bubbles are all about leverage. In 2006, the median cash down payment for a new U.S. home was 2% of the purchase price. But China is more like U.S. home financing in the 1950s and 1960s—the minimum cash down payment is 20%, and most banks require 30%. During the Asian financial crisis, Hong Kong house prices fell by 70%, but the mortgage default rate peaked at only 2%, because Hong Kong buyers, like the Chinese, had to put down more cash. With most Chinese mortgages, the banks that originate the loans hold them to maturity, so they have incentive to do due diligence and there’s little mortgage securitization. What should we expect from the Communist Party’s twice-a-decade leadership transition this fall? We know the majority of Chinese leadership below Xi Jinping—China’s president and head of the Communist Party—will be stepping down and be replaced by a new crowd. But it’s not all that material to our investment strategy because there’s no evidence the current leadership has been an obstacle to Xi’s economic policy. We’ll see more of what we’ve seen this year: gradual deceleration in credit growth, more de-risking, gradual focus on shifting away from heavy industry toward the consumer, away from state-owned toward private enterprises. How is Donald Trump affecting China and its standing? President Trump could be really important for investors, and also impossible to predict. He spent much of his campaign arguing that China was the cause of our economic woes. Then in the first six months of his administration, he hasn’t bashed China, although he seems to be losing patience again—he tweeted that China wasn’t helping more on North Korea, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has argued that China and the European Union are closet protectionists. That makes me wonder if he’s laying the groundwork for trade sanctions on China and the EU. I think his administration probably will use the Trade Expansion Act to put limits on U.S. imports of steel from China. A formal study has been under way for months at the Commerce Department, looking at whether Chinese steel imports represent a national security threat. Could this go beyond steel? It could be broadened to anything, but what Trump and Ross have been talking about is steel. It’s one of those industries, like coal, whose reinvigoration Trump seems to feel will set the U.S. economy back on the right footing. For investors, this could be a huge issue in the coming months. If Trump goes after Chinese imports, the initial reaction from the media and analysts probably will focus on the negative impact on the Chinese economy. Investor sentiment toward Chinese equities could take a significant hit, bringing valuations down, and that will be a fantastic buying opportunity. Let me explain why: A hit to Chinese exports won’t have as big an impact on the overall Chinese economy as most people think. Only 18% of China’s total exports come to the U.S., so there are other big markets. Also, the consumer story will be largely unaffected. As the largest active Asia-only U.S. investment manager, we own shares in just over 100 Chinese companies, and 87% of our holdings are in consumer and service companies. We’re focused primarily on Chinese companies selling goods and services to Chinese consumers. It’s not rocket science to say the consumer is the best part of China’s economy, and because the market understands it, these stocks are too expensive. Here’s where it’s important whether you take an active approach versus a passive index approach: Indexes on China are mostly backward looking, focused on big state-owned companies and heavy industries rather than entrepreneurial, privately owned companies. Consumer stocks in these indexes also tend to be really big and popular and maybe expensive, whereas the median forward price-to-earnings valuation for all of our China holdings is only about 15 times. Name one risk that worries you. It’s too hard to pick just one, so I’ll tell you three. In the next six to 12 months, what worries me are the risks emanating from Washington—will the Trump administration engage in a trade war with China? The second risk is how Trump will handle North Korea, because both of these things can have a big impact on how investors view China. The third risk is from Beijing. While the biggest growth is coming from private entrepreneurial firms, the government still plays an outsize economic role, particularly in the financial sector, and it makes mistakes all the time. Beijing usually fixes mistakes pretty quickly, but there’s a risk it makes a policy mistake and doesn’t correct it in a timely fashion. But overall, Beijing is opening up its capital markets, both equity and fixed income, to foreigners, and over time this will help make them more transparent and better regulated. More foreigners are going to feel comfortable investing in the Chinese economy. Last year, China accounted for 28% of global economic growth, more than the U.S., Europe, and Japan combined, and yet very few investors have direct exposure to that growth. Thanks, Andy. Email: editors@barrons.com Follow @kopintan Like Barron’s on Facebook Follow Barron’s on Twitter

Has Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Google Home taken up residence in your home? If not, you're probably at least considering adding one of these digital helpers. They are supremely useful after all, providing assistance with everything from weather forecasts to smart-home control. All you need to do is ask. In order to fulfill your requests, however, both of these voice-activated digital assistants must upload your verbal commands to the cloud. Just what does that entail? The short answer is that your commands are saved to your Amazon or Google account respectively. And the more you use these devices, and the more services you link to them, the more their respective manufacturers will know about you. Those insights can range from what kinds of movies and music you like to what time you go to bed. Fortunately, there are privacy options you can manage, as well as ways to purge that collected information. We’ll show you how you can get the most out of these devices while maintaining the maximum amount of personal privacy. How these voice assistants work Google Home, Amazon Echo (and it’s cost-reduced sibling, Echo Dot) are always listening, so they can spring into action upon hearing the wake word. With Google Home, it’s “OK, Google” or “Hey, Google.” “Alexa” is the Echos’ default wake word, but you can change it to “Amazon” or “Echo” if you find those easier to remember. This “always listening” feature freaks some people out, but Amazon and Google both assure us that while their devices might be listening, it doesn’t mean every conversation is recorded in the cloud. That happens only when the wake words are detected. You can read Google’s privacy policy on this Google help page, and you’ll find Amazon’s on this Alexa support site. IDG Alexa can handle a wide variety of questions, saving them to your Amazon account for later viewing. Both devices start listening when they detect the wake word, but only record and keep your conversation if they produce a valid response. When they do keep something, Both Google and Amazon allow you to listen to what you said, so you can compare that recording to what the device transcribed. As noted from the example above from my Alexa account, you can see the details of what was asked and what Alexa said in return. You can dive in further here to take control of what both Amazon and Google know about you and how much information they saved based on your conversations. Digging into the Alexa app The main hub for your Echo content is through the Alexa app, which is available for Android, iOS, and Fire devices and on the Alexa website. You’re able to view, listen to, and even delete your past searches. The interface on the mobile apps is nearly identical to what you see on the web. The more you use Alexa, you’ll also begin to see suggested snippets of information, somewhat akin to the cards in Google Now. The first entry will show you a Voice feedback section that displays what Alexa thought it heard and will replay the voice recording. You can play back the recording and see Alexa’s response. You’re also able to remove the card, but this is not the same as deleting it. If you want to delete your recording, head to Settings > History. You’ll see a list of all your past Alexa requests. IDG Get a rundown of all your Alexa interactions from the settings. Next, touch or click on the specific recording you want to remove, and then choose Delete from the next screen. IDG You can delete specific voice recordings that you don’t want around anymore. You can also wipe all of your Alexa requests at once. Head to the Manage Your Content and Devices page. Go to Your Devices and select your Echo. Click the box next to it and select Manage Voice Recordings. You can choose any of your Echo devices and it will take you to all the recordings, no matter which Echo you used. IDG Select Manage voice recordings if you want to wipe the Echo’s slate clean. The next screen will give you a disclaimer, but this is where you can delete them all at once. This will reset your cards and information Alexa knows about you, but that’s probably what you wanted anyway. OK, Google The process is similar for the Google Assistant, although I do find it to be more straightforward and easier on the eyes than the Amazon setup. One thing to keep in mind is that all of your interactions with the Google Assistant are in the same place, whether you talked to it through a Google Home, Pixel, or Allo messaging app. Go to My Activity to manage this. There’s a link inside the Google Home app, but no matter the platform, all of this account information is accessed through the web. You’ll see a rundown of all your Google actions, such as from Chrome, Android, or—of course—Google Assistant. To get what you need, click or touch Assistant from among the services. IDG All your Google activity is saved in one place. Choose one of the recordings and you can listen to it. Select details for more information on the interaction, such as which device was used, how you triggered it, and the time you triggered it. IDG Get a rundown of all your interactions with the Google Assistant. Since this Google history includes all of your interactions, finding the Google Assistant requires some refinement. Select filter by date and product and choose Assistant. Click on any of the entries to hear it, further analyze which device you used, or delete. IDG Delete any recording that you don’t want around anymore. To sweep them all away at once, touch or click the search bar after you’ve chosen Assistant and choose Delete all. IDG Delete all your interactions with the Google Assistant at once. Such services are designed to learn about you and get more personalized over time. However, it’s worth understanding that you can wipe the slate clean, if you wish. Maybe you don’t want Google or Amazon to know you asked about which is the right gift for your 12th anniversary (it’s silk). The controls are there, you just need to take the time to learn what all the dials can do.

COVER GALLERY Help Magazine issue #22v2n10 January 1965 Cover: Beatles, with their hair airbrushed out • Help's Public Gallery, with single panel art by Underground comic artists Jay Lynch (also a full page comic strip by Mr. Lynch) and Skip Williamson Also a two page spread by Robert Crumb with his infamous character Fritz the Cat, (one of the first appearances of Fritz the Cat in print.) Fumetti: STATION BREAK by Ed Fisher, starring: Marianne Kanter as Liz, Max Richard as Fumit and Rutilio Omero as The Boss. Comics: Wonder Wart-Hog Meets The Merangsters!, by Gilbert Shelton Sketchbook: HARLEM by Robert Crumb One of the many photo phunnies featured The Beatles and Ed Sullivan, also Richard Nixon shaking hands with Barry Goldwater were also used in a photo phunnie. Back

Share. Change cannot be stopped. Change cannot be stopped. Warning: Full spoilers from The Legend of Korra: Book Three to follow. With The Legend of Korra capping off its latest season last week, I think it's safe to say that Book Three was, in my opinion, the show's best season yet, delivering consistently great stories and developing its characters over the course of an expansive adventure. Book Three was also the best season for Korra, and featured some of her most Avatar-like moments: counseling others, making group decisions, and considering consequences before acting on impulse. At this point, I think the young Avatar has truly earned her "legendary" title. Exit Theatre Mode Additionally, Book Three introduced one of the most formidable and intimidating villains yet on the show: Zaheer. Throughout the series, Korra faced adversaries touting the belief that the world didn't need an Avatar anymore. That idea started with Amon, who believed in an egalitarian society, where benders and nonbenders could exist on an even playing field. Following that, Unalaq asserted that the Avatar could not exist without a counterpart to balance the dark and light. (Of course, Unalaq went a little overboard with the dark aspect in the end.) But here in Book Three, Zaheer may have opened up a bigger can of worms than he thought, leaving a mark on Korra's legacy that could be irreversible. (We'll know one way or the other come Book Four.) To me, that's part of what made Zaheer such a great villain -- he challenged Korra's status in a way that other adversaries (*cough*Amon*cough*) could only dream of doing. Zaheer also raised a very good point in "The Stakeout": no authority figure has ever done Korra any favors: President Raiko, Unalaq, the Earth Queen... (One exception might be the current Fire Lord, although we've yet to meet her for ourselves.) Going forward, we could even be entering a Cold War era of the Avatar universe, with more Red Lotus potentially popping up to take down the remaining government constructs. Add to that the ever-looming dark spirits that dwell in the shadows. (Koh the Face Stealer, anyone?) Exit Theatre Mode But as great as Zaheer was, I would have liked to get to know the other Red Lotus members a little better, particularly Ming-Hua and Ghazan, who were arguably more dynamic than the straight-laced Zaheer. Ghazan, for instance, had a fun rivalry with Bolin and a dark sense of humor, and I'm betting Ming-Hua had an awesome backstory to go with her armless waterbending. IGN's The Legend of Korra: Book Three Finale Review Unfortunately, their characters weren't nearly as fleshed out as, say, Mai or Ty Lee, both of whom assumed similar nefarious roles in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Granted, Mai and Ty Lee were mainstays for two whole seasons, while Ghazan and Ming-Hua met their respective ends after only a dozen episodes or so. Even P'Li was sidelined for most of Book Three, which is a shame considering her intriguing backstory hinted at in "Enter the Void" (although I'd trade that in a heartbeat for the combustive demise she got, thanks to Su). Nevertheless, these three, along with Zaheer, made an impressive team in combat, specifically in "In Harm's Way" and "The Terror Within." I was also kind of hoping for a flashback to the aforementioned conflict 13 years ago, which I believe would have fleshed out not just on the Red Lotus but also Tenzin, Zuko, Tonraq and Sokka. Still, the flashback we got was just as interesting, as we witnessed the Beifong family's spiraling descent. This of course was at the heart of Book Three's Zaofu arc, which brought some much needed context to the relationship between Lin and Suyin. Indeed, their reunion was among the strongest storylines this season, especially in terms of character development. Likewise, Mako and Bolin -- initially underutilized -- got their own moments to shine in Book Three. In addition to Mako's delightfully awkward persona around Asami and Korra, he also did some pretty snappy detective work in "The Terror Within." Later, Bolin unlocked the ability of lavabending, thus proving himself even more in the Team Avatar roster. Meanwhile, newcomer/airbender Kai fit right in with the group and developed a strong rapport with Jinora, whose own airbending mastery perfectly aligned with the airbender resurgence. That's not to mention "The Ultimatum," in which Tenzin showed Zaheer the true meaning of airbending. That said, I think my favorite character dynamic this season was between Asami and Korra. In retrospect, it's funny to think about how central the Asami/Mako/Korra love triangle was in Book One, only to find out it was the guy who was mucking up the equation. In truth, there's a disheartening lack of strong female characters in animated shows (especially action ones), so it's awesome to see The Legend of Korra feature not one but three female leads, including Asami and Jinora. The Legend of Korra: Game Release Date Revealed Really, the one character that kind of got the shaft in Book Three was Opal. While she obviously played a key role in getting Lin and Su to make amends, her airbending training -- both with Korra and at the Northern Air Temple -- never quite came into play. In fact, you might not have even noticed she was there at the Red Lotus' siege of the Northern Air Temple. Only in the finale did she get her first line after her departure from Zaofu, and even then it was in response to one of Bolin's weaker quips. (Side Note: I was also looking forward to Varrick showing up with his magnetic suit again in the finale. Alas, maybe next season.) I would also be remiss not to mention the fantastic production values this season. The storyboard artists and animators really outdid themselves for Book Three, creating some of the most -- scratch that -- the most visually stunning action sequences I've seen in American animated television. Even conversation scenes felt visceral and emotive, with characters effectively expressing themselves without even a word. Then there was Jeremy Zuckerman's ever amazing score, which only added to the overall impact. Top-notch work, all around. Exit Theatre Mode Speaking to the general tone, Book Three was easily the darkest season yet, not just in terms of on-screen deaths but thematically as well. Book Three was so dark in fact that some fans have speculated that to be the reason for Korra's move from broadcast to digital. (Obviously there's no evidence to back that up, but it's a plausible theory.) DreamWorks Teaming with Korra Animation Studio That's not to say we haven't seen death on Korra before (Tarrlok's murder/suicide, Korra "destroying" Unavaatu, etc.). But in Book Three, killings were brought on by notably detached motives: self-defense, ideology, justification -- at least as they were happening. As a result, I think these deaths directly fed into Korra's PTSD-like state following the defeat of Zaheer. She was essentially broken, not just physically but emotionally too. Personally, I think it was a bold move on the part of the creators to end Book Three on such a bittersweet note. To call it an "Empire Strikes Back" ending wouldn't do the last scene justice, since it didn't have the same hopeful resolve that Empire did. On the contrary, I think the optimistic backdrop of Jinora's tattoo ceremony only punctuated Korra's despair (albeit in a tragically beautiful way). The image also brings to mind Avatar Aang's parting words to Korra in the Book One finale: "When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change." Without question, this was Korra's lowest point, which I predict will be the forerunner to her greatest change -- that is, challenging the notion of "What is the Avatar?" once and for all. In that sense, I think Zaheer was right: change cannot be stopped -- and actually, I think it's only just beginning.

Are You Ready for an Ear-refreshing Experience? Our calibrated noises are truly unique in their ability to compensate for your potential hearing loss, and for your audio equipment and listening environment deficiencies. Calibration settings will be stored as a browser cookie, and can be recalled any time from the “Your Hearing Curve” setting found in all calibrated noises, under the “Presets” section. During calibration, if a particular band remains inaudible all across the slider range, back it off to the zero position: it doesn't make sense to work with frequencies you cannot hear anyway, or frequencies your loudpseakers cannot reproduce. Ideally, most sliders should be located in the bottom half of the user interface. If not, simply increase your computer’s sound level and start calibrating again. Check out our video tutorial on YouTube : Calibration on myNoise.

Synastry clearly illustrates chemistry and commitment between two people. However, one area that’s often overlooked during the initial rush of a new relationship is basic lifestyle compatibility. The attitude tends to be that any incompatible elements will somehow work themselves out. Or, if the connection is that strong, you may think that lifestyle incompatibility won’t matter at all. But once the surge of chemistry dies down, compatibility issues can be the difference between riding out the rough patches and deciding that the relationship is more trouble than it’s worth. Two Different Ways of Living When I write about “lifestyle compatibility” I’m not referring to sexual compatibility. Although this is certainly a crucial area (and perhaps a topic for a different post) I’m talking about the approach to daily life: The differences between an extrovert and introvert, or someone who views money (2nd/8th House) as a disposable resource versus someone who hangs onto it for dear life. These issues can become overwhelming as the relationship progresses. Let’s say your Moon (needs) and your chart ruler (the planet that rules your Ascendant) are in your 4th House (home and family). A significant chunk of your personality is focused on home. You need a safe place to retreat, and your public identity (Ascendent) is likely to be fairly private. Family is of huge importance, whether or not you had a happy childhood. You have strong ties to your past, and you most likely want to create a solid domestic foundation. Chiron (where you feel vulnerable, insecure or different from everyone else) is in your 11th House of friends and groups. Your degree of introversion may range from homebody to shut-in, but the public arena is not a place you’re comfortable in. You meet Mr. Extrovert, and the chemistry is hot. Plus, he’s the only guy you’ve ever met who shares your love for that obscure singer. And his Sun conjuncts your 7th House cusp, so he seems to embody your partnership ideals. There’s also some supportive Saturn trines that go both ways in your synastry, so you both feel the pull toward commitment. But his Moon, Venus and Mars sit in his 11th House, so not only does he need (Moon) group connections, he enjoys (Venus) interacting with the public. When he’s active (Mars) it’s usually with a group of friends. At first this introvert/extrovert discrepancy doesn’t matter. But as the months go by, you notice that his idea of a good time always involves his friends. Every weekend he wants to hit the bars, or go to a concert. And of course, he wants you there with him, but you just want to spend a cozy night in with him. Plus, he doesn’t understand the significance you place on your past. Why does that thing your mother did fifteen years ago still matter? His 11th House planets are concerned with the future and the bigger picture; sitting quietly at home makes him feel bored and restless. This does not have to be a dealbreaker, but if it’s not addressed, it can become one. The inevitable rough patch hits in the form of a tense square from transiting Saturn to your Moon. You feel like you’re all alone, no matter how much Mr. Extrovert reaches out to you. The gulf between what you need (a weekend or two with just you and him) and what he needs (multiple social connections) widens. He tries to make you feel better by taking you out with his friends, but this just makes you feel worse. Finding Common Ground The good news is, there are multiple ways to deal with this. Even if your 4th House planets make no aspects to his 11th House planets, the signs they are in can be key. If your Moon is in Cancer and his Moon is in Pisces, you’ll both have a need to connect on an emotional level. His needs may be more diffuse, and yours more personal, but there’s still a commonality and increased empathy for each other. If his Moon is in Aquarius, recognize that he’s going to be stubborn about his social needs (Aquarius is a Fixed sign) and he’ll probably do the opposite if you pressure him to spend more time away from his friends. On the other hand, he probably won’t take it personally if you want the weekend to yourself while he hangs with his buddies. Moon in Pisces would be more open to making concessions. Maybe he’ll spend half of one weekend alone with you. But sensitive Pisces could be quite hurt if you (inadvertently) diss his friends. It’s all about understanding how the signs work. Other commonalities will be indicated by harmonious aspects (trines, sextiles, conjunctions) between your planets and his planets. Your Mercury trine his Mercury suggests that talking things out is a strength the two of you can rely on. Maybe your 7th House Venus trines his 11th House Venus. You relate more strongly to one-on-one connections than he does, but there’s still harmony between your social behaviors and how you both express love. And there may be other, less obvious areas of connection. If his 11th House Moon conjuncts his Venus, and your 4th House Moon is in Libra (ruled by Venus), he’s open to compromise, just like you are. You both need (Moon) to achieve emotional harmony (Venus). If your 4th House planets are in Aquarius, know that the 11th House is traditionally ruled by Aquarius. If his 11th House planets are in Cancer, remember that the 4th House is traditionally ruled by Cancer. So he’ll understand your domestic needs/connection to the past, or you’ll understand his connection to the group. You may both need different things, but the areas of mutual understanding can be the difference between agreeing to disagree, and going your separate ways. Having said this, some areas of compatibility are non-negotiable. It won’t matter how strong the other connections are if you feel that you absolutely can’t live with someone who’s focused on his social life. Or, if he really wants a partner who’s a social butterfly, and you’re perfectly happy in your cocoon. If you like this post, please upvote it on Reddit.

Apple A group of hackers has claimed a $1 million bounty for remotely hacking iOS 9. The bounty for the zero-day exploit was offered by security firm Zerodium, who launched the contest in September. The company were looking for an exploit that could be "deployed through a web page or text message to allow the installation of an app" on iPhone and iPad. If a hacker could install any app it wanted, the prize money could be claimed. Advertisement Apple's mobile OS is often considered to be the most secure choice for mainstream mobile phones and tablets -- but that doesn't mean it's uncrackable. "Don’t be fooled, secure does not mean unbreakable," said Zerodium in a statement. "It just means that iOS has currently the highest cost and complexity of vulnerability exploitation. And here’s where the Million Dollar iOS 9 Bug Bounty comes into play." The terms stated that the hack "be achievable remotely, reliably, silently, and without requiring any user interaction except visiting a web page". Two teams went head to head for the bounty, according to Zerodium founder Chaouki Bekrar, but only one was able to complete the full jailbreak. The other team made "a partial jailbreak [...] and may qualify for a partial bounty". The winning team claimed their prize this weekend. Zerodium is Bekrar's latest project, and has so far stayed under the radar -- but his last firm, Vupen, had clients including the NSA. Zerodium's clients include "major corporations in defence, technology, and finance" and "government organisations in need of specific and tailored cybersecurity capabilities". The company has said that the bug will not be shared with Apple -- even though the company is likely to sell the information on to a government agency or a corporate customer. The terms of the bounty include that the bug cannot be disclosed to Apple, nor publicly discussed. "We planned initially to not release any information about the outcome of the bounty but we’ve decided to do it to inform the community about the security of iOS which is definitely very hardened but not unbreakable," Bekrar said to WIRED US. "Those who have any doubt about that may be surprised."

* Euro lifted on reports ECB to give Greece liquidity aid * U.S. jobs data to shift focus on greenback for a while * Commodity currencies supported by rebound in crude oil By Shinichi Saoshiro TOKYO, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The euro on Friday held onto gains made during the latest swing back to optimism in the Greek debt saga, while the market awaited U.S. non-farm payrolls later in the day for further cues. The euro was little changed at $1.1469 after surging 1.2 percent overnight in a short covering rally, helped by reports that the European Central Bank agreed to fund up to 60 billion euros in emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to Greece. Views that the Swiss National Bank was buying euros to weaken the franc also supported the common currency. The euro has experienced wide swings this week, as hopes that Greece could win swift relief from its creditors alternated with worries a deal cannot be reached, which raised the prospect the country might exit the euro zone bloc. The European Central Bank stunned investors midweek by taking a hard-line stance, saying it would not accept Greek bonds as collateral. That caused the euro to tumble. Greece’s aid deadline with the European Union, the ECB and International Monetary Fund “troika” expires on Feb. 28. “The Greek situation will remain a key factor at least until the Feb. 28 aid deadline. The development is likely to peak next week, giving time for at least one more round of upsets for the market,” said Junichi Ishikawa, market analyst at IG Securities in Tokyo. “For now we can turn away from Greece and focus on U.S. jobs data, which may provide an opportunity to slow the unwinding of dollar long positions that has been taking place,” Ishikawa said. Another solid U.S. payroll reading, coupled with a possible rebound in wage growth, may revive recently-flagging views that the Federal Reserve might consider raising interest rates as early as mid-year and favour the dollar. The dollar index moved sideways at 93.587 after shedding nearly 1 percent overnight. The greenback was little changed at 117.48 yen. Its commodities-linked Canadian counterpart remained under support after marching higher overnight as volatile crude oil rebounded from the previous session’s plunge. The Canadian dollar was steady at C$1.2450 from Thursday’s low of C$1.2585. The Australian dollar, also aided by the crude oil bounce, rose 0.5 percent to $0.7836 after a statement from the Reserve Bank of Australia did not sound as dovish as some had expected. (Editing by Richard Borsuk)

House Committee Head Tells Federal Agencies To Stop Handing Out Communications With Congress To FOIA Requesters from the perfectly-legal-obfuscation dept Barack Obama promised the "most transparent administration ever," then spent years undermining his own promise. The Trump Administration has made no such promises (other than "if you don't like your Forever Wars, you can keep them...") but it's working overtime to make the faux transparency of the Obama years look like a high water mark in government accountability. Multiple federal agencies are no longer allowed to communicate directly with the public through social media accounts. Anything posted must be approved by administration staff. Open.gov is shut down and Trump has decided against following in his predecessor's footsteps, refusing to release White House visitors' logs. The release of the logs was Obama's idea. Nothing in the law compels release of this information. Trump's refusal aligns him with many former presidents, but not with the public's increasing transparency expectations. There was no exploitation of a loophole by Trump. Just a decision to restrict this administration to what the law says must be done, not what his constituency might expect. The same goes for the latest non-transparency news to come from Washington. Whatever minimal transparency gains might have been achieved in the last several years are being rolled back by the controlling party. The chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services sent a letter last month to the head of the Treasury Department instructing him to decline Freedom of Information requests relating to communications between the two offices, a letter that open records advocates called "deeply troubling." [...] The letter reads that since the Committee on Financial Services has legislative and oversight jurisdiction over the Treasury Department, all records of communication between the two offices and any documents produced remain in the committee's control — even when in the physical possession of the Treasury Department. "The Committee expects that the [Treasury Department] will decline to produce any such congressional records in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act or any other provision of law agreement," the letter states. This blanket FOIA refusal instruction wasn't limited to the Treasury Department. The Associated Press obtained similar letters sent to a number of other agencies under the House Finance Committee's control, including the Consumer Finance Protection Board, FEMA, and the FDIC. As the letter points out… scratch that. It doesn't. It's only after reading the letter that you arrive at this unwritten conclusion. FOIA law exempts many congressional "records" from being liberated with FOIA requests. This includes communications between Congress and more FOIA-responsive agencies. One end -- the end with the most power -- can fully control the release of communications involving other agencies. This is all due to [ta-da!] laws Congress wrote and passed. You see how that works? So, we can be irritated (and rightly so) that this appears to be more opacity meant to separate us from our public servants and separate our public servants from accountability, but unfortunately, this is all very lawful -- a word deployed most frequently to defend actions which appear to be illegal. And here is the expected deflection: "Congresswoman Waters has known about these letters for more than a month and she never raised any objections or said anything about them until a reporter asked," committee spokesman Jeff Emerson said in a statement. "Here’s the truth: The position taken by the Committee is fully consistent with the legal position Republicans and Democrats have jointly taken for over three decades to protect Congressional records." The problem here is the law. And the law must be changed by legislators -- the very group least likely to order itself to be more transparent. As for the argument about opacity = better oversight? May I direct your attention to four years of leaked surveillance documents illustrating just how meaningless the term "oversight" is. Filed Under: congress, foia, transparency

In the last couple of years, private markets in the state have earned around Rs 4,200 crore in terms of revenue while direct marketing licences earned some Rs 4,800 crore worth revenue in the same period. The Maharashtra government’s move to relax norms and deregulate agriculture markets seems to have paid off. In the last couple of years, private markets in the state have earned around Rs 4,200 crore in terms of revenue while direct marketing licences earned some Rs 4,800 crore worth revenue in the same period. Until now in the traditional system, farmers sold produce to Agriculture Produce Market Committees (APMCs,) whereas the government’s move to deregulate markets was meant to boost direct retail sales of fruits and vegetables to ensure stronger farm-to-fork linkages and in the process ensure better prices for producers and lower rates for consumers as well. The state government, through the Maharashtra Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation) (Amendment) Act, 2005, began the liberalisation process by providing for the creation of private markets, farmer-producer markets, direct marketing and contract farming. Sunil Pawar, director, marketing, Maharashtra had earlier said that the government has begun direct marketing licences, private marketing licences and single licences with the aim of encouraging multiple channels for marketing agri-produce and inviting bids through an online system. Such a move is directed towards allowing companies to purchase directly from farmers, bypassing intermediaries. The government is offering direct marketing licences, private marketing licences and single licences to encourage multiple channels for marketing agri-produce and inviting bids through an online system. According to officials, there is no plan to dismantle APMCs that have been created over the years but alternative solutions are being encouraged to ensure ease of doing business. Maharashtra currently has some 42 private markets, 533 direct marketing licences, 94 weekly markets and 40 single trader licences. The state has some 305 principal and 603 secondary APMC market yards. The APMC Act mandates that these markets must have facilities like auction halls, warehouses, weigh bridges, shops for retailers, police station, post office, bore-wells, farmer amenity centres and a soil-testing laboratory. However, most APMC markets offer very few of these facilities and the system to buy produce from farmers, auction it and sell to wholesalers and retailers through traders is very opaque, leaving enormous scope for malpractices. Until now, direct marketing licences have been issued to corporates including Reliance, Aditya Birla, ITC Foods and Tata Chemicals, among others. The government is offering such licences to traders, exporters and private players to sell either within or outside the state. Maharashtra has private markets in Nashik (pomegranate), Vani in Yavatmal, Nanded, Washim and Buldhana (cotton).

So you've bought tickets with our awesome airfare guide, and you're ready to vacay. Here's how to hit the ground running in any country, whether you're trekking through the jungles of Southeast Asia or taking advantage of the declining euro. Advertisement Photo by Erica Ho. It's time to get over that vacation guilt you may feel, start packing more efficiently by rolling your clothes, and prep for your time off. Whether your itinerary is already set or not, assuming you've already taken care of any visa issues, you're almost inevitably going to encounter some basic problems in every country. Here's some you can plan for ahead of time. Advertisement A note on my experience: The number of countries I've traveled through and visited has hit the double digits, and my travels span across efficient Japan to metropolitan Mexico City. I've also made my share of hiccups and mistakes, from being stuck in Manila as Tropical Storm Ondoy flooded the Philippines to learning how to tunnel out of the Great Firewall of China (it is possible). Accessing Money and Paying for Things It's almost never necessary to exchange money before you hop on the plane to your destination. (One quick exception: Cuba. If you're heading to Cuba, do yourself a huge favor and make sure you've got your money situation well-researched and ready before you go.) There are ways to access your money abroad, and the exchange rate in your home country will be generally the worst you can get. If you are overly concerned about security, traveler's checks are a safe way to travel with money. These checks will lock in exchange rates, so be aware of exchange rate trends beforehand. We'll cover safety later, but security and preparation measures are definitely on a continuum—only use as much as you're comfortable with. Advertisement In most developed countries, credit card will always be widely accepted. In second- and third-world countries, cash is king. Even so, as credit cards are implemented with smart chips around the world, check with your local region to make sure they are compatible. It's always smart to carry a mixture of both forms of payment, and credit cards are relatively easy to cancel and replace. Always, always alert your debit and credit card company to your exact travel plans. Being stuck in a foreign country with absolutely no access to your money is almost as inconvenient as losing your passport. Quite simply, you won't be able to do anything. Quick tip: If for some reason your credit card is frozen, and you can find a Wi-Fi spot, be aware that you can call your bank's toll-free number for free through Skype. Getting the Best Exchange Rate Advertisement Airports offer the most convenient way of exchanging your money, but provide less bang for your buck. Instead, exchange only enough at the destination airport to cover getting into town, or for the first day, depending if the banks are open or not. Local banks and currency exchangers in town often provide the best deal. Like with most everything else, shop around for a good exchange rate instead of going to the first bank (especially if you're planning to exchange a lot of money). Photo by viZZZual.com. It's important to be aware of when and what day you come into town. You may be used to traditional Monday to Friday business hours until 6 pm, but banks do not operate similarly everywhere. Heading into Tokyo after 4 pm? Guess what, you're out of luck—no money exchange for you. Advertisement If you don't want to exchange money, it's possible to pay in other currencies, such as the American dollar. Wherever this is an option, though, the dollar is almost always exchanged at a lower rate than the current rate (unless the currency is pegged to the dollar). For example, in Mexico, some merchants will calculate 10 Mexican pesos to the dollar whereas the current rate hovers closer to 12-13 Mexican pesos per dollar. Paying in the local currency will almost always work out in your favor. Avoid ATM and Foreign Currency Fees When using a credit card or debit card, most banks charge foreign currency fees, which will be 1-3 percent of the total purchase. The same goes for withdrawing from ATMs; but instead of just getting charged for the foreign currency fee, most people will get slapped with an additional international ATM fee, which can be up to $5 per transaction. As a result, it is highly recommended to withdraw less frequently in larger denominations. If you decide to withdraw from an ATM to access your money, check to see if your bank is part of any allegiances or alliances. For instance, Bank of America is part of the Global ATM Alliance, which is a major international alliance that allows use of a partner ATM while waiving international ATM fees. (It does not necessarily waive foreign currency fees.) The Global ATM alliance covers major banks on all the six inhabited continents in several countries, including Mexico's Santander Serfin, Europe's Barclays and Deutsche Bank, and the South Pacific's Westpac. Advertisement A few other banks stand out in this department. Capital One, for instance, does not charge any foreign currency fees but does charge for international ATM fees. That means that it is better to use a Capital One card for credit card purchases, but not necessarily ATM withdrawals. Charles Schwab, on the other hand, has a checking account that refunds ATM fees worldwide, making it a better choice for the ATM route. Quick tip: When paying in foreign currencies, to quickly convert prices in your head, learn what the $5 and $10 equivalents are to get a good estimate on the price you're paying. Not All Language Phrases Are Created Equal Advertisement The oft-heard quote goes something like this: "If you speak two languages, you're bilingual. If you speak one language, you're American." Language is often not the big barrier that most people seem to think it is, (and if you're reading this article, chances are that you're already proficient in one of the most widespread languages in the world), but knowing a few key phrases never hurts. Photo by maveric2003; "rebajas" is the Spanish word for "sale." Being a good traveler means knowing how to get by in the dominant language of the country you're heading to. All words are not created equal: learning how to say "how are you" isn't anywhere as useful as learning "I need help finding my hotel." Here's a short, basic list of phrases you should learn in another language if you're traveling to a foreign land with a different language: The Basics Interacting with others will be a part of your vacation. Being polite is a part of everyday life in every culture, not just America. Greetings (Good morning/afternoon/evening). Common courtesies (Please, excuse me, sorry, thank you, thank you very much). Shopping How much does it cost? A clear sticker price won't always be conveniently displayed on every interesting item in the store. That said, knowing this question won't help if you don't know numbers. Numbers one through ten, 50, 100, 1000. Numbers are crucial. Whether they're used for shopping, street numbers, or directions, numbers can be the building block for putting key pieces of information together. It's nice knowing that your hotel is two blocks away from the park if you're a little lost. Eating I would like _________. It is very easy to point at an item in a menu, but it doesn't take much effort to learn how to order something. May I have the bill? When you're ready to go to next your destination and your waiter at the European-style café hasn't shown up with the bill, this phrase is also useful. Like in all vacations, time is money, my dear friend. Everyday Situations How do you say _________? Probably the most useful phrase in terms of utility, because it actually allows you to learn additional words of the language. Use it everywhere and you'd be surprised at how quickly you pick things up. Please don't bother me/I don't need help. As a tourist, the odds of being bothered or harassed by a street/merchant vendor or local "guides" are high. Even though it might seem rude, having someone follow you around for minutes isn't going to add to the enjoyment of your vacation. Where is the bathroom? "Donde está el baño" might have gotten snickers when you were a kid in middle school, but it's really not funny when you have an emergency bowel situation from eating that Indian curry and can't locate the nearest restroom. I'm trying to find _________. This phrase is pretty self-explanatory. If you get lost, you're going to need this phrase more than you need that Lonely Planet guide. If Your Language Skills Are Minimal If you're so wildly busy that you won't have a chance to brush up on learning new phrases, at least learn the two phrases below; they'll establish your lack of knowledge know-how. I don't speak _________. Do you speak English? Don't Be Afraid to Point and Use Gestures It feels a little elementary-school at times, but pointing to objects and using gestures will get you far. Not all gestures are universal, but the basic ones are. (This reason is why there's even a Point It book, which was exclusively designed for travelers in mind, exists. The small, portable book contains pictures in which a person can point at to indicate something.) It's also possible to point at pictures that you've taken of objects and landmarks on your digital camera. While it may take a while to get the point across, chances are that it will get through eventually. Advertisement Staying Safe During Your Vacation Nothing is big as a concern as staying safe in a place you've never been to before. Generally, most places are safer than most people think—the reputation often precedes the city. Many people would be surprised to know that Bogotá, Colombia is safer than Washington, D.C. when it comes to the crime rate per capita. Regardless, the same precautions that you take in the United States should be the same no matter whether it's Mexico City, Rome, or New York. As we mentioned earlier, security and preparation measures are definitely on a continuum. Advertisement Register With Your Embassy Registering with the U.S. Department of State before a trip abroad is a wise move. U.S. citizens can register at the U.S. Department of State's web site. If the government places a travel alert on a country, you will be notified immediately via email with relevant information. The guidelines are good, especially if political and economic situations arise making it possibly unsafe to travel. Keeping track of news can be invaluable in case you need to cancel your trip or rearrange your trip to avoid difficult situations. For instance, Thailand, once a common tropical summer getaway, is now experiencing political turmoil and protests particularly in the areas of Bangkok. As a transit point, it has been deemed okay to travel through, but many countries have advised against spending a considerable amount of time in the city. Using Taxis in Foreign Countries A strong concern in most countries regards using taxis safely, and the truth is that it varies. For instance, in China, which is one of the most foreign-friendly countries, hailing any taxi cab is a walk in the park. In Mexico and other countries, it can be more of a concern. To err on the safe side, if you're not sure, always call a taxi beforehand instead of hailing one on the street and take government or official (metered) taxis. If the taxi isn't metered, bargain or settle on a price before getting into the car. Advertisement Photo by Ben Fredericson. Stay Observant and Smile Above all, use your common sense, be alert, and smile. Smiling, pointing, and talking will get you far in developing a rapport with the locals. If you're in a sketchy area of town, don't go by yourself, don't stay out late at night, and only carry enough money for the day. Everyone has heard about or met that person who was punched and robbed the first day in. If you're unsure about the safety of a particular area, ask hotel staff who will have the best advice. (Good hotel staff do more than just provide you a place to sleep—they will provide information on the areas around town.) Advertisement In countries where pickpocketing is a concern, keep your wallet or backpack in front of you so that you're always aware of where it is. If you're not sure, the biggest tip is by observing how the locals carry their possessions around town and imitating them like-so. Carabiners are also pretty useful for hooking your wallet or purse to yourself or the chair that you're sitting on. Traveling with Technology You've paid gargantuan amounts of money for your flight, and you're crossing thousands of miles, so it's only natural that you want the best technology around to capture the moments from your trip. Still, it's important to remember that often, when traveling, less is more. You'll be glad when you only have to carry three gadgets around instead of lugging around five. Even more importantly if you do decide to take your computers and gadgets, don't forget to check the electrical outlets of the region. A power converter might be needed to save the day. Advertisement Bringing Your Laptop Along Netbooks, which are popular for surfing the web, are ideally the optimal computing device to travel with. Internet access is, more or less, accessible and fairly strong everywhere (unless you're going into the heart of the African wilderness). The miniature computers are ideal because they are light, portable, provide Skype and email access, and can upload pictures from your digital camera. Traveling doesn't mean you completely have to disconnect from the world, but staying behind a computer screen shouldn't be your main focus on a vacation, like we discovered previously when we pondered whether we should bring our laptop to Thailand. However, if you have a Wi-Fi-enabled smartphone, it is possible to completely replace the laptop if you only plan to use the internet minimally. Getting Things Done Traveling Through Southeast Asia Getting work done on the road when you visit another state for a few days is one thing, but flying… Read more Read Advertisement Staying Connected by Phone If you wish to be accessible by cell phone, carrying a GSM unlocked phone is important. (Check with your carrier to see if it is possible to unlock your phone.) With the exception of a few countries, which we covered in a previous article, most if not all countries use GSM networks like AT&T and T-Mobile. Some people prefer to take an old dumbphone for their communication needs when traveling, but assuming you use the same precautions as you do in the States, you shouldn't run into any problems with losing your phone that don't already exist at home. In most countries, prepaid options are better than they are in the United States. It is very easy to grab a SIM card from most convenience stores or mobile service vendors and have a number ready to go. Advertisement Photo by ydhsu. Skype still remains the most dominant and cost-efficient method for calling overseas back to the United States. But through a combination of Google Voice and Skype options, it is also possible to have people call your Google Voice number and reach you through Skype by connecting your SkypeIn number, a paid service that gives you a local US number. Along the same lines, we previously covered how to make free VOIP calls through Google Voice. Advertisement Google Voice is also pretty invaluable for checking your text messages and voicemail from abroad. Change the settings in Google Voice to alert you via email every single time someone sends you a text message or voicemail. Since you can respond to text messages by Google Voice's web interface, it's almost like a form of free international texting. The Best iPhone App to Get You By Unfortunately, for America, the United States is unique in the fact that we use the imperial system. There are numerous travel apps out there, but the more universal ones will be converters you can use on your vacation. Convert Everything Free is a free solid iPhone app we've found that converts a solid amount of currencies, translates Fahrenheit to Celsius, and will translate miles and weight into the metric system. It's just a sampling of the many of these converter apps out there, but Convert Everything Free gets the job done when I'm trying to figure out how many miles are in five kilometers. Technology Is Expensive… and Desirable When traveling with over hundreds or even thousands of dollars in gear, it is important to be very, very careful. These items are the most prone to be stolen, so keep them out of sight in your hotel room (things do get stolen in hotel rooms) or take them out only when you need to use them. Use your common sense, like in any big city or small town. You wouldn't flaunt your fancy laptop in the crime-ridden areas of America, so why would you bring them out in the most dangerous areas of any town? Like we stated above, it is important to be sensitive to the environment and atmosphere around you. Quick tip: While it may be hard to disguise the fact that you are a tourist in certain situations, realize that in certain countries, the expensive, fancy DSLR camera hanging around your neck can be equivalent to an annual salary for a local. Keep your camera stashed away safely and pull it out only when you need it. If you're really concerned, consider uglifying your camera to deter thieves. Advertisement Most Importantly... Traveling isn't exactly rocket science. If anything, it's more common sense and keeping your wits about you instead of being lulled into a false sense of security. Even then, it's about being reasonable and not being overly paranoid so you can actually enjoy your trip. So get excited, get packing, and let us know how you finally made it to the Arc de Triomphe or Angkor Wat in the comments below. Advertisement The author, Erica Ho, often considers the airport her second home due to a bad case of the travel bug. She is currently traveling in Guatemala.

After half a decade of waiting, Pretty Little Liars' season five finale is just a day away, which means it's time to get ready up for the "biggest reveal" in the series' history! "I think we're going to break Twitter all night long," PLL's executive producer Marlene King spilled exclusively to ETonline. "This is an episode that's not just shocking and action-packed and scary as hell -- it's demented and emotional." "I just think there are many, many things that are going to feel new to our fans, and that's what's so exciting about it," King continued. "It's the most important episode we've done so far so. It's just balls out, and a really fun, new, and interesting direction for the show." For more exclusive details on Tuesday's "Big A Reveal," the terrifying mysteries of 'A's dollhouse, and the motives behind 'A's devious deeds, take a look at our season five finale Q&A with King below. WATCH: 'PLL' Boss Drops Major 'A' Clues - 'You May See Double!' What can you tease to fans about this mysterious dollhouse? MK: I can say that the entire episode, which is called, "Welcome to the Dollhouse," was inspired by 'A's idea of playing with his dolls and in 'A's dollhouse. It gave us an interesting idea, and I will say that this episode is unlike anything you have ever seen -- not just on Pretty Little Liars but on television period. Pretty Little Liars is known for their jaw-dropping finales, how does episode finale stack up to the others? MK: I think that it's our most sophisticated, most ambitious, and by far the most edgy episode to date. The phrase, "Big A Reveal" can be taken two different ways. Will fans be learning the entire identity of 'A' or just one part of the answer? MK: It's such a hard question to answer. If I were talking to you after the episode, it's very easy to explain it because it will make sense. I don’t want to sound cagey because I don’t want to make the fans thinks we're not giving them this massive reveal. It is the biggest reveal we’ve ever given so far. In so many ways you will know who this person is, but I will just say there is a little bit more story left to tell after the episode -- not a lot of story, but a little bit. NEWS: 6 Reasons We Think Mona Vanderwaal is Still Alive on 'PLL' ABC Family Is this going to be a reveal that we learn along with the Liars, or will this be a Ezra-type situation where only the audience knows? MK: No, the girls discover it. The girls bring us the information. It seems like every single shocker of the series has always centered on the DiLaurentis family. How many secrets are hiding in the DiLaurentis household? MK: It's so interesting that you say that because I always say there are two roads in Rosewood: One always leads to Radley and one always leads to Alison. And so it can go one of two ways in every finale. It was a year ago that we lost Mrs. DiLaurentis. Do you think that this season finale is going to top that shocker? MK: I think [the season five finale] is a shock and a revelation -- that was just a shock. Even when looking at it now, even though I've seen it so many times, there's this one specific scene -- and in hindsight fans will know exactly what I'm talking about. You feel like you're just lighting that fuse and that fuse is going to reach that time bomb soon and it's that kind of revelation -- It's just really exciting. There's a line and I'll tell you what it is -- it's a spoiler and I don’t think we've told this line to anyone. A certain character in this finale says something like, "Oh my God, 'A' has a soul." That to me tells us yes we're ramping up to the end of this story -- but it's not just pulling off the mask of 'A', it's really finding out that 'A' is human too and 'A' has a soul like anyone else. Pretty Little Liars' season five finale airs Tuesday, March 24 at 8 p.m. on ABC Family. And for more Rosewood fun, Pretty Little Liars: The Complete Fifth Season will be available on DVD on June 2. Who do you think 'A' is? Sound off with your theories in the comments below or chat with @LeanneAguilera on Twitter! Related Gallery

Girls are playing video games in greater numbers according to a new 2009 study by NPD which was conducted last April. The study finds that the Wii is the main culprit, saying that Nintendo’s console has attracted a much larger number of females than ever before. And it’s not just girls who are playing the Wii either, boys are too. The study shows that Wii usage overall has increased by 19% from last year. Watch The Latest Gaming News: The biggest highlight of the study says that females now make up 28% of the console gaming demographic, which is up from 23% in 2008. Although the NPD study only concerns consoles, last April a Nielson study found that females make up a whopping 50% of the PC gaming market and contributed to the high sales of The Sims 3, which sold over 1.4 million copies in its first week. Here are some other interesting numbers from the study: * Extreme Gamers, as they are called in the study, played an average of 39 hours per week. Although that may seem high, it’s down from 46 hours last year. * However Extreme Gamers still SPEND the most money on videogames, even if they actually MAKE the least amount of money (they have the lowest overall average of household income). * Extreme Gamers purchased an average of 24 titles in 2008’s holiday season. * However Extreme Gamers only make up a petty 4%(!) of all gamers. * 38% of the time spent playing games by gamers, was spent playing them online. Relatively the same as 2008. The Gamer Augmentation 2009 study by NPD Group was conducted in January 2009 with more than 20,000 participants ages 2-65 and above and includes data from the 2008 holiday season. Survey data was weighted to portray gaming trends only within the US. Via GameSpot Share: Wallpaper Gallery Slider Grand Theft Auto 5 Wallpapers Zelda: Breath of the Wild Wallpapers Metal Gear Survive Wallpapers Devil May Cry Wallpapers Mortal Kombat X Wallpapers Dragon Ball XV Wallpapers Metal Gear Solid 5 Wallpapers The Witcher 3 Wallpapers

The collapse of Borders Group is not just bad news for bookworms, it is also an unwelcome development for investors in suburban shopping centers that used to be anchored by the bookstore. Kris Hudson has details on The News Hub. Photo: Kris Hudson/The Wall Street Journal. Close to a year after Borders Group Inc. collapsed, suburban shopping centers still are struggling to fill the vacated big-box space—and to cope with changes in the way Americans shop. Many shopping centers that lost Borders after the chain announced its liquidation are suffering high vacancies, falling rents and even debt defaults. Values have been falling in particular for the suburban shopping centers that rely heavily on big-box stores and have been bearing the brunt of the impact from online retail competition. ...

The potential of psychedelic drugs in the treatment of mental health problems is increasingly being recognized. However, relatively little thrust has been given to the suggestion that individuals without any mental health problems may benefit from using psychedelic drugs, and that they may have a right to do so. This review considers contemporary research into the use of psychedelic drugs in healthy individuals, including neurobiological and subjective effects. In line with findings suggesting positive effects in the treatment of mental health problems, such research highlights the potential of psychedelic drugs for the enhancement of wellbeing even in healthy individuals. The relatively low risk associated with usage does not appear to align with stringent drug laws that impose heavy penalties for their use. Some policy implications, and suggestions for future research, are considered. Researchers and clinicians are becoming increasingly open to the possibility that psychedelic drugs might prove useful in the treatment of mental health problems. Studies conducted primarily in the 1950s and 1960s furnished a wealth of (methodologically imperfect) clinical findings to suggest beneficial effects of psychedelic drugs in the treatment of mood, anxiety, and addictive disorders (Grinspoon and Bakalar, 1979; Sessa, 2005). However, due to highly restrictive drug laws that effectively foreclosed research into psychedelic drugs in the 1960s, their possible benefits have been widely overlooked (Nutt et al., 2013). More recent studies have begun to corroborate the suggestion that treatments involving psychedelic drugs may be effective in the alleviation of a range of mental health problems (see Vollenweider and Kometer, 2010 for a review). In light of such findings, several authors have argued for changes in drug policy in order to facilitate basic research and treatment innovation regarding psychedelics (Gross, 2013; Nutt et al., 2013). However, relatively little thrust has been given to the argument that even healthy individuals can experience considerable benefits from consuming psychedelics, and that they may have a right to experience these (Walsh, 2016). Bioethical discussion of the use of drugs in the healthy population to improve wellbeing has typically focused on the use of pharmaceuticals such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and other antidepressants as a means of improving mood (Kramer, 1993; Schermer, 2015). Either through the true lack of effects or due to inadequate research designs, evidence for strong mood enhancing effects of such substances in healthy individuals is scarce (Ilieva, 2015; Repantis et al., 2009). Without evidence for clear effects, and with the necessity for relatively long-term, daily usage before any such effects are likely to be apparent (Harmer, 2008), coupled with the possibility of unpleasant side effects further deterring usage, it seems unlikely that a large number of otherwise healthy individuals would seek to use these pharmaceuticals for the purpose of improving their lives. In contrast, over 30 million people in the United States are estimated to have experimented with psychedelic drugs (Krebs and Johansen, 2013a), and with new research garnering considerable attention and suggesting positive effects, it seems possible that more individuals may seek out psychedelic experiences. Use of psychedelic drugs in this way may prompt not only bioethical, but legal discussions. It is essential that such discussions proceed in a way that takes current scientific research into account. The purpose of this review is to provide an up to date overview of current knowledge regarding psychedelic drug effects in healthy individuals, with the hope of grounding future discussion of psychedelics in the existing evidence base. I first describe the psychedelic state and present research on its neurobiological underpinnings. I then review contemporary research on the effects of psychedelic drugs in healthy individuals. This is followed by consideration of possible adverse effects. Finally, I consider some implications of such research for drug policy. Drug policy and psychedelic use in the healthy population Section: Choose Top of page Abstract Psychedelic drugs and the... Neurobiology of psychedel... Effects of psychedelic dr... Possible adverse effects Drug policy and psychedel... << Conclusion References CITING ARTICLES In several cases in different countries, exemptions have been made for the use of psychedelics as part of religious practices. While precise exemptions differ by state, use of peyote by the Native American Church is legal in the United States. Other uses of psychedelics have become more of a global issue for lawmakers. Religious groups such as the Santo Daime and União de Vegetal, which frequently incorporate ayahuasca into their spiritual practices, have expanded outside of their native country of Brazil, prompting assessments of the rights of individuals to use psychedelic drugs in religious contexts even in countries where there is no longstanding tradition of use (Labate and Feeney, 2012). When considering the use of ayahuasca in religious ceremonies, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that drug laws may be trumped by freedom to practice religion, in accordance with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (Tupper, 2008). The Netherlands has also granted the right to use ayahuasca in religious and spiritual ceremonies to the Santo Daime, owing to insufficient evidence that the brew causes any harm (Adelaars, 2001). However, other countries have not always granted freedom of use. The fact that ayahuasca contains DMT was enough to suggest a public health risk that was deemed to outweigh religious freedom in Germany (Labate and Feeney, 2012; Rohde and Sander, 2011). Exemptions for religious purposes raise questions regarding appropriate definitions of religion, and there have been concerns over whether religious pretensions might merely be used to cloak the otherwise illegal consumption of psychedelic substances (Sandberg, 2011). More libertarian commentators, however, have argued that such considerations may be beside the point. Religious and therapeutic exemptions are seen to perpetuate the notion that the state has a right to determine appropriate uses of substances even when no evidence can be furnished that their use impinges on the rights or wellbeing of individuals in wider society (Walsh, 2016). Walsh (2016) proposes that, instead of pursuing specific exemptions for psychedelic drugs in religious and therapeutic contexts, a broader exemption can be made for the use of psychedelics on the grounds of cognitive liberty. Prohibitions on psychedelic drugs may be seen to amount to prohibitions on the right to control one’s own mind and conscious experience, precluding access to volitionally chosen but otherwise inaccessible drug states (Boire, 2001; Roberts, 1997). Given that considerations of religious legitimacy typically make distinctions between ‘merely’ philosophical perspectives and religious views, even securing the right to consume psychedelics in religious practices means that the potentially life enhancing experiences and insights that might be gained through their use is essentially off limits (without risk of legal repercussions) to those who do not hold mystical beliefs. Walsh (2010) notes that article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights enshrines not only the right to religious freedom, but also freedom of thought. If freedom of thought is to mean anything, it is argued, it must surely incorporate freedom to direct one’s own mental states to the extent that this is possible (Boire, 2001; Roberts, 1997; Walsh, 2016). The use of psychedelic drugs only for the purpose of treatment has also been a subject of debate. The distinction between treatment and enhancement, or between therapeutic and recreational uses, is not immediately clear. Making a binary distinction between treatment, which would be argued to be the remediation of some specific pathology, and enhancement—the improvement of a function or capacity deemed normal—begs several questions. Firstly, a clear definition of pathology would be needed to justify an intervention. This is particularly troublesome where mental health is concerned, because pathology is most frequently inferred based on the presence of symptoms that are not specific to any one disorder, which are present to varying degrees in the general population, and for which the underlying causes (i.e. pathology) are largely unknown. Secondly, it assumes that normality is synonymous with good health and wellbeing, and that this is merely the lack of (ill-defined) disease constructs. To the contrary, many authors argue that conceptions of health and wellbeing ought to encompass not only the absence of clear pathology, but also the potential of humans to develop and realize their full potential (Labate and Cavnar, 2013; Walsh, 2016). Current research on the use of psychedelics suggests that these drugs may allow otherwise healthy individuals to improve themselves and increase their wellbeing, with no apparent cost—and possibly benefits—to those around them. A distinction between the use of psychedelics for clear cases of treatment versus enhancement may still make sense in healthcare settings, where service providers must make judgments as to the most pressing cases, and where public funds may be used to support interventions. It seems reasonable to suggest that treatments for severe mental health problems should be prioritized over less pressing desires for improvements in wellbeing in healthcare settings. From a legal perspective, however, the nebulous boundary between treatment and enhancement, and indeed between religious and personal discovery or spiritual uses, raises problems for the clarity of law. For example, is a person who has used a psychedelic to try and gain insight into their non-clinical levels of anxiety considered to be self-medicating, or enhancing their self? Is this use to be considered wrong purely by virtue of being outside of a healthcare setting and therefore illegal? Moreover, the distinction between treatment and enhancement does not track any meaningful change in the cost to society that the law is aimed at protecting, nor benefits that might be gleaned by the individuals that make up society. Unfortunately, some policy developments may be proceeding without due consideration of different drugs and their effects. The recent enactment of the Psychoactive Substances Act in May 2016 in the UK, which aims to prohibit psychoactive substances, not only ignores consideration of benefits people might derive from a psychoactive substance, but even sidesteps the need to demonstrate potential for harm. It is notable that this act seems to have been made to curb the proliferation of ‘new psychoactive substances’ (NPSs), also known as ‘legal highs’, whose presence in the market is the direct result of bans on existing psychoactive substances that are known to pose little danger, notably typical psychedelics LSD and magic mushrooms (DMT) (Gross, 2013). If a rational drug policy were pursued regarding existing psychoactive substances, then there would be less impetus for the development of new ones, the risk profiles and purity of which are unknown. Despite evidence indicating that psychedelic drugs pose little threat to the individual user or cost to society and may have substantial benefits, LSD, DMT, and psilocybin remain among the most strictly prohibited substances in the UK, USA, and elsewhere (Nutt et al., 2007). Of course, it may be argued that regardless of actual drug laws, psychedelics are relatively easy to procure illegally. Nevertheless, risk to those consuming psychedelics obtained illegally is likely to be higher than where use is legalized. For example, beyond potential legal ramifications, there are no checks on the purity of illicitly obtained drugs. Furthermore, ‘copycat’ substances are sometimes produced to avoid trouble with the law, and the risk profile of these may differ markedly from known psychedelics. Beyond personal use of psychedelics in healthy subjects, current drug laws stifle the use of psychedelics for research purposes in healthy individuals. Very few research labs currently have permission to investigate psychedelics, and permissions typically impose standards that are very difficult and costly to meet (Nutt et al., 2013). Research in healthy subjects will prove highly informative in understanding the nature of the psychedelic state and drug mechanisms, which may ultimately help in understanding how these drugs can best be utilized therapeutically. Several suggestions have been made regarding how policy regarding psychedelics might be made more reasonable. Nutt et al. (2007) have strongly urged that drug classification should correspond to what empirical investigation actually shows to be the relative harms of different drugs. Classification also tends to consider possible benefits of usage for medical purposes. As we have discussed above, there are significant benefits that might be gained from the use of psychedelics outside of strictly medical settings, and these might also be considered when rating drugs. Some public health experts have suggested other ways that a more reasonable stance towards psychedelics might be taken, based on models of treatment administration or use in religious contexts. For example, Haden et al. (2016) have suggested that psychedelics could be administered in controlled settings to healthy individuals provided that trained individuals oversee it. Certifications advancing in their rigor and the usage of psychedelics that they allow (e.g. whether one can offer psychedelic psychotherapy, or charge for one’s services) could be earned that provide supervisors with the knowledge and skills to safely administer psychedelic drugs to healthy individuals. Production, purity, and sale of the drugs could be monitored and controlled, and tax revenue could be increased, as well as increasing safety of usage by training in set and setting. Whatever specific course of action is taken with regards to drug policy, consideration of evidence regarding risks and benefits can only improve policy. Conclusion Section: Choose Top of page Abstract Psychedelic drugs and the... Neurobiology of psychedel... Effects of psychedelic dr... Possible adverse effects Drug policy and psychedel... Conclusion << References CITING ARTICLES Many drug researchers have urged the reclassification of psychedelic drugs so that their therapeutic potential can be fully realized (Nutt et al., 2013). From current results, it would seem that it is not only those with psychological impairments who might stand to gain from the use of psychedelics. When used appropriately, psychedelic drugs have been shown to have positive effects among healthy individuals, with single doses capable of producing lasting changes in wellbeing and purpose. A rational drug policy derived from empirical research into the potential costs and benefits of different drugs may not only facilitate the treatment of mental disorders, but the safe and enriching use of psychedelic drugs more generally. Declaration of conflicting interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Add to Delicious The truth about cats and dogs... N ot to be mistaken for the televised singing competition The Voice, The Voices is the fourth film from Marjane Satrapi, whose 2007 directorial debut — the quirky, animated autobiography, Persepolis — earned an Oscar nod for Best Animated Feature. Quirky is just the tip of the iceberg, however, when it comes to this tale, which sees Ryan Reynolds starring as a well-meaning factory worker named Jerry Hickfang, a man guided by voices — imaginary voices that compel him to commit some very real (and extremely horrendous) acts. It all begins with Jerry's crush on Fiona (Gemma Arterton), an accounting temp at Milton Fixtures and Faucets International, where they both work. But Fiona's a hoity-toity Brit and Jerry's a Yank who toils away in the packing department, so any romance between the two of them has some serious obstacles to overcome. Enter Lisa (Anna Kendrick), Jerry's more attainable, down-to-earth co-worker, who sees in him something Fiona doesn't. Unbeknownst to her, though, part of Jerry's appeal — his aura of mystery — has to do with the unsolicited advice his dog, Bosco, and his cat, Mr. Whiskers, offer him in his off-hours; and what begins as a budding love affair quickly turns nightmarish. Seven (plus a little song-and-dance thrown in for good measure) — is unconventional, to say the least. But the mash-up works, thanks to Reynolds, whose portrayal of its psychologically fragile and emotionally damaged protagonist — not to mention the voices in his head — is as unnerving as it is amusing. If this is his way of atoning for movies like R.I.P.D. and Green Lantern, then consider the apology accepted. ◼ Ben Mk Wavering between bouts of candy-colored surrealism and macabre ghoulishness, the story — a hybrid blending humor with the subject matter of movies like(plus a little song-and-dance thrown in for good measure) — is unconventional, to say the least. But the mash-up works, thanks to Reynolds, whose portrayal of its psychologically fragile and emotionally damaged protagonist — not to mention the voices in his head — is as unnerving as it is amusing. If this is his way of atoning for movies likeand, then consider the apology accepted. The Voices receives its Canadian premiere as part of TIFF 2014's Vanguard programme and is currently scheduled for a 2015 release by Remstar Films. Photo credit: Remstar Films.

Co-written by Dr. Laura Van Eerd, Associate Professor, Nitrogen Fertility and Cover Crops, University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus Soil organic matter (OM) is the single most important soil health property that you have influence over through your management. Soil OM is all living, dead or long dead (and decomposed) material. Higher soil organic matter translates into better water holding capacity, which was critical in a season like 2016. It helps to improve soil structure and nutrient cycling. A higher percent organic matter can also mean more consistent yields year-to-year. Simply put, it is the foundation of a healthy soil. Often, it is stated that nitrogen (N) fertilizer application helps to build soil organic matter by increasing total crop production. The logic follows that a higher yielding crop returns a greater amount of residue, which can then break down and contribute to soil OM. There have been a variety of scientific studies that have shown this to be true. However, nitrogen fertilization can also stimulate organic matter mineralization, which can lead to losses of OM and soil nitrogen. There is also research that shows no effect of N fertilization on soil organic matter over time. Overall, it is safe to say that research findings on the effects of N fertilization on OM have been inconsistent in annual crop production systems. Because OM changes can only be detected over the long-term, it is difficult to determine the effect of N fertilization in different production systems with climates similar to Ontario’s. For example, what is the impact of crop rotation? What role does tillage play? And how are deeper soil layers affected by nitrogen fertilization? A recent study conducted at the Ridgetown Campus of University of Guelph by Drs. Katelyn Congreves, Laura Van Eerd and Dave Hooker used the long-term crop rotation and tillage system trial to answer these questions. The study The research compared N rates across continuous corn, corn-soybean, and corn-soybean-winter wheat crop rotations under no-till and conventional tillage. Conventional tillage consisted of moldboard plowing in the fall followed by two to three passes with a field cultivator in the spring for corn and soybeans. Prior to wheat planting, two passes were made with either a tandem disc or cultivator. In the no-till treatment, there was zero tillage and only minimal soil disturbance at planting. As for N rates, starter-only rates were compared to starter plus moderate N fertilization to corn (89 lbs/ac N) and wheat (71 lbs/ac N) amongst crop rotation and tillage treatments. Samples were collected in 2006, 11 years after the establishment of treatments. What did they find? So, after 11 years did nitrogen fertilization help increase soil organic matter at the Ridgetown site? Well, it depended. The greatest increase in OM due to N fertilization occurred in the corn-soybean-winter wheat rotation in both tillage systems. Soil OM was increased by 18 to 28% in the top 8 inches in the plots that received nitrogen fertilizer. Under continuous corn, however, N fertilization did not change soil organic matter levels in either tillage system. In the corn-soybean rotation, N fertilization increased OM by 22% in the no-till system only; no change was observed with plowing. Even down to a depth of 3 feet, the corn-soybean-winter wheat rotation showed the greatest increases in OM in response to N fertilization. Belowground biomass from a deep, fibrous-rooted wheat crop and growth during a typical fallow period may have contributed organic matter that is retained in the soil more easily compared to other crops. Even more interestingly, corn yields from years 5-11 of the study revealed the benefit of an increase in OM. Year-to-year yield variability decreased as soil organic matter level increased. This meant more consistent corn yields regardless of the weather. Likely, this was due to soil OM benefits in terms of increased water infiltration and improved water holding capacity. The bottom line Nitrogen fertilization does not necessarily increase soil organic matter across all agricultural systems. Its effect depends on crop rotation and tillage system. For the clay loam soils of this study, there is clear evidence that inclusion of winter wheat in a corn-soybean rotation makes an increase in soil OM due to N fertilization more likely, regardless of tillage system. We know that winter wheat in rotation benefits corn and soybean yields by 5 to 8%, reduces year-to-year yield variability in corn, improves soil health, and provides an excellent cover crop opportunity. Its value goes far beyond its net revenue at harvest. Now, this research suggests that wheat may also help make better use of N fertilizer from a soil organic matter perspective. Just another reason to add to the list. Next steps In 2008, Dr. Hooker made improvements to the trial to better reflect current production systems. The no-till treatment was modified to strip tillage for corn and nitrogen rates were increased in both corn and wheat. Winter wheat plots were split to include both with and without red clover treatments. These changes provide an excellent opportunity to study the effects of these production systems on soil health into the future.

View full size According to NHL play-by-play announcer Roman Jedlicka, Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask suffered a groin injury while playing for HC Plzen of the Czech League Tuesday. Jedlicka tweeted that Rask didn't return for the second period after playing the first 20 minutes against Slavia Prague. Rask didn't allow a goal as Plzen lost 3-2. Rask later told Czech TV he "slightly pulled his groin," but "it's not serious." The Bruins netminder acknowledged his groin/abdomen strain from last year, which kept him sidelined for the last six weeks of the regular season. Because of that, he left Tuesday's game as a precaution. Rask signed with HC Plzen just a week after players were locked out when the National Hockey League's collective bargaining agreement expired Sept. 15. He was the first of nine Bruins to travel overseas to play. Follow Amanda Bruno on Twitter

OTTAWA -- Several candidates will soon announce they're running for the NDP leadership, outgoing leader Tom Mulcair said Wednesday. "I'm expecting, and I'm quite sure, we'll see several candidacies announced right after Christmas," Mulcair said in an interview with Don Martin, host of Power Play. Two New Democrat MPs have stepped aside from their roles in the party to consider leadership bids. Charlie Angus, who represents Ontario's Timmins-James Bay riding, and Peter Julian, who represents New Westminster-Burnaby in British Columbia, are said to be thinking of running. So far, there are no candidates in the NDP race, which is set to culminate next September. The Conservative Party will choose its new leader on May 27 and has 14 candidates with another two considering bids. "Don't forget the party took a long approach to the date, so it's not until next fall. And one of the reasons, and I thought it was a smart one, [is] they wanted to make sure that members had the information on who the new Conservative leader was going to be," Mulcair said. The outgoing NDP leader says he'll "probably" end 2017 as an MP, despite losing his role at the head of the party. "I'm going to work it out with the new leader," Mulcair said. "I haven't come to a definitive decision yet, but I've said all along I'm going to be very open to working with that person... I actually like this opposition stuff, of holding the government to account."

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.—Most convicted criminals don't make a point of publicly apologizing for their crimes in the local newspaper. But Barry Bowser, who was convicted in 2015, is no ordinary criminal. “For shining a laser at a helicopter for three seconds, I lost my entire life,” Bowser wrote in a recent letter to the editor of The Bakersfield Californian. “I am now 54 years old and I have no one and nothing but the clothes I was given when I was released from prison.” Weighing at least 250 pounds with a wide chest and a handlebar mustache, Bowser has quite a presence. He agreed to meet me near a local supermarket and arrived in dark sunglasses, black sneakers, black-striped shorts with skulls on the edges, and a t-shirt advertising a local orthodontics practice. John Goodman would be a shoo-in for the lead role if there’s ever a Bowser movie. Bowser had previously done time, serving multiple stints in California state prison on drug and identity theft charges. But this go-round was different—no drugs, no theft, no violence. Instead, in a fleeting moment that he still calls an accident, Barry Bowser violated 18 US Code § 39A of the Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012: Whoever knowingly aims the beam of a laser pointer at an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, or at the flight path of such an aircraft, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. That led to a 21-month prison sentence, though Bowser was released after 11. Prison cost him more than time; Bowser also lost several teeth. As we drove the few miles to the scene of his crime, Bowser told me that he had just come from a denture-fitting appointment at an orthodontist’s office, needed after a race riot at the county jail where he had been held at the request of federal authorities. “I got busted in the mouth with a lock in a sock, knocked my teeth out,” he said. “That was my first day in Fresno County jail.” And all for making a poor decision with a laser pointer. Waiting on enchiladas Back in September 2014, Barry Bowser was trying to get his life back on track. After having been a functioning methamphetamine addict for 25 years, he said he had been clean for four consecutive years at that point. He had worked various oil and industrial jobs, as a derrick hand, an operator, a tool pusher, and as a natural gas compressor mechanic in Elk Hills (the “best job of my life,” Bowser noted). Now, he was fixing people’s cars in their driveways throughout the Bakersfield area. “I had a business going, I had a mobile mechanic business going, buying my own house,” he said. “I hadn't been that clean in years, feeling good on life.” Around this time, a friend, Danny Gibson, loaned Bowser a motorhome and invited him to park it on a large, commercial property on N. Sillect Ave., on the edge of town. In exchange, Bowser would do some maintenance and act as a sort of night watchman. Other properties nearby include a local union office, an animal hospital, and a strip club, Exotic Kitty’s. The property also used to be a Home Depot, so it had a large storage area and a large parking area as well. Bowser soon found out through a friend that the area had some recent reports of burglaries. Late in the evening on September 11, 2014, Bowser received a call from his friend Todd. Todd was making enchiladas, would Bowser like some? Bowser said he would. While waiting, he began rummaging through drawers in the motorhome as a way to pass the time and found a laser pointer that Gibson had given him as a dog toy (for Bowser’s pitbull, also named Bowser). A few moments later, Bowser found batteries for the pointer. In they went, and lo, it worked. Bowser stepped outside with his dog and began shining the laser along a fence, trying to get his dog to chase the beam. The pit quickly lost interest, and Bowser instead began testing the range of the laser to see what else it could hit. He managed to hit a billboard several hundred yards away. Then he aimed for a radio tower with a blinking red light on the top. Each target proved too easy. So Bowser aimed for a second radio tower that was a quarter or a half mile away. Then came the three seconds that would change the man’s next two years. Bowser's laser seemed to hit something in the sky, but he wasn’t sure what, if anything, it was. He started to bring the laser down just in case, and that’s when a helicopter began pivoting to face him. The laser beam then caught the windshield, and the glass “lit up like a Christmas bulb.” Bowser watched as the helicopter started to swerve and dip. Up in the helicopter, the pilot, Deputy Kevin Austin, saw the laser beam shoot past his head and through the open helicopter door. (It’s common practice to remove helicopter doors during hot weather.) The Tactical Flight Officer (TFO), a sort of police spotter who also was aboard the helicopter at the time, didn’t notice the laser. But then the light hit the windshield directly. Austin later described the moment in an e-mail to prosecutors: The laser struck the helicopter twice. The first was less than a second, followed by the second strike, which lasted between two and three seconds. The second strike was held long enough for me to visually spot the exact location of the source, and the suspect was standing in an open area where I could see the silhouette of his person. I immediately executed a left, diving turn toward the source to gain airspeed while closing the distance. I also flipped my [night-vision] goggles down which made it easier to keep a visual on the suspect while he was still out in the open area. Once we arrived over the location of the suspect, he was still in an open area. We kept him illuminated with the helicopter's spotlight and observed him until we lost sight of him when he walked under a large, metal awning. My TFO, Deputy Jeremy Storar, used binoculars to obtain a good description of him as well. Bowser didn’t know the world of legal trouble he would soon face, but clearly he had annoyed somebody. His girlfriend Wendy and his buddy Todd arrived with the promised enchiladas as the helicopter hovered nearby. Bowser went to the locked gate and rolled the laser out to her. “Get that thing out of here,” Bowser said. “What’d you do?” Wendy asked him. “Baby, just take this, give me the food, and I’ll call you,” he said. Bowser took his dinner, went inside the motorhome, changed clothes, and ate. But up in the sky, the helicopter crew had him under surveillance. Austin described what happened next in that same e-mail: My TFO, Deputy Storar, and I watched him reach under a closed, locked chain-link gate to the driver of the SUV. Deputy Storar observed the suspect and driver at the gate using a pair of binoculars. The driver gave the suspect what appeared to be a bowl with possible food in it. The exchange was made under the gate. I told Deputy Storar to watch closely because I felt the suspect would hand the laser to the driver of the SUV. The driver left moments later, but we were not certain whether the laser had been given to the driver. While Deputy Storar was observing with binoculars, I had control of the helicopter’s spotlight and used it to keep the driver and suspect illuminated. It was only a matter of time until the cops arrived.

Facebook has been catching heat for hiring Frank Gehry to reshape its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters. Investors don't like the bravado of signing a world-famous architect while Facebook's stock keeps skidding. What's more alarming is Gehry's actual mandate. Facebook wants him to create a vast, open-plan office for thousands of engineers -- in essence, a giant mosh pit. Back in its earliest years, Facebook was a tiny outfit where software developers zipped around on RipStiks in a small, open-plan office to relieve stress during late night work breaks. Facebook's 28-year-old founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, may miss those freewheeling days. But taking open-plan offices to extremes -- by commissioning an 1,800-foot-long oddity -- is a foolish attempt to revive a bygone idyll. Industrial psychologists have spent decades studying knowledge workers' productivity in big, open-plan offices, and the results aren't pretty. As a 2009 paper in the Journal of Environmental Psychology observed, "predictions of increased efficiency and better communication have yet to be fulfilled." Authors Tonya L. Smith-Jackson and Katherine W. Klein pinpointed ambient noise, especially other people's conversations, as a prime culprit. When other people 30 feet away are chattering about something irrelevant, it's harder to think. Stress levels go up. Tuning out ambient noise becomes a task in itself, creating fatigue. That's especially concerning in software development, where small, independent teams have a rich history of being able to outperform bigger, more bureaucratic rivals. Top executives may like being at the hub of a vast, pulsing enterprise, picking up a moment-to-moment sense of what everyone is doing. That sense of central omniscience has enchanted bosses since the 1700s, when the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham sketched out his panopticon, in which a single monitor in the center of a circular building could track everyone's actions. Except for prison design, though, the panopticon concept never caught on. And other attempts to create giant, open-plan offices haven't worked out well. A case in point: the Swiss bank UBS''s decision in 1997 to open the financial world's largest trading floor: a 103,000 leviathan in Stamford, Conn. Fitting so many traders and salesmen together into a single, cavernous room won UBS a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. But giant profits didn't ensue. Instead, UBS got caught up in the herd mentality of foolish deals during the housing bubble of 2003-07 -- and it didn't rebound especially quickly. The bank toyed with leaving Stamford in 2011. While UBS has stayed for now, mutterings persist that it would rather move. Facebook's predicament is more than just an architectural quandary. The social network has helped create the buzzing hive of information that we all inhabit. At any moment, we can soak in new status updates, tweets, emails and Google searches. It's never been easier to stay up-to-the minute on any area we care about. And yet we all know that to accomplish landmark work, we need to pull back a bit, sacrificing some of that short-lived immediate contact so we can concentrate on a single complex project until we get it right. In short, we need "idea sanctuaries." Some idea sanctuaries may be created in the physical world, in the form of dens, nooks or quiet areas where concentrated work can get done. Others may be created online, in the form of low-noise social networks that dial down the amount of chatter so that sustained themes can be developed by a much smaller number of people. One fascinating example of an idea sanctuary in action is ListenToUs, a 5,000-member community on Reddit, the fast-growing news, discussion and trivia site. ListenToUs is a haven for people interested in offbeat music, ranging from Pink Freud (a Polish jazz band) to little-known psychedelic bands of the 1970s. Only 10 enthusiasts a month are allowed to post. The result: unusual choices get enough uninterrupted time in the spotlight to find new fans, says Reddit general manager Erik Martin. That wouldn't be possible in a mass forum where everyone can weigh in. In such situations, Pink Freud and its kin would be shouted off the stage by swarms of users with more conventional tastes, before anyone could tell what the new performers are all about. Facebook's executives (and presumably Frank Gehry himself) are smart enough that they will doubtless look for ways to make their giant new offices into something cheerier than what architecture writer Allison Arieff referred to in The New York Times as a "warehouse for engineers." But when big companies get caught up with size for its own sake, they unwittingly create opportunities for little-known rivals to cook up something better in an idea sanctuary -- and spring that improvement on an eager world.

brood (brōōd) noun 1 a family of young animals 2 a group having a common nature or origin 3 the children of a family At 6'9", 290 pounds, it’s no mystery how Portland, Oregon, gang leader Shawn Cutler came by the street name Sky. “I could have been a monster on the NBA circuit,” Cutler said. “I had the size and skills for it. But I took a different path.” Cutler, 47, is one of the founders of Brood, a vicious gang with strong white supremacist undercurrents that’s a growing threat in Portland. Thirty years after Brood came to life, Cutler speaks of it as if he’s a gangland Dr. Frankenstein. “Brood was never supposed to be what it’s become,” said Cutler. “I don’t condone all the crime being done in Brood’s name today, or any of the white supremacist stuff. The whole thing’s gone crazy. It’s out of my control. Hell, it’s out of anyone’s control. It’s a little upsetting.” Brood co-founder Anthony Kronus Swift (left) was released from prison last summer. Brood members in recent years have transformed Portland apartment complexes into armed compounds within residential neighborhoods; committed dozens of armed robberies, including many home invasions; stolen hundreds of cars; trafficked untold amounts of narcotics and illegal firearms; provided muscle-for-hire to outlaw motorcycle gangs; and operated a torture chamber in an auto body shop on a major thoroughfare, among other felonies. “We’re dealing with a large, violent, dangerous gang operating openly in the city of Portland,” said Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office Detective Josh Zwick, who led a major investigation of Brood. Subtlety is not a strong point for Brood. Its members openly display Brood tattoos, including swastika designs, and wear T-shirts and hats bearing the gang’s name, logo and slogans: “Love is Law,” and “We Never Sleep,” a reference to their taste for crystal methamphetamine. Brood graffiti is easy to find in the Southeast Portland neighborhoods where the gang is concentrated. Stolen vehicles found in Portland, stripped of valuable parts, have business cards tucked beneath windshield wipers, reading, in Old English lettering, “Brood, where’s my car?” The gang is heightening tensions in a city with a long history of white supremacist gang violence that’s already on edge following the May 26 murders of two men aboard a public light rail train. The men were stabbed to death by a white supremacist after they challenged him for verbally harassing two young women, one of whom is African American and the other of whom is Muslim and was wearing a hijab. A third good Samaritan was also stabbed but survived. One Brood member was arrested May 1 for allegedly committing 34 felonies in a 37-day crime spree, ranging from grand theft auto to weapons charges. “I went into beast mode,” he explained to investigators. “And beast mode is not good.” Paranoia Park “It all started as four street kids looking out for each other in downtown Portland,” said Cutler. (His account of the gang’s beginnings was confirmed by three Portland law enforcement gang experts.) It was 1986. Cutler, then 16, was a recently emancipated minor who wound up homeless in Portland. He slept in a camp and spent his days in “Paranoia Park,” a grassy square with a fountain. (Still a magnet for homeless youth, its official name is O’Bryant Square.) “This was back when the black gangs were getting bigger with the crack trade, and there were a lot of Crips and Bloods and black pimps coming downtown, victimizing us street kids,” Cutler said. “Three other guys and I made a pact that, no matter what, we’d always have each other’s backs. It was just four skinny white kids trying to survive.” The foursome came up with a name for themselves: Brothers Running Over Ordinary Dogs, or Brood, for short. One night in early 1987, according to Cutler, the four “original gangsters” of Brood fought 22 black gang members in Pioneer Square, another park in downtown Portland. “We took some lumps, believe that, but none of us ran,” he said. “We stayed in it, all of us, and from that day on we were united, a family.” Brood “shot caller” David Bartol (middle) poses in a prison yard with Kyle Brewster (left) and Kenneth Mieske, former leaders of the neo-Nazi skinhead group East Side White Pride, who were convicted of beating to death Ethiopian immigrant Mulugeta Seraw in 1988. Brood was never intended to be a white supremacist organization, Cutler said. “There was a certain racial element to it, because we were white and a lot of the guys we were fighting were black. But it [Brood] was based more on shared identity and mutual protection. It wasn’t about hating anyone else just for the color of their skin. We only hated people who were trying to do us wrong, plain and simple.” Heavy use of crystal meth also defined Brood from day one. “Living on the streets, you learn to stay up all night, because if you sleep at night you get robbed or harassed,” Cutler said. The four began stealing from houses and cars to get money for meth, then graduated to strong-arm robberies and drug dealing. One by one they were caught and sent to prison in the late 1980s through early 1990s. “We all four of us went to different state correctional facilities, and we all started recruiting new members in the prisons. That’s when Brood started to blow up into this huge thing it is now,” Cutler said. “The guys we put on in prison, they’d bring in new guys on the streets once they were out, and it just got a little carried away.” According to multiple Portland law enforcement sources, Brood now has 30 to 50 hardcore members on the streets in Portland at any one time, with another 300 to 350 members in the state prison system. “Brood is currently the biggest white supremacist prison gang in Oregon, no question,” said Bryan Smith, Supervisor of the Multnomah County Parole and Probation Gang Unit. Brood marking their turf in Portland, Oregon. Well into the 1990s, Brood was primarily a street gang with members in prison. But in the last 20 years, as more of its members were sentenced to long prison terms, recruiting in prison outpaced recruiting on the streets, and Brood evolved from a street gang with a growing presence in the prison system to a prison gang with brazen street factions. Inside prisons, Brood runs extortion and gambling rackets, distributes narcotics, and battles with black and Hispanic gangs for control. “Brood is a prison gang, and prison is a segregated, racial world, so there’s inevitably a lot of racial violence between Brood guys and black guys and Hispanic guys, and that fuels the racial identity component,” Smith said. “At the same time, it’s not like Brood is a group with a fully developed racist belief system of its own. For the most part these guys are too dope-addled to be political. They’re not going to white power rallies. They’re not World War II history experts. They haven’t read a lot of Hitler. They’re criminals. A lot of them are racist criminals. But first and foremost, they’re criminals. And they’re reckless. What defines Brood, more than anything, is total recklessness.” Last year, more than a dozen Brood members took over this Southeast Portland residential complex and turned it into a hive of criminal activity. Hornets' Nests The tan, sprawling, residential complex on SE 122nd Street in Portland is vacant now, boarded up, with bright green Portland Police Bureau notices duct-taped to grimy windows, informing passersby the buildings have been “a source of public safety concerns.” Before it was raided last summer by a SWAT team, the run-down house, triplex and weedy yards just north of SE Harold Street was occupied by more than a dozen Brood members running around-the-clock criminal activity. “The compound on 122nd was pretty typical for Brood,” said Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Ryan Burkeen, a veteran member of the multi-agency East Metro Gang Enforcement Team. “Their M.O. is to take over a threeplex or a fourplex and transform them into a center of a lot of trouble in a hurry. They’re like hornet nests. One day we hear that two or three have moved into a certain location, the next you’re looking through binoculars at 15 to 20 Brood guys hanging out in the yard, and it’s like, ‘Yep, there’s a problem here.’” Last year, more than a dozen Brood members took over this Southeast Portland residential complex and turned it into a hive of criminal activity. On a recent afternoon, a seven-year resident of the neighborhood was tinkering with an old pick-up truck in his yard next to the former Brood compound. He said the first sign of trouble last spring was his pit bull, Riley, growling all night at the blackberry bushes that separated his property from the Brood compound. “It was constant noise, constant foot and car traffic, people coming and going, yelling in the middle of the night, ‘Watch out, he’s got a gun!’ I mean, it was just insane,” he said. Riley’s owner, who asked Intelligence Report not to use his name due to safety concerns, said that he’d never heard of Brood until the gang moved in next door, but when he asked old friends in the neighborhood who’d been to prison about Brood, “they told me Brood is the gang that recruits all the white guys in prison. My friends said they [Brood] have these rings where they look for the right kind of properties around here [SE Portland] and just take them over.” The man said he bought a gun for the first time in his life after Brood moved next door. “It used to be you just needed a pit bull in this neighborhood. Now you need a pit bull and a firearm.” Detective Josh Zwick described the similar menace caused by another Brood compound in Portland, this one a triplex at SE 111 Avenue and Burnside Street. “We couldn’t believe what we were seeing once we put the place under surveillance,” he said. “There were guys holding guns just walking around the property.” A Multnomah County gang task force officer inspects a former Brood compound that was raided in summer 2016. The triplex was occupied by about a dozen Brood members, including several women (known in the gang as the Killer Bs), as well as a few members of European Kindred, a longtime Portland-based white supremacist gang that is allied with Brood, though “EK” is more overtly racist. The Brood and EK members were dealing drugs and guns, buying stolen goods, and running a busy “chop shop” for stolen cars in the back yard. “All of it right out in the open,” said Zwick. “They were going at it until four or five in the morning every night. It was off the hook.” Rule Number One Driving the tree-lined streets of Southeast Portland in an unmarked car, Deputy Burkeen of the East Metro gang unit pointed out Brood graffiti spray-painted on a fence: a crown with the word “Brood,” next to the letters “KRB.” It stands for Krude Rude Brood, a newer extension of the gang’s original name. Burkeen paused for a few seconds in front of a two-story house at the corner of SE 72nd and Sherrett Street that Cutler frequents. Burkeen noted a hand-lettered cardboard sign in an upstairs window, facing outward, above a mounted air conditioning unit. It read, “Love is Law, Bitch!” “A public service message brought to you by Brood,” said Burkeen. Asked to explain the meaning of “Love is Law,” Cutler said in a recent interview, “It’s rule number one for us. Right or wrong, you stick with your brothers in Brood. When in doubt, refer to rule number one. ‘Love is Law’ means if one of your brothers comes to you for something, you’re there for them. No questions asked. No judgment rendered.” Despite the creed, Brood leaders, or shot callers, enforce harsh internal discipline on members who violate gang rules. For at least a year, Brood operated a torture chamber inside Tom’s Auto Painting and Body Shop, located at the intersection of SE Powell Boulevard and SE 85th Avenue, in the heart of Brood territory. The auto shop was co-owned by Brood enforcer David Corbit. He and other Brood officers tortured victims inside the shop’s auto painting booth, which allowed for easy clean-up of blood and other body matter. Brood gunsmiths used the shop equipment to manufacture illegal silencers, which gang members test-fired inside. Brood enforcers tortured victims in the paint spraying booth of Tom’s Auto Painting and Body Shop. In December 2012, Corbit and other Brood enforcers, including David Bartol, kidnapped gang member Nicholas Remington at gunpoint from his home and drove him to Tom’s in the middle of the night. Remington was suspected of being a police informant. The Brood enforcers stripped him, beat him with baseball bats, used a belt sander to remove a Brood tattoo on his left shoulder, then placed a motorcycle helmet on his head and shot it with a rifle four or five times. Next, they injected Remington in the neck with an overdose of methamphetamine and heroin, then dumped him, unconscious, naked except for boxer shorts, and barely alive, on a street about a mile away. Remington survived. Remington’s account led to a multi-year, multi-agency investigation of Brood, led by Detective Zwick. Dubbed Operation White Christmas, it resulted in more than 100 felony indictments of members of Brood, European Kindred, and three other, smaller Oregon white supremacist gangs. (Corbit was sentenced to 15 years in prison for torturing the two men at Tom’s and shooting a third in a home invasion robbery; Bartol was sentenced to death for a separate murder.) The torturers included former Brood shot caller David Bartol (right), shown posing with fellow Brood members in Portland. Operation White Christmas investigators seized more than 100 firearms, several kilos of meth, around $80,000 in cash, a container load of expensive string instruments stolen from a music store in Vancouver, Washington, and several caches of neo-Nazi paraphernalia. “Operation White Christmas hit Brood hard, but what’s happening now is Brood shot callers, including some of the original founders, are getting released from prison, and that’s re-energizing the gang,” said Deputy Burkeen. “There’s sort of a trend in Brood right now of the younger guys paying respect to their elders. It’s a way of strengthening their gang identity and giving them new momentum.” One grisly example of this paying of homage: earlier this year, longtime Brood member Billy DuBois died of cancer. His body was cremated, and Brood members across Portland have been getting new gang tattoos using special ink mixed with his ashes. Kissing the Ring Last summer, a group of 10 white men ranging in age from their late 20s to late 40s held a reunion of sorts in a Portland parking lot. The guest of honor was a 47-year-old convicted felon with long brown hair pulled into a ponytail and a goatee, who stripped off his shirt to reveal a huge “BROOD” tattoo inked across his chest. The group posed for photographs and celebrated the release from prison of the ponytailed Brood “original gangster,” Anthony Kronus Swift, one of the four original founders of Brood, who’d just been released from a Texas federal prison after serving 15 years on gang-related felony charges. Known on the streets by his middle name, “Kronus” being freed was a shot in the arm for Brood. “The young guys have all heard a lot of stories about Kronus, but they’ve not seen him or met him,” said Detective Zwick. “Now that he’s out, they’re all going to see him, introducing themselves, paying their respects. Like kissing the king’s ring.” Bryan Smith, the parole and probation gang unit supervisor, said that Kronus directed Brood activities in Portland even while he was serving time at the federal penitentiary in Texas. “He runs the show, wherever he is,” Smith said. “We’ve heard a lot of Brood guys talking about over the years: ‘Kronus said this,’ or ‘Kronus sent this message from prison.’” Brood Co-Founder Shawn Cutler Cutler, the other Brood co-founder, refused to answer questions about Kronus. “All I’ll say is that he’s half crazy. He’s already flown the coop [left Oregon], as far as I know.” To the contrary, multiple law enforcement sources told Intelligence Report that Kronus has been spotted on several occasions at known Brood houses, and that Kronus has presided over mandatory “roll call” meetings for all Brood members outside prison, in which he stressed the need for renewed gang unity. “From a law enforcement perspective, Kronus being out and active is not a positive development,” said Deputy Burkeen of the Portland gang unit. Another red flag raised by the sighting of a well-known criminal at a known Brood hangout was the recent presence on the porch of a flophouse popular with Brood members of notorious neo-Nazi skinhead Kyle Brewster, who served 20 years in prison for beating to death Ethiopian immigrant Mulugeta Seraw in 1988. Two other members of the Portland skinhead crew East Side White Pride were also convicted of murder in what became one of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s most famous legal actions against a hate group. Acting on behalf of Seraw’s family, the SPLC obtained a $12.5 million verdict against the neo-Nazi group White Aryan Resistance (WAR), and its notorious leader, Tom Metzger, who recruited the Portland skinheads who murdered Seraw. The verdict decimated WAR and undercut the skinhead movement in the Pacific Northwest. Cutler said that he and other Brood leaders condemn violent hate crimes like those called for by WAR and carried out by East Side White Pride skinheads. “We do not condone white supremacist violence, period,” he said. Cutler noted that a few splinter factions of Brood have even allowed a handful of African American, Hispanic and Native American convicts to run with the gang in Portland after being released from prison. “The whole idea that Brood is a white supremacist organization is a complete fallacy.” With his next breath, though, “Sky” contradicted himself, at least in part. “The whole racial thing has just gotten blown out of proportion. Without a doubt, there are members of Brood who consider themselves white supremacists,” he said. “Without a doubt, there are members of Brood who have swastika tattoos they place some meaning behind. My point is that some of them had those beliefs and tattoos before they were inducted into Brood, some of them developed those beliefs and got those tattoos after. But there’s no requirement they have those beliefs, just like there’s no rule against it. We’re not here to sit in judgment of anyone’s beliefs or what tattoos he chooses to put on his body or why. That’s not the purpose of Brood” What is the purpose? “Brotherhood. Honor. Loyalty. Respect. Family. And, you know, robbing people who there’s a reason to rob.” Photo Credit: Oregon Department of Correction (Prison Yard); Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office (Kronus); Lean Nelson (Brood Graffiti), Leah Nelson (Tom’s Auto Body); Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office (Brood Members)

Image copyright University of Reading Image caption Erika Delbecque found the pages made by England's first printer, William Caxton Pages printed more than 500 years ago by William Caxton, who brought printing to England, have been discovered by the University of Reading. There are no other known surviving examples of these two pages anywhere in the world, from a book believed to have been printed in London in the 1470s. The pages had been "under their noses" unrecognised in the library's archives. Erika Delbecque, special collections librarian at the university, described the find as "incredibly rare". The two pages, with religious texts in medieval Latin, were produced by Caxton at his pioneering printing works in Westminster - and are now going on public display for the first time since they were sold from his print shop in the 15th Century. They are believed to be from the earliest years of Caxton's printing press, either 1476 or 1477, and are being hailed as a remarkable discovery. Image copyright University of Reading Image caption There are no other known copies of the pages, printed by William Caxton in about 1476, anywhere else in the world The only other pages from this book known to be in existence are eight leaves held by the British Library. An early printing specialist, Andrew Hunter, of Blackwells Books, said that in the world of rare books, a find like this has a "special, almost magic, resonance". 'Astonishing' But the leaf of paper, printed on both sides, has not always been treated with such reverence. "The leaf had previously been pasted into another book for the undignified purpose of reinforcing its spine," says librarian Ms Delbeque, who first recognised the pages' significance. "We understand it was rescued by a librarian at the University of Cambridge in 1820, who had no idea that it was an original Caxton leaf." The pages have been owned by the University of Reading since 1997, bought as part of a bigger collection of manuscripts and books with the help of a lottery grant. But they had not been recognised as Caxton's work until Ms Delbeque was cataloguing a collection of loose pages which had been detached from their original books. "I suspected it was special as soon as I saw it. The trademark black letter typeface, layout and red paragraph marks indicate it is very early Western European printing," she said. "It is astonishing that it has been under our noses for so long." They are of great significance to scholars and book experts and are expected to have a financial value in excess of £100,000. First book advert Caxton expert and former deputy keeper at the British Library, Dr Lotte Hellinga, said that it was a very rare event for a piece of printing by Caxton to be found. "Its condition is good, considering that it spent some 300 years bound in the spine of a book and another 200 resting forgotten in an album of fragments rescued from other bindings," said Dr Hellinga. Image copyright PA Image caption William Caxton depicted handing one of the books he had printed to Edward IV The pages are from a book called the Sarum Ordinal, which was a handbook for priests with details of feast days of English saints. The text had been written in the 11th Century and copied in the form of hand-written manuscripts. But the arrival of printing meant that the book could be reproduced much more readily and cheaply - and it is believed that there might have been hundreds of copies produced by Caxton's press. This copy also shows how books were in a transition from manuscripts to printing - as the red marks on the page, showing paragraph breaks, were added by hand after printing. But the Sarum Ordinal also has another claim to fame. It was the subject of the first ever recorded book advert. Caxton was an entrepreneur as well as innovator and printed his own adverts urging people to call into his printing shop to buy their own copy. The pages will go on public display from 10 to 30 May at the Museum of English Rural Life at the University of Reading.

In the earliest days of aviation, there were no crosswind landings. Airports (or aerodromes as they were often called at the time) were simply open fields and pilots would takeoff and land into the wind. Over time, airplanes started requiring greater takeoff distances. This meant that there was a need to purchase and maintain a large field in order to accomodate the newer aircraft. Because of this, the transition was made away from open fields to airports with designated runways. Under ideal circumstances, runways are aligned to the prevailing winds in the region. However, it is only occasionally that the wind will be perfectly aligned with the runway. Therefore, most takeoffs and landings will be with the wind blowing at least somewhat across the runway. This is known as a “crosswind”. Pilots use a special technique to counter these crosswinds on takeoff and landing. The pilot will bank into the wind, and then apply opposite rudder to turn the airplane away from the wind and align it with the runway. In effect, the pilot is making the airplane fly sideways into the wind just as much as the wind is pushing on the airplane. As a result, the airplane remains aligned with the runway. This technique is known as a ‘sideslip’. Proper application of this technique is vital in aircraft with conventional landing gear. These aircraft have the main landing gear towards the front and a wheel under the tail, or a tailwheel, that swivels to allow steering. If the pilot of one of these aircraft did not correctly compensate for the wind, the airplane would turn around or ‘groundloop’. The likely outcome in this event would be damage to the airplane. Many modern aircraft designs use tricycle landing gear. On these, the steerable wheel or wheels are located at the nose, while the main landing gear are further back on the fuselage. The advantage of this design in a crosswind is that it can be landed in an angle, or “crabbed”. Though they were not designed to do this on a regular or extreme basis, this design will correct the occasional minor piloting error, without the risk of a groundloop. When the jet airliners appeared in the late 1950’s, the gear was designed to withstand repeated hard landings and side loads. Though pilots could now land in a crab, this was considered sloppy technique and also jostled the passengers on touchdown. In the 1960’s, Pratt and Whitney developed the much larger diameter JT-3D turbofan. The ground clearance on these engines mounted on the wings of the 707 greatly limited the amount of bank or “wing down” that could be used on a crosswind landing. Airlines began training crews to only use limited bank in crosswind landings and let the gear absorb the remainder of the crab from the crosswind landing. Pilots using the full amount of bank for the crosswind risked dragging the number 1 or number 4 engine on the runway. The 737 was also limited in such a manner when the CFM engines were introduced on the 737-300. The 737 was further limited when the wings were lengthened on the Next Generation models (-600, -700, -800, and -900), putting wing tips at risk with an excessive amount of bank on landing. Today, airliner pilots will use one of three techniques when landing in a crosswind. The traditional method of banking into the wind as much as is required to compensate fully for the winds is the ideal. There are two distinct advantages to this method. The first is that done properly, it will result in zero side loading of the gear, allowing for a smooth landing. The second is that this method actually induces a stabilizing effect to the airplane. Making the airplane fly sideways creates a large amount of drag. When a wind gust strikes an airplane being flown this way, there will be a rise in the amount of drag. The banked wings will also generate more lift. The horizontal component of the lift is what is causing the airplane to fly sideways. The gust will cause an increase of this and again, partially check the negative effect of the wind gust trying to push the aircraft off the runway. This technique requires an alert pilot with excellent flying skills, and is only applicable on certain aircraft. It is most commonly used in light crosswind conditions. When the crosswind is stronger, the common technique is to land the aircraft partially banked and partially in a crab. This hybrid method enjoys some of the advantages of the traditional technique, but does not greatly risk dragging a wingtip or engine pod in strong winds. It is also far easier to conduct in all crosswind conditions than the traditional technique. Airplane manufacturer Airbus recommends that pilots of its aircraft use this technique. The third technique is for the pilot to maintain the wings level, and then just a couple of seconds prior to touchdown push the rudder to align the fuselage with the runway. To properly conduct this technique, the pilot must be acutely aware of the airplane’s position and have good flying skills. This technique greatly reduces the side loading forces on the gear and does not push the passengers to the sides of their seats like the traditional technique, though it is not as stable. Pilots refer to this as “kicking it out”. There is one other technique, but it is not really a technique at all, and that is when the pilot allows the aircraft to land in the crab with the gear absorbing the entire load of the crosswind. This technique is the most simple to conduct and provides a more comfortable ride for the passengers until touchtown. On landing, the passengers will be abruptly pushed to the sides of their seats. On airplanes with two- and three- axle bogies, the aircraft will tend to shutter on touchdown. Pilots will also generally fly the approach a little faster during crosswind and gusting conditions. At airports with exceptionally long runways, this is permissible and the extra speed results in a slightly more responsive airplane. The pilots will often maintain this extra speed through landing, touching down in a more flat attitude than normal. If the runway length is limited, this may not be an option. As crosswinds approach the maximum allowed for a particular aircraft, the landings can become quite dramatic. One airport that can be prone to extreme crosswinds is Birmingham Airport (BHX) in the United Kingdom. Recently, a video of a First Choice Airways 767-300ER landing at BHX has gone viral on YouTube, with nearly 7 million views so far and counting. Without data from the flight data recorder, it is difficult to definitively evaluate this landing. The strength of the crosswind and the gusting conditions of the day would challenge any level of pilot. From the attitude of the airplane, it appears the pilot was maintaining some extra airspeed resulting in less of a nose up approach. The touchdown put an exceptional vertical and side load on the main landing gear. Though the gear is designed to take these loads and more, it is still taxing on the airplane. It is unclear if the pilot was planning on landing in a crab, transitioning to a partial crab/crosswind technique, or on “kicking it out” in the last few seconds before being interrupted by the touchdown. The end result was unsatisfactory for the passengers and probably in the pilots’ own opinions as well. The video below was shot at Chicago O’Hare International airport earlier this year. On a day with an apparent steady crosswind from the left, quite a few landings are shown using various techniques. A KLM 747 starts it off with a beautiful traditional technique. Later in the video, there is an excellent example of a Lufthansa 340 landing partially crabbed and partially wing down. Near the end, there is a Swiss 330 that clearly demonstrates the “kick it out” technique. You will see other variants of these as well as a couple of airplanes that land in a crab without correction. Depending on the conditions, the type of airplane, and the pilot, you are likely to encounter any of the above techniques when you travel by air. The technique and the quality will vary, but one thing is for certain, the majority of the takeoffs and landings will be in crosswind conditions. NYCAviation Columnist David J. Williams is a former airline captain who is currently involved with aviation safety.

Taglines: The Course Has Been Set. There Is No Turning Back. Prepare Your Weapons. Summon Your Courage. Discover the Adventure of a Lifetime! Morgan Adams and her slave, William Shaw, are on a quest to recover the three portions of a treasure map. Unfortunately, the final portion is held by her murderous uncle, Dawg. Her crew is skeptical of her leadership abilities, so she must complete her quest before they mutiny against her. This is made yet more difficult by the efforts of the British crown to end her piratical raids. Written by Stern Did You Know? Trivia In a radio interview in 2011, In a radio interview in 2011, Renny Harlin discussed the film's box office failure. He pointed out that Carolco was already in ruin before the film even began shooting, but had to make the film since financing from foreign investors was already in place. MGM, the film's distributor, was in the process of being sold and thus could not devote itself into financing a marketing campaign for the film. See more Goofs During the final battle between the pirate ships (at 1:38) Geena Davis shouts out, "Riflemen prepare!" as her crew prepares to board the other ship. Rifles were not in common use until the 19th century, and would not have been used at sea in that period. During the final battle between the pirate ships (at 1:38) Geena Davis shouts out, "Riflemen prepare!" as her crew prepares to board the other ship. Rifles were not in common use until the 19th century, and would not have been used at sea in that period. See more

A national statistic shows 90-percent of the dollars spent by African Americans go to businesses that are not African American owned or invested. So a new program called Reverse 90 hopes to change that. The African American Chamber of Commerce designed it with the hope that discounts and deals would draw customers to the chamber's 400 member businesses. Come inside Naturally Ever After salon and you'll find professional, organic hair services with a smile plus a big discount! "We're actually offering free haircuts for new customers through the end of February with the purchase of a salon service," Audrea Rogers said. The ladies at Naturally Ever After are doing that through Reverse90.com. "Anyone can go to reverse90.com and take advantage of the deals offered by the businesses," Nicole Giles of the African American Chamber of Commerce said. Expect 10, 15, 25-percent off all kinds of services and merchandise. Plus, get 30-percent off semi-personal training sessions at Bodyrock Boot Camp. The African American Chamber of Commerce set up Reverse 90 to encourage the support of African American owned and invested businesses. LINK: Reverse90.com

McAfee has launched a number of business Last year, McAfee founded on 1987. Wiki: Intel Security Group is an American global computer security software company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and the world’s largest dedicated security technology company. Wikipedia Before they reported to Apple and they refused to Decrypt iPhone in order to protect their customers Digital Privacy. As we know, FBI seems unlucky for cracking iPhone security passcode they don’t want to keep guessing password that override the 10 incorrect guesses of iPhone’s passcode that can cause wipe out all the information that are saved inside. They are not sure if that feature is enabled, if that were disabled it was easy for them to launch brute-force to crack passcode. “So here is my offer to the FBI,” McAfee continued. “I will, for free, decrypt the information on the San Bernardino phone, with my team. We will primarily use social engineering and it will take us three weeks. If you accept my offer, then you will not need to ask Apple to place a back door in their product, which will be the beginning of the end of America.” Also Read: Google, WhatsApp Joins Hands with Apple (Fight Against FBI)

In the new James Bond movie, “Skyfall,” Daniel Craig takes off his shirt and examines his wounds. There appear to be two of them — small holes on his skin from bullets fired at the beginning of the movie. He touches his wounds and winces. So do I. Bond is in pain from his wounds. I am in pain from all the hours he has spent in the gym. This Bond ripples with muscles. Craig is 44, but neither gravity nor age has done its evil work on him. Nothing about him looks natural, relaxed — a man in the prime of his life and enjoying it. Instead, I see a man chasing youth on a treadmill, performing sets and reps, a clean and press, a weighted knee raise, an incline pushup and, finally, something called an incline pec fly (don’t ask). I take these terms from the Daniel Craig Workout, which you can do, too, if your agent and publicist so insist. Otherwise, I recommend a book. “Skyfall” is a lot of fun — don’t get me wrong — but it still says something about our culture that, in the autumn of my years, I do not like. To appreciate what I mean, contrast this new Bond to Roger O. Thornhill, the charmingly hapless advertising man played by Cary Grant in “North by Northwest.” Like Bond, Thornhill pulls off some amazing physical feats — his mad frantic escape from the crop duster, the traverse of Mount Rushmore — and like Bond he wears an expensive suit. Unlike Bond, though, when he takes it off we do not see some marbleized man, an ersatz creation of some trainer, but a fit man, effortlessly athletic and just as effortlessly sophisticated. Of course, he knows his martinis, but he also knows how to send out a suit for swift hotel cleaning. He is a man of the world. He is, in short, a man of a certain age — 55 at the time, to be more or less exact. In “North by Northwest” and other movies, Grant — for all his good looks — represented the triumph of the sexual meritocracy — a sex appeal won by experience and savoir-faire, not delts and pecs and other such things that any kid can have. He was not alone in this. Gary Cooper in “High Noon” wins Grace Kelly by strength of character, not muscles. He was about 50, and Kelly was a mere 23. Maybe the best example of the unmuscled hero is Humphrey Bogart in “Casablanca.” Bogart was 15 years older than Ingrid Bergman and it did not matter at all. He had the experience, the confidence, the internal strength that can only come with age. As he did with Mary Astor in “The Maltese Falcon” — “I don’t care who loves who, I won’t play the sap for you” — he gives up the love of his life because age and wisdom have given him character. These older men seduce; they are not seduced. They make love. They do not score. 1 of 15 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Ann Telnaes on sex scandals View Photos A collection of cartoons on scandals from Bill Clinton to the Catholic Church. Caption A collection of cartoons on scandals from Bill Clinton to the Catholic Church. May 6, 1998 Ann Telnaes Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. The new Bond is a zeitgeisty sort of character. “There has been a striking change in attitudes toward male body image in the past 30 years,” Harrison Pope, a Harvard psychiatry professor, recently told the New York Times. He said the portrayal of men in what amounts to the Bond image is now “dramatically more prevalent in society than it was a generation ago.” That same Times story reported that 40 percent of middle and high school boys work out with the purpose of “increasing muscle mass.” Many of them also use protein supplements. This is all very sad news. Every rippling muscle is a book not read, a movie not seen or a conversation not held. That’s why Sean Connery was my kind of Bond. He was 53 when he made his last Bond film, “Never Say Never Again.” Women loved him because he was sophisticated and he could handle a maitre d’ as well as a commie assassin. Western civilization was saved not on account of his pecs but on account of his cleverness and experience. I know the movie market skews young and kids want action, and I take it as a good thing that Daniel Craig’s Bond is older, world weary, and, in sports lingo, has slowed a step. But he still triumphs physically, not cleverly. He does not woo women; they just come on to him. Still, I have great hope for him. In this movie, Bond’s drink is Macallan Scotch. It’s mine, too. The name is Cohen. Richard Cohen. cohenr@washpost.com

"When you ask any Argentinean person what concerns them the most, the first thing they’re going to be telling you is the crime problem. And the second one is the financial problem. Those are by far the top concerns the average Argentinean person has, and I think that eventually it will happen in the U.S.A., as well. I think that five years from now or so, you’re going to be talking to people, and the thing that’s going to be concerning them is that Joe down the street suffered a home invasion and got beaten up, maybe even got killed. All kinds of crime that didn't used to happen in the good parts of town. It’s going to be one of the greatest concerns people will have, eventually. And, of course, the financial situation as well. If you look into what people are worried about right now they’re worried about losing their jobs not being able to put food on the table the next month. They see that if they lose their jobs it’s not as easy as it used to be to find another one as well. That’s terrible, because it’s very cold when you look at it in numbers, but it’s—I’m telling you—it’s so much different when it happens on a social level and you see that on the street . When you see the people picking up garbage on the streets to eat." Hyperinflation survivor Fernando "FerFAL" Aguirre shares his observations of life during and after Argentina's currency collapse in 2001. He notes that the decline initally began slowly, with most of the populace slow to wake to the danger. But when the eventual collapse occured, it happened practiclly overnight - catching the country by surprise. In the wake of the collapse, dealing with poverty and violent crime became the dominant themes. Worth our attention is his observation that he now sees the sames signs in the US and other major developed nations that he saw leading up to Argentina's collapse. In fact, he foresees a similar endgame as all but inevitable. Click the play button below to listen to Part 1 of Chris' interview with FerFAL (runtime 31m:43s): Download/Play the Podcast Report a Problem Playing the Podcast Or start reading the transcript below: Chris Martenson: Welcome to another PeakProsperity.com podcast. I am Chris Martenson, your host today, as usual. Today we’re speaking with Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre, author of Surviving the Economic Collapse (Self-published, 2009. ISBN 978-9870563457). FerFAL experienced the hyperinflationary destruction of Argentina’s economy in 2001 and has since dedicated his professional career, like I have, to educating the public about his experiences and observations of its lingering aftermath. Given the rising concerns that we all have today about the future of fiat currencies, our listeners are increasingly asking to hear from voices that have firsthand experience with extreme currency devaluation, what it means, how it actually feels, how it plays out. So we’re very fortunate that FerFAL is able to join us today from his home in Argentina. We’re going to be discussing the signs that preceded the collapse in his country and what has defined the society since, including smart moves to take if worried about a similar fate happened in one’s own country and how would you know where you are in the story as it unfolds. So FerFAL, we’re so glad to have you with us today. FerFAL: Hi Chris. Thanks for having me here. Chris Martenson: So take us back to that period leading up to the currency collapse that you witnessed living in Argentina in 2001. You know: What were the signs, what were people’s perceptions at the time about how dire the situation could get, and what was the government saying and doing? FerFAL: Well, the government as always says that nothing is going on and that everything is fine. As you can come to expect by now, just a few hours later you see the entire country go down. And you will be seeing high amounts of an unemployment, and there’s going to be a good amount of social unrest. Unfortunately, many of these things are already happening in the United States. So you are seeing many of these signs right now. Chris Martenson: What sort of signs? FerFAL: Having the people living on the streets where it didn’t happen before. Inflation slowly going up. There’s small details. I was talking with a friend yesterday of mine from the U.S.A. He was telling me that something I had mentioned a few years ago about sizes of items and products shrinking and changing the design. It’s all very well-campaigned with good marketing and such. It’s like we’re offering this new improved product, but that new improved product happens to be just a bit smaller than it used to be, at a slightly higher price. So all those little things, the way in which they hide the inflation, they slowly creep it into your life. Chris Martenson: So did the Argentinean government—how were they hiding inflation?—through the official statistics claiming it was lower than what people were experiencing? Or how did that play out? FerFAL: Yes, at first, hiding inflation as products get smaller, but soon enough that’s just not enough either. So it starts going up as well, noticeably so, and people see that their shopping cart just isn’t filling as much as it used to. You’re just buying half of what you used to with the same amount of money, but in the official statistics they’re saying that everything is fine because they changed the way they measure inflation so as to fit what they want to show you. So, if for example, take meat, it has gone up 20 percent, they will just take into account specific type of meat that is only found in one particular location, so it’s not very real, that statistic, but that’s what they stick to. Chris Martenson: Right, so a beef tongue in the outer reaches seems to be cheaper today, so we’ll go with that—something like that. So it sounds like a pretty common story here, which is the governments obviously don’t want to admit that inflation is high, because that’s either a fiscal or a monetary failing, or most likely both. So they don’t like to admit that, plus there’s a lot of reasons why you want to keep inflation low in terms of being able to say your economic growth is higher and keeping your pension payments lower. There are a lot of reasons for that. So you’re saying that in the United States if we look around, we can already see early signs that parallel what you saw in Argentina? We have rising prices, shrinking packaging for certain things, maybe more people on food stamps, historical records, maybe more people homeless… FerFAL: More people on social welfare—all those things we saw as well, and it’s happening in U.S.A. as well, unfortunately. It’s an already-written story. We know what ends up happening. It may have different variations, and it may end up in an economic collapse, or not. That’s something that I personally prefer not to be the one spreading that kind of—you know what happens? Its fear. It’s not productive for people in general when preparing, so I’m not going to be saying that the economy in the U.S. is going to be collapsed. All I’m going to be saying is that it’s going to be much worse than it already is right now, and people need to adjust to that different lifestyle. Chris Martenson: Absolutely, and I want to get to that really important point about how fear can be demotivating. Let’s get to that later. Let’s track this now. So how quickly did the collapse happen? You know, what is a boiling frog situation and people woke up one day and said “whoa, how did we get here?” Or did it feel somehow like the world changed overnight? FerFAL: It’s a bit of both. These things don’t happen overnight. You see them coming for years. As you see it in U.S.A., as well, we saw it here as well, and that’s the reason why some of the richest, most powerful elite manage to leave the country with more than enough time. Some happen to do it more in a rush, but most of these guys that have the inside information manage to avoid having their bank accounts frozen, as we saw. So there are signs, and it is a bit of a boiling frog situation. The thing is, eventually when it cracks down, it does so all of a sudden. All of a sudden, you know, when the banks close, that’s when people go absolutely ballistic, because that’s when they realize that their money has been stolen from them - or when inflation turns to hyperinflation one day to the next. That’s when people see that even though you didn’t steal their money directly, as it happened here with the banks, you’re stealing it through inflation as well. So they just bought half of what they used to with the same amount of money. It’s, in a way, stealing their labor, their savings. The rest of the transcript to Part 1 can be read here. Click here to access Part 2 of the interview, which focuses on smart steps individuals can take in preparation before an economic collapse. Fernando "FerFAL" Aguirre experienced the hyperinflationary destruction of Argentina's economy in 2001 and continues to blog about his experiences and observations of its lingering aftermath. His website (www.themodernsurvivalist.com) and his book Surviving the Economic Collapse (Self-published, 2009. ISBN 978-9870563457) offer windows into the probable outcomes to expect during a collapsing economy. Note: Our site's What Should I Do? Guide offers specific guidance relevant to a number of the risks FerFAL mentions in the interview. This What Should I Do? blog series is intended to surface knowledge and perspective useful to preparing for a future defined by Peak Oil. The content is written by PeakProsperity.com readers and is based in their own experiences in putting into practice many of the ideas exchanged on this site. If there are topics you'd like to see featured here, or if you have interest in contributing a post in a relevant area of your expertise, please indicate so in our What Should I Do? series feedback forum. If you have not yet seen the other articles in this series, you can find them here: This series is a companion to this site's free What Should I Do? Guide, which provides guidance from Chris and the PeakProsperity.com staff on specific strategies, products, and services that individuals should consider in their preparations.

Long time ago, all clans of Dwarves lived together, but after a great split, the Red-bearded swore that they would destroy their insolent brothers from Thargomind. Today, both clans are fanatically seeking for opportunities to fight, forgetting about the old prophecy... Long time ago, all clans of Dwarves lived together, but after a great split, the Red-bearded swore that they would destroy their insolent brothers from Thargomind. Today, both clans are fanatically seeking for opportunities to fight, forgetting about the old prophecy... Wanna make your army / game board one of a kind? With our conversion bits and terrain pieces it's really easy! Bits & Accessories Wanna make your army / game board one of a kind? With our conversion bits and terrain pieces it's really easy! Discover more!

Featuring Michael Shermer. In his new book, The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics, Michael Shermer examines such questions as: How did we evolve from ancient hunter-gatherers to modern consumer-traders? Why are people so irrational when it comes to money and business? He argues that the new science of evolutionary economics provides an answer to both of those questions. Shermer shows how evolution and economics are both examples of a larger phenomenon of complex adaptive systems. Along the way, he answers such provocative questions as, Do our tribal roots mean that we will always be a sucker for brands? How is the biochemical joy of sex similar to the rewards of business cooperation? How can nations increase trust within and between their borders? Finally, Shermer considers the consequences of globalization and why free trade promises to build alliances between nations. Michael Shermer is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and the author of Why People Believe Weird Things and Why Darwin Matters.

The showdown over Gorsuch requires two sets of whip counts. One: How many Democrats are willing to vote yes with the GOP on cloture? McConnell needs eight; so far he’s got two, and may have a third in Pat Leahy. There are still enough undecideds out there to get to 60, but the number is dwindling. The other whip count: How many Republicans are willing to nuke the filibuster if it comes to that? Not a single member of the caucus has flatly said they’d refuse that route in order to get Gorsuch confirmed, but the potential for squishiness among Republican centrists is ever present. Until they’re on record as being willing to nuke, there’s some doubt. Hatch is one of the Republicans I’ve been worried about. When asked in November how he felt about doing away with the filibuster, he answered, “Are you kidding? I’m one of the biggest advocates for the filibuster. It’s the only way to protect the minority, and we’ve been in the minority a lot more than we’ve been in the majority. It’s just a great, great protection for the minority.” Either he was talking about the legislative filibuster there, though, or he’s had a well-timed change of heart to coincide with his election plans because, as of today, he sounds like he’s ready to push the button: Another veteran Republican senator is ready to thwart an unprecedented filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. “We are going to confirm Judge Gorsuch. By whatever means necessary,” Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah told THE WEEKLY STANDARD on Tuesday. The 83-year-old Hatch has been serving in the Senate since 1977 and is widely recognized as an establishment Republican who has taken in an interest in defending the Senate as an institution. Hatch is ready. So is Lindsey Graham, a veteran of the “Gang of 14” and a perennial candidate to go wobbly in partisan confrontations like this. How about McCain, another Gang of 14-er? I can’t find a transcript of what he said this morning but these two tweets from a Fox News reporter are a bit, er, concerning: McCain on confirming Gorsuch: I think it will be difficult..I don't know that he has the votes right now. — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) March 28, 2017 McCain on changing Senate precedent to confirm Gorsuch: I'm concerned about nuclear option. — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) March 28, 2017 Yeah, yeah, he’s “concerned” that Senate institutions are fraying under partisan pressure, but is he so concerned that he’d refuse to go nuclear if it came to that? Probably not: It was less than a week ago that McCain said of the nuclear option, “I think we’ll address it when it happens. None of us want to do it, but we’re going to confirm Gorsuch.” His point today sounds like it’s less of the “I can’t bring myself to do this” variety and more of the “please don’t make me do this, Democrats” sort. If you’re worried, though, that he’s going to try to broker another Gang of 14 type deal to try to wriggle out of the dilemma, don’t — apparently, he’s done with compromises like that over judges. Here’s a comment that’s truly worrisome, though: “Senator [Susan] Collins is not a proponent of changing the rules of the Senate,” a Collins representative told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “She hopes that common sense will prevail and that we will have a normal process for considering Judge Gorsuch’s nomination.” Though the statement does not flat out exclude the possibility Collins would support a rules-change, it encapsulates where several moderate Republicans senators find themselves — dubious of a rules change but unwilling to abandon a Supreme Court nominee they strongly support. If anyone’s apt to break with the rest of the caucus for a more moderate position, it’s Collins. She really might blink on a nuclear vote if it comes to that. But (a) she’ll be under tremendous pressure from the base not to do so, (b) given that even Lisa Murkowski has had kind things to say about Gorsuch, Collins may be the only vote against ending the filibuster, (c) the statement from Collins’s office, taken at face value, really only says what McCain said last week, that the GOP doesn’t want to go nuclear without saying whether it will, and (d) Collins gave a floor speech in the Senate just this morning supporting Gorsuch. (Watch below.) A key quote: “The Senate should resist the temptation to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee who is unquestionably qualified.” Hmmmm. I’m not worried. If there were any dirt at all on Gorsuch, you might get a handful of Republicans refusing to go nuclear on his behalf, on the theory that Trump could and would nominate a more acceptable nominee in his place. But there’s no dirt, and so a successful filibuster would mean that not only can’t Gorsuch be confirmed, neither can anyone who replaces him. Republicans won’t go nuclear for him personally, they’ll go nuclear because they’re not going to stand around and leave that SCOTUS seat vacant for four years. Especially when they’ve got political cover from respected liberals to put Gorsuch on the bench. They’ll push the button. Exit question: Which rhetorical strategy is more effective for Republicans while red-state Dems like Jon Tester are weighing what to do? Should they loudly promise to nuke the filibuster if Democrats mount one? Because that might encourage Tester to go along with his party, knowing that his no vote on cloture might not much matter. Or should they project some uncertainty, a la Collins? Because that might inadvertently encourage Tester to go along with his party, suspecting that maybe Democrats really can block Gorsuch.

THIS summer, when the battle over honouring Confederate leaders was at its most fierce, the Polish embassy in Washington had an arresting solution. Echoing a local conservative radio host, it suggested renaming a Virginian highway—celebrating Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy—after Tadeusz Kosciuszko, a Polish general and statesman. He remains a hero on both sides of the Atlantic, though not nearly as well known in America as he could be, and his spotless Enlightenment values still inspire today. Kosciuszko was born in 1746, the son of a Polish-Lithuanian noble. He gobbled up liberal ideas from a young age: in his twenties, he travelled to France and was exposed to writers like Rousseau and Voltaire. But Kosciuszko’s strongest jolt towards radicalism happened far from Poland. After the start of the American Revolution, he rushed to help the colonists. A skilled military engineer, he helped defend Saratoga from British attack, and designed the fortress at West Point. These talents soon won American admiration. Kosciuszko became a close friend of Thomas Jefferson, who described him as a “pure son of liberty”. Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks. After success in the New World, Kosciuszko moved to change things back home. He pushed for the emancipation of the Polish peasantry, and protected his country’s new liberal constitution. But Poland’s neighbours had other plans. Austria, Prussia and Russia conspired to partition the country, eventually annexing it completely in 1795. Kosciuszko tried to rally his countrymen into rebellion against Russia, but Poland was doomed. He died, exiled and exhausted, in 1817. In his will, he ordered his American army pay be spent on freeing black slaves. Gestures like these, twinned with his romantic reputation as a musician, thrilled contemporaries. In 1823, local patriots built a looming monument to Kosciuszko near Krakow. Rajnold Suchodolski, a writer killed fighting the Russians in 1831, composed a song that imagined Kosciuszko looking down at him from heaven. Foreign radicals kept the general close, too. Coleridge and Keats both dedicated sonnets to Kosciuszko, while Lord Byron roared that he embodied the “sound that crashes in the tyrant’s ear”. Thomas Campbell, a Scottish poet, set up a literary association to help the cause of Polish freedom. When he died, dirt from Kosciuszko’s grave was sprinkled on Campbell’s coffin. This radical legacy has flickered on into modern times. Jozef Pilsudski, Poland’s leader in the 1920s, was explicitly compared to Kosciuszko for his self-sacrificing nationalism. Polish school textbooks still link the two men. Not that Kosciuszko is always remembered so earnestly. Polish enthusiasts have adapted Kosciuszko’s adventures into “Mount and Blade”, a videogame. A recent television sketch showed Kosciuszko cancel a patriotic meeting because a ski club had booked the venue first. His mixed heritage also keeps Kosciuszko popular outside of Poland. His paternal family were Lithuanian; there is a street named after him in Vilnius. His birthplace, within the borders of modern Belarus, meant he was adopted there too. The memory of his campaign for freedom against Russia was useful for Belarusian nationalists eager to escape Soviet influence in the 1990s. At the same time, his international career ensures that Kosciuszko is still commemorated in the United States. Americans can visit Kosciusko (Mississippi), Kosciuszko County (Indiana) and Kosciuszko Island (in Alaska), or cross the Kosciusko Bridge (connecting Brooklyn and Queens). They can even eat Kosciuszko mustard. The old soldier is honoured across the Pacific, too. When a Polish explorer discovered Australia’s highest peak in 1840, he decided to name it after his famous compatriot. “Although [I was] in a foreign country, I was amongst a free people, who appreciate freedom,” he explained later. “I could not refrain from giving it the name of Mount Kosciuszko.” This year, the 200th anniversary of his death, has seen a whirlwind of new Kosciuszko celebrations. The Polish government has been especially enthusiastic, declaring 2017 the “Year of Kosciuszko” and encouraging fans to host commemorative parties. Elsewhere, Polish radio recorded a special Kosciuszko drama, while historians have published a barrage of new books on him. Foreigners have also used the chance to reflect on his liberal legacy. In Australia, several organisations have ganged together to offer a cash prize for the best Kosciuszko-themed poem or picture. The mania has even reached a Chicago concert hall, where pieces by Kosciuszko himself are taking pride of place (alongside Chopin, Poland’s national composer). If his fans are wallowing in Kosciuszko fever, there is still work to do. Poland’s embassy in America recently published a new video on their hero, noting that some Americans still find his name “hard to pronounce.” Fair enough: it hardly slides off American tongues like “Washington” or “Adams”. Hopefully this year’s festivities can help. Either way, it’s a good sign that in America’s splintered politics, the most controversial thing about Tadeusz Kosciuszko is how to say his name. Getting his statue on a few now-vacant plinths might be a good next step.

Hundreds of thousands of protestors have taken to the streets in Romania in an attempted coup by George Soros to overthrow the Romanian government. Amid chaotic riots across the country, Romanians geared up for a sixth day of protests on Sunday under the guise of forcing its government to rid the country of corruption – despite the fact the President had already vowed to do so. According to Alex Balan, President of the Union of Banat Romanians, the protests are funded and orchestrated by George Soros in an effort to incite violence and overthrow the democratically elected government in order to install a more globalist-friendly regime. Fort-russ.com reports: The following is an official statement, in Mr. Balan’s capacity as President of the Union of Banat Romanians, in Serbia: Yesterday’s massive demonstrations in Romania , where around 100,000 people gathered, were sponsored and organized by Soros financed NGO’s in Romania, and by the Soros funded political party, the USR. They were praised and supported by the openly masonic German president of Romania, Klaus Iohanis, who incited violence and called for a revolution. This impostor won a rigged election, he is against Romanian interests and calls for the so-called Europeanization of Romania. Their excuse for rioting was the the judiciary reform laws adopted by the new Socialist government, which are amnesty laws which would halt the political persecution of patriotic anti-globalist politicians in Romania, at the hands of the CIA and Soros funded anti-corruption agency DNA. These protect the interests of multinational companies, and prosecutes nationalists by indicting them with false charges. The present Socialist PSD government was elected by an overwhelming majority vote in December, over 50%, on their promises they would halt the further selling of Romanian resources to foreigners, their anti IMF stance, Eurosceptic views, raising of pensions, eliminating taxes etc. The USR Soros party which led the maidan protest yesterday, only won 8% in the election. They recruited young deluded people over the internet, their aim was to storm the parliament building and seize power. They openly called for the lynching of government officials by publishing their addresses and phone numbers on the net. Had they not been defeated by our brave police forces in Bucharest yesterday, they would have set up tents and other maidan like structures in the Bucharest city centre, Victoria square, and we all know to where that leads. We, the Romanians of Serbia condemn the Soros protest and so do the majority of Romanians in Romania, and all over the world in our diaspora. My view is shared also by the Serbian Radical Party leader Dr. Seselj, whom I visited today.

Update: Same situation as themarket with consolidating price action just under the 55 resistance level (.382 of bearish swing). I am writing about this market to show what I am thinking for longer term positioning.This market has previously lagged the top coins, and seems to now be following the leader which in my opinion makes it more attractive for long term strategies compared to swing trading or day trading. Also the present price structure may offer a clearer hint as to what the leader () is more likely to do in the near future.First let's talk about the wave count. Just likeand ETH, this market is showing a 3 3 5 corrective formation with the current consolidation being a Wave 4 of C which means one more leg lower is likely and would be Wave 5. If this wave extends and revisits the low in any kind of dramatic sell off, it is possible to see price within the 37.50 to 22.50 range which is the .618 of the entire previous bullish structure (which it reached during the recent sell off). There is also a 1.618 extension at the 30.50 area which would be a convenient bottom area for a broad Wave 2 completion.Keep in mind I am not predicting that this market will reach these levels. At this point I know that price action favors bearish momentum which means lower prices are likely to follow but I do not know how low. If selling momentum asserts itself again, price may find support in the 41 to 38 area which is the .618 of the recent bullish swing (which would also put the possibility of an extreme Wave 5 into question.)Why not buy now? In order for it to revisit the extreme highs (like 80s and 90s), it first needs to push through the 70 to 80 resistance zone . Until that happens, price action will most likely be range bound and slow unless something fundamentally changes. This market is nowhere near that price zone, and instead hesitating just under the 55 resistance which I interpret as a more bearish sign.So the reason why I am writing about this market is this: Any retrace to lower support levels, followed by a reversal, offers a long term buying opportunity in my opinion. I want to be prepared before this happens so if price reaches these projected supports, I will know what to do instead of react or hesitate. My plan is long term and NOT a swing trade, which means my entry does not have to be precise and also means I am willing to take pain.There are two scenarios I am watching for. First is a retest and reversal back up off the 41 support zone . The second scenario is if price pushes extreme lows into the 30s or lower. In both situations, I will wait for the low candle to close, and then place an order to buy the break of the high of that low candle. TO BE CLEAR: This type of trading requires a solid plan and RISK management. I will not being using stops because it is a long term investment. So I manage risk through proportional position sizing instead. This means buying into it with an amount that allows me to take pain and still sleep at night. I can always add to the position on the way up. Again this is NOT swing trading, I must emphasize this because it has different risk parameters and management style. (No short term profit targets).In summary, this market is interesting in many ways and if it offers extreme prices again, would be one that I intend to build a position for the long term. Presently price action is slow, showing signs of bearish momentum and is following thelead. There is nothing attractive about the current price levels. The goal of this analysis is to provide an idea of how I am planning to get into this market, but the market needs to provide the opportunity. The plan must be in place ahead of time because in the thick of extreme price action, emotion will often get in the way. As my former Forex colleague Todd Gordon says: Plan your trade and trade your plan.Comments and questions welcome.

Iranian state media outlets have attacked a visiting British diplomat after she appeared in official meetings without wearing a hijab. Karen Pierce is a director of the UK Foreign Office. She accompanied Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson as part of a delegation to Iran to discuss the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who is being held in prison there. Video of the talks on Sunday reveals Miss Pierce arriving for a meeting with Iran Foreign Minister Javid Zarif with a scarf around her shoulders but her head left bare. As Mr. Zarif greets the other members of the British delegation with an outstretched hand, he instead points to the ceiling with both hands as Ms. Pierce approaches, a gesture state news reported as the country’s top diplomat telling his guest to cover her hair with her scarf. Later during the visit Miss Pierce is again seen in a formal meeting with her head left uncovered. According to the Independent, State-run Fars News and Tasnim News Agencies both labelled her appearance “inappropriate”, unleashing a storm of comments from Iranians on social media contesting her decision from all sides. پوشش نامتعارف یکی از زنان هیات همراه وزیر خارجه #انگلیس در دیدار با ظریف در تهران pic.twitter.com/ih2ixth0Ae — خبرگزاری فارس (@FarsNews_Agency) December 9, 2017 Women have been required to cover their hair with a hijab since the 1979 revolution in Iran removed the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi from power and replaced him with the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Under the Shah, women had the option to show their hair. One anti-hijab activist claimed the response to Miss Pierce was a direct humiliation of the visiting UK diplomat. “I was bombarded with comments from ordinary people who was shocked that how humiliating that a high representative of Iran [was] acting like the morality police,” Mahsi Alinejad, founder of anti-hijab movement My Stealthy Freedom, told the Independent. “One of the women wrote to me that Zarif’s humiliating gesture is familiar to millions of Iranian women who are told every day to improve their [appearance], sometimes with fake smiles, sometimes using violence,” the exiled activist added. As Breitbart Jerusalem has reported, the hijab (roo sari or chador, which means “head covering”) is a source of irritation for increasing numbers of women in Muslim-majority countries. In Iran, more women are fighting the requirement as part of the “bad hijab” campaign which sees them driving cars on pubic roads with their heads uncovered.

Tesla’s Model X is fast, like, really fast. It might not look it, but the all-electric “family” car that can seat up to seven adults is actually the fastest SUV out there, according to Tesla. It can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in under three seconds, for those who are counting. Just to prove how fast the car really can go, Jason Cammisa, car expert and journalist, raced the Model X against an Alfa Romeo 4C. But there was a catch, to make it a fair race, there was another car involved, another Alfa 4C on a tow, attached to the back of the Model X. The videos of the race popped up on none other than Tesla Founder and CEO, Elon Musk’s Twitter and Instagram accounts. The Alfa Romeo 4C, can go zero to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds. But even with what Cammisa says is a 4,000 pound trailer on the back, the Model X was still the winner on a straight track. The video shows the two cars racing along, almost neck and neck, but the Model X accelerates past the Alfa to the finish line. Cammisa clarifies that the race was not scientific and there was no equipment involved, but he says, “The point here is that the Alfa 4C is a really, really, fast car and the Model X is so much faster that you have to put a 4,000 lb trailer on it to make it as fast as a really, really, fast car.” Musk’s captions on the videos didn’t offer much information on the race, or where the videos came from. He simply wrote, “Model X races a gasoline sports car while towing a sports car.” The Model X isn’t even the fastest car of all of Tesla’s vehicles, the newly unveiled Roadster that was released along with the Tesla Semi earlier this month. The Roadster can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in under two seconds, a whole second quicker than the Model X. If the speed of the Model X makes you want one, you’ll have to get in line. It’ll cost you nearly $80,000 and you’ll have to wait until 2018 if you want to buy the vehicle new and outright. Tesla’s faced criticism in the last few months for its delays on the Model 3 production line as well as a quarterly loss and alleged racism at its factories.

Sen. John Cornyn counts Attorney General Jeff Sessions as one of his best friends in Washington, and their wives are even closer, making the couples regular double-date partners. “We occasionally get together to break bread,” the Senate majority whip said Wednesday. One of those double dates came recently enough that Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Sessions could not avoid the elephant in the room: President Trump’s public taunting of his attorney general, in a manner that suggests he wants Sessions to resign. “We didn’t talk in any great detail about this, but obviously it’s in the news,” Cornyn said, reiterating his strong support of Sessions remaining in office. Cornyn is not alone in rallying to the defense of Sessions, who, despite sometimes having waged lonely battles as one of the chamber’s most staunch conservatives, still has many friends among Senate Republicans. Most have issued statements of support, and several are making private calls to reassure Sessions that they are behind him. But the tension over Trump’s treatment of Sessions goes beyond the senators defending a friend. (Taylor Turner/The Washington Post) Unlike any other controversial move that Trump has pondered in his six months as president, Senate Republicans are sending preemptive signals that firing the attorney general or pressuring him to resign would be a terrible move. Some have warned high-level White House officials that it would look as though Trump were making the move solely to shut down an investigation of his campaign and the White House, now overseen by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, while also making clear that they agree with Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from an investigation of the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia. Replacing Sessions would be difficult, and the idea of Trump making a recess appointment during the planned four-week break in August is foolhardy. Democrats can indefinitely stall a resolution to fully adjourn the Senate, having already forced minute-long periods during even shorter breaks to prevent Trump from having the authority to make temporary appointments while the Senate is away. Democrats may have vehemently opposed Sessions’s nomination, but they have no intention of allowing Trump to fire him and name a new attorney general with a recess appointment, and frankly, Republicans do not seem to want to give Trump that power either. Trump’s hard-line actions have an intellectual godfather: Jeff Sessions Beyond concerns about the controversy that firing Sessions would bring, Senate Republicans say, Trump’s behavior is unseemly toward someone they respect, given that Sessions went out on a limb for the first-time candidate, becoming the first senator to endorse Trump’s candidacy. “I think Sessions deserves to be treated much more fairly. I mean, Jeff was there when no other senator was,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), the longest currently serving Republican in the Senate. Hatch spoke to Sessions last Thursday to declare his support, a message he conveyed to White House officials, and Hatch is trying to set up a call to Trump to deliver the same message. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made clear in a brief interview Wednesday that his backing of Sessions has gone up the chain of command. Asked if he told Trump of his support, McConnell smiled. “I’ve conveyed that to the public and to others,” he said. The support for Sessions runs deep across the Republican Party. Former senator Jim DeMint (S.C.), a conservative renegade who often clashed with McConnell, praised the attorney general Wednesday during a visit to the Capitol. “One of the best guys I ever worked with,” he said. “I hope he and the president can work it out.” The question, however, is how Senate Republicans will respond if Trump does force their friend out of the Justice Department — a move that might be followed by firing Mueller, setting off another crisis at least as big as the ouster of James B. Comey as FBI director in May. Would there be any ramification beyond just expressing dismay? That remains to be seen, but some are warning that the fallout would be devastating to the rest of Trump’s agenda. “I think Jeff Sessions is doing a good job, and I think it would be in­cred­ibly disruptive and make it more difficult for the president to accomplish his agenda,” Cornyn told CNN early Wednesday. By lunchtime, Cornyn declined to say what the ramifications would be, instead focusing on the attorney general’s decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Sessions had served as an adviser to the Trump campaign, a high-profile surrogate who would travel with him and often introduce him at rallies. He also got caught up in a controversy by not fully revealing during his confirmation process all of his contacts with Russian officials. Jeff Sessions should have been a tough sell in the Senate, but he’s too nice That made it a by-the-book call to recuse, delegating the investigation to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who then appointed Mueller shortly after he was involved in the Comey firing — which is now its own piece of the Mueller inquiry. “I can’t imagine any future nominee would have decided the recusal issue any differently from Jeff Sessions,” Cornyn said. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), who was elected along with Sessions in 1996, became visibly angry when discussing Trump’s treatment of his former colleague. “It’s very difficult, it’s disconcerting, it’s inexplicable,” he said. “I don’t know why you have to tweet with regards to your feelings about people in your own Cabinet.” One fallout from Trump’s treatment of Sessions could be to guarantee that no Senate Republican will again be willing to give up a seat to accept a job with Trump. “There are some well-qualified individuals, who otherwise would be inclined to serve, who might be discouraged from doing so given the rift that he has had with one of his most loyal supporters,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a moderate who became friends with Sessions as part of the 1996 class. After Comey was fired, Sessions led the recruiting effort to get Cornyn the nomination to run the FBI. Their wives talked about the idea and Cornyn warmed to it, before other Republicans signaled that he would be too political a choice to run the independent investigative body. Now, their double dates take on a different tone when they discuss working for Trump. “He’s doing fine,” Cornyn said of Sessions. “He did the right thing, and I think he has the confidence that he did the right thing.” Read more from Paul Kane’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.

I missed this yesterday, because my Dad’s been in the hospital for the past week. He is coming home today. The doctor said he had COPD; and thought at first that he might have had a light heart attack, but yesterday told me, that he doubted that now. Anyhow, this one must have hit late yesterday and I missed it. Via The New Yorker Blog Currency: Fellow-journalists and others scrambled to find out what had happened. Sulzberger had fired Abramson, and he did not try to hide that. In a speech to the newsroom on Wednesday afternoon, he said, “I chose to appoint a new leader of our newsroom because I believe that new leadership will improve some aspects …” Abramson chose not to attend the announcement, and not to pretend that she had volunteered to step down. As with any such upheaval, there’s a history behind it. Several weeks ago, I’m told, Abramson discovered that her pay and her pension benefits as both executive editor and, before that, as managing editor were considerably less than the pay and pension benefits of Bill Keller, the male editor whom she replaced in both jobs. “She confronted the top brass,” one close associate said, and this may have fed into the management’s narrative that she was “pushy,” a characterization that, for many, has an inescapably gendered aspect. Sulzberger is known to believe that the Times, as a financially beleaguered newspaper, has had to retreat on some of its generous pay and pension benefits; Abramson had also been at the Times for many fewer years than Keller, having spent much of her career at the Wall Street Journal, accounting for some of the pension disparity. (I was also told by another friend of hers that the pay gap with Keller has since been closed.) But, to women at an institution that was once sued by its female employees for discriminatory practices, the question brings up ugly memories. Whether Abramson was right or wrong, both sides were left unhappy. Needless to say, both side of the political aisle are all over this. Seems that the NYT is taking its cue from the 2008 election, where a black man basically pushed out a white woman; ironic isn’t it? What was this thing about the “War on women” that the Democrats are always yowling on about all the time? Related: Blogger reactions: Business Insider, Guardian, The Moderate Voice, Hot Air, Politico, Taylor Marsh, Firedoglake,Mediaite, Jezebel, Gawker, Capital New York, Patterico’s Pontifications, Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post, The Daily Caller, Poynter, Viking Pundit, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Eschaton, more atMediagazer », Fox News, CNNMoney.com, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, Yahoo! News, ThinkProgress,Hot Air, National Review, The Huffington Post, Mediaite, Poynter, Politico, Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller and FishbowlDC, more at Mediagazer », New York Magazine, New York Times, Poynter, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, The Huffington Post, Ed Driscoll, Jezebel, Althouse, Washington Post, NewsBusters, Gawker and National Review, more at Mediagazer » Politico, The Huffington Post, New York Times, The Daily Caller and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Everyone who's played Minecraft know that the game's randomly generated worlds are big. But how big? This amazing interactive project by Cary and Michael Huang puts a Minecraft world, and many other things in perspective. This is probably going to be the coolest thing you see all day. Simply titled The Scale of the Universe 2, this interactive flash project allows you zoom in and out to compare the relative size of objects in the universe. Zoom out just past Earth and you'll find a Minecraft world, which comes out to 64,000 kilometers, way beyond Earth's 12,700 kilometers. The scale, which starts with the size of the average human (1.7 meters), also decreases, all the way down to the size of Quantum Foam, which is .00000000001 yoctometers. Poor Quantum Foam never gets any respect! [source: HTwins.net]

Photo via Flickr user Maximillian Curry Last Thursday, middle school st​udents in Winter Haven, Florida, were terrified by an active shooter drill that neither they nor their parents were informed about beforehand. Jewett Middle Academy was put on lockdown early in the morning after an announcement from the principal, who knew it was a drill, as did the school resource officer—but they were the only ones. At one point during the exercise, cops—with guns out, one of them reportedly an AR-15 rifle—stormed a classroom. This was dubbed "standard procedure" by authorities, but it wasn't to kids, one of whom texted her parents, "I thought he was going to shoot me." Winter Haven Police Chief Charlie Bird said the realism produced by surprise is essential to the process. It is how police test their reaction time in a real crisis. But other places train SWAT teams without conscripting scared kids into the process. Officers need to practice for a worst-case scenario, but why, exactly, do 12-year-olds? Their job is to survive, and to hopefully be rescued by some noble badge-wearer. Bird also swore that, "It really is to protect the children and at no point in time would we endanger any of the children." Not endanger them, just pull guns on them and perhaps psychologically scar them. Protecting the children from the (thankfully rare) threat of a school shooting should not involve overhyping the risks, and certainly not by brandishing guns—including a loaded handgun—around them. Not to mention that accidents happen, even with police. Whatever happened to the old gun safety rule of don't point your gun at (or near) anything you don't intend to shoot? In response to the angry backl​ash, the next active shooter drill at Jewett Middle Academy will involve uniformed, unarmed police instead. Pretty much anyone could have told them that was a better idea. On to the rest of this week's bad cops: -Turns out Ferguson, Missouri, police office Darren Wilson—who faces a potential grand jury indictment for killing unarmed black teenager Michael Brown this summer—might have another blot on his record. On Friday, 30-year-old Mike Arman uploaded footage from 2013 which purports to sho​w Wilson threatening Arman because the man was filming the cop. The Guardian found police reports that suggest the incident shown took place October 28 of last year and was a dispute over Arman leaving "derelict vehicles" on his property. A charge of resisting arrest was also added to Arman's rap sheet after the confrontation with Wilson. At one point in the video, Wilson says, "I am going to lock your ass up if you don't stop" filming. This doesn't give us any clearer of a picture of what exactly happened between Wilson and 18-year-old Brown in August, but it doesn't reflect well on Wilson as a cop either. There should be no tolerance for cops who prevent civilians from filming them. -A 37-year-old mentally ill woman died in Cleveland police custody on Thursday after struggling against officers who were trying to take her in for a ​psychiatric evaluation. Tanesha Anderson's death came after police were called because she was allegedly disturbing the peace. The cause of death is still unknown, but this is still disturbing, not just because police reportedly did nothing to treat the unconscious Anderson while they waited 20 minutes for an ambulance. -On Halloween, in Vancouver, Washington, an unidentified man called 9-1-1 after he saw a guy who was wanted for shooting his neighbor earlier in the day. Unfortunately, cops who arrived on the scene got confused and shot the caller in the leg, assuming him to be their suspect. The poor man had to then call 9-1-1 again to report that he had been shot. The three officers involved are all on​ administrative leave. -Last year, the number of police officers who died in the line of duty was the lowest it's been in a century. That's good! In 2014, the number of individuals shot by police currently sits​ at around 460. That's the most it has been in two decades. That's bad—it also leads to questions about whether officer safety is being prioritized too much. The former number is nice, but whether the latter is some kind of twisted trade-off should be the bigger question. And the greatest concern should be whether officer safety is being prioritized too much. -Darrien Hunt was fatally shot by Saratoga Springs, Utah, police on September 10. New detail​s reveal that one of the officers involved was wearing a body camera that he had not turned on. Officer Nicholas Judson, according to Police Chief Andrew Burton, was also a rookie who had only been on the job a month or so before the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Hunt, who had been holding a blunt samurai sword of the type used in cosplay on the day he was killed. There have been protests over the shooting, especially since surveillance video was released showing that Hunt was indeed running away from poli​ce on the day in question—presumably, the revelation that the cop had his camera turned off won't do anything to quell the controversy. And this comes back to a simple, basic concern about cameras: Are they worth the money they're spent on if they can be switched off by officers at any time? -According to a Novembe​r 12 report from CBS Miami, on August 27, four plainclothes Miami Dade police officers arrested three men over misdemeanor marijuana possession. Two were released with a promise to appear later. The third man, Tannie Burke, was taken into custody, driven around, and then released by the side of a dark road a mile from home. Worse than this special treatment was the fact that Burke has been legally blind from birth. He can get himself around in the daytime, but darkness is tricky. The 21-year-old says he told the officers he couldn't see but to no avail. He also says they took his phone and refused to take him all the way home. Burke believes that he was mistreated because his stepfather filmed his arrest and insulted officers. Burke has filed a complaint, and Miami Dade internal affairs is looking into it. At least the marijuana charges against him have been dismissed. -A refreshing/terrifying reminder that Americans actually have it pretty good: Cops in Brazil have killed 11,000 people in the past ha​lf decade. -Our Good Cops of the Week were carto​onishly archaic in their heroics. On Friday, Suffolk County, Wisconsin police officers Stephen Lukas, Kit Gabrielsen and Martin Gill rescued Buddy the golden retriever after he got his head stuck in a cat house. It's a pleasant surprise that cops will respond to such an old-timey request as a pet in peril. There was probably nothing else to do except try to find someone smoking weed, so this one is a definite win in terms of prioritizing. Follow Lucy Steigerwald on ​Twit​ter.

There is a group of Ford Shelby GT350 Mustang owners that aren’t too happy. A lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, seeking monetary damages for a proposed nationwide class of consumers who purchased or leased Shelby GT350 Mustangs. The lawsuit alleges Ford knowingly sold defective Shelby GT350 sports cars, saying that while they were marketed as “track-ready,” the Shelby GT350 cannot actually be operated safely on a race track. Owners are saying that once on the track, the Shelby GT350 Mustang can lose speed and power mid-drive, without warning and in as little as 15 minutes. They are being represented by Hagens Berman, which achieved the then-largest automotive settlement in U.S. history – $1.6 billion against Toyota for a concealed defect. Hagens Berman is also leading the litigation against General Motors for its ignition switch defects, as well as various national lawsuits against Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz for illegal use of emissions-cheating software. The lawsuit alleges Shelby GT350 Mustangs with the base model or Technology Package can overheat due to defective transmissions and rear differentials that cannot keep cool enough to function at high speeds without external transmission and differential coolers. When this happens, the vehicles reportedly go into Limp Mode, suddenly losing power and rapidly decelerating. “When Ford marketed and sold these Shelby GT350 Mustangs, it knew exactly how to appeal to track-enthusiasts: it marketed enhanced performance in a limited-edition iconic vehicle that has been associated with racing for generations,” said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman. “We believe that Ford induced purchasers with its ‘track-ready’ marketing, when in fact it knew that this defect would ultimately bar these Mustangs from ever being the hotrod consumers paid for.”

Cashew Sugared Donut Holes are an original. Little round deep fried donuts are rolled in a coconut maple flavor mixture with finely ground cashews. There is something that is very enticing about a little round donut. I mean you can pop one in your mount all at once. Nice and neat and clean and delicious. Donuts are pretty well accepted as a weekend treat. It’s a family affair. When we were kids mom would make us donuts – just once in a while. Sort of like pancakes. A sweet indulgence that put a smile on everyone’s face. If you haven’t made donut holes before, this would be a great recipe for your first attempt. Even if they are just for you. Cashew sugared donut holes freeze well so you can save the extras for a later time. Is it Donut or Doughnut? One thing we know is how Dunkin’ Donuts thinks it’s spelled. I may be showing my age but when I was growing up it was Winchell’s Donuts or neighborhood donut shops. I think Dunkin Donuts was only on the east coast. If you look up information on the word donut on the internet it switches automatically to doughnut. It turns out doughtnut is the original spelling and it was shortened in America for certain instances. Such as for the 1939 World’s Fair and by Dunkin Donuts in the 40’s. Not that it wasn’t misspelled a couple of times before that but now it can be spelled either way. If you have a deep fryer then you can absolutely use it instead of a frying pan. Heat enough oil to cover the little donut holes and then carefully drop in about 4 holes at a time. You don’t want to overcrowd or cool the oil so a few at a time works great. Then set on a plate that has a couple of paper towels on it so that the extra oil can drain off the donuts. Also, have you ever have a donut that you didn’t like? Me either. Let’s make some! Want to try these Cashew Sugared Donut Holes? PIN IT to your Main Dish or Pasta board to save for later! Find me on Pinterest for more great recipes! Print 5 from 5 votes Cashew Sugared Donut Holes Cashew Sugared Donut Holes are an original. Prep Time 20 minutes Cook Time 20 minutes Total Time 40 minutes Servings 36 Donut Holes Calories 44 kcal Author Ginny McMeans Ingredients 1 all-purpose flour 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/3 cup coconut sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 egg substitute - of your choice 1/2 cup dairy-free milk such as cashew or almond milk 2 tablespoons dairy-free butter - melted Coconut Oil - for deep-fat frying Cashew Sugar Crumb Mixture 1/4 cup dairy-free butter - melted, for rolling - not to go in the crumb mixture 1/2 cup cashews 2 tablespoons coconut sugar 2 tablespoons brown sugar Instructions In a large bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, coconut sugar and salt. In a separate small bowl mix the egg substitute, dairy-free milk and non-dairy butter. Mix well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Heat oil in a deep fryer to 375°. When the temperature is reached drop dough by a heaping tablespoon full into oil. You can scoop the dough off of the spoon with another spoon if necessary. Do not crowd. Cook about 5 at a time depending on the size of your deep fryer. They will float to the top. Fry until browned. They only take about 2 minutes. Flip over once during frying. When finished frying, remove and set on paper towels to drain . Cashew Sugar Crumb Topping Place the cashews and both sugars in a food processor. Pulse until cashews are very small crumbs Pour out into a plate for rolling. Lightly/quickly roll each doughnut in the melted butter and firmly roll in the crumb mixture. Roll all of the donut holes in this way and then let cool completely before packing in a tightly covered container. Notes Nutrition Nutrition Facts Cashew Sugared Donut Holes Amount Per Serving (1 Donut Hole) Calories 44 Calories from Fat 18 % Daily Value* Total Fat 2g 3% Sodium 85mg 4% Potassium 33mg 1% Total Carbohydrates 4g 1% Sugars 2g Vitamin A 0.1% Calcium 1.1% Iron 1.1% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. How about some donuts that you’ve had had anything like before. These are just great! Baked Trail Mix Donuts You might as well make these perfect baked donuts too! Maple Glazed Donuts

This month's attack on police servers by the "No Name Crew" hackers had much more serious consequences than previously thought, according to a report in news magazine Focus. According to the magazine, the government's newly founded cyber-defence department, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) reported internally on Friday that every single server of the police's spy programme "Patras" had been infiltrated by hackers. Patras is used to locate serious criminals and terrorist suspects by gathering information from GPS systems in cars and mobile phones. It is used by both state and federal police forces, as well as Germany's customs officers. Following the cyber-attack, which took place earlier this month, all of the relevant servers had to be shut down to prevent more data being stolen. According to the internal BSI report to the German interior ministry, the "No Name Crew" even hacked the central database of the federal police, in Swisstal-Heimerzheim in North Rhine-Westphalia. This could lead to hundreds of confidential police investigations appearing on the internet. "That is pretty much the worst thing that could happen," an anonymous security officer told Focus. The report said the hack came about because the police did not adequately protect its servers, using what was described as "cheap protection software." It also said that "fundamental security measures" such as "dealing with passwords" had been ignored. The No Name Crew had previously hacked the servers of the far-right National Democratic Party and published sensitive information including a list of its donors. The Local/bk

SS Donegal was a Midland Railway passenger ferry that served in the First World War as an ambulance ship. She was completed in 1904 and sunk by enemy action in April 1917. Building and peacetime service [ edit ] In 1897–1903 the Midland Railway of England had Heysham Port on the coast of Lancashire built as a terminal for ferries to and from Ireland. In 1903 the Midland established its interest in Ireland by buying the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway. In 1904 the Midland took delivery of a pair of new passenger ferries from Clydeside shipyards in Glasgow to work between Heysham Port and Belfast Harbour. They came from different builders but they were sister ships: Antrim built by John Brown & Company of Clydebank, and Donegal built by Caird & Company of Greenock.[1] Donegal had a triple-expansion steam engine rated at 386 NHP, giving her a speed of 13 knots (24 km/h).[1] She and Antrim worked between Heysham and Belfast from 1904 until they were requisitioned for UK Government service in the First World War. War service and loss [ edit ] Donegal ' s wreck off the French coast in the Approximate position ofs wreck off the French coast in the English Channel Donegal was one of numerous ferries, many of them requisitioned from railway companies, that were converted into ambulance ships to carry wounded personnel from France back to Great Britain. Ambulance ships were classified as hospital ships under Hague Convention X of 1907 and as such were to be clearly marked and lit to make them easy to identify. Nevertheless, in the First World War the Imperial German Navy attacked and sank a number of British hospital ships. The UK Government then announced it would cease marking hospital ships, alleging that German vessels had used their markings and lighting to target them.[3] On 1 March 1917 a German submarine tried to attack Donegal but the steamer managed to outrun her. Then on 17 April 1917 both Donegal and a larger ship, HMHS Lanfranc, were sunk by U-boats when carrying British wounded across the English Channel.[4] Donegal had sailed from Le Havre bound for Southampton[4] carrying 610 lightly wounded soldiers and 70 crew.[3] She had a Royal Navy escort.[3][4] She was about 19 nautical miles (35 km) south of the Dean light vessel when the German Type UC II submarine SM UC-21 torpedoed her. She sank with the loss of 29 wounded British soldiers and 12 of her crew.[4] A Royal Naval Reserve Lieutenant, H Holehouse, jumped from his ship into the sea to recover one of Donegal's wounded soldiers from the water. The man did not recover, but the Royal Humane Society awarded Lieut. Holehouse its bronze medal.[5] Titanic connections [ edit ] Two of Donegal's crew, Archie Jewell[6] and John Priest,[7] had served on RMS Titanic and survived her sinking in April 1912. Jewell had been one of Titanic's lookouts (although not on watch when she struck the iceberg)[6] and Priest had been one of her stokers.[7] Priest had also been on the liner RMS Asturias when she foundered on her maiden voyage in 1907, and on RMS Olympic when she was damaged in a collision with HMS Hawke in 1911.[7] Priest then served on the armed merchant cruiser Alcantara when she and the German armed merchant cruiser SMS Greif sank each other in February 1916.[7] Both Jewell[6] and Priest[7] then served on Titanic's White Star Line sister ship HMHS Britannic, and survived when she was sunk in November 1916. When Donegal sank, Priest survived yet again[7] but Jewell was killed.[6] In 1917 Priest was awarded the Mercantile Marine Ribbon for his service in the war.[7] Wreck [ edit ] Donegal's wreck lies intact on her port side in about 45 to 50 metres (148 to 164 ft) of water.[8] References [ edit ] Sources [ edit ] The War on Hospital Ships, With Narratives of Eye-Witnesses and British and German Diplomatic Correspondence (Second and Revised ed.). New York and London: Harper and Brothers. 1918. p. 16. Durham, Dick (25 November 2008). "Died at sea". Yachting Monthly. IPC Media . Coordinates:

Love ribs? Crazy for chicken wings? Wild for Chateaubriand? Then walk this way because we’ve rounded-up the most mouth-watering feeds in Leeds for carnivores… If you’re unrepentantly obsessed with meat in all its forms this is just what you’re waiting for. It’s the ultimate to do list for the city’s carnivores, with 15 utterly mouth-watering, undeniably awesome meat-centric feasts. From giant piles of ribs to huge burritos and unlimited steak, we’ve rounded up the city’s meatiest eats, all in one place. Red’s True BBQ’s Pitmaster Tray Red’s is a Leeds institution. It’s classic American BBQ, with meats cooked low and slow until they fall off the bone. They do everything from ribs to brisket, but why limit yourself to just one? Get the The Pitmaster Tray and try it all. This meat-obsessed dish brings together St. Louis ribs, Black Angus brisket, Red’s pulled pork and smoked cheese and jalapeño sausage, all on one succulent tray of barbecued brilliance. Red’s True BBQ, 1 Cloth Hall Street, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 2HD & 6a Otley Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS6 2AA. Man v Roast’s daily carvery Can’t wait ’til Sunday for a roast? Man v Roast is the place to go. It’s a haven for meat lovers – you can indulge in a roast dinner every day of the week, with a loaded tray of turkey, beef, lamb, gammon, pork, chicken or sausage (you can even mix and match). Their meat is sourced from Sykes House Farm, so you know it’s the good stuff, and it’s finished off with all the trimmings, including roasties, a Yorkshire pudding and oodles of gravy. Man v Roast, 144 Cardigan Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS6 1LL. Almost Famous’ This is Leeds burger Almost Famous has a burger that’s dedicated to Leeds. It’s so packed full of meaty goodness that it spills out of the sides. They start with a double cheeseburger to start, before piling on the bacon and BBQ pulled pork. It’s finished off with mac ’n’ cheese, shoestring onions, redneck BBQ sauce, peppered mayo, Henderson’s Relish and Wensleydale cheese. Reckon you can stomach it? Almost Famous, 23-25 Great George Street, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 3AL. The Lost & Found’s Chateaubriand Who doesn’t love Chateaubriand? This little beauty is cut from the fillet head, which means it’s insanely tender and blessed with a wonderfully subtle flavour. At The Lost & Found, they cook it over charcoal on their Josper grill, adding just a hint of smokiness, then serve it with your choice of sauces – Béarnaise, peppercorn or garlic butter. But that’s not even the best bit because you can get it for just £65 with two sides and a very nice bottle of wine – get the deal and get it quick! The Lost & Found Leeds Club, 3 Albion Place, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 6JL. Smak’s traditional Polish sausages There’s a secret behind the incredible sausages at Smak! These traditional Polish bangers are made using a family recipe that’s been passed down through generations, and the result is absolutely delicious. You can get a few different options, from lamb and chicken to pork and beef with a kick of chilli. They’re all smoked and cured on a Yorkshire farm 20 miles outside Leeds before being sizzled on the BBQ in town. Smak! can be found at various street food events across the city and they’re opening a permanent venue on Kirkstall Road in 2018. FireLake’s Yorkshire pudding sandwich You read that right – one of the cornerstones of FireLake’s menu is the Yorkshire pudding sandwich and it’s a big hit with the carnivores. They’ve done away with bread, and swapped it for two massive Yorkshire puddings, which they stuff with freshly-roasted Ripon reared beef. It’s drizzled with 72-hour beef gravy made with bone marrow and confit onions – expect a meaty mess that tastes amazing. FireLake Grill House & Cocktail Bar, Radisson Blu, The Light, 13 The Headrow, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 8TL. Fazenda’s endless barbecue If there’s one thing carnivores love, it’s an endless supply of meat, so why not visit Leeds’ original Brazilian barbecue? Fazenda is the standard-bearer when it comes to all-you-can-eat dining and they’ve created a meaty heaven. Flip your card to green and they’ll bring you everything from filé mignon to picanha rump, pork sausage and gammon with pineapple. If you’re feeling daring, try their traditional chicken hearts. Fazenda, Waterman’s Place, Unit 4-7 Granary Wharf, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 4GL. East 59th’s unlimited hot ’n’ spicy chicken wings If you’re feeling hungry, make a beeline for East 59th on a Tuesday, because that’s when you can indulge in their unlimited crispy chicken wings. These irresistible morsels come covered in a hot ’n’ spicy glaze with a blue cheese sauce for you to dip – you can have as many as you like for 90 minutes from when you order. Heck, they’ll even give you a house beer or glass of wine to wash them down with, all for just £15. East 59th, Victoria Gate, Eastgate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 7AU. Poco’s rotisserie chicken Poco takes roast chicken to the next level. Pollo arrosto, that’s rotisserie chicken to you and me, is their speciality – they marinate their birds in a super secret Sicilian marinade 24 hours before they go into the rotisserie oven to slow cook. The result is a wonderfully tender chicken that you can order as a quarter, a half or, if you’re going all out, a full bird – with a side of patate rustiche, it’s a meal fit for a king. Poco, 360 Kirkstall Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS4 2HQ. The Mexican Pilgrim’s heaving burrito Trust us when we say there’s not another burrito quite like The Mexican Pilgrim’s – they are absolutely ginormous. You could get it filled with pork carnitas in a red wine & chipotle BBQ sauce or try their marinated minced beef, but whatever you go for, their spectacular combination of meat, refried beans, lettuce, guacamole, sour cream and pico de gallo will threaten to spill out of the sides. Top tip – make sure you’ve got napkins. The Mexican Pilgrim, East Parade Triangle, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 5PS. Smokin’s 12-hour marinated beef rib The clue’s in the name – it’s that big ‘ole smoker that makes Smokin’ Bar and Kitchen’s beef rib a must try. They rub it in their secret spice mix and then smoke it low and slow over a wood-fuelled grill for 12 hours overnight and smother it in BBQ sauce. The result is a juicy, tender cut of meat that falls apart on the plate. Smokin’ Bar and Kitchen, 24 Park Row, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 5QB. Fat Annie’s Philly cheesesteak Fat Annie’s aren’t just about hot dogs – you need to try their Philly cheesesteak. They take a fresh ciabatta roll and stuff it full of freshly cooked rump steak which is slathered in gooey American cheese and finished off with a smattering of tasty green peppers and onions. It’s a meaty staple of the US that Fat Annie’s have got down to a fine art – try it out. Fat Annie’s, Leeds Kirkgate Market, Kirkgate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 7HY. Growlers’ authentic Yorkshire pies Yorkshire is known for its love of pies, but if you haven’t been to Growlers’ yet, you’re missing out. This Pudsey mainstay has mastered the art of the pie – you can get everything from steak and kidney to meat and potato here, as well as Cornish pasties and sausage rolls. But it’s their traditional Yorkshire pork pies that steal the show – they’re so good they named their shop after them. Growlers, 159 Richardshaw Lane, Pudsey, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS28 6AA. Stampede’s all you can eat ribs & wings This one is the ultimate meat feast. Every Monday, park your bum in their restaurant at the corner of St John’s Centre and wear some stretchy pants, because for £21.95 you can tuck into as many BBQ ribs and wings as you can stomach. That’s right – they’ll keep bringing them out for as long as you can clear your plate, with chips to keep the meat sweats at bay. Stampede, St Johns Centre, Albion Street, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 8LQ. Tattu’s BBQ sampler If you’re looking for a scrumptious meat feast, try a Chinese one for a change. Tattu’s BBQ sampler features 4 different cuts of meat. You can try their wonderfully smoky honey and soy roasted duck breast, alongside belly pork, cooked in a soy and coriander marinade, and the char-siu pork, made with hoisin and Shaoxing wine. The star of the show is the beef short-rib – it’s cooked for 12 hours before being glazed with their beef jus and soy reduction, before it’s finished on the barbecue. Tattu, Minerva House, 29 East Parade, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 5PS. Cover image © Copyright Leeds-List 2018 by Ali Turner

(via Triborough's Flickr) An off-duty NYPD sergeant was arrested early Thursday morning in southwest Queens after threatening a cyclist with his service weapon and pushing the 34-year-old man off of his bike, according to the NYPD. Sergeant Bradley Beamer, 40, allegedly made an illegal U-turn near the intersection of Queens Plaza North and 24th Street in Long Island City and nearly hit the cyclist before the encounter escalated shortly before 6:00 a.m. The two began arguing, then Bradley allegedly pulled out his gun and, eventually, shoved the man off of his bike. The cyclist, whose name was not immediately available, sustained minor lacerations to both legs, according to police. Beamer, who police said has been on the force for 12 years, has been charged with menacing, assault and harassment. He has yet to be arraigned in Queens Criminal Court. Additional reporting by Aidan Gardiner. [Update 10:30 a.m.]: A spokesperson for the Queens DA's Office said that Beamer has been released with a desk appearance ticket. She could not confirm what charges were on the ticket. His next court appearance is October 20th.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will be without three key players for an extended period of time starting with Thursday's game against the Boston Bruins. Coburn out 4-6 weeks with lower body injury #TBLightning Palat is out 2-3 weeks with a lower-body injury #TBLightning — Michelle Gingras (@michellegingras) March 12, 2015 And Cedric Paquette out 10-14 days with an upper body injury #TBLightning — Michelle Gingras (@michellegingras) March 12, 2015 — Michelle Gingras (@michellegingras) March 12, 2015 Tampa Bay currently sits in second place in the Atlantic Division just a point behind the Montreal Canadiens. "How we're going to (survive), we'll see in the next couple of weeks," Lightning coach Jon Cooper told Lightning Radio's Dave Mishkin before Thursday's game against the Bruins. "Other guys are going to have to step up. "No one is going to step in and replace those guys but we have a lot of good hockey players in that locker room and we'll do fine," Cooper said.

Duct tape is the number one repair material for a wide variety of situations. The combination of strength, adhesion and ease of use duct tape offers has made it literally the tape of 1,000 uses. It has been used for everything including patching clothes, patching wounds, building a cardboard fort for kids to play in and even building suspension bridges. This product has literally become an American icon in the century it has existed. The very first thing that could be called duck tape was strips of duck cloth which were wrapped around the steel suspension cables for the Brooklyn Bridge. By 1910, those strips of duck cloth were coming with adhesive on one side, making it into what we know as duct tape. During World War II, a number of uses were discovered for this “miracle material”. Tape was still a relatively new invention, so people were experimenting with it all over. Johnson & Johnson made an adhesive version of duct tape for use in sealing ammo cans against moisture. One requirement of the tape was that it could be ripped by hand, rather than needing to be cut. Soon thereafter, soldiers in the field started finding a number of ways of using this great tape, including for binding up the wounded. The duck tape name, prompted by the material that it was made from, stuck around until the 1950s, when it started being used for wrapping air ducts in HVAC systems. The silver-grey color of the tape blended ideally with the ductwork and soon heat and cold resistant versions were on the market. Since the workers who make the ductwork were known as tin knockers, the tape became known as tin knocker tape. Later this was changed to duct tape. Duct tape is a cloth tape coated on one side to make it waterproof with the opposite side coated with a heavy layer of strong adhesive which will stick to just about anything. Besides this, the tape can be ripped straight by hand, either longitudinally or crosswise, making it easy to use without scissors or a knife. Today's duct tape comes in a wide variety of colors and printed patterns. The colors allow you to blend it in with the surface to which it is attached, making the repair job less visible. Not only is it used for repairing just about anything, but it is decorative as well. You can find it printed in your favorite team logo and colors as well as a number of other whimsical patterns. When choosing a duct tape, the two most important characteristics are the adhesion and the physical strength. Most duct tape backing fabric is still very similar to the original duck cloth, so you don't really see a lot of difference in that regard. The adhesive, on the other hand, can vary greatly; with high quality tapes having much more adhesion than the lesser expensive ones, a major factor I've used in selecting the tapes on this list. Keep in mind that regardless of the color shown, most of these brands produce a variety of colors. That's especially true of the "Duck" brand of tape, which has more colors and patterns than anyone. Several of these manufacturers also produce a duct tape that's 2.88 inches wide, for those applications where you need extra width. Gorilla Tape 1.88-inch x 35-Yard Tape Roll Gorilla tape lives up to the reputation that their glue began. The double thickness adhesive on this tape makes it ideal for rough and uneven surfaces where other tapes won't stick. Read Full Review See it at: Why it's best: Gorilla glue is one of the toughest adhesives on the face of the planet. Their tape has been designed and manufactured to keep with that tradition. This tape has double-thick adhesive to make sure it will stick well to rough and uneven surfaces. That means that it's going to stick well, even if you're trying to put it on brick or concrete. The abrasion resistant backing cloth is tougher than others as well, with a tighter weave, but still can be torn by hand. UV and water resistance round everything out, making this tape perfect for just about any need. 3M 2245 Scotch Heavy Duty All-Weather Duct Tape, 1.88-Inch x 45-Yard, The inventors of adhesive tape were also the first to commercially market duct tape. Their high quality standards make all of their products outstanding. Read Full Review See it at: Why it's best: 3M is known for just about anything that requires putting a coating on a substrate. These are the people who originally invented adhesive tape and they still produce more varieties of tape than any other company in the world. They were also the first commercial manufacturer of duct tape for the consumer and industrial markets.This particular tape is designed to be weather-proof with the backing thoroughly waterproofed with a UV resistant coating. It has excellent adhesion strength, bonding to just about any substrate. The flexibility of the backing gives it a tight seal to whatever you put it on. Like all "Scotch" products, this is high quality tape. Duck All-Purpose Duct Tape This one is a personal favorite of mine. Easily repositioned, but once the adhesive sets, it's as permanent as concrete. Read Full Review See it at: Why it's best: This is a personal favorite of mine and I was very surprised with the first roll I bought. The tape comes off the roll extremely easily and is easy to position on whatever surface and can even be removed and repositioned without a problem. That made me think that I had bought a cheap tape and I was going to have to suffer with it. But when the tape has had a little time to set up, that "easily repositionable adhesive" turns into concrete. You can’t get it off with anything short of a jackhammer; I was truly impressed. Now I use it for just about everything, except in those cases where I need the double thick adhesive of Gorilla's tape. Nashua 398 Polyethylene Coated Cloth Professional Grade Duct Tape Shurtape provides a quality product at a lower price than their competitors. This isn't a second-rate tape, it just carries a second-rate price tag. Read Full Review See it at: Why it's best: Shurtape primarily manufactures for a wide range of industries. I was first exposed to them when I was looking to save money on our transit bus painting operation in the factory. To my surprise, the environmentally friendly, "el cheapo off brand", Shurtape performed as good as the top dollar, name brand tapes.This duct tape is manufactured to the same high standards that I found when using it in the factory. It’s fire and smoke resistant, something that not all tape manufacturers take into consideration so if you need a duct tape to use where it will get a lot of heat or will be near open flame, this one would be a good choice.

A young girl is seen in the al-Riad shelter in Aleppo, Syria, on Friday. Bombing in the opposition-held portion of the city has intensified, with an estimated 244 civilians killed over the last eight days. Photo courtesy United Nations Office for the High Commission on Human Rights ALEPPO, Syria, April 30 (UPI) -- Government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are stepping up a bombing campaign in the rebel-held residential portion of Aleppo, the nation's largest city. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 244 over the last eight days since hostilities flared between forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the rebel opposition. Assad's forces control the western half of Aleppo and the rebels control most of the east. Al Jazeera reports at least a dozen air strikes have rattled the rebel-held portion of the city since Friday. Aleppo is Syria's large city, home to some 2 million people before the civil war broke out. While many have fled, the city still remains a significant population center located near the Turkish border. Prior to the war, Aleppo was Syria's economic hub. RELATED The dangers of unexploded bombs in Syria With that as the backdrop for what is at stake, and after another round of peace talks faltered, the bombing resumed from both sides, Al Jazeera reported. One air strike in particular, which the opposition alleges was conducted by Assad's forces, leveled a hospital in the rebel portion of the city, killing 50 people. The group Doctors Without Borders had been in charge of the al Quds field hospital and several of its members, including two doctors and two nurses, were among the dead. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed outrage at the hospital bombing. "We are outraged by yesterday's airstrikes in Aleppo on the al Quds hospital supported by both Doctors Without Borders and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which killed dozens of people, including children, patients and medical personnel," he said in a statement. "It appears to have been a deliberate strike on a known medical facility and follows the Assad regime's appalling record of striking such facilities and first responders. These strikes have killed hundreds of innocent Syrians." Through state-run media, the Assad government denied it had carried out the bombing. The Russian military, which has supplied air support to Assad's ground troops, also denied responsibility. Syrian state media also reported rebels shelled a mosque in the government-held portion of the city, killing eight. While a temporary cessation of hostilities agreement struck in February had mostly remained in effect in the capital Damascus and the coastal city Latakia, Aleppo -- home to some of the fiercest fighting since the civil war began -- has seen things getting worse. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement on Friday that "violence is soaring back to the levels we saw before the cessation of hostilities." Al Jazeera reports journalists on the ground predict the situation will continue to worsen with more bombings and civilian casualties in the coming days. Peace talks between the Assad government and rebel leaders in Geneva broke down after weeks to failed attempts to broker a political agreement to permanently end hostilities in the five-year civil war. Opposition leaders walked away from the table last week as the tentative cease-fire was increasingly violated by both sides.

Donald Trump catches Anderson Cooper off guard with this statement: "Isn't Ted's real name Raphael? I think so, right?" Rafael Edward Cruz. ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: You just welcomed a new grandson... DONALD TRUMP: ... And I really appreciate your statement. Thank you. COOPER: You just welcomed a new grandson... TRUMP: I did. COOPER: His name is Theodore. Any chance you're going to call him Crying Ted? TRUMP: No, I don't think so. (LAUGHTER) TRUMP: I said -- well, actually, isn't Ted's real name Raphael? I think so, right? Because that was one of the questions did have to ask. COOPER: I -- it is. TRUMP: I doesn't matter. Theodore Roosevelt is somebody Jared and Ivanka have long studied and respected, and it's Theodore James. Tough, strong, and it's Theodore James, and that's what they really had in mind.