laps down. Did the Premium Motorsports team really have trouble? Or did a bigger Toyota team give them incentive to assure a low finishing position? Sorenson finished 37th.

Saturday's Camping World Truck Series Fred's 250 was a disaster for the Georgia gang. Korbin Forrister actually led a practice session and timed into the race, but a lap 61 wreck sent both he and John Wes Townley (and about 10 others) out of the race. Forrister placed 27th, Townley (involved in two wrecks) 28th.

NCWTS RaceTweet: Grant Enfinger wins first-career Truck race at home track Talladega, as John Hunter Nemechek and Daniel Hemric drop out of the Chase.

Next: From giant, to paperclip - Both the Sprint Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series run the final short track race of theMother in critical condition after shooting on Lake Lawford Ct.

BATON ROUGE – Authorities say a mother of three is in critical condition after a shooting on Lake Lawford Court off South Sherwood Forest Boulevard Wednesday morning.

The Baton Rouge Police Department arrested Carl Thompson, Jr. for attempted second degree murder and illegal use of a weapon.

The incident happened around 7:45 a.m. Wednesday. According to Baton Rouge Police, Thompson, the 41-year-old woman's boyfriend, shot her multiple times while she was sitting in the bathtub. The couple was having an argument prior to the shooting.

According to the arrest report, the woman was shot 9-10 times in the chest, back and right arm. Doctors say that she is currently paralyzed from the chest down.

BRPD said Thompson turned himself into authorities after calling


U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin talks to reporters about cryptocurrency in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House July 15, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mnuchin said the Treasury is very concerned about Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency and that he wants the government to "make sure that the U.S. financial system is protected from fraud.” Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images

On Monday, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by four states against the IRS, thwarting four blue states' challenge against a new $10,000 cap on the deduction for state and local taxes, also known as SALT. Those states — New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland — sued the Treasury Department, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the IRS, among others, in July 2018. They alleged that the newlimit on the SALT deduction, part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, was "an unconstitutional assault on states' sovereign choices." In the dismissal, U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken in Manhattan said the plaintiff states ultimately failed to show that the SALT cap was unconstitutionally coercive or that it imposed on their own sovereign rights.

"[The] SALT cap simply requires the states to either exercise sovereign powers — howsoever they wish — to avert or assuage the cap's effects or else suffer the uncertain budgetary effects of doing nothing," Oetken wrote in his opinion. Meanwhile, the states plan to fight back. "There is no doubt in my mind that President Trump's unfair tax policy targets New York and other blue states by funding tax cuts for


corporations and the rich on the backs of New Yorkers," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement. "The bottom line is this policy is unprecedented, unlawful, punitive and politically motivated — and it must be stopped," he said. "We disagree with the court's decision and are evaluating all options including appeal." In 2016, New Yorkers writing off state and local taxes took an average SALT deduction of $21,779, according to the Tax Policy Center. Meanwhile, in New Jersey and Connecticut the average deductions were $18,092 and $19,563, respectively.

Two tracks

This development puts the ball back in Congress's court, said Michael D'Addio, principal at Marcum in New Haven, Connecticut. "You know that the federal law is effective and it won't be overturned because this case hasRentals with their stunning sweet heart table with refurbished wood and metal and the Tuscan chairs made everything tie together.

Floral designer Blooms created a blushing bridal bouquet and centerpiece inspired by dusty blue and mustard tones that complimented the gorgeous brick on the wall of The Century in Downtown Modesto. Where the Venues lighting and design is just stunning.

"The shoot was inspired by the love of coffee, simplicity and true love shining through – the bride’s beautiful laced gown from Mira Bridal Couture was the perfect vintage look, while the groom wore a tux from Vito’s Tuxedo looking sharp and so in love with his Mrs," explains Marie with Tailor Made Events. "Every styling decision was based on coffee itself, with unexpected details: from the coffee and treat


table with lovely cookies by Por Vida Cookies to the mid-century modern Espresso Bar setup by Wave Coffee Co.!"

"The bride and grooms drive off into the sunset would have made you week in the knees, with the top down of a 1955 Convertible Thunderbird, owned by Don and Jane Wigle who are apart of Modesto Area Classic Thunderbird Club. Overall concept and design created by Tailor Made Events with the help of our friend Holly Anna Calligraphy."

Our boho wedding dress features unique textured lace over a layer of Inessa Jersey in a sheath silhouette. Spaghetti straps complete the sweetheart neckline and illusion scoop back accented in lace appliqués. Finished with crystal buttons over zipper closure. An absolute must see! Call us today to book your bridal appointment, 209-338-9333Lifetime Daily Trivia stats:

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CD Review

Pietro Nardini

Six Sonatas for Two German Flutes and a Bass

Il Bell'Accordo Ensemble
Discantica 156 DDD 70:02

Today, Pietro Nardini (1722-1793) is slightly less famous than his teacher Giuseppe Tartini, who spent most of his career in Padua, and who today is remembered chiefly for his so-called "Devil's Trill" Sonata. Both men were acclaimed violinists, and sometimes it is said that their virtuosity paved the way for Paganini. Leopold Mozart heard Nardini play the violin, and praised the beauty of his tone. (Apparently he and Tartini made the greatest impact in slow movements.) In 1770, Nardini was given a position with the Grand Duke of Tuscany in Florence, and it was in that city that he died 23 years later.

Like Leopold Mozart, Nardini straddled


the Baroque and early Classical eras. (He was only three years younger than Leopold, and he outlived Wolfgang Mozart by two years.) This is reflected in Nardini's music, which is galant, charming, well-formed, and unfailingly enjoyable. (The grouping of similar works into a set of six also is typical of the Baroque period.) The present performers admit that their use of a harpsichord in the basso continuo is less historically correct than a fortepiano would have been, but more appropriate to the music's Baroque spirit. I have copied the title of the CD exactly as it is given on the cover. By "a Bass," I assume the musicians mean basso continuo. (The harpsichord is joined by a cello, so there is no "Bass," per se.) What is meantOscars 2018: The complete list of nominees

Oscars 2018: The complete list of nominees

By Michael Rothman and

EMILY SHAPIRO

The big day is here! The 2018 Oscar nominations are in and “The Shape of Water” led the way with a whopping 13 nods, followed by the epic war film “Dunkirk” with eight.

Other movies that scored big include “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” with seven nods, and “Lady Bird” and “Blade Runner 2049” with five nominations each.

The actors and actresses lists included some of the biggest names in the business: Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Allison Janney. But some young talent was also honored, with Saoirse Ronan, Daniel Kaluuya and Timothée Chalamet receiving nods.

Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Lead Actress

Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Frances McDormand,


model in Yakuza Kiwami 2 has apparently been copied and pasted directly from Yakuza 6 – this, despite the fact that the latter is set 10 years after the former. Similarly, the in-game phone (which is a flip phone appropriate to the technology of the mid naughties) features the modern smartphone-style camera interface from Yakuza 6, which seems a little inattentive to detail.

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But minor presentational shortcuts aside, Yakuza Kiwami 2 is an engrossing underworld adventure that sees main protagonist Kazuma Kiryu reluctantly dragged back into the midst of a mob war in order to face off against charismatic villain, Ryuji Goda. It manages to mostly avoid the melodrama evident elsewhere in the series and is instead enthralling hard boiled detective fiction with an abundance of backstabbing, both metaphoricalWilfred Wong 93" The Duckhorn Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc—first produced in 1982—has a long-standing history of being the standard by which all others are judged against. This wine has been remarkable and consistent. The recently released 2017 is another excellent effort. TASTING NOTES: This wine is bright and juicy with dried citrus and tropical fruit aromas and flavors. Its layered palate and long finish should wrap nicely around a lemon-accented and herb dusted roast chicken and ... read more

Item Description

Wilfred Wong 93" The Duckhorn Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc—first produced in 1982—has a long-standing history of being the standard by which all others are judged against. This wine has been remarkable and consistent. The recently released 2017 is another excellent effort. TASTING NOTES: This wine is bright and juicy with dried


listeners. Translating research findings sonically and rhythmically during the duration of the project, the compositions developed by the Radio Amateur Ensemble are performed and recorded during several public events at the Goethe Pop Up Minneapolis and released on a limited edition 7-inch vinyl.

Related Project

Anton Kats

Anton Kats is an artist and musician born in Kherson, South-Ukraine into the family of a WWII wireless radio operators. Kats‘s practice derives from informal everyday relationships within the vibrant neighborhood of his hometown and is complemented through necessity and pragmatics of self-legalization in Europe via entering formal institutions of education. His work with sound and radio often unfolds in public space in form of collaborative interventions, sonic sculptures, musical compositions, and public programs. Kats explores radio as a question of agency and intentionalityMorgan copied from the letters, which were housed at Fales Library of New York University. The letters consist of correspondence written by Norse to one Ira Cohen from February 1963 through August 1970. The entire collection of letters totals over 12,000 words. Morgan used excerpts from five of the letters, totalling about 50 words, in one paragraph of Literary Outlaw, at page 394. The paragraph is as follows, with underlining showing the material quoted from the letters:
Harold thought of himself as "dark-horse Norse," ignored and unpublished. He harbored bitter thoughts about his colleagues, whom he thought had more success than he did, while deserving it less. Irving Rosenthal he considered a monstrous shit, aberrated and power-struck, a diseased faggot clear through. He didn't trust Brion, whom he called


generating a plurality of reference voltages, first and second comparator banks each including a plurality of comparators each having its first input for receiving an analog signal, and its second input for receiving a reference voltage from the voltage dividing network, a comparator activating circuit for activating the comparators of the first comparator bank in response to an even-numbered pulse of a clock signal having two times as long as the periodicity of a system clock, and for activating the comparators of the second comparator bank in response to an odd-numbered pulse of the clock signal, and a digital output selector/encoder for coding outputs from the first and second comparator banks into two digital data, respectively, and then furnishing the two digital data selectively and sequentially. Thus theStory highlights Raha Moharrak, 27, is the first Saudi woman to conquer Everest

She is also the youngest Saudi to reach the top of the world

Saudi Arabia only officially allowed sport to be played in private girls' schools in May

Moharrak's first challenge was convincing her conservative father to agree

Climbing the world's highest mountain is challenge enough, but for Raha Moharrak, it also meant breaking a taboo.

The 27-year-old graphic designer is from Saudi Arabia, an ultra-orthodox country which only officially allowed sport to be played in private girls' schools in May.

But Moharrak, who had been raised by her parents to aim for greatness, wanted to test her limits and that also meant challenging her culture.

Mountaineering seemed like the perfect pursuit but getting her father, who still maintained conservative views, to


says. "And after the three days of silence to me he sent me one line -- 'I love you. You are crazy. Go for it.'"

Since then, Moharrak's family has supported her every step of the way.

She began climbing in November 2011 and in the space of a year, conquered eight mountains including Kilimanjaro.

Then on May 18 this year, she stepped into the history books by becoming the first Saudi woman to climb to the summit of Mount Everest

She was also the youngest Saudi to reach the top of the world and was part of the first Arab team to make the climb.

"When I finally got there I was thinking 75% of people die on the way down, so I was thinking celebrate but not too much because youstill have to get down."

Moharrak had trained hard for the expedition and promised herself that if she was at risk of losing fingers and toes to frostbite, she would abandon her attempt. Many doubted she would make it.

"One person actually said 'What is Barbie doing on the mountain?' and I said: 'Don't let the Disney princess hair fool you.'"

Raha Moharrak's triumph on Everest is the latest in a growing number of milestones for women in Saudi Arabia.

She follows the path of America-based Sarah Attar who became the first Saudi woman to compete in an Olympics at the London Games last year and Dubai-born Elham al Qasimi who became the first Arab woman to reach the North Pole in 2010.

"I did not set out to be a poster child


head. The curler of the construction described above is not capable of producing smooth curls. With this curler, it is difficult to make proper adjustment of the intensity of force with which the eyelashes are nipped or the degree of angle with which the curler is held relative to the eyelashes. Further the curler is difficult to manipulate. When the hair to be curled is long like the hair on the head, permanent wave may be easily set thereon by causing the hair to be wound on a cylindrical curler and kept down thereon with a rubber band or clip stretched thereon and fastened to the opposite ends of the cylindrical curler. Since the eyelashes are short, however, they cannot be wound and held in that state like    involvement started when the child was approximately 16 months
     [old].

         Father and Mother met when Father was 16 years old and
     Mother was 13 years old. Their sexual relationship started in 2012
     and lasted approximately seven months. Father testified that he
     and Mother ended the relationship when Mother was
     approximately six weeks pregnant. Father claims that he lost
     track of her at that point and was unaware that [] Child was born.
     Father stated that he did not find out [] Child was born until such


that he called Mother
     in July of 2016 to discuss the choking behaviors but Mother said
     that Father was simply making this all up.

            []Child was placed in therapy at some point in time. Father
     testified that Mother put Child in therapy without telling Father.
     Father claims that he was unaware of the referral for therapy until
     he saw the paperwork two months ago. Mother makes all of the
     physician appointments for Child. Father noted that Mother is
     better at notifying him now about the appointments. Father
  were featured in the photograph of the party did
     not belong to Father or [L.A.]. Father testified that he had one to
     two beers over a 4- to 5-hour period of time and that he was not
     intoxicated at the party.

            Child is currently being seen for therapeutic purposes at
     Meadowlands. Father has been involved in attending some of the
     sessions but was not able to go to the last two sessions due to his
     work schedule. Father noted that he had two surgeries on his arm
     which resulted


in him being off work from November of 2015
     through the beginning of February of 2017. Father testified that
     he let Mother know of his work schedule but that Mother schedules
     appointments while Father is at work. [] Child is being seen due
     to having night terrors as well as acting out on occasions.

           Father testified that he is always with Child when he has
     physical custody of Child unless he is picking up other children
     from various events. Father noted that Child and [L.A.] have a
     good relationship. Fatherthat Mother insisted upon an itinerary for the vacation even
     though this is not specifically required by the Interim Order.
     Father claims that Mother made certain irrational accusations
     about being misled about where Father was during the vacation.

            The second vacation took place later in the summer. Mother
     likewise insisted upon an itinerary for that vacation as well.
     Mother also claimed that Father failed to give the required notice
     for the vacation. Father testified that he brought Child back early
     so that Child could celebrate a birthday of his


has an associate’s degree and works for the
     Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the last two years as an
     income maintenance caseworker. Mother claims that she has

                                      -7-
J-S77031-17

     flexibility at her job due to having sick time and personal time.
     Mother testified that she has been to all of the doctors’
     appointments and that Father has only been to three doctors’
     appointments as well as three Meadowland appointments.    Mother testified that she advised Father that she was
     pregnant and Mother never hid that fact from Father. She further
     indicated that Father told her to either have an abortion or raise
     the child on her own. Mother claims that Father had no interest
     in having custody of Child until Mother filed for child support. The
     [c]ourt finds this testimony to be credible.

           Mother testified that she stopped breastfeeding Child in
     either late 2016 or early 2017. She noted that breastfeeding was
     infrequent and was only


at comfort times.

           Mother claims that she has been flexible with Father
     concerning custody exchanges and times. She indicated that she
     has altered the schedule when requested. She further noted that
     Father was not flexible. She cited an example when Mother had
     tickets to an event in Hershey. Father insisted that she return
     early so that the exchange could take place at the required time.

           Mother noted that there was no real communication
     between her and Father. She believes Father to be sarcastic and
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Friday, 21 February 2014

Birthday gifts

My younger girl had her birthday during February. We gave her a collection of all sorts of smaller gifts rather than a 'big' present, all wrapped up in 2 cardboard boxes. Each box contained something doll-related, but she also got several books, a DVD, some lego and nano blocks. She was delighted with all her gifts and so were the dolls, as the doll related gifts were a handmade classic yoke dress (Liberty fabric with lace trimmed collar & cuffs) I had made on my new sewing machine for Laura, another rocking chair (found in a local charity shop) and a Habitat model bicycle from Homebase.

Laura in her new classic yoke dress

Laura's beret is a 'Hattie hat'

Lace cuffs

close up of the lace


trimmed collar (hence the blurred face)

I had bought the bike several months ago after seeing one at Dawn's Sasha gathering in June 2013. It was the last one in the shop, I'd reserved it online and went to collect it but found it was shop soiled (paintwork a bit scratched) so managed to get 10% off the price. The bicycle also needed some adjustments as it the wheels were not turning evenly and pedals were catching (another symptom of 'shop soiled/not set up properly when made) however my husband was up to the job of fixing it and did a fine job. Our daughter's face when she took the bicycle out of the box was a picture of delight. I pointed out the scratches and said I hadParametric noise squeezing and parametric resonance of microcantilevers in air and liquid environments.
In this work, parametric noise squeezing and parametric resonance are realized through the use of an electronic feedback circuit to excite a microcantilever with a signal proportional to the product of the microcantilever's displacement and a harmonic signal. The cantilever's displacement is monitored using an optical lever technique. By adjusting the gain of an amplifier in the feedback circuit, regimes of parametric noise squeezing/amplification and the principal and secondary parametric resonances of fundamental and higher order eigenmodes can be easily accessed. The exceptionally symmetric amplitude response of the microcantilever in the narrow frequency bandwidth is traced to a nonlinear parametric excitation term that arises due to the cubic nonlinearity in the output of the position-sensitive photodiode.


which leads to a buildup of vapor pressure in the ullage or head space of the fuel tank. A pressure differential is thereby established across the liquid barrier wherein the pressure in the head space of the fuel tank, which is downstream of the barrier, is greater than the pressure in the fill pipe near the point of insertion of the discharge spout, which is upstream of the barrier. Therefore, when the flow of fuel into the tank is stopped, vapor flow transients may occur while the pressures on opposite sides of the liquid barrier are equalizing. The sudden equalizations of pressures on opposite sides of the barrier, especially where there is a very high pressure differential across the barrier, can cause fuel to be forcefully ejected fromcaption Susan Copestick: "I thought he had to pay for what he'd done, so I called the ambulance"

She had been sitting in the kitchen after the attack, forced by her former partner to make a cup of tea. By this point, 62-year-old Drummond - his hands curled in his lap - had gone grey in the face, having overdosed on paracetamol tablets. Susan would need to call an ambulance to give him the best chance of surviving.

It had only been two weeks since she had ended their 10-year relationship, over Drummond's inability to find a stable job, and moved to her mother's home in Rochdale.

Drummond had been planning the attack since their break-up, Susan remembers him telling her. He had brought with him a rucksack containing tape and


Viagra.

Image copyright HotSpot Media Image caption Peter Drummond was sentenced to 10 years in prison in April

"He said to me that he was going to slit my throat and let me die on the kitchen floor, and he would die on the sofa from the overdose. That was what he wanted my mum to come back and find after her holiday."

It was these comments that had left her paralysed with fear, able to do little else than watch the clock tick slowly by. She hoped the tablets would take effect on Drummond before he tried to kill her, but she also wanted to call for medical assistance.

For more information The Victoria Derbyshire programme is broadcast on weekdays between 09:15-11:00 BST on BBC Two and BBC News Channel. Programmewebsite

After he became too unwell to prevent her, she did just that.

"It was a rational and straightforward choice. I thought 'I'm not judge and jury' - it wasn't for me to make that decision for him to die," she says.

"I also didn't want him to have the easy way out - to escape justice. I wanted him to realise what he'd done and pay for it. That way I could put this all behind me."

Drummond has since pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in April this year, though he may be eligible for early release - a fact Susan finds "depressing".

She also remains confused about Drummond's psychological state at the time of the attack, which she sees as out of character.

"He looked like a


completely different person - I'd never seen him like that before," she explains. "His eyes were wild. If you'd have asked me the day before if he could have done this I'd have said 'not in a million years'."

Drummond had been stalking her since the break-up of their relationship, but at the time she saw that as little more than a phase.

"One morning I woke up at 6am and he was sat on the bench outside my mum's house. Another day he waited for me in the supermarket car park. On the day of the attack he told me he knew I'd left work early and who I'd spoken to," she says.

Image copyright HotSpot Media Image caption Susan Copestick says she has suffered "recurring nightmares" since the attack

Whenhe came to visit Susan at her mother's home, Drummond did so under the pretence of seeking advice about council forms. After letting him in, he approached her when she had gone to get a drink from the kitchen.

"He put his hands on my shoulders and I thought 'oh no, he's trying to get back with me'. I said 'no Peter', and that's when he put a knife to my throat and said: 'That's right, no more nice Peter.' Those words have haunted me ever since."

Drummond then made her lock the front door and marched her upstairs to where the sexual assault would take place. "Mummy's room or yours?" he asked.

Susan, who waived her right to anonymity to give this interview, says she has since suffered "recurring nightmares"


over the attack that followed. For the first few weeks she would keep the lights on in every room at home.

"I would drop off to sleep and wake up terrified, thinking he was by the bed with a knife."

Her fear was accentuated in the days following the attack by her reluctance to tell police she had been raped. Drummond had left hospital and been released on bail before she went to the authorities with the full truth six days later.

"Saturday night [four days after the attack] he even went to the local pub where I had been about half an hour earlier," she remembers.

Susan, however, is full of praise for how the authorities in Rochdale have dealt with the case. "The police have been amazing," she says, givingher the confidence to slowly rebuild her life and retain her job as a delivery driver.

Perhaps most importantly, she also has little regret about saving Drummond's life.

"People might find it odd that I saved the life of my own rapist, but I am far happier in the knowledge that he will suffer for the next decade, rather than taking the coward's way out."

The Victoria Derbyshire programme is broadcast on weekdays between 09:15-11:00 BST on BBC Two and BBC News Channel.

Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.


situation, same as in the Palestinian, it was the Jews who were the newcomers, or invaders. In Palestine, however, the Zionists put on a false mantle of the 'original people.' They are still trying to convince the world that they have an ancient religious claim to the land of Palestine. -cy]

British officers

The first camp, located about 13 kilometers from Jaffa, was called Ijlil and consisted largely of tents. The camp was surrounded by fences with barbed wire, watchtowers and a gate with guards.

Besides Ijlil there were four other 'official' concentration camps, namely Atlit, Sarafand, Umm Khalid and Tel Letwinsky, near Tel Aviv.

All camps were led by British officers who were left behind after the British army had withdrawn from Palestine in May 1948.

The guards were former members ofregime, whose 'Law Number 10' aims at expropriating the homes of millions of refugees outside of Syria. Those returning to Syria won't have homes to go to.

Legal experts have been quick to liken the recently introduced legislation to the Israeli Absentees' Property Law.

That law was brought in after the 1948 war to allow arriving Israelis to move into the homes of millions of Palestinians forced off their lands.

"Just like the 'Absentees Law' allowed Israelis to take over the properties of Palestinians forced off their lands in 1948, Assad's new law could see the state confiscating the lands of millions of displaced and refugee Syrians," said Ayoub.

In recent years, the Absentees' Law has been used by right-wing groups seeking to increase Jewish presence in East Jerusalem, which is traditionally


time the South Africans foolishly believed that they could buck Nuremberg. They were going up against the spirit of the age - the new cult of the 'religion of humanity', 'the conscience of humanity' and the 'human person'.The Counting Crows on Monday released a slew of tracks from its latest album to fans on the popular peer-to-peer file sharing platform BitTorrent.

The band — which introduced the album Underwater Sunshine (Or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation) in June — has shared four new tracks, liner notes, and artwork from the album directly to BitTorrent users. The tracks are now available for free on the site, where fans can also purchase the rest of the album directly.

BitTorrent - which runs the file-sharing tools BitTorrent Mainline and µTorrent — allows users to share music, TV episodes and movies among the community. The company announced in January that it surpassed 150 million active monthly users.

"I don’t know how I didn't think of this earlier — it's the


(Read caption)
Pagan Amum, (L) Secretary General of Sudan's People Liberation Movement (SPLM), seen with Salah Abdallah (2nd L), Presidential Advisor of Internal Security from the National Congress Party (NCP), speaks to the media during a joint news conference in Khartoum August 30, 2010. Ruling parties NCP and SPLM, who are sharing power in government, addressed the upcoming referendum in South Sudan planned for Jan. 9, 2011, during the conference.

View photo

With few months left until the South Sudan referendum, the ruling south Sudanese party, or SPLM, is preparing for the vote by cleaning house. Since last week, President of South SudanSalva Kiir has very publicly extended olive branches to a number of rebel leaders, political opposition, and other armed actors in the South who have the potential to stirlast couple of months, the SPLM has largely attempted to remove – not harmonize – political differences and challenges to the ruling party, using military force, harassment, and oppression.

During the April elections, members and supporters of opposition parties and independent candidates were widely persecuted by the SPLA. An attack in Upper Nile this past June, presumed by the SPLA to be linked to Akol and the opposition party SPLM-DC, spurred SPLA retaliations against not only suspected militia members, but on SPLM-DC supporters and many civilians of the Shilluk ethnic group in general. A Small Arms Survey brief on the situation noted: “Human rights observers reported the army engaging in summary executions, rape, destruction of property, and looting – all accusations the SPLA rejects.” SPLA harassment even extended to


Music
A decade ago next week, Portland's Exploding Hearts released Guitar Romantic, a near-perfect power-pop album now considered among the classics of the genre. Although the group's career ended tragically less than four months later, the great, brief burst of music it left behind remains a vital influence on an entire generation of bands. To commemorate the album's 10-year anniversary, Willamette ...
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Music
A decade ago next week, Portland's Exploding Hearts released Guitar Romantic, a near-perfect power-pop album now considered among the classics of the genre. Although the group's career ended tragically less than four months later, the great, brief burst of music it left behind remains a vital influence on an entire generation of bands. To commemorate the album's 10-year anniversary, ...
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Music
A decade ago next week, Portland's Exploding Hearts releasedGuitar Romantic, a near-perfect power-pop album now considered among the classics of the genre. Although the group's career ended tragically less than four months later, the great, brief burst of music it left behind remains a vital influence on an entire generation of bands. To commemorate the album's 10-year anniversary, Willamette ...
More

Music
In the mid-aughts, the Clorox Girls were Portland’s great punk hope. One year after a van accident tragically snuffed the promise of the dearly missed Exploding Hearts in 2003, the band—made up of three transplants from Northern California, all decidedly male—released its self-titled full-length and instantly renewed the city’s faith in hooky, three-chord, smash-and-grab punk rock. After three ...
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Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mitt Romney: "We will make 2012 the year Obama runs out of time"

US Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has taken another stride towards his party's nomination after a solid victory in New Hampshire's primary.

The former Massachusetts governor was home and dry on nearly 40% of the vote, with most results counted.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul was second on about 23% and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman third on almost 17%.

The eventual Republican nominee will take on President Barack Obama for the White House in November's elections.

Primaries and caucuses will be held in every US state over the next few months to vote on a Republican candidate before the eventual winner is crowned at the party convention in August.

Nearly-complete results fromTuesday's New Hampshire vote showed Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich tussling for fourth place with less than 10% each, while Rick Perry had under 1% of the vote.

New Hampshire primary result Source: AP

See the latest delegate count Romney 39.3% Paul 22.9% Huntsman 16.9% Gingrich 9.4% Santorum 9.4% Perry 0.7% 301 of 301 precincts reporting

All six contenders have vowed to fight on to the primary in South Carolina on 21 January.

But it is Mr Romney, narrowly declared the winner of Iowa's caucuses last week, who is viewed as having the strongest momentum heading into the next battleground state.

Within 20 minutes of polls closing, he took to the stage to declare victory and attack President Obama's economic record.

"The president has run out of ideas," he told supporters. "Now, he's running


out of excuses.

"And tonight, we are asking the good people of South Carolina to join the citizens of New Hampshire and make 2012 the year he runs out of time."

Ron Paul, who finished third in last week's Iowa caucuses, celebrated his latest result by telling cheering supporters: "I sort of have to chuckle when they describe you and me as dangerous. They're telling the truth because we are dangerous - to the status quo."

Mr Paul's younger following admires his small-government message, but his calls for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and legalising drugs have put him outside the mainstream of his party.

Mr Huntsman, who was President Obama's first ambassador to China, had pinned his hopes on an upset in New Hampshire to boost a candidacy that has failed topatrician who has made his pile on the backs of ordinary Americans. The longer this goes on, the longer that message has to sink in. Read more of Mark's thoughts

The former governor, widely seen as the least conservative candidate, told supporters his third-place finish gave him "a ticket to ride'' to South Carolina, but he is considered a long-shot for the nomination.

Former Pennsylvania Senator Santorum, who courts the social conservative vote, could not build on his near-victory in Iowa, where he fell just eight votes short of Mr Romney.

Former House Speaker Gingrich also failed to get his once-soaring candidacy back on track.

Like Mr Perry, who skipped campaigning in New Hampshire, they are pinning their hopes on stopping Mr Romney's momentum in South Carolina.

But correspondents say if the conservative


vote continues to fracture between the three of them, Mr Romney could find his march to the nomination almost guaranteed.

In Tuesday's victory speech, Mr Romney, who built a fortune as a venture capitalist, took aim at those rivals who launched fierce eve-of-primary attacks portraying him as a predatory corporate raider.

"President Obama wants to put free enterprise on trial, and in the last few days we've seen some desperate Republicans join forces with him. This is such a mistake for our party and our nation," he said.

Other contenders had seized on a remark the tycoon made on Monday while discussing health insurance coverage, when he said: "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."

Victory may not be so easy for Mr Romney in South Carolina,with its large bloc of evangelical voters, although an opinion poll last week showed him leading in that state.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Ron Paul: "We are dangerous to the status quo of this country"

Despite a well-funded campaign and backing from his party's establishment, Mr Romney has struggled to rally the majority of Republicans behind his candidacy.

The multi-millionaire Mormon has been accused of being out-of-touch with ordinary voters and the core values of the party's influential conservative right-wing.

In his first presidential run in 2008, Mr Romney finished second in New Hampshire to John McCain, who ultimately won the Republican nomination. This time, he campaigned with Mr McCain's endorsement.

Analysts estimate about 250,000 Republican voters turned out to vote in New Hampshire.

President Obama is seeking re-election


Pat Kenny has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA).

Tributes were paid to the Newstalk broadcaster from celebrities including Celine Dion - Kenny hosted the Eurovision Song Contest the year Dion won for Switzerland.

Other highlights saw 'Red Rock' receive Best Soap for second year; Brendan O’Carroll took Best Male Performance for 'Mrs Browns Boys', and 'Bridget and Eamon' won two IFTAs, for Best Comedy and Best Director Soap/Comedy.

Host Amanda Byram | Image via @IFTA on Twitter

The IFTA Gala Television Awards will be broadcast on TV3 tomorrow night.

Al Porter picked up the Gala TV Rising Star Award, while Bob Geldof spoke from the stage about his IFTA winning documentary about Yeats.

Amanda Byram hosted the show, which saw 'First Dates Ireland' crowned Best Reality- while Daniel and Majella's B&B took Best Factual.

'Mrs Brown's Boy' Rory Cowan | Image via @IFTA on Twitter

Some 23 Academy categories were presented, with winners including Sharon Horgan for Best Female Performance and Best Writer (Soap and Comedy) for 'Catastrophe', and COCO Television won Best Documentary Series for the Liam Neeson narrated '1916 The Irish Rebellion'.

RTÉ presenter Miriam O'Callaghan | Image via @IFTA on Twitter

'I Am Immigrant' won Best Single Documentary, and drama 'An Klondike' took the Best Irish Language award.

Mícheál Ó Meallaigh was awarded an IFTA for his Outstanding Contribution to the Industry and the Irish Language by Gráinne Seoige, for his achievements as Commissioning Director of TG4 for 20 years.


lost 28 citizens - circulated a draft text, seen by Reuters, to the 15-member Security Council late on Saturday and diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it could be put to a vote as early as Monday.

The Netherlands, whose citizens made up most of the 298 aboard MH17 from Amsterdam en route to Kuala Lumpur, said it was "furious" about the manhandling of corpses strewn for miles over open country and asked Ukraine's president for help to bring "our people" home.

U.S. President Barack Obama said the loss of the Malaysia Airlines flight showed it was time to end the Ukraine conflict and Germany called it Moscow's last chance to cooperate. European powers seemed to swing behind Washington's belief Russia's separatist allies were to blame. That might speedseriously interested in a solution." "Now is the moment for everyone to stop and think to themselves what might happen if we don't stop the escalation." Germany, reliant like other EU states on Russian energy and more engaged in Russian trade than the United States, has been reluctant to escalate a confrontation with Moscow that has revived memories of the Cold War. But with military action not seen as an option, economic leverage is a vital instrument. Russian Retaliation Russia said on Saturday it was retaliating against sanctions imposed by the United States last week, before the air disaster, by barring entry to unidentified Americans and warned of a "boomerang effect" on U.S. business. But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry agreed in


a phone call to try to get both sides in Ukraine to reach a consensus on peace, Russia's Foreign Ministry said. The U.S. State Department, however, put the onus on Russia, saying Kerry urged Russia to take "immediate and clear actions to reduce tensions in Ukraine". Driving home its assertion that the Boeing 777 was hit by a Russian SA-11 radar-guided missile, Ukraine's Western-backed government said it had "compelling evidence" the battery was not just brought in from Russia but manned by three Russian citizens who had now taken the truck-mounted system back over the border. The prime minister, denying Russian suggestions that Kiev's forces had fired a missile, said only a "very professional" crew could have brought down the speeding jetliner from 33,000 feet (10,000 meters) -The large variety of sexually explicit and engrossing teen / young porn . Skinny cutie Nancy likes to swim before work. Today she had the pool to herself, so the blonde babe got naked for a little pre-work skinny dipping. As she splashed around she noticed this guy that lives in the building watching her. She invited him to join her as she climbed out of the pool then pulled his shorts off. She had decided if he wanted to fuck her, she was going to make his wish come true. After a quick poolside blowjob, the petite babe got on top and rode his cock, loving the fact that he was thick and hung. She bounced on his dick in a few positions until he was ready


point it out as the major predictor of college students' behaviors during their first year ([@ref81]). According to [@ref56], prior knowledge has an indirect impact on academic achievement at the end of semester due to its influence on the quantity and type of new learning students need to undertake to reach a high level of mastery. Students' language skills show a positive correlation with students' outcomes ([@ref67]), but the literature points to the lack of basic skills such as text comprehension in many first-year students ([@ref25]). Despite the importance of this academic competence, crucial for coping with the academic challenges that students face at university, the analyses of the role of reading, understanding, and writing skills in students' academic outcomes have received limited attention.

Research acknowledges the role playedthe average score earned by the participants was 33.28 (DP = 10.18), with scores ranging from 10 to 60 points. At Time 2, the average was 32.73 (DP = 9.02), with scores ranging between 10 and 55 points. These tests were considered appropriate and valid to evaluate essential skills of the Portuguese language, through procedures of convergent and content validity ([@ref71]).

2.  High school GPA was collected through academic services. In Portugal, high school scores in each discipline range from 0 to 20, with a passing grade of 10. High school GPA in Portugal corresponds to the mean of students' high school grades across the three grade levels (60%) and the marks from national exams at the end of high school (40%). Minimum and maximum points were, respectively,


integrate their knowledge into a meaningful whole.

Behavioral engagement was positively related to academic achievement, either at the beginning or at the end of semester, corroborating the results of other investigations ([@ref34]). Study time is intended to promote an active involvement in the learning process, through autonomous work that improves the quality of learning. In addition, interaction with teachers and colleagues is also a key piece of the learning process in college. While focusing on the curricular unit selected, and comparing it with the end of semester, the association between behavioral engagement and academic achievement was slightly higher at the beginning of semester and was considered a stronger predictor of achievement. Thus, some weeks after the first lessons, when students are still familiarizing themselves with a new institution, newteachers, and classmates, with different curricular units (each one with its contents, teaching and assessment methods), with a set of extracurricular activities, students' interest in specific disciplines seemed to be positively correlated with impact on achievement at the end of the semester.

In summary, at the beginning of the semester, the variance in behavioral engagement was mostly explained by surface approach, while at the end of the semester, it was mostly explained by deep approach. Current data indicate primary and secondary paths for each of the time points. In the first time point, at the beginning of the semester, the primary path indicates that the lower the prior knowledge, the higher the use of surface approach, and the lower the behavioral engagement, while the secondary path indicates that the


high level of disengagement and low academic achievement.

The possibility of analyzing the same model, with the same variables, at the beginning and at the end of the first semester, furthers our understanding of the role played by the distinct factors on students' academic achievement. In fact, this role is not stable as the semester progresses, and this knowledge adds to the existing literature, but additionally to the faculty and educational services of the university. Current findings may inform the academic activities delivered by the universities to first-year students.

Finally, the current study points out the responsive nature of cognitive and behavioral engagement, assuming a systemic view in which different factors are closely interrelated. The analysis of both SEM also allows us to understand that academic achievement at the endsuits, and I certainly respect your opinions)
Anyway, I noticed that Glenn was wearing a plaid shirt with large checks, and Don had on a shirt with small blue and white checks, with a sky blue t shirt under it. In the dream, I could see how it really brought out the blue of his eyes. I heard them sing "How Long", "No More Walks in the Woods", and some other acapella songs that I had never heard before! Then Don sang a song with just him and the acoustic guitar. He said it was by Texas singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt, who happens to be someone I like very much. I was thrilled that Don was doing one of his songs. He only remembered one verse, but he sang


it anyway, and received thunderous applause.
During the break, I walked by two double doors, and I could see Glenn and Don kneeling down, talking to a little boy. I heard Glenn say, "You are a nice boy!"
Then I was walking down a hallway and ran into Don. He was much taller than I thought-almost seemed to be about 6'3" or even taller! His hair looked like HFO, and he was still wearing the shirt with the small blue and white checks. His eyes looked very blue. He told me he was looking for a quiet spot to sit down and write song lyrics. I told him my hotel room was quiet, so we went in, and as he was writing, I brought him a glass of limeade!
When thethat Glenn was wearing a plaid shirt with large checks, and Don had on a shirt with small blue and white checks, with a sky blue t shirt under it. In the dream, I could see how it really brought out the blue of his eyes. I heard them sing "How Long", "No More Walks in the Woods", and some other acapella songs that I had never heard before! Then Don sang a song with just him and the acoustic guitar. He said it was by Texas singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt, who happens to be someone I like very much. I was thrilled that Don was doing one of his songs. He only remembered one verse, but he sang it anyway, and received thunderous applause.
During the break, I


walked by two double doors, and I could see Glenn and Don kneeling down, talking to a little boy. I heard Glenn say, "You are a nice boy!"
Then I was walking down a hallway and ran into Don. He was much taller than I thought-almost seemed to be about 6'3" or even taller! His hair looked like HFO, and he was still wearing the shirt with the small blue and white checks. His eyes looked very blue. He told me he was looking for a quiet spot to sit down and write song lyrics. I told him my hotel room was quiet, so we went in, and as he was writing, I brought him a glass of limeade!
When the concert resumed, the guys got mad about something andThe geography of Abadan and its location between and in close proximity to many different rivers makes it a hard sight to pinpoint. Some of the available textual references can only be speculated to denote the city or the area, while references to the name, in form of ‘Abbadan, only start from the early Islamic centuries and continue sporadically until the pre-modern period.


that the caregiver burden was negatively correlated with the psychological well-being and the domains of spirituality, while the psychological well-being and spirituality were positively correlated. We identified that the caregiver burden has direct effect on the psychological well-being of the parents and it influences the psychological well-being through the pathway of the two domains of spirituality, i.e., self-discipline and meanness-generosity. These results highlighted the role of spirituality upon the psychological well-being of caregivers, which could be utilized to prevent pathological influences (such as hard feelings, hopelessness, depressed mood, anxiety, and relationship problems) of caregiver burden and enhance psychological well-being through spiritual counseling. Caregivers can work on their well-being and burden by disciplining their lives and forgoing hard feelings toward others.The Green Party of the United States Black Caucus has voted to endorse the National Prison Strike beginning on August 21st, 2018 and ending on September 9th, 2018.

Background: Incarcerated persons in prisons across the nation are declaring a nationwide strike in response to the riot in Lee Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison in South Carolina. Seven comrades were killed during an uprising that could have been prevented had the prison not been so overcrowded from the greed wrought by mass incarceration, and a lack of respect for human life that is embedded in our nation's penal ideology. These incarcerated persons are demanding humane living conditions, access to rehabilitation services and programs, sentencing reform, and the end of modern day slavery.

"Our criminal justice system was derived from years


and years of racism in the form of slavery, Jim Crow laws, Black Codes, and other laws that have disproportionately impacted African-Americans. So if we are to have meaningful conversations about ending mass incarceration, we must discuss structural and institutional racism. We have an opportunity to listen to individuals most impacted by the Department of Corrections and its exploitive, corruptive, and abusive practices. Our country's stronger when marginalized people directly impacted by unjust policies organize to voice their demands and take action to create a better future", said Joy Davis, Co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.

With only 5% of the world's population, the U.S. has more than 20% of the world's prison population – that makes us the world's largest jailer.

"A basic look through thehistory of prisons and policing in the United States shows a concerted effort to ensure that people whom find themselves on the other side of prison bars have no way of fully returning to society completely because humanity, dignity and constitutionally afforded rights have been stripped from them. The country is being reminded and forced to confront the inhumane treatment of people through the Prison Strike. May this mass action continue to shape the conversations on the best ways to abolish the injust Prison system in this country", said Shannel Pittman, Green Party of the United States Black Caucus member. Shannel also goes on to say that Black males in particular become victims of the school to prison pipeline early all too often.


professionals face daily.

While reading Forbes, I came across a very interesting article about the ability to change careers. The article focused on a man named Jeff who had worked as an attorney for the past eighteen years, for the same law firm the whole time. Now, Jeff wanted to move into corporate training. When he asked around his firm, they shot down the idea. Jeff was surprised because he has spent at least forty percent of his time at the law firm either creating instructional material or delivering training to clients and fellow lawyers. So, Jeff went on to attend a workshop where he was told to write a summary at the top of his resume. He included what he doesn’t want to do anymore and read itTredegar Works

Tredegar Works may refer to:

Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia
Tredegar Iron and Coal Company in Wales


by an issuing officer must be accompanied by that officer's affidavit stating the reason for the adjustment. Judge Takao testified at trial that the circumstances he had in mind for recommendation of adjustment of bail amounts or cancellation of tickets were cases where a tree branch blocked a traffic sign or light, and not because the motorist was on welfare. Judge Takao stated that when Defendant received a complaint, he was supposed to check with the police officer who issued the ticket to determine whether the complaint was legitimate. If it was, that reason was to be put in the officer's affidavit. Under the established procedures, Defendant had a duty to inform the district judge of the reason for his recommendation for the adjustment or cancellation of atraffic ticket.
Successor Administrative Judge Russell Kono continued the procedures established by his predecessor. He testified that the 1976 and 1977 directives were meant to prevent the cancellation of traffic tickets without justification rather than to facilitate the cancellation of tickets.

B.
The evidence at trial disclosed the following TVB procedure. A traffic citation consists of five copies: one copy for the cited motorist, one copy for the issuing police officer, and three copies for processing by the TVB. The citation is logged into the court's computers at the TVB Data Processing Division (DP). One copy is placed in a master file. The remaining two copies are sent to the cashier's section.
Two procedures were available to an issuing police officer who wanted to cancel a traffic citation. By general order, the


saw Defendant and complained that the citation he received was unjustified because the left turn sign was obscured by a traffic control signal. Concerning Machado's ticket, his friend who knew Defendant complained to Defendant that there was a problem with the speeding ticket issued to Machado. In each of the other six citations, a police officer who did not issue the ticket saw Defendant about cancelling the ticket. With respect to the tickets issued to Scott, Wasson, Roth, and Sprowl, Officer Veal, a fellow church member, told Defendant that those cited were experiencing financial hardship. Each of the motorists' copies of the tickets (except that for Machado which was not introduced into evidence) bore Defendant's shorthand symbol for affidavit.
Each issuing officer testified he believed the ticket he issuedwas valid. Each was called in to sign an affidavit for the ticket he had issued. Most of the seven issuing officers (Officer Richardson had issued two of the tickets) could not remember if the affidavit was blank when they signed it. Officer Richardson, who cited Higa and Roth, did however testify that usually he would sign the affidavit without any discussion about the reason for the cancellation. Officer Medeiros signed an affidavit that was never filled in and testified that he was not asked about a reason for the cancellation.[7] Officer Eggersgluss, who cited Sprowl, could not recall signing the affidavit but recognized his signature and testified that it was standard procedure to be given a blank affidavit to sign. Officer Veal, who cited Machado, testified that


he signed a blank affidavit. He also testified that he believes TVB clerk Amy Donlin told him that the cancellation was requested by Defendant and he thought he saw Defendant's symbol approving the cancellation of the ticket. Most of the officers testified that it was common practice to agree to cancel perfectly valid citations at the request of another officer unless there was a strong reason not to. Most also testified that they would not sign an affidavit unless the cancellation was approved by Defendant.
The jury returned guilty verdicts as to six counts of Fixing Tickets, seven counts of Tampering with a Public Record, and six counts of Unsworn Falsification to Authorities. *7 The jury was unable to reach a verdict as to two counts of Fixing TicketsDefendant concedes that, based on the evidence in this case, no ticket was "fixed" until its cancellation was approved by a district judge. After Defendant affixed his shorthand symbol for "affidavit" on the eight traffic tickets, the TVB clerks obtained false affidavits from the police officers who issued the tickets, the DP clerks then logged the information from the citation and affidavit into the computers, and finally, relying on the computer printouts, the district judges approved the cancellation of the eight tickets. Thus, there were intermediate actors between Defendant and the district judges.
In our view, if the evidence supported the fact that any one of the TVB clerks, the police officers who signed the affidavits, the DP clerks, and the district judges was "innocent," the giving of the


Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has approved appointment of Chartered Accountant Swaminathan Gurumurthy and businessman Satish Kashinath Marathe as another non-official director of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a period of 4 years.

Expected GD-WAT Topics

Planning your MBA after Job?

Book Of The Week

VOCAB STORY OF THE WEEK

Once, there was a preacher who was an avid golfer. Every chance he could get, he would be on the golf course swinging away. It was an obsession. One Sunday was a picture-perfect day for golfing. The sun was out, no clouds were in the sky, and the temperature was just right.
The preacher was in a quandary as to what to do, and shortly, the urge to play golf overcame him. He called an assistant to tell him that he was sicka spokeswoman for GMAC. The collapse of GMAC would leave GM at risk of losing as many as 40 percent of its 6,500 U.S. dealerships, Martin NeSmith, a liaison to the lender as a member of GM’s National Dealer Council, said Dec. 10. The dealerships rely on GMAC to finance cars and trucks on their lots while they wait for consumers to buy them. With GM selling cars at the slowest pace in 26 years and the country in its worst housing crisis since the Great Depression, GMAC and its Residential Capital LLC mortgage unit have had no way to revive their own revenue. ResCap has faced speculation about bankruptcy, and GMAC didn’t say how the federal aid program would affect the unit. Management of Cerberus includes former


The state funds its government services through the royalties on gas and oil production. Apart from low taxes, the people living in Alaska get benefit of these royalties with the Permanent Fund of Alaska paying yearly dividend depending on the earnings of royalties to the residents of Alaska.

Florida

The warm weather of Florida has always drawn tourists from throughout the world. The state of Florida has not had any kind of income tax since the year 1855. Government services of the state are funded through property taxes and 6% sales tax.

Nevada

The tourism and the gambling industry of Nevada have always served as the main source of income for the people living in this state. Apart from this, the lack of corporate and individual income taxes serves as one ofthe major attractions for residents and businesses. Very similar to the other tourist-friendly states in the US, Nevada gets its funds from use and sales taxes starting at 6.85% making up 72% of the total revenue of this state.

South Dakota

South Dakota levies no income tax on corporations and individuals. This state obtains its funds through several use taxes and 4% sales tax. As per reports presented in the year 2013, the state made 71% of the total revenue from use and sales taxes.

Texas

Texas is a state in the United States that funds itself by way of 6.25% sales taxes, motor vehicle fuel and sales tax and the royalties and taxes on the production of natural gas and oil. There is no form of corporation income tax levied in


heads of the religion after Bahá'u'lláh's death, as well as legislation by the Universal House of Justice, the international governing body of the Bahá'ís.[3] The writings of Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi are considered fundamental and unchangeable, while the application of some of them depends on decisions by the Universal House of Justice. Legislation by the Universal House of Justice is seen as subsidiary and is subject to alteration and/or repeal by the Universal House of Justice to account for changing circumstances.[4] The laws written by the Báb are not applicable, except when Bahá'u'lláh specifically reiterated them.[3]

Bahá'u'lláh stated that the ordinances of his book of laws was the best method for the maintenance of world order and security, and that Bahá'ís should obey the laws with "joy andof the shepherd. He advances towards the flock, and the flock moves in the opposite way of his advance because they are animals of prey and it is their natural fear response. However, the shepherd knows sheep behavior and uses this knowledge to achieve the desired effect.

A similar demonstration of how our fear is exploited for our good exists in the story of the lover and the watchman told by Baha’u’llah in the Seven Valleys. A man is suffering years of separation from his beloved and comes to the point where he feels he can live without her no more. He sets out for the market:

“On a sudden, a watchman followed after him. He broke into a run, with the watchman following; then other watchmen came together, and


barred every passage to the weary one. And the wretched one cried from his heart, and ran here and there, and moaned to himself: “Surely this watchman is ‘Izrá’íl, my angel of death, following so fast upon me; or he is a tyrant of men, seeking to harm me.” His feet carried him on, the one bleeding with the arrow of love, and his heart lamented. Then he came to a garden wall, and with untold pain he scaled it, for it proved very high; and forgetting his life, he threw himself down to the garden.

And there he beheld his beloved with a lamp in her hand, searching for a ring she had lost. When the heart-surrendered lover looked on his ravishing love, he drew a great breathand raised up his hands in prayer, crying: “O God! Give Thou glory to the watchman, and riches and long life. For the watchman was Gabriel, guiding this poor one; or he was Isráfíl, bringing life to this wretched one!”

Indeed, his words were true, for he had found many a secret justice in this seeming tyranny of the watchman, and seen how many a mercy lay hid behind the veil. Out of wrath, the guard had led him who was athirst in love’s desert to the sea of his loved one, and lit up the dark night of absence with the light of reunion. He had driven one who was afar, into the garden of nearness, had guided an ailing soul to the heart’s physician.

Now if the lover


could have looked ahead, he would have blessed the watchman at the start, and prayed on his behalf, and he would have seen that tyranny as justice; but since the end was veiled to him, he moaned and made his plaint in the beginning. Yet those who journey in the garden land of knowledge, because they see the end in the beginning, see peace in war and friendliness in anger.

If thou be a man of communion and prayer, soar up on the wings of assistance from Holy Souls, that thou mayest behold the mysteries of the Friend and attain to the lights of the Beloved. “Verily, we are from God and to Him shall we return” (from The Valley of Knowledge).

The law of God is able to movepound sleds.

Starting out with an approach of several days across lowlands was an
interesting way to ease into the trip.  Instead of driving right up to the
base of the mountains, we had to work a little bit to get there.  Even
though we were on open range with scattered trees, this was some of the
trickiest route finding we would encounter anywhere on the route.
Steep-sided drainages and mini-gorges suddenly appeared in the otherwise
mildly rolling terrain, requiring detours and delays.

For a few days we thrashed across the prairie landscape, moving toward
distant peaks that didn,t seem to be getting much closer.  The 10 or 12
inches of snow on the ground were completely rotten, and our movement was
half skiing, half snowshoeing.  Each step sank to the ground, and ski tips
snagged


down passes, all above 10,000 feet.  Reaching the
entrance to Titcomb Basin, we veered northwest toward the origin of the
Green River at Peak Lake.  Originally we had planned to go north from
Titcomb past Gannett Peak as far as Downs Mountain, the last peak above
13,000 feet in the Winds, before falling off to the west down Roaring Fork,
eventually reaching the Green River drainage.  But because of time, low
snow, and a desire to live we had altered our course to head directly down
the Green.

Going over the top at Cube Rock Pass, we caught a glimpse thousands of feet
down the Green River drainage.  The end was near but we were still looking
at another two days to get to Green River Lakes campground, where we hoped
to solicit a snowmobile As this disputed
issue festered, Joe seemed eager to put more and more distance between the
two of us.

As it turns out, Vista Pass really was the last uphill, and now it was time
to go down.  After a few hours of easy traversing, we lost the trail and
decided to descend a steeply falling stream choked with enormous boulders.
Seemed like a good idea at the time I guess.  Joe was in front, skiing
straight downstream and stopping only for the most absurd drops.  He was
soon out of sight.  Following his track was a bit of an eye opener.  It felt
like the cartoon where you come upon a set of ski tracks that split around a
tree.  In leather boots and telemark bindings with a large sled,


30 wolves to the island.  In 2018, three females and one male wolf from Minnesota were transferred to the island system.

Isle Royale National Park is made up of about 400 islands, and is in the northwest portion of Lake Superior. It is about  from Michigan's shore, and  from the Canadian shore. The main island is about  long, and  wide at the widest point, with an area of . There are no roads, and no motorized vehicles are allowed on the island. The park is closed from September to May during which the wolf-moose study personnel are the only humans resident on the island.

Wolf-moose dynamics interactions

As an isolated island, Isle Royale initially had neither wolves nor moose. The moose are believed to have eithernumber, a unique personal identification number, which enables accurate linkage between all administrative national registers and ensures that the entire population can be followed over time. The Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register (DPCR) \[[@B25]\] was established in 1969 as an electronic database. The DPCR contains information on all psychiatric admissions since 1969 and all outpatient contacts after 1994. There are no private psychiatric hospitals in Denmark. The Danish National Patient Register (DNPR) \[[@B26]\] was computerized in 1977. The DNPR contains information about every person in contact with the Danish hospital services. In 1994, the DNPR was expanded to include outpatient and emergency room contacts as well. Until 1993, the diagnostic system used in the Danish registers was the Danish version of the International Classification of Diseases, Eighth Revision


to why Betty is into Barney Rubble. Kinda out of his league, right?

THE COMEDY OF "FUNNY PEOPLE"Network: HBOTime: 11:30PM - 12AM

Reasons to watch: Needless to say that Judd Apatow has a pretty solid track record and his third film looks like it will not disappoint. Take a half hour to check out the process that the cast and crew needed to go through to successfully pull off the comedy that drives Funny People.

SUNDAY JULY 19th, 2009

Family GuyNetwork: FOXTime: 9 - 9:30PM

Reasons to watch:Family Guy parodies the work of Stephen King with this humorous anthology. Why? Because a Halloween episode in July just seemed like too much of a stretch.

TRUE BLOODNetwork: HBOTime: 9 - 10PM

Reasons to watch: The season is heating up and I couldn't be happier. We gotMIAMI—Early one December morning, Chris Langdon, a biological oceanographer at the University of Miami, zipped up his wet suit and dropped overboard just off Key Largo to inspect a section of Florida's ailing coral reef. His living "laboratory," 15 feet down, is the size of several football fields. Last summer a large bleaching event turned much of the coral white.

Bleaching occurs when water temperatures rise or fall. Even a slight fluctuation can set it off. The result is dramatic and often fatal. The coral polyps expel their source of food—the algae that live within the coral and provide its vivid hues. Without food, the coral turns white and eventually dies.

Langdon's morning dive was part of his continuing work to understand the effects of climate change in the oceans,


such as rising water temperatures and rising levels of acidity. He has focused on coral reefs because of their critical role in feeding the world's populations. (Can Miami Be Saved? Read the February issue of National Geographic magazine.)

Reefs, known as the rain forests of the seas, occupy one-tenth of one percent of the ocean floor, but they provide habitat for a quarter of the world's fish. With the world so dependent on the oceans for food and natural resources, Langdon wants to understand how marine life could adapt to a changing environment.

"When you talk to people about climate change, first there is denial," he says. "Once you convince them, most people snap straight to defeatism. They go from denial to defeatism without stopping at problem solving. Humans arefrom the Coral Restoration Foundation, choosing staghorn coral from an offshore nursery for planting on ailing reefs near Islamorada. Photograph by Spencer Millsap, National Geographic

As carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere, the world's oceans, which cover 70 percent of the globe, absorb it like a sponge. Once in the sea, the carbon dioxide reacts with the water, raising the acidity of the ocean and threatening the ability of corals and other marine life, such as oysters, to form shells and skeletons. (Read "The Acid Sea.")

Last September, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) listed 20 new species of coral as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act, including 15 in the Indo-Pacific and 5 in the Caribbean. (Two other species were already on the list.) Staghorn and elkhorn corals,


at any time in history, Langdon says.

Fighting to Save Coral in the Florida Keys Meet Ken Nedimeyer, conservationist at Coral Restoration Foundation, and Chris Langdon, a biological oceanographer at the University of Miami. See how they are working to protect coral reefs in Florida.

That spells trouble for corals, which often take 15 years to reach sexual maturity and reproduce only once a year. In 2005, according to a NOAA study, half the corals in the Caribbean died after warming waters triggered a massive bleaching. As ocean temperatures continue to rise, such events will occur more frequently.

"Coral has been around for 200 million years," Langdon says. "They have survived huge extinction events. But the event that precipitated the last extinction happened a hundred times more slowly than the eventthat is going on now."

By the end of the century, Langdon says, ocean acidity may increase by as much as 250 percent. "Every year is bigger than the year before, because it's exponential," he says. "We suspect coral reefs' rate of adaptation to climate change is going to be on the slower end of the species'. It is reason for concern that they may not be able to keep up with climate change."

View Images Erica Towle helps Langdon monitor the tanks of coral. Photograph by Spencer Millsap, National Geographic

Reef Research in the Desert

Langdon did groundbreaking research on coral reefs and ocean acidification, oddly enough in the middle of the Arizona desert, as part of a 1990s experiment to re-create the Earth's ecosystems in a three-acre enclosed facility known


as Biosphere 2.

Initially hailed as cutting edge science—one futuristic goal was to determine whether Biosphere 2's environment could be re-created on Mars—the experiment had run amok by 1995. Soaring levels of carbon dioxide and dropping levels of oxygen forced scientists to abandon the structure. Biosphere was then taken over by Columbia University, where Langdon was working as a research scientist. He was assigned to figure out what to do with the Biosphere's "ocean."

"People were telling me that I was going to destroy my career," Langdon says wryly. "But I'm a risktaker, and I jumped at the chance."

Langdon's work, detailed by the New Yorker in 2006, involved testing the impact of elevated carbon dioxide levels on the corals inside the Biosphere. He found that those levels harmed the corals'ability to calcify and grow. "So this started a whole new field of research—once I was able to convince people that tiny changes in pH did affect their ability to calcify," he says.

In 2004 Langdon moved to the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, where the Florida reef provides better opportunities for research.

On his December dive, Langdon was accompanied by several graduate students, who used numbered stakes to mark corals to be monitored and clipped small samples to study. Back in the lab in Miami, the coral samples were put in tanks of water of varying degrees, where they were fed, weighed weekly, and monitored for signs of recovery.

View Images The loss of coral reefs would be devastating. They cover one-tenth of one percent


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After he fled from this tiny northern Iraqi hamlet four months ago, Hayder Khalef got panicked phone calls from his relatives who had remained behind. They were at that moment being led by Islamic State group gunmen toward a checkpoint on the edge of town.

"If you don't hear from us, you'll find our bodies near the checkpoint," Khalef said they told him in the calls.

He is back in his hometown for the first time since, after Iraqi Kurdish fighters last week drove out the extremists holding the village. Khalef and a few other residents who escaped followed the Kurds in, hoping to discover what happened to hundreds of their relatives and neighbors who vanished after the jihadis overran Hardan inearly August.

They fear they know where they are: four mounds of recently dug-up earth. The sites have not yet been excavated, but Khalef and others are convinced they are mass graves, possibly holding dozens of dead. From the loose top soil, they and Kurdish fighters pulled out pieces of clothing as an Associated Press reporter watched.

At one point, they tugged on the elastic waistband of pants visible in the dirt — and it seemed a body was still wearing them. The ground bulged with the weight of a body being pulled up with the waistband. They stopped pulling, fearing booby traps, before a body could be clearly seen. But an ID card and some prayer beads fell out of the pants pocket — the ID of a 44-year-old


are there along with all those from my village." Wase and Khalef estimate that some 530 people are missing from Hardan, out of an original population of about 200 families, and he believes most were killed by the militants.

Hardan is one of a number of tiny villages dotting the plains of northern Iraq populated by members of the Yazidi religious community. When the Islamic State group swept through the area in early August, its fighters unleashed some of their most brutal atrocities against the Yazidis — whom they consider heretics. Hundreds were killed, and the militants abducted hundreds of Yazidi women and girls, enlisting them as sex slaves given to their fighters and supporters, according to accounts by escaped women and reports collected by the U.N. and rightsgroups.

On Aug. 3 — the same day they took the largest town in the area, Sinjar — the militants appeared at the entrance to Hardan in eight black SUVs, backed by Sunni Muslims from neighboring villages, Wase recounted. They ordered residents to hand over any weapons they possessed or else the extremists would behead their families, Wase said. The residents complied. Some fled that very night, including Wase and Khalef. Others were unable to leave, however, and stayed, hoping for the best, they said.

Wase said he made his way across the nearby Syrian border. He too received phone calls from relatives saying they were being taken by the militants toward a checkpoint on the side of town. He and Khalef said they were told about 150 people were


taken to the checkpoint. What happened next is unknown, but both men believe all were killed.

Khalef said he also got a call from one of his cousins who hid in the village and saw the families being marched to the checkpoint and later saw an earthmover digging in the nearby fields. "My uncle and two of his sons along with 50 others I know from Hardan" are among those missing, Khalef said.

Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters recaptured Hardan on Friday, and a handful of Yazidi residents quickly followed to search for loved ones. They found three of the mounds in a field. Wase said he found a headband and scarf he recognized as belonging to his relatives in one mound. At a spot about 100 meters (yards) away, theearth was scorched and littered with clothing, womens' shoes and a baby's pacifier.

The fourth site was found Sunday when the peshmerga were setting up a position and digging a latrine, and they noticed clothes in the dirt. It was there that they tugged at the half-buried pants that appeared to still be on a body.

Sammy Tahar, a 44-year-old peshmerga fighter, said he too believes the mounds are graves. "This is the worst of Daesh and the terrorists," he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. "They brought these innocent people who were just minding their own business and they killed them."


Ithaca wins at Union, 17-3

SCHENECTADY, NY -- Senior running back Rakim Jones rushed for both touchdowns and senior linebecker Jake Santora had 14 tackles including three for losses to lead Ithaca College to a 17-3 non-league football win at Union College at Frank Bailey Field Saturday afternoon. The Bombers improved to 2-0 o the young season while the Dutchmen fell to 0-2.

Senior tighte end Jared Prugar had 165 yards on six catches while Jones had scoring runs of two and four yards. Brian Hardenberg added 10 tackles and two for losses for the visitors, who recorded four sacks. Ithaca had 297 total yards to Union's 222. Quarterback Phil Neumann was 11 for 20 with one interception and 219 yards, and Jones (44 yards) and Tommy Padula (43 yards)led the rushing efforts.

Union quarterback Connor Eck was 15 for 29 with an interception and 140 yards and Joseph Vito caught six passes for 57 yards. T.J. Franzese had 30 yards rushing for the Dutchmen. Defensively, Union was led by Josha Rose, Casey Muse and Thomas Hayes, who recorded seven tackles each. Muse had two tackles for losses.

Ithaca opened the scoring when Jones ran in from two yards with 5:15 remaining in the first quarter. The four play, 16 yard drive consumed 1:43. It began when Sam Carney returned a Union punt 39 yards to the Union 16 with 6:58 left in the first. The Bombers made it 14-0 when Jones scored on a four yard run with 4:19 elapsed in the second quarter. It was a three


play, 63 yard drive in 1:16 that began with a 56 yard strike from Neumann to Jared Prugar to bring it to the Union seven.

The Dutchmen got on the board with a David Pope 28 yard field goal with 3:56 left in the half. It was Union's best drive of the day, 14 plays and 65 yards in six minutes and 51 seconds. Eck kept the drive aling with a 22 yard pass to Tosin Kazeem on a third-and-four that gave Union a first down at the Ithaca-12 yard line.

The Bombers scored the only points of the second half on a Garrett Nicholson 20 yard field goal with 5:22 left to play in the third quarter. Ithaca's scoring drive took 11 plays and consumed 81 yards in 5:53.From the about page of POTUS Shield:

The prophets spoke, the leaders stood up, and the people heard … We repented, we prayed, we declared… and the Lord moved! On a single day in November He shifted the future of this nation and also inspired the Body of Christ with renewed hope! On January 20, 2017 our nation celebrates the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States.

Now God is speaking again: “Surely the Lord does nothing unless he reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” (AMOS 3:7).

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE INAUGURAL CONVOCATION OF THE POTUS SHIELD.

It is our time to storm heaven for a New America, revival in our land, and to bring our country back to God! We


are the redeemed of the Lord who are coming to raise up a shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit.

The Lord has summoned a prolific council of prelates and prophets to convene in Washington, D.C. one week prior to the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States of America. These servants of God are especially gifted to discern the times and to prophesy the Word of The Lord, even so as we seek to prepare the way for transformation, reformation, and revival in our nation.

We are called to gather in the nation’s capital and to raise up a shield of prayer and prophetic understanding, grounded in the firm foundation of the immutable Word of God, and inspired with fresh revelation byNew hunt: Police search Claudia Lawrence's house

HOPE: Advances in forensics may reveal what happened to missing chef Claudia [PA]

Claudia was last seen nearly five years ago by colleagues at the University of York when she finished her shift on March 18, 2009.

She spoke to her parents Peter and Joan on the phone that evening but has not been heard from since, despite a huge police hunt.

Now police hope advances in forensics may reveal what happened to Claudia, then 35, who they suspect was murdered.

They reopened the cold case yesterday after four and a half years by beginning a renewed search of her home in York.

Detective Superintendant Dai Malyn, head of North Yorkshire Police’s Major Crimes Unit, said: “Historically, in some of the high profile cases, progress has been


The annual 'Calgary's Best Neighbourhoods' survey is out by Avenue Magazine, and Calgarians are asked to vote for their communities. I have been priveleged to work in some great SW communities, and here's a list of some communities I think should make the top 50 list.

Christie Park Estates: This upscale community in the southwest quadrant of Calgary, is bounded by Strathcona Park and 17th Avenue. The neighbourhood was established in 1990, and is now home to over 2,871 residents. Read my summary on this community here.

Signal Hill: Signal Hill is home to 13,912 residents, and contains the neighbourhoods of Sienna Hills and Signal Ridge as well. Situated in the southwest quadrant of Calgary, near Sarcee Trail, the community is full of great shopping and recreation. Read my summaryof Signal Hill here.

Richmond: One of the older communities in Calgary’s southwest quadrant, Richmond was established in 1950. Straddling both sides of Crowchild Trail, the community is situated on the south side of 17th Avenue, offering great proximity to downtown and uptown 17th Avenue shopping to its 3,985 residents. Read my profile of Richmond here.

Discovery Ridge: When the community of Discovery Ridge first began construction in 1990, it was planned to be a gated community, but the area we know today is fully accessible by the public. Located at the southwest edge of the city, the neighbourhood is home to 4,286 people. You can read my summary of Discovery Ridge here.

Strathcona Park: Situated in the middle of several main roadways in the city’s southwest, Strathcona Park was established


as a community in 1980. Built on a plateau, the neighbourhood offers beautiful views of the Bow and Elbow Rivers, along with an easy commute to downtown Calgary. Read my profile of the community here.

Aspen Woods: The neighbourhood is comprised mainly of single-family homes and some acreage properties. Located just on the north side of 17th Avenue SW, it provides easy access to downtown Calgary. Here's my profile of this SW community.

Springbank Hill: The community of Springbank Hill is a large and diverse suburb near the western city limit of Calgary. Comprised of numerous subdivisions including Springborough and Montreux, Springbank has developed into a large community and one of the wealthiest regions in the Greater Calgary area. My summary of this community is here.

West Springs: Located in thesouthwest quadrant of the city, West Springs is bordered by Springbank to the west, and Cougar Ridge to the north; the western extension of the community is called Wentworth. Offering a variety of well-appointed homes, West Springs is only a 15-minute commute to downtown Calgary. My profile of the community is here.

You can vote for the 2017 Best Neighbourhoods online at the Avenue Magazine website.

Recent Blogs

The recent census data released in Canada, shows an increased trend in multigenerational housing, which refers to three or more generations under one roof.

From 2001 to 2016, the percentage of multigenerational households in Canada grew by a staggering 37.5 per cent – more rapidly than any other household type. Overall, in 2016, 2.2 million Canadians were living in this type of household,...

One of


Russia Becoming the Next Uganda?

Russia may be on the road to becoming the next Uganda, with anti-gay sentiment spilling over from homophobic laws into society and everyday life and legal attacks on LGBTs spreading to nearby countries.

Moreover, the anti-gay fervor sweeping the region seems to have another commonality with the African nation that attempted to impose the notorious "death to gays" law: News reports indicate that one of the anti-gay U.S. evangelicals who reportedly helped spark the Ugandan wave of anti-gay violence has also been active in spreading animus against sexual minorities in Russia.

In March of 2009, several American evangelicals traveled to Uganda and presented what they called the "Seminar on Exposing the Homosexuals' Agenda." Their talks contained assorted claims about gays and the "dangers" that gays poseto society, reported the New York Times in a Jan. 3, 2010, article.

The Ugandan group the Family Life Network, which purports to uphold "traditional family values," put the conference together. The speakers included anti-gay writer and missionary Scott Lively -- author of a book that purports to tell parents how to "gay-proof" their offspring -- and Don Schmierer, a board member of the now-defunct Exodus international, an organization dedicated to the idea that gays can be "cured" through prayer and counseling before the organization's recent demise.

A third speaker was also in attendance: Caleb Lee Brundidge, who claims once to have been gay, but now to be heterosexual. Mr. Brundage heads seminars focused on "healing" gays (that is, attempting to turn them straight).

The views set out by the Americans


the wake of the American evangelicals' 2009 rally, the social climate for gays worsened as rapidly as the legislative situation. A Uganda newspaper published the photographs, names, and addresses of a hundred individuals the paper branded as being gay, under the headline "HANG THEM." Reports of anti-gay violence emanated from Uganda, culminating in the murder of GLBT activist David Kato, who was Tbludgeoned to death with a hammer in January of 2011.

A similar steep decline in social stability seems to have swept Russia with the approval by that nation's government of an anti-gay law purportedly meant to prevent pro-gay "propaganda." The bill punishes citizens and foreigners alike for any statements or conduct that might be construed as supportive, accepting, or promoting of a "gay lifestyle," including same-sex publicdisplays of affection.

Reports from Russia in recent months have detailed group attacks on gays and trans individuals, some taking place in front of police who did nothing to intervene. Meantime, other nations in the region have made moves to adopt similar anti-gay laws of their own.

Predictably, the situation for gays in Russia has only grown more difficult and dangerous with each passing month since the Duma approved the anti-gay law in June. In some respects, the worsening situation resembles a systematic, incremental attempt to strip gays of rights and even human dignity; one official, Mikhail Degtyaryov, recently pushed for gays in Russia to be rejected as blood donors, and touted the idea of government-sponsored programs to "cure" gays. ""Many want to return to a normal life, to become


heterosexual like 95 to 99 percent of our citizens," Degtyaryov claimed.

The idea that homosexuality is optional, and that gays can "choose" heterosexuality, has been soundly rejected by the mental health establishment, and contradicts all scientific understanding of why some individuals are innately attracted others of the same gender; nonetheless, it is a core tenet of anti-gay religious doctrine.

In another recent turn of events, Windy City Media reported that anti-gay fliers were posted at an apartment building in the Russian city Rostov-on-Don that warned residents of a homosexual in their midst. The flier came on the heels of a government advisory instructing Russian citizens to be watchful for any neighbors that might be engaging in "homosexual propaganda." The flier conjured notions of a lurking figure that was only waitingfor an opportunity to sexually assault innocents.

"There is one step from being homosexual to starting homosexual propaganda and molesting decent people," the flier claimed, referencing the long-championed belief in anti-gay circles that homosexuals constitute a danger to heterosexuals, especially children, because they are inveterate sexual criminals.

The Windy City Media article also reported that the Russian government has targeted a high-profile Russian defender of GLBT rights, Nicolai Alexeyev. Following a complaint brought against him by a Russian politician, authorities tossed Alexeyev's apartment and confiscated his computer. Alexeyev has reportedly gone into hiding.

One common element to both nations, and the virtually overnight spike in legal and social homophobia Uganda and Russia have witnessed, is Scott Lively, the afore-mentioned American evangelical behind the book promising to help parents "gay-proof" their children.


Lively is also the author of a tome that claims the Nazis were organized and directed by militant homosexuals -- but some activists worry that crusades such as the one Lively has mounted against gays resemble nothing so much as the deliberate and systematic campaign to dehumanize and obliterate Jews in pre-World War II Germany.

Lively recently lost a court case in which a Ugandan gay rights group sought to see him tried for crimes against humanity. But his work has not been limited to African nations; indeed, the New Yorker recently exposed the fact that Lively has also worked to bring about anti-gay legal action elsewhere, including Russia.

"Since as far back as 2006, he has been working to spread his anti-gay message in Russia," the Aug. 16 NewYorker article noted, going on to report that after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the new anti-gay law into effect, "Lively wrote on his Web site that Russia 'has just taken the very important and frankly necessary step of criminalizing homosexual propaganda to protect the society from being "homosexualzed." [sic] This was one of my recommendation [sic] to Russian leaders in my 50-city tour of the former Soviet Union in 2006 and 2007.' "

The New Yorker piece drew clear and chilling parallels between the actions Lively called for to be taken against gays, and the legal measures that Russia subsequently enacted.

"In 2007, Lively wrote an open letter to residents of Russia warning of the threat of the 'homosexual agenda,' a phrase he has often used when talking about


Uganda," the article recounted. "He urged Russians to protect themselves and recommended making illegal the 'public advocacy of homosexuality,' " which is, in fact, the key element to the bill Putin signed into law in June -- and which is also, the article noted, a "key feature" of David Bahati's anti-gay bill.

Though Ugandan sexual minorities have made a brave comeback in the shadow of the "death to gays" bill, achieving a courtroom victory over Lively and celebrating a Pride parade this year, their future is still in doubt: Bahati's bill has never been withdrawn and might still see passage.

Moreover, the question hanging over other nations remains this: Despite recent history-making gains, could the successes enjoyed by gays in a number of nations be reversed by a focused campaignBBC & Travel Channel show ‘staged, false, fabricated and distorted’

August 2, 2011

Matsigenka girls, Peru

© G Shepard/ Survival

A TV series about an Amazonian tribe has been slammed as ‘staged, false, fabricated and distorted’ by experts on the tribe.

‘Mark & Olly: Living with the Machigenga’ was shown on the Travel Channel in the US, and on the BBC last year. In the show Mark Anstice and Olly Steeds lived in a Matsigenka Indian village for several months to show the ‘reality’ of life among the tribe.

But now two experts on the tribe have gone public with a string of highly damaging accusations. Dr. Glenn Shepard is an anthropologist who has worked with the Matsigenka Indians for 25 years and speaks their language fluently. Ron Snell, the son of US missionaries,


had anything to do with it.’

The series was previously at the centre of a media storm when a scouting expedition for the show was accused in Peru of provoking a flu epidemic among isolated Indians which caused the deaths of four of them. The show was eventually filmed a short distance from this incident.

The Matsigenka were repeatedly mistranslated in the series © Cicada

Cicada, the production company responsible for the series, has made no comment on the accusations.

Stephen Corry, Director of Survival, said, ‘‘Mark & Olly: Living with the Machigenga’ was a depressing example of the way tribal people are routinely portrayed on TV. One stereotype followed another, with the Matsigenka variously portrayed as callous, perverted, cruel, and savage. Is this what the film crew really thought of thoseDr. Glenn Shepard is an ethnobotanist and medical anthropologist who specializes in the indigenous peoples of the Amazon. He has published more than 50 scientific papers and is currently a researcher in Indigenous Ethnology at the Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi in Belém, Brazil.

3. Ron Snell grew up with the Matsigenka, where his parents were missionaries. He is the author of several books about his childhood there, and still visits the area regularly. He is now the director of a homeless people’s shelter in Nebraska, USA. His mother, who has also watched the series and corroborates the accusations, is the author of a 900-page Matsigenka dictionary.

4. A longer version of Dr. Shepard’s article can be found on his blog: ethnoground.blogspot.com