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Chicago faces an epidemic of gun violence. This year alone, more than 2,100 people have been shot, more than 400 killed. The Fourth of July weekend was especially violent. Around 100 people were shot in just over four days. Adriana Diaz gained unique access to some of Chicago's toughest neighborhoods and crews that weekend for "CBSN: On Assignment." Watch this episode of "CBSN: On Assignment" on Monday, Aug. 7, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS Chicago police have already seized more than 5,000 guns from the streets this year. Young men on the city's South and West Sides told CBS News how easy it is to get illegal guns, and why many never leave their homes without one. "I know people who can't walk from they house to the store without a gun," said Aaron Murph. "Because people getting killed left and right. It's sad." "I got shot twice and I could have been gone but I'm still here so, that scar, that's with me, so," said Tyshaun Grant. "It's hell on earth." Tyshaun Grant's scar from a gun wound. CBS News The problem we heard – and saw – over and over again, was guns. CBS News gained access to several crews on Chicago's South Side. The MAC-10 is a semi-automatic weapon originally designed for military use. It is illegal in Chicago. Asked why anyone would need a gun with that much firepower, one man said, "Protection. It dangerous out here." One South Side crew affiliated with the Titanic Stones told CBS News they actually hate guns. They obstructed their faces to conceal their identities on camera. "I'm just doin' this s*** for survival, bro, until I can pull my family and myself in a better predicament to what I need to do," one member said. "We just trying to keep ourselves protected." Many crews told us they would rather risk the police catching them with a gun than have their rival find them without one. CBS News Asked where he got his .40-caliber gun, he said, "Off the streets, people sell 'em." "Just like that, that's how easy it is," another man said. "It's worth it for you to keep these guns?" Diaz asked. "We felons. You know what I'm saying? Ain't nobody gonna give us no jobs. The cops don't give a f*** about us." But when asked if innocent people dying by those bullets is worth it, they both said, "No." "At the end of the day, it ain't worth it. But you got 'em motherf*****s wanna go through a drive by, you know what I'm saying? And some innocent, little sister get shot. Guess what? Them and them guys coming back in. That's how the confrontation is going to keep going." "So why not just put the guns down?" Diaz asked. "Put the guns down? Probably would happen. Maybe in the near future. No time right now. I don't want to put my gun down. Nine times out of ten the innocent ones get hurt, you know what I'm saying? If they come do a shooting right now we probably won't even get shot. And we got guns. You might get shot. That's how f****** up it is, you know? But it's survive or be killed."

A bunch of developers published the ' agile manifesto ' in 2001 after they got fed up with the many software projects that hadn't worked. They thought that these projects were too complicated and too slow, in other words, they weren't sufficient enough. The developers had to do many unnecessary things. The system was inflexible and couldn't cope with changes. It was difficult to plan projects which eventually weren't accomplished on time. The participants were always stressed. And then the agile design process was born. The aim of the agile design process The projects were previously organized in a linear way. The first step was to analyze the problem and write a specification. The next phase was the design and development planning process. Softwares were programmed based on the plans. Then they were tested. Most of the time testing included only functional testing. Softwares were checked in order to determine whether they functioned perfectly. The main problem was that this process took too long and there were only experts who oversaw the product. The users and the business side did not. Any problem occurring during the long development process was noticed only at the end and everything had to be done from scratch. Today we want to produce business results quickly. These could only be reached by dividing the project into smaller pieces instead of building one huge project. These pieces should be standalone products, so they have to generate value for the end-users. They should be something you can show to customers or business leaders. New waves, the agile design process In an agile environment the phases run parallel instead of following each other. We design, develop and test at the same time. We divide the product into smaller, independent, viable parts that can be released individually. We can design, develop and test these small parts faster and as a result we can get faster feedback from users and the market. If there’s a mistake it comes to light in no time and we can fix it immediately. Therefore, there’s no waste of money and time. We try to get rid of every unnecessary task. For example, we don’t create infinite documentations, but we prefer personal communications. Here is another post on how we use design as a tool for communication. We just try to avoid designing something that users can’t use. How does UX help to be more agile? With UX design and advanced UX research methods we can build more agile development processes. Here are the 4 most important standpoints: Finding real pain points Problems can be identified in an existing software or in the user’s life as well thanks to the UX research process. So we are going to develop functions that suffice real user demands. Some methods that you can use: interviewing jobs to be done field research experience sampling Building prototypes and iterate fast UX designers have tools for building prototypes from an idea in a short period of time. Prototypes are the best way to try out more ideas simultaneously. And we iterate them. It is easier to make changes on a prototype than a pixel perfect design, or a running code. Quick feedback from the users The prototypes are tested before we create the detailed design and send it to the programming phase. Plans are ready to go to the next stages if they worked well for users. Better communication We involve the whole team in the process. We, designers, are not lonely fighters. We are connectors. Connectors between users, developers and business leaders. We arrange workshops which gives us a great opportunity to gather the whole team together so we can brainstorm or make decisions cooperatively. And last but not at least, the final wireframes are better than any written specification. They show every feature and how they work. We recently wrote an ebook: “Product Managers’ guide to UX design”. Click here to download! Design sprints We organize our tasks in sprints like developers do. A design sprint starts with a design meeting. This meeting have to be attended by the designers and by someone from the business and from the development side as well. It is a good chance to present the final design works and results of the researches. And then the team makes decisions regarding the upcoming questions. At the end of the meetings they clarify the action points, the tasks for the next sprint. And then the next sprint starts. We like to form the design sprint process to be able to run a whole design iteration phase. This means that the designers do the design tasks and researchers do the user testing (or other type of research). So at the next meeting they can present the new design and the feedback from the users as well. We at UX studio like working in week-long design sprints. There are some products where we can do two iteration rounds a week. This means two design and two research rounds per week. But in this case, we need a very close and effective collaboration from the participants. How can we build design in the agile development processes? The first and maybe the most important step is to realize that design is not just a quick project before the development phase. Design is a process, which follows the product for a whole lifetime. As long as you need developers, designers will be needed as well. At a very fresh product, you don’t need developers at the beginning, rather only ux designers. After a while designers and developers work in collaboration. In this case, designers prepare plans for developers, that they will then code. It’s a cliche, but we can “draw” faster than we can code. It means a feature or a function of a product could be designed faster than the developers code it. This is especially true if we consider “bug” fixes and back-end tasks. That is why a design team has less members than a development team. As the design tasks are shorter than the development tasks, design sprints are shorter as well. Having dedign and development sprints with different length can sound a bit weird, but you just have to take care of the coordination between the two departments. And another important takeaway is not to mix design and developing sprints together. You cannot develop that feature which is still in the design phase. Cooperation The design process needs cooperation from other parts of the team, too. The design will only be agile if it can involve everybody. When designers hold workshops or meetings it is necessary for business and development people to attend as well. Of course, it is not expected to invite everybody to these meetings but every party has to be represented. We need developers to tell us if an idea is too difficult to build. And we need business leaders as well to settle clear business goals and to help us focus on them during the design process. We also need them to give us access to existing customers for testing the product. It’s impossible to design a product for people who you haven’t met before. It’s worth inviting sales and support people sometimes for meetings too. Their opinion can be helpful in some situations because they speak to real users every day. Want to learn how to implement agile methodologies in your product team? You’re in luck. Recently, we launched a new service: we facilitate 3-to-5-day UX training sessions for teams aiming to get a new perspective on UX. Read more about the training here.

A MAN REPORTED that a teenager attacked him at about 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, on a CTA bus in the 4600 block of Montrose Avenue, according to 17th (Albany Park) District police. The 60-year-old man reported that he asked a group of five or six teenagers on the bus to be quiet and an argument ensued between them one of them hit him in the head with an unknown object and sprayed his face with a chemiccal spray before the teens exited the bus, according to police. The man was transported to Community First Hospital, police said. AN EMPLOYEE of the TCF Bank in the Jewel-Osco store, 3570 N. Elston Ave., reported that the bank was robbed at about 3:25 p.m. Monday, April 24, according to 17th (Albany Park) District police. The bank teller reported that a man approached the counter and displayed a note announcing a robbery and he gave the man $4,017 from the money and the man exited the store, according to police. All videos recorded on the surveillance systems of the bank, store and nearby businesses are being processed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, police said. The suspect was described by police as a white male between the ages of 30 and 40 with strawberry-blonde hair, a weight between 140 to 180 pounds and a height between 5-foot-7-inches and 5-foot-10-inches, according to police. AN EMPLOYEE of the Admiral Theater, 3936 W. Lawrence Ave., reported that a man threatened him with a box cutter at about 2:10 a.m. Friday, April 21, according to 17th (Albany Park) District police. The man reported that two men attempted to enter the business and that after they were denied entry, the men began throwing items at him and the building, and that one of the men pointed a box cutter at him before they fled in a gray Mercedes C155, according to police. TWO MEN AND a woman reported that they were robbed at gunpoint at about 11:05 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, while they were sitting in separate vehicles in the alley in the 4700 block of North Central Park Avenue, according to 17th (Albany Park) District police. A 22-year-old man reported that while he was sitting in his vehicle, a man wearing a mask approached him, pointed a handgun at him, demanded money and took a set of car keys and his wallet containing identification cards and $224 in cash from him, according to police. The man reported that the man proceeded to rob another vehicle in the alley before he entered a vehicle containing LED lights with another man and they drove away police said. A 37-year-old man and a 50-year-old woman sitting in a separate vehicle in the alley reported that a man wearing a mask approached them, pointed a handgun at them, demanded their possessions and took the woman’s vehicle keys and cell phone and the man’s cell phone from them, according to police. The man and woman reported that they observed the man was with another man and that both men entered a vehicle containing LED lights and drove away, police said. A MAN REPORTED that he was robbed at about 5:20 p.m. Sunday, April 23, in the 4700 block of North Spaulding Avenue, according to 17th (Albany Park) District police. The 23-year-old man reported that he had made arrangements online through Facebook to purchase a cell phone from a woman and that when he arrived to meet her at the intersection of Leland and Spaulding avenues, two men approached him and one of the men pointed a semi-automatic handgun at him and took $450 in cash, police said. A MAN AND a woman reported that they were robbed at about 12:40 a.m. Monday, April 24, in the 4300 block of West Irving Park Road, according to 17th (Albany Park) District police. The 40-year-old man and 61-year-old woman reported that while they were walking home, two men approached them and one of the men pointed a handgun at the woman’s back while the other man pointed a handgun in the woman’s face and said, "Stick ’em up, hand over your wallets," according to police. The man and woman reported that the men took the man’s cell phone valued at $30 and the woman’s cell phone valued at $60, police said. A MAN REPORTED that his residence in the 6000 block of North Jersey Avenue was burglarized between 4:50 p.m. and 10:40 p.m. Friday, April 21, according to 17th (Albany Park) District police. The man reported that when he returned home, he observed the kitchen door had been opened and various items were thrown around the residence, and discovered that his iPad valued at $300 was missing, according to police. LINCOLNWOOD A WOMAN reported that her vehicle was burglarized between 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, and 7:45 a.m. the following day, while it was parked in the 3800 block of West Wallen Avenue, according to Lincolnwood police. The woman reported that when she returned to her vehicle, she discovered that the front door had been opened and items from the glove compartment and center arm rest console were scattered inside the vehicle, and a pair of Coach sandals valued at $150 and about $20 in change were missing, according to police.

shadow person Many of us might be inclined to describe our exes as "crazy." After all, divorce doesn't normally bring out the best in folks. But according to Dr. George Simon, some divorces may be exceptionally toxic because one party suffers from what he terms a "character disorder" (CD). Divorcing a disordered person is its own particular kind of hell, distinct from the usual miseries of divorce. Simon is a psychologist who has spent over 25 years researching character disturbance and has written two acclaimed books on difficult personalities -- "In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People" and "Character Disturbance: The Phenomenon Of Our Age." I interviewed Simon about his views on divorcing someone with a character disorder. How do you know if you're dealing with someone who is truly disordered, or someone who is just being a difficult jerk? I wonder if the distinction matters? Dr. George Simon: CDs really can't help themselves when it comes to being who they are. Yes, some are very adept at positive impression management and manipulation, but if you know what to look for, you can tell. But first you must divest yourself of many popularly held but erroneous beliefs about human nature: Not everyone is struggling with fears and insecurities... and not everyone who puts on an air of confidence or superiority is compensating for low self-esteem. There really are people who sincerely think they're all that and are therefore entitled to do as they please regardless of the consequences! People reveal their true character mainly in their core beliefs -- which are reflected not in what they say, but in their actions. Top CD attitude red flags: Entitlement, possessiveness, indifference to others, arrogance, disdain for obligation. The more of these attitudes they possess and the more intense these attributes are, the more character impaired the person is. How does someone who is character disturbed behave differently in a divorce? Is it more contentious? GS: There are hundreds of examples. But here are a few: For the CD, it's not about acknowledging failure in the marital relationship, separating, and moving on. Rather, it's about punishing, destroying, or making someone else's life miserable for daring to say "no" or declare an end to an abusive situation. Character assassination becomes the norm. The CD will arm their attorneys with examples of their ex's "questionable behavior," which are amplified to such an extent to paint the worst possible picture of the person. Perhaps even more important is the ordeal the CD wants to be sure the ex-partner goes through. They'll bring out such big cannons with their lawyer, that the other party has to spend much time, energy, and money either defending themselves or just trying to survive the ordeal that they have no time, energy, or money left to advocate for a stronger position. Are CDs financially abusive? GS: Money matters always tell the story the best. The CD will clean out bank accounts. Or they play financial games. The reckless gambling and spending will all get discovered right around the time the aggrieved party has begun seriously contemplating the divorce. This makes it even harder to think about throwing in the towel because of how disadvantaged the victim will be walking out. The CD will also try to penny-pinch or in other ways attempt to ensure that their former partner can't simply walk away in a financially tenable position. The worst CDs will want to see their former partners financially broken and destitute. The last thing they want is simply to separate and allow the other person to be on their feet and move on to a different (better) life. Rather, they want them -- at least from a financial standpoint -- to rue the day they decided to call it quits. How are children affected? GS: CDs triangulate the kids and use them as pawns and weapons of war in divorce. As pathetic as it already is for CDs to treat the person they supposedly once worshiped so horrendously, their willingness to use their children to emotionally wound their partner is even more reprehensible. But the greater the character disturbance, the less compunction the CD has to use the kids in this way. Alienating kids from the other parent. Trying to sabotage whatever positive relationship there is. Bribing and trying to buy affection and allegiance, not just with money but with superficial attentiveness, attention, seduction, and placating. What motivates someone who is CD? GS: It depends. There are two major CD types, the narcissistic and the "aggressive" personalities. For the narcissist, no one else really matters. The cardinal feature will be a complete indifference and insensitivity to everyone else's welfare and a pathological determination to save face. For the aggressive characters, it's all about "winning." And while this always includes ensuring the defeat of the opponent, in some cases (as in the case with the sadistic aggressive) it's also about humiliating the other person and relishing in the pain they might be able to cause them. So how do we deal with them, aside from divorcing them? Should we try to achieve some kind of consensus around co-parenting, for example? GS: You have to understand that CDs don't play by the regular rules, so trying to reach consensus with them and exhausting yourself trying to get them to "see" the unhealthiness of their ways is pointless. I have a rhyme I like to use: "It's not that they don't see, it's that they disagree." Character disordered people are not stupid people. They're contrary people. They know what the generally accepted rules are, they know what most people's expectations are. But they haven't made the decision in their heart to play by the rules most of us want them to play by. That's a matter of the heart. Trying to reason with them to examine their behavior assumes something that is patently untrue. It assumes that what they need is insight. I make that point in my book. We live under this delusion. Therapists do this all the time! They think they are going to be the person who says just the right thing in just the right way, so that this time a light bulb is going to go off in this person's mind and all of a sudden they will understand and "see" the error of their ways! The problem is, they already understand! It's not that the disturbed character doesn't know what they're doing and what damage comes from it. If the wounded party is crying their heart out and is miserable, it's not like you don't know what you've done and what an effect it has had -- it's right there. They already see this but disagree with the notion that they should conform their conduct and work to make amends. They'll change only when the cost of their behavior rises too high and the benefits of doing something different becomes more clear. It's not that people can't or won't change. It's under what circumstances they'll be motivated to change. What you need to do if you're in a relationship with someone like this is set those limits and enforce those boundaries. You must set the terms of engagement. You can't trust the character-impaired person to do it. When there is a clear cost to continuing their crazy behavior, there will perhaps be some incentive to change. Dr. George Simon blogs about manipulative people at www.manipulative-people.com

Following the controversy regarding miscalculation of points on last week’s “Music Bank,” fans of SEVENTEEN have expressed concern over the voting results of last week’s “The Show.” On the May 24 episode of SBS MTV’s “The Show,” AOA was announced as the week’s winner with 8,192 points, while SEVENTEEN came in second with 8,076 points, making the difference only 116 points. In case of a miscalculation, SEVENTEEN could potentially be the actual winner for that week. What sets “The Show” apart from other music shows is its partnership with leading Chinese streaming site Tudou. The show is broadcast live via Tudou each week, and half of the votes for the winner come from Chinese viewers. The winner for “The Show” is calculated based on pre-broadcast fan votes (70 percent; Korea 35 percent + China 35 percent), real-time domestic votes (15 percent), and real-time Chinese votes (15 percent). Now, fans of SEVENTEEN have demanded an explanation from “The Show” over an error that made it allegedly impossible to vote for SEVENTEEN through the Chinese site. Posts on online discussions boards claim that SEVENTEEN’s pre-broadcast points were inaccurate as the numbers didn’t increase after fans paid and cast their votes, while AOA maintained first place with a maximum score of 99.99 for four consecutive days. It can also be seen that SEVENTEEN’s points fluctuated over the same time period, raising speculation about a possible error in the voting procedure. Addressing these claims, “The Show” has admitted that there are occasional errors in the Chinese pre-broadcasting voting process. “As the errors occur on the Chinese side, it’s difficult to immediately fix them from Korea. It’s true that temporary errors affected SEVENTEEN’s votes.” But the show’s representative says they sorted out the situation and the final results are accurate. “For the results announced during the live broadcast, however, we restored the points that were omitted due to errors. Thus, the ranking is correct, and AOA takes No.1 while SEVENTEEN comes in second.” Source (1)

Your Newborn Changing your baby’s nappy is easy – you just need to stick to a routine. Here’s a guide for how to do it: Have everything you need to hand – changing mat, cloth, wipes or cooled, boiled water, cotton wool, nappy disposal bags, and a couple of fresh nappies. Choose a suitable nappy change spot: somewhere that he can’t roll off, and where you don’t have to strain to reach him, as your back muscles are still vulnerable. Lie your baby on his back and undo the nappy. Lift your baby gently by holding both his feet and remove the used nappy, using it to wipe away as much solid waste as possible. Carefully and gently wipe over your baby’s nappy area, paying special attention to skin folds. You can use a wipe, or warm water and a cloth or cotton wool. For girls, wipe from front to back, to keep germs away from the vagina. For boys, clean around the penis and testicles, but don’t pull back the foreskin. Check for nappy rash. If necessary, dry your baby carefully with cotton wool or a dry cloth. Letting him kick his legs in the warm, dry air is a good way of reducing nappy rash. Open out the nappy and slide your fingers down the side of the nappy to lift up the leak guards. Lift your baby’s legs up and place the clean nappy underneath (with the grip tabs at the back), so he’s lying on it. The absorbent, soft side of the nappy should go against his skin, and the top edge of the nappy should be about level with the middle of his back. Bring the front part of the nappy up between his legs and spread firmly around the tummy. If you have a boy, point his penis down in the nappy. With one hand holding the nappy gently on baby, open up one Grip Tab and attach it to the front of the nappy. Huggies Nappies and Huggies Newborn Nappies for your new baby both feature tabs that can be fastened anywhere on the front of the nappy. Repeat for the other side. Reposition the Grip Tabs to adjust the fit of your baby’s nappy so they are comfortable. Double-check that the nappy is not too loose or too tight. Put your baby somewhere safe while you wash your hands and tidy up. If your baby’s cord stump is still attached, fold the front of the nappy down to avoid this area. HUGGIES® Newborn Nappies are Australia’s No. 1 newborn nappy, and have been awarded Gold in the 2015 Mother & Baby Awards for ‘Most Popular Disposable Nappy (0-3years)’! Disposal Remember if there are any solids in the nappy, dispose of these in the toilet. The used nappy can be rolled into a tight ball using the Grip Tabs to seal it. DO NOT flush the nappy down the toilet. The general rule for newborns is to change your baby about as often as you feed him. A lot of mums will change their baby in the middle of each feed. However you usually don’t have to do it at every night feed. Right from the start, your baby’s nappy-changing time is a good time to have a ‘conversation’, as well as being a necessary part of the care you give. You’re face to face with each other – so sing, tickle, talk and have fun! Here’s where you can find more information about the entire Huggies Product Range to help make nappy change time easier. Changing your newborn's nappies View all videos You will need to have Adobe Flash Player installed to view the Huggies Website Video.

The push for expanding background checks received a minimal albeit unexpected boost this afternoon from former Arkansas congressman (and current Arkansas gubernatorial candidate) Asa Hutchinson, who was recently appointed by the NRA to lead its task force on putting armed guards into schools. “Absolutely, I’m open to expanding background checks,” Hutchison told Wolf Blitzer’s beard today. “You can do it in a way that does not infringe upon an individual and make it hard for an individual to transfer to a friend or a neighbor.” It’s not exactly clear what Hutchsinson thinks “making it hard” would entail; background checks on private sales would make it hard if the gun’s would-be recipient is not legally allowed to own a gun. That’s the whole point. Still, Hutchinson’s qualified support for expanding background checks was enough to elicit a quick response from the NRA, which said that Hutchsinson was “not speaking” on its behalf.

- Advertisement - The right is at war with the left. We need to identify who our enemy is, determine their goals and targets, then begin long term planning for war against them-- target them, target their resources and set goals for conquest, what success looks like and what strategies to get there. They must be big, resolute, bold and courageous. The war against the left, against Democrats, against Unions, against minorities has been a long time in the planning and it is reaching a crescendo. We see it in the union busting in Wisconsin, Ohio and New York ( by dems in M A) and the passage of onerous laws making it harder for minorities and the poor to vote. We see it in the Supreme Court's Citizen's United unleashing of hundreds of millions, soon to be billions in money used to buy compliant candidates. - Advertisement - With the passage of anti-union legislation in MA, it's clear that this is not a war of the Republicans against the Democrats. - Advertisement - It's an ugly, bloody war. People are dying every day-- from lack of health care, because they're in wars we should not be in, wars that profit the military-intelligence/medical industrial complex. Rights are being taken, the constitution is being violated and trashed. It's just about a given now that the people in congress, combined, will not help the middle class. They may put on a show to slow the slide into third world status, but let's face it, even when the Democrats had the house, the senate and the Whitehouse, they did very little to grab the opportunity and pass dozens or more of solid bills and changes. We see, with the Republicans holding control in Wisconsin and Ohio, the way solid majorities can be wielded by determined leaders with a mission and a plan. - Advertisement - That's the problem. We on the left don't have a mission and a plan. The Democrats and most of the progressive organizations put most of their energy into reacting, not into planning and setting long term goals. As I said at the beginning, we need to identify who our enemy is, determine their goals and targets, then begin long term planning for war against them-- target them, target their resources and set goals for conquest, what success looks like and what strategies to get there. Who is the Enemy? Start with big greedy money-- the Koch brothers, multi-national corporations with no interest in the needs of America or the middle class, billionaires, millionaires. Sure, there are millionaires and billionaires who are on the left-- but, apparently, not many. We need to find the allies and declare the rest enemies. Not sad, unaware folks waiting to be awakened. These are people who are funding the attack ads, maxing out on campaign donations to haters and bigots and people who are comfortable allowing tens of thousands, even millions die for lack of health care, war, etc. What are our enemy's strategies? We can know our enemies by their actions and strategies. They want to weaken the left -- take away the strength and power and marginalize unions. -- reduce the numbers of voters on the left-- discouraging people from registering, making it harder for volunteers to register people, discouraging people from showing up at the polls by requiring voter IDs --Make the election system less trustworthy. Computerize the vote and make recounting a joke, make sure voting is not verifiable. --give corporations more and more power-- corporate personhood, the right to insert huge amounts of money, anonymously, in elections. Support lobbying efforts, making lobbyists more effective, giving them more access, making them more powerful. Who and what are the targets of the Enemy Wars begin by attacking command, control and communications. Leaders? Not surprisingly, we on the left do not have clear leaders. Big problem. The potential leaders are often mocked and marginalized by the mainstream media. They've done it with Dennis Kucinich, Bernie Sanders, Mike Gravel. Then, there is the circular shooting squad propensity of the left to shoot at each other. We should also consider that there are moles who foment discontent and criticism of potential leaders. The Koch brothers targeted Russ Feingold, outspending him with millions. Next, it looks like Dennis Kucinich's district will be gerrymandered out of existence. We can expect more of the same. When money is no object, for multi-bilionaires, even safe politicians are at risk. Command-- Operations, organizations The right has literally scores of "think tanks" with ten, twenty, fifty million in funding annually that are not really think tanks. They're really policy promotion and war-on-the-left planning and enabling operations. The left has a lot of real think tanks that issue papers and op-eds on policy and analysis, but not much more. There are a handful of purportedly progressive operations that are supposed to operate like the policy promotion operations on the right. The great white hope was supposed to be Center for American Progress. Yes. They have an excellent newsletter, but when Tony Podesta was identified as its head, the DLC guy who was Bill Clinton's chief of staff, I knew it would be a neutered operation. When he became Obama's transition director, herding in bluedog after bankster after DLC sellout into the White House, it was further proof. We still need a kick-ass tough organization that is created to fight the right, the corporations, not document the death throes of the left. Communications The right has invested hundreds of millions in their echo chamber. The Rush Limbaugh show lost money for years before it became popular. Congress has passed legislation that has made it easier to decrease media diversity, easier for media conglomerates to form-- and only the right has taken advantage of these opportunities. In fact, the legislation was probably written by lobbyists for operations like Fox and Clear Channel. Let's look at how the right has been attacking our communications resources. They've infiltrated PBS with a right wing director. The right controls, through Clear Channel's 1000 plus stations, for starters, the radio-sphere. The major networks are controlled by giant corporations. Print newspapers are on a fast track to extinction. As they die, they are being consolidated, held by big corporations that are rightwing or right leaning. The biggest newspapers, which the right pretends to villify, Washington Post and NY Times, have longed served the status quo, occasionally throwing in, usually far later than they should have, exposes. Net Neutrality is under a full frontal attack, particularly supported by ATT and Comcast, to do away with NET Neutrality. End Net Neutrality and it will be even harder to access the last vestiges of an American free press. Expect the war on the media to involve further deregulation of laws preventing big corporations from owning monopolistic media positions in locales. It's already a fait accomplis in some places. This is a long-term war strategy that has already paid off in spades. The People and Organizations the Right Targets Minorities, the poor, unions, Latinos, the weak and vulnerable-- those are who the right is at war against. Fusion centers where police, FBI and other spy operations can, with zero accountability, track innocent American activists. Animal rights and green activists are being treated as terrorists and jailed in the highest security prisons. Special laws and punishments have already been legislated to deal with animal rights and environmental activists, so some have been arrested for planning protests and put in the highest security prisons. Will Potter, author of Activists, protesters, organizers, people who do voter registration, anti-war activists, environmental and animal rights advocates. The right wing's war on these people and groups has been so effective that there are now localwhere police, FBI and other spy operations can, with zero accountability, track innocent American activists. Animal rights and green activists are being treated as terrorists and jailed in the highest security prisons. Special laws and punishments have already been legislated to deal with animal rights and environmental activists, so some have been arrested for planning protests and put in the highest security prisons. Will Potter, author of Green Is The New Red has been chronicling this travesty of justice in service to corporations. How to fight Back The first step is to recognize that we have been under attack, been in a war. Most Democrats don't see it that way. They see it as simple politics. It's not. The next step is to decide to fight back. The next step is to cross the threshold and become a warrior-- even retired housewives can do that and get involved. The next step is to find allies, build a team and develop resources. Then, we need a big picture-- who are the enemies, what are our targets to attack? Here's a small starter list: The greedy wealthy people, organizations and corporations-- how to attack them: Get legislation passed that regulates industries-- regulations that protect people and the environment, not business. Fund research on developing new business models that reward small and punish big, that find ways to take advantage of economies of scale without shrinking industries' diversity. Make it a law for a company to have more than 20% of an industries business. Develop tools and systems (smart phone apps) to help millions on the left to boycott companies like the Koch brothers industries and companies that support Fox news, that lobby for bad, anti-human laws, that are members of the US Chamber of Commerce. We desperately need solidly funded progressive policy promotion organizations that are actually progressive. We do have some solid progressive leaders. We need to empower them. We need to fund thousands of investigative journalists to expose the corruption on the right-- among Republicans and blue-dog sellout Democrats. There are over 1000 billionaires-- most are the enemy. We must eliminate the billionaires, literally take away their money and the power it gives them. They are a danger to democracy. There are millions of millionaires. Most are the enemy of the middle class and of democracy as America has known it for the past 200 plus years. We must shrink the size of these millionaires. Tax them. Tax 95% of any money individuals HAVE over $20 million, 100% of money over $25 million. Nobody needs more than than. Feel no pity for the gold faucet and yacht manufacturers who will lose their business. Tax 95% of all inheritances over $10 million and 100% over $25 million. People don't need more than that. Descendants don't deserve any more than that. WAR WAR f*cking WAR War is not pretty. It is not nice. Political correctness doesn't cut it. Putting up with right wing bullshit doesn't cut it. Putting up with undercutting, weak liberal calls for tolerance and patience doesn't cut it. Think Neville Chamberlain. We are in a war. We may not have chosen to be in one, but we are. The sides have already been chosen. There are many useful idiot fools being used by the right. Are you one of them? Keep on telling us to be patient.

Play 01:20 Play 01:20 Another injury blow for Pakistan Pakistan allrounder Mohammad Hafeez has been ruled out of the World Cup with a calf injury. Opener Nasir Jamshed is set to replace him in the squad, after he was approved by the ICC's Event Technical Committee. Pakistan also have lead spinner Saeed Ajmal available for the World Cup, after his reworked action was cleared by the ICC, but the PCB named Jamshed as a replacement. Hafeez is the second Pakistani player to miss the tournament with an injury, after Junaid Khan. "It's confirmed that Hafeez is unfortunately out due to an injury. Captain Misbah-ul-Haq, coach Waqar Younis and chief selector Moin Khan decided the replacement as they wanted an opening batsman in place of an opening batsman," PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said. The board chief also said Jamshed already has an Australia visa and is expected to join the squad in five days to be available for their opening match against India on February 15 in Adelaide. Hafeez picked up the injury while batting in the second ODI against New Zealand in Napier on February 3. He was ruled out of the World Cup after undergoing MRI scans on Friday in Sydney, following which he was advised a month-long rest. The allrounder was available only as a batsman in the tournament after he had been suspended by the ICC in December. He was scheduled to undergo an official test with a reworked action in Brisbane on February 6, which the PCB wanted pushed back to February 10 because Hafeez was not fit. © ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

With high approval ratings stoking speculation that Shinzo Abe could become Japan’s longest-serving prime minister in recent history, he faces the risk of becoming complacent. Enter Akie Abe, his wife of 29 years. The 54-year-old daughter of a confectionery magnate is known as “the household opposition” for speaking out against key Abe policies such as backing the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, exporting nuclear technology and expanding a U.S. military base on Okinawa. “I want to pick up and pass on the views that don’t get through to my husband or his circle,” Akie said in an interview last week at a restaurant she opened in central Tokyo four years ago. “That is a bit like an opposition party, I suppose.” Akie eschews the image of a traditional Japanese prime minister’s wife who defers to her husband and provides support from behind the scenes. Perhaps more surprising: Her open criticism of Abe’s policies only seems to add to the appeal of the conservative 62-year-old leader. “She’s very, very unusual — I can’t think of anybody in Japan, or for that matter any first lady in the U.S., who did that,” said Jun Okumura, a former trade ministry official and now a visiting scholar at Meiji Institute of Global Affairs. “What’s interesting is that has not hurt Abe in any way whatsoever. In fact, it has sort of softened his image. He can tolerate very different points of view, very different perspectives.” In the interview at her tiny organic restaurant called Uzu, Akie said she tries to choose the right moment to convey the critical opinions she hears from members of the public. “When he is being criticized by the opposition parties every day, if I go home and start nagging him again, he might ask me to stop it,” she said. “As his wife, there are times when I don’t want to attack him too much. Other times, I really feel I have to tell him something.” As the first Japanese prime minister’s spouse to make extensive use of social media, she has attracted both praise and scorn over her views on her Facebook page, where she has over 100,000 followers. She never blocks other users, however abusive they are. “Before talking about world peace, I’d like to achieve peace in my own timeline,” she wrote on Facebook in November. “Some people who have great expectations of me and who have opposite opinions to my husband attack me for not telling him things more forcefully. They ask me how I can stay with him when our opinions are different, and even tell me to get divorced,” she said with a laugh during the interview. “They should mind their own business.” Akie attended exclusive Catholic schools in Tokyo from kindergarten through high school, and went on to a women’s training college. She then took a job at Dentsu Inc., Japan’s biggest advertising company, where her boss arranged an introduction to Abe. In a magazine interview earlier this year, she spoke of the criticism she faced for being unable to bear children. Akie’s actions often speak louder than her words. In August, she took an unannounced trip to Okinawa, without a police escort or secretaries, to visit protesters who oppose the construction of helipads for the U.S. military in the north of the island. She said she didn’t consult her husband about the trip for fear he might oppose it. Another media storm followed after Akie was seen later that month offering prayers at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, the site of the devastating Japanese attack that drew the U.S. into World War II. This prompted speculation that her husband would become the first Japanese prime minister to do likewise, but no such visit materialized. While the couple seems oddly matched, they appear to share an admiration for aspects of Japan prior to the 1945-1952 U.S. occupation. Abe has frequently criticized Japan’s “postwar regime” and is known for his eagerness to rewrite the U.S.-drafted Constitution to expand the role of the military. Akie’s interest in her cultural roots is more focused on language and nature. She produces her own organic rice, which is served in her restaurant that only uses ingredients sourced in Japan. She also insists on keeping native Japanese bees in hives she put in at the prime minister’s official residence, even though their European cousins produce more honey. “In bringing in European and American culture after the war, I think Japan spoiled some of what it originally had,” Akie said. She equates efforts to control nature with the West, citing the massive sea walls being built in northeastern Japan to protect local communities from any future tsunami on the scale of the 2011 disaster. She also regrets the loss of Japan’s hemp industry, which flourished before the U.S. occupation. Japan now has 33 licensed farmers, compared with more than 37,000 in 1954, and Akie said that even the hemp fibers long used in the rituals of Japan’s native religion of Shinto now mostly come from China. Akie had championed the cultivation of nonpsychoactive hemp as well as the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The past few months have seen a series of blows against a nascent campaign to legalize medical marijuana, after a lawmaker who spoke in favor of it lost his seat in the Upper House. “I’ve never smoked it and I don’t approve of that,” she said, adding that she nevertheless didn’t believe it was right to ban all industrial and medical uses of the plant. Since Abe’s first 12-month stint as prime minister in 2006, Akie has gotten used to life in the spotlight. She is now more comfortable with her husband staying on for a third straight term as party leader and prime minister, particularly to give the world a strong leader at a time when U.S. policy is uncertain after Donald Trump’s election win. “The fact that my husband became prime minister again was not due to his efforts, but it was fate,” Akie said. “Japan has a big role to play now.”

Bill Wyman Interview You know those super fun ranking stories that New York Magazine’s Vulture does? I interviewed Bill Wyman, who has penned of those bunch of music stories. In these epic pieces, which list every track from worst to best of some of the most important rock acts—the Beatles, Pink Floyd, the Clash and Led Zeppelin—Wyman justifies his rankings, while telling the band’s story. His most recent article of this kind, ranking the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, is more ambitious still, and becomes almost a history of the rock genre itself, and an argument for its cultural value. Theses stories are a mix of the high-minded, the fantastic, and the silly—in other words, smart and entertaining. Here is an excerpt from the Q&A: Chris Buck: One of the big things that crossed my mind in reading your Beatles rankings is that there’s almost a religious sanctity around certain songs that you kind of pull apart and criticize. I know you’re not necessarily doing that on purpose but at one point you said something about challenging the orthodoxy of rock criticism. The Beatles are so sanctified yet the first half of the ranking basically talks about why those songs failed. That’s huge. You take songs that are on some of their most important albums and giving them low ratings. Did it take a certain mental leap for you to do that? Bill Wyman: It’s kind of funny because that’s the trouble with these lists, if you start with the best you get all the fun stuff and then you’ve got the end of it slogging through the bad stuff, so I like to do it from worst to best because you try to dismiss the worst stuff and then start telling the story of the band. Of course, with The Beatles, The Clash, or Led Zeppelin you have these amazing, crazy stories. One of the reasons people get so mad at these articles is that they start reading and it’s, “This song is bad, this song is bad.” The Clash did maybe 50 great songs and Pink Floyd did like 17. So it’s very difficult. One of the things I find disappointing in some of the pop criticism is there’s a thing called rhetoric. It’s the art of persuasion when you’re writing. That doesn’t mean debating, it just means all the tricks that you use to get people to read what you’re writing and, in theory, come around to your way of thinking. You can be very mundane, dry, and legal, or you can debate and have fun. What I try to do is I try to alternate between outrageousness and charming, and self-deprecation and pompousness… not pompousness but just saying things from on high but then a couple lines later being kind of humble, or saying, “I used to think this but I was wrong.” I mean, I’d almost like to do another Beatles list the next day and have it be a different order just to make the point that this is ridiculous. The point of it isn’t the ordering. Sometimes when people criticize me I say, “The numbers don’t lie,” and that gets people even madder, but I’m just trying to make it clear that this is completely preposterous. It’s an exercise in writing, and hopefully interesting writing. It’s just to say interesting things to think about it. I don’t care if someone thinks that “Strawberry Fields” isn’t a good song. I would like to read a list of songs where “Strawberry Fields” is the second worst Beatles song. I’d like to hear a spirited defense. That’s the one thing that I wish people would think about criticism and I think would make the world a better place when it comes to journalism too. We hopefully want smart, quality writers who don’t have hidden agendas. I don’t like trolling. I believe in clear expository writing. I believe in the intelligent and curious but disinterested reader. That means someone who’s smart and someone who’s open minded but also disinterested, meaning if I’m not interesting enough he or she will just move on. If you think that people are smart and they’re open minded and they want to read something interesting then that’s what I try to do. That’s the mixture that motivates those. Back to your question—we’re all smart, we understand The Beatles aren’t perfect, and they did some bad songs. Let’s move on. Let’s go through them. You can disagree. You can think that “Get Back” is a better song than I do. That’s great, so let’s hear your argument. Again, I would love to read the next person’s ranking of them. Picture courtesy Bill Wyman (rockin’ the bedroom in the seventies)

Orange County health experts are investigating 12 cases of Legionnaires’ disease among people who live in or visited the Anaheim area in September. Eight of the cases involve people visiting Disneyland and one person worked at the park. One person, who had not visited Disneyland, has died, officials said Friday. A Disneyland official said the resort voluntarily shut down two cooling towers in a backstage area of the theme park after it found the towers had elevated levels of a bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease. Jessica Good, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Care Agency, said in an email Friday night the agency found 12 people, ages 52 to 94, were diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease, a type of airborne disease that causes a severe form of pneumonia to most people 50 years or older or with a weak immune system. One of those diagnosed was a cast member but where they worked at the park was not disclosed. Of the 12, 10 have been hospitalized, and one person died. The person who died was described as having additional health problems and did not visit the theme park, Good said. The health care agency is investigating all the cases, but has not yet identified a common exposure source for all of them, she said. The illness, also known as legionellosis, is an infection with symptoms of serious pneumonia and can be deadly if not treated. Legionnaires’ disease usually results from inhaling microscopic water droplets in mist or vapor. The bacterium Legionella living in freshwater rarely causes infections, but indoors it can multiply in water systems such as hot tubs and air conditioners, according to the Mayo Clinic. It is not spread through person-to-person contact. In a statement, Dr. Pamela Hymel, chief medical officer for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said Disney was informed Oct. 27 by the county agency of Disneyland’s possible role in the Legionnaires’ disease cases in Anaheim. “We conducted a review and learned that two cooling towers had elevated levels of Legionella bacteria,” Hymel said in the statement. “These towers were treated with chemicals that destroy the bacteria and are currently shut down.” Hymel added that Disney has worked with the county health care agency and that “there is no longer any known risk associated with our facilities.” “(Disney) reported having performed subsequent testing and disinfection and brought the towers back into service (Sunday),” Good said. While the towers, in a backstage area behind the New Orleans Square train station, were initially cleared, Disney on its own took them back out of service on Tuesday. Disney is working with health officials on the status of the towers. Good said there have been no additional Legionella cases after September and no known ongoing risk associated with this outbreak. In May, a community pool and spa in Foothill Ranch in South Orange County was closed after two cases of Legionnaires’ disease were reported. The disease sent two people to the hospital. Related: 5 things to know about Legionnaires’ disease

Medical advances are allowing more people to live with obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. The 2012 America's Health Rankings show troubling levels of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and sedentary behavior. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty Images) Story Highlights U.S. life expectancy is now 78.5 years Americans are living longer, with fewer deaths from heart disease and cancer, but more chronic illnesses, an annual snapshot of the USA's health shows. The 2012 America's Health Rankings highlight troubling levels of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and sedentary behavior. Medical advances are allowing more people to live with those conditions. The bottom line: Americans "are living longer, sicker" with more chronic illness, says Reed Tuckson of theUnited Health Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation that sponsors the report with the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention. STORY: Living to 100: 80% are women, report shows For the sixth consecutive year, Vermont tops the list of healthiest states, says the report, which uses data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Medical Association, Census Bureau and even the FBI. It looks at 24 measures of health, including tobacco and alcohol abuse, exercise, infectious diseases, crime rates, public health funding, access to immunizations, premature birth rates and cancer and heart disease rates. States that are most successful on the rankings "have good results in a majority of the conditions we evaluate," Tuckson says. But states such as Mississippi and Louisiana, which tied for last place, "are over represented in key measures like tobacco consumption, lack of exercise and obesity — the fundamentals," he adds. Although socioeconomic factors play an important role in some states' consistent low rankings, "we know it is possible to improve; states are capable of doing that," says Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. Key to that effort is "taking lessons from things they do well and applying them more vigorously to the things they are not doing well." Louisiana has low rates of binge drinking and a high rate of childhood immunization, but it ranks in the bottom five states on 13 of 24 health measures, including obesity and diabetes. But "we don't have to accept those" indicators, says Karen DeSalvo, health commissioner for New Orleans. She says an extensive effort is underway "to get us to the place we need to be … to be a healthy state." States that showed the most substantial improvement in rankings include New Jersey (up nine places on the list); Maryland (up five). Alabama, Colorado, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island each moved up three. Among the unhealthy behaviors the report cites: More than a quarter (26.2%) of all Americans are sedentary, defined as not doing any physical activity outside of work for 30 days. But it's 36% in Mississippi, and 35.1% in both Tennessee and West Virginia. 27.8% of U.S. adults are obese, defined as being roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight. That's 66 million people — more than the entire population of the United Kingdom. In even the least obese state, Colorado, more than 20% of the population is obese. The percentage of adults with diabetes is 9.5% nationally, but it's 12% or higher in West Virginia, South Carolina and Mississippi. 30.8% of U.S. adults have high blood pressure, but that ranges from a low of 22.9% in Utah to a high of 40.1% in Alabama. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a primary risk for cardiovascular disease — problems related to the heart and the blood vessels. "There's no way that this country can possibly afford the medical care costs and consequences of these preventable chronic illnesses," says Tuckson. "We have two freight trains headed directly into each other unless we take action now." "People have to be successful at taking accountability for their own health-related decisions." Life expectancy in the USA is now 78.5 years; premature deaths have dropped 18% since 1990, and deaths from cardiovascular disease are down 34.6%. Cancer deaths are down 7.6%. Vermont has been ranked as the healthiest state, according to the United Health Foundation. (Photo: Toby Talbot, AP) How states stack up 1. Vermont 2. Hawaii 3. N.H. 4. Massachusetts 5. Minnesota 6. Connecticut 7. Utah 8. New Jersey 9. Maine 10. Rhode Island 11. Colorado 11. North Dakota (tied) 13. Oregon 13. Washington (tied) 15. Nebraska 16. Wisconsin 17. Idaho 18. New York 19. Maryland 20. Iowa 21. Virginia 22. California 23. Wyoming 24. Kansas 25. Arizona 26. Pennsylvania 27. South Dakota 28. Alaska 29. Montana 30. Illinois 31. Delaware 32. New Mexico 33. North Carolina 34. Florida 35. Ohio 36. Georgia 37. Michigan 38. Nevada 39. Tennessee 40. Texas 41. Indiana 42. Missouri 43. Oklahoma 44. Kentucky 45. Alabama 46. South Carolina 47. West Virginia 48. Arkansas 49. Louisiana 49. Mississippi (tied) Source: United Health Foundation, 2012 Unhealthy conditions Percentage of U.S. adults* who are obese: 27.8% Percentage who are physically inactive: 26.2% Percentage who smoke: 21.2% *18 and older Source: United Health Foundation, 2012 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/S0G7bb

Traumatized and depressed, a 24 year-old girl decided to commit suicide when her boyfriend left her. After getting a government job, the boy came under family pressure and left the girl. After such a drastic incident, all that the girl could think of was suicide. She decided to end her life by jumping in the Yamuna canal which is 4km away from Saharanpur. Just before jumping she suddenly decided to search for an easier method to end one’s own life. She searched “How to commit suicide” on Google. Fortunately, instead of showing the methods, the search results showed “Suicide Helpline Numbers”. Instead of thinking more, she dialed one of the numbers that appeared on the mobile screen. The call was received by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, who convinced her to get counseling. According to DIG Jitendra Kumar Sahni, On January 3, I got a call from the girl on my public number. She was quite nervous and was about to end her life. She told me she had even searched how to kill herself on Google. Among the search results, she told me, she found my number. I heard her out and told her to come to my office so we could talk about it in detail. Also See Download our Android App And Stay Up-To-Date After some time, the girl reached the DIG’s office, where she told her story. She was depressed and out of her mind. All she wanted was to end herself. The DIG asked the station officer of the women’s police station to take the matter in her hands and give counselling to the girl. The female inspector got in touch with the boy and talked to the couple to search for better options for a better future. Technology saved this girl’s life and Google should get all the appreciation for listing suicide helpline numbers for such searches instead of the methods.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann WarrenSanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' House to push back at Trump on border GOP Sen. Tillis to vote for resolution blocking Trump's emergency declaration MORE (D-Mass.) said Monday that she has no intention of backing a contender in the Democratic presidential primary just yet. “No endorsements now,” she said before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses that night, according to MassLive.com. ADVERTISEMENT “We’ll see,” the progressive lawmaker added when asked if she would announce a pick following the contest’s results. An endorsement by the popular senator is seen as a key prize in the Democratic race. Warren also praised the Democratic presidential field for conducting a policy-oriented race in comparison to their GOP counterparts. “I think that what the Democrats are doing is terrific,” she said. "We’re out talking about the issues. I look at the Republican debates and the difference between what they’re doing and what the Democrats are doing that really shows who’s on whose side.” Warren then refused comment on whether Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton’s past ties with Wall Street trouble her. “[I have] concerns about everybody’s relationships with Wall Street,” she said in Springfield, Mass. "This is a rigged game, and it’s rigged because Wall Street makes sure that in every decision that gets made they’re there. They make sure they’ve got their lobbyists and their lawyers so that everything tilts just a little more in their direction. This is what I’m fighting every day in the United States Senate.” Warren has notably remained silent on who she supports for her party’s presidential nomination. She has refrained from picking fellow progressive Bernie Sanders but also remains the only female Democratic senator to not back Clinton. She has praised proposals of both candidates — Sanders for his plan to to rein in big banks and Clinton for her call to block Republicans from chipping away at banking reform. Clinton and Sanders remain locked in a virtual tie in Iowa early Tuesday. Sanders trails Clinton by less than 1 percent there. The Democratic presidential field also shrank Monday evening following Martin O’Malley’s exit from the race. The former Maryland governor announced he is suspending his Oval Office bid after a lackluster showing in the Hawkeye State.

Is There Something Special About Our Galaxy's Dark Matter? Astrophysicists offer a possible explanation for why dark matter seems to behave differently in the Milky Way. An artist’s impression of the Milky Way galaxy. The blue halo of material surrounding the galaxy indicates the expected distribution of dark matter if it were visible. Yuen Yiu, Staff Writer (Inside Science) -- When you stare into a night sky glistening with stars, even with the world's most powerful telescope, you can only see the roughly 20 percent of the universe that glows. The rest is composed of dark matter -- material that scientists have not yet observed directly, but believe exists because galaxies don't rotate the way they would if they contained only ordinary matter. Since dark matter particles are, by definition, dark, astrophysicists try to detect their presence indirectly. One way is to search for signs of phenomena that turn their darkness into light. Enter dark matter annihilation. Theory has it that when two dark matter particles crash into each other, they can be mutually obliterated, converting their combined mass into gamma rays. Since at least 2012, scientists have been detecting gamma rays that have the expected energy of dark matter annihilation events, but almost exclusively from the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. A theoretical paper published last month in Physical Review Letters provides an explanation for why these dark matter annihilations appear to occur primarily in our galactic backyard. Dark and frozen In the hot and dense early universe, dark matter particles, just like everything else, were so tightly packed together that they constantly ran into each other. These collisions sometimes resulted in annihilation events where mass was converted into energy in the form of light. As the universe continued to expand and cool, dark matter particles also became more and more spread out, and eventually were scattered too far apart for annihilation events to occur regularly. In astrophysics lingo, the particles had been "frozen out." "But now that dark matter particles have come together again -- in galaxies that are tightly packed together, in the centers of galaxies -- dark matter particles can find partners to annihilate again," said Basudeb Dasgupta, a theoretical physicist from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India. However, if all that's necessary for dark matter annihilation to occur is to have enough mass packed together, then we should also detect these gamma ray signatures from nearby dwarf galaxies, or galactic clusters -- but we don't. Based on this observation, Dasgupta and his colleague Anirban Das worked out a theoretical model that explains why dark matter particles annihilate each other in the center of our Milky Way galaxy. They proposed that in addition to the distribution of dark matter particles, the annihilations also heavily depend on their velocities. Specifically, the particles need to be traveling at roughly 100 kilometers per second. If they are zipping around too fast or too slow -- even if they are closely packed together -- annihilations won't happen. If the theory is true, it can explain why we don't see the same gamma ray signals from smaller or larger galactic systems -- the dark matter particles aren't moving at the right speed due to the size of the systems. But what about galaxies similar to our Milky Way? They should also have dark matter particles traveling at the right speed to create gamma rays, and indeed, just a few months ago, the Fermi satellite operated by NASA detected gamma rays at the expected energy coming from Andromeda -- the nearest galaxy comparable in size to our Milky Way. According to the new theory, the two galaxies, and perhaps a third named Triangulum, are the only objects in our local group of approximately 50 galaxies that are the right “Goldilocks” size for dark matter annihilation. Credit: NASA Goddard So far, so good, but before we pop the champagne on dark matter, scientists first need to rule out other possible sources for these gamma rays. Could something else be spewing out the exact same gamma rays? As big as Manhattan, as heavy as the Sun "Imagine an object only 20 or so kilometers in size, but as heavy as the Sun, and it spins around almost a thousand times per second," said Christoph Weniger, describing a millisecond pulsar, an object that just happens to spew off gamma rays just like dark matter annihilations do. Weniger is a theoretical astrophysicist from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands not involved in the theoretical study. "We know [millisecond pulsars] exist, but we don't know how many of them exist in the inner galaxy," said Weniger. "We will need to discriminate signals that look like many, many point sources, from something that is very smoothly distributed. The former would point to pulsars, and the latter to dark matter." Several papers, including one published by Weniger's group, argue that pulsars are the more likely candidate for these gamma rays, but for now, astronomers can’t quite make that distinction with 100 percent confidence. For that, they will either need to take in more data (similar to using a longer exposure time in photography), find better ways to process the data (similar to sharpening images using software), or just build a better telescope, perhaps one of the dozens of proposed concepts being considered by NASA and other non-U.S.-based space agencies. While scientists work to increase the sensitivity of astronomical measurements so that they can test ideas like Dasgupta and Das’ new theory, they are also searching for dark matter in another way. Researchers have built huge underground laboratories, shielded from the noisy rain of light rays and particles from outer space, where they hope to directly measure the faint signal of a dark matter particle nudging an ordinary atom. For such direct detection experiments, “the sensitivities are now in the correct ballpark where we should be seeing one or two events perhaps,” said Dasgupta. “But we haven't seen anything so far." Even though the results to date have been negative, they have helped rule out many proposed candidates for dark matter particles, and are narrowing down the search little by little. “We are now near the end of a very long journey,” said Dasgupta, with a hint of optimism. Once scientists obtain definitive evidence on dark matter, the existing theories and hypotheses can fall into place around the experimental results, completing a huge missing chunk in the current model of our universe. But for now, the search continues -- up in space, underground and in the minds of researchers striving to understand the mysterious universe we live in.

Avidgor Lieberman is known as an outspoken politician who generally shuns the prevalent politically correct culture, but on Monday Israel’s foreign minister reached new heights, or is it lows, in his conduct vis-à-vis the media – by flushing the toilet during a radio interview. Senior Israeli officials often submit to interviews from their homes, especially when approached by morning shows on the radio. In the past, an interview with Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni was interrupted by a radio turned on in the backdrop, but on Monday listeners were treated to entirely different background sounds. In an interview with the Reshet Bet radio station, Lieberman was addressing the latest round of fighting against Gaza terrorists, while apparently sitting in the bathroom. Referring to Hamas, the minister said “we know who we’re dealing with,” and shortly thereafter the sound of flushing could be clearly heard in the background. Lieberman, who has been fighting off accusations of corruption, may be indicted in the coming days. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein is expected to announce as soon as Tuesday the charges against the foreign minister, which will apparently include fraud and breach of trust, but not bribery. Lieberman's associates told Ynet Monday that he "has already clarified that there is no connection between political and coalitional issues and legal issues". His party, Yisrael Beiteinu, says he will not resign before a court hearing in any case. The “bathroom incident” prompted great discussion on Ynet’s Hebrew site, with talkbacks divided between those supporting Lieberman and downplaying his actions to readers upset by the foreign minister’s conduct.

(Newser) – At least she's found some use for her education. A 2008 graduate of San Diego's Thomas Jefferson School of Law is suing her alma mater for $50 million because she hasn't secured a full-time job as an attorney. She alleges the college falsified its post-graduate employment statistics, reports 760 KFMB-AM. The former student—who graduated with honors and passed the bar on her first try—says she attended the school because of its reported 70% post-grad employment rate. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff—who works as a freelance document reviewer—has been "unable to secure a full-time job as an attorney that pays more than non-legal jobs available to her," and she would "not have attended TJSL and incurred more than $150,000 in school loans if she knew the truth about her job prospects upon graduation." The school denies the claim of false advertising, and a dean says it isn't the duty of the college to find jobs for graduates. "It is the responsibility of the person who is paying so much for an education to figure out what they're going to be able to do with it," she says. "I guess it's a very expensive life lesson." Click to read one view that law school is a bad investment. (Read more law school stories.)

The estranged wife of former Vice President Joe Biden's youngest son, Hunter Biden, claims he squandered the couple's money on drugs, alcohol and prostitutes since the couple separated in 2015. In a court filing last week, Kathleen Buhle Biden asked a Washington, D.C. judge to order Hunter Biden to stop spending the couple's remaining assets. "Throughout the parties' separation, Mr. Biden has created financial concerns for the family by spending extravagantly on his own interests (including drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs, and gifts for women with whom he has sexual relations) while leaving the family with no funds to pay legitimate bills," wrote Rebekah Sullivan, a lawyer for Kathleen. Sarah Mancinelli, an attorney for Hunter Biden, declined to directly address the allegations. "Hunter and Kathleen have been separated for some time and are in the process of finalizing a divorce," Mancinelli wrote in an email. "Hunter loves and admires Kathleen as a person, a mother, and a friend. He hopes their privacy can be respected at this time." Kathleen Biden filed for divorce in December and is seeking sole custody of the couple's 16-year-old daughter, the youngest of their three children. A status hearing is scheduled for March 30. The New York Post reported this week that Hunter Biden, 47, is dating Hallie Biden, 43, the widow of his late brother, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in May 2015. In a statement to the Post, Hunter Biden said the pair was "incredibly lucky" to have found love and support from one another during a difficult time. Court records indicate that Kathleen Biden asked her husband to leave the couple's Washington, D.C., home on July 5, 2015, prompted by his actions on the night of July Fourth. The filing doesn't offer details. The couple agreed to separate three months later because of what Kathleen Biden describes as irreconcilable differences, including drug use and infidelity. Hunter Biden, who has filed a counterclaim and is seeking joint custody, denies that his conduct resulted in the separation. Biden, an attorney and former lobbyist who works at an investment firm, was discharged from the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine. In the court filing, Kathleen said Hunter last year instructed his office to reduce monthly transfers to her to $7,500 per month, compared to the previous average of about $17,000. At the same time, she claims, he has spent lavishly, borrowed heavily and transferred money to himself. Sullivan described the couple's outstanding debts as "shocking and overwhelming," with maxed-out credit cards, double mortgages on two homes, and tax debt of more than $313,000.

Long before the Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, conspiracy broadcaster Alex Jones was warning his viewers that the government was turning people gay by putting chemicals in their juice boxes, water bottles, and potato chip bags that feminized men. “The reason there are so many gay people now is because it’s a chemical warfare operation,” Jones said in a June, 2010 clip that has gained renewed attention since the DOMA ruling. “I have the government documents where they said they’re going to encourage homosexuality with chemicals so people don’t have children.” Cutting open a juice box to reveal the nefarious plastic lining laced with “estrogen mimickers,” Jones continued, “After you’re done drinking your little juices, you’re ready to go out and have a baby. You’re ready to put makeup on, you’re ready to wear a short skirt.” While there is some research that suggests plastics leach hormone-like chemicals, there’s no evidence that they’re harmful to one’s health or that the government is involved in a secret plot to turn the country gay. It’s typical Jones conspiracy fare: Globalists secretly working to depopulate the planet so they can seize control. But it’s also typical of a vicious homophobic vein in Jones’ worldview, which is often overlooked and seems to run in direct contradiction to his proclaimed support for individual liberty. It’s not a central theme of Jones’ broadcasts, but a potent undercurrent. For instance, while hosting Minnesota-based radical anti-gay pastor Bradlee Dean in 2011, Jones said that “all over the country, it is a fact” that gay people are “recruiting 7-year-olds.” “They teach children sexual acts that can kill you,” he added. Later, Jones defended Chick-fil-A’s donations to anti-gay groups, and gave Dean a platform on InfoWars.com to attack the “homosexual agenda.” SPONSORED In October of 2011, Jones warned that “ nellies ,” a derogatory term for gay people, are snatching children away from straight couples. “It’s not that – I don’t even dislike gay people or hate them . It’s that I’ve been to these events and a lot of times it’s the specialized homosexuals who are collecting everybody’s kids that run them, so then it’s like they’re persecuting us and I’m tired of it,” he said.

via Shutterstock)” width=”637″ height=”424″ />Teachers on strike and protesting in downtown Chicago, September 13, 2012. (Photo via Shutterstock) On July 30, Reps. Keith Ellison (D-MN) and John Lewis (D-GA) introduced the “Employee Empowerment Act,” legislation that would make joining a union a legally protected civil right. The bill would bring union membership under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act – the same legislation that bars employment discrimination based on race, gender, religion, national origin and more. While existing labor law already prohibits employers from disciplining or firing workers because of union activity, it does not have enough bite to deter employers. Bringing union membership under Title VII would add teeth to the law, allowing for punitive damages, lawyers’ fees, discovery and jury trials. The idea, first promoted by Richard Kahlenberg and Moshe Marvit, is both to raise the legal stakes involved for employers tempted to flout the law, and to bestow upon labor rights the same legitimacy granted to civil rights. As Ellison explained, “If it’s a civil rights action, it’s vindicating your personal right, first of all to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. . . . . And it’s your individual right to say what you want. Whether or not there’s ever even a vote, you shouldn’t be fired for expressing an intent to support union activity.” Ellison and Lewis are unquestionably pro-labor, and Kahlenberg and Marvit’s proposal is clearly aimed at boosting labor’s sagging fortunes. But despite its intentions, this proposal could end up hurting unions more than it helps. The problem is two-fold. First, as many have noted, including Jane McAlevey most recently, legal strategies in general put workers and their unions at a disadvantage. They displace the conflict between workers and employers from an organizing context where workers can play a leading role and build their own power, to a legal context where workers must rely on experts to fight for them. In this context, even victories occur after years of waiting, during which time the employer can maintain the status quo. In focusing on the legal process, Ellison’s and Lewis’ proposed legislation would not address these problems. Even worse, it risks entangling organizing even more deeply in a maze of legal technicalities. Second, this proposal does not do enough to address the core problem with US labor law: its inability to prevent employers from interfering in workers’ decision to unionize. To be sure, the call to add punitive damages for employer violations is welcome. But the bill’s focus on enshrining labor rights as individual rights may reinforce the very dynamics that have allowed employers to turn labor law so far in their favor. As my own research comparing the formation and development of US and Canadian labor law shows, one of the key factors that has allowed US labor law to erode over time is precisely that it has attempted to enforce what are fundamentally collective labor rights within an individual rights framework. Working within an individual rights framework, US courts and legislatures have preoccupied themselves with “striking a balance” between competing sets of rights. While it sounds fair, attempts to “balance” competing rights ignore the inherent power imbalance between labor and management. As a result, what might at a formal level seem “balanced” ends up tilted in management’s favor. So just as the 1935 National Labor Relations Act established the right to join a union, the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act and subsequent legal interpretations “balanced” that right with the right to refrain from joining a union. This paved the way for so-called “right to work” laws, which are now in place in 24 states, and are frequently identified as a key source of US labor’s weakness. Similarly, courts have sought to “balance” workers’ right to engage in “concerted and protected activity” in favor of unions with a corresponding right of employers to convey their opinions of unions to workers under the so-called “employer free speech” doctrine. As Justice Learned Hand noted with regard to employer free speech, “[w]hat to an outsider will be no more than the vigorous presentation of a conviction, to an employee may be the manifestation of a determination which it is not safe to thwart.” Sure enough, Kate Bronfenbrenner and others have shown that employers have often used their “free speech” rights to engage in systematic campaigns of threats and intimidation explicitly designed to frustrate workers’ attempts to organize. The focus on defending individual rights ignores that labor rights are fundamentally collective. They only become real when exercised as a group, and the benefits only accrue to groups. That’s why it’s called collective bargaining: The only way that workers can possibly counter the inherent power imbalance between labor and management is to band together as a group. It’s also why “right to work” laws are so pernicious: In the name of defending individual rights, they encourage free-riding, which undermines workers’ ability to exercise their collective labor rights. In wrapping labor rights even more tightly within an individual rights framework, Ellison’s and Lewis’ proposed legislation risks playing into the same narrative of “balance” that has eroded US labor rights for more than 70 years. Of course, the real focus for labor revitalization needs to be on building independent organization in the workplace, something that unions themselves have ignored for far too long. But, to the extent legal reform strategies are on the table, the focus should be not on shoring up individual rights, but on creating a framework that protects workers’ ability to exercise their collective rights. Key to this is legislation limiting employers’ ability to intervene in the unionization process. Just as employers are left alone to decide with which associations they wish to affiliate, so too should workers. Doctrines such as “employer free speech,” while fair-sounding, provide a green light for employers to trample workers’ labor rights with abandon. Redefining “employer free speech” as illegal coercion would do far more to defend labor rights than seeking even more protections from the courts that have failed US workers for decades.

Laura Gordon has been voted in by Liberal Democrat party members to be the party’s new Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) in Sheffield Hallam. Laura Gordon said, I am really honoured to be selected by the Liberal Democrats to be the candidate in Sheffield Hallam. The Liberal Democrats have a long history in Sheffield Hallam and it is a privilege to follow in the footstep of Richard Allan and Nick Clegg. Our country faces some tough challenges over the next few years. We’ve got Brexit taking up all the time in Parliament and making us more inward looking while big global issues like climate change are continuing to threaten our way of life. I’ve seen first hand while working with Oxfam, Save the Children and the Department for International Development just how much damage these big international issues are having. Sheffield Hallam deserves a fresh new voice to stand up for our community in the face of a weak and wobbly Government and a Labour Party that has let Sheffield down. Labour have also failed us locally. We’ve seen pensioners arrested at dawn, a local councillor taken to court and the £900 million devolution deal collapse. It’s time to believe in better for Sheffield.

UPDATE: The video has been disabled. Nine Inch Nails played their first American show since 2009 at Lollapalooza this past weekend, delivering a stunning 100-minute set that SPIN ranked as the undisputed highlight of the festival’s first day. “The sound was like a minimalist remix molded in their own influences,” SPIN’s Christopher R. Weingarten wrote. “Equal parts Chicago house and Tubeway Army, playing songs like 1989’s ‘Sanctified’ with no guitars and letting Reznor bang a tambourine (!) on his chest for this year’s ‘Came Back Haunted.‘” Now, fans who couldn’t make it out to Chicago’s Grant Park can witness the entire show above. Trent Reznor dusted off several NIN standards (“Closer,” “Hurt,” and “Head Like a Hole”), plus a handful of new tracks (the aforementioned “Came Back Haunted,” “Copy of A”, and “Find My Way”) set to appear on the industrial icons’ upcoming September 3 album, Hesitation Marks. As for the stage show, SPIN noted that “[the] much-ballyhooed light show was actually more of a ‘shadow show,’ blasting the band’s likenesses 20 feet high or letting them move as silhouettes drowned in a screen’s glow. Lights blurted out like machine gun fire during ‘March of the Pigs’ and scrolled like Men in Black eyeball scanners during ‘The Wretched.'” Pretty hate machine, indeed. Full set list below (via Slicing Up Eyeballs). Nine Inch Nails @ Lollapalooza 2013 set list: “Copy of A” “Sanctified” “Came Back Haunted” “1,000,000” “March of the Pigs” “Piggy” “The Frail” “The Wretched” “Terrible Lie” “Closer” “Gave Up” “Help Me I Am in Hell” “Me, I’m Not” “Find My Way” “What If We Could?” “The Way Out Is Through” “Wish” “Survivalism” “Only” “The Hand That Feeds” “Head Like a Hole” “Hurt”

Moore County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 6,362,[2] making it the third-least populous county in Tennessee. It forms a consolidated city-county government with its county seat of Lynchburg.[3] With 130 square miles (340 km2), it is the second-smallest county in Tennessee, behind only Trousdale. The county was created in 1871, during the Reconstruction era.[1][4] Moore County is part of the Tullahoma-Manchester, TN Micropolitan Statistical Area. History [ edit ] Moore County was established in 1871 from parts of Lincoln, Bedford and Franklin counties, and named in honor of General William Moore, an early settler and long-time member of the state legislature.[1] The new county originally contained about 300 square miles, but Lincoln County sued and successfully reclaimed a portion of its land, reducing the new county's size.[1] Beginning in the 1820s, whiskey distilleries were developed in Moore County. By 1875, fifteen distilleries were operating in the county. At the end of the 20th century, the Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg was a major employer and the county's primary source of revenue.[1] Because of the small size of this county, in the late 20th century city and county officials began to discuss creating a consolidated government in order to lower costs and improve services. In 1988, the Metropolitan Government of Lynchburg, Moore County, Tennessee was voted into law as the governing body of Moore County, including Lynchburg.[5][6] Geography [ edit ] According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 130 square miles (340 km2), of which 129 square miles (330 km2) are land and 1.2 square miles (3.1 km2) (0.9%) are water.[7] It is the second-smallest county in Tennessee by area. The county is located partially on the rugged Highland Rim and partially in the flatter Nashville Basin.[1] Adjacent counties [ edit ] Protected area [ edit ] Demographics [ edit ] [13] Age pyramid Moore County As of the census[14] of 2010, there were 6,362 people, 2,492 households, and 1,841 families residing in the county. There were 2,492 occupied housing units. The racial makeup of the county was 95.4% White, 2.3% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 1.1% from two or more races. 1.1% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 2,492 households, out of which 27% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.8% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.1% were non-families. 22.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, male or female. The average household size was 2.51, and the average family size was 2.93. In the county, the population was spread out with 24.2% under the age of 20, 14.8% from 20 to 34, 20.5% from 35 to 49, 22.1% from 50 to 64, and 18.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.3 years. Per 2000 Census data, the median income for a household in the county was $36,591, and the median income for a family was $41,484. Males had a median income of $31,559 versus $20,987 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,040. 9.6% of the population, and 7.8% of families were below the poverty line. 11.7% were under the age of 18, and 12.1% were 65 or older. Economy [ edit ] Moore County is the location of the Jack Daniel Distillery, whose famous brand of Tennessee whiskey is marketed worldwide. Despite the distillery, Moore is a dry county.[15] This status dates to the passage of state prohibition laws in the early 20th century. While federal prohibition ended in 1933 with the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, state prohibition laws remain in effect. All Tennessee counties are dry by default, though any county can become "wet" by passing a county-wide "local option" referendum. Moore County has yet to pass such a referendum.[16] Education [ edit ] Schools in Moore County are a part of Moore County Schools, overseen by The Moore County Department of Education:[17] Lynchburg Elementary School - grades PreK–6 Moore County High School - grades 7–12 Motlow State Community College is located in northern part of Moore County. Politics [ edit ] Presidential election results Presidential Elections Results[18] Year Republican Democratic Third Parties 2016 79.5% 2,325 17.0% 496 3.6% 105 2012 73.4% 2,053 25.2% 705 1.5% 41 2008 68.1% 2,010 29.8% 881 2.1% 61 2004 60.1% 1,668 39.1% 1,084 0.8% 22 2000 49.8% 1,145 48.1% 1,107 2.1% 49 1996 42.7% 846 47.2% 935 10.1% 199 1992 30.8% 661 53.7% 1,151 15.5% 333 1988 51.4% 786 47.8% 731 0.9% 13 1984 51.4% 863 48.1% 808 0.5% 9 1980 34.6% 551 62.3% 993 3.2% 51 1976 22.9% 331 76.0% 1,101 1.1% 16 1972 61.0% 608 35.7% 356 3.2% 32 1968 15.7% 224 24.3% 346 60.0% 856 1964 20.3% 264 79.7% 1,034 1960 26.4% 313 72.7% 863 0.9% 11 1956 23.1% 270 76.5% 893 0.3% 4 1952 30.0% 354 70.0% 826 1948 12.3% 102 62.9% 523 24.8% 206 1944 16.2% 143 83.8% 742 1940 10.8% 106 88.5% 869 0.7% 7 1936 12.2% 101 87.2% 719 0.6% 5 1932 6.5% 65 92.7% 923 0.8% 8 1928 23.3% 133 75.5% 431 1.2% 7 1924 7.6% 41 91.6% 492 0.7% 4 1920 15.3% 90 84.7% 497 1916 9.0% 71 91.1% 722 1912 14.1% 116 84.4% 694 1.5% 12 See also [ edit ] References [ edit ] Coordinates:

What do you think the recent success of Atletico Madrid is down to? Firstly, we are not a team of individuals. We are a collective group of hard-working players who always want the best for the team. We battle for every ball during every minute of each match and you can see even in training matches that nobody wants to lose. We have a great team spirit, like a family, and the secret to the club's success is down to everybody working for each other. Atletico’s defence is extremely well organised - what do you work on in training to be so good when you’re not in possession? Training involves a lot of tactical work. We are always trying to work hard to ensure that we are improving as a team. Our basis is to prevent teams from scoring and a lot of our training exercises involve trying to stop the ball getting through the midfield and defence. Is Diego Simeone focused on discipline or is he generally quite relaxed? Of course he is a very strong-minded coach, but he was a top player in his playing days as well and everybody knows that you can't achieve that success without having a lot of self-discipline as well. He has taught us a lot about discipline both on the pitch tactically, and off the pitch too. fact file Data Fakta Tanggal Lahir 30 Januari, 1987 30 Januari, 1987 Tempat lahir Istanbul, Turki Istanbul, Turki Posisi Gelandang Gelandang Klub sebelumnya Galatasaray, Manisaspor (pinjaman) Galatasaray, Manisaspor (pinjaman) Prestasi Internasional 71 kali bermain untuk timnas, mencetak 14 gol. How would you compare Simeone with your international coach Fatih Terim? It’s hard to compare Cholo and Fatih Terim. Terim has been a coach for so long and has experienced unbelievable success. He taught me so much as a young player [at Galatasaray] and I will always be grateful for him and his role in helping me get to this level. On the other hand, Cholo is still in the early of his career as a manager, he is still very young but is already one of the top coaches in Europe. I have no doubt that we will see Cholo as one of the world’s top coaches for many years to come. What was it like playing with Radamel Falcao? Did you think the team could play so well without him? Tigre (Falcao) is one of the top strikers in the world, and he showed his potential and class during his years at Atletico Madrid. He is still a great friend of ours and we are very grateful for the part he played in the club’s success. However, we have never been a club reliant on individuals, we have moved on to adapt and have worked hard to ensure we are still successful. We might not have Tigre now but we have David Villa and he is also one of the world’s top strikers. Turan and Atletico have hardly seemed to miss former star Radamel Falcao - at least on the pitch. How would you describe Diego Costa as a player? Aside from the goals he has scored this season, Diego Costa is a player who never forgets the values of the team and the methods Cholo has maintained at the club. He is a fighter who always tries to do everything to the best of his ability for the team. To be honest, I think he is already a world star because it is not easy to score over 20 goals in one of the world’s top leagues. He has huge potential and it’s a privilege to share the pitch with him. You played down Ronaldo’s flank against Real Madrid in the 1-0 win at the Bernabeu. How tough is it for a midfielder to track his runs? Obviously Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world with great ability and you have to always respect that. However, I have always believed that on the pitch, everybody is equal. Ronaldo is human, and I have never been afraid of any player that I have played against. If you prepare yourself in the right way, and study the opposition in as much detail as possible, it can make your job of tracking top players a whole lot easier. Every player in La Liga is a top player and that’s why it's one of the best leagues in the world. How far can Atletico go in the Champions League? Since Cholo arrived we always refrained from making bold statements about our ambitions. Obviously our intentions are always to win, and for us, every match we play is a final whether it’s in the Champions League or La Liga. We are proud to be playing in the Champions League again and it’s a great time for the club. We will take every game as it comes, approach it with the mentality of a final and see what happens. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have big ambitions - I can assure you we do - but we prefer to keep them to ourselves [laughs]. Senang rasanya mendengar jika masyarakat menyukai janggut saya -Lagipula, saya kan bukan pemain paling tampan dalam dunia sepakbola. - Arda Turan Last time Atletico won the league you were just nine years old. What were you doing back then? As a nine-year-old I was a huge Galatasaray fan, of course. I was following them and dreaming of playing for them like any other child would while still playing football in the streets. I’m hoping that now, at the age of 27, I can play a role in helping Atletico Madrid win a league title again after so many years. Can Atletico Madrid win La Liga? Like I said before, every match is a final for us. Every match in the league is a game we must try to win. We take every match as it comes and try to win it, then when we get to the end of the season we will look and see how far it has taken us. You’ve been a regular for the Turkish national team since you were 19. Do you feel like one of the senior players now, helping your younger team-mates? I do feel like one of the more experienced players in the national side. I have played for the Turkey team for many years now and we have achieved some great things. We missed out on the play-offs for the World Cup and we were all very sad about that, but we have to look to the future. For me personally, I believe I have one more chance to play in a World Cup, even though I will be over 30 by 2018. Of course, I try to help the younger players and we have a lot of potential coming through. Is it true you're a Liverpool fan? I've always played for teams in red [Galatasaray, Manisaspor, Turkey] and I've always admired Steven Gerrard. So yes, I have a soft spot for Liverpool, especially given their history and the atmosphere at Anfield. Finally: why the beard? A lot of people are very envious... [Laughs] It's nice to hear people admire the beard, but I just like to have fun from time to time. And I'm not the best-looking guy in the football world!

Childcare changes: Nick Xenophon Team blocks Federal Government's omnibus bill Updated The Nick Xenophon Team has announced it will not support the Federal Government's package of changes to child care and welfare benefits. Last week the Coalition introduced a so-called omnibus bill to try to force nearly $4 billion in savings through the Parliament. The bill included increases to childcare subsidies, and cuts to family tax benefits and paid parental leave. Yesterday, Treasurer Scott Morrison put pressure on the crossbench to support the bill, announcing the Government would redirect $3 billion to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) if the legislation passed. "As a negotiating tactic, this is as subtle as a sledgehammer," Senator Xenophon said. "Pitting battling Australians against Australians needing disability support services is dumb policy and even dumber politics." The South Australian said while his team of three senators and one Lower House MP were supportive of the increases in the childcare subsidies, it should not come at the expense of cutting family tax benefits and paid parental leave. Without the support of the three Nick Xenophon Team senators from South Australia, the bill now needs the support of the Greens to pass the Upper House — something that appears unlikely. The Greens do not yet have an official position on the proposal, but have opposed many of the measures in the past. Labor's Caucus will officially consider the bill today, after launching repeated attacks on its merits. Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie hit out at the bill on last night's Q&A program, "I can tell you what they can go and do with their omnibus, they can stick it where it fits," she said. "This is very cheeky about rolling all [the measures], because they're never going to get it through." Disability groups concerned Disabled People's Organisations Australia chief executive Therese Sands said she did not support funding the NDIS through cuts to other social services. "We are shocked and troubled about this announcement from Treasurer Scott Morrison that once again links cuts to social security with funding for the NDIS," Ms Sands said. "We have stated clearly, including in our pre-budget submission, that we reject any ties to funding the NDIS by cutting social security. "We strongly reject measures that would seek to fill any perceived or potential shortfall in NDIS funding through a shift in revenue from other human services." She called for politicians to stop treating the NDIS like a "political football". "Trading off essential and vital disability support with cuts is a false economy that will hurt many people with disability and is simply not on — completely unfair — and goes no way to ensure the long term sustainability of the NDIS, which the Government says is the intention," Ms Sands said. Government 'needs to rethink their tactics' The country's largest childcare provider, Goodstart Early Learning, has urged the Government to change its tactics to get the long-awaited changes to the sector through Parliament. Advocacy manager John Cherry said the plan to boost childcare subsidies should be considered by the Senate as a standalone bill, instead of being linked to cuts to other welfare payments. "The early childhood sector has always thought the childcare reforms should stand [on] its own merits, it will pay for itself because working mums pay more in tax than they receive in childcare assistance so certainly if we end up with a standalone vote on a standalone bill that will be good from our perspective," Mr Cherry said. "The Government has been trying a particular tactical approach with the Senate and now they'll need to rethink their tactics. "We're certainly hopeful that the legislation can be considered in that last sitting fortnight in March because we really do need a good period of at least 12 months to ensure we can implement this reform come July 2018." Topics: welfare, community-and-society, government-and-politics, political-parties, law-crime-and-justice, laws, australia First posted

One of the more vexing issues facing Evangelical pastors today is premarital sexual ethics. Simply put, we pastors are not quite certain how to counsel singles and teens regarding appropriate boundaries. Of course, we clearly teach that sexual intercourse should be reserved for marriage. But beyond this, there is no consensus among Evangelical clergy about where the boundaries should be drawn. Instead we tend to push the burden of this question back onto singles. One pastor typifies the counsel regularly given by Evangelical clergy: You may want me to tell you, in much more detail, exactly what’s right for you when it comes to secular boundaries [in dating relationships]. But in the end, you have to stand before God. That’s why you must set your own boundaries according to His direction for your life . . . . I want you to build your own list of sexual standards (Jeremy Clark, I Gave Dating a Chance , 108-09 ) . But do we really mean to say that Christian singles should “build their own list of sexual standards?” Presumably the intent here is to respect the judgment and conscience of couples. But our laissez-faire approach isn’t helping. In fact, there is every reason to suspect that our lack of clear direction is putting singles in a precarious position. The September/October 2011 edition of Relevant magazine includes a remarkable article, “(Almost) Everyone’s Doing It.” In it, Tyler Charles draws upon data gathered by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy and informs us that forty-two percent of Evangelical singles between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine are currently in a sexual relationship, twenty-two percent have had sex in the past year, and an additional ten percent have had sex at least once. Assuming the accuracy of Charles’ data, this means only twenty percent of young Evangelical singles have remained abstinent. I’m inclined to think that pastors must bear much of the burden here. We’ve told Christian singles that it’s fine to prepare the meal and set the table, just so long as they don’t finish what they’ve started. Beyond this lack of clarity regarding objective boundaries, Evangelicals also typically lack the theological resources that undergird chastity. Too often our articulation of sexual ethics sounds like we’re reading items off of a grocery list”bananas, milk, cereal; no adultery, no fornication, no incest. It often amounts to little more than an arbitrary list of “do”s and (mostly) “don’t”s that lacks any unified rationale. It is precisely at this point that Evangelicals need to construct a theology of sexual relations that informs the question of premarital sexual boundaries. Thankfully, we need not start from scratch. John Paul II, in his Theology of the Body , pushes back against the Cartesian depersonalization of the body and rightly presses home the point that man does not simply have a body, but in a certain sense is a body. Thus sex, in as much as it is the union of the male and female bodies, is properly (and theologically) understood as a form of personal communion”a “gift of self.” When a man pursues a woman sexually what he desires (even if he does not realize it) is not simply the surrendering of her body to him as a material object, but rather her personal openness to receive him as a gift. In sex the man offers himself to the woman as a gift, and he finds his joy in her opening herself to receive him as the gift he offers of himself. And she, for her part, finds her joy in yielding herself to another before whom she is vulnerable, who seeks her joy in the giving of himself, who uses his strength to bless rather than totalize. And in this way she too is gift to him, for she gives herself as gift to him in that she opens within herself a place for him to dwell, trusting and receiving the man’s gift of self, and returning it in like kind. And mostMost significantly, this mutual giving and receiving of the self results in new life”a child, an expression of personal communion so profound that it actually has the power to instantiate the imago Dei . All of this makes a good deal of sense when one considers the bridal typology deployed by St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians. Here the Apostle frames up for us a view of sex and marriage whereby they are not ends in themselves, but rather are types of something higher, pointing to the deeper reality of the believer’s life giving “one spirit” union with Christ. Just as the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb in the Old Testament foreshadowed Christ’s atoning sacrifice in the New, so too the mutual self-giving and joyful receiving of spousal love, “refers to Christ and the Church” (Ephesians 5:32). Christ offers himself as gift to us in offering of his body (both on the cross, and in the supper); and we give ourselves as gift to Christ in the free surrender of ourselves to him, that we might joyfully receive him as gift. Most significantly, he himself is the gift of grace that we receive, and we ourselves are the gift of faith that we give to Christ. We find our joy in opening to him and making room for him to dwell within us, and he finds his joy in placing himself”his life via his Holy Spirit”inside of us, and being joyfully received by us. And this free exchange of selves, whereby the church becomes one with Christ, and Christ becomes one with the church, is, as every baptism attests, inevitably a life-producing union. Our sexual conduct should be patterned after the way in which Christ and the church relate spiritually. The prohibitions against homosexuality, polygamy, incest, prostitution, fornication, bestiality”indeed all forms of porneia ”find their ultimate explanation against the backdrop of this reality. It is within this Christocentric framework that we can begin to think constructively about premarital sexual activity. In as much as God has ordained sex as a means of foreshadowing the one-spirit relationship between Christ and the church, we misuse our sexuality when we express it outside the context of the marriage relationship. Premarital sexual activity therefore, must be assessed in light of this fundamental context of meaning. Given the theological import of sexual relations, it is difficult (if not impossible) to justify any amount of sexual activity outside the context of the marriage relationship, even if that sexual activity stops well short of intercourse. The man who uses his sexuality (even in minor ways) in a premarital relationship fails to use his sexuality in a way consistent with his calling as a Christian. Gerald Hiestand is Senior Associate Pastor of Calvary Memorial Church, and the Executive Director of the Society for the Advancement of Ecclesial Theology. His latest book (co-authored with Jay Thomas) is Sex, Dating, and Relationships: A Fresh Approach (Crossway, 2012). Become a fan of First Things on Facebook , subscribe to First Things via RSS , and follow First Things on Twitter .

"Ow! I don't know why this is important!" "Shut yer trap, hoe! We're here." Glowering, Anna took in the facade of the store her friend had dragged her to. Unremarkable, the building had a vaguely old-style look, and seemed to be made of stone. It was kinda pretty, in its drab glory, even she'd admit that. Still, she'd been (literally!) dragged here, and for some arsed reason, her best friend Merida kept raving about the place. Merida scrambled up the steps beside her, arms windmilling to keep her balance and forward momentum. Opening the door first, Anna squinted into the darkened room, noting nothing but display cases and racks of- "Anna! That's a Czechoslovakian-era uniform!" Merida scrambled around, eyeing everything around her like a kid in a literal candy store. If candy were canvas painted olive drab, and the kid was a 6' redhead touching everything, bouncing from display to display, eventually disappearing behind a row of nondescript army jackets, with a huge sigh of content. Anna huffed and looked around at the displays of- "Dice! Holy shit, they're so cute!" Anna tuned out her ex-also-best-friend, and looked at the distracted woman padding in from the back. She was gorgeous! Hair like woven gold and stainless steel, a forehead that she could see herself slobbering on, brows that made her want to trace them out, eyes that-holy shit, her eyes! Deep pools of ice water, that Anna thought for an instant that she'd have looked into for hours, and still feel like needing to look more. Was she saying something? With a small smile, the stranger dipped her head in a gesture of greeting and respect, and somehow sat down on a chair that... oh. She'd actually moved, during that second of Anna's eyeing her like a piece of meat, or candy, or something. Gulping, the suddenly shy girl realised that she probably looked all kinds of awkward. "Hi," she stammered hesitatingly, "I'm with her." She pointed at Merida, who was still gasping loudly, reaching out shyly, to touch all the things. The girl behind the counter (Oh, there's a counter!) smiled softly, eyeing the two women in the small space. Her voice was so quiet, Anna almost had to say something, but then her mind filled in what she thought she'd heard. "I'm Elsa." And now she was blushing, and feeling like a child that's asked if they want to tell someone right in front of them something. Someone intimidatingly gorgeous. Her mouth was dry, and she was just starting to eliminate the weirdest sounding pickup lines in her head, when- "Oh, Anna! Look at this!" Anna blinked, and gazed over at her energetic friend, who was currently wearing a pink and grey bomber hat backwards. She didn't have the heart to tell Merida that she looked stupid, and that she should just stick to her normal style. Which was well represented by the black combat boots beside her. "Oh, I had it backwards. Okay, this look good?" Bursting with energy, Merida's eyes were glazed over in a look that reminded Anna of an O face, stretched out over 10 minutes of hyperventilating awe. As her friend's hands passed almost seductively over the poms of the hat, Anna bit back the bile she wanted to paint this whole store with, but the alarmingly cute girl behind her wouldn't like that. She smiled, and muttered some noncommittal grunt of pleasure, and turned back to the cutie before her. Elsa was hunched over an obvious spreadsheet, entering and reentering a number on her calculator, wincing slightly. She then turned her eyes back up to face the newcomer's, and smiled openly. I want to make her smile like that again, Anna suddenly realised, and the realisation of what she was headed for shocked her into action. No stopping it now. "Um, this is going to sound weird, since I'm a stranger, and you're adorable, and I'm not trying to be weird, but this is really awkward, and my name's Anna, and you look so delicious, I wanna eat you up, and this is weird, and I'm a creep..." Anna racked her brain for something intelligent to say, oblivious to the arch in Elsa's (UH-MAY-ZING!) brow. "Would-would you like to go out with-" "Anna! Look at this!" Merida's voice rattled her, and the two girls jumped simultaneously. Looking over, Anna saw that the ball of frizzy energy known as her friend was already ignoring her, and palming the flight helmet she ooh'd and ahh'd over like a lover. Even though she groaned, Anna was happy for the intrusion on her childish ramble, and then Elsa looked at her again. Elsa. Looked. At. Her. Again. With wide eyes, Anna thought furiously, and settled on one thing to say. "Would you like to go to that restaurant," she jammed her thumb at the window, obviously referring to the famous (famous!) restaurant (it's perfect!) across the street, "sometime? With me?" And now she was blushing. She wished the shadows would hide it, but Anna was no fool. The smirking goddess across from her knew exactly what she was thinking. "Yes," Elsa replied, "I'd like that."

Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby, identified as the officer who shot 40-year-old Terence Crutcher on Friday night, has offered her side of the story in the fatal encounter. In dashcam and helicopter video released by police, Crutcher appears to have his hands up moments before he is shot by Shelby. Shelby's attorney, Scott Wood, maintains that Crutcher refused to follow more than two dozen commands and that he reached into the open window of the car before Shelby perceived a threat and shot him. The Crutcher family's attorneys Benjamin L. Crump and Damario Solomon-Simmons said the window was up, evidenced by the blood spattered on it when he was shot. The Department of Justice is investigating Shelby's use of force. Here is Shelby's side of the story, according to her attorney and the police department. Shelby Was Responding to a Different Incident At about 7:36 p.m. Friday, dispatchers received a 911 call about an abandoned SUV in the middle of a street, with the driver's door open and the engine still running, Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan said Monday. The caller said a man was running from the vehicle, saying it was "going to blow." Shelby and another officer were on their way to a domestic violence call when she came across the SUV, Jordan said. On her way to that call, Shelby saw Crutcher standing in the middle of the road, looking down at the ground, Wood said, adding that she would have stopped and checked up on him had she not been on the other call. She then saw the SUV parked in the middle of the street, obstructing traffic in both directions, Wood said. The engine was running when she got there, which she found odd because she assumed it was either disabled or broken down, he said. The Encounter Started More Than a Minute Before What Is Shown on the Released Video Wood said "it's important to remember" that Shelby was on the scene with Crutcher for about a minute and a half before the start of the video clip released by police on Monday. When Shelby approached the car, the doors were closed, and the windows were open, Wood said. She looked into the passenger's side to make sure no one was on the floor of the car, and as she was getting ready to move to the driver's side, she turned around and saw Crutcher walking toward her, Wood said. Wood said that Shelby then said to Crutcher, "Hey, is this your car?" Crutcher didn't respond, simply dropping his head while continuing to look at Shelby, "kind of under his brow," Wood said. Crutcher then began to put his hand into his left pocket, Wood said, adding that Shelby told Crutcher, "Hey, please keep your hands out of your pocket while you're talking to me. Let's deal with his car." Crutcher did not respond, Wood said, so Shelby ordered him again to get his hand out of his pocket. He then pulled his hand away and put his hands up in the air, even though he was not instructed to do so, which Shelby found strange, Wood said. Shelby tried to get Crutcher to talk to her, but he simply mumbled something unintelligible and stared at her, Wood said. He then turned and walked to the edge of the roadway and turned to look at her, his hands still in the air, Wood said. He put his hands down and started to reach into his pocket again, Wood said, and she ordered him again to get his hands out of his pocket. At this point, Shelby, a drug recognition expert, believed Crutcher was "on something," Wood said, possibly PCP. Shelby then radioed in that she had a subject "who is not following commands." "You can kind of hear a degree of stress in her voice when she says that," Wood said. Shelby then pulled out her gun and had Crutcher at gunpoint as she commanded him to get on his knees, Wood said. She pulled out a gun instead of a Taser because she thought he had a weapon, and she was planning to arrest him for being intoxicated in public and possibly obstructing the investigation, Wood said. Shelby ordered Crutcher to stop multiple times as Crutcher walked toward the SUV with his hands up, Wood said. But those orders cannot be heard in the audio from the dashcam video, which starts as another patrol car pulls up to the scene, showing Crutcher walking toward the SUV with his hands up as Shelby follows him, apparently with her weapon drawn and pointing at Crutcher.

Johannes "Johann" Schober (born November 14, 1874 in Perg; died August 19, 1932 in Baden bei Wien) was an Austrian jurist, law enforcement official, and politician. Schober was appointed Vienna Chief of Police in 1918 and became the founding president of Interpol in 1923, holding both positions until his death. He served as the chancellor of Austria from June 1921 to May 1922 and again from September 1929 to September 1930. He also served ten stints as an acting minister, variously leading the ministries of education, finance, commerce, foreign affairs, justice, and the interior, sometimes just for a few days or weeks at a time. Although Schober was elected to the National Council as the leader of a loose coalition of Greater German People's Party and Landbund near the end of his career, he never formally joined any political party. Schober remains the only chancellor in Austrian history with no official ideological affiliation. Early life [ edit ] Johannes Schober was born on November 14, 1874 in Perg, Upper Austria. Schober was the tenth child of Franz Schober, a senior civil servant and veteran of Radetzky's Italian campaigns, and Klara Schober, née Lehmann, a smallholder's daughter. On his father's side, the family came from money and prestige; Schober's paternal grandfather had been a physician. As was common among Catholic Austrians who were upper middle class but not quite upper crust, Schober's parents combined an ethos of obedience to Church and State with a broad pan-German streak and a strong attachment to their rural homeland with an appreciation for the humanities and the arts. The education they imparted on young Johannes appears to have emphasized hard work, piety, and patriotism. The boy showed considerable academic aptitude during his years in the local elementary school and was thus groomed for university education from an early age. He attended the gymnasium in Linz and the Vincentinum, a Catholic boys' boarding school. Even though he had to work as a private tutor to pay his way, his grades were excellent. In 1894, having completed his secondary education, Schober enrolled at the University of Vienna to read law. A great lover of music, he joined the Academic Choral Society (German: Akademischer Gesangverein), a type of Burschenschaft. Career [ edit ] Service in the Empire [ edit ] Johannes Schober, ca. 1900 In 1898, Schober left the university and joined the Rudolfsheim police inspectorate as an apprentice clerk (Konzeptspraktikant). He had completed his studies but had either not taken or not passed the complete set of graduation exams. He left, accordingly, not with a doctorate but an absolutorium. Being nothing but a glorified certificate of attendance, the absolutorium did not qualify its holder to receive the post-graduate education necessary to become a lawyer in private practice, a prosecutor, or a judge. Even so, it technically made its holder a person of academic rank. As such, it was good enough to permit admission into higher civil service. In particular, it qualified Schober to receive post-graduate training for the position of lawyer in police service (Polizeijurist). By 1900, Schober had completed his training with distinction and was assigned to the prestigious Innere Stadt inspectorate. Schober had been induced to join the police by one of his favorite operas, the Evangelimann, a play based on the 1892 autobiography of a Viennese detective inspector. Because Schober was fluent not just in German and French but also in English, he was put in charge of protecting Edward VII during Edward's summer holidays in Marienbad. His proximity to the British monarch for six consecutive summers appears to have been the basis for the friendly relations to the English-speaking world that Schober was noted for later in life. The assignment also seems to have been a boost for his career. He was promoted to a position in the Ministry of the Interior proper, where he was involved in watching over the Emperor and the Imperial Family – protecting them, but also keeping them under surveillance. Effective March 1, 1913, at the relatively young age of 38, Schober was made one of the heads of the Office of State Security (Staatspolizei). When World War I broke out a little over a year later, Schober thus found himself one of the chiefs of Austrian counter-intelligence operations. He became noted for his lenient disposition. When Edmund von Gayer, the Vienna Chief of Police, was made Minister of the Interior in June 1918, Schober was appointed his successor. Schober also received the honorary title of Hofrat on the occasion. Chief of Police [ edit ] Karl Renner presided over the peaceful transition from monarchy to republic, successful in part due to Schober's ready assistance During the chaos days of the collapse of the Empire in late 1918, Schober's tact and resourcefulness played a crucial role in maintaining peace and public order in Vienna. Following the proclamation of the Republic of German-Austria on November 12, Schober placed his forces at the disposal of the provisional government but also secured the safety of the Imperial Family, whose departure from Vienna he supervised. Leaders of multiple major parties – especially Social Democrats, and Karl Renner in particular – declared themselves grateful. On November 30, the provisional government confirmed Schober in his position as the Vienna Chief of Police. On December 3, he was put in charge of public safety (öffentliche Sicherheit) in the rest of the country as well. Austria's Communists, even though they envisioned the establishment of a soviet republic instead of the parliamentary system that Austria was headed for, had been largely peaceful during the critical months between October 1918 and February 1919. The Social Democrats had pursued, with apparent success, a strategy of absorbing and assimilating them; the provisional Austrian army had absorbed and assimilated their party militia. No Communist Party had run in the February 1919 Constituent Assembly elections. In March, however, Béla Kun's establishment of the Hungarian Soviet Republic encouraged parts of the Communist leadership to try to seize power by force. Protests with thousands of participants were orchestrated, some of them ending in clashes of protesters with police. A confrontation on April 17 killed 5 police and a female civilian. A further 36 police and 30 civilians were injured, many of them severely. The protesters set fire to the parliament building. The harsh positions taken by the victorious Allies in the Paris Peace Conference, especially the reparations payments they were preparing to impose, heightened the tensions. The Communists began preparing a mass protest for June 15, urging their supporters to carry arms and hoping to turn the march into an insurrection. A conference of party leaders on June 14 was meant to finalize marching orders. Informed of these plans, Schober petitioned the government to disallow the protest. When the government declined, Schober had security police raid the conference and arrest all 122 participants. The next day, a demonstration demanding the release of the prisoners precipitated a bloody street fight that left 12 protesters dead and 80 seriously injured. Schober's crackdown earned him the trust of the political right. He was now considered "a tough law-and-order man." Abortive bid for the chancellorship [ edit ] The fourteen parties in Austria's Constituent Assembly had radically different visions regarding the constitutional, territorial, and economic future of their demoralized, impoverished rump state. The government, a grand coalition of Social Democrats and Christian Social Party, found itself blocked at every turn by party leaders' unwillingness to compromise. No other alliance would have commanded the support of a stable parliamentary majority. Austrians began to warm to the idea of a "cabinet of civil servants" ("Beamtenkabinett"), a government of senior career bureaucrats who would be loyal to the State and not to any particular ideological camp. The Habsburg Empire had consciously cultivated an ethos of partisan neutrality in its civil servants. A pool of highly educated middle-aged administrators who counted sober professionalism as an important aspect of their self-image stood ready to be tapped. When the grand coalition fell apart in June 1920, Schober looked like the man of the hour to many. He was known to be close to the pan-German cause but still considered nonpartisan. Ignaz Seipel, chairman of the Christian Social Party, was reluctant to assume the chancellorship because of the difficult decisions and general hardship he knew still lay ahead; he wanted someone else to do the dirty work. Schober was respected across party divides for his competence and effectiveness. He also enjoyed a reputation for personal integrity, an important point in a country sick of corruption and nepotism. All but unanimously, the new National Council invited Schober to draw up a list of ministers. When Schober chose Josef Redlich as his minister of finance, a post that Redlich had already held for a short while during the final days of the collapsing Empire, the Greater German People's Party vetoed Redlich on the grounds that Redlich was Jewish. Schober bowed out. Michael Mayr became chancellor in his stead. First government [ edit ] Mayr's term as a chancellor lasted less than a year. The Republic of German-Austria had been proclaimed with the understanding that it would eventually join the German Reich, a vision shared by a clear majority of its population at the time. The treaties of Versailles and Saint-Germain prohibited a union of the two countries, but unification remained popular. Several provincial governments hatched plans to break away from Austria and join Germany on their own; preparations for local referendums were made. Mayr ordered the would-be defectors to cease and desist but was ignored. Having lost its authority, the second Mayr government resigned on June 1, 1921. Schober was asked to step up, agreed, and became Chancellor of Austria on June 21. The cabinet was supported by a coalition of Christian Social Party and Greater German People's Party, but eight of its eleven members were independents. The Christian Socials Walter Breisky and Carl Vaugoin served as the vice chancellor and the minister of the army, respectively; the People's Party's Leopold Waber served as the minister of education and the interior. The remaining seven ministers were, like Schober himself, veteran civil servants with no overt party affiliation. In addition to holding the chair, Schober led the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although only in an acting capacity (mit der Leitung betraut) and not as an actual minister. The main problems facing Schober's cabinet were Austria's galloping inflation and the country's unresolved relationship with Czechoslovakia. Austria depended on its neighbor to the north for food and coal – food and coal it was increasingly unable to afford. Austria needed credit, not just for essential consumables but also in order to restructure. No loans would be forthcoming, however, as long as the Allies could not be thoroughly certain that Austria would obey the provisions of the Treaty of Saint-Germain. Prague was still worried about a possible Austrian attempt to join Germany and also about a possible Austrian attempt to restore the Habsburgs to power; amicable relations with Czechoslovakia would go a long way towards reassuring Austria's potential creditors. On December 16, Chancellor Schober and President Michael Hainisch signed the Treaty of Lana, promising to honor the Treaty of Saint-Germain, to refrain from interfering in Czechoslovak internal affairs, and to remain neutral in the event on an attack on Czechoslovakia by a third party. Their counterparts, Tomáš Masaryk and Edvard Beneš, made equivalent promises in return. They also promised to put in a good word for Austria in London and Paris and, in fact, committed to a generous loan themselves. From the point of view of Schober, the treaty was a great success. Austria had given away nothing that had not long been lost already, and the symbolic gesture had been handsomely rewarded. From the point of view of the People's Party, the treaty was tantamount to treason. Austria had further reduced its chances of ever joining Germany and had sold out the Sudeten Germans to boot. On January 16, the People's Party representative in Schober's cabinet, Waber, resigned his post; Schober and Breisky took over as acting ministers of the interior and of education, respectively. Unable to govern without the support of the People's Party, Schober ultimately stepped down himself on January 26. Breisky was appointed his successor. Second government [ edit ] Schober's resignation ended the coalition and therefore relieved the People's Party of its contractual obligation to side with the cabinet in the National Council, i.e. to support the ratification of the Treaty of Lana. The treaty was ratified with the votes of Christian Socials and Social Democrats. Having been able to vote in opposition, the People's Party was partially appeased and was ready to resume support for the Schober government, who in any case was still the only plausible contender. Schober resumed the chancellorship on January 27. Breisky had been in office for barely twenty-four hours. Breisky went back to being vice chancellor. Schober returned as acting minister of the interior, although not as acting minister of foreign affairs. Reluctant support in the National Council nonwithstanding, the nationalists never forgave Schober for the Treaty of Lana. While Schober continued to fight Austria's crippling financial problems and otherwise focused on foreign policy, Seipel, still the chairman of the Christian Social Party, decided that the time had come for him to take over. In April, Schober left the country to participate in the crucial Genoa Conference. His opponents used his absence to orchestrate his replacement. In May, already on his way home, Schober learned that the Christian Socials had withdrawn their support his cabinet. Schober resigned on May 24; he agreed to stay on in a caretaker capacity until the first Seipel government could be sworn in on May 31. Return to law enforcement [ edit ] Ousted as chancellor, Schober resumed his duties as the Vienna Chief of Police and the man in charge of Austrian public safety. He undertook to modernize the force, to expand its capacities, and to intensify international cooperation. In 1923, Schober convened the Second International Police Congress and took the initiative in creating Interpol. He personally assumed the role of Interpol's founding president. Schober otherwise focused on centralizing the Austrian police corps' command structure and on strengthening traffic police, criminal police, the intelligence network, and the force's internal welfare program. He also worked to reduce to influence of Social Democrats on the force. July Revolt [ edit ] The events of July 15 contributed to the rise of the Heimwehr movement and thus to Austria's eventual fall from democracy On January 30, 1927, members of the Frontkämpfer militia opened fire on an unarmed and unsuspecting crowd of Social Democrats in an ambush attack in the small town of Schattendorf, killing two and wounding five others. The Frontkämpfer were a right-wing vigilante group of war veterans, originally founded by disgruntled officers but also recruiting among the enlisted. Their stated aims were "uniting all Aryan front-line fighters" ("Vereinigung aller arischen Frontkämpfer"), "nurturing the love for the homeland" ("Pflege der Liebe zur Heimat"), fighting leftists, and suppressing Jews. Their membership numbered in the thousands; a rally in 1920 appears to have attracted some sixty thousand sympathizers. The group's main activity was assaulting Social Democrats and Communists and disrupting their meetings. In 1927, the group was in the process of being assimilated into the Nazi Party, a process that would be completed by 1929. The killings caused considerable outrage. The shooting had been a surprise attack from a concealed position. One of the slain was a disabled veteran and father. The other dead body was that of a young child, the only child of an impoverished family. Tensions between the parties rose so high as to completely paralyze the National Council. All useful work having ground to a halt, the legislature voted to dissolve itself and called for early elections. The Frontkämpfer had killed Social Democrats before, but the resulting trials had usually ended in acquittals or conspicuously lenient sentences. The Social Democrats now announced that they had had enough; their opponents in turn accused them of trying to exert undue pressure on the judiciary. On July 14, the two Frontkämpfer charged with the shooting where acquitted. Workers and other Social Democrats in Vienna reacted with spontaneous strikes and protests. Party leadership was hesitant to stoke the flames but lost control. The police appeared disorganized and overwhelmed. Skirmishes ensued. Unfounded rumors accused the police of murdering protesters, the protesters of lynching police. Around noon on July 15, an angry mob cordoned off the Palace of Justice and set fire to the building, then prevented the fire brigade from moving in. Fearing for the lives of those trapped inside the Palace, police decided to disperse the mob by shooting their rifles – mainly into the air, but also into the crowd. At the end of the day, 4 police and 85 protesters were dead; some 600 police had been injured. The number of injured civilians was difficult to ascertain because many avoided seeking medical assistance for fear of prosecution. Hospitals reported that 328 had been admitted for inpatient treatment; the total number of civilians hurt was 548 according to the authorities and 1057 according to the Arbeiter-Zeitung. Although Schober had been mostly uninvolved in the events of July 15, the Social Democrats laid the blame for the loss of life squarely at his door. The Arbeiter-Zeitung called him a "bloodhound" ("Bluthund") and a "murderer of workers" ("Arbeitermörder"). Schober became a deeply controversial figure for the rest of his life and for decades beyond. Noted public intellectuals such as Karl Kraus, an eminent writer and erstwhile admirer of Schober's, joined the attacks. Kraus accused Schober of "fecklessness, deceitfulness, and abuse of power" and called for Schober to resign. He launched a poster campaign and railed against Schober in a 1928 stage play, The Insurmountables (Die Unüberwindlichen). In what has been called a "crusade" by commentators, Kraus would make Schober his prime target until the day Schober died. Schober, who sincerely believed that he had always treated the Social Democrats with fairness and whose skin was thinner than his reputation suggested, experienced the attacks as vicious and appears to have been genuinely hurt. He was elated when Karl Seitz, a leading Social Democrat and the Mayor of Vienna, extended a personal apology in 1929. Third government [ edit ] Chancellor Schober in The Hague, January 1930 In spite of the successful integration of Austria into the international community that Schober – and later Seipel – achieved, the country's economic situation continued to deteriorate. The currency collapsed into hyperinflation. Inflation was brought under control through a currency reform, but the foreign creditors funding this reform demanded a course of strict austerity that made most Austrians even poorer. Unemployment was high, unemployment benefits and pensions were inadequate. In fact, even Austrians in stable formal employment had trouble meeting basic needs. Partisan strife also continued to worsen. Inspired by the apparent successes of Fascist movements abroad, frustrated by the Austrian democracy's inability to put the nation back on track, and distressed by the July Revolt, an increasing number of Austrians on the political right believed that the country's elites in general, and its parliamentary system in particular, needed to be swept away. A strongman was called for to end the infighting, shut down the Social Democrats, and put the Jews in their place. A system of thought developed that combined Fascism, Catholic clericalism, and the Antisemitism traditionally endemic in large parts of the Austrian political right. The resulting Austrofascist Heimwehr movement was loosely affiliated with the Christian Social Party; it had the support of much of the party's core constituencies and of many, although not all, of the party's leaders. By 1929, the Heimwehr had become a serious danger to Austrian democracy. It demanded that Austria's parliamentary democracy be replaced with a presidential system and threatened insurrection should the government refuse. The threats were credible. The Streeruwitz government, a coalition of Christian Social Party, People's Party, and the agrarian Landbund, engaged the Heimwehr in negotiations regarding constitutional reform. Heimwehr, government, and Social Democrats were close to a compromise when, in late September, Heimwehr and Christian Social Party brought down Streeruwitz anyway. Seipel was still leading the Christian Social Party but once again had no desire to step up and assume responsibility himself. As he had done in 1921, Seipel chose to install Schober instead. The third Schober government was sworn in on September 26. Like Schober's previous two cabinets, it consisted mainly of political independents. Schober's picks included Michael Hainisch and Theodor Innitzer. A former president of Austria and a noted professor of theology, respectively, Hainisch and Innitzer enjoyed wide name recognition and broad respect with the general public. Schober himself became acting minister again, this time leading the ministries of education and of finance. Any hope of economic recovery was instantly squashed by the Wall Street Crash of 1929, striking a mere four weeks after Schober's inauguration. The Great Depression hit Austria even harder than most other countries. Austria still depended on regular foreign cash infusions, but credit quickly dried up as a result of the downturn. The government was successful in other respects, however. Most importantly, Schober neutralized the threat of Heimwehr revolt. On the one hand, he signalled willingness to meet Heimwehr demands for constitutional reform halfway, continuing negotiations where the Streeruwitz government had left off. On the other hand, he pointedly refused to include Heimwehr men in his cabinet and insisted that the new constitution be implemented legally, i.e. pursuant to the amendment rules laid down in the existing constitution. The new constitution would need the support of two thirds of the members of the National Council, meaning that it could not be passed without the assent of the Social Democrats. Schober invited Social Democratic representatives to join the talks and refused to be intimidated by the rallies the Heimwehr kept staging as a show of force. Eventually, a compromise was reached; the Council passed a set of amendments to the Federal Constitutional Law on December 7, 1929. The compromise significantly strengthened the power and prestige of the office of the president. It also altered appointment procedures to the Constitutional Court in a way that the Heimwehr thought would guarantee right-of-center majorities for the foreseeable future. The compromise was a disappointment for the Heimwehr and its foreign allies, and a victory for the Social Democrats, in all other respects. Schober was also successful on the foreign policy front. In particular, Schober convinced the Allies of World War I, on a conference in The Hague in January 1930, to forgive the reparations that Austria still owed. Observers noted that Schober achieved his diplomatic victories through a strategy of comporting himself as an affable simpleton. Short, pudgy, intellectually outmatched, eager to oblige, happy to be patronized, and head of a country that was no threat to anyone any more, Schober seems to have put his negotiating partners into a generous mood. According to one contemporary Austrian cartoon, Schober received so many friendly pats on the shoulder from foreign dignitaries that he took to traveling with a cushion strapped to his back. Dissatisfied by the new constitution and in financial straits due to a crisis in the Austrian banking sector that had toppled one of its main donors, the Heimwehr decided that the way forward was to increase the pressure again. A Heimwehr rally in Korneuburg on May 18 culminated in de facto declaration of war on the Republic, a firm promise of armed insurrection. One of the leaders of the radical element in the Heimwehr at the time was Waldemar Pabst, a German national. Schober had Pabst deported. The Heimwehr was now determined to get rid of Schober. The Christian Socials agreed to help. The party was jealous of Schober's successes; the relationship was strained additionally by personal tensions between Schober and Seipel and between Schober and his Vice Chancellor, Carl Vaugoin. Vaugoin, a friend of the Heimwehr to begin with, provoked a quarrel with Schober by demanding that Franz Strafella be appointed director general of the Austrian Railways; Strafella was both a noted Heimwehr man and known to be corrupt. When Schober refused, Vaugoin ostentatiously resigned on September 25. Realizing that his cabinet was unable to carry on, Schober submitted his own resignation the same day. Schober Bloc [ edit ] Schober in Berlin, 1931 On the one hand, the 1929 constitutional reform meant that chancellor and cabinet would no longer be elected by the National Council but appointed by the president. On the other hand, the cabinet still depended on majority support in the National Council to be able to govern effectively. On the third hand, the reform also vested the president with the power to dissolve the National Council, forcing new elections. President Wilhelm Miklas, a Christian Social himself, appointed a cabinet consisting exclusively of Christian Social politicians and Heimwehr chiefs. He installed Vaugoin as Schober's successor and Seipel as his minister of foreign affairs. Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg, a Heimwehr leader, became Minister of the Interior. Franz Hueber, another Heimwehr leader and brother in law of Hermann Göring, became minister of justice. Lacking support from either of the Christian Socials' traditional coalition partners – the nationalist Greater German People's Party and the agrarian Landbund – the Vaugoin government was stillborn. Miklas dismissed the legislature and called a snap election for November 9. The Heimwehr, made confident by its easy victory over Schober and intrigued by the successes of the Nazi Party in Germany, now decided to break with the Christian Socials and stand for election as a separate party, the Homeland Bloc (Heimatblock). Instantly, fears of a possible Heimwehr putsch resurged; the country felt that civil war was in the air. People's Party and Landbund united against their common enemy and convinced Schober to serve as the leader of their alliance, which they proceeded to name the Schober Bloc (Schober-Block). The Austrian legislative elections of November 9, 1930 resolved, once again, nothing. Except for the fact that the Heimwehr won a meager eight seats, taking seven of them from the Christian Socials, the composition of the National Council remained virtually unchanged. Thanks to the Heimwehr splitting the Christian Social vote, the Social Democrats were the plurality party again. With no actual majority and no potential coalition partners, the victory was hollow, however. The Vaugoin government, still without majority support, resigned on November 29. Otto Ender, the Christian Social governor of Vorarlberg, swiftly repaired the coalition of Christian Socials, People's Party, and Landbund and was sworn in as the new chancellor on December 4. The Ender government included both Schober, this time as the vice chancellor and acting minister of foreign affairs, and Vaugoin, who resumed his position as minister of the army. The main item on the Ender government's agenda was Austria's economic situation, still deteriorating and utterly desperate by now. In a country of 6.5 million, the number of unemployment working-age adults was approaching 600,000. Only about half of them were receiving unemployment benefits. Heavy industry was shutting down; in industrial cities such as Steyr and Leoben, more than half the population had no remaining income whatsoever. Children went hungry and often literally barefoot. When Julius Curtius, foreign minister of the German Reich, visited Vienna on March 3, 1931, Schober and Curtius negotiated a customs union between the two neighbors. The idea had already been floated in 1917 and then in 1927, and it still made eminent sense for both sides. Austria's manufacturing sector would gain better access to the German market. Germany would gain access to Southeast Europe and would economically encircle both Czechoslovakia and Poland; in the long term, Czechoslovakia and Poland might choose to realign themselves away from France, their preferred partner in 1931, and towards the great power they actually bordered. Both Schober and Curtius knew that the Allies would not permit the union. France in particular would be vehemently opposed; the French were worried that German economic recovery would lead to renewed German military dominance. France, however, was known to be hatching its own plans for European economic unification, to be negotiated under the auspices of the League of Nations. Schober and Curtius hoped they would be able to convince Paris to permit their customs union in the context of these negotiations. They resolved to keep their agreement secret for the time being. When the agreement was leaked, France, as predicted, immediately vetoed it. Germany and Austria considered implementing the customs union anyway, but the sudden implosion of the Creditanstalt in May laid these plans to rest. The Creditanstalt was Austria's largest bank and controlled two thirds of its remaining industry. To prevent the total collapse of its economy, Austria now needed an immediate cash infusion in an amount that the struggling Reich was unable to muster. France agreed to help, on the condition that the customs union be abandoned and that Austria agree to have its finances audited by the League of Nations; Austria would also have to promise to implement whatever restructuring measures the League would subsequently recommend. Ender could not stomach these conditions. He resigned on June 20, handing the reins to Karl Buresch, who could. Schober stayed on, serving in the first Buresch government both as the vice chancellor and as the acting minister of foreign affairs. The enmity of the French he had earned for himself, however, meant that his ability to function as a foreign minister was severely limited now. When his continued presence in the cabinet endangered the issuance of a strategic foreign currency bond, the Buresch government resorted to a sham resignation to remove Schober from office. Death [ edit ] Schober died on August 19, 1932. His death was not unexpected. Schober had been suffering from heart disease; his condition had noticeably worsened during his final months. It has been speculated that his end may have been hastened by disappointment and bitterness; Schober believed he had been treated shabbily by his political allies. Schober's death came a mere three weeks after the death of Ignaz Seipel, who had also been struggling with long illness. The coincidence was widely noted. The two former enemies had reconciled during their final days, conveying best wishes to each other "from sickbed to sickbed." Honors [ edit ] 1930: Honorary doctorate of technical sciences of the Graz University of Technology 1930: Honorary doctorate of law of the University of Vienna 1930: Honorary doctorate of political science of the University of Graz Citations [ edit ] References [ edit ] English German Further reading [ edit ]

Update: Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick will be taking questions today at 2 p.m. Tell us what you want to know, and see what each is saying about the decision to delay. Portland Commissioner Steve Novick made it official Tuesday morning: a vote on the city's controversial street fee is getting delayed until November. Novick's confirmation came a day after The Oregonian reported that Novick and Mayor Charlie Hales were considering calling off Wednesday's scheduled City Council vote. Officials heard more than 5 ½ hours of testimony about the street fee, much of it negative, during a public hearing last week. Novick and Hales had already decided to delay a vote on the business side of street fees because of pushback. Now, Novick said Tuesday on the "Thank You Democracy with Jefferson Smith" radio show, he and Hales are postponing the street fee vote indefinitely. "As of this morning, we're also going to delay the residential," he said. The street fee, as originally constructed, was expected to raise up to $50 million a year. Most homeowners were expected to pay $11.56 a month and businesses would have paid based on the type of business, square footage and projected vehicle trips. Hales and Novick have not responded to requests for comment since Tuesday. At 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, Hales' office released the following statement: *** The proposal by Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick to launch a street fee in 2015 remains on schedule. However, the council vote on how to structure the fee will be pushed back until November. "We have not taken care of our largest asset: our streets. We have to change that," Mayor Hales said. "We've been talking about this for 13 years, and we held several town halls this winter and spring to hear from people. Despite that, many constituents still haven't been heard yet. We get that. Postponing the Council vote will give people time to weigh in on whether this is the best solution to this dire need, and to consider changes to make it work better." "The last street free proposal in 2008 was derailed by a lobbyist filing a referendum petition," said Commissioner Novick. "This one has been temporarily delayed due to concerns voiced by small business owners and low-income people and advocates. We are in a hurry to get to work, but if we're going to be delayed, it's for the right reasons." The City Council on Wednesday will still vote on referring a charter change that would lock in the use of any street fee for transportation purposes. "Voters need to be assured that we will spend this money the way we say we will," Hales said. "A charter change will ensure that we stay true to that commitment, administration after administration." However, the council vote on both the residential fee, and the non-residential fee, will be pushed back to November. Further public forums will be scheduled to hear from residents and the business community. And two work groups will be formed. Their charges: * To analyze city policy regarding low-income residents and fees. The work group will look at the street fee as well as fees for other city utilities, including water and sewer, to see how well low-income residents are being served and how widely discounts can be applied. * To further engage with small business, nonprofit and government partners on design and implementation of the fee. "Think of this as a track race," Hales said. "We haven't moved the finish line, which is July 2015. But we're moving the starting blocks. We heard from the community: We are taking our time to hear a more robust debate on the details of this fee. But we have not wavered in our resolve. It is our intention to finally address our deteriorating streets." * Reading: The Oregonian: Boon or bust? What happens when McDonald's considers building -- in east Portland The Oregonian: In heart of east Portland neighborhood in need of jobs, is McDonald's the answer? Portland Tribune: City pins plans for water fix on panel -- Brad Schmidt

Hello w0rld! JUMPSEC researchers have spent some time on the glibc DNS vulnerability indexed as CVE 2015-7547 (It hasn’t got a cool name like GHOST unfortunately…). It appears to be a highly critical vulnerability and covers a large number of systems. It allows remote code execution by a stack-based overflow in the client side DNS resolver. In this post we would like to present our analysis. Google POC overview Google POC Network Exploitation Timeline Google POC Exploit Code Analysis First response The dw() function calls a “struct” module from python library. According to the documentation, it performs conversion between python values and C structs represented as python strings. In this case, it interprets python integer and pack it into little-endian short type binary data. This is a valid response sent by the “malicious” DNS server when it receives any initial queries. This response packet is constructed intentionally in large size (with 2500 bytes of null), it forces the client to retry over TCP and allocate additional memory buffer for the next response. This also triggers the dual DNS query from getaddrinfo() on the client side, which is a single request containing A and AAAA queries concatnated. Second Response This is the second response sent by the malicious DNS server. It is a malformed packet sending large numbers of “fake records” (184 Answer RRs) back to the client. According to google, this forces __libc_res_nsend to retry the query. Third response This is the third response sent by the “malicious” DNS server. It is another malformed packet which is carrying the payload. JUMPSEC researcher has modified the Google POC code to identify the the number of bytes to cause a segmentation fault (possibly overwriting the RET address) of the buffer. It is found that the RET address is being overwritten on the 2079th byte. With the addition of return_to_libc technique, an attacker can bypass OS protection such as NX bit or ASLR and perform remote code execution. Google POC debugging and crash analysis JUMPSEC has run it through the trusty gdb. It crashes with a SEGMENTATION FAULT which verifies that the DNS response has smashed the stack of the vulnerable client application when running getaddrinfo(). The vulnerable buffer is operated in gaih_getanswer. The entry address has been overwritten with 0x4443424144434241 (ABCDABCD). The state of the register also showing the overflowed bytes. JUMPSEC has also tested it on a few other applications. It was found that the getaddrinfo() function in glibc is commonly used… Conclusion The best way to mitigate this issue is to enforce proper patching management. Make sure to update all your systems with the latest version of glibc . If you have any systems exposed on the internet and you want to make sure that this vulnerability is not triggered then the following Wireshark filter could be useful: (DNS.length>2048 to see malformed packets). A DNS response has a maximum of 512 bytes (typically), note that the DNS reply is truncated. Even if the client does not accept large response, smaller responses can be combine into a large one which can also trigger the vulnerability. A possible filter is to monitor the size of the entire conversation as a distinct amount of bytes in total is require to trigger specific responses from vulnerable client and all of them requires more than 2048 bytes. The above vulnerability can be fixed by patching. If you are running RedHat or CentOS a simple yum -y update glibc will update the libc and resolve the issue (remember to restart the service right after the update!). Reference links https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2015-7547 http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/freeaddrinfo.html https://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/cve-2015-7547-glibc-getaddrinfo-stack.html https://sourceware.org/ml/libc-alpha/2016-02/msg00416.html

By Michael Aydinian Whatsupic -- This is madness - freedom of speech should be sacrosanct. It is a god-given right to think or say what we want. Is it not the case if one chooses to spout drivel one merely succeeds in making oneself look decidedly foolish? However, what makes this move to criminalize anti-Semitism at the UN so utterly reprehensible are two things - firstly, Zionists aren't Semitic! They originated from Khazar which is now a region known as Georgia. Zionists do not possess a drop of Semitic blood! Rather like the way they've stolen Palestine, they've usurped Judaism too. The mother of all ironies as Rabbi Weiss once said "the greatest cause of anti-Semites is Zionism!" Secondly, Zionists are without a shadow of doubt the most racist, wicked, deluded people on the planet and if the truth were ever told, (and this is what all this nonsense at the UN is all about) the world would soon realize - much of the grief today is of their making! French philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Levy addresses the United Nations General Assembly, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015. (Photo: Richard Drew/AP) But before I elaborate on this, Canada, France and Austria passed laws making it a criminal offense to question the Holocaust. Over 200 years ago the great French poet Voltaire declared - TO LEARN WHO RULES OVER YOU SIMPLY FIND OUT WHO YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO CRITICIZE! I often wonder if Voltaire imagined people would actually be jailed for questioning a historical event? I mean a fine is bad enough but to lose one's freedom over an opinion? This is insult to injury ...... but wait! We've yet to add salt into this gaping wound! Astonishingly, the official Holocaust figures have been revised down to under 2 million dead. This effectively proves those who questioned the Holocaust HAD EVERY RIGHT TO! So surely, those who suffered horrendous miscarriages of justice would at least receive compensation? Not a murmur! Not even an apology! Worse still, I'd like to bet 19 out of 20 people still believe 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust! It matters not that the official figure has been revised. This is the beauty of owning the media - YOU MAKE THE NEWS! Not one Zionist has been made to answer for this outrageous lie even though they've been well and truly found out. They know if they impose a blanket boycott on a news item, even one that in normal circumstances would qualify as a fully-fledged front page headline, it's almost as if it never happened. And the Chutzpah that's derived from this ungodly power to pull the wool over everyone's eyes - it's business as usual - full steam ahead! The Zionists won't stop. Sure enough, now they have the gall to coerce the UN into initiating a universal ban on anti-Semitism! This is beyond the pale. Freedom of speech is a fundamental right. Our right! Laws justifiably are designed to punish wrong-doing ie human actions. Anyone responsible for ushering in a law that curtails thought or speech IS A CRIMINAL - PERIOD! What kind of Mickey Mouse mass-media is this? The Zionist run Corporate media bombards the public with their fabricated version of events, even vehemently trumpeting total falsehoods but when the truth doesn't suit them, they clam up tighter than a camel's arse in a sandstorm? What is this? The Zionists haven't simply told a lie - they've maintained it for 70 years, never allowing so much as a slither of an opportunity for memory loss. They've used the Holocaust as an excuse to justify their wanton disregard for international law. This, to all intents and purposes, has given them carte blanche. Small wonder they openly display belligerence and cruelty on a scale that's unparalleled. Now we hear it wasn't 6 million. Okay if it was 5 then it's not such a big deal...... but when the official figure's adjusted to under 2 million....... especially when one considers how many Poles, Czechs and others died in the camps? We were deliberately lied to because the Zionists, above all, needed worldwide sympathy. The plan all along was to create their own country. Easier said than done, strolling into someone's territory saying 'get on your bike pal. This is ours now!' How would you like half of your country donated away without so much as a by-your-leave? The Holocaust clinched it. You can believe what you want but please, allow me to do the same. The Zionists never stop bringing up the Holocaust, so is it not my right to question why no one ever mentions the Armenian massacres or the more recent genocide in Rwanda? So let's for now ignore what we've been led to believe regarding the holocaust. Let's think logically. The concentration camps were in the East, on the Russian side. Those in charge of the camps knew waiting for the Russians simply wasn't an option. With 20 million of their own dead, the Russians weren't taking prisoners. In any case, sooner or later, supply lines would be cut. Food and water would not get through, so well before the Russians reached the camps, the Germans upped and left. Of course camp internees could have left too - many most probably did but where would they go? They were effectively in a war zone without food and water. Those who stayed in the camps at least had shelter and the genuine hope that help would soon arrive. So far, have I said anything unreasonable? However, even though defeat was a formality, a raving lunatic was in charge. Hitler inexplicably insisted every German should fight to the death. Anyone with half a brain would have long since brought out the white flag! Just to give you an idea, imagine Hitler surrendering at the end of 1944. How many lives do you think would have been saved? You see the truth of what occurred in 1945 in terms of casualties has never been told. Here's something for you to digest - MORE PEOPLE DIED IN 1945 THAN IN THE ENTIRE WAR PRIOR! ........ Takes some believing ....... yet it's true. The vast majority of deaths in the camps occurred in the final months of the war when the Germans were well and truly in retreat. Then there was the carpet bombing of Germany and Japan which killed millions of civilians. There was the street to street fighting which inevitably incurred horrific losses - the Russians lost 100,000 men merely taking Berlin! Those left in the camps had little chance of knowing exactly what was going on. Certainly they were aware Germany's defeat was imminent but as each day went by, without food and water, what could these poor people do? What options were available to them? Most were already so malnourished and weak, all they could do was wait for relief. They couldn't go out and get it! As each day passed, slowly but surely, the camps inhabitants succumbed to dehydration and starvation. As each week passed, more died; the bodies piled up. Those alive literally had no strength to bury the dead. This served to exacerbate the dilemma for it led to the outbreak of disease which in turn caused the death count to rise exponentially. Have I said anything unreasonable here? Okay. Now let's see if my synopsis fits well with the photographic evidence and TV footage. What did we see - piles of dead emaciated bodies left unburied. They weren't gassed or shot. They died either from starvation or disease. Survivors were down to the bone. Disease was rife. In other words, what I've said from my own thoughts in the last few paragraphs fits like a key in a well-worn lock. What didn't we see - there were no massive burial grounds. Now how could this be? Consider how our laws require a corpse before one can be charged with murder. This is not just a serious anomaly - it is the most critical detail, one that cannot under any circumstances be brushed aside! If 6 million died there simply has to be evidence of mass graves strewn all over the place. To this day no such evidence has been uncovered. Moreover, none of the survivors ever told the Russian liberators they were systematically being gassed to death. There was a good reason - the Russians would have immediately said 'where are the gas chambers then?' There were no gas chambers. However, some may have mentioned Allied or Russian bombing put paid to quite a few of them! To say something is terribly amiss is a chronic understatement. Historical events should always be open to question not just because the winners write the history books but because everything should be open to question! It is our right, most especially when there's little or no evidence to corroborate the story we're being told. Yet hold the phone - now they want to make it illegal to criticize Israel. You see that would be anti-Semitic....... but wait - Zionists aren't Semitic..... the Palestinians are though; so are the Iraqis! This whole sordid affair has long since past the farcical stage. Zionists don't want people to question the Holocaust for 2 main reasons - firstly, for 70 years it's acted as a tool to draw sympathy and so justify the creation of Israel as well as ward off criticism they so rightfully deserve. Secondly and most importantly, if their account of the Holocaust was above reproach, would they give two hoots if someone chose to investigate? Think about this because this is the big giveaway. They throw a fit each and every time and it's obvious why. Serious researchers can only discover one thing - the truth. The reason they don't want anybody questioning the Holocaust is because they know - any meaningful investigation will rapidly arrive at one conclusion - the Holocaust was a massive Zionist con trick! We are fast-approaching a point where we could well find ourselves living in a world where criticizing the greatest criminals on the planet, indeed the greatest gangsters ever, is a criminal offense! I know it sounds crazy but diabolical as it may seem, this is what the Zionists want more than anything. Why? Because the Internet threw an almighty spanner in the works. Suddenly, their control over the flow of information, painstakingly acquired over 150 years, hadn't just been breached; it had been ruptured! The internet was a phenomenon. Type in a few words and hey presto - all the information you need is there. Not that initiated folk weren't aware of corporate media lies. The Internet though allowed us to discover what we weren't being told. As a result, the past 10 years has seen mainstream news channels all over the world haemorrhage viewers. No one watches CNN anymore. If it was down to money, they'd have shut up shop years ago. Trouble is they can't do that. It would be the mother of all show outs! Their only option was to soldier on, smile as if everything's sweet, never give any inkling their news channels are ironing out absolute lumps. All they could do was tell even bigger lies. They had to, because now we're on the clock. Naturally, the power-brokers would love to pull the plug on the Internet. They dabbled with the notion, bizarrely trying to sell it saying it was for our security. Talk about desperation. They quickly realized any move on the Internet would be universally despised. I'm convinced they'll kill it only when they're ready to declare Martial law. However, this is no good for Netanyahu. He knows only idiots believe what the Israelis say. There's only so many lies you can tell. Why do you think the media never reveal the results of independent polls which state categorically Netanyahu is a raving lunatic and Israel is by far and away the greatest danger to world peace? This is why all these false flag events, one after the other, are occurring. They have to raise the fear factor so that people believe there's a genuine terrorist threat. Though I've zero interest in Religion or Nationalism, the demonization of Muslims has reached a point where I feel ashamed. I'm a member of this species and to see it sink so low? Of course, it's nigh on impossible gauging the level of disgust because the media only promote what suits the Zionists. That's why all we ever hear is anti-Islamic protests, trying to create the notion everyone's against them. Like a stuck disc I've said, the news is what we're not told! So lo and behold - those who are responsible for all the False Flag events; those behind the JFK assassination, the attack on the USS Liberty in 1967 where 34 US sailors were killed in a botched attempt by the Israelis to pin the blame on Egypt and above all, the very people who planned and executed 9/11 - are now trying to make it illegal for anyone to criticize them! You'd think it couldn't get much worse than this! Wrong! Zionists are of the Ashkenazi tribe. They are not Jews. They were originally from Georgia, Russia. By the time of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, they'd assumed control of virtually every significant position. What followed was murder and mutilation on a scale that truly beggars belief. I read Alexander Solzhenitsyn book 'Two Hundred Years Together.' After all, this dissident won the 1970 Nobel Prize for Literature. His credibility could not be questioned yet this book was a blow by blow account of how 66 million Russians were butchered by the Ashkenazi. So I had to read it and my oh my - some of the methods of torture were so revolting at times it was positively stomach churning. Families would be forced to watch their children being mutilated one by one. It still gives me nightmares. To take someone's life for no reason is deplorable but I cannot for the life of me comprehend how any human could wish to inflict such unimaginable fear, pain and horror upon anyone. I don't care what upbringing one may have had - this is sick. Needleless to say, Solzhenitsyn book was banned in the West. I'll hold my hands up and say if it wasn't for the Internet, I would have remained ignorant, not just of the cold-blooded slaughter of 66 million Russians but the vast majority of what I've outlined here. The harsh reality though is the vast majority of Israelis, 80-90% are Ashkenazi. Is it therefore any surprise they display such hatred towards the Palestinians? What worries me more than anything is this - every single Israeli Prime Minister is of Ashkenazi origin. The good news is they control the US, UK, France, Canada, Germany, Australia; they control the banking system and Wall Street; they have the entire corporate media in their pocket! The bad news is - they're never going to stop! They want it all! I'm undecided on whether we deserve what's coming for being so complacent. The price paid in terms of pain and suffering is already incalculable..... yet what I'm in no doubt of - at best we're going to pay a far, far bigger price; at worst mankind may pay the ultimate price!

The sun’s energy is difficult to get a hold of – and even more difficult to hold on to. Now chemists have developed molecules with the capacity to create and store substantial amounts of solar energy that may also be released on demand. This is after research by Anders Bo Skov, a master’s student collaborating with the University of Copenhagen’s (UCPH) Center for Exploitation of Solar Energy. Until recently, storage of solar energy has proven fickle and troublesome: the stubborn molecules would offer only slight enhancements in storage capacity, without increasing the length of storage time as desired. However, now they have been able to shed light on the molecular mystery that had remained experimentally elusive, according to Anders Bo Skov: “The problem has always been that the energy couldn’t be stored for a long enough time, and not enough could be stored for it to be viable. My system can store energy for years without losing a significant amount of energy. There was a parent system, which had the properties of 100kJ/kg and the energy could be stored for a few days. My new system is better because the energy can be stored at 250kJ/kg for 114 years,” he says to the University Post. Need key to release energy The entire research team, run by Professor Mogens Brøndsted Nielsen, works with the so-called Dihydroazulene-Vinylheptafulvene (DHA/VHF) molecular system, which effectively stores energy by changing shape. The system works by undergoing photoconversion between the yellow molecule DHA and the red VHF. This recent success has boosted the group’s efforts to increase the energy of this system. Anders Bo Skov is doing his master’s at the University of Copenhagen Despite having found a way to enhance the storage time, Skov says they still have their sights set on improvement: “We need the key to release the energy. So far we can only store it for 114 years. We want to make energy stored in VHF much less stable than DHA, so that VHF will release the energy. I’m working on different ways to make DHA more stable. We have the goal to double the amount to 500kJ/kg.” Breaks down into ‘chamomile flower’ component The breakthrough also has the potential for lessening the hazardous impact of technology and creating greater environmental efficiency. Lithium batteries, which are composed of harmful acids, bases, and poisonous metals, are a commonplace in electronics today, especially mobile phones. The positive potential of Skov’s system is that it offers a way to gather and store solar energy without carbon dioxide and other toxic byproducts. In this way, there is an opportunity to develop this system into something applicable to energy consumers, offering sustainable solar energy. “So, we want to use it for solar heat batteries. All batteries today are toxic to the environment while this system is powered only by sunlight and is completely non-toxic to the environment. When it breaks down, [my molecule] turns into a component similar to that found in chamomile flowers,” Skov says. universitypost@adm.ku.dk Do you have a good story? We would like to hear from you. In the meantime, like us on Facebook for features, guides and tips on upcoming events and follow us on Twitter for links to other Copenhagen academia news stories.

This year is on track to be the deadliest on record for refugees in the Mediterranean, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In a press briefing on Wednesday, spokesperson William Spindler said that with two months still remaining in the year, at least 3,740 people were reported dead in the Mediterranean, almost as many as the 3,771 killed in all of 2015. “This is the worst we have seen,” he said. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now This uptick is in spite of the fact that far fewer people are attempting the crossing—327,800 so far this year, compared with 1,015,078 last year. The higher fatality rate may be due to a range of causes, from smugglers taking more dangerous routes to using flimsier vessels. Bad weather has also played a role in some deaths. UNHCR is urging countries to make safer pathways available and consider “enhanced resettlement and humanitarian admissions, family reunification, private sponsorship, and humanitarian, student and work visas for refugees.” [UNHCR] Contact us at editors@time.com.

How an ER doc became a primary care doc, and developed a talk for new parents. The Attentive Child Recently I had a mother come in, 8 month old boy in tow, on social assistance. Child had a minor complaint, something that really didn’t need to see the doctor. You know the type. No, you don’t. After checking them in, the clerk came into the office and remarked how alert and intelligent the child was, that he observed her quietly the whole time she was working. She then laughed that when she mugged at him he mimicked her back, making faces the mother had never seen before. The Read-To Child I can identify a child who has been read to at 6 months of age, even younger. They are more confident, less fearful, more observant, more in control of themselves, and more curious. I have seen children under a year old, who cried from fear as I examined them, but who nevertheless held themselves still, and even cooperated with my exam, while they continue to cry. This was clearly one of the children who had been read to. Before I examine a child, I usually try to interact with him/her a bit and chat with the parents, and give the child time to get used to me. As I often do, I asked the mother my standard question, “Are you reading to him?” She surprised me by saying, “I read to all five of my children.” I said, “That’s great. How did you decide to do that?” She gave me a puzzled look, and then said, “You told me to.” She then related to me how all of her children had developed an interest in books, and that her oldest, the 9 year old, was reading all the time. I don’t often get emotional in the ER, but I choked up a little bit when she told me that. Medical Woes I don’t much enjoy medicine. I’m a scholar and a writer at heart, but that won’t pay the bills, not yet. And medicine just pays too much money, even in quiet, out of the way places. So I work those quiet jobs, and write and read in between patients. One of the things that aggravated me for years is that overwhelmingly, emergency room patients aren’t emergencies. Most of the patients I see don’t need a doctor, their problems will go away without medical attention. For a long time, I resented the apparent abuse of the system, but I gradually came to realize that without those people, there wouldn’t be enough patients to justify an emergency room. This is true even of the largest ER’s. There just aren’t enough true emergencies to keep most ERs open. With that, primary care docs book their days full, there’s not much room to fit in another patient that day, or any time soon. And understandably, doctors aren’t willing to work until all hours of the night to see everyone as we did in the old days. Like everyone else, we want to be home with out families. So their overflow comes to us. Finally, the ER is the only place many of the poor can get healthcare, particularly the working poor, who often do not have insurance. The Emergency Room as Primary Care As I saw these patients over the last three decades, some of them repeatedly, I began to recognize that I am the primary care physician for a lot of them. Since I work quieter ERs, I realized that I often have a few minutes for counseling about their disease, or even about their lifestyle choices, particularly those that affect health. Which is a pretty scattershot blunderbuss. Everything in our lives affects our health. Life-Long Health As I have suggested elsewhere, if our brains function reasonably well, we can deal with a lot of disease and adversity. And as those of you who visit here regularly know, I am a big proponent of reading. I strongly believe that if we engage kids with reading as early as possible, it has an enormous, positive impact later on. So I started urging parents, particularly new parents, to read to their children. More than one parent has come back to me, told me they had started reading to their kids, and were amazed at the change in their children, how sharp they were, and how well they were doing in school. Some of these people could barely read themselves, but their kids were tearing it up. So much of medicine is obvious. Or rather, it’s obvious if you’ve studied it; if you haven’t, it’s not obvious at all. Likewise, so much of education and raising children is obvious; if, of course, you had supportive parents, and you’ve read a lot and thought a lot, and if you’ve just watched people go through their lives. That’s why I think I got choked up. It didn’t take me 60 seconds to talk to that mother about reading; but for the few seconds I gave her, her life, and her 5 children’s lives, were dramatically changed for the better. We think of medicine as saving people’s lives. In this case, maybe I saved several people’s lives; but unlike a more conventional view of medicine, I did not simply restore them to what they were before. Maybe I helped to make them much better, maybe I gave them a life that was larger, and fuller, and happier. New Parents Anyway, after I started giving parents my suggestions about reading, with time I began developing a whole little talk for new parents. Follows is the full version, with three basic points. I almost never give new parents the full talk, I usually just give some abbreviated form. I once had a grandmother complain to the administration about this, even though I was speaking to her daughter, the mother; and the daughter certainly listened attentively to what I said. But it’s worth an occasional complaint. Where else do we have the opportunity to create so much progress, with so little time and effort? 1) Screen Time vs Reading Time Research over the past few years has prompted the American College of Family Physicians and the American College of Pediatricians to recommend that we limit screen time in our children — TV, computer, cell phone, electronic games — to no more than 2 hours a day. But the less the better. Imagination is critical in the modern world, the abilitiy to ‘see’ something you’ve heard or read. A child won’t develop her imagination if she’s constantly watching a machine that does all of her imagining for her. Instead of screen time, read to your children, and start as soon as you can sit them on your lap. Read to them every day, as often as you can. When they get to 3 or 4 years old, begin playing card and board games with them. This helps develop math skills and analytical reasoning. If you do these two things, your children will amaze you when they go to school, and throughout their lives. 2) Losing a Child Every good parent’s greatest fear is that we will lose a child. But as a new parent, you should know you will lose your child every night; the child who wakes up in the morning is not the child you put to bed the night before. And you will never – ever – see that other child again. And the day will come that it will be the last time that your child runs to see you at the door, the last time that you hold her/him in your arms, or the last time that you read to him/her. And you won’t even know it’s the last time. So treat them all as if they were the last time. And as if it were the first time. Continued below… Subscribe to Bookscrounger.com and receive a free copy. Subscribe toand receive a If you're so smart, why aren't you happy? An exploration of life, biology, art, and Zen. Happiness: A Physician-Biologist Looks at Life Click here to read the first few chapters. Enter your information below to sign up. Once your subscription is entered, you will automatically receive a .pdf of the book by eMail. Leave this field empty if you're human: 3) Patience & Faith I knew a man who would get whipped when he didn’t play well in pee-wee baseball. No good parent would do that, it would only destroy the child’s interest in baseball, and his self-confidence in playing it. So why do we put so much more importance on learning to handle a pop-up fly, than we do on learning to handle frustration, disappointment, and self-control? I’m 60 years old, I still struggle with those things. Robert Fulghum said, “Don’t worry that your children never listen to you. Worry that they’re always watching you.” We can never teach true self-control to our children, by losing our own self-control. Your children love you, they need you, and they will work hard for your approval. When they are misbehaving, you’ll often find out later they were tired, or hungry, or worried; and ‘worried’ is the hard part, because often they won’t tell you when they’re worried, or what they’re worried about. They’re not always aware of what they’re worried or afraid of themselves. But to discipline a child is who suffering is not what any of us want to do. Children figure out most of what they need to do, and how they need to behave, if we just give them some time, and have a little faith. Give them lots of praise and patience, and discipline them as little as you think you can get away with. So that’s my talk for new parents. Maybe some of you can use it or share it, or change it and make it better. I hope so. Peace. Photograph courtesy of Eugene Kim. Like this: Like Loading...

Although managers and researchers have invested considerable effort into understanding corporate social responsibility (CSR), less is known about corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR). Drawing on strategic leadership and moral licensing research, we address this gap by considering the relationship between CSR and CSiR. We predict that prior CSR is positively associated with subsequent CSiR because the moral credits achieved through CSR enable leaders to engage in less ethical stakeholder treatment. Further, we hypothesize that leaders’ moral identity symbolization, or the degree to which being moral is expressed outwardly to the public through actions and behavior, will moderate the CSR–CSiR relationship, such that the relationship will be stronger when CEOs are high on moral identity symbolization rather than low on moral identity symbolization. Through an archival study of 49 Fortune 500 firms, we find support for our hypotheses. In 2008, the CEO of British Petroleum (BP), Tony Hayward, announced that BP's safety record, which was one of his key foci as head of BP, was “now among the best in our industry” (BP, 2008). Under his leadership, BP ran operational safety training sessions for its employees and encouraged a culture of safety in an effort to attend to key stakeholders such as employees, the community, and the environment (Kolmar, 2007). However, in 2010, the Deepwater Horizon explosion shattered BP's positive safety record when managers missed key safety warning signs, resulting in the loss of 11 lives and creating the worst offshore oil spill in United States history (Jervis & Levin, 2010; Rogers, 2010). Moreover, Hayward's reaction to the spill was seen as cold and perceived as minimizing BP's responsibility for the spill as well as the environmental damage to the Gulf of Mexico (Korosec, 2010; Zarroli, 2010). Following from such instances of corporate wrongdoing, business practitioners and academics have dedicated increased attention to firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR), which refers to firm behavior that goes beyond compliance or legal requirements to provide some social good (McWilliams & Siegel, 2001). One prominent approach to understanding CSR is the stakeholder approach in which a firm is deemed socially responsible when its actions attend to the interests of not only its shareholders but also other firm stakeholders (Branco & Rodrigues, 2006; Carroll, 1991, 1999; Godfrey & Hatch, 2007). Drawing on this stakeholder approach, researchers have focused on understanding the antecedents and consequences of CSR. For instance, top management team (TMT) demographics, values, sociocognitive traits, and firm attributes such as decentralization of decision making and research and development expenditures have all been identified as important antecedents to a firm's ability to manage the needs of multiple stakeholders (e.g., McWilliams & Siegel, 2001; Thomas & Simerly, 1994, 1995; Waldman et al., 2006; Wong, Ormiston, & Tetlock, 2011). In turn, research indicates that, on average, CSR is positively related to firm financial performance (for a review, see Margolis & Walsh, 2003; Orlitzky, Schmidt, & Rynes, 2003). Although this research has advanced our understanding of CSR, several important questions remain. First, although we have a better understanding of CSR and its benefits (e.g., increased firm financial performance), past research has rarely considered the negative consequences of engaging in CSR. Relatedly, we have less of an understanding of corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR; Lange & Washburn, 2012), which refers to actions that negatively impact the interests of stakeholders (Strike, Gao, & Bansal, 2006). The limited research on CSiR has considered how CSiR and CSR are related, with research finding that they can occur concurrently (e.g., Strike et al., 2006) or that CSiR is offset by subsequent CSR (e.g., Chatterji & Toffel, 2010; Kotchen & Moon, 2011; Muller & Kräussl, 2011). For instance, Chatterji and Toffel (2010) found that firms that received negative environmental ratings subsequently improved their environmental performance. Although such research helps us to better understand the relationship between CSiR and subsequent CSR, it does not consider whether CSR influences later CSiR. Returning to the BP example at the beginning of this paper, this literature provides little guidance to understanding the conditions under which BP's socially responsible behavior (i.e., increasing its safety record) might have subsequently increased its less responsible behavior (i.e., ignoring safety warnings and minimizing BP's responsibility). Second, studies examining CSR and CSiR have generally provided a firm‐level perspective of this relationship. However, given that strategic leaders (i.e., CEO and the senior executives who belong to the TMT) make strategic decisions about CSR, it is surprising how few studies explore the effect of top leaders on CSR (but see Thomas & Simerly, 1995; Wong et al., 2011), and only one study to our knowledge theorizes that strategic leaders affect CSiR actions (Pearce & Manz, 2011). Further, few researchers approach CSR from a social psychological perspective (Rupp, Williams, & Aquilera, 2011), even though applying these theories could elucidate when leaders’ personal characteristics influence the CSR–CSiR relationship. Therefore, important questions remain as to whether and when leaders influence the relationship between CSR and CSiR. In this paper, we address these questions by examining the relationship between CSR and CSiR. First, we study whether prior CSR affects subsequent CSiR. We approach this question through the lens of strategic leadership, which suggests that leaders influence organizational strategy and in turn firm outcomes (e.g., Finkelstein & Hambrick, 1996) such as CSR and CSiR. Specifically, we focus on the effects of strategic leaders’ psychological processes on CSiR. We draw on moral licensing research to argue that top leaders who have previously implemented CSR strategies will glean moral credits from this past behavior, which leads them to develop a strategy that mistreats firm's stakeholders. Second, we consider the moderating role of leader characteristics on this relationship. Although moral licensing research consistently shows a positive relationship between moral behavior and subsequent immoral behavior, recent research suggests that this relationship may be affected by individual differences (Mulder & Aquino, in press; Zhong, Ku, Lount, & Murnighan, 2010). One relevant individual difference is moral identity symbolization, or the degree to which being moral is expressed outwardly to the public through actions and behavior (Aquino & Reed, 2002). We argue that leaders’ moral identity symbolization moderates the relationship between prior CSR and CSiR. Our study furthers research on strategic leadership, CSR, moral licensing, and moral identity by examining the effect of strategic leaders’ psychological processes and personal characteristics on CSiR in publicly traded firms. The Influence of Prior Corporate Social Responsibility on Corporate Social Irresponsibility Over the past few decades, firm stakeholders, including shareholders, consumers, and employees, have put increasing pressure on firms to manage their interests; in other words, firms are increasingly expected to heed the calls of their multiple stakeholders. When firms are able to successfully manage these myriad demands, they are deemed socially responsible (Freeman, 1984). As business practitioners’ demands and academics’ understanding of CSR have become finer grained, so too have the definitions of CSR. Greenwood (2007) suggests CSR exists along a continuum anchored at one end by firms that actively engage with and act in the interest of varied stakeholders (i.e., are responsible) and anchored at the other end by firms that have more limited interactions with and may act in the interest of only powerful stakeholders (i.e., are irresponsible). Others have argued that although responsibility and irresponsibility are related constructs, they are distinct and thus should not be considered as opposite ends of the same continuum (Kotchen & Moon, 2011; Mattingly & Berman, 2006; Oikonomou, Brooks, & Pavelin, 2012; Strike et al., 2006). This more recent distinction between CSR and CSiR highlights that they both involve action toward stakeholders and that firms can potentially engage in both CSR and CSiR. We adopt this view and consider stakeholder management to involve both CSR, or actions that attend to the interests of multiple stakeholders beyond just shareholders (Branco & Rodrigues, 2006; Carroll, 1991, 1999; Godfrey & Hatch, 2007), as well as CSiR, or actions that negatively affect stakeholders (Strike et al., 2006). Examples of CSR include charitable giving within a community, providing employees flexible work arrangements such as flextime, and ensuring the quality of consumer goods. Examples of CSiR include actions that have resulted in controversies concerning the firm's economic impact on the community, gender discrimination, and designing and selling unsafe products and services (Kaptein, 2008). In short, the more positive actions toward its stakeholders, the more socially responsible a firm is deemed, whereas the more negative actions toward its stakeholders, the more socially irresponsible a firm is deemed (Strike et al., 2006). Given these distinctions between CSR and CSiR, a growing body of research has sought to understand and clarify their relationship. In a first examination of the CSR–CSiR relationship, Strike and colleagues (2006) found that international diversification led to both CSR and CSiR, suggesting that firms could simultaneously be responsible and irresponsible toward their stakeholders. Additional evidence for this relationship can be drawn from Mattingly and Berman (2006), who found that environmental CSR was positively correlated with concurrent environmental CSiR. They noted, “perhaps firms that tend to adopt environmentally friendly programs are often those that tend also to cause harm or to extract from it” (p. 34) and suggested that further research into this positive correlation between CSR and CSiR was needed. Other research finds that socially irresponsible behavior (i.e., CSiR) sets the stage for subsequent socially responsible behavior (i.e., CSR; e.g., Chatterji & Toffel, 2010; Kotchen & Moon, 2011; Muller & Kräussl, 2011). For example, Muller and Kräussl (2011) found that companies with poor social reputations were more likely to make disaster relief donations after Hurricane Katrina than were companies with positive social reputations. The key argument underlying these studies is that firms offset their negative reputation by engaging in CSR. Although this research has been instrumental in augmenting our understanding of why CSiR influences CSR, researchers have yet to explore whether the opposite relationship occurs such that CSR influences CSiR. In addition, although previous research on the link between CSR and CSiR has primarily taken a firm‐level approach, we propose that a more micro‐level approach would be useful to disentangle the linkages between CSR and CSiR. In this paper, we draw upon strategic leadership theory and psychological licensing research to examine the role of strategic leaders’ psychological processes and personal characteristics on CSiR. Below, we briefly review these approaches. With regard to the strategic leadership approach, one fundamental tenet is that leaders (e.g., the CEO and senior executives who comprise the TMT) typically make decisions regarding the firm's strategic direction, including social performance policies (Finkelstein & Hambrick, 1996; Hambrick & Mason, 1984; Thomas & Simerly, 1994; Wood, 1991). Thus, we approach our understanding of how CSR relates to CSiR through an examination of the ways in which leaders’ strategic decisions regarding CSR relate to their subsequent CSiR decisions. Research on psychological licensing can help us understand how leaders’ strategic decisions regarding CSR can influence later CSiR. Psychological licensing refers to perceiving that one can behave in a potentially socially undesirable way without fear of discrediting his or her self‐image (Miller & Effron, 2010). Whether an individual feels licensed or not is based on one's past behavior (Monin & Miller, 2001). For instance, having been a healthy eater for 11 months out of the year, one may feel licensed to indulge during the holiday season. In this way, one can still feel as though they are a healthy person because the 11 months of healthy eating bolsters one's self‐image and, therefore, diminishes the risk of discrediting him‐ or herself as an unhealthy person. The concept of licensing in moral domains (termed moral licensing) is germane to our focus on CSiR. Moral licensing is the psychological process that leads people to engage in morally questionable behavior after having previously engaged in socially desirable behavior. According to moral licensing research, people desire to maintain a positive moral image not only to others but also to themselves (Mazar, Amir, & Ariely, 2008; Monin & Jordan, 2009; Monin & Miller, 2001). Therefore, they want to avoid engaging in actions that are morally discrediting or that signal to themselves or others that they are unethical (Monin & Miller, 2001). As in the case of general psychological licensing, when determining if an action will be morally discrediting, people look to their past behavior, and if “people can call to mind previous instances of their own socially desirable or morally laudable behaviors, they will feel more comfortable taking actions that could be seen as socially undesirable or morally questionable” (Miller & Effron, 2010, p. 118). A number of studies have shown that moral behavior leads to morally questionable behavior at the individual level. In one of the first demonstrations of this effect, Monin and Miller (2001) found that people who were given the opportunity to disagree with sexist statements (e.g., “Most women are better off at home taking care of the children”) were subsequently more likely to make a sexist decision about who to recruit for a manufacturing job. Monin and Miller termed this process of non‐prejudiced attitudes (i.e., socially desirable behavior) subsequently leading to prejudiced attitudes (i.e., morally questionable behavior) as “moral licensing.” This study highlights that moral licensing is domain specific such that engaging in moral behavior in one domain leads to immoral behavior in the same domain. Although a large body of research has demonstrated the domain‐specific nature of moral licensing, recent research also shows non‐domain specific moral licensing can occur such that being ethical in one domain licenses a person to be less ethical in another domain. Mazar and Zhong (2010) show that prior moral behavior (i.e., environmentalism) can lead to morally questionable behavior (i.e., giving less to charity) as well as clearly immoral behavior (i.e., lying in order to receive a greater payout). As applied to our research, these studies are important in that, first, moral licensing is argued to have occurred when moral behavior leads to either morally questionable behavior or clearly immoral behavior, and second, it can be either domain or nondomain specific. Not only does one's own past moral behavior license someone to subsequently engage in immoral behavior, but moral licensing research finds that people use the actions of their ingroup, or similar others, as a guide for their own future behavior. Drawing on research on identity and vicarious self‐concept theory (Goldstein & Cialdini, 2007), Kouchaki (2011) suggested that people incorporate aspects of important others into their own self‐concept and use others’ moral behavior to define who they are. Consequently, when ingroup members behave in a moral manner, individuals internalize this moral behavior as their own and feel licensed to engage in morally questionable behavior. The previously discussed findings on moral licensing give rise to the question of why people feel licensed to engage in immoral behavior after previously engaging in socially desirable behavior. One reason may be that moral behavior is like a monetary currency (or creates moral credits) that can be banked and then drawn on when one engages in less moral behavior (Sachdeva, Iliev, & Medin, 2009). Nisan's (1990, 1991) moral balance model first discussed this notion of moral credits, arguing that individuals aim to maintain moral balance (i.e., balance between good and bad deeds) and use past behavior to determine their balance. After a person feels he or she has engaged in enough moral behavior to achieve moral balance, they are subsequently more likely to engage in immoral behavior. This inconsistent behavior (i.e., immoral behavior after moral behavior) is thought to stem from people's tendency toward self‐interest (desire to be less moral) on the one hand and their tendency to behave according to social norms (desire to appear moral) on the other hand (Beruchashvili, Gentry, & Price, 2006; Nisan, 1990; Sachdeva et al., 2009). In a series of survey studies, Nisan (1991) found support for the moral balance model. We draw on Nisan's moral balance argument to suggest that, after making strategic CSR decisions, leaders are more likely to engage in unethical behavior because of the moral credits they believe they have accumulated. In summary, this past research has been instrumental in augmenting our understanding of moral licensing at the individual level within experimental settings; however, researchers have not explored whether and when moral licensing occurs within organizational contexts. The importance of studying moral licensing in an organizational context can be drawn from a recent study by Castilla and Benard (2010), which examined gender discrimination. In a set of scenario studies they found that meritocratic organizational values led participants to make gender‐biased decisions about bonuses. Castilla and Benard were not explicitly speaking to moral licensing research; however, their findings are in line with this research area and warrant further investigation of moral licensing at the organizational level. Although research has yet to examine moral licensing at the organizational level, we propose that, because top leaders influence firms’ strategic decision‐making processes (Finkelstein & Hambrick, 1996; Finkelstein, Hambrick, & Cannella, 2009), the implementation of a CSR strategy will license them to engage in organizational wrongdoing. Specifically, given that people desire to appear moral, top leaders may feel pressure to develop socially responsible strategies that consider the needs of multiple stakeholders. The development and implementation of a CSR strategy may help leaders create a moral image of themselves and their firm, and ultimately provide a sense of accumulated moral credits. For instance, prior to the Enron scandal, former CEO Kenneth Lay endowed chaired positions at universities as well as donated vast amounts of money to charity (Philanthropy News Digest, 2001). Indeed, “upon his taking the helm of the corporate merger that resulted in Enron, Lay became a big player in the charitable and philanthropic environment of Houston, the state, and the nation” (Non‐Profit Quarterly, 2006). Such behavior on the part of the leader builds his social responsibility credits, which may license him to commit socially irresponsible behavior in the future. In other words, top leaders may feel that when they have acquired moral credits through a CSR strategy that balances the needs of multiple stakeholders, they can then put forth a strategy that cuts corners or is potentially harmful to stakeholders. A second route that prior CSR could lead to CSiR is through employees’ reactions to their leader's previous CSR strategy. Recall that when a person feels strongly identified with another individual or group, he or she internalizes their past moral behavior and subsequently is more likely to engage in unethical behavior (Kouchaki, 2011). Applied to organizations, employees who identify with their organizational leaders may feel that the prior CSR strategy set by these leaders licenses them to be less careful in their relationship with stakeholders. For example, recall Hayward's implementation of a safety culture at BP. BP employees may have felt that Hayward's actions and more broadly the firm's reputation for being safety conscious carried over to them and they may subsequently have been less careful about monitoring key safety warning signs. In sum, we argue that top leaders are in charge of making key strategic decisions that influence firm outcomes and that when they implement a CSR strategy it helps them accrue moral credits. These moral credits allow them to be less vigilant toward managing stakeholder needs or even engage in unethical behavior without discrediting themselves or their organization. Moreover, employees may feel licensed to engage in unethical behavior toward stakeholders because they have categorized their leader as part of their ingroup and internalized their past CSR action. Formally, we propose: Hypothesis 1: Prior CSR is positively associated with subsequent CSiR. The Influence of CEO Moral Identity Symbolization on the CSR–CSiR Relationship Although moral licensing research has found that individuals are generally inclined to engage in morally questionable behavior after having engaged in socially desirable behavior, this process runs counter to the fundamental psychological finding that people desire consistency in their beliefs and behaviors (Audia, Locke, & Smith, 2000; Bem, 1972; Festinger, 1957). Thus, recent calls to examine when licensing occurs and whether some people remain consistent in their moral behavior across time have been issued (Merritt, Effron, & Monin, 2010). In other words, it is important to understand when inconsistency trumps people's basic desire for consistency. Some boundary conditions to moral licensing have been suggested, with Mulder and Aquino (in press), for instance, proposing that an individual difference, moral identity, influences the consistency of moral behavior across time. Moral identity is the extent to which being moral is central to one's sense of self (Aquino & Reed, 2002; Blasi, 1984). It is comprised of two components: internalization, which refers to the degree to which moral identity is central to one's sense of self and is privately expressed, and symbolization, which refers to the degree to which moral identity is expressed outwardly to the public through actions and behavior (e.g., Aquino & Reed, 2002; Mayer, Aquino, Greenbaum, & Kuenzi, 2012; Reed & Aquino, 2003). Given our focus on leader moral action (e.g., CSR strategy implementation), rather than the leader's internal moral state, we examine how leader moral identity symbolization affects the relationship between prior CSR and CSiR. Individuals higher on moral identity symbolization engage in activities and behaviors that signal to others that they are moral beings. These individuals may signal their morality through actions because of a genuine desire to communicate the importance of their moral identity. Alternatively, they may engage in moral behaviors because of a self‐interested desire to present themselves in the most positive light as well as manage others’ impressions of them (Bolino, 1999; Goffman, 1959; Winterich, Aquino, Mittal, & Swartz, 2012). In other words, individuals high on moral identity symbolization may engage in moral actions to either highlight their true morality or instead to mislead people about the value they place on morality (i.e., their moral actions may be insincere). Conversely, individuals who are lower on moral identity symbolization make little effort to signal to others that morality is important to them and may even engage in behavior that signals that morality is not valued.1 To formulate our arguments regarding the impact of a leader's moral identity symbolization on the CSR–CSiR relationship, we draw upon Mulder and Aquino's (in press) study that examined the role of moral identity internalization in the relationship between past and subsequent moral action. They found that individuals high on moral identity internalization were less likely to donate money to a charity after previously telling the truth than were individuals low on moral identity internalization who instead remained consistent in their behavior (i.e., they donated money to a charity after previously telling the truth). To explain these seemingly counterintuitive effects, Mulder and Aquino draw on control theory (Carver & Scheier, 1982; Weiner, 1948) to suggest that attaining a moral standard (i.e., a goal of being moral) is more important for individuals high on moral identity internalization than for individuals low on moral identity internalization. When individuals high on moral identity internalization have not met, or, conversely, have surpassed their moral standard, they engage in “discrepancy reduction efforts” (Karoly, 1993, p. 33) to achieve balance between their current and desired moral state. And when individuals high on moral identity internalization have met their moral standard (i.e., satisfied their goal), they focus on other goals, even goals that may result in less ethical behavior. Mulder and Aquino suggest that these efforts to meet a moral standard are what results in either moral cleansing (when individuals high on moral identity internalization have previously engaged in immoral behavior) or moral licensing (when individuals high on moral identity internalization have previously engaged in moral behavior). Although Mulder and Aquino (in press) studied moral identity internalization, their findings provide a foundation for thinking about the role of moral identity symbolization in the CSR–CSiR relationship. We draw upon their consideration of control theory to explore how moral identity symbolization affects the CSR–CSiR relationship. Recall that moral identity symbolization may or may not accurately reflect a person's internalized moral identity. In other words, an individual who is high on moral identity symbolization may engage in moral action simply to present him‐ or herself in a positive light and to manage others’ impressions of them. Therefore, we argue that those high on moral identity symbolization may be more focused on monitoring their behavior to determine if they have accumulated enough moral credits than will those who are low on moral identity symbolization. Further, they will look for signals in their environment that communicate whether they have gleaned enough moral credits to appear moral or not. Given that Mulder and Aquino (in press) find that referencing one's past actions is central to guiding future behavior, one key signal for leaders is prior CSR. First, we consider the case of high levels of prior CSR. High levels of past CSR should signal to leaders with high moral identity symbolization that they have met their moral standard of appearing moral to others. In other words, these leaders will perceive that their past symbolic gestures of morality (i.e., prior CSR) have bolstered their moral credits. As such, this goal of appearing moral will be less accessible or active for leaders high on moral identity symbolization, causing them to engage in fewer symbolic acts that signal their moral image to others. Instead, they may attend to other goals that may have been ignored (e.g., shareholder wealth), potentially resulting in unethical stakeholder management (e.g., harming the environment in an effort to increase profits for shareholders). Alternatively, comparing their current state to a moral standard will not be as important to leaders low on moral identity symbolization. Instead, they are likely to focus on other goals that are more central to their self‐definition. Therefore, leaders low on moral identity symbolization will not be as reactive to past CSR and instead will be more likely to remain consistent in their strategies toward stakeholders, irrespective of past CSR. Next, we consider the case of low levels of prior CSR. In this case, leaders with strong moral identity symbolization will feel that their current state does not meet their standard of appearing moral to others. In other words, they have not accrued enough moral credits to satiate their need to appear moral to themselves and others. Past research finds that when an individual's moral identity is threatened, and thus the desire to meet this moral standard is heightened, he or she will engage in ways to self‐symbolize a positive moral image (Burke, 1991; Skarlicki, Van Jaarsveld, & Walker, 2008). We predict that leaders high on moral identity symbolization may be more likely to attend to this signal and actively work to be viewed as socially responsible by stakeholders. One way in which this may occur is through reduced wrongdoing toward stakeholders. For example, the CEO may publicly communicate to employees that wrongdoing toward stakeholders is unacceptable. On the other hand, as mentioned above, because appearing moral will be less important to leaders low on moral identity symbolization they will engage in the same level of CSiR, irrespective of past CSR. Hypothesis 2: Moral identity symbolization moderates the relationship between prior CSR and CSiR, such that the relationship between CSR and CSiR is more positive when CEOs are high on moral identity symbolization rather than low on moral identity symbolization. Method Sample We tested our predictions in a business context using a sample consisting of 49 publicly traded Fortune 500 organizations. The organizations examined in this paper were taken from a larger study examining the relationships among CEO characteristics, TMT processes, and firm performance during the time period 1996–2002 (see Wong et al., 2011, for details on the sampling process). Following Wong and her colleagues (2011), because of the qualitative nature of this study, we only examined firms from the 2002 Fortune 500 list that had a reasonable amount of media coverage (i.e., at least 10 articles of approximately 1,000 words of media coverage during our time period). From this process, the list was narrowed to 65 firms. For each of these 65 firms we then collected articles in the business press and books that described the behavior and personality of each firm's CEO. In order to be included in the sample, there needed to be sufficient information on the CEO to be able to complete an assessment using the California Adult Q‐sort, a forced distribution methodology that allows description of a person using first and third party data (CAQ; Block, 1961; Peterson, Smith, Martorana, & Owens, 2003). We used similar guidelines as those used to collect articles for previous at‐a‐distance research (i.e., at least 10 articles of approximately 1,000 words of media coverage during our time period; Peterson et al., 2003; Tetlock, Peterson, McGuire, Chang, & Feld, 1992; Wong et al., 2011). This narrowed our sample to 55 CEOs. Finally, we collected CSR and CSiR data on each firm. Due to missing data, our final sample included 49 organizations. For the organizations that had multiple CEOs during the 1996–2002 time period, we selected those CEOs who were in office during the latter part of our time period.2 The organizations in our sample represented a range of industries (e.g., retail, computer manufacturing) and had an average of $4.0 billion in sales and 138,429 full‐time employees. Examples of organizations in our sample include International Business Machines, Inc., Nike, Inc., and PepsiCo, Inc. Measures Independent variable: CSR Our measure of CSR was obtained from Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini Inc.'s (KLD) social ratings, which is a commonly used measure of CSR that is considered to be a comprehensive measure of multiple stakeholders’ needs (e.g., Agle, Mitchell, & Sonnefeld, 1999; Kotchen & Moon, 2011; Strike et al., 2006). KLD ratings examine both positive action (i.e., strengths) and negative action (i.e., concerns) toward a variety of stakeholders. It should be noted that CSR is often measured as an aggregate of the KLD scores that subtracts KLD concerns from KLD strengths (Graves & Waddock, 1994; Hillman & Keim, 2001; Thomas & Simerly, 1995). However, recent research has suggested that KLD strengths and KLD concerns should be examined separately (e.g., Kacperczyk, 2009; Mattingly & Berman, 2006; Strike et al., 2006). Following Strike and colleagues (2006), we utilize KLD strengths to measure CSR and KLD concerns to measure CSiR. The KLD strength ratings are generated by ascertaining a firm's strengths along seven key stakeholder benchmarks (community relations, diversity, employee relations, environment, product, corporate governance, and human rights). Each benchmark is composed of multiple sub‐indicators. For each of these sub‐indicators, organizations are assigned a dichotomous rating of 1 or 0 for the presence of a CSR strength. For example, for the employee relations benchmark, a CSR strength is when the organization has a history of strong union relations. For the community relations benchmark, an example of a CSR strength is the organization consistently gives more than 1.5% of its net earnings to charity. To obtain our measure of CSR we averaged each firm's KLD strengths scores for the seven benchmarks (Deckop, Merriman, & Gupta, 2006; Wong et al., 2011). Past research on CSR has found significant industry effects (e.g., Waddock & Graves, 1997), and therefore, following Agle et al. (1999) and Waldman, Siegel, and Javidan (2006), we controlled for firm industry by subtracting the industry mean from the CSR score for each firm. In this study, we used KLD strengths data from 2001 to 2002 to create our CSR measure. Following Agle and his colleagues (1999), we smoothed the data by averaging across the 2 years. The average CSR score adjusted for industry was .48 (SD = .43). The higher the CSR score the more positive actions a firm engaged in toward its seven stakeholders. Independent variable: Moral identity symbolization The most common method utilized to assess moral identity is self‐report measures of the importance of moral traits in terms of centrality to self‐definition (internalization) as well as the extent to which one's behaviors emblemize these traits (symbolization; Aquino & Reed, 2002). Aquino and Reed (2002) developed a list of nine traits that describe a moral person: caring, compassionate, fair, friendly, generous, helpful, hardworking, honest, and kind. This list of traits is not meant to be exhaustive but rather representative of a moral person. In their study, participants were asked to imagine how a person who represented these traits would think, feel, and act and then respond to five items measuring internalization (e.g., “Being someone who has these characteristics is an important part of who I am”) and five items measuring symbolization through the behaviors, activities, and organizational memberships that reflected these traits (e.g., “I am actively involved in activities that communicate to others that I have these characteristics”). They correlated these self‐report scales with other methods of moral identity assessment including judges’ ratings of morality based on individuals’ descriptions of their personality and found for example that self‐ratings on moral identity symbolization were positively correlated with third party morality ratings (Study 4). Thus, Aquino and Reed not only identify moral identity traits but also indicate that third party observers can reliably assess moral identity symbolization. With regard to our study, because top leaders typically do not submit to lengthy psychological tests (Hambrick, 2007; Sumanth & Cable, 2011), we adapted the measurement method Aquino and Reed (2002) utilized in their fourth study by obtaining judges’ ratings of leaders’ moral identity symbolization based on publicly available information on their personal characteristics (i.e., behavior and personality). Specifically, we employed a Q‐sort methodology. The Q‐sort methodology asks evaluators to observe or read information on a person, group, or organization and then rank a set of statements or items in terms of how characteristic they are of the person (i.e., California Adult Q‐sort; Block, 1961), group (Group Dynamics Q‐sort; Peterson, Owens, Tetlock, Fan, & Martorana, 1998), or organizational culture (Organizational Culture Q‐sort, O'Reilly, Chatman, & Caldwell, 1991). One of the strengths of the Q‐sort methodology is that it combines “the descriptive richness of the qualitative approach with the rigor of a quantitative approach by creating a common data language” (Peterson, Owens, & Martorana, 1999, p. 107) that allows for comparisons among individuals, groups, or organizations across time and situations. Moreover, it is possible to utilize publicly available information to conduct the Q‐sort, thus allowing measurement of individuals or groups that are normally difficult to examine (Peterson et al., 1999). Because we were interested in examining individual leaders, we utilized the California Adult Q‐sort (CAQ; Block, 1961), which is composed of 100 items that describe an individual. Sample items from the CAQ include “Behaves in an assertive fashion; not afraid to express opinions; speaks up to get what s/he wants” and “Has a rapid personal tempo; behaves and acts quickly; is fast‐paced.” Research assistants, who were blind to the study's hypotheses, independently reviewed publicly available interviews and biographies of each CEO in our sample and then rated him/her in terms of each of the 100 items by sorting them into those that were most characteristic and least characteristic of the CEO. Our measure of moral identity symbolization was composed of seven CAQ items that were representative of moral traits (Aquino & Reed, 2002). The seven items of our moral identity symbolization scale were “Is dependable and responsible (CAQ item 2),” “Is giving, generous toward others (regardless of the motivation) (CAQ item 5),” “Behaves in a sympathetic and considerate manner (CAQ item 17),” “Is productive, gets things done (CAQ item 26),” “Has warmth; has capacity for close relationships, compassionate (CAQ item 35),” “Makes moral judgments; judges self and others in terms of right and wrong (regardless of the nature of the moral code, whether traditional or liberal) (CAQ item 41),” and “Behaves ethically; has a personal value system and is faithful to it (CAQ item 70).” These items overlap with Aquino and Reed's (2002) traits of caring, compassionate, kind, friendly, generous, helpful, hardworking, honest, and fair. For instance, Aquino and Reed's traits caring, compassionate, kind, friendly, and helpful relate to the CAQ items that focus on warmth, capacity for close relationships, sympathetic, considerate, and giving. Aquino and Reed's trait hardworking relates to the CAQ items that focus on being dependable and responsible, and being productive. Finally, Aquino and Reed's traits fair and honest can be seen in the CAQ items that mention morality and ethical behavior. The mean moral identity symbolization score was 6.68 (SD = .75) and was highly reliable (α = .81). The specific procedure for the CAQ is as follows. We first collected qualitative information on each CEO in our sample from books as well as the business press. To compile these information packets we searched for interviews, speeches, biographies, and autobiographies in the business press (e.g., Business Week, Fortune, and Forbes) and books that discussed the CEO's background, behaviors and personality. Each packet included biographies on the CEO from Marquis Biographies and the International Directory of Business Biographies, as well as multiple articles or interviews from the varied sources mentioned above. Articles or book chapters had to be at least 1,000 words in length to be included in the packet. Packets (i.e., total pages of articles) were required to be at a minimum 20 pages and at a maximum 50 pages (procedure adapted from Peterson et al., 2003). Research assistants were trained in a series of sessions. They were asked to read through a CEO's packet and write in the margins or mark areas that seemed of particular significance to the CAQ items. After reading through the packet, research assistants were asked to describe the CEO along the 100 CAQ items. Research assistants were told to rely on the information from the packet when making their assessments and disregard any prior knowledge or preconceived notions of the CEO. The specific procedure is as follows: Research assistants began the process by sorting the cards into three stacks, starting with Item 1. Each of the 100 CAQ items is presented on a 2×3 card, which was obtained from Mind Garden, Inc. In the first stack, coders placed those cards for which the qualities or traits were least characteristic of the CEO. In the second stack, research assistants placed all cards for which the qualities or traits were moderately characteristic of the CEO. And finally, the third stack included all cards for which the qualities or traits were most characteristic of the CEO. For this initial card sort, the research assistants were told that no attention needed to be paid to the number of cards falling into each grouping. Once the three stacks had been established, the coders were then told to further differentiate the items, or cards, into more categories, placing the least characteristic statements at one end and the most characteristic statements at the other until the items were rank ordered into one of nine categories that ranged from 1 = most uncharacteristic to 9 = most characteristic. Because the CAQ follows a forced distribution, research assistants were told to place fewer cards in the extremes (i.e., only five CAQ items can be rated a 1 and only five CAQ items can be rated 9) and more cards in the center categories (i.e., 18 CAQ items can be rated a 5). This process is advantageous compared to standard scale‐based measurements because it increases interrater reliability as well as the predictive power of the measure. At least two research assistants independently reviewed a CEO's qualitative packet and then individually rated the CEO on the 100 CAQ items. Our interrater reliability on our sample of 49 organizations ranged from α = .71 to α = .97 with an average of α = .84 (SD = .06). Thus, the research assistants’ scores were averaged to create one CAQ sort per CEO. Dependent variable: CSiR As with our measure of CSR, our measure of CSiR was obtained from KLD's CSR ratings, specifically the KLD concerns. The KLD concerns ratings are generated by ascertaining a firm's concerning behavior in relation to the same seven key stakeholders (community relations, diversity, employee relations, environment, product, corporate governance, and human rights), with each stakeholder benchmark composed of several sub‐indicators. For each of the stakeholder benchmark sub‐indicators, organizations are assigned a dichotomous rating of 1 or 0 for the presence of a CSR concern. For example, for the employee relations benchmark, a CSR concern is when the organization has poor union relations. For the community relations benchmark, an example of a CSR concern is the organization has engaged in controversial behavior that has negatively impacted a community's economics (e.g., reducing property value within a community). Following previous research (e.g., Strike et al., 2006), we averaged the KLD concerns scores along the seven key stakeholder benchmarks to measure CSiR. In addition, we controlled for firm industry by subtracting the industry mean from the CSiR score for each firm (Agle et al., 1999; Waldman, Siegel, & Javidan, 2006; Wong et al., 2011). In this study, our dependent variable was comprised of KLD concern data from 2003 to 2004 in order to cover the 2 years after the measure of our independent variable (i.e., CSR). However, additional analysis of time lags ranging between 1 and 4 years for our dependent variable indicate the same pattern of results. Following Agle and his colleagues (1999), we smoothed the data by averaging across the 2 years (i.e., 2003 and 2004). The average social irresponsibility score adjusted for industry was .50 (SD = .44). The higher the CSiR score, the more a firm engaged in negative actions toward the seven stakeholders. Control variables Previous research on social responsibility has found that it is related to firm financial performance (e.g., return on assets; see Margolis & Walsh, 2003 for a review). Thus, we control for industry‐adjusted firm financial performance using firm return on assets (Agle et al., 1999) averaged over the sample time period. In addition, following David and colleagues (2007) and Waldman, Siegel, and Javidan (2006), we control for industry‐adjusted CSiR over the sample time period. Researchers have also noted the possible effects of firm size, and therefore we control for firm size (log of the average sales over the sample time period; e.g., Finkelstein & Hambrick, 1990; Graves & Waddock, 1994; Waddock & Graves, 1997). Following Waldman, Siegel, and Javidan (2006), we also control for CEO tenure (logged). Finally, because our CAQ packets varied in the number of pages, we control for packet length (in pages, logged). Industry data were collected from Dun & Bradstreet's Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios, firm data were obtained from COMPUSTAT, and data for CEO tenure were obtained from Dun and Bradstreet's Book of Corporate Managements. Results Table 1 presents the means, standard deviations, and correlations among the study variables. Before analyzing our data, we examined the variance inflation factor (VIF) for all variables in our model to check for multicollinearity. The highest observed VIF score in our study variables was 1.61, which suggests that multicollinearity was not a problem as this value is well below the conventional cutoff of 10.00 (Neter, Wasserman, & Kutner, 1989). Table 1. Descriptive Statistics and Correlations Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. CAQ packet length (in packet length) 3.61 .31 2. CEO tenure (in tenure) 2.84 .90 −.19 3. Firm size (in sales) 23.97 .96 .14 .08 4. Prior return on sales, industry adjusted (1996–2002) 1.66 5.93 −.09 .38* −.10 5. Prior CSiR, industry adjusted (1996–2002) .27 .38 .12 .02 .59** –.15 6. Prior CSR, industry adjusted (2001–2002) .48 .43 .30* −.13 .29* −.15 .31* 7. CEO moral identity symbolization 6.68 .75 −.11 .02 −.11 −.07 −.06 .11 8. CSiR, industry adjusted (2003–2004) .50 .44 .09 .08 .61** −.15 .89** .42** −.01 To test our hypotheses, we regressed CSiR on the control variables, prior CSR, CEO moral identity symbolization, and their interaction term. Table 2 shows the results of these regressions. In Model 1, the base model, we regressed CSiR on only our control variables: length of the CAQ packet, CEO tenure, firm size, prior firm financial performance, and prior CSiR. The overall model results indicate that the control variables explain approximately 80% of the variance in CSiR. Table 2. Hierarchical Regression Results for Corporate Social Irresponsibility on Prior Corporate Social Responsibility and CEO Moral Identity Symbolization Dependent variable: CSiR (2003–2004) Variables Model 1: Base model Model 2: Main effect model Model 3: Full model with interaction Step 1: Control variables CAQ packet length (in packet length) −.02 −.08 −.09 CEO tenure (in tenure) .03 .04 .04 Firm size (in sales) .06 .05 .07 Prior return on sales (1996–2002) −.00 −.00 −.00 Prior CSiR (1996–2002) .92** .88** .83** Step 2: Main effects Prior CSR (2001–2002) .18* −1.34† CEO moral identity symbolization .01 −.08 Step 3: Interaction Prior CSR × CEO moral identity symbolization .22* Overall model R2 .80 .83 .85 Adjusted R2 .78 .80 .82 Change in R2 .03 .02 F statistic for change 3.18* 4.56* Overall F statistic 34.85** 28.33** 27.50** In Model 2, we regressed CSiR on the control variables, prior CSR and CEO moral identity symbolization. As seen in Step 2 of Model 2, prior CSR has a significant positive relationship with CSiR (ß = .18, p < .05), providing support for Hypothesis 1. Moral identity symbolization has no relationship with CSiR (ß = .01, ns). The overall model results indicate that the control variables, prior CSR, and moral identity symbolization explain approximately 83% of the variance in CSiR (p < .05). In Model 3 we test the prediction that CEO moral identity symbolization moderates the relationship between prior CSR and CSiR such that the relationship between CSR and CSiR is more positive when CEOs are high on moral identity symbolization rather than low on moral identity symbolization (Hypothesis 2). In support of this hypothesis, the interaction between prior CSR and moral identity symbolization is significant (ß = .22, p < .05). Simple slope analyses (Aiken & West, 1991) provide support for our hypothesis by showing that CSiR is positively related to prior CSR among CEOs high on moral identity symbolization (b = .43, SE = .14, t = 3.13, p < .01), whereas CSiR is unrelated to prior CSR among CEOs low on moral identity symbolization (b = –.31, SE = .24, t = –1.29, ns). These simple effects are depicted in Figure 1. This step explains 2% of the incremental variance in CSiR and yields an R2 of .85 (p < .05). Figure 1 Open in figure viewerPowerPoint Moderating Role of CEO Moral Identity Symbolization on Prior Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Social Irresponsibility Relationship. Additional Analyses Although our analyses indicate support for our prediction that CSR is positively associated with future CSiR (Hypothesis 1), because previous research has found that CSiR leads to CSR (Kotchen & Moon, 2011), we also tested our data for reverse causality (i.e., CSiR associating with subsequent CSR). We find that past CSiR (2001–2002) is positively related to CSR (2003–2004; r = .33, p < .01). However, when we conduct regression analyses to examine how past CSiR relates to subsequent CSR and control for firm size, past firm financial performance, and past CSR, we do not find support for the reverse causal order (ß = .15, ns) nor do we find support for the interaction between past CSiR and CEO moral identity symbolization predicting subsequent CSR (ß = .03, ns). These results support the theoretical framework upon which we draw (i.e., moral licensing) and provide greater confidence in our finding that CSR predicts CSiR and that CEO moral identity symbolization moderates this relationship. Discussion At its height, Enron was Houston's go‐to corporate philanthropist. The company gave heavily to arts groups, scholarship funds, and local medical centers (Philanthropy News Digest, 2001). But for all this good, it also engaged in surreptitious accounting fraud that eventually cost shareholders $11 billion when its stock price dropped from nearly $100 per share to $1 at the end of 2001. Such corporate misconduct toward stakeholders continues to be a common occurrence. In response, business practitioners and academics alike have considered how to increase CSR and, specifically, how leaders can facilitate CSR. This research has been instrumental to our understanding of how to encourage CSR yet it does not directly speak to the impetus for much of this research: Whether and when do firms behave badly? In this paper, we have begun to address these questions by considering how leaders’ psychological processes and personal characteristics relate to CSiR. Using archival data on Fortune 500 firms, we demonstrated that firms that engaged in prior socially responsible behavior are more likely to then engage in socially irresponsible behavior. In addition, we found that CEO moral identity symbolization moderates the relationship between prior CSR and CSiR, such that the relationship is stronger for CEOs who are high on moral identity symbolization rather than low on moral identity symbolization. Theoretical Contributions This study has several theoretical contributions for research on CSR, strategic leadership, moral licensing, and moral identity. First, our work contributes to research on CSR in a number of ways. Past research has assumed that engaging in CSR has positive consequences and, thus, has focused on how CSR leads to positive outcomes such as firm financial performance. However, given that much psychological research has shown that good behavior leads to bad behavior (e.g., psychological licensing), it is important to understand whether CSR also results in detrimental outcomes. Our research draws on this psychological research to find that CSR can indeed result in negative consequences: heightened CSiR. We also contribute to CSR research in that previous research has been limited in its examination of the antecedents and consequences of CSiR (Campbell, 2007; Greenwood, 2007). To the extent that it has been examined, previous CSR researchers have focused on how prior CSiR affects subsequent CSR (e.g., Chatterji & Toffel, 2010; Muller & Kräussl, 2011). We consider the opposite relationship—that of how CSR affects subsequent CSiR. In addition, the research that has been conducted on CSiR has been at the firm‐level only. Our research complements this research by taking a microlevel approach and exploring the role of strategic leaders in shaping the CSR–CSiR relationship. To better understand this relationship, we draw on strategic leadership and moral licensing research to examine how a leader's implementation of past CSR might license them to subsequently be less ethical and careful when managing stakeholders’ needs. As such, we contribute to our understanding of CSR and CSiR in companies such as Enron or BP. Related to this contribution, researchers have called for studies that utilize social psychological theories to understand CSR, but little research has been conducted applying this lens (e.g., Rupp et al., 2011). Our research responds to this call by examining how moral identity relates to CSiR. We found that moral identity symbolization was not related to CSiR. At first blush this finding appears to run counter to moral identity research that finds moral identity to be positively related to prosocial behavior and negatively associated with antisocial behavior (see Shao, Aquino, & Freeman, 2008 for a review). However, recent research suggests the importance of contextual factors, such as past behavior, in understanding moral identity's effects on moral outcomes (Mulder & Aquino, in press). In line with this research, we find that prior CSR is an important contextual factor that influences whether leaders’ moral identity symbolization affects CSiR. This examination helps us better understand leaders’ attention to CSR and how it affects subsequent strategic choices about CSiR. Second, we contribute to strategic leadership research in which scholars have repeatedly called for studies that consider how the psychological processes of top leaders influence firm‐level outcomes (Cannella & Monroe, 1997; Hambrick, 2007). Researchers have noted the difficulty of conducting this research because top leaders generally do not submit themselves to psychological assessments (Cannella & Monroe, 1997; Hambrick, 2007; Hermann, 1999; Sumanth & Cable, 2011). Although past research has utilized demographic variables as proxies of leaders’ personal characteristics, we contribute to strategic leadership literature by examining an important, but underexamined, personal characteristic of CEOs (i.e., moral identity symbolization) using a novel, unobtrusive methodology, the CAQ. Because the CAQ methodology transforms qualitative information into quantitative data, it allowed us to make comparisons across more CEOs and raters than the case study methodology allows. Third, our study contributes to research on moral licensing. To our knowledge, our study is the first to examine moral licensing at the organizational level using data with high ecological validity, and in this way our research contributes to the burgeoning literature on psychological licensing. Prior moral licensing research has been conducted at the individual level and within experimental settings to show that participants are more likely to engage in morally questionable behavior after having previously engaged in socially desirable behavior. By using data from Fortune 500 companies, we extend theoretical understanding of this psychological process to leaders and show its organizational‐level implications. In addition, we respond to recent calls by researchers to consider how individual differences affect moral licensing (Jordan, Mullen, & Murnighan, 2011; Miller & Effron, 2010). Our findings demonstrate a boundary condition to moral licensing research by showing that leaders who are less focused on their moral actions (i.e., low moral identity symbolization) are more likely to remain consistent. Alternatively, our study suggests that leaders who are high on moral identity symbolization may be more morally aware, as opposed to consistent, and thus know when they can and cannot engage in less ethical behavior without compromising their moral integrity. Therefore, this study contributes to our understanding of when inconsistency trumps people's basic desire for consistency (Bem, 1972; Festinger, 1957). Fourth, we contribute to moral identity research. The majority of research on moral identity has focused on moral identity internalization (see Shao et al., 2008, for a review; Winterich et al., 2012). Few studies have examined the effects of moral identity symbolization, despite research showing that symbolization has significant effects on behavior (e.g., Mayer et al., 2012). As such, one of our theoretical contributions to this research is our examination of symbolization effects. In addition, we contribute to the moral identity research by identifying an alternative method of measurement. Typically, studies have utilized Aquino and Reed's (2002) self‐report measure of moral identity symbolization. However, one potential drawback of this method is that it relies on individuals to report their behavior and their perceptions of themselves. In this way we provide a methodological contribution to this literature by using the Q‐sort methodology in which multiple judges, who were blind to the study hypotheses, rated the leaders on a wide range of behavior resulting in less biased ratings of moral actions. Practical Implications In addition to the theoretical contributions of this paper, our results have practical implications as well. First, our findings suggest that governance structures should be put in place that explicitly hold leaders accountable for both stakeholder management and stakeholder mismanagement. Given leaders’ propensity to engage in wrongdoing after they have previously engaged in CSR, boards should be particularly careful after the successful implementation of a CSR strategy to ensure that leaders do not become complacent. Moreover, boards should set clear rules about intolerance toward unethical or illegal behavior. Boards need to clearly communicate to top leaders that unethical behavior toward stakeholders will not be tolerated and specify the consequences of such mismanagement. Interestingly, Zhong and colleagues (2010) note that highlighting the importance of “doing good” and rewarding ethical behavior may inadvertently cause employees to engage in unethical behavior. As such, boards and leaders should take great caution in considering how to manage the CSR–CSiR relationship. Contrary to what one might expect, our research suggests that leaders who attempt to put forth a moral image are in fact more likely to engage in moral licensing behavior than are those who do not engage in symbolic moral action. Although boards may believe that CEOs who are high on moral identity symbolization can be trusted to behave ethically on a consistent basis, our research instead shows that they may be less likely to remain consistent. In fact, these leaders may be more in tune with managing others’ moral impressions of them and in maintaining a balanced moral scorecard, which may not always result in beneficial outcomes for the firm. This focus may be advantageous when companies have previously engaged in wrongdoing. However, it may be harmful when companies have previously engaged in CSR. Thus, boards should remain particularly vigilant of leaders who put forth a moral image. Limitations and Future Research The theoretical contributions and practical implications of our study should be considered with regard to the study's limitations. First, in this research we attend to moral licensing as one means to understand the short‐term CSR–CSiR relationship. We found robust support for this relationship by first demonstrating that prior CSR predicts future CSiR and second by conducting additional analyses that ruled out reverse causality. Although these analyses provide confidence for observed moral licensing in our present research, other research has found evidence for moral cleansing, whereby morally questionable actions give rise to ethical or prosocial behavior (Carlsmith & Gross, 1969; Sachdeva et al., 2009; Zhong & Liljenquest, 2006). Jordan and colleagues (2011) suggest that moral behavior is dynamic and acts much like a pendulum that swings between moral cleansing and moral licensing. One limitation then of our study is that we only examine a short time period, which may only capture a snapshot of a larger moral licensing‐cleansing cycle. Future research should investigate this pendulum by examining CSR and CSiR over a longer time frame. Second, one might note that the effect sizes in this study are small. Though categorized as small, the effect sizes are comparable with other studies examining CEOs’ impact on CSR (e.g., Deckop et al., 2006; McGuire, Dow, & Argheyd, 2003). In addition, despite the stability of CSiR over time (e.g., the correlation between CSiR 2001–2002 and CSiR 2003–2004 is highly significant), our results indicate that leadership still plays an important role in shaping organizations’ CSR strategies. Finally, small effect sizes can still be impactful when they show a dependent variable (in this case, CSiR) is influenced by an unlikely independent variable (in this case, CSR; Prentice & Miller, 1992). Specifically, Prentice and Miller (1992) note that “showing that an effect holds even under the most unlikely circumstances possible can be as impressive as (or, in some cases, perhaps even more impressive than) showing that it accounts for a great deal of variance” (p. 163). In our case, finding that socially responsible behavior relates to subsequent irresponsible behavior is important. Finally, although the CAQ methodology offers great benefits to examining top leaders at a distance, it is not without its limitations. First, because of the qualitative nature of the CAQ, it is possible that the data were biased because of journalists’ or coders’ biases. Although our use of varied sources to create our packets of information on each CEO as well as our use of multiple coders minimizes the impact of any individual bias, we cannot fully isolate personal prejudgment or bias in our data. Second, our study is restricted in its sample. Given the level of detail required to complete a CAQ, our sample was limited to CEOs of large, American firms that received extensive coverage in the business press. However, given that leaders have more discretion in smaller firms than they do in larger firms (Miller, Ket de Vries, & Toulouse, 1982), it is likely that this sample serves as a conservative test of our study hypotheses (i.e., results might be even stronger within smaller organizations in which leaders have more control of communication and the decision‐making process). Our study suggests a number of future research directions. In our study we focused on an aggregated measure of CSR, arguing that leaders who develop CSR strategies that balance the needs of a variety of stakeholders subsequently are more likely to engage in CSiR that hurts a variety of stakeholders. This general approach is important because it is the first test of moral licensing in relation to CSR strategies. However, it does not disentangle whether leaders are engaging in domain or nondomain specific moral licensing. Following from earlier moral licensing work in experimental settings, which found that moral licensing at the individual‐level can be both domain and nondomain specific (e.g., Mazar & Zhong, 2011; Monin & Miller, 2001), future research should examine whether moral licensing in firms is domain specific (e.g., does positive action toward the environment then lead to negative action toward the environment?) or nondomain specific (e.g., does positive action toward the environment subsequently lead to negative action toward employees?). Another avenue for future research on CSR–CSiR is to explore the moderating effects of other psychological and contextual factors on CSiR. In this paper, we focused on one important psychological characteristic influencing the CSR–CSiR relationship, moral identity symbolization, but other psychological and contextual factors likely exist. For example, factors such as leader cognitive moral development and moral philosophies are related to ethical leadership (see Kish‐Gephart, Harrison, & Treviño, 2010 for a review) and may influence how leaders use past moral behavior as a guide to determine subsequent moral behavior. It is also possible that leaders who are more actively engaged in developing and implementing strategies may simultaneously engage in both CSR and CSiR. Thus, leader personality attributes related to assertiveness and conscientiousness may also be important to consider. With regard to contextual factors, future research should explore how contextual factors such as organizational culture influence the CSR–CSiR relationship. Given that previous research shows paradoxical negative effects of a meritocratic culture on sexism in the workplace (Castilla & Benard, 2010), we may find that organizational cultures intended to increase the ethical standards of the organization actually lead to subsequent CSiR. Future research studies exploring these psychological and contextual factors are important as they will allow us to better understand how leaders can manage both CSR and CSiR. Our findings also have implications for future research on moral licensing. This study, to our knowledge, is the first to demonstrate moral licensing effects at the organizational level in an organizational context, and our interaction results further indicate leader moral regulation is an important determinant of CSiR. However, like much prior moral licensing research, we did not directly test the underlying moral licensing processes as our initial goal was to demonstrate moral licensing at the organizational level. Having done so, our findings warrant future exploration and identification of the mechanisms driving moral licensing effects (e.g., moral credits). For instance, future research could empirically test whether leaders’ moral credits are indeed bolstered after implementing a CSR strategy. To assess the relationship between the firm's CSR ratings and leaders’ moral credits, a future study could code the manner in which CEOs discuss prior CSR through interviews after the release of the KLD ratings. Moreover, future moral licensing research should explore other factors that may influence the moral licensing effect, such as leaders’ identification with their organization. Given that some leaders are promoted from within their firm whereas others are outsiders, their identification level may vary, which in turn may influence the degree to which they internalize moral credits accrued from their firm's past CSR. Relatedly, longer‐tenured CEOs, who helped implement prior CSR strategies, may be more likely to engage in moral licensing than shorter‐tenured CEOs, who did not implement prior CSR strategies. As such, future research should explore how leader identification and tenure, as well as whether a leader was an internal or external hire, influences the CSR–CSiR relationship. Our research also warrants further investigation in the area of moral identity, and in particular, moral identity symbolization. Specifically, future research should pinpoint why leaders who are high on moral identity symbolization are less likely to be consistent in their moral actions than are those who are low on moral identity symbolization. In contrast to our findings, Zhong and colleagues (2010) suggested that individuals with high moral maturity, or people who consider morality as central to their identity, should be more consistent in their moral action over time than those with low moral maturity because it is more critical to them that they maintain a positive moral image. Our research contradicts their prediction by finding that those with high moral identity symbolization are actually less consistent in their moral action. Although our data cannot directly speak to why high moral identity leaders were more likely to engage in moral licensing, it may be that individuals who are high on moral identity symbolization do not strongly identify with being a moral person (i.e., moral identity internalization). Therefore, their engagement in moral licensing may reflect their strategic use of moral actions. Future research should explore the underlying mechanisms linking moral identity symbolization to moral licensing. Future research regarding moral identity measures is also necessary. Moral identity researchers typically use self‐report measures to assess this construct. We relied on third party data to obtain our measure of moral identity symbolization. Using the Q‐sort methodology allowed us to discreetly measure moral identity symbolization; however, questions remain as to the degree of overlap between self‐report measures and the Q‐sort method we utilized. Future research should examine the degree to which self‐report measures of moral identity internalization and symbolization correlate with the Q‐sort measure of symbolization and what implications a mismatch might have on the CSR–CSiR relationship. In addition, future research should examine how this Q‐sort measure of moral identity symbolization correlates with other related constructs such as ethical leadership and a moral personality (Brown & Treviño, 2006; McFerran et al., 2010). Conclusion Although previous research has examined positive effects of CSR such as how it relates to firm financial performance, we argued that it may also be an antecedent to CSiR. We further argued that it is important to consider how leaders affect CSiR because they guide the strategic decision‐making process for CSR initiatives. We find that CSR is positively related to CSiR and that the relationship is stronger for leaders who are high on moral identity symbolization rather than leaders who are low on moral identity symbolization. These findings provide a critical step in understanding the underlying processes that influence CSiR. 1 Various constructs relate to moral identity symbolization including the aforementioned moral identity internalization (Aquino & Reed, 2002 2006 2010 1999 1959 2012 2012 o, 2006 o, 2006, for a review)” (Mayer et al., 2012 Various constructs relate to moral identity symbolization including the aforementioned moral identity internalization (Aquino & Reed, o, o, 2006, for a review)” (Mayer et al., 2 The CEOs in our sample were in office for the majority of our time period, which was 1996–2002 (i.e., in office for 3.5 years or more). Eleven CEOs out of the 49 CEOs included in our study were in office for fewer than 3.5 years (i.e., nine CEOs were in office for 3 years of the 1996–2002 time period and two CEOs were in office for 2 years of the 1996–2002 time period). These 11 CEOs’ tenures occurred in the latter part of our time period (i.e., 2000–2002) and thus during the independent variable's time period (2001–2002) as well as closer to the dependent variable's time period (2003–2004). When we exclude these 11 CEOs from our analyses, we find the same pattern of results.

Taking clear pictures of megaenzymes isn’t easy. But it’s definitely worth it. These proteins play an active role in creating many common antibiotics. They are in constant motion, with sections that flip around acrobatically to carry out necessary tasks. Now, for the first time, McGill researchers have been able to take a series of 3D images of a large section from one of these medicine-synthesizing enzymes in action. The researchers believe that the images they have generated will not only bring scientists closer to understanding how many antibiotics are made, but could, with further research, lead to the development of much needed next-generation antibiotics. “This is the most complete view we’ve ever had of these enzymes in action,” said Prof. Martin Schmeing from McGill’s Department of Biochemistry, and the senior author of a paper describing the research which was published today in Nature. “Even though megaenzymes are the second-biggest proteins known to man, they are still very small molecules and they are very mobile, so it’s difficult to see them at work.” You may also like Medicine is sometimes just battling bacteria The enzymes the researchers are working on are essential to the production of antibiotics that range from penicillin to cyclosporin. They are called nonribosomal peptide synthetases (or NRPSs) and act as catalysts inside specific bacteria, giving them the ability to kill all their competing bacteria. The NRPSs work like miniature assembly lines, combining building blocks through repetitive chemical reactions. Much like automobile assembly lines, these enzyme assembly lines are made up of different work stations (called modules) that each add on one section of the drug and in the process create antibiotics with new chemical features. Paralyzing proteins to take their picture Because these enzymes are too small to see and constantly in motion, Prof. Schmeing and his team, used chemical traps to capture the proteins in the desired position. They then used a technique called X-ray crystallography to essentially take a series of 3D pictures of the first module of an NRPS that makes the antibiotic gramicidin (an active ingredient of the Polysporin cream which may be in your medicine cabinet). “These 3D pictures revealed the totally remarkable way the NRPS works to synthesize its product. Parts of other NRPSs have been pictured before, but there have never been so many snapshots of the different steps of synthesis, and never pictures of NRPSs that incorporate interesting chemical modifications into the antibiotic,” says Janice Reimer, PhD student and the first author on the paper. ”These pictures reveal the exquisite way these parts repurpose and recycle their limited surfaces to interact with the rest of the enzyme. Once we understand enough, we can use modern bioengineering techniques to modify NRPSs to produce all sorts of products with designer modifications, perhaps giving a veritable treasure trove of new medicines.” To read “Synthetic cycle of the initiation module of a formylating nonribosomal peptide synthetase” by Reimer et al in Nature: DOI: 10.1038/nature16503 ​This work was supported by CIHR grant 106615, a HFSP CDA and a Canada Research Chair in Macromolecular Machines to T. Martin Schmeing. Janice .M. Reimer is supported by an NSERC Alexander Graham Bell studentship, and Martin. N. Aloise by a studentship from the CIHR Training Grant in Chemical Biology.

On July 7, 2016, crazed Black Lives Matter supporter fired on a group of police officers at a Black Lives Matter march in Dallas, Texas. Five officers were killed in the mass shooting. The deceased officers were veterans and fathers: From top left clockwise, Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol, Lorne Ahrens and Michael J. Smith. Blue Lives Matter reported: Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price voted to oppose a resolution to honor murdered police officers, blaming police officers for the assassinations. The Wednesday vote was supposed to be largely ceremonial, but gained unexpected opposition as Commissioner John Wiley Price argued that law enforcement should not be honored, according to Fox4. “I think it’s interesting in this country how you again try to frame the narrative with regards to other people who’ve lost their life at the hands of law enforcement,” Price said. “No life is more important than any other life.” Price said that ‘unjust police violence’ was the cause of the terrorist attacks against law enforcement, according to Fox4.

Pandora just released its biggest web redesign since 2011. Back in the day, when Pandora first launched, everything was web first, mobile second. But as more and more people made the shift to mobile, so did development and design decisions, Pandora Software Engineering Manager Laura Leaverton told me. Pandora’s new web design is a lot cleaner, with improved navigation, a fixed bar that shows you what’s playing, replays and deeper integration with Ticketfly. For the majority of Pandora’s 78 million active users, this update might not matter a whole ton. Currently, 85% of listening happens on Pandora’s mobile apps, with just 14% of it happening on the web. “Web is one of our primary platforms,” Pandora Senior Product Manager Sunaina Gyani told TechCrunch. “We have a lot of very heavy web users. We wanted to make sure we were giving them an equally delightful experience.” I’m the type of person who likes to listen to music while I work — which accounts for most of my day, five days a week. My preferred method of consuming music is via desktop apps or web platforms — mostly Soundcloud, Hype Machine or Spotify. I also prefer to have a fair amount of control over what I listen to and when, which is why I haven’t been the biggest fan of Pandora. And, up until now, Pandora’s web version has been pretty harsh on the eyes. I played around with the new version of Pandora at work yesterday, but it just didn’t stick. What would (maybe) help to seal the deal for me would be on-demand streaming, which Pandora says it will launch in Q1 of 2017. But it feels a little too late for Pandora. There’s already a ton of streaming services out there with a large paid subscriber base. As of September, Spotify has 40 million paid subscribers and Apple Music has 17 million paying subscribers. Pandora’s first foray into the paid music game, Pandora One, topped out at around 4 million users before the company launched Pandora Plus in September. Meanwhile, Pandora’s overall listener count has been on the decline, falling to 77.9 million active listeners compared to 78.1 million in the same period last year, according to the company’s latest earning report.

A swimming pool in the Austrian capital of Vienna has stoked controversy by forcing a Muslim woman wearing the Islamic swimwear known as the burkini to leave the facility. The Vienna Stadthallenbad swimming pool forced a Muslim woman to leave their pool on Friday after they said that her swimwear was inappropriate. The woman, wearing the sharia-approved swimwear known as the burkini, is said to have been told to get out of the pool because the cotton garment did not meet the hygiene standards of the facility, reports Kronen Zeitung. The woman involved claims that the pool had discriminated against her because she was a Muslim and not because her burkini was against any standards of hygiene. She also claimed that the swimwear was not made of cotton as the swimming pool had claimed, but rather was made out of the same fabric as all swimwear which is usually either lycra, polyester, or nylon. A spokesman from the sports centre, Manfred Faly, said that there was no specific ban on the burkini in Vienna saying, “burkinis are basically all right – as long as it meets the hygiene and safety standards”. He insisted that any swimsuit must be made of a material that is both water resistant and dries quickly. Mr. Faly said that cotton isn’t a material that would meet those two standards. The Stadthallenbad isn’t the first Austrian swimming pool to have banned the Islamic garment. The Lower Austrian township of Hainfeld banned the burkini after a local Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) councillor made the request also citing safety and hygiene concerns. The burkini has also been banned in various towns in France, though not for hygiene reasons. Cities and towns along the French riviera, including Nice, the sight of a massive terror attack earlier this year, claim that the burkini is a religious garment and that it promotes the ideals of Islamic fundamentalism. As of last month at least ten women had been punished by the authorities for wearing the burkini on public beaches. While the women were only fined around £32 each, their names will be recorded in the French criminal database. Opposition to the French ban on the burkini reached all the way to the highest court in the country who overturned the ban saying that it “seriously, and clearly illegally, breached the fundamental freedoms to come and go, the freedom of beliefs and individual freedom”. Even following that ruling, a court on the French island of Corsica upheld the ban after a riot in the town of Sisco, citing that prohibiting the garment was now valid to ensure that public safety was upheld.

(Image: Football strategy via Shutterstock)State employees: hard-working civil servants working to ensure that the machinery of your state runs smoothly, right? You’re thinking about firemen, police officers, teachers, social workers, and, yes, the dreaded highway crew. But this is actually a huge employment category, and you might be surprised by some of the people working for the state, and the kinds of salaries they’re making. To whit: a look at the country as a whole reveals that the highest paid state employee in four out of five states is…a sports coach. This statistic should be viewed with some caution, as Reuben Fischer-Baum notes in his discussion of his piece: “Far exceeding these base salaries [paid from revenue the team generates, not with your taxes] is the ‘additional compensation’ that almost all of these coaches receive, which is tied to media appearances, apparel contracts, and fundraising. While this compensation does not come directly from the state fund it is guaranteed in the coaches’ contracts; if revenue falls short, the school—and thus the state—is on the hook to cover the difference.” You might not be thinking this is important news; if coaches are essentially paying themselves with the money their team makes and you’re not on the hook for the money (most of the time), what’s the big deal? Compensation practices in the private sector, after all, aren’t closely monitored, with a few notable exceptions like that of executive compensation at publicly traded companies. The issue here is that athletic coaches make a salary far, far above that of most other state employees, highlighting the pay disparities in the United States. While no one wants to begrudge someone an earned salary — and coaches do work, hard, for their salaries — there’s a growing social divide in the United States that’s neatly illustrated by this stark look at pay across the country. The average salary for full-time public-school teachers in the U.S. is about $56,000, according to the United States Department of Education. Contrast that with millions for coaches, who, incidentally, don’t bring in much revenue for the schools they work for. Most of the money earned by athletics teams goes to paying the costs of team maintenance, and while having a prestigious team attached to a college or university may attract students and some alumni donations, it certainly doesn’t result in more equipment and resources for students on campus, let alone better working conditions for staff. As Fischer-Baum points out, major athletic departments actually lose money, rather than bring it in. With a growing number of colleges and universities turning to adjunct faculty to supply their staffing needs, the high salaries of coaches are particularly remarkable; universities are willing to commit to covering coaches for guaranteed compensation in their contracts, but not to hire appropriate full-time staff for many of their academic departments. Those highway workers laboring in the hot sun? They earned a mean annual wage of around $36,000, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Social workers? $45,000. That’s still well above the poverty rate in the United States, but it’s often not enough to survive in areas with a high cost of living, like New York, San Francisco and Chicago. Even as these state workers struggle to make ends meet, attacks from without suggest that they’re looting the state when they demand basic rights like access to their pension plans. Something is clearly awry when the highest-paid state employee makes millions and those working at the ground level rarely, if ever, break $100,000 annually. While coaches have a role to play, their outsize salaries are out of touch with the reality lived by other state employees, speaking to a larger social disconnect when it comes to prioritizing how we spend public funds and how we treat various professions. Athletics coaches receive hero worship, while public school teachers receive crumbs from the plate and pink slips at the end of the semester. Something is very, very wrong here.

Corrections Canada claims an interview with Omar Khadr would require unprecedented security precautions, including a prison lockdown, despite the fact that the 28-year-old often receives visitors and has been described as a model prisoner. An outline of the proposed security measures, contained in a court affidavit filed by the Bowden Institution, were made only after the Toronto Star, CBC and White Pine Pictures asked a federal court to intervene, arguing the government was violating the constitutional guarantee of a free press and the public’s “right to know” in blocking access to Khadr. Former Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr at the Bowden Institution, the medium-security facility where he is being held. Repeated requests over the last two years to interview Khadr have been denied. ( Handout Photo / Toronto Star ) “Omar has seen a reduction of his security level from maximum to medium in the last year, and yet the government is suggesting it will require extraordinary security measures to allow him to speak to the media? No other prisoner would be gagged in this way,” said lawyer Patric Senson, who is representing the Star and other parties. Howard Sapers, the Correctional Investigator for Canada, said he could not comment specifically on Khadr’s case, but said he was surprised by the response of the medium-security facility where Khadr is being held. “I have never heard of a case where a federally sentenced offender has been denied outside contact other than having to lock down an entire institution,” Sapers said in an interview Thursday. Article Continued Below “I am getting an increasing number of inquiries from media outlets asking for assistance or advice in regard to pursuing interviews with Correctional Service staff or inmates,” he said. “The impression I’m left with is that it is increasingly difficult for journalists to cover Corrections news.” Omar Khadr, 28, shown at the Bowden Institution ( Handout Photo ) Repeated requests over the last two years to interview Khadr have been denied by government officials citing a section of a policy known as the “commissioner’s directive.” Internal emails obtained by The Canadian Press show one interview request, made soon after Khadr arrived in Canada in 2012 and was incarcerated at the Millhaven Institution, was approved by the warden, only to be overturned 90 minutes later by the office of the public safety minister. Meanwhile, Khadr has been visited by teachers, lawyers, students, relatives and other members of the public who have become involved in his case during his incarceration in Ontario and Alberta. Federal inmates are permitted to give interviews unless a warden finds that the risk is too great to staff and inmates, or to the operations of the facility — a decision that should be independent, free from political interference, said Sapers. Sapers also said facilities conduct “risk assessments,” before having to take the rare step of locking down an institution — if one was conducted at Alberta’s Bowden Institution assessing the impact of an interview, it was not included in the government’s federal court filing. According to the affidavit filed by John McKill, Bowden’s acting assistant warden of management services, an on-camera interview with Khadr would take place in the administrative building, forcing other inmates “to be confined to their residential living units while the set-up for the interview and the interview itself took place.” Article Continued Below McKill’s affidavit also notes that the building, which lacks “internal barriers,” is used throughout the day for a variety of purposes, including “work, participation in educational upgrading classes, and correctional programs, visits, parole board hearings and telephone calls with counsel and legal advisers.” Senson, along with Toronto lawyer John Phillips, will argue that McKill’s affidavit should not be considered by the federal judge reviewing the media’s claim since it was not provided until legal action was taken. “The government was clearly trying to justify political decisions after the fact when it provided the court with its reasons for denying this interview with Omar,” Senson said in an interview Thursday. No date has been set for the federal court judicial review, which received widespread support from civil rights groups and other media organizations when filed this summer. “The government has repeatedly expressed its views on Mr. Khadr’s case and it is only fair play in a democracy that other voices — including Mr. Khadr’s himself — have equal air time,” wrote the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. A New York Times editorial stated: “The Canadian government should allow the interview and let Mr. Khadr, now an adult, share his perspective on his ordeal. The public has been kept waiting long enough.” Khadr has been in custody since the age of 15, after he was shot and captured following a firefight with U.S. and Afghan forces in Afghanistan. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to five war crimes, including murder for the death of Delta Force soldier Christopher Speer, who was fatally wounded in the 2002 firefight. He was transferred to Canada in 2012 to serve the remainder of an eight-year sentence as a condition of his plea deal. He has since said he accepted the deal only to be released from Guantanamo and has no memory of the firefight.

​Toby from 'Degrassi' Has Been Bringing Ridiculous Snacks to Blue Jays Games Published Aug 17, 2016 We brought a whole pie to the Dome. pic.twitter.com/5uVqoAOK9Q — Jake Goldsbie (@JGoldsbie) June 9, 2016 Today we brought 6.5 pounds of wings. pic.twitter.com/9L5ZDrLhCg — Jake Goldsbie (@JGoldsbie) June 10, 2016 SECURITY GUARD: What's in the bag? ME: A burrito SECURITY GUARD: R-really? pic.twitter.com/xR4g13TkEM — Jake Goldsbie (@JGoldsbie) July 29, 2016 Honestly, if you're not making a charcuterie board at a baseball game, what are you even doing with your life? pic.twitter.com/UjpVwDhXD2 — Jake Goldsbie (@JGoldsbie) August 12, 2016 The Toronto Blue Jays are in a nail-bitingly close battle for the top spot in the American League East right now, but it's become pretty clear who's winning when it comes to having the strongest snack game at the Skydome.Jake Goldsbie is best known for his role as Toby Isaacs on Degrassi: The Next Generation — the dorky younger brother of Jimmy Brook's onetime girlfriend, Ashley. And while life has yet to mimic art and put him in the running to be Drake 's brother-in-law, the Toronto-born actor is doing rather well for himself.He currently co-hosts a podcast called Sportsfeld, and like any good sports-loving Torontonian, he's a regular attendee at Jays games. The team's home ball park, the Rogers Centre ( formerly known as the Skydome ), has a policy that allows guests to bring their own outside food into the stadium during games, and Goldsbie has been testing the limits of the rule in style lately.Earlier this season, he brought an entire pizza to his seat.For the next game he attended, a whopping 6.5 pounds of chicken wings from home were on the menu.Then there was a burrito.His most recent food-related feat was by far the most impressive, though, taking things up a notch and arriving with a full-on charcuterie board in tow last weekend.The Jays are currently on the road, but who knows what hilarious and delicious treats Goldsbie will return with when his team steps back on to home turf.Clearly the sky is the limit for this savvy sports fan — well, as long as the dome is open.Thanks to Buzzfeed for the tasty tip.

Get the biggest Sport stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Manchester United have given Jose Mourinho the green light to aggressively strengthen the English Premier League club's defence in the winter transfer window. Mourinho has prioritised the addition of a Champions League -level central defender to his squad in January. According to club sources, Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward is prepared to allocate significant funds to the transfer fee and salary. The Portuguese manager made one addition to United's defence in his first window at Old Trafford, recruiting Eric Bailly from Villarreal for an initial €35million fee. The 22-year-old was an ever present until he damaged a collateral knee ligament in October's loss at Chelsea. (Image: Manchester United/Getty Images) Though Mourinho advised his new club to sign a second central defender and full back in the summer window, neither reinforcement was secured as Woodward and his staff failed to make space in United's squad by moving out any of a group of senior professionals deemed surplus to requirements. Forced to operate with a squad in which his most experienced defender Chris Smalling had less than 150 league appearances, Mourinho subsequently suffered a series of rearguard lapses wholly uncharacteristic of his coaching philosophy. Individual errors have cost United a number of early or decisive goals and points, keeping just seven clean sheets in 22 matches. Four of those clean sheets came with Bailly in the starting line up. Though the Cote d'Ivoire international is close to a return to first-team duty, he expects to be lost to Mourinho again in January when called up for the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon. (Image: Getty Images) Should the 2015 winners reach the knock-out rounds, Bailly will be absent until February. United's decision to invest in their defence is a demonstration of the board's faith in their new manager amidst hysterical external criticism of Mourinho's results and behaviour. While a series of home draws has left United eleven points behind leaders Chelsea, Mourinho's characteristic - and unfashionable - refusal to 'dump' participation in either the League Cup and Europa League last night left him as the only Premier League manager still competing for silverware on four fronts. United won the Community Shield in August, and on Wednesday defeated West Ham United 4-1 to secure a League Cup semi-final tie with Hull City. Mourinho won the competition three times in his six attempts as Chelsea manager, and is yet to lose a League Cup tie in normal time.

World War III Has Begun By Paul Craig Roberts April 25, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - The Third World War is currently being fought. How long before it moves into its hot stage? Washington is currently conducting economic and propaganda warfare against four members of the five bloc group of countries known as BRICS—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Brazil and South Africa are being destabilized with fabricated political scandals. Both countries are rife with Washington-financed politicians and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Washington concocts a scandal, sends its political agents into action demanding action against the government and its NGOs into the streets in protests. Washington tried this against China with the orchestrated Hong Kong “student protest.” Washington hoped that the protest would spread into China, but the scheme failed. Washington tried this against Russia with the orchestrated protests against Putin’s reelection and failed again. To destablilze Russia, Washington needs a firmer hold inside Russia. In order to gain a firmer hold, Washington worked with the New York mega-banks and the Saudis to drive down the oil price from over $100 per barrel to $30. This has put pressure on Russian finances and the ruble. In response to Russia’s budgetary needs, Washington’s allies inside Russia are pushing President Putin to privatize important Russian economic sectors in order to raise foreign capital to cover the budget deficit and support the ruble. If Putin gives in, important Russian assets will move from Russian control to Washington’s control. In my opinion, those who are pushing privatization are either traitors or completely stupid. Whichever it is, they are a danger to Russia’s independence. Eric Draitser provides some details of Washington’s assault on Russia: http://www.mintpressnews.com/brics-attack-western-banks-governments-launch-full-spectrum-assault-russia-part/215761/ of Washington’s attack on South Africa: http://www.mintpressnews.com/brics-attack-empires-destabilizing-hand-reaches-south-africa/215126/ and of Washington’s attack on Brazil: http://www.mintpressnews.com/brics-attack-empire-strikes-back-brazil/214943/ For my column on Washington’s attack on Latin American independence, see: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/04/22/washington-launches-its-attack-against-brics-paul-craig-roberts/ As I have often pointed out, the neoconservatives have been driven insane by their arrogance and hubris. In their pursuit of American hegemony over the world, they have cast aside all caution in their determination to destabilize Russia and China. By implementing neoliberal economic policies urged on them by their economists trained in the Western neoliberal tradition, the Russian and Chinese governments are setting themselves up for Washington. By swallowing the “globalism” line, using the US dollar, participating in the Western payments system, opening themselves to destabilization by foreign capital inflows and outflows, hosting American banks, and permitting foreign ownership, the Russian and Chinese governments have made themselves ripe for destabilization. If Russia and China do not disengage from the Western system and exile their neoliberal economists, they will have to go to war in order to defend their sovereignty. Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West , How America Was Lost , and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order .

As we race toward the fourth industrial revolution there will inevitably be tensions between public, private and individual interests. But these should be challenged, rather than shied away from, to minimize displacement, panelists at the World Economic Forum's "Summer Davos" agreed on Thursday. "The tension between the private sector and the public sector and civil society and each of us individually is a good tension to have," Lauren Woodman, chief executive of NetHope, a consortium of NGO's with a specific focus on technology, as panellists debated the responsibility of government and private business to manage technological advancements. Private business has faced criticism for the speed at which it has embraced automation, while public bodies are under growing pressure to manage this change in order to safeguard jobs. "It means that the benefits (of technology) do surface to the top," Woodman told a CNBC panel in Dalian, China. "Even the process of recognising that there is a gap, and that we have to struggle against that problem, means that we are at least beginning to bring those voices in."

Toronto police have charged Canada's so-called Prince of Pot, Marc Emery, and wife Jodie, with drug trafficking, conspiracy and possession after they were arrested at Pearson International Airport on Wednesday night. The Emerys were on their way to a pot festival in Europe when they were arrested. On Thursday, with the couple still in custody at Toronto police's 51 Division, law enforcement officers in three Canadian cities raided marijuana shops belonging to the Emerys. The couple appeared in a Toronto court on Thursday afternoon and were remanded into custody. They are expected to have a bail hearing on Friday morning. Marc Emery and his wife Jodie were charged on Thursday with drug trafficking, conspiracy and possession after they were arrested at Toronto's Pearson International Airport on Wednesday night. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press) During their brief court appearance today, Jodie Emery mouthed an "I love you" to her husband while he was in the prisoner's box. She then held up her fingers in a peace sign to her supporters. Marc Emery, 59, has been charged with: Conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. Three counts of trafficking schedule II. Five counts of possession for the purpose schedule II. Five counts of possession proceeds of crime. Fail-to-comply recognizance. Jodie Emery, 32, has been charged with: Conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. Trafficking schedule II. Possession for the purpose schedule II. Two counts of possession proceeds of crime. Cannabis lawyer Jack Lloyd said supply issues are 'one of the reasons that medical cannabis dispensaries continue to exist' - because 'patients can’t rely on the government access program.' (Martin Trainor/CBC) Mark Pugash, spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service, said seven Cannabis Culture locations — five in Toronto, one in Hamilton and another in Vancouver — were searched on Thursday along with two homes in Toronto, one in Stoney Creek, Ont., and one in Vancouver. Erin Goodwin, co-owner of Cannabis Culture arrested by Toronto police on March 9. 1:04 In addition to the Emerys, police charged three other people associated with the couple on Thursday. Chris Goodwin, 37, and Erin Goodwin, 31, both of Toronto, and Britney Guerra, 29, of Stoney Creek, Ont., face charges that include conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. The Goodwins are co-owners of the Cannabis Culture shop on Church Street in Toronto. All five are due to appear in Old City Hall court in Toronto at 10 a.m. on Friday. Toronto police issued a short news release Thursday to say that 11 search warrants were executed in Toronto, the Hamilton area and Vancouver as part of Project Gator, "a Toronto Police Service project targeting marijuana dispensaries." "We have been enforcing the law, which is absolutely clear that dispensaries are illegal," Mark Pugash, director of corporate communication for Toronto police, told CBC Toronto. "We have been enforcing the law for some considerable time and this is an ongoing part of that commitment to enforcing the law." During a police raid of a Cannabis Culture shop on Church Street in Toronto, these bags and boxes were brought out the back door into an unmarked van. (Emma Kimmerly/CBC) A police officer is seen outside the Cannabis Culture location on Church Street in Toronto. (Emma Kimmerly/CBC) Pugash would not discuss why Cannabis Culture, which sells recreational marijuana, was the target of the operation in a city with dozens of marijuana shops. Vancouver police confirmed that they raided the Emerys' Cannabis Culture location on West Hastings at 8 a.m. local time at the request of Toronto police. The Ottawa location of Cannabis Culture was also raided Thursday, but Toronto police told CBC Ottawa that the raid was not part of Project Gator. Ottawa police declined to release information about their operation. Marc Emery co-owns the Cannabis Culture chain with his wife Jodie, right. The couple was arrested Wednesday night as they were headed to a marijuana festival in Spain. They were charged on Thursday. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press) Emery and his wife run about a dozen marijuana shops in Canada under the Cannabis Culture banner. Marc Emery was released from a U.S. prison in 2014 after spending just over four years behind bars on charges of selling marijuana seeds in the United States. A Facebook post by Marc Emery shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday said he and his wife were headed to Spain for Spannabis, a marijuana festival. Toronto police have been cracking down on the city's illegal dispensaries for several months. There has been a spate of robberies of dispensaries across the city, some where shots were fired. The turmoil has occurred as the federal government continues to mull changes to Canada's marijuana laws. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash">#BREAKING</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/461ChurchStreet">@461ChurchStreet</a> is being Raided by Toronto Police <a href="https://t.co/03ebE6ieh3">pic.twitter.com/03ebE6ieh3</a> —@CannabisCulture Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott said Thursday that the federal government remains committed to introducing legislation on the matter in the spring but noted that it would have to go through a rigorous parliamentary and regulatory process. "It's a firm commitment of our government to legalize access to cannabis, to regulate that access and to restrict it appropriately," she said. "We want to make sure this is done properly and people need to recognize it will take some time but it will be done."

Notes by former FBI director James B. Comey show President Trump wanted the probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn dropped. (The Washington Post) The one-word headline blared in all-caps: SABOTAGE. The urgent missive hit inboxes of President Trump's supporters (and reporters) just minutes after a second damaging story in 24 hours was published, this one alleging that fired FBI Director James B. Comey wrote memos saying that Trump asked him to drop the FBI investigation into Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Just a day earlier, the White House sought to push back on a report in The Washington Post that Trump revealed classified information to the Russians in an Oval Office meeting last week. The Republican Party and Trump's reelection committee were fundraising off Trump's very challenging news cycle. The body of the email doesn't get specific, so it wasn't clear whether the email referred to the Comey story or the story about classified intelligence. But the letter seems to imply that the reports aren't just "fake news," they are real efforts by people within the government to undermine Trump. "You already knew the media was out to get us," the email begins. "But sadly it’s not just the fake news … "There are people within our own unelected bureaucracy that want to sabotage President Trump and our entire America First movement," it continued. The letter went on to quote Trump's chief strategist and proponent of deconstructing the "administrative state," Stephen K. Bannon. “If you think they’re going to give you your country back without a fight, you’re sadly mistaken. Every day is going to be a fight," Bannon had said earlier this year. "That is the promise of Donald Trump.” To fight back, supporters were asked to donate $1 to "Drain the Swamp." It is unclear when the email was created and sent (fundraising emails are often scheduled to be sent well in advance). But the reference to "cleaning house" is a curious line given that the subject of the hour is the circumstances under which Trump fired Comey. "They don’t want it to be America First," the email continues. "They want it to be Special Interests first to enrich themselves all while the citizens of our country remain an afterthought. "We have no choice but to completely DRAIN THE SWAMP. President Trump has already started cleaning house, but every day will be an uphill battle — and we need to be prepared to go into the trenches to FIGHT BACK," the email read.

CLOSE Foreign affairs reporter Oren Dorell explains who is fighting whom in the Syrian Civil War in two minutes. USA TODAY Pope Francis waves to the faithful as he leaves at the end of his weekly general audience, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016. (Photo11: Andrew Medichini, AP) Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday warned that the United States would stop talking to Moscow about ending Syria's civil war unless it ends the onslaught in the city of Aleppo by Russian and Syrian government forces. Kerry's warning came as Pope Francis assailed the assault on civilians in what was Syria's largest city, saying the perpetrators will be held “accountable to God” for their actions. Over the past week in Aleppo, Russian and Syrian war planes have unleashed the worst aerial bombardment in the 5-year-old war. More than 200 people have been killed, according to human rights groups. Kerry, in a phone call Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, repeated his demand that Russia press Syria's government to stop attacking opposition forces and civilians. He also warned that the U.S. "is making preparations to suspend U.S.-Russia bilateral engagement on Syria" unless that happens, State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. That means the U.S. will not participate with Russia in intelligence sharing and targeting of Islamic State and other terrorists, as planned under a cease-fire negotiated between the U.S. and Russia, and it could mean an end to negotiations in Geneva about finding a peaceful end to the conflict, Kirby told reporters at the State Department. Kerry has been calling for an end to the attacks since they began Sept. 19, causing a week-old cease-fire negotiated between the U.S. and Russia to collapse. The consequences for Russia's continued attacks on civilians in Aleppo could extend beyond the suspension of diplomacy with the United States, Kirby said. "They’ll end up being — more deeply involved in this, and the war won’t stop," Kirby said. "Opposition groups are certainly not going to pull back, extremist groups are likely going to expand and take advantage of the chaos…. And more Russian resources will be expended, more Russian lives will be lost, more Russian aircraft will be shot down." Kerry "made clear" the United States holds Russia responsible for the carnage, especially for using incendiary and bunker-buster bombs in an urban environment, which Kirby called "a drastic escalation that puts civilians at great risk." The deteriorating situation has been exacerbated by continued‎ Russian and Syrian government attacks on hospitals, the water supply and other civilian infrastructure in Aleppo, he said. Lavrov countered that a number of anti-government groups described by Washington as “moderates” refused to follow the cease-fire and chose to side with al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front, according to Russian state-owned broadcaster RT. The pope, speaking in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, said: “In expressing my deep sorrow and lively concern for what is happening in that already battered city — where children, the elderly, the sick, young and old, all are dying — I renew my appeal to everyone to commit themselves with all their strength to the protection of civilians as an imperative and urgent obligation.” More than 250,000 civilians are thought to be trapped inside rebel-held parts of Aleppo, which had a pre-war population of more than 2 million. Syrian government forces carried out the biggest ground assault yet in their new offensive Tuesday, Reuters reported. Airstrikes hit a hospital in a rebel-held area early Wednesday, according to Al Jazeera. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2dCoGxQ

San Ramon-based Chevron is leading an aggressive campaign to delay implementation of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, a cornerstone of the state’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The fuel standard requires the oil industry to gradually reduce the “carbon intensity” of transportation fuels like diesel and gasoline by at least 10 percent by 2020. Chevron and its allies, including the Western States Petroleum Association, are trying to undermine the standard by rallying opposition, financing critical studies and lobbying the Democratic-controlled Legislature, state agencies and Gov. Jerry Brown. The political pushback comes as compliance regulations ratchet up and climate change has re-emerged as a top priority for both Brown and President Barack Obama. California’s attempts to rein in greenhouse gases are widely seen as a possible playbook for regulatory action at the regional or national level. Chevron and the Western States Petroleum Association argue that the 2020 timeline can’t be met without severe economic impacts, including a huge spike in gasoline prices. “California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard establishes an unworkable program that will not meet its goals,” Chevron spokesman Brent Tippen said in an interview. “The Air Resources Board should undertake an immediate and accelerated review of the program and make fundamental changes to its design and the timing of its implementation.” Critics of the fuel standard stress that alternative, low-carbon biofuels, particularly cellulosic ethanol made from materials like wood or grasses, are not being produced in high enough volumes to significantly offset the use of traditional fuels. “Cellulosic ethanol was supposed to be the silver bullet,” said Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the petroleum association. “Everyone thought we’d have large volumes at commercial scales, and that has not happened and will not happen in this time frame. It’s time for all of us to revisit this.” But clean air advocates, environmentalists, utilities and the auto industry remain strong supporters of the fuel standard, and say it’s time for the oil industry to step up and do its part. They note that utilities such as PG&E are well on their way to meeting a state mandate to purchase 33 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020, while automakers have invested billions to meet tough new fuel efficiency requirements and produce electric cars. “The oil industry is not doing its fair share,” said Simon Mui, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “They can invest in cleaner fuels, but instead they are fighting this policy tooth and nail.” The Low Carbon Fuel Standard was enacted in 2007 as part of AB32, the landmark global warming bill championed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s now being challenged not only by the oil industry but also several corn-based ethanol producers from the Midwest, who argued in federal court that California’s regulations violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and are shutting them out of the market because of the way various fuels are rated. That lawsuit is currently under review by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; a decision could come any day. Under the standard, fuels — from gasoline to ethanol made from corn, sugar or cellulosic materials — are given carbon intensity “scores” by state regulators. Carbon intensity is measured by the entire life cycle of the fuel — from the well to the wheel — taking into account greenhouse gas emissions from extracting and refining to transporting the fuels to local gas stations. The main aim of the fuel standard is to push the oil industry to invest in new technology and cleaner fuels like electricity, biofuels, hydrogen and natural gas. Some critics, including Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, warn that the fuel standard could negatively impact food prices and land use as more farmland is used to grow crops for ethanol. However, Dan Sperling, a founding director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis who serves on the Air Resources Board, says transportation accounts for 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in California and therefore must be addressed. “If we are going to have a reduction in greenhouse gases from transportation, something has to be done with the fuels,” he said. Last year, the petroleum association hired the Boston Consulting Group to conduct a study of the new standard that concluded it and other clean fuel regulations could force the closure of up to half of California’s 14 refineries, throw thousands out of work and cause a spike in gas prices — strong arguments in a state with 9.8 percent unemployment. “The BCG study predicts that gasoline prices could increase by up to $2.50 per gallon, bringing California’s per-gallon price into the $6 range,” said Bill Day, a spokesman for Valero, which has a refinery in Benicia. “That’s about the last thing that the state’s still-weak economy needs.” Others dismissed the analysis as industry-funded and flawed. “The analysis cherry-picks its assumptions to build a one-sided case showing a dismal economic future for oil refiners,” said Susan Frank of the California Business Alliance for a Green Economy. Chevron is marshaling its attack, in part, through Fueling California, a nonprofit organization it founded in 2008, shortly after the new standard was adopted. The group represents corporate fuel consumers such as Wal-Mart and UPS, and says it provides a “new and united voice on behalf of major fuel consumers.” Fueling California is a 501(c) 4 organization, which means it can lobby state agencies and legislators but is not required to disclose its donors. A spokeswoman confirmed that “the majority of our funding comes from Chevron.” Lobbying records with the Secretary of State’s Office show that Fueling California spent $282,620 in the 2011-12 legislative session lobbying the governor’s office, lawmakers, the air board and other state agencies, largely on the Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Last week, Fueling California held an invitation-only “technical workshop” for roughly 50 people at a hotel in Burbank. The daylong event, which was closed to the media, was attended by representatives from oil companies and the natural gas and biofuels industry. Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, who has four refineries in her East Bay district, gave closing remarks. “It was a very technical discussion, and people disagreed with each other,” Bonilla said. “The consensus forming is that there are problems with the implementation timeline.” Contact Dana Hull at 408-920-2706. Follow her at Twitter.com/danahull.

Dear Listeners, Sadly, I must inform you about longtime KUOW host Steve Scher’s decision to resign, effective Friday, June 6. After nearly three decades with KUOW Public Radio in Seattle, Steve has decided to pursue other opportunities. He built an impressive career as a host and reporter for several of KUOW's signature local programs. We thank him for his dedication to the station’s mission and to our audience. In communications with me, Steve wished to express the following to the KUOW community: "Thank you to my colleagues for their dedication to quality journalism and for the pleasure of their company. Thank you listeners for all you taught me. I am sure we will talk again." Later he added this statement on social media: “I know this change seemed abrupt, but it was something I had been thinking about a long time. I did a lot of writing during my sabbatical last year. It is something I have to get back to and complete. I turned 60 this year. I couldn't let another year pass without at least giving an honest attempt at the writer's life. After that, there are lots of opportunities in this changing media landscape. I look forward to the exploration. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for listening all these years. New horizons beckon for me. I hope you will friend me on Facebook at 'Steven Scher.' Or @sscher on Twitter. There is still a lot to talk about. To the future!” Please join me in wishing Steve the very best in his future endeavors; he will be missed. Sincerely, Caryn G. Mathes General Manager, KUOW Please send any listener feedback to programming@kuow.org. Media inquiries: Timie Ann Dolan, Producer, Communications & Events, 206.221.2750; timie@kuow.org

JERUSALEM—Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird kicked off his first full day in Israel by attending the opening of a new Holocaust education facility in Jerusalem. Baird says the new seminars wing of the International School for Holocaust Education at Yad Vashem will play a key role in ensuring humanity doesn’t forget the lessons of genocide. Canadian Foreign Minister, John Baird, lays a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, in Jerusalem, Monday, Jan. 30. ( Sebastian Scheiner / AP ) And he says Israel has no better friend in the world than Canada. Baird and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will spend the next several days visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories. The campus holds seminars each year for educators from 55 countries around the world and Israel, and develops country-specific and custom-made tools for different age groups in more than 20 languages. Article Continued Below Jewish philanthropist Joseph Gottdenker, himself a Holocaust survivor, says Yad Vashem gives a voice and a name to each person who perished, “and restores to them the dignity of living history.” “Holocaust education enables us to remember the lessons of the past and provides guidance to a more tolerant, hopeful and brighter future,” Gottdenker said. In 2011, the school hosted 67 seminars for educators and lay leaders around the world, twice the numbers held in recent years. Baird, a black skull cap perched on his head, emphasized the importance of Yad Vashem and its new 4,100-square-metre facility in documenting and teaching the lessons of the Holocaust. “There is no better friend to Israel than Canada,”Baird said. “We shall always be there for you, and in front of you.” Read more about:

By Micah Schneider In the last few days, I’ve been thinking about something repeatedly. It isn’t too surprising, as the last few months have been really busy for my family. We welcomed the birth of our first child in early April, and naturally, he takes up a lot of our time and energy. His arrival has caused the four of us to re-examine how we prioritize our lives, and each other. It really started back in March. We did a talk/presentation/Q&A session about polyamory for a conference on queer sexuality at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. We talked about our family, how we came together, how our dynamics work, did a little bit of polyamory 101 and answered questions. Some folks in the audience expressed disbelief. We made it sound too easy. The way we’ve been living lately reminds me of that. It does feel easy, and if I were reading about it on some website, I wouldn’t believe it, either. But it only feels that way because we laid the groundwork years ago. Being poly isn’t easy. We’re constantly checking in with each other, talking about our lives, our goals, our fears, all that relationship stuff. Our family didn’t happen automagically, although someone just meeting us now wouldn’t really know that. We made a conscious choice to prioritize each other, and that, more than anything else, is the secret to our success as a poly family. Communication is easier if you know that every one of your partners will make the time to talk to you if you need them. Dividing up labor is simpler if you know your partners will do things for you simply because you asked. They might even do it specifically how you want it done if you ask nicely enough, or explain why it matters. Knowing that you are a priority makes it much easier to reciprocate in kind. Because we made each other our priorities, we’ve found a way to work through every issue that’s come up, large or small. When one of us had an outside partner that wasn’t good for any of us, we fought long and hard over it. But because we knew that our priority was the family, we had the courage to work through some very scary stuff. Being able to remember, in the heat of an argument, that yes, my partner really does make me a priority, even though you may not be able to see it just then, is an enormous comfort. I was recently reading a thread on Fetlife that touches on this subject. Someone wondered if the “third” in a triad (meaning, the new partner added to an existing couple) is ever really a “primary”, on equal footing with the original two. It’s a common problem in poly relationship dynamics. At the first sign of trouble, the original couple “steps back” to work on their relationship, often leaving the third partner on the outside looking in. To me, this looks like a question of priorities. Each member has to feel like they are on equal footing, that their needs, desires and concerns are equally important, valid and supported. And like most advice for polys, it applies equally to everyone. Can you imagine a dyad surviving very long if the needs and desires of one person in the relationship were always assumed to be more important than that of the other? I’m not talking about a power exchange relationship here, so don’t jump to conclusions. There is a major difference between assumptions and a negotiated relationship. But even in TPEs, what sub or bottom is going to stick around if their needs aren’t being met, too, or they feel that they aren’t important, or don’t matter? Making your partners a priority is not a magic bullet. If relationships were that easy, an entire segment of the book industry wouldn’t exist, and tons of therapists would be out of work. But if you make your partners, however many you’ve got, feel like they are important, that their needs matter, and that they are your priority, you’ll building your relationship on a strong foundation.

The iron maiden was a horrible medieval torture device, a casket with spikes on the inside which could be closed slowly, impaling the living person inside. It was awful. It was also not real. It was a fake concept popularized by two men in the 19th century, an era not known for impaling people to death. Advertisement One was Matthew Peacock, a man who spent the 1800s collected paintings and torture devices. He wanted to prove how very much better the then-modern era was than the past. (It's tough to say why he tried so hard to prove it. Not too many people were arguing with him.) The iron maiden, which he pieced together from pieces of memorabilia, was meant to "show the dark spirit of the Middle Ages in contrast to the progress of humanity." He gifted it to a museum, where it has been delighting and horrifying people ever since who believe it was used to torture people in the Middle Ages, even though it wasn't. Peacock wasn't entirely to blame. By the late 1800s, the idea of the iron maiden was firmly cemented in the mind of the public, due to tales from one man. Johann Siebenkees was a philosopher and archaeologist, and in 1793, he decided to perpetrate a little hoax. He wrote about a coin forger in the 1500s who suffered a terrible fate — being enclosed in a casket full of spikes that slowly impaled him. How cruel people were in the past! People took him literally. Even he may not have come up with the idea on his own. It's worth noting that in many of the older fairytales, it was a common fate of evil stepmothers to be sealed up in a cask which had nails driven into it. The cask was rolled down a hill into a lake. All Siebenkees did was take away the water. Advertisement Via Museum Castle Kyburg, The Iron Maiden of Kyburg, An Iron Maiden]

Now that we've formally rang in summer with a bang on July 4, all of our favorite warm-weather menu items are finally coming back. You know, like s'mores donuts, cotton candy Blizzards, and tropical pancakes. And now McDonald's is bringing back its most coveted summertime offering: the $9 lobster roll. The authentic New England-style lobster roll, which made its official buttery comeback in 2015, has returned once again to locations throughout the Northeast. Made with North Atlantic lobster (sourced from wild lobster fisherman at East Coast wharfs), mixed with mayonnaise and layered with shredded lettuce on a toasted roll, the sandwich is somehow only going for $8.99 — a steal compared to most restaurants' prices, which peg a lobster roll at anywhere from $15 to $20. Unfortunately, you can only find the surprisingly well priced sandwich at McD's outposts in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts (except locations near the Albany border), Connecticut (except Fairfield County) now through mid-August. Better get road trippin' Follow Delish on Instagram.

× Manufacturing facility to expand, create 210 jobs in McNairy County SELMER, Tenn. — A local manufacturing facility will soon be expanding, creating new jobs and investing millions of dollars in McNairy County. Monogram Refrigeration, LLC announced its plans on Monday along with Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and the Department of Economic and Community Development. The company’s Selmer location currently makes refrigerators, freezers and similar products. Now it wants to add an additional 120,000 square feet to the building to house the assembly of a new line of refrigerators and freezers as well as the new packaged terminal air conditioners. Overall, the company is expected to invest $9.3 million and create 210 new jobs. Monograms Refrigeration Operation’s Vice President Raymond Deming said the jobs will range from production associates to skilled trade and professional employees. The new products will begin being produced later this year.

The relationship between The Bletchley Park Trust (BPT) and The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) both based at Bletchley Park has been in the press recently. A piece published by the BBC in January this year Bletchley Park’s bitter dispute over its future showed a Bletchley Park volunteer crying after being sacked by the current CEO of Bletchley Park Iain Standen. There was a public outcry after the BBC report was shown on the news, with people complaining about the way that volunteers are being treated and asking what is going on. Lots of people have asked me to comment since the report. I first got involved with Bletchley Park in 2003 and started a campaign to save it in 2008 when I found out that they were having financial difficulties. I’m currently writing a book Saving Bletchley Park about the campaign, the people involved, what we did, what worked and what didn’t. During the time that I was campaigning to save Bletchley Park and now during writing of my book I have spoken to quite a few people that have been involved with Bletchley over the years. It has all been very interesting. One of the things that has disturbed and dismayed me from the start has been the fact that despite seeming to want, at a high level, the same thing, the two trusts BPT and TNMOC have never seemed to be able to work well together. I have never quite understood this. Practically everyone that I have ever spoken to, involved in either trust, has been a good person who obviously wants the right thing to happen. They have all seemed to have the long term interest of Bletchley Park’s future in mind and to want the best for the whole site. Why then are we in the situation we find ourselves in today where the two trusts seem to be at loggerheads? I’ve stressed about this for years, I’ve tried talking to people on both sides, almost all of whom I respect. I was invited to join BPT in 2012 by Sir John Scarlett and became a trustee for 18 months. My main goal in becoming a trustee was to try to ensure Bletchley Park as a whole’s future success, with a fundamental part of that being trying to help both trusts work together with a view to at some point becoming a single trust. I sought to get BPT to agree to ask TNMOC to go to external mediation together to get them talking to each other and working on a way of moving forward together. Unfortunately I was not able to persuade the board to take that route. When it became apparent to me late last year that I could not achieve my goal, I resigned. I had failed. I failed to make happen what I still think is a critical factor in the future success of Bletchley Park as a whole. If the two trusts cannot work together, the future success of Bletchley Park as a fundamental, international heritage site is under threat. I believe that mediation and getting both trusts talking to each other is the best way forward in ensuring a safe and successful future for Bletchley Park. I may not have been able to make that happen, but I think that there will be someone who will be able to. I’ve spent the last couple of months trying to work who that might be. Who would be the person, or organisation that would be able to strongly “encourage” this solution to happen? It has often occurred to me that maybe it would have helped to have more women involved at a high level. BPT and TNMOC are not exclusively male, but they are mainly male. Would having a few more women involved to encourage communication and collaboration rather than competition been a good idea? I think so. Having a gender balance can make a difference in these types of situations. It would have to be someone that both trusts will listen to and work with. My first thought was Baroness Trumpington. She worked at Bletchley Park during the war, is formidable and reasonable, along with a great sense of humour. Other ideas have been Ed Vaizey at DCMS and the Heritage Lottery Fund who are currently funding BPT. I have discussed this with several friends who also care deeply about Bletchley Park and have deep knowledge of the situation. Brian Randell from University of Newcastle who has done so much for Bletchley Park and TNMOC over the years, Bill Thompson from the BBC and Lucian Hudson, Head of Communications at the Open University. We all agree that the two trusts must work together and that mediation is key to making that happen (please correct me if I am wrong gentlemen and I will amend this). In an interview with The Guardian yesterday I said that I thought mediation, getting the two trusts around a table talking together absolutely what is needed, and that I believe it will happen. We need to get them both discussing their issues with an external, objective mediator, only then can we move this situation forward. One of the problems is that everything is not on the table, no real time, full and frank discussions around all of the issues that exist have happened (to my knowledge). Like any situation where there is a breakdown in a relationship, a chain of reactions going from one side to the other is not useful. We need the equivalent of Relate, relationship counselling, but for organisations rather than individuals. Does that exist? I thought of ACAS but they unfortunately are not appropriate. I believe that the fact that this dispute is now in the public eye is a good thing. It has opened up to the public a situation that has festered long enough. The UK public and many people around the world absolutely LOVE Bletchley Park. It is an awesome place. The place where more than 10,000 people, mainly young women, worked to save *millions* of lives during World War 2. The birthplace of computer science, the place where Alan Turing and others like him worked tirelessly for us. So that we and millions of others around the world like us could live in peace. We owe it to these people, and to the site itself, to now help these two organisations work together. To make Bletchley Park the successful, international heritage site that we can all be proud of. We CAN do that. It MUST happen. The infighting has gone on long enough. Now is the time for BPT and TNMOC to work together. Let’s help them to do that by not taking sides, but by encouraging them to work together and by supporting them both. They need our help. Let’s give it to them. Lest we forget. I welcome your comments and suggestions.

991 Bracketeers voted in Batch 56, and 3.24m votes have been cast so far. The results are: Mind over Matter defeats Standing Stones with 92.29% of the vote Borderland Marauder defeats Darkpact with 66.16% of the vote Servo Exhibition defeats Tainted Monkey with 57.23% of the vote Bringer of the Blue Dawn defeats Drooling Ogre with 86.17% of the vote Master Transmuter defeats Astral Steel with 92.17% of the vote Harvest Gwyllion defeats Bloodfire Dwarf with 63.02% of the vote Archetype of Courage defeats Rhox Bodyguard with 84.83% of the vote Temporal Cascade defeats Sparkcaster with 62.20% of the vote Liege of the Axe defeats Ruham Djinn with 71.09% of the vote Fulminator Mage defeats Mistform Sliver with 86.71% of the vote Presence of the Master defeats Tormented Soul with 53.98% of the vote Raging Kavu defeats Skygames with 80.14% of the vote Second Thoughts defeats Ironroot Treefolk with 63.20% of the vote Firestorm defeats Leaf Dancer with 84.22% of the vote Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir defeats Thallid Devourer with 93.71% of the vote Expedition Map defeats Caller of the Pack with 83.18% of the vote Brine Elemental defeats Lightning Dart with 78.15% of the vote Grim Flowering defeats Pit Keeper with 51.47% of the vote Chronozoa defeats Wandering Fumarole with 54.01% of the vote Magus of the Library defeats Djinn Illuminatus with 64.61% of the vote Enter the Dungeon defeats Farewell to Arms with 76.09% of the vote Kozilek’s Return defeats Meletis Charlatan with 76.18% of the vote Eladamri’s Call defeats Root Out with 86.20% of the vote Krovikan Rot defeats Kavu Glider with 67.65% of the vote Stunt Double defeats Copper-Leaf Angel with 81.72% of the vote Cankerous Thirst defeats Blood Lust with 60.86% of the vote Leave No Trace defeats Saltfield Recluse with 59.11% of the vote Duskhunter Bat defeats Krark-Clan Ogre with 75.55% of the vote Arsenal Thresher defeats Samite Blessing with 75.79% of the vote Chalice of the Void defeats Aesthir Glider with 93.82% of the vote Scuzzback Marauders defeats Redeem the Lost with 56.55% of the vote Jace, the Mind Sculptor defeats Tower of Calamities with 84.54% of the vote Full results to date can be seen here.

On behalf of its five-million members, the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) has announced its support for S. 498--The Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2015--which was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). The legislation would respect the rights of individuals who possess concealed carry permits from their home state or who are not prohibited from carrying concealed in their home state to exercise those rights in any other state that does not prohibit concealed carry. “The current patchwork of state and local laws is confusing for even the most conscientious and well-informed concealed carry permit holders. This confusion often leads to law-abiding gun owners running afoul of the law when they exercise their right to self-protection while traveling or temporarily living away from home,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA-ILA. “Senator Cornyn’s legislation provides a much needed solution to a real problem for law-abiding gun owners.” his legislation wouldn’t override state laws governing the time, place or manner of carriage or establish national standards for concealed carry. Individual state gun laws would still be respected. Concealed carry reciprocity would simply ensure that states honor permits issued by other states, just as they do with driver’s licenses. Importantly, if under federal law a person is prohibited from carrying a firearm, they will continue to be prohibited from doing so under this bill. “Our fundamental right to self-defense does not stop at a state's borders. Law abiding citizens should be able to exercise this right while traveling across state lines,” continued Cox. “This is an extremely important issue to our members and we thank Senator Cornyn for leading the fight to protect our right to self-defense,” concluded Cox. A companion bill--H.R. 923--has been introduced in the U.S. House by Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.). Please contact your U.S. Senators and ask them to cosponsor and support S. 498, and please contact your U.S. Representative and ask him or her to cosponsor and support H.R. 923. These critically important bills need your immediate action! Click the link or call (202) 225-3121.

View the most recent version. Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please " contact us " to request a format other than those available. This is the first release of data from the new Canadian Income Survey ( CIS ). It is based on annual income information for the 2012 reference year. Median after-tax income of Canadian families of two or more people was $71,700 in 2012. Four provinces, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, saw families of two or more people with higher median after-tax income than for Canada as a whole. Families in Alberta had the highest median ($92,300), followed by Saskatchewan ($77,300), Ontario ($73,700) and British Columbia ($72,200). Families in Alberta not only had the highest median after-tax income, they also had the highest median market income at $102,700. Since the tax system is directly tied to income earned and some transfers are tied to income, families in the province also had the highest median income tax paid ($15,600) and the lowest median government transfers ($2,400). This was also the case for unattached individuals, as those in Alberta had the highest median after-tax income ($36,500), market income ($37,000) and income tax paid ($4,300). They also had the lowest median government transfers ($400). Median after-tax income by family type Among senior families, those where the highest income earner was 65 or older, the median was $52,300, while for non-senior families it was $76,900. For two-parent families with children, median after-tax income was $84,600, while for lone-parent families headed by a woman, the median was $39,100. For the unattached, median after-tax income was $27,300 in 2012. Unattached seniors had a median income of $25,000, while non-seniors received $28,300. Components of after-tax income After-tax income is the total of market income and government transfers, less income tax. Market income consists of earnings, private pensions as well as income from investments and other sources such as support and disability payments. Median market income for families of two or more people was $71,900 in 2012. Among families with children, two-parent families had a median of $91,700, while female lone-parent families had a median of $25,000. Among the unattached, median market income was $9,300 for seniors and $29,100 for non-seniors. In 2012, 18.7 million Canadians aged 16 or over received $138.8 billion dollars in government transfers. One-quarter of recipients of government transfers were seniors and they received just over half of the total transfers paid. Almost all (94.1%) of this amount for seniors comes from Old Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplement, Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan programs. Transfers received varied widely by family type. For non-senior families, median government transfers amounted to $3,500 in 2012, while for senior families, the median was $26,000. For female lone-parent families, the median was $10,300, while for two-parent families, it was $4,300. The median amount of income tax, including both federal and provincial, paid by senior families was $3,200 in 2012, while the median paid by non-senior families was $11,600. Incidence of low income According to the after-tax low-income measure ( LIM-AT ), 4.7 million people, or 13.8% of the population, lived in low income in 2012. The LIM-AT is an internationally used measure of low income. The concept underlying the LIM-AT is that a household has low income if its income is less than half of the median income of all households. For children aged 17 and under, 16.3% lived in low income in 2012; however, their situations varied depending on their family structure. For children living in two-parent families, the incidence was 12.9%, while for those living in lone-parent families headed by a woman, the incidence was 44.5%. For seniors living in an economic family, the incidence was 6.2%, while for seniors living alone, the rate was 28.5%. Note to readers This is the first release of data from the new Canadian Income Survey ( CIS ). It is based on annual income information for the 2012 reference year. The CIS reports on many of the same statistics, such as individual and family income, as the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics ( SLID ), which last reported on income for the 2011 reference year. The 2012 CIS uses a different methodology compared with that used in SLID . Comparisons of CIS and SLID reveal differences in estimates between 2011 and 2012 that are attributable to the two surveys having different methods, rather than a true change in the characteristics of the population. For more information on the differences between CIS and SLID , see the report "Note to Users of Data from the 2012 Canadian Income Survey." Statistics Canada will release results from the 2013 CIS in July 2015. This will be a first step towards the generation of a new income series using CIS data. As annual statistics on income are more informative when comparisons can be made over time, by December 2015, Statistics Canada will release a revised series of income statistics that will allow for the comparison of 2012 and 2013 data to earlier years. Until revised historical statistics are prepared and analyzed to ensure that they are as comparable as possible to the current CIS results, the results of the CIS should not be compared with those produced by the SLID or other previous income surveys. It is valid to compare estimates for different subpopulations within the CIS , such as estimates for different provinces or demographic groups. This release examines the income of economic families and unattached individuals, as well as low income in Canada. An economic family refers to a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and are related to each other by blood, marriage, common-law, adoption or a foster relationship. This release largely analyses income on the basis of medians. The median is the level of income at which half the population had higher income and half had lower. This analysis reports on low income solely on the basis of the after-tax low income measure ( LIM-AT ). Previous releases had provided analysis based on the Low-income Cut-off ( LICO ). While many low-income measures, including the LICO , are well suited to the analysis of trends in low income, the LIM-AT is better suited to the analysis of low income in the CIS because the threshold level of income below which one is considered to have low income is itself derived from the households that responded to the survey. Other low income lines (the LICO and Employment and Social Development Canada's Market Basket Measure) are available in the article "Low Income Lines, 2012-2013," as part of the Income Research Paper Series (Catalogue number75F0002M), and low-income statistics based on each of the lines are available in CANSIM tables 206-0003 and 206-0004. The report "Note to Users of Data from the 2012 Canadian Income Survey," as part of Canadian Income Survey Products (Catalogue number75-513-X), is now available from the Browse by key resource module of our website under Publications. This report describes the Canadian Income Survey ( CIS ) methodology, as well as the main differences in survey objectives, methodology and questionnaires between CIS and the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics. The article "Low Income Lines, 2012-2013," as part of the Income Research Paper Series (Catalogue number75F0002M), is also now available from the Browse by key resource module of our website under Publications. Custom tabulations are also available upon request. Contact information For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@canada.ca).

Okay, my views on the tarot are complicated. Let me just say, so I don’t lose the skeptics right off the bat, I do not believe I am predicting the future. I will be happy to elaborate as I go. So I am going through a monumental day in my life today, I essentially just decided to make building my own company my number one priority and am potentially sacrificing my current job in the process. I have a few ground rules for divination, one is never do divination on something you are currently sure of. Inverted cards: since inverted cards usually carry a negative meaning I tend to see them as the thrill of the tarot reading. Some readers do not inverse the cards, but I need some potential for bad news. Though one of my ground rules is that even bad news is good news. The whole purpose is to inspire a sense of the heroic in the querent, so to give bad news is to find the silver lining. According to Joan Benning, an inverse card can mean a low energy in a process, or a reduction of energy. So if you have the Sun, its the Sun turned down for whatever reason. The interpretation of reversed cards demands a higher need for the reader to feel free to interpret. Many occultists would consider this being psychic, I reject psychic phenomena as a hypothesis that has been disproved. A good review of the scientific literature of psychic phenomena I recommend Paul Kurtz’s book “The Transcendental Temptation.” For my purposes the tarot awakens the imagination, that is their utility. I am listening to Beethoven’s 3rd, Eroica. A powerful symphony. My life is full of possibilities and I want to live it passionately. I am doing a Celtic Cross spread, and I am using the technique of choosing the querent. My Celtic Cross spread comes from Louis Stewart’s Life Forces, which is slightly different in its lay out than some Celtic Cross spreads. I am using the iconic Rider Tarot deck. I am interpreting my reading using guidance from Stewart, and Learning the Tarot by Joan Bunning. In the position of the first card I am laying The Magician with a king of spades from an ordinary playing card deck. This is to represent myself. I am choosing these cards deliberately to hold the position of one card. The rest of the cards will be determined randomly. Second Position (this card crosses the querent, and signifies obstacles and opposing forces in the matter at hand) : Seven of Swords: Separation from others. Man tiptoeing away from society, appears perhaps to be stealing the swords. Could this be a promethean theft? This card sometimes represents the “lone-wolf” style. There are other ways to interpret this card, but this is the way that I feel about the card. That there is a challenge facing me now. I believe this card does not signify the obstacles so much as how I am responding to them. There are synchronicities that I feel highlight this interpretation: being a lone wolf. Third Position (This card crowns the querent, and in my humble opinion represents the whispering of the True Will) : The Hanged Man: This card is about letting go. For me in this chapter of my life its about letting go to pursue my dream. I have been very restrained and conservative in my approach, it was definitely an uphill climb. My favorite business guru Gary Vaynerchuk often talks about the role of your DNA in business. He feels if you want to be truly successful, truly happy, and be able to maintain the energy levels one needs to do great things you have to play to your DNA. You have to focus on the things you really enjoy and come naturally to you. This makes sense because if you focus on these tasks you will be able to work much, much harder. This is counter intuitive for me and for the things that I want to be focused on, it can seem like I am dropping out of society and facing terrible debt. But I know its my DNA and that I can work my ass off if I embrace that. I think another aspect of reading this card that I want to embrace is giving up urgency. I know from my study of positive psychology that this kind of approach is healthier. Interestingly enough the Hanged Man is considered to be the opposite of the Mage which I chose to represent me. Though I would point out that in the esoteric and mystical approach one can gain more control and power by surrendering it. Fourth Position (The base of the matter, that from which the querent rises): Wheel of Fortune (inverted) : This is one of my only two inverted cards. The Wheel of Fortune seems to be one of those cards that you read the inverse as just being a toned down version of the right side up version. One of the meanings of this card is a sense of destiny. I think it is fair to say that my life has been building up with a deeply suppressed sense of destiny. I am a deterministic materialist. I don’t believe in any cosmic sense of destiny, and believe that randomness overall prevails. But I do believe that one must have a sense of the destiny they want to create, and that this is likened onto Gary Vaynerchuk’s concept of DNA or Crowley’s concept of the True Will. There is also an aspect of having a personal vision built into this card. Its inversion makes me laugh because I would definitely say that I have been indulging in these things at a toned down level building up to present events. Fifth Position (What is behind the querent, what is passing away) : 9 of Pentacles: Tee-hee. One of the meanings of this card is discipline. This definitely works for my current situation. I have been living at a repressive level of self discipline. I think it is an interesting line within the journey to see myself as going from the 9 of Pentacles to the Hanged Man. Sixth Position (What is before the querent, what is now coming into effect): The Emperor: Fathering. Well, if my lovely wife and I get pregnant in the next seasons I will laugh about this. But I prefer to imagine it as giving birth to Mindcore Studios, my company. The Emperor implies a lot of things I consider to be virtuous and positive, and especially considering its relationship in the Celtic Cross spread I would like to interpret this to mean that the 9 of Pentacles is getting perfected, especially in my DNA/True Will related goals. But it is important that the end game is to let go. To embrace the message of the Hanged Man. Seventh Position (the querent’s position): The Empress: Interestingly this is the other half of the female archetype coupled with the High Priestess, who concludes the story of this reading. So lets continue. Though I am an atheist, I am definitely inclined to feel my religious impulses for a feminine deity. The female energy is a good projection for the universe, the proverbial mother nature. Consider these aspects of the card; She can suggest material reward, but only with the understanding that riches go with a generous and open spirit. The Empress asks you to embrace the principle of life and enjoy its bountiful goodness. This is my wife. Eighth Position (querent’s environment and influence) : Strength : The environment and influence, gotta keep that in mind. This card is about being calm and having strong resolve. Its about patience. Its about being compassionate. Quiet determination. This is definitely how I should cope with my hostile work environment. The trick to this card is that its a gentle lady controlling the Lion. The Lion is not in control, it is the gentle woman. My imaginary goddess. Ninth Position (querent’s hopes and fears) : The Star : Regaining hope. Feeling inspired. -Just for the record, I have “keep hope” tattooed across my knuckles. This card is definitely useful for my hopes. This card also offers serenity. Finding your still center, as someone who is training in mindfulness meditation I can certainly appreciate this promise. Pretty much everything attributed to the Star can be useful for imagining my goals, and hopes. This card is the good life. Tenth Position (the outcome) : The High Priestess (Inverted) : So the endgame of this present cycle is the inverted High Priestess. The feminine principle that balances the masculine force of the magician (the card I chose to represent me). Stopping, unconscious, potential, mystery. These aspects are all attributed to the High Priestess, but we must remember her knob is turned down in the inverted position. Using this reading as a therapeutic story telling narrative, I chose to interpret my endgame as manifesting these aspects of the High Priestess: In readings, the High Priestess poses a challenge to you to go deeper – to look beyond the obvious, surface situation to what is hidden and obscure. She also asks you to recall the vastness of your potential and to remember the unlimited possibilities you hold within yourself. The High Priestess can represent a time of waiting and allowing. It is not always necessary to act to achieve your goals. Sometimes they can be realized through a stillness that gives desire a chance to flower within the fullness of time. But I must keep my ear to the ground lest I miss her presence. It immediately stands out to me that in spite of my random selection I have found a ton of Major Arcana in my reading. It is unusual since most of teh deck is minor arcana, I only have two minor arcana in this reading. One interpretation of this phenomena is that the current event is one charged with magic(k)al energy. A good skeptic dismisses this, but in my system one embraces this as a wonderful opportunity to charge your current adventure with deep meaning, and a powerful sense of adventure. It is not by accident that I listen to Beethoven’s Eroica, I mean to be heroic as a lifestyle.

You open up a traditional translation of the Quran, and you will find that it would usually translate characteristics of believers such as “Saliheen” (For ex. 2:62) and “Muttaqeen” (For ex. 2:2) as “Righteous people”. My problem with “righteous” is that it is too bland – too generic. Righteousness is a broad term. What aspect of righteousness, I would ask? Just as God has several attributes, each attribute revealing a specific characteristic; similarly there are also numerous attributes of a Muslim. These diverse attributes are provided in the Quran to act as a checklist for those who seek to live by the Quran as a moral code on life. For ex: Muttaqeen, Mohsineen, Musalleen, Mufliheen, Musliheen etc. For this post, I’d like to focus on the attribute of being a “Salih”. A concordance of the word Salih reveals that it means to reform/amend. This attribute is of such vital importance, that it is used 100+ times in the Quran! “Those who believed (aamanu) and do acts of reformation (amallan Salihan)” is a very repetitive phrase in the Quran. As I said, brushing it off as “righteous” robs itself off the defining characteristic that God wants us to develop and fails to do justice to these words, linguistically. As an exercise, try substituting righteousness in place of Sa-la-ha in the following verses. It just doesn’t fit: So We responded to him, and We gave to him Yahya, and amended (Aslahna) for him his wife. Indeed, they used to hasten to good deeds and supplicate Us in hope and fear, and they were to Us humbly submissive. Quran 21:90 If one sees gross injustice or bias on the part of a testator, and takes corrective action (Aslaha) to restore justice to the will, he commits no sin. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful. Quran 2:182 Therefore, Saliheen are the reformers who set things right. Reformation is a vital part of faith as faith should never be static. This is because anything that doesn’t grow is dead. If I have the same outlook on the world 10 years from now, I have failed to utilize the time to help me grow as a person. Muslims are encouraged to continually make reforms in their beliefs, whenever better information presents itself. That alone should make us more humble and compassionate towards each other, as the “I know it all” mindset gets suppressed. In a broader sense, Saliheen also strive for reform in their community. Musa and Ibrahim (Salutes and respect to them) are prime examples of this. We have come to the point where we believe Islam to be a set of rituals only. All the while, the core message of the Quran which is all about activism and reformation gets ignored and sidetracked. God likes reformers, not zealots. I leave you with one of my favorite verses: Surely, those who believe and do acts of reformation, the Almighty will shower them with love and affection. Quran 19:96 *Concordance of Salih as used in the Quran: http://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=SlH#(2:62:14)

New project management articles published on the web during the week of August 22 – 28. And this week’s video: the late designer Bill Moggridge explains interaction design, one of the concepts used to design application software for the first laptop computer, the GRiD Compass. John Ellenby, who founded GRiD Systems in 1979, passed away this week. I was proud to work in GRiD’s federal systems division back in the 1980’s. Must read! Elizabeth Harrin interviews Ellen Maynes, 2016 Global Peace Fellow and project management educator. Attention, Dos Equis: Ellen is The Most Interesting Woman in the World. Mike Cohn explains story points as an estimating tool, taking into account the amount of work to do, complexity, and uncertainty or risk. An excellent, thorough explanation! John Goodpasture shows how game theory can be applied to external threats. Remember: your SWOT analysis is just the beginning. Established Methods Cornelius Fichtner interviews Lindsay Scott on the Arras People Project Management Benchmark Report 2016. An interesting analysis by the recruiters – just 31 minutes, safe for work. Deanne Earle reflects on the Arras People Project Management Benchmark Report 2016. Why can’t organizations find the talent that they need? Bertrand Duperrin describes the pros and cons of the Fourth Industrial Revolution – end-to-end digitization and integration of partners into the value chain. Dmitriy Nizhebetskiy recommends five project management blogs that you should follow (including this one). Amber Lee Dennis presents a primer on Data Lakes. Shuba Kathikeyan shares two excellent infographics: the impact of poor software quality in business and a set of data center industry statistics and projections. Pramod Jaiswal presents an infographic on developing a practical IT disaster recovery plan. Agile Methods Stefan Wolpers curates his weekly Food for Thought list of recommended Agile posts, articles, and so on. Mike Griffiths describes some of the ways you can incorporate risk management into Agile methods. Ryan Ripley interviews Agile coach Don Gray in a wide-ranging conversation that covers Agile transformation, models, and sources of insights. Just 40 minutes, safe for work. Bart Gerardi debunks the notion that Agile is a way to eliminate a layer of management. Belle B. Cooper explains the idea behind a personal hackathon, and uses Brian Nelson’s recent experience as source material. Sam Sinha shares his tips for grooming the backlog. Applied Leadership Coert Visser recaps research into when positive feedback is more motivational, and when negative feedback moves us more. Michael Lopp has just published the third edition of Managing Humans, in paperback and Kindle editions. Bruce Harpham shares recommendations on twelve books for your reading table (or Kindle). Peter Landau recommends another sixteen leadership and management books. Fortunately, there’s still nothing good on TV. Working and the Workplace Garland Coulson wants us to plan our day to accommodate those “low energy” periods, by scheduling the right tasks. Harry Hall also recommends that we need to manage our energy, not just our time. Brendan Toner reviews the best new Getting Things Done features of Zendone 2.0. Did you know they now have both iOS and Android apps? Suzanne Lucas tells how five well-known companies help their employees work from home. Lisette Sutherland answers an interesting question: how does a virtual team celebrate together? Just 7 minutes, safe for work. Enjoy! Share this: Tumblr Pinterest Print

The new chair of Toronto's Catholic District School Board mentioned the board's "mental health strategy" Wednesday in response to a question about whether gay-straight alliance groups should be allowed in schools. Angela Kennedy, a 15-year trustee who was named chair Monday after running unopposed, made the comments in an interview with Matt Galloway on CBC radio's Metro Morning. She didn't use the words "gay-straight alliance" in her response. Here's how the section of the interview unfolded: Galloway: "You have said in past that you have opposed gay-straight alliances. Do you think they belong in Catholic schools?" Kennedy: "I think that we have supportive programs for students and I think students need to have these supportive clubs." Galloway: "Does that include a gay-straight alliance?" Kennedy: "We have different clubs in all of our schools and our secondary school students benefit from them. We have a mental health strategy." Galloway: "I think it's notable listeners would probably be able to figure out that you're not saying 'gay-straight alliance.' Do you think that gay-straight alliances belong in Catholic schools?" Kennedy: "Matt, we have supportive clubs in our secondary schools. I think our students are benefiting from them. I hear very good things about the clubs that are running in all of our schools." Kennedy's answers drew criticism from some Metro Morning listeners: TCDSB teachers trying to instil honesty in their students not helped by Board Chair Kennedy's extensive use of weasel words on <a href="https://twitter.com/metromorning">@metromorning</a> —@mark_dowling <a href="https://twitter.com/metromorning">@metromorning</a> Angela Kennedy: repeats same vague sentence over & over & expects us to pretend it's an "answer." Thinks people are stupid. —@kashicat An Ontario government anti-bullying bill, passed in 2012, removed the right for all schools in Ontario — including Catholic schools — to disallow students from forming gay-straight alliance groups. Kennedy was also asked about how the board would implement Ontario's new health and physical education curriculum. The curriculum, which includes some lessons on sex education, has been criticized by Kennedy and opposed by some parents. Galloway asked if the curriculum should be taught in Catholic schools. "Oh definitely … There are some very valuable learning that needs to happen around the curriculum," she said. Earlier this year, Kennedy had said that substantial portions of the curriculum "contradict Catholic teachings." When asked which portions of the curriculum did so, she declined to give specifics. "I'm going to wait to hear from the parents," she said. "I'm looking forward to the consultations. I'm looking forward to seeing what resources the Institute for Catholic Education is going to provide us so that we can deliver the curriculum with a Catholic lens," she said. The board is facing a $16-million deficit. Kennedy said she will make an effort to reduce that number without negatively affecting student learning. "It's about re-prioritizing," she said. "We want to make sure our students have the best learning environment."

Image copyright Getty Images There's a "very good chance" petrol prices could fall to £1 per litre, or even below, the RAC has said. The average petrol price is currently £1.07 per litre, but some supermarkets are already selling petrol at £1.03 per litre. A recent 2p drop in wholesale fuel prices could be passed on to consumers within a few weeks, the RAC said. According to RAC figures, the last time petrol fell below £1 was in the summer of 2009. A sharp fall in crude oil prices since last summer is behind falling prices at the pump. Brent Crude is now trading at around $44 per barrel. "We've seen the wholesale price of petrol and diesel drop by a couple of pence recently," RAC chief engineer David Bizley told the BBC. "There's typically about two weeks lag in the system. So there's a very good chance that within a few weeks people will be selling fuel at £1.01, and then the temptation to move that extra penny or so will be unavoidable," he said. Supermarkets use competitive petrol prices to bring people into their stores, he added. Since June 2014, oil prices have more than halved, falling from more than $100 per barrel. In the UK petrol prices are also affected by how the pound is trading against the dollar, and taxation. UK fuel duty has been frozen since 2011. Fuel price calculator: How much do you pay?

ES1Glenmore Reservoir 2018/2019 Fishing Regulations Disclaimer: Although we strive for accuracy in our content, the following rules and regulations should only be considered a reference. It is your responsibility to ensure you are in compliance with all current rules and regulations. We assume no responsibility or liability for any inaccurate, delayed or incomplete information. Official information can be found www.albertaregulations.ca or call Alberta Sustainable Resource Development information centre at (780)-944-0313. CLOSED November 1 -to- April 30 OPENED May 1 -to- October 31 BAIT Allowed (except bait fish) Fish Keep limit (size restrictions) Rules & Regulations are from Alberta Sustainable Resource Development Trout 5 - limit applies to All Trout species combined (except Bull Trout are Catch & Release ONLY) Brown Trout included in Trout limit & size restrictions listed above Rainbow Trout included in Trout limit & size restrictions listed above Mountain Whitefish 5 (all under 30cm must be released) Northern Pike 3 (no size restrictions) Yellow Perch 15 Advisories Fishing from the docks or ramps are not allowed. Related Waters The following waters are connected to this location. You should be familiar with them prior to entering the area, in the event that you are fishing bodies of water that have different rules than the current location. Elbow River - (from Hwy 22 downstream to Glenmore Reservoir & tributaries) Elbow River - (from Glenmore Reservoir downstream to Bow River) Location Map Use Google to find the best driving route by clicking here. NOTE: Some sections of rivers, streams and creeks have different rules for different parts of that water system. It is your responsibility to know where you are. AlbertaFishingGuide.com holds no responsibility or liability in any event of injury, death, loss of property or profits as a result of the use of this map. The information provided is intended for planning purposes only. Road conditions, safety and closure are not guaranteed. Use this information at your own risk.

“We have deep concerns about these highly contentious settlement construction announcements,” Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, told reporters in Washington. “They will have detrimental impacts on the ground, enflame already heightened tension with the Palestinians and further isolate the Israelis internationally.” The European Union, in which legislative support for recognition of a Palestinian state has been growing — to Israel’s dismay — also criticized the construction bids. If carried out, the European Union’s foreign office said a statement, they would “further undermine the viability of the two-state solution; they are illegal in international law and constitute an obstacle to peace.” Ariel Rosenberg, a spokesman for the Israeli Housing Ministry, said the bids were not new but had been remarketed after they failed to attract contractors last year. “Failed tenders are automatically remarketed by professional staff in the Israel Land Authority,” he said, referring to the government agency responsible for land management. The current housing minister is Uri Ariel of the pro-settlement Jewish Home party. Most of the world considers the settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to be a violation of international law. The Palestinians intend to establish a state on the lands that Israel seized from Jordan in the 1967 war. The Obama administration has described the settlements as “illegitimate.” American officials have said Israel's repeated announcements of construction bids played a destructive role in the breakdown of American-brokered peace negotiations with the Palestinians last year.

Rafael Márquez, the captain of the Mexico national team, a four-time World Cup veteran and one of the most celebrated Mexican soccer players in recent decades, is used to garnering headlines. Just not these kinds. Márquez has been designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as a “front person” of alleged drug kingpin Raul Flores Hernandez’s trafficking enterprise. The designation freezes any of Márquez’s assets that are located in the U.S. or controlled by U.S. persons. This includes bank accounts, real estate holdings and other items of value. The designation also generally prohibits U.S. persons and businesses from engaging in commercial transactions with Márquez. The 38-year-old defender was one of 21 Mexican nationals and 42 Mexican entities—Club Deportivo Morumbi among them—implicated by the OFAC as assisting Flores Hernandez. According to the OFAC, Flores Hernandez “heavily relies” on a group of persons and businesses “to further his drug trafficking and money laundering activities and to maintain assets on his behalf.” Among them are Márquez and Mexican singer Julio Alvarez. “Both men,” the OFAC charges, “have longstanding relationships with Flores Hernandez, and have acted as front persons for him and his drug trafficking organization and held assets on their behalf.” Márquez and Alvarez are alleged to have cloaked Flores Hernandez’s drug-funded investments as legitimate business transactions. Márquez has dismissed the OFAC’s allegations as completely untrue. In a statement, Márquez says he “categorically” denies having “any kind of relation” with drug traffickers and that he “will try to clear all of this up.” OFAC’s designation of Márquez is authorized under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, better known as the Kingpin Act. President Bill Clinton signed the Kingpin Act into law in 1999. The main goal of the Kingpin Act is to deter drug trafficking into the U.S. by threatening to take away the ill-gotten gains of traffickers and to disrupt their ability to conduct future business with Americans. To accomplish that goal, the Kingpin Act enhances the U.S. government’s capacity to freeze American assets of foreign narcotics traffickers as well as persons and businesses who substantially assist them. As an additional form of deterrence, the Kingpin Act subjects Americans to potential criminal prosecution and million dollar fines if they enter into transactions with implicated persons and entities, such as designated soccer clubs and casinos. The Kingpin Act has been praised as helping the U.S. more effectively impede the movement of drugs into the country and weakening cartels. The Act’s critics, however, bemoan that it fails to provide adequate safeguards for foreign parties who are not afforded the same constitutional safeguards as Americans. The OFAC raises its accusations as it continues a multi-year, multi-national investigation into Flores Hernandez. The investigation has included the participation of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Government of Mexico. Flores Hernandez, who allegedly has formed “strategic alliances” with Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, faces federal drug trafficking indictments in the District of Columbia and the Southern District of California. What’s next for Márquez: Cooperate or remain silent? While Márquez’s designation will prove disruptive if he has assets in the U.S. or if he conducts businesses with Americans, it should be stressed that Márquez has not been charged with a crime at this time. This is an important point for a number of reasons, the most significant of which is that the U.S. government will not attempt to extradite him. Márquez can continue to go about his life in Mexico. Endorsement considerations may, however, become a concern for Márquez. He reportedly has several endorsement deals, including one with Adidas. Any endorsements deal for Márquez with major companies contain a “morals clause.” Such a clause would enable the company to exit the contract on grounds that the athlete has encountered a serious legal issue or otherwise attracted negative publicity. Márquez’s representatives are poised to play a crucial role in navigating through morals clause issues. They would attempt to allay concerns by companies with which Márquez has endorsement deals that he will overcome this controversy. Márquez, who played for the New York Red Bulls from 2010-12, is also not necessarily barred from traveling in the U.S. However, his OFAC designation would complicate his ability to obtain a visa. Márquez’s attorneys may also worry that as soon as Márquez enters the U.S. he would be handed an indictment or a subpoena. Of similar concern for Márquez is the impact of his OFAC designation on his playing career with Club Atlas and his status as Mexico's captain for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Márquez should be able to continue to play internationally since he has not been charged with a crime and there is no indication yet either FIFA or Atlas would seek to discipline him. Also, since the World Cup will be played outside of the U.S. (Russia), the OFAC designation shouldn't impact his availability. To the extent Márquez would like the OFAC to lift his designation and more broadly convince to the U.S. government to leave him alone, he would likely need to provide the OFAC with information of value. Indeed, one motivation for the government to pursue persons who allegedly facilitate drug traffickers is that they might be willing to provide critical intelligence to help the government take down traffickers and cartels. Facilitators’ willingness comes from self-preservation: doing so would get them out of trouble. Put another way, the OFAC likely does not “want” Márquez —it wants what Márquez knows about Flores Hernandez, who, as explained above, has been charged with federal crimes. So would Márquez talk with the U.S. government or with the Mexican government? Possibly, but accused facilitators of drug traffickers often fear retribution by drug kingpins and cartels—even if the accused’s connection to those criminals is tenuous and indirect. Often the more likely response is to simply remain silent. Michael McCann is SI’s legal analyst. He is also an attorney and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of New Hampshire School of Law.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Reuters) - Alabama Governor Robert Bentley resigned on Monday after pleading guilty to two misdemeanors related to campaign finance violations and linked to his relationship with a former adviser, ending a year-long scandal that has enveloped the state’s government. The guilty pleas were part of an agreement with prosecutors that called for him to step down, said Ellen Brooks, special prosecutor appointed by the state Attorney General Steve Marshall to investigate Bentley. “I have decided it is time for me to step down as Alabama governor,” said Bentley at a news conference in the state capital of Montgomery, adding that his service “was a calling that God placed on my life.” He said he would work with his replacement, Lieutenant Governor Kay Ivey, who was sworn in as governor about an hour after his resignation. Ivey, a Republican, becomes the second woman to serve as Alabama’s governor after Lurleen Wallace, wife of George Wallace, who served from January 1967 until her death in May 1968. “The Ivey administration will be open, it will be transparent, and it will be honest,” Ivey said during a short speech after her swearing in by the minister at her Montgomery Baptist church. “What we have done today is to put an end to this administration,” Brooks told reporters. “It states to all of us that no one is above the law, even the governor.” The Alabama Ethics Commission last week found Bentley probably violated ethics and campaign finance laws after it completed an investigation into allegations that he used public funds to conceal his relationship with Rebekah Mason, a senior adviser who later resigned. It accused Bentley of ordering law enforcement officers to track down recordings that suggested he had had an affair with Mason and accused him of retaliating against an official who discovered the relationship. Bentley has denied having a physical relationship with Mason, who is married, and had repeatedly vowed not to resign, saying he had done nothing illegal. His marriage of 50 years also ended as the scandal unfolded. In his statement on Monday, Bentley apologized for his actions, but did not mention a relationship with Mason. He was charged with misuse of campaign funds and failure to file campaign financial reports on a timely basis. Slideshow (10 Images) After his guilty pleas, an Alabama judge ordered Bentley to serve one year of unsupervised probation, make restitution and give up his retirement benefits from the state. He also agreed not to run for another political office, Brooks said. After Bentley agreed to the deal, the Alabama House Judiciary Committee suspended hearings which began on Monday that could have led to his impeachment. During the hearing, Bentley told several top aides “what happens in the governor’s office stays in the governor’s office,” Jack Sharman, the committee’s counsel, said regarding allegations regarding his relationship with Mason.

During the World Cup, FIFA (along with ESPN and Univision) started going after numerous social media users who were creating Vines and GIFs of the event. Now that the Premier League season has officially begun, the folks across the pond will be indulging in the same behavior. It was bound to happen. The English Premier League announced Friday that it plans to crack down. “You can understand that fans see something, they can capture it, they can share it, but ultimately it is against the law,” the league’s director of communications, Dan Johnson, told the BBC. “It’s a breach of copyright and we would discourage fans from doing it,” he added. “We’re developing technologies like GIF crawlers, Vine crawlers, working with Twitter to look to curtail this kind of activity. I know it sounds as if we’re killjoys but we have to protect our intellectual property.” Is it really “against the law”? Is it actually a “breach of copyright”? Here’s what we suspect Johnson is referring to, straight from the league’s 2014-15 Handbook: But why are these measures even necessary? Media conglomerate News Corp UK & Ireland, Ltd., which owns The Sun and The Times, bought the rights to online and mobile highlights back in January 2013. Nineteen months later, the league is deciding to put its foot down. Enter the Sun’s deputy head of sport, Dean Scoggins. “It’s important to underline that it’s illegal to do this, we’ve obviously signed a very big deal with the Premier League to be a rights holder and to show it, we’ve got legal teams talking with them about what we can do,” he said. If this crackdown is actually enforced, it could profoundly affect the way you watch not just the Premier League, but the four major sports in North America. Before we get to that, let’s tackle the biggest question here: How seriously will it actually be carried out? The “crawlers” Johnson mentioned are essentially programs that detect file formats like GIFs and Vine videos. When they find something that matches their content, they can automatically have the content removed from a site or social network. That first requires the cooperation of the site itself. If companies like Twitter, Vine and Reddit give in to the league, these crawlers would certainly wipe out some of the media content uploaded by fans. But it wouldn’t eliminate all of it. As someone who has experience in the video editing world, I’ll just say that professional editors have tricks up their sleeves to get around this kind of thing. Look no further than Major League Baseball, for example. Everybody knows MLB’s “express written consent” policy. It’s been in place for years, but was largely a punchline until the advent of smartphones, GIFs and social media. Only when people started making GIFs, and now Vines, using MLB original content did the league begin to crack down by removing some of the unofficial content uploaded to blogs and the like. But because of the sheer amount of unauthorized content being created, they haven’t been able to get rid of everything. That could be a problem for the EPL media police, too. There’s just too much content being uploaded during every match for the crawlers to catch it all. So, what impact will this have on fans who also watch American football, baseball, basketball, or hockey? While a statement like this is most alarming for EPL fans, it shouldn’t be taken lightly by fans of North American leagues. Even if it appears to do very little, it has already set a precedent. A major professional league is taking a very public stance on the issue, opening the door for other leagues to do the same. Sure, it’s impossible to fully enforce, and the league’s legal standing is murky. But simply by coming out against it, this allows other leagues to cite precedent and makes it more likely that they’ll follow suit. If the crackdown is successful, that’s even more reason for rival leagues to do the same. Pro sports leagues are in constant competition with each other, and they often mimic one another’s policies in order to stay competitive. This vow isn’t really a surprising development, considering there’s a lucrative rights deal involved. There’s an investment to protect. The game has changed, and this is essentially just a response to the popularity of Vine. But the EPL simply doesn’t understand the value of free publicity. Look at the NBA. It’s now a truly global game for many reasons, and one major factor is how tolerant the league is when it comes to sharing online media. This is a league that freely allows users to upload clips to YouTube, Reddit, Vine, Twitter and Facebook. The NBA gets it. It understands how people consume news and highlights now. It’s making nearly $1 billion in the current TV contract with ESPN and TNT. So why not open things up online and promote your product for free? Your key demographic gets exposed to the game and you still have more than enough revenue coming in from broadcast partners and corporate sponsors to thrive as a business. This is why it’s so hard to understand why the EPL would opt for an exclusive online rights deal. Last season, the league and News Corp had an agreement, yet they still allowed online media to be shared and created at will. What was wrong with that arrangement? Now, what we’ll have is a single corporate entity controlling all of the content and prohibiting users from doing it themselves. Competition is good for business. It benefits everyone. It’s what capitalism is all about. But more importantly, limiting the content distribution to one source hampers creativity and stunts the growth of the game. So what’s the solution? If the EPL doesn’t want to go completely liberal like the NBA, it should at least look at how MLB has adapted. Official MLB Twitter accounts now create and embed their own GIFs and Vines. Sure, they’re not the best quality, but it’s the principle. They finally get it. They still go after some bloggers who frequently upload videos, but most of their content is embeddable and available on the official site. Meanwhile, fans are still creating and sharing the content with only rare instances of blow-back from the league. The EPL would do well to compromise here. Start an EPL Advanced Media department. Start producing and sharing your own content. Show your fans that you know how they watch your game. If the league goes forward with its plan to crack down, it will be biting the hand that feeds it. The crusade will just be seen as an affront to the fans. This is bound to make waves in England, and soon enough, the ripples will be felt on the other side of the pond.

The crusade against High Frequency Trading which Zero Hedge started well over two years ago, is now coming to an end. Reuters reports that U.S. securities regulators have "taken the unprecedented step of asking high-frequency trading firms to hand over the details of their trading strategies, and in some cases, their secret computer codes." As everyone knows, the only thing of value within the sub-penny scalping HFT universe are the odd nuances in computer code. Which is why its supreme and undisputed secrecy is sacrosanct. As soon as anyone, especially a regulator, has a whiff of understanding how any given algorithm works, it becomes the equivalent of collapsing the wave function: observing the HFT theft-scalping duality in action eliminates the Schrodinger equation associated with any simplistic algo and collapses its "wave function" to a worthless series of ones and zeros. Said otherwise, this is the end for HFT. More from Reuters: The requests for proprietary code and algorithm parameters by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a Wall Street brokerage regulator, are part of investigations into suspicious market activity, said Tom Gira, executive vice president of FINRA's market regulation unit. ``It's not a fishing expedition or educational exercise. It's because there's something that's troubling us in the marketplace,'' he said in an interview. The Securities and Exchange Commission, meanwhile, has also begun making requests for proprietary algorithmic trading data as part of its authority to examine financial firms for compliance with U.S. regulations, according to agency officials and outside lawyers. The requests by SEC examiners are not necessarily related to any suspicions of specific wrong-doing, although the decision to ask for it can be triggered by a tip, complaint or referral. It's all in the code: Trading code is a high-stakes secret for high-frequency firms that battle each other to earn razor-thin profits on tiny price imbalances in the market. Such firms can make thousands of trades per second and provide much liquidity to the market. High-frequency trading is estimated to be involved in more than half of all U.S. stock trading. Regulators have said the algos behind such trading were a factor in the flash crash, but that they did not cause it. Carlo di Florio, who heads the SEC's Office of Compliance, Inspections and Examinations, said the agency started asking firms for proprietary algorithmic trading data over a year ago, and has since more broadly incorporated such requests into its risk-based exams. Most of the algo-related requests, he said, have been made to hedge funds that use quantitative trading strategies. Although some lawyers and industry sources have said the SEC has asked for the actual computer code itself, di Florio said such a request is "very rare." Instead, most of the time the SEC has been asking for research papers containing sensitive information about trade reasoning and proprietary formulas. Luckily once the HFT scourge is over, it will finally return the market to a normal state of liquidity and volume, not the current churn of rebate paying stocks (all 10 of them in a universe of 5000). Yes, some liquidity may be lost. But what remains will set the basis for a return to true efficiency. After this momentuous victory against the "robots", the only event that could possibly top it, would be extrication (by force or otherwise) of the Chairsatan and his globalistic central planning cohort from capital markets. At that point the stage for restoration of normalcy will finally be set. In the meantime we will take it: one day at a time... until the war is finally won.

COLIN McLaren got the bad news the week he started at the police academy: his much-loved Uncle Neil had been killed in a shooting accident. Neil McLaren was a sensible and seasoned shooter but he'd made a mortal error, getting into a car after a shooting trip without checking his shotgun. The car hit a bump, the gun went off and he was dead. His nephew always had that loss hanging over him. He would spend years living dangerously in heavy squads and undercover jobs, dealing with the Walsh St murders and infiltrating Australia's Calabrian mafia. He carried guns, but carefully. He knew mistakes could be fatal. During his time in the force, a policeman called Neil Clinch was shot dead by a policewoman aiming at an "offender" - who was, in fact, a householder fearing the police in his backyard were intruders. Then there was Constable Clare Bourke, shot dead at Sunshine police station by a policeman fooling around with an "empty" pistol. Meanwhile, plenty of other incidents went unreported, such as the one in which a future Assistant Commissioner and another cop were chasing a suspect in Windsor. One of them accidentally shot a passing taxi. The bad guy escaped; the innocent cab driver surrendered immediately. Anyone who has handled guns knows mistakes happen - and that we don't always hear about it. McLaren was reminded of that in 1992 when he took a trip to New York to recover from a tough year investigating the "Mr Cruel" child abductions. He picked up a book in Times Square for the flight to Chicago. The book, Mortal Error, outlined how a ballistics expert called Howard Donahue had proved beyond reasonable doubt that John F. Kennedy was hit in the head by a hollow-point bullet, not the conventional military rounds fired seconds earlier by Lee Harvey Oswald. Donahue identified the origin of the fatal hollow-point - a Secret Service agent with an assault rifle in the open-top escort car behind the President's. The iconic Zapruder film of the Dallas motorcade shows the alarmed Secret Service man clutching the weapon as he tries to stand just after Oswald's shots strike from above. The force of a simple story that fitted the facts satisfied McLaren's detective instincts. To an expert, the bullet fragments revealed a tragic accident caused by Oswald's crazy assassination attempt. This was no convoluted conspiracy theory, of which there were many, including the one peddled by Oliver Stone in his fictionalised hit film JFK. It seemed common sense. But a dry, factual ballistics analysis was never going to compete for public attention with Kevin Costner starring in Stone's fictionalised entertainment. McLaren realised the case needed an independent investigation to test if the other evidence supported Donahue's conclusion that Secret Service agent George Hickey had accidentally finished what Oswald had begun. Who better to do it than an outsider: an Australian investigator with no axe to grind? McLaren was keen but first he had to see out his police career and finish other projects. He wrote two successful books based on his undercover work and built his hospitality business from scratch in northeastern Victoria. Nearly five years ago, he started on the JFK project. As a detective, he says, he was happy to go "where the evidence takes us". He bought a 26-volume set of the official Warren Commission report. Then the 5000-page Assassination Records Review Board finding of 1993, which lifted secrecy provisions on material from 28 Government agencies. It seemed clear that key players had strived to save the Secret Service huge embarrassment by hiding the fact that Kennedy's brain (which vanished immediately after autopsy) had been pulped by one of their own bullets. media_camera Book cover - JFK The Smoking Gun , Colin McLaren McLaren traced 22 witnesses who saw Kennedy shot. Ten had smelled gun smoke and 12 of them saw it at ground level near the Secret Service car. Hickey normally drove but had been handed the weapon because the security detail was shorthanded. Witnesses revealed they had been intimidated and gagged before and during the Warren Commission hearings in 1964. But now they could tell all. McLaren worked with a Canadian production house to film a documentary, which will be aired in North America and Australia (on SBS) next month to follow this week's launch of his book JFK: The Smoking Gun. Hickey died in 2011, which makes it easier to tell the story without the fear of a lawsuit. Hickey had attempted to sue Mortal Error's publishers but failed. McLaren knows that the fact most Americans don't believe the official account of the assassination does not guarantee they will "buy" what he calls his "brief of evidence". But when he launches a three-week publicity tour of the US and Canada today (including the David Letterman show and a Wall Street Journal interview) at least he gets the chance to argue it was a fumbling accident, not a murky assassination conspiracy. Diehard conspiracy theorists might consider the fact that in September 2006, a Secret Service agent accidentally fired his shotgun while guarding the visiting Iranian President. It would the Secret Service years to acknowledge that embarrassing fact, now the subject of a book. Then there's the scandal of the death of an all-American hero, the former NFL footballer Pat Tillman who became a patriotic poster boy for the Afghanistan campaign when he quit a $3 million football contract to join the army after the 9-11 attacks. Tillman's enlistment was such a public relations coup that when he was killed by a trigger-happy American soldier in 2004, the cover-up ran from his own commanders to the White House. Tillman's family were lied to for months about who killed their son. Which would make perfect sense to the Secret Service bosses who apparently covered up George Hickey's blunder for 50 years. One thing is certain: guns go off in the darnedest ways and places. When Lee Harvey Oswald was a marine, he once accidentally shot himself in the leg with his service pistol.

Daily Show host Trevor Noah and someone who once compared Black Lives Matter activists to the Ku Klux Klan reportedly met for "peace" drinks Thursday night. Noah and Blaze commentator Tomi Lahren held a "peace summit" following their much-discussed Daily Show discussion, TMZ reported. In fact, Lahren seemingly spoke at length with TMZ after the meeting and said she is ready to return to Noah's show. Tomi Lahren -- Peace Summit with Trevor Noah ... As for Dating a Black Guy ... (VIDEO + PHOTOS) https://t.co/GAADI39bpN — TMZ (@TMZ) December 2, 2016 "It was two people having a great conversation," Lahren said after being spotted at the Bowery Hotel with Noah. "You can be friends with people you disagree with." When asked about the online response to the interview, Lahren brushed it off. "You're going to watch me either way," she said, adding that she appreciated Noah's invitation and was "ready for round 2." Trevor and @TomiLahren discuss Black Lives Matter, the KKK, and Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest. https://t.co/3ZXncZSVdm pic.twitter.com/8YrybRYRBX — The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) December 1, 2016 Lahren and Noah also exchanged niceties on Twitter Friday, with Noah calling for the destruction of all bubbles: To my fans: Trevor Noah is not a douche or a jerk. To Trevor's fans: I'm not a bitch or c*nt. We are people with opposing views. That's it. — Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) December 1, 2016 Thank you for being my guest Tomi. Our goal should be to destroy these "bubbles" not each other. You're always welcome on my show. https://t.co/AairL3cdAy — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) December 1, 2016 Lahren's Black Lives Matter comments were discussed during the initial interview, with Noah pointing out the hypocrisy in many so-called conservatives' views on the activist group. "You are the same person who argued on your show that just because Trump has supporters from the KKK doesn't mean he's in the KKK," Noah said. "What if somebody said, 'I felt emboldened by Tomi Lahren so I went out and shot black people'? Are you now responsible?"

Former French Intel Chief: NATO Is Making Up Russian Threat to Justify Their Own Existence NATO is no longer necessary and the dissolution of the Soviet Union proves this. NATO justifies its entire existence by continuing to paint Russia as a security threat, Yves Bonnet, the former head of French counter-intelligence, said in a recent report by RT. Bonnet says the Russians, “are no longer ‘villains’, the Soviet threat has vanished – primarily because the USSR doesn’t exist anymore.” He goes on to say that the claims that Russia’s aggressive behavior is relevant is “exaggerated”. From the RT report: “I believe that NATO intentionally fuels the perception of Russia as a threat… Like any organization, the North Atlantic Alliance wants to continue existing and the only reason for prolonging its existence is you… the Russians,” he said. . . . In the current historic moment, NATO “isn’t a useful organization, but a dangerous one,” Bonnet said, adding that “the North Atlantic Alliance should be disbanded altogether.” “I saw what NATO did in Yugoslavia [in 1999], waging a war there without an international warrant… Now NATO is invading Afghanistan, although this country isn’t in the North Atlantic,” he said. The intelligence veteran slammed the bloc’s policies towards Russia, saying that “it makes no sense to make the Russians worry. It’s completely pointless to make [the Russians] nervous. Don’t tease the ‘Russian bear.’” Bonnet went on to say that he didn’t believe the Russians interfered in the recent French presidential elections, which was a claim voiced by leftist Emmanuel Macron and his associates: “I think that it’s exactly the opposite. The Russians didn’t interfere in the French election. But there was an open influence on the presidential campaign from numerous financial interests, both French and international, in particular Israeli, who supported the presidential campaign of Emmanuel Macron,” Bonnet said.

Wednesday: Pokémon Sun & Moon - News + PokéPark Wii - North American eShop by Serebii This update may be amended throughout the day so be sure to check back. If you have any ideas for the site, be sure to send them in With the generation continuing and Nationals coming up globally, and the Chatroom has been rife with discussion while the WiFi Chatroom has been a place for battles, trades and Friend Safari hunting, so be sure to visit them. Our Forums have also had these discussion and are a bustling trade and competitive section for the games. Be sure to like our FaceBook Page . Last Update: 19:00 BST Edit @ 19:00: PokéPark Wii In The Games Department Pokémon Sun & Moon The official Japanese Pokémon Twitter has confirmed that brand new information for Pokémon Sun & Moon is to be released on June 2nd 2016. It's not currently known what information will be revealed at this time but the second we get any more news it'll be posted right here so be sure to keep checking back. For all currently known information, check our Sun & Moon section In The Games Department PokéPark Wii - Pikachu's Adventure For those of you in North America, the Wii title, PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure is to hit the Wii U eShop tomorrow for $19.99. This game came out back in 2009 for the Wii and is an Action/Adventure game where you play as Pikachu as he explores the PokéPark, playing mini-games along the way. We covered this game in full back in 2009 so click the image to go to our section. Until Next Time, See Ya

Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersPush to end U.S. support for Saudi war hits Senate setback Sanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' MORE’s presidential campaign raised $15.6 million in the month of May, ending the month with more than $9.2 million in cash on hand, Federal Election Commission reports show. ADVERTISEMENT The influx of cash came even as the Democratic primary for president wound down, with Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE becoming the party's presumptive nominee earlier this month. Hillary Clinton’s campaign raised $28.28 million in May and has more than $42 million in cash on hand, according to monthly fundraising totals released on Monday afternoon. Her campaign noted, in a release breaking down the fundraising, that the average donation was about $44. Meanwhile, presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE's campaign finished May with just $1.3 million in the bank. Trump raised just $3.1 million for his campaign during May.

Oops. Republican U.S. Senate candidate for New Hampshire Scott Brown fell into a trap he has been working hard to avoid when he listed himself as a Massachusetts state senator in a recent campaign finance filing. The Federal Election Commission document, obtained by WMUR, features a receipt dated September 9, 2014, in which Brown lists “Commonwealth of MA” as the name of his employer and “state senator” under occupation. (Image courtesy of James Pindell, via WMUR) Brown served Massachusetts in the state house from 1998-2004, the state senate from 2004-2010 and in the U.S. Senate from 2010 until he lost to Elizabeth Warren in 2012. He moved to New Hampshire ahead of the 2014 election to run for Senate, anticipating a better chance of victory in the purple state. He’s currently in a dead heat with his opponent, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D). Brown’s campaign aides didn’t respond to WMUR or TPM’s queries for comment. An anonymous spokesperson told reporter Alexandra Jaffe of The Hill that the listing of Massachusetts was “a clerical error and the report is being amended and refiled accordingly.”

MONETA, Va. -- A TV reporter and cameraman were shot to death during a live television interview on CBS Roanoke affiliate WDBJ-TV Wednesday by a gunman who recorded himself carrying out the killings and posted the video on social media after fleeing the scene. Station GM's emotional reaction to news crew shooting Authorities identified the suspect as a journalist who had been fired from the station in 2013. Hours later and hundreds of miles away, he ran off the road and a trooper found him with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He died at a hospital later Wednesday. Virginia State Police Sgt. Rick Garletts said a license-plate reader alerted troopers to the suspect's vehicle. The shots Wednesday morning rang out on-air as reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were presenting a local tourism story at an outdoor shopping mall. Viewers saw her scream and run, and she could be heard saying "Oh my God," as she fell. Ward fell, too, and the camera he had been holding on his shoulder captured a fleeting image of the suspect holding a handgun. WDBJ quickly switched back to the anchor at the station, her eyes large and jaw dropping as she said, "OK, not sure what happened there." The station later went live again, reporting on their own station and staff as the story developed. Ex-ATF official on WDBJ shooting Parker and Ward were killed as the gunman fired about 15 shots. Their interview subject, Vicki Gardner, was in stable condition later Wednesday after surgery for her wounds. The gunman was Vester Lee Flanagan II, 41, of Roanoke, who appeared on WDBJ as Bryce Williams, authorities said. In an interview with CBSN, Jeffrey Marks, WDBJ's president and general manager, said Flanagan's name came to mind "instantly" when he heard about the shooting. Two journalists fatally shot during live on-air segment "He left here in a cloud ... We asked him to leave and that itself was difficult," Marks said. Marks said Flanagan had to be escorted by police out of the station when he was fired. Marks described him as "an unhappy man" and "difficult to work with," always "looking out for people to say things he could take offense to." "Eventually after many incidents of his anger coming to the fore, we dismissed him. He did not take that well," Marks explained. Vester Flanagan CBS News' Jeff Pegues reports that law enforcement sources say Flanagan purchased two glock pistols legally on July 10 from a gun store in Roanoke. Investigators have been to the store. Video posted hours after the shooting on Bryce Williams' Twitter account and Facebook page showed an outstretched arm holding the handgun and firing repeatedly at Parker as she tried to run away. The shooter appeared to walk up to the victims and stand a few feet away from them while holding the weapon. The three, in the midst of a live TV interview, do not seem to notice the gunman, who doesn't start shooting until Ward points the camera at Parker. Ward was engaged to a producer at the station, Melissa Ott, who was celebrating her last day on the job and was in the control room, watching it live, as the shooting unfolded, Marks said. Tweets posted on Williams' Twitter account Wednesday described workplace conflicts with both victims. They say Williams filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Parker, and that Ward had reported Williams to human resources. Marks said Williams alleged that other employees made racially tinged comments to him, but said his EEOC claim was dismissed and none of his allegations could be corroborated. "We think they were fabricated," Marks said. We love you, Alison and Adam. pic.twitter.com/hLSzQi06XE — WDBJ7 (@WDBJ7) August 26, 2015 ABC News reported on its website that the network received a 23-page fax from someone claiming to be Williams. The network said the fax was turned over to authorities. ABC News reports that a man using Williams' name called the network in the past few weeks asking to pitch a story and wanting to fax information. The organization says the man never said what the story was. Then, ABC News says, a fax arrived with a time stamp of 8:26 a.m. Wednesday, nearly two hours after the shooting in Virginia. He called the network just after 10 a.m., introducing himself as Bryce but saying that his legal name was Vester Lee Flanagan and that he had shot two people. That document is being analyzed by investigators, Franklin County Sheriff W.Q. "Bill" Overton Jr. said at a news conference. The 23-page document is a manifesto of sorts, saying he was motivated to kill his former co-workers after the recent Charleston church shootings. The document says Williams bought a gun June 19, two days after authorities say Dylann Roof killed nine people inside a black church. Police have called the Charleston massacre a racially motivated hate crime. According to the network, the man claiming to be Flanagan says in the "suicide note" that he was seeking revenge for racial discrimination, sexual harassment and workplace bullying he said he suffered as a gay black man. The document also cites the Virginia Tech and Columbine High School killers as influences. "This gentleman was disturbed at way things had turned out at some point in his life. Things were spiraling out of control," Overton said. President Obama spoke about the shooting during an interview Wednesday evening with CBS affiliate KIRO in Seattle, saying that his heart goes out to the victims and their families. "I think it's one more argument for why we need to look at how we can reduce gun violence in this country," Mr. Obama said. "Right now, the FBI has been helpful with local authorities in trying to solve what is really a tragic day." Both the victims were romantically involved with other employees at the station, according to Parker's boyfriend, WDBJ anchor Chris Hurst. He wrote online that they hadn't shared their relationship publicly but "were very much in love." He said they had just moved in together and wanted to get married. "I am numb," he said. We didn't share this publicly, but @AParkerWDBJ7 and I were very much in love. We just moved in together. I am numb. pic.twitter.com/tUrHVwAXcN — Chris Hurst (@chrishurstwdbj) August 26, 2015 We were together almost nine months. It was the best nine months of our lives. We wanted to get married.We just celebrated her 24th birthday — Chris Hurst (@chrishurstwdbj) August 26, 2015 The shooting happened around 6:45 a.m. at Bridgewater Plaza in Franklin County, as Parker interviewed Gardner about the upcoming 50th anniversary festivities for Smith Mountain Lake, a local tourism destination. Ward, 27, graduated from Virginia Tech and was engaged to a producer at the station, Melissa Ott, said WDBJ spokesman Mike Morgan. "Adam was our go-to guy. He pretty much was available to do anything that we asked," Morgan said. "He did live shots during our morning show for several years." Parker had just turned 24 and had joined the station as an intern after attending James Madison University, where she was the editor of the school's newspaper, The Breeze. According to her Facebook page, Parker spent most of her life outside Martinsville, Virginia. She was an avid kayaker and attended community theater events in her spare time. The station is based in Roanoke, Virginia, and serves the southwest and central part of the state. The shootings happened at a mall just off Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, about 25 miles southeast of Roanoke.

The goal of sonic treatment for movies and television is, in a way, to convince you that it doesn’t exist. Sure, we all have our favourite movie themes firmly implanted in our memories, but part of our appreciation for such music resides in the fact that it doesn’t get in the way of the story – it compliments the action, in some way strengthening our emotional connection with the scene. All the other sounds are designed to maintain the suspension of disbelief essential in conveying the plot to the audience. When this is done successfully, the audience can inhabit the world created by the story. And as such, the sonic elements that bring such a world into existence are meticulously curated and executed with precision. In this article, I’ll focus on a few of the basic roles that sounds engineers fill and some of the techniques they use to bring audio to life on the screen. What you hear on film is not always what you might imagine it might be. We take a look at the shadowy art of sound engineering for the pictures. At the Source Just like tracking a band, getting it right at the source is critical. Though much of the sound for film and television is recorded after the filming stage, there are a couple of important reasons, both practical and artistic, for the capturing of sound on location. Ambience To recreate a coherent and realistic sonic atmosphere for a scene, sound will be recorded on location. This is especially the case if the scene happens to take place in a unique sonic environment. If there is a scene in a rainforest for example, what better way to create genuine ambience than to capture the surrounding audio: water trickling in a nearby creek, distant birdsong, the leaves rustling. Even if these sounds were to be replaced later, it is important to have a reference for the potential sounds that may need to included later on. Which brings us to… Dialogue The communication between characters is integral to any story. Like the ambience recording, it may suit the dramatic arc to include on location dialog. More often than not, however, this isn’t case. The raw audio from dialog recording can be compromised by the extraneous ambient sounds and therefore unable to be used in the final mix. Post Production Beyond the on-location phase of recording, post production is where the bulk of audio is curated for a film project. Capturing sounds in a dedicated recording studio that is speedy and efficient enough to meet tight deadlines is essential for the incorporation of uncontaminated audio for the final mixdown. ADR Also known as “dubbing”, this stage of the audio production is completed in a studio in the post production phase. This is in a similar realm to voice over. As you can imagine, recalling the emotional terrain of the initial performance is a great challenge for the actors involved, so ADR is usually recorded with the aid of the original footage. “Looping” is another key term associated with this process. The original footage of the on screen dialog is looped for the actor to record their new dialog. As the footage continues to be looped, the goal for the actor is to precisely match the timing and rhythm of the filmed dialog, in order to make the syncing of picture and sound as smooth as possible (incidentally, the loop record function in Pro Tools makes this task very efficient – simply have the actor perform the slice of dialog in sync with a loop of the recorded footage and takes will be stored for convenient comping). Foley Similar in technique to ADR, “Foley recording” is the synchronising of customised sound effects to the action on screen. Though many sound effects can be efficiently recorded on location, the re-recording of these ambient sounds is essential for the creation of a coherent and authentic sonic palette for any given scene. Foley has a reputation for being one of the most creative and eccentric components soundtrack creation. A massive variety of materials needs to be used judiciously in the art of Foley to create a sense of believability in the incidental sounds in a scene. And though the recording of these sounds involves conventional methods, the studios need to accommodate a range of unique materials like water, sand, foodstuff to different types of flooring mention but a few – it can get messy! It’s important to shed light on these recording techniques. The audio world is a broad spectrum and it’s interesting to remember that sound can be designed to disappear into the background in service of the greater good. This doesn’t make the art any less deliberate or considered though. It’s created to be incidental, but it’s still created.

Customers should ensure that they are not using the same passwords elsewhere on the web. Earlier this week I wrote about the UK Automobile Association’s shambolic response to a reported data breach of its online accessories store which saw some customers’ personal information and partial credit card data exposed. The company appeared to be living in denial of the facts, claiming that no credit card data had been compromised… …even though it clearly had been… Things took a rather absurd twist when Edmund King, the President of the AA, contacted me suggesting I remove the above graphic as it might be “in breach of the Computer Misuse Act”. You can listen to the latest episode of the “Smashing Security” podcast to hear just what I thought of that… Smashing Security #032: ‘The iPhone 8, a data breach at the AA , and a mystery no show’ Your browser does not support this audio element. Listen on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Other… | RSS Anyway, the important thing now is that on Friday evening the AA finally admitted that it was wrong. Some payment card information was exposed, as well as other personal information and “encrypted” passwords. Customers would be wise to be on their guard against scammers, and you would be sensible to ensure that you are not reusing the same password anywhere on the net. Here is the full text of the AA’s apology: Important information about our AA Accessories Shop on-line customers’ personal data We’re sorry. We are aware of concerns that we fell short in our handling of reports that some personal data from the AA Shop on-line had been compromised. We accept the criticism that the issue should have been handled better. We are grateful for the support of the information security community in flagging issues to us. Some of our customers’ personal data, given to us when they shopped online at our AA shop, became insecure when our service provider made an error with its computer systems leaving backup data exposed. We took steps to correct this when we were notified of this issue and then commissioned an investigation by external experts. This is ongoing, but we can now share the following information: We have notified the relevant authorities. We have emailed all of the customers affected with more details. Some emails may still be going through. The data affected in all cases included names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. For some customers who shopped with us prior to October 2014 it will also have included partial payment card information. We do not believe customers who only shopped with us after January 2017 to have been affected at all. Some encrypted passwords were included in the data. Whilst we do not believe that customer accounts at our AA shop were accessed, we are reminding customers of industry advice that they should consider changing their password if they used it on other sites. We will offer support to our customers. Similarly, while there is no information from customers or our specialist advisors that any data has been used for fraudulent activity, we have reminded customers that they should always look out for phishing and other scams. shop were accessed, we are reminding customers of industry advice that they should consider changing their password if they used it on other sites. We will offer support to our customers. Similarly, while there is no information from customers or our specialist advisors that any data has been used for fraudulent activity, we have reminded customers that they should always look out for phishing and other scams. This incident originated from third party systems outside our own network and did not affect main AA systems such as those processing insurance or membership information. systems such as those processing insurance or membership information. Nonetheless, it is clear that our supplier’s security safeguards in this instance fell short of the high standards that we and our customers rightly expect. We know that our customers and the information security community expect and trust us to keep information safe and secure, and apologise wholeheartedly for what has happened. We will continue to work hard to keep customer data as safe as possible. We again thank those of you with an interest in these important matters for your cooperation in helping us improve our data security. Thank you. Edmund Edmund King OBE AA president What a difference in attitude a few days makes. Clearly the data breach notification could have been handled much better. In particular, users should have been informed when the breach was first brought to the AA’s attention in April rather than seemingly swept under the carpet. Still, better late than never I guess…

Image copyright NIAID Image caption A 39-year-old woman was the first volunteer to receive the experimental Ebola vaccine The first human trial of an experimental vaccine against Ebola suggests that it is safe and may help the immune system to combat the virus. Twenty volunteers were immunised in the United States. Scientists at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) described the results as "promising". The research is published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). None of those immunised suffered major side-effects and all produced antibodies. Dr Anthony Fauci of the NIH told the BBC: "On safety and on the ability to produce an appropriate immune response we can call this trial an unqualified success, even though it was an early Phase One trial." The volunteers were divided into two groups, receiving either a low or high dose. The antibody response was stronger among those receiving the higher dose. The investigators found that seven of the high dose and two of the low dose volunteers produced T-cell immune responses, which may be important in protection against Ebola viruses. The vaccine uses a chimpanzee cold virus which has been genetically engineered to carry a non-infectious Ebola protein on its surface. Image copyright AFP Image caption A health worker in Conakry, Guinea, wearing protective clothing to treat victims There are four trials under way of this experimental vaccine. The US vaccine is bivalent - aimed at giving protection against the Sudan and Zaire strains of Ebola. It is the latter which is responsible for the current outbreak. Trials of a monovalent vaccine - against the Zaire strain - are also under way in Oxford, Mali and Switzerland. If these also yield positive results then the monovalent vaccine will be offered to thousands of health workers in West Africa. Dr Fauci said: "It will be this large Phase Two/Three trial in West Africa which will show whether the vaccine works and is really safe." He added: "If the outbreak is still going on six months from now and the vaccine at that point is shown to be effective, it could have a very positive impact on the current epidemic." But he said the long-term aim was to produce a vaccine which would protect against future outbreaks. If the vaccine does work, it is unclear how long the protection would last. Indemnity agreement These kinds of questions are usually settled during the early stages of human trials. But such is the pressing humanitarian need for something which protects against Ebola, the whole trial process is being accelerated at unprecedented speed. In an editorial in the NEJM Dr Daniel Bausch said that while the trial left many questions unanswered, an Ebola vaccine was "one step closer". The experimental vaccine is being manufactured by the British drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The company says it can produce one million doses a month by the end of 2015. This will require a significant financial outlay. It is asking for an indemnity agreement in case problems such as unforeseen side effects were to emerge in the future. GSK's chief executive Sir Andrew Witty told the BBC: "We are not waiting for that to be settled [but] it is obvious there are some risks that companies should not be expected to carry on their own."

Revised October 9, 2007 In the late seventies, I went on an Ayn Rand craze. I read most of her works, fiction and non-fiction. I recall sitting in the student center at Bethel College as a young professor of Bible reading Atlas Shrugged. An Old Testament professor from the seminary walked by and saw what I was reading. He paused and said, “That stuff is incredibly dangerous.” He was right. For a certain mindset, she is addicting and remarkably compelling in her atheistic rationalism. To this day, I find her writings paradoxically attractive. I am a Christian Hedonist. This is partly why her work is alluring to me. She had her own brand of hedonism. It was not traditional hedonism that says whatever gives you pleasure is right. Hers was far more complex than that. It seems so close and yet so far to what I find in the Bible. So in this essay, my goals are to introduce Ayn Rand, to describe briefly her impact as a novelist and philosopher, and to assess her ethical theory from a Christian perspective—specifically from the perspective of Christian Hedonism. Though the original form of this essay was written almost thirty years ago, I have had to change very little. Cogent Christian responses to Ayn Rand are few. Positive Christian assessments are almost non-existent. I aim for this treatment to be both Christian and primarily positive, even though Ayn Rand was an atheist and outspokenly anti-Christian. I trust I will be forgiven the presumption of stepping outside my own specialty: My field is neither literary criticism nor philosophy but biblical, theological and pastoral. I write this because I take pleasure in extending to others the delight I have had in learning from Ayn Rand. Who Is Ayn Rand?1 Ayn (rhymes with “pine”) Rand was best known as the author of the novels Atlas Shrugged (1957), The Fountainhead (1943), and We the Living (1936) which together sold over twelve million copies.2 She was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1905, graduated with a degree in history from the University of Leningrad in 1924, and emigrated to the United States in 1926. “I am an American by choice and conviction,” she wrote, “I was born in Europe, but I came to America because this was the country based on my moral premises and the only country where I could be fully free to write.”3 In 1929, she married Frank O’Connor whom she had met (ironically) at Cecil B. de Mille’s Hollywood Studio during the production of The King of Kings. Until The Fountainhead established her as a novelist, Ayn Rand worked as a screenwriter, a filing clerk, a typist, a script reader, and a freelance writer. In 1958, soon after the publication of Atlas Shrugged, Nathaniel Branden, whom Ayn Rand calls her “intellectual heir,”4 began to offer a periodic series of lectures on the basic principles of Objectivism—the philosophy which Ayn Rand had developed in her novels. Together Rand and Branden published The Objectivist Newsletter from 1962 to 1968. This periodical, which applied Rand’s philosophy to contemporary events, was selling over 60,000 copies monthly before Branden ceased to be associated with the project in 1968. From 1968 to 1976, Rand produced a monthly four-page tract called The Ayn Rand Letter which reached a circulation of 15,000. She announced her decision to stop publishing the Letter with these words, “I intend to return, full time to my primary work: writing books. The state of today’s culture is so low that I do not care to spend my time watching and discussing it.”5 The Impact of Ayn Rand Dr. Ruth Alexander once said in The New York Mirror, “Ayn Rand is destined to rank in history as [an] outstanding novelist and profound philosopher of the twentieth century.”6 Whether or not this historical judgment will prove true in the long run, we may surely say with M. Stanton Evans that the sheer success of her novels in the book market (over twelve million sold) “suggests she has touched some vital nerve deep within the exhausted tissue of our culture. . . .”7 Despite her success the literary establishment considers her an outsider. Almost to a man critics have either ignored or denounced the Book [Atlas Shrugged]. She is in exile among the philosophers too . . . . [L]iberals glower at the very mention of her name, but conservatives too swallow hard when she begins to speak. For Ayn Rand whether anyone likes it or not is sui generis: indubitably, irrevocably, intransigently individual.8 These words of Alvin Toffler were confirmed when one surveyed the critical opinions of Rand’s work. While Nathaniel Branden declared Atlas Shrugged to be “the most original and challenging novel of our age,”9 Newsweek branded the book “a masochist’s lollipop which runs to 1168 pages.”10 Other critics were just as negative, if not as creative: “execrable claptrap,” “a pitiful exercise in something akin to paranoia,” “longer than life and twice as preposterous,” “the worse piece of fiction since The Fountainhead.”11 James Collins, professor of philosophy at St. Louis University, regarded Rand’s writing as “free-floating harangue.”12 Perhaps the most wholesale condemnation came from freelance critic Bruce Cook in The Catholic World: Miss Rand is a profoundly poor writer. To say that her plots are absurdly tendentious, her characters no more than wooden puppets and her diction utterly without grace or beauty (all of which is quite true) is to give no real idea of the quality of her novels, they are completely bad from conception to expression.13 Not only her fiction but also her underlying philosophy, Objectivism, received mainly negative criticism (except at the grassroots, see below). Besides Branden’s sympathetic “Analysis of the Novels of Ayn Rand,”14 there were two major studies on Objectivism both of which were almost entirely negative. Albert Ellis wrote Is Objectivism a Religion? to show that any resemblance between Objectivism and a truly rational approach to human existence is purely coincidental; that Objectivist teachings are unrealistic, dogmatic, and religious; that unless they are greatly modified in their tone and their content they are likely to create more harm than good for the believer in their way of life; and that they result in a system of psychotherapy that is inefficient and unhelpful.15 William F. O’Niell wrote the most detailed and scholarly critique of Objectivism called With Charity Toward None: An Analysis of Ayn Rand’s Philosophy. While his conclusions were negatively critical, he did grant that “whatever else Miss Rand may have achieved, she continues to serve as a useful intellectual catalyst in a society which frequently suffers from philosophical ‘tired blood.’”16 Probably more indicative of establishment sentiments, however, were the philosophical potshots taken in the popular press. Charles Shroder, in a typically vague and platitudinous critique said that “Miss Rand’s ideas appear to be a century or so out of date” and “her philosophical system is just another philosophy of retarded conservatism.”17 Joel Rosenbloon accused her of a “sophomoric analysis of the history of Western philosophy” and added that her own philosophy is “largely pretentious nonsense.”18 Miss Rand’s thought was described as “a sort of Nietzscheism-gone-rabid”19 and she was attacked as an anarchist and an incipient Hitler20 whose “grasp of logic is uncertain” and whose philosophy “is nearly perfect in its immorality.”21 But at the grassroots level, the story of Ayn Rand’s impact was different. All over the country, Randian enthusiasts discussed her books with an almost religious fervor. They still do in 2007. In business luncheons and dormitory bull sessions and neighborhood conversations, the glories of John Galt, Howard Roark, and Leo Kovalensky (Rand’s three heroes) were extolled, and the philosophy they embodied was applied to American culture. Typical conversion stories would include the following. A student recalls, “I was born a Catholic, but I just can’t believe in the gaudiness and fanciness of the Catholic church. I like Howard Roark’s worship of man much better.” A coed in the Midwest who didn’t say what church she had formerly belonged to remarked proudly, “It was only a few weeks after I read Atlas Shrugged that I left the church.”22 A Manhattan retail store executive described his experience after reading The Fountainhead: “I had found my spiritual home.”23 How much Ayn Rand’s philosophy had grown up from the grassroots into the minds of those with governmental power was hard to say. But in September, 1974, Time reported that Alan Greenspan, the Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, was a longtime friend and disciple of Ayn Rand.24 In my judgment, Ayn Rand was a very important intellectual voice in America and must be seriously reckoned with if for no other reason than the wide readership her novels have received and are still receiving in the 21st century. But there are other reasons. When first reading Atlas Shrugged and especially the speech of John Galt, which Rand says is the briefest summary of her philosophy,25 I was continually provoked to deeper and clearer perception and thought. I did not share the undifferentiated condemnations against her fiction, which was the among most enthralling I had ever read, or her philosophy, which as O’Neill said was at least “refreshingly abrasive.”26 But even more, Ayn Rand was right on some fundamental issues. The reason I have written this essay is to distinguish between some of the basic truths and errors in her teaching. Or to put it another way, I wanted to ferret out why I was both attracted and repulsed by her philosophy. I choose to focus on her ethics for two reasons: First, because as Toffler says, “Her philosophy . . . encompasses more than economics or politics. Primarily it sets forth a new kind of ethics . . .”27 Second, because her essay, “The Objectivist Ethics,” was the best distillation of her philosophy I read. The Ethics of Ayn Rand: Restatement The best one sentence summary of Ayn Rand’s thought came from the appendix to her greatest novel, Atlas Shrugged: “My philosophy in essence is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity and reason as his only absolute” (1085). As an atheist and a thoroughgoing laissez-faire capitalist (F, viii),28 she opposed all philosophies and ethical systems based on supernaturalism or collectivism. The one opposes and destroys man’s life on earth by calling for self-sacrifice in hope of a non-existent future life; the other opposes and destroys man’s life by demanding his self-immolation for the sake of an ethereal entity called society. For Ayn Rand, all the emotions of exaltation, worship, reverence, grandeur, and nobility which religion arrogated to God, and collectivism arrogated to society, belonged in fact to man as a rational individual. Thus she said in a commencement address in 1963, “This is the motive and purpose of my writing: the projection of an ideal man.”29 She wanted to portray her characters so that “the pleasure of contemplating these characters is an end in itself” (F, vii). Accordingly, she designated “the sense of life dramatized in The Fountainhead as man-worship” (F, ix). Ayn Rand’s most fundamental premise was, in the words of John Galt, “The axiom that existence exists” (FNI, 124; AS, 942). Then a corollary premise was that man is a conscious being who perceives this existing reality. These two, existence and consciousness, were fundamental, inescapable axioms in any action we undertake: “Whether you know the shape of a pebble or the structure of a solar system, the axioms remain the same: that it exists and that you know it” (FNI, 125; AS, 942). Implied in these two axioms was the law of identity and the law of non-contradiction. A is A; a stone is a stone and not a flower; a thing is what it is and not something else; you cannot have your cake and eat it too. That is the law of identity. Existence is not wishy-washy but a firm base for epistemology. The law of non-contradiction then is the epistemological form of the law of identity: You cannot know A to be A and at the same time know A to be not-A. Two mutually exclusive assertions cannot both be known to be true at the same time. “A contradiction does not exist . . . . To arrive at a contradiction is to confess an error in one’s thinking; to maintain a contradiction is to abdicate one’s mind and to evict oneself from the realm of reality” (FNI, 126; AS, 943). Thus for Ayn Rand, existence and consciousness were coordinate, so that existence or reality was always the standard by which the validity of the judgments of consciousness was measured. To put it another way, metaphysics (“that which pertains to reality, to the nature of things, to existence,” VS, 14) is the foundation and arbiter of epistemology. (See her critique of Kant’s bifurcation of phenomenal and noumenal, FNI, 30f.) In a similar way, metaphysics functioned as the basis of Rand’s axiology, her system of values. Just as being is the foundation of knowing, so it is the foundation of duty. What is prescribes what ought to be. As she said in “The Objectivist Ethics,” “The validation of value judgments is to be achieved by reference to the facts of reality. The fact that a living entity is determines what it ought to do.” This premise must be grasped to understand Rand’s ethical system. Rand argued that “life is the only phenomenon that is an end in itself” (VS, 17). She did not mean mere existence, but rather the life appropriate to the nature of the organism. No more ultimate value than life can be conceived for any given organism when life is defined as the fullness of existence appropriate to one’s nature. But not only is life the highest value of any given organism; life is also that alone which makes the concept of values possible (VS, 16). For, since a “value is that which one acts to gain and/or keep . . . it presupposes an entity capable of acting to achieve a goal in the face of an alternative” (VS, 15). Therefore, without life values are not possible, and so life must be valuable since on it hangs the very validity of the concept of values. If one is to conceive of values at all, he must ascribe value to life or else contradict himself by devaluing that which makes his very devaluation possible. It follows from this that “an organism’s life is its standard of value: that which furthers its life is the good, that which threatens it is the evil” (VS, 17). Or, to be more specific with regard to man, “The standard of value of the Objectivist ethics . . . is man’s life, or: that which is required for man’s survival qua man.” (VS, 23). Again, it is not mere survival, but survival proper to man’s nature. What is this nature? Man’s distinction from the lower forms of life is this: “his consciousness is volitional” (VS, 20) and the knowledge upon which his survival as man depends and which he must achieve by the use of his volition is conceptual rather than merely perceptual (VS, 20). The uniquely human method of using consciousness Rand called “conceptualizing” and describes like this: It is not a passive state of registering random impressions. It is an actively sustained process of identifying one’s impressions in conceptual terms, of integrating every event, and every observation into a conceptual context, of grasping relationships, differences, similarities in one’s perceptual material and of abstracting them into new concepts, of drawing inferences, of making deductions, of reaching conclusions, of asking new questions, and discovering new answers and expanding one’s knowledge into an ever-growing sum. The faculty that directs this process, the faculty that works by means of concepts, is: reason. The process is thinking (VS, 20). If man is to be man he must will to think. His basic means of survival is reason. “No percepts and no instincts will tell him how to light a fire, how to weave a cloth, how to forge tools, how to make a wheel, how to make an airplane, how to perform an appendectomy, how to produce an electric light bulb or an electronic tube or a cyclotron or a box of matches. Yet his life depends on such knowledge—and only a volitional act of his consciousness, a process of thought, can provide it” (VS, 21). The next step in Rand’s ethics was this: Since man’s uniqueness consists in, and his survival depends on, the volitional use of his reason, therefore “that which is proper to the life of a rational being is the good; and that which negates, opposes or destroys it is the evil” (VS, 23). The standard by which every man determines good and evil is the survival or fulfillment of his own life as a rational being. The basic ethical commitment of Ayn Rand was to be rational. That is, she sought a life that accorded with the fact that A is A, and no contradiction in one’s thinking or acting is to be tolerated. Thus in designating her standard of ethics as “rational self-interest,” the emphasis had to fall on the word “rational.” All the virtues follow from this rationality. I will cite several examples. Independence: This is your commitment to think for yourself and to accept the burden and responsibility of your own rational life (FNI, 128). Integrity: This is the conviction that man is an indivisible entity and that no breach can be permitted between body and mind, between action and thought, between his life and his convictions (FNI, 129; AS, 945). To forsake integrity is to try to fake your own consciousness, to think yes and do no, to live a contradiction. Honesty: “This is the recognition of the fact that the unreal is unreal and can have no value, that neither love nor fame nor cash is a value if obtained by fraud . . . honesty . . . is the most profoundly selfish virtue man can practice: his refusal to sacrifice the reality of his own existence to the deluded consciousness of others” (FNI, 129; AS, 945). Justice: This is the recognition of the fact that you cannot fake the character of men. A is A and you cannot identify a person as A and treat him as non-A. “Every man must be judged for what he is and treated accordingly . . . just as you do not pay a higher price for a rusty chunk of scrap than for a piece of shining metal, so you do not value a rotter above a hero . . . To withhold your contempt from men’s vices is an act of moral counterfeiting, and to withhold your admiration from their virtues is an act of moral embezzlement” (FNI, 129; AS, 946). The virtue of justice has vast implications for inter-human relations. It affirms that “the principle of trade is the only rational ethical principle for all human relationships, personal and social, private and public, spiritual and material” (VS, 31). Justice means that “one must never seek or grant the unearned and undeserved, neither in matter nor in spirit” (VS, 26). Hence, the heroes of Atlas Shrugged take this oath: “I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine” (AS, 680, 993). All self-sacrifice is evil because “sacrifice is the surrender of a greater value for the sake of a lesser one or of non-value. Thus altruism gauges a man’s virtue by the degree to which he surrenders, renounces or betrays his values (since help to a stranger or an enemy is regarded as more virtuous, less ‘selfish’ than help to those one loves). The rational principle of conduct is the exact opposite: always act in accordance with the hierarchy of your values and never sacrifice a greater value to a lesser one” (VS, 44). To forsake this ambition is to forsake the only standard by which rational choices can be made. The man who loses his ambition to achieve his own values loses his ambition to live (FNI, 130; AS, 946). He thus forsakes the ground and standard of any rational ethics and must opt for some mystic (God), social (society), or subjectivist (desire) theory of ethics (VS, 34). In this way Ayn Rand provides the philosophical underpinnings of her ethics. To sum it up again in her words: “My philosophy in essence is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity and reason as his only absolute” (AS, 1085). The Ethics of Ayn Rand: Appreciation I agree with Ayn Rand that if man is to survive and live as man, he must live by his reason. That is he must think clearly about reality and make judgments on the basis of what he perceives to be real. “Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?” Jesus asked (Luke 12:57; see 1 Corinthians 10:15; 11:13). It is true that whatever negates, opposes, or destroys rationality or logic is evil. Blind faith is not a virtue. John Galt, the hero of Atlas Shrugged, is right when he says: Do not say that you’re afraid to trust your mind because you know so little. Are you safer in surrendering to mystics and discarding the little you do know? Live and act within the limit of your knowledge and keep expanding it to the limit of your life. Redeem your mind from the hock-shops of authority. Accept the fact that you are not omniscient, but playing a zombie will not give you omniscience—that your mind is fallible but becoming mindless will not make you infallible—that an error made on your own is safer than ten truths accepted on faith, because the first leaves you the means to correct it, but the second destroys your capacity to distinguish truth from error. (FNI, 178; AS, 982) No concept man forms is valid unless he integrates it without contradiction into the total sum of his knowledge. To arrive at a contradiction is to confess an error in one’s thinking; to maintain a contradiction is to abdicate one’s mind and to evict oneself from the realm of reality (FNI, 126; AS, 943). The necessity and rightness of rationality is, so far as I can see, unimpeachable. Accordingly, I am willing to follow her defense of the virtues of independence (making one’s own judgments), integrity (practicing what you preach), honesty (maintaining a freedom from contradiction between your words and your convictions), and productivity (the ambitious struggle to achieve your values). I agree without reserve that one should “always act in accordance with the hierarchy of one’s values and never sacrifice a greater value to a lesser one” (VS, 44). And so long as Rand defines self-sacrifice as “the surrender of a greater value for the sake of a lesser one” (VS, 44), I will agree that all self-sacrifice is evil. She was right that the rational man should be dedicated to “the goal of reshaping the earth in the image of his values” (VS, 26). Since your values are determined by the reality of who you are as a rational man, the struggle to achieve your values is the struggle to live. But the ambition and effort to experience life as a man is merely the existential form of the ambition (in psychological form) to be happy (VS, 29). Rand makes it very clear that by happiness she does not mean just any kind of pleasure. Self-interest must be qualified by “rational” (VS, 60): only that which is proper to a rational being is good and the ground of true happiness (VS, 23). This is why she opposes traditional hedonism which declares that “the proper value is whatever gives you pleasure” (VS, 30). Happiness, for Ayn Rand, “is a state of non-contradictory joy—a joy without penalty or guilt, a joy that does not clash with any of your values and does not work for your own destruction” (VS, 29). On the basis of this definition, I am willing to say yes to the following sentence: “The achievement of his own happiness is man’s highest moral purpose” (VS, 27). The meaning of this sentence is not that a feeling is exalted above the nature of reality in guiding our choices. The sentence rests on the conviction that reality is such that true happiness—“non-contradictory joy”—is the inevitable outcome of a life devoted to the principle that A is A, and that there is no true joy to be found in faking reality in any way. For the rational man, the aim to be happy is the aim to realize his values, and the aim to realize his values is the aim to live as a man, and the aim to live as a man is an effort to take reality seriously, to respond properly to the axiom A is A, Man is Man (FNI, 125; AS, 942). I cannot fault the basic validity of this approach to ethics. It is my own, as far as it goes. The Ethics of Ayn Rand: Critique It may have been noticed that in the list of Rand’s virtues above, which I condoned, justice and pride were omitted. This is not because I disagree with everything she said about them, but because the Christian cannot follow her consistently at these points. Rand argued that one must never “grant the unearned or undeserved, neither in matter nor in spirit” (VS, 26). Men must deal with each other as traders not as looters and parasites. The Christian, on the other hand, is instructed: “bless those who curse you” (Luke 6:28). In short, Ayn Rand has no place for mercy, whereas Christianity has mercy at its heart. Why was there this conflict here? I think it was due to Rand’s thoroughgoing immanentalism: the complete rejection of a divine or supernatural dimension to reality. If she was right in her atheism and naturalism, then I think her system was consistent at the point of demanding only justice. Given the scope of reality that Ayn Rand took into account, the axiom A is A demands that men always trade value for value. But if Ayn Rand was wrong about God, if he exists, and, as St. Paul said, “made the world and everything in it . . . and is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24f), if such a God exists (and Ayn Rand offered no argument to the contrary, only the assertion),30 then a radically new dimension of reality must be reckoned with and a corresponding new value should guide man’s behavior. The new fact of reality is that God cannot be traded with as a man. There is nothing that man can offer to God that is not already his. You cannot exchange value for value with one from whom you have life, breath, and everything. You must, as a creature, own up to your total dependence on mercy and be content with it or, by an act of irrational rebellion, evict yourself from the realm of reality and try to live a contradiction. In view of the nature of reality, the rational man’s highest value will be the admiration and enjoyment of his Maker and Redeemer. This value implies at least three others: First, it implies the value of knowing and being with God. The virtues that aim to achieve this value are study of and meditation upon divine realities. The second value implied in my admiration of God is the value of summoning others to see how valuable God is so that they can admire and enjoy his excellence. This is implied because it is a psychological necessity to want to increase my joy in God’s beauty by admiring it in another’s admiration for it. When the beauty of God is reflected in my neighbor’s delight in that beauty, my joy in that beauty is compounded. The virtue which aims to achieve this value is called evangelism or witness or apologetics. The third value implied in my admiration and enjoyment of God is a style of behavior in inter-human relationships which advertises the value I place upon the mercy of God. It is precisely here where Ayn Rand’s contempt for mercy would have to be altered. If I am to be true to my highest value—the excellence of God including his mercy—my behavior will have to reflect it in merciful acts. Ayn Rand’s devastating criticism of altruism missed the point of Christian mercy.31 She could only conceive of mercy in terms of our sacrificing our greater values to lesser ones. The Christian sacrifices no values in blessing those who curse him, nor is his behavior causeless or aimless. It is an achievement of his own dependence on and love for the merciful God. It is caused by God’s mercy, and it aims to transform the enemy into one who treasures God above all things. It is thus a self-benefiting act, compounding, as it does, the joy of the believer. What Ayn Rand means by altruism is indeed ugly and can be seen best in the words of Lillian Rearden to her husband in Atlas Shrugged. Here is the essence of the evil of altruism, as Rand saw it: If you tell a beautiful woman that she is beautiful, what have you given her? It’s no more than a fact and it costs you nothing. But if you tell an ugly woman that she is beautiful you offer her the great homage of corrupting the concept of beauty. To love a woman for her virtues is meaningless. She’s earned it, it’s a payment, not a gift. But to love her for her vices is to defile all virtue for her sake—and that is a real tribute of love, because you sacrifice your conscience, your reason, your integrity and your invaluable self-esteem (AS, 290). Since Ayn Rand had no place for a sovereign all-sufficient God who cannot be traded with, she did not reckon with any righteous form of mercy. All the antagonists of her books were corrupt by almost any standard and surely by a Christian one. It is indeed evil to love a person “for their vices”; it is evil “to give unearned respect” (AS, 367). But mercy in the Christian sense is not respect, nor is it a payment for someone’s vices. It is not “because of” vices, but “in spite of” vices. It is not intended to reward evil, but to reveal the bounty of God who cannot be traded with but only freely admired and enjoyed. It aims not to corrupt or compromise integrity, but to transform the values of the enemy into the values of Christ. While it may mean the sacrifice of some temporal pleasures, it is never the sacrifice of my values and so is never self-less. But the sacrifice of lower values to higher ones—a night’s rest for the timely delivery of a steel shipment—such sacrifice Ayn Rand believed in deeply. Therefore, Ayn Rand’s philosophy did not need to be entirely scrapped. Rather, it needed to take all of reality into account, including the infinite God. In this case her own premise—A is A—would have demand an alteration in what she conceived as rational and how she evaluated mercy. Since she claimed to “provide men . . . with an integrated and consistent view of life,” this alteration would have meant a rebuilding of the whole structure. No detail of her philosophy would have been left untouched. But enough has been said here. That reconstruction is the job of a lifetime. That is where the original essay ended. She was living at the time. She died on March 6, 1982. I sent her a copy with a personal letter, pleading that she rethink her ethics by taking all of reality into account, namely, the all-embracing reality of God. I don’t know if she ever received or read the letter or the essay. Her way of looking at the world strikes me still today in 2007 as amazingly perceptive and tragically provincial. So much in the world is seen so with a kind of truncated accuracy. But leaving God out of account distorts all reality. May the Lord give us eyes to see the world with as much sharpness as Ayn Rand, and with far more fullness and truth. Footnotes 1 The only authorized biography of Ayn Rand is “A Biographical Essay” in Nathaniel Branden and Barbara Branden, Who is Ayn Rand?, (New York: Random House, 1962), pp. 149-239. It is an interesting but idealized portrait that reads just like a Rand novel. 2 “The Chairman’s Favorite Author,” Time, 104 (1974), p. 87. These numbers continue to climb and Atlas Shrugged is ranked #222 today (10-9-07) on Amazon. 3 “About the Author” in appendix to Atlas Shrugged, (New York: Signet, 1957), p. 1085. 4 John Kobler, “The Curious Cult of Ayn Rand,” Saturday Evening Post, 11 November, 1961, p. 91. 5 Time, 107 (1976), p. 32. 6 Cited in Bruce Cook, “Ayn Rand: A Voice in the Wilderness,” Catholic World, 201 (May, 1965), p. 119. 7 “The Gospel According to Ayn Rand,” National Review, 19 (October 3, 1967), p. 1060. In 1991 there was a wide-ranging survey that ranked Atlas Shrugged only behind the Bible as the book people said influenced them most. Most consider the claim exaggerated, but it points to a very significant impact (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_rand#_note-17). 8 Alvin Toffler, “Ayn Rand: A Candid Conversation with the ‘Fountainhead’ of ‘Objectivism,’“ Playboy, 11 (March, 1964), p. 35. 9 Who is Ayn Rand?, p. 5 10 “Born Eccentric,” Newsweek, 21 (March 27, 1961), p. 104. 11 “The Curious Cult of Ayn Rand,” p. 99. 12 “The State of the Question,” America, (July 29, 1961), p. 569. 13 “Ayn Rand: A Voice in the Wilderness,” p. 122. 14 Who is Ayn Rand?, pp. 1-148. 15 Is Objectivism a Religion? (New York: Lyle Stuart, Inc., 1968), p. 11. 16 With Charity Toward None, (New York: Philosophical Library, 1971), p. 14. 17 “Ayn Rand: Far Right Prophetess,” Christian Century, 78 (December 13, 1961), p. 1494. 18 “The Ends and Means of Ayn Rand,” The New Republic, 144 (October 24, 1961), p. 29. (For a perceptive and balanced critique of her understanding of history see M. Stanton Evans, “The Gospel According to Ayn Rand.”) 19 “Ayn Rand: A Voice in the Wilderness,” p. 123. 20 “The Gospel According to Ayn Rand,” p. 1059. 21 Gore Vidal, “Comment,” Esquire, 56 (July, 1961), p. 27. This attack was effectively answered in a following issue: Leonard Peikopf, “Atlas Shrieked,” Esquire, 56 (October, 1961), p. 20. 22 Originally told by Robert L. White in New University Thought (Autumn, 1962). These and other accounts are recounted in “Ayn Rand: A Voice in the Wilderness.” 23 Dora J. Hamblin, “The Cult of Ayn Rand,” Life, 62 (April 7, 1967), p. 95. 24 “The Chairman’s Favorite Author,” p. 87. 25 The speech is printed separately in For the New Intellectual (New York: Signet, 1961), pp. 117-192. 26 With Charity Toward None, p. 15. 27 “Ayn Rand: A Candid Conversation,” p. 35. 28 In the rest of the essay, I will use the following abbreviations of the Signet paperback editions of her works: Atlas Shrugged (AS), The Fountainhead (F), For the New Intellectual (FNI), The Virtue of Selfishness (VS). 29 The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature, (New York: World Pub. Co., 1969), p. 160. 30 That is, in all the works I have read, atheism is assumed. If she argued for this position, I am not aware of it. 31 This problem of shooting down a bogus altruism is addressed by William O’Neill in With Charity Toward None, pp. 201ff, but not from a Christian perspective.

Pontiff’s reply to journalist asking about church’s position is not change in stance, but will disappoint advocates of change Pope Francis has ruled out a woman ever serving as a priest in the Roman Catholic church. The declaration is not a change in stance for the Argentinian pope, who has always said the door was closed on women being ordained as priests. But when he was asked and then pressed on the matter by a Swedish journalist during a press conference onboard the papal plane, Francis suggested the ban would be eternal. “Saint Pope John Paul II had the last clear word on this and it stands, this stands,” Francis said in his initial response, referring to a 1994 document stating that women could never join the priesthood. 'Some women disobey': Rome poster campaign challenges Catholic ban on female priests Read more “But for ever, for ever? Never, never?” the reporter asked in a follow-up question, as the papal delegation flew back to Rome from Sweden on Tuesday. Francis replied: “If we read carefully the declaration by St John Paul II, it is going in that direction.” The pope went on to say women did “many other things better than men”, emphasising what has been called the “feminine dimension of the church”. “People ask me: ‘Who is more important in the theology or in the spirituality of the church, the apostles or Mary, on the day of Pentecost?’ It is Mary,” he said. He then added: “More.” But Francis’s praise of women will do little to comfort feminist Catholics who want women to have a broader role in the church, including ordination. The church has always responded to criticism of the ban on women by pointing out that Jesus only chose men as his apostles. Proponents of a change argue, among other points, that the church is facing a shortage of priests. Francis seemed to open the possibility that women might become ordained deacons earlier this year, when he commissioned a study of the role female deacons played in the early church. Women have been barred from the priesthood for centuries. Under current rules, deacons are ordained similarly to ministers, and are men. While they cannot celebrate mass, they are allowed to preach and conduct some ceremonies, including baptisms, wakes and funerals. The pope’s remarks came a day after he signed a joint declaration with Lutherans, which commemorated the Reformation and stated that the two Christian traditions had more in common than differences. When he landed in Sweden, Francis was greeted by the female head of the Swedish Lutheran church, Antje Jackelén. The issue of women’s inequality in the Catholic church remains a hot topic among activists, despite Francis’s position. At a recent gathering, representatives of Catholic priest movements and international lay organisations called for reform on issues including equality for women and LGBT rights. In a statement released by organisers, Kate McElwee, the co-executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference, said: “In this space, we wrestled with the damaging effects of oppressive structures, knowing that patriarchy and hierarchy hurt us all. “We discovered, time and again, that by sharing as equals and asking hard questions, we can transform ourselves, our church and our world.”

There is a very old symbol that journalists use to mark the end of a story. The characters “-30-“, when placed at the bottom of the copy, signify the writer is finished. The origin of the so-called “end mark” has a murky history but some believe it is a modern translation of XXX, the Roman numerals journalists used to type at the end of copy. In this increasingly digital time the end mark has largely fallen into disuse, an anachronism that like both the typewriter and longhand copy has largely disappeared. But for me, that -30- has a special meaning. In December I marked 30 years with The Vancouver Sun as a reporter and editor. It is time I place that mark at the end of my own story with a newspaper I have loved and served. In leaving the combined newsroom that now puts out both The Sun and its sister, The Province I end a daily reporter’s career that has been immensely challenging and rewarding. It is a career that has taken me to extremes, geographically, physically and socially. All told I have spent nearly 40 years as a news reporter, much of the first decade working in some of B.C.’s more interesting weekly newspapers. I place a lot of weight for the trajectory of my career on Jack Reid, the publisher of the once fiercely-independent Hope Standard, a weekly at the eastern edge of the Fraser Valley. From the moment Reid, a tall, balding – and on the face of it – perpetually grumpy old man hired me as a wet-behind-the-ears 20-year-old, I have been in love with story-telling and the hard but rewarding craft of journalism. “It’s the who, what, where, when, why that counts – and don’t forget it is ‘rink’ and not ‘team’ in curling” – Jack Reid, The Hope Standard. Along the path of my career I have met interesting and unforgettable people. I have had a front-row seat to history in which most people never get to sit. I have watched as technology changed the way we do things and sped up the world. My first stories for Jack as a correspondent from the Fraser Canyon (no kidding!) were written on an old 1940’s Royal KMM typewriter, which I still have. Ours was a tiny hot-metal job shop, with an old Linotype on which Jack would set galleys of type for business forms, which would then be printed on a platen press. Our paper was printed in Abbotsford, and I would deliver copies up and down the Fraser Canyon in an old 1969 Datsun 210. Long after the computer replaced the typewriter and hot metal gave way to offset printing, I still love the tactile touch of keys and the message it sends to me that I am, once again, crafting a story for people to read. How could I not love The Sun for sending me to Iraq to cover a war, and finding amidst death and destruction stories of hope sprouting from the ground torn asunder by Saddam Hussein? Who could not be proud of front-page stories developed from a hunch that righted wrongs and helped put fraudsters and telemarketing crooks in jail? Of writing blogs such as Civic Lee Speaking and my Olympics-themed Red Mittens Diary. (And be willing to leave alone the risque photo that went with it!) How could I ignore, even as my heart broke, compelling stories told by survivors of tragedy or by their rescuers? And how could I pass by without interest the workings of governments that have profound effect on the people they govern? And how could I not love this newspaper for instilling in me a profound love for running. I was the Sun Run’s first poster child in 1987 for how to go through a six-week training program to learn how to run. It led to marathons and triathlons, and ultimately to me completing two Ironman Canada events. Now, as I leave the newsroom I am once again a Sun Run guinea pig, writing about running and exercising as a 59-year-old with Type 2 diabetes. I have covered Vancouver City from Gordon Campbell to Gregor Robertson, with a few interruptions for other beats. I have watched the city grow, and not a few times I have smacked myself in the forehead when some city councilor proposes a “new idea” for fixing an old problem not realizing it was already an old idea best forgotten. The institutional knowledge I carry is both wonderful and a curse. I leave daily journalism at a perilous time for both the public and the truth. The rise of fake news, reality shows far from reality, entertainment “news” and the wholesale undermining of bedrock trust in journalism by people like the new U.S. president, Donald J. Trump, point to a consequential diminishing of society. The news industry – and by that I really mean the newspaper business – was already undergoing a seismic shift long before we began to hear words like Trump’s “alternative facts”. Who would have thought that “Craigslist” would be the first of many digital worms to chew through the pilings holding up society’s news and communications infrastructure, and consequently public trust? A free ad? It’s not really free. It comes at considerable cost, if felt only years down the road in the loss of jobs, the retrenching of business and the loss of stability in mainstream news agencies. But I also leave at an important time for the news industry as it reshapes and clarifies its value especially in the era of fake news. Great journalism is now being told in new and compelling ways, through digital methods unavailable when Jack first taught me my craft on my sticky-keys Royal. Today, you’re able to see news as it unfolds immediately and yet have contextual reporting just as quickly that adds layers to what you know. Videos. Explanatory graphics. Analysis. Commentary. History. All elements that when I started with The Sun in 1986 would have required extra editions and extra days to deliver. Where do you think the online rip-off artists and “free” news aggregators get their news stories from? Mainstream media agencies like The Sun that employ and pay the freight for people like me. Lose us and you really lose trust. I have great hope for both my craft and for my beloved Vancouver Sun. In the newsroom work some incredibly talented and engaged people. We’re not immune to the cutbacks and buyouts that have affected the entire industry. I am, after all, one of those taking a buyout. But I depart firmly believing that those folks left in the newsroom are piloting a pair of venerable newspapers – and their attendant online identities – into a new and secure future. The Sun may not be the same newspaper that I worked at for so many years, and The Province has lost some of its Tabloidesque habits, but they still are the nervy, solid, in-your-face, trustworthy Western Canadian anchors to this country’s news business. Thanks for the ride. You’ll find me still writing and commenting on social media such as my Twitter and Facebook accounts and here. And, increasingly, shepherding our Honey Bee Zen Apiaries, producing fine B.C. honey. – 30 – for 30. For those who really want to contact me, I’m at jeff@jefflee.ca

THE white working-class men who are planning to vote for Donald J. Trump this November have been called many things: xenophobic, racist, misogynist, dangerously naïve. But even if those descriptions are true, it doesn’t mean these men were fated to be Trump supporters. Recent research in social science and history suggests that they might have been out front in the fight against Mr. Trump — if only the American labor movement weren’t a shell of its former self. When we think about unions, what typically come to mind are interest groups concerned with wages, benefits and working conditions. Scholars, however, have shown what everyone in politics knows instinctively: Unions are also political organizations that, under the right circumstances, can powerfully channel the working-class vote. A classic study on this subject was done by the sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset. In a 1959 paper, he demonstrated that while the working class in most countries favors economic liberalism, it also displays an authoritarian streak. Using evidence from surveys, Mr. Lipset found blue-collar workers to be less committed to democratic norms like tolerance for political opponents, preference for rational argumentation over charismatic appeals and support for the rights of ethnic and racial minorities. These tendencies, he claimed, were a function of lower levels of education and the isolation of many workers (for example, coal miners) from people who were different from them. Authoritarian attitudes also owed something to the work itself. Controversially, he suggested that manual work was at odds with the abstract thinking required to appreciate complex, pluralistic solutions to political problems.

President Trump shakes hands with Rex Tillerson after Tillerson was sworn in as secretary of state, as Tillerson’s wife, Renda St. Clair, looks on. Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images A few things that happened Monday: Former Exxon Mobil chairman and CEO—and current secretary of state—Rex Tillerson was scheduled to meet with President Trump in Washington at 1:35 p.m. EST, according to a schedule provided to reporters. Current Exxon Mobil chairman and CEO Darren Woods used a keynote address at an energy conference in Houston to tout his company’s Growing the Gulf initiative, described as a $20 billion investment in nearly a dozen projects in Louisiana and Texas. According to the conference agenda, Woods took the stage between 3:10 p.m. EST and 3:40 p.m. EST.* Exxon Mobil issued a 400-odd-word press release about its Gulf Coast initiative at 3:10 p.m. EST. The White House issued a 350-odd-word press release congratulating the company on its announcement—and touting it as an evidence of the president delivering on his “promise to bring back jobs to America.” That statement went out at 3:43 p.m. EST and Trump then tweeted it out at 4:19 p.m. The two statements had plenty more in common than simply the topic. A snippet from the Exxon release: ExxonMobil is strategically investing in new refining and chemical-manufacturing projects in the U.S. Gulf Coast region to expand its manufacturing and export capacity. The company’s Growing the Gulf expansion program, consists of 11 major chemical, refining, lubricant and liquefied natural gas projects at proposed new and existing facilities along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Investments began in 2013 and are expected to continue through at least 2022. And one from the White House release: Exxon Mobil is strategically investing in new refining and chemical-manufacturing projects in the United States Gulf Coast region to expand its manufacturing and export capacity. The company’s Growing the Gulf program consists of 11 major chemical, refining, lubricant and liquefied natural gas projects at proposed new and existing facilities along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Investments began in 2013 and are expected to continue through at least 2022. As you can see, with the exception of a couple style issues (ExxonMobil becomes Exxon Mobil, and U.S. Gulf Coast becomes United States Gulf Coast) and one missing word (expansion), those two paragraphs mirror each other verbatim. Perhaps most important, however, is the last line shared by both: “Investments began in 2013 and are expected to continue through at least 2022.” In other words, the domestic investment the White House claims is evidence of Trump delivering on his campaign promises actually began under President Obama. *Correction, March 6, 2017, at 6:01 p.m.: An earlier version of this post misstated the time Woods was scheduled to give his keynote address.

One of my favorite yet most frustrating things about racing is how hard it is to win. There are so few sports that rank with cycling as far as all the things that must align to capture that elusive victory. It is crucial that when cyclists start to race, they learn how to win races.As a professional coach I have the luxury of “replaying” hundreds of races through my client’s eyes and have learned that there are a three common racing mistakes that I see repeated time and time again as riders acquire the skills to race.You know this move, the moment when you tear open the zippered lycra of your cycling jersey to reveal the large capital yellow “S” on your chest and unfurl your streaming red cape, attacking and dropping your competition from 50k out, then effortlessly holding them off to the finish?The reality of this move often looks different, more like you throw down a 1,000 watt attack, open a gap, hold it for 3 -5 minutes then get caught by the pack and hopefully hang on or even get spit out the back.The hero move is often a ticket to disaster, typically ensuring a pack finish at best.Bike racing is all about understanding the “odds.” With all the things you need to have go right in order to win, you have to learn patience and begin to think about the odds. So here is a new “Rule of 3” that I teach my clients as they learn to race:a. Step 1 – Narrow the Oddsb. Step 2 – Narrow the Oddsc. Step 3 – Win the raceThis means learning to think through the race to go for the win. Your first two moves (I target two as an example, might be one, might be five but focus on the idea) as ways to “improve your odds” of winning.How can you winnow down the pack? Get rid of the riders on the edge? Shell your key competitor? This is accomplished by smaller moves, often in conjunction with other riders. How can your “moves” narrow the odds, some ideas:1. Don’t go it alone! In a pack of 50 riders, early move should focused on splitting the pack in half or at least reducing the counts some. How can you do this:a. To narrow the odds, don’t attack so hard that other riders are not willing to follow (or believe you will just blow up the road), attack hard but bring a bunch.b. How to bring others? Well here is a simple answer that so many racers don’t think of. Try telling others BEFORE you attack. Yep, give away your super-secret strategy (which most other racers are thinking about by the way) and tell a small group of select riders that you might think have the horsepower to attack, then see if they will work with you for a while to at least drop a percentage of the pack.2. Once you have dropped off a chunk of the pack, focus on ways to set up the next separation. Now it is time to start thinking about how you can win the race, then do something to set that up. Are you planning on the sprint finish? Are you a killer TT artist looking for the longer break? Your second “narrow the odds” needs to start setting up your winning move.3. Your winning move IS YOUR STRENGTH (a least that is how the plan should go). So many times bike racing forces you to improvise as you go but focus on setting up final moves that allow to implement YOUR STRENGTH as the move.In any mass start event you are affected by the terrain BUT you race OTHER RACERS. Too many people that start racing over focus on the course and its terrain and layout and forget to pay attention to other riders.You need to observe others ON THE COURSE and ON TERRAIN to better understand how they ride, how tired they are, how they can beat you (and how you can beat them). A few tricks:1. Look around on short climbs later in the race – Many riders really “show” fatigue on short climbs later in races. Look to see who is really suffering and who is not. Use this knowledge to improve your odds. If you are strong but watching a good percentage of the group suffering, talk to some of the other riders going well and plan a strong push on the next riser to get rid of those suffering.2. Look at THEM, how do they look? Look at their bike? Yes, there bike. Is their water bottle full? Have they been drinking and eating?OK, this one a lot of people might know but I cannot tell you the numbers of times I have reviewed files from smart racers that get “impatient” and attack when things are easy and cruising along. The reality is that, if things are just cruising down the road, everyone is ready to attack. Typically this means they have caught their breath and will be quick to respond and chase.Learn to attack when things are hard, this is a big key to success. I know, I know, it hurts…suck it up buttercup this is bike racing and if you want to win, it will hurt.When things are going hard and you attack or make a move, many riders will sit back hoping others will do the work to chase you as they do an internal “gut-check” on just how demoralizing that flyer you just took was. This doesn’t mean that catching everyone sitting up for a second and throwing down a little surprise cannot work but much better hitting them when it hurts.There are plenty of ways to use these tips, my goal was to just point out some key areas of mistakes and give you food for thought. Obviously, you need to be fit enough to handle the demands of the race event AND implement your strategy to win.Tim Cusick is a USA Cycling Coach and the President and Co-Owner of Peaks Coaching Group. Tim has been coaching for over 10 years, focusing on training and racing with power data. You can reach Tim for comments at [email protected] , and check out Tim and the entire Peaks Coaching Group for more information on coaching services, camps, and products.

The oculus rises at Fulton Center Lower Manhattan holds centuries of history in its shoreline and beneath its streets. With the sandy beaches of the former New Amsterdam gradually expanding by landfill over the last three centuries, a diverse historical trail has been left in its wake. This is very much the case around the World Trade Center’s site. Earlier we looked at how the shoreline around the World Trade Center has changed dramatically over time. With The Port Authority digging ever deeper at the site, two sizable artifacts came to light in 2010, reaffirming the area’s rich history. The first is the Hudson River Bulkhead. Throughout the 19th century, New York was growing as the financial and commercial centre of the United States. Trade was increasing but ships found it difficult to navigate the western shoreline because of varying depths of water in the harbor. In 1870, the first chief engineer of the city’s Department of Docks, Civil War commander, General George B. McClellan, proposed creating a bulkhead to regularize the shoreline. This would allow larger ships to dock at the edge of the island for the first time, as opposed to at the piers and wharves hundreds of feet away from the shore. The Bulkhead effectively opened up Manhattan’s edges to the world of seagoing commerce. Over the next six decades, engineers built the Hudson River Bulkhead, which came to extend over three miles from the Battery to West 59th Street. Archaeologist, Zachary Davis of The Louis Berger Group, a consulting firm working with The Port Authority, dates the part of the Bulkhead near the World Trade Center to sometime between 1893 and 1896. In 2007, a 40-foot section of the Bulkhead was uncovered during early stages of construction of the East-West connector, the underground passageway linking the Fulton Street subways and the World Financial Center. It could be seen by the public from the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden Atrium. Today this bulkhead is no longer operational, largely cut off from by the river by massive excavations and landfill projects undertaken during the World Trade Center’s construction during the late 1960s. Still, the Bulkhead had its uses even in the late 20th century. It was covered over by a platform during construction of the World Financial Center in the 1980s, forming part of the structure that captured storm-water runoff and then funneled it out into the Hudson. As construction of the passageway continued over the summer of 2010, it was necessary to begin removing the Bulkhead. A clear path was needed to run between the World Trade Center and Battery Park City for the East-West Connector. Raymond E. Sandiford, chief geotechnical engineer at Port Authority, is enthusiastic about the passageway project, although his real admiration is in the 19th century construction of the Bulkhead. He explained that a preliminary excavation showed how timber structures from the early 19th century might have been used to act as a bulkhead before this one was built. The hope is that as work continues on the site, more of this historic waterfront will be uncovered and such questions will be answered. Meanwhile, as Port Authority crews were digging at the site of the South Bathtub between Liberty and Cedar/Albany Streets in 2010, they uncovered parts of an 18th-century ship. The discovery was made about 30 feet down. Experts believe that the vessel was discarded in its location, near the intersection of Washington and Cedar Street, as part of the landfill that helped form Washington Street. The ship is thought to have been constructed in the 1770s near Philadelphia and is recorded to have been a 55-feet long flat-bottomed structure. Warren Reiss, maritime historian and archaeologist at the University of Maine, said that even after extensive research, there are several things baffling archaeologists. Dubbed the S.S. World Trade Center, Reiss said that there is even uncertainty as to how many masts the ship had. The few clues that we do know about the ship and its purpose have been found in the small objects littered through its remains. Archaeologists have found a small cannon ball and a tiny button belonging to a British infantry unit stationed in New York during the Revolution. It is very likely that the ship was involved in trade. Along with the Bulkhead, the ship unearths details about life centuries ago as well as the changing geography of Manhattan. The so-called S.S. World Trade Centre has been removed from the site and is now being preserved and studied in the conservation lab at Texas A&M University. An entire plethora of items are constantly being unearthed in Lower Manhattan. Only earlier this month, an excavation at South Street Seaport revealed more than a hundred liquor bottles, dating back to the 18th century. They were found 7 feet underground in a 15-foot section at the corner of Fulton and Water Street. With the upcoming demolition of the Art Deco building at 68-74 Trinity Place, who knows what else will be uncovered near the World Trade Center. If you’re interested in the maritime history of the city, check out our article on six famous shipwrecks in New York or look into our two-part piece on the nautical architecture around New York: New York City’s Nautical Architecture: Part I, New York City’s Nautical Architecture: Part II. Fulton Center, world trade center

Looking for news you can trust? Subscribe to our free newsletters. The reporting on what we know about the Benghazi attacks on September 11 just gets more and more interesting. Let’s do a quick Q&A: Why was President Obama initially unwilling to call it an act of terror? He wasn’t. The day after the attack, on September 12, he gave a Rose Garden speech in which he said, in reference to the assault, “No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation.” At campaign stops that day and the next, he again referred to the Benghazi assault as “an act of terror.” A McClatchy report sums up the evidence: “In the first 48 hours after the deadly Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. diplomatic outposts in Libya, senior Obama administration officials strongly alluded to a terrorist assault and repeatedly declined to link it to an anti-Muslim video that drew protests elsewhere in the region, transcripts of briefings show.” A day after the attacks, the CIA station chief in Libya reported to Washington that there were eyewitness reports that the attack was carried out by militants. Why didn’t Obama administration officials say so? They did. Hillary Clinton, for one, referred to it as an attack “by a small and savage group.” Okay, but that McClatchy report quoted above also says that a few days after the attacks administration officials started putting more emphasis on the “Innocence of Muslims” video. Why? It had nothing to do with the Benghazi attacks. That’s not what locals said. As David Kirkpatrick reports: “To Libyans who witnessed the assault and know the attackers, there is little doubt what occurred: a well-known group of local Islamist militants struck the United States Mission without any warning or protest, and they did it in retaliation for the video…The fighters said at the time that they were moved to act because of the video, which had first gained attention across the region after a protest in Egypt that day.” So the video might have played a role. But why did UN ambassador Susan Rice put the video front and center in her Sunday morning appearances a week after the attacks? She didn’t, really. On Face the Nation, she said the “best information” at that moment suggested that Benghazi began “as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo where […] there was a violent protest outside of our embassy sparked by this hateful video.” She then immediately added: “But soon after that spontaneous protest began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that it looks like extremist elements, individuals, joined in that effort with heavy weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available in Libya post-revolution. And that it spun from there into something much, much more violent.” Still, why even mention the video? By that point, wasn’t it clear that the real cause of the attacks lay elsewhere? Not really. We now know that the CIA still believed the video was partly to blame for the violence. David Ignatius reports that a set of “talking points” prepared by the CIA on September 15, the day Rice taped her TV appearances, “support her description of the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate as a reaction to Arab anger about an anti-Muslim video prepared in the United States. According to the CIA account, ‘The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. Consulate and subsequently its annex. There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations.'” Fine. But why did Rice suggest that the attacks came after a “spontaneous” protest at the Benghazi consulate? There was no protest. True, but Rice didn’t know that at the time because the CIA talking points still referred to “demonstrations” that had been inspired by the protests in Cairo. As David Martin reported: “Over that same weekend, US intelligence began to uncover evidence that there had not been a protest outside the consulate. That new intelligence did not get to Rice before she appeared on the Sunday talk shows, making her the target of Republican accusations the administration was trying to cover up the terrorist attack.” But why did anyone think there was anything “spontaneous” about this in the first place? In fact, the assault on the consulate was preplanned by “Al Qaeda elements,” as Libyan President Mohammed Magarief said, wasn’t it? No. The LA Times reports that Magarief was mistaken: “The assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi last month appears to have been an opportunistic attack rather than a long-planned operation, and intelligence agencies have found no evidence that it was ordered by Al Qaeda, according to U.S. officials and witnesses interviewed in Libya…The attack was ‘carried out following a minimum amount of planning,’ said a U.S. intelligence official…A second U.S. official added, ‘There isn’t any intelligence that the attackers pre-planned their assault days or weeks in advance.’ Most of the evidence so far suggests that ‘the attackers launched their assault opportunistically after they learned about the violence at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo’ earlier that day, the official said.” Still, the Obama administration was negligent in refusing a stream of requests from American diplomats in Libya to provide more security, wasn’t it? That’s possible. However, increased security probably wouldn’t have changed anything. As the New York Times reported a couple of weeks ago, “The requests were denied, but they were largely focused on extending the tours of security guards at the American Embassy in Tripoli—not at the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, 400 miles away.” Bottom line: There were conflicting reports on the ground, and that was reflected in conflicting and sometimes confused reports from the White House. I don’t think anyone would pretend that the Obama’s administration’s response to Benghazi was anywhere near ideal. Nevertheless, the fact is that their statements were usually properly cautious; the YouTube video really did play a role; the attack was opportunistic, not preplanned; and it doesn’t appear to have had any serious connection with Al Qaeda. It’s true that it took about 10 days for all this to really shake out, but let’s be honest: 10 days isn’t all that long to figure out what really happened during a violent and chaotic attack halfway around the world. I get that it’s a nice opportunity for Republicans to score some political points in the runup to an election, but really, there’s not much there there.

Mel Tillis, who earned a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame and a National Medal of Arts as a singer and writer of enduring songs like “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” and who was equally known for the stutter he employed to humorous and self-deprecating effect onstage, died on Sunday in Ocala, Fla. He was 85. Mr. Tillis had “battled intestinal issues since early 2016 and never fully recovered,” his publicist, Don Murry Grubbs, said in a statement. The suspected cause of death was respiratory failure, he said. Mr. Tillis found a way to turn his speech impediment into an asset by using his ready smile and innate comedic timing to get his audiences to laugh along with him. He stuttered his way to regular appearances on television talk shows and to clowning bit parts in Hollywood movies. He even went so far as to make the nickname Stutterin’ Boy, conferred upon him by the singer Webb Pierce, the title of his autobiography (written with Walter Wager and published in 1984), and to have it painted on the side of his tour bus. He named his personal airplane Stutter One and referred to his female backup singers as the Stutterettes.

Interview With Nutrition Expert Ben Coomber Ben Coomber is a rapidly growing name within the health and fitness industry (just search “Ben Coomber” on Google to see what I mean). For those of you who don’t already know, he is one of a new breed of fitness and nutrition experts whose no-bullshit approach to health is helping make the subject accessible to all. Even better is the fact he is a rugby nut currently plying his trade for Ipswich YM RUFC. Outside of rugby Ben runs bespoke nutrition and fitness service Body Type Nutrition as well as writing and presenting on the subject. He has even produced this handy rugby nutrition guide that is a must read for anyone out there playing rugby at any level. [adsenseyu1] As you might then be able to imagine, Ben is an incredibly busy guy and so it was to our great fortune he was able to take some time out of his busy schedule to talk to us about the importance of proper nutrition in rugby. Here are the highlights of my chat with Ben; Personalisation In his work Ben is a huge advocate of personalising the approach to an individuals nutrition and applies the same logic to rugby. As a sport full of individuals compromising of all shapes and sizes it is essential to find an approach that works best for you rather than looking for a “cookie cutter” solution for an entire squad. Even amongst the different body types within a team players roles will vary greatly, for example whilst some may rely on strength and power others may focus more on speed and agility. It is therefore essential to alter your diet to match these particular goals. The main focus within your nutritional personalisation should be the amount of carbs you take on board. Whilst a player with an ectomorphic body type may be able to consumer a larger quantity of carbohydrates, a player with an endomorphic body type will likely need to restrict their carb intake in order to avoid it becoming stored as fat. Unfortunately there is no exact science behind this approach so instead start from a point you feel is appropriate for your body shape and goals and then adjust your consumption accordingly. [adsenseyu4] As well as looking out for weight loss/gain whilst you train and play as an indicator of the success of your diet, there are also a number of other key indicators you can monitor. Think about whether you find yourself having slumps after meals or even feeling bloated and generally pretty crappy. If so it’s likely you may have food intolerances, for example to gluten. If so then think about cutting this particular element out of your diet temporarily to see the effect it has on your body. It’s Not All About The Food Ben is a keen advocate of getting the basics right as well as sorting out your diet. Stress can have a hugely negative impact on your physique and must therefore be considered alongside diet and workout plans. This is particularly key if stress begins to affect your sleep as the best time to catch some shut-eye is between 10pm and 6am. Again if you aren’t catching enough Z’s then you could be working counter-productively when trying to achieve your fitness and health goals. Sleep is particularly important as it helps to raise testosterone levels which is obviously pretty essential when trying to build muscle. Eat Your Veggies They’re essential! Nutrient dense and great for gut health, your veggies should be the cornerstone of your diet alongside proteins. Not only will this help fill you up so you don’t end up eating a load of crap it will also help improve your digestion so you can better absorb nutrients from your other food sources. Get thinking about plenty of leafy greens so go ahead and grab another handful of spinach, in fact finish the whole bag off. It’s not all about calories, simply think “what is the value of these calories that I am about to eat”. Mix It Up You’re never going to get all of the nutrients you need from the same foods everyday so make sure you’re mixing up your diet. Not only will this help to ensure you are getting all the right kinds of nutrients you need but it will also help to keep your meals interesting. Nobody is ever going to stick to a really restrictive diet so make sure you vary it up a bit to ensure you stick to your goals. [adsenseyu1] 90/10 You’ll all be glad to hear that Ben isn’t tee-total when it comes to getting your fitness and nutrition right. He advocates a 90/10 split in your diet as if you get it right 90% of the time your body should be able to deal with the other 10% and still maintain the kind of composition your are looking for. So don’t feel too guilty for that pint and curry after a game on a Saturday, without it you might struggle to stick to your healthy eating the rest of the time. Just be careful that you don’t start to go beyond the 90/10 split as the more the two figures start to come together the harder you’re going to find it to maintain your body composition. Supplements Ben points to three key supplements that would be useful to all rugby players once they have got their basic nutrition right. I’m sure many of you will already be packing whey protein shakes in your gym kits and taking creatine, what many of you may not however be aware of is the benefits of a magnesium supplement. magnesium is a great aid in recovery, particularly after a bruising game of rugby. Recovery As mentioned Ben is a big advocate of magnesium supplements, after particularly bruising games think about using magnesium bath salts to help recover from delays onset muscle soreness (DOMS). In addition Ben also has a tasty recommendation for helping your recover from injuries. Get down to your local butchers and buy plenty of on-the-bone meat, get it all in a pan with some stock and a whole load of veggies. Leave it to stew for a while before removing the bones. The resultant broth is packed full of the kinds of nutrients that will help improve recovery times. [adsenseyu4] Meal Plans As a general guide to how your meals should look each day Ben suggests something like the below; Breakfast – large omelette packed full of veggies Lunch – a big salad with a decent sized portion of protein (ideally meat) – a big salad with a decent sized portion of protein (ideally meat) Dinner – portion of meat with veg/salad and some carbs such as a jacket potato – portion of meat with veg/salad and some carbs such as a jacket potato Snacks – whey protein shake, smoothie made with milk and mixed fruits or some fruit salad and greek yoghurt with honey The key here is to consume the bulk of your carbs post training. As you can see it is key to get as much protein in to each meal as possible along with a big portion of veg or leafy greens. As you can see potentially there’s a huge amount to consider when trying to get into the right kind of shape for rugby but with the right amount of prep and planning your health and fitness goals are attainable. It is all down to the individual so play around with your diet and find what works for you. This isn’t rocket science but it is clear that for a lot of people there needs to be a huge shift in mentality. The thing Ben made most apparent for me was how wrong a lot of health advice out there is. For years the mantra particularly of Government backed advice is that all fat is bad, well if you want a counter argument for that just look at Ben. He’s in great shape and has a diet that isn’t restrictive and is full of healthy fats allowing him to play and train on a pretty much daily basis. His tip about a magnesium supplement should also come in pretty handy this season as I find myself spending more time than I would probably like to in the front row. I highly recommend giving Ben a follow on Twitter (@BenCoomber) and checking out his podcast if you’re keen to pick up and more top tips. A big thank you to Ben for taking the time out to speak to us and all the best to him and Ipswich YM RUFC this season. Comments

Guitarist Dweezil Zappa is the latest musician to be featured on Guitar Tricks Insider’s video series. Zappa participated in a review and demonstration of the Eventide H9 Harmonizer pedal. Fellow guitarists and gearheads will appreciate the level of detail and step-by-step instruction included in the 10-minute clip. More information about the Eventide H9 pedal is available in the digital edition of the latest edition of Guitar Tricks Insider, available via this link. Watch Dweezil Zappa’s Guitar Tricks Insider review of the Eventide H9 below: Zappa released Via Zammata – his first solo album in 10 years – last November through Fantom Records. He will soon appear as part of a number of Experience Hendrix concerts featuring the likes of Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Zakk Wylde, Doyle Bramhall II and others honoring the legacy of Jimi Hendrix.

Rob Warner is a legend in the British mountain biking scene. A key cog as far back as the early 90s, Rob became the first ever British rider to win on the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup tour when he took the top spot at Kaprun in Austria in 1996. He rode with Saracen alongside Steve Peat, then for MBUK and Giant Bicycles, winning the UK National Champs in ’97, ’98 and ’01 before turning his hand to commentary, where he turned out to be, well, quite the character. Back in the Freecaster days, when Rob openly admits to have been commentating half-cut in a party booth, there seemed to be no topic the dude wouldn’t take on. And he’s continued to deliver some of the funniest action sports commentary ever on the Red Bull microphone. So, we thought we’d round up some of Rob’s more colourful expressions from the past and stick them on wanderlust-inspired backgrounds for your viewing pleasure. Approach with caution – these may offend some…

Has this bat discovered the fountain of youth? Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation (NHC) staff discover one of the oldest little brown bats ever recorded. Learn more about bats and NHC Wisconsin DNR staff read the bat's band number. About the bat This male little brown bat was banded in April 1983 making it at least 32 years old in February 2015 when it was last recovered. There is no way to age bats after they reach adulthood (several months after birth), so this bat could have been a yearling born in the summer of 1982, or already several years old in 1983. The bat was banded by Gerda Nordquist and Elmer Birney of the Minnesota DNR in the same site as it was recovered. What has happened in his lifetime Over the years, he has eaten a lot of insects Assuming this bat has eaten its weight (6 grams) in insects every night during its active period for the past 32 years, we estimate it has consumed roughly 13,977,600 mosquito-sized insects. Learn more about bats and NHC One of the oldest little brown bats ever recorded hanging with friends. Do you see the silver band? Other old bats The record for the oldest little brown bat in the wild is 35 years in Alberta Canada. The bat was banded in 1975 and was recovered as recently as 2009. Little information exists on lifespans of bats in Wisconsin. Other resources indicate most common ages for little brown bats are between six and ten years. Other species in Wisconsin such as the northern long-eared bat have slightly shorter lifespans and the oldest recorded northern long-eared bat was 18 years old. Of note, the oldest bat on record is a Brandt’s myotis who was last recovered in Siberia at the age of 41. Small mammal = short life? Bats have some of the longest life spans when compared to other mammals their size. It is not uncommon for little brown bats to live over 25 years. Other species of bat live up to 20 years. The little brown bat is about the size of a house mouse, which in comparison lives only one to two years on average. Mice also give birth to large litters of four to fourteen young, whereas bats usually give birth to only a single young a year, called a pup. Why we band bats Banding is a safe, permanent method of marking individual bats in the wild. Marking individuals allows researchers to gather valuable information about movement and migration, fidelity to sites (returning to the same site year after year), and longevity as in the case of this bat. Much remains to be learned about bats, and following individuals allows us to create a complete picture of bat ecology. Get a FREE subscription to the Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine! Donate $25 to the Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation and receive a year subscription to the Natural Resources magazine as a thank-you gift.

MARIN COUNTY — A Berkeley man was arrested in Solano County in connection with an attempted bank robbery last month in Marin County, police said Thursday. Dandre Chandler Lee Young, 25, is being held at the Marin County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail. Police at various agencies are investigating whether he can be linked to other crimes in the Bay Area, said Central Marin police Cpl. Jenna McVeigh. The alleged robbery attempt occurred on Feb. 28 at the First Community Bank inside the Safeway store at Corte Madera Town Center. The robber gave a teller a demand note but received no money and fled in a red vehicle. A witness obtained a license plate number and provided it to police. Investigators identified the suspect as Young and obtained a warrant for his arrest and a search warrant for his residence, McVeigh said. On Wednesday, the California Highway Patrol stopped a speeding vehicle in Fairfield and found Young inside. The CHP arrested him on the Marin warrant and for alleged vehicle code violations. The car was not the same vehicle used in the bank robbery, but police found the suspected getaway car at Young’s residence. Police did not disclose whether other incriminating evidence was found at the residence. Young was booked into Marin County Jail on Wednesday evening. He listed his occupation as security guard. Young is being charged with burglary and attempted robbery, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Rosemary Slote.

On Wednesday, the city announced plans to upgrade the bicycle lanes near the South Street Bridge by adding flexible delineator posts by “mid 2018.” The existing, painted bike lanes on 27th Street between Lombard and South Streets and on South Street between the bridge and 21st Street will be repainted and have plastic divider poles installed. The move comes two weeks following the death of a cyclist who was fatally struck by a trash truck while riding in an unprotected bike lane on Spruce Street. Soon after the crash, the city restriped the faded bike lanes on Spruce and Pine Streets. In July, the city held a public meeting to consider a six-month pilot of the protected bike lanes. The city has decided to skip the test run and simply make a permanent upgrade. But the proposal in July also considered extending the bike lane protection down Lombard Street; Lombard’s painted bike lanes will remain unprotected. Protected bike lanes prevent automobiles from travelling or stopping in bike lanes, separating bicycle and automotive traffic more effectively than merely painted lanes. The city has 2.5 miles of protected bike lanes in its network and plans to expand that total by 30 by 2022. In comparison, there are around 200 miles of unprotected bike lanes and 2,575 miles of streets, total. Unlike many bike infrastructure projects, this one received broad support from the local community groups. According to the city, the project is supported by South of South Neighbors Association, Center City Residents Association, and South Street West Business Association, as well as Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson, who represents the area. Local neighbors often oppose protected bike lanes, complaining that they unfairly burden them for the benefit of bicyclists who pass through, but do not live in, the neighborhood. Bike safety advocates retort that their safety should not come second to the occasional inconvenience of some neighbors, whose primary gripe stems from the removed ability to load and unload cars directly in front of their homes. The protected bicycle lanes will be paid for out of a grant from Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development’s Multimodal Transportation Fund. Safety advocates have criticized the city for moving slowly on using state and federal grants previously awarded to fund bicycle infrastructure upgrades.

The 2014 Circuito Nova Schin Stock Car Brasil season was the thirty-sixth season of the Stock Car Brasil. Teams and drivers [ edit ] Team changes [ edit ] Stock Car Brasil driver Júlio Campos and businessman Edson Casagrande purchased the cars of Gramacho team and created a new team called the C2 Team. The team also switched manufacturers from Peugeot to Chevrolet. Shell Racing return to Chevrolet after two seasons with Peugeot. After ten season of parternship, Officer group and ProGP break up. Duda Pamplona owner of ProGP still in the series and Officer group left the championship. Ricardo Zonta's team RZ Motorsport lost the BMC Group as its principal sponsor and returned to its official name in 2014. Driver changes [ edit ] Mid-season changes [ edit ] Lico Kaesemodel returned for the second round with Boettger Competições, replacing Felipe Tozzo for selected races. At the fifth round Wellington Justino replaced Tozzo. Kaesemodel replaced Beto Cavaleiro at the Hanier Racing team for the Curitiba round. Stock Car Brasil second tier driver Mauri Zacarelli entered the series in the second RC3 Bassani Peugeot at Cascavel. After one round with Boettger Competições, Justino made his return at Bassani for the Curitiba round. Honda Brasileiro de Marcas driver Vicente Orige made his début with Bassani at Velopark. In Taruma Felipe Gama return to Stock with Bassani after eight seasons. Race calendar and results [ edit ] The provisional 2014 schedule was announced on 6 December 2013 with the track of sixth edition of Stock Car Corrida do Milhão held on August 8 to be announced; the season was contested over twenty-one races at twelve rounds, with the first round at Interlagos being contested by two-driver entries with wildcard drivers. The 2014 official calendar was announced on 20 March, without the Ribeirão Preto street circuit on the calendar. It was later confirmed that the renovated Autódromo Internacional Ayrton Senna in Goiânia would host the sixth edition of the Stock Car Corrida do Milhão. A revised calendar was announced on May 7 with the return of Ribeirão Preto and Curitiba to hold the final round. In August Ribeirão Preto was again removed from the calendar, with another Santa Cruz round added in its place. All races were held in Brazil. Championship standings [ edit ] Points system Points were awarded for each race at an event, to the driver/s of a car that completed at least 75% of the race distance and was running at the completion of the race, up to a maximum of 48 points per event. Points format Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th Dual race 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Feature races 24 20 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Sprint races 15 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Final race 48 40 36 34 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 Dual Race: Used for the first round with Wildcard drivers. Used for the first round with Wildcard drivers. Feature races: Used for the first race of each event and the Stock Car Million race. Used for the first race of each event and the Stock Car Million race. Sprint races: Used for the second race of each event, with partially reversed (top ten) grid. Used for the second race of each event, with partially reversed (top ten) grid. Final race: Used for the last round of the season with double points. Drivers' Championship [ edit ] Teams' Championship [ edit ] Pos Team No. INT SCZ BRA GOI GOI CAS CUR[N 1] VEL SCZ TAR SAL CUR Pts 1 Full Time Sports 18 Ret 10 20 14 17 6 17 7 12 Ret 3 20 7 3 3 21 2 19 1 21 5 419 111 9 16 DNS 24 4 9 2 1 1 18 7 2 4 6 19 11 9 2 4 4 3 2 Red Bull Racing 0 7 2 10 20 3 Ret 8 8 4 Ret 5 4 2 8 15 14 14 4 Ret 10 4 373 29 5 19 2 16 5 Ret DNS 25 Ret 12 1 6 3 7 2 8 17 Ret 12 9 1 3 Prati-Donaduzzi 1 21 11 1 Ret DNS 12 7 6 11 7 12 21 13 10 7 4 10 1 6 22 22 326 4 11 14 Ret 6 2 15 3 5 2 26 6 22 Ret 20 8 2 1 12 13 7 23 4 Mobil Super Racing 11 13 Ret DNS 12 21 Ret DNS 10 Ret 17 18 14 Ret 28 26 18 21 10 14 6 6 297 51 6 26 7 1 20 2 22 4 3 5 4 8 8 2 22 20 19 7 3 5 2 5 Eurofarma RC 65 Ret Ret 11 4 22 Ret 10 12 10 3 11 9 6 4 9 3 7 11 18 11 20 288.5 90 14 4 16 17 25 3 16 9 Ret 11 10 1 10 1 13 12 3 20 Ret 16 14 6 Ipiranga-RCM 21 Ret 21 Ret 10 1 10 1 2 16 9 14 7 9 DSQ 1 9 5 6 8 18 Ret 276 28 12 3 Ret Ret DNS 21 Ret 3 DSQ 19 8 3 1 12 24 Ret 23 13 16 15 15 7 Voxx Racing 5 Ret 8 21 8 19 5 20 16 19 24 23 26 14 11 Ret DNS Ret 21 Ret DNS 19 236 73 4 5 3 9 15 Ret 6 11 7 4 9 5 11 13 Ret 13 13 24 9 1 13 8 Shell Racing 74 10 12 Ret 13 6 Ret DNS 22 13 6 17 19 20 19 25 Ret 18 17 Ret 17 11 201 77 2 1 13 7 14 Ret 5 27 8 2 2 25 25 DNS 17 22 4 9 Ret DNS 18 Hot Car Competições 2 17 7 23 2 26 17 Ret DSQ Ret 27 22 12 Ret Ret 10 1 15 8 10 2 Ret 201 110 18 9 25 18 13 19 15 21 17 8 21 23 12 9 6 6 25 22 Ret DNS 7 10 Vogel Motorsport 14 16 Ret DNS 3 18 8 4 29 22 13 26 17 Ret Ret Ret DNS 8 Ret 5 3 DSQ 195 88 1 28 14 15 9 1 19 15 26 29 15 16 Ret 24 5 5 32 DNS 2 Ret Ret 11 RZ Motorsport 10 24 17 5 5 24 Ret Ret 17 14 22 31 DNS 5 5 23 16 6 3 7 Ret Ret 174 25 8 13 6 22 7 Ret DNS 19 20 10 25 24 Ret 26 Ret DNS Ret Ret 15 Ret 10 12 Schin Racing Team 72 23 Ret DNS 25 Ret 20 13 28 18 15 27 Ret Ret 23 Ret DNS 24 Ret 23 14 9 157 80 3 6 4 11 11 7 Ret 26 9 1 Ret 15 26 DNS 4 7 22 5 Ret DNS Ret 13 C2 Team 70 Ret 18 15 Ret 8 4 18 13 Ret DNS 13 11 15 14 16 Ret 20 Ret 17 12 12 152 83 19 Ret 8 Ret DNS 22 24 18 5 Ret 19 10 16 17 14 Ret 11 DNS 11 8 Ret 14 Boettger Competições 26 23 66 43 22 25 46 Ret 15 24 Ret DNS 13 9 Ret 6 28 24 18 17 16 DSQ DSQ 12 16 20 23 Ret 57 22 24 22 18 12 24 16 32 Ret 20 Ret 30 Ret 16 63 Ret DNS 15 ProGP 8 25 20 17 23 Ret Ret DNS Ret 15 20 20 27 19 18 18 15 16 18 19 13 8 62.5 100 15 22 18 21 16 11 23 20 Ret DNS 30 DNS 18 15 21 17 27 14 21 19 Ret 16 RC3 Bassani 12 20 25 12 27 10 14 14 14 Ret 21 16 13 21 22 11 10 29 25 Ret DNS Ret 42.5 22 23 25 26 29 DNS 97 28 26 17 Hanier Racing 7 Ret 27 19 26 23 Ret 21 DSQ 25 23 24 27 Ret 19 31 15 31 24 21 38 63 28 DNS 82 Ret 23 9 19 12 16 11 24 21 14 Ret DNS 23 21 12 Ret 26 23 Ret 20 17 Pos Team No. INT SCZ BRA GOI GOI CAS CUR[N 1] VEL SCZ TAR SAL CUR Pts Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Excluded (EX) a b c d Half points were awarded for the first race as less than 75% of the race distance had been completed.

A photo of The Boring Company's tunneling machine. Screenshot Serial entrepreneur Elon Musk said his latest venture, The Boring Company, just got "verbal government approval" to build a Hyperloop connecting New York City with Washington DC. Musk didn't clarify who exactly gave the company verbal approval and whether or not it came from different state representatives. But he said the company will build an underground tunnel that will connect the two major cities. The Hyperloop could shuttle people between New York and Washington DC in 29 minutes, Musk said. It would make stops in Philadelphia and Baltimore. New York and Philadelphia city representatives said Musk has not made any contact with officials about the Hyperloop Project. The Department of Transportation referred Business Insider to a White House spokesperson, who sent the following statement: "We have had promising conversations to date, are committed to transformative infrastructure projects, and believe our greatest solutions have often come from the ingenuity and drive of the private sector." Musk visited the White House on three separate occassions this year when he sat on President Donald Trump's economic advisory board and Manufacturing Jobs Initiative. He left both advisory councils after the US withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement in June. It's no secret that Musk has been in talks with different city representatives about his tunnel-boring ambitions, but this is the first time he's mentioned an East Coast project. Musk said in late June that he has had "promising conversations" with LA Mayor Eric Garcetti about building a tunnel between Los Angeles International Airport and Union Station, a main transit hub that connects Los Angeles to distant suburbs. Garcetti said he was considering using Musk's tunnel to support a high-speed rail connection. The Boring Company will work on the Los Angeles tunnel and East Coast tunnel at the same time, Musk said Thursday. Musk has also been in "preliminary" talks with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel about digging a tunnel that would connect downtown Chicago with O'Hare International Airport, CNBC reported. The Boring Company Musk said on Twitter in December that he wanted to build a tunnel boring machine because LA traffic was driving him "nuts." A few months later, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO launched The Boring Company. The venture is being led by SpaceX engineer Steve Davis. Musk has traditionally said the tunnel will be used to transport people and cars via an electric skate. Although the tunnel in Los Angeles would support a high-speed rail, Musk's Thursday announcement marks the first time the company has teased digging a tunnel to support a Hyperloop. Musk first outlined his plan for a Hyperloop in a 2013 "white paper," but hasn't seriously pursued the high-speed transportation system. Tunnel-boring is a notoriously expensive process, but the company is looking to cut down costs by building a machine that can dig and place reinforcements in the wall at the same time, Musk said during an April TED Talk. Tunneling machines traditionally dig for half the time and then go back to add reinforcements, a longer and costlier process. The Boring Company has already completed its first tunnel segment in Los Angeles on SpaceX's property. For any of Musk's plans to be fully realized, he will need to secure permits through city and state representatives. This article was updated Thursday afternoon to include comments from New York, Philadelphia, and White House representatives.

India Has World's Largest Thorium Reserves, So Why Can't We Use It As A Source Of Clean Energy? India Has World's Largest Thorium Reserves, So Why Can't We Use It As A Source Of Clean Energy? Nearly 65 per cent of the electricity in India is generated in thermal power plants, where India utilises its large coal resources. According to estimates, India produces 22 percent electricity from hydroelectric power plants and only 3 per cent electricity, at present comes from nuclear power plants. This is despite having 21 operational nuclear power plants across the country. The rest 10 per cent is generated with the help of alternate resources like solar, wind, biomass etc. PTI Much like India uses coal in its thermal power plants; it can use Thorium as an alternate fuel for Uranium in its nuclear power plants. India has one of the largest reserves of thorium According to the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD), a constituent Unit of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), India has 10.70 million tonnes of Monazite which contains 9,63,000 tonnes of Thorium Oxide (ThO2). India's thorium deposits, estimated at 360,000 tonnes, far outweigh its natural uranium deposits at 70,000 tonnes. The country's thorium reserves make up 25 per cent of the global reserves. It can easily be used as a fuel to cut down on the import of Uranium from different countries. Don't Miss 1.3 K SHARES 1 K SHARES 4 K SHARES AFP According to former Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman and ex-secretary Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) M.R. Srinivasan, the currently known Indian Thorium reserves can result in the generation of 358,000 gigawatt-year (GWe-yr) of electrical energy and can easily meet the energy requirements during the next century and beyond. India has been processing monazite, and enough thorium has been stockpiled for the future use. India’s Uranium imports since 2008 Ever since India accessed to the global nuclear fuel market in 2008, the country has been one of the major nuclear fuel buyers. India imports most of the required Uranium from countries including Russia, Kazakhstan, and France and lately the deal with Canada and Australia have further enhanced India’s avenues to get Uranium from overseas. If estimates are to be believed, nearly 5,559 metric tonnes of uranium has been imported by India from different countries since 2008. With the help of 21 reactors currently operational, India produces around 3 per cent of total power generated with a maximum capacity of 6,000 MW. In 12th Five-Year-Plan (2012-17), Nuclear Power Plants failed to deliver Due to disturbed supply of Uranium from different countries, India’s nuclear power plants haven’t been able to deliver the projected amount of electricity. According to the ministry of power’s executive summary published in 2016, India has set a target of producing 88,537 MW of power from all three major sources. But by January 2016, when the reports came out, India could only produce a total of 74,535.72 MW of electricity. And the contribution of nuclear power plants was least as it failed to achieve even 50 per cent of the target in first four years of the 12th Five Year Plan. Reuters Against the target of the production of 5,300 MW in five years, by January 2016, only 1,000 MW of power was produced in all nuclear power plants combined. Is Uranium concentrate used directly in reactors? No. Uranium extracted from the ore is first stored as uranium oxide concentrate, better known as yellow cake, when is then enriched into Uranium-235 isotope, a fuel that can be put as pellets in the nuclear fuel assembly. So can thorium be used directly in reactors? No. Thorium too would go through a three stage process which would convert it into Uranium-233 and only then it can be put into reactor assembly. What’s that process and how far is India from reaching there? Much like uranium, thorium is also a fertile substance, but not a fissile substance by itself. It requires work to make a usable in a nuclear reactor. The process through which Thorium can be made usable in the reactor is a three stage process. AFP “It starts with using Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) and light water reactors to convert natural uranium to plutonium. Next the neutrons from plutonium breed U-233 from Thorium. The final stage, Advanced Heavy Water reactors burn U-233 with Thorium, and about 66 per cent of power is generated from Thorium fission,” states report submitted by Pranjal Bordia in Stanford University in 2012. At present, India is far from taking benefits of the large reserves of Thorium as it hasn’t yet developed the mechanism through which Thorium can be processed and made usable to put into the reactor. Reuters Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), however, is working on the research and development of the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR), a Thorium fuel based vertical pressure tube type, heavy water moderated and boiling light water cooled reactor. The development of this reactor with a likely capacity of 300 MWe is in final stages. So, with the presence of Thorium in India in quite a big amount, isn't it a better option to use it rather than importing Uranium from abroad.