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thesims4blogger · 1 year ago

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Community Blog: “Become a Successful Property Owner with The Sims 4 For Rent Expansion Pack”

Maxis has shared a community blog with more info on its newest The Sims 4 expansion pack, For Rent.

Oversee multiple residential rentals as you bring neighbors together – literally!

It’s time to open your door to new rental opportunities in the picturesque world of Tomarang! Experience the neighborhood as a Property Owner or tenant – fix utilities, deal with unruly neighbors, create a community and even manage multiple Residential Rentals.

In The Sims 4 For Rent Expansion Pack, players will have the opportunity to build and create a variety of dwellings, including townhomes, duplexes, apartments and more! Players will discover that close living quarters make for some of the most harmonious relationships that will either bring the community together or drive it apart!

Now, answer the door and get ready to discover the drama at your doorstep!

Welcome To Tomarang

Sul Sul, neighbor. Welcome to the bustling city of Tomarang, a scenic world nestled in a lush tropical landscape and vibrant city skyline. In a world alive with possibilities, Tomarang breathes new life into the many stories that can be told in multi-family dwellings.

Inspired by a unique blend of tradition and modernity, Sims can immerse themselves in this Southeast Asian-inspired world and discover various new exciting community activities. To reflect elements of Southeast Asian culture, The Sims team proudly collaborated with Jason Chu, an Asian-American rapper, social justice advocate and cultural expert with family roots in Southeast Asia, to consult on the For Rent Expansion Pack to deliver more choices with how players explore and express their individuality.

When your Sim needs a break from the hustle and bustle of a big city, they can relax in the green haven of the botanical gardens, visit an animal sanctuary or leave Incense or Fruit offerings at the Spirit House, while child Sims can play Hopscotch and Marbles in the park.

As Sims move into these new Residential Rentals, it’s inevitable that they will get tangled up in each other’s lives. From basement suites to duplexes, Sims can discover drama right at their doorstep as they will have ample opportunity to discover each other’s secrets by eavesdropping, snooping or even breaking and entering.

With so much to chat about, Sims can head on over to the city’s iconic Night Market for an evening stroll. After exploring a world aglow with lanterns, buzzing with vendors, tantalizing foods and unique items, Sims can be inspired to eat like locals at home where they can cook dishes including Khao Niao Mamuang, Tofu Pad Thai, Pancit Bihon, Burmese Samosa Soup and Banh Cuon. After their meals, Sims can enjoy a Halo Halo and a Thai Iced Milk Tea.

Now, answer the door and get ready to discover the drama at your doorstep!

Welcome To Tomarang

A New Type of Lot in Town

We know apartments and multi-residential rentals have been highly requested by players, and we wanted to ensure that this feature offered enriched and immersive gameplay that expands on the multitude of storytelling opportunities. The Sims 4 For Rent Expansion Pack introduces a new dimension to housing options, enhancing the overall depth and complexity of Sims’ relationships, personalities and experiences.

For the first time ever in The Sims 4, Simmers can build a fully customizable multi-unit dwelling where multiple Sim families can live on the same lot. This is possible in ANY liveable The Sims 4 world!

In Tomarang, these gorgeous dwellings feature versatile wooden window shades, homes on stilts near scenic beaches as well as historic bridges. For interiors, there are traditional wood carvings and rattan furniture available alongside traditional Southeast Asian-inspired rugs, chairs, tiles and lamps.

New Residential Rentals allow a Sim to get creative with fully customizable multi-family dwellings. Give your Sims a basement suite to rent out, create a cozy duplex for close families or even build spacious apartments for large families.

Community events, like a Potluck and Pool Parties, provide the perfect opportunities for Sims to engage with their neighbors and get a sense of community within their Residential Rental.

Property Management

Sims can soon evolve into savvy Property Owners and live amongst tenants or maintain separate residences while generating income from multiple property investments. While being at home can be relaxing, Property Owners may face a tenant revolt if you allow your ratings to slip too low, amongst other potential surprises including insect infestations, and challenges including mold.

To further immerse players into the world of For Rent, Sims can gain four new Aspirations, five Traits and a new Fear that help create unexpected and exciting stories. Tenants can experience evictions, and as a result, Fears now include a tenant being afraid of being evicted due to misbehavior–but don’t worry, you can always give someone a second chance!

On the flip side, Property Managers have their own layer of responsibility. It's not all fun and games! Property Owners can visit and do inspections, shoring up any broken objects—including the new Water Heater and Electrical Fuse Box utility objects. No Tenant is going to want cold water or flickering lights.

Sims can also have Aspirations to become the nosiest of Seeker of Secrets, a Five-Star Property Owner, the local Fount of Tomarani Knowledge, or a Discerning Dweller–the best neighbor and tenant ever. To make these communities even more interesting, Sims have five new traits. Sims can be Nosy, Generous, Cringe, Child of the Village and the Elder specific Wise–as wisdom comes with age.

If you purchase the For Rent Expansion Pack anytime from November 2 to January 18, you’ll have access to our Street Eats Digital Content, which allows you to bring the night market flavor home with a grill cart, street umbrella and fruit basket.

Preorder The Sims 4 For Rent Expansion Pack now to start playing immediately when it launches on December 7, 2023 on PlayStation®4, PlayStation®5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC via EA app for Windows, Origin™, Steam® and Epic Games Store.

#news #the sims 4 #ts4 #sims 4 #for rent #expansion pack

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sidleyparkhermit · 3 months ago

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And in local Justice Dept. indictment news:

From a residence in Boise, Matthew Allison, 37, is accused of fostering a loosely connected online haven for extremists seeking to incite a race war. His tactics included splicing adulatory videos about prior terror attacks and compiling detailed how-to guides that included the nuts and bolts of how to make bombs and chemical weapons, how to find a suitable target and how not to get caught, according to a Department of Justice indictment and news release. In pursuit of ways to “accelerate” violent clashes around the globe to speed up the creation of a white ethnostate, the conspirators looked to radicalize new recruits and incentivize their violent ideations, calling attackers “saints” and promising to commemorate those who succeeded, authorities said. One document that was in the works, called the “Saint Encyclopedia,” included mugshots of white supremacist killers and still photographs from a shooter’s 2019 livestream of a Christchurch, New Zealand, massacre, which killed 51 Muslims attending prayer services. The network of communications channels, group chats and archives was built on the social media app Telegram and is known as “Terrorgram.” The activities on the platform and charges against Allison and alleged co-conspirator Dallas Humber, of Elk Grove, California, were detailed in a 37-page indictment released by the Justice Department on Monday.

The Telegram web was replete with instructional manuals for how to make bombs, videos valorizing past attacks motivated by racist ideologies, detailed instructions for targeting important infrastructure and words of encouragement for any would-be attackers. Here are some of the international terrorist attacks that federal authorities linked to Allison and Humber, and documented in the indictment. SLOVAKIA A 19-year-old Slovakian killed two people and injured a third in a shooting at an LGBTQ+ bar in Bratislava in October 2022. He then killed himself. Before the attack, the shooter authored a manifesto and sent it to Allison, “thanking Terrorgram for inspiring and guiding him.” A section of “Recommended Reading” included one of the Terrorgram’s documents, which the shooter called a “practical” guide to carrying out their agenda. Humber later created an audiobook version of the manifesto. Before his attack, the shooter had been in “frequent” conversation with Allison online, and was celebrated by him in reposts after the killings.

NEW JERSEY In July, an 18-year-old was arrested for allegedly plotting to attack an electrical substation in New Jersey. He had been an active member of Allison and Humber’s Telegram group chats, and had thanked other members for sending him “accelerationist propaganda” videos created or spread by Allison. One of Allison’s videos had recommended a particular method to break an electrical transformer; the New Jersey attacker recommended that an accomplice — who turned out to be an undercover agent — use the same method. TURKEY In mid-August, an 18-year-old from Turkey was arrested in the stabbing of five people outside a mosque in a city southeast of Istanbul. He wrote in his manifesto that he had used Terrorgram’s documents to plan his attack, and also shared the 2022 manifesto of the Slovakian attacker. In a separate instance last December, Allison encouraged another user who had expressed his plans to commit a mass shooting, the indictment said. “Wish you the best in everything homie,” Allison wrote to him.

#canNOT emphasize this enough: snitch terrorists out #white nationalists #terrorism

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dankusner · 3 months ago

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OAK CLIFF ‘Dallas has lost a hero’

Gunman shoots 2 others, killed after chase

Police officer ‘executed’ sitting in squad car, chief says

Dallas police Chief Eddie García said a 30-year-old gunman “executed” his officer within seconds of approaching his patrol vehicle Thursday night in southeast Oak Cliff.

Corey Cobb-Bey parked his white Buick about 10:02 p.m. near the For Oak Cliff building in the 900 block of East Ledbetter Drive, and Officer Darron Burks stopped nearby two minutes later during a break between assignments, García told reporters Friday during a news conference.

Cobb-Bey spoke with Burks briefly through the driver side window while recording the encounter on his phone, then pulled out a handgun and fatally shot Burks, the chief said.

A police dispatcher noticed an unusual transmission from Burks’ radio and tried to contact him but got no response, García said. Police found him using his GPS location as Cobb-Bey went back to his car and got a shotgun, which he then put on top of the patrol vehicle, the chief said.

Senior Cpls. Jamie Farmer and Karissa David responded within 10 minutes, and Cobb-Bey grabbed the shotgun and fired at them, García said.

Farmer, who was hit in the leg, returned fire and ran.

David was shot in the face as she exited her vehicle but also returned fire, the chief said.

All three officers were taken to hospitals, where Burks, 46, died.

David is in critical condition but listed as stable, while Farmer was treated and has been released, the chief said Friday evening.

“We are devastated,” García said. “The investigation determined last night was premeditated, again for no other reason than the uniform we wear.”

Cobb-Bey drove away on East Ledbetter, then turned north onto Interstate 35E as he was pursued by Dallas police officers to Lewisville.

He exited a vehicle with a shotgun in hand, approached officers and pointed the gun at them, the chief said.

Six Dallas officers fired, striking him multiple times and killing him.

Police recovered two shotguns at the Lewisville site and two handguns at the Dallas shooting scene, which Cobb-Bey had legally obtained, García said.

“Our officers were targeted by this coward,” the chief said during the emotional news conference.

Early Friday in Lewisville, police searched an empty white Buick that appeared to have shattered back windows and a flat back tire.

Dozens of police vehicles lined the closed-off highway.

A body lay under a sheet in the street.

In social media posts, Cobb-Bey repeatedly mentions the “end times” and refers to himself as a “Moor,” a reference to the Moorish Science Temple of America.

The Anti-Defamation League has noted overlap between the Moorish Science Temple and Sovereign Citizens, which the FBI considers an anti-government extremist group.

Sovereign citizen ideology dates back to the 1970s, when it was dreamed up by white supremacists intent on defying the nation’s laws.

The ideology teaches that a shadowy group secretly took over the U.S. government and has been using financial contracts to enslave Americans.

Some followers in the past have resorted to violence, including murdering law enforcement officers.

Chapter’s post

The Moorish Science Temple of America Dallas chapter posted on its Facebook page extending condolences to Burks, adding: “We stand united in our efforts to foster a community where peace and justice prevail.”

García confirmed Cobb-Bey appeared to have ties to the movement, which is based on the premise that African Americans are descendants of the Moabites originating from the Moroccan Empire.

The religion incorporates Islamic teachings with teachings of personal transformation and racial pride.

Earlier this week, Cobb-Bey had approached an unmarked squad car belonging to an unknown law enforcement agency, and recorded them as he questioned why they were parked there, García said.

The chief said police were scouring his social media to find anything similar to a manifesto, adding that Cobb-Bey had made a post indicating an “event” was happening on Friday.

“It’s one of the most brutal cop killings that I have seen in my career,” García said.

The chief emphasized the investigation is still in the early stages.

He applauded the dispatcher who knew something was awry from Burks’ radio transmission, “sending help to our officer when he needed it most,” the two officers who responded and were wounded and those who pursued Cobb-Bey despite the risks.

García said Farmer was in great spirits and David has a long road to recovery.

He said he visited Burks’ mother, “a beautiful, strong woman of faith,” and they hugged and cried. He assured her that her son would be remembered as a hero.

Burks’ mother, Cherie Jeffrey, confirmed his death to The News when reached by phone Friday.

Jeffrey said she was notified by officers at her home.

Burks was a former school teacher who had just completed police training.

The chief recalled pinning the police badge on Burks, who had only been with the department since March 2023. The department is hurting, the chief said, and it will never forget Burks’ sacrifice.

“We’re grieving the loss of our brother … while we stand behind to support his loved ones and our injured brother and sister officers who are in their own fight after this senseless evil act,” García said. “We have a tough day today, but we will get through it as we always do, together and as a law enforcement family.”

‘Tragic situation’

LaDarrian Brooks, 39, who identified himself as Cobb-Bey’s older brother, told The News that “the whole family is floored” by the shooting.

“Our family … we would like to deeply, deeply apologize to the families that were involved in this situation because it’s a tragic, tragic situation,” he said.

Several council members and other city officials stood with García at the news conference Friday to show support for the fallen officer and the Dallas Police Department.

Council member Kathy Stewart told The News that Burks grew up in the Lake Highlands area and graduated from Lake Highlands High School.

His loss hits their community “especially hard,” she said, noting his love for public service was evident in his prior career as a teacher.

“He made the honorable decision to pursue a career in law enforcement, graduating from our police academy just last year,” Stewart said. She asked for prayers for the wounded officers, the department and Burks’ family as “they navigate the most difficult journey that lies ahead.”

Dallas Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Adam Bazaldua said the shooting appeared to be a “completely senseless act.”

“You hear often of officers’ families who say goodbye before they head to their shift not knowing if it’ll be for the last time, and here’s an example of exactly that,” Bazaldua said. “He was just doing his job protecting our city.”

‘No words’

In a post on X early Friday, García said “No words.” He attached a photo of a Dallas police badge above the city of Dallas with a dark blue line across the center.

Flags at all city facilities will be flown at half-staff, according to a statement from Dallas police.

About 1:15 a.m. Friday, dozens of Dallas police officers stood quietly outside the emergency room entrance to Methodist Dallas Medical Center.

They stood in two parallel lines, with the honor guard closest to the entrance, and waited.

Police squad cars lined the blocks leading up to the hospital, their emergency lights flashing.

A Dallas police vehicle drove to the hospital minutes later, and officers helped escort an older woman out of the car.

The officers surrounding the vehicle straightened, then saluted as the woman exited the vehicle and slowly walked inside the hospital with a group.

The two lines of officers broke after she went inside.

One officer wrapped one of his arms around a colleague and held her against his shoulder, staring out at the street.

Others came by and also hugged the officer, who appeared to wipe away tears.

A patrol car was parked in front of the department’s south central station Friday morning.

On its hood lay a bouquet of white roses and another of white lilies.

“Dallas has lost a hero,” Mayor Eric Johnson wrote in a statement Friday.

“This attack on three of our protectors is nothing short of an attack on our city, our families, and our way of life. We must continue their work to stop violence in our communities. We must never forget their sacrifice.”

Life of service

Burks attended Paul Quinn College and pledged Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He

worked at Texans Can Academies before joining the force, according to Apryl Washington Goree, a former co-worker at the charter school. “He loved helping kids, but he wanted to help the community versus just the classroom,” she said. “He wanted to help on a broader spectrum.”

“I want to express my deepest condolences and full support to the family of our fallen Dallas Police Officer,” Dallas Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert wrote in a statement. “We cannot take for granted how precious life is and how courageous our first responders are to selflessly take the oath to protect and to serve.”

From the parking lot of For Oak Cliff Friday morning, Dallas City Council member Carolyn King Arnold told The News she was “devastated” by the news of the shooting.

The center was quiet and its parking lot vacant at 9 a.m. Friday, roughly an hour after three police vehicles — one marred by at least two bullet holes — were towed down East Ledbetter Drive.

Another bullet punctured the community center near the front entrance, just below a sign listing its business and recreation hours.

“Really no words can describe an officer being murdered like this,” she said. “It just leaves you speechless.”

Arnold said the community center serves as a “beacon of hope” and a peaceful place for the community to gather — not a “magnet for crime.”

“It is a magnet for the youth to come and find alternatives to gun violence,” Arnold said.

“It’s used to change this narrative that all of Oak Cliff is lost, all for someone to misuse this sacred space.”

youtube

#Youtube

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upperpeninsulabreakingnews · 7 years ago

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Combine fire probe in Barnwell County, SC - Farm Combine fires happen more than you might think

Combine fire probe in Barnwell County, SC – Farm Combine fires happen more than you might think

Combine fire probed in Barnwell County, SC By Greg Peterson South Eastern Social Justice Breaking News Co-owner, News Director 906-273-2433 (Barnwell County, SC) – Authorities are on the scene of a reported combine fire in Barnwell County, SC. The fire was reported just after 11 a.m. ET Mon., Dec. 4, 2017in the area of Gardenia Road just off SC Highway 3 in Barnwell County, SC. The fist official…

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#American Farmers are heroes #Barnwell #Barnwell County Sheriff&039;s Department #Barnwelll County #farm #farm combine fire #farm combine fires #farming #fire #Gardenia Road #high costs of farming #no injuries #South Carolina #South Carolina Highway 3 #South East Social Justice Breaking News #South Eastern Social Justice Breaking News #SouthEast Social Justice Breaking News #The American Farmer #the disapperance of the American Farmer

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jacensolodjo · 4 years ago

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LGBTQ AAPI resources

Source

National Resources

Asian Pride Project (http://asianprideproject.org/) – “an online space for family and friends of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Asian & Pacific Islander (API) people. It is a place to share our stories and experiences with each other, in the languages of our communities, in video, sound, pictures, and words. Together, we can move towards understanding and celebrating our families and friends for who they are.”

The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (http://www.nqapia.org/wpp/) – “The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance is a network of Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander LGBTQ organizations.”

The Visibility Project (http://www.visibilityproject.org/) – “A national portrait + video collection dedicated to the Queer Asian American Women & Trans* community. The Visibility Project breaks barriers through powerful imagery and storytelling.”

Coming Out: Living Authentically as LGBTQ Asian and Pacific Islander Americans by Human Rights Campaign Foundation (https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/HRC-Coming_Out-API-FINAL-web-2018.pdf) -LGBTQ resource guide helping Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders with the coming out process.

Regional Resources: New York

PFLAG NYC API Project (http://www.pflagnyc.org/content/api-project-helping-asian-families-stay-close-lgbt-loved-ones)- “a new initiative of PFLAG NYC to help families and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals of Asian & Pacific Islander (API) backgrounds”

Regional Resources: California

Asian and Pacific Islanders for LGBT Equality – Los Angeles (http://apiequalityla.org/)- “API Equality-LA’s mission is to build power in the Asian and Pacific Islander community to achieve LGBTQ equality and racial and social justice.”

Asian Pacific Islander Queer Women and Transgender Community (http://www.apiqwtc.org/resources/api-lgbt-groups/)- Based in Bay Area, “APIQWTC seeks to build an infrastructure to bring local API queer groups together to socialize, organize, politicize, and promote pride and visibility of API queer women and transgender people in the queer API communities, here and abroad.”

#Текст #AAPI #AAPI help #lgbtq #presented w/o comment #ok to rb

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rjt4 · 5 years ago

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Eartha Kitt talks to Lady Bird Johnson at the White House shortly before confronting her about the Vietnam War. (Bettman Archive)

Fifty years ago Eartha Kitt paid a price for confronting FLOTUS Lady Bird Johnson on the Vietnam War at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

"I think we have missed the main point of this luncheon,” Kitt said. “We have forgotten the main reason we have juvenile delinquency.”

Then Kitt let Lady Bird have it about the Vietnam War:

“You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed. They rebel in the street. They will take pot … and they will get high. They don’t want to go to school because they’re going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam.”

She didn’t want to go to the White House.

Eartha Kitt, a self-proclaimed “sex kitten” who played Catwoman and crooned “Santa Baby,” was an enigmatic star with a sultry voice and a remarkable talent for playing to the camera. Orson Welles once called her “the most exciting woman in the world.”

Her career was flourishing until Kitt was invited by Lady Bird Johnson to a Jan. 18, 1968, luncheon at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Kitt declined, she wrote in her 1989 autobiography, “Eartha Kitt: Confessions of a Sex Kitten.” “I thought it would be a lot of nonsense — flowers, champagne, a chance to show off,” Kitt recalled in her book. “I felt a con coming on.”

But she reconsidered after being implored by the first lady’s social secretary to attend.

The subject of the luncheon was bold: “Why is there so much juvenile delinquency in the streets of America?”

Kitt had worked with youth groups across the country, including a D.C. group, Rebels With A Cause, during a break in her tour of “The Owl and the Pussycat.”

So she packed an overnight suitcase and flew to Washington. The White House had made reservations at the Shoreham Hotel, where she spent the night. The next morning, a limousine was waiting to take her to the White House.

At the time, protests against the Vietnam War were raging across the country. Almost 500,000 Americans were fighting in Southeast Asia — a number that was still climbing. And 1968 would prove the deadliest year of the war, with 16,900 Americans killed in Vietnam.

[He was America’s most famous pediatrician. Then Dr. Spock attacked the Vietnam draft.]

But none of that was being discussed in the private family dining room on the second floor of the country’s most famous home. Seated at the table, the women around Kitt buzzed about the possibility of LBJ popping into the luncheon and admired the place settings for a menu of crab meat bisque and chicken breasts.

Kitt grew annoyed, wondering whether the women would really talk about what was happening in the streets.

“The atmosphere began to hit me,” she wrote, “but still I hoped it might become a constructive opportunity to air the problems we had supposedly come to talk about.”

After dessert was served, the president walked in. According to a Jan. 19, 1968, Washington Post article headlined: “Eartha Kitt Confronts the Johnsons,” LBJ called for more support of police and said, “there’s a great deal we can do to see that our youth are not seduced, and the place to start is in the home.”

When LBJ finished speaking, Kitt “rose and stood in front of him,” according to The Post. “Mr. President,” she asked, “What do you do about delinquent parents? Those who have to work and are too busy to look after their children?”

LBJ was startled by the question.

“We have just passed a Social Security bill that gives millions of dollars to day-care centers,” LBJ told Kitt.

[LBJ’s shrewd moves to make Thurgood Marshall the nation’s first black Supreme Court justice]

The actress insisted: “But what are we going to do?”

“That’s something for women to discuss here,” the president said, then walked out of the dining room.

“Mrs. Johnson’s account had me blocking the path between the podium and the door,” wrote Kitt, who died in 2008 at the age of 81. “I don’t recall that, but I was certainly angry enough.”

Kitt sat silently during the women’s presentations.

To her, they seemed to want to talk about everything except the problems of juvenile delinquency. The women seemed more enamored with Lady Bird’s plan to “beautify America.”

All this talk about flowers when it seemed the world outside was blowing up. Kitt waited for her turn to speak.

Finally, Lady Bird nodded to her.

“I think we have missed the main point of this luncheon,” Kitt said. “We have forgotten the main reason we have juvenile delinquency.”

Then Kitt let Lady Bird have it about the Vietnam War:

Lady Bird’s face grew pale during the attack, according to The Post. Her voice trembled as she replied to Kitt:

“Because there is a war on and I pray that there will be a just and honest peace — that still doesn’t give us a free ticket not to try to work for better things such as against crime in the streets, for better education and better health for our people.”

“Just because there is a war going on,” she added, “I see no reason to be uncivilized.”

Kitt wrote, “I took it she was referring to me.”

Afterward, there was no limousine waiting for Kitt outside. The reaction to her words was swift.

Kitt’s entertainment bookings were canceled. She couldn’t find work in the United States.

“After that White House thing, the government just pulled the gate on me,” Kitt told The Washington Post in 1978.

“Dates simply started getting canceled,” she said. “I knew that some government investigators had come around checking. I didn’t know what it was for, then. One club owner told me he was sorry, but, ‘You’re a problem.’”

For several years, Kitt worked mostly in Europe.

Then, at the end of 1974, New York Times reporter Seymour Hersh called Kitt and told her he was about to publish CIA records that showed the agency had given the Secret Service information about her.

“The Central Intelligence Agency, asked by the Secret Service in 1968 about Eartha Kitt, produced an extensive report containing secondhand gossip about the entertainer but no evidence of any foreign intelligence connections,” Hersh wrote in a Jan. 2, 1975, New York Times article. The report was sent to the Secret Service, Hersh wrote, “a week after Miss Kitt criticized the Vietnam War at a White House luncheon during the Johnson Administration.”

In a 1998 interview with The Post, Kitt called the report “purely” political and proof that LBJ personally blackballed her.

“When Johnson calls up and says, ‘I don’t want to see that woman’s face anywhere,’ ” she said, “you are out of business.”

But, like Catwoman, she fought her way back to prominence.

Five years later after the CIA dossier was revealed, Kitt made a triumphant return to Broadway in the hit musical “Timbuktu,” for which she earned a Tony nomination.

Her entrance on the stage was epic, critics wrote.

“She is standing, literally, on the palms of a giant in loincloth, his forearms horizontal at elbow level,” Lon Tuck wrote in a Jan. 19, 1978, Post article. “The bearer stops at center stage, which is crowded with exotic figures in similar economy of dress, and lowers Kitt to the floor. She pauses with an expression appropriate to Princess Sahleem-la-Lume, the power behind the throne of Timbuktu in the year 1361.

“When all eyes are finally on her, she declares in that unmistakable huskiness: ‘I am here.’ ”

DeNeen L. Brown of the Washington Post

#eartha kitt #lady bird johnson

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newstfionline · 4 years ago

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Friday, October 30, 2020

U.S. refugee admissions (Foreign Policy) The number of refugees allowed into the United States in the coming year will be at its lowest level in modern times, after the White House announced just 15,000 refugees would be allowed settle in the country next year. According to a White House memo, 5,000 of those places will go to refugees facing religious persecution, 4,000 are reserved for refugees from Iraq who helped the United States, and 1,000 for refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras; 5,000 open slots remain, although refugees from Somalia, Syria, and Yemen are banned unless they can meet special humanitarian criteria. The future of U.S. refugee policy hangs on Tuesday’s vote: Former Vice President Joe Biden has promised to increase annual refugee admissions to 125,000, while the Guardian reports that a second Trump administration would seek to slash such admissions to zero.

Days From Election, Police Killing of Black Man Roils Philadelphia (NYT) There is a grim familiarity to it all. In the final days of a bitter election, it is a reprise of the terrible images that the country has come to know all too well this year: The shaky cellphone video, the abrupt death of a Black man at the hands of the police. The howls of grief at the scene. The protests that formed immediately. The looting of stores that lasted late into the night. It began on Monday, when two officers confronted Walter Wallace Jr., a 27-year-old with a history of mental health problems. A lawyer for the family said that he was experiencing a crisis that day and that the family told officers about it when they arrived at the scene. In an encounter captured in video that appeared on social media, Mr. Wallace is seen walking into the street in the direction of the officers, who back away and aim their guns at him. Someone yells repeatedly at Mr. Wallace to “put the knife down.” The officers then fire multiple rounds. After Mr. Wallace falls to the ground, his mother screams and rushes to his body. Mr. Wallace later died of his wounds at a nearby hospital, and the neighborhood exploded in rage. In the days since, dozens have been arrested, cars have been burned and 53 officers have been hurt. On Tuesday, Gov. Tom Wolf called in the National Guard. On Wednesday, the city declared a 9 p.m. curfew. And once again, the people in the neighborhood where it all took place were left to consider what had happened and what, if anything, could be done about it.

Zeta soaks Southeast after swamping Gulf Coast; 6 dead (AP) Millions of people were without power and at least six were dead Thursday after Hurricane Zeta slammed into Louisiana and made a beeline across the South, leaving shattered buildings, thousands of downed trees and fresh anguish over a record-setting hurricane season. From the bayous of the Gulf Coast to Atlanta and beyond, Southerners used to dealing with dangerous weather were left to pick up the pieces once again. In Atlanta and New Orleans, drivers dodged trees in roads and navigated intersections without traffic signals. As many as 2.6 million homes and businesses lost power across seven states, but the lights were coming back on slowly. The sun came out and temperatures cooled, but trees were still swaying as the storm’s remnants blew through. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said the state sustained “catastrophic” damage on Grand Isle in Jefferson Parish, where Zeta punched three breaches in the levee. Edwards ordered the Louisiana National Guard to fly in soldiers to assist with search and rescue efforts and urged continued caution.

Violent criminal groups are eroding Mexico’s authority and claiming more territory (Washington Post) Organized crime here once meant a handful of cartels shipping narcotics up the highways to the United States. In a fundamental shift, the criminals of today are reaching ever deeper into the country, infiltrating communities, police forces and town halls. A dizzying range of armed groups—perhaps more than 200—have diversified into a broadening array of activities. They’re not only moving drugs but kidnapping Mexicans, trafficking migrants and shaking down businesses from lime growers to mining companies. It can be easy to miss how much the nation’s criminal threat has evolved. Mexico is the United States’ No. 1 trading partner, a country of humming factories and tranquil beach resorts. But despite 14 years of military operations—and $3 billion in U.S. anti-narcotics aid—criminal organizations are transforming the Mexican landscape: In a classified study produced in 2018 but not previously reported, CIA analysts concluded that drug-trafficking groups had gained effective control over about 20 percent of Mexico, according to several current and former U.S. officials. / Homicides in the last two years have surged to their highest levels in six decades; 2020 is on track to set another record. Mexico’s murder rate is more than four times that of the United States. / Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes to escape violence; the Mexican Congress is poised to pass the country’s first law to help the internally displaced. / More than 77,000 people have disappeared, authorities reported this year, a far larger total than previous governments acknowledged. It is the greatest such crisis in Latin America since the “dirty wars” of the 1970s and 1980s. / The State Department is urging Americans to avoid travel to half of Mexico’s states, tagging five of them as Level 4 for danger—the same as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has created a 100,000-member national guard to reclaim areas with little state presence. It’s not clear that will make a significant difference. Years of Mexican and U.S. strategy—arresting drug kingpins, training Mexican police, overhauling the justice system—have failed to curb the violence.

Many Cubans hope US election will lead to renewed ties (AP) Not so long ago the tables at Woow!!! restaurant in Havana were filled with tourists ordering mojitos and plates of grilled octopus. But as President Donald Trump rolled back Obama-era measures opening Cuba relations, the restaurant grew increasingly empty. Now entrepreneurs like Orlando Alain Rodríguez are keeping a close eye on the upcoming U.S. presidential election in hope that a win by Democratic challenger Joe Biden might lead to a renewal of a relationship cut short. “The Trump era has been like a virus to tourism in Cuba,” said Rodríguez, the owner of Woow!!! and another restaurant feeling the pinch. Few countries in Latin America have seen as dramatic a change in U.S. relations during the Trump administration or have as much at stake in who wins the election. Former President Barack Obama restored diplomatic relations, loosened restrictions on travel and remittances and became the first U.S. chief of state to set foot in the island in 88 years. The result was a boom in tourism and business growth on the island. Trump has steadily reversed that opening, tapping into the frustrations of a wide segment of the Cuban American community that does not support opening relations while a communist government remains in power. He put into effect part of a previously suspended U.S. law that permits American citizens to sue companies that have benefited from private properties confiscated by the Cuban government, put a new cap on remittances, reduced commercial flights and banned cruises. The president has also forbidden Americans from buying cigars, rum or staying in government-run hotels. A Trump reelection would likely spell another four years of tightened U.S. sanctions while many expect a Biden administration to carry out at least some opening.

Winter gloom settles over Europe (Washington Post) The clocks were dialed back an hour across Europe this week, and the long nights come early now. The hospitals are filling up, as the cafes are shutting down. Governments are threatening to cancel Christmas gatherings. As new coronavirus infections surge again in Europe, breaking daily records, the mood is growing dark on the continent—and it’s not even November. The reprieve of summer feels a long time ago, and Europe is entering a serious funk. Germany and France announced national lockdowns Wednesday to try to get the virus under control. The new measures are less restrictive than in the spring, and yet they face more resistance. People are no longer so willing to remain confined to their homes, venturing onto balconies in the evenings to applaud health-care workers. Many people remain scared of covid-19, but they are exhausted and frustrated—and growing angry and rebellious. In a sign of the times, the head of the World Health Organization recognized the “pandemic fatigue that people are feeling” but urged “we must not give up.” The smugness in Europe about having bested the Americans under President Trump is fading with the daily record-breaking counts.

Young and Jobless in Europe: ‘It’s Been Desperate’ (NYT) Like millions of young people across Europe, Rebecca Lee, 25, has suddenly found herself shut out of the labor market as the economic toll of the pandemic intensifies. Her job as a personal assistant at a London architecture firm, where she had worked for two years, was eliminated in September, leaving her looking for work of any kind. Ms. Lee, who has a degree in illustration from the University of Westminster, sent out nearly 100 job applications. After scores of rejections, and even being wait-listed for a food delivery gig at Deliveroo, she finally landed a two-month contract at a family-aid charity that pays 10 pounds (about $13) an hour. “At the moment I will take anything I can get,” Ms. Lee said. “It’s been desperate.” The coronavirus pandemic is rapidly fueling a new youth unemployment crisis in Europe. Young people are being disproportionately hit, economically and socially, by lockdown restrictions, forcing many to make painful adjustments and leaving policymakers grasping for solutions. Years of job growth has eroded in a matter of months, leaving more than twice as many young people than other adults out of work. The jobless rate for people 25 and under jumped from 14.7 percent in January to 17.6 percent in August. Europe is not the only place where younger workers face a jobs crunch. Young Americans are especially vulnerable to the downturn. In China, young adults are struggling for jobs in the post-outbreak era. But in Europe, the pandemic’s economic impact puts an entire generation at risk, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

3 dead in church attack, plunging France into dual emergency (AP) A man armed with a knife attacked people inside a French church and killed three Thursday, prompting the government to raise its security alert status to the maximum level hours before a nationwide coronavirus lockdown. The attack in Mediterranean city of Nice was the third in two months in France that authorities have attributed to Muslim extremists, including the beheading of a teacher. It comes during a growing furor over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were republished in recent months by the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo—renewing vociferous debate in France and the Muslim world over the depictions that Muslims consider offensive but are protected by French free speech laws. Other confrontations and attacks were reported Thursday in the southern French city of Avignon and in the Saudi city of Jiddah, but it was not immediately clear if they were linked to the attack in Nice.

Germany does not believe Thai king has breached state business ban: source (Reuters) Germany does not believe that Thailand’s king has so far breached its ban on conducting politics while staying there, a parliamentary source said on Wednesday, after lawmakers were briefed by the government. Following a meeting of the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, the source said the government had briefed lawmakers that it believes the king is permitted to make occasional decisions, as long as he does not continuously conduct business from German soil. When asked about the status of the king, the government told the committee he has a visa that allows him to stay in Germany for several years as a private person and also enjoys diplomatic immunity as a head of state. Thailand’s political crisis has made the king’s presence a challenge for Germany, but revoking the visa of a visiting head of state could cause a major diplomatic incident.

China’s New Confidence on Display (Foreign Policy) The Chinese leadership is currently meeting in Beijing to set economic and political goals for the next five years. In the run-up to the plenum, speeches by President Xi Jinping and others have demonstrated a bold confidence that this is China’s moment. As economic policymaker Liu He put it, “Bad things are turning into good ones.” Despite the damage to China’s global reputation this year, its leaders seem to believe that Western economic weakness and mishandling of the coronavirus have created opportunities. That may be true, but it may also encourage dangerous overconfidence, as happened in 2009, when the Chinese leadership was convinced the economic crisis had significantly weakened Washington. That overconfidence is most frightening when it comes to Taiwan, where recent saber-rattling has again raised the specter of an invasion. Distinguishing signal from noise on Taiwan is difficult, but the traditional restraints on Chinese military action—fear of U.S. intervention, reputational damage, and corruption inside the People’s Liberation Army—have weakened. The odds of Chinese action in Taiwan increase if the U.S. election doesn’t produce a clear result, or if a lame duck President Donald Trump embarks on a scorched-earth program on his way out—since Beijing may be convinced that a distracted Washington has no will to block it.

#headlines #news

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serenagaywaterford · 5 years ago

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Over a few short weeks, a third of the world has been placed under lockdown. Soldiers maneuver military vehicles through city centers, police cars broadcast calls for citizens to disperse from public spaces, public announcements are made via drones—and all of it has become normal. The soaring death rate and rapid spread of the disease—overwhelming some of the best public health systems in the world—suggest that this dramatic response is the correct approach. While it may succeed in mitigating the spread of the coronavirus, however, the world now faces another danger: that when the virus recedes, many countries will be far less democratic than they were before March 2020. In times of crisis, checks and balances are often ignored in the name of executive power. The danger is that the temporary can become permanent.

Initially, populist and autocratic leaders were ill-prepared for the pandemic. A disdain for science and expertise, combined with nepotism and neglect of state institutions, including health care, made governments such as those of U.S. President Donald Trump, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro more vulnerable.

Before the health crisis became impossible to deny, government propaganda outlets or supportive media in these countries systematically downplayed the dangers posed by the coronavirus. In the United States, for example, Fox News blamed Democrats for playing up the threat. In Serbia and Turkey, pro-regime media gave voice to pundits and so-called experts who claimed that their populations were genetically protected from infection. In the long term, the pandemic might undermine autocratic leaders—as the usual tactic of blaming scapegoats fails and citizens come to appreciate the value of expertise and functioning institutions. But if strongmen are threatened with a loss of legitimacy, they’re likely to double down on their authoritarian practices and take advantage of the state of emergency to consolidate power.

Long before the virus hit, the world was already experiencing a decline of democracy. Since 2006, more countries have seen their democracies degrade than those that have improved. Last year, according to Freedom House, 64 countries became less democratic, and only 37 became more so.

Now, as countries around the world institute extraordinary measures to fight the pandemic, both dictatorships and democracies are curtailing civil liberties on a massive scale.

A number of European leaders, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, have praised Beijing’s rapid and highly repressive response to the virus (after the country corrected its initial bungling approach). The decline in new infections in China itself and the delivery of Chinese aid to countries such as Austria, Greece, Italy, and Spain have improved China’s reputation in Europe.

Freedom of assembly, a fundamental right, has been severely restricted almost everywhere. But free movement is far from the only right being infringed on. In a number of countries, elections are beginning to be delayed. Voting for the Democratic primary in the United States has been postponed in at least 12 states and territories. In Serbia and North Macedonia, national elections scheduled for April have been postponed. In Britain, local elections scheduled for May have also been postponed. In the current environment, holding elections is certainly difficult and even dangerous. It appears that the first round of French municipal elections held on March 15 might have accelerated the spread of the coronavirus. At the same time, postponing elections for months might deprive governments of their legitimacy and allow autocrats to use the delay to strengthen their power and hold elections when it suits them. Where elections are still slated to move forward, they pose other dangers to democracy. Though the majority of Poles want presidential elections planned for May to be postponed, the country’s government insists they will go ahead. Such elections would unfairly favor incumbent President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the ruling Law and Justice party; emergencies often help sitting leaders and make it difficult for the opposition to run a campaign. Altogether, postponing elections is the better choice, but such decisions should follow a clear cross-party agreement and timetable.

“We are at war,” French President Emmanuel Macron recently declared, echoing language other leaders have used as well. Such dramatic rhetoric can help rally a strong effort to fight the pandemic and highlight the sacrifices citizens have to make. Such appeals can be dangerous, however. The virus is not an army, and evoking war can transform a health crisis into a security one, justifying repressive measures.

Measures like closing businesses, enforcing social distancing, and keeping people off the street, including curfews and bans on gatherings, are needed to control the rapid spread of the coronavirus. But there is a serious risk that these efforts are leading to a new wave of authoritarianism. In Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev used the Nowruz spring holiday address to describe the opposition as a dangerous fifth column and threatened that “during the existence of the disease, the rules of completely new relationships will apply. … It is possible that a state of emergency may be declared at some point. In this case, the isolation of representatives of the fifth column will become a historical necessity.”

Self-Isolation Might Stop Coronavirus, but It Will Speed the Spread of Extremism

Millions of people stuck at home will turn to social media, where disinformation is rife. Radical Islamists and far-right groups are exploiting widespread confusion and fear to spread hate.

Cambodia’s Leaders Line Up a Coronavirus Scapegoat

Hun Sen needs somebody to blame for the impending disaster.

Numerous countries have already passed emergency laws or declared states of emergency—a tactic autocrats can use to consolidate power. In Hungary, the government of Viktor Orban on March 30 passed a law “on protecting against the coronavirus” that allows the government to rule by decree and suspend existing laws. Furthermore, parliamentary oversight is suspended for the duration of the crisis, with only the prime minister permitted to determine when it will be lifted. The new law introduces draconian fines for spreading fake news and breaking quarantine and curfews, with penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment. The law triggered an unusually clear letter by the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, the Continent’s key human rights watchdog, to the Hungarian government, stating that “[a]n indefinite and uncontrolled state of emergency cannot guarantee that the basic principles of democracy will be observed and that the emergency measures restricting fundamental human rights are strictly proportionate to the threat which they are supposed to counter.” In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has used the emergency to postpone his corruption trial, block parliament from sitting, and grant extraordinary domestic surveillance powers to the internal intelligence agency.

The extraordinary powers given through emergency laws and other emergency measures can lead to abuse among democratic leaders as well. Liberal democracies have also taken unprecedented measures to monitor citizens, such as tracking their movement through cell-phone data, including in Italy, Germany, and Austria. In Montenegro, the government even published the names and addresses of citizens who are supposed to be in quarantine to ensure compliance.

Confronting the coronavirus crisis will take extreme measures, but any infringement on civil liberties must be temporary and proportional. Crucially, emergency measures need to have a clearly defined time frame to avoid leading into a permanent state of emergency.

Furthermore, legislative bodies need to remain active. The Austrian parliament, for example, passed a number of laws in an accelerated procedure, and the European Parliament supported special EU funds to help countries affected by the pandemic—with most parliament members participating and voting remotely.

Fake news, meanwhile, is best confronted through government transparency—rather than with penalties. In fact, penalties for spreading false news are particularly popular in countries such as Hungary, Serbia, and Turkey, where pro-government media have been disseminating misleading and false information about the health risk of the disease. Part of the success of countries like Taiwan and Singapore in confronting the coronavirus is due to their clear and open communication about the pandemic.

The dangers are clear. The pandemic may well lead to a serious decline in democracy around the world. It is crucial that liberal democracies show self-restraint and vigilance. Governments such as Canada and South Korea have thus far demonstrated how to respond effectively to the pandemic while ensuring that a critical, vibrant debate remains alive. Others must follow suit.

Florian Bieber is a professor of Southeast European history and politics and Jean Monnet chair for the Europeanization of Southeastern Europe at the University of Graz, Austria. He is the author of Debating Nationalism: The Global Spread of Nations. Twitter: @fbieber

#i'm posting the whole thing cos it's behind a $16 paywall which is insanity #just... very few people are talking about other shit going on like....this.#covid2019 #coronavirus #fascism #politics #international affairs

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youreghanamissme · 6 years ago

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The Last Post

This is the last post I’ll be submitting to this blog. I miiight be compelled to post all those informational entries about Ghana I always thought up, i.e. transportation, the local cuisine, top asked questions about being in the Peace Corps/ Ghana (aka “what was dating like?” and “how do you stay healthy?” hoooo-yeeee haha), social/cultural tidbits, etc. but I might be too lazy. If I do post up anything non-Ghana/ Peace Corps related, it would be on my personal blog. Go ahead and message me if you want the link to that since it’s just about me and not about this experience.

The much-hated question: “So how was Ghana?”

What I want to say: I don’t reeeally want to unpack this right now over dinner, Sheila. We haven’t seen each other in over two years, and I really can’t do the whole peace-corps-service-in-Ghana thing justice in 30 seconds. I really just want to eat this plate of Thai food I haven’t had since 2016 and not listen to myself talk.

What I actually say: It was good. I enjoyed it a lot. There were times that were really tough, but I regret nothing, except maybe sometimes willingly taking a chance on cold food.

Or, conversely...

In one word? Umm... hot.

Being back has been quite a whirlwind. Internet. ALL. THE. TIMEEE!! Driving! A refrigerator :D I now have a smartphone in America, something that was not a thing for me before I left for Peace Corps (brick phones, RIP), and I. LOVE. IT. Perhaps a little too much. Those apps really got me, man, because I am completely addicted to podcasts. And I’m always collecting new ones and asking for suggestions, so if you got any... holla at yer girl ;)

Basically me, all the time, sans velvet blazer. I need to get me one of those.

I’ve gained quite a bit of weight too. I mean, I wasn’t slim... more “normal bod,” but I was exercising regularly and not eating processed food (as much). Lately, your girl has gotten thicc. Booty booty rockin’ it arounddd, rockin’ it arounddd... to the other side of the kitchen for some thirdsies, thanksss ma! My biggest guilty pleasure has been cereal and pizza.

Costco pizza has been giving me life*, and y’all know I live near a plethora of fast food joints, right? Round Table Pizza, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, KFC, McD’s, In-N-Out... America, you know how to trap a girl!! But right now it’s been YOLO, even when I have a hard time getting back into all those Ghanaian bespoke clothing I spent a lot of my monthly allowance on. That’s another two great things about being back: cool enough to wear sweatpants, and socially acceptable if I wear shorts (I wore some in public the other day and I felt a lil’ nekkid ;)

*fyi: pineapple belongs on pizza

I was travelling for a bit, and now that I’ve been back to America, I’m off for a month again! This time to Vietnam with my mum and my older sister. We haven’t been back to my mother’s country in over two decades; I was four years old the last time I’d gone, and that was because of a family emergency. Why the long wait? I’ll tell you why: it ain’t cheap to fly there! Plus, I’ve been hustling ever since I graduated from college, so it was no contest: savings, bills, rent money > Vietnam vaca.

Luckily, my sister paid for my ticket (bless!). The original plan was to go to Vietnam and explore southeast Asia after the Peace Corps, but since my sister is a teacher, I’d have to schedule my Close of Service date to coincide with her Spring Break. I wasn’t able to because PC Ghana staggers COS dates so that communities don’t experience a mass exodus once a year. They experience mini-sayonara’s thrice a year lol. There can be a lot of drama when your cohort is figuring out who gets what date; it really depends on the people. Most of everyone wants to leave as soon as possible to catch graduations, see family, or just get. the. hell. out. of. there. Waiting until my sister’s summer vaca meant that we had more time to be in Vietnam, a country that we mostly have to seek information about for ourselves as American children of Viet refugees, and I appreciate that our mum is making the journey with us. The trip will be our first time exploring the whole country. No one has been north of the southern region. I’m thrilled to see my mother’s village, my father’s hometown, and also explore the mountains where my father was held at a concentration camp for almost seven years after the war. Vietnam has gone through so much industrialization and cultural change in the last few decades; I’m sure we’re all bundles of apprehension, wonder, and excitement! Once I get back, I need to hit the ground running; no more travel for me for a while!

At the moment, I’m set up to re-attend school. I’m going back to finish up some pre-requisites for nursing school (that’ll take me a year as the anatomy & physiology portion is a 3-part series offered once a quarter--eww--and nursing programs typically last 2-3 years,so I’m looking at the next 3-5 years until I finish #lesigh) to get a second Bachelor’s degree. I know, I know. A second BS? Damn, gurl. You coulda saved yourself some moolah by getting it right the first time! But I don’t regret anything. I love nutrition, and studying it was a big source of joy. I’m rather scared as a twenty-something who likes to create, be in nature, and help people... I know there is an intersection there somewhere, but I’m having a hard time finding it. I’m pulled in three separate directions: pursuing nursing, pursuing environmental science (a passion that has been steadily growing since college), and forgetting academia for now and just working on a farm with nutrition and youth and nature... it’s all very romanticized and a total quarter life crisis. I’m wondering if nursing would open some doors for me to work with women and international settings (other huge passions of mine), perhaps in midwifery (to tie in the nutrition component), and in rural areas (to be more in settings that are more nature, less city... though I love the city and am I city grrrl at heart). The creative side will just be brushed onto my spare time, like it has been for the last decade lolol (but really doe...)

I’m in a transition mode right now, and “trusting the process” is hard when the process is scary af! But at the end of the day, I acknowledge it’s scary and daunting only because I’m reveling in my own fears of failure and self-doubt. Still, that doesn’t make it any less scary and confusing :(

I implore y’all to go forth and pursue what makes you smile. It’s hard to navigate that in this society and culture where we’re all so immersed in the sense of time and money and the pursuit of happiness. Hell, I’m hella guilty of that. Yoo-hoo, nursing? Financial stability but also rewarding profession. I’m worried about making the leap to go back to school as I’m not a spring chicken no more! I’m still young (Asians don’t raisin, holla!), but Peace Corps Ghana definitelyyy took at least two years off my total life expectancy haha Still gotta reiterate: no regrets there. I’m older and a lil’ wiser and a lot more grateful for my time on Earth and the space that I occupy. I’m taking this sharper perspective to do good on some of the things I talked about in previous posts:

I signed up for a novice swimming class (your girl is about to learn some life skillz!)

Attempting to live more minimally (donating a lot of my clothes)

Reaching out to old friends to reconnect; fostering friendships

Be more kind to my other Mother. Continually attempting to start a compost pile in the backyard, and I bought a pack of stainless steel straws as a first step

So that’s it for now. HMU if you’re ever in NorCal in the next few years and/or you want to continue creepin’ on me as I try to navigate this post-Peace Corps life on another blog hehe (there is a certain source of vanity and joy from taking about myself, whatever forever~)

#peacecorps #ghana #pcghana #rpcv #transition #trustheprocess #pizza #america #cultureshock #daria #podcasts #podcastaddiction #nursing #secondcareer #quarterlifecrisis #vietnam #happyfeet

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epacer · 4 years ago

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Education

Teens Tell Us How We Can Re-Imagine High School After the Pandemic

When San Diego high schools closed in spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teenagers in our community became isolated from their classmates, school activities and support systems.

Students like Gabriel, a senior at San Diego High School, faced even greater struggles. After moving in with his aunt in March 2020, Gabriel was grateful for a roof over his head. However, distance learning was difficult without a space of his own to join in a virtual class, take a test or study. Because of the pandemic, Gabriel’s academics and well-being were even more at risk.

But Gabriel, who had never achieved higher than a 2.1 GPA, now has a 3.75 GPA. The difference: spending every day at The David’s Harp Foundation distance learning hub.

Last year, as we were dealing with the pandemic, we received a generous grant from Cox Communications of more than $60,000 for a distance learning hub at our East Village location in downtown San Diego to bring internet connectivity to at-risk and homeless students. In addition to the Cox grant, Moniker Warehouse donated its event venue, enabling us to develop an educational space based on what our students told us they needed, not what we thought they needed.

Distance learning was new for us too. Our nonprofit was born in 2006 in a converted garage in Southeast San Diego, where neighborhood youth lacking support and motivation traded good grades for studio time to create music. Today, we are a diverse group of artists and educational support staff hosting a range of academic and art programs for hundreds of San Diego teens, including foster youth and those in the juvenile justice system.

Those students were the hardest hit when school campuses closed due to the pandemic. By late spring 2020, we found that 91 percent of the students we worked with weren’t accessing their school’s distance learning curriculum. Our staff could have huddled privately to develop a plan we thought would get them engaged with school, but instead, we got the students’ feedback and created something that met their needs.

As we spoke with our students about why they weren’t logging onto their Zoom classrooms every day, we heard one thing loud and clear: a sense of community, academic accountability and creative connection were important to their learning. Olivia, a David’s Harp program participant, said it best: “Music is my everything, and the studio is my community. It’s my inspiration, my therapy, it’s LIFE.”

In response, last summer, we got right to work creating the ideal environment for online classes and a much-needed creative and social outlet. A partnership with college preparation nonprofit Reality Changers and support from the Claire Rose Foundation gave us the boost we needed to make the distance learning hub a reality.

Since the 2020 fall semester, the distance learning hub has provided a COVID-safe, in-person distance learning environment in the 4,000-square-foot Moniker Warehouse for more than 65 local students in grades 9-12. Some come once a week, while others are there every day. At 2 p.m., the warehouse comes alive as students jump into music and digital art projects or dive into their entrepreneurial work creating videos for major companies like Sony.

This learning format is now being used as a model for schools reopening nationwide. As our youth continually told us, “bursts” of creative time with music and other structured artistic breaks from Zoom classes are vital to keeping students engaged.

“The studio gives me a reason to get up in the morning,” said Gabriel. “I can deal with the online school situation if I can make my music during breaks and after school.”

The pandemic has given us a chance to reimagine high school in a way that will help our most vulnerable students. We’re listening to their voices to develop a “new now” once schools reopen, one that blends the arts, academics, and accountability, and is evolving how we serve all students. *Reposted article from the Times of SD by Brandon Steppe, April 17, 2021

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Upcoming Movies in March 2021: Streaming, VOD, and Theaters

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

2021 continues to be a rollercoaster for movie lovers everywhere, with a once promising Spring 2021 going much the same way as 2020 with delays, release date shifts, and growing apprehension. Still, even if the first few months of 2021 will look much like the last 12, there are reasons to smile. For starters, a new Walt Disney Animation Studios project, Raya and the Last Dragon, is about to premiere on Disney+; Eddie Murphy is finally reprising the role of Prince Akeem in Coming 2 America; and there is the chance to at last watch something called… the Snyder Cut?

Here’s what’s coming.

Moxie

March 3

Netflix kicks March off with Amy Poehler’s second feature film as director. Turning her camera lens to the anarchic battlefield of high school life, Poehler adapts Jennifer Mathieu’s novel of the same name about a young woman named Vivian (Hadley Robinson), who is fed up with the toxic masculinity and sexism at her school. So taking a page from her mother’s (Poehler) former hellraiser youth, Vivian starts an anonymous pamphlet-magazine with a punk rock aesthetic. She periodically distributes her musings around the school, mocking the double standards and perhaps calling out potential predators in their midst.

Clearly this is going to turn some heads.

Raya and the Last Dragon

March 5

Get ready for a “Disney princess movie” unlike any other. Raya and the Last Dragon is the latest effort from the fabled Walt Disney Animation Studios, and the first ever animated epic produced almost exclusively from home. The film follows Raya (Star Wars’ Kelly Marie Tran), the first Southeast Asian Disney Princess. But rest assured she’s also a unique heroine within the Disney canon. Lost without her family or home, this martial arts-trained daughter of a ninja chieftain travels through a fantasy wasteland until she meets Sisu (The Farewell’s Awkwafina), a chatty water dragon of legend.

Together they seek to save the desolated and polarized land of Kumandra. They also offer an old-fashioned adventure movie for all ages that lacks a single musical number–yet retains a familiar and welcome amount of heart.

Coming 2 America

March 5

It’s been more than 30 years since Coming to America, the amusing and very ‘80s Eddie Murphy comedy about an African prince out to find his princess in Queens, New York. In Coming 2 America, Murphy’s Akeem Joffer returns to Queens while still a prince, albeit finally with the crown in sight. With his father (James Earl Jones) on his deathbed, Akeem is commanded to seek out his long lost son Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler), who lives in New York City with no idea he’s descended from royalty.

Hence Akeem and trusted advisor Semmi (Arsenio Hall) return to their old stomping grounds to meet and retrieve Lavelle. But, really, it’s just an excuse to have Akeem back in modern NYC and to let Murphy and Hall run wild. Watch out for Wesley Snipes who appears as General Izzi, a warlord that seeks to take over Akeem’s beautiful land of Zamunda.

Chaos Walking

March 5

It’s actually happening: Doug Liman’s Chaos Walking is coming to theaters. Whether you want to go will be another matter though. The movie, which stars Spider-Man’s Tom Holland and Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley, originally finished production in 2017 with the aim to release in March 2019. But after poor test previews, the film was delayed until 2020 to make room for reshoots… and all of that was before COVID happened.

Now the film is finally walking its chaos to a theatrical release in the U.S., UK, and other markets. The film stars Ridley as the last girl in the world, literally. And she’s just been awakened to a bizarre dystopia where only boys like Holland’s Todd are left, and all their internal thoughts are verbalized by a visible force field around their heads. It’s going to be a long journey to salvation.

The film is based on a YA novel and feels like a young adult adventure from the early 2010s. But the cast, which also includes Mads Mikkelsen, is winsome, and Liman has helmed good movies in the past with troubled productions, including The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith…

Pixie

March 5 (Available in the UK Now)

As a film that by early UK reports is a whole lot of fun, Pixie is a throwback to gangster comedies of yore with a few welcome twists: The hero of the film is Pixie Hardy (Thorughbreds’ Olivia Cooke), a young criminal mastermind who attempts the ultimate heist as revenge for her mother’s death, and who then gets an armada of gun-wielding priests and nuns chasing her for the effort.

Now forced to rely on two outsiders (Ben Hardy and Daryl McCormack) in her small English village, Pixie is going to shoot her way to freedom, assuming the lethal, opera-loving Father Hector McGrath (Alec Baldwin) doesn’t put a bullet in her head first. Yeah, this could be a wild, fun ride.

Boss Level

March 5 (U.S. Only)

It’s often been remarked upon by many critics, including our own, that the time loop setup made famous by Groundhog Day has yet to produce a bad movie. Edge of Tomorrow, Happy Death Day, Source Code, The Endless, and last year’s Palm Springs (to name but a few) have all been at least pretty good. So director Joe Carnahan (The Grey, Smokin’ Aces) appears ready to push that observation to its breaking point with an action movie that positions itself as loopy fun.

Premiering on Hulu, Boss Level follows Frank Grillo as Roy Pulver, a mercenary in a time loop that begins with an assassination attempt on his life every morning and ends with a citywide explosion. In between he fights bad guys and tries to figure out how to break the loop and save his son. It’s a well-worn formula at this point, and judging by the trailer, Carnahan is leaning into the absurdity of it, along with relying on a talented cast which includes the underrated Grillo, Naomi Watts, Michelle Yeoh, Ken Jeong, and the ever controversial Mel Gibson. Will it work, or just be one day too many with this concept?

Cherry

March 12

Finally coming to streaming via Apple TV+, the Russo Brothers’ first post-Avengers movie seeks to be a Jesse James fantasy for our modern age. In the film, the Russos’ handpicked Spidey, Tom Holland, stars as Cherry, an Iraq War veteran with an addiction to opioids and a penchant for robbing banks. Highly stylized and the rare type of film we see these days—something original—hopefully Cherry is as sweet as its title.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League

March 18

It actually exists. Now. When thousands upon thousands of fans were peacefully flooding comic book convention centers, and not so peacefully taking to social media to let their frustrations be heard regarding “#TheSnyderCut,” no actual finished version of Justice League from director Zack Snyder existed; instead there was just a four-hour rough cut that was in black and white, and which existed without special effects, music, or most of that post-production sheen. But fan demand has willed this abandoned version of Justice League to emerge from the ether and take glorious form on HBO Max.

So this month, the version of Justice League that Snyder intended to make will at last drop at a gargantuan four-hour length. Will it really be the stuff fanboy dreams are made of? Or will it be a longer, more brooding variation on the film that disappointed millions more than three years ago? Whether you’re a disciple or skeptic of “the Snyder Cut” phenomenon, we suspect you’re curious about finally laying eyes on this sucker.

Godzilla vs. Kong

March 31 (March 26 in the UK)

If you’re a little fatigued on superheroes, might we suggest a giant monster smackdown? Just over a week after Batman and Superman have their rematch, Adam Wingard’s hotly anticipated Godzilla vs. Kong will also premiere on HBO Max, as well as in U.S. and UK cinemas. And in the Legendary Pictures event, the two most iconic giant monsters in movie history will have their first heavyweight bout since Toho’s more modest 1962 effort. Gone are the men in suits; in their place is the dazzling CGI that Legendary’s MonsterVerse has already deployed via Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and Kong: Skull Island (2016).

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

In the new film, Rebecca Hall plays a researcher who feels compelled to get the godlike King Kong off Skull Island for reasons that are not entirely clear. With similarly murky logic, Godzilla is provoked by this decision, and the traditionally benevolent kaiju is soon attacking Kong without warning. Clearly the big guys have beef. The film also stars Alexander Skarsgard, Eiza González, and a returning Millie Bobby Brown and Kyle Chandler. But come on, we’re here to “let them fight.”

The post Upcoming Movies in March 2021: Streaming, VOD, and Theaters appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3uO0H2S

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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dispatchesfrom2020 · 4 years ago

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2020

Week 44: October 26-November 1

26: A downed power-line in Orange County sparks a fast-moving fire in Orange County, forcing 70,000 people to evacuate their homes. The Senate votes to confirm Amy Coney Barrett along entirely partisan lines. It’s a repeat of the highly contentious confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 - the pair tie for the narrowest confirmations in the history of the court. The addition of Barrett will swing the balance of the court heavily in conservatives’ favour, and sets Democrats up for an uphill battle on key issues like healthcare abortion, and voting rights. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says that Republicans acted in bad faith confirming Barrett so close to an election - something they protested against when Obama nominated a Justice 9 months before the 2016 election. Millions of Americans had already cast their ballots before the Barrett confirmation hearings began. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell defends the Republicans, saying they broke no rules. You don’t have to break rules to be an asshole, Mitch.

27: Time for a story I’ve been avoiding: the murder of Samuel Paty. The French schoolteacher was killed in retaliation for showing his students cartoons of the naked prophet Muhammad published in Charlie Hebdo. He used the images as props during a lesson about freedom of expression. The magazine was attacked by extremists in 2015 over the publication of these cartoons - 12 staff were killed. Paty’s death sparks off renewed tensions between muslims and non-muslims in France. President Emmanuel Macron weighed in early this month, offering a full-throated defence of the use of these images in schools. In a public address, in early October Macron said: “Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world today”. His comments have immediate blow-back, resulting in anti-French protests around the Muslim world. Today, protesters in Iraq burn French flags and thousands of people rally in Dhaka to call for a boycott of French goods. Saudi condemns his remarks and Turkey’s President blasts Macron as ‘mentally unwell’.

28: Spurred on by anti-abortion legislation passed last week, Polish women have organized strikes and rallies. An estimated 430,000 people participated in 410 demonstrations across the country. Meanwhile, Indonesia has logged 400,000 cases of COVID since the pandemic began, the first country in Southeast Asia to surpass this milestone. Hurricane Zeta makes landfall in Louisiana and strikes northwards. And the Trump administration rolls back decades-old protections for the Tongass National Rainforest in Alaska, allowing nearly half of the forest to be opened up to logging and road-building. Tongass is among the world’s largest temperate rainforests and a vital carbon sink for the continent’s carbon emissions. All five of Alaska’s Indigenous tribal nations withdrew from consultations about the plan, saying, “our participation in this process has not actually led to the incorporation of any of our concerns in the final decision. We refuse to endow legitimacy upon a process that has disregarded our input at every turn.”

Women in Lodz dress up like characters from the A Handmaid’s Tale to protest new abortion restrictions in Poland - Marcin Stepien/Agencja Gazeta

29: A boat carrying 140 refugees catches fires and capsizes off the coast of Senegal. 140 passengers drown. The heavy rainfalls from Typhoon Molave leave dozens dead and many others missing in central Vietnam. Zeta continues its destructive tour of the American southeast, cutting a path through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas and now Virginia. The storm’s death toll rises to six as forceful winds shred roofs, tear down trees and down power lines. In COVID-news, India becomes on the second country to total 8m cases, trailing closely in the United States’ wake. Italy records over 25,000 new cases of the coronavirus today - their total number of cases has now surpassed 600,000. And France approves new lockdown measures - all non-essential businesses will be closed, however schools will remain open. Traffic clogs the streets of the Île-de-France region, as people try to get out of Paris before the second lockdown begins.

30: The Belarussian President, still beleagured with pro-democracy protests, abruptly shutters the country’s borders with Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Ukraine citing coronavirus concerns. The Philippines brace for a massive, category five super-Typhoon. Goni will be the 18th storm to strike the country this year - and will be the largest cyclone in over a year, since Hurricane Dorian struck the Caribbean in 2019. And the New York Times reports that border officials have expelled at least 200 unaccompanied children from Central America to Mexico, regardless of whether or not those minors have family in Mexico to care for them. A further 545 migrant children are still missing, having been separated from their families upon arriving at land borders.

31: Video evidence shows Azerbaijani forces using white phosphorious in Artsakh. The use of this chemical agent as a weapon is banned under international law. In an interview with the Washington Post, Dr. Fauci criticized the White House’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying the country “could not be positioned more poorly” for the fall and winter surges. He tells the journalist that the coronavirus task force is more focused on the economy than public health and reports that he and the team’s other medical expert, Deborah Birx, no longer have access to the president.

Biden delivers a speech during a rainy drive-in rally in Tampa, Florida. In contrast to the Trump rallies, which rarely make concessions to the pandemic by asking attendees to wear masks or socially distance, Democrats have gone to great lengths to find novel ways to hold COVID-safe events - Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

1: Polling is showing Joe Biden with a clear advantage in swing states as the United States heads into a high-stakes election on Tuesday. Most polls show the former Vice-President leading in Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Pollsters are eager to regain much of the credibility they lost in 2016 when Trump upset Hillary’s performance and swept into the White House, against their predictions. Despite advancements in their technique - and oversampling Trump’s key demographics - the numbers will be way off again. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces a month-long lockdown beginning next week although schools and universities will be allowed to remain open. Athens, too, will be locked down, following orders for the Greek Prime Minister. Portugal too, is following suit, and locking down most of the country

#2020 recap

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pondandpuddlejumping-blog · 7 years ago

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We have a lot of catching up to do...

You know the friend that you have where you can go months or even years without talking and it’s like nothing has changed and you’re happy to just catch up on everything that has happened since the last time you spoke? Oh good, ‘cause that’s what this blog has become.

We have five months of catching up to do. This is not how I had intended this blog to be and I’m a bit disappointed with myself that I’ve gone five months without a single update considering all of the great adventures I’ve been on in the mean time. For the summer I’m entertaining the idea that I will do at least 1 post a month, which is totally attainable. I’m planning to stay in Europe over the summer and I have some friends and family visiting over the next 4 months so I will not be short of things to write about.

Anyway, here’s the Reader’s Digest version of my life over the past five months though a lot has happened so this post is longer than my others:

Christmas 2017: London, Vienna, and Bled

I decided to stay in Europe over the Christmas holiday. We got a 5 week break and I had plans to spend some time in London, Vienna, and Bled. My friend was kind enough to let me stay in her London flat while she went to home to Canada and for the latter half of my break I had plans to meet up with a couple friends from my Halifax to explore Vienna and Bled.

Firstly, I was blown away by the lights and decorations alone. London knows Christmas. It made how we decorate at home look like peanuts in comparison. The lights on Regent street and Oxford street were stunning. I also checked out Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park and multiple Christmas markets around the city. I was also pleasantly surprised by the number of skating rinks set up around the city and was sure to take advantage of them.

Christmas decorations at Spitalfields Market.

This was the first time that I would be spending Christmas away from family. I hadn’t made it home to my immediate family for Christmas 2016 but I had gotten to spend it with my aunt and uncle who lived in Edmonton, a city only a few hours from Calgary, so it didn’t hit me in quite the same way it had hit me this year. There were multiple points during the day where I regretted not going home. However, I wasn’t completely alone, a friend from school had also decided to spend Christmas in Europe and so the two of us were making the most of our surroundings.

We went to the service at Westminster Abbey for Christmas morning. I’m not a religious person in the slightest however, I was able to appreciate the service in a way that I had never experienced church before. The sense of community and just genuine joy that seemed to be in the air was comforting. This was also the first time I had been inside the Abbey and it was incredible.

Our original plan was to go to the movies after the service however literally EVERYTHING is closed on Christmas day in the UK. Who knew? So, we went on a mission to at least find a restaurant that was open. We ended up in Chinatown for a late Christmas lunch and after lunch proceeded to go on a nice walk through the city: seeing Marble Arch, through Kensington Park and past Buckingham Palace. Even though I had been feeling homesick more than I had ever been since arriving in the UK, I was also really happy to have spent Christmas day experiencing things I wouldn’t otherwise have had the opportunity to.

The next city on my list over the holiday break was Vienna. This was also where I would be ringing in the New Year. I had come to notice that the over-the-top Christmas decorations wasn’t just a London thing but rather a European thing. Vienna did not disappoint. The city was oozing with culture and history and I was excited to explore.

We went to the Albertina museum, saw a small ensemble performance of Strauss and Mozart (twice!), and went to the state opera over the next four days in addition to checking out other museums, Christmas markets, and (more) ice skating. I think the thing that I loved most about this city was the food! I definitely overindulged while in this city but that’s what vacation is for, right? It was also so lovely catching up with my friends. I hadn’t seen one of the them in almost two years so we had a lot of catching up to do - she had been on some crazy adventures herself, through Southeast Asia!

With the year coming to a close I had the opportunity to reflect on all that had happened. 2017 was good to me: not only had I moved overseas and started law school but earlier in the year I had learned to ski and was getting more into rock climbing and hiking. I had also reconnected with old friends and made many new ones. I was looking forward to continuing this positive trend and seeing what the New Year had to offer.

City Hall Christmas Market. The NYE fireworks display went off behind City Hall.

We rang in the New Year with a bottle of Champagne in the City Hall square watching fireworks and dancing to live music. Again, a moment where I had a brief sting of homesickness but also surrealness - I was ringing in the New Year in Vienna! How incredible is that?

From Vienna we travelled 6 hours by train to Bled, Slovenia. Not the first place on everyone's travel list but it definitely should be! I was so pleasantly surprised by this town. It seriously looks like Narnia and that we had walked through the wardrobe upon arriving. The Alps are literally the backdrop to the town and Lake Bled, with its island church, adds to the picturesque landscape.

View from a look-off we hiked up to. Notice Bled Castle in the background on top of the cliff.

We spent two days in the town, hiking around the lake and up to the castle. The town isn’t very big but it was nice to just wander around and relax after the sights and sounds of Vienna and London. Bled is very sleepy in comparison.

Most of the other tourists around are there for the skiing. There are shuttles leaving regularly from the town centre to the ski hill. I noticed that Bled also offers “adventure vacations” in the summer with SUP, canoe and kayaking tours, and white water rafting. Again, not a destination I would consider for an adventure vacation but now that we’d been there I would love to go back and experience that.

Panoramic of town from Bled Castle.

After our time in Bled we trained back to Vienna for one final night before parting ways to fly back home. I spent the final days of the break in London. Another friend of mine had moved to London on the 30th and it was great catching up with him before heading back to Canterbury.

January 2018: Oslo, Norway

Within the first few days back in classes I booked a weekend trip to Oslo with some of the other girls at school. Flights were only £20 round trip! We quickly realized that our flight would be the cheapest thing all weekend. Norway is very expensive in comparison to other places I’ve travelled. That’s not to say that we didn’t have an excellent weekend, just that my original budget for the weekend was severely underestimated. Sorry bank account.

This is when I’m supposed to justify my actions by yelling YOLO! and saying quotes like “travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.” Regardless, Oslo is a beautiful city and I loved learning about Norse culture and the Viking Age and would love more time to explore this city. Sculptures and paintings depicting Norse mythology are all over the city. We also went to the Viking museum where we got to see three Viking ships, including the world’s best preserved ship. The museum also had countless artefacts and a visual journey through the Viking Age. I highly recommend checking this place out if you’re in Oslo.

This picture does not do justice to how large these ships were. Like, look at the rudder! Also notice the carvings on the ship.

Another highlight of our weekend was Holmenkollen National Arena, which hosts cross-country and biathlon venues as well as Holmenkollbakken, a large ski jumping hill. We venture up to the Arena for what we’ve been told are stunning views of the city and to watch the sun set. However, the day we went, the city is covered in a sea of clouds. The sunset is still spectacular and the arena also has a small museum of the history of the ski jump which was interesting.

Under that sea of cloud is Oslo.

Other quick highlights from the weekend include seeing the architectural gem The National Opera House, the nightlife of the Grünerløkka district, the Vigeland sculpture park, and the Mathallen food hall. We packed a lot into that weekend!

Mathallen Food Hall from above.

Reading Week - February 2018: Warsaw, Poland

I travelled to Warsaw over the Winter reading week in February with two friends for a week-long conference on international commercial and corporate law hosted by ELSA - Warsaw (European Law Students’ Association). While this trip was mostly academic, the organizing committee also scheduled free time for us to explore during some of the days and hosted great social programmes in the evenings.

This was my first academic conference and it did not disappoint. We got to connect with law students from across Europe and engage with lecturers and professionals from around the world.

Warsaw is a beautiful city with a mix of old and new architecture. Fun fact: about 90% of the city was actually rebuilt after the war due to destruction and the modelling of the buildings came from pre-war pictures and paintings.

Entering the old part of the city.

The historic campus of the University of Warsaw is incredible and some of the buildings remind me of Dalhousie University where I did my first undergrad. The university is actually where Chopin studied music! And the law faculty is actually the oldest on campus, founded in 1808.

On the main gate leading into campus.

The academic program for the week was organized around lectures, panel discussions and debates, and allowed ample opportunity to ask questions. At the end of the week we also got the chance to participate in workshops hosted by local firms. This conference supplemented the material that we’d been learning so far in the company law module at school.

When not in class we skated at the National Stadium, checked out local nightlife, explored the Jewish Institute and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, and went to a gala dinner hosted at the National Library at the end of the week. The week went by a lot faster than we would have liked.

The Supreme Court of Poland.

March 2018: Stirling, Scotland

Lastly, my most recent trip (end of March), and second major ELSA event for the term, Scotland! I was so excited to go. Another weekend trip, I went with one of the friends I travelled to Warsaw with. We represented our local ELSA group at the National Committees Meeting for all of the UK ELSA groups. We also got to reconnect with some of the participants we had met at the Warsaw conference.

This weekend was a chance for us to meet other local ELSA groups, hear about what they had accomplished over the last academic year, and see their plans for the upcoming year. The University of Stirling group were excellent hosts and the campus was beautiful.

Though we were based in Stirling for the weekend we also did a day trip to Edinburgh before heading back to Canterbury. Scotland is stunning. There are no other words to describe it. The history, the lush green space and mountains (which was a nice change from the flatness of England), and the people, who were so nice and genuine, made for a fantastic weekend.

Wondering through old town in Edinburgh.

A part from the committees meeting, we toured Deanston Distillery and did a whiskey tasting paired with chocolate. We also explored Stirling Castle and the town centre. On our day trip to Edinburgh we walked through old town, tried the declared “best haggis in the city”, and went on a tour of Holyrood Palace (Fun fact: this is the official summer residence of the Queen!). I enjoyed Scotland so much and have already booked a trip back to Edinburgh for late August when my brother comes to visit the UK.

Our whiskey tasting after the tour of the distillery. We were the only two to sign up!

Scotland made me feel like home. Which isn’t that surprising seeing as many families in Nova Scotia have origins in Scotland and in some communities in Cape Breton Gaelic is still commonly spoken.

Panoramic from Stirling Castle. The weather was unseasonably warm.

If you made it this far reading about my recent adventures, I thank you for bearing with me as I chose the highlights to mention. I found it hard to keep things short.

The first year of my degree is quickly coming to an end and I’m honestly so shocked that I’ve already been in the UK for 8 months. I feel like I only just arrived! I’ve definitely been bitten by the travel bug and have started to plan a couple trips for after my exams.

#emsinternationaladventure #christmas2017 #Vienna #LakeBled #scotland #haggis #whiskeyforthewin #norway #poland #elsa

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upperpeninsulabreakingnews · 7 years ago

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S.E. Social Justice Breaking News – Augusta man shot by cops is off to federal prison – again.

11-17-17 12:45 p.m. ET

Off to a place he left this summer – federal prison

By Greg Peterson S.E. Social Justice Breaking News News Director/Co-owner 1-906-273-2433

(Augusta, GA) – An Augusta man who was shot over seven years ago by a Richmond County Sherrif’s Department Deputy is off to federal prison again for violating terms of supervised federal release in a case that began just over five years ago.

Now 31 years old – Diriuss Antonio Redd – was indicted in Feb. 8, 2012 one one count of felon in possession of a firearm by a federal grand jury sitting in Augusta. He was one of over 100 people busted in the Augusta area on state and federal charges during a seven-month joint undercover operation by the RCSD and other agencies including the feds. “Operation Smoke Screen.”

Scroll down to read a press release from federal prosecutors on that operation.

Redd apparently had just been released from federal prison in July 2017 when he was arrested in Nov. 2017 on a supervised release violation.

The indictment stated on October 25, 2011, in Richmond County Redd did “knowingly” possessed a Norinco, Model SKS, 7.62 x 39 caliber rifle. This after having been convicted on June 11, 2004 of forgery-first degree in Richmond County Superior Court.

He was sentenced to five years in prison in July 2012 after pleading guilty to the firearms charge.

However, on Tues., Nov. 14, 2017 Redd was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison for violating probation on several occasions while on supervised release including failing a drug test and not paying fines.

He was sentenced in 2012 and this week by U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall, chief judge of the South District of Georgia.

In 2010, Redd made the Augusta area news when he was shot by a cop while trying to take the officer’s gun.

Richmond County Sheriff’s Deputy Jo Martin shot Redd – then 24 years old – in the groin on April 27, 2010 after he struggled with the officer during his arrest at Augusta Estates mobile home park on Milledgeville Road. Deputy Martin was cleared in the shooting as she was attempting to arrest Redd on outstanding warrants including a felony aggravated stalking charge – when a struggled ensued.

Martin attempted the arrest after responding to the mobile home park about a break-in at a woman’s trailer – and that’s when he spotted Redd.

Redd was wanted on the aggravated stalking charge after his children’s grandmother said he tried to break into a car and was in violation of a court order.

——-

News coverage: http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/Richmond_Countys_Operation_Smoke_Screen_rounds_up_500K_in_expected_stolen_merchandise_suspects_140742813.html

U.S. Justice Dept. Feb. 2012 News Release: 24 Defendants Charged with Gun Offenses After Undercover Investigation

U.S. Department of Justice United States Attorney Southern District of Georgia The United States Department of Justice – Southern District of Georgia U.S. Attorneys Office For Immediate Release February 28, 2012 Edward J. Tarver, United States Attorney Contact: James D. Durham (912) 201-2547 [email protected]

24 Defendants Charged with Gun Offenses After Undercover Investigation

Undercover RCSO officer purchased and seized over 64 firearms during “Operation Smoke Screen”

AUGUSTA, GA – 15 federal indictments, unsealed today in federal court, have charged 24 defendants with federal firearms offenses. An additional 85 defendants were charged by the Augusta Division’s District Attorney’s Office on state burglary, theft, firearm and drug charges. The federal and state indictments follow a 7-month undercover investigation in the Augusta area dubbed “Operation Smoke Screen.”

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) initiated Operation Smoke Screen in August of 2011. As a result of this undercover operation, RCSO seized an estimated $500,000 in property and identified suspects in 104 burglaries, 12 car break-ins and 16 thefts. While guns were not the focus of the investigation, 64 firearms were recovered; many from convicted felons or individuals dealing in firearms without a license. A number of the guns seized during the undercover operation were reported stolen.

United States Attorney Edward J. Tarver stated, “Operation Smoke Screen is a great example of the successes that can be accomplished through the collaborative efforts of federal and local law enforcement agencies working together to protect the public. This operation serves as notice to the criminal element that if you traffic in stolen guns and other stolen items, law enforcement is watching and you will be prosecuted.”

“The right of citizens to feel safe in their homes is a basic freedom that we feel is worth protecting. The suspects that were targeted during this investigation were alleged to be involved in victimizing citizens of this community and putting guns into the hands of the criminal element,” said Special Agent in Charge Scott Sweetow, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Atlanta Field Division. “ATF actively partners with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to stem firearms-related violent crime. We applaud the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office for initiating this multi-faceted investigation aimed at seizing stolen property to include dozens of stolen firearms.”

Following numerous arrests today, initial appearances for several of the federally indicted defendants were held in United States District Court, Augusta, Georgia. The arrests today were undertaken by the RCSO, the United States Marshal Service, the Georgia State Patrol Aviation Division and the ATF RAGE Unit, which consists of members from the ATF, the North Augusta Department of Public Safety, the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office and the Aiken Department of Public Safety. A listing of the 24 defendants recently indicted on federal charges is attached.

Mr. Tarver stressed that an indictment is only an accusation and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the Government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Assistant United States Attorneys Lamont A. Belk and Nancy C. Greenwood are prosecuting the federal cases for the United States. For additional information, please contact First Assistant United States Attorney James D. Durham at (912) 201-2547.

###

Operation Smoke Screen

Federal Defendants Charged

Each of the defendants listed below is from Augusta, Georgia unless otherwise noted:

Dewayne H. Anderson, 45, North Augusta, SC

Charles Maurice Andrews, 19

Derrian R. Brown, 24

Leroy Bunyon, 30

Rodriguez Marquis Bunyon, 32

Twain J. Frails, 22, Hephzibah, GA

Craig Maurice Hambrick, 25

Miguel A. Heredia, 23

Mercedes S. Hyman, 21

Robert L. Johnson, 28, Hephzibah, GA

Jerry Mazone, 31, North Augusta, SC

Curtis A. President, 22

Angelo G. Pringle, 20

Diriuss A. Redd, 26

Danson R. Sheppard, 21

Lemuel Fernandez Smith, 32

Dakabein Ahrand Swint, 20

Amid A. Truitt, 23

Lavinski Vaughn, 24

Grady L. West, 26

Akeem Wiggins, 20

Derrick Demone Williams, 41

Jamal Hakim Wright, 26

Augusta man shot by cops is off to federal prison – again: Originally was one of over 100 Augusta area residents busted in 2012 undercover probe dubbed “Operation Smoke Screen” S.E. Social Justice Breaking News – Augusta man shot by cops is off to federal prison – again.

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mideastsoccer · 4 years ago

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Indonesia: A major prize in the battle for the soul of Islam

By James M. Dorsey

Saudi support of religious ultra-conservatism in Indonesia contradicts Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s promotion of an undefined form of moderate Islam intended to project his kingdom as tolerant, innovative, and forward-looking. It also suggests that Saudi Arabia is willing to work with the Muslim Brotherhood despite its denunciation of the group as a terrorist organization.

An initial version of this story was first published in Inside Arabia

A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Podbean, Audecibel, Patreon and Castbox.

Java’s mosque landscape resembles a map dotted with flags marking outposts of various warring parties.

Mosques with three-tiered tiled roofs reflect traditional Javanese cultural houses of worship. They outnumber the rapidly growing number of Saudi-funded mosques that sport a little dome rather than tiles as the third tier of their roof that were built by the Prosperous Justice Party (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera or PKS).

A plaque on the construction site of a mosque in a village in Central Java tells the story.

The plaque features the Saudi flag as well as the emblem of Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to reform and diversify the kingdom’s economy.

The plaque thanks the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) for the funding. WAMY is one of the government-controlled non-governmental organizations the Saudi government has used for almost half a century to globally fund the spread of Islamic ultra-conservatism.

The story the plaque tells however goes beyond charitable Saudi support for the construction of houses of worship in the world’s largest Muslim majority democracy.

It suggests that Indonesia is in a category of its own in a global rivalry for Muslim religious soft power in which Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the southeast Asian state are major players.

It also calls into question Prince Mohammed’s shift away from religious legitimization and massive global funding of ultra-conservative religious institutions. Finally, as in the case of Yemen, it casts doubt on the sincerity of the Saudi government’s labelling of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.

It further shines a spot light on religious soft power competition between the kingdom and the UAE and the two countries’ different approaches in harnessing faith in a bid to define what it stands for and how it is utilized to project the state as tolerant, pluralistic and forward-looking.

To be sure, Prince Mohammed, since rising to power in 2015, has significantly curbed almost half a century of Saudi funding of ultra-conservative mosques, cultural and educational institutions, scholarships, and media across the globe which was implemented in an effort to cement the kingdom’s leadership of the Muslim world and counter Iranian revolutionary ideology.

The crown prince has also nurtured a sense of nationalism as a pillar of Saudi identity, curtailing the power of the kingdom’s religious establishment and religion as a major legitimizer of the rule of the Al-Saud family.

Indonesia, however, is the exception that confirms the rule.

Welcomed by tens of thousands lining the streets of Jakarta, King Salman made the importance of religious investment in Indonesia clear on a visit to Indonesia in 2017, the first by a Saudi monarch in almost half a century, as part of an Asian tour that also took him among others to Malaysia, Japan, and China.

The monarch disappointed Indonesian leaders with the degree to which he was willing to invest in the country’s economy but was more generous when it came to spending on religious soft power.

Media reports suggested that the kingdom committed to building five mosques for the military and three new satellite campuses of the Saudi-funded Institute for Islamic and Arabic Studies (LIPIA) in Indonesian provinces.

Bahasa Indonesia, Indonesia’s official language, is virtually non-existent on the grounds of LIPIA, a bastion of Saudi ultra-conservatism in the Indonesian capital affiliated with the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. LIPIA is dedicated to the teaching of Arabic.

LIPIA’s more than three thousand students study tuition-free in gender segregated classes. The institute frowns upon factotums of social life that are denounced as forbidden innovations by Muslim ultra-conservatives such as music, television, and fun.

Driving Saudi proselytization interests in Indonesia is far more than the kingdom’s long-standing support for religious ultra-conservatism.

Like in the case of Iran, it aims to counter a challenge, this time around not from a militant rival but from one that threatens to bypass the kingdom as well as the UAE as a result of its moderation.

The renewed Saudi drive came two years after Indonesian President Joko Widodo first endorsed a concept of humanitarian Islam that propagates tolerance and pluralism and endorses the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights put forward by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), widely viewed as the world’s largest Muslim movement.

Mr. Widodo (also known as Jokowi) chose Ma’ruf Amin, a leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, founded almost a century ago in opposition to Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia’s strand of Islamic ultra-conservatism, as vice-president for his second term.

Speaking three years after his initial endorsement at the laying of the ground stone of the International Islamic University (UIII) in West Java, Mr. Widodo laid down a gauntlet by declaring that it was “natural and fitting that Indonesia should become the (authoritative) reference for the progress of Islamic civilization.”

Mr. Jokowi saw the university as providing an alternative to the Islamic University of Medina, that has played a key role in Saudi Arabia’s religious soft power campaign, and Al Azhar, the citadel of Islamic learning in Cairo, that is influenced by financially-backed Saudi scholars and scholarship as well as Emirati funding.

The university is “a promising step to introduce Indonesia as the global epicentre for ‘moderate’ Islam’,” said Islamic philosophy scholar Amin Abdullah.

Saudi and Emirati concerns were initially assuaged when Mr. Jokowi’s aspirations were thwarted by critics within his administration.

A six-page proposal to enhance Indonesian religious soft power globally put forward by Nahdlatul Ulama at the request of Pratikno, Mr. Widodo’s minister responsible for providing administrative support for his initiatives, was buried after the foreign ministry warned that its adoption would damage relations with the Gulf states, according to the author of the paper.

That could have been the end of the story.

But neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE anticipated Nahdlatul Ulama’s determination to push its concept of humanitarian Islam globally, including at the highest levels of government in western capitals as well as in countries like India.

Nor did they anticipate Mr. Widodo’s willingness to play both ends against the middle by supporting Nahdlatul Ulama’s campaign while engaging on religious issues with both the Saudis and the Emiratis.

Nahdlatul Ulama’s success in accessing European leaders as well as the Trump administration left the Saudis and the Emiratis with two choices: co-opt or be seen to engage.

While the UAE opted to co-opt with pledges of massive economic investment and religious cooperation, Saudi Arabia, pressured by influential figures in the West, put up a botched effort to be seen as engaging.

In an unprecedented move, Mohammed al-Issa, the secretary general of the Muslim World League (MWL), a prime Saudi vehicle for the global projection of religious ultra-conservatism that Prince Mohammed converted into a tool for the promotion of his concept of moderate Islam, visited the headquarters of Nahdlatul Ulama in February in Jakarta.

It was the first visit to one of the world’s foremost Islamic organizations in the League’s almost 60-year history. Although active on social media about their various engagements, neither the League nor Mr. Al-Issa referred on platforms like Twitter to their meeting with Nahdlatul Ulama.

Mr. Al-Issa had turned down an opportunity to meet two years earlier when a leading Nahdlatul Ulama cleric and he were both in Mecca at the same time.

Mr. Al-Issa had told a Western interlocutor who was attempting to arrange a meeting that he had “never heard” of the Indonesian scholar and could not make time “due to an extremely previous busy schedule of meetings with International Islamic personalities” that included “moderate influential figures from Palestine, Iraq, Tunisia, Russia and Kazakhstan.”

Saudi Arabia was forced several months later in the run-up to the 2019 Indonesian presidential election to replace its ambassador in Jakarta, Osama bin Mohammed Abdullah Al Shuaib. The ambassador had denounced in a tweet—that has since been deleted—Ansor, the Nahdlatul Ulama young adults organization, as heretical and he had supported an anti-government demonstration.

During his February visit, Mr. Al-Issa signalled his intentions by taking with him to the group’s headquarters Hidayat Nur Wahid, a leader of the Indonesian PKS, the Muslim Brotherhood aligned-political party, and a staunch rival of the National Awakening Party (or PKB) that is closely associated with Nahdlatul Ulama.

Mr. Wahid is also a Muslim World League supreme council member and on the advisory board of the Saudi-funded King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) in Vienna.

However, Mr. Widodo’s office barred Mr. Wahid from attending Mr. Al-Issa’s meeting with the president.

Tellingly, pleading commitments in Indonesia, Mr. Wahid had bowed out of a ground-breaking visit to the former Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz by 25 prominent Muslim leaders headed by Mr. Al-Issa, weeks before the Muslim World League chief travelled to Indonesia, according to sources familiar with the arrangements for the visit.

Critics suggested Mr. Wahid, who had criticized an earlier visit to Jerusalem by a Nahdlatul Ulama leader at the invitation of the American Jewish Committee, would have been going out on a limb by joining the delegation in Auschwitz.

“This is the Saudis playing a double game,” said a leader of the Nahdlatul Ulama.

PKS’ links to the Muslim Brotherhood and its apparent reluctance to buy into Saudi Arabia and the Muslim World League’s agenda of a nominally tolerant and pluralistic Islam that engages with powerful Jewish communities as well as Israel has not prevented the kingdom from ensuring that the party benefits from its financial largesse.

Back in Javanese villages, PKS’ building of mosques with Saudi money is paying off.

Contrary to Javanese tradition, the mosque in the Central Javanese village was named after the Saudi benefactor who funded the construction through the World Assembly of Muslim Youth. “We don’t name mosques after human beings,” complained a Nahdlatul Ulama villager.

A Palestinian flag fluttered suddenly from the roof of the village’s pickup truck hub from where farmers transport their produce to market with few residents recognizing what it represented.

Rather than taking the flag down, Nahdlatul Ulema changed the tenor of its religious education and events in the village reverting back to the nationalistic and militaristic themes of Banser, the five-million-member militia of Ansor, its young adults wing. It potentially set the stage for a confrontation if the PKS continued its agitation.

The 2019 elections were nonetheless proof of PKS’ Saudi-backed success.

The party won more than 20 percent of the vote in a village in which historically one could count its votes on the fingers of one hand.

“The war songs and events attended by Banser members in uniform are sending a message. It’s a message that is being heard by the other side. Banser was always strong in our area but now people are lining up,” said a prominent Nahdlatul Ulama member in the village.

He suggested that the parties were for now keeping the peace in the village but that could change if and when Nahdlatul Ulama decides that its militia has no choice but to step in. It would not be the first time the militia has successfully confronted more militant hard-core Islamist groups on the streets of Java.

Warned Indonesian home affairs minister Tito Karnavian: “The real challenge of Indonesia today is the rise of intolerance, intolerant groups or intolerant ideologies,”

Speaking in a soon to be published video of a webinar hosted by the Religious Freedom Institute. Mr. Karnavian pointed to strands of religion that have “inherent teachings of intolerance such as Salafism. It’s not an Indonesian strand of Islam, of course, being imported… This is happening today in Indonesia… They want to envision the establishment of Indonesia as an Islamic state… Sharia being implemented (would be) the breakup of the country.”

Dr. James M. Dorsey is an award-winning journalist and a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. He is also a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture in Germany.

#indonesia #saudi arabia #uae #islam #Muslims #Muslim Brotherhood

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Thursday, April 1, 2021

Eager to build infrastructure, Biden plans to tax business (AP) President Joe Biden wants $2 trillion to reengineer America’s infrastructure and expects the nation’s corporations to pay for it. The president travels to Pittsburgh on Wednesday to unveil what would be a hard-hatted transformation of the U.S. economy as grand in scale as the New Deal or Great Society programs that shaped the 20th century. The Democratic president’s infrastructure projects would be financed by higher corporate taxes—a trade-off that could lead to fierce resistance from the business community and thwart any attempts to work with Republicans lawmakers. The White House says the largest chunk of the proposal includes $621 billion for roads, bridges, public transit, electric vehicle charging stations and other transportation infrastructure. Another $111 billion would go to replace lead water pipes and upgrade sewers. Broadband internet would blanket the country for $100 billion. Separately, $100 billion would upgrade the power grid to deliver clean electricity. Homes would get retrofitted, schools modernized, workers trained and hospitals renovated under the plan, which also seeks to strengthen U.S. manufacturing.

States struggle to get rent relief to tenants amid pandemic (AP) Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last July that New York would spend $100 million in federal coronavirus relief to help cash-strapped tenants pay months of back rent and avert evictions. By the end of October, the state had doled out only about $40 million, reaching 15,000 of the nearly 100,000 people looking for help. More than 57,000 applicants were denied because of criteria set by lawmakers that many said was difficult to meet. New York’s experience played out nationwide, with states failing to spend tens of millions of federal dollars aimed at helping renters avoid eviction. Burdensome requirements, poorly administered programs and landlords refusing to cooperate meant tens of thousands of tenants never got assistance. Some states also shifted funding away from rental relief, fearing they’d miss a year-end mandate to spend the money—a deadline that got extended. The problem, housing advocates said, was that the federal government didn’t specifically earmark any of the coronavirus aid for rental relief, leaving states scrambling to set up programs with no guidance on how the money should be allocated.

Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account (BBC) A young child inadvertently sparked confusion over the weekend by posting an unintelligible tweet to the official account of US Strategic Command. The agency is responsible for safeguarding America’s nuclear weapons. Some social-media users feared the account may have been hacked. But it has since been revealed a young member of the account’s social-media manager’s family was responsible for posting the tweet, “;l;;gmlxzssaw”, which was then deleted within minutes. Turns out their Twitter manager left his computer unattended, resulting in his “very young child” commandeering the keyboard.

Brazil is rocked by political turmoil as pandemic outlook darkens (Washington Post) Six cabinet members are out. The military’s top leaders are also gone. And it’s only Tuesday. First came the Monday morning exit of Brazil’s foreign minister, a right-wing ideologue blamed for failing to secure enough coronavirus vaccines. Then the defense minister was gone. Then the justice minister was replaced. Tuesday morning brought still more tumult: the departures of the navy, army and air force chiefs. The exits have sent political shock waves across Latin America’s largest country, precipitating the most politically uncertain moment of President Jair Bolsonaro’s two-year-plus tenure. Brazil must now face what public health analysts say could be the darkest weeks of the pandemic with a raft of new officials and an incoherent national strategy. The sudden moves—some expected, others not—suggested mounting political desperation in the presidential palace. Health systems have collapsed. Some 2,600 people are dying of the coronavirus every day. And Brazilians are increasingly looking to blame the failures of the pandemic on Bolsonaro, who has never appeared more vulnerable. Earlier this month, the leader of the congress implied the president may face impeachment. If Bolsonaro is to have any shot at maintaining power, quieting calls for impeachment and eventually winning reelection, he has to start making changes, analysts said.

Buildup in conflict in Eastern Ukraine (NYT) The war in eastern Ukraine, which has been on a low simmer for months, drawing little international attention, has escalated sharply in recent days, according to statements Tuesday from the Ukrainian and Russian governments. In the deadliest engagement so far this year, four Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another seriously wounded in a battle against Russian-backed separatists in the Donetsk Region of eastern Ukraine, the country’s military said. The soldiers’ deaths, along with a buildup of Russian forces on the border, has seized the attention of senior American officials in Europe and Washington. In the past week, the U.S. military’s European Command raised its watch level from possible crisis to potential imminent crisis—the highest level—in response to the deployment of the additional Russian troops.

Myanmar junta deepens violence with new air attacks in east (AP) The military launched more airstrikes Tuesday in eastern Myanmar after earlier attacks forced thousands of ethnic Karen to flee into Thailand and further escalating violence two months after the junta seized power. The Karen National Union, the main political body representing the Karen minority, said the airstrikes were the latest case of Myanmar’s military breaking a cease-fire agreement and it would have to respond. The attacks came as protests continued in Myanmar cities against the coup Feb. 1 that ousted an elected civilian government and reversed a decade of progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian country. Hundreds of civilians have been killed by security forces trying to put down opposition to the coup.

Continued questions over pandemic origins (Financial Times) The head of the World Health Organization has called for further investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic after the report on its mission to Wuhan left important questions unanswered. “As far as WHO is concerned, all hypotheses remain on the table,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO. The remarks amounted to a rebuke of China, which has sought to shield international experts from examining its early response to the outbreak in Wuhan and play down the country’s role in the spread of the virus worldwide. Tedros was joined by 14 countries, including the US and the UK, that expressed “shared concerns” over the WHO study in a joint statement issued on Tuesday.

Taiwan under threat (Foreign Policy) Twenty Chinese planes intruded into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone last Friday, the largest incursion yet. The maneuver signals growing provocation around Taiwan ahead of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on July 23. The intrusions have become so common that Taiwanese airplanes have stopped scrambling in response. The United States has responded by loosening restrictions to make it easier for U.S. officials to meet with their Taiwanese counterparts. While there are serious concerns about who would prevail in a hypothetical invasion, it’s important to remember that any Chinese attack on Taiwan would likely be telegraphed well in advance. The size of forces needed, and the Taiwanese-Chinese intelligence penetration of each other’s militaries, means strategic surprise is probably out of the question.

A growing challenge for Iraq: Iran-aligned Shiite militias (AP) It was a stark message: A convoy of masked Shiite militiamen, armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, drove openly through central Baghdad denouncing the U.S. presence in Iraq and threatening to cut off the prime minister’s ear. The ominous display underscored the growing threat that rogue militias loyal to Tehran pose for Iraq. It came at a time when Baghdad seeks to bolster relations with its Arab neighbors and is gearing up for early elections, scheduled for October, amid a worsening economic crisis and a global pandemic. Last week’s procession also sought to undermine Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s credibility, with Iran-aligned militias driving down a major highway and passing near ministries as Iraqi security forces looked on. Ahead of a new round of talks between the U.S. government and Iraq, it sent a stark warning that the militias will not be curbed.

In stark warning, Egypt leader says Nile water ‘untouchable’ (AP) Egypt’s president said Tuesday his country’s share of the Nile River’s waters are “untouchable” in a stark warning apparently to Ethiopia, which is building a giant dam on the Nile’s main tributary. The comment from President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi comes amid a deadlock in the yearslong talks over the dam between the Nile Basin countries, which also includes Sudan. In a news conference, el-Sissi warned of “instability that no one can imagine” in the region if the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is filled and operated without a legally binding agreement. The dispute centers on the speed at which a planned reservoir is filled behind the dam, the method of its annual replenishment, and how much water Ethiopia will release downstream if a multi-year drought occurs. Another point of difference is how the three countries would settle any future disputes.

Inactivity kills (Euronews) Inactivity is currently the world’s fourth leading cause of death. It’s a problem often confused and conflated with laziness and personal choice, but in reality the issue is geographic, systemic, and woven into the structure of modern living. In short: if we want to fix our increasingly sedentary world, we have to redesign it. Political correspondent and cycling enthusiast Peter Walker dedicates a chapter of his new book to this exact issue. The Miracle Pill: Why a sedentary world is getting it all wrong is an eye-opening read, addressing our global inactivity problem and suggesting solutions for readers. Currently, 1.5 billion people around the world are so inactive they are risking their long-term physical health. Every year an estimated 5.3 million people die from causes related to inactive living—roughly the population of Norway. An extraordinary 80 per cent of British children move so little that they face a future with poorly developed cardiovascular systems, weak bones and chronic illness. Solving this sedentary crisis requires, in part, a rethink in how we design our towns and cities. “We’ve designed the world such that in many, many places driving is more or less the only thing you can do,” Walker tells me. But if we could all harness the power of activity, our lives could be dramatically altered. The book’s name—The Miracle Pill—relates to a study in Denmark that tracked 30,000 randomly selected people over the course of 15 years. After adjusting for all other factors, the people who cycled to and from work (an average commute of just 15 minutes across the group) were 40 per cent less likely to have died during the research period. “It’s this sort of statistic which helps you understand why some experts can go a bit misty-eyed when they talk about activity,” Walker writes in the book, “it’s also why so many of them compare everyday movement to the miracle-giving pill.”

Lego thieves (The Guardian) French police, who say they are building a case against an international gang of toy thieves specializing in stealing Lego, have warned specialist shops and even parents to be aware of the global trade of the bricks. The alert comes after officers arrested a woman and two men last June as they attempted to steal boxes of Lego from a toy shop in Yvelines, outside Paris. The suspects, all from Poland, reportedly admitted they were part of a team stealing Lego sought by collectors. “They come to France, set up in a hotel in the Paris region, then set about raiding toy stores before returning to Poland to sell off their haul,” the officer said. A Lego specialist who advises the online auction platform for buying and selling collectibles says sales on the French site doubled last year. “Investing in these pieces isn’t new but this niche market has reached new heights with the pandemic. People have more time at home because of the health restrictions and the game market has exploded. We often have more than 1,000 Lego sales a week,” he said.

#headlines #news

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