#Up municipal election schedule

[lok-shakti]

यूपी में नगर निकाय चुनाव की घोषणा पर लगी 20 दिसंबर तक रोक, हाई कोर्ट का आया बड़ा फैसला

यूपी में नगर निकाय चुनाव की घोषणा पर लगी 20 दिसंबर तक रोक, हाई कोर्ट का आया बड़ा फैसला

UP Municipal Election Date Announcement News: उत्तर प्रदेश में नगर निकाय चुनाव की घोषणा पर हाई कोर्ट ने 20 दिसंबर तक के लिए रोक लगा दी है। इलाहाबाद हाई कोर्ट के लखनऊ बेंच में बुधवार को हुई सुनवाई के बाद यह फैसला सामने आया है। राज्य निर्वाचन आयोग को इस संबंध में आदेश जारी कर दिया गया है।  

[mariacallous]

Last week, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency took the dramatic step of classifying the Saxony state branch of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as a threat to democracy—a potential first step towards banning it outright as unconstitutional. “There can be no doubt about the extreme right orientation of this party,” declared Dirk-Martin Christian, president of Saxony’s State Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

Although Germany has, in the past, exercised constitutional powers in the name of domestic security to rein in hardcore far-right (and radical leftist) forces, the objects of censure were marginal neo-Nazi parties and associations that had no chance of coming to power—even at the municipal level or in coalition governments. The AfD is a different story. Opinion polls show the AfD as the strongest party by far today in eastern Germany; riding a powerful wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, it has also notched record tallies in western German state elections and is poised to win the most votes next year in the country’s eastern half. It could conceivably wield executive power, should conservatives—such as the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) or the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP)—consider it in their interests to treat the far-right party as a legitimate expression of popular will.

Even though both parties say they rule it out, the option is not so far-fetched: Across the EU, conservative parties have turned far-right parties into governing coalition partners, including in Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Slovakia, and elsewhere. In the German state of Thuringia, the CDU, FDP, and AfD, all in the opposition but with a majority between them, now team up occasionally to bypass the leftist minority government.

Suddenly, Germans are seeing images of the political chaos of the interwar Weimar Republic flash before their eyes—the republic that ended ignominiously in the Nazi party’s victory and Adolf Hitler’s takeover in 1933.

This is why the agency’s ruling and a possible injunction against the AfD—the latter a highly controversial and risky option that is nevertheless gaining backers across Germany’s political spectrum—has observers questioning whether the Europe-wide surge of the far right can be stopped or slowed by legal measures.

The strategies pursued by the political class haven’t done the job thus far—on the contrary, the AfD is booming—and there’s a long history of banning extremist parties and associations in Europe, not least in Germany. Since mid-2022, both Germany and France arrested members of far-right extremist organizations involved in the planning of terrorist attacks. Under its autocratic leader Viktor Orban, Hungary, as well as authoritarian-ruled Poland, have been denied European Union funds, and in 2019, Orban’s party, Fidesz, was expelled from the mainstream conservative European People’s Party.

But Fidesz’s ouster wasn’t a prohibition, and the extremists in France and Germany did not belong to parties with representatives in the national parliament. In fact, the AfD is the second-largest opposition party in the German Bundestag after the Christian Democrats (and their Bavarian counterpart), and it says that it wants to come to power—democratically, through the ballot box.

The ruling makes Saxony the AfD’s third state branch to come under this level of red-button surveillance, which can include measures such as the German spy services’ covert observation and even infiltration of the party. All three state-level parties—Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia—are eastern German states with elections scheduled for next year. (In mid-April, the AfD’s nationwide youth organization was also deemed a threat to the democratic order and thus put under surveillance.)

Moreover, in the wake of Geert Wilders’s far-right Party for Freedom’s victory in the Netherlands in November, like-minded contenders across Europe, including the AfD, are expected to perform better than ever in June’s European Parliament election, an event that would have ominous ramifications for the European Union—and beyond.

Much like the rulings on Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, Germany’s intelligence agency declared that leading members and functionaries of the Saxony AfD regularly express racist, Islamophobic, and antisemitic sentiments. It labeled the branch as one with “typically ethnic-nationalistic positions” and said that both it and its national youth organization work in tandem with known neo-Nazi and officially banned movements, such as the Reichsbürger movement.

The Saxony branch has a diverse membership, the intelligence agency found, but the party’s leadership adheres to the ideology of its “spiritual father and leader,” referring to “the right-wing extremist Björn Höcke, who now shapes and dominates the character of the entire state-level party.”

Höcke, the AfD’s high-profile, outspoken party leader in Thuringia, was on the party���s far-right fringe for years. But the party has drifted so far to the right that its standard-bearer is now the 51-year-old Höcke , a demagogue who publicly espouses revisionist theories of Germany’s Nazi past and employs racist slogans against immigrants. He was charged in June with using Nazi slogans at AfD campaign rallies—a crime in Germany, where the use of slogans, propaganda, and symbolism linked to “anti-constitutional” organizations is banned.

German law gives the constitutional court the authority to shut down a political party when it pursues anti-constitutional goals and is in a position to achieve these goals. In 2017, Germany’s highest court chose not to disqualify the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), a thoroughly neo-Nazi party both in public profile and programmatically, on account of its diminutive size: The party of 6,000 people rarely breached the states’ 5-percent hurdles to be included in parliament and thus never came anywhere near entering government. This autumn, the constitutional court confirmed the expulsion of a former AfD official as a justice in a Saxon state court for constituting a danger to constitutional norms.

This year, the AfD saw representatives voted into official posts as a district administrator and a mayor (in Saxony-Anhalt) for the first time. Presumably, the AfD’s recent showing in the Bavarian and Hessian elections (15 percent and 18 percent respectively, which makes it the strongest opposition party in the regional legislatures) and polling numbers of twice that in eastern Germany endow it with a size unlike the NPD’s and great enough to pose a legitimate threat.

This, at least, is what a growing number of voices from all of Germany’s mainstream parties argue. Those voices are collecting supporters in the Bundestag, where a majority is required to bring the party before the constitutional court.

One of them is a lawyer and CDU parliamentarian from Saxony, Marco Wanderwitz, who argues that “there’s a good reason why the [German Constitution] gives us the option of banning a party,” as he told the daily Die Tageszeitung, “because a defensive democracy [wehrhafte Demokratie] has to wield very sharp swords against its greatest enemies. I have come to the conclusion that the AfD is now undoubtedly radical right wing. They are up to no good and are serious about it. We’ve got to use all of the options at our disposal to beat them. I’m afraid that without a court-ordered prohibition, we’re not going to be rid of them.”

Living in Saxony, Wanderwitz said, he observes how the AfD and its even more militant counterparts draw in disillusioned people and set a confrontational, aggressive tone. “In the parliaments, the AfD is on our backs every day,” he said. “It has thousands of employees who flood the internet and parliaments with right-wing extremist content 24 hours a day. At events in Saxony, I regularly experience that we’re met with burning hatred; we’re shouted at and threatened. I’m glad that there are loads of people standing between us and them outside the door. It’s something that feels a bit like what I imagine the early 1930s were like.”

Wanderwitz added that he thinks it is conceivable that the AfD garner 40 percent in the eastern elections come September. “What democracy here needs is some breathing space,” he said.

Other commentators shoot back that Germany’s democratic culture and the solid arguments of its political parties can beat back a populist party that spins outlandish conspiracy theories, apes Nazi slogans, and wants out of the EU.

“We can’t give the impression that we’re taking the easier route with a ban procedure because we can’t manage it any other way,” retorted Social Democratic lawmaker Sebastian Fiedler, who belongs to the Bundestag’s subcommittee for domestic security. “Well-functioning constitutional states can’t dismiss the way their own populations vote. We have to offer concepts that are convincing: here and now. Of course, the AfD is trying to attack the state from within, but the constitutional state is resilient.”

Fiedler and his parliamentary peers—not all of whom are opposed to putting the AfD on trial—argue that the state has other means at its disposal to mitigate far-right parties. In November,  all of the Bundestag’s democratic parties passed a  law that deprives the AfD from the kind of public funds that other parties use to finance foundations involved in public education work. They also argue there should be more funding for grassroots programs that strengthen civil society and fight fake news in the Internet. Wanderwitz and Fiedler—and just about all of their colleagues—agree that putting the AfD on trial and then losing would be a disaster, as well as a confirmation for the AfD that the mainstream parties are out to get it, based on the party’s specious rationale.

One of the strongest arguments against such bans is that outlawing a party doesn’t annul its supporters—and sometimes even turbocharges them. The Germans need only to look to Greece to see how the prohibition of a far-right party, the Golden Dawn, did nothing to dent the vote tallies of the Greek far right, which reorganized itself under new parties. Golden Dawn itself was disqualified from running in the election this year not because it was an immigrant-bashing, Holocaust-denying scourge, but rather because its leaders had engaged in criminal business activities.

Nevertheless, the party that captured more than 6 percent of the vote in 2015, when economic paralysis gripped the country, was out of the race. Instead, in June, three far-right parties made it into the national legislature, comprising the Spartans, backed by imprisoned Golden Dawn leader Ilias Kasidiaris, the pro-Russian party Greek Solution, and ultra-Christian Orthodox Niki (Victory). They captured 34 seats out of an available 300 and accounted for more than 12 percent of the vote.

It seems that Germany and Greece—in fact, just about all of Europe—will have to dig further down into their respective legal scriptures and political cultures to get at the  toxins that threaten to imperil their democracies.

[beardedmrbean]

ATLANTA (AP) — A new reactor at a nuclear power plant in Georgia has entered commercial operation, becoming the first new American reactor built from scratch in decades.

Georgia Power Co. announced Monday that Unit 3 at Plant Vogtle, southeast of Augusta, has completed testing and is now sending power to the grid reliably.

At its full output of 1,100 megawatts of electricity, Unit 3 can power 500,000 homes and businesses. Utilities in Georgia, Florida and Alabama are receiving the electricity.

Nuclear power now makes up about 25% of the generation of Georgia Power, the largest unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co.

A fourth reactor is also nearing completion at the site, where two earlier reactors have been generating electricity for decades. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday said radioactive fuel could be loaded into Unit 4, a step expected to take place before the end of September. Unit 4 is scheduled to enter commercial operation by March.

The third and fourth reactors were originally supposed to cost $14 billion, but are now on track to cost their owners $31 billion. That doesn’t include $3.7 billion that original contractor Westinghouse paid to the owners to walk away from the project. That brings total spending to almost $35 billion.

The third and fourth reactors were originally supposed to cost $14 billion, but are now on track to cost their owners $31 billion. That doesn’t include $3.7 billion that original contractor Westinghouse paid to the owners to walk away from the project. That brings total spending to almost $35 billion.

The third reactor was supposed to start generating power in 2016 when construction began in 2009.

Vogtle is important because government officials and some utilities are again looking to nuclear power to alleviate climate change by generating electricity without burning natural gas, coal and oil.

“This project shows just how new nuclear can and will play a critical role in achieving a clean energy future for the United States,” Southern Co. CEO Chris Womack said in a statement. “Bringing this unit safely into service is a credit to the hard work and dedication of our teams at Southern Company and the thousands of additional workers who have helped build that future at this site.”

In Georgia, almost every electric customer will pay for Vogtle. Georgia Power currently owns 45.7% of the reactors. Smaller shares are owned by Oglethorpe Power Corp., which provides electricity to member-owned cooperatives, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and the city of Dalton. Oglethorpe and MEAG plan to sell power to cooperatives and municipal utilities across Georgia, as well in Jacksonville, Florida, and parts of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

Georgia Power’s 2.7 million customers are already paying part of the financing cost and elected public service commissioners have approved a monthly rate increase of $3.78 a month for residential customers as soon as the third unit begins generating power. That could hit bills in August, two months after residential customers saw a $16-a-month increase to pay for higher fuel costs.

Commissioners will decide later who pays for the remainder of the costs of Vogtle, including the fourth reactor.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ryan J. Reilly and Jane C. Timm at NBC News:

High-profile right-wing influencers were briefed on House Speaker Mike Johnson’s voter registration bill well in advance of its announcement in what appears to be a coordinated social media campaign meant to drum up support for the legislation, which is dead on arrival on the Senate. Conservative influencers posted dozens of times before Johnson, R-La., publicly announced the bill alongside former President Donald Trump at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, calling on Congress to pass the bill, which has not yet been filed, and offering policy details that are still not available to the public.

The legislation targets voting by noncitizens, which is already illegal and very rare. Johnson appeared at Mar-a-Lago at a time when his speakership is in a precarious position, with attacks from far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has a significant social media following. Getting some public support and praise from Trump could give Johnson a bit of protection with the Republican base, as could drumming up support from conservative social media influencers. At 3:50 p.m. ET Friday, Ryan Fournier, the chair of Students for Trump, who boasts a million followers on X, appears to have been the first to have posted the name and details of the bill. Johnson’s news conference was scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. ET Friday, but it began just after 5 p.m. Neither Johnson nor his office would provide specifics about the legislation before Friday's event when they were asked by NBC News. His office confirmed Monday that background information about the bill had been sent in advance to conservative-leaning influencers but did not specify which influencers.

In the hours leading up to Johnson and Trump's news conference, social media posters, including Libs of TikTok, DC_Draino and EndWokeness, promoted the legislation online. They all called the bill “the SAVE Act,” though Johnson did not name it as such. "PASS THE BILL,” DC_Draino (Rogan O'Handley) wrote at 4:22 p.m., claiming the bill “would require blue states to obtain proof of citizenship for voter registration.” On X, EndWokeness wrote that the bill would add penalties for election officials’ registering noncitizens to vote. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, reposted EndWokeness’ post at 4:40 p.m., saying he had authored the bill. A spokesman for Roy said the bill has not yet been filed yet, but Roy posted a screenshot of the first few lines of legislation before Johnson's speech. The bill is dead on arrival, with Democrats controlling the Senate. Johnson said Friday, though, that simply putting the bill to a vote would be "interesting."

"When we put this bill on the floor, you're going to see a record vote by Republicans and Democrats," he said. "They're going to have to go on record. Do you believe that Americans and Americans alone should be the ones who vote in American elections? We're about to find out their answer." It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in state and federal elections, though some municipalities allow noncitizen voting in local elections only.

Chrissy Clark, a conservative influencer who contributes to Turning Point USA, appears to have been one of the people who received early information about the legislation.

[...] Another conservative influencer, Isabella DeLuca, posted about the legislation at 5:07 p.m., the minute when the news conference began. "Speaker Johnson just introduced the SAVE Act, a pivotal measure to fortify our democracy and save our elections," DeLuca wrote on Twitter.

Want more proof the conservative media apparatus controls the GOP’s agenda? Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)’s team briefed right-wing influencers such as Rogan O’Handley (DC_Draino), End Wokeness, and Libs of TikTok on a bill that purports to target noncitizen voting (which is already illegal for federal elections).

See Also:

The Advocate: Mike Johnson briefed right-wing influencers including Libs of TikTok ahead of election bill announcement

[the-foolish-scholar]

Two of Pentacles

In the Two of Pentacles, a youthful individual dances while juggling two coins in their hands. The infinity symbol links the coins, suggesting that this person can handle unlimited problems so long as they manage their time, energy and resources well. In the background, two ships sail the high seas, bobbing up and down on the huge waves – another sign that the ups and downs of life are manageable with focus and attention.

-

Hellur. I’m finally forcing myself to sit down and write. It’s been quite a month… But I finally feel like I’m firmly standing on two feet.

The municipal election’s delegation was… an experience. I helped out as the ‘call center’ on the day of elections, logging every big observation that happened during the day. I also helped to make a slideshow for the CIS’ press conference. I was a brave girl!

A journalist asked to speak to a few of observers outside in the parking lot where we were having the press conference. They wanted to meet in the parking lot because they were concerned about their security. They told observers that few members of the press came to the conference and that those that came didn’t really ask questions because they had been intimidated and didn’t want to write anything that could be perceived critical of the government. So, take from that what you will.

After we finished speaking, everyone came up to me and said that they thought that the slideshow was really powerful and that it was good we showed it; but Leslie cautioned that they could come and arrest us for showing it, which made me spiral out of control.

Buying produce at the market and having conversation in the car on the way to the beach grounded me into reality and helped me to calm down as best as I could.

Tom, in his old age and with his wisdom, very dryly told me that one day, my grandchildren would ask me about what I was doing when democracy was dying in the 2020s and that I’d gleefully tell them about my various stints in jail. Roberto distracted me by asking me about my theological studies; which actually really helped me to develop the paper I was working on for my socio-theological analysis of the Latin American reality. 

Being at the beach was like taking one big benzo. I swung myself in the hammocks. I drank a lot of coconut water. I worked on one of my Paint By Diamonds projects. I watched the sunset. I had delicious seafood. I swam in the pool. I drank rum. I laid out in the sun. I walked on the beach. I ate junk food. I looked up at the stars. I made a very strange vegetarian meal for Tom and I. I released baby sea turtles into the ocean. I listened to music. I learned a lot about Mormonism and gossiped about my love life with Roberto’s sister. I got a massage. I enjoyed air conditioning.

When we got back home from the beach though, it was like life slapped me in the face. I struggled to balance my school work along with my volunteer work. My sleep schedule was all over the place. And then, I was away again, in Suchitoto.

Brooke, Tom, and I went out there because Tom was teaching a women’s self defense class to women a part of the feminist collective. He taught me some moves too so it’s safe to say I could beat some asses.

A lot of time away was dedicated toward work; both in the academic sense and the volunteer sense. Analyzing observer data on the elections gave me a headache and Brooke and I went back and forth for hours.

When we weren’t working though, we were soaking up all of life’s special moments. On the first night we went to one Mexican restaurant which had subpar food but entertaining characters. I stopped at the tienda afterward and got myself some peach yogurt, which was delicious. The next night, we went out to a fancy restaurant, Casa Flamenco. We sat in this little cabana which had a table for three.

Brooke got us a bottle of wine and boy did we drink ourselves into a delight! We split cauliflower wings with a buffalo and a tamarindo sauce, had the silliest portion size of this creamy tomato pasta, and enjoyed coffees with brownies a la mode for dessert. The restaurant also had a little store and I got Paulo Freire’s The Politics of Education. On our walk home, we got a little lost but I made a friend in the park and he drove us home for 50 cents each. The next night we went to another nice restaurant overlooking the town square, but I don’t remember what it was called. I had a delicious smoothie and veggie sandwich. After we finished eating, Brooke and I checked out the church.

They were just wrapping up mass when we walked in and a very young, dare I say Fleabag-esq, priest came up to us. He was blown away that Brooke was Jewish, Tom was Buddhist, and I was an agnostic theology student at the UCA. It was fun to chit chat with him. We then hung out just the three of us in the park, people watching, sharing stories, recommending movies and shows. Thankfully, we did not get lost on our way back to the hotel. The next morning, we had breakfast (I especially enjoyed the partly frozen orange juice) and packed up. We were extremely lucky to get the last three seats on the bus back home. I arguably had the best seat, I was in the back corner, with leg room.

A man preached on the bus and we made eye contact with each other practically the whole time he spoke. I always end up doing that, which is unwise, but it’s in my nature! I gave him my contact information so that he could reach out to me for an interview if he wanted one for my book. The Faith Across Identities project is alive and well! I’m also going to be interviewing a woman from the island whose son was wrongfully imprisoned… She has a very interesting faith.

When we got to the bus terminal we bid our farewells and I got in an Uber to take me home. I was tired and wanted silence on the ride home, but my Uber driver wanted dialog… We had a whole discussion about the flaws of the church and organized religion. I think he expected me to be against him because it felt like he wanted to fight me the entire time… By the time I got home, I was glad to be in bed. I lazed around, took a nice shower, and ordered takeout, spending the rest of the day watching my shows.

The next week I finally completed my first big paper as a graduate student! I sound like a church elder throughout the entire thing, but there’s just this sense of security I get writing about the Salvadoran reality from a spiritual stance instead of a purely sociological stance… Which makes no sense, considering how the government has an extremely violent past with the religious… But still, I feel sheltered and protected by the church… It’s the strangest thing.

Speaking of the spiritual, I’ve started one of my more spiritual oriented classes. It’s titled, The Mystery of God. It’s pretty chill to be honest. We’ve just been analyzing different pieces of art debating how it depicts God. I choose to focus on Nezahualcoyōtl’s poetry, specifically his poem Inside Heaven. He was an Aztec ruler right before the conquest; he is known for making the first Aztec temple that prohibited blood sacrifices, among many other things! I’ve also been reading a lot of church documents that have originated from Latin American clergymen. I am continually amazed by how the church as an institution operates as such a fierce advocate for justice down here. It is such a privilege to study this subject and I can’t wait to one day share all that I’ve learned with students back home.

But, I’ll admit, it has been hard to reach this point. While those closest to me support me unequivocally, some have given their unsolicited advice and really soiled my spirit, making me feel like the way I’m choosing to do things is the wrong way to do things. I know that what I do doesn’t make that much sense. But does it really have to make sense to people if it’s not their life?

Someone I got dinner with told me to drop out of my program, unprompted. I was pretty perplexed by their perspective, especially given that I had earlier stated how exciting the challenge of studying in Spanish was and how I felt like I was finally finding answers to questions I had begun to ask myself in 2021. I brushed their commentary off and reminded them the reasons why I was doing what I was doing and then they seemingly got angry with me, invalidating my choices once again.

On my walk home from the dinner, I started to spiral out of control and second guess myself. Afterall, I’m some white woman in my 20s all alone in some other country studying in a program that’s mostly made up of retirees who are devoutly religious. I’ve had to deal with so much red tape, from both the Salvadoran and the US government. It is not easy.

But, I’m doing what I want to do! And on the bright side, that spiral that they sent me down brought me lots of revelations. I can confidently say that I’ve got a damn good solid plan for my future. One that seeks to serve others and not just myself, too!

Anyway! I met up with Joel, one of my contacts from the national university, and we went to the market together. I bought some pretty colored candles and crazy glue. After we left the market we went back on campus and chatted. He told me to think of fear like it was an invasive instinct; something that didn’t belong in our lives and that if we didn’t take steps to eradicate it, it would take over, destroying everything. He also invited me to attend a conference with him! It’ll be my first ever academic conference. Three days where I just get to be a huge fucking nerd. I can’t wait!

Mmmmm I’m trying to think of what else to tell y’all.

In a great big contrast from last year, I spent most of Semana Santa shut in my room studying, instead of being out in the field doing research. I was kind of bummed that I didn’t participate in any of the festivities but I really needed to spend time catching up on work. Though I did observe things here and there! Which was refreshing! It’s crazy how seriously Easter is celebrated here…

My one roommate, who has since moved out, and I had a lot of fun while we lived together. We ate lots of Chinese, got close with our vigilantes, found some good vintage pieces for them to sell on their Depop, talked a lot of shit about our landlord, sang a lot of karaoke, contemplated contemporary politics, and experienced life as two idiots abroad. I’m gonna miss them but I’m sure our paths will cross again.

Speaking of roommates, my other roommate and I are going to start going on walks together which is so refreshing because I’ve missed going on walks!

Though, today I did have a really nice walk by myself at dusk. It had finally cooled down a little so I plugged in my headphones and listed to Court and Spark and just walked and walked. I felt like Forrest Gump.

I’ve made some pieces of art that I’m pretty proud of. I’m so glad that I’ve had bursts of creativity after what feels like such a long stint without any. I just really hope I can get more on top of things and start throwing on the wheel again. I love my collages and I find peace through my poetry, but there’s nothing like making stuff out of mud!

I’m also starting to offer my spiritual services to people to have more spending money for myself and to support projects my peers and I are pursuing. If you want a reading or need some type of spiritual work done don’t hesitate to reach out to me!

Oh!!! I also have finally gotten all the paperwork that I needed to get in to prove that Miami University is a real and legally operating institution of higher education in the US!!! Now I just must wait for approval from the Salvadoran government. Fingers crossed!!!

I think that’s it??? Lots to juggle, lots to look forward to! Miss and love you all lots. I hope that I’ll get to see those of you that actually read this when I come home. Take care of yourselves and know that I’m always just a call away if you need anything. XOXO!

Z

[libraryofcirclaria]

National Institute of Research and Development [Rewritten]

Library of Circlaria

Blog Posts

The content of this entry remains largely unaltered from the previous version; although some minor changes have been made.

Establishment:

The National Institute of Research and Development was founded in 1383 on the property of the former North Kempton William Solomon Airfield, located in the former municipality of North Kempton, now renamed Maxima, in the province of Nintel. The purpose of the Institute has since been to provide a democratic, objective, and all-inclusive foundation of education for the Independent Commonwealth State of Retun.

Structure:

The hierarchy of the Institute consists of one National Class located in Maxima, one Class for every Province and Territory in its respective capital (including Nintel, whose Provincial Class is located in the capital city of Maryk), one Class for every County, one Class for every Municipality or Borough, and one Class for every Estate.

With exception to the National Class, every Class on every hierarchical level consists of four different roles: Scholar, Lead Scholar, Representative Scholar, and Bookkeeper. The Scholar is the most numerous and most basic role of the Institute. Every candidate is admitted into the Institute initially as a Scholar by a majority vote of Approval by the Class in which he or she is attempting to enroll. The specific requirements of a Scholar vary from Class-to-Class but consist primarily of listening and providing Approval or Objection statements for a minimum number of research thesis presentations, proposals, seminars, and debates. Scholars also vote on the candidacies of fellow Scholars, Lead Scholars, Representative Scholars, and Bookkeepers. Lead Scholars are chosen by the simple majority vote of a Class of Scholars to preside over the said Class for a term of six years. The role of a Lead Scholar is not only to serve the requirements of fellow Scholars but also to oversee facility operations and to facilitate and preside over the functions of presentations, proposals, seminars, and debates. A Representative Scholar, when eligible, is chosen by the majority vote of a Class of Scholars to apply via a proposal for admission into the Class of the next hierarchical level up; for example, from an Estate Class to a Municipality Class, or a County Class to a Provincial Class. Each Representative Scholar fulfills the role of a Scholar in that new Class, and, when eligible, may be chosen by that Class to ascend to the next hierarchical level in a similar fashion. A Bookkeeper is chosen by a Class of Scholars to serve his or her new role until retirement or discharge. The role of a Bookkeeper is to schedule proposals, seminars, and debates. Furthermore, the Bookkeeper will also be required to interpret the results of Approval and Objection statements made by Scholars and determine which statements constitute the majority of the Class.

For the National Class, the roles of the Scholar and Bookkeeper exist in the same manner and serve the same purpose as the lower levels, with the exception that the Bookkeeper is chosen by every member of the Institute Scholar Body down to the Estate level. Also elected in the same fashion is the National Class equivalent of Lead Scholar, named the Chief Scholar. The Chief Scholar is roughly similar in figurative representation to the Headmaster of a traditional University, except with more limited administrative power. The National Class equivalent of a Representative Scholar is the title of Academic Ambassador, the candidates of whom may serve one of two roles: Ambassador to the Commonwealth Federal Government, or Ambassador to a government abroad.

Process- from Scholar to Chief Scholar:

Most Scholars enter the Institute through the Estate Class level. However, there is no rule barring a candidate from entering the Institute at a higher level. Nevertheless, every Scholar is subject to the following processes: 

In order to enroll into the National Institute of Research and Development, a candidate must first submit a letter of "Intent to Research" to the Bookkeeper of the desired Class in which he or she wishes to enroll. Such a letter must state a question or a problem, state a hypothesis, and state an overall method of research. Upon receiving this, the said Bookkeeper will schedule the candidate to present the formal proposal to the Class. The candidate will then submit official documentation and deliver the formal presentation which states the question, proves the conduct of preliminary research, states the hypothesis, details the expected method of field testing or study as well as the gathering of information, and gauges the criteria for each possible outcome that proves or disproves the initial hypothesis. Such a presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the attending Scholars, at the end of which every Class Scholar in attendance, including the Lead Scholar, will each cast a statement of Approval or a statement of Objection as a vote; and each will do so without cross-disclosure and will place his or her written statement in a secure envelope. All envelopes will be delivered to the Bookkeeper, who will count them and determine the majority vote. If the majority of the Class casts Approval statements, the candidate will be admitted into the Institute as a Scholar of the Class. Any Objection statements, in this case, would still be delivered to the newly-admitted Scholar for the said Scholar to determine whether or not to follow through with them. If the majority of the Class casts Objection statements, the candidate will not be admitted, but will be given a choice to follow through with the Objection statements and make revisions, or to approach the Class with a completely new research proposal. There are no limits on the number of attempts a candidate is permitted to make in order to enroll; the candidate may make as many proposals as desired. If there is a tie between Approval and Objection statements, the Bookkeeper will schedule and preside over a special Class debate, during which every Scholar, including the Lead Scholar and candidate, will be given a chance to make an argument and rebuttal as necessary. At the end of the debate, the Class will vote on a verdict before the Bookkeeper delivers the final decision.

If successfully admitted into the Class, the new Scholar will be expected to fulfill Class requirements which include attending a minimum number of seminars, presentations, proposals, and debates, as well as casting Approval and Objection statements as necessary. When the Scholar carries out his or her own thesis project, the Lead Scholar will provide or schedule all of the resources necessary for the process to be done. At the conclusion of the project, the Scholar will present his or her findings to the Class in a seminar and will state, with concise reasoning, whether the findings prove or disprove the initial hypothesis. The Lead Scholar and Class Scholars in attendance will then evaluate the presentation of the thesis with each person casting a statement of Approval or Objection. If the majority of the Class casts Approval statements, the presenting Scholar will earn an Accreditation on Behalf of the Class for the Research Thesis. The thesis will subsequently get published in the Journal of the Institute along with the Approval and Objection Statements, which will be subject to re-evaluation by later Scholars, while the presenting Scholar will become eligible to run for the position of either Bookkeeper, Lead Scholar, or Representative Scholar with regard to existing vacancies. In contrast, if a majority of the Class casts Objection statements, the Scholar will not earn Accreditation and will not be eligible to run for the previously-mentioned elected positions. However, the said Scholar will have several choices: follow through with the Objection statements and revise the thesis as necessary to present again (likewise, there exists no limit on the number of attempts for Accreditation), challenge the majority decision through a Class debate scheduled and presided over by the Bookkeeper, or begin the entire process with a completely new research proposal. With the third choice, the Scholar would still remain enrolled in the Class and the Institute. If there was a tie in the initial vote following the presentation of the thesis, there would, again, be a Class debate according to the aforementioned protocol.

In the event that a Scholar earns Accreditation for his or her thesis and is made eligible to run for the elected speciality positions, it is more likely than not that the said Scholar will run as a Representative Scholar on behalf of his or her currently-enrolled Class for the next Class in the ascending hierarchy. In order to attain that position, a Scholar will submit a new research thesis to the former Class to receive Approval and Objection statements, with the majority of Approval statements warranting the successful attainment of the Representative Scholar position. When the candidate successfully attains the role, he or she will forward the proposal to the Bookkeeper of the Class in the next level up. Recently, the Principles of the Institute (the equivalent of a University Constitution) was amended so that a prospective Representative Scholar to the Municipality Class would be able to prove that a bias in his or her Estate Class led to a "wrongful Objection Majority" and allow the Municipality Class to agree, by a majority of Approval statements, to give an Admission Override, allowing the Scholar to enter the Municipality Class. The same holds true for County Classes, Provincial Classes, and the National Class.

Advancing from the Estate through the National Classes, facility venues will increase in size in order to accommodate larger numbers of people in attendance. The drawback to this is that the higher up the hierarchy a Scholar goes, the more in advance the Scholar's seminars, debates, and proposals will need to be scheduled.

For the National Class, the role of an Academic Ambassador differs slightly from that of a Representative Scholar, in that the audience for the Ambassador represents an entity outside of the Institute. Therefore, there will be differing processes for differing purposes for how the presented thesis is handled. For government entities serving as audiences, the Ambassador's role is usually to give research-based advice (either from his or her own thesis or the thesis of another Scholar) regarding important policy decisions.

Contributions:

Since its establishment, the National Institute of Research and Development has published significant theses in science, history, politics, and other fundamental fields. For example, the Institute has been the driving force behind constant changes in the ever-dynamic darkfire industry. Institute theses have also shaped economic policies regarding the relationship between the scriptfire and dymensional plane industries, as well as crafted important diplomatic and political decisions by the Commonwealth government with regard to international relations. One notable figure from the Institute includes Rachel Croft, who studied the relationship in cyclonic storms between the plains of Nintel and the Inland Sea. Other important figures include Former Prime Minister Meghan Wen (who also served as the Chief Scholar between 1406 and 1429) as well as Former Prime Ministers James Lawrence Kontacet, Vet Silonk, Stanley Arland Moore, and Mary Ann Heits.

[edu-information]

BJP's OBC Strategy in Haryana: Enhancing Welfare Ahead of Assembly Elections

The BJP in Haryana is gearing up for a potential hat-trick in the upcoming Assembly elections by focusing on consolidating support among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). With an eye on securing a third consecutive term, the party has announced significant measures aimed at the OBC community, including raising the creamy layer income cap from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh and increasing reservations in local bodies such as panchayats, municipal corporations, and municipalities.

OBCs constitute approximately 30% of Haryana's voter base, making them a crucial demographic alongside Jats and Scheduled Castes. Following a setback in the recent Lok Sabha elections, where the BJP lost ground to the Congress in key constituencies, the party has intensified its welfare initiatives and is rolling out additional benefits to garner support.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has been pivotal in these efforts, making recent visits to the state to announce these welfare measures. Emphasizing continuity, Shah affirmed Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini’s leadership role and unveiled policies during events focused on backward classes in Panchkula and Mahendragarh.

Reflecting on the BJP's longstanding commitment to OBC welfare, Union Cabinet Minister Krishan Pal Gujjar highlighted ongoing initiatives like the Pradhan Mantri Vishwakarma Yojana and constitutional empowerment of the OBC Commission under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration.

The BJP’s strategy also includes strategic appointments within the state’s leadership, ensuring representation from diverse communities. This approach aims to consolidate support across different voter segments amidst a shifting political landscape with the dissolution of alliances and realignment of electoral dynamics.

Looking ahead, the BJP plans extensive outreach across Haryana’s rural and urban areas, showcasing developmental projects and engaging with local communities to bolster their electoral prospects. With ongoing efforts to deliver tangible benefits to OBCs and other marginalized groups, the party is poised to intensify its campaign with further announcements expected in the run-up to the elections.

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Mere inches (AP) Jarring, chaotic and sudden, the bullet whizzed toward the stage where former President Donald Trump stood behind a podium speaking. In its wake: the potential for a horrifying and tragic chapter in American history. But the Republican presidential candidate had a narrow escape—mere inches, possibly less—in Saturday’s assassination attempt. The projectile from the shooter on a nearby rooftop left Trump with just a bloodied right ear, initially shaken but otherwise unharmed. A tiny margin for survival. Sometimes history can come down to inches.

Four in five Americans fear country is sliding into chaos, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds (Reuters) Americans fear their country is spiraling out of control following an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, with worries growing that the Nov. 5 election could spark more political violence, a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Tuesday found. The two-day poll found Republican presidential candidate Trump opening a marginal lead among registered voters—43% to 41%—over Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden, an advantage that was within the poll's 3 percentage point margin of error, suggesting the attempt on Trump's life had not sparked a major shift in voter sentiment. But 80% of voters—including similar shares of Democrats and Republicans—said they agreed with a statement that "the country is spiraling out of the control." The poll, which was conducted online, surveyed 1,202 U.S. adults nationwide.

Bystanders Warned Law Enforcement of the Gunman Two Minutes Before He Began Shooting, Video Shows (NYT) Video taken by a bystander shows people pointing to the man suspected of shooting at former President Donald J. Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania and frantically warning law enforcement, just two minutes before the first burst of gunfire rang out, according to an analysis of the footage by The New York Times. “Someone’s on top of the roof,” one person is heard saying. “There he is, right there.” “He’s on the roof!” says another, calling to an officer. The footage shows the suspected gunman lying prone on the roof of a building roughly 400 feet from the stage where Mr. Trump was standing, but was outside the rally’s security perimeter. The video was taken at 6:09 p.m., two minutes before Mr. Trump was shot. As the camera zooms in, the man crawls from the edge of the roof toward its peak.

Brazilian police launch mega-operation in Rio de Janeiro favelas to fight organized crime (AP) Brazilian authorities launched a mega-operation in Rio de Janeiro that sent a force of nearly 2,000 military and civil officers into 10 low income neighborhoods Monday seeking to regain control of areas dominated by organized crime. The officers deployed in the city’s western zone, an area that has been the target of intense territorial disputes involving drug traffickers and militias in recent years, the Rio de Janeiro state government said in a statement. The operation, which also seeks to carry out arrest warrants, has no end date, the statement said. Organized by Rio’s state government, the operation included participation by Brazil’s navy and the municipal guard as well as employees for cable TV and internet operators and water, electricity and gas utilities. The spread of organized crime in Rio’s western zone has led to fierce confrontations between law enforcement agencies and different factions of drug-trafficking groups and militias.

Will the Seine be clean enough by the Olympics? Not even the experts know (AP) With the Paris Olympics less than two weeks away, a question hangs over the Games: Will the Seine River be clean enough for athletes to swim in? Triathlon and marathon swimming are scheduled to take place in the Seine, where it has been illegal to swim for more than a century. Despite the city’s efforts to clean up the long-polluted river, the water has tested unsafe for humans in recent weeks, and cleaner on other days. The Games run from July 26-Aug. 11. To clean up the river, Paris invested 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in building infrastructure to catch more stormwater when it rains—the same water that contains bacteria-laden wastewater that enters the river during periods of heavy rain and makes it unsafe to swim in.

Ukraine Battles to Contain Russian Advances Across the Front (NYT) Russian forces over the weekend pushed into Urozhaine, a southern village won back by Ukraine last summer, the latest in a series of slow but steady advances that are reversing hard-won Ukrainian victories. The Russian advances are a sobering development for Kyiv as its troops battle to contain attacks along a more than 600-mile front line. In the east, Moscow’s troops are also pressing forward. They have entered the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a Ukrainian stronghold in the region, and are closing in on a key Ukrainian supply route. Ukraine hopes that weapons and ammunition recently supplied by Western allies will help it hold back Russian forces.

Pakistan’s government seeks to ban party of former PM Imran Khan (Guardian) Pakistan’s government is going all-out in its campaign against former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Honestly, the whole situation in Pakistan takes some explaining—this February, the PTI claimed victory in national elections, but a coalition government formed by the Pakistan Muslim League and Pakistan People's Party is currently ruling the country because some PTI candidates were forced to run as independents thanks to harassment from the government and military. That coalition now finds itself threatened by a supreme court ruling, which decided that the PTI should be given a majority in parliament. In response, the government has called for a full-on ban on the PTI, claiming that some of the party’s supporters were involved in plots targeting military installations during mass protests against the arrest of PTI head Imran Khan. “The government has become frustrated after the recent decision of supreme court, as PTI has become the largest party in the parliament,” said one PTI MP. “They are taking the country towards anarchy.”

Thailand is set to roll out a controversial $13.8 billion handout plan in digital money to citizens (AP) Thailand’s prime minister said Monday that eligible businesses and individuals can register from August for digital cash handouts, a controversial program that will cost billions of dollars and is meant to boost the lagging economy. The government announced in April the widely criticized ambitious plan, named the Digital Wallet, meant to give 10,000 baht (about $275) to 50 million citizens in digital money to spend at local businesses. The government says that this scheme will cause an “economic tornado.” Thailand has in recent years suffered from a sluggish economy that appears to have deteriorated with no clear sign of growth.

The Book Bag That Binds Japanese Society (NYT) Nearly every elementary school student in Japan carries a book bag known as a randoseru, a staple of Japanese childhood for close to 150 years. No one mandates that students use these backpacks, but strong social norms lead most families to purchase them for their children. Made of leather or some sturdy facsimile, randoseru, which cost hundreds of dollars, are meant to last for the entire six years of elementary school. More than a simple school bag, the randoseru is a unique Japanese symbol, reflecting the conformity and consistency that is deeply rooted in the culture. In Japan, cultural expectations are repeatedly drilled into children at school and at home, with peer pressure playing as powerful a role as any particular authority or law. Carrying the bulky randoseru to school is “not even a rule imposed by anyone but a rule that everyone is upholding together,” said Shoko Fukushima, associate professor of education administration at the Chiba Institute of Technology.

U.N. peacekeepers take cover as Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel trade attacks (NPR) United Nations vehicles rumble along a deserted road in south Lebanon, past abandoned villages, destroyed houses and burned and blackened farmland—remnants of daily attacks along the border with Israel that now threaten to escalate into all-out war. For most of the past nine months since the war in Gaza began, Israel and Lebanon confined the border attacks mostly to military targets within a zone a few miles from either side of a historic cease-fire line. But recently, escalated attacks by both sides, which have reached farther into both Lebanon and Israel, have raised concerns about intensified fighting. Literally in the middle of this confrontation is the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. UNIFIL has not been directly targeted in the conflict. But since October, the mission has become more dangerous. Increased shelling means that peacekeepers regularly take cover on bases, and even in concrete bunkers. At the UNIFIL base closest to the blue line, just a few hundred feet from Israel, cracks radiate from holes in solar panels hit by shrapnel from missiles destroyed in the air by Israeli defenses.

They Were Told They Were in a Safe Area. Then Came the Missiles. (NYT) When the explosions began on Saturday, many Gazans were sitting down to meager breakfasts, or drinking tea. They were waking up their children, or walking down the road. Suddenly, the sound of destruction was booming through Al-Mawasi, the once sparsely populated part of southern Gaza where tens of thousands of Palestinians had fled to after the Israeli military declared it safe for civilians. Despite that designation, Israel struck the area with a barrage of airstrikes on Saturday morning, saying that it had targeted Hamas’s top military commander and another military leader. While it remained unclear on Sunday whether the main target had been killed, Gaza health officials said more than 90 people were killed in the attack, about half of them women and children, and more than 300 wounded.

Far-right groups that block aid to Gaza receive tax-deductible donations from US and Israel (AP) Under American pressure, Israel has pledged to deliver large quantities of humanitarian aid into the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. But at the same time, the U.S. and Israel have allowed tax-deductible donations to far-right groups that have blocked that aid from being delivered. Three groups that have prevented humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza—including one accused of looting or destroying supplies—have raised more than $200,000 from donors in the U.S. and Israel, The Associated Press and the Israeli investigative site Shomrim have found in an examination of crowdfunding websites and other public records. Incentivizing these donations by making them tax-deductible runs counter to America’s and Israel’s stated commitments to allow unlimited food, water and medicine into Gaza, say groups working to get more aid into the territory. Donations have continued even after the U.S. imposed sanctions against one of these groups.

Leaving Syria's civil war to be a mercenary in Africa (BBC) For more than 10 years, Abu Mohammad has been living in a tent with his family in northern Syria, displaced by the long-running civil war. Abu Mohammad (not his real name), who is 33, and his wife have four young children—they have no running water or toilet and rely on a small solar panel to charge his phone. Their tent is sweltering in summer and freezing in winter, and leaks when it rains. “Finding work has become extremely difficult," he says. He is a member of Turkish-backed opposition forces that have been fighting President Bashar al-Assad for more than a decade. The faction he works for pays him less than $50 (£40) a month, so when Turkish recruiters appeared offering $1,500 a month to work in Niger, he decided it was the best way to earn more money. He says Syrian faction leaders help facilitate the process and after “faction taxes and agents” he would still be left with at least two-thirds of the money. “And if I die in battle [in Niger], my family will receive compensation of $50,000," he adds. Abu Mohammad is not alone in wanting to go to Niger. Since December 2023, more than 1,000 Syrian fighters have travelled to Niger via Turkey, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which monitors the conflict in Syria through a network of sources on the ground. They end up under Russian command fighting militant jihadist groups in the border triangle between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.

[sharktoothjack]

Reminder to the USAmericans in this election year to start looking at local elections NOW. Local issues WILL have more immediate actual effects for you & your neighbors, and sometimes they're split up in weird random ways. I'm sure there's a totally reasonable explanation for why my municipality, for example, has scheduled an entire separate voting day JUST for the police millage and nothing else - in MAY.

[hardynwa]

Lagos Ports: TTP operations needs legal backing - Expert

The Publisher of MMS Plus newspaper, Mr Kingsley Anaroke, says there is need for the Truck Transit Park (TTP) Ltd., operators of the electronic call-up system for trucks called 'Eto' in the port to have a legal backing. Anaroke gave the advice at the Maritime Reporters' Association of Nigeria (MARAN) breakfast meeting with the theme, "Repositioning ETO Call-up System for Optimal Performance', on Thursday, in Lagos. He said that to back this proposition up with legislation, the electronic call-up system operates within the Apapa municipal jurisdiction as such all that was needed was to enact a Bye- Law or an Ordinance, which was the responsibility of elected councilors to carry out to give it effect. He also advised the leadership of the Nigerian Ports Authority ( NPA) to license two more electronic call –up companies for competition and keep reviewing and improving the infrastructure. According to him, enforcement as well as prosecuting officers or culprits in electronic call –up racketeering to deter others was of essence. ``I recommended the use of mobile court to adjudicate Eto cases with measures of penalties capable of discouraging fraud or cutting corners,'' he said. He raised a concern that the platform had shifted from problem-solving to revenue generation with the handlers neglecting the real issues and placing premiums on the volume of vehicles they receive. He asserted Eto had yielded the sum of N34.4billion in the two years of operation using N21,500 truck booking call- up fee charged by TTP as basis of calculation. Also, Mr Remi Ogungbemi, Chairman, Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) said to address the challenges of automation system, the association call for the introduction of the Truck Scheduler System (TSS) to help improve the lapses in the Eto process. He noted that the system had been presented at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) January monthly meeting and a committee set up to look into the system. He also advised those that indulge in the practice of making fake Minimum Safety Standard (MSS) sticker and Eto ticket to desist from such act, ``I equally advise the buyers of black market call up to stop, because if there are no buyers, there will be no sellers,'' he said. Earlier, Mr Godfrey Bivbere, President of MARAN, noted that despite Eto positive impacts, the electronic call-up system had faced criticism, with some operators alleging that it had worsened the traffic crisis and facilitated corruption and extortion. According to Bivbere, it was based on this concerns that MARAN as the watchdog and agenda setting body for government decided to put up the meeting. ``Critical stakeholders have raised concerns that the platform had deviated from its original purpose and turned into a source of revenue generation and that the port environment has returned to the pre-Hadiza Bala-Usman era. ``We are here to discuss workable solutions to rectifying these anomalies and ensure that the platform delivers on the mandate for which it was created to the benefit of the industry at large,'' he said. Read the full article

[college-girl199328]

As large amounts of snow continue to batter the Maritimes from the slow-moving weather system on Sunday, some schools have closed for Monday, with the list of closures and cancellations growing. Snowfall warnings are still in effect Sunday for parts of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, with some parts expected to see an additional 30 to 50 centimeters of snow.

The Halifax Regional Municipality is asking people to avoid travel unless absolutely necessary to allow crews to clear snow safely.

Areas of northern Nova Scotia are expected to see around 15 to 25 centimeters of snow, which will continue into Monday before tapering to flurries throughout the day. Environment Canada warns that conditions will deteriorate later Sunday and that visibility may be reduced to near zero at times of heavy and blowing snow. Eastern Nova Scotia is expected to see the worst of it, as Environment Canada says the area will see around 30 to 50 centimeters of snow, which will continue into Monday. Conditions are also expected to deteriorate further on Sunday as winds and snowfall intensify and visibility is reduced.

Cape Breton Police are asking people to avoid driving unless absolutely necessary. As they say, they have received multiple calls of stuck vehicles on roadways blocking snow removal and access for emergency vehicles. Winter storm warnings have also been issued for Kings and Queens Counties in P.E.I., which is expected to see an additional 15 to 35 centimeters. The highest amounts of snowfall in that region are expected over eastern P.E.I., where they may see up to 35 centimeters. Parts of Queens County may only see 15 centimeters by Monday morning.

The parking ban in Halifax will also continue all day Sunday as crews work to clean up snow, and it will continue overnight into Monday. Transit services in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality were also canceled all day Sunday due to the weather.

Power outages have been scattered across the region, with the majority being in Nova Scotia.

The by-election for District 19 in P.E.I. scheduled for Monday may be postponed if the conditions do not improve by Monday morning.

Irving Shipbuilding has also closed all day and afternoon shifts for the day, with updates regarding the back shift to come later Sunday evening. Sunday’s game between Grand Falls Rapids and the Pictou Country Weeks Crushers at the Pictou County Wellness Center has been postponed due to the weather.

The game on Sunday between the Amherst Ramblers and Truro Bearcats at the Rath Eastlink Community Center was also postponed to 7 p.m. on Tuesday due to the weather.

[mariacallous]

Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has brought forward the country’s next general election to July 23, five months earlier than originally scheduled. The unexpected decision was a reaction to heavy losses suffered by his party in regional and municipal elections across Spain on May 28: Of the 12 regions that voted, the conservative Popular Party (PP) now controls nine. But the move to call early elections, which took even some members of his own government by surprise, is risky. If Sánchez hopes that calling Spaniards to a midsummer election during a record-breaking heat wave will reinstate his leftist coalition with a parliamentary majority, his gamble is likely to backfire.

Sánchez’s move aims to prevent a central government composed of the PP and far-right party Vox from gaining power, but his reelection bid is up against the overwhelming shift to the right which took place across the country on May 28. While it applied to local government, the magnitude of this shift can be taken as indicative of the national mood—as can the willingness of local PP governments to enter coalitions with Vox. In Seville, the capital of Andalusia and traditionally a socialist stronghold, the PP bumped Sánchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) from first place with 41.2 percent of the vote, winning six more seats on the city council but falling two short of a majority. In Valencia, the PP won 35 percent of the vote and doubled its number of deputies before reaching a coalition arrangement with Vox to govern the region. The conservatives also took pole position from the socialists in the Balearic Islands and the northeastern region of Aragon. Vox now has the opportunity to play kingmaker in both.

If the PP wins the national vote, Spain’s parliamentary system would appoint a PP politician as prime minister, but the party might have to form a coalition with Vox to gain a majority in congress. Sánchez is hoping that the fear of a PP-Vox arrangement at the national level—which May 28 proved is now a real possibility—will galvanize center-left voters into supporting him. But it looks as if his efforts will be in vain.

By calling for early elections rather than ramping up his campaign on the assigned timeline, Sánchez is fighting the last war. He aims to replicate the success of the snap election he called in April 2019, almost a year after ousting Mariano Rajoy from power with a no-confidence vote. The PSOE won that gamble, gaining 38 more seats in the national parliament, and entered a coalition arrangement with the progressive party Podemos (although even together, they lacked a majority). But there are crucial dissimilarities between then and now. In 2019, the conservatives were a spent force, their reputation damaged by the Gürtel corruption scandal. As a result, the PP lost 69 seats in that vote, thus showing how well Sánchez had timed it. And Vox was just emerging onto the national scene. Today, Sánchez is dealing with a center-right opposition much larger and more energized than the one he faced just over four years ago.

The strength of today’s conservative vote is a crucial dissimilarity between today’s situation in Spain and a situation in Portugal last year, where a similar electoral gamble paid off—a gamble that Sánchez may be trying to emulate. In January 2022, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa successfully bet on a snap election to strengthen his mandate. Costa’s Socialist Party won an absolute majority, but they weren’t facing a center-right bloc as galvanized as Spain’s PP. Nor were they facing a serious threat from the far right: At the beginning of 2022, Vox’s Portuguese counterpart, Chega, had just one seat in parliament and hardly any regional representation.

In Spain, by contrast, Vox is now a major player, despite being a relative newcomer. Its strength and rapid growth indicate that Sánchez may have a tough time defeating it. Founded in 2013 by a cabal of ex-PP members, Vox failed to secure a presence in Spain’s 350-seat Congress of Deputies in its first two general elections, securing just 0.23 percent and 0.2 percent of the national vote in 2015 and 2016, respectively. But in 2018, the party won its first regional seats in the southern region of Andalusia (Spain’s most populous), and in 2019, a year in which there were two general elections, Spaniards voted for Vox in the millions. In April of that year (the snap vote that Sánchez won), Vox took 10.24 percent of the national vote and 24 seats in Congress; in the second, held in November, Vox gained an extra 28 seats with 15 percent of the vote. The party is now Spain’s third largest, with 52 seats in the Congress of Deputies, three in the Senate, and four in the European Parliament.

Providing muscle where the PP was weak proved to be a winning formula, and one that has helped Vox in more recent votes, including on May 28. The Catalan independence crisis of 2017-2019 fueled this surge in popularity, creating space for a strongly pro-union force that a directionless PP failed to fill, At a rally in Madrid just before April 2019’s general election, Vox leader Santiago Abascal declared Sánchez’s government “illegitimate” and claimed that it was supported by “separatists, populists and friends of terrorists,” a reference to the fact that the PSOE relied on votes from the progressive Podemos as well as Catalan and Basque parties, which are frequently referred to in those terms by Spain’s right-wing pundits.

Abascal has not been afraid to alienate his more moderate base by evoking nostalgia for the country’s Francoist regime, which has proven to be another winning electoral formula. This follows a trend that is on the rise elsewhere in Europe. Giorgia Meloni led Vox’s Italian counterpart, Brothers of Italy, to first place in last fall’s general election. Her party’s legacy can be traced back to the neofascist Italian Social Movement, which was founded by followers of Benito Mussolini in 1946, a year after the dictator’s death—but that hasn’t put voters off. Spain’s right and far right could see her success as an encouragement as they hope to crown the decisive regional showing on May 28th with a national win.

Sánchez has already lost in one of the biggest and most politically powerful regions of Spain. In the Spanish capital and surrounding Community of Madrid, home to some 6.7 million people (around 14 percent of Spain’s total population), Sánchez has already been indirectly but firmly rejected. The president of the capital region, Isabel Ayuso of the PP, has been the prime minister’s most strident critic since taking office in 2019. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, she adopted an anti-lockdown stance that even other conservative leaders, both in Spain and across Europe, backed away from. This January, she challenged the central government’s wealth tax in court, arguing that it violates the constitutionally protected autonomy of Spain’s regions.

It’s won her votes. Writing in the Daily Telegraph a couple of weeks before the May elections, Ayuso defended a libertarian principle, one that has come to define her premiership: “This is freedom. Let the individual decide.” In that article, Ayuso was arguing in favor of lower corporate and income taxation, but the same underlying principle explains her refusal to impose regional lockdown measures toward the end of the pandemic, when they were no longer under the central government’s control. Yet rather than being punished for defying federal policy, Ayuso gained 47.3 percent of the Madrid vote on May 28 and upped her seats from 65 to 70, thus securing an absolute majority.

It’s not just vast urban communities such as Madrid and Valencia that have rejected the PSOE directly, and Sánchez by implication. Since May 28, the PP controls Aragon, a lush, predominantly rural region between Valencia and the French border, and after a deal struck at the beginning of this month, is now also part of a coalition with Vox in southwestern Extremadura, one of Spain’s wildest and least populated areas. Defying Sánchez wins votes, both inside Spain’s urban regions and out.

To make matters more difficult for the prime minister, the smaller leftist parties that he may have to count on for support are likely to be unprepared for a general election five months ahead of schedule. And he badly needs their backing. Since the rise of Podemos and Ciudadanos in 2015, the country has seen three general elections, none of which has given a majority to either the socialists or the conservatives.

The odds don’t look great for these parties. Labor Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz launched Sumar, a new progressive platform, in March. Although driven by a refreshingly noncombative approach and headed by one of Spain’s most dynamic and popular politicians, it’s an unknown quantity on the campaign trail. Podemos has been in decline ever since its co-founder and ex-leader Pablo Iglesias quit politics in May 2021 after a drubbing by the PP in Madrid’s regional elections. Now, it has no representation in six of the twelve regions contested on May 28, and only small presences in the others. Recognizing that they’re stronger together, Sumar and Podemos have announced that they’ll run jointly on July 23, but disagreements remain between the leaderships of both parties. Unless this changes, it will be difficult for the smaller leftist parties to present a united backing for Sánchez.

At the national level, Podemos’s partnership with the socialists has been dogged by serious disagreements. The most publicized showdown took place over the “Only Yes Means Yes” sexual assault law, which was introduced by a Podemos member last fall with the apparently unforeseen consequence that prison sentences for hundreds of previously convicted sex offenders were reduced. This was owed to the fact that the new law contained a more expansive, consent-based definition of sexual assault with a lower minimum sentence, which could then be retroactively applied to offenders already serving time—some were even reported as being eligible for release. Amendments have been made to block this self-defeating loophole, but Sánchez still refers to the poorly phrased law as his government’s “biggest mistake.”

An equally damaging internal conflict was triggered last March, when Sánchez canceled  decades of Spanish neutrality over Western Sahara. The PSOE leader alienated Podemos by suddenly announcing that Moroccan autonomy represented the “most serious, realistic, and credible basis” for a resolution in the region; Podemos disassociated itself from this surprise decision, instead reaffirming its support for a U.N.-backed referendum on Sahrawi self-determination.

Sánchez seems to be hoping for a semi-miraculous act of generosity from jaded socialists and wavering centrists, even though May’s results suggest that many such voters have already abandoned the socialists for the PP, or capitulated to Vox from the PP. The results of May 28—combined with the steady rise of Vox since 2018 and the PP’s firm grip on Madrid—suggest that large swaths of the electorate don’t see a repeat at the national level as a leap into the unknown. Perhaps this time, Sánchez’s luck has run out.

[beardedmrbean]

The Supreme Administrative Court annulled the Central Elections Commission's decision regarding the annulment of the machine vote. This means that Bulgarians can vote by machine on the Sunday runoff. Appeals from yesterday's vote have been dismissed.

The decision of the Supreme Court cannot be appealed. It is up to the CEC to make a decision.

The CEC canceled the machine voting for the local vote on October 29 after the scandal erupted with the recording of the hash code by the Deputy Minister of Management Mihail Stoyanov. The meeting of the Supreme Court lasted more than 5 hours.

Local Elections in Bulgaria: "I Do Not Support Anyone" is a Valid Vote

So far, 52 municipal election commissions out of a total of 265 have brought the sectional protocols and other papers and materials to the Central Election Commission, reports the National Television.

No later than 48 hours after the end of the voting - that is, by tomorrow evening, the Regional Election Commission shall adopt a decision to announce an elected mayor of a municipality, a mayor of a district, a mayor of a town hall or to schedule a second round for the election of a mayor.

In contrast to the blank ballot, the vote with the choice "I do not support anyone" is a valid vote, the deputy chairwoman and spokesperson of the CEC Rositsa Mateva commented for the National Radio:

"Those who vote 'don't support anyone' know that this is an actual vote. It would be interesting if, where there is such a case, for example, one candidate, the box 'don't support anyone' turns out to get more votes than the candidate. Unfortunately, this candidate cannot be selected as the winner, there must be a runoff." _____________

Can we get this option over here in the states please, except instead of a runoff force the parties to pick new candidates.

[spacenutspod]

3 Min Read NASA Glenn Established in Cleveland in 1941 A model of the new campus shows that it contained nine primary buildings—Administration, Flight Research, Engine Research, Technical Services, Fuels and Lubrication, Engine Propeller Research, Research Equipment, and the Altitude Wind and Icing Research tunnels. Credits: NASA On January 23, 1941, local authorities, military representatives, and agency officials assembled in Cleveland to initiate construction of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) new research laboratory. NACA Director of Research George Lewis stated, “I feel confident today in saying that this new aircraft engine research laboratory will be the mecca for all the world’s aircraft engine engineers and research workers.” Today, the laboratory, now known as NASA’s John H. Glenn Research Center, is one of 10 centers and a leading economic contributor to the Cleveland area. Exactly one year before the groundbreaking, the NACA formally proposed the creation of a new research lab dedicated to aero propulsion.  During the interim, the committee evaluated locations for the facility across the Midwest before selecting Cleveland, Ohio in November 1940. The Cleveland Chamber of Commerce scheduled a full day of activities for that cold January Thursday in 1941. In the morning, the cadre of officials toured the Alcoa and the Cleveland Pneumatic Tool Company plants. The former was a key supplier of aluminum aircraft parts and the latter produced landing gears for the Douglas XB–19—then, the nation’s largest bomber. Afterwards the group joined 240 local businessmen in the Hotel Cleveland’s Red Room for a luncheon hosted by Cleveland’s newly elected mayor Edward Blythin and Chamber of Commerce President Frederick Crawford. The George Worthington Hardware Company presented the NACA with a chrome-plated pick and shovel to be used for the groundbreaking. NACA officials described the site selection activities, while Crawford reminded area businesses to maintain their pledges of support to the NACA.  Lewis told the attendees, “The future of aviation as regards to speed, efficiency, and safety, will, in a very large measure, depend on the results which come from this laboratory.” With the war in Europe on the front pages, Edward Warner of Civil Aviation Authority added ominously, “What we are doing here today may mean the difference between America’s survival and subjugation. The difference between winning a war and losing it may be the difference between a 1,000- and 2,000-horsepower motor, or the difference between the ability to fly at 20,000 feet or 30,000 feet.” In the afternoon the group traveled out to the construction site adjacent to Cleveland Municipal Airport. Shortly after 3 p.m., Lewis struck the ground with the chrome pick to loosen the soil, which Major General George Brett, acting chief of the Army Air Corps, then scooped up. The moment was immortalized by a local newspaper photographer. That evening, Crawford held a dinner for the dignitaries at the Union Club. Construction of the NACA laboratory began in the ensuing days. Research commenced in May 1942. NACA and city officials broke ground at the future site of the NASA Glenn Research Center. From left to right: William Hopkins (former city manager), John Berry (airport manager), Ray Sharp (AERL), Frederick Crawford (Chamber of Commerce), George Brett (Air Corps), [behind] S. Paul Johnston (NACA), Edward Warner (Civil Aeronautics Board), Sydney Kraus (Bureau of Aeronautics), Edward Blythin (Cleveland mayor) and George Lewis (director of NACA research).NASA Robert S. ArrighiNASA’s Glenn Research Center

[codeninja616]

Week 9: Changes in the client and Proposed System

Good day, everyone! Here's the update for week 9, entitled "Changes in the Client and Proposed System." Last Monday, the group conducted an interview with a different prospective client for the same proposed system, as per the agreement from the previous week. After the morning class, which ended around 9 am, the group printed a copy of the permission letter and waited for the instructor to sign it. Although the instructor arrived at school around 1 in the afternoon, he checked the letter before signing it.

After the instructor signed the letter, the group proceeded to the terminal, and fortunately, they didn't have to wait long as a bus arrived within a few minutes. The group traveled for 1 hour from the school to their prospective client's location. Upon arrival, they asked for directions and reached their destination. Upon arriving, they asked some questions to find the office they needed to visit. They reached out to a person outside the office, and after a while, a staff member arrived to inquire about their purpose. The group explained their intentions, and the staff brought the paperwork to the college president. Unfortunately, the result was not positive as the college did not have a human resources department, being under the LGU.

The staff suggested they go to the LGU instead. Following this advice, the group went to the municipal hall and asked the front desk for the location of the human resources office. After a conversation, they went to the second floor and entered the human resources office. After exchanging information for a few minutes, they inquired about the existence of an existing system. Unfortunately, they were informed that there was already one in place. They concluded the interview and bid their goodbyes with disappointment.

The group returned home with worries. On the next day, Tuesday, the group consulted their instructor about their concerns. The instructor presented two options: first, to find another client with the same system, which was deemed challenging due to its broader scope. Second, to give up on the proposed system and find another one. After careful consideration, the group decided to change the proposed system. They sought the instructor's suggestions and were advised to consider an e-voting system, originally intended for barangay elections but available for use in three years. The instructor suggested applying this system for the Supreme Student Council of the school where they were enrolled.

Subsequently, the group printed another letter and had it signed by the instructor. They conducted an interview with the SSC officer, although some questions remained unanswered. They were advised to conduct interviews with the OSSD as well, but this couldn't be done at that time due to their class schedule.

On Wednesday, the group returned to writing chapters 1, 2, and 3, with chapter 1 still lacking some information due to the interview conducted on Tuesday. On Thursday, they decided to continue the interview and then write chapters 4 and 5, which needed to be submitted the following Friday. They chose to work on chapters 4 and 5 at school to utilize their time efficiently. After the interview, they began working on these chapters, along with writing the week 9 update.

That's all for this week's update. Have a nice day, everyone!

[myfathersjournal]

News From The Sump Issue 2

We are the broken. We are the lost. But let us never forget; we are.

The Scouring Continues

Today marks the final day of the scheduled scouring, however top side agents are still reported throughout the first three levels of the Sump. Municipal volunteers are monitoring the situation but have reported  that it is likely the scouring will continue beyond the projected end date. A call to action has been put out to any Sump residents who were not displaced by the scouring event to find it in them to assist the refugee population either with fresh water and/or food or a place to stay while we await the end of the scouring. Census records proved inadequate to prepare the municipal volunteers for the volume of those escaping the scouring and space within the refugee camps is very limited. Municipal volunteers have asked any in the camps with relatives who could take them in to please relocate to reduce the strain. Those that chose to will be given a day's rations in food and water to take with them. 

Feral Grandmother Kills 3 Wounds 7

An elderly woman (name withheld by request of family)lost her battle with feraling yesterday. The event took place while at home with her family, who were staying with her as a result of the scouring. Attempts were made to restrain her as several new bladed appendages emerged from her torso but efforts were mostly unsuccessful due to the appearance of these new limbs and the wounds causing family members to come into contact with her acidified blood. Name Withheld then escaped into the halls of Level H and was eventually brought down by feral hunters lead by Bulwark. Survivors of Name Withhelds attacks are being treated by municipal medics and are expected to make a recovery in time. 

News From Above

Municipal spies report that recently elected mayor Michal Thompson has continued to use the scouring as a post-election platform to maintain his current approval levels. “The filth that infects the heart of our great nation must be cleansed.” A newspaper article obtained by one municipal spie reads. “How must we look to the other city/states, gleaming on the outside while harboring a rotting heart just below the surface? It’s been too long friends, it’s been too long since we got the poison out of our veins.” Municipal volunteers will be holding a public meeting on Friday to address the concerns raised by the continued anti-Sump sentiments expressed by the top side mayor. 

Water From Heaven

In a silver lining moment for this week, prospectors in Level G have found a new source of clean water that could potentially alleviate some of the recent refugee distress. Said source appears to be a defunct water filtration system for an old chemical factory left abandoned some time in the distant past. While the filtration system is not currently operational, prospectors hope to get it running within the next few weeks if parts can be found or fabricated. If you would like to assist in the repair efforts the prospectors are setting up a public relations booth on Level E, address is EB4C25R442.

Classifieds

Wanted: Feral hunters

Destination: The Corrosion

Requirements: Own weapons, PPE(or resistance to toxic/radioactive chemicals),food

Pay: Negotiable upon inquiry, not to exceed 1 month's food rations and/or equivalent.

Location: JB6C33R424

Lost Child: Budling lost in Level E markets. 0.6 meters tall, pale white, round, five limbs (three motile, two grabbing), responds to Steven. Last seen by parent at clothes stall C-14. If found return to EB4C14R124

Expedition Planned: Group looking for experienced feral hunters, prospectors or scrappers to join an expedition into The Corrosion. Food will be provided by expedition, must bring own weapons. Inquire at: DB1C33R621

We Want YOU!

Municipal volunteer corps is looking for new members. Benefits include: access to Municipal bunk houses, weekly supply rations, training and prestige for future endeavors. Interested parties can inquire at FB3C2R1, just turn left at the staircase.