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junker-town · 6 years ago

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Did the Kick Six doom Gus Malzahn to unrealistic expectations?

The further we get away from 2013, the more it looks like that season was a bug, not a feature of Auburn’s success.

After a Week 7 loss to Tennessee (yes, that Tennessee), Auburn has some soul-searching to do. The once-logical pick to dethrone Alabama in the SEC West this year — if any team could do it — has made 6-6 look like it’d be a decent final record.

That’s after a promising 10-4 season in 2017, in which the Tigers beat both of the teams that matched up in the national championship game.

It’s clear that halfway through the 2018 season, Auburn just isn’t a good football team. Gus Malzahn has serious questions to answer about why his team is 4-3. The locker room is reportedly not in a good place, and neither is the on-field product.

But what we think Auburn can be year-in and year-out is a story about the power of results, and the miraculous nature of close games in sports.

The night of 2013’s Kick Six was special, but did that and the Prayer At Jordan-Hare create an unrealistic ceiling for the Gus Malzahn Auburn Tigers?

Those two incredible plays (the one against Alabama, the other against Georgia) were the difference between a 10-win regular season and a 12-win regular season. Both the Miracle and the Prayer led to wins, as was the subsequent SEC Championship Game against Missouri that Auburn played its way into thanks to those plays.

If the Kick Six didn’t go down and that Bama game had gone to overtime, anything could have happened. But even if Auburn had won it, a 10-win regular season would be the high water mark for the program under Malzahn in the years since. Auburn’s recent win totals: eight, six, eight, 10, and now on tracking toward something between six and eight.

Those are really good regular seasons for a ton of programs. But when you inject the level of emotion that Auburn’s 2013 included, and being this close to a national championship in the 2013 title game against Florida State, it starts to look like lightning a bottle as time wears on.

The Tigers are 23-23 against Power 5 teams since the Kick Six. Compare that to this company:

Records vs. P5 teams since Kick Six + weeks ranked in AP poll… Auburn (23-23), 55 weeks Iowa (31-19), 17 weeks K-State (25-24), 20 weeks Utah (25-19), 38 weeks Miami (25-19), 30 weeks Livin’ that SEC life is tough.

— A David Hale joint (@ADavidHaleJoint) October 13, 2018

Auburn is 3-2 against LSU since the Kick Six — losing to LSU comebacks in each of the last two seasons — plus 1-3 against Alabama, 1-4 against Georgia, and 2-3 against Mississippi State.

All of this is not to say that Malzahn isn’t a good coach. But much of what’s made him successful isn’t working right now.

Malzahn is an offensive innovator by leaning on the old reliables, and I don’t mean that as a just a figure of speech. Malzahn’s offense borrows single-wing tactics that were en vogue 100 years ago. And the problem is that it’s some of those schemes that are failing Auburn in 2018. It’s a huge deal, given that the Tigers make their bones running the ball:

In three of Gus Malzahn’s first five years as head coach, the Tigers finished between fourth and 17th nationally in yards per carry, plus two top-11 finishes in his three years as OC.

His Tigers have never been as bad as they’re pacing to be through six weeks of 2018: 82nd out of 130 FBS teams at a 4.18-yard average. And they haven’t even gotten all the way into the hardest part of the SEC schedule yet.

And the last part of that passage is key, because Auburn’s schedule is just going to get tougher. Tennessee was supposed to be a layup. Instead, it was a loss, prompting real worry about how bad things could get in the home stretch. College and Magnolia writes:

Auburn now sits at 4-3, and there are serious — SERIOUS — questions from everyone about the capability of Gus Malzahn and his staff to keep things together and rally this team. It won’t get any easier with Texas A&M, Georgia, and Alabama all left on the schedule. The Tigers get Ole Miss on the road next Saturday for another 11 AM kickoff in Oxford.

With that schedule, Auburn doesn’t have much of a margin for error coming home. It has to go 2-3 the rest of the way with three difficult games, one layup (against Liberty), and a tossup against Ole Miss. That’s just to get to bowl eligibility.

This is where success can work against a coach.

Because although Auburn’s 2017 season was excellent, the Tigers showed that they couldn’t keep that level of play up. They’ve barely approached it since.

Whether Auburn will be OK with Malzahn looking more like a good coach than a championship-level coach remains to be seen. But it would cost Auburn more than $32 million to fire him this season or right after it, thanks to an extension he signed after the Tigers’ loss to Georgia in 2017’s SEC title game.

2013 seems like a long time ago.

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erossiniuk · 4 years ago

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Getting started with R

In this post I want you getting started with R as quickly as possible. R is a simple language to manage big data. Let’s start to speak about it.

What is R?

R is a programming language and free software environment for statistical computing and graphics supported by the R Foundation for Statistical Computing. The R language is widely used among statisticians and data miners for developing statistical software and data analysis. Polls, data mining surveys, and studies of scholarly literature databases show substantial increases in popularity; as of July 2020, R ranks 8th in the TIOBE index, a measure of popularity of programming languages.

The R user interface

RStudio gives you a way to talk to your computer and sends command to execute some operations. R gives you a language to speak in. To get start, open RStudio just as you would open any other application on your computer. When you di, a window should appear in your screen.

RStudio – First launch

If you don’t have RStudio installed in your machine, you can download it from this link.

RStudio download page

The RStudio interface is simple. Your type R code into the bottom line of the RStudio console pane ad then press Enter to run it. The code you type is called a command, because it will command your computer to do something for you. The line you type it into is called the command line.

When you type a command at the prompt and hit Enter, your computer executes the command and shows you the result. Then RStudio displays a fresh prompt for your next command.

When do we compile?

In some languages, like C#, you have to compile your human-readable code into machine-readable code before you can run it. If you’ve programmed in such a language before, which means R automatically interprets you code as you run it.

Playing with R

First basic example is a sum.

> 1+1 [1]2 >

You’ll notice that a [1] appears next to your result. R is just letting you know that this line begins with the first value in your result. Some commands return more than one value, and their results may fill up multiple lines. For example, the command 100:130 returns 31 values; it creates a sequence of integer from 100 to 130. Notice that new bracketed numbers appear at the start of the second and third line of output.

RStudio – First example

The colon operator (:) returns every integer between two integers. It is an easy way to create a sequence of numbers.

If you type an incomplete command and press Enter, R will display a + prompt, which means it is waiting for you to type the rest of your command.

> 5- + + 1 [1] 4

RStudio – Example incomplete command

If you type a command that R doesn’t recognize, R will return an error message.

RStudio – Error message

R treats the hashtag character # in a special way; R will not run anything that follows a hashtag on a line. This makes hashtags very useful for adding comments and annotations to your code. The hashtag is known as the commenting symbol in R.

Cancelling commands

Some R commands may take a long time to run. You can cancel a command once it has begun by typing Ctrl + C. Note that it may also take R a long time to cancel the command.

Objects

R lets you save data by storing it inside an R object. What’s an object? Just a name that you can use to call up stored data. For example, you can save data into an object like a or b. Wherever R encounters the object, it will replace it with the data saved inside.

a <- 1 a [1] 1 a + 2 [1] 3

to create an R object, choose a name and then use the less-than symbol < followed by a minus sign (<-) to save data into it. R will make an object, give it your name and store in it whatever follows the arrow

when you ask R what’s in a, it tells you on the next line

you can use your object in new R commands too.

So, for another example, the following code would create an object named die that contains the numbers one through six. To see what is stored in an object, just type the object’s name by itself.

die <- 1:6 die ## 1 2 3 4 5 6

When you create an object, the object will appear in the environment pane of RStudio. This pane will show you all the objects you’ve created since opening RStudio.

RStudio – Create an object and environment pane

You can name an object in R almost anything you want, but there are a few rules:

a name cannot start with a number

a name cannot use some special symbols, like ^, !, $, @, +, -, /, or *

Good namesNames that cause errorsa1trialb$FOO^meanmy_var2nd.day!bad

R also understand capitalization (or is case-sensitive) so name and Name will refer to different objects.

Finally, R will overwrite any previous information stored in an object without asking you for permission. So, it is a good idea to not use names that are already taken:

my_number <- 1 my_number ## 1 my_number <- 999 my_number ## 999

You can see which object names you have already used with the function ls

If you follow my examples, you now know a virtual die that is stored in your computer’s memory. You can access it whenever you like by typing the word die. R will replace an object with its contents whenever the object’s name appears in a command. So, for example, you can do all sorts of math with the die. Math isn’t so helpful for rolling dice, but manipulating sets of numbers will be your stock and trade as a data scientist. So, let’s take a look at how to do that:

die - 1 ## 0 1 2 3 4 5 die / 2 ## 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 die * die ## 1 4 9 16 25 36

RStudio – Operation with an object

If you are a big fan of linear algebra, you may notice that R does not always follow the rules for matrix multiplication. Instead, R uses element-wise execution. When you manipulate a set of numbers, R will apply the same operation to each element in the set. So, for example, when you run die - 1, R subtracts one from each element of die.

When you use two or more vectors in an operation, R will line up the vectors and perform a sequence of individual operations. For example, when you run die * die, R lines up the two die vectors and then multiplies the first element of the vector 1 by the first element of vector 2 and so on.

If you give R two vectors of unequal lengths, R will repeat the shorter vector until it is as long as the longer vector, and then do the math. This isn’t a permanent change; the shorter vector will be its original size after R does the math. If the length of the short vector does not divide evenly into the length of the long vector, R will return a warning message. This behavior is known as vector recycling, and it helps R do element-wise operations.

> 1:2 [1] 1 2 > 1:4 [1] 1 2 3 4 > die <- 1:6 > die + 1:2 [1] 2 4 4 6 6 8 > die + 1:4 [1] 2 4 6 8 6 8 Warning message: In die + 1:4 : longer object length is not a multiple of shorter object length

RStudio – Object operations

Element-wise operations are a very useful feature in R because they manipulate groups of values in an orderly way. When you start working with data sets, element-wise operations will ensure that values from one observation or case are only paired with values from the same observation or case. Element-wise operations also make it easier to write your own programs and functions in R.

But don’t think that R has given up on traditional matrix multiplication. You just have to ask for it when you want it. You can do inner multiplication with the %*% operator and outer multiplication with the %o% operator.

> die <- 1:6 > die %*% die [,1] [1,] 91 > die %o% die [,1] [,2] [,3] [,4] [,5] [,6] [1,] 1 2 3 4 5 6 [2,] 2 4 6 8 10 12 [3,] 3 6 9 12 15 18 [4,] 4 8 12 16 20 24 [5,] 5 10 15 20 25 30 [6,] 6 12 18 24 30 36

from WordPress https://www.puresourcecode.com/programming-languages/getting-started-with-r/

#Programming languages #R #rstudio

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artjackingjournal-blog · 7 years ago

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Plain Advice On Recognising Issues Of Iso Xp Probiotic Protein

A Closer Look At Root Details For Whey Protein New Zealand Canada

Home » Protein beverage maker secures $8 million investment Protein beverage maker secures $8 million investment Iconic Protein ready-to-drink protein beverages are made using dairy protein from grass-fed cows in New Zealand. SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — Iconic Protein, maker of protein beverages made with grass-fed dairy, has raised $8 million in a funding round led by private equity firm KarpReilly. Bill Moses, co-founder and former chief executive officer of KeVita, also participated in the round and will join Iconic Protein as the company’s executive chairman. Launched in 2013, Iconic Protein offers a line of ready-to-drink protein beverages that are made using dairy protein from grass-fed cows in New Zealand and are free from hormones, antibiotics and preservatives. The drinks, available in Café Au Lait, Chocolate Truffle and Vanilla Bean flavors, contain 20 grams of protein and 130 calories each. “Iconic has distinguished itself as a leader in the fast-growing protein drink space with the use of clean animal protein, incredible velocity at shelf and an audience that reaches far beyond the typical protein beverage consumer,” said Allan Karp, co-founder of KarpReilly. “There is an enormous market opportunity for Iconic’s better-for-you, New Zealand grass-fed dairy protein offering, and we are excited to work with their team to take the brand to the next level.” Bill Moses, co-founder of KeVita, and Lance Collins, founder of Core Hydration, Bodyarmor and Fuze Beverage, participated in the funding round. Iconic plans to use the funding to build out its senior leadership team and invest in product innovation, the company said. Iconic’s retail partners include Sprouts, Wegmans, H-E-B and Rouses Markets. Additional investors in the funding round include Lance Collins, founder of Core Hydration, Bodyarmor and Fuze Beverage, along with Gunnar Lovelace and Nick Green, founders of Thrive Market.

For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/10592-protein-beverage-maker-secures-8-million-investment

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Tips That Will Help You Reach Your Fitness Goals!

You do not have to fear the word fitness. You may have negative associations with the idea--perhaps you think getting fit is boring or tedious, or you were bullied in the past because of your inability to play sports. Let go of hurtful feelings and be proud of having a healthy body. The following advice will help you do so. When doing multiple reps of a given exercise, count backwards from your goal. This will allow you to keep track of the number that you are on and also provide more motivation. Exercise burns a lot of calories, but not as much as some dieters wish it would. It can be damaging to go to extremes when it comes to exercise, though. Doing this puts you at risk of muscle and joint damage, heart problems, dehydration, and other physical problems. Also, it can cause you to end up in an anaerobic state. In this state, you aren't burning fat. Get quicker results by completing your exercise regimen in 10% less time than you usually do. Your muscles, then, will need to work that much more to meet the demand you are placing on it. Plus, it will increase your overall endurance levels too. For example, if you can do a full body workout in 30 minutes one day, try to do it in 27 minutes the next time you workout. Do not stop your workout routines on the weekends! Many fall into the habit of kicking back every weekend as a way of putting workweek stress behind them. Staying fit is a job that lasts all week long. Do not waste the weekend only to have to catch up later. Wipe down the fitness equipment at the gym prior to use. People leave germs on the equipment so it's best to keep this in mind. A visit to the gym should leave you feeling fit, not sick! People often try to do abdominal exercises on a daily basis. It isn't recommended for that particular group of muscles. You need to rest your muscles every other day or every two days. Rest your ab muscles for a few days before working them out again. A good rule of thumb is to avoid exercising if you feel poorly. Your body needs the full use of all of its resources for the healing process when you're ill. It will be more difficult for your body to have endurance and to build muscle. This is why you should avoid exercising until you feel better. While you are waiting, you can eat, sleep, and build up your strength. A great fitness tip to help you build up your calf muscles, is to start doing donkey calf raises. These exercises are exceptionally effective for that muscle group. With a partner sitting on your back, simply raise your calves. If you exercised the previous day, work out the muscles you used. A simple way to do this is to slightly work out the tired muscles using a much smaller percentage of effort. Don't overwhelm yourself when you start an exercise routine. You need to start slow and work your way into strenuous exercise, especially if it's been a long time since you were on a regular fitness routine. If your body and muscles are not accustomed to this level of activity, you are more susceptible to injury. Yogurt is a great addition to a healthy diet plan. It has a wide range of benefits to your health, especially when it comes to digestion. Yogurt is a great source of calcium and protein. Your diet should include adequate dairy; people who eat get enough calcium through dairy are proactively improving their health. If you have taken the information in this article to heart, you will probably notice your feelings about exercise and nutrition beginning to change. By accomplishing this, you will increase your lifespan and enjoy a fuller, enriched life.

A Straightforward Breakdown Of Recognising Key Factors Of Canada

In 2013, Ford also faced allegations relating to drugs, with the Globe and Mail reporting that he sold hashish for several years in the 1980s. He has denied the claims. According to Michael McGregor at Toronto’s Ryerson University, what’s at play is not a populist upswell but rather a perfect storm. Ford won the Progressive Conservative leadership race on points, despite losing the popular vote. The race had been hastily called after the former leader, Patrick Brown, was accused of sexual misconduct . The conservatives have long dominated polls; approval ratings for Ontario’s premier, Kathleen Wynne, tumbled to the lowest in Canada as her party scrambled to address issues ranging from soaring electricity prices to a conviction related to destroying documents. Last week her government was called Whey Protein out by the province’s auditor general for dramatically understating this year’s budget deficit and future shortfalls. “So you have the unpopular premier, you’ve got this weird electoral system that propels Ford to victory. You’ve got Patrick Brown getting caught up in the #MeToo movement,” said McGregor. “This is not a groundswell, grassroots movement towards populism. I just think it’s a confluence of strange factors.” Connecting Ford to Trump is a “false comparison”, said Kathy Brock at Queen’s University. Instead she pointed to the digital revolution – and the jarring pace of change it has unleashed – to explain the changes shaking up Canada’s political landscape.

For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/30/doug-ford-ontario-conservative-trump-comparison-canada

When You Want To Be The Best, You Have To Learn More About Vitamins

Your health can truly benefit from proper minerals and nutrients. Multivitamins can do the trick by themselves. It is sometimes hard to find the supplement that is right for you. Your best bet is to read on and keep an open mind. If you want your workout to be as effective as possible, make sure to take your vitamins. The right nutrients will make it easier to burn fat and build muscle. Your body cannot always absorb nutrients as-is. Sometimes it need a little help from other nutrients. For instance, calcium makes iron absorption difficult. Try not to have two forms of nutrients that react poorly with one another. Calcium helps build and maintain strong bones. You must also have a good amount of vitamin D in order to absorb calcium. There are a lot of ways to get a lot of vitamin D like food, sunlight, or supplements. These all improve your body's ability to absorb calcium. Try scheduling supplements that have fat around mealtimes to take them with food. Vitamins E, K and A are examples of supplements that should only be taken with food because they are easier to absorb at that time. Try to take them food that contains fat. If you want to have strong and abundant red blood cells, you must get enough iron. These red blood cells deliver oxygen through your system. Women need more iron than men, and often vitamin supplements that are specifically for women will have extra iron. If you're tired and lethargic, you may lack iron. At a time when health care is expensive, promoting good health is important and adding daily vitamins is a good start. Getting the proper amount of vitamins and minerals can help stave off serious medical conditions as well as improve your quality of life in general. Asparagus, dairy products, and bananas are rich sources of riboflavin. If you don't get enough vitamin B2, you could experience scaly sin, dry lips and even lowered red blood cells. Taking riboflavin can prevent anemia, cataracts, carpal tunnel syndrome, and even cancer. It's not uncommon for most people want to eat foods that have the best nutrients in them, but many of those types of foods an be costly. Vitamins and minerals make our bodies healthier and don't cost much. There are many places to find Vitamin C, including tomatoes and citrus fruits. Supplements are a good choice if you don't get enough of this vitamin. This potent vitamin help prevent and treat colds, gum disease, acne, stomach ulcers, and skin infections. In addition, some studies have shown that vitamin C can aid those suffering from ADHD, Alzheimers disease, and dementia. If you want to use gummy vitamins meant for children as an adult, take several of them. This is because an adult would need more than the recommended child dose, so one will surely not be enough. Be careful since taking too many can be a bad thing as well. Fresh produce is usually full of healthy proteins that the body needs, but you must eat them fresh instead of canned. Though you want to eat a healthy diet, you should also consider taking a quality multivitamin and/or mineral supplements to enhance your diet. Are you getting enough manganese? Manganese makes wounds heal quicker and helps with bone formation. Manganese also improves your body's ability to metabolize cholesterol, protein, and carbohydrates. Manganese is not difficult to find as it is often found in the teas we drink as well as the grain foods we consume daily. You can also find supplements through the Internet or local vitamin shop. You should now have a more comprehensive understanding of various vitamins, minerals, and supplements. There are a lot of supplements out there and finding the appropriate ones can be difficult. Thankfully, you read this article and are ready to go!

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studentofrhetoric-blog · 8 years ago

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Part 3, Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017

International News:

--- "Centrist Emmanuel Macron is projected to come out on top in the first round of France's presidential election next month ahead of far-right leader Marine Le Pen before going on to win in a runoff, a Harris Interactive poll showed on Thursday. Macron was seen winning 26 percent of the vote in the April 23 first round followed by Le Pen on 25 percent, according to the poll for France Televisions. Both scores were unchanged from the last time the poll was carried out two weeks ago, even though it was carried out after the two traded barbs in a televised debate on Monday involving all the main candidates. Conservative candidate Francois Fillon saw his score slip to 18 percent of the first round vote from 20 percent as he struggles to limit the damage from a series of financial scandals. Meanwhile, far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon saw his share of the vote rise to 13.5 percent, surpassing for the first time the score for the ruling Socialists candidate Benoit Hamon at 12.5 percent. Macron was seen winning the presidency by beating Le Pen in the May 7 runoff with 65 percent of the vote to 35 percent for the National Front leader, unchanged from two weeks ago.The poll was conducted on March 21-22 among 6,383 voters."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-idUSKBN16U09F?il=0

--- "The number or people who died in an attack close to Britain's parliament on Wednesday has risen to five after the death of a third member of the public, police said. Previously, the death toll had stood as four, including the attacker and a police officer. Britain's top counter-terrorism police officer Mark Rowley told reporters that police believed the attacker was inspired by Islamist-related terrorism. Rowley said police believed they knew the identity of the attacker but he declined to provide details."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-security-police-update-idUSKBN16T38U?il=0

--- "In a move without precedent in German history, the country will soon deport two German-born men accused of having discussed terrorist activity. On Tuesday, the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig threw out a case saying that the men, one an Algerian national and the other a Nigerian citizen, should not be deported because there was no proof they had committed a serious offense. In so doing, it cleared the way for deportations that the state government of Lower Saxony ordered last month, when it described the pair as a threat to national security. It is the first time in the country’s history that German-born residents will be deported, a spokesman for Lower Saxony’s interior ministry told the dpa news agency. The ruling may be a sign of hardening attitudes in Germany, which has been facing the joint challenges of migrant inflows and terrorist attacks since 2015. "You can count on us using all means at our disposal with full force," state Interior Minister Boris Pistorius said, the Associated Press reported. "It's completely irrelevant whether they grew up here or not."...Unlike the United States, Germany does not confer citizenship on any child born in the country. Instead, citizenship follows the principle of jus sanguinis, or right of blood, in which citizenship is not determined by birthplace but by the citizenship of both parents. That means Germany can deport people to their country of citizenship even if they have lived in Germany all their lives."

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2017/0322/Germany-set-to-deport-native-born-potential-terrorists

Domestic News & International News

--- "Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday the United States would set up "interim zones of stability" to help refugees return home in the next phase of the fight against Islamic State and al Qaeda in Syria and Iraq. The top U.S. diplomat did not make clear where these zones were to be set up. He was addressing a meeting of 68 countries and organizations gathered in Washington to discuss accelerating the battle against Islamic State. "The United States will increase our pressure on ISIS and al Qaeda and will work to establish interim zones of stability, through ceasefires, to allow refugees to return home," Tillerson told the gathering at the State Department, where the former oil executive was hosting his first major diplomatic event. Although it was unclear how the zones would work, creating any safe havens could ratchet up U.S. military involvement in Syria and mark a major departure from President Barack Obama's more cautious approach. Asked about Tillerson's remarks, coalition spokesman Colonel Joseph Scrocca said the U.S. military had not yet received direction to establish any kind of "zones". Increased U.S. or allied air power would be required if President Donald Trump chooses to enforce 'no fly' restrictions, and ground forces might also be needed to protect civilians in those areas...Tillerson called on coalition partners to make good on financial pledges to secure and rebuild areas where Islamic State has been pushed out. The coalition has pledged more than $2 billion in assistance for Iraq and Syria in 2017."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-usa-idUSKBN16T0CQ?il=0

--- "U.S. President Donald Trump, who has sought to ban travelers from Iran and other Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States, issued a holiday greeting on Wednesday to Iranians celebrating the New Year holiday known as Nowruz. Trump, who has also criticized the nuclear deal between Iran and western powers negotiated during President Barack Obama's administration, did not refer to the travel ban in his statement. "Nowruz means 'new day' in Persian. It is an occasion to celebrate new beginnings, a sentiment that is particularly meaningful for so many Iranians who have come to our country in recent decades to make a new start in a free land," Trump said in a statement issued by the White House. Nowruz is Iran's most important national event and is celebrated with family gatherings, vacations and gift-giving. "For many years, I have greatly enjoyed wonderful friendships with Iranian-Americans, one of the most successful immigrant groups in our country’s contemporary history," he said."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-iran-idUSKBN16T3A6?il=0

Domestic News:

--- "U.S. President Donald Trump and House of Representatives leaders pushed on Wednesday for votes for their plan to overhaul Obamacare and said they were making progress in their efforts to win over conservative Republicans who have demanded changes to the legislation. With a vote on the bill expected Thursday evening, members of the House Freedom Caucus, a conservative Republican faction, said they had been negotiating possible concessions with the White House. Much of the discussion hinged on finding a way to scrap what are labeled "essential health benefits" - services that insurance plans are required to cover under the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, such as mental health help. "I can tell you that we're making great progress," Mark Meadows, chairman of the Freedom Caucus, told reporters. "We're not there yet. But we're hopeful." Trump was to meet at the White House with members of the Freedom Caucus on Thursday at 11:30 a.m, the White House said. But while the president courted conservatives, the bill appeared to be losing traction among Republican moderates, some of whom attended a meeting late Wednesday in House Speaker Paul Ryan's office. Representative Charlie Dent, a leader of the "Tuesday Group" of House Republican moderates, issued a statement saying he could not back the bill. "I believe this bill, in its current form, will lead to the loss of coverage and make insurance unaffordable for too many Americans, particularly for low- to moderate-income and older individuals," Dent said in the statement. The chairman of the House Rules Committee, which met all day Wednesday to set the rules for the bill's consideration on the House floor, said late on Wednesday that the panel would resume its meeting on Thursday, having made no definite decision on the timing of the floor vote."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-obamacare-idUSKBN16T22X?il=0

--- "A spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer said on Wednesday a proposal to add a provision to a Republican healthcare bill repealing essential Obamacare benefits would violate reconciliation rules and thus require 60 votes to pass the chamber. "Repealing the essential health benefits provisions under the Affordable Care Act is a policy change, not budgetary, and thus violates the Byrd Rule," Schumer's spokesman, Matt House, said in a statement. "It will require 60 votes to repeal these protections, and the votes just aren’t there in the Senate,” the statement said."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-obamacare-schumer-idUSKBN16T394?il=0

--- "Leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus met with President Donald Trump on Wednesday about infrastructure and reducing urban crime, calling the sit-down a "positive" first step toward finding common ground. The lawmakers presented Trump with a 130-page policy proposal titled "We Have a Lot to Lose: Solutions to Advance Black Families in the 21st Century," a reference to Trump's repeated query on the campaign trail asking what did blacks have to lose by supporting him. "We think it's a positive first start and we're going to continue the dialogue," Representative Karen Bass, a Democrat from California, told reporters after the meeting. Trump has pledged to improve the lives of African-Americans, who largely voted in favor of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 presidential election. Many black leaders have criticized his depiction of urban areas as crime-ridden war zones and his false claims that the first black U.S. president, Barack Obama, may not have been born in the United States. Trump later admitted he believes Obama was U.S. born. At the start of the meeting, Trump said he was serious about his promise to help African-Americans. "Every American child has a right to grow up in a safe community, to attend great schools, to graduate with access to high-paying jobs," Trump said during the portion of the meeting open to reporters. Since coming to office Trump has held a listening session with some of his black supporters and signed an executive order seeking to boost government support for historically black colleges."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-black-caucus-idUSKBN16T390

--- "The 2016 election was just a month away when Steve Curtis, a conservative radio host and former Colorado Republican Party chairman, devoted an entire episode of his morning talk show to the heated topic of voter fraud. “It seems to me,” Curtis said in the 42-minute segment, “that virtually every case of voter fraud I can remember in my lifetime was committed by Democrats.” On Tuesday, Colorado prosecutors threw a wrench into that already dubious theory, accusing Curtis of voter fraud for allegedly filling out and mailing in his ex-wife’s 2016 ballot for president, Denver’s Fox affiliate reported. Curtis, 57, was charged in Weld County District Court with one count of misdemeanor voter fraud and one count of forgery, a Class 5 felony, according to local media. The case is the only voter fraud investigation related to the 2016 election that has resulted in criminal charges in the state, the Colorado secretary of state’s office told Denver’s ABC affiliate. Curtis has not entered a plea. If convicted, he could face more than a year of prison time and a $5,000 fine. His attorney, Christopher Gregory, declined to comment on the case when reached by The Washington Post Tuesday night...Curtis served as chairman of the Colorado Republican Party from 1997 to 1999. In 2011, he made a brief reentry into state politics when he oversaw the advisory board for the Denver Tea Party Patriots, ABC 7 reported."

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/03/22/ex-colo-gop-leader-said-only-democrats-committed-voter-fraud-now-hes-charged-with-voter-fraud/?utm_term=.00a7aba51a78

--- "A Hawaii lawmaker who says she was pressured to give up her leadership post at the statehouse after criticizing President Donald Trump resigned Wednesday from the Republican Party. Rep. Beth Fukumoto said members of the GOP refused to oppose racism and sexism including a suggestion by Trump to create a Muslim registry during his campaign. "As a Japanese-American whose grandparents had to destroy all of their Japanese artifacts and items and bury them in the backyard to avoid getting taken and interned, how could I not have said anything?" Fukumoto asked. "And how could my party have not said anything?" Fukumoto was voted out of her post as House Minority Leader in February after calling Trump a bully in a speech at the Women's March in Honolulu, saying many of his remarks were racist and sexist and had no place in the Republican Party. Since then, she sought feedback from her constituents about leaving the GOP and said three-quarters of the more than 470 letters she received supported the move. She said she agrees with many Democratic positions on affordable housing and equitable taxes, and hopes to join that party. Hawaii Democratic Party leader Tim Vandeveer said Democrats will give Fukumoto a fair shake, but some members are concerned about her past voting record on civil rights and women's issues...Fukumoto voted against same-sex marriage when it came before the Legislature in 2013. She said Wednesday she voted that way to represent the majority of her constituents, but if she was voting on her own, she would have voted yes. On reproductive rights, Fukumoto said she does not believe in abortion in all three trimesters but does not want to rescind individuals' rights once they have been granted...Members of the Democratic Party on Oahu will ultimately decide whether to accept Fukumoto, but the process could take months, Vandeveer said."

Source: http://time.com/4710443/hawaii-republican-resigns-trump/

--- "On Tuesday, President Trump signed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Transition Authorization Act of 2017. The legislation authorizes $19.5 billion worth of spending in the 2018 budget year, and keeps several of NASA’s high-profile exploration programs on track. Signing the law earned Trump a blue NASA jacket and approval from a bipartisan group of lawmakers and astronauts. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat and former Space Shuttle astronaut, voiced optimism about the legislation. "We have the commercial companies going to and from the International Space Station and we have NASA going out and exploring the heavens," he said during the Oval Office signing ceremony. "And we're going to Mars." For the most part, NASA has avoided the deep cuts that the Trump administration has proposed for other research agencies. This authorization bill continues that trend, but doesn’t yet have scientists breathing a sigh of relief. Space policy expert Scott Pace, speaking to The Washington Post, described the bill as a “vote for stability.” Among other measures, it maintains NASA’s long-term goal of sending humans to Mars by the mid-2030's, and continues to fund development of the Space Launch System and Orion crew capsule that will get them there. It also calls for continued support of robotic missions already underway, like a Europa probe and the James Webb Space Telescope. The $19.5 billion authorization bill marks a slight increase over the $19.1 billion requested in Trump’s 2018 budget, described by the agency’s acting administrator, Robert Lightfoot, as “a positive budget overall for NASA.”"

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2017/0322/With-budget-boost-Trump-shifts-NASA-s-gaze-from-Earth-to-Mars

--- "The State Department, which was criticized for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, said on Wednesday it failed to meet an end-of-2016 deadline to manage all its email records electronically. The department, and other U.S. government agencies, had more than four years to meet the deadline under an Aug. 24, 2012, directive that aimed to eliminate the use of paper records as much as possible in favor of electronic record-keeping. That directive was part of an Obama administration effort to update government record-keeping for the digital age and promote accountability for official decisions by ensuring they are properly documented and preserved for future generations. In a report posted by the National Archives on Wednesday, the State Department checked the "No" box in response to a question on whether it had met the goal of managing all its email records in an electronic format by Dec. 31, 2016."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-diplomacy-emails-idUSKBN16U04Z?il=0

--- "On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of two parents of an autistic son, finding that his Colorado school district had failed to provide him with a "free and appropriate public education." School districts are required to provide such an education under the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). But the exact meaning of an "appropriate" education has remained unclear. In January, The Christian Science Monitor’s Henry Gass explained that some federal appeals courts have “held that the district is only required to provide educational benefits that are more than minimal or trivial,” while others have instead ruled that “schools must supply a ‘meaningful educational benefit.’” As a result, “it is unclear whether school districts have to provide ‘meaningful’ or just ‘more than trivial’ educational benefits to students.” In their unanimous opinion, the Supreme Court’s eight justices came down decisively against the “more than trivial” camp, a ruling that could bring major benefits to students with disabilities – especially those with “individualized education programs,” or IEPs. "It cannot be right that the IDEA generally contemplates grade-level advancement for children with disabilities who are fully integrated in the regular classroom,” argued Chief Justice John Roberts in the opinion, “but is satisfied with barely more than de minimis progress for children who are not."...But in the court system, one noteworthy supporter of school districts against students has been Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. NPR reports that, as a federal judge on the 10th Circuit, he “repeatedly ruled the other way on similar cases.”"

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2017/0322/In-unanimous-decision-Supreme-Court-raises-bar-for-special-education-video

--- "The rate of infant deaths in the United States has improved, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a study released on Tuesday. The infant mortality rate dropped 15 percent over the past decade, from a record high 6.86 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2005 to 5.82 in 2014, data show. While the new report indicates a promising development in the country’s public health, commentators say the United States has a long way to go to catch up peer nations. Across the country, a rising number of babies are living to their first birthday in most states – 33 states and Washington, D.C., to be exact – and the remaining 17 states saw no significant change, the reports said. The researchers of the study credited awareness and education programs with helping to reverse the trend...While the infant deaths rates of almost all race and ethnic groups followed the larger trend of decline, American Indian or Alaska Natives saw no significant change. Among the declines, infant mortality rates of Asian or Pacific Islander fell the most of 21 percent, followed by non-Hispanic black women at 20 percent. Yet, the disparity among racial groups remains stark, observers said. As babies born to non-Hispanic black women are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday as those born to a non-Hispanic white woman, a point Slate’s writer Christina Cauterucci highlighted as “the most troubling aspect” of the data...Despite the improvement, the United States still falls behind many other industrialized nations. According to a list maintained by the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States ranks 56th with an estimated infant mortality rate of 5.8 in 2016, trailing after countries such as Canada, Singapore, and a number of European countries. Monaco and Japan are at the top of the list, with rates lower or equal to 2.0."

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2017/0322/US-infant-mortality-rate-declines-but-disparities-remain

#international affairs #domestic affairs #trump administration #source: reuters #source: the Christian science monitor #source: the washington post #source: time

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