#first i made the poll duration one day. then i posted on main. third times the charm?
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
shortstorytournament · 1 year ago
Text
Short Story Tournament
THE WIFE'S STORY by Ursula K Le Guin (1982) (link) - tw: death
He was a good husband, a good father. I don’t understand it. I don’t believe in it. I don’t believe that it happened. I saw it happen but it isn’t true.
THE HAPPY PRINCE by Oscar Wilde (1888) (link) - tw: death
The eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears, and tears were running down his golden cheeks. His face was so beautiful in the moonlight that the little Swallow was filled with pity.
8 notes · View notes
ladystylestores · 4 years ago
Text
Death and Testing – The New York Times
Want to get The Morning by email? Here’s the sign-up.
Good morning. The son of a federal judge has been killed. Canada says no to Major League Baseball. And Trump tells multiple virus falsehoods in a T.V. interview.
President Trump gave a confrontational interview to Chris Wallace of Fox News yesterday that included numerous untruths about the coronavirus. Trump claimed that the United States had the lowest death rate in the world; that new cases were surging here mostly because of the large number of tests; and that his virus response had saved “millions of lives.”
So I thought it was worth offering a quick overview of the actual situation with the virus, with help from a couple of charts:
The virus has still been deadlier in several European countries than in the U.S., after adjusting for population. But the total death rate in the U.S. is among the worst for any country in the world:
And the U.S. may continue to climb this ranking. Most high-income countries now have a relatively small number of new cases and deaths each day, while the U.S. does not:
The U.S. is conducting a large number of tests — but that isn’t why the virus statistics look so much worse here. According to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. has now conducted more tests per capita than any other country.
That high test rate obviously leads to a greater number of official cases. If some other countries with major outbreaks, like Brazil, Mexico and Nigeria, were conducting more tests, they would likely be reporting many more cases. Some would probably show worse per capita outbreaks than the U.S.
But the U.S. is still an outlier, especially among rich countries. A higher percentage of its tests are coming back positive than in many other countries, and the death toll continues to mount, which are both signs that the main issue in the U.S. is a failure to control the virus.
Related: One sign of Trump’s unsuccessful strategy is that other top Republican officials are increasingly willing to defy him about the virus.
In Europe: A new Times story examines Europe’s early failure to control the virus. And Ruchir Sharma, an investor and contributing Opinion writer, argues that Germany’s success in controlling the virus has made it “the large economy most likely to thrive in the post-pandemic world.”
FOUR MORE BIG STORIES
1. The virus rips through Texas
In the Rio Grande Valley, on Texas’ southern border, more than a third of families live in poverty. Nearly half of the residents have no health insurance, and obesity and heart disease are widespread.
Now coronavirus cases there are surging, threatening to overwhelm hospitals and create a public-health disaster. “Our curve is a straight up trajectory right now,” one hospital official said. “There’s no relief.” A photo essay accompanies our story from the region.
In other virus developments:
As companies across China rush to produce personal protective equipment, some are using Uighur labor that puts members of the ethnic minority to work against their will.
More than six million people in the U.S. enrolled in food stamps in the first three months of the pandemic, an unprecedented rise.
The Canadian government will not allow the Toronto Blue Jays to stage home games when the baseball season starts this week, saying cross-border travel poses a health risk. The team is likely to play at a minor-league stadium in Buffalo instead.
2. How Roberts has shaped voting rights
John Roberts solidified his reputation during this past Supreme Court term as an idiosyncratic justice willing to vote with his liberal colleagues on some major issues. But one subject on which he has remained a stalwart conservative is also one that’s likely to matter a great deal in 2020: voting rights.
In its recent term, the Supreme Court issued four rulings to restrict voting rights. All of the rulings were decided quickly, in response to emergency applications asking the justices to take action in pending cases, as The Times’s Adam Liptak explains. Those rulings indicate that the court may choose not to act this fall to make sure people can vote during a pandemic.
3. Federal forces roil Portland
Protests against racism and police brutality have endured in Portland, Ore., with peaceful marches during the day and more confrontational, and occasionally violent, demonstrations at night. And the recent deployment of federal officers to quash the protests seems to have had the opposite effect.
Demonstrations over the weekend drew the largest crowds in weeks, uniting a diverse group of activists in outrage. “I wasn’t even paying attention to the protests at all until the feds came in,” said Christopher David, a former Navy civil engineering corps officer.
4. Pain for businesses big and small
They survived the Great Depression, a world war and the 2008 financial crisis — but not the pandemic. Small businesses that have stood for a century are shutting down, ending generations of family ownership.
And at big businesses: C.E.O.s of some major companies say they are increasingly worried about a prolonged economic disruption. “I’m less optimistic today than I was 30 days ago,” the chief executive of Marriott International said.
Here’s what else is happening
A gunman shot and killed the 20-year-old son of a federal judge as he answered the door of the family home in New Jersey yesterday and wounded the judge’s husband. The judge, Esther Salas, was home but was not injured.
Roger Stone, the Trump ally whose prison sentence the president commuted, denied he uttered a racial slur during an interview with a Black radio host. The audio suggests otherwise.
Trader Joe’s said it would rebrand international food items with names like Trader Ming’s, Trader José and Trader Giotto’s. An online petition had asked the company to remove packaging that reflects “a narrative of exoticism that perpetuates harmful stereotypes.”
Lives Lived: Nakotah LaRance’s skill as a hoop dancer — a tradition in some Native American cultures — carried him to world titles, late-night TV, the Brooklyn Ballet and Cirque du Soleil. LaRance died last week at 30.
Subscribers help make Times journalism possible. To support our efforts, please consider subscribing today.
IDEA OF THE DAY: Should Biden go big?
Joe Biden’s polling lead has grown large enough that some Democrats are debating whether he should spend resources in traditionally Republican states in an effort to win a landslide victory. Here are the cases that each side is making:
No, don’t you remember 2016? Four years ago, Hillary Clinton campaigned in North Carolina, Texas and other states she didn’t need to win, while paying relatively little attention to Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — which she did need. Biden must avoid that same trap, some people argue.
“Lock down the states you MUST have by making sure your operations and ads are funded there for duration. THEN you expand to more ambitious targets,” tweeted David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s former strategist. For now, the Biden campaign is largely taking this path.
Yes, 2020 is a chance for realignment. Trump doesn’t just trail by almost 10 percentage points. He is also facing the prospect of a summer and a fall with a raging pandemic and a deep recession. Given all this, some people are urging Biden to flip states that Democrats have long dreamed of winning — and to help flip the Senate.
Unless the Democrats also win the Senate, they have little chance of passing major legislation. To win the Senate, they will need to win seats in some Republican-leaning states, like North Carolina, Montana, Georgia and Texas.
“When reliable polling has you tied or winning in Texas, you expand the map well beyond the six ‘battleground’ states,” the Democratic strategist Christy Setzer has said. Added Stacey Abrams, the Georgia politician: “The Sun Belt expansion is what will drive the next 30 years of elections.”
PLAY, WATCH, EAT, BINGE
A fresh summer salad
Our original recipe for chickpea salad with fresh herbs and scallions says the dish “deserves a spot at your next picnic.” While festive picnics may be hard to come by this summer, don’t let that stop you from making this lighter take on a potato salad. Odds are, it tastes just as good from the couch.
Making orchestras more inclusive
American orchestras remain among the nation’s least racially diverse institutions: Of the 106 full-time players in the New York Philharmonic, only one is Black.
Anthony Tommasini, The Times’s classical music critic, argues that the so-called blind audition — in which musicians try out for an orchestra behind a screen — is impeding progress. How? There is little difference in skill among the top-tier players competing for these jobs, Tommasini argues. Without blind auditions, ensembles would be able to seek out elite musicians of color.
A TV show like no other
My colleague Sanam Yar recommends tuning into the drama “I May Destroy You”:
Fans of Michaela Coel’s award-winning sitcom “Chewing Gum” — which she wrote and starred in at the age of 28 — already knew she was a singular talent. But her new series, which is airing on HBO in the U.S., cements that status. There are no other shows like “I May Destroy You,” in part because it’s such a specific, personal story, inspired by Coel’s life and her experience with sexual assault.
The series follows a London-based writer and her circle of friends in the aftermath of her assault, and its characters feel exceptionally real. As the show’s writer, co-director and star, Coel displays genius throughout. Some lines of dialogue will catch you off guard and rattle around in your brain for days. And the show’s clever soundtrack feels like its own character.
“I May Destroy You” is a heavy watch, but it also has spots of brightness and beauty. The show gives no easy answers. That’s kind of the point.
Diversions
You can catch Comet NEOWISE — one of the brightest comets in a generation — without a telescope. Here’s how.
Artists like Edwin Birdsong and Ballin’ Jack aren’t household names, but their music is instantly recognizable as the samples behind hit pop songs. Listen to these 15 tracks.
Games
Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: One of two planets in the solar system that lacks a moon (five letters).
You can find all of our puzzles here.
Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David
P.S. The words “rematador,” “cortador,” “apeleador” and “planchador” — all titles for artisan makers of Panama hats — appeared in The Times for the first time today, as noted by the Twitter bot @NYT_first_said.
Source link
قالب وردپرس
from World Wide News https://ift.tt/2ODNPsB
0 notes
paulbenedictblog · 5 years ago
Text
%news%
New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%
News Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicted on charges of bribery, fraud, breach of trust - The Washington Post
News
JERUSALEM — Top Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to be formally charged with bribery, fraud and breach of belief on Thursday, making him the first Israeli premier to be indicted while in situation of enterprise and sending Israel’s already stalemated political gadget into additional disarray.
Israeli Authorized skilled Not recent Avichai Mandelblit capped nearly three years of investigation and months of hypothesis by issuing a 63-web page indictment against the country’s longest-serving high minister and its center of political gravity for the closing decade.
The cases against Netanyahu center on allegations that the high minister and his companion, Sara, popular larger than $260,000 worth of luxury goods in replace for political favors and that Netanyahu interceded with regulators and lawmakers on behalf of two media companies in replace for sure recordsdata tales.
Netanyahu, 70, has steadfastly denied wrongdoing at some level of a extensive-ranging probe that he has brushed apart as a politically motivated “witch hunt.”
“I made this resolution with a heavy coronary heart nonetheless with a full coronary heart and a sense of commitment to the rule of regulation,” Mandelblit acknowledged at a recordsdata convention aired live to tell the tale Israeli television. “Law enforcement is now now not a discretionary topic. It's an duty that is imposed on us. It's my duty to the electorate of Israel to method sure that that they live in a country where no one is above the regulation and that suspicions of corruption are thoroughly investigated.”
Few here expect the pugnacious high minister to advantage out something ­rather than ferociously fight the counts that emerged. Many predict he'll peer a vote in parliament granting him some measure of immunity.
In a combative take care of Thursday night, Netanyahu known as the indictment “a coup are trying” driven by a frightful negate of prosecutors. He demanded that an neutral body analysis the prosecution. “It’s time to analyze the investigators,” he acknowledged.
“I give my existence for our country. I fought for this country; I was injured for this country. I basically had been fighting for this country in present years, each and each on the worldwide stage and here in uncover to method us a world pressure. And I am very happy with our achievements,” Netanyahu acknowledged. “That is a actually sophisticated day for me and of us that toughen me.”
Of quick utter is how the indictment will skedaddle his situation in Israel’s chaotic political standoff.
“We are in a historical and remarkable utter with fresh right questions nearly every single day,” acknowledged Suzie Navot, a professor of constitutional regulation on the Haim Striks Law College in Rishon LeZion.
The indictment got here on the first day of an unparalleled portion in Israeli politics: a 21-day window whereby any member of parliament can are trying to assemble a governing majority. Netanyahu and his rival Benny Gantz each and each failed at that task in present weeks. If no one succeeds, Israel would head back to national elections for the third time in 12 months.
Whereas the regulation enables an indicted high minister to remain in situation of enterprise until he or she is convicted and has exhausted all appeals, it's unclear whether or now now not Netanyahu stays eligible to expose a proposed ruling coalition to Israel’s president.
“That is a expect that will be dropped on the Supreme Courtroom of Israel,” Navot acknowledged. “I will imagine they'll affirm the president does now now not contain to provide the mandate to an indicted member of the Knesset, that he can hold to provide it to one other member of the equivalent faction.”
Numerous lawmakers acknowledged they may perchance straight petition the Supreme Courtroom to contain Netanyahu eradicated from situation of enterprise. In Jerusalem, protesters on each and each sides confronted off out of doors the high minister’s situation Thursday night.
The day’s recordsdata marked a ultimate — and ignominious — 2d in the excellent occupation of “King Bibi.” Netanyahu has dominated Israeli politics in present years love few other leaders earlier than him.
Political observers contain marveled at his powers of survival in the rough-and-tumble of Israel’s fractious occasion gadget and his ability to wield the levers of govt to his bear advantage.
Nonetheless after two officials Netanyahu appointed turned into instrumental in the corruption investigation — Mandelblit, his faded cabinet secretary, and faded Israeli police chief Roni Alsheich — Netanyahu’s powers to ward off threats seem diminished.
“It presentations that he’s now now not as all-noteworthy as each person knowing,” acknowledged Anshel Pfeffer, a Haaretz columnist who wrote a present biography of the high minister. “It presentations the gadget is stronger than Netanyahu.”
Within the first of the three cases, whereby he's charged with breach of belief and fraud, police affirm the Netanyahus popular larger than a quarter of a million bucks in jewelry, cigars and other gifts from successfully off benefactors who had official enterprise with the government. Amongst them used to be the ­Israeli-born film producer Arnon Milchan, whose credits encompass “Battle Membership” and “Pretty Woman.”
Netanyahu additionally allegedly pressed the USA time and again to provide Milchan a U.S. visa and, in Israel, pushed the finance minister to lengthen an profits tax exemption that could wait on the producer. That additionally produced indictments for breach of belief and fraud.
Essentially the most serious notice, bribery, stemmed from one other case coming up from a duration whereby Netanyahu served as his bear minister of communications. He allegedly intervened to gentle the model for a merger sought by Shaul Elovitch, then the majority shareholder of Bezeq, the country’s supreme telecommunications firm, in replace for favorable protection on the present recordsdata web pages Walla, additionally owned by Elovitch. Walla newshounds and editors contain described being ordered to spike tales, tweak headlines and replace photography in ways that boosted Netanyahu’s image.
Elovitch and his companion, Iris, had been additionally charged with bribery, obstruction of justice and suborning a see in the investigation. Their lawyers issued a observation denying the allegations.
It's unclear how the costs will contain an impression on Netanyahu’s political standing. He would dwell eligible to slouch in a that that it's possible you'll also judge third election next spring. (Fully those convicted of against the law sharp simply turpitude are barred from the ballot). Nonetheless even the threat of indictment has been a first-rate utter in the two old campaigns. Gantz, who built his bear advertising and marketing and marketing campaign around a pledge now now not to abet with an indicted premier, issued a one-sentence observation Thursday: “That is a actually sad day for the Announce of Israel.”
One October poll showed that a little majority of Israelis, 53.5 p.c, knowing Netanyahu ought to silent resign if indicted. Virtually half of, 47 p.c, of his core factual-cruise supporters knowing the equivalent.
“Amongst Likud members and the factual cruise there is deep mistrust for the right course of,” acknowledged Tal Schneider, a diplomatic and political correspondent for the Israeli enterprise newspaper Globes. “Likud is backing him up because they contain got convinced themselves that it’s all a witch hunt, and we hear the equivalent issues from D.C. about Trump.”
Gadi Taub of the Federmann College of Public Policy at Hebrew College, additionally when put next the unfolding drama in Jerusalem to the impeachment hearings in Washington.
“The adaptation is that the impeachment is a political course of, whereas in Israel, the prosecutor is additionally the right adviser to the government, which is completely ridiculous,” Taub acknowledged.
Netanyahu used to be first elected as Likud chairman in 1993, serving in the opposition until 1996. He resigned from politics after being defeated in a current election in 1999, returning to e-book the occasion in 2005. Since then he has consolidated his situation in Likud, dividing and weakening his opponents and going thru very few challenges through the years.
On Thursday, there had been already indications that a leadership utter used to be underway inner Likud.
Talking at a diplomatic convention, faded Likud minister Gideon Sa’ar acknowledged preserving elections for a brand fresh occasion leader, especially if the country had been compelled into a Third election, used to be “the factual and main ingredient to advantage out below the present circumstances.”
“First of all, that is what our constitution requires if we are about to contain fresh elections,” he acknowledged. “We are a democratic occasion, and we contain now now not had primaries for several years already.”
Sa’ar acknowledged that he supported the high minister’s efforts to assemble a national harmony govt, nonetheless “if we carry out skedaddle to elections, it's now now not cheap to bid that he'll be winning in forming a govt after third elections.”
He added, “I have faith I will be in an enviornment to assemble a govt, and I have faith I will be in an enviornment to unite the country and the nation.”
0 notes
paulbenedictblog · 5 years ago
Text
%news%
New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%
Abc news Growing uncertainty looms over Dems' 2020 primary
Abc news
Watch no additional than Pearl City Predicament, a unpleasant brick constructing impart alongside the banks of the Mississippi River, to savor the increasing sense of uncertainty seeping into the Democratic Celebration's 2020 important contest.
Interior, 200 Iowa Democrats nowadays sized up Joe Biden, the extinct vice president and one amongst their occasion's main presidential candidates. He engenders admire and admiration however generates limited excitement.
One aged man sitting in the help of the room fell asleep because the extinct vice president shared his imaginative and prescient for The US's future in unusually hushed tones for on the sphere of 45 minutes without taking questions.
Afterward, David Metz, a member of the county Democratic committee, stated that no topic a campaign season that has already featured thousands and thousands of dollars spent, endless miles logged and 4 debates staged, there is a deepening feeling of indecision amongst native voters who now have decrease than 100 days to finalize their 2020 gain.
"No person is aware of what to pause," Metz stated. "They're all shy. There is quite diverse fear."
In virtually each and every campaign cycle, there comes a share of indifference, concern and complex questions. Nonetheless in the 2020 cycle, Democratic officers hoped that the entertaining wish to beat Trump would eventually lead to an eager include of its presidential area.
The lack of enthusiasm for Biden's candidacy underscores a broader model emerging in the states that topic most in the Democratic Celebration's excessive-stakes presidential nomination fight: Most indispensable voters look like getting less certain of their alternative as Election Day approaches.
The traditionally natty area, whereas in share of measure of the desire to oust the incumbent president, has furthermore made it harder for the tip contenders to forge a extra centered contest. 9 Democrats to this point have qualified for the occasion's November debate and a dozen extra are peaceable combating for attention. Among the tip tier, the liabilities of Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders, in mumble, are changing into extra considered as Iowa's Feb. 3 caucuses system.
Most indispensable donors and occasion leaders all the blueprint in which through the country have publicly and privately raised concerns referring to the route of the foremost election nowadays as wisely. Nonetheless interviews with dozens of important voters all the blueprint in which through Iowa and Novel Hampshire in latest days train a pervasive feeling of unease.
Polling means that the alternative of undecided voters in Iowa has jumped drastically in latest weeks. And even amongst these who have a well-liked candidate, most command they could also merely change their tips earlier than balloting begins.
Tom Steyer, a billionaire modern activist, is amongst these decrease-tier candidates aggressively combating to capitalize on the uncertainty. He is vowed to use no longer decrease than $100 million of his have money in the campaign, although he acknowledged in a weekend interview that his funding could well perhaps shift up or down reckoning on prerequisites on the flooring.
"We're three months out from Iowa and we thought that there could be very diverse indecision, however or no longer it's undoubtedly higher than we would have anticipated. Absolute self assurance," Steyer stated. "That is one thing that should always be lawful if I'll deal with finish. And it's lawful."
Merely ask the voters.
In Novel Hampshire, Greg Bruss, a 68-yr-aged retired trainer, says he's repeatedly volunteering for a candidate by this time in the foremost cycle. That is rarely any longer the case this yr as he mulls balloting for either Sanders or Warren.
"The occasions are that noteworthy extra dire," Bruss stated. "I non-public no longer favor to gain it defective."
Ragged Novel Hampshire impart Sen. Bette Lasky says she's impressed with the Democratic area, however she's remained on the sidelines as wisely, even after hosting dwelling parties for several candidates.
"Typically, I non-public no longer have trouble making up my tips," she stated. "Nonetheless (or no longer it's) sophisticated for me to gain available in the help of any one candidate."
Assist in Iowa, 43-yr-aged Waterloo college employee Danielle Borglum stated she anticipated to finalize her decision after looking at the closing debate, however she could well perhaps now not pause it.
"I didn't realize the quantity of oldsters that we had as candidates!" Borglum stated. "So many folk have a realizing. Is anybody if truth be told lawful?"
Bev Alderson, a 59-yr-aged retired trainer from Mt. Good, Iowa, stated that she has "about a frontrunners, however they're no longer etched in stone."
"There is too noteworthy to be stated but. There is too many things which will almost definitely be happening and going on, or no longer it's appropriate too early," she stated.
While indispensable, historical past means that the uncertainty in the meantime defining the 2020 important season is rarely any longer fully intelligent.
Earlier than Iowa's 2004 contest, to illustrate, extinct Residence Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean all led the polls at occasions earlier than then-Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry made a leisurely surge to deal with finish.
And three months earlier than Iowa's 2008 Democratic caucuses, most polls had Hillary Clinton with a indispensable lead over John Edwards and a limited bit-known Illinois senator named Barack Obama. Obama, needless to claim, went on to deal with finish the Iowa caucuses by virtually 8 factors and Clinton carried out third.
That historical past, backed by polling that reveals most voters could well perhaps peaceable change their minds, is convincing low-polling underdog candidates to purchase combating.
"One of many things I've realized by being attentive to the individuals of Iowa is that they've an inclination to elevate their minds barely finish to caucus night," extinct Texas Procure. Beto O'Rourke rapid journalists all the blueprint in which through a discussion board in Des Moines closing week.
Novel Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who hasn't topped 3% in any Iowa ballotsince April, stated he changed into encouraged by a crowd of 200 that showed as much as peek him be in contact the night earlier than. He stated he's getting a definite message from voters who command, "'I'm pondering you — you're first on my record, or you have gotten moved up from four to 2,' which I'm learning is largely indispensable in the Iowa caucuses."
And extinct Housing Secretary Julian Castro warned supporters closing week that he'd favor to elevate $800,000 by the tip of the month to purchase his campaign alive. Nonetheless he, too, seized on the natty alternative of undecideds.
The important campaign, Castro stated, is "extra unstable than or no longer it's ever been."
"It is seemingly you'll well need gotten quite diverse oldsters in these polls that, although they mumble a preference for one candidate or one other, are announcing that they'll peaceable change their tips," he stated. He added: "Three months is perchance 10 lifetimes in politics."
Jennifer Konfrst, a indispensable-time duration Iowa impart senator, agrees.
She's supporting Booker, however she says quite diverse her mates have already changed their minds about which candidate they admire finest.
"So quite diverse my mates have three top selections — and they're no longer the similar three," she stated. "Anybody who says they know what's going on to happen is lying."
———
Woodall reported from Manchester, Novel Hampshire.
———
This fable has been corrected to uncover that Booker hasn't topped 3% in any Iowa ballotsince April, no longer that he hasn't topped 2% since June.
0 notes