#i said it like last week but like truly like. how those injuries fundamentally changed so much in their relationship and how they grew

[hillbillyoracle]

Rebooting My Practice

This is going to be pretty rambly, but I always get a lot out of these posts when other people make them so I wanted to make one too.

I hit a point earlier this year, as I started to really see what all astrology could be, when I knew I was going to need to overhaul pretty much my entire practice. For the last decade, I've focused on divination; on doing activities that sharpen my intuition, following up and checking predictions, tracking cards and results to better understand the connection, etc. I did this primarily in the service of my main deity, the Morrigan.

I still work with her, but I'm in a lurch as to how to continue my work with her. I have yet to quite figure out how to balance her general distaste for shrines (with me at least) and deepening my relationship with her in the absence of local folks to read for as I've relied on for years (thanks COVID). I've been praying the Catholic Rosary lately as a way to deepen my relationship with the Virgin Mary and the Saint I'm petitioning lately and I feel her kind of peering in when I do that so I might have to design one for her. I have a feeling whatever I come up with will likely be in a free zine rather than a blog post at some point.

But where that left me was in this weird abyss, where the only really solid things in my practice were like 3 deities (The Morrigan, Hermes, Yinepu/Anubis) I worked with regularly and tarot cards. I think for plenty of people that's fine but I wanted something deeper and more effective. It was around the time that I was rethinking everything that I stumbled on to this post about a magical routine that absolutely enthralled me. It took me another month and ultimately moving house altogether to even begin to piece something together that would set me on the road to something like this. I knew I was not ready but I finally had a picture in my mind something to work towards. Like rehabilitating after an injury, sometimes you've got to do half as much as you think you can before you really take off.

So I wanted to take some time and talk about the way my practice is changing and what the new pillars are slowly emerging to be.

Planetary Petitions

While I don't have the Orphic Hymns for each of the 7 classical planets memorized yet as per the post, I started by doing planetary prayers more days than I do not do them. Thanks to my truly godawful downstairs neighbor at the new place, who's floor shaking door slams throughout the whole night have netted me an average of 3 hours a night, I'm usually up for the first planetary hour of a given day. Hey maybe it's a sign, a big universal push to show the fuck up.

I'm also incredibly lucky I loaded up on some planetary incenses right before COVID when a local store had a huge sale. It's proved well worth it as above all I try to get the planetary incense right, though I did have to default to a Frankincense one when we were first moving in.  I slowly feel like I'm beginning to understand the planetary spirits better but only slightly. I completely see why memorizing the prayer is recommended and I do feel that's standing in the way of me being closer with them.

I have not noticed a huge difference when I petition them truthfully. I get the vibe that it takes time to build up that relationship. Though I'm open to input here - for those who do planetary petitions, what made them click for you?

Saint Veneration + Christian Magic

One thing I put off for many years, though I knew it was coming, was working with more Saints. I knew it'd likely involve having to dip back into Christianity to make it work and I was completely right.

As my partner began revisiting her Catholic roots earlier this year, it got me curious about things like the Rosary, the Chaplet, and Novenas. I was raised charismatic fundamentalist Christian as a child and such things were explicitly forbidden. I remember getting a long talking to when I'd taken to reading about Sainte Jeanne d'Arc. So they aren't loaded for me the way they are for others, but they’re situated in this fundamentally familiar context that makes them feel like meeting a cool branch of the family you didn't realize existed.

I'm finishing a Novena to a Saint I've been praying to in the next few weeks. I am admittedly not as close with her as I'd like to be. I'm trying to figure out how to move forward with her as I'd really like to have her in my life. I will probably reach back out to Sainte Jeanne d'Arc as she's always felt familiar and been good to me. I also keep her prayer card and medallion in my wallet and have for many years so maybe there's more to build from there. It is my goal to have about 3 saints/Christian figures I can call on when I need help. I'm thinking of approaching Mary Undoer of Knots next but I'm worried it'll follow the same path as this current saint.

My partner and I bought Rosaries back in May and I absolutely love it. I've been saying at least a 5 decade rosary for most days but I'm regularly getting in a 15 decade rosary. I really love it and am totally convinced of the beauty and effectiveness of the system. I've come to understand Christianity in a totally different light through praying it regularly.

So that is on going and evolving and I'd love to hear from people who've cultivated close relationships with a Saint or Angel.

Ancestors

One thing that working with Christianity again has made easier is praying to ancestors. I've often felt a bit at odds with my own ancestors as they were not the most supportive of trans and queer people (and I am both of those) but in coming back to Christianity has given me and my ancestors a common language almost. As long as my disagreement with them over my attraction and gender identity is rooted in the Bible, it's been easier to work with them.

It's very early days with ancestor work. I'm slowly working my way through Ancestral Healing by Daniel Foor. But I'm feeling very heartened by it. I saw a post on twitter somewhere, if I can find it again I'll link it, where someone said that the way they started working with their ancestors was just thanking them everyday. And thanking my ancestors is complicated for me, my family like most have their own issues that also go passed on, but thanking them for what I am glad they gave me has been really beneficial.

My partner requested some divination from me when some of her medical issues were starting to get worse and part of the reading involved a strong push for her to investigate her father's side of the family. She got really into genealogy in the process and she's been teaching me a lot. Through that I actually learned my great grandfather's name for the first time - yes that's how out of touch I am with my own family history. But I was thankful to find out.

Through her own research, my partner found out that that branch of her family likely isn't German but actually German speaking Hungarians which was a revelation. She's in the process of confirming but it got us talking about foods and identity and language and how to honor our ancestors more regularly. We're going to try making a nice dinner on Full Moons with dishes that are tied to branches of our family as a way to trying to cultivate a closer relationship with them. I'll definitely update on that as it evolves.

Conclusion + Some Thoughts on Disability

I'm definitely still in the early days of all of this. It's not become quite the foundation I hope it will be yet. I still need to figure out how to continue and deepen my deity relationships. I still need to attempt some different types of spellwork I've been meaning to. And while I didn't talk about it much here, astrology has been playing a huge role in my practice but mostly in a passive way. More of that divination process I talked about in the beginning where I make predictions based on the charts I'm seeing and then double check my work.

I’ve been doing all this while in the thick of a bad flare. Moving plus lack of sleep as meant my disability has been weighing so much harder on me lately. Normally when I’m feeling well enough, I kind of roll my eyes at a lot of the “spoonie witchcraft” posts I see, but for some reason with this flare they just started making me angry and I’m still trying to parse why. I think I just feel like so many are rooted in this performative idea of “feeling” witchy rather than actually helping me with my disability. They aren’t usually focused on practices that either actually treat the pain I’m in or bring my spirit real comfort. 

I’m really hoping to put together a post or possibly a zine that does provide what I always wanted those posts to be. Honestly these pillars here have proven accessible even as I’ve been in some of the worst pain I’ve been in in years. So for any fellow disabled folks who just aren’t getting much out of those posts, I really recommend starting with these. Recite the Orphic Hymn for the day in the corresponding hour. Pray the Rosary or an adapted set of prayers for Pagan prayer beads. Don’t have much money for those? Look up how to make knotted rosaries and adapt the method. Pray to your ancestors and give them some water and a bit to eat. These are doable for a lot of folks even when they’re in bad shape, especially if you take your time with it. Might not make you “feel witchy” but they do some fucking work, that’s for sure. But idk, those are just my thoughts on it. 

So it hasn't all fallen into place yet but I wanted to share what developing a practice looks like in medias res. It's messy, somethings work better than others, but all and all I'm just glad to finally be making meaningful progress again.

[faithfuliltulip]

The Pretense of “We are One”

It’s taken me some time to sit down and write my thoughts, because they are so hard to put into words, but it’s something I feel I must do.

Over the last week I have seen a side of New Zealand that I had hoped would never come to be. I have seen our nation hurt beyond comprehension by a lone outsider who wreaked havoc on the lives of the Muslim community and, in fact, all of New Zealand.

But what I have seen since, is how the words and actions of our county’s leaders are wreaking havoc on a much larger group with virtually no consideration to the impact.

I am speaking about the law-abiding firearms licence holders of New Zealand. (I’m going to refer to them as the FALH community from now on).  Whether you like or dislike firearms, or agree or disagree with the changes that is being proposed, I want to put the following to you, just to consider the other side of the coin for one brief moment in time.

I am the partner of a FALH and I love him dearly. As for guns, I’m not particularly fussed by them either way, but can tell you that I will not ever own my own firearm nor can I fully understand the interest in them. What I can tell you about my partner and his guns, is that because of it, we can be together today. Let me explain; He distanced himself from people in his past with, let’s say, unsavoury interests as he didn’t want to risk his passion for the beauty, history and sport of firearm ownership. Thanks to that, we were able to meet and make a life together.

In all our time together, I have never seen him drunk once and never has he ever had a thought for driving even slightly tipsy – not because he doesn’t enjoy the occasional drink, but because he knows that if he takes a risk, something goes wrong, or he gets caught, it will cost him his firearms license. He is conscientious about firearm safety, sticking to the rules and laws of our country, and acting in a respectful way in all his interactions.

But now he is part of a community of people who have, overnight, been lumped into the same category as a madman. Permit me a moment to tell you about them.

The FALH that I know (and I know quite a few), are all the same type of people as my partner. They are courteous, caring, law abiding salt-of-the-earth guys and gals who would never dream of breaking any laws, let alone harming another person, because their love for their sport can be taken away from for the smallest mistake. You could be sitting next to them on the bus, living next door to them or even be sharing an office with them without ever knowing it. Because they are “good” people, like you and me!

People own firearms for a variety of reasons – some for sport, some as collectors, some for monetary investment, some for the history or beauty. Most of them own firearms for a combination of a few of these.

In our house, it’s because my partner has found a specific interest in the history and beauty of a specific era and the firearms that were made or used in that time. He collects a variety of other paraphernalia about those eras as well. He has discovered a discipline within firearm sports that he loves and has undertaken hours and hours of training to be a safety and a range officer; to reach the highest level of achievement in his sport.

Additionally, he has invested a significant amount of money in his firearms – he has bought, sold and traded over several years, to establish a collection of firearms he treasures and is so proud of.

I’ve heard this week that people say they cannot see the NEED for anyone to own a specific type of firearm. NEED… It’s a tricky word that! Me, I can’t see the NEED for alcohol, cigarettes, or gambling either, yet we still live in a society that allows all those things. And by my last count, alcohol abuse, gambling addiction and smoking-related illnesses have been the cause of far more destroyed families than firearms.

So yeah, maybe there’s no NEED for firearms, but in the bigger picture, as a society, we put up with a lot of worse things that we don’t NEED, so please excuse me if I don’t pay much heed to this argument, as it if fundamentally flawed.

This last week, FALH community have been to hell and back – well not back really, they are stuck in limbo. They are feeling sad and despondent and angry because the thing they have invested so much in, is being taken away from them. With virtually no consultation or consideration of the greater impact.

To add insult to injury, they are now being treated as if they pulled the trigger last Friday. This community is being ignored by our country’s leaders while they are making hurried, drastic changes that will impact the FALH community irrevocably!

Let me take a step back. The FALH community have for years said there are flaws in the Arms Act and the administration of it. They have urged for these flaws to be corrected, for those who are found guilty of firearm-related crimes to receive harsher punishments, for the Police to engage with them and hear them out. Then on Friday 15 March, things changed…

A madman broke the law by using a legally procured firearm and combining it with a magazine that is illegal to be used on his license (but which he can buy without ANY license!), and opened fire and killed 50 people, injuring about another 50. And suddenly our leaders were promising change. The firearms community thought this was finally the opportunity they were waiting on, to considerately, and thoroughly share their information, research, experience and advice with the country’s leaders.

However, no consultation was permitted. Changes made under urgency, behind closed doors, with very vague information was announced on Thursday.

With one announcement, our PM made near 250,000 people criminals for owning a firearm that they have not used in an illegal way.

These changes are going to shut down several small businesses. It’s nice of the PM to say she expects shops or wholesalers to send the “banned” firearms back to suppliers, but it’s really not that easy. Once a gun is imported into NZ, it cannot be “sent back”. Gun dealers have a number of firearms that they are selling in auctions, or that they have bought from Joe Blogs… Who are they returning it too? There is no where these guns can be returned too. They must be handed over to the Police for destruction with no guarantee of compensation to the true value of the firearm. With no consideration of the history of the firearm itself, or more importantly, the investment (in passion, time and money) of the person who must hand it over.

Families with mortgages and that need to put food on the table are going to have to carry the burden.

Our leaders have been saying that “they are us”, that “we are one” and that we are a nation that accepts and embraces diversity in all its forms. Really? Can we really say that, when in the last week, our leaders and the media have ostracised a community of 250,000 people? When we look in the mirror and pat ourselves on the backs for being such good citizens for standing with the families who were killed or injured in Friday’s shooting, let’s ask ourselves if “we are one” standing with the 250,000 other families that are also impacted by this tragedy.

My heart grieves with ALL the families that are impacted by this disgusting act of one loner who set out to achieve exactly this division we are seeing. Whether is a race, religion or passion that makes them a target of daily discrimination, I respect everyone’s right to believe, worship and take part in whatever activity they treasure, and I want to live in a country where we truly allow that for everyone.

With that said, I ask that the Government, engage with the FALH to discuss these changes, to not make a change that will impact the very people they are now refusing to engage with. I am asking that we embrace this group’s diversity too… the we can really be one, as the tone has been set over the last week...

[lundsgaardlundsgaard78-blog]

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I am going to also and to push the car just after i pass my sensible test after taking Passplus" What auto-insurance firms give insurance for adult driver with individuals permit? The vehicle is documented in my name has recent labels, plates, etc. I reside in Florida and I am 26. I simply got my permit to master to drive. Since that I don't possess friend that will let me practice/utilize their automobile for driving examination and driving school here's just offered to kids and I have live-in smalltown I've to-use mine. I have an authorized buddy who will educate me on my vehicle but will not let theirs is driven by me they do not wish to mess their sign up plus since its guide and Ive never pushed." "Experienced a vehicle accident - easily undergo insurance howmuch will my advanced increase?" 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[dailyaudiobible]

02/04/2017 DAB Transcript

Exodus 19:16-21:21 ~ Matthew 23:13-39 ~ Psalm 28:1-9 ~ Proverbs 7:1-5

Today is February 4th.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I'm Brian. It is great to be here with you at the close of another week and we will finish this week well by taking the next step together in the grand adventure of a lifetime that is the journey through the scriptures in a year.  We’ve been reading from the English Standard Version this week, which is what we’ll do today, and back out into the desert with all of these people trying to figure out what they’re supposed to do next and God beginning to reform and reshape everything about them.  Exodus chapter 19, verse 16 through 21, verse 21.  

Commentary

The children of Israel in the desert with Moses are seeing a manifestation of God's power and authority and it's freaking them out to the point that they come to Moses and say, “you talk to God and then tell us what to do because we feel like we’ll die in his presence.”  And Moses begins to become a prophetic voice, their spiritual leader, the oracle of God among their new society which isn’t really a society today, but we get the glimpses now.  God issues the famous 10 commandments, things we’ve had for thousands of years and would say these are fundamental things for life, a good life, an upstanding, holy life. This is the first time these people are hearing these things.  It is the cornerstone of this new culture that is being made and formed and shaped in the desert.  So we can look at some of the things that are being shaped and formed in the desert because it is beginning to flesh itself out.  This is how you behave toward God.  This is how you behave toward each other.  And we can read some of this stuff and go like, you know, some of these things have been around a long time.  This is the way society is built nowadays, but it wasn’t then.  This was a new way.  In this entire region of the world this was a new way.  So even when God is talking about how you behave toward people who are your servants, these people hadn’t known this.  These regulations were not things they were used to because they had only ever been slaves and been treated one way.  So they were treating people like they had been treated, and God is saying no, we are moving forward.  

Then when we get to the New Testament, especially during the gospels, during the life of Jesus, those narratives, we can see very clearly in the Old Testament how God was instituting things and then in the New Testament, in the life of Jesus, what had become of them, how God was issuing rules, regulations, laws, the shape of the culture.  

All cultures have laws.  We have more laws than we even know how to find now, but we have a sense of how all this all works.  God is instituting that for their freedom, for their wellbeing, for their prosperity, for their holiness, truly setting them apart as God's chosen people.  We get to the New Testament and we see that it has become a cage.  It has become a prison for people's souls, so Jesus, even in today's reading, “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees,” which were the religious leaders, “you hypocrites, you have twisted this whole thing inside out.  You are looking only at the exterior presentation and expecting everybody else to do this when it is what is inside of you that matters.”  He says, “you are like a whitewashed tomb,” so a nice, pretty grave, which outwardly looks beautiful, but inside is full of bones and uncleanness.  So you appear outwardly righteous to others, but within you’re full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  This is what has become of what we are seeing being formed for the first time in our Old Testament readings.  So we see the law that Moses was given to help form this people, was given to change them, was given to set them free, to give them an identity as free people for the first time and yet it had become something by the time of Jesus that had enslaved people.  

The law was certainly civil, to show people some understandings among themselves and among the society about how to behave toward each other, but it was also inward, something to transform their hearts and always orient them to God in all things at all times in all places.  But it had become something exactly the opposite of that and we still do these kinds of things.  We get completely wrapped up in our theological formulas and dogmas and we try to squash everything around us, not realizing it is not an exterior thing, it is an interior thing.  When we’re living from the inside out, then we are living as we were made to be, intertwined with God, and the only posture we can have is that of mercy and grace, kindness and compassion, all of the things that we know about the Lord.  So may we understand everything about life has to be reframed into this perspective.  It is all about what is happening within us.  

Prayer

Father, that is really our prayer, that we can reunite with our own heart and know what is within us.  If we look like a whitewashed tomb, then forgive us.  We stop here and go inside where you are and invite your Holy Spirit to change us from within so that we might be changed from without.  Come Jesus, we pray in your mighty name, amen.

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It's home base.  It is where you find out what is going on around here, what people are praying about, resources that are available, events that are coming up, so check that out.

I mentioned yesterday my latest book Reframe – From the God We’ve Made to God With Us is available.  It's been available since it came out, but my publisher has the e-book version of Reframe available for $2.99 until the 8th of February.  So that includes Kindle at Amazon or iTunes, iBooks for Apple, www.BarnesandNoble.com, www.ChristianBook.com Google Play, Kobo, wherever you get your e-books.  Wherever you get your e-books, you can find Reframe for $2.99.  There is kind of a clearinghouse site that gives you links to these places:  Www.E-bookextra.com, so you may want to check that out.  Yeah, this is a great opportunity if you haven’t had a chance to check out Reframe yet, so I want to encourage you to do that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  There is a link and it is on the home page.  If you’re using the app, you can get to that link by pushing the More button in the lower right-hand corner, or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.  

And that’s it for today.  I'm Brian. I love you.  I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.  

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hey Dabbers, this is Slave of Jesus in North Carolina.  Alright, Holy Spirit, let's roll.  Brian, thank you for sharing all that stuff about your mom in that podcast.  That was just amazing.  And as someone who has been involved with hospice for a year, over a year now, yeah, I can definitely empathize with you in that position.  Hospice, I did not want to be involved with hospice, but let me just put this out there to all the Dabbers.  If you are in communication with God every single day, you’re in the word, you got some good counsel that you can bounce these “crazy ideas,” as the world would say, off of, if God prompts you to do something and you know it is a prompting in your heart and you got some good counsel that yeah, this sounds like something that would be good to do, just go do it.  Sometimes you don’t have time.  It might be paying for somebody's gas.  I cannot tell you…  I did not want to do hospice.  I was not involved with hospice.  I hate medical.  I hate doctors.  I don’t want be around any of that stuff, but I was prompted by it and I kept getting prompted.  Finally somebody said, “you know what?  You should do hospice,” and I was like, okay God, I got the message.  So I got counsel and even though it was a fight in my family at times, things like that, it's a few hours a week for me and it has been one of the greatest adventures.  I have been able to share my coming to Christ story probably a dozen times, but to be there with family members at that last moment, that has even been amazing.  It seems like an inappropriate word, but it is an honor.  It has been an honor to share that.  Saving people's lives on the freeway where I shouldn’t be stopping, I had a job with a clearance and I could lose my job by doing this, but got the prompting to do it and it turned out to be something life-saving.  So if God prompts you to do something, it could be as simple as paying for gas, or prompts you to do something big as give up something really big in your life, I say do it and you’ll see amazing things happen.  Love you all.  Have a great day.  

Good afternoon Dabbers.  This is Beloved by the Beach.  Happy day to you all.  It is Monday, January 30th and I'm calling for two reasons.  I'm calling to respond to Gigi's call.  Sweet Gigi, I wanted you to know that I’ve been praying for you since your mom called.  I remember your mom calling a while back to discuss you and your sister and the issues that you were having.  I wanted you to be encouraged that I am praying for you and your sister as well as for your parents.  This is a very difficult situation and you don’t understand why this is happening to you, but just like so many of the other callers have said, I'm believing that you will be healed.  I also wanted to ask you family for prayers for a little baby boy named Wyatt.  He just turned a year old and unfortunately last fall he was shaken by a caregiver.  He sustained massive injuries and was in the hospital for a long while. He has some brain damage.  He has vision problems now.  He is now developmentally delayed.  He is having seizure activity that has been increasing. He has a shunt in his head and they are also having problems regulating his blood pressure.  All of the treatments they are doing are not healing him. As well as all this, he is just inconsolable.  So I'm just begging you all to please lift up baby Wyatt.  I believe God can restore this boy to full health and justice will be done for he and his family.  He did nothing wrong.  He was an innocent babe and he was shaken by a caregiver who obviously has problems and needs prayers as well.  Thank you family.  God bless.

Hi, this Victorious Soldier.  Was calling back, I forgot to have the prayer for Bernie from Nashville and the lady who was suffering with anxiety.  I wanted to pray for those two.  Lord, in the name of Jesus, we just ask you to touch Bernie and his family, Lord.  O Father, let your hand be above them, Lord. Let your Spirit be within them, Lord. You guide them and you protect them, Lord, and you bring them together and you keep them strong.  Help them to pray together, Lord.  Help them to be on one accord together, Lord.  You be in the midst, Father, in the name of Jesus. Lord, you touch that sister and Chante who have these anxiety attacks.  O Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, you bless them with your Spirit of peace, Lord.  Let the peace that passes all understanding keep their spirit calm, O Lord, that they can fight the good fight of faith.  Lord, you have your way and we thank you and we give you the glory.  In Jesus’ name we pray.  Have a great day Dabbers.  Bye-bye.  

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Debbie in Des Moines.  I have a praise and a prayer request, both having to do with my grandson. As some of you know, I’ve been raising my grandson Trent since he was 8 months old and he is now 7.  He shares his faith on the bus and one of his classmates that he was talking to about Jesus told him to be quiet or he was going to stab him, so he came and told us and, of course, we had to go to the principal because it happened on the bus.  The principal asked if he was scared to ride the bus now and Trent said, “no, because I have God Almighty on my side.”  Praise God for this kid.  I just thought that was awesome.  Second is my 13-year-old grandson Eli came to live with us in November.  The other grandmother who was raising him, Eli has had to suffer a lot in the past 10 years that he has lived with her.  She is a nonbeliever.  She has an older son, it looks like in his early 30s who is verbally and physically abusive to Eli.  Eli has transformed since November in our house.  He is now happy, healthy, in a basketball team, going to church and learning about God.  I learned on Sunday that her plan was to spirit him away in April after basketball and he was to pack everything and when he went home on the weekend she was just going to take him and leave and move to Missouri.  My time is up, but can you pray for Eli?  I want him to stay with us.  He needs to be with us where we love him, love him, love him a lot. Bye.  

Hi everybody.  This is Lisa, the Encourager.  I am calling tonight just to share with Gigi and Salvation is Mine what I did tonight. I just hung outside and I looked straight up to a beautiful sky filled with beautiful stars tonight and even the north star is really bright __________ the moon and I would call out to God and I’d say, “God, please, please God, heal Gigi.  Please God, heal Gigi.”  You’re just on my mind so much and I just really want you to be healed and I’ve just been trying my best to have strong faith that he is going to heal you. So I just called up to him and I said, “I know you see me, God.  I know you hear me, so please, God, heal Gigi.  Please, please God, heal Gigi.”  And Salvation is Mine, I did the same thing for you.  I know that you are struggling right now.  I know that you are going through difficulty in having confidence that the Lord's got your back right now, so I called out to him for you too. So I just want you both to know it's a blessing to me because I'm gaining faith by praying for you.  So thank you so much.  I appreciate you sharing this with me and really blessing me with having that wonderful opportunity to be encouraged by praying for you both.  Also, thank you so much Pastor Gene and Christy from Kentucky for encouraging me. That was so very sweet of you both. I really appreciated it.  It made my day when I heard you guys call me out. It was really sweet and especially because you talked about the painting.  I really appreciate it.  Love you guys so much.  Bye-bye.

Hi everyone.  This is Jeff from Virginia Tech calling.  I just want to say thank you for all the callers who call in.  I want to share with you all a little snippet of writing that I just submitted for a scholarship competition.  I looked down on the earth from a window of a Boeing 737 and contemplated what my purpose was in life.  From 30,000 feet I asked myself ‘how can I make the biggest impact?’  The last two years I thought the answer to that question was a degree in landscape architecture.  Somehow I always knew that wasn’t right but I didn’t have the right answer.  After touching down in San Antonio, Texas, I engaged myself in a Catholic youth conference that would eventually guide me to my answer.  While attending the conference, other college students, missionaries, priests and nuns helped me to open my heart to ministry.  During a talk, a Sister shared a quote by St. Catherine of Siena – be who God made you to be and you will set the world on fire. At that point I realized the most fulfilling way to make a difference in the world was simply to be who I was made to be.  Toward the end of the conference I was sitting in my bed in the hotel room reflecting on the experiences I had so far.  An epiphany struck me to change my major to philosophy.  I knew this was right because it aligned with my spiritual desire to become a Catholic priest.  On my descent to the airport I reflected on my experience and realized what I needed to do from this point on to continue to my ultimate goal.  Today I take strategic steps to become a better resident adviser, son, and spiritual leader.  Thank you all for listening.  This is Jeff. Have a great day.  Bye.  

[itsfinancethings]

One: Get police departments across the country to report when their officers use lethal force or seriously injure someone. Two: Collect that data in a national database. Three: Release those statistics to the public on a regular basis.

That simple formula has been at the heart of every single police reform proposal in modern U.S. history. Police chiefs, community members, Republicans, Democrats, federal, and local lawmakers all agree that the absence of a comprehensive collection of use-of-force incidents by the nation’s police is a roadblock to reform. But despite longstanding bipartisan agreement on the need to keep those national statistics, a 26-year-old federal law mandating that the U.S. government collect this information, and a five-year effort by the FBI to put the infrastructure for a database in place, Americans in 2020 still have little to no reliable data on their police departments’ use of force across the country.

“I’ve been around so long and it seems they just keep rediscovering the wheel,” said Geoffrey Alpert, an expert on police use-of-force and criminology professor at the University of South Carolina. When he testified on President Donald Trump’s Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement at the Justice Department on June 19, it covered “the same thing I’ve talked about for 30 years” in similar meetings during the Bush, Clinton and Obama Administrations, he said. If Americans want better police accountability, the government needs to find a way to get police departments to document and report their use of force to a national database, and provide them the resources to do so. “It’s always been obvious: if we don’t know the data, how do we identify the problem?” Alpert asked. “The only way forward is with evidence, but we continue to spin in circles.”

As of May, only 40% of police departments across the country had submitted information to the FBI’s National Use-Of-Force Data Collection, the most recent effort to collect this data, an agency spokeswoman told TIME. The FBI database, which began collecting the information in January 2019, has run into the same fundamental issue that has stalled decades of previous attempts: there is no way to compel police departments to provide this data to the government. Any federal data collections like the FBI’s rely on voluntary participation, giving both an incomplete and skewed picture of how police officers are using force across the country. “The only agencies willing to report this were those feeling good about their data,” says Alpert.

Truly “mandatory” federal data reporting would require an act of Congress. In other words, lawmakers would have to pass legislation requiring state and local police departments to provide the information. Legal experts tell TIME that it’s not clear Congress would even have the power to pass such a law; whether or not the government can compel states to share their use-of-force data would depend on whether it is deemed to run afoul of the anti-commandeering doctrine, a legal principle that says the federal government can’t force states to carry out federal programs.

Partly because of this division of responsibility between the federal government and states laid out in the 10th Amendment, which means Congress has little power over state and local law enforcement, there are few examples of mandated data collection by the federal government. Experts point to the decennial Census, which requires people to provide their information to the government, or the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act, which mandates correctional facilities to provide data on prison sexual assault.

The nationwide protests after George Floyd’s killing in May by a Minneapolis police officer with a previous record of excessive force have revived efforts to collect better use-of-force data. Trump’s June 16 executive order, as well as the competing police reform bills put forward by House Democrats and Senate Republicans, all seek to create a more complete database by tying federal grant funding to agencies that regularly report this information up the chain.

But police chiefs, former FBI and DOJ statisticians, and law enforcement analysts tell TIME that the current momentum is likely to hit the same roadblocks it’s been hitting for decades —unless lawmakers focus more on what has stalled previous failed efforts and less on toothless mandates that look good on paper.

The carrot approach of offering grants to agencies might work to some extent, some experts say. “Almost everyone is getting federal funding of some type, and they certainly don’t want to risk that, so it can be an effective tool,” says Matthew Hickman, chair of the criminal justice department at Seattle University and a former Bureau of Justice Statistics analyst. A successful example of that approach is the way that Washington leveraged federal highway funding to get states to comply with driving-related laws such as establishing speed limits.

Others argue that state and local lawmakers need to work with police departments to get them to comply. Whichever way it can be done, “agencies should be required to participate in the FBI’s database…it should be mandatory for all,” Steven Casstevens, the head of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 16. It’s a position the group has pushed for years, after a short-lived attempt at creating such a national database of use-of-force incidents in the late 1990s with support from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. “It should no longer be voluntary.”

“It’s ridiculous that I can’t tell you how many people were shot by the police in this country.”

Trump’s executive order is almost identical to a federal law that already exists – a provision in the 1994 crime bill signed by President Bill Clinton. Trump’s order directs the U.S. Attorney General to “create a database to coordinate the sharing of information… concerning instances of excessive use of force related to law enforcement matters” between federal, state and local agencies, which they “shall regularly and periodically make available to the public.” Similarly, the 1994 law directed the U.S. Attorney General to “acquire data about the use of excessive force by law enforcement officers” and that they “shall publish an annual summary of the data acquired under this section.”

And yet, while both these orders to the Justice Department – issued 26 years apart – mandate the collection and regular reporting of this data, the fact remains that there is no law requiring local police departments to provide it. Instead of finding ways to get local and state law enforcement agencies to comply with the 1994 federal law, the Justice Department expanded its “Police Public Contact Survey” in 1996, which released a report every three years after surveying a random sample of U.S. residents about their encounters with police. The latest report available, from 2015, surveyed 70,959 residents, but contained no comprehensive data on police use-of-force incidents.

The dearth of information has led to open frustration by the nation’s top law enforcement officials. “It’s ridiculous that I can’t tell you how many people were shot by the police in this country last week, last year, the last decade—it’s ridiculous,” then-FBI director James Comey admitted in February 2015.

In June of that year, the Obama Administration set into motion a separate nationwide initiative to fill that void. The FBI’s National Use-of-Force Data Collection, finally rolled out to great fanfare in November 2018, establishes a framework that allows police agencies to more easily report all incidents that result in death, “serious bodily injury” or the discharge of a firearm. “The opportunity to analyze information related to use-of-force incidents is hindered by the lack of nationwide statistics,” the FBI noted in its announcement of the program, calling it the first such “mechanism for collecting nationwide statistics related to use-of-force incidents” and promising it would “periodically release statistics to the public.”

The collection is intended to offer “a comprehensive view of the circumstances, subjects, and officers involved in such incidents nationwide” – exactly the kind of data that would be useful when trying to implement specific police reforms and identify which ones, such as changes in training or use of force policies, actually work.

The program convened its first task force for a series of meetings in 2016 and ran a pilot program in 2017. It established a help desk hotline and a dedicated email address for police officers submitting the data. It also developed a web application meant to simplify uploading cases in bulk, which was considered “user-friendly and intuitive” by officers who participated in the pilot program, according to an FBI report reviewed by TIME.

But despite all these efforts, as of March, less than 40% of police departments in the U.S. were enrolled in the FBI’s program and sharing their data, or 6,763 agencies covering 393,274 officers, out of a total 18,000 agencies, according to a federal release. According to the FBI pilot study reviewed by TIME, the first public report of the database’s statistics was “scheduled for March 2019.” But it never materialized, and the program still has not released a report as of June 2020. An FBI spokesperson tells TIME the first publication is now expected to be “this summer.”

“It’s not like you flip a switch and data flows in from 18,000 agencies.”

The 2017 pilot study listed a few reasons police departments would be reluctant to participate in the database, including the man hours required to submit the information and some technological hiccups. The report noted that the time burden on officers entering incidents into the system was roughly 38 minutes per incident. Some agencies reported that “it was a hassle handling the security constraints involved to enter the data collection portal.”

There needs to be recognition by those drafting legislation that for many police departments, especially smaller ones with limited resources, data collection requires hours of compensated time, says Hickman of Seattle University. “They made it a federal law but Congress did not appropriate any funds to actually do the job. It’s not like you flip a switch and data flows in from 18,000 agencies — it’s challenging,” Hickman says. “This kind of thing will tend to hit smaller agencies hardest, where in some cases, all personnel — including the Chief — are out on patrol and have little spare time to comply with federal data collections.”

There is widespread agreement that no matter what happens in Washington, for now the most effective legislation is likely to happen at the state level. Some states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Michigan and Texas, have passed various requirements to gather and report the data from their own police departments statewide, which allows many of them to report it up to the FBI database as well.

Robert Stevenson, the director of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police, tells TIME that state lawmakers pushing for more police transparency and use-of-force data were surprised when he told them that a federal program to collect this data already existed. “Many have never even heard of the [FBI’s] national database collection, even within law enforcement,” he said.

Lawmakers in Michigan agreed that the state’s police departments would mandatorily report to the federal FBI database and those numbers would also be released to the public. After getting the Michigan Sheriffs’ Association on board, the state went from 0% to more than 90% reporting use-of-force by police departments in 18 months, Stevenson said. The transparency measure that they included further helped build trust between the police and the community, which alleviated some of the pressure during the recent protests.

Police departments across the country should realize that collecting and analyzing this data serves everyone, including officers, Stevenson said. “If you don’t measure this data, how can you spot the problem? Now we’ll have the data to have that conversation, to actually lay it out [and say], ‘Look, we’re not massacring people left and right, and here’s where we can do better,’” he said. “This gives us the opportunity to have that informed conversation without the misperceptions and misinformation. It’s really important to our profession.”

For now, the police reform bills being debated in Congress — and their competing efforts to create a more complete police use-of-force database — remain in a stalemate. On June 24, Senate Democrats blocked debate on the Republican policing bill, which includes a proposal for use-of-force data collection focusing on police misconduct, condemning it for not going far enough in addressing racial inequality. The following day, Democrats passed a sweeping police overhaul bill in the House which includes a provision for a national database that would collect this information in more detail and make it public, as well as limit legal protections for the police.

Like its many predecessors, neither bill includes an accompanying legal mandate that could be tested in court to answer the question of whether police can be compelled to report their data to the federal government. Even so, longtime advocates of a national database nevertheless hope the end result will move the country towards finally having a fuller picture of where and how often U.S. police officers use force, and on whom.

“I have to be tentatively optimistic,” Alpert says. “I don’t want to be here in 10 years when we have another horrible event and everyone relives the same thing again. We gotta see progress. We at least have to be able to say, ‘Last time we got Step 1 and Step 2 done. What’s next?’”

—With reporting by Tessa Berenson/Washington

[theconservativebrief]

President Donald Trump got up onstage at a Tuesday night rally and berated a survivor of sexual assault.

There is no other honest way to describe the president’s performance. He performed a mocking interpretation of Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before the Senate, highlighting gaps in her memory and misrepresenting her testimony to try to discredit her story. In contrast to other Republicans, who had gone to great lengths to say they believed something had happened to Ford, the president dismissed her — casting the man she’s accused of assaulting her, Brett Kavanaugh, as the real victim, a target of a Democratic plot that Ford is presumably in on.

“A man’s life is in tatters. A man’s life is shattered,” Trump said. “They destroy people.”

His decision to go into full-on attack mode against Ford, which Senate Republicans had previously been so afraid to do that they refused to even ask her questions directly, shows exactly what we’re fighting over when we fight over Ford’s allegation: the role of sexual assault in American culture itself.

Feminist philosophers have long argued that sexual violence serves an insidious social purpose. The omnipresence of the threat — the intimate nature of it, the fact that any man could in theory be capable of such acts — serves as a form of intimidation. Behaviors as simple as going out alone at night or staying late at the office become laden with risk. The mere threat of rape, in the background, forces women into certain socially prescribed roles. It serves, in effect, to uphold male dominance.

“One of the most important aspects of rape as it occurs in our society is the way in which it is a moral injury to all women, not [only] to the woman who experiences it,” moral philosopher Jean Elizabeth Hampton wrote in an essay on sexual violence. “Rape confirms that women are ‘for’ men: to be used, dominated, treated as objects.”

This philosophical understanding of sexual violence, as a fundamentally social crime, has become more vital than ever in the days since the Kavanaugh and Ford testimonies. The hearings gripped the country; everywhere from nursing homes to the New York Stock Exchange, people stopped what they were doing to watch these two people speak.

The way Ford’s allegations are handled, then, will help define our national understanding of sexual assault for years to come. Do men enjoy superior standing, a presumption of truth-telling denied to female accusers? Just how seriously does our political system take accusations of sexual assault and violence? Are credible allegations disqualifying for the most significant legal body in the country?

Tuesday night, Trump presented one answer to this question: Women who come forward against powerful men can be mocked and disregarded. Their pain is not important in the face of a powerful man’s ambition. This is what will happen when they tell their stories.

If Trump gets away with this kind of rhetoric — if this is the argument that carries the day, that gets Kavanaugh a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court — then the consequences for American society could be profound.

The Kavanaugh case could inaugurate a widespread cultural backlash to the #MeToo movement — of people, from the elected level down to the grassroots, making a show of public resistance to the emerging norm of believing sexual assault accusers.

Even if Trump’s rhetoric is discredited and denounced, the foulness of the process surrounding Ford’s accusation will not go away. The past few weeks, which re-traumatized a lot of assault survivors, will not be erased from memory. But the backlash will be shown to be weaker than it might seem — giving at least some heart to the women struggling to change America’s culture of sexual violence.

The argument that sexual violence is a form of social intimidation has a long history in feminist writing. In 1971, the radical critic Susan Griffin described rape as “a form of mass terrorism”; in 1975, journalist Susan Brownmiller’s groundbreaking book Against Our Will argues that rape is “a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear.”

This work, revolutionary at the time, laid the foundations for the now-familiar claim that rape is about power rather than sex. Men who assault women aren’t seeking sexual gratification, at least not primarily; they are attempting to assert their own dominance over their victim.

In her 2006 book Analyzing Oppression, Boston University philosopher Ann Cudd takes an even broader social lens on these arguments. Cudd is interested in the way that violence in general sustains oppressive social structures, like patriarchy and white supremacy. Violence, Cudd argues, is one of several ways in which dominate groups to keep subordinate groups down. “Systematic violence,” meaning violence directed against members of a marginalized group by a dominant, works to traumatize and terrify.

Rape and sexual assault might seem like individual crimes. But Cudd points out that it’s the effect, not the intent that matters. If the pervasiveness of sexual violence serves to intimidate women as a whole, then the effect of each individual attack is to reinforce women’s marginalized status.

The best way to understand sexual violence, in Cudd’s view, is as a quiet-but-constant campaign of systemic violence to preserve male privilege.

“Violence against women is covert, neither recognized as a systematic war against women by the victims nor by those who would be sympathetic,” she writes. “[Yet] all women act under the shadow of a social threat situation which is, statistically, credible yet tacit. It changes our behavior; it makes acquiesce to limitations on our liberty that men do not have, it alters our sense of what is possible.”

This creates a kind of tyranny of expectations, where women feel the need to tailor their actions very specifically to minimize the threat of sexual violence. A 1983 essay by Marilyn Frye, a professor at Michigan State, describes in vivid detail how this threat constrains a woman’s behavior down to the tiniest little details of behavior like what facial expressions she makes.

“all women act under the shadow of a social threat”

“Anything but the sunniest countenance exposes us to being perceived as mean, bitter, angry or dangerous,” she writes. “This means, at the least, that we may be found ‘difficult’ or unpleasant to work with, which is enough to cost one one’s livelihood; at worst, being seen as mean, bitter, angry or dangerous has been known to result in rape, arrest, beating, and murder.”

Sexual violence, these women argued, is not a purely intimate act between a victim and an assailant. It is a social phenomenon with much broader effects: it shapes how all women think and act. The greater the sense of fear, the more likely women are to to avoid taking risks. By contrast, if powerful institutions can assuage women’s fear — if they believe they are safe, or that, at the very least, their assaulters would be punished — then the psychological effects of sexual violence can be minimized.

For this reason, Cudd points to the way the legal system handles assault as playing an important role in the systemic effects of sexual violence. Rape, as feminists often point out, is not handled like robbery. Robbery victims don’t immediately encounter reflexive doubt that they were robbed at all. But rape victims often face a presumption that a crime may not have actually happened. Many women are reluctant to report their assaults for that reason — one factor in why they often go unpunished.

This is part of why so much attention has been paid to things like the Bill Cosby trial sentencing: They seem to suggest that they the Me Too movement is making some headway in changing the criminal justice system’s approach to sexual assault. But the Kavanaugh nomination, and the way it’s being treated by American political leaders, have the potential to turn this

The allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, like those against Harvey Weinstein, Donald Trump, and Bill Cosby, have ushered in another stage of America’s long overdue reckoning with sexual violence.

My colleague Ezra Klein called Kavanaugh’s fiery response to Ford’s allegations, and the white male Republican senators lining up to praise him afterwards, “the moment the #MeToo backlash truly took shape” — a sign that a certain segment of American society was fed up with what the movement had accomplished, and wanted to reassert male innocence and privilege.

In a Senate Judiciary debate last Friday, Sen. Lindsey Graham argued essentially just that. “I’m a single white male from South Carolina, and I’m told I should just shut up, but I will not shut up,” Graham said.

Trump’s mocking of Ford on Tuesday night further showed that white men in power are not going anywhere — that they will not listen, will not budge, and will not give ground to #MeToo.

At the same time, though, the Kavanaugh debate have yet again galvanized victims of sexual violence and their supporters.

A protest against Kavanaugh’s nomination is New York City on October 1. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

After President Trump blasted Ford for not doing so when the attack happened, thousands of women came forward to explain why that was so difficult under the hashtag #WhyIDidntReport. Sen. Jeff Flake, the key swing vote on the Judiciary Committee, changed his mind on immediately confirming Kavanaugh last week based on women coming forward about their experiences. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), a swing vote in the broader Senate, says she’s receiving an unprecedented number of constituent calls about Kavanaugh — even more than she got during the health care debate, when she eventually opposed overturning Obamacare.

For a few months last fall, it seemed like the Weinstein story had ushered in a new era in which women were more willing to come forward about sexual harassment and assault, and the public would be more willing to believe them. The men they accused would, in some cases, face consequences — even if those consequences were professional and social rather than legal.

Even before Kavanaugh’s nomination, many of the men were making a comeback (Louis CK, for example). Now the controversy surrounding the Supreme Court nominee has brought the contest between the #MeToo movement and the backlash into relief. When should accusations be disqualifying? Under what conditions should accusers be believed? What kind of man can and should be held accountable for sexual assault?

That makes the nomination itself, and the way it’s handled, a defining moment for the way Americans see sexual assault writ large. Everyone is paying attention to this, and the implicit messages that America’s political leaders are sending about sexual violence.

“This has resonance,” Tim Malloy, assistant director of polling at Quinnipiac University, told my colleague Ella Nilsen. “This was dinner table conversation. People are going to talk about this today, people are going to talk about this tomorrow, it’s going to be in every political commercial.”

The up-or-down vote on Kavanaugh will matter the most in this perception. But so too will all of the things surrounding it: The seriousness of the FBI investigation. Whether or not Republicans condemn Trump’s attack on Ford. Whether stories like sexual assault survivors changing Flake’s mind become defining moments.

Nothing can reverse the damage that’s been done by comments like Trump’s, or the way Republicans lined up to defend Kavanaugh absolutely during the Ford hearing. The National Sexual Assault Hotline reported a 147% increase in calls over the average during the Ford and Kavanaugh hearings; since Ford first came forward, the average per-day increase has been around 46 percent.

The vicious debate is retraumatizing victims, sending a message to women that they will still struggle and face harsh resistance to coming forward. If this is what happens to a woman like Ford, a white college professor with means, what’s the lesson for less privileged women?

But if Kavanaugh is defeated, or Trump’s mocking of Ford prominently and roundly condemned, perhaps a little bit of this harm can be rolled back. Some women might even encouraged to come forward, getting a sense that their words really do have power.

How powerful an effect this could be is very hard to say. The kind of subtle psychological oppression we’re talking about here is tough to quantify, and there haven’t been a lot of similar situations as high profile as this one in the past.

But even a small impact is an important one. To understand why, I’d return to Frye, the Michigan State professor, who has particularly poignant way of describing the way that gender oppression works:

Consider a birdcage. If you look very closely at just one wire in the cage, you cannot see the other wires. If your conception of what is before you is determined by this myopic focus, you could look at that one wire, up and down the length of it, and be unable to see why a bird would not just fly around the wire any time it wanted to go somewhere. Furthermore, even if, one day at a time, you myopically inspected each wire, you still could not see why a bird would gave trouble going past the wires to get anywhere. There is no physical property of any one wire, nothing that the closest scrutiny could discover, that will reveal how a bird could be inhibited or harmed by it except in the most accidental way.

It is only when you step back, stop looking at the wires one by one, microscopically, and take a macroscopic view of the whole cage, that you can see why the bird does not go anywhere; and then you will see it in a moment. It will require no great subtlety of mental powers. It is perfectly obvious that the bird is surrounded by a network of systematically related barriers, no one of which would be the least hindrance to its flight, but which, by their relations to each other, are as confining as the solid walls of a dungeon.

America’s leaders and activists have the opportunity to bend one of these bars. Even if they does so very slightly a little, the bird inside is that much closer to making an escape.

Original Source -> Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump, and the chilling power of sexual violence

via The Conservative Brief

[thrashermaxey]

20 Fantasy Hockey Thoughts

Every Sunday, we'll share 20 Fantasy Thoughts from our writers at DobberHockey. These thoughts are curated from the past week's "Daily Ramblings".

Writers: Michael Clifford, Ian Gooding, Cam Robinson, and Dobber

  1. It was just a year ago I was saying that Joe Pavelski was overvalued. Now, I think he’s undervalued. Crazy the difference a year can make. If Joe Thornton can be anywhere near as healthy and productive as he was a couple years ago before the knee injuries cropped up, Pavelski has 25 goals and 35 assists locked up. He probably does even if Thornton isn’t healthy thanks to the additions of Evander Kane and Erik Karlsson. Pavelski adds loads of hits and shots, which is why he’s valuable for me. (sep14)

  2. Check out Mike Clifford’s piece on the fantasy impact of the Erik Karlsson deal for both teams. From the Ottawa side, I’ll agree with Mike that I don’t think this deal itself helps anyone outside of Thomas Chabot, although another injury will help another player heading to Ottawa. More on that below.

Chabot might end up with a plus-minus of about minus-100 playing for a dreadful Ottawa team (yes, I’m exaggerating on that number but you get the idea). The Senators lack veteran d-men that can take on the tough minutes. But I believe the Karlsson trade adds about 5-10 points to his projected point total and 3-4 minutes of ice time per game while vaulting him onto the first power-play unit. Whether he’s ready or not, he’ll be jumping head first into the water this season. He should already be owned in keeper leagues, while he’s worth drafting in the later rounds in single-season leagues.

Meanwhile, the Jean-Gabriel Pageau injury (out six months with a torn Achilles) likely moves Chris Tierney up to the second line. Tierney was a bottom-six forward for the Sharks but he’ll be leaned on heavily and seems a good bet that he’ll start the season on the second line, although Colin White could work his way up into that role. Drake Batherson’s changes of making the Senators should also improve because of this injury. All three forwards’ fantasy values improve with the injury news, as Pageau could be out all season. (sep16)

  3. So, who gets the lion share of the goalie starts in Colorado this season? It’s a question every poolie with a pulse has been muttering to themselves this summer. After trading for long-time Caps’ backup, Philipp Grubauer, the Avalanche have put another question mark next to Semyon Varlamov’s name. The Russian netminder has refused to stay healthy and/or consistent. He’s a volatile fantasy asset that few chase.

At this point, they’ll probably give Varly the opening night gig if both play reasonably well in preseason. Then it’ll be all about the hot hand. If one goes on a long enough roll, they’ll build up some goodwill with the coaching staff and likely gain a longer leash. Grubauer is my pick to finish with more starts but nothing is certain in the world of goaltenders – especially ones who haven’t ever been given the ball on a long-term basis. (sep15)

  4. Mitch Marner is on the precipice of being an elite playmaker and a superstar in this league. The issue is that he doesn’t provide much in hits and isn’t a huge shot volume guy. He does shoot a fair amount but not to the level of guys like David Pastrnak or Rickard Rakell. I have him projected for 75 points but without huge shot volume or hits, he’ll be hard-pressed to return third-round value. (sep14)

  5. Let’s get this out of the way: Nikolaj Ehlers is truly one of my favourite players to watch in the league. If he picks up the puck in his zone and gets up to full speed, there’s almost no one more fun. That said, like Marner, he doesn’t hit much. He also doesn’t get top power play minutes, which caps his upside significantly. In order for a player who doesn’t post big hit totals to return near a top-75 pick, he needs either A) a healthy amount of PPPs, or B) a healthy plus/minus. I’m not relying on plus-minus to return value on an early-round pick. (sep14)

  6. All summer I’ve been saying that Vladimir Tarasenko will be undervalued going into 2018-19 and it appears this is the case. The underlying issue, of course, is whether his shoulder is completely healthy following surgery in April. Think of it this way: last year was a down year for Tarasenko, I think most people would agree on that. In standard Yahoo! setups, he was still a top-30 player. If you can draft him in the late second or early third round, do it. (sep14)

  7. I want to discuss this year’s rookie crop. I’m not going to discuss every rookie, or even most rookies; you should grab the Dobber Prospects Report if you want a more detailed look at hundreds of players. Instead, I want to look at a handful of players who will be considered in drafts.

Back in July, I wrote about why I won’t be drafting Rasmus Dahlin this year. Let’s get into that. The first question is, will Dahlin get top PP minutes? We can assume that Buffalo will be running a four-forward again this year, so the question is if he will push Rasmus Ristolainen out of the way. Ristolainen is fifth among all defensemen in power play points over the last three seasons, ahead of names like Torey Krug, PK Subban, Drew Doughty, John Klingberg, and John Carlson. Say what you will of Ristolainen as a player in every other facet, he’s been the go-to for years on the PP blue line for the Sabres, and he’s been effective at doing so – Buffalo is eighth in PP goals over those three seasons, two goals fewer than San Jose and three goals more than Dallas, and seventh in PP percentage. Does that suddenly change this year? Why would it?

I’m working with the assumption that Dahlin, barring injury, will not supplant Ristolainen on the power play this year. So, if he’s not on the top PP unit, maybe he’ll have a season like Mikhail Sergachev, right? Well, Tampa Bay scored 3.15 goals per 60 minutes at even strength last year. Buffalo scored 2.03. That’s 75 fewer goals. Sergachev registered a point on 11.1 percent of all of Tampa’s even-strength goals. If Buffalo’s scoring doesn’t improve, to get to 24 even-strength points like Sergachev, Dahlin would have to register a point on 17.1 percent of Buffalo’s even-strength goals. For reference, Victor Hedman registered a point on 16.3 percent of Tampa Bay’s even-strength goals. You see how silly this is getting.

So, what if Buffalo’s scoring does improve? If the team scored 25 percent more goals at even strength, which is a huge leap, they’d still be bottom-10 in scoring if the league’s scoring remains constant. *If* the scoring jumps 25 percent at even strength, do you really want to draft an 18-year old defenseman with limited PP minutes from a bottom-10 scoring team?

I’m sorry, I just don’t see it. He may be the next Erik Karlsson, but to pay off his average draft position (ADP) right now (106) in standard Yahoo! leagues, assuming he doesn’t put up triple-digit hits, he’ll need a season like Alex Pietrangelo had last year. If he does put up triple-digit hits, he’ll need a season like Kris Letang had last year. This is all absurd. More rookies here … (sep13)

  8. Elsewhere, a popular pick to be in the Calder contention as Rookie of the Year this season is Eeli Tolvanen. We’ve all heard about his exploits last season in the KHL. Hell, I dedicated a weekly space at the end of my DobberProspects’ Ramblings to shine a light on the bushel of goals he’d racked up over that stretch. However, his place in the Predators’ roster remains unclear.

No one is going to be pushing Filip Forsberg out of the top left-wing spot. He, Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson are a package until something fundamentally stops working. That leaves Tolvanen to battle it out with Kevin Fiala for the right to slide in beside Kyle Turris on the second line. Turris and Fiala formed a nice secondary wave of offense in Nashville last season. They both provide the strong two-way ability that Tolvanen still lacks. Fiala has been building the long way and his 23-goals a year ago could be just the tip of the iceberg.

If Tolvanen is unable to secure a spot in the top-six, his outlook from the third line and second power-play unit should be muted. As mentioned earlier, the Preds have enough talent to spread between two man-advantage units. The 2017 first rounder's release will be the focal point on the left circle, while Ryan Ellis’ blast will work the right side. That should be able to bump his numbers up but expecting much more than 40 points may be asking for trouble. (sep15)

  9. Connor Murphy’s injury (out eight weeks with a back injury) improves the chances that 2017 first-round pick Henri Jokiharju makes the Blackhawks defense corps out of training camp. Keep in mind that Gustav Forsling is also expected to miss the start of the season with a wrist injury. Jokiharju scored 71 points in 63 games last season for the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL. (sep16)

  10. We finally know more about Corey Crawford’s injury, and the news isn’t good. Crawford has been sidelined with a concussion and it doesn’t look like he’ll be ready for the start of the season. This isn’t good news for fantasy hockey owners who drafted him at a discount hoping that his ability would outperform his draft ranking, which had already fallen with the speculation that he still hadn’t recovered from a concussion. Crawford was having an impressive season (16-9-2, 2.27 GAA, .929 SV%), so this also isn’t good news for the Blackhawks’ playoff chances.

Cam Ward is worth taking a flier on in the later rounds of your draft but how effective will he be? Ward hasn’t had a save percentage above .910 over his past six seasons, so your expectations shouldn’t be high. This included a .906 save percentage in 43 games last season, which came in spite of the Canes allowing the fewest number of shots per game (28.9) of any team. The Hawks were a top-10 team in terms of shots allowed in 2017-18. With a defense that is led by the aging Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, Ward will be in tough for improved numbers with his new team. (sep16)

  11. The ‘Adam McQuaid to the Rangers for defenseman Steven Kampfer’ trade hurts Anthony DeAngelo’s fantasy value. I had traded DeAngelo away from my keeper team last season and that owner has since dropped him. It might still be too early to give up on him, since he’s only 23 as of next month and still possesses considerable upside from the blueline, but the former first-round pick is running the risk of disappearing down the same path as Derrick Pouliot. There’s considerable fantasy upside, but I can stand behind you replacing him if you can’t hold your breath much longer.

The Bruins are already used to life without McQuaid, as he missed half of last season. Considering that McQuaid didn’t play any kind of offensive role and neither should Kampfer, the move will probably only affect bottom-pairing defensemen. Jakub Zboril’s and Jeremy Lauzon’s chances of making the Bruins could improve slightly here, but without McQuaid the Bruins still have seven NHL-level defensemen on the roster (eight if you include depth defenseman Kampfer).

  12. Mathew Barzal finished 2017-18 as the 60th overall player. He did that with 85 points. He’s currently being drafted in Yahoo! pools inside the top-50. I think Barzal is a great player but banking on a 90-point season with at least a break-even plus-minus just to return value is a lot. (sep11)

  13. That Max Pacioretty would be traded was only a matter of if, not when, so the return was all that mattered. Pacioretty was shipped to Vegas for Tomas Tatar, a second-round pick, and prospect Nick Suzuki. Dobber had a pretty accurate take on the trade’s fantasy impact and most of his thoughts mirror my own.

I don’t have too much to add on top of what Dobber wrote other than this: Pacioretty was due to rebound regardless. For the last several years, Pacioretty was a top-end scorer and one of the most consistent ones at that; from 2011-17, Pacioretty and Alex Ovechkin were the only two players to score at least 30 goals in every 82-game season. The Habs’ captain had one bad season and now he’s gone. With the trade and subsequent extension (four years, $28-million), Pacioretty gets essentially a fresh start and a good situation in which to re-establish himself as one of the elite goal scorers in the league. (sep11)

  14. I think the Pacioretty trade helps Tatar. Vegas might have accomplished something in dumping his $4.8 million contract but he’s scored at least 20 goals in each of his last four seasons. He might have been a healthy scratch for a good portion of the playoffs but he easily fits on the second line in Montreal and could even move onto the first line. On a better team, Tatar won’t ever see the first line. But ,the Habs had the league’s 29th-ranked offense last season (2.52 goals per game) and just traded a consistent (until last season) 30-goal scorer. Simply put, they don’t have a whole ton of options. (sep12)

  15. Still with the Pacioretty trade, this does give the Habs the potential to run Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Suzuki-Ryan Poehling down the middle in the not-too-distant future, and that’s if Jonathan Drouin doesn’t work out as a center. This team went from desperately needing help down the middle to having three prospects that could all project as middle-six centers, plus Drouin (who should be on the wing anyway).

The issue here is that none of Kotkaniemi, Suzuki and Poehling are what we would deem as a generational center. A sure thing. A lock like Jack Eichel or Auston Matthews. Sure, Kotkaniemi could be the next Pierre-Luc Dubois, or he could be the next Tyson Jost. Suzuki could be the next Clayton Keller, or he could be the next Luke Kunin. Each of those four pivots mentioned were taken in the top half of the 2016 draft. Kunin was injured last year but the fact remains the same: the future is still uncertain for each of the next generation of Montreal centers. They’re lottery tickets, and for this team to be good in 2-3 years, they need at least 2-3 of them to pay off in a big way.

The trade should also lock Artturi Lehkonen to the top PP unit for Montreal. With the former captain around, Lehkonen looked to be on the outside looking in. But now, they can run the top unit with Brendan Gallagher in front, Max Domi in the bumper, Drouin on one half-wall and Lehkonen on the other, or something along those lines. The PP unit needs a trigger-man now and Lehkonen is best-suited for that role. They could also just replace Pacioretty with Tatar, in which case I will be one sad panda. (sep11)

  16. Reader Rocky asks: “What is justin faulks value going forward. Getting hamilton, still have slavin, fleury/pesce getting better, jake beans coming?”

I have never been a fan of Justin Faulk and was really turned off from him last year. Getting Dougie Hamilton makes it even worse. I wouldn’t touch him with a 10-foot pole right now. If he gets traded then, he may have a resurgence for a couple of years. But I don’t trust him long-term and I don’t trust him with Carolina.

As for Jake Bean, he concerns me. Not only because his production went backwards last year despite being a man playing against teens, but also because of what analyst Jeff Marek said a few months back on his podcast about a certain recent first-round pick in junior hockey who was so addicted to video games that his GM didn’t think he would ever be an NHLer. When you look at all the prospects and the given criteria, you come up with four names that fit that mysterious description and Bean is one of them. I am not saying he is the prospect who loves his video games, I am just stating that he is one of four or perhaps five candidates who fit the described player speculated by Marek. That alone isn't enough to sway me but his production going backwards a bit in conjunction with that risk and frankly I just won't bother. (sep10)

  17. Jack Eichel can be a 100-point player. He’s in that small club. And yes, the Sabres will get better, but he won’t even need them to as he can do it on his own. But what seem to potentially hold him down are all the injuries. If he can’t shake those he may never hit it. Not this year, though, let’s wait until he’s 24 or 25 and has a couple of 75- to 80-game seasons under his belt. (sep10)

  18. Reader Tyler Bryant asks: “Best goalie call-ups for coming season are?”

Goalies who won’t make the team as the backup but would get called up if the starter or possibly both NHL goalies get hurt. The best one – Ville Husso. He won't be the backup but if Jake Allen gets hurt or crashes and burns, I can see Husso saving the day. He's the guy I'm targeting in the minors over anyone I listed above. He's in a promising spot right now.

Also: Carter Hart, Ilya Samsonov and Tristan Jarry. Further down the line are Eric Comrie and Thatcher Demko. Dark horse is Callum Booth, who would of course require both Petr Mrazek and Scott Darling to get injured – don’t be swayed by Booth’s weak numbers last year. The goalies who need injuries to both the starter and backup in order to get a real shot though are Husso, Hart, Demko and Booth. The others I listed will get that opportunity with just the one injury to the main guy. (sep10)

  19. I have my Calder picks in the Fantasy Guide – the top 50. And if you look past the obvious ones in Rasmus Dahlin, Henrik Borgstrom, Casey Mittelstadt, Dylan Sikura, Andrei Svechnikov and Elias Pettersson, you have to rely on opportunity. If Player A gets hurt for 30 games, then Rookie B gets a shot and suddenly is in the Calder mix. I don’t think there will be any Yanni Gourdes this time around. I could list talented 19- and 20-year-olds all day long who ‘could’ make a splash, from Kailer Yamamoto to Eeli Tolvanen to Martin Necas. But, I think what you’re after are the older prospects. So for that I am eyeballing Valentin Zykov, Andreas Johnsson, Antti Suomela, Dominik Kahun (Chicago, a team desperate for wingers), and even Zach Aston-Reese. (sep10)

  20. Reader Jeff Libonati asks: “do you think ekblad will put together a season worthy of his pedigree? is he going to turn into the next Pietrangelo?”

Yes, Aaron Ekblad will eventually put together a monster two-way season. No, I don’t think he has Alex Pietrangelo potential. Ekblad is a lesser Pietrangelo. From a points standpoint, I would say subtract 10 from AP to get AE. In fact, in terms of pure offensive talent for points, I think Mike Matheson is the future in Florida. I say this even though Matheson is getting minimal PP time and is being held back. He’ll break through that, give him two or three years, the talent will win out. (sep10)  

Have a good week, folks!!

  from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/20-fantasy-hockey-thoughts/20-fantasy-hockey-thoughts-41/

[annelotteverweij]

Some Emerging Answers For Intelligent Products Of Iso Xp Whey Protein

Some Simple Guidance On Fundamental Criteria For New Zealand Grass Fed Whey Protein Canada

However, it does contain the aforementioned whey protein (non-grass-fed), magnesium oxide, and very small amounts of B vitamins that are essentially useless in the given dose (0.5-1mg). In "other ingredients,” organic cane sugar is the first on the list (meaning there’s a good amount of it), and Stevia appears as well. So exactly how much powdered corn, soy, and canola oil do you want to ingest on a daily basis? All three of these ingredients are part of Soylent Powder . The process of making oil into a powder requires maltodextrin, which is a high-glycemic artificial sweetener typically derived from corn. It is championed for its easy absorbability, but that means it’s going straight into your bloodstream, which may beget a rollercoaster of spiked blood sugar, insulin secretion, stress hormone release, and the eventual crash. As for the rest of its 40 ingredients, Soylent contains several synthetic vitamins, which are essentially watered-down versions of the real thing—only half as active and less absorbable. Also listed in the ingredients are sodium ascorbate and thiamine hydrochloride. Though natural, they are the less expensive forms of vitamins with low bioavailability, meaning that our bodies don’t absorb them very well. Soylent also contains other cheap additives (soluble corn fiber, and mono and diglycerides that may contain trans fats ), as well as 7 grams of added sugar, and soy lecithin, which may be a concern to those worried about food-based estrogens. If the goal is to thrive, it’s safe to say that this drink would not be our first choice. When it comes to Shakeology and Isagenix, many—I think we can hazard to say most—of the folks selling these products do not have a background in nutrition. As is typical with multi-level marketing companies, sellers often have unrelated full-time jobs and use the supplement business as part-time income.

For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit https://greatist.com/eat/beachbody-isagenix-soylent-protein-shake-reviews

Tips To Establishing Your Personal Fitness Goals!

Increasing your fitness and health is a fantastic goal. It can be intimidating, especially if you are poor shape right now, but fitness is attainable. The ideas and tips in the article below will set you on the road towards achieving your fitness goals. You will feel better about yourself and be healthier. Lifting weights is one way that people try to become fit. You really don't need all that equipment to stay in shape, however. Just doing pushups, handstand pushups, leg raises, squats, bridges and pullups is enough to keep you fit. Get an exercise regimen that works for your body, and it will be easy to stay at it. If you choose something you enjoy, you'll be excited to work out. Doing some simple pushups can be a great way to tone up triceps. But not the standard push-up, if you turn your hands with the fingers facing towards each other, it will target the triceps. Those triceps will melt like butter then harden like stone beneath the stress of these high-quality push-ups. Change up your workout regiment by doing various exercises. This will help avoid routine in your fitness plan and keep you motivated to come back to your workout the next day. Your body also needs variety so that you don't cause a stall in your results due to your body finding the same exercises too easy. Strong thighs are important to prevent knee injuries. Tearing a ligament in back of the kneecap is a sports injury that occurs quite frequently. Exercising both the hamstrings and quads will ensure knee safety. Leg extensions and curls are great exercises to accomplish this. You can use wall sits to build up your leg muscles. The first thing you must do is find a wall with enough room for you to squat against. Stand approximately a foot and a half away from the wall. Lean back with your knees bent until the length of your back meets the wall. Continue lowering yourself toward the ground by bending your knees until you reach a position that mimics the act of sitting in a chair. Hold this position until you cannot stand it anymore. Tons of crunches alone are not going to get you six-pack abs. Your muscles may get stronger, but nothing will really happen with respect to the fat on your stomach. To get yourself a set of washboard abs, you must start eating better while doing resistance and cardio training. Before starting your workout, test the padding thickness of the bench by pressing fingers down into the cushion firmly. Choose a different machine if you can feel the hard wood beneath the cushion. If there is not enough padding and support you could end up with bruises or even worse, you must have the correct support when working out. It's pretty hard to feel good or be as healthy as you should be if you don't take steps to get into shape and then stay fit. This can be a real challenge if it's been a long time since you exercised, but a little help will help you a great deal. Use the tips in this article to work on your fitness level and to achieve your goal of maximum fitness.

Top Insights For 2017 On Effortless Plans Of Canada

Calgary, Halifax, York Region, Ont., and Port City, B.C. approved to join Canadian Premier League Posted: May 06, 2018 10:22 AM MT | Last Updated: May 7 Calgary was among four groups approved for professional club membership by Soccer Canada on Saturday. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press) Spruce Meadows will be the home grounds for Calgary's Tier 1 professional soccer club when the Canadian Premier League launches next season, newly appointed team president Ian Allison confirmed Sunday. "We have a number of designs underway," he said. "One of the great things we have that puts us at a bit of an advantage over some of our colleagues is that we have a great infrastructure at Spruce Meadows that also has, if you will, federation approved facilities — a different federation albeit — with grass rings and drainage and all those types of things so there are a number of things that are going to be unveiled in the next couple of weeks." Calgary was one of four groups approved for professional club membership by Soccer Canada at its annual general meeting in Yellowknife, paving the way for them to join the CPL. MORE ALBERTA NEWS |  What matters most to Albertans: Poll results set the stage for 2019 election​ Clubs from Halifax, Port City, B.C., and York Region, Ont., also got the seal of approval. Port City is not an actual city in B.C., but is thought to represent an as yet unnamed city in the Lower Mainland, though no official announcement has been made.  The CPL was approved for league membership with Soccer Canada last year, along with clubs in Hamilton and Winnipeg. Ian Allison was named president of Spruce Meadows Sports and Entertainment, the ownership group behind Calgary's Tier 1 professional soccer team. (ROLEX/YouTube) CPL is set to debut as a professional men's soccer league in the spring of 2019, and will serve as a Tier 1 league. FIFA, the sport's world governing body, still has to approve the league and its clubs. Recognition from Canada's national association was a necessary step before that could happen.  Spruce Meadows Sports and Entertainment will be the ownership group behind the Calgary team. Allison said players will come from all over the world, "but the majority of them on the field of play will be Canadian." Known as one of the world's premier equestrian facilities since it opened in the 1970s, Allison said making the jump into soccer isn't that much of a stretch for Spruce Meadows. "It's truly an international game, the most international game," he said.

For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-halifax-york-region-port-city-soccer-1.4650706

Vitamins And Minerals: Essential To Your Health

Taking essential vitamins and minerals regularly can keep you in good health. However, most folks don't know what vitamins are the most essential, or even where to shop for them. Keep reading for some great advice on finding the supplements that you need. If your supplement has fat, make sure you take it with your meal. Vitamins E, K and A are vitamins that do not absorb into the body without the help of food. They work best if the food you are eating them with contains fat. Sun and milk represent two great sources of vitamin D. Whey Protein If you don't drink a lot of milk or aren't in the sun a lot, you need to get a supplement that has vitamin D in it. This vitamin is good for keeping your bones from becoming brittle, so they don't break as easily. Iron is a key component for building red blood cells. The red blood cells are required to carry oxygen to every part of your body. Women generally need more iron than men, which is why there are some iron supplements that are just for women. If you are feeling exhausted or having trouble breathing, you may not be getting enough iron. Asparagus, dairy products, and bananas are rich sources of riboflavin. Vitamin B2 deficiency can lead to a variety of conditions, including cracked lips, scaly skin, and a reduction in red blood cells. This nutrient also stops cancer, carpal tunnel, and anemia. We often try to eat healthy, but our budgets often make it difficult to do so. Taking proper vitamin and mineral supplementation can help your body perform at optimum levels. It may also counteract some less than desirable foods. Vitamin supplement are essential these days. Many foods in the grocery stores are over-processed, which leads to the depletion of many nutrients. Taking a natural multivitamin is one way to make sure you're getting essential nutrients. Ask your doctor to give you a physical exam to check for vitamin and mineral deficiencies. This way, you can know which supplements you will need to rectify any such problems. With the economy as it is, many people are looking to quick, cheap and fast food to get them by, and missing out on valuable nutrients in the process. Make sure to buy a good multivitamin or supplements that will let your body fight disease and turn the fat to energy. It's important to get accurate information about any type of vitamin or mineral supplement. Lots of advertisements only want to sell the product, not care about for your health. You should go into any potential purchase with serious doubts when the claims seem extraordinary. If you are at all doubtful about a supplement, talk it over with your doctor. Use caution when it comes to supplements. It is possible to overdose on them. This occurs often when too many supplements are taken, and the danger is real. Depending on the vitamin, some of these overdoses can even threaten your life. Remember that some vitamins and minerals, such as calcium carbonate, must be taken with food. It is best when it is taken with food. Your body cannot properly absorb this nutrient without food. There are many prescription meds and over the counter meds that react adversely with vitamin supplements. Some of these interactions can be life threatening. It is important to alert your physician to all vitamins and supplements that you ingest. Always consult a pharmacist about possible side effects when you purchase OTC medications. Your body needs 21 essential vitamins and minerals every day. If you do not have them, you will experience poor health. Use the tips listed above to get the nutrients you need.

[usnewsaggregator-blog]

Raiders’ John Pagano in spotlight after firing of Ken Norton

New Post has been published on http://usnewsaggregator.com/raiders-john-pagano-in-spotlight-after-firing-of-ken-norton/

Raiders’ John Pagano in spotlight after firing of Ken Norton

Photo: Tom Szczerbowski / Getty Images

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Assistant head coach John Pagano of the Oakland Raiders signals from the sideline during NFL game action against the Buffalo Bills at New Era Field on October 29, 2017 in Buffalo, New York.

Assistant head coach John Pagano of the Oakland Raiders signals from the sideline during NFL game action against the Buffalo Bills at New Era Field on October 29, 2017 in Buffalo, New York.

Photo: Tom Szczerbowski / Getty Images

Raiders’ John Pagano in spotlight after firing of Ken Norton

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John Pagano’s title with the Raiders has not changed. He remains their assistant head coach — defense, the same role he has held since the Raiders hired the former Chargers coordinator in January.

But after Oakland fired defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. on Tuesday and handed Pagano the reins to the defense, it’s now his task to improve a unit whose struggles this season have contributed to a 4-6 record and Norton’s exit.

Pagano inherited a defense that, through Monday, ranked 26th in yards allowed, 27th against the pass and last or tied for last in sacks, interceptions and opponents’ passer rating. On Thursday, he said he already had delivered a maxim to the Raiders’ defensive players.

“I talked to these guys this week about, ‘We’ve got to do simple better,’” Pagano said in his first comments since the coaching shakeup. “And what is simple — it’s fundamentals of covering. It’s tackling. It’s communicating. It’s catching the ball when it comes to you.”

Taking over a defense with six games left in the regular season for an Oakland team still hoping to make the playoffs might not allow Pagano to make sweeping changes right away. In terms of personnel, Pagano said the “same guys are going to go get it” beginning Sunday at home against the Broncos.

Asked how the defense might look different under him, though, Pagano gave a list of areas to address.

“We just have to go out and we have to play better,” Pagano said. “We have to coach better. We have to do a lot of things different. We have to create turnovers. I think that’s the biggest thing missing from any defense.

“You have to get off the field on third down. We have to go out there and affect the quarterback and make him uncomfortable. And I think when those things happen, it gives you that confidence to keep doing the things that you want to do.”

The Chargers’ defense was opportunistic last season under Pagano, tying for the league lead with 18 interceptions. The Raiders have zero interceptions through 10 games and six takeaways total, part of their minus-9 turnover margin that Del Rio cited as a major factor in their record.

Pagano, whose primary focus this season has been the secondary, said he thinks the defensive backs who have been available have “adjusted well” to injuries in the group but still must do a better job of finishing plays.

“It’s the opportunities that we’ve missed,” Pagano said. “It started with Week 1 having two (potential interceptions) that went right through our hands — not like a tough play here and there, just catching.

“You’ve just got to make those plays when they come to you.”

The Raiders, despite having Defensive Player of the Year Khalil Mack rushing off the edge, also are tied for the fewest sacks in the NFL with 14, after finishing last in that category last season. Pagano again attributed that number to “opportunities.”

“We’ve had ample opportunities,” Pagano said. “It comes down to finishing. We talk about it all week. Anytime you get the opportunity to get the quarterback, it’s, ‘A guy fell here, a guy missed here, that opportunity to get him down.’

“It goes the same way with our turnovers. Ball’s on the ground last week (against the Patriots), we’ve got three guys standing over it, we’ve got to jump on it. It changes the game.”

Head coach Jack Del Rio stated this week that he wants the Raiders’ defense to play “faster” than it did under Norton. Pagano was asked how that might be achieved.

“I think the one thing we’re trying to truly establish — and I think the main thing is you’ve got to do it in a couple of days — you’ve got to play with confidence,” Pagano said. “You’ve got to have that ability of going out there, knowing your assignment and playing faster.

“There’s been times that we’ve simplified things. But taking the thinking out of the game and making (the players) react is I think most important. Going out there and playing fast — that’s doing the little extra things of attention to detail, studying and getting those things processed. See ball, go get ball.”

Matt Kawahara is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mkawahara@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @matthewkawahara

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[sportsandfitnessinfo]

New Post has been published on http://fitnessandhealthpros.com/fitness/your-unapologetically-strong-coaching-questions-answered/

Your Unapologetically Strong Coaching Questions, Answered

OK, hunker down, friends, because I’ve got a lot of info coming your way. I have been asked many questions about the new Unapologetically Strong Coaching program, and honestly, the enthusiasm I’ve seen from those who have already snagged a spot on the team is so, so thrilling.

Below are the answers to your most commonly asked questions so let’s get to it! Here we go!

Q: Is this program only for powerlifting?

A: Nope! This is the kick off of the brand-new Unapologetically Strong Coaching group, and the choice to pursue either powerlifting or foundational strength is entirely up to you

Q: When does the program start?

A: We are off and running Monday, April 3rd. (No time like the present!)

Q: How long does it run?

A: Your program runs for 12 weeks, and your initial commitment is for 3 months. After your that, if you’re interested in staying on to continue training for either powerlifting or foundational strength (you can definitely switch from one to the other after your initial program completion), you will have the option to stay on a month-to-month basis.

Q: When does registration close?

A: Registration closes at midnight on Friday, March 31st.

Q: Is the program in person or online?

A: It is all online! I have a strong desire to bring the sense of community and teamwork we’ve built through our results-based training method at The Movement Minneapolis to people who aren’t based in the Twin Cities (AKA people who don’t like winter much).

Q: What is the difference between the powerlifting program and the foundational strength program?

A: Unapologetically Powerful is a 12-week powerlifting program for beginner to early-intermediate lifters that will expand your strength and refine your technique in the squat, deadlift, and bench. It will also peak you to test your 1RM in those three lifts, whether you are signed up to compete in a meet or not.

Bedrock Strength is a 12-week strength program for trainees of all levels where you will build an unbreakable foundation by increasing our strength and mobility in all planes of motion.

Q: What if I’m pretty new to strength training? Will either program be too much for me?

A: Nope! New lifters can choose between the Unapologetically Powerful Beginner Training Program or Bedrock Strength. Both place a large focus on grooving the movement patterns for the squat, press, and deadlift. People relatively new to strength training are encouraged to participate — don’t feel like you have to have years of experience in the weight room.

That said, it is best to have at least a basic understanding of deadlift and squat patterns already (regardless of equipment used). While you will be given weekly feedback based on your video submissions, it’s tougher to teach the patterns from scratch without being live and in person. I always recommend working with a trainer in person to get at least a rudimentary understanding of strength-training fundamentals first.

That said, if you have at least some experience with those two basic patterns, you’ll thrive in this group. And, you’ll have access to a coach (me! holler!) who will be there to improve your movement quality every step of the way.

Q: I’ve been strength training for years, is the program advanced enough for me?

A: It very likely is, yes. Because the programs teach you our intuitive training protocol, you are ultimately in charge of determining your own training volume, density, and intensity, which is extremely helpful for beginners and veterans alike.

Q: Do I need to have access to a gym or can I do the workouts from home?

A: There is quite a bit of barbell work built into these programs and most definitely in the Unapologetically Powerful program. Whether you lift at home or at the gym, barbells, weight plates, and a power rack will be required equipment if you want to powerlift. You will also be working with other small pieces of equipment, such as dumbbells and resistance bands, so having access to a fully stocked gym will make doing the program easier.

Q: How much time commitment is expected?

A: Bedrock Strength is a 3 days per week program and Unapologetically Powerful is 3-4 days.  You can expect your workouts to last between 60-90 minutes.

Our main form of communication will be in our private group on Facebook. You will want to check that at least once a day to get daily messages from me, see what other people are chatting about, and to post your own questions.

A large part of the coaching aspect of Unapologetically Strong is to improve your proficiency in your big lifts, like your squat and your deadlift, and upper body pressing movements. Because of that, you will be asked to post videos weekly videos of your lifts so that I can offer you tweaks and tips for the next time you head to the gym.

So, yes, you will be putting in some work! But it’s what you’re here for, yes? The more involved you are with the group, the more benefits you will reap.

Q: Is there a nutrition component to Unapologetically Strong?

A: Eating For Performance nutrition lessons will be provided by holistic nutritionist Steph Gaudreau, of Stupid Easy Paleo, and you definitely won’t want to miss that! (And don’t let the word “paleo” deter you: for this program, we’re definitely “paleo-ish,” and also, it must be said, we do not eliminate or criminalize any macronutrient, particularly carbs. Mmmm, carbs!)

Q: What if I’m recovering from an injury, can I still participate?

A: You can, but I wouldn’t advise it.

If you’re dealing with the sort of injury that you truly believe you can work through without detriment, we will need a copy of your doctor’s release attached to the health intake form. I will help you find modifications for any movement to make it more accessible to you.

This a great place to put in the following disclaimer, however: I am not a doctor and will not diagnose or treat any condition. If needed, I will refer you to a medical professional. And, while my scope allows me to give variations that help work around pain, I advise seeking out a physical therapist who can work with you to resolve specific pain issues.

Q: My main goal is to lose weight. Is this the program right for me?

A: Probably not. The main thrust of this program is growing the heck out of your total-body strength and improving your movement proficiency in the Big Three, so we won’t be talking a lot about weight loss.

Our focus will be on unleashing the radass that lives inside you, and the addition of Steph Gaudreau’s lessons, recipes, and webinars will help you learn how adjust your nutritional needs to your inner burgeoning athlete.

That said, you may lose weight on the program, or at the very least, decrease body fat (hey, scale weight means nothing compared to body composition).

Q: What type of results can I expect in 12 weeks?

A: So much stuff! Between all of the programs, your mobility, strength, and power are addressed. You can expect with consistent training frequency, your strength levels will go through the roof.

I will also teach you how to follow your own body and to listen to the cues it’s giving you. Combine that with progressive overload by introducing your body to new stimuli — whether it’s in the form of heavier weights, more reps, or moving faster — will ensure that your results don’t plateau.

You can also expect to make lifelong friendships with the other members of US Coaching. Remember, you’ll have a whole team of lifters cheering you on from the start to the very finish.

Stronger and more powerful in 12 weeks, with new friends? Yes, please!

Q: Do I need a Facebook account?

A: Yes. But if you’re not into sharing funny cat videos and Buzzfeed quizzes, you can simply create an account (with a pseudonym, if you wish!) for the duration of the coaching program, not “friend” anybody, and only belong to our coaching group.

Q: What do I get when I sign up for Unapologetically Strong Coaching?

A: Unapologetically Strong Coaching includes:

A minimum 12 weeks of coaching for people who want to increase their strength, power, and confidence in a supportive, team-atmosphere, community.

Daily coaching, support, and accountability to keep you on track and consistent.

A private Facebook group exclusively for coaching clients.

Detailed feedback from me based off your video submissions so that every time you head into the gym you’re confident in your knowledge of how to complete the assigned lifts safely and effectively.

Weekly check-in emails from me, where I will detail the weekly coaching focus and distribute recipes and shopping lists from Steph Gaudreau of Stupid Easy Paleo.

Q:    Does the program include a meal plan?

A: No, you don’t get a meal plan with Unapologetically Strong Coaching. We don’t do the one-size-fits-all prescriptive plan thing, but you will receive new recipes every week (shopping list included) for foods that will support your activity levels.

Q: Why buy coaching? Can’t I read some online articles for free?

A: Yes, of course. There is plenty of quality info out there for you, and you could very well take the time to sort through it, experiment with it, see if it works, take what works and discard what doesn’t and keep experimenting. It would be a lot of work, but you could do it.

But if you truly want to become a better lifter, you need to have a coach, if even for a short period. (I even have one myself and she is terrific!) You can only take yourself so far before you need another set of eyes on you that can identify your weak points and help you shore them up. A really great article or book may inspire you to create change, but the stickiest, most transformative changes tend to come from working with another human.

Q: There are so many different online coaching programs out there — what makes Unapologetically Strong Coaching different?

A: The most important thing I do is introduce you to the concept of intuitive training, so that you can learn how to improve your strength without beating up your body. The end goal is for you to know enough about your body to progress your training and sustain your healthy eating habits on your own. If that doesn’t set this program apart, I don’t know what does!

This won’t be an “on the program” or “off the program” situation. Once you have the concept practiced and down, it will stick with you for life.

You’ll also have a highly committed coach (that’s me!) and your teammates looking out for you, encouraging you, and celebrating you. You could go purchase a cookie-cutter program and try to work through it on your own, but what fun is that?!

Years of experience have taught me that working alongside a patient and empathetic coach and peers with common goals can makes things easier and more fun than you thought possible, while also helping fast-track your progress.

Q: I still have more questions, how can I find out more?

A: Leave your question in the comments below or head HERE and let’s talk it out! I would love to hear from you.

Originally at :Fitness – Thrive with Jen Sinkler Written By : Jennifer Blake

#Answered, #Coaching, #Questions, #Strong, #Unapologetically #Fitness

[nuttyhologramgoatee-blog]

The 2 Real Reasons CrossFit WonТt Work Anymore

Anybody who remembers the Сgood olТ daysТ (prebok), understands things i mean when i state it СwonТt work anymore.Т Those that have existed for long enough have watched the flood of newcomers, rapidly diluting the pool of quality, and giving CrossFit a bad name.

I know, cry, cryЕ

The issue using the Сcream will rise for the topТ philosophy is it only works if the consumer recognizes the cream. Although the consumer canТtЕ for the reason that consumer is usually a regular individual who has no freakinТ idea whether theyТre checking out a thick, delicious, cold layer of cream or perhaps a half-full protein shaker that sat beneath your car seat to get a week last summer. Choose wisely.

УWe have the best coaches. The best programming! An amazing community! A clean facility! Great equipment!Ф

Yeah, thatТs what everyoneТs website says, and everybody saying it is equivalent to no-one saying it.

No gym plasters УWe have a filthy gym plus a disgusting bathroom, with terrible coaches and a number of people no-one likes!!Ф on the homepage.

The buyer might go to a few gyms, looking around if theyТre motivated to that particular degree, doing their research. So how is it really deciding?

Many times they just go to the cheapest gym across the street to try out СCrossFit,Т run by an unaffiliated bootcamp trainer who just obtained a brand-spankin-new set of TRX bands. УWeТre doing circuit training today guys!Ф (insert annoying trainer voice).

Or even worse, they check out an affiliated gym thatТs having a groupon-special, gets thrown to the wolves, and so on day 1 is told to work a 400m backwards, through traffic, holding a 45# plate overhead. Eaten alive. (BTW to Rx the run you need to have eyes closed #getsome).

Nearly everyone I speak to nowadays has read about CrossFit; I havenТt met anyone without having an opinion.

What is your opinion is the very first thing they say for me? You already knowЕ

УCrossFit is simply too dangerousФ

How did they are offered to this sort of conclusion? Maybe off their own experience, or from someone they understand, or possibly a meme they saw, or a story they once read somewhere. The source doesnТt matter! Around IТd prefer to argue their opinion (fact in their mind), I canТt. TheyТre set. So IТm stuck with seeking to convince themЕ УBut weТre different! I SWEAR!Ф IТve learned never to waste my breath anymore.

Recently I began BJJ up again after a few years off, and inevitably I become asked what I do for the livingЕ

Oh IТm a coach, I own a gymФ

Like a CrossFit gym?Ф

Yeah, we have an affiliation, but perform things a little bit differently than most.Т

Oh cool, yeah, anyway, CrossFit is too dangerous in my opinion, my brother-in-law made it happen for awhile but were required to stop as he was always injured. HeТs doing Orange Theory now. Have you ever heard of heartrate training? ItТs revolutionary.Ф

*groan*

Everyone thinks they may have learned what СCrossFitТ is all about.

They donТt. By any means.

However they THINK they generally do. And thatТs the situation.

Consider it. Once you forcefully punch someone inside the mouth, itТs difficult to make friends with them again. Once someone explodes their shoulder doing something dumb, itТs challenging to convince them to try it again. TheyТre traumatized. I would be too. In reality, I wasЕ I ruptured my achilles in the year 2011 during the openЕ I used to be emotionally scarred for some time. Think of it weakness, call it whatever, having said that i didnТt perform a box jump for two years.

There are several gyms that things right. Really. Maybe you visit one, or coach at one. Or OWN one. But theyТre becoming more uncommon. And a number of the good ones are closing down or changing their names.

DonТt trust me? The amount of gyms can you think of who have rebranded, or changed names? Why they have done that? IТve asked many of them and it comes down to public perception. This isnТt even addressing the gyms which can be being offered or closing down. I personally know a few burnt out owners that have ditched it all.

The problem with public perception is the good gyms are being lumped together with the negative gyms (majority).

Most gyms have no clue how you can do programming. Most donТt have clue about energy systems or their intelligent utilization in program design. They are doing not use programming templates. They actually do not adequately progress their athletes (or offer a Method Of PROGRESSION). They actually do not focus on proper, smart safety rules (letting everyone kip their asses off on day 1). They actually do not build fundamental muscular balance in their clients. Their list goes on.

What does everything mean? This means those gyms are simply just being irresponsible, and giving everybody else a poor name.

ThatТs Reason 1: The dilution of great training/coaches/gyms with bad ones who have not really turned Сprofessional.Т That dilution then changes public perception, by polluting your mind from the Сregular person,Т who then has conversations with me in jiujitsu class about their injured brother-in-law.

To Reason 2: The legitimate concern of Overtraining and Injury within the fitness community.

Most of the time, stupidity plays a primary role in. And when I say Сstupidity,Т I am talking about basic human nature, or rather, ego.

I consider myself an effective coach, and several times IТve scaled someone down, or told them to Сshut it downТ for the day, turned my back for 3 seconds and suddenly theyТve turned into the hunch back of notre dame across a 400lb deadlift wrenching that sucker track of a jerking, twisting motion.

УCall an ambulance.Ф

The ego, and the urge to get better, is really a strong force. Sometimes overwhelmingly strong. Was that CrossFitТs fault? Will it be the fault from the car that the drunk driver got behind the wheel and slammed into an oncoming car? Of course not, but itТs simpler to blame, isnТt it? IТve seen the ego manifest in myself yet others countless times. Usually overtraining and injury donТt happen overnight. ItТs a progression.

It is something similar to this:

1) Oh, this fitness thing is cool, IТm annihalated each day!Е I think IТll upgrade to unlimited are available 6 times a week in order to be really lean for summer!

2) Man, my shoulder continues to be bugging me lately and I havenТt been sleeping perfectly. Plus IТm really irritable at all times.

3) Jeez, regardless how much I workout I recently canТt do away with this layer of fat around my belly button. IТm gonna start doing Fran 3x every week to up my intensity.

4) My shoulder continues to be bothering us a lot, now my hip is hurting too! I wake up so stiff and canТt even sit crosslegged on the floor anymore. IТm only 28 years of age, wtf!

5) Hey Coach, I simply tore my Уinsert tendon/ligament/muscle,Ф IТm gonna have to take a while off, surgical treatment is scheduled for next week.

Most fitness enthusiasts train excessive.

Let me be a little more specific, the majority of them have no idea that killing themselves everyday is not really the ideal strategy to make progress and have more fit.

Obvious right? But, youТd be surprised how so many people are dependent on the adrenaline dump of your truly max lactic endurance effort.

This relies on the gymТs responsibility to teach the buyer, and effectively balance training load. Coaches need so as to clearly explain the point and reasoning behind every piece from the program. When they canТt, chances are they donТt understand what theyТre doing, and so they shouldnТt be responsible for the physical fitness 100 people.

Primum non nocere.

The situation of injury relies on inadequate attention on recovery and muscular balance (and stupidity naturally, like once i ruptured my achilles after weeks of ignoring symptoms. УItТll be fiiiineeeФ). This is an section of contention, and several coaches feel that a focus on recovery and balance is secondary. But without a gym-wide center on them (culture), men and women will get injured, because people are people.

I assist clients each day. For hours on end. Everyone seems to be incredibly tight, around. They sit at a desk throughout the day. They donТt yet know very well what itТs want to be truly In Your Body. Connected. They just use themselves as a method of brain-transportation. They sit for 7 hours, just like should they just got off a non-stop flight from Maine to California, and most gyms will spend 5-10 mins on mobility (if theyТre lucky) without any time at all on foundational balance work.

What exactly is 5-10-20 minutes gonna do? Nothing, not much of a damn thing. TheyТre stiff, tight, filled with tension, and come in from sitting all dayЕ right into a max effort workout theyТve been nervous about since their 4-eggs, bacon, and bulletproof-coffee-breakfast. Physiologically, all this becomes life and death. This can be a problem on a muscular and hormonal level. So many people are highly, and chronically, stressed. Loading them down and forcing that adaptation, expressing everything force through locked-down muscles and joints, is rather foolish.

Fran again today guys. LetТs go! CRUSH IT! CRUSSHHH ITTT!

Oh, what have we created? And the way should we correct it?

The answers are pretty straight forward:

Educate and balance, and make certain that itТs all Built In this software. ThatТs our responsibility. Because only a tiny part of men and women do anything by themselves. And simply a small part of a fraction is going to do anything good by themselves, unless theyТre taught to get it done, after which provided an environment where it occurs automatically.

At Level Method Gym weТve put extensive concentrate on all of these things. We look at the WHOLE person, from start to finish, our class is constructed to provide BALANCE. It offers extensive flexibility/mobility protocols, breathing protocols, individualized gymnastic resistance training progressions (in most classes), the revolutionary Level Means for progressing and managing group athletes, and purposeful (and published) energy system based training templates, plus 90% of the members know (both conceptually as well as in practice) what energy systems are and the way THEY FEEL.

ItТs time and energy to face the tunes. CrossFit wonТt work anymore, because itТs will no longer just what it was. ItТs now something different because, eventually, perception is reality.

Adjust as required, folks.