#its january of 2016 and i scheduled this to be posted in the week where i have all my final exams lets see if this works

[dansnaturepictures]

My eighth wildlife and wildlife and photography highlights of 2020 blog-Our trip to Devon and Cornwall in August        

Dipper, Chough, Manx Shearwater and more 

You may recall that a permanent fixture in these highlights blogs every year has been our trips to Rutland Water to attend the British Birdwatching Fair. The organisers took a correct, timely and classy decision to cancel it this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It would have not been possible to do safely this year given the nature, popularity and international scope of the event. I did miss going to Rutland it was my first summer since 2007 I didn’t go to Rutland or the wider East Midlands, but I enjoyed where I could getting involved and also donating to the virtual Bird Fair they held instead which by checking the schedules and watching talks and things I felt very much the same exciting vibes I got going to the Bird Fair every year since I was kid.

But I still had the Friday and Monday booked off work for when it would have been on. So as restrictions allowed us at that stage we booked to go to Devon for three nights to visit certain West Country wildlife rich and beautiful locations we knew. Something I felt very excited about I do love this area of the country what a bonus to get to go back after doing so last September going to Cornwall and this and last January in Gloucestershire my last trip away. It was nice to just stay somewhere else other than home for the first time in five months for me safely. On the way on the Friday in and out of sunshine we took in wonderful views of the countryside, most notably seeing the famous Stonehenge in Wiltshire a place I had seen before from the car but I had never managed or even really tried to photograph it so I did that that day I just managed to get my camera ready in time to take pictures of it through the car window including the first in this photoset a fun moment making me excited for my next West Country adventure it’s such a great staging post in any journey there.

When we arrived and settled into the lovely cottage we stayed in in a working farm environment, we ventured to three lovely lakes in a nice light evening they have here. It was such a beautiful walk, I took in brilliant views over this typical Devon countryside which I love. It was particularly a very nice night of flowers and insects a botanist’s dream a little bit, we saw so many wonderful flowers including late foxgloves in the rain, lovely rosebay willowherb, some striking orange and pink ones nice to see them with raindrops on and insects flying around. The orange ones I found out later on were montbretia. As we drove in on a day that had its fair share of rain it was comical to see little makeshift “rivers” flowing along the roads and lanes so it was nice to capture this in a photo too. During the walk it rained that night just a bit and the sun shone, I looked over the fields seeing the dark clouds behind and thought to myself that’s where the rainbow will go and I said that to my Mum and like happened earlier this year surely enough a rainbow did then appear right on that patch and it looked glorious I took the second picture in this photoset of it. A nice addition to my best ever year of rainbows fittingly given what they came to mean in 2020 and a beautiful start to the holiday I felt very relaxed that day especially compared to weeks that proceeded it. I also saw a couple of Wrens that night which was very nice as I felt in the heart of Devon countryside I really tasted that in a sense and embraced by it. A lovely moth a Yellow-barred Brindle came in that night showing good continuity from them coming in at home the weeks leading up to the trip away.

We started the Saturday away with a walk up the lane from where we’re staying, it started rainy and then got sunny, we enjoyed some stunning Devonshire views of lovely countryside which was a great start to the day alongside being very relaxed at being away and excited. On this walk like I did throughout the day I saw more rosebay willowherb. As the sun really came out I was delighted to see beautiful Swallows flying very close overhead and landing on the wire, a special moment with a great bird. A young Robin outside the cottage was very lovely to see and I saw and photographed one at Fingle Bridge later on that day which was memorable. I also saw nice butterflies Speckled Wood and Large White on this walk. I took third picture in this photoset of a view on this walk.

We then went to Fingle Bridge the main place we wanted to come this trip away to search for one of my favourite birds the Dipper. Here it was nice to see Grey Wagtail, Red Admiral, Large White and Southern Hawker as we took in stunning views of a beautiful habitat I love so much gushing water flowing over rocks through a valley in the woods a habitat I find very delicious. I also felt I went back in time and saw some Silver-washed Fritillaries strong butterflies for the habitat one who’s season had long since ended at home in Hampshire. Whilst in Hampshire as I said in my last highlights blog at this stage I was taking in lots of sights and signs of autumn there were only some with one tree in autumn colour here. The flower sightings the night before and that day showed the season in Devon was slightly behind and a little more how the year normally unfolds actually.

Our quest to see a Dipper at Fingle Bridge after walking around was beginning to look a bit fruitless, but I kept saying we must never give up and all we needed was a moment of magic to see one. Luck changes in seconds with these birds. We came across an angler who we spoke to at a safe social distance as we were eating one or two wild raspberries and he had some too and I had some blackberries further on. We asked if he’d seen a Dipper on his travels and he had as well as Kingfisher too the Dipper recently and he told us roughly how far along. It was a very pleasant chat. We walked on checking the river at all times and we saw a Dipper! Very likely the same one. That one moment had happened and I felt so happy. We got brilliant views of it on the rocks in the water and it was very interesting to see it flying as I had done before and see it swimming a bit which I never had before really in the flesh. I got my first photo of an adult Dipper since 2014 the fourth in this photoset, we had seen the bird we had come for as we had here in 2015 which meant it was mission accomplished and we could feel anything that happened on the trip now was a bonus and it was a relief to see this my 12th ever occasion of seeing a Dipper.

It was quite an emotional moment really. 2020 looked like a year we could possibly see a Dipper when we went to North Wales in June we had the right habitat and had locations where we looked for them there in 2016 but that was rightly postponed due to the virus at that stage. I then thought and even said I would not see a Dipper this year and I accepted that. But then the Bird Fair was also cancelled and we managed to sneak a staying-away trip in to this area we love so much and Dipper was the bird we’d come for and we’d managed it which I loved. It was very thrilling to see this bird. 10 years on in very similar habitat (My first ever Dipper was at Exmoor’s Watersmeet which Fingle Bridge is like a Dartmoor version of) from seeing my first Dipper I was reminded why they are one of my favourite birds and how much I love it. Interestingly during my last time off work for more than one day before this my hot week off of day trips in Hampshire and most notably surrounding counties to it in June, on the Friday I watched Julia Bradbury’s ‘Walks with a View’ programme I think repeated where she walked Lynmouth to Watersmeet as part of her walk that episode and saw Dippers which made me very nostalgic this before I knew we’d get to go to Devon so it just made me feel very nice that. Year list wise it was a very important milestone being my 170th bird of 2020. A worthy bird to be the milestone which made me very happy. Equally I didn’t know if I’d reach 170 birds this year it’s been a crazy and restrictive (for the best for us all of course) year a figure it always feels smashing and I am proud to reach I’ve only achieved it six times so I felt happy. I came away once again with a very good impression of Fingle Bridge what a fantastic place it is, the woods and river habitat I just love so much. There’s also lots of nice picnic areas it’s a typical National Trust place so it was nice to see lots of people safely enjoying time outside this August it gave me great holiday vibes.

We then moved into Meldon Reservoir. At Fingle Bridge I had some therapeutic moments listening to and watching the water gush over rocks and falls, and I had very much the same here but in a different more open setting perhaps. Here I simply took in some of the greatest views I’ve seen this trip and this year so far it was exceptional. Typical national park views within Dartmoor. I had never seen anything like it being at a reservoir and dam really and walking along it. It was a wonderful walk through breathtaking countryside. I took the fifth picture in this photoset from here I enjoyed taking pictures there so much. I even managed a dip in the river myself when it turned out the circular route we did meant we had to cross a tributary to the stream a lovely holiday moment for the weekend. I saw Dartmoor ponies here and some Jackdaws which was nice. Being at a dam was so good also as I have seen in my previous visits especially north/mid Devon ones we can learn a lot from the South West about how to use renewable energy and put it into the landscape a wind turbine was visible in the distance too. Its landscape features so good for this. I know there are other uses for the reservoir obviously. So I really saw that up close and personal it’s something that has interested me since school renewable energy use and obviously we should all be interested in so I found that great that day. This was a walk at Meldon reservoir that really allowed me to take in great views and absolutely tire myself out which is what it’s all about for me. That day I also set my record for photos produced in one day producing over 60 which I would emulate the next day and in my Norfolk and Bushy Park trips this year.

On the Sunday we did something that was a surprise idea and something we did not expect to at all this long weekend, and made the trek from where we’re staying near to Oakhampton, Devon to Cape Cornwall and Botallack in the vicinity of Land’s End in Cornwall two standout locations of our wild Cornish September 2019 holiday to see if we could see two star birds there that we did last year which I wouldn’t see anywhere else this year another of my favourites the Chough and a favourite bird B lister for me the Manx Shearwater. Since 2016 the beginning of my working life holidays particularly as well as all time off have increased in importance for me with long summer holidays and the like no longer something I can enjoy. And the lineups in each year since, particularly 2018 and 2019 although 2017 taking in locations we already know well was good too have been amazing with so many memorable trips away from home and smashing stuff happening in them wildlife and landscape dominated and mostly both. In my 2019 holidays particularly the last to Cornwall I really realised how content I was going away to different locations in my own country and doing what I love wildlife watching and photography. So places like these I took to my heart. When we left Cornwall, doing a second trip to Cape Cornwall mostly to walk the dogs before we left due to practicalities and because we loved it so much, I sort of thought I treasured these places so much and I wouldn’t see them again for another three or four years if I was lucky. I said to my Dad before coming away at the possibility of if we didn’t see a Dipper the day before which we did in the end at Fingle Bridge in Devon our main bird target, maybe crossing the Cornish border to go to Boscastle where we’ve seen them before a little bit into Cornwall that would feel strange in a good way returning to Cornwall so soon. But to actually be going to the places we were at last year right at the end of Cornwall, in this crazy rollercoaster of a year was something else.

The day started in a wild way as I saw and photographed a spider in the bath in the cottage we stayed in a similar one to one I got a memorable photo of in my en suite at home on the second May bank holiday Monday. After a nice journey there as the sun came out which felt like going to Anglesey when we stayed in Snowdonia in 2016 for scale of a big journey within time away, in which we saw lots of birds of prey like Buzzard, Kestrel and maybe a Peregrine, we got here and took in stunning views of the dramatic coast in the sun and peak purple heather everywhere and reacquainted ourselves with the beautiful place Cape Cornwall. We did the same with the wildlife, seeing scores of Gannets young and old, Fulmar, Shag, Oystercatcher, Turnstone, get intimate moments with Herring and Great Black Backed Gulls, see another Buzzard and also see a little moth and a cricket which was nice. I enjoyed nice flowers there that day too.

I also saw a decent few butterflies at Cape Cornwall in perhaps the hottest weather we had all trip. It was nice for it to be and feel so hot and sunny after a wet start in Devon for us that day. This included Small Tortoiseshell, some Common Blues and most notably a smashing view of a Wall Brown. I finally got to see one and really make out its features this year one I had had two occasions of quick and flighty and quite distant views of prior to this point in 2020. I very much enjoyed seeing this beautiful mostly coastal butterfly for us up close and I liked taking a picture of it with my big lens with its wings closed.

At this stage in the walk like the Dipper the day before we had not seen a Chough and we were rather making hard work of doing so. I joked we were chuffed to see a Dipper that day’s yesterday but were we going to dip (out) on Chough today (to those who don’t know, “dip out” is a birdwatching term to mean you have missed seeing the bird you are looking for). But I kept the same motto as the day before, we must stay positive and focused as it only took one moment for it to happen.

On the way back to the car at Cape Cornwall that day we got that moment. The one thing had concerned me compared to two visits here last September was we had not heard the distinctive call of this scarlet-billed crow at all which we had a lot here last year. The Chough is a bird you’ve really got to be hearing before you can even think about seeing one. As we walked up the hill I heard two finally, and turned around and there were two black birds flying from where the call was made. I got them in the binoculars but could not quite see their beaks properly. My Mum had just about seen the shape of them but not the red colour and thought Chough. I needed that little bit more convincing as similarly sounding Jackdaws were by the shore to the left of where we were looking moments before so could have easily rose up. They looked more right for Choughs though and we walked back in the direction of the lower reaches of the hill where we’d seen them last year. Here we managed to see them again sitting on the cliff and the pair flew frequently, but we saw their red beaks and were in no doubt now they were Choughs. We enjoyed a glorious few minutes with these precious birds we really did get so close to them, I felt very happy to see and hear them. Once again this weekend away patience had paid off. I took the sixth picture in this photoset of one of the Choughs at Cape Cornwall that day.

As bird 171 in my year it did make me happy and made my year list at that stage my third highest compared to what I had seen on this date in previous years behind 2018 and 2019 my two highest ever year lists. It also marked the first time I saw one as one of my favourite birds which was nice, I had always been fond of them throughout my birdwatching but last September after the holiday I added it to my list of favourites. There’s was only at that stage six of my current list of favourite birds I was yet to see as I mentioned in my favourite birds highlights post in this thread, six I know I have not visited any locations I could see them or are just very hard ones to see so I did very well for seeing them this year. We left Cape Cornwall once more feeling very satisfied indeed. I also enjoyed seeing more great rock samphire at Cape Cornwall that day alongside other nice flowers.

We then moved onto Botallack and had a lovely covid-secure takeaway cream tea to eat on benches I always say you have got to have a cream tea if you come to the West Country and between this and a Devonshire one waiting for us when we arrived at this cottage on the Friday we had a Devon and Cornwall one ultimately. It was amazing how the National Trust made it so safe to enjoy their facilities in terms of the pandemic I was impressed. At Botallack it started to cloud over as the weather forecast suggested but as the visit went on we saw quite a bit of the sun as well. It also looked very purple here perhaps compared to when we came last a few weeks later in the year last year into September thanks to the flowering heather. This meant three of favourite habitats were combined this weekend away, heather, coast and water flowing through a rocky valley in woods over steep gradients and three of my most beautiful places to be. It was more of the same bird wise at Botallack with Choughs delightfully seen again over the café’s area and over the sea, Jackdaws, Buzzard again showing well and a Raven seen sitting on the central chimney for a very long time which was great to see it’s always a great spot for different types of crows here. I took the seventh picture in this photoset of a nice heather and coastal view here today.

We were here mostly to try and sneak in seeing a Manx Shearwater as we did last year and my Mum and her partner has the last two years here, a bird we did not expect to see at all this year. We studied Gannets flying right to left across the sea as the day rolled on; we did wonder if we were too early to see a Manx Shearwater and we would have had more luck in September as we did all across this part of Cornwall las year. But we did just manage to see a few Manx Shearwaters flying over with the Gannets, making out their features. It was not my best ever views of this bird but it was good enough and meant I could tick them and enjoy seeing them a little. Whilst looking at the Buzzard and more Choughs it was a really nice atmosphere of arriving here and waiting until a point in early evening to see if we could see any quite magical really. The sea remained calm but perhaps the day got a little rougher and it was a weird sensation after weather at this stage after hot days being a bit cold this evening. I ended the day on 172 birds seen in 2020 something I reached in July the last two years so I am not too far behind really. I took some interesting photos of the views of the sea and cliffs through a makeshift window  which stood out– a gap in the buildings of the distinctive old tin mine fixtures which define this area and make it quite charming.

I took the eighth picture in this photoset of a lowering sun behind trees visible from the cottage when we returned that evening. This ended two really packed full days away that weekend and I loved being away so much. A perfect substitution to being at the Bird Fair, what a way to spend a summer weekend it did feel so hot and summery that weekend with okay some rain in places and I felt very happy and relaxed. I saw some top-class wildlife birds especially but butterflies and flowers too alongside other things and took in some varied and breathtaking views. Meeting some great people at a safe social distance along the way! So many photos produced again possibly some of my highest amounts ever each day and so many top memories made little and big.

With these memories strongly in my mind as we prepared to return home on the Monday I took one last walk around the area the cottage was in that had three lovely lakes where we had walked on the Friday evening. Like that walk I enjoyed seeing flowers (Yellow dahlias different colour to the ones I enjoyed in our garden so much this year, foxgloves, rosebay willowherb and some other lovely orange summer flowers we saw all over the south west that weekend I believe montbretia), insects some horsefly type things and a common blue damselfly and a nice view of a Wren and Swallow before we left.

We had a bit of a disaster leaving when the roof box for our luggage on the car’s key section broke so it could not be locked. With the help and advice of some very kind people at the farm we stayed, the postman who happened to come by quite charming for a rural area and in the post office at Bridestowe a local village we managed to arrange a makeshift tie down of the box using some rope ties and some newspaper ties and parcel tape from the post office shop there. We had to be resourceful but this type of thing can be what holidays are all about in terms of memories. I took in some views of this picturesque village of Bridestowe and saw a Woodpigeon, Collated Dove, Jackdaws and House Martins whilst there. Quite an adventure.

What followed was effectively a safari through the beautiful Dartmoor National Park as it was one of those sunny and rainy days getting a fair amount of each. We took in the stunning and uniquely carved out landscape, I took pictures of it from the car and at a little stop. On the stop we saw some of the hardy Dartmoor ponies of different colours too which was great I took the ninth photo in this set of one I enjoyed this. We then arrived at a planned stopover point to have a little walk from before travelling home, Dartmeet on the banks of the dart where we’d come in 2015 another very nice river through woods habitat similar to Fingle Bridge where went on the Saturday. We walked one way through rain and sun taking in stunning views along the river and were happy to find Dart Valley nature reserve and we walked along there. I took the tenth and final picture in this photoset there.

After eating lunch in the car park area through sun and rain once more we walked the other way through a heath. More stunning views were on offer here and then the walk came alive for wildlife sightings. We saw a Sparrowhawk chasing a Swallow which noisily tried to see it off, when looking at it I noticed a lovely common lizard sat on a little rockface it gave a great view but I was not quite fast enough for a picture. I noticed loads more of the little things of nature on the walk like a lovely spider on a hard to see web that looked as though it was skating in the air to get from bit of heather to heather therefore. Bees and Beautiful Demoiselles as we had seen the other side of the river completed this. Perhaps the stage was stolen though by another of my favourite dragon and damselflies when a Golden-ringed Dragonfly flew along flying right at us and then along we got a cracking view of this. Then a Buzzard a star bird of our weekend flew over too. On the way home we drove past the beautiful Postbridge in Dartmoor in the lovely cottage we stayed in there was a homely picture of this hung up.

This made a pleasant end to the journey of this weekend away for us taking in some of the key habitat of this weekend that breathtaking river through woods over steep gradients in the land area and the Dartmoor landscape. What a fantastic weekend away we had, some of the best, most enjoyable and memorable times this summer and year for me for relaxing, walking, wildlife watching and photography. As I said we did and saw so much and I loved every minute of it well worth how excited I was for the weekend away it lived up to it well.

We had a fun moment on the way home still in Devon seeing some lovely Cattle Egrets in a field! A year tick on my birthday at WWT Slimbridge the last time we came to the West Country so this was very nice. In Dorset on the way home we went a different way to when we came we had a smashing view of some adorable Roe Deers on the roadside so the journey there and back had great points of interest.

[creepingsharia]

Michigan: Iranian immigrant engineer stole trade secrets, sent to brother in Iran, wife

Hasanzadeh’s brother worked at an entity affiliated with Iran’s cruise missile research. He also committed fraud and misuse of visas, permits and other documents by concealing his military affiliation in Iran from USCIS officials.

An Ypsilanti engineer and University of Michigan employee was arrested by the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division on Oct. 31 on suspicion of sending trade secrets to Iran, according to federal court records.

Amin Hasanzadeh is accused of stealing and sending confidential information to his brother, who is linked to Iranian missile research, federal agents said in court documents unsealed this week.

An affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Richard Foran supported a warrant charging Hasanzadeh with interstate transportation of stolen property, fraud and misuse of visas, permits or other documents. He’s accused of lying about serving in the Iranian military.

The federal government alleges Hasanzadeh knowingly and willfully stole confidential documents and technical data from his employer, which is not identified in the complaint, between January 2015 and June 2016.

Hasanzadeh, who was born in Iran and is a lawful, permanent resident of the United States, emailed those documents to multiple people, including his brother, Sina Hassanzadeh, in Iran, the complaint alleges.

The FBI declined further comment on the case. It wasn’t clear if the information Hasazadeh was sending to his brother could potentially contribute to weapons manufacturing.

Hasanzadeh appeared in federal court Wednesday after he was temporarily detained until a Friday bond hearing in Detroit. Court records do not name a lawyer for Hasanzadeh.

The complaint also alleges Hasanzadeh committed fraud and misuse of visas, permits and other documents by concealing his military affiliation in Iran from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service officials and providing false statements on his legal permanent resident and citizenship applications.

Hasanzadeh began working at the company as a senior hardware engineer in January 2015, according to the complaint. The company has domestic and international clients in the automotive and aerospace industries, according to court documents.

As a senior hardware engineer, Hasanzadeh was given access to the company’s highly sensitive, confidential and proprietary information in the form of schematics, layouts, designs, projects, diagrams, performance reports, in addition to other documents and data, according to the complaint.

Hasanzadeh also had access to work on two projects of significant value to the company, which was described as “a real-time supercomputer with applications that would include aerospace applications.” The project included non-public, confidential documents and research and development involving millions of dollars, the complaint alleges.

A senior hardware engineer from the company told authorities engineers like Hasanzadeh were not permitted to take work home and were not allowed to use personal email accounts to transfer data. The company protects its confidential and proprietary information by entering into non-disclosure agreements with its customers.

Hasanzadeh’s employment agreement also required that upon termination of his employment, he was to deliver all of the company’s property in his possession. The company received proprietary and trade secret documents from others, including its customers, according to the complaint.

Even before his employment with the company, the complaint alleges Hasanzadeh began communicating with his brother about his potential job in November 2014, according to federal agents. In December 2014, he emailed Sina Hassanzadeh a suggested reading list he received for his prospective employment with the company, which included technology architecture, specifications and platforms associated with the company.

“I believe, based on my training and experience, that Hasanzadeh was sending these emails (prior to employment) to identify that if he was hired as a hardware engineer, he would have access to technologies and projects of interest to Sina and/or Sina’s Iranian employers,” Foran said in the complaint.

After he was hired by the company, Hasanzadeh was assigned to projects containing highly sensitive, confidential documents that were subject to the company’s non-disclosure agreement. Just six days after he began working at the company, Hasanzadeh began covertly transferring the company’s project documents, data and and other confidential documents the company received from its customers to Sina Hassanzadeh’s email account in Iran, the complaint alleges.

Hasanzadeh concealed the communications from the company by almost exclusively using a personal email account to transfer documents to his brother on a regular basis until approximately June 11, 2016. Documents included hundreds of the company’s layouts, projects, schematics, notes and zip files without the company’s knowledge or consent, the federal government alleges.

The company reviewed and confirmed the documents contained product performance specifications, confidential information, including an attachment marked “Confidential” with information belonging to a United States partner company and another marked “NDA Confidential," meaning it involved a non-disclosure agreement with a partner company.

On May 8, 2015, Hasanzadeh used a personal email account to send two zip files attachments containing numerous folders of sensitive, proprietary, technical documents and data belonging to the company, according to the complaint. On or about May 17, 2015, company officials allege he transferred other technical drawings using his personal email account that were critical to the development of one of the company’s most important projects.

A senior executive told authorities the documents included trade secrets.

The investigation revealed Hasanzadeh continued to illegally transfer sensitive project documents and data belonging to the company and its partners via personal email to his brother through 2016. Email subscriber information showed the email account to which Hasanzadeh transferred documents was created by Sina Hassanzadeh in 2008 in Iran. A review of Sina Hassanzadeh’s account activity between 2008 and 2018 confirmed logins and updates were made from Iranian Internet Protocol addresses.

According to the complaint, Sina Hassanzadeh had expertise in hardware engineering and experience programming code with the Iranian company Kavosh Samaneh Ayria, as well as Basamad Azma Company from 2009-10 - an entity affiliated with Iran’s cruise missile research. He also was employed in Iran by multiple other companies, identified as Moj Pardaz, Bashir, and Rayan Nik, between 2013 and 2018, where he had job responsibilities indicative of military programs.

Authorities also allege that on April 11, 2016, Hasanzadeh used his personal email to transfer a company trade secret to his wife, who was accepted into the doctoral program of the University of Michigan’s Electrical Engineering Department, earning a PhD in 2018. Investigation revealed he sent the same document to Sina Hassanzadeh on April 10, 2016.

The FBI’s investigation revealed the university email account provided to Hasanzadeh’s wife contained thousands of company documents in her cloud storage associated with the account.

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No bond for man accused of sending tech secrets to Iran

An Ypsilanti engineer accused of sending tech secrets to Iran was denied bond Friday.

A federal judge agreed with prosecutors that Amin Hasanzadeh was a flight risk.

Hasanzadeh, 42, a post-doc researcher at the University of Michigan, has little family in the U.S., the school job was scheduled to end in March and the lease on his apartment expires in January, argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Martin.

[purelafemme]

Mid 2020 reflections

The older I grow, the more important I realize it is to extend myself grace, and to practice patience. All the pieces of my life will come together. This pandemic has taught me to be still. 

A few days ago I woke up in a grumpy mood. Over the last few months, some days will go by and I will feel fine. Others, not too hot. Recently, I decided to practice a tip from one of the former therapists. I took the time to “check in” with myself and pinpoint all the reasons I was feeling so out of tune. 

A big reason for this “out-of-tuneness” is coming from my job. I don’t feel as connected and engaged to my work, as I would imagine it would be if we were in the office. Its difficult for me to focus and relax in my room. All my life I have struggled with performance anxiety, which has become heightened due to my experience in the AEA program. Teleworking has blurred the lines between my home life and my work life, making it difficult for my brain to separate the two. Also, I feel cramped and restricted due to the lack of independence and freedom I am experiencing living in my parents house. I miss my freedom and independence of living in my own apartment. I’m going to stay here until January to try and save more money (at least $8,000). Just like I felt with Morgan back in fall of 2017, I can feel that I have outgrown living in my parents house and living in Baltimore. It’s time for a new beginning and a fresh start. I don’t want the pandemic to prevent me from pushing back my plans further, or allow it to cause time to get away from me. It’s important that I take this step towards moving out for me.

 A second reason propelling my dismay comes from a realization that I had realized over the past weekend. I have a strong tendency to over give in a lot of the relationships I have. I went out of my way to plan something to do with my estranged friendship group from middle school, and I am not too pleased with how it went. In Boston, I didn’t have many friends nor did I engage in many social activities. One of the reasons I wanted to return back to this area is so I could hang out with my friends and resume social activities again. Earlier this summer, I started putting a lot of energy into hanging out and doing things with and for my friends. But after these two-three years of me being away, I’ve realized that some of my friend groups/dynamics are not the same. Honestly, I feel like a big part of the reason why I started hanging out a lot with my friends is because since my love life is not going the way that I want it to, I want to keep people around me a lot to avoid feeling lonely, to mask the loneliness. But I want to shed those feelings and really take the time to get into myself. One of the reasons I delayed grad school was because I really wanted to take space for myself to develop myself (Develop myself spiritually, mentally--develop my fashion, my interests, my personality, knowledge). This has made me realize that I want and need to feel more comfortable being alone, which is another reason why I think living alone would be good for my personal growth. Additionally, even though things didn't work out the way I intended them to with my partner earlier this Spring, that situation has finally taught me, after 24 years of age (8 years of dating), how I deserve to be treated and what qualities I want in a partner. Given this, I think I need to now branch out and truly get comfortable with being alone. Over the last couple of years, I have struggled with being alone and I realized that I will go run to go hang out with people to avoid that feeling, or I will spend my time being alone and wishing I laid up with a nigga. I want to truly embrace the idea of just truly being alone, and being happy and content. 

Sometimes I experience a weird sadness about me not following through with my previous academic plans, which causes me to feel like im a funk. I went to research conference today where my peers who have continued with their academic plans were present, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge bit of sad that I didn't continue mine. This month would have been the month I would be starting my PhD program if everything had went as planned. Although I realized this was not right for me, I am still kind of bummed in a weird way about it. I worked exceedingly hard and invested a lot of time and energy into this goal, and now that things haven't gone as planned and I have seemingly abandoned my PhD dreams, I feel a weird sense of sadness about it. I may be still interested in research, but honestly, I am not sure. From doing the AEA program twice, witnessing the AEA Climate Survey, surviving the Harvard program, and reading Claudia’s blog post, I feel kind an overwhelming sense of jadedness by this whole thing-- and now I cannot seem to make up my mind about an exact alternative career path or graduate degree. All I know is that I would really like to have a concrete plan once this job is over, because I am not getting any younger and I want to have security when it comes to my career goals by the time I approach my mid thirties. 

Now that I have just written a list of reasons why I am in a funk because I am not where I wanna be, I want to take just as much time to reflect on all the reasons why I am proud of myself. I am very proud of myself for landing my current job opportunity. It took me over six months of applying to land my current position, and there was several times over the course of those months where I was bogged down with anxiety and self-doubt crept it! Literally the day I got the offer, I was laying in bed CRYING because it was April and my program was going to end in May and I hadn't secured a reasonable opportunity yet. My God is good, and he for sure came right on time. Of course, there are some days where my performance anxiety at work is on high, but  really in those moments need to take a step back and praise him for granting me the opportunity to get a job in my field, with a nice salary, with nice people and meaningful, clear growth opportunities. I am so grateful, and I need to acknowledge this more as well as congratulate myself for this. Even though things didn’t go as planned with the whole PhD thing, I am EXACTLY where God wants me to be in my life, and that is a beautiful thing. I am proud of where I am, and I know this opportunity will give me the tools to make the best career decision for me moving forward. I am claiming it now. Honestly, this is my first time since I graduated undergrad where I feel like I can breathe. 

I am also proud of myself for giving myself the space to develop ME for ME. There is so much other parts of life and myself that I want to explore, and now that I am no longer suffocated by the pressures of academia, I am excited to dive in ! I recently hired a trainer, and started my own business! Being in grad school is a huge educational investment that comes at a cost. The stress of that program didn't leave time for me to dedicate to other parts of my life, which I realized I did not like. My twenties are my formative years. So yeah, it does suck to have invested so much time in doing all those things to be a perfect PhD applicant and then to not even apply to PhD programs lol, but I am soo proud of myself for listening to my gut, taking a step out on faith and choosing a different direction! It wasn't an easy decision at first, but I am excited about where this side business will take me, and I am happy that this will be a chance for me to explore my artistic side more! I have always had this side to myself, but never fully dived into it because of the lack of time and resources. So I am proud of using this space and time to unlock a new side of myself. I also think there will be a lot of personal growth opportunities that will come from being a small business owner, which I have confidence I can tackle and that it will make me more mature, and help develop sounder financial practices ! :)

I am super proud of myself for taking charge of my health!!! My weight is something I have always struggled with since elementary school. I was never particularly fat, but I was never as skinny as people like my sister and my cousins. From a young age, I internalized a sense of being uncomfortable with my body, which has followed me into adulthood. However it wasn't until the later half of high school when I started to develop some health problems as a result of my poor diet and lifestyle habits. My period has been irregular since 2012-2013, which I am sure was triggered by the anxiety I faced from switching schools, eating predominantly restaurant food from working at Charlestown, and having a poor sleeping schedule. After four years or random, scattered periods, I got diagnosed with PCOS in 2016. In 2017 I turned 21. I started drinking alcohol a lot more, causing me that fall to weigh in at my biggest size ever--over 180 pounds. Since the middle of high school, my weight had always been in the 160-170s range. That spring, I was able to get serious about diet and exercise and shed some pounds due to my leave from school. However, over the past two years in the Harvard program, I have not been able to manage my weight properly, causing me to explode to the biggest size I have ever been--195.. And im not sure what’s going on with my hormone production now, but I know my gut is a hot mess. (This spring I just got diagnosed with IBS.) Since the pandemic started, I have tried to work out consistently and eat a balanced diet. However over the last five months I have not seen many changes in my body which has been disappointing. This week on impulse, I made the decision to hire a trainer-- this is going to be the first step towards making some serious lifestyle changes for me and I am excited to get into the best physical shape I have ever been in! Regardless of the number on the scale, I really want to do this for the improvement of my overall health. I want to develop a healthier relationship with food (stop binge eating/seeking food as comfort) and I also want to train myself to not only eat out of boredom, or because food is available. I know developing this habits will help me develop more discipline! Also, I think our bodies as humans are capable of so much, and I really want to treat my body good so I can get the best use out of it ! I want to learn how to swim, I want to build endurance and start running, I want to be able to sustain my own body weight, and become proficient at aerial yoga! Also, sometime in the future I want to have kids and before this happens I want to already be in shape and be in the position to have a happy and healthy pregnancy. Being a mother is one of my biggest aspirations in my life ! I am hoping that this change to my lifestyle will support better hormonal health and regulate my menstrual cycle, which would actually help me get pregnant easier in the future. I am also tired of having all these stomach problems (indigestion, acid reflux, constipation, etc)--clearly something inside of me is inflamed and thats why I am having these issues. Overall, I am very proud of myself in taking these actions and I am excited to see how my body will look, how I will feel, and in what ways I can grow mentally and financially with my business ! 

One last reason why I am proud of myself is because I have been making small strides to become more money conscious. However, I know I can definitely improve in this area over the next couple of months, and it is important that I tackle this since I have my first real job, (plus a side business) and I want to live on my own. I have always struggled with managing my personal finances, so I am excited to learn tips and develop practices that will help me be smarter with my money. This is also very important to me because one day I would like to have a family, and I want to be able to provide for them. So it is important that I take the steps now to ensure that I am living below my means, and that I can set myself up to be financially comfortable and not cash strapped. 

I was inspired to write this post because I woke up one day in a sour mood about my current circumstances and the fact that I am seemingly not where I want to be and I felt down about it. But then I woke up the next day and realized how much I really had to be grateful for, and how proud I am of myself for all that I have accomplished throughout my life even with various obstacles I have encountered. God truly has favored me. Even through this crisis, God has found ways to bless me and I have taken actions to better myself. For that I am super thankful for. There are people that have lost their life and their livelihoods in 2020, but for some reason God still choose me to protect, and to take me to the next level. So I want to take this time to publicly thank him for all that he has done on the inside! Instead of focusing on the all the areas of my life that I am not too satisfied with, I vow to constantly cultivate a heart, mind and spirit full of gratitude and praise. 

Other short term goals I want to accomplish 

- Join a church home/integrate other practices into my life to develop my relationship with him in addition to keeping the prayer journal (reading the bible, starting a gratitude book)

- Take better care of my hair: be more consistent with protective styles, trims, and deep conditioning! 

- Read more books (I have watched too much TV this year lol) I especially want to read more books written by Black women and the experience of Black women!

-Try new hobbies (in addition to swimming, I want to go horseback riding, etc)

[coffeebased]

Would it be terrible if I kept doing this: popping onto WordPress once a year, for a week, just to chirp energetically about the things I’d done the previous year, before disappearing into the aether? Who would sanction me? Other than myself, of course, but I think that I have enough things to distract my conscience. My annually-updated reading blog hardly takes precedence over my other responsibilities and the reparations that have swallowed up my life.

  I know that I was due one more blog post in January 2019, about reading stats being compared across the years. How convenient it is that that is exactly what I shall be doing now, here in January 2020.

  My ideal posting schedule for 2020 will be as follows:

  2019 Books I have read and my 10 favourite ones (right now! Oh, happy day!)

2019 Reading Statistics (1/11)

Reading Statistics: 2013-2019 (1/18)

Goal-setting for 2020 (1/25)

  This was the system I tried to implement last year. Two out of three posts completed is still a failing mark. And goodness knows if I will manage to stick to that schedule this year, let alone what happens after those posts. That’s every Saturday for January settled. In previous years I used to do everything in one big post and that was great, like, very cathartic, but posts had gotten more and more unwieldy.

  This is such a heartening beginning to a blog post: complete abandonment to the four winds. No commitment! Just my own satisfaction. In 2020, forget overpromising, we are lackadaisically mentioning that we have some ideas that may or may not push through.

  I read 126 books in 2019! You can view the complete list: here. It’s the second least number of books I’ve read since I started documenting my reading habits in 2013. I’m not really surprised since I spent most of the year gathering data in the field or studying. More on that in succeeding blog posts.

  Previous year-end reading posts are here: 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 a b|.

  My Ten Favourite Books from Those I Read in 2019

    The Sparrow and Children of God by Mary Doria Russell

  In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet that will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be “human”.

Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos by Lucy Knisley

  If you work hard enough, if you want it enough, if you’re smart and talented and “good enough,” you can do anything.Except get pregnant.Her whole life, Lucy Knisley wanted to be a mother. But when it was finally the perfect time, conceiving turned out to be harder than anything she’d ever attempted. Fertility problems were followed by miscarriages, and her eventual successful pregnancy plagued by health issues, up to a dramatic, near-death experience during labor and delivery.This moving, hilarious, and surprisingly informative memoir not only follows Lucy’s personal transition into motherhood but also illustrates the history and science of reproductive health from all angles, including curious facts and inspiring (and notorious) figures in medicine and midwifery. Whether you’ve got kids, want them, or want nothing to do with them, there’s something in this graphic memoir to open your mind and heart.

    The Raven Tower by Anne Leckie

  For centuries, the kingdom of Iraden has been protected by the god known as the Raven. He watches over his territory from atop a tower in the powerful port of Vastai. His will is enacted through the Raven’s Lease, a human ruler chosen by the god himself. His magic is sustained via the blood sacrifice that every Lease must offer. And under the Raven’s watch, the city flourishes.

But the power of the Raven is weakening. A usurper has claimed the throne. The kingdom borders are tested by invaders who long for the prosperity that Vastai boasts. And they have made their own alliances with other gods.

It is into this unrest that the warrior Eolo–aide to Mawat, the true Lease–arrives. And in seeking to help Mawat reclaim his city, Eolo discovers that the Raven’s Tower holds a secret. Its foundations conceal a dark history that has been waiting to reveal itself…and to set in motion a chain of events that could destroy Iraden forever.

    Lent by Jo Walton

  Young Girolamo’s life is a series of miracles.

It’s a miracle that he can see demons, plain as day, and that he can cast them out with the force of his will. It’s a miracle that he’s friends with Pico della Mirandola, the Count of Concordia. It’s a miracle that when Girolamo visits the deathbed of Lorenzo “the Magnificent,” the dying Medici is wreathed in celestial light, a surprise to everyone, Lorenzo included. It’s a miracle that when Charles VIII of France invades northern Italy, Girolamo meets him in the field, and convinces him to not only spare Florence but also protect it. It’s a miracle than whenever Girolamo preaches, crowds swoon. It’s a miracle that, despite the Pope’s determination to bring young Girolamo to heel, he’s still on the loose… and, now, running Florence in all but name.

That’s only the beginning. Because Girolamo Savanarola is not who—or what—he thinks he is. He will discover the truth about himself at the most startling possible time. And this will be only the beginning of his many lives.

    A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

  Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn’t an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan’s unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

    Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki, Rosemary Valero O’Connell

  Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley’s dream girl: charming, confident, and SO cute. There’s just one problem: Laura Dean is maybe not the greatest girlfriend.

Reeling from her latest break up, Freddy’s best friend, Doodle, introduces her to the Seek-Her, a mysterious medium, who leaves Freddy some cryptic parting words: break up with her. But Laura Dean keeps coming back, and as their relationship spirals further out of her control, Freddy has to wonder if it’s really Laura Dean that’s the problem. Maybe it’s Freddy, who is rapidly losing her friends, including Doodle, who needs her now more than ever.

Fortunately for Freddy, there are new friends, and the insight of advice columnists like Anna Vice to help her through being a teenager in love.

    Tiempo Muerto by Caroline Hau

  Two women meet on the island where they shared a childhood. One is looking for her mother, the other her yaya. One is an Overseas Filipino Worker, the other an heiress. In an old bahay na bato haunted by scandal and tragedy, secrets and ghosts, the women find their lives entangled and face the challenge of refusing their predetermined fates and embracing their open futures.

    Gideon the Ninth, The Locked Tomb #1 by Tamsyn Muir

  The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as necromantic skeletons. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.

    Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K. J. Parker

  This is the story of Orhan, son of Siyyah Doctus Felix Praeclarissimus, and his history of the Great Siege, written down so that the deeds and sufferings of great men may never be forgotten.

A siege is approaching, and the city has little time to prepare. The people have no food and no weapons, and the enemy has sworn to slaughter them all.

To save the city will take a miracle, but what it has is Orhan. A colonel of engineers, Orhan has far more experience with bridge-building than battles, is a cheat and a liar, and has a serious problem with authority. He is, in other words, perfect for the job.

    Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino

  Trick Mirror is an enlightening, unforgettable trip through the river of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives. This is a book about the incentives that shape us, and about how hard it is to see ourselves clearly in a culture that revolves around the self. In each essay, Jia writes about the cultural prisms that have shaped her: the rise of the nightmare social internet; the American scammer as millennial hero; the literary heroine’s journey from brave to blank to bitter; the mandate that everything, including our bodies, should always be getting more efficient and beautiful until we die.

  Thanks for bearing with me. Keep a weather eye for the next post.

[Reading] My 10 favourite books from 2019 Would it be terrible if I kept doing this: popping onto Wordpress once a year, for a week, just to chirp energetically about the things I'd done the previous year, before disappearing into the aether?

[hypeathon]

A Belated, Nuanced Response to the Rooster Teeth Animation Glassdoor Controversy

2019 has been an especially problematic year to be a fan of animated content from Rooster Teeth.

By now, any of you reading this might already know what happened. But for those that don’t know the gist of it, since late March of 2019, Rooster Teeth consecutively received rather scathing reviews from anonymous employees via the job recruitment website, Glassdoor.

As of the time of this post, there have been 15 negative reviews listed that can mostly be seen with a Glassdoor account. Although they did gain a bit of attention from certain people that attempted to exploit this to any Rooster Teeth Animation fans at one point or another, it was not until RWBY Conversations on Tumblr made a blog post on June 15th with a compilation of screenshots of each review and addressed the matter quite aggressively. That same day, the post made its way to all the major social media platforms and emotions spiked incredibly high.

There have been numerous opinion pieces in the form of tweets, blogs, reddit posts and videos, the last of which has been made by people who otherwise don’t know anything about Rooster Teeth. Lots of other people have been outspoken about the matter, but what do I think of it? First off, as a clarification, I was... somewhat aware of this reputation Rooster Teeth had recently been receiving a couple of weeks prior to when things blew up. I say “somewhat” because I stumbled into this from someone (who shall remain nameless) who has been quite known for being committed to paiting anything related to RT Animation in a negative light. I took the matter with a grain of salt not because I thought the reviews I saw were false (more on that later) but rather because not having an actual Glassdoor account, I only saw a small fraction of the reviews made available so I admittedly underestimated the magnitude of the situation.

With that out of the way, to sum up my thoughts on the controversy, it’s definitely concerning. Coming from someone that has spent a good year highlighting and analyzing the skills of individual animators from RWBY and the show’s production into volume 6, the scale of the backlash from former and current RT Animation employees has been a bitter pill to swallow. It’s alarming knowing that things have gotten bad enough to warrant the responses seen on Rooster Teeth’s Glassdoor page as both a stern advisory to higher management and a warning to anyone who has considered working there. However, as alarming as this all has been, what I’m not going to do at this point and what I’ve been mostly careful about avoiding is emitting a knee-jerk, heightened emotional reaction.

As stated in the beginning of this post, 2019 has been pretty rough for fans of RT Animation. This is far from the first controversy of the year to come by and invoke extreme and conflicting feelings regarding this one company name and what tends to follow are very loud, irrational and even some bad faith discussions. It doesn’t matter if it’s about the company’s animation department or about blacklisting a voice actor or what an employee advises about watching something you don’t like, the responses have been consistently reactive with extreme opinions and with little thought for nuanced or educated conversations. This matter with RT Animation has been no exception in that regard, though to be fair, it’s not without good reason. I may have my interests towards RT Animation and content both in front of and behind the scenes, but I do also value seeking information and learning. And going forward, the latter is very relevant in order to get as much of a full picture of this controversy.

Now, having said that, this is something to be genuinely concerned about and is thus a rather difficult and touchy subject to talk about. I want to make it clear that everything I’m about to say from here-on is not meant to discredit what former and current employees have said nor is it to sugarcoat Rooster Teeth’s tendencies. I may ultimately be giving Rooster Teeth some benefit of the doubt, but I’m not going to obscure the things they have done that have led to things being the way they are. At the same time, I’m not going to viciously crucify them over this either. I won’t judge or blame anyone that has or will continue to resort to harsh measures to call out Rooster Teeth on their practices regarding crunch and production management. I’m just choosing personally to throw my two cents in a less harsh manner since what I plan to cover in this blog post will require avoiding that. The goal is to share and dissect some things using whatever information I can collect and contextualize which would hopefully provide a better understanding about how things got to the way they have and what Rooster Teeth is supposedly attempting to do about it.

Getting to the Bottom of The Situation

There’s a lot to unpack so let’s first start by breaking down the reviews themselves. As mentioned earlier, between the months of March and June of 2019, there have been at least 15 critical reviews from a combination of current and former employees regarding their experiences at Rooster Teeth animation. They each may vary a bit in tone and wording, but just about all of them share the same set of complaints that can be summed up as follows:

More often than not unpaid overtime work hours

Poor planning of scheduling and budgeting from managers in higher-up positions

General pay that’s too low to compensate for the unpaid overtime

Unfulfilled promises to contract employees of being given full-time employment after their time was up

Inexperienced directors/producers/managers

  This is the bulk of the criticisms and to breakdown the pattern of reviews further:

5 of them were from former employees while 10 of them were from current ones.

4 of them were from animators (2 specified 3-D animators), 2 were from compositors and the rest did not specify.

2 claimed to have worked at RT Animation for less than a year, 7 claimed to have worked for over 1 year, 2 claimed to have worked for over 3 years, 1 claimed to have worked for over 5 years and the rest did not specify.

Now some fans who have spoken about the reviews questioned the legitimacy of them. This is an understandable reaction but given the broken down information between the set of reviews, there’s evidence to suggest that they are very true. Most of who claim that they are true would immediately point to a handful of tweets from the creator of the 2-D animated series, Nomad of Nowhere, Georden Whitman who left RT Animation in 2018. His claims have much validity to them, but he’s not the only former employee who has brought up the matter directly or indirectly. Without getting too specific or naming names, one person who had been credited on RWBY & Red vs Blue from 2016-2018 indicated that the management and scheduling of productions was the reason said-person left. Another instance was one whose position was in the post-production stage of a few projects who had left RT Animation in early March of this year after having been credited in a few projects since latter 2017. This actually matches the description of one of the former employees who left a review in late March, who had been working at RT Animation for over a year. Even the description of one of the current employees who claimed to have been working for over 5 years is especially specific, as that would’ve been at least since at least 2014. Back then, the staff count on productions like RWBY volume 2 and Red vs Blue season 12 was much smaller and Rooster Teeth’s animation department was not officially founded until later that same year. 

So it’s not really a matter of whether the reviews themselves have any truth to them or not. Instead, a better question to ask and focus on is why did this happen? How did things get so problematic that it led to harsh responses one after another on just one job recruitment site alone? One thing I’ve seen fans and critics of RWBY suggest after this controversy broke out was to have volume 7 be delayed, with some going as far as launching a signature campaign to plead Rooster Teeth to delay the volume as if volume 6′s production was the main culprit behind the backlash. Putting aside the very questionable success rate of online signatures, while delaying the next installment of one of their shows is not ultimately a bad idea, it’s overlooking a couple of important details. The big one is the timing of these reviews which again, have been consecutively posted on Rooster Teeth’s Glassdoor page since late March of 2019. On the 9th of that same month, the season finale of Gen:Lock premiered which actually was the same date as when the former employee who worked in post-production left the company. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Gen:Lock’s production was what ultimately led to the backlash when you take into account director and writer of the show, Gray Haddock, posted a journal entry on June 2018 where he elaborated on the arrangement of staff between that show and RWBY volume 6′s production.

“Some of you have had questions about how production of gL impacts RWBY or vice-versa, and the answer is that these are largely parallel productions with separate crews.”

Earlier in January of 2018 on the season 1 finale episode of RWBY Rewind, Gray confirmed that Gen:Lock was “in the throws of pre-production”, where Gray was finishing a couple of the scripts left characters and mechs were being designed. A month prior, Gray posted a journal entry, stating that storyboards started on the first week of December. Though when he said the characters and mechs were being “designed”, it’s unclear whether that meant they were already designed and were in the midst of being modeled or not. But given how Gray also said animation would start “pretty soon” at the time, it might’ve been the latter, maybe?

It was never made clear when the animation phase started for Gen:Lock between the months of January and June of 2018. Regardless, the fact that both productions were for several months happening at the same time was what bit Gray in the butt. Now on the one hand, he’s not entirely wrong about the crews between productions being separate. As far as higher positions like directors, supervisors, leads, and assistant leads were concerned, certain teams like animation, lighting, and modeling between Gen:Lock and RWBY volume 6 did have separate names leading the helms. However, as the old saying goes, the devil is in the details and upon closer inspection, not all teams for both shows’ respective productions had separate leads such as camera layout, crowds & tech. Not only that, but the lower positions of each team had a lot of names overlap. And these credits were just from the first episodes of RWBY volume 6 and Gen:Lock. This is not counting how certain names like Paula Decanini who was co-lead animator throughout RWBY volume 6 wound up being co-lead animator for Gen:Lock by episode 7. Also, something to keep in mind is that a one or two reviews mentioned how some employees were under contract for roughly 90 days, equating to 3 months. It’s possible that Gen:Lock needed the extra hands by earlier January as maybe a sign that maybe deadlines during the production were not being met accordingly.

Now none of this is to say that RWBY had no potential issues of it’s own. One review from a 3-D animator mentioned about doing a “10-14 minute episode in 2 weeks” (whether that’s through the entire production or during later episodes is unclear) as an example of higher management having insanely high expectations, which likely referred to RWBY. It doesn’t help that for volume 6, the Lost Fable episode marked both the longest and one of the most difficult episodes to make, so it is not exempt from this. However, Gen:Lock’s episodes were longer, spanning between 20-30 minutes on average which meant that on the day of an episode’s premiere, every stage and aspect of that half-hour long episode had to be finished with each episode premiering back-to-back without a break. While RWBY’s episodes can vary more wildly in length, they are on average under 20 minutes. Also, not every episode of RWBY has a fight sequence whereas every episode of Gen:Lock had at least one either in the form of actual battles or sparring matches between mechs, humans or aircraft. That’s noteworthy due to how, at least in RWBY, a fight sequence can span between 4-6 weeks while a dialogue sequence can take roughly 2 weeks to do. Assuming a similar time frame applies to the same kinds of sequences in Gen:Lock, that, combined with each episode’s run time and the amount of animators, compositors, lighting artists, modelers, layout artists and crowd artists having to go back and forth between RWBY volume 6 & Gen:Lock, especially when the latter premiered right when the former finished, that would have likely led to the absurd crunch periods we’ve been hearing about.

Speaking of crowd artists, that’s another matter to consider. RWBY and Gen:Lock may both be 3-D animated projects, but the latter is arguably more demanding of its presentation due to its story’s hard sci-fi setting. This can apply to the show having a set of assigned User Interface or “UI” compositors for the many holographic images and text displayed throughout the show, which is unique to Gen:Lock, as well as models of background characters and their animations. In an interview from the website Inverse on October 9th, 2018, Miles Luna, the voice of Migas in Gen:Lock and co-writer of RWBY said the following:

“It’s one thing to make a fantasy world because you can’t compare it to real life,” says Miles Luna. “But a cartoon version of something that exists? All eyes are going to be on what’s correct. One of those things is crowds.” Without getting deep into the specifics, Luna says Rooster Teeth has made leaps in efficiently creating crowd scenes, not to mention making them look alive. “We did a whole bunch of R&D on crowd research for gen:LOCK that we’re now able to use retroactively for RWBY Volume 6,” he explains.

It was never specified ever since what supposed leaps were made in creating crowd scenes, but there is a clue. Back in RTX Austin of 2018 in August, it was confirmed from both the compositing and tech panels that RWBY volume 6 would be utilizing a new software for Crowd simulations called Houdini from Side FX. This is different from how for volume 5, the Autodesk Maya plug-in, Golaem was used and before that, crowds were done more manually. This is backed by lead crowds artist, Jacob Hilton on episode 1 of CRWBY: Behind the Episode season 2. It’s a likelihood that Houdini was similarly used for Gen:Lock and this is not the first time a software was used for one production before being used for another one. Though given the scale of background characters for crowds that have to sit, talk, walk, run and whatever other kinds of gestures in various shots, it may have possibly served as a challenge to handle, even with a more efficient software. It doesn’t help either that a majority of the main cast are seen wearing 2-3 different outfits which require extra models to be built and rigged.

I want to stress that all of backlash is not due to Gen:Lock exclusively, as much of this applies to other animated shows like RWBY. But it does seem to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for some and it’s production and scheduling might’ve been part of a broader problem. In 2018, there was a certain strategy to scheduling various Rooster Teeth animated shows, be it 2-D or 3-D ones. Let’s look at the following:

RWBY Vol 5 - October 14, 2017 - January 20, 2018

RWBY Chibi 3 - January 27, 2018 - March 17, 2018

Nomad of Nowhere - March 16, 2018 - April 20, 2018

Red vs Blue S16 - April 15, 2018 - July 23, 2018

Camp Camp S3 - May 25, 2018 - August 10, 2018

RWBY Chibi S3 (Cont’d) - June 30, 2018 - August 17, 2018

Nomad of Nowhere (Cont’d) - August 17, 2018 - September 20, 2018

RWBY Vol 6 - October 27, 2018 - January 29, 2019

Gen:Lock - January 29, 2019 - March 9, 2019

Red vs Blue S17 - March 9, 2019 - May 25, 2019

Camp Camp S4 - June 1, 2019 - September 28, 2019 (Presumably)

Although there are a few small gaps and a one or two overlaps, a season/volume of each show have come and gone right after one another. And that was just from 2018 to 2019 as of the time of this post. Scheduling content like this was not always case for Rooster Teeth, even back when the Animation department was founded. I imagine that this schedule is parallel to the gradual changes in how their first membership has been arranged which is due to the success of their animated content. Once upon a time, before Rooster Teeth Animation existed, it use to be that RWBY and Red vs Blue would be available for paid subscribers a mere hour before it was made available for everyone else on the website.

It’s clear that Rooster Teeth does consider their animated content very valuable, but the scale of the projects and the rate they end up being made are at the expense of the middle-men going through unpaid overtime. There are cases where with say, RWBY, measures are taken to increase the quantity of staff so that almost everyone is not required to wear more than one hat, have the pipeline for different software and plug-ins set-up at the start of a production and making sure every team has their own coordinator and manager. But it’s clear that despite these measures taken, they have not been large enough to fully compensate for the increased scale of the productions and the rate these productions need to get made. These circumstances are unfortunately not exclusive to Rooster Teeth either, as this has been a prevalent problem in the Japanese animation industry. On rare, more extreme occasions, you hear of staff members of animation studios either committing suicide or dying from overwork (otherwise known as “Karoshii”), whereas reports of how animation studios are suffering tight schedules to get shows like Black Clover, Dragon Ball Super, Märchen Mädchen, Dynamic Chord, God Eater the Animation and Attack on Titan out week-to-week with either poor, mixed or efficient-looking results through the presentation are more commonly made. Though similar to this Glassdoor situation, there are people in the anime industry, such as production assistants, who have anonymously spoken out about the harsh, troubling working conditions. Part of these situations may be due to Japan’s culture being taken to an extreme, but the systemic woes plaguing the anime industry can always be seen as cautionary tales of what a company like Rooster Teeth should avoid doing.

Looking Ahead towards Rooster Teeth’s Future

A lot has been touched on regarding the Rooster Teeth’s poor management within their animation department and there’s more I could touch on. There might even be certain woes behind-the-scenes that I’m unaware of. However my goal is not to perpetually dwell on the downsides. The question to ask from here-on is what can be done about this or rather what is being done about it? To stress, it’s not just about what should be done. Yes, Rooster Teeth should improve their management and recruit people who know how to handle deadlines better. Yes, Rooster Teeth should avoid overtime crunch periods from happening in their animated productions as much as possible. Yes, staff of various positions should be payed better. There’s a lot of discussions about what they should do and I do not disagree with any of those advisories. But there’s not a whole lot of what they can do or even what they are supposedly doing about the situation right now.

There have been certain suggestions on what Rooster Teeth can do. Delaying RWBY volume 7 is one thing, but balancing out the scheduling between all of their live-action and their animated content more would help, assuming they haven’t already done so. Unionizing would also be a significant improvement and is something I’ve seen a former employee desire. Another animation studio in Austin, Texas, Powerhouse who is most known for making the Netflix Castlevania series, is one of many studios signed to collective bargaining agreements with The Animation Guild. These are some valid steps they could take, though for now, let’s examine what is actually being about all of this, starting with looking at Rooster Teeth CEO, Matt Hullum’s Journal Entry post who responded about the matter on June 17th. More specifically, certain segments of his entry are worth examining:

  “Over the last several months we conducted a review and have taken several steps to improve communication and workflow to ensure we have a studio where people are happy to come to work every day. We are announcing today new measures on the road to improvement.

Effective today, we are moving forward with a previously planned change in our producing and creative structure. Gray G. Haddock is stepping down as head of studio for animation to dedicate himself to a strictly creative role. With Gray’s help, we have been in the process of hiring a new production head of the department, who will be responsible for the overall producer hierarchy and staff management. We want to thank Gray for his hard work and dedication to growing the animation studio over these years, and are excited to continue working with him in this new capacity.

Further, we are consulting with experienced leaders in the animation industry on our workflow, pipeline, production structure and other areas to enhance the workplace experience for our staff. Margaret M. Dean, the head of Ellation animation studios and president of Women In Animation, will consult with us and aid the search for a new studio lead.”

There are a few important things to dissect about Matt’s response. First of all, the fact that this is something higher-ups at the company have spent several months doing can be interpreted in two ways. On the one hand, it can be seen as wondering why is it that only in that span of time have more drastic steps been taken to do something about this as oppose to a year or so before that, which is a very fair counterargument. On the other hand, taking several months to do this which could’ve been around the time the series of Glassdoor reviews since March were posted, if not before that is at least a sign that they have been conscious about these issues to want to do something about it and spend the time tending to the matter.

If the journal entry ended there, then it would naturally be seen as vague, damage control, press release speak that would satisfy no one. But there is of course more to examine, such as Gray Haddock stepping down from his position as Head of the animation department. When Gray became the head of RT Animation as the department was founded in September of 2014, that was at a time when the staff count was a lot smaller than what it is now. Whatever the reasons why, Gray stepped up for the position when the department was just starting. The problem is that as far as his career up until that point, his prior credentials were generally in voice work and theater, specifically anime dubbing. He had a creative background, but not so much a management one. That’s not to say his time spent on voice acting did not lend itself to management at all, though. In an interview with Inverse on August 7th, 2018, Gray mentioned as a means of being flexible, until the rest of the cast for Gen:Lock got around to recording lines for their respective characters, Gray “voiced the entire first batch of episodes by himself”: 

“We had to hit milestones. We had to begin animating,” he said. “I read all the parts with the cadence and intonations I was hoping to direct the performances into, and roll with the changes as needed. The poor crew had to put up with three or four months show of me performing every part on the show.”

This is elaborated more in his interview with Anime News Network on October 26th, 2018 where he mentioned that despite getting A-List actors on board, getting the cast to do recordings in the midst of their busy schedules forced the production staff to be flexible. Whether or not this included the character Kazu Iida, who was voiced by Koichi Yamadera at Warner Bros anime in Japan and thus constantly speaks Japanese (Gray supposedly knows some Japanese), that was a hell of a task to do either way. This is not the first time he did this either. During production of volume 3 of RWBY, when Meg Turney, the voice of Neon Katt, was not available to record lines for the character, Gray had voiced all of her lines for chapter 5 so that the animators could get around to handling the character. So he has at least been pretty conscious about making sure the ball in a given production like Gen:Lock kept rolling through whatever he could do. But it’s clear that as Rooster Teeth Animation is growing up, not just through the tone of their content but through the need for a more efficient and healthy working environment, Gray Haddock was only capable of so much.

This leads us to the final point of the journal entry, the matter of consulting with experienced leaders in the animation industry. As far as animation studios go, RT Animation is still a fledgling that since its founded has arguably grown too big, too quickly. and at least some of the management staff do not have many years of experience under their belt. So to consult names like Margaret M. Dean, the head of Ellation Animation and President of Women in Animation is an especially big deal.

Though before talking further about her, a quick clarification should be made as to what Ellation and Women in Animation are. Ellation is a division of Otter Media which is under Warner Media Entertainment. Ellation studios is Ellation’s animation department with two sites located in Burbank, California and Tokyo, Japan. Women in Animation is a non-profit organization that Margaret has remained co-president of since 2013. With that out of the way, what is Margaret Dean’s relevance in all of this? This is sadly the part of the journal entry that’s most neglected even though it’s the most important. To make matters worse, the few people who have referred to Margaret when talking about the journal entry associate her name exclusively with the Crunchyroll original animated project, High Guardian Spice announced last August. This is one of those times where it could not be any more essential for one to separate his/her opinion of a work (or in this case, a teaser trailer for an upcoming work) from the names involved with the project and their credentials. With Margaret M. Dean, what people should look into is her IMDB profile page which gives an extensive list of her career in the American animation industry.

This is someone with over 27 years worth of experience in Animation and almost all of her credentials have to do with production management, coordination and supervision on a variety of shows. That’s nearly 5 times the amount of time Gray has been credited as supervising producer in a majority of the animated shows he has been involved in so far. To further put this in perspective, here’s a list of some of the animated productions she worked on:

Production manager/assistant for episodes of The Ren & Stimpy Show (1992-1993)

Production supervisor for every episode of Teen Titans and the Trouble in Tokyo movie (2003-2006)

Production manager for season 1 of Men in Black TV Series (1997-1998)

Production supervisor for many episodes of Ozzy & Drix (2002-2004)

Production supervisor for seasons 1 & 2 of Xiaolin Showdownn (2003-2004)

Line producer of most episodes of What’s New Scooby Doo (2002-2006)

Supervising producer of Supermansion (2016-2019)

Supervising Producer for 30 episodes of Robot Chicken (2015-2018)

Supervising Producer of Hot Streets (2016-2018)

That is not a resume to sniff at and the fact she’s one of the experienced leaders in the animation industry Matt and Gray have been consulting is a testament to how seriously they are about resolving this problem going forward. Or maybe this is all a way for them to save face. Who knows? I’m a just fan making educated guesses, not a psychic.

What Can Fans Do About This?

This situation has of course led to varied emotions suddenly erupting when the Glassdoor reviews went viral. Some have been weary about this while others have capitalized on the matter to stir up further controversy for the sake of views. But some (including me) have wondered if there is anything the fans can do. Some have declared that they would cancel their First member subscriptions to teach Rooster Teeth a lesson. I’m not going to tell people how to go about spending their money (and no, what I spoke of in my Monty Oum Vision, part 1 video was not meant to say otherwise) but I’m not sure how much good rioting by not paying anything will do beyond getting the company’s direct attention. At best, it may put the higher-ups on even higher alert but the whole point of the reviews is to address the need for current and would-be employees to have better working conditions and better pay.

We’re talking about certain animators that due to various circumstances, one of which being financial, that at least some employees are stuck with working at Rooster Teeth. Make of that what you will, but that is the reality and I’m not so sure how much canceling a paid subscription will help the animators as oppose to hurting them. Again, this is not about me telling you to keep your subscriptions out of obligation. That’s not the point. Rather, this is about finding other possible ways on our end to help the ones suffering the most.

So what can we do? Well, that’s another reality about the situation. There’s really a whole lot we, the general public since this is something that at the end of the day has to be resolved internally. Sure, we got the CEO’s attention over the course of the weekend. But beyond that, I’m not so sure we can cause more to happen than that. That said, we can provide support to those who either currently are or have worked on the Rooster Teeth shows we are fans of. Familiarizing yourself with the names of anyone in the staff of a show’s production through the ending credits and following them on Twitter or wherever else they frequent via social media is a good starting point. This is especially helpful in case certain folks may announce needing financial help of some sort. RWBY and RWBY Chibi animators Asha Bishi and Andrea Caprotti specifically spring to mind. Asha, who some may know of for her expertise character acting, including with Faunus characters like Blake, Kali, and Sun and how their animal traits are animated, put up a Go Fund Me campaign since April of 2019 where she needs outside help in order to pay off her Hospital Bills after going through some heart problems and being rushed to an ambulance a few times. Andrea who has animated scenes in Gen:Lock, RWBY, RWBY:Chibi & Red vs Blue, including Pyrrha kissing Jaune goodbye, part of Cinder, Emerald & Mercury vs Amber, and the “Evil Genius” skit, opened art commissions as of late June to raise money to get a ticket to see a very close friend of hers going through Chemotherapy.

These are right now a couple of the only examples I could find, but they are nonetheless more helpful ways fans can immediately help any skilled talent. And even if you can’t pitch in by providing money yourself, spreading the word also helps. Beyond that, the best thing we can do is wait-and-see. I know that’s not the most game-changing answer, but again, this whole situation is mostly internal affairs and while much greater measures are being taken to make things better for the animation departments employees, whether this will ultimately amount to great improvements is something only time will tell. That’s not to say I’m advising people to stop speaking out about the matter (though perhaps contacting them via email may be a more direct and expressing what you want for the employees may be a more direct and precise way than broadly shouting via social media). That might be necessary at this point in order to make sure the company does not get too lax on resolving the problem. At any rate, we can expect to start seeing the results of said-changes either as soon as RTX or whenever we see the new name for the next head of RT Animation in ending credits, whoever that might be or if there is a change in the scheduling of their content. Whatever happens, change is definitely on the horizon, one way or another.

[paralleljulieverse]

G’day Gertie: Star! debuts Down Under  

After its global premiere in London and subsequent release to select international markets such as Japan, the Julie Andrews mega-musical Star! made its way to Australia in early-October 1968, fifty years ago this week. Release patterns for films in this era could be a little idiosyncratic, and the Australian release of Star! was no exception. The film was treated to two lavish “preview” premieres in Sydney and Melbourne on October 4 and 8, respectively, but didn’t open to the general public till October 24 with a premiere roadshow engagement at Melbourne’s Paris Theatre. Even more strangely, Melbourne was the only Australian city to screen Star! for the first six months. The film didn’t open in Sydney till 23 May 1969 with other Australian cities to follow.*

The three previous Julie Andrews film musicals –– Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, and Thoroughly Modern Millie –– had all been major hits in Australia with Millie and Music still in theatrical release when Star! opened in late-1968. In point of fact, The Sound of Music enjoyed longer roadshow runs in Australia than anywhere else in the world: 181 weeks in Sydney (140 at the Mayfair before transferring to the Paris for a further 41 weeks), and 178 weeks in Melbourne (140 at the Paris, then transferring to the Esquire for a final 38 week run). By 1968, it was estimated that just under half the national population had seen The Sound of Music with more to come as the film entered suburban and regional release (Dale: 15; Keavney: 4-5).

As a result, Twentieth Century-Fox had high hopes Star! would do well in Australia and sent director Robert Wise on a special PR trip to the country to help launch the film. Accompanied by his wife, Patricia, Wise touched down in Sydney on 31 September 1968 where he was treated to a round of civic and industry receptions before officiating at a special gala invitation-only premiere of Star! on October 4 at Sydney’s Mayfair Theatre, home to The Sound of Music for so many years  (“New Boom”: 18). The following week, Wise flew on to Melbourne for the second Australian premiere at the Paris Theatre, another Sound of Music alma mater, on October 8. While in Melbourne, Wise gave a host of press interviews and even helped the Lord Mayor lay a plaque for a new $4-million cinema complex in the city (Messer: 8; see also, Bennett: 14; Musgrove: 2; Veitch: 18).

As with the UK response, Australian critical reception of Star! was generally very positive. In Melbourne, Howard Palmer of The Sun wrote:

“Star! the Julie Andrews epic is indeed one of those films that a critic sees with relief, because he can let his his hair down and quite safely say it is wonderful in every way...Wise has put theatre on the screen better than anyone else before him...Julie Andrews gives the drama of the Lawrence love affairs so well...Add to this the many comic scenes of her early career....and you have a complete actress...It’s a wonderful film not to be missed” (27).

Alec Martin of the Melbourne Truth was equally enthusiastic:

“[I]f Gertrude Lawrence was alive today she would be the first to whistle and  stamp her feet at...Miss Andrews’ brilliant performance in Star!...Miss Andrews sheds her wholesome Mary Poppins and Sound of Music image to play the glamorous, temperamental Gertrude Lawrence with perfection....Star! will be a box-office success, that’s for sure” (39). 

Ronald Conway of Melbourne’s The Advocate declared Star! “[a]n agreeable, civilised musical...Julie Andrews sings and acts splendidly and it is a relief to see her in something other than Sound of Music which lasted at the Paris for ever so long...A handsome production to be enjoyed by patrons of all ages” (20). While Kay Mealun of The Australian Women’s Weekly gushed, “I found it rich and big and happy–– could have sat it through, three hours and all, all over again right away” (56). 

Not all Australian reviews of Star! were as unreservedly laudatory, though even naysayers conceded the film had charm. Colin Bennett of The Age wrote that Star! “is well set in theatreland and reproduces...a series of splendid old favourites performed to perfection by Julie Andrews who looks fabulous and sings beautifully...But [she] lacks the bite of a Gertrude Lawrence. She is too fundamentally ‘nice’ and tasteful and efficient to be really insolent or bitchy” (6). 

In a similar vein, Valda Marshall of The Sun Herald wrote: 

“Star! is like an unrealised and long-forgotten musical script of the 30s...a conglomeration of vaudeville numbers, revue material and musical acts...It lacks a central sustaining interest [and] the star herself is without a unified character...Julie Andrews is...in top form. Her voice is as sure and strong as ever. Her acting still has the same unabashed directness and warmth. But the spark of mischievousness and spontaneity are missing” (87).

Charles Higham of the Sydney Morning Herald –– who summarily titled his mixed review, “Julie glitters but she isn’t Gertie Lawrence” –– declared Star!  “a carefully made picture...with fine dramatic moments [but] there is something tame and bloodless about it...Julie Andrews in the title role...brings a brittle professionalism and impeccable coldness to a part that demanded vulnerability, anguish, a maddening neurotic edge. Impossible to imagine this athlete of the musical screen missing an appointment or failing to pay a bill, falling hopelessly and foolishly in love or singing out of tune” (6). Still, Higham mused in another column, “[o]ne hopes Sydney audiences will respond warmly to this very well-made film” (Higham: 19).  

And, for the most part, Australian audiences did respond with comparative warmth to Star!. While the film didn’t score anywhere near the record-breaking success of The Sound of Music, it enjoyed respectable theatrical runs, playing in roadshow release in Melbourne for just under six months (23 weeks from 24 October 1968-26 March 1969) and in Sydney for five months (20 weeks from 23 May 1969-9 October 1969), two of the longest roadshow runs of Star! anywhere outside London (Davies: 198. 206; Louden: 6). 

Star! also went on to a fairly solid theatrical after-life in Australia. The film avoided the debacle of post-release editing that occurred in North America and the full roadshow print screened in residual first release in suburban and regional Australian markets well into the early-70s. Star! even ran as a 70mm double-feature with Hello Dolly at Sydney’s Village Cinema City in late-1974. The film continued to pop up intermittently in subsequent years in repertory screenings. It played several times throughout the 1970s and 80s at Sydney’s Ritz and Mandarin cinemas. The National Library in Canberra hosted a special archival screening of Star! in March 1980, and the film was given a lavish one-week showcase season at Melbourne’s Astor Theatre in November 1998 to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

Star! was also a frequent feature on Australian TV screens. It made its national small screen debut as the Sunday Night Movie of the Week in October 1973 and was rebroadcast every few years thereafter: 1975, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1986 and 1989. As far as can be ascertained, the first two broadcasts were edited for running time, but most later broadcasts appear to have been the 176 min. roadshow release.

Notes:

* In a sign of the times, the delay of the Sydney release of Star! was due to the unexpected success of The Graduate which had been booked in to the Mayfair, Sydney’s “home” of Todd-AO roadshows. The theatre’s previous roadshow offering, Doctor Dolittle, closed earlier than anticipated and The Graduate was scheduled as a “filler” –– it ended up running at the Mayfair for 11 months (Louden, 6).

Sources:

Bennett, Colin. “Box Office Wisdom.” The Age Saturday Magazine. 5 October 1968: 14.

________. “New Films: Star.” The Age. 28 October 1968: 6.

Bishop, Barbara. “Julie Misses the Point.” The Sun. 25 October 1968: 14.

Conway, Ronald. “Star.” The Advocate. 31 October 1968: 20.

Dale, David. “The Tribal Mind: What Australians Love the Most.” The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 February 1999: 15.

Davies, Keith. 50 Years of Cinema and Movie’s in Melbourne’s CBD (1940 – 1989). Melbourne: (n.p.), 2016.

“Films on TV.” The Age Green Guide. 21 December 1978: 8.

Higham, Charles. “Star-Maker.” The Sydney Morning Herald. 5 October 1968: 18.

________. “Turmoil in Film City.” The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 May 1969: 19.

________. “Julie Glitters but she is not Gertrude Lawrence.” The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 May 1969: 6.

________. “Films like Mother Used to Cry Over.” The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 June 1969: 17.

Keavney, Kay. “‘The Sound of Music’ Greatest Film Bonanza.” The Australian Women’s Weekly. 36: 1, 5 June 1968: 4-5.

Louden, Doug. Sydney in 70mm. Sydney: (n.p.), 2016. 

MacDonald, Dougal. “Julie Never Stops Being Julie.” The Canberra Times. 28 September 1969: 30.

Marshall, Valda. “It’s a Happening World: Star!” The Sun-Herald. 25 May 1969: 87.

Martin, Alec. “She is the True Star.” The Melbourne Truth. 2 November 1968: 39.

Melaun, Kay. “Julie as Gertrude.” The Australian Women’s Weekly. 36: 20, 4 December 1968: 56.

Messer, John. “From Horror to the Sound of Music––That’s Wise.” The Age. 8 October 1968: 8.

“Movies on TV.” The Sydney Morning Herald: TV Guide. 12 May 1975: 1.

“Movies on TV.” The Sydney Morning Herald: Monday Guide. 27 March 1978: 3.

“Movies on TV.” The Sydney Morning Herald: 7-Day Guide. 29 January 1979: 3.

“Movies on TV.” The Sun-Herald. 15 April 1984: 84.

Musgrove, Nan. “Two Women on His Mind.” The Australian Women’s Weekly. 36: 20, 16 October 1968: 2.

“New Boom for Star Musicals.” The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 October 1968: 18.

Palmer, Howard. “Julie Proves It.” The Sun Weekend Magazine. 26 October 1968: 27.

“Sunday TV.” The Age TV-Radio Guide. 30 March 1975: 8.

“Television.” The Age. 3 April 1980: 2.

“Television.” The Age. 28 August 1981: 2.

“Television.” The Age. 21 January 1989: 18.

“Today’s TV.” The Sun-Herald. 21 October 1973: 71.

Veitch, Jack. “Why Robert Wise Doesn’t Need to Work Again.” The Sun- Herald. 6 October 1968: 18.

“What Was the Name of that Film?” The Age. 8 October 1968: 16.

Copyright © Brett Farmer 2018

[pkmnjesus]

5 years of the PokémonJesus

Before the night comes to a close, I would like to personally reflect on today’s importance (thus the reason for the Takeover queue). It’s been 5 years since I officially became engaged with this fandom that has really became a weekly routine of mine when new episodes come out. This is really just to put my thoughts out there in the blog archive, so I would prefer if no one reblogs this. P J’s beginnings started all the way back with Serebii Forums...

2013-2014 (The Pokémon forums Era)

I have been lurking in the fandom as early as the Best Wishes days, and often visit sites like Serebii Forums or tumblr’s Pokémon anime tags around 2011. I usually talk Pokémon online when it comes to the games when battling or trading in certain chat rooms (was really active during the Gen. IV era of games), but never really talked about the anime with. I have been a spectator to the discussion while the BW saga was rolling a long, then I decided on September 26th 2013 (which was the airdate for the final BW! episode in Japan) to create a serebiiforums account under the username PokemonJesus123, just in time for the start of the XY series which I was mad hyped about! I WAS A FAN SINCE DAY 1...some y’all just tagged along in XY&Z NO LOYALTY xD . My serebii profile is still there actually, so you can try to find my old inactive page if you want lol (my avatar was me holding up my 3DS in a cringey way...looking back why tf did I take that photo lol delete later). Coming into 2014, I joined tumblr as well under the url name you see right before you. Never changed it, and probably never will. The origin of this name you ask? You’ll just have to ask me personally for that story 😉 I absolutely joined tumblr out of pure boredom to view and follow blogs I was a fan of. I had no intention of posting whatsoever. Oh, and I made a Twitter account under the P J name too! Follow ME :^)

2014-2015 (Thursday LIVE! tumblr era)

After a couple months of finally creating a tumblr account and actively posting on serebiiforums and bulbagarden, XY episode 50 (the episode where big lips Nini/Nene debuted) was the first EVER Pokémon anime episode I ever posted about in my blog. I was still new the #pokeani tag (funny story, I didn’t really knew what it meant back then besides to tag it lol), but I got as much as around 30-100 notes. Seeing those notes already got excited that it pushed me from making it a weekly thing since I had a livestream to watch it every Thursday night and screen-cap it. My goal from the very beginning was to try to be the first one to post about here, like what the Japanese fans do on Twitter under the #Anipoke tag. Of course, most of my notes came from either an AmourShipping post or a Serena post. I’m not going to lie, I was really a huge Serena fan when the series first started. I rambled a lot too getting hyped for Citron/Clemont episodes because he was probably my favorite character at the time xD

2015-2016 (A growing blog)

This was the era I started to do special long posts in celebration with Pokémon’s 20th anniversary. Around this period is where my blog was in a developing state getting like 2 or 3 followers every week. And trust me, there were A LOT of posts that I regret posting, but I learned to watch my words every week and say the right things (I really try not to trigger anyone here). I took a couple of weeks off when new episodes aired since I was really busy with college, or I wasn’t into XY filler episodes that much. Would usually tune in live when Team Flare was involved or anything with Squishy/Puni-chan (I absolutely ADORED Bonnie/Eureka in this arc), but I didn’t post that much on tumblr...unless if there was like an AmourShipping moment that happened xD. The hype for Gen. VII was already looming, and I kinda got bored from the anime A BIT. When Ash-Greninja came into the picture however, I got excited again! Then the Kalos League happened, and the anticipation of Ash’s journey hit a climax! We all know what happened, and the rest was history...

2016-2017 (GIFmaking era)

So the Sun & Moon anime happened late 2016, and the hype for a new series was within me again! This is when my blog REALLY started to boom, as well as the birth of my Pokémon Discord server PokéTōku. My notes were higher than over compared to what I posted from XY. One possible reason is that a lot of pokeani bloggers from back then weren’t really interested in Sun & Moon (probably because of the animation change), so I was one of few who still stayed for the ride and that really benefited my blog’s exposure. I absolutely loved Lillie’s character development, and I also did not expect myself to enjoy Lana/Suiren’s character so much! Brock & Misty’s was a huge highlight for me as well seeing my childhood come to a modern-day Pokémon series. I was surprised to have popular people reblog my stuff that destroys my notifications per second. I was even flattered when popular pokéblogs such as shelgon, corsolanite, chasekip, and a few others followed me. Back then I really wanted to get a lot of notes, but at this point I just wanted to be myself and post screen-caps that I feel like talking about. The series also motivated me to start making GIFs since I finally had access to Adobe Photoshop through my university’s application benefits. Later in 2017, I graduated from college and it gave me more time to improving my blog. Also, can you believe it took me 3 years to get 1,000 followers? If you asked me from day 1, I would have never expected to get that much since I had no idea about tumblr’s audience.

Everyone here knows that my blog doesn’t really follow “traditional” tumblr methods such as tags or making specific posts and what not (since I’m not really that into the tumblr culture lol...I’m just here for fun doing my own thing), but I hope I’ve brought something different to your dash experience 🙃

2017-2018 (Making friends)

From 1,000 to 2,500+ followers the next year. You’d be surprise how small that still is compared to the other popular Pokéblogs that joined tumblr later than me, but I’m still grateful for that number. My hype for movie 20 was crazy! I’d always make a post about it when a new trailer was out. But just like Sun & Moon, not everyone was looking forward to the AU it produced. The Let’s Go games shared the same fate as well since everyone didn’t want another Kanto, but I always defend the things that deserve a chance! I fairly enjoyed movie 20 though, and was the first movie that I posted screen-caps and GIFs for in this blog, even made an experience post about it watching it in the theaters! What’s MOST important to me during this time was actually interacting with some of my followers...or should I say friends now :) Out of the 5 years I’ve been here (not counting serebiiforum peeps I’ve known since 2013), I only recently talked to some of you around 2017. My interactions with people here have been awesome (for the most part at least lol) from sharing interests, geeking out over the anime, sending memes xD and concerns when P J isn’t feeling P J. You know who you are, and THANK YOU for cheering your boy up in times when I needed it despite not telling you about it <3 Going back to PokéAni hype, my next excitement attack was when they announced the Aether Foundation and Ultra Beasts were getting involved in the main story. It really makes up for no Alola movie...but hey we still got 1 year left, so maybe there’s hope?

Despite the brief breaks I took, P J’s activeness in the fandom has reached its highest when I managed the time to do scheduled posts and even started a few mini-blog series this year. Even during stressful times, I always make it an effort to find time and contribute to the fandom. I honestly don’t care if I get any asks because I know who the real homies are ◉‿◉つ A special shoutout as well to all the people that joined my Discord server through this website. I couldn’t have reached 100+ members without some of your blogs ^_^ And to the lurkers out there (I know some of y’all are creepin’ in the shadows of my blog without liking anything), you may not know it but I love you people too ლ(́◉◞౪◟◉‵ლ)

Anyway this is just a summary of my journey here so far, and if you’d to hear a more in-depth story on some toxic things I’ve experienced in this fandom just message me. I personally don’t like venting out stuff in public because it just promotes more negativity, and I’m not about that. I will make a separate post on my feelings toward the schedule change maybe next week, and an appreciation post (5th tumblr blogaversary) for my specific followers January 2019. I am still preparing for that because there are so many people (even ones I don’t even talk to) I want to thank ❤ Moving forward into my 6th year, I probably won’t make another post like this anytime soon...but I am very hopeful for the future of the SM series and possible Gen. 8 anime late 2019. I also do plan on making some PokéAni-related stuff in my YouTube channel when the time is right, and have the resources to do projects. Keep your eyes out fam 👀LET’S F’N GO!

[sunxsurfxkpop]

Burning sun scandal timeline

January 28

News Desk airs report where a man, Mr. Kim, says he was assaulted by Burning Sun nightclub staff on November 24, 2018, while helping a woman being sexually harassed. When police arrived, he was arrested as an assailant.

It is reported that BIGBANG’s Seungri is involved with management at Burning Sun and was at the venue that evening.

CCTV footage from the club also reveals a separate incident, with a woman shown being dragged down a club hallway. The woman reported the assault to the police who did not take action, and it was reported that Burning Sun deleted the footage.

January 29

Burning Sun CEOs Lee Sung Hyun and Lee Moon Ho issue a statement and apologise for Mr. Kim’s assault and plan to cooperate fully with the investigation. They take disciplinary action against the staff member in question.

The CEOs provide more CCTV footage from the second incident and state that the woman was removed from a VIP table for causing a disturbance and then assaulted their staff, for which she was arrested. The woman had since apologised and given assault settlement money.

The CEOs state that Seungri was not at the club on the day of the incident, and that he is someone they don’t see often.

January 30

A Burning Sun representative tells Kyunghyan Shinmun that Seungri managed Burning Sun but is not really the owner.

KBS News reports that Seungri had been a director of the club but resigned from the position a week prior.

KBS News also reports testimony from a former Burning Sun employee about VIP room CCTV footage that has gone viral, showing a woman being sexually assaulted by a man. The employee also suggests that illegal drug use occurred in VIP rooms.

https://youtu.be/hKWM7SbG_e8

February 1

YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun Suk confirms Seungri is no longer Burning Sun’s executive director and that he is resigning from all current business roles as he prepares to enter the military.

He states that Seungri was at Burning Sun until 3am on November 24, and the incident involving Mr. Kim took place past 6am.

Mr. Kim is accused of lying by the woman he was supposedly saving. She states that he was sexually harassing her. Mr. Kim is questioned by police.

February 2

Seungri shares statement on Burning Sun incident via his Instagram. He states that he was not there when it occurred but heard about it a few days later. He was shocked by the footage and does not condone any violence. He states that he had been the executive director in charge of promotions at the club, but that the club’s operation and management were not his role.

Dispatch reveal group chat conversations between Burning Sun staff where they discuss tactics for bringing girls into VIP rooms, looking for drunk women as easy targets and watching VIP clients engage in sexual intercourse via CCTV. Seungri is not part of these conversations.

February 4

Burning Sun CEO Lee Moon Ho issues a statement in which he apologises to Seungri. He states that Seungri only helped as a consultant and assisted in contacting foreign DJs. He confirms Burning Sun will remove VIP rooms and increase CCTVs.

February 15

Police raid Burning Sun and the Yeoksam District police unit. They confiscate programs related to alleged collusion of police officers as well as CCTV footage. At Burning Sun, they take data necessary to investigate on suspicions of drugs, sex crimes and collusion at the club.

February 16

At his solo concert in Seoul, Seungri apologises to fans saying, “I am very apologetic to all those who care for me. I’m sorry for causing disappointment for so many people, and I am reflecting on what has happened”. (Source)

February 17

Burning Sun shuts down as the investigation of drug dealing widens to more clubs in the Gangnam area.

February 18

Burning Sun assault victim Mr. Kim is suspected of a third count of sexual assault as police review CCTV recordings. He is already accused of two counts.

February 20

It is reported that police are investigating Burning Sun executives, including Seungri. Police summon staff members to make statements about Seungri’s role at the club.

February 26

SBS funE release text messages that were allegedly shared between Seungri, CEO Yoo of Yuri Holdings and an employee in 2015. The content implies that they were hiring sexual escort services at Club Arena for foreign investors.

A few hours after the report, YG release a statement that the texts are fabricated and untrue. Yuri Holdings issue a similar statement, stating that they believe someone with malicious intent towards Seungri fabricated them as a grudge.

Seoul Police Department confirm that they have launched an investigation into the escort service claims reported by the media.

YG Entertainment’s stock prices fall amid the controversy.

February 27

SBS funE journalist Kang Kyung Yoon responds to accusations of fabrication and says: “There is no reason to fabricate or edit the reported messages… If a request is received from the investigative agency, I will actively cooperate”. (Source)

Seungri states through YG Entertainment that he wishes to submit to drug tests as well as cooperate with investigations regarding the allegations surrounding him.

Seungri attends a police station for questioning that evening and is released 8.5 hours later. He submits to urine and follicle tests, and answers questions about drug and sexual escort allegations. He asks that people wait for the results of the investigation.

February 28

Seungri’s drug tests prove negative, barring the hair follicle test which takes longer to confirm.

Seungri cancels all scheduled activities, including upcoming concerts in Osaka and Jakarta.

https://youtu.be/Y4V1t1pR7LMMarch 1

SBS funE report that a whistleblower submitted the text messages of Seungri ordering sexual escort services to the Anti Corruption and Civil Rights Commission on February 22. The source says they submitted to the Commission because the messages suggest a deep connection with the police.

A source from the Seoul Metropolitan Police agency initially states: “We have yet to secure an original copy of the messages. We are contacting people [who are tied to the messages] in order to confirm [the existence of the original copy]... Not only have we not confirmed its existence, but we also have received a testimony that such messages do not exist”. (Source)

Burning Sun co-CEO Lee Sung Hyun admits to bribing a policeman with 20 million won while being investigated for possible entrance of a minor into the club.

March 4

News report reveals that the Seoul Police Department were aware of the Commission’s original copy of text messages on March 1. The police formally request for the organisation to cooperate with them regarding the documents.

March 6

It is reported that Seungri promoted a club in Hongdae in the past, which is owned by YG and now suspected of tax evasion. Three more clubs become implicated in the tax evasion controversy, with two residing in a building owned by Yang Hyun Suk.

March 8

Seungri confirms he will enlist as an active duty soldier on March 25.

MBC News share Burning Sun internal documents showing Seungri invested 225 million won in the club and listing him as a corporate promoter. He is also listed as one of four executive directors alongside Lee Sung Hyun, Lee Moon Ho, and an individual referred to as Kang.

Burning Sun’s list of shareholders includes Yuri Holdings with 20% of shares, of which Seungri is co-CEO.

March 9

BIGBANG fans on DC Gallery petition for Seungri to be removed from the group and YG’s roster.

March 10

Police begin searching Club Arena. It is reported that they find evidence of pimping allegations but no confirmation of who is involved. Arena is also investigated on suspicion of tax evasion.

Police confirm the December 2015 messages are not fabricated.

Seungri is booked and questioned by police on charges of violating South Korea’s Acts on Pimping and Prostitution and its Punishments. He is currently considered a suspect pending further investigation. Three to four other people in the chat group are also booked.

Results on Seungri’s follicle drug test prove negative.

March 11

SBS funE report on a KakaoTalk chatroom where hidden camera footage and photos are shared between Seungri, two male singers, CEO Yoo of Yuri Holdings, two regular citizens, and Mr. Kim- an acquaintance of Seungri’s who helped him run his restaurant business and also worked at Club Arena. According to the texts, Mr. Kim posted illegal hidden camera photos and videos, to which Seungri and others responded.

Police say they are aware of the chatroom allegations and are investigating.

Seungri announces his retirement from the entertainment industry in an Instagram post. He cites protecting the honour of YG and BIGBANG in it.

Police prohibit Seungri from leaving the country.

SBS 8 O’Clock News report that one of the celebrities in the KakaoTalk chatroom is allegedly Drug Restaurant frontman and variety star Jung Joon Young. The report states that he uploaded illegal hidden camera footage to the chat several times, some showing himself engaging in sexual intercourse with women filmed without consent. At least 10 victims are confirmed.

March 12

Jung Joon Young’s agency respond to hidden camera allegations, saying they are unable to ascertain the truth at this time but that the artist is returning to South Korea cooperate with police investigations.

Jung Joon Young is removed from 2 Days & 1 Night, Salty Tour and 4 Wheeled Restaurant. He will be edited out of episodes that have already been filmed but not aired yet.

Police book Jung Joon Young on arrival in South Korea and prohibit him from leaving the country.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission transfer the KakaoTalk data to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office after 15-day analysis.

SBS funE report on messages from July 2016, where Seungri opened a club named Monkey Museum in Gangnam. The alleged messages suggest police covered up issues with reported illegal structures in the building.

March 13

Jung Joon Young admits to hidden camera crimes in apology letter. Investigations will commence on March 14.

MAKEUS Entertainment terminate their contract with Jung Joon Young.

YG Entertainment confirms that it has terminated Seungri's contract with the agency.

YTN report that FTISLAND's Choi Jong Hoon used his connections to police to cover up a drunk driving incident from February 2016. It is alleged that he shared information about the incident in the group chatroom that includes Jung Joon Young and Seungri.

SBS 8 O'Clock News report that a police officer in charge of Jung Joon Young's 2016 illegal filming case requested the digital forensics company say the data couldn't be restored on Jung Joon Young's phone, the key evidence in the case. The police closed the investigation before receiving the data.

SBS 8 O'Clock News report on alleged text messages between Choi Jong Hoon, Jung Joon Young, Seungri and other non-celebrities, discussing payment being made to police to cover up Choi's drunk driving accident.

The former Korea Police Commissioner General, Kang Shin Myung, denies allegations that he is tied to the chatroom including the three idols.

The current Commissioner General, Min Gap Ryong, holds a press conference acknowledging the possibility of high-ranked officers abusing their power in the past to protect celebrities. He says he will investigate further.

FNC Entertainment share statement confirming Choi Jong Hoon was caught drunk driving in February 2016. He denies any ties to police. He halts all solo and FTISLAND-related activities while under investigation.

March 14

DC FTISLAND Gallery demand Choi Jong Hoon withdraw from the band.

Yong Junhyung announces his departure from HIGHLIGHT, after revealing he was aware of Jung Joon Young's hidden camera footage and had discussed it in one-on-one chat conversations. He states that he was not part of any group chats.

Commissioner General Min Gap Ryong announces plan to investigate corruption in the police force, as well as a nationwide investigation of clubs across South Korea, looking into drugs, sexual assault, the filming and distribution of hidden camera videos, and police connections.

Seungri, Jung Joon Young and Mr. Yoo report to Seoul Police Agency to start questioning

Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office takes over the case from the police

Choi Jong Hoon announces retirement from industry and departure from FTISLAND

Sisa Journal shared messages from 2014 of Seungri providing sexual escort services to his business partner. He is also revealed to have gambled overseas - an illegal act for Korean citizens.

SBS 8 O'Clock News reports CNBLUE's Lee Jong Hyun messages with Jung Joon Young in one-on-one chatroom, including sharing of illegal hidden cam videos. It is reported Lee Jong Hyun has also filmed women without their consent.

March 15

Jung Joon Young completes police questioning after 21 hours

Seungri completes police questioning and states he will be asking the military to delay his enlistment date so he can complete the investigation.

The military say it is unlikely they can delay Seungri's enlistment, but if he puts in the request they will look over his reasoning before March 25, when he is due to enlist.

Yuri Holdings replace their CEO, effectively making Mr. Yoo resign from his position.

FNC Entertainment issue statement confirming Lee Jong Hyun watched hidden camera footage sent to him via KakaoTalk, and had inappropriate conversations degrading women.

We'll continue to update this timeline as events unfold.

Original post

[trentteti]

Predictions for the January 2019 LSAT

For the January exam, we’re going to switch our typical predictions post up a little bit.

For the past few years, we’ve jokingly made hyper-specific and ridiculous predictions for each LSAT that, unsurprisingly, were not borne out by the actual exam. The “joke” was that making actual predictions on the LSAT was a fool’s errand, since you won’t know exactly what the Logical Reasoning questions, Reading Comp passages, or Logic Games would be about. And, even if you did, that knowledge wouldn’t be of much use. So, we’d make a few winking, sort-of-inane predictions, and then remind students that as long as they were comfortable with the concepts that get tested on every LSAT, they’d do great, irrespective of what would end up showing up on the test.

Buuuut … as it turns out, people about to take a very important exam would like to have some idea about what will be on said exam. Who could have guessed that? So we’re going to take a bit more honest and forthright approach to January’s predictions. This is officially the truth corner, where we tell the truth.

Except — here’s the thing — the January test is nondisclosed, which means that it’ll never get released to test takers or test prep companies. So we can’t check whether our predictions — no matter how truthful or “hilarious” they may have been — were accurate.

Plus, prior to last year, the only nondisclosed LSAT every year was the February exam. Before 2018, LSAC would release three of the four LSATs administered each year, and keep one nondisclosed February exam for itself. LSAC did this to have a bank of usable, unreleased exams to give to international test takers, those who observe Sabbath and take the LSAT on a different day, or in case it had to administer a make-up test for whatever reason.

But then LSAC changed up its test schedule in 2019. On top of the usual four exams, it threw in a July test for good measure. And that July test was nondisclosed, just like the past February exams. And when that July test came, they didn’t make a new, previously unused nondisclosed exam. They simply re-used an old February exam (the February 2014 exam, to be specific). And people were not happy about this. Their argument: those who took the February 2014 exam had an unfair advantage. An obvious counterpoint: those few people who spend over four years studying for the LSAT probably need every advantage they can get.

Anyway, looking ahead to the new schedule in 2019, we realized that LSAC would no longer hold a February exam. We could no longer pinpoint the exam that we knew would be a new nondisclosed exam. And we noticed there would many more nondisclosed exams on top of the July 2019 test. In 2019, the January, March, July, and October exams will all be nondisclosed. And that means that — unless LSAC is somehow able to almost double the volume of tests they produce every year — some of these will also be recycled nondisclosed exams. Probably a majority of them.

So, the big prediction for January — really the only one that matters — is whether LSAC is going to give you a new, previously unused nondisclosed exam (like they did for past February exams), or if they’ll again recycle a past nondisclosed exam (like they did in July 2018).

Our prediction: this January test will be a new nondisclosed exam. It’s essentially taking the place of the usual February exams in the 2019 schedule. Plus, if LSAC is going to administer this many exams every year, they’ll eventually have to replenish the supply of fresh nondisclosed exams. They can only draw from the well of past February exams for so long.

So what’s going to be on this presumably new exam? Well, this is the honesty part we promised: we can’t say with certainty. We don’t possess any inside knowledge or clairvoyance or even particularly keen gifts of foresight. But based on what we’ve seen on the recent exams, here’s what we can guess:

On LR, there will be a lot of Strengthen and Flaw questions. And you can expect a lot of those Strengthen questions to be of the Strengthen Principle variety. You won’t see many Implication questions, but almost all of them will be Soft Must Be True questions. You should diagram about 10 questions, and well over half of the questions will involve one of the common fallacies. There will be one fallacy in particular that will show up over and over again. In the spirit of our old super specific and unsubstantiated predictions, let’s posit that the exclusivity fallacies will rear its ugly head multiple times throughout both LR sections.

On Reading Comp, you’ll get at least one passage about science and at least one passage about the law. The remaining will be about some combination of social sciences, history, the arts, or culture. The comparative passage will be, in all likelihood, the most difficult passage of the bunch and an objectively challenging and dry piece of content.

For Logic Games, expect a 1:1 ordering game and a tiered ordering game. You’ll also get a grouping game of some sort — the smart money is on an unstable grouping game, but one of the other games could show up too. The fourth game will either be another ordering game (probably involving some principles of distribution), another grouping game, or a combo game. I mean, I basically just told you to expect all the games you’ve spent the last few months practicing, but, as I said, these are honest and forthright predictions.

Of course, we might be wrong about the prediction that the January test will be a new nondisclosed exam. In that case, LSAC will draw from a past February exam. We’ll assume they’ll want to keep it recent but not too recent, so we’re guessing it’ll be the February 2012, 2015, 2016, or 2017 exam. The February 2013 and 2014 exams were the last ones used, so probably not those. Maybe do some internet sleuthing about those exams. Be aware, you won’t be able to figure out that much. LSAC has rules that prevent anyone from getting too specific in their post-exam commentary for this very reason. But maybe that research will give you a general sense of the difficulty level you’re in for and the scintillating subjects you’ll see in your Reading Comp passages.

Either way, if you have the basics down, it won’t matter whether the test is new or old. Instead of using this last week worrying about what might be on the exam, brush up on the skills you know get tested on all exams. Get some practice diagramming conditional statements, and making deductions with them. Review all the common fallacies, and practice identifying them on Flaw, Parallel Flaw, and most Operation questions. Study up on causal relationships, particularly how to strengthen and weaken them. Do some final Reading Comp passages, and really focus on recognizing the author’s attitude and conclusions. Go over when to make scenarios in ordering and grouping games.

And since everyone loves a curve prediction — even on a nondisclosed exam where the curve isn’t released — I’m seeing a -10 curve. Honestly, I hope I’m wrong about that one, though.

Predictions for the January 2019 LSAT was originally published on LSAT Blog

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to a new weekly collaboration between FiveThirtyEight and ABC News. With 5,000 people seemingly thinking about challenging President Trump in 2020 — Democrats and even some Republicans — we’re keeping tabs on the field as it develops. Each week, we’ll run through what the potential candidates are up to — who’s getting closer to officially jumping in the ring and who’s getting further away.

There were no new entrants into the Democratic primary field this week, but several potential 2020 hopefuls stepped into the spotlight to criticize President Trump’s proposed border wall and to call for votes on funding bills that would end the partial government shutdown that is now in its 21st day.

Democratic leaders advocated for an end to the impasse as quickly as possible, arguing that the border wall was an expensive and unnecessary solution to an exaggerated problem and one that could be negotiated at a later time without paralyzing the government. Most of the public, meanwhile, placed responsibility for the shutdown on Trump’s shoulders, according to recent polls, providing fodder for eventual stump speeches.

Jan. 4-10, 2019

Michael Bennet (D)

The Colorado senator changed his Twitter handle from @BennetForCO to @MichaelBennet, renewing speculation that he was interested in seeking higher office. Sources close to Bennet previously told Colorado Public Radio that he was considering a run for president.

Joe Biden (D)

The former vice president is in the final stages of deciding whether to run for president, The New York Times reported Sunday. Biden, who led some of the first Democratic national and Iowa caucus polls, is “skeptical” that other Democrats considering a run can defeat Trump, according to the newspaper.

Biden’s political action committee outraised those of some of his potential rivals, bringing in over $2 million in 2018, Politico reported Tuesday.

Biden’s brother Frank told The Palm Beach Post that he has been encouraging his big brother to run and that he thinks he will. Frank Biden also said that his brother would have won several states that Hillary Clinton lost in 2016, including Pennsylvania. According to Frank Biden, a group of Biden family members there voted for Trump.

Michael Bloomberg (D)

According to a Bloomberg Philanthropies press release, Bloomberg will be in Texas on Friday for announcements in Austin and San Antonio related to his philanthropic “American Cities Climate Challenge.” The former mayor of New York City will be joined by the mayors of Austin and San Antonio for meetings and a press conference.

Cory Booker (D)

The New Jersey senator was part of a bipartisan group that announced this week that they would re-introduce legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. The bill seeks to prevent a sudden dismissal of the special counsel by providing for an expedited judicial review of a firing and ensuring that any such decision is made solely for legitimate reasons.

According to CNBC, Booker met recently with Wall Street donors, one of whom said anonymously that “the meetings aren’t officially about running, but of course they are about running in 2020.”

Sherrod Brown (D)

Brown’s wife, Connie Schultz, said a decision on a presidential campaign will come “within the next two months,” in an interview with CNN.

The Ohio senator responded to Trump’s Tuesday Oval Office address on the government shutdown, saying that the situation at the border was “not a national emergency” but one that Trump created himself.

Julian Castro (D)

On Saturday, Castro will formally announce his decision about a 2020 presidential campaign at an event in San Antonio, where he previously served as mayor.

In an appearance on ABC News’s “This Week” on Sunday, Castro criticized Trump’s leadership and defended Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s call for a top marginal tax rate of 70 percent, noting that it was once as high as 90 percent.

On Monday, Castro, who led the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Obama administration, traveled to Iowa, where he met with Democratic activists and outlined his vision for the future. On Tuesday, he stopped in Nevada to meet with Latino leaders.

John Delaney (D)

Delaney this weekend will open campaign offices in the Iowa cities of Cedar Rapids and Des Moines. After a weekend of traveling through the state, he is scheduled to meet with county-level Democratic officials and deliver a presentation in Davenport on future trends in trade, education, health care and climate change, among other issues.

Jeff Flake (R)

Flake on Monday tweeted a defense of his replacement, Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, after a national Republican committeeman referred to her as “Senator Madonna” in a Facebook post and said she was elected in part because of “dumb ass people.”

No, @kyrstensinema won because she ran a good race and had a message that resonated with Arizona's voters. The sooner we Republicans recognize this, the sooner we will we be in a position to win the next contest. https://t.co/iMNwvMWxKJ

— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) January 7, 2019

Jay Inslee (D)

On Saturday, the Washington governor will give the keynote address at the annual summit of the Nevada progressive advocacy organization Battle Born Progress.

Inslee signed the “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge” on Tuesday, promising not to accept donations from the political action committees, executives or groups affiliated with the fossil fuel industry. “This is just one small statement that they should not continue to have undue influence over our decision-making over the existential threat against our nation,” he told HuffPost.

Inslee and fellow Washington Democrats announced legislation Tuesday that would give state residents a “public option” for health insurance, The Seattle Times reported.

Last Friday, Inslee began to solicit applications for clemency from Washingtonians convicted of marijuana possession misdemeanors in the years before it was legalized.

Tulsi Gabbard (D)

In a column in The Hill on Tuesday, the Hawaii congresswoman criticized Democrats for “weaponiz[ing] religion” in relation to the November questioning of judicial nominee Brian Buescher, who was asked by the Senate Judiciary Committee about his Catholicism and Knights of Columbus membership. “While I absolutely believe in the separation of church and state as a necessity to the health of our nation, no American should be asked to renounce his or her faith or membership in a faith-based, service organization in order to hold public office,” wrote Gabbard, who said she nevertheless opposed Buescher’s confirmation.

Kirsten Gillibrand (D)

Gillibrand has been reaching out to Wall Street executives to evaluate support for a potential presidential campaign but has been met with divided responses, CNBC reported.

Kamala Harris (D)

Harris released two books on Tuesday: a memoir, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” and a children’s book, “Superheroes Are Everywhere.”

In interviews with ABC News’s “Good Morning America” and “The View,” Harris said that she was not ready to announce whether she’d decided to enter the presidential contest but said that she thought the country was “absolutely” ready for a female president of color. The California senator criticized Trump over the shutdown, labeling his proposed border wall a “vanity project.”

John Kasich (R)

In response to Trump’s Oval Office address on the shutdown, Kasich issued a statement criticizing the president for not “putting the country ahead of his politics and being more flexible with his goals.” The former Ohio governor added that “the President and Democrats need to learn how to compromise and put the American people first.”

Amy Klobuchar (D)

The Minnesota senator made news Wednesday when she tweeted that her attempt to meet with attorney general nominee William Barr was denied because of the government shutdown.

I tried (as did Blumenthal) to get meeting w/AG nominee Barr and was told he couldn’t meet until AFTER the hearing. The reason given? The shutdown. Yet shutdown didn’t stop him from other mtgs. This is a 1st for me w/any nominee as a member of judiciary. #Uncool #BadSign

— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) January 10, 2019

The impasse appeared to be resolved Thursday morning, however:

Thanks everyone. My meeting is now set for this afternoon with AG nominee Barr. Coffee will be hot.

https://t.co/jUn2AONuQg

— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) January 10, 2019

Beto O’Rourke (D)

Beto O’Rourke grew a beard — one (unlike that of his former rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz) that received decidedly mixed reviews from the internet after he debuted it during a Facebook Live video on Tuesday.

Facial hair aside, O’Rourke’s Facebook Live video featured his thoughts on Trump’s proposed border wall. The former Texas congressman said such a barrier “would cost $30 billion and take private property and cause death and suffering as more asylum seekers are pushed to ever more hostile stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border” as he shared views of the border from El Paso.

According to The Wall Street Journal, O’Rourke’s aides are plotting a cross-country road trip for the Democrat as he continues to consider a presidential bid. The newspaper reported that such a trip would be made solo, without advisers or press, and avoid Iowa and other early-voting states.

Despite indications that O’Rourke is leaning toward a run, Politico noted that advisers to the former congressman are not returning the calls of prominent Democrats in New Hampshire and Iowa.

Richard Ojeda (D)

Ojeda, who is one of the few officially declared presidential candidates, plans to resign from his West Virginia state Senate seat next week to focus on his campaign.

“I cannot — I will not — allow myself to not be sitting in my seat and leave it empty,” the Democrat told West Virginia Public Broadcasting on Wednesday. “It needs to be filled with somebody who’s going to go in here and just going to do their best to help the state.”

Bernie Sanders (D)

Sanders held a press conference Thursday to introduce legislation focused on lowering prescription drug prices — an issue that was at the forefront of his 2016 presidential campaign. The three bills would peg U.S. prescription drug prices to median prices in five other major countries, allow the health and human services secretary to negotiate prices under Medicare Part D, and permit drug imports from abroad.

Politico reported Thursday that a former Sanders presidential campaign adviser made sexually charged comments to another staffer and forcibly kissed her at a gathering after the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in 2016. (The accused adviser denied the allegation in a statement to Politico.) The account was the latest in a string of stories alleging sexism and harassment within Sanders’s campaign.

Should Sanders run for president this cycle, his campaign will not be managed by Jeff Weaver, who held the position in 2016. Weaver told CNN that he would likely take the position of senior strategic adviser, a decision that came before the emergence of the allegations against the campaign, according to a CNN source.

Tom Steyer (D)

The billionaire Democratic activist announced Wednesday that he would not run for president “at this time” to instead focus on his effort calling for the impeachment of Trump. Although his words left the door open for a campaign at some point in the future, Steyer said that for now he intends to concentrate on pressuring Democratic leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi to launch impeachment proceedings in the House.

Elizabeth Warren (D)

After announcing her presidential exploratory committee last week, Warren spent a busy weekend in Iowa at several organizing events and roundtables. The Massachusetts senator’s stump speeches focused on her desire to combat income inequality, making health care more affordable and empowering women.

This weekend, Warren will attend an organizing event in Manchester, New Hampshire, during her first visit to the state since the launch of her exploratory committee.

[dansnaturepictures]

My year of birds of prey: The story so far

I have said a lot on my social platforms what a brilliant year 2018 has been for birds of prey for me before, due to a combination of seeing 10 so far quite a high amount for me including two I wouldn’t usually see one of which a life tick beating many commoner species onto my year list and having so many standout moments with falcons, owls, eagles and more. So below are the 10 I have seen so far, saying when I saw them first this year, which one if any of my pictures from 2018 so far attached to this photoset are of this species and what’s stood out about them this year. They are ordered in the order I first saw the bird this year. I decided to post this now as I have a pretty busy schedule both on here and my Twitter Dans_Pictures this week with potential for my primary function (sightings and pictures from trips and a blog about it) for three days over the bank holiday, a celebration of 10 years of me visiting Skomer Island on Twitter tomorrow, Tumblr reveals/recaps for those following me on Twitter of my 2019 calendar line ups at the end of the week (those 26 pictures revealed on Twitter over the last two nights) and potential for tweets about the first week of my favourite natural history programme Springwatch.

Kestrel

First seen in a classic position on the 1st January on a light on the M27 motorway this common bird of prey made a New Year’s day debut on my year list probably making 2018 the first year a Kestrel has been the first bird of prey I’ve seen. I’ve enjoyed seeing loads and loads on my Martin Down visits as spring came on too.

Buzzard

The only of the birds of prey on my list of 24 favourite birds that I’ve seen so far in 2018, the Buzzard was a year tick just by Blashford/Harbridge on my last day of being 20 6th January. Perhaps one of my greatest standout moments this year was seeing two glide above my head in April against a glorious blue sky at Martin Down where I took the first two pictures in this photoset of them, the first of three afternoons at Martin Down where I have got special Buzzard views.

White-tailed Eagle

Seen on 18th January the first day in the field of my epic first Scotland trip for my 21st birthday, my second ever White-tailed Eagle seen also in transit at Slochd Summit is a big candidate of many for my best non-life tick year tick this year. I snapped the record shot in the third picture in this photoset, helping me to remember glorious views of it on another sunny day in one of our fantastic guide’s telescope.

Golden Eagle

Also seen at various points of the incredible Strathdearn on 18th January, the Golden Eagle was my first new bird of prey on British shores or otherwise for four years with one of my favourite birds the Tawny Owl in the New Forest and a Black Kite in Germany part of my 16 2014 new birds. I just had some of the greatest times of my life seeing a bird I had always dreamt of, getting the fourth picture in this photoset of a young one in the process.

Sparrowhawk

On 27th January relief would meet me in a dark Blashford Lakes woodland hide as a common and my first ever bird of prey species seen in 2006 the Sparrowhawk one I strangely don’t always see easily in a year flew in front of the hide. It was a special moment and I’ve seen it once more at Blashford so far, I got the fifth picture in this photoset of it that day.

Marsh Harrier

The 28th January brought me my first Marsh Harrier of the year at Keyhaven, two more sightings here so far as they’ve moved in this year and two at Weymouth reserves Radipole Lake and Lodmoor have made the Marsh Harrier my breakaway star of my bird of prey year as since 2012 when I saw my first I usually only see one in a year two if I’m lucky! Its lead to amazing moments, not least the views at Radipole when I took the sixth picture in this photoset of one.

Barn Owl

On the 11th February along the Titchfield Canal Path where I saw my first ever I saw the Barn Owl in a tree one morning where I had seen it last year as my 150th bird of 2017 in May. This felt brilliant once again adding to a comeback three years for me seeing these birds again after only two previous sightings and I once again got a record shot the seventh picture in this photoset.

Red Kite

Like 2016 this perhaps top three for commonest raptor now made me wait to see it, but that moment came on the 24th April on a lunch break at work when one flew over Abbey Gardens in Winchester. That occurred again and I also saw one when we drove through the South Downs on the first Bank Holiday Monday of May this year.

Hobby

Again at Martin Down on the 5th May the biggest pleasant surprise of my raptor year occurred as out of the blue (literally given the colour of the sky on that scorching weekend) a Hobby came soaring over our heads giving me my best ever views of one probably. This was a big moment meaning this was a bird I’m not always guaranteed to see in a year that I didn’t have to worry about now and I took the eighth picture in this photoset of it.

Peregrine Falcon

This post was inspired by the last two lunch breaks of my working week this week where I saw these birds nesting on Winchester Cathedral. This is an amazing moment for the city and brought happiness and relief for me as getting this species as a year tick on Thursday meant I’d finally seen my bogey bird this year. A bird I don’t see for ages or struggle to see that I usually see early or easily in a year.

I’m loving the raptor fest for me this year but I hope it’s not over. We plan to go to the Bird Fair again in August so another of my favourite birds the Osprey is a star attraction. But what about Hen Harrier which I’ve seen for the last three years? Or Short-eared Owl which I’ve seen the last two? Will I catch up with those down here when winter comes? I can’t wait to find out!

[patriotsnet]

How Many Republicans Would Have To Vote For Removal

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/how-many-republicans-would-have-to-vote-for-removal/

How Many Republicans Would Have To Vote For Removal

The House Just Voted To Impeach President Trump Here’s What Happens Next

How Many Republicans and Democrats Have Been President – Brief History #4

From CNN’s Zachary B. Wolf

The House has just voted to impeach President Trump for the second time making him the only US president to ever be impeached twice. The resolution passed 232 to 197.

The impeachment resolution the House voted on charges Trump with;a single article, “incitement of insurrection” for his role in last week’s deadly Capitol riot.

Ten Republicans, including the House’s No. 3 Republican, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, joined with Democrats to impeach Trump.

There is no such thing as a routine impeachment but this one is unprecedented in all sorts of ways.

The overall impeachment process laid out in the Constitution is relatively simple:

A president commits “high Crime or Misdemeanor”

The House votes to impeach

The Senate conducts a trial

This impeachment process will feel entirely new and different from the one we saw in late 2019 around the Ukraine investigation, most notably because the Senate trial is expected to occur after Trump leaves office.

Here’s why that’s important:

New President Joe Biden will be asking the Senate to vote on his Cabinet nominees and act on legislation to address the Covid pandemic as well as relief for Americans hurt by the troubled economy.

In 2020, Senate business ground to a complete halt during the trial. This time, incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is hoping to pursue a half-day schedule to conduct the trial part of the day and business the rest of the day.

Watch the moment:

Trump’s Iron Grip Loosens

With just a week left in his term, it now appears all but certain that Donald Trump will become the first president to be impeached twice.

Unlike his first go through the process, this vote will have the support of at least a handful of Republicans – including Liz Cheney, a member of the party’s House leadership team. There is also, unlike January 2020, a chance the Senate has enough votes to successfully convict the president. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s recent signals of approval are evidence of that.

Of course, the primary consequence of Senate conviction – removal from office – seems of limited relevance with so little time left in the Trump presidency. Democrats, however, view impeachment as a formal way of marking their outrage at the president’s behaviour, not just last week, but during his months of challenging and undermining November’s election results.

A successful conviction could also result in Trump’s being banned from ever holding federal public office again and stripped of the privileges enjoyed by ex-presidents.

That prospect alone, in the minds of Democrats , makes impeachment worth the effort.

Liz Cheney Vote Count Latest Elise Stefanik Could Replace Wyoming Republican After House Gop Voted To Remove Her

8:30 ET, May 13 2021

GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik is favored to take over the position formerly held by Liz Cheney before her ousting on Wednesday.

Stefanik, the 36-year-old lawmaker from New York, originally criticized former President Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign for his “inappropriate, offensive” comments on the notorious Access Hollywood tape.

Since then, her stance has flipped, and when she voted against Trump’s impeachment, he called her a “new Republican star.”

Stefanik was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress in 2014, and the first woman to serve as the recruitment chair for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Cheney, 54, lost her post as House Republican Conference chair due to ongoing comments against Trump.

Cheney has often been vocal against former President Donald Trump and politicians from her own party.

The Republican was also facing backlash from colleagues as she has criticized them for promoting the big lie of baseless election fraud back in 2020.

Trump and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise have backed Stefanik.

On Tuesday, Cheney gave a speech on the House floor firing back at Trump and blasted fellow Republicans for backing the former president even after the attack on the US Capitol earlier this year.

Read our Liz Cheney live blog for the latest on the vote…

You May Like: Why Are Republicans Wearing Blue Ties

House Republicans Join Democrats In Voting To Impeach Trump

Washington Ten Republican members of the House, including one of its highest-ranking leaders, joined Democrats in voting to impeach President Trump for inciting the deadly attack on the Capitol last week by a violent mob of his supporters.;

The final vote was 232 to 197, as the 10 Republicans joined all 222 Democrats in voting in favor of the impeachment resolution.;

The article of impeachment will next be delivered to the Senate, where Mr. Trump will be placed on trial. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said after the House vote that there is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude before President-elect Biden is sworn in next week.

Mr. Trump is the first president to be impeached twice. When he was;impeached;in 2019 over his attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden, no House Republicans voted in favor of impeaching him. But this time, 10 members of his own party determined his actions warranted impeachment.

Here are the Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Trump:

Liz Cheney of Wyoming

Tom Rice of South Carolina

Fred Upton of Michigan

David Valadao of California

Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House, said in a statement on Tuesday that she would vote to impeach Mr. Trump after he whipped up his supporters Wednesday at a rally not far from the Capitol.

A Majority Vote In The House Is Needed To Impeach Trump But 20 Republican Senators Will Need To Join A Vote To Remove Him

GettyTrump at the Social Media Summit

Impeachment proceedings are more complicated than they might sound. If you recall, in former President Bill Clintons administration, there were enough votes to impeach him but there were not enough votes to convict and remove him. This could happen again with President Donald Trump. You can read all the laws on impeachment proceedings here.

A simple majority vote is needed in the House to impeach Trump. This might not be difficult since the Democrats have a majority in the House.

If all 435 House members vote, they would need 218 votes for a majority to be reached and for Trump to be impeached.;There are 235 Democrats in office in the House, one Independent, and 199 Republicans, Reuters explained.

So getting a majority of Democrats wouldnt be difficult, since a majority of House Democrats already supported impeachment earlier this year. But even with an impeachment vote, Trump would still not be removed from office.

With a majority vote in the House, articles of impeachment would be approved that lay out all the impeachable offenses. Treason and bribery qualify as crimes warranting impeachment, as do other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

But this is not all that is needed to remove a sitting President. They would then need 2/3 majority of the Senates 100 members to vote to for the President to be removed from office. That means a total of 67 Senators would need to vote to convict and remove the President.

Don’t Miss: Did Trump Say Republicans Are Stupid

Ten Republicans Joined Democrats In Impeaching Trump A Historic Second Time A Move That Was Quickly Met With Condemnation Back In Their Home States Theyve Been Publicly Scolded Pushed To Resign And Warned That Local Organizations Will Mount A Strong Push To Oust Them From Office In The Primary

After my last election, I had decided not to run again. But the vote by Congressman Valadao to impeach President Trump with no witnesses, evidence, or without allowing any defense was too much for me to stay on the sidelines, Chris Mathys, a former Fresno, California, city council member, told;Newsweek.

Valadao, who represents Californias 21st district, wasnt in office during Trumps first impeachment, as he had been ousted from office in 2018 by Democrat TJ Coxx. In November, Valadao won back his seat from the Democrat who beat him in 2018 by less than a point. The Republican placed blame on Trump for the Capitol riot, saying that his rhetoric was un-American, abhorrent and absolutely an impeachable offense.

That vote in favor of impeaching Trump violated the trust of the millions of Americans that voted for Trump in the November election, according to Mathys, who unsuccessfully sought a seat in New Mexicos House during the 2020 primary. The decision was so egregious, that Mathys doesnt think voters will forget it.

Whit Ayer, a GOP strategist, told;Newsweek;it was a very gutsy decision to vote in favor of impeachment because they knew they would likely draw challenges. However, it remains to be seen how much the impeachment will play in the 2022 primary and one of the factors that is still up in the air is how much of a political powerhouse Trump will be in 18 months.

The 7 Republican Senators Who Voted To Convict Former President Donald Trump Explain Their Rationale

Donald Trumps second impeachment trial came to an end Saturday with 57 senators voting to convict, falling short of the two-thirds margin required to find him guilty of the charge of incitement of insurrection in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that resulted in five deaths. Seven GOP senators broke with their party voting along with all 48 Democrats and both independents in the body.

After the 57-43 vote, the Republicans who defied Trump explained their decision.

Richard Burr, North Carolina

The facts are clear, Burr said in a statement after the vote. The President promoted unfounded conspiracy theories to cast doubt on the integrity of a free and fair election because he did not like the results. As Congress met to certify the election results, the President directed his supporters to go to the Capitol to disrupt the lawful proceedings required by the Constitution. When the crowd became violent, the President used his office to first inflame the situation instead of immediately calling for an end to the assault.

Burr originally voted that the trial was unconstitutional, but said in his statement that the Senate is an institution based on precedent, and given that the majority of the Senate voted to proceed with this trial, the question of constitutionality is now established precedent.

He has already announced he will not be running for reelection in 2022.

Bill Cassidy, Louisiana

Lisa Murkowski, Alaska

Mitt Romney, Utah

Recommended Reading: How Many States Are Republican

Why Most Gop Senators Are Likely To Oppose Conviction

Despite strong bipartisan elite fury and dismay over Trumps conduct leading up to and during the January 6 crisis, the base hasnt abandoned him in any significant way. Yes, hes losing some support across the board, but not enough to embolden Republican rebels. A new Axios-Ipsos survey dramatically shows the current public opinion dynamics: A majority of Americans now favor removing Trump from office, but a majority of Republicans still think Trump was right to challenge his election loss, support him, dont blame him for the Capitol mob and want him to be the Republican nominee in 2024. Among the more than one-third of Republicans who appear to identify with Trump more than with their party, support for Trump 2024 which of course conviction in the Senate would make impossible is at an astronomical 92 percent.

Republican senators will be reluctant to fight that sentiment, particularly since there are so many ways they could vote against convicting Trump without condoning his conduct. As his presidency quickly recedes into the background, Senate sentiment for formally burying him may recede as well.

House Democrats To Vote To Remove Gop Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene Of Committee Assignments

Panel: Will 17 Republicans ACTUALLY Vote To Convict Trump?

House Democrats are set to push ahead with stripping Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments after Republicans opted not to punish the Georgia congresswoman for past comments shes made in support of harmful conspiracy theories.

Greene has claimed that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and high-profile school shootings like the Sandy Hook Elementary attack are hoaxes and has called for the execution of prominent Democrats.;

The Rules Committee Wednesday voted to bring the matter to the full House for a vote Thursday that will decide whether Greene can stay on her committees for the rest of her term.

More:Donald Trump’s backers failed to take down Liz Cheney. But the GOP’s ‘civil war’ is nowhere near over.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the Democrats Greene had said should be killed, denounced Republicans for not expelling Greene from the caucus. “McCarthy has chosen to make House Republicans ‘the party of conspiracy theories and QAnon’ and Rep. Greene is in the drivers seat,” Pelosi said in a statement Wednesday that identified McCarthys party identification as Q.;

We had hoped that the Republican leadership would have dealt with this. For whatever reason, they dont want to deal with it. And that’s unfortunate. So we are taking this step,” said Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass, who chairs the Rules Committee. “The question we all have to ask ourselves is what is the consequence of doing nothing.

Matthew Brown

Read Also: What Is The Pin The Republicans Are Wearing

Security Concerns Among Trumps Supporters

Trump doesnt appear to want to go away quietly, which is also a cause for concern from a security standpoint.

This week, a leaked internal FBI bulletin warned that armed protests are planned for all 50 states and Washington DC in the days before President-elect Joe Bidens inauguration on January 20.

Some state capitol buildings have begun boarding up their doors and windows, while 15,000 National Guard troops have been mobilised for deployment to the nations capital ahead of expected violence and unrest.

This is an unfortunate sign of how many expect Trumps supporters to respond to both his impeachment and Bidens inauguration even with Trump finally urging against further violence and unrest.

Most presidents aim to leave office with the nation better off than when they entered, but Trumps legacy appears to be cementing a more divided country, where his brand of aggressive conflict politics may be the new norm.

This is a no-win situation for the country. And Republicans are still trying to figure out which side of history they want to be on.

Republicans Gear Up To Oust Liz Cheney As Punishment For Criticizing Trump

Goaded on by the ghostly figure of Trump, House Republicans are poised to eject Cheney from her number three leadership post

Infighting within the Republican party is set to come to a head this week, goaded on by the ghostly figure of former president Donald Trump in his Mar-a-Lago hideout in Florida.

House Republicans are gearing up to oust Liz Cheney on Wednesday from her position as the partys number three leader in the chamber.

Her removal would come as punishment for her public criticism of Trump with regard to his role in inciting the 6 January Capitol insurrection and his big lie that last years presidential election was stolen from him.

Cheney was one of 10 Republicans to vote in favor of impeaching Trump for incitement of insurrection.

Leading Republicans took to the political talkshow circuit on Sunday to express support or opposition to the congresswoman from Wyoming. Critically, Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader who has in the past stood up for Cheney, made their break-up official when he told Fox News that he was endorsing Cheneys rival Elise Stefanik for the number three post.

What were talking about is a position in leadership. As conference chair, you have one of the most critical jobs as a messenger going forward, McCarthy told Maria Bartiromo on Sunday.

Jim Banks, an Indiana congressman who chairs the largest Republican caucus in the House, attempted to justify the action against Cheney on grounds of party discipline.

Recommended Reading: Who Gives More Democrats Or Republicans

Liz Cheney Booed On Her Way Out

Republican lawmakers booed Rep. Liz Cheney when she criticized Trump in her speech responding to her removal from leadership.

“We cannot let the former president drag us backward and make us complicit in his efforts to unravel our democracy,” she said. “Down that path lies our destruction, and potentially the destruction of our country.”

Are There Enough Senate Republican Votes To Convict Trump

The brisk and successful drive to a second impeachment of Donald Trump and his ebbing power in Washington have raised some hopes that this time around the U.S. Senate might actually convict him of high crimes and misdemeanors and bar him from future office . Predictions that this could happen appear to be based largely on the relatively low level of Senate Republican support for Trumps electoral-vote protests on January 6, and a surge of questionably sourced claims that Mitch McConnell might actually support conviction.

Its worth taking a closer look at how many Republican senators might reasonably be expected to throw Trump into the dustbin of history. Seventeen GOP senators would have to break ranks to convict him on the incitement to insurrection impeachment article, assuming Democrats stick together . After conviction, only a simple majority would be needed to prohibit Trump from holding future office. Who might these Republican defectors be, in theory?

Recommended Reading: Where Do Democrats And Republicans Sit In Congress

Here Are The Republicans Calling For Biden’s Removal Amid Afghanistan Fallout

The fall of Kabul on Sunday and the resultant emergency evacuation of U.S. citizens from Afghanistan have triggered a wave of outrage among lawmakers, with numerous Republicans going beyond mere criticism of the Biden administration’s drawdown of U.S. troops to say that the president ought to vacate office.

The invocation of the 25th Amendment, resignation, and impeachment have all been promoted in recent days as possible solutions by a growing number of Republican officials, who say Biden’s actions since Afghanistan fell to the Taliban call into question the president’s fitness to serve.

Here are the GOP members who have called on Biden to leave or be removed from the Oval Office so far.

25th Amendment

Multiple lawmakers have said the use of the 25th Amendment may be in order.

Sen. Rick Scott: “After the disastrous events in Afghanistan, we must confront a serious question: Is Joe Biden capable of discharging the duties of his office or has time come to exercise the provisions of the 25th Amendment?” Scott wrote in a tweet Monday.

Rep. Claudia Tenney: Tenney, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was less equivocal, saying it is “clear” Biden is failing to perform his duties.

Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought during the previous Congress to establish a commission within the body to participate in 25th Amendment proceedings during the waning days of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Resignation

Impeachment

[xmasqoo-haineke]

Reassign the Dates from 05/07/21 -07/07/21

Week ofTopicWeight (%)

Monday, January 25, 2021

Course intro, Google Drive & WordPress 2

Monday, February 1, 2021

Basic data acquisition and analysis with Google Sheets2

Monday, February 8, 2021

Making charts in Google Sheets and publishing them in WordPress2

Monday, February 15, 2021

Making maps with QGIS and MyMaps*0*

Monday, February 22, 2021

EITHER "Customizing and publishing a MyMap to WordPress" lesson and assignment OR "Alternative mapping lesson and assignment"*6*

Monday, March 1, 2021

Midterm exam25

Monday, March 8, 2021

Making other kinds of maps3

Monday, March 15, 2021

Using pivot tables5

Monday, March 22, 2021

Investigating relatedness5

Monday, March 29, 2021

Using VLOOKUP5

Monday, April 5, 2021

Inferential statistics5

Monday, April 12, 2021

Intro to Python5

Monday, April 19, 2021

More on Python5

Monday, April 26, 2021

Still more on Python5

Monday, May 3, 2021

Final exam25

*Schedule adjustment due to the university's inclement weather closure during the week of Feb. 15.

GRADING // SYLLABUS \\ IS LISTED  BELOW:

Course Information

Description

3 credit hours (Same as ADV/PR/VCOM 3520.) Special topics in journalism, advertising, public relations, and visual communication focusing on practical applications. Topics change each semester. This edition of the course will focus on data skills that are useful to media professionals. Such skills include spreadsheet-based data analysis, data visualization, mapping, relational database techniques, inferential statistics, and coding. No previous experience with data analysis is required. The course may be repeated up to 6 credits.

Objectives and Outcomes

In terms of standard ACEJMC learning objectives, you will:

Understand concepts and apply theories in the use and presentation of images and information.

Demonstrate an understanding of professional ethical principles and work ethically in pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness and diversity.

Write correctly and clearly in forms and styles appropriate for the communications professions, audiences and purposes they serve.

Critically evaluate your work and that of others for accuracy and fairness, clarity, appropriate style and statistical concepts.

Apply tools and technologies in order to tell stories on multiple platforms.

Compute basic math and statistics.

Prerequisites

JOUR 3090 or JOUR 3430 or permission from the School of Journalism.

Topics

Setting up a WordPress site

Introduction to Google Drive and its built-in data and mapping applications: Google Sheets and Google My Maps

Basic data analysis with Google Sheets Producing online, interactive data visualizations with Google Sheets Producing online, interactive maps with QGIS and Google My Maps Excel, Excel PivotTables, and Excel's VLOOKUP function Basic inferential statistics using Google Sheets' XLMiner add-in An introduction to Anaconda, Jupyter Notebooks, and coding with Python

Requirements

You will need a WordPress.com account, which is free. The first lesson in the course will show you how to set up your account.

You will need a Google Drive account, which is free. If you have a G-mail account, you already have a Google Drive account.

You will need reliable access to a Mac or PC. If you have no such device, please see me for some options.

Toward the end of the course, you will need access to Microsoft Excel, particularly the Windows version of Microsoft Excel 2016. Desktop computers are available in MTSU's Walker Library and in the Business/Aerospace PC lab.

Assessment and Grading

Grading Procedure, Specifics of Assessments/Grade Weights (lol) are LISTED BELOW:

The Assignment Schedule lists each week's topic and offers a link to the topic's D2L page. There is an assignment link on the D2L topic's page. You will have one assignment due by 5 p.m. each Friday of the semester. Assignments fall into three types:

Weekly assignments. Accounting, collectively, for half of the available credit in the course, weekly assignments ask you to demonstrate mastery of the skills covered during the week. Once you have a working WordPress.com and Google Drive account, your weekly assignments generally will require you to publish your work on a page on your WordPress.com web site. I will visit your web site to grade the work.

A midterm exam. To complete the midterm exam, you will use skills you have learned during the first part of the course to produce an analysis of a dataset I will provide, and you will present the results of your analysis in a page on your WordPress site. The midterm exam accounts for a quarter of the available credit in the course. A: 81 - 100 percent B: 61 - 80 percent C: 41 - 60 percent D: 21 - 40 percent F: 0 - 20 percent

A final exam.Similar to the midterm, the final exam will require you to analyze a dataset I will provide and will require you to present the results of your analysis in a page on your WordPress site. The final exam will account for the remaining quarter of the credit available in the course.

Each assignment is due by its deadline. Late work will receive a grade of F and may not be made up, absent an excuse that I consider reasonable. Reasonable excuses may include an illness or injury that impairs you or someone whose care you are responsible for. I may require documentation. I will consider each excuse independently, on a case-by-cases basis.

I will use a "weighted averages" approach to calculating your semester grade, meaning that some assignment scores will have more influence than others in the result of the calculation. I will start by giving each assignment you submit an "A," "B," "C," "D" or "F," based on the criteria for the assignment described in the assignment's description. You will receive four points for each A, three for each B, two for each C, one for each D, and zero for each F. Next, I will multiply the points you receive for each assignment by the assignment's weight. The assignment's weight controls how much influence it has on your semester grade. Each assignment's weight is listed in the "Weight" column of the Assignment Schedule.

After multiplying the points you got on an assignment by the assignment's weight, I will add up the products and divide the sum by the total points possible. I'll compute the total points possible by multiplying each assignment's weight by four (the maximum points possible), then summing these products. Finally, I will divide the weighted points by the total points and compare the resulting percentage to the grading scale described below.

Grading Scale

You may have noticed that my grading scale is different from the typical grading scale you encounter in college. You probably like my scale because it seems more generous than usual. I like it because it makes more mathematical sense. The chart below depicts the minimum percentage required for each letter grade in each type of scale - the typical scale, and my scale.

Imagine each set of bars - the gray set and the blue set - is a set of stairs that you have to climb in order to get to an A. The "typical grade scale" set of stairs (gray) likely would get the carpenter who built it fired. There's a mighty big climb from the "F" step to the "D" step. But once you heave yourself up onto the "D" step, the going gets easy. A mere 10 percentage points gets you from "D" range into "C" range, which is supposed to be average. Ten more percentage points, and - wow - you're a "B" student. Ten more, and you're suddenly truly exceptional, even though you've climbed a mere 30 percentage points higher than the "D" step.Professors often use this scale because they think the first, big step from an "F" to a "D" makes the scale rigorous and motivates everyone to work hard. I wonder how a course can be rigorous, though, if 60 percent of its available credit could be earned by an "F" student. Furthermore, where's the logic in focusing so heavily on motivating students to get out of the "F" range and into the "D" range? The more resources the scale puts into motivating students to move from an "F" to a "D," the fewer resources there are left over for motivating students to move from a "D" to an "A." Compare this screwy staircase with my grade scale, represented by the blue bars. Each step on this staircase requires the same amount of effort to climb, whether you're going from an F to a D or from a B to an A. What's more, when you're in the middle of the C step (at 50 percent), you're half way up the scale, which is where you ought to be if you've done half the work. In statistical terms, the standard "A-F" scale is an "ordinal" scale, which is good for organizing things from smallest to greatest when those things lack the mathematical properties required for computing anything more sophisticated than a median. I'm using a "ratio scale," which, because it has a true zero point and equal intervals between each scale point, can produce meaningful averages and ratios. The 0-4 scale on which your college grade point average is expressed is also a ratio scale, so this approach represents a better match between your course grade and your GPA.Incomplete grades are given rarely and only in extenuating circumstances. Page 56 of the MTSU Undergraduate Catalog states: The grade "I" indicates that the student has not completed all course requirements because of illness or other uncontrollable circumstances, especially those which occur toward the end of the term. Mere failure to make up work or turn in required work on time does not provide the basis for the grade of "I" unless extenuating circumstances noted above are present for reasons acceptable to the instructor. Please refer to the Undergraduate catalog for the full Incomplete Grade Policy.FeedbackI typically will post grades and assignment feedback within one week of the assignment's submission deadline. Feedback will appear in the "Feedback" area of your D2L grade report.

Academic Integrity/Misconduct

Please review the information on Academic Integrity and Misconduct. Academic integrity is a hallmark of Middle Tennessee State University. We expect students to complete academic exercises, i.e., assignments turned in for credit, that are original and appropriately credit all sources used.

Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

Plagiarism: The adoption or reproduction of ideas, words, statements, images, or works of another person as one’s own without proper attribution. This includes self-plagiarism, which occurs when an author submits material or research from a previous academic exercise to satisfy the requirements of another exercise and uses it without proper citation of its reuse.

Cheating: Using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise. This includes unapproved collaboration, which occurs when a student works with others on an academic exercise without the express permission of the professor. It also includes purchasing assignments or paying another person to complete a course for you.

Fabrication: Unauthorized falsification or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise.

Going online and using information without proper citation, copying parts of other students’ work, creating information to establish credibility, or using someone else’s thoughts or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment is academic misconduct. If you have a question about an assignment, please ask me to clarify. All cases of academic misconduct will be reported to the Director of Student Academic Ethics and may result in failure on the test/assignment or for the course.

When students participate in behavior that is considered to be academic misconduct, the value of their education and that of their classmates is lessened, and their academic careers are jeopardized.

Students guilty of academic misconduct are immediately responsible to the instructor of the class. In addition to other possible disciplinary sanctions (including expulsion from the university), which may be imposed through the regular institutional procedures as a result of academic misconduct, the instructor has the authority to assign an “F” or zero for an activity or to assign an “F” for the course. Students guilty of plagiarism will be immediately reported to the Director of Student Academic Ethics.

Student Resources

Frequently Used Student Resources

Technical Support

Students who experience problems logging into their course, timing out of their course, using the course web site tools or experience other technical problems, should be encouraged to contact the MTSU Help Desk online (24/7) or at 1-615/898-5345.

Students with Disabilities

Middle Tennessee State University is committed to campus access in accordance with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Any student interested in reasonable accommodations can consult the Disability & Access Center (DAC) website and/or contact the DAC for assistance at 615-898-2783 or dacemail@mtsu.edu.

Tutoring

You may list tutoring resources such as University Computer Labs, Smarthinking, and the University Writing Center.  Other tutoring resources are available on the Student Support website.

Hope (Lottery) Scholarship Information

Do you have a lottery scholarship?  To retain the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship eligibility, you must earn a cumulative TELS GPA of 2.75 after 24 and 48 attempted hours and a cumulative TELS GPA of 3.0 thereafter.  A grade of C, D, F, FA, or I in this class may negatively impact TELS eligibility.

If you drop this class, withdraw, or if you stop attending this class you may lose eligibility for your lottery scholarship, and you may not be able to regain eligibility at a later time.

For additional Lottery rules, please refer to your Lottery Statement of Understanding form or contact your MT One Stop Enrollment Counselor.

Grade Appeals

University Policy 313, Student Grade Appeals, provides an avenue for MTSU students to appeal a final course grade in cases in which the student alleges that unethical or unprofessional actions by the instructor and/or grading inequities improperly impacted the final grade.

[jewish-privilege]

September 25, 2017 -- Later this week, the March for Racial Justice will—I hope—choke the streets of our nation’s capital. If the current momentum against President Trump can be channeled to full potency, I believe it could be the most significant display of public fury on issues of race and inequality since Martin Luther King’s march on Washington in 1963.

Sadly, I won’t be there. I can’t be there.

I’ve attended a handful of rallies since Trump ascended in January. The largest was the Women’s’ March in D.C. the day after inauguration. As empowered as I felt that weekend, I knew I was there as a supporting actor: That day belonged to women. I had my own existential fears about the incoming administration, but I was there to support others—and did so consciously, so as not to coopt their stage.

The Racial Justice March, however, would be unreservedly a day for me to express my experience—mine and the millions of people of color like me. The time to wear out my shoes and lose my voice, to stand with the like-minded on a national and world stage and tell the current administration exactly why and how its values—to the extent that it even has any—are anathema to me.

It wouldn’t have been my first foray into demonstration. My Jewish progressive mother and my Black working-class father had me attending events before I could walk. My childhood was filled with Civil Rights-era hymns and folk songs, learned both at my Brooklyn daycare center and my Yiddish leftist summer camp. I spent many weekends on buses down to Washington attending peace and human rights rallies that I mostly didn’t understand.

As I was growing up, the names Amadou Diallou, Abner Louima and Sean Bell rang in my ears. The only time I remember seeing my father scared was when he spoke about the murder of Patrick Dorismond and how easily it could have happened to him. My father had a set number of emotions he would display regularly: Fear—until that moment—had not been one of them.

And then it happened to me. I and others in my generation witnessed the murders of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and Eric Garner. I felt the same fear, the same terror—and the same need to make my voice heard.

But in a cruel twist of intersectional fate, the march has been scheduled to coincide with Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish Calendar—which means I and many of my racially conscious Jewish Comrades will be unable to take part.

***

In the summer of 2016, Trump was running for president—but at that point it seemed unlikely that he’d win. I was walking home after taking part in an anti-police brutality protest when I stumbled into my own terrifying interaction with the NYPD. As I neared my home, I saw three officers outside my door. I asked them if anything was wrong. One of the officers moved for his holster. I remember how his hand lingered there, neither removing his service weapon nor dropping to his side. I remember how unapologetic he was. Turns out they were standing there for no reason at all. But I remember fumbling with my keys as I struggled to get inside, and the feeling of relief when I was safely in my own apartment.

At that point, I was already pretty scared of Trump; his racist rhetoric a harbinger of dark times for Black Americans, but the incident flipped a switch. This was less than a month after the snuff videos of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling shocked the country. My fear and anger were refined by the terror of my own encounter. So the election felt like more than a mere quadrennial civic exercise. To me, it seemed like a referendum on the validity of the African-American existence. I was not only angry at Trump voters, but third-party voters, non-voters—anybody who didn’t utilize the full force of their electoral might to thwart him.

...The post-election protests enabled me to realign with my leftist roots. My mother’s father was a member of the Communist party. Through the various other leftist organizations, I became more committed to progressive causes. So when a racial justice group organizer sent me an invitation for the march in September, I clicked “attending” without even looking at the date: Whenever it was, I thought, I will be there.

Then I saw the date—maybe the one and only day of the year I COULDN’T be there.

The nature of the commemoration added a subtle irony in the otherwise divisive incident is that it stems from a point of cultural similarity. Jews have a long tradition of observing occasions of sadness well as occasions of joy. Half the dates on the Jewish Calendar are in some part anniversaries of sorrow. We commemorate the dead not on the day they were born, but on the day that they left us. The fast of Yom Kippur, one of pure spirituality, is equaled by only one other day, The Ninth of Av, when a litany of tragedies and massacres befell the Jewish people.

In response to the furor, March organizers released a moving and compassionate explanation and apology. In the statement, organizers noted that they chose to use the event to commemorate an atrocity that often eludes the collective American memory: September 30th is the anniversary of the Elaine Massacre, when as many as 237 blacks were killed. It makes sense that the march be should against the most conspicuous expressions of racism. They also noted “[that] mistake highlights the need for our communities to form stronger relationships.”

...It’s a trying moment for me. Confrontations on race, language and politics have often put me at odds with the Orthodox Jewish community. That lack of ideological solidarity was eventually filled by social justice organizing. So, being sidelined on the left at such a defining moment is gutting. The unfortunate scheduling of the Racial Justice March only exacerbated some of the anxiety I felt as a Jew on the Left. The oversight was not as aggressive as some harsh language BDS resolution or the confrontations that pro-Israel Jews have experienced at various pride marches, but it was another point in a growing constellation of Jewish discomfort in the progressive spectrum. Yes, many of us will be marching the next day, but separately and with diminished sense of solidarity with the movement at large.

Every black Jew will tell you that maintaining both identities is a constant battle; internally and externally. The Jewish community has an innate thread of solidarity built in it’s always there even when philosophical differences lead to animosity, the bonds of a commonality exist; sometimes adding fuel to the fire. The Jewish calendar is sprinkled with festivals and holidays that are observed collectively. To not adhere is to be excised from the people; one of the worst consequences in Jewish Law, even worse than death.

On the other hand solidarity is crucial to civil rights. If MLK had walked alone on the Edmund Pettis bridge, where would we be? Would his speech at the March on Washington have resonated if it was given to the empty reflecting pool? For the disenfranchised to challenge the powerful, they must access their own power. This power lies not in arms or in capital, but in numbers. To stand apart from comrades at such a moment is to withhold my individual power from the collective.

So, which does one choose?

Thankfully in the end, there’s a compromise; and perhaps, in a way, this is as it should be. Even though it wasn’t the organizer’s first choice, I’ve come to think that their choice of day is ultimately the correct one—a feeling I was able to realize because, their own expressions of hope for solidarity with and engagement with Jews and the Jewish experience felt real and forthcoming and honest, and devoid of the noxious if subtle dogwhistling and worse going on inside some pockets of the left these days. The white-knuckled indignation I had felt at the organizers exclusion intersectional oversight has been replaced by begrudging acceptance that there’s something beneficial to the FOMO I and other Jews will feel. So we’ll take to the streets the next day; not in Washington, at the seat of Trump’s empire, but in New York, on our shared home turf, doing what Jews have always been commanded to do and speaking truth to power.

Read Ben Faulding’s full piece at Tablet.

[zephyrthejester]

One Year Blog Anniversary!

Wow.

My dear friends, it's been one full year since I started up this blog. One full year of thrills, laughs, mind blowing twists, and meeting wonderful people. I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into when I started this project up, nor was I sure if I'd even have the willpower to maintain it after a week or two.

So read on, then, to reminisce about all the good times we've shared!

Creating this blog in late December of 2016, I mused over which show I should try liveblogging first while waiting for my credentials to approve and my posts to be publicly seen. Between Steven Universe and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, I chose the former to watch first... And what a decision that was. Not only did the show end up being one of my favorite things to ever exist, but liveblogging it exposed me to a delightful community, and to them, me. This is where the majority of you fellas jumped on board this wild ride with me.

After Steven Universe stunned me with its emotional and intimate character writing and themes, it was time to move on to other shows. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Madoka Magica came as a pair; I tried out alternating episodes to cover both shows at once. Brotherhood was an incredible journey-- an effortless masterclass of narrative writing that ended up becoming my favorite anime of all time. Madoka Magica ended up being good enough to avoid rotting in Brotherhood's impressive shadow, which is a hell of a compliment, if I do say so myself. I pushed past its cutesy art style and seemingly simple premise to discover both a story that was haunting, visually and thematically, and a certain character whom I hold in the highest of regards.

After I finished scraping my brains off the ceiling, next came RWBY, a project that continues to this day. Charming in its inspired moxie, it proved that fun stories and great characters can come from any source. I became unhealthily obsessed with color-coded waifus who own an absurd amount of guns. From there, Wakfu-- My first failed project. Leading up to Wakfu, I was over-the-top excited. I had long been drawn in by its bright and appealing style and the promise of a grand "The Last Airbender"-like adventure, but it turned out that its episodic nature didn't mesh with my liveblogging style. One day, I'll get around to watching it on my own time. One day... I swear! For real!

Next came Samurai Champloo, which very nearly fell into the same hole as Wakfu. I decided to "Deadblog" it, watching episodes whole, then making just one large post to review it. While I thoroughly enjoyed the show, I can't say the same for the Deadblogging experience. To be honest, I just wanted to hurry up and get it over with, hilarious antics of thuggish samurai asshats aside.

Neon Genesis Evangelion arrived with all the force and presence of Neon Genesis Evengelion. It gripped me like few things ever have, somehow combining Steven Universe's intimate and nuanced characters, Fullmetal Alchemist's tightly woven and riveting plot, and Madoka Magica's sheer "What the fuck!?"-ness. Neon. Genesis. Evangelion. Holy shit, what a show. What. A. Show.

ERASED was like a delightful after-dinner mint, afterwards. A short and sweet tale with an admittedly disappointing tinge to it, but I enjoyed it none the less. From one time travel plot to the next, the last liveblog of the year, now freshly ended, was Steins;Gate. With a distinctly unique brand of time travel, a powerfully charismatic cast, and a pleasingly sappy romance, Steins;Gate just hit all the right notes and made for a satisfying farewell to the year.

So that's the grand recap done... Let's put a magnifying glass to it and pick out some of our favorite moments, shall we?

That moment when I realized my long-standing Steven Universe theory about a Triangle Faction was completely wrong... And that moment I used April Fools to liveblog the Wikipedia article about Triangles.

That unfortunate moment where I had to be told that Wrestling was not, in fact, real

Getting to experience Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood for the first time, which promptly dethroned Gurren Lagann as my favorite anime of all time... Ooh, and that part where I was inspired to draw fan art following the death of a particular character.

Having my mind utterly obliterated twice while liveblogging Madoka Magica. Once at the end of episode 8, and again at the end of the film, Rebellion.

Near the end of RWBY's third Volume: "Which chucklefuck at Rooster Teeth thought this would be okay?"

When my Discord's bot-mods were hacked into and the server was destroyed from within, prompting the creation of a brand new Discord server

Neon Genesis Evangelion - When I discovered the secret in the depths of NERV HQ and promptly wrote a straight up essay about every remote ramification of the reveal

End of Evangelion. Like, all of it. End. Of. Evangelion. I'm still riding the waves of sheer "what the fucking fuck?" from that doozy of a film.

That time I participated in and later relayed my account of the 8th Annual Running of the Gnomes.

When I erased the ERASED discussion channel in the Discord, thereby spawning endless jokes

That moment a particularly painful moment in Steins;Gate made me straight up cry a little a lot and freak out

...And virtually every moment spent liveblogging and interacting with you guys! You're the best! You! Yes, you! The best, I say!

Ah, poor Wakfu and Samurai Champloo didn't get any highlights. Such is life.

It's hard to believe all this happened in just one year. So much madness and joy. All at once, it feels like both a lifetime's work and a bygone haze of dream. All I know is that I want to continue. Another year, lads! And then another! And another! And another on top of that! Fate willing, I want to liveblog right to my grave, dangit! It's so exciting to think what highlights lie in store for us.

So yes, indeed. What is next for Zephyr the Jester? Grand things, lads. For one, you can expect plenty more liveblogs. Mostly anime, still, but I think Live Action and Webcomics are due for a time in the spotlight. I'd also quite like to branch out to something entirely different...

On January 2nd, please look forward to the launch of my Let's Play channel on Youtube!

That's right, I'll be uploading commentated playthroughs of various videogames! Fear not, I will maintain my one-episode-a-day liveblog "schedule." Youtube uploads will come infrequently, as a supplement! But then, I said that I'd liveblog infrequently, and look where that got me. Heh. Regardless, the blog will always come first!

For now, we'll be kicking off 2018 with a liveblog of Made in Abyss, starting January 3rd. Once that’s over, it will be followed by Death Parade. Then, after those two short shows are done, it will be time, at long last, to check out Fullmetal Alchemist '03. You can see the rest of the planned schedule in the collage image I posted above.

I guess that's all there is to say. Thank you for being part of my community, thank you for reading my liveblogs, and thank you for being you. Cheers! Here's to a new year, full of opportunity!

[orbemnews]

Short-Sellers Fear for the Future Wall Street’s skeptics are suffering Short-sellers have long been some of Wall Street’s most reviled villains. But the recent “meme stock” frenzy — in part, a concerted effort to squeeze such investors — has left many fearing for their livelihoods, The Times’s Kate Kelly and Matt Goldstein report. Short-sellers have been battered by the bull market. Hedge funds that primarily bet against stocks were down 47 percent over the past year. “Short-sellers have been beaten up and left for dead on the side of the road,” said Jim Chanos, the investor who famously bet against Enron ahead of its collapse. Now they are worried about new challenges: The GameStop frenzy shows that internet-enabled herds can bet en masse on companies, driving up their stock price and saddling shorts with huge losses. “I see dead hedge funds,” one user posted in a Reddit forum. Washington lawmakers are holding shorts up as potential market manipulators. “We must deal with the hedge funds whose unethical conduct directly led to the recent market volatility,” said Representative Maxine Waters, a Democrat, the head of the House Financial Services Committee who will oversee a Feb. 18 hearing on the meme stock mania. Crowded trades and a bull market have “destroyed what’s left of short-sellers,” said Marc Cohodes, a veteran investor. Some worry about their personal safety, too. Fahmi Quadir, who runs a $50 million hedge fund, shares her GPS coordinates with a colleague. And Gabe Plotkin, whose Melvin Capital was specifically targeted by Reddit traders, had to hire security after his family was threatened. HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING A setback in the fight against Covid-19. South Africa halted distribution of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine after a preliminary study showed that it had limited effect against the coronavirus variant first identified in the country. President Biden presses for a huge stimulus measure. The president defended efforts to pass a $1.9 trillion package with only Democratic votes, rejecting calls for smaller proposals. In related news, Democrats plan to unveil a $3,000-per-child cash payment. Democratic senators propose rewriting a tech legal shield. The “SAFE TECH Act,” proposed by Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, would establish limits to websites’ immunity from legal liability on user-posted content. It has encountered resistance from groups that say smaller tech platforms could be hurt more than giants like Google and Facebook. SoftBank’s Vision Fund posts a huge quarterly gain. The Japanese company’s tech investment fund reported an $8 billion profit in its latest quarter, thanks to portfolio companies like OpenDoor and DoorDash going public. SoftBank as a whole reported an $11 billion profit, surpassing estimates. The best of the Super Bowl. Sure, Tom Brady solidified his status as the greatest quarterback of all time as he led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a blowout victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. But let’s talk about the ads, which included pleas for unity (Bruce Springsteen for Jeep), nostalgic weirdness (Timothée Chalamet as the son of Edward Scissorhands for Cadillac) and just plain old weirdness (Toni Petersson, the C.E.O. of Oatly). Andrew’s favorite: Jason Alexander, in a manner of speaking, for Tide. Where do you get your financial advice? As lawmakers and regulators investigate the meme stock frenzy, they are taking a closer look at online forums and social media accounts. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said yesterday that she wanted to “make sure that investors are adequately protected.” Disclosures and disclaimers are in focus. The trader known as “Roaring Kitty” put a disclaimer on his popular YouTube videos about GameStop, recommending that potential investors consult an adviser before acting. But an analysis of more than 1,200 TikTok videos by 50 “StockTok” influencers found that 14 percent encouraged users to make trades without a disclaimer, according to the cryptocurrency trading platform Paxful. Those videos, some of which were flagged by TikTok as “misleading,” have garnered 28.4 million views. Regulators have been here before. During the dot-com boom, the S.E.C. kept tabs on chat rooms for signs of manipulation, as in the case of Jonathan Lebed, a teenager who posted messages touting stocks he owned. In September 2000, he settled with the agency by agreeing to pay back $285,000. There’s an ETF for that: The asset manager VanEck is starting a fund that scours Twitter, forums and blogs for stocks with a lot of online buzz. “The elements in the new system consist of central computers, an automatic communications network and desktop terminals.” — On this day 50 years ago, the Nasdaq booted up the first electronic stock exchange, which The Times called “the most revolutionary innovation in the history of the over-the-counter market.” Microsoft’s president talks politics After the Jan. 6 riot in Washington, companies have been rethinking their political donations, as we detailed this weekend. Microsoft, which has given hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent election cycles to Republicans who went on to challenge the certification of votes after the storming of the Capitol, said late last week that it would cut them off. In the first in-depth interview about the decision, Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, spoke with Kara Swisher on the “Sway” podcast. One donation came as a particularly unpleasant surprise, Mr. Smith said, referring to a gift to Senator Josh Hawley, who led Republican efforts to question the election result. “When I learned in January that that donation had been made in the early part of December, it did not bring an enthusiastic beginning to my morning,” said Mr. Smith, who leaves day-to-day decisions in this area to the company’s PAC department. Microsoft has redefined its PAC policies. Mr. Smith said the company would now more explicitly consider issues like whether politicians “are good for democracy.” There is still a place for the corporate PAC, Mr. Smith argued. Although the point of a corporate PAC is up for debate, “I think we have one for good reasons,” he said. Those reasons, namely, are because crucial matters of privacy, security and competition are “going to be decided in the world of politics.” The serial SPAC sponsor Alec Gores strikes another deal The blank-check company Gores Holding VI is acquiring Matterport in a deal that values the real-estate technology company at $2.3 billion. The merger also includes a cash infusion of $640 million. Alec Gores was early to the SPAC game, notably with his firm’s 2016 deal for Hostess. The firm also boasts the biggest SPAC deal to date, taking United Wholesale Mortgage public last year in a deal worth more than $16 billion. Gores Holding raised its seventh SPAC last month, helping January set a record for SPAC fund-raising, with blank-check I.P.O.s worth nearly $26 billion. Today’s deal was the first by Gores since Justin Wilson and Ted Fike joined from Softbank’s Vision Fund, suggesting a tech shift for the firm’s SPAC business. Matterport makes spatial data technology that helps create 3-D visualizations of properties like homes and event spaces. The week ahead Corporate earnings continue to come in better than expected, defying initial forecasts of another pandemic-fueled decline and forcing analysts to upgrade their expectations. Blue-chip companies hoping to keep the streak alive this week include: Fox, KKR and Twitter on Tuesday; Coca-Cola, G.M. and Uber on Wednesday; and AstraZeneca, Disney and PepsiCo on Thursday. Bumble is scheduled to make its market debut midweek, and is predicted to raise about $1 billion in an I.P.O. that values the online dating company at around $6 billion. And finally, the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump starts on Tuesday. Will Biden curb the ‘curse of bigness’? The Biden administration must choose between taking a progressive view of antitrust regulations, using the law to rein in or break up big companies; sticking with the laissez-faire approach that critics say has led to extreme concentration; or trying to find some middle path. The pressure on the president from the left comes from those who argue that a tougher approach simply hearkens to the past, when the authorities recognized what Louis Brandeis, who went on to become a Supreme Court justice, called the “curse of bigness” in the early 20th century. “Monopoly power is a causal factor in our most serious economic challenges,” states a new report from the American Economic Liberties Project, an antimonopoly nonprofit, shared first with DealBook. The group argues for a new-old ideological regime that reins in consolidation, proposing dozens of actions for the Justice Department, F.T.C., F.C.C., Congress and many other official bodies. “This is a major project,” the group’s executive director, Sarah Miller, said. The need to “reject old ideological underpinnings” is a unifying theme throughout the report, she added. “There is not just one silver bullet.” A new lens is needed, Ms. Miller said. For decades, antitrust reviews have employed a “consumer welfare standard” that examines mergers for economic efficiency, mostly focused on the effect a deal has on prices. But people aren’t just consumers — they are also workers, voters, entrepreneurs and community members. In practice, Ms. Miller argues, as industries consolidate, consumers sometimes pay less for products, but wages also stagnate and entrepreneurship falters. “America’s concentration crisis did not emerge in the Trump years,” but it deepened during this time, according to the report. The group compiled a downloadable database of more than 1,300 significant mergers during the Trump era, noting that “basic, usable information” about M.&A. is mostly unavailable to the public. THE SPEED READ Deals In SPAC news: Elliott Management is reportedly considering raising $1 billion for a blank-check fund; SoftBank is seeking $630 million for two SPACs; and Danny Meyer, the founder of Shake Shack, is planning to raise $250 million for a fund. (WSJ, Bloomberg) Oatly, the maker of plant-based dairy products, is reportedly seeking a $10 billion valuation in its I.P.O. (Bloomberg) Politics and policy Donald Trump’s efforts to contest the 2020 presidential election have cost federal, state and local governments an estimated $519 million. (WaPo) Tech Best of the rest Bill McGlashan, the former TPG executive embroiled in the college admissions scandal, will plead guilty to two charges. (Bloomberg) Jeff Immelt accepts some blame for G.E.’s stumbles — but offers a lot of excuses, too. (NYT) Clawing back pay for misconduct is hard, so some companies are forcing top executives to set aside share grants for at least a year, even after they vest. (WSJ) We’d like your feedback! Please email thoughts and suggestions to dealbook@nytimes.com. Source link Orbem News #Fear #Future #ShortSellers