#virginia beach 2018 and las vegas 2019

[theancientgeekoroman]

Master List of Museums with Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and/or Near Eastern Antiquities in the United States of America

These collections may not be extensive or on display (and may contain only one culture from the above list), and I am including museums with minimal collections as well; please check with the museum before you visit or check their collections search online if the object(s) you wish to see is/are on view.

Feel free to message me if I’ve missed a museum! I’ll be constantly updating this post. (Initial Post: October 16, 2018; First Update: October 16, 2018, 2:18 p.m. Pacific; Second Update: October 16, 2018, 7:15 p.m. Pacific; Third Update: October 17, 2018, 6:29 p.m.; Fourth Update: October 21, 2018, 10:36 p.m.; Fifth Update: November 4, 2018, 9:06 a.m.; Sixth Update: June 1, 2019, 8:55 a.m.)

Alabama:

Anniston Museum of Natural History (Anniston, AL)

Birmingham Museum of Art (Birmingham, AL)

California: 

Badè Museum of Biblical Archaeology (Berkeley, CA)

Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University (Stanford, CA)

J. Paul Getty Museum ("the Getty" which includes the Getty Center and the Getty Villa) (Los Angeles, CA)

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA)

Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)

Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (RAFFMA) at the California State University, San Bernardino (San Bernardino, CA)

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum (REM) (San José, CA)

San Diego Museum of Man (San Diego, CA)

Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara, CA) (Collection for Greek and Roman Art not on view, but can be found in Collections Search)

Colorado:

Denver Museum of Nature & Science (Denver, CO)

University of Colorado Boulder Art Museum (Boulder, CO)

Florida:

The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art at Florida State University (Sarasota, FL)

Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL)

Museum of Dinosaurs and Ancient Cultures (Cocoa Beach, FL)

Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg, FL)

Tampa Museum of Art (Tampa, FL)

Georgia:

Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University (Atlanta, GA)

Illinois:

The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL)

The Field Museum (Chicago, IL)

The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago (Chicago, IL)

Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (Urbana, IL)

Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, IL)

Indiana: 

Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University (Bloomington, IN)

Gustav Jeeninga Museum of Bible & Near Eastern Studies at Anderson University (Anderson, IN)

Kansas:

Museum of World Treasures (Wichita, KS)

Maryland:

Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, MD)

John Hopkins Archaeological Museum (Baltimore, MD)

Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, MD)

Massachusetts:

Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)

Berkshire Museum (Pittsfield, MA)

Fitchburg Art Museum (Fitchburg, MA)

The Harvard Semitic Museum (Cambridge, MA)

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, MA)

The New Bedford Museum of Glass (New Bedford, MA)

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)

Worcester Art Museum (Worcester, MA)

Michigan:

Institute of Archaeology & Siegfried H. Horn Museum at Andrews University (Berrien Springs, MI)

Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI)

Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)

Minnesota:

Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis, MN)

Mississippi:

The Lois Dowdle Cobb Museum of Archaeology at Mississippi State University (Mississippi State, MS)

The University of Mississippi Museum (Oxford, MS)

Missouri:

Museum of Art and Archaeology at the University of Missouri (Columbia, MO)

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO)

Saint Louis Art Museum (St. Louis, MO)

Nevada:

Las Vegas Natural History Museum (Las Vegas, NV) (Note: the artifacts are replicas of the tomb of Tutankhamun and other Egyptian antiquities and are one of only two sets that were authorized by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities)

New Hampshire:

Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH)

New Jersey:

Newark Museum (Newark, NJ)

Princeton University Art Museum (Princeton, NJ)

New York:

The Brooklyn Museum (Brooklyn, NY)

Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY)

The Morgan Library & Museum (New York, NY)

Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art in the William D. Walsh Family Library at Fordham University (New York, NY)

Onassis Cultural Center (New York, NY) (Note: exhibitions vary but may contain art from Ancient Greece)

Steinberg Museum of Art at Long Island University (Brookville, NY)

North Carolina:

Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC)

Gregg Museum of Art & Design at North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC)

Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University (Durham, NC)

North Carolina Museum of Art (Raleigh, NC)

Ohio:

Cincinnati Art Museum (Cincinnati, OH)

Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, OH)

Museum of Classical Archaeology at Ohio State University (Columbus, OH)

Museum of Natural History & Science (Cincinnati, OH)

Toledo Museum of Art (Toledo, OH)

Oklahoma:

Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art (Shawnee, OK)

Oregon:

Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University (Salem, OR)

Prewitt–Allen Archaeological Museum at Corban University (Salem, OR)

Pennsylvania: 

Barnes Foundation (Philadelphia, PA)

Carnegie Museum of Natural History (Pittsburgh, PA)

Kelso Museum of Near Eastern Archaeology at the Pittsburg Theological Seminary (Pittsburgh, PA)

Reading Public Museum (West Reading, PA)

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Philadelphia, PA)

Rhode Island:

Rhode Island School of Design Museum (Providence, RI)

Tennessee:

Art Museum of the University of Memphis (Memphis, TN)

Lynn H. Wood Archaeological Museum at Southern Adventist University (Collegedale, TN)

McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of Tennessee (Knoxville, TN)

The Parthenon (Nashville, TN) (Note: the Parthenon is more like a building of art itself as it’s a replica and the art in its galleries are not from the ancient world)

Texas:

Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, TX)

The Houston Museum of Natural Science (Houston, TX)

Kimbell Art Museum (Forth Worth, TX)

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Houston, TX)

San Antonio Museum of Art (San Antonio, TX)

Utah:

Utah Museum of Fine Arts (Salt Lake City, UT)

Utah State University Museum of Anthropology (Logan, UT)

Vermont:

Fleming Museum of Art at the University of Vermont (Burlington, VT)

Middlebury College Museum of Art (Middlebury, VT)

Virginia:

Chrysler Museum of Art (Norfolk, VA)

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond, VA)

Washington:

Seattle Art Museum (Seattle, WA)

Washington, D.C.:

Freer Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)

West Virginia:

Huntington Museum of Art (Huntington, WV)

Wisconsin:

Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College (St. Beloit, WI)

Milwaukee Art Museum (Milwaukee, WI)

[aka217]

Ok, so 2019

This year was a mix of goods and okays. This for sure feels like a transition point, where normal is not comfortable, and change is imminent. We have our sights on new adventures in the West coast. And while it didn't come to fruition this year, the intent has been built and we are set to make 2020 a big turn. But first, let's recap 2019:

2019 was no slow down of travel from the past, which really is our ambition. With the help of Southwest companion pass, we were able to take advantage and travel to many places. Plus the job flew me out to a few additional location, as well as two interviews in San Francisco was of some one else's dime. Let's go through the list:

San Francisco: same for an interview, stayed for my 30th birthday celebration with the SF crew. Cat Cafe, a couple brunch spots, improv show. Always a good time and perhaps a little taste of what's to come. I was flown out a second time, and while quick, was able to fit in a quick night adventure with Kim. It was heartbreaking for this opportunity not to come into fruition, but on to the next as they say.

Easley SC: quick trip for work, not much here but hey, free travel

Washington DC/Virginia: fun trip with Ashley, exploring the city. At the time DC was a possible location to move, and we did get good vibes. We spent time hanging out with Ashley's old friends, and sightseeing. I haven't been to DC since I was a kid, so seeing the monuments now I had a better appreciation. Tied to this trip was a quick visit to Manassas, to see my cousins and his two daughters. That was a nice quick visit to get some ice cream in town and some real BonChon haha.

Puerto Rico: always a favorite, hanging out with Ashley's family, we went hiking up parts of El Yunque, beach times and just hanging out. I had a delicious Cuban sandwich chopped up perhaps in a Puerto Rican style. Delicioso.

Park City Utah: this was a fun trip for Sheri's birthday. A lot of the schmooters crew came out for to stay in a cabin like house within the valley of a bunch of ski mountain. We were at the tail end of winter/spring, but thanks to climate change we did see snow(and briefly hail) which added to the trip. Jacuzzi while snowing, party games, staying in, and watching the stars. Pretty awesome trip and a true showing that it we really come together for each other, not necessarily for the city.

Jacksonville: quick trip to see Ashley's cousin, little 4th of July action

St. Augustine: back to back I believe weekends from Jacksonville to see Becca Matt and Mason.

Raleigh North Carolina: Anthony's wedding, Raleigh has a surprisingly cultured downtown. Had time to grab different bites, plus explore downtown, NC state, drive pass the museum of art, and take a rest in the wildlife forest by the airport.

Titusville: a few times we visited Eddy, going to the local beach (which had some wild big waves, that was awesome to boogy board) and also see Eddy's new house, plus a rocket launch!

Portland Maine: quick work trip to diagnose an issue, caught this town in the thick of fall. Beautiful fall colors, it's a shame I never made it past half a mile from the airport. But did get to eat Maine's favorites: lobster bisque and blueberry pie.

Montego Bay Jamaica: celebrating 15 years with Ashley (officially half of our lives together), it was a fun all inclusive resort. Jamaican patties everyday, curried goat, and great Thai as well. Not enough time, but very enjoyable

Milwaukee WI: glad to get here one more time for training paid by the company. I was able to hit a few favorites plus a few new spots, saw Julia Michaels in concert, watch the Bucks play at a crazy sports bar, watched Parasite at a beautiful old theater, and listened to classical guitar at a museum of art. I love the city a lot and had a lot of time to get to know it. This may be the last time I get to go on company dime, but I really hope it's not the last time I visit. I'd love to get property to frequently visit as I get older, trully a place that has my heart.

Tampa: wild Thanksgiving weekend of Ocala straight to Tampa, including three different hotels in the 5 days. But Tampa/St. Pete is always a good time, and we were there to see Lizzo

Las Vegas: AJ's bachelor party with his cousins and the schmooters fam. It's funny to see how we grow up, because during my bachelor party we sardine canned 11 guys into 2 rooms, and went everywhere as a crew. This time most of us got separate rooms and split up frequently to do our own thing. But we had great moments together, and Ashley and I had a little extra time to ourselves. Las Vegas is always a great and expensive time. It helps to win in craps and roulette, but eventually the house always wins haha.

Wow. Every year I'm surprised by how much travel we accomplish, and would be surprised to think the next year would be just as much. But thanks to the companion pass, points, and Tracy's Hilton friends and family, we manage to do a lot on a discount. I love it and grateful we can do it year after year.

A couple highlight shows this year:

Improv show in San Francisco

Hamilton: wow worth all the hype, and loads of

listening to the soundtrack and mixtape

Sabrina Claudio: nice to see here again live, what a great voice, and to see her at a venue with her headlining

Julia Michaels: wow this one too. I love one of her songs, but being able to know the setlist ahead of time, I had the chance to fall in love withore of her songs, and to know the words to all of the songs. What a performer and her and her band make one of my favorite shows ever

Harry Potter orchestra: we did the first movie, but the composition of this movie is exceptional we couldn't miss it

Lizzo/Sam Smith: Ashley's wish to see Lizzo in concert, a whim decision in the middle of the night I planned the entire trip to Tampa. It was cool to go back to a Jingle ball concert (my first concert was a jingle ball) and the setlist was pretty decent.

Other highlights:

Story corp: Ashley and I recorded a podcast, going through our relationship. It was a fun time and cool to have a piece of us be preserved in a national archive.

Marriage classes: continuing from 2018 we did a set of marriage classes. We enjoy these to help fortify our relationship and make sure we communicate to each other clearly. Highly recommend for any couple getting married.

Coffee shop Sundays: we started this in heavy pursuit to look for new opportunities, it allowed us to explore new spaces in the Orlando area (and even in Miami). It's a nice way to spend time with Ashley, as well as follow through with our intents.

No Shave November: first time participating, I thought I'd try to see what growing my beard would be like, plus if I can raise money for Cancer. Well surpriaingly I raise $291, and matching that to a total of $581 to various cancer research organizations. It's compelling the power of contributing as a community can be, when many times it can be doubting to try and do it alone.

Okay, last tidbits:

Best thing I ate this year: Cuban sandwich in Puerto Rico

Best thing I drove this year: learned to sail a Hobie catamaran in Jamaica

Best game I played this year: Fire Emblem Three Houses

This year was a weird mix of stagnation but also pandemonium. It constantly felt like we were always going somewhere on the weekends and on vacation, with very few days of just being in the house. But also at work and our jobs, we feel very stagnant as I haven't seen any progression in my profession since last year. This has truly set a spark in Ashley and I looking collectively for new opportunities, and we hope to see this come to fruition in 2020. It surely be an adventure this coming year, we can only hope it is filled with fun adventures and fulfillment.

Cheers

[orange-marzipan]

[ID: The New York Times’ Sunday Review cover, which is white serif text on black font. The line “Authorities said the gunman was able to obtain the weapons legally.” is repeated for fifteen lines with locations, years, and death tolls underneath each one. The additional information reads:

Uvalde, Texas, 2022, 21 killed

Buffalo, 2022, 10 killed

Boulder, Colo., 2021, 10 killed

Atlanta, 2021, 8 killed

Dayton, Ohio, 2019, 10 killed

El Paso, 2019, 23 killed

Virginia Beach, 2019, 12 killed

Thousand Oaks, Calif., 2018, 12 killed

Pittsburgh, 2018, 11 killed

Parkland, Fla., 2018, 17 killed

Sutherland Springs, Texas, 2017, 26 killed

Las Vegas, 2017, 60 killed

Orlando, Fla., 2016, 49 killed

Roseburg, Ore., 2015, 9 killed

Oak Creek, Wis., 2012, 7 killed. End ID]

[bthenoise]

The End Of An Era: Kevin Lyman Announces 2018 As The Final, Full Cross-Country Warped Tour

Well, fuck. It is with great sadness that we bring you a pretty bummer-rific announcement from Vans Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman. According to Lyman, 2018 will be the “final, full cross-country run of the Vans Warped Tour.”

“I have been a very lucky person to have traveled across the country and sometimes around the world as one of the founders and producers of the Vans Warped Tour,” says Lyman. “Today, with many mixed feelings, I am here to announce that next year will be the final, full cross-country run of the Vans Warped Tour.” 

“I sit here reflecting on the tour’s incredible history,” adds Lyman, “what the final run means for our community, and look forward to what’s to come as we commemorate the tour’s historic 25th anniversary in 2019.”

With us not really knowing how to process this news, please continue to read as Lyman weighs in on his decision and reflects on the past 23 years of Warped Tour. 

“In 1995, I had already worked many years in the music business, including spending four summers on the Lollapalooza tour, and I thought, ‘for one summer I would like [to] go out and put on my own show’ mixing music and action sports. With the support of so many people, I have now spent the last 23 summers bringing that show to a city near you. We have brought that show to over 11 million people around the world and watched that same world change while doing so.

I have been proud to work with so many artists who have grown to be some of the largest stars in the world. Countless bands have played in hot parking lots and through summer storms for you at some point.

Bands like Quicksand, Sublime, L7, No Use for A Name and No Doubt jumped on in the very first year.

Touring many summers with my friends and peers like – Pennywise, Social Distortion, NOFX, Bad Religion, The Descendents, Less Than Jake, Dropkick Murphy’s, The Bouncing Souls, Rancid, Flogging Molly, Anti-Flag and The Offspring are just some of my fondest memories. More include, having Blink-182 travel on my bus in 1997 when the world opened up to them and made them the superstars they are today.

The Vans Warped Tour was the platform to witness the rise of pop punk with Sum 41, Simple Plan, MXPX, New Found Glory and Good Charlotte.

The birth of Emo – with bands like Thrice, Thursday, The Used, Taking Back Sunday, The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack and Jimmy Eat World.

Fast-forward to the summer in 2005 when TRL and Warped Tour helped launch the careers of Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Avenged Sevenfold.

I witnessed Warped alumni like The Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, No Doubt and even Kid Rock play the Super Bowl. I’ve even had the pleasure of seeing Green Day play the Rose Bowl.

More recently, I’ve watched bands start out on a small stage and work their way up to the main stages by meeting as many fans as possible and continuing to hone their craft while on the tour. Bands like Paramore, A Day To Remember, Sleeping With Sirens, Pierce The Veil, Echosmith, Motionless in White, Black Veil Brides, Every Time I Die, Neck Deep, Beartooth and so many more.

What has always made me proud was when I read that Warped was the most diverse show of the summer where you could find Eminem and Ice-T on the same stages as Sevendust, Pennywise, and 7 Seconds.

I am so grateful to have worked with more than 1,700 bands over the last 23 summers. I wish I could thank every band that has played the tour.

The Vans Warped Tour has become the community I had always hoped for. We have worked with over 90 non-profits each summer shining a light on new and growing groups giving our community the resources they need to connect with people who can help them, but also encourages our community to help each other. To Write Love on Her Arms, Music Saves Lives, Feed The Children Now, Keep a Breast, Hope For The Day, Canvas Foundation, Living The Dream and A Voice for the Innocent have built their organizations from the Warped Tour parking lots across the country. This even inspired me to start my own foundation Unite the United.

The work we do each summer on ‘give back days’ has become part of our DNA. My brain is etched with the image of the church ladies after Katrina serving beans and rice to The Casualties with their upright mohawks, finding a common ground where no one was judging anyone. Then finding out the only working business in the county seemed to be the moonshine still and the locals showing up with a crate to share with the crew later that evening.

The long hot days that ended around a BBQ with food, drink and more music are some of the best times. Enjoying the days off, taking people jet boating, house boating, river rafting and sometimes even skydiving. I witnessed lifelong friendships being made, sparks of romance that led to ‘Warped weddings,’ and unfortunately now, more notices of passings where a proper goodbye was not able to be said.

I want to thank my supportive family who has been through the highs and lows, Darryl Eaton at CAA, Steve Van Doren and Vans, Kate, Julie, Allison and Steph. My hard ass working crew who puts that show up and down each day, the sponsors which without them this tour would not happen, the bands and their crews, the promoters who took a risk on us at the beginning and continue to be supportive.

It will be bittersweet each morning when I see the sun rise and then watch it set knowing that this will be the last time I get to witness it from that exact spot.

Though the tour and the world have changed since ’95, the same feeling of having the ‘best summer ever’ will live on through the bands, the production teams, and the fans that come through at every stop.

The enduring spirit of the Vans Warped Tour remains as bright as ever, continuing to inspire creativity and ambition in new and exciting ways as we prepare for a 25th anniversary celebration in 2019.

I truly look forward to seeing as many of you as possible during this final cross country run, and getting to thank you for your support on this wild adventure. Until then, take care and be safe.”

With this being such a massive and heartbreaking story to our community, we’d like to thank Kevin Lyman for his incredible and indescribable devotion to our scene. Without him, we and a lot of the bands we write about each and every day wouldn’t be around or at least given a chance to showcase their talents. Thank you Kevin for all that you’ve done.

To check out the final, cross-country tour dates for the Vans Warped Tour, be sure to see below. For more info, including ticket packages (like the Limited Edition Superfan package), head here.          

Tour Dates:

6/21 POMONA, CA 6/22 SAN DIEGO, CA 6/23 MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA 6/24 VENTURA, CA 6/26 PHOENIX, AZ 6/29 LAS VEGAS, NV 6/30 SALT LAKE CITY, UT 7/01 DENVER, CO 7/03 ST. LOUIS, MO 7/05 BONNER SPRINGS, KS 7/06 DALLAS, TX 7/07 SAN ANTONIO, TX 7/08 HOUSTON, TX 7/10 NASHVILLE, TN 7/12 VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 7/13 CAMDEN, NJ 7/14 HOLMDEL, NJ 7/15 HARTFORD, CT 7/16 PITTSBURGH, PA 7/17 TORONTO, ON, CND 7/18 CINCINNATI, OH 7/19 CUYAHOGA FALLS, OH 7/20 DETROIT, MI 7/21 CHICAGO, IL 7/22 MINNEAPOLIS, MN 7/23 MILWAUKEE, WI 7/24 INDIANAPOLIS, IN 7/25 DARIEN CENTER, NY 7/26 SCRANTON, PA 7/27 MANSFIELD, MA 7/28 WANTAGH, NY 7/29 COLUMBIA, MD 7/31 CHARLOTTE, NC 8/01 ATLANTA, GA 8/03 ORLANDO, FL 8/04 TAMPA, FL 8/05 WEST PALM BEACH, FL

[bradlaplante]

Warped Tour will hit the road for one final run in 2018: read Kevin Lyman’s full statement

Music’s last remaining traveling music festival is now coming to an end. 2018 will be the last cross-country run of Vans Warped Tour. Dates for the tour were just announced, fans can view those below.

“Before Warped I was on three years of Lollapalooza, so [it’s been] 26 straight summers out on the road,” Lyman tells Billboard. “Not that I’m completely going anywhere, but traveling around the country with a tour this size in the landscape that we’re in is… to be honest, I’m just tired.”

Read the full statement after the jump.

“I have been a very lucky person to have traveled across the country and sometimes around the world as one of the founders and producers of the Vans Warped Tour. Today, with many mixed feelings, I am here to announce that next year will be the final, full cross-country run of the Vans Warped Tour. I sit here reflecting on the tour’s incredible history, what the final run means for our community, and look forward to what’s to come as we commemorate the tour’s historic 25th anniversary in 2019.

In 1995, I had already worked many years in the music business, including spending four summers on the Lollapalooza tour, and I thought, ‘for one summer I would like go out and put on my own show’ mixing music and action sports. With the support of so many people, I have now spent the last 23 summers bringing that show to a city near you. We have brought that show to over 11 million people around the world and watched that same world change while doing so.

I have been proud to work with so many artists who have grown to be some of the largest stars in the world. Countless bands have played in hot parking lots and through summer storms for you at some point.

Bands like Quicksand, Sublime, L7, No Use for A Name and No Doubt jumped on in the very first year.

Touring many summers with my friends and peers like – Pennywise, Social Distortion, NOFX, Bad Religion, The Descendents, Less Than Jake, Dropkick Murphy’s, The Bouncing Souls, Rancid, Flogging Molly, Anti-Flag and The Offspring are just some of my fondest memories. More include, having Blink-182 travel on my bus in 1997 when the world opened up to them and made them the superstars they are today.

The Vans Warped Tour was the platform to witness the rise of pop punk with Sum 41, Simple Plan, MXPX, New Found Glory and Good Charlotte.

The birth of Emo – with bands like Thrice, Thursday, The Used, Taking Back Sunday, The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack and Jimmy Eat World.

Fast-forward to the summer in 2005 when TRL and Warped Tour helped launch the careers of Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Avenged Sevenfold.

I witnessed Warped alumni like The Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, No Doubt and even Kid Rock play the Super Bowl. I’ve even had the pleasure of seeing Green Day play the Rose Bowl.

More recently, I’ve watched bands start out on a small stage and work their way up to the main stages by meeting as many fans as possible and continuing to hone their craft while on the tour. Bands like Paramore, A Day To Remember, Sleeping With Sirens, Pierce The Veil, Echosmith, Motionless in White, Black Veil Brides, Every Time I Die, Neck Deep, Beartooth and so many more.

What has always made me proud was when I read that Warped was the most diverse show of the summer where you could find Eminem and Ice-T on the same stages as Sevendust, Pennywise, and 7 Seconds.

I am so grateful to have worked with more than 1,700 bands over the last 23 summers. I wish I could thank every band that has played the tour.

The Vans Warped Tour has become the community I had always hoped for. We have worked with over 90 non-profits each summer shining a light on new and growing groups giving our community the resources they need to connect with people who can help them, but also encourages our community to help each other. To Write Love on Her Arms, Music Saves Lives, Feed The Children Now, Keep a Breast, Hope For The Day, Canvas Foundation, Living The Dream and A Voice for the Innocent have built their organizations from the Warped Tour parking lots across the country. This even inspired me to start my own foundation Unite the United.

The work we do each summer on “give back days” has become part of our DNA. My brain is etched with the image of the church ladies after Katrina serving beans and rice to The Casualties with their upright mohawks, finding a common ground where no one was judging anyone. Then finding out the only working business in the county seemed to be the moonshine still and the locals showing up with a crate to share with the crew later that evening.

The long hot days that ended around a BBQ with food, drink and more music are some of the best times. Enjoying the days off, taking people jet boating, house boating, river rafting and sometimes even skydiving. I witnessed lifelong friendships being made, sparks of romance that led to ‘Warped weddings,’ and unfortunately now, more notices of passings where a proper good bye was not able to be said.

I want to thank my supportive family who has been through the highs and lows, Darryl Eaton at CAA, Steve Van Doren and Vans, Kate, Julie, Allison and Steph. My hard ass working crew who puts that show up and down each day, the sponsors which without them this tour would not happen, the bands and their crews, the promoters who took a risk on us at the beginning and continue to be supportive.

It will be bittersweet each morning when I see the sun rise and then watch it set knowing that this will be the last time I get to witness it from that exact spot.

Though the tour and the world have changed since ’95, the same feeling of having the ‘best summer ever’ will live on through the bands, the production teams, and the fans that come through at every stop.

The enduring spirit of the Vans Warped Tour remains as bright as ever, continuing to inspire creativity and ambition in new and exciting ways as we prepare for a 25th anniversary celebration in 2019.

I truly look forward to seeing as many of you as possible during this final cross country run, and getting to thank you for your support on this wild adventure. Until then, take care and be safe.”   – Kevin Lyman (Founder of the Vans Warped Tour)

Tour Dates:

June 21 - Pomona, Calif. June 22 - San Diego, Calif. June 23 - Mountain View, Calif. June 24 - Ventura, Calif. June 26 - Phoneix, Ariz. June 29 - Las Vegas, Nev. June 30 - Salt Lake City, Utah July 1 - Denver, Colo. July 3 - St. Louis, Mo. July 5 - Bonner Springs, Kan. July 6 – Dallas, Texas July 7 – San Antonio, Texas July 8 – Houston, Texas July 10 – Nashville, Tenn. July 12 – Virginia Beach, Va. July 13 – Camden, N.J. July 14 – Holmdel, N.J. July 15 – Hartford, Ct. July 16 – Pittsburgh, Pa. July 17 – Toronto, Ontario July 18 – Cincinnati, Ohio July 19 – Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio July 20 – Detroit, Mich. July 21 – Chicago, Ill. July 22 – Minneapolis, Minn. July 23 – Milwaukee, Wis. July 24 – Indianapolis, Ind. July 25 – Darien Center, N.Y. July 26 – Scranton, Pa. July 27 – Mansfield, Mass. July 28 – Wantagh, N.Y. July 29 – Columbia, Md. July 31 – Charlotte, N.C. Aug. 1 – Atlanta, Ga. Aug. 3 – Orlando, Fla. Aug. 4 – Tampa, Fla. Aug. 5 – West Palm Beach, Fla.

[rumorednightspress]

TOUR NEWS: Warped Announces 2018 Dates, Says 2018 Will Be Final Full Cross-Country Run

In an exclusive interview with Billboard earlier today, Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman announced the incredibly sad news that 2018 will be the final year that Warped will be doing their normal, full cross-country run. In a follow-up post on Warped’s website, the dates for 2018′s tour were also announced, and limited edition ticket packages for superfans have been made available, while normal tickets will go on sale at a later date. Importantly, both the Billboard interview and the statement on the website mention that despite this announcement, there are still plans to commemorate Warped’s 25th anniversary in 2019, so fans can take some comfort in knowing that there will most likely be at least one more year of Warped after 2018, though perhaps it may be more limited. To check the dates and read the full statement and article, hit the jump.

First things first: let’s get the dates out of the way. Here they are as announced on Warped’s website:

6/21 - POMONA, CA

6/22 - SAN DIEGO, CA

6/23 - MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA

6/24 - VENTURA, CA

6/26 - PHOENIX, AZ

6/29 - LAS VEGAS, NV

6/30 - SALT LAKE CITY, UT

7/01 - DENVER, CO

7/03 - ST/ LOUIS, MO

7/05 - BONNER SPRINGS, KS

7/06 - DALLAS, TX

7/07 - SAN ANTONIO, TX

7/08 - HOUSTON, TX

7/10 - NASHVILLE, TN

7/12 - VIRGINIA BEACH, VA

7/13 - CAMDEN, NJ

7/14 - HOLMDEL, NJ

7/15 - HARTFORD, CT

7/16 - PITTSBURGH, PA

7/17 - TORONTO, ON

7/18 - CINCINNATI, OH

7/19 - CUYAHOGA FALLS, OH

7/20 - DETROIT, MI

7/21 - CHICAGO, IL

7/22 - MINNEAPOLIS, MN

7/23 - MILWAUKEE, WI

7/24 - INDIANAPOLIS, IN

7/25 - DARIEN CENTER, NY

7/26 - SCRANTON, PA

7/27 - MANSFIELD, MA

7/28 - WANTAGH, NY

7/29 - COLUMBIA, MD

7/31 - CHARLOTTE, NC

8/01 - ATLANTA, GA

8/03 - ORLANDO, FL

8/04 - TAMPA, FL

8/05 - WEST PALM BEACH, FL

If you’d like to purchase one of the superfan ticket bundles, click here to select your preferred date and package. As for the official statement released by Kevin Lyman on Warped’s website, here it is:

"I have been a very lucky person to have traveled across the country and sometimes around the world as one of the founders and producers of the Vans Warped Tour. Today, with many mixed feelings, I am here to announce that next year will be the final, full cross-country run of the Vans Warped Tour. I sit here reflecting on the tour’s incredible history, what the final run means for our community, and look forward to what’s to come as we commemorate the tour’s historic 25th anniversary in 2019.

In 1995, I had already worked many years in the music business, including spending four summers on the Lollapalooza tour, and I thought, ‘for one summer I would like go out and put on my own show’ mixing music and action sports. With the support of so many people, I have now spent the last 23 summers bringing that show to a city near you. We have brought that show to over 11 million people around the world and watched that same world change while doing so.

I have been proud to work with so many artists who have grown to be some of the largest stars in the world. Countless bands have played in hot parking lots and through summer storms for you at some point.

Bands like Quicksand, Sublime, L7, No Use for A Name and No Doubt jumped on in the very first year.

Touring many summers with my friends and peers like – Pennywise, Social Distortion, NOFX, Bad Religion, The Descendents, Less Than Jake, Dropkick Murphy’s, The Bouncing Souls, Rancid, Flogging Molly, Anti-Flag and The Offspring are just some of my fondest memories. More include, having Blink-182 travel on my bus in 1997 when the world opened up to them and made them the superstars they are today.

The Vans Warped Tour was the platform to witness the rise of pop punk with Sum 41, Simple Plan, MXPX, New Found Glory and Good Charlotte.

The birth of Emo – with bands like Thrice, Thursday, The Used, Taking Back Sunday, The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack and Jimmy Eat World.

Fast-forward to the summer in 2005 when TRL and Warped Tour helped launch the careers of Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Avenged Sevenfold.

I witnessed Warped alumni like The Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, No Doubt and even Kid Rock play the Super Bowl. I’ve even had the pleasure of seeing Green Day play the Rose Bowl.

More recently, I’ve watched bands start out on a small stage and work their way up to the main stages by meeting as many fans as possible and continuing to hone their craft while on the tour. Bands like Paramore, A Day To Remember, Sleeping With Sirens, Pierce The Veil, Echosmith, Motionless in White, Black Veil Brides, Every Time I Die, Neck Deep, Beartooth and so many more.

What has always made me proud was when I read that Warped was the most diverse show of the summer where you could find Eminem and Ice-T on the same stages as Sevendust, Pennywise, and 7 Seconds.

I am so grateful to have worked with more than 1,700 bands over the last 23 summers. I wish I could thank every band that has played the tour.

The Vans Warped Tour has become the community I had always hoped for. We have worked with over 90 non-profits each summer shining a light on new and growing groups giving our community the resources they need to connect with people who can help them, but also encourages our community to help each other. To Write Love on Her Arms, Music Saves Lives, Feed The Children Now, Keep a Breast, Hope For The Day, Canvas Foundation, Living The Dream and A Voice for the Innocent have built their organizations from the Warped Tour parking lots across the country. This even inspired me to start my own foundation Unite the United.

The work we do each summer on “give back days” has become part of our DNA. My brain is etched with the image of the church ladies after Katrina serving beans and rice to The Casualties with their upright mohawks, finding a common ground where no one was judging anyone. Then finding out the only working business in the county seemed to be the moonshine still and the locals showing up with a crate to share with the crew later that evening.

The long hot days that ended around a BBQ with food, drink and more music are some of the best times. Enjoying the days off, taking people jet boating, house boating, river rafting and sometimes even skydiving. I witnessed lifelong friendships being made, sparks of romance that led to ‘Warped weddings,’ and unfortunately now, more notices of passings where a proper good bye was not able to be said.

I want to thank my supportive family who has been through the highs and lows, Darryl Eaton at CAA, Steve Van Doren and Vans, Kate, Julie, Allison and Steph. My hard ass working crew who puts that show up and down each day, the sponsors which without them this tour would not happen, the bands and their crews, the promoters who took a risk on us at the beginning and continue to be supportive.

It will be bittersweet each morning when I see the sun rise and then watch it set knowing that this will be the last time I get to witness it from that exact spot.

Though the tour and the world have changed since ’95, the same feeling of having the ‘best summer ever’ will live on through the bands, the production teams, and the fans that come through at every stop.

The enduring spirit of the Vans Warped Tour remains as bright as ever, continuing to inspire creativity and ambition in new and exciting ways as we prepare for a 25th anniversary celebration in 2019.

I truly look forward to seeing as many of you as possible during this final cross country run, and getting to thank you for your support on this wild adventure. Until then, take care and be safe. – Kevin Lyman (Founder of the Vans Warped Tour)”

If you would like to also read the full interview with Mr. Lyman on Billboard, you can find it here. What are your thoughts on these announcements and statements? Will you be attending Warped in 2018? We know we will.

[higherfeed]

What's Coming to Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Hulu in November

This month all eyes are on The Irishman, Martin Scorsese’s epic gangster drama. But until you can see it on November 27, there’s plenty of other highly-anticipated releases in TV and movies coming to Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Hulu, including shows like Jack Ryan, The Crown, and Silicon Valley October Streaming Guide: The ‘Breaking Bad’ Movie, ‘Glass’, and More to Watch This Month Along with those new options, movies like Creed II, Step Brothers, The Matrix Series, the James Bond collection, and Rounders will be streaming on various sites. The Best Adventure Movies, TV Shows, and Documentaries You Can Stream Right Now Here’s everything new you can stream in November 2019:

What’s Streaming on Netflix

the King / The Irishman / NetflixNov. 1 Apache Warrior American Son Atypical: Season 3 Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures: Go Team Roberts: Season 1 Billy on the Street Christmas Break-In The Christmas Candle Christmas in the Heartlands Christmas Survival The Deep: Season 3 Drive Elliot the Littlest Reindeer Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Fire in Paradise The Game Grease Hache Hello Ninja Holiday in the Wild Holly Star How to Be a Latin Lover The King Love Jones The Man Without Gravity Mars: Season 2 The Matrix The Matrix Reloaded The Matrix Revolutions Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans: Seasons 1-2 Paid in Full Queer Eye: We’re in Japan! Rosemary’s Baby Rounders Santa Girl Sling Blade Spitfire: The Plane That Saved the World Step Brothers True: Grabbleapple Harvest Up North We Are the Wave Wild Child Zombieland Nov. 4 A Holiday Engagement Christmas Crush Dear Santa The Devil Next Door District 9 Nov. 5 The End of the F***ing World: Season 2 Seth Meyers: Lobby Baby She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Season 4 Tune in for Love Undercover Brother 2 Nov. 6 Phillip Youmans Burning Cane SCAMS Shadow Nov. 7 The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open Nov. 8 Busted!: Season 2 The Great British Baking Show: Holidays: Season 2 Greatest Events of WWII in HD Colour Green Eggs and Ham Let It Snow Paradise Beach Wild District: Season 2 Nov. 9 Little Things: Season 3 Nov. 10 Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj: Volume 5 Nov. 11 A Single Man Chief of Staff: Season 2 Nov. 12 Harvey Girls Forever!: Season 3 Jeff Garlin: Our Man in Chicago Nov. 13 Maradona in Mexico Nov. 14 The Stranded Nov. 15 Avlu: Part 2 The Club Earthquake Bird GO!: The Unforgettable Party House Arrest I’m With the Band: Nasty Cherry Klaus Llama Llama: Season 2 The Toys That Made Us: Season 3 Nov. 16 Suffragette Nov. 17 The Crown: Season 3 Nov. 19 Iliza: Unveiled No hay tiempo para la verguenza Nov. 20 Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator Dream/Killer Lorena, la de pies ligeros Nov. 21 The Knight Before Christmas Mortel Nov. 22 Dino Girl Gauko Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings The Dragon Prince: Season 3 High Seas: Season 2 Meet the Adebanjos: Season 1-3 Mon frere Nailed It! Holiday!: Season 2 Narcoworld: Dope Stories Nobody’s Looking Singapore Social Trolls: The Beat Goes On!: Season 8 Nov. 23 End of Watch Nov. 24 Courtesy of Bold Films Shot Caller Nov. 25 Dirty John: Season 1 Nov. 26 Mike Birbiglia: The New One Super Monsters Save Christmas True: Winter Wishes Nov. 27 Broken The Irishman Nov. 28 Holiday Rush John Crist: I Ain’t Praying For That Merry Happy Whatever Mytho Nov. 29 ‘Atlantics’ Courtesy of TIFF Atlantics Chip and Potato: Season 2 I Lost My Body La Reina del Sur: Season 2 The Movies That Made Us Sugar Rush Christmas

What’s Streaming on Amazon Prime

Jack Ryan Season 2 / Amazon Prime Video / Paramount TelevisionNov. 1: A View To A Kill (1985) Bad Santa (2003) Big Top Pee-Wee (1988) Chinatown (1974) Diamonds Are Forever (1971) Die Another Day (2002) Double Jeopardy (1999) Dr. No (1962) Escape From Alcatraz (1979) Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex * But Were Afraid To Ask (1972) Fatal Attraction (1987) Fire with Fire (2012) Flashdance (1983) For Your Eyes Only (1981) Freelancers (2012) From Russia With Love (1963) Gloria (English Subtitled) (2014) Goldeneye (1995) Goldfinger (1964) Kingpin (1996) LicenceTo Kill (1989) Light Sleeper (1992) Live And Let Die (1973) Moonraker (1979) Never Say Never Again (1983) Octopussy (1983) On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) Overlord (2018) Reds (1981) Save the Last Dance 2 (2006) Soapdish (1991) Summer’s Moon (2009) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) The Counterfeit Traitor (1962) The Firm (1993) The Living Daylights (1987) The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) The Ring (2002) The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) The World Is Not Enough (1999) Thunderball (1965) Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) Training Day (2001) Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family (2011) Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection (2012) Jack Ryan Nov. 6 Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013) Nov. 8 One Child Nation (2019) Nov. 12 Angel Has Fallen (2019) Nov. 13 Anna and the Apocalypse (2018) Romans (2017) Nov. 14 Instant Family (2018) The Souvenir (2019) Nov. 15 Creed 2 (2018) The Man in the High Castle: Season 4 (Amazon Original) Nov. 19 Bottom of the 9th (2019) Nov. 20 The Fanatic (2019) Nov. 22 Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019) (Amazon Original) Costume Quest: Christmas Special (Amazon Original) Nov. 29 The Report (2019) Nov. 30 Low Tide (2019) The Feed: Season 1 (Amazon Original)

What’s Streaming on Hulu

Nov. 1 America’s Cutest: Complete Seasons 2&3 (Animal Planet) Giada’s Holiday Handbook: Complete Seasons 1-3 (Food Network) Holiday Baking Championship: Complete Seasons 1-4 (Food Network) Into The Dark: Pilgrim: Episode Premiere (Hulu Original) Kids Baking Championship: Complete Season 4 (Food Network) Love Island: Australia: Complete Season 1 (ITV) Sex Sent Me to the ER: Complete Seasons 1&2 (TLC) Too Cute!: Complete Seasons 2&3 (Animal Planet) A Fairly Odd Christmas (2012) A Simple Plan (1998) Albert (2016) Big Top Pee-Wee (1988) Chinatown (1974) The Counterfeit Traitor (1962) Dinner for Schmucks (2010) Double Jeopardy (1999) The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain (1995) Escape from Alcatraz (1979) Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, but were Afraid to Ask (1972) Fantastic Four (2005) Fatal Attraction (1987) Fever Pitch (2005) Fire with Fire (2012) The Firm (1993) Flashdance (1983) Freddy Vs Jason (2003) Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) Freelancers (2012) Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) Gloria (2014) Head of State (2003) Home for the Holidays (1995) I Heart Huckabees (2004) In Enemy Hands (2003) Interview with a Vampire (1994) Kingpin (1996) Light Sleeper (1992) Madea’s Big Happy Family (2011) Madea’s Witness Protection (2012) Magic Mike (2012) The Mexican (2001) The Nightingale (2019) Overlord (2018) The Pink Panther 2 (2009) Reds (1981) The Ring (2002) Santa Hunters (2014) Shall We Dance? (2004) Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2002) Soapdish (1991) Spy Next Door (2010) Summers Moon (2009) Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) Terminator Salvation (2009) Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005) Tiny Christmas (2017) The Two Jakes (1990) Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) Undisputed (2002) Waiting… (2005) You Laugh but It’s True (2011) Available Nov. 4 Denial (2016) Nov. 5 Framing John Delorean (2019) Available Nov. 6 Long Time Coming: A 1955 Baseball Story (2017) The Biggest Little Farm (2019) Nov. 7 Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013) Nov. 9 You’re the Worst: Complete Season 5 (FX) Nov. 13 Anna and the Apocalypse (2018) Ugly Dolls (2018) Nov. 14 Instant Family (2018) Veronica Mars (2014) Nov. 15 Dollface: Complete Season 1 Premiere (Hulu Original) Creed II (2018) Wings of the Dove (1997) Nov. 18 Booksmart (2019) The Tomorrow Man (2019) Nov. 19 Apple Tree Yard: Complete Season 1 (Fremantle) Margaret Atwood: A Word After a Word After a Word is Power (2019) The Quiet One (2019) Nov. 20 Some Kind of Beautiful (2015) Nov. 22 The Accident: Complete Season 1 Premiere (Hulu Original) Holly Hobbie: Complete Season 2 Premiere (Hulu Original) Vita & Virginia (2019) Nov. 24 Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (2010) Nov. 25 Love & Mercy (2015) Nov. 26 NOS4A2: Complete Season 1 (AMC) Astronaut (2019) Nov. 27 Meeting Gorbachev (2019) Nov. 28 Mike Wallace is Here (2019)

What’s Streaming on HBO/HBO Now

Movies Big (11/1) Blindspotting (11/1) Bruce Almighty (11/1) Chocolat (11/1) Crazy, Stupid, Love (11/1) Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops (11/19) Flawless (11/1) For Love of the Game (11/1) Forget Paris (11/1) Head Full of Honey (11/2) Hope Floats (11/1) Indignation (11/1) Jingle All the Way (Director’s Cut) (11/1) King Arthur (Director’s Cut) (11/1) Lindsey Vonn: The Final Season (11/26) Little (11/16) Look Away (11/4) Mr. Bean’s Holiday (11/1) Nine Months (11/1) Pan (11/1) Reversal of Fortune (11/1) Shazam! (11/30) The Apollo (11/6) The Condemned (11/1) The Condemned 2 (11/1) The Darjeeling Limited (11/1) The Darkness (11/1) The Day After Tomorrow (11/1) The Kid Who Would Be King (11/9) The Town (11/1) True Lies (11/1) Us (11/23) Very Ralph (11/12) Wes Craven Presents Wishmaster (11/1) TV Daniel Sloss: X (11/2) Entre Nos: Erik Rivera: Super White (11/1) Halfway — HBO Access pilot (11/1) His Dark Materials (11/4) Message Erased (11/1) Pajaros de Verano (aka Birds of Passage) (11/8) Papi Chulo (11/15) Santos Dumont (11/11) Sesame Street (11/16) Sesame Street’s 50th Anniversary Celebration (11/9) Sobredosis de amor (aka Roommates) (11/1) Sterling — HBO Access pilot (11/1) Unimundo 45 — HBO Access pilot (11/1) Expiring 11/30 Blackkklansman Breakin’ All the Rules Captivity Crazy Rich Asians Darkman Darkman II: The Return of Durant Darkman III: Die Darkman Die The Darkest Minds Deja Vu The Diary of Anne Frank Disclosure Hop Insidious: The Last Key Legend Lions For Lambs The Lost Boys Macgruber (Extended Version) Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again Manhattan Night My Friend Dahmer Paper Heart Paycheck Peter Pan Pride Ramona and Beezus Robin Hood Steve Jobs Stratton Read the full article

[bountyofbeads]

Donald Trump's body count: He's not just a narcissist and a liar. He's a killer

Donald Trump's criminal misbehavior has real consequences for real people. Too often, that includes death

LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV | Published NOV. 16, 2019 1:00PM (UTC) | Salon | Posted November 16, 2019 |

There was a moment early in the testimony last Wednesday by longtime diplomat and Army veteran Bill Taylor that was lost in the drama of everything else he had to say about Donald Trump’s attempt to extort the Ukrainian government. That was when Taylor dropped the fact that he had been on the “front line” of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia only the previous week and that on the day he was there, “a Ukrainian soldier was killed and four were wounded.”

The death of one soldier somewhere near the border with Ukraine and Russia may not seem like a very important event in the greater scheme of things as the House of Representatives considers the impeachment of Donald Trump. But it was important enough tor Taylor that he mentioned it in the fifth paragraph of his opening statement. He wanted to get it on the record early in his testimony that “even as we sit here today, the Russians are attacking Ukrainian soldiers in their own country and have been for the last four years.”

What happens in the background of practically everything that Donald Trump does or fails to do is that people are dying. This is why the impeachment hearings are about more than Rudy Giuliani running around trying to get Ukrainian prosecutors to investigate Joe Biden and his son or some spurious right-wing conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, rather than Russia, that meddled in the 2016 election. Ukraine is quite literally fighting for its life against Russian aggression on its eastern border. As Taylor’s testimony made clear, the fact that Trump ordered that American military aid to Ukraine be withheld had deadly consequences.

While Donald Trump stood at a podium next to Vladimir Putin, as he did last year in Helsinki, and called the Russian president a “strong leader,” Ukrainians were being killed by Russian military forces that had invaded their country under Putin’s orders. At the same time Donald Trump stood next to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as he did in the White House on Wednesday, and referred to the Turkish president as “a tough guy who deserves respect,” Kurds were being killed by Turkish forces who invaded Syria with Trump’s explicit approval. Last summer, when Donald Trump sat across a table in Osaka, Japan, from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and called him “a friend of mine” who is doing “a spectacular job,” Yemeni civilians were being killed by American supplied “smart bombs” and armed drones, and the dismembered body of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, murdered by Saudi assassins last year in Turkey, still had not been found.

This week, while Donald Trump tweeted conspiracy theories about Joe Biden and launched personal attacks on former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch as she testified on Capitol Hill, two more school children lay dead and four more lay severely wounded in a hospital, shot by yet another mass killer on a rampage at a high school in Santa Clarita, California. The shooting in California came on the heels of an Oval Office meeting in late September between Trump and National Rifle Association Wayne LaPierre, during which LaPierre asked Trump to “stop the games” about gun control legislation and promised NRA support for Trump in his fight against impeachment, according to The New York Times. Trump spoke at the NRA convention in April of this year, and has long had a cozy relationship with the gun lobby. The NRA reportedly spent $30 million in support of Trump’s election in 2016.

Look at just a few of the mass killings that have happened since Trump took office: Las Vegas,  October 2017: 58 dead, 413 wounded. Sutherland Springs, Texas, November 2017: 26 dead, 20 wounded. Pittsburgh,  October 2018: 11 dead, 7 wounded. Parkland, Florida, February 2018: 17 dead, 17 wounded. Virginia Beach, Virginia, May 2019: 13 dead, 5 wounded. El Paso, Texas, August 2019: 22 dead, 24 wounded. Dayton, Ohio, August 2019: 10 dead, 27 wounded. Midland, Texas, August 2019: 8 dead, 25 wounded.

Donald Trump didn’t pull the trigger in Las Vegas or El Paso or Parkland or Dayton or this week in Santa Clarita. Donald Trump is not personally firing the artillery shells that are killing soldiers in Ukraine, nor is he gunning down Kurds in Syria or dropping smart bombs on civilians in Yemen. But unless he is impeached or defeated in the election of 2020, this is Donald Trump’s government, and it is exercising Donald Trump’s policies, and it’s Donald Trump’s Republican Party that stands in the way of sane gun legislation.

Every time you hear dry, foreign-relations talk about Russia or Turkey or Saudi Arabia “seeking influence in the region,” whether the region is the Middle East or Eastern Europe, what they’re really talking about is dead bodies. That’s the way these corrupt, dictatorial friends of Donald Trump “seek influence.” They order military forces under their command to kill people. That killing produced dead bodies, lots and lots of dead bodies. Taylor testified that more than 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the Russians invaded Ukraine and seized Crimea. Estimates of the dead in Yemen run as high as 100,000, according to no less an authority than Fox News. More than 100 people have been killed and tens of thousands of refugees have been displaced since Turkey invaded northern Syria, according to NBC News. 

Every time you hear Donald Trump tell his screaming fans at one of his rallies that he’s going to “protect your Second Amendment,” what he’s really saying is that he’s going to protect the right of the next mass killer to go out and buy an assault rifle and all the ammunition he can carry, because that’s what it takes to produce the dead bodies that result from these mass killings.

The hearings into the impeachment of Donald Trump are supposedly about the president trading military support of Ukraine for investigations into his political rival Joe Biden. We’ve heard lots of talk about the “violation of norms” and “obstruction of justice” and “foreign meddling in our elections” and “witness tampering” and even “bribery and extortion.”

But there are other consequences of Donald Trump’s presidency. So long as he remains president, the dead bodies will continue to pile up in Ukraine and Syria and Yemen and in the schools and Walmarts and churches and synagogues of the United States of America. The dead bodies will be Trump’s, but the shame will be ours.

[mymusicalitylove]

Not all those who wander are lost...

Travel.

Traveling is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a wee senior fresh out of high school choosing to take a gap year before entering the world of college and independence. Where I thought I was going to get the bank roll for all this travel (when my goal was to save up for school and adulting), I have no clue. But the desire was there, and it was strong. Unfortunately, travel did not happen during that time and came much later in life for me, but I feel very blessed that it has become a fierce part of who I am, and how I relate to the world. 🌎

I have obviously traveled before high school and subsequently, but it became a clearly marked habit starting in 2015. After ending my eight year relationship, I felt that I had to get away. It was actually my mom’s idea since Valentine’s Day 💌 was approaching, and who wants to spend Valentine’s Day grieving a broken idea of what you once thought was going to be your life? Not me, so let’s GTFOH we said, and away we went! 🚙💨

Little did my mom know she would invigorate the idea of a lifestyle I always knew I wanted. 😉 My travels have been plenty, and not enough all at the same time. I’m feeling like an inventory is necessary to remind me of where I’ve been, and encourage me to where I still want to wander to and further explore.

2015: San Diego. Downtown Disney. Lake Tahoe. McKinney & Dallas, Texas. Las Vegas, Nevada (twice for different occasions). Los Angeles. Maui, Hawaii.

2016: McKinney & Dallas, Texas (again). Raleigh & Cary & Fuquay Varina, North Carolina. Virginia Beach & Williamsburg, Virginia. Berry Creek, Okizu. Chicago, Illinois. Yosemite. Lake Tahoe (twice for different occasions). Sydney & Melbourne & Cairns & Brisbane, Australia. Raleigh & Cary & Garner, North Carolina (again). Washington D.C., Maryland. Boston & Burlington, Massachusetts. Disneyland.

2017: Chicago, Illinois. Los Cabos, Mexico. Las Vegas, Nevada. Seattle, Washington. Reykjavik, Iceland. Dublin & Kinsale & Killarney & Cork & County Clare & Limerick (& probably a couple other cities I forgot), Ireland. Liverpool & London, England. Seattle, Washington (again).

2018: Raleigh & Garner, North Carolina. Antigua & Guatemala City & Puerto de San Jose & Panajachel, Guatemala. Morro Bay. Santa Barbara. Los Angeles. Disneyland. Hollywood. Manhattan Beach. Solvang. Portland & Corbett, Oregon. Seattle & Bainbridge Island & Bellingham & Lynden, Washington. Raleigh & Garner, North Carolina (again). Disneyland (again).

2019: Morro Bay & San Simeon & San Luis Obispo & Cambria. Raleigh & Garner, North Carolina. Omak, Washington. Barcelona, Spain. Florence & Impruneta & Rome & Vatican City, Italy. Disneyland. San Jose & Puntarenas & Quepos & Alajuela, Costa Rica. Paso Robles & San Luis Obispo & San Simeon (again).

... dayum! 

Dr. Seuss said it best: Oh, the places you’ll go.

And oh, how I love to go to all the places! Whether it’s to visit loved ones, to check out somewhere new with travel buddies, or going on my own to do some soul searching, it has revitalized and enriched me in a way nothing else has. Learning. Exploring. Sightseeing. Eating. Enjoying. Socializing. Reflecting. Discovering. Meeting. Laughing. Documenting. Admiring. Inspiring.

My life has unexpectedly transitioned and I feel as though I’ve reached a fork in the road. As much as I hate saying this with a quarter of the year still left to go, I think I have concluded my travels for 2019. But fear not! I am working on the blueprint map of all the exploring 2020 will hold for me.

08/19/2019 - 11:39 PM

[mikemortgage]

MedMen Announces Opening of 11th Store in California with Second San Diego Location

MedMen Sorrento Valley Adds to the Company’s Industry-Leading Footprint in California, a Potential $11 billion Cannabis Market

LOS ANGELES — MedMen Enterprises Inc. (“MedMen” or the “Company”) (CSE: MMEN) (OTCQX: MMNFF) (FSE: A2JM6N) is pleased to announce the opening of its Sorrento Valley store in San Diego, California. This is the second MedMen location in the San Diego area and the Company’s 11th operational MedMen location in California.

With a population of 1.4 million people, San Diego is the second largest city in California and ranks as one of the world’s most visited tourist destinations, with an average of 36 million visitors annually1. Sorrento Valley is known as a center for high-tech, biotech and scientific research and the MedMen store is in close proximity to the University of California, San Diego campus, as well as the headquarters for several prominent companies. The dispensary is strategically located to serve the neighborhoods of Torrey Pines, La Jolla, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, Mira Mesa and Solana Beach.

The opening of MedMen Sorrento Valley continues the Company’s expansion within California, a potential $11 billion cannabis market, according to Cowen. The Company recently reported an approximate 7% market share2 and approximately $100 million in annualized sales within the state.

State Retail Stores Permitted Under Licenses Currently Operational Stores3 MedMen PharmaCann MedMen PharmaCann Arizona 3 0 3 0 California 12 0 11 0 Florida 35 0 0 0 Illinois 1 4 1 4 Maryland 0 1 0 1 Massachusetts 0 3 0 1 Michigan 1 0 1 0 Nevada 3 0 3 0 New York 4 4 4 4 Ohio 0 1 0 0 Pennsylvania 0 9 0 0 Virginia 0 1 0 0 TOTAL: 59 23 23 10

TOTALS COMBINED:4

82 33

Source: San Diego Tourism Authority https://www.sandiego.org/about/industry-research.aspx

Based on implied market share from California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and actual system-wide in California revenue for fiscal Q2 2019 (Source: http://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/news/19-02.htm)

Includes the pending acquisition of a Michigan license and two stores managed by MedMen that are not owned by the Company.

Includes licenses expected to be acquired through the announced PharmaCann transaction and other pending transactions, and those acquired in recently closed transactions. Through the acquisition of PharmaCann, MedMen will be licensed for an additional 23 retail licenses across 12 states. Those 12 states contain approximately half of the total U.S. population.

ABOUT MEDMEN:

MedMen is a cannabis retailer with operations across the U.S. and flagship stores in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York. MedMen’s mission is to provide an unparalleled experience that invites the world to discover the remarkable benefits of cannabis because a world where cannabis is legal and regulated is a safer, healthier and happier world. Learn more at www.medmen.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” and “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, “forward-looking information”) with respect to the Company, including, but not limited to: information concerning the completion of the contemplated business combination with PharmaCann, LLC, expectations regarding whether the contemplated acquisition will be consummated, including whether conditions to the consummation of the proposed acquisition of PharmaCann will be satisfied and whether the proposed acquisition will be completed on the current terms, the timing for completing the proposed acquisition of PharmaCann and other pending acquisitions, expectations for the effects of the proposed acquisition of PharmaCann and other pending acquisitions, including the potential number and location of facilities and stores or licenses therefor to be acquired, expectations regarding the markets to be entered into by or expansion in current markets by the Company as a result of completing such proposed acquisitions, the ability of the Company to successfully achieve its business objectives as a result of completing the contemplated acquisitions, estimates of future cultivation, manufacturing and extraction capacity, store related forecasts, including as to number of planned stores to be opened in the future, and any other statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future plans, intentions, levels of activity, results, financial position, operational or financial performance or achievements. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “will”, “projects”, or “believes” or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or statements that certain actions, events, results or conditions “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Except for statements of historical fact, information contained herein constitutes forward-looking information.

Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made including among other things assumptions about: the contemplated acquisitions being completed on the current terms and current contemplated timeline; development costs remaining consistent with budgets; favorable equity and debt capital markets; the ability to raise sufficient capital to advance the business of the Company; favorable operating conditions; political and regulatory stability; obtaining and maintaining all required licenses and permits; receipt of governmental approvals and permits; sustained labor stability; stability in financial and capital goods markets; favorable production levels and costs from the Company’s operations; the pricing of various cannabis products; the level of demand for cannabis products; and the availability of third party service providers and other inputs for the Company’s operations. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable, the assumptions are inherently subject to significant business, social, economic, political, regulatory, competitive and other risks and uncertainties, contingencies and other factors that could cause actual performance, achievements, actions, events, results or conditions to be materially different from those projected in the forward-looking information. Many assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of the Company and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct.

Furthermore, such forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual plans, intentions, activities, results, financial position, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future plans, intentions, activities, results, financial position, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others: the ability to consummate the proposed acquisitions; the ability to obtain requisite regulatory approvals and third party consents and the satisfaction of other conditions to the consummation of the proposed acquisitions on the proposed terms and schedule; the potential impact of the announcement or consummation of the proposed acquisitions on relationships, including with regulatory bodies, employees, suppliers, customers and competitors; the diversion of management time on the proposed acquisitions; risks relating to cannabis being illegal under US federal law and risks of federal enforcement actions related to cannabis; negative changes in the political environment or in the regulation of cannabis and the Company’s business; risks relating to lack of banking providers and characterization of the Company’s revenue as proceeds of crime as a result of anti-money laundering laws and regulation; the costs of compliance with and the risk of liability being imposed under the laws the Company operates under including environmental regulations; negative shifts in public opinion and perception of the cannabis industry and cannabis consumption; risks that service providers may suspend or withdraw services; the limited operating history of the Company; reliance on the expertise and judgement of senior management of the Company; increasing competition in the industry; risks related to financing activities, including leverage; risks related to the management of growth; increased costs related to the Company becoming a publicly traded company; risks inherent in an agricultural business; adverse agricultural conditions impacting cannabis yields; risks relating to rising energy costs; risks of product liability and other safety related liability as a result of usage of the Company’s cannabis products; negative future research regarding safety and efficacy of cannabis and cannabis derived products; risk of shortages of or price increases in key inputs, suppliers and skilled labor; a lack of reliable data on the medical and adult-use cannabis industry; loss of intellectual property rights or protections; cybersecurity risks; constraints on marketing products; fraudulent activity by employees, contractors and consultants; tax and insurance related risks; risk of litigation; conflicts of interest; compliance with extensive government regulation; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; as well as those risk factors discussed in the Company’s Annual Information Form filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com on November 2, 2018 and discussed in the Company’s other public filings available on SEDAR. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is provided and made as of the date of this press release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking information other than as required by applicable law.

SOURCE: MedMen Enterprises

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190425005413/en/

Contacts

OFFICER CONTACT: Adam Bierman Chief Executive Officer info@medmen.com (855) 292-8399

MEDIA CONTACT: Briana Chester Director of Public Relations communications@medmen.com (424) 888-4260

INVESTOR RELATIONS CONTACT: Stéphanie Van Hassel VP of Investor Relations investors@medmen.com (323) 705-3025

from Financial Post http://bit.ly/2ZzfMWL via IFTTT Blogger Mortgage Tumblr Mortgage Evernote Mortgage Wordpress Mortgage href="https://www.diigo.com/user/gelsi11">Diigo Mortgage

[rickhorrow]

10 To Watch : Mayors Edition 4819

RICK HORROW’S TOP 10 SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF APRIL 8 : MAYOR’S EDITION 

with Jacob Aere

Hoops fans pack Minneapolis for Final Four, as Texas Tech and Virginia are left standing. A "crush of out-of-town visitors, estimated at 100,000 strong, crammed into the Twin Cities this weekend" for the Final Four. Attendance on Saturday night at U.S. Bank Stadium for Virginia-Auburn and Texas Tech-Michigan State was 72,711, and the "area around the stadium...was crowded” at least until 11:30 pm, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Ahead of Saturday's games, fans “milled around the rain-slicked streets in downtown Minneapolis in high spirits.” Meanwhile, the Jonas Brothers Saturday night at The Armory performed in front of 8,000 “screaming, bouncing, boy-band fans” as part of the March Madness Music Series developed by Turner Live Events in partnership with the NCAA and CBS. On the flip side of high-spirited behavior, after Texas Tech earned its first-ever appearance in the national championship game with its win over MSU last night, local police in Lubbock, Texas had to use tear gas to "break up the crowd" of celebrating Texas Tech students after "multiple acts of vandalism." Let’s hope that saner heads prevail if Texas Tech claims its first national basketball championship come Monday night.

The Masters by the numbers. It’s Masters Week, and as golf fans both avid and casual settle in to watch the year’s first Major, WalletHub has analyzed the tournament from tee to green. The personal finance website’s annual report breaks down everything from ticket and concession prices to the cost of producing each green jacket – $250. Among standout numbers, secondary market badge prices this year average $2,484, ranging from $2,250 on Saturday to $2,619 on Thursday – a 15% increase from 2018 and a direct reflection of Tiger Woods’ resurgence and elevated position in the field. Estimated revenues to Augusta National from 2017 ticket sales are $35+ million, while the event’s overall economic impact on the Augusta area economy is $120 million. Over 250,000 people visit the Augusta area each year for Masters festivities, including 350 journalists from around the world.  Last year’s final round Sunday average viewership was 13 million, up 18% from 2017. And the players themselves will leave Augusta National having shared an $11 million purse, with the winner pocketing a cool $1.98 million this year. My favorite data? 640%. That’s the increase in live telecast hours for the Masters from 1956 (2.5 hours) to 2019 (18.5 hours).  

Turner Sports and Endeavor have partnered to create a new golf-themed entertainment event, “Augusta at Night.” According to Turner Sports, “Augusta at Night” was borne from the success the company had with creating similar events around March Madness and other properties. The new Masters tie-in event, to be held April 12 at SRP Park in North Augusta, has brought on Capital One as its presenting sponsor. It will feature custom golf experiences from sponsors Golfweek and Topgolf, as well as concerts by Hootie & the Blowfish and Sheryl Crow. While they would love to sell out “Augusta at Night” in its inaugural year, Turner and Endeavor realize they need to spend some time building equity in the event and the “Augusta at Night” brand. The partners hope the event will become an annual highlight of Masters Week. While dozens of prominent corporate events happen around The Masters every year, there has not been a large scale, high-profile event that provides an opportunity for multiple companies and the community to be a part of after the golf is over each night. “Augusta at Night” will try to fill that hole.

The Grand Prix of Long Beach revs its engines. The Grand Prix of Long Beach, which began in 1975, is the longest-running street race in North America and one of the longest continually running events in IndyCar racing. The 45th edition of what is now called the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – thanks to the eleventh hour signing of Acura in February after the race lost longtime title sponsor Toyota – takes place April 12-14 with an entire festival of events surrounding the seaside street race. Race weekend comprises 35 commercial sponsors, and a payoff for the city of Long Beach that pumps nearly $34 million into the port city’s economy, according to figures from Beacon Economics. Some of the most significant and enduring events of the long Grand Prix weekend, however, occur away from the track. Young IndyCar driver Zach Veach, who races for Andretti Autosport, is sponsored by Group1001, and finished fourth in Long Beach last year, is looking forward to visiting a local elementary school, where he will talk up an interactive STEM program he is developing in conjunction with education technology leader EVERFI.

In a similar move to its major league counterparts, Minor League Baseball, in conjunction with Brand Activation Maximizer, revealed the launch of the largest retail program in its history. The “Grilling All-Stars” national retail program will encompass five national brands and activated at select retailers in more than 100 MiLB markets and over 13,000 locations across the country. Participating brands include BUSH’S Beans, Scott Bath Tissue, Scott Paper Towels, Ball Park Buns, and The ORIGINAL Louisiana Brand Hot Sauce. The MiLB season got off to a raucous start next week, with the introduction of four new team brands: the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, Las Vegas Aviators, Rocky Mountain Vibes, and the Amarillo Sod Poodles. Grilling All-Stars take note: the Rocky Mountain Vibes’ logo is a hipster version of a yummy S’Mores treat beloved by scouts, campers, and fans of summer everywhere.

Dundon cuts losses, shutters Alliance of American Football. After eight weeks of games and less than one season into the AAF’s existence, league owner Tom Dundon decided to suspend all operations. The league had been struggling from the outset. After the first week of the season, Dundon, owner of the NHL Carolina Hurricanes, pledged a $250 million investment and essentially took control of the fledgling football league. While the league continued to shoot down reports that it needed the money to stay afloat, employees were notified of its closing in a letter from the AAF board last Tuesday. Pro Football Talk and other sources estimated that it would cost at least $8-9 million per week to get the league through the season’s four remaining weeks. Among other signs of its demise, NFL Network viewership steadily declined from over 600,000 viewers in Week 1 to less than 300,000 in Week 7, and in-stadium attendance hit season lows in multiple locations. The AAF’s brief existence could prove beneficial to the XFL. The prospective XFL player pool will increase in size, and sources told the Action Network that the league has interest in acquiring both the AAF’s football and broadcast equipment. 

Endeavor reportedly to purchase On Location Experiences for over $650 million. Ahead of its newest event, “Augusta at Night” in North Augusta, South Carolina, Endeavor is close to a deal to buy On Location Experiences, the high-end hospitality firm partly owned by the NFL, according to multiple sources. The two sides have reportedly agreed on a price north of $650 million, but they still are negotiating some of the deal’s finer points – a process that could take several more weeks. Majority owners Bruin Sports Capital and RedBird Capital, whose combined investment with the NFL helped create On Location four years ago, had been looking for opportunities to sell for several months. The firms will exit with a staggering profit on their initial investment, believed to be in the neighborhood of $70 million. The deal makes good sense for Endeavor, as it will serve as a high end sports extension of their many other hospitality offerings in the entertainment space.

Luna Bar helps close USWNT pay gap. The U.S. women's national soccer team "got a helping hand in its pursuit to close the pay gap with the men's program thanks to a donation of nearly three-quarters of a million dollars" from nutrition brand Luna Bar. Luna Bar made its $718,750 donation to the USWNTPA with the "stipulation that the money would be used to pay each of the 23 members" of the 2019 FIFA World Cup team $31,250 to "make up the difference" with the USMNT, according to ESPNW. The move is seen as an act of support of a gender discrimination lawsuit the USWNT players collectively filed against the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) seeking equal pay and working conditions. The USWNT first made demands for equal pay in 2016. In its latest effort, all 28 members of the squad filed a lawsuit last month with the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Their lawsuit claims that the individual players are paid on average $8,200 less per game than their male counterparts over the course of a 20-game international friendly calendar year.

MLB cuts back its Facebook streaming deal to just six games for 2019. According to SportsPro, the agreement marks a significant drop from last year, which gave Facebook the rights to stream 25 games exclusively on its Watch platform in the U.S. Facebook first teamed up with MLB for the 2017 campaign to show 20 non-exclusive games. The partnership was then renewed ahead of last season in a deal worth a reported $30-35 million. Last year was treated as a success after drawing 123 million views across the 25 games broadcast on Watch during the season. The two parties also said games streamed on the platform reached an average viewership almost 20 years younger than the league’s typical TV audience. One reason that the MLB may be scaling back their Facebook commitments is likely to do with their new deal with Twitter and potential future endeavors in the esports sector.

On April’s new “Power of Sports,” episode, Lindos Suenos and the Celtics’ Rookie Flight Crew Curriculum help make dreams happen. Lindos Suenos strives to bring people of different backgrounds together through the common appeal of baseball and community service. On the back of generous donations from JetBlue and a philanthropist, Lindos Suenos was created in 2004 and sends 10 American teenage boys to the Dominican Republic every summer. Once the Americans arrive in the Dominican Republic, they perform community service and play baseball alongside 10 teammates from the Dominican. According to MLB.com, these 20 teens serve a community in-need each morning, and spend each afternoon playing baseball at the Red Sox Dominican Academy. Similarly, the Boston Celtics’ Rookie Flight Crew challenges a group of middle school students to up their knowledge of aviation.  The four-week STEM program is designed to teach students the science of aeronautics while learning how to build a fully functioning model airplane. This “Power of Sports” episode utilizes baseball and basketball as common ground to inspire students about their futures.

[elizabethcariasa]

Tax scam telephone calls seem fewer so far, but are likely to increase as April 15 nears

The 2019 tax filing season appears, so far, to be thankfully free of tax scams.

Maybe it's because things are going a bit more slowly, either due to the many tax law changes, the lengthy government shutdown that preceded it or a combination of both.

I hate to be a buzzkill, but this early filing season respite is probably the best we can hope for.

Tax realists know that crooks are still out there, planning and/or implanting their schemes to steal taxpayer identities and file fake returns to get fraudulent refunds.

Scams increase as tax deadline nears: That concern is backed up by prior consumer complaint data, which was recently examined by AllAreaCodes.com. The subsequent study by the online area code directory indicates that, if this year follows 2018, the weeks leading up to the mid-April tax deadline will be peak season for robocalling scammers.

The complaints showed that telephone tax scams increase by 20 percent in March and April as compared to January. By the third week in April, the average daily complaints were 10 percent higher than the last week of March and more than five times the January daily average.

Most scammed states, counties: After sifting through 15 million consumer complaints released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the last three years, AllAreaCodes.com also ranked the states that experienced, based on complaints to the FTC, the most tax scams.

Nevada topped the list, with 2,579 complaints per 100,000 residents.

The complete top 10 list of places inundated with tax scam calls is:

Nevada

Colorado

The District of Columbia

Arizona

Oregon

New Jersey

Connecticut

Virginia

Maryland

 Florida

The fewest official complaints came from Mississippi, with just (although even one is too many) 935 complaints per 100,000 people.

The study also ranked counties across the United States as to their targeting by tax scammers. This list doesn't hew exactly to the state results.

Me and my fellow Travis County, Texas, residents eked onto this top 10 list, an "honor" I wish we hadn't received. The complete list of 10 most targeted counties, with the largest city in that jurisdiction noted in parentheses, is:

Fairfax County (Centreville), Virginia 

San Francisco County (San Francisco), California 

Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada 

Wake County (Raleigh), North Carolina  

Multnomah County (Portland), Oregon  

Pinellas County (St. Petersburg), Florida  

Palm Beach County (West Palm Beach), Florida 

Collin County (Plano), Texas  

Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona  

Travis County (Austin), Texas

You can check out where your state and ranks at the AllAreaCodes.com online report, which has interactive maps you can check for specifics on where you live.

Stay alert: While we all can be thankful that tax identity theft crooks are, like the entire 2019 filing season, operating on a slower pace this year, we can't let down our defenses. 

Telephone have evolved over the years. So have the phone scams used by crooks looking to steal your identity and tax refund. Here's how the latest iteration of the pervasive telephone tax scam works: Con artists make unsolicited calls claiming to be IRS officials. They demand that the victim pay a bogus tax bill. They convince the victim to send cash, usually through a wire transfer or a prepaid debit card or gift card. Many schemes also utilize robocalls to leave "urgent" callback requests to fake IRS phone numbers, often spoofed to make them look real. The automated message threatens the targeted scam victim with dire legal consequences if he or she doesn't return the call and follow directions to pay.

Estimates for how 2019 will compare to previous years are mixed, notes the AllAreaCodes report, noting that the shutdown hampered its efforts to incorporate January 2019 FTC data into the study.

Also, although the FTC reported fewer complaints in 2018 than 2017, other sources — specifically telephone service providers — show that nuisance and scam calls this year are increasing.

AllAreaCodes postulates that rather than reporting scam calls to the FTC, consumers are instead using call screening and blocking services provided by their carriers.

Still, expect some of the tax scammers to get through those programs before the filing seasons ends (and they'll keep calling year-round).

That's why this telephone tax scam report — and the Internal Revenue Service and I — encourage everyone to be wary if you get calls related to your taxes. They will be in most cases tax scams.

What to do when a scammer calls: As the IRS has repeatedly said, the tax agency's employees will not call individuals to demand immediate payment for taxes.

Real IRS agents also, in most instances, won't call without first sending taxpayers a notice about a questionable tax filing or refund.

And the IRS definitely won't ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone. Neither will the agency call individuals and threaten them with arrest, deportation or lawsuits.

If you do get a suspected tax scam call, don't engage with the caller. Hang up. Then call the IRS toll-free at 1 (800) 829-1040.

If you do fear you have a legitimate tax concern, an IRS rep at that number can help you determine what steps to take next. Bonus tip: In these cases, you also should find a tax professional to help you resolve your tax issues.

The bottom line is don't facilitate tax ID theft. Be skeptical and careful.

And consider filing your returns as soon as you can to beat tax refund fraudsters to the punch.

You also might find these items of interest:

Online and tax security tips

IRS, FTC expand electronic fight against tax ID theft

ID and tax thieves don't discriminate by age, targeting both youngsters and elderly

Advertisements

  // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]>  

[christophergill8]

Tax scam telephone calls seem fewer so far, but are likely to increase as April 15 nears

The 2019 tax filing season appears, so far, to be thankfully free of tax scams.

Maybe it's because things are going a bit more slowly, either due to the many tax law changes, the lengthy government shutdown that preceded it or a combination of both.

I hate to be a buzzkill, but this early filing season respite is probably the best we can hope for.

Tax realists know that crooks are still out there, planning and/or implanting their schemes to steal taxpayer identities and file fake returns to get fraudulent refunds.

Scams increase as tax deadline nears: That concern is backed up by prior consumer complaint data, which was recently examined by AllAreaCodes.com. The subsequent study by that website indicates that, if this year follows 2018, the weeks leading up to the mid-April tax deadline will be peak season for robocalling scammers.

The complaints showed that telephone tax scams increase by 20 percent in March and April as compared to January. By the third week in April, the average daily complaints were 10 percent higher than the last week of March and more than five times the January daily average.

Most scammed states, counties: After sifting through 15 million consumer complaints released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the last three years, AllAreaCodes.com also ranked the states that experienced, based on complaints to the FTC, the most tax scams.

Nevada topped the list, with 2,579 complaints per 100,000 residents.

The complete top 10 list of places inundated with tax scam calls is:

Nevada

Colorado

The District of Columbia

Arizona

Oregon

New Jersey

Connecticut

Virginia

Maryland

 Florida

The fewest official complaints came from Mississippi, with just (although even one is too many) 935 complaints per 100,000 people.

The study also ranked counties across the United States as to their targeting by tax scammers. This list doesn't hew exactly to the state results.

Me and my fellow Travis County, Texas, residents eked onto this top 10 list, an "honor" I wish we hadn't received. The complete list of 10 most targeted counties, with the largest city in that jurisdiction noted in parentheses, is:

Fairfax County (Centreville), Virginia 

San Francisco County (San Francisco), California 

Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada 

Wake County (Raleigh), North Carolina  

Multnomah County (Portland), Oregon  

Pinellas County (St. Petersburg), Florida  

Palm Beach County (West Palm Beach), Florida 

Collin County (Plano), Texas  

Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona  

Travis County (Austin), Texas

You can check out where your state and ranks at the AllAreaCodes.com online report, which has interactive maps you can check for specifics on where you live.

Stay alert: While we all can be thankful that tax identity theft crooks are, like the entire 2019 filing season, operating on a slower pace this year, we can't let down our defenses. 

Telephone have evolved over the years. So have the phone scams used by crooks looking to steal your identity and tax refund. Here's how the latest iteration of the pervasive telephone tax scam works: Con artists make unsolicited calls claiming to be IRS officials. They demand that the victim pay a bogus tax bill. They convince the victim to send cash, usually through a wire transfer or a prepaid debit card or gift card. Many schemes also utilize robocalls to leave "urgent" callback requests to fake IRS phone numbers, often spoofed to make them look real. The automated message threatens the targeted scam victim with dire legal consequences if he or she doesn't return the call and follow directions to pay.

Estimates for how 2019 will compare to previous years are mixed, notes the AllAreaCodes report, noting that the shutdown hampered its efforts to incorporate January 2019 FTC data into the study.

Also, although the FTC reported fewer complaints in 2018 than 2017, other sources — specifically telephone service providers — show that nuisance and scam calls this year are increasing.

AllAreaCodes postulates that rather than reporting scam calls to the FTC, consumers are instead using call screening and blocking services provided by their carriers.

Still, expect some of the tax scammers to get through those programs before the filing seasons ends (and they'll keep calling year-round).

That's why this telephone tax scam report — and the Internal Revenue Service and I — encourage everyone to be wary if you get calls related to your taxes. They will be in most cases tax scams.

What to do when a scammer calls: As the IRS has repeatedly said, the tax agency's employees will not call individuals to demand immediate payment for taxes.

Real IRS agents also, in most instances, won't call without first sending taxpayers a notice about a questionable tax filing or refund.

And the IRS definitely won't ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone. Neither will the agency call individuals and threaten them with arrest, deportation or lawsuits.

If you do get a suspected tax scam call, don't engage with the caller. Hang up. Then call the IRS toll-free at 1 (800) 829-1040.

If you do fear you have a legitimate tax concern, an IRS rep at that number can help you determine what steps to take next. Bonus tip: In these cases, you also should find a tax professional to help you resolve your tax issues.

The bottom line is don't facilitate tax ID theft. Be skeptical and careful.

And consider filing your returns as soon as you can to beat tax refund fraudsters to the punch.

You also might find these items of interest:

Online and tax security tips

IRS, FTC expand electronic fight against tax ID theft

ID and tax thieves don't discriminate by age, targeting both youngsters and elderly

Advertisements

  // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ // <![CDATA[ (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]> // ]]>  

from Tax News By Christopher https://www.dontmesswithtaxes.com/2019/02/tax-scams-telephone-robocalls-slow-so-far-but-criminal-id-theft-tax-fraud-expected-to-increase.html

[harleydavidsonbikepics]

2016~2018 Custom Harley Davidson Trike Freewheeler for sale ~ 3 wheeler

2016 Harley Davidson Custom Freewheeler Trike for sale in Florida USA Harley of Brandon at 1-888-643-6024. For more information on 2018 Models, rumors, lineup, release date, Price, Colors, Specs and Reviews click on http://www.brandonhd.com/default.asp?page=xNewInventory&gclid=Cj0KEQjwioHIBRCes6nP56Ti1IsBEiQAxxb5G9ENWcDFErvYTYLw5R67OEkQrF0JT5hBAzzoZbJqXXkaAjuT8P8HAQ Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/tampaharleygroup?sub_confirmation=1 See more at any of our other World Famous Locations in Tampa, Brandon, Panama City Beach or Tallahassee FL fatboy We're Located Just North of Clearwater and St. Pete and West of Orlando and Lakeland. We proudly serve guests of Pasco Country from New Port Richey, East Lake, Lake Magdelene, Holiday, Trinity, Keystone, Tarpon Springs, Hudson, Land O Lakes, Cheval, Odessa, Lake Fern, Westchase, Citrus Park, Lutz, Wesley Chapel, Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Oldsmar, Shady Hills, Aripeka, Hernando Beach, Sarasota, Timber Pines, Kissimmee, Spring Hill, Temple Terrace, Tampa, Brooksville, Port Richey, Zephyrhills, Winter Haven, Homosassa, throughout the State of Florida and AROUND THE WORLD! Texas Dallas Ft Worth Austin El Paso Huston San Antonio New Mexico Albuquerque Arizona Phoenix Tucson Nevada Las Vegas Carson City California Los Angeles San Diego Oregon Portland Washington Seattle Tacoma Spokane Utah Salt Lake City Colorado Denver South Dakota Sturgis Alabama Mobile Montgomery Birmingham Boston Baltimore Georgia Atlanta Augusta Illinois Chicago Indiana Indianapolis Kentucky Louisville Tennessee Chattanooga Nashville Memphis Knoxville Louisiana Baton Rouge Detroit Minnesota St Paul Minneapolis Mississippi Jackson Missouri St Louis Kansas City New York North Carolina South Greensboro Charlotte Columbia Durham Myrtle Beach Ohio Cleveland Toledo Akron Dayton Cincinnati Columbus Oklahoma City Pennsylvania Pittsburg Philadelphia Harrisburg West Virginia Washington Arlington Manassas Richmond Wisconsin Milwaukee Madison Green Bay Great Britain London Liverpool Manchester Leeds Rotterdam Amsterdam Bruxelles Rennes Paris Lyon Toulouse Marselle Cannes Barcelona Lisboa Spain France Madrid Sevilla Granada Cordoba Helsinki Stockholm Oslo Stockholm Germany Hamburg Groningen Wilhelmshaven Hannover Munster Dusselforf Koln Frankfurt Berlin Luxembourg Stuttgart Munchen Wien Salzburg Italy Roma Napoli Genova Nice Torino Bologna Palermo Cagliari Budapest Beograd Sofiya Athinai Istanbul Canada Alberta British Columbia Vancouver Saskatoon Calgary Edmonton Winnipeg Toronto Ottawa Sudbury Kingston Montreal Quebec Sherbrooke Saint John Moncton Halifax Dartmouth Regina Victoria Mount Pearl Mexico City Argentina Buenos Aires Chile Santiago Brazil Sao Paulo Rio De Janeiro Florida Jacksonville Ormond Beach Daytona Beach Fort Lauderdale Palm Bay Cocoa Beach Miami Ft Myer Naples Sarasota Bradenton Clearwater Beach St Petersburg Tampa Brandon Plant city Lakeland Largo Tarpon Springs New Port Richey Spring Hill Hudson Brooksville Crystal River Dade City Lake wales Winter Haven Orlando Kissimmee Sanford Leesburg Ocala Gainesville Fort Walton Beach Panama City Beach Destin Manatee River Gator Space Coast Rossiters Seminole jims Barneys v-twin Tampa Brandon Wesley Chapel Lutz Zephyrhills Riverview Apollo San Antonio Seffner Thonosassa Valrico Plant City Florida Fl USA America Odessa Spring Hill Land o Lakes New Port Richey Port Richey Hudson Aripeka Tarpon Springs Holiday Brooksville Florida FL USA America Harley Davidson, motorcycles, motorcycle, Harley, Harleys, Dealer, Dealers, Dealership, H-D, HD, 2015 Harley Davidson, 2016 Harley Davidson Indian Bike, Bikes, Victory, chief scout classic chieftain roadmaster springfield dark horse sixty 2016 2018 2019 115 115th anniversary Video Rating: / 5 Click to Post

[wellpersonsblog]

10 Plant-Based Athletes Absolutely Crushing It (And What You Can Learn From Their Success)

It’s no secret that plant-based athletes are having a moment…

Many of the world’s top and most talked about athletes follow a plant-based diet, such as soccer stars Alex Morgan, co-captain of the US Women’s World Cup winning soccer team, and Lionel Messi, not to mention the countless plant-based athletes making their way onto the tennis courts, racetracks, football fields, and in NBA basketball arenas across the country.

Runners, bodybuilders, weight lifters, and athletes from all stripes seem to be leaning toward plants for optimal athletic performance more than ever before.

Why? Because the benefits are real.

You’ve known that. I’ve known that. And now professional athletes and the entire world are getting to know that at an incredible rate.

And with each new professional’s success story comes additional motivation and drive…

Motivation to get stronger and fitter, and drive to spread the word about what’s possible on a plant-based diet.

So today I’m sharing some of my favorite stories and athletes right now who I hope will give you the same level of motivation they’ve given me.

Athletes who are absolutely crushing it on a plant-based diet, and what you can take away or learn from their success.

#10: Natalie Matthews

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A post shared by Natalie Matthews IFBB PRO (@fitveganchef) on Jan 9, 2020 at 10:54am PST

The Athlete Natalie, a bikini competitor in one of the divisions within the larger bodybuilding and fitness industry, turned pro in 2018 within the IFBB (International Federation of Body Builders) as one of the top bikini competitors in the world. In 2019, she competed across the country, placing as high as 4th in an Olympia-qualifying pro show at the Battle at the Falls in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, just one spot behind three-time world champion, Ashley Kaltwasser. Natalie also placed 7th at the IFBB Indy Pro in Indianapolis, Indiana in her first full season as an IFBB Pro. Her bikini division is the most popular, and therefore most competitive, of any category within the bodybuilding industry. In addition to being one of the world’s top bikini competitors, Natalie is a former professional surfer, and is a professional chef and cookbook author. If 2019 was any indication of what to expect from Natalie in the future, it’s a good bet that 2020 will be even more epic for the Puerto Rican chef turned world renowned fitness model.

Having worked and toured with Natalie, I’ve seen that her recipe for success is her passion combined with her work ethic.

When she sets a goal, she creates a plan, develops habits, and makes deliberate, daily actions that help her achieve her goals.

The Takeaway Look inside and find what your own passion is and create action plans for daily steps that get you closer to your goal.

It could be as simple as writing a goal down that you see every single day, or waking up early to complete your workout before your day gets away from you. With Natalie, it’s all about priorities, and if it matters to her, she’ll find a way. It has served her well as a newcomer to a sport where she is already one of the best on the planet.

For more information about Natalie, and to see how she crushed it in 2019, follow her on Instagram at @fitveganchef or on www.fitveganchef.com.

#9: Torre Washington

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A post shared by Torre Washington IFBB Pro (@torre.washington) on Feb 10, 2020 at 11:02am PST

The Athlete Torre is a champion bodybuilder and physique competitor at the highest level — he has been either a vegetarian or vegan nearly his entire life. He earned his IFBB professional status in 2018, and competed throughout the past year, placing as high as 3rd at the first fully drug-tested IFBB Pro show in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He also finished 4th at the Muscle Contest in Los Angeles, California. Along with his top 5 finishes at the most prestigious level of professional bodybuilding, within the most competitive category of men’s physique, Torre also traveled the world promoting the plant-based athlete lifestyle from Australia to Mexico. He is a sought after personal trainer, eBook author, coach, and international public speaker. Torre is also featured in the film, From The Ground Up, and he has become one of the most influential vegan bodybuilders in the world.

Torre’s success stems from a sincere desire to help others. This is evident to anyone who has followed him online in recent years, and very clear to me, as someone who has known Torre for more than a decade.

Torre is also a true fan of the sport he competes in. He cheers on other competitors, and wants to see everyone become the best versions of themselves. In a sport that is inherently competitive, based on subjective judging, where athletes are quite literally compared to one another on stage, Torre is a fan of the process. He knows that at the end of the day, it’s him vs. him, and he has never lost sight of that. It is that approach that has made him one of the best vegan bodybuilders in the world, and certainly one of the most influential.

The Takeaway Smile often, lift others up, and share your passion with others. Torre always seems happy, and it is likely that positive attitude that keeps him ahead of the competition in a fairly isolated sport of bodybuilding.

For more information about Torre, and to see how he crushed it in 2019, follow him on Instagram at @torre.washington or on www.torrewashington.com.

#8: Mary Schneider

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A post shared by Mary Schneider (@greenbodymary) on Jan 30, 2020 at 7:26am PST

The Athlete Mary is a long distance runner who qualified for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials in the marathon. With a personal best time of 2:42.01 (which is a 6:11 pace for 26.2 miles), she qualified for the USA Olympic Trials in 2019, and eyes the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games. Over the past year, Mary has been a key member of the Prado Racing Team in San Diego, CA, and she became the 2019 San Diego USATF XC Women’s Champion. With a blistering pace for the half marathon at 1:17:38, which is a 5:56 pace, she has been an Overall Female Winner in races from her native San Diego to Virginia Beach, and from Lehigh Valley to Delaware.

As a plant-based athlete since 2017, Mary has seen a significant improvement in her athletic performance, recovery after training, and has set her all-time personal records in distances from 5k to marathon. She works as a holistic nutritionist and is a USATF certified running coach, having coached beginners to those who have qualified for Olympic Trials. If that wasn’t enough, Mary is also a lawyer and a yoga instructor, and leads by example as she follows her passion to make her dreams happen.

What I find especially inspiring about Mary is that she took time away from the sport of competitive running to pursue a law degree and get her career started, but then she returned to running at the highest level and performed at her very best.

The Takeaway A great lesson from her example is that it is never too late to do what you love. I know first hand as a former runner, turned bodybuilder, turned runner again (and eventually turned weightlifter again), that even after a long hiatus, success and joy can be found in a sport you love. So if there is a sport that tugs at your heart, but that you haven’t pursued in quite some time, today could be the perfect day to do something again for the first time.

For more information about Mary, and to see how she crushed it in 2019, follow her on Instagram at @greenbodymary or on www.greenbodyrunner.com.

#7: Liz Cambage

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The Athlete Liz is a professional basketball player in the WNBA, as an all-star center for the Las Vegas Aces. Following her exceptional 2018 season, where she set a WNBA scoring record with 53 points scored in a single game, she returned to the WNBA all-star game in 2019 and led her team to the post season playoffs. In addition to being a three-time WNBA all-star, Liz was also named to the 2019 All-WNBA Second Team, and she finished the season ranked 10th in the league in scoring, 7th in rebounding, and 6th in blocked shots.

Liz not only had another breakout basketball season, but she also had a breakout year as an international star when she graced the cover of ESPN Magazine’s Body Issue, in which famous athletes pose nude or semi-nude, showing their professional athlete bodies in tasteful ways. Liz is a part of a growing group of WNBA and NBA players who have adopted a plant-based diet. Other notable plant-based basketball stars include Kyrie Irving, Chris Paul, JaVale McGee, DeAndre Jordan, and Diana Taurasi.

Excelling in sports hasn’t always come easy for Liz. In fact, she has spoken openly about her struggles with mental health. She penned an open letter to the Players Tribune where she shared her own struggles, but also with some uplifting words for readers, including, in a description of her letter, “I just want everyone to remember that we are all human, we all have our ups and downs and we should never be ashamed of our feelings. And please remember to be kind to one another, for you never know what others are going through.”

The Takeaway There are many lessons here, including the simple fact that we all have feelings, no matter how famous we are, and fame, success, and money don’t make underlying issues go away. Liz encourages us to address our feelings, embrace them, and talk about them, before they take control over us.

For more information about Liz, and to see how she crushed it in 2019, follow her on Instagram at @ecambage or on Twitter.

#6: Morgan Mitchell

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A post shared by Morgan Mitchell (@morganmitch) on Dec 10, 2019 at 7:50pm PST

The Athlete Olympic sprinter Morgan Mitchell is a star in the blockbuster film, The Game Changers, and she had an incredible 2019 season on the track. Between distances of 200 and 1600 meters, she racked up three 1st place finishes, and a whopping 13 top 3 finishes. She also won multiple relay races and had four top 3 finishes in the 4 x 400 meter team relay. In addition to her native Australia, Morgan competed around the world, taking her talents to China, Italy, Great Britain, France, Qatar, Japan, and the United States. With the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics around the corner, keep an eye out for Morgan to crush it in 2020 too.

As Morgan addresses in The Game Changers, she is looking for an edge as an elite athlete, and she discovered that edge through diet. Many of us talk about results we want to achieve someday, as simple as a New Year’s Resolution, or as lofty as qualifying for the Boston Marathon, but there is a fundamental difference between wishing and doing. Morgan knows that today’s workout impacts tomorrow, and that hundreds of days in the future, the Olympic Games take place. Having a goal, setting a target, and working every day to reach a destination that is far off in the distance is the mentality of an Olympic athlete.

The Takeaway Whether you have aspirations of being one of the best in the world at what you love, or you simply want to have more energy and a better mood, take a page out of Morgan’s playbook and focus on the future by making the most of today.

For more information about Morgan, and to see how she crushed it in 2019, follow her on Instagram at @morganmitch or on teammathewsrunning.com.au.

#5: Hin Chun Chui

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A post shared by Hin Chun Chui (@vegan_bodybuilder_hin_chui) on Jan 4, 2020 at 8:16am PST

The Athlete Hin Chun Chui is a vegan bodybuilder, and is quickly emerging as one of the most successful and dominant competitive bodybuilders in the industry. In 2019, Hin took 6 first place trophies, following a year of taking home gold 6 times in 2018. Competing around the world, promoting the vegan bodybuilding lifestyle, Hin has become an international star. Winning the IFBB Denmark Pro Nordic World Show in multiple divisions, as well as the IFBB Canada Ben Weider Natural Championship in physique and in bodybuilding, and the IFBB Asia Pro Qualifier Taiwan in two divisions at the end of December, capped off an outstanding year for Hin taking on the world stage. With twelve first place finishes, including multiple world championships over the past two years, while just in his early twenties, Hin has an incredibly bright future in the sport of bodybuilding and beyond.

Something I’ve learned from Hin after watching him compete in person, and from meeting him, as well as following his career for years, is that he doesn’t let anything get in his way. He literally trains six or seven days a week, allowing his body to adapt to a high workload, just like a marathon runner is able to sustain a training routine of six or seven days a week of running as a result of adaptation, and he has conditioned himself to manage a high volume of exercise to achieve his goals. He believes he can be one of the best in the world, and he enthusiastically pursues that mission because of his love for the vegan lifestyle and his desire to spread awareness of veganism as a result of his athletic success as a vegan bodybuilder.

The Takeaway Despite his incredible success, Hin is also humble and gracious and knows that to be great at anything takes a team effort, and is quick to thank his training partners, coaches, sponsors, and fans who cheer him on along the way. That’s a lesson that all of us can get behind. Be grateful, but stay hungry.

For more information about Hin, and to see how he crushed it in 2019, follow him on Instagram at @vegan_bodybuilder_hin_chui or on cleanmachineonline.com.

#4: Robbie Balenger

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A post shared by Robbie Balenger (@robbiebalenger) on Feb 7, 2020 at 6:08am PST

The Athlete Robbie is an ultra endurance athlete, best known for his 3,175-mile run across the United States over the course of 75 days from March to May of 2019. That’s a minimum of running 40 miles per day for 75 consecutive days, with an average of 42.3 miles covered daily, with no days off, which is unimaginable for most people. Not only did he run from Los Angeles to New York in two and a half months, he did it largely to raise awareness of the power of a plant-based diet. Robbie’s transcontinental run was sponsored by the Texas-based vegan ice cream company, Nada Moo, and his effort raised awareness of the dairy-free lifestyle at large. Robbie appeared on the Rich Roll Podcast at the end of 2019, reaching a vast audience, sharing his unique journey across the country.

I followed Robbie’s journey across the country, and regrettably never joined him for a few miles when he ran through my current home state of Arizona. Robbie’s accomplishment reminds me of the late Steve Prefontaine who was America’s greatest running legend in the ‘70s known for testing the limits of the human heart.

The Takeaway Robbie had the audacity to believe he could run substantially further than a marathon every single day for 75 consecutive days, and so he did. If he can believe in himself enough to make that dream happen, imagine what potential lies in each one of us. What dreams do you feel like chasing? What goals do you want to conquer?

For more information about Robbie, and to see how he crushed it in 2019, follow him on Instagram at @robbiebalenger or on plantpoweredmission.com.

#3. Lewis Hamilton

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A post shared by Lewis Hamilton (@lewishamilton) on Dec 1, 2019 at 10:07am PST

The Athlete Lewis is a Formula One race car driver, considered to be one of the greatest of all-time. He is a six-time Formula One World Champion driving a Mercedes on race tracks around the world. In 2019, he seemed to be winning races around every turn. Lewis took the first place crown a record 11 times, including in four consecutive races, and six out of seven consecutive starts. He brought home the title from racetracks in Bahrain, China, Spain, Monaco, Canada, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Russia, Mexico, and Abu Dhabi. Lewis uses his platform, including his Instagram audience of more than 14 million followers, to promote a plant-based diet. As an executive producer of The Game Changers, Lewis made a big splash in 2019 among a plant-based community largely previously unaware of his accomplishments on the racetrack.

He speaks out for animals and the environment, and crosses over into various other ventures beyond the racetrack, including fashion. In 2019, Lewis set an all-time record in Formula One racing with 413 points and 17 podiums, with his sights set on a bright racing season in 2020.

The Takeaway I’ve never met Lewis, but have followed him online for many months, after I heard about his involvement with The Game Changers. Something that strikes me as particularly inspiring about Lewis is that he seems to be more authentic than many other celebrity athletes. He really appears to have a quiet confidence about him that is a strength that sets the tone for the success he achieves in sports, in business, and in life. He comes across as truly himself, whether you like it or not, and there is something highly admirable about that as viewer and fan watching from afar.

If there is one thing we can learn from Lewis, it’s that there is power in being your authentic self. If he can have a positive influence on millions of others to communicate that idea, he will have done a great service to humanity.

For more information about Lewis, and to see how he crushed it in 2019, follow him on Instagram at @lewishamilton or on lewishamilton.com.

#2. Novak Djokovic

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A post shared by Novak Djokovic (@djokernole) on Feb 2, 2020 at 5:47am PST

The Athlete Novak is the number one ranked men’s tennis player in the world. In 2019, he won five tournaments, including the Australian Open, Madrid Open, Japan Open, Paris Masters, and the prestigious Wimbledon title in epic fashion over Roger Federer in one of the greatest championship matches in history. With a 57-11 singles record, and more than $13 million in tournament earnings in 2019, we can safely say that Novak crushed it last year. Like Lewis Hamilton, Novak is also an executive producer of The Game Changers and has used his platform to encourage others to adopt a plant-based diet. The sport of tennis is no stranger to plant-based athletes. Venus and Serena Williams have dominated the sport for decades, and for the past ten years they have followed a mostly or exclusively plant-based diet. Martina Navratilova is considered to be one of the greatest female tennis players of all-time and is a long-time vegetarian.

As the year and the decade came to a close, Novak was named the ATP’s Men’s Tennis Player of the Decade. But not to be complacent, he kicked off 2020 with a bang by winning the Australian Open for a record eighth time and is on pace to become the greatest men’s tennis player of all time.

The Takeaway What I like about Novak is that it seems like every time I see him talking on camera, he is discussing a plant-based diet. The plant-based athlete movement is still new enough that there is a lot of ridicule out there toward those of us who live and eat this way. But Novak is living it boldly, and that will hopefully inspire other athletes, from world-class to weekend warriors, to feel comfortable saying “I am a plant-based athlete.” Maybe that inspires you to be unapologetically plant-based too.

For more information about Novak, and to see how he crushed it in 2019, follow him on Instagram at @djokernole or on novakdjokovic.com.

#1. Alex Morgan

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A post shared by Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) on Sep 16, 2019 at 3:02pm PDT

The Athlete Alex is the co-captain of the US Women’s World Cup Champion soccer team, and she uplifted an entire nation with her performance in the 2019 Women’s World Cup. As arguably the most popular athlete of the year, with her summer spent in the global spotlight, this plant-based athlete World Cup champ is my 2019 Plant-Based Athlete of the Year. Alex not only let her skill on the soccer field do the talking, but she graced magazine covers, appeared on television shows, and won awards all year as the quintessential champion of champions. Alex provided inspiration to an entire gender, and entire nation, and to the world at large on the biggest stage in the world’s most popular sport.

Fueled by plants, Alex has established herself as one of the greatest of all-time in her sport and will remain a sports icon for years to come. It comes at no surprise that Alex made the TIME 100 Most Influential People list for 2019. Like Torre, Alex was also featured in the plant-based athlete documentary, From The Ground Up. With her long list of accolades and awards, perhaps her most exciting news of 2019 was announced in October when she and her husband shared the news that they are expecting a baby girl in April.

The Takeaway The thing that inspires me about Alex is that she was already on the world stage as a famous athlete and she didn’t let that deter her from changing her diet to eat exclusively plants. Often times, the world’s greatest athletes have been discouraged from changing their approaches to nutrition or training with a fear from coaches, teammates, nutritionists, team sponsors, and team owners that their performance will be negatively impacted.

Alex shows us that it is okay to trust your gut and eat in alignment with your beliefs. And she did it while walking right into the global spotlight as the brightest star of 2019 of any athlete in any sport.

For more information about Alex, and to see how she crushed it in 2019, follow her on Instagram at @alexmorgan13 or on alexmorgansoccer.com.

And This is Just the Beginning…

More and more athletes are switching to a plant-based diet and excelling because of it.

And as that growth continues, so does our motivation to show the world what’s possible eating only plants.

Which plant-based athletes are your biggest inspirations?

About the Author: Robert Cheeke, best-selling author of Plant-Based Muscle, Shred It!, and Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness, 2-time champion bodybuilder, and founder/president of Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness – www.veganbodybuilding.com.

The post 10 Plant-Based Athletes Absolutely Crushing It (And What You Can Learn From Their Success) appeared first on No Meat Athlete.

First found here: 10 Plant-Based Athletes Absolutely Crushing It (And What You Can Learn From Their Success)

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#NEVERAGAIN

There was a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas on Saturday. An angry young man drove across the state of Texas to a Wal-Mart located next to a shopping mall, walked in with a semiautomatic rifle and started to shoot people aisle by aisle. It was the weekend before school started, so the place was packed. When he was done and he fled the scene, TWENTY people lay dead; two more would die at the hospital.

It has been twenty years since the Columbine High School Tragedy. And it seems like every day since, there are news reports of some (usually) angry man taking some type of firearm, walking into a public place and opening fire on innocent people. 

I never thought it would be El Paso. My hometown was too small, too homogeneous, too Hispanic, to ever fall victim to an outrageous act such as this.

And of course, it was, because this young man, unsure about himself and his place in the world, and therefore filled with rage that people, and we know who those people are and may their maker have mercy on their souls when the time comes for stoking the aimless ire in others and focusing it on the poor and innocent; this young man filled with rage that people turned on to foreigners came from outside the community, my community. My community didn’t create him, my community suffered at his hands.

And that’s the point. You may say to yourself that you live in a nice place, filled with nice people and nothing bad will ever happen there.

I used to think that, too.

No matter if you go to a gym (Pittsburgh, August 4, 2009), to the airport (Los Angeles, November 1, 2013), to church (Charleston, July 17, 2015), to the hair salon (Seal Beach, October 12, 2011), to an outdoor concert (Las Vegas, October 1, 2017), to Wal-Mart (El Paso, August 3, 2019), to the movies (Aurora, July 20, 2012), to a nightclub (Orlando, June 12, 2016), to work (Manchester, August 3, 2010), to school (Virginia Tech, April 16, 2007; Parkland, February 14, 2018; Sandy Hook Elementary, December 14, 2012), even walking down the street (Santa Barbara, May 23, 2014); you’re not safe. This is the greatest country in the world, and you, your loved ones, your kids, never have a moment of security.

Oh look, one each year, going back 11 years.

So, we can’t build walls around each and every community. And everyone from age 16 to 60 gets angry from time to time; trying to eliminate anger is like trying to turn lead into gold...without a knowledge of advanced nuclear chemistry. So what can we do to protect wall-less communities from angry men with guns?

Think about it, I’ll wait.

Yes! Remove the guns from the equation, that’s it!

I know, I know; there’s a Second Amendment in the U.S. Constitution that says that Americans have the right to own firearms. I don’t want to mess with that. Besides, there are people that need single-action rifles, and the Supreme Court said that people can have handguns for protection. But the Supreme Court has also said that the Second Amendment does not extend to every kind of weapon. They have also ruled that the Second Amendment is not unlimited.

And limits are definitely needed. How about a national background check database that can flag someone from purchasing a firearm if they’ve ever been convicted of a violent offense anywhere in the country? How about a ban on the sale and import on automatic and semiautomatic weapons? How about compelling the states to require firearm owners to be licensed and pay a registration fee for owning a handgun, because we do it for automobiles? And then Congress can appropriate more funds to the ATF to enforce these and existing laws, like at gunshows.

Look, you might be one of those types that says, “If we infringe on gun rights, what are the next rights to be infringed upon.” Or, you could just be one of those “Live, and let live” types.

But that’s not an option any more. If this hasn’t happened to your community, you should fear for your community, because I do. I never thought it would happen in my community and now I realize that any community is at threat.

And you know what?

I don’t want it to happen to any community ever again!

I actually wanted El Paso to be the last, but there was another angry man in Dayton that would not be denied his Second Amendment right to a mass shooting.

I want you to know that I will be taking an active role in making sure that August 3rd, 2019 will be the last day we fear an angry man with an overabundance of bullets, but I want you to do your part, as well. After all, we have the power. A million people in Puerto Rico forced the corrupt governor and his cronies to resign, just by protesting. Think of what we can do if we demand of our lawmakers that we want to live our lives free of this kind of fear.

So go to local meetings your lawmakers have and ask them what they are doing to take these weapons of war out of ordinary people’s hands. Ask them if they take money from the NRA, and care about guns and reelection more than they do the lives of their own constituents. Demand that they work across partisan lines to advance gun control legislation, even above the veto of a president who offers only hollow words and can’t even be bothered to remember the name of a city that has just suffered a tragedy.

What kind of a civilized society are we when we allow our daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives; to be snatched away from us all because a man was able to purchase a weapon made for an army, for a battlefield? This has to end now!