text:
Demonizing Defense Lawyers: The True Road to Tyranny
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15579/demonizing-defense-lawyers
I said that if a president did something entirely legal, with a mixed motive that included his desire to be re-elected, that mixed motive could not turn a legal act into an impeachable offense. I also said that a good motive could not turn a criminal act into a lawful one.
Those lawyers were demonized as I am being today. I have a thick skin, developed over many years of defending controversial and unpopular clients and causes. But I am concerned that young lawyers will be deterred from representing such clients and causes for fear it will destroy their careers. I am hearing that from young lawyers and students.
Demonizing defense lawyers for representing politically incorrect clients and causes is the true road to tyranny.
Pictured: Alan Dershowitz speaks in the United States Senate during impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, on January 27, 2020. (Photo by Senate Television via Getty Images)
I grew up in the age of McCarthyism, when lawyers who represented suspected communists were blamed for the alleged sins of their clients. I never expected to see a return to that benighted time, especially by self-proclaimed progressives. But it's back.
I appeared on the Senate floor as constitutional counsel against impeachment, not as a regular, full time counsel for US President Donald J. Trump. As I said in my opening remarks: I come not as a partisan but to " defend the constitution" from partisan misuse. I laid out the constitutional arguments in an academic manner.
Instead of simply disagreeing with my scholarship or offering alternative interpretations of the operative constitutional terms, I was personally demonized, my motives questioned, and my integrity impugned. Even my qualifications as an expert in constitutional law were challenged, despite my having taught courses and seminars, written numerous books and articles and litigated large numbers of cases involving the constitution for more than half a century. None of this would have happened if I had appeared in the same capacity but in favor of Trump's impeachment (or against the impeachment of a Democratic President).
This hypocrisy of this double-standard — by political leaders, media pundits, academics and ordinary folks — is shameful, but done not only without shame but with self-righteousness. It was similar during the McCarthy era of my youth. Now as then, the "cause" — anti-Trumpism today, and anti-communism back then — were seen as so righteous that any means, no matter how unfair, is justified in achieving the end. Outright wilful lying is justified by anti-Trump zealots in the interest of getting rid of Trump.
Consider the way Democratic leaders and the anti-Trump media deliberate distorted what I said in response to a question about quid pro quo. I said that if a president did something entirely legal, with a mixed motive that included his desire to be re-elected, that mixed motive could not turn a legal act into an impeachable offense. I also said that a good motive could not turn a criminal act into a lawful one. These self-evident statements were turned into the lie that I had claimed a president could do anything — even kill his opponent or tamper with voting machines — as long as these felonies were motivated, supposedly in the public interest, by a desire to be re-elected. A CNN talking head, Joe Lockhart, said that what I advocated was comparable to the genocides committed by Hitler and Stalin.
These liars knew full well that what they were saying was demonstrably false but they also knew that if you repeat a lie often enough — on television or on the Senate floor — it will be believed, especially by those who want to believe it. And this lie has been repeated — by the anti-Trump media and Democratic leaders— so often that it is now taken as an incontrovertible truth by many. As a result, I have been demonized by many on the left who refuse to understand why a liberal Democrat would defend the constitutional rights of a controversial Republican president. This is the mirror image of the McCarthyism of my youth, when many on the right could not understand why anti-communist centrist lawyers would defend the rights of communists.
Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School and author of the book, Guilt by Accusation: The Challenge of Proving Innocence in the Age of #MeToo, Skyhorse Publishing, November 2019. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
Follow Alan M. Dershowitz on Twitter and Facebook
Recent Articles by Alan M. Dershowitz
The Important Line between Civil and Criminal Is Being Breached, 2023-01-24
Is There a Legal Remedy for George Santos' Lies?, 2023-01-13
Democracy in Israel, 2022-12-22
Democracy at Work: Supporting Israel Regardless of its Government, 2022-12-09
Was San Francisco Election Official Not Rehired Because He Wasn't 'Diverse' Enough?, 2022-11-28
Bill McGonigle • Feb 14, 2020 at 09:13
Agreed, and the wild-eyed wannabe tyrants know it too. Every move is to gain and consolidate power, America be damned.
steve p • Feb 14, 2020 at 08:27
Our legal system is built on the concept of letting 100 of the guilty go free before one innocent goes to jail. Change the laws if you don't like it. I was disturbed at OJ Simpson and Casey Anthony, others were disturbed at Zimmerman.
Defense lawyers aren't to blame.
Max Dublin • Feb 13, 2020 at 22:40
Prof. Dershowitz, there is an old Jewish saying, with which I am sure you are acquainted, "You can't dance at two weddings with the same bottom." You are a classical liberal as am I, you've been one all your life as have I, and I understand it is very difficult to shed that identity. But here's the thing, leftists have not respect for classical liberals even though they sometimes use the liberal moniker. In fact they hate us and call us conservatives, Nazis, Fascists and worse. So maybe it's time to stop calling yourself a Democrat and a Liberal and face it that in the present climate you are actually a small c conservative because you are, as much as any other prominent figure, trying to conserve all of the righteous principals which through evolution through the ages have made Western Civilization so wonderful, so liberating to live in. What's the point of claiming you are a Democrat if they all reject you vehemently. Why on earth mention that you voted for Hilary because by now that will only incite her supporters as well as her opponents to hate you. Give it up. You may not be a Republican but you are definitely a conservative. Shalom.
Bruce Wales Max Dublin • Feb 14, 2020 at 13:53
Letting one's accusers change one's chosen political label is akin to letting illiterates re-write dictionaries.
Bruce Wales - Libertarian
Robert Ross • Feb 13, 2020 at 16:56
Thank you with all my heart, Alan Dershowitz, for your efforts over many decades protecting the Constitution of this great nation.
But a question I never see asked is what would happen if the duly elected president were indeed removed from office through some imputation or other?
Pence, much less a fighter than Trump, would shortly be swept away like a spec of dust on a table top.
The United States of American would then have bestowed upon it the un-elected presidency of Nancy Pelosi.
I'll ask again, what would happen then?
John Clark • Feb 13, 2020 at 16:20
Thank you. Well said.
Chris R Cathcart • Feb 13, 2020 at 14:24
I'd really like to see some rebuttals to Dershowitz's example of Lincoln releasing Union soldiers from battle to vote for his party.
Greg Kells • Feb 13, 2020 at 13:45
For every dishonest pundit who smears your good name there are a thousand American voters who owe you their gratitude. It must be frustrating having your words twisted and turned back on you, but keep in mind that these are illiberal, censorious and dishonest people, and the vast majority of Americans know it. We arent nearly as dumb as they think, and they arent nearly as influential.
Gregg Butler • Feb 13, 2020 at 13:15
I'm Canadian, not American, but like many Canadians and other people around the world, we watched was happened during the impeachment trials and what this administration has gone through in the last 3 years. Everyone around the world in free nations are encountering this new neo-fascist PC Woke progressive marxist whatever you want to call it...movement. That movement is working hard to not just impede on rights and freedom, but to truly nullify segments of the population based on genetics and identity politics. And they do it with righteousness and religious fury.
I was very impressed Mr Dershowitz on your consciousness determination to stay the course on defending the US Constitution and being a voice of rationality when there seems so few who are. You did your country proud.
However, I can't help but think that so much of this comes from our education systems over the last 25 years or more and that means we ALL paid for this mess through our tax dollars. I hate labeling, but it is true that there are few campuses in North America that is not run by PC Woke progressive...whatever you call it... group think of individuals and it is scary. They refuse to acknowledge differences in opinion, or even recognition of facts that do not fit their narrative. It is scary and we are not out of the woods by far. A rational resolution to the impeachment trial was just a short pause in the next wave of attacks. Whether it's Trump, or Peterson, a school kid wearing a red hat or a lawyer defending the constitution, they are continuing to attack. The ultimate breakdown of logic, reason and history seems to be the goal, but to what end? No one knows.
We live is very scary times where truth is fake, logic is criminal, up is down, right is wrong and wrong is left... very left.
Please, everyone, stand your ground and do not give in.
David Cunniff • Feb 13, 2020 at 12:47
Professor Dershowitz; the Nation was well served by your representation of the President during the Impeachment saga.
Extremely well done.
Bob Paget • Feb 13, 2020 at 11:48
One who speaks truth tells what is right, But a false witness deceit. Proverbs 12:17
The naive believes everything, but the sensible one considers their steps. Proverbs 14:15
Lawrence Duffield • Feb 13, 2020 at 11:48
Demonizing defense lawyers is ONE true road to tyranny. Today's Left appears to be sending minions down EVERY road to tyranny. And it takes only one road that gets there.
Alx • Feb 13, 2020 at 09:49
Democrats just replaced communists with Russians and major media not only did not notice but jumped on the bandwagon.
I am glad someone is pointing out this new incarnation of McCarthyism
Totalitarians are not defined by left or right. Like parasites, they will attach to any host available. Currently, totalitarian tendencies has attached itself to the left.
Adler Pfingsten • Feb 13, 2020 at 09:15
Professor Dershowitz,
You more than any other should know words matter and as such it is time to delineate between a classic liberal of the Jefferson school, which you belong to, and Marxians who also misappropriated the term "progressive"; Marxians are regressive in the extreme when Sir Henry Sumner Maine's measure from his classic 'Ancient Law' is applied; contract versus status society; a nation of laws not men versus the tribes of the false religion Marxianity.
Bull Herman • Feb 12, 2020 at 23:43
Mr Dershowitz,
I respect you as a person, attorney, Jew, and fellow citizen. I look up to people like you. Thank you so much for your bravery in stepping forward and protecting our Constitution.
The Democratic Party should not be regarded nor spoken of in this light. They aren't democratic. They are Democrats. A huge difference between Democrat as in political party and being democratic. The latter of course reflects values that our country is founded upon.
I hope after this you will agree that our educational system has been hijacked and corrupted. The present generations going back decades are products of this demonic process. Think of the east coast teacher having her students sing praises about President Obama. The name reflects the downward direction he took our country. President Carter looks like a conservative genius compared to President Obama.
He even bragged, "give me 8 yrs and I'll get the job done..." He was photographed reading a book called "Post-Defeat America." Nobody knows much about him because he came out of nowhere---and without any qualifications for managing anything. I could go on for an hour here. And our media did nothing other than fawning over their darling. Kinda draws comparisons to Kobe Bryant's death reactions.
Thank God our checks and balances worked---again. But we cannot count on that.
What happened here is a coup attempt. The contempt shown for our Constitution and our voters shouldn't be ignored. The FBI and intelligence corps require a thorough scrub and flush.
I must contemplate whether something similar was in existence when JFK was assassinated. Don't get me started on the "magic bullet" or IF Oswald acted alone. I'll wear out the keyboard.
Like then like now. Our government treated us as idiots and the media watchers reported nothing.
What, I must ask, could and would happen once the Second Amendment is neutered? The First is already gagged.
Your example is a siren warning regarding our future.
Already we have elected more crazies. The "Squad," and Liberal/Progressives. And then there's the Communists. These are radicalized and violent versions of the above. These have taken over the Democrat Party. These mandate gun confiscation, and new civil standards based on Marxism. Just look up Agenda 21 and the UN plan to govern the world by 2030. Looks to me the direction new Democrats want to march us toward. None of them have a clue. They are blinded by their terrible and powerful ambitions.
As said, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
It's just a matter of time before we face another crisis.
And these people criticize President Putin?
DrZ Bull Herman • Feb 13, 2020 at 11:44
Most of these Democrats are the best that government-union schools can produce. The rest are products of private schools used by wealthy parents.
I don't think that civics and respect for the ideas of others are part of the curriculum.
Selma Soss • Feb 12, 2020 at 12:30
I have such respect and admiration for Alan Dershowitz. His concern for young lawyers who will have difficulty standing up for the truth. Worse, being blamed by an opposition that lies and knows it. Alan Dershowitz has given us a strong warning. This kind of behavior in my view, is a threat to our country.
Michael Bond • Feb 12, 2020 at 12:20
Well said. The Democrats attack the President, Senate, Courts, electoral college, defense attorneys and what they call the deplorable rubes who will vote in November. Good luck with that.
af • Feb 12, 2020 at 11:05
Hopefully, the professor now fully realizes who the new fascists are.
C. Ronald McCafferty • Feb 12, 2020 at 09:35
Mr. Dershowitz, I applauded your efforts to defend the US Constitution and believe that you did an admirable job in the defense of Trump during his recent impeachment trial. I too abhor what the liberal pundits have done in taking your defense presentation and twisting it for their purpose. although I am not a lawyer, or as studied as you are on our US Constitution, I am intelligent enough to have comprehended what you presented and was duly impressed by the research that you had conducted before your presentation. My only regret here is that I've never had you as a professor in a law class. Although I am a business conservative, I have voted for the most competent person for an elective office, meaning that I have voted for Democrats and Republicans and Independents as well. Thank you for what you accomplished for our US Constitution and for the office of the US President. I applaud you!!
Gary Oxenforth • Feb 12, 2020 at 08:44
It seems to be the same in Canada. Political Correctness is the rule of the day for the left leaning media (CBC, CTV, Global)Any comments by conservative thinkers is demonized. Only comments by Liberals are championed - a sure road to Socialism.
Susan Hershberg Adelman • Feb 12, 2020 at 08:06
Well stated, and reminiscent of the great Indian lawyer about whom I wrote a biography: The Rebel: A biography of Ram Jethmalani. He made this point throughout his life and you remind me of him. I think you would enjoy the book.
Nemo • Feb 12, 2020 at 08:04
All part and parcel of the ridiculous hysteria surrounding a phone call!
William J Downey • Feb 12, 2020 at 07:28
I also grew up in the age of McCarthyism, or at least its end. Professor, you are a progressive and did a fine job in the impeachment hearing. Especially explaining the Constitutional issues.
However, it is not the liberal or progressive that has attacked you. Rather, it is the oh so far left or Socialists and their abettors in the media. Those who wish to first subvert the Constitution and when in power shred it. Josef Goebbels said that if you repeat a lie often enough people will believe it. That is exactly how the Socialist agenda in politics and the media work.
You also have a point regarding the fear of being pilloried in the public square will result in fewer lawyers defending unpopular defendants or causes, particularly if they are politically incorrect. Denial of justice is a hallmark of authoritarians, not progressives, this I believe is the road that our political elites are leading us down.
michael edwards • Feb 12, 2020 at 05:03
It's comforting for those of us across the pond who look on at events in the US primaries with some bemusement to read some sound, basic, legal common sense. The Democrats and woke generation are happy to throw principles out of the window in their scramble for power but ironically, the harder they try the more distant their goal becomes.
Tony Porcaro michael edwards • Feb 17, 2020 at 16:41
Rather than be bemused you should be ashamed for much of what has transpired in recent years in the UK; talk about throwing principles out the window you have done that and much more in the name of political correctness; a country that cannot protect its own children doesn't deserve to be called a country anymore!
Vivienne • Feb 12, 2020 at 04:21
I understand why the Democrats want to remove President Trump from office, but destroying the rule of law is not the right way.
They need to come up with better strategies for convincing voters, not tear up the Constitution.
Howard Dewhirst • Feb 12, 2020 at 04:11
Remember Dreyfus - And Better Dead than Red? Intolerance is not party political but personal. Would you put out to sea with them? Never.
Clive Delmonte • Feb 12, 2020 at 03:28
It is a joy to see Prof. Dershowitz's intellect on full display and to read his work.
Theodore Crawford Clive Delmonte • Feb 12, 2020 at 13:08
Prof. Dershowitz is an intellectual who is not afraid to use common sense.
Graham Richards • Feb 12, 2020 at 02:55
My respect for this man grew when I realised early on in the "impeachment farce".
That respect however could not be as great as the faith & respect shown by the Republican administration in trusting Dershowitz, an avowed Democrat!
I can only imagine the contempt Dershowitz holds for those attempting to "convict" the President on totally invented allegations.
Jim Campbell Graham Richards • Feb 12, 2020 at 17:41
Nancy Pelosi must be driven from office. Take back the house and she is gone.


text:
3 Case Studies paper's (1 page each)
Karen is a 30-year-old single woman. She was referred to a psychiatrist after six visits to her primary care physician complaining of headaches, body aches, sharp pains above her left ear, and a ringing in both ears. She was convinced she had a brain tumor, but a CAT scan revealed no physiological cause. During the interview, Karen mentions that she doesn't like being in a hospital "because being in a hospital puts you at risk for so many other diseases." When pressed, she mentions swine flu, avian flu, and AIDS. Karen does not use illegal substances or alcohol. She carries hand sanitizer and discreetly spritzes it on her hands about every ten minutes or so. Part way through the interview, Karen put on sunglasses "to block the fluorescent rays" from the overhead lamps.
Family History: Father died three years ago of cancer. Mother is still alive. Grandmother committed suicide at 31 when mother was eight. Grandfather is still alive, with history of alcoholism.
Perla is a 50-year-old woman in a same sex partnership. She arrived with a stack of pages from the Internet that "proved" that she has adult-onset ADHD. She mentions that she has long periods of activity, including not sleeping for days. She says she "self-medicates" with marijuana, energy drinks like Red Bull, and sleeping pills. During the interview, it is hard to keep up with Perla. She bounces around the room and from topic to topic. When the interviewer asks her to fill out a questionnaire, she asks for a stapler. She then proceeds to simply staple her ADHD pages to the form. The interviewer asks Perla to complete the survey on the form, Perla becomes irate: "I already did your damn work for you. I told you I have ADHD!"
Family History: Unknown. Perla was adopted from Venezuela as a baby.
Jordan is a 22-year-old man who received medical discharge from the army after a 2- year tour in Iraq. The initial discharge was for depression, but Jordan's family has begun to believe that it may be more complicated. Jordan has been discovered wandering at night "following the way the flags are showing me to go" or following a possibly imaginary woman with a scarred neck. During the interview, Jordan seems lucid, but lethargic. He drums his fingers slowly on each thigh, as if playing a slow piano scale. His answers are all one or two words, such as "fine" or "I guess." When asked about the woman with the scarred neck, he becomes slightly more animated.
Jordan: She's a beautiful woman, isn't she? Interviewer: I don't know, Jordan. I've never seen her. Jordan: Right, because you don't have the ring. Interviewer: What ring? Jordan: [mumbles] Interviewer: Can you tell me about the ring? Jordan: I said the ring is the fuse. Interviewer: The fuse to what, Jordan? Jordan: Without the fuse… well, you know what happens. It's a fuse. Interviewer: I don't, Jordan. What happens? Jordan: Fuses light up you know. And then, they blow up. That's all.
Family History: Mother and father are still alive, but divorced. Mother is remarried. Mother has history of diabetes. Father's leg was amputated during first Gulf War. History of emotional abuse by father.
For each case, include the following:
An analysis of the situation and possible causes for the subject's behavior
A preliminary diagnosis of the subject's disorder using the symptoms he or she displays
The set of therapies you suggest for helping the subject deal with his or her symptoms
September 21, 2021 /by Peter
https://topgradetermpapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Plogo.png 0 0 Peter https://topgradetermpapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Plogo.png Peter2021-09-21 21:47:282021-09-21 21:47:283 Case Studies paper's (1 page each)
Problem/Solution Paper Assignment Melting Pot or Salad Bowl

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Review: At MoMA, Dances by Steve Paxton, an Original Too Rarely Seen
By Team PetronioDecember 20, 2018News
Photographs by Vincent Tullo for The New York Times
Originally posted Dec. 10, 2018 by Alastair Macaulay for the New York Times.
For more than 50 years, some spark of divine fire has kept touching the dancer-choreographer Steve Paxton. In the 1960s, he performed with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and Judson Dance Theater. He created roles in epoch-making dances in both; his collaborations with the artist Robert Rauschenberg were among the bold experiments of the decade.
In the 1970s, when Mr. Paxton was a founder of the improvisational group Grand Union, he developed contact improvisation, which became an international genre. Mr. Paxton's contact improv showed the drama that could emerge from the ways one person's weight could be taken by others in continually changing negotiations. In the 1980s, he began solo improvisations to Glenn Gould's recording of Bach's "Goldberg" Variations, moving to classical music in often unorthodox ways, and with disarming freshness.
In 2010, he danced the world premiere of his solo "The Beast" in a program shared with the still-phenomenal Mikhail Baryshnikov. Mr. Paxton's uncompromising and unpretty toughness, his stark objectivity about showing basic qualities and facts of movement in new lights, were fully as momentous as — and more haunting than — anything Mr. Baryshnikov showed that evening.
Yet Mr. Paxton has spent much of his career far from the madding crowd; a great many dancegoers have never seen his work. We're fortunate that the choreographer Stephen Petronio, who was his student in the early 1980s, has, with several first-rate dancers, reconstructed a 45-minute program of Paxton choreography from the years 1964-92 for the Museum of Modern Art's exhibition "Judson Dance Theater: The Work Is Never Done." Mr. Paxton is one of his field's great originals; Mr. Petronio and his dancers do him honor in this program.
These dances evolve like studies in suspense. Non sequiturs and unforeseen twists abound. They cleanse the palate, inventively taking us into the detail both of basic movement and of aspects of non-virtuoso dance technique. In view of Mr. Paxton's reputation for intensity and seriousness, it's surprising to find how often they're playful and witty.
On Sunday, I was struck by a single gamboling jump taken by Ernesto Breton, throwing one forearm in the air, then the other, while skipping from foot to foot. And by the way two men in a duet propped each other up while both leaning off-balance in straight lines — like the mainstays of a steep roof — then, while keeping this position, started to turn and turn. And by how Bria Bacon, lying on her back, sternly propelled herself along the floor by using her heels as hooks that pulled the rest of her body toward them.
These images come from "Jag Vill Gärna Telefonera (I Would Like to Make a Telephone Call)," a 1964 dance that Mr. Paxton originally performed with Rauschenberg and which Mr. Paxton taught to Mr. Petronio, who has made this new arrangement of it. I love its spirit as much as its facts; and the objective clarity with which these dancers perform it is exciting.
Just as riveting are the two suites of dances from the Paxton "Goldberg Variations." Variations 16-24 are performed by Megan Wright and by Nicholas Sciscione. The effects made by these two dancers are interestingly unalike. They both begin by walking around the space to music, while rubbing white make up, like a mask, onto their faces: a perfect touch of theatrical alienation.
Mr. Sciscione, shirtless, makes a knockout impression in the solo in which he seems to be dancing almost entirely with the muscles in his back. This is actually a full-bodied dance involving head, legs and arms, but what's startling is how much detail Mr. Sciscione (who danced this work in a 2017 program at the Joyce Theater) brings into play between shoulders and hips, all metrically responding to the keyboard. Ms. Wright, wearing a white undershirt, can't show us the same interplay of musculature, yet we're soon aware how much texture her torso is bringing to this number, how juicily it ripples and tilts.
Other variations here are danced with higher energy: Bach's music is answered by jumps, gestures, turns and other motion. The style is informal and sometimes fascinatingly awkward, as if a musical impulse in one part of the body directed other parts of the body to move helplessly. The head often has a life of its own, bending up and down and side to side in circles. These movements come in long rhythmic skeins that meet Bach's music with strangely satisfying phraseology.
Read the full article with all photos here.
A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 11, 2018 , on Page C6 of the New York edition with the headline: A Great Original, Too Rarely Seen.


It can be really a hard task to pick the best wine for yourself or something like a dinner party, there can be a variety of bottles lining up on the shelves and you might just find it easy to pick the same brand over and over, although variety is always the key when hosting, to save you from this struggle, this article has listed some five best wines in the world that you can choose from.
This is one of the world's best wines, it is basically from Italy, and it is dry and easy to drink, many people around the world refer to it by different names, some call it pinot gris and others call it Rulander. Their styles vary, this is because their styles depending on the areas that the two wines are grown (pinot grigio and pinot gris).
summer desserts for parties made with this wine.
Pinot noir has a soft feeling and is very fruity, hence pleases many people, especially those who love red wine, they have different flavors which depend on the place that it was made from.
When the grape skins that are red are left to be in contact with wine then rose wines are formed. This wine has gained great popularity due to its ability to perfectly match with almost everything. They have a variety of flavors which include the strawberry flavor, citrus, and lemon.
Grown in every region that grows wine, it has several flavors as well, when taking red meat; it is the best wine to take.
www.chateau-la-martellerie.com, Proudly powered by WordPress.


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		$request->Customer->Phone = (string)substr($order_info['telephone'], 0, 32);

		$request->ShippingAddress = new stdClass();
		$request->ShippingAddress->FirstName = (string)substr($order_info['shipping_firstname'], 0, 50);
		$request->ShippingAddress->LastName = (string)substr($order_info['shipping_lastname'], 0, 50);
		$request->ShippingAddress->Street1 = (string)substr($order_info['shipping_address_1'], 0, 50);
		$request->ShippingAddress->Street2 = (string)substr($order_info['shipping_address_2'], 0, 50);
		$request->ShippingAddress->City = (string)substr($order_info['shipping_city'], 0, 50);
		$request->ShippingAddress->State = (string)substr($order_info['shipping_zone'], 0, 50);
		$request->ShippingAddress->PostalCode = (string)substr($order_info['shipping_postcode'], 0, 30);
		$request->ShippingAddress->Country = strtolower($order_info['shipping_iso_code_2']);
		$request->ShippingAddress->Email = $order_info['email'];
		$request->ShippingAddress->Phone = (string)substr($order_info['telephone'], 0, 32);
		$request->ShippingAddress->ShippingMethod = "Unknown";

		$invoice_desc = '';
		foreach ($this->cart->getProducts() as $product) {
			$item_price = $this->currency->format($product['price'], $order_info['currency_code'], false, false);
			$item_total = $this->currency->format($product['total'], $order_info['currency_code'], false, false);
			$item = new stdClass();
			$item->SKU = (string)substr($product['product_id'], 0, 12);
			$item->Description = (string)substr($product['name'], 0, 26);
			$item->Quantity = strval($product['quantity']);
			$item->UnitCost = strval($item_price * 100);
			$item->Total = strval($item_total * 100);
			$request->Items[] = $item;
			$invoice_desc .= $product['name'] . ', ';
		}
		$invoice_desc = (string)substr($invoice_desc, 0, -2);
		if (strlen($invoice_desc) > 64) {
			$invoice_desc = (string)substr($invoice_desc, 0, 61) . '...';
		}

		$shipping = $this->currency->format($order_info['total'] - $this->cart->getSubTotal(), $order_info['currency_code'], false, false);

		if ($shipping > 0) {
			$item = new stdClass();
			$item->SKU = '';
			$item->Description = (string)substr($this->language->get('text_shipping'), 0, 26);
			$item->Quantity = 1;
			$item->UnitCost = $shipping * 100;
			$item->Total = $shipping * 100;
			$request->Items[] = $item;
		}

		$opt1 = new stdClass();
		$opt1->Value = $order_info['order_id'];
		$request->Options = array($opt1);

		$request->Payment = new stdClass();
		$request->Payment->TotalAmount = number_format($amount, 2, '.', '') * 100;
		$request->Payment->InvoiceNumber = $this->session->data['order_id'];
		$request->Payment->InvoiceDescription = $invoice_desc;
		$request->Payment->InvoiceReference = (string)substr($this->config->get('config_name'), 0, 40) . ' - #' . $order_info['order_id'];
		$request->Payment->CurrencyCode = $order_info['currency_code'];

		$request->RedirectUrl = $this->url->link('extension/payment/eway/callback', '', true);
		if ($this->config->get('eway_transaction_method') == 'auth') {
			$request->Method = 'Authorise';
		} else {
			$request->Method = 'ProcessPayment';
		}
		$request->TransactionType = 'Purchase';
		$request->DeviceID = 'opencart-' . VERSION . ' eway-trans-2.1.2';
		$request->CustomerIP = $this->request->server['REMOTE_ADDR'];

		$this->load->model('extension/payment/eway');
		$template = 'eway';
		if ($this->config->get('eway_paymode') == 'iframe') {
			$request->CancelUrl = 'http://www.example.org';
			$request->CustomerReadOnly = true;
			$result = $this->model_extension_payment_eway->getSharedAccessCode($request);

			$template = 'eway_iframe';
		} else {
			$result = $this->model_extension_payment_eway->getAccessCode($request);
		}

		// Check if any error returns
		if (isset($result->Errors)) {
			$error_array = explode(",", $result->Errors);
			$lbl_error = "";
			foreach ($error_array as $error) {
				$error = $this->language->get('text_card_message_' . $error);
				$lbl_error .= $error . "<br />\n";
			}
			$this->log->write('eWAY Payment error: ' . $lbl_error);
		}

		if (isset($lbl_error)) {
			$data['error'] = $lbl_error;
		} else {
			if ($this->config->get('eway_paymode') == 'iframe') {
				$data['callback'] = $this->url->link('extension/payment/eway/callback', 'AccessCode=' . $result->AccessCode, true);
				$data['SharedPaymentUrl'] = $result->SharedPaymentUrl;
			}
			$data['action'] = $result->FormActionURL;
			$data['AccessCode'] = $result->AccessCode;
		}

		return $this->load->view('extension/payment/' . $template, $data);
	}

	public function callback() {
		$this->load->language('extension/payment/eway');

		if (isset($this->request->get['AccessCode']) || isset($this->request->get['amp;AccessCode'])) {

			$this->load->model('extension/payment/eway');

			if (isset($this->request->get['amp;AccessCode'])) {
				$access_code = $this->request->get['amp;AccessCode'];
			} else {
				$access_code = $this->request->get['AccessCode'];
			}

			$result = $this->model_extension_payment_eway->getAccessCodeResult($access_code);

			$is_error = false;

			// Check if any error returns
			if (isset($result->Errors)) {
				$error_array = explode(",", $result->Errors);
				$is_error = true;
				$lbl_error = '';
				foreach ($error_array as $error) {
					$error = $this->language->get('text_card_message_' . $error);
					$lbl_error .= $error . ", ";
				}
				$this->log->write('eWAY error: ' . $lbl_error);
			}
			if (!$is_error) {
				$fraud = false;
				if (!$result->TransactionStatus) {
					$error_array = explode(", ", $result->ResponseMessage);
					$is_error = true;
					$lbl_error = '';
					$log_error = '';
					foreach ($error_array as $error) {
						// Don't show fraud issues to customers
						if (stripos($error, 'F') === false) {
							$lbl_error .= $this->language->get('text_card_message_' . $error);
						} else {
							$fraud = true;
						}
						$log_error .= $this->language->get('text_card_message_' . $error) . ", ";
					}
					$log_error = substr($log_error, 0, -2);
					$this->log->write('eWAY payment failed: ' . $log_error);
				}
			}

			$this->load->model('checkout/order');

			if ($is_error) {
				if ($fraud) {
					$this->response->redirect($this->url->link('checkout/failure', '', true));
				} else {
					$this->session->data['error'] = $this->language->get('text_transaction_failed');
					$this->response->redirect($this->url->link('checkout/checkout', '', true));
				}
			} else {
				$order_id = $result->Options[0]->Value;

				$order_info = $this->model_checkout_order->getOrder($order_id);

				$this->load->model('extension/payment/eway');
				$eway_order_data = array(
					'order_id' => $order_id,
					'transaction_id' => $result->TransactionID,
					'amount' => $result->TotalAmount / 100,
					'currency_code' => $order_info['currency_code'],
					'debug_data' => json_encode($result)
				);

				$error_array = explode(", ", $result->ResponseMessage);
				$log_error = '';
				foreach ($error_array as $error) {
					if (stripos($error, 'F') !== false) {
						$fraud = true;
						$log_error .= $this->language->get('text_card_message_' . $error) . ", ";
					}
				}
				$log_error = substr($log_error, 0, -2);

				$eway_order_id = $this->model_extension_payment_eway->addOrder($eway_order_data);
				$this->model_extension_payment_eway->addTransaction($eway_order_id, $this->config->get('eway_transaction_method'), $result->TransactionID, $order_info);

				if ($fraud) {
					$message = 'Suspected fraud order: ' . $log_error . "\n";
				} else {
					$message = "eWAY Payment accepted\n";
				}
				$message .= 'Transaction ID: ' . $result->TransactionID . "\n";
				$message .= 'Authorisation Code: ' . $result->AuthorisationCode . "\n";
				$message .= 'Card Response Code: ' . $result->ResponseCode . "\n";

				if ($fraud) {
					$this->model_checkout_order->addOrderHistory($order_id, $this->config->get('eway_order_status_fraud_id'), $message);
				} elseif ($this->config->get('eway_transaction_method') == 'payment') {
					$this->model_checkout_order->addOrderHistory($order_id, $this->config->get('eway_order_status_id'), $message);
				} else {
					$this->model_checkout_order->addOrderHistory($order_id, $this->config->get('eway_order_status_auth_id'), $message);
				}

				if (!empty($result->Customer->TokenCustomerID) && $this->customer->isLogged() && !$this->model_checkout_order->checkToken($result->Customer->TokenCustomerID)) {
					$card_data = array();
					$card_data['customer_id'] = $this->customer->getId();
					$card_data['Token'] = $result->Customer->TokenCustomerID;
					$card_data['Last4Digits'] = substr(str_replace(' ', '', $result->Customer->CardDetails->Number), -4, 4);
					$card_data['ExpiryDate'] = $result->Customer->CardDetails->ExpiryMonth . '/' . $result->Customer->CardDetails->ExpiryYear;
					$card_data['CardType'] = '';
					$this->model_extension_payment_eway->addFullCard($this->session->data['order_id'], $card_data);
				}

				$this->response->redirect($this->url->link('checkout/success', '', true));
			}
		}
	}

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


President Trump is mobilizing the vast powers of the military and other parts of the federal government to help bolster Republican election efforts, using the office of the presidency in an attempt to dictate the campaigns' closing themes and stoke the fears and anxieties of his supporters ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections.
Trump in recent days has made aggressive moves aimed at pushing policies that could boost Republicans next week — deploying thousands of troops to the U.S.-Mexico border in the largest such operation since the Mexican Revolution, floating the idea ending birthright citizenship and warning he intends to halt the caravan of Central American migrants.
The president has also moved to lower Medicare drug prices and suggested the idea of a 10 percent tax cut for the middle class, sending administration and congressional officials scrambling to assemble a new tax policy.
The cumulative acts reflect the extent to which Trump has transformed parts of the federal bureaucracy into a factory of threats, directives and actions — an outgrowth of a campaign strategy which the president and his political advisers settled on as their best chance to hold the Republican congressional majorities.
"This is the most focused and concerted effort to use all of the powers of the presidency to shape a midterm election that I have ever seen," said William A. Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Governance Studies Program and a former domestic policy adviser in the Clinton White House.
"President Trump is pushing every button on the console and he is mobilizing all of the power, including the communications power, of the federal government on behalf of his party's campaign in this midterm," Galston added.
The Center for Responsive Politics projects that more than $5.2 billion will be spent this election cycle, making it the most expensive midterm election ever by a wide margin.
With less than two weeks before election day, $4.7 billion has already been spent by candidates, political parties and other groups such as PACs, super PACs and nonprofits. Prior to this election cycle, no midterm election had surpassed more than $4.2 billion in spending when adjusted for inflation.
The overall estimated cost of the 2018 election would represent a 35 percent increase over the 2014 cycle in nominal dollars, the largest increase in at least two decades.
Democratic House hopefuls have raised more than $951 million, crushing their Republican opponents' $637 million haul. Things are closer in the Senate — $513 million to $361 million — but Democrats are still ahead.
In every kind of competitive race — even those in red districts — Democrats are either outraising Republicans or keeping pace.
Our cold civil w.ar grows hotter by the day. Between now and the election next week, there seems to be no apparent letup of violence in sight. We witnessed the Squirrel Hill massacre, one day after the arrest of accused mail bomber Cesar Sayec, and after two African Americans were shot and killed in Kentucky. The latest tragedy is a deadly school shooting in North Carolina, where the gunman and the deceased were students.
At the same time, Donald Trump appears intent on continuing to shred the social fabric that ties our nation together. Welcome again to the new era where the president as unifier in chief is looking passe. Faced with the dual prospect of Republicans losing the House and expanding their control of the Senate, the president would not skip a beat, falsely claiming that the stock market barely took time off after 9/11, so why should he?
As of Sunday afternoon, general election federal independent expenditures in California's House races had ticked up another $6.5 million since Wednesday evening to just over $74 million.
The Republicans' Congressional Leadership Fund accounted for $3.2 million of the additional spending, with two $1 million+ buys in Steve Knight's CA25 and Ed Royce's open CA39 seat, along with another $885,000 in Jeff Denham's CA10 and $290,000 in Mimi Walters' CA45.
New Republican PAC, which has spent over $20 million in the Florida Senate race on ads opposing Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson, made its first foray into congressional races around ten days ago with a $370,000 buy in CA45. It followed that up just prior to the weekend with another $600,000 ad buy opposing Democratic challenger Katie Porter.
Mike Bloomberg's Independence USA PAC joined the pile-on in CA49, with an additional $500,000 TV ad buy supporting Democrat Mike Levin, bringing the outside spending in the race to just over $4 million, with none of it to the benefit of Republican Diane Harkey.
The Democrats' House Majority PAC made a surprise late buy in CA21 this weekend, committing a modest $257,000 to television ads opposing incumbent Republican David Valadao. The buy marks a reversal from several weeks ago, when the DCCC pulled its ad reservations from the Fresno market as they appeared to write off Democrat TJ Cox's chances of unseating Valadao. The CA21 buy accounted for the bulk of the $511,000 spent by the House Majority PAC in California House races since the previous update.
Republican Women for Progress, a committee funded largely by LinkedIn co-Founder Reid Hoffman, Wicklow Capital's Daniel Tierney, but evidently no Republican women, spent $266,000 on ads supporting Democratic candidates in CA48, CA25, and CA50.
In Defying the Odds, we discuss Trump's character. During the campaign, he openly encouraged violence by supporters.
For the final two weeks of the election, Democratic campaigns and outside groups are on track to substantially outspend Republicans, strategists on both sides say. Democrats are set to spend $143 million on television advertising in House races, compared with $86 million for Republicans, according to one analysis by a Democratic strategist tracking media buys.
Democratic super PACs and other outside groups are poised to outspend their Republican counterparts by a wide margin, erasing an advantage Republicans planned on having.
Much of the Democrats' unanticipated firepower comes from one source: Michael R. Bloomberg, the liberal former New York City mayor who may run for president, plans to spend about $20 million on House advertising through his super PAC, Independence USA, in the final week of the campaign, a Bloomberg adviser said.
"It's the suburban seats and it's the flow of money," Representative Tom Cole, a longtime Oklahoma Republican and former House campaign chairman, said of the party's two overriding concerns.
Bloomberg's Independence USA PAC has run ads all over the country.
The report identified the most liberal constituency as "progressive activists," a constituency that is expected to make up a quarter of Democratic voters this year, according to Stephen Hawkins, research director at More In Common.
These voters stand apart with "the highest levels of education and socioeconomic status" of all the groups studied. They are "highly sensitive to issues of fairness and equity in society, particularly with regards to race, gender and other minority group identities." In addition, a third of progressive activists view political correctness as having gone too far, compared with 80 percent of the population as a whole.
There are a number of other areas where progressive activists differ from the average American, according to the More in Common study. Progressive activists are "more than twice as likely to say that they never pray (50 percent to 19 percent), "almost three times more likely to be 'ashamed to be an American' " (69-24), eleven percentage points more likely to be white (80-69), and "twice as likely to have completed college (59-29).
Using American National Election Studies data, Goldberg found that among white liberal women, the share identifying themselves as "feminist" rose from 45 percent in 1992 to 83 percent in 2016. For white liberal men, the percentage saying they were feminists grew from 34 to 59 percent.
Democratic Challengers and Candidates in Competitive Elections: Filing to run is only the first step of a long process. To run a strong campaign, you have to raise enough money to get your message across to voters. In 2018, the raw enthusiasm of Democratic candidates for running has been backed by the enthusiasm of their donors. Figure 2 displays fundraising through September 30 for House Democratic and Republican challengers in general elections since 2004.
In contests for the 42 open seats currently held by Republicans, Democrats have outraised the Republicans by an average of $2.2 million to $1.4 million. This is the only year since we began calculating in 2004 in which out-party candidates had a major financial advantage in open seat races. The only other time an out-party had even a slight advantage was in the GOP landslide year of 2010, when Republicans running for Democratic-held open seats outraised the Democrats by $1.2 million to $1.1 million.
Approval: the losses are more severe when the president is unpopular. And despite a recent uptick, Trump remains unpopular.
SCENARIO THREE -- GREAT DEMOCRATIC NIGHT: DEMS PICK UP 40+ HOUSE SEATS, NET 3+ SENATE SEATS.
With a broad background of midterm history, congressional arithmetic, and the current political climate established, we can now turn to the more systematic estimates of how these factors are likely to come together in this year's midterm. What follows are four independent congressional forecasts and one state legislative forecast that inform us about what we should expect to come out of this election. Table 1 presents a summary of these congressional forecasts. Although there are differences among them, two points are common. 2018 is likely to be a very good year for the Democrats in the House of Representatives. In fact, all four forecasts expect a Democratic House majority. In the Senate, Republicans are likely to hold their own and perhaps pick up a seat or two. So, on to the forecasts.
At FiveThirtyEight, Nate Silver says that the recent uptick in Trump's approval ratings probably won't change things.
Furthermore, the president's party tends to do worse in the House popular vote than the president does in his approval rating. On average in midterms since 1946, the president has had a +11.3 percentage point net approval rating as of Election Day, but the president's party has lost the popular vote for the House by 4.9 percentage points. That gap is partly explained by voters' tendency to seek a balance of political power even if they like the president — something that may be especially relevant this year because, when voters voted Republican for Congress in 2016, most of them expected Hillary Clinton to be president. Republican candidates for the House won voters who disliked both Clinton and Trump by 30 percentage points in 2016. If, hypothetically, Democrats won that group of voters by 30 percentage points instead this year, they'd win the popular vote by around 10 percentage points, not far from where most generic ballot polls have the race.
Independent expenditures (IEs) reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for general election House and Senate contests have continued on a record pace, totaling $695 million through October 21st. This is $103 million more than on the same date in 2016, based on a Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) analysis of data supplied by the FEC. Detailed data on all races with independent expenditures, and on the organizations making the IEs, are available and updated daily on CFI's website via these links: House | Senate |Spenders.
Eight of the top ten spenders in the general election are party committees (DCCC, NRCC, NRSC, DSCC) or organizations, mostly Super PACs, tied to the congressional leadership. These organizations were responsible for a combined $409 million, or 59% of all general election IEs through October 21. Breaking them down, the leadership-related entities have been responsible for $265 million and the formal party committees $144 million. This is the first time the leadership-related committees have been quite so important. In 2014 the leadership-related groups spent about half as much as the formal party committees. By 2016 they had pulled almost even. This year, the leadership-related entities so far have come close to doubling the formal party committees.
With respect to the partisan breakdown: All IE spending has been virtually even in the amount spent to support Democrats and Republicans. Republican candidates currently hold a slight edge at 51% to 49%.
A large number of House races are considered to be competitive this year and IE spending decisions are backing that up. In 2016 there were forty House races that had $1 million or more in independent expenditures through the entire general election. With two weeks still remaining before the 2018 election, there are already sixty-two districts with over $1 million in outside money.
The competitive landscape in the House is heavily weighted towards Republican incumbents defending their seats. The top ten House races by IE spending, each exceeding $9 million, all represent such districts. On the Senate side, the situation is mostly reversed with Democrats defending seats in seven of the top ten races.
House GOP leaders, fearful of the staggering amount of cash fueling Democratic candidates this cycle, are leaning on safe and retiring members to pony up to save the House.
At the outset of a private call with members last week, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) implored lawmakers to donate to the National Republican Congressional Committee or vulnerable colleagues. And NRCC Chairman Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) has been working the phones in one-on-one conversations to persuade members to give.
The drive, according to four senior Republican lawmakers and aides, is focused on members with easy reelection campaigns or who are retiring from Congress next year — people sitting on piles of cash that could be used to save vulnerable incumbents. Leaders are targeting some powerful outgoing chairmen, typically the most prolific fundraisers, who haven't met their annual required "dues" to the NRCC, according to multiple sources.
Issue One, a political reform organization, has a report on party dues here.
1. Money that is raised, usually by "dialing for dollars," by a member on behalf of the party, which goes directly into the party's war chest but is credited to the member.
2. Money that is transferred from a member's campaign committee or leadership PAC to the party.
3. Money that is transferred from a member's campaign committee or leadership PAC to fellow members and/or candidates in tough races.
It was a rare bright spot for Republicans in a fund-raising picture otherwise dominated by Democrats on the strength of their breakneck small-donor fund-raising by candidates in key congressional races.
By contrast, Republicans owe their cash-on-hand advantage to brisk major-donor fund-raising, and a slower pace of spending, by their party committees and super PACs.
Republican super PACs aligned with leadership in the House and Senate raised an enormous sum of $63 million in September, as the groups stepped up their fundraising and spending efforts in the final two months before Election Day to boost GOP candidates' chances in the midterm elections.
About 70 percent of the money raised in September by the two super PACs working to elect Republicans to Congress came from the party's biggest benefactors in the midterms, records show: Sheldon and Miriam Adelson. The latest donation brings their total contributions to the midterms to at least $112 million — cementing their status as the biggest donors this election.
The two Republican super PACs — Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), aligned with Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), and Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), aligned with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) — have been flooding the airwaves since September with a torrent of hard-hitting attack ads to boost Republicans and improve their chances of maintaining control of Congress.
But whereas campaigns get discounted TV ads rates, super PACs have to pay the full amount, which reduces the amount of airtime they can buy.


A Miami-area pharmacy owner pleaded guilty today for his role in the submission of more than $1.8 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.
Evelio Fernandez Penaranda, 47, of Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Chris M. McAliley of the Southern District of Florida to one count of health care fraud. Sentencing has been scheduled for Oct. 8, 2015.
Penaranda owned Naranja Pharmacy Inc. In connection with his guilty plea, Penaranda admitted that, between May 2013 and March 2014, Naranja Pharmacy submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare for prescription drugs that were not prescribed by physicians, not medically necessary and not provided to Medicare beneficiaries. According to admissions made in connection with Penaranda's guilty plea, Naranja Pharmacy submitted these false claims by obtaining and using the unique identifying information of Medicare beneficiaries and doctors without their consent.
Penaranda admitted that he controlled Naranja Pharmacy's bank accounts, and that he transferred the payments received from Medicare to himself and his accomplices. According to admissions made in connection with Penaranda's plea, during the course of the scheme, Naranja Pharmacy submitted to Medicare over $1.8 million in false claims for prescription drugs, and Medicare paid 100 percent of the claims.
The case is being investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of Florida. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Nicholas E. Surmacz of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section.


David Cameron's announcement that the Government would legislate to force energy companies to put customers on their lowest tariffs sounded good for a couple of hours. But it quickly unravelled, with even consumer groups arguing that it was unworkable and would destroy what little competition there is in the energy market, forcing prices up not down. It neatly symbolised the current disarray in the Government's energy policy, which is fast approaching crisis point. As it prepares to publish its long-awaited Energy Bill, the choice at stake could not be more critical: whether Britain moves towards a low carbon energy system which contributes to tackling climate change, or a continuing fossil-fuel-based one which locks in high greenhouse gas emissions for the next forty years.
The Bill will set out a new system for regulation of Britain's energy market. The task is to incentivise the private energy sector to install the £100bn-plus of investment needed to keep the lights on, replacing ageing power stations and upgrading transmission grids, while keeping energy prices competitive.
Given the different needs of different technologies – principally renewables, nuclear and gas – this was never going to be easy. But in the last few months a huge fissure has opened up in the Coalition which has left the Bill drafting process in complete confusion. In a leaked letter in July, George Osborne told the Energy Secretary Ed Davey that support for renewables should be capped, and Britain should meet its energy needs instead through a major expansion of gas-fired power.
Davey might have resisted. Instead, he acceded to the Chancellor's demand and last month announced a new 'dash for gas', with twenty new gas-fired power stations to be built over the next twenty years. Since ministers cannot decide how many gas power stations get built (the energy companies do that), the announcement could only have been a signal that indeed the incentives for renewables would be cut.
The result has been uproar. With the UK's low carbon energy goals apparently to be cast aside, the energy companies, their investors, and the green technology businesses which supply them have been left facing huge uncertainty about their own futures. Last week it was revealed that seven of the largest firms had written to the Government threatening to abandon their multi-billion pound investment plans in the UK – with thousands of jobs at stake – if policy certainty was not quickly restored. At the same time over fifty of Britain's largest companies publicly urged the Government to commit itself to a low carbon energy policy. The Government's own Committee on Climate Change took the unusual step of warning the Government publicly that a new dash for gas risked breaching the UK's legally-binding carbon targets.
The choice between gas and renewables is not absolute. Gas is a flexible fuel which can supply the back-up needed when wind and solar are not flowing. With carbon capture and storage (CCS), it can even become low carbon. If coal-fired plants were phased out more quickly – the best way of cutting emissions – there is certainly room for more gas. But Osborne and his supporters on the right of the Conservative Party, backed by the Daily Mail and Telegraph, explicitly reject both back-up capacity and CCS, and oppose regulation of coal emissions. Citing the huge increase in shale gas which has transformed the American energy market in recent years, they want gas to become the centrepiece of Britain's energy future. They have been supported by a major lobbying effort among the fossil fuel companies, led by Shell.
But the argument made is false. In the US it is true that shale gas has slashed energy prices, forcing the closure of many coal-fired power stations and thereby reducing US emissions. But as Chatham House and others have pointed out, the UK and Europe do not have accessible shale gas in anything like the same volume, it will be some years before it can be commercially exploited (even if environmental objections to the 'fracking' process are overcome), and it is unlikely to be cheap. On the contrary, as two separate analyses published this week have shown (1), there is a major risk that future gas prices will be much higher than they are now. It was striking that the CBI's John Cridland immediately repudiated Davey's announcement, warning that excessive reliance on gas would leave the UK exposed to dangerous global price and supply fluctuations.
The Conservative right complain of the cost to consumers of green policies. But the Climate Change Committee has shown that such policies have contributed only a sixth of the price rises consumers have experienced over the last decade. Almost all the rest has come from the rising cost of gas. It is precisely this which has caused the energy giants to increase their prices again this week.
As the Government's own analysis shows, there are no cheap energy futures, whatever technologies are chosen. The huge advantage of renewables is that, once built, the fuel is free, and home-grown. The answer to rising prices is therefore not to abandon the low carbon agenda, but to reinforce it through higher energy efficiency. Yet just when this is needed, the Government's other flagship energy policy is also in a mess. The 'Green Deal' programme will allow householders to pay for efficiency measures out of future bill savings. But by insisting on an entirely private-sector-driven scheme, without backing from its own Green Investment Bank, the Government has ensured that the interest rate faced by consumers will be prohibitive, and on current design take-up is expected to be feeble.
So will the Energy Bill confirm that George Osborne and the Tory Right have won and Britain is now dashing for gas? The whisper in Whitehall is that a compromise may be reached, in which Davey gets a 'decarbonisation' target for 2030, while Osborne imposes a cap on renewable subsidies. But this would not be a compromise at all. For investors, an aspirational target almost two decades hence is worth little – you can't bank money on it. What matters is the regime in place for investment now, and if the subsidies are capped, that will inevitably mean (with nuclear protected) that renewables are displaced by gas.
This is a real test both for the Liberal Democrats and for David Cameron, whose famous promise that the Coalition would be 'the greenest government ever' is starkly on the line. Interestingly, the Opposition can play the crucial role. Even if Osborne gets his way when the Bill is published, the natural coalition here is between Labour and the Lib Dems, in support of low carbon. So Labour should announce that it is ready to work with the Government to improve the Bill. Cross-party consensus is vital on an issue where investors need to know that the policy regime will not change if the Government does. They should then co-operate with the Lib Dems and the remaining green Tories in Parliament to ensure the Bill is amended to support renewables and energy efficiency and constrain the dash for gas. In the battle for Britain's low carbon future, events are about to get interesting.


text:
[/.] New Search Engine Takes "Dyve" Into the Dark Web
THT_newsbot November 13, 2008, 4:01am #1
New Search Engine Takes "Dyve" Into the Dark Web
CWmike writes "DeepDyve has launched its free search engine that can be used to access databases, scholarly journals, unstructured information and other data sources in the so-called 'Deep Web' or 'Dark Web,' where traditional search technologies don't work. The company partnered with owners of private technical publications, databases, scholarly publications and unstructured data to gain access to content overlooked by other engines. Google said earlier this month that it was adding the ability to search PDF documents. In April, Google said it was investigating how to index HTML forms such as drop-down boxes and select menus, another part of the Dark Web."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
tech.slashdot.org
New Search Engine Takes
CWmike writes "DeepDyve has launched its free search engine that can be used to access databases, scholarly journals, unstructured information and other data sources in the so-called 'Deep Web' or 'Dark Web,' where traditional search technologies...


We seem far from the official start of spring here in north Alabama, even though it's only a month away and temperatures are mild in the last several days. This has been a relatively rough winter at times, especially compared to the almost non-existent winter weather of 2016-2017. Today, however, in mid-February, the temperatures are in the 70s and I couldn't help but get giddy for the return of warm and hot weather as the norm – a giddiness that always kicks in once Mardi Gras has passed.
This feeling has been coming for days now and I have noted the hopeful signs in my own winter- ravaged yard, which has become a little spongy after a spate of hard rains. Even so, there are harbingers of spring popping up daily and everywhere if you pay attention. Spunky robins are lurking around the back yard in growing numbers and daffodils are abundant in nearby yards.
In my own little front yard this week, I spotted a single blooming crocus and a bunch of crocus foliage that clearly has no plans to bloom this year. When I moved into my house eight years ago, I randomly planted sixty crocus bulbs around the front yard. In the first couple of years after planting, the tiny flowers would appear in profusion around the yard. I haven't had time to maintain the yard as carefully as I used to and the crocus attrition rate has accelerated, but the few hardy plants that persist are a tiny little pleasure to discover as February hurries through.
The cherry tree in my front yard always puts on a grand show for a couple of weeks in early spring. We'll have to see how it fares this time around since it underwent a pretty extreme pruning in the fall. In the meantime, my neighbor's back yard cherry tree, which continues to grow unfettered and provides a significant canopy in my own yard, usually blooms a few weeks earlier than my cherry tree and will hopefully once again provide a magnificent borrowed view out the back windows. It is normal for my cherry tree to burst forth with blossoms just as the neighbor's cherry blossoms are giving way to lush green foliage.
A ponytail palm that has been with me for twenty years now, flourishing in a cramped concrete planter that belonged to my Grandfather Harbison, seemed to bite the dust when I had prematurely moved it outside before the freeze last year; by mid-summer it had sprouted new ribbons of leaves and again graces my living room as beautifully as ever. I plan to wait longer this year before I put it outside the front door as a welcoming beacon.
In the back yard, the pots that held herbs in the 2017 growing season are sitting on a garden table outside my library window, waiting to be replanted. I usually have pots of mint and rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, and basil – lots of basil. This week, chives began to push up in one of the pots and I wonder what other volunteers might reappear. Many plants that began to flourish early last spring were killed off by that unexpected hard freeze in April while others eventually came back, a little worse for wear, and still others re-emerged better than ever.
The deep red camellia bush that replaces the tall 35-year-old Rose of Sharon that died last year is all abloom and I look forward to its off-season blooms and its evergreen presence just inside the back gate for this and years to come. The four potted crape myrtles just outside my back door always take their sweet time to get going, but they look healthy and I'm sure they'll provide profuse color by mid-summer.
Outside the back gate, the potted wild rose that was foraged from a lakeside in Owens Cross Roads over in the Flint River Valley is already sprouting – as eager as I to get the warm weather underway.
Tulips that were left by the previous owner of my house are coming up but they don't always bloom and I'll be curious to see what they do this time around. At my mother's house in Birmingham this week, I was greeted by a vase of burgundy tulips on the dining room table. These are just another temptation to make me long for spring to set in for a spell.
I have a list on my refrigerator of things I want to do in my backyard garden and I wonder how much of the list I might be able to tackle this year. In the library hangs a sketch, drawn by my nephew when he was about six or seven, of a plan for my back yard garden that includes specific spots for sitting areas and plantings, a grill, and a large central fountain. I regularly consult that sketch to see how it connects with my own plans. In lieu of the fountain, I may move the birdbath from the front yard to the back. It was originally placed to cover a bare spot in front of the window but that bare spot is now lush with plantings and the birdbath has gotten lost from view.
The yard is a constant work in progress with no master plan. Every warm evening that I sit at the bistro table in the rear of the little yard the list changes and I know the plan, like nature's own evolution, will never reach completion.
This entry was posted in spring gardening and tagged Alabama, Alabama gardening, suburban gardening on February 17, 2018 by gedwardjourney.