text:
Democrats Seem Likely To Make The Same Debate Mistakes Republicans Did
Faced with the prospect of a large field like the one Republicans had in 2016, Democrats are trying to figure out how to handle debates. So far, the ideas being put forward are as bad as what the GOP ended up doing.
Doug Mataconis · Thursday, December 27, 2018 · 46 comments
Shortly before Christmas, the Democratic Party unveiled plans for the pre-primary debates during the 2020 Presidential race:
WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee on Thursday unveiled the early outlines of its 2020 presidential primary debate plans, a process that could allow a large number of candidates to face off over two consecutive evenings in at least a dozen planned debates.
Tom Perez, the chairman of the committee, announced that the party would hold six debates in 2019 and the rest in the first six months of 2020. In a shift from tradition, none are scheduled for the early-primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada until 2020.
With nearly three dozen Democrats pondering a presidential bid, party officials anticipate a rush of candidates eager to grab a spot in the nationally televised forums. Depending on the size of the field, the committee may decide to split the debate over two consecutive evenings in the same location, Mr. Perez said, and would conduct a random selection process that would take place publicly to determine which candidates speak on which nights. He did not elaborate on how that process might work.
Mr. Perez said the committee had not set a maximum number of candidates who could appear on the stage and was planning for the possibility of a "double-digit field."
"We will likely have a large field of candidates," he said. "We expect that large field and we welcome that large field. Accommodating a large field of such qualified candidates is a first-class problem to have."
The new process is a direct response to criticism leveled during the 2016 campaign that the committee organized the debate schedule to favor Hillary Clinton, the eventual party nominee. Her two primary opponents, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and the former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, accused the party's leadership of creating a "rigged" process by limiting the number of debates to six — two of which were scheduled for Saturday evenings and one for a Sunday. Eventually the committee sanctioned four more debates.
For the 2020 campaigns, the committee plans to change the threshold for participation to include factors beyond just the polling numbers, such as grass-roots fund-raising support, to capture candidates who may have support that isn't showing up in public polls. Many questions remain unanswered, including how the party will determine how many candidate are "too many" for a single debate stage, and what to do once the field begins to narrow.
"We want to make sure that the grass roots have a real say in who our next nominee is," said Mr. Perez. "Grass-roots fund-raising is one method of ensuring participation from candidates who may have a different background and profile and base of support."
The first debate will take place in June 2019 and the last in April 2020. The committee will not sanction a candidate's participation in any other debates, though forums hosted by other groups, including cable TV networks, are permitted as long as only one candidate appears on the stage at a time. The first primary contest, the Iowa caucuses, is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2020, the same day early voting will open in California. Early voting in Vermont will begin a few weeks before, if the current schedule holds.
The two-night format differs from the way Republicans handled their big field in 2016, when more than a dozen candidates were entered. Officials created a format of two debates on the same night, based on poll numbers, with some candidates relegated to an early face-off that was not nationally televised.
Mr. Perez, whose stewardship of the Democratic committee has been attacked by some members of his own party, called the plan the "most inclusive debate process in our history." He said the committee's goal was to give all the candidates an opportunity to express their vision to voters while also avoiding weakening the eventual nominee for the general election.
The process comes after extensive consultation with Democratic politicians, strategists and activists, including former and current advisers to both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders, and potential media partners for the events. To avoid any perception of bias, the committee did not consult with any potential 2020 candidates or their aides.
As noted in the article above, while it's not clear at this point, it seems apparent that there will be a large number of Democrats in the race for the nomination, at least at the beginning of the process in 2019. In this sense, Democrats will be faced with many of the same logistical problems that Republicans and their debate partners were faced with at the start of the 2016 election cycle, when the first debate was held in August 2015. At that point in the race, there were seventeen people in the race for the nomination, including former Senators, Governors, and Members of Congress. While many of these candidates were near the bottom of the field in the polls, the organizers of the early debates recognized that excluding them entirely was not practical. Given the fact that having seventeen people on the same stage at the same time would have been impractical, the RNC and organizers came up with the solution of dividing the debate into essentially two events. The main debates, which aired in prime time, included the candidates leading in the polls, while what came to be called the "undercard" debate included other candidates who were further down in the polls but nonetheless arguably had resumes that demanded they not be ignored entirely. It was far from an ideal solution, but given the size of the field, it wasn't entirely a bad idea about how to deal with an otherwise intractable problem.
The biggest problem with the undercard debate idea, of course, is that it really didn't address the fundamental complaint of the lower-ranked candidates that they were being denied the media coverage that the participants in the "main" debate would get. In some cases, this was because some of these candidates, such as former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, didn't qualify even for the undercard debate, but mainly it was because the undercard debates would typically be held before the main debate beginning around 6:00 p.m. Eastern time, a time when Americans in the eastern half of the country were still making their way home from work and Americans in the western half of the country. The main stage debates, meanwhile, typically didn't start until 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, meaning a much larger audience available to watch the debate.
Instead of the main and "undercard" debate, Democrats appear to be coming to a consensus on the idea of two-night debates where the participants would be selected somewhat randomly so that they would include both high-ranked and low-ranked candidates, thus at least theoretically making it less likely that the lower-ranked candidates would essentially be consigned to that status forever due to being included in a debate that nobody was watching. They also appear to be proposing to include other criteria beyond polling position to determine debate eligibility. These criteria would include how organized candidates were in specific states, although it's unclear how some of these criteria can be objectively measured.
While this plan is arguably better than the "main" debate and "undercard" idea that the Republicans had, it arguably suffers from some of the same weaknesses. For example, how many people are actually going to watch two nights of debates, especially if the candidates they prefer all end up being in one debate rather than the other. Additionally, it's unclear if media outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, and the other broadcast networks would be willing to give up two nights of prime-time programming for political debates. Finally, to the extent that debate inclusion will be decided based on non-objective criteria this could result in some candidates arguing, with merit that they are being unfairly excluded or consigned to a second-night event that may not end up drawing as much viewership.
As an alternative, media and political pundit Jeff Greenfeld has a different idea:
The only way to do this fairly is to get rid of all the debates. That's right: No debates! Let's cancel political Christmas, at least for all of next year.
There is widespread consensus among Democrats that the party's 2016 approach—a handful of primary debates, two of which were on weekends—did not work. But in that year, there were only a handful of candidates at the outset. The Republicans, by contrast, had 17 contenders, which forced the party to split debates between "serious" contenders (measured by poll numbers) and a "kiddie table" of lesser entrants, including former and sitting senators (Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul) and governors from big states (Rick Perry, George Pataki).
If in fact 25 or 30 Democrats decide to run, the challenge of a rational debate process becomes insurmountable. The DNC, according to the Washington Post, is contemplating going beyond poll numbers—"possibly including staffing, fundraising and number of office locations"—to decide who participates and how. (Historical note: Back in December 2007, perennial is-he-kidding candidate Alan Keyes opened an office in Iowa for the sole purpose of being included in a Republican presidential debate).
But in a field that could include entrants ranging from a former vice president to the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, any process of inclusion will be ludicrous. Perhaps the debates can be segmented by net worth, with a special billionaires' forum including Michael Bloomberg, Tom Steyer and Howard Schultz. Maybe age could be the measure, with the septuagenarians one night, the Gen Xers another.)
No matter how the field is divided, the prospect of any meaningful exchange of ideas among even seven or eight participants is nonexistent. My memory of the 2016 GOP debates is an endless clamor for the chance to offer a 30-second response to a one-minute answer to a question more or less forgotten by the time the last debater got a chance to speak.
As Greenfeld goes on to note, instead of participating in multi-candidate debates that don't really accomplish much of anything, candidates would find themselves freed up to participate in different kinds of forums, such as town hall appearances and other processes where candidates have more direct contact with voters than they with journalists. Additionally, such a policy would leave open the possibility of individual networks or other news outlets having their own forums featuring one or more candidates in ways that allow for responses from candidates that last longer than eight minutes. This wouldn't mean that there wouldn't be any debates at all. The party can always leave open the option of having such forums as we get closer to the time when voting actually would take place, at which point the field will no doubt winnow down as candidates discover either through a lack of money or a lack of public interest that keeping their campaigns going doesn't make much sense. At that point, they could use a combination of polling, actual performance in primaries and caucuses that have taken place, and others to determine who participates and who doesn't. Before that point, though, the kind of multi-candidate affairs that we've become familiar with is really just a waste of time so why not give Greenfeld's idea a try and just say "no" to the idea of early debates? I know I wouldn't miss them.
FILED UNDER: Campaign 2020, US Politics, Democratic Party
Thursday, December 27, 2018 at 12:38
Let the candidates create their own media in the early going. They can do town halls, infomercials, or decide among themselves to debate this or that person one-on-one or three or however many. YouTube has plenty of bandwidth. Or let them do a podcast – iTunes will carry it. Let this process play out for a while and at the same time set a fundraising threshold for a more staged debate closer to primary season. If you can't raise a million from grass roots donors, go away. If you can't get a million eyeballs (OK, two million) on your YouTube media, go away.
When the major candidates get down to it, I have a suggestion lifted from one of my wife's (with some uncredited work from yours truly) books, which involves a species that can instantly and unfailingly tell whether a statement is true or false. So: in the debate you have a small panel of experts. When Candidate A makes a statement of fact he/she can be challenged by any other candidate and the question goes to the panel: lie or truth? Like a challenged ref's call in football, we go to the tape.
If nothing else the contrast with Trump's incessant, unchallenged lying would be telling.
gVOR08 says:
While it's frightening that we may be less than a year from debates, Greenfield's idea that the party and the candidates should give up free publicity for the sake of…Grenfield is unclear what, is the level of savvy and seriousness I expect from POLITICO .
@gVOR08:
What exactly does a "debate" between up to ten or more candidates accomplish?
SKI says:
Doug, I think you need a headline writer. Or a new one as, once again, your headline and your piece don't match.
Even accepting your, and Greenfeld's, concept that we shouldn't have early debates (which I disagree with – see below), there is no actual argument in the piece that having debates themselves was a "mistake" that plagued the GOP in '16, let alone as a "debate mistake" as the headline claims.
As for their "debate mistake", the discussed issue was splitting the field into two groups of candidates based on name recognition (which is what early polling reflects) and having the "undercard" not in prime time – further penalizing those without name recognition. The real issue was inane questions and answers. Let's be real, the principal "mistake" the GOP made in '16 was having candidates and voters that didn't care about facts or reality. When you have spent a couple decades using lies and bigotry, the base of voters you obtain are attracted to lying and bigotry.
The Democrats plan addresses the "discussed" mistake by having, at least initially, all debates in prime time – allowing all the candidates the initial opportunity to get their message out and giving them a chance to shine. The question of whether they will shine, or can, will depend on the substance of the questions and the answers.
Even if you are right and few will watch both debates (and let's be honest, most won't watch either/any), there is still the opportunity for "earned media" – an answer to go viral.
James Pearce says:
If you can't get a million eyeballs (OK, two million) on your YouTube media, go away.
God, that's a terrible idea…..Running the country and attracting an audience on Youtube or social media sites require two different skill sets.
@James Pearce: Campaigning in any way has little to do with the skill set required to govern. So what's your point?
@SKI:
I think my criticism of the GOP's "main stage" v. "kiddie table" debate plan was rather obvious, and it isn't really substantively different from the idea of trying to schedule two back-to-back nights of primetime debates, which is what the Democrats seem to be considering. And I make my criticism of that idea pretty clear.
In both cases, the mistake is precisely the one that Greenfeld points out, namely the very idea of having debates in the early stages of the race, before people even start voting. In that sense, I would argue that both parties are making the same mistake, especially when you're talking about fields as large as the GOP field in 2016 and what portends to be a large field of Democrats in 2020.
Also, it's generally advisable to do more than read the headline of a post.
Stormy Dragon says:
Given that the Republicans ended up winning everything in 2016, in what sense was their debate strategy a mistake?
Perhaps the Democrats would have been better off in 2016 with a real competitive primary instead of the apotheosis-of-the-chosen-one strategy they went with.
@Stormy Dragon:
It isn't the DNC's fault that there wasn't a competitive field in 2016.
According to Donna Brazile, it was.
@gVOR08: I don't want Pewdiepie to be our next president is my point.
Sleeping Dog says:
Greenfeld has a point and no debates maybe the best way to proceed. Let the Dems declare there will be no party sponsored debates till after the 4 initial primaries and caucuses. Whatever the demerits of NH, Iowa, SC and Nevada they do have the benefit of smaller populations, allowing retail politics and geographic compactness (Nevada's population is essentially Vegas and Reno plus the suburbs of each) again enhancing retail politics. After these 4 states have voted the party can begins sponsoring debates that include the top 3 finishers in each state plus any other candidate polling over 20%. Given that certain candidates will finish among the top three in several if not all the states, the number actual candidates debating will likely be 5 or 6.
Totally off topic, but fun. Michael Cohen never went to Prague. He said so. McClatchy is reporting there are leaked foreign intelligence intercepts saying Cohen's phone went to Prague.
MarkedMan says:
The core problem goes a lot deeper: every Presidential year for a half century has found that more and more a Party's nominee is based soley on a popular vote. There is no minimum standard any more, so anyone can run. Hell, Sanders isn't even a Democrat and yet the Bernie Bros are still bitter that the actual Democratic Party didn't want him. A Party he made clear was beneath him. The biggest mistake the Democrats have made since 2016 is giving in to nasty Uncle Bernie and eliminating the Super Delegates.
The real mistake the Republicans made in 2016 was having 17 candidates who were all obviously horrible. I look forward to the Democrats.
It might be interesting to sort the candidates into buckets, and have smaller debates that way where the candidates are pursuing the same segments of the pri1mary voters. Corporate Toadies, Progressives, Over 70, Sitting and Former Governors, Too Homely To Be Elected, Book Tour…
Would aso happily accept costumed debates. Tonight in Iowa, it's Pirate Night, tomorrow rabbits.
Let this process play out for a while and at the same time set a fundraising threshold for a more staged debate closer to primary season.
Auction off the debate slots with the proceeds going to the DNC congressional campaign warchest?
al Ameda says:
I always enjoy Jeff Greenfield's commentary.
I'm not sure anyone would miss it if debates were discontinued.
Frankly, these days debates exist for those NASCAR-crash-into-the-wall moments, you know, where a candidate says something like: 'the people of Flint don't deserve clean safe drinking water,' or 'clean coal is our future.' Well, those kind of statements used to be 'crash-into-the-wall' political career killers, but not any more.
@al Ameda: Greenfield wants fair. The candidates and the parties want free exposure. The networks want cheap content. The Party needs to negotiate with all stakeholders and come up with a format that the candidates and networks accept and at least appears fair. I'm sure there will be a lot of screaming and hollering, and I'll be one of the first to bitch about more stupid debates, but it seems to me the Dems have come up with a reasonable plan given the difficult circumstances.
@James Pearce: "Running the country and attracting an audience on Youtube or social media sites require two different skill sets."
Unlike running the country and campaigning for office, which require exactly the same skill sets. Is that what you're saying? Because it sounds like your usual level of sophisticated thinking.
@James Pearce: " I don't want Pewdiepie to be our next president is my point."
Well, yeah. It's manifestly obvious to anyone who reads your posts that the only one you want for president is Trump.
@wr:
It's manifestly obvious to anyone who reads your posts that the only one you want for president is Trump.
I guess that explains why I'm so bitter about Hillary's loss.
Just nutha ignint cracker says:
@Doug Mataconis: I don't think that his comment was a criticism of you as much as it is an observation that the likelihood of the political stakeholders in the primary selection system will buy in is probably in the negative numbers. From that standpoint, Greenfield's comment is much like the "what we really need is a Centrist Third Party" drivelfests–that you typically deride as being unrealistic and therefore stupid.
Now, if you should decide to take my comment as an attack on your support of Greenfield's idea, go right ahead, I've no dog in this fight.
the GOP's "main stage" v. "kiddie table"…it isn't really substantively different from the idea of trying to schedule two back-to-back nights of primetime debates, which is what the Democrats seem to be considering.
I'm inclined to disagree. I think that dividing the candidates into two "classes"–"significant/important/viable" and "not"–and then scheduling the debates for the "nots" at times when people were not likely to be available to watch them is different from what the Democrats are proposing in significant ways. While I will agree that the GOP leadership and leading candidates capitalized on the class warfare themes that drive Conservative political philosophy and libertarian "sucks to be you" attitudes about balance and level playing fields, I see trying to select candidates at least partially randomly (I personally would go for total randomness, but…) and trying to avoid having the party rank candidates into "winners" and "losers" represents a significantly different approach.
But then again, I'm not trying to argue that the debates are a waste of time, either.
@James Pearce: Wow! You've been bitter about Hillary's loss? I didn't see that at all. Seriously! No idea whatsoever.
Andre Kenji de Sousa says:
Friday, December 28, 2018 at 00:30
Campaigning in any way has little to do with the skill set required to govern. So what's your point?
They are different skill sets, but I do agree with James Pearce that Youtube can be a dangerous tool in the hands of demagogues and bad politicians, specially because people confuses the "social" of social media with friendships.
(Note the "Youtube Caucus" of Brazilian Congress – there were lots of demagogues of the worst kind that were elected using Youtube).
Exactly. Debates force candidates to answer tough questions, that can't be done when the candidate is meeting friendly audiences on Youtube or MSNBC. If the Republican candidates were discussing the size of their Weiners during the debates the problem is with the candidates and the voters, not with the format.
Perhaps my argument is incomplete — the post was getting longish and I didn't want to go too far into the depths on the GOP in 2016 — but I think it's clear that the mistake in both respects is trying to stage these multi-candidate debates. If we learned anything from the 2016 Republican race, it's that they are entirely unhelpful, that they tend to benefit candidates who can come up with quick, snappy responses that went viral on cable news and social media, and that they tended to be unfair to candidates who were trailing in polls that, given the fact they were so early, were largely meaningless.
We saw the same thing among Republicans in 2012 when candidates like Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain walked away debates as perceived "winners" while candidates who had resumes that made them far more qualified candidates for President, such as Jon Huntsman and Gary Johnson, barely got any screen time at all and, because they were not well-suited to the shoot-from-the-hip style that was considered a "success" in the environment of these so-called "debates," very little news coverage after those debates.
Additionally, I must disagree with those who seem to shove all 17 of the Republican candidates in 2016 into the same category as Trump. While you may have disagreed with their ideas, several of these candidates were serious men and women with serious ideas who found themselves competing in an environment where being a media clown like Trump counted for more among voters and the media than being an experienced politician with serious ideas. Perhaps, if the GOP had forgone the whole idea of having multi-candidate debates as early as August of the year before the election (and note that the Democratic plan calls for debates beginning in July 2019), these candidates might have found other ways to get voter attention and Trump would have been deprived of at least one avenue for free media. This is all untestable alternate history, of course, but I'd submit there's no way it could have been worse.
Paine says:
One thing the 2016 repubs did that I hope the dems avoid is putting the candidates on the debate stage in some sort of order based on polling numbers (with the candidate with the highest polling numbers in the middle with the rest cascading to his left and right; but who knows, perhaps that was at the insistence of the Trump campaign). Once a candidate meets the minimum threshold to be on the stage they should be treated as equals, with some sort of random determination of place on the stage.
@Paine:
Polling at least has the advantage of being a somewhat objective measure of the level of support that a candidate has, and I can see the justification for giving candidates who are leading the field more attention than the guys and gals polling at 2% or below. Polling isn't perfect, though, and early polling is largely a popularity contest, so I can see why some might object to it playing as big a role as it has in previous debate preparation. Democrats propose to get around that problem by looking at other criteria, but some of those are arguably not entirely objective so it's hard to see what the standard would be for something like having a "campaign operation" in a sufficient number of states or fundraising success.
In any event, the problem with having no standard at all as you seem to suggest is that you end up with an incredibly crowded debate stage, and that doesn't benefit anyone.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
You've been bitter about Hillary's loss? I didn't see that at all.
Perhaps, then, you see the irony of being so obviously bitter and yet still being accused of being a Trump supporter.
@Andre Kenji de Sousa:
Note the "Youtube Caucus" of Brazilian Congress – there were lots of demagogues of the worst kind that were elected using Youtube
This is why I'm so glad you comment here, dude.
Wow! You've been bitter about Hillary's loss? I didn't see that at all. Seriously! No idea whatsoever.
Pierce was not bitter about Hillary's loss. He is bitter than Hillary, the candidate sold as the perfect politician by Liberal pundits, managed to lose to an orange fascist.
@Doug Mataconis:.
If we learned anything from the 2016 Republican race, it's that they are entirely unhelpful, that they tend to benefit candidates who can come up with quick, snappy responses that went viral on cable news and social media, and that they tended to be unfair to candidates who were trailing in polls that, given the fact they were so early, were largely meaningless.
Any visual medium, including rallies and Youtube, is going to benefit candidates that can give quick, snappy responses. But at least during debates candidates can have to answer tough questions from real journalists. There were lots of uncomfortable moments for candidates during these debates, and that's good.
@James Pearce:
Thanks, dude. 😉
at least during debates candidates can have to answer tough questions from real journalists.
Because of the number of candidates on the stage in the early stage debates in the Republican race, candidates were typically given two minutes or less to answer a question. That's hardly enough time to provide a real answer to a complicated public policy question. Some moderators did a better job at this than others — Jake Tapper at CNN stands out as one of the best moderators during that cycle, for example — but generally speaking most of the time the debate format benefited the candidates able to come up with simplistic slogans and talking points from their stump speeches. It wasn't until there were a smaller number of candidates on the stage that they actually started being something that I would argue was helpful for voters. This is one reason why the Democratic debates were generally better on substance because even when irrelevant candidates like James Webb, Martin O'Malley, and Lincoln Chafee were on the stage there was more time for candidates to prove themselves and, more importantly, to actually debate things back and forth between themselves
lots of uncomfortable moments for candidates during these debates, and that's good.
Most of those uncomfortable moments consisted of things like Trump flinging insults at people or candidates attacking each other on irrelevant issues.
Because of the number of candidates on the stage in the early stage debates in the Republican race, candidates were typically given two minutes or less to answer a question. That's hardly enough time to provide a real answer to a complicated public policy question. Some moderators did a better job at this than others
Nah. The first Democratic Debates of 2008 had even Kucinich and Mike Gravel, and they were pretty substantive. The problem of 2016 were the GOP voters and candidates.
Teve says:
@Andre Kenji de Sousa: when Trump mocked Serge kovaleski's disability on national TV, and then lied and said he didn't know the guy was disabled, when he's known kovaleski for years, that would have been the end of it. If Republican voters weren't shitty people.
The first debates on the Democratic side in 2008 had a much smaller number of candidates than the early debates in the GOP in 2016.
And as for the rest of your comment, I refer you to my comment above.
He is bitter than Hillary, the candidate sold as the perfect politician by Liberal pundits, managed to lose to an orange fascist.
Boom. An apt summary.
(PS. The more I read about the Bolsanos….yikes.)
@Andre Kenji de Sousa: Everything and anything becomes a dangerous tool in the hands of demagogues and bad politicians; it's built into the nature of demagoguery. Political systems fail as the voters fail to recognize and reject the demagogues and bad politicians. 2016 represents a massive failure by the US voters–Republicans particularly, in that they recognized that they were supporting a demagogue and didn't care.
"these candidates were serious men and women with serious ideas"
Which is why they went with "I'll build a better wall than Trump" and played to being superior in every facet of Trumpiness than he was because nothing says "serious ideas" better.
I do agree that it probably couldn't have been worse, though. As I said above, a massive failure, by Republican voters in particular.
Perhaps, then, you see the irony of being so obviously bitter
Not even Andre bought that, although you edited his quote carefully, well done. (Or maybe you truly don't understand that all of what you say carries meaning out to the audience.)
early polling is largely a popularity contest,
A nitpick: All polling is a popularity contest. It is exactly what it is designed to do.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: Perhaps if you had said "I was bitter about Hillary being the candidate" I would have understood you more clearly. Alas, that would have negated the part about the irony of being tagged as a Trump supporter. Some days there's just no winning (although you might have tried deflecting the Trump supporting claim by noting that almost no rabid Trumpies were sad that Hillary was the candidate, that could have supported your claim).
BTW, I don't think you're a Trump supporter. I think you just like contradicting anything that anyone says. Sort of like a middle school student or an older kid who doesn't fit in his high school but hasn't matured enough to cope with that.
the Q says:
"……The biggest mistake the Democrats have made since 2016 is giving in to nasty Uncle Bernie and eliminating the Super Delegates….."
Another delusional comment by a Hillary slurper. The biggest mistake the Dems made in history was running the most disliked, mistrusted and least likable candidate in its modern history.
With Hillary OFF the ballot in November, the Dems had a historic midterm run in the House with 40 seats and wins in the OC, Texas and Oklahoma…not exactly hotbeds of democratic socialism.
Its galling to real "liberals" that the only thing stopping in 2016 a dem/soc candidate from being elected President was fellow moderate Hillary-ites. Do any of you really think Bernie would have lost all 4 midwest states with his pro union, anti trade pact policies?
Even after the disastrous HRC candidacy has been dead and buried for two years, her insufferable supporters still can't admit the obvious flaws and liabilities foisted upon the Dem by the a priori rigged system of a huge corporate war chest and a biased DNC chair.
Ten against seven. But then even Dennis Kucinich could be more substantive than the stalwarts of the GOP.
Everything and anything becomes a dangerous tool in the hands of demagogues and bad politicians; it's built into the nature of demagoguery.
Everything can. But don't expect that politicians that spend too much time on social media to be good politicians. And it makes no sense to complain about the format where candidates are supposed to answer questions from other candidates and from Jake Tapper or Chris Wallace and then praise social media, where the candidates have full control of their message.
Perhaps if you had said "I was bitter about Hillary being the candidate" I would have understood you more clearly.
I think that's more complicated. Many people on the left are seeing center-left parties losing election after election(Not only in the US), and they think that part of the problem is that the left in general does not care to go after the half of the voters that happens to have XY chromosomes. It's difficult to win elections without half of the electorate.
Hillary Clinton was a huge symbol of that. She was sold as the perfect politician that never got the nomination because the Democratic Party was too misogynistic, but then she managed to lose to guy that said that he grabbed woman by their genitalia.
I think that many people are confused, but they don't like seeing left-of-center and center-left parties losing space to the far right and they think that doing things like demonizing half of the voters will have inevitably this type of result.
Bolsonaro is interesting that he caters to a pretty phony notion of masculinity(I always see trucks with bumper stickers for him), with finger guns, but that was enough for him to win. I have more fear of the Evangelical Churches than of Bolsonaro, but I don't think that the left will learn the lessons of his victory(And yes, his opponent began to gain in the polls when the attacks against Bolsonaro were about policy and economics, not culture).
@Just nutha ignint cracker: "(Or maybe you truly don't understand that all of what you say carries meaning out to the audience.)"
Perhaps we might take a moment to appreciate the irony in the man who insists that writing is a craft so mechanical that anyone can write as well as Shakespeare if they just do a couple extra drafts is himself incapable of composing a single sentence that conveys what he insists is his true meaning.
Saturday, December 29, 2018 at 07:15
You come at me with Shakespeare, a man so ordinary that people doubt his authorship?
Shakespeare wasn't a wizard. He was an actor, thirsty for what we now call "content," and thanks to the Folios –collected after his death, without his or his heirs' permission– we know he was quite a diligent one.
Edward De Vere may have been the prototypical Writer God, opening his veins and bleeding on the page for us, but he didn't write Romeo and Juliet. The actor did.
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\lim\limits_{t\rightarrow \pm\infty}\int d\alpha\, e^{-iE_{\alpha}t}g(\alpha)|\psi_{\alpha}^{\pm}\rangle=\int d\alpha\, e^{-iE_{\alpha}t}g(\alpha)|\phi_{\alpha}\rangle,
\end{equation}
where the Hamiltonian is split into a free and an interacting part $H=H_0+V,$ and the $|\psi_{\alpha}^{\pm}\rangle$ are eigenstates of the "full" Hamiltonian, and $|\phi_{\alpha}\rangle$ is an eigenstate of the "solvable" Hamiltonian.

*

*Consider an electron far from any other particles. Is it an eigenstate of the full or the solvable Hamiltonian?

*Why would far separated particles not be direct products of eigenstates of the full Hamiltonian? The interaction term $V$ not only describes how two nearby particles time-evolve, but also influences the one-particle states. For instance, regardless of whether other particles are around, the $\bar{\psi}\gamma^{\mu}\psi A_{\mu}$ term affects the charge of the electron.

A: In fact, at least for QED, it is not true because there is still interaction with "vacuum" or said differently, the "in" and "out" particles are "dressed". It is easily seen that we cannot scatter from an electron elastically because it emits photons with the probability 1, i.e. the scattering is always inelastic. Thus the elastic cross section is zero; it means tha target (real electron) is compound. Only inclusive cross sections are meaningful. The corresponding calculations are usually given in chapters devoted to the infrared problem.
I wrote several papers on this subject (available on arXiv).

A: This looks like Weinberg's definition for scattering states. I posted a similar question, which doesn't have an answer right now, so I can't fully answer you. See:
Weinberg's S-matrix and split into free and interacting Hamiltonian
But I can make some clarifications:
Re: (1), I'd clarify that Weinberg would demand you think of a single particle wavepacket (a superposition of eigenstates), not just an eigenstate, because he requires $g(\alpha)$ smooth in his definition.
Re: (2), I'd clarify that you probably don't quite mean that the two-particle state of two far-separated particles is a direct product of the single-particle states.  Rather, the two-particle state is obtained by operating on the vacuum with an operator which is the product of the two operators that respectively create the two single particle states when operating on the vacuum.  These are the Haag-Ruelle creation operators.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Alumni Giving Rises
Record number of donors give despite economy
A naggingly sluggish economy apparently isn't deterring alumni from supporting their alma mater. Duke officials reported a record number of donors gave to the university during the past fiscal year, which ended June 30.
For the year, 106,423 alumni and friends made gifts to the university totaling $349.7 million, the third-highest total in the university's history. New commitments for the year—a combination of new gifts and new multi-year pledges— totaled $436 million, a 45 percent increase over the previous year.
Meanwhile, the Duke Annual Fund set records for both the number of donors and the total amount raised, with contributions from 46,705 alumni, parents, students, and friends totaling $27.9 million.
The Duke Endowment, the Charlottebased charitable trust established by university founder James B. Duke, was the largest single contributor to the university in 2010-11, giving more than $40 million to support the medical center, faculty initiatives, outreach programs, and other Duke priorities. In addition, the endowment announced in March its intention to contribute $80 million over several years, the largest gift in Duke's history, to transform the West Campus Union and renovate Page and Baldwin auditoriums.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A popular quote attributed to Francis of Assisi is "Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words." It is a quote that leads many to believe that if we demonstrate the love of Christ through ministry, we are preaching the gospel. While there is no doubt that ministry to people in need is vital and commanded in the Bible (both Old Testament and New Testament), ministry without a gospel witness explaining why we do what we do in ministry is incomplete.
A person does not have to be a Christian to be kind to others. There are many "good" people who are lost. This is why we encourage youth groups to bring students to participate in Kentucky Changers, even if they are not yet Christ followers. God has put it in each of us to want to do good for others. Students who are not Christians are invited to come work along side those who are. During a week of working on houses for people in need, they quickly learn that what compels believing students and adults is the love of Jesus. We are so grateful for the strong witness shared with students and homeowners throughout Kentucky Changers, both during the day at job sites, as well as through the evening worship services.
We are grateful for the compassion ministries that are taking place this week through Familyfest. Many of the ministries serve to provide a positive perception of Baptists in the community at large. Cleaning windows at a school or painting at a transitional house for the homeless may not seem like ministries where much witnessing can take place, but our prayer is that doors will be open for Boone's Creek Baptist Association churches to share the gospel because of the good will created through Familyfest. But we also pray that there will be many saved this week while Familyfest volunteers are here and sharing the gospel as they work.
"Always be prepared" speaks to each one of us. If you are not prepared to share your testimony, write it down and practice. If you are not prepared to share the gospel, get a New Testament and mark the verses you want to share. Write the page number where you want to begin in the cover, and the page to go to next on the subsequent pages. Buy some tracts and put them in your car, purse, wallet, or whatever you carry with you often. Get some tracts in other languages, too.
There is an old adage that says "aim at nothing and you will hit it every time." If you don't prepare to share your faith, then you are preparing not to. The Bible says "always be prepared." Get ready to witness and God will bless your preparation.
This entry was posted in Evangelism, Kentucky Changers, Missions, News, WMU Activities by Joy Bolton. Bookmark the permalink.


text:
I'm a TV and film associate producer. I've sat by the campfire with Tom Hanks and worked 10-hour days in the freezing rain — here's what my job is like.
Lucie Grace
Caroline Alderson is a writer and associate producer in England.
Courtesy of Caroline Alderson
Caroline Alderson, 33, is a writer and associate producer who's worked on "Game of Thrones" and "Finch."
She started out as a director's assistant under Miguel Sapochnik and has met Steven Spielberg.
Here's what her job is like, as told to freelancer Lucie Grace.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Caroline Alderson, a 33-year-old writer and associate producer from Darlington, England, about the film and TV industry. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I started my career seven years ago as a director's assistant on season five of "Game of Thrones." It was my first job in the industry, and prior to that, I was living in LA doing an internship at Ford Modeling Agency.
I worked for three directors on that series, one of them being Miguel Sapochnik, whom I've worked for consistently since.
It was a real baptism of fire assisting three directors, all of them in different places and having different schedules
You're essentially a gatekeeper for them as well as a timekeeper, organizing their meetings for the day and doing a mixture of personal and show-related jobs.
I went on to do season six of "Game of Thrones" and then got a job in 2016 in between the "Game of Thrones" series working on "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." Then I worked with Miguel again when he directed an episode of "Altered Carbon" in Vancouver, as well as seasons seven and eight of "Game of Thrones."
Season eight of "Games of Thrones" was really tough — I think any of the crew would tell you that. For one particular episode, "The Long Night," we did 50 night shoots in January and February in Northern Ireland, working in 7 degrees Fahrenheit weather for 10 hours every night. You put your thermals and waterproof gear on but quickly learn that there's not a waterproof jacket that will still be waterproof after 10 hours of rain.
After that show wrapped, Miguel turned a movie script he had for quite a long time into a movie called "Finch" starring Tom Hanks, and we went to New Mexico to shoot that with Tom, which was incredible.
People stick in groups when they move from film to film. You'll see that in every department.
Alderson holding an Emmy for "Game of Thrones."
It's quite hard to get into the industry, but once you're in it, you get taken from job to job. Whether it's catering, hair and makeup, or costume, people need to know that they can rely on the person next to them.
For example, Miguel has a director of photography and first assistant director whom he works with on most of his projects. You try to move as a group because you have a huge film set but then these little departments which are like little families. The hours are long, and sometimes it can be hard as you don't see your actual family much, but people come to work because they love what they do and they like the people they're working with.
As you get taken on to the next project, if you work hard, you slowly start to progress up the ladder. On "Finch," there were a lot of new team members working for Miguel, so since I worked with him for so long and knew how he worked and the script so well, I was able to step up to be associate producer.
Associate producer is a funny title — it's that middle role between being an assistant and a producer
Alderson on the set of "Game of Thrones" in Belfast.
You're not an assistant anymore, but it's a lot of work that you would've done as an assistant in terms of checking on departments and being that middle-ground person. Plus, you're in a lot of the meetings with the producers, actors, and writers, and then you're there for the whole of post-production as well.
In a production meeting, there's a representative of every department, usually the head of the department, as well as producers and the directing team. We go through the script, scene by scene, and talk through what's needed from each department and when. As each scene involves so many departments, it's important for everyone to be on the same page and know what they're doing and how they need to work together to deliver it.
Tom Hanks is a really fantastic man
There were some brilliant experiences on "Finch," and shooting in New Mexico was just beautiful. We lived in RVs and set up a kind of camp, and we had a campfire and barbecues every night for a week.
While we sat around the campfire, Tom would sort of regale us with stories. If you ask me to tell you any of them, I wouldn't remember because I think I was concentrating on my face more than listening. I think if I managed that then I'm not going to be starstruck by anybody really.
Steven Spielberg was there a few times when we did post-production at Amblin Studios, and when he held the door open for me one time, I was like, "Thanks, Steven." It's one of those things. Everyone's there to do a job.
There's not a huge amount of movies being filmed in LA anymore
Caroline Alderson.
In America, a lot of filming has moved to Atlanta, and increasingly more stuff is filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It's so expensive to film in LA, and in terms of landscape in LA you're quite limited, too. But Atlanta and London are really the hubs for film and TV at the moment.
The fact that people manage to make films and TV is just kind of outstanding because it's organized chaos, and that's just the truth. It's such a big undertaking. Every day there are 300 extras, there's donkeys, there's children, all this stuff could go wrong — and maybe little things do when someone's 20 minutes late to set, or maybe we lose power for 10 minutes, or paparazzi are trying to take photos, or you're trying to get electricity in the middle of a forest or a beach. But you work with a group of extremely skilled people who catch things before they hit the ground.
I'm working on "House of the Dragon" at the moment, which is the "Game of Thrones" prequel.
I'm also writing scripts for film and TV now as I used March through December 2020 to focus on writing while everything in the film industry completely shut down. I sent one of my scripts around and got signed by an agency called Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, which is really exciting. I have these two wonderful agents, so I'm juggling both things. The dream for me is to write and show-run in the future.
Do you have an interesting job in the film and TV industry? Email Lauryn Haas at lhaas@insider.com.
More: BI-freelancer TV Film
Lauryn Haas


text:
Ghosta may refer to:

 Ghosta, Bihar, India
 Ghosta, Lebanon, Lebanon
 Ghosta, Afghanistan, a small village on the Kabul River

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


CUMBRIA could move a step closer to housing an underground nuclear waste dump next week. The county council is expected to express an interest in hosting a 'deep geological repository for higher level waste' in Copeland.
NOBODY feels much natural love for a shadowy group of self-appointed policemen, engaged in a tough job which some outsiders resent. Yet there is one such band of brothers that does noble work. For more than 30 years, the effort to halt the spread of nuclear weapons has relied, at a practical level, on a small, publicity-shy bunch of officials from a club called the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Behind closed doors, this 45-nation fraternity stitches up rules whose aim is to control trade in nuclear materials, equipment and technology. They don't always succeed. North Korea, Iran, (a subsequently reformed) Libya and others tapped into a nuclear black market that was run for years from Pakistan. But now the fraternity itself is under strain, with perilous consequences for world peace.
The harsh reality of life on a nuclear submarine: if something goes wrong, help is a long way off.
A Stafford anti-nuclear campaigner arrested following a protest outside Derby's Rolls-Royce factory has been found not guilty of aggravated trespass.
The prospect of households with wind turbines and solar panels being able to sell power back to the national grid has come a step closer after the government tabled an amendment to a bill that would allow people to generate enough power to serve a community of more than 1,000 people.
NEXT Tuesday Cumbria County Council's Cabinet will decide whether to 'express an interest' in the Government process to find a location for a deep geological nuclear waste repository in Cumbria. But the motion before councillors will point clearly at Copeland as the area for consideration, rather than the county as a whole.
Letter from David Lowry: I read with some incredulity that the West Wales Business Forum has joined the atomic advocacy club. It would take at least 10 years before any power could be generated. The present Wylfa reactor is due to close within 18 months, so what is Anglesey Aluminium – a major user of the nuclear electricity from Wylfa – to do in the intervening eight years? New nuclear power is irrelevant to Anglesey Aluminium's future.
Letter: It takes four years to build a new nuclear reactor, though even in England the government intends to first spend five years doing paperwork. We know that French nuclear designs can produce as much electricity as we want at 1.3p per kWh, because they have been doing so for decades. Our politicians, who know all this perfectly well, have been grossly irresponsible for decades.
Politicians may be sold on nuclear as a vital component in a low carbon energy mix. But as Danny Bradbury discovers a nuclear renaissance is no cast iron certainty. There are some serious practical hurdles for the next generation of nuclear plants to get off the ground, and access to debt is one. Moreover, wind farms and solar plants can begin producing energy relatively soon after construction begins, and can expand their energy in line with additional construction. Nuclear plants don't move any juice until they're completed, and they can take a long time to build.
Nathan Argent gives Greenpeace's reaction to the news that the government tried to fix another public consultation on new nuclear power, and ponders the implications for UK energy policy.
SELLAFIELD'S new owners will have to think again about who will fill one of the site's top jobs. New finance director Earl Ward has quit from the new Nuclear Management Partners executive team only weeks after being appointed. Mr Ward was due to take up the post on November 24 – the day NMP succeeds BNFL as Sellafield's new parent company. It is understood that Mr Ward, who has paid one visit to the site, has taken up another position outside the NMP consortium.
FUTURE projects for the West Cumbria Energy Coast were revealed at a conference on Friday. It was stated that the "government wants to see Sellafield included on the site listings for new nuclear reactors" .MP Jamie Reed opened the conference by describing the Energy Coast in Cumbria as having an international reach. For example, he pointed out that there was a £300 billion market worldwide for nuclear decommissioning. He said getting new build reactors at Sellafield was pivotal for the future, but it "would be a hard fight to get Sellafield chosen as there are easier sites in the UK." He added: "I don't just want to see one reactor, I want to see two or three." Later nuclear opportunities director Rosie Mathisen added: "The government wants to see Sellafield on the nominations list" (for new reactors). She showed a plan outlining land on the Beckermet side of Sellafield as the proposed new reactor's location.
THE private consortium taking over Sellafield has been given a government insurance indemnity against any major insurance or damages claim. And the taxpayer-backed cover note will extend 30 years into the future. But a Labour MP has described the deal as an "outrage" in that MPs were denied time to debate the matter. Details were posted in the House of Commons library after the deal was signed with Sellafield's new parent, Nuclear Management Partners.
The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates visited Iran yesterday in a bid to improve relations between the neighbours, which have been strained by concerns over Tehran's nuclear ambitions and claims to disputed islands. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Manouchehr Mottaki, his Iranian counterpart, signed an agreement to set up a committee to boost economic and political co-operation between the two nations.
The "peak oil" debate has raged for many years. Some governments and oil companies believe that crude oil production will meet rising demand for decades to come. But an increasingly vocal group – including many experts from within the oil industry – claim that a production peak is imminent.
Poor overloaded taxpayers. Not content with being lumbered with enormous debts to bail out failing banks and huge bills for rising unemployment, the government has just landed us with the potential for an unlimited bill for any nuclear accident or leak from the decomissioning of Sellafield for years to come. In a deal that will thrill private investors, Malcolm Wicks, in one of his last acts as energy minister, caved in to a United States-led private consortium's demands that it will be freed from any liability should anything go wrong for the next 17 years whilst it decommissions Sellafield.
The UK's £40bn new nuclear programme could be carried out using a similar model to BAA's T5 agreement.
New nuclear build projects carry substantial risks. Several factors could lead to costly delays if not managed properly. What is the best way to control these risks?
Proposals are being considered for an underground nuclear waste disposal site in Cumbria. Cumbria County Council is considering "expressing an interest" in a formal government process to find a suitable location for a nuclear waste dump. But council chiefs stressed they were not committing to a site and any plan would be subject to the scrutiny of a full public consultation.
Hugh Ellis: The existing system for approving or turning down major infrastructure projects such as runways, ports and power stations is far from perfect, but it has long been based on the public inquiry. This gives people the right to attend a public hearing, to give evidence, to cross-examine, and to call witnesses. A professional inspector listens, assesses, and then reports to government. An elected minister, accountable to parliament, makes the final decision. However, the planning bill now going through parliament, and due to become law in a few weeks, will remove all of these rights and safeguards. The law will mean that a new body, the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), will usually make all decisions without public hearings. Government-appointed commissioners will decide whether any part of the process will be heard in public. They will decide which witnesses are heard and who can cross-examine. The public retains only one right: an "open floor" session, at which ordinary people cannot ask questions or cross-examine.
Letter: The idea that Scotland can go into the future without replacing its nuclear power stations (which currently meet 40% of the Scottish annual maximum demand gigawatts) is madness. National electricity supply calls for a generation mix continuously able to adjust to meet second by second the prevailing pattern of demand 365 days a year.
Nuclear energy is undergoing a worldwide renaissance, but poor nations yearning to develop need to realize that it is no panacea to profound poverty, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Monday.
Nuclear-powered aircraft may sound like a concept from Thunderbirds, but they will be transporting millions of passengers around the world later this century, the leader of a Government-funded project to reduce environmental damage from aviation believes.
EX-SERVICEMEN exposed to atomic bomb testing have welcomed news that the Government is going to investigate its effects.
More than 30 people were arrested yesterday during one of the biggest anti-nuclear protests at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston for 10 years. The gates of the site were blocked as people attached themselves to concrete blocks which had to be broken apart by police. Others climbed scaffolding or lay in the road at the demonstration by about 400 people to mark the start of the UN World Disarmament Week.
Iran's U.N. ambassador said on Monday that six world powers have never responded to Tehran's proposal for negotiations without pre-conditions aimed at resolving its nuclear stand-off with the West.
UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said here Monday that his agency was still unable to determine whether or not there were undeclared nuclear activities in Iran.
Taxpayers have been left with unlimited liability amounting to billions of pounds should there be a repeat of a nuclear accident at Sellafield under a deal signed with a US-led consortium which takes over the decommissioning of the waste facility from November 24. The indemnity even covers accidents and leaks that are the consortium's fault.
One of the people advising the Government on the best places to site new nuclear reactors has branded Sellafield a "poor location". In an extract to his book Nukenomics: The commercialisation of Britain's nuclear industry, Ian Jackson, who helped write the siting report for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform/Department of Trade and Industry gives his views. He writes that: "Despite its substantial nuclear workforce, the remote Sellafield complex in north west England is a poor location for a modern nuclear power station because its electricity transmission infrastructure cannot carry the energy output of a large nuclear station.
Letter from Steuart Campbell: Professor Stephen Salter's latest letter (20 October) is complete nonsense, indicating that he pays little attention to detail.
Survivors of Britain's nuclear test programme have finally been promised action after a six-year campaign by the Sunday Mirror. New Defence Minister Kevan Jones has pledged to set up a study into the legacy of illnesses suffered by the soldiers, sailors and airmen present at the tests. He will also order officials to look into our demands for an investigation into the welfare of the veterans' children and grandchildren, who are 10 times more likely to suffer from birth defects.
The government is to announce tomorrow that it will include rapidly growing aviation and shipping emissions in Britain's commitment to curb its carbon footprint by 80% by 2050.
There's also a lot of talk that switching the world economy to a carbon-free future is now something that cannot be afforded. Not so. There were three important events in the past few weeks that went largely unnoticed during the financial maelstrom but whose significance cannot be overstated. Two concern renewable energy and the other a change of government structure. In Britain, the government unexpectedly announced on October 16 that it intended introducing a "feed-in tariff" guaranteeing rates for renewably produced electricity. And the United States said part of its $700bn banking system bail-out would include $16bn (£10bn) of new green tax breaks for renewable energy, cleaner fuels and energy efficiency.
Renewable energy and climate change targets for 2020 will be missed unless the National Grid speeds up the rate at which new generators are connected, leading industry figures have said.
Today, members of the Women's Institute will embark on one of the environmental movements most iconic vehicles to deliver, by speedboat, a message to the front door of the controversial Kingsnorth power station in Kent calling on the Government to do more to provide Britain with clean, renewable energy. The WI's presence on Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior II, the three-masted, globe-trotting flagship of the veteran environmental group, may appear to be an unusual addition to a ship with renowned eco-warrior credentials, but those who will be on board say environmentalism is all the rage at the WI.
There was uproar when it emerged recently that French customers pay less for their electricity than those in the UK. This led to the accusation that British customers of French group EDF were subsidising customers in France. Much more likely an explanation – as EDF UK's Vincent de Rivaz asserts – is that currently nuclear power, which provides most of France's electricity, is cheaper than other forms like renewables or coal more common in the UK. But unless EDF – and the rest of the Big Six – open their books, we won't know for sure. This sad state of affairs is likely to continue. The British government is terrified that the energy companies won't build the new reactors and wind farms needed to keep the lights on.
The oil price collapse threatens renewable energy projects as their viability is judged against the cost of electricity produced from natural gas, which is itself determined by oil. So wind farms face yet another hurdle, just as Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, has raised Britain's commitment to cut emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.
In the investigative report an American veteran who participated in "Desert Storm" accuses the Us Administration of having used a small nuclear penetration bomb with an energy of 5 kilotons between the Iraqi town of Basra and the border with Iran.
EAST Anglia came to the brink of nuclear destruction at the height of the Cold War, an astonishing new book has revealed. Missiles at RAF Feltwell, near Thetford, and nearby satellite bases were poised to launch within eight minutes with retaliation from Soviet nuclear weapons almost certain.
Areva and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding have partnered to build a new manufacturing and engineering facility in Newport News, Virginia, to supply the growing American nuclear energy sector.
A Toshiba-Westinghouse consortium has been awarded a 10-year contract worth over E100 million by EDF for the renewal of stator coils in the generators of more than 10 nuclear power plants in France.
The Lithuanian government has welcomed the backing by European Union (EU) heads of government at a summit in Brussels to connect the electricity grids of all the EU countries surrounding the Baltic Sea, to strengthen their energy security. Nuclear-dependent Lithuania (like neighbours Latvia and Estonia) does not have power interconnectors to other EU countries. And with the Ignalina nuclear power plant earmarked for closure in 2009, it may need to import power.
Poland has asked South Korea for help in building its first nuclear power plants by 2012, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said on Friday.
Sweden's on-hold policy of phasing out its nuclear power industry has been roundly criticised in an International Energy Agency (IEA) assessment of Swedish energy policy. Releasing the report, Nobuo Tanaka, IEA executive director noted nuclear power provides almost half of the electricity in Sweden, at a low cost and without CO2 emissions. "It is hard to see how phasing out nuclear power could serve Sweden's broader energy and climate policy goals.
India's nuclear authorities have admitted radioactive scrap was exported from the country to make lift buttons in France.
A WELSH Labour MP has accused the UK Government of covering up a deal that will land taxpayers with a multi-billion- pound liability in the event of a nuclear accident while a private consortium will reap the profits. Newport West MP Paul Flynn discovered that details of a contract to privatise the management of waste from the controversial Sellafield nuclear power station in Cumbria should have been placed in the House of Commons library in July. If they had been, MPs would have had 14 days in which to raise questions about the deal. In fact, the contract was not put into the library until last week, by which time the opportunity to scrutinise it had gone.
SELLAFIELD'S industrial workers are voting again on a pay offer which has left them taking industrial action over the last few weeks.
The debate as to whether the UK's stockpile of plutonium – most of which is held at Sellafield – should be considered an asset or a liability could have a major impact on the economic future of region. The government, through the NDA, have yet to decide on what should be done with the stockpile, which is currently considered an asset of no value on their balance sheets. The West Cumbria Site Stakeholder Group is hosting the meeting, which will take place in Cleator Moor Civic/Masonic Hall, on Tuesday from 1pm until 4pm. Entry is free and all are welcome.
A new organisation aiming to strengthen the physical protection and security of the world's nuclear and radioactive materials and facilities was formally launched at a ceremony on 29 September, at the opening day of the IAEA's 52nd General Conference in Vienna. The World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS) aims to provide nuclear security professionals with a forum where sensitive information may be discussed openly among members, to help them share best practices and implement security improvements quickly and effectively.
John Denham, skills secretary, wades into a row on foreign labour being hired for big infrastructure projects today by promising that £98m will be targeted at nuclear power and other sectors to ensure local workers are not disadvantaged. The move comes amid a row between unions and construction firms after two Spanish contractors started to use foreign staff to build a £600m gas-fired power station for RWE in Nottinghamshire at a time of mounting unemployment in the area.
John Pilger: Claims of child abuse are proving a fertile pretext to menace the Aboriginal communities lying in the way of uranium mining.
John McCain raised the spectre of a nuclear crisis if Barack Obama wins the White House, as he hammered his rival over Joe Biden's claims that foreign enemies would test the young Democrat within six months of him taking office.
US defense group Northrop Grumman and French nuclear giant Areva said Thursday they have teamed up to manufacture nuclear reactor components in the United States to supply rising demand.
Final standards for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository for spent fuel and high-level waste published by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) address possible radiation exposures to the public over a million years into the future.
Jordan signed on Thursday a preliminary nuclear cooperation deal with South Korea as part of the kingdom's efforts to meet its growing energy needs.
France's EDF, the world's biggest nuclear power utility, would help revive atomic energy in Italy if the country lifted a 20-year ban, EDF Italia head Bruno D'Onghia said on Thursday. Italy banned nuclear power in a 1987 referendum after the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine. But the nuclear-friendly government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi wants to lift the ban and start building nuclear power stations in 2013.
A FRESH row has erupted over the future of Faslane Naval Base. Defence Secretary John Hutton visited the base last week to reinforce the government's pledge to keep nuclear weapons in Scotland. But the SNP, which has committed itself to ridding the country of the weapons, used his visit to reinforce its message that Trident must go.
Drax Group, the owner of Britain's most carbon-intensive power station, is turning green with a £2bn plan to build the country's first large-scale biomass plants which burn plant-based materials. The three facilities in Hull, Immingham and probably the North Yorkshire village of Drax itself, will have the capacity to produce 900 megawatts of electricity – enough to supply 3% of the country's total needs – but environmental groups warned that Drax must ensure the crop fuel is sustainable.
Britain will be unable to reach its target for renewable energy by 2020 without "wholesale changes on all fronts" to its current strategy, a parliamentary committee will warn today. The UK has been set a target of producing 15 per cent of its energy use from renewables by 2020, compared with a 2005 level of 1.3 per cent. The overall European Union goal is for a 20 per cent renewable share. The House of Lords' EU committee highlighted the importance of the UK reaching its own target. Lord Freeman said: "If we fail to meet this goal, the UK will become increasingly reliant on nuclear and fossil fuel power." The report recognises that reaching the target will lead to increased energy costs for consumers.
Ministers are preparing concessions to head off a Labour rebellion over plans to exclude aviation and shipping from new targets to cut Britain's carbon emissions.
RWE, Germany's second-biggest power supplier, plans to take part in up to five nuclear power projects outside Germany, its chairman said in a newspaper interview Wednesday.
Letter from Dr Brian Jones: It is disturbing to learn of the staggering shortage of inspectors available to deal with the nuclear industry and the HSE's complacency. Even in times of austerity we must invest to ensure the best and most able professionals are given the responsibility to oversee critical activities that relate to the nations security, health and wellbeing. The new nuclear industry will need the tightest possible regulation. The reward and status for the inspectors must be on a par with the industry itself.
BRITAIN'S Health and Safety Executive is offering skilled nuclear inspectors sweeteners of up to £20,000 on top of salaries to join the agency to prepare for new nuclear building programmes. Battling to recruit up to 50 inspectors to cope with its existing workload in the nuclear industry and the vital assessment of the reactors being put forward to meet government plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations.
UK nuclear tests conducted in the 1950s have left veterans and their children with a variety of congenital diseases, according to a backbench Tory MP.
A French company yesterday acknowledged that it has inadvertently supplied slightly radioactive steel parts around Europe. The French division of Otis, the American elevator company, ordered the recall of buttons installed in Britain over the past couple of months in 500 lifts.
A GROUP of experts in highly radioactive work from around the world have been visiting the newly-created National Nuclear Laboratory at Sellafield.
Turkey expects to complete a nuclear power station tender within one or two weeks after 'some questions are asked' to the winning Russian firm, Energy Minister Hilmi Guler told reporters on Wednesday. A bidding consortium comprised of Russian Atomstroyexport and Inter Rao along with Turkey's Park Teknik Group was sole bidder.
Stern: Let us learn the lessons and take the opportunity of the coincidence of the crisis and the deepening awareness of the great danger of unmanaged climate change: now is the time to lay the foundations for a world of low-carbon growth.
The University of East Anglia said today the launch of a biomass power station would slash its carbon emissions. The university hopes the £8m plant will help it become the most sustainable campus in the country. The power station, which will use locally-sourced wood chips, is expected to cut the university's emissions by a third after two years.
Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged are awaiting the verdict of the landmark case against the Government, saying that Labour has failed in its promise to end fuel poverty for the vulnerable by 2010 and for all by 2016. Although £20 billion has been spent fighting the problem since 2000, it is estimated that five million households spent more than 10 per cent of their income – the trigger point for fuel poverty.
As many as 20,000 more pensioners could die this winter as they try to cut back on heating following the sharp rise in energy prices, new research warned.
More than 50 countries have alerted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that they are considering utilizing nuclear power, the head of the United Nations body said today.
A future Tory administration would give "a level playing field" to the nuclear industry as leading power firms prepare to start building the next generation of reactors across the UK.
Andy Atkins, FoE's new Director says: the nuclear debate is a total red herring because we can't get emissions down fast enough relying on nuclear.
French power engineering company Alstom has signed a framework agreement with French utility EDF for the renovation of 900MW and 1,300MW generators in its nuclear power plants.
EDF has made it clear that on top of its plans to sell 25 per cent of BE to British Gas parent Centrica, it is keen to form partnerships with British companies. It is good news for a number of Yorkshire companies including Leeds-based Spice, Wakefield-based Redhall and MG Bennett of Rotherham, which was bought by WS Atkins, Europe's biggest engineering consultant, earlier this month.
The Duchess of Cornwall will tour the Royal Navy's largest and most powerful submarine, HMS Astute in Barrow-in-Furness.


LONDON — OCTOBER 17, 2008 – Driven by continued buoyancy in the notebook market and the additional momentum created by the new "Mini Notebook" segment, PC shipments recorded a robust 27% increase in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) in the 3rd quarter 2008 compared with the same quarter last year, according to preliminary data released by IDC EMEA.
Despite gloomy economic confidence in several European countries, notebooks continued to drive overall market growth at over 52% year on year as consumer demand showed no sign of slowing down in Western Europe and continued to grow in CEE and MEA, while the market also benefited from sustained demand in the business space. "This quarter benefited not only from continued and robust consumer demand for mainstream notebooks as anticipated, but also from an acceleration and confirmation of the uptake of the new "Mini Notebook" segment with the proliferation of low-cost ultra portable products and deals through telco operators which contributed to boost consumer demand further", said Karine Paoli, associate vice president for IDC's EMEA Personal Computing research.
"Mini notebooks saw a surge during the back-to-school season with IDC estimating over 2 million units shipped in EMEA in 3Q08", said Eszter Morvay, senior research analyst for IDC's EMEA PC tracker. "Although the retail channel remained the primary route-to-market to reach consumers, mini notebook volumes were further boosted by the rising number of telco deals across several countries, enticing customers with free laptops bundled with mobile broadband, benefiting Asus and Acer in particular. Whilst the retail shelves were dominated by Asus in the first half of the year, the competition heated up over the summer months with Acer deploying strong push across the region. The appealing product design coupled with the right price point earned Asus and Acer a combined market share of over 80% in this rapidly expanding market. Mini notebooks are clearly shaking up the competitive landscape, which is likely to get even more fierce in the pre-Christmas season with several vendors launching products from October, and potentially pushing mini notebooks volumes in EMEA towards the 4 million range in 4Q08", she added.
"While the financial crisis that hit Europe in October may lead to intensifying economic pressure over the coming months and slowing business investment trends, the development expected of the new "Mini Notebook" segment could well balance the impact of any potential downturn and maintain buoyancy in the EMEA PC market in 2009, at least in unit terms. Continued price erosion and potential currency fluctuations will however add pressure in revenue and profit terms for several vendors." added Karine Paoli.
This quarter marked significant change in the top vendor ranking in EMEA with Acer taking the #1 spot in EMEA while Asus stepped further up to 4th place in the overall ranking.
Acermade an explosive entry in the mini notebook market, which, combined with continued growth of its mainstream notebooks as well as desktops, propelled the Taiwanese vendor to 1st place in the overall EMEA PC market ranking for the first time. Acer deployed a massive push of its Aspire One across both the retail and telco channels, which contributed to soaring volumes, further strengthening its position in the notebook market. The vendor also continued to gain share in the desktop space, benefiting from the exit of local players from the Western European desktop market.
HPdisplayed solid growth at over 20% overall in EMEA, further strengthening its position in the desktop market, benefiting from corporate renewals in Western Europe and continued expansion in the CEMA region. However notebook growth remained below expectations as the vendor was not able to leverage from the current buoyancy in mini notebook demand. As a result, HP's performance was constrained particularly in the consumer segment, and pushed vendor into 2nd place in the overall EMEA ranking.
Dellmaintained positive growth and a strong 3rd place in the overall EMEA ranking although share declined slightly. The vendor continued to leverage from its solid business footprint, and maintained strong positions across both commercial desktop and notebook markets in Western Europe, whilst driving further expansion in CEMA. However Dell also suffered from the late and limited launch of its mini notebook, which constrained overall notebook volumes this quarter.
Asusstepped further up to 4th place shipping over 2 million units this quarter, leveraging from the unabated success of the Eee PC product range. Boasting the largest mini notebook portfolio with varied spec options, the vendor maintained strong push into the retail channel, whilst sealing a multitude of deals with telco operators across EMEA. The elevated exposure and brand recognition gained through the Eee PC also contributed to strong growth of its mainstream notebook portfolio.
Toshibacontinued to deliver solid performance with growth reaching over 40% across EMEA. The vendor's results were driven by sustained expansion in MEA and CEE in particular, whilst maintaining healthy performance in Western Europe as well, despite the lack of a mini notebook offering.
*PC shipments = desktop and notebooks.
(1) Acer shipments in 3Q08 include Acer, Gateway, and Packard Bell brands, following the acquisition by Acer of Gateway and Packard Bell.
(2) Acer, Gateway/eMachines and Packard Bell shipments for 3Q07 are aggregated in the additional row to allow easier year-on-year comparison. This is provided however solely for comparison purposes, as the three companies were separate entities prior to the acquisitions.
Shipments are branded shipments for all form factors (including desktop and notebooks) and exclude x86 servers as well as OEM sales for all vendors. Data for all vendors is reported for calendar periods.
For more information on IDC's EMEA Quarterly PC Tracker or other IDC personal computing research services, contact Associate Vice President Karine Paoli, +44 (0) 20 8987 7218, or email kpaoli@idc.com. Alternatively, contact your local IDC office or visit www.idc.com.


The subsidiaries argued that they or HP would be in contempt of the US court and might be sanctioned. But the judge held that they had not met their burden under English law to obtain leave to make a disclosure for reasons unrelated to the UK litigation. As a technical matter, the judge reasoned they had now shown that they, rather than HP, might be sanctioned by the US court. But leaving that issue aside, the judge held that the subsidiaries had not shown that the need to make a disclosure outweighed the policies of the English nondisclosure rules.
However, I feel sure that the relevant US courts will appreciate and take into account that I must apply the law of this jurisdiction in accordance with the public policy considerations which underlie it; that in accordance with that law and policy the documents are in a sense held to this court's order and subject to its protection; and that in denying to their parent what under US law they are obliged to provide, but which under English law they are not in a position or bound to deliver to it, the Applicants, having quite properly sought directions, are not flouting the US Court's will or jurisdiction; rather, they are being required to abide by the laws and rules of court to which they have submitted in bringing these proceedings and in obtaining the advantages of this court's rules and processes, including disclosure to them of documentation and statements they would not otherwise have had.
A couple of thoughts on the case: first, I suppose the US authorities might do better to seek the evidence pursuant to the two countries' mutual legal assistance treaty. The decision doesn't make clear why that didn't happen.
Second, I think it is useful to consider the case alongside Kiobel v. Cravath, Swaine & Moore, in which the Second Circuit disapproved of attempts to use § 1782 to direct a subpoena to a law firm that had documents in its possession, subject to a protective order, because of its work in a foreign lawsuit. As the law of cross-border discovery develops, it may just be that courts are skeptical about attempts to obtain documents from parties that have them only because of their participation in a foreign lawsuit, despite the orthodox (US) rule that a protective order does not trump a subpoena.


Asian chicken salad. Why is it so good? Perhaps the crunchiness or the delicious sweet sauce. Not sure, but I sometimes crave it. After having one for lunch, my craving wasn't yet gone. So I tried my own home-made version for dinner and want to share the recipe with you. The recipe doesn't have wontons or noodles. I don't find them necessary for texture because you get the crunchiness from the vegetables.
Then chop up the carrots and mix in.
Then chop up the ends of the snow peas and throw the ends out. Keep the middle part and slice it thinly.
I ended up using both snow peas and snap peas for texture. I kept the snap peas whole. You don't need both. Just the snow peas chopped up like the ones above are enough.
To blanch the snow peas (and snap peas), boil water. Then shut it off and drop them in for 2 minutes. Then strain them and let them cool off.
While the peas are cooling off, get started on the chicken. Preheat the oven to 400F.
Prepare the seasoning for the chicken by mixing in the parsley, tarragon, paprika, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Then add the olive oil and mix it all together.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add the chicken to the bowl, mix it in well and then place the chicken on the baking sheet.
Put the baking sheet in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. While the chicken is in the oven, prepare the salad dressing.
Mix in the honey, vinegar, sesame oil, paprika and chili powder.
When the 10-15 min have gone by, flip the chicken.
Put the chicken back in the oven for another 3-5 minutes.
At this point, season the salad. Because only two of us are eating the salad, I seasoned only half of the amount I prepared – so that what we don't eat doesn't get soggy. The other half I didn't season was covered up and put in the fridge.
Plate the salad, cut the chicken into strips if you wish, put the chicken on top and voila!


Not even your annuity salesman!
. . . it is perfectly legal for some advisers to steer customers into complex financial products that will earn the highest rewards, perks and prizes for the advisers – even if they are bad options for their customers. Research suggests that this loophole costs Americans an estimated $17 billion every year. That's $17 billion taken out of the pockets of retirees by unscrupulous advisers who are more interested in collecting fees and prizes for themselves than helping families build real security.
Thirteen of the 15 major annuity providers investigated acknowledged providing these incentives.
Which would be okay if the sales person were straigtforward.
But this is not how annuities are generally pitched.
Don't forget to watch the Republican debate tonight.


text:
Yahoo's Charge Against YouTube May Be Fuelled By $300 Million Acquisition
By Adnan Farooqui, on 04/01/2014 09:23 PDT
Its no secret that Yahoo wants to take on YouTube. The Google owned video site is the largest in the world, boasting over 12.6 billion views in January, according to stats released by comScore. Obviously catching up to it will take a lot of time. Yahoo has tried acquiring stakes in major online video sites in the past but it hasn't exactly been too lucky. Apparently now it has set its sights on video syndication service News Distribution Network. According to the Wall Street Journal, people briefed on the matter claim Yahoo may pay as much as $300 million for NDN.
Last year Yahoo tried to buy a controlling stake in Dailymotion, but reportedly the French government was opposed to the deal. It also made a bid for Hulu, but the owners decided not to sell, so Yahoo struck out as well. The company did get rights to popular shows like Saturday Night Live and even hired popular TV personality Katie Couric to serve as "Global Anchor." It also launched an app called Yahoo Screen, which includes clips from licensed content.
NDN doesn't actually make its own video content. It simply makes over 100,000 videos available from partners like local TV news stations to editors at major websites such as Bloomberg, New York Daily News and the Los Angeles Times. With 573 million video views in January, NDN is the fourth largest video website so far this year. It offers clips on a variety of topics such as politics, news, sports and more. Have the syndication service under its belt would allow Yahoo to expand its video business to countless new websites.
However, the sources claim that talks between Yahoo and News Distribution Network are still in a very early stage. The possibility exists that it may take a while before a deal is reached, or the talks may fall through altogether.
Filed in Web. Read more about Yahoo and YouTube.
'Baby Shark' Is The First YouTube Video To Hit 10 Billion Views
YouTube Renews Their Deal With Disney, Won't Be Leaving YouTube TV
YouTube TV Will Lose Disney Content This Friday, But Will Also Be Cheaper
YouTube Premium Subscribers Will Get Three Months Free PC Game Pass
$20 Million In Music Royalties Were Stolen From YouTube
Safari Extension Brings YouTube Picture-In-Picture To All Users


text:
Q: Import module with absolute path using jsconfig.json not working in Node JS It is difficult to refer the modules using relative path in the project. To achieve this we tried to using jsconfig.json on the client (react) project to refer from the absolute path. Below is my jsconfig.json file. It is working fine.
{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "baseUrl": "./src"
  }
}

I am not able to achieve the same on server ( node js ) project. Getting the error messages

cannot find module

Any reference would be appreciated.

A: You can use baseUrl along with paths to fix the errors.
Paths allow us to aggregate a list directories under a predefined name and drastically reduce the length of the imports.
Here is a template on how to setup them your jsconfig.json.
jsconfig.json
{
    "compilerOptions": {
        "baseUrl": ".",
        "paths": {
            "@routes/*": [
                "./routes/*"
            ],
            "@models/*": [
                "./models/*"
            ],
            "@datetime/*": [
                "./utils/datetime/*"
            ]
        }
    }
}

We are aggregating all the files in the models folder under the name @models. The same is the case for routes and datetime. We would be able to reference the folders using @routes, @models, and @datetime in the import statement.
So, after you've setup your jsconfig, you need to change the relative paths to absolute paths. For example:
server.js
// Before jsconfig
import adminRoutes from "../../src/routes/admin"
// After jsconfig
import adminRoutes from "@routes/admin"

I hope it helps!
Read the source for more details.


text:
Background 24 Mar 2016 1 comment
Farmers protest in London
The streets of London were taken over on Wednesday by around 1,000 farmers who were protesting over the state of the UK's agriculture industry.
Campaign group, Farmers For Action, had organised the event to try and encourage the British government to do more to help cash strapped farmers.
In the early morning, farmers and protesters arrived by coach in Westminster to take part in the march. The organisers said they wanted the Prime Minister to take action to save the farming industry. FFA leader and dairy farmer David Handley said: "We keep getting soundbites from ministers, saying they're listening and have a 25-year strategy plan. "But the majority of farmers here today want to know how they will get through the next 12 months. "Falling prices across the industry are making production unsustainable. People cannot take this any longer."
A spokesperson from Defra, the UK government's agriculture department, said: "We understand the pressures facing farming in what is a very challenging time with global volatility and low commodity prices. "From opening new export markets and introducing a fairer tax system for farmers to reducing red tape and giving them access to the latest market data to help them manage their businesses, we are taking action to help ensure the long-term resilience of an industry vital for our economy and our countryside."
Dairy farmers have been hit the hardest and have seen their incomes plummet over the past year. Demand for dairy produce has fallen due to the embargo by Russia on food imports and a reduction in demand from China. Dairy farmer Nigel Batten from Tenby in Pembrokeshire told the BBC the farming industry was "on its knees" and was facing a "crisis."
He said: "We have volatility in the dairy industry; we have nothing controlling the production of milk. It just goes from one extreme to the other," he said. "One minute they want more milk so farmers expand their businesses, the next they want less. "I would say 20% of dairy farmers are not going to survive the next 12 months. "And if the industry collapses, we will see devastation in west Wales as so much of the area relies on farming." It has been reported that one in five of the UK's 10,000 plus dairy farmers could pull out of milking cows if the dire situation continues.
Chris McCullough
Freelance multi-media journalist
Markets & Trade
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OKIDO is a monthly magazine designed to help young children and their families find their inner scientist through creativity and play.
Help little musicians find their place in the orchestra.
Bake some deliciously musical cheese batons.
Read the 'dum-diddy dum' poem and violin story.
Find Foxy in a forest full of instruments.
Experiment with high and low sounds.
Learn all about Debussy and the music of Impressionism.
Play the musical score game using semibreves, minims, crochets and quavers.
Draw your favourite band or singer – or draw yourself on stage!
OKIDO magazine is designed to keep children engaged for hours with things they can do on their own as well as with grown ups. All OKIDO's materials are developed by scientists and educators and are designed to turbocharge STEAM learning skills. OKIDO is filled with scientific facts that relate to the world around us.
Each issue is printed on FSC paper using biodegradable vegetable inks.
You can also Subscribe to OKIDO for six or 12 months.


DHAKA - Bangladesh's 43-run win in the first ODI against New Zealand was an important boost for a side that, prior to the series opener, had only two wins in six games this year. The win also improved their record against New Zealand, which now stands at five successive ODI wins, dating back to their 4-0 win three years ago.
New Zealand, meanwhile, have been served a timely reminder that they are yet to win a match on this tour. The visitors drew the Test series 0-0, but hardly looked convincing enough to push for victory. In Mirpur, on Tuesday, they ended up conceding a game they could have won at several points.
New Zealand didn't make the most of the start given by Tim Southee and while they did make a comeback of sorts in the last 10 overs, they were still faced with a target of 266. Their chase began poorly with the opening pair of Anton Devcich and Hamish Rutherford - the fifth in 13 games this year - falling to casual dismissals. They fought back after the rain break but Rubel Hossain's brilliant spell of bowling under pressure turned out to be their undoing.
Although Kane Williamson has been ruled out of the rest of the series due to a thumb injury, New Zealand can take confidence from Grant Elliott's 71 off 77 balls. Corey Anderson's all-round show and James Neesham's four-wicket haul are also positives for New Zealand. Their spin attack, however, is a major concern, particularly if they bowl second under lights in Mirpur. For Bangladesh, the biggest gain was winning without Shakib Al Hasan, who was hospitalised due to dengue fever. Naeem Islam stepped up to the challenge of replacing Shakib and partnered Mushfiqur well in their 154-run stand. However, Bangladesh need runs from Tamim Iqbal, Nasir Hossain and Mominul Haque, who was a victim of poor calling by Anamul Haque.
Corey Anderson has had a productive tour, scoring his maiden Test hundred and turning in a useful all-round performance in the first ODI. He took two wickets for 46, and scored 46 off 31 balls, nearly taking the game away from Bangladesh. Expect more from Anderson, especially with the bat. Rubel Hossain has had an up-and-down career for almost five years, but he finally has a performance to be proud of. His 6 for 26 equaled the record for the best bowling figures in an innings by a Bangladesh bowler and he became the third Bangladeshi to take an ODI hat-trick.
Confidence has made him a better bowler these days and the boost in the first ODI will help even more.
Williamson's thumb injury is a big blow for New Zealand as he was their best batsman on the tour. Luke Ronchi is slated to replace Williamson, but will only reach Bangladesh before the final ODI, so the team management will have to pick between Colin Munro and Tom Latham. Brendon McCullum has talked about rotating his bowlers, so Adam Milne or Kyle Mills could feature in place of Mitchell McClenaghan. Bangladesh are likely to field an unchanged side.
BANGLADESH: Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), Naeem Islam, Nasir Hossain, Mahmudullah, Sohag Gazi, Abdur Razzak, Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain.