text:
True Crime: White Privilege and a Police Killing in an Obama-Mad College Town
by Paul Street
Iowa City, Iowa went wild for Barack Obama in '08, earning a reputation among it's more conservative neighbors as "The People's Republic of Johnson County." But when a white deputy sheriff shot to death a homeless Black man at the urging of a local white drunk, the "liberal" oasis behaved much like any racist backwater town.
"Obama's victory could perhaps be stoking the fires of an ugly white backlash."
Imagine, if you will, a small, predominantly white city with growing poverty and crime in a small, highly segregated black section of its South East side. Imagine that a black university professor in the city warns the local newspaper that "a black man will be killed this summer by a local police officer, probably under unclear circumstances." The professor also predicts that the town's "citizens will be insufficiently enraged" by the shooting.
Later in the same year, on a warm evening near the end of July, an older white university custodian has too much to drink at a tavern near the city's central business district. As he and his wife leave the bar, the custodian spies a drunken 26-year-old black man fumbling with some bottles in a parking lot across the street. The black man is one of the city's many homeless people who collect cans and bottles for recycling at five cents per container.
The 63-year-old facilities worker crosses the street to verbally harass and physically assault the young black man for spilling some bottles. As a different university professor (this one white) will note later, the white janitor appears to think that he has been specially "deputized to monitor inebriated young black guys and make sure – using physical force if necessary – they clean up their littler."
The custodian insists on forcing a confrontation with the black man despite his wife yelling at him to leave. A bloody commotion ensues. After the white man begins his attack, the black man pulls out a short pocketknife and stabs the white man in self-defense.
"The white janitor appears to think that he has been specially "deputized to monitor inebriated young black guys."
A deputy with the local county sheriff's department happens upon the scene. The deputy is a white male, 45 years old. He specializes in evictions, not violent altercations. Still, he carries a deadly .40 Glock pistol as he rushes from his car.
The officer displays his badge, identifies himself as a deputy, and points his gun at the black man. He orders the two men to separate. The janitor violates the order, knocking the black man to the ground with a single shot to the head. Keeping his Glock pointed at the black man, the officer tells the white man to "run away." The janitor screams at the officer, telling him to shoot the black man.
The officer tells the black man to stay down on the ground. When the drunken black man staggers to his feat and allegedly "lurches" toward the officer, the deputy blows him away with a single fatal shot. The black man dies in a matter of minutes.
The white janitor is taken to the hospital to be treated for his pocket- knife wound. He is never charged with assault or anything else. His blood alcohol is not tested. His role in provoking the terrible incident goes uninvestigated.
"The janitor screams at the officer, telling him to shoot the black man."
The local city police department tells the local newspaper that the shooting was justifiable. The killing resulted, the paper dutifully reports, from a terrible assault on a local "citizen" by a menacing "transient." The official police statement, repeated by the local press, reads as follows: "The deputy confronted the knife-wielding transient. The transient ignored the deputy's repeated commands to drop the knife... Instead, the armed transient advanced threateningly toward the already injured city resident and was shot by the deputy." There is no mention of how the white custodian disobeyed the officer's orders and continued to assault the black man.
But a very dissimilar take on the killing appears within days on the front page of a different newspaper, based in a larger municipality thirty miles north. Here are ten paragraphs from a story based on the testimony of two telecommunications workers (who I shall call Telcom A and Telcom B) who witnessed the shooting from inside a car parked in direct proximity to the incident:
"'There was no knife, there was no lunging,' Telcom A said. 'I saw a cop shoot a guy in cold blood.' Telcom Worker B, 22, and Telcom Worker A, 40, who both work for a [local] telecommunications company, got off work at 7 p.m. Friday and drove with another co-worker to [a local bar] to have a drink. As their vehicle was coming out of the alley next to City Electric, which was blocked by bags of cans and bottles and some broken glass, they saw the episode unfolding to their left and turned off the radio so they could hear what was going on."
"A skinny black man was lying on the pavement with his head against the tire of a car about 40 feet away. He was missing teeth, his clothes were dirty and he had blood on his torso."
"The deputy, wearing civilian clothes, had a gun pointed at the man, and a third man -- whose side was covered in blood [that would be the custodian] -- was standing next to the deputy telling him to shoot, Telcom A and B said."
"I saw a cop shoot a guy in cold blood."
"The homeless man on the ground appeared to be drunk, they said. The deputy told him not to get up, or he would shoot, Telcom A and B said."
"'I don't give a f---,' the homeless man responded. The deputy repeated the threat, and ordered the man to stay down."
"Again, the homeless man said he didn't care. Then he stood up, spread his arms, and stumbled a few feet to the side before the deputy shot him in the chest from about 15 feet away, Telcom Workers 1 and 2 said."
"The two men insisted the homeless man had no knife when he was shot."
"In fact, Telcom B said, the homeless man was wobbling, and, though he disobeyed the deputy, he never made a threatening move."
"It wasn't aggressive," Telcom A said. 'He was just drunk.'"
"… 'He could hardly stand,' Telcom B said of the homeless man."
The Telcom workers do not tell their story directly to the police for an obvious reason: fear. People who believe they have just witnessed a police murder are not generally excited at the prospect of reporting it to the police.
The Telcom workers are served subpoenas by the local police. They reluctantly testify on what they saw.
Other witnesses never testify because of fear.
A few days after the shooting, the aforementioned black professor convenes a meeting of concerned local residents at the local city's public library. About forty people, at least half of them black, show up to discuss recent events and what to do. Black citizens and one white lady (the mother of two bi-racial young men) stand up to tell harrowing tales of local police harassment.
"People who believe they have just witnessed a police murder are not generally excited at the prospect of reporting it to the police."
Half way through the meeting, a local white university liberal suggests that everyone walk over to meet with the city police. During a meeting with a police lieutenant, the professor expresses the group's desire for a full and comprehensive investigation of the shooting.
No such investigation occurs, really.
Under existing law, the state's attorney general's office is required to issue a "finding of facts" related to cases in which citizens are killed by police officers.
The homeless black man is buried. The deputy is placed on administrative leave – standard procedure after an officer shoots somebody. The custodian refuses to talk to anyone.
Nearly two months go by. Then, quite suddenly, the attorney general's review (the "AG report") of the incident is issued, with remarkably short notice to concerned citizens, in late September. To nobody's surprise, the AG report amounts to a complete exoneration of the deputy. The killing was justified, the report claims. The white deputy gets a pass. So does the white custodian, who created the horrible episode in the first place. The Telecommunications workers' testimony is completely disregarded. In the press conference where the report is released, officials discuss the possibility of investigating those workers for false testimony.
A number of black residents and concerned white citizens express anger and concern at the press release. But the AG report, like the shooting itself, elicits little outrage among the local populace, consistent with the black professor's prediction. Released on a Friday, it does not even get mentioned in the local paper's weekend content, which is obsessed with a major university football contest.
"The killing was justified, the report claims."
Two weeks after the report, the paper prints a column by a local white criminal justice instructor. The report hails the deputy who killed the young black man as a "hero. He was able," the instructor claims, "to accomplish in his career what few peace officers will ever do: He saved the life of another human being. For this he is to be highly praised by all of us. Thank you deputy."
After stating that he "could not believe the fast response times of the local city police and the county ambulance service" in the incident, the instructor ends his column by suggesting that "criminal and civil proceedings" should he brought against the telecommunications workers who "gave false information, under court order, to the police."
The instructor criticizes the "set minds" of "the racists who interject race into every event that involves different racial or ethnic groups." He says in essence that you are over-generalizing racist if you think racism was involved in the killing that took place.
Meanwhile, the local city council responds to rising crime and racial tensions in and around the city's small black ghetto by passing an "anti-loitering" law modeled on similar ordinances in larger cities with bigger black populations. The law forbids people from congregating on streets or sidewalks "in such a way as might hinder traffic." It is a useful device to permit escalated arrests of young blacks.It will not be used very much to hinder mass gatherings around predominantly white students in and around the local area.
Now, as it happens all of this took place. None of it is made up. There's no imagination required.
"The anti-loitering law is a useful device to permit escalated arrests of young blacks."
Where did it all occur? Not, as many Americans would probably guess, in a southern town in the 20th century. It took place rather this year in a "liberal," "progressive," and northern university town that is immensely proud of itself for its role in helping make Barack Obama the nation's first black president.
The first local newspaper mentioned – the one that initially reported the police version of the killing practically verbatim – is the Iowa City Press-Citizen, owned by the national Gannet chain.
The second paper mentioned – the one that published the counter-narrative from the workers I called "Telcom 1" and "Telcom 2" – is The Gazette, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Gazette story told of a "cold-blooded" police murder of an innocent black man: "Deputy Shot Man 'In Cold Blood': Witness," The Gazette, July 26, 2009, 1A.
The local university mentioned is the University of Iowa.
The 26-year old black man who was killed was named John Deng, a Sudanese refugee who lived on the streets of Iowa City.
The officer who killed Deng is Terry Stotler, a deputy with the Sheriff's Department that is attached to what local Republicans absurdly refer to as "The People's Republic of Johnson County" (an attempt to claim that the predominantly Democratic country containing Iowa City is "leftist").
The custodian who started the fatal incident is John Bohnenkamp, a long-term employee of the University of Iowa.
"Iowa has the worst black-white disparity in terms of comparative incarceration rates in the U.S."
The black professor who predicted a police killing of a black male to be followed by local indifference, is Dr. Vershawn Young, who teaches rhetoric at the University of Iowa.
The white criminal justice instructor who praised Stotler as "a hero" and called for the criminal investigation of Telcom 1 and Telcom 2 is Greg Roth, an ex-policeman who teaches at Iowa City's Kirkwood Community College.
The state whose attorney general's office issued the report exonerating the deputy is of course Iowa. That state has the worst black-white disparity in terms of comparative incarceration rates in the U.S. – this in a nation with more than 2 million prisoners, more than 40 percent of whom are black even as blacks comprise just 12 percent of the country.
I am not going to give the names of the telecommunications workers who reported a "cold-blooded" police murder or of other individuals who witnessed a very different version of the events than what was suggested in the initial local police and press reports and in the "final" AG report.
The bar from which Bohnenkamp existed before assaulting Deng is named "The Hawkeye Hideaway." It is located a block west of Gilbert Street on Prentiss Street in Iowa City, Iowa, across the street from The Electric Supply Company, whose parking lot provided the setting for Deng's death.
The white university professor quoted above is named Cliff Messen, who recently noted the following in a courageous Press-Citizen column:
"Deng, who probably died a frightened man who thought he was defending himself against a raging drunk, is buried."
"Meanwhile, the residents of Johnson County look on in silence:"
"The white ones quietly appreciating their privilege;"
"The black ones learning that they cannot be caught even littering."
"Where are the white community leaders who will stand up and say, 'This is simply wrong?'"
"One lesson of Barack Obama's election is that there is curiously little to be concretely gained by most black Americans."
No such leaders have been found in Iowa City, where it is one thing to claim to be anti-racist because of your willingness to caucus and vote for a "black but not like Jesse" candidate and president who has bent over backwards not to offend white sensibilities. It is another thing to confront the real daily privileges afforded by white supremacy and the living legacy and ongoing reality of anti-black racial oppression in American life.
For what its worth, the difference between (A) electing a bourgeois president (or mayor or governor) who happens to be black (if thoroughly enmeshed with the predominantly white corporate and imperial elite) and (B) undertaking a serious engagement with deeply entrenched social disparities when it comes to attacking the problem of racism, is well understood in much of the black community. For many black Americans and for anti-racists of all colors, one lesson (already clear to many beneath but fading excitement over the emergence of a technically black chief executive) of Barack Obama's election is that there is curiously little to be concretely gained by most black Americans, and more perhaps to be lost (see below) from (A). Only (B) carries serious promise of advancing racial equality.
Here is a message I received from a teacher of black students in the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) last February:
"Today, I asked a class for which I was subbing (high-school English students, about a dozen, all-black, at one of CPS's actually nice high-school facilities) what they thought of Obama. Their initial reaction was one of, for lack of a better way to say it, pride and joy."
"But upon closer inspection, this turned out to be a rather shallow sentiment. For when I asked them if they expected any real changes under Obama, they all said no."
"So while they are (currently) happy he is in the White House, they know full well that he will be no different from any other president -- and it's not something they only know 'deep down.' They know it pretty close to the surface."
I am reminded of the teacher's reflections as I review the John Deng episode in Obama-mad Iowa City.
"The Obama ascendancy could be translating into change for the worse."
It strikes me, though, that "no change" might be an understatement. For many African-Americans, the Obama ascendancy could be translating into change for the worse insofar as the election of a technically black president reinforces the longstanding conventional white illusion that racism has disappeared and that the only obstacles left to African-American success and equality are internal to individual blacks and their community – the idea that, in Derrick Bell's phrase, "the indolence of blacks rather than the injustice of whites explains the socioeconomic gaps separating the races." "It's hard," Leonard Steinhorn and Barbara Diggs-Brown have noted, "to blame people" for believing (falsely in Steinhorn and Diggs-Brown's view) that racism is dead in America "when our public life is filled with repeated affirmations of the integration ideal and our ostensible progress towards achieving it." In a similar vein, the black scholar Sheryl Cashin noted years ago that "there are [now] enough examples of successful middle-class African-Americans to make many whites believe that blacks have reached parity with them. The fact that some blacks now lead powerful mainstream institutions offers evidence to whites that racial barriers have been eliminated; the issue now is individual effort."
And what could trump the attainment of the U.S. presidency – the most powerful office on Earth – in feeding and locking in that belief? The black Urban Studies professor Marc Lamont Hill said it well in an important CounterPunch critique in early February of 2008: "For whites, an Obama victory would serve as the final piece of evidence that America has reached full racial equality. Such a belief allows them to sidestep mounds of evidence that shows that, despite Obama's claims that 'we are 90 percent of the way to equality,' black people remain consistently assaulted by the forces of white supremacy."
At the same time, Obama's victory could perhaps be stoking the fires of an ugly white backlash that gets taken out on defenseless people like the late John Deng. The arrival of a smooth-talking black president gets one kind of reception from white upper-middle-class AcaDemocratic liberals in a "progressive" town like Iowa City. It may elicit a very different sort of feeling from less privileged white people like John Bohnenkamp, Terry Stotler, and Greg Roth.
Paul Street in an author in Iowa City, Iowa. He is the author of many books, including Racial Oppression in the Global Metropolis: A Living Black Chicago History (New York, 2007).
The idea that Joe Biden would provide harm reduction was created to help the unpopular candidate secure an electoral victory.
Martin Luther King was assassinated when he supported Black workers on strike in Memphis, Tennessee.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Contributor
In under a year, the Biden regime has detained and deported more asylum seekers than his predecessor, demonstrating that there is an alignment among the US political elites – of both parties –


Everything I've started this week has stunk, big time.
There are rainbow string blocks (sort of based on inspired by this tutorial and this awesome tutorial.) There are actually two versions of rainbow string blocks, one of which is a quilt as you go method which I was l o v i n g until I realized that three layers of flannel would smother anyone crazy cold enough to get under it. And the other version, which I just started last night, just looks…wrong, somehow. The too-flannel blocks all went together so well and looked exactly right. These new sets of blocks don't have the same easy going nature, and they are really frustrating me.
In that second link up there, you'll notice that instead of using a rainbow theme, she's using a dark/light theme which looks incredible. So today I dumped out all of my scraps (which had been sorted according to color, for ease of sewing rainbow blocks, of course) and divided them into two piles: one light, one dark. A good blogger would have taken a picture of that, but since I was surrounded by a mother, a nine year old, a sister, a brother in law, a really loud tv and a stress headache, the camera was the last thing on my mind. After an hour of sorting I laid out some dark and light blocks to see if I'd like it, and guess what? I loathed and despised every inch. How that is possible, when someone else's looked so good, is beyond me, but that's the truth.
I did manage to cut out over 50 ten inch blocks to use as foundation pieces for whichever quilt I eventually decide to make, but now I'm wondering if that was a waste of time as well. Not only are my ideas turning into mud, but the fabric that I have tested seems to bunch and curl and basically misbehave at every opportunity, so it may not even be worth using!
The other main area of life I'm working on, besides sewing, is my fitness. I've gained and lost the same eleven pounds in the last two months and am seriously sick of it. I feel like I've set myself into this pattern of eating perfectly for three or four days, then totally sabotaging any healthy standards for the rest of the week. Why I'm doing this to myself, I honestly don't know. I'd say it's just plain laziness but it doesn't feel like that – I spent three hours cooking and packaging good food the day before yesterday, only to find myself succumbing to peer pressure and having ice cream sundaes for dessert with the family. I don't even like ice cream! The Greek yogurt was right there…and I just grabbed the thing closest to me, the ice cream. Why?
I have not worked out – no cardio, no weights – since Tuesday morning. I know the why to this one, but I don't know how to fix it right away. I had a horrible panic attack/high anxiety moment (that lasted an hour and half) Tuesday morning while lifting. It was a really bad one; I ended up throwing up, spending the next two hours shivering in bed, and basically being miserable and scared to death for the next two days. So now I am afraid to get my heart rate up at all. And the weights are smirking at me and asking to be thrown outside. I have an unreasonable fear, which I have had before; I overcame it before by setting a goal of working out a few minutes at a time, every day, until I wasn't afraid to sweat and feel my heart beat happily. This time around it's not working that way. I have a mental block in the way, and don't know how to get it to start inching over…so I am trying not to obsess, because that doesn't help at all.
BUT I am all done whining about my week. Tomorrow is Friday, I am taking the kiddo bathing suit shopping and getting to see my parents and my Brookie B, so nothing can stink too bad on Fridays!
What about you guys? What are you working on? What's frustrating you? What are your Fridays like?
I'm a SAHM with a busy schedule and a love of too many things to count! I sew, I write, I draw, and I love to create. I'm always on the lookout for a new project idea. One other very important thing about me - my house is in a continual state of upheaval and mess. Slowly but surely I'm working through the piles and boxes, but I am still in the process, and some days it seems like it would be much easier to pack up and move!


The Sims 3 Full version pc game free download.Create and customize your own Sims with their personalities and determine the destinies for each. Tune their moods and appearances, travel around new locations in town, fulfill wishes for Sims, build houses and much more to imagine and build it into reality. All the Best!The Sims 3 Games Free Download For PC/Laptop Full Version and start playing now and rember it's farming Games For PC/Laptop,it's the best Free PC games for kids, girls and boys!All listed games are absolutely free games for download!It's barbie games,best building games and cooking games we hope you enjoy your life with this sims,farm and steam games don't forget your mission play these free games now!


Wooden Play Washing Machine is a wonderful addition to any pretend play environment.
This Wooden Washing machine has two turning knobs to control time and wash cycle and an opening door so you can fill the machine with all those grubby clothes.
A great toy for all those domestic roleplay games and a very strong construction ideal for a child or children at home or a class in a kindergarten setting.
We like this because: "Never to young to start learning how to do the washing!"


text:
package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.moduleowner;

import com.google.gerrit.reviewdb.client.Branch;
import com.google.gerrit.reviewdb.client.PatchSet;
import com.google.gerrit.reviewdb.server.ReviewDb;
import com.google.gerrit.server.IdentifiedUser;
import com.google.gerrit.server.git.CodeReviewCommit;
import com.google.gerrit.server.git.validators.MergeValidationException;
import com.google.gerrit.server.git.validators.MergeValidationListener;
import com.google.gerrit.server.project.ProjectState;
import com.google.inject.Inject;
import com.google.inject.Provider;
import com.google.inject.Singleton;
import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Repository;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;

/**
 * Merge validator that rejects merges (submits) if the user does not have the
 * appropriate file-based permissions.
 */
@Singleton
public class MergeUserValidator implements MergeValidationListener {

    //TODO create a better status (or pick a better one)
    private static final String DENY_STATUS =
            "Submit blocked due to missing module owner.";

    private static final Logger log =
            LoggerFactory.getLogger(MergeUserValidator.class);

    private final Provider<ReviewDb> reviewDb;
    private final ModuleOwnerConfigCache configFactory;

    @Inject
    MergeUserValidator(Provider<ReviewDb> reviewDb,
                       ModuleOwnerConfigCache configFactory) {
        this.reviewDb = reviewDb;
        this.configFactory = configFactory;
    }

    /**
     * Reject merges if the submitter does not have the appropriate file permissions.
     */
    @Override
    public void onPreMerge(Repository repo, CodeReviewCommit commit,
                           ProjectState destProject, Branch.NameKey destBranch,
                           PatchSet.Id patchSetId, IdentifiedUser caller)
            throws MergeValidationException {
        ModuleOwnerConfig config = configFactory.get(destProject.getProject().getNameKey());
        if (config != null && config.isEnabled() &&
                !config.isModuleOwner(caller.getAccountId(), repo, commit)) {
            throw new MergeValidationException(DENY_STATUS);
        }

        log.debug("user {} submitted commit {}/{}",
                 caller.getUserName(),
                 destProject.getProject().getNameKey(),
                 commit.getId().getName());
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Their lawmakers won't budge—even if their citizens want them to.
Marijuana is now legal in some form in more than half of the country. And 2018 is already looking good for the cannabis movement with a number of legalization measures currently in state legislatures and slated for the ballot in November. But some states don't seem to be making any progress, with officials even touting disproven theories about the addictive potential of bud. Here are our informed guesses about the states that will legalize marijuana last.
If there's one thing we've learned we can count on from hidebound Alabama politicians, it's that they are always ready to proudly lead us…backward. It seems the good old boys in the Alabama Legislature are continually in some inane contest to prove who can be the most bigoted, benighted, reactionary lawmaker in the chamber. Thank goodness for the state's few pro-cannabis progressives (Rep. Patricia Todd, in particular, deserves a shout-out). But the sad fact of it is, unless voters in the Heart of Dixie suddenly develop an ability to see through the b.s. of their elected officials, this state is going nowhere fast on the legalization front. Kudos to those brave and stubborn activists on the ground who will eventually prevail…someday.
Along with North Dakota and Mississippi, Wyoming is considered by Gallup as one of the three most conservative states in the U.S. Self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals by more than 30 percentage points. Wyoming has some of the strictest marijuana laws in the United States. The Legislature passed a CBD-only law in 2015, but it's so strict that the Marijuana Policy Project doesn't even consider Wyoming a medical marijuana state. You can get a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for possession of under three ounces of flowers. Just being stoned can get you six months in jail and a $750 fine. Things get real, really fast, if you have more than three ounces or you sell weed. You're then facing five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. If you sell to a minor more than three years your junior, you can get 20 years.
The Kansas Legislature hasn't passed a medical marijuana law despite an 80 percent approval rating for one among the constituents they're supposed to be representing. Kansas is one of only two states (Idaho is the other) whose laws don't acknowledge that marijuana has any health benefits. Efforts to outright legalize cannabis recreationally are seen as, well, a pipe dream. While activists in Kansas—as in every state—are working very hard to change their state's marijuana laws, their politicians don't want to hear them. Kansas' marijuana laws remain among the harshest in the nation. Kansas has made national headlines in several cases where children have been taken from their parents who were accused of marijuana use, even if it was medicinal. A first-time possession offense can get you jail time and stiff fines.
Idaho may be geographically part of the Pacific Northwest, but culturally it is far, far away. It lags behind neighbors Washington and Oregon, both of which have legalized recreational marijuana. Idaho, meanwhile, remains one of only two states (along with Kansas) whose law doesn't acknowledge medical cannabis in any way. In 2015, Gov. Butch Otter vetoed a bill that would have allowed CBD oil to treat seizures. Attempts to get voter initiatives loosening marijuana laws on the ballot have, so far, failed. There doesn't seem to be any propensity on the part of Idaho's politicians towards softening the state's marijuana laws.
It's no surprise that Utah, the only state with a Mormon majority, is one of the most conservative states in the union when it comes to cannabis. Utah passed its own marijuana prohibition law in 1915. That's more than two decades before federal prohibition passed in 1937. The Legislature in 2014 carved out a narrow exception, with a CBD-only law allowing the use of cannabidiol by people with epilepsy. Then, just earlier this month, Utah lawmakers made a tiny bit of progress when they legalized medical marijuana. The only people eligible, however, are terminally ill patients diagnosed with less than six months to live. The bill has been widely criticized by legalization advocates who see it as an attempt to derail a ballot initiative which would make medical cannabis available to a much wider group of patients.


We keep rolling out the contests! Can you tell I'm oozing with the Christmas spirit? This next contest is for Doctor Who fans! Here's your chance to win a copy of DOCTOR WHO Series 6 Part 2 On Blu-ray And DVD courtesy of our friends at BBC.
Send an email HERE and give us your name and mailing address with the article title in the subject line . Also, tell us who your favorite Doctor is and why.
The contest ends on Friday, December 23nd.
The lucky winner will be randomly picked and the cook book will be mailed off to them! It's that easy!


text:
by Chowrangi
In his recent chitchat with Fareed Zakaraia of Newsweek, President Musharraf has told us many stories. Stories, which we have been hearing for the last nine or so years. Alongside of those stories, he also told us hinted at many new things.
The familiar stories included the usual harangue about how well he ruled the country all these years, and all the negative talk about his rule was just in the media, and the people were happy with him. He also reaffirmed his resolve to hold free and fair elections as they were in 2002.
New things included his challenging the world to come and skip even a single bullet from the army units. He also boldly criticized Hillary and other American candidate over their statements against Pakistan. American candidates have made it a habit of using Pakistani nukes for their campaign, and President Musharraf did well to say it loud and clear.
He was his usual self; very aloof and very confident, and just shrugging off the criticism. He would do very well to also see the ground realities in the country, and understand that there is really a problem in the country at the national level. People are worried about their and their country's future and they really want to get rid of PML-Q and for whatever it stands for. People really want to elect their own leaders, and then see them rule their country.
They want true democracy and that can only come if a national government holds a free and fair elections.
Should They Boycott?
Choice is Your's Mr. President
Value of Votes in 2008
Say It Quits
Election 2008 in Pakistan
Boycott Riddle
Rigging in Elections 2008
Pakistan Elections 2008
Categories Current Affairs, Pakistan Elections 2008	Post navigation
Wasi Zafar's Future

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Bhi Bhiman's music video for his song "Guttersnipe" uses footage from the travel blog Nomadic Samuel. He was born to Sri Lankan emigrants, raised in St. Louis, based in San Francisco and has been labeled a Sri Lankan Woody Guthrie but with a much more soulful voice ala Bill Withers. His debut solo album BHIMAN is out January 24th.


text:
Q: Lifecycle observer inconsistent with lifecycle functions on Nexus 5 I have noticed some inconsistent behavior on Nexus 5 devices between the standard Android lifecycle methods (onCreate, onStart, etc.) and a LifecycleObserver attached to the AppCompatActivity lifecycle.
The issue appears when opening a share dialog and then closing it again.
Given this activity:
package gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo

import android.arch.lifecycle.Lifecycle.Event.*
import android.arch.lifecycle.LifecycleObserver
import android.arch.lifecycle.OnLifecycleEvent
import android.content.Intent
import android.os.Bundle
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity
import android.util.Log
import kotlinx.android.synthetic.main.activity_main.*

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    init {
        lifecycle.addObserver(object : LifecycleObserver {
            @OnLifecycleEvent(ON_CREATE)
            fun logOnCreate() {
                Log.i(TAG, "Observed: $ON_CREATE")
            }

            @OnLifecycleEvent(ON_START)
            fun logOnStart() {
                Log.i(TAG, "Observed: $ON_START")
            }

            @OnLifecycleEvent(ON_RESUME)
            fun logOnResume() {
                Log.i(TAG, "Observed: $ON_RESUME")
            }

            @OnLifecycleEvent(ON_PAUSE)
            fun logOnPause() {
                Log.i(TAG, "Observed: $ON_PAUSE")
            }

            @OnLifecycleEvent(ON_STOP)
            fun logOnStop() {
                Log.i(TAG, "Observed: $ON_STOP")
            }

            @OnLifecycleEvent(ON_DESTROY)
            fun logOnDestroy() {
                Log.i(TAG, "Observed: $ON_DESTROY")
            }
        })
    }

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
        Log.i(TAG, "Ran onCreate")
        email_button.setOnClickListener { openShareDialog() }
    }

    private fun openShareDialog() {
        Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND).run {
            type = "message/rfc822"
            putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_EMAIL, arrayOf("test@mail.com"))
            putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_SUBJECT, "Subject")
            putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, "Text")
            startActivity(Intent.createChooser(this, "Send Email"))
        }
    }

    override fun onStart() {
        super.onStart()
        Log.i(TAG, "Ran onStart")
    }

    override fun onResume() {
        super.onResume()
        Log.i(TAG, "Ran onResume")
    }

    override fun onPause() {
        super.onPause()
        Log.i(TAG, "Ran onPause")
    }

    override fun onStop() {
        super.onStop()
        Log.i(TAG, "Ran onStop")
    }

    override fun onDestroy() {
        super.onDestroy()
        Log.i(TAG, "Ran onDestroy")
    }

    companion object {
        private const val TAG = "MainActivity"
    }
}

I expect every lifecycle transition to be logged both from the observer and the corresponding lifecycle method.
However, when I click the button to open the share dialog and then dismiss  it again, the behavior is different for different devices.
The Samsung Galaxy A3 behaves as I would expect:
04-03 12:53:55.394 30109-30109/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Ran onCreate
04-03 12:53:55.396 30109-30109/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Observed: ON_CREATE
04-03 12:53:55.398 30109-30109/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Ran onStart
04-03 12:53:55.398 30109-30109/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Observed: ON_START
04-03 12:53:55.404 30109-30109/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Ran onResume
04-03 12:53:55.404 30109-30109/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Observed: ON_RESUME

* Opened share menu *

04-03 12:54:02.431 30109-30109/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Observed: ON_PAUSE
04-03 12:54:02.432 30109-30109/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Ran onPause

* Closed share menu *

04-03 12:54:07.635 30109-30109/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Ran onResume
04-03 12:54:07.636 30109-30109/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Observed: ON_RESUME

The Google Nexus 5 observes ON_STOP and ON_START even though onStop and onStart are never called:
04-03 12:51:32.964 22062-22062/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Ran onCreate
04-03 12:51:32.965 22062-22062/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Observed: ON_CREATE
04-03 12:51:32.977 22062-22062/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Ran onStart
04-03 12:51:32.977 22062-22062/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Observed: ON_START
04-03 12:51:32.977 22062-22062/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Ran onResume
04-03 12:51:32.977 22062-22062/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Observed: ON_RESUME

* Opened share menu *

04-03 12:51:42.676 22062-22062/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Observed: ON_PAUSE
04-03 12:51:42.676 22062-22062/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Ran onPause
04-03 12:51:43.395 22062-22062/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Observed: ON_STOP

* Closed share menu *

04-03 12:51:47.791 22062-22062/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Ran onResume
04-03 12:51:47.791 22062-22062/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Observed: ON_START
04-03 12:51:47.791 22062-22062/gustavkarlsson.se.lifecycleerrordemo I/MainActivity: Observed: ON_RESUME

My question is: Why does the Nexus observe events even though the corresponding lifecycle method is never run? Is this a bug or am I misunderstanding the lifecycle?
Versions:

*

*com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.1.0

*org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-gradle-plugin:1.2.31

*com.android.support:support-v4:27.1.0

*com.android.support:appcompat-v7:27.1.0

*compileSdkVersion 27

*targetSdkVersion 27
I've uploaded the demo project here.

A: The Lifecycle library marks AppCompatActivity and Fragment Lifecycle objects as CREATED and dispatches ON_STOP when onSaveInstanceState() is called without waiting for a call to the onStop() method. This is described in the documentation for the library.
The documentation states this was done to make it easier for observers not to do things that would alter the UI state after onSaveInstanceState() has been called, because such changes would not be saved if the Activity or Fragment was stopped and destroyed straight after.
Your code didn't have any logging in onSaveInstanceState(), which is why you didn't see this method call logged.
NB. I'm assuming that you're using version 1.0.0-rc2 or higher of the Lifecycle library, which was released October 18, 2017 (several months before your question). According to the release notes, this behavior changed in that release.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


My season at the lake is drawing to a close - only two more days! I am anxious to get home but, still, every morning I see the sunrise and wonder if it will be the last one I see this summer? At home my view of the sunrises is blocked so I really enjoy them here - can't help noticing how much later it is each morning though. A sure sign winter is coming!
I have not been posting for awhile - busy with a flurry of preparations for moving home again and getting the campsite ready for winter. This is liable to last through to the beginning of next week but I hope to be back in the swing of things soon.


text:
Murder Under the Mountain
Sarah Stodder | October 26, 2016 | Story News and Features National
The same day his wife's dismembered body was identified, Paul Titchener gave a chilling TV interview (bottom image) in which he said he had tried to "arm my sons" for the day when both their parents would be dead.
Editor's Note: This story was originally published by our sister magazine, San Francisco, as part of the November 2016 Real Estate Issue. To peruse the rest of the issue's contents, and to read stories as they become available online, click here.
When she moved from San Francisco to Brisbane 26 years ago, Renee Marmion says, the first thing she thought when she arrived in town was, "My God, this looks like the perfect place to murder someone."
You only have to spend an afternoon wandering around Brisbane to know what Marmion means. The tiny hamlet in the shadow of San Bruno Mountain is a peculiar place, an odd patchwork of the scenic, the quaint, and the unsightly. Brisbane, population 4,700, is just a 10-minute freeway drive south of downtown San Francisco, but it feels 10 light-years away. Geography alone sets it apart: The mighty mountain, green in winter and blond as a camel's hump in summer, envelops the town with woolly arms from the south and west, cutting it off from Daly City and South San Francisco. Brisbane's main artery is a sleepy commercial street that slopes upward for four blocks, passing a Mexican restaurant, a charmingly decrepit grocery store, and a smattering of other storefronts before it branches out into winding capillaries that wander along the base of the looming, 1,300-foot mountain.
So far, so bucolic. But the view to the north is a different story. The plain that extends toward San Francisco's Visitacion Valley is an industrial wasteland reminiscent of Gatsby's Valley of Ashes, bordered by the 101 freeway and punctuated by the ruins of the old Bayshore roundhouse, the massive Cow Palace, an electrical power plant, and a lagoon that San Francisco once used as its dump. This surreal landscape also happens to be one of the largest swaths of undeveloped land on the Peninsula—a fact that looms over the little town as portentously as its mountain.
Brisbane's strangely sublime setting, its silent streets, and its general atmosphere of being lost in a 1950s time warp can give it an unsettling, David Lynchian quality. But its ominousness has never been anything more than a stage-set veneer. No real-life crime worthy of Twin Peaks has ever taken place here.
Until, this year, one did.
On Monday, February 15, longtime Brisbane resident Paul Titchener reported that his wife of 24 years, Shelly, was missing. Paul told police she had walked out abruptly two days earlier, without her phone or medication, and hadn't come home. He urged everyone in town to scour Brisbane and beyond. Neighbors sent out search parties, and posters with Shelly's face appeared on phone poles all over town.
Six days later, on February 21, three fishermen pulled a black garbage bag from the waters near the eastern end of the Dumbarton Bridge, across the bay and south of Brisbane. Inside was a female torso, missing a head, arms, and legs. Later that day, police searching the area found a right leg in another bag, and a purse containing Shelly Titchener's driver's license. Two days later, on February 23, during an autopsy on the torso, a pathologist reported that the body had a bat tattoo on its lower back. Police showed a sketch of the bat tattoo to then-22-year-old James Titchener, the elder of the Titcheners' two sons, who recognized it.
With all of these details not yet public, KRON 4 TV asked Paul in an interview that afternoon what he would do if Shelly didn't come home. He replied in a monotone, his face expressionless: "Well, you know, that's going to be very difficult. I'm trying to arm my sons for that. I've lost both my parents and that's a very difficult thing and so I've gone through that experience with them.… I've kind of explained to them that it's part of life that everyone eventually has to face."
Before anyone had time to read much into Paul Titchener's flat affect, or the fact that he had prepared his sons to lose both their parents, more shocking news broke: Just hours after the interview, Paul drove his car onto the Bay Bridge and jumped to his death.
In the space of a few hours, the horrific truth that some Brisbaneans had already begun to suspect was confirmed: Shelly had been murdered, and her killer was almost certainly Paul. Although the crime scene has not been found and the investigation has not been officially closed, authorities say Paul is the only suspect. (Update: On October 21, Brisbane police declared that they believe he is the killer.)
What had been a garden-variety missing person case was now a gruesome murder-suicide story. The central figures, as characterized by the media, were a fascinating odd couple: In the words of the Washington Post, Shelly was "a vivacious hairstylist with an ever-changing assortment of pixie cuts," while Paul, an engineer with a PhD from Stanford who owned a small tech company, was "a somber, silver-haired brainiac." According to the San Jose Mercury News, the couple were married in 1992, and Shelly filed for divorce nine years later, citing irreconcilable differences, but never followed through. Neighbors said they'd lived apart for several years after 2000; one said Paul had moved back in only a couple of years ago. Paul had told neighbors that his wife was bipolar and had been under a lot of stress. There were reports of loud shouting matches.
The story was irresistible. Press swarmed in from as far away as England. The Washington Post ran the headline "A Woman Vanishes, Body Parts Wash Up on a Pier, and Her Husband Throws Himself into the Sea"—as close to "Headless Body in Topless Bar" as the Washington (as opposed to the New York) Post was ever likely to get. The Titcheners' street became a madhouse. Brisbane police cars, Fremont police cars, forensic vans, and half a dozen news trucks constantly hovered. Brisbaneans embarking on their evening strolls suddenly found themselves behind six microphones, with requests for a comment on the state of the deceased couple's marriage.
It was a media circus like nothing the town had ever seen. And along with the jarringly, horribly incomprehensible murder, it threw placid little Brisbane into the small-town version of a nervous breakdown.
Since the days when Brisbane was no more than a canyon in the northern folds of San Bruno Mountain, people have used it as a sanctuary from the world. The Costanoan Indians came to escape the fog, which is held up spectacularly every evening by the western ridges of the mountain. Fable has it that during the gold rush, the legendary desperado Joaquin Murrieta raided San Jose–bound stagecoaches and vanished into the shade of the canyon. Prohibition-era mobsters paid moonshiners to manufacture liquor in Brisbane, and residents from that time said their water had a whiskey-like tang from all the sour mash dumped into the mountain streams. Behaviors that would get you tossed into the hoosegow elsewhere—bootlegging, gambling, prostitution—found a haven in unincorporated Brisbane, which finally became a self-governing city in 1961. When development began to encroach on San Bruno Mountain in the late 1960s and '70s, Brisbaneans organized to preserve much of it as a refuge for both endangered butterflies and local wanderers.
The people who settled Brisbane in the first decades of the 20th century were earthquake refugees and Okies, scavengers and self-starters—people who couldn't afford, or had no interest in, the big city that loomed just northward. Isolated geographically by the mountain and socially by the town's reputation as a redneck backwater, the people of Brisbane developed an ethos of fierce independence and self-reliance. They took scrap from the Baylands dump and pieced together shacks on the mountain. During the Depression, lots in Brisbane were deemed worthless enough to be given away at bingo nights in theaters on Mission Street. Banks were wary of lending in Brisbane, so while development boomed in the surrounding cities after World War II, the steep little town maintained its leisurely pace of life. While Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead were creating the San Francisco sound a few miles north, Brisbane's bars were swinging with rockabilly and hosting country legends. When my parents moved to town in 1993, their first wanderings down the main street led them into two now-defunct relics of old Brisbane: a small blues record store and the 23 Club, Brisbane's favorite honky-tonk, where Johnny Cash had once performed and where my mom would later sing in a band while my sister and I checked IDs at the door (a pointless job, as we knew everyone anyway).
Today, Brisbane may be best known for the Christmas stars that adorn many of its homes and have inspired the treacly moniker "Brisbane—City of Stars." The stars may be kitschy, but they're also tangible evidence that this little town actually is a community, a place where everybody knows everybody else.
I was three when my parents moved to Brisbane, and lived in a house a street away from the Titcheners' until I was 18. I didn't know them well—the adults were my parents' age, and their kids were younger than I was. We were connected more as members of a tribe, people who'd spent decades living in the same insular canyon town. Still, the couple's deaths shook me, as they shook everyone in town.
About a month after the murder and suicide, with the town still buzzing, I grab coffee with Lisa Macias, Brisbane's first locally born and bred police chief. We meet at Madhouse, the town's only coffee shop (out of Brisbane's 17 restaurants). Macias and I have never spoken before—my teenage mischief was low-level—but she recognizes me immediately, as she would any kid in town, where she's known as "Brisbane's Mom." As she strides through the doorway, everything stops, and the crowd of middle-aged men discussing lotto tickets in the corner erupts into a chorus of "Hiya, Lisa!" and "Hail, Chief!"
When we finally sit down, Macias tells me what I already know: Brisbane's violent crime rate is extremely low. Her police department and Atherton's are the only ones in San Mateo County not to have undertaken a murder investigation in the past 20 years. Most of the crimes that Macias sees are small burglaries, usually committed by a handful of repeat offenders. It's the kind of town where people don't lock their doors, and children roam barefoot, unsupervised.
When Shelly disappeared, Macias was as stumped as anyone else in Brisbane. She knew the hairdresser's face from around town, knew Paul as the basketball coach and knew their two sons. The family was well-liked and had never created any extra work for her. As the case morphed from a missing person into a homicide, Macias applied herself to the investigation as few police chiefs are able to, coming in early every day and demanding the latest from the only detective on her 16-officer staff. It was the first time a Brisbanean had been murdered on her watch as chief, and she took it personally.
Macias had spent years trying to get Brisbaneans to dial 911—suddenly now the phone at the small police station behind city hall wouldn't stop ringing. The dispatch center was overwhelmed. Some callers wanted nothing more than to vent their grief, but other reactions were more troubling. Some residents began pressuring Macias to kick the investigation over to Fremont, where the body had been found. "I got phone calls from people who were very upset that now Brisbane was out in the world, that this gave a bad reputation to Brisbane, that I should just let the Fremont police solve the case," Macias remembers. One caller worried that the sight of Brisbane officers on television would cause local home values to go down. But Macias knew what she had to do. "This was one of our residents," she tells me. "This was not Fremont's case. This was our case, the entire way."
As the calls Macias received indicate, hiding from the rest of the Bay Area is a Brisbane tradition. But it's no longer possible, and the main reason, not surprisingly, is money. A 1,500-square-foot home in downtown, Brisbane's least desirable area, that sold for $100,000 in the early '90s is now listed at $845,820. Boxy 1950s- and '60s-era houses still dominate the town, but there are luxurious homes aplenty high up on the mountain boasting bay views and long-range panoramas of the city skyline. Old-timers tend to refer to the ritzier homes with pursed lips and adjectives like highfalutin.
But the biggest issue facing Brisbane—and one that has put the town squarely in the crosshairs of other Bay Areans—is the proposed development of the 684-acre Baylands, on the plain north of town. A developer has proposed building 4,434 units of housing and seven million square feet of office, retail, and R&D space there. But Brisbane officials, fearing that their burg will lose its small-town quality, have said they will oppose building any new housing—a stance that has enraged many regional affordable-housing advocates and urban planners, who see it as NIMBYism at a time when the Bay Area desperately needs new housing. In a tit-for-tat exchange with Brisbane's mayor, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors introduced a resolution asking the city to look into the possibility of annexing Brisbane.
Yet many, perhaps most, Brisbaneans are reluctant to open the floodgates. When I pay a visit to Dolores Gomez, a former librarian, a resident since the 1940s, and a beloved expert on Brisbane's "good old days," she tells me the story of a small city that posts a sign at its entrance telling strangers to go away. "That's what we need," she laughs, only half joking. She voices the worry of many in town that as Brisbane expands, neighbors won't be as close as they used to be. City council meetings have gotten less lively, she laments, and even grief doesn't feel as collective as it used to. "When I was growing up, people took care of each other," she says. "There was a lot more empathy expressed years ago if someone died in town."
In the half century between Gomez's childhood and mine, Brisbane paved its roads, became an incorporated city, and nearly doubled its population. But the Brisbane of my halcyon days feels no less Podunk than the one Gomez describes. My family sang carols at the house of the man who invented the famous Christmas stars; we rented VHS tapes from the local video store on family credit; we once stole bread dough from the dumpster of a factory in Brisbane's industrial park and took over a downtown block for a dough fight—and no one complained. Of course, Brisbane's sleepy insularity wasn't always idyllic. Reputation was everything, and being different could get you publicly shamed—as I found out when I signed up for dance lessons instead of the popular soccer team and was mocked by the coach whenever I ran into him (which was frequently, since he lived three blocks from me). Later, my most successful college application essay was a seething screed about how badly I wanted to escape my hometown.
But I keep coming back. So does Madison Davis, the 25-year-old council-member who made her first oral argument at city hall at age four and has been part of many more since. Despite the worries of old-timers, Davis doesn't forecast the end of Brisbane. "'Small town' isn't how many people there are," she says. "It's what happens among those people."
But what happened among the people of Brisbane after the Titchener murder-suicide was not exactly the stuff of a Norman Rockwell painting. More like Edvard Munch.
It was the media coverage of the event that led to Brisbane's meltdown. As soon as reporters started knocking on doors for impressions of Shelly and Paul, the mood in town shifted from grief to anger: anger not only at the media, but at anyone who was willing to be interviewed. Behind closed doors, conversations seesawed between expressions of disgust at the news coverage and salivation at the case's unanswered questions. My family, far from exempt, spent a week debating every turn of the story over a five-member group text. At a side job in a kitchen above a local bar, the Brisbane Inn, my coworkers and I couldn't stop returning to the topic as we chopped bell peppers and grilled shrimp. The more we talked, the more it haunted our consciousness: With the crime scene still a mystery, I found myself praying I wouldn't come across it as I jogged along San Bruno Mountain's secluded paths. Every quiet canyon, once a peaceful hideaway, became a potential murder scene.
"This just is not Brisbane," a bewildered neighbor told NBC News as he stood across from the Titcheners' home. Indeed, Brisbaneans were hard-pressed to recall a single local event that had generated such fascination from inside and out. Some bring up the 2002 story of a local woman who purchased a winning lotto ticket at Julie's Brisbane Liquor & Deli. (A Chronicle report predicted that the incident would finally put Brisbane on the map; it didn't.) The town's most recent previous murder, the death of a woman during a 1995 robbery, has been largely forgotten.
Though it was mid-February, Brisbaneans took out their holiday stars and lit them for Shelly. At its February meeting, the Brisbane City Council called for a moment of silence. But while city hall played host to Brisbane's superego, another forum indulged its id: the community Facebook group, which often devolves into attacks that illustrate what things might have looked like if the Hatfields and McCoys had had access to social media. The wrangles usually involve a few frequent posters, with 800 other members logging on for their daily fix of snoopy savagery.
As soon as interviews with Shelly's neighbors began to air, users began to publicly attack the interviewees. One neighbor who was caught by reporters while entering her house with her kids was immediately pilloried: "When I saw that nosy lady being interviewed…[it] made me sick to my stomach," intoned one commenter. "I definitely will not talk to the media," another neighbor wrote. "I have turned down many requests today." The feud escalated as the "nosy lady" herself chimed in: "I have had about 30 reporters come to my door or call me," she wrote. "I am most certainly not looking for 5 minutes of fame." After merely letting one reporter use her bathroom, she'd received a dirty look from passing neighbors. "Please don't contribute to that atmosphere in town," she implored. But the ugly back-and-forth intensified.
Shelly's close friends watched in dismay. To them, the descriptions of the Titcheners—especially the ones of Shelly's mental state—seemed alien. "All these things I read, I'd never seen any of that," says Danette Davis, Madison's mother and the co-owner of Madhouse, who had known Shelly for decades. "That was really sad for me."
Renee Marmion, a 60-year-old health educator, watched the vitriolic exchanges and thought: "These people need something to do." She wanted to turn the conversation away from the Titcheners' marriage and the neighbors who were being castigated for talking to the press. Marmion stepped straight into the line of fire, debuting her idea in a Facebook post: a candlelight vigil under the gazebo in the community park to show "unconditional love for the memory of Shelly and Paul."
Marmion felt the two of them should be grieved equally. For many in town, Paul had been instantly transformed from a heartbroken husband into the dead father of two orphaned sons: The fact that he was likely a murderer, and that his own actions had left his sons orphaned, was too horrible to be voiced. It was easier to be angry at the reporters at the doors. It was easier to just feel sorrow for the whole situation, especially for the Titchener boys, who had stayed away from most people in town since the evening of February 23. Marmion went so far as to express empathy for Paul's plight, saying, "Can you imagine the anguish Paul must have been going through that whole week? Having to lie to his community?"
Despite Marmion's intentions, her post inspired more sniping. "Whoever posted this has no respect for the family," railed one commenter. A sign about the vigil was posted on the giant community bulletin board in the park that serves as Brisbane's principal mode of communication with its citizens, typically filled with flyers announcing garage sales, Lions Club crab feeds, and the annual December lighting of the holiday stars. The idea that reporters might find out about the vigil from the sign incited locals to begin calling for its removal. Still others joined in, and soon rumors began to circulate that reporters were haunting the park, waiting to film the memorial. In trying to calm the tensions around her friend's death, Marmion lamented to Danette Davis, she was now being accused of creating a media sideshow of her own—a serious transgression in a town whose biggest fear is discovery by the outside world.
In an effort to defuse tensions, Marmion marched down to city hall and summoned the head of Brisbane's Parks and Recreation Department. Together they walked to the community bulletin board, where Marmion ripped the massive sign down. But she had no intention of canceling the vigil. Some Brisbaneans still wanted to pay respects to Shelly, no matter how many reporters filled the park. By removing the sign, she was hoping to allow herself and a few neighbors to proceed with their grief on their own terms.
On the evening of February 28, Marmion headed to the community park armed with candles, a small pedestal table, and a portable stereo. That day, she had received at least five texts and calls from agitated neighbors urging her to cancel the vigil. She steeled herself to confront a horde of cameramen, but when she arrived at the park, she found only one KRON 4 van.
Marmion approached the reporter in the van's front seat. "Don't waste your time," she said. "It's been canceled." She went back to her car to unload her vigil supplies, and by the time she returned, several neighbors were walking across the park with candles in their hands. "There's nothing going on here," Marmion again insisted to the reporter, even as more Brisbaneans trickled down from the mountain. The KRON 4 team was unconvinced. Finally, when more than 50 people had gathered under the gazebo, Marmion relented: "OK, I lied!"
Standing at the edge of the swelling crowd, the reporter saw a cross section of Brisbane: adults and teenagers, neighbors who had known the Titcheners well and neighbors who'd barely known them at all. Danette and Madison Davis had heard rumors of reporters but came carrying church candles anyway. A friend from Danette's Bible study group, Mary, had stopped on her way down to the park to chat with neighbors who weren't going because of the rumored media presence; Mary had decided to go, in spite of what she'd heard, "for Shelly." Though Chief Macias stayed home, she sent two of her officers to support the mourners. The mood was somber, still "dazed," as one attendee later said, "but with a sense of purpose." People held hands. No one smiled.
Marmion started her mix on the portable stereo and began to speak. "This is group healing and unconditional love," she said. "We need to have our moment of sorrow together." A Catholic, she told the group she wanted to recite the Our Father but would do it separately to respect the non-Christians in the crowd. When she began to step away, however, the entire group shuffled after her.
After about 20 minutes of prayer and singing, someone said suddenly, "The boys are here." From the edge of the park, Shelly and Paul's sons, James and Paul Jr.—tall like their father, known all their lives to so many of the mourners—came walking toward the gazebo. Marmion had hoped the vigil might show the two young men that they were "still a part of this community, that they didn't have to hide," but neither she nor anyone else had expected them to appear. The boys wove their way into the middle of the crowd, which tightened around them like a drawstring on a swatch of fabric. It was James who spoke: "Thank you all so much for coming. My mother and father loved my brother and I, and they loved Brisbane," he said. "I hope you will all remember them as the loving people that they were." Marmion's playlist shifted to "Imagine," and the circle of mourners picked up the tune. Neighbors' hands reached out from all angles, coming to rest on the boys' shoulders and on each other's, as everyone began to sob. The bodies formed a cocoon, enveloping the Titcheners' sons through the last verse of the song.
"How can we help? How can we help?" everyone asked the two young men when the circle finally parted. It was clear, though, that material assistance paled in comparison with what had transpired. "The vigil was a way of rejecting the bullshit on television and saying, 'This is about Shelly, and about her community,'" one attendee later reflected. "It was a rejection of the horror." The horror had been everywhere: in the footage of investigators under the Dumbarton Bridge, in the unkind Facebook posts, in the fear that motivated many of the calls received by Chief Macias. The horror would take a long time to go away. But it was easier to face under the gazebo, with an arm around a neighbor's back.
As night fell and the candle wax dried on the gazebo pavement, the TV reporter lingered in the deserted park to put together his news segment. The events of the past few weeks had given him and his colleagues plenty to gab about, but this time he was modest with his words. For him, the story was over. When he packed up his gear and drove out of Brisbane, there was no telling when he would be back. For the next murder, he might have to wait another 20 years.
Out on 101, cars sped north and south over the Baylands plain and past the dark silhouette of San Bruno Mountain. Tiny stars flickered from the nearest canyon. As commuters rushed between the city and the Peninsula, they might not have noticed at all.
Originally published in the November issue of San Francisco
Follow Sarah Stodder on Twitter @SarahStodder


If you are intending to change education provider, you should contact your current education provider for information. In most circumstances the new education provider will be restricted from enrolling you if you have not completed six months of the main course of study for which your visa was granted.
If you want to change provider before completing the first six months of your main course of study you must contact your current education provider for permission and receive a release letter. You will require a letter of offer from the new provider in order to apply for a letter of release from your original education provider.


Chinese Super League (CSL) video highlights of the match Henan Siwu-Shandong Luneng. Watch highlights of Henan Siwu-Shandong Luneng for free on Football Highlight. Enjoy highlights and all goals of every Chinese Super League (CSL) match.


What are the current government incentives (STC's)?
Often called a "rebate" and available since 2011, this government incentive falls under the small-scale renewable energy scheme in the form of STCs (small scale technology certificates).STCs are a tradeable commodity attached to eligible installations of renewable energy systems (including solar panels, solar water heaters and heat pumps). Under the Federal Government's Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES), when you install an eligible system, you may claim a set number of these STCs. This number is based on the amount of electricity in megawatt hours (MWh) generated by your small-scale solar panel, wind or hydro system over the course of its lifetime of up to 13 years; where one STC equals one megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity generated or displaced.


text:
Q&A with Hollywood director James Schamus on feature film 'Indignation'
By: Josh Frigerio
James Schamus is a Hollywood icon that has over three decades experience in making movies.
His producer credits include Hulk, Hidden Tiger, Crouching Dragon, and Brokeback Mountain.
At 56, he's making his directorial debut with Indignation, adapted from the 2008 novel written by Phillip Roth.
It tells the story of Marcus Messner (Logan Lerman), a smart Jewish boy in New Jersey who leaves for college in Ohio to escape the military draft. There he meets the affectionate Olivia Hutton (Sarah Gadon) and comes face-to-face with the University's societal and religious expectations – both of which prove challenging to him.
A love story? Yes. But, according to Schamus, not the Hollywood love story you've come to expect.
Schamus was in the Valley last week for a private screening and Q&A and spoke with us for a few minutes about the film, directing, and his connection to Phoenix. Watch the video in the player above for more.
Below are a few of the take-aways from our conversation:
HE'S A REGULAR VISITOR TO PHOENIX
It turns out that Schamus has spent a lot of time in the Grand Canyon State. His dad and sister and their families live in the Valley. We asked him about some of his favorite places. He told us they were actually his dad's favorite places.
"Unnamed steakhouses," he said. Apparently they've been to quite a few. Hmm. We did a quick search and could not find any steakhouses in the Valley by that specific name. You pulling our leg here, Schamus?
We also asked him about his debut feature film:
WHY DID YOU DECIDE ON THIS STORY?
"I fell in love with Phillip Roth's novel. It's his 29th novel so he wasn't too young when he wrote it. He was going back to his youth and talking about a version of himself when he was a young man going off to college. And it really moved me.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT BEING A DIRECTOR?
"I did learn a lot of things, but you can't really learn how to direct except by directing. It's not like going to driving school."
"You learn as you go along. One of the great things I learned was working with actors and really finding a way honestly to bring emotion out and let them fly." He said the crew read through the script a lot, but did not spent a lot of time on rehearsal. Instead, he and the actors spent a lot of time talking about each scene.
"We kept it pretty fresh for the film."
HOW DOES IT FEEL SITTING IN THE AUDIENCE AND WATCHING YOUR MOVIE?
"It's hard because you can feel an audience when you're sitting in the audience of a film you've made. You often feel the intensity of the emotion, [but] intensity doesn't tell you everything. It's just a dial and even when people are laughing I know, but maybe they don't know, is they're laughing right now, but in one minute they might not be laughing."
ANY MOVIE SECRETS YOU CAN SHARE?
"Yeah, what's it worth to you?" he jokes.
"I think the big secret here is you don't have to pay attention to be surprised by all the little secrets we did dump in the movie along the way. The movie is structured a little bit like a puzzle, but I'm not trying to impress you with it, I'm just trying to hit you over the head from behind in the end emotionally."
ANY OTHER PROJECTS IN THE WORKS?
Schamus said his next project is with director Ang Lee on a movie about the late Muhammad Ali and his boxing match against Joe Frazier .
Indignation is currently playing through select theatres across the country.
In the Valley, it is being shown at the Harkins Shea 14 theatre near Scottsdale Road and Shea Boulevard. Click here for showtimes .


After yesterdays eclectic group of photos, today is a sparse offering.
These lovely little canvas prints from my East Point Images I shared with you in February the "Simplicity" post. They arrived in yesterday's mail. I am starting to gather together material for my September solo exhibit and these are going on a particular spot above the books in the library which is hard show.
Sprout Question: How do you prepare for a public viewing or listening of your work?
I have enjoyed sharing my work on flicker very much, but galleries are important maybe not as much fun with so much at stake.
I couldn't agree with you more. I am thinking that I need to develop the same comfort I have with posting my work on my blog when it comes to face-to-face letting it "hang" out there.
Note… I will be out today and will be back to check in this evening to see what inspiring sprouts have been sown. Have a great day!
Terrill – Oh so lovely. I remember these WELL from your Simplicity post. They are among my favorites in your great lineup of work!
With the speed at which time passes, September is just around the corner, and Saturday is basically here. Break a leg — you know I mean that in the very best way!
… my undies still get in a bundle beforehand! Thankfully, the moment I'm on stage I'm fine.
On Terrill's urging I checked out your blog. Well I liked what I saw so now your blog has been added to my list of favs.
Well, public speaking…um…for me it's a love hate kinda thing. You see because I'm dyslexic my earliest memories of public speaking weren't pleasant.
Thankfully, I come from a family of public speakers. I received tons of advice and followed their example.
I still didn't feel comfortable about it. However, years of working with children in day cares made it necessary for me to read…aloud.
Then I moved to Mayne Island…I was asked to read at church…I was honoured…and decided to overcome my phobia. I read. Those around me celebrated my effort.
I began to seek out opportunities. Now I'm hooked.
Thank you for reading my biography. : )Thank you for the opportunity to expound, Terrill.
You are most welcome and I'm glad you have connected with Laurie:) I just love it when this happens!
After all that I don't even think I answer the question. How do I prepare…I'll keep it short and simple…what I do is practice by reading the piece repeatedly in front of a mirror.
Leanne – Thank you so much for adding Speaking from the Heart to your list of favorites. Wow — you just made my day!
Pretty fun hey? So awesome to weave threads of connections between great people.
I love the colors in the art work….Lovely.
I first will add, I too am a reader at church, some how speaking in front of 600 people does still put a little sweat on my brow. It is scary, exhilerating, and challenging in putting my vulnerability on the line, not mention my familes, who are the ones listening the most intently, especially my son.
I have been a public speaker for many years, all the way back to debate team in jr and sr high, I was pretty good too!
I guess my biggest challenge is to put my vulnerability out there every day in my work, especially when employees/co-workers are looking to me for answers, being an example, encouragement, and relying on my expertise-regionally and nationally. I sometimes, especially when on national calls with experts, feel that vulnerabiity in a big way. It is exhilerating when I can step out, be in the moment, step up to give input and feedback.
Kim thanks for your lush and detailed sprout response. As an executive leadership coach (when I don't have a camera over my shoulder or a paint brush in my hand) I can really appreciate the vulnerability required when we are leading. Keep going for what is exhilarating!
9:00 pm – I am just sliding into home now after the umpire of late ferries yelled "SAFE!" as we got to the ticket wicket with every extremity crossed and thanking the gods of green lights for seeing us on the last boat tonight sailing to Mayne Island.
I thank you all for the beautiful sprouts shooting up in my absence. I have watered them lightly with affection and will tend to each one in the morning. Until then, may your dreams become visions of possibility and warm you with simple abundance.


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Dragonmount: The Wheel of Time Podcast is dedicated to The Wheel of Time TV series from Amazon Prime Video. Each show will recap and discuss an episode from the TV series, as well as share fun and intriguing stories from the franchise. Produced by Dragonmount, a leading fan community.
LATEST EPISODE •
Season 1 Wrap Up
Kathy, Rajiv, and Maureen wrap up their thoughts on the first season as a whole and what they are hoping for in Season 2.
January 15, 2022 • 36 minutes • Kathy Campbell, Rajiv Moté and Maureen Carr
Podcast edited by the incredible Thom DeSimone.
For more information on The Wheel of Time tv show, along with full episode recaps, visit Dragonmount.com/TV
Dragonmount Patreon | Dragonmount Website | Dragonmount Facebook | Dragonmount Instagram | Dragonmount TikTok | Dragonmount Twitter | Dragonmount YouTube
Interview with Taylor Napier
Join Kathy as she interviews the wonderful Taylor Napier, who plays Maxsim, Alanna's warder, on The Wheel of Time show. Enjoy this conversation, including a special treat having to do with figs and the relationships between warders and their Aes Sedai.
January 8, 2022 • 18 minutes • Kathy Campbell, Rajiv Moté and Maureen Carr
Interview with Hammed Animashaun
Last month, Kathy was lucky enough to interview Hammed Animashaun, the actor that plays Loial so perfectly in The Wheel of Time. Listen in on this conversation and learn the very important question that you should ask him when you're lucky enough to meet him!
January 1, 2022 • 9 minutes • Kathy Campbell, Rajiv Moté and Maureen Carr with Hammed Animashaun
"The Eye of the World" (S1E8)
This isn't the ending, but it is an ending of the first season! Mixed feelings abound between Kathy, Rajiv, and Maureen and we can't wait to hear what you think.
December 25, 2021 • 2 minutes • Kathy Campbell, Rajiv Moté and Maureen Carr
"The Dark Along the Ways" (S1E7)
The penultimate episode brings some resolutions to a few questions, but enough to leave the options open for the finale! Join Kathy, Rajiv, and Maureen on our journey through The Ways and beyond!
December 18, 2021 • 1 hour, 45 minutes • Kathy Campbell, Rajiv Moté and Maureen Carr
"The Flame of Tar Valon" (S1E6)
Kathy, Rajiv, and Maureen break down this episode, discussing the day in the life of Moiraine Sedai, the busiest woman in Tar Valon.
December 11, 2021 • 1 hour, 7 minutes • Kathy Campbell, Rajiv Moté and Maureen Carr
"Blood Calls Blood" (S1E5)
World Building is a major theme of this episode and it's okay…although the more it's talked about, the more Kathy, Rajiv, and Maureen enjoy this episode. Also, we all join the Loial fanclub.
December 4, 2021 • 23 minutes • Kathy Campbell, Rajiv Moté and Maureen Carr
"The Dragon Reborn" (S1E4)
Join Kathy, Rajiv, and Maureen as they talk about this roller coaster of an episode from The Wheel of Time. From journeying with the Tinkers, to a small farm, to a large camp, and a surprise twist, this episode has everything you could want in an epic television show.
November 27, 2021 • 1 minute • Kathy Campbell, Rajiv Moté and Maureen Carr
"A Place of Safety" (S1E3)
After 2 episodes of setting up the world, the goals, and the characters, we've finally started the epic journeys we knew were coming. Join Kathy, Rajiv, and Maureen for a discussion of Episode Three of The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime Video. They talk about each character arc separately, with a discussion at the end about how the adaptations from the books might affect the story as a whole.
November 20, 2021 • 25 minutes • Kathy Campbell, Rajiv Moté and Maureen Carr
"Shadow's Waiting" (S1E2)
Welcome to the middle movie of an epic trilogy. Kathy, Rajiv, and Maureen talk about Episode Two of The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime Video. The evilness of Valda, followed by the beauty of the intro credits sets up this episode in a strong way for the balance of good and evil. With each scene, the stakes start ramping up to finish with a major split. Finish the episode with an involved dialogue with the book transitions.
November 20, 2021 • 5 minutes • Kathy Campbell, Rajiv Moté and Maureen Carr
"Leavetaking" (S1E1)
The Wheel Weaves a Beginning into a TV show and Kathy, Rajiv, and Maureen are here for it. Rituals, Rumors, and Rebirth encompass this first episode of The Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime Video. We are introduced to the characters, the world, and the purpose of the Leavetaking that will happen by the end of this episode. At the end of the episode, join us for a conversation about the changes from the story in the books and our thoughts on how this changes the story, this turning of the wheel.
See more episodes...


text:
@interface MMDeviceSettingBasicController ()

@end

@implementation MMDeviceSettingBasicController
@synthesize currentDevice;

+ (MMDeviceSettingBasicController *)initWithDevice:(ubiaDevice *)device {

    QRootElement *root =  [[QRootElement alloc] init];
    root.title = NSLocalizedString(@"settingtitle", nil);
    root.grouped = YES;
    root.controllerName = @"MMDeviceSettingBasicController";

    QSection *section0 = [[QSection alloc]init];
    section0.title = NSLocalizedString(@"basic_info", nil);

    QEntryElement *qle_dev_pwd = [[QEntryElement alloc] initWithTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"security_code", nil) Value:@"" Placeholder:NSLocalizedString(@"security_code_placeholder", nil)];

    qle_dev_pwd.key = @"dev_pwd_key";

    //qle_dev_pwd.controllerAction=@"ChangeDevicePassword:";

    QEntryElement *qle_dev_name = [[QEntryElement alloc] initWithTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"modify_name", nil) Value:@"" Placeholder:NSLocalizedString(@"modify_name_placeholder", nil)];

    qle_dev_name.enablesReturnKeyAutomatically = YES;
    qle_dev_name.key = @"dev_name_key";

    //qle_dev_name.controllerAction=@"ChangeDeviceName:";

    [section0 addElement:qle_dev_pwd];
    [section0 addElement:qle_dev_name];

    QSection *section1 = [[QSection alloc] init];
    QButtonElement *btn_apply = [[QButtonElement alloc] initWithTitle:NSLocalizedString(@"apply", nil)];
    btn_apply.key = @"btn_apply_key";
    btn_apply.controllerAction =@"onApplyBtn";
    [section1 addElement:btn_apply];

    [root addSection:section0];
    [root addSection:section1];

    MMDeviceSettingBasicController * settingController = (MMDeviceSettingBasicController * )[QuickDialogController controllerForRoot:root];
    settingController.currentDevice = device;

    return settingController;
}

- (QuickDialogController *)initWithRoot:(QRootElement *)rootElement {
    self = [super initWithRoot:rootElement];
    if (self) {
        self.root.appearance = [self.root.appearance copy];

        QAppearance *fieldsAppearance = [self.root.appearance copy];

        //fieldsAppearance.backgroundColorEnabled = [UIColor colorWithRed:0.9582 green:0.9104 blue:0.7991 alpha:1.0000];

        fieldsAppearance.valueAlignment = NSTextAlignmentLeft;
        [self.root elementWithKey:@"dev_pwd_key"].appearance = fieldsAppearance;

        [self.root elementWithKey:@"dev_name_key"].appearance = fieldsAppearance;

        [self.root elementWithKey:@"btn_apply_key"].appearance = self.root.appearance.copy;
        [self.root elementWithKey:@"btn_apply_key"].appearance.backgroundColorEnabled = [Utilities btnBackgroundColor];
        [self.root elementWithKey:@"btn_apply_key"].appearance.entryTextColorEnabled = [Utilities textColor];
        [self.root elementWithKey:@"btn_apply_key"].appearance.buttonAlignment = NSTextAlignmentCenter;
    }

    return self;
}

- (void)viewWillAppear:(BOOL)animated {
    [super viewWillAppear:animated];
    self.navigationController.navigationBar.tintColor = nil;

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(handleUbicSessionStatusNotification:) name:@"ubiaSessionStatusNotification" object:nil];

    [self.quickDialogTableView reloadData];
}

- (void)viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated {
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self];
    [super viewWillDisappear:animated];
}

-(void) handleUbicSessionStatusNotification:(NSNotification *)note{
    int sessionID = [[[note userInfo] objectForKey:@"ubicSessionID"] intValue];
    int errCode = [[[note userInfo] objectForKey:@"ubicErrorCode"] intValue];

    [self loading:NO];

    if(IOTCER_NoERROR == errCode){
        NSLog(@"receive Connect sucess");

    }else{
        NSLog(@"receive disconnect err %d", errCode);

        if(sessionID == currentDevice.client.sid){
            //MMCenterTableViewCell * cell = (MMCenterTableViewCell *)device.cell;
            currentDevice.client.status = UBIA_CLIENT_STATUS_PENDINGTO_DISCONNECT;
            NSLog(@"CenterView handleUbicSessionStatusNotification UID: %@ SID:%d status change to %d",currentDevice.uid, sessionID,errCode);
            [currentDevice stopclient];
            [currentDevice startclient];
        }
    }
}

-(void)onApplyBtn{
    QEntryElement * dev_pwd = (QEntryElement *)[self.root elementWithKey:@"dev_pwd_key"];
    QEntryElement * dev_name = (QEntryElement *)[self.root elementWithKey:@"dev_name_key"];

    NSString * newPassword = [dev_pwd textValue];
    NSString * newName = [dev_name textValue];

    if (FALSE == [newName isEqualToString:currentDevice.name]) {
        currentDevice.name = newName;
        [currentDevice.deviceManager.restClient device_op:currentDevice operate:DEVICE_OP_MODIFY];
    }

    if (FALSE == [newPassword isEqualToString:@""] && FALSE == [newPassword isEqualToString:currentDevice.client.password])
    {

        [currentDevice setPassword:newPassword withOldPassword:currentDevice.client.password];

        UIAlertView* mes=[[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle: nil
                                                    message: NSLocalizedString(@"device_password_change_ok", nil) delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@"Ok" otherButtonTitles: nil];
        [mes show];
    }
}

@end


AMOG was contracted to assist in evaluating the safety implications of a possible defect in the LPG kits installed in vehicles.
As part of this task AMOG facilitated workshops and conducted the safety analysis to determine the risk associated with plausible accident scenarios. This included constructing Markov Chain models and p-f curves.
AMOG also supported the company in drafting letters to their end client, articulating the risk and associated risk management process.


As the Chinese telecom giant Huawei roars ahead in the rest of the world, roadblocks in Washington have thwarted its attempts to build a presence in the United States.
SHANGHAI — For Huawei's longstanding efforts to crack the United States market, it's the end of an era.
Last week, the Chinese telecom giant laid off five American employees, including its top liaison to the United States government, William Plummer, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Plummer, who was with the company for almost eight years, became the face of Huawei's Sisyphean efforts to win over Washington.
Bedeviled by concerns about its close relationship to the Chinese government, Huawei has spent much of the last decade lobbying to be allowed to sell its communications equipment to American telecom carriers. Mr. Plummer emerged as a highly visible representative during a series of congressional hearings in 2012, which resulted in recommendations that American firms not buy the Chinese company's products.
"Any changes to staffing size or structure are simply a reflection of standard business organization," he added.
It is not clear whether there will be a replacement for Mr. Plummer, but his removal seems to indicate a change in tactics for Huawei in the United States. The company's policy operations there are led by a relatively recent arrival, Zhang Ruijun, who took over the position nine months ago after previous postings for Huawei in Mexico and Russia.


text:
Explainer: What was that "Muslim Prayer" KC Chiefs Husain Abdullah did after his touchdown?
This was orgnially posted on joebradford.net
By Joe Bradford
Husain Abdullah, Kansas City Chiefs safety, intercepted Patriot's Quarterback Tom Brady's pass. Rushing 39 yards to the end zone, he dropped to his knees in what many media outlets called "a Muslim prayer." Thought to be celebrating at first, Abdullah was yellow flagged for "excessive celebration." This drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which was quickly retracted. Players routinely gesture, pray, and thank God after scoring. Tim Tebow, native of Jacksonville FL and former Denver Broncos quarterback, made prayer famous by praying on one knee after scoring; Tebowing quickly became an internet meme with thousands of imitators.
As evidence to Husain Abdullah's gracious nature and refusal to play the victim, when asked he thought the flag may not have been for prostration and posited that it may have been for sliding into the end zone.
Was the Referee's call discriminatory?
Muslim youth, idolizing Husain Abdullah's sportsmanship and love of the game, erupted online at the call. Many others agreed, saying they saw the flag as a slight against religion in general and against someone who merely "prayed differently" in specific. This could not be further than the truth. Most of us (myself included) are unaware that the NFL has changed celebration rules several times, with the most drastic changes happening 2013-2014 off season. (2)
Despite the Refs call that Abdullah's slide-then-prayer was excessive celebration, NFL Spokesperson Michael Signora disagreed. He said that Abdullah "should not have been penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct following his fourth quarter touchdown." In an email to NBC's ProFootBallTalk he quoted Rule 12, Section 3, Article 1 (d) which states that "players are prohibited from engaging in any celebrations or demonstrations while on the ground." Signora continued by saying that"a player who goes to the ground as part of religious expression" is not to be flagged and "…as a result, there should have been no penalty on the play." (3)
Excessive or religious, when you are running that fast how else to safely transition into a prostration other than sliding? While the Ref's call was wrong, I personally do not feel it was discriminatory. This is probably the first time this has ever been done in professional US sports and the Ref probably has no idea what he was witnessing. Someone forward NFL refs a copy of this explainer :).
But what exactly was Abdullah doing?
And why would anyone prostrate when they make a touchdown? Prostration is probably the most recognizable aspect of Muslim prayer, constantly depicted in TV, Movies, and even cartoons. Muslims pray five times a day, placing their head on the ground in prostration at least 34 times or more during the day.
Why do Muslims bow to the ground in prostration, placing face, hands, and knees to the ground? Numerous verses of the Quran command that prostration be included in prayer. "Oh you who beleive! Bow, prostrate, and worship your Lord and do good so that you will be successful." The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is recorded as saying "The closest a servant will be to his Lord is when he is in prostration."(4) Muslim scholars commented on this saying that when a believer prostrates his head to the ground, he is farther from self-aggrandizement and closer to his Lord. Our physical state has a direct effect on our character and perspective, so at the very moment when we achieve a high point in life, we throw ourselves into a state of humility and thanks. (5)
"Prostration of gratitude"
God says in the Quran "If you thank me, then I will only increase you." (6)
The "Muslim prayer" that Abdullah performed is called "A prostration of gratitude," known in Arabic as "Sajdat Shukr." Records of the Prophet Muhammad's life, known as Hadith, record that whenever he was given good news that pleased him "He would fall prostrate."(7) While not well known in US sports, around the world Muslim athletes have been doing this for years.
Not one of the five daily prayers, it is a display of gratitude shown at a time of intense joy and cheerfulness. Like the prostration done during prayer, we give recognition to God Almighty that it was His blessings, not our ability, that allowed us to obtain what we've been blessed with. It can be done because a person is pleased that something good happened or that something bad was averted. There are no specific litanies or invocations made during the "prostration of gratitude" except that a person thanks God Almighty for the blessing they have attained. There are no preconditions for it, such as ablution or facing Makka; the only precondition is that one feel gratitude and the need to thank God. (8)
Having had the pleasure of meeting Husain and his brothers, I am glad to see him center stage, bringing positive expressions of faith and morals to the public eye. Hopefully "Abdullahing" will be as imitated as "Tebowing" and we'll see generations thanking God for their blessings.
* Shout out to @AB_Syed for helping out my clueless self re-caption the picture of Wahab Riaz prostrating, and to Ammar Mirza for catching a few typos.
(1) Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article2324330.html#storylink=cpy
(2) Section 3 Rule 12 of the NFL Player Conduct manual http://www.nfl.com/static/content/public/image/rulebook/pdfs/15_Rule12_Player_Conduct.pdf
(3) http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/09/30/nfl-says-husain-abdullah-should-not-have-been-penalized-for-praying-after-touchdown/
(4) The verse is from Quran 22:77. The hadith is recorded in Sahih Muslim (http://sunnah.com/muslim/4/245).
(5) See al-Munawi's comments on the previous hadith in Faid al-Qadir.
(6) Quran 14:7.
(7) Recorded in Sunan Ibn Majah (http://sunnah.com/urn/1287420).
(8) See an extensive discussion on this in the Kuwait Fiqh Encyclopedia under "Sajdat al-Shukr."
Related Topics:http://www.joebradford.nethusain abdullahIslamJoe Bradfordkc chiefsMuslimnflNFL Player Conductprayer
Oh You Who Are Leaving To Mina Without Me! Your Departure Has Set My Heart Ablaze!
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