text:
Tag Archives: nukes
October 7, 2017 · 2:44 pm
Have hope; mad kings come and go
Image from Cher's Twitter feed
I haven't written much about "President" Pussygrabber, and that's in no small part because I never have accepted that he legitimately is the president of the United States of America (because he isn't a legitimate president).
That's for many reasons, but mostly, it's because millions more Americans voted for his opponent in November 2016 than voted for him — and that was even with the help of Russia. (If there were no "there" there, the many concurrent investigations into the very apparent collusion with Russia very probably wouldn't be ongoing.)
Also, of course, Pussygrabber not only is an abject moron and an ultra-tacky flim-flam man, but he had lost me well before the presidential election. He had lost me with his hateful, ignorant, racist anti-Mexican comments of June 2015 during his official "presidential" campaign announcement, and with the October 2016 release of the recording of him bragging that "when you're a star, they [(attractive) women] let you do … anything," such as "Grab them by the pussy."
"Trump is toast," I declared in October 2016, as I truly had believed that no one running for high office could survive having bragged, on tape, about "grabbing" women "by the pussy," but here we are.
(Hey, again, he did lose the popular vote — substantially, which is why he has lied repeatedly about actually having won the popular vote. The anti-democratic [and anti-Democratic] Electoral College has got to go; we tell people how important it is that they vote, and then the candidate who won the highest number of votes doesn't even take office, but the fucking loser does.)
Aside from his illegitimacy, Pussygrabber's abysmal behavior in office disallows me from considering him to be the real president of the United States of America. Just this past week in post-hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, for instance, "President" Pussygrabber (in no certain order):
Of course made it all about his baby-boomer self and his fucking "ratings." He praised the governor of Puerto Rico for having sucked up to him dutifully, saying, "this governor did not play politics, he didn't play it all … he was giving us the highest grades." This good gubernatorial behavior of course was in contrast to the bad behavior of the valiant female mayor of San Juan, who for very good reason does not give Pussygrabber the highest grades (and who no doubt would destroy him should he even try to grab her pussy).
Of course let the people of Puerto Rico — who are (largely brown and black) American citizens — know how inconvenient they are. He actually told them, "Now, I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you've thrown our budget a little out of whack, because we've spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico." For once he apparently realized fairly immediately what a colossal fucking prick he sounded like, so he added obviously insincerely, "Which is fine."
Of course made the devastation wrought by hurricanes into a competitive television "reality" show. He actually told the Puerto Ricans that Hurricane Katrina, as opposed to Hurricane Maria, was "a real catastrophe," and indicated that Puerto Rico's "16" dead was better than Katrina's body count of "thousands." Yay, Puerto Rico, you win! (Actually, Puerto Rico's body count from Maria now stands at more than 30, and Katrina's official body count, while way higher than it ever should have been — under the other unelected and thus illegitimate Repugnican "president" — never reached 2,000, so "thousands" is incorrect, but we all know that Pussygrabber never troubles himself with facts.)
Of course had to keep the "reality" TV show thing going by actually having thrown rolls of paper towels to Puerto Ricans:
Reuters news photo
Because when your nation has been destroyed by a natural disaster, your No. 1 need is paper towels. (And the paper towels that Mad King Pussygrabber so generously deigned to toss to the rabble of Puerto Rico weren't even the quicker picker-upper, which you would need after a hurricane.)
Seriously, though — look at that Reuters news photo above for a long time and then tell me that I should accept this fucking imbecile as my president, even if he actually had won the fucking presidential election.
(Oh, and as if he hadn't made a big enough of a baboon's ass of himself when he was in Puerto Rico earlier this week, during a speech for Hispanic Heritage Month at the White House yesterday, Pussygrabber very apparently adopted a mocking Spanish accent when he repeatedly said "Puerto Rico."*)
Alas, despite the mind-blowing image and the beyond-pathetic information above, I do have hope for the United States of America. "President" Pussygrabber isn't the first idiot in chief whom we have weathered (even though he does make even George W. Bush look presidential). We probably will survive him.**
And no, I don't buy the oft-repeated argument that Pussygrabber is just the logical outcome of what most Americans are. No, he isn't representative of most Americans. (Indeed, let me say it again: Most Americans did not vote for him; in fact, Billary beat him by 2.1 percentage points, or almost 3 million more popular votes.***)
Pussygrabber certainly is representative of his narcissistic and rapacious generation, the baby boomers, but not of all Americans. Indeed, Pussygrabber probably represents the last, pathetic gasp of rule by the baby boomers and rule by stupid white males (I can't call them "men").
I can't see our socially conscious young adults of today, when they become presidents in the future, acting anything like Pussygrabber routinely does. No, Pussygrabber is an anomaly, the occasional illegitimate, mad king that we've seen throughout history.
He will pass.
Yes, it feels like passing a fucking kidney stone, but it will pass.
And our history books (the honest ones, anyway) will record "President" Pussygrabber as just another bad blip, just another blemish on our history.
P.S. Two things: One, Pussygrabber still can't reach an approval rating of even 40 percent in most nationwide polls. This doesn't bode well for his "re"-election. Don't become complacent, but take some comfort in that fact.
Two, if you want to help out the people of Puerto Rico — whom you should want to help whether they are U.S. citizens or not — you can do so by giving what you can afford to give to the Hispanic Federation, as I have, and/or to another reputable aid organization.
*As I have noted, the anti-Latino Pussygrabber is doing to the Repugnican Party on the national level what anti-Latino former Repugnican California Gov. Pete Wilson did to the party here in California (for his own short-term personal and political gain, Wilson planted the seeds that later would decimate his party here in California).
As Latinos are the fastest-growing group of people in the United States, I encourage the Repugnican Party to continue to alienate these voters.
**As far as nukes and nuclear war go, Pussygrabber is an abject idiot, but I don't think that he's suicidal. No vampire wants to die, but wants to continue to suck the blood of its victims for as long as possible.
***Don't get me wrong; as I've written here a million times, it was a colossal fucking mistake for the (so-called) Democrats to make Billary Clinton, (with Pussygrabber) one of the most unpopular candidates for U.S. president in history, their presidential nominee. (As I have noted, I am not a registered Democrat and will not register with the Democratic Party again until and unless it becomes the progressive party that it once was.)
With their heads planted firmly in their rectums, the "Democrats" all pretended that Billary isn't the widely despised, corrupt harpy that she is, and we have them to thank in no tiny part for "President" Pussygrabber.
The so-called Democrats had a winning candidate in Bernie Sanders, but they decided to coronate Repugnican Lite Billary instead because it was "her turn," you see.
We'll see if they learned their lesson. I much doubt that they have.
Tagged as baby boomers, Bernie Sanders, bigotry, collusion with Russia, colonialism, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Electoral College, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Hispanic Federation, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Maria, illegitimate president, illegitimate presidents, Latinos, mad king, news, nuclear war, nukes, paper towels, Politics, popular vote, President Pussygrabber, Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rico, Pussygrabber, Racism, Republican Party, Russia, traitor, traitors, treason
The two Pricks vie to be the top fascist
"Christian" presidential aspirants Prick Perry and Prick Santorum falsely greet each other at an apparent all-white-male "prayer breakfast" in South Carolina today. With "Christians" like these, who needs demons?
Presidential wannabes Prick Perry and Prick Santorum, with the presidential primary election in South Carolina upon us on Saturday, apparently are vying to be the biggest "Christo"fascist in the 2012 Repugnican Tea Party presidential primary race.
Thank Goddess that neither one of them has a snowball's chance in hell of ever sitting in the Oval Office.
Texas Gov. Prick Perry, who wants to represent the third and maybe even the fourth term of George W. Bush, has proclaimed that to denounce the recently revealed incident of U.S. Marines having urinated on the bodies of their kill in Afghanistan is to have "disdain for the [U.S.] military."
That exactly is what the criminal members of the unelected, treasonous, fascistic Bush regime did: They equated any criticism of their profoundly bungled military policy or of any of their military failures (such as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal) to wholesale attacks on our troops by America-hating traitors. And that is the same tack that Perry is trying to take now: Barack Hussein Obama, you see, according to Prick Perry, actually hates our troops. (Well, Obama does send them off to their pointless deaths as nonchalantly as George W. Bush did, but that's another blog post.)
"Obviously, 18-, 19-year-old kids make stupid mistakes all too often. And that's what's occurred here," Perry dismissively said today of Goldenshowergate, adding, "What's really disturbing to me is the kind of over-the-top rhetoric from this [the Obama] administration and their disdain for the military."
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta should not have condemned the desecration of the dead, which the Geneva Conventions forbid, you see. The Associated Press reports that Perry today "said the Marines involved should be reprimanded but not prosecuted on criminal charges" — even though they violated the Geneva Conventions, for fuck's sake.
Prick Perry's knee-jerk right-wing, jingoistic "defense" of Goldenshowergate unintentionally raises more questions than it puts anything to rest.
Why do we have "kids" in the U.S. military when, as Perry correctly states, "kids make stupid mistakes all too often"?
Why do we entrust such highly sensitive matters to "kids"?
Is it because older and wiser individuals will know that they are being exploited? Is it that it easier to send kids — with their false sense of immortality and their naive trust of authority – to their pointless maimings and deaths in the bogus wars for the profiteering of the stupid old rich men who so casually send our kids off to be maimed and traumatized and to die for their personal fortunes?
I can assure Prick Perry that President Barack Obama hates our troops just as much as "President" George W. Bush did. If Obama did not, he would never put them in harm's way only for the benefit of the war profiteers of the military-industrial complex and the corporateers, such as Big Oil.
Obama promised "hope" and "change," but there still is plenty of death and destruction in the Middle East that benefits only the war profiteers and the corporateers. But apparently for Prick Perry, there isn't enough death and destruction for the obscene profits of the 1 percent.
Not to be outdone in hateful jingoism by Prick Perry, former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Prick Santorum — the evil stooge for the pedophilic Catholick church led by Pope Palpatine who fancies himself a "Christian" and is who is so hated by his own state that he lost re-election by a record margin there in 2006 — has declared that no one should condemn the assassination of a 32-year-old Iranian nuclear scientist last week.
This is (was…) 32-year-old Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, who, according to the Iranian government, was murdered in a car bombing in Tehran on Wednesday:
Associated Press image
Whoever killed Roshan is guilty of the murder of a young father. There is no getting around that, whether Roshan's murderers turn out to be the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (as the Iranian government reportedly alleges); Israel's equivalent of the CIA, Mossad; or even — who knows? — fellow Iranians who for whatever reason or reasons wanted Roshan dead. While I suspect the CIA or Mossad (or both), it's not impossible, I suppose, that even the Iranian government killed Roshan.
But to hear "Christo"fascistic assbites like Prick Santorum make such pronouncements as "Our country condemned it [Roshan's murder]; my feeling is we should have kept our mouth shut," is nauseating.
Of whose assassination would Jesus approve?
Further, both the United States and Israel apparently have nukes.* What if the Iranians assassinated an American or an Israeli nuclear scientist on American or Israeli soil? That would be an outrage that might even be cause for all-out war, no? Why, then, is it perfectly OK for the United States or Israel to assassinate others on foreign soil?
And why is it that the United States and Israel may have nukes, but that any other nation may not? Why do the United States and its partner in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Middle East, Israel, get to determine who may and may not possess nukes in the Middle East?
This blatant hypocrisy and double standard and self-righteousness is why the United States and Israel are so hated in the Middle East, and why we have seen perpetual warfare there (and blowback here at home, such as on September 11, 20o1).
There is a lot about Iran not to like, such as its oppression of women and non-heterosexuals and those who don't submit to the nation's theocratic rule, but this patriarchal (and misogynist and homophobic) theocratic rule is exactly what the war-mongering, patriarchal theofascists here at home — such as Prick Santorum and Prick Perry — would love to establish for themselves right here.
And not to let Mitt Romney off the hook; a Mormon president would be a huge mistake. Although Romney's Mormonism instructs him to pretend to be more civil than are his political opponents and to be falsely nice while in actuality he supports a great deal of evil, if we are going to elect Mitt Romney as president we might as well just move the nation's capital from D.C. to Salt Lake City and put the control of the nation entirely in the claws of the cabal of stupid old evil white men who rule the Mormon cult, who are no different in (malevolent) spirit from the patriarchal, totalitarian clerics who control Iran and other "Islamofascist" states.
It speaks volumes of the evil of the Repugnican Tea Party that its presidential aspirants claim to be such great "Christians" but are supportive or dismissive of such evils as assassination — murder — and desecration of the dead (although, as I have noted, it's a much, much larger crime to murder someone in the first place than it is to then disrespectfully treat his or her corpse).
How about we assassinate Prick Perry and Prick Santorum and then piss on their corpses, since such acts, according to them, are perfectly acceptable?
You know, I don't call myself a Christian — in large part because evil people like Prick Perry and Prick Santorum and Mitt Romney call themselves "Christians" — but it seems to me that Jesus Christ's core teaching that anything that you would not want done to yourself you should not do to anyone else is pretty fucking sound.
If "Christians" actually followed Jesus' teachings, then we wouldn't witness things like bogus warfare and mass murder and war crimes and crimes against humanity and assassinations and torture and desecration of the dead.
I can guarantee you that if an actual Christian — someone who actually followed Jesus Christ's teachings as contained in black and white in the New Testament — ever ran for president, I would vote for him or her enthusiastically, but no actual Christian will win the presidency in November 2012 because no actual Christian is running.
And nor could I see a majority of the people of the United States of America ever actually electing an actual Christian president, since the majority of Americans are not only comfortable with, but very apparently want, a certain amount of evil in their leaders. After all, the vast majority of people want their leaders to be just like themselves.
*Wikipedia notes that Israel refuses to confirm or deny whether or not it possesses a nuclear weapon. I assume that Israel does. Indeed, with the billions of our U.S. tax dollars that go to the parasitic, war-mongering Israel, I'd be surprised if Israel doesn't have nukes.
Tagged as "Christo"fascism, "Christo"fascists, assassination, Barack Obama, Catholic church, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, evil, fascism, fascists, George W. Bush, Goldenshowergate, Hatred, Homophobia, hypocrisy, hypocrites, Iran, Israel, jingoism, jingoists, Leon Panetta, Misogyny, Mitt Romney, Mormon cult, Mormonism, Mossad, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, murder, nuclear weapons, nukes, Patriarchy, Politics, Republican Party, Republican Tea Party, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Salt Lake City, theocracy, theocrats, theofascism, theofascists, U.S. military
Deep thoughts on the week that was
I post only a fraction of what I could post, because my time is limited (like it is with most bloggers, I have to earn a paycheck, and that doesn't happen with my blogging, which is a labor of love) and because I'm a bit of a perfectionist and don't like doing something unless I do it right.
So here is some of what I would have posted in the past week or so if I'd had the time (and if I weren't such a perfectionist):
"Countdown to Zero": This documentary about nuclear weapons was disappointing. It taught me little that I didn't already know or that I couldn't have discovered on my own via Google (which now is evil, I understand, and which is too bad, because I've always liked Google).
"Countdown" apparently lets the United States of America off of the hook for having been the first nation on the planet to nuke another nation. It's an obvious conclusion that if nukes are bad and the United States is the first and thus far the only nation ever to have nuked another nation — what does that say of the U.S.?
"Countdown" also doesn't delve into the uber-hypocrisy of the United States — the only nation ever to have nuked another nation (I never tire of saying that) — dictating to the rest of the world which nations get to have nukes and which nations don't. No, I'm not big on the idea of Iran having the Bomb, either, but it was the United States that opened that Pandora's box, and "Countdown to Zero" doesn't even begin to address that adequately.
My grade: C+
"Inception" is entertaining enough, but it also could have been titled "Deja Vu," because it's a mixture of "The Matrix" and "Shutter Island."
"Inception" explores what is real and what is not, and features characters kicking each other's asses in a video-game-like fantasy land while their physical bodies are unconscious and wired up, a la "The Matrix." What's most bizarre about "Inception" is that in both "Inception" and "Shutter Island," Leonardo DiCaprio plays a man who is tortured by the ghosts of his dead wives. The similarity is such that my having seen "Shutter Island" first made me able to enjoy "Inception" less.
Any movie starring both Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, two of my favorite young actors, however, can't be all bad. (Marion Cotillard, as DiCaprio's character's deceased wife, is pretty good, too, although her accent sounds a bit like Arianna Huffington's…)
"Inception," besides being too derivative, is too long, though…
My grade: B-
"The Kids Are All Right" is more than all right. Julianne Moore and Annette Bening do a great job playing a lesbian couple with two teenaged kids. Each of them had been inseminated by the donations of a sperm donor (played by Mark Ruffalo, who can donate sperm to me any time…) who later is contacted by the older teen (played by Mia Wasikowska, who starred as Alice in Tim Burton's latest film) and who comes into their lives.
Probably because I'm a gay man, I have no problem seeing any two people of either sex in a relationship, and having been in a relationship for almost three years now, I see certain dynamics in all relationships, regardless of gender and sexual orientation. (While my boyfriend and I watched "The Kids Are All Right" together, I poked him in the arm several times to declare: "That's us!")
I understand that the lesbian community is not thrilled about the type of porn that the lesbian couple in the film enjoy, but, as Moore's character explains, human sexuality is complicated.
My biggest problem with "The Kids Are All Right" is that Ruffalo's character isn't all that believable. Is he a care-free Bohemian or is he a successful businessman? And how does he have all of that time and energy (and the money) to do all that he does, including having a romance with one of the lesbians? Still, the insightful dialogue and the realistic situations in "Kids" make it worthwhile.
My grade: A
Leave Michelle alone! Had Barbara Bush or Laura Bush gone to Spain on vacation, it would have been no big fucking deal. But because Michelle Obama went on vacation to Spain, and not, I suppose, to Haiti or Darfur or Uganda, she's taken shit for it. Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker recently huffed:
Is it really such a terrible thing that the president's wife took a few days off to enjoy the beaches of Spain? Yes and no. Michelle Obama's trip, though expensive in the context of our dire financial straits, isn't putting a dent in the Treasury.
But as a political move, it could not have been more out of step with most Americans' reality. The obvious reasons include the stagnant job market, the depleted fortunes of the middle class, millions of lost homes and, for many, the prospect of an insecure financial future….
On balance, the vacation was poorly conceived but hardly a crime befitting the condemnation. Perhaps of more lasting concern is the missed opportunity for the first lady to set an example of restraint and even generosity. I hear the Gulf Coast beaches could use a cash infusion.
When do the Richie Riches of the Repugnican Party ever "set an example of restraint and even generosity"? Why the fucking double standard that a conservative white man is expected to be a selfish asshole, and gets away with it, but if a black woman takes a trip that any well-enough-to-do white woman would take, she instead should have "set an example of restraint and even generosity"?
And talk about pettiness. Parker notes in her column that
George W. Bush largely escaped scrutiny because his preferred getaway was a place no one else, especially the media, wanted to go. Crawford, Tex., in August? Fabulous.
Whatever else one thinks of Bush, he did have a sense of propriety in matters recreational, perhaps in part attributable to his life of privilege and attendant guilt. He gave up golf after invading Iraq because he felt it would look bad to be perfecting his swing while those he had consigned to battle were losing their limbs. A token, perhaps, but a gesture nonetheless.
A token gesture "perhaps"? And oh, please. The xenophobic, parochial George W. Bush never showed interest in other nations or cultures unless they had vast oil reserves that could be stolen. He didn't take vacations at home out of some "sense of propriety in matters recreational," but out of his utter lack of curiosity about the rest of the world.
And Gee Dubya gave up golf? Oh, gee, what a sacrifice! That almost makes up for the damage that he did to his own nation, including leaving office with (not in any certain order) a record federal budget deficit, an overextended military, a crumbling domestic infrastructure, far more enemies around the world than there were before he stole office in late 2000, and what economists have dubbed the "Great Recession."
Why does Kathleen Parker get paid to write and I fucking don't?
(Well, that's mostly a rhetorical question, but the answer is that she's a baby boomer, and boomers never have needed any actual talent to make big bucks, and because as a writer she supports the status quo, which includes keeping Americans stupid and disempowered by discussing such non-issues as Michelle Obama's vacation, and my intention when I write is to destroy, not to prop up, the status quo. And, we Gen X'ers historically have been shit and pissed upon by the talentless boomers.)
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a Gen-X hero!
Steven Slater, a JetBlue flight attendant (pictured above in a MySpace photo), had had it. As a (U.K.) Guardian columnist tells it,
…as the plane was coming in to land, Slater asked a passenger who was attempting to get her luggage from the overhead compartment to remain seated. After the passenger verbally berated Slater, a piece of her luggage fell on to his head. [This website states that Slater's mother says that Slater was hit in the head by the door of the overhead bin the foul-mouthed passenger was yanking open, not by luggage.] Slater took to the plane's PA system and announced that he was quitting. Then, after grabbing two beers from a food cart, he opened one of the plane's doors, slid down the emergency chute, and was gone for good.
This story is being told as a simple episode of "take this job and shove it," but I think that there is a lot more than that beneath the surface.
Slater is in his late 30s — a Gen X'er, like me, who, I am sure, is sick and fucking tired of being squeezed in the middle between overly demanding (mostly baby-boomer) customers and rich (mostly baby-boomer) overlords who do little to no work themselves but who reap all of the profits while we Gen X (and Gen Y) wage slaves, who usually live from paycheck to paycheck, make their wealth and their comfort possible. (I felt this big squeeze especially in nursing, which I left in 1998 and to which I'll never return.)
I don't know how old the obnoxious passenger is, but my guess is that she's a fucking baby boomer. (I'd bet money on it.)
The passenger's selfish, inappropriate and illegal actions — this website reports that the Federal Aviation Administration is looking for the passenger because she is accused of "several airline infractions," including "unbuckling her seatbelt and walking while the plane is taxiing, [constituting] two separate fines of $1,100" — ended up creating a visible wound on Slater's forehead, but, as a Gen-X wage slave in the "service sector" (the new slavery system) he was just supposed to take it.
The boomers clearly expect us Gen X'ers to continue to take it up the ass indefinitely. We Gen X'ers are overeducated and underpaid, and we're quite clear as to the future that the uber-selfish boomers intend to leave us, yet the boomers expect their gravy train to chug on forever at our continued expense.
If we Gen X'ers — and the "illegal aliens" — all ever were to refuse to continue being whipped wage slaves for the overprivileged boomers — if we all were to activate and slide down that emergency chute — their comfort would come to a screeching halt.
We Gen X'ers and other wage slaves have the real power, not those parasites who are dependent upon us yet act as though we need them.
Severing the hand that feeds you (and slapping your benefactor in the face with it): I'd already decided long before Obama administration spokesweasel Robert Gibbs called us progressives members of the "professional left" who should be drug tested that I'll never give another penny nor another vote to Barack Obama. So I can't call Gibbs' smug comments the final nail in Obama's coffin. That coffin was nailed shut long ago, so I guess that Gibbs' latest statements are just concrete poured over that coffin.
You know, George W. Bush is a major fucktard, but neither even he nor any of his spokesweasels, to my recollection, ever publicly bashed the Repugnican Tea Party's far-right-wing base.
You may not like your base all of the time, but you don't alienate your base.
Clearly, starting with DINO (Democrat in name only) Bill Clinton, the Democratic Party decided that it's OK to promise some things to us progressives but then to do other things — because where else are we progressives going to go?
Well, this member of the "professional left" won't support Obama anymore. Clearly, the Obama administration has decided to sell us progressives up the river for the unstable, volatile support of the "swing voters," who can't tell right from wrong, good from evil, or friend from foe.
I'm more than happy to pick up my marbles (which Gibbs claims I've lost) and go home, even if doing so means the quicker collapse of the American empire. I'm with Ralph Nader, whom I voted for president in 2000 and whom I should have voted for president in November 2008 (instead of Obama) — and of whom one of his detractors once claimed believes that things have to get even worse before they'll ever get better.
And this pundit had it right when he remarked:
We "professional leftists" do indeed need drug testing because apparently the … hallucinogenic of "hope and change" has worn off and the ugly mediocrity of modern Democratic leadership stares us in the face with the not-so-friendly smugness of a hookah-smoking caterpillar.
Yup. It was the Obama campaign that had sold us the drug of "hope" and "change" and now criticizes us for having imbibed it.
Well, we of the professional left are going to have to find a new drug.
Tagged as "Countdown to Zero", "Inception", "Shutter Island", "swing voters", "The Kids Are All Right", "The Matrix", Annette Bening, baby boomers, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, boomers, DINO, DINOs, Ellen Page, Film, Gen X, Gen Xers, Generation X, George W. Bush, JetBlue, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Julianne Moore, Kathleen Parker, Leonardo DiCaprio, lesbians, Marion Cotillard, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Michelle Obama, movie reviews, movies, nuclear war, nuclear weapons, nukes, Obama administration, Politics, professional left, professional leftists, Revolution, Robert Gibbs, Spain, Steven Slater
Assorted shit
Majority of Americans trust the 'community organizer' on nukes
According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll that was taken within the past few days, a whopping 70 percent of the 1,000-plus Americans polled believe that the U.S. Senate should ratify the nuclear arms nonproliferation treaty that U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently signed.
Only 28 percent in the poll — I think that you could safely label most of them as the tea-baggin' kind — said that the Senate should not ratify the treaty. (Of course, I surmise that at least some 0f those 28 percent believe that the treaty doesn't go far enough in eliminating nuclear arms, which is why they oppose its ratification.)
The same poll also asked which is more preferable: "the elimination of all nuclear arms in the world — or for a few major countries, including the United States, to have enough nuclear arms so [that] no country would dare attack them." A full 50 percent said that the elimination of all nuclear arms is preferable, 49 percent said that a few major nations should be able to have nukes, and only 1 percent weren't sure. (However, almost three-fourths of the poll's respondents stated that they believe that the total elimination of nukes is impossible.)
I think it's important to know what public opinion actually is when hearing the minority tea-baggin' wingnuts bark that President Obama is out of touch with the majority of Americans on nuclear arms policy.
Catholick church still refuses contrition on child sex abuse
This is priceless: The Associated Press reports today that
The Vatican [today] responded to allegations it long concealed clerical sex abuse by making it clear for the first time that bishops and clerics worldwide should report such crimes to police if they are required to by law.
Key word there: "if."
Not because it's the right thing to do — but if it's required by law. And the language leaves plenty of wiggle room to let sexually abusive priests and other Catholick officials off the hook, because the church can claim that it had no knowledge that a crime definitely had been committed — and that a merely suspected crime doesn't have to be reported to police.
Oh, well. At least it's nice to hear the Vatican actually admit that it is actually accountable to someone instead of only to some non-existent "God."
Don't sing hallefuckinglujah yet, though. The Vatican still isn't done blaming the child sex abuse that has riddled the Catholick church on others. The Associated Press also reports today:
Santiago, Chile – The Vatican's second-highest authority says the sex scandals haunting the Roman Catholic Church are linked to homosexuality and not celibacy among priests.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, made the comments during a news conference [today] in Chile, where one of the church's highest-profile pedophile cases involves a priest having sex with young girls.
"Many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relation between celibacy and pedophilia. But many others have demonstrated, I have been told recently, that there is a relation between homosexuality and pedophilia. That is true," said Bertone. "That is the problem."
His comments drew angry reactions from Chile's gay rights advocates.
"Neither Bertone nor the Vatican has the moral authority to give lessons on sexuality," said Rolando Jimenez, president of the Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation in Chile.
Jimenez also said no reputable study exists to support the cardinal's claims.
"This is a perverse strategy by the Vatican to shirk its own ethical and legal responsibility by making a spurious and disgusting connection," he said.
At least one of the highest-profile pedophiles in the Chilean church victimized young girls, including a teenager who became pregnant….
I am one of millions of gay men around the world who aren't willing to be burned at the stake by the Catholick church for its own institutional sins.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: FUCK THE CATHOLICK CHURCH. Its demise is long, long overdue.
Like the 'tea-partiers' need help with that…
I love this AP news story from today (so here it is in full [with my comments in brackets]):
Albany, N.Y. – Opponents of the fiscally conservative tea party movement say they plan to infiltrate and dismantle the political group by trying to make its members appear to be racist, homophobic and moronic.
[Um, "fiscally conservative"? The vast majority of these "tea-partying" dipshits didn't make a fucking peep when the unelected Bush regime sank hundreds of billions of taxpayers' dollars into Vietraq for Dick Cheney's war-profiteering Halliburton and the other war-profiteering subsidiaries of BushCheneyCorp.]
Jason Levin, creator of crashtheteaparty.org, said [today] the group has 65 leaders in major cities across the country who are trying to recruit members to infiltrate tea party events for April 15 — tax filing day, when tea party groups across the country are planning to gather and protest high taxes.
"Every time we have someone on camera saying that Barack Obama isn't an American citizen, we want someone sitting next to him saying, 'That's right, he's an alien from outer space!'" Levin said.
Tea party members said the backlash comes from ignorance.
"They can't actually debate our message and that's their problem," said Bob MacGuffie, a Connecticut organizer for Right Principles, a tea party group that also has members in New York and New Jersey.
The tea party movement generally unites on the fiscally conservative principles of small government, lower taxes and less spending. Beyond that the ideology of the people involved tends to vary dramatically.
Levin says they want to exaggerate the group's least appealing qualities, further distance the tea party from mainstream America and damage the public's opinion of them.
"Do I think every member of the tea party is a homophobe, racist or a moron? No, absolutely not," Levin said. "Do I think most of them are homophobes, racists or morons? Absolutely."
The site manifesto says they want to dismantle the tea party by nonviolent means. "We have already sat quietly in their meetings, and observed their rallies," the site said.
Another tea party organizer said the attempt to destroy the movement was evidence its message is resonating.
"We've been ignored, we've been ridiculed. Well, now they're coming after us," said Judy Pepenella, a co-coordinator for the New York State Tea Party. "Gandhi's quote is one we understand: 'First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.'"
Oh, my, where to begin?
Gandhi, himself a victim of racism, would have supported the "tea party" "movement"? Really?
And do the "tea party" fucktards really need any help in appearing to be "racist, homophobic and moronic"? Aren't they doing that well enough on their own?
If the "tea party" dipshits need to tell themselves that the planned infiltration of their April 15 protests by sane Americans is because the latter "can't actually debate [the "tea party" dipshits'] message," let them.
We opponents of the "tea party" not only can debate the "tea party's" "message" — a huge part of which is of racism, white supremacism, xenophobia, militarism, jingoism, homophobia, misogyny, patriarchy and "Christo"fascism — but we do. All the time.
And our goal, for the record, is to prevent the creeping fascism that the "tea party" dipshits represent. They wrap themselves in the American flag and in the Shroud of Turin when their real goal is to unravel years of progress made by liberated women and by historically oppressed minority groups and to impose their Taliban-like "Christo"fascism on every American.
My only problem with the infiltration of the tea party protests is that I'd like to know which wingnuts are for real and which ones are only acting… In some if not many if not most cases, it might be nearly impossible to distinguish between the two…
Tagged as "tea party", "tea party" movement, April 15, Barack Obama, Catholic church, child sex abuse, crashtheteaparty.org, fascism, fuck the Catholic church, Gandhi, homosexuality, Jason Levin, nuclear arms policy, nuclear policy, nukes, pedophilia, President Barack Obama, President Dmitry Medvedev, Vatican


text:
Art, Textiles and all that Jazz!
Victoria Rees
26th April – 1st May 2017
Massive textile designs, impromptu Jazz portraits, unique Festival designs.
As part of an exciting new collaboration with the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, from 26th April – 1st May, the Gardens Gallery in Montpellier is delighted to be hosting fine artist and textile designer Victoria Rees for her show 'Art, textiles and all that Jazz'. This will be a rare opportunity to see the creative journey of an artist who has worked intensely with some of the world's most respected musicians.
A Royal Academy of Art's scholar, Victoria has an impressive resumé and her work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy, the National Portrait Gallery, the Aberdeen city gallery and in the Ruth Borchard show at Piano Nobile London. Her work is also featured in various private & public collections.
Years of painting and drawing directly in front of musicians has allowed Victoria, through her work, to form an exciting alliance between fine art, music and textiles. All the patterns and designs found within her textiles have been taken from the images she creates during these live sessions in front of a list of performers that has ranged from alternative rock band Jesus Jones to cellist Stephen Isserlis and an opera production of Eugene Onegin directed by Michael Boyd and designed by Tom Piper, to name but a few.
In 2016 Victoria's 'Cunning Little Vixen' wall hanging, created for a production of Janacek's opera at Garsington, was exhibited in The Silk Museum, Lebanon and the International Opera Awards commissioned her to design a unique "Aria "stole. We are therefore delighted to announce that she will be designing our very own pocket square in celebration of this year's Jazz Festival and this will be on sale at her exhibition alongside drawings that will be hung as she does them, over the course of the week's performances, and a collection of her paintings and textiles.
Open daily 10am – 6pm
To find out more about Victoria Rees's work:
Facebook: Victoria Rees Textiles & Victoria Rees Artist
Instagram: vr_victoriarees
twitter: @ToryRees
www.victoriarees.co.uk
About Cheltenham Jazz Festival
The 2017 Cheltenham Jazz Festival takes place from April 26th – May 1st and is hosted in a tented festival village in Cheltenham's Montpellier Gardens, featuring a Big Top stage, Pizza Express Live Arena, food stalls and Family Tent with Cheltenham Town Hall, Cheltenham Ladies' College Parabola Arts Centre, Hotel du Vin and Daffodil venues all within short walking distance of the Festival site. The Festival will also feature around 90 free gigs and pop-up performances in the town's streets and bars.
Featuring Chick Corea, Gregory Porter, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Laura Mvula, Ben Folds & Jamie Cullum, Will Young, Snarky Puppy, Jack Savoretti, Robert Cray, Kansas Smittys, Paul Carrack, Eric Bibb, Mica Paris, Booker T Jones and many more.
www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/jazz

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Valerie Gibson receives Royal Society Athena accolade
Published date: October 14, 2016 October 24, 2016
Professor Valerie Gibson has received a Royal Society award for her activities to increase and advance women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
She is among four individuals and two organisations recognised by the inaugural Royal Society Athena Prize, which celebrates those who have contributed most to the advancement of diversity in STEM in their spheres.
Professor Gibson is Head of the High Energy Physics Research Group at the Cavendish Laboratory and the School of Physical Sciences Equality & Diversity Champion at Cambridge. She spearheaded the Cavendish Laboratory's Athena Swan Gold Award in 2014. The Cavendish was the first – and remains the only – university physics department in the UK to achieve this recognition of its development of employment practices that support and further the careers of women. Professor Gibson said:
A workforce with a balance of gender and minorities is more innovative, productive and successful in its outcomes. So it is in all areas of science. However, in my own discipline of physics, less than 20% of our undergraduates are women, only 16% of our research active academic staff and 8% of our Professors are women, and 94% are of white ethnicity.
My work focuses around removing any barriers that lead to these fractions, to provide equality of opportunity for all, and to show under-represented groups that a career in science is achievable and fulfilling.
When she is not searching for new phenomena at CERN's Large Hadron Collider, or teaching physics at Cambridge, Professor Gibson is promoting women in science and making science exciting, relevant and accessible to a broad audience.
Among her innovations are the introduction of high chairs in the Cavendish Laboratory's canteen; establishing a Research Staff Committee and events programme; and instigating research to understand and improve undergraduate women's exam performance.
Professor Gibson said the recognition by the Royal Society would strengthen her voice in Cambridge and beyond – including working with schools to encourage more girls to consider studying science.
It is also a great boost for moral and keeps the enthusiasm for change at the highest level. This recognition will give me further opportunity to help others along the same journey towards the ultimate goal of equality of opportunity for all.
Alongside Professor Gibson, four others received awards: Dr Mateja Jamnik for founding women@CL; Dr June McCombie, as the key instigator and first Chair of the Institute of Physics' Juno Progamme; Professor Paul Howard Walton for promoting evidence based thinking in equality; and the Photonics & Instrumentation Research Centre at City University of London for its promotion of inclusiveness and addressing cultural barriers.
The London Mathematical Society's Women in Mathematics Committee received the overall Royal Society Athena Prize for its efforts to improve the gender balance of mathematicians in academia.
Getting up to speed with Newton
Sir Isaac Newton, one of Trinity's most famous alumnae, trod the stone flags of the College for more than 30 years in the seventeenth century. He used parts of the College for his experiments – including, apparently, one of the colonnades in Nevile's Court. Here he measured the speed of sound.
To recreate the experiment Professor Valerie Gibson was joined by students Lisa Winkler and Philippa Worsley during Trinity's first residential weekend for women interested in studying STEMM subjects. Such was the popularity of the event that it will be held annually at Trinity.
Professor Gibson said that the importance of Newton's experiment with sound could not be underestimated.
Newton's discoveries were groundbreaking. It was wonderful to recreate his measurement of the speed of sound in the exact spot (allegedly) at Trinity where he worked nearly 400 years ago – and for a video to be viewable worldwide. I hope you enjoy watching it, as much as we enjoyed making it!
Watch the Speed of Sound video.
Collapse More ContentSpeed of sound video
Professor Sir Peter Julius Lachmann FRCP FRCPath FRS FMedSci (1931-2020)


Common; a hacking cough that brings up mucus Common; a cough that gets more wet with progression.
You are most contagious for the first 2 or 3 days after symptoms first appear. However, symptoms may continue to linger. You are most contagious for the first 1 or 2 days before symptoms first appear and 5 to 7 days after symptoms develop.


Yazda was a privilege to be contacted by the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, Ms. Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, and her team to share its expertise in preparation of her next thematic report at the UN Human Rights Council to be published in June 2019. The report seeks to focus on key challenges and innovative and transformative models of social inclusion of victims of trafficking into societies.
As an NGO focusing mainly on the Yazidi case and plight, notably in Iraq, Yazda was pleased to share its experience first in a written submission and second by participating in an expert consultation in Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia, from 31 January to 1 February 2019.
Yazda's representative, Ms. Natia Navrouzov underlined the challenges faced by the Yazidi minority in Iraq and the social exclusion it was suffering from, even before the Islamic State's attacks in August 2014. She then explained that their situation worsened since that date and that more than 300,000 Yazidis were still living in IDP camps without basic services and for most of them without access to the job market. She also mentioned that the Yazidis could currently not return to Sinjar because of the lack of security and the lack of basic services.
She concluded that all these factors led automatically to social exclusion and submitted a list of recommendations to the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons.


Your website is the gateway to your church. What people see online could very well determine whether they list your church – or not.
Initiate Church Websites is a service of Initiate Agency, a full-service advertising and digital agency, totally focused on helping Christian organizations in both branding – and all things digital.
Initiate Church Websites was founded specifically to help churches get beautiful, powerful websites – at a fraction of the cost. Our team of designers and developers have worked hand in hand to build a customized, robust platform that allows churches to have everything they need, without paying for it.
By developing our platform in advance, investing the necessary capital up front, we are therefore in a position where we can give churches a best-of-breed website – all for a low monthly fee. Image is everything, and so all Initiate Church Websites are custom designed.


Chie's new laptop arrived today - a sort of late Christmas present from me. Her previous laptop had been in service since around 2002 - 8 years is a very good innings from a laptop - but had recently become next to unusable.
Other than that not much else to report!


New Vids of Lauren Dean, Diana Schnaidt, & Briana Sokoloski!
It's a great time to be a member at HDPhysiques! Some of our very best models ever, with more on the way every day, as we continue to bring you the ultimate female muscle entertainment! Today, we've added new videos on the pages of new model Lauren Dean, plus Briana Sokoloski, and Diana Schnaidt. You'll be amazed at these 3 ladies – check out their model pages today and stay tuned for yet another incredible NEW MODEL coming Friday!
https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Diana-Schnaidt-110.jpg 1080 1920 hdphysiques https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x87.png hdphysiques2016-05-24 07:31:462016-05-24 07:31:46New Vids of Lauren Dean, Diana Schnaidt, & Briana Sokoloski!
New clips added today on the model pages for Ashley Losee and youngster Briana Sokoloski. Two gorgeous young ladies that are raising the bar when it comes to young female muscle! There's never been a better time to be a member of HDPhysiques – so much more on the way, it's just incredible!
https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Ashley-Losee-39.jpg 768 1150 hdphysiques https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x87.png hdphysiques2016-05-09 06:58:182016-05-09 06:58:18Clips of GORGEOUS Ashley Losee and Briana Sokoloski added!
Members Update of Soko and Schnaidt – Join HDP Now!
Today's update includes new clips on the pages of Diana Schnaidt and Briana Sokoloski, 2 of our most popular recently added models! Talk about some tremendous models. It's crazy awesome to see that kind of muscle on a girl as young as Soko. And the level of detail and grainy dryness in Diana Schnaidt must be seen to be believed! Also, thank you for the great feedback on our last model we just posted, the incredible Mascha Tieken! Keep coming back for more – great times ahead here at HDPhysiques!
https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Diana-Schnaidt-101.jpg 1080 1920 hdphysiques https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x87.png hdphysiques2016-03-21 03:52:052016-03-21 03:52:05Members Update of Soko and Schnaidt - Join HDP Now!
Check out that bicep vein! Awesome pics now available in the members section on the Megan Trimmer 2 Model page!
https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Megan-Trimmah-26.jpg 764 1150 hdphysiques https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x87.png hdphysiques2016-02-12 08:01:102016-02-12 08:01:10New vids of Briana & Holland & New Megan Trimmer 2 page added!
Members Section Updated with Olivia Moschetti & Briana Sokoloski vids!
Today's Members Section update includes 2 new clips of Olivia Moschetti 2 and Briana Sokoloski. Stay tuned for a new model page of a long-time fan favorite coming this Friday to HDPhysiques.com!
https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Briana-Sokoloski-109.jpg 113 200 hdphysiques https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x87.png hdphysiques2016-01-26 10:12:552016-01-26 10:12:55Members Section Updated with Olivia Moschetti & Briana Sokoloski vids!
New clips of Briana Sokoloski and Diana Schnaidt – JOIN NOW!
Today, we added new vids on the pages of Diana Schnaidt and Briana Sokoloski. Stay tuned for another update on Wednesday, and another incredible new model coming on Friday!
https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Diana-Schnaidt-95.jpg 768 1150 hdphysiques https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x87.png hdphysiques2016-01-18 23:59:442016-01-19 01:01:25New clips of Briana Sokoloski and Diana Schnaidt - JOIN NOW!
22-year-old Briana Sokoloski is our newest model – 5 new videos added!
Check out the new model page for our newest model, Briana Sokoloski! This 22-year-old Californian is a straight-up thoroughbred athlete and a beast in the gym. Our recent trip to California afforded us some time for a great gym shoot at Iron Gym in Santa Monica, followed by some posing and flexing outdoors in the sun. Offseason, but firm, you can really see the athleticism and impressiveness of her strong and powerful physique as she muscles through a workout of multiple bodyparts. And there's nothing better than that cute smile as she throws around the weights!
https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Briana-Sokoloski-118.jpg 1080 1920 hdphysiques https://hdphysiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/logo-300x87.png hdphysiques2015-12-27 11:40:482015-12-27 11:40:4822-year-old Briana Sokoloski is our newest model - 5 new videos added!


Simply put, The Standard ticks all the boxes.
From bar to restaurant to beautiful indoor and outdoor spaces, it's no wonder The Standard won The WA Good Food Guide award for "Best Bar Dining" in 2017.
The Asian-fusion menu has options suitable for snacking over a glass of rosé, or a full meal (try their two- or three-course menu special). Start your week with a hawker-inspired dish every Monday or squeeze the most out of your weekend with a long, lazy Sunday lunch featuring one of their weekly rotating share platters.
The extensive drinks list can be overwhelming, but the staff will happily help you through it. The Pretty Punches are a popular option and are best served on a warm summer evening sitting at the fairy-lit garden rooftop watching the sun set over the city.


The 'smallest Air Force in history' is dealing with more missions than ever. So the flyboys are calling in the military contractors to operate their jets.
The U.S. Air Force fleet of planes and pilots is stretched so thin, the service is considering hiring private military corporations flying supersonic jets to train its fighter jocks in mock air combat.
The Air Force is being forced to consider such desperate measures because it doesn't have enough fighter jets and trained aircrew to fly missions where they would simulate enemy warplanes—also called "red air" in military slang.
Due to budget cuts and investments in ultra-expensive gear, the Air Force was forced to disband one of its three so-called Aggressor squadrons that fly frontline jets like the Boeing F-15C Eagle and Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon that are painted in enemy colors and use enemy tactics.
As for outsourcing red air, not everyone is sold on the move—but most agree the Air Force has little choice. "The short answer is that contractor-provided red air is overpriced and underwhelming, but at the end of the day there isn't much choice in utilizing it," another senior Air Force official told The Daily Beast.
The Air Force is soliciting pricing information for how much it would cost for contractors to fly 180 training sorties over a two-week period later this year.
"Although this is a one-time trial, there is potential for this trial to grow into multiple requests per year or an annual contract for X number of weeks of support throughout the year," reads an Air Force document posted on the government's Federal Business Opportunities website.
The contractors would have to fly supersonic "fourth generation" fighters similar to the F-15, F-16 or the Navy's F/A-18 Hornet according to the Dec. 22, 2014, notice.
The jets available for "adversary air support training" would have to be "capable of Mach 1.0+ and equipped with: Radar, Radar Warning Receivers (RWR), and Electronic Attack" systems, according to the posting.
This need for outsourced enemies is the direct result of the wars in the greater Middle East. Since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Air Force has cut its existing fighter force of "fourth generation" F-15s and F-16 to pay for super pricey hardware like the "fifth-generation" F-22 and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
While the U.S. Navy has previously embraced contractors providing some training support for air combat training, the Air Force has been very reluctant to let pilots-for-hire fly privately owned-combat aircraft for training purposes.
Moreover, there are many Air Force officials who question if private military companies have the ability to realistically simulate the most likely of enemy fighters, like the Russian Sukhoi Su-30 or Mikoyan MiG-29. Most of the existing private military companies are flying older jets that have long since been retired from active service. "It's 1970s technology trying to replicate a fourth-gen red air fighter," one Air Force official said.
One company called Airborne Tactical Advantage Company flies the Israeli-built F-21 Kfir supersonic fighter, Hawker Hunter, and Czech-built L-39 Albatross.
Another firm called Tactical Air Support flies the Northrop/Canadair F-5B Freedom Fighter supersonic fighter and an Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano light attack aircraft—a plane that originally belonged to the infamous Blackwater mercenary group. In the early 2000s, the company attempted to buy some top-of-the-line Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker air superiority fighters from the Ukrainian air force. In fact the company sent over pilots to train on the powerful Russian-built fighters.
A third outfit—Florida-based Draken International, which boasts a fleet of more than 50 jets—actually succeeded in importing some 27 Russian-built MiG-21 fighters to use for training purposes. In addition to the MiGs, the company operates some 11 Douglas A-4K Skyhawk attack aircraft—but those aircraft are upgraded with electronics including a radar from upgraded European-operated versions of the F-16 fighter jet. Draken's fleet also includes nine Italian-built Aermacchi MB-339CB advanced trainers, 28 Czech-built Aero Vodochody L-159E light combat jets, and five L-39s.
That sounds impressive, but private companies don't have the equipment to train the Air Force's squadrons—nor does the service have the money to pay the contractor's fees. "They are really expensive though and you have to pay for them with operations and maintenance money, which, is the first thing people lose in budget cuts," a senior Air Force fighter pilot told The Daily Beast.
Another official questioned whether the contractors were really up to the task.
Moreover, as more advanced so-called fifth-generation fighters like the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter enter service in numbers, the Air Force will need more challenging opponents to train against.
More than anything, the new stealth jets just need something or someone to shoot at. "One of the biggest things we look for in fifth-gen support is superior numbers of adversary aircraft," the official said.


text:
Browse Audio Books
Searching for: "Daniel James Brown"
Newest Titles
Book Title (A-Z)
Book Title (Z-A)
Under A Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894
Daniel James Brown
On September 1, 1894 two forest fires converged on the town of Hinckley, Minnesota, trapping over 2,000 people. Daniel J. Brown recounts the events surrounding the fire in the first and only book on to chronicle the dramatic story that unfolded. Whereas Oregon's famous 'Biscuit' fire in 2002 burned 350,000 acres in one week, the Hinckley fire did the same damage in five hours. The fire created its own weather, including hurricane-strength winds, bubbles of plasma-like glowing gas, and 200-foot-tall flames. In some instances, 'fire whirls,' or tornadoes of fire, danced out from the main body of the fire to knock down buildings and carry flaming debris into the sky. Temperatures reached 1,600...read more
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
The #1 New York Times–bestselling story about American Olympic triumph in Nazi Germany, the inspiration for the PBS documentary The Boys of '36, broadcast to coincide with the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 80th anniversary of the boys' gold medal race. For readers of Unbroken, out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant. It was an unlikely quest from the start. With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard...read more
The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party
From the #1 bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat comes an unforgettable epic of family, tragedy, and survival on the American frontier "An ideal pairing of talent and material.… Engrossing.… A deft and ambitious storyteller." – Mary Roach, New York Times Book Review In April of 1846, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on a better future, set out west from Illinois with her new husband, her parents, and eight siblings. Seven months later, after joining a party of pioneers led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. In early December, starving and desperate, Sarah and fourteen...read more
The Boys in the Boat (Young Readers Adaptation): The True Story of an American Team's Epic Journey to Win Gold at the 1936 Olympics
The #1 New York Times bestseller about the Greatest Generation freshly adapted for the next generation. For readers of Unbroken, out of the depths of the Great Depression comes the astonishing tale of nine working-class boys from the American West who at the 1936 Olympics showed the world what true grit really meant. With rowers who were the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington's eight-oar crew was never expected to defeat the elite East Coast teams, yet they did, going on to shock the world by challenging the German boat rowing for Adolf Hitler. At the center of the tale is Joe Rantz, a teenager without...read more
Audiobooks com
Simply Audiobooks
© 2021 Audiobooks.net - All rights reserved.


Located at Setiabudi area, Bandung, Mimiti Coffee & Space is currently one of the new and hip coffee shops in town.
The coffee shop opens early from 8 AM everyday, making it a great stop for morning coffee especially when you reach Bandung early. AnakJajan arrived at the coffeeshop around 10 AM and it was packed with customers.
The coffeeshop has a spacious outdoor area and several seats indoor, inside there is a small section of clothing display. We sat at the outdoor area under the shade of trees, it was pretty breezy and cool even though it was already around noon.
The design of Mimiti is very chic with modern minimalist concept using exposed concrete wall and floor, and lush green trees on the outdoor area resulting a cozy space for hangout while enjoying the breeze of Bandung and of course making it an instagenic spot for instagram as well.
Menu selection is quite limited with several espresso based coffee drink, juice, tea and few selection of pastries, manual brew wasn't available during our visit. Mr. Jajan had a cup of Cappuccino with additional one shot of espresso, the coffee was pretty bold, it was decent and enjoyable but nothing to shout about while the mocha was kinda disappointing since it tasted more like a cup of chocolate milk.
Overall, decent coffee, great space, we can see why this place is popular. It could be a nice stop for morning coffee break or cozy and instagenic hangout spot with friends in Bandung. Let's Jajan!


For some time we showed Gilbert as a son of Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders. This followed a well known view, supported by (inter alia) BE1883 (Gant of Lincoln), which describes Gilbert as "son of Baldwin, Earl of Flanders, by Maud, sister to William the Conqueror". Faith in that view is weakened by the fact that, as far as is known, William had no sister (or half-sister) Maud (although William was married to Baldwin VI's sister Matilda). We now follow the connection suggested by TCP (Lincoln) and supported by www.rootsweb.com/ ~medieval/gant.htm (which was kindly brought to our attention by a Visitor to this site).
BE1883 reports that Gilbert had one wife, Alice de Montfort, but a Visitor to this site has reported that he had an earlier wife: Emma of Kyme. Alice was mother of Hugh and presumably therefore also of Hugh's younger brothers. It is possible, however, that Emma of Kyme was mother of one or both of Gilbert's daughters.
TCP (Lincoln) identifies Gunnor as sister and co-heir of Ralph d'Aubigny and says she m2. Nicholas de Stuteville. BE1883 (Gant) identifies her as niece of Hugh de Gournay. See the note under Gunnora Gournay (who m. Nicholas de Stuteville). This Gunnora was probably closely connected to Nigel d'Albini, the husband of Gunnora Gournay.
This family tree has been pulled together from data in various web sites but with some guidance from TCP (Leicester). The name Grandmesnil appears to have been an anglicised version of Grentmesnil, near Lisieux. The family appears to have been researched in some depth in recent years apparently because of interest in the fact that Hugh de Grentmesnil is reported to have been one of the close companions of William the Conqueror. This has led to the correction of previous confusion between his sons and the ancestry of Petronilla (Pernel) but the effects of that earlier confusion are not easy to unwind so the following should not be viewed as fully secure.
TCP (Leicester) says of the Pernel (Petronilla) who married Robert de Beaumont that "we know that Pernel was great-grandaughter of Hugh the Domesday tenant" and speculates "if she inherited the Norman lands she would in all probability be a daughter of a son of Hugh's son Robert."
Some sites suggest that William's elder brother Robert dspm and that William was father of the Pernel who married Robert de Beaumont. However, TCP says he went to Apulia "and no more is heard of him in England or Normandy."
BE1883 says that Geoffrey was son of Peter de Genevill who was either a man of humble birth or Lord of Vancouleur, brother of John de Joinville. We follow TCP which does not mention such a Peter.
BE1883 suggests that Peter outlived his father and became 2nd Lord although it accepts that he was never summoned to Parliament.


text:
By Karen Glauber
At every moment of the day, someone else's lyrics are running through my head. More often than not, as I recently told Todd Rundgren, they're his words ("Same here" was his not-unexpected response).
I was thrilled to relinquish the role of my life's music supervisor this past weekend to Chris Muckley, whose SiriusXM/Pandora "Indie 500" countdown on the XMU channel was the most compelling radio I've heard in years. The Top 500 was based on more than a decade of XMU airplay and "thumbs up" ratings from Pandora listeners (Pandora is now under the SiriusXM umbrella). I recognized about 90% of the songs on the countdown within the first 30 seconds and could easily warble along to the Top 100. Every time a song that I worked came on the radio, I excitedly told my son, "Mommy worked this song!" Julian, who thinks about Minecraft most of the time, ignored me (although he does recognize Britt Daniel's voice by now). So many Spoon songs on this countdown—I've worked at least 15 Spoon songs since "I Turn My Camera On" was released in 2005.
Because I know you're wondering, here is the Top 10 from the Indie 500 countdown: #10 Vampire Weekend "A Punk," #9 Arctic Monkeys "Do I Wanna Know?" #8 Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Maps," #7 LCD Soundsystem "All My Friends," #6 The Strokes "Last Night," #5 Pixies "Where Is My Mind," #4 Franz Ferdinand "Take Me Out," #3 The Shins "New Slang," #2 Modest Mouse "Float On," and #1 Arcade Fire "Wake Up." You can listen to the countdown on the SiriusXM app, which I still haven't figured out how to use.
This week's race for #1 at Modern Rock will likely go to Shaed's "Trampoline" by a photo finish (pun intended) over Catfish and the Bottlemen's "Longshot." Congrats to the Caroline team, especially Marisa DiFrisco, for a job well done! Capitol's Gary Gorman repeatedly proves that he's the best at what he does.
Ted is on his way to Philadelphia for John Allers' WRRF 12th Birthday Celebration. Instead of ponies and cupcakes, WRFF has assembled its biggest lineup to date, with The Lumineers, Death Cab for Cutie, Grouplove, Phantogram, The Revivalists, and more (including current U.K. chart-topper Lewis Capaldi). Ticket prices ranged from $39.50 to $100, and the show will be a sell-out at 24,000 tickets by tomorrow. If you build it, they will come. It helps that The Lumineers, moments away from another #1 Alt song with "Gloria," haven't played the market in two years, not to mention an incredibly strong lineup. Tiered ticketing for radio shows is key. WKQX's upcoming Picniq, which also has The Lumineers headlining, is at more than 20k tickets sold. Keep in mind that both shows are coexisting with huge festivals coming to their markets: Firefly in Philly and Lollapalooza in Chicago. Give your audience what they want.
Speaking of Phantogram, Republic's Amanda Dobbins and Drew Hauser dropped their brand-new single, "Into Happiness," this morning! It's soooo good!
Why are there no direct flights from LAX to Louisville? On June 12, I'll be on a 6am flight (connecting in Dallas) to join you at The Gathering, which has replaced SXSW as the must-attend radio powwow for programmers. As the alcohol flows, so does the conversation, although I'm not sure what anyone remembers at the confab's conclusion. I'm most excited to see these two bands: Cherry Glazerr and Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes. The latter's new single, "Crowbar," is a one-listen smash. You will love them both. Last Wednesday, Andrew Harms, Chris Muckley, Spotify's Allison Hagendorf and legend Matt Pinfield stood front-and-center with me at the sold-out Fonda Theatre to watch Ireland's Fontaines D.C. open for recent Ivor Novello winners/Partisan Records labelmates Idles. Some of you might have seen Fontaines D.C. perform "Boys in the Better Land" on The Tonight Show, or, like Jeff Morad, caught them at SXSW and immediately added the song at WEQX. Remember seeing Arctic Monkeys on their first tour? The energy is comparable, and singer Grian Chatten is also a star, a la Alex Turner. They'll be back in September for a headline tour.
SONGS IN MY HEAD: The Echo in the Canyon soundtrack from the Andy Slater-directed documentary of the same name. The Mamas & the Papas' "Go Where You Wanna Go," covered by Jakob Dylan f/Jade Castrinos, is one of the many highlights.
Post Toasted Index
MEDIABASE YEAR-END CHARTS
BULLS ON PARADE
COMPLAINER
ALL THE GOOD GIRLS GO TO HELL
A HONEY OF A #1
THE LION LENDS A HAND
LEADER OF THE LANDSLIDE
EVERYTHING HITS AT ONCE
TWO POINTS FOR HONESTY


text:
Q: Measurability w.r.t. the $\sigma$-field induced on the range I asked here the wrong question. See here for the correct one.

Let there be given two measurable spaces $\left(S,\mathcal{S}\right)$ and $\left(T,\mathcal{T}\right)$ and suppose $f$ is a mapping from $S$ into $T$ (not necessarily measurable). According to Kallenberg ([KAL] Lemma 1.3(ii)), the set

$$
\mathcal{T}':=\left\{B\subseteq T;\space f^{-1} B\in\mathcal{S}\right\}
$$

is a $\sigma$-field in $T$.

Suppose $f$ is $\mathcal{S}$/$\mathcal{T}$-measurable. In general it need not be the case that $f$ is $\mathcal{S}$/$\mathcal{T}'$-measurable, but suppose $\left(T,\mathcal{T}\right)$ is a Borel space, i.e. there exists a measurable bijection $f:T\rightarrow U$, where $U$ is a Borel subset of $\left[0,1\right]$ and such that $f^{-1}$ is also measurable ([KAL] remark preceding Theorem A1.2). Is it the case that $f$ is $\mathcal{S}$/$\mathcal{T}'$-measurable?

Background

The reason why i'm interested in this question is this. In the realm of statistics, some sources define a statistic as the $\sigma$-field $f^{-1}\left(\mathcal{T}'\right)$ induced by a function $f:S\rightarrow T$ ([BAH] p. 429; consider also p. 430, where he defines a statistic to be sufficient iff the subfield $f^{-1}\left(\mathcal{T}'\right)$ is sufficient.) In practice $T$ is a Borel space, usually a subset of $\mathfrak{B}^n$. It is usually easy to verify in these cases that $f$ is Borel measurable. Is this enough to ascertain that $f^{-1}\left(\mathfrak{B}\right)$ is a statistic?

References

*

*
[BAH] Bahadur, R. R. Sufficiency and Statistical Decision Functions. Ann. Math. Statist. Volume 25, Number 3 (1954), 423-462

*
[KAL] Kallenberg, Olav. Foundations of Modern Probability. 2nd Edition. Springer. 2001.

A: It really does not matter if $f$ is measurable with respect to any other $\sigma$-field.
$\mathcal{T^{'}}$ is THE $\sigma$-field induced by $f$, and trivially $f$ is measurable with respect to it, i.e., $f$ is $\mathcal{S}/\mathcal{T}^{'}$-measurable.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The program needs to be installed in standard mode ("Standard Desktop installation").
At the stage of choosing a package, open a section "Libs"
Pay attention! File names must contain only latin characters. Files bindings of rasters must have the extensions tfw, jpw, sdw.


Following are the results for last week's Sept. 12 and 14 volleyball games.
Slate said she was looking forward to some of the games that are to come, and she knows the girls are as well.
"We are hoping to go into our Conference Tournament with one of the top seeds with our eye on the prize which is obviously our first Conference Championship since 2013," Slate said.
Boyne City finally puts their offense and defense together for a stellar performance against host Cheboygan.
The Ramblers came out strong in the first set winning 25-12. After getting behind late in the second set 12-16 the Ramblers were able to make a comeback finish and win set two 25-23. Keeping the momentum throughout the third set they were able to win that set 25-23.


text:
An atypical addition to the chemokine receptor nomenclature: IUPHAR Review 15
Françoise Bachelerie, Gerard J. Graham, Massimo Locati, Alberto Mantovani, Philip M. Murphy, Robert Nibbs, Antal Rot, Silvano Sozzani, Marcus Thelen
Istituto Clinico Humanitas
Chemokines and their receptors are essential regulators of in vivo leukocyte migration and, some years ago, a systematic nomenclature system was developed for the chemokine receptor family. Chemokine receptor biology and biochemistry was recently extensively reviewed. In this review, we also highlighted a new component to the nomenclature system that incorporates receptors previously known as 'scavenging', or 'decoy', chemokine receptors on the basis of their lack of classical signalling responses to ligand binding and their general ability to scavenge, or sequester, their cognate chemokine ligands. These molecules are now collectively referred to as 'atypical chemokine receptors', or ACKRs, and play fundamental roles in regulating in vivo responses to chemokines. This commentary highlights this new addition to the chemokine receptor nomenclature system and provides brief information on the four receptors currently covered by this nomenclature.
British Journal of Pharmacology
https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.13182
10.1111/bph.13182
Dive into the research topics of 'An atypical addition to the chemokine receptor nomenclature: IUPHAR Review 15'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Chemokine Receptors Medicine & Life Sciences 100%
Terminology Medicine & Life Sciences 89%
Chemokines Medicine & Life Sciences 27%
Ligands Medicine & Life Sciences 20%
Biochemistry Medicine & Life Sciences 13%
Leukocytes Medicine & Life Sciences 11%
Bachelerie, F., Graham, G. J., Locati, M., Mantovani, A., Murphy, P. M., Nibbs, R., Rot, A., Sozzani, S., & Thelen, M. (2015). An atypical addition to the chemokine receptor nomenclature: IUPHAR Review 15. British Journal of Pharmacology, 172(16), 3945-3949. https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.13182
An atypical addition to the chemokine receptor nomenclature : IUPHAR Review 15. / Bachelerie, Françoise; Graham, Gerard J.; Locati, Massimo et al.
In: British Journal of Pharmacology, Vol. 172, No. 16, 01.08.2015, p. 3945-3949.
Bachelerie, F, Graham, GJ, Locati, M, Mantovani, A, Murphy, PM, Nibbs, R, Rot, A, Sozzani, S & Thelen, M 2015, 'An atypical addition to the chemokine receptor nomenclature: IUPHAR Review 15', British Journal of Pharmacology, vol. 172, no. 16, pp. 3945-3949. https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.13182
Bachelerie F, Graham GJ, Locati M, Mantovani A, Murphy PM, Nibbs R et al. An atypical addition to the chemokine receptor nomenclature: IUPHAR Review 15. British Journal of Pharmacology. 2015 Aug 1;172(16):3945-3949. doi: 10.1111/bph.13182
Bachelerie, Françoise ; Graham, Gerard J. ; Locati, Massimo et al. / An atypical addition to the chemokine receptor nomenclature : IUPHAR Review 15. In: British Journal of Pharmacology. 2015 ; Vol. 172, No. 16. pp. 3945-3949.
@article{024c38b793b043e98afe32c825af6fc4,
title = "An atypical addition to the chemokine receptor nomenclature: IUPHAR Review 15",
abstract = "Chemokines and their receptors are essential regulators of in vivo leukocyte migration and, some years ago, a systematic nomenclature system was developed for the chemokine receptor family. Chemokine receptor biology and biochemistry was recently extensively reviewed. In this review, we also highlighted a new component to the nomenclature system that incorporates receptors previously known as 'scavenging', or 'decoy', chemokine receptors on the basis of their lack of classical signalling responses to ligand binding and their general ability to scavenge, or sequester, their cognate chemokine ligands. These molecules are now collectively referred to as 'atypical chemokine receptors', or ACKRs, and play fundamental roles in regulating in vivo responses to chemokines. This commentary highlights this new addition to the chemokine receptor nomenclature system and provides brief information on the four receptors currently covered by this nomenclature.",
author = "Fran{\c c}oise Bachelerie and Graham, {Gerard J.} and Massimo Locati and Alberto Mantovani and Murphy, {Philip M.} and Robert Nibbs and Antal Rot and Silvano Sozzani and Marcus Thelen",
doi = "10.1111/bph.13182",
journal = "British Journal of Pharmacology",
T1 - An atypical addition to the chemokine receptor nomenclature
T2 - IUPHAR Review 15
AU - Bachelerie, Françoise
AU - Graham, Gerard J.
AU - Locati, Massimo
AU - Mantovani, Alberto
AU - Murphy, Philip M.
AU - Nibbs, Robert
AU - Rot, Antal
AU - Sozzani, Silvano
AU - Thelen, Marcus
N2 - Chemokines and their receptors are essential regulators of in vivo leukocyte migration and, some years ago, a systematic nomenclature system was developed for the chemokine receptor family. Chemokine receptor biology and biochemistry was recently extensively reviewed. In this review, we also highlighted a new component to the nomenclature system that incorporates receptors previously known as 'scavenging', or 'decoy', chemokine receptors on the basis of their lack of classical signalling responses to ligand binding and their general ability to scavenge, or sequester, their cognate chemokine ligands. These molecules are now collectively referred to as 'atypical chemokine receptors', or ACKRs, and play fundamental roles in regulating in vivo responses to chemokines. This commentary highlights this new addition to the chemokine receptor nomenclature system and provides brief information on the four receptors currently covered by this nomenclature.
AB - Chemokines and their receptors are essential regulators of in vivo leukocyte migration and, some years ago, a systematic nomenclature system was developed for the chemokine receptor family. Chemokine receptor biology and biochemistry was recently extensively reviewed. In this review, we also highlighted a new component to the nomenclature system that incorporates receptors previously known as 'scavenging', or 'decoy', chemokine receptors on the basis of their lack of classical signalling responses to ligand binding and their general ability to scavenge, or sequester, their cognate chemokine ligands. These molecules are now collectively referred to as 'atypical chemokine receptors', or ACKRs, and play fundamental roles in regulating in vivo responses to chemokines. This commentary highlights this new addition to the chemokine receptor nomenclature system and provides brief information on the four receptors currently covered by this nomenclature.
U2 - 10.1111/bph.13182
DO - 10.1111/bph.13182
JO - British Journal of Pharmacology
JF - British Journal of Pharmacology


Thames Strategy East is a strategic planning document providing a 100 year vision for the Thames area stretching from Tower Bridge to Gravesham. The plan focuses on providing landscape and development design guidance based on heritage, natural habitat preservation, recreational and access needs, economic considerations and flood defence requirements. Thames Strategy East forms part of the Mayor's London Plan.