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Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney, 12/9/2011
Friday, December 9, 2011 7:12 PM EST
Provided by www.whitehouse.gov
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
1:56 P.M. EST
MR. CARNEY: Good afternoon. Welcome to the White House. Thanks for coming to your daily briefing. Before I get started, I just wanted to mention that I saw a report this morning that caught my attention for a couple reasons. Throughout this payroll tax cut debate, and through the debate over the American Jobs Act, one of the consistent points that Republicans have made -- in fact, their number-one talking point about why they refuse to go along with asking millionaires and billionaires, the wealthiest Americans to pay a little bit more in order to put Americans back to work, get a tax cut for 160 million working Americans -- is because they don't want to hurt job creators. That's their phrase; it's what they go to every time they're asked about it.
And it's what you all write in your stories when you say, the President and Democrats support this surtax, or this way of paying for job-creating measures or tax cuts; Republicans say no because it will hurt small business. Well, one news organization decided to ask the leadership offices of the Republicans on the Hill whether or not -- or just to give them an example of the small businesses that would be affected. And for three days they got nothing. And there's a reason for that. Because, as the Treasury Department has done in its study, the simple fact of the matter is, is that less than 1 percent of all small businesses would be affected by this kind of request that millionaires and billionaires pay a little bit more. That's just a fact.
So next time you write a story, or produce a spot that cites that opposition, I think a second sentence might be worth adding, which is that it's bogus.
With that, I'll take your questions. (Laughter.)
Q Just saying. Just saying.
MR. CARNEY: Just had something I had to get off my chest today. (Laughter.)
Q Copy editor Jay Carney. (Laughter.)
MR. CARNEY: Ben Feller.
Q Thank you. Two topics. On the National Labor Relations Board decision on Boeing -- to drop that case -- I'm wondering if the President's fingerprints are on that at all. In any way, did he directly or indirectly influence that decision?
MR. CARNEY: Well, Ben, as you know, the NLRB is an independent board. And as he has said previously, the President thinks labor and management should find ways to work together to preserve and create jobs, and we are -- he is -- glad they have reached a resolution here. But this was not something the President was involved in.
Q So the White House is glad the resolution was reached. But what about the substance of the case? Is it something that the White House is supportive of, the pulling back on the case and letting it go forward?
MR. CARNEY: Well, this was the action of an independent enforcement agency, and our comment on it today is the same as it was before in terms of the case itself. What I will say is what I just did, which is the President believes that, in general, labor and management ought to find ways to work together to preserve and create jobs, and in this case we're glad there's a resolution.
Q The President is also lobbying senators on the defense bill as it relates to the detainment of terrorism suspects. Obviously there's a veto threat out there. But can you tell us how his personal efforts are going, and what's his message on that?
MR. CARNEY: With regard to the defense authorization bill, our position is the same as it has been. We're continuing to discuss this with members of Congress. But our position has not changed.
I mean, it's very important that our counterterrorism folks have flexibility in dealing with and doing their jobs effectively. And there's a whole range of people in this field from previous administrations, Democratic and Republican, as well as, obviously, current, who believe that that flexibility must be maintained.
Q So can you give us any update, as we're quickly running out of time here on how that effort is going to try to win over some minds on that?
MR. CARNEY: Just that we're continuing in the effort.
Q Jay, what's the President's reaction to the agreement by most European leaders in Brussels today?
MR. CARNEY: I knew if I called on Reuters that you'd ask me about Europe. (Laughter.)
Yes. Sorry.
Q That's all right. What's your reaction? And what does the President think?
MR. CARNEY: Look, we think that signs of progress are good, that this is a sign of progress, but work still needs to be done, obviously. Our position hasn't changed. We are offering our advice and counsel. We have a great deal of experience in this kind of situation. Secretary Geithner has been very engaged in this; the President himself has been engaged with his counterparts.
But in the end, it is a European problem that needs a European solution, and we believe that they need to act conclusively and decisively to resolve it. But there has been some progress, and that's a good thing.
Q Does the President have any sympathy for David Cameron, who was the one EU leader out of 27 who did not agree to --
MR. CARNEY: I haven't talked about that with him, so I'm not going to comment on that at that level of specificity about it beyond what I've said in terms of the progress that has been made and the need to keep it up and deal with remaining issues, including ensuring that a firewall is built that is adequate to the task.
Q Will the President hold any calls with any of those leaders in the coming days about this?
MR. CARNEY: Well, I can safely predict that the President will be talking to European leaders, including Chancellor Merkel, President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Cameron, because he does all the time. But when those calls might happen, I don't have that information for you at this time.
Cheryl.
Q House Republican leaders have introduced a payroll extension with the Keystone pipeline project in it. Would the President veto that bill?
MR. CARNEY: I'm glad you asked about the House GOP payroll tax cut plan because I have a statement here that I'll read to you:
"With only 22 days before taxes go up an average of $1,000 for 160 million hardworking Americans, Republican leaders in Congress are still playing politics at the expense of middle-class families. Their proposal breaks the bipartisan agreement on spending cuts that we reached just a few months ago, and makes harmful cuts to things like education that strengthen middle-class security.
"Their plan seeks to put the burden on working families while giving a free pass to the wealthiest and big corporations by protecting their loopholes and subsidies. Instead of working together to find a balanced approach that will actually pass, Republican leaders in Congress are instead choosing to re-fight old political battles over health care, and introduce ideological issues into what should be a simple debate about cutting taxes for the middle class.
"As one leading Republican said -- you probably saw this in the newspaper -- quote, 'Frankly, the fact that the President doesn't like it makes me like it even more.' That is precisely why Americans are fed up with Congress.
"This shouldn't be about scoring political points against the President -- it's not about him. This should be about cutting taxes for the middle class. It's time for Congress to keep its word and do its job."
Q What about the payroll -- (laughter) --
Q Anything in there that the President could work with --
MR. CARNEY: Well, there are pieces of it, as I understand it -- this fairly recently put forward proposal -- that are things that we have supported in the past. But the proposal in its entirety is objectionable for the reasons I just explained.
I mean, it's what people hate about Congress. Oh, they work all summer, they get to this deal, everybody says fine, we got a deal, it's a compromise; it wasn't entirely what we should have gotten or could have gotten, it wasn't the grand bargain, but Budget Control Act, sign it into law. And ever since, all we've heard from some folks in Congress is, gee, we ought to break that agreement; we didn't mean it. Let's go back on our word. And no wonder people give Congress 10 percent approval ratings, right?
So that's a problem. And asking people -- asking middle-class Americans, who need assistance with education or who benefit from key investments, to bear the burden of this deal is punishing the people you're trying to help with the middle-class tax cut to begin with. That's not how we should do it. And reopening old political fights -- I think everybody's organization here that does polling will tell you that Americans really don't like reopening old -- like, let's go refight the health care battle, let's go -- when we have 22 days before their taxes go up. That's the battle that some in Congress want to have right now.
Or they want to have fights over an oil pipeline that has nothing to do with whether or not Americans, on average, ought to see their taxes go up $1,000 in 2012. That's what gives Washington a bad name.
Q So what happens now?
MR. CARNEY: We keep working towards finding a solution. What the President has said is that -- and what I have said on his behalf -- is that we are open to looking at other ways to pay for this, but they have to be economically responsible and fair. So we'll continue to do that. The President has put forward a way to pay for it; Senate Democrats have now put forward two different proposals for paying for it -- in all cases, broadly supported by the American people. There are avenues here that are available to reaching an agreement. And for the sake of the American people, we certainly hope that that agreement is reached.
And this President, as he said yesterday and last week, will insist that Congress stay here -- and he will stay here -- through Christmas, if necessary, to get it done. Because it is not fair to raise taxes on the American people at this time in our economic recovery.
So we hope that reasonableness prevails here and we get this done.
Brianna.
Q The unemployment insurance extension is abbreviated under the plan. Are you open to that?
MR. CARNEY: Well, I'm not going to negotiate the elements of what a final compromise might look like. The fact is that this proposal is objectionable. And again, why is it that unemployment insurance, which is a good example of something that economists everywhere agree is highly beneficial to economic growth in a time like this because that assistance to people who desperately need it goes right back into the economy and results in job growth and job -- economic growth and job creation -- everybody agrees on that.
So why ask them -- shortchange those Americans who need that assistance, reduce that assistance that most helps the economy just so we can protect corporations and their loopholes and subsidies, just so we can not have to ask millionaires and billionaires -- not small businesses -- to pay a little bit extra. I think that's just wrong-headed. I'm not going to negotiate the details of a provision or take single provisions out of this proposal and say this one's acceptable, that one's not. But I think the principles here that are guiding the President are important to enumerate and repeat, and I think, again, this is about helping the economy and helping the American people.
Q But you're not saying absolutely not, it has to be 99 weeks. I mean, is that an indication that you might --
MR. CARNEY: I know you want --
Q -- there might be wiggle room?
MR. CARNEY: I know you want me to negotiate the elements. I think that the package altogether that we have that's a worthwhile compromise --
Q I'm just wondering if it's a nonstarter to be shorter than 99 weeks.
MR. CARNEY: I'm not going to negotiate the individual elements. But it is important that the overall package meet the standards the President has set, and those standards are simply about making sure that what we do here actually has the maximum amount of benefit possible to the American people, to middle-class Americans, to working Americans, folks who need a tax cut, and should not be laden -- larded up with measures that are either totally extraneous or designed to refight old ideological battles or actually harm the people that the tax cut is supposed to help. That doesn't seem unreasonable to have a position like that.
Q On Russia real quick?
MR. CARNEY: Sure.
Q Prime Minister Putin said that Secretary Clinton -- he essentially said that she incited unrest in Russia. He said that "gave a signal." What did the President think of that and sort of in the context of resetting relations with Russia?
MR. CARNEY: Well, as you know -- or you may know, I think you were here, I addressed this question yesterday, and our position hasn't changed. Secretary Clinton spoke to this. I spoke to it. The United States and Russia have many common interests. That's why the President -- it was the result of the President pursuing the reset that we were able to get a significant amount of things done with Russia over these past three years and our relations have improved. And that's important, and we continue to seek opportunities for cooperation with Russia based on mutual respect and our common interest.
Now, it is also true that we have sought to deepen our engagement with Russian civil society and with -- and organizations that promote universal values. We support democracy, and so speaking out in support of democracy should not surprise -- the fact that we do that should not surprise anyone around the world because that's a hard and fast position of this administration and of this country.
So we are encouraged by President Medvedev's commitment to have the Central Election Commission investigate all election violations and we welcome his acknowledgment that the demonstrations in Moscow and in other cities are part of the democratic process.
Cecilia. Welcome, Cecilia. How are you?
Q Fine, thanks. Yesterday you said that, on Plan B, communication between the White House and agencies in decision-making processes like this, that there is communication. Can you elaborate on that? What communication was had and between whom? And also, what do you say now to these women's groups who were strong supporters of the President in 2008 who say now they may sit this election out because of this decision?
MR. CARNEY: Well, let me go to your first question, or the first part of your question, which is, broadly, in these kinds of decisions there is communication between -- or there usually is communication between the White House and an agency.
I don't have a list of communications between folks at the White House and HHS on this, but it stands to reason that there were or might have been. What the President said, and I think what is essential here, is that he did not intervene. He did not get involved in this decision. This was a decision made by Secretary Sebelius. It's also a decision that he supports. And I think that's just -- that's the answer to the second part of your question, too, is that some decisions that we make at this level of government, and especially that secretaries of agencies make and certainly decisions a President has to make, while this was not one of them, the President -- the decisions that a President does have to make, none of them are easy. There are always arguments on all sides. That's why they end up on a Secretary's desk or a President's desk.
But in this case, the Secretary made a decision. The President supports it.
Norah.
Q Let me ask you about this videotape from the former FBI agent Robert Levinson that his family released. They received it a while ago and have just released it. What was the -- how has the White House been involved?
MR. CARNEY: Well, the administration obviously monitors these things. The government continues, the U.S. government, to work to find Robert Levinson and to safely bring him home. We have worked on his case since he disappeared and will continue to do so until he is reunited with his family.
As you probably recall, Secretary Clinton said in March of this year that we have received indications that Mr. Levinson is being held in Southwest Asia, and anyone with information that might lead to Mr. Levinson's safe return should contact the FBI or his family, which has a website at www.helpboblevinson.com. But this is an ongoing investigation, and that's really all I can say about it.
Q Can I follow on --
Q As long as you come back to me, I'll let --
MR. CARNEY: Okay, you wanted to follow, Connie?
Q On the two other American hostages, too, is the U.S. now negotiating with terrorists, with hostage-takers? What kind of work --
MR. CARNEY: I'm not sure what the basis of that question is, but I don't have anything beyond what I said on Bob Levinson.
Q The one in Cuba and the one in Pakistan?
MR. CARNEY: We put out a statement and I addressed the questions about Mr. Gross, and again with Mr. Levinson, that's all I can say.
Q Can I return to the payroll tax cut extension? You mentioned we're looking at ways to pay for it. So the President -- I know we've gone over this before but the President would be willing to sign an extension that does not include a tax increase on millionaires, correct?
MR. CARNEY: Well, again, I'm not going to negotiate either/ors or what provisions have to be in or what have to be out. There are some principles here that need to be observed. One is it makes no sense to pass into law a payroll tax cut for working and middle-class Americans and have it paid for in a way that hurts working and middle-class Americans. That's just bad policy and the President would not support that.
Q You mentioned principles at stake and I'm just curious now, I mean, the President was willing to sign a two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts, which benefit the wealthiest Americans. You're now sort of -- you continue to push the door open -- wider open to allowing a pay-for that does not include taxing millionaires. If the President is willing to give up on that, what principle are you holding fast and firm on?
MR. CARNEY: Give up on what? Here's the thing, it bears remembering that last year the President and Congress reached an agreement that included extension of the Bush tax cuts, because the only deal that was available to the President included extending all of the Bush tax cuts, including the ones for the wealthy.
He was for extending the ones for the middle class and he was not willing to see middle-class Americans, as we were in a very fragile period economically, have their taxes raised substantially. That's a principle he's applying in this case, too, to not wanting 160 million Americans to see their taxes go up by on average $1,000 next year.
Q But the President is making a big show of his principles. I mean, he gave a big speech -- as you well know -- about fairness, asking the wealthier to pay more. What actions has he taken that show that he is standing on that principle if he's going to sign a payroll tax cut extension that the Republicans will not include increasing taxes on millionaires?
MR. CARNEY: First of all, you're projecting into the future something that I have not said. All I have said is I'm not going to negotiate the particulars of a potential agreement except to say that --
Q Why won't you say the President would veto --
MR. CARNEY: -- to make clear the proposal that the House Republicans put forward is objectionable, not acceptable for a variety of reasons, including that it violates the very budget agreement that we reached in October -- in August rather, which, by the way, brings us down to the lowest level of non-defense discretionary spending since Eisenhower was President, substantial discretionary spending cuts, and that he's not going to accept a deal that puts all the onus -- or puts the onus on the very middle-class and working Americans who we're trying to help with this tax cut and only would do that because Republicans refuse to ask corporations to give up their subsidies or their loopholes or the wealthiest to pay a little bit extra.
So these are very important principles that go right to the heart of why we are even talking about cutting taxes for middle-class America.
Q If it's such an important principle, why doesn't the President issue a veto threat that he will not sign a payroll tax cut extension that does not include a tax on millionaires?
MR. CARNEY: Well, I understand that you want to maybe get this wrapped up quickly so we can all go on vacation or that there are a lot of unknowns here in terms of how this endgame will play out. The President has enunciated his principles very clearly. He's made clear what he will not sign and what he will reject.
Senator Reid has made clear that this thing has no chance of getting through the Senate. It's very important that the Congress get down to serious business to ensure that they don't go home having to explain why they just raised everybody's taxes. So the President is going to make -- going to adhere to his principles and ensure that this gets done.
Q And then, on the small businesses, the 1 percent of small businesses that would be affected by the increased tax on millionaires, would the President then be willing to support Senator Claire McCaskill's provision that would exempt that 1 percent of small businesses who would be taxed additionally?
MR. CARNEY: Well, I think, again, rather than me negotiate individual elements of a compromise that does not at this point exist, I would go back to what I said about how thin a reed that is as a reason to oppose what the American people broadly support. And the irony of the 1 percent of -- the less than 1 percent of small businesses who might be affected by asking millionaires and billionaires to pay a little bit more is that that's including a broad definition of small businesses, which means law partnerships or hedge fund managers or things like that who file business income as personal income. So these are not mom-and-pop businesses we're talking about.
On Main Street --
Q There are law firms that are filing as sub-chapter S's?
MR. CARNEY: Partnerships as sub-chapter something, yes. (Laughter.) I didn't take the accounting class.
Q When the President said yesterday kind of dismissively, "Ask Osama and the 22 of 30 al Qaeda leaders who I've taken off the playing field" in response to a question, was that game on? Was that the beginning of the campaign?
MR. CARNEY: He was answering a question about a charge that he had somehow acted as an appeaser in the conduct of his foreign policy, and I think it was an appropriate response. And let us know if you get an answer from those gentlemen. (Laughter.)
Q Jay, I wasn't here yesterday, so I'm sorry if you covered this, but as Commander-in-Chief has the President issued any directive to deal with the situation at Dover Air Force Base?
MR. CARNEY: I'll have to take that question. Not that I'm aware of.
Q But, I mean, you know what I'm talking about? The remains that were incinerated --
MR. CARNEY: Yes, I know that -- I've seen the news reports. I haven't discussed it with him. I don't know that the White House is taking action. I certainly think the Department of Defense is probably taking questions on this matter.
Toshi.
Q Thank you, Jay. On the European situation, European leaders expressed their intention to contribute -- lend 200 billion euro or $270 billion to the IMF. Is the United States open to a similar kind of contribution to the IMF beyond giving advice or beyond a common commitment, which was agreed on --
MR. CARNEY: Our position hasn't changed, which is that the IMF has substantial resources and that American taxpayers are not going to have to make any more commitments to the IMF.
Ken, and then Wendell.
Q Jay, on China, Congressman Frank Wolf and Chris Smith have written to the President asking him or urging him to make a public statement pressing for the immediate release of Liu Xiaobo and for the Chinese government to release his wife from house arrest and stop harassing her. Will the President make such a statement?
MR. CARNEY: I'll have to take that question. I have not seen that report.
Wendell, and then Chris.
Q A couple of questions. First of all, the President has made clear he doesn't like the idea of attaching the Keystone XL pipeline to the payroll tax cut. So I'm interested to know why you won't just issue a veto threat on that.
MR. CARNEY: The President said -- I think the President's language was pretty clear about what he would accept and what he would reject. And this just goes right back to adding extraneous, ideological elements --
Q Can we just take that as a veto threat, then?
MR. CARNEY: Well, I personally don't issue veto threats, I don't have a statement of administration policy, but I would point you to the President's words. And I would make -- the broader point here is, why do Republicans think they're doing President Obama a favor by going along with the payroll tax cut? Why do they think it is the right move for their constituents to try to exact a political price by adding extraneous things to what should be a very simple matter? Do you want Americans' taxes to go up next year or would you like to reduce them?
They used to be for tax cuts. Ohio Representative Jim Jordan says, "Frankly, the fact that the President doesn't like it makes me like it even more" -- which suggest that maybe President Obama should come out and say, "I'm against investment in education, I'm against investment in infrastructure, I'm not for the payroll tax cut" -- because then maybe Republicans would support those things.
Q Have him do that. On U.S.-Russia relations, you and Andrei discussed yesterday aid that Putin calls "meddling" in his country's internal affairs -- aid for democratic elections. What does our $9 million buy us?
MR. CARNEY: I haven't examined the particular programs here. I know that, broadly, the United States, through the State Department, supports efforts to help democratic organizations and democracy around the world, as we should, as administrations of both parties have. And I would -- going back to that point, I will say quite affirmatively that the number here that the State Department has put forward is the correct number, in terms of money spent. And again, no one should be surprised that we speak out for and work for democracy around the world. We think it's the right thing. We think that --
Q Does that mean providing aid to opposition groups in Russia?
MR. CARNEY: Again, I would refer you to the State Department for the specifics of the programs here. All we're about here -- and this -- I mean, look at the Middle East, look at other parts of the world -- is support for democracy and holding those who participate in the democratic process around the world to standards of action as opposed to rhetoric, which is that they have to support the democratic process, renounce violence, vow to protect minority rights, and then participate in elections, because we believe that democracy is a good thing.
Kristen.
Q Thanks, Jay. Going back to China for a moment -- some financial analysts have said that there are fresh signs that China might halt the appreciation of its currency. Given that President Obama recently met with the President of China and urged him not to manipulate -- or officials there not to manipulate the Chinese currency, is there a concern that his words may have fallen on deaf ears?
MR. CARNEY: I don't have anything new to say about that. We obviously have made clear our position on this issue. And while there has been some modest progress, it has not been enough. And that continues to be our position, and it's something that we raise with Chinese officials every time we meet with them, including recent meetings that the President had with Chinese leaders on his recent trip.
So, beyond that, I don't have anything new for you on it.
Q In light of these reports, will the administration take any actions in the days, weeks --
MR. CARNEY: Again, I don't have anything new for you on it, Kristen.
Q And also, Jay, the U.S. trade deficit narrowed in October to its lowest point of the year. What do you make of that figure and recent figures that we've seen -- the unemployment rate that's dropped to 8.6 percent?
MR. CARNEY: We don't overreact to good news or bad news; we work on the things we can control. There have been some signs of progress, and there is no question that over nine straight quarters now the economy has been growing; over 21 straight months it's been creating private sector jobs -- now nearly 3 million private sector jobs. And there are other signs of progress. But we are a long way from where we need to be. And that's why the President is so focused on the provisions of the American Jobs Act, why he's so focused on getting the payroll tax cut extended to ensure that Americans don't have their taxes go up on January 1st, and why he will continue to fight for the programs within the American Jobs Act that have not succeeded thus far, including investments in infrastructure that would put construction workers back to work, and assistance to states to put teachers back in the classroom.
It's why he will continue to push for and will urge Republicans to take up his plan for sensible, balanced medium- and long-term deficit and debt reduction, because it's the right thing to do for our economy and will put this economy on solid ground for the future.
But we have a lot of work to do. Modest signs of progress notwithstanding, we have a lot of work to do.
Q In the past week, Rick Perry has taken it upon himself to attack the President for his LGBT advocacy over the course of his first term. After the administration unveiled its new strategy on Tuesday to combat anti-gay abuses overseas, Perry issued a statement saying, "It's an example of the President being at war with people of faith." And there's a widely spread TV ad circulating on the web in which Perry says, "There's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military, but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school."
Does the President object to these accusations that his LGBT advocacy is inconsistent with principles of faith?
MR. CARNEY: I'm fairly certain the President is not even aware of those accusations. And I think that I'll limit my comment on the struggling state of some presidential campaigns.
I will say that the President is a man of faith, as you all know, and I will also say that our record on LGBT issues is one that we're very proud of.
Q Back to Europe for a second. The President yesterday acknowledged the progress that Europeans are making toward a fiscal compact, but he made a point of saying there's a shorter-term crisis in the markets that needs to be addressed. In the meantime, the European Central Bank seems to have signaled that it's not yet willing to step in in a decisive way, in terms of shoring up the firewall you alluded to.
So I'm just wondering -- the President sounded frustrated with that. Is he frustrated? Does he think the Europeans need to step up, not so much on the longer-term issue but on the immediate issue of restoring market confidence?
MR. CARNEY: Well, we've made clear, and he's made clear, that he believes the Europeans need to act decisively and conclusively on -- putting aside issues of the markets -- but on a plan to resolve this debt crisis. And that includes ensuring that a firewall that is up to the task in constructed.
Having said that, the President understands that these are hard issues. He should know. And he knows that there are difficult decisions that European leaders have to make as they work through these issues and deal with the problem conclusively and decisively.
He does not imagine that any of this is easy. Leadership is not easy. Leadership in difficult economic times, with daunting economic challenges, is not easy. And the decisions that leaders make in those circumstances are often not very popular. He gets that; he knows it from experience.
But it needs to be done. And that's why he has offered his advice and counsel, that's why he is in regular contact with his European counterparts, that's why Secretary Geithner has been in Europe this week and many times in the recent past, and is in regular consultation with his counterparts, as well as other officials across our government. And we'll continue to work on this with our European allies and friends as they move towards a conclusive and decisive solution to this.
Q Has he seen evidence -- as he said yesterday, the question is whether they'll muster the political will to confront it. Has he seen evidence that they're mustering political will?
MR. CARNEY: Well, I would simply say that we have seen European leaders take, over the course of the last weeks and months, some important steps. Progress has been made, and we continue to consult with them and advise them -- or offer our advice, rather -- and urge them to take the continued steps that are necessary to finish the job.
Yes, and then Mark.
Q Thank you, Jay. If you can clear something up from last week: When you talk about the Defense Authorization Act, you keep pointing to the November 17th, I believe, statement of administration policy, but neither that nor the Feinstein compromise amendment that allowed it to pass the Senate answers a fundamental, constitutional question, which is: Does the President believe or think that the military or the Commander-in-Chief should have the authority to be able to imprison U.S. citizens arrested on American soil for an indefinite period of time without trial?
MR. CARNEY: I feel like we have addressed this issue, but I don't have anything for you right now. I know it's not in the SAP, but this is a broader discussion that this administration has had, I think, and this President engaged in in the campaign, and certainly had in the first two years, prior to my assuming the role here.
Q If Congress is considering this issue right now in legislation, he has to --
MR. CARNEY: Well, and our objection to the legislation is well established, especially as regards the limits on the flexibility of our professionals in dealing -- in carrying out their job. But I'm not going to get more broad than where we've been on this specific piece of legislation.
Q But it seems like one of the most fundamental, constitutional questions that any President would ever have to face -- whether a U.S. citizen can be arrested on American soil and detained without trial --
MR. CARNEY: And what I'm telling you is that this question has been addressed broadly. I don't have anything to say to you from this podium about it right now. I've been looking at the legislation and the statement of administration policy with regards to it, things that we've said about it. But our broader position on these issues is pretty well known.
Q Just to follow up on Wendell's question, when the President said the other day that he would reject efforts to tie the Keystone pipeline to the payroll tax cut, can we -- does "reject" mean "veto"? Some of our colleagues said it did, and it's not clear to me.
MR. CARNEY: "Reject" means reject.
Q Does it mean veto?
MR. CARNEY: He thinks it's rejection-worthy.
Q Of a veto?
MR. CARNEY: Look, it's not going to -- Senator Reid has said this thing has no chance in the Senate, so it's not -- there's not a viable bill here over which to issue a veto threat. But his position on adding that kind of thing in that way, and in the manner -- remember, the way we were talking about it at the time was efforts to jam through a decision that should be part of a process that's enshrined in many decades of precedent over at the State Department, the proper reviews that are necessary to make sure that all the criteria are evaluated and all the impacts are taken into consideration -- and that's important.
Q Thanks, Jay.
Q Week ahead?
MR. CARNEY: Yes, the week ahead. What a week it will be. (Laughter.) Here we go. This is the schedule for the week of December 12, 2011:
On Monday, the President looks forward to welcoming Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to the White House. The two leaders will hold talks on the removal of U.S. military forces from Iraq, and our efforts to start a new chapter in the comprehensive strategic partnership between the United States and Iraq. The President honors the sacrifices and achievements of all those who have served in Iraq, and of the Iraqi people, to reach this moment full of promise for an enduring U.S.-Iraq friendship, as we end America's war in Iraq.
On Tuesday, the President will conduct interviews with local television anchors from across the country about the end of the war in Iraq, and the importance of ensuring that taxes do not go up on middle-class families next year.
On Wednesday, the President and the First Lady will travel to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where they will deliver remarks to troops.
Q Both of them?
MR. CARNEY: Yes, the President and the First Lady. As we definitively end America's war in Iraq this month, the President wanted to speak directly to the troops at Fort Bragg, and to members of the armed forces and their families everywhere. The President will speak about the enormous sacrifices and achievements of the brave Americans who served in the Iraq war, and he will speak about the extraordinary milestone of bringing the war in Iraq to an end. Like many other military installations across this nation, during the war in Iraq, service members from Fort Bragg and their families have provided remarkable service to our country through their deployments to Iraq.
On Thursday, the President will attend meetings here at the White House.
And on Friday, the President will deliver remarks at the biennial convention of the Union for Reform Judaism.
That's your week ahead.
Q Jay, just to follow up on Monday, are they going to Arlington? I heard that they might lay a wreath at Arlington.
MR. CARNEY: I have nothing beyond what I shared with you just now in my reading -- my mellifluous reading of the week ahead.
Q Thank you.
MR. CARNEY: Thanks, guys.
Q And next Saturday, departure for Honolulu?
MR. CARNEY: Are you asking for odds?
Q I am asking.
MR. CARNEY: We'll see. It's up to Congress, isn't it?
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2020 WNCONTENT. All Rights Reserved.


text:
BREAKING NEWSTom Girardi indicted for allegedly embezzling over $15 million
Muslim, female images targeted in UC Riverside vandalism
ByABC7.com staff
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- Vandals struck the Department of Ethnic Studies at UC Riverside over spring break, tearing down a Palestinian flag and photos of female grad students, tampering with mailboxes and causing other damage, officials said.
The chair of the department said the damage appeared to target Muslim images and minority women. The acts included the tearing down of biographies and photos of four minority female graduate students; damage to student mailboxes and an office bookcase; and the tearing down of material related to Palestine, including an image of a Palestinian flag.
Department chair Dylan Rodriguez also said the office of a faculty member in the interdisciplinary building was broken into recently, though it wasn't certain if the two incidents were related.
Rodriguez posted a letter online to colleagues and students to condemn the acts.
"I am writing to all of you, on behalf of the Department of Ethnic Studies, to condemn these despicable acts of symbolic and cultural violence, threat, and harassment," Rodriguez wrote.
"Women of color have been specifically targeted by these parties, and the available information makes it abundantly clear that these acts of violence are significantly motivated by anti-Muslim and Islamophobic sentiment and/or ideology. Given the surrounding political and cultural climate, it is imperative that those of us who believe in notions of collective safety, physical and emotional integrity, and social justice remain locked in arms with all who were directly and symbolically targeted by these acts."
The campus chancellor, Kim A. Wilcox, wrote to the school community that the UC Police Department is investigating the incidents as hate crimes.
"Any time a member of our community is threatened, it is an affront to our entire campus," Wilcox wrote. "Our entire mission is predicated on creating a diverse and accepting campus. These incidents are being vigorously investigated, and we will fully prosecute those responsible."
RIVERSIDE RIVERSIDE COUNTY CRIME HATE CRIME MUSLIMS UC RIVERSIDE VANDALISM HATE CRIME INVESTIGATION
Chase suspect slams into car in Panorama City, killing 2 innocent men

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Jacksonville, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - The Jacksonville Jaguars are winless no more.
Denard Robinson rushed for 127 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown as the Jaguars overcame three Blake Bortles interceptions to beat the visiting Cleveland Browns 24-6.
Bortles was 17-of-31 for 159 yards and a touchdown as the Jaguars (1-6) capitalized on late miscues to avoid opening 0-7 for the second consecutive season.
"I can't turn the ball over, but it's something that's gonna happen. I've got to continue to grow and learn from it," Bortles said.
Brian Hoyer completed just 16-of-41 passes for 215 yards and committed two of Cleveland's three second-half turnovers. Andrew Hawkins had 112 yards on five receptions for the Browns (3-3), who were seeking a third straight win.
"When you get turnovers, you've got to turn them into points, not field goals," Browns head coach Mike Pettine said.
Jacksonville extended its lead when Hoyer fumbled early in the third quarter. Josh Scobee kicked a 30-yard field goal to make it 10-6.
Later in the third, Bortles made a poor decision in the red zone and was picked off by Buster Skrine.
Cleveland was in Jacksonville territory at the outset of the fourth quarter and turned the ball over on downs after a blunder of a play on 4th-and-5 from the 43.
The mistakes continued for the Browns.
Jacksonville punted the ball away and Jordan Poyer muffed the catch at his own 2. LaRoy Reynolds recovered the fumble for Jacksonville and Robinson scored on an 8-yard run on the next play.
Storm Johnson ran for a 3-yard touchdown 1:23 later after Hoyer threw an interception.
On 4th-and-11 from his own 42, Hoyer was sacked to end the Browns' final possession just prior to the two-minute warning.
Billy Cundiff kicked a 40-yard field goal in the first quarter after Tashaun Gipson picked off Bortles. Cundiff made a 22-yarder to give Cleveland a 6-0 lead with 4:16 remaining in the opening half.
Bortles was intercepted by Gipson again on the ensuing drive, but the Browns turned the ball over on downs at Jacksonville 24 inside of two minutes.
The Jaguars quickly moved into Cleveland territory as Bortles completed passes for 16 and 24 yards. After an offside penalty, Bortles found Allen Robinson, who broke a tackle around the 20 and used his free hand to keep his balance before running to the end zone with 27 seconds left.
Cleveland had only two turnovers in its first five games this season ... The 1993-94 Cincinnati Bengals are the last team to start 0-7 in back-to-back seasons ... The Jaguars lead the all-time series 11-5.


I recently sold some silver bullion I had purchased several years ago to a coin dealer and thought I'd pass on some practical advice to CulturalMarxism.com readers so they can benefit from my experience and not have to learn what I did the hard way.
Never pay for junk silver (e.g. silver dollars) what you would for pure (99+ per cent) silver bullion. Even if the actual silver content amounts to the same quantity, the junk silver is an alloy and needs an additional step of refinement to separate the silver from the other metals it is combined with, and this additional step costs money and therefore lowers the value. Some unscrupulous dealers will try to sell you junk silver at pure silver prices.
For the least amount of hassle when reselling, stick to pure silver.
Always count your coins when you receive them. I once bought 100 1-ounce silver coins, and they came in 4 plastic tubes that should have each contained 25, but after weighing them I noticed that one tube contained only 24. Whether it was an honest mistake or the dealer was engaging in a practice similar to the one known in medieval times as "coin clipping" is hard to say, but it only takes a minute to check.
If you buy silver bars, avoid ones that are over 10 ounces. Many dealers won't pay as much for 100-ounce silver ingots because they are in lesser demand and hence harder to sell, so you may end up losing money on them. If you do get a 100-ounce ingot, make sure you're paying less for it per ounce than you would for smaller bars to compensate for its lower resale value.
Bear in mind that silver takes up a lot more room than gold, and that it can therefore be physically heavy and awkward when you have to transport it (like to a dealer, or in a move). If I were buying precious metals as a hedge against inflation and had thousands of dollars to invest, I would pick 1-ounce gold coins and bars over silver simply because it's so much easier to store and to transport.
Some survivalist types recommend owning silver coins to use as currency for small transactions in the event of an economic collapse. I guess it doesn't hurt to keep some silver coins on hand for such an eventuality, but I wouldn't make them a large part of my portfolio unless I had a hunch that silver prices were going to exceed gold ones and that I would therefore make a greater profit. And for all you aspiring Mad Maxes, don't forget that soap, toilet paper, tobacco, liquor, and bullets could also serve as currency in a post-apocalyptic future.


text:
NASA Moves Forward With Europa Clipper Mission
By Ryan Whitwam on August 21, 2019 at 1:02 pm
NASA is moving ahead with one of its most ambitious upcoming missions. The Europa Clipper has cleared a major bureaucratic hurdle, allowing the agency to begin final design and construction of the spacecraft that will explore the icy moon of Jupiter. The mission will begin to take shape over the next few years before it launches on something. NASA originally intended to use the Space Launch System (SLS), but it may need to rethink that in light of recent delays.
Europa has been a subject of much research ever since the Voyager probes snapped photos of the moon during their flybys in the late 1970s. The surface is covered with dark streaks called lineae, which may indicate a subsurface liquid ocean. Assuming there is liquid water under the icy crust, Europa could have several times more water than all the oceans of Earth. Tidal heating from Jupiter's gravity could keep that ocean liquid and allow life to develop.
NASA has the Juno probe in the Jovian system right now, but it's not designed to study the moons. The Europa Clipper would be the first mission to focus on a moon other than the one orbiting Earth. While Europa Clipper won't land on the surface, it will make more than 40 close flybys of the moon, probing it with a suite of nine instruments to analyze the planet's magnetic field, temperature, and more. Europa occasionally ejects plumes of water vapor into space, and Europa Clipper could analyze the chemical composition of the water if it manages to fly through one.
All NASA missions have to go through a labyrinthian approval process that begins with the preliminary design. Only after passing independent review does a project get to final design and construction. That's where Europa Clipper is now. NASA has given the go-ahead for the team to begin designing and building the spacecraft that will fly in space. There's another review phase before the mission can continue to assembly, testing, and launch. That's a few years off, though.
NASA's announcement of the mission's new status does not make mention of how it will launch the spacecraft. The preliminary design called for Europa Clipper to fly on the SLS, which NASA had hoped to have done several years ago. With SLS development still inching along, it's not certain the rocket will be ready in time for the 2023 or 2025 launch windows. There has been talk of using a smaller commercial rocket, but it would take longer to get the probe to Europa aboard one of those vehicles.
Even if it takes a little longer to reach Europa, the aliens (if they exist) will still be waiting for us. We're looking forward to more updates on the Europa Clipper going forward.
Enceladus, Not Europa, Could Be the Best Place to Search for Extraterrestrial Life
NASA Says Evidence of Life on Europa Could Be Under a Few Inches of Ice
Plate Tectonics on Europa Could Make Life More Likely
europa clipper


text:
Q: C++ String ASCII Communication to SerialCOM with VB example I have a VB 5.0 code that does what I need, but I need to implement it in Visual Studio C++ (2013), the thing is that I'm not getting there, and I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, so I'll show you some code (VB vs C++ - mine) and hope someone is able to help.
For now, thank you for reading this.
I've tried to send the string in very different formats and I think that I finally got it, in how to send, the problem still is reading the answer, I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.
The machine returns (I think 2 bytes) and they are START OF HEADING and ?, I can see it by printing in the console the numbers 1 and 63.
I'll just leave some code.
For asking the current temperature the VB program is:
Private Sub cmdGetTemperaturePV_Click()

  If MSComm.PortOpen Then
    MSComm.Output = Chr(1) & Chr(0) & Chr(0) & Chr(1) & Chr(13) & Chr(10)
    txtMsg(1).Text = "1,0,0,1,13,10"
    txtPVTemperature.Text = ""
  Else
    txtMsg(1).Text = "COM Port OFF"
    Beep
  End If

End Sub

And mine(C++) is:
String^ a1 = "\x1";
String^ a2 = "\x0";
String^ a3 = "\x0";
String^ a4 = "\x1";
String^ a5 = "\xD";
String^ a6 = "\xA";
String^ enviar = a1 + a2 + a3 + a4 + a5 + a6;

this->serialPort1->Write(enviar);

By using the program "Hercules" I can simulate the reception of the machine and I can see that I'm sending exactly the same thing as the VB program.
Now I think that the problem is receiving, so about that, there's this:
Private Sub tmrRun_Timer()

  Dim i As Integer
  Dim apt As Byte, B1 As Byte, B2 As Byte
  Dim stx As String

  If MSComm.PortOpen Then
    If MSComm.InBufferCount >= 6 Then
      stx = MSComm.Input
      stx = Right(stx, 6)
      txtMsg(2).Text = ""
      For i = 1 To Len(stx)
        txtMsg(2).Text = txtMsg(2).Text & Asc(Mid(stx, i, 1)) & ","
      Next i
      txtMsg(2).Text = Left(txtMsg(2).Text, Len(txtMsg(2).Text) - 1)

      apt = Asc(Left(stx, 1))
      B1 = Asc(Mid(stx, 2, 1))
      B2 = Asc(Mid(stx, 3, 1))

      Select Case apt
        Case 1:
          txtPVTemperature.Text = Format(0.1 * GetInt(B1, B2), "0.0")
        Case 2:
          txtSPTemperature.Text = Format(0.1 * GetInt(B1, B2), "0.0")
        Case 3:

        Case 4:
          txtPVHumidity.Text = Format(0.1 * GetInt(B1, B2), "0.0")
        Case 5:
          txtSPHumidity.Text = Format(0.1 * GetInt(B1, B2), "0.0")
        Case 6:

        Case 7:
        Case 8:
        Case 9:
          If Asc(Mid(stx, 2, 1)) > 0 Then
            txtChamber.Text = "ON"
          Else
            txtChamber.Text = "OFF"
          End If

        Case 10:
          txtEvents.Text = GetInt(B1, B2)
        Case 11:

        Case 12:
          txtInputs.Text = "1..8 = " & B1 & "    9..16 = " & B2

        Case 13:
          txtAlarms1.Text = " 1.. 8 = " & B1 & "     9..16 = " & B2
        Case 14:
          txtAlarms2.Text = "17..24 = " & B1 & "    25..32 = " & B2

      End Select
    End If
  End If

End Sub

And I'm trying many different things, the best I got (the one that led me to 1 and 63) is this:
{
        String^ rec;

        if (this->serialPort1->IsOpen)
        {
            this->textBox1->Text = String::Empty;

            try
            {
                rec = this->serialPort1->ReadExisting();
            }
            catch (TimeoutException^)
            {
                this->textBox2->Text = "Timeout";
            }
        }

        this->textBox1->Text = rec;

        char aux[100];

        if (rec == String::Empty)
            this->textBox2->Text = "String Empty";
        else
        {
            std::string rec1 = marshal_as<std::string>(rec);

            strcpy(aux, rec1.c_str());

            int a, b, c, d, e1, f;

            printf("String received: ");

            for (int i = 0; i < 6; i++)
            {
                if (aux[i] == 0)
                    break;
                printf("%ld ", aux[i]);
                if (i == 0)
                    a = aux[i];
                if (i == 1)
                    b = aux[i];
                if (i == 2)
                    c = aux[i];
                if (i == 3)
                    d = aux[i];
                if (i == 4)
                    e1 = aux[i];
                if (i == 5)
                    f = aux[i];
            }
        }
    }

I'm expecting to receive a 6 byte string and It's not happening.
I'm so sorry for the long post, but I think this way I can be more specific.
Again, thank you very much!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Hugyetz Lajos  (Budapest, 1966. szeptember 8. –) magyar karatézó, tekvandézó, kick-boxoló. Hétszeres Európa-bajnok, négyszeres Európa-bajnoki ezüstérmes, Európa-bajnoki bronzérmes, ötszörös világbajnok, világbajnoki ezüstérmes, négyszeres világbajnoki bronzérmes, Guinness-rekordtartó.

Élete
A Gubacsi út és az Illatos út sarkán található hírhedt Dzsumbujban nőtt fel, majd lakótelepre költözött a család. Édesapja Csepelen bokszolt, s már három-négy éves korában tanította fiát bokszolni. Id. Hugyetz Lajos, mint egykori ökölvívó neve is ismert volt, tisztelte is mindenki.

A Hunyadi SE-nek a sportolója lett, ahol a pályafutását kezdte. Barátai szóltak, hogy a klub karate-tanfolyamot szervez. Elment, imponált Neki az, amit látott, ott ragadt. Ságodi Péter volt az első edzője. Ezt megelőzően bokszolt és birkózott, úszott és vízilabdázott, meg atletizált is a Fradiban. A második edzője, Kira Péter volt, aki rengeteget segített neki.

A kick-boxot nyolcadik osztályosként választotta, ugyanis az első félévben rendeztek egy karateversenyt, amelyen indultak osztrák kick-boxolók, akik nagyon jó benyomást tettek rá. A Hunyadi SE is az all style kick-boksz mellett kötelezte el magát a hosszas szakmai csatározások végén, de eleinte csak a semi-contact szakágat művelték. Hivatalosan 1985-ben kezdődött Magyarországon a full-contact irányzat, s abban az évben rögtön itt került sor a világbajnokságra.

Eredeti szakmája szobafestő, később már a Testnevelési Egyetemen végzett, szakedzői szakon, nappali tagozaton. Egyetemi évei alatt délután tréningre járt vagy erősíteni a Koko Gym-be, mellette dolgozott éjszaka, portás volt egy mulatónál. Korán kelt, és indult a Testnevelési Egyetemre. Kalóriapénzt a szövetségtől kapott, edzéseket tartott a Hunyadi SE-ben és a szigetszentmiklósi Küklopsz diszkóban dolgozott hétvégenként, a belső védelem vezetőjeként, pénzkiegészítés céljából.
A Küklopszban dolgoztak a kick-boxosok közül többen is, például Lantos Gyula , Budai Barnabás.

Édesapja tanácsára 14 évesen kezdett sportolni.

A Hunyadi Sportegyesület volt az első egyesület Magyarországon, amelyik a kick-box magyarországi elterjesztésében tevékenyen részt vett, az 1970-es évek végén.

Az első nemzetközi sikereket hozó versenyzők, majd a későbbi világ- és Európa-bajnokok, így Hugyetz Lajos is innen kerültek ki.

Három leánytestvére van, Hugyetz Gabriella szintén kick-boxoló – kétszeres Európa-bajnok, világbajnoki ezüstérmes –, Hugyetz Aranka pedig atléta volt.

Nádas Tamás karatevilágbajnok 2015-ben a Busy Day című film producere volt. Több nagynevű küzdősportoló is szerepelt a filmben, Köztük Nádas Tamás jó barátja, Hugyetz Lajos, aki a Fierce Target verekedős jeleneteinek kidolgozásában segített.

Hugyetz Lajos hétszeres Európa-bajnok, négyszeres Európa-bajnoki ezüstérmes, Európa-bajnoki bronzérmes, ötszörös világbajnok, világbajnoki ezüstérmes, négyszeres világbajnoki bronzérmes, Guinness-rekordtartó.

Los Angelesben él, edző.

Nős, egy fiúgyermeke van, Hugyetz Viktor Balázs.

Eredmények

Év   Sportág	Szakág	Esemény	Eredmény
 1997	Kick-box	Light-contact	Világbajnokság	- bronz
 1997	Kick-box	Semi-contact	Világbajnokság	- bronz
 1996	Kick-box	Light-contact	Európa-bajnokság	- arany
 1996	Kick-box	Semi-contact	Európa-bajnokság	- ezüst
 1995	Kick-box	Light-contact	Világbajnokság	- arany
 1995	Kick-box	Semi-contact	Világbajnokság	- bronz
 1994	Kick-box	Light-contact	Európa-bajnokság	- arany
 1994	Kick-box	Semi-contact	Európa-bajnokság	- arany
 1993	Kick-box	Light-contact	Világbajnokság	- arany
 1993	Kick-box	Semi-contact	Világbajnokság	- arany
 1992	Kick-box	Light-contact	Európa-bajnokság	- arany
 1992	Kick-box	Semi-contact	Európa-bajnokság	- arany
 1991	Kick-box	Light-contact	Világbajnokság	- arany
 1991	Kick-box	Semi-contact	Világbajnokság	- bronz
 1990	Kick-box	Light-contact	Európa-bajnokság	- arany
 1990	Kick-box	Semi-contact	Európa-bajnokság	- ezüst
 1990	Kick-box	Formagyakorlat	Európa-bajnokság	- bronz
 1990	Kick-box	Light-contact	Világbajnokság	- arany
 1988	Kick-box	Light-contact	Európa-bajnokság	- ezüst
 1988	Kick-box	Semi-contact	Európa-bajnokság	- ezüst
 1987	Kick-box	Semi-contact	Európa-bajnokság	- arany
 1987	Kick-box	Semi-contact	Világbajnokság	- ezüst

Jegyzetek

Források
 www.magyarvagyok.hu
 www.hunyadise.hu

 honlap
 Guinness rekord YouTube (5:25)
 www.motivalodok.hu
 a-kick-box
 Névjegy
 fightermagazin.hu,
 www.magyarvagyok.hu Hugyetz-Gabriella
 Nemzeti Sport, 1995. január (6. évfolyam, 1-30. szám) Arcanum Hugyetz Lajos interjú
 Az igazgatói intőktől a vébé aranyig Magyar Nemzet, 1995. december (58. évfolyam, 282-305. szám) Arcanum
 Képes interjú Hugyetz Lajossal-Arcanum,Nemzeti Sport, 1993. december (4. évfolyam, 328-356. szám)

1966-ban született személyek
Budapesten született személyek
Élő személyek
Magyar harcművészek
Magyar edzők

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
La Deuxième Avenue est une avenue de l'arrondissement de Manhattan à New York, située dans l'East Side, qui s'étend de Houston Street, dans l'East Village, jusqu'à la Harlem River, au nord de Manhattan.

L'avenue traverse de nombreux quartiers de Manhattan, parmi lesquels se trouvent successivement du sud au nord : Lower East Side, East Village, Gramercy, Murray Hill, Yorkville, et East Harlem.

Annexes

2


text:
ARRA Investments in Age-related Macular Degeneration: Comparative Effectiveness Research
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of visual impairment and blindness among older Americans. Nearly two million Americans are visually impaired by AMD, and more than seven million are at increased risk of vision loss from the disease. AMD can severely restrict mobility and independence. AMD affects the macula, the central part of the retina that allows one to see fine detail. In the early stages of the disease, fatty deposits called drusen accumulate in the macula. As the disease progresses, abnormal, leaky blood vessels grow and damage the light-sensitive retina.
Comparative effectiveness studies compare the clinical outcomes, effectiveness, and appropriateness of items, services, and procedures that are used to prevent, diagnose, or treat diseases, disorders, and other health conditions. Such studies can provide information on the relative strengths and weaknesses of various medical interventions and help clinicians and patients make treatment decisions.
NIH-supported research has established that the protein, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), spurs the blood vessel growth in AMD. In June 2006, the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Lucentis (ranibizumab), a VEGF inhibitor, developed for treating advanced AMD. Lucentis is chemically very similar to Avastin (bevacizumab), a VEGF inhibitor that is FDA-approved for colon and lung cancer. Lucentis costs approximately $2000 per dose and repeated injections are needed. Avastin is $50 per dose. Avastin has become widely used off-label as an alternative to Lucentis; however, there have been no clinical trials to evaluate Avastin in AMD. To address this issue, the NIH is currently conducting the Comparison of AMD Treatments Trial (CATT) , to compare the safety and effectiveness of these two drugs. If Avastin were found to be equivalent to Lucentis, the cost savings to patients, Medicare and private health insurance companies would be enormous. CATT began recruiting patients in 2008 and is expected to be completed in 2011.
The CATT trial received additional funding through ARRA to enhance the timeliness of Adverse Event reporting which is in excess of the amount originally projected. ARRA funds will also go toward incorporation of an improved retinal image analysis method that provides higher resolution images to better gauge outcome measures in this trial.
U10EY017823—Coordinating Center for CATT—Maguire, Maureen (PA)
U10EY017825—CATT Retina OCT Reading Center—Jaffe, Glenn (NC)


By: Matt Hegarty LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court decision from last year that sent tremors through the racing regulatory community by throwing out the state's absolute-insurer rule in a case centered on a drug positive for a horse trained by Graham Motion more than three years ago.
Press Release The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission recently suspended trainer Graham Motion for five days and fined him $500 for a medication overage involving the winner Kitten's Point in Keeneland's Bewitch Stakes. Kentucky officials determined that Kitten's Point had a methocarbamol (Robaxin) level of 2.9 nanograms per milliliter of blood when tested following the race.


text:
namespace TwoCheckout
{
    public class SaleRetrieveServiceOptions
    {
        public long? sale_id { get; set; }
        public long? invoice_id { get; set; }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
2018 Reading Challenge: A book about a historical figure or event.
Posted on May 21, 2018 by Kendra Jernejcic • 0 Comments
Biographies—and really all books within the history genre—are definitely an area that is lacking in my my reading life. It's not that I don't enjoy learning about history; both of my parents are pretty big history buffs and they taught me to appreciate the subject from an early age. However, I've had the most luck with historical fiction, as I find many nonfiction history books to be pretty dry. I always end up enjoying (or, at the very least, learning a lot from) the history books that I do read, but I need to be in the right mood to pick them up. Including this category of books in this year's Reading Challenge was my way of nudging myself toward the genre, regardless of my mood.
A goal for including this genre in my year's Reading Challenge was to do some in-depth learning about a single person or event. . . so I suppose I cheated a bit by selecting a book about not one, but SEVEN people. This book has been on my radar for a while, though, and when the Kindle version came on sale for under a dollar the very week I was selecting my next Reading Challenge title, it seemed like too much of a coincidence to pass up.
Eric Metaxas is a seasoned biographer best known for his works on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and William Wilberforce. In 7 Women: And the Secret of Their Greatness, Metaxas explores the lives and achievements of seven women who changed the course of history: Joan of Arc, Susanna Wesley, Hannah More, Maria Skobtsova, Corrie ten Boom, Rosa Parks, and Mother Teresa. Each of these women is deserving of her own complete biography, but I enjoyed getting a bird's-eye view of their lives and accomplishments, and the ways they contributed to society.
Metaxas begins with an introduction outlining his reasons for selecting these specific seven women for his book. After writing 7 Men: And the Secret of Their Greatness, he'd received many requests to write this book, and of course his fans had ideas about who would be included. Many of the suggestions were women who had been the first of their gender to do something men had already done, such as Sally Ride or Amelia Earheart. However, Metaxas didn't want to write a book that pit the sexes against each other. The great men in his first book had not been measured against women, and he did not want the women in this book to be measured against men. Instead, he selected women who were great, not in spite of their womanhood, but because of it: it was their specifically feminine attributes that empowered them to do such amazing work.
I loved Metaxas' perspective and am fully on board with his view of feminism—that men and women were designed by God to be different, and we need to celebrate these differences rather than pretend that men and women are exactly the same. The rest of his Introduction explores this theme further, and it was by far my favorite part of the book.
The seven women whose stories are told here are not the seven women I would have selected, but only because I had never heard of many of them! Corrie ten Boom has been my personal hero for decades (and her inclusion was the book's biggest draw for me), and I was familiar with Rosa Parks and Mother Teresa, but the remaining women's stories were all new to me. Having read them, I now have many more heroines to add to my list of personal role models. The seven women are incredibly diverse, coming from different decades, different faith backgrounds, and different life circumstances. But each was used by God to do incredible things, whether that was playing a role in the abolition of slavery, showing love and compassion to the sick and dying, or leading an army to victory.
I think my favorite story was that of Susanna Wesley. From the outside, she appears to have been nothing more than a stay-at-home mom (albeit one to nineteen children—that's quite a job!). But she was a strong woman who held her family together and provided for them when her husband failed to do so. She gave her children a strong spiritual and educational foundation, and her love and discipline inspired her sons John and Charles to lead a world-changing revival. Metaxas summarizes her legacy beautifully at the end of the chapter dedicated to her: "Anyone believing that the life of a woman dedicated to her family must be less than optimal cannot know the story of Susanna Wesley. Despite poverty, illness, a difficult marriage, and heartbreak in endless forms, she used her intellect, creativity, time, energies, and will in such a way that can hardly be reckoned. The world in which we live owes much of the goodness in it to her life."
Because this book consolidates the stories of seven women into a single tome, it is light on anecdotes and heavy on dates and other basic facts. As a result, it isn't the most engaging read. However, I appreciated the compilation: together, this group of women presents a powerful picture of how God has used women throughout history. And getting a taste of each woman's story has inspired me to read more about each one of them.
My Rating: 4 stars.
OTHER BOOKS I CONSIDERED FOR THIS CATEGORY
(I've included portions of each book's Amazon synopsis, along with the titles.)
Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire, by Julia Baird: "This page-turning biography reveals the real woman behind the myth: a bold, glamorous, unbreakable queen—a Victoria for our times. Drawing on previously unpublished papers, this stunning new portrait is a story of love and heartbreak, of devotion and grief, of strength and resilience."
Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow: "Chernow presents a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn nation… Chernow's biography is not just a portrait of Hamilton, but the story of America's birth seen through its most central figure. At a critical time to look back to our roots, Alexander Hamilton will remind readers of the purpose of our institutions and our heritage as Americans."
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann: "Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. Based on years of research and startling new evidence, the book is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, as each step in the investigation reveals a series of sinister secrets and reversals. But more than that, it is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward American Indians that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long. Killers of the Flower Moon is utterly compelling, but also emotionally devastating."
The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer, by Skip Hollandsworth: "The Midnight Assassin is a sweeping narrative history of a terrifying serial killer–America's first–who stalked Austin, Texas in 1885… With vivid historical detail and novelistic flair, Texas Monthly journalist Skip Hollandsworth brings this terrifying saga to life."
Leonardo da Vinci, by Walter Isaacson: "Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo's astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson weaves a narrative that connects his art to his science. He shows how Leonardo's genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy."
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson: "Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history."
The Wright Brothers, by David McCullough: "In this 'enjoyable, fast-paced tale,' master historian David McCullough 'shows as never before how two Ohio boys from a remarkable family taught the world to fly' and 'captures the marvel of what the Wrights accomplished'… Essential reading, this is 'a story of timeless importance, told with uncommon empathy and fluency…about what might be the most astonishing feat mankind has ever accomplished.'"
The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women, by Kate Moore: "Written with a sparkling voice and breakneck pace, The Radium Girls fully illuminates the inspiring young women exposed to the 'wonder' substance of radium, and their awe-inspiring strength in the face of almost impossible circumstances. Their courage and tenacity led to life-changing regulations, research into nuclear bombing, and ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives…"
The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra, by Helen Rappaport: "The Romanov Sisters sets out to capture the joy as well as the insecurities and poignancy of those young lives against the backdrop of the dying days of late Imperial Russia, World War I and the Russian Revolution. Helen Rappaport aims to present a new and challenging take on the story, drawing extensively on previously unseen or unpublished letters, diaries and archival sources, as well as private collections."
Jane Austen at Home: A Biography, by Lucy Worsley: "Lucy Worsley's Jane Austen at Home is a richly entertaining and illuminating new book about one of the world's favorite novelists and one of the subjects she returned to over and over in her unforgettable novels: home."
Do you read a lot of biographies or other history books? What's your favorite book from the genre? What would you have chosen to read from this category?
Filed Under: Book Corner
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So you want to have some tips for a six pack? Here is Tatianna's ab workout approach and it's quite different from EC's, who thinks that crunches are fantastic. You be the judge!
Who Doesn't Want A Six Pack?
I don't think I know a person that doesn't want to have beautiful and defined six-pack abs. I personally think people who say that they don't want or like a six-pack are the ones who were never able to achieve it.
First let me tell that it does not depend on your genetics as all. In my family I am the only person with muscle and a six-pack, and my body looks the way it does only because I work at it – you can do it as well, but it will take some effort. Don't worry, I am not talking about adding more exercise or cutting down your food intake; it's all about the quality and the choice of exercise as well as the right nutrition. Obviously everyone already knows that abs are made in the kitchen, so I will spare you that song. In this article I am going to share some exercise tips that will help you to define your abs.
Unless you are a complete beginner and never did any exercise in your life, you should skip on regular crunches all together. Contrary to EC, I think it's a completely useless exercise, especially when it comes to getting the best results in the shortest amount of time. When you are doing a regular crunch on the floor you are not able to extend your abs for a better range of motion and on top of that you are constantly curling your back, which can cause problems later on.
Instead use a balance ball and do a myostatic crunch. When you are on a balance ball you will use your core to balance and you will have the ideal range of motion for a perfect ab contraction. Make sure you perform all of your reps in a controlled tempo.
If you think you need to work your abs 6-7 days a week to get a six-pack, then I am sorry to break the news, but you will never ever have abs. Never. When it comes to training, more is not better, it's worse, the only thing it will bring you is overtraining. I know it might not make a lot of sense at the beginning, but if you understand the way our body works, it will make perfect sense.
Anyone can have a six pack, but you need to work for it.
You should never work any one muscle group more than 2 days a week. With abs you can probably push it to three, but you need the knowledge to do it the right way. Why? Because in order to build muscle, you need to recover. If your muscles don't get time to recover, they will break down.
The key simply is intensity. On the day when you do your ab workout, you have to give it your all, and you always should switch your exercises for best results. Doing the same workout over and over again will bring nothing, so switch up the style.
There should always be an isometric exercise in your ab workout. A good example for that are planks. Isometrics tighten all of your muscles at once and it's a great addition to the beginning and the end of each workout session.
Another great isometric exercise you can do is with the Ab Wheel. It's a very good piece of equipment and you can get it for around 10 dollars . Adding three 1 minute sets of planks variations before and after your ab routine will make you entire session more effective. The same thing with the Ab Wheel: you can do three rounds of 1 minute each, before and after each workout.
I think this is the king of all ab exercises: hanging leg raises with a 10 sec hold. It's the favorite ab exercise of all acrobats, trust me! I've seen them in training rooms and they do a lot of hanging straight leg raises and I believe that's why all of them have such amazing abs.
To do them, hang on a pull-up bar (if you don't have a pull-up bar, check this article) and raise your legs straight up, trying to touch your toes to the bar, with your hips slightly going up as well. Pause at the top for one second, then slowly lower down, all this while keeping your legs as straight as you can. On the 10th rep hold your legs half way down to the count of 10. When it gets easier, you can do every rep with a 10 count hold. Beginners can start with hanging knee raises, then slowly progress to straightening their legs.
You Too Can Have Six Pack Abs!
If you follow all of these tips with a good nutrition plan and aren't overweight, you should start seeing the outlines of pretty sharp-looking abs within a month. If you are not, then you have to check your diet, because just as I said in the beginning: abs are made in the kitchen!
Pictures courtesy of "Melanie M" and © lovingfit.com.
I doubted you at first, but since putting your words into practise my core strength is better with just doing planks before and after my workouts. For the past 4 weeks I've only done two routines with a complete focus on Abs. If proper form is used, the Abs is involed in every exercise.
Yep that's what I always tell people, abs are used in all of the exercises. When I tell people that I only do 2 abs workouts a week, and sometimes only one, they don't believe me. But if you consider planks and using the core in every exercise that's a workout on it's own.
Great article, I do 5 Minute plank hold everyday. Do you think that is too much??
Wow 5 minutes straight? I wish I could do that, that's pretty amazing!
Yep,I do that everyday after my WO. Even on my rest days. Now I'm adding variations instead of just hold plank.
Such statements are often used in similar fitness articles to make an easy impression and cover the lack of knowledge and commitment to honesty and precision (in what is being discussed) by the author.
Moreover, these statements cause several self-contradictions in the article, like the one with the acrobats.
My husband is a professional acrobat at Cirque Du Soleil. So I know exactly how acrobats train. I was a professional figure skater for 9 years. What were you saying again?
Regarding your reply, that I saw after my second post, I was saying that you can train a bodypart frequently and still get results. You can also train once a week and get results too. The statements :"When it comes to training, more is not better, it's worse", "You should never work any one muscle group more than 2 days a week." are at least unprecise and should be avoided or written more carefully, as someone not familiar with fitness may get the wrong impression.
Regarding acrobats I was guessing (falsely probably from what you are saying) that the training of an acrobat would require him/her to engage his abs and core several times a week.
Training frequently is only ok if you are doing it for certain period to lets' say gain strength or if you are training for a competition. If you training frequently all the time overtime you will get overtrained. Every time we train a muscle we create micro tears, they don't heal or build unless we rest. Over the years I experimented with different train approaches, and 2 times a week per muscle group got the best results without overtraining but with bigger gains.
Yes acrobats involve their muscles every day in what they do, but they have been doing that for many years and their bodies are use to these daily moves, as far as regular workouts they only train 2 a week and sometimes once a week per certain muscle groups.
You simply have to be dedicated enough to exercise regularly and keep your diet as healthy as possible.
It's mostly genetic, Jay. In some people the muscles are attached in way that makes them visible, in others the lower portion of the muscle sits too deep.


text:
Q: Does the new Airpod Max support lossless audio on wireless? Earlier AirPods and AirPods Pro models send audio over 256kbps AAC.
As I use Tidal HiFi (lossless streaming) and some offline flac/wav files, I still need to use wired headphones, and I need to get 3-4 lightning to 3.5mm jack adapters each year, as they go off often.
I'm thinking about buying the AirPods Max, but I won't buy it if it's still limited to the same 256kbps AAC recompression as the earlier AirPods.
It seems it uses Bluetooth 5.0 which by itself supports up to 2Mbps, also it may have it's own wireless chip again, so I see the chance, but I'm awaiting confirmation as Apple's marketing page didn't convince me if it's supported or not: https://www.apple.com/uk/airpods-max/
Question:
Does someone know if AirPods Max support lossless audio over wireless?

A: It does not. Apple's current implementation of the bluetooth 5.0 specification does not allow for support of any lossless codec. And in any case the real world  performance of the bluetooth chipset can not sustain 2 Mbps beyond very short ranges so you may as well use a long cable to connect it.

A: There isn't any such thing as lossless Bluetooth for audio... Even Sony's LDAC is 900 Kbps. I'm listening to a 11.2 Mbps DSD Pink Floyd album as I type this on my Audeze wired headphones. With LDAC bluetooth, I'd lose 92% of the quality.

A: Misconceptions
256 kbps AAC files are compressed by transcoding causing further information loss to AirPods when streaming from an Apple Device.
The Reality
There is no 256 kbps AAC compression to AirPods.
Some insights
The idea can easily be called "lossless" audio because AAC audio files are not transcoded and then decoded by various Bluetooth specifications; they are simply transmitted and decoded without the transcode step.
What lossless means in this sense is that the AAC file is delivered bit-for-bit to your AirPods. Any other format will first need to be transcoded on the fly to be shrunk down to the bandwidth limitations of arbitrary audio formats like mp3.
Charts and references
You can see this in how bitrates are transcoded to constant or have encode-decode lag in transmission:

Transcoding a 256 kbps AAC file to a higher kbps file will cause even more information to be lost as transcoding is a lossy compression technique.
For AAC, again, there is no encoding performed on the original audio, and thus the only decoding done is of the original audio stream.
More data dispelling false idea that AAC is transcoding from Apple device to Apple BT devices2:

See also
About lossless audio in Apple Music

While the difference between AAC and lossless audio is virtually indistinguishable, we're offering Apple Music subscribers the option to access music in lossless audio compression.

AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, and Beats wireless headphones use Apple AAC Bluetooth Codec to ensure excellent audio quality. However, Bluetooth connections aren't lossless.

References
Ref 1: AptX Variants
Ref 2: Apple Designed Processors > W series


text:
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Asian Studies - China
BISAC Categories
Social Science - Ethnic Studies/General
Social Science - Sociology/General
Women in China
Studies in Social Change and Feminism
Marilyn B. Young, Editor
Eleven articles explore the changing status, both actual and ideological, of women in twentieth-century China
Michigan Monographs in Chinese Studies
Many students of China have read in many classic reports of the Chinese revolution about the changing role of Chinese women. Women fighting and working, women speaking and marching, women standing up angry. And yet we absorbed this information in a most curious way, with half the mind, so to speak. It was not until the women's liberation movement exploded on the American scene that we gained a new and somewhat stunned understanding of the aspects of China's liberation that were always there, awaiting our discovery. We now see the actions of the Women's Associations not as part of some general and vague process of "social mobilization," but as specific, bearing directly on both the concrete and existential situation of their members.
Women in China does more than just strengthen our still tenuous grasp on the texture of revolution. It also raises an enormous variety of questions. What were the roots of the women's movement in China? How did that movement relate to the Communist Party? What were the contradictions between social revolution and militant feminism? What happened to the urban feminists who did not join the Communists? And what was the fate of those who did? How long does it take for social transformation to make its effect felt on the status of women?
Women in China draws together recent essays on women so that students may have, in a convenient form, a sense of the range of problems, answers, and questions. The authors share neither a common ideology nor methodology, but only the central query: what about women?
Marilyn B. Young was Professor of History at New York University.
Virtue and Venom
DOI: 10.3998/mpub.19911
6 x 9.
278pp.
University of Michigan Center for Chinese Studies
Available for sale worldwide
$15.00 U.S.


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Joseph Mede was an English scholar educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he became a Fellow. He is now remembered as a biblical scholar. He was also a Hebraist, and became Lecturer of Greek.
The synchronism and order of the Apocalyptical Prophecies, according to the things transacted, on no hypothetical interpretation, nor preconjecture about the events; but firmly demonstrated from the very characters of the visions themselves, purposely inserted by the Holy Spirit, and offered to examination according to a self-evident scheme: so that it may prove, as it were, a Thesean clew to those who are involved in this sacred labyrinth, and a Lydian stone to discover the true, and to refute every erroneous interpretation.


text:
David (abu Sulaiman) ibn Merwan al-Mukkamas al-Rakki ( translit.: Dawud ibn Marwan al-Muqamis; died c. 937) was a philosopher and controversialist, the author of the earliest known Jewish philosophical work of the Middle Ages. He was a native of Raqqa, Mesopotamia, whence his surname. Harkavy derives his byname from the Arabic "ḳammaṣ" (to leap), interpreting it as referring to his asserted change of faith (Grätz, Gesch. Hebr. transl., iii.498). This is uncertain. The name is written "אלקומסי" in Masudi's Al-Tanbih (ed. De Goeje, p. 113), in a Karaitic commentary to Leviticus, and in a manuscript copy of Jefeth's commentary to the same book (Jew. Quart. Rev. viii.681), and is perhaps a derivative from the city of Ḳumis in Taberistan (Yaḳut, iv.203). Another Karaite bears the name "Daniel al-Ḳumisi," and in Al-Hiti's chronicle this name is also spelled with a ẓade (Jew. Quart. Rev. ix.432).

Polemical works
David, the father of Jewish philosophy, was almost unknown until the latter part of the 19th century. The publication of Judah Barzilai's commentary to the Sefer Yezirah (Meḳiẓe Nirdamim, 1885), in which is found a poor Hebrew translation of the ninth and tenth chapters of David's philosophical work, first brought the latter into notice. Barzilai says that he does not know whether David was one of the Geonim, but claims to have heard that Saadia had known him and had profited by his lessons. Pinsker and Grätz, confounding him with Daniel ha-Babli of Cairo, make him a Mohammedan convert to Karaism, on the ground that he is quoted by Karaite scholars, and is called by Hadasi "ger ẓedeḳ" (pious proselyte).

The discovery by Harkavy of the Kitab al-Riyaḍ wal-Ḥada'iḳ, by the Karaite Al-Ḳirḳisani, threw further light on David. Al-Ḳirḳisani cites a work by him on the various Jewish sects, and says that David had "embraced Christianity" (tanaṣṣar), that he was for many years the pupil of a renowned Christian physician and philosopher named Hana, and that, after acquiring considerable knowledge of philosophy, he wrote two works against Christianity which became famous. But it seems more probable that the word "tanaṣṣar" means simply that David had intercourse with Christians. Ḳirḳisani, indeed, does not mention his return to Judaism, and no Rabbinite mentions his conversion to Christianity. His conversion to Christianity can hardly be reconciled with the fact that he is cited by Baḥya, by Jedaiah Bedersi (in Iggeret Hitnaẓẓelut), and by Moses ibn Ezra. Ḳirḳisani mentions two other books by David: Kitab al-Khaliḳah, a commentary on Genesis extracted from Christian exegetical works; and a commentary on Ecclesiastes. He is incorrectly mentioned as a learned Karaite by David al-Hiti in his chronicle of Karaite doctors, published by Margoliouth (Jew. Quart. Rev. ix.432).

20 Chapters on Philosophy
In 1898 Harkavy discovered in the Imperial Library of St. Petersburg fifteen of the twenty chapters of David's philosophical work entitled Ishrun Maḳalat (Twenty Chapters). The subject-matter of these fifteen chapters is as follows:

 The Aristotelian categories
 Science and the reality of its existence
 The creation of the world
 The evidence that it is composed of substance and accidents
 The properties of substance and accident
 A criticism of those who maintain the eternity of matter
 Arguments in favor of the existence of God and His creation of the world
 The unity of God, refuting the Sabians, the Dualists, and the Christians
 The divine attributes
 Refutation of anthropomorphism and Christian ideas
 Why God became our Lord
 Showing that God created us for good and not for evil, and combating absolute pessimism as well as absolute optimism
 The utility of prophecy and prophets
 Signs of true prophecy and true prophets
 Mandatory and prohibitive commandments.

David as well as other Karaites—for instance, Joseph al-Basir and Al-Ḳirḳisani—was a follower of the Motazilite kalam, especially in his chapter on the attributes of God, wherein he holds that, though we speak of these attributes as we speak of human attributes, the two can not be compared, since nothing comes to Him through the senses as is the case with man. God's "life" is a part of His "being", and the assumption of attributes in the Deity can in no way affect His unity. "Quality" can not be posited of the Deity. In his tenth chapter, on "Rewards and Punishments," David holds that these are eternal in the future world. This chapter has many points in common with Saadia, both drawing from the same source (Schreiner, Der Kalam, p. 25).

Other works
David quotes two others of his own works which are no longer in existence: Kitab fi al-Budud and Kitab fi 'Arḍ al-Maḳalat 'ala al-Manṭiḳ, on the categories. In one passage David relates that he had a philosophical disputation in Damascus with a Muslim scholar, Shabib al-Baṣri. A fragment of another work, Kitab al-Tauḥid, Book on the Unity (of God), has been discovered among genizah fragments, and has been published by E. N. Adler and I. Broydé in Jew. Quart Rev. (xiii.52 et seq.). David does not betray his Jewish origin in his philosophical work. Contrary to the practice of Saadia, Bahya, and other Jewish philosophers, he never quotes the Bible, but cites Greek and Arabic authorities. It is possible that this accounts for the neglect of his work by the Jews.

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography
Fürst, in Literaturblatt des Orients, viii.617, 642;
Gabriel Polak, Halikot Ḳedem, pp. 69 et seq.;
Pinsker, Liḳḳuṭe Ḳadmoniyyot, ii.17 et seq.;
Grätz, Gesch. v.285;
A. Harkavy, Le-Ḳorot ha-Kittot be-Yisrael', in Grätz, Gesch. iii.498 et seq. (Hebr. transl.);
idem, in Voskhod, Sept., 1898;
Samuel Poznanski, in Jew. Quart. Rev. xiii.328;
Steinschneider, in Jew. Quart. Rev. xi.606, xiii.450;
idem, Hebr. Uebers. p. 378;
David Kaufmann, Attributenlehre, Index, passim.

 Recent Bibliography
 Sarah Stroumsa, Dawud ibn Marwan al-Muqammis's 'Ishrun Maqala'' (Etudes sur le judaisme medieval XIII, Leiden: Brill, 1989)

References

930s deaths
Year of birth unknown
Year of death uncertain
Philosophers of Judaism
10th-century Abbasid rabbis
9th-century Abbasid rabbis
Converts to Christianity from Judaism
Converts to Judaism from Christianity
Critics of Christianity
9th-century Arabic writers
10th-century Arabic writers
People from Raqqa Governorate