text:
If you haven't read much transgressive fiction, you should do yourself a favor a take a detour into worlds funny and strange, terrifying and awe-inspiring and disturbing.
How to Thrive on Rejection: A Manual for Survival by Alan Abel (Barricade Books, 1984)
The least likely book on this list, Alan Abel's out-of-print gem garners a spot for it sheer outlandishness. This is a record of the exploits of a cunning satirist masquerading as a prankster.
In one stunt, Abel enlisted several people to populate the audience of talk show host Phil Donahue's popular daytime program. During the taping, several of Abel's plants pretended to pass out, causing enough concern that cameras stopped rolling and everyone was removed from the set. While Donahue and crew chalked it up to nervousness at being on a television set and a hot studio, Abel later announced that he had orchestrated the entire thing to draw attention to the vacuousness of television.
In another notorious stunt, Abel managed to get his obituary in The New York Times and enlisted family and friends to play along, persuading people that Abel had, in fact, passed away. Since he was a known prankster, not everyone believed him, so it was no surprise when he emerged to own up to his ruse. One of his admirers and fans, the singular performer Andy Kaufman, admired the stunt and even discussed the logistics of pulling it off with Abel after the truth was revealed.
This is a quick read, at times funny, engaging, and inspiring. Much of the humor, however, feels dated, so don't expect gut-busting laughter throughout. But at its core, it's a book about a moralist dissatisfied with the norms permeating an increasingly corporate and media obsessed culture.
While the book itself isn't controversial or transgressive, it's included here because it records the exploits of a man who rejected many social norms. His satire contained pointed commentary—and rebellion. Although known as a prankster in his life, we'd now call him a performance artist. He used humor to criticize and attack the conformity of a rule-based society obsessed with media and capitalistic pursuits. The man himself was transgressive.
Great Expectations: a novel by Kathy Acker (Grove Press, 1994)
While this may not rank as Acker's most transgressive work of fiction, it embodies the motifs recurring through most of her books.
Kathy Acker was a singular writer, equal parts William S. Burroughs, Johnathan Swift, Johnny Rotten, but, most importantly, she exemplified none other than her unique personality and voice.
Reviewing, or even summarizing, a book by Kathy Acker is like trying to review the barrage of tv shows, movies, and commercials as you constantly flip through television channels without pausing to slow down or settle on a single show.
She employed several techniques as a writer—from Burroughs's cut-up technique to appropriating text from famous writers, to incomplete sections or notes. Combined, these styles produced a hypnotic, hypnagogic effect in the reader while Acker presented characters repulsive and endearing, elusive and narcissistic, prudish and perverse, brooding and full of life.
By eschewing narrative, she created snapshots of people and events. Her books and characters often seemed cold and disjointed. When taken as a whole, however, they conveyed a rare thing in experimental and transgressive fiction: a complex yet beautiful portrayal of the human condition.
A Crack Up at the Race Riots by Harmony Korine (Mainstreet Books, 1998)
This book is nearly impossible to categorize. Neither fiction nor nonfiction, it somehow exists in a state far removed from categorization. (You should note, however, that the title is nonsensical. The book doesn't have anything to do with race or race riots.)
Produced by les enfant terrible Harmony Korine, writer of the controversial film Kids, writer and director of Gummo and julien-donkey boy. His films were equally as unorthodox as this book. When taken together, however, they convey an aesthetic uniquely Korine's.
In it's design and layout, it resembles an avant-garde art book, reminding you of something the Dadaists might have produced. It's filled with photographs, one-liners, puns, and carries an anarchic vaudevillian spirit throughout.
You can read it in under twenty minutes and dismiss it as quickly. But you'd make a mistake by doing so. As with his films, in A Crack Up at the Race Riots Korine is attempting to introduce us to facets of life we overlook by focusing on the outcast and the downtrodden. For that reason, as obscure as it may be, it's also a deeply human book.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S Thompson (Random House, 1972)
This book is touted as nonfiction/journalism, but let's be real: it's a work of fiction. Sure, it's based to some degree on real events, but it was formulated, structured, and contrived like any other work of fiction.
Notorious journalist Hunter S. Thompson and fiery civil rights lawyer Oscar Zeta Acosta took a trip to Las Vegas to escape a tense investigation into the murder of famed Chicano Newsman and activist Rueben Salazar.
Their initial trip to Vegas was short. The first part of the book covered the entirety of that trip. But when Thompson set it to paper, he knew he had the beginnings of a great book. Intent on finishing it, he contrived another trip to Vegas with Acosta some weeks later to generate more material so he could finish his masterpiece.
At its core, this book is a lamentation, a dirge to a generation bereft of its former idealism. It follows two men destroying themselves physically and mentally with the help of drug-induced psychosis, as they topple the norms of a society struggling to devolve to the totalitarianism of the 40s and 50s while simultaneously trying to break from that era once and for all. It's also a transgressive attempt to shatter conventions long codified by establishment journalists. And it's frequently funny as hell.
Mooch by Dan Fante (Harper Perennial, 2009)
The son of novelist John Fante, Dan is a world unto himself. He's more akin to Charles Bukowski and Hubert Selby, Jr. than to his father.
You won't find romanticism in Fante's works. Instead, you'll find alcoholism, drug abuse, and madness—themes drawn from Fante's decedent and depraved life.
Mooch follows Fante's fictional avatar, Bruno Dante, as he attempts to leave a halfway home, carve out a respectable working-class life while fighting to contain his addictive and violent tendencies.
It's a book about poverty and people on the margins, people who shun cultural norms and conventions while paradoxically dreaming of achieving the kinds of lives they claim to despise.
This book pulls no punches: it's mean-spirited, misogynistic, homophobic (even thought the narrator occasionally partakes in homosexual liaisons), bleak, and cynical.
It works primarily as an unrelenting reminder that people like Dante exist.
Although it's well written and filled with dark humor, it's populated by unlikeable characters—and a repugnant narrator. But Bruno Dante is an interesting character. He knows his flaws, recognizes his bigotry, and fights to control his addictions as he struggles to become a better person. In the end, he fails, but Dante's adventures in four other books by Fante occasionally offers hope that he can change.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (McClelland and Stewart, 1985)
As prescient now as it was when it was written during the Reagan revolution and the rise of people like Jerry Falwell and his so-called silent majority, Atwood's harrowing dystopian novel imagines a world where Christian Theocracy has altered society, forcing women into subservient roles as second-class citizens who exist primarily to push out babies.
Whether you're a man or a woman, a Christian or a Jew, a Muslim or a Buddhist or an atheist, The Handmaid's Tale will disturb you. It will implant a creeping sense that the world Atwood imagines isn't far-fetched. It can—and probably will—happen here.
By pulling the threads of norms and conventions already established in our world, Atwood warns of the logical conclusion of religion and nationalism when controlled by monsters on the extreme fringes of society.
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller (Obelisk Press, 1934)
It's easy to hate this book: Miller is a cynical pervert who hates many kinds of people. It's told in a stream of consciousness style with little attempt to forge a plot—or even tell a story. Writing in the first person present tense it at times reads as if it were cobbled from pages of a diary.
Miller meanders from story to fantasy to reminisce. He's obsessed with sex and often thinks about fucking and imagines the cunts—a favorite word of his—of women he encounters. He's a miserable bastard who criticizes Jews, homosexuals, Christians, and treats women as objects. It's easy to dismiss Miller as a bigot, and this book as the product of a privileged white male running amok in an era when only privileged white males ran amok.
But to dismiss it as such would betray a superficial reading. Miller's narrator is far more complex than his appearance leads you to believe. He absolutely makes appalling remarks about Jews and homosexuals and women—but he also makes appalling remarks about himself and all humans. He's not bigotry personified. He's misanthropy personified.
Mistaking his misanthropy for bigotry, however, might allow you to miss the bigger themes of Tropic of Cancer. The narrator loves the world. He's obsessed with its natural beauty, it's poetry, and everything wonderful and awe-inspiring in it. But the economic and the political strife of the first half of the twentieth century—the First World War, which consumed millions of lives and the depression that crippled the entire western world, eventually laying the foundation for European Fascism—scarred the psyches of everyone who lived in that period. It thrust the entire world into a state of PTSD, allowing the worst aspect of humans to emerge.
Rapid technological growth in conjunction with depression, war, and radical—and dark—political change plunged generations into despair, the same kind of despair Celine conveys in Journey to the End of the Night.
This is a psychological diagnosis at its core, one Nietzsche anticipated a generation earlier: when the old social order and morality gave way to the new, nihilism took hold. What's the point of attributing value to humans if they're just animals? This is the undercurrent of Miller's deeply complex narrator. Although he is misanthropic and cynical, his observations and tastes betray a subtle, subconscious desire for a bright beautiful world where there's little reason to distrust fellow humans.
Tropic of Cancer is a deeply complex novel. It requires close reading and learning to unpack the obscure stream of consciousness passages. Miller was a brilliant prose stylist who produced some of the most breathtaking prose in the first half of the twentieth century. He was also a brave writer: he was willing to alienate everyone, readers included, to illustrate a world devoid of morality, love of fellow humans, and order. And, to be honest, he was also an asshole.
The narrator is repugnant and offensive, which was part of the reason this novel was banned in America for years. Transgressive books are, their cores, offensive. This book certainly meets that condition. But it's worth reading for the prose, to gain insight into the thinking of misanthropic pieces of shit, and to base this insight on experience instead of presuppositions—and, oh, the prose.
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby, Jr.
(Grove Press, 1964)
Few writers excel at producing bleak material. Hubert Selby, Jr., is one of them. In his dirge to life on the fringes, Last Exit to Brooklyn is likely to leave an impression on everyone who reads it.
Populated by transvestites, the addicted, psychopaths, and the downtrodden, Selby's classic examines life on the margins. While not a novel in the traditional sense, Last Exit is a collection of stories connected by themes and the city of Brooklyn.
This is a frank and honest portrayal of life on the margins. More importantly, it's a depiction of the consequences of poverty in the richest nation on the planet. The material proved shocking to audiences in the early 60s. To people in the middle class, riding the high of the post-war, post-Eisenhower boom, such dregs of society serve no place in a civilized country.
But the characters Selby portrays—many of whom were based on people he knew—are not victims of their own excesses and poor choices. They're victims of their social strata. Alcoholism and drug use, violent crime and depression and suicide are correlates of poverty. It's easy to overlook the notion that these people developed in a social prison imposed on them by those with power or money. It's much harder to recognize them as symptoms of a nihilistic nation obsessed with limiting the distribution of money and opportunity.
A brutal and unflinching book, Last Exit to Brooklyn is a must read, a harrowing tale of people left behind by a first world power.
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
(Scribner, 1926)
What? you might ask. You're seriously including this book on a list of transgressive books? There's nothing transgressive or controversial about it. Hemingway the writer is about as milquetoast as they come.
After nearly a century in the Western Canon, and diluted by thousands of imitators and works derived from Hemingway's first published novel, The Sun Also Rises has lost its edge. Our culture is now far more violent, intoxicated, and promiscuous than the characters and events depicted in this novel. When taken together, these two elements have softened this novel's blow.
But if you view it through the lens of America in the 1920s, you might understand the shock and controversy The Sun Also Rises elicited on its publication.
Women had won the vote less than a decade earlier, the nation was segregated, it was dominated by strict patriarchal, Christian tenets. Sex was something you performed out of sight, without discussing it. The prohibition was still in effect, puritans having won an amendment outlawing alcohol. In a polite society, men and women didn't drink, have loose and reckless sex, or cavort without consideration for the good of society. Although these points don't describe the real America, they do describe the ideal America, and people always emphasize the ideal while ignoring or overlooking the real.
Featuring promiscuous men and women who drank and bounced from partner to partner, women who 'swore and behaved unladylike, like men,' The Sun Also Rises was like a grenade tossed into the tent of polite society. It was a book by and for young people. The older generations hated it. Even Hemingway's mother denounced it. In a letter to her son, she wrote
It is a doubtful honor to produce one of the filthiest books of the year …. What is the matter? Have you ceased to be interested in nobility, honor and fineness in life? …. Surely you have other words in your vocabulary than "damn" and "bitch"—Every page fills me with a sick loathing.
It was a rallying cry for a generation uprooted and traumatized by the most violent war the world had ever seen. Written in concise prose, subtle, and, at times, beautiful, The Sun Also Rises is a masterpiece of transgressive fiction. The decades may have eroded its controversy, but it still deserves a place on this list.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
(Random House, 1952)
One of the great masterpieces and works of literary art of the American Empire, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man portrays life as an African American in the first half of the twentieth century.
Indebted to Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground and Joyce's Ulysses, Invisible Man is narrated by an unnamed African American who has escaped society to dwell in an underground room.
He tells of his life as an invisible man, a person neglected and dismissed, hated and scorned by a society dominated by white people who accept the fallacy of race and racial inferiority and superiority. This novel exposes hatred and bigotry and conveys it to audiences—some of whom are white—who can't possibly encounter the kind of hatred and dismissal African-Americans experience on a minute-by-minute basis.
Told in a rich, beautiful voice—Ellison was one of the twentieth century's great prose stylists—Invisible Man subjects its audience to brutal acts of violence, racism, and repression.
It's a deeply humane novel published in the days of segregation and public lynchings. And it asks for one thing: that we acknowledge the existence of every human being, that we treat everyone, even those shunned or on the fringes, as we ourselves expect others to treat us.
Heliogabalus, or the Crowned Anarchist by Antonin Artaud
(Original Publisher unknown, written in 1933)
Antonin Artaud was a French actor and theoretician of theater. His influence on theater is still felt. In his time, and in the generations to follow, he developed a rallying cry for avant-garde theatre. As a result, he forever altered the course of even mainstream theater.
For a time, he was a member of the surrealists, but he had a falling out with several members, including Andre Breton, the founder and totalitarian of the group. Although his writings bear certain hallmarks of surrealism, his style and voice are uniquely his own. He was such a singular and original writer, in fact, that no analogue exists. You simply can't compare him or his writings to any other writer, before or since.
Artaud suffered from mental illness. His writings largely constituted a transcript of his rapidly deteriorating mind. In them, you'll find beauty and madness as he focuses on his mental struggles and unknowingly disconnects from the human world.
Heliogabalus, or the Crowned Anarchist is a work of unrelenting madness. Ostensibly a biography of an obscure Roman Emperor, Heliogabalus dwells on esoteric—probably fictionalized—religious rituals. It also makes outlandish claims and assertions for which no evidence exists. Historians routinely dismiss this book as ahistorical gibberish—and it is. But it's beautiful and insane gibberish.
It's a descent into madness and Artaud's deteriorating brain is our guide.
Nietzsche argued that philosophy books conveyed information about, and biases held by, the people writing them. Instead of exploring objective truth, Nietzsche claimed, a work of philosophy did little more than to reveal the personality of the philosopher. I accept his argument, and it's no clearer and easy to infer than by reading Heliogabalus, or the Crowned Anarchist. This isn't a book about a spoiled Emperor. It's about a brilliant writer unknowingly producing a transcript of his decaying mind.
Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
(Faber and Faber, 1939)
Written over a 17 year period while Joyce battled problems with his eyesight, Finnegans Wake is unlike any book ever written. It's big, dense, and written in an idioglossia composed of as many as 70 actual languages,
Finnegans Wake is at times an impenetrable novel. Experts have analyzed it and interpreted it for decades. Although they seem to broadly agree on some characters and the overarching 'plot,' if that word even applies here, much of this book remains enigmatic.
While Ulysses occurred in a single day, Joyce intended his followup to occur in a single night. With language both spellbinding and infuriating, it's a difficult novel to approach. Contrary to some claims, however, it isn't unreadable, but it does take effort. Such effort can yield breathtaking and poetic passages, such as this
Sniffer of carrion, premature gravedigger, seeker of the nest of evil in the bosom of a good word, you, who sleep at our vigil and fast for our feast, you with your dislocated reason, have cutely foretold, a jophet in your own absence, by blind poring upon your many scalds and burns and blisters, impetiginous sore and pustules, by the auspices of that raven cloud, your shade, and by the auguries of rooks in parlament, death with every disaster, the dynamatisation of colleagues, the reducing of records to ashes, the levelling of all customs by blazes, the return of a lot of sweetempered gunpowdered didst unto dudst but it never stphruck your mudhead's obtundity (O hell, here comes our funeral! O pest, I'll miss the post!) that the more carrots you chop, the more turnips you slit, the more murphies you peel, the more onions you cry over, the more bullbeef you butch, the more mutton you crackerhack, the more potherbs you pound, the fiercer the fire and the longer your spoon and the harder you gruel with more grease to your elbow the merrier fumes your new Irish stew.
I've read the book twice and I don't pretend to understand it. From my personal experience, however, I find it hilarious. In fact, when people ask me for the title of the funniest book I've ever read, I always cite Finnegans Wake.
The cobbled language produces portmanteaux and puns that strike you as funny on a visceral level. You might not be able to articulate why a phrase or passage is funny, but many passages throughout this book will have you laughing out loud.
So why's this, of all books, on the list? Isn't Ulysses more explicitly transgressive? In its content, it probably is; however, with Finnegans Wake Joyce transgressed living natural human language and the appearances and mechanics of storytelling. Under those conditions, this book remains so transgressive that, eight decades later, no one fully understands it.
Faggots by Larry Kramer
Fred Lemish is a gay man looking for love in a subculture shunned and condemned by society. In a time when gay men still lived on the fringes, forced to hide their sexuality for fear of persecution—or worse—many men chose to forego relationships for anonymous sex with fleeting partners.
Published in 1978, before the AIDS epidemic ravaged many gay communities, Faggots is a stark and brutally honest portrayal of the underbelly of the gay community in New York. It's filled with hedonism, drug use and abuse, violence, and graphic sex scenes.
Some scenes in this book might repulse those who are in uninitiated in the variety of sexual fetishes and desires. It's a no-holds-barred look at sex and drug use on the fringe of an already fringe group.
At its core, however, Faggots is a moving and human book about love—wanting to be in love and wanting to feel that love reciprocated. It's also an indictment of a society that prides itself on inclusiveness, morality, and empathy while condemning anyone who deviates from the norm.
Faggots is brutal in its unflinching depiction of life on the edges of a so-called free society. It's also a landmark book, perhaps more responsible for ushering in the era of gay literature than any other book. It's as important a cultural artifact as Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. In a sense, both books depict human beings rendered invisible by a society claiming to accept everyone.
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
(Doubleday, 1977)
People who are aware of Philip K. Dick seem to fall into two camps: those who know him only as a science fiction writer whose works have been adapted to films and television and those who know him as a drug-eating philosophical mystic who experienced either a numinous moment or a psychotic break.
For those in the first camp, A Scanner Darkly's depiction of the dark side of drug use might subvert, or even pervert, their understanding of who Dick was.
This is a deceptively complex novel. It deals with notions of personality, the impermanent nature of subjective reality, and the toll drugs take on the human psyche.
PKD was active in the facet of the 60s subculture that freely used drugs and "expanded consciousness." Toward the end of his life, he discussed drugs with openness and honesty. He touched on his use in frank terms and lamented the many young people he knew who went insane or died as a result of their drug use.
"Everything in A Scanner Darkly I actually saw," Dick once said. It's a stark and dark appraisal of the idealism of the 60s that fueled the drug culture. The paranoia, the psychosis, the breaks from conventional society, and suicide depicted in this book are often the consequences lighter fare, such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or Cheech and Chong comedies dismiss or overlook.
On writing this, he referred to it as his "anti-dope" book. A Scanner Darkly emphasizes the terror and self-loathing concomitant to excessive drug use. It's the flip side of stoner comedies. Although it contains science fiction elements and is a sort of alternate history, at its core it's a book about the effects drugs had on an entire generation.
Arguably one of Dick's best novels, A Scanner Darkly is an interesting entry into the subset of transgressive fiction. It's a novel that illustrates the consequences of dealing with social norms imposed on you by escaping into your head with the help of powerful, and sometimes fatal, narcotics.
Perhaps the most important comedian of the twentieth century, Lenny Bruce introduced satire and social commentary to mainstream comedy. His career started as any other in the 1950s: telling jokes wherever he could—bars, strip clubs, fledgling nightclubs. His career started with a whimper as he told jokes typical of the time. But when he found his voice, he forever changed the face of comedy—and became a target for federal and local law enforcement and puritanical groups intent on preserving the bland discourse of totalitarian 50s America.
No topic was off the table or taboo for Bruce. He discussed sex and race relations, war, American imperialism, and the two-faced bigotry of the American Empire. In the age of McCarthyism and fanatical cultural authoritarianism, Lenny Bruce peppered his onstage banter with the unthinkable: mature content and swear words.
He quickly developed a reputation as a man willing to speak his mind, willing to engage in frank discourse on sex and politics, and to use words such as fuck, motherfucker, cocksucker freely. Freedom of speech wasn't absolute in the 1950s and early 60s. The media acted as a mouthpiece for official government policy, the Red Scare ruined the careers of anyone suspected of communist sympathies, books were frequently banned, obscenity in any form was outlawed.
But Bruce didn't care. He recognized the hypocrisy of the government, as well as the inherent meaninglessness of words. He was arrested numerous times for the content of his performances and became notorious as an outlaw and a threat to American decency. But his troubles with the law only strengthened his resolve. In the land of the free, he seemed to think, people have the right to freely discuss what they want, to use whichever words they choose to use. Suppressing words, he argued, is how they derived their power.
Well, I was just trying to make a point, and that is that it's the suppression of the word that gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness.
As his legal troubles mounted, his mental illness deteriorated. He escaped the pressure applied by the government by shooting morphine, which ultimately killed him.
His performances were raw and honest, a slap in the face of Americans who insisted on phony decency. He was harassed, arrested, tormented. And his performances changed the face of American comedy and helped to shatter obscenity laws in this country.
He was a true transgressive, and his memoir encapsulates his spirit, his humor, and his foul mouth.
A Season in Hell by Arthur Rimbaud
(Originally self-published by Rimbaud in 1873)
The original enfant terrible of world literature, Arthur Rimbaud's life is the stuff of legend. He revolutionized French literature while still a teenager, shattered the French insistence on traditional verse, introduced free verse to the nation, wrote revolutionary prose poems, and quit writing altogether—at the age of 21. He spent the remainder of his life running guns and seeking his fortune in Africa, forever turning his back on his youthful, revolutionary spirit.
Perhaps his greatest work, A Season in Hell (Une Saison en Enfer) reads as equal parts experimental fiction and poetic and symbolic autobiography. His love affair with the poet Paul Verlaine, often abusive, ended when Verlaine shot Rimbaud in the wrist and was eventually sent to prison for the "sin" of passive homosexuality.
A Season in Hell is Rimbaud's attempt to make sense of the madness, the shooting, and his own life, poetry, predilections, and madness. Considered a masterpiece of world poetry, and perhaps the greatest prose poem ever written, A Season in Hell might be the product of an existential crisis triggered by his shooting.
Composed of nine parts, each examining a facet of his history, his life, his personality, his relationships, and his art, this prose poem is unlike anything produced before or since. Rimbaud was an idealist: he believed poetry could change him—and the world. After the shooting, when the starkness of life settled over him and shattered his idealism, his optimism waned. Shortly after composing A Season in Hell, he turned his back on literature.
Les Chants de Maldoror by Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore Ducasse)
(Originally published by Gustave Balitout, Questroy et Cie., 1868-69)
Few works in world history are as shocking and disturbing, hallucinogenic and phantasmagoric, disorienting and brilliant as Les Chants de Maldoror. Divided into six parts, or cantos, Maldoror is a prose poem of epic length, a work with no antecedents. It ostensibly follows an enigmatic man named Maldoror, a disturbed human who shuns all human morality and norms.
I am filthy. I am riddled with lice. Hogs, when they look at me, vomit. My skin is encrusted with the scabs and scales of leprosy, and covered with yellow pus.[…] A family of toads has taken up residence in my left armpit and, when one of them moves, it tickles. Mind one of them does not escape and come and scratch the inside of your ear with its mouth; for it would then be able to enter your brain. In my right armpit there is a chameleon which is perpetually chasing them, to avoid starving to death: everyone must live.[…] My anus has been penetrated by a crab; encouraged by my sluggishness, he guards the entrance with his pincers, and causes me a lot of pain.
Lautréamont predated the surrealists by a generation yet his works are filled with surreal imagery, scenes, creatures, and conversations. He eschews norms and traditions in ways later avant-garde groups would struggle to top. In fact, Lautréamont was critical to the development of surrealism. Andre Breton, the founder of the movement, cited a Lautréamont line as the impetus for his development of surrealism:
As beautiful as the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on an operating table.
The surrealist writer Louis Aragon even modeled his "anti-novel" Paris Peasant on Les Chants de Maldoror.
If poets such as Baudelaire and Rimbaud fired mortars at convention, Comte de Lautréamont launched thermonuclear weapons. A century and a half later, Maldoror doesn't fail to shock and disturb. It's a masterpiece of madness, insanity, and, strangely, beauty.
Slaughterhouse-Five, or the Children's Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut
(Delacorte, 1969)
Written during the height of the Vietnam War, Kurt Vonnegut's polemic remains as important now as it did on its release. A biting satirist and cynic with science fiction sensibilities, Vonnegut possessed a sociologist's eye and a talent for distilling the human condition to its profound absurdity.
In his best known, and probably greatest novel, Vonnegut wrote perhaps the definitive anti-war novel when he set Slaughterhouse-Five to paper. Experimental at its core, the novel only loosely follows traditional structure while telling a non-linear story. It follows the life of Billy Pilgrim, a young soldier in World War II who survived the deadly bombing of Dresden. When he's abducted by aliens, he becomes unstuck in time and experiences his life—past, present, and future—almost simultaneously. Time for Billy has become non-linear: he experiences his marriage, his time in the war, and even his death over and over again.
Vonnegut was a moralist who abhorred the horrors of war and expressed cynicism and skepticism with regards to capitalism and nationalism—both root causes of war. Having himself survived the destruction of Dresden, which killed over 100,000 civilians, Vonnegut spent the rest of his life traumatized by that event.
Slaughterhouse-Five is an unequivocal condemnation of war. It's also an expression of the human costs of violent conflict. Although until recently the trauma of war wasn't treated as a mental illness. Now we know it for what it is: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In telling his story nonlinearly, it's possible that Vonnegut set out to convey the experience of PTSD to those fortunate enough to have never experienced it. The non-linear way the story is told might reflect the confusion of time and experience those suffering from PTSD experience on a daily basis.
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
(William Heinemann, 1962)
Later in life, writer Anthony Burgess didn't think fondly of this novel. He dreaded the thought of being remembered for A Clockwork Orange over his other novels. To a degree, Stanley Kubrick's adaptation spoiled the novel for Burgess. The film also filled him with terror. By omitting the final chapter that appeared in the British edition of the novel, Kubrick's film ended on a darker note, muddling the themes and intention of the novel. This was a book and film, Burgess feared, that could inspire violence.
Although violence is inextricably linked to the novel and the film, it's not the central theme of the book. A Clockwork Orange is a condemnation of totalitarianism and the authoritarian tendency to enforce conformity at all costs, even if it means rewiring a citizen's brain. This is an anti-authoritarian novel, a criticism of the government's role in dictating the behavior of its citizens, especially the youth. In focusing on the behavior of unruly, even violent children, the state could establish precedents that, when normalized, could expand to all citizens.
A Clockwork Orange is a masterpiece. If you excluded the original final chapter, it's nearly perfectly structured and paced. The prose is breathtaking and the youthful slang Burgess invented for his young characters—the so-called Nadsat—introduces us to a world both familiar and alien.
(As an aside, it's interesting to note that Nadsat is rooted in the Russian Language. Since this novel was written and released during the early decades of the Cold War, I've long wondered if Nadsat itself is an allusion to the conflict between the Soviet Union and the West. Since the Soviet language has successfully penetrated the youth cultures in this novel, I've long wondered if it's an expression of doubt that the West can win. All wars bleed into cultures. Successfully penetrating a culture could give the opposing side an edge. Since the Soviets in this world successfully penetrated British culture, perhaps the government's insistence on re-programming its citizens is an attempt to crush Soviet influence. You should note that this is my interpretation, so take it lightly.)
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
(Olympia Press, Grove Press, 1959)
One of the most notorious books of the twentieth century, Naked Lunch is a world unto itself. Cobbled together from notes, stories, and gags Burroughs wrote over the years, often while under the influence of heroin, Naked Lunch is a novel in name only. It doesn't follow a story, it's not guided by plot, characters appear and disappear, sometimes they emerge but they never follow the hero's journey or experience an arc.
This is less of a book and more of an experience. It's a shocking, appalling, surreal trip into the mindset of drug psychosis. Filled with murder and explicit homosexual acts, obscene language and situations, pointed criticisms of America, the West, and capitalism, the book was an assault on everything the Western world held as decent and sacred.
Burroughs, a homosexual junky who accidentally killed his wife years earlier, did nothing to conceal his past or predilections. In condemning the novel, most people were also quick to condemn the author himself.
The book was so shocking that it was frequently banned. The ban was finally lifted as the result of a landmark trial, one that established absolute freedom of speech and of the press. As transgressive as this book remains, it's important for another reason: it helped to break the United States' habit of determining which material was or was not acceptable for public consumption.
Juliette by Marquis de Sade
(Published 1797-1801)
No list of transgressive books could overlook or ignore Marquis de Sade. Two centuries later, his books still shock and offend. They're even still banned in some countries. To even the most jaded modern readers, Sade's works contain scenes or ideas so brutal that they'll appall you, make you flinch, and haunt you.
Although not his most notorious novel—that distinction belongs to 120 Days of Sodom—Juliette is the distillation of every major theme, philosophical argument, and grotesquery Sade conceived in his life and letters. This nearly 1,300 page tome—the paperback edition is roughly the size of a small cinderblock—possess the power to interest and intrigue, provoke thought and induce repulsion.
It follows the story of a poor woman, Juliette, who climbs the social ladder by participating in and orchestrating appalling acts of sex and violence solely to entertain bored, depraved aristocrats and clergymen.
Well formulated and convincing philosophical dialogues complement the sickness and depravity. On one hand, this book—like all of Sade's works—is a philosophical dialectic; on the other hand, it's an exploration, even a celebration, of human beings most basest instincts and desires.
It's a stunning, difficult, disgusting, mind-opening, and occasionally beautiful and empathetic book. It's a masterpiece of world literature and the keystone to the most singular oeuvre in the history of the written word. This book, and Marquis de Sade, will forever remain transgression personified.
Do you agree with the books on this list? Disagree? Feel free to comment. Let me know which transgressive books you've felt drawn to over the years.
Daulton Dickey is a novelist, poet, and content creator currently living in Indiana. He's the author of A Peculiar Arrangement of Atoms: Stories, Still Life with Chattering Teeth and People-Shaped Things, and other stories, Elegiac Machinations: an experimental novella, and Bastard Virtues, a novel. Rooster Republic Press will publish his latest novel, Flesh Made World, later this year. Contact him at daultondickey[at]yahoo[dot]com.


text:
'Out of step': Trump rush to carry out executions sharply at odds with US trends
12:44, December 12 100 0 theguardian.com
indalaw.com
Donald Trump is not only provoking fury among opponents in his race to complete a spate of federal executions in his last weeks in office. He is also rushing in the opposite direction from states across the US, which are increasingly rejecting the death penalty – as is the American public.
While a majority of US states maintain the death penalty, and a majority of the public still supports it, the numbers of prisoners being killed and the amount of public support for executions continues to shrink, while the numbers of states giving up the penalty is increasing, fast.
Ngozi Ndulue, senior director of research and special projects at the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), in Washington, DC, described the Trump administration's hasty series of executions since the summer "a spree" that is "breathtaking".
"The federal government has shown itself to be out of step with the states and out of step with history," she told the Guardian.
More Americans now oppose the death penalty than at any point in more than half a century, according to a Gallup survey published last month. A majority of Americans still favor executions for criminals convicted of murder, but the share, 55%, is at its lowest point since 1972, when 50% said they supported the practice.
But the president and his attorney general, Bill Barr, revived federal executions last summer, after they had basically been on hold for 17 years, and are now rushing prisoners to the execution chamber.
"We have to bring back the death penalty. They have to pay the ultimate price. They can't do this. They can't do this to our country," Donald Trump has said.
Five executions were scheduled between last Thursday and Trump leaving the White House on 20 January, making a total of 13 federal executions since July and cementing Trump's legacy as the most prolific execution president in over 130 years.
On Friday, the Trump administration put to death the second man in two days.
"I think the way to stop the death penalty is to repeal the death penalty," Barr said. "But if you ask juries to impose and juries impose it, then it should be carried out."
In the past 10 years, 10 states have either abolished the death penalty or declared a moratorium on executions.
"The death penalty cannot be, and never has been, administered equitably in the state of Colorado," Governor Jared Polis said after outlawing capital punishment in the state in March.
Colorado's move followed similar action in New Hampshire in 2019, Washington state in 2018 and, also since 2010, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut and Illinois, while governors in California, Pennsylvania and Oregon declared a moratorium on executions, in a rush of action that means a total of 22 states and the District of Columbia now eschew the death penalty.
The way that the death penalty is allocated in the US is inextricable from our legacy of racial injustice
Ngozi Ndulue
Next year, the Virginia legislature will consider legislation to repeal it there.
It that passes, it would mark a dramatic transformation for Virginia, which would advance from what the Washington Post called the state's "dubious honor of being the first and most lethal executioner in the nation".
It recorded an official execution by gunshot for treason in the Jamestown Colony in 1608 and since then has officially put to death more of its citizens than states such as Texas, Oklahoma and Florida that have been much more prolific executioners in the modern era.
Meanwhile, states that have the death penalty are using it less.
Texas, which has been the overwhelming modern powerhouse of US executions, put to death three prisoners this year. At its peak the state executed 40 people in 2000.
In its 2019 annual report the DPIC said 22 prisoners were killed by just seven states that year – a dramatic decline from the peak of 98 executions in 1999 and the lowest number since 20 were put to death three years before.
She pointed out that there were three federal executions between 1988 and 2019, a period covering both Republican and Democratic administrations.
"There is no precedent in the 20th or the 21st centuries" for either the volume of federal executions this year or the persistence in a transition period from one president to another, Ndulue said.
And of the 25 states that maintain capital punishment, Ndulue said that "less than 2% of jurisdictions are responsible for more than half of the death sentences and executions" in the modern era. About a dozen states that issue the death penalty haven't executed anyone in at least a decade.
There are many factors encouraging states to leave capital punishment to the past.
States that have abolished the death penalty in the 21st century have not seen a corresponding rise in murders. And over the length of a case, capital punishment is more expensive, in dollars, than life imprisonment.
The federal death penalty has also long been used disproportionately against people of color. Murders where the victim was white are vastly more likely to involve execution, according to the DPIC.
"The way that the death penalty is allocated in the US is inextricable from our legacy of racial injustice," Ndulue said.
And the risks of putting the innocent to death are acute.
The DPIC cites exonerations that have happened to people even after decades on death row.
In recent years, botched lethal injections in several places and fierce rows about the ethics of supplying the chemicals used in the cocktails for such executions, and shortages of the chemicals, have helped to erode public support.
Finally, the spate of federal executions in 2020, which brings gatherings of officials, families, lawyers and media, has already increased the spread of coronavirus. And four of the five people on the execution list in December and January are Black Americans in a year of national protest over systemic racism.
Ndulue called it an "execution at all costs" strategy by Trump that she found, in a word, "astounding".
Letters: our treatment of trans teenagers
'Stockwell Six': two men could have convictions overturned
How the British government is trying to crush our right to protest
FKA twigs sues Shia LaBeouf for physical, mental and emotional abuse
America's longest-serving marijuana prisoner freed after 31 years
Édouard Louis 'in very bad way' after man accused of his rape has charge dropped
Three victims of trafficking and modern slavery to sue Biffa
Other lives Andrew Williamson obituary
Coroner's Covid findings stoke calls for inquiry into pandemic policy
UN countries challenge Australia's Indigenous incarceration record in human rights review
Van Morrison to start legal action over Northern Ireland Covid ban on live music
'McMafia' banker's wife will have £22m seized unless she reveals source of wealth
Zelda Perkins: 'There will always be men like Weinstein. All I can do is try to change the system that enables them'
Surveyors draft plan to free homeowners from fire safety limbo
Covid leading to four-year waits for England and Wales court trials
Ghislaine Maxwell appeals bail rejection while awaiting trial
Landmark case to be held on alleged sexual abuse of Ecuadorian schoolgirl
Release inmates or face jail pandemic, say prison governors
Probation services to return to public control after Grayling disasters
UN human rights chief calls for reparations to make amends for slavery
Police take too much data from victims' phones, says watchdog

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Escape HTML tags. Any issue possible with charset encoding? I have a function to escape HTML tags, to be able to insert text into HTML.
Very similar to:
Can I escape html special chars in javascript?
I know that Javascript use Unicode internally, but HTML pages may be encoded in different charsets like UTF-8 or ISO8859-1, etc..
My question is: There is any issue with this very simple conversion? or should I take into consideration the page charset?
If yes, how to handle that?
PS: For example, the equivalente PHP function (http://php.net/manual/en/function.htmlspecialchars.php) has a parameter to select a charset.

A: No, JavaScript lives in the Unicode world so encoding issues are generally invisible to it. escapeHtml in the linked question is fine.
The only place I can think of where JavaScript gets to see bytes would be data: URLs (typically hidden beneath base64). So this:
 var markup = '<p>Hello, '+escapeHtml(user_supplied_data);
 var url = 'data:text/html;base64,'+btoa(markup);
 iframe.src = url;

is in principle a bad thing. Although I don't know of any browsers that will guess UTF-7 in this situation, a charset=... parameter should be supplied to ensure that the browser uses the appropriate encoding for the data. (btoa uses ISO-8859-1, for what it's worth.)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


VP-797ASV is a universal 4K@60Hz (4:2:0) presentation scaler-switcher for HDMI, DisplayPort, HDBaseT, VGA, composite, DVI-U, 3G HD-SDI and analog audio and H.264 video streaming. Its HQUltraFast technology switches in typically a quarter of a second.
HQUltra Scaling — Low–latency, 4K UHD best–in–class, proprietary scaling algorithms.
HQUltraFast Switching — Proprietary technology for typical 0.25 second input channel switching.
H.264 1080p Streaming Video Input — Via network port.
Resolution Support. — Up to 4K@60Hz (4:2:0) UHD.
Genlock Input — For live events and professional broadcast installations.
Ease of Setup — Front panel jog–wheel and LCD display for fast easy set–up in the field.
Color Calibration — For all source types including RGB controls, saturation & hue.
Built–in Test Patterns — For easy projector setup.
Audio Handling — Audio de–embed from H.264 streaming, 3G HD–SDI, HDMI, DisplayPort, and HDBaseT inputs to analog and S/PDIF; re–embed to 3G HD–SDI, HDMI and HDBaseT outputs.
Analog Audio — Up to 8 unbalanced stereo inputs, two microphone inputs with phantom power and an audio mixer.
Speaker Outputs — Stereo audio power amplifier supporting 15W+15W RMS loudspeaker outputs, separate stereo balanced line level audio outputs for external amplifier systems.
Multiple Outputs — For local monitoring of live output feed.
Flexible Control Options — Front panel buttons and jog wheel with LCD, RS–232, Ethernet with built–in Web pages and via API.
USB Connectors — For firmware upgrading.


text:
Q: Firebase microsoft oauth: specify tenant id or not? This morning I setup Microsoft oauth for my app for the first time.  This is svelte code but I trust it will be readable by most people:
<script lang="ts">
    import { OAuthProvider } from "firebase/auth";
    import { getAuth,signInWithPopup } from "firebase/auth";
    import {firebaseApp} from "$lib/config";

    const provider = new OAuthProvider('microsoft.com');
    const auth = getAuth(firebaseApp)

    function clicked() {
        signInWithPopup(auth, provider).then(result => console.log({result})).catch(console.error)
    }
</script>

<button class="btn btn-primary" on:click={clicked}>Sign in with Microsoft</button>

When the signin popup comes up, and I enter my sign-in credentials that I use for Office 365 and Azure Portal, it says:
xxxxx.com isn't in our system. Make sure that you typed it correctly
When I specify my Azure AD tenant ID as follows:
    const provider = new OAuthProvider('microsoft.com');
    provider.setCustomParameters({
        tenant: 'xxxxxxxxx-b7f4-4fd7-a75c-55d8316005a1',
    });
    const auth = getAuth(firebaseApp)

I can log in fine.  I am making a SaaS product, so I want anyone to be able to login.
So my questions are:

*

*Does this mean only identities in my Azure AD can log in?

*Why does specifying the tenant id of common not work?


Fudge is one of my favorite treats of ALL TIME. Every year for Christmas it's the one thing that Dear Hubby makes for me alone. I don't have to share it with anyone. It's my favorite Christmas present.
Let me tell you that this one is a real winner! I have already packaged it up and it's ready for the Easter Bunny to bring to MY basket this year. It will probably be my new Easter tradition and favorite Easter treat.
Definitely go check it out and you can thank me later!


Soulskier continues to hype the 10,000 acres. How many acres are lift/gravity traverse/Alta-type ~5 minute hike accessible? How many acres will be avalanche controlled by patrol?
I like the website and I wish you success.
I would say very few will be patrolled and I'm keen to learn what the policy will be out there.
Read their website. 1,000 acres of in-bounds and the 10K acres number is "within a 2 hour hike". Looking at the pictures on the website (which now works for me obviously), I'd have to wild guess that maybe an additional 500 to 1,000 acres are available with a short (15 min or less) hike. Wild guess on my part though.
"within a 2 hour hike"
does not cut it for me as reasonable marketing. It's blatantly misleading IMHO. How many North American ski areas have more than 10,000 acres of ski terrain within a 2 hour hike from the lifts? A lot I would suspect.
Maybe a better question is how many ski areas have Heli-Skiing type terrain accessible directly from their lifts?
Oh, please get serious and quit bullshitting us. Using that criteria, all four Cottonwood Canyon resorts in UT....and without a two hour hike. That much of a hike would give you almost all of Wasatch Powder Birds permit area. A two hour hike is not lift accessible for any but the most deluded.
When you come visit, I'll break trail.
soulskier wrote: Maybe a better question is how many ski areas have Heli-Skiing type terrain accessible directly from their lifts?
In addition to MarcC's examples, Jackson, Bridger, Squaw/Alpine/Sugar Bowl, Crystal come to mind. Within 2 hours hike above the lifts, you can see some amazing terrain at Telluride. For that matter I'll bet icelantic can get to that level of terrain in the Presidential Range of NH within 2 hours.
I am on record here of wishing for Manitoba Mountain to succeed. But I really, really despise over-the-top marketing hype and wish soulskier would cut it out.
They're also hyping 3BL for a business that has never shown a penny of profit. Are all employees getting health insurance, dental, long term disability? Are all employees getting paid a living wage? Are the employees getting education benefits? Is the business truly green? Can I take public transportation to get there or do I have to spew emissions from my car to get there?
The top lift puts you on the doorstep of some of the rowdiest, big mountain skiing on the planet, not to mention a reliable snowpack. As discussed earlier, there is a segment of the ski population that are currently not having their needs met. Furthermore, the up and coming kids are going to need bigger mountains to play in, as the talent level is quicky increasing in today's youth. With the exception of Silverton, no other ski area is really filling this niche.
Terrain like directly outside Manitoba's backcountry gate normally requires a helicopter or a big approach, often in deep powder (not easy). Also, the uniqueness of the zone is that all the terrain filters back to the base or to the Seward highway.
The out of bounds experience would be something comparable to Chamonix or La Grave, where you may only ski a few descents per day, but they are like mini-expeditions. The mind set is totally different than banging out laps at a typical ski resort. It's not for everyone, and likely not for many readers of this forum, which is perfectly OK.
The other ski resorts mentioned simply are not in the same league, with respect to big, sustained steep terrain. To suggest that there is comparable terrain in the Presidential Range (or anywhere in the lower 48) is inaccurate. In fact, the terrain in Alaska, from an expert level/big mountain skier's stand point is in a league of it's own.
Please note, I am not trying to be elistist. I am trying to explain that what we are proposing at Manitoba Mountain, from out of bounds skiing standpoint, will be a game changer in North America.
Last edited by soulskier on Mon May 30, 2011 8:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
Can't remember if I already asked this, but I'm curious how much Soul Skier has been in touch with Aaron/Jen Brill -- what he's learned from Silverton and how he's applying it to Manitoba.
I have no clue how much of the spaghetti that's being thrown at SS in this forum will turn out to be true, but it's fascinating to see how people here seem to be taking this ski area as a personal affront, as if he'd insulted their mothers. Even if some of his statements here are proved to be delusional or unrealistic, I salute the fact that he's putting his money/time/effort where his mouth is instead of just complaining about the status quo over and over.
For example, my brother owns a high-end stereo store in Greenwich Village. Talk about bad timing, it opened five days before 9/11. The problem with this kind of bricks-and-mortar setup is pretty obvious -- people can use his store as a listening room, pump him for information, and then order the components on the internet/Craig's List for significantly less. I have no idea how he's stayed alive, especially if you note that most stereo stores have gone the way of the dodo bird, but the business is approaching its tenth anniversary and doing well. Everyone, including me, told him he was nuts, but he had a vision and created an unlikely niche.


text:
RE-ELECT ROBERTO MALDONADO FEBRUARY 26, 2019
Maldonado's Top Progressive Votes
Maldonado voted "NO" on the Mayor's $543 property tax increase.
Instead, he wants a transaction tax on La Salle Street financial exchanges. He also voted "No" on the Mayor's police oversight board. Maldonado supports an elected body to hold police accountable to serve and protect.
Maldonado has used his legislative seat to advance progressive issues in City Council. Here's a short list:
On Affordable Housing
Co-Sponsor of "Our Homes Chicago" - two ordinances to stimulate CHA housing and mandate 30% of new private apartments be rented at affordable rates.
Passed legislation to create new, affordable housing thru the 606 Bloomingdale Trail Neighborhood Area Neighborhood Improvement Program.
Passed legislation to preserve current affordable housing thru the Pilot Act for the Preservation of Affordable Housing in the 606 Residential Area.
Passed legislation establishing a Home Buyer Assistance Program for low- and moderate-income families.
Directing the City to reassess various properties for disparity between assessed value and fair market value.
On Fairness
Directing the City to increase warnings on "Red Light" cameras.
Passed legislation allowing residents to park their pick-up trucks or vans they use for their livelihood near their homes.
Passed legislation for regulating towing operators and establishing a Chicago Towing Bill of Rights.
Directing the City to issue a warning notice for first time offenders of winter parking ban instead of a ticket.
Directing the City to issue a ticket for verbal abuse because of citizenship or immigration status of a person.
On Gun Control
Directing the City's Family and Support Services to develop programs for minors and young adults suffering emotional stress from exposure to gun violence.
Directing the City to undertake a comprehensive gun violence prevention plan.
On Health and Safety
Calling for the creation of Public Mental Health Clinic Service Expansion to explore re-opening of mental health clinics.
Called for Governor Bruce Rauner to release funding to keep open Roseland Community Hospital.
Calling for a hearing on City compliance with federal Safe Water Drinking Act and Clean Water Act and protocols for lead testing and decontamination of water sources.
On Immigration
Directing the City to prohibit the award of City contracts for persons or entities who assist with enforcement of federal civil immigration law.
Calling for U.S. Congress to pass legislation providing visas to undocumented or Temporary Protected Status(TPS) recipient parents of U.S. citizen children or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) eligible children to allow them and their children to stay and work in U.S.
On Jobs, Opportunities, Working Conditions
Directing the City to allocate excess earnings on investments to violence prevention and intervention along with after school and job training programs.
Passed legislation to increase the minimum wage and mandate paid sick leave.
Passed legislation to create an Office of Labor Standards to enforce labor laws.
Passed legislation to prohibit city contractors that violate city labor laws from receiving city contracts.
Passed legislation to prohibit city contractors that don't have a written sexual harassment policy from receiving city contracts.
Passed legislation legalizing Food Cart Vendors.
On Proper Policing
Called for a public hearing concerning the Laquan McDonald case.
Called for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to publicly endorse reforms to police union collective bargaining agreements.
Voted for the Independent Citizen Police Monitor.
Voted against funding the new police academy.
Voted against Mayor Emanuel's Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA).
On Public Schools
Called for Illinois State Board of Education and Chicago Board of Education to jointly impose moratorium on charter school expansion.
Directing the City to establish a Grant to distribute TIF surpluses to schools.
Expressed support for establishing universal access to child care and early education programs for working parents.
Maldonado comments on his latest votes:
CITY COUNCIL PASSES MALDONADO'S RESOLUTION FOR CLOSURE OF MIGRANT CHILDREN'S TENT CITY
The City Council passed a resolution calling upon the Trump Administration to shut down a controversial immigrant detention center in Tornillo, Texas where more than 2,000 undocumented children have been held. It was introduced by Aldermen Edward M. Burke (14th) and Roberto Maldonado (26th).
The resolution calls for the federal government to release the detained children to the care of family members or sponsors. It further urges Chicago City Council members to denounce the Trump Administration's "zero tolerance" policy while demanding that the federal government "assure a safe, humane and expedited transition for the migrant children in keeping with the Flores settlement, a 1997 consent decree which guarantees certain protections for children and limits their detention to 20 days. The detention of children in Tornillo has increased up to 59 days.
"This tent city is cruel and unusual punishment. I'm proud that my fellow Aldermen were willing to take a stand," said Maldonado.
MALDONADO URGES CITY TO BLOCK PRES. TRUMP'S ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL
Alderman Edward M. Burke (14th), Roberto Maldonado (26th) and Ariel Reboyras (30th) today proposed legislation directing the Corporation Counsel's Office to explore its legal options in seeking to block President Donald Trump's appointment of Matthew Whitaker as Acting Attorney General.
Under an order proposed in Chicago, the Corporation Counsel would be directed to "explore the appropriate legal actions to pursue in seeking to enjoin the appointment of Matthew G. Whitaker as Acting Attorney General and seeking to declare that Deputy Attorney General Rod. J. Rosenstein be recognized in his capacity as Acting Attorney General.
The Department of Justice recently threatened to cut off grant funding for Chicago due to its policies on affording protections for the undocumented. Additionally, former Attorney General Jefferson Sessions also declared his intention to oppose the City's Consent Decree, a direct interference with police reform.
"This office simply has so much to do with the future of the City of Chicago that it would be unwise not to act in this matter," Alderman Maldonado concluded.
CITY COUNCIL PASSES MALDONADO'S RESOLUTION OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZING "PUERTO RICO TOWN"
The City Council today passed a resolution urging the establishment of "Puerto Rico Town" along Division Street, between Western and Grand Avenues. The resolution calls for creating a Special Purpose District that would constitute a "Cultural Sanctuary" involving the community in the prioritization and allocation of investments in existing and new businesses, art and culture that both preserves the community's unique identity and creates jobs and a strong economy. Special Purpose Districts are established through the Illinois State Legislature.
Alderman Maldonado, the author of the resolution, said, "Paseo Boricua has become the economic, political, and cultural Puerto Rican capital of the Midwest. For years, it's been the only officially recognized Puerto Rican neighborhood in the country. Millions of dollars are spent at three annual major festivalsSo it's high time we recognize our unique identity as a cultural and economic driver called Puerto Rico Town."
Paseo Boricua neighborhood is home to several esteemed cultural centers including the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, the only Puerto Rican Museum in the country. The AfroCaribe Cultural Center showcases Afro-Caribbean music and Puerto Rican traditions. It will soon house the Nancy Y. Franco-Maldonado Paseo Boricua Art's Building providing housing, business opportunities, and commercial spaces for community artists to live and work as well as the Urban Theater Company, the only Puerto Rican founded theater company in Chicago featuring award-winning productions. Paseo Boricua now features one of the largest collections of public art in the country including murals, the Paseo Boricua Walk of Fame, light poles depicting Puerto Rican iconic images, and the recently installed Las Puertas de Paseo Boricua, a collection of 16 unique doors painted by artists reminiscent of the vibrant doors found in Old San Juan. Division Street has long been featured by authors Stud Terkel, Saul Bellow and Nelson Algren and, more recently, Puerto Rican writers like Salima Rivera, David Hernandez, Johanny Vasquez, and David Delgado.
In 1995, the City installed the world's largest piece of public art on Division Street, depicting rippling steel Puerto Rican flags as the welcoming gateways to Paseo Boricua. "Now, to Puerto Rican evacuees seeking shelter after Hurricane Maria, the 50 ton steel flags symbolize Chicago's welcoming home-away from home. The sights, sounds and smells of Paseo Boricua truly provide that momentary passage back to Puerto Rico," explained Maldonado. "With the Special Purpose District, tourists and Chicagoans alike can take this passage to Puerto Rico just by boarding the #22 Division Bus to Puerto Rico Town."
MALDONADO VOTED 'YES' ON NEW OFFICE OF LABOR STANDARDS
The City Council today passed legislation to establish a Chicago Office of Labor Standards, the first of its kind in Chicago's history. The new agency would enforce city labor laws aimed at lifting low wage workers out of poverty and allowing sick workers to stay home.
Alderman Maldonado, a co-sponsor of the enforcement agency legislation, said, "When Aldermen passed these labor laws, we meant what we said. Now, we have the muscle to force unethical businessmen to do right by their workers and do right by the rest of the business community."
The Office of Labor Standards will be part of the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.
"This is a very important win for the 26th Ward which has historically been home to low and modest income families. When workers in my ward receive their full paycheck, they will spend more at our local businesses. They can continue to rent or own in the ward, keeping the neighborhood stable," explained Maldonado.
MALDONADO INTRODUCES HOUSING + ORDINANCE TO INCREASE AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE HOUSING ACROSS THE CITY
26th Ward Alderman Roberto Maldonado today introduced legislation to increase the stock of affordable housing for seniors, people with mobility impairments, and U.S. Military Veterans in buildings more than 50 years old.
The Ordinance amends the Municipal code so that property owners of older multi-family buildings and mixed-use buildings can convert their unused garden level space into affordable, accessible units. It would allow residential property owners to add up to 5 garden level apartments that are accessible or fully ADA-complaint without first requiring a zoning change and Zoning Board approval to verify compliance with parking and loading standards.
The Housing+ Ordinance was referred to the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards. Alderman Maldonado is the lead sponsor on this legislation. It has 17 co-sponsors, including the Chair of the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards, Ald. Danny Solis.
The other co-sponsoring Aldermen are: Gilbert Villegas, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, Branden Reilly, Milagros Santiago, James Cappleman, Joe Moore, John Arena, Emma Mitts, George Cardenas, Ariel Reboyras, Walter Burnett, Joe Moreno, Ameya Pawar, Tom Tunney, Susan Sadlowski-Garza and Roderick Sawyer.
MALDONADO CREATED NEW PARKING PERMIT FOR SMALL COMMERCIAL TRUCKS
26th Ward Alderman Roberto Maldonado won the support of the full City Council for a parking ordinance creating a parking permit for small commercial trucks and vans owned by city residents. The ordinance allows owners of commercial trucks and vans to park within a 2 block radius of their home.
"The impetus of this ordinance came from several constituents in my ward who have been ticketed for illegally parking their pick-up trucks or vans on the block where they live. They use these vehicles both for business and personal purposes. I believe it is unfair to penalize our City residents for parking a vehicle they use for their livelihood and their family on the block where they live," Maldonado said.
"City residents must be able to work and live with more fairness and independence from City oversight," said Maldonado.
CITY COUNCIL PASSES MALDONADO'S RESOLUTION URGING LEGALIZATION OF DACA & PARENTS
The City Council passed a resolution authored by 26th Ward Alderman Maldonado today, urging the future 2019 Congress to immediately pass legislation to allow parents of U.S. citizen or DACA eligible children to stay and work in the U.S. legally. The resolution calls on Congress to put into law former President Obama's executive orders allowing undocumented parents of U.S. citizen or DACA eligible children to be eligible for three-year renewable visas that allow them to live and work and care for their children legally in this country.
Maldonado explained, "I have great hope that the entire Chicago City Council will begin the movement to send a message to the candidates running for election to Congress in November that the time has come to work together and pass legislation that will stop the inhumanity of family separation."
Maldonado urged, "anyone who is listening today joins the movement at #StopTheSeparations and commit our future Congress to do the right thing and pass humane laws."
MALDONADO VOTED "NO" ON FUNDING A NEW POLICE ACADEMY
This Wednesday, I voted NO on the $95 million appropriations for the new police academy (Item #2 on the Budget Committee report). I voted NO before the move to Defer and Publish was entered into the record and the meeting was adjourned.
To my knowledge, my office has received zero calls or emails in support of the new cop academy but instead several against it. My vote on record reflects not only my sentiments but that of my constituents. In the face of today's meeting, my position remains unchanged. It is still "NO".
The City needs to get its funding priorities in order.It should never be about the buildings, but the people. Instead of constructing a brand new building, the City of Chicago should make massive investments in our schools, mental health, violence prevention and job training programs on the west and south sides. There are several anti-violence and prevention organizations that are in need of funds to help steer our youth away from gangs and violence and into jobs and colleges.
CITY COUNCIL PASSES MALDONADO'S SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICE FOR CITY CONTRACTORS
Chicago City Council passed the Comprehensive Sexual Harassment Policy for City Contractors Ordinance today. Introduced by Alderman Roberto Maldonado earlier in March, it requires city contractors receiving taxpayer money to have a comprehensive sexual harassment policy to prevent harassment in their workplace. "Companies that do not care enough to develop and enforce sexual harassment policies have no place sharing in City business," Alderman Maldonado said.
MALDONADO SUPPORTS STUDENT PROTEST; URGES STATE SENATE TO PASS GUN CONTROL MEASURE
"I couldn't be prouder of my two sons today--one in high school, the other in elementary--as they joined their fellow students across the country to ban assault weapons," said 26th Ward Alderman Roberto Maldonado. "These student protests represent a renewed momentum in the critical fight to stop gun violence." Last week Maldonado joined 49 other Alderman and Mayor Emanuel by signing a letter which urged Gov. Bruce Rauner to sign legislation requiring gun dealers in Illinois to obtain state licenses. Governor Rauner vetoed the Gun Dealer Licensing Act (SB1657) yesterday. Maldonado said, "Injuries from gun violence are the leading cause of death for children in Illinois. The Illinois State Senate should override the veto and protect our children. This legislation will reduce a major source of illegally trafficked guns from entering our communities, our cities and our state."
MALDONADO PROPOSES LEGISLATION FURTHER STRENGTHENING SEXUAL HARASSMENT PROTECTIONS
FEB 28, 2018
Alderman Roberto Maldonado today introduced legislation requiring all companies seeking city business to have a comprehensive sexual harassment policy. The ordinance was introduced in the Workforce Development Committee where Maldonado is Vice-Chair. "Companies that do not care enough to develop and enforce sexual harassment policies have no place sharing in City business," Alderman Maldonado said.
POLICE UNION CONTRACT MUST END "CODE OF SILENCE"
JUL 28, 2017
Since 2004, the City of Chicago has paid out a staggering sum of $625 million to victims of real and alleged police misconduct. Think about that for a moment. Remember the outrage over the $540 million property tax increase that I voted against? Well, these settlements are $85 million more than that coming out of the pockets of renters and owners alike. If we had common sense reforms in place twenty years ago, much of that $625 million in lawsuits and settlements could have been averted. Simply put, Chicago taxpayers cannot afford to ignore the way we police our citizenry. Therefore, I have proposed three common sense reforms to restore citizens' trust in our police.
OUR DISABILITY TASKFORCE WILL INCREASE EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION
Jointly created by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Alderman Roberto Maldonado, the Task Force on Employment and Economic Opportunity for People with Disabilities launched today to advise the city on relevant policies and programs to increase employment and other opportunities to benefit residents with disabilities. "There is no question that the only way to succeed in today's economy is with a strong education and well-paying job," said Alderman Maldonado. "This Task Force will address the employment gap for persons with disabilities head on, with a goal of opening new doors of opportunity that will lead to economic advancement for everyone in our city."
I'M PRESSING CPD TO FILL POLICE SHORTAGES IN 12TH AND 14TH DISTRICTS
In response to an uptick in crime, Alderman Roberto Maldonado has requested a meeting with First Deputy Superintendent Kevin Navarro to urge him to assign more police officers to the 12th and 14th Police Districts. Independent sources report the current combined shortage exceeds 50 police officers in these two districts. Maldonado explained, " Police Commanders' Kulbida (12th) and Saldana (14th) need these men and women to restore peace and quite to the 26th Ward. Despite newly added officers, these districts still suffer shortages. I want to be proactive and prevent crimes instead of reacting to them."
KEEPING THE 26TH WARD AFFORDABLE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS, NEXT GENERATION
"Can you guess how many Chicago households can buy a million dollar home? If you guessed less than 5%--you're right! But the 26th Ward's history is all about the 95%. And I want to keep it this way," said Maldonado. "I introduced an ordinance, the 606 Affordable Housing Preservation to prevent tear downs that replace affordable homes and apartments with luxury new-builds."
Property prices in the 606 Residential Area west of Western Avenue have increased by 48.2 percent since ground was broken on the 606 Trail.
If a developer does a "teardown" to build luxury housing, a minimum fee of $300,000 would be charged under this ordinance. The money would be deposited into an affordable housing trust managed by a board of trustees made up of local aldermen, leaders from local groups including Logan Square Neighborhood Association and Latin United Community Housing Association (LUCHA) and commissioners of the city's Departments of Buildings and Planning and Development.
The City Council recently passed an ordinance he championed. It creates a 606 Bloomingdale Trail Neighborhood Home Improvement Program providing grants to modest income homeowners to maintain their exterior. "Unscrupulous developers surveil neighborhoods targeting homes in need of exterior repairs. Then they pressure the owner to accept a low-ball offer," explained Maldonado. "These residents have been part of making the ward a better place to live. They have earned the right to enjoy the fruits of their labor instead of being forced out."
I VOTED "YES" ON THE IMMIGRANT LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
As the main sponsor of the first County Sanctuary Ordinance in the nation--which I championed in 2007 when I served as a Cook County Commissioner--I am proud to join the Mayor in establishing this fund to, once again, protect our undocumented residents from threats of deportation.
The County Sanctuary Ordinance – known as "The Fair and Equal County for Immigrants" ordinance– was passed in 2007 and provided access to all County services to every resident of Cook County regardless of their immigration status. It also prohibited the Cook County Sheriff's Office from assisting in the investigation of citizenship or immigration status. A year later, the City of Chicago passed a "Welcoming City" ordinance. Both of these ordinances were passed during a time of deep national divide over immigrant rights, and, yet these local laws represented the need to treat our immigrant population with dignity and respect and to bring them out of the shadows.
Now, here we are, 15 years later, facing the same issue in an atmosphere of fear and anxiety created by President-elect Trump. I am proud to unite with the Mayor and the Chicago City Council to provide this legal defense fund for our undocumented immigrants to access legal information, screening, and consultations. Cook County and Chicago have created legislation at the local level that the federal government has never been able to achieve and we must continue to treat our undocumented residents fairly and equally for the greater health of our communities and our nation.
MY ORDINANCE FOR SNOW PARKING WILL STOP CAR TOWING FOR 1ST VIOLATION
As the City of Chicago's Winter Parking Ban takes effect, Alderman Roberto Maldonado will be urging his fellow Aldermen in the Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety to pass a proposed ordinance so that motorists will first receive a warning citation before getting towed. This is now the second year in a row the Alderman has proposed revising the winter parking ban. Maldonado explained, "I'm calling for a warning notice for first time violators of the overnight parking ban. The City should be cutting drivers a bit of slack."
HONORING TEAMWORK WITH JAVIER BAEZ STREET SIGN & RESOLUTION
Did you know that Chicago's Puerto Rican community has kept alive the American pastime of neighborhood baseball leagues in Humboldt Park? The formation of this league 48 years ago was the catalyst that revived Humboldt Park after years of neglect. It is for these avid players that I introduced an ordinance to name a street near "Little Cubs Field," the Wrigley Field replica in Humboldt Park, in honor of Javier 'Javy' Baez. It's also why I set aside funds to build a batting cage in the park.
I VOTED "NO" ON THE MAYOR'S CIVILIAN OFFICE OF POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY (COPA)
Recently, I was one of a handful of Aldermen who voted "No" on the Mayor's recently proposed new police oversight watchdog group, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA). My biggest problem with the proposal is that COPA and the proposed new Inspector General position would still be under the thumb of Mayor Emanuel and future Mayors. COPA would not have a guaranteed, sustainable budget, ensuring future budgets to be at the whim of politics. Also, COPA as proposed would not have subpoena power, and would have to rely on the Mayor's City Law Department for those investigatory powers, a clear and unarguable conflict of interest. Since 2004, the City of Chicago has paid out a staggering sum of $625 million to victims of real and alleged police misconduct. Think about that for a moment. Remember the outrage over the $543 million property tax increase that I voted against? Well, these settlements are $85 million more than that coming out of the pockets of renters and owners alike.
I URGE SWIFT PASSAGE OF THE TIF ORDINANCE FOR CPS
If a teachers' strike occurs, I will stand in solidarity with the teachers walking the picket line. As a single parent with 3 children attending public schools, I stand with our union teachers and their valuable support staff of assistants, librarians, counselors and school nurses. TIF surplus taxes must be sent to our schools. As Alderman, it is my duty to ensure that we have high-quality public schools. That's why I've co-sponsored an ordinance to send TIF surplus money to our schools. I pledge to push for speedy passage. According to Cook County Clerk David Orr, Chicago TIFs will produce a surplus of $461 million this fiscal year. Most of this surplus money is currently being banked in downtown TIFs. Despite decades of fiscal mismanagement, some political leaders seek to blame the teachers for the school budget deficit. That must stop. Soaking the working-class homeowner, shortchanging our teachers, and building more charter schools must stop too.
HOW I VOTED ON THE WATER TAX
In order to shore up an important and constitutionally mandated pension fund, I made a tough vote in the Finance Committee of the City Council to approve a small (initially approximately 15 cents/day) increase in the water bills of Chicago residents. Some senior citizens with lower incomes will be exempted. While I voted to allow the proposal to move forward to the floor of the City Council, I placed several important conditions upon my further support because I voted "No" on the Mayor's recent property tax increase.
IMPROVEMENTS TO THE MOBILE CARTS ORDINANCE
I'm proposing reforms so we can grow Chicago's food cart industry. I introduced a city ordinance in September to reduce license fees for mobile food vendors, or food carts. Chicago's food cart license fees are out of line compared to other large cities in the nation. New York, Boston, Phoenix and Denver all have food cart license fees under $100 annually, compared to Chicago's $350. We have the opportunity to create jobs and generate highly-needed revenue for the City of Chicago. The first step is breaking down financial barriers by reducing licensing fees. We should be encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit, not limiting it.
I VOTED "NO" ON THE MAYOR'S $543M PROPERTY TAX INCREASE
As you may know, I voted "No" on the Mayor's $543 property tax increase. As the Chicago Tribune accurately reported before my vote was cast, I was "adamantly opposed to such a large property tax increase." The City of Chicago simply cannot continue to reach further into the pockets of working Chicagoans to finance decades of economic irresponsibility and mistakes. Alternatively, I proposed several revenue ideas consistent to restoring economic and social justice to keep our streets safe, educate our children well and make city services the best they can be. These proposals include:a tiny transaction tax on every financial transaction that occurs at the financial exchanges on LaSalle Street and a new property tax surcharge on every commercial building in our city with an assessment of more than $500 million.
I VOTED "YES" TO STOP BUILDING MORE NEW CHARTER SCHOOLS
It has been my long-standing position that unless Charter Schools have a proven track record of producing higher quality results, I do not support replacing our public schools or expanding in the city. This is why there are no charter schools in the 26th Ward. And this is why I am a co-sponsor of a City Council resolution that demands a halt to charter expansions this school year. Simply put, it is not sound fiscal policy to fund the creation of more charter schools during a fiscal crisis with a $500M deficit. This has resulted in more than 1,000 layoffs in CPS schools in the last 3 months, with special education and bilingual education affected the most.


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Graad 1 | Grade 1
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Home / The Future / A treatment for COVID-19 was right under our noses
A treatment for COVID-19 was right under our noses…
Coronavirus cure found - Dexamethasone
There has been a surprising development in therapies for COVID-19.
Research results just demonstrated that a common steroid is effective at treating patients who are hospitalised with COVID-19.
The steroid is called dexamethasone, and it has been shown to reduce the death rate by 35% for those on ventilators and 20% for those on oxygen.
Get this – dexamethasone was approved 59 years ago to treat rheumatoid arthritis and asthma. It's in mass production and widely available right now. And that means it's also cheap.
So after scrambling for the last four months in search of a COVID-19 treatment, it turns out we had one under our noses this entire time. How's that for ironic?
And this is the first study to demonstrate efficacy for the most severe cases of COVID-19.
The caveat, though, is that the research hasn't been published yet, so it hasn't been peer-reviewed. We'll want to watch for that to be sure.
Still, the medical community has had very positive things to say about this study. In fact, I was on a call with Dr. Ashish Jha from the Harvard Global Health Institute this week, and he made some upbeat comments about dexamethasone.
Dr. Jha was excited about the fact that the drug is widely available, cheap, and simple to administer. That makes it easy to treat the most severe COVID-19 patients anywhere in the world.
Others in the medical community have echoed this sentiment. Even former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the dexamethasone study was encouraging.
And as a bonus, this will prompt researchers to conduct studies that combine dexamethasone with other therapies that are currently in trials. There may be combination therapies that produce even better results.
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Jimmy Butler's arrival makes this the best roster in Timberwolves history
The last time the Wolves added a quality guard to a team that looked ready to win, Sam Cassell took them to the Western Conference finals. And Butler is a better player than Cassell ever was.
October 18, 2017 — 1:17pm
Video (03:10) : The Timberwolves went back to work Tuesday in Minneapolis after an 18-day preseason trip to San Diego and China with their regular-season opener just eight days away.
JIM SOUHAN @Souhanstrib
New players often are described as pieces of a puzzle. That isn't quite right. Puzzles are two-dimensional and static. In sports, adding a key player is more like trying to inject a sprinting racehorse with adrenaline while rounding the backstretch, a delicate, maybe even dangerous procedure.
Minnesotans know this. Herschel Walker was supposed to become the last piece of a simplistic puzzle. He got everyone fired. The Kevin Garnett trade was supposed to rebuild the Wolves. Instead it cratered a struggling franchise for an extra decade.
The Johan Santana trade yielded too little, and many of the best Minnesota trades of the past few decades landed then-underappreciated talents — Joe Nathan, Shannon Stewart, Devan Dubnyk — but not established stars.
The Timberwolves begin their most promising season in more than a dozen years Wednesday night in San Antonio against one of the gold standards of sports intelligence, and they will be the team in the building that has made the last, best move.
Listen: Revamped team, remodeled arena -- your Wolves season preview
Intro: What are the expectations for the Timberwolves both Wednesday in their opener at San Antonio and for the full 82 games. Will they go over or under the Las Vegas mark of 46.5 wins? 16:00: Evaluating the NBA as a whole. 25:00: Target Center looks nice, especially if you have money.
Their trade for Jimmy Butler gives the Wolves the best roster in franchise history and could well prove to be the best trade by a Minnesota team since the Vikings landed Jared Allen. And Allen, unlike Butler, couldn't play two ways or lead an offense.
It's hard to imagine a more ideal, realistic addition to the Wolves' roster. Butler is the rare bespoke addition. The franchise desperately needed mature talent, leadership, a Tom Thibodeau translator, defense, mental toughness, clutch shooting and charisma, and they got it all in Butler, a star in his prime who seemed unbowed by the Wolves' embarrassing history or the prospect of Minnesota winters.
"He's been terrific,'' Thibodeau said. "Not only in the games but in practice every day, both ends of the floor, that's what makes him so good. And he's a big-shot maker. I don't know how many clutch shots he's made in scrimmages.
"But it's more his all-around play. I think he understands how important it is to play defense. He's leading in that way, and he's making our young guys understand how important that is as well.''
Thibodeau probably would speak highly of Butler even if that wasn't the case, because Thibodeau's reputation is tied to Butler's success. Thibodeau inherited the most talented young team in the league and decided to trade the spectacular Zach LaVine to avoid using the term "learning process'' 8,000 times this season.
Thibodeau needs Butler. Luckily for him, there is no reason to doubt anything nice he says about his new leader. "I'm not sure it's measurable, to be honest with you,'' said swingman Jamal Crawford, asked about Butler's influence. "He does so much offensively, defensively and in the locker room, being the bridge as far as players who haven't played with Thibs before.
"He knows exactly the terminology and what Thibs wants. It makes our jobs a lot easier.
"It's an unbelievable culture.''
Timberwolves 2017-18 roster
Cohesiveness is the most underrated aspect of the NBA. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh didn't win a title their first year together in Miami. The Wolves' defense likely wasn't transformed by one offseason, and the offense will have to figure out how to share big shots between Butler, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns.
It would be rash to suggest that this team immediately will overtake the 2003-04 Wolves as the best in franchise history. That team won 58 games behind Kevin Garnett at his best, with Cassell taking the big shots and Latrell Sprewell playing admirable defense.
A reasonable goal for Butler's first year with the Wolves would be to approach 50 victories, make the playoffs and look formidable in the postseason.
"A success for me?'' Butler said. "I want to win a championship."
Jim Souhan is a sports columnist for the Star Tribune. He has worked at the paper since 1990, previously covering the Twins and Vikings.
jsouhan@startribune.com 612-673-4503 @Souhanstrib
More From Jim Souhan
Souhan: Reeve committed to grooming other women to be WNBA head coaches
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve is thrilled with the WNBA's new CBA, which will raise the pay of players. She believes this could be a tipping point for women's sports and rights.
Souhan: Sano's contract is big — to match his personality
After signing a three-year, $30 million extension with the Twins, Miguel Sano wants to boost his statistics as well.
Souhan: Twins pull off the improbable, improve a record-breaking lineup
A Twins team that set the MLB mark for homers in 2019 added more firepower in Josh Donaldson.
Souhan: Zimmer has something to prove with defense next season
For all of his regular-season accomplishments, coach Mike Zimmer will enter 2020 needing to prove that he can win with a new defense.
Souhan: Cousins the playmaker? That QB left behind in New Orleans
The Vikings are a pretty good team. Kirk Cousins is a pretty good quarterback. That combination isn't likely to bring a Super Bowl title to Minnesota.
Final, 1/18 1 2 3 4 F
Toronto 28-14 32 26 31 33 122
Minnesota 15-27 39 23 22 28 112
Wolves Schedule & Results
Poll: How many games will the Timberwolves win this season?
Meet the Wolves newcomers: Butler, Gibson, Teague and Crawford
Is this finally the year for the Wolves to dazzle?
Five questions, five answers about the Timberwolves in 2017-18
Wiggins' first triple-double not enough for Wolves vs. Toronto • Wolves
NBA says it blew call on Towns' 3-point shot at Indiana • Wolves
Towns on reports of unhappiness: 'I'm here to be a Minnesota Timberwolf' • Wolves
Wolves deal Teague, Graham to Hawks; more moves to come? • Wolves
Towns returns to lineup; Crabbe won't debut tonight vs. Pacers • Wolves


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UF/IFAS Faculty Lead Contest That Connects Insects, Art
1-Feb-2017 8:05 AM EST
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
Credit: courtesy, Andrea Lucky, UF/IFAS
"[The contest] shows the connection of science to art," said Andrea Lucky, a UF/IFAS assistant research scientist in entomology, seen here in the photo. Lucky hopes that the program offers art students an opportunity to engage with insects, and that it gives science and technology students a chance to unleash their creativity.
Arts and Entertainment, Local - Florida
Video available at: http://bit.ly/2jveL0r
Newswise — GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Insects and art intersect in a unique campus-wide sculpture and animation contest organized by University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences entomologists.
In a project called "Insects Alive," Andrea Lucky and Lisa Taylor hope to use science and technology to inspire creativity in students across UF.
An interdisciplinary team of undergraduate students from across UF is helping to lead the contest. The team generates 3-D files -- based on real ants and spiders -- that are produced using a nano-CT scanner at the UF Nanoscale Research Facility. The 3-D images are available to all contest participants to use as the basis for art.For the contest, UF students in any discipline use the 3-D files of the insects and spiders to create three-dimensional sculpture and animation.
"It shows the connection of science to art," said Lucky, a UF/IFAS assistant research scientist in entomology. Lucky hopes that the program offers art students an opportunity to engage with insects, and that it gives science and technology students a chance to unleash their creativity.
"It challenges students to bring together art, science and technology," she said. "There's so much science in art and so much art in science, but most people don't have the opportunity to work in both realms. We are thrilled to provide a venue that showcases the multidisciplinary talents of UF students."
Students must submit their art by March 15, at which time a panel of judges from across campus will review the entries and give cash prizes. Also, contest submissions will be featured in a public art exhibit.
Then Lucky hopes the public can see the insect art.
"We'd like to see some of these submissions turn into large-scale, permanent exhibits on campus," she said. "We hope to get support to do that." For more information, go to http://insectsalive.com.
By: Brad Buck, 352-294-3303, bradbuck@ufl.eduSources: Andrea Lucky, 352-273-3952, alucky@ufl.edu Lisa Taylor, 480-620-6053, lisa.taylor@ufl.edu
The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS works to bring science-based solutions to the state's agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents. Visit the UF/IFAS web site at ifas.ufl.edu and follow us on social media at @UF_IFAS.


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Common rock pear (Amelanchier rotundifolia)
Select age and size here 1 + 1 (transplanted at 2 years of age) Size: 50 - 80 cm
1 + 1 (transplanted at 2 years of age) Size: 50 - 80 cm
The common rock pear is also called common rock pear, rock loquat and edelweiss shrub. It bears the botanical species name Amelanchier rotundifolia. She belongs to the Rosids. Amelanchier Ovalis has a shrub-like habit and accordingly reaches heights of 1-3 meters. The bark is brown-gray in color. The fruits show a slight toxicity. The fruits that ripen in August are convincing with their pleasant taste. However, digestive problems are to be expected when consuming larger amounts. With moderate consumption, however, health concerns are completely unfounded.
Pollination and foliage
Amelanchier rotundifolia is monoecious and is pollinated by insects. The 1-1.5 cm long leaves have a simple leaf structure and an alternating leaf arrangement. They are dull green and have an extremely intense and yellow-red discoloration in autumn. The flowers that appear before the leaves shoot have an extremely strong smell. They consist of relatively wide-spread petals. These can come up with a length of 2 centimeters and 15 millimeter long petioles.
Soil condition
The rock pear is happy about calcareous soil. Calcareous rock in particular plays a relevant role here. South-facing locations are also extremely beneficial for good growth. Amelanchier rotundifolia is also a shallow root. Amelanchier rotundifolia is particularly easy to plant in sparse pine and oak forests and thus represents a not inconsiderable ecological added value in terms of biodiversity in such forest ecosystems. It can therefore be defined as a pioneer species.
Belgium and Central Germany are the most northerly areas of the edelweiss bush. This plant has its home in the mountains of Central Europe, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe. The common rock pear can also be found in the Middle East and North Africa. In the alpine region, Amelanchier rotundifolia can even be found at heights of up to 2000 meters.
The fruits of the rock pear can be used directly for a tasty pear cake and for a delicious jam. The edelweiss bush is also well advised as a bee-friendly insect nutrient plant.
Naveena Fiedler
Gemeine Felsenbirne (Amelanchier rotundifolia)