text:
Produce 'two prominent and reliable persons' as sureties – Kaduna court tells El-Zakzaky
Akintola Oluwatosin #TLTOluwatosin
The Kaduna State Government has ordered leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky; and his wife, Zeenat, to produce "two prominent and reliable persons" as sureties, being one of the conditions the couple must fulfill before they would be allowed to leave the state for overseas treatment.
"One of the sureties must be a first class chief or emir of national repute and the other a prominent person within Kaduna State, who shall undertake to produce the defendants whenever they are needed," the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the government as saying.
The Kaduna Government also said it respects the court's ruling granting permission to the couple to travel to India for treatment.
Commissioner, Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, disclosed this in a statement in Kaduna on Wednesday, NAN said.
Quoting the statement, NAN wrote: "An appeal will be lodged on the matter, but a stay of execution will not be sought as the state government believes that a person may choose to travel abroad for any medical condition at his own cost."
He said the government respects the right of anyone to seek treatment anywhere in the world, "even for malaria or common cold, so long as they are paying for it.
"But in the case of persons facing trial for serious offences, necessary safeguards are required to ensure that such persons do not become fugitives from justice or frustrate trial by claiming asylum or the status of political prisoner in the host country."
According to him, in compliance with the court ruling, the state government has filed at the Kaduna High Court, terms for strict supervision of the medical leave granted El-Zakzaky.
Under the terms, the state government wants the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to confirm the appointments of the applicants with the Medanta Hospital, India.
It also asked the ministry to undertake all necessary diplomatic arrangements and protocols to ensure compliance with the conditions of the medical leave.
The statement also said each of the applicants should be made to make an undertaking to return to Nigeria to continue their trial as soon as they are discharged from the hospital.
The government also wants El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, to be responsible for the cost of their travel, treatment and living expenses while on their medical leave.
"Each of the defendants/applicants shall produce two prominent and reliable persons as sureties, one being a first class chief or emir of national repute and the other a prominent person within Kaduna State, who shall undertake to produce the defendants whenever they are needed.
"The sureties must also produce evidence of landed property within Kaduna State.
"The Federal Government of Nigeria shall obtain from the Government of India an irrevocable guarantee that it will not entertain any application by the defendants/applicants.
"Or any third party seeking asylum under any guise or conferring the status of political prisoners or any other status aside from being medical patients on the defendants/applicants and shall also restrain the defendants/applicants from any act inimical to the corporate existence of Nigeria."
News Agency of Nigeria recalls that a Kaduna High Court, on Aug. 5, granted El-Zakzaky and his wife, leave to travel out of Nigeria for urgent medical treatment at Medanta Hospital, India
Related Topics:KadunaLEGALLocal NewsSheikh El-Zakzaky
Court grants former INEC chair, N1bn bail
Ondo Politics: Court sacks Honourable for having dual citizenship
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Ganduje proposes death penalty for kidnappers
Kano State is set to introduce the death penalty for kidnapping in its penal code as child abductions and trafficking worsen. Governor Abdullahi Ganduje on Thursday directed the state Ministry of Justice to immediately amend the Penal Code to add capital punishment for kidnappers.
Ganduje spoke while inaugurating a 16-man Commission of Inquiry on nine children kidnapped in Kano and sold in Onitsha, Anambra State.
The panel is headed by retired Justice Umar Wada Rano. Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) chairman Rev. Adeolu Samuel Adeyemo, who wept at the inauguration, is a member.
The commission is to submit its report in 30 days.
Ganduje offered graduate scholarship and N1 million each to the victims' parents.
He condemned the act, describing it as wicked.
The governor said what the kidnappers and human traffickers did was against the tenets of Islam and Christianity.
The committee's terms of references read: "To conduct an enquiry into cases of missing persons in Kano State from the year 2010 to date and to procure all such evidence, written or oral, and to examine all such persons as witnesses as the commissioners may think it necessary or desirable to procure or examine.
"To summon any person in Nigeria to attend any meeting of the commission to give evidence or produce any documents and to require the evidence (whether written or oral) of any witness to be made on oath or declaration.
"To admit or exclude the public or any member of the public or press from any hearing of the commission, to prepare comprehensive data of missing persons in Kano State within the period and circumstances in which they disappeared.
"To find out both immediate and remote causes of cases of missing persons and to prepare and submit a written report, including findings and recommendations to the Government of Kano State."
The Commission is also expected to hear from the victims or their relatives, collect written or oral evidence and visits sites (as the case may be) where the victims may have been taken to.
It is to come up with recommendations on how to eradicate "such wicked act".
The Governor urged the Council of Ulamas ("the learned ones") to facilitate the rescued children's re-orientation, saying they were robbed of their childhood.
The Solicitor-General Amina Yusuf Yar Gaya administered the oath on the committee's members.
Rev. Adeyemo, broke down in tears while speaking after their inauguration.
He condemned the act of child kidnapping and disassociated CAN from such dastardly act.
He said: "As I sit here today, I see the gravity of the sin committed by the perpetrators of this crime. I have seen the harm done to the parents because I am a parent.
"I was touched, very touched when we learnt about the rescue of these kidnapped children. It broke my heart and my heart is still broken. This is a crime against humanity which is condemned by God.
"In the Bible, it is not permitted to separate a child from the mother until the age of 13. This is an evil punishable in the sight of God. Those people who committed this crime are not Christians and do not represent the tenets of Christianity.
"Kano is a mini-Nigeria and we want to thank Governor Ganduje for making Kano a home for all. Nobody kidnaps for Christ. CAN condemns this act and Christians all over the world condemn it."
Igwe Ibekwe said the issue was worrisome and condemnable.
He said: "Whatever is bad is bad. This is not only a taboo; it is a criminal matter that must be tackled. The Igbo community in Kano has not experienced this kind of thing.
Court orders Lagos Assembly to leave Ambode alone
An Ikeja High Court on Wednesday ordered the Lagos State House of Assembly to maintain status quo in the ongoing investigation of former Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode.
This is just as Ambode's lawyer, who had appeared at the Assembly complex for the sitting of the joint committee of the House probing expenditures of the ex-governor, was not allowed into the venue of the sitting of the committee.
The joint committee has, however, adjoined its probe of Ambode indefinitely in deference to the court's ruling that status-quo should be maintained.
Justice Yetunde Adesanya gave the order while ruling on an ex parte motion filed by Ambode through his counsel, Tayo Oyetibo, SAN.
The court had on Tuesday ordered Oyetibo to put the respondents on notice before hearing all applications.
This is contrary to earlier reports that the court ordered respondents to appear in court yesterday.
When Oyetibo applied to move the ex parte motion dated October 28 on Tuesday, Justice Adesanya declined.
She said she would rather hear the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction on their merits, directing service of the originating processes, accompanying processes and all pending applications on the 1st to the 12th defendants.
The respondents are the Lagos State House of Assembly, Speaker Mudashiru Obasa; House Clerk, Mr. A.A Sanni; Chairman of the Ad hoc Committee set up by the House to probe the procurement, Fatai Mojeed and members of the Committee. They are: Gbolahan Yishawu, A.A Yusuff, Yinka Ogundimu, Mojisola Lasbat Meranda, M.L Makinde, Kehinde Joseph, T.A Adewale and O.S Afinni.
During resumed proceedings for interlocutory injunction filed by the former governor dated October 28, 2019, before the court yesterday, his counsel, Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) confirmed service on the respondents as earlier directed by the court.
$9.6b judgment: CCB gets petition against ex-CJN Belgore
Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has received a petition on former Chief of Justice of Nigeria Alfa Belgore. Belgore was accused of testifying against the country in favour of Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID), which secured a $9.6b arbitral award against Nigeria.
The petition was filed by Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), whose Chairman, Comrade Suraj Olanrewaju, was invited by the CCB to adopt the petition on oath.
The CCB demanded evidence of any alleged infraction that might have been committed by Justice Belgore from HEDA.
The group accused Belgore of alleged conflict of interest and violation of Section 5 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers of the 1999 Constitution.
It added: "Based on the foregoing, it is succinct to point out the basis for this petition. From the above relayed, there is a clear case of conflict of interest which is backed up constitutionally by the Code of Conduct for Public Officers. Specifically, Section 1 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers which states that a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts with his duties and responsibilities.
"Section 5 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers of the 1999 Constitution goes further and directly prohibits former presidents, vice presidents, Chief Justices of Nigeria, governors and Deputy Governors from working for foreign companies or enterprises. The former CJN falls under this category and also is still the chairman of the National Merit Honour Award Committee, which confers him with a sense of patriotism and loyalty to the country.
"It can be concluded, without equivocation, that drafters of the Constitution understand the weight of the offices occupied by the prohibited officers and the potential implication of actions such as that taken by the former CJN.
"The act he allegedly committed is grave and amounts to a breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, thereby violating the provisions of the Constitution.
$9.6bn Judgment Debt:Nigeria heads for UK Appeal Court
The battle between Nigeria and Process and Industrial Developments (P&ID) over the bid to stop the company from attaching the country's assets to recoup the $9.6 billion arbitral claim it secured last month, is set to shift to the United Kingdom Appeal Court.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), Thursday signified the intention of the federal government to head to the UK Appeal Court shortly after the UK Commercial Court ordered a stay of execution of the $9.6 billion claim, arising from a failed gas deal between the two parties which led to arbitration.
Mr. Justice Butcher had last month affirmed the arbitral claim but fixed yesterday for hearing of an application by P&ID seeking the leave of the court to attach some assets of Nigeria for a seizure to recoup the $9.6 billion arbitral claim.
It was, however, learnt that the claim would have hit a double-digit mark as interest on the original $6.5 billion the arbitration panel granted P&ID, which ballooned to $9.6 billion in August when the UK court affirmed the arbitral award, is being calculated at the rate of $1.2 million daily, minus weekends.
In its ruling yesterday, the court, which, however, upheld the claim and refused Nigeria's plea to set it aside, said the suspension of its decision to grant P&ID's request to seize Nigerian assets would last till the determination of the appeal by the federal government.
It, however, asked the government to make a security payment of $200million to the court within 60 days.
But Malami said besides seeking to quash the company's bid to make any claim, Nigeria would also consider the possibility of challenging the legality of the $200 million security deposit within the 60-day window.
P&ID secured the damages against Nigeria following a failed Gas Supply Project Agreement (GSPA) contract between it and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
Malami, in a brief from London, sent to reporters in Abuja, said: "Leave to appeal has been granted. Stay of execution is also granted subject to payment of $200m security payment to court pending the determination of the appeal the leave for which has been granted by the commercial court.


text:
OADSA
Ontario Accessibility & Disability Stewardship Association
Accessibility Standards
Failures in Air Travel in Canada
Posted on June 4, 2019 by admin in aodaalliance
CBC National News Reveals Appalling Incidents of Accessibility
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update United for a Barrier-Free Society for All People with Disabilities http://www.aodaalliance.org [email protected] Twitter: @aodaalliance
On June 2 and 3, 2019, CBC TV and radio national news broke a story of two appalling failures to ensure proper accessibility for air travel passengers in Canada. These were two episodes at the Vancouver Airport where passengers using wheelchairs were left stranded in the airport for hours by airline ground assistance staff. CBC asked the AODA Alliance to comment on the incidents which CBC had uncovered.
These reports were included in the June 2, 2019 edition of CBC TV's "The National" and CBC national radio's "World Report" broadcast on June 3, 2019. We offer four important observations:
1. These are not the only such incidents that air travellers have reported. As a result of this CBC report, on June 3, 2019, AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky was invited to appear on the Fight Back program on Toronto's Zoomer Radio station, hosted by Libby Znaimer. Two callers to the program said they had experienced somewhat similar incidents. The podcast of that program is available at https://www.zoomerradio.ca/show/fight-back-on-zoomer-radio/fight-back-on-zoomer-radio-podcast/treatment-vulnerable-passengers-airlines-june-03-2019/
These disability accommodations in air travel must be consistent and reliable. Even if such appalling incidents are the exception, passengers with disabilities should not be left to fear that they might be the victim of such treatment.
2. This is a further illustration of the Canadian Transportation Agency's (CTAs) poor long-term track-record of regulating airlines in the area of accessibility. It is because of the poor CTA track-record in this area that we and others in the disability community had urged the Federal Government to assign the regulation of air travel accessibility to the new Canada Accessibility Commissioner. Instead, and over our objection, Bill C-81, the new Accessible Canada Act, leaves the CTA as mainly in charge of regulating air travel accessibility.
3. It is good that the CTA has decided to propose regulations to set some accessibility standards in the area of air travel. However, as our April 18, 2019 brief to the CTA shows, those proposed regulations are too weak. This story should be a wake-up call to the CTA to listen to us and strengthen those proposed regulations.
4. It should not be left to individual victims of such inexcusable treatment to have to file complaints with the CTA. If the victim is just flying into Canada for a visit and then returning home, they likely would not incur the expense and inconvenience of returning to Canada just to litigate a complaint before the CTA. For meaningful reform, we need the CTA to do its own strong "secret shopper" monitoring of airlines to catch deficiencies in the efforts of airlines or airports.
4. The troubling incidents of accessibility failures about which CBC reported took place at the Vancouver International Airport. We note that on December 5, 2018, the Rick Hansen Foundation's private accessibility certification process announced that it gave the Vancouver International Airport a gold rating for accessibility. This is the Rick Hansen Foundation's highest accessibility rating.
This illustrates some of the serious problems with such a private accessibility certification process. We have previously raised our serious concerns with the whole idea of a private accessibility certification process.
We recognize that such a private accessibility certification process may only examine a building, and not the services provided in that building. That is part of the problem. Those hearing that an airport got a "gold" certification can well be expected not to draw fine distinctions between the accessibility of an airport building on the one hand, and the accessibility of the services provided in that airport on the other.
We always welcome your feedback. Write us at [email protected]
CBC TV The National June 2, 2019
Originally posted at https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/seniors-abandoned-by-airlines-in-wheelchairs-1.5154364
Edmonton GO PUBLIC
'Appalling treatment': Couple in wheelchairs left alone for almost 12 hours at Vancouver airport
Airlines are shirking responsibility to accommodate disabled passengers, advocate says
Rosa Marchitelli CBC News · Posted: Jun 02, 2019 6:00 PM MT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago
Narayan Karki, left, and her husband, Chhaya, right, missed their flight from Vancouver to Edmonton after being left in their wheelchairs without assistance for hours at the airport. They were travelling from Nepal to visit their son, Mohan, shown at centre. (Rosa Marchitelli/CBC)
The son of an elderly couple says he wants two major airlines to stop blaming each other and take responsibility for abandoning his parents in their wheelchairs for half a day, with no help to access food, water or a washroom.
Mohan Karki's parents, who don't speak English and require assistance to travel, were found almost 12 hours after being dropped off at a service counter at the Vancouver airport just not by the airlines responsible for assisting them during their trip, WestJet and Cathay Pacific.
"We were thinking they were somewhere in the corner of the airport … not knowing where to go," said Karki. "My parents told me, 'We never left this place' 12 hours they were there. They tried to communicate with some other people, passersby, and nobody responded to them. Maybe they couldn't understand what they were saying."
On Feb. 23, Chhaya and Narayan Karki, aged 66 and 69, were on the final leg of a trip from their home in Kathmandu, Nepal, to visit their son and his family in Edmonton, with a stopover in Vancouver.
Mohan Karki said Cathay Pacific told him it delivered his parents to the WestJet customer service counter at the airport, and WestJet was to transport the pair to the gate for their final flight to Edmonton.
The Karkis sat just steps from the WestJet service counter at the Vancouver airport for almost 12 hours, until the RCMP found them. (Rosa Marchitelli/CBC)
When his parents failed to arrive, a worried Karki spent hours on the phone trying to track them down. They didn't have a cellphone. "For about six or seven hours, I kept on calling both airlines, but they never found my parents," he said.
Karki then called the RCMP. It took officers 20 minutes to find the couple, located just steps from the service counter.
The couple had placards with Karki's name and phone number, in case of an emergency. No one responded when they tried to get help by holding them up, he said.
According to an Ontario-based advocate for people with disabilities, services for those who need assistance travelling are "unreliable and inconsistent" because airlines are allowed to set their own rules instead of being told to meet specific standards.
"It is appalling treatment the regulator should make it clear that [airlines] can't pass the buck to each other," said David Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance.
Left at the wrong gate for 8 hours
Thanh Phan shares that frustration; the same thing happened to his 76-year-old mother at the same airport.
In August, Niem Thi Le, who has trouble walking and doesn't speak English, was left in a wheelchair for eight hours after being dropped off at the wrong departure gate by WestJet.
Le was on her way home to Hanoi, Vietnam, after visiting family in Victoria. WestJet was supposed to connect her with China Southern Airlines for her next flight.
"My mom told me that the wheelchair attendant just left her there without talking to anyone. I was shocked this is a human being," Phan said.
Niem Thi Le, 76, was on her way back to Vietnam after visiting her family in Victoria. She missed her flight after being left at the wrong gate at the Vancouver airport. (Submitted by Thanh Phan)
An employee with another airline eventually noticed Le sitting alone, found someone who could speak Vietnamese and brought the woman to the China Southern Airlines counter.
That airline contacted Phan and suggested he call WestJet to find out what happened. He did, asking if someone could help his mother until he could get there himself.
"I said, 'Could you please help her give her some food and drinks.'… They said, no, they didn't do anything wrong and that's not their business," Phan said.
He called China Southern Airlines back and it agreed to help, bringing Le a hamburger and a drink.
'They did not think it's a serious problem'
Phan complained to customer service and WestJet apologized, saying it would review its internal process. But he said the airline never got back to him to explain what happened.
WestJet also told him travellers who don't speak English shouldn't be travelling alone, he said, though they offered him a $100 travel voucher.
"It's very frustrating because they blame passengers, and they did not think that is a serious problem."
Phan said he was 'shocked' to receive a phone call from South China Airlines, telling him his mother had missed her flight and he needed to come pick her up. (Mike McArthur/CBC)
WestJet 'reaching out to the families involved'
Both Phan and Karki are still demanding an explanation from the airlines involved in their respective cases.
"We sincerely apologize for the stress and worry that these guests and their families experienced," WestJet's media relations manager Lauren Stewart wrote in an email to Go Public.
"The nature of these incidents is serious, and we are in touch with both airline partners involved to investigate and make enhancements to our processes to prevent this type of incident from happening again. We are also reaching out to the families involved."
Karki says Cathay Pacific told him it took his parents to the WestJet counter, but the couple never made it on their next flight. They spent almost 12 hours sitting in wheelchairs at the airport. (CBC)
The airline says it provides mobility assistance to more than 900 guests per day.
Cathay Pacific told Go Public it was sorry to hear what happened to the Karkis, adding it followed "standard operating procedure" when it delivered the couple to WestJet staff and exchanged wheelchairs.
"The proper turnover to WestJet was made by our staff. Additionally, we are in the process of reviewing this situation with WestJet and we will apply learnings from this experience to future transitions between our airlines," wrote Julie Jarratt, the airline's communications director.
'I dread entering Canadian airspace'
Lepofsky, who is blind, said he's had his own problems travelling. "I dread entering Canadian airspace if I'm travelling alone not because the service is always bad, but because it's not reliably and consistently good."
Airlines have a duty to accommodate passengers with disabilities under Canada's human rights laws, he said. But when that doesn't happen, it's tough to figure out where to turn for help.
David Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, says services for those with disabilities are 'unreliable and inconsistent' when it comes to air travel in Canada. (Gary Morton/CBC)
"There are multiple agencies involved," Lepofsky said. "The Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Canadian Transportation Agency and you could be kicked from one to the other, trying to figure out where you're supposed to go.
"The Canadian Transportation Agency, where you're often kicked to, does not, from the perspective of people with disabilities, have a good track record in this area."
Proposed rules require airlines to take responsibility
The CTA says it's aware some of the standards are out of date and a binding set of rules is needed. Until now, accessible transportation has been governed by mostly voluntary codes of practice.
The agency has proposed new accessible transportation regulations for airlines and all travel providers. The new rules would be legally binding and impose penalties up to $25,000 for non-compliance. And if another proposed law passes, the Accessible Canada Act, that fine could jump to a maximum of $250,000.
"They need to make sure that passengers don't fall between the cracks," said Scott Streiner, chair and CEO of the Canadian Transportation Agency.
CTA chair and CEO Scott Streiner says his agency has proposed legally binding regulation for accessible transportation. (Richard Agecoutay/CBC)
Under the CTA's proposed rules, airlines would have to provide people who need assistance a place to wait, near personnel who can assist them and will "periodically inquire" about the person's needs.
Airports would be responsible for providing assistance from curbside to check-in, while the airlines would be responsible from check-in to boarding.
Streiner said the proposed recommendations would have helped in both cases. The agency plans to have the final regulations published before summer and hopes to have the majority of requirements in place in about a year.
"Persons who require wheelchair assistance, including older Canadians, absolutely are covered by these regulations," Streiner said. "We want to make sure that there's no confusion about who's providing assistance and that people aren't left without assistance."
As for Karki, he said that the next time his parents visit, he won't leave them in the hands of the airlines. Instead, he'll try to match their itinerary with other Nepali-speaking travellers.
After hearing from Go Public, WestJet called Karki last week, promising an explanation once it looks into what went wrong.
Phan said WestJet has yet to follow up with him, adding that his mother is now afraid to travel and will no longer come visit.
Submit your story ideas
Go Public is an investigative news segment on CBC-TV, radio and the web.
We tell your stories and hold the powers that be accountable.
We want to hear from people across the country with stories you want to make public.
Submit your story ideas at [email protected]
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ODSP: Redefining Disability
Ontario Track 3 Ski Association
Toronto Pearson First Airport in Canada to Offer Innovative Technology to Improve Accessibility for Travellers with Sight Loss
Why Your Next Hire Should Be a Person With Disabilities
Artistic Swimming for Athletes with Disabilities
Generic cialis on THE AODA CLOCK IS TICKING
Ines on THE AODA CLOCK IS TICKING
Ontario Accessibility & Disability Stewardship Association is known as (OADSA). We are helping community to meet the informational needs of Americans from Commercial to Industrial with diverse disabilities. To promote awareness of disability culture by building bridges of understanding among all people. To enhance our collective quality of life and access to freedom.
ODSP: Redefining Disability July 17, 2019
Ontario Track 3 Ski Association July 17, 2019
Toronto Pearson First Airport in Canada to Offer Innovative Technology to Improve Accessibility for Travellers with Sight Loss July 16, 2019
Why Your Next Hire Should Be a Person With Disabilities July 16, 2019
Artistic Swimming for Athletes with Disabilities July 15, 2019
AODA Alliance Chair Presents to Canadians with Disabilities Act Consultation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d4S7h3TYbo
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Website: oadsa.com
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Silva is notoriously coy on his players' injuries, but that will not stop him being questioned on it.
Isaac Success has returned to training, is he available for selection or still some way off?
Is there any more news on Will Hughes and how long he might be out for? And finally, what is the latest on Nathaniel Chalobah, Craig Cathcart and Younes Kaboul's potential return dates?
Andre Gray v Troy Deeney?
Troy Deeney's three-game suspension ended after last week's defeat to Manchester United and he returned to the starting line-up for the clash with Spurs.
Deeney and Gray are very different players and neither have hit top form yet this season - Silva has a decision to make ahead of the weekend.
Will he give Gray a chance to shine at his old side, where a lukewarm reception could inspire him? Or is it the sort of game where Deeney's hold-up play will be more important?
What of the former's form?
Given Watford spent £18.5m to bring Gray to the club from Burnley, he's sure to be asked about that lots today.
Gray scored nine goals in 32 Premier League games for Burnley, which amounts to one every three and a half games, so far at Watford he has two in 15, or just over one every seven games.
Why has it not clicked in front of goal for the club record signing yet? Is his lack of goals a worry?
Watford's game with Burnley is hardly a fixture that stands out in the Premier League, but it sees the seventh and eighth placed teams go head-to-head this weekend.
Burnley have 25 points from 15 games - the same as Spurs - whilst Watford are just three behind them, on 22.
Does Silva believe Burnley and the Hornets are the best sides out of the top six? Could either of them make an assault on those 'big clubs' above them?
Games against Spurs and Manchester United were never going to be easy, but Watford's fixture list is a little kinder over the next five games.
They travel to Burnley and host Leicester in the run - the teams one place above and one below them respectively - in their toughest games.
Sixteenth-placed Huddersfield and bottom of the table Swansea both travel to Vicarage Road, whilst a visit to Crystal Palace on Tuesday night is also a good opportunity for three points.
Can Silva see Watford in the top six come the New Year given their fixture list?
Silva will not like it, but his minor spat with Sam Allardyce, coming after the Everton manager's comments, will be brought up.
So far it has only been said to the written press - Sky Sports will want their slice of the pie too.
What did he make of the comments? Does he think Allardyce was out of order?
It is that time of year where transfer rumours pop up daily, Silva is bound to be asked about both incomings and outgoings.
Is Pontus Dahlberg, the Swedish goalkeeper, likely to sign for the Hornets? Will Islam Slimani again be on Watford's shopping list if Leicester are willing to let him go?
What of Watford's out-of-favour players: Is Stefano Okaka's time at Vicarage Road coming to an end? Could Isaac Success be sent out on loan to get some minutes?


text:
package androidx.media3.transformer;

import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat;
import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;

import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Looper;
import androidx.media3.common.C;
import androidx.media3.common.Format;
import androidx.media3.common.MediaItem;
import androidx.media3.common.MimeTypes;
import androidx.media3.common.SurfaceInfo;
import androidx.media3.common.util.Clock;
import androidx.media3.common.util.ListenerSet;
import androidx.test.ext.junit.runners.AndroidJUnit4;
import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
import java.util.List;
import org.junit.Before;
import org.junit.Test;
import org.junit.runner.RunWith;

/** Unit tests for {@link VideoTranscodingSamplePipeline.EncoderWrapper}. */
@RunWith(AndroidJUnit4.class)
public final class VideoEncoderWrapperTest {
  private final TransformationRequest emptyTransformationRequest =
      new TransformationRequest.Builder().build();
  private final FakeVideoEncoderFactory fakeEncoderFactory = new FakeVideoEncoderFactory();
  private final FallbackListener fallbackListener =
      new FallbackListener(
          MediaItem.fromUri(Uri.EMPTY),
          new ListenerSet<>(Looper.myLooper(), Clock.DEFAULT, (listener, flags) -> {}),
          emptyTransformationRequest);
  private final VideoTranscodingSamplePipeline.EncoderWrapper encoderWrapper =
      new VideoTranscodingSamplePipeline.EncoderWrapper(
          fakeEncoderFactory,
          /* inputFormat= */ new Format.Builder().setSampleMimeType(MimeTypes.VIDEO_H265).build(),
          /* allowedOutputMimeTypes= */ ImmutableList.of(),
          emptyTransformationRequest,
          fallbackListener);

  @Before
  public void registerTrack() {
    fallbackListener.registerTrack();
  }

  @Test
  public void getSurfaceInfo_landscape_leavesOrientationUnchanged() throws Exception {
    int inputWidth = 200;
    int inputHeight = 150;

    SurfaceInfo surfaceInfo = encoderWrapper.getSurfaceInfo(inputWidth, inputHeight);

    assertThat(surfaceInfo.orientationDegrees).isEqualTo(0);
    assertThat(surfaceInfo.width).isEqualTo(inputWidth);
    assertThat(surfaceInfo.height).isEqualTo(inputHeight);
  }

  @Test
  public void getSurfaceInfo_square_leavesOrientationUnchanged() throws Exception {
    int inputWidth = 150;
    int inputHeight = 150;

    SurfaceInfo surfaceInfo = encoderWrapper.getSurfaceInfo(inputWidth, inputHeight);

    assertThat(surfaceInfo.orientationDegrees).isEqualTo(0);
    assertThat(surfaceInfo.width).isEqualTo(inputWidth);
    assertThat(surfaceInfo.height).isEqualTo(inputHeight);
  }

  @Test
  public void getSurfaceInfo_portrait_flipsOrientation() throws Exception {
    int inputWidth = 150;
    int inputHeight = 200;

    SurfaceInfo surfaceInfo = encoderWrapper.getSurfaceInfo(inputWidth, inputHeight);

    assertThat(surfaceInfo.orientationDegrees).isEqualTo(90);
    assertThat(surfaceInfo.width).isEqualTo(inputHeight);
    assertThat(surfaceInfo.height).isEqualTo(inputWidth);
  }

  @Test
  public void getSurfaceInfo_withEncoderFallback_usesFallbackResolution()
      throws TransformationException {
    int inputWidth = 200;
    int inputHeight = 150;
    int fallbackWidth = 100;
    int fallbackHeight = 75;
    fakeEncoderFactory.setFallbackResolution(fallbackWidth, fallbackHeight);

    SurfaceInfo surfaceInfo = encoderWrapper.getSurfaceInfo(inputWidth, inputHeight);

    assertThat(surfaceInfo.orientationDegrees).isEqualTo(0);
    assertThat(surfaceInfo.width).isEqualTo(fallbackWidth);
    assertThat(surfaceInfo.height).isEqualTo(fallbackHeight);
  }

  private static class FakeVideoEncoderFactory implements Codec.EncoderFactory {

    private int fallbackWidth;
    private int fallbackHeight;

    public FakeVideoEncoderFactory() {
      fallbackWidth = C.LENGTH_UNSET;
      fallbackHeight = C.LENGTH_UNSET;
    }

    public void setFallbackResolution(int fallbackWidth, int fallbackHeight) {
      this.fallbackWidth = fallbackWidth;
      this.fallbackHeight = fallbackHeight;
    }

    @Override
    public Codec createForAudioEncoding(Format format, List<String> allowedMimeTypes) {
      throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
    }

    @Override
    public Codec createForVideoEncoding(Format format, List<String> allowedMimeTypes) {
      Codec mockEncoder = mock(Codec.class);
      if (fallbackWidth != C.LENGTH_UNSET) {
        format = format.buildUpon().setWidth(fallbackWidth).build();
      }
      if (fallbackHeight != C.LENGTH_UNSET) {
        format = format.buildUpon().setHeight(fallbackHeight).build();
      }
      when(mockEncoder.getConfigurationFormat()).thenReturn(format);
      return mockEncoder;
    }
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


We swear, we can not make this stuff up on our own… Here's the basic description of Ice Age: Continental Drift, coming this July from Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox: "Manny, Diego, and Sid embark upon another adventure after their continent is set adrift. Using an iceberg as a ship, they encounter sea creatures and battle pirates as they explore a new world." Pirates. Okay. Well, if they can do Santa Claus B.C., why not pirates? Of course Ray Romano, Denis Leary, and John Leguizamo return as mammoth, sabertooth, and sloth respectively, along with new voices including Peter Dinklage, Jennifer Lopez, and Aziz Ansari. The fourth Ice Age go-round is directed by Mike Thurmeier (co-director of Ice Age 3) and Steve Martino (Horton Hears A Who!). If you go to the film's web site there's a short Scrat cartoon that also serves as a trailer for the new movie.


text:
Check out the [CalDAV resource website](http://caldav.calconnect.org/)

CalDAV servers

- http://sabre.io
- http://baikal-server.com

CalDAV clients
- Lightning de Mozilla
- iCalendar d'Apple

## Prototypes

- [polypodes/CalDAVClientPrototype](https://github.com/polypodes/CalDAVClientPrototype)

## Libraries

### PHP CalDAV clients / ICS parsers

- [iCalcreator/iCalcreator](https://github.com/iCalcreator/iCalcreator)
- [hising/ics-generator](https://github.com/hising/ics-generator)
- [jasvrcek/ICS](https://github.com/jasvrcek/ICS)
- [Davical PHP lib](http://www.davical.org) ([Git repo](http://repo.or.cz/w/davical.git) ; [example](http://www.aadl.org/node/261978))
- [fruux/sabre-davclient](https://github.com/fruux/sabre-davclient)
- [fruux/sabre-vobject](https://github.com/fruux/sabre-vobject)
- [CloudManaged/sabre-davclient](https://github.com/CloudManaged/sabre-davclient): most recent fork of fruux/sabre-davclient
- [oscar09/CalDAVClient](https://github.com/oscar09/CalDAVClient)
- [BernsteinElektro/php-caldav-client](https://github.com/BernsteinElektro/php-caldav-client/blob/master/lib/BE/CalDav/Client.php)
- [wvrzel/simpleCalDAV](https://github.com/wvrzel/simpleCalDAV)
- [Simplest PHP client ever](http://trentrichardson.com/2012/06/22/put-caldav-events-to-calendar-in-php/)
- [fzaninotto/Faker](https://github.com/fzaninotto/Faker)

### Feedbacks on PHP CalDAV Client

#### [wvrzel/simpleCalDAV](https://github.com/wvrzel/simpleCalDAV)

- needed to be refactored to be [autolodable](http://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-0/)
- easy to use
- poor performances (used with Baïkal, locally)

### vCard & iCal

= Parsing and manipulating iCalendar and vCard objects:

- parse and manipulate iCalendar and vCard objects: https://github.com/fruux/sabre-vobject & http://sabre.io/vobject

## CalConnectSM

[CalConnectSM, The Calendaring and Scheduling Consortium](http://www.calconnect.org/resources.shtml): Resources


text:
2015 Predictions: Over 20 thought leaders look into the new year
Posted on January 2, 2015 by Brad Hill
Happy New Year! One easy prediction is this: 2015 will be an eventful year for all stakeholders in online audio.
RAIN is pleased to present 43 predictions from 21 thought-leading guest futurists:
Patrick Reynolds (Chief Strategy Officer, Triton Digital)
Brian Benedik (VP, North America Advertising, Spotify)
Simon Cole (CEO, 7digital)
Alexandre Saboundjian (CEO, Radionomy)
Alexis van der Wyer (CEO, AdsWizz)
James Cridland (Radio Futurologist, U.K.)
Jim Griffin (Managing Director, OneHouse & co-founder, Pho)
Steve Goldstein (Executive VP, Saga Communications)
Alan Cross (President, Brain Dead Dog Productions; digital music journalist)
Tom McAlevey (Founder, Radical.FM)
The 8tracks Executive Team (David Porter, founder; Jonathan Barnes, director of partnerships, David Johnson-Igra, director of marketing)
Gordon Borrell (CEO, Borrell Associates)
Angus MacDonald (Senior Counsel, Intellectual Property at University of California)
Roger Lanctot (Associate Director, Global Automotive Practice, Strategy Analytics)
Adam Sachs (CEO, Midroll Media)
Paul Goldstein (Founder, PG Audience Development)
Jack Isquith (SVP Strategic Development & Content Programming, Slacker Radio)
Scott Burnell (Global Lead, Business Development & Partner Management, Ford Motor Company)
Matt Cutair (CEO, AudioHQ)
Jennifer Lane (CEO, RAIN Enterprises & Founder, Audio4cast)
Kurt Hanson (Founder, AccuRadio & founding editor, RAIN)
We offered no direction, so the grouping of these predictions was shaped by the predictions themselves.
Audience Share & Competition
"Continued acceleration of Online Audio consumption Globally & in US as audiences migrate to personalized music & spoken word experiences." Brian Benedik
"Between Edison Research's 'Share of Ear' study and Nielsen Audio becoming more forthcoming with its trove of national data, we're going to start getting a clear picture, for the first time in years, of the exact size of the slow but steady decline in weekly Time Spent Listening (TSL) per capita that AM/FM radio is experiencing. Consumers will slowly but steadily continue to spend less time with radio delivered via AM and FM and more time with radio delivered to their smartphones, tablets, and other connected systems (e.g., Sonos, Roku, etc.), much of which will be personalizable (for music) or on-demand (for talk), and all of which will have a lower spot load per hour." Kurt Hanson
"For 2015, I am predicting the battle for TLH (total listening hours) and TSL (time spent listening) heads everywhere that it can follow eyeballs, ears and wallets. The back of Uber cars was just a beginning, with beacons leading the way to spaces like restaurants, elevators, retail, and other public performances." Jim Griffin
"Sometime within the next year or two, at least one AM/FM broadcasting company will decide to go head-to-head with Pandora." Kurt Hanson
"FM/AM radio stations will retain almost all of their audience in spite of being 'old-fashioned,' and tech writers everywhere will be surprised that they're still operating. What decline there is, however, will be confined to music-intensive radio services." James Cridland
"Radio won't have a bad year in 2015, unless of course we have a mild recession, as some economists predict. The main reason for radio's stability is the see-saw relationship between spot pricing (relatively cheap) and ROI (incredibly high). In an incredibly fragmented and noisy marketplace, radio still drives results. That's good. On the digital side, I continue to be disappointed by the lack of creativity and, frankly, denial by many radio managers that digital will ever amount to anymore than 3% of total revenues. Only a few groups seem to "get it" and are developing digital padding for what's likely to be a rockier future." Gordon Borrell
"With a 1 billion market in the US, traditional broadcasters and Internet companies will finally wake up and start the market consolidation." Brian Benedik
"With the commoditization of playlists, curation & personalization, a powerful new, defining characteristic will emerge. Suddenly, on-line radio's audience will leap ahead of forecasts, creating at-once both a crisis for FM radio and a booming success for online radio." Paul Goldstein
"Apple will launch iBeats (or whatever they call their on-demand streaming service) and surpass Spotify's number of paying subscribers. Spotify will rush their IPO or suffer a significant reduction in valuation as a result of going public after the iBeats launch." Tom McAlevey
Advertising & Monetization
"In 2015 audio moves from fun and cute, to marriage material for advertisers. New standards will be ushered in, processes put in place, and tighter connections forged between buyers and sellers of the space, both equally committed to going where audience already is." Patrick Reynolds
"Online audio advertising has been around the block for a while. But until recently most advertisers were still mostly buying brands. In 2015, we'll see the continued rise of audience buys in which advertisers target specific audience demographics or behaviors regardless of the content or channel. The availability of advanced targeting capabilities combined with 1st and 3rd party data and rich tracking abilities allows audio advertising to catch up with display and video." Alexis van der Wyer
"Programmatic — while in its infancy for audio — will make inroads and complement more traditional ways agencies have been buying the media." Alexis van der Wyer
"The major labels are clearly reviewing existing on-demand relationships and could sour on free on-demand tiers. If this proves to be this case, consumption pattern revert to the tried-and-true, with free, ad-supported radio being the driver of discovery (for listeners) and promotion (for artists), which in turn feeds the on-demand consumption of subscribers (vs downloaders or CD purchasers)." 8tracks executive team
"Pandora will continue its growth in listenership and its even greater growth in monetizing its audience. Its sales staff of hundreds of top radio salespeople will continue to get higher and higher CPMs, as advertisers realize its effectiveness (thanks to short stopsets, accompanying visuals, and targeting)." Kurt Hanson
"There will be innovation of audio-specific creative for brands to interact with consumers." Brian Benedik
"Advertisers will increasingly want to see audio as a key element of their multi-media marketing campaigns and not as a stand-alone feature. The ability to seamlessly combine and report across different media and enable retargeting will strengthen the value proposition of online audio for advertisers." Alexis van der Wyer
"For 2015 alone, SoundExchange will collect over one billion dollars in royalties! And these royalties are only from 'statutory' services, like Pandora and Sirius XM. A related prediction is that Pandora's royalties to SoundExchange for 2015 alone will be over $500-million." Angus MacDonald
"Statutory Rates for the next five-year period will closely follow today's PurePlay rate, and the phrase "noninteractive" will win SoundExchange an award for 'Most Misleading Descriptive Term'." Tom McAlevey
"The back of Uber cars was just a beginning, with beacons leading the way to spaces like restaurants, elevators, retail, and other public performances. As these become digital services, they begin paying for the use of sound recordings — or else. It will prove the next battleground for proper payment for sound recording rights. The reasoning here is simple: With AM/FM sticks on the wane, their owners will chase crowd wherever they can find it, competing with the likes of Apple, Google, Spotify, Microsoft, Deezer and more along the way. They'll need ubiquity and more to convince sponsors they have the laser-focused machine gun they need for targeted ad dollars aimed at mobile audience on-the-go." Jim Griffin
"For the first time in U.S. history, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) will issue a decision that reasonably balances the interests of webcasters, copyright owners, and the general public, thanks to the fact that is this the first time in CRB history that both sides (webcasters and copyright owners) are represented by matching-quality legal representation." Kurt Hanson
"Toward the end of 2015, a rate decision will be handed down by the CRB. It's hard to predict the outcome, but we're hopeful it recognizes a significant discount of on-demand rates and allows lean-back radio offerings to exist on a standalone basis, whether big or small, and not as a loss leader for an unrelated business model. A big change in rates could well trigger a wave of M&A among remaining services. The major labels are clearly reviewing existing on-demand relationships and could sour on free on-demand tiers. If this proves to be this case, consumption pattern revert to the tried-and-true, with free, ad-supported radio being the driver of discovery (for listeners) and promotion (for artists), which in turn feeds the on-demand consumption of subscribers (vs downloaders or CD purchasers)." 8tracks executive team
"At the end of 2015, when the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) announces the streaming rates for 'statutory' webcasting services for 2016-2020, the CRB will — for the first time — announce a royalty rate based, in part, on a percentage of revenue (as opposed to solely a per-performance fee) that will apply to most commercial webcasters. The problem for webcasters, however, is that the statutory rate (I predict) will be based on a 'greater of' formula between a per-performance rate and a percentage of revenue rate." Angus MacDonald
Mobile & Cars
"2015 will be the year of smartphone integration in cars. Apple CarPlay comes to town, Android Auto, MirrorLink and a host of proprietary systems from car makers. It all means that drivers will become less dependent on AUX IN connections to access streaming or pre-recorded content. Bluetooth and USB connections in 2015 will set the stage for Wi-Fi connectivity in 2016 and beyond. All of the complaints about lousy interfaces and confusing connections will begin to fall away as new car buyers and owners and dealers start to 'get it' — especially in the context of streaming audio being the go-to demo for most dealers (ie. Pandora). Pandora is the gateway drug to streaming content in the car. The pressure on broadcasters to get more creative will be immense and intense. Time to go digital, stream, put your content wherever your listener is or wants to be. It's a challenge. It's expensive. But 2015 will mark a clear turning point when the preponderance of connectivity platforms for IP streaming finally reveals the future for what it will be and is fast becoming. The only thing working in the favor of radio is the fact that it takes a decade to replace the cars on the road. All that radio has working in its favor is the inertia of the installed base against the momentum of smartphone connectivity. Fasten your seatbelt." Roger Lanctot
"Consumers will begin to be more conscious of the bandwidth they use (on mobile) – as bandwidth usage continues to increase by 60% year-on-year, network companies become more bandwidth conscious, and networks continue moving their customers off unlimited data. Google and Apple will tweak their operating systems to use less bandwidth as a result, and 'how much bandwidth does it use?' will be a question more users ask of streaming media." James Cridland
"In Car Dashboards continue to diversify with integrations of major streaming audio companies. The in car streaming experience will have less friction and better value to consumers in 2015." Brian Benedik
On-Demand, Podcasting & Talk
"On demand is in demand! Look for 2015 to be about choices in online audio. From podcasts to personalized programming, interactive advertising to programmatic buying, the next year will be about the platforms that enable listeners and advertisers to refine their options. Everything else – audience measurement, technology, revenue – will circle around the importance of flexibility that puts the audience and the advertiser in control." Jennifer Lane
"2014 was a big year for podcasting, and 2015 will be even bigger." Adam Sachs
"Digital media has long offered end users the ability to consume content with various levels of control ranging from linear feed to pure on-demand. In music, on-demand has quickly become a key component for an important portion of the audience. And popular music services have built experiences offering end users the required flexibility and control. However other types of audio content such as spoken words have lagged music and are still primarily consumed in a linear fashion despite the success of several prominent podcasts. In 2015, we can expect the coming of age of the 'on-demand' spoken words." Alexis van der Wyer
"Audio on demand will continue to grow. Think along the lines of time shifted forms of video such as the DVR or on-demand services such as Hulu and Netflix. It is clear what is happening to video. In the world of audio, there is podcasting (please, do we have to call it that?). It is the natural progression of the digitization of audio and it just had a seminal Milton Berle moment ("Uncle Miltie" was credited with selling more televisions than anyone else as his TV show rode to great popularity in the 1950's) with This American Life's Serial program It has over five-million downloads and more significantly has generated a ton of talk and awareness." Steve Goldstein
"Spoken word comes to online music services in a big way- 2015 may be the year that the larger online music services begin to integrate spoken word content (news, sports, commentary, entertainment, etc) in their platforms. On-demand audio has generated a lot of buzz this year and live event content has performed very well so I think it's only natural to expect that music services will begin to move towards a more diverse content model especially if the upcoming music royalty decision goes the wrong way for them." Matt Cutair
"Podcasts like Serial and Marc Maron's WTF interviews with comedians will remain a trendy niche product, but will continue to grow in popularity and as an art form." Kurt Hanson
"In 2014 Serial became the podcast that transcended the podcast audience, truly breaking through to the mainstream. Importantly, it helped to break the story–which we in the industry have known for years — that the medium is profitable. So, in 2015 I think there's going to be a rush into the space by many different players. More high profile talent will see it as a viable medium to reach large audiences, and also make money. High-traffic publications like Buzzfeed (perhaps) will make it part of their strategy, while MCNs will be figuring how to translate their properties into podcasts. New startups will create technology for podcasters and listeners, and we'll see investors wanting to get into the space. 2014 was a big year for podcasting, and 2015 will be even bigger." Adam Sachs
"Human curation is going to become a big part of 2015." Simon Cole
"We will continue to see YouTubers and podcasters break out as personality stars, while terrestrial radio struggles to develop talent. As companies big and small further invest in audio, listeners will continue to have an amazing choice of options and niches." Jack Isquith
"Spotify will not be just audio, but also video to compete with YouTube/Vevo." Alexandre Saboundjian
"High-Res Audio may actually have a pulse. After years of having to deal with digital files that are deemed good enough, the pendulum may be swinging back towards proper high-fidelity recordings. Deezer's high-res streaming sounds brilliant as do Sony's new audio products. Audiophiles who have been largely neglected by the shift to digital music may finally see things to start going their way. Now if we could only convince iTunes to deal with FLAC and other best-sounding formats." Alan Cross
"Neil Young's PONO, a good idea ten years ago, will fail in the face of On-Demand services offering full lossless CD quality streams to music aficionados." Tom McAlevey
"In 2015 people will realize that the human creation skills that are core to the radio industry, are also skills which are incredibly valuable in the streaming music industry. Human curation is going to become a big part of 2015." Simon Cole
Other Predictions & Humorous Asides
"By the end of 2015 the culmination of CRB rate discussions, in-vehicle listening habits, and platform listening preferences of the youngest generations will result in the term 'Streaming' to mean the same as the word 'Radio' in much the same way that 'Smartphone' = 'Cellular Phone'." Scott Burnell
"In the first half of 2015, the biggest stories may well be YouTube's and Apple's on-demand services — the two biggest threats to unseat Spotify, the former given its massive, youthful listening audience, and latter given its pricing power and credit card database." 8tracks executive team
"In 2015, Belgian Beer will stay the best beer in the world." Alexandre Saboundjian
"I have one thing that I WISH would happen in 2015. I wish the industry would embrace Pandora, Spotify and other companies. They're currently treated like a poisonous subspecies, when in fact they're actually helping expand radio listening. We have to stop beating them up — and advise them to stop trying to beat up their own industry. Pandora's audio advertising revenue is twice as much as Entercom's and six times bigger than Saga. And they grew ad revenues by 41% this year. They probably compete less with local radio stations than local radio stations compete with each other. But wishes aren't predictions, and I'm not holding my breath for this one to come true." Gordon Borrell
"Star Trek: Axanar will get a theatrical release, and Kurt Hanson will emerge from the movie theater blinking and shaking his head in a confused manner, muttering something about continuity with the Hidden Frontier TV series." James Cridland
Advertising & Monetization, Connected Car, Copyrights & Legal, Opinion & Features, Thought Leaders 2015, predictions 2015
Brad Hill
Quick Hits: India getting Prime; Azoff vs YouTube predictions; a strange in-car licensing lawsuit
Radio Disney integrates with Ford digital dashboard
Pingback: A Journal of Musical Things21 Music, Radio and Digital Pundits (Including Me) Offer Predictions for the New Year - A Journal of Musical Things


text:
Q: Module parse failed: Unexpected token (7:5) You may need an appropriate loader to handle this file type. : Webpack, Bootstrap I'm getting an error when running webpack --config webpack.config.vendor.js in an Aurelia app.
ERROR in ./node_modules/bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.css
Module parse failed: Unexpected token (7:5)
You may need an appropriate loader to handle this file type.

I'm using Webpack 3.8.1
Webpack.config.js
    //var BundleAnalyzerPlugin = require('webpack-bundle-analyzer').BundleAnalyzerPlugin;
var isDevBuild = process.argv.indexOf('--env.prod') < 0;
var path = require('path');
var webpack = require('webpack');
const { AureliaPlugin } = require('aurelia-webpack-plugin');
var extractStyles = new (require('extract-text-webpack-plugin'))('mystyles.css');

var bundleOutputDir = './wwwroot/dist';
module.exports = (env) => {

    return [{
        stats: { modules: false },
        entry: { 'app': 'aurelia-bootstrapper' },
        resolve: {
            extensions: ['.ts', '.js'],
            modules: ['ClientApp', 'node_modules'],
        },
        output: {
            path: path.resolve(bundleOutputDir),
            publicPath: '/dist',
            filename: '[name].js'
        },
        module: {
            rules: [
                { test: /\.ts$/, include: /ClientApp/, loader: 'ts-loader', query: { silent: true } },
                { test: /\.html$/, loader: 'html-loader' },
                { test: /\.scss$/, loader: extractStyles.extract('css-loader!sass-loader') },
                { test: /\.css$/,  loader: 'style-loader!css-loader' },
                { test: /\.(png|gif|woff|woff2|eot|ttf|svg)$/, loader: 'url-loader?limit=100000' },
                { test: /\.json$/, loader: 'json-loader' }
            ]
        },
        plugins: [
            extractStyles,

            new webpack.DefinePlugin({ IS_DEV_BUILD: JSON.stringify(isDevBuild) }),
            new webpack.DllReferencePlugin({
                context: __dirname,
                manifest: require('./wwwroot/dist/vendor-manifest.json')
            }),
            new AureliaPlugin({ aureliaApp: 'boot' })

        ].concat(isDevBuild ? [
            // Plugins that apply in development builds only
            new webpack.SourceMapDevToolPlugin({
                filename: '[file].map', // Remove this line if you prefer inline source maps
                moduleFilenameTemplate: path.relative(bundleOutputDir, '[resourcePath]') // Point sourcemap entries to the original file locations on disk
            })
            // ,
            //   new BundleAnalyzerPlugin({
            //     analyzerMode: 'static'
            // })
        ] : [
                // Plugins that apply in production builds only
                new webpack.optimize.UglifyJsPlugin()
            ])
    }];
}

webpack.config.js
    var isDevBuild = process.argv.indexOf('--env.prod') < 0;
var path = require('path');
var webpack = require('webpack');
var ExtractTextPlugin = require('extract-text-webpack-plugin');
var extractCSS = new ExtractTextPlugin('vendor.css');

module.exports = (env) => {
    return [{
        stats: { modules: false },
        resolve: {
            extensions: ['.js']
        },
        module: {
            rules: [{
                test: require.resolve('jquery'),
                use: [{
                    loader: 'expose-loader',
                    options: 'jQuery'
                },{
                    loader: 'expose-loader',
                    options: '$'
                }]
            }],
            loaders: [
                { test: /\.(png|woff|woff2|eot|ttf|svg)(\?|$)/, loader: 'url-loader?limit=100000' },
                { test: /\.css(\?|$)/, loader: extractCSS.extract(['css-loader']) }
            ]
        },
        entry: {
            vendor: [
                'aurelia-event-aggregator',
                'aurelia-fetch-client',
                'aurelia-framework',
                'aurelia-history-browser',
                'aurelia-logging-console',
                'aurelia-pal-browser',
                'aurelia-polyfills',
                'aurelia-route-recognizer',
                'aurelia-router',
                'aurelia-templating-binding',
                'aurelia-templating-resources',
                'aurelia-templating-router',
                'bootstrap',
                'bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.css',
                'jquery',
                'noty'
            ],
        },
        output: {
            path: path.join(__dirname, 'wwwroot', 'dist'),
            publicPath: '/dist/',
            filename: '[name].js',
            library: '[name]_[hash]',
        },
        plugins: [
            extractCSS,
            new webpack.ProvidePlugin({ $: 'jquery', jQuery: 'jquery' }), // Maps these identifiers to the jQuery package (because Bootstrap expects it to be a global variable)
            new webpack.DllPlugin({
                path: path.join(__dirname, 'wwwroot', 'dist', '[name]-manifest.json'),
                name: '[name]_[hash]'
            })
        ].concat(isDevBuild ? [] : [
            new webpack.optimize.UglifyJsPlugin({ compress: { warnings: false } })
        ])
    }];
}

A: Moving the entries in the "loaders" section into "rules" as below fixed the issue. I believe loaders has been deprecated in Webpack 3
 rules: [
            { test: /\.(png|woff|woff2|eot|ttf|svg)(\?|$)/, loader: 'url-loader?limit=100000' },
            { test: /\.css(\?|$)/, loader: extractCSS.extract(['css-loader']) },
            {
                test: require.resolve('jquery'),
                use: [{
                    loader: 'expose-loader',
                    options: 'jQuery'
                }, {
                    loader: 'expose-loader',
                    options: '$'
                }]
            }]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
When Quixotic turns toxic: the astrological Windmills of D.C. minds
"The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water."
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
"Thou hast seen nothing yet."
We left off on a cliff-hanger in the last post here, musing over whether the government would be shutdown again for the sake of a wasteful border wall and an increasingly manufactured sounding emergency at said border. Big consequential questions have since been answered, but our system of democracy (i.e., with three co-equal branches of government) may have gotten lost in the Rio Grande in the process.
So we know now that Trump is willing to use his power to declare a state of emergency and to go around Congress to get the wall funding he wants, essentially putting his presidency at odds with Congress's power of the purse, and the facts on the ground (as reported by his own administration), while he's at it. With this action he's also saying that his priorities are more important than other projects already funded by Congress—he's planning to take millions from Defense construction projects, drug interdiction and rehabilitation programs, and so on—projects that Congress deemed important enough to fund, and that many communities will miss, if they're not funded.
So this is a two-fer for Trump (appropriate for a Gemini), an end-run designed to get his wall funding and an opportunity to throw his authoritarian weight around.
The problem is, there's no real emergency at the border. In fact, Trump tasked aides in early 2018 with finding a way to get his wall funding without Congress, so that's no emergency. The only emergency here is that the "windmills" in Trump's quixotic mind are threatening to disable our democracy. Above all, Trump seems to crave the power of the narrative—another Gemini perk—and he won't rest until his story about what's happening at the border is the story.
Speculation has been circulating about his impending emergency declaration for some time, of course, but on Friday the 15th, Trump made the grand gesture of calling a press conference to make it official. His announcement was frankly baffling, with him at one point breaking out in a sort of "rap" about the legal challenges he expects to attract with his "emergency." Perhaps the most baffling was his move to declare a national emergency against an "invasion" at the border, and then to say he didn't "need to do this." As the Washington Post put it:
"Trump argued in the Rose Garden that declaring an emergency was necessary because narcotics were pouring across the border. 'We're talking about an invasion of our country with drugs, with human traffickers, with all types of criminals and gangs,' he said. But he also seemed to undercut his own case on the urgency of the problem.
"I could do the wall over a longer period of time, I didn't need to do this, but I'd rather do it much faster," he said.
An ACLU lawyer responded on Twitter: 'keep talking mr president.' "
Trump's Quixote-sized delusions about the border have some basis in his astrological reality. His Cancer planets (Mercury, Saturn, Venus) are being opposed (could feel threatening) by transiting Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, and since his Mercury disposes his cerebral Gemini stellium (Sun-No. Node-Uranus), the fears and insecurities raised by those oppositions loom large in his mind. If this were not the case, perhaps he'd feel less like "tilting at windmills," but it is what it is.
Who can tell the "windmills" of his mind?
Fear and insecurity often seem to motivate Trump's actions, but he seems to be very conscious of the power of quixotic thinking. For instance, his foreign policy pronouncements often mirror Nixon's use of the "madman theory" when confronting adversaries. Never mind what Trump actually says to his adversaries, the message that comes across is "Give me what I want now, because you never know what I'm capable of doing if I don't get it." The Dems are writing a resolution to repeal Trump's national emergency as we speak; on the talk shows yesterday, wall enthusiast and aide Stephen Miller warned that Trump would veto any attempts to repeal. Bottom line: "Give me what I want or else."
Weeks of press coverage mused about whether "he would" or "he wouldn't" declare an emergency, and that drama provided the wind below Trump's wings when shutdown politics provided him the opportunity. Legal challenges aside, he's thrown down a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" gauntlet in the year before an election, sharpening up his political "foils" for the joust.
Yale professor of law Peter H. Schuck laid out the legal terrain for Trump's move pretty succinctly in a NYTimes.com opinion piece:
"Who decides what constitutes a national emergency?
In hundreds of laws, Congress has given the president the power to decide. (The Brennan Center for Justice has compiled an exhaustive list.) But by failing to define crucial terms, legal standards and accountability rules, Congress has handed presidents an all-too-handy tool of tyranny commonly used by autocrats to amass more power, crush dissent and eviscerate democratic institutions….
Congress should have known better. After all, it enacted the National Emergencies Act of 1976, which purported to regulate such declarations, only two years after President Richard Nixon's abuses of power forced his resignation. The act actually made matters worse in a key respect: It defined a national emergency as "a general declaration of emergency made by the president." This circular definition, of course, is no constraint at all…
In the nature of national emergencies, some definitional leeways are unavoidable. But Congress could readily specify certain conditions that must exist before the president can make such a declaration and thus arrogate to himself extraordinary powers — curtailing liberties, seizing property, spending funds appropriated for other purposes and suspending protective laws — that Congress would not otherwise be likely to grant him in advance, or perhaps ever. (Indeed, Congress has the power to override Mr. Trump's declaration and it should in this case — though it probably won't.)"
Astrologically, we're seeing a lot of issues stemming from the 1970s come back around to bite us. Nixon's abuses and downfall reflected the then-waning 1947 Saturn-Pluto cycle (which entered its 3rd quarter in October, 1973), and today we're dealing with the subsequent (1982) Saturn-Pluto cycle waning, this one approaching its completion in January, 2020, a mere 5°+ degrees from our Sibly radix Pluto in late Capricorn. (For more on the Saturn-Pluto cycle, see here).
Trump's chart is certainly being impacted by this cycle, with the new one perfecting opposite his Cancer Saturn-Venus in the coming year. He's more defensive than ever these days, shielding himself more closely than ever from those who oppose him on immigration and foreign policy. This week he's avoided NATO allies at the Munich Security Conference, and his absence (he's on golf holiday at Mar-O-Lago) is being seriously noted. A cadre from Congress attended, trying to shore up our alliances, but they're not likely to make up the difference. This shouldn't be happening: Congress is trying to play executive-stand-in on foreign policy matters, and Trump is usurping Congress's power of the purse. Co-equal branches?
Protecting ideals was Don Quixote's true quest.
For their part, our European allies are very anxious about Trump's pulling out of the Iran Nuclear Deal, about the Trump administration telling them to stop dealing with Iran (the U.S. was only one of several signatories on that deal), and about Trump's unilateral decision to pull out of the INF nuclear arms treaty with Russia, which gives Putin effective free rein to develop new weapons and point them at Europe. Trump can't have his alliances and destroy them too, as much as he enjoys being ambiguous. From the NYTimes.com:
"But in the last few days of a prestigious annual security conference in Munich, the rift between Europe and the Trump administration became open, angry and concrete, diplomats and analysts say.
A senior German official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on such matters, shrugged his shoulders and said: "No one any longer believes that Trump cares about the views or interests of the allies. It's broken."
The most immediate danger, diplomats and intelligence officials warned, is that the trans-Atlantic fissures now risk being exploited by Russia and China."
The fact is, Trump finds himself in comfortable company with a worldwide "club" of right-wing leaders who rode to power in the past decade on the back of a populist, anti-immigrant, anti-alliance wave, and NATO is just another convenient foil for him. Immigrants and global "elites" are the looming windmill "ogres" in Trump's mind, and these fears resonated with just enough people in this nation to put him (with Russian assistance, it seems) in the White House. We have to wonder how much damage he's willing to do to our standing in the world to and our constitutional democracy to get what he wants.
Undermining the government seems to be a personal quest for Trump, in fact: if we look back, the government and the intellectuals who defend its underlying ideals have always been problematic for Trump and his family's real estate empire. From losing serious civil rights abuse cases against them in the 1970s to being slapped with multiple law suits alleging his businesses are profiting from the presidency by violating the Emoluments Clause and other laws today, Trump has frequently been at odds with the law, and it's always his family business that's somehow at stake.
Perhaps it will help to view his wall-related actions through that same lens? Trump has often crowed about how building this wall out of steel would be a boon for the U.S. steel industry, but it's more likely to be a logistical nightmare that will cost far more than the $8 billion he plans to grab with his emergency declaration. It will also take decades to build. So what's in this for Trump and/or his family? Even if there's absolutely nothing in it for them, we see how intent Trump is on having the power to channel public monies in a direction of his choosing for a very long time. That desire alone should raise questions.
The morning talk shows on Sunday were abuzz with Trump's declaration, of course, with Republican interviewees bending themselves into pretzels to dispute the wisdom and constitutional propriety of Trump's move, but to still somehow support it. Trump's setting a dangerous precedent for some of them, but…there's always a twist, and the twists basically enable Trump's executive overreach.
The GOP (including Trump) was apoplectic when Obama—in their view—overreached by instituting the DACA program by Executive order. The same concerns never apply to Trump, however.
From Orson Welles' unfinished film.
So we can anticipate that any time Trump doesn't get what he wants from Congress, he'll find a go-around. We know he has authoritarian tendencies, but he could not diminish congressional power without the collusion of key members there—and possibly from the judicial branch. If Trump's disturbing press conference "rap" is any sign, he's counting on a compliant Supreme Court. More on this ahead.
Importantly, all of this seems to be an exercise in framing the issue of immigration—as either an "invasion of criminals" (Trump/his base) or as an important call for comprehensive immigration reform and border security (Dems and many Republicans). Trump's claim that there's a humanitarian emergency at the border is easily deflated by pointing out how his administration's "Zero Tolerance" policies helped create that crisis, especially by detaining asylum-seeking children and families.
So, let's examine the astrology of a couple key individuals who could seriously impact Trump's pet project one way or the other. It's widely held that Trump could have done none of this without being enabled by Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, so let's start there. Once firmly opposed to an emergency declaration, McConnell stood at the podium on Valentine's Day to announce Trump's plan to sign the latest funding bill (thus avoiding shutdown #2), and to say that Trump would simultaneously declare an emergency to secure the funding he wants for the wall…and by the way, he (McConnell) would be supporting that declaration.
Don Quixote's universal themes never get old, but what happens when they go toxic?
This, of course, was McConnell's signal to other Republicans that they should fall in line behind him, despite any and all reservations. A NYTimes.com opinion piece points out the depth of McConnell's capitulation:
"This display of obedience from the leader of a supposedly coequal branch of government is shocking only if you ever believed Mr. McConnell was an institutionalist. But his defining characteristic has always been his willingness to do anything and sacrifice any principle to amass power for himself. What separates him from the garden-variety politicians — what makes him a radical — are the lengths he is willing to go. Seeing this with clarity should help us grasp the danger to which he is subjecting the Senate — and, more important, our democracy."
So what was happening with McConnell on February 14th, as he handed Trump the Senate's independence on a silver platter? His birth information below is provided by Wikipedia.com, no birth time known.
Biwheel #1: (inner wheel) Natal, Mitch McConnell, February 20, 1942,12:00 p.m. War Time (noon, no time available), Sheffield, Alabama; (outer wheel) McConnell statement, February 15, 2019, 12:00 p.m. (no exact time known), Washington, D.C. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Interchart T-Square: McConnell Saturn-Uranus (Taurus) opposes McConnell Juno (Scorpio); this axis squares Statement Sun (Aquarius). It's very interesting that this Sun also conjoins Sibly Moon (chart not shown)—McConnell stood at that podium on a day in which the American people were emotionally attuned to what was going on in D.C., greatly anticipating Trump's use (or abuse) of presidential emergency powers. McConnell appeared almost shell-shocked as he stood there—he cuts a slight figure as it is, but his body language reflected the capitulation contained in his announcement.
In the last post here I discussed McConnell's personal dilemma, being married to one of Trump's Cabinet members (Elaine Chao, Dept. of Transportation)—that dilemma is illustrated clearly in this tense fixed t-square, with McConnell's Juno playing the role of wife here.
The bully knows his prey.
McConnell undoubtedly weighed the consequences of not supporting Trump (this Aquarius Sun exactly opposes Trump's natal Mars-ASC in Leo as well)—chart not shown—and found the potential losses too much to risk. Would he lose powerful campaign donors and/or voters if he stood up to Trump? Perhaps, but just maybe Trump's belligerent Leo points falling square McConnell's Saturn-Venus feels too intimidating for McConnell, and Trump senses this (the bully knows his prey).
McConnell would risk his job—his institutional power (Saturn-Uranus) and perhaps even his family's material well-being (Taurus). McConnell's Venus (Aquarius) falls in mutual reception with his Uranus (Taurus), with Venus trine his Jupiter (Gemini): it's usually much easier for him to act "on principle" without endangering his own interests; perhaps he's not used to making such hard choices.
Especially with Trump's Mars-ASC assaulting his authority and independence, McConnell finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Unfortunately, his paralysis and personal capitulation threatens to ripple out to include Congress, sacrificing its status as a co-equal branch of government.
Interchart T-Square: McConnell Venus (Aquarius) opposes McConnell Pluto (Leo); this axis squares Statement Mars conjunct Uranus (Taurus-Aries). It's possible that McConnell's Moon is tied into all this in early Taurus (no birth time, but the Moon traversed 28°+Aries to 10°+Taurus that day), but even without that emotional investment, McConnell is naturally equipped to pursue and handle power; he values the power he wields, which is why his present predicament is so difficult. He appears to be faced with no-win choices offered to him by unpredictable, but immoveable forces.
When Uranus moves into Taurus shortly, this sense will be heightened further; along with Mars it already falls semi-sextile his Sun (Pisces), no doubt producing some frustration and anxiety. He's capable of "reading" a room (intuitive Pisces), and the position or "room" he's stuck in at this juncture feels threatening.
Sancho & the Don ride their trusty (wooden) steed, Clavileno.
Interchart Yod: Statement Venus conjoins Saturn (Capricorn) and both quincunx McConnell Jupiter and McConnell Chiron (Leo); Statement Venus-Saturn trine McConnell No. Node (Virgo), while Statement Neptune opposes the same point. These aspects signal that McConnell is experiencing fated times: his ego is being seriously challenged, and it's likely that old wounds (Chiron) have been reopened. The Yod puts him in yet another dilemma—one in which the rewards for his efforts may or may not be forthcoming. Statement Venus-Saturn also semi-sextile his natal Mercury (Aquarius), reinforcing the anxiety surrounding issues of power and position (his Saturn-Uranus dispose Aquarius).
We might suspect there's a financial dimension to his anxieties also—it would help to know which planets rule his 2nd-8th axis.
Statement Pluto (Capricorn) figures into all this through its proximity to Statement Saturn (there's that critical cycle discussed earlier), but especially its trine to McConnell Mars-Saturn-Uranus (Taurus). Despite the risks and uncertain rewards, McConnell isn't likely to back down from exercising his authority and position at this time. This is reinforced by his Progressed Sun's position at 17°+Taurus, moving to conjoin his natal Taurus planets. Statement Saturn-Pluto now trine that Progressed Sun, reflecting the critical, heavy role he is playing in this institutional drama.
Whatever we think of him, it does appear that McConnell could choose to stiffen his backbone and work to strengthen, rather than diminish Congress, despite Trump's efforts otherwise (Statement Venus also opposes Sibly Sun and squares Sibly Saturn—chart not shown). McConnell may even have the planetary support he needs to prevail over Trump's excesses, especially once he musters the willpower (Mars) to do so. (That's assuming he wants to prevail).
Whereas Trump's Saturn-Venus conjunction is being opposed by transiting Saturn-Pluto, McConnell is enjoying a nice trine to personally-connected outer planets Saturn-Uranus. This is a truly interesting example of ways in which the personal and the collective dimensions of a person's life can overlap and play off each other!
Interchart T-Square: Statement Neptune-McConnell So. Node (Pisces) oppose McConnell No. Node (Virgo); this axis squares McConnell Jupiter (Gemini). Statement Jupiter (Sagittarius) squares Statement Neptune (Pisces). It's also notable that Statement Mercury conjoins Statement Neptune in Pisces and squares McConnell Jupiter (Gemini) as well: telling the truth from fiction is a veritable impossibility, as there's some "impossible dream" clouding not only McConnell's gaze, but D.C. thinking in general. Neptune transits to personal points can be confusing and undermining: it's not difficult to see how McConnell's inability (or unwillingness) to stand up to Trump will undermine his legacy (Nodal axis).
With Neptune square to his Jupiter, McConnell may also be acting out of false confidence that Trump has his back, a delusion that could be easily dashed. Is he so focused on the "trees" of his own ambitions that he misses the "forest" of a constitutional crisis that he is enabling?
Clearly, we could dig further into all this, but let's move on to a key individual in this developing constitutional crisis—Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. As we heard from Trump himself, he expects the inevitable legal challenges to his declaration to reach the Supreme Court in due course, and he expects to win in that Court. Roberts has proven to be capable of standing against the prevailing winds when the case merits such resistance (i.e., to legitimize gay marriage as a matter of civil rights, to support Roe v. Wade as settled precedent, etc.), so he's a bit of a wild card in this new "emergency" scenario. We won't be able to predict actual votes by Roberts, but perhaps we can get a sense of how he will stand up to the challenge.
Roberts' birth time is unknown—the other birth information below is provided by Wikipedia.com—so we won't be able to say anything about house placements or angles.
Biwheel #2: (inner wheel) John Roberts (Supreme Court Chief Justice), January 27, 1955, 12:00 p.m. ST (noon, no time known), Buffalo, NY; (outer wheel) McConnell statement, February 15, 2019, 12:00 p.m. (no exact time known), Washington, D.C. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node.
Interchart T-Square: Statement Sun (Aquarius) conjoins Roberts Mercury (Aquarius) and opposes Roberts Pluto (Leo); this axis squares Roberts Saturn (Scorpio). The Sun is triggering Roberts' natal Mercury-Pluto opposition, in other words, which seems about right under the circumstances. His concepts of Right Power and Authority—both personal and governmental—are now being challenged by McConnell's capitulation to Trump over a specious "emergency."
Adding vigor and an ambitious edge to the mix is Roberts' dignified Mars (Aries), co-disposing natal Saturn (Scorpio) with his Pluto (Leo). It's likely that Roberts' fixed core (Sun, Mercury, Saturn in fixed signs) is up to the challenge of defending the integrity of the Court, but there are other pressure points in his chart that are less reassuring.
Interchart Grand Square: Statement Pluto-So. Node (Capricorn) opposes Roberts Jupiter-Uranus-Statement No. Node (Cancer); this axis squares Statement Uranus-Mars (Aries-Taurus) opposite Roberts Neptune (Libra). Roberts' natural conservative leanings can be seen in this powerful Jupiter-Uranus conjunction—like most "limited government" advocates, he doesn't welcome constraints on ambition (i.e., regulations, etc.) but his record (so far) of upholding the Affordable Care Act and Roe v. Wade suggests that he could be counted on to carefully weigh the merits of a case rather than to react from a knee-jerk conservative impulse.
The squares to Robert's Neptune (Libra) suggest that his ideals and inner conviction are being seriously tested—Saturn (Capricorn) will be transiting square this point as well over the course of 2019.
In fact, Roberts demonstrated his dis-ease with purely partisan votes earlier this month by voting with the liberal justices to temporarily block a recent Louisiana law that would seriously restrict access to abortion. Adam Liptak's comment in the NYTimes on Roberts' move is relevant here:
"The seeming inconsistency is the result of competing impulses. Chief Justice Roberts is a product of the conservative legal movement, and his general approach is to lean right. But he is also an institutionalist and a guardian of his court's legitimacy, meaning he wants to make modest and deliberate moves."
This observation begs the question of how far Roberts can be pushed at any given time in either right or left directions, but in January we got a sense of his limits. After Trump had repeatedly bashed the court system because it hasn't given him carte blanche to essentially gut both legal and illegal immigration, Roberts finally spoke out. From The Atlantic:
"'We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,' Roberts said. "What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. The independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.'
Trump replied via, of course, Twitter. 'Sorry Chief Justice Roberts, but you do indeed have 'Obama judges,' and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country.' Trump went on to deny that the Ninth Circuit represented 'an independent judiciary.'
Trump is right, of course, that there are 'Obama judges.' Roberts himself, like Alito, is a 'Bush judge'—and the justices who elevated George W. Bush to the presidency were 'Reagan judges' and 'Nixon judges.' Roberts knows this. But what surely alarms him is that Trump's politicization of the judiciary—like his politicization of the FBI and the CIA and the Justice Department and various other independent American institutions—threatens its legitimacy."
Perhaps the defensive posture we see here in Roberts' comments will bode well for any confrontation over the border wall "emergency." If Roberts is indeed an institutionalist, perhaps he will care about Congress being undermined and delegitimized as well.
Artist Marcel Janco captures the Sagittarian thrust of Quixote's ideals.
Even so, Trump excels at finding chinks in our constitutional armor--his Sagittarian full Moon, trine Leo Mars-ASC (chart not shown) seems to pierce others' defenses with ease. Besides, the Cosmos isn't being entirely helpful at this time, either, so there's reason for concern. Specifically:
Statement Neptune conjoins Statement Mercury (Pisces) and squares Roberts Venus-Pallas (Sagittarius); this Neptune also forms a water grand trine with Roberts Jupiter (Cancer) and Saturn (Scorpio), as it sextiles Statement Venus-Saturn (Capricorn). Multiple lines of influence for Neptune are potentially troubling here; has there ever been a time when the Supreme Court and the nation-at-large needed to act more rationally, on the basis of facts, setting aside fears and insecurities and maintaining integrity? Unfortunately, we're likely to find that Neptune clouds and distorts that clear-minded purposefulness, especially linked to Mercury as it is here.
Equally concerning is that Statement Neptune could influence Roberts' sense of justice (Pallas) and his ability to confront an overwhelming "trend" (grand trine) towards capitulation and surrender.
This Neptunian energy could be put to better use, of course, to heighten and support the ideals underlying Roberts' actions (perhaps defending the Constitution in the process). Roberts Venus (Sagittarius) involvement here could also play out in different ways: Roberts may not be swayed one way or another by financial pressure, but temptations may abound. This is reinforced by Statement Jupiter (Sagittarius) closely conjunct his Venus.
As noted earlier, we can't know the exact position of Roberts' Pisces Moon without a birth time, but we can tell that the Moon traversed 15°+-28°+ Pisces that day, so it's highly likely that he has some emotional investment in Trump's end run around Congress and McConnell's capitulation.
So Statement Jupiter squares Roberts Moon one way or another—within a wide orb at the extremes of the day—and it's quite possible that Statement Neptune conjoins Roberts Moon. If so, the cardinal grand square described above takes on new, emotional intensity because his Jupiter and Uranus are disposed by that Moon.
Bottom line, Trump has continually vilified the Courts since day one of his administration, and this kind of intimidation has a way of eroding the confidence and resolve of its targets (Neptune acts like the stream of water that wears holes in mountains over time, and that could be exacerbated by the grand trine). If Trump's ultimate aim is to wear down or blur and co-opt the constitutional power of the co-equal branches of government, Neptune is his perfect "Sancho Panza" sidekick. Sancho's loyalty to and hope for a reward from his Don led him to basically set aside his pragmatic realism just enough to participate in the Don's illusionary "quest."
Of the two individuals we've considered here, I'd probably hand the "Sancho Panza" award to Mitch McConnell for his consistent habit of deferring to Trump on all matters—especially for refusing to allow bills from the House on the floor of the Senate unless he knows Trump will sign them. This is a tactic he shamelessly employed during the 35-day shutdown, and that episode triggered calls for his resignation (ignored), but he hung in there anyway.
Faced with another shutdown dilemma, McConnell surrendered Congressional powers to Trump, with no argument and no resistance.
Was McConnell making some grand bargain to avert yet another shutdown, or simply enabling Trump's quest to control his own funding because he couldn't see another way forward? If Trump is given free rein financially on the issue of a wall, what will stop him when he wants to fund any other pet project?
It's possible that Chief Justice Roberts and the Supreme Court won't get drawn into the legal battle over Trump's emergency for some time yet—the further out the better—but we would be naïve to think he won't be pressured by Trump and company in the interim. My hope is that Roberts' chart will be less under siege by Neptune whenever he's forced to weigh in on this issue. Left to his demonstrated judicial impulses, he seems capable of a decision that will preserve both congressional and judicial independence from the executive.
Clearly, we've been going through an extraordinary attempt to divide and conquer the essential institutions within our democracy—what Trump an Steve Bannon call the "Deep State"—and for what it's worth, Trump's "emergency" declaration has brought the dangers of that assault into full view so we can deal with them. Protests against the emergency declaration have broken out across the nation, legal challenges are mounting, and the more the better. We might even be grateful for the visibility of this challenge—so much of the damage that's been done in the past two years has happened behind closed doors, with our attention deflected elsewhere.
The cosmic timing for a descent into this kind of darkness is perfect, of course—as Pluto inches its way towards its return position in our Sibly chart. In the 1760s and 70s (Pluto's last tour in Capricorn), "Mad" King George III's tyranny became progressively more vicious and oppressive, but it had to be viscerally felt by American colonists in the Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770) before they could be inspired to drop their internal squabbles for the sake of something bigger. There are some eerie echoes between the chart for that day and what we're living through today—no doubt, we haven't felt the last of them!
The big question is: how toxic and how low will we need to go this time around?
When the Quixotic goes toxic, what's next?
When Quixotic turns toxic: the astrological Windmi...


text:
Apple Opposes Order to Unlock San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone
In an open letter, CEO Tim Cook called the government's demands "chilling."
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Apple has responded to a court ruling that it must help the FBI break into an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino, Calif., shooters.
On Tuesday, a judge in the Federal District Court for the District of Central California ordered Apple to assist the FBI in disabling security features on an iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who was killed along with his wife after shooting his co-workers at the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. The FBI recovered the iPhone following the attack, which resulted in 14 deaths.
CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday morning posted an open letter on the Apple website opposing the order.
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"We have great respect for the professionals at the FBI, and we believe their intentions are good," Cook writes. "Up to this point, we have done everything that is both within our power and within the law to help them. But now the U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone."
He goes on to explain that the FBI has asked Apple to "make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features" to install on the iPhone recovered during its investigation of the San Bernardino shooting.
"Building a version of the iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor," Cook adds. "And while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control."
Cook acknowledges the attacks in his letter. "We were shocked and outraged by the deadly act of terrorism in San Bernardino last December," he writes. "We mourn the loss of life and want justice for all those whose lives were affected. The FBI asked us for help in the days following the attack, and we have worked hard to support the government's efforts to solve this horrible crime. We have no sympathy for terrorists."
He continues: "When the FBI has requested data that's in our possession, we have provided it. Apple complies with valid subpoenas and search warrants, as we have in the San Bernardino case. We have also made Apple engineers available to advise the FBI, and we've offered our best ideas on a number of investigative options at their disposal."


Over the term 3 school holidays (29th Sep- 14th Oct 2018) we have a few changes to the regular timetable. These only affect Sunday classes, Wednesday class will run as per normal.
Previous Previous post: Pop up parkour at Newcastle Station!


Proposed legislation in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul envisages the installation of pesticide deposit storage facilities "regardless of the distance of residences and commercial, rural industrial or urban centres". State MP Marlon Santos has issued draft bill PL 154/2014, which is being considered by the Justice and Constitution Committee. The bill follows the withdrawal of similar proposals last year, and in the opinion of the proposer is "more comprehensive". The focus is on empty pesticide containers, the storage of which requires inspection, the MP says. Current rules stipulate a minimum distance of 30 m to such centres and residences, which critics argue impacts small-scale businesses.