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Korita () falu Horvátországban, Dubrovnik-Neretva megyében. Közigazgatásilag Mljethez tartozik.

Fekvése
Dubrovnik városától légvonalban 32 km-re északnyugatra, községközpontjától légvonalban 13, közúton 18 km-re keletre, Mljet szigetének keleti részén található.

Története
Korita területe ősidők óta lakott. Az itt élt első ismert nép az illírek voltak, akik az i. e. 2. évezredtől fogva éltek itt magaslatokon épített erődített településeken és kövekből rakott halomsírokba temetkeztek. Halomsírjaik megtalálhatók a település határában a Zaplataće nevű helyen. Az illírek i. e. 35-ig uralták a térséget, amikor Octavianus hadai végső győzelmet arattak felettük. A mai település határában az 1. században Zara néven római kolónia volt. A "Miri" és "Crkvine" nevű helyen az 5. században ókeresztény bazilika állt, melyet valószínűleg Szent Pál apostol tiszteletére szenteltek. A Nyugatrómai Birodalom bukása után 493-tól a keleti gótok uralták a szigetet. 535-ben Mljet Dalmáciával együtt a Bizánci Császárság uralma alá került.

A horvátok ősei a 7. században érkeztek Dalmáciába és csakhamar megalapították első településeiket Mljet szigetén is. Korita akkor keletkezett, amikor a középkori Žare lakói a kalóztámadások hatására a tengerpartról egy néhány kilométerrel nyugatabbra fekvő, a környező hegyek által jól védett völgyben telepedtek meg. Az új település már akkor a Korita (korito = teknő, vályú) nevet viselte. Első írásos említése 1474-ben egy panaszlevélben történt, melyben lakói a mljeti kancellárián panaszkodnak különböző emberekre, akik károkat okoztak Koritán. A panaszlevélben a helyiek még mindig "ljudima iz Žare" azaz žarei embereknek nevezik magukat. Egy másik bizonyíték arra, hogy a žaraiak és a koritaiak között nem tettek különbséget egy 1502-ből származó okiratban található, amikor Korita falu választott képviselőit "čovjeka iz Žare", azaz žarei embereknek nevezik.

A 17. és a 18. században Korita szép, városias településsé fejlődött. Ebben az időben, különösen az 1667-es pusztító raguzai földrengés után gazdag raguzai családok települtek Koritára, akik a raguzai otthonaikhoz hasonló szép polgárházakat építettek ide. Ebben az időben a raguzai klarisszáknak is volt rendházuk a településen, míg a raguzai ferencesek kolostort és Szent Márk tiszteletére templomot építettek. A helyi lakosság lassan, de biztosan urbanizálódott és Korita kisvárosi jelleget öltött. A közeli öbölben haltárolót, halboltot és kis kikötőt építettek, ahonnan a halat Raguzába, Bariba és Brindisibe szállították. A Mljeti-csatorna forgalmának ellenőrzésére tornyot építettek. Koritán építették fel a raguzaiak a karantént, ahova a járvány sújtotta területekről érkezőket elhelyezték. 1770 után a halászat, a kereskedelem és a tengerészet visszaesése miatt szegénység köszöntött Koritára és családjaira. A század végére Korita kisvárosból elhagyatott faluvá vált.

1806-ban a sziget Dalmáciával együtt a Raguzai Köztársaságot legyőző franciák uralma alá került, de Napóleon bukása után 1815-ben a berlini kongresszus Dalmáciával együtt a Habsburgoknak ítélte. A településnek 1857-ben 135, 1910-ben 153 lakosa volt. 1918-ban az új szerb-horvát-szlovén állam, majd később Jugoszlávia része lett. A település 1991-től a független Horvátországhoz tartozik. 2011-ben 46 lakosa volt. Lakói főként mezőgazdasággal foglalkoznak.

Népesség

Nevezetességei
A Kaštio a település őrtornya volt, mely a Mljeti-csatorna forgalmának ellenőrzésére a 17. században épült a településen kívül, a Prijevor nevű völgy északi részén, a Szent Vid-templom közelében. A téglalap alakú, ma egyszerűnek tűnő kőépület, amelynek kapuja a nyugati oldalon helyezkedik el, a környező terep szintjétől magasabban. Mára már elvesztette egykor meglévő erődítéseit, mert a 19. században tető ráépítésével gazdasági épületté alakították át. Ma is teljes magasságban áll, bár tetőzete nagyrészt beomlott.
A Gospa od brijega templom a település felett délnyugatról emelkedő dombon, a Maranovići felé menő út mellett áll. Eredetileg reneszánsz stílusú volt, de barokk stílusban építették át. Hosszúkás alaprajzú épület, téglalap alakú apszissal, dongaboltozattal és nyeregtetővel, a homlokzat előtt tágas tornáccal rendelkezik. A 16. század elejéig a templom Mljet-sziget keleti részének plébániatemploma volt. A levéltárban található kataszteri térképeken a templom az Angyali Üdvözlet titulust viseli. A fennmaradt építészeti elemek szerint kijelenthető, hogy reneszánsz eredetű, alapos barokk átépítéssel.
A Szent Vid templomot 1488-ban említik először. A templom gótikus-reneszánsz stílusban épült, de a 19. században jelentősen bővítették. Új előcsarnokot, ablakokat és harangtornyot kapott. Körülötte található a falu temetője. 1694 és 1769 között plébániatemplom volt, de ekkor a plébánia központját a szomszédos Maranovićibe helyezték át. Fából faragott barokk oltára 1677-ben készült.
A Szent Illés kápolna a településtől nyugatra levő magaslaton áll. A 16. században építették, 1992-ben megújították.
A Szent Péter és Pál templom maradványai Crkvinán
Zaplataće ókori halomsírok
Ókori hajóroncs a Maharac-foknál
Miri ókori régészeti lelőhely
Víz alatti régészeti lelőhely a Veli školj-sziget mellett

Gazdaság
A múltban Korita gazdag település volt fejlett halászattal, szőlő és olajbogyó termesztéssel, lakói áruikat főként a közeli Dubrovnikban értékesítették. Később a gazdaság visszaesett, néhány termelési ág teljesen megszűnt. A lakosság ma főként mezőgazdasággal foglalkozik.

Galéria

Jegyzetek

Források
Mljet község turisztikai irodájának honlapja
A dubrovniki püspökség honlapja – Župa sv. Antuna opata Maranovići
Registar kulturnih dobara DNŽ Dubrovnik, 2017.

További információk
Mljet község hivatalos oldala
Utazasvideo.com:Mljet-sziget
Auf der insel Mljet Korita und die alte ölmühle

Fordítás

Dubrovnik-Neretva megye települései


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White House reportedly pushed CDC hard to fall in line on sending kids to school, sought alternate safety data
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began working in early summer on guidance for
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began working in early summer on guidance for sending children back to school, and the White House then "spent weeks trying to press public health professionals to fall in line with President Trump's election-year agenda of pushing to reopen schools and the economy as quickly as possible," The New York Times reported Monday night, citing documents and interviews with current and former government officials.
This "strikingly political intervention in one of the most sensitive public health debates of the pandemic" included searching for "alternate data" that suggested children were at little or no risk from the coronavirus, the Times reports, and trying to swap in guidance from a little-known Health and Human Services Department agency, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
SAMHSA was focused on the emotional and mental health toll remote school could have on children, but CDC scientists found multiple problems with the agency's assertion that COVID-19 posed a low health and transmission risk for children. That's the language the White House was most interested in, though, and throughout the summer the CDC won some battles and lost others trying to keep it out of public guidance, the Times documents.
Olivia Troye, one of Vice President Mike Pence's envoys on the White House coronavirus task force until leaving the administration in July, told the Times she regrets being "complicit" in the effort to pressure the CDC to make children look safer than the data supported. She said when she tried to shield the CDC, Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, charged "more junior staff" to "develop charts" for White House briefings.
In early July, several prominent medical groups, including the American Association of Pediatrics, advised sending kids back to school with stringent safety measures, in part because the data at the time suggested lower risk for kids. "More recently, data compiled by the academy from recent months shows that hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus have increased at a faster rate in children and teenagers than among the general public," the Times reports. Read more at The New York Times.
More stories from theweek.com
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Tags: alternate, CDC, Data, Fall, hard, house, kids, line, pushed, reportedly, safety, school, sending, sought, white
Previous Covid-19 News: Live Updates – The New York Times
Next Editorial: We recommend Sri Preston Kulkarni for U.S. House District 22

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Nissan Murano: C&D Review
The 2002 Car and Driver New-Car Guide helped welcome six new sport-utility vehicles into an already crowded market. This year's guide features more than double that number of new kids on the trendiest block in Truckville, U.S.A. Most of them are trying desperately to conform to the latest mode of fashion: the car/truck-hybrid vehicle-for-all-seasons-and-all-reasons "crossover ute." Like all the car/boat and car/plane concepts that have been attempted in the past century, car/trucks tend to be rather unconvincing as either cars or trucks, at least from the standpoint of car enthusiasts.
Nissan Murano SL AWD
Highs: V-8 verve on a V-6 budget, BMW handling, daring styling that works.
Lows: Ride tiptoes the line between firm and harsh.
The Verdict: A great truck for the car nut who needs an 82-cubic-foot trunk.
And so it is with increasing ennui and eye rolling that we, your faithful reporters on all things automotive, accept the assignment to cover the optimistic launch of yet another of these omni-use active-lifestyle beasts. But occasionally an automaker surprises us by straying from the everything-for-everybody formula and builds a genuine individual. Isuzu's VehiCROSS was a perfect example — as unique and freakish as Edward Scissorhands, and a hoot to drive. Hummer's extroverted H2 is another, perhaps too obvious, case in point. A much subtler but equally exceptional exemplar is the new Murano from Nissan.
A clear message is being sent by the edgy yet rounded styling themes of this SUV, with its vaguely shoelike profile and a tail end reminiscent of the funky fannies Renault is appending to its cars these days: This ain't no me-too truck. Measuring 187.6 inches long by 74.0 inches wide, it's big. Conformist competitors of this size accommodate three rows of seats, but Nissan chose instead to package first-class seating for five adults (reclining backrests and stretch-out legroom) under a lower, more stylish roofline than one finds on those suburban family buses. Even the interior styling goes its own way with real aluminum trim and various pods and modules that appear to float in space. It's kind of an '80s look — too recent to be retro, but reinterpreted just enough to look cool.
And if you think the body looks unique, wait till you put on your David Kimble X-ray glasses and feast your peepers on the Murano's drivetrain. Sandwiched between Nissan's increasingly ubiquitous 3.5-liter VQ V-6 and our test car's full-time all-wheel-drive system is a high-capacity, belt-driven Xtronic continuously variable transmission (see sidebar).
Why should the enthusiast care?
First and foremost because the infinite gear ratios of the transmission behave like two more cylinders when the hammer's down. In the unlikely event you haven't peeked already, check out the test results and the bar graph: 60 mph flashes by in 7.5 seconds, the quarter in 15.9 at 88 mph. Most sport-utes with scoot like that run V-8s. Brake-torque the Murano (its torque converter can handle this abuse as easily as a conventional tranny's can), then sidestep the brake, and off you go. At about 44 mph you reach the top of the 2.37:1 "first gear," after which the pulleys start changing diameter to maintain an engine speed of about 6250 rpm all the way to a 116-mph governed top speed.
There are other performance benefits, too, such as no hunting for gears when climbing long grades and ideally tailored engine braking for the downhill runs. Drop the hammer to overtake someone from a cruising speed, and you instantly get a step change to the ideal gear ratio for peak passing performance. Note that the Murano's 50-to-70-mph passing time of 5.1 seconds is 0.3 second quicker than that of our recent Lincoln Aviator (V-8 mated to a five-speed auto), which has a similar power-to-weight ratio.
Under all conditions short of wide-open throttle, the CVT increases the ratio to keep the engine operating at peak efficiency so that the Murano's V-6 turns 3 to 11 percent fewer engine revolutions per mile on the EPA fuel-economy test cycles than it would with a conventional four- or five-speed automatic. This results in an EPA rating of 20 mpg city and 24 or 25 mpg highway for AWD or front-drive — not bad for a two-ton truck. We averaged 18 mpg overall, 19 during the 900 miles before our test-track session. Our long-term Jeep Grand Cherokee and Mercury Mountaineer V-8s managed 16 and 17 mpg over 40,000 miles.
But the Murano's straight-line performance isn't its best attribute. What got us enthusing about this truck was its handling and braking. Based on a hugely modified Altima unit-body suspended by struts in front and multiple links in back and riding on standard 18-inch wheels shod in 235/65TR-18 Goodyear Eagle LS rubber, our test car grabbed the skidpad with 0.81 g of resolve and snaked through twists and turns (transmission selector in "S" for higher revs and more engine braking) with remarkable accuracy and minimal body roll or tire squeal. Its steering heft feels natural and predictable at all speeds and under varying corner loads. A well-placed dead pedal and a comfortably bolstered seat heighten the driver's feeling of control and encourage spirited driving. So do the brakes, 12-plus-inch manhole covers that can dissipate 70-mph momentum in 170 feet. Put simply, the Murano behaves like a BMW X5 that's been deeply discounted to just $30,339 ($1600 less with front-wheel drive).
All these stats are impressive for a truck, but they're generated at some cost. Ride quality on our base SL AWD model verged on flinty, raising concerns about the sport-tuned SE model ($800 more). Bumps and potholes set the interior furnishings to banging around in this prototype vehicle. These problems we expect will be rectified in production cars, but if the ride quality is representative, rattles and clangs are sure to develop over the long run. The Murano is rated to tow just 3500 pounds — impressive for a CVT but only entry level at best among mid-size SUVs.
And with just 7.0 inches of ground clearance, this is no gully runner. Despite a claimed approach angle of 28 degrees (equal to the Acura MDX's), our Murano was the only sport-ute on hand for our 5Best Trucks competition (see next month's issue) to grind its chin on our modest hill-climb event. The four-wheel-drive system works like the Volvo XC90's: The front wheels get all the twist until they slip, at which time up to 50 percent of the torque is routed aft to an electronically controlled clutch pack mounted to the rear differential. The driver can also lock this clutch manually below 19 mph via a switch on the center console, although mild tire crabbing occurs on hard pavement when it's locked.
Whatever the Murano lacks in do-everything capability, we don't miss at all. Heaven knows there are enough Jeeps, Hummers, and Rovers in the world to choke every rural rocky road with beltway-grade congestion. What the SUV landscape is short on is $30,000 BMW X5s — or was until now.
Behold the first belt-drive truck.
By now we're amply convinced that continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) can improve acceleration and fuel economy by optimally adjusting engine speeds and loads to driving conditions, permitting maximum acceleration at or near the power peak while cruising at higher load (lower rpm) for peak efficiency. But this is the first CVT with the torque capacity to work in a big SUV, at least in the U.S. Nissan does build a toroidal roller-type CVT in Japan called the Extroid, which can withstand 286 pound-feet. Unfortunately, this device can't tolerate the ultra-low temperatures encountered in America.
So how does the traditional Van Doorne-type push-belt Xtronic CVT, identical in concept to the tiny Subaru Justy's CVT that first arrived here in 1989, come by its newfound strength? The pulleys clamp the belt much more tightly, and they're hardened to withstand the added stress. A beefier belt uses individual steel plates that are 30 millimeters wide and are held together by twelve 0.2mm steel bands on each side instead of the nine used in Nissan's smaller CVT. The new belt's minimal running diameter is also increased, but the overall ratio spread is an impressive 5.40. That is considerably wider than the spreads offered by the Altima V-6's four-speed automatic and five-speed manual (4.04 and 4.09, respectively), although it trails the 6.04 ratio spread offered by the Audi CVT and the new ZF six-speed automatic.
A torque converter couples the CVT to the engine, but because of the high inertia of the belt and pulleys, it isn't needed to absorb drivetrain shock, so it can lock up at about 12 mph to further improve efficiency (most converters lock up at 30 mph), and its ultra-slim design is 23mm narrower than other Nissan converters of similar capacity.
Bottom line, the engineers at Jatco who developed Xtronic with Nissan claim a 14-percent improvement in acceleration and a 12-percent boost in EPA combined fuel economy relative to typical four- and five-speed automatics.
gavriil1 Feb 8, 2003


Social entrepreneurship company La Exclusiva has announced a new scheme which will enable home deliveries of food and groceries from Dia and La Plaza de Pia to rural communities in the Spanish province of Burgos. According to local sources, the service will be made available to communities which do not have shops or a supermarket and La Exclusiva plans to expand the operation to cover 120 towns and villages.
People living in the rural communities will be able to place their orders on the La Exclusiva website, or by phone, email or WhatsApp.


Each original piece is hand made using copper and brass sheet, wire and tubing. Pieces are colored using chemical patinas. Individual works are accented with glass and pieces of driftwood. Gary is learning metal crafting under the renowned Metal Artist, Bob Tomson. Commissions are welcome.
All images and works © copyright Gary D. Regner. All rights reserved.


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Scott Morrison's Liberal Secularism: is it a good or a bad idea?
Thursday, 4 April 2019 | Paul Tyson
Note: This is the second in a series on Scott Morrison's faith and politics by Paul Tyson. You can read the first article here.
As recent discussions in the Australian media have shown, different commentators come to remarkably different conclusions in their evaluation of the relationship between Mr Morrison's religion and his politics. This area is prone to vociferous 'go nowhere' disagreement because, I think, there are at least four different sets of underlying understandings of how religion and power should – and should not – be related within the Australian polity. If these underlying differences are not acknowledged people tend to talk past each other rather than to each other. So, using Mr Morrison as our catalyst, let us quickly unpack four different approaches to faith and politics.
Four approaches to faith and politics
Firstly, some people find Scott Morrison's religion, and its relation to his politics, sensible and largely admirable. Here, personal moral and religious conviction – particularly of a conservative Christian hue – is seen as a fine and attractive attribute for a political leader. These admirers also seem to accept the idea that the basic logic of contemporary political power in Australia is pragmatic, adaptive and firmly secular. And that this is a good thing. This stance is liberal, in that it is strongly committed to personal freedom in matters of faith and morality, and also pragmatic in relation to how power in the context of secular democratic government best works. Let us call this approach conservative liberal pragmatism.
A second group – typically less religiously inclined than the first group – may not care for Mr Morrison's personal religion, and may or may not like his policies. Yet they hold that every Australian's private religious convictions can be whatever they choose, provided they are kept discrete from public concerns. Practically, Mr Morrison maintains a strong separation between his own religion and his actual policies, so his religion is of no public interest. Even so, this stance may well concede that it is just smart political craft for the Prime Minister to harness the fact that he does have deep inner convictions when he promotes his policies to the electorate. So long as Mr Morrison only uses the form of personal conviction, and does not (in the final analysis) impose the substance of any particular personal conviction, all is well. This type of complete disinterest in Mr Morrison's religion is a secular pragmatist stance. This is a functionally materialist stance when it comes to public policy, even if people who hold this stance have private religious convictions.
To a third set of people, there seems to be a shocking dissonance between the hard-edged political pragmatism of Mr Morrison and at least some of the core moral commitments entailed in the teachings of Jesus. The fact that Mr Morrison publicly professes his personal fealty to the Lordship of Christ is what makes this apparent dissonance so jarring to this sort of person. This third category finds it problematic that Mr Morrison's claimed personal religious allegiance does not seem to bear on his policies. Mr Morrison's clean disconnection between his discretely personal moral and religious convictions and his active exercise of public power seems to strip the public square of all substantive moral commitments and remove from it any sort of transcendent horizon of higher meaning. People with this sort of angst are typically moral realists, as they do not think morality is simply a matter of private conviction, but a real feature of reality. Here, however incomplete our moral understanding is, there really are such things as right and wrong, and these moral realities are more fundamental than simply what works and what practically advances my own or my nation's competitive self-interest. Such people are often also theological realists who do not think we can reduce religion to being a merely human construction whose only proper sphere of operation is in the realm of private conviction. Theological realists believe that God is real, over and above religion itself, and that there is a divine standard of justice that stands above all human power. I will call this family of people theological moral realists.
A fourth group are agnostic or atheist moral realists. Whether morality and God have an origin beyond human subjectivity and religion, they either don't know or deny. But existentially they have an abiding commitment to public morality. Politics, as the art of seeking to build flourishing human communities defined by justice, goodness and universal dignity, is how these people understand what power in the public square is really all about. To this group, Mr Morrison's amoral pragmatism and his subjectively intense but publically irrelevant religion seem tied together. To this family of people – let us call them existential moral realists – our Prime Minister's faith and power setup fails to be genuinely morally serious, and smacks of politically manipulative hypocrisy. The 'realist' aspect of this sort of stance is every bit as serious about public moral reality as group three is, but they treat moral reality as a humanly originated and natural reality rather than a divinely originated reality.
It is clear that little resolution has yet been made between disagreeing commentators concerning the way Prime Minister Morrison's faith interfaces (or does not interface) with his politics. This is because such disagreement has not yet managed to cross the internal discourse boundaries of broadly pragmatist understandings of modern liberal secularism on the one hand, and broadly moral realist understanding of how power in the public square should operate on the other. Of course, bits of the four outlooks can be incoherently mingled within any one commentator, but until we recognise what the really hard underlying differences between pragmatists and moral realists are, and how those underlying differences impinge on the very hard problems of liberal democratic secularism, we are not going to get far.
In parenthesis, I think it is no accident that a man of strong personal faith is our current Prime Minister. In our day of very pragmatic, individual prosperity-focused, security-concerned and economico-centric political norms, it is almost necessary that we have leaders of sincere and strong personal conviction. Leaders of inner conviction can make our prevailing political norms at least functionally palatable to the polity. Non-religiously defined leaders are not at a hopeless disadvantage here, but I think we are going to see more leaders like Mr Morrison, not less, in the future. While I am in a parenthetical space I would also like to disclose my own stance on the substantive matters we are trying to discuss here: I am a theological moral realist.
Understanding Liberal Secularism
Let us take a quick plunge into the deep-water problems that I believe Mr Morrison's particular type of religiously inflected conviction pragmatism presents.
Liberal democratic secularism is a very complex political lifeform, produced by a range of historical contingencies and intellectual influences. It has many genuine virtues, but like every lifeworld shaping political framework, it is fraught with its own particular problems and its own distinctive self-destructive tendencies. If we want to protect what we value in liberal democratic secularism, we had better understand it well.
The first thing to note is that there is more than one type of liberal secularism and that all political lifeforms are constantly mutating. Luther's strongly theologically defined two-kingdom model of civic power is very different to Locke's conception of religious toleration. John Stuart Mill's conception of the absolute sovereignty of the private individual on all matters of meaningful belief and of the public arena being only concerned with utility is very different to Locke's vision of political life. John Dewey's translation of Mill into a strongly pragmatic ideology again shifts the ground in important regards on classical utilitarianism.
Shifting intellectual currents shape the way we think of faith and power, but so also do the ever-shifting contingencies of history. In recent times the post-war boom era in Australia (1949–1971) was a period of heavily state-funded infrastructure building, in an era heavily inflected with the tacit respectable cultural norms of broadly Christian morality. Things shifted strongly away from culturally Christian norms from 1964 as the Boomers came of age and left the churches in droves. The 1960s to the early 1980s was defined by broadly Progressive and Humanist conceptions of state-building, and an egalitarian and collective conception of the common wealth. This was then displaced, after Mr Fraser, by the rise of a politics more concerned with personal prosperity and economico-centric politics. In the passage from Mr Hawke to Mr Howard we saw the steady rise of the neoliberal security state focused on the promotion of private wealth and increasingly Hobbesian conceptions of absolute protective power. After a rapid succession of internally ousted prime ministers (and what does this signify other than a serious ambivalence about the goals of power themselves in our times?) the inner tensions of the pragmatic neoliberal security state profoundly situates our present understanding of the relationship between the private and the public spheres of life. This is the context in which we are now trying to think about morality, religion and power.
It should also be pointed out that undergirding the entire modern liberal trajectory is a somewhat Protestant rejection of the medieval integration of theology with public power. It is this drive to separate religious authority from civic power that has been the basic engine of modern liberalism. This has led to the pragmatic autonomy of political and commercial power from higher meaning in our times. And yet, a residual religious moral realism has never left Catholic social and political thinking even though it has undergone profound transitions over the past half a millennium and has many forms of expression today. Equally, theological moral realism for the public arena has never simply been a Catholic thing. Though I am Anglican, my own sympathies lie with Chesterton's distributism on matters of such public importance as economic morality.
The central point of the above very quick sketch of liberal secularism's intellectual, historical and religious histories is to underline the genuine complexity of the terrain. For this reason it is wrong to simply denounce an opponent in this arena by criteria they themselves have never accepted as valid. The problem of how to locate a viable relationship between personal moral conviction – often religiously grounded – and public power within secular liberal democracy is not at all simple.
The problem with Scott Morrison's Liberal Secularism
Let us now think more concretely about the relationship between pragmatic secular power, moral commitments and religious faith in the context of contemporary Australian politics. Prime Minister Morrison's distinctive approach to pragmatic liberal secularism highlights our present situation, so that will be the focus of my brief concluding comments. But I want to make it clear that I am not here interested in whether Mr Morrison himself has virtuous or reprehensible moral convictions, and I am not here concerned with whether his Pentecostal Christianity is an example of good or bad religion in the public arena. I want to push past those questions, important as I think they are, and try to get to the underlying hard problems of the relation of morality and religion to public power in our Neoliberal times.
Mr Morrison's militarised offshore indefinite detention regime is, by design, cruel and inhumane towards those asylum seekers who find themselves the object lessons that will deter prospective people smugglers and other would be 'illegal' arrival asylum seekers. This tough and unflinchingly enforced policy stance is a clear political winner for Mr Morrison, and gives his government the upper hand over the Opposition if they are not prepared to be as unbendingly boarder security focused as Mr Morrison is. This situation has a number of very significant features as regards the relationship between pragmatic political power and personal moral conviction in our democracy. But to better understand the moral significance of this situation I want to take us back to two other conservative politicians, Nick Greiner and John Howard.
Back in the early 1990s Nick Greiner delivered a Deakin Lecture titled 'Australian Liberalism in a Post-ideological Age'. This lecture pointed out that politics was no longer defined by inflexible commitments to political ideologies of the Left or Right. In the early 1990s, Mr Greiner assured us, government was firstly concerned with successful economic and social infrastructure management. Voters have little interest in political theory and just want to know which team of politicians will be best able to make Australians as individually wealthy and personally happy as is practically possible. We are now too mature and too sensible for dogmatic metaphysical commitments to political ideologies. This does not mean the older socialist and conservative ideological categories entirely disappear, but they are backgrounded to questions of successful economic management and are not treated as sacrosanct by politicians or voters any more. We have now entered a great and promising age of politically flexible economically focused pragmatism. This was a distinctly liberal era because the freedom of the private individual to pursue whatever legal approach to happiness and meaning they choose was really the only sacred ideal that survives in our post-ideological times.
In general terms, I think Mr Greiner accurately discerned the post-ideological norms of Australian political culture in the early 1990s. Under these conditions, securing economic prosperity for ideologically disinterested individual Australians, by whatever means worked, became the first concern of political policy. Until 9/11.
With the War On Terror, national security became as electorally important to Australians as personal wealth and private liberty. Under John Howard a renewed state-sanctioned commitment to the Anzac legend was strongly amped up, and a radical shift in post 1970s immigration policy was effected. The commitment to universal human rights as applied to boat arrival asylum seekers shown by Malcolm Fraser was radically revised under Mr Howard, and ultimately reversed under Mr Morrison.
By the time of Operation Sovereign Borders, the central political goals of good governance were wealth, security and private freedom. In moral terms, these goals are pretty selfish and prone to being savagely callous towards the poor and the alien. That is, they are not easy to promote to the electorate as good goals. So they need to be sold to us as practically necessary goals, and preferably sold to us by someone who can enable us to feel good about ourselves whilst pursuing the necessary hard line pathway of strong government. Scott Morrison was born for this moment.
It is no accident that the liberal secularism of Scott Morrison is religiously inflected and couched in the ethos of strong private moral conviction. But is this the best way of pursuing liberal secular democracy? And will we, at some point, have to choose between pragmatically pursing our own economic interests and security, and having a public political culture that is seriously morally concerned? Is pragmatism marketed to us with personal conviction actually compatible with any serious conception of public morality? Should a politician of personal religious faith be concerned about morally defined public goods? Does the public square need a careful yet serious integration of the moral realism of strong personal faith with the common good, within liberal secularism? Is liberal secularism itself facing some sort of fundamental moral crisis? These are the big questions Scott Morrison poses for us. They are not easy questions to answer. But there is a central problem we need to recognise and address before, I think, we will make any real progress towards viable answers to the above hard questions.
The underlying political difficulty for us in contemporary Australia is our determined refusal to face the incurable tension between individualistic wealth and safety-focused pragmatism on the one hand, and serious collectively concerned moral realism on the other. Religion, as always, is intimately enmeshed in the inherently complex relation of the responsibility of each individual to stand alone before God (and this supports a certain type of individualism) and the prophetic tradition advocating collective justice as a function of right worship (and this supports a certain type of moral collectivism). No-one expects contemporary Australian politics to abandon its modern commitment to giving secular political power full democratically accountable autonomy from ecclesial authority. And yet, pragmatism really does oppose moral realism and this is a genuine problem for theological realists who, in the final analysis, find the source of morality in God.
Wherever one stands on Mr Morrison's faith and his politics, unavoidably, there are demanding tensions that need to be carefully addressed concerning the way we as the polity of Australia think about power, faith and morality.
Paul Tyson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Queensland.
Janet Queay
April 25, 2019, 10:04PM
Thanks for a great article.
I'm very upset with Mr. Morrison calling himself a 'Christian' when he is so callous towards asylum seekers. I am involved with an organisation which attempts to support these people. Scott Morrison and others have caused these people so much pain that I can't imagine how he could associate himself with the person of Jesus. He is giving the real Jesus' followers a very bad name.
Andrew Kulikovsky
May 1, 2019, 12:52AM
Another article from Paul Tyson attacking the government's border protection policies.
In this one, Paul remotely psychoanalyses PM Morrison and concludes that he has a 'secular pragmatist' approach to faith and politics, because - in Paul's reckoning - 'Morrison maintains a strong separation between his own religion and his actual policies'.
But how can Paul really know the motivation behind Morrison's border protection policies?
Can Paul read his mind? I doubt Paul would claim such powers...
Has Paul interviewed or corresponded with him? His article does not mention such correspondence...
Has Paul read any considered writings or speeches by Morrison that address his motivations and influence of his faith? His article does not cite or quote any such writings or speeches...
So on what basis does Paul conclude that PM Morrison is a 'secular pragmatist'?
It appears that Paul believes his conclusion naturally follows because no Christian who allows their faith to influence their politics could support a 'militarised offshore indefinite detention regime' that is designed to be 'cruel and inhumane towards those asylum seekers who find themselves the object lessons [to deter] people smugglers'.
But are PM Morrison's border protection policies actually 'cruel and inhumane'? This is a factual question not a moral one.
Paul Tyson clearly believes they are - based on no actual hard evidence whatsoever.
PM Morrison and I think he is factually wrong, based on the government's own accounting and first hand testimony from journalists who have actually visited the off-shore detention centres and talked with the asylum seekers.
Rather than a serious analysis of the interaction between faith and politics, this article is nothing more than an expression of Paul's personal - and I would add 'uninformed' - opinion.
I would also add that it borders on being slanderous and a violation of the 9th commandment (Exodus 20:16).
Paul Tyson
May 2, 2019, 7:12AM
Dear Andrew
Thank you for your extensive comments. I will respond in this manner.
Every Australian government this century has successively out-done the previous government in abrogating our signed 1951 UNHCR Refugee Convention obligations to asylum seekers. Mr Morrison and Mr Dutton are the most recent Immigration Ministers, so in this trend, they are the worst. I am not making this up; this – alas – is simply an observation regarding Australian policy development.
You are probably aware that the Refugee Convention was drafted because Jews were turned away at borders during World War Two, many of whom subsequently died in Nazi death camps. Three central features of the responsibilities of signatories are these:
1. Not to hinder refugees from entering signatory nations to make asylum claims, however they arrive, and whether they have documents or not.
2. To treat asylum claimants with dignity and fairly examine their claims to see if they are genuine refugees.
3. To give citizen status to refugees.
We are now at a policy place where we do none of these things to irregular arrival claimants. Protecting the sovereignty of our borders against refugees and establishing indefinite off-shore detention centres is entirely contrary to the spirit and letter of the Refugee Convention that our nation is a signatory to.
Further, as a matter of border sovereignty, our governments have made 'stopping the boats' a military matter and it is now seditious for non-authorised personnel to find out what our government and private contractors are doing in off-shore indefinite detention centres. Our government thus carefully controls information about the way we treat asylum seekers, letting out enough information to make it clear that refugees will never be able to have their claim processed and will never be able to come to Australia, and that conditions are – at the very least – hopeless, and consistently unpleasant. These are not holiday camps.
Our governments also carefully de-humanise these asylum seekers so that images of separation and hopelessness do not become a PR problem domestically. It is also the case that Mr Morrison is very proud of his achievements of tough border protection policy resulting in stopping the boats. I cannot see why Mr Morrison does not simply withdraw Australia from the UNHCR Refugee convention if he is so determined not to follow any of its guidelines when it comes to boat arrival asylum seekers. Perhaps you think he should withdraw Australia from the Refugee Convention. But, against successive Australian government policy trends, I think we should repent and return to our UNHCR responsibilities. I think this is the only Christian direction. Our Lord, after all, was one of the outcast and oppressed of the world. 'As much as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.'.
Almost everything you have stated above is factually incorrect.
Firstly, the Refugee Convention was created to deal with the protection of European refugees in the *aftermath* of World War 2. Indeed, my own father and grandparents were among those refugees!
Secondly, relatively few Jewish refugees were "turned away at the borders." There were about 900 on board the St Louis who were refused entry, and 254 were subsequently killed during the Holocaust. By June 1939, there were around 300,000 applications for visas to US Consulates in Europe but the US was only willing to accept around 30,000. This was quite understandable at the time, since no country - even today - could handle a sudden in-flux of 300,000 people!
Thirdly, the 1951/1967 Refugee Convention is an international treaty, and like all international treaties - even those we have signed and ratified--are NOT BINDING on Australia unless they are incorporated into Commonwealth legislation that has been validly passed by both houses of Parliament and given Royal ascent by the GG. It is surprising how many people cannot or do not grasp this constitutional requirement! In the case of Australia, the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) sets out the extent to which the Refugee Convention applies. Have you read this Act?
Fourthly, the Refugee Convention and the relevant provisions of the Migration Act make it clear that protections afforded to refugees only apply to verified refugees with a well-founded fear of persecution. Just turning up at the border and claiming to be a refugee doesn't cut it! We know very well that the majority of boat arrival asylum seekers are not genuine refugees but mere economic migrants looking for a better life. The Refugee Convention does not apply to such people.
Fifthly, the Migration Act makes it clear that even for genuine refugees, if they can seek protection or live safely in a third country then they must do so in preference to seeking residence in Australia. We know very well that asylum seekers from the middle east pass through several safe countries before arriving in Australia and many have lived in Indonesia for several years, even running businesses there!
Sixthly, your claim that "it is now seditious for non-authorised personnel to find out what our government and private contractors are doing in off-shore indefinite detention centres" is incorrect and slanderous. For a start, they are 'Regional Processing Centres', not indefinite detention centres. The Nauru and Manus Island centres are located in foreign countries. Australia does not control access to them. You can visit them by applying to the governments of those nations. Several Australian journalists have done so and reported on it, which is why I know your claims are baseless and untrue.
BTW, stopping boats has ALWAYS been a military matter! Protecting Australia's maritime borders is one of the primary objectives of the Australian Navy. It is just that under Morrison and Dutton, the Navy is actually enforcing the law instead of merely providing an escort for illegal maritime vessels.
No, the government is not de-humanising asylum seekers. The government has stopped the people smugglers from de-humanising asylum seekers. The people smugglers have de-humanised them by treating them as mere economic units to be crowded on to an unseaworthy vessel that is very likely to sink! We know that before Morrison shut down the people smugglers at least 1200 asylum seekers drowned, including many children! You can't get much more dehumanising than that!
Again, Australia is meeting all its Refugee Convention obligations as set out in the Migration Act, so your claim that the government is not following them is just false.
Yes, indeed, 'As much as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me' - but many of those asylum seekers are NOT the least of these... The least of these are more often than not left wallowing in UN refugee camps close to the place from which they fled, because they cannot afford the airfare to Indonesia or Malaysia, or to pay the people smugglers to ferry them to Australia...
May 5, 2019, 10:28PM
You force me to engage with you in a detailed manner. Very well.
To your first comment.
The article I wrote is centrally concerned with trying to understand the differences between pragmatic approaches to modern liberal secularism, and moral realist understandings of power and the public square. Because of this underlying difference in the way people understand faith, morality and power, there are at least two different ways of evaluation how leaders like Scott Morrison relate their faith to power. I want us to look at those underlying issues rather than simply assume that everyone sees faith and power the way we do. Strikingly, none of your comments show any interest in what my article is centrally about. For this reason I was initially uninclined to respond to your comments at all, as you have missed the point of my article, are determined to read my piece as a personal attack on Scott Morrison, and have set about defending him and Coalition border protection policy using my piece as a springboard.
Even so, I have indeed located Mr Morrison's border protection policies as a concrete illustration of how faith and power are pragmatically isolated from each other in his politics. By the way, I am not politically partisan on immigration and "border protection" policies, as ALP policy and initiatives on this front this century, are very hard to distinguish from the Coalition's. Yet as I did illustrate my argument via Mr Morrison's 'border protection' policy record, I thought it reasonable that I should make an effort to respond to you.
In your comment you take offense that I describe Mr Morrison as a secular pragmatist. But what is offensive about a Christian being a secular pragmatist? Here you confuse me. You seem to approve of Mr Morrison's electorally expedient use of indefinite off-shore detention, and his tough 'national security' motivated non-compliance with the UNHCR Refugee Convention, as if you yourself see nothing wrong with that sort of secular pragmatist approach. But then you are offended that this might be thought of as not a Christian or humanitarian stance, and you think if I was not so ignorant of the actual facts, I would see that this really is a Christian and humanitarian policy setting. It looks like you want to have your cake and eat it too. For seriously, Andrew, this is a very degrading policy game our governments are playing with very globally vulnerable people. Have a look at de Cryspigny's The People Smuggler, Behrouz Boochani's No friend but the mountains and repeated criticism of Australian indefinite offshore detention by the UNHCR – see this UNHCR facts sheet from Jan 2018, https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/publications/legal/5a6512507/unhcr-fact-sheet-on-situation-of-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-on-manus-island.html – if you think I am just making this up. Alas, you are wrong. Indefinite offshore detention is designed to be a deterrent, it is designed to be degrading, despair-inducing and without human compassion. If you are a pragmatist and a political realist and you can sell it to the electorate by harnessing irrational fears, then this is fine. If you believe personal faith and personal morality are not directly related to secular liberal power, then fine. But don't try to tell me this is really a Christian and humanitarian policy setting.
To your second comment.
Conceded, my off the cuff response to you about the origins of the convention were inaccurate; thank you for your correction. However, you would be mistaken to argue that the greatest atrocity of WWII was irrelevant to the formation of the UN itself, and was not a significant driver in the universal humanitarian nature of these important post-war conventions. But let us consider substantive matters.
You can find the current version of the UNHCR Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees here: https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/3b66c2aa10. I quote the core logic of this document, of which Australia is a signatory:
'Convention provisions are to be applied without discrimination as to race, religion or country of origin… refugees should not be penalized for their illegal entry or stay. This recognizes that the seeking of asylum can require refugees to breach immigration rules. Prohibited penalties might include being charged with immigration or criminal offences relating to the seeking of asylum, or being arbitrarily detained purely on the basis of seeking asylum.'
If signatory nations do not intend to follow these protocols, why do they sign them? The fact that 21st century Australian politicians have decided not to follow these protocols, and such a political decision is not illegal as regards Australian law, makes a travesty of our being signatories.
Both the Coalition and the ALP have backed out of our UNHCR Refugee obligations in – by now – a total reversal of the Fraser government's outstanding commitment to follow these conventions. Here I will get a bit personal. I have married the daughter of post-war European immigrants (economic immigrants, not refugees, by the way) and I have many friends who are from European immigrant families – a number being Jewish – who came here in the post-war boom from war devastated Europe. This immigration was driven by the White Australia policy, and the desire to grow our population. When that policy was finally shut down, I was a youth, and many of my friends in the 70s and 80s came from Vietnam and moved to the eastern suburbs of Melbourne where I grew up, as boat arrival refugees. Our immigrants and refugees from all races and religions have enriched Australia beyond reckoning. Since the 90s I also came to have many friends from Muslim countries, many of whom were from refugee families, like – so it seems – your own. So what I don't understand is why you seem to be so unwilling to share the peace, safety and prosperity of Australia with others who are now in a similar position to your own family when they came to Australia. This, I really don't understand Andrew.
Thanks for response and explanation of your position. Now please let me explain mine.
It's not that I have missed the point of your article, but that I think your argument is based on false assumptions and presumptions. Therefore, whatever points you seek to make are invalid.
For example, you label PM Morrison's border protection policy as "electorally expedient use of indefinite off-shore detention." But the term 'electorally expedient' is a pejorative term and your mere presumption. Have you ever considered that PM Morrison's policy was motivated by national interest and security concerns?
You said: 'By the way, I am not politically partisan on immigration and "border protection" policies'. I find this hard to believe given that you have been active on Ethos since 2011 yet have written nothing critical of the ALP's border protection policies, and a string of articles critical of the Coalition's policies. And this is despite the fact that the 'cruel' and 'degrading' detention of asylum seekers you so readily speak of occurred under the ALP's time in office! When Howard left office in 2007, there were 4 adult males in detention. Since the Coalition came to power in 2013, no boats have arrived and no new people from boats have been transferred to Nauru AFAIK. Again, it appears you are blaming the Coalition for having to deal with the ALP's policy disaster!
And only an ALP true believer could seriously claim - contrary to all the evidence - that Gough Whitlam was some kind of moral giant:
http://www.ethos.org.au/online-resources/Engage-Mail/whitlam-and-the-70s-never-before-never-again.
In addition, you appear to believe that the UN Refugee Convention is the Word of God and may not - under any circumstances - be disobeyed. It is NOT the Word of God!
As I explained to you, it is an in-principle agreement which is only binding on Australia to the extent that the Migration Act implements its provisions. This is more or less the same for ALL signatories.
You said: '...if I was not so ignorant of the actual facts, I would see that this really is a Christian and humanitarian policy setting...this is a very degrading policy game our governments are playing with very globally vulnerable people'.
I think that any truly Christian position must seek and acknowledge truth. Many of the people coming to Australia and claiming asylum are NOT genuine refugees. They are economic migrants seeking a better life. Therefore, contrary to your assertion, there are NOT 'very globally vulnerable people'. Do you deny the existence of these economic migrants? If so, I suggest you read the following research paper:
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1213/13rp02
Secondly, you incorrectly characterise Australia's regional processing centres as "indefinite detention" yet neither term is accurate. Asylum seekers in Nauru have been free to come and go as they please and roam the island since 2015. Moreover, they are free to leave the island at any time and return to their home country with a wad of Australian cash, and many have taken this option (and some have gone to the USA).
BTW, the UN 'fact sheet' you reference refers to the Manus Island detention centre - but that centre has been closed since October 2017, so that 'fact sheet' (most of which refers to the trivial...) is worthless.
In any case, your assertion that 'Indefinite offshore detention is designed to be a deterrent, it is designed to be degrading, despair-inducing and without human compassion' is demonstrably false because it's not indefinite (people are accepted or rejected as asylum seekers, and if they are accepted they may be resettled in Oz or another country) and it's not actual detention.
Regarding your assertion that detention is cruel and degrading, you should consult the following re assistance to asylum seekers:
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/2012-2013/AustGovAssistRefugees
Keep in mind also that the asylum seekers on Nauru did not arrive during the time of Morrison's and Dutton's tenure. They arrive when the ALP were in power. PM Morrison's policy was to not allow boat arrivals at all - ie. to turn the boats back, and to shut down the people smuggling operations! In other words, detention - indefinite or otherwise - was never Morrison's policy, so your assertion above is wrong on every point!
You say: 'If you believe personal faith and personal morality are not directly related to secular liberal power, then fine. But don't try to tell me this is really a Christian and humanitarian policy setting'. Again, you are assuming that (1) every asylum seeker is genuine; (2) that Australia has an inexhaustible capacity to take in every refugee that qualifies; and (3) that a large in-flux of refugees will only have a positive benefit on society, the economy and infrastructure. If you're honest, you will acknowledge that these assumptions are clearly wrong.
You ask: 'So what I don't understand is why you seem to be so unwilling to share the peace, safety and prosperity of Australia with others who are now in a similar position to your own family when they came to Australia. This, I really don't understand Andrew.'
Paul, I am not unwilling at all to share our great country with others. I just want people who are genuine refugees, like my father, and who show a little gratitude for the gift our country has given them. My father fled the Soviet Union because he and his family would have been executed or sent to Siberia. He embraced Australia and its social institutions. He got a job the day after he arrived. He didn't demand my mother embrace communism, nor seek to create a Soviet ghetto, nor advocate for communism. He lived under that evil oppressive regime and didn't want a bar of it! He didn't hate our country and teach his 6 children to hate it as well. Instead, he worked hard - 2 jobs in fact for most of his life - so that his 6 children could have a much better life than he did. I'd gladly take all the refugees we can practically handle if they all had the same attitude and gratitude.
Whitlam ended the White Australia policy and Fraser upheld Whitlam's stance in his acceptance of Vietnamese boat people. In my estimation they are both moral giants unholding the universal humanitarian aspirations of the UNHCR in a nation with a deeply racists and bigoted heritage. One Nation, Senator Anning et al are, alas, not aberrations. In my opinion, when it comes to immigration and asylum seekers, we have not seen any leader of the moral caliber of Whitlam and Fraser in the 21st century on either side of politics.
FYI, the only political party I have ever been a member of is the Liberal Party. The only Australian Prime Minister I have ever personally talked with is Malcolm Fraser, and I fully agreed with his evaluation of 21st century immigration politics. If you think Malcolm Fraser was a fool who had no idea about what was really going on after Tampa, well... I don't think there is any point in trying to respond further to your comments Andrew. I wish you well.
Paul, once again your grasp of the facts - this time around the White Australia Policy - is sadly lacking.
Firstly, it should be noted that although there were some racist politicians who supported the bill to introduce the White Australia Policy in 1901, Keith Windschuttle has demonstrated from a detailed examination of the 600 pages of the actual parliamentary debate in Hansard, the White Australia Policy was introduced for economic and cultural reasons, not primarily because of racial prejudice. So your claim that Australia is "a nation with a deeply racists [sic] and bigoted heritage" is a total exaggeration. Indeed, as Mal Garvin has long pointed out, Australia has absorbed more people from other nations and cultures than any other nation apart from the USA.
Secondly, Menzies and Holt had progressively dismantled the Policy from the late 40s to the late 60s. Non-European refugees were allowed to stay, and Japanese war brides could be admitted (1949), Asian students were allowed to study here (1950), non-Europeans with 15 years' residence were allowed to become citizens (1957), dictation test in Migration Act was abolished and a simpler entry system introduced which included qualified Asians (1958), citizens were permitted to sponsor Asian spouses for citizenship (1959), and conditions of entry for non-European were relaxed (1964).
The Holt Government's Migration Act 1966 effectively dismantled the White Australia policy and increased access to non-European migrants, including those refugees fleeing the Vietnam War. Immigrants would now be accepted on the basis of their suitability as settlers, their ability to integrate readily and their possession of qualifications positively useful to Australia, and allowed foreign non-whites to become permanent residents and citizens after 5 years (as for Europeans), and also removed discriminatory provisions in family reunification policies. Gough Whitlam merely legislated what was already being done...
Incidentally, the ALP under Arthur Calwell opposed all these changes and continued to support the WAP.
I wouldn't be too quick to praise Whitlam as some kind of virtuous anti-racist hero. Recall that in 1975 Whitlam famously declared that he was 'not having hundreds of f#$%ing Vietnamese Balts coming to this country'... Whitlam also denied refugee protection for Vietnamese employed by the Australian Embassy in Vietnam, as well as Vietnamese students who had returned to Vietnam after completing their studies in Australia. (All this is recorded by Clyde Cameron, Labor Minister for Labor and Immigration in 1975).
Not sure why you raised Malcolm Fraser. I never even mentioned him at all let alone called him a fool. Nevertheless, I'm not sure why you would put so much confidence in his assessment given that had been out of politics for almost 20 years at the time of Tampa. What would he know? I, on the other hand, have worked in the defence industry for 25 years, and have worked with, and talked to, Navy and Airforce personnel actually involved in border protection so I think I have a bit of insight...
In any case, thanks for the discussion Paul. I, too, wish you well.
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IT is still all to play for at both ends of the Sky Bet League One table. Sporting Life's Tom Carnduff previews the latest round of games.
Plymouth though are unbeaten in eight home games, five of which have been victories. This is a game that could go either way. Have a punt here and earn some money for Argyle in the process.


ITALY: With just one week to go before the launch of its first commercial services on April 28, open access operator NTV ran its first preview trips carrying press and VIPs between Roma and Napoli on April 20.
The run gave invited guests an opportunity to sample the AGV trainsets being supplied by Alstom from its plants at La Rochelle and Savigliano. Around 10 of the 25-strong fleet have now been delivered to the Nola depot near Napoli, with eight required for the launch of services.
NTV will initially start with services on the Napoli – Roma – Firenze – Bologna – Milano corridor, but hopes to extend its network to Salerno, Torino and Venezia by the end of the year, by when the whole fleet should be available. At peak times the company expects to have 21 of the 25 trainsets in operation.
Ticket sales for Italo services began on April 25, when the company opened its call centre and online booking facility. Self-service ticket machines are available at Napoli Centrale, Roma Tiburtina, Firenze SMN, Bologna Centrale, Milano Porta Garibaldi and Rogoredo, where the company's Casa Italo customer lounges have been inaugurated over the past three weeks.
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The place is amazing, furnished with local stuff and managed by a wonderful guy, Mohammed who made our stay a wonderful experience! First he picked us up at the bus stop at 6 am in a the morning (we were arriving from Fez). He made us restore in the room after the long travel, than he organized a cammel tour in the Sahara desert: one of the best experience in Marocco so far! We slept in a tend between the desert dunes, where local guys prepared us a wonderful dinner! After the dinner, we spent some time out with the fire on, with the local guys playing and singing for us. AMAZING!!
Our trip with Mohammed to the dunes by Hasi Labid was really an honest and a 'different' experience. It was more than just the well crafted camp, well maintained animals and knowledgeable guides - we got a glimpse behind the history and life of nomads. A highly recommended trip!
Mohammed arranged a great desert trip for my friends at me! We didn't have to worry about anything and could just enjoy every single moment in this beautiful place. Transportation, food and entertainment was above all our expectations. We will definitely return and stay longer next time we have more time!
I had the pleasure of meeting Mohammed in Hassilabied. He is truly a wonderful person. Extremely kind and generous. He hosted me for two nights. I loved his apartment so much, I asked if I could stay longer and begin renting a room in the apartment. He agreed and rented this room to me for a really good price. I am so grateful to Mohammed. My stay in Hassilabied was the highlight of my time in Morocco. Thank you, Mohammed! Hope to see you again soon!
We first met Mohammed and made a trip to dunes with him already 6 years ago. Mohammed was a great person to meet so I am really happy to recommend the trip to anyone else once it can be found on TripAdvisor 🙂 Camel trek and night in the desert was a great experience, but the thing I almost remember first, when hearing the word 'Sahara', was Mohammed's hospitality. One word: Recommend!


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New Tourism Minister: No Beef for Foreign Tourists in India
September 8, 2017 September 8, 2017 The Society Mirror	Beef-Banned, India0 comment
Newly sworn-in Union Minister K J Alphons has fuelled a fresh controversy as he claimed that foreign tourists can eat beef in their own countries but not in India. The Union Minister's latest remarks came while he was quizzed about if cow vigilantism and restrictions on beef consumption in many states have affected the hospitality sector in our country. Alphons spoke to the media while attending the 33rd annual convention of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) in Bhubaneswar. In reply to a question whether beef ban in several…


I have serious issues with Ann, but she is prone to occasional flashes of valuable insight.
First the punk rocker. Now the classic rocker. (Though some would argue that The Who was the first punk band. I argue that it was The Kinks.) I love the music of both.
And Massie is absolutely correct.
We posted on this a couple of weeks ago. Interestingly so did The Daily Mail.
Who would ever have thought that drinking milk would be an act of defiance?
It is important to remember that the regulators, DEA etc. in addition to the manufacturers are a big part of the problem. The War on Drugs creates perverse, and sadly, deadly incentives.
James Comey's secret Twitter account revealed?
The account follows the CIA, the FBI, ESPN, and others including The Onion. All reasonable follows. Unfortunately he also follows David Brooks, which is a disappointment. And where's ACC?
We'll see how "huge" it is.
Right… Because the few congresspeople who seem to generally stand up for the Constitution are the treasonous ones.


This data product is a high-resolution presentation of the IRAS hours-confirmed (HCON) sky surveys in image form. It consists of 212 16.5° x 16.5° fields for HCONs 1-3 covering the whole sky with field centers spaced by approximately 15°. An individual image, stored in FITS format, is a 499 x 499 array of 2' x 2' pixels into which the IRAS survey data were mapped. The effective angular resolution is about 4' - 6'. Each image is in a gnomonic (tangent plane) projection.
The Sky Flux Plates have been superseded by the ISSA Atlas and Reject Fields. The processing for the ISSA images included a superior destriping algorithm as well as subtraction of a model for the zodiacal intensity.


Britain's worst performing rail network will get tens of millions of pounds in extra funding from the taxpayer in an effort to improve services, according to Whitehall's spending watchdog.
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) will be given the cash because of delays in the delivery of new trains, and to pay for more services through central London.
The National Audit Office said that a series of mistakes by the Department for Transport had led to shortcomings in the £8 billion franchise, meaning that it had failed to provide value for money for the taxpayer. The DfT has already announced that GTR will be broken up when its contract ends in 2021.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Over the Moon! | Primary Planet!
Do you follow the TpT blog?
just hit her Million Dollar Milestone!
I am over the moon to say that I am #9!
I am so excited in fact, I am putting my whole store on sale for 20% off!
The Library Fox for my button elements.
Awwww...thanks! I am really excited! Thanks so much for stopping by!


Hyderabad, 5 March 2014: Staff Selection Commission – SSC released a recruitment notification for Junior Engineers vacancies for various government departments. SSC announced Junior Engineers recruitment exam date on 1st March 2014.
Departments: Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, Quantity Surveying and Contract in Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Department of Posts, Military Engineering Services (MES), Central Water Commission (CWC) and Farakkah Barrage.
Number of vacancies: Staff Selection Commission will announce vacancies later.
Eligibility details, age, reservations of posts etc. are available in detailed notification.
Selection Procedure: Through written test and Interview.
Exam Pattern: Exam will be conducted for 2 papers. Paper I is for 200 marks and paper II is for 300 marks.
How to apply for SSC Junior Engineers Exam 2014: Candidates have to apply through online by using www.ssconline.gov.in website. Registration will be done in two stages.
Part –I: Candidates have to enter the required details in application form.
Part – II: After pay the exam fee candidates need to enter the bank challan's number in website.
Admit Cards Download for SSC Junior Engineers Exam 2014: Before 15 days of the exam.


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How to Dress Cool Through Hot Weather
If you're going to make it through summer, you'd better dress appropriately.
On any occasion, dressing appropriately has its benefits. Whether it's for an important meeting, a wedding, a party, or just summer, the right outfit is key. With the mercury rising, you'll want to take proper steps to ensure you're not overheating, something we'll have to worry about more and more. Here are the best style practices for dressing for the hot, hot heat.
Wear Lightweight, Breathable Fabrics
Heavier fabrics tend to be more densely woven, trapping heat and blocking air flow, and that's a problem because airflow is what carries heat energy from our bodies. When you sweat, and that sweat evaporates, it takes heat from your body and spreads it to the breeze. But in order for sweat to do its job, there has to be airflow so the evaporation can happen.
Madras fabric tends to be made from cotton in a light and open weave, making it perfect for the summer. Seersucker is also a good option because its characteristic rippling means the fabric doesn't stick to the skin, allowing air to flow. Fabrics made with linen and hemp also tend to be more loosely woven and thus breathable. They also dry quickly, which helps to continuously evaporate sweat.
In contrast, synthetic materials like polyester and nylon tend to trap heat and moisture, making them inefficient in the summer. But, there are many synthetic fabrics which have been engineered specifically to regulate temperature in hot weather.
While wool is typically thought of as a winter material, it can actually be put to good use in the summer as well. Lightweight wool fabrics have open weaves and better breathability than synthetic fabrics while also wicking away moisture.
Stick to Light Colors
The darker your clothes are, the more light they will absorb and turn into heat. Lighter tones, on the other hand, reflect that energy away. Long story short, wear white clothes to keep cool.
However, scientists have found that in thickness matters, too. Bedouins wear thick, black robes to get them through the scorching heat of the desert. This sounds counterintuitive, but is actually proven to help. It works because the fabric is actually thick enough to absorb the sun's rays on the exterior portion of the fabric, while the interior portion stays cooler, transferring less heat to the body. But If you're not a Bedouin, it's probably simpler to keep the colors light.
Loosen Up the Silhouette
Clothes that fit close to the body might be your vibe, but it's not the best option for staying cool in the heat. Slim-fitting clothes don't allow air to flow as much as loose clothing. They can also absorb your sweat, leaving you walking around with damp clothes. Wider silhouettes don't cling to the skin as easily, allowing room for air to pass over the skin and evaporate more of your sweat, dissipating more heat from your body.
You can opt for clothes that are designed with more drape, obviously. But if a brand that you like doesn't make looser-silhouettes, you can try sizing up. For certain garments, you can also have a tailor let out the silhouette. However, that's mostly limited to dress pants and suit jackets, which have seam allowances built into them to allow for tailoring.
Tucking in your shirt is like keeping the windows closed in a hot house. When your shirt is tucked in, it seals off air from entering through the hem opening of the shirt. It's not exactly giving you a looser silhouette, but it does allow more air to flow.
Wear a Hat
The more sun your body absorbs, the hotter you'll feel. While you could take that to mean you should take an umbrella with you, a more practical, hands-free alternative is to wear a hat. Some argue that hats can trap heat, which is true to an extent. But the radiant heat that we experience from the sun can add to the ambient heat (the average air temperature we feel in the shade). So it depends. If the sun is blazing, it's good to wear a hat. On a hot, but overcast day, a hat might not do you much good.
When it is sunny, given the other tips on this list, try to get one made in a lightweight, open-weave fabric in a light color. Assuming you want the hat to stay on your head, you'll have to skip the loose-fit part.
Shorter Clothes Are More Breathable, But More Exposing
Long-sleeved shirts and pants just add more of a barrier to letting your skin breathe. Though light-colored clothes with an open weave are better for breathability than heavier, darker clothes, they're ultimately still not as breathable as a pair of shorts or a short-sleeved shirt.
But, there's a sort of caveat with this. Shorts and short-sleeved (or sleeveless) shirts do allow for better airflow and release more internal body heat. However, your body can still absorb heat by being more exposed to the sun. Not only that, but it can leave you more vulnerable to harmful UV rays. Sunburn is not a fun way to keep cool.
Though you could avert sunburns by applying sunscreen to your exposed skin, many sun screens might actually make you feel hotter. That's because they cover the skin in a smooth layer which allows sweat to form larger into larger droplets which are harder to evaporate than smaller droplets. This explains why many people report feeling as though sunscreen makes them sweat more because they experience larger beads of sweat.
Be Light on Your Feet
We love a Goodyear-welted, full-grain leather boot any day. Well, except for summer. Shoes made of thicker materials or less-breathable materials like leather less breathable than a canvas sneaker.
Lightweight canvas sneakers provide good breathability, but you also have to make sure you've got the right socks. Avoid thick camp socks, or socks with dense knits. If you can help it, find socks that have less synthetic fibers, which tend to absorb sweat rather than wick it away. Some brands even make socks with summer-friendly materials like linen, which is a good choice.
Open-toed shoes like sandals and flip-flops are also a great option for keeping your feat from overheating. Again, the greater amount of room allows for more air circulation. We're not saying that we don't like socks with sandals, but you save a pair of socks from your next load of laundry, and that's something.
The 12 Best Lightweight Chinos to Buy Now
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"Mariah, my 22 year old, found my last copy of the Shaggs album today. She and her musical friends from Minneapolis loved it and looked them up – attached. Amazing!
When I was in high school, I developed an appreciation for music and literature; anything different and creative captivated me. I spent all my free time listening to record albums or reading. It was those dreamy, brutal, magical 1960′s. Everyone was getting a voice. Acoustic music and topical songwriting exploded as an art form, so playing guitar and putting my own thoughts into songs was a natural progression for me. It not only grew to become something I enjoyed doing, it became my passion – and I've kept working at it ever since. If you do anything long enough, you begin to develop your own sensibilities and style. My goal has always been to keep learning and growing.
I have been running a jazz performance space in San Diego called dizzy's since April 2000. There I schedule and present a wide cross section of creative music – whatever excites me. I fill my head with the positivity of hundreds of nights of musical performances each year and carry that creative vibe over into my days, spending them writing and recording my own music.


Cruising around the South Pacific is never boring, full of the unexpected, like being asked to take some kids back to boarding school, on the other side of the island (Gaua, Vanuatu). The village did not have any road access and it was only 20 miles, so I said "yeah, sure".
2 kids turned into 9, plus 4 adults (the 2 village chiefs, the Anglican Minister and one of the village elders), which necessitated 4 trips in the dingy, to get them all onboard and off again.
Plus the chickens and the bush knives.
Chief John, hand steered the whole way, and did a good job of it, as we came back, wing on wing with the genoa and the screecher up.
Caught an 8kg wahoo, which made everybody happy, and then they went out and got me 3 good size crayfish.
A great day, but I needed some cave time the day after to recover.


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Home→Uncategorized→African minnows attempt to be in the hunt
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African minnows attempt to be in the hunt
Smouha, SM Sanga Balende and MC El Eulma are clubs that few football fans beyond Africa might have been aware of, though the three teams are only two games away from the place inside the group stages with the CAF Champions League. A place amongst the last eight of the show-piece event of African club football may also wear them the path towards escaping the shadows of some bigger clubs off their countries.
Egyptian presence within the Champions League considering that the introduction of the group phase has long been dominated by Cairo giants Al Ahly and Zamalek, who between them have not only won your competition 13 times, they've been virtually omnipresent since 1997. Al Ahly have represented their country 17 times inside the Champions League, while Zamalek look back at 10 appearances. Really the only other club to get a try were Ismaily SC, who taken part in 2003 and 2010. Record-holders Al Ahly, that have eight titles, are again one of Egypt's representatives and face Moroccan club Moghreb Tetouan for a put in place the group phase. They're joined, surprisingly, by Smouha, who no time before competed inside competition and still have only spent 5 years within the Egyptian top flight.
The Alexandra-based team are coached by former Zamalek player Helmy Toulan, who may have had several stints coaching the White Knights. Toulan, who have been responsible for various Egyptian youth teams, saw his side oust Libyan club Al Ahli in the penalty shoot-out in the preliminary round. Then they needed two late goals against Nigeria's Enyimba to overturn single-0 defeat from the first leg. They face a troublesome opponent in Congolese club AC Leopards, who won the CAF Confederations Cup in 2012 and advanced towards the group phase with the Champions League a year later – coming close to dealing with towards the semi-finals.
Although Congo DR have had five different clubs representing them within the Champions League since 1997, there has always been a dominance of TP Mazembe (12 appearances), Vita Club (6) and Motema Pembe (8). Four time-winners Mazembe are again in the mix and can fancy to pass through to the group phase with the expense of Mali's Stade Malien. Mazembe have a number of Malian players within their side and arrived at Bamako nearly weekly prior to a game. "It's going to be an incredibly difficult game against a Stade Malien team that rarely loses at your home. Were to put an effect to be sure qualification," captain Joel Kimwaki said.
Sanga Balende back in the fray
Looking to escape the shadow on the three dominant Congo DR clubs are SM Sanga Balende, who hail in the third-largest city in the country, Mbuji-Mavi. They needed the away-goal rule to advance against Angolan club Recreativo do Libolo inside preliminary round, but then had fewer problems overcoming Coton Sport on the Cameroon. They now face Sudanese club Al Hilal in the second round. Sanga Balende competed inside the competition before the introduction in the group phase and before countries were allowed several representative, however last participation in 1984 resulted in disappointment, once they walked off the field during their second round match against FC 105 Libreville in protest from the officiating.
The next team planning to make inroads into your traditional dominance of three clubs are Champions League rookies MC El Eulma. Defending champions ES Setif (7 times), JS Kabile (6) and USM Alger (6) have gotten more(a) their fair share of Champions League appearances for Algeria, and Setif (against Raja Casablanca) and USM Alger (against AS Kaloum) will still be with this years' competition.
For Eulma, their game against CS Sfaxien offers them to be able to advance towards the group phase at their initial attempt. They stunned Ghanaian champions Asante Kotoko in Kumasi that has a 2-1 victory inside the second round, but will become as underdogs against Sfaxien, who won three CAF Confederations Cups and lost the 2006 Champions League final against Al Ahly. Sfaxien have just appointed former Burkina Faso and Gabon coach Paulo Duarte as well as the former Uniao Leiria defender is upfront about his side's ambitions. "The CAF Champions League would be the dream if you play with the highest level. Whenever you work to win the championship, you're always motivated to win the CAF Champions League. Here is the goal on this team." The final match of the second round sees another Tunisian club, Esperance, go Sudan for clash against Al Merrikh.
there are tons of big games
FIFA 15 Video Shows Chelsea Tournament Featuring Schurrle
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This was the view through my guest bedroom window this morning at about 6 AM. The direction is East Northeast. I took this shot without a flash because the flash kept being reflected in the window glass.
What a pretty photo. I'm glad you survived being without internet access. It's an awful feeling. Glad the connection has been restored.
Thanks for popping by Raven's Nest.
That's a lovely shot. I have to turn off my flash when I am trying to get sunrise or sunset shots too. I like the effect you got on that shot.
Mary, *blush* I'm still in my La La Land at 6am. LOL!
Very awesome photo shot Mary!
I like it! It was still dark dark dark at my house. I got up about that time and did not see a bit of light until about seven.
That's a marvelous view, Mary! Happy weekend.
Well good morning to you. How nice to be able to catch the sky coming alive right from your own window in your house!!
beautiful and simple image, one excellent sky watch.
I feel blessed by all this Irishness on show today.. I have a great respect for our local Irish, I spent many an hour in my formative days swopping tales, laughter and song in the town centre pub which they all seem to head for. I passed my driving test on St Patrick's Day, and it is one of the few days I will have a bet on the horses. I also try to have some Soda Bread on the day as well.
May your St Patrick's Day be full of fun and laughter and most of all friendship..
The sun is creeping further North everyday! Yay!
Beautiful photo in early morning!!
Oh wow... that's such a beautiful shot. I'd love to be a guest in your bedroom looking through that window... stunning.
A very strong photo here. Congratulations.
Beautiful sky. Love the colors.
Great Sky Watch post, my friend.


new How 'Quake wanted us to remember him.
Hiroshi Hase 2 2,534 by What?
new One Year Later: We still miss ya.
new I wasn't around for this.
new What Will Happen With The John Tenta Forum?
new Future of the John Tenta Forum?
new A question for Deus.


Thank you for your interest in joining our team. Waste Commission of Scott County believes its employees are its number one asset and is always seeking exceptional candidates who can make the team even stronger.
As job opportunities become available, they will be posted at the link below. Or, if you prefer, you can submit your resume for general consideration.
If you have questions about the application process, please contact Tina Ganzer: tganzer@wastecom.com.
Waste Commission of Scott County is an Equal Opportunity Employer.


A new report, published by the University of Oxford, shows how refugees are using innovation in camps around the world.
The Refugee Studies Centre has based the report on research conducted in Jordan, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, and the United States into how refugees are engaged in creative problem-solving and entrepreneurship.
In the Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan, home to 83,000 Syrian refugees, refugees are reconfiguring the structure and lay-out of the camp and their homes in order to replicate their communities before the war broke out. They are living in 'donated' caravans, but the wooden flooring is inappropriate for them because of their regional custom of washing floors with water, which causes the wood to swell and degrade. However, they have reused the wood panelling to fashion into babies' cribs, seating, tables, even a mobile bike stall and shop signs.
In Johannesburg, South Africa, Zimbabwean refugees are starting schools for refugees that are producing extraordinary results in high school exams.
In Nairobi's Eastleigh area, alongside refugee entrepreneurship, a film company has emerged which challenges stereotypes about Somalis.
The report uses the concept of 'bottom-up innovation' to highlight the various ways in which refugees, displaced persons, and others in crisis situations are tackling the most challenging of environments as individuals. People are drawing on their own resources in order to adapt to difficult and different circumstances.
The report suggests that rather than relying upon aid hand-outs, refugees might be better assisted if their own creative solutions were supported and nurtured. This would enable refugees, giving them better access to the internet, microfinance, education, entrepreneurship training, and basic infrastructure.
Professor Alexander Betts, Director of the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford and a co-author, said: 'There has been an emerging trend in the humanitarian sector towards using the language of innovation. Generally, though, it has focused on how to improve organisational responses. This is important but these 'top-down' approaches sometimes risk marginalizing the creativity and 'bottom-up' innovation of crisis affected communities themselves.
The report is funded by the World Humanitarian Summit.


LLND, 2 new media artists who synchronize by the sound and images. Together we created the Kit Art, a concept we developed to create composite instruments with variable articulations. Made for 'public use' to stimulate the artistic consciousness. Each module evolves autonomously or by external stimulation. The settings invite for games of sound and video constructions and deconstructions, falling into chaos looking for a new harmony. Interactivity and mobility are essentials in our works, which emit, receive and redistribute energy. To reveal the artistic resonance of everyone throughout sensory experiences, is at the center of our creative process.
Copyright © 2019 Ninliho Culture Art. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Management - Ph.D. / Sc.D.
Sparsity and robustness in modern statistical estimation
Copenhaver, Martin Steven
Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Operations Research Center.
Dimitris J. Bertsimas.
MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Two principles at the forefront of modern machine learning and statistics are sparse modeling and robustness. Sparse modeling enables the construction of simpler statistical models, with examples including the Lasso and matrix completion. At the same time, statistical models need to be robust--they should perform well when data is noisy--in order to make reliable decisions. While sparsity and robustness are often closely related, the exact relationship and subsequent trade-offs are not always transparent. For example, convex penalties like the Lasso are often motivated by sparsity considerations, yet the success of these methods is also driven by their robustness. In this thesis, we develop new statistical methods for sparse and robust modeling and clarify the relationship between these two principles. The first portion of the thesis focuses on a new methodological approach to the old multivariate statistical problem of Factor Analysis: finding a low-dimensional description of covariance structure among a set of random variables. Here we propose and analyze a practically tractable family of estimators for this problem. Our approach allows us to exploit bilinearities and eigenvalue structure and thereby show that convex heuristics obtain optimal estimators in many instances. In the latter portion of the thesis, we focus on developing a unified perspective on various penalty methods employed throughout statistical learning. In doing so, we provide a precise characterization of the relationship between robust optimization and a more traditional penalization approach. Further, we show how the threads of optimization under uncertainty and sparse modeling come together by focusing on the trimmed Lasso, a penalization approach to the best subset selection problem. We also contextualize the trimmed Lasso within the broader penalty methods literature by characterizing the relationship with usual separable penalty approaches; as a result, we show that this estimation scheme leads to a richer class of models.
Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Operations Research Center, 2018.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-230).
Operations Research Center.
Operations Research - Ph.D. / Sc.D.
Operations Research Ph.D. / Sc.D.