Review of national rules for the protection of infrastructure relevant for security of supply, Final Report, July 2018 (pdf).
Chapter on drafting and negotiating financing clauses in investment agreements in the energy sector, Handbook on General Provisions Applicable to Investment Agreements in the Energy Sector, International Energy Charter, Special Paper Series, January 2018 (pdf).
Global Gas Perspectives: Will US LNG Remain Priced Out of Europe?, Natural Gas World Magazine, 14 July 2017 (pdf).
Security of Supply, IGAs and Energy Union, Natural Gas World Magazine, Vol 2, Issue 11, 5 June 2017 (pdf).
Energy Union, Security of Supply and IGAs: Latest developments in EU law impacting gas, Flame, 3 May 2017 (link).
EU's Desire to Become Independent of Russian Gas is Unnecessary, Energetika.net, 6 February 2017 (pdf).
EU-Russia Relations Through the Prism of EU Law, Global Energy Debates and the Eastern Mediterranean, PRIO Cyprus Centre, November 2016 (pdf).
Overview of EU Energy Law, Legal Aspects of EU Energy Regulation, Oxford University Press, October 2016 (pdf).
Gas Strategies Interview: Ana Stanič (pdf).
MEPs seek ambitious position on IGA transparency (pdf).
Increased Regulatory Risk in the EU, Naš Stik (Slovenian electricity industry magazine) (link).
Energy and Environmental Law, Lawyer Monthly, Issue 71-16 (pdf).
EU Energy Law: Increased Regulatory Risk and Ways to Reduce It, The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Oil & Gas Regulation 2016, 11th Edition (pdf).
Does the EU nuclear safety directive risk fragmenting international standards World Nuclear News, November 2014.
Four Lessons the EU should learn regarding Energy Security, Chatham House's Journal (pdf).
Sprejeta okvirna evropska politika za podnebje in energijo 2020-2030 (EU Adopts the Green Paper on Climate and Energy for 2020-2030, Nas Stik, 1/2014) (pdf).
Key Developments in EU Oil and Gas Law in 2014, The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Oil & Gas Regulation 2014 Edition (www.iclg.co.uk) (pdf).
Slovenia and South Stream Project (pdf).
Georgia applies to the Energy Community (pdf).
Europeanising EU Energy Policy, 2011 (5) OGEL (pdf).
A Step Closer to EU Law on the Management of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel, (2011) 29(1) Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law(pdf).
EU Law on Nuclear Safety, (2010) 28(1) Journal of Energy and Resource Law 145 (pdf).
The new Ukrainian-Russian gas deal, Infrastructure Journal, 23 February 2009 (pdf).
Nabucco, South and North Stream and EU Energy Security, Delo, Februar 2009 (pdf).
Changes in the European Gas Market and Price Review Arbitrations, special edition of the Journal of Energy and Resource Law on Energy Disputes, August 2007 (pdf).
Spain, Argentina: Who will be next to stake a claim in Brexit, CITYAM, 13 April 2017 (link).
Brexit: Tectonic Changes in Europe, MQ Magazin, October 2016 (Available in Slovene: (pdf).
Forget Norway: Canada-plus is the best Brexit deal Britain can achieve, CITYAM, 30 August 2016 (link).
Getting the Best from the UK/EU Divorce, Natural Gas Europe (link).
Brexit May Be Good News for Arbitration, June 2016 (pdf) (link).
Europski sud: Recentne odluke idu naruku Hrvatskoj u arbitražama, Lider, 3 August 2018. Article is available in Croatian (pdf).
The Role of a Lawyer in Arbitration (Vloga odvetnika v arbitražnem postopku), Slovenian arbitration days (pdf).
Challenging Arbitrators and the Importance of Disclosure: Recent Cases and Reflections,  16 Croatian Arbitration Yearbook 205 (link).
Fat cats beware- US/UK extradition treaty, New Law Journal, 16 March 2007 (pdf).
Sodišča so nova frontna črta boja s podnebnimi spremembami, Finance, 21 February 2019, Article is available in Slovenian (link).
Legal Eagles Focus on Gas, Natural Gas World Magazine, 24 January 2019 (link).
The Microplastic Threat to Our Oceans, Resurgence & Ecologist, May/June 2016 (pdf).
Komaj vidna, a nevarnejša, kot si mislimo, Delo, May 2016. Article is available in Slovene (pdf).
In Search of the Unseen, Ecologist, February 2016 (link).
Ana Stanič, odvetnica, Mladina, a leading Slovenian journal. Interview is available in Slovene, June 2016 (pdf).
Brexit May Be Good News for Arbitration, Chinese Legal Daily, June 2016 (pdf) (link).
Investing in European Union's Energy Sector - Rise of Regulatory Risk and Ways to Minimize it (pdf).
EU Energy Investment, China Energy Law Study Report, reprinted in 2015 (pdf).


LaToya Thomas had 21 points and 11 rebounds as No. 11 Mississippi State defeated Auburn 65-56 Sunday.
Doceide Warren added 13 points, including six during a second-half run in which the Bulldogs (22-6, 10-4 Southeastern Conference) took the lead for good.
Nicole Louden and Mandisa Stevenson scored 10 points each to lead Auburn (17-10, 5-9).
The Tigers led 29-28 at halftime and pushed their lead to seven points on a Tia Miller jumper with 13:03 to play. But Warren followed with a 3-pointer, starting a 22-4 run that gave Mississippi State a 56-45 lead with 5:39 remaining.
The Bulldogs were 5-of-19 from 3-point range in the game, but all five came during the decisive burst, including three in a row by Jessica Carter and another by Rebecca Kates to cap the run.
Louden responded with a 3-pointer of her own to cut the lead back to eight, but Thomas followed with two straight jumpers to give Mississippi State its biggest lead at 60-48. Auburn got no closer than eight the rest of the way.


The Luxmore 48 litre is a classic frameless pack built to handle anything from a weekend adventure to an epic thru-hike.
Loaded dimensions - Bottom girth - 92cm/36" Top girth - 93cm/37" Height (three rolls) - 73cm/29"
Side pockets are built with a bungee cord/cord lock closure & drain hole - these are cut low at the back panel junction to allow for easy in & out access while the pack is on. If you use bottles larger than 1.5L, these pockets can be extended at no extra charge.
Please look over the backpack sizing page for instructions on how to measure up.
Get in contact to chat about adding any of the options listed below to your build.


text:
Trønder rock () is a music and cultural scene developed in the Trøndelag region of Norway in the early 1970s, in which bands and artists merged folk rock inspired rock and roll with cultural characteristics.

The term was first coined by journalist  in 1972, and has been described by Professor of Music Studies Ole Kai Ledang as "rock music with trøndersk tone" (). However, the term also often includes bands that sing in English, especially . In the book Trønderrock from 1982, authors Gunnar Sand and Nils Toldnes also emphasize the band Prudence and the solo career of the members Terje Tysland and Åge Aleksandersen, but also Hans Rotmo and his band ,  and , which are more characterized by Norwegian folk music.

Today, the term has gained some further use, and is often used as a general term for artists and bands associated with Trøndelag.

References

Literature

External links
Hva er Trønderrock?
Namsos Rock City music from the middle of Norway
Tidenes trønderrock
Siste video/lyd: Trønderrock
Full krig om trønderrocken

Culture in Trøndelag
Rock music genres
Norwegian styles of music
1970s in music

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
TripAdvisor plots social network, goes all-in on personalization
By Jill Menze | September 18, 2018
TripAdvisor is betting big on an area many a travel brand has set out - and failed - to conquer: social media.
At a press event in New York yesterday, TripAdvisor co-founder and CEO Steve Kaufer unveiled "the new TripAdvisor" - a revamp of the platform that allows users to connect with fellow travelers as well as brands, publishers and influencers to share content and receive personalized recommendations.
The goal of the new site is to bring TripAdvisor from "the world's largest travel site to the world's most personalized travel community," Kaufer says.
"Going forward, the new TripAdvisor is a site where you can discover, research and book even better and make it even more personalized for you."
The key to the social component - historically a tough nut to crack for any travel company, TripAdvisor included (see Trip Friends, which dissolved in 2016) - is surfacing content to users when they need it, or, as TripAdvisor's Jeff Chow says, in "relevant time."
"We're explicitly not emphasizing real time," says the vice president of product, consumer experience. "We're just making sure [content] is surfaced when users need it."
"That's the big key for this," he continues. "The problem we're trying to solve is tying the inspiration of when [content is created] closer to when the user actually needs it - that might be nine months later or six months later - and also make it actionable."
On the new site - which is currently in beta with plans to launch by the end of the year - TripAdvisor members see a personalized feed, similar to Facebook's, where recommendations and content from friends, brands, publishers and influencers live. (National Geographic, Condé Nast Traveler and The Points Guy are among the partners they can follow.)
We're making inspiration actionable.
Jeff Chow - TripAdvisor
Users can refine the content - including photos, videos and links to articles - by destination, so only recommendations about Rome, for example, appear in their feed.
As they browse content, users have the option to save recommendations to revisit in the future, or to immediately book through the platform.
Since the content is determined by relevancy - and not in real time - any recommendation dating back months or even years is fair game to appear in the feed. The feed, which TripAdvisor bills as the world's first "travel feed," can also alert travelers when they're nearby a recommendation they've saved, allowing them to book on the go.
"We're making inspiration actionable," Chow says. "Not only are you being inspired, but you can figure out how to act. Every single [recommendation] is integrated into a business page. ... No other place can you get excited by an idea and also fulfill that promise."
TripAdvisor has also introduced a new "Trips" feature, which lets users create travel guides or wish lists they can keep public or private.
Chow calls the Trips aspect "a little lighter-weight" and something any traveler can use for something as simple as listing their favorite local restaurants. "It's a little bit more like curation than it is authorship," he says.
Building the new TripAdvisor
Chow says the idea for the new site was generated in TripAdvisor's "Core Experience" business unit. "Our group sets out to understand how we connect the dots to all the great things TripAdvisor does - hotels, rentals, flights, restaurants, attractions," he says. "What are the major, big existential traveler problems that we're trying to solve, and how do we go about solving that?"
In this case, user research revealed TripAdvisor users - particularly digital native users - were expecting far more value back than the effort they were willing to put in.
"We would see that if they had to do any level of work, they'd bounce," Chow says. Users liked TripAdvisor and its reviews, but they were still turning to friends and others for trusted information. They were also drawn to inspirational content, but had a difficult time finding that content when they needed it.
"One of our user research participants said: 'Research shouldn't mean re-search,'" Chow says. "That's really the seed of the idea."
Importantly, though the new site includes updated features, Chow says TripAdvisor is not expecting user behavior to change. "Users are already on our platform, posting great content, posting photos, reviews. We're just making sure it's surfaced when they need it."
Similar to other platforms, he says, there are different levels of user engagement, and the updated TripAdvisor caters to everyone from passionate content creators to those simply consuming content.
Although TripAdvisor's last attempt to integrate Facebook ultimately failed ("Timing is everything," Chow says of Trip Friends), there is "100%" a possibility of Facebook and Instagram integration in the future.
For the brands, publishers and influencer partners on the site, Chow says "there's a very clean value exchange." It's free for them to use the platform, and it gives them access to high-intent audiences and drives brand awareness.
Currently, there are more than 500 partners on the beta site, and Kaufer expects that number to grow to the "tens of thousands."
TripAdvisor-owned brands, including Viator, SmarterTravel and Oyster, will also function as content creators on the new site.
See below for a video preview of the new TripAdvisor.
Coming soon: The all-new TripAdvisor
REGISTER NOW! TripAdvisor, Expedia Group, Booking Holdings and others speak at The Phocuswright Conference 2018
Click here for details, tickets and the program for this year's event in Los Angeles, November 13-15.
More on Online

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


There is no book, movie or speech that has changed my life as much as 'The Power of Vulnerability' has. This 6 hour long speech, or event, by Brené Brown has made me a much better and happier person.
You might have already seen Brown's Ted Talk and think you got the basics covered. But the Ted Talk is just scratching the surface of what Brown has to offer. In this lengthy listen, she takes you on a journey that is much more profound.
This speech will make you smile, blush, gasp, laugh out loud and wipe away tears. Most people I recommended it to were hesitant to check it out. All but one came back to me and said Brené Brown managed to pierce right through their armor.
That's a good thing, by the way. For me, personally, 'The power of vulnerability' changed everything. I doubt I would still be producing the podcast without it. I doubt my marriage would be this happy and fulfilling without it.
Brené Brown's natural talent for storytelling, Texan twang and spontaneous interaction with the audience will charm you off your socks, I think. On top of that, her background might surprise you.
You're wary of self-help books and related topics? Great. So is Brené Brown. Seriously, she's about data and science. Everythink she's sharing is based on her own scientific research.
I'll summarise my enthusiasm about The Power of Vulnerability with this: If I could recommend only one, single thing to you, it would be to listen to this speech. Even Muriel recommends loved it!
If you end up listening to it, please let me know what you think! The Power of Vulnerability is available as a one-time purchase on Amazon or Audible. You can also get it as your first download with an Audible trial!


View and modify existing Periodic Templates .
Setup a schedule for a periodic task.
This training session should take no longer than 1 hour. This training session is designed for 1 to 3 staff members in Management Positions.
It is assumed that you have already completed the below modules.
A Periodic Task is a recurring task that happens on a set frequency. This means that the work occurs on a regular basis each week/month/quarter. AroFlo can be configured to setup a template that will ensure that a task is created for the ongoing work. This is called a periodic template.
This template is what AroFlo will use to generate the tasks created for specific site visits for this periodic. This means that every site visit performed has a unique job can allow profit and loss reporting down to the specific visit.
The process for creating a periodic task is similar to creating a new task. For this module we're going to use the 'Create' button on the main navigation and then select Periodic Task.
Select our Training client in the clients list. You can begin typing the name in or use the magnifying glass to select from a list of clients. We're also going to select an asset and have it registered against the task.
Select a task type that would be appropriate for a maintenance type of task and then select a Task To person. The 'Task To' person is quite important to a periodic as it is used to define who is managing or responsible for the on-going work.
By default the task identifier field is populated from the client/location address. While this is normally useful for a periodic you might want to put a little more description into the identifier. This will help to distinguish this periodic task from the rest of your task list.
Modify your task identifier to include ' – MONTHLY indicating that this periodic will be monthly. Complete the rest of the task information (Problem/Request & Reported by/Contact).
At the base of the task creation screen is a drop down box that allows you to specify the length of your periodic. This is an essential step and it is how you specify that this task is to be a periodic rather than a normal task.
Select Monthly from the dropdown list.
It is also important to take note of the 'Due Date' field this is the date that the periodic will generate for the first time.
AroFlo will then use this date as a guideline for when the next periodic task is to be generated. For instance, if you have selected a monthly periodic and you have selected the 17th. Then on the 17th of every month this periodic will generate a new task.
You have now created a periodic template.
The information presented on the template reflects the data entry that we've just completed however there are some additional fields that are related to the template specifically.
Asset – This is the first/Primary Asset associated with this periodic. This asset will be added onto each task that this periodic generates. It is possible to have multiple assets added to the periodic using the Assets tab.
Due Date – This field is populated when you create a new task. In relation to a periodic it is set to the date that the periodic is due to generate. This date can be modified should the generation date change.
Review Date – This field allows you to populate in a date that you wish to review this periodic. This is usually done when there is a contractual component associated with the periodic. There are filters within the Periodic list to easily identify jobs via review date.
Start Date – This field gives you an area where you can record a start date for any contract/agreement relating to this periodic. This is an informational field only – it does not affect generation of tasks.
Expiry Date – Similar to the Start Date, this field allows you to record an end date for any contract/agreement relating to this periodic. This field does not affect generation of tasks.
Details/Description – This field is the default description field that will be applied to any task created using this periodic. Reported by/Contact – This field will determine who the contact person for each task generated by this template will be.
Project – Determines if this periodic is part of a Project. Any Task created by this template will also be linked to that project.
Status – This field determines if the periodic is still active or not. If you choose to archive the periodic template then no further tasks will be generated from this periodic.
Delete Button – Used to remove the periodic from AroFlo. This will not leave any record of the periodic for archive purposes.
Save Button – Use the save button to confirm any changes that you've made to the periodic template.
It is important to note that any modifications to a checklist done via the 'View Checklist' button will only affect THIS periodic task and not the default checklist for all tasks. This functionality allows you to make specific checklist items that relate only to this periodic.
This means that each individual periodic can have a checklist that has been customised to the specific requirements of that task.
The View Button – This button allows you to view your periodic task history. This means it will show you any tasks that have been previously generated by this periodic.
The Create Button – This button allows you to manually override your periodic and cause it to generate now. This will also affects your Due Date, changing it to the current date for future periodic tasks.
The periodic template will continue to create tasks until you archive the periodic. The only thing that will prevent the periodic from running is if the previous task created by the periodic is still in a current status. The previous periodic task must have a status of completed before the new periodic can generate.
There are some additional options that can be set for your periodic template. These are controlled by the tab options on the right hand side. These settings can help you customise the behaviour of your periodic to suit your needs.
The Frequency Details tab allows you to update the frequency at which this periodic will generate. For instance you are able to change your periodic from a monthly periodic to a week using the frequency dropdown box. You are also able to set a specific day of the month/week that you wish the periodic to actually generate. This gives you a very detailed level of control over the tasks being generated.
Frequency – This setting allows you to determine what period of time that the next periodic will be set to after the current periodic has been generated.
Baseline Date – This date is used to keep the original frequency time set. YOU SHOULD NOT EVER NEED TO EDIT THIS DATE. It is used to ensure that the original date is set should the system need to make changes to account for a specific set day or to account for a non-work day.
Set Day – This setting allows you to set the periodic to run on a specific day of the week/month rather than a specific date. This setting will cause the "Due Date" to update to the new date as specified by your selection. For instance, you may have selected the first Monday of the Month which might fall upon the 6th of June. In this instance the Baseline Date would remain 3/5/2013 but the due date would now be set to 6/5/2013. The periodic will generate on the 6th rather than the 3rd and the system will then use the baseline and set day values to determine when the periodic should then schedule for July.
Frequency editable in Field – This feature allows you to control if your field staff are able to edit your frequency settings from the field interface.
Generated By – This setting determines how this periodic will generate. Do you want manual control over the periodic or do you want the system to automatically generate when a set date occurs. If you tick "System (Overnight") the periodic will automatically generate. If you tick "Manual" You have the facility of manually overriding the periodic to generate straight away.
Next Due Date Calculated Using – This setting determines when the next instance of this periodic will generate. There are three options that can be set here.
Due Date – this is the default behaviour of the periodic. It indicates that one a periodic has run that the next instance of the periodic should occur determined by the frequency (or set day) values calculated form the current due date.
Due Date (Do not generate if Open task exists) – similar to above, this feature will however only generate if the previous periodic task. If the task created by the last instance of the periodic is still in an open status a new periodic will not be generated.
Last Completed Date – This periodic indicates that the "Due Date" field needs to be recalculated when the task from the last generated periodic has been completed. For instance if the frequency has been set to Monthly and the previous job was closed on the 14th of May 2013 the new periodic will be set to generate on the 14th of June 2014. If the task generated in June is then closed on the 18th of June, then the next periodic generated by this template would be generated on the 18th of July.
This indicates that you're always going to re-visit the periodic exactly one month (or set frequency) from the last time that you attended the site.
Dynamic Frequencies allows you to set different frequencies for different time periodics. For instance you might want this work to be weekly during summer and then monthly for the rest of the year. To set a dynamic frequency simply click on the "Add Frequency" button.
Set a start Date and an End Date and the frequency that you wish to use between these dates. For instance if you wanted to change to a weekly periodic over the Christmas period you would simply set the Start Date to the 1st of December and the end Date to the 1st of January. This indicates that your previously monthly periodic would then generate at least four times in December.
Variable Service templates allow you to set different requirements for a certain times that the periodic is due to generate. For instance, let's assume that we're doing a monthly periodic, but every three times the periodic generate (so every quarter) we want to do a full service, rather than a standard maintenance visit.
To do this we would simply click on the "Edit Variable Service Template" button a nd then click on the Add Service Template button.
And then you will need to tell the periodic how regularly it needs to use this template rather that the default. This can be done with the dropdown at the top. We have specified that we want this periodic to quarter, so let's select "3rd (3 Monthly)"
We can now add in a description for this periodic template that will be used in preference of the standard description. This is where we would specify that a full service is needed. We are also able to modify, the Priority, Checklist, Documents, Materials, Assets and Compliance settings for this periodic.
The system will then use this template rather than the default upon the 3rd time that this periodic is run. The system will then calculate every multiple of 3 (in this case) to determine when this variable template needs to be applied.
You can set as many variable templates as you need per periodic. The system will always apply the highest number variable (this means that a six monthly variable template will run on the 6th generation of the task and not a three monthly variable template) lets assume that we have a periodic template that has been set to monthly with three Variable templates set for 3 month, 6 month and 12 month.
The table below indicates when the variable templates will be applied.
Standard Monthly template will be generated.
Three Month variable template will be generated.
Notice that the 6th month variable template has been generated on the 6th visit rather than the 3 monthly, but the 3 month template has been run on the 9th visit. The system will always select the highest number variable template appropriate to run.
This training module uses a "Monthly" frequency as an example. Variable frequencies can be set for any frequency available.
The schedule tab allows you to automatically schedule the periodic in as well. This means that you can schedule the task automatically to a resource.
There are two sections to this. The Baseline Schedule determines the default behaviour of this schedule. The Next Due Schedule indicates when the next logical instance of this periodic has been scheduled for.
It is important to note that you can create an exception to your default behaviour by modifying the Next Due field.
To add a Schedule you need to click on 'Add Schedule' for the Baseline Schedule.
This allows you add Resources, Assets or Crews into the schedule by clicking on the button.
Simply select the user(s) you wish to schedule as the default resources for this periodic task.
This will then update the calendar for these resources with a periodic placeholder to indicate that they are scheduled to this template.
Once you've selected your resources click Save to update your schedule.
You will notice that this will now populate a 'Next Due Schedule' for this template.
We can see that the Baseline Schedule no date is specified. This is because the baseline Schedule is defined by the Frequency. For instance if the job is monthly then this task will generate every month at this time for this user on the date specified by the Due Date.
The Next Due Schedule does however have a Date specified. This is because this is referring to a specific instance of this template. We can change the details for this schedule, including changing the date, time or Resources and it will only affect this instance of the periodic template.
This allows us to create exceptions to our default routine for the periodic template. This could be useful if your client needs to alter the details to allow for public holidays or other commitments.
The Material tab is used to pre-populate any material components that you know are going to be consumed on the task. This means that your field technicians are saved the data entry for items that are going to be used for every periodic generated.
For instance if your periodic is for a maintenance job and during that maintenance you are going to replace a filter as part of the standard servicing procedure. You can add the filter into your periodic here to save time for your technician on site.
In the event that each site visit requires an invoice to your client, it's a good idea to add any charges towards your client as material items onto the task. This means that your billing information is added to the task at the moment of creation. This is incredibly useful if each site visit has the same charge (Such as a portion of an annual total.) This could also be handled via a Periodic Invoice which will be discussed later in this module.
To add material on to the periodic you can either click on "Multi-search" to add an Inventory item or click on "Add Line Item" to add in to ad-hoc item. It's also important to note that you set what holder this stock is supposed to have come from using the "Take Stock from" drop down.
The Assets tab can be used to add as many assets onto the periodic as required. During the template creation process we can only add ONE asset onto the task. From this tab we're able to add as many as we need.
The Documents tab is only available if you've activated Document Storage. If you're interested in this feature please consult your AroFlo Support Technician to discuss this further. Once activated this feature allows you to specify documents that will be added onto the task at the moment of creation. This is useful for adding in service manuals or paperwork that might be required by your field technicians.
The sequence tab is used to keep track of the number of periodic tasks that have been generated when there is a set limit required. Set the Sequence Number to set the current number of periodic tasks generated and set the Sequence Target to select the required limit.
It is important to note that If you're going to use this feature neither the Sequence No or Sequence Target can be set to 0. (So it's a good idea to start at 1 for the sequence No.) Once this feature is activated the Periodic task will be suffixed with the sequence number.
This section allows you to specify compliance forms that are required by this periodic. any compliance forms listed within this tab will be available within the 'Spec Forms' section when adding a compliance form for any tasks created by this template.
Once you have selected a resource in the schedule tab we should be able to see an entry in the calendar for that periodic.
Ensure that the show Periodic Tasks check box is checked.
You can now see an entry marked as a Periodic in the calendar for your specified resource. It is important to note that this is place holder only indicating the periodic is due to be generated for this time/date. The actual task won't be generated until the periodic is run.
It is useful to know that you can change your scheduled time for the next periodic to be run without changing the details in your template. This gives you the functionality of being able to make modifications to your next periodic visit without changing your regular details.
This will modifiy when the periodic generates.
If you have selected an Assigned person for your periodic a notification is also put into your calendar telling you that the periodic has been generated. This is marked as a U-Periodic or an Unscheduled Periodic.
A Periodic Invoice can be used to easily manage regular recurring payments that need to be paid to you. This will allow you to create a template that will generate invoices for pre-set amounts.
To create a periodic invoice we can simply click on 'Create' and then 'Periodic Invoice'.
Once you have created the Invoice Template the first thing you need to specify is who the client is. This can be specified by typing the client name into the 'Client' Field or by clicking on the search tool to bring up a list of clients. Once we've set a client we're then able to specify a location.
You can also specify a Customer Order Number for this invoice in the CUST ON field.
We're now going to specify the Invoice Date and Frequency. Similar to Periodic Tasks the Frequency will determine how regularly this invoice template needs to generate.
For our Frequency we're going to set it as a Monthly Periodic and we're going to set our Invoice Date to the first of next month.
Similar to a regular service invoice we're able to add ad-hoc items onto the invoice using the 'Add Line Item' button at the base of the screen.
We can also use the 'Multi-Search' button to add in Inventory Items. It should be noted that by default any items added onto a Periodic Invoice will not affect your stock levels. You may need to confirm with your Site Administrator if AroFlo has been configured to run Stock Control at a Sales Invoice level.
Click Save to confirm. We should now see the item has been added onto our Periodic Invoice.
We can delete the item using the "del' button the right hand side of the row or use 'Multi-Delete' to remove multiple rows if we need to.
It is important to note that you don't necessarily need any line items on the invoice for the invoice to generate. Once you have set the client and clicked Save this invoice will generate depending on the frequency set.
If we want to find this invoice template we can find it under the Service Track Invoicing Menu. (This menu will also show you any Invoices created by the Template.
We can click on the link to Periodic Invoices to list any Periodic Invoice templates that we have registered. We can then simply click on the Invoice date field to go back in to modify the template.
Once the Invoice is ready to invoice a new invoice with the next logical invoice number will appear in your Invoices – Current Invoices list ready for you to verify and send to your customer.
If an Invoice template no longer needs to run you can simply go back into the Periodic Invoice template and archive the invoice template.


We test the tiny Cybershot HX99 and its 30x superzoom.
At a time when everyone is carrying around a generally capable camera inside their smartphone, compact cameras have struggled to stay relevant. Barring Sony's own wonderful RX100 series and Fujifilm's X100F family, the world of point-and-shoots is usually an unremarkable one. Sony's only camera announcements at IFA 2018 were intriguing, at least. It revealed two cameras, the Cybershot HX99 and HX95, which cram a technically impressive 30x, 24-720mm f/3.5-6 equivalent zoom lens into a 1.5-inch wide camera frame that feels very similar to the premium RX100 series. Both compacts join the Cybershot camera family, meaning they are cheaper than Sony's aforementioned premium compact camera series. The HX99 -- the one I tested -- is priced at €520 (around $610), making it pretty much half the price of the latest RX100 models.
I think it's important to frame this camera as one that offers imaging skills that point-and-shoot camera shoppers of the past want, but can't get from the latest smartphones. While RAW shooting and 4K video, for example, are now possible on 2018 phones, 30x zoom is not coming any time soon. The ability to zoom-in and maintain detail, meaning no cropping or digital zoom, ensures travelers and occasional family photographers can get some great shots -- especially when shooting conditions are decent.
The 24-720mm zoom lens is nimble for a compact camera, and I was surprised at how quickly the compact was able to lock onto distant faces and features, bringing the details into focus. Image quality is admirable, given the compact camera's petite imaging sensor, and pushing the HX99 to its superzoom limits. The crucial part is that the superzoom offers shots that are impossible on your iPhone or Galaxy S9, let alone the ability to record (admittedly pretty wobbly) 4K video from a distance.
This meant I could really hone in on the model's faces at Sony's IFA booth. I could also see it working for taking photos at weddings, or getting close-ups on animals at the zoo or in the wild. It has the potential to be a very useful camera that you can still slide into a pocket or a bag -- alongside your phone.
Aside from the small 1/2.3-inch sensor, the number of features that have been squeezed in is impressive: optical image stabilization built-in; you can shoot RAW images; a 10fps burst shot mode and 4K video capture. There's also a pop-up electronic viewfinder and flash. My slightly old RX100 Mark II doesn't even have an EV.
Unlike the HX95, the HX99 includes a lens ring, which lets you adjust aperture, ISO and other manual settings without having to paw at the buttons and screen. (Meanwhile, there's still the life-saving touch-to-focus feature on the tilt-able LCD display.) The UI and general feel will be familiar to anyone who's used a Sony camera in recent years. It's not perfect, but most of the features you need can be accessed with only a few actions.
Sony's now reached the sixth iteration on its premium RX100 compact range, so the company firmly believes there is still a place for pocketable cameras even in the era of smartphones. The HX99 is a cheaper shooter that doesn't have the technical prowess and image quality of the RX100 series, but does bring the superzoom into an exciting new form factor. The HX99 might not the cheapest Sony point-and-shoot, but for many of us, it could be the most useful.


All photos by Heather Schwartz (facebook / insta / twitter). BIG UP!
PS go see him melt minds tonight at Deep Space – adv tix are just $10 all day or $20 at the door. Just imagine these tunes on Cielo's Funktion-1s and tell me that's not worth $10.
Two fresh promo mixes from Goth-Trad, one of the most innovative producers working at 140. Seriously. I know the word 'innovative' gets abused more than any other descriptor in music journalism, but nobody deserves it more than Goth-Trad.
The first is just 20 minutes, and definitely a production showcase. It includes both tracks off his forthcoming Deep Medi single (Behind the Glass/Born to Know) as well as the best cuts off his New Epoch LP and his gorgeous Submotion Orchestra remix.
The second mix is promo for his Friday appearance at London club Fabric. More representative of his DJ sets, this one is packed with VIPs and deep cuts from his catalog as well as a handful of tracks from other producers. At 48 minutes, it'll leave you wanting more, but you'll have a great sense of what his performances are like.
Well, sort of. I just heard that the next time GT comes through the states, he'll be playing a live hardware set. Who's gonna book him? Deep Space, round 3? Reconstrvct surprise guest? Subverse? The Bunker???? Can't wait to find out.


text:
Q: How can I fix the position of a second colum? I have two colums with textfield. You can choose the amount of the textfields with the combobox. Here is the first picture

When I choose the amount of textfields from the right side then you can this situation.

So far so good but when I choose 0 on the left side the second colums comes to the left side.

When I choose 0 I want that the right colum stay in his place instead of going to the left. How can I do that?
The code:

                 Invulveld 1:
                 <input ng-hide="vm.datasource.billLevel < 1 " type="text" ng-model="vm.datasource.text1Bill" style="width:148px;" />
                 <input ng-hide="vm.datasource.contractLevel < 1" type="text" ng-model="vm.datasource.text1Contract" style="margin-right:153px; width:156px;" />

                 Invulveld 2:
                 <input ng-hide="vm.datasource.billLevel < 2" type="text" ng-model="vm.datasource.text2Bill" style="width:148px;" />
                 <input ng-hide="vm.datasource.contractLevel < 2" type="text" ng-model="vm.datasource.text2Contract" style="margin-right:153px; width:156px;" />

                 Invulveld 3:
                 <input ng-hide="vm.datasource.billLevel < 3" type="text" ng-model="vm.datasource.text3Bill" style="width:148px;" />
                 <input ng-hide="vm.datasource.contractLevel < 3" type="text" ng-model="vm.datasource.text3Contract" style="margin-right:153px; width:156px;" />

                 Invulveld 4:
                 <input ng-hide="vm.datasource.billLevel < 4" type="text" ng-model="vm.datasource.text4Bill" style="width:148px;" />
                 <input ng-hide="vm.datasource.contractLevel < 4" type="text" ng-model="vm.datasource.text4Contract" style="margin-right:153px; width:156px;" />

                 Invulveld 5:
                 <input ng-hide="vm.datasource.billLevel < 5" type="text" ng-model="vm.datasource.text5Bill" style="width:148px;" />
                 <input ng-hide="vm.datasource.contractLevel < 5" type="text" ng-model="vm.datasource.text5Contract" style="margin-right:153px; width:156px;" />

A: There are many ways to achieve what you want,
It must include either float, fix width.
Here is a solution which includes repeater which is very recommended
Html:

    <select ng-model="vm.selectLeft">
      <option value=1>1</option>
      <option value=2>2</option>
      <option value=3>3</option>
    </select>

      <input ng-repeat="txt in getText('left',vm.selectLeft)  track by $index" ng-value="txt" />

    <select ng-model="vm.selectRight">
      <option value=1>1</option>
      <option value=2>2</option>
      <option value=3>3</option>
    </select>

      <input ng-repeat="txt in getText('right',vm.selectRight)  track by $index" ng-value="txt"/>

CSS:
.wrapper{
  width: 400px;
}

.left,
.right{
  float:left;
  width: 40%;
  margin:10px;
}

select, input{
  width:100%;
}
.wrapper input {
  margin-top: 10px;
}

JS:
var app = angular.module('myApp', []);

app.controller('Ctrl', ['$scope', function($scope) {

  $scope.getText = function(txt, length) {
    var newArr = [];
    for (var i = 0; i < length; i++) {
      newArr.push(txt + i);
    }
    return newArr;
  }
}]);

Fiddle example

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


A U-Haul crash turned manhunt caused Interstate 14 to be shut down for three hours and significant backups near Nolanville on Friday morning. Police arrested 25-year-old Charles Smith and charged him with fleeing the scene of a crash, felony vehicle theft and burglary of a building/business out of Temple.
Just before 7 a.m., police were called out to the crash between the eastbound and westbound lanes of I-14. Police were told a U-Haul hit a guardrail, causing the vehicle to drive into the culvert and flip over.
When police arrived, thinking the call was for a rescue, they believed the driver might be stuck underneath the vehicle.
The vehicle was moved and no one was found, so a helicopter was called for assistance.
"That was a very serious accidents because of the damage to the truck," Nolanville Police Chief Daniel Porter said. "That raised some suspicion when they were unable to locate the individuals."
The Nolanville Police Department called the Bell County Sheriff's Department for assistance and then contacted U-Haul for information about the wrecked truck. U-Haul told police the truck was stolen out of Temple overnight Thursday.
"In addition to looking for an injured person, we had to take the public safety into account too because if you have a suspect there, you can be a danger to passerby and other citizens," Porter said.
The Bell County Sheriff's Department brought in its search dogs to assist.
"They helped us determine that a person had left the scene and the general direction that they probably went," Porter said.
While searching for Smith, police received a call from a gas station employee who reported seeing a wet and muddy man with several scrapes on his body and face. A clerk from the gas station where he was apprehended also called police to report seeing Smith.
Smith was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and was later transported to Bell County Jail.
The Temple and Nolanville Police Department are continuing to work together in the investigation.
Police have identified and are looking for two other suspects believed to connected with theft of the truck.
Multiple agencies including Bell County Constables, Nolanville police, Belton Fire and Rescue and Texas Department of Public Safety assisted.


Enjoying Paranormal, Urban Fantasy & All Things Romance. Our primary focus is on Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy; however, we cover a range of genres including: Historical Romance, LGBTQ, Science Fiction, Steampunk, and more! Plus, author interviews, giveaways, and contests.
Ghosts Gone Wild is the second story in the Beechwood Harbor Ghost Mysteries, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. After meeting Scarlet the "ghost whisper" and learning of her talents in the first book (and prequel short stories), I felt the author did a great job ramping up Scarlet's personality and abilities. With so many ghost around and an abundant supply of potential murder victims (in the volume of tourists that visit the small town), the author could have coasted on a set formula for her books. However, Ms. Garrett doesn't let Scarlet rest easy.
First, let me talk about Scarlet… She's been able to see and communicate with ghosts since she was a child. While we get glimpses of what knowledge she's gathered over the years, in Ghosts Gone Wild, Scarlet must really stretch her understanding of the dead, giving her the opportunity to grow both in ability and in knowledge. And the more one knows, the more one realizes they DON'T know, so the door has opened for Scarlet, and I look forward to seeing where she goes with her gifts.
I also appreciate that the "formula" for ghosts and mysteries is different in book two. While Scarlet once again must deal with a departed soul who has an axe to grind (unfinished business), she also has to deal with an active murder investigation AND the disappearance of her local ghostly friends. The story is complex and interesting, and more than just a simple cozy mystery.
Finally, I adore that Scarlet has a serious love interest in security expert Lucas. While there was a spark of romance in the first book, things get more serious in Ghosts Gone Wild when Lucas returns on his mid-season break to spend several weeks with Scarlet. I adore watching Scarlet get both excited and panic when dealing with her growing feelings. The author does a great job giving listeners a romance without overshadowing the main story.
Narration: I've been listening to Amanda Ronconi read the original series and now this spin-off for over a half dozen books, and she has consistently done a wonderful job. The Beechwood Harbor Ghost Mysteries is voiced from the first person POV of Scarlet. Ms. Ronconi captures Scarlet's kindness, generosity, and determination. But also convincingly voices her frustration when called for. Additionally, Ms. Ronconi gives each of the three primary ghost regulars distinct and appropriate voices. Finally, her male voices are generally deeper and fitting.
Overall, I really enjoyed Ghosts Gone Wild – the whole story felt tighter, more engaging, more complex than the first book, The Ghost Hunter Next Door. The narration really blossomed as well – with most of the characters being ghosts, Ms. Ronconi has put a lot of "life" and variety into their overall sound.
Missing ghosts, a posthumously alimony-hungry divorcee, and a raging bridezilla. Yup, my bingo card is officially full. Can I get a prize and go home now?
Scarlet has been able to see and communicate with ghosts since her 8th birthday when her deceased cat, Flapjack, made his first appearance. Now she and her constant companions talking cat, Flapjack, and British gent, Hayward, reside in Beechwood Harbor, a community filled with supernaturals. Ghosts are drawn to Scarlet, and she finds a way to help them cope and deal with death and those still living. However, things change when a violent ghost named Rosie demands Scarlet stop a reality TV crew from renovating the Lilac House. Rosie has abilities beyond any Scarlet has seen, and Rosie intends to use them to hurt the humans invading "her" home.
The Ghost Hunter Next Door is the first cozy in the Beechwood Harbor Ghost Mysteries, a spin-off of the Beechwood Harbor Magic Mysteries. Although the series share the same setting and few crossover characters, this book is completely independent of the original series and one does not need to read it first. Being the first book in the series, time is spent acquainting listeners with the setting and primary characters. I enjoyed seeing Beechwood Harbor from the eyes of Scarlet, who is a pretty solitary soul.
Many of the characters are, in fact, ghosts, including Gwen from the original series. Additionally, we meet Lucas, the hunky head of the show's security. For some reason, Scarlet feels a bond with Lucas, allowing her to share her secrets with him. And for once in her life, someone believes her and believes in her. I like that Scarlet has a confidant to help her solve the mystery, but more importantly, give her a much-needed close friend (and love interest). In the beginning, there was a slight suggestion of a potential love triangle with a local police officer, but it wasn't pursued at any length in this book, thankfully.
The mystery of who Rosie is and why she is such an angry ghost morphs into a pretty good murder mystery. I had fun trying to figure it all out as Scarlet and Lucas dig into the past. I really enjoyed the conclusion, especially how Scarlet gives Rosie the gift of peace.
I've been listening to Amanda Ronconi read the original series for a half dozen books now, and she has consistently done a wonderful job. This time around, the book is voiced from the first person POV of Scarlet, who has a different personality than Holly (original series heroine). Ms. Ronconi changes a little here and there to convincingly portray a new main character. Additionally, the three primary ghost regulars have distinct voices. While there is little difference between the each of the male characters' voices, the tone is deeper and fitting.
In the end, The Ghost Hunter Next Door is a solid kickoff for this new series. The story is both interesting and sweet. I like that Scarlet has someone she trusts and can confide in, and I love the blossoming romance between her and Lucas.
With Fried Chicken & Fangs opening just a couple months after the conclusion of the first book, we discover the town of Honeysuckle Hollow, along with main character Charli, embracing some changes brought up in the first title. The town added a non-witch council seat to its governing body, and the election is in full swing. Additionally, Charli is more open about her tracking talent, openly using it to help the town's denizens. Yet when valuable personal items go missing, suddenly Charli struggles with her abilities.
When one of the beloved townsfolk is found dead, and crimes start implicating the various candidates, Charli decides it is time to get involved. While it is pretty clear from the beginning who is behind the problems in Honeysuckle, the entire investigation is entertaining to follow. I enjoyed listening to Charli as she pulls out clues and pieces them together. However, it is a bit odd that other than Charli, the only other competent investigator appears to be Warden Mason. Luckily the pair works well together, and I like them together, despite my reservations over a potential love triangle brewing.
Outside of the murder mystery, Charli's personal life and ties to shifter Dash, are expanded upon in Fried Chicken & Fangs. Apparently, there was some sort of mishap with a cupid's arrow or love potion gone wrong that takes place between the first and second books, but the reader isn't privy to the details. I felt like I missed reading a novella or something. While it added a bit of confusion for me, I was able to glean that both Mason and Dash made it known to Charli they are interested in her. This plays out with Dash being an aggressor of sorts (the book is very "G" when it comes to romance), and Mason embarrassed and distant. I'm glad the author gives us (and Charli) more of Dash and his past, but just when he grows a little closer, his past pulls him away. I like Dash and Charli together, they seem to fit, and I hope the author continues down this path.
Ms. Parker provides a wonderful southern drawl to Charli, bringing her wit and charm to life. Her easy-going narration sets the tempo and mood, keeping the cozy mystery light and entertaining. Additionally, she creates a number of unique voices for each of the paranormal creatures, from squeaky fairies to snooty vampires. While some of the characters sound a bit odd, it suits their nature and helps develop the setting and scene.
In the end, I enjoyed my return trip to Honeysuckle Hollow. Fried Chicken & Fangs is a stronger story than its predecessor, and I look forward to listening to the third book soon!
An upcoming election and some new visitors to Honeysuckle shake up the magical small Southern town. When a beloved family member of one of the candidates disappears, it's up to Charli Goodwin and her special talents to get on the case.
What starts as a simple search uncovers a darker layer of manipulation and sabotage. Will she be able to figure out who is pulling the strings before the foundations of the town are destroyed?
Picking up with the residents of Honeysuckle Hollow about two months after the conclusion of the previous book, Sweet Tea & Spells opens with Clementine's bridal shower. Although protagonist Charli doesn't see eye-to-eye with Clementine's mother, Aunt Nora, and Clementine is marrying Charli's ex, Tucker, Charli feels she should make an attempt to connect with her only family. Unfortunately, things go wrong with cake and Aunt Nora blames Charli. This is where we first meet bad guy Duke, a man who keeps secrets on all the powerful people in the wizarding world. So, when Duke turns up dead, there is no shortage of suspects, nor is there a shortage of reasons why he was killed.
The murder mystery aspect of Sweet Tea & Spells was very interesting. The storyline was the most complex to date in this paranormal cozy mystery series. With each suspect, there was a different motive for hating the dead man. He held secrets on many powerful people, as well as having a siren slave who was required to do his dirty work. It took a while for the pieces to fall into place, and I pretty much guessed what had happened, but I liked how this storyline moved and flowed through the book. My only issue was once the criminal was "unmasked," his demeanor changed one-eighty from belligerent to cooperative. It felt sudden and out of character.
While the murder storyline was fairly involved, the entire book was filled with a number of side stories, some pertaining to the mystery, and others not at all. After a while, I felt that there were too many extraneous side stories, making it overwhelming and difficult to follow everything that was happening.
Another issue I had with the book was the portrayal of the sheriff and the "local police" as completely inept without Mason in town. I want to know when in the past year or so we've been visiting Honeysuckle, did Mason become the only detective that knows basic police procedures. The ordeal is used as a plot device to get Charli involved in the case, even after Mason returns. It was weak and disappointing.
I was also frustrated with the developing romantic storyline for this series. In the previous book, Charli grew close to Dash, and I felt like she'd made her choice. But the author kept him out of Sweet Tea & Spells completely, and in steps Mason. And Mason is a "new man," having returned from a dangerous mission "up north." He's rough around the edges, but open and honest with Charli about his past – something Dash refused do previously. Overall, the romantic storyline was subpar, and I felt it brought down the quality of the tale.
Having listened to two previous books in this series, I have come to associate Ms. Parker's voice with heroine Charli. Her easy-going southern drawl brings Charli, and all of her idiosyncrasies, to life. Additionally, she is able to add just enough emotion into Charli to help identify when she's frustrated, joyful, sad, etc. Ms. Parker's narrative style sets the tempo and mood, keeping the cozy mystery light and entertaining. Additionally, she successfully creates a number of unique voices for each of the supporting paranormal creatures.
In the end, I enjoyed listening to Sweet Tea & Spells, despite the few issues I had with the storylines. I definitely want to know what is in store for Charli down the road, I just hope that the romantic storyline is downplayed a bit more, while keeping up the calibre of the mysteries.
A prank war has erupted in Honeysuckle, and spells are flying everywhere. All's fair in spells and sport, but when one goes terribly wrong and someone ends up dead, it's up to Charli Goodwin to figure out who's to blame.
At the same time, she's also on a mission to learn more about her past and do her best to harness her growing magical powers. Will she be able to pull herself together in time to stop things before more lives are at stake in the magical small Southern town?
Moonshine and Magic, the first title of a quaint, paranormal cozy mystery series, centers on the return of Charli Goodwin to her hometown of Honeysuckle Hollow, a place where non-humans can live together peacefully. Charli is a witch with an rare talent for finding misplaced items and people. She abruptly left Honeysuckle Hollow, and her finance, roughly a year ago, and her return goes a bit south when first her ex-finance proposes to her bratty cousin in front of the entire town, followed by Charli's discovery that her favorite uncle is dead.
Moonshine and Magic was a rough start for me. First I was confused as to how long Charli was gone from her hometown. At times it was "forever ago," but then "not that long ago." Additionally, Charli came off selfish, not telling her loved ones that she was leaving or where she went. Additionally, I had issues with her older brother, who in his effort to "protect" Charli, was pushy, vague, and unable to stand up to the "paranormal police" when Detective Mason went after her for her involvement in her uncle's death. The mystery was slow starting and I found myself annoyed with the characters.
However, after taking a short break, I jumped back into the audiobook and found it more appealing. Once things settled in and other characters introduced, the mystery of who killed Uncle Tipper picked up speed. Charli is in the middle of it all, and has a few stumbles before capturing the culprit. And although several characters are somewhat stereotypical (bitchy aunt and stuck up cousin, alpha males, potential love triangle, etc.), I grew to like them and enjoyed the story. My biggest issue with Charli is that she got precariously close to "too stupid to live" territory when her stubborn behaviors nearly killed her three separate times.
The narration by Johanna Parker took me a bit to get used to, but only because I have been listening to her read the SPI series by Lisa Shearin, one of which I completed just before starting Moonshine and Magic. This caused some mental confusion for a good quarter or more of the book, thinking I was listening to Mak (SPI) instead of Charli. However, once I finally got into the story and warmed up to the characters, I found Ms. Parker's performance enjoyable and well-suited for the story and setting. She conveys a charming southern attitude, which fits the small town of Honeysuckle Hollow. She is able to put a bit of desperation into Charli when needed, but generally keeps her voice calm and steady. The supporting characters each have their own unique voice, some of which are a bit odd, but once again, fitting to the unconventional cast of paranormal characters that inhabit the story.
Overall, I enjoyed Moonshine and Magic, even with the rough start and my few misgivings. The author set the stage for conflict and intrigue for any upcoming tales, and after warming up to Charli, I look forward to uncovering more mysteries with her.
Charli Goodwin doesn't expect her homecoming to go without a hitch–after all, she skipped town, leaving her fiancé and family without a clue as to where she was going or why. Now that she's ready to return home, she plans to lay low and sip some of her Nana's sweet tea while the town gossips come out to play.
Unfortunately, on her first night back, Charli discovers the body of her crazy great-uncle, and suddenly finds herself at the center of a mystery that threatens the very foundations of Honeysuckle Hollow and the safety of every paranormal citizen in it–starting with Charli herself.
With the clock ticking, will Charli's special magical talents be enough to save not only the town but also her own life?
Witch Way Home opens shortly after the mysterious conclusion of the previous book, with our heroine, Holly the witch, reacquainting herself with the Seattle Haven after being banished for the past year. She's preparing for her hearing with the Haven Council, hoping to gain permission to get her Master Potions license and reopen her store. Unfortunately, things don't go well for her at the hearing, and it gets even worse when her SPA case worker, Harvey, suddenly leaves the hearing and goes missing. Once again, Holly ends up in the middle of a murder mystery and this time, he own future is at risk.
Witch Way Home was an absolute delight, and it addressed pretty much everything I felt was missing from (wrong with) the previous book, Witch Slapped. I loved the focus on Holly: both her quest for her Potion license and how the events surrounding the trial and murder mystery impact her life. Gone were most of the side stories and confusion surrounding Holly when she is around Nick. Don't get me wrong, Holly is still questioning what she'll do with her life, but it wasn't couched in any sort of romance/man-related setting. It's all her and what she's going to do – what will make her happy.
Once again, Holly and gang are brought to life through the performance of Amanda Ronconi. I adore her work and commend her interpretation of Holly. Ms. Ronconi convincingly portrays Holly's thoughts, concerns, and expressions. She helps solidify Holly as a favorite character of mine. Her female voices are each a bit different and well-suited. However, her male voices tend to be a bit problematic for me, as many sound alike making it difficult to discern who is speaking from time to time.
In the end, I really enjoyed Witch Way Home. There was resolution of some of the earlier plotlines like Holly's SPA battles, her potion making, Nick knowing about the world of supernaturals. I also liked that this book's mystery was more personal for Holly and that she relied on the help of Adam and friends, rather than being secretive.
After the revelation in the previous Ishmael Jones novel, we were surprised by Into the Thinnest of Air. We weren't expecting an intermission.
Simon Green's witty mystery/suspense series with a science-fiction twist has fascinated us for four novels. Ishmael and Penny brave the strange and horrific, sleuthing out the culprit(s) while maintaining witty banter. After the hint given in the previous book we had hoped to learn more about Ishmael's mysterious past or see if Ishmael decides to dig into it. What we didn't expect is for Penny to surprise him with a holiday weekend.
Into the Thinnest of Air felt like a break in the overarching plot of Ishmael's past. Penny and Ishmael go into the country for a fun weekend, visiting a group of Penny's father's old friends. However, nothing for them is ever as it seems and people begin to disappear after dinner. With no bodies to examine and nothing in the way of clues left, Penny and Ishmael are lost as they try to figure out what is going on. The majority of the novel is mostly the remaining members of the group arguing about if the disappearances are the work of the supernatural or a more mundane monster. This group of friends is made up of a handful of once young-dreamers now resigned middle-aged adults chained to the fate that a bad decision left them. The revelation of the mystery is as fascinating as it is chilling heinous, but it felt as if Penny and Ishmael spent most of the novel either chatting, arguing, or running around in circles. As a standalone mystery, it is interesting but as the next novel in this series, we were a bit let down.
Although this is our least favorite story in this series, we still really like this series and are eager to see what happens in the next installment. The mystery/drama may have been a little lackluster, but the humor and wit was still strong. Hopefully it will be less a battle of words and suspicions and more battling of the evil forces in the world in the upcoming story. Our fingers are crossed that more of Ishmael's background will come into play in the next Ishmael Jones novel.
Is the inn really subject to an ancient curse? Skeptical of ghost stories, Ishmael believes the key to the mystery lies in the present rather than the past. But with no bodies, no evidence and no clues to go on, how can he prove it?


After the panel presentations there will be an opportunity for 1-to-1 meetings with the speakers as required.
how to develop your business interests in the region.
The briefing will start at 08:00 with registration and breakfast and will conclude at 12:00.


This is the documentation for Microsoft Speech API (SAPI) 5.3, the native API for Windows.
SAPI 5.3 supports the W3C Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) version 1.0, which is defined at http://www.w3.org/TR/speech-synthesis. SSML provides the ability to markup voice characteristics, speed, volume, pitch, emphasis, and pronunciation, so that developers can make TTS sound more natural in their applications.
In addition to SSML, SAPI 5.3 continues to support the proprietary SAPITTS markup language for annotating text for TTS rendering. SSML and SAPITTS have a fairly close mapping - close enough that most SSML can be transformed into SAPITTS. Indeed, this is what SAPI does when it receives SSML, so that underlying TTS engines that have been built for SAPITTS do not need to also support SSML.
SAPI does not support new DDI for TTS engines to accept SSML.
It does not support the use of SRGS to specify DTMF (touch-tone) grammars.
It only supports the expression of SRGS as XML - not as augmented BNF (ABNF).
SRGS is defined at http://www.w3.org/TR/speech-grammar.
In addition to SRGS, SAPI 5.3 continues to support the proprietary SAPI CFG XML format for specifying a grammar.
SAPI 5.3 enables an SRGS grammar to be annotated with semantic information, so that a recognition result may contain not only the recognized text but also the semantic interpretation of that text. For example, the recognized text of a yes/no grammar might be "yes", "yeah" or "yep", but the semantic meaning of all of these is "yes". This makes it easier for applications to consume recognition results, as well as empowering grammar authors to provide a full spectrum of possible utterances without burdening the developer with the interpretation task.
A string literal containing the semantic value.
A Jscript statement that ultimately returns a string containing the semantic value.
In addition to the annotation of SRGS, SAPI also provides results that contain not only the recognized text but also the semantic information as a hierarchy of name-value pairs.


text:
Speed sniping in Miami:
The second Democratic debate
BEFORE WE knew who the players would be, there was the temptation to call the first night of a multi-night Democratic debate series "the undercard." This year's was different. With its own singular mix of progressive, mainstream and established political personalities, the first debate at the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center had a weight, a velocity of its own. Depending on what you were looking for in a prospective candidate, the undercard could have been the main event.
But there's no getting around it: On the basis of polling response, donations raised and name recognition, Thursday night held more of the heaviest hitters in the 2020 presidential campaign. And the principals — Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Michael Bennet, Andrew Yang, Kirsten Gillibrand, Marianne Williamson, Eric Swalwell and John Hickenlooper — all knew that a lot was at stake.
So the gloves came off early on Thursday night. Health care was an early and frequent target of opportunity. Hickenlooper, the former Colorado governor not given much of a chance, still struck a clear note that Democratic leadership should pay attention to: how the little matter of the party's self-identification matters moving forward into the teeth of the campaign.
"Well, I think that the bottom line is, if we don't clearly define that we are not socialists, the Republicans are going to come at us every way they can and—and call us socialists," Hickenlooper said.
"And if you look at the Green New Deal, which I admire the sense of urgency and how important it is to do climate change, I'm a scientist, but we can't promise every American a government job if you want to get universal healthcare coverage. I believe that healthcare is a right and not a privilege, but you can't expect to eliminate private insurance for 180 million people, many of whom don't want to give it up."
Williamson brought the pithy: "We don't have a health care system in the United States. We have a sickness care system in the United States."
And Vice President Biden answered the bell on health care with a full-throated defense of his role in Obamacare:
"Look, this is very personal to me. When my wife and daughter were killed in an automobile accident my two boys were really very badly injured. I couldn't imagine what it'd be like had I not had adequate healthcare available immediately. And then when my son came home from Iraq after a year he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and he was given months to live. I can't fathom what would have happened if, in fact, they said by the way the last six months of your life you're on your own. We're cutting off. You've used up your time.
"The fact of the matter is that the quickest, fastest way to do it is build on Obamacare, to build on what we did," Biden said. "And secondly, secondly, to make sure that everyone does have an option. Everyone, whether they have private insurance, employer insurance or no insurance, they, in fact, can buy into the exchange to a Medicare-like plan.
"And the way you do that, you can do it quicker — look, urgency matters. There's people right now facing what I've faced and what we've faced without any of the help I had. We must move now."
Points. But that was about as good as it got for Biden. A debate performance that was to that point tolerable, not exactly a barn-burner but survivable, quickly turned into something else.
YOU DON'T HAVE to be a high-school debating champion to know better than to violate one of the cardinal rules of all debates: Never undercut yourself. Never concede the stage you're on by telling the audience "my time's up. I'm sorry."
You're especially advised not to do that when you're a septuagenarian politician already accused of being out of step with a newly assertive chunk of the electorate — an electorate that, in the main, views the defeat of Donald Trump as nothing less than a prime directive.
Joe Biden ran afoul of that central law of rhetoric and presidential politics. By accident, he took the center square on the second night, and took up oxygen and time better used by the other candidates, who took shots at building policy bona fides in fits and starts.
Some worked better than others: Bennet had the courage to resist the Medicare-for-all diktat solidifying in the Dems' leftmost precincts. Bennet agreed that health care is a right, one realized and enhanced by "finishing the work we started with Obamacare and creating a public option, a choice – I believe we will get there more quickly if we do that."
Buttigieg similarly pushed back against the evolving trend toward student debt forgiveness, saying that students should pay some of their debt. "It also needs to be more affordable to not go to college." He'd also raise minimum wage to at least 15 dollars.
Some didn't work at all: Eric Swalwell, late getting into this thing, didn't really bring much of substance beyond a pledge to make family reunification a day-one action item. There were weak invocations of Kennedyesque oratory, aimed at Biden ("Pass the torch!" he kept saying). And by plugging his policy prescription of giving everyone in the country $1,000, Andrew Yang has secured his role as the Herman Cain of the 2020 cycle, wasting an opportunity to put a lot more flesh on those bones.
BUT IT CAME down on Biden and Harris to crank up the energy in the room, with a memorable exchange, one likely to go down in modern political history as a pivot point moment — the flashpoint instance when one style of American politics first fully, sharply came into its ascendancy, while another style of that politics began an irrevocable decline.
Harris scored the former vice president for his past associations with Herman Talmadge and segregationists during Biden's time in the Senate. And it deserves to be digested in its entirety, in text and in video. The careful reader or viewer will notice that, wrapped inside Harris' painful American reverie is a recognition — and celebration — of contemporary Democratic party values, and what the party stands for, and what the Democrats need to double down on in 2010.
KAMALA HARRIS: Okay. So, on the issue of race, I couldn't agree more that this is an issue that is still not being talked about truthfully and honestly. I—there is not a black man I know, be he a relative, a friend or a coworker who has not been the subject of some form of profiling or discrimination. Growing up, my sister and I had to deal with the neighbor who told us her parents couldn't play with us because she—because we were black. And I will say also that—that in this campaign, we've also heard—and I'm going to now direct this to Vice President Biden. I do not believe you are a racist and I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground.
BIDEN: Mm-hmm.
Posted by Michael E. Ross at 7:05 PM 0 comments
Labels: 2020 campaign, 2020 Dem debates, Bennet debate, Biden Harris clash, Eric Swalwell debate, Hickenlooper debate, Michael E. Ross 2020 campaign, Short Sharp Shock 2020 campaign
Speed dating in Miami: The first Democratic debate
WHEN THE smoke cleared after the first Democratic debate on Wednesday night, once the after-action reports came in from the Adrienne Arsht Performing Arts Center, it was clear the first firefight in a long campaign was pretty much the rhetorical bullet festival everyone expected.
But there were some notable exceptions — survivors that many observers thought were finished. Anything can happen: that unavoidable takeaway from the first candidates' debate, on Tuesday, should be a signal for the next debate round, on Thursday.
In the raw, unscripted punch-ups of a crowded pre-primary campaign, another kind of conflict is in play: With the first debate in the books, it's clear that candidates are sharpening their distinctions one from another. So far, this hasn't warfare as much as it is speed dating among rivals for the electorate's heart and the media's attention.
The first 10 in the tank – New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. former Housing Secretary Julian Castro, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren — brought their A games, or tried to. Some of them, those who literally had nothing to lose, went above and beyond, admirably carrying the fire to opponents. Others not so much.
But right from the start, you could tell things were teed up for Warren on opening night. As the undeniable star of the first tranche of candidates vis-à-vis polling and fundraising, the senator from Massachusetts was in the center square. She rose to the occasion, coming out swinging with a sharp distillation of her ethos and her principles, and even some of her policy prescriptions.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC: You have many plans — free college, free child care, government health care, cancellation of student debt, new taxes, new regulations, the breakup of major corporations. But this comes at a time when 71 percent of Americans say the economy is doing well, including 60 percent of Democrats. What do you say to those who worry this kind of significant change could be risky to the economy?
WARREN: So I think of it this way. Who is this economy really working for? It's doing great for a thinner and thinner slice at the top. It's doing great for giant drug companies. It's just not doing great for people who are trying to get a prescription filled.
It's doing great for people who want to invest in private prisons, just not for the African-Americans and Latinos whose families are torn apart, whose lives are destroyed, and whose communities are ruined.
It's doing great for giant oil companies that want to drill everywhere, just not for the rest of us who are watching climate change bear down upon us.
When you've got a government, when you've got an economy that does great for those with money and isn't doing great for everyone else, that is corruption, pure and simple. We need to call it out. We need to attack it head on. And we need to make structural change in our government, in our economy, and in our country.
Klobuchar was next, with ideas about education and student debt. "We know that not everyone is sharing in this prosperity. And Donald Trump just sits in the White House and gloats about what's going on, when you have so many people that are having trouble affording college and having trouble affording their premiums.
"So I do get concerned about paying for college for rich kids, I do," she said. "But I think my plan is a good one. And my plan would be to, first of all, make community college free and make sure that everyone else besides that top percentile gets help with their education. ...
"Secondly, I'd used Pell grants. I'd double them from $6,000 to $12,000 a year and expand it to the number of families that get covered, to families that make up to $100,000. And then the third thing I would do is make it easier for students to pay off their student loans. Because I can tell you this: If billionaires can pay off their yachts, students should be able to pay off their student loans."
IT WAS NOT a good night for O'Rourke, regardless of what his handlers and adjutants say. The former Texas phenom from Texas seemed off his game from almost the beginning, speaking in platitudes. His delivery seems wooden, predictable, and off-script. Consider this exchange with NBC's Savannah Guthrie:
GUTHRIE: ... [S]ome Democrats want a marginal individual tax rate of 70 percent on the very highest earners, those making more than $10 million a year. Would you support that? And if not, what would your top individual rate be?
O'ROURKE: This economy has got to work for everyone. And right now, we know that it isn't. And it's going to take all of us coming together to make sure that it does —
O'Rourke then begins speaking in Spanish — presumably the words he'd just spoken in English — and then back to English:
O'ROURKE: Right now, we have a system that favors those who can pay for access and outcomes. That's how you explain an economy that is rigged to corporations and to the very wealthiest. A $2 trillion tax cut that favored corporations while they were sitting on record piles of cash and the very wealthiest in this country at a time of historic wealth inequality.
A new democracy that is revived because we've returned power to the people, no PACs, no gerrymandering, automatic and same-day voter registration to bring in more voters, and a new Voting Rights Act to get rid of the barriers that are in place now…
GUTHRIE: Congressman O'Rourke…
O'ROURKE: That's how we each have a voice in our democracy and make this economy work for everybody.
GUTHRIE: Congressman, that's time, sir. I'll give you 10 seconds to answer if you want to answer the direct question. Would you support a 70 percent individual marginal tax rate? Yes, no, or pass?
O'ROURKE: I would support a tax rate and a tax code that is fair to everyone. Tax capital at the same right…
Labels: 2020 campaign, 2020 Dem debates, Booker 2000, Castro 2020 campaign, Inslee 2020 campaign, Klobuchar 2020, Short Sharp Shock 2020 campaign, Warren 2020
Duty, honor, country, subpoena
IN ALL THE noisy anticipation of the first Democratic candidates debate, it almost slipped off the radar, almost: On Tuesday, June 25, House Democrats announced that, after two years of working, silent as the Sphinx, toward completion of the ominously eponymous Mueller Report, the former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III will finally come from behind the curtain and speak to the American people, in his own voice, on July 17th at 9 a.m. at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C.
The heretofore quietest man in Washington is breaking his two-year silence (minus 9-1/2 minutes) with what amounts to a Robert Mueller Residency: two appearances the same day, before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. It might be (as he's already promised) the rhetorical equivalent of watching paint dry, but the country needs to hear it just the same.
The previous standout Marine officer has previously said he didn't want to do it. In his short public statement in May, Mueller stepped outside his cone of silence and said any testimony before Congress "would not go beyond our report."
"It contains our findings and analysis and the reasons for the decisions we made," Mueller said. "We chose those words carefully, and the work speaks for itself. And the report is my testimony. I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before Congress."
Nope. Not good enough, and it shouldn't have been good enough. Mueller's solemn attempt to immunize himself from direct testimony was rebuffed by Representatives Jerrold Nadler of New York and Adam B. Schiff of California, the chairmen of the committees.
They wrote Mueller a letter that was respectful but insistent. "The American public deserves to hear directly from you about your investigation and conclusions," they wrote. "We will work with you to address legitimate concerns about preserving the integrity of your work, but we expect that you will appear before our committees as scheduled."
Frankly, Mueller should've known: With as much attention paid and importance attached to the 448-page saga released to the world on April 18, there was no way for him to bow out quietly, settling into the emeritus identity of a hierophant ghost, someone glimpsed at far tables through windows of the best restaurants in Georgetown. The report is too important for that. Its conclusions, such as they are, require flesh and blood and voice to resonate the way Mueller hopefully intended.
To do that, in an image-drunk, post-postmodern society, it demands the visual, the compression, the drama of live testimony. Just as the quirks and complexities of Watergate needed the distillation of Sam Ervin's gavel and John Dean's cancer metaphor, this scandal, no less a big constitutional deal than Watergate was, needs airing where the American people live: on the air.
IRONICALLY, the fact of Mueller's testimony itself will be as compelling as whatever he'll say. The former special counsel could sit before the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees and read excerpts of "Green Eggs and Ham," a la Ted Cruz on the Senate floor in 2013. It almost wouldn't matter. The fact that he testifies at all — against his own personal preference — is what matters.
His planned appearance reinforces the necessary power of the institution of Congress and the tools, or the weapons if you like, at its disposal in the pursuit of what's in the national interest. His preference not to testify is of no consequence, no more valid for him than it would have been if any of the 500 witnesses needed to complete the report.
It's a low down ironic shame that Mueller's appearance before the House committees required a subpoena to make it happen. The man who spent two years communicating the idea — the principle — that no one is above the law — discovers that no one is above a subpoena. This is not a res ipsa loquitur moment.
Rep. Justin Amash, the lone congressional Republican backing impeachment, said it plain as day, cut to the nut of why it matters to him: "I want to hear him tell the story to the American people."
So be it in 22 days. Sooner or later, every story demands to hear its author, out loud.
Image credits: Mueller: Charles Dharapak/Associated Press.
Labels: July 17 Mueller, Mueller report, Mueller to testify, Nadler Mueller subpoena, Short Sharp Shock Mueller report
Pecking disorder: Diversity, inclusion
and the Democratic debates
THE CRAZY quilt lineups for the first two Democratic presidential debates, in Miami, June 26 and 27, are already instructive in a constructive way, without a word said by anyone. With frontrunners cheek to jowl with also-rans and walking rounding errors, the debates on Wednesday and Thursday will be a raucous, panoramic example of democracy at its best, or certainly its most wide open.
For starters, this time there's no undercard, no kid's table, like we had in the Ring cycle of primary debates in 2016. The demographic hurly-burly of modern America is boiled down into two debates that promise to be a jumble of styles and substances.
Fight Night #1
Say what you will, the 20 candidates who made the cut are a diverse bunch. Nobody's likely to point a #CandidatesSoWhiteMale hashtag at this crowd. The breadth of this field of dreamers, it's 31-flavors aspect suggest that interest for both debates should be strong, even at this early point in the process. There's someone for everybody to love and hate. That's as basic to participatory democracy as you can get.
But the process of elimination has been brutal, as such things usually are. The Democratic National Committee selected the debate candidates using a qualifying threshold of 1 percent in three recognized opinion, and donations from 65,000 donors in the early primary states. That's a threshold that seems reasonable, at first blush; if you can' t get 1 percent in polls responding to you as a presidential candidate, what chance do you really have in the first place?
DNC Chairman Tom Perez recently defended it in just those terms. "They had a lot of time. A 1 percent bar, I think, is a fair bar. It's hard to get a lower bar than 1 percent," Perez said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "We gave folks a fair shake. We set forth these rules. I think they're fair. They're unprecedentedly inclusive, and 10 people is enough to manage."
BUT THIS approach to populating both debates has made for unexpected survivors and victims of the DNC winnowing process. Self-help author and Oprah confidante Marianne Williamson, a long shot for sure, got into the second-night debate. Four others -- Montana governor Steve Bullock, Miramar, Fla. mayor Wayne Messam, former Alaska senator Mike Gravel and Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton -- didn't make the cut for either night in Miami, failing to hit the threshold for inclusion. With states like historically conservative Montana and always-in-play Florida at stake next year, you'd think the DNC might have been more strategic in the criteria used to decide who made the cut.
At least two of the candidates bounced from the first two debates are angling for another shot, at one of the later debates later in the summer. If the field were smaller, that would be more of an issue, and a bigger percentage of the whole.
As it is, a field this big means that, for candidates who missed the first debates, a second shot is possible, if others who'll be on the stage this week don't catch fire. Improbable but true: Despite the metrical ruthlessness of the process, being bounced out of the early debates gives Bullock, Moulton, Messam and Gravel nothing less than a second chance to make a first impression.
"Debates are important but they're not the be-all and end-all," Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson told the Washington Examiner. "Any of these candidates can find the moment where they catch on in a Cedar Rapids union hall or a Nashua dinner if they find an authentic narrative that resonates with voters and shows why they're the antidote to Trump."
That's why Messam has vowed to soldier on. "I'm still encouraged and I still have an opportunity to qualify for the July debates and full steam ahead," he told the Sun-Sentinel in a telephone interview from Las Vegas.
It's no doubt that not making either debate is especially galling for Messam, mayor of a city not far from Miami, where the event goes down. But his willingness to stay in the race despite the uphill topography he faces shows his faith in democracy's constant bedfellow — hope.
THAT'S WHAT any aspirant to the White House gets if they're serious, that prerequisite of presidential politics, American democracy, and the human condition: If you want to achieve what you've never achieved, you've got to be what you've never been.
Some in the punditocracy have suggested that the Democratic candidates now polling poorly shouldn't change course now, for fear of being labeled inauthentic or desperate. Stay the course and hope for the best. But that's just bad advice.
Every step outside the comfort zone yields a dividend of surprise. Every potential breakthrough has a moment-one moment when the potential becomes real, when that breakthrough actually, literally, Happens. That's what 20 Democratic candidates for the White House will be looking for, working for, starting Wednesday night.
All of them, even the four who won't be on stage, know that anything can happen. It's what that another son of Florida — the late, great Tom Petty— would tell us again, if only he could: "Even the losers get lucky sometimes."
It's sure as hell true in the context of presidential politics. A peanut farmer from Georgia started out in pre-pre-primary polling with a fraction of 1 percent support. Jimmy Carter went on to win the 1976 Democratic nomination.
Sometimes, luck, hard work and a message pay off. Sometimes, the losers aren't losers at all.
Posted by Michael E. Ross at 1:36 AM 0 comments
Labels: 2020 Dem debates, 2020 Democrats shock of the new, Michael E. Ross 2020 campaign, Short Sharp Shock 2020 campaign, Wayne Messam
Sausage making according to Joe Biden
Hair caught fire in Democratic circles last week, and a statement from Joe Biden, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, was both the spark and accelerant. With one or two words, Biden strayed again out on the American third rail of race, but made a deeper point that eluded much of the media, most of the candidates, and nearly all of the national conversation.
A lot of our understanding of Biden's statement at a New York City fundraiser on June 18 has been undercut by the way it's been edited, to suit the breathless shorthand dictates of television news and tweet-era attention spans. Consider the full statement, in which Biden attempted to drive home the importance of being able to negotiate in a sometimes hostile environment of a divided Congress, and to express how he navigated those waters in the past ...
Read the full essay at Medium
Posted by Michael E. Ross at 10:51 PM 0 comments
Labels: 2020 campaign, Biden Eastland, BIden segregationist comments, Biden Talmadge, Joe Biden 2020, Michael E. Ross Biden 2020, Michael E. Ross in Medium, Short Sharp Shock 2020 campaign
Along intraparty lines
We're still a year and a half from the election, and the 2020 campaign has already been a shape-shifting thing, with the biggest Democratic field in history, and a Republican president determined to prove that he and he alone can defy political gravity, a second time.
The Democratic herd will thin itself out, of course; it's subject to the same law of political thermodynamics as the president*: things fall apart. Majorities narrow. Bedrock constituencies have second thoughts. Lately, everyday GOPeople have done just that, pushing back against the transmitted wisdom of the Republican church.
From those occupying the seats in Congress to the ones in folding chairs at town halls, Republicans are starting to think for themselves vis-à-vis Trump's legislative agenda, and who on the other side might be in a position to stop it a year from November. That fact will be problematical for a White House determined to establish a sense of Republican invincibility, behind a single party identity. The reliable party catechism—"Republicans fall in line"—may be falling out of favor with the people who matter most: Republicans. ...
Read the full piece at Swamp
Labels: 2020 campaign, cracks in the GOP wall, Michael E. Ross in Swamp, Short Sharp Shock politics, turncoat Republicans 2019
Pelosi's dilemma
REP. JERRY Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced on June 3 the intent to vote to find Attorney General and presidential tool William Barr in contempt in Congress. That happened the day before the committee issued subpoenas to former White House communications director and Trump whisperer Hope Hicks, and to Amy Donaldson, one-time chief of staff to former White House Counsel Don McGahn.
They're the latest moves in the attempt to continue the ostensible fact-finding into wrongdoing by President* Trump, fact-finding that many House Democrats and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi want completed before they even consider the process of Trump's impeachment -- a process that, in meaningful respects, has already begun in fact, if not in name.
Speaker Pelosi has presided over much to'ing and fro'ing about pursuit of "the I word" by the members of the Democratic-majority House of Representatives. This strum und drang is happening mostly because Pelosi and most of the House Dems continue to look at impeachment through the purely political lens -- focusing on impeachment as a political event, rather than what it really is: a constitutional process.
But the more Pelosi deliberates about it, the more she'll be forced to confront another side of the current dilemma, one that finds her in lockstep with the Republicans enabling a president* with no respect for the rule of law.
It's inescapable: Despite the divergence of their ultimate objectives, for now and into the foreseeable future, Pelosi and the Republicans are reading from the same page of the slow-walk impeachment hymnal.
Both are deeply invested in slowing down or derailing the advance of an impeachment narrative in Congress, albeit for different reasons. Both are eagerly watching the weathervane of popular opinion, each looking for different vindications.
AND BOTH are hoping the immovable object of the 2020 presidential election will complicate a march, slow or otherwise, towards impeachment, each to serve a different agenda.
The Republicans are fine with this. They couldn't care less about the short-term optics, as long as their long-term goals are pursued and achieved. It's more problematical for Pelosi. Any perceived alignment with Republican objectives makes her ability to hold a fractious election-eve caucus together that much more complicated.
Pushing back against an impeachment inquiry is, day by day, getting more and more indefensible for Pelosi, who leads a House that's less concerned with the perception of a public unreceptive to impeachment, and more concerned with a reality of a president for whom impeachment proceedings may be the only check.
That unintended adversarial alliance revealed itself before another inconvenient collision of theory and practice. On Tuesday, June 4, and purely by accident, Pelosi and the House Democrats undercut their own rationale for not pursuing impeachment.
That's when, amid applause and pep-rally chants from the gallery, the Democratic-controlled House passed the DREAM and Promise Act of 2019, a bill to give 2.5 million undocumented immigrants a path to U.S. citizenship.
"The bill addresses DACA program recipients and the beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure. This includes DREAMers or those brought to the United States illegally as children," The New York Times reported. "Even if the bill is passed by the Republican-controlled Senate, the White House has said President Trump will veto it."
YOU DON'T have to be the most astute student of American politics to see the contradiction — or the disconnect — between what the House Democrats did on Tuesday and what Speaker Pelosi has been offering for weeks as a reason for not beginning an impeachment inquiry. Pelosi, and others opposing any impeachment overtures, have said it would be a waste of time and capital to make the effort to impeach Trump in the House if that effort had no chance of succeeding in the Senate.
Curious how that fatalistic perspective vis-à-vis House action on impeachment disappeared entirely when it came to the House voting on the DREAM and Promise Act (which passed 237-187, with seven Republicans voting for it).
Even though the DREAM bill's fate in the Senate may be just as DOA as any impeachment vote would be, Pelosi and House Democrats nonetheless went through the motions, stood on principle, and took that DREAM bill vote anyway. It's an inconsistency of position that seems hard to explain, much less defend. Not that Pelosi & Co. won't try.
Image credits: Pelosi: J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press. Dream and Promise FAQ sheet: dreamandpromise.com
Labels: DREAM and Promise Act, Michael E. Ross on politics, Pelosi's dilemma, Short Sharp Shock 2020 campaign, Trump impeachment
Speed sniping in Miami: The second Democratic deba...
Speed dating in Miami: The first Democratic debate...
Pecking disorder: Diversity, inclusion and the Dem...