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Blue State Blues: In His First 100 Days, Trump Has (Mostly) Delivered
Joel B. Pollak
Opinions diverge widely, and dramatically, about whether President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office have been a success or a failure. (The deciding factor seems to be the partisan loyalties of the observer, rather than the facts about what Trump has, or has not, done.)
But there is agreement — however fragile, and grudging — on one thing: President Trump has generally fulfilled his promises. Even those who don't like his promises seem to acknowledge that.
A poll on Trump's first 100 days by USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times — the only major public poll to predict, correctly, that Trump could win the 2016 election — revealed that 53% of respondents believed Trump was keeping his promises, and 51% said "Trump has accomplished as much or more than promised."
No, he has not achieved everything he said he would. And yes, he has broken a few promises. But on most substantial issues, he is delivering what he offered.
In The Art of the Deal — a book published 30 years ago, yet still relevant to business, and to understanding the 45th president — Trump outlined several rules for successful negotiation. One of them was: "Deliver the Goods."
"You can't con people, at least not for long," Trump wrote. "You can create excitement, you can do wonderful promotion and get all kinds of press, and you can throw in a little hyperbole. But if you don't deliver the goods, people will eventually catch on. "
By and large, Trump is delivering.
He promised he would nominate conservative judges to Supreme Court vacancies — and with Neil Gorsuch, he delivered. He promised he would roll back regulations — and through his executive orders and his use of the Congressional Review Act, he delivered. He promised he would restore the place of the United States in global leadership — and through air strikes against the Syrian regime for using chemical weapons, he delivered.
No, he has not signed a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. And he has not passed tax reform. But he made progress towards both.
In the last few days before 100, Trump — while dismissing the 100-day benchmark as "ridiculous" — rolled out the biggest tax cut ever proposed.
Critics mock him for rushing towards the deadline. So what? That is what deadlines are for — and he delivered, again.
Even when he hasn't delivered, Trump has made progress. He dropped his demand for border wall funding in next year's budget. Yet illegal border crossings are already down 64%, because the world knows he is serious about enforcement.
He continued to push Congress to repeal Obamacare after the American Health Care Act failed. He will continue to push in the months to come, despite the late failure of a second effort this week.
He has not moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem yet, but he has dropped the two-state solution as an absolute demand.
Trump's most vocal critics, both right and left, are not worried that he will not fulfill his promises — though they seize on every stumble along the way. Rather, they are more worried that he will, in fact, do what he said he would.
Amidst the shock of his executive order on January 27 suspending travel from seven terror-prone countries, it suddenly dawned on his opponents that he might mean what he says. The order was no more and no less, after all, than what he had promised voters on the trail.
Not everything may work out as hoped. The Wall Street Journal slammed Trump's retaliatory tariff on Canadian lumber, for example, saying it would raise the cost of American housing and hurt construction. That is, indeed, what Economics 101 would predict: a tariff hurts foreign producers, but it also raises prices for domestic consumers (not yet, but eventually).
Still, Trump did what he said he would do, pushing back against perceived unfair practices by our trading partners.
The mainstream media tell us Trump has eroded the credibility of the presidency through controversial statements, incorrect factual claims and errant tweets. But Trump's actions are more important than his words.
As conservative radio host Mark Levin — who opposed Trump in the GOP primary, and rejects Trump's "populist nationalist" approach — said this week: "He's done more as president than the Republicans in Congress have done, controlling both houses of Congress. And I'm not talking about fiats — I'm talking about what a president constitutionally and legitimately can do. He's doing it!"
Cartoonist Scott Adams, of Dilbert fame, who has gained notoriety as an amateur political pundit, tweeted in February: "Watch for Trump's critics to migrate from 'Trump is Hitler' to 'Trump is incompetent' by summer. Later: 'Competent, but I don't like it.'"
That progression has happened even more quickly than Adams anticipated. Already, there is a "fourth stage" of Trump criticism: "Well, I may like it, but Trump is getting lucky."
One could argue, from a left-wing viewpoint, that Trump is a bad president. But no serious observer could claim he has been an ineffective one.
As Byron York of the Washington Examiner notes, where Trump has been able to wield executive authority, he has generally succeeded. His few failures have not been entirely his fault: Congress frequently dropped the ball on major new legislation, and the courts arguably overstepped their authority in blocking his executive orders on immigration.
With the history of past presidents in mind, we may grade Trump's first 100 days.
First, there were no disasters. That alone earns him a passing grade — say, 60%.
Add 10% for the Gorsuch nomination — which, perhaps, any Republican might have done. That takes him to a "gentleman's C."
But there is more: Trump earns 10% credit each for his bold foreign policy and his aggressive repeal of federal regulations.
That takes him up to 90% — to the cusp of an A grade. Perhaps not an automatic "A," given the troubled rollout of the executive orders on immigration, and the repeated collapse of efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. But close enough for a case to be made.
Whether you think Trump deserves that A will depend on how seriously you take some of his administration's shortcomings — most of them, at least so far, rather inconsequential: the personnel shuffles, the gaffes, the compromises, the alleged conflicts of interest, the squabbles with the press.
Though the opposition — the so-called "resistance" — is desperate to inflate these to impeachable offenses, few of these distinguish him from his recent predecessors in the Oval Office.
Despite his record of delivery, Trump's supporters fret that he will move to the left, pulled by his aides and his family, and pushed by the relentless pressure of the mainstream media.
But Trump's opponents have a bigger problem, which is that he may continue to do well.
They have refused to work with him, and tried everything to destroy him. The moment his polls cross firmly into positive territory, the "resistance" will be lost.
That moment seems more likely now than it was on January 20. President Trump's first 100 days have been that strong.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the "most influential" people in news media in 2016. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak
LocalMediaPoliticsCongressional Review ActCriticsExecutive Orderfirst 100 daysNeil GorsuchObamacareresistanceSyriatax reform
New Jersey Healthcare Workers Must Get Booster or Face Being Fired
Wilson: GOP Building a 'Dystopian Bizarre Authoritarian Police State'
Federal Judge Blocks Biden's Vaccine Mandate for Federal Workers
Wilson: GOP Wants 2024 to Be Last Election, Be Like the Ba'ath Party


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New York Politics
NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer unveils new NYPD reform proposals
By Michael Gartland
Comptroller Scott Stringer unveiled a series of new police reform proposals Wednesday that include revamping how the city's 911 emergency phone system routes calls, ending incarceration for people with parole violations and holding police honchos accountable for overtime cost overruns.
Stringer, who's running for mayor in a crowded field, released his 50-page policy report outlining those plans at a time when candidates are focused on how to best reform the NYPD after the department's response to protests last summer drew outrage from across the political spectrum.
One proposal included in the report attempts to address the handling of the protests directly — Stringer wants to do away with the NYPD's Strategic Response Group's Disorder Control Unit, which serves as riot police during times of unrest.
In his report, Stringer writes that the unit "should be disbanded so that militarized officers are no longer engaged in policing protests, marches, demonstrations, or parades."
Scott Stringer (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)
Instead, the Manhattan Democrat wants to see "a mostly civilian force" that would be "tasked with managing traffic and engaging with those present both in the lead-up and during the demonstration in order to facilitate a peaceful protest."
Stringer also aims to disband the NYPD's Vice Squad, which deals with prostitution, internet crimes and human trafficking, and argues that " criminal penalties for sex work should be eliminated altogether." Human trafficking and internet crime would then become the responsibility of the state attorney general and the district attorneys.
To reduce the NYPD's budget, Stringer's report makes several recommendations.
Under his proposal, overtime would be eliminated as a "bonus" for making arrests and each precinct would be capped in the amount of OT that it's permitted to allow cops to work, with 20% of overtime to be distributed at the police commissioner's discretion.
Stringer argues that capping overtime would accomplish two goals: cutting costs and reducing officer fatigue.
His report cites two studies — one conducted by the Phoenix Police Department and another by the King Country Sheriff's Office in Washington State, which found that for each hour of overtime worked, officers became slightly more likely to use force or engage in unethical behavior.
"The amount of overtime dispersed should be closely tracked at weekly Compstat meetings, with Deputy Inspectors held accountable for adhering to their precinct budget," the report states.
The city's 911 system should also be transformed to shift responsibility away from armed police in situations that might not immediately require an NYPD response, Stringer contends.
The report is short on details on exactly how to proceed, but points to a crisis-intervention program in Oregon that dispatches medics and "crisis workers" as first responders on emergency calls about suicide prevention, intoxicated people and elderly people in need.
Not all of Stringer's agenda could be accomplished by the city alone, though. His proposal to prohibit jailing people for parole violations could only be done through state law.
His call for reform drew a response from the head of the NYPD detective's union, who said Stringer should "stick to bean counting."
"He should figure out how to provide the NYPD with more resources so the New Yorkers he says he wants to represent as mayor don't have to worry about being shot by a stray bullet while on the street or in their homes," said Detectives' Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacamo. "Lives are literally on the line."
With Thomas Tracy

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Just the sound of it is intimidating — especially if your business isn't ready for it.
It would be one thing if compliance were a set-it-and-forget-it proposition. But it's most assuredly not. Especially in IT, compliance represents a continuum of constant change.
One thing's for certain when it comes to cybersecurity: your antivirus software plays an important role in keeping your business safe. It detects, neutralizes, tracks, and eradicates malware and could fight off other types of threats like worms or Trojan horses.
Weak passwords are easy to break; and hackers easily take low-hanging account credentials to steal more sensitive information to perform identity fraud, blackmail, extortion, and other malicious activities.
According to research, "theft of user credentials might even be more dangerous than personally identifiable information (PII) as it essentially exposes the victim's online accounts…". Email is often used to verify credentials and store information from other accounts, and a compromised email account can lead to further instances of fraud and identity theft.


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Back to Home Back to News & Tour Back to General news Back to 2007 Back to August Back to Aug20 Dicks Q+A
Aug20 Dicks Q+A
It's not often that you get to meet (and play golf) with a footballing cult hero but on a recent trip to Spain, staff writer Jon Greathead did just that.
He met up with former West Ham and Liverpool (not to mention Canvey Island) left-back Julian Dicks for a round at the Hacienda del Alamo club just outside Murcia. The 39-year-old is now a professional golfer and is attempting to reach the main European Tour.
In this brief interview, the Bristol-born hardman tells us what he's up to, gives us his take on the Spanish lifestyle as well as revealing some home truths about Frank Lampard's indifferent golf game. Take a look at "Dicksy's" take on things.
Also, if gear's your thing, click here to find out what's in Julian's bag.
For the full interview with the former England U21 man, be sure to purchase issue 235 of TG which comes out on September 20.
Jonathan Greathead, TG Staff Writer


The typical Huawei Technologies Principal Software Engineer salary is $174,182. Principal Software Engineer salaries at Huawei Technologies can range from $151,448 - $177,238. This estimate is based upon 3 Huawei Technologies Principal Software Engineer salary report(s) provided by employees or estimated based upon statistical methods. When factoring in bonuses and additional compensation, a Principal Software Engineer at Huawei Technologies can expect to make an average total pay of $210,471 . See all Principal Software Engineer salaries to learn how this stacks up in the market.


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HelloFresh SE: Exercise of Call Options
Fri, 14 Aug 2020 00:00:00
DGAP-News: HelloFresh SE / Key word(s): Miscellaneous
Exercise of Call Options
Berlin, 14 August 2020 - The two founders and members of the management board of HelloFresh SE ("HelloFresh" or "the Company"), Dominik Richter (CEO) and Thomas Griesel (COO) have exercised in aggregate 7,614,128 call options, to avoid letting these options expire in 2021. These call options were granted prior to the Company's IPO to Dominik Richter and Thomas Griesel in the years 2014 and 2015 as part of a long-term management and key employee incentive program. For the purpose of granting shares to Dominik Richter and Thomas Griesel following exercise of their respective call options, HelloFresh increased its share capital by way of a capital increase out of its existing authorized capital from EUR 165,995,372.00 by EUR 7,614,128.00 to EUR 173,609,500.00 by issuing 7,614,128 new ordinary bearer shares with no par value.
Out of the 4,048,432 new shares granted to Thomas Griesel due to the exercise of his call options, he sold 2,106,797 shares, to be in a position to settle the income tax liabilities (up to the highest tax liability applicable) and transaction costs arising from the exercise of the call options and the partial sale and receipt of the new shares, and retains the remaining 1,941,635 new shares. Dominik Richter has not sold any of the new shares but will retain all 3,565,696 new shares granted to him due to the exercise of his call options. Together with his existing HelloFresh shares, Dominik Richter's total shareholding in HelloFresh after the option exercise amounts to 7,166,507 shares (approx. 4.13% of HelloFresh's registered share capital). Thomas Griesel's total shareholding in HelloFresh after the option exercise and the above described sale amounts to 3,040,669 shares (approx. 1.75% of HelloFresh's registered share capital). The notifications required under mandatory law due to the above-mentioned transactions will be issued within the periods stipulated by mandatory law.
Senior Manager Corporate Communications
HelloFresh SE is the world's leading meal-kit company and operates in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Australia, Austria, Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, France and Denmark. In Q2 2020, HelloFresh delivered 149 million meals and reached 4.18 million active customers worldwide. HelloFresh was founded in Berlin in November 2011 and went public on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in November 2017. HelloFresh has offices in New York, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Sydney, Toronto, Auckland, Paris and Copenhagen.
Indices: MDAX
EQS News ID: 1118997


There were no races on the first racing day in Balatonfüred at the Europeans. In the morning a North-Easterly of some 6 knots was waiting for the competitors. PRO Bojan Gale sent the fleet out at the scheduled time.
However the wind was dropping gradually, so instead of a warning signal AP was displayed. As the sun was shining and Balaton's water is warm enough, some sailors went swimming. After the windspeed went under 3 knots, AP over H was hoisted.
The fleet was waiting ashore but the wind said goodbye for Monday, so it was decided to postpone for tomorrow. The Race Committee thinks there might be a chance for wind earlier, so the scheduled first warning signal is 9 am on Tuesday.
Instead of racing, the competitors had a chance to learn the excellent Hungarian wines of the Szt. Donát vineyard from Csopak and enjoy some Hungarian hams, sausages and bacons sponsored by the farm Öregtanya.


2016-12-22 Th: Is Responsible Democracy Sustainable?
2016-12-22 Th: BRIE: Gordon vs. Perez?
2017-04-01 We: John Cochrane: This one goes to 11!
2015-08-24 What the Frack Is Going on in Europe?
2015-11-16 What Is Wrong with Our Economy?
2016-08-25 We: Something for Peter Passell?
2016-09-24 Sa: Project Syndicate: October 2016 Antitrust?


"Ishawna "Equal Rights" Jackson Ladies should I release the full version? #EatIt," she wrote on Instagram. Some of her fans are saying it's time for her to move on to another topic, while others support the new single. "Too much about eatings now its time to tackle another topic, this kind a getting played out now Ishawna," one fan wrote. Nevertheless, sources inside her circle confirmed with Urban Islandz that the new single could arrive as early as this week.
Take a listen to the snippet below and leave your comment.


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Clarence Thomas Urges Blacks To Bear Arms
Am I reading this right? Did Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas just tell black folks that we need to arm ourselves against the tyranny of white Militias?
But I'm not the only one that picked this one up, Courtland Milloy over at The Washington Post picked up on it too.
In-fact Courtland Milloy has a great piece in The Washington Post covering how Clarence Thomas's gun rights opinion, color/race played a major role in developing his opinion.
Courtland writes; He hardly ever speaks during oral arguments, often appearing asleep on the bench.
But in his written opinion Monday supporting the right to bear arms, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas roared to life.
Referring to the disarming of blacks during the post-Reconstruction era, Thomas wrote: "It was the 'duty' of white citizen 'patrols to search negro houses and other suspected places for firearms.' If they found any firearms, the patrols were to take the offending slave or free black 'to the nearest justice of the peace' whereupon he would be 'severely punished.' " Never again, Thomas says.
In a scorcher of an opinion that reads like a mix of black history lesson and Black Panther Party manifesto, he goes on to say, "Militias such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Knights of the White Camellia, the White Brotherhood, the Pale Faces and the '76 Association spread terror among blacks. . . . The use of firearms for self-defense was often the only way black citizens could protect themselves from mob violence."
This was no muttering from an Uncle Tom, as many black people have accused him of being. His advocacy for black self-defense is straight from the heart of Malcolm X. He even cites the slave revolts led by Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner -- implying that white America has long wanted to take guns away from black people out of fear that they would seek revenge for centuries of racial oppression.
Of course, Thomas's references to historic threats posed by white militias might have been dismissed if not for a resurgence of such groups in the year after Barack Obama's election as the nation's first black president.
And if their behavior turns as violent as their racist rhetoric often threatens, then Thomas will almost certainly go down in history as the nation's foremost black radical legal scholar. Read More HERE
AAPP: I cannot believe this but for the first time, I agree with Clarence Thomas.
Courtland Milloy is right as well, Clarence Thomas's advocacy for black self-defense is straight from the heart of Malcolm X.
Maybe the national office of the NAACP and other "negro" groups should revisit their own lack of advocacy for black self-defense against these growing so-called Militia groups.
▼ June 27 - July 4 (2)
Sen. Robert Byrd, KKK, and Hate


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Shore Capital Markets is an independent securities business offering institutional and corporate clients leading investment banking, research, sales and trading services.
With £700 AUM, our wide ranging asset management business is based over the UK and German giving us access to deal-flow and acquisition opportunities. We specialise in German Real Estate, Development Capital and well as tax-efficient products via our subsidiary Puma Investments.
We have a substantial balance sheet which we use to seed funds being launched. We also have considerable cash resources ready to deploy into non-fund transactions.
Chairman's Editorial
Our policy on Europe
For over 30 years Shore Capital has focused on helping high quality entrepreneurial management teams to grow their businesses and, in the process, create valuable opportunities for investors. As part of this the Group takes a keen interest in the nexus of business and public policy, aiming to provide pragmatic analysis that helps clients make sense of the coming changes. Howard Shore, Executive Chairman, has been outspoken on Brexit with the aim of making a constructive contribution to the debate, particularly on Britain's relationship with the European Union after Brexit. Here we discuss our thoughts on how Britain's relationship with Europe can productively evolve and outline our hopes for the coming negotiations.
Single market and EU trade
Following June's referendum vote, we advocated a pragmatic approach to post-Brexit trading relations with the EU: "We're going to keep our access." … "I'm confident they'll continue to buy our services and we'll continue to buy their goods." Howard Shore, Bloomberg, 13 September 2016
"It's not a question of tariffs, it's a question of access, why would you give free access to other people's goods if they're not giving access to your services? It's not going to happen." Howard Shore, Sky News, 13 September 2016
"I think we will continue to have access to the market in one form or another, whether you're a member or have access to me is semantics." Howard Shore, Milken Conference, 6 December 2016
"Not providing a passport is saying 'I won't take your services,' a tariff is just saying 'our goods are going to be more expensive.'" Howard Shore, Milken Conference, 6 December 2016
The Prime Minister's speech on 17 January echoed these views: "…we will pursue a bold and ambitious free trade agreement with the European Union."
"We do not seek membership of the single market; instead we seek the greatest possible access to it through a new comprehensive, bold and ambitious free trade agreement."
"That agreement may take in elements of current single market arrangements in certain areas on the export of cars and lorries for example, or the freedom to provide financial services across national borders, but it makes no sense to start again from scratch when Britain and the remaining member states have a adhered to the same rules for so many years."
"I want Britain to be able to negotiate its own trade agreements but I also want tariff free trade with Europe, and cross border trade there to be as frictionless as possible. … I want remove as many barriers to trade as possible, and I want Britain to be free to establish our own tariff schedule at the World Trade Organisation." Theresa May, 17 January 2017
Payments to the EU
On future payments, we took the view that Britain's contribution to the costs of the single market should reflect its continued participation in it: "Full access to the single market should go hand-in-hand with a contribution to running it. A further contribution to the structural regeneration of poorer EU areas could be funded through our 0.8 per cent GDP commitment to foreign aid." Howard Shore, Letters to the Editor, Daily Telegraph, 5 September 2016
The Prime Minister's statement on 17 January shared our view: "There may be some specific European programmes in which we might want to participate. If so, and this will be for us to decide, it's reasonable that we will make an appropriate contribution. But the principle is clear, the days of Britain making a vast contribution to the European Union every year will end." Theresa May, 17 January 2017
Trade relations with non-EU markets
Given the EU's decreasing share of Britain's foreign trade: "… relations between Britain and the US will remain of vital strategic importance, and given the relative trade balance between the two countries and the history of the relationships, it is in both parties' interests to reach a constructive deal as soon as possible."
"If Britain were not a member of the EU we would be able to focus any trade negotiations on the sectors that are vital interest to the UK." Howard Shore, Daily Telegraph, 13 May 2015
Following the Prime Minister's meetings with President elect Trump, her 17 January statement noted: "President elect Trump has said Britain is not at the back of the queue for a trade deal with the United States … but front of the line." She also said: "It is clear that the UK needs to increase its trade with the fastest growing export markets in the world."
As the effects of uncertainty following the referendum result diminish, the OBR has forecast growth recovering to 1.7% in 2018, 2.1% in 2019 and 2020 and 2% in 2021; and in February the Bank of England increased its 2017 growth forecast from August 2016's 0.8% to 2.0%. So there is every reason to think Britain can have a bright and prosperous future independent of the EU: "The big opportunity is to deregulate, so the big fear is that we don't deregulate enough, in other words we don't take full advantage of the opportunity." … "This is a once in a generation opportunity to rethink how we run our economy and focus on the things that we're good at." Howard Shore, Milken Conference, 6 December 2016
We hope the Prime Minister's comments in her 17 January statement in which she said we will: "… take back control of our laws and bring an end to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in Britain," will mean a reduction in the regulatory burden. It would be wrong to keep the plethora of EU regulation or add new red tape. We need to ensure personal taxation is competitive and continue to cut corporation tax, making the UK a more attractive place to do business.
We should also be looking at how we can do more to encourage non-financial services sectors, such as engineering sciences, medical science, new media and software. Government policy should focus tax incentives and fiscal support on sectors where we have talent and strength.
Lastly, when will we meaningfully commit to much needed infrastructure investment? Crossrail is good for London, but we're still debating airport expansion; planning needs urgent attention; and the country could greatly benefit from improvements to communications and transport networks. This is especially true of the Northern Powerhouse, where the benefits of better east-west links would enable greater economic prosperity. Likewise, the benefits to enterprise of investing in truly nationwide super-fast broadband and 5G infrastructure should not be underestimated.
We agree with the Prime Minister that there is an economically rational solution to the coming negotiations. Brexit will ultimately be good for Britain. We will retain some form of single market access and at the same time cultivate new trade relationships with non-EU nations; there will be a controlled immigration policy; and we'll pay money into the EU reflecting our level of participation. But the big prize is to deregulate and in so doing create a more dynamic economy.
In conclusion we see a unique chance for the UK to be an open economy where entrepreneurs can flourish and businesses want to invest and grow. Politicians of all stripes often talk about fairness and how to divide the cake. Our job as business owners and managers is to strive for ways to make that cake bigger overall.
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Q: Is it ok to work with densities rather than probabilities (in statistical models)? This is a recurrent problem I'm having difficulties addressing.
Suppose I have some trained and ready to go Gaussian mixture model with $k$ clusters $c_1 c_2 c_3... c_k$ of known means and variances. Now suppose I used this model to generate new data (after all it is a generative model. I learned the probability distribution, so I can sample from it).
I used the GMM to get some new example, new information $v \in \mathbb R^d$. I would like to know how well does it fit the model, or in other words $P(v)$.
But from the model description $P(v) = \sum_{i=1}^{k} P(v| c_i) P(c_i)$ where $P(v|c_i) = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2^d \pi ^d |\Sigma_i|}}e^{-\frac{1}{2}(v - \mu _i)^T\Sigma_i ^{-1}(v - \mu _i)}$ from the definition of the model as a gaussian mixture model.
My problem is that $P(v|c_i)$ is not a probability. It is a density. It can be greater than $1$. And so in turn, $P(v)$ is also not a probability, but a density. And can also be greater than one. So the question "What is the probability that our model will generate the example $v$" is not a logical question.
But I need to answer that question regardless. I need to give some meaning to $P(v)$.
This also occurs in hidden markov models. Same problem. Suppose my machine is in state $1$ and i want to know what's the probability that it will output "Hello".
The question "What is the probability?" is meaningless, since the set of all possible outputs for my machine is infinite. I fall into the same pitfall as with GMM where I have to go with density, or just say "its zero. the probability is always zero. Always."
How do we handle this situation? is it ok to just imagine densities as probabilities?

A: Firstly, it should be noted that there are many ways to model a process with infinitely many outcomes that have positive probabilities for individual outcomes. So perhaps, the real answer to your question is to model your process or system differently.
Assuming you have an appropriate model, then there is no reason to talk about the probability of any given outcome. But you can still be concerned with the relative probability of being near certain outcomes. In particular, if you have random variable $X$ with density $f$ and two points $x$ and $y$ with $f(x)=9$ and $f(y)=3$ you can say that  you are 3 times as likely to get an outcome near $x$ then near $y$. In this case, near can be thought of in the following sense $$\frac{f(x)}{f(y)}=\frac{\lim_{\epsilon \to 0}\mathbb{P}(x-\epsilon \leq X \leq x+\epsilon)}{\lim_{\epsilon \to 0}\mathbb{P}(y-\epsilon \leq X \leq y+\epsilon)}.$$ In this way you can talk about relative probabilities even if you can't talk about actual probabilities.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Capitol of Panem is a technologically advanced, utopian city where the nation's most wealthy and powerful live.
An outrageous sense of style and fashion are very important to the wealthy citizens of the Capitol. It is common for them to tattoo and dye their bodies in extravagant bright colors, as well as undergo plastic surgery to alter their appearances. Capitol residents frequently wear wigs in a multitude of colors.
District citizens view the people of the Capitol as alien, but here at Delicious Reads we LOVE them because they set our imaginations on fire!
This is a girl that came from the slums of the capital. A girl that wanted to fit in with the ritzy, over styled, zany Capital crowd. The women that would walk around in a "half in reality" kind of way. Not a care in the world, no wrinkles from stress. No matter what she did, she didn't seem to be quite right. She didn't say the right thing, do the right thing, love the same things or wear anything that came close to the women she so desperately wanted to be.
She began to watch closely to see where these women went to get their hair done, where they received their injections for face mutations and mood alterations and where they went to shop for clothing. After a few months, she finally had it! A long list of the places she too would visit. The shop keepers were only to happy to hear about her desire for change. She was so eager in the makeup shop that the woman called her a tigress and proceeded to add various tiger like stripe marks. Her contouring was injected into the hollows of her cheeks which resulted in bruising (hence the purples and pinks), but she didn't care, she was on her way! They permanently removed her brows and gave her markings that would make her unique...just like the rest of the crowd. She went and had her hair done where they spent hours concocting the most delicious colors and curls. The dress maker constructed the glitz and glamour she had been hoping for.
The last and most important shop she entered would seal her fate. A woman sat on a lone chair, surrounded by bottles and bottles of brightly colored liquids. The air was thick as all the different perfumes mixed from each container and hung like a cloud above the woman's head. She giggled every now and then which unsettled our capital hopeful but not enough to back down. She had come this far and was determined to finish. The woman held out a wine glass full of a blue liquid that she promised would make all of her dreams come true. As long as she had a ready supply, she would not only fit in (since everyone else drank fluids from this shop) but she would no longer worry about anything. Nothing.
The cool liquid quickly became warm as it slid down her throat and coated her insides like thick maple syrup. Slowly, her cares left. But with them left her passion, her ideals, her happiness at seeing the sunset, her life. She was as light as a cloud, giggling over silliness. She walked differently, spoke differently and felt differently about everything. She finally fit in and the drones all around her welcomed her with open arms and mutilated faces. It was worth it right? To lose herself completely? She fit in.
Did you like it? That, my friends was a long winded story I had as I thought about making up our amazingly talented model Angie (who should be rocking ANTM btw). I used Kryolan brand prosthetic adhesive to erase Angie's brows (amazing tutorial here) then used face paint to create her new pink and white tiger-esque brows. I used MAC's "Fig 1" "Carbon" and "Passionate" to create the contouring. Two sets of Halloween lashes were used. Purple for the ridiculous element and black to bring some depth. Angie had a makeup palette that had butterflies on it. We clipped them off, thinking our capital girl could have had a fascination for them. Some she trapped in the netting of her skirt, some in her hair and because of the effects of the liquid she drinks one even stuck to the skin of her face (I used spirit gum).
You guys didn't even realize that you poised in front of what looks like district 13. Genius on the post. I love it.


Pop-punk band Blink-182 was justly and unjustly maligned for a number of crimes, from writing insipid pop to having a juvenile sense of humor. But the group also knew how to write a hooky song, sometimes with an emotional depth its accusers ignored. Still, the criticism apparently affected former Blink guitarist-vocalist Tom DeLonge, because he weighs down his new band's debut with a stifling earnestness.
DeLonge spent the past few months talking up Angels & Airwaves in practically messianic terms, clearly proud of an undoubtedly ambitious album. But We Don't Need To Whisper feels like 50 long minutes of DeLonge proving himself as an artist. He throws the gauntlet down immediately with the six-and-a-half-minute opener "Valkyrie Missile," spending two minutes building up a song that lacks any real chorus or hook. It's as if he's attempting to show how far he can deviate from Blink's template. The self-importance continues to the last second, where DeLonge says in a radio transmission, "Who do we think we are? We're Angels & Airwaves."
A catchy song doesn't arrive until the fourth track, "The Adventure," the album's first single. It works mostly because Angels & Airwaves balance their dramatic tendencies (sweeping keyboards, long buildups, moody interludes) with the quick sugar rush of refined power-pop. Even there, DeLonge reverses his songwriting style by making the verses loud and catchy, but the choruses quiet, slow, and focused on his voice. That's a problem, too, as DeLonge habitually holds notes too long.
Maybe a producer could have fixed that—but DeLonge produced Whisper, and the album suffers because of it. Not that his production itself is bad, but he clearly needed an editor, someone to release the hot air that makes this debut feel so bloated. Even when DeLonge desperately tries to mature, it still comes back to a fart analogy.


It's striking how stridently Scalia opposes the Obama administration's use of discretion in enforcing immigration law, dragging the president's recent policy announcement into a case that didn't directly involve it.
The justices certainly must have a sense of how their rulings affect the real world. But Scalia doesn't even pretend this is just about the law. His politics show too much.
He grouses that Arizona "bears the brunt of the country's illegal immigration problem," what with residents "under siege by large numbers of illegal immigrants who invade their property, strain their social services, and even place their lives in jeopardy," while federal officials are unable and unwilling to provide remedies.
But Scalia reaches far outside both the record and the arguments in the case to gripe about President Obama's announcement that immigration officials won't deport young people who were brought to the U.S. as children but have stayed in school and out of serious trouble.
"The husbanding of scarce resources can hardly be the justification for this," Scalia writes, even mentioning Obama's June 15 news conference and citing whitehouse.gov.
Scalia might have a valid argument, but it's based on his personal disagreement, not on legal justification.
He's quite alarmist in saying the federal government refuses to enforce the nation's immigration laws, thus leaving the states unprotected.
Posner's a Ronald Reagan appointee to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago and a longtime Republican icon, but he's no party mouthpiece.
Posner calls it a "defensible policy" to focus on catching and deporting criminals while leaving other immigrants alone if they're law-abiding aside from being in the country illegally. And the Supreme Court's ruling doesn't stop Arizona from helping to apprehend illegal immigrants who commit crimes, he notes.
Mind you, Posner's writing an online opinion piece, not a legal opinion in a case before him.
He says assertions about Arizona bearing the brunt from troublesome invaders are "sufficiently inflammatory to call for a citation to some reputable source of such hyperbole," but Scalia offers none.
Besides that, Posner says, the estimated 360,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona as of last year were less than 6 percent of the state's population, below the national average: "Maybe Arizona's illegal immigrants are more violent, less respectful of property, worse spongers off social services, and otherwise more obnoxious than the illegal immigrants in other states, but one would like to see some evidence of that."
Immigration is a highly emotional topic that evokes strong arguments from many sides.
But if Justice Scalia wants to fight with the president over policy decisions and how to deploy federal resources, maybe he should consider running for Congress. Arizona might elect him.


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A Noise Records német független lemezkiadó céget 1983-ban Berlinben alapította Karl-Ulrich Walterbach, aki korábban az AGR lemezkiadó tulajdonosaként német anyanyelvű punkzenekarok anyagait jelentette meg. A Noise Records ezzel szemben metalegyüttesekkel foglalkozott és az európai metalszíntér egyik legfontosabb lemezcégévé vált az 1980-as években. A Noise adta ki többek között a Celtic Frost, a Running Wild, a Kreator, a Voivod, a Grave Digger, a Rage, a Tankard, a Coroner, a Skyclad, a Stratovarius, a Gamma Ray, a Kamelot, a Tura Satana lemezeit. A kiadó legsikeresebb zenekara a Keeper of the Seven Keys albumokkal milliós lemezeladásokat produkáló német Helloween volt.

A sikerek nyomán a Noise megnyitotta angliai majd amerikai irodáját is, de ezek nem tudtak olyan hatékonyak lenni, mint a berlini központ, és pár év után bezárásra kerültek. 2001-ben Walterbach a zeneipar drasztikus változásainak jeleit látva eladta a Noise Records egészét az Iron Maiden menedzsmentje által létrehozott Sanctuary Records Group-nak. A Sanctuary 2007-ben csődöt jelentett és vele együtt a Noise Records is megszűnt létezni. A felszámolás során a kiadót a Universal Music Group vásárolta fel. 2013-ban a Sanctuary kiadói hagyatéka a BMG Rights Management céghez került, amely 2016 áprilisában bejelentette a Noise Records felélesztését és klasszikus kiadványainak újbóli megjelentetését.

A lemezkiadó történetét David E. Gehlke zenei szakíró írta meg a 2017-ben megjelent Damn the Machine – The Story of Noise Records című könyvében.

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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Russian Film Crew Planning To Shoot A Movie In Space Get Medical Clearance For Launch
A Soyuz spacecraft is set to carry the trio to the ISS on October 5.
By Dese Gowda September 9, 2021
Russian authorities have deemed the film crew planning to shoot parts of a movie onboard the International Space Station have been deemed medically fit for the trip.
According to Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency, Cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov will accompany the Russian film director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild on the trip to the International Space Station.
A Soyuz spacecraft is set to carry the trio to the ISS on October 5. If the launch is successful, the film crew are scheduled to spend around a week aboard the International Space Station, filming parts of a movie titled "Challenge", produced by Roscosmos and Russia's state-owned Channel One.
The mission is part of a larger scientific and educational project, according to Roscosmos, which includes a planned series of documentaries "about spaceflight and rocks", intended to demonstrate that space is becoming available for an ever-wider range of interested persons.
Roscosmos has also cleared the backup crew for the mission - director Alexey Dudin and actress Alena Mordovina, accompanied by cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev.
If successful, the mission would mark an important milestone, sending civilians to outer space for the first time in history, almost 60 years after the first humans went to space.
Although, billionaires Elon Musk and Richard Branson recently took flights of their own to space. They only reached the "edge" of space, and for just a few minutes.
Roscosmos has also announced that another Soyuz mission scheduled for a December launch will carry Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his video assistant Yozo Hirano to the ISS.
Mr. Maezawa, the founder of Japan's largest retail website ZoZotown, paid for both his and his assistant's trip to the ISS through Space Adventures – a broker of commercial flights to the International Space Station.
Along with his trip to the ISS, Mr. Maezawa has also reserved an eventual flight around the moon with American private space firm SpaceX.
Cover Photo: Shutterstock
Topics: Science, International Space Station, Roscosmos, russia, commercial crew spacecrafts
Russian NASA Cosmonauts To Step Outside International Space Station For The First Spacewalk Of 2022
Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov will step out of ISS on Wednesday.
The asteroid that passed Earth recently was considered 'potentially hazardous'.
After Sun, China Makes 'Artificial Moon' To Conduct Gravitational Experiments On Earth
Located in the eastern city of Xuzhou, in Jiangsu province, the chamber would accelerate China's ongoing lunar missions on Earth.
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The team expects the planet to appear in February TESS report again.
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The space agency also expects three asteroids to pass Earth today.


Why has business confidence fallen to its lowest level since 2012? Brexit, of course | City A.M.
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has become the latest organisation to warn that the prospect of Brexit has put UK businesses on the back foot, in a new report out this morning.
In its global economic outlook, ACCA said that confidence among UK businesses sank from minus 5.7 at the end of 2015 to minus 25.8 in the first quarter of 2016, "despite no obvious deterioration in economic conditions," according to the body. This was its lowest reading since the middle of 2012.
Fears about Britain leaving the European Union also spilled over into the rest of western Europe, where confidence fell to its lowest level since 2013. "It is hard not to see this as a result of the uncertainty caused by the UK's forthcoming referendum," the ACCA said.
The report also painted a sombre picture on the prospects for the global economy. Only 14 per cent of firms around the world said they will be increasing their spending on staff, while nearly half of those surveyed said they plan to either cut or freeze employment.
The proportion of firms cutting back on capital investment also edged up to 42 per cent, from 40 per cent at the end of last year.
The accountants warned that turning around the global economy and boosting confidence would be a tricky task. "Once income begins to drop and businesses stop hiring, getting them to a point where they are confident enough to begin doing so again is difficult," said Faye Chua, head of business focus at ACCA.


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Women Culture And Politics In Latin America
Author: Seminar on Feminism & Culture in Latin America
Publisher: Univ of California Press
by Seminar on Feminism & Culture in Latin America, Women Culture And Politics In Latin America Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download Women Culture And Politics In Latin America books, The result of a collaboration among eight women scholars, this collection examines the history of women's participation in literary, journalistic, educational, and political activity in Latin American history, with special attention to the first half of this century.
Brazilian Women S Filmmaking
Author: Leslie L. Marsh
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
by Leslie L. Marsh, Brazilian Women S Filmmaking Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download Brazilian Women S Filmmaking books, At most recent count, there are no fewer than forty-five women in Brazil directing or co-directing feature-length fiction or documentary films. In the early 1990s, women filmmakers in Brazil were credited for being at the forefront of the rebirth of filmmaking, or retomada, after the abolition of the state film agency and subsequent standstill of film production. Despite their numbers and success, films by Brazilian women directors are generally absent from discussions of Latin American film and published scholarly works. Filling this void, Brazilian Women's Filmmaking focuses on women's film production in Brazil from the mid- 1970s to the current era. Leslie Marsh explains how women's filmmaking contributed to the reformulation of sexual, cultural, and political citizenship during Brazil's fight for the return and expansion of civil rights during the 1970s and 1980s and the recent questioning of the quality of democracy in the 1990s and 2000s. She interprets key films by Ana Carolina and Tizuka Yamasaki, documentaries with social themes, and independent videos supported by archival research and extensive interviews with Brazilian women filmmakers. Despite changes in production contexts, recent Brazilian women's films have furthered feminist debates regarding citizenship while raising concerns about the quality of the emergent democracy. Brazilian Women's Filmmaking offers a unique view of how women's audiovisual production has intersected with the reconfigurations of gender and female sexuality put forth by the women's movements in Brazil and continuing demands for greater social, cultural, and political inclusion. Leslie L. Marsh is an assistant professor of Spanish at Georgia State University.
Author: Cheris Kramarae
by Cheris Kramarae, Routledge International Encyclopedia Of Women Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download Routledge International Encyclopedia Of Women books, For a full list of entries and contributors, sample entries, and more, visit the Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women website. Featuring comprehensive global coverage of women's issues and concerns, from violence and sexuality to feminist theory, the Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women brings the field into the new millennium. In over 900 signed A-Z entries from US and Europe, Asia, the Americas, Oceania, and the Middle East, the women who pioneered the field from its inception collaborate with the new scholars who are shaping the future of women's studies to create the new standard work for anyone who needs information on women-related subjects.
The Art Of Transition
Author: Francine Masiello
Publisher: Duke University Press
by Francine Masiello, The Art Of Transition Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download The Art Of Transition books, The Art of Transition addresses the problems defined by writers and artists during the postdictatorship years in Argentina and Chile, years in which both countries aggressively adopted neoliberal market-driven economies. Delving into the conflicting efforts of intellectuals to name and speak to what is real, Francine Masiello interprets the culture of this period as an art of transition, referring to both the political transition to democracy and the formal strategies of wrestling with this change that are found in the aesthetic realm. Masiello views representation as both a political and artistic device, concerned with the tensions between truth and lies, experience and language, and intellectuals and the marginal subjects they study and claim to defend. These often contentious negotiations, she argues, are most provocatively displayed through the spectacle of difference, which constantly crosses the literary stage, the market, and the North/South divide. While forcefully defending the ability of literature and art to advance ethical positions and to foster a critical view of neoliberalism, Masiello especially shows how issues of gender and sexuality function as integrating threads throughout this cultural project. Through discussions of visual art as well as literary work by prominent novelists and poets, Masiello sketches a broad landscape of vivid intellectual debate in the Southern Cone of Latin America. The Art of Transition will interest Latin Americanists,literary and political theorists, art critics and historians, and those involved with the study of postmodernism and globalization.
Women S Activism In Latin America And The Caribbean
Author: Elizabeth Maier
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
by Elizabeth Maier, Women S Activism In Latin America And The Caribbean Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download Women S Activism In Latin America And The Caribbean books, Women's Activism in Latin America and the Caribbean brings together a group of interdisciplinary scholars who analyze and document the diversity, vibrancy, and effectiveness of women's experiences and organizing in Latin America and the Caribbean during the past four decades. Most of the expressions of collective agency are analyzed in this book within the context of the neoliberal model of globalization that has seriously affected most Latin American and Caribbean women's lives in multiple ways. Contributors explore the emergence of the area's feminist movement, dictatorships of the 1970s, the Central American uprisings, the urban, grassroots organizing for better living conditions, and finally, the turn toward public policy and formal political involvement and the alternative globalization movement. Geared toward bridging cultural realities, this volume represents women's transformations, challenges, and hopes, while considering the analytical tools needed to dissect the realities, understand the alternatives, and promote gender democracy.
Author: Mary Louise Pratt
Publisher: Counterpoint
Category : Intercultural communication
by Mary Louise Pratt, Intercultural Dialogue Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download Intercultural Dialogue books, Is cultural dialogue an abstruse intellectual exercise obsessed with examining the interaction of high and low culture in our communication? Is the way we understand communication underpinned by universals or are these assumptions also culturally specific?
Reading And Writing The Ambiente
Author: Susana Chávez-Silverman
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
by Susana Chávez-Silverman, Reading And Writing The Ambiente Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download Reading And Writing The Ambiente books, In this dynamic collection of essays, many leading literary scholars trace gay and lesbian themes in Latin American, Hispanic, and U.S. Latino literary and cultural texts. Reading and Writing the Ambiente is consciously ambitious and far-ranging, historically as well as geographically. It includes discussions of texts from as early as the seventeenth century to writings of the late twentieth century. Reading and Writing the Ambiente also underscores the ways in which lesbian and gay self-representation in Hispanic texts differs from representations in Anglo-American texts. The contributors demonstrate that—unlike the emphasis on the individual in Anglo- American sexual identity—Latino, Spanish, and Latin American sexual identity is produced in the surrounding culture and community, in the ambiente. As one of the first collections of its kind, Reading and Writing the Ambiente is expressive of the next wave of gay Hispanic and Latin scholarship.
Rascally Signs In Sacred Places
Author: David E. Whisnant
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
by David E. Whisnant, Rascally Signs In Sacred Places Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download Rascally Signs In Sacred Places books, David Whisnant provides a comprehensive analysis of the dynamic relationship between culture, power, and policy in Nicaragua over the last 450 years. Spanning a broad spectrum of popular and traditional expressive forms--including literature, music, film, and broadcast media--the book explores the evolution of Nicaraguan culture, its manipulation for political purposes, and the opposition to cultural policy by a variety of marginalized social and regional groups. Within the historical narrative of cultural change over time, Whisnant skillfully discusses important case studies of Nicaraguan cultural politics: the consequences of the unauthorized removal of archaeological treasures from the country in the nineteenth century; the perennial attempts by political factions to capitalize on the reputation of two venerated cultural figures, poet Ruben Dario and rebel General Augusto C. Sandino; and the ongoing struggle by Nicaraguan women for liberation from traditional gender relations. Originally published in 1995. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
Twentieth Century Poetry
Author: Peter Verdonk
Publisher: Psychology Press
Category : Literary Criticism
by Peter Verdonk, Twentieth Century Poetry Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download Twentieth Century Poetry books, This textbook, based on extensive teaching experience,makes new insights from linguistic and literary scholarship accessible to students in their daily practice of reading, analysing and evaluating literary texts.This textbook provides a thought-provoking introduction to the practice of literary stylistics. It is based on extensive teaching experience, and makes new insights from linguistic and literary scholarship accessible to students in their daily practice of reading, analysing and evaluating literary texts.The twelve chapters, written by experts in the field, provide a firm foundation for the development of language and context-based literary criticism. The book allows students to increase their creative responsiveness to the interplay between text and context, and between language and social situation.
Cultural Identity And Social Liberation In Latin American Thought
Author: Ofelia Schutte
Publisher: SUNY Press
by Ofelia Schutte, Cultural Identity And Social Liberation In Latin American Thought Books available in PDF, EPUB, Mobi Format. Download Cultural Identity And Social Liberation In Latin American Thought books, "El libro tiene dos grandes temas: la identidad cultural, sobre la que se expresan opiniones balanceadas entre los extremos posibles, y la 'liberacion social', entendida en general como liberacion con respecto a estructuras opresivas. El itinerario de e
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