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1Important
Story of the Week: Making Sense of Ferguson
Coming Up: Anti-ISIS Coalition Meets in Belgium
Egyptian Judge Clears Mubarak in Killings
Asian Hub Adjusts to World City Status
Student Deaths Spotlight National Fragility
Ferguson Cop Resigns, ISIS Attacks From Turkey
1Intriguing
Understanding Germany's Quiet Chancellor
Why Is Turkey Called 'Turkey'?
Remembering a Massacre in the Family
Looking for Black Holes Is Tough Work
Spotting a Star Pre-Supernova
Listen to the PDB
Where do we go from here? As protests continue against the exoneration of police officer Darren Wilson, Americans are conceptualizing Michael Brown's death and its aftermath in all sorts of ways , from taking the long view on civil rights and history to seeing things from Wilson's perspective . It's been a dark and divisive week, but some saw hope in the response of the Ferguson Public Library, which stayed open all week as a refuge for both adults and children and was rewarded with $175,000 in nationwide donations.
OZY, NPR
Keeping On
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John Kerry will travel to Brussels next week to chair the first official meeting of governments fighting ISIS. Since August, the U.S.-led coalition has launched near-daily airstrikes, killing some 865 people, including 50 civilians. But doubts about the American strategy are growing, particularly in Syria, where the militant group continues to expand its control. Many Syrians, opposed to both ISIS and the regime of Bashar al-Assad, insist that the U.S. cannot target one and ignore the other.
The Hill, AP, NYT
Battling On
The circle is nearly complete. Egypt's iron-fisted president for 30 years, Hosni Mubarak, was deposed and imprisoned during the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. But yesterday a Cairo judge acquitted Mubarak, 86, in the killings of hundreds of demonstrators, and he could be released next year after completing his three-year term for embezzlement. The country went from revolution to military junta to elected Islamist government back to a general in charge. It was another step, said one observer, toward "closing the file on the Jan. 25 revolution."
CNN, NYT
Nile Scrubbing
As Singapore prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of its independence, are cracks appearing in its gleaming facade? Under the steely leadership of Lee Kuan Yew, post-1965 Singapore transformed itself from a colonial backwater to one of the world's leading economies, favored by many multinational companies seeking an Asian hub. But globalization, high immigration and low birth rates are challenging the state's identity politics and, for the first time, the ruling People's Action Party is threatened by political challengers.
FT (sub)
Shining City
Has Mexico reached a breaking point? The abduction and alleged massacre of 43 students has sparked massive protests and a tidal wave of anti-government anger. The students disappeared after police opened fire on their buses en route to a demonstration, the latest instance of Mexican state-sanctioned violence and corruption. But even as President Enrique Peña Nieto seeks to end corruption by putting local police under state control, continued protests highlight the underlying social issues that threaten Mexico's stability and identity.
Spiegel, WSJ (sub)
Darren Wilson quits Ferguson PD, citing security. (CNN)
ISIS reportedly launches first attack through Turkey. (The Guardian)
Georgia boy, missing four years, found behind fake wall. (LA Times)
Fifa hit with more allegations of World Cup corruption. (BBC)
Sony looks at North Korea in hacking investigation. (Chicago Tribune)
intriguing
She's the most powerful woman in the world, but what makes Angela Merkel tick? A quantum chemist who grew up in East Germany, Merkel abruptly shifted into politics in her mid-30s, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Today, she's managing complex relationships with Barack Obama and Vladmir Putin, while attempting to resuscitate the eurozone. Critics denounce her apparent lack of strong political beliefs, but her friends argue that — as the child of total political repression — Merkel cares deeply about freedom and is willing to negotiate the rest.
Chasing Angela
Hint: The country came first. Amid a tangled web of colonial misunderstandings, the English apparently mistook the native American birds for guinea fowl, which first came to Europe via Constantinople, in Turkey. But if you delve into the word's etymology in other languages, you find more misunderstandings: The Turkish term for turkeys is hindi , presumably because they thought they came from India, and the French word dinde implies the same. If you're aiming for authenticity, the Blackfoot tribe use omahksipi'kssii , which translates to "big bird."
Bird Talk
Honoring Native American history now goes hand-in-hand with Thanksgiving, but that's a complicated proposition for a white American. Michael Allen discovered this for himself when he began researching his great-great-grandfather's participation in one of the most notorious massacres in U.S. history. William M. Allen was among the soldiers who gunned down some 200 people at Sand Creek in 1864. The effects of their ancestors' murder and relocation are still felt among the Cheyenne and Arapaho today, but Allen found a community committed to healing and forgiveness.
Badlands Past
When searching for black holes, you have to find somewhere almost as inhospitable to look from. Scientists at the Atacama Large Millimeter Array observatory — ALMA is Spanish for soul — not only grapple with the vastness of space, but also with the horrible symptoms of altitude sickness associated with working on Chile's Chajnantor Plateau, 16,500 feet above sea level. But the astronomers say it's all worth it for a glimpse of Sagittarius A*, the massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
Sky Gazers
Looking at a cohort of incoming freshman football players, all with buckets of potential, it's near impossible to tell which ones will make it to the NFL. But Drew Lock, the University of Missouri's baby-faced prospective quarterback, is a safer bet than most. With a standout throwing arm, a "no-flinch" mentality and a tendency towards dazzling flashes of brilliance, the shaggy-haired Midwesterner has attracted plenty of attention from NFL experts. A lot of expectation for an 18-year-old, but Lock seems unfazed. "Pressure makes me perform," he assured OZY.
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Tony Blair Former Prime Minister United Kingdom


The Community Redevelopment Authority has broad powers to construct and facilitate redevelopment projects within areas of the City that have been declared blighted and substandard. The Authority has taxing authority and may use Tax Increment Financing. The Community Redevelopment Authority consists of five (5) members that serve a five (5) year term.
Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of every month at the Chamber Development Center, located at 301 South Burlington at 12:00 P.M.
For more information on the Community Redevelopment Authority, please see Hastings City Code §2-619 and the Nebraska State Statute §18-2102.01 or see the CRA Website.


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You are here: Home / Tech News / Amazing! There are 2 other Jupiter sized planets; they will shock you
Amazing! There are 2 other Jupiter sized planets; they will shock you
August 3, 2022 By Fresh News Hub Leave a Comment
ESA's Gaia spacecraft has discovered two planets as big as Jupiter.
Gaia spacecraft has discovered two planets as big as Jupiter. Significantly, both these Jupiter sized planets have been found in a distant region of our Milky Way Galaxy. The spacecraft has set a mission record by finding exoplanets Gaia-1b and Gaia-2b. The study was led by researchers at Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with European Space Agency (ESA) and Gaia spacecraft. The discovery was also verified by the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona- one of the largest telescopes in the world. Gaia is a global space astrometry that deals with the positions and motions of celestial objects. It's focusing on building the most precise three-dimensional map of the Milky Way Galaxy by studying millions of stars.
"The discovery of the two new planets was made in the wake of precise searches, using methods of artificial intelligence," said co-author Shay Zucker, head of Tel Aviv University's Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, in a statement. The findings were recently published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
These planets are simply shocking, the state that they are in. As per the official information, the two new planets are referred to as "Hot Jupiters" due to their size and proximity to their host star. Zucker also stated that the exoplanets are located so close to their Suns that they complete an orbit in less than four days.
Our Solar System has eight planets and there are hundreds of thousands of such solar planets in the Milky Way, however, many of them are yet to be found.
How does Gaia spot remote Solar Systems?
The ESA's Gaia spacecraft found these exoplanets while rotating about its axis and tracking the locations of about two billion stars. The Spacecraft not only tracks the locations of these stars, but also measures their brightness.
Meanwhile, the researchers have also published 40 more candidates detected by Gaia. Zucker said, "We have also published 40 more candidates we detected by Gaia. The astronomical community will now have to try to corroborate their planetary nature, like we did for the first two candidates."
Filed Under: Tech News, Tech Update

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Need to register for a COVID-19 vaccine in Lucas County? Here's how.
Toledo sorority ties to Kamala Harris
First Alert Forecast: More snow flurries Wednesday ahead of dry Thursday
Big Board Friday
Mud Hens
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Sarah Thomas will become the first woman to officiate a Super Bowl
Bernie Sanders wears mittens made by Vermont teacher to the inauguration
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Super Fitness Weight Loss Challenge
Toledo news, weather, traffic and sports | Toledo, Ohio, | wtol.com
Toledo police chief addresses crime in the Glass City
There have been 38 homicides in the Glass City which is the total number Toledo saw all of 2019.
Credit: WTOL 11
Author: Carla Bayron (WTOL)
Published: 7:28 PM EDT August 24, 2020
Updated: 7:28 PM EDT August 24, 2020
TOLEDO, Ohio — The chief of police of the Toledo Police Department is calling on the community to help stop the gun violence.
There have been 38 homicides in the Glass City which is the total number Toledo saw all of 2019. Seven of the ten homicides in August have involved victims under the age of 30.
According to Toledo Police Chief George Kral, a few of the homicides are revenge or pay-back type shootings. Detectives are still going through the evidence so he couldn't mention if there are any suspects at this time.
The chief believes there is an uptick in gang violence. Because of COVID-19, there has been a delay with bringing defendants to court and the chief said he has a stack of warrants ready to bring to a grand jury so shooters can be put away.
As of Aug. 24, Toledo police confiscated 1,010 illegal guns. There were 1,207 guns confiscated in 2019.
Chief Kral said he doesn't know if the guns are coming from burglaries, or if they're gun show purchases, or if people are coming from out of town and then selling them.
On Aug. 19, there was a burglary in Sylvania Township where 20 guns were reportedly stolen from a home and then ended up in Toledo. TPD investigators are working on the case and will provide more information later.
"We need our schools to step up. We need our faith-based leaders to step up and have us work together. This is a public health issue as much as it is a law enforcement issue," Chief Kral said.
2020 has certainly not been a normal year. The chief said, nationwide, the homicide rates are on average 25% higher than they were at this time last year.
"We've had COVID-19. We've had the George Floyd murder, the civil protests and unrest. I think all of that coupled together and telling people that you can't congregate with your friends. I think the heat that we've had this summer all comes together as a perfect storm," Chief Kral said.
The chief wants the community to be assured that they are investigating inner city crimes and he's confident they'll close as many homicides as they can.
Regarding the department's ShotSpotter program which is a gunshot audio detection system, the chief said he was planning on expanding to other parts of the city until COVID-19 hit.
He's working with a private industry partner to come up with a public-private partnership to help fund it because it is very expensive.
If 2020 ever calms down, Chief Kral said he'll be able to revisit the issue.
TPD investigating city's latest homicide after man was found shot in the backyard of a west Toledo home
Community activists call on city of Toledo to address recent surge in gun violence
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"Princessa" Antique Brown Jeweled Chandelier 25" x 18"
Home > Lighting > Chandeliers > Chandelier "Princessa" Antique Brown Jeweled - 18" x 25" - 4 Lights!
If you're trying to find a happy medium between something dark and masculine enough but also a little frilly with crystals, look no futher. This magnificent hanging lamp strikes that delicate balance perfectly. Our "Princessa" brown metal hanging lamp has nicely faceted real glass crystals hanging from it's metal arms. There are four 25watt max lights which is plenty to give off a beautiful glow. The chandelier comes with a very long cord and matching metal chain with a plug on the end, but it also comes with the hardwire kit and a second hanging installation style. So no matter your preference: Hanging this directly from an existing light box in the ceiling (electrician or handywoman required!), or plugging it in and swagging the chain, you're totally covered with this one purchase. Chandelier dimensions: 25" X 15.5" X 17.5"
Chandelier "Princessa" Antique Brown Jeweled - 18" x 25" - 4 Lights!


ah, there are bad days too. when i wake up in the morning, feeling like i have been run over by a truck, many times. when i think the boy has been trained to sleep, but wakes every 20 minutes, crying and wailing for me. when i simply cannot summon anymore energy to do more than the bare minimum. when all i feel like doing, is sit on the couch and stone. when the boy throws his tantrums, every 5 minutes. when i just cannot attend to him as he cries and wails. and even when i can, im reluctant to do, for i feel sapped of my energy.
when i read/hear/think about other children, and start comparing... why is he being such a cranky grouch? when i read/hear/think of other mothers, and start comparing.. why am i such a lousy mother? and my heart is exhausted, resentful, depressed and ungrateful. on such days, i can only count down to the return of the husband, to perhaps bring a turnaround. but work beckons and he can only come back after the boy goes to bed.
where is my hope? where is my strength? who can lift me up in such a time?
this verse became very close to my heart, for it revealed to me how many things are out of my control, even when it pertains to myself. it only shows how weak i am, and how much i need God - to teach me how to conduct myself, how to lead and teach ezra as a mother and how to glorify Him in this calling.
so Lord, help us, but without you, we are truly nothing.
"Upward fly my soul arise,lift me uphold by faith let me stand...Upheld By His OMNIPOTENT hand,we'll ascend the promised land" this hymn comes to mind.
Thk God for His mercies to sustain even when the husband can't be dere.


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The 1995 German Athletics Championships were held at the Weserstadion in Bremen on 30 June – 2 July 1995.

Results

Men

Women

 : Wind assisted

References
 Results source:

1995
German Athletics Championships
German Athletics Championships

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Successful sales peopleSales coaching. Heretofore, when we designed sales coaching programs for our clients, we have customized the "what to coach" portion of the program around the core selling skills and best practices relevant for that individual client. 2012 Sales Horizons, LLC.
A sales manager's role in this successful implementation. Even more troubling, you aren't seeing the lift in sales performance that you used as justification for your substantial investment. Overhaul training? Getting complete, trustworthy data into systems without excruciating manual entry is still a barrier for user adoption—both at the rep and the management levels. " What Role Does a Sales Manager Play Here?
If you stop and think about it for a moment, they are both visions and pictures of a future that we have constructed or visualized in our mind's eye. Is the fear telling me that there may be additional information, tools, resources, and training I need?


California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law on Monday proclaiming a "100 percent clean electricity goal" for the state by 2045, reaffirming California's commitment to reducing carbon emissions. Governor Brown also used the signing ceremony to issue an executive order calling for California to be completely carbon neutral by the same year.
Since the United States formally withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement last summer, Governor Brown has been vocal about California's continued commitment to honor the spirit of the deal and continue to reduce harmful carbon emissions.
To understand the news and its implications requires understanding the new law and Brown's executive order separately.
Senate Bill 100, introduced by California State Senator Kevin de León of Los Angeles back in January of 2017, in the Governor's office's own words "puts California on the bold path to implement a zero-carbon electricity grid by 2045." It serves to advance California's Renewable Portfolio Standard, a piece of legislation that mandates the state be powered by 50 percent renewables by 2025 and 60 percent by 2030.
The bill and a number of others were signed this week in tandem with the Global Climate Action Summit currently taking place in San Francisco.
"If the world's fifth-largest economy really targeted economy-wide carbon neutrality by 2045 — it would be the most significant carbon policy commitment ever. Anywhere. Period," wrote Roberts.
Being that only 16 percent of California's greenhouse gas emissions statewide are the result of the production of electricity, Governor Brown's call for complete carbon neutrality means curbing the other 84 percent, too – including those produced by the transportation, industrial, and agricultural sectors.


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Brave New Films
BOTL segment excerpt:
Robert Greenwald revolutionized activist documentary filmmaking when he launched Brave New Films in 2002. Moved by the voter rights abuses in the 2000 election, Greenwald discovered audiences were similarly hungry for in-depth investigations told through personal, relatable stories. You may have seen some of his work without even realizing it; take this opportunity to binge on what you've missed.
Watch existing documentary films and shorts, follow on social media and keep up on the latest projects: Brave New Films from Robert Greenwald
Listen to the source segment for this activism at BOTL Activism: Brave New Films, episode #800 "A parody of itself (Media)"


Writer-Producer Andrew Petroff, starts a song with Arcade in his Nashville studio.
Take a tour of Andrew Petroff's studio which features Platform and watch how he uses Arcade to get the most out of his sessions. He fuses sounds of different genres by combining live guitars and different Arcade Lines seamlessly giving the "Nashville" sound a whole new meaning.


I don't know that's it's necessarily a secret that I'm a So You Think You Can Dance junkie. (I've even got a book that was incredibly inspired by this piece.) But yeah, it's pretty and beautiful and I find new music and it's so damn fulfilling to my creative well. Case in point–this clip below? That's how I want to write.
And yes, I'm rocking quite the girl-crush on Sonya Tayeh–why do you ask?


Happy WednesDay Friends! Oh do I have a treat for you today! For those looking for a fun and fanciful theme for your little princess's upcoming birthday party or to shower an expectant mommy who is preparing for her little princess, today's post is for you!
It's TEA TIME for the lovely mommy Claire, as her family and friends gather to shower her with love, well wishes and everything girly! Staying true to her southern roots, Claire's dear friend, home designer and artist Rylin Crane from Art & Soul- Art & Home Decor Store enlisted the help of close friends to set the stage for a beautiful Rustic Chic Tea Party in honor of baby Layla's soon to be arrival! From the fresh flowers displayed throughout to the gilded vintage tea set's serving as centerpieces and serving stands, this sweet soiree was nothing short of fanciful southern charm. The anchor of the shower's arrangement and my personal favorite was the daintily decorated food table that was filled with an array of tea party delicacies such as scrumptious tarts and scones, adorable bite sized sandwiches and sweet treats abound. This delightful menu added the perfect compliment to the theme and over all sweet spirit of the day. Let's now raise up our pinkies and make a joyous tea time toast to this beautiful mommy and her adorable new bundle of joy, Layla Grace.
If you are in the South Georgia area and are in need of custom/original artwork, hand crafted furniture and/or a unique home design, stop by and visit Art & Soul located in Valdosta, Ga! Feel free to also follow them on Facebook to stay up to date on their latest work and store announcements!


text: python manage.py runserver -p 3000

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Home»News»A shooting and a fight have prompted a large police response to the Great Mall in Milpitas
A shooting and a fight have prompted a large police response to the Great Mall in Milpitas
By The West News November 6, 2021 Updated: November 6, 2021 3 Mins Read
The Milpitas Great Mall was put on lockdown late Friday after police responded to a reported shooting inside a Burlington Coat Factory store.
There was no evidence of shots being fired, no arrests, and no victims, according to police on Friday night.
Hundreds of Milpitas police officers responded to the scene on Friday, but they have since left.
Milpitas police were assisted in canvassing the mall by the California Highway Patrol, the Santa Clara Sheriff's Office, and the San Jose Police Department.
According to Milpitas police, a report of a fight may have sparked the commotion and triggered the panic that resulted in the lockdown and hundreds of people fleeing or sheltering in place.
After officers cleared them to leave, groups of people exited the mall with their hands over their heads. Unfortunately, it was a scene that many had grown accustomed to by this point.
"We just saw a big crowd coming towards us and then we stopped for a second, looked at each other and were like 'what's going on," said Isabel Murica of Newark.
Witnesses told NBC Bay Area that they saw a group of people fighting around 5:15 p.m. They noticed people running for the exits a few minutes later.
When the incident occurred, Johnny and Cindy Cruz were visiting from Texas.
"We left and went to the popcorn store, and all the sudden we saw cops telling everybody to leave, leave, leave, leave," he explained.
"All of the sudden somebody yelled 'shots fired, shots fired' and then another lady in the store said, 'close the doors.' So they shut the iron doors down and they took us all in the back room of the popcorn shop," Cindy Cruz explained.
Police said they found no evidence of a shooting or any victims after searching the entire building.
This is the third incident at Great Mall in three years.
The most recent occurred in December of 2020.
Murcia was present that night and on Friday night, and she has stated that she is afraid to return after both incidents. She went on to say that she hid in the back of a store with her boyfriend and their young son.
"I'm not coming here no more. It's bad, bad karma," she said. "People were crying, people were praying. Some parents had to put shows on for the kids to stop crying. Just a very scary thing to go through."
According to police, it took about two hours to clear the mall and allow shoppers and employees to return inside to retrieve their belongings.
The incident is being investigated.
MILPITAS PD: "no victims were located within the mall nor reported to us to have sustained any injuries due to the initial altercation or reported shooting."
"No evidence shooting took place…officers continue to assist those who sheltered in place."
(Vid from 6:30 p.m.) pic.twitter.com/6AE1akQoJB
— Ian Cull (@NBCian) November 6, 2021
1/3 At about 5:30pm #MilpitasPD received a report of an altercation where someone brandished a knife. Shortly after a shooting was reported inside of Burlington Coat Factory. Officers have checked the business and there is no indication a shooting occurred inside. #GreatMall
— Milpitas Police (@MilpitasPD) November 6, 2021
2/3 Due to conflicting information, we are in the process of checking the entire mall out of an abundance of caution.
At this time we have not located nor have any reported victims related to the initial call regarding the knife or shooting. #GreatMall https://t.co/eYlqHDElGy
3/3 The San Jose PD, CHP, and Santa Clara Co Sheriffs Office are assisting with the search of the interior of the mall.
As we locate shoppers & store employees who sheltered in place, Officers will escort them out of the mall. #GreatMall https://t.co/eYlqHDElGy
Due to police activity atGreat mall shopping center VTA light rail will not stop at the great Mall light rail station until further notice. Apologies for the inconvenience we will let you know when the service is back to normal as soon as possible. ^shr
— VTAservice (@vtaservice) November 6, 2021
Crime Entertainment News


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The Nominating Committee should be elected by the organization wherever possible or else, by its Executive Board.
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Exhibition_From the Ground Up: ... @ Museum of History & Industry
Feb 4 @ 10:00 am – Apr 30 @ 5:00 pm
EXHIBITION FROM THE GROUND UP: BLACK ARCHITECTS AND DESIGNERS Museum of History and Industry 860 Terry Ave N Seattle, WA 98109 February 4 – April[...]
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Building With Purpose: Black Arc... @ Museum of History & Industry
BHS – BLACK HISTORY MONTH at MOHAI Building With Purpose: Black Architects and Community Agency Photo Courtesy of Cynthia Brothers
Become a member today and help support our mission to collect, preserve, and interpret the contributions of African Americans in Washington State. Past, present, and future...we unite them!
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Asus have announced a new entrant in the gaming notebooks market. Asus G75VW is being said to raise the standards with the innovative technology they have used in the notebook. The G75VW gaming notebook has got a 17.3 inch screen with Full HD Non-Glare 3D panel. Asus has worked alot on the design this time and it shows in their new G75VW gaming notebook. A sleek design with a very comfortable keyboard having arrow keys at a distance from other keys. Asus G75VW makes your gaming experience more enjoyable.
Asus G75VW gaming notebook has been built on the advanced Chief river platform from Intel and it sports the 3rd generation Intel Ivy Bridge processor. To take care of the graphics need the gaming notebook is powered by the Nvidia GeForce GTM 670M dedicated graphics card.
Asus G75VW offers the best on time(Instant On) along with a 2 second resume time to enable the Instant connect. Instant connect is a solution which enables the user to have instant connectivity through your smartphone using an app and a cable. Asus has taken the sounds more seriously this time and have embedded SonicMaster sound technology in the notebook. Considering all the specs and design, this is the notebook which every gamer will want to have on his desk. The Asus G75VW is priced at Rs. 139, 999.
The new Asus G75VW has got some monster specs. Lets have a look at them below.
Subscribe to our free updates to get more info about gaming notebooks and laptops.
I personally think this is an awesome gaming laptop and i was excited to find this website that shows me how to upgrade this laptop!


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Facebook Shuts Down Pro-Trump
Facebook has officially shut down a fast-growing pro-Trump "Stop the Steal," for promoting election misinformation regarding ongoing vote counts and calling for violence.
READ ALSO:Donald Trump's Defense Secretary Mark Esper "Prepares His Resignation Letter"
The Facebook group, which gathered more than 350,000 members and nearly 7,000 posts in two days, was reportedly used to organize protests and spreading false information that Democratic challenger Joe Biden was trying to steal the election.
"In line with the exceptional measures that we are taking during this period of heightened tension, we have removed the Group 'Stop the Steal,' which was creating real-world events," Facebook said in a statement.
"The group was organized around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group."
The group, which appeared to be linked to the pro-Trump organization Women for America First was created in the wake of President Donald Trump falsely claiming that he had defeated Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden during a speech on Wednesday November 4.
Related Items:facebook, pro-Trump
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Bride Cancels Wedding Over Poor Financing, Sacks Groom
Mark Zuckerberg loses $16 billion in record Facebook fall
Donald Trump's Defense Secretary Mark Esper "Prepares His Resignation Letter"
BBNaija: Excitement As Nengi Receives 3 Appointments In Bayelsa State


When you first start using paper patterns it is like trying to learn a new language. They are covered in lines, words, odd symbols and lots of little black triangles which known as notches. Notches are also sometimes shown as a small line perpendicular to the cutting line.
The purpose of notches is to help you join pieces of the pattern together correctly. If a pattern piece has a notch on it there will be a corresponding notch on the pattern piece that it joins to. By making sure that the notches match up you will be joining the two seams together correctly and in the right place.
Sometimes you will see two notches together. Where you have this you are always matching two notches up with two notches on the corresponding pattern piece. One place where you will see two notches is on a sleeve. One notch indicates the front of the sleeve and there are two notches on the back. This means you know which side is the back of the sleeve and it will prevent you from putting the sleeve in backwards.
When you cut your fabric out you need to mark the notches onto the fabric. One way is that when you get to the notch you cut a small triangle into the waste fabric so that it stands out from the edge of your pattern piece. The advantage of this method is that it is probably the easiest way to see where the notches are so that they can be matched. The disadvantage is it will slow you down when cutting out your fabric and it is easy to accidentally go past the notch without cutting the triangle.
A quicker and more popular way is to make a small cut into the seam allowance where the notch is. However make sure your cut is shorter than your seam allowance or it will show on your finished garment!
The important thing to remember is that notches must match up. If they don't check again that you are sewing the correct pieces of the pattern together!


14 MP3 Songs in this album (67:18) !
People who are interested in Matt Redman Chris Tomlin David Crowder should consider this download.
Experience Live Worship from the Vineyard is a Live CD that Vineyard Community Church of Greenwood, IN has created. it consist of the songs that we as a church love to worship with, both a mixture of original and popular worship songs. we hope that you enjoy and use it to worship our God together with us.


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Category Archives: Radical Feminism
By antiplondon on December 12, 2021 | Leave a comment
Last Monday, James Martin was sentenced to four and a half years in jail for killing Stella Frew. They had argued in his van, then he accelerated away with her hanging off its side, eventually running Frew over, causing her catastrophic injuries. Martin sped away with her handbag in the van, which he later dumped.
The cause of their altercation? Martin refused to pay her for the sex act she had just performed on him. Like many women who sell sex, Frew struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and was under their influence when she approached Martin. Her daughter described her for the court as the "kindest, most warm-hearted woman" who had been abused and hurt by men her whole life. The judge commented that Martin had shown barely any empathy for his victim.
And so it has always been. Prostitution is laced with mortal peril: women who sell sex are 18 times more likely to be murdered than women who don't, according to one study. Yet these women have throughout history been cast as second-class citizens, not worthy of the same concern as other victims.
How best to prevent violence against those selling sex, the vast majority of whom are women, is a question that has long divided feminists. For some, it is about decriminalising the selling and buying of sex, which in England and Wales would mean dropping criminal offences such as kerb crawling, soliciting and running a brothel. There will always be prostitution, so the argument goes, so best to keep it out in the open. Others agree that the selling of sex should be decriminalised in all circumstances and think women should be provided with ample support to get out of prostitution, but argue that the buying of sex, an almost exclusively male activity, should always be a crime.
The full decriminalisation argument is driven by a belief that it is possible to sufficiently strengthen the agency of those who sell sex to transform it into "sex work", like any other job. You can see what makes it an appealing frame, powered by an archetype that has evolved from the Pretty Woman male saviour narrative, to the sex-positive woman sticking two fingers up at a socially conservative society by making bags of money doing something she loves. Sex work is a choice that should be respected and we should destigmatise it by decriminalising the men who buy it and regulate it to make it safer. Women railing against this are depicted as prudes constrained by their own squeamishness about sex.
There are two reality checks that bring these theoretical arguments crashing down to earth. The first is that for every woman or man selling sex who regards it as a positive choice, and there are some, there are many more who have been trafficked or exploited and are effectively enslaved to criminal networks, working for a pittance, or for drugs to forget the trauma of being forced into selling yourself to be penetrated again and again, or for nothing at all.
In one investigation into sex trafficking, Leicestershire police reported that 86% of the women in brothels they visited were Romanian; in Northumbria, it was 75%. Numerous studies have shown just how dangerous prostitution is: a majority of women selling sex have experienced severe and repeated violence, with more than two-thirds suffering from PTSD at levels comparable to war veterans. Women who are actually or effectively being forced into selling sex have little voice in policy debates, although there are prominent survivor networks that argue for abolition.
Second, as the feminist campaigner Julie Bindel exposed in her 2017 book The Pimping of Prostitution, decriminalisation and regulation has not been the success its advocates claim. Bindel visited and interviewed women working in legal brothels in the Netherlands, Germany, Nevada, New Zealand and Australia and found exploitation to be rife, with legalisation acting to empower brothel owners. In one Las Vegas brothel, women weren't allowed out unaccompanied or without their manager's permission. In a German brothel, women had to service six men a day at the minimum rate just to make back the room rent. In a New Zealand brothel, women said men could simply complain to the manager and get their money back, leaving them with nothing.
Decriminalisation increases the overall extent of prostitution in a country without decreasing its harms or delivering any of the promised benefits of regulation. In New Zealand, Bindel revealed there were only 11 brothel health and safety inspections over a 12-year period. And decriminalisation makes it even harder for the police to combat trafficking; Spanish police describe how difficult it is to investigate when they enter a brothel and clearly frightened and distressed young women tell them they are working there by choice.
Decriminalisation can't make prostitution safe because it is inherently dangerous and exploitative. How is a woman selling sex supposed to maintain safe boundaries or withdraw consent when a man physically capable of killing her is hurting her?
The men who buy sex all too often escape scrutiny. The Invisible Men project documents the nauseating way men talk online about their experience of women selling sex, very little of it printable. Research finds that men who buy sex are also more likely to abuse their partners, have a stronger preference for impersonal sex and to commit rape and other sex offences.
Correlation may not equal causation, but it's not hard to imagine how using women for a price, even if it hurts them, further hardens already toxic attitudes towards women. These men have a vested interest in the sanitisation of their sex-buying. Perhaps the most extraordinary example is the former MP Keith Vaz, who chaired a home affairs select committee inquiry that came down against criminalising those who buy sex, and who a few months later was exposed as having offered to buy cocaine for two men selling sex.
There should be zero stigma, only help and support for those caught up in prostitution. But we legitimise the men who engage in the harmful practice of buying sex to our detriment. In the UK, it is estimated about one in 10 men have paid for sex; in Spain, where it is decriminalised, it is much higher. To accept that prostitution is always going to happen, and therefore the best we can do is regulate it, not only means tolerating the abuse of women: it is to be complicit in its expansion.
Sonia Sodha
Posted in: Femicide, Prostitution, Quote of the Day, Radical Feminism, Trafficking still not a myth
By antiplondon on October 30, 2021 | Leave a comment
We are horrified that Penelope Jackson has been convicted of murder by a 10 to 2 majority verdict and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 18 years, following her trial at Bristol crown court.
As the evidence revealed, Penelope was a victim of sustained coercive control over her 28-year relationship with the deceased. Evidence was heard before the court which showed that she had to get a tattoo placed on her bottom saying she was the property of the deceased – to stop his jealous and possessive behaviour. Like many victims of coercive control she did not perceive that she was a victim until after the offence when she escaped his abuse and control.
This is a classic case of a slow build-up of fear and anger arising from the controlling behaviour, which became more unbearable when she was trapped in her home with her abuser during lockdown. This finally led the defendant to lose complete control and stab the man she had been married to for 24 years and father of her daughter.
Penelope who is now 66 and of entirely good character will not be eligible for released until she is 84. There is nothing to suggest she represents a risk to anyone other than the man who treated her so cruelly for years.
It is understood Penelope Jackson's defence team will be appealing the conviction.
Sally Challen, whose own conviction for murder was overturned in 2019 said:
"I am appalled, upset and I cannot believe that the dinosaurs in the Judicial System and the CPS haven't learnt from my case. My love goes out to Penelope's family"
Harriet Wistrich, solicitor for Sally Challen and Director of the Centre for Women's Justice stated,
"The majority jury verdict and harsh sentence of the judge shows that there is a long way to go before victims of coercive and controlling behaviour can get justice and the understanding they deserve. There needs to be a radical transformation of the criminal justice system which is still steeped in misogynistic myths and stereotypes. Women are punished most severely if they resist, whereas men who snap and kill for no reason get off lightly. Contrast this case with the recent cases of Anthony Williams who strangled his wife to death and was sentenced to five years, or Sam Pybus who strangled an extremely vulnerable woman Sophie Moss to death during a drunken episode of so called "rough sex" who got 4 years 8 months"
In our research report women who kill, published earlier this year, we have set out a series of recommendations to improve criminal justice outcomes.
Centre for Women's Justice
Posted in: Domestic/intimate partner violence/stalking, Quote of the Day, Radical Feminism
This morning the Court of Appeal handed down a long-awaited judgment in the case of Re C, a legal case fraught with tension due to the sensitive and complex nature of what lay at its heart.
In short, C, a learning-disabled man, wished to seek out the "services" of a prostituted woman to pay her for sexual access, but he lacked the mental capacity to make such arrangements for himself.
One of several legal issues at hand was the fact that, if such a care worker was permitted to make such arrangements, they may be committing an offence under s.39 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which prohibits care workers from "causing or inciting sexual activity".
To cut a long legal story short, the Court of Appeal overturned the original ruling of the Court of Protection, and stated that in this instance C's care workers were categorically not permitted to facilitate the purchasing of sexual access on behalf of their learning-disabled client.
Understandably, this case produced a strong emotional reaction: why should individuals with learning disabilities be prevented from having sex? Surely they too should be allowed to engage in "autonomous sexual expression" which "respects the […] humanity and dignity of all involved" as the original judgment from the Court of Protection stated.
But this is a subtle misdirection. To view this through the prism of blanket sexual autonomy is to obfuscate the reality of prostitution. For many women and children trapped within the brutal system of prostitution, agency or choice is far from their reality.
For example, in one case in the Netherlands (where prostitution is legalised), six defendants were found guilty of trafficking more than 100 women into State-regulated prostitution via a sprawling and organised network of accomplices, where women were subjected to violence including "rape and coercion into breast enlargement or abortion" which was used as a method to control them.
One study spanning five countries found that women were frequently subjected to treatment such as "… [being] urinated on, pinched in the breasts, sodomized, objects inserted in anus and vagina, bestiality … weapons used against women … being strangled with a bandana, burned … bound with extension cords, assaulted with … knives and guns, hit with shoes and a liquor bottle…"
Furthermore, even if women do try to escape this form of modern slavery, studies have reported consequences such as: "physical punishment when they made mistakes or tried to run away … they had to service men … even when they were ill or did not feel well … Their movement was highly controlled, and most were not allowed to leave the premises and were tightly guarded".
And so we see the argument begin to shift. No longer is the purchasing of sexual access an issue in which parties of equal bargaining power are coming to an amicable contractual arrangement, exercising their shared autonomy. In the vast majority of cases, a man is exploiting the vulnerabilities of a woman who has few other choices but to acquiesce to the offer of payment.
It should be noted as well that the Court expressly acknowledged that C posed a "risk of sexual and violent deviancy", and that there was "a serious question mark over whether he could safely be left alone with a sex worker". Would a situation in which C was left alone with a prostituted woman be any different from one of the violent scenarios outlined above? Perhaps not.
As a result, the heart of the issue is whether any given individual has a right to purchase sexual access. This was an argument advanced by C, arguing that his Article 8 rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to respect for your private and family life) meant if criminal liability were to be incurred under s.39 SOA 2003, it would be an interference with his private life. A private life which, it is implied, includes the right to purchase sexual access to another human being. Thankfully, the Court rejected this argument.
As the judgment states, there is no sign that Article 8 includes an obligation for states to allow care workers to facilitate the purchase of sexual access for their clients (or the obligation to permit this to occur more generally without criminal sanctions). As Dr Charlotte Proudman, one of the barristers who worked on this case, told me:
I welcome the court's decision today. It is not a human right to pay for sex. The government's public policy approach shows that it needs to take a cautious approach to prostitution because of the exploitation that underpins the sex trade.
This judgment rightly shows that s.53A makes it difficult (if not impossible, as I would say) to prove that a woman hasn't been coerced into prostitution particularly when we reflect on the plethora of coercive constraints that women are subjected to — sex abuse as children and in adulthood, grooming, financial control, trafficking, objectification, verbal and physical abuse, rape and it goes on.
I've seen many of my clients exploited in prostitution and it would be wholly wrong for the law to condone this in any way, especially to confer a right to a man to sexually exploit or buy a woman's body. This is not a human right. It's abuse.
Beyond the context of this case, this ruling will hopefully begin to change how we talk about prostitution and the way in which people with disabilities have been used by the pro-sex trade lobby.
As Julie Bindel outlines in her book The Pimping of Prostitution: Abolishing the Sex Work Myth, many disability-rights activists find it extraordinarily distasteful to suggest that individuals who may have either a physical or mental impairment must rely on purchasing sexual access to lead a fulfilling and rich life — "If you have a disability, you are so undesirable that you must pay to have sex with somebody." It is quite clear why many would, and should, find this grotesquely offensive.
As for the issue of an individual's "rights" when it comes to prostitution, the reality is beginning to come out in the wash. For too long the discourse has focused on the rights of those purchasing sexual access — but what about the rights of the women to not be subjected to degrading and violent exploitation? It is those women who must be our concern and priority, and both the law and the Government must no longer tolerate their subjugation.
Posted in: Prostitution, Quote of the Day, Radical Feminism, Trafficking still not a myth
By antiplondon on October 3, 2021 | Leave a comment
All women are controlled by men's violence. Whether or not they are the ones on the receiving end, it affects every one of us. When we clutch our keys as we walk home at night, when we pick the safest route along well-lit streets but also when we worry about whether a new partner, or a troubled male relative, could become abusive: we fear the kitchen knife pointed towards us, or the hands around our neck.
I grew up in West Yorkshire in the 1970s, in the shadow of Peter Sutcliffe, known as the "Yorkshire Ripper". We all knew, even children, about this bad man who was picking off women. And men's violence against women was also around me as a child. It is there for so many of us — not just in public spaces but in intimate places too. That was one reason I have spent all my adult life working in specialist women's services.
The deaths of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa have reignited a conversation about male violence, but it has focused on "stranger danger" when most women are killed by someone they know.
The Femicide Census, which I co-created with Clarrie O'Callaghan and which is supported by Freshfields, the law firm, and Deloitte, the auditors, annually publishes information about women who have been killed and the male perpetrators. We found that about 62 per cent of women killed by men are killed by current or former partners. About one in 12 are killed by strangers, roughly the same number as are murdered by their sons. Yet there hasn't been any critical analysis of the danger sons pose to adult women; we never hear about "filial peril". We don't have an accurate picture of what men's violence against women actually looks like in this country.
The census came about after I started my own record in January 2012, Counting Dead Women, which contemporaneously records female deaths at the hands of men. A young woman, Kirsty Treloar, who had been referred to Nia, the charity where I have been chief executive since 2009, was killed by the boyfriend she was trying to leave. I searched online to see what had happened to her. What I found instead was report after report of women who had been murdered. I have supported female victims of male violence for decades, yet the volume of crimes still surprised me. There was a phrase that kept appearing in these reports: "This was an isolated incident." But there is nothing isolated about it. How could it be "isolated" when it was happening to so many women? And why were we not looking for the connections? That's why I kept recording these deaths.
I was also angry that the government's official data does not group together all the women killed by men. Even now, the Office for National Statistics records the sex of people who have been killed but not the sex of the person who killed them — so they don't allow us to understand the difference between violence committed by men and violence committed by women. They only give you half the story.
You often hear the same, inaccurate, statistic: that two women a week are killed by men in England and Wales. That was the standard way murdered women were talked about — as a number. I wanted us to remember that they are human beings who are loved and missed. And recording all their names, I started to notice patterns: many older women are murdered and sexually assaulted during burglaries and women are often killed as they are either about to leave, or have just left, an abusive partner.
For many women, the moment they try to leave is incredibly dangerous. Staying with a violent man, horrific as this is, is the best survival strategy on offer for some women. Yet the places they would escape to, refuges, have had their funding cut for more than a decade and the expertise stripped out by allowing services to be delivered by the cheapest bidders, rather than specialist feminist organisations.
Young, professional, conventionally attractive, white women who are killed by strangers get the most attention but we must stop perpetuating this hierarchy of victims. I was really struck last week that in the judge's sentencing remarks, he called Sarah Everard "a wholly blameless victim". You can't talk about her innocence without implicitly victim-blaming other women and we shouldn't separate between women we empathise with and women we don't. And women are killed by all kinds of men: from the unemployed to airline pilots and doctors — and, of course, police officers.
I think misogyny runs through the police. At least 15 serving or former police officers have killed women since 2009. The culture of the police needs fixing: it's not a few bad apples; it's a rotten orchard. We need an inquiry into institutionalised sexism in the police.
Killing a woman is not a gateway crime: it is not the first thing you do. If you murder a woman, you have usually been doing something abusive or criminal to women for a long time, you just haven't been caught. And if Wayne Couzens is stage ten in violence against women, what are the police doing about officers, and other men, who are at stage three, four or five?
More broadly, we need to stop pussyfooting about naming men as perpetrators. Then to tackle the violence, we need a five-pronged strategy.
We need to focus on individual men, the perpetrators, and hold them to account. We must give women more options to leave. We should look at relationships and how those shape our culture. We need to ensure the police, the courts and social services are not institutionally sexist. Then we should address inequality: the objectification and sexualisation of women.
That is the only way anything will change.
Karen Ingala Smith
Posted in: Domestic/intimate partner violence/stalking, Femicide, Quote of the Day, Radical Feminism
Women woke to find a new item on our stay-safe list. Beneath "stick to well-lit streets" and "wear flat shoes you can run in"; after "text your taxi's number plate to a friend" and "clutch keys in your fist like a claw" came new guidance: "Don't trust a policeman working alone."
Is this our duty too? To adjudge on dark nights whether men paid with our taxes to protect us may prefer to kill us? The North Yorkshire police commissioner Philip Allott said that Sarah Everard "should never have submitted to arrest". But women are raised to comply. It's drummed into us: be good, be kind. Sarah got into Wayne Couzens's car because, in visiting her friend, she knew she'd broken lockdown rules. Sorry, officer, I'll come to the station. Handcuffs? Are you sure? OK . . .
No more. If Naomi Alderman's novel The Power, in which women's rage converts into high-voltage electricity, were true, skies would crackle, buildings blaze. Not just for Sarah or Sabina Nessa, bludgeoned crossing a park, or Julia James, walking her dog, or Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, enjoying a summer night. Nor even for all 80 women killed by men since Sarah. But because we will no longer accept male violence, and the misogyny which underpins it, being shrugged away.
The police should have no doubt this is their Jimmy Savile moment. Cressida Dick chose the day Couzens pleaded guilty to kidnapping and rape to talk about the odd 'bad 'un' in the force. But what does that make colleagues who let him slide across the spectrum, from slapping a female cop's backside to stopping only women motorists, using personal details to loiter outside their homes. Women now know that acquiring the nickname The Rapist is no impediment to a police career.
It's all banter isn't it, just a laugh? Couzens, spotted driving around naked from the waist-down? A kink, maybe. (Once flashers were comedy staples, now it's argued that indecent exposure is an outdated offence in our sex-positive age.) Couzens using violent pornography or hiring prostitutes? Only a prude would judge. (Unembarrassed men browse PornHub right beside you on a train.) Every warning sign that Couzens saw women as disposable objects was glossed over, not even picked up in professional screening which granted him a gun.
Because we never riot and, alas, lack electric super-powers, police disregard our deaths. Even our grief at the Sarah Everard vigil, where officers stomped flowers and strong-armed speakers, wasn't worthy of the respect protesters receive for lying on the M25. They are political: women are collateral.
If a man is freaked out by lockdown he might kill his wife of 44 years: Ruth Williams. If he's drunk, horny and has watched choking porn he might strangle his mistress: Sophie Moss. (Both men got five years.) All these reported pillars of the community, decent dads, nice, quiet blokes who just "turned". Nothing to see. Just an annual 150 or so one-offs.
Yet Sue Fish, the former chief constable of Nottinghamshire, has spoken of "institutional misogyny" so ingrained in the decision-making "they don't realise they are doing it and why". She reports police calling young women "whores" or "sugar tits", older ones "Dorises".
No surprise that Couzens and colleagues traded racist and misogynist WhatsApp messages or that other Met officers posed for selfies by Nicole and Bibaa's dead bodies. Because we know northern police forces ignored gangs trafficking underage girls for sex for decades, since they were just "little slags". We learnt this week that police chiefs disregarded undercover cops having sexual relationships with women by deception. The impunity of the penis rules the police, as elsewhere.
Now a third of officers are women, yet it is still hard to complain about men like Couzens. Parm Sandhu, a former chief superintendent, said female officers hesitate to report colleagues lest they be labelled as troublemakers so "when you press your emergency button on your radio for back up, no one comes and you get beaten up in the street".
In a super-complaint lodged by the Centre for Women's Justice (CWJ), of which I am a trustee, 666 women reported abuse by police officer partners. Australian research has shown that since policemen tend to have more authoritarian personalities they are more likely to be controlling spouses, yet their conviction rate for domestic violence is 3.9 per cent compared with a 6.2 per cent average in the general population.
CWJ argues this is because the police service looks after its own. Abusive officers told their wives that since colleagues would investigate their claims, they would never be believed. Indeed, in case after case women report that witnesses aren't contacted, statements and evidence lost, no further action taken. (CWJ wants a separate channel for police partners to report abuse away from boys'-club meddling.) No wonder that since 2009 at least 15 serving or ex-police officers have killed women.
This statistic is from the femicide census, the annual list read in parliament by Jess Phillips compiled by the campaigner Karen Ingala Smith from news reports. She does this because, astonishingly, the government doesn't keep data on how many women are killed by men. The first of many acts police need to perform to win back women's trust is create a femicide league table showing which forces have brought women's deaths down. And spare us that sly obfuscation "gender-based violence".
It is time for the demands of violence against women campaigners to be addressed. Cressida Dick should dedicate her remaining years to this most intractable crime. Male violence is a problem with the deepest, most tangled roots. And police are just men, but with handcuffs and warrant cards.
Janice Turner
Posted in: (Commercial) sexual exploitation of children, Anti-BDSM, Domestic/intimate partner violence/stalking, Femicide, Pornography harms, Prostitution, Quote of the Day, Radical Feminism, Rochdale, Rotherham, Oxford, etc, We live in a rape culture
QotD : "They knew. They all knew"
The first dom who abused me (the first dom I had, who groomed me at 16) was a well respected member of the BDSM community. Locally, and across the state. Other members of the community – most who knew I was a minor – told me he was a good guy, a good dom, an exemplar of BDSM 'values'. He was renowned across the state of New York.
When he was tired of abusing me, he gifted me to other upstanding members of the BDSM community.
When I moved, I was given to a dom of the BDSM community in my new state.
Don't let them hide behind the idea of community; the idea that the community polices itself and protects subs. Just like the real cops, they only protect the abusive assholes.
They knew. They all knew. They knew when a dom violated safe words. They knew when he hurt a sub. They knew when he pushed past a sub's limits. They knew about the grooming. They knew about the abuse. They knew about the rape. The community fucking knew. They just didn't care.
Feminist-on-main
Posted in: (Commercial) sexual exploitation of children, Anti-BDSM, Quote of the Day, Radical Feminism, Thanks sex pozzers! (LibFem/3rd Wave/queer/postmodern/'sex positive' theory), Trafficking still not a myth, We live in a rape culture
QotD: "The empathy for boys who don't respect girls who say no"
Glosswitch
Posted in: Campus Rape Culture, Motherhood, Quote of the Day, Radical Feminism, We live in a rape culture
QotD: "If we're urging girls to report rape in schools, we need to fix the legal system"
Suddenly everyone is talking about a "rape culture" in schools. Not for the first time, it has to be said, but influential MPs, headteachers and senior police officers are urging anyone who has been attacked to report their experiences. "Every victim who comes forward will be believed, will be listened to and dealt with sensitively," according to Simon Bailey, the national police lead for child protection. Really?
I don't doubt that "rape culture" exists within schools, or that some headteachers have been reluctant to confront it. At meetings of the mayor of London's Violence Against Women and Girls Board, we have heard anecdotal evidence about schools where girls wear shorts under uniform skirts to protect themselves from sexual assault. But there is nothing unique about what happens in educational settings. It reflects what is happening in the wider world, where the stark fact is that very few sexual predators face any form of justice.
Official figures tell the story: on average, about 1,060 women report a rape to the police in England and Wales each week. Only 40 of those rapes will lead to a prosecution, and about 27 will end in a conviction. More than 1,000 men a week are getting away with rape, in other words, and that's only the cases known to the police. Many more go unreported, never featuring in the statistics.
When public figures urge girls to report rape, they should be honest about the fact that they are directing victims into a completely broken system; rape has all but been decriminalised, encouraging a culture of impunity among perpetrators. Hardly any rapists end up in prison, so what do they have to fear?
The government is poised to publish the latest in a long line of reviews of what's gone wrong with rape investigations, but I could have saved it the trouble. Rape and serious sexual assault are the only crimes where it is victims, not the likely perpetrators, who are treated with suspicion. When a rape inquiry opens, police focus on complainants, making incredibly intrusive inquiries into their previous history. Girls who may now be thinking of going to the police need to know they will probably be asked to hand over their mobile phones, even if they contain intimate photos and messages, and to provide access to school and medical records.
Cases often collapse as a result: say a girl accuses boy X of rape, and detectives find a jokey text message from three months ago telling a friend she fancies X. Understanding of consent is so poor that it will be treated as undermining the credibility of her complaint, even though we are all entitled to change our minds about whether to have sex with someone, especially if the other party is rough or threatening.
There are now more than 8,000 posts on the Everyone's Invited website, but it does not seem likely that they will change this atmosphere of corrosive distrust towards victims. Bailey's statement that girls who come forward will be believed is hard to square with pronouncements from the country's most senior police officer, the Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, who in 2018 reversed her force's policy of believing individuals who report rape.
It was national policy at the time, adopted in 2011 after an outcry over the impunity Jimmy Savile enjoyed in his lifetime. But then the Metropolitan police were severely criticised over the way they handled Operation Midland, the disastrous inquiry into a nonexistent paedophile ring at Westminster. The complainant was a male fantasist, quite unlike most rape victims, and he subsequently went to prison for perverting the course of justice.
Dick's kneejerk response was to tell her officers to have an "open mind" when they hear a rape allegation. She also made remarks that don't bode well for girls weighing up whether to report attacks at school: "Speaking as a cop, opposed to a citizen, I'm interested in crime. If it's a long time ago, or it's very trivial, or I'm not likely to get a criminal justice outcome, I'm not going to spend a lot of resources on it."
Some may be the type of case that the police and prosecutors find most challenging, where the accuser and alleged perpetrator are known to each other, and may have consumed alcohol before the attack. I don't doubt that the assurances now being offered are sincere, but the risk of creating unrealistic expectations is very high.
We live in a society where half the population faces an ever-present threat of sexual harassment and assault at school, at work and in our own homes. But the criminal justice system is so intent on protecting the interests of men and boys accused of rape, it no longer does its basic job of providing justice for victims.
Posted in: (Commercial) sexual exploitation of children, Campus Rape Culture, Quote of the Day, Radical Feminism, We live in a rape culture


text:
Fundraising venture launched to help Birmingham cultural icons
Birmingham Press / 20 November, 2020
Save A Seat this Christmas to raise funds for Birmingham Rep and Birmingham Royal Ballet.
This festive season, audiences are being asked to Save A Seat as part of a new fundraising campaign by Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Birmingham Royal Ballet.
As the two Birmingham organisations continue their ongoing creative partnership with The Nutcracker at The Rep, which runs from 14th–22nd December, audiences are being asked to make a donation to help fill the 50% of seats which will be left empty across all performances to allow for social distancing measures. All proceeds will be split equally between The Rep and Birmingham Royal Ballet with the first 500 donations also matched by a generous donor and supporter.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many arts organisations being unable to open and perform in front of audiences for over seven months. Since March, over 80% of The Rep's income has come to an abrupt and unexpected halt, however, the theatre's talented workforce has committed to finding inventive new ways of engaging a diverse spectrum of people and communities. Wardrobe teams have committed to making scrubs for NHS staff, Kitchen staff have provided meals for children in poverty through Open Kitchens and the theatre's industry-leading Learning team have continued to engage with schools and young people.
Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Rep came together this October to be the first in the city to open their doors and present live performance with the world premiere of Lazuli Sky.
Rachel Cranny, Head of Fundraising at The Rep said; "2020 has proven to be a trying time for theatres and arts
organisations across the country as performances have been cancelled and theatres forced to close. We hope that Save A Seat will enable our supportive and loyal audiences to help us in theoretically filling some of the empty seats left vacant due to social distancing measures.
"The Nutcracker will be the ideal opportunity to bring magic and joy to audiences at the end of a difficult year and, with the addition of the Save A Seat campaign, raise some vital funds at the same time."
Matt Freeman, Director of Development at Birmingham Royal Ballet said: "The impact of COVID-19 has had a huge impact on Birmingham Royal Ballet. With so much uncertainty, it has been very difficult for the company to confirm plans and performances or to deliver its outstanding and truly life changing education work to the thousands of young people across Birmingham who would ordinarily benefit from this.
"However, thanks to the generous and ongoing support of our individual supporters, trusts and sponsors we have continued to focus on what is possible. We were thrilled to deliver our first show back at The Rep on the 22nd October and that this partnership continues with a reimaged version of our classic, The Nutcracker, this Christmas. We are also delighted to partner with them on the Save A Seat campaign. All donations received will enable both organisations to stage other live performances during this uncertain time, and to plan confidently into the future."
Arts organisations do not exist in isolation and are part of an industry wide ecosystem, by supporting the Save A Seat initiative, audiences can help to enable both organisations to recover and rebuild. Donations will have a direct impact on both organisation's ability to stage and produce performances during and after the pandemic, and to offer opportunities to a huge range of freelance staff, artists and participants.
Audiences can donate to Save A Seat when booking tickets for The Nutcracker at The Rep or donations can be made separate to a booking at birmingham-rep.co.uk.
As national lockdown measures continue into early December, The Nutcracker will provide audiences with a joyous end to 2020. To ensure peace of mind when booking, if performances were unable to go ahead all ticket holders will be offered a full refund.
In line with current Government regulations, The Rep has taken a number of carefully managed steps and precautions to help audiences feel safe and enjoy their chosen performance. The theatre has introduced a series of new safety measures such as socially distanced seating within household bubbles only, hand sanitising stations, temperature checks and additional cleaning. More information can be found at birmingham-rep.co.uk.
The Rep will be monitoring the situation closely regarding government advice around performances in outdoor and indoor venues, with a number of contingencies in place. The priority, as always, will be the safety of audiences, performers and staff.
20 November, 2020 in Christmas, Classical, Dance, Music, Theatre. Tags: Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Nutcracker at The Rep
Charity makes post-Christmas plea
Lockdown Christmas: Sinkies by the sea
Refunds available for rail travel
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Harley Quinn (2021-) #5
Did I miss something, or is there another new creep in a funny costume tryin' to take over Gotham? Villains in this city are like that multiheaded hydra monster: blow a few up in Arkham Asylum, and 50 more pop up in ridiculous costumes thinkin' they're worthy of one of those fancy character variant covers. And here I thought bustin' outta Hugo Strange's new headquarters and savin' the clowns was gonna be my biggest problem today.
Pencils:
Riley Rossmo
Jay Leisten
Ivan Plascencia
Vol. 1: No Good Deed
"Ahem! You better read this closely, 'cause we've got a red-hot relaunch on our hands here—and I should know! Harley Quinn here to let everyone know that I got a brand-new monthly series here with a brand-new status quo. I'm coming back to Gotham City to make up for the sins of my past, and help the city recover from "The Joker War"! But there's no welcoming committee waiting for me, your favor
The Joker (2021-)
Following the events of Infinite Frontier #1, The Joker is the most wanted man in the world! But the Clown Prince of Crime is several steps ahead of law enforcement—and he's on the run overseas.
Catwoman (2018-)
The wedding night's barely over, but Catwoman's back on the streets, this time to expose a copycat who's pulling heists around Gotham City. As Selina cracks the whip on her former criminal cohorts, she's attracting unwanted attention from one of Gotham's most dangerous groups. The mob? Nope. Try the GCPD.
Crush & Lobo (2021-)
In case anyone was wondering, Crush is doing just fine, actually. Sure, she recently walked away from her classmates at the Roy Harper Titans Academy and effectively quit being a Teen Titan in a blaze of glory. And okay, her relationship with her too-good-to-be-true girlfriend Katie is kind of on the rocks, if you want to get all technical about it. Oh, and she recently found out Lobo's in space j
I Am Batman (2021-)
Future State gave readers a preview of things to come with Jace Fox as the new Batman...but his debut in the core line arrives with a bang! Picking up immediately from the events of The Next Batman: Second Son, Jace thrusts himself into action when the Magistrate's crackdown on Alleytown begins, using armor he's found in the abandoned Hibernaculum. The age of a new Dark Knight starts now!


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The Washington Post casts this story as evidence that President Trump is a pawn of the Russians, which is more of the Left's ridiculous campaign to portray the 2016 election as having been stolen by Vladimir Putin. But this is the right decision. These "rebels" are mostly jihadis; arming and aiding them is arming and aiding enemies of the United States.
Spokesmen for the National Security Council and the CIA declined to comment….
U.S. forces have been instructed to take all measures needed to protect American interests in Syria, including military measures, as part of a new strategy that comes after top officials in the Trump administration assessed that Iran is deliberately probing American weaknesses and reactions on the Syrian battlefield, according to senior Trump administration officials who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon.
Iran-backed forces, including Hezbollah, have already initiated multiple encounters with the United States by violating agreements worked out between Washington and Moscow aimed at preventing the various factions targeting ISIS inside Syria from coming into conflict. This is part of a campaign that analysts inside and outside the White House believe is aimed at testing the Trump administration's resolve, sources said.
This new strategy is being implemented at the same time the Trump administration turns its attention to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Islamic Republic's paramilitary force that coordinates operations in Syria and other warzones.
Trump administration officials view the IRGC as being part of "every malignant protrusion of the Iranian regime," according to one administration official, who said the White House is dually focused on choking off this force.
"For the first time since the U.S. intervened into the Syrian conflict, American forces have been authorized to do take all measures to defend U.S. interests against Iranian provocations and aggression," said the source. "This is part of a concrete strategy that has already been implemented in part, and is being bolstered every day, but very senior Trump officials. No more of watching U.S. forces get rolled in Syria, and also no more of thanking Iran after they seize our sailors in the Gulf.
One senior Trump administration official familiar with the Iran policy review said the White House is currently "in the thick of it," evaluating a range of options to confront Iran's global terror operations.
U.S. official see the nuclear deal as secondary given Iran's continued terrorist operations and pursuit of illicit arms. This is why the IRGC's activities have become a source of concern in the White House.
"You find the IRGC in every malignant protrusion of the Iranian regime," the senior administration official said. "They're in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon," and elsewhere.
Iranian military officials announced on Monday that the country will soon implement its own version of Russia's advanced S-300 missile defense system, which Tehran purchased in a controversial arms deal opposed by many Western nations.
"Steady work efforts are being made on Bavar 373 missile system and a number of tests have been carried out on this system, and these tests will continue until the date of delivery," according to Iranian military officials, who predicted the system would be perfected by March of next year.
Israel was seriously dismayed Wednesday, May 3, when first reports reached Jerusalem about the telephone conversation between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin Tuesday, during which Trump agreed to consider Putin's plan for "de-escalation zones" in Syria, in place of the American security zones proposal. The Russian president's plan includes the posting of Iranian military officers as co-monitors for those zones, one of which is to be located on the Syrian-Israeli border.
4. The Southern region along Syria's borders with Jordan and Syria.
The Russian president explained that the "guarantor countries" – i.e. Russia, Turkey and Iran – would appoint the monitors for the de-escalation zones.
DEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources report that Israel was deeply concerned to discover that President Trump had nodded to Putin going forward with his plan, despite Iran's active involvement. He was even ready to send a US official for the first time to the fourth round of the Syrian peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition in Astana Wednesday, although this process is jointly sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran. Stuart Jones, acting assistant Secretary of State, was sent to attend the meeting in the Kazakh capital as an observer, thereby elevating the former American representation from ambassador..
a) The Iranian monitors for the new zones will sit directly opposite the Israeli border. Notice has gone out to Washington and Moscow that the Israeli government will on no account countenance an Iran military presence along its border.
b) Israel also eyes with mistrust the possible deployment of Russian and Turkish offices along its border with Syria.
c) Declaring eastern Damascus a protected zone would obstruct Israel aerial operations for keeping Iranian air shipments of advanced weapons via Syria out of Hizballah's hands. Iran would be able to renew its shipments under full protection.
You can read more about the Russian and American "zones" for Syria in the coming issue of DEBKA Weekly out Friday, May 5. To subscribe to this publication, click here.
d) There were also some misgivings in Israel about the way National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster characterized President Trump's approach to foreign policy, shortly before Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas arrived at the White House on Wednesday.
"The president is not a super-patient man," he said. He does not have time to "debate over doctrine, and instead seeks to challenge failed policies of the past with a businessman's results-oriented approach," McMaster said.
The trouble is that Middle East issues, such as the Syrian conflict and Israeli security, demand patience and rather more than a businessman's results-oriented approach, else they may lead to such potentially disastrous consequences as an Iranian military presence that is far too near and dangerous for Israel to countenance.


Communication and effective collaboration within the healthcare industry is not always as easy as it should be. Care teams – from doctors and nurses to the patients and their caregivers – need the ability to communicate efficiently, effectively, privately and securely to ensure the highest level of service. Unfortunately, this is an ongoing challenge, particularly when it comes to long term and home-based healthcare. In a recent article posted on HomeCare Magazine, Vaporstream CEO Galina Datskovsky discussed why communication and effective collaboration is not as easy as it should be, and why there is such a need to change that.
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Read Vaporstream's article for HomeCare Magazine on Improving Communication and Collaboration on the Go, and contact us to find out more.


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Where Are We Compared To September 2008?
The extreme market movements seen recently in Asia are reminiscent of the dark period that hit the region in late 2008. Lehman's bankruptcy and the subsequent shock to global trade and demand showed that Asia's positive fundamentals can disappear in the blink of an eye if OECD economies go awry (seeDaily—A Binary World after Fed's Latest Move). Yet the recovery from crisis also taught the world that Asia is capable of strong growth, even as Western growth remains weak (see chart below). While Asia is still cyclically tied to the developed world through webs of trade and financial linkages, the economic gravity has gradually shifted towards China, whose growth drivers remain solid and relatively immune to global demand.
• Financials: China's banks are trading at their lowest price-to-book values ever on fears of an explosion of non-performing loans—but would China really let its banks implode? History would indicate that the banks could be protected against an NPL crisis. In the past 12 years, China has transferred RMB5.5trn (US$860bn at today's rates) in bad loans to state-run asset management companies; in other words, they have repeatedly bailed them out. As Arthur pointed out in The Magic Debt-Shrinking Machine, bailouts makes sense from a macro-perspective at this stage of China's development, with a growth rate high enough to "amortize" bank losses over time. The costs of allowing a financial crisis would likely be higher.
• The railway sector: The current crackdown on railway sector corruption and bad practice happens to coincide with a tightening cycle. In the event of a hard landing, rail is another area that may get the green light again. This is because despite the many problems in the sector, there are genuine capacity shortages and real structural benefits that would come from moving forward with the country's RMB5trn long-term rail build-out program. China's intensity of rail use is double India's and more than a dozen times higher than the EU's. A World Bank study in 2008 estimated capacity shortages of 10-20% in both freight and passenger. That said, there is much uncertainty about which firms will benefit the most if the delays in rail are lifted. For example, will China lower its ambitions in terms of technology (e.g., high-speed trains)? And will the recent safety troubles lead to more or less participation of foreigners? Here we point readers to an interesting article in the WSJ, which reported that the signaling system used in the Wenzhou crash in July included some circuitry from Hitachi; however the Hitachi components had been installed by a Chinese company, and were "blackboxed" to prevent reverse-engineering and copying. More openness to foreign participation may have prevented this problem.
Because we remain convinced that there will be no hard-landing in China, we believe the easing on the property and financial sector will come only gradually, and that companies in other sectors, such as consumer goods, will have an easier time of it in the next year. But the above sectors have the benefit of being ultimately defensive in a worst-case scenario—and because of their beaten-down valuations, they should rally as well if a "soft landing" consensus re-emerges—Heads I win, tails I don't lose.
With the Thaksin firmly behind the new Puea Thai (PT) government, facets of the former Prime Minister's management style, branded "Thaksinomics", have resurfaced. These policies emphasized less reliance on the export-led, cheap labor model, and tried to stimulate domestic demand and entrepreneurship, backed by state-directed credit schemes. While this helped Thailand achieve fast growth during Thaksin's rule from 2001-2006, we are less comfortable with the applicability of "Thaksinomics 2.0" in the current environment. Consumption spending powered growth for three years (see chart) under Thaksin, and this solidified Thailand's recovery from the 1997 crisis. However, some of the funding came through selling of partial stakes in state owned enterprises—a very messy process that saw perceived Thaksin cronies reaping outsized gains, and thus not likely to be repeated. Meanwhile, both private and public debt rose during this period; average household debt quadrupled between 2001- 2004.
• Many pro-consumption policies have been hastily prepared and may be counterproductive. The rice pledging program has been heavily attacked both in theory (see Thailand Development Research Institute), and in practice (see allegations of corruption and smuggling), particularly now that bad flooding has damaged 10% of the rice crop. Meanwhile some government programs are being scaled back or delayed, e.g. amendments to the first home scheme, civil service incomes, minimum wage law.