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Valve's Latest Steam Controversy Was an Inevitability, and It's Going to Get Worse
Valve said anything goes on Steam, and the results are predictably bad.
byTom Marks
Posted March 8, 2019, 12:45 a.m.
I am exasperated. Not angry, not even disappointed. Just made immensely tired by a situation simultaneously so shitty and so predictable that I want to immediately go to sleep just thinking about it.
This week, in a moment 16-year-old Tom never thought he would be writing about when he was excitedly playing through the original Portal 12 years ago, Valve publicly barred a game about committing horrific sexual assaults against women from Steam. I mean, who would have expected this? Who could have seen it coming that a game made explicitly to disgust and anger people would attempt to be released on Steam?
Oh yeah, literally anyone.
Last June Valve, clearly frustrated by the constant curation conversations about whether or not erotic games should be on Steam or if it's okay to ban a game about committing school shootings, decided to burn its whole game submission system to the ground. Instead of the case-by-case (and fairly cryptic) form of game approval it had in place at the time, Valve would allow "everything" onto Steam.
Valve banned this most recent game not because it was illegal, offensive, or trolling, but because it was a potential liability.
As long as a game wasn't deemed "illegal, or straight up trolling" then it would be a-okay. The announcement ignored the fact, however, that "trolling" was never actually defined. That meant we moved to a system literally identical to the case-by-case setup Steam had before, which already let in games that Valve later needed to ban (like Isis Simulator) thanks to the entirely open the Steam Direct submission process. Except now the small amount of proactive regulation that used to be there was entirely gone.
Here we are, nine months later, and the baby Valve's new policy has birthed is a controversy many people knew was just a matter of time: Another outrage-bait game called Rape Day was put on Steam, people got mad, and Valve took it down. But not because it was breaking the law, not because it was "trolling," not even because it was intentionally inflammatory and offensive, but because Valve saw it as a liability to the company and to Steam as a platform.
"After significant fact-finding and discussion," an official blog post states in a way that implies it would take more than two minutes to decide whether or not Valve would want this game associated with its brand, "we think 'Rape Day' poses unknown costs and risks and therefore won't be on Steam." The post also says that Valve has to "make a judgement call about any risk it puts to Valve, our developer partners, or our customers." The pessimistic interpretation of that message is "actually, we do sometimes want to curate what's on Steam, but only when we think a game might cost us more money than selling it would gain us."
Valve says this decision was a "reactionary" one simply by necessity of how the system is set up, despite the facts that: (1) it designed that system, (2) it clearly doesn't want stuff like this on its store, and (3) no one is stopping Valve from just changing that system by, say, having human beings make sure "risky" games like this are never even given a chance to become full-blown controversies on its platform.
Valve clearly has regulations it would like to enforce, but has chosen to enforce them only after there's already a problem.
This is a solvable issue, but Valve acts like solving it with curation would be morally wrong and somehow stifling developers – meanwhile, its default stance is to distribute games without audit that are occasionally morally reprehensible on their own. Its most recent post echoes much of the same language used in the blog post for its June decision, explaining that Valve respects "developers' desire to express themselves." But I already argued back in June that banning a game from Steam isn't the same as stifling a creator's expression since Steam is fundamentally a private space.
To quote myself from that article, "Nordstrom and Macy's aren't stepping on the first amendment rights of some poor independent t-shirt creator by refusing to sell a shirt with a swastika made of penises on it, and Valve isn't taking the moral high ground by saying it has to protect the creative freedom of someone who makes a game called ISIS Simulator." This is Valve's store, and Valve gets to decide what's sold on it. It clearly has regulations it would like to enforce, but seemingly only chooses to do so when an online petition gets enough votes to put it at risk.
Even if you don't agree, and think Valve shouldn't be deciding what does and doesn't end up on its own website, I still feel like just trying to get games on Steam has been a worse experience in the last nine months thanks to this decision. It's been harder to find new releases worth your time, become nearly impossible to navigate without running into countless sliding-picture hentai games, and hasn't really done anything to compensate for how the platform was altered.
What has happened in those nine months should make Valve even more worried. The Epic Games store opened up and started stealing games from Steam left and right (even if it's still not quite ready for them). YouTube has come under fire multiple times for serious controversies caused by their similarly unrestricted and automatically curated platform, and is actually trying to do something about it where a hands-off approach has failed. Even Facebook has similarly been ramping up human moderation in the last year
People are realizing that they can get free publicity by taking advantage of Valve's inattentive open door policy, and it's going to get worse.
To give Valve the benefit of the doubt, maybe it has actually been able to "focus less on trying to police what should be on Steam, and more on building [the] tools to give people control over what kinds of content they see" as it claimed in its June announcement, but it sure doesn't feel like we've seen the fruit of that labor yet from where I'm standing.
More importantly, this is going to keep happening. More and more games are coming to Steam, and more people will realize that they can get free publicity and a lot of attention (positive or negative) by taking advantage of Valve's inattentive open door policy. This will likely get even worse, and all Valve really needs to do to stop it is embrace the responsibility of the platform it created instead of abdicate it. I'm hoping it does so eventually, but it will probably take more situations like this to get there.
Tom Marks is IGN's Deputy Reviews Editor and resident pie maker, and he is going to take a long nap now. You can follow him on Twitter.
5 years, 7 months Comments
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Taste of Annandale
Pet Contest
Crescendo Studios signs on as a Gold-level sponsor
Crescendo Studios, a brand-new, beautiful facility for music lessons, showed its commitment to community engagement by signing on as a Gold-level sponsor of the 2019 Taste of Annandale.
Crescendo offers lessons in piano, guitar, drum, bass, violin, cello, viola, and voice to children, teens, and adults. It's located in a former TV studio, Megahertz Network, at 8101-A Lee Highway in Merrifield across the street from the Mosaic District.
The founder, Falls Church High School teacher Lynelle Palencia, wanted to provide a place to teach music that is geared to the individual student, says Crescendo's director, Edward Fuentes.
"When you're dealing with the arts, a curriculum doesn't really work. She believes the best approach is solely dependent on the teacher and student," says Fuentes, who notes that Lynelle's daughter, Mariela Palencia, is a gifted singer who has performed at Carnegie Hall.
Crescendo has seven private rooms for individual music lessons, four rooms for band practice, two studio rooms that can be used for recording, and other spaces for group lessons.
Each of the band rooms has a mural depicting a particular U.S. city known for its music: New Orleans, New York, Detroit, and Nashville.
There is also a huge open space undergoing renovation that will be used for performances, recitals, and community workshops and events – and also available for rental by local theater and music groups. The second floor of the building, not yet renovated, could eventually be leased to education-related businesses, Fuentes says.
When he was growing up, "we associated guitar with rock," says Fuentes, who has a degree in audio production and plays bass in the Take the Cake cover band, but the goal at Crescendo is to present music in a "genre-free" way.
Kids are taught music without pigeonholing it into a particular format. They also learn the cultural background of music, as well as how to play an instrument, he says.
In addition to one-on-one lessons, Crescendo offers a group keyboard program for 5 to 7-year-olds on Monday and Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
For younger children, beginning at age two-and-half, Crescendo is launching two music and motion programs in partnership with Music Together and Funfit within in the next few months.
Student project features Taste of Annandale
The Vistas of Annandale signs on as Title Sponsor
Lambros Goldsmith
Vistas of Annandale
BB&T Bank, Annandale branch
The Parliaments
Rotary Club of Annandale
ACCA Child Development Center
Annandale Blog
Annandale United Methodist Church
Chico's Natural Pet Market
Crescendo Music Studios
Couts Grou/Coldwell Banker
DePont Wealth Management/Merrill
Fairfax County Park Authority Golf
Fairfax County Republican Committee
Gary Aiken, candidate for supervisor
Heartland Home Foods
Korean American Chamber of Commerce
Plaza at Landmark
PR Performance Fitness
Signature Realtors
Spinal Health Group
Anthem HealthKeepers Plus
Asian American Chamber of Commerce
Bill Page Honda
Congressional School
Fairfax Radiological Consultants
Just Neighbors of Annandale
Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale Campus
Orangetheory Fitness Lake Barcroft
Van Dorn Diner
Won Trading
Taste of Annandale 5K canceled
Two dogs win Chico's pet model contest
Pet contest winners announced
Taste of Annandale cited in Korean publication
Runner and service dog in training coming from New Jersey for the 5K
Taste of Annandale on Facebook

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Why Brad Marchand is NHL's most frustrating player
There are 30 general managers in the NHL outside of Boston that, if given the opportunity, would be willing to pay a king's ransom to acquire Brad Marchand.
There is nothing that he does not do well, and over the past three or four seasons has rapidly developed into one of the most impactful players in the NHL.
The list of players in the league that are better than him at this moment is a short one, and it seems to get shorter every year.
Since the start of the 2015-16 season his 97 goals are tied for the third most in the league, while his 0.50 goals per game average is tied for second in the league (with Auston Matthews and behind only Alex Ovechkin). His 196 total points are the seventh most, while he is one of just six players in the league that have averaged more than a point-per-game over that stretch. His 57.5 percent Corsi rating is second best in the league. He is a crucial part of what has become the best, most dominant line in hockey — alongside Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak — for what is now one of the best teams in the league and at a salary cap hit of $6.125 million per season is probably still one of the best bargains in the league given what he produces.
That's what makes his other antics, the ones that keep getting him called into the principal's office for supplemental discipline so often you would think they were serving peanut butter cups and Yoo-Hoo in there, so damn frustrating.
[Marchand suspended five games for elbowing]
On Wednesday Marchand was suspended five games for elbowing New Jersey Devils forward Marcus Johansson in the head. Johansson suffered a concussion on the play (his second of the season) and is sidelined indefinitely.
Instead of being consistently regarded as one of the league's best players — which he is! — Marchand's reputation is still that of a pest, or an agitator, or, if you prefer, just simply a dirty player.
What is worse than the fact that the latter part of the criticism is absolutely true, is that he doesn't seem to be willing to change. Or Learn.
If he is willing to change or learn, he hasn't actually done it.
Marchand is no stranger to the folks at the NHL's Department of Player Safety and it's not uncommon for him to be called in at least once or twice per season. That is not an exaggeration, either.
Since the DoPS was formed before the 2011-12 season Marchand has been fined or suspended by the department eight different times. That is more than any other player in the NHL during that stretch, while the only players in the league to be punished more than four times are Zac Rinaldo (seven times) and Raffi Torres (five times).
That is not a group of players you want to be included with in any context.
(Just a quick note on all of that: I am only looking at punishments handled by the Department of Player Safety. So it does not include the suspension Marchand received during the 2010-11 season — meaning he has actually been fined or suspended nine times in his career — and I did not include punishments handled by NHL operations — so players suspended or fined for PEDs, comments or criticisms, or diving or embellishment are not included in the tallies.)
It has cost him 17 games in suspensions and close to $714,000 in forfeited salary.
It also does not include the incidents that did not result in supplemental discipline from the league but certainly drew attention — like the late hit on John Tavares earlier this season that resulted in a five-minute major for interference, or the dangerous trip on Anton Stralman last season, which came one week after he was fined for a different dangerous trip on Niklas Kronwall, which came after he was warned earlier that season for slew-footing.
The point here is that no matter what he does, or no matter what the league does to him, he still comes back and does the same stuff that keeps getting him in trouble. Again and again and again and again and again.
On Thursday Marchand apologized for letting his teammates and organization down, while also briefly mentioning that he hopes that Johansson has a quick recovery for the concussion that he inflicted on him.
Marchand: "I've been trying to play a certain way for awhile now and it was never my intent to get into a situation like this, to injury Marcus, so hopefully he has a full healthy recovery very quickly. I'm sorry I let my teammates down and I let the organization down."
— Joe McDonald (@JoeyMacHockey) January 25, 2018
If those words sounds familiar it might be because we've heard similar sentiments from Marchand in the past.
Back in November Marchand talked about how his game has changed, mostly due to the changing style of play in the league, but also because being a legitimately good hockey player tends to lead to a longer career than just being a pest.
Here he is, via the Toronto Star:
"I'm trying to get away from the s— a little bit, and I have, just because they crack down on it so easily now and I can't afford to get suspended. … There are very few guys on any team that even get into anything. These kids that come up now, they're all skill players, they don't get into it. There's no fighters anymore."
Here he is apologizing for getting suspended just before the 2016 Winter Classic for clipping Mark Borowiecki. It is a combination of words that looks very similar to the ones he said on Thursday.
"I just want to acknowledge the situation that I put my teammates in and affecting the game for them, and taking away for the excitement for the fans being a part of this rivalry and taking it away from them, and also affecting this game for myself and putting myself in the situation to not be a part of this. So I want to apologize, and I truly am sorry to everyone about, again, the situation. And it was not my intent to make a hit or try to injure anyone on that play."
That, by the way, was the second time Marchand had been suspended for clipping. In the DoPS era only one other player in the entire league has been suspended or fined for that infraction. He has been suspended for it twice.
He has also been suspended or fined three other times since that incident not even two years ago, including his most recent five-game ban.
It is frustrating. It is infuriating. It is exhausting.
It is all of that because it does not need to be this way. Not that there is ever a valid excuse for a player to do the things that Marchand so often does, but it is not like he is player that has to play on the edge to survive in the NHL or keep his job.
He is not just an energy guy or someone that is paid to rattle the cage of an opponent.
He is a top-line player. There is legitimate argument to be made that he has been one of the 10 best players in the league for a couple of years now. He is an All-Star for crying out loud.
The thing that has to be a concern for the Bruins is that he is probably only one infraction away from really getting hammered by the league.
It is kind of amazing that it has not already happened given what has happened to some other players with similar histories. And even that isn't entirely fair because few players in the league actually have a history that compares Marchand's.
His five-game ban is the third-longest suspension handed out this season.
Rinaldo was hit with a six-game ban for punching an unsuspecting player (a punishment that received vast criticism for being far too light), while Radko Gudas, another player with a pretty extensive history, was given 10 games for slashing Mathieu Perreault.
Habitual repeat offender Raffi Torres finally did so many awful things that the NHL suspended him for half of a season. It predates the DoPS era, but the league became so fed up with Matt Cooke playing in the gutter that they hit him with a 10-game regular season ban plus the first-round of the playoffs (which ended up being seven more games) for elbowing Ryan McDonagh.
You have to wonder if that day of reckoning is just around the corner for Marchand.
When the DoPS handles suspensions or fines the first thing they do, even before looking at a player's history, is determine whether or not the incident is worthy of supplemental discipline.
When the answer to that question is yes, that is when the history comes into play.
At this point Marchand's apologies and proclamations that he has changed are empty.
They mean nothing because he keeps doing it and it's not doing him, his teammates, and most importantly, the players on the other side of the ice that he constantly puts at risk any favors.
He is one of the best players in the league.
He is also by far the most frustrating.
It is act that is getting old and somebody, whether it is the Bruins or the NHL, needs to put a stop to it.
Tags: Boston Bruins, Brad Marchand, Alex Ovechkin, Anton Stralman, Auston Matthews, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, John Tavares, Marcus Johansson, Mark Borowiecki, Mathieu Perreault, Niklas Kronwall, Patrice Bergeron, Radko Gudas, Ryan McDonagh, Zac Rinaldo
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Liam McHugh will host Wednesday's coverage on NHL Live alongside analysts Anson Carter and Keith Jones and NHL insider Bob McKenzie. Mike Tirico will handle play-by-play duties for Caps-Preds on Wednesday Night Hockey alongside analyst Mike Milbury and 'Inside-the-Glass' analyst Brian Boucher from Capital One Arena in Washington D.C.
Tags: Nashville Predators, NHL on NBCSN, Washington Capitals, Wednesday Night Hockey, Juuse Saros, Kyle Turris, Matt Duchene, Mikael Granlund, P.K. Subban, Pekka Rinne, Ryan Johansen
Our Line Starts podcast: All-Star reactions, handicapping the Pacific Divison
By Sean LeahyJan 29, 2020, 8:55 AM EST
Liam McHugh, Anson Carter, and Keith Jones give their impressions of All-Star Weekend, including rave reviews on St. Louis as a host city. Pierre McGuire interviews Dallas GM Jim Nill, and Anson tells you what Rodney Dangerfield and Ben Bishop have in common. Plus, the guys handicap the uber-tight Pacific Division entering the stretch run.
Start-1:50 Intros
1:50-8:00 Reaction to All-Star Weekend
8:00-14:45 Battle of Alberta heats up again
14:45-26:30 Pierre interviews Jim Nill
26:30-32:35 How far can Stars go?
32:35-end Handicapping the Pacific Division
Our Line Starts is part of NBC Sports' growing roster of podcasts spanning the NFL, Premier League, NASCAR, and much more. The new weekly podcast, which will publish Wednesdays, will highlight the top stories of the league, including behind-the-scenes content and interviews conducted by NBC Sports' NHL commentators.
Where you can listen:
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1482681517
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/nbc-sports/our-line-starts
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7cDMHBg6NJkQDGe4KHu4iO?si=9BmcLtutTFmhRrNNcMqfgQ
NBC Sports on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nbcsports
Tags: 2020 NHL All-Star Game, Ben Bishop, Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers, Jim Nill, Matthew Tkachuk, St. Louis Blues, Zack Kassian, Ben Bishop
Wednesday Night Hockey: What happens if Preds don't turn season around? January 29, 2020 9:48 am EST Our Line Starts podcast: All-Star reactions, handicapping the Pacific Divison January 29, 2020 8:55 am EST PHT Morning Skate: Weber's comeback year; Where should Bolts upgrade? January 29, 2020 8:15 am EST The Buzzer: Blues edge Flames in shootout; Eichel sets new career high January 29, 2020 12:20 am EST Hall of Fame goalie Ed Belfour arrested on mischief, public intoxication charges January 28, 2020 7:55 pm EST How the Canucks climbed to top of Pacific Division January 28, 2020 4:46 pm EST Headache-plagued Stephen Johns finally back on ice for Stars January 28, 2020 2:33 pm EST Predators facing difficult road in playoff push January 28, 2020 1:35 pm EST Blues' recipe for success hasn't changed in quest for Cup repeat January 28, 2020 12:00 pm EST Penguins give Marcus Pettersson a 5-year, $20.1 million contract extension January 28, 2020 10:46 am EST Logjam at top of Pacific makes for intense playoff push January 28, 2020 9:37 am EST PHT Morning Skate: Blues looking for top-6 winger; Pacific Division race January 28, 2020 8:00 am EST The Buzzer: Big milestone night for Patrick Marleau January 28, 2020 2:10 am EST Benn makes difference as Stars beat Lightning January 27, 2020 10:55 pm EST Fight: Brady Tkachuk vs. P.K. Subban (video) January 27, 2020 9:58 pm EST WATCH LIVE: Stars host Lightning on NBCSN January 27, 2020 7:00 pm EST Maple Leafs' defense gets some help with Muzzin return January 27, 2020 7:00 pm EST Lightning have returned to being one of NHL's most dominant teams January 27, 2020 4:41 pm EST NHL Fantasy Hockey: Bounce-back candidates for the second half January 27, 2020 2:24 pm EST NHL Power Rankings: Stanley Cup contenders entering second half January 27, 2020 2:11 pm EST Blue Jackets sign forward Robinson for 2 more years January 27, 2020 12:56 pm EST Ovechkin sits as Caps return to ice against Canadiens January 27, 2020 12:12 pm EST NHL on NBCSN: Stars keeping puck out of own net January 27, 2020 10:48 am EST PHT Face-Off: Frk's heavy shot; Rough year for Johansen January 27, 2020 10:06 am EST PHT Morning Skate: NHLers remember Kobe; Who will Bruins acquire? January 27, 2020 8:15 am EST NHL players in favor of 'international flavor' All-Star idea January 26, 2020 4:46 pm EST The 10 players that will impact NHL playoff race in second half January 26, 2020 4:30 pm EST The 6 coaches and general managers that will impact NHL playoff race January 26, 2020 3:28 pm EST Blues All-Stars proud to represent franchise on home ice January 26, 2020 1:37 am EST Hockey's young stars shine in NHL All-Star 3-on-3 tournament January 26, 2020 12:43 am EST Best moments from 2020 NHL All-Star Game January 26, 2020 12:09 am EST All-Star MVP Pastrnak puts on a show for Atlantic Division January 25, 2020 11:55 pm EST Pacific wins close All-Star Game final, Pastrnak gets MVP January 25, 2020 11:16 pm EST Memorable All-Star Game moments abound as Pacific dominates Central January 25, 2020 10:00 pm EST NHL All-Star Game 2020: Pastrnak, Duclair power Atlantic past Metro January 25, 2020 9:08 pm EST Laila Anderson introduces Blues All-Stars — with gusto January 25, 2020 8:42 pm EST NHL All-Star Game 2020: Pacific wins, Pastrnak MVP, Laila shines January 25, 2020 7:41 pm EST WATCH LIVE: 2020 NHL All-Star Game enhanced broadcast January 25, 2020 7:15 pm EST WATCH LIVE: 2020 NHL All-Star Game on NBC January 25, 2020 7:00 pm EST 3-on-3 overtime in NHL has evolved over past 5 seasons January 25, 2020 12:00 pm EST


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About Portsmouth
Portsmouth is a historic maritime city recognised as a global centre for marine, aerospace, defence, creative and digital industries. We are ambitious and forward-thinking with a multibillion-pound transformation programme underway positioning the city as a top performer for innovation, technology and enterprise.
Portsmouth has a population of 215,000, the city is home to 8,250 businesses including Airbus Defence and Space, BAE Systems, IBM and Pall Europe. The city is also home to the University of Portsmouth which excels in research areas for cosmology, cyber security, forensics and plastics.
Portsmouth was awarded most entrepreneurial city in the UK in 2020. Last year 1,970 new firms were established, and 4,000 new jobs created. Portsmouth is a UK top 25 GVA city with a GVA of £6.2bn and GVA-per-filled-job of £46,936 which places it in Europe's top 20 cities. GVA grew by 3.6% last year – the fastest rate for any city in the south of the UK.
Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson CBELeader, Portsmouth City Council
The Portsmouth City Council website >
Invest Portsmouth: the great waterfront city >


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Peter van Inwagen (; born September 21, 1942) is an American analytic philosopher and the John Cardinal O'Hara Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a research professor of philosophy at Duke University each spring. He previously taught at Syracuse University and earned his PhD from the University of Rochester in 1969 under the direction of Richard Taylor. Van Inwagen is one of the leading figures in contemporary metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of action. He was the president of the Society of Christian Philosophers from 2010 to 2013.

Career
Van Inwagen's 1983 monograph An Essay on Free Will played an important role in rehabilitating libertarianism with respect to free will in mainstream analytical philosophy. In the book, he introduces the term incompatibilism about free will and determinism, to stand in contrast to compatibilism—the view that free will is compatible with determinism.

Van Inwagen's central argument (the consequence argument) for this view is that "If determinism is true, then our acts are the consequences of the laws of nature and events in the remote past. But it is not up to us what went on before we were born, and neither is it up to us what the laws of nature are. Therefore, the consequences of those things (including our present acts) are not up to us."

Van Inwagen also added what he called the Mind Argument (after the philosophical journal Mind, where such arguments often appeared). "The Mind argument proceeds by identifying indeterminism with chance and by arguing that an act that occurs by chance, if an event that occurs by chance can be called an act, cannot be under the control of its alleged agent and hence cannot have been performed freely. Proponents of [this argument] conclude, therefore, that free will is not only compatible with determinism but entails determinism."

The Consequence Argument and the Mind Argument are the two horns in the classic dilemma and standard argument against free will. If determinism is true, our actions are not free. If indeterminism is true, our actions are influenced by randomness and our will cannot be morally responsible for them.

Van Inwagen concludes that "Free Will Remains a Mystery." In an article written in the third person called "Van Inwagen on Free Will," he describes the problem with his incompatibilist free will if random chance directly causes our actions. He imagines the universe reverting a thousand times to exactly the same circumstances it was in at some earlier time and observing all the "replays." If the agent's actions are random, she sometimes "would have agent-caused the crucial brain event and sometimes (in seventy percent of the replays, let us say) she would not have... I conclude that even if an episode of agent causation is among the causal antecedents of every voluntary human action, these episodes do nothing to undermine the prima facie impossibility of an undetermined free act."

In a paper submitted to The Journal of Ethics, "How to Think about the Problem of Free Will", Van Inwagen worries that the concept "free will" may be incoherent. He writes, "There are seemingly unanswerable arguments that (if they are indeed unanswerable) demonstrate that free will is incompatible with determinism. And there are seemingly unanswerable arguments that ... demonstrate that free will is incompatible with indeterminism. But if free will is incompatible both with determinism and indeterminism, the concept 'free will' is incoherent, and the thing free will does not exist."

In his book Material Beings, Van Inwagen argues that all material objects are either elementary particles or living organisms. Every composite material object is made up of elementary particles, and the only such composite objects are living organisms. A consequence of this view is that everyday objects such as tables, chairs, cars, buildings, and clouds do not exist. While there seem to be such things, this is only because there are elementary particles arranged in specific ways. For example, where it seems that there is a chair, Van Inwagen says that there are only elementary particles arranged chairwise. These particles do not compose an object, any more than a swarm of bees composes an object. Like a swarm of bees, the particles we call a chair maintain a more or less stable arrangement for a while, which gives the impression of a single object. An individual bee, by contrast, has parts that are unified in the right way to constitute a single object (namely, a bee).

Van Inwagen gave the 2003 Gifford Lectures; they are published in his The Problem of Evil. There Van Inwagen argues that the problem of evil is a philosophical argument and, like most philosophical arguments, fails.

In recent years, Van Inwagen has shown an interest in the afterlife debate, particularly in relation to resurrection of the body. In his article "I Look for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to Come", he concludes that Christians must account for some sort of physical continuity in their account of existence of the same person after death. In particular, Van Inwagen notes, this is a problem for the Christian materialist, one who believes that human beings are physical substances.

Awards and honors
He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005, and was President of the Central Division of the American Philosophical Association in 2008/09. He was the President of the Society of Christian Philosophers from 2010 to 2013.

He has delivered lectures including:
 The F.D. Maurice Lectures, three lectures delivered at the University of London in March 1999
 The Wilde Lectures on Natural Religion, eight lectures delivered at Oxford University in Trinity Term, 2000
 The Stewart Lectures: three lectures delivered at Princeton University, October 2002
 The Gifford Lectures, eight lectures delivered at the University of St. Andrews, May 2003
 The Jellema Lectures: two lectures delivered at Calvin College, March 2004
 The Münster Lectures in Philosophy, including a student colloquium at the University of Münster, November 2015

In May 2011 it was announced that he is to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

Books

Personal life
Van Inwagen lives in Granger, Indiana, with his wife Elisabeth. Van Inwagen converted to Christianity in 1980.

See also
 American philosophy
 List of American philosophers
 Mereological nihilism

Notes

References

Works cited

Sources

External links
 Official Page  at the University of Notre Dame
 The Problem of Evil,  Oxford University Press, 2006. (Gifford Lectures 2002)
 Papers by van Inwagen
 Van Inwagen (Brief professional overview)
 Argument Against Free Will
 "Metaphysics" (Entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
 Interviews from the PBS program Closer to Truth

1942 births
20th-century American essayists
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American philosophers
20th-century American theologians
21st-century American essayists
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American philosophers
Action theorists
American Episcopalians
American male essayists
American male non-fiction writers
American philosophy academics
Analytic philosophers
Anglican philosophers
Christian philosophers
Duke University faculty
Living people
Metaphysicians
Metaphysics writers
People from Granger, Indiana
Philosophers of mind
Philosophers of religion
Philosophers of science
Presidents of the American Philosophical Association
Presidents of the Society of Christian Philosophers
Syracuse University faculty
University of Notre Dame faculty
University of Rochester alumni
Writers about religion and science
American people of Dutch descent

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


This small block SRG 68 Ford was built here at Scot Rods Garage, under budget and on schedule. It has been in numerous car shows and events to represent Scot Rods Garage in the autocross division, and is also the owners everyday driver.
It holds a BD Turn Key fuel injected 5.3 LS, with a T56 Magnum from Dederichs Motorsports right here in Fort Worth, Texas. Crown Vic suspension and a SRG Racing Rear 4-link, Ridetech Coilovers and Stainless Works exhaust.


I love coffee and exploring new spots and revisiting old ones is always a thrill! Today I share my 5 top coffee shops in Greenpoint, Brooklyn! If you are also a coffee fan, go check them out!
Yes, everyone that knows me, knows that I'm c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y addicted to coffee (good coffee!) and I drink it throughout my entire day! Being Brazilian, I think it's just a natural part of me. Ha!
I have friends that tell me that if they drink coffee after lunch time, they can't sleep at night. And, that just sounds so crazy… I can literally drink a gallon on coffee at night, roll over and sleep like a baby.
That said, I love exploring all the new coffee shops in New York. We also have some pretty amazing traditional ones that are still going strong. Those bigger chains are certainly not up my alley at all. I like the smaller ones, independently owned that roast their own coffee and the smell just fills up the entire place.
We've already shared the 5 best bars in Greenpoint I love. So, today I'm sharing my favorite and 5 top coffee shops, also in Greenpoint. After all, I do love everything about that neighborhood.
If you enjoy good coffee and pastries, you've probably already heard of Maman.
The name means "mom" in French and the owners were inspired by their childhood memories of their mother's recipes! They've got countless pretty tasty pastries, as well as savory options and healthy salads.
Besides this Greenpoint spot, they have a few other locations in the city, in the neighborhoods of Soho, Tribeca, Nomad and the Meatpacking District.
Each location is a bit different from the other and the one in Tribeca is also one of my favorites, for the have a great restaurant in the back!
Búdin was founded back in 2013 and serves not only tasty Scandinavian specialty coffees, but it also has a craft beer and wine bar. The Nordic menu offers sandwiches, salads and delicious Swedish pancakes.
One of the dishes I love is the Portobello + Fennel Sandwich with portobello cap, caramelized onions, fennel, whole grain Dijon mustard on a baguette.
But wait! That's not all! In the back, they have a small, but pretty awesome design shop and an opened patio! The design shop brings together a curation of Japanese brands selling t-shirts, accessories and even a few jewelry pieces.
So, we'll keep our eyes open to share their new spot!
Location: New spot to be announced!
Probably the first thing you'll notice while entering Sweetleaf, is the décor. It has beautiful brick walls, original wood beams, as well as a fantastic variety of antique furniture collected from all over the world!
Besides the amazing smell when you walk in, it's also very laptop friendly if you need to pull it out and work a bit!
They have a few other locations, but this one is the one that actually houses the roastery in the back. Don't forget to peek inside to see the coffee being done.
Homecoming is certainly a different style coffee shop. Why? Because they have not only a charming flower shop inside, but they also sell accessories from amazing designers.
You'll find everything from apparel, apothecary, objects for your home, jewelry, notebooks and planners, and even some creative gift cards!
It's a great place to swing by for coffee and also check out the products if you're looking for a special gift for a friend or loved one.
They also have a 2nd location in Williamsburg, at 92 Berry Street.
Even though Champion Coffee's first location dates back to 2006, the North Greenpoint spot is kinda new and opened just a few years back in 2016.
You can also take their coffee home. They roast their beans in Maspeth, Queens and have 3 flavors: Decaf, Drip Blend and Espresso. The spot also serves a nice breakfast and lunch with a few options of sandwiches and salads.
They have 2 locations in Brooklyn with a 3rd one that just launched! Where? Inside the North 3rd Street Market, in Williamsburg, that opened a few weeks back and unites 25 fantastic vendors in one spot!
In Manhattan they have 2 locations and the 3rd one is on its way!


Yoga teacher Noah Mazé offers his favorite scone recipe to share with loved ones over the holiday.
Yoga teacher Noah Mazé, founder of Yogamazé yoga school in Los Angeles, shares his favorite scone recipe. Make a whole batch to share with loved ones over the holidays, or bake a few to enjoy now, and freeze the dough for later.
In a bowl, whisk 3 eggs.
In a heatproof mixing bowl, add 1 stick butter, 1 cup sugar, lemon juice, and zest. Gently simmer water in a double boiler or a saucepan. Place bowl over water (not touching water); stir until butter melts. Add whisked eggs slowly to mixture, whisking until curd is creamy and thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, 8–10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for an hour, stirring occasionally. Pour into a jar and refrigerate until ready to use. Serve lemon curd cold to accompany warm scones.
In another bowl, combine flour, remaining ¼ cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cube remaining 1½ sticks butter and add to bowl. Use a pastry blender to cut butter into dry ingredients until butter is the size of peas. Stir in currants. Add cream and cut it in with the pastry blender, then knead dough gently until it all holds together (do not overmix). Spread dough out onto a clean counter, press it all together, and divide into three balls. Shape each ball into a disc, about 1.5 inches thick. In a second bowl, whisk remaining egg. Brush each disc with egg and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Cut each disc into eight triangular pieces (like you would cut a pie).
Bake on an ungreased, double-bottomed cookie sheet until springy to the touch and lightly browned on the bottom, 18–20 minutes (or freeze dough for up to 6 months). Place scones on wire racks to cool, 5 minutes. The scones are best when eaten fresh, but can keep for 2 days at room temperature.


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Ila (zangeres), Belgische zangeres
Ila (Georgia), een plaats in de Amerikaanse staat Georgia
Ila (mythologie), een personage uit de hindoeïstische mythologie


DRY SHAKE all ingredients (without ice). SHAKE again with ice and fine strain into ice-filled glass.
The rich cognac and oranges flavours of Grand Marnier shine in this balanced and flavoursome sour.
There are approximately 164 calories in one serving of Grand Sour.


When you think of prophecies about the Lord's return, the vivid accounts in Daniel and Revelation probably come to mind first. But Zechariah gives details those other books don't—compelling, critical truth about the future restoration of Israel and the reign of Messiah that you need to understand.
An unusually challenging passage, Zechariah 9–14 is frequently interpreted symbolically. In The Return and Reign of Jesus Christ, John MacArthur unpacks those chapters piece by piece, interpreting them literally. The result? Clarity you may have never had—and profound encouragement—about the messianic kingdom that's ahead.
Let this study fill you with even greater hope for the coming of the King!


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Boris Johnson told to 'stop ducking Brexit reality' in new stunt from young activists
Published: 12:59 PM June 27, 2019 Updated: 6:02 PM September 17, 2020
Boris Johnson is accused of ducking Brexit reality in the latest Our Future Our Choice stunt. Photograph: Sarah Horsman. - Credit: Archant
Young anti-Brexit campaigners have flooded the street outside Boris Johnson's campaign HQ with yellow rubber ducks to call on the Tory MP to 'stop ducking Brexit reality'.
https://twitter.com/elliemjourno/status/1144221465564405761
The activists, from Our Future Our Choice, deployed the the ducks with the hashtag #BoJoNoShow because they believe Boris Johnson is ducking the British people and the Brexit reality in his bid to become prime minister.
A group spokesperson said: "Since his leadership campaign launch, Boris Johnson has skipped two primetime head-to-head debates with his fellow leadership contenders. The number of interviews he's done can be counted on one hand. He's yet to do a single event open to the general public, and has not campaigned in public either. He is ducking the British people.
"He is also ducking the Brexit reality. All of his plans for Brexit are not credible, derided by Brexiteers in his own party like Liam Fox, and branded by figures in Brussels as 'bullshit.' He has told Remainers in his party that he will avoid No Deal, yet promised Brexiters in his party that we will leave on 31st October 'do or die.'"
MORE: Anti-Brexit campaigners pull no-deal stockpiling stunt
Hi Zac,
Unlike the candidate you're backing, we've cleared up our mess.#BoJoNoShow pic.twitter.com/ydwbrRttjN
— Our Future, Our Choice (@OFOCBrexit) June 27, 2019
MORE: Anti-Brexit activists 'destroy' Brexit deal metres from Brussels summit
Ed Shackle, one of the Our Future Our Choice campaigners involved in the stunt, said: "As a Conservative member, I find it deeply upsetting that Boris Johnson is trying to become prime minister whilst ducking the British people and the Brexit reality. How can we trust him to lead until he starts engaging with the general public and confronting the reality of the Brexit mess?"
The campaign tweeted that, unlike the potential Tory leader, they had "cleared up their mess" shortly after.
Last year the same campaigners help Boris to move out of his 'lad pad' when he quit as foreign secretary. They donned overalls and provided his home with cardboard boxes.
Boris Johnson is accused of ducking Brexit reality in the latest Our Future Our Choice stunt. Photograph: OFOC. - Credit: Archant
https://twitter.com/talkRADIO/status/1144253172145369091


Math Dice Jr. Game is the first mental math game for your child! Sharpen your mathematical and problem-solving skills with the Math Dice Jr. Game, a fun dice game that's great in and out of the classroom. The 12-sided Target Die sets the target number. Then players add and/or subtract the five Scoring Dice to match the target number, moving one space on the Scoring Track for every Scoring Die used. The first player to reach the finish line wins! Any subject (even something as boring as math) can be made interesting based on who teaches it. A teacher should be like a magician… they should thrive off his audience. A teacher should make every student a fan of the subject. Games are certainly great mediums for both fun and learning. Math Dice Jr. Game is like a good teacher, generating interest in mathematics for your child. The Details Features: 12-Sided Die, Five 6-Sided Dice, Scoring Track, Instructions, Game-Go Bag. Type: Family Games, Math Dice Games Skill: STEM and Creative Thinking Age: 6 and Up Players: 2 or More Players Learn more about STEM toys from switchedonkids.com.au!


Ushers (also called Greeters) are ministers of hospitality. They welcome worshipers to our liturgy celebrations and assist them in a warm and friendly way at any point in the celebration. Ushers also take up collections, direct the offertory and the communion processions, distribute mass programs and weekly bulletins, and assist the congregation to have a fulfilling worship experience.
Do you feel called to serve in this way? Please call the parish office at (718) 324-5340.


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Afternoon Tea in Oxford
Oxford is a world-famous university city that is steeped in history and remarkable architecture. Visitors enjoy exploring the cobbled lanes full of honey coloured buildings, and Oxford is one English city that you can explore easily on foot. Oxford has a young feel – thanks to the large students population Jericho, in the north-west, is the artsy end of town, with chic bars, restaurants and an art-house cinema, while East Oxford is a vibrant, ethnically diverse area full of cheap places to eat and drink. The food scene has evolved from one where there was little room to manoeuvre between a few up-scale restaurants and many student dives. Now there are many new and exciting eateries, giving those in search of a memorable afternoon tea, more choice and more quality than ever before.
Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons
Dining at chef Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons is a rare treat. Blanc has two Michelin stars and Le Manoir is one the top hotels in Britain. Partaking of their champagne afternoon tea (calling ahead for a booking is essential) allows you to sample the famous excellence that Le Manoir is known for. The food is served in the honey-coloured stone house with its thick-carpeted, softly lit dining room, or if weather permits, in the charming garden. Serviced is relaxed but they give an air of occasion with both warmth and efficiency. The menu includes champagne along with freshly brewed teas or coffee and a range of special open sandwiches that include rare beef fillet and celeriac, smoked salmon and caviar, crab and grapefruit and Brie with apricot and hazelnut. The fluffy fruit scones are served with jam, butter and clotted cream and your afternoon tea is crowned with the likes of macaroons, a tart tatin, pear and almond cake, a rich chocolate raspberry delice and choux pastries filled with salted butterscotch sauce and topped with sesame brittle. All in all a sumptuous feast worthy of a special celebration.
Afternoon tea at the home of the 11th Duke of Marlborough, set in 2100 acres of beautiful parkland, is a sumptuous way to indulge in tradition. The birthplace of Winston Churchill is beautifully decorated with intricate carvings, hand painted ceilings and amazing tapestries, paintings and porcelain collections. After touring the magnificent palace and gardens, you can sit down for tea in the Indian Room which overlooks the stunning water terraces and Fountains. The Indian room is decorated with elaborate Indian-themed murals, and the tea service is discreet and polite. Tea includes a selection of mini pastries and home-made cakes, sultana scones with strawberry preserve and clotted Cornish cream, a selection of finger sandwiches: smoked salmon with cream cheese, finely sliced cucumber, egg mayonnaise and mustard cress, Wiltshire ham and grain mustard, a glass of Champagne each and a selection of teas or coffee. The signature dish is a decadent Champagne Afternoon Tea and when you're at Britain's Greatest Palace, why not treat yourself to a little luxury?
The Old Parsonage
The Old Parsonage ( dating from 1660) with its stone floors, cosy fires and a snug farmhouse atmosphere, is a cosy haven on the northern edge of the city centre. Afternoon tea is served in the Old Parsonage Restaurant among an elitist and decidedly bookish clientèle. The stylish restaurant and bar is designed to feel like a gentlemen's club. The walls are densely covered with paintings and prints, there are black resin topped tables and bucket chairs standing on herringbone carpet in shades of grey. You can sit in front of the log fire, or on sunny days you can enjoy your tea in the lovely al fresco terrace. You can choose from a light tea, a very high tea or champagne tea, but whatever your choice, the menu is a very English affair with home-made scones, jam and clotted cream and traditional sandwiches (ham with mustard, smoked salmon with black pepper, cucumber, egg with watercress and coronation chicken). The cake selection features macaroons, dainty fruit tarts and other traditional teatime treats that are all freshly baked and very delicious.
The Randolph Hotel
The Macdonald Randolph Hotel in Oxford was built in 1864 and is situated directly opposite the world-famous Ashmolean Museum. This hotel has played host to world presidents and prime ministers and it oozes charm and elegance, boasting beautiful architecture and a historic setting. The modern European restaurant at this five-star has just won its second AA rosette for the contemporary cuisine. The Drawing Room is the epitome of English style and charm and is the perfect setting for their famous afternoon tea. The décor features warm autumnal colours, and plush seating, and the kind of warmth and luxury that afternoon tea demands. The Celebration Afternoon Tea includes a glass of Moutard Champagne, fresh scones with strawberry jam and Devon clotted cream,a selection of sandwiches on farmhouse bread, afternoon pastries and fruit cake all served with your choice of leaf tea. In terms of cakes the Randolph sticks close to tradition and you can expect well-made versions of lemon and poppy seed, sultana and Madeira cakes or their buttery and delicious shortbread.
The Grand Café
The Grand is something of an institution in Oxford and there is no better place for afternoon tea if you want to immerse yourself in the atmospheric city. The marble-pillared, gold-leafed interior is perfectly suited for afternoon tea, and during the day the Grand (said to be the first coffee house in England) is a haven of peace and quiet – by night it's a different story. The efficient, cheerful service and the gilt Art-Deco veneer make afternoon tea a most enjoyable experience. Huge mirrors on the walls add to the atmosphere and amiable bustle, and there are strange embellishments such as gilt arms protruding from the walls. The Grand High Tea features tasty finger sandwiches filled with free-range egg mayonnaise and smoked salmon with cream cheese fillings, two scones, served with strawberry jam and clotted cream and handmade chocolates served with your choice of fine loose leaf teas or coffee and a glass of champagne. When it comes to cakes, The Grand specialises in creamy gateaux in many flavours, generously decorated with fresh fruits.
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The Metropolitan Hotel (Dualtone, 2005)
Reviewed by Jeffrey B. Remz
After giving up on the major labels and maybe vice versa and an ill-fated stint with a new indie that produced one measly single, Chely Wright went her own way to very good effect.
The Kansan always has had a strong voice that does justice to the material. That has not changed one iota here, although she can sound tender (the opener �It�s the Song� about the difficult life on the road), but is no easy mark.
What may be different this time around is Wright is tackling far weightier matters. That is most apparent on the heartbreaking tearjerker, �The River,� about two high school girls who lost their lives in the river. Wright turns in great writing also with �I was baptized in that same water/Gave my soul to Jesus/How can such a peaceful place/Be filled with so much pain.�
On �Between a Mother and a Child,� Wright describes those struggles from the get go with �I know you don�t like me.� And she gets political on �The Bumper of My S.U.V.,� a surprise semi-hit. Not exactly the types of songs expected from the same person who sang �Single White Female.�
While not exactly hard core country - the sound is often a bit too bright - Wright has crafted an album that�s a career step forward thanks to blazing her own trail.
CDs by Chely Wright


Simple training solutions to stop dogs jumping on people.
Why should you bother trying to stop dogs jumping on people? After all, dogs are naturally enthusiastic, boisterous creatures, so this is quite acceptable canine behavior, right? Wrong!. At best, this behavior is downright embarrassing. A friend of mine was once showing her apartment to a potential buyer when her one-year-old Sheltie jumped up and pulled her skirt down. Ouch!
At the other end of the scale, a dog jumping up is potentially dangerous, especially a large dog that jumps on a child or an elderly person. Or a dog that jumps on you when you're carrying something breakable. So it is a behavior you'll want to address quite urgently.
There are, generally speaking, two possible reasons for dogs jumping on people. One results from submissive behavior, the other from dominant behavior. Let's begin with the submissive behavior.
If you have a dog that jumps up, I'm sure you've been through this scenario. You return from work, or shopping, or some other chore. Before you're even through the door, your dog is jumping up, barking and trying to attract your attention.
Now, while it feels wonderful to receive such a warm welcome every time you come home, you need to nip this behavior in the bud. In a minute I'll share a training method for addressing the problem of dogs jumping on people. But first, let's look at dominant jumping up.
Ever watched two large dogs rough-housing? Notice how they rear up on their hind legs and spar like boxers? What they are doing is challenging each other for dominance. If your dog does this to you during play, you haven't done enough to establish yourself as the pack leader. He believes you're there for the taking, and he's laying down a challenge to you.
There are different dog training methods for addressing submissive and dominant jumping up. Let's look at the submissive cause first. A dog that jumps up every time you enter the room likely has issues with separation anxiety. He's been waiting anxiously for you to return, and when you do, he has this massive release of energy.
Many dog-owners unconsciously feed this behavior by lavishing the dog with attention at this moment, baby-talking him and joining in his little dance. If this describes you, you need to stop rewarding your dog for his bad behavior. Turn your response on its head and only 'reward' your dog when he is in the calm submissive state you desire.
As you enter the room, ignore the dog entirely. Don't greet him or make eye contact. If he's running around and jumping up, that's fine. Just go about your business and don't pay any attention. Eventually, the dog will calm down. When he does, give him the sit command. Now is the time to give him praise and attention. Scratch him behind the ears and tell him what a good boy he is. Maybe give him his favorite treat.
Stick to this routine every time you come home. He will soon learn that he receives praise and attention when he is calm. When he is excited he is not even acknowledged. Dogs crave attention, so he'll soon alter his behavior.
For dogs that indulge in dominant jumping up, the first thing you should do is to cut out any dominance based games. Games like tug-a-war or play fighting only trigger his dominant response. Instead, spend the time teaching him basic obedience commands like "sit" and "down". This serves two purposes – one, you establish your dominance, and two, he learns to back down (sit) on command.
Of course, not all dogs are created equal. Some dogs, and some dog breeds, in particular, are more dominant than others. If you are inexperienced with dogs or feel you are not able to address your dog's dominance issues you may want to call in a professional trainer because a large, dominant dog can be dangerous.
Whether you decide to call in a professional or not, it is important that you address the issue and stop dogs jumping on people.
Leash Training a Dog: Leash training a dog is easy once you know the basics. But get this wrong and you could be in for a lot of frustration.


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Home / Destinations / Raymore Private Jet and Air Charter Flights
Raymore Private Jet and Air Charter Flights
Monarch Air Group provides private air charter in Raymore, Missouri. Our clients benefit from top-notch service, unrelenting dedication to safety, wide selection of aircraft, and years of experience in chartering private jets. To obtain a free quote, please use our online quoting tool provided below, or call toll free 1-877-281-3051
Charter a private jet in Raymore, MO:
About Raymore, Missouri, United States
Monarch Air Group offers plenty of private jet charter options to and from Raymore, Missouri, United States.
Located within the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, Raymore is a fast growing city with an estimated population of about 20,839 people. The city lies in Cass County and provides a host of amenities along with endless opportunities. With a long history dating back to 1874, Raymore boasts a rich historical heritage and tons of attractions.
Kansas City International Airport is the nearest major airport to Raymore, which is situated 45 miles from the city center and serves international and domestic flights.
Raymore, MO Airports within 70 miles
1. BUM, Butler, Butler, United States
2. DMO, Sedalia, Sedalia, United States
3. FLV, Sherman AAF, Fort Leavenworth, United States
4. GVW, Richards-Gebaur, Grandview, United States
5. KCK, Fairfax Municipal, Kansas City, United States
6. LWC, Lawrence, Lawrence, United States
7. MCI, Kansas City International Airport, Kansas City, United States
8. MKC, Downtown, Kansas City, United States
9. NVD, Nevada, Nevada, United States
10. OJC, Johnson Executive, Kansas City, United States
11. SZL, Whiteman AFB, Warrensburg, United States
12. TOP, Philip Billard, Topeka, United States
Hotels in Raymore, MO
1. Oriental Gardens, 1260 West Foxwood Drive, Raymore
2. Jinlong Kitchen, 124 Cunningham Parkway, Belton
3. Community Bank of Raymore, 801 West Foxwood Drive, Raymore
4. Eckert Chiropractic Center: Eckert Charles DC, 1298-A West Foxwood Drive, Raymore
5. Benjamin Law Firm LLC, 8019 East 171st Street, Belton
6. Sportsman's Outfitter & Marine, 19700 Peculiar Drive, Belton
7. SMS Autosports, LLC, 302 West Walnut Street, Raymore
8. Smart Dental of Raymore, 425 West Pine Street Suite A, Raymore
9. Dancing Plus, 204 South Sunrise Drive, Raymore
10. Ambassador Travel, 1248 West Foxwood Drive, Raymore
11. St Paul's United Methodist, 1111 West Foxwood Drive, Raymore
Destinations Tags: air charter Missouri, air charter Raymore, Missouri private jet, Raymore private jet


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Karuna Trust
Year launched: 1986
Established in 1986, Karuna Trust is a public charitable trust that has been implementing health and development programs through public private partnership in India for over two decades.
The primary objective of Karuna Trust was to bridge a vital gap in the health care system – the Primary Health Care (PHC) System – an ambitious project of the Government to deliver quality health care to the remotest corners of the country
Health Service Delivery: In health, the Trust has progressed from curative health to community health and sustainable development. The state government handed over physical infrastructure of poor performing Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to Karuna Trust for management. Karuna Trust provides these centers with the required human resource and logistics to deliver preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative health care services to remote rural/tribal population. The Trust establishes these PHCs as model centers of care delivery and makes them a hub for different interventions such as a village resource centre, promotion of traditional medicine, Vision Centre for eye care, Community Health Insurance, Telemedicine, Community Mental Health Program etc. To monitor community health and ensure institutional deliveries, the Trust employs health workers, namely ANMs, ASHAs and anganwadi workers, to go on field visits, perform ante-natal care registration, educate expectant mothers, and follow up each patient throughout their pregnancy until delivery. The community health workers also engage in post-natal care and ensure that children complete all scheduled immunizations. Furthermore, Karuna Trust operates 7 Mobile Health Clinics and 2 Citizen Help Desks under Public Private Partnership (PPP) in Karnataka. Karuna Trust currently manages 68 Primary Health Centres in 8 states- Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Aunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Maharashtra, Meghalaya and Rajasthan, reaching more than 1 million people.
Community-based health insurance: In 2002, the Trust established a community-based health insurance scheme to address the challenges of poor access to and high costs of health care services in rural communities. Instead of directly covering health care costs, the model addresses the barriers to accessing care by offering a comprehensive hospitalization package, including compensation for lost wages, free medicines, and emergency transport. Medical care with no disease exclusions is provided at no cost at local public sector facilities. Local community organizations (self-help groups and village health committees) enroll members and collect premiums in their local area. To increase understanding and knowledge about the benefits of health insurance, the United Nations Development Programme subsidized the premium for the first two years.
Other initiatives: Karuna Trust has also been involved in several research projects and government activities - the most important ones being ASHA training, community monitoring under the National Rural Health Mission and addressing issues like governance and corruption through the Karnataka Lokayukta with Dr. H Sudarshan as the Vigilance Director. Increasingly, Karuna Trust is building up a research profile by implementing relevant action research in the fields of health systems, eHealth and epidemiology.
Number of personnel employed:
Describe the program's expansion:
730,00 in catchment area 68 PHCs
National Insurance Company
Population Foundation of India
Sightsavers International
Sir Dorabji Tata Trust
United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
Affordability:
Health Output:
Population Coverage:
What is the result?:
The program has achieved 100% immunization of all children under five in its area of operation.
Health Outcome:
A reduction in MMR has been observed among the population served by the 28 Karuna Trust-managed PHCs, decreasing from 119 per 100,000 live births in 2008- 09 to 93 in 2010-11.
What is the reporting period for this result?:
Tuesday, January 1, 2008 to Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sex Workers as Mothers - Voices Unheard
In 2000, the UN's Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 set out to reduce the world's mortal
View all related documents
Low Cost Healthcare Delivery: Impact vs. Sustainability
Improving the Health of Mother and Child - Solutions from India
Government of India, Government of Karnataka
National Insurance Corporation
Foreign aid agency or multilateral organization
Are there any supplementary documents that you would like to attach to the profile which summarize the program?:
VGKK and Karuna Trust.pdf
Karuna Trust Wiki
What sources did you use to complete this profile?:
Interview with Karuna Trust (June 2014)
MeraDoctor
MeraDoctor lets people chat directly with a trained, licensed doctor through an Android app (like WhatsApp with a doctor). We are the #3 ranked medical app in India. Our patient base is growing 10% per week. Doctors are now joining the platform to earn extra money and build their reputation.
Operation ASHA
Operation ASHA is a registered non-profit that has taken TB treatment to the doorsteps of 6.1 million individuals living in disadvantaged areas. It operates in over 3,000 villages and slums in eight states spread across India and two provinces in Cambodia.
Living Goods
Living goods is an "Avon-like" network of franchised community health promoters who provide health education and earn a living selling essential health products door-to-door at prices affordable to the poor.
Arogya Raksha Yojana Health Micro Insurance
Arogya Raksha Yojana is a comprehensive health insurance plan that offers people of rural India affordable access to high quality healthcare, provided by a network of hospitals and clinics, and supported by leading doctors and surgeons.


These beautiful pieces of artwork will help decorate your baby's nursery perfectly.
Having a baby is such an exciting time but before your little one makes his debut, there's lots to do to get ready. There are, of course, the essentials you need to prepare but decorating baby's nursery is one of the most enjoyable experiences for many moms and moms-to-be. Hanging artwork is one of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to personalize baby's space and provides you with the chance to surround your little one with photos, images and messages that will inspire them. Here are some of our favourites.


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You are here: Home / News / Paid family leave insurance bill passes in state Senate
Paid family leave insurance bill passes in state Senate
May 10, 2022 By Scott Peterson
The state Senate today, on a vote of 37-29, passed a bill authorizing certain insurers to offer paid family leave benefits. Democrat John Marty from Roseville voted "no" and said, "I think that the people of Minnesota who've been asking for this are going to be deeply disappointed because this does nothing that's going to help them." The bill's author, Senator Julia Coleman of Waconia, said after Governor Walz's pandemic mandate, Minnesota small businesses are saying, "they don't need another threat of fine, another mandate, another tax." Coleman says businesses are asking for "assistance to be able to compete with the large corporations already offering generous paid family leave benefits to their employees." Democrats accused Republicans of putting up a bill that provides an "insurance product" that benefits only those who can afford it and disregards families struggling to make ends meet. Senator Lindsey Port of Burnsville said on the Senate floor that "Minnesotans need a paid family leave policy that is equitable, supportive of everyone and not tied to the scrutiny of the employer or the insurance industry." The bill creates an insurance product to provide for paid family leave insurance and provides a tax incentive to businesses with fewer than 50 employees to offer paid family leave.


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Q: Parents relative Node Distance I need to get the Node Distance of a parent element.
If I use $(element).parents(), I get an array of 5 results:

I need to get the node distance #content relative to the current element. What would be the simplest solution?

A: One option will be to traverse the parents until you find the required element, then bring back the count:
var s = $(element).parents()
var i = 0;

$.each(s, function(index, element){
    if(element.id === "content"){
       i = index;
    }
})

Thanks to @TrueBlueAussie for pointing out .parentsUntil()
$(element).parentsUntil("#content").length
Edit: Keep in mind that the top method will return 0 for a direct parent, and the bottom will return 1

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Табора () — одна из 30 областей Танзании. Имеет площадь 76 151 км², по данным переписи 2012 года её население составляло 2 291 623 человек. Административным центром области является город Табора.

География
Табора расположена в центральной части страны, граничит на севере с областью Шиньянга, на востоке — с областью Сингида, на юге — с областью Мбея, на юго-западе — с областью Руква, на западе — с областью Кигома.

Административное деление
Административно область разделена на 6 округов:
 Уйуи
 Урамбо
 Сиконге
 Игунга
 Нзега
 Табора городской

Ссылки
 Population Distribution by Administrative Units, United Republic of Tanzania, 2012
 National Bureau of Statistics Ministry of Planning, Economy and Empowerment

Области Танзании


Joe Schmidt insists Paddy Jackson has done enough to ensure Johnny Sexton will not be an automatic selection for Ireland's RBS 6 Nations clash with France.
Ulster fly-half Jackson equalled the Six Nations record of nine conversions in one match in a flawless kicking display as Ireland thumped Italy 63-10 in Rome.
The 25-year-old bossed Ireland's backline again as head coach Schmidt's side claimed a record Six Nations win over the sorry Azzurri, with CJ Stander and Craig Gilroy both claiming hat-tricks.
Schmidt confirmed he expects Sexton to be fit to face France in Dublin on February 25 after calf trouble - but admitted the British and Irish Lions playmaker could now have to battle Jackson for the start.
"Johnny has proven that he can come straight back into a side and hit the ground running, and he's done that for us on other occasions," said Schmidt.
Jackson equalled former England star Johnny Wilkinson's record of nine conversions in a Six Nations match as Ireland romped past Italy at the Stadio Olimpico.
Keith Earls claimed a brace and Garry Ringrose a neat score too as Ireland coasted to a nine-try victory.
Stander became the first forward ever to score a hat-trick in the Six Nations in a bullish, man of the match performance.
Italy's capitulation was such that Gilroy claimed his treble inside 20 minutes, and Ireland secured their maiden Six Nations bonus point in just 34 minutes.
Schmidt expects Sexton, Peter O'Mahony and Andrew Trimble all to return to contest selection for the France clash, with Ireland now considering their campaign back on track after the 27-22 loss in Scotland last weekend.
"I think Paddy certainly learned a lot in South Africa through that summer series," said Schmidt.
"He learned a lot in November as well, particularly in that game against New Zealand where he came under a lot of pressure and had to make some decisions with very little time and space.
"And then again last week he did very well to lead us back into the game.
"He kicked well again today, but his second conversion was one of the ugliest I've seen!
"The flight of the ball it looked like a wounded duck and when he turned around to Richie he couldn't quite believe it had gone over either.


text:
East County Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019 1 month ago
East County Athlete of the Week: Jacob Jordan
The Lakewood Ranch striker talks perseverance and reaching the state semifinals.
by: Ryan Kohn Sports Reporter
Jacob Jordan is a senior forward/midfielder on the Lakewood Ranch High boys soccer team. He scored both goals in the Mustangs' 2-1 road win against Riverview High Dec. 5.
When did you start playing soccer?
I've been playing for seven years. It was five years ago, in eighth grade, when I started getting serious about it. I just realized I enjoyed it a lot and then strived to be the best player I could be.
What is the appeal to you?
It is a long, continuous game. There are not many stoppages. It lets you get into the rhythm of everything. It's a team-based game as well, so you get to rely on your teammates and work together.
What is your best skill?
My awareness. My ability to find spaces to pass the ball. I make good decisions.
What is your favorite memory?
Last year we went to the state semifinals which was pretty fun. I had never played in a game that big before. It was a cool feeling. (Lakewood Ranch lost 2-0 to state champion Lake Mary High.)
What has been your biggest challenge?
Just sticking with the sport no matter what. If I don't make a club team I want or something like that, I can't stop. I just persevere through it. That is how I have gotten to where I'm at now.
I like chicken wings a lot. I like them hot, but not too hot. Generally, I like anything you can sink your teeth into like that.
What is your favorite TV show?
I love "Game of Thrones." The details in that show are amazing.
What is your dream vacation?
I want to go see Europe. I have been to London, but I would love to see more of that region.
Which superpower would you pick?
I want to control time. I could go back and do things differently or re-experience things in my life. That seems cool to me.
What is the best advice you have received?
Don't complain about things too much. Just follow your own path and worry about your own problems, the things you can control.
Finish this sentence: "Jacob Jordan is … "
… Quiet on the outside, but loud once you get to know him.
The Author: Ryan Kohn
I'm the sports reporter for Sarasota and East County and a Missouri School of Journalism graduate. I was born and raised in Olney, MD. My biggest inspirations are Wright Thompson and Alex Ovechkin. My strongest belief is that mint chip ice cream is unbeatable.
See All Articles by Ryan
Braden River basketball player has strength to move forward
ODA senior has eyes on final goal


text:
TechSpot News and Comments
Lyft's upcoming IPO reveals losses of nearly $1 billion, will give drivers up to $10,000...
Thread starter mongeese
mongeese
Posts: 541 +111
Unsurprisingly, Lyft is deep in the thralls of debt and is completely unprofitable now. In 2016, they realized losses of $682 million on $343.3 million in revenue. In 2017, it was losses of $688 million on $1.1 billion, and last year, the company lost $911 million on $2.2 billion in revenue. They don't really have a clear path towards profitability which is why they're focusing on growth to convince investors to part with their cash.
Admittedly, however, their growth is very impressive. In December 2016 they had just 22 percent market share, now they have 39 percent. That same year, Lyft generated bookings of $1.9 billion followed by $4.6 billion in 2017 and $8.1 billion last year. That's at the courtesy of 18.6 million active riders among a total of 30.7 million, and 1.1 million regular drivers from a pool of 1.9 million.
Unfortunately, Securities and Exchange Committee policy prohibits ride-sharing services from giving shares to their drivers as a normal employer would do in the case of an IPO. In replacement, Lyft is giving out cash bonuses to some drivers with "good standing," which can be (but doesn't have to be) spent on shares.
Drivers with over 20,000 rides by February 25th, 2019, will get up to $10,000. Drivers with over 10,000 rides will get up to $1,000, as will past and present members of the Driver Advisory Council. Payments are expected to land on or about March 19, around the time of the IPO.
Regarding future growth, Lyft foresees a world relying almost entirely on transportation services like ride-sharing, self-driving cars, and short-range electric bikes and scooters.
"We believe that the world is at the beginning of a shift away from car ownership to Transportation-as-a-Service, or TaaS. Lyft is at the forefront of this massive societal change. Our ridesharing marketplace connects drivers with riders and we estimate it is available to over 95% of the U.S. population, as well as in select cities in Canada.
In 2018, almost half of our riders reported that they use their cars less because of Lyft, and 22% reported that owning a car has become less important. As this evolution continues, we believe there is a massive opportunity for us to improve the lives of our riders by connecting them to more affordable and convenient transportation options."
The largest threats Lyft expects to face include competition from market leader Uber, an unpredictable market, autonomous technology, more aggressive regulations, and liabilities regarding driver and passenger behavior. They're prepared to tackle these challenges head-on, however, and see their business model as one that's still young and constantly evolving.
Permalink to story.
https://www.techspot.com/news/78998-lyft-upcoming-ipo-reveals-losses-nearly-1-billion.html
EClyde
Posts: 2,404 +948
Jus a nother billion sir, thank you thank you....uh sir could I have a nother billion? ya see they are twins
Reactions: JaredTheDragon
captaincranky
Posts: 18,002 +6,814
With staggering losses such as Lyft presents, in the past, before the internet made it all too easy for fools to part with their money, Lyft's IPO would have been denounced as a "penny stock", and declared as worthless.
The NYSE has turned into little more than a place for beggars in suits to hold out their tin cups and ask, "buddy, can you spare a billion, but anything would help". Or, "how about just a hundred million, that's not asking for too much, is it"?
Reactions: JaredTheDragon and Theinsanegamer
Theinsanegamer
Posts: 2,989 +4,778
I will never understand why a company that manages to lose hundreds of millions on what is a fancy GPS app that could be run on a server in the backwoods of Kentucky is valued so highly.
Theinsanegamer said:
They're parasites with hardly anything as corporate infrastructure.. They're likely inflating their "value", using the rolling stock of owner operators, as "assets".
The corporate hierarchy is sucking millions from people running an app which is losing money hand over fist. Then they're going to offer cash to their operators instead of stock. One has to wonder how much pressure will be applied to the drivers to accept the worthless stock.
I mean BitCoin primed people's imagination to believe that a string of numbers on a server somewhere could be worth upwards of $17,000.
A scant ten years ago, that mining nonsense would have been dismissed as "a vaporware hoax".
I think the moral of this story is, "if no bank in its right mind will lend you any more money", you can always put out an IPO on the NYSE. Since, as PT Barnum so famously said, "there's a sucker born every minute".
Reactions: Misagt
Hey, we have Gb internet out here in the backwoods of Kentucky. Don't conflate us with these morons please
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text:
Bailey Jordan
10605 Theresa Drive
Jacksonville 32246
A True Calling
When Bailey Jordan, 29, started Homes for Heroes in 2014—an initiative in which she gives back 25% of her commission to her clients who are military personnel, first responders, medical workers, teachers, and clergy—she received pushback from well-intentioned colleagues. "A lot of people told me that Homes for Heroes wouldn't be sustainable and that I wouldn't be able to make a living." In 2020, Jordan and her husband Michael, who recently joined her team, gave back $100,000 in commissions. The pandemic, she said, made the value of the rebates even clearer. "It really helped [clients] with the fees that come from selling. It put money back in their pockets during a hard time." Despite the financial risks she takes with this commitment, Jordan says her calling as a real estate professional and as a woman of faith is to help build community and serve others.
bailey@navytonavy.com


text:
Seton Hall Orders the Construction Wake Up Call
by Taylor Seton Hall University Feb 12, 2017
Cabrini Hall
Construction has been waking Seton Hall University students up at 7 a.m. for the past few months. Despite their pleas to the South Orange Village and the University, students have been subjected to loud noises, violent tremors, and gasoline blasts. The construction is taking place outside of Cabrini Hall, to replace a parking lot with a Welcome Center which will house a new 750 person auditorium.
A few months ago construction started at 6 a.m., but students called the South Orange Village to complain, citing a Village ordinance. It is prohibited to be in "the operation of any tools or equipment used in construction, drilling, earthmoving, excavating or demolition work between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m." The Village asked the University to comply with the ordinance and construction now begins at 7 a.m.
The Department of Housing and Resident Life has quiet hours from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m Sunday through Thursday, and midnight to 10 a.m. Friday through Saturday according to a Resident Assistant email from Aug. 31, 2016. Students are not happy as Allegra Berg, Cabrini resident, said, "If I am not allowed to listen to loud music in my room, they should not be allowed to be making this noise."
Trucks loudly start their engines directly outside of Cabrini Hall, which causes rooms to violently shake in addition to the loud noise, Cabrini residents report. The backhoes drag metal buckets on the ground, creating an unsettling noise, and workers are shouting profanities - all starting at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning, Allegra Berg said the air in her room was almost unbreathable for five minutes after construction workers sent the smell of gasoline into the air.
Students do not mind the construction, but they are bothered by the starting time since students frequently stay up late due to school work and/or job shifts. Despite meetings and calls with the University, students are being told to improve their time management and go to bed earlier. They have the option to move, but students believe it is an inconvenience and wonder why it is their responsibility to move when the University did not inform them of the construction prior to moving in. The University has told students to suck it up, placing the value of the University and the welcome center above the well being of its students.
Students are continuing to voice their concerns despite push back from the University. The University ought to listen to the students' concerns and delay the start of construction.
Cover Image Credit: Cabrini Hall


text:
Court Tells North Carolina to Redraw Congressional Lines by Next Week
Posted by Mary Chastain	Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at 9:00am | 1/17/2018 - 9:00am
The state needs new lines for the 2018 midterms.
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina has told the state officials must redraw the congressional lines by next week after officials asked for a delay.
Judges James Wynn, William Osteen, and W. Earl Britt explained in their ruling that officials "have failed to meet their 'heavy burden' in seeking extraordinary relief' of staying this Court's order."
In the ruling, the judges explained the four factors the officials must have met, outlined in Hilton v. Braumskill:
(1) whether the stay applicant has made a strong showing that he is likely to succeed on the merits; (2) whether the applicant will be irreparably injured absent a stay; (3) whether issuance of the stay will substantially injure the other parties interested in the proceeding; and (4) where the public interest lies.'"
The judges concluded that the motion filed by the state "does not specifically address the four factors set forth in Hilton" and they even think that if the officials did, "they could not satisfy their 'heavy burden' to obtain the 'extraordinary relief' of a stay of this Court's Order."
The Republican lawmakers have appealed to the Supreme Court. Their attorneys tried to use two political gerrymandering cases the Supreme Court is currently considering (one in Wisconsin, another in Maryland) as a reason to delay. From Citizen Times:
But the lower court's judges — U.S. Circuit Judge Jim Wynn and District Judges William Osteen and Earl Britt — said the cases in the other states are different enough legally that their decision could stand no matter how the justices rule. For example, the Wisconsin matter involves legislative districts.
"Any decision the Supreme Court renders in those cases is highly unlikely to undermine all of the factual and legal bases upon which this court found the 2016 plan violated the Constitution and enjoined further use of that plan," the judges wrote.
If the state does not meet the requirements, the court will appoint a "special master" to help draw a new map.
The Hill reported earlier this month:
In a nearly 200-page opinion, the three-judge panel ruled that state Republicans drew excessively partisan districts when previously ordered to redraw the state's congressional map.
"Having concluded that the 2016 Plan violates the Equal Protection Clause, the First Amendment, and Article I of the Constitution, we now must determine the appropriate remedy," the court wrote in its opinion.
The court ordered the state to ensure that no further elections are conducted under the 2016 map and to redraw the map before the 2018 midterm elections.
This isn't the first time a court has struck down North Carolina's congressional lines. Last May, I blogged how the Supreme Court ruled that Republicans in North Carolina used race and not politics when they drew their congressional districts.
A few months later, federal judges told the state that officials had "to draw new General Assembly districts" that "impacted 28 of the state's 170 General Assembly districts, which the court said discriminated against African-American voters."
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Court Tells North Carolina to Redraw Congressional Lines by Next Week https://t.co/kR7QnLeAgb
Redneck Law | January 17, 2018 at 9:37 am
May I remind all LI readers that these voting districts were originally approved by the Obama Justice Department.
notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital | January 17, 2018 at 4:50 pm
Then re-drawing is a very good thing!
Hurricane | January 17, 2018 at 9:45 am
A little history:
In 1991, the Democrat-controlled NC legislature deliberately created majority-minority legislative and congressional districts.
Halcyon Daze | January 17, 2018 at 11:03 am
Gerrymandering is only permissible for the leftists in government.
Simple solution: Get all Leftists of every party out of governments…….
Hurricane | January 17, 2018 at 12:53 pm
2011 was the first time since 1891 that the NC Democrat party WAS NOT in control of redistricting.
1991 was the first time the NC NAACP (and NC Republican party) DID NOT sue the NC Democrat party over redistricting.
windbag | January 17, 2018 at 9:48 am
Sorry, but this is a sanctuary state for the Gerrymander Monster. Pound sand, Uncle Sam. (That's how it works now, right?)
casualobserver | January 17, 2018 at 10:00 am
It's fascinating how anyone, especially the educated legal class within courts, could expect any other motivation beyond gerrymandering when drawing up districts. The courts only seem to act/react whenever the result is too "obvious". Whenever the partisan impact is "mild" it seems to be acceptable to the courts.
n.n | January 17, 2018 at 12:22 pm
The progressive concept of "diversity" is racist, sexist, and congruent ("=").
The court does not recognize individual dignity, but organizes people in color blocs ("diversity").
While progress is monotonic, it is also unqualified. One step forward, two steps backward. In contemporary use, following voices from the twilight fringe (a.k.a. "penumbra").
Neo | January 17, 2018 at 12:38 pm
U.S. Circuit Judge Jim Wynn (Obama) and District Judges William Osteen (Bush 41) and Earl Britt (Jimmy Carter)
Glenn Jordan | January 17, 2018 at 1:58 pm
Small quibble on Osteen. He's William L.Osteen, Jr., appointed by W. Bush. His late father, William Osteen, Sr. was appointed to the NC Middle District by HW Bush.
How is determined to create a combined panel of the Court of Appeals and District court judges?
Mac45 | January 17, 2018 at 12:53 pm
In order to be absolutely objective in drawing representative districts, the district has to be determined solely on the basis of population while making the shape of the district as regular as possible. This was the problem with the original Gerrymander districts. They were irregularly shaped districts which were designed to benefit a specific political party, race [at that time white voters] or group. The courts ruled that such practices were unconstitutional. However, in the 1990s, this all changed. Suddenly it was ruled that gerrymandering had to be used to ensure that there were districts from which black legislators were sure to get elected. This was done by creating majority minority gerrymandered districts. The reasoning as to why it was acceptable to create voting districts which benefited a both a racial group [Blacks] AND a political party {Democrats] was a little short of logic but long on feelings. But, none-the-less, we are now saddled with legal gerrymandering which always benefits Democrats.
Just another failing of the court system of this great nation.
Hurricane | January 17, 2018 at 1:08 pm
The NC Democrats soon discovered after their 1991 race-based redistricting that MANY more districts were now winnable by NC Republicans.
When I taught high school math in the 1980's I required students in my pre-calculus class (during our statistics unit) to re-draw the NC congressional districts (11 at the time) using the 1980 county census data. The districts were to be as compact ('regular' blobs) as possible, no county was to be divided between districts, and for an A, districts had to be between 95% and 105% of the congressional district mean.
I apologize for rambling.
Barry | January 17, 2018 at 2:45 pm
You remember when the courts stepped in to throw out the D's gerrymandering, right?
Welcome to current-day NC politics. The GOP captured control of the General Assembly running in Democrat-gerrymandered districts during the midterms of 2010. The GOP reformed the tax code and the Old North State's economy ranks as one of the country's fastest growing so far this decade.
We haven't been as fortunate in other areas. The 4th US Circuit, not that long ago the most conservative in the country, now is split 50-50 between GOP and Clinton/Obama appointees. Chief Judge Roger Gregory is a Clinton recess appointment from the 2000 interregnum. The state's three district courts are still GOP-majority controlled, but the Dems have been able to judge-shop in some cases.
While Dems celebrate now, it is far from a slam-dunk reversal of fortune at the ballot box. While our cities have grown more leftist, I live in one of them, the countryside, except in black-majority counties, stills bleeds deep red. We'll see who turns out in November.
PS–One thing I cannot determine yet. Was the decision on the districts unanimous? Did it have to be unanimous?
PPS–Just registered for the site and might have inadvertently downvoted a couple of comments while I was attempting to reply. I downvote nothing I've read so far in this comment thread.
stevewhitemd | January 17, 2018 at 3:35 pm
If gerrymandering in NC is illegal, that's fine, but I want the same rule applied to my home state, Illinois, where Democrats have a hammer-lock on the map-drawing.
Won't happen, of course.
tarheelkate | January 17, 2018 at 5:27 pm
The problem is, as others have noted, that Republican gerrymandering is rejected by the court, but Democrat gerrymandering was fine. The Fourth Circuit has repeatedly and, I believe, deliberately, presumed that partisan lines were drawn for racial reasons. Black citizens vote heavily D.
The rejected district lines are less outrageous than some of the D-gerrymandered districts of the past.
Aarradin | January 18, 2018 at 3:24 am
VRA absolutely REQUIRES gerrymandering along Racial lines.
Try breaking up a "Minority-Majority" District in ANY State that has one and watch the D's sue and win in Federal Court.
NC R's have no choice but to pack minorities, specifically by race, into the existing "Minority-Majority" Districts. They aren't doing anything that the D's didn't already do before them when they created these districts.
"excessively partisan lines" – LOL!! That's precisely what D's do whenever they are in a position to redraw districts. Just look at Illinois. They ever get their plans blocked in Court?
"race and not politics" – Black people vote >95% D. There's really no difference between race vs political lines in a State like NC.
""special master" to help…" – draw the lines the way the Democrat Party wants them drawn, despite the fact that R's had a Constitutional Right and Duty to redraw them in NC after the last Census. No such thing as a "non-partisan" or "neutral" anything.
Check this '93 – '98 congressional district map of NC for an example of Democrat gerrymandering the courts had no issue with. Look at that skinny purple district that's a million miles long by a couple miles wide, mostly along I85. Well, except where it pulls in some urban centers along the way.
Then guess the race of the representative.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/United_States_Congressional_Districts_in_North_Carolina%2C_1993_%E2%80%93_1998.tif/lossless-page1-1367px-United_States_Congressional_Districts_in_North_Carolina%2C_1993_%E2%80%93_1998.tif.png


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