As the second year of Uni life rolled in, Brooke was already settled into her room and had finished unpacking. She had purposely gone a few days earlier so that she could readjust to the scenes and life of Merlin's Academy, as well as do some last minute revision without the constant distraction of family. Auror training had been tough but rewarding the previous year and already she was looking forward to this term of studies. Classes were starting the next day, and waking up to wonderful weather, Brooke did not want to spend the day indoors. Deciding to go for a walk, she slipped on a jumper and left her dorm.
The weather outside was perfect - sunny but not overly hot, with a light wind that chilled the heat of the sun. The ground was covered with leaves of different colours, some crunchy and others soft with dew, and they made music as Brooke walked slowly, enjoying the atmosphere and the temporary freedom that lay between home life and studies - when she was by herself and had no responsibilities to fulfill.
Glancing around, she caught sight of a flock of people and felt her heart did a tiny flip, frowning in annoyance at herself. She recognized the locks towering over the other colours of hair, and try as she might, was not able to shake the whirlwind of activity that started in the pit of her stomach. Joe Astrid. The one person she actively avoided, but not because she hated him - Brooke was taught never to hate anyone. Rather, she had a crush on the boy, a thing she would never, ever admit, not even if faced by death.
Brooke Walters, who swore up and down to all her friends she wasn't interested in guys, who wanted nothing to do with relationships of that kind, who insisted that 'petty' crushes and infatuations weren't something that happened to her, had a deep, dark secret that nobody knew of, not even her mother (who, by the way, she told everything to) - she had been crushing on Joe Astrid for a total of 4 years.
Not love - she would never use that word - but ever since brushing against him in the corridor back in her 4th year in Gryffindor (he was a Hufflepuff and older than her by a whole year) she had somehow fallen. Hard. Why, she honestly had no idea, because she wasn't interested in relationships and yet, every time she saw him or taught of him or heard him being mentioned, something happened inside her and she felt all warm and fuzzy and cold and happy and nervous all at the same time. It was as though he alone held the power to conjure up butterflies that flew around in her stomach, and she both hated and adored the feeling - hated, because it was just not her; adored, because it usually meant he was near.
She dare not admit it to anyone, for fear of mockery and embarrassment. Even to herself, she tried to deny it for the better part of two years, until it got to a point where she just couldn't and she compromised by allowing herself to mentally freak out in the privacy of the bathroom, when she was showering - it was the only time that nobody would ever see her. Honestly speaking, Joe was not the type she thought she would fall for - if ever - because, simply put, he was out of her league.
Logic told her that it was stupid and pointless to like Joe, because he was one of the 'popular' boys, the one that all the up-there girls went after, flinging themselves at him and flirting shamelessly, and Brooke just wasn't one of them. Oh, sure, as a metamorphmagus, she could very easily alter her looks to something that was eye catching, but that was not who she was.
Brooke's standards for herself were high - but not in an egoistic manner - having been raised to value both herself as a person and as a female. Her mother taught her never to stoop so low as to use body parts to attract male attention, and her father had instilled firm teachings of what a proper gentleman should be like. As such, Brooke knew better than to flaunt any features she may or may not have, and would never consider changing anything to make her more appealing. It was a struggle, because the desire to be noticed or acknowledge by Joe Astrid was overwhelming, but in the end, morals and what her heart had been moulded to be won, and Brooke had to be satisfied with hallway passings and glances in class.
Now, as her heart did gymnastics, she let out a soft sigh and forced her head to turn away from the direction of the gang. It was no doubt Joe and his usual posse, and a part of her wished she could be there, with them - or with Joe. It won't work, she told herself as she continued down to the forest, which she had grown to love over the year. He's a popular kid; I'm a nobody. I should just forget about him and move on. But it wasn't as easy as just thinking - she had been doing that for the past 4 years to no avail. At least, at the very least, she had managed to keep it a secret from her friends and no one knew.
Making her way to a clearing that she had stumbled across the previous term, she tried to think of other things - studies, Tristan, her family - but her mind always brought her back to the one boy she just did not want to think about. With another sigh, she stepped out into her spot and made her way to the fallen tree log and pulled herself up. It was old, and half decayed, but still in very good shape and made for a very comfortable place to sit or lie down. When the weather was particularly nice, she would bring her homework and assignments to complete out here.
Today, however, she had nothing to do but lay on the moss-covered wood and stare at the sky above, covered with a netting of green leaves. Thankfully, the canopy above was not thick, and there was a large amount of light that shine through, making this hideout a perfect spot - and that was also why Brooke kept this place a secret; it was for her and her alone, when she needed to get away and just relax.
Eyes open and staring up at the interlocking patterns above, she began to day dream, smiling as she lost herself in a world of her own creation, that existed only in her mind and nowhere else.
Being back at university was the best feeling. Now in his third year of studying to be a healer - much to the confusion of just about everyone who knew him back in Hogwarts - Joe Astrid was fairly happy to say that he was making his way up in the world. For the last few years he had been earning a meager living as a barkeep in a pub close to his home, but he didn't really need the money. It just felt cool to be able to say he earnt everything himself.
The boys (well, men, but it felt odd to refer to them that way) - Taylor, Dylan and Michael - had been Joe's best friends throughout Hogwarts and in the time after. They were practically four halves of the same being. When one of them laughed, they all laughed, and when one of them got in trouble, they all willingly took the fall. It was just how they rolled. All for one, one for all.
Each were training for a different profession, but that did nothing to stunt their friendship. They still adventured together, sat in the local bars for drinks on a Friday night, still met up almost every day for regular chats and friendly laughs. Joe loved them, loved them all, and he told them everything.
While the other three were willing to talk very openly about girls and their romantic (and often otherwise) interests, Joe was much more of a closed book. He was the ringleader of the group, the man with the plans as it were, but he felt that his interests when it came to girls, and boys- but the other guys knew about that and were totally cool - were to be kept on a much more personal level.
As they all walked side by side with Joe towering a few inches above his friends, they were never short of laughter, never without a grin on their lips. The grounds were huge, surrounded by a forest they had dared to venture into a handful of times, but they never found anything of interest.
Today seemed to be different on that front.
On their travels around the grounds, Joe saw a girl. He recognised her instantly; they'd had a small collection of run-ins back at school, and he was sure they'd worked on a potions assignment together once when Dylan was ill and Taylor decided to favour Michael that day. Brooke, he was certain her name was, and the young brunet couldn't help but grin a little as he saw her headed towards the forest.
"I'll catch up with you later, okay?" he told the other three, hanging back for a moment before he headed off in the direction the dark haired witch had done. A wolf-whistle from the lips of the only boy in the group who knew how to do so rang in the air and Joe rolled his eyes, waving them off as he followed after her. He heard a few twigs crack under his feet, his curiosity only growing as she ventured deeper into the trees, before she stopped dead and sat down.
For a while, he stood in silence, watching her chest rise and fall with each breath she took. He couldn't stay there any longer though, feeling just a little creepy for it, and he emerged from behind the tree with his arms folded. "Pardon if I'm being dreadfully rude..." His words penetrated the silence, surprising himself a little, as he took a few steps closer to her. "But isn't the point of being back at University to meet and greet your friends again?"
The serenity of the place was something Brooke thoroughly enjoyed; it was calmer than the lake and the chances of someone else stumbling across it were very, very slim. As with all forests, there were other creatures - Muggle and magical - and she had already come to name the individual thestrals that had been her companions at times. Sounds like footsteps and rustling leaves were common, as were the breaking of twigs - not all the animals that stayed here walked carefully - and it didn't once concern her to hear such noises. In her mind, there was no possibility of it being another person.
She was just beginning to hum to herself when a sudden human voice pierced her thoughts. Bolting upright in shock, she tried to place the voice as she turned; there was just something familiar about it, but in a distant sort of way, as thought she had only ever heard it in her mind. And then her eyes caught sight of the man approaching her, and she felt her reply catch in her throat as Joe Astrid continued speaking.
In her mind a thousand things started up, and she blinked uncertainly at him as thoughts raced. What is he doing here? Is he talking to ME? Why would Joe be here? What do I say? Oh my gods, what do I do? Am I dreaming? Did I fall asleep? Merlin's beard did he follow me into the woods? No, don't be stupid, Brooke. There's no way he would do that. Then WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!
Realizing that she had been staring at him silently for the past few seconds, mouth open slightly in surprise - at both someone being there, and that Someone being Joe - she attempted a smile. Brooke could feel her breath getting caught, but also knew she had to reply, because he had asked her a question and she couldn't very well just keep silent. Below her jumper, she could feel her heart racing, beating at a pace she didn't know was possible - and was it just her imagination or was all her other functions slowed down?
Nodding slowly to buy herself time, she offered another smile that she was sure came out crooked. "Th..-" Coming out terribly coarse, she gave a cough before continuing. "They went to the village." It was true - the note left on the table of her dorm told her as much, and although slightly hurt that she hadn't been invited, she had just shrugged it off. "I could say the same for you," she added, trying to act normal and not as though she felt her heart was about to explode. And also because I don't want to seem as though I was spying on you earlier, her mind piped up, and she forced back a blush.
For a second Joe felt bad about disturbing her. She had looked so peaceful, so at ease with nature and with the world, so when she jumped up, he couldn't help but feel an odd warmth creep up his neck. It was the same kind of feeling he got when he was caught in the broom cupboard with his latest catch, but there was something distinctly different. In those instances, he wasn't actually feeling any regret, but right then, he wanted to leave her be.
The way she stammered as she spoke made him chuckle. Not deliberately of course, but the sound bubbled in his chest, rising to his throat and before he could stifle it, there the noise was. He tried to cover his back with a cough, raising a hand to his mouth and rubbing his throat afterwards, though he doubted highly that the intellectual witch before him would fall for such games.
Her words met his ears, and Joe could only think "without you?" in response. He narrowed his eyes slightly, taking a few careful steps towards her and towering over the witch from a few feet away. "I already have," he said in reply to her, offering a shrug as he looked pointedly at the ground next to the witch silently asking if he would be allowed to sit at her side. "I'm going to catch up with them later. There's only so much of those boys that I can take."
As he looked her over, eyes scanning her face, the way her hair fell and the way she sat, Joe stifled another soft chuckle. She looked so different to how he remembered her, but then again, his biggest memory of Brooke involved a rather nasty explosion in a potions classroom and an odd mixture of ingredients in his hair. It had taken three showers to cleanse himself properly after that, but he didn't blame her; it was at least fifty percent his fault for not being good at potions.
"I must say, you do look better without a failed Amortentia attempt on your clothes."
As Brooke sat there, staring at Joe, her mind suddenly started working again and it was as though the floodgates had been closed. Emotions and jumbled up sentences that once flew around her head organized themselves and she slowly began to make sense of it all. And, as if it wasn't obvious before, she realized that this wasn't a dream and Joe was actually standing right in front of her.
How many times had this scenario run through her head? How many times did she daydream of him coming over to her and saying 'hi'? Asking 'how are you'? Giving her just a little attention? She was disgusted at her own self for even doing that; she felt like a love sick puppy and it just wasn't something she ever thought she would become. At times she almost felt like some crazy psycho stalker but then again, she didn't actually stalk him. So to now look at the man before her and realize that it wasn't a daydream and that he really was standing there and he really was talking to her... Well, it simply floored her beyond belief.
The question 'why' lingered on the tip of her tongue but it was silenced when he laughed. Or was it a cough? The way he massaged his throat and covered his mouth... But no, she was pretty sure it had been a laugh - or a chuckle, whatever one wanted to label it. Was it at her, then?
She didn't have the time to process it completely because Joe was speaking to her and saying things about having left his gang .. but to what? Sit out here in the middle of the forest with a nobody like her? His gaze didn't skip her notice and she nodded, both at what he was saying and as an answer to the question he didn't voice, but she was sure he was asking.
Just to be sure he understood, she gave a half-smile and said, "There's enough space for the both of us. Do you want to sit?"
His next comment confused her for a moment, before she rather abruptly recalled the particularly embarrassing situation. It had been way back in their Hogwarts years when they had ended up working on a particularly challenging potion together - and this was before her whole stupid crush thing started, which partially explained why she didn't instantly remember what happened - and, as it usually did with Brooke, the potion had gone terribly, terribly wrong. In short, it exploded over both students, and about half the class with the thick goo - that was not supposed to be thick.
She let out a giggle. "And you look better without that slime in your hair," she quipped, forgetting for a moment that she was talking to the Joe Astrid. But of course her mind had to bring that back up and again she found herself shy. "Soo..-" she started, trying to come up with something to talk about. It would be rather awkward to just sit there in silence. "What brings you out here?"
Joe was almost relieved when she asked him to sit - or rather, if he would like to - and he sat down at her side, leaning against the same log as the witch, and he turned to face her slightly, intrigued by her for some reason. He guessed he always had been, intrigued by the way she seemed to shy away from him, by the way she got all flustered. It was entertaining, and a little endearing, but he'd never admit that.
He couldn't remember when he'd met the witch for the first time. Not properly. She seemed to be omnipotent, in a way - ever present, ever powerful over the boy, and he was confused about when she'd started appearing. He was the year above her, that much he knew, but other than that he couldn't place anything, other than the fact that one day she was there, when the day before she was not.
He'd made a few vain attempts to get her attention. Deliberately colouring the drinks of all the Gryffindor table to make their lips turn blue for a day; throwing paper balls at the back of her friends' chairs; making sarcastic remarks to the professors for the classes they were in together. No matter how hard Joe seemed to try, she just seemed to run away, and he'd taken the hint after a while.
The pretty girl just wasn't interested.
Truth be told, it wasn't something Joe was used to. He was used to having girls falling at his feet, begging to be his date to Masquerades and hanging around him just for a dance, but he'd never been not able to get someone he wanted before. Brooke was a challenge, or at least - she had been. He'd sort of given up after 6th year and now she was a bit of a faded memory.
"You're not wrong," Joe chuckled, running his fingers through the dark strands that had fallen down over his forehead. "Trust me, it takes time to look like this, and that potion attempt messed me up for three days."
Her next question perplexed him, for no other reason than he didn't want to give her the real answer. He didn't want to say "I saw you headed out here and jumped at the chance", because not only did that sound a little desperate (and Joe was not desperate), but because it was weird. It was odd to just follow someone you knew once upon a time out into the forest - he was impressed that the girl hadn't headed for the hills.
"Like I said," he started, once he'd managed to gather his thoughts enough to find a believable response. "There's only so much of those guys I can take. They're absolute lads, I love them, but I like to be alone sometimes, you know?"
It wasn't until after he'd said it that Joe realised; alone, he'd said, but he wasn't alone at all, nor did he really want to be. A girl of Brooke's intellect would figure that out in a heartbeat, he was sure, and he had to cover himself. Fast. "Well, sort of. Alone, I mean. It's nice to just not be surrounded by people who wolf-whistle when you go off into the woods on your own for a few minutes, isn't it? People who can hold an intelligible conversation. What about you?"
She had to fight to keep the nerves down when he moved to sit beside her. It was all so surreal that she couldn't help but wonder if she was going to wake up at any moment. It wouldn't have been her first time dreaming of him; many night she had woken up, inches away from him asking her out, or just seconds after they started talking. Frustrating and very heart wrenching, Brooke had learnt to deal with such dreams. But if this was a dream, she realized that it would be a very painful one to wake up from; it was the most interaction she had ever had before.
Her stomach flipped as he swept back his hair. It was something she had seen him do quite often - not that she'd ever admit to watching him, of course - and figured it to be a habit by now. If it indicated anything she wasn't sure; she knew that sometimes things like that were tells, but to what (if any) she didn't know. Perhaps he was bored, or perhaps he was actually interested in their meeting.
Yea, right. As if he would ever be interested in a nobody like me, she thought, subconsciously reaching up to wind a strand of her black hair around her finger. This was her tell, but she did not know of it; whenever she was nervous or feeling shy, it was something she did. And she was most definitely not feeling herself in this moment.
Instead, she let out a chuckle, but didn't dare reply immediately. She was sure he was joking around and wasn't honestly that stuck up, but at the same time, he was right. He looked absolutely stunning, and was it just the way the light was shining or did he look even better up close? Her stomach did another somersault that she forced herself to ignore.
"It took me all but ten minutes and a quick shower," she said, because the silence was too much. It was true; all she did was regrow her hair and step under running water for a couple of minutes for everything to go back to normal. But even as she spoke, she wondered if he even knew of her abilities - Brooke wasn't one to brag about things, so she kept it on the down low, but didn't exactly hide it either. It was part of who she was and that was it.
Alone. The word penetrated her mind and engulfed her entirely. Was he asking her in a nice way to go away? Did he mean being with her now was not something he wanted or enjoyed? Her heart sank all at once and her eyes momentarily lost their sparkle as she looked down and away. I should have known. I'm a nobody, she thought to herself, biting back the taste of disappointment. She was used to the feeling by now, so it wasn't too difficult.
But then Joe was continuing and it made the spark come back alive. He thought she was able of that? The question was then returned her way, and she hesitated again before lifting her head to look at him; it was impolite to converse without looking at the person whom one was talking to.
"I wouldn't know. Nobody has ever wolf-whistled at me," she said with a shrug and a smile, showing she didn't really mind that fact. It honestly didn't bother her, because then she could focus on her studies. "Me? Oh, I just like the solitude, getting away from the hustle and bustle of everything, you know? I'm not exactly a social butterfly." Like you, she added mentally, but didn't say it aloud.
Instead, she smiled again and shrugged casually. "It's nice just being alone with my thoughts. But.." she hesitated, wondering if she should. Then, deciding there was nothing to lose, went on. "But I'm glad you're here. It was getting boring."


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text:
German ICFI section adopts new name
By Socialist Equality Party (Germany)
On February 18-19, 2017, the German section of the International Committee of the Fourth International held a congress that resolved to change the party's name from Partei für Soziale Gleichheit (Party for Social Equality) to Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party). The following resolution, which was adopted unanimously by the congress, outlines the reasons for this change.
1. This PSG Congress resolves to rename the Partei für Soziale Gleichheit (PSG) to Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP). There are two reasons for this name change. First, the German section is assuming an identical name to that of all the other sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International (Socialist Equality Party, Parti de l'égalité socialiste), thereby underlining the unity of the ICFI as the World Party of Socialist Revolution, which fights for the same international perspective throughout the world. Secondly, the term "socialist" in the party name expresses the basic goal of the SGP: the overthrow of capitalism and the building of a socialist society.
2. One hundred years after the October Revolution, mankind is once again facing the alternatives of socialism or barbarism. The world situation resembles that which led to the first successful socialist revolution in history in 1917. Donald Trump's assumption of the US presidency has eliminated any doubt that the crisis of imperialism is once again leading to war and fierce class struggles. Trump's government of billionaires, generals and right-wing ideologues is the most right-wing in the history of the United States. It has declared war on the American working class and on the economic rivals of the US. Its "America First" policy is shattering the political institutions that prevented military conflicts between the imperialist powers and helped suppress the class struggle throughout the post-war period. Trump's perspective of restoring America's national greatness by means of economic nationalism and military expansion recalls the policy of the Nazis in the 1930s, which led to world war.
3. There is no genuine opposition to this catastrophic course from the bourgeois institutions and parties. In the US, outgoing president Barack Obama and the Democratic Party have done everything they can to facilitate Trump's takeover. The only real differences are whether the vast military apparatus of the US is to be directed primarily against Russia or against China. In Germany and Europe, the ruling class is reacting to Trump's aggressive policies with counter-threats and rearmament. The new German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) demands that one should counter Trump's ultranationalist line by "ruthlessly" defining and defending one's own interests.
4. A quarter of a century after the Stalinist bureaucracy liquidated the Soviet Union and the ideological spokesmen of capitalism proclaimed the "failure of socialism," it has become clear that the relapse into war and dictatorship can only be prevented by overthrowing capitalism and establishing a socialist society. Growing sections of the working class and youth sense that this is the case and are looking for a socialist road out of the prevailing social dead end. This was indicated by the broad popular response to the candidacy of Bernie Sanders, who received 13 million votes in the Democratic Party primaries in the US, as well as by the support for pseudo-left political organizations such as Syriza and Podemos in Europe. All of them received support because they declared themselves socialists and opponents of capitalism. In reality, they are nothing but bourgeois politicians who defend capitalism by whatever means necessary.
5. The International Committee of the Fourth International is today the only political tendency in the world that fights for the mobilization of the working class to overthrow capitalism on the basis of an international socialist program. The ICFI has defended and developed this perspective for decades against reformist, opportunist, revisionist and pseudo-left tendencies. The World Socialist Web Site is recognized around the world as the authentic voice of socialism. It provides the international working class with a daily Marxist analysis and a socialist orientation. Under these circumstances, it would be fundamentally wrong to allow such charlatans and pseudo-leftist conmen to exploit the banner of socialism. The name of the party must clearly express its socialist aims and confirm the unity of the International Committee.
6. Twenty years ago, on March 30, 1997, the Bund Sozialistischer Arbeiter (Socialist Labour League) founded the Partei für Soziale Gleichheit. At that time, the International Committee concluded that the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the associated turn to the right of all the Social Democratic and Stalinist parties and trade unions necessitated the transformation of its sections from leagues into parties. While pseudo-Trotskyist and other petty bourgeois organizations reacted to this right-wing turn by the bureaucratic apparatuses by applying for asylum in their ranks, the International Committee took the opposite path. It oriented itself to the working class, and prepared to take the leadership of future revolutionary struggles.
7. The organizational form of the "league" stemmed from a period when reformist parties and trade unions still had the active support of militant workers. At that time, the sections of the International Committee had counted on playing a catalytic role as the most intransigent opponents of Social Democracy and Stalinism in a radicalisation among the most class-conscious and politically active elements within the ranks of these organisations, from which the real possibilities for the establishment of a mass revolutionary party would arise. That was now no longer possible. "We cannot resolve the crisis of working class leadership by 'demanding' that others provide that leadership. If there is to be a new party, then we must build it," declared David North at the time. (See: The Historical Foundations of the Partei für Soziale Gleichheit)
8. The BSA chose the name Partei für Soziale Gleichheit. The resolution of the founding conference gave the following reasons: "The name 'social equality' expresses the fundamental objective of the new party: it is in irreconcilable opposition to the prevailing social tendency, which is characterised by the increasing impoverishment of broad social layers on the one hand, and by the unrestrained enrichment of a small minority on the other. It stands for the goal of the socialist movement: a society in which there are no class differences and which is based on real equality between human beings. And it distinguishes itself from the political crimes, committed by the Stalinists and Social-Democratic bureaucracies, in the name of socialism, which they theoretically falsified." (ibid.)
9. The identification of socialism with social equality by the International Committee triggered ferocious attacks by the pseudo-left tendencies. The British WRP of Sheila Torrance claimed that equality was an opportunistic, purely bourgeois demand, which sought to reconcile the classes and had always been rejected by Marxists. Twenty years later, it is clear what social orientation motivated such hostility to the demand for social equality. Social inequality has reached unprecedented proportions throughout the world. While the income and wealth of the financial aristocracy and the affluent middle class have multiplied, the working class and poorer layers of the middle class struggle with declining incomes, precarious working conditions and social insecurity. The eight richest individuals in the world possess the same wealth as the poorer half of mankind. During this period, the sections of the International Committee have turned to the working class in the fight for social equality, while the "Lefts," "Radical Lefts," "Refounded Communists," "Anti-capitalists," "International Socialists," etc., have all embraced racial, gender and other forms of identity politics in order to defend the privileges of the affluent middle class.
10. There is a profound and irreconcilable political gulf between the International Committee and the pseudo-left organizations. The experience of the Syriza government in Greece and of the Left Party in the Berlin Senate, whose attacks on the working class have exceeded those of the right-wing bourgeois parties, have impacted on the consciousness of the working class. Twenty years after the founding of the PSG, the International Committee is the only political party that is responding to the rise of nationalism by deepening the global collaboration of its sections and fighting for internationalism. It is the only party that fights for the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of a socialist society. This reality must find unmistakable expression in the party's name.
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Joe Budden Talks About NYPD Manhunt.
August 26, 2014 streetaddictz NEWS 0
Recently The NYPD launched a manhunt for the slaughterhouse rapper Joe Budden, Joey was accused of assaulting and robbing his model ex girlfriend in Washington Heights, police recently released a picture of 33 yr old Joe Budden as they continued their search
The attack happen earlier this week when Budden drove up to a restaurant near Nagle Ave. and Dyckman St. at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, grabbed his ex and forced her into his car.
Today ABC News caught up with Joey in North Jersey and he explained that he turned himself into Jersey police already and that his lawyers are now handling the case.
Joe Budden A Wanted Man By The NYPD For Assaulting And Robbing His Model Ex
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F Joe Budden.. OVO Goons That Ran Up On Joe Budden Speaks..
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New Music: Joe Budden Ft. Eric Bellinger "Where Do We Go".


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Home > Blog > The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the furloughed worker
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the furloughed worker
Posted: 23rd March 2020
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
(updated on 5.4.2020 by government). Find out what the update was about by reading our blog " Furlough Scheme – Updated guidance"
On Friday 20 March 2020, the government announced the unprecedented introduction of an employee support scheme, which is operating immediately to offer grants to UK employers. The aim of the scheme is to preserve as many jobs as possible over the coming months and mitigate the financial loss to employees impacted by the current economic climate.
Curiously, the announcement also introduced the new concept of a "furloughed worker," a term which all employment lawyers (and indeed the rest of the UK) will be quickly adding to their vocabulary! It is an unfamiliar term to many and one which is not currently defined within UK employment legislation. In fact, the term has historic military origins and was used during WW1 to refer to a period of leave known as furlough given to soldiers that had suffered injuries during the war.
Across the pond, in the USA "furlough" is widely used to refer to a period of temporary unpaid leave which is often caused due to the economic difficulties of the company. In the UK, the concept is intended to be slightly different as, under the new scheme, a "furloughed worker" will remain financially remunerated during their period of temporary leave.
Whilst there is limited guidance on the scheme and how it will operate in practice at present, we have put together a summary based on the information that is known at present. This information is up to date at the time of this blog being published, and remains subject to further guidance from HMRC.
What is the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and when does it start and end?
Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, all UK employers will be able to access support to continue paying part of their employees' salary for those employees that would otherwise have been laid off during this crisis. The scheme has been backdated to 1 March 2020 and is currently anticipated to run until the end of May, albeit the government has said they will extend the scheme if necessary.
The reimbursement is 80% of a worker's wage costs up to a maximum cap of £2,500 per month. It is currently unclear whether this cap relates to the employee's salary, and so it applies to salaries up to £30,000 per annum, or whether it relates to the maximum monthly payment by the government. The brief employee guidance so far suggests the latter and that the support on offer is up to £2,500 per month per employee in total.
We also await further guidance on what the term "wage costs" will encompass. It remains to be seen whether other aspects of an employee's income such as commission, bonuses, etc will be included. Also, does this include deductions to be made by the employer for NI and pension?
Are all employers in the UK eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme?
Yes, all UK businesses are eligible to participate. The government has specified that the scheme will apply to any employer in the UK, irrespective of whether it is small or large, charitable or not for profit.
What do employers need to do?
The employer will need to designate affected employees as "furloughed workers," and notify employees of this change. We anticipate that the employer will then need to provide certain details to HMRC through a new online portal (the details of which are yet to be released).
HMRC will administer the scheme and will make the reimbursement payments to employers. They are setting up an online portal and new systems to do so, of which we await details. It is currently anticipated that the grants will be made within weeks and before the end of April although the timing remains to be confirmed.
If the business needs short term cash flow support, they may be eligible for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan.
What happens during the period of furlough leave?
The crucial point here is that the employee will not be able to undertake any work for their employer during the period in which they are on furlough. The aim of the scheme is to support workers who would otherwise be facing redundancy or unpaid layoff. This means that furloughed workers must stop working immediately. If an employer still wants an employee to perform certain aspects of their role or some of their duties, the scheme will not be suitable.
What is the difference between a furloughed worker and a "laid off" worker?
This is a good question and the terminology being used can be confusing. Many people assume that being "laid off" means that the employment has been terminated and the employee has lost their job permanently. However, under UK employment law the term "lay off" actually indicates a temporary period of not working. This is generally unpaid (subject to the right to guarantee payments) and the employee remains employed throughout the period of lay off.
In reality, lay off and being a "furloughed worker" appear to be the same concepts. In both cases the employee will not be undertaking any work for the employer for a period of time, but their employment will be continuing. The crucial difference is that, under the new government scheme a furloughed worker will remain paid during this period. Laid off workers are usually not paid.
Does the employee have to consent to being a furloughed worker?
The answer is that it depends on a number of factors including:
the employment contract;
the kind of work the employee does and if pay depends in part on the employee being able to work (such as sales staff earning commission on sales or placements);
if the employer is topping up to full pay.
Advice should be sought on your specific situation. However, in broad terms, a payment of less than 100% of wages will normally represent a unilateral change to an employee's contractual terms. Such a change would need consent unless the employer was going to follow a longer route for trying to force a contractual change.
In practice, we think employees are likely to accept furloughed status. For most, it will be a more desirable outcome than a redundancy situation.
The situation may be more straightforward if the employer is topping up the employee's wages to 100%. In this case, there often won't be a breach of contract by reason of a unilateral reduction of wages (unless there is a right to work).
Employees have a legal right to be paid but only a limited number of employees have a right to work, and it's generally limited to those employees whose earnings are dependent upon them working, for example those who need to work in order to earn commission. However provided that your employees don't fall within the category of employees who have a right to work, then sending an employee home on full pay won't generally be a breach of contract. Therefore for these employees you should be able to impose furlough leave.
Could an employer enhance the scheme to offer their employees an increased payment?
Yes. Employers are not obliged to do so but they could, of course, opt to top up the scheme for an employee. The government and trade unions will encourage employers to pay 100% of wages wherever possible, albeit this is not compulsory.
There are aspects of the scheme about which we await more clarification and we anticipate that HMRC will be publishing further guidance in the coming days. Some burning questions include:
What precisely are "wage costs"?
How will deductions such as NI and pension contributions be managed?
How will this affect employees already off sick or self-isolating? Can they be re-designated as furloughed?
To what extent can this scheme be backdated? The government has said that it will run from 1 March 2020 which is nearly 3 weeks before the announcement.
We have a model furlough letter ready and this can be adapted for your situation.
Please read the current government guidance –'Covid-19 – Support for businesses'
Please contact a member of the Employment Department if you have any questions and we would be happy to help.
This is a general guidance note based on what we know as at 22 March 2020 and specific advice should be sought on your situation.
We have now created a frequently asked questions page on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which will be updated as new questions come in to us.
We have a website page dedicated to 'Coronavirus – Legal advice and guidance'. Check back in to this page every now and then for updates.
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Most of my work centers around retirement planning, so needless to say most of my clients are…well, let's put it this way, they are approaching that time in their lives when they start getting subscription offers from the AARP and are likely to qualify for senior discounts. But not all of the people with whom I interact professionally are older. If I have the opportunity to help guide the steps of young people financially, I will tell them, from the heart, that they should (a) live within their means, (b) start saving now for their retirement, if they haven't already begun, and (c) open up a Roth IRA.
"What's a Roth IRA?" they will sometimes ask. I don't roll my eyes, but I feel like it. The schools should be teaching this, I think to myself. Maybe it's because educators think this kind of thing is over the heads of today's youth. But I can't understand how some can finish four years of college and not know something as basic to their financial well-being as what a Roth IRA is.


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Designer Tiles Recreate the Façades of Soviet-Style Apartment Blocks
Lined up and stacked, these tiles in a restaurant bathroom make the wall look just like the façade of a Soviet-style panel building.
by Elena Goukassian March 21, 2018 April 6, 2018
A bathroom wall at Galeria Urbana in Kaunas, Lithuania (all images courtesy Gyva Grafika)
In recent years, Soviet nostalgia has brought about some interesting and unusual trends to the former USSR, from the benign to the potentially tyrannical. A couple of years ago, Lithuanian design studio Gyva Grafika was tasked with redecorating the bathroom of a local restaurant in the city of Kaunas, about 62 miles west of Vilnius. They came up with a uniquely nostalgic idea: bathroom tiles that make the stalls take on the appearance of the panel buildings that came to represent the whole of the Eastern Bloc (and spread to other Communist countries, like Cuba).
A sample tile design by Gyva Grafika (complete with Soviet-style doily in the background)
In an email to Hyperallergic, Gyva Grafika's Tadas Šimkus said the restaurant was looking for something unique and unusual for its bathroom, but the owners didn't want to remove the existing tiles. "And those old brown tiles, they just resembled those façades that I grew up with," Šimkus said. "The idea just happened. Have you noticed, that a lot of great ideas just happen when sitting on the toilet?"
The transformation was fairly simple. Using photographs of apartment block windows in Šimkus's childhood neighborhood, Gyva Grafika created stickers to put on top of the tiles. Each tile became a concrete panel with a window, or depicting laundry hanging to dry; lined up and stacked, the tiles make the wall look just like a panel building. Every once in a while, you'll see faces (and cats) looking out the windows, "accidentally shot with a camera," Šimkus said, "[but] they are an inseparable part of the façade."
The restaurant is very happy with the stickers, as is the clientele, even peeling them off the wall from time to time. In fact, the design has received so much attention that Gyva Grafika is starting to sell them. "There will be stickers and real tiles with direct UV printing available," Šimkus said. "These façades are becoming extinct with all the EU-sponsored renovation projects, but we still have time to say a proper goodbye."
The bathroom walls at Galeria Urbana in Kaunas, Lithuania
A sample tile design by Gyva Grafika
Gyva Grafika is selling tile and sticker versions of its "Urban Soviet" designs through its new online store.
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Tagged: Architecture, Articles, interior design, prefab architecture
Elena Goukassian
Elena Goukassian is an arts writer based in Brooklyn. Originally from Bulgaria, she grew up in Washington state and lived in Washington, DC before moving to New York in 2017. Her writing has also appeared... More by Elena Goukassian


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Northeastern University and the Dolce Center for the Advancement of Veterans and Servicemembers (CAVS) in partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are honored to offer the Yellow Ribbon program. The following information provides a comprehensive review of how you can fund your education using the Yellow Ribbon program in conjunction with the Post 9/11 GI Bill.
The Yellow Ribbon Program is a provision of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008. This program allows institutions such as Northeastern University to voluntarily enter into an agreement with the VA to fund tuition expenses that exceed either the annual maximum cap for private institutions or the resident tuition and fees for a public institution. The institution can contribute up to 50% of those expenses, and the VA will match the same amount as the institution.
Who is eligible for the Yellow Ribbon Program?
You must have served an aggregate period of active duty after September 10, 2001, of at least 36 months
OR you were honorably discharged from active duty for a service-connected disability and you served 30 continuous days after September 10, 2001
You must be a dependent of a servicemember eligible for Transfer of Entitlement under the Post-9/11 GI Bill based on the veteran's service under the eligibility criteria listed above.
When will Yellow Ribbon funds pay for tuition and fees?
Those eligible for 100% Post-9/11 Benefits are entitled to an annual tuition amount each academic year. This amount varies every academic year; however, for the 2019-2020 academic year, the annual cap is $24,476.79. When tuition and mandatory fees exceed the annual cap, Yellow Ribbon funding is used to cover the balance. Northeastern contributes an unlimited amount of funding for Yellow Ribbon recipients, which the VA will match.
How to Apply for the Yellow Ribbon Program:
Verify 100% Post-9/11 GI Bill eligibility with the VA
Visit www.ebenefits.va.gov
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Email NUVets@northeastern.edu
Complete and submit a Yellow Ribbon Application which will be provided by CAVS after review of your eligibility
Veterans from any state are eligible to attend Northeastern and receive Yellow Ribbon funding. To learn more about how to apply for the Yellow Ribbon Program, visit Northeastern's Military website.
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Home Industry Banking & Finance Bahrain's GFH to close acquisition of Khaleeji Commercial Bank this year
Bahrain's GFH to close acquisition of Khaleeji Commercial Bank this year
Bahrain-based Islamic investment bank, GFH Financial Group (GFH) expects to complete the acquisition of Khaleeji Commercial Bank (KHCB) this year, it said in a regulatory filing.
According to GFH's statement in the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares are traded, the investment bank is aiming to communicate its plan and looking forward to offering a letter to the board of KHCB during the third quarter on the transaction.
"Once the firm intention is submitted, GFH anticipates the voluntary takeover offer to be concluded during the course of this year, subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory, board and shareholders approvals," the company said. However, GFH did not reveal the total value of the transaction.
Bahrain's GFH acquires majority stake in US-based Big Sky Asset Management by Arya M Nair 4 Jan, 2023 Bahrain-based GFH Financial Group, has acquired a majority stake in…
GFH, a Shariah-compliant investment bank, with over $12 billion in assets and funds under management, increased its shareholding in KHCB to more than 69 percent, earlier this year after it bought shares from Dubai-based Shuaa Capital and the Goldilocks Fund, which is managed by a Shuaa subsidiary.
GFH bought Shuaa Capital's direct 3.8 percent stake in KHCB and its 9.76 percent indirect shareholding from the Goldilocks fund, managed by SHUAA's subsidiary SHUAA GMC Limited, equal to over 87 million shares. Before the deal, the investment bank owned a 55.41 percent stake in KHCB and it paid more than $23.3 million for Shuaa's combined shareholding.
Currently, the banks in the GCC region are looking to merge or take over other financial institutions to gain scale and expand their footprint as regional economies emerge from the pandemic-driven economic slowdown.
GFH more than doubled its net profit for the second quarter of 2021, driven by growth across its business units despite the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Related: Bahrain's NBB initiates digital banking challenge for youth
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Song of the Moment: Over The Cliff
Steve Rhodes Posted On December 5, 2012
This Jon Langford classic isn't, of course, about the fiscal cliff in Washington, D.C., but in some ways it might as well be – it's about a man leaving the world that creates fiscal cliffs because he's just too damn honest to continue perpetrating a fraud that makes him feel sick.
Here's the original version, which appeared on the first Bloodshot Records sampler, For A Life Of Sin.
Like many great works of art, it can be interpreted as both an individual tale and a universal one.
"The reason 'Over The Cliff' resonates so strongly with me is that its all that punk rock defiance that I've always loved, but it's not about being a teenager," Dan Solomon wrote on Tumblr.
"I mean, I love 'Rise Above' and 'In My Eyes' and all those songs, too, but I am thirty years old and I have a career. They haven't really empowered me in a long time.
"But 'Over The Cliff' is for people who are at this point in life, maybe – people who've had folks in LA and New York sending faxes and who worked hard and got some money and who are sick of the way it made them feel powerless..
"And so 'Over The Cliff' feels like punk rock for grown-ups . . . it doesn't just rebel against faceless authority – it rebels against the fact that even though you worked to get where you are, it's not where you wanted to be, and it's about fighting to get there.
"And if that requires a 'forgive me and forget me, everybody' – cool, that's what it takes. Because while it's easy at 17 to shout that success on someone else's terms don't mean a fuckin' thing, you haven't been tested yet. Repeating that when you've got more to lose, though – that means something more."
Blender called the song one in a collection of "mini-country-rock masterpieces" from Langford "which masquerade as minimalist sketches [and] attack cutthroat capitalism's notion of achievement."
And New Times said that "If Hank Williams were alive today (and a member of the Green or Socialist parties), he'd quite likely record an album that sounds as tart, cool, and wild as this one."
The Old 97s covered "Over The Cliff" on their Bloodshot debut Wreck Your Life and the song also appeared on Langford's All The Fame Of Lofty Deeds.
It has never charted, heh-heh.
Well I worked hard and I got lots of money
And I try hard but i don't want to stay
I've seen too much trouble, felt too much pressure bubble
i know there had to be a better way
I wouldn't mind if you thought I was worth it
Or you'd slap me down when I misbehave
But everybody knows I've got flunkies here in tow
To clean up all the messes that I've made
I'm going over the cliff
It's hard to tell if life is a burden or a gift
So forgive me or forget me everybody
I guess I always had this honest streak
I'm sick of all the yawning, the bitching and the bawling
I'm sick of feeling powerless and weak
Please don't call me cool just call me asshole
because I will be a beggar not a king
And the devil don't care if you're a chip or you're a fish
Success on someone else's terms don't mean a fucking' thing
In New York and LA they're sending faxes
So the company can wash their hands of this
There was no one there to look after me or care
Here's the opening 30 seconds of a different version.
And here's the Old 97s covering the song at Lounge Ax. This appeared on the Bloodshot DVD compilation Bloodied But Unbowed.
Cross-posted from the Beachwood Reporter's Song of the Moment series.
Learning Songwriting at the Feet of Steve Earle
By NO DEPRESSION on July 17, 2014
Steve Train and His Bad Habits Releases from Off Label Records
By Dave Holden on June 30, 2014


The recently published Q2 report of the European Architectural Barometer shows that the sentiment among architects in Europe varies by country. Especially when it comes to the expected number of projects for the coming 12 months, differences are noticeable. This is unlike the previous quarter, where all architects (except for Spain) expected a growth in the number of projects. Compared to their European colleagues, German architects are most optimistic about the future. About 53% of them expect an increase in the number of projects in the non-residential segment for the coming 12 months. Only 3% expect a decrease. They are a little less optimistic about the residential segment. About 32% of the German architects expect an increase in this segment. 2% expect a decrease in the number of project for the coming 12 months.
Also the architects in the UK are most optimistic about the non-residential segment. Almost 50% expect an increase in the number of projects for the coming 12 months. 16% of the architects expect a decrease in this segment. About 37% of the architects expect an increase in the residential segment, while 18% expect a decrease.


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Q: Liferay ckeditor upgrade I'm working with Liferay version 6.1.20 but sadly in this version the ckeditor 4.0 isn't implemented yet.
Is there a way to manualy upgrade CKEditor? or is it a job that i shouldn't start because it's to much work?
I would like to manualy update the CKEditor because the plugin that i'm hooking on isn't compatible with older versions of CKEditor.
I have been looking around on the web. But there isn't any information present as far as i know. I would be nice to know if it's word trying?

A: Ckeditor 4.0 is included in the trunk (6.2 M4) (this can be seen in the post from Juan Fernández in the liferay forum. Don't know if it will be part of 6.1 GA3 due shortly. I'm not sure how complex it is to upgrade CKEditor. You may want to see the github pull request mentioned in Juan's post.

A: It looks like that Replacing the ckeditor.js file and adding all the new required files is the first step of replacing the ckeditor. Besides that it's important to change the CKeconfig.jsp and remove all the old configurations. Toolbar settings can be made. These don't seem to cause any problems.
If your working with the .on method please notice that the contentDom event is fired 2 times. Once on loaded and once when the editor is ready. I checked editor.status === "ready" to prevent this. Because it is attaching the listeners when it's not ready.. Because of this the won't work.
=== Edit ===
Still having problems. But now with the save as draft action. It's saving the data but without the Html changes i have made.. I'm making span's with special attributes. but the editor won't save them..
== Edit 2 ==
The problem was a missing CKEDITOR config tag. config.allowedContent = true; (See edit for the problem)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Premierminister von Haiti ist die Amtsbezeichnung des jeweiligen Regierungschefs von Haiti. Der Premierminister wird vom Staatspräsidenten vorgeschlagen und von der Nationalversammlung, d. h. in gemeinsamer Sitzung der beiden Häuser des Parlamentes (Abgeordnetenkammer und Senat), bestätigt. Der Premierminister ernennt danach die Minister und Staatssekretäre. Vor seiner Vereidigung muss er vor der Nationalversammlung ein Vertrauensvotum über sein Regierungsprogramm bestehen. Der Premierminister Haitis erlässt gemeinsam mit dem Präsidenten die Gesetze und ist verantwortlich für die nationale Verteidigung.

Siehe auch
 Liste der Präsidenten von Haiti
 Politisches System Haitis

!
Haiti #Premierminister

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


As the 2011 Rugby World Cup kicked off yesterday morning as host nation New Zealand took on Tonga, and with my team, the Springboks taking on Wales on Sunday morning, I thought a bit of Rugby Inspiration would be great for The Good Girls Guide!
For all my international readers, the RWC is a big thing in SA, so much so that we've introduced Bok Fridays at work where we're all dressed in springbok gear, springbokkies get drunk (peppermint liqueur with amarula) and the competitive spirit arises between each department!
But for today's post on The Good Girls Guide, I've pulled together some great rugby inspiration that is sure to get your creative juices flowing. To the bokke, I say COME ON, to all of you, I say, Why Not?
Rugby World Cup 2011 – let it be all that it's meant to be!
Rugby Dive | source here.
Rugby Collegiate | source here.
Better than College Football! | source here.
Traditional Game | source here.
Rugby as a Footstool | source here.
Boyfriend's Rugby Jersey Reworked | source here.
Knuckle Dusters | source here.
Channel the Rugby Spirit | source here.
Rugby Romance | source here.
Rugby Pin Stripes | Source here.
Go Bokke Go! | source here.
Want more of The Good Girls Guide? Get post notifications in your inbox!


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"They crossed a line," he said. "They stepped on it, and they kicked it, and they jumped over it and thumbed their nose at us."
This is high silliness. There is no such line. Democrats and Republicans and their party organizations are free to support or oppose any candidate, at any time, for any office, just like any other voter or group. There is no way under the U.S. Constitution to restrict that.
Holding a nonpartisan election only means candidates aren't identified on the ballot as members of a particular party, and the parties are not officially involved in picking nominees.
Still, the brouhaha raises an interesting question: Why do local governments hold nonpartisan elections?
The answer is easy, according to supporters. Potholes aren't Democratic or Republican. Keeping the political parties out makes compromise easier.
And keeping the parties out of primaries means the two best candidates for a job can compete, not just the most popular Republican and Democrat. That seems like a good approach.
But ... nonpartisan elections can be a problem, too.
Most voters find it harder to draw distinctions among the candidates in a nonpartisan election, which hurts participation and interest. That's because party labels are efficient ways for voters to understand candidates, a shortcut that reduces the need to study the complexities of position papers and debates.
Political parties also can provide energy and organization that a candidate lacks. Campaign volunteers and donors know they're working for a bigger cause than just a specific person — that can boost enthusiasm, too.
Here's a way to understand this. The Kansas City race for mayor, now underway, is nonpartisan. The candidates may be Republicans or Democrats (or belong to some other party or no party at all), but they aren't running that way.
That means voters have to study each candidate individually — on crime, taxes, spending, housing, incentives, a whole range of issues. For many folks, that's a lot to ask. It's even harder when there is little difference among the candidates on these and other issues.
Some voters will just give up. Turnout will be low. The two finalists may reach the general election with just 8,000 or 9,000 votes.
The reaction might be different if Republicans were planning to nominate a candidate for mayor, and Democrats, too. A partisan election would raise the stakes for many voters.
There's a reason statewide elections are conducted on a partisan basis: Two major parties with broadly understood philosophies make choices easier for voters, increasing participation.
Partisan local elections, though, aren't really popular. Of the nation's 30 largest cities, 22 elect their mayors and council members on a nonpartisan basis.
In Johnson County, commission chair Ed Eilert is fighting furiously to protect nonpartisan elections, at least for now. The idea of non-partisanship remains powerful.
It makes democracy more difficult, though, a fact Johnson County commissioners can now see clearly.
@jocogov on Twitter
Dave Helling
Dave Helling has covered politics in Kansas and Missouri for four decades. He has worked in television news, and is a regular contributor to local broadcast programs. Helling writes editorials for the Star, and a weekly column. He was awarded the 2018 ASNE Burl Osborne award for editorial leadership.
KC Mayor-elect Quinton Lucas is missing crucial council votes. Is this a bad sign?
By Dave Helling
Kansas City Mayor-elect Quinton Lucas will be out of town Thursday when the City Council takes consequential votes on downtown development and a pay raise. Let's hope this won't be a pattern of avoiding tough choices.
MORE DAVE HELLING
Avoiding the first-term blues: The problem Mayor-elect Quinton Lucas should tackle first
Did Jolie Justus go negative in the KC mayor's race? Maybe that's just what we need
How much did Sly James' support help Jolie Justus in KC mayor's race? Very little
Why hasn't KC elected a Latino to the City Council in almost a generation?
KC voters rejected pre-K plan because facts matter — even more than Sly James' support
Who pays for floods? With climate change, it's a question that's about to get harder


The unprecedented success of PackPlus New Delhi has added to the enthusiasm, and the industry is now gearing up for the South edition of the event. Slated to be held from 10-13 April 2019, PackPlus South 2019 will come together with PrintFair and SupplyPlus at the state-of-the-art venue of Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), Bengaluru. The requirement for packaging is rising across sectors with traditional businesses preferring to package products. The retail and e-commerce is growing rapidly, giving the sector a robust growth. The industry certainly presents potential growth opportunities for new entrepreneurs, and small and medium enterprises.
PrintFair, the Commercial Printing, Package Converting & Digital Sign Show, will present a wide range of exhibitors from Prepress, Press, Postpress and Paper Converting. The event will give an opportunity to the participants to discover new business opportunities with quality control managers, Design houses, art directors and production managers and graphic designers. SupplyPlus South, the Logistics, Warehousing & Distribution Show, will bring companies from Warehousing, Handling, Transportation, Software, Track & Trace, Cold Chain, Weighing & Testing Equipment, Work and Environmental Safety Technologies on board.
Packplus South 2019: Who will Visit?


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Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios is the third album by the Strawbs, mostly recorded live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 11 July 1970. The album reached number 27 in the UK Albums Chart.

The band line-up had changed from the previous album, Dragonfly. Only founder-members Dave Cousins and Tony Hooper remained; with double bass player Ron Chesterman and cellist Claire Deniz having departed the band, and bassist John Ford, drummer Richard Hudson, and keyboardist Rick Wakeman having joined.

The concert was instrumental in bringing Rick Wakeman's virtuosity to the attention of the music media, when Melody Maker prophesied super-stardom for the keyboard player.

Track listing
"Where is This Dream of Your Youth" was originally released as a track on Strawbs.

Side one
"Martin Luther King's Dream" (Dave Cousins) – 2:53
"The Antique Suite" (Cousins) – 12:12
"The Reaper"
"We Must Cross the River"
"Antiques and Curios"
"Hey It's Been a Long Time"
"Temperament of Mind" (Rick Wakeman) – 4:50
Side two
"Fingertips" (Cousins) – 6:14
"Song of a Sad Little Girl" (Cousins) – 5:28
"Where Is This Dream of Your Youth" (Cousins) – 9:07
Bonus tracks
The following tracks are offered as bonus tracks on the A&M re-issue CD.

"The Vision of the Lady of the Lake" (Cousins) – 10:03
"We'll Meet Again Sometime" (Cousins) – 4:17
"Forever" (Cousins, Tony Hooper) – 3:32

"Forever" is a studio track and was released as a single in 1970. All other tracks were taken from the concert recording.

Personnel
Dave Cousins – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, dulcimer
Tony Hooper – vocals, acoustic guitar, tambourine
John Ford – vocals, bass guitar
Rick Wakeman – piano, organ, harpsichord, celeste
Richard Hudson – vocals, drums, congas, percussion, sitar

Recording
Produced and mixed by Tony Visconti
Recorded by Bob Auger

Release history

Notes

References
Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios on Strawbsweb
Sleeve notes CD 540 938-2 Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios

Albums produced by Tony Visconti
1970 live albums
Strawbs live albums
A&M Records live albums


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Well pack, fast shipment, 500 rounds .45 ACP. Never been disappointed with SGAmmo.


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UK Business Briefs: recycling, stormwater control, water acquisitions and success in Japan
In this week's UK Business Briefs, compact disk recycling; guidance on permeable paving; stormwater control on the new M6 toll road; the sale of Anglian Water International; and a UK membrane company celebrates its success in the Japanese market.
Published 20th December 2002
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An East Sussex printing company is planning to do its bit to reduce Britain's growing CD mountain. The Beacon Press, which was recently voted one of the greenest companies in the country, has launched its 'Box it, Don't Bin it' campaign. Beacon has undertaken to collect CDs from neighbouring companies and send them to a specialist firm which is able to recycle 100% of the discs and their packaging.
Building research organisation CIRIA has announced the publication of a new guide that discusses the critical issues that should be considered when designing and constructing pervious pavements that are to be used for stormwater control. The first chapter of the book can be downloaded from CIRIA's website for free.
Wavin Plastics Limited has announced that its TwinWall surface water drainage system has been selected for the stormwater system for the new M6 toll road. Positive drainage systems, including miles of pipe work and pollution interceptors that control the flow of water into the watercourses, will run along the entire length of the M6 toll road. To complete this system the developers are using the full range of Wavin TwinWall from 150mm to 600mm and to date, over 31 million worth of the product has been supplied.
In the water sector, it has been revealed that Vivendi Environment is considering a bid for Anglian Water International, according to WaterTechOnline. The bulk of the assets of Anglian Water are in South America, the largest of which is in Chile, valued at around £140 million. Other potential bidders include Malaysian conglomerate YTL, owner of Wessex Water, French utility Suez and the German-based RWE AG.
And finally, manufacturer of flat sheet membrane bioreactors, the Aquator Group Ltd has announced that it recently played host to senior executives from the major Japanese heavy industry company, the Kubota Corporation. "This is another significant landmark in the growth of Aquator; our Japanese partners have again underlined their commitment to the company and the area," said Keith Willett, CEO of Aquator. "They have recently purchased an equity stake in the company which reinforces their commitment to the technology and to the group."
Report: Investors pumping $13bn into 'stranded assets' due to water risks
Energy Security Strategy: UK targets 95% low-carbon electricity mix by 2030, but will increase oil and gas production
edie's Net-Zero Business Barometer
Centrica plan green energy hub at former gas power plant
Net zero documents for Manufacturing roles
Our 2022 in numbers


Take your normal day spa experience to the next level at Spa La Posada in Harlingen, TX and leave feeling renewed. A facial from this spa is your first step to clearer and healthier skin.
Come to Harlingen's Spa La Posada for a day of pampering and relaxation! A hydrating and enhancing facial from this spa will leave you with clearer and smoother skin. This spa understands that everyone has different needs and that's why they offer a variety of massage services, including Aroma Oil, Bamboo, hot stone, deep tissue, and Swedish massage. Treat your skin to an anti-aging treatment and leave feeling younger. Reduce frown lines and prevent wrinkles with a professional injection treatment, such as Dysport. The alternative services offered at this spa will help improve both your health and vitality. Even your skin tone with some tanning at Spa La Posada's tanning salon, offering services like airbrush tan. Pamper yourself with some of this spa's nail services, such as a pedicure or manicure. Eyebrow tinting, eyelash extensions, and make up application is just a sample of beauty and cosmetic services that Spa La Posada has to offer. Need a last-minute hair appointment? Don't fret! This spa has you covered. Spa La Posada's hair removal services will leave you feeling bikini ready. Stop going to places that make you wait days or even weeks for an appointment. This spa lets you come in when you're ready with their convenient walk-in policy. All major credit cards are accepted. Spa La Posada provides easy access to an adjacent lot. Even if you're a chronic nail biter, the professionals at Spa La Posada can make your nails look beautiful.
Groupon has verified that the customer actually visited Spa La Posada.


Thank you for the services you provide to the consumers in our community!
The topics below should be able to provide you the help and assistance you need. If you need further help contact your licensor.
Please consider submitting a confidential survey to give feedback about the licensing services provided by Blue Earth County staff. Thank you!


The ST25TA series (formerly known as SRTAG series) provides an NFC Forum tag type 4 RF interface and supports the NFC data exchange format (NDEF). This enables NFC use cases such as NFC tag, NFC token, NFC smart poster, NFC business card (Virtual card). It can be used in a wide variety of applications, including consumer electronics, computer peripherals, gaming, home appliances, industrial automation and healthcare products.


Best Ways to Reward Loyal Customers.
Most customers come and go, but there are those that are loyal to the end. Loyal customers are assets to businesses and deserve to be given preferential treatment. Most big business and even smaller ones such as http://www.fredericksburg-lawn-care.com/ have a customer reward program. When it comes to rewarding customers, there are many ideas that fit all budgets.
Here are some simple ways businesses can use to reward customers for their loyalty.
You need to make customer service a priority, even on your social media channels. Customer service is a reflection of how much a company loves their customers. If you want to have loyal customers, you must offer them an amazing customer service. A customer evaluates every interaction they have had with you and make a judgement on how they have been treated. If a customer waits in line, make a return call and offer them what they wanted.
Everyone likes to be recognized and so is your customers. When recognizing customers, you can feature a customer of the week or month, who is someone who has helped your business truly grow. You can put a sign up in your storefront or office where you highlight them. This simple recognition will go a long way towards influencing and encouraging other customers who love your business to be involved in what you do. You can also recognize their loyalty at your website.
You need to ask for advice and listen to your customers. It is very important for businesses to listen to customer feedback. Customers might have a very valuable advice that can help to push your business to the next level. Every business should make extra efforts to collect customer feedback and act on such feedback. If a customer complains about a poor product or service, do all it takes to investigate those claims and try to improve on the issue. Acting to customer feedback is a great way on showing them that you listen to their feedback.
You need to make life easy for your customers and they will keep coming back to you. You need to figure out how you can make your customer experiences simpler and faster. You can consider streamlining the checkout process to make it as simple as possible for your customers. If they have questions on social media, ensure all of them are answered appropriately and on time. Yes you have a business that sells products and services, and you are looking to make profits, but it is very important to connect with your customers too.
Are there laid down set of rules and procedures a company should follow to ensure that it creates and receives the best customer experience? Does it start by establishing a customer service department or how is it done? These and many more are some of the hard questions businesses face, including what a friend from Bel Air Tow Truck went through to establish a commendable towing experience for his customers.
Customer service is a lot more than what most businesses think. It is not found on policies and rules contained in a department, but rather a philosophy and culture to ensure success. It must be embraced by every employee and member of an organization, right from the CEO down to the most recent hire. To ensure that your business or company adheres to creating the most helpful customer service culture, here are valuable tips to take on board.
A customer service culture means creating a culture of accountability. When we talk about responsibility, there are a couple of things involved. First, there is taking ownership. Even if you are not an expert, ask your seniors' as many questions as possible to give customers the detailed information they need. When an issue occurs, see it through a resolution. Have the customer first mindset by communicating and updating them on anything they might need.
Training your internal staff and other members is very important and crucial to spreading your organization's culture. For internal training, ensure all staff sit in on calls and create living documentation on what needs to be done. For external training, provide video tutorials and give employees other options such as FAQs, and other knowledge bases that help them understand what needs to be done.
Give your customers different options to help them get solutions to what is needed. When it comes to communication, allow customers to reach you by the phone, via a ticket, chat, and emails. You can also funnel questions to certain places using an answering machine. Define your processes well and plan for your coverage. Do not ignore responding to what's happening on online platforms and social media.
If you are not tracking the complaints and issues you hear about, then you're doing yourself a big blunder. You must keep up with the feedback you receive and act on it. To act on feedback, there are a couple of ways to go about it. First, have a support system that allows you to funnel all your communication into one place. Ensure that you create accounts for each customer so that you can see how you interacted with them in the past. Keep up with the follow-ups and tickets to have a robust reporting.
After you are done tracking all your data, you have to do something with it, and that is analyzing. Hold a regular meeting to review customer services. Look at the rising trends and evaluate what needs to be done and rectified. Determine all actions regarding issues arising, be it big or small and make appropriate changes.
The nightclub business is not one of the most comfortable companies to run. There are the lot of things to manage be it licenses, permits, and bureaucracies. It needs a large volume of work and organization to create a brand that speaks for itself. If you get lucky enough to succeed in this business, then you have to keep tabs with staying relevant to club revelers. If done in the right manner, then a nightclub business can be a very lucrative venture.
Successful new bars can be thrown under the bus in the first six months. It can take a couple of years before they go forth to recover their money. But just like many new businesses, we have to understand the reasons why startup bars struggle to make it. First, it's because they didn't have enough money to run the business. Second is because of lack of adequate knowledge on running the business.
Neighborhood Bar – From the basic concept, the neighborhood bar is the American version of English pub. You can find them all over the United States. Those who own this type of bar are expected to know a lot of regular customers. It is basically a friendly home away from home bar.
The across the country bar setup is the most popular type of bar you will find. The startup cost of coming with such kind of bar depends mainly on the size and concept. Most of the money is spent on branding and making the bar stand out. The amount of revenue these bars make depends on their capacity and location.
Depending on the capacity of your establishment, a sports bar can be a particular version of a neighborhood tavern or can equally go on to become such a big establishment. Sports bars have some form of menu options with things such as pizzas, sandwiches, burgers, and appetizers. The main attraction of sports bar is the sporting establishment, and thus television entertainments, audio, and other visual entertainments will always be familiar. Owners of these establishments spend a significant amount of their revenue investing and keeping up with the latest technologies.
Studies have shown that revelers are drinking less alcohol but focusing on other types of entertainment. Beer bars offer a large selection of microbrews that are produced locally. Most beer bars only sell their own beer option with just a few varieties of bottled ones. The startup costs of beer bars can be quite high from $100,000 up to $1,000,000.
The ultimate entertainment place is a nightclub. A nightclub contains everything one can think about. It can be a small cocktail lounge or a medium sized that offers foods during lunch hour. The club can also be the fanciest place where the most fashionable celebrities hang around every week. If well managed, clubs can make a lot of money. They can be big enough to attract more than 500,000 people.
When it comes to running a nightclub, the only thing that matters is a satisfaction to your customers. Your customers expect and deserve to get the best services as this is what will keep them coming back hence growing your business. But the key question to ask yourself first is; how do you get customers?
People will always look forward to connecting with venues that they have a sense of belonging. The style that your brand adopts is what creates the vital customer experience. The brand you take will be a reflection of the club's reputation. Create an atmosphere of what customers want regarding interior design, messaging, logos, promotions, drinks among others.
The location and branding of your club are only as good as the team you out in place to run your establishment. You need to find people who are passionate about your business, and who can help you achieve your mission, vision, and goals. This involves everyone involved in your business from the employees you hire to the people involved in promoting your business. Try to build a team that is well motivated to help you achieve your goals.
Put the proper systems in place. There are a lot of behind the scene activities that need to happen to have your nightclub run well. Though the systems themselves won't bring customers to your establishment, you need to ensure that the staff operates in a coordinated manner to give your guests the best possible experience. Make use of the right technology that helps in stimulating operations.
You need to address each of your guests as an outstanding individual. Your guests don't want to be treated as a group; they want to have a personalized experience. They should be greeted at the door and walked to their tables. Offer them what they need according to the desires of their heart. You can incorporate CRM systems that help in providing personal touches to your guests. If you offer them a better experience, they feel valued and become loyal brand ambassadors.
The entertainment industry is always on the move. You need to stay current with all the happenings. In most cases, the average lifespan of a club is two years, and that is the reason it's always important to keep up with everything that is happening in the industry. These changes include drink trends, music styles, technology trends, decor trends and customer income fluctuations.
The benefits of watching a movie are many. As you sit with your friends sipping your favorite smoothies and munching popcorn, you can watch your favorite actors excite you. While at the movie theater, you feel excited, emotional, scared, happy among others. As you walk out of the theater door, you feel re-energized and rejuvenated. Movies are so well such that some therapists have actually prescribed films to life.
Are you are a big fan of movies? Or are you excited to start watching movies with your loved ones? Here are some of the many reasons why you need to watch a movie today.
There are some movies based on social issues which affect our everyday life. Movies on issues such as socioeconomic aspects help create the much-needed awareness about these issues. Movies can be created on these issues to inform, entertain and also offer solutions so that people facing certain difficulties can get solutions for these movies.
These days, there are lots of ways you can enjoy movies without necessarily stepping to the movie theaters. You can now relax and enjoy your Netflix subscription from the comfort of your house. Watching movies presents an awesome opportunity to relieve stress from our lives. It has been medically proven that stress is caused by a continuous buildup of tension within a person. Unless this tension is relieved, stress is inevitable. One of the best ways to relieve the buildup of tension is through watching movies.
If you are looking forward to having an exciting and thrilling experience. It may be ages since you have had a great outdoor adventure, and the next most immediate thrilling experience you can have is through 3D movies watching. There are many movies to take you through an exciting experience, almost an experience you would find on outdoor escapades.
When is the last time you laughed and had a good bonding? To have a good time full of laughter is what characterizes good comedy. Such movies lighten your moods while offering you an amazing way to bond with your loved ones. Movies also present best hangouts for couples. Perhaps you and your girlfriend are tired of spending time and hanging in public places. Then the next best place you can spend time together is in a movie theater. At these theaters, you are not judged for hanging out or spending a cozy time together.


Just what I was looking for- a healthy little bit of buce to try without investing in a larger clump. Like the anubias I ordered at this same time, it had no apparent shipping stress. Absolutely a good way to dip your toes in the water, or try different varieties.
Hulu mini came in looking great, very green and healthy. I was very pleased with the portion size that Han sent.
I think I have a new favorite buce in may tank.
I recieved a very generous and healthy portion of it with an extensive root system. No melting or dieback and it is slowly but steadily growing.
It has a deep blue hue which contrasts nicely against the rest of the brighter plants in my tank. Well worth the money.
Very healthy leaves and brightly colored! Will totally buy again! thanks Han!
Click the button below to add the Fine Edge. to your wish list.


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Panel: In Time it Takes Feds to Approve Oil-Drilling Permits You Could Watch 'Die Hard' 3,349 Times
By Penny Starr | April 19, 2013 | 4:07 PM EDT
Off-shore oil rig. (AP photo)
(CNSNews.com) – The House Committee on Natural Resources revealed on Wednesday that the time it takes to obtain a permit for oil and gas exploration on state lands is about 12 to 15 days – a short time compared with the average 307 days to obtain a permit for onshore drilling on federal land.
That means a person could watch the movie "Die Hard" 3,349 times, according to the committee, which provided facts at the hearing to demonstrate just how lengthy the wait is for a federal drilling permit.
In addition to the "Die Hard" example, a handout provided by the committee, showed one could:
-- Drive from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles 154 times
-- Travel to Mars and back – 150 days each way
-- Hike the Appalachian Trail two times
Using the average 307-day federal permitting wait time, provided by the Bureau of Land Management, and data provided by individual oil-producing states, the committee handout said that in the time it takes to get a federal permit, 30 state permits could be granted in North Dakota.
Although the U.S. Department of Interior is in charge of granting drilling permits on federal land, the BLM was the source for the average permitting timeframe, according to the committee.
In his opening remarks, the committee chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings (R- Wash.) said the time it takes to get a federal permit has nearly doubled from the 154 days it took for the process in 2005.
"Regulatory hurdles, long delays, and policies that keep federal lands under lock-and-key have become all too common," Hastings said. "As a result, federal oil and natural gas production has declined."
Ranking Democrat Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) defended the Obama administration by disputing Hastings' claim, but did not cite any source for his statistics.
"Despite the claims of the majority, [oil] production from federal lands onshore is also increasing," Grijalva said. "Last year oil production from federal lands onshore was 8 percent higher than in 2011."
"It was 16 percent higher than at the end of the Bush administration. And production from Indian lands has increased three fold from the last year of the Bush administration," Grijalva said.
According to a March 7 Congressional Research Service report, however, the increase in oil production on non-federal lands and production on federal lands is down.
"On non-federal lands, there were modest fluctuations in oil production from fiscal years (FY) 2008-2010, then a significant increase from FY2010 to FY2012 increasing total U.S. oil production by about 1.1million barrels per day over FY2007 production levels," the report summary states.
"All of the increase from FY2007 to FY2012 took place on non-federal lands, and the federal share of total U.S. crude oil production fell by about seven percentage points."
Penny Starr
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