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Queens Centers For Progress Presents The 26th Annual EVENING OF FINE FOOD in March – Broadway World

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Danzig

For one night only on Tuesday, March 15, hundreds of people will come together at Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, for the 26th annual "Evening of Fine Food," presented by Queens Centers for Progress (QCP).

The event - which is both in-person and virtual (for anyone wishing to enjoy the event's interactive features from the comfort of their home) will raise funds to support the longtime organization's programs and services, assisting more than 1,200 individuals with developmental disabilities to lead more independent lives.

"For more than 70 years, QCP has been helping adults and children to live their best lives," said QCP Executive Director Terri Ross. "Core to our mission is the belief that all people can learn and that everyone - in spite of any developmental disability - can make meaningful choices about their lives."

Tickets for QCP's 2022 "Evening of Fine Food" are $135 per person. The event is presented from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Guests are asked to R.S.V.P. by March 13. Tickets and further details are available at https://www.queenscp.org/event/26th-annual-evening-of-fine-food/

This event has been held for more than two and a half decades and this year returns to an in-person celebration this March, after presenting last year's festivities via Zoom (and with home delivery of meals) amid the pandemic.

This March, the festivities will include an exceptional and engaging dining experience featuring culinary delicacies from the finest restaurants and beverage purveyors in the area. As guests mingle, sample gourmet foods, and enjoy an open bar, they also can enjoy Comedians Suzanne Windland and Usama Siddiquee, Magician Apollo Riego, the voice of Jim Altamore performing as Frank Sinatra, and the sounds of DJ Mike Kouros of Bravo Sound. And guests can participate in the silent auction, and take "selfies" in a Le Selfie photo booth.

"We are excited to come together in person again for an exciting 'Evening of Fine Food'," said QCP Director of Development Wendy P. Gennaro. "We are extremely grateful to our extraordinary Board of Directors, our many generous restaurants and sponsors, and everyone who plans to join us for what will be a very exciting evening."

The benefit will honor two "Chefs of the Year"- people who have made an impact and a difference in the community: Rhonda Binda, Vice President, Government Affairs and Social Impact, Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corporation, and Thomas Rudzewick, President and CEO, Maspeth Federal Savings. In addition to being honored, they will serve their community in a different way - by cooking a family specialty!

In addition to returning Queens restaurants Marbella Restaurant, Austin's Ale House and Bourbon Street, the event features tasty delights from: Aigner's Chocolate, Caf Renis, Havana Central, Javamelts, La Casa de Julia, MadeFresh Organic, Max Bratwurst und Bier, MumsKitchen NYC, One Station Plaza, Schmidt's Candy, and The Wine Room for Forest Hills. Additional restaurants will be announced in the coming weeks.

This year's fundraiser boasts a robust group of sponsors: Long Island Employee Benefits Group, Maspeth Federal Savings & Loan, and Mutual of America (Golden Delight Sponsors); Investors Bank (Entertainment Sponsor); and, Raymond Chan Architect, P.C. (Selfie Booth Sponsor). Media sponsors are: Metropolitan Airport News, QNS.com, QPTV, Queens Courier, Queens Ledger, Times Ledger, and Yelp.

For sponsorship opportunities or more information, please contact Wendy Phaff, (718) 380-3000, ext. 325, or email WPhaff@queenscp.org

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Queens Centers For Progress Presents The 26th Annual EVENING OF FINE FOOD in March - Broadway World

Democrats are undoing Trump’s progress on digital assets – Washington Examiner

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Danzig

We all know that innovation is central to human progress. It allows individuals to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. It has given us the technology to make goods and services cheaper, safer, and more widely available. More importantly, innovation transforms lives for the better whether it is financial technology allowing low-income Americans to become financially healthy through budgeting tools or an app that allows people to track their health habits.

We value the ability to live more convenient lives, but we often forget that innovation requires an environment in which it can flourish. It needs risk-takers and entrepreneurs, whether they are individuals or small businesses. It depends on an environment in which the right allocation of capital is supported. And it needs a stable and predictable government to create clear rules of the road.

Under the Biden administration, the climate for innovation in this country is at its worst in memory.

This is a direct result of its misguided ideology and the administrations hard-left swing. Democratic policies emphasizing regulation and more government have created an unfavorable environment for technology and innovation. It is nearly impossible to build upon something under constant attack of new regulations and out-of-touch standards. This limits economic growth, ultimately harming consumers and households. Moreover, it's these same heavy-handed policies that protect and reward large incumbent corporations and suppress competition, entrepreneurship, and risk-taking.

Theres no better example of these dangerous policies than in the long-awaited release of the Presidential Working Group on Stablecoins. Rather than seize the opportunity to move the United States forward and provide clear rules of the road for the digital asset industry, the Biden Treasury Department punted, acquiescing to the loudest voices in the room and perpetuating the turf wars already hindering this nascent industry.

Over the last decade, weve seen an explosion in the development and use of digital assets. Digital assets and their underlying technology hold great promise in facilitating cheaper payments both here and abroad for consumers. The Securities and Exchange Commission wants to call digital assets one thing, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission another, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency something else. The Biden administration could have brought clarity to this market and its participants to help it grow. Instead, it chose to reward incumbent regulators and empower uncertainty. This will only deter investment in new technology and limit the markets ability to reach its full potential.

When our small businesses and economy need it most, we should be encouraging their risk-taking and entrepreneurship. More government, bureaucracy, and uncertainty will not result in progress. It will not lead to better products or services. It will not make our lives better. Instead of Congress and this administration working together to promote and encourage tangible financial opportunity in a sustainable way or ensuring that the U.S. remains a global leader, Democrats are working to undo anything accomplished under the Trump administration, even if it means sacrificing the good of the people. When political theater and fear-based legislation meet, innovation is stifled, and consumers suffer.

Real long-term economic growth in the U.S. depends on innovation, as it always has. Innovation and real economic growth flourish when there is a free exchange of ideas and low barriers to entry. The federal government's job is to create clear rules of the road where innovators and Americans alike have certainty. It should support risk-taking and entrepreneurship. And it should create a clear regulatory framework and get out of the way. We should prioritize open access to financial services and work to protect and promote innovation in our markets so that consumers have as many pathways as possible to prosperity and achieving the American dream.

Congressional Republicans stand ready to implement policies to do just that. These are the policies Members of the Republican Jobs and Economy Task Force are focused on to ensure innovation will flourish, Americans will prosper, and the U.S. will maintain its leadership in the global economy. We are the nation we are because of the movers, shakers, and innovators. We cant let the spark of the American entrepreneurial spirit die.

Byron Donalds represents Florida's 19th Congressional District.

Officer Stops Armed Robbery in Progress – KRWG

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Danzig

LOS LUNAS, NM On January 14, 2022, at around 5:35 p.m. a New Mexico State Police officer was on patrol in Los Lunas when he saw an OReillys Auto Parts employee running after two individuals from the store located at 1401 Main Street SW. The suspects were wearing all black clothing with black face masks running towards an open field behind the store.

The NMSP officer jumped out of his marked State Police patrol unit and gave chase. After a brief foot pursuit through the field, the officer caught one of the suspects. The suspect, later identified as Armando Piro, 27, of Los Lunas was arrested without further incident.

Through investigation, the officer learned that Piro and the second suspect had stolen motor oil and transmission fluid. In the store, the manager approached Piro, who lifted his shirt to reveal a handgun in his waistband. Piro and the second suspect then took off running from the store with the oil. The manager followed them but stopped when he believed Piro was reaching for the handgun in his waistband.

The stolen oil was recovered, and Piro was booked into the Valencia County Detention Center. He was charged with Armed Robbery and Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. Piro was also on probation for Residential Burglary, Possession of Controlled Substance, and Fraudulently Obtaining a Motor Vehicle. The identity of the second suspect is under investigation by the New Mexico State Police.

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Officer Stops Armed Robbery in Progress - KRWG

Biden and Asia After One Year: Modest Progress, Ongoing Confusion – Foreign Policy

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Danzig

As U.S. President Joe Biden completes his first year in office this week, how should his Asia policy be judged? Set against the lofty expectations of his early months in power, the reality has disappointed many observers. Seen against the backdrop of the ongoing crisis with Russia, the current relative calm of the Indo-Pacific looks like a success.

The real problem Biden faces, however, is more complexnamely, he is running three Asia policies at once. One focuses on China, another on the United States regional allies and partners, and a third on non-aligned nations, most obviously in Southeast Asia. The last year has underlined the tensions between these often mutually conflicted approaches, creating something akin to an Asia policy trilemma that makes it just about impossible to make simultaneous progress on all three fronts.

Take China first. Bidens team ditched the pugilistic chaos of its predecessor, laying the groundwork for Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet virtually in November. Their conversation, if hardly groundbreaking, was at least positive in tone. Elsewhere, the administration has crafted a rhetorical middle path. We are not seeking a new Cold War, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan explained recently. What we're looking for is effective competition with guardrails.

Take China first. Bidens team ditched the pugilistic chaos of its predecessor, laying the groundwork for Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet virtually in November. Their conversation, if hardly groundbreaking, was at least positive in tone. Elsewhere, the administration has crafted a rhetorical middle path. We are not seeking a new Cold War, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan explained recently. What were looking for is effective competition with guardrails.

While this sounds sensible, it is less coherent than it appears. So far, at least, Bidens team has neither pushed the kind of competition that might trouble Beijing, nor eliminated an ongoing confusion about the overall aim of their China policy. Is it to maintain U.S. strategic primacy, as former U.S. President Donald Trumps Indo-Pacific strategy stated? Or is it something more akin to the approach outlined by Kurt Campbell, Bidens Asia advisor at the National Security Council, who said recently the United States seeks a kind of coexistence with China, with an understanding of Chinas critical and important role?

Campbell is also a central figure in the United States second front, namely strengthening its network of Indo-Pacific alliances and partnerships, with the aim of balancing China indirectly. Here the Quad grouping of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States looks increasingly purposeful. Traditional alliances with South Korea and the Philippines have been patched up. Washingtons friends are also drawing closer to one another, developing new bilateral and trilateral pacts.

Yet this process, too, comes with complexities, as illustrated by the fierce backlash over last years AUKUS pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The subsequent diplomatic crisis with France is said to have dismayed Biden, and will now likely make it harder for Campbell and other officials to push similarly ambitious new deals. More to the point, it is now clear that deepening ties with some U.S. partners risks backlashes from others.

The tension between these two approaches is made clear by two as yet unpublished documents. The United States has hinted that it will launch separate China and Indo-Pacific strategies. The former is expected to be tough-minded. Meanwhile, the outline of the latter was visible in an inoffensive speech by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jakarta last month, which included plenty of diplomatic boilerplate about forging stronger connections and building a more resilient region. Whether it actually makes sense to have separate approaches to China on the one hand and Indo-Pacific partnerships on the other is less clear.

Blinkens remarks in Indonesia underline the problems Washington faces in the third area, namely winning over nations caught in the middle as a new era of geopolitical competition unfolds. To its credit, Bidens team has at least visited Southeast Asia regularly, with numerous trips from Vice President Kamala Harris on down. More will likely follow. A summit between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is in the works, while Biden himself is likely to visit Asia later in 2022 to take part in a run of ASEAN-related summits.

Will more substance follow? One of our most important, if not our most important, initiatives here in the White House, is to do everything possible to upgrade all of our engagement with ASEAN, Campbell said recently. But so far, details of this upgrade have been scarce, while moves to court ASEAN could still be undermined by attempts to ramp up pressure on China, which makes most ASEAN members nervous.

This trilemma is not unique to Asia. In its tussles with Russiaboth today and during the Cold Warthe United States had to calibrate separate policies for its main adversary, its allies, and non-aligned states. But the problems Washington faces in Asia remain unusual, not least because of the widely noted gap between the United States military strength and its declining economic clout.

On the right, security hawks want Washington to pursue a large military build-up fit to deter Beijing. Yet if the United States does indeed plan to rearrange its global military footprint to balance China, such moves were hard to spot in Bidens first defense budget last summer, or the subsequent Global Posture Review from the Pentagon. More to the point, if the United States does end up doing more of the military heavy lifting, its risks encouraging allies to free-ride, as many have traditionally done.

Bidens critics on the left, meanwhile, warn of an arms race in Asia and argue for a greater focus on economic diplomacy and climate cooperation with China. But now there is no chance the United States will take the most obvious route to achieving renewed economic influence and join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade deal negotiated by then-President Barack Obama and abandoned by Trump.

Instead, the Biden administration is left trying to cobble together a new economic policy that talks up engagement in Asiaalthough without doing much to achieve itwhile also aiming to reduce U.S. dependence on China in the name of supply chain resilience. All of this is hard to square in terms of basic economics, not least given how closely intertwined China is with the rest of the region commercially.

Taken together, the record suggests Bidens team has made modest progress in Asia during its first year. But as the administration enters its second year, there are more questions than answers about what competition with guardrails means with regard to China and what greater engagement with allies and partners might actually deliver.

Much now also depends on Chinas actions. Last summer Beijing produced a list of U.S. wrongdoings that must stop with demands notable for being far less revisionist and aggressive than those now being pushed by Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine. In time, Beijing might become much more assertive.

Meanwhile, the list of potential flash points with China looks alarmingly long, from Taiwan to Chinas border with India. When viewed from Washington, perhaps the best one can say for now is that Asia remains mercifully free of outright crises. The risk to Bidens Asia strategy is that this wont last forever.

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Biden and Asia After One Year: Modest Progress, Ongoing Confusion - Foreign Policy

Discussing system racism a sign of progress | Op-Ed | observer-reporter.com – Observer-Reporter

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Danzig

Structural systemic racism sounds really bad, because it suggests pervasive racism that cannot be overcome. In reality, discussing structural racism is a sign of progress. Racism through the 1950s was generally accepted and overt. The Civil Rights movement helped society dramatically change its views on race. No longer was it accepted as a fact that African Americans were genetically inferior to whites. Martin Luther King Jr. challenged us to live up to the ideals of equality that were espoused by the founding fathers (but not always achieved). Since the 1950s, racism has declined dramatically. For example, in 1973 64% of whites who participated in the General Social Survey thought that it should be OK for home owners to refuse to sell their home to someone because of their race. By 2014, only 28% thought that way.

But 28% is not insignificant, so racism has not disappeared. With events like the resurgence of white nationalism that was displayed in Charlottesville in 2017, some argue that progress on race has stalled, if not gone backwards. Republican politicians now fear being primaried if they push back against Trumps exploitation of racial fears. In 2006, the Voting Rights Act was extended by an uncontroversial vote of 98-0, including 16 Republican senators who are in the Senate today. But last week, in light of the Supreme Courts gutting of the VRA, those same senators refused to even allow restoring it to be debated.

Judging someone based on their appearance is a survival skill; as people evolved, we had to learn who would be more likely to hurt us and who wouldnt. It made sense to think that people who looked like us were less likely to be dangerous than strangers who didnt. We cant know everything about everyone so our brain tries to detect patterns and groupings to allow us to navigate the world with less than perfect information. So judging people as a group when we dont know them as individuals is something we may be inclined to do. But that doesnt mean we cant correct that.

For example, when I was in college I was mugged in Chicago by a group of Black youths, one of whom had a gun. After that experience, groups of Black kids that looked like them made me nervous for a while. Ironically, after graduating from college I was a resident tutor in a program for minority youth. These kids I came to know well as individuals, so of course I was not nervous around them. Stereotypes (rednecks, frat bros, preps, jocks, nerds, theater kids, Wall Street traders, etc.) exist because it is easier to group people who share some characteristics than it is to treat them as individuals. But nobody likes to be known only as part of a group, and it is not fair to attribute characteristics, either positive or negative, to all members of a group. While we may not be able to resist our initial instincts, we can control how we act on those instincts. And over time we can adjust those instincts.

Racism is not unique to whites, though because whites are the majority, white racism has the most impact. Jesse Jackson at the peak of the crime wave in the early 1990s famously said: There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved. Prior to the Black is beautiful movement, light skin in the Black community was seen as preferable. Prejudice is universal.

Systemic racism means that there is a racial bias in the system, not necessarily due to the actions of an individual choosing to be racist. For example, historical racial discrimination in housing and employment means that white families live in wealthier communities than Black families. Because of a system in which education is funded by local taxes, mostly white upper-class suburbs tend to have many more educational resources than low-income minority communities. Historic inequities have been perpetuated by the existing system.

Another example would be if a white mortgage banker assesses the application of a white applicant, who may share a similar background. The applicant may have something in their application that is a red flag (perhaps unsteady employment or drug use) that might discourage approval of the application. But because the banker relates to the applicant, he may go to bat for that applicant. Now if the same banker gets an application from a Black applicant with a dissimilar background but the same red flag issue, he may not go to bat in the same way. He was not consciously discriminating against the Black applicant, but the result is the same. The systemic racism is that there are fewer Black mortgage bankers so that Black applicants wont get the benefit of the doubt as often as white applicants do, which contributes to racial inequality.

Racism still exists. In a recent study of major corporations hiring practices the authors of the study sent out resumes that were exactly the same, except some had typical white names while others had names that were typically Black. While some companies had no difference based on race, in others, the white applicants were favored. That doesnt mean every decision is the product of racism, but there is often a thumb on the scale for the white majority.

This is concept of white privilege, which gained prominence a few years ago. While often used pejoratively (check your privilege) as a way to diminish someones credibility (so its use often seems counterproductive), it is a concept worth considering. It does not mean that all white people are in privileged positions. Poor whites rightly dont feel particularly privileged, but a minority who is otherwise in the same position will be even worse off.

White and Black people use drugs at about the same rates (based on surveys and ER visits), yet Black people are more likely to be arrested, if arrested more likely to be tried and convicted, and if convicted, more likely to get longer sentences than whites. So Black drug users are more likely to get a prison record for the same behavior as white drug users, making it harder for them to find employment, housing, etc. So African Americans still face racism in almost all aspects of their lives even as individual racist acts have declined. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

Kent James has a doctorate in History and Policy from Carnegie Mellon University and is an adjunct in the History Department at Washington & Jefferson College.

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Discussing system racism a sign of progress | Op-Ed | observer-reporter.com - Observer-Reporter

Here’s how San Francisco is measuring progress in the Tenderloin and why some advocates thinks it’s misguided – San Francisco Chronicle

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Danzig

San Francisco Mayor London Breeds December emergency declaration in the Tenderloin has led to a slew of initiatives to tackle drug use, homelessness and other neighborhood concerns. Among them is a weekly report series that includes summaries of progress made on big initiatives, along with data on conditions on specific blocks in the neighborhood.

While the initiative has received support from many advocates in the community, they expressed doubts that the metrics currently being collected could comprehensively track neighborhood conditions and the initiatives impact.

The reports cover a lot of quantitative ground, tracking the number of overdose deaths, shelter referrals and 911 calls made from the neighborhood, among many other metrics. They also include a section on priority locations, for which city workers visit several neighborhood blocks at least five mornings per week and collect data on that block over the span of two hours.

That data includes the number of tents, instances of drug use and of problem behaviors a term for behaviors associated with poverty, mental illness and drug use, such as no attempt at hygiene or reacting to internal stimuli in a way that is causing public consternation.

Francis Zamora, a spokesperson for the Department of Emergency Management, said that collecting daily metrics allows the incident management team to make adjustment(s) to our plans and operations. He added that the metrics are collected in the morning so that the team can use the data to target its operations for that day.

The counts of problem behavior and drug activity are estimates based on crowd size, according to Zamora, so they arent exact. But the rules for estimation dont appear to be applied consistently, which can be problematic when trying to compare relatively small numbers. For example: In the report for the week of Jan. 3, the 300 block of Hyde Street has all of its counts of problem behaviors and drug activity rounded to the nearest five. But for the 300 block of Ellis Street in the same report, numbers do not appear to be rounded.

Additionally, the priority blocks change from week to week depending on where city workers and neighborhood residents observe a high volume of key problems. Since the priority blocks are not always consistent from week to week, in many cases, it will not be possible to use these reports to track issues over time.

Tenderloin neighborhood advocates overall expressed support for the emergency initiative and efforts to measure its progress. But they expressed concern about some of the metrics being collected, as well as those excluded from the data.

For example, Randy Shaw, director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, said he appreciates the emergency initiative and the data being collected on drug overdoses, but would like to see the daily block reports zero in on drug sales instead of drug use.

The overdoses (are) obviously a big problem, but the statistics need to take into account the impact of drug dealers on a neighborhood, Shaw said. Overdoses can be counted, but the number of people whose lives are worsened because they dont feel safe walking down their block we cant measure that.

Shaw said that city workers should be attempting to count drug dealers at the block level instead of measuring things like problem behaviors and drug activity, a catch-all term for drug use and sales.

The drug user issue has been vastly overplayed. Its the drug dealers the families are upset about and feel unsafe in regard to, Shaw said. If youre not talking about stopping people from selling drugs, youre not helping the neighborhood.

Shaw said he believes that to curb drug dealing in the neighborhood, the city needs to increase law enforcement presence and even more importantly, provide more funding for Urban Alchemy, a nonprofit group that works in the Tenderloin during the daytime and whose workers mostly consist of formerly incarcerated people who interface directly with unhoused Tenderloin residents.

If we could have Urban Alchemy everywhere, we wouldnt need police as much, Shaw said. The problem is, theres not the funding for that.

Urban Alchemy received approximately $5 million from the city through the Mid-Market Foundation for the fiscal year beginning July 2021, including an additional $500,000 in the last 30 days that was unrelated to the emergency declaration, according to foundation director Steve Gibson, as well as $3 million last May from UC Hastings.

The latest draft of the emergency initiative plan lists funding and support for community-based projects as a possible solution to pursue, but does not explicitly call for more funding to Urban Alchemy.

In addition to Shaws call for more data on the number of drug dealers, Del Seymour, a longtime neighborhood advocate and founder of the workforce-training nonprofit Code Tenderloin, told The Chronicle he would like to see the report include daily counts of unhoused people by block.

The Tenderloin is a small enough place where we could recruit a monitor on every block to give us daily statistics (on the number of unhoused residents), Seymour said. We could recruit people to do that and be that interpreter. To say, this person isnt homeless; theyre out here for fresh air, and (provide) that classification.

Collecting such intimate details of neighborhood residents, Seymour said, would help city workers better track their efforts to help unhoused residents specifically.

While the weekly reports track the number of shelter referrals made to residents, Seymour said he doesnt believe this kind of data point is meaningful without a corresponding estimate of how many Tenderloin residents dont have shelter. (San Francisco hasnt completed a full point-in-time count its annual count of all unhoused people in the city since 2019, citing safety concerns because of the pandemic.)

Susie Neilson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: susie.neilson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susieneilson

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Here's how San Francisco is measuring progress in the Tenderloin and why some advocates thinks it's misguided - San Francisco Chronicle

Axelrod Advice For Biden: People Will Resent You For Highlighting Progress If They Don’t Feel It – RealClearPolitics

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Danzig

Former Obama strategist David Axelrod had this advice for President Biden Thursday on CNN.

"What we learned when I was with President Obama during the Great Recession is even as we were making progress, if we went out there and touted it in the wrong way, people resented it, because they didn't feel it in their lives," he said.

"We are facing this inflation problem that people see in their lives. They don't want to be told about all the progress we're making and how well. They'll know when they are -- they will feel the progress, you know, so don't try and sell them what they won't believe"

COOPER: Because of his experience.

AXELROD: Exactly. And you know, he did. I can see sitting over at the White House and saying, my God, we passed this Infrastructure Bill. This is historic. Other Presidents would have loved to have it. We pass this Rescue Act, it had a big impact. We've got 200 million people vaccinated, we just have to go out and sell that.

Well, the reality is, if 28 percent of the country feel you're on the right track, going out there and saying, hey, we're doing great is not going to land well and you know you're right, his great strength is his empathy, but I was surprised yesterday when he said I just need to get out there.

And you heard some of it from Phil, we just need to get out there and sell better. No, they've got to go out there and listen better and give people a sense that we're going through this national trial together, and he is connected to them in this.

PHILLIP: Every President thinks they need to go out and sell better when sometimes the problem is, what's not happening or not happening.

AXELROD: But you know what, what we learned when I was with President Obama during the Great Recession is even as we were making progress, if we went out there and touted it in the wrong way, people resented it, because they didn't feel it in their lives.

Right now, we're locked in this pandemic. We are facing this inflation problem that people see in their lives. They don't want to be told about all the progress we're making and how well. They'll know when they are -- they will feel the progress, you know, so don't try and sell them what they won't believe.

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Axelrod Advice For Biden: People Will Resent You For Highlighting Progress If They Don't Feel It - RealClearPolitics

European firms make slow progress in appointing more women to boards – Reuters

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Danzig

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a news conference after an EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium December 17, 2021. Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Jan 20 (Reuters) - The proportion of women in leading positions at major European companies rose last year, but fell behind schedule to reach the European Commission's proposed target of 40% for 2025, a study by an EU-sponsored non-profit organisation showed on Thursday.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this month she would try to unblock legislation for a quota of women on EU company boards, which has been stuck since 2012. read more

The proposal calls for listed companies in the bloc to fill at least 40% of non-executive board seats with women.

Female representation at board level rose by one percentage point to 35% in 2021 after a similar rise a year earlier, according to the study by Brussels-based association European Women on Boards (EWOB), which analysed 668 top European listed companies, included in the STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) and national benchmarks.

"At the current speed of change we will not be able to reach 40% women on boards by 2025," said Rosa Kriesche-Kderli, chair of research and communication at EWOB.

Progress is also slow in top jobs: in the second year of the pandemic, only 7% of the companies' chief executives were women, according to the study, after a jump from 4.7% to 6% between 2019 and 2020.

The number of companies with high scores on EWOB's Gender Diversity Index (GDI) rose to 84 from 62 in 2020.

It defines a high score as an index reading of 0.8 and above, where zero means there are no women on the board or in senior management positions and 1 is 50% representation.

Dutch chemicals company DSM (DSMN.AS) led the rankings with a score of 1, while British insurer Admiral (ADML.L) showed the strongest annual progress, jumping to 0.94 from 0.6.

France, Norway and Britain led the country ranking with a GDI of about 0.7, while Greece, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Poland were at the bottom of the table.

Reporting by Aida Pelaez-FernandezEditing by Milla Nissi and Mark Potter

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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European firms make slow progress in appointing more women to boards - Reuters

OBITUARY: Jose Luis Ortiz – The Progress – mvprogress

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Danzig

Jose Luis Ortiz

Jose (Joe) Luis Ortiz, age 62, passed away on December 30, 2021, in Las Vegas, NV. He was born in Las Vegas, NV, on July 3,1959, to Marta and Pedro Ortiz. He is one of eleven children, all raised in Moapa Valley, NV.

Joe was an outdoorsman, who enjoyed traveling and exploring nature. Among his favorite places in nature were mountain ranges and shorelines.

Joe lived life to the fullest. After graduating from Moapa Valley High School, where he was a member of the 1977-1978 winning State Championship football team, he moved to Las Vegas, NV, and worked in the casino industry. He then moved to Utah and worked in the steel industry for several years. He moved back to Las Vegas and worked at Yolies Brazilian Restaurant as a chef.

He then was blessed to meet the love of his life Barbara Jean Lackey, and together they traveled and lived in many places, including New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, and in Rio Bravo,Tamaulipas, Mexico. Joe especially enjoyed working outdoors on farms and ranches before finally returning to Las Vegas to retire.

Joe is survived by siblings: Aurelio (Nora) Ortiz, Pedro Jr. (Maria) Ortiz, Ernesto Ortiz, and Jany Ortiz, all of Las Vegas, NV, David (Annette) Ortiz of Windsor, CO, Cenovio Ortiz and Paulita Ortiz, both of Logandale, NV, Maria (Dario) Ortega of Sandy Valley, NV, and Juanita Marcial of Overton, NV; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his life partner Barbara Jean Lackey; parents Marta and Pedro Ortiz, and his siblings: Esther Ortiz, Pancho Ortiz and Cruz Ortiz.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, a private service will be held. Flowers may be sent through The Front Porch (702) 397-8334 https://thefrontporchflowers.weddingday.pro/

The Mass will be streamed live on Facebook Friday, January 28, 2022 at 11:00 AM. The family is grateful to all for the prayers and condolences received.

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OBITUARY: Jose Luis Ortiz - The Progress - mvprogress

Positive approach against Liverpool shows the progress Palace are making under Vieira – The Athletic

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Danzig

This season has been one of progress for Crystal Palace, a fact they demonstrated in a blistering second half against Liverpool.

Where the opening 45 minutes of Sundays 3-1 home defeat were an example of the limitations they still have and a key part of the reason they are yet to push on into the top half of the Premier League table, the second exemplified the character and belief the team has under summer appointment Patrick Vieira.

For much of last season, Palace were treading water under Roy Hodgson. Things felt stale. This same fixture, a 7-0 defeat that is the heaviest at home in the clubs history, saw them fall apart in the second half.

Although primarily defensive and counter-attacking under Hodgson, it was mostly Liverpools clinical finishing and poor defending from Palace which contributed to the thumping they took that day in December 2020. They began the second half apparently defeated at 3-0 down and conceded four more times.

Yesterdays meeting could not have been more different.

The scoreline fails to tell the story adequately, and does not afford Vieira and his team the credit they deserve for coming close to a successful comeback and getting something from the game. It is one of the stories of their season, though leaving themselves with work to do, given they went in at half-time 2-0 down, having failed to take several chances despite being outplayed for the majority of the half.

Palace 2021-22 are significantly more positive in their approach than past sides.

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Positive approach against Liverpool shows the progress Palace are making under Vieira - The Athletic

3 areas of progress on climate change can help combat anxiety – The European Sting

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Danzig

(Credit: Unsplash)

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration ofThe European Stingwith theWorld Economic Forum.

Author: Karn Manhas, Founder, Terramera

The last year of my life has been full of scary and challenging moments (I mean, who cant relate?), but for me theres one bizarre experience that stands above the rest. I came home from the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow so excited to hit the ground running when I landed in British Columbia. Instead, I stepped off the plane just as lakes were breaching farmland and mountainsides were spewing mud across highways.

Last year was hard. My home province struggled through record-breaking heat and forest fires in the summer. Then historic flooding in the fall. Entire communities of farmland were lost. Essential roads were washed out. Thousands of people were forced to flee their homes.

The optimism Id built up in Glasgow was immediately put to the test. As the reality of living in a changing climate sinks in, many of us are feeling anxious, powerless and fearful.

The good news? I really believe were making positive strides towards mitigating these disasters. Its hard to see, but if you want to look for optimism in the face of fires and floods, heres three often overlooked areas that remind us theres still hope yet.

I noticed an encouraging shift in 2021 at events like COP26. There seemed to be a collective willingness to look at natures ability to help us navigate the climate crisis.

Nature-based solutions are ways of conserving, restoring and better managing ecosystems to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. These solutions could provide up to 30% of the climate change mitigation needed to limit global warming, while generating trillions of dollars in economic benefits for people like farmers.

The world faces converging environmental crises: the accelerating destruction of nature, and climate change.

Natural climate solutions (NCS) investment in conservation and land management programmes that increase carbon storage and reduce carbon emissions offer an important way of addressing both crises and generate additional environmental and social benefits.

Research conducted for the Forums Nature and Net Zero report confirms estimates that NCS can provide one-third of the climate mitigation to reach a 1.5 and 2 pathway by 2030and at a lower cost than other forms of carbon dioxide removal. This report builds on the recommendations from the Taskforce for Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets, and identifies six actions to accelerate the scale-up of high-quality NCS and unlock markets through the combined efforts of business leaders, policymakers and civil society.

To foster collaboration, in 2019 the Forum and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development came together to establish the Natural Climate Solutions Alliance to convene public and private stakeholders with the purpose of identifying opportunities and barriers to investment into NCS.

NCS Alliance member organizations provided expert input to develop the Natural Climate Solutions for Corporates, a high-level guide to the credible use of NCS credits by businesses.

Get in touch to join our mission to unleash the power of nature.

Consider the world today. Theres too little carbon in the soil and too much carbon in the atmosphere. One of the best ways to correct that? Photosynthesis the thing we all learned about in grade school. Now, it would be an oversimplification to say this basic staple of life can single-handedly reverse the effects of climate change if we create more green spaces to suck up atmospheric carbon. But at a time when we need to rally the planet, its one of many nature-based solutions that people can get behind right now. On the smallest of scales, even planting more plants in our own gardens can make a difference.

I often found it incredible how many people involved in the fight against climate change overlooked these simple, regenerative solutions. I saw that begin to change in 2021.

With all pros, there are cons. A major challenge for nature-based solutions is proving them and supporting them to scale. The good news for 2022? Were seeing so much activity at the moment on developing measurement and verification tools to establish an inscrutable business case for change.

We know these solutions to fighting climate problems can reach scale when theyre backed by hard evidence. Consider mangroves, for example. These tropical shrubs are a natural solution to protecting coasts from waves, and theyre cost effective. Studies have shown growing mangroves can be two to five times cheaper than building breakwaters, and work just as well to prevent coastal erosion. Planting mangroves went from being an overlooked defence mechanism to a no-brainer.

The same can happen for techniques like soil carbon sequestration. While storing carbon in farmland is a common sense tactic that leads to healthier crops and more resilient farms, we still need to show objective data on how much carbon is being stored and how its helping farm health. In fact, our company is building the tools and techniques to measure and show the myriad benefits.

The reason to be hopeful? As we continue to get better data across the board, quantifying things like soil carbon will help us stay accountable to our climate pledges.

Granted, all these things can feel like big fish to fry for the average person. If you want to find hope in something you can control, focus on your food waste.

Nearly one billion tonnes of food is wasted worldwide each year, accounting for 8% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions. We produce enough food to feed the world, but much of it ends up in the landfill, where it rots and produces methane a gas much more detrimental to the atmosphere than carbon.

However, composting converts rotting food into carbon-rich soil while keeping more emissions out of the atmosphere. In other words, reducing food waste and disposing of food and fibre more mindfully is one clear and quantifiable step we all can take to make a difference.

I still consider myself an optimist, but I know we have a steep hill to climb in the next few years. Were too late to avoid climate change, but its not too late to change our systems, adapt and mitigate, with the hope of slowing its progress until we can someday turn the clock back bit by bit. By focusing on what we can do, looking to nature for answers, and maintaining clearer data, the world can work differently.

Indeed, thats where I find hope: biology naturally moves back to balance. Its been happening for millennia. Theres no doubt in my mind nature will regenerate eventually but the future of human civilization is up to us.

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3 areas of progress on climate change can help combat anxiety - The European Sting

Trade-offs of controlling slugs in no-till – Farm Progress

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Danzig

No-till has many benefits. Just ask a grower whos been doing it, and they will tell you that. But it also presents challenges, and one of those reared its ugly head last year at least in Pennsylvania: slugs.

Anecdotally, growers across the state reported slug issues that got so bad that some had to replant not once, but twice.

Unfortunately, theres no silver bullet to dealing with slugs in a no-till system, said John Tooker, professor of entomology at Penn State. But that doesnt mean you cant do anything about it.

Last year was an especially challenging year for slugs, he told a group of growers gathered for a recent crops conference at the Lancaster Farm and Home Center. This was because the heavy snow that fell over winter provided enough insulation for adult slugs to overwinter and lay eggs in spring, and this caused problems for growers in May and early June.

Typically, adult slugs die from the first hard frosts in fall, even if they are able lay eggs.

With more than 70% of corn and soybeans grown no-till in Pennsylvania, this also provides a good environment for slugs to thrive.

Fields that arent tilled have a nice, stable habitat for slugs, and thats why they develop there, Tooker said. Tilling doesnt provide that stable environment unless a grower is growing strawberries under black plastic. When we have long-term no-till, we have slugs.

A common misconception is that slugs are insects. But slugs are mollusks and are more closely related to clams than insects, Tooker said. This is an important point, he said, because insecticides used to control other pests are not effective against slugs. At the same time, these insecticides can knock out the beneficial pests that could control slugs naturally, creating a real no-win situation for growers.

Slugs are voracious eaters and will munch on almost anything. But canola, soybeans and brassica cover crops radishes, turnips, rapeseed and mustards are their favorites, Tooker said. They will also feed on corn, but only if there is no other option. This is where having a cover crop, or even some weeds, can be effective because it gives slugs another option over corn.

But this requires some forethought: Is your slug problem bad enough that youll allow some weeds to better control them?

Tillage is always an option to control slugs, especially using a moldboard plow. This will help bury the slug eggs so deep that they wont be able to reach the surface.

But with so many growers doing no-till now, some for decades, this is not a practical solution for some growers.

Baits are another good option for slugs, but Tooker thinks they should only be used sparingly. Metaldehyde baits are pellets that can be spread. Some growers spread them with potash, he said.

The goal is to spread at least 10 pounds per acre, or 4 to 6 pellets per square foot. Some growers even spread it in bands over a row. Tooker said that slugs prefer these pellets over other plants, so they can be effective. The only exception is soybeans, as slugs will prefer soybeans over bait.

Another issue with these baits is that they are water-soluble. Slugs will come out in droves when it is wet. Applying these baits after a good rainstorm can be effective, but if more rain is in the forecast, the bait can be washed away, limiting your time to get it applied.

These baits are best used for targeted rescue treatments, Tooker said. So if you have plants dying, corn and soybean fields, then baits are a great choice. If the plants arent dying, I wouldnt use the baits right away. Just keep your fingers crossed, hope for some nice weather that will get those plants growing and get them out of the ground, and then they can outrun the damage.

Through farmer networks, another solution has developed, but you want to think very hard before doing it.

The solution is using nitrogen to kill slugs. The concept involves mixing 30% nitrogen 1-to-1 with water, spraying it when its dark when slugs are most active, and doing it three nights in a row. Some growers call it the rule of 3.

Tooker said this method is risky, but its been studied by Galen Dively, former entomologist at the University of Maryland, who found that 10 gallons of 28% urea in 10 gallons of water knocked back slug populations by 75% on average. Tooker said this likely only gives temporary relief, and with nitrogen prices much higher than before, it might not be a good option, but it can work.

So if youre really struggling, and you know good weather is coming, this might be an option, he said.

One of the benefits to no-till is that the stable habitat provides a great place for slug predators ground beetles, firefly larvae and soldier beetle larvae to thrive. Its made even better by planting cover crops.

Ground beetles are especially effective, Tooker said, as the larvae and adults will both feed on the slugs.

To make predators most effective, though, we have to think about our pesticide use, particular our insecticide use, he said. I often encourage farmers to use integrated pest management to manage their insect populations.

So scout fields before you decide to spread, and see if you have enough pests to justify using an insecticide.

If you do have a pest population that needs insecticide, then use it, rather than just tank-mixing an insecticide and blindly using it whether you know if you have an insect problem or not, he said.

Noenicitinoid seed coatings are effective at killing bugs. The water-soluble coating is taken up by the plant when it starts to emerge, and the bugs feed on the plant, killing them. But its only effective if the bugs are around in the first place. This is an important point that Tooker said growers should think about if they have a slug problem.

If youre suffering from slugs perennially I would recommend removing the coating from those seeds and plant something else into those fields because slugs are only going to be in a position to succeed when the insecticide is there, he said. My bottom line is to manage for the pests that you have.

Planting green is another good tool for managing slugs as you will be planting your cash crop into a living cover crop in spring that has been rolled or is still standing.

Remember, the cover crop, especially cereal rye, provides good habitat for slug killers, but it is also an alternative plant for slugs to munch on. It also involves quite a bit of management, so you might want to talk to an experienced farmer before diving in.

Trade-offs of controlling slugs in no-till - Farm Progress

Election experts say Pennsylvania’s voting process is well-protected from ballot tampering – 90.5 WESA

Posted on January 25, 2022 by Danzig

Pennsylvanias Department of State said the rules for counting votes are designed to ensure nobody can tamper with the process and the procedures are clear: vote counters arent allowed to be alone with ballots.

That reminder comes as former President Donald Trump suggested Republican vote counters can interfere in the ballot counting process in the next election.

Trump sent a video message to Lawrence County Republicans and suggested that the workers who count the votes could influence who wins.

Were gonna have to be a lot sharper the next time when it comes to counting the vote, Trump said. Theres a famous statement: sometimes the vote counter is more important than the candidate.

Trump falsely claims that he won Pennsylvania when in fact he lost by more than 80,000 votes.

A judge and two inspectors, who are all elected, oversee vote casting on election day.

Judges dont have discretion to change the law and to make decisions about who gets to vote or about counting votes or not counting votes, said Susan Gobreski of the League of Women Voters.

The Department of State said in an email election workers of both parties then seal and transport ballot materials from voting precincts to a county election office on Election Night.

Extensive poll worker training and guidance shows once a polling place sends in its ballots, they have to be double checked by county election officials.

The ballots are counted and re-counted, a process thats open to a representative for each candidate and party.

The idea behind all those layers is to make election cheating difficult, if not impossible.

The Department of State added security measures like data encryption and network monitoring help prevent tampering with Pennsylvanias voting systems.

County, state and federal judges and public officials of both political parties, and election experts, have concluded the 2020 election was free and fair. Pennsylvania legally certified its electoral votes Dec. 14, and multiple courts dismissed election-challenge cases for reasons including lack of evidence and lack of standing to sue.