The Biden presidency and a new direction in education policy – Brookings Institution

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Within the first moments of his speech acknowledging the news that he won the presidential election, Joe Biden heralded a good day for educators. He took the opportunity to acknowledge the educational contribution of Dr. Jill Biden, community college professor and soon-to-be first lady. Bidens commitment to education is visibly displayed in many of the 49 action plans posted on his website.

But the incoming Biden-Harris administration faces major policy and political challenges in the education realm, many of which stem from President Trumps unilateral action to reduce federal involvement in American schooling. The Trump team primarily pursued a strategy of rolling back initiatives launched by the Obama administration that promoted systemic racial equality, protected student rights, and strengthened state and district capacity.

President Trumps disengagement has created broader policy challenges for the Biden administration as well. The nations schools are stretched beyond their capacity to deliver remote instruction and ensure student safety during the pandemic. State budgetary shortfalls will need timely federal assistance. Across thousands of local communities, the Black Lives Matter movement has inspired a racial justice agenda, with clear ripple effects on public schools. Political support for the Biden agenda seems unpredictable as the public sends mixed signals on divided governance.

Taking into account candidate Bidens policy platform, the current policy challenges, and the governing landscape in 2021, I see the Biden-Harris administration likely to focus on several priority areas related to American schooling.

Confronting the pandemic is Bidens primary education issue beginning on Jan. 20, 2021. Biden has repeatedly announced that he wants to shut down the virus so he can safely reopen schools and the economy. The Biden administration has relied on the nations top health experts to develop effective anti-pandemic strategies and establish national guidelines to restore the nations economic and social life. The new administration will need to strengthen its partnership with states and districts to ensure school safety and to implement strategies that narrow the widening learning gap associated with the pandemicespecially in racially or economically marginalized communities.

Recent research found a significant gap in mathematics arising during the pandemic. Clearly, the Biden administration will need to act swiftly to work with states and districts to start addressing the gap in teaching, connectivity, resources, social-emotional well-being, and student engagement. In the absence of federal support, the achievement gap and childrens nonacademic needs are likely to grow. Drawing on lessons from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Biden administration may launch an education-focused package to ensure school safety, stabilize teacher employment, strengthen bandwidth for remote and hybrid learning, and prioritize educators to receive vaccines.

The Biden team is well positioned to simultaneously manage the next few months of the pandemic and the next generation of learning systems through investments in governmental capacity. The Biden administration may incentivize health and education agencies to share data, coordinate resource allocation, streamline communications, engage parents and communities, and deploy rapid response teams to combat hot spots. Equally important, Biden is well positioned to make significant investment in remote and hybrid learning, pilot new schooling models with flexible schedule and spatial design, and, at the secondary and postsecondary levels, promote cross-institutional collaboration to meet the educational challenge of the global system in the 21st century. These investments may potentially transform teaching and learning by lessening the constraints bounded by place and time. The post-pandemic period may usher a new system of schooling delivery to address inequality of access by zip code and income and racial segregation.

The Biden presidential campaign is closely connected to the hopes and strength of the Black community as articulated in the overwhelming Black support that Biden received throughout the presidential race. The Biden presidency is likely to use executive and administrative tools to reverse the erosion of systemic oversight in civil rights and diversity issues. During the Trump years, the Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights has reduced its reporting requirements and its enforcement activities. It withdrew Obama-era guidelines designed to reduce racial and other discrimination in the implementation of school disciplinary actions. The Trump administration sought to restrict the ability of student borrowers to sue loan-service contractors under state law, and it rescinded Obama-promulgated regulations to penalize for-profit vocational schools that had failed to attain employment targets for their graduates.

The Biden presidency has the opportunity to collaborate with historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), and tribal colleges to address systemic inequality. In this regard, Trumps effort was piecemeal. With support from Congress, the Trump administration wrote off loans incurred by several HBCUs to repair damages caused by Hurricane Katrina and made federal STEM funding in HBCUs permanent. The Biden administration is likely to adopt a more comprehensive approach that links K-12 and postsecondary opportunities for the Black community. As a graduate of Howard University, Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris is uniquely positioned to shape federal investment in Black-focused initiatives, including medical education and research, legal training, workforce development, and business and social work.

Bidens agenda calls for new strategies in human capital investment. First, the federal government can scale education initiatives that are embraced by a number of states and districts. For example, several governors and mayors implement pre-K programs; strengthen the quality and the range of skills-based programs in community colleges; invest in STEM education; and partner with higher ed institutions to ensure teacher education programs adopt high-quality standards that are meeting the needs of a growingly diverse population.

Second, the federal government can lead and incentivize innovative practices. In this regard, a critical area that matters in the long run is evidence-based research, which has historically received modest federal support. However, well-executed research has contributed to high-impact strategies and practices in teacher quality, student applications for college financial aid, special education, early childhood education, and charter schools, among other areas. Consistent with multilateralism, the Biden team can take a leading role in international benchmarking. The Biden presidency has an opportunity to narrow the research-practice gap by investing in the R&D functions of the Department of Education.

Trumps general lack of interest in higher education has further delayed the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which has been due since 2014. To be sure, building a legislative coalition is complicated by limited federal authority and strong nonpublic partners in higher education. Reauthorization efforts were stalled even when the Senate HELP Committees chair, Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and its ranking member, Patty Murray (D-Wash.), demonstrated bipartisan cooperation. Clearly, presidential leadership is needed. Biden seems ready to apply his legislative skills and coalition-building experience to craft a bipartisan, omnibus bill.

The Biden administration is likely to propose an omnibus higher education bill that improves access, affordability, inclusion, and accountability. Access and affordability would require an expansion of Pell Grants, which currently are set at $6,345not nearly enough to cover the average cost for tuition and fees at a public institution. These policy aims will call for federal loan forgiveness based on income eligibility, veterans support, teacher education enhancement, and investment in HBCUs, HSIs, and tribal colleges. New guardrails will be needed to ensure student borrowers rightsincluding about 350,000 borrowers with disabilitiescivil rights, gender equity, and victims rights for those who have endured sexual harassment or assault on school campuses. Potentially new federal funding will focus on diversity and STEM, while FAFSA application and verification will be more customer friendly.

Bidens proposal on student loan forgiveness is likely to be favorably received by the higher educator sector, as many colleges and universities have already put in place loan-free programs based on income eligibility. The Biden administration is likely to form multilateral partnerships to promote freely accessible two-year colleges, scaling similar programs that are implemented in Rhode Island and several states. Community colleges, as critical pathways toward economic mobility, will receive particular attention given Dr. Jill Bidens decades of experience in this area.

The Trump presidency had an adversarial and chaotic relationship with the education community. For example, Secretary Betsy DeVos or her Department of Education have been sued in 455 lawsuitsthe most ever in the history of the department, according to an analysis by The 74. This includes eight multistate suits. Most of the complaints focused on student borrowers rights, gainful employment, and civil rights. As a comparison, there were 356 cases brought against the Education Department or the secretary of education during Obamas two terms combined, including zero multistate lawsuits.

Recognizing an urgency to restore responsible governance to address multiple crises, the incoming Biden presidency signals a strong commitment to engage diverse stakeholders and subject-matter experts. Bidens education agenda will need a broad coalition beyond the Beltway that includes civil rights leaders, governors, mayors, teachers unions, state legislative leaders, innovative practitioners, higher education leaders, and civic and business stakeholders. Guided by a clear moral compass to serve all students and their families, president-elect Biden will be able to steer the nation toward educational progress.

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The Biden presidency and a new direction in education policy - Brookings Institution

Circular economy in the dairy industry: Processing wastes to P-rich bio-based fertilisers – Open Access Government

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Phosphorus (P) is a macronutrient required for the growth of plants and frequently limits the productivity of agroecosystems. Currently, almost 90% of the finite phosphate rock resources are being used for inorganic fertiliser production, animal feed and plant protection products. Phosphate rock was listed as an EU critical raw material in 2014, triggering the attention over poor management of this resource and stimulating interest in P recovery and reuse. Also, exponential growth in nutrient flows has led to concerns about waste generation. This is particularly the case for the dairy processing industry.

With the rapid industrialisation observed in the last century and the growing rate of milk production, dairy processing is considered the largest industrial wastewater source in Europe. Dairy industry generates a wastewater stream commonly known as DPW which is stated to be one of the uppermost generators of surface waters pollution.

Within the new Green Deal, EU establishes ambitious objectives for the agriculture-food system, including the reduction of nutrient losses by 50% and of fertiliser use by 20% before 2030. The EU Circular Economy initiative along with the revised fertiliser regulations, therefore, provides an opportunity for industrialised food production systems to play a key role in the recovery and recycling of P and to enable more sustainable and efficient food production. This will close the P cycle, increase EU resilience to potential future disruption to P supply chains, while mitigating the environmental consequences of P leakages into surface waters.

The current scenario opens opportunities for the dairy processing industry to innovate in P recovery and reuse by adapting technologies and new waste management strategies that minimise P losses while benefiting from emerging market opportunities. Unfortunately, to date, finding a solution to reusing P from DPW has been hampered by a lack of available effective and efficient technology. However, valuable non-mineral P can be recovered from P-rich DPW and used as BBF over the use of inorganic fertilisers in agriculture.

Available alternatives for organic amendments application consist basically of land spreading. Identified advantages of this practice include the improvement of soil structure, low cost (compared with inorganic fertilisers) and the product high availability. However, some drawbacks are commonly observed such as odour nuisance, the uncertainty of nutrient content, pathogen content and difficulty in handling and application planning.

The development of specific technologies that focus on the recovery and reuse of nutrients are urgently needed. Given the vast and ever-increasing volume of DPW generation and its nutrient content makes it a suitable candidate for producing safe and effective BBF that could replace both inorganic fertilisers and direct land application.

The specific requirements to ensure the long-term economic and environmental sustainability of these BBF products are including obligatory maximum contaminant levels, the use of defined component material categories, safe and usable in agricultural areas to build both fertility and soil quality and importantly to reduce the risk to human health and environment.

To date, several technologies are being developed to produce BBF from DPW, which focus on P accumulation, mineralization and purification. Technology for precipitation and crystallization of DPW as salt-form are the common methods applied for the mineralization process, for example, as a form of struvite, hydroxyapatite and vivianite. Other interesting technologies to produce BBFs consist of concentrating the DPW to reduce the water content and recover valuable elements (i.e. bio-electro concentration, electrodialysis, adsorption, evaporation and reverse osmosis).

BETA Technological Center (Catalunya, Spain) is currently working in two different technological approaches to recover nutrients from DPW:

The opportunity for processing DPW into BBF will increase the overall sustainability of the dairy farming system by indirectly reducing the existing pressure for the obtaining and production of P mineral products, and directly by preventing nutrient leaching to surface and groundwaters. Nonetheless, the bio-based attribute is generally not a sufficient argument for choosing a product. Therefore, a key aspect which challenges the successful establishment of BBF as an alternative to inorganic fertilisers is understanding the stakeholders perspective, particularly the dairy farmers choice decision processes and acceptance factors. In this regard, main concerns correspond to the market price, certainty in the nutrient content, fertiliser equivalence value, absence of micropollutants and rate of nutrient release.

To fulfil these stakeholders needs and expectations, REFLOW, an interdisciplinary cross-sectoral H2020 European Training Network project, will develop and provide a solid economic and environmental alternative to inorganic fertilisers by delivering cost-effective, nutritive and safe standardised BBF products. In accordance with the circular economy framework, new fertiliser products will increase, or at least maintain, actual production yields while avoiding environmental impacts in the dairy processing industry.

*Please note: This is a commercial profile

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Circular economy in the dairy industry: Processing wastes to P-rich bio-based fertilisers - Open Access Government

Where Do We Stand Five Years After the Paris Agreement? – Sierra Magazine

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OpinionThe opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Sierra Club.

It was five years ago this month, December 2015, when the globes nations came together in Paris to chart a path for addressing the climate crisis. The resulting Paris Agreement was an essential step forward in the international effort to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The agreement shifted nation-states concerns from focusing solely on mitigation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to also begin dealing with climate change adaptation, technology transfer, and financing the transition to renewable energy. Anchored in the ideal of intergenerational equity and the polluter-pays and precautionary principles, the Paris Agreement declared that the atmosphere is a common resource of everyone on planet Earthand that every nation has a responsibility to do what it can to lower emissions.

Where do we stand today, five years after the Paris Agreement was finalized? Unfortunately, institutional efforts to tackle the climate crisis have failed to bring meaningful reductions in emissions, the kind of reductions commensurate with the threat. In a report titledThe Truth Behind the Paris Agreement Climate Pledges,a panel of climate scientists warn that without massive changes and active leadership in the very near future, we could be living in a 1.5oC [average temperature increase] world in about a decade. The reports analysis of the Paris Agreement pledges of 184 countries found that almost 75 percent were insufficient to meet the agreements goals.

Meanwhile, the inequities within and among nations have only gotten worse, as have the failures of governance, as the pandemic has made clear. The richest countries have largely shaped the commitments and determined who gets access to finance, technology transfer, and innovationall of which has left some countries still grappling for ways to reduce the risk of vulnerable communities to climate change.

My home country of Indiathe second-most-populous nation on Earthoffers an example of the challenges and opportunities of tackling the climate crisis.

Extreme weather events in India have been on the rise during the past few years.Nineteen extreme weather events in 2019 claimed at least 1,357 lives, with heavy rain and floods accounting for a majority of those deaths.A study by Indias Ministry of Earth Sciencesrecorded several extreme weather eventsincluding severe cyclonic storms over the Arabian Seathat were a result of human-caused climate change. The study warns that by the end of the 21stcentury, the number of warm days and warm nights in India is likely to be 55 to 70 percent higher compared with the average number between 1976 and 2005. Such changes will seriously impact Indias terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and likely cause irreparable damage to agricultural, fishing, and other natural-resource-dependent communities. The anticipated impacts on the countrys biodiversity, food, water, forests, energy, public health, and education will take India back by many years in terms of the social welfare indicators.

India is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather conditions due to its low per-capita income, vast social and economic inequalities, and large agriculture-based economy.A briefing paper titled Global Climate Risk Index 2020highlights who suffers most from extreme weather events. The reports makes clear that low-income countries are the hardest hit by climate change since they have lower coping capacity. The sad part of this problem is the fact that those who are the least responsible for past emissions are likely to suffer the most serious impacts. Worse still, developing countries located in the most-climate-change-sensitive regions lack the resources to build and manage climate-resilient cities, towns, and villages.

Now, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic makes the situation worse. While the pandemic has caused a slight drop in greenhouse gas emissions this year (bysomewhere between 4 and 7 percent), it remains to be seen whether this dip can be translated into lasting environmental gains or climate justice. The pandemic has also highlighted the huge inequality that exists in the world and has exposed how unprepared the worlds political and economic leaders are when it comes to tackling a crisis. It is most likely that inequalities are going to escalate post-pandemic. COVID-19 and the climate crisis require the worlds leaders to be more introspective about how theyve responded to these planetary emergencies.

National leaders, for example, need to refocus on work that still needs to be done to provide people with clean energyand to do so in a way that is just and equitable. The basic energy needs remain unmet for a large section of the rural population in many developing countries. Women and children bear the brunt of energy poverty, as they are the ones who have to walk long distances and spend a large part of their day collecting water and firewood. While some countries may boast of electrifying all their villages, this does not necessarily mean that every rural home is lit or has water flowing through the taps.

According to the International Energy AgencysWorld Energy Investment 2020 report, a key indicator on energy access will be the capital going into clean energy technologies. While the news mostly appears good, there are also areas of serious concern such as how clean energy investments are changing land holding patterns and taking away prime agricultural land for renewable energy installations in the developing world. In the rush to shift to renewables,some agrarian and pastoral communities are being deprivedof their livelihoods, access to water, and food securities.

Indias experience shows how difficult it can be to balance competing priorities. Indiasintended nationally determined commitment(or INDC) under the Paris Agreement mentions the need to eradicate poverty while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and also committing to generating nearly 40 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2030. The INDC has noted that it would be difficult to afford this goal and that at least $2.5 trillion would be required to realize this commitment. The hope was and continues to be that these commitments can be implementedso long as the wealthy countries of the Global North assist with technology transfer and finance.

The Indian government dreams of an India that will produce 450 gigawatts of non-fossil-fuel energy by 2022, which would more than double the target of 175 GW of green energy set for 2018. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also set up anInternational Solar Allianceaimed at reducing the cost of securing finance and technology transfers and, in doing so, expand the solar sector in India. With 100 percent foreign direct investment opened for projects in renewable power generation and distribution and new guidelines for utility scale solar park investments in India, theres increased likelihood that the lives and livelihoods of local communities may be impacted by clean energy developmenta situation that needs careful attention.

The Pavagada Solar Park in the state of Karnatakais a classic example of one of several such large utility scale solar power plantsthat have sprouted across India in the past decade. Such parks are essential for India to achieve the targets set by the Paris Agreement. The solar park is spread over 13,000 acres and was at one time home to five villages that were once bustling with a variety of agricultural and pastoral activity. The families that parted with the land were promised jobs, but few have secured any. Women now walk long distances in search of fodder and firewood. Access to weeds, roots, and tubers that were key nutrition was also lost. All this while their own homes still lurk in darkness.

All of which illustrates the point that there is no-one-size-fits-all approach to addressing the climate crisis. It is important for each developing country to look inward firstand not look outward to design policies to reach the carbon neutrality target. It is also important to secure finances to achieve this goal and to channelize the finances toward a fossil-fuel-free economy, making it viable and ensuring access to energy to the last mile for all basic needs.

Mahatma Gandhi once famously said, The earth, the air, the land, and the water are not an inheritance from our forefathers but on loan from our children. So, we have to hand over to them at least as it was handed over to us. The responsibility to address the climate crisis lies with all of us.

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Where Do We Stand Five Years After the Paris Agreement? - Sierra Magazine

8 Steps to Personal Empowerment – Entrepreneur

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January31, 20177 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

How can you, as an individual, live the most empowered life possible? By working. Work to make a significant difference in this world. Focus on what you can control, which is your hope, your attitude, your drive, your willingness to hustle, your commitment to keeping an objective and empowered mindset. If youre individual life is empowered, it can only have an empowering impact on all those who surround you.

There is no such thing as Dooms Day unless you believe in it. You have the powerand the responsibility to find that place inside of yourself where everything is possible. The more open you are to possibility, the more creative you become and the more expansive of a world you create for yourself to succeed in. If you live with a hopeless, angry or defeated attitude, then that will be what you live. Negative minds are closed minds.Closed mindssimply refuse to see what is available. They over focus on what isnt right, whatisn't happeningand on the lack of opportunity. Why would you choose to live this way? Life is a direct reflection of your beliefs. If you want a better outcome, then create it.Your opportunities for new hope and change are boundless, and it all starts within you.

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Things are going happen that you dont like. Life and success are built around the unfair. There is much that you will encounter that is not right, unjust and incorrect. Focus on who you want to be in response to these challenges. People get into high positions without the right to be there, but you are totally capable of rising up to those things which defy logic. Without the things that defy logic you would never come to know so deeply what you stand for, what you value or how powerful you truly are. When you shift your focus onto yourself and wholeheartedly and non-violently live your answers, it is then that you are living a life of true authenticity and significance. How much money did Martin Luther King Junior have in his pocket when he died? How much money did Mother Teresa have in her pocket when she died? Work quietly and let your success do the talking.

Another persons success does not equate as your failure. Its your life, so focus on your race. Instead of worrying about the competition, focus on the ball that is directly in front of you. If you worry about the competition, what they are and arent doing, then you lose track of the importance of what youre doing. Empowerment has nothing to do with competition, it has everything to do with contribution. There is not a better example of this then the most recent summer Olympics with the Phelps beating out the South African swimmer who so focused on beating Phelps and slamming Phelps in the media. The South African swimmer wasnt focused enough on his own race. Phelps beat him because Phelps was focused on winning his own race.

Related:The Ultimate Guide to Overcoming Setbacks, Obstacles and Defeats in Work and Life

Trust that you have what it takes to get the job done. Trust empowers you to move aggressively towards your goals. If you spend your time doubting your skills, the only thing you will be actively perfecting is your ability to doubt yourself. Your actions follow your thoughts. Shift all that time focusing on doubting yourself to believing in yourself. If you can dream something up, then it is in the realm of your possibility to make it happen. You must show yourself that you have what it takes to be resourceful when going for your goals. You will learn to trust yourself the most deeply through taking calculated action-driven risks. The more successful you become in taking risks, the easier it becomes and the more able you are to discern when your instincts are on and when theyre not. This empowers you to make better decisions.

To empower yourself, collaborate dont compete. Success is never a one man job. One of the smartest ways to move your mission forward is to network. Gather a team of people who have strengths to fill in where you have weaknesses. This allows you to delegate out to those who can best help you reach your goals. Collaboration is about inclusion. In collaborative environments, success is shared. It is people empowering other people. There is nothing more bonding to a team of people then the team effort that produced the successful result. Its bonding, and bonding is empowering. When you compete you create division, hatred, jealousy, and anger; none one of which help you build long standing relationships designed to make you more successful.

Related:How Startups Can BeEmpowermentTools for Women

Passion trumps failure. Love is the most powerful of all the emotions, which is why truly empowered people work in careers they love. Most will do almost anything for love. There is nothing that can get in your way when you want something badly enough that you are willing do anything to get it. Unexpected circumstances may knock you back or redirect you a bit along your path, but it will not have the power to take you from your goal. When you are deeply passionate about what you want, work doesnt feel like work, its more personal. When you love what you do, fears you may have of not succeeding will be outdone by the passion you have to never let failing be an option.

Success of any type will attract haters. What are you going to do with this? Use grace. If they go low, you go high or remain silent. Give grace, not to them, but because acting with grace says something empowering about you. Anger doesnt inspire change in anyone. Empowered and right action is the only thing which is inspires change. Have the self-discipline to have composure when face-to-face with haters. The one sure thing about haters is they hate you only until they want to be part of what youre doing, so they can say they knew you. Let them say whatever they want. You stay the course on the road less traveled.

The most empowered path to success comes through your experiences of failure. The late Mary Tyler Moore famously said, You cant be brave if youve only had wonderful things happen to you. Empowerment is most deeply cultivated during times of challenge. Failure and uncertainty are necessary structures for you to bump up against for the development of your own refinement. Without failure you would have nothing to improve upon. Choose to evolve rather than dissolve under pressure. Your imperfect moments provide the perfect trajectory for your growth up the mountain of success youre climbing.

To live an empowered lifeof great significance be open to possibility, cooperation, education, success and understanding that success is not a one man job. Love what you do so deeply that you are abel to include others in your dream and empower them in their success. Love what you do so deeply that there will be no roadblock or hardship that will take you from your desired direction. Empowerment means that you dont crumble under failure. You make the conscious choice to grow from the pressure to evolve yourself to that next level.

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8 Steps to Personal Empowerment - Entrepreneur

The 3 Core Fundamentals of Self-Empowerment

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Self-empowerment is the process which leads people to exert greater control over their lives. I have personally done so by starting a personal blog.

Self-empowerment includes cultivating skills that would ultimately allow you to influence certain outcomes and produce tangible results. This is different from merely feeling self-empowered. People may feel self-empowered by listening to a moving speech, but as new research correctly shows, people wont in fact be empowered unless theyre able to measurably change an area of their lives.

Today I will share with you three key steps that I have used to help me experience self-empowerment.

The idea that self-empowerment requires awareness sounds like a cliche. But Id like to offer a different view on the idea of expanding awareness.

I find its best to think of self-empowerment as the ability to be conscious of ones choices so that you can choose who you want to become.

I opted for this definition because I noticed that when people are dis-empowered, they lose sight of what they are capable of. So the first step to becoming self-empowered is to fully apprehend that you do have options. Sometimes these options not immediately within reach, but theyre there. So if youre unemployed and think you have absolutely no choice, then think about this:

The purpose of these questions is not to make you feel bad about yourself, but to show you that you do have a choice, and its up to you to do something about it.

You might not be the only culprit in your dis-empowerment. There might be other people in your life who keep bringing you down. These could friends, family and even partners. And if you keep letting them have a say over you, then youre never going to take responsibility for your life. Its safe to let others direct your life since youll always have someone to blame if things go wrong. Stop giving away your power and let go of immature thought patterns. Continuing on this route will only fuel feelings of inferiority, and youll believe that youre less than others.

When you feel inferior, youre going to believe them when they tell you to accept things the way they are, and to just adapt. Theyre going to tell theres no way out and that youre stuck, and if you dont take responsibility, then you wont make it.

Now, I am here to tell you that youve been told to believe a big fat lie. No, you dont have to live according to other peoples standards.

There are things you can do today to let go and begin a process of positive change.

You first have to understand for yourself how youve been conditioned to react to things around you. Are you following a dis-empowering pattern or an empowering one? You need to identify those patterns before you can change them.

Heres a self-empowerment exercise that can be of value to you.

Exercise:

Next time you catch yourself feeling dis-empowered, I urge you to take a step back and observe your mind go through its typical reaction pattern. Let your mind go through the entire rehearsal and observe it as it unfolds. What feelings come to the surface when youre dis-empowered? Do you feel weak? anxious? alone? Watch your physical reaction. Do you sweat? Does your face turn red?

This how I use this exercise:

I let myself experience the dis-empowering emotions that arise in a clam (higher-order) state of mind as though the real me is separate from the mind and body that are undergoing this experience. This helps me take proactive action and not react.

You can rise above your material weaknesses and decide how you want to respond to these thoughts. The first step to becoming self-empowered is to realize that you do have options.

Courage is the second pillar of self-empowerment. It is your anchor for any real and lasting transformation in life. Courage will help you overcome your fears, try new things, to quit things that dont work, to find new relationships, and to start your first business. Courage will also make you help, love, learn, give back, forgive, start over, to stand up for yourself, to stand up for others, to say yes, and to say no. Courage, in my view, is the most fundamental value.

But you might say, I dont have enough courage yet.

Thats fine. I ask you to focus not on what you dont have, but on what you can become once you employ your abilities to their full capacity. Dont hold yourself back by thinking you need to be absolutely ready before taking action. The German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, said that the most admirable actions are not those that come from the person who does them naturally. Rather, they come from the person who struggles to do them but finds a way to do them anyway. Thats courage.

A paradigm shift in your thinking is a precursor to self-empowerment.

A paradigm is a belief system within which you define yourself and the world in a coherent way. The coherence of these beliefs depends on the web of principles, values, and judgements that you have formed about who you are. In any given paradigm, events are interpreted in accordance with the rules of that paradigm and as such derive their credibility from it.

In other words, you think that your beliefs about yourself and the world around you are true as long as they fit in the greater scheme of that paradigm.

We all live within paradigms. We all have beliefs about who we are and why we are the way we are. While some paradigms are empowering, others can be dis-empowering. For example, a person who lacks self-confidence might believe that social situations provoke anxiety and such situations must be avoided.

People justify their low self-confidence by appealing to the set of beliefs they have about themselves and about social situations; such as beliefs about strangers, beliefs about social rejection, and belief about awkwardness around new people. These beliefs will make your perception of your low self-confidence level true. This happens because each belief coheres with the rest of the beliefs that are members of that paradigm.

So creating a change in oneself, in my view, has to start with a paradigm shift in your thinking. The self-empowering paradigm that I want to suggest here is a growth-oriented paradigm.

Many of the personal challenges that people experience such as low self-confidence, lack of productivity, certain financial challenges; etc., arise from living in a performance-oriented paradigm. This paradigm contains rigid and fixed beliefs about oneself and the processes of doing something well.

The person that operates within that paradigm is concerned with how they look. Theyre preoccupied with how others see them. Theyre trapped in a constant evaluation of themselves and their performance. This is an unhealthy paradigm to be in because you will never leave your comfort zone for the fear of letting yourself and others down. People who are performance-oriented also tend to be judgmental and are less likely to do well in team projects. I encourage you to let go and to make mistakes. People can be so self-absorbed that they wont even remember your mistakes.

On the other hand, a growth-oriented paradigm is one in which you dont judge yourself. You take on experiences because you know that becoming good at something requires working and probably failing along the way. Dont take yourself too seriously. Youre not a robot. Focus on growth and learning as opposed to saying: I should know how to do this, or I wont try it. A growth oriented paradigm allows you to take chances, to meet new people, to learn new skills, and to grow your earnings. It allows you to live an exciting fulfilling life.

There are two key elements to a self-empowered life, and they are competency and knowledge.

Having a good sense of your skills and strengths will give you a rough estimate about which of the areas youre likely to do well and which of these areas will challenge you. Understanding what youre not good at is both a humbling and exciting. Youre not expected to know everything about whatever you want to do. Trust me, people do appreciate it when you say I am not really good at this, or thats not my strength. Approach your weaknesses with a curious mind and focus on learning.

If you want to embark on a new journey, then you need to identify what you need to know in order to get there. But dont stop yourself from taking action. Every journey is a process of discovery and it is impossible to know everything you need to know ahead of going through the experience. Learn as you grow.

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The 3 Core Fundamentals of Self-Empowerment

Secretary DeVos Announces New Funding to Accelerate Education Innovation and Empower Teachers with Professional Development Options – U.S. Department…

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WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos today announced $185 million in new grant funding for 28 school districts, institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations across the United States as part of the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program. These new grant awards will accelerate locally-driven innovation and improve academic achievement for high-needs students around the country.

This year's funding supports a new, groundbreaking effort to empower teachers to personalize their professional development, rather than have it imposed on them by their state or school district. More than $72 million in new funding will help develop systems to enable teachers to select professional learning options that meet their personal development needs, without cost to the teachers and beyond the one-size-fits-all training typically offered by the school system.

"I have heard clearly from classroom teachers from around the country: teacher professional development is broken, and teachers know how to fix it," said Secretary DeVos. "I am encouraged that these new grants will be used to empower teachers to choose their own professional learning and recognize that teachers should have the ability to choose the right direction for their professional growth. When you empower teachers to do what they know is best, teachers benefitand so do students."

In addition to promoting teacher empowerment, the 28 awards help realize other key Administration priorities, including:

The EIR program is authorized under Section 4611 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Its purpose is to create, develop, implement, replicate, or take to scale entrepreneurial, evidence-based innovation to improve student achievement. As with all the Department of Education's grant competitions, applications undergo a blind evaluation by a panel of independent peer reviewers, and only the highest-scoring applications are funded. For additional information about the EIR competition, please visit oese.ed.gov.

A complete list of awardees is below:

University of Alaska Fairbanks

AK

$7,999,712

Social-Emotional Learning

WestEd

CA

$8,000,000

Social-Emotional Learning

New Teacher Center

CA

$7,998,782

Social-Emotional Learning

University of Southern California

CA

$7,998,815

Social-Emotional Learning

Orange County Superintendent of Schools

CA

$3,964,304

STEM

American Institutes for Research

DC

$7,999,777

Social-Emotional Learning

Digital Promise Global

DC

$3,996,372

STEM

Duval County Public Schools

FL

$3,502,713

STEM

School Board of Miami-Dade County

FL

$12,000,000

Teacher PD

North American Native Research and Education Foundation INC

ID

$3,568,382

STEM

Computer Science Teachers Association LLC

IL

$10,492,565

Teacher PD

Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative

KY

$3,999,633

STEM

YouthForce NOLA

LA

$3,996,263

STEM

Jobs for the Future, Inc.

MA

$4,000,000

STEM

Education Development Center, Inc.

MA

$3,999,826

STEM

The Johns Hopkins University

MD

$5,879,943

Social-Emotional Learning

The Curators of the University of Missouri Special Trust

MO

$3,932,204

STEM

Missouri State University

MO

$3,996,749

STEM

Appalachian State University

NC

$11,999,692

Teacher PD

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

NJ

$4,000,000

STEM

Charleston County School District

SC

$11,932,890

Teacher PD

Voorhees College

SC

$5,822,638

Teacher PD

Niswonger Foundation

TN

$8,000,000

STEM

Texas A&M Research Foundation

TX

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Secretary DeVos Announces New Funding to Accelerate Education Innovation and Empower Teachers with Professional Development Options - U.S. Department...

Beethoven’s Life, Liberty And Pursuit Of Enlightenment : Deceptive Cadence – NPR

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A portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven, painted in 1804 by W.J. Mhler. Wikimedia Commons hide caption

A portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven, painted in 1804 by W.J. Mhler.

Two-hundred-fifty years ago, a musical maverick was born. Ludwig van Beethoven charted a powerful new course in music. His ideas may have been rooted in the work of European predecessors Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Josef Haydn, but the iconic German composer became who he was with the help of some familiar American values: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That phrase, from the Declaration of Independence, is right out of the playbook of the Enlightenment, the philosophical movement that shook Europe in the 18th century.

"One way to look at it is what happened after Newton created the scientific revolution: Basically, people, for the first time, developed the idea that through reason and science, we can understand the universe and understand ourselves," says Jan Swafford, the author of Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph, a 1,000-page biography of the composer.

Swafford says the Enlightenment idea embodied in the Declaration of Independence is that the aim of life is to serve your own needs and your own happiness. "But you can only do that in a free society," he says. "So freedom is the first requirement of happiness."

Other key components of the Enlightenment including a cult of personal freedom and the importance of heroes were vibrating in the air in Beethoven's progressive hometown of Bonn when he was an impressionable teenager. "There was discussion of all these ideas in coffeehouses and wine bars and everywhere," Swafford adds. "Beethoven was absorbed into all that and he soaked it up like a sponge."

You can hear ideas from the Enlightenment in Beethoven's Third Symphony, nicknamed "Eroica" heroic. "There's an amazing place near the end of the first movement of the 'Eroica' where you hear this theme which I think represents the hero," Swafford points out. "It starts playing in a horn, and then it's as if it leads the whole orchestra into a gigantic proclamation, as if that is the hero leading an army into the future."

The hero of the "Eroica" Symphony was originally Napoleon until Beethoven found out he was just another brutal dictator, and tore up the dedication page of the score. Overall, the hero of much of Beethoven's music is humanity itself.

"He was a humanist, above all," says conductor Marin Alsop, who had planned to mount Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on six continents this year, before the pandemic hit. Beethoven, she says, believed that each of us can surmount any obstacle.

"You can hear his perspective on this new philosophy of the Enlightenment, because it's very personal to Beethoven," Alsop says. "Throughout all of his works, you have this sense of overcoming."

You can hear that journey from darkness to light in pieces like the "Eroica," in the famous Fifth Symphony and, Alsop says, at the very beginning the groundbreaking Ninth Symphony.

"It opens in the most unexpected way for a piece that's about to make a huge statement," Alsop says. "You can't even tell if it's a major or a minor key. It's kind of fluttering with a tremolo sound in the strings. It's this idea of possibility, an empty slate."

From there, Alsop adds, "Beethoven builds this whole journey of empowerment of unity. There's a lot of unison where the orchestra shouts out as one."

Those unisons are the way Beethoven depicts the connections between people a pretty important thing for a man who began to go deaf before he was 30. He's a perfect symbol for this era of COVID, Alsop says, because of his severe isolation. That solitude sent the composer out for long walks in the woods outside Vienna.

"Beethoven absolutely loved and cherished nature, and thought of nature as a holy thing," says conductor Roderick Cox, who led performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, the "Pastorale," this fall in Fort Worth, Texas. "Those are some of the principles of Enlightenment, of this music, the liberation of the human mind."

Cox also points to another Beethoven obsession: freedom, which is captured on stage, he says, in the composer's politically fueled opera Fidelio. "It really is the epitome of this Enlightenment spirit: This governmental prisoner, speaking out against the government for individual rights and liberty, has been jailed." In the opera, when the chorus of political prisoners leave their dungeon cells for a momentary breath of fresh air, Beethoven has them sing the word "Freiheit" freedom.

Two and a half centuries after his birth, Beethoven continues to loom large over today's composers literally, in some cases. American composer Joan Tower has a picture of Beethoven over her desk, and says he even paid her a ghostly visit once while she was trying to write music.

"He walked into the room right away," Tower says," and I said, 'Listen, could you leave? I'm busy here.' He would not leave. So I said, 'OK, if you're going to stay, then I'm going to use your music.' " And she did, in her piano concerto: Dedicated to Beethoven, the piece borrows fragments from three of his piano sonatas, including his final sonata, No. 32 in C minor.

"The thing I relate to is the struggle, because I struggle the way he does," Tower adds. "He was slow, and I'm slow. So there are certain connections that I'm so happy to have with him."

Everyone can connect to Beethoven, according to Alsop. "This is art that defies time, that defies culture, that defies partisanship, that unifies. And it can speak to each individual differently, but it speaks loudly to each of us," she says.

It's music that speaks to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness things we're all yearning for right now.

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Beethoven's Life, Liberty And Pursuit Of Enlightenment : Deceptive Cadence - NPR

The 1776 Opportunity: A 2026 Year-Long Celebration – Heritage.org

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The Heritage Foundation's 2020 President's Essay

FOREWORDby Kay C. James

Newt Gingrich is not only one of the best-known and respected speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives, hes also a noted historian and longtime friend of The Heritage Foundation. At a time when the nation is deeply divided and many Americans seem willing to throw away our future to politicians promising a socialist utopia, he has come up with a truly exceptional idea. Its a plan for rekindling a deep sense of patriotism in the American people, for creating a profoundly unifying understanding of their shared history, and for helping them to realize how truly blessed they are to have inherited the most successful experiment in self-government the world has ever seen.

The Speakers plan couldnt come at a more critical time in our history. The state of American civics education is truly lamentable. Too many citizens lack a basic understanding of our countrys founding at the same time left-wing politicians ignorantly declare that believing America is exceptional among nations isnt about acknowledging historical fact but rather about advocating xenophobic nationalism.

His state of affairs has led to generations of Americans who lack any appreciation for the beauty that so many others around the world clearly see in America. It leaves many susceptible to manipulation by politicians only interested in increasing their own power and their ideological accomplices in the media. Others succumb to the indoctrination of academics who poison their minds with disdain for the principles this country represents.

Yet, were somehow surprised when our children and grandchildren tell us that America is the cause of most of the worlds problems, from poverty to wars to global warming. Were surprised when young people riot in our streets, topple statues of our Founding Fathers, and burn our flag. And were surprised when our citizens support socialist policies that will inevitably destroy their own freedoms.

In what could be an antidote to much of this, Speaker Gingrich proposes a year-long celebration around the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. His proposal includes an entire year of thematic events and learning experiences that civic organizations, schools, governments, and families can use to start conversations and build a more profound appreciation for the most exceptional nation on earth and the document that started it all.

Such a celebration presents an incredible opportunity to do what many of our educational institutions fail to do: educate citizens about the crushing hand of tyranny and the irrepressible yearning for freedom that led to the American founding, the tremendous sacrifices of lives and treasure to achieve independence, and the lasting principles that created the unique nation that has been passed on to us.

Such a celebration would also serve as a much-needed repudiation of the anti-history taught to our young people, such as The New York Times 1619 Project. The 1619 retelling of Americas history makes the outrageous claim that the colonists didnt fight a revolution over a lack of democratic representation as every generation of Americans has been taught, until now but to preserve slavery in America. This and the many other falsehoods of the 1619 Project only serve to divide the nation further, promoting a culture of victimhood for modern-day blacks and a culture of blame for modern-day whites.

Despite the fact that the project has been thoroughly debunked by prominent historians, its curriculum is currently being taught in some 4,500 K-12 classrooms around the country.

In the inspiring proposal that follows, Speaker Gingrich wears his historian hat and reminds us just how incredible the Declaration of Independence was for its time and still is today.

On the 250th anniversary of this extraordinary document, America needs to reflect on how significantly this single piece of paper changed the trajectory of not just this nation, but of the world. The lessons that resulted from our great experiment in freedom and free-market capitalism spread around the globe and helped raise billions out of abject poverty. Americas role as peacekeeper, conqueror of tyrants, exporter of freedom, first responder in worldwide natural disasters, and mentor of free market prosperity has impacted the world like no other nation has before it.

If we fail to understand this incredible history, to teach it, to honor it, and to ensure that it remains part of the American DNA well then, were already seeing where that path is leading us.

On the other hand, if we know our history, faithfully pass it on to our progeny, and instill in them the will to preserve the nation it has given us, then we will ensure that America will forever be that beacon of freedom, opportunity, and prosperity for the world one that never stops promising an even better tomorrow for countless generations to come.

THE 1776 OPPORTUNITY: A 2026 YEAR-LONGCELEBRATIONby Newt Gingrich

July 4, 2026, will be the 250th anniversary (semiquincentennial) of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. This anniversary creates a great opportunity to educate Americans, and indeed the world, about the unique nature of the American system, the revolutionary roots of its origin, and the history of the unique leaders who came together to declare their independence, establish a moral basis for freedom, and launch a nation defined by its exceptionalism.

There are three powerful reasons for creating a 250th Anniversary Celebration. First, it is the opportunity to drive home the core principles of American exceptionalism. The Declaration of Independence is at the heart of the American sense of individual authority and responsibility. The remarkably self-reliant and optimistic American popular culture came into being precisely because we believe that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In many ways, it is the Declaration of Independence and victory in the war to which it led, that created the remarkably successful society about which Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in his classic work Democracy in America. Renewing this personal sense of American exceptionalism is a key step toward creating the entrepreneurial drive and creativity we will need to compete with a totalitarian Chinese dictatorship and to help solve problems at home and around the world.

Second, at the national level, this celebration can become a significant enough event that it can be developed into an immersive experience for the American people to reconnect with American history. During the 200th anniversary celebration in 1976, there was substantial television coverage, including a 12-hour syndicated entertainment program, The Great American Celebration, hosted by Ed McMahon that aired on CBS the evening of July 3; In Celebration of the United States, 16 hours of coverage hosted by Walter Cronkite on CBS; and The Glorious Fourth, 10 hours of coverage hosted by John Chancellor and David Brinkley on NBC.

In our multimedia era, an amazing number of events, activities, and interactive games, etc., could be developed to give people a dramatic experience of what it took to become independent, and what the moral, spiritual, and legal nature of that independence was and is.

Third, this is a real opportunity to communicate to the entire world the remarkable difference in moral authority and human freedom between the American system and the Chinese Communist totalitarian efforts to control everyone and everything. This 250th anniversary should be designed in part as a worldwide event with moral and political implications for every human everywhere. After all, all people are endowed by their Creator with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happinesswhether they live in China, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, or Saudi Arabia. If properly designed, this celebration could lead to a major increase in the cause of freedom and the understanding of freedom as a system based on the rule of law.

The Declaration of Independence is worthy of Americanand, indeed, worldwidestudy because it was a revolution in the nature of power. The remarkable citizens who gathered in

Philadelphia declared that our rights come from God, not from men. This is now such an obvious assertion that it is hard to remember just how extraordinary it was in 1776.

Historically, kings derived their power from God, and the king delegated such powers to subjects as he thought fit (or they wrested powers from him as they could).

The idea that sovereignty resided in each individual as a gift from God, and that the citizen could decide what portion of that power to lend to government, was a revolutionary shift in power. It was also an astonishing shift in psychology.

Where the pre-Declaration world implied an automatic subservience to the morally authoritative power of the King, the world after the Declaration fostered personal power and authority that captured a growing sense that Americans could make their way in the world. People shifted from asking the Kings permission and doing what the King approved to inventing their own futures.

This sense of personal empowerment started with white men who owned land, but for the next 200 years, it spread until it came to include everyone, male and female, of every ethnic and religious background.

The concept of individual rights having a moral basis that transcended any claims of royalty was truly revolutionary. The Declaration of Independence was written in a world of Kings, Czars, Emperors, and aristocracies of various kinds.

President Abraham Lincoln fully understood the importance of preserving what he called the last best hope of mankind. He had risen from poverty to the presidency and knew that there was no other country in the world that offered that kind of opportunity. He understood that slavery was morally impossible in a country founded on the Declaration of Independence. As he wrote in the December 1862 Message to Congress: In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the freehonorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.

Lincoln reinforced the centrality of the Declaration of Independence in his famous address at Gettysburg during the dedication of the first national military cemetery. It is worth reading in its entirety to remind ourselves that Lincoln regarded freedom so highly that he was willing to ask Americans to lay down their lives for the very idea of being free:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicatewe can not consecratewe can not hallowthis ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before usthat from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotionthat we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vainthat this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedomand that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Allen Guelzo, a senior research scholar in the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University, director of the James Madison Programs Initiative in Politics and Statesmanship, and visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation, captured the central importance of freedom and the Declaration of Independence to the survival of the United States in a piece for The Christian Science Monitor:

By making freedom the wars issue, Americans would keep alive a flame that only they, among all the nations of the earth, were tending.

On the other hand, if Americans had lost heart for freedom, then the whole experiment in democratic government which began in 1776 might as well be called off for good. Abolishing the last vestige of unfreedom in America would become the measure of whether we would nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.

Its difficult for us in 2010 to appreciate how seriously Lincoln embraced that anxiety about saving and losing the last best hope of earth. Two hundred and thirty-four years after we threw off the rule of a British king and established the worlds first successful, large-scale republic, democracy would seem to have become the default position of human governance. Of the 190 or so nation-states in the world today, Freedom House counts 116 as having electoral democracies, while dozens of unfree nations flatter democracy by having pretended to adopt it.

But Lincoln was speaking at a very different time. The 1789 French Revolution, which began so confidently on the model of the 1776 American Revolution, corkscrewed downward into terror and dictatorship. Democratic revolutions across Europe in 1848 were all ruthlessly suppressed.

Everywhere, democracy was being dismissed as an unstable sham that brought only misery and chaos. And when Americans protested that their democracy proved otherwise, cynical European aristocrats reminded them that the American democracys prosperity rested on the backs of millions of slaves.

When Lincoln looked around him in that bleak winter of 186263, the United States really did seem to be the last best hope of democracy on earth. But it was a hope whose

light might go out forever if the Civil War could not be won and the slaves could not be freed.

The power of freedom as defined in the Declaration of Independence and emphasized by President Lincoln can be measured in the 365,000 Union soldiers who died for the Union (the South lost an additional 290,000, making the Civil War by far Americas most costly conflict).

In thinking through a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it is important to remember that it is not just the drafting of the document that matters. What makes this Declaration historic is that it rallied the American people to the moral cause of a Creator-endowed liberty and ledafter eight years of warto American independence.

Celebrating the Declaration of Independence should include studying and learning about the factors which led up to its drafting and the factors that led to the successful establishment of what Lincoln called a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

This celebration should also highlight the factors leading up to the Declaration and the factors that enabled the American people to win a victory for freedom over the most powerful empire in the world.

This is not a time for celebrating a single day, but rather a time for understanding and celebrating an erathe era that created American freedom.

A YEAR-LONG, NATIONWIDE CELEBRATION

The Declaration of Independence is so important to our understanding of America, and the year in which it was adopted is of such historic importance, that we should focus on the entire year, not simply the Fourth of July.

Here is a sample calendar, which clearly can (and should) be dramatically enriched:

1. January: Launch an overview of the year that places the Declaration in context as an historic breakthrough that changed the trajectory of the human race (beginning to replace the divine right of kings and the brute right of dictators with a Creator-endowed right to freedom). Outline how the year will unfold and the many opportunities people will have to participate.

2. February: Explore the unique factors that from 1607 in Jamestown and 1620 in Massachusetts led Americans to practice self-government, develop an identity separate from Great Britain, and begin to acquire a sense of independence and legal rights separate from the King. Eliminate the mythology of the 1619 Project, and put the facts of both slave and free African Americans in context.

3. March: Revisit how the Founding Fathers developed their understanding of self-government from three sources: First, by studying the historic works that attempted to explain both the history and theory of effective and enduring free self-government;

second, through the practice of elections and legislative government in the colonies and the tension with Royal Governors appointed from London and their bureaucrats; and third, the correspondence between themselves and a handful of intellectual politicians in Britain over the principles to be applied to procure self-government.

4. April: Learn how constitutions are written and how the colonists established colonial, then state, governments on sound principles. Study the constant evolution of practical knowledge in the colonies that underlays the emergence of an American experience of self-government in Philadelphia.

5. May: Describe how a handful of bold, determined leaders decided to call a Continental Congress and the process of electing representatives to that Congress and learning to make it work. The story of how the citizens of 13 separate colonies of Great Britain transitioned to thinking of themselves as Americans is a remarkable one. Consider the extraordinary impact of Thomas Paines Common Sense, published on January 10, 1776and probably the most widely read pamphlet of the entire period. There was a remarkable interplay of personalities all driven by the need for leaders to make things work.

6. June: Look at the series of efforts made to reach out to London and find a way to avoid a war for independence. British aggression in Boston had a tremendous impact on the members of the Continental Congress, sparking the gradual realization that they would either have to submit to being subjects of a distant king, or they would have to learn to govern themselves and fight for the right to do so.

7. July: Dedicate this month to the great Declaration with all its moral, political, and diplomatic implications: how it was written, how and why it evolved through the drafting, and who contributed. The members of the Continental Congress had full awareness of what was at stake (their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor), and how deeply and seriously they took that pledge.

8. August: Study how the Declaration spread and how it was received in America, in England, and in countries that would end up helping the Americans in their war for independence. Look at the moral impact (and the impact on morale) of this assertion that our rights come from God. Study how General George Washington used the Declaration to strengthen the commitment of his army. Recall the initial period of optimism. With the British evacuation of Boston, there was a brief sense that independence was almost won.

9. September: Recall how the war became harder and the weight of British military and naval power began to grind down General Washington and his army. European opponents of Great Britain started to look for ways to help the American struggle for independencenot because they agreed with our claim of Creator-endowed rights (which actually threatened their own regimes) but because they found it in their best interests to undermine and weaken their British opponents, who had grown very strong over the previous half century.

10. October: Remind Americans today how their forbears were inspired by and believed in the Declaration of Independence. The war against Britain spread across the entire eastern seaboard and Britain found that it simply did not have enough troops to occupy all of the areas in revolt. The British army turned its focus to chasing Washington and trying to destroy his army.

11. November: Rediscover the importance of Thomas Paines The Crisis. Washington understood that a volunteer army of free people must have both moral purpose and hope.

With his army in retreat and gradually shrinking as men lost hope, Washington turned to Thomas Paine. He sent Paine out of the army (where he had been serving as a rifleman) to Philadelphia to write a second pamphlet explaining why things were harder than had been expected and why people had to persevere.

12. December: Commemorate the crossing of the Delaware. With the army on the edge of collapse and only 2,500 troops (one-third of whom were wearing burlap bags for shoes) capable of being in the field (less than one for every thousand Americans), Washington faced the greatest crisis of the Revolutionary War. If he failed to win a victory, his army would disappear, the war will be lost, and all the leaders would be hung as traitors. Washington devised an extraordinarily daring plan to cross the ice-filled Delaware River on Christmas night and march to Trenton, New Jersey, to isolate and capture 800 professional German soldiers (Hessians). As his men climbed into the boats, their officers read aloud from Paines newly published The Crisis, which explained why Americans must persevere to win their freedom. Morale and strategy go hand in hand. The Americans won a great victory, and thousands of new volunteers subsequently came pouring in. The revolution had not yet succeeded, but the British effort to suppress it had failed. In this context, 1776 ends on a high note and the momentum of the Declaration of Independence accelerates.

FIVE KEY GROUPS THAT MUST BE WOVEN INTO THE REVOLUTION STORY

The American Revolution was much more complicated and fascinating than simply the story of the white men who normally dominate the narrative. In fact, there are five major groups that must be included to get an accurate sense of the struggle for freedom:

1. Women. Women played a wide range of roles in the American Revolution, from creating the first American flag (Betsy Ross) to helping nurse the sick and woundedmany of whom would have died without the care of women (including Martha Washington who spent every winter at Valley Forge)to actually fighting as soldiers (accounts of this happening are not limited to the legend of Molly Pitcher helping with the cannon; a number of women disguised themselves as men and served in the ranks of the American Army for years during the revolution). Finally, women who stayed at home kept the economy going, raised the food, educated the children, and often advised their husbands (the most famous but far from the only being Abigail Adams, whose letters to her husband John are an amazing amalgam of wisdom and daily events).

2. African Americans. No description of the American struggle for freedom would be complete without an accounting of the African American contribution. African American involvement in the American Revolution began with Crispus Attucks, believed to be the first man killed in the Boston Massacre in 1770. Salem Poor, who was born as a slave in Massachusetts but bought his freedom in the 1760s, fought at Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and Monmouth. At Bunker Hill, he fought so impressively that 14 of his fellow soldiers wrote a petition to the General Court of Massachusetts on his behalf. An estimated 5,000 to 8,000 African Americans served on the American side of the revolution. The First Rhode Island Regiment became the first integrated unit in the American Army. Furthermore, key slaves played a major role in helping and empowering the revolution. Billy Lee was so important to Washington as his personal aide and companion (on at least one occasion, he saved Washingtons life) that he was freed by Washington when the former President died.

3. Native Americans. Native Americans in the American Revolution were deeply split, with the majority favoring the British. A distant imperial capital seemed much less threatening than the local farmers and their militia, who were directly competing with native tribes over land rights and engaging in constant minor skirmishes and conflicts.

4. Immigrants. Immigrants in the American Revolution were enormously important in every aspect of the war. The most famous was Alexander Hamilton, whose brilliance, courage, and hard work made him indispensable to General Washington. In later years, his qualities made him a coauthor of the Federalist Papers, first Secretary of the Treasury, successful manager of the Revolutionary War debt, and developer of a report on manufactures that led to great American prosperity.

While most of the Europeans who would play leading military roles in the revolution came after 1776, they were drawn to America by the Declaration of Independence. The most famous and important of these was the Marquis de Lafayette, who became almost a son to Washington, served as a bridge to the French government in getting aid for the American cause, and provided an unchallengeable defense for Washington against those Members of Congress who plotted to remove him.

The importance of the Declaration of Independence in attracting freedom-loving Europeans is evident in the example of Polish military officer, Tadeusz Kosciuzko, who wept the first time he read it. Another example is General Johann de Kalb, who on his death bed after the battle of Camden supposedly said, I die the death I always prayed for: the death of a soldier fighting for the rights of man. It was no accident that many of the foreign officers were recruited by Benjamin Franklin, who had been one of the Declarations three principal coauthors.

5. Foreign allies. We should also look at the many foreign allies in the American Revolution. Without Dutch money, French weapons, and French soldiers and sailors, it is hard to see how the Americans could have succeeded in defeating the worlds most powerful empire. The American Revolution offers many examples of the importance of diplomacy and allies.

BEYOND 1776

Following the celebration of the 250th anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence, we will have three more opportunities to further educate the American people.

In 2032, we will celebrate the 300th anniversary of George Washingtons birth. The 200th anniversary of his birth, which took place in 1932, was a major nationwide celebration. As our countrys one indispensable man, citizen, general, and President, Washington should be in the mind and heart of every person who would truly understand America.

Then, in 2037, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution. This document codified into practical governance the lessons the Founding Fathers had learned both

from studying other countries and civilizations (including ancient Greece and Rome) and from their remarkable practical experience writing and rewriting colonial and then state constitutions.

With the rise of originalists on the Supreme Court, this anniversary would be a great opportunity to introduce all Americans to the ideas and principles that the Founding Fathers thought were essential to preserving a free people. As part of that celebration, the Federalist Papers ought to once again become the common source of knowledge of the underpinnings of the Constitution for most Americans. A real effort to communicate the principles of the Federalist Papers both at home and abroad would expand the grasp of the principles of a stable, free society that operates under the rule of law and blocks potential dictators from acquiring power.

Finally, in 2041, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Bill of Rights, which is vital both for Americans and for the world. Recognizing that the Bill of Rights was designed to limit governments ability to interfere with the individuals freedom is key to understanding the American system. The Founders designed a system to limit government not, as in the case of the Chinese Communist dictatorship or its Cuban and Venezuelan counterparts, to limit the freedom of the individual. Understanding the political philosophy that led Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to insist on these amendments and outlining the depth of freedom they protect will be a great education for Americans and for everyone who wants to live in a free society without fear of tyranny.

These anniversaries offer an opportunity for a remarkable period of renewed understanding of American exceptionalism and a deepening awareness of what it takes to protect freedom and create an exceptional society.

THREE THINGS WE MUST AVOID DURING THESE CELEBRATIONS

Because of the depth of academic hostility to the idea of American exceptionalism, there will be a steady effort to distort these historic events by minimizing their uniqueness and importance or by undermining them and turning them into anti-American narratives. Three such anti-American narratives in particular have already emerged: The New York Times 1619 Project (which has been soundly repudiated by most serious historians); the radical historians rejection of America as a civilization; and the Smithsonians effort to trivialize the extraordinary achievement of the Declaration of Independence by surrounding it with interesting but irrelevant diversions.

Lets consider each threat for a moment.

First, The New York Times 1619 Project, which attempts to depict all of American history as defined by slavery, was launched with enormous fanfare and with a real effort to embed the ideas in school curricula. It has been thoroughly assaulted by traditional historians who work on facts rather than social studies theories. In Bret Stephens words, As fresh concerns make clear, on these pointsand for all of its virtues, buzz, spinoffs and a Pulitzer Prizethe 1619 Project has failed.

Because there is such a large left-wing activist group dedicated to the ideas inherent in the 1619 Project, any effort to develop a large, comprehensive celebration of the Declaration of Independence will be under pressure to reshape itself from standard history into something anti-American and condemnatory of the

American experience. A major role of the 1776 Commission will be to intellectually defend the facts against attacks from the anti-American activists.

As Stephens wrote: That doesnt mean that the project seeks to erase the Declaration of Independence from history. But it does mean that it seeks to dethrone the Fourth of July by treating American history as a story of Black struggle against white supremacyof which the Declaration is, for all of its high-flown rhetoric, supposed to be merely a part.

It is this kind of profound distortion and historical falsehood that a celebration must guard against.

Second, America as a bad country is a core theme that began to emerge from Progressive historians at the beginning of the 20th century. They were writing in reaction to the Parson Weems glorification of President Washington and the general cheerleading tone of most American history. They wanted to balance the record by shrinking American heroes. Their problem was, as Catherine Drinker Bowen wrote in her classic study of the writing of the Constitution, Miracle at Philadelphia, that much of American history has been miraculous. To take the miracles out is to take out the heart of American exceptionalism. In describing American achievements, the simple fact is that many of them are miraculous. Yet, there will be deep opposition to spending a year glorifying the Declaration of Independence because the critics of America will be appalled that we actually believe our rights come from our Creator.

In contrast to this positive vision of America, there is a profoundly hateful vision propagated on the left. As Dr. Mary Grabar describes it, Since 1980, when it was first published, Howard Zinns A Peoples History of the United States has been spreading the idea that the United States is irredeemably corrupt. She writes,

This book is fake history, based on falsified evidence, misquotations with critical words left out, and plagiarized disreputable sources.

Yet, a record-breaking 3 million copies have been sold, over 100,000 educators have signed up at the Zinn Education Project, and over 300,000 follow it on social media. It is widely used in Advanced Placement U.S. History high school classes and in teacher education programs. It is quoted in school books. In Portland, Oregon, and surrounding areas, for several years now, A Young Peoples History has been used in all eighth-grade classrooms.

Zinn claims other historians have not told the truth about the atrocities committed by Columbus on down. People reading it cry and get angry, sometimes taking to the streets.

The Zinn book was the most popular book for Occupy Wall Street protestors, awards are given to organizers of Marxist groups in Zinns name, and the Antifa member who tried to blow up an ICE detention facility left behind a manifesto, saying, Read Howard Zinn A Peoples History of the United States.

It is the Howard Zinn fanatics who will most bitterly oppose any honest celebration of the Declaration of Independence and the Founding of America.

The 1776 Commission will have to be vigilant in eliminating this kind of factually false but emotionally powerful anti-American hatred from the celebration of 1776.

Third, the final threat to guard against is the trivialization of the historic uniqueness of the Declaration of Independence by reducing it to one of a number of things. The pathetic but passionate desire of leftwing academics to recognize and denigrate American exceptionalism and the central role of the Declaration of Independence can be found in the Smithsonians proposal to simply dilute the significance of the events that occurred in Philadelphia and the American revolutionaries by including everybody, no matter how irrelevant.

Consider this description of a planned exhibition from the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commissions 2019 report to the President:

Smithsonian Institution, Many Americas, Many 1776s: A coordinated major exhibition from the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonians Latino Center that will explore 1776 not just in the 13 original colonies, but in all the geography that makes up our present United States, from Alaska to Florida, Hawaii to Puerto Rico. The Many 1776s will examine the people, places, and cultures, many traditionally overlooked in revolutionary histories, and at the time of Independence. The exhibitions will also allow visitors to consider the ideals of the revolution through the lenses of the Native American, African American, and Latino experiences. One of the exhibitions goals is to ensure that all Americans, no matter where they live, will see themselves in the telling of the American story. The Smithsonian will also reach out to every state and territory to invite them to create their own 1776s and reflect those efforts in its exhibitions and digital content.

This is precisely the kind of sophistry and silliness the 1776 Commission should take in hand and rewrite to return the effort to a genuine celebration of the Declaration of Independence and the cause it symbolizes.

Previous Presidents Essays

The rest is here:

The 1776 Opportunity: A 2026 Year-Long Celebration - Heritage.org

Pandemic Words are Here to Stay Even as Vaccine Offers Some Relief – GlobeNewswire

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A new coronavirus-influenced vocabulary is seared into our collective consciousness, says Stephen J. Mexal, chair and professor of English comparative literature and linguistics at Cal State Fullerton.

Fullerton, Dec. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As many remain cautious about venturing outside their COVID bubbles for holiday gatherings even while vaccines begin to roll out across the United States, chances are good they also are F.E.D. U.P. (short for financial stress, emotional stress, distance from others, unpredictability and personal and professional concerns).

Merriam-Webster named pandemic the Word of the Year for 2020 because a new coronavirus-influenced vocabulary is seared into our collective consciousness, says Stephen J. Mexal, chair and professor of English comparative literature and linguistics at Cal State Fullerton.

Its as if some kind of exhaustion has set in and we cant bear to use the extra syllables from the longer terms, says Mexal.

Social media accelerates the new lexicon. The Zoom brand became generalized, he explains, which is a marketers dream and a trademark lawyers nightmare. Acceptance of a new phrase or word that took decades in pre-pandemic times (think how long it took Otis Escalators to become escalators) seems to take mere minutes, like the time it takes to Zump your partner.

Similarly, Oxford Languagesreportedthat use of the phrase social distancing has been steadily declining since April.

Either were doing it less or we dont recognize the practice as unusual anymore, Mexal says. Its possible that were using the phrase social distancing less because we now just call it normal life.

Mexal says one way to spot the pandemics influence on the English language in the future is if, months from now, phrases like go to work, go to school or get a drink are unclear, requiring questions on whether one would need to get into a car or get on a laptop.

Thirty years in the future, some future version of us may look back on news articles from 2020 and think, Remote work? What is remote work? Oh, I get it he just means work.

Pandemic terms to know:

The Before Times: Pre-pandemic life

Blursday: A day of the week indistinguishable from any other during quarantine

Germ pod,COVID bubble: The group of people you socialize or live with during quarantine

Zoom fatigue: Exhaustion from back-to-back Zoom meetings

Zumping: Dumping a partner over Zoom during the pandemic

Read more about the lexicon of pandemic words here.

About Cal State Fullerton: The largest university in the CSU and the only campus in Orange County, Cal State Fullerton offers 110 degree programs, and Division 1 athletics. Recognized as a national model for supporting student success, CSUF excels with innovative, high-impact educational practices, including faculty-student collaborative research, and competitive internships in a global marketplace. Our diverse campus is a primary driver of workforce and economic development in the region and a top public university known for its success in supporting first-generation and underrepresented students. Our It Takes a Titan campaign, a five-year $200 million comprehensive fundraising initiative, prioritizes investments in academic innovation, student empowerment, campus transformation and community enrichment. Visit fullerton.edu.

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Pandemic Words are Here to Stay Even as Vaccine Offers Some Relief - GlobeNewswire

Global Nanomedicine market 2020- Industry Overview, Global Trends, Market Analysis, CAGR Values and Country Level Demand To Forecast by 2027 -…

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Global Nanomedicine market Industry Trends and Forecast to 2027 New Research Report Added to Databridgemarketresearch.com database. The report width Of pages : 350 Figures: 60 And Tables: 220 in it. To build an influential report, detailed market analysis has been conducted with the inputs from industry experts. By working on a number of steps for collecting and analysing market data, this supreme market research report is prepared with the expert team. It describes various definitions and segmentation or classifications of the industry, applications of the industry and value chain structure. Businesses can obtain a complete knowhow of general market conditions and tendencies with the information and data involved in the credible Global Nanomedicine market business report. The foremost areas of market analysis such as market definition, market segmentation, competitive analysis and research methodology are looked upon very vigilantly and precisely throughout the report.

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ACED one year on: a promising first year for the early detection research alliance – Cancer Research UK

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The International Alliance for Cancer Early Detection (ACED) is a 55 million ($70 million) partnership between Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and five of the worlds foremost centres in early detection research. One year on, we look at four recently awarded research projects, which show how the Alliance is building a scientifically diverse and collaborative research community in the UK and the US, united at the forefront of cancer early detection.

Detecting and diagnosing cancer early is complex and has been hindered by scientific and clinical challenges. With a fragmented research community, limited access to early-stage tissue samples and a lack of commitment or prioritisation from industry and research funders, research progress in this emerging field has been slow.

Founded in 2019, ACED is a CRUK partnership with the Canary Center at Stanford University, the University of Cambridge, the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), University College London and the University of Manchester. The Alliance brings together leaders in early detection research in a collaborative community, to work together to generate novel ideas and share knowledge. Its research strategy spans the scientific pipeline; from understanding the fundamental biology of early stage disease to developing new technological approaches and implementing early detection strategies through clinical trials and health systems.

The five ACED Member Centres can access funding in three areas: core funding for building capacity; shared infrastructure funding for training, networking and research platforms/resources; and joint funding for collaborative research activities. In its first year, 14 research projects have been funded including 3 Project Awards, 9 Pilot Awards and 2 Skills Exchange and Development Travel Awards.

Project Award, led by: Georgios Lyratzopoulos, University College London; Antonis Antoniou, University of Cambridge; and Ruth Etzioni, Oregon Health and Science University

Currently, about 90% of cancer patients in England are diagnosed after symptom onset. Appropriately assessing the risk of undiagnosed cancer in patients who present with new symptoms is therefore critical for achieving earlier diagnosis. Yet our approach to classifying such risk is imperfect. Clinical guidelines do not encompass lower-risk symptoms, which are the presenting features of about half of all patients. Further, among patients who do present with high-risk symptoms mandating urgent referrals, only one in 12 are found to have cancer. In 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, about 2 million patients in England who were investigated urgently were found not to have cancer, and improvements in risk classification could allow NHS diagnostic services to be used more efficiently in the future.

To improve upon these two problems, and drawing on their statistical, computational and health informatics expertise and that of their collaborators, Georgios, Antonis and Ruth will utilise rich electronic health record data to develop algorithms to risk-stratify patients presenting with symptomatic-but-as-yet-undiagnosed cancer. In particular, they will aim to incorporate information on the patients medical history (with regard to diagnostic investigations, morbidities and past medications) into their algorithm, together with information on underlying susceptibility to cancer due to lifestyle-related exposures or genetic risk.

Beyond improving the assessment of cancer risk, this project will also facilitate future early detection research by delivering reproducible operational definitions (otherwise known as patient record phenotypes), that can be used by other members of the Alliance and the scientific community at large when using novel patient record datasets in the UK, the US and globally.

Project Award, led by: Marc Tischkowitz, University of Cambridge; Allison Kurian, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection; and Gareth Evans, University of Manchester

CanRisk is a validated cancer risk assessment tool which combines genetic, lifestyle, clinical and imaging data to calculate an individual risk estimate for women with high-risk mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2. Currently the women who carry these mutations are given wide cancer risk estimates. For example, someone might be told they have a 5085% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. But for that individual, they really want to know is it nearer to 50% or 85%, or perhaps even outside that range?

Now, with an ACED Project Award, Allison, Gareth and Marc are collaborating to determine how CanRisk can be best used in the clinic. The researchers will recruit patients via genetics clinics in the UK and US, randomising them between a personalised or conventional risk estimate group. They will follow patient uptake of cancer surveillance and risk-reducing mastectomy, as well as analysing psychological and economic measures. The international nature of this project, across three centres in two different countries, will enable the team to investigate the difference in early detection uptake across different health systems. Moreover, it will benefit the wider research community by establishing a risk-stratified cohort that could form the basis for further early detection studies in the future.

Pilot Award, led by: Alice Fan, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection; Emma Woodward, University of Manchester; and Eamonn Maher University of Cambridge

Platelet transcriptomes have the ability to respond to the presence of different cancer types by splicing RNA into specific patterns. Rapid platelet turnover and the ability to propagate this transcriptional response throughout the entire platelet population may prove to be a very sensitive biomarker for cancer.

Alices lab at Stanford has generated promising preliminary data for a candidate platelet transcriptomic signature for early-stage renal cell cancer. With this ACED Pilot Award, Emma, Eamonn and Alice will join forces to investigate if this signature can be used to complement diagnostic imaging for the early diagnosis of kidney cancer in high-risk families with hereditary renal cell carcinoma syndromes.

Skills Exchange and Development Travel Award, Christian Hoerner, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection

Isolating platelets from fresh whole blood for transcriptome profiling can be very tricky. Platelets activate very easily and contain only tiny amounts of RNA, 10,000 times less than white blood cells. Christian, a researcher in Alices lab, has been awarded a Skills Exchange and Development Travel Award to share his platelet isolation protocol with the Manchester and Cambridge teams. This award directly addresses a key aim of the ACED Alliance to drive the exchange of knowledge between teams and minimise duplication.

COVID-19 has undoubtedly had a significant impact on the first year of the ACED Alliance, delaying the start of many projects when labs were forced to shut, and clinicians redeployed to respond to the virus.

Alliance members have rapidly had to adapt the way they come together to create new collaborations and ideas. Planned in-person networking events were quickly reimagined as virtual ones and members have held numerous online meet-and-greet events on topics including model systems, epidemiological approaches, non-invasive sampling, nanomedicine and career development for early career researchers. We know of at least two successful grant applications that were brokered at virtual events, as researchers continue to build connections across multiple disciplines and centres.

As the Alliance develops, there will be many opportunities to work with us, including:

If you're interested in working with us, we'd love to hear from you.

By David Crosby, Head of Prevention and Early Detection Research, Cancer Research UK

Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, professor and chair ofradiologyat theStanford School of Medicineand an internationally recognised pioneer in molecular imaging, died of cancer on 18 June 2020.

Sam was a giant in the field of early detection of cancer, well known for the development of positron emission tomography reporter genes. His work was novel and wide-reaching, developing multiple other approaches to early detection of disease, including microbubbles and immunodiagnostics. Through his work as director of the Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, he was a passionate advocate of devising ambitious plans to deliver paradigm-changing opportunities for early detection and a champion of ACEDs mission. He was a critical founding member of the Alliance Executive Board.

It is certainly the case that ACED would not exist without Sam. He was the inspiration that led directly to the concept of ACED, and only through his ingenuity and positivity did that concept develop into the flourishing reality that ACED now is. We, and the world, are greatly diminished for his loss.

Sam was posthumously given the Don Listwin Award for outstanding contribution to the field of cancer early detection at this years Early Detection of Cancer Conference. Before his death, Sam was also awarded the Deans Medal, the University of Stanford School of Medicines highest honour, for his revolutionary contributions to biomedicine and to human health. To find out more about Sams life and his legacy watch the Deans Medal Tribute video.

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ACED one year on: a promising first year for the early detection research alliance - Cancer Research UK

Growth Opportunities in Digital, Microbiome-based, and Preventive Healthcare Technologies, 2020 Report – Focus on Latest Advancements for Chronic Pain…

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Growth Opportunities in Digital, Microbiome-based, and Preventive Healthcare Technologies 2020" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This edition of the Life Science, Health & Wellness Technology Opportunity Engine (TOE) provides insights across recent innovations in digital health, microbiome, and flu vaccines technologies. The TOE also provides insights across latest advancements for chronic pain management and COVID-19 testing.

The TOE will feature disruptive technology advances in the global life sciences industry. The technologies and innovations profiled will encompass developments across genetic engineering, drug discovery and development, biomarkers, tissue engineering, synthetic biology, microbiome, disease management, as well as health and wellness among several other platforms.

The Health & Wellness cluster tracks developments in a myriad of areas including genetic engineering, regenerative medicine, drug discovery and development, nanomedicine, nutrition, cosmetic procedures, pain and disease management and therapies, drug delivery, personalized medicine, and smart healthcare.

Key Topics Covered:

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/v6l8dq

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Growth Opportunities in Digital, Microbiome-based, and Preventive Healthcare Technologies, 2020 Report - Focus on Latest Advancements for Chronic Pain...

NHMRC awards Griffith University $4.5 million in research funding – Griffith News

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Key Griffith University research projects have received $4.5 million in funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Announced on December 15 by the Federal Minister for Health, The Honorable Greg Hunt MP, the seven Ideas Grants projects will contribute to vital health and medical research.

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) Professor Mario Pinto said the funding highlights the extraordinary work conducted by the Universitys researchers in addressing major societal health challenges.

These projects have the potential to make a significant difference to peoples health and wellbeing. I extend my congratulations and appreciation to all staff who have contributed to these efforts.

More than half the funding for Griffith University was awarded to projects within theInstitute for Glycomics, withfour research projects securing $2.56 million to explore a super vaccine that tackles bothinfluenza virus andGroup A Streptococcus bacteria and other vaccine development projects that tackle other clinically important bacterial infections.

Institute Director Professor Mark von Itzstein AO said the awards cemented the Institutes reputation as a leading biomedical research institute.

Our institute is focussed on translational research outcomes that diagnose, prevent and treat diseases of global impact. These grants will significantly assist our researchers to deliver on our mission to achieve a disease-free world.

NHMRC Ideas

Dr Mehfuz Zaman, Professor Mark von Itzstein and Professor Michael Good (Institute for Glycomics) awarded $707, 717 for the project Vaccine to prevent Influenza Virus and Bacterial superinfection (Associate Professor Victor Huber, University of South Dakota).

Associate Professor Kate Seib, Professor Michael Jennings and Dr Arun Everest-Dass (Institute for Glycomics) awarded $826,490 for the project Gonococcal vaccine development guided by a cross-protective meningococcal vaccine (Dr Caroline Thng, Gold Coast Health).

Dr Freda Jen, Associate Professor Kate Seib, Professor Michael Jennings and Dr Milton Kiefel (Institute for Glycomics) awarded $526,949.6 for the project Targeting a bacterial glycol-Achilles heel to make new vaccines for Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Professor Michael Jennings, Associate Professor Thomas Haselhorst, Dr Lucy Shewell, Dr Christopher Day (Institute for Glycomics) awarded $608,425 for the project Structure and biophysical analysis aided design of novel toxoid vaccines for a major class of bacterial toxins (Prof James Paton, The University of Adelaide, Prof Mark Walker, The University of Queensland and Prof Victor Torres, New York University).

Dr David Lloyd, Dr Claudio Pizzolato, Dr David Saxby and Dr Laura Diamond (Menzies Health Institute Queensland) awarded $860, 231 for the project Osteoarthritis compass: Predicting personalized disease onset and progression with future capacity for clinical use (Dr Michelle Hall, Assoc Prof Adam Bryant University of Melbourne, Prof David Hunter, University of Sydney; Prof Juha Toyras, Dr Shekhar Chandra, Assoc Prof Craig Engstrom The University of Queensland; Dr Jurgen Fripp, CSIRO Australian e-Health Research Centre; Prof Rami Korhonen, University of Eastern Finland).

Professor Heidi Zeeman, Dr David Painter and Professor Elizabeth Kendall (Menzies Health Institute Queensland) awarded $513, 483 for the project Dimensional Attention Modelling for Neglect Detection (DIAMOND): A novel application for brain injury (Prof Julie Bernhardt, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health).

Associate Professor Hang Ta (Queensland Micro and Nanotechnology Centre/GRIDD) awarded $523, 342 for the project Developing smart nanomedicine to enable advanced diagnosis and stimuli-responsive treatment for atherosclerosis and thrombosis (Dr Nghia Truong Phuoc, Monash University; Dr Gary Cowin, Dr Nyoman Kurniawan, Prof Zhiping Xu, The University of Queensland and Prof Karlheinz Peter, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute).

Griffith researchers involved in research led by other institutions

NHMRC Ideas

Prof Randipsingh Bindra, Dr Mo Chen, Assoc Prof James St John, Assoc Prof Jenny Ekberg, Dr Brent McMonagle (Griffith Health) are part of a team led by Assoc Prof Jeremy Crook (University of Wollongong) awarded $805,064.45 for the project titled A wireless electric nerve-guide for peripheral nerve repair (Dr Eva Tomaskovic-Crook, University of Wollongong).

Assoc Prof Joshua Byrnes (MHIQ, Health) is part of a team led by Assoc Prof Maree Toombs (The University of Queensland) awarded $1,279,602.45 for the project titled Advancing equitable and non-discriminatory access to health services for First Nations peoples: A multidisciplinary Queensland Human Rights Act case study (Dr Shivashankar Hiriyur Nagaraj, Queensland University of Technology; Jodie Luck, Mr DanielWilliamson, Queensland Health; Mr Jed Fraser, Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council; Prof Anthony Smith, Dr Claire Brolan Dr Caitlin Curtis, Dr Sandra Creamer, Prof Wendy Hoy, Dr Amelia Radke (The University of Queensland), Dr Kelly Dingli (Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council); Mr Gregory Pratt (The Council of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research)

ARC Linkage 2020 Round 1

Dr Pooja Sawrikar (School of Human Services and Social Work) is part of a Western Sydney University project led by Assoc Prof Rebekah Grace awarded $387,107 for the project Upholding the right to cultural connection for children in care.

Link:

NHMRC awards Griffith University $4.5 million in research funding - Griffith News

The shift from nought to hedonism overnight was too much for this lockdown zombie – Evening Standard

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I

dont remember much between the hours of 3pm and 7pm on Saturday afternoon, so Ive had to rely on source materials. Specifically, the WhatsApps I sent to my boyfriend as I was (apparently) en route to meet him on the South Bank.

On be there in. Sec!, reads an early, optimistic text, though close analysis of the timeline suggests that On (I) in fact arrived 40 minutes later. I just drink London! proclaims another hyperbolic message from around the same time, though more ominous is the missive sent at circa 6pm, stating: I have died.

Rumours of my death were greatly exaggerated (by me), though the incoherency gives a clear indication of my mental and physical state during my first post-lockdown Saturday out. How had I managed this under Tier 2s restrictions? Search me. By the time of my death, my excesses included as far as I can establish a few glasses of wine and a pizza with three friends on a rooftop in Peckham, later followed by another substantial meal and drinks, at which point my memory kicks back in, and bed by 11.30pm. Pretty tame, yet apparently enough hedonism to leave me immobilised on Sunday: face down on my bed; drooling; moving only to swipe at the continue watching button on Netflix or to claw at my own tongue to get the taste of sock out of my mouth. My own ghost of Christmas past would be horrified. In fact, this lamentable display is the antithesis of the stamina on which I have previously prided myself in December managing night-after-night-out; still getting up for my 6am alarm; sneaking in the odd lunchtime spin class to preclude the creep of a mulled cider paunch. This year, with limited days to go before I bubble up with my family for Christmas, I am desperate to make the most of them: how cruel of my stamina to forsake me now!

To think, last week I claimed (in print) to miss hangovers. Obviously, this year has been exhausting, and I did turn 30 in the first lockdown, but I dont think my increasing state of decrepitude is to blame. Nor can it be that Ive become a lightweight: Ive hardly treated this year as a detox. No, I think the problem is something uniquely 2020: this December is total sensory overload for Londons army of lockdown zombies. Months of texting in front of ambient TV requiring little to no brain engagement have been replaced by proper stimuli. Menus! People! Working out how to get from A to B! It is hard to adapt to structure after shapelessness: its a big gear shift to go from nought to hedonism overnight (who knew?!). My will is strong I want a party desperately! but the flesh is weak. And does anyone know how I got to the South Bank?

The online backlash was swift for Cardi B, who has been accused of insensitivity by fans after she asked Twitter to help her decide whether or not to drop the cash on a $88,000 purse. She countered the vitriol by pointing out that shes given $1 million to coronavirus relief charities fair, but thats not really the point, is it? We all know celebrities have had better pandemics than us, because they have better lives than us. Saying that, these lives have affected their grasp on reality making them prone to acts that can ring rather tone deaf. From Cardi B dropping 90k on a place to put her chewing gum; to Rita Oras lockdown lock-in; to Kim Ks massive 40th on a private island; even Kay Burleys birthday weve seen clangers committed by people whose jobs are, to some extent, about curating their image. Think before you tweet...

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The shift from nought to hedonism overnight was too much for this lockdown zombie - Evening Standard

An impressive, multi-layered combination of players and instruments – Morning Star Online

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PERSONNEL-HEAVY English folk band Bellowhead walked away decisively from live performances in 2016 with a sell-out show at the London Palladium so they were keen to portray this global concert stream as nothing more than a one-off reunion, organised to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their successful third album, Hedonism.

Operating together under strict Covid-safe conditionsin Stabal Mansion near Epping Forest, their hour-long, 15-song set was, naturally, based around songs from Hedonism, although there were excursions into other albums.

While the feel and subject matter of their roustabout material makes their recorded work rather samey, when it comes to the live experience theres no doubting they know how to hit the spot.

Benefiting from slick production and an excellent sound, they were clearly well-rehearsed and glad to be back. Even watching on a laptop, its possible to get a sense of the energy the band generates in a live situation.

With self-assured, theatrical frontman Jon Boden looking fresh and happy and the 10 other members of the band equally charged up, even without an audience the atmosphere was fun and animated.

There were six of Hedonisms 11 tracks, led by the two highlights of the performance,Captain Wedderburn and Cold Blows the Wind, plus plenty from other sources too, including the opener Roll Alabama, the jaunty, fiddle-based March Past (which has not actually appeared on a studio album) and a finale of London Town.

All very tight, all thoroughly enjoyable wrapped up in an impressive, multi-layered combination of players and instruments, with oboe and horns especially effective.

Around 8,500 tickets were sold for the initial showing, but the concert can be viewed online for some time yet. If this was really a one-off, then its worth watching; if not, then its certainly whetted the appetite for more.

View at: https://stabal.com/stabal_media/bellowhead-on-sale

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An impressive, multi-layered combination of players and instruments - Morning Star Online

Londoners party on eve of tougher COVID restrictions – Reuters UK

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LONDON (Reuters) - One woman waved purple burlesque feather fans while dozens cheered with beers and some sang Karaoke in the streets for one last gasp of revelry in Londons partyland before the capital went into the strictest level of COVID restrictions.

For much of 2020, the pubs of Londons West End and the hedonistic nightclubs of Shoreditch have lain silent - devoid of the fun that has, over the centuries, attracted drunken poets, louche musicians and the lonely seeking a liaison.

As tougher restrictions loomed at the stroke of midnight, a few hundred revellers brushed away the COVID-19 doom and gloom in Soho by partying on the streets, mostly without masks.

One woman, dressed in white shorts on a December night, waved purple feather fans while another flapped giant white wings bejeweled with fairy lights. Around them, partygoers sang songs, drank and danced.

Police were booed when they told people to disperse. There were no arrests seen by Reuters.

Some pubs and bars - one displaying a sign Save Soho to help save livelihoods - put on cut price drinks with pints of beer going for as little as 2 pounds ($2.70) to shift stock before they closed. From Wednesday they will only be allowed to serve takeaways.

The coronavirus lockdown has left many bars and restaurants across the world facing an unprecedented cash crunch: large rents, often high debt and zero income.

($1 = 0.7405 pounds)

Reporting by Henry Nicholls; writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Paul Sandle

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Londoners party on eve of tougher COVID restrictions - Reuters UK

Judge to decide whether her rulings deprived Ross Harris of fair trial – Atlanta Journal Constitution

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All that information in reality would expose how biased his investigation was, Rodriguez said.

But the defense was thwarted by Judge Mary Staley Clark, who sustained repeated state objections that served to protect Persinger. Harris was ultimately found guilty of maliciously killing his son and is serving a life sentence plus 32 years in prison.

His hearing for a new trial concluded Tuesday.

It wasnt just the experts like Persinger who found safe haven in Staley Clarks rulings, the defense alleges. There were also the Cobb County police investigators who, according to Harris defense, provided false testimony to secure search warrants.

Everything was biased in their minds and continued to get worse, as I saw it, defense co-counsel Bryan Lumpkin testified. We werent allowed to put up the evidence that bore that out.

With Staley Clark presiding, Harris appellate lawyer, Mitch Durham, argued Tuesday that Staley Clarks decisions in the 2016 murder trial made it impossible for his client to receive a fair shake. While Staley Clark is not expected to rule against herself, testimony from this weeks hearing will inform the appeal likely to follow in the Georgia Supreme Court.

Persinger, for example, made several nefarious insinuations about the time Harris spent on a psychologists website right before Coopers death. It was clear, Rodriguez testified Tuesday, that Persinger either did not know Harris had contracted with the psychologist to develop his site or prosecutors were trying to pull a fast one on me.

I wanted to confront him with all the easily available, easily discoverable information that wouldve made it clear to him (that Harris) wasnt involved in some kind of conniving plan to prepare for a criminal trial, Rodriguez said. All that information in reality would expose how biased his investigation was.

But he didnt get the chance.

You cant impeach someone with evidence they didnt know, Cobb Assistant District Attorney Linda Dunikoski said Tuesday, explaining the states position in the 2016 trial. Staley Clark sided with the state back then. It remains to be seen whether shes changed her mind.

Dunikoski fought back against defense claims that the judge prevented them from thoroughly challenging state witnesses.

Quoting lead defense counsel Maddox Kilgore, In his opinion, they did a great job of destroying law enforcement, Dunikoski said.

There was additional unfounded testimony about Harris from state witnesses, according to the defense. He never created a Whisper post saying I hate being married with kids, nor did he search for information about how long it takes for a child to die in a hot car, Rodriguez said.

Whether those factors amount to substantial harm requiring a new trial will be up to Judge Staley Clark, whose ruling will come sometime in the new year.

Harris, who appeared via Zoom at the virtual hearing, remains incarcerated at Macon State Prison in south central Georgia.

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Judge to decide whether her rulings deprived Ross Harris of fair trial - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Review: ‘Ferdinand, the Man With the Kind Heart,’ by Irmgard Keun – Minneapolis Star Tribune

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Irmgard Keun (1905-1982) produced a series of fresh, wry, acutely perceptive novels that gave voice and agency to young, modern, single-minded German women in the feverish climate between the wars. Gilgi, the ambitious yet misguided title character of Keun's 1931 debut, leaves her family home in Cologne to be with a man living beyond his means. Doris, the aspiring starlet of "The Artificial Silk Girl" (1932), sinks and swims in hedonistic Weimar-era Berlin.

Sanna in "After Midnight" (1937) attempts to keep her head amid increased restrictions in 1930s Frankfurt. And Keun's youngest protagonist, Kully, in her 1938 masterpiece "Child of All Nations," drifts around Europe with her parents seeking sanctuary in any place other than her Nazi-run homeland.

Keun also fled the Nazis after they branded her heroines "immoral" and burned her books. She fell into obscurity but was rescued by a new generation of German readers in the 1970s. Recent years have seen more of this marvelous writer's back catalog becoming available to Anglophone audiences. The latest book to appear is Keun's final work from 1950.

"Ferdinand, the Man With the Kind Heart" marks a departure of sorts. Its main character is male and its setting is Germany in a time not of interwar abandon or prewar anxiety but postwar confusion. Despite the differences, the novel is vintage Keun, infused with her trademark wit, candor and emotional intensity.

Ferdinand Timpe is a recently released prisoner of war trying to adjust to civilian life in bomb-ravaged Cologne. He has a makeshift room in a dilapidated lodging house, dwindling funds, and no inspiration for a journalistic assignment. As he wanders the city, taking stock of societal chaos and transformations, he encounters one colorful contact after another. There is his doughty landlady, Frau Stabhorn, and her dubious black-market schemes; his unlucky-in-love cousin Johanna and her failed entanglements with everyone from an American GI to a German lion tamer; and good friend Liebezahl, who gives guidance to lost, credulous souls through clairvoyance, astrology, graphology and other "gaudy deceits."

Then there is Luise, Ferdinand's fiance. He got engaged to her in haste during the war and now wants rid of her. No callous heartbreaker, he has decided he will find her a worthier husband. In addition he must settle into a new job and reconnect with his mother and various siblings. The country is emerging from the rubble and forging ahead; can this "man for abnormal times" get his act together in this era of peace and prosperity and also move forward?

Keun's narrative comprises a series of tightly packed vignettes and quietly captivating portraits. Some characters are fleeting cameos but others are forceful presences. Thanks to Michael Hofmann's translation, the prose has bite and charm. This may have been Keun's last book, but for those yet to discover her, it is as good a place as any to begin.

Malcolm Forbes has written for the Times Literary Supplement, the Economist and the New Republic. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

By: Irmgard Keun, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann.Publisher: Other Press, 256 pages, $17.99.

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Review: 'Ferdinand, the Man With the Kind Heart,' by Irmgard Keun - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Government take heed: Some goals are best achieved indirectly – The Daily Telegram

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In his book, "Obliquity," John Kay argues that goals are often best achieved indirectly. He is probably on to something.

Directly pursuing happiness, for example, inevitably produces frustration. Hedonists whose chief pursuit is pleasure are often miserable people.

As British philosopher John Stuart Mill noted in his autobiography:

"Those only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness: on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, or on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming at something else, they find happiness by the way."

Seeking happiness directly is terrible strategy for individuals seeking a good personal life. And governmental goals, too, can sometimes best be pursued indirectly.

Imagine government seeks to prevent people from discarding empty bottles along the highways. It could threaten to fine people who litter. But fines won't work when there is little danger of being caught. There is no way to observe the millions of times people throw bottles out of their cars in widely dispersed places.

Some states therefore take an indirect approach. They threaten fines, not against a large number of hard-to-catch litterbugs, but against stores selling bottled or canned drinks without collecting small refundable deposits. Policing a few stores, whose proprietors have little interest in resisting the law, makes enforcement manageable. And the refundable deposits give motorists an incentive not to litter throwing away money! while encouraging gleaners to pick up and redeem bottles that do get thrown out.

Governments trying to get people to wear anti-COVID masks have a similar option. Instead of directly threatening to fine maskless individuals, government can threaten to fine or close establishments that do not require masks for employees and customers. Of course government must impose severe sanctions for maskless customers who refuse to leave or who threaten employees enforcing such rules.

Likewise, there are two different ways a government can try to improve the economic welfare of people of color. It can adopt measures focusing directly on that goal. Or it can approach that goal indirectly with programs benefiting the whole population but that will be particularly helpful to people who are disadvantaged.

Paying cash reparations to descendants of slaves would be a direct approach. But taxes to support reparations are unlikely to get political support, while figuring out which individuals are eligible for reparations would be an administrative nightmare.

The indirect approach is more promising politically: enacting programs that benefit everybody but are particularly beneficial to disadvantaged people. An existing example would be Social Security, which pays a higher percentage of average past earnings to lower income retirees.

A future Medicare For All would be a general program that is exceptionally beneficial to disadvantaged people. Everybody would benefit from insurance that remains in effect when a job is lost. Everyone would benefit from its administrative efficiency. Doctors would only need to deal with one insurance program instead employing costly staffs to cope with dozens of incompatible insurers. (Patients ultimately pay for those costly staffs, directly, through increased insurance costs and co-pays, or indirectly through reduced salaries enabling their employers to supply insurance.)

But people of color, whose average health is precarious and who are especially vulnerable to the current pandemic, would find Medicare For All particularly valuable. And better medical care, which would increase their average lifespans, would increase the total Social Security benefits received by the average minority person during his or her lifetime.

In politics, good intentions with which the road to hell is supposedly paved are welcome but never enough. What really counts is good results, and these cannot always be attained by pursuing them directly.

Paul F. deLespinasse is professor emeritus of political science and computer science at Adrian College. He can be reached at pdeles@proaxis.com.

This first appeared at http://www.newsmax.com.

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Government take heed: Some goals are best achieved indirectly - The Daily Telegram

Blind Evolution Explained Everything – Discovery Institute

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Photo credit: Jos Mara Mateos, via Flickr (cropped).

If anyone is having a hard time right now wondering if there is a Creator, that science erases him and proves that he isnt real You are not alone. I was there once I was in that dark abyss. I was one who once was convinced that there was no God, ridiculed others and belittled them.

These words come from Bryan, a young man who recently posted his story in response to one of our YouTube videos. Bryan began to lose his faith in God after reading books by Darwinian biologist Richard Dawkins and others. By college, he was convinced there was no God and that blind evolution explained everything.

Then he stumbled across a book by biologist Michael Denton, a Senior Fellow with Discovery Institutes Center for Science & Culture (CSC), which sponsors this website. That led him to more books and videos produced by the CSC. He says he cried and hugged Michael Behes bookDarwins Black Box,and he also cried after readingSignature in the Cellby Steve Meyer.

Vincent has a similar story. A few weeks ago, he posted this message to YouTube:

Discovery Institute made me love science again. When I was a materialist, listening to the likes of Dawkins and Dennett I became viciously nihilistic and hedonistic. Why should I learn any more science? I am hurtling towards death with no purpose quick, play all the video games and watch all the immoral videos I can! Oh how thankful I am that I dont feel that that is all I can get from life anymore.

Bryan and Vincent are just two lives changed by the work of the CSC.Will you help us change millions of additional lives in 2021 by makingan end-of-year donation?

The need for beacons of light and hope in the current darkness is critical.COVID-19 isnt our only pandemic. There is also a pandemic of loneliness and despair.

At the end of our Summer Seminars this year, a college student couldnt hold back his tears as he told us how difficult his time at a secular university has been how alone he has felt, how his professors have pushed him toward meaninglessness. You made it possible for this young man to hear a different view, and the experience transformed him.

Sometimes when the night seems the darkest, people are the most open to turning to the light. Thats why you and I have a tremendous opportunity to make such a difference in peoples lives next year, which happens to be the 25th anniversary year for the Center for Science & Culture.

By partnering with us during our 25th anniversary year, you can reach millions of people with positive evidence of a purposeful universe and human uniqueness. You can do so by supporting our key initiatives:

Unlike colleges, we dont have an endowment. We dont receive taxpayer funds. We rely instead on faithful partners like you. Together we can make our 25th anniversary year our most effective and important year ever.

Just for donating, you will receive a free 39-page digital monograph,Darwins Three Big Ideas that Impacted Humanity. Please donate now.

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Blind Evolution Explained Everything - Discovery Institute