What to Know in Washington: Leaders Make Progress on Aid Deal – Bloomberg Government

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The top four congressional leaders will continue negotiating a Covid-19 relief package today that they could attach to crucial spending legislation ahead of Fridays deadline to keep the government open.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) met for several hours last night, reporting progress in the talks but with no agreement in hand.

The leaders held two rounds of extended negotiations at the Capitol yesterday, trying to reach agreement for a package of aid for businesses and workers struggling through the pandemics economic fallout.

Were making significant progress and Im optimistic that were gonna be able to complete an understanding sometime soon, McConnell said as he left the Capitol. Everybody wants to get a final agreement as soon as possible.

Schumer also said the exchanges had brought progress and there is a genuine desire to come to an agreement by all four parties.

The four leaders have been trying to finalize coronavirus aid to attach to the spending bills before funding for federal agencies runs out on Friday at midnight. Both sides have vowed that Congress wont recess for the holidays without getting both done. Read the latest from Erik Wasson.

Virus Aid, Tax Breaks Poised to Hitch Ride: Lawmakers are also negotiating other priorities to be carried on the spending package, likely the last major piece of legislation passed this year. Members of both parties are pushing to attach dozens of policy and tax fixes, including tax breaks for craft beer brewers, an energy package, pumping $1 billion into a civics and history program, and creating new museums to honor Latino people and women.

As a must-pass measure, the $1.4 trillion omnibus, which would fund the federal government through the end of fiscal 2021, is the most attractive vehicle for lawmakers rushing to wrap up business before heading home for the holidays. That also carries the next installment of virus-related economic relief, the most significant add-on being considered. It would boost the total price tag of the omnibus to more than $2 trillion. Nancy Ognanovich runs down the list of measures that may move along with the spending bill.

Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg

Schumer at the Capitol on Tuesday.

Biden Enlists Team to Fight Climate Change: Biden has begun to assemble the team he will rely on to drive his ambitious clean-energy and climate agenda, a diverse group of government veterans that includes a former EPA chief and a Midwestern governor. The personnel choices come as Biden seeks to fulfill campaign promises to decarbonize the electric grid in 15 years, promote electric vehicles and restrict oil development on federal land. The president-elect may have to lean heavily on regulations and executive orders to achieve his goals, with the Republicans set to hold at least 50 seats in the Senate. Read more from Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Ari Natter.

Biden Meets Resistance in Picking Haaland for Interior: Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) is Bidens preferred candidate to lead the Interior Department, though a final decision has been delayed as House leaders express concerns about filling her seat and other vacant spots. The selection process was described by people familiar with the matter. If confirmed as secretary of the Interior, Haaland would be the first American Indian secretary in American history. But House leaders have said it could take months to hold a special election to fill her seat. Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Ari Natter have more.

Buttigieg Will Face Infrastructure Funding Woes: Bidens pick of Pete Buttigieg would begin his tenure at the Transportation Department as pressure mounts for the administration and Congress to reach a deal on paying for infrastructure spending. Congress faces a September deadline to reauthorize federal funding for highways, transit, rail, and safety programs. During the campaign both Biden and Buttigieg offered plans to strengthen the nations infrastructure, but Buttigieg actually offered a plan to break through an old Washington problem: how to pay for it. Read more from Courtney Rozen.

Trump Sits Out Debut of Covid-19 Vaccine: Donald Trump pinned all his hopes for ending the pandemic on a vaccine, but as shots started going into American arms this week, the president has barely acknowledged the moment and has wavered on when hell be inoculated. The first shipments of a coronavirus vaccine created by Pfizer and German company BioNTech arrived on Monday, with front-line health-care workers receiving injections on live television to mark the occasion. The rollout coincides with the U.S. setting records for daily cases, daily deaths and hospitalizations.

The president has had little to say about any of it, beyond a single congratulatory tweet buried among a stream of false assertions and conspiracy theories about the election he lost. The White House is now preparing to publicly inoculate a handful of officials in an event to celebrate the breakthrough and encourage Americans to get vaccinated. Vice President Mike Pence, who is not known to have contracted the virus, said hell receive a vaccination within days, but his office declined to say if it would be in front of cameras. Read more from Josh Wingrove.

States Get $227 Million for Vaccine Distribution: The federal government will provide states and territories almost $227 million to distribute Covid-19 vaccines and track the virus, the HHS announced yesterday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will award $140 million to all 50 states and additional jurisdictions for vaccine preparedness and $87 million for Covid-19 tracking and testing. Read more from Jacquie Lee.

Biden Hails Georgia Democrats in Bid to Swing Senate: Biden campaigned on behalf of two Democratic Senate candidates in Georgia yesterday, an appearance that highlights the races importance to his first-term agenda with control of the Senate at stake. I need two senators from this state who want to get something done, not two senators who are just going to get in the way, Biden said at a drive-in rally in Atlanta for the candidates, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Read more from Mario Parker and Jennifer Epstein.

Some GOP-Led States Push for Expanded Voter Access: Some Republican state officials are newly open to expanded voting options after such moves proved popular and the partys down-ballot candidates won in a high-turnout election, despite Trump railing against the changes. Republican elections officials and state lawmakers in Kentucky, Missouri and Texas are considering changes that would either make vote-by-mail more accessible or increase early in-person voting.

Any such moves would be going against the current in the Republican Party, where Trumps baseless claims of fraud have spurred GOP state lawmakers in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania to consider tightening requirements on mail-in ballots. Officials in Georgia have even filed suit to curtail the use of drop boxes for absentee ballots and add new layers of scrutiny to the signature-matching process before the Jan. 5 Senate run-off votes. Read more from Ryan Teague Beckwith.

Lawmaker Vows to Carry On Trumps Election Fight: A Republican lawmaker is pledging to carry out his challenge of Bidens election as president despite McConnells recognition of the result and warnings from other Republicans that the effort is futile. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said hell object when Congress convenes Jan. 6 to count certificates of electoral votes, usually a mostly ceremonial process confirming the results of the presidential election. If you surrender, there is zero chance of success, Brooks said. Fighting yields a better chance than surrender, so I fight. Read more from Daniel Flatley and Steven T. Dennis.

Powell Asks High Court to Nullify Two Biden Wins: Former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell asked the Supreme Court to overturn Bidens election victories in Michigan and Georgia, continuing with a flurry of long-shot litigation despite repeated rejections in the courts. The latest requests appeared on the courts online docket yesterday, a day after the Electoral College confirmed Bidens victory. Read more from Greg Stohr.

Ex-Big Law Partner Confirmed to Barretts Old Seat: Thomas L. Kirsch was confirmed to fill Amy Coney Barretts seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, giving Trump at least one more marquee judicial appointment as his term winds down. The Senate cleared the federal prosecutor and former Big Law partner 51-44 late yesterday. Madison Alder has more.

OBrien Cuts Trips Short for Talks on Russia Hack: National Security Adviser Robert OBrien has returned early from his trip to the Middle East and Europe to deal with the hack of federal agencies, according to a spokesperson for the National Security Council. OBrien planned to return to Washington on Saturday, but visited only Israel and France before canceling stops in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and the U.K., a person familiar with the matter said. He arrived back in the U.S. yesterday afternoon. Read more from Jennifer Jacobs.

Trumps $200 Medicare Cards Expected to Ship Jan. 1: The Trump administration expects to begin sending $200 prescription drug discount cards to seniors by Jan. 1, a campaign promise to seniors that Trump was unable to fulfill before losing re-election, a person familiar with the matter said. A White House official described the timeline for shipping out the discount cards to Medicare beneficiaries. Politico reported late yesterday that an obscure industry panel that advises the IRS on administering benefit cards abruptly dropped its opposition to them. Read more from Justin Sink.

Trump Labor Agency Issues Hot-Topic Fiduciary Rule: The Labor Department has released its controversial fiduciary exemption that broadens the kinds of retirement plan investments from which financial advisers can profit. The fiduciary rule DOL officials announced yesterday opens federally protected retirement plan participants and beneficiaries to formerly banned financial advice. Read more from Austin R. Ramsey.

FDIC Brokered Deposit Rule Aims for Fintech Partnership Clarity: Banks will have more clarity about their ability to partner with financial technology companies looking to park deposits with them under a new FDIC rule. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. yesterday issued a final rule updating its brokered deposit standards. The new rule expands the definition of what types of third-party deposits can be placed inside banks, with the intention of making it easier for banks to engage with fintech companies and other newer entrants to the financial system, the FDIC said, Evan Weinberger reports.

High Court Asked to Halt Abortion Pill Deliveries: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to reinstate a requirement that women visit a medical facility before obtaining abortion-inducing pills, seeking to lift a lower-court decision that has allowed delivery by mail amid the pandemic. The filing yesterday renews a request that the court temporarily rejected in October, when it was shorthanded after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose seat was filled by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Read more from Greg Stohr.

Environmentalists Ask Court to Block Arctic Oil Auction: Native Alaskans and environmental groups are asking a federal court to block the Trump administration from selling oil drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge next month. The groups yesterday filed requests with an Anchorage judge for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Interior Departments planned Jan. 6 auction of oil and gas leases across the refuges 1.56-million-acre coastal plain. The intervention could be critical to ensuring Biden is able to fulfill his campaign promise to protect the refuge. Once the Trump administration conducts the auction, any formally issued leases become legal contracts with the federal government that would be difficult for the Biden administration to revoke. Read more from Jennifer A. Dlouhy.

Executions Fall to Near 30-Year Low: Executions in the U.S. in 2020 fell to the lowest level in nearly three decades even as the federal government resumed executions for the first time in 17 years, according to a new report from the Death Penalty Information Center. The 17 executions in 2020 are the lowest since 1991 when 14 inmates were put to death in the U.S., according to the centers report released Wednesday. The drop is even more pronounced at the state level where the seven executions carried out are the fewest since 1983, outnumbered by the 10 inmates put to death this year by the U.S. government. Read more from Jordan S. Rubin.

Amazon Says Bid for Pentagon Cloud Deal Was Cheaper, Better: Amazon said the Defense Department wrongfully awarded a highly lucrative cloud computing contract to Microsoft even after it proposed a cheaper and technically superior bid for the deal. In an amended complaint that was filed Oct. 23 and unsealed yesterday, the e-commerce giant claimed that during a re-evaluation of revised bids from both companies, the Pentagon underrated Amazons advantages and ignored key contract requirements. Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said in a statement that it offered the lowest-priced bid by tens of millions of dollars. Read more from Naomi Nix.

Google to Face Off With Ken Starr in Texas Antitrust Lawsuit: Texas plans to hire Ken Starr, the former independent counsel in the investigation that led to President Bill Clintons impeachment, to represent the state in an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabets Google, according to a person familiar with the matter. The state plans to hire Starrs firm, the Lanier Law Firm, and Keller Lenkner if it files a lawsuit stemming from its investigation into the companys role in the online ad market, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said yesterday in a statement, Ben Brody reports.

Trumps Staff Secretary Lyons to Leave: One of Trumps closest aides, staff secretary Derek Lyons, will leave his job before the end of the year. Lyons plans to depart the White House before his bosss term ends in January in order to spend time with his family and pursue a private sector opportunity related to jobs in the U.S., according to a person familiar with the matter. Read more from Jordan Fabian.

To contact the reporters on this story: Zachary Sherwood in Washington at zsherwood@bgov.com; Brandon Lee in Washington at blee@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giuseppe Macri at gmacri@bgov.com; Loren Duggan at lduggan@bgov.com; Michaela Ross at mross@bgov.com

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What to Know in Washington: Leaders Make Progress on Aid Deal - Bloomberg Government

The progress of surveillance of schistosomiasis in China – On Health – BMC Blogs Network

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Schistosomiasis is one of the most important neglected tropical diseases in the world in terms of public health impacts. According to the WHO, schistosomiasis is transmitted in 78 countries around the world. In a paper recently published in Infectious Diseases of Poverty, researchers addressed the surveillance progress and capacities of five provincial-level administrative divisions in China.

Li-Juan Zhang 16 Dec 2020

Ribbed-shelled Oncomelania hupensis hupensis (Gredler, 1881). Credit: Qin Ping Zhao, available via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oncomelania_hupensis_hupensis_(PLoS).jpg

In the 1950s, there were about 12 million people and 1.2 million total cattle infected with schistosomes, and over 100 million people at risk of infection in China. Following several decades of unremitting efforts on schistosomiasis control, Guangdong (1985), Shanghai (1985), Fujian (1987), Guangxi (1989) and Zhejiang (1995) successfully eliminated schistosomiasis in China. After achieving this, these five provincial-level administrative divisions (PLADs) entered the stage of surveillance.

In our research, recently published in Infectious Diseases of Poverty, we addressed the surveillance progress and capabilities of these five PLADs: epidemic situation of schistosomiasis, diagnostic capacitiy, ability to identify Oncomelania hupensis (theuniqueintermediatehostofSchistosomajaponicum), and knowledge of schistosomiasis prevention and control.

Elimination of schistosomiasis is regarded as an achievable goal in endemic regions or countries if continuous interventions and adequate resources are provided. However, schistosomiasis easily rebounded or spread to new areas due to weakened interventions, ecological changes caused by flooding, construction works for water conservancy projects, increased migration of goods or human resources etc., without a thorough surveillance and response system.

As Shanghai, Guangdong, Fujian, Guangxi and Zhejiang eliminated schistosomiasis at least 20 years ago, we evaluated the epidemic situation and the surveillance capabilities on schistosomiasis among the five PLADs, to facilitate the consolidation of elimination achievements in post elimination era, and provide reference for other regions where schistosomiasis had been eliminated or will be eliminated.

Our goal was to understand the epidemic situation in these post-elimination areas and their surveillance capabilities on schistosomiasis. To do this, we collected annual data reflecting the interventions and surveillance on humans, cattle and snails based on county level from 2005 to 2016, through the national schistosomiasis reporting system, and we analyzed data to understand the epidemic status of schistosomiasis in the five PLADs.

In addition, we designed a standardized score sheet to assess the surveillance capacity on schistosomiasis among selected disease control agencies in five PLADs and ten counties. We evaluated the surveillance capacity including schistosomiasis diagnostic skills, identification of snails living and infection status and knowledge about schistosomiasis and its control.

Shanghai and Zhejiang are located in the Yangtze River Delta, in the east of China. Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi are located in the south of China. According to the epidemiological characteristics, the endemic areas in Shanghai belong to waterway network regions, while the endemic areas in Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian are mainly hilly and mountainous regions.

The location of the research settingsJing-Yi Guo, et al. Infectious Diseases of Poverty, (2020)9:136.

The results showed that no local cases in humans and cattle or infected snail were found in the five PLADs since 2005. However, from 2005 to 2016, a total of 221 imported cases were detected in Zhejiang, Shanghai and Fujian, and 11.98 hm2 of new snail habitats were found in Zhejiang, Shanghai and Guangxi. In addition, snail infestation reoccurred in 247.55 hm2 of former snail habitats since 2011.

For the surveillance capacity assessment, the accuracy rate of indirect hameagglutination assay and the miracidia hatching technique were 100% and 89.3%, respectively. All participants could judge the living status of snails accurately and 98.1% on the infection status of snails. The accuracy rate of the questionnaire survey was 98%.

We found elimination of schistosomiasis was consolidated successfully in five PLADs of P. R. China due to effective and strong post-elimination surveillance. Comprehensive consolidation strategies should be focused on the elimination of residual snails and the prevention of imported infection sources, in order to reinforce the achievements of schistosomiasis control in the five PLADs.

Being schistosomiasis a zoonotic parasitic disease, challenges still exist to maintain the achievements as imported cases and snail habitats were detected. Continuous surveillance should be strengthened through capacity building for staff responsible for schistosomiasis surveillance, providing adequate funding and resources.

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The progress of surveillance of schistosomiasis in China - On Health - BMC Blogs Network

Real Progress Is Possible On Vaccine Hesitancy – Kaiser Family Foundation

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A shorter version of this column has been published byAxios.

There is a lot to be very worried about when it comes to vaccine hesitancy, but there are also reasons to be optimistic. The shares of hesitant groups that appear totally dug in are relatively modest for a new vaccine people have not seen administered safely in their communities, and many of the reasons people are reluctant to get vaccinated are remediable if they get more information from sources they trust.

Four groups jump out from our new KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor project as vaccine hesitant: Republicans and rural Americans the Trump base, parroting the presidents COVID denialism; Black adults, and essential workers. In every case more members of each group says they will get the vaccine than say they will not. The shares who are currently hesitant range from 42% for Republicans to 33% for essential workers.

Those are still big numbers, but it appears they can be reduced with more information. For example, 71% of Black adults who are now hesitant say its because they are worried about side effects. Once they learn they are mild and confirm that as people are vaccinated they may worry less. The same is true for the 50% of vaccine-hesitant Black adults who worry that they will actually get COVID from the vaccine, another top concern.

25% of Republicans currently say they will definitely not get the vaccine. But that leaves three quarters of Republicans who may get the vaccine under various circumstances: 28% of Republicans say they will get it as soon as possible; 33% want to wait and see; and 10% say they will get it only if its required.

Among essential workers a group that is a particularly important target of vaccination efforts because of their high risk of exposure to the virus 28% say they will get the vaccine as soon as they can and 36% want to wait and see; another 14% say theyll only get it if required for work or other activities, and 18% say they definitely will not get vaccinated. Hesitant essential workers have a variety of worries: Half (51%) are worried about side effects, and a similar percentage dont trust the government to make sure the vaccine is safe and effective (50%).

There could be setbacks if there are adverse events that receive wide press coverage that spook already apprehensive groups and these will have to be managed well by public health leaders. States will also need to allocate vaccine supply equitably to inner city and rural areas and assure distribution in those areas that is accessible for traditionally underserved populations. Distrust of government and institutions in communities of color will remain a real barrier.

It will take effective messaging and information efforts utilizing credible messengers and digital communications techniques to reach these different groups, targeting their different worries about the vaccine. No one message or single messenger is likely to be effective. If those efforts are funded and implemented it does appear that real progress can be made to reduce hesitancy among the most resistant groups.

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Real Progress Is Possible On Vaccine Hesitancy - Kaiser Family Foundation

Virtually monitoring progress and collecting information during remote education for students with disabilities – NJ Spotlight

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During a typical school year, educators collect an abundance of information to plan and deliver targeted instruction. This usually includes student attendance, classroom grades, and New Jersey Student Learning Assessment performance, as well as qualitative data such as parent reports and observational insights. For students receiving special education services, these pieces of information, along with diagnostic assessments and evaluations, are vital as educators monitor student progress toward Individualized Education Programs (IEP) goals, determine student placement, and provide highly targeted, individualized instruction and interventions.

As a result of the COVID-19 school closures, the practice of monitoring student progress has taken on greater importance for students with IEPs since their instruction and related therapy services (occupational, speech, etc.) have been disrupted by the pandemic. Understanding students present progress toward their IEP goals is crucial for teachers as they address academic and skill regression during the past year. However, COVID-19 has complicated the monitoring of student progress as teaching and learning are now happening in a new, virtual environment. District leaders, teachers, and child study teams have had to think outside the box to measure student learning, monitor student progress, and develop tools that are adaptable for a variety of learning settings.

As school and district leaders rise to these challenges, and teachers innovate and adapt their practices to the virtual classroom, consider the following suggestions to support virtual progress monitoring districtwide, schoolwide, and classroom-wide.

As a teacher or school district administrator, this means:

As a parent, this means:

As a school board member, this means:

COVID-19 is forcing districts to rethink the way they serve students. These unusual times are necessitating that schools reimagine the traditional school experience and modify practices to support students in virtual or hybrid learning environments. For more best practices on virtual progress monitoring, read our recent blog post: 4 Best Practices for Progress Monitoring during Virtual Learning.

About Public Consulting Group

Public Consulting Group, Inc. (PCG) is a leading public sectorsolutions implementation and operations improvement firm that partners with health, education, and human services agencies to improve lives. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Boston,Massachusetts, PCG has over 2,500 professionals in more than50 officesworldwide. PCG offers education consulting services and technology solutions that help schools, school districts, and state education agencies/ministries of education to promote student success, improve programs and processes, and optimize financial resources. To learn more, visitwww.publicconsultinggroup.com/education/.

Our work reflects our deep educational expertise and the capacity to implement change within schools. Our products and services help school and district leaders improve outcomes and equity for all students and help educators make effective decisions by transforming data into meaningful results. Click here to learn more about PCGs EDPlan Progress Track solution.

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Virtually monitoring progress and collecting information during remote education for students with disabilities - NJ Spotlight

World Grand Prix 2020: Ronnie O’Sullivan continues progress with convincing win over Barry Hawkins – Eurosport COM

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Ronnie O'Sullivan has reached the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix with a 4-1 victory over Barry Hawkins in Milton Keynes.

The Rocket started the match in fine form, rattling off a century to win the first frame comprehensively.

Snooker

O'Sullivan: Sometimes I feel 'superhuman'

15 HOURS AGO

He followed it up with another sound performance, albeit without any big breaks, to double his lead in the second.

O'Sullivan was plagued by ill fortune in the third, with a fluent break of 58 curtailed by a foul, and a fluked snooker on Hawkins' part. It came down to a respotted black, which O'Sullivan sunk into the pocket.

Hawkins began the fourth with a break of 40. When he slipped up, O'Sullivan made a brisk 57 but a miss on the brown allowed Hawkins to return to the table. He mopped up all of the colours to get on the board.

With the 41-year-old's confidence suitably boosted he made a strong start to the fifth, but a miss on a routine red gave O'Sullivan a chance.

Though he fouled in bizarre fashion, scooping the cueball off the table, his safety game held up during a tough period of the frame, forcing Hawkins to foul.

OSullivan reveals why he played on for snookers with just black left

Eventually, though, he was able to pot a few reds and, when he cleared up to the pink, the match was his.

Next up, O'Sullivan faces Kyren Wilson in a rematch of the World Championship final this summer.

World Grand Prix

O'Sullivan: I'm running on empty despite running 16 miles

YESTERDAY AT 23:04

World Grand Prix

O'Sullivan eases past Carter to reach second round at World Grand Prix

YESTERDAY AT 20:29

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World Grand Prix 2020: Ronnie O'Sullivan continues progress with convincing win over Barry Hawkins - Eurosport COM

Call of Duty Season 1 ranking system reset, explained: What progress carries over after update? – Sporting News

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One of the more confusing components of the Season 1 update to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is the implementation of a rankings reset.

In theory, the idea is clear: Players in Cold War, Modern Warfare and Warzone will be synced to the same ranking level. But with some people deep into unlocks already, there are questions about what will carry over beyond the update.

The Season 1 download will be available on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 2 a.m. ET for all gaming platforms.

Here's what to know about how the Season 1 update will affect your ranking and unlocked items.

Your Season level will reset to 1, but all create-a-class unlocks will be carried over and your highest preseason prestige level will remain intact. Note that this change is applicable to Modern Warfare and Warzone in addition to Black Ops Cold War.

Perhaps most important to note: Unline in some past Call of Duty games, you will NOT lose all of your unlocks each time you prestige.

From Activision:

If you reach level 200 in any Season, youll also achieve the title ofPrestige Masterfor that Season. Your Prestige Level color will change to signify your Prestige Master status, and youll gain the ability to personalize your Prestige Icon with Legacy Prestige Icons from previousCall of Dutygames that youve unlocked (more details on that below).

The journey doesnt stop there if you want to keep climbing. Once you reach Prestige Master in a Season, you can continue to level up all the way tolevel 1000 every Season, with milestone rewards to earn at every 50 levels along the way.

Four prestiges have been added in the Season 1 update, with new rewards accompanying them. By reaching Level 200, you can attain a Prestige Master achievement.

Below is an outline for the prestige system in Season 1:

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Call of Duty Season 1 ranking system reset, explained: What progress carries over after update? - Sporting News

Atento: Turnaround In Progress With 100%+ Potential Upside And A Catalyst – Seeking Alpha

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Warren Buffett famously wrote that "'turnarounds' seldom turn" in his 1979 letter to shareholders. It is easy to agree with Warren Buffett on investing and I agree on turnarounds. The most common outcome with turnarounds seems to be that they fail to turn. In order to increase the odds, it is great to find a turnaround that has already started to make the turn, but hasnt yet seen the share price respond. Atento (ATTO) may be one of those companies.

Atento was created when Telefonica (TEF) spun out its call center business in 1999, and for many years, Telefonica was the primary customer. Atento has suffered from customer concentration, a lower tech product offering and margin issues. However, the company is addressing each of these issues. CEO Carlos Lpez-Aada took the reins at the end of 2018 and set a path forward with the companys Three Horizons Plan.

Atentos turnaround is characterized by several important areas of focus: customer diversification, product offering growth, geographic expansion and EBITDA margin expansion. Each of these have shown important improvement and are evidence of a company actually turning.

Given the companys origin, it is not surprising that Atento began as a company hugely reliant on Telefonica. Way back in 1999, Telefonica represented about 90% of Atentos business. So far in the first three quarters of 2020, Telefonica has accounted for 32% of Atentos business. That leaves Telefonica as an important customer, but Atento is no longer a single customer company. The company has made progress in the recent quarters as in Q3 2020, multi-sector accounted for 67.7% of TTM revenue, versus 60.7% of revenue just prior to the start of the Three Horizon Plan.

Atento reports results grouped by three regions: Brazil, the Americas and EMEA. Brazil is Atentos home country and its largest and most important single market. As of last month, Atento had 27.9% market share in Brazil, well ahead of any other competitor. Having a dominant base is important and the Brazilian market produces the companys best margins. I expect Brazil to remain Atentos most important market and hope for growth there. In fact, having by far the largest market share in the country should only be supportive of the growth through scale advantage.

However, it is also important that Atento grows and expands in other countries. Obviously, the more markets, the more opportunities for growth. Additionally, geographic expansion may help with currency risks. Atento trades in the US and has US dollar denominated debt and so can be affected by currency fluctuations, particularly declines of the Brazilian real.

Atento has been working to diversify from a pure call center company to a more diversified customer support company with a better customer service support product. The transformation provides Atento with the opportunity for increased margins and a growing moat. The more advanced the services, the more value that Atento provides and the greater the moat and margins. Atento calls their more advanced product offerings next generation services and the next generation services have accounted for 50% of new sales in 2020 versus 42% in 2019. The more this continues, the stronger the margin and moat trends.

Flowing from the client diversification, product offering and costs controls, Atento has started to show improving margin. EBITDA margins were 12.7% in Q3 and Atento is targeting 14-15% margins. Atento has dramatically improved cash flow metrics in 2020. Through the first 9 months of 2019, Atento had operating cash flow of negative $29 million and free cash flow of negative $88 million. Both of those have dramatically improved in 2020 and the company has had positive operating cash flow of $40 million and positive free cash flow of $9 million through the first 9 months of 2020. Further improving margins and a focus on costs should continue to improve these metrics.

The risks and catalysts here are inter-related and so Ill address them together. Debt and refinancing is the big one. Atento has a net debt position of $514.2 million as of the end of the third quarter. About $500 million of that debt is due in August 2022. The company announced that they were going to refinance in September, but called off the refinancing by October due to market conditions. It was not a confidence inspiring move. However, conditions may be improving and Atento may be in a better position to refinance the notes next year than they were this fall. In particular, the Brazilian Real has been strengthening and Atento has been reporting improved EBITDA. Along with that, the current notes are trading more strongly. If waiting a couple quarters allows Atento to secure the new financing at better terms such as a lower rate and longer term, then waiting will be well worth it. I would hope, however, that next time they attempt a refinancing the company be sure they can complete it.

Atentos reliance on Brazil and the Latin American market is another risk. Atento borrowed in US dollars but most revenues are not in US dollars. When local currencies decline, Atentos revenues decline in US dollar terms.

The Brazilian real to USD ratio started the year at just over 4 and moved to over 5.8 in the spring. The real has now recovered some and is trading at 5.06 as of December 12. If the real continues to recover, that will help Atentos financial results, but the opposite is true as well and the setup of borrowing in a different currency than most revenues inherently introduces some risk due to the mismatch.

The turnaround seems to have started, but it is still in its early stages. Even with the large improvement in FCF, it has only been $9 million for the first 9 months of 2020. Continued improvement in revenues, mix and margin should bolster the FCF number, but it is currently only tenuously positive. A small stumble could take the company back to a negative FCF situation.

Atento has an Enterprise Value of $703 million and a market cap of only $188 million, so the stock price is leveraged to small changes in the value of the company. A doubling of the EV would lead the market cap, and thus the stock price, more than quadrupling.

Is a doubling of the EV possible? I think so. Atento had EBITDA of $44.8 million in the most recently reported quarter. EBITDA trends are favorable with the increasing margins and improving currency situation. If these continue, I think that yearly EBITDA could reach $200 million by 2021 or 2022. A 7x EBITDA multiple on $200 million of EBITDA would lead to a doubling of the EV, and as discussed above, a more than quadrupling of the stock price to about $60.

A 7x multiple to EBITDA wouldnt be unreasonable if Atento is able to execute a favorable refinancing, the company is able to continue to improve margins and execute other components of their Three Horizon Plan, and the Latin American markets and currencies continue to stabilize. That is a number of conditions and present very real risks, but some of the turn already appears to be in progress.

Turnarounds may rarely turn, but every now and then one does.

Disclosure: I am/we are long ATTO. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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Atento: Turnaround In Progress With 100%+ Potential Upside And A Catalyst - Seeking Alpha

Pier 57 deemed safe to reopen as progress is made on Pier 58 removal – MyNorthwest.com

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The Seattle Great Wheel, located on Pier 57, is lit up in blue to honor essential workers during the coronavirus outbreak in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)

Pier 57 has been approved to reopen as the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) has lifted the red tag on the privately-owned pier.

The city had temporarily closed Pier 57 in September due to its proximity to the failing Pier 58 structure, deeming it unsafe for public use. Thanks to progress on the removal of Pier 58, SDCI was able to remove the red tag on the neighboring pier, which is home to Miners Landing and the Great Wheel.

Closure of two Seattle piers hurting waterfront businesses

Pier 58 is owned by the city and will be rebuilt as part of the Waterfront Seattle project. Earlier this month, a large piece of concrete was removed, which mitigates the risk to Pier 57, says the citys structural engineer advising the project.

The potential hazard to Pier 57 has been eliminated by the successful removal of key portions of Pier 58 immediately to the north, said Nathan Torgelson, director of the SDCI. Our inspectors have coordinated with the Citys engineering consultant and inspected Pier 57 to confirm it can be safely reopened.

A release from the city says approximately 90% of Pier 58 has been removed. The timber deck has been fully removed, along with many of the pier piles and the southern portion of the concrete terrace, ramps and stairs. Remaining work includes concrete demolition, pile removal, the salvaging of materials, and removal of elements from the water.

Removing the southern terrace of Pier 58 and lifting the red tag on Pier 57 are important steps forward for the waterfront, said Marshall Foster, Director of Seattles Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects. We appreciate the support and understanding of Pier 57, the Seattle Aquarium, and the entire waterfront community as we moved quickly to respond to this emergency.

Hal Griffith, owner of Pier 57 and Miners Landing, is looking forward welcoming the public back, with plans in the works for a grand re-opening.

We are excited to welcome everyone back to Pier 57. We are bringing back staff, re-stocking our restaurants and planning for a fun and safe grand re-opening with more announcements to come, Griffith said.

Whenshifting was observed at Pier 58and it was deemed unsafe for the public, removal of the pier started earlier than originally anticipated. However, funding for the pier replacement had already been secured as part of theWaterfront Seattleproject.Theredesignwill include a public plaza, large lawn, and a childrens playground. Its also designed to improve the salmon habitat and migration corridor.

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Pier 57 deemed safe to reopen as progress is made on Pier 58 removal - MyNorthwest.com

UN makes progress on ‘greening the blue’ – UN News

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According to the latest edition of the Greening the Blue report 2020, from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP),the UN system with its 310,000 personnel spread across some 60 entities, also found innovative ways to fund these initiatives.

Among the practical examples, the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) office in Uruguay upgraded its air conditioning system and replaced all lighting with energy-efficient LEDs using money generated from a 3 per cent air travel surcharge,used to finance or co-finance environment projects.

Thursday'sreportcovers emissions for 2019. Therefore, the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on emissions are not yetfactored in,and will be included in the 2021 edition.

In 2019, the UN system as a whole logged some 6.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2eq)per capita, down from 7 tonnes a year in 2018. In total, about 2 million tonnes of tCO2eqwere emitted across the system.

Similarly, the system continued its efforts towards ensuring that no solid waste from UN facilities, operations or activities is causing pollution or harming the environment and local populations, generating on average, about 457 kilograms of waste per person.

The system also worked to conserve water and avoid the release of untreated wastewater into the environment. In 2019, the average water consumption was about 49 cubic metres per personnel.

Through the year, UN system entities also embarked upon ways to improve biodiversity, with offices and operations plating indigenous trees, hosting and taking care of local wildlife.

One such creature is a juvenile African Rock Python, making the grounds of the UN Office at Nairobi (UNON) its home.

The 2020 report also marks a key change, with a new strategy endorsed by UNs top management to accelerate efforts across the board to systematically integrate sustainable development considerations into how the system operates.

This year, the Greening the Blue community also opened its membership to other intergovernmental organizations willing to follow UN systems path towards emissions reduction.

The Green Climate Fund, which assist developing countries in climate change adaptation and mitigation practices, joined up, and its environmental information included in the report.

Another addition this year was gathering data on fossil fuels and ozone depleting substances. As this is a brand new entry into the report, it will be assessed and developed next year. As of reporting, about 70 per cent of the UN offices did not know which refrigerants they use, 20 per cent use non-ozone depleting refrigerants, and 10 per cent use them.

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UN makes progress on 'greening the blue' - UN News

AnPac Bio Makes Significant Progress in Detecting Pre-cancer Diseases and Recorded Over 20 Types of Pre-cancer Diseases – Yahoo Finance

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SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AnPac Bio-Medical Science Co., Ltd. (AnPac Bio, the Company or we) (ANPC), a biotechnology company with operations in China and the United States focused on early cancer screening and detection, announced today it has made significant progress in detecting pre-cancer diseases. This development was made via novel sensor design, sensor fabrication, detection process, signal collection, signal processing and proprietary algorithms, which has been validated in both multi-year retrospective and prospective, large sample and population studies. The Company recently completed a prospective large population screening of over 110,000 individuals (and over 150,000 samples throughout this study with some individuals tested multiple times over the years) using AnPac Bios Cancer Differentiation Analysis (CDA) technology. The follow-up study involved over ~ 13,000 individuals assessed with high cancer risk, medium cancer risk and low cancer risk using AnPac Bios CDA technology.

Initial results indicated that AnPac Bio CDA technology is capable of providing meaningful information while also screening out pre-cancer diseases, with over 20 types of pre-cancer diseases diagnosed following initial screening utilizing CDA technology and subsequent confirmation by hospital or physical testing center health check-ups. Of the over 20 types of screened out pre-cancer cases, thyroid nodule/tumor ranked number one and pulmonary nodule ranked number two, with about 92.5% confirmed pre-cancer patients in medium to high risk cancer groups. Of the ~ 13,000 individuals, AnPac screened out and confirmed pre-cancer cases at roughly 4.5 times of that of cancer cases, strongly demonstrating that AnPac Bio CDA technology is sensitive to detecting pre-cancer diseases and it could play a critical role in cancer prevention.

Developing a viable pre-cancer and early-stage cancer screening technology has been a long-term goal of global scientists. However, its development and progress has been relatively slow, despite years of heavy investment and efforts by leading scientists and research groups. One of key factors inhibiting breakthroughs in cancer detection has been the lack of previous involvement and contributions of leading semiconductor detection experts (with sensor signal collection and processing).

Story continues

AnPac Bio consists of research and development team with extensive knowledge and experience in detection technologies including novel and advanced detection technologies including highly sensitive sensor design and fabrications, as well as small signal collection and processing. AnPacs founder, Dr. Chris Yu, graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a Ph. D. degree in novel detection technology which involved novel sensor design and fabrication, and small signal detection and processing. Mr. Du, vice president of research and development of AnPac Bio, has ten years of extensive integrated circuit (IC) processing and integration experience, which is critical in fabricating highly sensitive cancer detection sensors, at a New York Stock Exchange traded IC manufacturing company prior to joining AnPac Bio.

AnPac Bio has innovated and developed biophysics based detection technology (in which biophysical properties of blood are detected and analyzed) for pre-cancer disease and early stage cancer screening and detection. The Company is also one of the very first companies to champion multi-cancer detection idea and methodology. The employment of biophysical properties for cancer detection is novel and is an alternative approach to traditional methods, with advantages of being able to detect multiple cancer and pre-cancer types earlier, more cost effective, achieves higher sensitivity and specificity, and has relatively simple sample requirements and test procedures. Specifically, it could play an important role in democratizing cancer screening to large populations at an affordable cost.

Dr. Chris Yu, CEO and Chairman of AnPac Bio commented: We are very pleased to have achieved this significant breakthrough in successfully detecting pre-cancer diseases, which is critical in cancer prevention and saving lives. From a commercialization perspective, this breakthrough has significant ramifications for market and customer needs, and revenue generation potential. AnPac Bio is very proud to be one of the first research groups to have achieved this important technical milestone, which will significantly expand AnPac Bios available market size and customer base, and play an important role in revenue generation for years to come.

About AnPac Bio

AnPac Bio is a biotechnology company focused on early cancer screening and detection, with 128 issued patents as of June 22, 2020. With two certified clinical laboratories in China and one CLIA and CAP accredited clinical laboratory in the United States, AnPac Bio performs a suite of cancer screening and detection tests, including CDA (Cancer Differentiation Analysis), bio-chemical, immunological, and genomics tests. In a 2019 market research report by Frost & Sullivan, AnPac Bio ranked second worldwide among companies offering next-generation early cancer screening and detection technologies in terms of the number of clinical samples for cancer screening and detection, based on approximately 35,000 clinical samples as at June 30, 2019. AnPac Bios CDA technology platform has been shown in retrospective validation studies to be able to detect the risk of over 20 different cancer types with high sensitivity and specificity.

For more information, please visit: https://www.Anpacbio.com.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

Company:Phil Case, Marketing and Investor RelationsPhone: +1-267-810-6776 (US)Email: phil_case@AnPacbio.com

Investor Relations:Ascent Investor Relations LLCTina Xiao, PresidentPhone: +1-917-609-0333 (US)Email: tina.xiao@ascent-ir.com

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are made under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are relating to the Company's future financial and operating performance. The Company has attempted to identify forward-looking statements by terminologies including "believes," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," "projects," "intends," "potential," target, aim, predict, outlook, seek, goal objective, assume, contemplate, continue, positioned, forecast, likely, "may," "could," "might," "will," "should," "approximately" or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, assumptions and uncertainties involving judgments about, among other things, future economic, competitive and market conditions and future business decisions, all of which are difficult or impossible to predict accurately and many of which are beyond the Company's control. These statements also involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statement. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, the implementation of our business model and growth strategies; trends and competition in the cancer screening and detection market; our expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of our cancer screening and detection tests and our ability to expand our customer base; our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protections for our CDA technology and our continued research and development to keep pace with technology developments; our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals from the NMPA, the FDA and the relevant U.S. states and have our laboratories certified or accredited by authorities including the CLIA; our future business development, financial condition and results of operations and our ability to obtain financing cost-effectively; potential changes of government regulations; general economic and business conditions in China and elsewhere; our ability to hire and maintain key personnel; our relationship with our major business partners and customers; and the duration of the coronavirus outbreaks and their potential adverse impact on the economic conditions and financial markets and our business and financial performance, such as resulting from reduced commercial activities due to quarantines and travel restrictions instituted by China, the U.S. and many other countries around the world to contain the spread of the virus. Additionally, all forward-looking statements are subject to the Risk Factors detailed from time to time in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Because of these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements. In addition, these statements speak only as of the date of this press release and, except as may be required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.

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AnPac Bio Makes Significant Progress in Detecting Pre-cancer Diseases and Recorded Over 20 Types of Pre-cancer Diseases - Yahoo Finance

Health Financing Progress Matrix Launch Event – World Health Organization

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UHC is at the core of WHO's strategic direction, and effective, evidence-informed health financing policies are essential for progress. The Health Financing Progress Matrix (HFPM) is the World Health Organizations standardized qualitative approach to assessing how aligned a countrys health financing system is with Universal Health Coverage. It crystallizes thinking on what matters in health financing for UHC, based on a body of evidence and normative work developed over the past thirty years. The HFPM assesses a countrys health financing institutions, policies and their implementation at a given point in time, which ultimately impacts on population access to quality health services, and the incidence of financial hardship. Given the centrality of health financing to UHC, the HFPM is integral to supporting progress towards the target of 1 billion people covered by UHC by 2023.

Why is progress in health financing central to support accelerating towards UHC? How do countries know whether they are heading in the right direction? How can the progress matrix support countries to identify priority issues, and subsequently drive progress towards UHC in the process. To answer these questions WHOs Department of Health Systems Governance and Financing, jointly with WHOs Department of Delivery for Impact, are organizing a launch event on Wednesday 16th December 14:30-15:30 (CET). This event provides an overview of the HFPM2.0,the culmination of almost three years of conceptual development and testing in 20 countries,and showcases how it supports countries to systematically track progress in health financing and ultimately UHC. A key focus of GPW13 is to build country-level capacity to measure impact and collectively progress towards the Triple Billion Targets and health-related SDGs. The session will present how the HFPM enables countries to track progress, monitor data and policies implementation and ultimately catalyze actions to improve health financing institutions and policies.

A selection of speakers will reflect on how the HFPM can support their work in countries to support the development of health financing policy and UHC, which contributes to more resilient health systems and improved emergency preparedness and response.

Zoom Meeting Details

https://who.zoom.us/j/97665838265

Meeting ID: 976 6583 8265Passcode:Launch2#

Programme:

Welcome and introductory remarks:

Joseph Kutzin, Unit Head, Health Financing, WHODr. Pavel Ursu, Director, Dept. Delivery for Impact, WHO

An overview of the HFPM

Matthew Jowett, Senior Health Financing Specialist, WHO

Country reflections:

Kingsley Addai, Technical Officer, Health Financing, WHO Country Office GhanaElina Dale, Adviser on Health Policy, WHO County Office Ukraine

The researchers perspective

Kara Hanson, Professor of Health System Economics, and Dean, Faculty of Public Health And Policy, LSHTM

Intensive support to countries

Dr. Pavel Ursu, Director, Dep. Delivery for ImpactAwad Mataria, Director Health Systems Strengthening, WHO EMRO

The perspective from a funding agency

Jo Keatinge, Health Advisor, FCDO United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Rapid Q&A

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Health Financing Progress Matrix Launch Event - World Health Organization

In narrow win, Michigan reaps the rewards of Dickinson’s progress – UM Hoops

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For much of the second half, Michigans offense had sputtered in the worst possible way. Isaiah Livers couldnt get anything going. Mike Smith didnt have a second-half point. 3-pointers werent falling, no matter how open they were.

And with just over two minutes left, the Wolverines offensive struggles had reached an apex. They hadnt scored for nearly three minutes, enabling Penn State to take a two-point lead on the back of an 8-0 run.

Then, suddenly, Michigan found its remedy in the form of Hunter Dickinson, who started his first career game after Austin Davis suffered a foot injury in the last game. The freshman center had 16 points to that point, eclipsing his season average of 14.8. But this was a unique moment in Dickinsons nascent college career. Even in the Wolverines overtime win over Oakland, they were never down this late, never with their backs this far against the wall.

Dickinson paid no mind. As Smith drove to the hoop, Dickinson cut alongside him, positioning himself to receive Smiths feed for a two-handed slam. With the score knotted a possession later, he received another pass from Smith. This time, Penn States Izaiah Brockington was draped all over him, forcing Dickinson to make a spinning finish through traffic.

For Michigan, the basket would provide the ultimate difference in a 62-58 win. For Dickinson, it was a culmination of everything hes prepared for since arriving in Ann Arbor.

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In narrow win, Michigan reaps the rewards of Dickinson's progress - UM Hoops

No overnight transformation, but Huskers’ WR group showing steady signs of progress in recent weeks – Lincoln Journal Star

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Nebraska's Zavier Betts hauls in pass against Purdue on Dec. 5 in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nobody in college football is going to mistake Nebraskas offense in 2020 for a juggernaut, but the Huskers have turned in arguably their two most efficient performances passing the ball over the past two weeks.

The Huskers averaged 8.2 yards per attempt and completed 77.4% of their passes in a 37-27 win against Purdue one week after hitting 7.1 per attempt and 84% the week before against Iowa.

The reasons for the increase in efficiency likely start with improved quarterback play. Junior Adrian Martinez has completed 41 of 50 passes over those two games at a clip of 8.32 yards per attempt and has not thrown an interception.

"We're working overtime to try to get those guys more and more comfortable with what we're doing, and I think they've been improving every week.

Scott Frost

Not to be overlooked is the steady progress from a mostly inexperienced wide receiving corps. Theres been no overnight transformation like many hoped for this offseason, but the longer the Huskers continue to play, the more of an idea you get for why head coach Scott Frost and offensive coordinator Matt Lubick think things are headed in the right direction.

Ive been happy as far as guys striving to get better every day and focusing on daily improvement, Lubick said. The last two games have been two of our better games. Especially in the run game and blocking. Guys look at stats and fans see guys catching balls, but we were on the right hats and guys were moving some guys on crucial bubbles, which is a big part of our offense. That was good to see.

It was also a step forward in the passing game.

Frost said that Nebraskas staff decided it was doing a disservice to the receiver group by spreading game repetitions around to so many different players, so it tried to narrow down the rotation a little bit.

Freshman Marcus Fleming transferred after not seeing the field much after a breakout performance against Northwestern. In recent weeks, junior captain Kade Warner has seen his playing time reduced significantly and freshman Alante Brown has seen fewer chances, too. Redshirt freshman Chris Hickman has been essentially a package player in run-heavy personnel.

Thats left sophomore WanDale Robinson far and away Nebraskas leader in catches (39), targets (50) and yards (341) freshman Zavier Betts and a trio of walk-ons in senior Levi Falck, junior Oliver Martin and sophomore Wyatt Liewer as the primary rotation in recent games.

Betts and Falck, in particular, have seen their roles and production steadily grow over the course of the season. Falck joins Robinson and tight end Austin Allen as the only players on the roster with at least one catch in every game this season. Betts didnt play in NUs opener against Ohio State but has at least one catch in each of the five games since.

Nebraska wide receiver Levi Falck catches a pass against Penn State on Nov. 14 at Memorial Stadium.

He's a freshman, he's coming on, he's talented and he just had to get comfortable with everything, Frost said of the gifted freshman from Bellevue West, who is third on the team with 131 receiving yards. Know the signals, know the plays, know the details, know the routes.

Betts and Falck had their best joint outing against Purdue, combining for 11 catches on 12 targets. They didnt make any huge plays the 11 catches went for a modest 76 yards but that level of involvement and catch rate speaks to a growing sense of dependability between the receivers and Martinez.

Ive said it a bunch, we have a lot of players that really could have benefited from spring ball, fall camp, a nonconference schedule, all those things, and they didn't get the luxury of any of that, Frost said. So we're working overtime to try to get those guys more and more comfortable with what we're doing, and I think they've been improving every week.

It certainly doesnt hurt that Robinson has 18 catches on 20 targets for 189 yards the past two weeks, either. He had his best receiving game of the year against Purdue, hauling in nine for 114.

To be sure, there is still plenty of room for improvement. Nebraska has not shown an ability to throw the ball over the top of defenses its longest passing play remains a 45-yard touchdown on a fly sweep shovel pass to Betts in the backfield and its 254 yards passing against the Boilermakers was just the second outing with 200-plus yards of the year.

Lubick called a 10-yard touchdown pass to Liewer on a quick throw to the flat his favorite play of the year so far because of the way Falck and Allen blocked for the walk-on from ONeill, allowing him to get into the end zone untouched.

Guys dont come here to block. They come here to catch balls, Lubick said. Naturally, as receivers, they want to make plays and thats kind of innate to the position. But once they get here, they learn pretty fast that if you dont block, you dont play. Nothing says more about who you are as a person than by the way you block for your teammates.

Thats an area where Falck has shown proficiency and Betts has shown want-to.

We feel like weve got seven to eight guys that can play for us, Lubick said. We feel good about that and we feel that if we get nicked up, the next guy, because he has taken reps in practice, is ready to roll. I like our depth situation.

Its certainly nowhere near a finished product, but NU would happily take continued small steps forward in the coming weeks. Everybody is eligible to return next year, plus the Huskers could get healthy returns from freshman Will Nixon and junior Omar Manning. They will also add three incoming freshmen who are 6-2 or taller and are expected to sign their national letters of intent next week.

Purdue running back King Doerue (22) goes over Nebraska safety Marquel Dismuke (9) for a touchdown during the second quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska place-kicker Connor Culp (33) celebrates a 49-yard field goal against Purdueduring the second quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson (1) makes a catch in front of Purdue safety Marvin Grant (4) during the second quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue wide receiver Rondale Moore (4) holds off Nebraska linebacker Will Honas (3) during the first quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue wide receiver Jackson Anthrop (33) blocks the punt of Nebraska punter William Przystup (90) during the second quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska wide receiver Wyatt Liewer (85) runs in for a touchdown against Purdue during the second quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt (5) and linebacker Garrett Nelson (44) celebrate a stop on fourth down in the second quarter against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Simon Otte chases down the ball after a blocked punt during the first quarter in the Huskers' game against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska linebacker Simon Otte (34) chases down the ball after a blocked punt during the first quarter against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Connor Culp kicks a field goal against Purdue during the second quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska wide receiver Wyatt Liewer (85) celebrates his touchdown with running back Dedrick Mills during the second quarter against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska wide receiver Wyatt Liewer scores a touchdown against Purdue during the second quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue quarterback Jack Plummer (13) throws against Nebraska during the third quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue wide receiver David Bell (3) runs in for an 89-yard touchdown after a catch against Nebraska during the fourth quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez throws against Purdue during the fourth quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez breaks away from Purdue defenders on his way to a touchdown run during the first quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue wide receiver Jackson Anthrop (33) celebrates after blocking a punt against Nebraska during the second quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue quarterback Jack Plummer (13) is sacked by Nebraska linebacker Garrett Nelson (44) during the first quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue quarterback Jack Plummer throws against Nebraska during the first quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska linebacker Garrett Nelson (44) celebrates a sack against Purdue during the first quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez throws against Purdue during the first quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Wyatt Liewer and Dedrick Mills celebrate Liewer's touchdown against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Cam Taylor-Britt runs into Purdue's TJ Sheffield during a punt return Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind. Taylor-Britt was penalized on the play.

Nebraska's Ben Stille and Garrett Nelson sack Purdue's Jack Plummer on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Cam Taylor-Britt defends Purdue receiver David Bell in the end zone on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Nadab Joseph is carted off the field after an injury against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez rushes for a touchdown against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Dedrick Mills rushes for a touchdown against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Adrian Martinez practices a snapbefore the Huskers play Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Luke McCaffrey practices a snapbefore Saturday's game against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Adrian Martinez rushes for a touchdown against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Will Honas tackles Purdue's Rondale Moore after a reception Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska running back Dedrick Mills uns against Purdue during the third quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez (2) runs in for a touchdown against Purdue during the third quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue wide receiver David Bell makes a catch over Nebraska safety Marquel Dismuke (9) and cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt (5) on his way to an 89-yard touchdown during the fourth quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue wide receiver David Bell makes a catch over Nebraska safety Marquel Dismuke (9) and cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt (5) on his way to an 89-yard touchdown during the fourth quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue wide receiver David Bell (3) runs in for an 89-yard touchdown after a catch against Nebraska during the fourth quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue's Zander Horvath runs the ball against Nebraska on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Cam Taylor-Britt gets a grip on Purdue receiver David Bell on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Deontai Williams defends a pass to Purdue's Payne Durham on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue's Branson Deen grabs the jersey of Nebraska offensive lineman Matt Sichterman on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Ben Stille sacks Purdue's Jack Plummer on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue's David Bell runs into the end zone to complete a touchdown reception against Nebraska on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Cam Taylor-Britt breaks up a pass intended for Purdue's David Bell on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Adrian Martinez throws a pass against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Connor Culp kicks a field goal against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

A pass eludes Nebraska's Wan'Dale Robinson against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Dicaprio Bootle knocks down a pass against Purdue's Milton Wright on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska defensive back Deontai Williams tackles Purdue's TJ Sheffield on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue's Jack Plummer throws a pass against Nebraska on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska sophomore wideout Wan'Dale Robinson tries to escape a defenderduring Saturday's game against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska junior quarterback throws a pass Saturday against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez looks downfield Saturday against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska defensive back Deontai Williams (8) and linebacker Will Honas combine to stop Purdue running back Doerue King Saturday game in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska coach Scott Frost talks to linebacker Caleb Tannor (2)during Saturday's game against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska offensive tackle Brenden Jaimes blocks a Purdue defender on Dec. 5 in West Lafayette, Ind.

A pair of Husker defenders stop Purdue running back Zander Horvathduring Saturday's game in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Garrett Nelson (44) picks up Cam Taylor-Britt after a big defensive play Saturday against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska wide receiver Levi Falck is stopped by a Purdue defenderduring Saturday's game in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Adrian Martinez rushes for a touchdown against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Wyatt Liewer scores against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

The Nebraska defense mostly held Purdue star receiver David Bell in check. He had 10 catches for 132 yards, but 89 of those yards came on a touchdown in which two Huskers collided into each other.

Nebraska's Austin Allen catches a pass against Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska and Purdue players get testy during Saturday's game in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue's Geovonte' Howard and Marvin Grant react to penalty flags being thrown against Nebraska on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Cam Taylor-Britt breaks up a pass intended for Purdue's David Bell on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska's Scott Frost and Purdue's Jeff Brohm shake hands after Nebraska defeated Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt (5) breaks up a pass intended for Purdue wide receiver David Bell (3) during the fourth quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez (2) throws against Purdue during the fourth quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska junior quarterback Adrian Martinez looks for room to runduring Saturday's game against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska senior cornerback Dicaprio Bootle defends Purdue's Milton Wright on a pass playduring Saturday's game in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska receiver Zavier Betts tries to work his way around Purdue's Kieren Douglas on Saturday's in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska defensive back Deontai Williams defends Purdue's Payne Durhamduring Saturday's game in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez fires a passduring Saturday's game against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska guard Matt Farniok celebrates a big playduring Saturday's game against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

Nebraska senior running back Dedrick Mills picks up yardsduring Saturday's game against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.

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No overnight transformation, but Huskers' WR group showing steady signs of progress in recent weeks - Lincoln Journal Star

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: Author Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling on the Free State Project – Vox.com

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Every ideology produces its own brand of fanatics, but theres something special about libertarianism.

I dont mean that as an insult, either. I love libertarians! For the most part, theyre fun and interesting people. But they also tend to be cocksure about core principles in a way most people arent. If youve ever encountered a freshly minted Ayn Rand enthusiast, you know what I mean.

And yet one of the things that makes political philosophy so amusing is that its mostly abstract. You cant really prove anything its just a never-ending argument about values. Every now and again, though, reality intervenes in a way that illustrates the absurdity of particular ideas.

Something like this happened in the mid-2000s in a small New Hampshire town called Grafton. Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling, author of a new book titled A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear, says its the boldest social experiment in modern American history. I dont know if its the boldest, but its definitely one of the strangest.

The experiment was called the Free Town Project (it later became the Free State Project), and the goal was simple: take over Graftons local government and turn it into a libertarian utopia. The movement was cooked up by a small group of ragtag libertarian activists who saw in Grafton a unique opportunity to realize their dreams of a perfectly logical and perfectly market-based community. Needless to say, utopia never arrived, but the bears did! (I promise Ill explain below.)

I reached out to Hongoltz-Hetling to talk about his book. I wanted to know what happened in New Hampshire, why the experiment failed, and what the whole saga can teach us not just about libertarianism but about the dangers of loving theory more than reality.

A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.

How would you describe the Free Town Project to someone who doesnt know anything about it?

Id put it like this: Theres a national community of libertarians that has developed over the last 40 or 50 years, and theyve never really had a place to call their own. Theyve never been in charge of a nation, or a state, or even a city. And theyve always really wanted to create a community that would showcase what would happen if they implemented their principles on a broad scale.

So in 2004, a group of them decided that they wanted to take some action on this deficiency, and they decided to launch what they called the Free Town Project. They sent out a call to a bunch of loosely affiliated national libertarians and told everyone to move to this one spot and found this utopian community that would then serve as a shining jewel for the world to see that libertarian philosophies worked not only in theory but in practice. And they chose a town in rural New Hampshire called Grafton that already had fewer than 1,000 people in it. And they just showed up and started working to take over the town government and get rid of every rule and regulation and tax expense that they could.

Of all the towns in all the world, why Grafton?

They didnt choose it in a vacuum. They actually conducted a very careful and thorough search. They zeroed in on the state of New Hampshire fairly quickly because thats the Live Free or Die state. They knew that it would align well with their philosophy of individualism and personal responsibility. But once they decided on New Hampshire, they actually visited dozens of small towns, looking for that perfect mix of factors that would enable them to take over.

What they needed was a town that was small enough that they could come up and elbow the existing citizenry, someplace where land was cheap, where they could come in and buy up a bunch of land and kind of host their incoming colonists. And they wanted a place that had no zoning, because they wanted to be able to live in nontraditional housing situations and not have to go through the rigamarole of building or buying expensive homes or preexisting homes.

Wait, what do you mean by nontraditional housing?

As the people of Grafton soon found out, a nontraditional housing situation meant a camp in the woods or a bunch of shipping containers or whatever. They brought in yurts and mobile homes and formed little clusters of cabins and tents. There was one location called Tent City, where a bunch of people just lived in tents from day to day. They all united under this broad umbrella principle of personal freedom, but as youd expect, there was a lot of variation in how they exercised it.

What did the demographics of the group look like? Are we talking mostly about white guys or Ayn Rand bros who found each other on the internet?

Well, were talking about hundreds of people, though the numbers arent all that clear. They definitely skewed male. They definitely skewed white. Some of them had a lot of money, which gave them the freedom to be able to pick up roots and move to a small town in New Hampshire. A lot of them had very little money and nothing keeping them in their places. So they were able to pick up and come in. But most of them just didnt have those family situations or those 9-to-5 jobs, and that was really what characterized them more than anything else.

And how did they take over the local government? Did they meet much resistance?

When they first showed up, they hadnt told anyone that they were doing this, with the exception of a couple of sympathetic libertarians within the community. And so all of a sudden the people in Grafton woke up to the fact that their town was in the process of being invaded by a bunch of idealistic libertarians. And they were pissed. They had a big town meeting. It was a very shouty, very angry town meeting, during which they told the Free Towners who dared to come that they didnt want them there and they didnt appreciate being treated as if their community was an experimental playpen for libertarians to come in and try to prove something.

But the libertarians, even though they never outnumbered the existing Grafton residents, what they found was that they could come in, and they could find like-minded people, traditional conservatives or just very liberty-oriented individuals, who agreed with them on enough issues that, despite that angry opposition, they were able to start to work their will on the levers of government.

They couldnt pass some of the initiatives they wanted. They tried unsuccessfully to withdraw from the school district and to completely discontinue paying for road repairs, or to declare Grafton a United Nations free zone, some of the outlandish things like that. But they did find that a lot of existing Grafton residents would be happy to cut town services to the bone. And so they successfully put a stranglehold on things like police services, things like road services and fire services and even the public library. All of these things were cut to the bone.

Then what happened over the next few years or so?

By pretty much any measure you can look at to gauge a towns success, Grafton got worse. Recycling rates went down. Neighbor complaints went up. The towns legal costs went up because they were constantly defending themselves from lawsuits from Free Towners. The number of sex offenders living in the town went up. The number of recorded crimes went up. The town had never had a murder in living memory, and it had its first two, a double homicide, over a roommate dispute.

So there were all sorts of negative consequences that started to crop up. And meanwhile, the town that would ordinarily want to address these things, say with a robust police force, instead found that it was hamstrung. So the town only had one full-time police officer, a single police chief, and he had to stand up at town meeting and tell people that he couldnt put his cruiser on the road for a period of weeks because he didnt have money to repair it and make it a safe vehicle.

Basically, Grafton became a Wild West, frontier-type town.

When did the bears show up?

It turns out that if you have a bunch of people living in the woods in nontraditional living situations, each of which is managing food in their own way and their waste streams in their own way, then youre essentially teaching the bears in the region that every human habitation is like a puzzle that has to be solved in order to unlock its caloric payload. And so the bears in the area started to take notice of the fact that there were calories available in houses.

One thing that the Free Towners did that encouraged the bears was unintentional, in that they just threw their waste out how they wanted. They didnt want the government to tell them how to manage their potential bear attractants. The other way was intentional, in that some people just started feeding the bears just for the joy and pleasure of watching them eat.

As you can imagine, things got messy and there was no way for the town to deal with it. Some people were shooting the bears. Some people were feeding the bears. Some people were setting booby traps on their properties in an effort to deter the bears through pain. Others were throwing firecrackers at them. Others were putting cayenne pepper on their garbage so that when the bears sniffed their garbage, they would get a snout full of pepper.

It was an absolute mess.

Were talking about black bears specifically. For the non-bear experts out there, black bears are not known to be aggressive toward humans. But the bears in Grafton were ... different.

Bears are very smart problem-solving animals. They can really think their way through problems. And that was what made them aggressive in Grafton. In this case, a reasonable bear would understand that there was food to be had, that it was going to be rewarded for being bolder. So they started aggressively raiding food and became less likely to run away when a human showed up.

There are lots of great examples in the book of bears acting in bold, unusually aggressive manners, but it culminated in 2012, when there was a black bear attack in the town of Grafton. That might not seem that unusual, but, in fact, New Hampshire had not had a black bear attack for at least 100 years leading up to that. So the whole state had never seen a single bear attack, and now here in Grafton, a woman was attacked in her home by a black bear.

And then, a few years after that, a second woman was attacked, not in Grafton but in a neighboring town. And since the book was written and published, theres actually been a third bear attack, also in the same little cluster and the same little region of New Hampshire. And I think its very clear that, unless something changes, more bear attacks will come.

Luckily, no ones been killed, but people have been pretty badly injured.

Youre fair, even sympathetic, to the libertarians you profile in this book, but I do wonder if you came to see them increasingly as fanatics.

You know, libertarian is such a weird umbrella term for a very diverse group of people. Some libertarians are built around the idea of white supremacy and racism. That was not the case with these libertarians. Most of the libertarians that I met were kind, decent people who would be generous with a neighbor in any given moment. But in the abstract, when theyre at a town meeting, they will vote to hurt that neighbor by cutting off, say, support for road plowing.

So I guess what I noticed is a strange disconnect between their personalities or their day-to-day interactions and the broader implications of their philosophies and their political movement. Not sure Id use the word fanatic, but definitely a weird disconnect.

Theres a lesson in this for anyone interested in seeing it, which is that if you try to make the world fit neatly into an ideological box, youll have to distort or ignore reality to do it usually with terrible consequences.

Yeah, I think thats true for libertarianism and really all philosophies of life. Its very easy to fall into this trap of believing that if only everybody followed this or that principle, then society would become this perfect system.

Did any of the characters in this story come to doubt their libertarianism as a result of what happened in Grafton? Or was it mostly a belief that libertarianism cant fail, it can only be failed?

One of the central characters in the book is a firefighter named John Babiarz. And John had the distinction of running for the governor of New Hampshire on the libertarian platform, and did better than any other gubernatorial libertarian candidate has ever done in America. And he invited the libertarians to come in and begin the Free Town Project. He was their local connection.

But by the end of the project [sometime in 2016], he had really drawn some distinctions between himself and many of the extremist libertarians who came to town. He still considers himself to be a libertarian, and a very devout one at that, but by the end of the project he was at odds with most of the other libertarians. And it shows that until you actually have a libertarian-run community, its very hard to say what it is or what it will look like.

In the end, do you think these people bumped up against the limits of libertarianism, or is this more about the particular follies of a particular group of people in a particular place?

I think they bumped up against the follies of libertarianism. I really do think that there is a hard wall of reality that exists thats going to foil any effort to implement libertarianism on a broad scale. And I think if you gave a libertarian the magic wand and allowed them to transform society the way that they wanted to, it wouldnt work the way they imagined, and I think it would break down just as Grafton did.

Maybe thats the lesson.

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Thoughts on the National Constitution Center’s "Constitution Drafting Project" – Reason

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The National Constitution Center recently conducted a fascinating exercise in which it named three groups to produce their own revised versions of the Constitution: a conservative team, a libertarian team, and a progressive one. Each team included prominent scholars and legal commentators affiliated with their respective camps. Here is the list of participants:

Team libertarian was led byIlya Shapiroof the Cato Institute and includedTimothy Sandefurof the Goldwater Institute andChristina Mulliganof Brooklyn Law School. Team progressive was led byCaroline Fredricksonof Georgetown Law School and includedJamal Greeneof Columbia Law School andMelissa Murrayof New York University School of Law. Team conservative was led byIlan Wurmanof Arizona State University College of Law and includedRobert P. Georgeof Princeton University,Michael McConnellof Stanford Law School, and Colleen A. Sheehan ofArizona State University.

It is perhaps worth noting that Caroline Frederickson is the former president of the American Constitution Society (liberal counterpart to the Federalist Society), and that libertarian team leader Ilya Shapiro is a different person from me.

Each team produced a rewritten version of the Constitution, and an introduction explaining the changes they made from the status quo. The Progressive Constitution and Introduction are available here, the conservative versions are here, and the libertarian ones here.

There are importantand often unsurprisingdifferences between the three teams. But there are also notable points of convergence. NCC President Jeffrey Rosen summarizes some of them in an Atlantic article on the project:

The results surprised us. As expected, each of the three teams highlights different values: The team of conservatives emphasizes Madisonian deliberation; the progressives, democracy and equality; and the libertarians, unsurprisingly, liberty. But when the groups delivered their Constitutionswhich are published hereall three proposed to reform the current Constitution rather than abolish it.

Even more unexpectedly, they converge in several of their proposed reforms, focusing on structural limitations on executive power rather than on creating new rights. All three teams agree on the need to limit presidential power, explicitly allow presidential impeachments for non-criminal behavior, and strengthen Congress's oversight powers of the president. And, more specifically, the progressive and conservative teams converge on the need to elect the president by a national popular vote (the libertarians keep the Electoral College); to resurrect Congress's ability to veto executive actions by majority vote; and to adopt 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices. The unexpected areas of agreement suggest that, underneath the country's current political polarization, there may be deep, unappreciated consensus about constitutional principles and needed reforms.

As Rosen points out, the libertarian team may well also agree on 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices, which they omitted from their draft constitution only for tactical reasons (because they wanted to focus on specifically libertarian proposals, as opposed to generic "good government" measures). Elsewhere, team leader Ilya Shapiro has endorsed the idea, and it enjoys considerable support among other libertarian legal scholars and commentators (myself included).

In addition to the points of convergence highlighted by Rosen, it's worth noting that all three teams would abolish the Eleventh Amendment, which has been interpreted by the Supreme Court as giving states broad "sovereign immunity" against a variety of constitutional and statutory lawsuits brought by private citizens. The conservative constitution puts it best, I think, in proposing to replace sovereign immunity with an explicit statement that "Neither the United States nor any State shall enjoy immunity from suit in the courts of the United States."

Yet another point of agreement is that all three teams would abolish the requirement that the president must be a "natural born" citizen, thereby allowing immigrants to hold the nation's highest political office. This has long been my own view, as well.

It is too early to say that these areas of agreement can result in successful constitutional amendments. The obstacles to enacting any significant amendment are high, and the three teams' views are not fully representative of their respective political camps. Nonetheless, the points of convergence between the three teams are at least plausible candidates for amendment initiatives which deserve serious consideration.

All three proposed drafts include useful ideas aside from those on which there is convergence. The conservative and libertarian constitutions both contain valuable (though different) constraints on federal spending. The conservative version also forestall court-packing by fixing the number of justices at nine, and proposes a ranked-choice voting method for the presidency that might well be an improvement over the status quo.

The progressive constitution includes thoughtful proposals for forestall gerrymandering by requiring legislative districts to be drawn by independent commissions, banning discrimination on the basis of sex and sexual orientation, and protecting secular exercises of conscience on the same basis as free exercise of religion. Interestingly, the progressive drafters chose not to follow the example of left-liberal constitutional drafters in other countries by including a variety of "positive" welfare rights in their draft (a decision I commend, though some of their ideological allies might not agree).

Perhaps not surprisingly, I am most in agreement with the libertarian draft constitution. Indeed, I agree with that team's work even more than I expected to, based on what I previously knew of their views.

I particularly commend their "Ellis Island Clause" (which would sweep away most federal immigration restrictions, thereby returning us to something like the original meaning of the current Constitution, as understood by Madison and others) their expansion and clarification of the Fifth Amendment's protections for property rights, and the modification of the Thirteenth Amendment to include an explicit ban on the military draft and other forms of mandatory service imposed by the state. I defended the latter idea in my 2018 testimony before the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service.

I am disappointed that none of the three teamsnot even the libertariansthought to limit Congress' nearly unconstrained power to restrict international trade, the harm of which has been compounded by ill-advised legislation giving the president the power to impose tariffs on almost any foreign-produced goods he might wish to target. This issue is high on my list of "Things I Hate About the Constitution"areas where even the most correct possible interpretation of the present Constitution leads to bad outcomes. The libertarian draft does include useful provisions reigning in the Supreme Court's expansive interpretations of Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce, but does not address the power to regulate international commerce, which is subject to many of the same abuses.

Obviously, I also differ with the teams on various issues, particularly the conservatives and progressives. I oppose the progressives' proposals to exempt a wide swathe of campaign finance restrictions from the First Amendment, and their plan to give Congress a new power to "legislate for the general welfare, insofar as such action is necessary to address problems that are national in scope, and that are unlikely to be addressed adequately by state or local governments." I also find troubling their proposal (inspired by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, I think), to create a general exemption from all constitutional rights for legislation "such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society." I fear this provision will exacerbate the already problematic tendency of courts and legislatures to carve out exemptions from constitutional rights, especially when they don't especially like the right in question, when the legislation at issue conforms to their ideological proclivities or some combination of both.

When it comes to the conservative constitution, I am not convinced by their elaborate proposal to restructure the Senate, or by their endorsement of Alexander Hamilton's approach to the spending power over James Madison's. I think Madison's more limited view (largely endorsed by the libertarian team), is preferable.

While I have few disagreements with the changes made by the libertarian drafters, I do think they were wrong to dispense with the Seventeenth Amendment, which made the Senate directly elected, as opposed to chosen by state legislatures. The team is probably right to think that eliminating the Seventeenth Amendment probably wouldn't change much, as most state legislatures would essentially delegate senatorial selection to popular vote anyway. That had already happened in all but a few states before the enactment of the Seventeenth Amendment. But if little would change, and that little would not be an improvement, I see no reason to change the current rule in the first place. I discussed this issue in greater detail in a 2011 debate with co-blogger Todd Zywicki.

Much more can be said about all three teams' proposals. What I cover above only scratches the surface of the many interesting ideas and issues they raise.

I doubt that any these proposals will actually be enacted any time soon. Even the ideas the three teams agree on would face an uphill struggle in the constitutional amendment process. Still, it is clear that at least some aspects of the Constitution can use reform. The National Constitution Center and its three teams have made a valuable contribution to the discussion of these issues. I hope others can build on it!

UPDATE: I have updated this post to include the point that all three teams would abolish the requirement that the president must be a "natural born" citizen. I defended that position myself in various writings, most recently a USA Today op ed coauthored with Harvard law Professor Randall Kennedy.

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Thoughts on the National Constitution Center's "Constitution Drafting Project" - Reason

The Republican Party of Amanda Chase Bearing Drift – Bearing Drift

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Its hard to belong to the Republican Party because of Donald Trump and Corey Stewart. Its impossible to belong to the Republican Party ofSidney PowellandLin Wood.

It is impossible to belong to the Republican Party of Amanda Chase who has more in common with your average Republican than she does with Abraham Lincoln, Edmund Burke, or Calvin Coolidge. State Senator Amanda Chase has brilliantly and cynically chosen to encapsulate the spirit of mass hysteria, of an actual mental health crisis, in order to rise to power.

If she follows through on her threat to run as an Independent, itll either be the final waning of her star or a death blow to the RPV. The white nationalist populists will support primaries now after years of demanding a convention. Establishment folks switched their votes to conventions. At least we can all ignore principled arguments for one or the other and accept that either side will choose the likeliest path to victory.

To my Chamber of Commerce Republican friends, Senator Amanda Chase better reflects the average Republican voter in Virginia than you do. Some of this is my fault.

I moved to Virginia with libertarian principles and came in contact with TEA Party leaders like Waverly Woods. I wrote vociferously on behalf of Congressman Dave Brat against Eric Cantor.

I warned Brat against Trumpism, but he was smarter than I was. He knew he couldnt stand on principle against the Trumpers and survive. Trump flipped enough educated white voters to the Democrats to destroy a Republicans chances in the 7thDistrict.

Even a once staunchly libertarian candidate like Nick Freitas, who went all-in on his bizarre support for an authoritarian like Donald Trump, was unable to pull off a victory there. I will say that I am beyond pleased to see Delegate Freitas Facebook feed return to the poised, principled, libertarian and constitutionalist tone I had grown so accustomed to.

What the Trumpublican Party represents and what your Republican Party now is, is a monster with no morality, no philosophy, no reality, and no core. It can evolve and change, shift and morph, acclimate itself to whatever fake QAnon conspiracy is in fashion for a split second on the internet. How can you compete?

These people dont believe the media. They dont believe the scientists. They dont believe the experts or the political or bureaucratic class. They dont believe in anything except skeptical, radical disbelief. These are realities that a theologian, philosopher, and economist like Dave Brat couldnt harness. There was no way someone as educated as he could hold the hearts of those so opposed to education as they.

People like Shaun Kenney and Brian Schoeneman tried to warn me and I laughed at them. Lee Pillsbury has been asking me to write an apology letter to Eric Cantor for years. Im not sorry for supporting Congressman Brat, but I am sorry that his campaign spawned a populist movement that proceeded to wreck the foundations of the Republican Party in Virginia.

At the time, I figured they were just more mindless examples of the corporatist duopoly trying to make money off of a corporately driven Republican Party. I didnt listen. Im still not sure I was wrong about their motivations, but Im 100 percent certain they were right about me.

I didnt know what I was talking about. I didnt know who I was working with. I didnt see the nationalist and populist undertones of my friends in the TEA Party movement. Just about everything they told me was happening, happened. And I mocked them for it. I laughed at them because they saw me and the movement I had associated myself with more clarity than I saw myself.

Wow was I wrong!

Im sorry.

I dont and wont support the corporate Republicans. I wont support trickle-down economics. I feel as though there really is something harmful to big government supporting big business while the little guy gets left behind. But let me admit this, to all my libertarian-leaning friends still trying to make something of their involvement in the Republican Party: If you think that you can work with these nationalists and populists and faux conservatives and keep your freedom, retain your self-respect, and support liberty, then you are me five years ago reading an article written by you five years from now.

Wake up.

These people deprived us of Dave Brat. These people deprived us of Denver Riggleman. These people have cost us statewide election after statewide election, and Im not coming back.

However. Im over 40. You dont need me. You need young people. Dont keep making the same mistakes. Dont keep embracing hysteria. Embrace reason, science, good government, good policy, and for the love of God be smarter than the other guys. You probably already are!

Steven Brodie Tucker is a Senior Contributor at Bearing Drift.

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The Republican Party of Amanda Chase Bearing Drift - Bearing Drift

BetOnline Offering Players A Bitcoin Boost On Their Online Poker Deposits – Poker News – CardPlayer.com

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For a limited time, BetOnline is offering their players a 5% boost on Bitcoin deposits.

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Online Gaming Sites: Enjoy free games and, before playing in real-money games, please check with your local jurisdiction regarding the legality of Internet gaming.

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Get the Inside Story on THAT James Bond Poker Hand – PokerNews.com

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December 12, 2020Matthew Pitt

Poker has featured on the silver screen on many occasions but very few movies manage to reproduce realistic hands. One famous hand took place in the 2006 remake of Casino Royale, a James Bond film first launched in 1967; Ian Flemings book hit the shelves 14-years earlier in 1953.

The original Casino Royale saw James Bond take on the villain of the movie, Le Chiffre, in a game of high stakes baccarat. The 2006 reboot, directed by Martin Campbell, saw baccarat swapped for a $10 million buy-in winner-takes-all No-Limit Holdem tournament with $5 million rebuys.

As poker hands go, the final hand in the 2006 Casino Royale is as unrealistic as they come, despite Campbell hiring a professional poker player to assist them the poker scenes. It is beautifully shot thanks to the editor Stuart Baird telling Campbell to shoot everything he could possibly think of, especially eyes, looks, close-ups. The hand itself is a very stereotypical Hollywood poker hand.

Which Poker Player Would Make the Best James Bond?

Polygon interviewed Campbell and other key personel recently and its apparent he was please with how the poker scenes of his movie panned out.

I think the sequence was pretty convincing. What you realise is its not just the card games its the stakes. Its also two guys eye-f****ing one another, basically. That was the secret.

Campbell revealed he spent countless hours watching gambling classics, including The Cincinnati Kid, in an attempt to learn the nuances of poker on TV. He enlisted the help of veteran producer Michael G. Wilson as an informal poker consultant as Campbell strived for the ultimate in poker authenticity.

Tom Sambrook was drafted in a the films poker consultant. Sambrook was a regular at The Grosvenor Victoria Casino in London, better-known as The Vic, where hed won the 2,525 buy-in European Poker Championships in 2002 for 120,000. Sambrook answered the call in 2005 by which time hed only amassed an additional 16,380 from nine more tournament cashes.

The actors underwent tuition from Sambrook who showed the actors, including Daniel Craig (James Bond) and Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) how to compose themselves at the table, and how to handle chips and cards.

Sambrook told Polygon he had an input in how the final, infamous hand, played out.

I put in [the script] that Bond does the teaser re-raise, inducing the big all-in. It took maybe six weeks to get that up to martin Campbell [] I said, Youve got to read this because most people wont know or care, but there will be hardcore poker players that will just say, Theyve done it again. Why cant they get this stuff right?

The didnt get this stuff right despite Sambrooks apparent expert advice.

'Molly's Game' Review: The Poker-Themed Film Does Not Disappoint

The final hand sees four players remaining in the tournament, including Bond and Le Chiffre, and all four have made it to the river of the board. Player 1 moves all-in for $6 million, Player 2 calls all-in with his last $5 million putting $35 million in the pot.

Le Chiffre raises to $12 million before Bond shoved for $40.5 million. Le Chiffre eventually calls off his remaining $27.5 million in chips and the cards are revealed.

Player 1: for a flushPlayer 2: for a full houseLe Chiffre: for a better full houseBond: for a straight flush what else would the films hero have?

The hand is flawed on many levels. You can argue a case for Player 1 and player 2 because theyre just super-rich people playing poker. Not for Le Chiffre who is billed as a mathematical genius and an elite poker player.

Le Chiffre, holding only the second-best full house could have folded, leaving himself $27.5 million to Bonds $87.5 million and still be in with a chance of winning the $115 million pot he so desperately needed. Surely Le Chiffre would duck out of the way and fight Bond with a 3:1 chip deficit heads-up, instead he calls a three-way all-in in a hand he is basically never going to win.

Dont think people fold full houses? Search on YouTube for Roberto Romanello correctly folding jacks full to Mike Matusow at the 2008 World Series of Poker.

Sambrook conceded the final hand was unlikely to happen in a real game, however.

Its not representative of an average hand. But the thing about holdem is it does create these factories of madness. Thats why I love the game. It creates this very close, explosive situation. Once youve got a board with cards that close together, everyones thinking about the house, everyones thinking about the flush, everyones thinking about the straight. And in there is the sick feeling, Christ, does one of these guys have a straight flush?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Sambrook hasnt cashed in a live event since November 2009 although he has some pretty cool memories of playing cards with legitimate movie stars.

I played my last game literally as the wheel of the plane hit the tarmac in Heathrow. I won with king-high, it was just fantastic.

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Get the Inside Story on THAT James Bond Poker Hand - PokerNews.com

Clene Nanomedicine Presents Blinded Interim Results from RESCUE-ALS Phase 2 Study at the 31st International Symposium on ALS/MNDResults provide…

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SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clene Nanomedicine, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced the presentation of blinded interim results from the Phase 2 RESCUE-ALS clinical trial investigating the effects of its lead clinical candidate, CNM-Au8, for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). CNM-Au8 is an aqueous suspension of clean-surfaced, faceted gold nanocrystals with catalytic activity that has been shown to enhance the metabolic energetic capacity of motor neurons while simultaneouslyreducing oxidative stress.

As of the data cutoff (October 27, 2020), the trial was fully enrolled with a preliminary blinded assessment of the studys primary endpoint, the motor neuron number index-4 [MUNIX(4)] score, showing that more than 40% of enrolled patients with completed week 12 data experienced improvements in motor neuron function assessed by MUNIX. When compared to baseline values, the average MUNIX(4) score of the overall trial population (including both active CNM-Au8 and placebo) experienced an absolute increase in mean MUNIX(4) values. This increase exceeded the expectations of the statistical modeling on which the study was based, which predicted a linear decline in average MUNIX(4) score from study onset (Neuwirth et al. JNNP 2015). These data, while blinded, suggest that CNM-Au8 may have neuro-reparative potential in ALS patients. Clene expects to report the complete, unblinded results from the RESCUE-ALS study in 2H 2021.

Although blinded to treatment assignment, these data are encouraging. We believe Clenes breakthrough approach with the application of physics to biology via direct electron interactions within cellular systems at the nano-scale may hold the potential to revolutionize the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS and other motor neuron diseases, said Robert Glanzman, MD, FAAN, Chief Medical Officer of Clene.

Rob Etherington, President and CEO of Clene added, This blinded interim analysis suggests that CNM-Au8 is working mechanistically to address a foundational challenge common to many neurodegenerative diseases, namely that stressed or failing neurons need additional energy for their survival, repair, and improved function. Emerging MUNIX data potentially indicate preservation of motor units, which is promising. We eagerly anticipate final results and are encouraged that these blinded interim results may provide hope for ALS patients and their families as they search for new therapies to treat this devastating disease.

The presentation (CLT-23) titled, RESCUE-ALS Trial, A Phase 2, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of CNM-Au8 to Slow Disease Progression in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients: Design and Interim Blinded Results, is available as a live e-Poster on December 10th at 12:10 12:50 pm EST at the Virtual 31st International Symposium on ALS/MND, held online (https://symposium.mndassociation.org/virtual-2020/).

About RESCUE-ALSRESCUE-ALS is a Phase 2 multi-center, randomized, double-blind, parallel group, placebo-controlled study examining the efficacy, safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of CNM-Au8 in participants who are newly symptomatic with ALS (within 24-months of screening or 12-months from diagnosis). Enrolled subjects will be randomized 1:1 to receive either active treatment with CNM-Au8 (30 mg) or placebo in addition to their current standard of care. Participants will receive their randomized treatment over 36 consecutive weeks during the treatment period. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of improving neuronal bioenergetics, reducing reactive oxygen species and promoting protein homeostasis with CNM-Au8 to slow disease progression in patients with ALS. In the trial, efficacy is assessed as the average change in motor neuron unit number index (MUNIX) estimated by electromyography for the abductor digiti minimi (ADM), abductor pollicis brevis (APB), biceps brachii (BB), and tibialis anterior (TA) (muscles of the hand, arm, and leg). The trial was fully enrolled with 44 participants as of the reported 27-October-2020 data cut. Baseline characteristics include [mean (SD)], MUNIX(4) score: 93.7 (45.8); FVC % predicted: 80.8 (16.3); ALSFRS-R: 38.6 (6.1); ALSSQOL-20: 3.3 (1.3), mean time from diagnosis: 4.7 (4.6) months; riluzole background treatment, 92%.

About CNM-Au8CNM-Au8 is a concentrated, aqueous suspension of clean-surfaced faceted gold nanocrystals that act catalytically to support important intracellular biological reactions. CNM-Au8 consists solely of pure gold nanoparticles, composed of clean-surfaced, faceted, geometrical crystals held in suspension in sodium bicarbonate buffered, pharmaceutical grade water. CNM-Au8 has demonstrated safety in Phase 1 studies in healthy volunteers and has shown both remyelination and neuroprotective effects in multiple preclinical (animal) models. Preclinical data, both published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at scientific congresses, demonstrate that treatment of neuronal cultures with CNM-Au8 improves survival of neurons, protects neurite networks, decreases intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species and improves mitochondrial capacity in response to cellular stresses induced by multiple disease-relevant neurotoxins. Oral treatment with CNM-Au8 improved functional behaviors in rodent models of ALS, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinsons disease versus vehicle (placebo). CNM-Au8 is currently being tested in a Phase 2 clinical study for the treatment of chronic optic neuropathy in patients with MS in addition to Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical studies for disease progression in patients with ALS.

About ALSALS is a universally fatal neurodegenerative disorder that results in loss of motor neurons in the cerebral cortex, brain stem, and spinal cord. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, leads to the death of the neurons controlling voluntary muscles resulting in weakness, muscle atrophy, and progressive paralysis. ALS affects more than 15,000 patients in the United States and is the most prevalent adult-onset progressive motor neuron disease.

About CleneClene is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of unique therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases. Clene has innovated a novel nanotechnology drug platform for the development of a new class of orally administered neurotherapeutic drugs. Clene has also advanced into the clinic an aqueous solution of ionic zinc and silver for anti-viral and anti-microbial uses. Founded in 2013, the company is based in Salt Lake City, Utah with R&D and manufacturing operations located in North East, Maryland. For more information, please visit http://www.clene.com.

Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains, and certain oral statements made by representatives of Tottenham, Clene, and their respective affiliates, from time to time may contain, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Tottenham's and Clene's actual results may differ from their expectations, estimates and projections and consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as "expect," "estimate," "project," "budget," "forecast," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "may," "will," "could," "should," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "might" and "continues," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, Tottenham's and Clene's expectations with respect to future performance and anticipated financial impacts of the business combination, the satisfaction of the closing conditions to the business combination and the timing of the completion of the business combination. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results. Most of these factors are outside the control of Tottenham or Clene and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the Merger Agreement relating to the proposed business combination; (2) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Tottenham or Clene following the announcement of the Merger Agreement and the transactions contemplated therein; (3) the inability to complete the business combination, including due to failure to obtain approval of the shareholders of Tottenham or other conditions to closing in the Merger Agreement; (4) delays in obtaining or the inability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals (including approval from regulators, as applicable) required to complete the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement; (5) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the Merger Agreement or could otherwise cause the transaction to fail to close; (6) the inability to obtain or maintain the listing of the post-acquisition company's ordinary shares on NASDAQ following the business combination; (7) the risk that the business combination disrupts current plans and operations as a result of the announcement and consummation of the business combination; (8) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of the combined company to grow and manage growth profitably and retain its key employees; (9) costs related to the business combination; (10) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (11) the possibility that Clene or the combined company may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; and (12) other risks and uncertainties to be identified in the Form S-4 filed by Chelsea Worldwide (when available) relating to the business combination, including those under "Risk Factors" therein, and in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made by Tottenham and Clene. Tottenham and Clene caution that the foregoing list of factors is neither exclusive nor exhaustive. Tottenham and Clene caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Neither Tottenham or Clene undertakes or accepts any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, subject to applicable law. The information contained in any website referenced herein is not, and shall not be deemed to be, part of or incorporated into this press release.

Media ContactAndrew MielachLifeSci Communications(646) 876-5868amielach@lifescicomms.com

Investor ContactBruce MackleLifeSci Advisors, LLC(929) 469-3859bmackle@lifesciadvisors.com

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George Orwells Animal Farm interview Making a game inspired by totalitarian oppression – VentureBeat

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George Orwells Animal Farm debuts today as a PC and mobile game based on a classic work of literature.

The game was made by small collective of indie developers and they worked with estate of George Orwell, who wrote the classic allegorical book about totalitarian government in 1945. This game is the work of indie developers headed by Imre Jele and Andy Payne, who lead the mini-studio The Dairymen. They enlisted another indie, Nerial (creators of Reigns), to help make the game and writing veteran Emily Short wrote the narrative.

They describe it as an overtly political act of game development. It is a labor of love for Jele, who grew up in communist Hungary before the fall of the Berlin Wall. He felt the oppression of the government every day, and he was distressed to see the U.S. fall into the same parallels to living in totalitarian countries. He saw the same tactics of alternative truths, fact manipulation, and populism used, and he felt that Orwells allegory full of gaslighting, hypocrisy, corruption, and greed has never been more relevant.

August marked 75 years since the novels first printing. I read it along with Orwells 1984 and a host of other dystopian novels when I was young. And Animal Farm remains relevant today, but perhaps the medium of video games will bring it home better for young people, as games are great for showing what if scenarios. Jele convinced the Orwell estate to support the effort. The resulting narrative game is a choice-based adventure title that puts the player at the center of an allegorical revolution on a farm, where the animals overthrow the humans.

By choosing which of the animals wishes they follow and who is ignored or sidelined players will influence the critical events that define the fate of the farm. The game has six different destinies and eight different endings. The narrator is Abubakar Salim, who played Bayek in Assassins Creed: Origins.

I interviewed Jele and Short about the making of the game.Heres an edited transcript of our interview.

Above: Animal Farm co-creator Imre Jele.

Image Credit: The Dairymen

GamesBeat: Animal Farm is one of my favorites, as is 1984. I was curious how this all got started for you, how you went down this road.

Imre Jele: I was born in Hungary, behind the Iron Curtain. I was on the other side of the fence. I grew up in a family that was politically active, what was considered by the government to be the wrong side of politics. I grew up in what they called the soft regime, but there was still some nasty stuff going on. I was the last generation that was still clapping for the big leader. A white shirt and a little red tie, and we marched up and down in front of the school.

Animal Farm was read to me when I was a child, next to The Little Prince and Winnie the Pooh. I dont know how they define me, those three books, but thats how I started. I remember very early on that I wanted to make a board game out of it, because it was such an important book to me. I could relate to it. I understood the story in a way, because my family was affected by it. I found some notes of mine, actually, that I made when I was an early teenager, about that board game. Its awful, I can tell you. It took a few decades.

A few years ago I had this moment where you know how it is when you keep saying to yourself, I should totally do that! And then you have this list of hundreds of things and its never going to happen. I went through that list and I wrote it all down on little pieces of paper. I made three piles. One was, it must happen. One was, it should happen. One was, it could happen. And then I set the shoulds and coulds on fire. It was very cathartic. In the must-happen pile was Animal Farm.

We started chasing this. I felt that gaming was ready for it. We were always an art, but not always a great art. We grew up. Its time. The audience is ready. The developers are ready. I said the same thing to the Orwell estate. I reached out to them. Thats a long story in itself, but the short version is that when I first reached out I got back an email that said, Rights not available. That was it. I wrote back to them, because I knew the rights were available, and I wanted to continue pursuing them. It took months and months, and ultimately I managed to convince the estate. They did what they were supposed to do. Its their job to protect the estate. They cant allow it to be misused, so to speak. But it took a long time, and an even longer time after we convinced them to figure out what the game was going to be.

We had multiple false starts. We built a bunch of prototypes with different strengths and weaknesses, but nothing quite felt right. I remember I kept referencing Nerial and the Reigns game series. At one point Andy, who worked with us on the team, said, You always keep talking about them, but why arent we working with them? So I reached out, and they were immediately super-excited. They wanted to be on board. In fact, that was the story of this whole thing. Anyone we spoke with, when we asked them to suggest someone, the answer was usually, How about me?

Emily, who Id known for a few years, was the same. I came to her and asked, Who would you suggest to write this? And she said, I know some people, but what about me? It was amazing. Thats how this whole indie collective came together. A lot of people with different companies and different allegiances were excited about this. They felt that its more than just a game project. Its something where we feel we have a responsibility to do it.

Above: Emily Short led the narrative for Animal Farm.

Image Credit: The Dairymen

GamesBeat: How long has it taken to get to this point?

Jele: For the longest time, I never said this out loud, but I was told that I should. We originally wanted to release this alongside the 2016 election. Ill leave it at that. I felt that certain figures around the world, not just in America, emerged over the last decade in particular, who started to use these tools that were eerily similar to what I lived through. I recognized the language. You might replace some words. Instead of capitalist spies its immigrants or whatever. But its the same language.

The actual development, though, we only started very late last year. It was December, maybe. We properly got started in January.

Emily Short: We were doing some narrative design pitch docs in November, but I wasnt really writing until December.

GamesBeat: Was there a challenge in getting it funded? What led to that long gestation?

Jele: Thats one of the reasons. Its a modest indie project. Were not raising millions. But still, one dollar is one dollar. It was a tricky effort. We got some offers, but we had to be cautious. We have certain allegiances that we have to stay clear of because of the implications and what they mean to the community. Ultimately we had an individual benefactor who chose to privately fund the entire enterprise, which was an amazing opportunity. We dont have to respond to a big corporate entity. We still have the relationship with the estate and with this investor, but theyve largely left us alone through the entire process. Weve only gotten support from them.

GamesBeat: How big an effort did it become as far as team size?

Jele: Overall, its just five or six people.

Short: Some people have come on and off. We swapped out engineers at Nerial at one point. But yeah, its usually been me, an artist, an engineer, and a couple of other people whove been involved in art direction or additional support of various kinds.

Jele: We also had the audio, the composer, Morgan, who Ive worked with a few times. We recorded the voice-over with Abubakar Salim, who was Bayak in Assassins Creed: Origins. Kate Saxon was our director. Her CV is quite impressive. All these people were excited to come on board. But the core team was fairly small.

GamesBeat: The book is fairly short. I dont know how long the game is, but how did you deal with adapting that narrative?

Short: The way we approached that, we wanted to definitely be a game. At the same time, we wanted to be very much faithful to what the book was, and not insert a lot of other material or other angles on things. The first stage of that for me I have to say, this was easier because of the kind of book it is. Animal Farm is a particularly good book to make into a game because its so much about systems and processes and how people affect each other. How the farm is doing, how the politics work. And each of the animals on the farm, obviously they have a character and a personality, but theyre also tied to a particular style of political engagement. Its a very systemic book to start with, which made it a lot easier.

Looking at that as a first step, thinking about OK, well, what are the systems in this book? How do we bring those into game systems? Lets make it about youre looking after this farm. It has certain qualities, things you might recognize. Think of a farm sim type of situation. Have we planted crops? How are the farm animals feeling? Those kinds of things come into it. You also have the storyline trajectory of whos in power and how theyre using that power. And then we associated each of the animals or animal groups with a particular type of verb or interaction. Boxer gets lots of work done, but hes not very critical of the political leadership. Different animals on the farm have different strategies for dealing with things.

That first step was just building out and mapping the books systems onto gameplay systems. And then the next thing was to take the text of the book and put it in a spreadsheet and break it into pieces. What are the beats here? Where do those map in terms of game states that could arise? This character is dead, so this beat becomes available, and so on. I added a few other things, which were just about things I think Orwell would have taken for granted that his audience already knew about. Harvesting and planting stuff. But basically it was those beats.

I looked through that to see where there were alternate game states that are clearly implied by choices in the book. This animal dies instead of that animal. Something goes differently in a key battle sequence. Those kinds of things. Thats where I needed to augment and create material that wasnt in the book. But I tried to be quite disciplined about not adding things that werent at least implied by that structure.

The most notable area where we needed to fill out a fair amount of content was around Snowball. If you play the game naively, or if we run through an auto-test and let it make choices automatically, most of the time youll end up with something close to the canonical structure of the book, where Napoleon winds up in charge. If you actually choose to push back on that and try to set up a situation where Napoleon is killed and Snowball takes charge, something like that we wanted to answer that question as well.

For things like that, I looked at other historical examples, especially from communist regimes, but also authoritarian regimes in general. What are alternate historical examples that, if they had happened before the writing of Animal Farm, might have inspired it as well? There are some elements of Snowballs regime that draw more from Maoist China attempts to industrialize in a way that arent particularly good for the inhabitants, to say the least so wed have something that felt like it was constructed with the same themes and the same thinking, even if it wasnt part of the original text.

Above: Animal Farm has a longer narrative than the book.

Image Credit: The Dairymen

Jele: The book is short. Depending on how fast you read it might take an afternoon. But its one of those books where Ive handed it to several people to read again, after they read it when they were much younger. They pick it up and say, This is it? I remember it being a lot longer. Everyone remembers more to the story because theres so much implied, and because of the historical context. With our knowledge of oppressive regimes we imagine that what weve heard about should have been covered in Animal Farm.

Theres a reason why Orwellian is a word now. People tie a lot of things together under that. Because of that, there are elements that people, when they play theyll think Orwell obviously wrote it. And I think Emily did a splendid job of matching the language and the phrasing and the wording used to the original book.

What I always say, though, we didnt want to make Animal Farm In Space. We just wanted to make Animal Farm. This book has, unfortunately, remained relevant for 75 years. Its 75 years old this summer.

We worked with the Orwell estate, but not just because of the licensing. They gave us insight early on, and a lot of feedback, which was very helpful. No one understands Orwell better. We also worked with the Orwell Society, which manages the Orwell Prize, and other organizations to make sure that we got it right. The estate wanted to make sure that we understood the work and had the right motivations.

Short: I didnt feel like they were constraining us at all. They were interested to know how we were approaching it thematically. We had quite a long conversation about other elements in Orwells work outside of Animal Farm. Essays, 1984, other things that might shed additional light. Some of that material I also read. But it was nice to have further background and further conversations around it. It was a useful process, also, to explain to them how the narrative design process did not change the story. They were interested in what we were doing to the story by making it playable, but that was a productive conversation in both directions.

GamesBeat: The book exists in everyones head. We all have our own imagination of what it would look like. How did you try to make something that would look right to people?

Jele: We had some art styles that we hope to release after the game comes out, because we had some crazy ideas. We had one that was based on Soviet brutalist propaganda posters. Its gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. But the reality was that again, we wanted to bear in mind that legacy of 75 years. We wanted to make sure we created an art style that isnt just a quick punch and then walk away, but something we believed could have that same legacy, that longevity.

We went back to book illustrations. You can see a couple here. My absolute favorite is Ralph Steadmans version. Its beautifully illustrated. Theres also a graphic novel version. There are some great versions. That was another source of inspiration. We kept going back to the old book illustrations, the woodcut look. What would that look like? Not trying to create something with the latest and shiniest effects we could put in, but something we felt would feel at home in a book.

Short: We were conscious throughout of the way that the bookit doesnt present itself exactly as a childrens book, but theres that quality of a fable. Its timeless. Its something that you could have read to you. The narrative voice in the book is very much the voice of an omniscient person who understands everything, even if hes not saying everything he knows. We tried to carry both of those things over in the art style, and also in our choice of who was voicing it and how the narration was done. We wanted to create that sense of being told the story.

GamesBeat: What is the age range youre targeting, if there is one?

Jele: Theres no target age as such. I think its going to be enjoyable for anyone whod enjoy the book. The book is usually taught in eighth or ninth grade in the states, but I read it when I was younger. I didnt understand everything in it, of course. But I dont think it calls for a specific age.

Short: A really young kid isnt necessarily going to follow the language. But we tried to keep the language itself simple enough that kids in that middle school age range would be able to follow it. Its the same with the gameplay. There are things you can try to pursue that would be more challenging. But if youre not playing with a great deal of tactical awareness, you should still be able to get an interesting story out of it.

Its meant to be something where you could sit down with it as a kid and get something interesting out of it, while as an adultyou can essentially ask it questions. Its a version of the story in which you can explore, well, what would happen in this story if Boxer died earlier or later, or we had a different person in power at this point? Which remains interesting even into later years.

Jele: I was talking to someone whos in education, and we were discussing what type of reading level we should go for in the game. He checked it and told me that, funny enough, it very closely matches an eighth or ninth grade curriculum in terms of the vocabulary. Later on he said he suspects that the curriculum was actually using Animal Farm as one of the books to establish what was readable at that age.

Short: In terms of what I did with the language, often Id have a piece of text that Id pulled into the spreadsheet, and usually Id need to edit it down to be a bit shorter and simpler. Usually, you end up with a sentence structure thats using a similar cadence to Orwell, but maybe fewer clauses, something like that.

Above: Animal Farm was co-created by Imre Jele, who grew up behind the Iron Curtain in Hungary.

Image Credit: The Dairymen

GamesBeat: How do you preserve or extend the satirical elements of the story as you try to expand it and make it interactive?

Short: Theres a couple of directions with that. None of the endings are what you would call a joyous, happy ending where all is well. Orwell didnt believe that was a viable outcome for this kind of government, and that made sense to us as well. But there are different ways that things can go badly.

You can get the canonical ending, or a variation on the canonical ending with Snowball. But then there are some other endings you can get if your farm management goes awry. Things like they wind up losing the farm in battle to the humans, or everyone goes hungry. The farm is depopulated for some reason like that. There, again, I was going back to historical examples to pull. When one of these regimes goes down, what are the people in power doing to save themselves? Things like that.

Theres one ending where, if youve leaned into having a surveillance state, you get the birds, who are your surveillance characters, announcing that they now run things. Its a bit KGB, that kind of stuff. Every time we had one of those things emerge whats a good mapping here? Whats something that feels like it would have felt right to Orwell?

Another place was the characterization of the individual animals. The core gameplay is often about choosing youre constantly selecting the animals themselves that you want to have react to a particular dilemma or situation. A lot of the choice mechanics are aboutthe hen will respond to this, the dog will respond to this, the cow will respond to this. Naturally that meant writing a lot of dialogue for all those characters, and not all of that dialogue exists in the book. But that was another opportunity to lean into different characters. Whats a funny thing they would say right now?

Jele: A great example pretty much everyone thinks they know all the commandments of Animalism. That every single one of them, you can read both versions, both the original and the tainted version. And actually you cant. The book doesnt cover all the tainted versions. Emily had this wonderful opportunity to complete Orwells work where he didnt finish it.

Short: [Laughs] It just wasnt necessary for him. But yeah, we had to come up with answers to all those questions.

Jele: The birds are a great example of how to meaningfully extend something. Its always tricky. You cant even read something without putting yourself into it. Adapting is a big challenge, how you adapt. The surveillance state thing is a good example. In the book they specifically talk about the birds being used to spy on neighboring farms. Of course, logically, they would also use the birds to spy on their own animals. We dont have to worry too much about whether Orwell would agree with that, because in 1984, he explores exactly that. We know that he understood the idea of the surveillance state, and wrote about it. Incorporating that into Animal Farm isnt that big of a stretch. It helped to look at his other work as well.

Short: That specifically is something its not pulling in the exact incidents of 1984. But its absolutely drawing on it.

GamesBeat: If there were a bigger budget or team available to you, is there anything you felt like you left on the table, that you would have done with more resources?

Jele: Its hard to answer that. Theres an old line about how you never complete a creative project. You just abandon it. We were very mindful of that from the beginning. There was a version we considered where it was going to be Animal Farm-meets-Uncharted. That just didnt feel right. A lot of ideas were abandoned not for financial, but for creative reasons.

This is a faithful adaptation of a book. Its not trying to be something else, to be a big action-adventure or anything else. Its a faithful adaptation of one of the most relevant and historically important literary works. I feel like we have to bear that in mind. Now that the deadline is closing in, do I wish we had an extra few months to polish? Of course. There are a lot of things I wish we did. But I also feel that I dont want to add huge amounts of extra stuff, even if I had all the time and money in the world. This game has achieved what we set out to do. Were very proud of the work.

Short: I always can find more things that I would tweak, because thats how it always is. But in terms of the creative concept of it, what we were trying to make I feel like if it had a lot more its not a story that needs lots of CGI. In fact I think it would be kind of distracting. Im happy with the shape that it wound up taking. It doesnt go too wildly far outside I dont feel like there are bits where, if we put it in front of Orwell, hed say, My god, what is this? If wed gone deeply video gamey about it, it would probably have that quality.

GamesBeat: The storys relevance to politics and history, do you feel like its there in the game? Have you said what you wanted to say about that?

Jele: I was raised to hate communists. When I say the word hate I mean hate. Not I hate chocolate ice cream. But a visceral anger. I said nasty things. They were the enemy, the Soviet communists.

I remember playing Papers, Please, and I realized, playing that game a number would come up. Do you have enough money to pay for medication? Or whatever it was. After a few rounds, I started to act like a machine, ignoring other humans. You could say that Im a gamer and Im playing it that way, and thats true. But how quickly did I become that person in a video game, who just runs the system and uses the excuse of just being part of the system? I remember that made me very emotional. What would I have done if it were my child, my parents? What decisions would I make in that scenario? It was very uncomfortable to match that up with the hate I was raised with.

That has to be reflected in the story, because Animal Farm does reflect that. The historical evils done to these animals were also done to real people in the real world. Talking about the facts of how people fail these systems or stand up to these systems its not just a great creative subject to talk about, but its also a responsibility these days, when we see powerful autocratic regimes seemingly rise up around the planet. Its important to talk about it, and I feel that Animal Farm, adapted very faithfully, needs to be done. It talks about where I grew up, and it talks about the millions of people who suffered specifically under the Soviet communist regime, but there are many other forms of oppression.

Above: Napoleon is Animal Farms bad pig.

Image Credit: The Dairymen

Its obnoxious to say this, of course. Do we match Orwells work? I dont know. We tried our best, as far as I can tell. A lot of effort went into getting it right, into making sure that we were channeling Orwells voice. We know that his voice still works. We always wanted to achieve that, and how successfully we achieved that you know how it is. After a while youre blind to your project. I cant tell anymore. But well see how players react.

Ultimately my hope is that people dont even talk about how well it was adapted. My dream would be that people just say, Yes, its Animal Farm. If we could manage to make people feel like the book did, if we can make even a single person say, You know what, Ive heard similar things in the news, whats happening in this game. If we could achieve that, Id be extremely proud. This was an inspiring, humbling, and terrifying project to work on, because of its importance.

Short: All of what you said, in terms of capturing those moments narratively there were also some things in terms of the mechanical design that I was quite happy with, how they embed message. One thing thats a subtler strand in Animal Farm its not only critiquing the pigs and the way they behave, but also things like Boxer is altruistic. Hes kind. Hes good. He works very hard. But his response also enables what happens. His constant desire to resolve systemic injustices and systemic problems by throwing his own labor into it and trying to work harder actually opens the door for Napoleon to be what he is.

Thats something the mechanical design reflects. There are certain things the pigs do that their ability to do that is numerically enhanced by Boxers behavior. There are things like that where we take elements that are thematic in the book and express them through the gameplay. Whether everyone is going to read that is another question. But I felt particularly strongly about getting that kind of thing across. It not only speaks to authoritarianism, but it also speaks to some of the problems with modern capitalism and the things it can do to people. The way it makes individuals responsible for their household and their well-being, but doesnt provide any social safety net. Again, Im throwing my own labor into filling a gap rather than addressing the problem at the level of system and politics.

Jele: As I say, this was inspiring, humbling, and terrifying, to do all this. Not just because of the 75-year legacy, but because of the importance of the work and how relevant it is. Its why I was so excited to have Emily on board, and to have Nerial with their mechanical thinking, bringing this collective together. Thats the kind of thinking it needed. If it was just down to me, it wouldnt have been possible to make this game. It needed these different perspectives not just on the book, not just on gameplay and narrative design, but every aspect.

Its exciting when theres a problem I cant solve, even a trivial one. Early on I asked, What should the voice be? Is it first-person, third-person? It was Emily who said, Well, the book has an omniscient narrator, so why dont we use that point of view? In the game, you dont make a choice about what I do, or point at someone to make them do something. Theres a narrator, and you choose who you listen to. The animals present themselves and you pick one.

All of these ideas came together in the process with the team. It was a very joyful process. But like any game launch, well see what people think.

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George Orwells Animal Farm interview Making a game inspired by totalitarian oppression - VentureBeat