Cameron Jordan talks trash to Tom Brady, but can the Saints back it up? – Saints Wire

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Few NFL players enjoy chopping it up with the media more than Cameron Jordan. The New Orleans Saints defensive end appeared on Good Morning Football this week on NFL Network to preview the 2020 season and lay out his expectations, starting with a Week 1 kickoff against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Theyve got the second-greatest quarterback of all-time, right behind Drew Brees, and now weve got a head-to-head two times a year, Jordan said, via NFL.com. Weve got our work cut out for us and then they have an addition, you bring in Rob Gronkowski and LeSean McCoy, you already had two 1,000-yard receivers in (Chris) Godwin and Mike Evans.

This is a team thats fighting for second place.

Thats bold talk, which isnt new for Jordan (who famously shipped bottles from Jordan Winery to Cam Newton after his Saints swept Newtons Carolina Panthers).But will the Saints defense show up in Week 1?

The black and gold have been notoriously slow starters in recent years. Despite winning 13 games in each of the last two season, they stumbled out of the gate in both season-openers: in 2019, the Saints averaged 333.1 total yards allowed per game (11th-best in the NFL), but opened the year by allowing Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans to drop 414 yards of offense on their heads, scoring 28 points in a game that came down to a last-second Wil Lutz field goal for the win.

A year earlier, the Saints allowed 349.1 yards from scrimmage per game (ranking 14th league-wide) but were run off the field by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Ryan Fitzpatrick shredded them to the tune of 529 total yards, winning 48-40 in a game that was more lopsided than that score suggests. This kind of goes without saying, but just to be clear: Brady is a better quarterback than Fitzpatrick.

Sure, the Saints rebounded in both cases. But its an ugly pattern, and they cant afford another start like what weve seen before. Jordan and the Saints must hit the ground running in 2020 if theyre going to win their third consecutive division title. With new uncertainty introduced from the COVID-19 pandemic and Brady surrounded by weapons young (Evans, Godwin) and old (Gronkowski, McCoy) theres very little margin for error.

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Cameron Jordan talks trash to Tom Brady, but can the Saints back it up? - Saints Wire

Last Dance: Everything The Michael Jordan Documentary Leaves Out – Screen Rant

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ESPN'sdocumentary,The Last Dance, provides an in-depth look at Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls, but leaves a lot of information out about its titular subject.The documentary chronicled the Bulls' quest for their sixth NBA championship, with a behind the scenes look at the team from the locker room in Paris in the preseason to the trophy celebration. Beyond giving Michael Jordan's backstory, The Last Dance also dives into how the team was constructed, who the key players were outside of Jordan, and what ultimately led to the end of their dynasty.

ESPNdecided to fill the void left in the absence of live sports due to the coronavirus pandemic by pushing up their Michael Jordan documentary by a few months.The Last Dance,directed by Jason Hehir, was a hit and received three Emmy nominations. The documentary gave fans a deeper history in Scottie Pippen and why he felt compelled to take a discount to remain on the Bulls during their championship run. Viewers also got a peek at Phil Jackson's coaching methods, which have helped him win 11 NBA championships in his coaching career. Furthermore, The Last Dance documentary set up a clear villain in general manager Jerry Krause - interestingly, it wasn't the only time Krause was portrayed as a villainin Michael Jordan's story.

Related:Space Jam 2: Why Michael Jordan Never Returned For A Sequel

The 10-part documentary was extensive in its interviews, as Hehir was able to talk to nearly the entire 1997-98 Chicago Bulls team. He even spoke to many of Jordan's biggest rivals, including Reggie Miller, Isiah Thomas, and Gary Payton. The documentary also included two former presidents of the United States - Bill Clinton and Chicago resident Barack Obama. The Last Dance was a godsend for sports fans desperate for content, but despite the acclaim that the documentary received, it did skip over a few crucial parts that it just could not fit into the nearly 10 hours of airtime.

The Last Dance went in-depth on Michael Jordans first retirement following his third NBA championship in 1993. An entire episode was dedicated to his time playing baseball in the minor leagues, and it discussed how his fathers death and burnout from his fame likely played a role in his decision to step away from the NBA. However, The Last Dance glossed over one popular conspiracy theory regarding Jordan retiring due to gambling.

By this point, Jordans love of gambling was well documented, most famously his association with Slim Bouler, where he gave Bouler $57,000 to pay off one golfing debt. He gave multiple interviews in which he calls it a hobby, and saying in The Last Dance,I dont have a gambling problem; I have a competitive problem. But perhaps at least one person might have disagreed with Jordans assessment. The conspiracy theory believes that NBA commissioner David Stern was not a massive fan ofJordan being so closely associated with gambling. This theory assumes that Stern suspended Jordan under the table for 18 months to put some distance between him and his gambling problems. Jordans mention of Stern in his retirement press conference perhaps adds some credence to this conspiracy. He said,Five years down the road, if the urge comes back, if the Bulls will have me, if David Stern lets me back in the league, I may come back.

The Last Dance discussed the draft-day trade in 1987 that sent Scottie Pippen from Seattle to Chicago in exchange for Olden Polynice. Still, it was the trade that almost sent Pippen back to Seattle seven years later, which would have shook the landscape of the NBA in the mid-90s, that wasn't mentioned in the documentary.After the Chicago Bulls completed their first three-peat and Michael Jordan retired for the first time to play baseball, the Bulls nearly made a trade that would have sent their other superstar packing.

The Bulls had a deal in place with the Seattle Supersonics that would have sent one of the most electrifying young stars in the game, Shawn Kemp, to Chicago, along with two-time 6th man of the year, Ricky Pierce, and swapping a draft pick in return for Pippen. The pairing of Pippen and Gary Payton would have likely catapulted Seattle into the upper-echelon of the NBA. The trade ultimately fell through when word of the deal trickled out, and the Sonics owner pulled out of the agreement when fans caused an uproar aboutKemp potentially being traded.

Jordan toldESPN in 2008 that the Pippen trade likely would have altered his decision to come out of retirement. When asked if he still would have played in 1995, Jordan said, Probably not. I could have played with Shawn, but I wouldnt have been as comfortable as I was with Scottie. The two teams ultimately met in the 1996-97 finals where Pippen and Jordan defeated Kemp and the Sonics in five games to kick off their second three-peat. Kemp was traded that off-season.

Related:Last Dance: Michael Jordans Biggest Rivals Wouldnt Happen In Todays NBA

Dennis Rodmans trip to Las Vegas in 1998 was one of the most meme-able moments from The Last Dance. His adventures in Sin City with Carmen Electra shocked fans as they watched Rodman overstay his 48-hour vacation in the middle of the season and had to be retrieved out of his hotel room by Michael Jordan. But what many people may not know, and what The Last Dance did not mention, isRodmans first trip to Las Vegas as a Chicago Bull.

In the previous season, Dennis Rodman made his first excursion to Las Vegas as a Bull, only this time it was not just some trip during the regular season, but it was in-between games four and five of the NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. The request came after the Bulls dropped consecutive games, and Rodman underperformed in each. Coach Phil Jackson approved the request, and Rodman came back rejuvenated to help the Bulls win their second straight NBA championship, likely giving him a bit more leash for his trip the following season.

Michael Jordans unique leadership style was on full display in The Last Dance. Jordan was concerned that the documentary might make him look bad and come off as a bully, and he might have had a point. His treatment of Scott Burrell made headlines from the first episode when he went after Burrell, who pleaded with MJ to stop because Burrells parents were going to watch it, to which Jordan responded, Mom and Dad, hes an alcoholic. Jordan would continue to disrespect Burrell in practice, to go along with many other players, including the instance where he gave Steve Kerr a black eye.

However, there was one player who refused to put up with Jordans antics; Robert Parish. Parish was already a three-time champion and nine-time all-star when he got to Chicago for his final season in 1996. The 43-year-old Parish messed up a play in practice that led to Jordans typical irate reaction. The 7-foot-1-inch Parish was not going to back down, I told him, Im not as enamored with you as these other guys. Ive got some rings too," Parish recalled to ESPN. At that point he told me, Im going to kick your ass. I took one step closer and said, No, you really arent. After that, he didnt bother me.

It came as a surprise to many when Michael Jordan said he would have signed for one year to try to get his 7th ring in 1999 instead of announcing his second retirement. Jordan said all the role players would have undoubtedly agreed to return if Phil Jackson was retained as coach. Scottie Pippen would have taken a little convincing, of course, but he likely would have come back to Chicago as well. It was maddening for Jordan because he believes they could have won the NBA championship that season, but what this statement overlooks is that Jordan would likely have missed the majority of the season due to injury.

In the summer of 1998, Jordan was on vacation in the Bahamas when he severed a tendon in his right index finger with a cigar cutter. In his retirement press conference, he announced that the injury would require surgery, which would keep him out for two months. It's impossible to know how much the injury influenced his decision to retire instead of playing in the lockout-shortened NBA season. Even if he had played, it's tough to imagine the Bulls being as dominating as they were throughout their run without Jordan for the majority of the regular season.

Perhaps it should not have come as a significant surprise that The Last Dance did not go beyond, well, the last dance. However, with the timeline jumping around as much as it did before the 1998 season, it was a bit odd that the documentary did not talk about anything after that Bulls dynasty broke up. It did not mention that Scottie Pippen teamed up with Charles Barkley in Houston after leaving Chicago and nearly made another NBA finals appearance as a Portland Trailblazer. It said nothing about how Phil Jackson went on to win another three-peat as the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, and there was nothing on how Steve Kerr went on to win a championship the following year as a member of the San Antonio Spurs. Plus, there wasDennis Rodman's failed attempt at becoming an action star.

The Last Dance's most shocking omission is that it did not mention Michael Jordan would go on to play two more seasons in the NBA andultimately own the Charlotte NBA franchise. Jordans years as a Washington Wizard were a far cry from his peak days in the Windy City, but he still averaged at least 20 points per game and made the all-star team in each of his two years playing. His days as an owner have been underwhelming, but it is still a significant accomplishment that probably deserved mention in the documentary.

Next:Why The Bulls Thought Splitting Up Michael Jordans Team Was A Good Thing

Umbrella Academy: How Exactly Diego's Powers Work

Kyle Gehler is a writer based out of Seattle, Washington. He has experience covering everything from music, to movies, to sports while working at The Daily of The University of Washington. Kyle graduated from the Unversity of Washington in 2019. In his free time, before the global pandemic, Kyle enjoyed going to the movies multiple times a week, or concerts, and sporting events. Kyle now has to settle with streaming a movie nearly every night.

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Last Dance: Everything The Michael Jordan Documentary Leaves Out - Screen Rant

A Jordanian podcast is exploring the regions taboo subjects – The Economist

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Guests on Eib, which launched in 2016, have discussed abortion, faith, divorce and disability

WHEN RAMSEY TESDELL and Ban Barkawi, two acquaintances living in Jordan, began to discuss ideas for a new podcast, they found the same word kept cropping up in conversation. Mr Tesdell, the co-founder of Sowt, a podcasting platform, and Ms Barkawi, a Middle East correspondent for Reuters, were drawn to transgressive topics. They decided that the podcast would probe eib, a loaded term which translates as shame in Arabic.

Since its launch in 2016, Eib (pronounced aye-eeb) has shared the stories of ordinary men and women who have pushed back against the strict social codes that govern identity, gender and sexuality in the Arab world. It is a theme that resonates for Mr Tesdell, a Palestinian-American who relocated to Amman in 2006. Born to an Arab mother and an American father, Mr Tesdell often finds himself excluded from a patriarchal definition of lineage that sees Jordanian women (among other nationalities) unable to pass their citizenship on to their children. Its like a switch: But your fathers not Arab so youre not Arab, he says.

Eib hopes to challenge such uncompromising attitudes. Now in its fifth season, the show has delved into taboo topics that include interfaith marriage, divorce, abortion and the desire to remain childless. Though each season is fronted by a new host with a personal interest in the topics covered, they act as a conduit for their guests narrative. We dont like to take an ethical stance and say, This is right, this is wrong, Mr Tesdell says. We like to tell peoples stories and let them express what happened to them, or what is happening to them, or how they identify, or how they see the world, and that allows us to not take a position while being very critical and engaged in the topic.

In a recent episode, entitled You Are My Legs, Aya (not her real name) discussed the opposition she faced from her family and friends after deciding to marry a man with paraplegia. Because she is an able-bodied and well-educated woman, they assumed she would have to make sacrifices such as assuming the more physically strenuous household tasks traditionally ascribed to men. In Ayas case, it wasnt disability itself that was perceived as contentious; it was the union between a disabled and non-disabled person.

These hurtful presuppositions and speculations have taken for granted that such a relationship is negatively unbalanced, says Saleem Salameh, the episodes producer and host and a relative of Ayas. Beyond the discomfort that Ayas relationship provoked in others, Mr Salameh identified another, more subtle boundary that was transgressed when she decided to broadcast her story. Sometimes even sharing love or talking about love is considered a taboo, he adds. You usually have a specific limitation for the things you share with the outside community.

The shows most popular episodes have drawn up to 70,000 listeners. In one, a mother discussed her concerns about the physical safety of her effeminate son. Another follows a Christian man who converted to Islam to marry his wife. These are topics that are really on the hush-hush, Mr Tesdell says. People will not bring them up, or discuss it almost ever.

Podcasting is still a nascent scene in the Middle East, but it carries growing weight among its audience. According to Podcasting & UAE: Trust in the Medium of the Moment, a report published in 2019, 1.3m people in the United Arab Emirates16% of the adult populationregularly listen to podcasts. Of those, 92% trust this new media form more than traditional outlets such as radio or television. Oral storytelling has always held a revered role in the Middle East, with hakawatis (storytellers) entertaining their listeners with elaborate fables, heroic accounts and tales from the Koran. That legacy, coupled with the difficulty faced by state governments in censoring audio, has resulted in a surge of interest in the more diverse stories offered by podcasts.

At the height of Jordans lockdown, when stringent measures saw residents threatened with jail time if they left their homes, Mr Tesdell watched the podcasts listenership swell by 66%. Seeking to capitalise on this burgeoning community, he arranged listening parties where anyone could join via Zoom to share their personal experiences on topics that have ranged from sexual health to maintaining relationships in a pandemic. He was surprised to see strangers opening up to one another, despite the controversial subjectsproving, as he confided, that all we need is a safe space to do so.

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A Jordanian podcast is exploring the regions taboo subjects - The Economist

The Constitutional Case Against Trumps Use of the Department of Homeland Security – The New Yorker

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This month, President Trump deployed law-enforcement agents from the Department of Homeland Security to Portland, Oregon, ostensibly to protect federal property from protests that began after the killing of George Floyd. But these D.H.S. agents, who wear military-style camouflage, have not identified themselves as law enforcement and have arrested and detained protesters without probable cause, inflaming protests in Portland and other cities, with many Americans furious that the Administration has sent federal law-enforcement officers to fulfill policing functions that are not part of Washingtons governing mandate. On Tuesday, in a tense hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Attorney General William Barr defended the deployments, arguing that violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests to wreak senseless havoc and destruction. The following day, Oregons governor announced that an agreement had been reached with D.H.S. to withdraw the deployed personnel from Portland; the department responded by saying the agreement was conditional on the safety of federal property within the city.

To talk about the significance of the deployments, and what legal remedies may be available, I spoke by phone on Tuesday with Mary McCord, who served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia for almost two decades, and was the acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, from 2016 to 2017. She is now the legal director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed who has standing to legally challenge the deployments, the dangers for everyone involved when law-enforcement officials are unwilling to identify themselves, and whether Congress needs to change its approach to legislating to circumscribe future Presidents.

If you were talking to someone who had no idea what was going on in Portland and, to a lesser extent, other American cities, how would you describe it to them?

I think what were seeing in Portland is a very heavy-handed use of legal authorities that were provided to D.H.S. and to the Federal Protective Service but never intended to be used for these purposes. The 2002 [Homeland Security] Act gave a lot of law-enforcement authority to D.H.S. and gave authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to pull in other agents of D.H.S. as needed to supplement the Federal Protective Service in defense of federal property. I dont think anyone at the time would have foreseen that the Secretary would use that authority to bring Customs and Border Protection officers and such a large swath of officers to essentially engage in local crowd control, protest control, riot control. It was never meant to infringe upon the states sovereign right to exercise the police power within their jurisdiction.

If this Administration is using authorization that no one had envisioned them using, does that imply that the authorization exists, and there is not really any legal remedy, if they are only protecting federal buildings? And, in Portland and elsewhere, it seems like theyve gone beyond that. Is there any legal remedy in the second case?

One thing that is important to remember is there are always going to be legal remedies available for constitutional violations, even if law enforcement is deployed consistent with legal authorities. Some of the lawsuits youre seeing, which seem to be very well founded to me, are alleging First Amendment violations, Fourth Amendment violations, Fifth Amendment violations, because of the way that D.H.S. is carrying out its law-enforcement responsibilities, potentially in retaliation for protected First Amendment activity, or making arrests without probable cause and depriving people of their liberty without due process. Those are constitutional violations that theres certainly legal recourse for.

There are other, more creative theories that are being litigated right now, too, including theories about this type of encroachment on states police power, in violation of the Tenth Amendment, which reserves the police power for the states. There are some theories now, and at least one lawsuit, alleging that the D.H.S. acting Secretary is not properly holding that office, and that therefore any policies or orders that he gives should be unlawful. There are arguments being made, but, strictly speaking, if theyre acting within the confines of what the statute allows them to do, then that would be hard to challenge, because Congress has given them that authority. I think the question becomes, Is that what theyre doing?

The statute thats most frequently cited is Section 1315, and that statute does allow, as I mentioned before, the protection of federal property. That doesnt mean you have to be on the federal property at the time youre asserting law-enforcement ability or law-enforcement function. Lets just assume someone firebombed a federal building, causing serious damage. D.H.S. could pursue somebody they witnessed commit that crime and make an arrest off of federal property. But I think it gets more difficult for a layperson to determine if theyre acting within their authority when you see them far away from federal property. Certainly, we have seen them abducting people off the streets and taking them in for questioning, which appears to be a Fourth Amendment violation and probably other constitutional violations, but also doesnt seem to be tethered to anything that mightve happened at the federal property.

Does that mean theres no legal recourse? No, I dont think it means that. Its just that there will be overlaps of federal authority and state authority where it gets murky about whether they have gone beyond their authority.

If people in D.H.S. are being ordered to do things that have nothing to do with the protection of federal buildings, even if they were authorized explicitly by the President, is there any recourse for that, if theyre not violating peoples constitutional rights? If the statute is being violated, how is that litigated? Is it just up to the people in the bureaucracy to say, No, I wont carry out these orders?

I think certainly thats one option. Whistle-blowers within D.H.S. could say, Were being ordered to do things that seem to us to be beyond the powers that are authorized by Section 1315. They could certainly go through the agencys whistle-blower system in order to report that. And then you could have litigation saying that the agency is acting beyond its statutory authority, so its acting outside accordance of law. It can also be alleged right now. In fact, it is alleged in a case that was filed this week, on behalf of Dont Shoot Portland and Wall of Moms and some other individual plaintiffs. They are making specific allegations of D.H.S. acting beyond its statutory authority. Those are things that can be litigated.

By whom?

Any litigation requires the plaintiff to have standing, which just means an ArticleIII injury that is concrete and particular, not general. Certainly individuals who personally have been harmedthose whove been shot with tear gas or non-lethal bullets or subject to being arrested without probable causehave a basis to sue, not only for constitutional violations but potentially for the agency acting beyond its authority. At least, for injunctive relief. Sometimes organizations, in the case Ive mentioned, are suing, saying their mission and resources are being diverted because of this. Were not able to do the work that we are organized to do. Each plaintiff would have to have standing, and a court would decide if the plaintiffs had standing.

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The Constitutional Case Against Trumps Use of the Department of Homeland Security - The New Yorker

‘Trump’s Troops Are Breaking the Law and Creating Chaos’ – FAIR

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Janine Jackson interviewed legal scholar Marjorie Cohn about secret police in Portland for the July 24, 2020, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.

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(Image: Matcha Chai via Sparrow Project, 7/15/20)

Janine Jackson: As we record this show on July 23, demonstrations in Portland, Oregon show no signs of slowing. Protesters demanding an end to racist policing, in the wake ofand even beforeGeorge Floyds murder had been met with what local activists describe as typical aggression from Portlands police department: The indiscriminate firing of tear gas and other munitions into peaceful crowds. Flash-bang grenades. Beatings with batons.

But then came the footage: A man, dressed in black, stands apparently alone on a darkened sidewalk, when two heavily armed men in camouflage walk up on him, hustle him off into an unmarked van and drive off, refusing to identify themselves to observers.

Weve since learned this is part of an orchestrated effort by the Trump administration to deploy federal law enforcement agents to deal, SWAT-style, with what they call violent anarchists. Whats more, they plan to replay those nightmarish scenes from Portland wherever they see fit. As Acting Homeland Security Chief Chad Wolf says, I dont need invitations. Wolf also subsequently described federal agents as arresting demonstrators proactively.

Alarm seems appropriate. Here to help us think about what were seeing is author and legal scholar Marjorie Cohn. Shes professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and a former president of the National Lawyers Guild. She joins us now by phone from San Diego. Welcome back to CounterSpin, Marjorie Cohn.

Marjorie Cohn: Thanks for having me, Janine.

JJ: These street pick-ups, when you first see it, you think its a movie. As I understand it, the line is that these federal agents see someonenot necessarily anyone theyve seen commit a crimethey say they want to talk to that person, have a consensual conversation with them. And then they, the agents, fear for their own safety, so they decide they want to have that conversation elsewhere, like the courthouse, and then, Oh, youre free to go. This wasnt even an arrest at all. Is that legal, or constitutional?

Minority Report, 2002

MC: No, its not. In order to have a legal arrest, you need probable cause to believe that the person committed a crime. And these snatches, by unidentified federal officials in unmarked vehicles, snatching peaceful protesters off the streets, transporting them to unknown locations without informing them of why theyre being arrested, and later releasing them with no record of their arrest, violates the law.

And this proactive arrest that the Department of Homeland Security is intending to carry out, violates the Fourth Amendment, which requires that, as I said, an arrest be supported by probable cause. This reminds me of the movie Minority Report, where theyre trying to predict whos going to commit a crime. There is nothing in the law that allows proactive arrest.

There have been lawsuits filed, and they basically allege violations of the First Amendment, freedom of speech and press; the Fourth Amendment, prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures; the Fifth Amendment, right to due process; and the Tenth Amendment, which says that powers not delegated to the feds are reserved to the states. And this is what is being litigated now.

JJ: One attorney, Juan Chavez with the Oregon Justice Resource Center, said, Its like stop and frisk meets Guantnamo Bay.

Well, federal law enforcement are permitted to go into states to protect federal property like courthouses and to prosecute federal crimes. But policing protests, just at the letter of the law, goes beyond that function.

MC: Yes, it certainly does. And, in fact, a lawsuit that was filed two days ago, on behalf of the First Unitarian Church of Portland, a public benefit corporation and two Oregon state representatives, alleges violation of the Tenth Amendment, and says that these abductions occurred outside the jurisdiction of federal law enforcement; those abducted were not attacking federal property or personnel, and they werent on federal property at the time that they were abducted. The ostensible, or the stated, reason for these federal goons to go into Portland, and other cities as well, which is happening as we speak, is to protect federal monuments and statues. Trump issued an executive order on June the 26th, saying that his federal forces were going to protect these monuments.

And theres no monuments around where they were. Mark Pettibonewhos one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed by the Oregon Department of Justice against Homeland Security and the US Marshalshe was accosted, he was one of these people who was snatched off the street and then released without any citation. He was taken in this unmarked van to a federal courthouse, the Mark O. Hatfield US Courthouse.

And actually, neither the mayor of Portland nor the governor of Oregon invited or welcomed these federal troops, and last night, its my understanding, that the Portland mayor was tear-gassed when he was standing near this courthouse, doing nothing; he was standing there, and it was his first time hed ever been tear-gassed.

So theyre just going way beyond any legal authority that they might have. And mayors in other cities as wellwho are on Trumps hit list, I guess you would sayare also saying, We dont want federal troops in our cities. Now, these mayors often welcome federal assistance when theyre working cooperatively in drug enforcement or other kinds of criminal enforcement, but this goes way beyond that.

And its calculated by Trump to boost his sagging poll numbers. Hes taking a page out of Richard Nixons law and order playbook, because hes so botched the response to the coronavirus, in fact responsible for thousands of deaths, when hes been in denial about it, and actually stood in the way of really responding in an effective way. So now he is trying to shift the conversation, shift the discourse to anarchists, violent anarchists, left-wingers, Joe Biden would be behind this. And hes going to come in on his white horse with his federal troops and take care of it and restore law and order, but, in effect, hes breaking the law. His troops are breaking the law and creating chaos.

Its interesting, Janine, because why didnt he send in the military? I think theres a reason why he sent in the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection troops: Theyre loyal. Theyre also not trained for this kind of thing, either, even if they were legally allowed to be in these cities.

But the Uniform Code of Military Justice provides that service members must obey lawful orders, but they have a duty to disobey unlawful orders. And these people, these troops, the secret military force that Trump has been sending into these cities, or sent into Portlandand Chicagos next on the list, and Albuquerquethese could be reasonably construed as unlawful orders, orders to carry out unlawful actions. And I think its not altogether unlikely that hes worried that military people would resist those orders and refuse to carry them out.

And maybe thats why he has cobbled together this secret paramilitary militia: It has been the Customs and Border Protection, US Marshals, Federal Protective Service, and now theyre going to add the FBI, the ATFAlcohol, Tobacco and Firearmsthe Drug Enforcement Agency, to this list of federal agencies.

JJ: I can see the worry about maybe not using the military because, as you have written about, there was military official pushback after his photo op thing, where he used military officials to clear out the space in front of the church, and there was some indication that, You know, were not going to necessarily have your back.

Now I did though want to say: So were bringing in this cobbled together force that includes Customs and Border Patrol, maybe some of them now deputized into this kind of vague Federal Protective Service. And these people, as you mentioned, arent trained to do crowd control, much less trained to do the kind of de-escalation that would be necessary to protect a protest that is against police.

But what those folks do have a history of, what they do have training in, is rolling up on people and taking them away in vans, when those peoples crime is being undocumented. And thats something that people are reminding, that not only should we be careful about saying these tactics arent American, since the US has done and is doing them in other places. But we also shouldnt say that this has never happened here before, because thats not really true either.

MC: Well, it hasnt happened in this kind of a setting, in this way.

JJ: Right.

MC: But youre right, the Customs and Border Protection agencies are notoriously Im not saying every single one of thembut notoriously racist, anti-immigrant, nativist and very brutal and violent. When they are supposedly enforcing the immigration laws, they kill people and deny them of their rights.

And youre right. They are absolutely not trained in crowd control, which is not in their purview anyway. They have no right to be in the middle of Portland, doing crowd control, where their stated authority is to protect federal monuments. Theyve gone way beyond the purview. And they are actually saying that theyre enforcing the law, where its really the purview of the state authorities to be enforcing state law, and, unfortunately, I think were going to see this expand and escalate throughout the country, as Trump gets more and more desperate to elevate his falling poll numbers.

JJ: Right. And speaking of context, there is something, I agree, especially eerie and frightening about this bundling people into vans footage, and its true that we had seen it in the past sometimes with undocumented immigrants, including people forming bands around them to protect them from being hustled off. But the thing is, we dont want that to be while its especially horrible, we dont want that to be because weve become numb to images of demonstrators being shot with munitions, being beaten with batons, being tear-gassed. And you wrote earlier this monthI saw it on Truthoutabout [how] were not just seeing videos of extremely rare, nearly unique instances; there really is a widespread problem of police abuse of protesters going on.

MC: Yes, there is. And I think its going to get worse. You know, when you think of the image of people being snatched off the streets, peaceful protesters doing nothing illegal being snatched off the streets by people that arent wearing uniforms, and placed into vans: This reminds me of the dictatorships in Latin America, that were supported by the United States, who disappeared people, it was called disappearing people. And they would do it in broad daylight: snatch them, just like this, and put them in a van, and many of them were never heard of since; many of them were killed. This is kidnapping. And they did it in broad daylight, to send a message to other people that, If you dont do what we want you to do, this will happen to you as well.

In the Oregon Department of Justices lawsuit against Homeland Security and the US Marshals, they wrote:

Ordinarily, a person exercising his right to walk through the streets of Portland who is confronted by anonymous men in military-type fatigues and ordered into an unmarked van can reasonably assume that he is being kidnapped and is a victim of a crime.

And kidnapping by militia and other malfeasants dressed in paramilitary gear would trigger the lawful right of self-defense.

So what theyre doing is setting up a situation where people think theyre going to be kidnapped and would fight back. And if theyre armed, they could use weapons, and this could lead to killing, it could lead to a horrible situation. This is kidnapping, pure and simple; no probable cause for these arrests.

JJ: It seems like almost a side note, but lets talk for a minute about the concealed identities. You know, its not like these folks were undercover; they didnt blend. So why conceal your identity, except to evade accountability?

MC: Absolutely. And, you know, this opens the door to right-wing vigilantes putting on military fatigues, camouflage outfits, and doing the same thing that these federal agents are doing. And I dont know what Trump would say about that; he has a double standard, of course, when right-wingers do it, then, you know, thats fine, but hes painting Black people as terrorists, hes painting white people as antifa, the white allies in the Movement for Black Lives, painting them with a broad brush, pulling out accusations that these are left-wing Democratic anarchists, violent anarchists, and if Joe Biden is elected, this is what were going to get.

There is a certain critical massand I dont know if its 30% or 40% or whatof people who support Trump no matter what, and its music to their ears, and thats who hes playing to, thats his base, thats who he is relying on to put him in the White House again.

And quite frankly, Janine, what Im concerned about is that this is all a dry run for an election that goes against Trump. He declares martial law, and he uses his federal goons to maintain power. Now, if he tries to use the military, I really suspect that a large number of service members would disobey those orders.

But when he was asked on Fox News by Chris Wallace, whether he would accept the results of the election, he said, I have to see. I have to see? Can you imagine? It depends; if I dont like the result, I may not accept the results of the election. And that, combined with a massive program of voter suppression, is very, very frightening.

JJ: Just finally, Philadelphias District Attorney Larry Krasner says: Try it. Anybody, federal agent or not, committing crimes in my district will be arrested. Rashida Tlaib says, Theyll have to arrest me first if they try to bring this to Minneapolis. So we have some legislation; theres legislation about agents have to identify themselves and their agency. Weve got lawsuits from the ACLU and other folks.

But it seems really clear that people are the power that is driving things right now. So I just want to ask you to talk about what we need to do to actually vouchsafe the right to protest in this country, and where does that power lie? Clearly, we cant only rely on the legal system to protect these rights.

Marjorie Cohn: There are lawsuits being filed in support of the real power, and that is the power of the people.

MC: Its the power of the people, and people are in the streetshundreds of thousands of people in the streets in US cities, and in cities around the worldin support of the Movement for Black Lives, and against police brutality.

And, yes, we cant rely on the legal system, but its a tool that we have to use. And Im very proud to say that my organization, the National Lawyers Guild, is front and center in the middle of legal defense for the protesters, the legal observers who wear those green caps, marked National Lawyers Guild. Theyre not protesters; theyre there to witness what the police are doing. And they have been the target of police brutality and violence.

And, in fact, there is an ACLU lawsuit to enjoin, its asking for an injunction against these federal agents targeting legal observers, and targeting journalists as well, because the last thing in the world that the Trump administration and his goons want are witnesses, are media that are witnessing whats happening, and so theyre going after journalists; theyre going after legal observers.

But there are lawsuits being filed in support of the real power, and that is the power of the people. And weve seen that in the streets for the last 50-some days, since the public lynching of George Floyd, and I think that what Trump is doing is going to exacerbate, or elevate, those protests. Were going to see much more protesting, now that he is committing these illegal atrocities with his private paramilitary force.

JJ: Weve been speaking with Marjorie Cohn, you can find her recent work on Truthout.org along with other outlets, as well as her own site, Marjorie Cohn com. Thank you very much, Marjorie Cohn, for joining us this week on CounterSpin.

MC: Thanks so much, Janine.

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'Trump's Troops Are Breaking the Law and Creating Chaos' - FAIR

Mental Notes: Music Cognition Lab is dedicated to the scientific study of how music affects the brain and behavior – Vanderbilt University News

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By Jennifer Plant Johnston

When Amy Ladd first began taking her 5-year-old son, Wesley, to SeRenade, a music class at Vanderbilt providing parent training and peer inclusion for kids with autism spectrum disorder, he had difficulty doing everything from putting on clothes in the morning tosettling down to sleep at night.

But by the end of the 12-week programa keystone project of the Vanderbilt Music Cognition Lab, supported through an award from the National Endowment for the Arts Research LabsLadd had acquired a musical toolbox of skills to help Wesley move more easily through the day.

We could add a song to getting ready, and things would go so much more smoothly, Ladd says. He would ask to listen to the CD from the class every time we got in the car. When my husband puts him to bed, he still asks for one of the calming songs to be played.

When behavioral challenges did emerge for Wesley, the researchers worked with the family to devise solutions. We were able to change our goals to be able to use music for him, Ladd says. Their support was huge for us.

Miriam Lense, MS10, PhD14, assistant professor of otolaryngology and psychology at Vanderbilt, and Sara Beck, BS01, PhD18, a psychology professor at Randolph College who is also an accomplished singer and songwriter, with input from music therapists, behavior analysts, and caregivers of young children with ASD. In addition to providing parent training, the classes allow researchers to explore the impact of community-based parentchild music programs on families of preschool-aged children with ASD, as well as the ways music intervention could impact children with the disorder.

The positive effects of music training on brain development, especially in children, have been well documented, and scientists in recent years have become increasingly interested in neural entrainmentthe use of rhythmic activity to stimulate sensory gain. The past decade in particular has been marked by a dramatic increase in music cognition inquiry, as about 100 laboratory groups around the world, including at Vanderbilt, are working across disciplines to understand musics relationship to the brain, behavior and health, and to develop effective intervention strategies.

Lense co-directs Vanderbilts Music Cognition Lab with Reyna Gordon, a fellow assistant professor of otolaryngology and psychology. Currently housed in Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy, as well as a new space on Nashvilles famed Music Row, Lenses and Gordons work is a central part of a campuswide network of music research originally seeded by funding from a Trans-Institutional Programs, or TIPs, grant.

Music and rhythm are a ubiquitous part of everyday life and are present in cultures around the world, says Lense, pointing out that rhythms also occur through speech and movement. Were excited to get to study music scientifically to understand the mechanisms by which musical experiences may impact development, as well as to try to harness music through clinical or applied studies.

Vanderbilt is a natural environment for the music lab, and not just because of its location in Music City. Lense was drawn to graduate school at Vanderbilt by the opportunity to work under the tutelage of Elisabeth Dykens, professor of psychology and human development, pediatrics, and psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Among other areas, Dykens has expertise in the study of Williams syndrome, a rare genetic neurodevelopmental condition often associated with special musical abilities. Lense first became interested in Williams syndrome as a Harvard undergraduate.

Dykens began the annual Academy of Country Musics Lifting Lives Music Camp in partnership with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, which also hosts the event, for people with Williams syndrome. Each year campers participate in research and have a really phenomenal music-making experience, Lense says. They write a song with a Nashville songwriter, record it in the studio, and perform on the Grand Ole Opry within a week of being here.

Lense and Gordon first began collaborating at the Kennedy Center in 2011 when Lense was a clinical psychology Ph.D. student and Gordon was a postdoctoral fellow researching intellectual disabilities. After Gordon joined Vanderbilts faculty, she helped lure Lense back to the university from a postdoctoral position at Emory Universitys School of Medicine.

In addition to collaborating in the Music Cognition Lab, Lense and Gordon are good friends who talk every day. And like most of the students in the lab, they both march to a musical beat. Lense studied classical composition, violin and oboe. Gordon is a classically trained singer who majored in music as an undergraduate, with a minor in Italian.

I have always been interested in music and language and the brain, and it took a few years for me to find a way to combine those interests, says Gordon. She completed her masters-level work in neuroscience at Universit de Provence in a French-speaking lab in Marseille doing cutting-edge language and music research using EEG (electroencephalogram) and fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) methods to measure how the brain responds to singing.

Lense and Gordon continue to draw on their musical training in their daily work. In both composition and research, Lense says, youre building upon knowledge and experiences to create something novel and true.

Lense has a special interest in the relationship between music and social communication in individuals with and without developmental disorders. In addition to rhythm in social communication and parentchild musical engagement experiences, she continues to explore her interest in the musical abilities of people with Williams syndrome and studies the potential for musical activities that can scaffold other skills in infants and toddlers with ASD.

We know that children with autism, for example, have difficulty with eye gaze and also with the timing of social interaction, Lense says. We conduct studies using rhythm and music to assess how sensitive children are to the timing of social cues. We may then be able to use these rhythmic cues to help support their interactions.

In one such study, the lab has partnered with the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center for Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences and the Marcus Autism Center at Emory to study musical rhythm synchronization in hopes of developing musical interventions to improve social communication in children with ASD. The study is part of the Sound Health Initiative, a partnership of the National Institutes of Health and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in association with the National Endowment for the Arts.

Preliminary data suggest that when typically developing infants see videos of someone singing, they are more likely to fixate on the eyes of the singer during predictable, rhythmically important moments. Singers also are particularly expressive during these moments. This suggests that the rhythm of communication really can be helpful for transferring social information, Lense explains.

Gordon, the recipient of a 2018 National Institutes of Health Directors New Innovator Award (DP2HD098859), leads a research team focused on exploring the relationship between rhythm and grammar skills, especially in children. She utilizes a variety of methods, including genetics, EEG and cognitivebehavioral assessments to understand the biology underlying language and music, with a special interest in populations who face hurdles to learning, such as dyslexia or developmental language disorder.

A new National Science Foundation grant, awarded to the lab in 2019 in partnership with researchers at Middle Tennessee State University, provides funding for a series of studies that looks at the relationship between rhythm and reading skills at behavioral, neural and genetic levels. The grants main co-investigators are Vanderbilts Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Nicole Creanza and Associate Professor of Medicine Piper Below, as well as MTSUs Cyrille Magne.

Individuals who have dyslexia are more likely to have poor rhythm sensitivity in both language and music, Gordon says. The research focuses on discerning individual differences in sensitivity to rhythmic and intonational fluctuations in speech and determining how those differences relate to reading skills. The team is hopeful that results of the project eventually could be applied by using rhythm in speech and music to help individuals improve reading proficiency, closing the gap in college readiness among young adults.

Even when outside the lab, Gordon is always attuned to the profound impact that music can have on those listening to itand to the neuroscientific processes that explain that experience.

Every time I go to a Nashville Symphony concert, Im absolutely floored by the incredible skill of the musicians: They are true experts in auditorymotor integration, she says. But Im also struck by how our brains as audience members are so good at tracking the beat, predicting what comes next, and processing information on a millisecond time-scale. Im so fortunate that I get to devote my professional life to studying how and why this occurs.

Gordon and Lense believe strongly in creating multidisciplinary teams, particularly when they offer training opportunities for musicianscientists at the undergraduate level. Both undergraduate and graduate students are fully engaged in the labs work, from chronicling study interactions and conducting literature searches to using sophisticated technology, such as EEG.

For example, on a day at the lab earlier this spring, Mine Muezzinoglu, BA20, a recent graduate from Istanbul who majored in neuroscience and French, viewed previous SeRenade classes on a computer monitor, taking detailed notes to track how parents and caregivers such as Ladd integrate the tools they learn as part of the music class. She also noted the childrens engagement in the class.

Meanwhile, Peyton Boyd, a senior from St. Louis majoring in neuroscience and medicine, health and society, was at work on a project in which adult participants tap along to various stimuli to see how well they do in conditions where the rhythm of the stimuli has been disrupted, with the aim of someday extending this research to other populations, such as to children with ASD. Teaming with Boyd on that project was Brett Koolik, a biomedical engineering major and aspiring musician from Boca Raton, Florida, who runs the nearby recording studio in the Curb Center.

I just love how collaborative the lab is, says Koolik, who also is working on a study examining the effects of songwriting on caregivers, using the creative process to facilitate coping skills for managing stress and mental health concerns.

The Music Cognition Lab trains students and faculty from across the university and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, encompassing academic disciplines as diverse as auditory processing, childhood language development, music performance, sensorymotor systems, comparative ethology, genomics, developmental psychology, special education and computational modeling. Different perspectives and viewpoints strengthen the outcomes, says Lense. It challenges you to do really rigorous research.

The close proximity of the university campus to the Medical Center was one reason Anna Kasdan chose Vanderbilt for her neuroscience Ph.D. training. That doesnt exist in a lot of places, she says.

A trained classical pianist, Kasdan works both with Lense, on a study of individuals with Williams syndrome, and with Gordon and Stephen Wilson, associate professor of hearing and speech sciences, on understanding rhythm processing in individuals with aphasia, an acquired language disorder due to brain injury.

Because of her interest in the socialemotional benefits of music in aphasia, Kasdan received starter funds from the Curb Center to host a music and arts program for individuals with aphasia, ranging from 20 to 70 years old. The program was organized in conjunction with Deborah Levy, a Ph.D. student in hearing and speech sciences, through the Aphasia Group of Middle Tennessee, directed by Dominique Herrington, assistant manager of rehab services for the Vanderbilt Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences Pi Beta Phi Rehabilitation Institute.

I did not imagine I would get to be involved with so many different populations so early in my graduate career, says Kasdan, a third-year graduate student in neuroscience. Im getting to work with the community and learn several methodologies, including EEG. I got to jump into projects that Im excited about early on, which are already branching off into other projects.

Such training and community outreach opportunities are needed to provide musicianscientists such as Kasdan the ability to pursue and develop seemingly disparate interests, the researchers say.

Meanwhile, two years after Ladd and Wesley participated in SeRenade, she continues to draw from her musical toolbox to tackle daily behavioral and learning challenges. Wesley has learned to make up songs when enduring long wait times that used to upend his composure, his mother says.

He is learning to spell words right now, Ladd says, and when there is a harder word, like purple, we add a little singing and clapping to help him remember how to spell it. I never realized how useful music could be until we took the class.

Jennifer Plant Johnston is a Nashville-based freelance writer with more than 30 years of experience, many of them writing for Vanderbilt. A former Associated Press reporter, she was executive director of the Vanderbilt Center for Nashville Studies before retiring in 2016 to travel and write.

Miriam Lense, MS10, PhD14, assistant professor of otolaryngology and psychology at Vanderbilt, and Sara Beck, BS01, PhD18, a psychology professor at Randolph College, recently were featured guests on the new webinar series Music and Mind Live with Rene Fleming.

The series, which is hosted by celebrated opera singer Rene Fleming in conjunction with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, explores the intersection of music, health and neuroscience. Lense and Beck appeared on an episode titled At Home with Children: Musical Toolkit, in which they discussed the SeRenade parentchild music program they co-developed at Vanderbilt.

Parents naturally develop relationships and patterns with their children that provide meaningful and rewarding social experiencesand one of those ways is through music, Lense said during the interview. Our social interactions already have a musicality to them. Theres a rhythm to them in terms of how we interact with other individuals, and children are very responsive to this.

Added Beck, As humans we have this history of music-making as this very active, physical thing we do together in a shared space. And it has these qualitiesa shared attention and a shared intentionality around itas well as this quality of moving together. Theres a lot of interesting research showing that just moving together acts as a cue for social bonding. It makes us feel closer to one another.

To watch the interview in its entirety, visit vu.edu/fleming-webinar.

SETH ROBERTSON

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Mental Notes: Music Cognition Lab is dedicated to the scientific study of how music affects the brain and behavior - Vanderbilt University News

Kindness, and other restorative therapies – The River Reporter

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By GREG TRIGGS

So here we are, four months plus into the pandemiclonger than many imagined it could ever last. Consequently, theres been a shift in energy. Tempers flare. People often seem impatient. Kindness and empathy seem, like Clorox Wipes, to be in short supply.

Negative reactions come in short bursts nearly everywhere. People inconsiderately play their music loudly regardless of the hour while driving through residential areas. Intentionally noisy vehicles are heard rumbling down Main Street and through the Flats late at night. Traffic plods along because no one is in much of a hurry. Parking on Main Street has become an obstacle course of ridiculousness.

And its not just humans. Dogs are reportedly doing their business on peoples lawns, complicit with their owners as they walk away from the mess they just made. During an evening stroll, deer stare at humans as if to say, Ugh. You again? A cat gave me side-eye yesterday, but that may have been normal. You never can tell with cats.

Action and reaction are equally accountable in most instances. People are quick to inconsideration and quick to judgment. The truth of the situation is probably somewhere in the middle between the two polarizing, diametrically opposed directions. Trench warfare prevents us from sharing that middle ground.

To experience more patience and kindness, we must first be patient and kind. Lead by example. Put your best foot forward. Its golden rule time! Easier said than done, to be sure. Human nature often points fingers in every direction but inward.

Perhaps it extends past exhaustion. Some people are likely to have slipped into depression, which is hard to overcome internally. Professional help might be needed to deal with the cumulative weight of the past five months and how theyve affected issues that were already in place. For those who might be slipping down that slope, a reminder: Narrowsburg is home to some wonderful therapists, many of whom take (mental) health insurance or might consider working on a sliding scale.

Try to remember, seeking help is a strength, not a weakness.

In the moments you have an impulse to walk away from the best version of yourself or judge someone who has done the same, perhaps the best choice is to take a deep breath, even if through a mask. As Charles Glassman, author of Brain Drain: the Breakthrough That Will Change Your Life, once said, Kindness begins with the understanding that we all struggle.

No matter how youre feeling four months into the pandemic, youre not alone.

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Kindness, and other restorative therapies - The River Reporter

UWL students and faculty discuss silver linings and reflect on COVID-19 – The Racquet

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Due totheWisconsin Supreme Courtsdecision to eliminateGov. Tony Evers Safer at Home Order, Wisconsin city businesses have begun to reopen and their hours have extended, including in the La Crosse area. In La Crosse an increasing amount of restaurantsareopen withnormal hours with increasingseatingcapacity, businesses are reinstating walk-insin exchange for curbside pickup,and inhabitants have re-entered Riverside Park.

The COVID-19 pandemic hasbrought about positives to some that otherwise might not have been apparent. The Racquet Press reached out tothree students and three faculty members from the University of Wisconsin-La Crossetodiscuss their perceivedsilver linings.

AbigailBingenheimer, sophomore

For UWL sophomore AbigailBingenheimer, she said social distancinghas meantpersonal growthand realizations.Ive learned a lot about myself throughout this whole quarantine,said Bingenheimer. Who my real friends are, who I want to be friends with and the kind of friend I want to be.

Bingenheimer notes that quarantine, and how people respond to it, reveals a lot. I realize I am totally fine by myself. And I dont need to have a big circle of friends. I just need my core group of people who I love, and thats it. Be kind to everyone, be civil, be an adult to everyone, but you really only ever need that core group of people.

Bingenheimer works at Kwik Trip in her hometown of Waukesha, Wisconsin. She said her job has caused her to appreciate the little things. Ive had more wholesome experiences and interactions at work during Corona [COVID-19] than I had before.

Bingenheimer said she has noticed how important kindness can beduring hard times.Ive started to appreciate people doing the little, kind thingsjust giving a smile, or saying hello, or having a two-second conversation with someone while theyre buying gas.

Though quarantine has changed a lot for Bingenheimer, as she was living in Hutchison Hall at UWL and had to moveback home,she said she recognizes her privilege.I acknowledge that I have it really well, I do, and I understand that a lot of people dont.

Bingenheimer said she tries to remember the golden rule: treat others as you would like to be treated. Takea little bit of extra time to do just a small act of kindness for another person.

Jordan Wallner, sophomore

UWL sophomore Jordan Wallner is from Waunakee, Wisconsin,andlived in Hutchison Hall at UWL.For Wallner, she said transitioning home and into online classes was difficult. It completely changed my life. I felt trapped.

Wallners mother isimmune-compromised, so she said her family enforcedsocial distancing. It was hard to keep living here when I was constantly doing somethingwrong,doing something they didnt approve of. She said her parents had also asked her to hand over her car keys. All I could do to leave the house wasrunningor grocery shopping, she said.

Despitequarantine andbeing unable toworkdue to her diner job beingshut down,Wallner found ways tofocus on positives.I met up withfriends outside, and wedplaysoccer in a fielddown the street from my house.

Wallner said she found herself clashing with her parents a lot,butshe thinks they grew closer. Weended up having a lot of good discussions,seeing and understanding each others points, although it wasnt always pretty. But we did get totalk, and I spentmore time with them too.

Wallner said sherenewed old hobbies during quarantine.I did a lot of painting and other artwork.She said she found herself journaling, as well.

I just decided to writethingsdown,and it helped me figure out how Im feeling and how to go about it.At the end of the day I put in my journal how I would rate my day out often, and it helped me think about what I could do to be betterand feel better the next day, Wallner said. Without the Coronavirus rainclouds, I couldnt see my own silver lining.

Veronica Sannes, junior

Veronica Sannes lived in Eagle Hall at UWL during the 2020-2021 school year and is from Saint Paul, Minnesota. ForSannes,the biggest impact of the COVID-19 pandemic wasthe cancellation of her summer job.

Sanneshad an internship planned with the Minnesota state government, which would have given her valuable field experience. Sannes is now working in a warehouse over the summer.

Despite these changes, Sannes says she is staying positive. I get to listen to as muchmusicand as many audiobooks as I wantwhile Im working, which I wouldnt get to do otherwise.

Sannes said her mother has a history of health issues, so her family is taking social distancing seriously. She has stayed busy going for hikes, playing frisbee golf, and picking up baking.

Sannes visited La Crosse to see hernew apartment recently. The differences between La Crosse and the Twin Cities are astounding. People here [Saint Paul] have been a lot stricter about not going out unless you absolutely have to.

However she said recently, that has changed. In the past two weeks, the attitude towards Coronavirus has changed dramatically because of the [Black Lives Matter] protestsyou can sense a big shift in the Twin Cities. Its not so much about COVID-19, its about making change.

Sannes said she recognizes her privilege in her experience with COVID-19. I am really lucky that the biggest impact on me was that my summer job got canceled, rather than way bigger issues.

Sannesemphasizeshow strange it was to have her sophomore year cutshort and be separated from college friends.I feel like we were just getting into the groove of things, the second semester was going so well.

Sannes said that its odd to be separatedfrom friends you dont know as wellthe peopleyoudont talk to regularly,andwouldntnecessarily reach out tobut still appreciate and have fun with.Ireallymiss seeing those half-friends, people from classes and campus [organizations].

Sannes said she is a very social person, so moving back home was a culture shock for her. It sucked at first, but now Ive learned how to spend quality time with myselfand realized how important it is to recharge.

She said that she hopes to maintain these habits after things return to normal. I think that thats something Ill take forward. While it may be fun to hang out with people 24/7, its probably not thehealthiestthing you can do.

Sannes said she is grateful. I appreciate my privilege in beingable to bealone in a good way.

Bradley Butterfield, UWL faculty

Bradley Butterfield is a professor in the English department at UWL and holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Oregon. For him, he said its all about turning negativity into positivity. It [COVID-19] really made me go back to the stoics [philosophers], and think about how to live simply, how to be happy regardless of what the outside world looks like and how to be happy with our inside world.

Butterfield is a self-described introvert and notes the upsides of social distancing.So much of the redundancy andsuperfluousnessof all that we do on a regular basis was cut out and distilled to the essentials.

He said he has found himself practicing introspection during social distancing. On a personal level, Ive found it an inspiring time. Ive got more reading done, more thinking, taken great walks. I say that while counting my privileges, of course, and realizing that those of us who have resources and employment and a place to be are incredibly lucky.

Butterfield has also found himself reflecting on how COVID-19 relates to the bigger picture. He references the economic crisis that will likely follow in the wake of the COVID-19, the recent momentum in the Black Lives Matter movement, and climate change. Its like the Spanish Flu, The Great Depression, and the civil unrest of the 1960s happening all over againat once.

Butterfield said he looks to the calamities were facing as an opportunity for growth. We cant avoid the negative. Weve got to look it in the face and say, alright, how can we positively respond to that negativity?

He points to the Black Lives Matter movement as an example. The visceral reaction to seeing George Floyd executed, lying down on the street, grabbed our attention. That was something extremely negative, but it had a positive reaction. People decided they were going to go out, and protest, and demand positive change.

Butterfield said he is optimistic that the Black Lives Matter movement will only be the beginning. My hope is that the silver lining [of COVID-19] will be people waking up. People will wake up and realize, hey, we can do this.

Butterfield said he is a strong proponent of sustainability and environmental reform. Weve got to have the whole species start to think planetarily and stop consuming so much so often. The Coronavirus did that, it showed us that we can get by with less. We can live more modestly and learn to sustain our resources better.

Butterfield said he maintains an attitude of optimism. Everything we have is only on loan to us, and everything can be taken at any time. Our only job is to not react in a negative way.

Judi Becker, UWL faculty

Judi Becker has taught English and education classes at Winona State University, where she is currently a writer for Marketing and Communication and will return to teach full-time at UWL this fall.

Becker has said she has been confined to her apartment since the start of the pandemic. COVID has completely isolated me to my apartment building due to underlying medical conditions.

Becker is known for bringing home-baked goods in for students during finals week and she describes herself as a people-person. Im very much a comforter, Im very much a nurturer, Im very much a let me help you with that kind of person.

When Becker had to begin social distancing, she said it was a big change. With every single decision I make about encouraging or providing for someone, I have to measure the need against my own wellbeing since I carry such severe risk.

In addition to these difficulties, Becker has also had to come to terms with the cancelation of upcoming fall semester plans. Becker was going to teach English at a school on Jeju Island in South Korea, where she would also live in the dorms and mentor students. Becker said teaching overseas has been a lifelong dream and bucket list item for her. I was really excited about thatmaybe one day, she said.

Becker said that the worst of all is having to distance herself from her two adult children. One lives close to her, and Becker said she is still able to see them. They come to my back porch probably once every other week, or I drive to their house and they talk to me from the passenger side window, so weve been able to visit those ways, so thats been good.

She said seeing her daughter has been more difficult, as she lives far away and herfianc works in a hospital, increasing the danger. How do I not hug my kid and take that chance? Its hard and its scary.

Becker said she cannot afford the risk. Its frightening for me. I look at whats happening to other people who have my same conditions. Theyre dying.

Becker said she looksat things with hope. Im learning more about what I need to take care of myself. Im listening to a lot more music than I would normally be able to take the time to do. And Ive done some journaling. Normally, Im working, working, working.

Though she admits occasional frustration, Becker said she looks at the situation with as much understanding as she can. Im not sure if theres a right or wrong [way] to navigate through this. I think each person is doing the best they can with what they know and how they feel.

Instead of teaching in South Korea, Becker will be teaching at UWL in the fall. I plan to pour myself into classes in the fall with even more life experience, and Im looking forward to some deep, engaging conversations in those classes. What were going through right now is traumatizing, and its a shared trauma. I think that after this were all going to be like military buddies who had each others backs in the trenches. This whole generation of people, both older and younger, will have a bond.

Becker said she regrets this temporary inability to be close to her loved ones, but she also recognizes that the pandemic has reframed how people connect. I think and hope that we, as a society, have re-discovered the preciousness of people. Personally, Ive reached out more to my core people to express my gratitude and appreciation for themonline, of course.

Nothing will ever be the same again. Our normal is goneits been ripped from us. And thats violating, said Becker. But pain is defined by resilience. And resilience is about getting back up again, and moving forward into that new reality, that new normal.

Shilpa Viswanath, UWL faculty

Professor Shilpa Viswanath holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration from Rutgers University in New Jersey and is an Assistant Professor in the Political Science and Public Administration department at UWL.

A relatively new hire to UWL, and one of few women of color in the UWLfaculty, Viswanath strives to draw attention to an issue that most are not considering about COVID-19: gender inequality.

Viswanath said, The most striking example of gender inequality is the lack of representation of women in COVID-19 task forces at the federal, state, and local levels of government. In particular, the [lack of] African-American and Hispanic women in decision making spheres. These communities [African-American and Hispanic] have been hit hardest. Without their perspectives and their inputs on public policy design, how will we ever overcome structural inequities?

Of the 27 officials on the federal COVID-19 task force, two are women, and one is a person of color.

We have empirical evidence from past epidemics, such as the Ebola outbreak and the Zika virus outbreak, pointing to exaggerated gender disparities during a public health emergency. These past lessons should serve as important reminders to prioritize womens needs while implementing pandemic responses, Viswanath said.

Viswanath said that the pandemic could likely upset what progress we have made towards gender equality. Consistently, across the board (irrespective of socio-economic class and educational qualifications), working women are still likely to provide all forms of informal care for their families at home, thereby disrupting their performance at work. It has taken women a long time to achieve the labor force participation rates we see today and this pandemic and the lack of access to universal childcare could set women back in time.

Viswanath said that recent adaptations in telecommuting, as a result of COVID-19, is proof that there are ways in which women can do both, rather than being discriminated against. I hope going forward, both public sector and private sector organizations will invest more in work-life programs that enable women to continue pursuing economic opportunities while caring for their families. We have seen a shift in efficient telecommuting and remote working arrangements since March 2020. This is something organizations should sustain and pursue in the long run.

Viswanath will be teaching POL 102, 205, and PUB 210 and 330 this upcoming fall semester and plans to use her recent research in class.

Gender inequities are systemic, structural, and institutional. Pandemics have a differential impact on men and women mostly because of the already existing gendered norms and power structures within families and within organizations. Womens voices and perspectives have to be included in the public policy design at all times, said Viswanath.

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UWL students and faculty discuss silver linings and reflect on COVID-19 - The Racquet

Interactive Map Reveals Shocking Span of Hezbollahs Covert Actions in The World – Al-Bawaba

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The shocking extent of Hezbollahs covert and illicit activities around the world is revealed in an interactive map created by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

It includes about 1,000 incidents and activities spanning more than four decades, including a thwarted plot in Cyprus, a bus bombing in Bulgaria and the groups role in the Syrian Civil War.

Hezbollah invests a lot of time and effort in its media campaigns to publicize (what) it wants you to know about: politics, social, charitable and educational activities, (and) its NGOs, said Matthew Levitt, the Fromer-Wexler Fellow and director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the institute.

But Hezbollah invests at least as much time, effort and money trying (to) obfuscate its covert activities criminal enterprise, money laundering, military (and) terrorist activity in Lebanon, in the region and around the world.

For decades, academics, officials and policymakers have had difficulty accessing comprehensive information about the partys global activities. Its golden rule, according to details that emerged during the trial and conviction in New York last year of Hezbollah operative Ali Kourani, is the less you know, the better.

This project aims to poke a big hole in that rule, said Levitt. (It) will hopefully enable people to have a more robust conversation about the sum total of Hezbollahs activities.

The map is the result of several years of work by Levitt. He has been studying Hezbollah since the 1990s, focusing on its terrorist activities, weapons procurement, money laundering, drug trafficking, and other illicit financial schemes. While compiling the information for the map, he interviewed people around the world, and obtained court documents and government reports.

The result is the worlds largest repository of open-source documents on Hezbollah. Searchable by category, location, timeline and keywords, the multi-media tool lays bare the scope of Hezbollahs activities, from the aliases its operatives use and the routes they take when traveling to more complex themes relating to the nature of the organization and its relationship with state sponsors.

Hezbollah is intimately connected to Iran, said Levitt. It always has been at an ideological level, and at an operational level ever since Hezbollah sent some 1,500 Quds Force officers to the Bekaa valley to help bring a motley crew of disparate Shiite militant groups together into one party of God: Hezbollah. Theres a lot of declassified CIA material from that period.

Its also true (that) while Hezbollah and Iran are very close, Iran gives Hezbollah some significant freedom of decision-making within Lebanon itself. The way I describe this is (that) even within a good marriage there are ups and downs. Theres a strong marriage between Iran and Hezbollah. Ever since the Syrian war with Hezbollah and Iran fighting together in the trenches, and together overseeing the rest of the Shiite militias they have become much, much closer.

In addition to collecting and organizing information that was already known, the map project reveals other details that were not common knowledge.

There are entries with brand new information, such as the name of the Lebanese-French academic who bought Hezbollah a safe house (in which) to stock explosives in Cyprus, said Levitt.

There is a lot of declassified intelligence material about previously unreported incidents. In the late 1990s, for example, Hezbollah, together with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was plotting to target Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union and the synagogue in Warsaw, according to the CIA.

And then (there are) simply more mundane things, just making more public things that have already been disclosed. For example, (Hezbollah parliamentarian) Mohammed Raad was planning, together with Hezbollahs senior security official Wafiq Safa, to identify Hezbollah operatives who could obtain foreign citizenship and then be deployed abroad on Hezbollah operations.

According to Levitt, the map debunks the myth that Hezbollahs military wing is a disparate entity within the wider organization.

What this map is trying to do is present information that has not been in the open-source domain at all or not easily accessible, and certainly not all available in a one-stop (location) to people so that they can have this conversation, he said.

I think thats going to put pressure on Hezbollah because of the fact that, while it has not been super well-reported, Hezbollah does engage in a very, very wide range of illicit and violent activities that often have nothing to do with its position in Lebanon or its hatred of Israel.

This article has been adapted from its original source.

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LA Zoo Mourns the Loss of Beloved African Lion Pair – NBC Southern California

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The Los Angeles Zoo announced Thursday the deaths of African lion pair Hubert and Kalisa.

The Zoo said in a press release that they made the difficult decision to euthanize the 21-year-old partners "due to their declining health and age-related illnesses that diminished their quality of life."

"Hubert and Kalisa lived far past the expected lifespan of African lions, and they inevitably began to suffer from age-related issues. Of course, we did not want them to suffer physically and wanted to do what was best for them," Beth Schaefer, the Zoo's Director of Animal Programs, said.

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"With very heavy hearts that also contain gratitude for having known them, animal care and veterinary health staff came to the consensus that humane euthanasia was in the best interest of their welfare as their quality of life had diminished."

Kalisa was born in 1998 and Hubert in 1999. They met at the Woodland Park Zoo and were moved to the LA Zoo 6 years ago. Hubert fathered 10 cubs throughout his life, and though he and Kalisa never had cubs together, the LA Zoo said in a news release the two were life partners and loyal companions.

"Kalisa and Hubert were often seen sleeping together and grooming one another," Schaefer explained, noting that visitors often commented on the obvious bond between the two lions.

"You cannot think of Hubert without thinking of his companion, Kalisa; theyve been an inseparable couple for years," Alisa Behar, the Zoo's Curator of Mammals added.

The average life expectancy for African lions that live in the wild is in the mid-teens, while it is about 17 years for those in Zoos. CEO & Zoo Director of the LA Zoo, Denise Verret noted that the longevity of Huberts and Kalisas lives is a testament to the expert care of the Zoos veterinary and animal care teams.

"Hubert and Kalisa are an iconic part of the LA Zoo experience, and our staff and guests have been touched by their loyal companionship," Verret said.

The African lion, which is native to the savannas, arid woodlands, and semi-desert regions from south of the Sahara Desert to South Africa, is categorized by the IUCN Red List as vulnerable due to human-wildlife conflict, prey depletion, the illegal trade of lion body parts for traditional medicine, trophy hunting, and disease.

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Doom Patrol Recap: The Living Years – Vulture

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Doom Patrol

Dad Patrol

Season 2 Episode 8

Editors Rating 4 stars ****

Photo: Warner Bros.

A lot of this sophomore season of Doom Patrol has been a waiting game. The biggest wait, of course, has been regarding Dorothy and her whole thing. Her whole thing is the best way to describe it, honestly, because even now, eight episodes in keep in mind, this is a nine-episode season its not too clear. Shes definitely a special, dangerous little girl even the talking bunny knows this. But the whys of everything arent all too clear, and cryptic magic talk can only be interesting for so long before you start wishing everyone involved would just speak plainly. British accents can only do so much heavy lifting, even if they belong to Mark Sheppard and Timothy Dalton.

Some clarity is provided in this episode, though, in the sense that Dorothy isnt just naturally forever 11 years old: She maintains that age and youth because Niles continues to treat her like she is 11 years old (and even younger). Technically, she could grow to an older appearance, but her father very much hasnt treated her as old as she actually is at all this season, or in their past. And as it turns out, that is for good reason beyond just a fathers inability to let his little girl grow up. (Yes, the metaphor is there, but the show is making the metaphor literal. This is how TV works.) Dorothy has been doing everything she can all season to grow up with a lot of nudging from the Candle Maker, who ends up having a vested interest in that which is very much at odds with her fathers desires. The result is a little immortal girl getting her first period and all hell breaking loose. Again, the metaphor becomes literal, the subtext becomes text, and now puberty rears its ugly head as the true Big Bad of Doom Patrol season two.

Another little girls demons are at the forefront of this episode, as Dad Patrol (an episode title that takes on a less fun connotation when you apply it to this plot) opens with a flashback to young Kay, as we see how her monstrous father punished her by making her spend the night in a well. Its in that well that Kay prior to having the comfort of her multiple personalities loses her stuffed lamb (and best friend) Harry in the watery sludge, which brings us to Janes mission for the episode. Dad Patrol makes clear that the deal hasnt been completely done, and Miranda hasnt officially taken over the role of primary. Its more like a test drive. But the episode also reveals that more personalities are disappearing, as Lucy Fugue has gone now, too. Miranda chimes in from up top, telling Jane that its a little tragic when [she] cant see hope staring [her] right in the face, while also giving us a clearer understanding of what Mirandas deal is: Shes basically Jasmine from Angel season four. The conclusion to this plot in the episode confirms it, too, as it reveals shes been killing off personalities by dumping them in the Undergrounds well. (No, theyve not moved on, as Baby Dolls lifeless underwater visage makes very clear.)

But before thats officially confirmed, Miranda spouts off nonsense about the personalities moving on as a result of Kay finally starting to heal, which is, of course, the point of the personalities, right? While Jane tries to figure out from Kay if thats actually whats happening, all Kay can think about is Harry the stuffed lamb and how much she wants him back. While every personality is afraid to go search from Harry including, seemingly, MirandaJane decides shell do it, to prove why shes still the primary. To prove that shes the one who can really get things done. What follows is the rare pairing of Jane and Larry whos struggling with the idea of leaving his past behind to finally know peace with his negative spirit on their way to Kays family farm in Arkansas, as they bond over not wanting to fade away.

Jane finds Harry, but she also finds a letter from Miranda to Kays father, again showing just how formidable and strong Miranda was but also suggesting to Jane that Miranda was scared to come back to this place. Which is why Jane decides to fall in line with Miranda when she returns to the Underground and even gives her Harry to return to Kay herself. Instead, Miranda chucks Harry into the Underground well and then does the same to Jane (where Jane sees the dead personalities). Pretty sneaky, sis.

In terms of the potential for fun in the title Dad Patrol, the Cliff and Clara Steele plot is the one that really delivers although, due to the gloom and doom of the rest of the episode, it really does feel like the other shoe is going to drop by the end of it. But blissfully, it does not: Cliff reconnects with his daughter, accepts that she is a lesbian, gives her good life advice, and then gets invited to her wedding. He even learns hes having a grandson and sings some Mike + The Mechanics The Living Years in the process. The only bad thing that happens in this plot is that he cooks up his beloved severed finger with the sausage he makes Clara for breakfast. But the rest of it? Everythings coming up Cliff, baby.

Except for when it comes to Doom Patrol spin-offs with Cyborg, that is, as Ritas imagined Beekeeper & Borg spin-off a riff on the Emma Peel version of The Avengers, not the Marvel one might actually have Cliffs Steele & Stone beat. Rita is, of course, on a high from saving a mugging victim in Dumb Patrol, and now shes back on her superhero kick. Vic is also back on teasing her about that, as though hes not part of this ragtag bunch of misfits and being called a member of the peewee Justice League by FBI agents. Glass houses, Vic Stone. On the other hand, as hyped as Rita is about her new superhero persona The Beekeeper an upgrade from Blob Lady, surely and about accompanying Vic to Detroit to figure out what happened to Roni, when it finally comes down to possibly confronting Roni (after shes taken down the established Cyborg), Rita is obviously terrified. Your run-of-the-mill muggers are one thing, but ability-infused villains are actually super hero things.

Also, remember when Roni taught Vic about systemic injustice? Remember when they were in a support group for PTSD? Remember Vics PTSD? Remember any of the genuinely interesting aspects introduced in the Vic/Roni storyline that were apparently just a means to an underwhelming fight scene in this episode? (Roni punches Vic a bit before he just draws Cyborg arm at her. Its impressive what a little uma jelly from the Scants can do shes no longer dying, thanks to it as this episode reveals she definitely didnt even ingest all of it.) While the Niles/Dorothy plot this season suffers from being vague, the Vic/Roni plot suffers from rushing this relationship and skipping all the actually interesting components in favor of telling an epic love story thats missing some important parts. Its kind like the Robotman of Doom Patrol plots.

The other issue with this plot is that, in Vics black-and-white view of the world, even though hes right that cold-blooded murder is wrong, Roni taking out the head of one of Doom Patrols many shadowy organizations offscreen isnt the type of thing thats going to really make anyone turn on the character. In fact, its that she gets caught on camera and there isnt even a possibility she didnt that straight up hurts the character, not the fact that she killed this guy. Roni does make a good point that shes told Vic the whole time who she is while he still thinks its a matter of who she was but the story also relies on Vic simply ignoring that.

Plus, the pinnacle of romance for them was apparently eating at a sub sandwich shop. A tale of true heartbreak, this is not. If theres any plot in Dad Patrol that needed more daddy issues, its definitely this one.

This week, in Im Cyborg: Actually, its more like, This week, in Im Cyborgs partner. Vic definitely one-ups the FBI agent who insults him, but Rita gets the most out of the whole Cyborg thing due to her excitement over being The Beekeeper. Its early, so no one questions the lack of bees or bee-related abilities when it comes to Ritas superhero alter ego. But they really should.

Also in the Cloverton newspaper? Our Towns Our Town! Is A Conduit For Clovertons Chaos. The article must not have mentioned Rita, though, so it makes sense she doesnt mention it.

Niles uses a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup as a burner phone, and it is truly the best thing Niles has done since he created a bunch of immortal weirdos.

Clara calls Cliff dad on her way out, and Cliff almost cries as much as robot men can cry, that is.

For all of Niles worry about Dorothy getting into trouble and destroying the world, he sure lets her run off by herself all the time. That the gas station scene turns into a touching period moment instead of a massacre over people pointing at the freak is impressive. But then he lets her go off alone at a county fairs funhouse, where she ends up being haunted by her mothers spirit and the Candle Maker, so way to go, Niles.

While Niles remains a bad dad, at least episode writers Tom Farrell and April Fitzsimmons know what theyre doing. Case in point? They have Niles cough a bunch into a handkerchief, revealing blood and the fact that Niles is dying. Again, this is how TV works.

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Justice League: Ray Fisher ‘Will Not Relent’ Against Joss Whedon, Geoff Johns and Jon Berg – CBR – Comic Book Resources

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Justice League's Cyborg actor Ray Fisher stated that he won't back down in his claims against Joss Whedon, Geoff Johns and Jon Berg.

Despite having once praised Joss Whedon's reshoots of the film,Justice League star Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg in the movie, recently retracted his wordsbefore claiming that Whedon had abused the movie'scast and crew. Fisher has now stated that he won't back down against Whedon, nor producers Geoff Johns and Jon Berg for supposedly enabling Whedon's behavior.

Fisher reaffirmed his stance on Twitter. "I understand full well the [personal] and professional risks associated with my speaking out against the abhorrent behavior of Joss Whedon and his enablers Geoff Johns and Jon Berg," the actor said in his tweet. "I will not relent. This is 'good trouble, necessary trouble.' Accountability>Entertainment."

RELATED:Snyder Won't Show Ray Fisher His Justice League - Until the Cut Is Finished

In the tweetwithhis initial accusations, Fisher stated that Whedon's behavior was "gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable." On the same day, Berg argued thatFisher's claims were "categorically untrue". Fisherwould later state that the Non-Disclosure Agreement in his contract prevented him from detailing Whedon's conduct any further.

Justice League stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Ciarn Hinds as Steppenwolf, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon. Zack Snyder's Justice Leaguewill premiere exclusively on HBO Max in early-to-mid-2021.

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In MMA Theres Just More Exposure Than In Womens Boxing- Claressa Shields Speaks Out On Womens Boxing – Essentially Sports

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Boxing icon Claressa Shields has revealed women in boxing arent pushed and promoted much, as compared to MMA.

Shields spoke about MMA stars such as Amanda Nunes and Cris Cyborg getting regular opportunities on pay-per-view and main events. Boxing is predominantly a male-dominated sport, with a majority of the viewers tuning in to see those fights.

READ: Manny Pacquiao? What the F*** are You Talking About?- Dana White Trashes the Idea of a Conor McGregor Return

The multiple weight champion revealed that in MMA, women get the same opportunities as men do. However, in boxing, the opportunities presented are completely different.

In MMA, theres just more exposure than womans boxing. I hate to say it from me just looking at social media, from me just seeing that theyre the main event on every other card and people are coming and filling up arenas for them. We dont have that in womans boxing. I havent even been on pay-per-view yet, and Im a three-time division world champion. But Gervonta Tank Davis is about to be on pay-per-view. Its like, its just not equal, lamented Shields during the Last Stand Podcast.

Shields has burst onto the scene this past year and has a record of (10-2). Shields last fought in January, where she defeated Ivana Habazin and unified the titles.

She revealed that she intends on fighting on the undercard of major fighters such as Manny Pacquiao, Deontay Wilder, or Errol Spence. She believes this is the only way women can advance in the sport, especially on PPV.

I would fight on the undercard of those guys, but Im not going to fight on the undercard of nobody whos not a world champion, especially on pay-per-view, said Shields, as reported by DAZN.

Shields is confident women will get more opportunities soon, however, it will surely take some time

What are your thoughts on Claressa Shields comments? Let us know in the comments below!

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A Doom Patrol Hero Brings Another Piece of Watchmen Into the DC Universe – CBR – Comic Book Resources

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Another part of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen officially has a place in the DC Universe, thanks to Doom Patrol's Robotman.

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "Summer Bummer," a story in DC Cybernetic Summer by Max Bemis, Greg Smallwood and ALW's Troy Peteri, on sale now.

In between potentially world-ending battles and universe-rebooting Crises, the DC Universe and its denizens find various ways to have fun, as showcased in the DC Cybernetic Summer Special. Featuring numerous DC heroes and villains relaxing and tending to their civilian lives, the book's fun stories highlight less prominent characters like the Metal Men and Doom Patrol's Robotman.

These stories eschew supervillain battles to focus on the character's every day hobbies, such as hanging out at the beach, discussing their favorite anime, and going to the comic book store. And during his trip to the local comic shop, Robotman passed by a comic book that's featured in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen in a moment that adds another small part of that iconic story's world to the DC Universe.

RELATED: Watchmen: Has DC Finally Made Doctor Manhattan a Hero?

In "Summer Bummer," Robotman is trying to hang out with his friend Mike. This story sees them laying about on the beach and going to the club. After a misunderstanding, they eventually find themselves in a local comic book store to pick up some of their favorite titles. They even encounter Cyborg and a few of the Metal Men along the way.

According to their conversation, Robotman is a frequent reader of traditional superhero comic books, whereas Mike prefers more indie comics. The store is filled with superhero and comic book memorabilia, including action figures and a Green Lantern logo poster. There are even books claiming to contain true stories about Superman and Batman.

However, one of the books they pass by stands out the most. Along with figures and comics of the Multiversity character Ultraa, there's also a copy of Tales of the Black Freighter, the story within a story of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen.

RELATED: The Doom Patrol Had One of the Oddest Superhero Weddings Ever

Tales of the Black Freighter exists within the narrative of Watchmen as its own comic book, though its story has thematic parallels with the story of Adrian Veidt himself. The pirate theme of the tale was meant to be as directly opposed to the main story's superheroes as possible. Moore famously surmised than in a world where superheroes were an actuality, comic book readers would turn to other topics for escapism, such as piracy, horror, fantasy and romance.

The story itself has a young shipman being the lone survivor of the attack on his ship. Using what was left of his shipmates to craft a raft, he manages to return to his home, hoping to warn them of the Black Freighter that had attacked him and is sure to come back. Believing that the Black Freighter may have already claimed his town, his leads to a number of moral mistakes which leave innocents dead in the young man's wake, including his wife. In the end, the ship does come, with the young man having been its goal all along.

This of course isn't the first time that Watchmen and the broader DC Universe have crossed over in some form or another. As far back as the Post-Crisis DC comics, Denny O'Neil and Denys Cowan's run on The Question had the faceless protagonist reading Watchmen and admiring Rorschach, who was ostensibly based on the Question. More recently, the DC Universe itself was rebooted by none other than Doctor Manhattan, with his tampering with the timeline being used as the explanation for the changes during the New 52 era, as explored in Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's Doomsday Clock.

While the precise nature of the current relationship between Watchmen and the DC Universe is still being unveiled by Dark Nights: Death Metal, this story reveals that Tales of the Black Freighter exists in both Watchmen's world and the DC Universe as works of fiction, with everyday citizens none the wiser that the fictional character that they're reading had an incredible impact upon their lives.

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Jiro Kuwata, the Creator of 8 Man and the Batman Manga, Has Died – CBR – Comic Book Resources

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Jiro Kuwata, who illustrated a manga based on DC Comics' Batman and created 8 Man and several other manga, has passed away at the age of 85.

Jiro Kuwata, who served as the writer and artist ofBatman: The Manga and8 Man, passed away on August 4at the age of85. Kuwata's publisher Akita Shoten confirmed the news in a brief statement.

Kuwata's first comic wasThe Strange Star Cluster, which he created at the age of 13. He would later rise to prominence with the creation of the original manga seriesMaboroshi Tantei, whichwould later be adapted into the tokusatsu seriesPhantom Detective. Kuwatalegacy was cemented with the creation of the Batman manga.

RELATED:Actor Wilford Brimley, Known For Cocoon and The Thing, Dies at 85

Batman enjoyed a surge of popularity in Japan due to the 1966TV show starring Adam West. Kuwatatook a sci-fi approach to the Dark Knight, pitting him and Robin against a variety of villains including Lord Death Man and Professor Gorilla. The manga would later be adapted to English by DC Comics in 2014, after being highlighted in Chip Kidd's Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan. The entire series is currently available in three English-language volumes.

Kuwataco-created8 Man with writer Kazumasa Hirai in 1963. The manga follows a cyborg superhero and would receivean anime adaptation in the same year it was published.It has inspired a video game, as well as two live-action films.

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A freelance journalist based in Seattle, Collier enjoys all facets of pop culture, namely comics and anime. Spider-Man is his favorite fictional character of all time.

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Jiro Kuwata, the Creator of 8 Man and the Batman Manga, Has Died - CBR - Comic Book Resources

10 Sith Lords That Undoubtedly Took From Darth Vader | ScreenRant – Screen Rant

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Darth Vader is without a doubt one of the most beloved and feared villains in all of fiction, right up there with characters like The Joker, Hannibal Lecter, and Lord Voldemort. Nowadays in the realm of science fiction, it's practically impossible to find someone who doesn't take at least a little influence from the dark lord of the Sith.

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Even his fellow Sith Lords are guilty of the cyborg ruler's influence, no matter where they come from. Whether they originate in the expanded universe or the currentStar Warscanon, Vader has more than a few copycats out there. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

Count Dooku was easily one of the highlights of the often bashed Prequel Trilogy, but that's partially thanks to the incomparable Christopher Lee. That being said, there's at least a healthy helping of Vader's influence to his demeanor, appearance, and presence, along with a little of Lee's Dracula. His calm and calculating nature, his long black cape, his deep voice, and powerful presence all call back to the original face of the Dark Side.

A member of theStar Warsextended universe, Darth Tenebrous was a precursor Sith Lord along with Darth Plagueis who shared more than a cybernetic breathing apparatus with Lord Vader. Not only was the character quite a powerful member of the Sith, but his attitude towards the Force is remarkably similar to that of Vader's.

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As a prolific scientist, Tenebrous saw the Force as a tool for progress instead of a power source alone. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force, after all.

With the introduction of theStar Warsprequels, George Lucas and his team had the daunting task of creating a new villainous threat. Since Anakin Skywalker was barely old enough to have a pod-racer license, the film needed a new threat. Enter the frightening and agile Darth Maul. Though he lacked the cybernetics, his character was absolutely drenched in shadow and mystery. And once fans saw him fighting the Jedi, it was just like seeing Vader unsheath his lightsaber for the first time.

The Inquisitors are to Vader as the Death Eaters are to Voldemort. With their black leather attire, masks, and appetites for death and destruction, it's easy to see who they admire most. But none imitate the Sith Lord himself better than The Grand Inquisitor.

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He's as commanding, callous, and cruel as Vader, and even without his helmet, he bears a familiar resemblance to him unmasked. The only place he exceeds him is in pure intimidation.

Although his approach is far more ethereal and wraithlike than Vader's, Darth Nihilus is where the lines begin to blur. Like Vader, Nihilus was once a man, but due to being seduced and consumed by the Dark Side of the Force, he has become something else entirely. A manifestation of the Dark Side itself, Darth Nihilus hungers for Force energy, walking as an avatar of fear and suffering.

The Force Unleashedwas a hack-and-slash video game where players got to assume the role of a Sith apprentice under Darth Vader himself, but they were also given the choice to chose the good or evil side of the force.

RELATED:What Jedi: Fallen Order 2 NEEDS To Include

If they chose the path of the Dark Side, Galen Marek would essentially become Darth Vader's replacement under the Emporer. Galen even gets fitted with his own Vader-inspired suit and mask to top it all off.

Grievous is more than just a cyborg with a breathing problem, but a figure foreshadowing the future of a certain Jedi. He was a Kaleesh who was so consumed by hatred and pain, he gave himself over to the Dark Side to be Dooku and Sidious's sinister cybernetic project. More machine than organic being, Grievous is the Sith's perfect killing machine, slaughtering supposedly 100 Jedi by his hands. All of this is eerily similar to the fate that would befall Anakin Skywalker.

The Inquisitors have already been mentioned once, but Second Sister's appearance, manner, are so blatantly ripped off of Darth Vader, it's almost like she's practically the embodiment of genderswapped fan art.

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Joking aside, Second Sister is nothing to sneeze at. Although she lack's Vader's control and distinct presence, she is a deadly villain to be tangoed with inJedi: Fallen Order.

If one looks at theStar Warsseries from a timeline perspective, Darth Revan was Vader before it was cool. This Dark Lord of the Sith essentially laid out the basics for Vader in a few easy steps. Betray the Jedi, don a cool and intimidating mask that strikes fear into the hearts of your enemies, create a sizable body-count with the Dark Side of the Force, and leave a legacy of fear behind for future Darths to follow. It's as simple as that.

There is no bigger fanboy of Darth Vader in this or any other galaxy than his grandson, Ben Solo. Taking up the moniker of Kylo Ren, an angry young apprentice attempted to follow in his grandfather's footsteps by walking the way of the Dark Side. From the familiar-looking mask to the edgy black attire, Kylo is desperately trying to be Vader reincarnated. If only he could control that temper of his.

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Next Star Wars: 10 Things That Make No Sense About Kylo Ren

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Where to start watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season 2’s Samson and Delilah. – Slate

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Despite being a childless, science fictionloving grad student with nothing but time on my hands back in 2008, I somehow missed Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles when it was on TV. Created by Josh Friedman, The Sarah Connor Chronicles was canceled after two seasons and 31 episodes, despite mostly positive critical reception. Bingeing it under pandemic conditions, as I have been doing recently, has been unexpectedly cathartic. This is a show about people living in a sunny, beautiful, Southern Californian present day while haunted by the knowledge that a grim future might be coming unless they change it by their actions. Its also about parenting under stress and feeling constantly under siege by inescapable circumstance, whichwell, if thats too real, you can always focus on the nifty killer cyborgs instead.

The haunted, hard-pressed characters on this show are nonetheless fun to watch. The Sarah Connor Chronicles stars Lena Headey as Sarah, the monomaniacal mama bear originally played by Linda Hamilton. Sarah Connor has a bit in common with Game of Thrones Cersei Lannister, now Headeys most famous role, in that both characters are driven to protect their families, but compared with Sarah Connor, Cersei is a beam of sunshine. Sarah Connor has but one single purpose, or at least a related set of themworry about Skynet, find out Skynets plans, thwart Skynetand that makes her understandably a little bit of a tough hang.

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Luckily, the other main cast members are delightful. John Connor, played by Thomas Dekker, is a teenager whos growing into his charisma and strength, all the while wishing there were some way out of his fate. Summer Glau, who put in some serious time in the science fiction TV mines in the 2000s and 2010s with Firefly, Dollhouse, The 4400, Alphas, and Arrow, might be my favorite Terminator in the whole Terminatorverseshes so icy and strange, with perfect skin and an intense, deadpan gaze. The casting director was clearly great at picking actors who can tap into the uncanny valley. (Garret Dillahunt, a wonderful hey, its that guy actor who plays the first seasons Big Bad, also has this gift.) And when Johns uncle Derek Reese appears, sent back from the future to help the Connors survive, you can enjoy the sight of Brian Austin Green convincingly playing a battle-hardened, tattoo-covered resistance fighter, offering world-class handsome uncle from out of town vibes.

The episode I recommend to the Sarah Connor Chroniclescurious out there is the second season premiere, Samson & Delilah. The action starts with an explosion: Glaus character, Cameron, the Terminator assigned to protect John, has been car-bombed, and her chip is damaged, causing her to turn on him and try to kill him. Samson & Delilah showcases Glaus creepy, quiet strength as well as plenty of run run run, shoot shoot shoot, drive drive drive. Theres a lot of action in Samson & Delilah, including some cool callbacks to the surprise special effects that made Terminator 2: Judgment Daythe best Terminator movie, dont @ meso memorable.

Working together, John and Sarah figure out how to trap Cameron and force her to reboot, giving them some time to access her head, open up her scalp, and take her chip out. John cuts into her, but before he takes her chip out of her head, she begs him not to, saying over and over, in a girls robotic voice, I love you! I love you! John goes ahead, then cleans her chip, and in the episodes climactic scene, as every trusted adult in his life warns him not to do it, reinserts it. Johnwho knows he will one day be the leader of the human resistanceoften struggles to understand how his future self would handle a problem, a dynamic thats not as well explored in the other Terminator films. What would it do to a person to know that hes going to grow into a leader everyone trustssomebody whom people will willingly die for? A future John Connor (this show posits the existence of multiple timelines) sent Cameron back to help his younger self survive. But his family tells young John that no metal can be trusted. Who is right?

The rest of Season 2 will see a lot of tragedy unfold because of the mistrust between Cameron and the adults who are protecting John and fighting Skynet. There are deep meditations about the meaning of humanity, tests of familial bonds, and revelations about peoples capacity to collaborate with evil. But most interesting of all is watching John, a dippy kid with messy hair, become John Connor. Im just sorry this show got canceled before we got to see where it wouldve taken him next.

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Where to start watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season 2's Samson and Delilah. - Slate

To the Moon and Back with Sheyene Gerardi, kicks off its first season with space, rockets and cyborgs. – Press Release – Digital Journal

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To the Moon and Back with Sheyene Gerardi, season premiere.

To the Moon and Back with Sheyene Gerardi docu-series will feature fascinating stories from Silicon Valley, including the world's most iconic figures such as Elon Musk (SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook).

The Venezuelan model and television personality is back on the TV dial in more than 100 countries. In its premiere season, the show will feature fascinating stories from Silicon Valley, including the worlds most iconic figures such as Elon Musk (SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook). Throughout this series, Sheyene Gerardi goes behind the scenes to uncover leading-edge technological developments taking place across the aerospace industry. "To the Moon and Back with Sheyene Gerardi" is available to some 600 million TV viewers globally. In the U.S., its available to around 45 million households in certain markets through Cable.

Sheyene Gerarardi is a model and one of Venezuelas most beloved television icons. She beat a prediction of 3 months to live and she has been involved in many philanthropic endeavors over the course of her career. This time she addresses the issue of her social work with a mission to use visual storytelling to amplify social issues and catalize social change. "Science is inherently optimistic. I love being able to use the power of entertainment to create positive change and help audiences to take action, and digital TV allows me to do this in powerful ways." - says Sheyene.

To the Moon and Back is about Sheyene doing what she does best: communicating hope and celebrating progress, with which she aims to educate audiences on a global level. Sheyene is also executive producing this series.

Each segment will air Nationwide during half-hour episode to millions of television households distributed throughout cable television, reaching approximately 100-million subscribers via Univision, DISH Network, DIRECTV, Verizon FiOS TV, Amazon Prime and more that 600 independent rural cable systems.

Media ContactCompany Name: Scriptten IncContact Person: Ligia GrigsbyEmail: Send EmailPhone: 9292490003State: NYCountry: United StatesWebsite: https://www.sheyenegerardi.net

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To the Moon and Back with Sheyene Gerardi, kicks off its first season with space, rockets and cyborgs. - Press Release - Digital Journal

Health Disparities, Transportation Equity and Complete Streets: a Case Study of a Policy Development Process through the Lens of Critical Race Theory…

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This article was originally published here

J Urban Health. 2020 Aug 3. doi: 10.1007/s11524-020-00460-8. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Historic disinvestment in transportation infrastructure is directly related to adverse social conditions underlying health disparities in low-income communities of color. Complete Streets policies offer a strategy to address inequities and subsequent public health outcomes. This case study examines the potential for an equity-focused policy process to address systemic barriers and identify potential measures to track progress toward equity outcomes. Critical race theory provided the analytical framework to examine grant reports, task force notes, community workshop/outreach activities, digital stories, and stakeholder interviews. Analysis showed that transportation inequities are entrenched in historically rooted disparities that are perpetuated in ongoing decision-making processes. Intentional efforts to incorporate equity into discussions with community members and representatives contributed to explicit equity language being included in the final policy. The potential to achieve equity outcomes will depend upon policy implementation. Concrete strategies to engage community members and focus city decision-making practices on marginalized and disenfranchised communities are identified.

PMID:32748284 | DOI:10.1007/s11524-020-00460-8

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Health Disparities, Transportation Equity and Complete Streets: a Case Study of a Policy Development Process through the Lens of Critical Race Theory...

Inside out: Jumping on wagons and worldliness – The Deming Headlight

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Don Heacox, For the Headlight Published 8:12 a.m. MT July 30, 2020

Heacox(Photo: Courtesy photo)

Fr. Gabriel Rochelles, I have never had a harder column to write, published July 19, in the Deming Headlight online was wonderfully constructive but raised some questions. He concluded that we were, as Peter said, strangers in a strange land and to stop pretending we are anything other than that.

Okay. What is the Christian pretension and what does stopping the pretension look like for Christians?

My wife gave me some insight into what the pretensions are. They are jumping on wagons. Social justice, whatever that means and it means different (and therefore divisive) things to different people, is one such wagon.

People jump on that wagon for the sense of presumptive moral superiority and social acceptance it provides them in the communities of which they are a part. It provides a sense of identity and meaning. Christians are, however, to have their identity and meaning foremost in Christ. Consider transgender rights, whatever those may be. Some might see it as essentially Christian to support them. Others may dissent on the basis that Jesus never addressed the issue and a commitment to them would be worldly. The result is division and perhaps to be compromised by this world.

Living both in and apart from this world is tricky to say the least. Fr. Gabriel mentioned the Benedict Option of intentional communities and cited current examples of the Amish, Mennonite, Hutterites, Bruderhof, and conservative Quakers. We respect the Bruderhof and hope to visit a community sometime.

All of the aforementioned communities are pacific and have been persecuted at times for not taking up arms for countries in which they resided. So they have had to flee or endure persecution.

This raises another question, Should Christians try to influence the greater society of which they are a part and, if so, how?

Jehovahs Witnesses and others consciously take no part in political and civic activities, leaving the resolution of those activities up to God. If persecution results, and it has, so be it. Others hop on political wagons. So called evangelicals seem more inclined to the conservative carts and more liberal faiths ride the liberal caravans. Increasingly the carts and caravans are headed in opposite directions with substantial momentum.

The upcoming Presidential Election is being portrayed as a defining moment in the history of this nation and I believe it is. Yet the world has seen many turning points and will likely face many more before the ultimate battle between good and evil.

Perhaps the greatest pretension is that evil does not exist in this world and that we can safely ignore it. The history of the world, at least so far, seems to have a common thread of war and conquest. In an evil-free world, more effort would have been spent in trying to elevate man than in killing him.

An awareness of evil for Christians does not include obsession. Paul told the Christian community in Rome not to be overcome by evil but to overcome evil by good. Dont be overwhelmed.

Ive heard both a physician and a pastor advising to stop listening to the news. One interpretation of Jesus resist not evil is to shrug off slights and get on with ones life. Another is not to engage evil in a way that strengthens it. Instead, strengthen each other realizing we need each others help and Gods.

Don Heacox can be reached at frheacox@gmail.com.

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Inside out: Jumping on wagons and worldliness - The Deming Headlight