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Coronavirus Turmoil to Take Toll on Near-term Growth of Paper Edge Protectors Market – Cole of Duty

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

Paper Edge Protectors Market: Global Industry Analysis 2014-2018 & Opportunity Assessment 2019-2029

A recent market study published by FMI, Paper Edge Protectors Market: Global Industry Analysis 2014-2018 & Forecast 2019-2029 offers a comprehensive assessment of the most important market dynamics. After conducting thorough research on the historical, as well as current growth parameters of the paper edge protectors market, the growth prospects of the market are obtained with maximum precision.

Paper Edge Protectors Market Taxonomy

The global paper edge protectors market is segmented in detail to cover every aspect of the market and present complete market intelligence to the reader.

By Material Type

By Product Type

By End-use Industry

Region

For more insights into the Market, request a sample of this[emailprotected] https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-9468

Chapter 01 Executive Summary

The report commences with the executive summary of the paper edge protectors market, which includes a summary of the key findings and statistics of the market. It also includes dominating segments in the global paper edge protectors market, along-with key facts about paper edge protectors. It also includes graphical representation of the segments according to market size and growth rate.

Chapter 02 Market Overview

Readers can find detailed taxonomy and definition of the paper edge protectors market in this chapter, which will help them understand the basic information about paper edge protectors present in the market. This section also highlights the inclusions and exclusions, which help the reader understand the scope of the paper edge protectors market report.

Chapter 03 Market Background

This section covers global economic outlook, packaging industry outlook, paper edge protectors market outlook, macro-economic factors, forecast factors, value chain analysis, cost structure analysis, paper consumption by region, life cycle assessment paper, Porters five forces analysis, market dynamics (Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunity Analysis) to gain deep qualitative insights about paper edge protectors market.

Chapter 04 Global Paper Edge Protectors Market Pricing Analysis

Pricing analysis of the paper edge protectors market on the basis of regions and material type, has been considered. Weighted average pricing has been considered by taking regional market share, segmental market share, and pricing, by each region.

Chapter 05 Global Paper Edge Protectors Market Demand (in Value or Size in US$ Mn) Analysis 2014-2018 and Forecast, 2019-2029

This section explains the global market value & volume analysis and forecast for the paper edge protectors market between the forecast period of 2019-2029. It includes the detailed analysis of the historical paper edge protectors market, along with an opportunity analysis of the future. Readers can also find the absolute opportunity for the current year (2019 2020), and an incremental opportunity for the forecast period (2019 2029).

Chapter 06 Global Paper Edge Protectors Market Analysis 2014 2018 & Forecast 2019 2029 by Material Type

This chapters include paper edge protectors market analysis by material type including solid bleached sulfate (SBS), coated unbleached kraft paperboard, and recycled paperboard Market attractiveness analysis for each segment is also provided in these chapters.

Chapter 07 Global Paper Edge Protectors Market Analysis 2014 2018 & Forecast 2019 2029 by Product Type

This chapters include paper edge protectors market analysis by product type including angular and round. Market attractiveness analysis for each segment is also provided in these chapters. In this chapter, readers can find information about key attractive segments during the forecast period.

Chapter 08 Global Paper Edge Protectors Market Analysis 2014 2018 & Forecast 2019 2029 by End-use Industry

This chapters include paper edge protectors market analysis by end use industry including logistics and transportation, warehousing and manufacturing. Manufacturing segment is further sub segmented into food & beverage, building & construction, personal care & cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, electrical & electronics, chemicals and others (Homecare).Market attractiveness analysis for each segment is also provided in these chapters.

Chapter 08 Global Paper Edge Protectors Market Analysis 2014 2018 & Forecast 2019 2029 by Region

This chapters include paper edge protectors market analysis by region such as North America, Latin America, Europe, South Asia, East Asia, Oceania, and Middle East & Africa. Market attractiveness analysis for each segment is also provided in these chapters.

Chapter 10 North America Paper Edge Protectors Market Analysis 2014 2018 & Forecast 2019 2029

This chapter includes a detailed analysis of the growth of the North American Paper Edge Protectors market, along with a country-wise assessment that includes the U.S. and Canada. Readers will also find some of key points on the basis of estimated market size and consumption of Paper Edge Protectors.

Chapter 11 Latin America Paper Edge Protectors Market Analysis 2014 2018 & Forecast 2019 2029

Readers can find detailed information about several factors, such as the pricing analysis and the regional trends, which are impacting the growth of the Latin America paper edge protectors market. This chapter also includes the growth prospects of the Paper Edge Protectors market in leading LATAM countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Rest of Latin America.

Chapter 12 Europe Paper Edge Protectors Market Analysis 2014 2018 & Forecast 2019 2029

Important growth prospects of the paper edge protectors market based on the product and the end-user industry in several countries, such as Germany, the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Russia, BENELUX and the Rest of Europe, are included in this chapter.

Chapter 13 South Asia Paper Edge Protectors Market Analysis 2014 2018 & Forecast 2019 2029

India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Rest of South Asia are the leading countries in the South Asia region that are the prime subjects of assessment to obtain the growth prospects of the South Asia paper edge protectors market in this chapter. Readers can find detailed information about the growth parameters of the South Asia paper edge protectors market during the period 2019-2029.

Chapter 14 East Asia Paper Edge Protectors Market Analysis 2014 2018 & Forecast 2019 2029

This chapter highlights the growth of the Paper Edge Protectors market in East Asia by focusing on China, Japan, South Korea and Rest of South Asia. The section also highlights data points regarding the growth of the paper edge protectors market in the East Asian region.

Chapter 15 Oceania Paper Edge Protectors Market Analysis 2014 2018 & Forecast 2019 2029

In this chapter, Australia and New Zealand are among the leading countries in the Oceania region, which are the prime subjects of assessment to obtain the growth prospects of the Oceania paper edge protectors market.

Chapter 16 MEA Paper Edge Protectors Market Analysis 2014 2018 & Forecast 2019 2029

This chapter provides information about how the Paper Edge Protectors market will grow in major countries in the MEA region such as GCC Countries, South Africa, Turkey, Northern Africa, and the rest of MEA, during the forecast period 2019 2029.

Chapter 17 Market Structure Analysis

In this chapter, readers can find detailed information about the tier analysis and market concentration of key players in the paper edge protectors market along with their market presence analysis by region and product portfolio.

For Information On The Research Approach Used In The Report, Request [emailprotected] https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-9468

Chapter 18 Competition Analysis

The competition analysis section includes company market share analysis, along with a dashboard view of key parameters of top 20 companies in the market. Company profiles encompasses product overview, SWOT analysis, go-to market strategy, preferred sales channels, and key financials, among others.

The major players operating in the paper edge protectors market are Smurfit Kappa Group PLC, Packaging Corporation of America, Sonoco Products Company, Rengo Co., Ltd., N.A.L. Company, Inc., Primapack SAE, Konfida, Cascades Inc., Litco International, Inc., Kunert Gruppe, Raja S.A., Pratt Industries, Inc., Eltete Oy, Napco National, Pacfort Packaging Industries, Cordstrap B.V., VPK Packaging Group NV, Signode Industrial Group (Crown Holdings), Romiley Board Mill, Tubembal Paper Processing and Packaging Trade, S.A.

Chapter 19 Assumptions and Acronyms

This chapter includes a list of acronyms and assumptions that provide a base to the information and statistics included in the paper edge protectors report.

Chapter 20 Research Methodology

This chapter helps readers understand the research methodology followed to obtain various conclusions, as well as important qualitative and quantitative information about the paper edge protectors market.

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Coronavirus Turmoil to Take Toll on Near-term Growth of Paper Edge Protectors Market - Cole of Duty

Euthanasia referendum: Will you support the End of Life Choice Act? – Stuff.co.nz

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

New Zealanders will get the chance to vote on the End of Life Choice Act at this years General Election in September.

The Act gives people with a terminal illness the option of requesting assisted dying.

Last November, Parliament passed the End of Life Choice Act by 69-51 votes, sending it to a referendum and putting the decision in the hands of the public.

Assisted dying, or euthanasia, is defined in the End of Life Choice Act as a doctor or nurse practitioner giving a person medication to relieve their suffering by bringing on death, or, the taking of medication by a person to relieve their suffering by bringing on death.

READ MORE:* Euthanasia referendum: What is assisted dying? The End of Life vote explained* Canadian researchers find majority who chose euthanasia were receiving palliative care* End of life choice Bill to affect society's vulnerable the most says hospice doctor

To be eligible for assisted dying under the Act, a person must be suffering from a terminal illness that is likely to end their life within six months.

123RF

You will get the opportunity to answer Yes or No on election day.

See the original post here:

Euthanasia referendum: Will you support the End of Life Choice Act? - Stuff.co.nz

Euthanasia law proposed for healthy over-75s who feel their lives are complete – DutchNews.nl

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

A Dutch MP has submitted a long-awaited bill to offer healthy Dutch over-75s the right to ask for euthanasia.

Pia Dijkstra, medical ethics lead for D66, promised to go forward with the controversial bill at the end of January, after government research revealed that around 10,000 people over 55 have a serious death wish.

But the bill proposal, handed in on Friday, is likely to stoke conflict in the government because the two Christian parties in the coalition are radically opposed to it.

Free vote

Although the right to choose death is supported in theory by Mark Ruttes VVD, and a previous attempt at legislation in 2016 also had the support of the PvdA labour party and GroenLinks, it is unclear whether Dijkstras bill would win over the majority of MPs which it would need, as it would be a free vote.

Her proposed law would mean healthy over-75s with a strong death wish for at least two months could have the assistance of an end-of-life supervisor to die. But opponents of the law including the KNMG Royal Dutch Medical Association believe it could undermine the strict due care conditions of the existing euthanasia law, arguing that lonely and impoverished older people should have help, not the choice of an early death.

Benjamin Meijer, a spokesman for D66, told DutchNews.nl that his party had agreed with the coalition to wait for the publication of research into the group of older people who want help to die, and was then busy with the joint effort against the coronavirus.

Sensitive

Everyone in The Hague in politics was busy trying to battle this huge crisis, he said. The target audience of this law is very different from those who died from corona but it is always a sensitive subject.

He said that the proposal would now go to the Raad van State judicial advisory committee for review, a process which will take three to six months, before it can be refined and scheduled for debate and a vote. The hope is that it comes before parliament before the next general election in March 2021, he said.

These kinds of law proposals with very divisive subjects are not voted on according to party lines, but by free choice, added Meijer. We cant be in peoples heads to know if they have decided or would change their opinion.

Dijstra has said that for D66 the law is about having the choice at an advanced age, if people consider their lives complete, to be able to die with dignity, with careful help. It was inspired by a 2010 citizens initiative that gained 117,000 supporters.

Unacceptable

But the ChristenUnie a government party with five seats has said the proposal is insensitively timed and completely unacceptable. Gert-Jan Segers, party leader, said in a post: I find it extraordinarily painful that at a time when old people feel extra vulnerable, D66 submits a proposal that we know will cause many of them increased insecurity and worry, he said. This is a path that the ChristenUnie absolutely will not tread.

The CDA, the other Christian party in government with 17 seats, is also against the proposal, suggesting it could undermine existing euthanasia law. When the research on the unhappy older people was published, now-CDA leader and health minister Hugo de Jonge made an appeal to tackle loneliness and social problems. This groups death wish is serious and the report underlines the need for action, he wrote in a parliamentary briefing. It is our task to make every effort to ensure that these people find the meaning of life and meaning in life again.

However, the NVVE, a pro-euthanasia membership body which campaigned for the 2002 euthanasia law, has said it is pleased with Dijkstras proposal. If the proposal becomes law, help to die from care staff other than doctors, such as psychologists, psychotherapists and nurses, would no longer be punishable, it said in a reaction online.

It added that many of this group who are done with life do not qualify to request euthanasia under the existing law because they do not have severe medical complaints.

The DutchNews.nl team would like to thank all the generous readers who have made a donation in recent weeks. Your financial support has helped us to expand our coverage of the coronavirus crisis into the evenings and weekends and make sure you are kept up to date with the latest developments.

DutchNews.nl has been free for 14 years, but without the financial backing of our readers, we would not be able to provide you with fair and accurate news and features about all things Dutch. Your contributions make this possible.

If you have not yet made a donation, but would like to, you can do so via Ideal, credit card or Paypal.

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Euthanasia law proposed for healthy over-75s who feel their lives are complete - DutchNews.nl

Euthanasia referendum: The most important voices in this debate are the terminally ill – Stuff.co.nz

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

UNSPLASH

"Our families struggle to accept that a disease is going to take us away from them, but the disease is going to take us anyway - we don't have an option or say in that." (File photo)

OPINION: As a passionate advocate for thislegislationand as someone living with incurable stage IV metastatic breast cancer I am, unfortunately, fully conversant with how my disease plays out, and it isn't for the faint-hearted.

I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 and then again in 2002.

I continueto take each day as it comes, along with surgical interventions, chemotherapy and radiation.

When the terminal metastatic breast cancerdiagnosis came in 2016, even as an advocate for this legislation, I wanted to do what I could - but on my terms and within my own boundaries when it comes to treatment and its side-effects.

READ MORE:*Assisted dying referendum: why NZ's law lacks necessary detail to make a fully informed decision*Act 'offers choice, not compulsion'*End of life choice comes down to compassion

The reason I am alive is because of chemotherapy and hormonal drugs. I'm on my third line of treatment now. The nature of my disease means that each treatment eventually stops working.

Metastatic breast cancer is one of the crueller cancer diseases;ask anyone who has lost a loved one to this insidious disease. The extent to which it progresses knows no bound: all major organs, the brain, the stomach, the eyes, the bones, the spine.

I'm a member of a private support group of 6000 women from all over the world. Each day we read and share the extent of the suffering, including many photos inquiring 'is this normal?' due to radical side effects from treatments.And then, the dreaded posts from a family member who advises that their loved one is no longer with us.

Readingthefear and anxiety ofthose dealing with metastatic bone disease when they start to experience fractures and need tohave steel rods surgically inserted to support ravaged bones is extremely tough. This is the reality of my disease.

I will not apologise for asking not to have to go right to the very end of all that this disease has to offer.

Every terminally ill New Zealander deserves the voluntaryright to choose the option of an assisted death during the last sixmonths of their lives.Currently those who oppose have it their way - those who are walking the terminal cancer walkdon't have any options.

We should be able to take the good days, the quality days and enjoy them, having peace of mind that when we've had enough we can say we've had enough.

The most important voice of all in this debate is the voice of the individual who has to travel this journey.

The Act offers the voluntary option to say when "enough is enough" and, trust me, the suffering comes way before the last sixmonths of life.

The issue is that as a society we find it difficult to come to terms with having conversations about death.

Our families struggle to accept that a disease is going to take us away from them, but the disease is going to take us anyway - we don't have an option or say in that.

The very least we can hope for is to say we don't want our suffering to be prolonged, outside of what our disease is going to dish out, or what the chemotherapy, radiation and other chemical cocktails do to our bodies.

I am a wife and a mother, and my family respects my wish for an assisted death.

When there is talk about families and their input - I can assure you that I would rather my children watch me die peacefully than have to live with the trauma of remembering, for years, how my own parents died.

Assisted dying is not about ending life, it's about ending suffering when you no longer have the option of living - you haven't made that decision, itwas taken out of your hands.

The very least you can expect is to be able to call it a day when your disease and treatments cause nothing but pain and suffering.

Every man and his dog has an opinion or view on this legislation, but it's not every man and his dog who are going to die the way others have to die.

More here:

Euthanasia referendum: The most important voices in this debate are the terminally ill - Stuff.co.nz

Euthanasia referendum: What is assisted dying? The End of Life vote explained – Stuff.co.nz

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

New Zealanders will be able to have the final say on whether assisted dying should become law in Septembers election.

Last November, Parliament passed the End of Life Choice Act by 69-51 votes, sending it to a referendum and putting the decision in the hands of the public.

Here we break down what assisted dying is, what the End of Life Choice Act proposes, and how the referendum will work.

READ MORE:* New Zealand will vote on two referendums on election day, but won't know result for 13 days* End of Life Choice Bill 'not about disability', David Seymour says* Assisted dying conscientious objection questions too early - court

WHAT IS ASSISTED DYING?

In the Act, medication means a lethal dose of the drugs used for assisted dying.

To be eligible for assisted dying under the Act, a person must be suffering from a terminal illness that is likely to end their life within six months.

They must have significant and ongoing decline in physical capability, and experience unbearable suffering that cannot be eased.

Crucially, they have to be able to make an informed decision about assisted dying showing they can understand and remember information about it, and have the ability to communicate this decision in some way.

A person would not be eligible if the only reason they give is that they are suffering from a mental disorder or mental illness; have a disability of any kind; or because of their advanced age.

A health practitioner is not allowed to suggest that a person consider assisted dying while providing a health service to them, it must be a call made by the patient.

Iain McGregor/Stuff

On September 19, New Zealanders will vote in not just the general election, but two referendums including whether assisted dying, or euthanasia, should be passed into law.

WHEN IS THE EUTHANASIA REFERENDUM IN NEW ZEALAND?

The euthanasia referendum is one of two being carried out on general election day, Saturday, September 19.

The other will ask people if they support the Cannabis Legislation and Control Bill.

You will be given a voting paper for the election and a voting paper for the referendums.

If youre in New Zealand, you will be able to vote when advance voting starts on September 5.

If youre overseas at the time, you can vote from September 2.

CHRISTINE CORNEGE/Stuff

You will get the opportunity to answer 'Yes or No on election day.

WHAT IS THE QUESTION IN THE END OF LIFE CHOICE ACT REFERENDUM?

The voting question being asked is: Do you support the End of Life Choice Act 2019 coming into force?

You can choose one of two answers:

Coming into force means the Act would start operating as law in New Zealand, 12 months after the final result is announced.

Supplied

A person would not be eligible for assisted dying simply because they are elderly. People must be suffering from a terminal illness that would end their life within six months.

WHAT WOULD THE END OF LIFE CHOICE BILL ALLOW?

If it does start operating as law in New Zealand, eligible people could start the assisted dying process with their doctor.

In a nutshell, two doctors the person's doctor and an independent doctor must agree the patient meets the criteria, including being able to make an informed decision about assisted dying. If either is unsure of the persons ability to make that decision, a psychiatrist needs to assess the person.

If the person is eligible, they choose a method, date, and time for taking the lethal dose of medication.

At the time the person has chosen, the doctor or nurse practitioner must ask the person if they still choose to take the medication before it is given. The doctor or nurse practitioner must remain with them until they die.

If they change their mind, the medication is taken away.

Ross Giblin/Stuff

ACT MP and proponent for the End of Life Choice Bill, David Seymour, at its third and final reading in November 2019.

HOW WOULD IT BE POLICED?

If the law is passed, a number of roles and agencies will be set up within the health sector to oversee the operation of the Act.

This would include the Support and Consultation for End of Life in New Zealand (SCENZ) group, established by the Director-General of Health.

SCENZ would be responsible for making and maintaining a list of doctors, psychiatrists and pharmacists willing to take part in the assisted dying process.

It would also be responsible for preparing standards of care, advising on the required legal and medical procedures and providing practical assistance around the administration of medication.

Robert Kitchin/Stuff

If the Act became law, Ministry of Health Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield would be responsible for setting up key roles to oversee the law.

An End of Life Review Committee, made up of a medical ethicist, a doctor specialising in end-of-life care and one other health practitioner, would also be appointed by the minister of health.

The committee would consider reports provided by the doctor or nurse practitioner about the assisted death of a person, report to a registrar a person within the Ministry of Health, appointed by the Director-General on whether the information complies with the requirements of the Act.

The registrar would check the processes of the Act have been complied with; establish and maintain a register of approved forms and reports received from the review committee and made to the minister.

The registrar would receive and refer complaints to the appropriate authority, such as the Health and Disability Commissioner or Police.

They would also be responsible for providing annual reports to the health minister, who would present them to Parliament.

Christine Cornege/Stuff

The majority of New Zealanders will cast their votes on September 19, but advance voting and overseas voting start much earlier.

HOW DOES THE EUTHANASIA REFERENDUM VOTE WORK?

Casting a vote in the referendum is simple.

On your voting paper, vote by placing a tick next to your answer - either Yes or No to each referendum question.

WHEN WILL WE KNOW THE OUTCOME OF THE EUTHANASIA REFERENDUM?

Although voting takes place on election day, referendum votes will not be counted that night.

Preliminary referendum results will be released by the Electoral Commission on Friday, October 2.

The final, official results will be released on Friday, October 9.

123RF

The Act, if passed into law, would allow people with a terminal illness to relieve their suffering through assisted dying.

WHEN WOULD IT COME INTO EFFECT IF PASSED?

If more than 50 per cent of New Zealanders vote Yes in the referendum, the End of Life Choice Act will come into force 12 months after the final votes are announced.

If more than 50 per cent of people vote No, the Act will not become law.

If the majority vote in opposition to the Act or there is a tie and another referendum is not held, the Act will expire on November 16, 2024, five years to the day after it received royal assent.

For more Stuff coverage on the euthanasia referendum, click here.

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Euthanasia referendum: What is assisted dying? The End of Life vote explained - Stuff.co.nz

Father James Martin: Wearing a mask is pro-life – America Magazine

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

I am pro-life. What does that mean? Simply put, it means I believe that all life is sacred, inviolable and a gift from God. That reverence for life includes a desire to care for the unborn child in the womb, the elderly person in danger of euthanasia, the refugee starving on the border, the L.G.B.T. youth tempted to suicide and the inmate being readied for execution on death row.

To that list of sacred lives you can add: the woman standing in line at the grocery store checkout counter, the elderly man seated in a church pew or the office worker who has just stepped aboard public transportation.

Surely everyone would consider all these lives worthy of protection.

So why arent all Christians convinced that wearing a mask, maintaining social distance and taking the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus are pro-life moves?

Why arent all pro-lifers pro-maskers?

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This should be a no-brainer.

I am sure you know the statistics. Wearing masks helps to dramatically reduce the spread of airborne droplets that contain the coronavirus. Standing six feet apart greatly lessens the chance that others will become infected. Washing your hands for 20 seconds (two Happy Birthdays) helps to kill the virus.

These precautions have been confirmed over and over again by places like the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, in many university studies and by prestigious medical journals like The Lancet. By now these public health guidelines are posted in drugstores, on street corners and at public transportation stops.

In fact, the director of the C.D.C. said recently that if everyone in the United States wore masks, the virus would be under control within weeks.

Is it inconvenient? Of course. I wear a mask every time I step out of my Jesuit community residence in New York City, where these days it is hot and muggy. During the colder months it took some time to figure out how to wear one without getting my glasses fogged up, and today it is uncomfortable wearing one while jogging through Central Park in the 90-degree heat.

Some people think these precautions are not just inconvenient but an infringement on their civil liberties. I could give you all sorts of arguments about all sorts of other public health measures designed to protect peoplefood-safety rules, turn signals on cars and so onthat people seem fine with. But in these politicized times, even caring for the other person has become political. Wearing a mask is not seen as contributing to the common good but as an affront to personal liberty. (I am not including people who cannot wear a mask because of their own health conditions.)

Think about it this way: Would you allow someone to smoke in a hospital? Would you allow someone to carry a gun into a nursery school? Those are civil liberties we are willing to curtail to allow others to remain healthy and alive. It is, again, part of contributing to the common good. Why is it different with masks?

But instead of those arguments, lets look at this from a Christian point of view.

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, in Lukes Gospel, Jesus offers us the story of a man who is going down from Jerusalem to Jericho on a notoriously dangerous road and is beaten by robbers.

After the man is beaten, two people pass him by, a priest and a Levite. Finally, someone stopsthough doing so would have been not only inconvenient but also dangerousand helps the man. He dresses his wounds and takes him to an inn. Jesus is clearly praising this mans actions and condemning those of the two who passed him by.

Why didnt the other two stop to help? Either they were afraid of being robbed or, just as likely, they just couldnt be bothered. They were too lazy to help save a life.

The Jesuit theologian James Keenan, S.J., once described the way Jesus saw sin in the Gospels as a failure to bother to love. This is where Jesus usually locates sin: not where we are weak and continually trying to do better, but where we are strong and cannot be bothered. The two men on the road couldnt be bothered.

So the question comes down to this: Are you really pro-life? Do you reverence all livesthe checkout clerk as much as the unborn child? The man standing in the grocery store as much as the man in danger of euthanasia? The woman on the subway as much as the terminally ill child?

Do you really want to help save lives? Then start to bother. Wear a mask.

Excerpt from:

Father James Martin: Wearing a mask is pro-life - America Magazine

Pork producers face $5B in losses with surplus of hogs – Food Dive

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

Dive Brief:

Even though processing plants are returning back to normal production levels, the pandemic is still causing financial and logistical challenges for pork producers expected to continue into next year. The industry's major trade group is urging congressional action to help struggling producers.

This month, lawmakers in the Senate introduced the Relief for Producers Act of 2020that would give compensation to farmers who are euthanizing their animals because of the pandemic. The NPPCsaid it "strongly supports this legislation" and is pushing for Congress to act quickly.The group also supported additional federal assistance being backed by Rep. Collin Peterson, the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee.

"Its imperative that Congress act now, or else thousands of farmers could go out of business, leading to consolidation and contraction of the U.S. pork industry,"Howard Roth, a Wisconsin hog farmer who is NPPC's president, said in a statement.

The government has already issued some help to the industry.The U.S. Agriculture Department said it would spend$3 billion to buy fresh produce, dairy and meat that will be sent to food banks after the closure of foodservice and restaurants during the pandemic have significantly hurt demand.

This year has taken a drastic and dire turn for the pork industry after initial optimism. Facing hardship caused by trade disputes and labor shortages in recent years,U.S. pork farmers entered 2020 expecting to post a profit.But when the pandemic hit, processing plants started to shutter as coronavirus spread among workers, causing the supply chain to back up and leaving hog farmers with no where to send their animals.

The pandemic has infected thousands of plant workersin the meat industry and forced more than 40 plantsacross the country to temporarily close down or reduce production. In April,President Donald Trump issued an executive orderusing the Defense Production Act to keep facilities open and prevent shortages. Labor unions have strongly criticized the ordersaying it puts workers at risk, while industry groups, including the NPPC,praised the move for helping get the supply chain moving.

Despite improvements,this new analysis showed the backlog is still prevalent.Many producers have turned to euthanasia to quell the overcrowding on farms.The U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust division announced in Mayit wouldn't challenge the proposed efforts of the NPPCto work with the USDA to euthanize hogs because of the oversupply caused by the pandemic. The NPPCtold the DOJ that euthanizing potentially 700,000 hogs per week "will be unavoidable."Millions of chickens also have been killedas closures diminish demand for poultry.

As the pork industry continues to face challenges, the NPPC is hoping the proposed bill in Congress, which would compensate hog and poultry producers while increasing funding for animal health surveillance and laboratories, will pass and help struggling producers stay afloat.

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Pork producers face $5B in losses with surplus of hogs - Food Dive

Rescued Pets Movement saves more than 53,000 animals – Chron

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

By Ryan Nickerson, Staff writer

Homeless animals get a chance for a better life thanks to the volunteers at Rescued Pets Movement.

Rescued Pets Movement saves more than 53,000 animals

Freya wagged her tail as she boarded her kennel inside a Rescued Pets Movements van. It wasnt long ago that she was considered homeless after she was tossed from a truck along with her puppies in front of a Houston animal shelter.

Its a peculiar moment for Houstons Rescued Pets Movement. Shelters can only handle a limited intake of dogs and cats, demand for household pets is on the rise, and Houstons homeless animal population is still high.

RPM is a nonprofit that partners with animal shelters across the country by transporting potentially euthanized cats and dogs in Houston to areas of the country with high demand for adoptions. As of June this year, RPM has saved 53,487 animals.

Due to COVID-19, many Houston animal shelters like BARC are operating under special conditions and the process for residents to drop off animals is now through appointment only (except for sick or injured animals). BARC is encouraging residents to not pick up any stray animals unless they are prepared to care for them at home.

It may take a couple of days, it may take a couple of weeks before you can get an appointment, said RPM president and co-founder Cheryl Perini. Not only has this led to Freya being tossed from a truck but some have been abandoned and found leashed to BARCs fence.

RPM steps in and takes animals from BARC and provides medical care for them in their facility and ideally puts them in a foster home. If no fosters are available, they stay in RPMs temporary shelter until their transport date.

On Thursday, RPM boarded 112 cats and 41 dogs into their vans to be transported to rescue shelters in Colorado and California. They stop every six hours to walk and feed the animals, and they dont stay in hotels.

Its actually been hard to get dogs from the shelters because so many are closed because of COVID-19, said Perini. If you find a stray you need to prepare to keep it long term because you dont know when you would be accommodated.

I also think with the economy being bad there are more people needing help with their pets. Maybe they have to move, they cant care for them, its a really strange time, said Perini.

Perini has worked in traditional pet rescue starting in the early 2000s. She moved to New Mexico in 2008 and volunteered with local animal shelters there. When she moved back to Houston in 2013 she saw how many adoptable pets were on BARCs euthanasia list and they all needed help.

By September 2013, the RPM was created.

Nobody was coming for the moms and so many puppies were on the euthanasia list, said Perini. Now I would say probably 100 percent of the moms and puppies get out of BARC alive.

In September 2013, BARCs live release rate was 48 percent, according to their Asilomar report. At the end of 2019, BARCs live release rate was 88.5 percent.

With RPMs rapid growth, their need for animal foster homes grows too; there are always more animals than there are fosters.

If interested in becoming a foster parent, go to http://www.rescuedpetsmovement.org/.

ryan.nickerson@hcnonline.com

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Rescued Pets Movement saves more than 53,000 animals - Chron

Is Commercial Space Travel Finally Taking Off? BRINK News and Insights on Global Risk – BRINK

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

George Whitesides of Virgin Galactic believes that a new wave of human space flight innovation will capture the attention of the international public.

Photo: Pexels

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While Earth-bound citizens grapple with quarantines, a new era of space exploration is blasting off. After years of only gradual expansion, emerging players and new technologies have reignited the space race in the 21st century.

While the Cold War spurred major scientific and commercial achievements, progress tapered off dramatically as government enthusiasm and funding for space exploration waned. But dramatic technological advances and lucrative business models changed the conversation, and private companies are making up for lost time. New investments and fresh private-public partnerships mean that booking a berth in space could happen sooner than we think. Countries like Japan, China, India and the United Arab Emirates are jumping in, too, expanding the borders of geopolitics.

George Whitesides, the chief space officer and former CEO of Virgin Galactic, a company founded by Sir Richard Branson in 2004 to develop commercial vehicles for space tourism, joined the Altamar podcast team of Peter Schechter and Muni Jensen to discuss the future of space travel.

The interview came on the heels of a major announcement: Virgin Galactic, in conjunction with NASA, is opening a private astronaut program with public accessibility. Previously, Whitesides served as NASAs chief of staff after working on President Barack Obamas transition team for the agency. Hes also served as the executive director of the National Space Society and is a sought-after adviser for companies and organizations such as the Federal Aviation Administrations Commercial Space Transportation division, the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, the Space Generation Foundation and the Zero Gravity Corporation, among others.

According to Whitesides, Virgin Galactic seeks to expand space access to everyone, so that its not just the province of professional astronauts; it becomes the province of you and I, and the benefits of space accrue to everyone. Whitesides explained that partnerships between NASA and the private sector reignited public interest in space to levels unseen since the Apollo moon landing.

He said he predicts that theres going to be this wave of human space flight innovation coming up, and thats something that really captures the attention of the American public and the international public.

Whitesides explains the partnership between NASA and the private sector.

According to Whitesides, companies are taking advantage of great technical trends that are driving innovation and playing out in the commercial interest, such as developments that allow spacecrafts to be reused.

As he pointed out, travel to Europe would be pretty expensive if every time you got on a 747, you threw away the 747 on the other side in London. In turn, Whitesides believes that passenger travel to space could soon be a reality: I think its on the order of months and its not years, so thats really the main headline.

It could expand rapidly after that: Were going through this weird, interesting and inspiring transitional moment where, in the past, very few people will have known an astronaut, or have known somebody who has gone to space, whereas going forward, most people will know someone who has been to space, and thats an interesting transitional hallmark, he said.

Whitesides explains that the number of people who have traveled to space could soon significantly increase.

Until recently, only a handful of companies and countries were large enough to invest in space. This is the kind of thing that takes not just months, or even years; it takes decades sometimes to do these programs, Whitesides said. But lower costs and more accessible technology are creating opportunities for new ventures.

Virgin Galactic and other private sector players are betting that space travel will pay off as people pay to realize lifelong dreams to visit space. Competition over customers for a rocket ship ticket is likely to be fierce: Marshalling the resources to maintain efforts over the course of a decade or more is really challenging and requires either strong billionaire backers, or government resources or others, he said.

The intermingling of private and government funding in space has become no stranger to geopolitics, either. Between the United States, India, China, the UAE and countless other government-sponsored programs, space is not just becoming closer and cheaper its also getting more crowded.

Although Whitesides thinks an actual space war is unlikely, he expressed caution over the potential for foul play. Different national entities are working at how they can do really serious negative stuff in orbit, he said. There is no doubt there are a lot of nefarious shenanigans going on in orbit today between the Great Powers, and that is something thats driving the creation of the Space Force and other kinds of governmental responses.

Whitesides explains concern about government operations in space.

Whitesides remains optimistic about the prospects of space travels impact on the world. I think that what weve seen is that nations can retain friendly relations in space, even when theyre having pretty challenging relationships on the ground, he said. I think its good that humanity has these programs they can work together on, even through challenging times.

Altamar is a global politics podcast hosted by former Atlantic Council senior vice president Peter Schechter and award-winning journalist Muni Jensen. To listen to the full episode, click here.

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Is Commercial Space Travel Finally Taking Off? BRINK News and Insights on Global Risk - BRINK

Worried About Crowded Flights? Know Where Your Airline Stands – The New York Times

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

As of mid-July, the average flight only carries about 60 people, flying at an average of about 50 percent capacity, according to the trade group Airlines for America, making it easier for the more generous airlines to guarantee open space.

Rather than blocking seats, American and United are offering rebooking for travelers on crowded flights through pre-flight notifications, though some fliers have complained that changing plans at the last minute is inconvenient. Joy Gonzalez of Seattle, a recent flier on American, said the options shed been given to change involved long trips with two or three layovers.

We have multiple layers of protection in place for those who fly with us, including required face coverings, enhanced cleaning procedures and a pre-flight Covid-19 symptom checklist and were providing additional flexibility for customers to change their travel plans, as well, wrote Ross Feinstein, an American spokesman, in an email.

A United spokesman, Charles Hobart, wrote in an email that the overwhelming majority of our flights continue to depart with multiple empty seats.

On airlines that arent blocking seats, carriers say they allow passengers, once boarded, to move to an empty seat within their ticketed cabin, even if that seat is a premium seat, assuming there isnt an issue with balance and weight distribution.

But there have been some incidents on American planes in which passengers complained that they were not allowed to move to premium seats. They made it very clear that if you are trying to sit in empty seats to socially distance, you are still not permitted to sit in exit row seats because you have to pay for them, commented John Schmidt, a Times reader, on July 8, about an American flight from Austin to Los Angeles. This was a public announcement. Is definitely their policy, he wrote.

On July 10, American said it sent a reminder to its flight attendants that read, For now, its OK for customers to move to different seats in the same cabin.

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Worried About Crowded Flights? Know Where Your Airline Stands - The New York Times

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Reread Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night – tor.com

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

Typhon Pact: Plagues of NightDavid R. George IIIPublication Date: May 2012Timeline: April 2382 August 2383

Progress: First, we revisit the attack on Utopia Planitia and the extraction of the Breen spy, Kazren, that kicked off Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game, this time from the perspective of the Romulans, and learn that Subcommander Orventa TJul led the mission. Kasidy, on Bajor, sees the UP attack on the news. She thinks about Ben. Jasmine Tey is the Malaysian woman who helps look after Rebecca, ever since Rebeccas kidnapping, and acts as a one-woman security force. Kasidy replays the message Sisko sent her towards the end of Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire. She decides that even if Sisko keeps his distance from her, the Prophets words may not apply to his relationship with Rebecca, and she contacts Vedek Kira Nerys.

Captain Sisko, and his first officer on the USS Robinson, Anxo Rogeiro, are catching up when they receive news of the UP attack. Admiral Nechayev tasks Sisko with trying to stop the cloaked vessel that has stolen the quantum slipstream technology before it can leave Federation space. Praetor Gell Kamemor convenes Proconsul Tomalak, Proconsul Anlikar Ventel, and the new head of the Tal Shiar, Chairwoman Sela, to express her concerns that the recent shipyards attack may have been perpetrated by someone using advanced phase cloak technology, meaning someone within the Typhon Pact, including possibly a Romulan vessel. If members of the Romulan Imperial Fleet undertook the attack without her knowledge or approval, she might be facing a coup.

We skip forward two months: Kira shows up at Starbase 39-Sierra and relays a message from Kasidy to Siskoshell agree to dissolve her marriage with Ben if he agrees to be involved in Rebeccas life. He is reluctant but promises Kira that hell speak with Kasidy. The Romulan educator Corthin speaks in favor of Reunification at an event, with Spock and others of his Movement in attendance, when Spock learns that theres been a brawl at a different event. He requests an investigation, though he doesnt privately believe that the Praetor, the Senate, or the Tal Shiar are behind it. The autarch of the Tzenkethi Coalition, Korzenten, calls together a session of his senior Ministers to discuss the Federations handling of the worlds of Laskitor, Ergol, and Corat in the wake of the Borg incursion, and whether this behaviorthese are Tzenkethi frontier worldsposes any risk to the Tzenkethi.

Jumping forward another two months, Sarina recalls her recent mission with Bashir, as well as her involvement with Section 31. Bashir initially expresses interest in joining Starfleet Intelligence on a permanent basis, but after some discussion with Sarina he resolves to stay on DS9, with her by his side (shell resign the SI and find a job on the station or on Bajor). Ben visits Kasidy to spend time with Rebecca, as agreed. He still feels conflicted about leaving them, but at least he has the chance to better explain his decision to Kasidy. Rebecca doesnt immediately warm to him, which makes sense given his long absence. We just need to get reacquainted, Ben explains.

Proconsul Ventel meets with representatives of the Typhon Pacts constituent powers. Typhon I is the space station jointly constructed and maintained by the six Pact nations. Breen representative Vart lets the group know that efforts to build a starship with a working quantum slipstream drive have failed. The Tholian ambassador points out another strategy for destabilizing the Federation, one that entails helping the Andorians with their reproductive crisis using information that was available to the Federation (but highly classified), pointing out that the Tholian Assembly was willing to help them when the Federation wasnt. They believe that this may cause Andorians to pull out of Starfleet.

Another two-month skip (to October 2382): Captain Ro catches up with Prynn Tenmei on the Defiant. Commander Jeannette Chao is DS9s new chief engineer. Ro then catches up with Quark. While at the bar, they learn of Andors sudden secession from the UFP. President Bacco travels to Cardassia Prime to persuade Castellan Caran that the Cardassian Union should join the UFP, as the Ferengi Alliance has recently done. Breen scientist Trok is working on adapting JemHadar technology to a new slipstream drive. Meanwhile, Kamemor meets with Spock and asks him to deliver a message to President Bacco.

We jump to February-April 2383: The Tzenkethi attacks an unarmed Argelian freighter delivering humanitarian aid through unclaimed space, only to find themselves in a trap set by Captain Picard. Thirty-five Tzenkethi are detained by the Federation. Sisko, who has accepted a new exploratory mission that will see him take the Robinson back into the Gamma Quadrant for six months, spends some time with Rebecca on the Robinson and on DS9 before they meet up with Kasidy. After Rebecca and Kasidy leave, he visits Vaughn in the infirmary and says goodbye to his old friend. Sela meets with Trok: in order to advance the slipstream project, the Breen need the equipment used to manufacture JemHadar deflector and structural integrity systems. We also learn that Sela was the mastermind behind the UP attack, and is operating behind Kamemors back. Meanwhile, the Boslic government hosts a historic meeting involving representatives of both the Federation and the Typhon Pact, and Bacco announces the unilateral, unconditional release of the thirty-five Tzenkethi as a measure of goodwill. Trade agreements are reached. The Ferengi and Breen resolve a long-standing border dispute. And the two rival alliances agree on a double program of cultural exposure through permissible travel in each others space, and a joint mission of exploration.

Next, June 2383: Security Chief Jefferson Blackmer, a transfer to the station from the Perseverance about a year earlier, is inspecting the stations core reactors, when Ro confronts him about his activities. It turns out hes following a lead based on his suspicions of both Sarina Douglas and Ensign Rahendervakell thShant (an Andorian) on the engineering team. Tenmei has a heart-to-heart with Jeannette Chao. Tomalak resigns as proconsul to Kamemor, announcing that hell petition to return to the Imperial Fleet, while secretly planning to join forces with the Tal Shiar. On the Breen vessel Ren Fejin, Breen pursues a plan to acquire Dominion technology.

August 2383: Picard visits with Ro and shares that hes now married to Beverly Crusher, and that they have a son named Ren, whos about to turn two. Spock joins the crew of the Enterprise as it sets out on its twin exploratory venture with the Romulan vessel Eletrix, led by Commander TJul and liaison Tomalak. Tenmei has a candid exchange with Kira, and resolves to have Vaughn transferred to Bajor before unplugging him from life support. The Ren Fejin reaches its Dominion destination of Overne III. The Enterprise explores a carbon planet and finds evidence that the Eletrix may have already sent one of its shuttles down to the planets surface, without disclosing the expedition, which causes Picard to doubt the transparency of his Romulan mission partners.

Sisko, at the end of his six-month mission, visits with the Vahni Vahltupali, and enjoys his latest recorded message from Rebecca and Kasidy. Trok and the Ren Fejin are discovered by the Dominion. The Enterprise receives a distress signal from the Eletrix; Picard wonders if it may be fake, but decides, in the interests of diplomacy, to respond to it as though it were genuine. Ro agrees to visit with Tenmei and others on Bajor at the Vanadwan Monastery to collectively bid Vaughn farewell in a few weeks time. Trok is held by the JemHadar and the shapeshifter Laas. The Enterprise discovers what appear to be the crashed remnants of the Eletrix, with no life signs but enough bio-matter to potentially account for the perished crew.

Sisko, on the Defiant, finds out that they havent received their regular comm packet from the station. The Cardassian Denison Morad, working for the True Way, consorts with an Andorian who acts as a go-between to Chairwoman Sela, and confirms that certain explosives are aboard DS9. The Enterprise has been having trouble communicating with Starfleet. They decide to send the Defiant, also in the Gamma Quadrant, a message to try and ascertain if their communications are being blocked. Sisko receives Picards message and sets a course for the wormhole. TJul takes the JemHadar and the shapeshifter captive, and offers them their freedom in return for the tech they needed from Overne III. DS9, aware of a communications issue, increases its alert status. Chao and thShant take the Rio Grande out to investigate. The Ren Fejin, its mission accomplished, prepares to travel back home with the cloaked Eletrix.

Kira seeks out Kasidy and convinces her to join her for a meal on the Promenade. Blackmer alerts Ro that a bomb has been discovered on the station. Kira enters the Benny Russell Prophet-enabled reality and learns that she must keep Kasidy from boarding the Xhosa, which she does upon returning to the station. In the wake of the discovery of four explosive devices planted in the stations reactor core, Ro orders a mass evacuation. The wormhole opens, and then the Ren Fejin emerges, followed by the Defiant, whose multiphase tachyon scan reveals a cloaked Romulan vesselthe Eletrixwhich begins to exchange fire with the Defiant. The Ren Fejin and a Tzenkethi maurauder become involved in the battle. The bombs start to go off on DS9, which is unable to eject one of its cores. The wormhole opens again, and Sisko on the Robinson witnesses the destruction of the Xhosa, Kasidys ship, followed by the explosion of Ds9.

Behind the lines: This novels opening line, A river of fire flooded the corridor, is echoed by the following chapters first line: Kasidy Yates watched as a seething sea of fire cascaded toward her. This early parallelism is symptomatic, for me, of three of this novels fundamental shortcomings. In the first place, the repetition is cumbersome: the second instance relates to Kasidy watching a newsfeed of the event described in the previous chapter, in effect asking us readers to revisit, in descriptive detail, something weve just gone through. Secondly, the second line is a dramatic cheat: Kasidy isnt in danger from the fire, as the line strongly suggests. Fool me once, David R. George III, and Ill soon be desensitized to your antics. And finally, on a macro-level, the fire imagery stayed with me as a reminder of what this book most sorely lacks: heat, passion, energy.

In terms of storytelling craft, this is a significant step down from Georges Rough Beasts of Empire. Whatever gains had been made in that book in terms of the authors pacing and narrative focus are here undone by his tendency to provide excessive amounts of detail and penchant for trying to make us care about way too many characters at once. Flipping between a multitude of POVsthere are entirely too many crews and associated characters in this bookends up diluting our investment in all of them. Further, each switch tends to be introduced by a lengthy recap of what happened to a given character in his or her previous POV scene; George spends so much time preparing us for what is about to happen that when something does happen, it almost feels like an afterthought. There are some interesting, and worthy, spectacles the author is eager to deliver, but the proportions of the stage are wrong, with nine-tenths crowded by incident and synopsis, and the magic and fireworks squeezed into the remaining, faraway corner.

The amount of detailed referencessometimes paragraphs-long, sometimes filling up pagesto events not only from the previous relaunch novels but from a plethora of episodes is as mystifying as it is frustrating. Here is one relatively mild example:

After an absence of more than six years, Starfleet would finally resume its exploration of the Gamma Quadrant. Since Elias Vaughn and the Defiant crew had completed a three-month journey of discovery on the other side of the wormhole, numerous events had conspired to prevent a return there: the emergence of the Eavoq from subspace on Idran and the relocation of that worlds planetary system to the Gamma Quadrant terminus of the Bajoran wormhole; the arrival of the Ascendants, led by the crazed Iliana Ghemor; the Even Odds disaster; the calamity on Endalla; and ultimately, Starfleets decimation by the Borg. But with the Cardassian Union and the Ferengi Alliance joining the Federation and the Klingon Empire in the Khitomer Accords, the influx of starships and crews to protect the four powers, coupled with Starfleets rebuilding efforts and Cardassias recovery from the Dominion War, freed up resources for an increase in the number of exploratory missions.

If the point of this profusion of callbacks is to allow readers whove not read any prior novels (or ever watched the show?) to jump in here, then it feels completely disingenuous to stop the story at its most explosive development. Also, ending on a cliffhanger that is supposed to derive at least some of its emotional power from a characters basic lack of knowledgewhile Sisko may believe that Kasidy is on the Xhosa, we know that that is not the caseis, to say the least, unfulfilling.

Further, Siskos reaction during his anguish upon thinking Kasidy has died may be psychologically completely understandable, but, as its expressed here, undermines his prior choices: Wanting to take back everything hed done wrong, all the time hed wasted. Hes spent dozens and dozens of pages over the last two books arguing that his choice to step away from Kasidy was in Kasidys best interest, and now all of that becomes wasted time? Is he referring to his absence in the wormhole? Did Sisko believe that by removing himself from Kasidys everyday life shed become immune to danger and accident? Surely hes not that nave.

Another issue that I had with this ending was its clumsy foretelling all the way back in Chapter 8, which, to be clear, is 284 pages before the actual event occurs. This broadcasting of a major plot development sticks out like an Andorian antenna, but it doesnt even wiggle in an interesting manner. It feels like a way to force suspense into a narrative that otherwise lacks pull. Part of the problem has to do with the frequent time jumps. Time and again, we skip ahead by two months, which means even more recaps: Robinson had departed Deep Space 9 more than five months before, were told in Chapter 23, forging a new path for Starfleet through the Gamma Quadrant. The journey had been productive, with the crew making several first contacts and more than a few discoveries along the way, despite also facing numerous dangers. It might have been nice to see some of these. This bit of prose wasnt enough to convince me that Sisko was on his mission aboard the Robinson for six months, or to make me feel the weight of those experiences. I kept being distracted by other developments Id wish wed been shown (like Kira spending time on Cardassia) that were similarly compressed into a couple of lines and happened entirely off-page.

Two other gambits that I imagine were meant to generate tension had the opposite effect and drew me out of the story. One was the withholding of obvious POV info (e.g. when Ro shows up with a phaser to find out what Blackmer is up to in Chapter 16, he all at once knew that somebody else had entered the reactor compartment and stood behind him. He knew it even before he turned and saw a phaser leveled in his direction. Of course hed see it was Ro. Conveniently, were not told this, and then the scene breaks.) The other is plot contrivance channeled by bizarre character choices. An example of this is Sisko deciding to delay his response to the Enterprise for no apparent reason in Chapter 32. Picards message says: Captain Sisko if you receive this message, please reply at once and let us know the status of the Robinson crews communications with Deep Space Nine. I await your reply. Pretty clear-cut and urgent-sounding, right? So youd think Sisko would reply as instructed. But nope. Instead, he begins to record a message, then decides partway through to give the order to take the Robinson to the wormhole, and, as this happens, literally pauses and waits for no reason: He would complete his message to Captain Picard, but first he waited. Seconds passed, perhaps half a minute, then another. Oh, David R. George, how you toy with us

Much of this could be overlooked if we were sufficiently invested in the emotional dynamics of the story. But George here gives in to a bad habit of flatly spelling out his characters emotions, creating flow charts out of words that neatly explain and categorize their various mental states. This happens, for example, when Sisko meets up with Kasidy in Chapter 14, or when Tenmei unloads to Kira in Chapter 20. Unfortunately, these sections often read like authors notes waiting to be converted into fictional narrative.

Dialogue tends to fall into one of two modes: information delivery and melodrama. A prominent example of the latter occurs in the scene in which Kira visits Sisko on Starbase 39-Sierra in Chapter 4. Sisko says angsty things like Kasidy must hate me by now, and later roars the words Im not the Emissary! In Chapter 7, the exchange between Sarina and Bashir showcases the recurring problem of repetition. We can be together, Bashir says, only to emphasize shortly thereafter, Were going to stay together, and in case that wasnt clear, Sarina closes out the scene by saying, as long as were together. The intrusive standalone line in the middle of all thisThe woman of his dreams had arriveddoesnt help. Speaking of word choices that make me actively dislike characters, heres Siskos self-victimizing internal musing, from Chapter 2: Having been forced by circumstances to abandon his wife and young daughter In space, no one can hear your violin.

The books last hundred pages are its best, as the story gathers up some momentum and begins to bring diverse elements together. Seeing the Romulans get the upper hand on the JemHadar and shapeshifter is intriguing. The Enterprises detective work around the Eletrixs staged crash-landing is neat, and couples nicely with the stations efforts to get to the bottom of the communications interference. The evacuation of the station and the closing space battle are massive enough to benefit from the books large cast, which better renders the momentousness of these events.

There are positives earlier on, too. We get some time with Rebecca, who begins to feel like a person rather than an abstract representation of parental responsibility. George captures Bashirs voice well. Amidst the countless continuity threads, I appreciated specific touches, as for instance how the events of Duet proved formative to Kiras arc.

Probably the most pleasing element, and the one I felt lent the book its most effective sense of cohesion, was its thematic exploration of characters deciding to move on. Kasidy accepts Siskos choice to leave her; Prynn comes to terms with disconnecting Vaughn from life support; Ro finally forgives herself for betraying Picard; Spock realizes its time to let his Movement continue without his direct involvement, and so on.

You can see noble storytelling intentions at work here, and many of the criticisms Ive leveled at this book could have been addressed by an assured editorial hand. Cutting out at least a hundred pages of extraneous material, re-sequencing scenes so that theres a smoother chronological progression, and condensing the timeline would have done wonders. There are glimmers of excitement here, set pieces suggestive of an epic and enthralling adventure.

Alas, what we have is a hefty novel whose first three-quarters are consistently torpid. And the whole thing ends as it began, in flames.

Memorable beats: An old Romulan aphorism: A well-fed serpent at home threatens less than a hungry one in the wild.

Kira to Sisko: Since when did you shy away from difficult circumstances? Especially when it involved the welfare of someone you love?

Kira to Kasidy, at a critical moment: There are still people on the station who need our help.

Orb factor:Ambitious scope undone by muddled execution; 4 orbs.

In our next installment: Well be back in this space on Wednesday, August 5th with David R. George IIIs Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night!

Alvaro is a Hugo- and Locus-award finalist who has published some forty stories in professional magazines and anthologies, as well as over a hundred essays, reviews, and interviews. Nag him @AZinosAmaro.

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Reread Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night - tor.com

Star Wars Squadrons Hands-On Preview: Narrow but Deep, Like the Trench Run – IGN Southeast Asia

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

Star Wars Squadrons will be the first game to bear the sobriquet since Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike in 2003, and although EA Motive arent calling it an official revival, it was clear from my four-hour hands-on play session that they arent shying away from embracing Rogue Squadrons corewell, motive: to capture the sheer, unbridled joy of fantasy space combat. This time, from a first-person vantage, with smooth crossplay as a clear priority, and featuring a signature Fleet Battle mode as the star attraction. Open a comms channel and wake your astromech droid, Gold Leader here are our first impressions of Star Wars: Squadrons.

Right out of the star-gate, the good news is that the flying and combat in Squadrons felt solid. If you like trying to shoot at where the other guy is going to be while wiggling your spaceship to shake off the proton torpedo on your tail, youll be in Gammorean Heaven. I played with a mouse and keyboard, but other participants reported a similarly good experience with a controller. The games targeting system is effective and fairly intuitive, and although its been a minute since I got my dogfight on, I found myself immediately flashing back to my Rogue Squadron days. Targeting and strafing a turret on the surface of a Star Destroyer, the chatter between me and my teammates, jumping from one level to the next, the detailed sounds of lasers and explosions I shouldnt actually be able to hear in space it all felt right.

And although I was far from an ace pilot by the end of play, the number of additional systems woven into the combat loop promised a depth that advanced players will certainly appreciate. It was clear to me that with some practice, I could become a much more formidable force for good and/or evil. Developers included power management, optional front and rear shields, customizable ship loadouts, the ability to drift, and a fairly wide variety of guns and gadgets that all provide different tactical options during a match. Though I was a little surprised I couldnt interact with my droid. Perhaps my favorite round was spent behind the stick of a U-Wing support ship, dropping mines and health pickups for my teammates. And although at first I often got nailed by any missile lucky enough to lock onto me, by the end I was evading and dropping counter-measures like a pro.

My session included primarily multiplayer components, but we did get to play through the prologue of the single-player campaign, which was told in a now-familiar style from the dual vantage point of both a New Republic and Empire pilot. I wont spoil any plot details, but Motive promised a full campaign with bespoke missions touring some classic Star Wars locales, and what we got to play definitely whetted my appetite for more.

One of the most notable changes to the feel of a Squadrons game was taking the camera inside the ship. Inhabiting the actual cockpit, which doubles as the player HUD, did add to my immersion, and quickly bonded me with the pilot I had randomly slapped together from about 16 different template options. And although I wasnt granted any Requisition Points, the in-game method of purchasing new weapons and parts for your fighters, I did get to play with a selection of aesthetic improvements to my cockpit that helped flesh out my character. My Empire pilot, for example, has a real thing for Vader. I mean it might be a problem.

But the star of the show, when it comes to multiplayer, is the Fleet Battle, an epic, sweeping match that plays out in multiple phases. My squad of five, along with AI support fighters, competed to keep our sides morale up through kills and streaks, which in turn unlocked the chance to strike at the enemys cruisers, and, ultimately, their flagship. The flagship can be taken down in a number of ways: by strategically disabling various systems, or with a full-force barrage of sheer direct damage. Of course, as the tide of battle shifts, you might be called upon to hurry back and defend your own cruisers, or retreat all the way to your flagship and swap vessels to better serve your teams goals for the phase. The structure was plenty engaging, and I found myself eagerly and easily bouncing from objective to objective, even if I wasnt always entirely clear on why it had just changed. A good soldier doesnt question orders.

Ultimately, Fleet Battle is an admirable attempt to deliciously complicate the idea of a dogfight, but its not the most ambitious version Ive ever encountered. Levels featured well-designed debris to keep them from being simple sky-boxes, and other than getting stuck in an asteroid at one point, I didnt encounter any technical issues. However, of the four fighter-types I could choose between, I didnt find their role in combat to vary drastically. Support ships served their function and bombers indeed carried bombs, but all the ships handled relatively similarly with varying speeds, and the gameplay certainly wasnt as diverse as, say, going from on foot to airborne in Star Wars Battlefront 2. That said, things might have been different had my ships been fully upgraded, with access to a wider variety of parts. In the end, this game is for those who love pure space combat, and want to do an awful lot of it, over and over, until theyre very very good at it. Like a good round of Overwatch or Mario Strikers, I found myself wanting one more bite at the apple, one more chance to prove what Id just learned and hone my technique.

EA Motive is supporting that goal with a strong dedication to crossplay. Theyve lowered the barrier to entry as much as possible, allowing full crossplay and voice chat between consoles, PC, and VR headsets. And although I wasnt allowed to try the game out on my Oculus Quest, I can only imagine VR must take things up a virtual notch. Whether the ships many systems would control quite as easily with the Oculus simple motion controllers, I cant say, but VR is definitely the version of the full game Ill be picking up. Although the game focuses more on pulse-pounding than the awe of space travel, Ill take almost any opportunity to go flying in virtual reality.

Squadrons knows what its about. Its a very focused game, on a path as narrow and thrilling as any Death Star trench. If youre into first-person space combat, I doubt a tighter package will come along this year. And if youre a fan of multiplayer team sports, you could certainly have a lot of fun putting together a squad of fighter pilot friends and taking a run at becoming the scourge of the servers. The developers clearly have a lot of love for the Star Wars universe, as evidenced by the gorgeous, pop-art and propaganda-inspired cutscenes that help set the game apart from a generic Star Wars look. So if you yearn for a return to simpler days, but with a few new monkey wrenches thrown into the works to keep things interesting, Squadrons has a seat waiting for you.

Michael Swaim is IGN's manager of video programming. Talk Star Wars with him on Twitter at @SWAIM_CORP.

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Star Wars Squadrons Hands-On Preview: Narrow but Deep, Like the Trench Run - IGN Southeast Asia

The Lundquist Institute Accepts a $1.75 Million Anonymous Donation to Improve the Quality of Dying – Business Wire

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An anonymous donor has committed $1.75 million to The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation in Torrance, CA to fund a multi-site clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the compound psilocybin in individuals with severe psychological distress associated with a terminal medical illness. The donation will also support education and outreach programs related to the use of psilocybin within the field of palliative care.

This innovative, first-of-its-kind psychedelic study in palliative care will be conducted at several leading medical schools across the United States, including Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. The study will be led by Charles S. Grob, MD, a Lundquist Institute investigator and Professor of Psychiatry and Bio-Behavioral Sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine, and Anthony P. Bossis, PhD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. Both are experts in the use of psychedelic compounds as a palliative treatment model for those suffering with end-of-life existential distress.

The psychedelic treatment model in patients with advanced-cancer reactive anxiety has been shown to be highly efficacious and safe in both pioneer studies conducted in the 1960s and early 1970s, as well as studies conducted in the modern era at Lundquist/Harbor-UCLA, Johns Hopkins and NYU, said Grob.

In their pilot research investigation, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in 2011, Grob and his colleagues were the first to show that administration of psilocybin to terminal cancer patients had dramatic effects in relieving the psychological stress and anxiety caused by impending death. In clinical trials with 80 volunteers at Johns Hopkins University and NYU School of Medicine, Bossis published similar findings in the Journal of Psychopharmacology in 2016. We dont die well in America and have few approaches to relieve end-of-life emotional suffering, said Bossis. Clinical research has demonstrated that psychedelic-generated mystical experience dramatically reduces depression, anxiety, and demoralization in end-of-life existential distress and can improve quality of life and a sense of personal meaning.

Drs. Grob and Bossis, along with the strong support of the Lundquist Institute, have been on the forefront of the movement advancing the scientific investigation of psychedelics as possible treatments for patients who suffer from a variety of negative emotional states and disorders, said Ira Lesser, MD, a Lundquist Institute investigator and Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

The Lundquist Institute continues to attract significant donor support for our work. This study is another example of how our investigators are constantly striving to find solutions to help people in need, said David Meyer, PhD, President and CEO at The Lundquist Institute.

About the Lundquist Institute: Research with reach

The Lundquist Institute, formerly the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed), is an engine of innovation with a global reach and a 68-year reputation of improving and saving lives. With its new medical research building, its state-of-the-art incubator, BioLabs at The Lundquist, existing laboratory and support infrastructure, and a 15-acre tech park in the planning stages, the Lundquist Institute is poised to serve as a hub for the Los Angeles areas burgeoning biotech scene. The research institute has over 100 principal investigators (PhDs, MDs, and MD/PhDs) working on more than 600 research studies, including therapies for numerous orphan diseases, and is responsible for innovations including the first FDA-approved treatment for sickle cell disease in 20 years. Find out more at https://lundquist.org.

The Lundquist Institute Accepts a $1.75 Million Anonymous Donation to Improve the Quality of Dying - Business Wire

Gwyneth Paltrow endorses use of ecstasy in couple’s therapy – Stuff.co.nz

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

In recent years, Gwyneth Paltrow has been in the spotlight regularly - less for her films, and more for the controversial health practices shared by her million-dollar lifestyle brand GOOP.

From encouraging people to "steam their vaginas" to participating in "bee venom therapy", the actress is now exploring the use of the drug "MDMA" in therapy sessions.

Gary Gershoff/Getty Images

Gwyneth Paltrow has been known to endorse unconventional methods of healing and wellness.

In the most recent episode of The Goop Podcast, Paltrow interviews academic Rick Doblin, the director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, about the stimulant drug's role in potentially helping couples resolve their conflict.

Doblin is currently trialling the drug for medicinal use in the United States, including for PTSD.

READ MORE:* Gwyneth Paltrow's 'The Goop Lab' treats fake science like the real thing: Here's why that's dangerous* Catherine Zeta-Jones is coming out with her own Goop-inspired lifestyle brand* What fans really got for $8500 at Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop summit * Gwyneth Paltrow: Chris Martin and I were 'meant to be together'

"There's continuing research underway looking at the potential therapeutic benefits of MDMA," Paltrow says as she introduces her guest.

The Oscar winner claims the drug, a type of ecstasy, can be "life changing" and is "really looking forward to it being legal" so she can have MDMA therapy sessions in the US.

Doblin details the ways MDMA is used in psychology therapy - including aiding symptoms associated with PTSD, alcoholism, eating disorders and tension in relationships.

The pair discuss MDMA therapy's role in navigating how "people store, process, and release memories".

Netflix

"I'm really looking forward to it being legal, because I want to try this out." - Gwyneth Paltrow

"The capacity for healing is going to be a real gift to the world," Doblin says.

Paltrow responds: "I'm really looking forward to it being legal, because I want to try this out."

The actress, who famously 'consciously uncoupled' from Coldplay singer Chris Martin, revealed in her Netflix series The Goop Lab last year she and husband Brad Falchuk had taken MDMA together in Mexico.

The wellbeing enthusiast called the moment a "productive" session, and a "very, very emotional experience."

In a post to the GOOP website, Paltrow claims Doblin "explains the landscape of psychedelic research, how it's changed, and how close we may be to making MDMA-assisted psychotherapy a legal prescription treatment for PTSD."

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Paltrow and husband Brad Falchuck took MDMA together during a trip to Mexico.

The website, which has been regularly under fire for its controversial health claims, includes a disclaimer to readers: "The legal status of psychedelics depends on where you use them.

"In the US, recreational use is illegal. If psychedelics are taken without careful attention to dose, set [mindset], and setting [environment], it's possible for things to go wrong. As always, consult your doctor before beginning any protocol."

Recreational use is also illegal in New Zealand.

GOOP was previously hounded for encouraging the use of "yoni eggs", designed to be inserted into women's vaginas, and was fined US$145,000 for making "unsubstantiated" marketing claims.

The company hired a team of fact checkers following the incident.

Getty Images

Gwyneth Paltrow, Michaela Boehm and Elise Loehnen promoting The Goop Lab television show.

Recently, former GOOP-approved psychiatrist Kelly Brogan claimed there is "potentially no such thing as the coronavirus."

"Could this contagion be a reality for others? Absolutely. It's not for me," she said in a since-deleted video on Facebook.

GOOP distanced itself from Brogan, a spokesperson explaining to the Daily Beast: "We would suggest reaching out to Dr Brogan directly as she didn't make those comments on Goop's platform."

This article originally appeared on 9Honey and is republished with permission.

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Gwyneth Paltrow endorses use of ecstasy in couple's therapy - Stuff.co.nz

More Americans Are Using LSD To Escape Reality – The Fresh Toast

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional, Hunter S. Thompson used to say. They also drop acid, according to a new study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Researchers found that past-year LSD use jumped 56.4% between 2015 and 2018, mainly due to the 2016 presidential election, which caused a fractious split in American politics and culture, as well as the microdosing trend.

LSD is used primarily to escape. And given that the worlds on fire, people might be using it as a therapeutic mechanism, Andrew Yockey, the studys lead author, told Scientific American. Now that COVIDs hit, Id guess that use has probably tripled.

RELATED: Should FDA Fast-Track Psychedelic Treatment Under Coronavirus Pandemic?

Yockeys team utilized data collected by the annual National Survey on Drug use and Health, a nationally representative survey and analyzed responses from more than 168,000 American adults.

Photo by Isi Parente via Unsplash

Millennials and those with college degrees accounted for the most dramatic rises in LSD use. Acid consumption increased 70% among those with a college degree, about 59% for the 26-34 age group, 223% among the 35-49 age group, and 45% for people age 50 and older. Gen Z, however, did not follow this trend. People between the ages 18 to 25 saw a 24% drop in past-year LSD use.

RELATED: Psychedelics Help You Become Emotionally Adaptable, Study Finds

Researchers do believe the 2016 presidential election and current political climate did contribute to these rising trends. Music festivals and microdosing could also contribute to more people using LSD, however, researchers dont expect another drug-fueled counterculture revolution like the 1960s and 70s to happen. Less than 1% of Americans use LSD in a given year, despite the new rising trends.

LSD is a lot less popular today than it was in the late 1960s and 1970s, Joseph Palamar, a drug researcher at NYU Langone Health, told Scientific American. He explained that newer drugs available, like the psychedelic 2C-B, also factored into this national decline, but that LSD is perhaps the most popular psychedelic of all time, and its never going away.

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More Americans Are Using LSD To Escape Reality - The Fresh Toast

Modern in the Making: Post-War Craft and Design in British Columbia – Dexigner

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

Modern in the Making, on view at the Vancouver Art Gallery through January 3, 2021, is the most comprehensive showcase of the mid-century craft and design scene in British Columbia assembled to date, examining ceramics, fashion, furniture, jewelry and textiles that defined West Coast modern living.

Comprising over three hundred works created from 1945 to 1975, this exhibition reveals the multiple ways modernism was interpreted in British Columbia, with the inflection of local histories, materials and knowledge with a recognition of the rich Indigenous cultures that predated the arrival of settler cultures.

"The post-war craft and design period in British Columbia was especially significant because design and craft were activities considered essential for a life of creative pursuit. Modern in the Making: Post-War Craft and Design in British Columbia surveys a period characterized by enormous creativity and innovation that transformed the culture of this region-the reverberations of which continue to be felt today," stated Daina Augaitis, Interim Director at the Vancouver Art Gallery. "Well-crafted objects are currently experiencing a revival, as the handmade has assumed a position of renewed importance in our digital age."

In the three decades following the Second World War, thousands of people immigrated to British Columbia seeking the benefits of its resource-based economy, mild climate, natural amenities and inventive spirit. This optimistic post-war environment fostered the development of exceptional design and craft practices deeply influenced by the tenets of modernism: simplicity, fine craftsmanship and functional design for everyday use.

The exhibition is organized chronologically to document how the aesthetic, material and conceptual approaches to design and craft shifted over three decades of production. The included works reflect the increased demand for a wide range of functional, domestic objects that could complement the new West Coast modern architectural style that had begun to emerge. Highlights include Nuu-chah-nulth weaver Nellie Jacobson's grass buttons and traditional baskets that point to both the ruptures in this region caused by colonial expansion and the importance of Indigenous design in the modernization of British Columbia.

Photo: Ian Lefebvre, Vancouver Art Gallery

more: vanartgallery.bc.ca

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Modern in the Making: Post-War Craft and Design in British Columbia - Dexigner

Battle Creek seeks ways to keep people in their homes as evictions are expected to spike – Concentrate

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

Editor's note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave's On the Ground Battle Creek series and our ongoing COVID-19 coverage. if you have a story of how the community is responding to the pandemic please let us know here.

Eviction filings and hearings in Battle Creek are expected to ramp up with the expiration today (July 23) of a statewide moratorium on evictions.

In advance of this expiration, city staff began working on a plan to address what they were being told would be a wave of evictions that are the result of individuals either losing their jobs or having their hours reduced as their employers try to manage the impact of shutdowns and losses in revenue resulting from COVID-19.

Chris Lussier, Community Development Manager for the City of Battle Creek, says part of the citys plan involves allocating about $729,000 to local organizations already working on stemming the tide of evictions and working with individuals who could lose their homes and those who are already homeless.

Antwoine Davis, a Health Care Advocate with Summit Pointe, often helps people in Battle Creek and Calhoun County deal with housing issues. Here she meets with a woman, a potential client, at the SHARE Center in Battle Creek.Those dollars are part of a $5 billion allocation through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Security (CARES) Act that Congress made to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that HUD is re-distributing to municipalities through its Community Development Block Grant program. Of that $5 billion, $2 billion was earmarked for communities, including Battle Creek.

Our strategy focuses a little bit around homelessness prevention and emergency shelter, but the majority of the funds will be going towards rent assistance, eviction diversion, and case management with housing, Lussier says. Were expecting that one of the largest unmet needs is that were going to have this large wave of evictions or a lot of folks who are not able to pay their rent.

The funds, he says, will help people catch up on their rent or be re-housed if they are evicted.

With the lifting of the moratorium, state officials are estimating a backlog of more than 75,000 eviction filings.

Closer to home, there is a waiting list of just over 227 individuals who are hoping to work with staff at Summit Pointe responsible for assisting those facing possible eviction. Summit Pointe, which will receive $440,000 from the citys CDBG funding to cover assistance for back rent, is designated by the state as Calhoun Countys Housing Assessment Resource Agency, according to Maggie Honaker, an independent consultant who is working with the countys Homeless Coalition to address issues of homelessness.

Honaker says Summit Pointes work includes providing intake assessments, housing case management to help people identify and understand the different options available to them, and managing financial agreements negotiated between landlords and tenants.

Maggie Honaker is working with the countys Homeless Coalition to address issues of homelessness.The eviction moratorium was rescheduled a number of times, Honaker says. It was originally set to expire at the end of June. Each time we got near that deadline we had more folks who were calling to get information because they knew theyd be in a financial situation where they were not going to be able to make lump sum payments.

Alisa Parker says, We dont really know what the backlog is. Parker is the Managing Attorney with Legal Services of South Central Michigan which serves Calhoun, Barry, and Branch counties. That organization also will receive CDBG funds.

When shelter-in-place orders were first put in place, Parker says, our numbers were really low because landlords were not able to file cases. In recent weeks weve seen a slow uptick and we are starting to see some of those cases trickle in now.

Parker says she thinks the majority of cases will be for non-payment of rent. She says she anticipates a huge rush starting mid-August into September when the additional $600 in unemployment people have been receiving is no longer available. Those payments, which are on top of normal unemployment benefits, are scheduled to stop on July 31.

Many individuals have been using that extra $600 to cover rent.

If the jobs arent there, Parker says she anticipates higher than normal numbers of people seeking help to stay in their homes or assistance in finding stable housing situations if they are homeless. Those in subsidized housing will fare better because their Section 8 vouchers will fluctuate to continue supplementing monies they dont have.

Most of our cases are low-income folks who are working and have experienced a reduction in hours, Parker says.

With CDBG funds, Summit Pointe and all of its partner organizations working on issues affecting the homeless will have received a total of $2.7 million in local, state, and federal funding to deal directly with the fallout from COVID-19 on the city and countys most vulnerable populations. This includes individuals who had to be relocated from the Haven of Rest Ministries and S.A.F.E. Place, the countys only domestic violence shelter, to area hotels during the height of the crisis.

Through an Eviction Diversion program operated by Legal Services, Parker says the goal is to get clients engaged with H.A.R.A (Housing Assessment Resource Agency) to develop a plan enabling clients to stay in their homes or be re-housed. Last year, she says her staff served about 248 individuals, households, or families through this program, which received initial funding from the United Way Battle Creek Kalamazoo Region.

We negotiate with landlords to agree to dismiss a case based on conditions involving a certain amount of days to get the judgment against a tenant paid while connecting people to service agencies who could provide resources for back rent, Parker says. This allows people to get their case resolved right then and there. Most of the cases that end up coming to us are resolved 85 to 90 percent of the time with that first appearance.

Legal Services' CDBG allocation is covering the cost of hiring a new attorney focused on handling the agency's eviction cases.

Our selling point is that using the courts is going to take you a while, but if we can get the rent satisfied and our tenants remain housed, lets work together to that end, Parker says. Most landlords arent out there to become property moguls. Theyre aiming to make a modest income out of the housing market. They also have bills to pay. A lot of landlords and property managers want to find ways to work with people.

The citys strategy for allocating the CDBG dollars most effectively is based on input from members of a Joint Operations Committee that was established when state-mandated orders to shelter in place began to take effect. The JOC is made up of city and county leadership and also has subcommittees charged with addressing the needs of the areas most vulnerable residents.

We used the priorities that came out of the Joint Operations Committees response to the COVID-19 crisis to do scans of the needs and based our strategy on that, Lussier says. We looked at a number of different things. The overwhelming need was around housing and sheltering the homeless in Battle Creek.

In late March, the Full Blast recreation center was converted to serve as a shelter for clients of the SHARE Center, a day shelter that also serves meals and offers programming for low-income individuals in various housing situations. That conversion cost about $80,000 that will be covered by CDBG funding, Lussier says.

We can use those funds retroactively, he says. Basically, we were using those dollars for converting the facility before we got the money.

Lussier says he expects to have signed agreements this week with different organizations receiving a portion of the CDBG funds. In addition to Summit Pointe, these include Haven of Rest Ministries, Community Action Agency, S.A.F.E. Place, Legal Services of South Central Michigan, and the citys Parks and Recreation Department.

While working through the grant process, Lussier says he knew that a focus had to be on hard-to-reach communities and those that experience challenges to accessing resources. He says representatives with Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation, a program through the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, have been hired to work with his group to develop an affirmative marketing plan.

We are paying them to assess the populations least likely to apply for assistance, identifying the barriers, and getting them to apply so they can access resources, Lussier says.

We have over 3,000 families, a lot of these families are already in a pretty vulnerable place. Our guess is that were talking about thousands of families who have a need for these resources. Our hope is that well be able to help 600 families just with these CDBG resources. Were not going to be able to help everybody. The need is going to be greater than the demand.

The vast majority of these people are either part of the citys ALICE population or new to that population because of a job loss or other reductions in income, Lussier says. ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed households that earn more than the Federal Poverty Level, but less than the basic cost of living for the county which represents the ALICE Threshold.

The federal poverty guidelines for a family of four in Michigan is $24,600 and the ALICE threshold for a four-person household with an infant and a preschool-age child is $61,000, according to the United Way of the Battle Creek Kalamazoo Region.

Based on the most recent ALICE research, about 46 percent of the countys residents and 50 percent of the citys residents are at or well below the ALICE threshold, according to Honaker.

The homelessness crisis and the anticipated increase in evictions are both very much income-driven and are among the disparities that have surfaced in a big way between those who have means and those who dont, she says.

We have over 8,000 rental units in the city and the number of households that we can support at some level of assistance is going to be about 1,000. Im not sure exactly how many households we can support, Honaker says.

Lussier says he cant predict when the impact of the lifting of the moratorium will be felt. He says he and his staff have been working quickly to determine how the CDBG funding will be allocated.

One piece of anxiety around this for me is that were still ironing things out, he says. I know this will create even more expectation around the resources available and our ability to meet those expectations.

This brings up the need for a much broader conversation that needs to include discussion about housing costs, wage disparities, and the cost of not returning to work, Parker says. Her organizations client base is individuals who fall below 125 percent of the federal poverty level. Many of them are working low-wage jobs that dont cover the cost of basic needs like food, shelter, or clothing for themselves and their families.

Those who are part of the ALICE population arent always able to use the free legal services because they are above that federal poverty level. For them, the loss of a job or decreased work hours will hit them hard, Parker says.

Even if people have jobs and the economy continues to open up, we still dont have a vaccine for COVID-19. Were still anticipating spikes and schools may be online with in-person options, Parker says. But, the reality for most working people is that if you cant bring your kids to work with you, you have no option but to stay home. In a lot of cases thats us every-day, lower-middle-class working people.

Many of these individuals depend on caseworkers with the Department of Health and Human Services to navigate the system and find resources, but Parker says a number of these employees have been furloughed.

We are going to have to figure out a way to maneuver through all of this, she says.

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Battle Creek seeks ways to keep people in their homes as evictions are expected to spike - Concentrate

Elon Musk Shares New Pic of Adorable Son, Gives Update on …

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

Elon Musk took to social media on Monday (July 20) to show off a new photo of his son, X AE A-Xii.

Das baby kann noch keinen lffel benutzen, the SpaceX CEO jokingly captioned the snap of himself cradling the baby in German, which translates to The baby cannot use a spoon yet.

Born on May 4, Musk and girlfriend Grimes originally named their firstborn X A-12. Soon after the birth, the pop star explained via Twitter that X is the unknown variable, the symbol is the elven spelling for A.I. and A-12 represents the classification for the CIA aircraft known as Archangel. However, the couple were eventually forced to reconsider the unique spelling of the babys name in order to comply with California state law.

Last month, Grimes also teamed up with rapper Ashnikko for her first taste of new music since giving birth, releasing the anime-heavy music video for the pairs new single Cry. Her latest album, Miss Anthropocene, was released back in February.

Check 0ut Musks adorable photo with X AE A-Xii below.

‘The Largest Terror Threat Facing the US’ – KNPR

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

"Its undeniable that right-wing extremists are the largest terror threat facing the United States," said Howard Graves, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

As of the mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019, Graves said, right-wing extremists had killed more people on U.S. soil since 1911 than any other ideologicalcohort.

The question of right-wing extremism and its ties to Nevada has come up in the wake ofthe arrest of threeClark County menalleged subscribers of the boogaloo ideology who now face federal charges of plotting to firebomba Black Lives Matter protest in Las Vegas.

Graves told KNPR's State of Nevada the case mirrors onein Oakland, California where two men were also arrested for plotting to use a protest as cover for their own plans.

That is a similar dynamic to what we saw unfolding in Las Vegas where these individuals planned to hijack peaceful protests against police brutality and actually use them to bring about the larger ambition of the boogaloo movement, he said.

The larger boogaloo movement centers around the idea that not only is another civil war imminent but patriots should do what they can to bring it about, Graves said.

Leah Sottile is a freelance reporter, who has been covering extremism - especially in the West - for a number of years.

"The boogaloo is something a lot of people are still learning about," she said.

Sottile has read the grand jury transcript from the case of the Las Vegas men charged in the plot, identified asStephen T. Parshall, Andrew Lynam, and William L. Loomis.

She said their exact plan isn't completely outlined in court documents, but, according to an FBI informant, they wanted to take an action that would speed up their revolution.

According to Sottile, boogaloo believers were drawn to reopen rallies held in the spring. She said it gave them a chance to connect offline and begin talking about how to advance their plans.

When the anti-police brutalityprotests started at the end of May, the extremists saw another chance.

And at the core of the boogaloo ideology is really an anti-law enforcement perspective, she said.

Lynam told the informant they were anarcho-capitalist, which is the idea of eliminating centralized governmentsin favor ofindividual ownership,free markets and private property.

Sottile said she believes the men wanted to cause a disturbance big enough to start a riot, but that most of the protesters on the streets of Las Vegas weren't interested.

Samantha Kutner is an independent researcher and a fellow with the Khalifa Ihler Institute.

She has been studying another right-wing extremist group known as the Proud Boys. The group has asimilar ideology to the boogaloo. She agreed that groups like these use the Black Lives Matter protests with one thing in mind - raising awareness of their own causes.

It is important to understand that racist, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, ethno-nationalists, civic nationalists they dont start caring about Black lives overnight. They see a conflict to exploit so they can surf the Kali Yuga, more or less, she said.

The Kali Yuga is aHindi phrasefor the final dark stage of the world in which it collapses into the apocalypse and is reborn. Some right-wing groups use the phrasesurf the Kali Yuga as a way to refer to the predicted end of the world.

Kutner noted that the Proud Boys and other right-wing groups have lost strength since the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville in 2017 and the New York Ten incident in 2018, which sent two Proud Boy members to jail for an attack on left-wing protesters.

She said they are now using the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests to ramp up recruiting.

Theyre really attempting to increase visibility and thats kind of the connection between how they adopt the boogaloo aesthetic," she said of the Proud Boys,"It is less about how they identify, because their views on Black Lives Matter differ from many self-identified boogaloo boys, but they will adopt the boogaloo aesthetic if it helps them maximize their visibility.

The Proud Boys and boogalooare not, of course, the first anti-federal governmentextremists to emerge from Nevada. That movement goes back to the 1970s and the sagebrush rebellion, which bred current protesters such as theBundysofBunkerville.

Sottile thinks much of the anti-government sentiment in Nevada, and around the West, is tied in some ways to the amount of land the federal government manages.

Sometimes that feels like theyve got their hands in the pockets of the people who are trying to live off the land or even just be a little bit further away from the establishment and the government, she said.

She also points to the alleged safety of nuclear testing in Nevada during the 50s and 60s as a deception that fosteredgeneral distrust of the government.

While it seems as if there are more extremist groups now than in years past, Graves said there is actually an ebb and flow to extremism. He said the sagebrush rebellion cooled off when Ronald Reagan, who seemed to be an ally to the cause, was elected. The same thing happened in the late 90s and early 2000s when militia groups dissipatedwhen George W. Bush was elected.

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'The Largest Terror Threat Facing the US' - KNPR

2 boys saved when caught in falls in French apartment fire – FOX 25/48 – WiProud.com

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Danzig

by: ARNO PEDRAM, Associated Press

In this grab taken from video, a boy hangs from a window as flames engulfed an apartment as onlookers below prepare to catch him, in Grenoble, France, Tuesday, July 21, 2020. A boy and a toddler escaped a blaze at an apartment in the southeastern French city of Grenoble on Tuesday after they jumped into the arms of residents. The two brothers, aged three and 10 years old, were hanging from a window as flames engulfed their home and onlookers below screamed for them to jump down. (AP)

PARIS (AP) Two young brothers were saved from an apartment fire in the southeastern French city of Grenoble when they dropped about 10 meters (33 feet) from a window and were caught by people below.

The two, aged 10 and 3, were unharmed by the fall Tuesday but might have suffered from smoke inhalation, French media reported.

Video of the dramatic rescue showed the younger brother being dropped from at least three stories up as black smoke billowed from the window and flames engulfed an adjacent balcony. As onlookers screamed, the older brother then hung from the window and let himself fall into the arms of those below.

The boys were hospitalized along with 17 residents of the building, the media reports said. Four of the people who caught the boys also were taken to the hospital to check if any bones were fractured when they caught the boys.

Athoumani Walid, a 25-year-old student who suffered a broken wrist from helping catch the children, said he heard screams and went out to investigate after seeing the fire from his nearby apartment and rushed to help along with four or five other people.

We didnt know what to do, Walid told The Associated Press on Wednesday. We wanted to break the door but it wasnt possible.

They then went outside and shouted for the boys to jump into their arms.

Although he initially feared for the boys, when they jumped, fear disappeared, Walid said. What mattered was to catch them, he added.

Walid said he hopes the rescue will change perceptions of the Villeneuve neighborhood, which has a large immigrant population.

We are told its a sensitive neighborhood, Walid said, but yesterday we showed we are here for each other, and we save each other.

Mayor Eric Piolle congratulated residents on the rescue, which he said underscored the citys tradition of solidarity and mutual help.

In May 2018, a young Malian migrant rescued a child dangling from a balcony and was offered French citizenship. Video of the rescue showed 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama climbing up four floors of the apartment building in just seconds to rescue the child, to cheers from onlookers. By the time Parisian emergency services arrived, he had already pulled the child to safety.

Link:

2 boys saved when caught in falls in French apartment fire - FOX 25/48 - WiProud.com

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