Talking Heads drummer sheds light, and "Love," in new memoir – The Oakland Press

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Chris Frantz became a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer with Talking Heads.

But he lets his fingers do the talking in his new memoir "Remain In Love."

Talking Heads drummer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Christ Frantz tells his story in a new memoir, Remain In Love.

"Very few books have been written about Talking Heads and the ones that were written were pretty unsatisfactory to me," the drummer says by phone from the Connecticut home he shares with his wife, Tina Weymouth also his bandmate in Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club. "I don't think they really presented a very accurate image.

"It always turns into, like, the David Byrne show."

Byrne, of course, was the Heads' frontman and visual focus, as well as a successful solo artist, most recently on Broadway with his acclaimed "American Utopia" concert until it was shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. But with "Remain in Love," which publishes Tuesday, Sept. 21, Frantz portrays the band also including keyboardist-guitarist Jerry Harrison as a more equal endeavor that he co-founded with Byrne and Weymouth, all alumni of the Rhode Island School of Design, during 1976 in New York.

The book traces the group's rise through the late 70s punk and New Wave scenes, establishing its own arty style that encompassed diverse influences from World Music and avant garde works, building a catalog of eight eclectic studio albums before a somewhat abrupt end in 1991, reuniting only for its 2002 Rock Hall induction.

"I mean no disrespect to David Byrne," Frantz, 69, insists. "I'm not jealous of him or anything like that. But it was always a more shared experience for Talking Heads. It was a very collaborative effort, always. Yes, David was the frontman, and we chose him to be the frontman, but there was a whole lot that went into the band and a whole lot of effort that went behind the band on the part of other people who rarely get mentioned or credited.

"So for that reason I thought, 'Oh, I can do this (book),' and tell a story that's more complete."

"Remain in Love" is more than just the Talking Heads' story, however. The 384-page book traces Frantz's childhood and upbringing in Kentucky, Virginia and Pennsylvania, as well as the musical adventures of Tom Tom Club and his work producing, with Weymouth, albums for Ziggy Marley and Happy Mondays.

"I also wanted to express my great love for Tina and my belief that she was a very, very significant part of the band and a very important person for music in general," says Frantz, who married Weymouth in 1977; they have two grown sons. "I wanted it to be very personal. I consider myself a very fortunate guy to be able to have done the things I have and experience the things I did going around the world, playing the shows, making movies. It was all very exciting to me, and I wanted to convey that."

Rather than new perspectives, Frantz says writing the book gave him "a deeper understanding" of that life and particularly "what it was like to be Tina Weymouth and David Byrne." Weymouth, he notes, "made a lot of sacrifices along the way, on the personal front," including her playing being the subject of skepticism, sometimes even from within Talking Heads.

"Her playing wasn't steeped in the rockn roll tradition of the blues and Chuck Berry and whatnot," Frantz explains. "It often had a more classical approach, which was pretty unique, and I'm glad she seems to be getting recognized more for that now."

As for Byrne, who legally prevented the other three members from using the band name after its breakup, Frantz acknowledges that "there was a great deal of pressure on David, and maybe it didn't have such a great effect on him. It wasn't easy for him to accept being the 'rock star.' I'm not sure that he ever really wanted that, so I'm sympathetic. I know he wanted to be a star, but I don't know if it's a rock star that he wanted to be."

Frantz and Weymouth have kept Tom Tom Club alive, and the group plans to release a new album, "Live at the Clubhouse," on vinyl for this year's Record Store Day. They're also considering doing another studio album as an "electronic duo, just Tina and me with some drum machines and synthesizers." Meanwhile, Frantz is encouraging Weymouth to write a book of her own, and he has an idea for another book, one focusing on travels with the couple's two beagles.

"One of them has been to France 12 times, so it might be fun. I could describe the people we meet and the great cafs we can go to when we're in Europe, traveling with the dogs," Frantz says. "You know, I'm of a certain age, and the touring business is not so great right now in fact, it couldn't be worse. So I'm thinking that this might be a good way to keep myself busy."

Chris Frantz's memoir "Remain in Love" is one of a number of intriguing music books publishing during the spring and early summer. Among the o

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Talking Heads drummer sheds light, and "Love," in new memoir - The Oakland Press

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Brave New World’ On Peacock, Where A Utopia Gets Turned Upside Down By The Infiltration Of A Savage – Decider

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Brave New World feels like Peacocks attempt to make its own version of Westworld. Its an ambitious show based on a classic sci-fi novel by Aldous Huxley, with two opposite societies coming together and blowing up because of it. But does it give us enough story and characters to care?

Opening Shot: After a description of New London, a utopia where theres no monogamy, no money, family, privacy or history, we see an egg be inseminated. The egg is identified as Beta Minus. Then we see eyes looking into a microscope.

The Gist: Lenina Crowne (Jessica Brown Findlay) is a scientist in New London, and as shes working on an embryo, shes called into the office of Bernard Max (Harry Lloyd). Bernard is concerned that Lenina has been monogamous with a handsome man named Henry Foster (Sen Mitsuji). She thinks shes just been having a lot of sex in a row with one guy, but Bernard reminds her that she acts for the greater public, and the greater public isnt monogamous. He also seems to be fascinated with footage of Lenina and Henry having sex. Shes given a pill that helps alleviate her feelings for Henry, though she still looks at him as they pass each other.

She goes back to work, where she and her friend Frannie (Kylie Bunbury) plan on going to the sex party later that night. Bernard is called to the scene of the death of an Epsilon-level worker. It looks like the worker simply fell off a balcony, but he goes up and sees that his trajectory suggests he jumped. He also sees an Epsilon, CJack60 (Joseph Morgan) hanging around, while the rest of the workers around get pills to help them forget. But he also touched the body and felt something he never did before.

After that discovery, he goes to Wilhelmina Helm Watson (Hannah John-Kamen), a local artist and creator of Feelies pills. She tells Bernard to get out of his own head and stop considering his feelings over the feelings of the public good. He attends the sex party that night, but Lenina notices that he doesnt partake, and confronts him on his seeming hypocrisy.

We then cut to Savageland, a tourist attraction whee people in New London can see people get married and other sinful things. John the Savage (Alden Ehrenreich), who is a propmaster for the wedding show, has been friends with Madysun (Lara Peake), who plays the pregnant bride. He gets upbraided about his prop gun not properly going off. After going to find a CD hes never heard before (which sounds a lot like Radiohead) and goes back to his mother Linda (Demi Moore yes, you read that right), who puts herself on display in the window and likes to get drunk.

He gets kidnapped by a group that has Madyson as a member. The leader of the group wants to form a rebellion against the people running the theme park and the New London visitors who come and lap up all of this fake sin. They have a stash of weapons and drugs, and want Jack to infiltrate the New London fortress and corrupt the society from within.

Back at New London, Bernard is told by his boss (Ed Stoppard) that he needs to go on vacation to Savageland to set his mind straight. And, after Lenina confronts Bernard about his refusal to participate in that orgy, but then they envision a hologram of the two of them having sex, and he admits to her that he feels unsatisfied. This isnt real. Any of it. She says she can help him find himself.

Our Take: Brave New World is an adaptation of Aldous Huxleys 1932 book; its showrunner is David Wiener (Homecoming). The first thought that came to mind as we saw the initial scenes in New London was antiseptic. When you have a society that discourages monogamy or family, and babies are grown in an amorphous storage pod, antiseptic doesnt begin to describe it. We were just put off by the generic clothing and setting, the different rankings of peoples lives using Greek letters, with Alpha and Beta having plus and minus distinctions, and just the entire idea of a society that doesnt have any sense of anything but the general public.

The intrigue in Savageland was a bit more interesting, but equally confounding. Why does the old man at the junk store where Jack finds his CD want Jack to apologize to his mother? What exactly is the goal of the revolution thats recruiting Jack? How will he infiltrate New London? And what in the heck is Demi Moore doing playing what seems to be a relatively small part?

What were anticipating is that Lenina and Bernard will visit Savageland for their vacation and get embroiled in the revolution, with Jack returning with them to infiltrate the antiseptic society in New London. But by the time all of this goes down, will we really care?

Dont get us wrong; the acting is top-notch across the board, but this just feels like one of those shows where the characters will really find minds of their own a la Westworld or itll continue to be antiseptic and dull. Were thinking its going to be the latter.

Sex and Skin: Theres an entire scene that takes place at an orgy party, so yeah, theres a bunch of both.

Sleeper Star: We hope Kylie Bunbury gets more screen time, since we liked her so much in Pitch. And, for the last time, what in blazes is Demi Moore doing in this thing?

Most Pilot-y Line: On the way to the party, Frannie shows Lenina some virtual outfits she wants to use at the party. When she laughs at one, Frannie says, Fuck you, everyone loves sexy cat. Does everyone love it, Frannie?

Our Call: SKIP IT. Brave New World could get better, and the acting is pretty decent. But it just doesnt feel like a show that connects with the viewer strongly enough to keep them interested in the characters or the situation.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesnt kid himself: hes a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

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Stream It Or Skip It: 'Brave New World' On Peacock, Where A Utopia Gets Turned Upside Down By The Infiltration Of A Savage - Decider

The Making of Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton, Olympic-Chasing, Hollywood-Crashing Teen Star – Men’s Health

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JAVON WANNA WALTON rose early to fight his father. It was about a week after his 13th birthday, in late July 2019. As the sun rose over the Chicago skyline, the teenager stood outside on the rooftop of an apartment building, his boxing gloves raised, hitting Dads mitts.

Man, lift your elbow up on the hook! DJ called to his son, as he circled, swinging. Sit down a little bit more on your rear leg! Jab-step harder on your feint!

The duo had traveled to Chicago from their home in rural northeastern Georgia, where they held their usual drills surrounded by 15 acres of farmland with chickens, goats, and dogs running around. In fact, for the last five years, DJ and Javon had spent many weekends traveling together for boxing tournaments so that Javon could gain more practice for the Junior Olympics.

Bryan Meltz

But Javons real dream was much bigger than that, and more publicly stated: In October 2017, hed appeared on The Steve Harvey Show, where hed thrown some rapid-fire punches and then performed a handstand on Harveys desk before dismounting with a flip. Harvey gaped. Six months later, Javon gained more notoriety by appearing in an Under Armour commercial in which he stood alongside Dwayne Johnson. Why be one champ when I wanna be two? he said, before backflipping into a boxing ring.

For the past several years, Javon has been training hard in hopes of appearing in the Paris Olympics in 2024 in not just one sport but two: both boxing and gymnastics. Then Hollywood casting agents became aware of his poise and confidence and began suggesting their own ideas about where his special blend of dedication and charisma could take him.

So this trip was different. Javon and his whole familyincluding his mom, Jessica; older sister Jayla; twin brother Jaden; and younger brother Daelohad arrived in Chicago so that he could film Utopia, Amazons highly anticipated thriller. He plays Grant, a street-smart kid from the projects who finds a mysterious graphic novel called Utopia that seems to hold clues about different real-life conspiracies.

Utopia is the second major television project for Javon, coming after a supporting role on HBOs Euphoria, a darker drama series that began airing about the same time he arrived in Chicago. Over several weeks, with his Instagram account adding tens of thousands of followers weekly, the sports phenom worked out in the morning, went to his film set, and became ever more famous as Euphoria gained attention.

At age 13, Javon now has nearly 260,000 followers on Instagram, plenty of viral stunt clips, his own IMDb page, and seemingly more jobs to juggle than any one person might reasonably manage. Hes entered true child-star territory, which brings with it more questionsabout how to maintain your life balance and sense of identity, especially when its unclear where all your motivation comes from and just who is pushing you to keep succeeding.

But kids dont necessarily think like that. Many seem to believe they can do it all without at least initially recognizing that there are some important losses and gains that come along with ambition. Particularly if youre pushing hard at a young age. Im just worried about doing the things I love, Javon added on a recent day, by which he meant he was just staying focused on his passions rather than any trade-offs.

Watch your hand! DJ called out as Javon accidentally lowered his glove, leaving his chin exposed.

At 6'1", DJ towered more than a foot over his son. Javon was just 4'9"thats short for a seventh grader, especially one who had to punch back at all the bigger kids he faced in the ring. But Javon seemed used to feeling like an underdog, even as his dreams of what he might be when he grew up appeared to grow bigger by the day.

FROM THE moment he could crawl, Javon propelled himself across the floor like a soldier in boot camp. He would thrash his hips and elbows. He attacked the floor. As soon as he could stand, he tried to run. When his mother tried to pick him up, he squirmed away. All by self! he would say. He wanted to do everything solo, so one day DJ looked at his son and said, Hey, Wanna! And Javon looked at his dad and tilted his head, approving his new name. You wanna be grown already, dont you? DJ said, grinning. Well, dont be so quick to grow up.

Bryan Meltz

When Javon was two, he watched Manny Pacquiao dance across the ring in a televised boxing match. No one remembers the opponent. But Javon turned to his dad and said, I wanna do that. So DJa boxing coach who served as vice president of USA Boxing for five years and now owns his own gym, called Onward, in Braselton, Georgiastarted training him.

Theyd watch Olympic fights huddled around the household computer, and Javon told his dad about the Dreamto be on that TV, to compete in the Olympics. At first, he dreamed this above all things.

In kindergarten one day, when Javon was five, his teacher asked the students each to draw a picture: What do you want to be when you grow up? Mrs. Jackson told the class it could be anything. Later, she called in DJ and Jessica for a conference. She showed them the drawing. In 35 years, Ive never had a child draw what he drew, Mrs. Jackson told them.

Javon had drawn himself on a podium wearing Olympic gold medals for boxingand a new sport. After watching his older sister, Jayla, excel at gymnastics, hed decided to try that, too. He became the first kindergartner in the history of the school to make the gymnastics team. But Javon wasnt satisfied with just participating: He had added gymnastics to the growing Dream. He now wanted Olympic golds in both.

Bryan Meltz

And I wouldnt normally say this, Mrs. Jackson told DJ and Jessica that day. But I think he will actually do it.

BY AGE eight, Javon had qualified for the Junior Olympics in boxing. At 11, he became the only kid in Georgia to hold state championship titles in both boxing and gymnastics.

Then the news cameras came, and talk-show hosts started calling, and invitations arrived about various sponsorship deals. By the time he was 12, Javon had competed in national tournaments, dancing across the ring in his red shoes like a miniature Pacquiao. Hed become one of only four American kids his age to be ranked elite in trampoline and tumbling by USA Gymnastics. Hed set himself the target date of 2024 for the Olympics, because hed be 18 by then, the youngest age that boxers are allowed to compete.

After seeing Javon on Steve Harvey, a casting director named Jennifer Venditti reached out to DJ and asked if Javon would consider auditioning for a new HBO show called Euphoria, about suburban teens who face drug abuse, cyberbullying, and sexual pressure. Javon won the role of Ashtray, the tattooed child assistant to a drug dealer. (His first line, spoken to Zendaya, who plays the substance-abusing main character: I thought your ass was dead.)

Courtesy of HBO

The Euphoria experience was supposed to be a one-off. But for Javon, it seems to have triggered another impulse to compete and conquer. Euphoria led to his next role, in Utopia, as a lead this time, and ultimately what looked like a hard choice: His summer acting schedule would conflict with the boxing nationals that June. For the last five years, hed always qualified for nationals, although hed yet to win a title there. Now hed have to miss the competition completely. He simply couldnt do both.

Javon was willing to miss it as long as he and DJ could keep training during filming, so he could be ready for the 2020 qualifier this summer. Before the shooting of Utopia started, theyd visited the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, where he watched the national team train and hit the saunas wearing hoodies. He tried to imagine that one day hed be that strong. Seeing the Dream up close only made him want the Olympics more. I cant wait until that time comes, he said with certainty on a recent day. Paris. Its gonna be lit.

"GOOD JOB today; you worked hard, DJ said after they put their gloves down, the rest of Chicago seemingly still asleep. Lets make sure youre keeping your lead hand a little bit tighter when youre taking your countersteps. And spring back forward with aggressive punches.

I wanna do this next, Javon said, showing DJ his phone and boxer Canelo lvarezs Instagram story. lvarez was working counterstep drills, targeting his lead hand, and finishing with a hook to the body. Man, I wanna do it exactly like him!

DJ sat with Javon now, watching lvarezs Instagram. You know, that comes from years of experience, DJ said, before agreeing to try the new drill.

Bryan Meltz

Javon knew he had to keep training and winning, no matter his other pursuits. Thats because as he grows, he will compete in a new weight class each year. Every year, he has to advance through state competitions and qualify for regionals. If he can win nationals, he could make Team USA and travel internationally, increasing his chances of being selected for the Olympics.

Later that day, the Walton family left the city for the Great Wolf Lodge, a resort an hours drive from downtown Chicago. The lodge had a pool and an arcade and a water park. It was a belated birthday celebration for Javon and Jaden and a weekend escape for the whole family. DJ had called the family Tribe when the kids were young. He and Jessica thought family wasnt a strong enough word.

The Tribe hit the arcade, a sprawling school-gym-sized room with a Ferris wheel and carnival games. Javon quickly found a whacking machine with foam hammers. He looked to his dad, and without saying a word, DJ picked up both hammers, treating them like boxing mitts. Javon punched the hammers as if they were mitts, and the screen flashed the score: 1,000the highest.

Still, on the path to Team USA, losses will be inevitable, especially at the junior level. Fights last for three one-and-a-half-minute roundsjust 270 seconds. With so little time and with points awarded for landing punches, most junior fighters focused on offense and just came out swinging. That style had been Javons weakness. It was the reason he and DJ focused so much on mitt drills: Javon needed to punch more.

Before heading to Chicago, Javon had lost a regional match in Dallas against a brawler from San Antonio. Shorten up! Shorten your overhand! DJ had yelled from the corner. Javon was swinging too wide and missing, his elbow too open. And San Antonio just kept pounding with lots of inside punches and constant advances. DJ had never seen Javon return to the corner so flushed. After his loss, Javon was stoic. Someone had been recording the bout, so all he wanted to do was go home and watch the tape.

Bryan Meltz

Javons style is intentionally more grown-up. He and DJ often work on misdirection and feints. They focus on his footwork. DJ has coached him not to brawl. Javon may suffer occasional defeats now, but hell have the tools to peak in those years that really matter14, 15, 16the ages when the rounds go longer and kids gain muscle and become stronger. The ages when national coaches begin identifying and investing in youth talent. The ages when Olympians are really born.

Javon already sees DJ as more than just his dad. He hopes to go pro one day and have him there in his corner, even if other coaches have to step in at different points along the way. Your coach is, like, everything to you, Javon says later. The bond is unbreakable.

After the arcade, the Tribe went back to the rooms, and Javon climbed into the bottom bunk. The beds had mini blankets, so there Javon lay, 4'9", and somehow too big for his surroundings.

A WEEK after the family trip, Javon returned to the apartment late one day after filming. His mother was in the kitchen. She had just gotten off the phone with Javons kindergarten gymnastics coach. She said she had some bad news.

When Javon was eight, his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Jackson, for whom hed drawn the Olympic picture, was diagnosed with cancer. Shed come to his fights and his training, even during chemotherapy. Javon wrote on his red boxing shoes then, Fighting for Mrs. Jackson. Mrs. Jackson battled cancer for five years, holding on to see her daughter marry and her son graduate from college. But she was bedridden by that summer.

Javon would text and send her video messages while filming. Im not supposed to do this, Mrs. Jackson, but this is me on set! he would say. A month earlier, she had stopped responding.

They brought hospice in, Wanna, Jessica said. She wasnt really able to do much. So thats why she wasnt responding to your texts. There were people taking care of her around the clock. She just closed her eyes and went to sleep. She didn't suffer. She's in a better place. Marie Mauldin Jackson was 62.

Javons face flushed and his eyes began to water, but he just nodded and said, Okay. And then he went back into his room.

He always felt that Mrs. Jackson was the first person outside the family to believe in him, to believe in the Dream. She came to the gym and watched me train, which I really liked, he says. Now she was gone. But not exactly: When Jessica passed her sons room later that night, she saw him in bed on his phone, reading through his teachers texts.

AFTER PRODUCTION wrapped on Utopia, the Tribe moved back home to Georgia. It was early fall. The leaves had browned and Javon seemed happy to go to corn mazes and see his friends again. To ride dirt bikes with Jaden, play Fortnite, and hit Walmart for candy. He went back to school, too, but in a different way than most kids.

Javon takes most of his classes online to make time for more training. He considers that a win-win. Being around people and being able to hang out with themthat little aspect I like, but its not really worth it for how long theyre in school, he says. Its more worth it to be able to get my work done on my time.

Bryan Meltz

On many days, Javon would pick up his gloves and follow DJ once again into the backyard or the ring at Onward. Back at his familys gym, he was surrounded by the large garage doors with GO HARDER! written across the front, looking out onto a row of trees and a road.

On a recent day several months ago, before the coronavirus forced Onward to temporarily close, Javon found himself facing DJ and once again hitting the mitts. At the time, he was thinking about his next Junior Olympic Nationals and an upcoming state competition. No one realized that these would all be canceled due to health concerns over the pandemic.

Instead, Javon was focused on doing morning cardio sessions in the pool, classes, then boxing at night. Hed work with his dad five days a week, with sparring on Saturdays.

DJ circled him. POP! POP! POPOPOP!

DJ remembered when Javon was five and he had taken him to the gym. There were no stairs for him to climb into the ring, and so another coach had picked him up and put him inside. Javon cried because yet again he wanted to do things all by himself.

Dont be so quick to grow up. Be a kid, DJ remembered telling him.

Bryan Meltz

Javon circled his dad now, waiting, reacting. POP! POP! POPOPOP! on the mitts.

As DJ saw it, the training session mimicked one of Javons final fights before he started filming in Chicago, with DJ shouting fewer of his classic directionsCut the ring off!... Stop chasing!... Work behind your jab!and Javon now anticipating them. He noticed that Javons hooks were hitting, his elbows tight.

Javon seemed eager to pick up the pace in the second round, even throwing more. He wasnt gassed when he came back to the corner. I could do this all day! he told his dad during that recent fight.

POP! POP! POPOPOP!

When Nationals were postponed until 2021, Javon knew it would be a long road ahead. There would be more fights and lessons. And potentially more trade-offs as more Hollywood opportunities arose.

POP! POP! POPOPOP!

But on the cusp of his 14th birthday, there are no more matches or meets, and no movies in production to complicate things, so he and his dad still train almost every day. That continuing practice seems to make his unusual life, for him at least, feel somewhat normal. I just get to be a kid right now, he says.

Sometimes the dreams of boys grow too large and seem unrealistic. Or perhaps it is the other way around, and the boy simply outgrows his dreams. For Wanna, both seem impossible. Hes learned to stay patient, and hes grown an inch since last summer. Hes punching harder now, and with more reach.

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The Making of Javon 'Wanna' Walton, Olympic-Chasing, Hollywood-Crashing Teen Star - Men's Health

Peacock: The Best NEW Content on the Streaming Service | CBR – CBR – Comic Book Resources

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The launch of NBCUniversal's new streaming service, Peacock, has users buzzing about its lineup of original content.

NBCUniversal just released around 20,000 hours of content with the launch of its new streaming service, Peacock. Many will be interested in classic shows and movies,includingSaturday Night Live, Saved by the Bell and the Bourne series.

But in addition to those more established players, Peacock is also rolling out originals that are worth a look. So, let's take a look at some of the best new content available on the service.

RELATED:NBCUniversal's Peacock Won't Be Available On Roku, Amazon Fire TV

Brave New World takes place in New London, a future "utopia" where monogamy, family, privacy and money are prohibited. Residents of this city enjoy a life free of greed, superstition, pain and misery thanks to technological and pharmaceutical advances that keep everyone connected and sedated. When things get dull, they can take day trips to the Savage Lands, an amusement park where the attraction is poor people who do not live by New London's rules. This adaptation of Aldous Huxley's classic novel depicts a future that doesn't seem too far off.

This animated adventure series follows 14-year-old Cleopatra, princess of Egypt, as she's teleported to an Egyptian-looking planet 30,000 years in the future where talking cats are in charge. Based on an ancient prophecy, she is fated to save the universe from Octavian, an evil tyrant with tentacles for legs. On the way to fulfilling her destiny, Cleopatra has to go through rigorous training and experience many space adventures, all while dealing with Octavian's attacks. Cleopatra in Space is based on the titular graphic novels by Mike Maihack and is available to Premium subscribers.

RELATED: Peacock's Brave New World Turns a Landmark Novel Into Streamlined Sci-Fi

In Deep with Ryan Lochte goes into his scandal from the 2016 Rio Olympics -- in which Lochte and a group of swimmers falsely reported being robbed by gunmen dressed as police. As a result, USA Swimming suspended him from competitions for 10 months and he lost his sponsorship deals. The Olympic gold medalist, who's now married with children, is making a high-pressure bid to return to Team USA. At just over one hour, this documentary goes deep without boring viewers.

Intelligence stars David Schwimmer as the cocky Jerry Bernstein, an NSA agent who's sent as a liaison to the UK's Government Communications Headquarters. His brazen attempts to take control, earning the contempt of his new cybersecurity colleagues, especially the hard-nosed director Christine Clark (Sylvestra Le Touzel), along the way. Much of the show centers on the dynamic between Jerry and his meek and bumbling assistant, Joseph Harries (Nick Mohammed), as the two get into various mishaps. The first episode of this lighthearted comedy series is free for registered users.

RELATED:The Best Sci-Fi Movies & TV Shows on Peacock

The Capture is a British mini-series thriller that's germane to the current age of conspiracy theories, privacy concerns and deep fakes. British soldier Shaun Emery (Callum Turner) is seen committing an assault on a woman in CCTV footage, but he denies his involvement. As Detective Inspector Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger) investigates his case, she begins to make disturbing discoveries about the way intelligence services manipulate videos that cause her to question the ethics of her work. The Capture also raises interesting concerns about the ubiquity of surveillance.

Psych 2: Lassie Come Home is the second full-length film to be spun off from the discontinued Psych TV series. Over the years, the detective comedy franchise has gained a cult following of "PsychOs." In this eagerly awaited sequel, Shawn Spencer (James Roday Rodriguez), Burton "Gus" Guster (Dul Hill) and Morrissey the dog are looking for the suspect who shot their friend, Police Chief Carlton Lassiter (Timothy Omundson). Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Shawn, his wife Juliet "Jules" O'Hara (Maggie Lawson) is also investigating the case.

RELATED:Psych 2: The Boys Are Back in Lassie Comes Home Trailer

Peacock picked up the second season of this animated adventure series after its debut on Universal Kids. This educational children's show follows Waldo and Wenda who are trainees of Wizard Whitebeard. As members of the WorldWide Wanderer Society, they carry out missions for him to advance toward becoming wizard-level wanderers. Their nemesis, the tricky Odlulu, however, does her best to stymie their progress. Each episode finds the team in different international locations, including the Amazon, Mumbai, Egypt, Madagascar and Norway.

Kamome, named after a boat from a Japanese high school, was originally slated to be shown as part of NBC's coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, postponed the games to 2021. In the meantime, Peacock is streaming this touching documentary about the cities of Crescent City and Rikuzentaka, which formed an unusual bond following the devastating 2011 earthquake in Japan. The tsunami that came in its wake took the Kamome out to sea and it arrived on the shores of California two years later.Residents of Crescent Citythen returned it home in a gesture of goodwill.

KEEP READING:Why Peacock Isn't Available on Roku or Amazon

LOOK: Previews for Every DC Comic Arriving Tuesday, July 21

John Shin is a freelance editor and writer based in Seattle. A graduate of the University of Washington and Rutgers University, he has worked in publishing for over 15 years. His writing has appeared in various newspapers and the book One Word: Contemporary Writers on the Words They Love or Loathe.

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Peacock: The Best NEW Content on the Streaming Service | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

David Mitchell: From SuperValu to Utopia Avenue with the local and the global – Irish Examiner

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David Mitchells local supermarket makes a memorable cameo appearance in his 2014 novel The Bone Clocks, in which the Sheeps Head peninsula in Co Cork has become a Chinese-held outpost in a post-apocalyptic society ravaged by ecological catastrophe and Ratflu. Did Mitchell ever envisage that six years later, he would be standing in the same establishment, stocking up on supplies ahead of a pandemic lockdown?

Mitchell chuckles when I mention the (frankly terrifying) section in The Bone Clocks and its reference to the (fictional) bygone days of the famed Scallys Supervalu in Clonakilty, before oil has run out and food is in short supply.

The week the lockdown was announced, it was in the air that it would be happening. I was doing a bit of shopping at Supervalu and a friend shouted over, This is just like your book I just said, Im sorry, next time Ill write something with a happier ending.

He may have spent a lot of time navigating the darker recesses of his imagination but Mitchell is a funny, modest and engaging interviewee. The British writer moved to Ardfield, near Clonakilty, with his Japanese wife Keiko Yoshida almost 20 years ago, and they have a son and daughter. He is very conscious of the benefits of countryside living during a lockdown.

Lockdown in our corner of the country was relatively sane. It probably didnt have as noticeable or dramatic effect as it would if we had been living in the city. It is almost impolite to other people to complain too much, he says.

Mitchell came on holidays to west Cork in the late 1990s, and its beauty made an indelible impact.

I went to Cape Clear, I was just about young enough to still be a backpackerthe beauty of that place stayed with me. A few years later, we were hoping to find somewhere a little bit cheaper to live than the south coast of England. I came to Ireland town-hunting rather than house-hunting. I got the boat over to Wexford and drove along the south coast, stopping at all the towns and giving it a kind of pipe dream test, could I see myself living there'.

"When I got to Clon, it was a grand soft day. A little voice just said yeah, this is great. I dont really know why. There is something about the place, the peoplemaybe its the tidy town factor. If they can be bothered to hang flower baskets and put flower boxes on window sills, they are probably doing the big things right as well.

That is my falling in love with Clonakilty story, he laughs.

Mitchell has become known as a master of the multi-layered narrative, crafting an intricate and mind-bending meta-verse throughout his books, from his 1999 debut Ghostwritten, through to the acclaimed Cloud Atlas and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet.

It wasnt so much a case of doing a whole tranche of research for this book as much as legitimising activities I was already doing so I could call them research, he says.

Ive been spending more time than Im being honest about going down YouTube rabbit-holes, hunting out clips of Brian Jones doing an interview in 1965 or David Bowie speaking to Jeremy Paxman in 1999. Ive always been interested in our relationship with music.

"I did a virtual event with [singer] David Byrne last night, him in New York and me here. I asked him a near-impossible question to answer: what is music for? He said its a connector.

"And that is what music is for it connects us, either within ourselves, the different parts of our mind, body and psyche, or with other people. Of course, being David Mitchell, he is also fascinated by the relationship between music and time, something on which he has been reflecting on recently.

Ive started going back to my piano teacher after lockdown, and Im working on a piece by Bach. When I sat down to play it, I thought of all the other people who have also played it in the 350 years or whatever since it was composed I felt a strange atemporal connection.

"The piece is older than Charles Fort in Kinsale, and here am I, the latest in this uncountable continuum of people to lift a lid on the piano and to sit down and go okay, its G, A, B minor, D, here we go, boom, boom. It is a sentient life form that doesnt die as long as there are people to play it.

Mitchell has compiled a Spotify playlist to accompany Utopia Avenue, a process which he has clearly enjoyed. He isnt at all offended when I suggest that the level of musical detail in the book will be particularly enjoyed by a certain type of music fan, or rather, anorak.

I would call myself that with pride. Among other things, I hope the book is a safe space for music anoraks to be their true selves, he says.

However, wherever musical fusion or prog rock goes, there is always the shadow of parody, particularly a seminal musical work which comes up via a tangential discussion about early Genesis.

Spinal Tap [spoof musical documentary] certainly haunts any narrative about musicit is always in the room. I had to jettison an earlier draft because it was too close, too spoofy, he says.

The phrase to turn something all the way up to 11 has entered the lexicon, everybody knows what you mean. In some ways, I made the final draft work by running as far as I could in a completely different direction from Spinal Tap.Ive got a drummer who doesnt die in a bizarre gardening accident, he laughs.

For the moment, Mitchell has been working away in his writing hut in his garden.

I am working on a couple of screen-related projects that I have been intending to work on with a couple of friends for quite a few years but it never happened because we were never all free at the same time.

While acknowledging the difficulties faced by the arts because of the coronavirus, Mitchell is optimistic about creative opportunities.

I think the next couple of years will be a bit of an artistic Golden Age. On the one hand, film, theatre and more expensive art forms are in for a rough ride for a while, but I think for art that people are able to do at home or via Zoom, it is a fertile time.

While a significant number of people head down his direction on holidays, this summer Mitchell is hoping to explore more of the country he calls home.

With much of the rest of the country on holiday here, the beaches get a bit busy, which, of course, by British or Japanese standards is not busy at all. It would be nice to get away in August, Ive never properly been to Dingle, and maybe we will explore some places along the Wild Atlantic Way. Inland can be beautiful as well, Kilkenny, is such a beautiful town

And with that, Mitchell is journeying through a mental atlas of Ireland, as he goes on to sing the praises of Waterford and Wexford and thankfully, it all feels a world away from post-apocalyptic visions.

Utopia Avenue, published by Sceptre Books, is out now.

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David Mitchell: From SuperValu to Utopia Avenue with the local and the global - Irish Examiner

Guest column: National turmoil should not make us change the name of Robert E. Lee and John Tyler – Tyler Morning Telegraph

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We are at a crossroads in our country, city and state. The national turmoil that has erupted across our nation has come to our town. There are forces at play that have the sole objective of dividing us along lines of race and economics for the overall objective of forcing a change in our culture to fit some sick and twisted dream of Utopia-Utopia, for those individuals who at the top.

For almost 50 years our city has made great advances in healing the racial divides that plagued our nation since before 1865. From 1972 to approximately 2016 the students at Robert E. Lee High School studied and competed on athletic teams as one and the name of the school was never a point of insult or terror to our students of African American ethnicity. Since 2016 something diabolical and evil has infected the racial harmony that once was Robert E. Lee High School.

What is that diabolical and evil force that has invaded our town and brought with it the new catch phrase of the day systemic racism, an unhinged and vicious individual who hereafter shall be known as Mr. X, who at last count has 18 aliases; along with his associates have attacked our city through his Facebook Pages; Tyler Loop and Hate and Racism in Tyler, Texas.

This groups first objective has been targeted at the elimination of the name of Robert E. Lee High School, which in their opinion is the cornerstone and symbol of racism in Tyler, Texas. Mr. X is a known race baiter, who is covertly infecting his brand of social justice and instigating a propaganda campaign against the city of Tyler, and spreading division between the white and black population of the city. Mr. X and his associates have used various intimidation tactics against individuals, businesses and churches into silencing their voice in support in keeping the name of Robert E. Lee High School. I have personally had to write a message to an associate of Mr. X, (a person who lives in Colorado) to cease and desist in investigating me with the threat of a lawsuit.

This group has deceitfully mischaracterized their petition responses, when in fact the majority of his numbers were inflated utilizing various communication tools through the internet to garnish responses from out of country and out of state. In an informal poll on the KETK Facebook page, the responses to keep the name of REL were 1900 to 910 for renaming the schools. The out-of-country and out-of-state/area responses to the KETK FB opinion poll at 10:30 am yesterday were 275 out of 800. Thirty-five percent of these responses would be invalid. The same holds true for his overwhelming 15,000 petitions on his change.org poll, where in comparison to the Keep the Name petitions were drawn mostly from local residents; as well as current and former students. Our numbers more accurately reflect the will of the people of the city of Tyler.

The list of countries I found in the KETK opinion poll range from Denmark, Canada, Lichtenstein, Belgium, Israel, Germany, Russia , France, Italy, Holland, Ecuador, Nova Scotia, Australia and Abu Dhabi just to name a few. The out-of-state response patterns line up with the usual culprits of left-wing states such as Illinois, California, New York, New Mexico, Maryland, Washington and several more. Please do not be played by these numbers. They DO NOT reflect the wishes of the residents of the city of Tyler, Texas.

If the names of Robert E. Lee and John Tyler are changed, what will be next on the list? Ladies and gentlemen, there will never be an end. There is no negotiation with the likes of these radicals. There will always be something else until the city lies in ashes. This is the way these elements work.

The cost of capitulation is too great. Not only in terms of financial costs, but also in terms of social costs...and political costs. Tyler, Texas has a unique opportunity to draw the line in the sand and tell the Marxist and the anarchist, This far and no further.

Our city and one flagship high school is named after John Tyler, 10th president of the United States, who was a slave owner and the other high school is named after Robert E. Lee who was a reluctant slave owner and did not believe in the institution of slavery and freed his wifes inherited slaves within the confines of his father-in-laws will, which occurred three days before President Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation.

Its important that our youth are educated to think for themselves, develop critical thinking skills and learn that our history is something to be cherished, respected and protected. History is not always pretty and convenient and does not always reflect our 21st century laws, ideals and customs.

All of our youth need to be taught how special it is to be born an American and how lucky and blessed they truly are.

Every day our service men and women who represent every race, creed and religion in our country are fighting and sometimes laying down their lives in order that they may grow up in a free society, but at the current rate of social burn, they may not get to unless they are given the analytical tools to know they are being manipulated and used as props and tools for someone elses political agenda.

American adolescent youths are NOT supposed to be exposed to the Marxist teachings and philosophies of these so called social justice messiahs. American adolescent youth are supposed to be studying, having fun with their friends, playing sportsnot chanting slogans and carrying signs demanding social justice, when in fact they have never lived in a less oppressed, comfortable and technologically advance period in our nations history!

If for once, our educators and civic leaders could resist the knee-jerk reaction to change the names of the high schools based strictly on emotion, political expediency, personal agenda or possibly fear and stand up to these thugs and bullies who have invaded our city, and just say NO, and prove that our city cannot be beat into submission.

Then maybe our city will survive.

David P. Jones is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and a member of the Robert E. Lee High School class of 1982.

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Guest column: National turmoil should not make us change the name of Robert E. Lee and John Tyler - Tyler Morning Telegraph

The origins of simulation: from real life to the video game – Somag News

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Precursors of the genre in arcade rooms (1970-1990) We are in the 70s. We are in the golden age of motor racing and the precursor of the genre of what we know today as simulation.

Its beginnings come back years ago, when the first simulators were used for military purposes to facilitate learning in the field of aviation until later jumping to the general public. The genre, in fact, did not take much longer to arrive in its most playful form. During the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, many titles were available in arcades, even though so many others were also posted on home platforms. It was in 1973 when Space Race landed in the arcades of the time, giving rise to one of the first -ludic- simulators in history under the license of Atari. The title, entirely in black and white, promised to offer a spatial simulation experience where we had to dodge the objects thrown at us by the screen in cooperative mode. After the success of the title we did not take long to see other games based on the simulation of space or asphalt races such as Astro Race, Speed Race or Laguna Racer.

The origins of simulation: from real life to the video gameWith the simulation, it was possible to provide a greater physical sensation of speed, acceleration and perception of the environment something that the motor sector knew how to take advantage of quickly to offer a real experience of something that is not happening. It was undoubtedly a more colorful, realistic and risky experience without exposing its players to the real dangers of the road. The first driving-based playful simulators managed to capture a new audience that begged for more demanding experiences each new season shortly after the success of Space Race in 1973.

In the mid-80s, we can say that the first beginnings of the simulation came with the title Utopia directed by Don Daglow. A simulation concept that multiplied the possibilities of the game, providing a more original perspective until then. Employed by Mattel in 1980, Daglow was part of Intellivisions team of programmers, creating Utopia in 1981: the first title based on simulation from a more complex perspective than previously done. Its title takes as reference an island invented by Sir Thomas Mores eponymous book Utopia published in 1516. On this imaginary island, a society lives in harmony with its government and all inhabitants are freed from poverty, tyranny and from the war.

Don Daglow was inspired by this story to create one of Intellivisions greatest hits. The fact of dealing with the management of a population and a territory was most innovative, since it surprised by offering a rare gameplay at the time. A precursor title to the genre, which was released before Sim City, and which laid the foundations for the concept of modern simulation, from which many other current titles such as Tropic have been inspired.

A year after Utopia, in 1982 Microsofts Flight Simulator title came in stomping. The slogan of the game said: If flying on your IBM PC were more realistic, you would need a license. The team was intended to attract real pilots and those who thought they were aviators from the easy chair. Say that with the game we could simulate A flight may sound exaggerated, although in that sense, the 1982 announcement was true: Flight Simulator was realistic enough and still is to make it as real as a small airplane cabin in inexperienced hands would be. The launch of Flight Simulator was, without a doubt, one of the events that most influenced the market for current simulators, since many of them were based on its successful formula: offering an immersive experience combined with a large dose of entertainment.

Two years after the successful Flight Simulator, another key simulator in its history was Fortune Builder, launched in 1984. Fortune Builder promised a gameplay involved in developing a rural area with various options to manage businesses, factories, stadiums, casinos and camps. The title included multiple difficulty settings that determined factors such as starting capital and the goal set to win. An original bet that gave rise to one of the forerunners of the fnomeno Sim City.

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The origins of simulation: from real life to the video game - Somag News

Why We Need Dystopian Fiction Now More Than Ever – Slate

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A New York City Police Department officer during a protest against police violence, July 15, 2020Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images

On Tuesday, July 21, at 4 p.m. Eastern, P.W. Singer, co-author of the new book Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution, and Veronica Roth, author of the Divergent series and Chosen Ones, will join June Thomas, senior managing producer for Slate podcasts, to discuss the role of speculative fiction in the real world. RSVP here.

It hits you every so often.

When you tug on a face mask to go pick up food for your family.

When you witness the powerless suffer casual violence by a man with a sneer.

When you see riot police surround the Lincoln Memorial and protesters snatched off the streets by masked soldiers in unmarked cars.

And when you realize that it is all being watched by an unblinking eye of A.I. surveillance.

At times, it feels like we are living in a real-world version of dystopia. The strange outcome, though, is that it means we need dystopian fiction now more than ever, to help us sort and even make it through it.

Youd think with everything going on, now would be the last time to escape to a world of darkness. And yet books, including those of awful imagined worlds, are in deep demand.Some of it has been a return to old classics. In a period of disease and lockdowns lasting for weeks, booksellers report the seeming irony that Albert Camus The Plague and Gabriel Garca Mrquezs One Hundred Years of Solitudehave seen renewed demand. And some of it has been escaping into new worlds, as with Divergent author Veronica Roth taking readers into another post-apocalypse with her new novel Chosen Ones. People have even been willing to enter imagined worlds that seem not too far away, such as Lawrence Wrights best-selling pandemic thriller The End of October.

Yet the value of the genre is as much in education as entertainment. It can elucidate dangers, serving the role of warning and even preparation. Think of the recent resonance of Margaret Atwoods 1985 Handmaids Tale and its 2020 sequel The Testaments or the revival of interest in It Cant Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis in 1935. These are finely written works, not as indulgences, but as a pure expression of the idea that to be forewarned is to be forearmed. Even Susan Collins Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, might be interpreted in that light, showing how authoritarian rule can originate through the manipulations of an ambitious striver.

Our personal corner of this dark market is the meld of imagination with research. For our book Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution, we chose the setting of not a far-off imagined world like Panem or Gilead, but Washington, D.C., just around the corner. What happens as Silicon Valleys visions of utopia hits our real, and very divided, country? What plays out in politics, business, and even family life as our economy is rewired by AI and automation? Yet to make our scenario more haunting, we back up everything that happens in it with 27 pages of endnotes.

When the scarier elements from an imagined world come to life in the real one, however, there is no gleeful I told you so. When the novel coronavirus accelerated the more widespread roll out of the robots, remote work, job automation, and AI surveillance projected in our book, we certainly werent happy. All it meant was that all the tough dilemmas that our characters face would come quicker for all of us. What was perhaps most disturbing of the last few weeks, though, were when some of the most dystopian scenes we had painted of a future Washington, D.C., also came true, from our books scene of riot police deployed around the Lincoln Memorial to the militarized fence thrown up around the White House being put exactly where we had it in Burn-In.

Yet what makes dystopian fiction different is that its creators are oddly optimists at heart, as we are. These works are not about prediction, but prevention. The stories warn of just how far things can go if action isnt taken, wrapped in a package that is far more impactful than a white paper or PowerPoint. Indeed, research shows that narrative, the oldest communication technology of all, holds more sway over both the public and policymakers than even the most canonical academic sources. Our minds cant help but connect to the synthetic environment that our fictional heroes and villains experience, living part of our lives through theirs, even if imagined.

Most importantly, though, the dark worlds are only the setting. The stories are really about the agency of the people in them. And that is perhaps the true value of the dystopian fiction. These stories are not about what those characters experience so much as how they act. At the heart of every story of darkness is a story of perseverance.

As we face our own difficult journeys through the reality of 2020, it is perhaps that lesson which is most important of all.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.

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Why We Need Dystopian Fiction Now More Than Ever - Slate

In thrall to the beauteous Valley of Memory: My heart is in Kashmir – City-sentinel

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A rushing river in Kashmir. Photo Provided

Nyla Ali Khan

Editors Note of introduction: Dr. Nyla Ali Khan writes with grace and precision. In a few hundred words, she can help us understand a complex matter concerning a land far away (but close to her heart) or, in works of the heart, bring to the mind snapshots from a time and place foreign to us here in Oklahoma, yet familiar to the heart. Helpful hints for this sweet memoir:

Chinars are also know as Old World Sycamores.

And: Khushwant Singh was a renowed author, lawyer, diplomat, politician and, to be sure, an editor and a journalist of some note. His life spanned the years from British India to the independent nations of todays sub-continent. He was a man of wit and deft sarcasm. The essay of our respected jewel of Kashmir follows:

I pride myself on not letting my emotions get the better of me and on being in control. But the one entity that has me in its firm grip is KASHMIR.

The thought of seeing the majestic mountain peaks, the stately chinars, the lush and blossoming lawns, and trellised fruit trees has always kept me going.

I left Kashmir in 1990 to pursue my Bachelors and Masters in New Delhi.

The thought of the mountains and snow-covered peaks in the blistering heat of Delhi would make me bawl. I felt like a fish out of water away from the beauteous Valley.

My college friends would tease me that my skin was losing its glow and my hair was losing its sheen in the torpid climate. I would eagerly look forward to the exams getting over in April, so I could fly home the very next day. The cool climes of the Valley, and the riot of colors in the gardens would rejuvenate me. That was my utopia.

One year, my father sent a beautiful bouquet of gladioli for me from Kashmir, which was delivered to the college dorms. Every one in the dorms was mesmerized by the flowers from Kashmir, and we were soothed by the aroma of the Valley in the sweltering heat of Delhi.

Kashmir would breathe new life into me and make me feel invincible!

If anyone asks me what the elixir of life is, even today my answer would be Kashmir.

In memory, it embodies the innocence of childhood; the growing pains of adolescence; the follies of youth; and the serenity of adulthood.

Although I am older now, have traveled much and to many lovely places and Kashmir has been mangled by several forces it is still evocative of heaven for me.

I remember when acclaimed writer Khushwant Singh (1915-2014) reviewed my book, Islam, Women, and Violence in Kashmir, he called me and said, You can live wherever you like, but your heart is in Kashmir.

The great writer had great perception from afar: That is so true. My heart is in Kashmir.

Even today, the only entity that has the power to make my heart melt is Kashmir. Like my father, dear Abba, I too am in its thrall.

Note: Nyla Ali Khan is a university professor as well as an author and journalist. Her reflections are often shared in The City Sentinel newspaper in Oklahoma City, and on CapitolBeatOK, an online news service focused primary but not exclusively on the state of Oklahoma.

http://www.CapitolBeatOK.com

On a Lake in Kashmir. Photo Provided

Dr. Nyla Ali Khan, a native of Kashmir, is an educator and scholar based in Oklahoma. Wikipedia Commons. Womens Web.

Map of Kashmir, a distinct region with unique traditions and history which spans across the modern borders of China, Pakistan and India.

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In thrall to the beauteous Valley of Memory: My heart is in Kashmir - City-sentinel

The dreams, the nightmares and the interesting middle ground: why AI should be our collective concern – Innovation Origins

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In a new series in close collaboration with the Dutch AI Coalition, Innovation Origins wants to show the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on our society. How do we, as human beings, keep track of the consequences of this social revolution? Will we ever be able to? Searching for the fears, the opportunities, the dilemmas. Today part 1: how can AI become our collective concern?

Artificial Intelligence is just like soccer: everyone has an opinion on it. As a discipline, it is reserved for a select group of technical experts. But at the same time, it can unleash the sharpest opinions of large groups of laymen. Two principal streams stand out: the utopia that AI is going to solve the worlds major problems (poverty, disease, the energy crisis, etc.) and the fear of a world in which machines will completely control humans. Neither of these scenarios will come true, says AI researcher Rudy van Belkom. He recently completed his 18-month research into the future of AI.

For this series, we also asked random Dutch people about their expectations regarding artificial intelligence. Nightmares and dreams appear to more or less balance each other. The moment that you no longer know whether you are dealing with a human or an AI-bot is widely feared. We were also warned several times that this trend could only lead to a modern dictatorship, because a computer will one day be able to make better and more rational decisions than a human being. But there is also hope, for example, for a future in which AI enables us to live more sustainably.

Van Belkom recognizes the comments, both the optimistic and the pessimistic. The negative people talk about losing control of our lives, the positive hope that AI will solve all diseases and bring about world peace. But thats not what AI can do. Nevertheless, Van Belkom sees value in all those images: After all, in order to determine your goals, you must first agree on what that ideal society would look like. Above all, AI should not be a goal in itself, which it now often is.

Based on the contribution of a series of expert panels, Van Belkom drew up five scenarios for the future with, on the one hand, the total disappearance of AI and, on the other hand, the situation that AI has taken over everything. Both extremes will not come true, but it is all the more interesting to look at the intermediate scenarios. The interesting middle ground is where the relevant ethical questions can be asked, Van Belkom shows. But we shouldnt primarily approach them as scholars, which has been done very often already. Instead, he devised an Ethical Design Game, in which participants are asked to think about tricky themes such as the autonomous car, the doorbell with video recognition or manipulated DNA. These are examples of areas in which AI can play a significant role. Van Belkom expects that the game will help to raise awareness of the different perspectives and can contribute to a more constructive discussion about AI and ethics. This will enable us to narrow the gap between technicians and ethicists.

The only way to fully control AI is not to use it at all. But thats not a realistic option.

Many people who try to look into the future see a world in which machines will eventually be more intelligent than humans. Not everyone, by the way, sees that as an objection; on the contrary. Van Belkom, too, has asked himself how far this non-human intelligence will reach. For now, I dont see a moment for AI to take over my complete job. But that doesnt mean that certain parts of it cant be left to machines. Searching files, clustering data, carrying out analyses, thats all perfectly possible. Interpreting is another story; thats typically a human skill. Because so much of the understanding in our world is implicit, its almost impossible to turn that over to an AI. But whoever might want to conclude that this will save us from an artificial super-intelligent system, has to think twice. Even without a human level of intelligence, the integration of hundreds of small systems automatically leads to something much bigger. We have to take that into account: instead of General AI Gone Bad, youll see Narrow AI Everywhere.

It is high time for a more nuanced vision around AI, Van Belkom says. Only by freeing ourselves from the extremes can we give the conversation real value. The only way to fully control AI is not to use it at all. Thats not a realistic option. That means we will have to accept that there will be disadvantages to it that well never fully control. But hey, thats not only true for AI. Why are we so very strict in our judgment of AI when it comes to this aspect of control when we do accept it in all kinds of other areas? As if we can control the economy. Or our health. Some things just happen. Its no different with AI.

AI is not only about technology. Philosophers, neurologists, biologists, economists: everyone needs to participate in the conversation.

That doesnt mean were entirely on the sidelines as human beings. We can concentrate on the question of how we can teach a system to do what we want it to do. Van Belkom: How do you get a system to behave according to our principles, whatever the circumstances? Solving that puzzle means that we have to involve all disciplines; otherwise, we will indeed no longer understand what is happening under the bonnet of the system. AI is not only about technology. Philosophers, neurologists, biologists, economists: everyone has to participate in the conversation.

The challenge is perhaps not so much to get that conversation going but to give it direction. And not just to involve the specialists mentioned by Van Belkom, but to turn it into a broad dialogue. So that in the future, opinions will also reach beyond the extremes we hear on the street.

Innovation Origins will, with the support of the Dutch AI Coalition, continue to look for this middle ground in the coming period. I hope that using AI can improve our lives by helping with health care, education, quality of life in the city, and a better government that makes policy more effective and efficient, one of the AI optimists assured us. With less waste, less fraud too, he added. As happy as we would be if this would be the outcome, his statement also shows that a little more realism is welcome in the AI-debate.

More about the research Rudy van Belkom conducted (including the ethical design game) can be found at detoekomstvanai.nl.

This article is part of a series in collaboration with the Dutch AI Coalition. The series is meant to stimulate discussion about AI. Responses to this article or ideas for follow-up topics are welcome in the space below. You can also contact the AI Coalition directly: [emailprotected]

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The dreams, the nightmares and the interesting middle ground: why AI should be our collective concern - Innovation Origins

Gold Rush: Ban On TikTok And Other Chinese Apps Is A Big Opportunity For Indian App Developers – News18

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The decision to ban the 59 Chinese apps by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the Indian app, or mobile application developing community an opportunity of their life time. Indigenous competitors to the likes of TikTok, which is on the banned list, could not have bargained for a better utopia. A ban on international heavy weight like TikTok, opens a growing mature market of TikTok users is no less than utopia for the Indian app developers. The TikTok celebrities and their followers are literally getting impatient in their wait for the Indian competitors to provide that international performance and quality that they have got so addicted to, over the years. The competition to gain the space shall be fierce but reaching a Unicorn status will require a new strategy and skill sets.

The situation is analogous to the late 1970s when the leadership banished all foreign automobile makers for selling cars in the Indian market. This gave the Ambassador and Premier Padmini cars a free run to serve the bound Indian market, till the Japan-backed Maruti Suzuki came along in mid-1980s. The two Indian cars altered little only to reach the iconic status with their recognizable shapes being synonymous with other historic monuments of the country. While on the other hand the automobile sector of the world advanced with leaps and bounds to produce a very different breed of cars which not only looked totally different but were much safer, comfortable, and were efficient with petrol consumption, power, cruising speeds and much more. Thus when the 1990s brought back the foreign players the Indian competitors had to shut shop.

In the information technology and software sector, this generation of entrepreneurs can learn from that page in history and utilize all the resources at their disposal supported by the present leadership's political will towards Atmanirbhar Bharat (self sufficient India) and transform themselves into true Unicorn status competitors to the banned apps.

Akin to an athlete who changes a coach or trainer as he/she moves up to compete from the city or state level to the national level and then the Olympics, the Indian app developers might need to re-look their strategy, technology, advisors to move up their game.

Meanwhile, the marooned user base of celebrities, followers and viewers of those 59 banished Chinese apps have international grade expectations, the indigenous app developer community. These users have by now been accustomed to a superior level of user interface (UI) and a new level of user experience (UX), which in the IT lingo is just called UI/UX, along with curation technologies at work behind the scenes.

As the New York Times noted that TikTok's curated content database answers assertively 'what should I post' and with a plenty for 'what should I watch'. An RTI revealed that in response to a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's (MEITY) questionnaire TikTok shared it can remove any content in 3 hours and uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to curate content albeit using data whose procurement was questionable to start with.

This is the level the Indian competitor should operate at, using sophistication while staying clear of the alleged data malpractices of the Chinese apps in terms of collecting user data. Also in legal areas where the Indian framework is still evolving, it would bode the Indian makers well to garner a positive image by adopting and following self regulation practices in line with the enhanced legal frameworks of other developed countries.

Apart from the computer technologies and legal frameworks there are a lot more tangible and intangible strategies deployed by these Chinese apps to reach and maintain their multibillion dollar valuations. For example, it's known that CEO of TikTok maker ByteDance, made it mandatory for all his employees to make and publish their own content on TikTok. And those who could not go past a specific threshold number of followers were made to do push ups in office. From a business strategy perspective though, a bit authoritarian, this strategy does make every individual employee acutely tuned to the TikTok market and totally in sync with each other. Indian competitors will also need such innovative strategies to drive that edge over their competitors.

Expectations from app makers grow so do their demands from the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem. For example, expectations of more advanced entrepreneurial policy support in the form of other tangibles and intangibles above and beyond financial support. And higher expectations from the venture capital community to provide access to experienced advisors, board members etc. who have hands on experience with similar meteoric economic value building in the past. And in return all have an opportunity to cash in on this expected gold rush.

The onus is now squarely upon the community to out perform the other foreigners and fill the void left behind by the Chinese apps. Time and again the country has taken pride in its software prowess and the app gold rush has begun.

About The Author

The writer is a Sloan Fellow from Stanford Graduate School of Business and specializes in creating entrepreneurial ecosystems worldwide. And the former head of business consulting in the Americas for Starburst Accelerator, the world's largest aerospace and defense startup accelerator. He holds a US patent in semiconductors & cybersecurity and focused on research in cellphone technologies at University of California, Irvine. He has also been a panelist for the American SBIR program for almost a decade. He is presently based in India focused on the startup ecosystem after doing the same in the US for almost two decades. Twitter: @anshufellow

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Gold Rush: Ban On TikTok And Other Chinese Apps Is A Big Opportunity For Indian App Developers - News18

The Javed Akhtar interview | If you say you are apol..re, wittingly or unwittingly, accepting the status quo – Firstpost

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Javed Akhtar talks about his Richard Dawkins Award win, the demerits of 'good and bad bigotry', and why there is a difference between 'inheritance' and 'nepotism'.

It wasin Marchlast year that I, along with a few others, first encountered Javed Akhtar's stirring clarion call to writers, imploring them to exert the might of their pens through his new poem,Likh.

"Jo baat kehte darte hain sab, tu woh baat likh Itni andheri thhi na kabhi pehle raat, likh

Jin se qaseede likkhey thhay woh phenk de qalam Phir khoon-e-dil se sachche qalam ki sifaat likh

Jo roznamon mein kahin paati nahin jagah Jo roz har jagah ki hai, woh waardaat likh

Jitne bhi tang daire hain saarey torh de Ab aa khuli fizaon mein ab kainat likh

Jo waqeyaat ho gaye unka to zikr hai Lekin jo hone chaahiye, woh waqeyaat likh

Iss bagh mein jo dekhni hai tujh ko phir bahaar Tu daal-daal de sada, tu paat-paat likh"

The occasion was the 53rd Shankar-Shad Mushaira held annually in Delhi,a much-awaited affair that takesstock of and celebrates the decadent richness of Urdushayari in the subcontinent, with poets from Pakistan also in attendance...exceptthat they were not last year. Amid escalating cross-border tensions with Pakistan, the organisers chose to give their neighbours a miss.

A little over a year later, asnews broke thatAkhtar has been commemorated withthe coveted Richard Dawkins Award for being a public figure whoendorses "the values of secularism, rationalism, upholding scientific truth", I was rather unsurprised to learn that he was the sole Indian recipient of the honour. In that moment, I was transported back to my seat in the audience at the poets' congress,clinging onto eachlafz andiltija in his verses thatbeseeched society to be fearless in their pursuit of truth.

In a telephonic interview withFirstpost,the 75-year-oldpoet and screenwriter who is spending time away from the 'Maximum City's' din at his Khandala homediscussesthe merits of rationalism, the debate on nepotism, and whyhe writes for those who suffer.

What does winning the Richard Dawkins Award mean to you personally, considering you have been on the receiving end of a lot of hate and trolling for the very same views which have been acknowledged by this award.

Ah, you see, this is unique because this is an honour that has been given to me for my thinking, my beliefs or shall I say lack of beliefs and my point-of-view about rationality and religion. It is the first time that I have been awarded such a recognition, so I am very thankful. Remember one thing, if you have views, you will be challenged. Whatever views you have, there will be some people who will disagree with you, while some will totally understand you. I can see that there is a great attempt on Twitter and on other social media platforms todestroymy credibility and reputation as a secularist and rationalist, but that does not matter. It's totally expected. And more often than not, I keep getting hate mails from different communities some Hindu, some Muslim both of them troll me. That's alright, really. It does not matter to me.

We are not alien to the fact that critical thinking spaces are shrinking in India and across the world, and they have largely been divided into various binaries. In such times, for a person of wordslike you, how do you hold on to nuanced dialogue?

I don't think critical thinking is shrinking, but spaces for it yes, maybe.However, there are people who think consistently, rationally, logically, scientifically in a more progressive, liberal and secular manner. Their voices, at the moment, are not heard, andsometimesthey are suppressed. Sometimes they feel that perhaps this is not the time to belouder and clearer than is necessary, because a lot of frenemies and enemies who are powerful can harm them. But, even if the other point of view is silent, or in the closet, it is not non-existent. And I am sure that at the right time, we will feel their presence.

And as for nuance, well, there are certain holds barred if you want to be decent and cultured. You just cannot use any language, or say everything in the crudest manner there is a difference between frankness and crudity and rudeness; let's not confuse the two. I think whatever you want to say, you can say it decently and in a cultured way.

Image courtesy: Javed Akhtar

In a recent interview, you've mentioned that principally, a rationalist should be an atheist. How easy or difficult is it to stand by such statements at a time when one can be persecuted for their beliefs?

It's not just a matter of 'should be'. If you are not an atheist, you are not a rationalist. Rationalists and atheists aren't two different things, as a matter of fact. Rational thinking essentially means not depending on faith, because faith is something which you start believing in without any logic, reason or evidence. On the other hand, rationality meanslooking at things and finding reason, logic, witness and evidence behind them. Only then when you accept something, is when you practise rationality. So it is inherently the opposite of faith.

In any kind of social crisis whether it's the pandemic or the CAA-NRC-NPR in recent times the minorities and the poor arethe ones who are the most oppressed systemically, irrespective of who is in power. However, under the current regime, the communal divides have become visibly more pronounced. What is the emotional and social cost of this crisis? Howdo you, personally,hold on to hope when you know that actively or tacitlyyour friends and colleagues are, perhaps, supporting these disruptive forces?

Even today, when we are complaining about the things that you mentioned, majority of Indians do not approve of the things happening. But the fact is, those people are fragmented into different parties and different groups. Today, the situation is such that it is enough to be in power if one gets 31 or 32 percent votes. This means that almost 67 to 68 percent of the people did not vote for you. But since the opposition is fragmented, it becomes ineffective. That is what is happening. So, I suppose that all those people who think that what is being done is not right, and the ideology that is gradually taking over society and the nation is not the right ideology, they will have to find some common platform and come together.They have to say this in a unified voice, because as long as they are divided, they will remain ineffective like they are today.

This brings me to the question of the 'apolitical artist' a term we hear a lot today, especially in the Hindi film industry. What do you think the term means? Is there any space to appreciate an 'apolitical artist' today?

I think, if you dissect anybody's mind or intelligence, you willknow that nobody is apolitical. But perhaps, it is their expediency thatmakes them look apolitical, and keeps them distant from all controversies, or subjects that can cause any kind of backlash or trouble to them. That is about it. But I don't think in India anybody is totally apolitical. They have their beliefs, their conditions and thoughts; they may or may not express them, but they of course have their ideas.

But when it comes to an artist and their art, can an artist, who claims to be apolitical, also say that their art has to be seen in the same 'apolitical' light, especially during such intensely polarised times?

It is not possible to do that. Artists look around, imbibe, and through some process of osmosis, learn what is happening in society, and then express their comments on the happenings through some form of art like a painting, a film, a play, a story or a novel. All of this is nothing but what is happening around the artist, which the artist styles from his/her point of view, and irrespective of how nuanced their comments may be, they cannot exist in a totally water-tight compartment from the artist; because the artist's point of view, morality, likes and dislikes, terms and conditions will seep into that story, that painting, that poem. So, I don't see how an artist can be totally neutral it is not possible.

As a matter of fact, if the artist is insisting that he/she is totally neutral, then the artist is with the powers at play. Because, in a situation where some people are very strong while some are very weak, if you say you are "neutral", you are obviouslysiding with the ones in power. By not saying anything, or by saying that you are indifferent, youare saying something. If you say you are 'apolitical' or neutral, you are, wittingly or unwittingly, condoning, or at least accepting the status quo. That is also a comment and a political stand.

Image courtesy: Javed Akhtar

You have said that critique cannot be limited to others and other communities, and one has to be critical of themselves and their own communities as well in order to progress...

First of all, you have to look around and set your home right, and accept what is wrong within your own home, society and community, and then talk about others.

...But we've often seen that when peopleadopt such an approach, there are sections that tag them as highbrow 'intellectuals', whose ideas are said to be inaccessible to the common person. What do you have to say about that?

That depends on the way you express yourself. But the fact remains that if somebody, say a Muslim, refuses to see what is wrong within their own community, and starts criticising and lecturing others, that will not be helpful. This is true for a Hindu also. The words of such people will not matter. There are some people certain Hindu names who only criticise Hindu communalism, but don't say a word about Muslim communalism. Similarly, there are also some Muslim names on Twitter, who only criticise Muslim communalism, and don't say anything about Hindu communalists. I think both are wrong. You see, you make a mistake by choosing your good communalism and bad communalism, good bigotry and bad bigotry. There is nothing like that. A bigot is a bigot, whether he/she is from your community or any other community. However, if you want to take a rational and objective stand, youhave to criticise fundamentalism, regressive thoughts, anti-women and anti-other thoughts, or any thought that, directly or indirectly, propagates hate or schism in society. And this is irrespective of whether they are expressed by someone from your community or someone else's. You get the right to criticise another community only if you are just and willing to criticise your own community as well.

While we are on this subject, I remember a statement that you made in a public speech earlier this year,while addressing a crowd in Ghaziabad on the CAA-NRC issue. You said, "Ameer Musalmaan ke paas (identity proof)hai...tum fikar na karo uski. Sirf gareeb Musalmaan ke paas nahi hai, gareeb Hindu ke paas nahi hai, gareeb Dalit ke paas nahi hai. Yeh problem gareeb ka hai. Koi mere bacchon ko thodi nikaalne waala hai? Mere paas paisa hai. Usse tum poochhoge? Usse tum maalum karoge, jiske vote se tum power mein aaye ho?"These aresome powerful words coming from a person who belongs to a fraternity that chooses to remain largely reticent on political matters.

However, being an influential figure from the Muslim community in India, do you think it's fair to alwaysexpect the 'Muslim celebrities' and actors who arguably belong to a persecuted and vulnerable community in the country, even if influential to make statements on communal tensions in India? Should one not expect more celebrities from Hindu and other communities to speak in support of their Muslim counterparts?

You may belong to a vulnerable section, but irrespective of that, you have to give your honest opinion andnot pull any punches. Youhaveto.

You see, what I was trying to say (in the speech) is that some people with vested interests have alwayswanted todivide the society vertically. Their religious communities or religious identities become their only identity. But the fact is that society is not divided vertically itisreally divided horizontally. There are very poor people and there are very rich people, and in between the two, there exists a whole spectrum, which is religion and community-blind. Some people belong to the middle class in every community, some are very poor in every community, there are also the poorest of poor in every community, much like the upper-middle classes in every community. The percentages may be different, but the fact remains that instead of dividing peopleaccording to their religions, if you look at it through the lens of economics and finances, you will know how the society is doing.

Some people don't want to establish that people from every community are in dire conditions. If this happens, the oneswith vested interests will be proven guilty. They would prefer that these situations not come into focus, and instead of that, talk about communities and divide the society in some other way that will help them in not getting exposed.

But this again brings me back to the question of whether you thinkmore people belonging to a visible majority should speak up increasingly for the disenfranchised and persecuted communities...

Actually,communities are not at fault.The average person from any community wants their children to go to a good school, and wants a good hospital for their family, and so on and so forth. People just wish for a decent life, and these are the ambitions they have that's about all. But there are certain segments in every community who are troublemakers. Therefore, we should never accuse an entire community. So we need to differentiate between the community and its Right wing and extreme fringes, which exist everywhere and in every community.

The recent and unfortunate death of Sushant Singh Rajput has, once again, opened up debates on nepotism and privilege in the Hindi film industry. I ask you this question because your children too have successfully ventured into films, even though they have not been charged with nepotism as much as some others from the industry have been. Most 'film families' have responded defensively to these charges. What are your thoughts on this debate?

You see, first of all, one must differentiate between nepotism and inheritance. If you take a big industrialistdealing in major projects, factories, investments, bank balances and properties, when he/she dies or even during his/her life the person will give all of it to his/her children, right? If there is a shopkeeper, that shopkeeper will give his shop to his children, or maybe to his mother, or son, or daughter, or whoever else he wants to give it to. So even in the film industry, if a man wants to give his property to his children, is that nepotism? There is definitely a difference between inheritance and nepotism.

Mr Yash Chopra has made a huge business and a studio. So to whom should he have given his studio? Obviously to his wife and his children. So would you say that the fact that he gave his studio to his children is nepotism? He is a producer, andnow his son wants to become a director. So if he gives him his own money and takes a personal risk for his children, and makes a film for his son who is the director, is it nepotism? How can it be nepotism? Everybody works for their children and theirfollowinggenerations, and strives to give them as many facilities and opportunities as possible. So how do you call this nepotism?

Besides that, if you look at the list of actors in the industry, they are not there because of nepotism. Theymight have one foot in the door because they probably have a parent in the film industry, or perhaps belong to a film family. There was one foot in the door, accepted. But that's about all.

The maximum that you can do for a child is give him a break. Ultimately, you cannot rig the results of your child's efforts. At the end of the day, he or she willbecome successful only if the public has approved and appreciated the person. There is no rigging possible here it is a totally fair election.

You can give them a chance, that is all. There are many people who have been successful, but their children have not found much success. Conversely, there are also successful children whose parents did not do well in the industry. So, you can give both kind of examples. There are also people who came from outside and are doing extremely well, like Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar, who are huge stars today. They do not come from film families; they were complete outsiders who have now made a place for themselves. Look at the heroines Katrina Kaif, Anushka Sharma, Deepika Padukone. They don't come from film families either, but have become huge stars.

When it comes to Alia Bhatt whose father Mahesh Bhatt is a successful director shebecame a star from a film that was produced and directed by someone who is not related to her. So what kind of nepotism is that? She is an extremely talented girl. Alia has become popular not because she is Mahesh's daughter, or because someone gave her a break, she is successful because she is a very fine actor.

There is no 'us' or 'them'.In the rolling credits that are shown in the beginning or at the end of a film, you'll see that every film and itsunit has people from every part of India, belonging to every community, caste, region, language. The sets have people from every segment of society. The producer cannot afford this kind of nepotism. If someone has not made a place for himself or herself, the producer will not back that person or give that person a break; he cannot. Ultimately, it is your talent, your popularity and acceptance by the audience that will sustain you, and not because somebody is backing you. Someone can give you a break, yes.

Youcan say that this person is his/her child, but then their parents at one point were outsiders, who came and worked in the industry, made a place for themselves and were successful. Now today, if they put their money to bet on their children, who are we to raise objections? They are notusingpublic money, or taking government aid to make the film. They are using their own hard-earned money. If they want to use their money for their own children, we cannot object to that, can we?

When it comes tothe media in India, you have been a fierce advocate for a free press in the country. Over the past couple of years, have you noticed any difference in your interactions with journalists?

Well, today I can see that television channels do not have any room for a Barkha Dutt, or Karan Thapar, or Punya Prasun Bajpai, or even a Nidhi Razdan. These are exceptionally well-knownand competent journalists, so I sometimes wonder as to why no channel is interested in choosing them for a programme? I don't know, but I would like to find out more about this.

What do you have to say about how the governments have been handling the coronavirus outbreak across the country?

It is not an ideal situation, and it is very easy to criticise the government.However,the fact remains that there was not much that they could have done anyway, except for maybe announcing the lockdown with a warning four days or a week prior to imposing it. Because, you know, the economically vulnerable sections really suffered due to the short notice given, allowing people only four hours, between 8 pm and 12 am. Indians, whom we now call the 'migrant labourers', were the worst sufferers.

When it comes tohandling the coronavirus outbreak, the medical fraternity and the bureaucracy are trying their best. However, it is out of control in many countries; they are in a no-win situation. If they continue with the lockdown, it will reflect very badly on our economy, whichin any case was not very healthy. And if they relax the lockdown, the coronavirus outbreak will start spiralling. So it's a no-win situation for the government also, and I won't like to criticise them. Imagine yourself in their shoes, what would you have done?

For us to come out wiser from this situation, there should be a greater budget allocated for healthcare in the country, with more hospitals built.There should besome kind of a hospital in every locality that has at least the basic equipment and medicine. Oftentimes, there are hospitals without proper facilities and medication, or even machines that are required today.We will have to prepare for such eventualities and increase healthcare budgets at state and central levels.

So would you say that a situation like this has revealed the cracks in the way the society has been run all these years?

Firstly, this is an extreme situation nobody in the world was prepared for it. Even a country like the USA is totally helpless. Comparatively, we seem a little better. But the fact remains that we could have been, and we should have been, and at least in future we should be more well-equipped to face such a situation. Health has not been prioritised so far; now we have to allocate more national and state budgets to healthcare, and infrastructure should be made much better. You cannot depend completely on private hospitals it is the responsibility of the government, which it cannot shrug off. All the governments have to look into this, so that in the future we are not so unprepared.

Finally, is there anything you have written during the lockdown that you could share with us? Hasyour writing helped you cope with the crisis?

What is more important is, does my poetry help others who are suffering?

Of course, somewhere you appeal to the conscience of the nation and the people who are listening to and reading your poetry, but the situation is more difficult than this. Most of the times I write for those who suffer, expressing his or her feelings through words.

Humsafar, by Javed Akhtar. Image courtesy: Javed Akhtar

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Fellow Traveller(Translated from the Urdu by Rakhshanda Jalil)

Walking barefootOn the scorching-searing roadMelting in the heat of the sunCarrying their bundle of hunger and thirstBoth have set out from the Big CityTo return to their small house in their small villageThe houseThat is far, far beyondThe strength of their feetAnd the resolve in their heartWho knows how far away?

When the gates of the factoryWere shut in their facesWhen the contractorThrew them out of a half-built factoryWho was there to look after them?

There was no hope on any pathThe city was desertedEvery building seemed as though a strangerAll the houses and shopsHad their eyes closedAnd in that cityWhere they had toiled for yearsThese twoWere aliensEven the Houses of all the Gods were lockedOnly a silence echoed all aroundWhere could the beggar go to beg?

Even those loudspeakers were silent nowThat would tell them till yesterdayWho they wereAnd what their true and complete identity wasListen to us, they would say, and understand:They are the sons of BaburAnd you are the son of a MaharanaYour history is different from theirsYour values are different from theirsYour faith is different from theirs

And those loudspeakers too were silent nowThat used to say:They are the worshippers of idolsAnd you are the soldiers of GhazniYou are the steadfast walkers on the true pathYour belief is different from theirsYour hopes are different from theirsEven your destination is different from theirsYour paths, too, are different

All the loudspeakers dispensing such wisdom and knowledgeAre silent nowAnd the two of them can seeTheir path is the sameWalking barefootOn the scorching-searing roadMelting in the heat of the sunCarrying their bundle of hunger and thirstThey have been walking like this for centuriesBoth burning alike from the fire in their bellies

Now, both have realisedThere are only two castes in the world:Rich and poorAll else are lies.

All images via Facebook, except where indicated otherwise

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The Javed Akhtar interview | If you say you are apol..re, wittingly or unwittingly, accepting the status quo - Firstpost

Primacy and infallibility: 150 years after Vatican I – Vatican News

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After lengthy discussions, the dogmas of the Pope's primacy over the universal Church and of the infallibility of the papal magisterium were approved at Vatican Council I. What is the significance of these dogmas of the Church?

By Sergio Centofanti

One hundred fifty years ago, on 18 July 1870, the Constitution Pastor Aeternus, which defined the two dogmas of the primacy of the Pope and papal infallibility, was promulgated.

The Dogmatic Constitution was approved unanimously by the 535 Council Fathers present after long, fierce, and heated discussions, as Paul VI said during a general audience in 1969. He described that day as a dramatic page in the life of the Church, but for all that, no less clear and definitive. Eighty-three Council Fathers did not take part in the vote. The approval of the text came on the last day of the First Vatican Council, which was suspended the following day because of the start of the Franco-Prussian war. Following the capture of Rome by Italian troops on 20 September 1870 which effectively marked the end of the Pontifical States the Council was prorogued sine die.The conflicts that emerged during the Council led to the schism of the so-called Old Catholics.

The two dogmas of Pastor Aeternus were proclaimed after the dogmas concerning the rationality and the supernatural character of the faith contained in Dei Filius, the other Dogmatic Constitution of Vatican I, which was promulgated on 24 April 1870. The text states that God, the beginning and end of all things, may be certainly known by the natural light of human reason, by means of created things (Rom 1:20).

This dogma, as Paul VI explained in the Audience of 1969, recognises that reason, by its own power alone, can reach certain knowledge of the Creator through creatures. The Church thus, in the age of rationalism, defends the value of reason, maintaining, on the one hand, the superiority of revelation and of faith over reason and its capacities; but declaring, on the other, that there can be no opposition between the truth of faith and the truth of reason, God being the source of both.

In the encyclical Fides et ratio, published in 1998, Pope John Paul II affirms, Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truthin a word, to know himselfso that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.

In Pastor Aeternus, Pope Pius IX, before the proclamation of the dogma on primacy, recalls Jesuss prayer to the Father that His disciples might be one: Peter and his successors are the abiding principle and visible foundation of the unity of the Church. He solemnly affirms:

We teach and declare that, according to the Gospel evidence, a primacy of jurisdiction over the whole church of God was immediately and directly promised to the blessed apostle Peter and conferred on him by Christ the Lord. That which our lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of shepherds and great shepherd of the sheep, established in the blessed Apostle Peter, for the continual salvation and permanent benefit of the Church, must of necessity remain for ever, by Christs authority, in the Church which, founded as it is upon a rock, will stand firm until the end of time

"Therefore, whoever succeeds to the Chair of Peter obtains by the institution of Christ himself, the Primacy of Peter over the whole Church Both clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity, both singly and collectively, are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the Church throughout the world. In this way, by unity with the Roman Pontiff in communion and in profession of the same faith, the Church of Christ becomes one flock under one supreme shepherd. This is the teaching of the catholic truth, and no one can depart from it without endangering his faith and salvation.

In the primacy of the Pope, writes Pius IX, the supreme power of teaching is also included. This power was conferred on Peter and his successors for the salvation of all, as the constant tradition of the Church confirms. He continues:

But since in this very age when the salutary effectiveness of the Apostolic office is most especially needed, not a few are to be found who disparage its authority, we judge it absolutely necessary to affirm solemnly the prerogative which the only-begotten Son of God was pleased to attach to the supreme pastoral office.

"Therefore, faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the beginning of the Christian faith, to the glory of God our Saviour, for the exaltation of the Catholic religion and for the salvation of the Christian people, with the approval of the sacred Council, we teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma that when the Roman pontiff speaks ex cathedra, that is, when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church, he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed His Church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals. Therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the Church, irreformable.

Pope John Paul II explained the meaning and limits of infallibility in the General Audience of 24 March 1993:

Infallibilityis not given to the Roman Pontiff as a private person, but inasmuch as he fulfils the office of pastor and teacher of all Christians. He also does not exercise it as having authority in himself and by himself, but by his supreme apostolic authority and by the divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter. Finally, he does not possess it as if he could dispose of it or count on it in every circumstance, but only when he speaks from the chair, and only in a doctrinal field limited to the truths of faith and morals and those closely connected with them (...) the Pope must act as pastor and doctor of all Christians, pronouncing on truths concerning faith and morals, in terms which clearly express his intention to define a certain truth and to demand the definitive adherence to it by all Christians.

"This is what happened, for example, in the definition of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, about which Pius IX affirmed: It is a doctrine revealed by God and must, for this reason, be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful; or also in the definition of the Assumption of Mary Most Holy, when Pius XII said: By the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our authority, we declare and define as divinely revealed dogma... etc. Under these conditions one can speak of extraordinary papal magisterium, whose definitions are irreformable of themselves, not by the consent of the Church (...) The Supreme Pontiffs can exercise this form of magisterium. And this has in fact happened. Many Popes, however, have not exercised it.

The International Theological Commission, in a document entitled The Interpretation of Dogma (published in 1990 when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was head of the institution), explains that infallibility does not mean falling into a fundamental remaining in the truth, since it must be understood in the context of the living and dynamic character of Tradition, as Dei Verbum affirms:

This tradition which comes from the Apostles develop in the Church with the help of the Holy Spirit. For there is a growth in the understanding of the realities and the words which have been handed down. This happens through the contemplation and study made by believers, who treasure these things in their hearts (see Luke, 2:19, 51) through a penetrating understanding of the spiritual realities which they experience, and through the preaching of those who have received through Episcopal succession the sure gift of truth (DV, 8).

John Paul II is thus able to observe, in the General Audience cited above, that the exercise of the Magisterium makes concrete and manifests the contribution of the Roman Pontiff to the development of doctrine in the Church.

Paul VI, in the Audience of 1969, defended the relevance of the First Vatican Council and its connection with its successor, Vatican II: The two Vatican Councils, the First and the Second, are complementary even if they differ greatly for many reasons. So, the attention paid to the prerogatives of the Pope in Vatican I were extended in Vatican II to the whole People of God, with the concepts of collegiality and communion. At the same time, the focus on the unity of the Church, which has Peter as its point of visible reference, is developed in a strong commitment to ecumenical dialogue so much so that John Paul II, in Ut unum sint, was able to launch an appeal to the various Christian communities to find a way of exercising the primacy which, while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation.

And Pope Francis, in Evangelii gaudium, speaks of a conversion of the papacy. He notes that the Second Vatican Council stated that, like the ancient patriarchal Churches, episcopal conferences are in a position to contribute in many and fruitful ways to the concrete realization of the collegial spirit. Yet this desire has not been fully realized, since a juridical status of episcopal conferences which would see them as subjects of specific attributions, including genuine doctrinal authority, has not yet been sufficiently elaborated. Excessive centralization, rather than proving helpful, complicates the Churchs life and her missionary outreach.

And it should be remembered, too, that, according to Vatican II, the infallibility promised to the Church resides also in the body of Bishops, when that body exercises the supreme magisterium with the successor of Peter (Lumen gentium, 25).

Going beyond adherence to dogmas, Pope St Pius X recalled, in an audience in 1912, the necessity of loving the Pope and of obeying him and said he was grieved when this did not happen.

Saint John Bosco encouraged his collaborators and the young boys he helped to always preserve in their hearts three white loves: the Eucharist, Our Lady, and the Pope.

And Benedict XVI, speaking in Krakow on 27 May 2006 with young people who had grown up with John Paul II, explained in simple words what was affirmed in those truths of faith proclaimed long ago in 1870:

Do not be afraid to build your life on the Church and with the Church. You are all proud of the love you have for Peter and for the Church entrusted to him. Do not be fooled by those who want to play Christ against the Church. There is one foundation on which it is worthwhile to build a house. This foundation is Christ. There is only one rock on which it is worthwhile to place everything. This rock is the one to whom Christ said: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church (Mt 16:18).

"Young people, you know well the Rock of our times. Accordingly, do not forget that neither that Peter who is watching our gathering from the window of God the Father, nor this Peter who is now standing in front of you, nor any successive Peter will ever be opposed to you or the building of a lasting house on the rock. Indeed, he will offer his heart and his hands to help you construct a life on Christ and with Christ.

This is a working translation from the Italian original.

Read more here:

Primacy and infallibility: 150 years after Vatican I - Vatican News

BestBitcoinCasino.com gives casinos a voice with new manage functions – Casino Beats

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BestBitcoinCasino.com is aiming to give casinos a voice via the launch of its new Manage Casino function, allowing igaming entities to assign an official casino or affiliate manager on the site.

Commencing immediately, online casinos that have been featured and reviewed in the Bitcoin Casino review section now have the ability to have partial control of their review page on BestBitcoinCasino.

The new Manage Casino feature enables official casino managers to perform certain actions, including updating their casino reviews specifications, interacting with BestBitcoinCasino subscribers in the players review section, submitting press releases and notifying BestBitcoinCasino of announcements.

Weve opened BestBitcoinCasino.com to the management of online casinos with two goals in mind. First is for us to ensure that the casino details on our review pages are accurate and updated, stated Barry Goldwon, manager at BestBitcoinCasino.

Second is for our website to become a venue where casino representatives and players can directly communicate, creating a dynamic environment for all parties.

The site, which asserts a mission of providing players and operators with information and education to develop a safer gambling and betting environment, is enabling casino officials and affiliate managers to be their official representative via its new feature.

To become the official casino manager, officials must create an account with BestBitcoinCasino, and then select the Manage a Casino button on the user dashboard and complete the form.

BestBitcoinCasino.com ensures that all casino reviews remain unbiased and independent, with management guaranteeing that selected individuals will not gain the ability to change the review, ratings, and recommendations given by the team.

The team also implements a strict evaluation process for the casino manager position to protect the reputation and welfare of both the casinos and players.

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BestBitcoinCasino.com gives casinos a voice with new manage functions - Casino Beats

Gaming Contributed 1.56bn to the Economy of Malta – European Gaming Industry News

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The economy of mga received 1.56bn from gaming in 2019, which represents a 9.6% year-on-year growth according to data from the 2019 report of the Malta Gaming Authority AKA the MGA.

According to the report, theres been an ongoing enforcement drive by the MGA, during which it has succeeded in cancelling 14 casino licenses in 2019 alone. Theres also been a 3.9% increase in the number of casino firms and sites in operation on which you can do things like play online blackjack and crowd favourite slots on taking the total number to 294, which is still below what it was in 2017.

A look at the 1.56bn additional profit and the total value of the goods/services that the casino industry produces, minus the total consumed value, placed the gaming sector at the third position in the list of the private sectors that contributed highest to the economy of Malta. It stands just behind the retail, food, and accommodation industry at number one and professional services at number two.

Talking about this, the MGA also proposed that gaming also helps in the generation of added value through other ancillary and affiliate services to other main sectors like the real estate, distributive trades, catering services and hospitality, ICT activities, financial sector and professional services sector.

In 2019, the gaming industry provided up to 7,417 jobs, which is a 9.2% year-on-year increase. Out of the total number of jobs mentioned above, the online gaming industry had 6,593. Now, the MGA did not announce the total gaming revenue for the industry, but it went ahead to announce the revenues gained by different types of games.

The first set is made up of the player versus house casino games, and this accounts for more than 56% of the total revenue, against the 55.4% of the previous year. In this category, the games that took the centre stage were slots, and they accounted for more than 74.4% of the revenue made by this category. The table games stood at a distant 21.5%.

The second category is made up of sports betting, and this raked in 36.3% of the total revenue, signalling a drop in the 39.0% that it generated the year before. The most prevalent game in this sector is the game of football, which brought in 76.4% of the total revenue, while the contribution by tennis stood at 7.7%, and basketball contributed 5.9%.

For the third category, we have player versus player, games and this raked in 7.7% of the total revenue. Poker contributed 81.9% to this, and betting exchanges brought in 10.3%.

The body also has another category of games that it gives licenses for, and this type 4 license is given for controlled skill games. But because the revenue that came through this was very minimal in the scheme of things, it wasnt added.

There was also a 12.7% growth in the number of active player profiles in online casinos operating with a license from Malta, with the number standing at 20.4m at the moment.

14 casinos were cancelled while the MGA was enforcing its regulations in 2019. This is an increase from the 8 that were cancelled in 2018 and 3 that received the same treatment in 2017. Also, the regulatory body sent 11 licensed casinos into suspension, the same number they did in 2018.

They placed great emphasis on ensuring that the increase in enforcement and compliance they are embarking on reflects its structure and governance. According to the chief executive of the MGA, Heathcliff Faruggia, they committed more money to compliance, to ensure that the risk-based approach to enforcement and regulation is implemented.

There was an increase in the total number of companies operating with licenses in Malta as well, going from 283 in 2018 to 294 in 2019. But this is still not up to what was the case in 2017 when they had 296 companies. There was also an increase in the total number of active licenses from 286 to 298.

They issued new licenses to 53 out of 89 applicants. This is below the 93 that were handed licenses in 2018, and the explanation given by MGA about this is that it was because of the alterations they made in their licensing system from August 2018. The new provision holds that there wouldnt be any need for new licenses for operators who already possess the critical gaming supply or gaming service license when they want to start offering products that are captured by a different class of license.

The MGA also delved into ad hoc responsible gambling audits in 2019.

For Faruggia, through these audits, the firm has been able to ensure that the lawful safeguards that each license enforces are effective and that they keep relaying information to the authority on how best to protect the vulnerable in the sector.

In 2019, the regulator gained 81.7m, which is an 8.6% increase. Most of the funds were from levies and compliance contributions, and it had an 8.1% increase. Also, 8.1m was made in license fees, which is a 16.1% growth, while fees for license application brought in 477,605 revenue, which is a 16.6% growth. The other sources capped this up with 817,276, which is a 14.9% drop.

When it comes to expenses, the MGA spent 13.2m with staff costs totalling 7.2m, while depreciation and amortization, plus general and administrative costs stood at 1.2m.

In order to be ready for the future, the MGA did a survey of the licenses in April 2020, to study the impact of the current health crisis on the gaming sector. From a poll conducted for 151 B2C operators, there would be a drop of 12% in gaming revenue in 2020, and this is because of the drop in sports betting revenue. The revenue is predicted to experience a 40% decline. Also, 64 B2Bs were surveyed, and they also pointed to an expected 20% decline in revenue.

According to Faruggia, there has been an increased emphasis on the need to protect vulnerable players, especially now that our daily lives and finances have been heavily disrupted, and many are in the dark about their financial future. But then, the industry is also experiencing huge pressure through operational costs, and they have to consider this in line with the new reality.

The body is making efforts to ensure that operators with licenses adhere to the guidelines, while those without licenses, who are out there to make illegal money and put the public in danger are stopped.

Related

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Gaming Contributed 1.56bn to the Economy of Malta - European Gaming Industry News

LeGrand Casino in North Macedonia Teams up with Gaming Innovation Group – Latest Casino Bonuses

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North Macedonias leading leisure group, K.A.K. Skopje Ltd, has announced a new agreement with Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) allowing it to launch their digital products in the countrys regulated market.

This package includes GiGs platform, front end development and managed media services, since the states largest hospitality, tourism and services company offers both slots and table games at two prestigious land-based venues LeGrand Casino Skopje and LeGrand Casino Bitola.

K.A.K. leisure enterprise is also the official owner of Hotel Epinal in Bitola and hotels Sport, Bistra and Lodge in Mavrovo Ski Resort.

Thanks to North Macedonias recent changes regarding its iGaming market, the government is now allowing land-based operators to apply for online licenses. However, to launch their products in this sector, service providers will have to set up the exact reflection of their offline offerings.

By signing an exclusive deal with GiG at LeGrand casinos, K.A.K. will soon become one of the few operators in the country to provide table games online. As already mentioned, the package will include not only GiGs casino platform, but media services, enabling the operator to capitalize on its digital transformation from land-based to online gaming.

This agreement will be based on a combined fixed fee and revenue share structure. It is expected to be officially inaugurated in August 2020, while the casino offering should go live by Q1, 2020. Heres what chief executive officer of K.A.K. DOO Skopje, Ognjan Cigovski said about the landmark deal with GiG:

Gaming Innovation Group is known in the iGaming industry as a reliable and trustful company with a history of success working with land based operators like ourselves. We are pleased to have them supporting our digital transformation and online player acquisition strategy as we expand into the newly regulating online market. We believe that by joining our efforts we can translate the feel and look of our LeGrand casinos into an online offering that both caters for our current players as well as attracts new ones. We are looking forward to a long lasting and mutually beneficial partnership.

The international internet gaming company is headquartered in Malta. It is recognized for excellence in providing a cloud-based online gaming platform GiG Core, formerly known as iGaming Cloud. Opening up to new iGaming markets and making it fair and fun for all is among the main priorities of the group, including its commitment to creating the best player experiences in the world. Richard Brown, chief executive officer of GiG positively comments about the companys latest agreement and says:

North Macedonia has a long history in the landbased casino segment, and is a major casino tourist destination in the region. Partnering with a leading brand, hospitality and entertainment group in the region is an exciting opportunity for GiG and we look forward to helping replicate LeGrand Casinos retail success online as the market regulates.

In recent weeks, Gaming Innovation Group has also signed an agreement with Checkmarx to strengthen application security. On July 1st, the operator secured a sports betting license in Colorado through a partnership with an affiliate site WSN.

Source:

Gaming Innovation Group signs with LeGrand Casino in North Macedonia, gig.com, July 17th, 2020.

Link:

LeGrand Casino in North Macedonia Teams up with Gaming Innovation Group - Latest Casino Bonuses

Kmele Foster on Why He Opposes Cancel Culture and the Anti-Capitalist Side of Black Lives Matter – Reason

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Every week brings more people being censured, fired, or pushed to resign for some alleged instance of racism or sexism. Last week Harper'spublished a controversial letter signed by more than 150 people, including Salman Rusdie, J.K. Rowling, and Noam Chomsky, that warned "the free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted."

One of the signatories of that letter was Kmele Foster, the co-founder of Freethink, a media company that showcases social and technological innovations; a co-host of the Fifth Column podcast; and an outspoken libertarian critic of Black Lives Matter, cancel culture, and political orthodoxy.

In this wide-ranging interview, Foster explains why he signed the Harper's letter, why he thinks that racism is not the primary factor for most African Americans' success or failure, and why libertarians need to be pushing individualism now more than ever.

Produced by Ian Keyser. Intro by John Osterhoudt.

Photo Credit: Kmele Foster, Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons; James Bennet, Kris Tripplaar/Sipa USA/Newscom; Curator, Drew Altizer/Sipa USA/Newscom; Bari Weiss, Alberto E. Tamargo/Sipa USA/Newscom; Foster and Stossel, Gage Skidmore

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Kmele Foster on Why He Opposes Cancel Culture and the Anti-Capitalist Side of Black Lives Matter - Reason

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Is Suing Atlanta’s Mayor Over the City’s Mask Mandate. Good. – Reason

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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has filed a lawsuit against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and members of Atlanta's City Council. The suit aims to prevent the city from enforcing mask requirements or rolling back the state's reopening phases.

The lawsuit comes just a day after the Republican governor issued an executive order suspending local governments' face covering requirements, a policy some 15 localities had adopted. The governor's own COVID-19 executive orders have recommended, but do not require, masks to be worn.

"This lawsuit is on behalf of the Atlanta business owners and their hardworking employees who are struggling to survive during these difficult times," tweeted Kemp. "These men and women are doing their very best to put food on the table for their families while local elected officials shutter businesses and undermine economic growth."

"3,104 Georgians have died and I and my family are amongst the [106,000] who have tested positive for COVID-19," Bottoms shot back. (The Democratic mayor announced last week that she had tested positive for the coronavirus.) "A better use of tax payer money would be to expand testing and contact tracing."

In addition to targeting the mask mandate, Kemp's lawsuit accuses Bottoms of telling the Atlanta Police Department not to enforce the state's ban on gatherings of more than 50 people.

The governor's attempts to curtail a locality's authority sparked a wave of national criticism from liberalsas well as from Congress' only Libertarian congressman, Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan.

Kemp's emergency COVID-19 orders include a prohibition on local governments issuing rules that are inconsistent with the ones coming from state authorities. His latest July 15 executive order also explicitly suspends any face mandates "to the extent they are more restrictive" than the governor's order.

Bottoms' most recent mask mandateAtlanta law sunsets emergency orders every 72 hours, requiring them to be reissuedacknowledges this suspension. But the order argues that only a prohibition on wearing masks should be considered "more restrictive." The city's requirement to wear a mask, Bottoms' order asserts, isn't in fact a restriction on mask-wearing and therefore doesn't conflict with the governor's order.

This logic is a little wacky. A requirement to wear a mask in public entails a prohibition on not wearing a mask. That prohibition is clearly more restrictive than Kemp's voluntary guidance. As a matter of law, Kemp has the better argument.

That said, Kemp is clearly playing politics as well. The fact that he is suing to stop Atlanta's mandate, but not those of the other 14 Georgia cities with similar requirements, suggests this lawsuit is more about a political rivalry between the state's Republican governor and the Democratic mayor of its largest city than anything else.

At the same time, Bottoms appears happy to exacerbate this conflict by renewing her city's mask mandate in the face of an explicit state prohibition of these policies, and by using some really tortured reasoning to justify her action.

Other mayors are muddying things further by trying to make the issue about the wisdom of wearing a mask, not whether local governments have the power to require them. See, for instance, this tweet from Savannah Mayor Van Johnson:

Of course, masks would still be available. The question is whether people will be forced to wear them.

What is a libertarian to make of all this?

There is a conceivable libertarian argument for masking requirements, on the grounds that they do more to prevent the wearer from infecting other people than from being infected themselves. Under this view, an unmasked person could be considered a walking nuisance whose behavior is the legitimate subject of regulation. But whether or not you accept this argument,these mask mandates apply to people regardless of whether they are infected and, thus, regardless of whether they pose a risk to others.

Other libertarians, such as Amash, might think that state governments should leave it to localities to come up with their own response to COVID-19. The severity of the pandemic can vary wildly within states, meaning a policy that's necessary for one city is inappropriate in another. Kemp's efforts to combat the pandemic, while being much less restrictive than other governors', have been among the most centralized.

Still, there's nothing inherently unlibertarian about state governments preempting unjust or unwise local laws. Few libertarians object to state prohibitions on local income taxes or rent control ordinances, for instance.

People should also be mindful of the fact that mask mandates come with serious punishments attached. Savannah's mask requirement comes with a $500 fine (although Johnson did tell the Associated Press that violators would be offered a free face covering first). Atlanta's laws make it a misdemeanor to violate the mayor's emergency orders, meaning someone could potentially be hit with a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail for not wearing a mask in public.

We, as a country, just witnessed two months of protests predicated on the idea that police are often unnecessarily punitive and violent when enforcing the law. That would include the Atlanta Police Department, whose officers have recently been involved in a number of high-profile, highly controversial uses of force. This very same police department that would be expected to enforce the city's masking requirement.

Meanwhile, private partiesincluding such major retailers as Walmart, Target, Starbucks, and CVSare requiring customers to wear masks. This will help keep shoppers safe without the threat of fines and jail time.

Kemp's lawsuit is obviously politically motivated. But the governor seems to have both liberty and the law on his side.

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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Is Suing Atlanta's Mayor Over the City's Mask Mandate. Good. - Reason

Podcast Ep. 331: The Science is Not on Trump’s Side – Friendly Atheist – Patheos

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In our latest podcast, Jessica and I discussed the past week in politics and atheism.

We talked about:

Be sure to check out the Being Reasonable podcast if you enjoy street epistemology!

Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany wrongly thinks science supports reopening schools. (1:16)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is promoting Christian Nationalism in a new document. (8:07)

The White House held secret phone calls with evangelical leaders urging them to apply for forgivable PPP loans they didnt need. (13:04)

Dont use slurs when youre the leader of an atheist organization. (15:05)

These irresponsible parents are leading a Million Unmasked March. (35:01)

Rush Limbaugh wants us to follow in the footsteps of cannibals. (40:58)

Anti anti-Trump ad features evangelical Christians admitting Trump used them. (45:57)

Sudan is taking big steps in the direction of human rights by overturning religious rules. (52:31)

Atheists arent hypocrites for taking PPP loans. (57:28)

Does Laura Ingraham know where Toronto is? (1:01:23)

Wed love to hear your thoughts on the podcast. If you have any suggestions for people we should chat with, please leave them in the comments, too.

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Google Play, stream all the episodes on SoundCloud or Stitcher, or just listen to the whole thing below. Our RSS feed is here. And if you like what youre hearing, please consider supporting this site on Patreon and leaving us a positive rating!

(Screenshot via YouTube)

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Podcast Ep. 331: The Science is Not on Trump's Side - Friendly Atheist - Patheos

Assessing the Claim that Christians Are the Most Persecuted Group – Patheos

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I was involved in an argument on Facebook concerning the news of the cathedral in the Frensch city of Nantes. This was fresh news: it was only just happening. And yet, already, the person in question wrote this comment alongside a video of the burning building:

There are people who hate the truth, hate the light and hate life itself. They have set themselves the task of extinguishing it from the world, and replacing it with chaos: darkness and death. They are evil.

I took issue with this because we knew literally nothing at the time other than an arson investigation was due to start. How could they make such sweeping claims in light of such a lack of knowledge about what was going on? But this wasnt my main issue; my main bone of contention concerned the next comment:

Christians are the most oppressed and most attacked religious group. How else should I frame that, except in the way I have?

Indeed, the whole conversation was so simplistic and in poor methodology that it makes me sad that people just arent interested in actually trying to find out the truth of matters of furthering their own knowledge base. That said, before we start, let me lay out ( just for intellectual rigour) two arguable assumptions I am making that were not challenged and so were implicitly accepted: a) atheism is included, in discussion here, in religious group, a sort of generalised category; b) oppressed and attacked is synonymous with persecuted.

With those two assumptions accepted by my interlocutors, let me now address this ubiquitous claim, one that is pushed by Christians the world over.

My conclusion, that I will lay out now and then work towards, is that this term most persecuted is too simplistic to be able to engender a straightforward answer given that it is actually a complex area belying a nuanced understanding of what is being talked about. Furthermore, atheists, as a group, and in some meaningful way, are not being adequately considered in most persecuted religious group terminology and research. I could also add in that his assumption that an arson attack on a church is an attack on Christians and Christianity(qua persecution) may also be a hasty conclusion, but I wont go into that one for now.

My initial demand was for some data. I was ridiculed for asking for, you know, substantiating evidence by another person whom I have had public arguments at this blog with, who said:

data produced by that mythical creature, the impartial recording angel with no axe to grind or narrative to smuggle in to the outcome results. Apparently an expedition has gone into the swamps of darkest Africa looking for him. They are expected to report back in 10 years or so.

Im not sure what the alternative is for this guy: making claims that are mere bald assertions (like the initial one) so that no claims made can or should be defended by empirical evidence?

Wow. That is going nuclear in the worst possible abstract sense. But, I digress.

So, lets start by looking at a few questions.

And so on. Its like saying, white people are the most violent in the world. What does this mean? Does this take into account white people in majority-black countries, majority-white countries, in terms of domestic abuse or in terms of war, or both? Point being, making huge generalised claims is a silly pastime that needs a whole host of explanation to be useful to anyone.

Let me lay out the Wikipedia definition (with required footnotes and links):

Religious persecution is defined as violence ordiscriminationagainst religious minorities, actions which are intended to deprive minorities ofpolitical rightsand force them to assimilate, leave, or live assecond-class citizens.[1]In the aspect of a states policy, it may be defined as violations offreedom of thought,conscienceand belief which are spread in accordance with a systematic and active state policy which encourages actions such asharassment,intimidationand the imposition ofpunishmentsin order to infringe or threaten the targeted minoritysright to life,integrityorliberty.[2]The distinction between religious persecution andreligious intolerancelies in the fact that in most cases, the latter is motivated by the sentiment of the population, which may be tolerated or encouraged by the state.[2]The denial of peoplescivil rightson the basis of their religion is most often described asreligious discrimination, rather than religious persecution.

Examples of persecution include the confiscation or destruction of property,incitementofhatred, arrests, imprisonment, beatings,torture,murder, and executions. Religious persecution can be considered the opposite offreedom of religion.

Ill go with this for the sake of expediency.

But remember, this is a definition that takes into account a plurality of types and methods of persecution, all of which will contain a different weighting in terms of seriousness. This, as I will explain, represents a huge problem in terms of comparing countries that have different populations and prevalence for different types of persecution. Who buys the most stuff? A person who buys a bag of 100 nuts for $2 or someone who buys a single car for $100,000? Definitions, definitions, definitions.

And, concerning the data itself at source (discussed later), there are different areas of persecution, from laws and ruling governments, to nationalist parties, to organisations, to cultural norms, to general people.

The first and obvious obstacle we come across, which will then massively affect collecting data, is that atheists are too afraid to admit they are atheists. I interviewed Iranian atheist Kaveh Mousavi, fellow Patheoser, and had to blur him out of the video for fear of death on account of his beliefs and claims. And yet, currently, there are at least 600 churches and 500,0001,000,000ChristiansinIran operating above board. In Iran, atheism is officially unrecognised. In other words, you cant officially be an atheist; you cant admit it. Iran is one of 13 countries where atheism is punishable by death. I am not aware of any country where Christians are officially punished with death for their belief. Thats not to say they arent themselves punished in some way, or even killed for some reason by someone, this is about state-sanctioned punishment.

What does this mean for both prosecution and data collection? Well, it simply means there will be no real data that is usable to put this question to bed. Atheists cant even admit their belief for them to be persecuted as atheists! In other words, their persecution invalidates their own persecution from being admitted and recorded!

Atheist dont live in communities and they will not admit atheism in such countries. This means that a Christian who is born into a minority community will be born into a community that does, in some places, suffer real and open persecution all their lives. How do you compare this in any sensible way to an atheist who cant even admit their atheism because they will be killed, and so pretends to be Muslim? Mohsen Amir-Aslani was convicted of making innovations in religion and was executed. How do you, in terms of data, compare these two people, the Christian and the atheist? The atheist wont experience persecution because, due to persecution, they have to pretend to be the majority in-groupidentity of Muslim. The few who get found out, die. The Christian, who doesnt really get to do this, suffers persecution, and the data looks like Christians suffer way more instances of persecution in Iran, for example.

Not only this, but how many non-violent persecutions are worth one Amir-Aslani? Again, how do we equitably record and measure such different instantiations of persecution?

We could stop the conversation here for two reasons.

a) on state-sanctioned official persecution, atheists fare worse than any other group, if this was our metric.

b) all data is so problematic that meaningful conclusions and claims are pointless.

But, alas, Ill carry on.

The one piece of data I was eventually provided was from this Church Times piece: Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world, says Pew report. That is, providing an incredibly short news article without going to the source data first of all and discussing its nuances. Here is literally half of the article:

CHRISTIANS remain the most persecuted religious group in the world, new figures from the Pew Research Centre show.

The Centres report on religious harassment in 2016 found that Christians were harassed in 144 countries, up from 128 the year before, while Muslims were harassed in 142 countries, up from 125 in 2015.

Publishedlast week, the report says: Christians and Muslims have typically been harassed in the largest number of countries around the world.

These two groups are the largest religious groups in the world, and have substantial populations in more countries than other smaller and less geographically dispersed religious groups. . .

There was also a jump in the number of countries where Jews were harassed in 2016, following a small decrease in 2015.

As many of you will have noticed straight away, we have classic issues over most. Does this mean in terms of real numbers, proportion or type? We could have many, many different scenarios:

So on and so forth. You start to see the problems with such a facile statement as the original one.

All the while atheists dont even get recorded because they cant even admit or report persecution because it is illegal or culturally forbidden to admit atheism.

Looking at the source data (as ever, Pew), which would be a sensible thing for my interlocutor to have done (and, indeed, The Church Times), we can see a plurality of metrics that invalidate the claims of people such as my friend, and headlines such as from the aforementioned publication. Therein are listed two different:

Overall, Muslims were the most common target of harassment by nationalist political parties or officials in 2016, typically in the form of derogatory statements or adverse policies. This was the case in Denmark, where the Danish Peoples Party (DPP) backed a measure passed by the city council in Randers that made traditional meals including pork products mandatory in public institutions, including schools. Martin Henriksen, a spokesperson for the DPP, said the bill would preserve Danish culture and that the party was fighting against Islamic rules and misguided considerations dictating what Danish children should eat. The bill was opposed by members of the Muslim community because they saw it as stigmatizing; Muslims traditionally do not eat pork.

Outside of governmental or opposition political parties, this was also the case with Nationalist organizations who targeted religious minorities as well, where Muslims again fared the worst:

In European countries, Muslims were targeted most frequently. Muslims were the focus of nationalist groups in 20 of the 25 European countries where these types of groups were active. Following the terrorist attacks in Brussels in March 2016, for example, the Spanish nationalist group Madrid Social Home hung signs near a major mosque in Madrid reading Today Brussels, tomorrow Madrid? and posted Mosques out of Europe on Twitter.

But while Muslims were the primary target of nationalist movements across the globe

So, on the above two metrics, or a total of both metrics, Muslims are the most persecuted as according to you know, the source data that The Church Times cherry-picked.

In fact, the source data paints a very different picture:

Meanwhile, Europe and the Americas werekdffvk j the only regions to experience increases in median levels of social hostilities involving religion, with Europe seeing the sharpest increase. The Middle East-North Africa region continued to experience a decline in its median score, although it remained the region with the highest levels of social hostilities.

Again, this doesnt really look like the narrative that is being claimed by my interlocutor. Furthermore,and I cannot stress this enough, the type of harassment makes a massive difference. Take China, where state restrictions may officially but rather lightly affect Christians: this concerns a massive population; but it also includes huge disparities in type of harassment as Uighur are detained in concentration camps.

To continue:

When combining measures of government restrictions and social hostilities, more than four-in-ten countries (42%) had high or very high levels of overall religious restrictions in 2016. Since some of these countries are among the worlds most populous (such as China and India), this means that a large share of the worlds population in 2016 83% lived in countries with high or very high religious restrictions (up from 79% in 2015). It is important to note, however, that these restrictions and hostilities do not necessarily affect the religious groups and citizens of these countries equally, as certain groups or individuals especially religious minorities may be targeted more frequently by these policies and actions than others. Thus, the actual proportion of the worlds population that is affected by high levels of religious restrictions may be considerably lower than 85%.[my emphasis]

Finally, concerning the Pew data, it does not mention anywhere, not once, non-religious people. They are utterly absent from the report.

The IHEU, on the other hand, now produce the Freedom of Thought Report that details the best and worst countries in which to be an atheist, clearly laying out their ranking system.

The only other argument I was offered to defend the initial claim was:

Heres a genocide nobodys interested in: Are Nigerias Christians the target of a genocide?

Again, we have the difficult calculation: Does one instance of genocide, which could arguably at times be defined as cultural tribalism, count as persecution and does this one instance get counted multiply in terms of the number of deaths? In the case above, this is Boko Haram instigating a religious war. Is this persecution of Christians, per se? Arguably, this is an attack on all non-Muslims who just so happen to be Christians in that area, but who would otherwise be anyone non-Muslim.

Of course, we get back to the difficulty of admitting atheism in places like Nigeria, where you can get locked up for such or executed(same guy, two different instances). So where people are calling for genocide of Christians, we dont know how many are actually atheists, since it is essentially forbidden to announce oneself as such, and wedoknow that the outcome is identical for both sets of people, Christians and atheists alike. So where this is reported as persecution of Christians in the simplistic media reports, it is actually a persecution of non-Muslims. A distinction that makes all the difference.

Indeed, we can guess that the Islamists would treat atheists worse, as in line with Islamic holy texts.

The argument as to whether persecution and genocide are different actually becomes one of legal definitions (e.g., as below, Persecution and Genocide. About the Delimitation of Genocide and Persecution, by Sonja Kohl):

First of all, it is useful to define the notions of crimes against humanity, persecution and genocide and briefly explain the differences between them. The definition of these crimes has long been uncertain due to the complex history of their development. However, more recently, they have been defined by the statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (hereinafter ICTY) and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (hereinafter ICTR), which emerged after serious offences, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (hereinafter ICC).

Despite considerable differences between the Statutes, they all definecrimes against humanity4as including a certain listed act (murder, extermination, torture, rape, persecution, etc.) committed as a part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population.

Persecution5is one of the acts that can constitute a crime against humanity. However, in contrast to the other crimes against humanity, persecution derives its unique character from the requirement of a specific discriminatory intent6. An unlawful discrimination must be the perpetrators goal. It is not enough for him to know or even to be virtually certain that discrimination will occur7.

The crime ofgenocide8consists of a mental element, namely the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such, and a physical element, which includes one of certain listed acts. These acts can be non-lethal in nature, such as causing serious bodily or mental harm, preventing births or enforcing the transfer of children to another group.

Both crimes against humanity and genocide can be committed in times of peace. There is no requirement that the acts take place during an armed conflict9. Also, both can be committed against any individual, whether civilian or combatant10. However, there are three important differences between persecution and genocide, one of them affecting the mens rea and two affecting the actus reus.

I wont bog this piece down by going into the detail of the three differences, but I will merely point out that offering genocide as an example of persecution is difficult in terms of how you calculate it, but also whether it should be calculated at all.

Hemant Mehta, The Friendly Atheist, has also taken issue with such claims:

Last week, the Pew Research Center released a study aboutreligious hostilitiesaround the world. They looked at which religions were being oppressed by the government and where.

(It wont surprise you to learn that nations under Islamic rule are pretty damn hostile to non-Muslim people.)

The study found that 52 governments rank high or very high when it comes to religious restrictions. (It was only 40 in 2007.) The number of countries involved has gone from 39 to 56 over the past decade.

Yet the headlines in some Christian news outlets tell a very selective story of how Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world which is both technically accurate and utterly misleading.

1)Harassment literallyincludes anything verbal hate to government oppression. So we dont know if the incidents reported in those 143 countries were, say, more life-threatening than whatever Muslims faced.

2)Christians and Muslims represent the two largest religious groups in the world, soof coursethe number of countries in which they reported harassment is going to be higher. Its not necessarily because theyre hatedmore; its because theres a lot of them all over the world.

He goes on to mention issues with the number of atheists that there officially are (or at least those who admit it) and the type of persecution they get. Real term numbers, proportionality, and weighting of different subsets. Its about being intellectually rigorous.

Some time ago, I published and edited a book of deconversion accounts called inBeyond an Absence of Faith(UK), and because this was about deconverting from Christianity and Islam (mainly) to atheism and because atheism is persecuted from the US to Iran, a number of contributors wrote under pseudonyms (and this includes in the US, for goodness sake). I wonder how many Christians around the world cant even give their real names for fear of reprimand, either systemically or locally. For atheists, this is surprisingly globally common. I have produced writings here from Indonesia, for example, showing the same phenomenon. SeeReligion in Indonesia: An Insight, written pseudonymously.

I think its obvious from this that anyone claiming X are the most persecuted is being either disingenuous and willfully ignorant or just plain ignorant (in both a pejorative and a non-pejorative sense). Someone who is very well-read and purports to be a certain level of intellect should not openly peddle such claims. They should be better than that. But, as ever, its about narratives, and the Christians are the most persecuted is an oft-peddled myth.

His final comment to me, so far, was:

Im going to have to see some sort of evidence. This persecution of atheists thing seems very limited. Im not saying that it doesnt exist, or that its not horrible to any of the people who suffer it, but the idea that it comes anywhere near the persecution of either Christians or even Muslims seems to not be true. Did you just say it for something to say?I think you made it up merely to obfuscate the clear message that there is widespread persecution of Christians in the world.

Wow, as if I was the one to obfuscate when my whole mission there was to actually clear up clearly-evident obfuscation. It makes me not want to engage in such conversations again. I dont have time to worry myself with such people but I just cant help it.

Hopefully, this shows that making the claim is basically a non-starter. I would say that neither Christians, nor atheist, nor Muslims are the most persecuted. The statement X are the most persecuted is incoherent, unless completely and utterly qualified in a heck of a lot of detail.

What I would say is this:

Any other such claim, as we saw above, is simplistic, naive and essentially incoherent at best, disingenuously incorrect at worst.

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Assessing the Claim that Christians Are the Most Persecuted Group - Patheos