"Super"-computer Henry Cavill breaks the Internet again with more geek content – 1310kfka.com

Andreas Rentz/Getty Images for Netflix

(LONDON) While Superman himself,Henry Cavill, already proved his geek bonafides whenhe revealedthat he paints miniatures used in the role-playing gameWarhammer, his latest Instagram post further proved hes a pin-up for the nerd set.

Cavill justposted a video, set to the sexy sounds ofBarry Whites My First, My Last, My Everything, in which themuscled Witcher actor, clad in a tank top, builds a gaming computer from the ground up.

The techy thirst-trap video was too much for some fans to handle. Which gamer girl doesnt dream of a guy like you?one follower commented.

Glad we all agree that the video of Henry Cavill building a pc in a tank top is NSFW, another swooned.

Further evidence that Cavills a bonda fide gamer: inpast interviews, hes confirmed that he missed the call from directorZack Snyderto tell him hed won the part of Superman inMan of Steel, because he was playingWorld of Warcraft.

Read the original here:

"Super"-computer Henry Cavill breaks the Internet again with more geek content - 1310kfka.com

It’s time to decide what we want Downriver’s future to look like – Southgate News Herald

It's an interesting time to be alive.

As recently as a couple decades ago, it would be hard to imagine what life looks like today a global pandemic, contentious and divisive politics, super-computer phones in our pocket, and constant access to unchecked information available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

As with any paradigm shift, the way we organize ourselves and our communities has a slight delay following the new habits and technologies we adopt.

After the automobile was created, we began designing our cities with roads suited for car travel, instead of walking. And after we created large industrial factories, we developed dense urban areas where there would be enough housing available for all of the workers at the factories to live nearby a story that resonates very much with the Downriver region.

We're now at a point where it's time to make substantial decisions at a local level about how Downriver will look for our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. And it starts with the McLouth Steel site in Trenton.

The Trenton Planning Commission is holding an online meeting via Zoom at 7 p.m. July 22 to vote on whether to recommend adopting a new zoning ordinance changing the current names, and some of the land use.

The former McLouth Steel property is currently zoned for mixed use, which allows for office buildings, hotels, restaurants, colleges and public waterfront access. This new plan wants to rezone the property for a new category labeled "industrial waterfront," which includes everything in the new I-1 category like railroad and truck transfer stations, and developments like outdoor shipping storage container yards and power plants.

As a member of the Trenton Zoning Board of Appeals for the past several years, it's required that applicants seeking a zoning change submit a site plan for our review, with the option to set conditional zoning. For instance, if someone wants to build a fence, we may require them to create an angled corner so they can see oncoming traffic.

The problem with a full-scale zoning structure change is that we're writing a blank check to an industrial developer with endless pockets to do whatever he wishes with some of the most important land for our Downriver region's waterfront economic development without even giving us any idea of what he'll do with it, whether it's to build the previously proposed intermodal shipping port or sell it to any other developer to do as they please.

If you and I need to submit a plan to the city in order to build a fence, or put on a hip roof instead of a gable roof, then it only makes sense to require a site plan to rezone one of the region's largest and most important developments in recent history especially considering the precedent this would set with the upcoming closures of the DTE plants in Trenton and River Rouge, and what may be done with those properties in the future.

I ask you to take the time to register and attend the Zoom meeting, which is open to the public, to voice your concerns that Trenton shouldn't write a blank check for rezoning 192 football fields worth of prime waterfront land without the submission of a site plan.

At the very least, we should be allowed to know what we're getting ourselves into when we give up the last bit of control we have left of our region's future.

You can use this link to access the proposed changes, zoning map and register for the meeting to give your public comments via Zoom at 7 p.m. July 22: bit.ly/3h53QUD.

If you're unable to attend, please submit a letter voicing your concerns to be read into the record to the Trenton Planning Commission by 5 p.m. July 20:

City of Trenton

Planning Commission

2800 Third St.

Trenton, Michigan 48183

Ryan Stewart is a member of the Trenton Zoning Board of Appeals and is running as a Democrat for the Wayne County Commission's 15th District.

See the article here:

It's time to decide what we want Downriver's future to look like - Southgate News Herald

The worlds supercomputers joined forces against COVID-19 why such collaborations are critical for tackling future emergencies – The European Sting

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration ofThe European Stingwith theWorld Economic Forum.

Author: Dario Gil, Director of IBM Research, IBM

In March, COVID-19 had hit Asia, Europe and the US, and the world was gripped by disbelief. The virus was far deadlier and spread much faster than any disease wed ever had to address in modern times. Fighting back against it, we were surprised once more as we developed new capabilities and new partnerships faster than ever before. Some of these initiatives could shape how global collaborations address risk in our post-COVID future.

We must apply what weve learned during the pandemic on a wider scale and establish a new international organization: the Science Readiness Reserves. It would assess risks and help prepare for future global emergencies from another deadly virus to a super vulcano eruption or a nuclear power plant disaster, and much more. This way once a disaster strikes, we wont be scratching our heads in panic; we will be ready to act and save lives.

What is the World Economic Forum doing about the coronavirus outbreak?

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic requires global cooperation among governments, international organizations and the business community, which is at the centre of the World Economic Forums mission as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

Since its launch on 11 March, the Forums COVID Action Platform has brought together 1,667 stakeholders from 1,106 businesses and organizations to mitigate the risk and impact of the unprecedented global health emergency that is COVID-19.

The platform is created with the support of the World Health Organization and is open to all businesses and industry groups, as well as other stakeholders, aiming to integrate and inform joint action.

As an organization, the Forum has a track record of supporting efforts to contain epidemics. In 2017, at our Annual Meeting, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines. CEPI is currently supporting the race to develop a vaccine against this strand of the coronavirus.

How a global consortium established quickly is fighting COVID-19

One successful current initiative is the COVID-19 High Performance Computing (HPC) Consortium. A U.S. organization with an international dimension, its offering some of the worlds most powerful computers, for free, to researchers trying to fight COVID-19. More than 60 teams of scientists are already relying on them, with new researchers joining weekly. The Consortiums members collaborate with the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE), an organization that unites supercomputing partners on the other side of the Atlantic. Researchers from both bodies regularly exchange data, ideas and results.

The history of Supercomputing at IBM

Image: IBM

Being a public-private partnership with government support, the Consortium solves key problems for researchers racing against time. To get results quickly, modern science often needs a computing boost to sift through thousands of potential designs of molecules when developing a new drug, or to simulate the spread of the virus in its second or third waves. Typically, to get computing power on a supercomputer, researchers submit a proposal and wait weeks or even months just for access. And it needs support of policymakers to zoom past any typical bureaucratic hurdles.

The COVID-19 HPC Consortium is providing exactly that. One team, led by Amanda Randles, a biomedical engineer at Duke University, has developed airflow simulations for a new device to split a ventilator between two or more patients. For its work, the team needed more than 500,000 compute hours; through the Consortium, they got matched with a specific supercomputer, and completed research that might have taken months in just six weeks. The scientists have just submitted their results to the FDA for approval.

Randles teams result is not the only success story of the Consortium. Researchers at British AI startup PostEra used a different supercomputer to build a crowdsourcing platform for scientists worldwide to submit drug designs. The team received more than 5,000 submissions and managed to process them within just a few days something they wouldnt have been able to do without the Consortium. Over the past two months, theyve narrowed the number of designs to around 200 and tested them in the lab. Theyve discovered that 21 molecules seem to be effective against the targets in the key protein within the coronavirus. Their next step will be to make sure the drug is fit for purpose before it can go into humans, the most important part of the drug discovery cycle.

How collaboration could aid in future crises

Impressively, it took less than a week to launch the Consortium and for all partners to agree on the ground rules. We quickly set up the proposal review and matching committees to approve and find the best supercomputing partner for each team. The Consortium is the proof that we know how to quickly mobilize the worlds talents to solve global problems. Im certain that it could be done again, on a much wider scale, and applied to future emergencies.

Together with the Chair of Harvard Astronomy department Avi Loeb, Ive recently voiced my thoughts on just that how to expand the idea of the Consortium to create a new body, the Science Readiness Reserves. This group, led by peer-nominated experts, would assess and respond to future global risks and emergencies. It would be run by scientists, experts in a variety of fields able to address the consequences of an asteroid impact, a mega drought, a powerful earthquake, a volcano eruption or another, even deadlier, disease.

We know how to quickly mobilize the worlds talents to solve global problems. Im certain that it could be done again, on a much wider scale, and applied to future emergencies.

Dario Gil

Such an organization could unlock technological capability. Critically, this body would ensure that scientists always have access to technologies they need (such as a supercomputer or perhaps soon even a quantum computer) otherwise difficult to obtain to deal with and prevent future emergencies. The aim would be to assess risks and put together a set of specific scientific capabilities that would be of value in the future, along with recommendations for the government, the health systems, emergency services, economists, other researchers, the media and the public.

Key to SRRs success would be matchups between the research team submitting a proposal and other scientists in academia or industry, or organizations in a specific field (say, the World Health Organization in the case of a pandemic). Such strategic partnerships between industry, academia and government could dramatically speed up research and development and be key for promoting creativity through the exchange of data and ideas.

Today, scientific talent, expertise, and resources are highly distributed across government agencies, academia and the private sector. Still, global and national bodies deal with specific fields again, take the WHO, or UN, or NASA and their core priority is not solely to assess future risks. And while many groups and movements advocate for wide dissemination of research and greater global collaboration, the SRR would specialize in ensuring that key technologies and expertise are made available to prevent global crises.

Such an organization does not currently exist despite the fact there is no shortage of global emergencies, from climate change to antibiotic resistance to epidemics and pandemics. It might be that before the Consortium, we didnt think industry rivals would be that keen to collaborate. Or it might be because we thought that having separate bodies each targeting a specific global threat is more efficient. Or because it is only recently that technology has matured to the point of anyone can access a supercomputer on the other side of the world through the cloud as if it were standing in their own lab. I think its all of the above but whats clear is that now we have all the ingredients to make it happen.

We need to act now. Policymakers must grasp the importance of such an organization, create the necessary regulatory frameworks and establish direct links with the future SRR experts. We must embrace the open-source approach to software and data sharing.

As we do, we must create the necessary defenses against cyberattacks and other criminals. COVID-19 brought shocking moments in research, including hackers extorting money from the University of California, San Francisco in exchange for COVID-19 research data. Such vulnerabilities are unacceptable. We have to make sure we have necessary protocols in place to protect the work of SRR experts on future known unknowns so that we can act on their recommendations and design new drugs or materials promptly and efficiently.

I know we can do it. The HPC Consortium is the case in point to prove it. The COVID-19 crisis has shown us all how unprepared we were to fight this global challenge. Thankfully, the crisis has also taught us we have the capability to make great strides once we pool our resources and talents. Realizations like that will boost our chances to survive this and other crises to come.

See the original post:

The worlds supercomputers joined forces against COVID-19 why such collaborations are critical for tackling future emergencies - The European Sting

COVID-19 on P.E.I.: What’s happening Monday, July 13 – CBC.ca

Contact tracing on a new case of COVID-19 announced on P.E.I. Sunday has uncovered a new case, a man in his 40s who is a health-care worker at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown.

The man was tested Sunday and results came back positive Sunday evening.

The testing station for COVID-19 is back up and running again at Confederation Bridge, after complaints from truckers.

A second round of tests at Whisperwood Villa have all come back negative.

Many small businesses are now asking employees to wear a mask while at work.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown what can be possible with regard to a basic income guarantee on P.E.I.

The Downtown Farmers' Market returned to Charlottetown with COVID-19 precautions in place.

Health PEI told employees in an email earlier this week thatall staff who come in contact with patients and who aren't able to physically distance must now wear medical masks.

Read the original here:

COVID-19 on P.E.I.: What's happening Monday, July 13 - CBC.ca

Lift Every Voice: The Urgency of Universal Civic Duty Voting – Brookings Institution

Imagine an American democracy remade by its citizens in the very image of its promise, a society where the election system is designed to allow citizens to perform their most basic civic duty with ease. Imagine that all could vote without obstruction or suppression. Imagine Americans who now solemnly accept their responsibilities to sit on juries and to defend our country in a time of war taking their obligations to the work of self-government just as seriously. Imagine elections in which 80 percent or more of our people cast their ballotsbroad participation in our great democratic undertaking by citizens of every race, heritage and class, by those with strongly-held ideological beliefs, and those with more moderate or less settled views. And imagine how all of this could instill confidence in our capacity for common action.

This report is offered with these aspirations in mind and is rooted in the history of American movements to expand voting rights. Our purpose is to propose universal civic duty voting as an indispensable and transformative step toward full electoral participation. Our nations current crisis of governance has focused unprecedented public attention on intolerable inequities and demands that Americans think boldly and consider reforms that until now seemed beyond our reach.

Our purpose is to propose universal civic duty voting as an indispensable and transformative step toward full electoral participation.

We see voting as a civic responsibility no less important than jury duty. If every American citizen is required to participate as a matter of civic duty, the representativeness of our elections would increase significantly and those those responsible for organizing elections will be required to resist all efforts at voter suppression and remove barriers to the ballot box. Civic duty voting would necessarily be accompanied by a variety of legislative and administrative changes aimed at making it easier for citizens to meet their obligation to participate in the enterprise of self-rule.

Our intervention reflects a sense of alarm and moral urgency, but also a spirit of hope and patriotism. Members of our working group undertook this work to fight back against legal assaults on voting rights guarantees and the proliferation of new techniques and laws to keep citizens from casting ballots. We did so mindful of the publics declining trust in our democratic institutions. We joined together to end a vicious cycle in which declining trust breeds citizen withdrawal which, in turn, only further increases the sense of distance between citizens and our governing institutions.

It would, however, be a great mistake to see only negative portents in our current situation. If some states have engaged in voter suppression, others have enhanced voting rights through automatic voter registration, same day voting, increased opportunities for early voting, and mail ballots. These reforms have had a measurable and positive impact on participationand enjoyed enthusiastic citizen support.

Our nations struggle to realize the fullness of the franchise began in the battles for the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution after the Civil War that constituted our nations Second Founding.1 It continued with the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Native Americans were not granted full citizenship until the passage of the Snyder Act in 1924 and were not fully granted voting rights until Utah did so in 1962, the last state to formally guarantee the franchise to indigenous peoples. Nearly a decade later, amidst the Vietnam War in which the youngest Americans were drafted but could not vote, the 26th Amendment extended the franchise to 18-year-olds.

In calling for what has been known as mandatory attendance at the polls (the phrase makes clear that no citizen would be forced to vote for anyone against his or her will), and might now, with the spread of mail voting, be called mandatory participation in elections, we hope to underscore that rights and duties are intimately related. During Reconstruction and the Civil Rights eras, few reforms were more important or more empowering than the right of Black Americans to sit on juries. They demanded that they be included in the pool of those who might be required to sit through trials because their own liberties depended upon being included in the process of judging whether a fellow citizen would be jailed, fined, or set free. In the case of jury service, the right and the duty are one in the same. The same can be said of voting. The franchise, said a voting rights advocate of the Reconstruction era, is an essential and inseparable part of self-government, and therefore natural and inalienable. W.E.B. Du Bois saw voting as central to the larger aspiration of being treated as an equal, a co-worker in the kingdom of culture.2

We also believe our proposals would pass constitutional scrutiny. Our report includes a careful and detailed legal analysis because the issue of the constitutionality has regularly arisen in debates over the idea. Knowing that it would face legal challenge if adopted, we examine the constitutional implications of various implementation and enforcement policies at every level of government. Universal civic duty voting, we argue, should survive legal challenges. It is consistent with our Constitutions guarantees of free speech, robust forms of collective action, and effective government.

A large majority of Americans share our view that voting is both a right and a duty.

In the course of our report, we present public opinion data, gathered explicitly for this study by the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project. We freely acknowledge thatfor nowthere is far more opposition than support for the idea of requiring everyone to vote. At the same time, a large majority of Americans share our view that voting is both a right and a duty. Our conclusion from the data is that while nearly two-thirds of Americans oppose mandatory electoral participation, about half the country is at least open to persuasion, a significant opening for a novel concept that has never been advanced in an organized and energetic way. To begin this process, this report seeks to answer legitimate criticisms and practical objections. We propose, for example, that all who have a conscientious objection to voting and all who present any reasonable excuse for not doing so would be exempted from the obligation and any penalty. Voters would be free to return a blank or spoiled ballot, and a None of the Above option would also be included.

We also address equity concerns related to penalties. Even small fines could be discriminatory against poor people, and immigrants rights activists raise legitimate concerns that inadvertent voting by noncitizens could subject them to unfair penalties. These concerns shaped our recommendations which make clear that the fine for not voting be very small and be set aside for those willing to meet a very modest community service requirement. The fine would be limited to no more than $20, it could not be compounded over time, nor would civil or criminal penalties be imposed for not paying the fine. If the experience in Australia and other nations with versions of compulsory voting can be taken as a guide, most nonvoters would never face a fine. We also detail protections for noncitizens to prevent exploitation of the system by public officials hostile to immigrants.

Our emphasis is not on imposing sanctions but on sending a strong message that voting is a legitimate expectation of citizenship. Nations that have embraced carefully implemented versions of universal civic duty voting have enjoyed dramatic increases in participation. Compulsory voting makes democracy work better, concluded Lisa Hill of the University of Adelaide, enabling it to function as a social activity engaged in by all affected interests, not just a privileged elite.3

Nations that have embraced carefully implemented versions of universal civic duty voting have enjoyed dramatic increases in participation.

The countrys politics typically places the interests of older Americans over the interests of the younger generationswhich, by definition, makes our system less forward-looking. This problem is aggravated by the under-representation of the young in the voting process. Their participation is held down by rules and requirements that are easier for older and more geographically settled Americans to follow and to meet. As part of our proposal to declare that all adults are required to vote, we propose many ideas, beginning with election day registration and an expansion of voting opportunities, that would welcome the young into full participation. Since the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is placing particular burdens on young Americans, especially those just entering the workforce, their engagement in the democratic project is more vital than ever.

Universal civic duty voting would also help ensure increased political participation in communities of color that have long confronted exclusion from our democracy. With the reforms that would necessarily accompany it, civic duty voting would permanently block voter suppression measures. The reprehensible police killing of George Floyd shocked the conscience of the nation and forced its attention to entrenched racial injustice. Floyds death, and those of Rayshard Brooks and Breonna Taylor, called forth large-scale protests around the country against police violence that has long been an enraging fact-of-life in Black neighborhoods. The new movement is demanding a thoroughgoing overhaul of policing but also a larger confrontation with racism. The demand for equal treatment has been reinforced by unequal suffering during a pandemic whose costs to health, life, and economic well-being have been borne disproportionately by communities of color. Voting rights, equal participation, and an end to exclusion from the tables of power are essential not only for securing reform, but also for creating the democratic conditions that would make social change durable. Police brutality, as an expression of systemic racism, is not merely about how Americans are policed but whose voices are heard on policing. Universal voting could amplify long voter-suppressed voices so that long-denied solutions to systemic racism are represented in the voting booth and enacted in legislatures.

Universal civic duty voting would also help ensure increased political participation in communities of color that have long confronted exclusion from our democracy.

Give us the ballot, Martin Luther King Jr. declared in 1957, and we will transform the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens.4 As our nation opens its mind and its heart to forms of social reconstruction that were far removed from the public agenda only months ago, we believe that transformative adjustments to our voting system are now in order.

The new activism points to the need for a renewed civic life, and universal voting would assist in its rebirth. Citizens, political campaigns and civil rights and community organizations could move resources now spent on protecting the right to vote and increasing voter turnout to the task of persuading and educating citizens. Media consultants would no longer have an incentive to drive down the other sides turnout, which only increases the already powerful forces working to make our campaigns highly negative in character. Candidates would be pushed to appeal beyond their own voter bases. This imperative would raise the political costs of invoking divisive rhetoric and vilifying particular groups. Low turnout is aggravated by the hyper-polarization in our political life that is so widely and routinely denounced. Intense partisans are drawn to the polls while those who are less ideologically committed and less fervent about specific issues are more likely to stay away. Of course, democratic politics will always involve clashes of interests and battles between competing, deeply held worldviews. But by magnifying the importance of persuasion, universal voting could begin to alter the tenor of our campaigns and encourage a politics that places greater stress on dialogue, empathy, and the common good.5 And some citizens, initially empowered by their votes, would be drawn to deepen their participation in other aspects of civic life.

To say that everyone should vote is the surest guarantee that everyone will be enabled to vote. Stressing the obligation to participate will, we believe, expand the freedom to participate. As we will detail in these pages, civic duty voting must be accompanied by other voting reforms. They include automatic voter registration at state agencies; restoration of voting rights for citizens with felony convictions; early voting; expanded mail-in voting; and no-excuse absentee voting.

But we also need to recognize the disparities in American society that affect participation. This has been put in sharp focus in the 2020 primaries. The high turnout and willingness of voters to adapt to the changes in elections in the face of the pandemic deserves to be celebrated. But we must also recognize that barriers to voting were often concentrated in lower income and Black or Latinx communities, where turnout was suppressed by dramatically curtailed opportunities for in-person voting and distrust of voting by mail. Long lines are voter suppression in action, election lawyer Marc Elias observedone reason the 2014 bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration insisted that no voter should have to wait more than 30 minutes to cast a ballot.6

And while the polemics around easier voting have often taken on a partisan castthe recriminations around the April 2020 primary and State Supreme Court election in Wisconsin in the midst of the pandemic are an unfortunate examplewe would note that a number of Republican secretaries of state and many conservatives support mail ballots and other reforms to ease access to voting. Writing in National Review in support of broad participation through no-excuse absentee and drive-through voting during the pandemic, Rachel Kleinfeld and Joshua Kleinfeld warned: The United States is already at high levels of polarization and historically low levels of trust in government and fellow citizens. We cannot afford an election our people dont believe in.7 This captures the spirit behind our proposals.

[Civic duty voting is] a full embrace of democracy: It insists that every citizen has a role to play in our nations public life and in constructing our future.

Essential as these various enhancements and repairs to our system are, we believe that civic duty voting itself is the necessary prod to the changes we need because it would clarify the priorities of election officials at every point in the process: Their primary task is to allow citizens to embrace their duties, not to block their participation. We see it as a message to political leaders: It will encourage them to understand that their obligations extend to all Americans, not just to those they deem to be likely voters. And we see it as a full embrace of democracy: It insists that every citizen has a role to play in our nations public life and in constructing our future.

Our hope is that this report will spur national discussion in two spheres: the need to make our system more voter-friendly, and the obligation of citizens themselves to embrace the tasks of self-government. Ultimately, we hope our country as a whole can embrace this idea as a decisive step in our long struggle to ensure that all Americans are included in our Constitutions most resonant phrase, We, the people.

This report was authored by the Universal Voting Working Group. The members of our Working Group have participated in meetings, conference calls, drafting, and editing in an 18-month path to this final report. While we may not all agree on every word in the report or every item in the recommendations section, we are all in agreement that the concept of making voting a universal civic duty in the United States would significantly enhance our democracy by broadening civic participation in all communities. We believe it is worthy of a broad public discussion, which we hope to initiate with this report. (Organizations are listed for identification purposes only.)

An asterisk denotes organizations that contributed financial support.

Brookings, Harvard, and the working group members are grateful for the financial support provided for this project bythe Carnegie Corporation, the Resilient Democracy Fund, and the Blue Haven Initiative. This report reflects the views of its authors and not those of the Brookings Institution, the Ash Center, the John F. Kennedy School of Government, or Harvard University.

Go here to see the original:

Lift Every Voice: The Urgency of Universal Civic Duty Voting - Brookings Institution

The Use of Dietary Supplements in the Treatment of Diabetes – Diabetes In Control

Thousands of dietary supplements are available for diabetes treatment, but an examination of available studies found that only three ingredients had consistent evidence to support their claims.

In the United States, dietary supplements are a multi-billion-dollar industry, having generated more than $30 billion in sales in 2016, which is projected to double by 2024. The allure for investing in these products originates from a lack of government oversight by agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration. Unlike pharmaceuticals, the FDA does not require evidence of efficacy and safety before a supplement reaches the market. The result is countless products flooding the market with claims to promote health. Little regulation is in place to confirm the validity of these claims, aside from the FDA preventing such products from using statements claiming to treat, prevent, or cure a disease. Because of this, supplement use among Americans remains high, despite limited evidence supporting their use....

Agreement to pay later is required for access to the full text of this article. You will be charged only after your use reaches $5.00 (US) of site content. The costs of producing a newsletter like Diabetes in Control have been increasing, which is why we are asking our readers to help support our ability to continue to bring you quality information about diabetes through charging a minimal price to read certain articles. Thank you for helping to support Diabetes in Control.

Bpwcaivla ri injyfwd wyttpiqirxw riv dydlodeoh qzc mrjkncnb gerngzrag, led bo qjmyuzmfuaz qh fafnqfgqj ijktyui irxqg xlex tsqd guerr nslwjinjsyx ohk gsrwmwxirx gxkfgpeg lg tvqqpsu lzwaj oxmuye.

Ot wkh Fytepo Delepd, mrncjah dfaawpxpyed ofs q fnemb-ubeebhg-wheetk uzpgefdk, zsnafy vtctgpits uwzm hvob $30 vcffcih bg tbmft sx 2016, kvwqv wg jlidywnyx bw xiovfy if 2024. Ftq ittczm hqt xckthixcv ot maxlx gifultkj bevtvangrf ykhf c ncem fw kszivrqirx ubkxyomnz ol msqzouqe olnh nby EC Yhhw fsi Madp Orawbwghfohwcb. Ngebdx wohythjlbapjhsz, uif NLI kvlz tuz anzdran ulytudsu wn mnnqkikg tgw emrqfk twxgjw u yavvrksktz jwsuzwk znk qevoix. Dro wjxzqy xh ugmfldwkk aczofned ntwwlqvo ftq wkbuod kwhv pynvzf je egdbdit nkgrzn. Fcnnfy anpdujcrxw td af hdsuw ni eqphkto cqn glwtotej ct droco wfucgm, dvlgh sebz lzw USP hjwnwflafy giqv uwtizhyx kwtr igwbu hipitbtcih oxmuyuzs ez gerng, jlypyhn, vy gyvi e hmwiewi. Qtrpjht iz cqrb, lniiexfxgm nlx pbdcv Qcuhysqdi anvjrwb opno, xymjcny xuyufqp mdqlmvkm lniihkmbgz esptc kiu. H tay mrkvvoxqo hc pqfqdyuzuzs cnoin kmhhdwewflk izm oppomdsfo vf lotjotm zhoo-ghvljqhg ghirwsg hjgnavafy kljgfy qhupqzoq. Rj b tguwnv, iwt Rdviztr

This article

The Use of Dietary Supplements in the Treatment of Diabetes

24-Hour Pass

24 hours access to all content on this website

30-Day Pass

Access to all content on this website will be available to you for one month

1 Year Subscription

1 year access to all website content (auto-renews, may cancel at anytime)

Powered by

Read more here:

The Use of Dietary Supplements in the Treatment of Diabetes - Diabetes In Control

Finally, Good News about Diarrhea! It Starts with Fiber – The Great Courses Daily News

By Roberta H. Anding, MS, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Childrens HospitalEdited by Kate Findley and proofread byAngelaShoemaker, The Great Courses DailyMany people arent aware that the type of fiber that you add through your food choices can prevent chronic diarrhea issues. Photo By Antonina Vlasova / ShutterstockHow Fiber Treats Diarrhea

One benefit of a high-fiber diet is regulating your bowel function and easing constipation, as fiber adds bulk to your stools. Fiber can also be used to treat diarrhea.

Fiber can lessen or prevent diarrhea by solidifying loose and watery stools, depending on the type of fiber that you take in. If you take a water-soluble (gumming or gelling) fiber such as that found in oatmeal, it adds bulk to the stool, but it also holds water.

I worked for years in the HIV populationindividuals who have AIDSand one of the hallmarks of AIDS is chronic diarrhea, Professor Anding said. How do we blunt that diarrhea? How do we get that water to hold?

They would use pectin, whichif youre familiar with making jellyis the water-soluble fiber that helps that fluid to gel. Professor Anding and her team would add the pectin to water, and when it got to the large intestine, it would help to hold some of that water in place.

Diarrhea is the excessive loss of body fluid, and this technique helped to manipulate that gut physiology by manipulating the type of fiber that you could use to make sure you had optimal functioning.

I could blunt some of the fluid losses in my clients who had HIV disease by getting that water held in the large intestine, Professor Anding said.

In order to successfully treat diarrhea using water-soluble fibers, though, these fibers must have, as part of their matrix, adequate amounts of fluid. The primary role of the large intestine is to regulate fluid balance, so if you dont have enough fluid, and youre taking a water-soluble fiber, you can actually end up with an impactiona worse-case scenario of too much fiber in the absence of fluid.

An impaction occurs when a hardened mass of stool is unable to pass through the colon. Therefore, if youre consuming large amounts of fiber, you must stay properly hydrated.

In fact, dehydration can often contribute to constipation. Keeping this precaution in mind, though, gelling agents such as pectin can effectively treat diarrhea.

About 20 years ago, the BRAT diet was commonly used for the treatment of diarrhea. It consists of bananas, rice, apples, anddepending on whose research you readtea or toast. This diet provides predominantly water-soluble fibers for the management of any kind of gastrointestinal disorderin this case, diarrhea.

The BRAT diet can also help to promote digestive health in other ways, such as lowering the risk of hemorrhoids. If youre not straining to have a bowel movement, youre much less likely to have hemorrhoids.

Although there are many fiber supplements currently on the market, Professor Anding recommends that you eat a variety of high-fiber foods to prevent constipation and diarrhea. The American Dietetic Association is stressing to all consumers that the best benefits of fiber come from the food that we eat and not necessarily supplements.

For many people, thoughparticularly young childreneating a diet full of high-fiber foods may be challenging. Given the list of foodswhich includes celery, beans, oatmeal, apples, and peasthere are going to be many children who reject those foods or prefer those foods in a more processed form.

The processed forms of fiber dont necessarily contain the same benefits as whole foods. For example, fiber benefits can be found in both applesauce and in apples, but the apple filling that is found in many energy bars and cereal bars is closer to a jelly.

According to Professor Anding, this jelly filling is not a good source of fiber. Therefore, if you have a child in the family who doesnt like apples, you should not swap out the apple for the apple filling in a toaster strudel.

However, you can offer applesauce as an alternative, as it is still an acceptable source of fiber. Similarly, you can offer more appealing versions of other high-fiber foods by adding nuts and raisins to oatmeal or making cauliflower mashed potatoes.

Professor Roberta H. Anding is a registered dietitian and Director of Sports Nutrition and a clinical dietitian at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Childrens Hospital. She also teaches and lectures in the Baylor College of Medicines Department of Pediatrics, Section of Adolescent Medicine and Sports Medicine, and in the Department of Kinesiology at Rice University.

More here:

Finally, Good News about Diarrhea! It Starts with Fiber - The Great Courses Daily News

Green food supplements Market: Recent Industry Trends and Projected Industry Growth, 2018 to 2028 Bulletin Line – Bulletin Line

Fact.MR, in a recently published report, offers valuable insights related to the key factors that are projected to influence the growth of the Green food supplements market during the forecast period, 2019-2029. The current market trends, vast growth opportunities in different regional markets, market drivers, and restraining factors are thoroughly analyzed in the report on the Green food supplements market.

The data enclosed in the report such as the Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) market growth, supply chain analysis, value chain analysis and more will enable readers to assess the quantitative aspects of the Green food supplements market with clarity. The presented study is a vital asset for stakeholders, investors, and market players involved in the Green food supplements market who can leverage the information in the report to develop effective business strategies.

Request Sample Report @ https://www.factmr.co/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=1989

Key Findings of the Report:

Green food supplements Market Segmentation

The report on the Green food supplements market provides vital analytical insights related to the key market segments including, region, application, and end-use. Further, the report discusses the current and future prospects of each market segment along with informative graphs, tables, and figures.

Segments of the Green food supplements market assessed in the report:

Competition Tracking

Manufacturers can launch low-cost green food supplements products in developing regions wherein manufacturers can have great profits and may capture huge market share owing to rising population in these regions. Some of the leading manufacturers of green food supplements includes Herbal Hills, Puritan's Pride, Inc, NOW Foods, pharmafreak, New England Greens LLC., Earthrise Nutritional, Cyane and various other local and global players.

This analytical research study imparts an all-inclusive assessment on the market, while propounding historical intelligence, actionable insights, and industry-validated & statistically-upheld market forecast. Verified and suitable set of assumptions and methodology has been leveraged for developing this comprehensive study. Information and analysis on key market segments incorporated in the report has been delivered in weighted chapters. A thorough analysis has been offered by the report on

Regional Segments Analyzed Include

Compilation of authentic and first-hand intelligence, insights offered in the report are based on quantitative and qualitative assessment by leading industry experts, and inputs from opinion leaders & industry participants around the value chain. Growth determinants, macroeconomic indicators, and parent market trends have been scrutinized and delivered, coupled with the market attractiveness for each market segment encompassed. Qualitative impact of growth influencers on the market segments across regions has also been mapped by the report.

Highlights from the Report

Request Methodology On This Report @ https://www.factmr.co/connectus/sample?flag=RM&rep_id=1989

Important Queries Related to the Green food supplements Market Addressed in the Report:

Ask analyst about this report at https://www.factmr.co/connectus/sample?flag=AE&rep_id=1989

Reasons to Buy From Fact.MR

See the article here:

Green food supplements Market: Recent Industry Trends and Projected Industry Growth, 2018 to 2028 Bulletin Line - Bulletin Line

Vitamin E Market to Witness a Pronounce Growth During 2017 to 2025 – Cole of Duty

Global Vitamin E Market: Snapshot

Vitamin E is an antioxidant having a number of nutritional benefits in humans and occurs naturally in several foods we consume. It comprises eight different compounds which can typically bifurcated into two categories, namely, ocopherols and tocotrienols. Each category can be further divided into vitamers, , and of chiral organic molecules. Of these, -tocopherol (or alpha- tocopherol) has been considered to be the primary molecule in ways more than one. The vitamer -tocopherol has a predominant presence in the diet and, hence, Vitamin E supplements almost always contain this molecule. Some of the other key forms of vitamin E are -tocopherol (or gamma- tocopherol) and -tocotrienol, which have gained significance in molecular researches.

Get Exclusive PDF Sample Copy Of This Report:https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=1295

The intake of most of the supplements of vitamin E is motivated by its role in reducing various deficiencies. Since the deficiency may be intrinsically related with bone fractures, vitamin E supplements are recommended to elderly people. This is one of the key reasons that make its supplements widely popular.

Compared to alpha- tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol is a natural tocopherol and with less antioxidant activity. However, over the past decade, gamma-tocopherol has gained increased clinical significance and is considered equally important form of vitamin E in human diet. In recent years, several researches have been conducted to explore the efficacy of gamma-tocopherol in preventing the risk of a variety of diseases, such as asthma, various cancer types, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, Parkinsons disease, and Alzheimers. Most of these point to promising scope for the growth of the vitamin E market. The key motivation for the intake of gamma-tocopherol stems from its ability to reduce inflammatory threats to a large extent. It is considered as the primary cause of a variety of degenerative diseases, whose risk aggravates with aging.

Global Vitamin E Market: Overview

Vitamin E, naturally found in several foods such as eggs, nuts, poultry, certain oils, and wheat germ oil, is a fat soluble vitamin that acts as an antioxidant in the body. It has other benefits too such as stemming damage to free radicals in specific fats in the body that promote health. Additionally, it aids in proper functioning of different organs in the body and naturally slows down aging. Vitamin E is available as a dietary supplement in the market and is used in preventing chest pains, high blood pressure, and blocked or hardened arteries.

The global market for vitamin E is characterized by a consolidated landscape on account of the top five companies holding over half the global demand. Competition is strong in the market on account of low entry barriers to aspiring players. Currently, manufacturers are expending their energy and money exploring better production means to cater to the massive demand worldwide. They are also trying to gauge the potential of substitute sources such as rapeseed, deodorized distillates from palm oils, and blended sources to concentrate characteristic vitamin E.

Buy This Report @https://www.tmrresearch.com/checkout?rep_id=1295<ype=S

Global Vitamin E Market: Trends and Opportunities

Rising fortunes of people around the world coupled with increased health consciousness has majorly boosted the demand for vitamin E supplements, which has several health benefits. Besides, consumers dislike for toxic chemical additives in personal care products and food and beverages has also helped to augment demand. Another important growth driver is the solid distribution network and energy drinks, tablets, and, capsules touting vitamin E as an ingredient. Additionally, the burgeoning geriatric population worldwide is another factor leading to the swift uptake of vitamin E, which helps to stay fit by slowing the naturally aging process and controlling blood pressure levels and cardiovascular diseases.

Going forward, the animal feed additives market is predicted to boost demand for vitamin E substantially due to the increase in livestock production for meat. Vitamin E is an important micronutrient used in the livestock feed industry for they help to enhance health, immunity, and reproduction in them.

A noticeable trend in the global market for vitamin E is the growing sales through online channels. Raw material shortage, however, is creating gap between demand and supply in the market thereby pushing up the price of vitamin E.

Global Vitamin EMarket: Regional Outlook

From a geographic standpoint, Europe and North America are key markets for vitamin E. In North America, the U.S. is an important contributor on account of the increasing elderly population, increasing means and awareness of people to spend on dietary supplements, and robust distribution channels. The Europe market is mainly powered by the solid demand from the animal feed sector in Russia and Germany.

Asia Pacific is another fast growing market on account of massive meat production. China vitamin E animal nutrition market holds a sway in the region. Besides, India is another major contributor to the market in Asia Pacific on account of the significant meat production. Japan, due to a vast pool of elderly population keen on vitamin E supplements to help them stay healthy, has also augmented demand in Asia Pacific.

Companies Mentioned in the Report

Some of the prominent companies competing in the global market for vitamin E, profiled in the TMR Research report are American River Nutrition, ADM, Cargill, BASF, and COFCO Tech Bioengineering. The report studies their product offerings, market share, and prospects. It also leverages market-leading analytical tools to uncover the opportunities and threats awaiting them.

To know more about the table of contents, you can click @https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=1295

About TMR Research

TMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to busi-ness entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experi-enced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.

Excerpt from:

Vitamin E Market to Witness a Pronounce Growth During 2017 to 2025 - Cole of Duty

The Pandemic Could Be the Crisis Liberalism Needed – Foreign Policy

The world may be reaching a dangerous inflection point for liberalism. According to the latest reports from Freedom House, over the last 15 years the share of unfree countries in the world has risen while the share of free countries has dropped. Today, government deficits are spiking in response to the publics demand for intervention to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and some warn that authoritarian leaders are seizing the opportunity to expand their control.

Still, this may be a time when liberalism starts to gain ground, not lose it. A new study by World Bank economists, drawing on data from 190 economies spanning the last 15 years, finds that fiscal crisesof the sort created by the pandemic in countries around the worldare likely to spur liberal reforms, particularly in the economic policy areas of property, investment, and trade.

How liberal advocates act on this glimmer of hope will be crucial. Post-Cold War efforts to spread liberal democracy have disappointed to date. Instead of ushering in the end of history, as Francis Fukuyama predicted in 1989, a know-it-all approach to proselytizing liberal institutions to other countries has engendered widespread resentment toward Western influences. And yet, its more complicated. The political scientists Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes recently argued that we should think of that resentment not as a rejection of liberalism, per se, but as an indignant reaction to its perceived imposition.

Whats the lesson here? Liberals must stop thinking of liberalism as theirs alone to give. Instead, they should recognize it as a universal ideal that has roots in many different traditions and cultures. It is on such foundations that enduring liberal institutions can be built in diverse places.

Extensive research on institutional change bears that out. There is a saying: People support what they help create. For liberal institutions to stick in new places, they must not be mere knockoffs of institutions that grew elsewhere. The Wests own liberal democratic institutions, including the division of powers, property rights, freedom of exchange, free speech, and public deliberation, are idiosyncratic versions of liberal ideals, but not the ideals themselves. They are successful, but theyre works in progress. They are worthy of thoughtful study, but theyre not suited for franchise-like plug and play.

This should prompt a tectonic shift in the foreign aid approach to development. A growing number of voices within development circles have been trying to do just that. They advocate a localization agenda, which means shrinking the role and influence of foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations and narrowing their focus to a few areas where they are better suited to help, such as information-sharing and providing operating support for local NGOs to increase their capacity to lead change for themselves.

With widespread belt-tightening across the development sector due to the coronavirus pandemic, including at major institutions such as Oxfam and the U.K. Department for International Development, such a radical change has become thinkable, perhaps even imminent, in a way we would not have imagined a year ago. This may provide a short window to permanently curb the undue influence of outsiders on local development questions.

Thats not to suggest a pure agnosticism about what to support abroad. Liberal reforms and liberal institutions should remain the priority. The same logic that commends federalism and its principles of subsidiarity applies equally to development work in other countries: Decentralization works. But if foreigners continue to hold the reins, even unwittingly, their efforts will continue to breed resentment and, more importantly, fail to serve local needs.

For maximum effect, we should look to private philanthropy for most grant-making to foreign NGOs. Voluntary nongovernmental philanthropy is less liable to special-interest distortions and political manipulation. Just as importantly, private philanthropy can be less rigid about predetermined compliance requirements.

Such flexibility is important. Through the grant-making our organization has administered to think tanks and other NGOs in recent years, we have learned to hold our tongues and listen. We invite our grantees to tell us whats possible, whats important, how they will do it, and, most importantly, how they will measure meaningfully their success for the projects they are proposing.

That model fits best with what we know about the diffusion of good ideas and practices. In their study on Regulatory Reforms after Covid-19, Simeon Djankov and other World Bank economists also found that countries that share borders or that trade heavily with each other are more likely to adopt for themselves the reforms of their neighbors and commercial partners. They see with their own eyes the successes and failures in neighboring countries and can, on their own initiative, decide for themselves what changes to pursue and how best to pursue them.

Decentralized liberalism is a prudent strategy for navigating this time of great uncertainty. In 2020, we have seen the limits of centralized models at work. From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Internal Revenue Service to the Food and Drug Administration in the United States and, at the global level, the United Nations World Health Organization, big institutions have failed. Its a stark reminder that there are very real limits to the types of problems that distant authorities are able to solve, no matter how well-funded or well-trained they are.

Early in this crisis, the Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates invested billions of dollars in seven different vaccine candidates simultaneously knowing that, at best, one or two might work. Gates knows what a big mistake it can be to place all your bets on one unproven solution. Not only does it raise the stakes considerably if you get it wrong, but it also severely limits any opportunities for learning, since there are no alternative results for comparison.

Liberal economies, with their presumption of decentralized decision-making, allow fast-acting, widespread, uncoordinated experimentation and learning. That model takes advantage of centralized knowledge and expertise, to be sure, but it also integrates the dispersed knowledge the rest of us possess about our individual circumstances. People close to the problems can find solutions that actually work, long before a large and distant bureaucracy ever could.

Our instinct when facing fear and uncertainty is to shift the tough decisions to the experts and to insist on one uniformand presumably bestsolution to our diverse problems. Experts play important roles in collating and disseminating knowledge, but they cannot know enough to successfully conjure up one great solution for us all. Its the lesson we have learned in our failed attempt to install liberal democracies throughout the world. In this moment of crisis, we now have a second chance to get it right. Lets keep making history.

Go here to see the original:

The Pandemic Could Be the Crisis Liberalism Needed - Foreign Policy

Reclaiming the liberal idea – The Tribune India

Shyam Saran

Former Foreign Secretary and Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research

The liberal spirit is suffering from terminal angst. Its political expression in liberal democracy is an endangered political species. What is the liberal spirit? It is a conception of society where the dignity of the individual is sacrosanct and rights are citizen based. A liberal society upholds the fundamental rights of each individual to life, liberty, expression and association, the only restraint being the rule of law, not the rule of state or a group or community. The liberal spirit not merely tolerates but celebrates dissent. It believes in the dictum that what is more dangerous is not when there are questions to which there are no answers but rather when there are answers which are not open to question. A liberal society creates equal opportunities for each individual to develop his innate genius and realise his potential. It is non-discriminatory among individuals irrespective of caste, creed or religion. But fraternity is equally fundamental because a sense of affinity with ones fellow citizens, the empathy for one another in recognition of a larger humanity, these are values without which a liberal society has no meaning.

To survive and to flourish, a liberal society needs a unique state structure, namely, the political dispensation of a liberal democracy. The state is as much bound by the rule of law as is the citizen and exercise of state authority is subject to challenge by even the most humble of its citizens. Another feature is the existence of independent and constitutionally empowered institutions which serve to restrain the arbitrary exercise of state power. An independent media and a robust civil society are its other essential ingredients. For a concrete and comprehensive articulation of the liberal spirit and the institution of liberal democracy, one need look no further than the Constitution of India. But while lip service is paid to the Constitution and constitutionally empowered institutions still remain in place, these are being systematically and relentlessly hollowed out. This is not just true in India but in other democracies as well. How has this happened?

I trace the origins of this slide to 1980 when Reagan in the US and Thatcher in the UK led the retreat of the state from the economy and elevated laissez-faire economic strategies as instruments of both economic prosperity and social welfare. The role of the state in wealth and income redistribution was progressively decimated and even made illegitimate. The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s gave further momentum to this trend. The magic of the marketplace was now hitched together to the notion of liberal democracy. Free markets led to successful liberal democracies and liberal democracies became synonymous with free markets. Thus was born the touching faith in the inevitability of Chinas embrace of capitalism leading to its becoming like one of us. But the very moment of seeming victory of liberal democracy marked the beginning of its unravelling. It became obvious that there was nothing automatic about a free market leading to egalitarian society. The enshrinement of competition, above all else, in delivering prosperity paid no attention to those left behind.

The failure of liberalism lies precisely in its acquiescence in this new orthodoxy, its failure to question these answers. Globalisation delivered immense benefits across the board in terms of rising prosperity but states failed to ensure the egalitarian distribution of these benefits because the free market was assumed to achieve that automatically. Globalisation is not responsible for inequalities of income, wealth and opportunity. It is the failure of public policy which liberals failed to expose. When the free market went into free fall in 2007-08, so did the credibility of the liberal democratic ideal. India has not been immune to these forces. The orthodoxies of the past four decades are no longer tenable. How can one salvage the liberal ideal and liberal democracy?

The liberal idea must be preserved. It still has the power to help us deal with the challenges we confront today because it is the unbounded contention of ideas that will engender possible solutions. If globalisation is here to stay, as I am convinced it is, then we need societies that are capable of adapting to change, of being able to handle immense diversity and cultivate a new spirit of cosmopolitanism and internationalism. Only liberal democracies with their respect for diversity and commitment to non-discrimination are best suited to navigate the new landscape. The pandemic raging in our midst is laying bare the bankruptcy of populist authoritarianism and crass mediocrity that pretends to represent the disempowered and deprived but is unable, unwilling and incapable of mobilising society to deal with current and looming challenges. Instead, there is a constant recourse to quick fixes, the bypassing of institutions and of constitutional norms, and worse, the overturning of the very notion of the rule of law. This is how in India, we have ended up with brazen encounter killings to applause from large sections of society which are unable to understand that once the rule of law is breached they will be its next victims.

How do we engage in a discourse that leads us back to a contemporary design of liberal democracy? What must be its key features? The renewed exploration of the Constitution is a good starting point. Even those paying lip service can hardly object.

If liberalism survives in India, its future in the rest of the world may be brighter.

Follow this link:

Reclaiming the liberal idea - The Tribune India

Love him or hate him, but conservative Greg Gutfeld is the ultimate test for liberals – ThePrint

Text Size:A- A+

Famous late-night show host Stephen Colbert once quipped, Reality has a well-known liberal bias. Is political comedy inherently a liberal act? It is an interesting but half-ignorant question. Primarily because most people consuming political comedy might never have actually heard a conservative comic.

Since the 1990s in the US, and over the past decade in India, stand-up comedy has had a predominantly liberal tone. But only if it ended here. Stand-ups around the world have now become the vanguard of liberalism, and consider it their moral duty to call out the excesses of the regimes in a funny, sardonic way.

But 55-year old Fox News anchor and comedian Greg Gutfeld would like to disagree. Recently, he compared cancel culture to Covid-19, calling it contagious, air-borne, with a low barrier for entry. For Libs (liberals), nothing is safe, including Hamilton the musical they all adored. The critics now point out that (Alexander) Hamilton was a White guy who owned slaves, who knew? he said.

Well, we all did, Gutfeld responds to his own rhetorical question with a straight face.

In the recent past, the comedian has made fun of liberals who, after propagating defund the police, clarified by asking not to take the words literally. He called Hilary Clinton the gift that keeps giving because you can come up with analogies, metaphors and descriptions for her, just by the virtue of her never going away. And Steve Bannon the ideological godfather of Donald Trumps 2016 election campaign as a circus peanut, left out in the sun on a minivan dashboard.

You might laugh at his joke, you might get annoyed by them sometimes, but Gutfeld is the conservative comic we need to preserve. There arent many of his kind, and we are at a time when we need someone to make fun of liberals who just keep pushing the ceiling. And there is perhaps no one better than Gutfeld, who is blowing up the Beltway liberal consensus of America.

Liberals should engage with Gutfeld not just because of his fine political insights, but also because if you can laugh with him, you might actually pass the ultimate liberal test.

We are deeply grateful to our readers & viewers for their time, trust and subscriptions.

Quality journalism is expensive and needs readers to pay for it. Your support will define our work and ThePrints future.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Also read: Agrima Joshua is Everywoman on social media with a view. We know why she apologised

Greg Gutfeld started off as a magazine editor, and earned initial fame as the editor-in-chief of mens health magazine, Stuff. Under him, the magazine increased its readership from 7.5 lakh to 10.2 lakh, creating a controversy month after month. But Gutfeld really gained popularity through his 3 am late night show called Red Eye, which ran from 2007 to 2015.

The New Yorkers Kelefa Sanneh described Red Eye as an odd and often funny late-night show that is not exactly satire, and not exactly anything else, either.

Its sensibility is snarky and surreal, thanks to its host, Greg Gutfeld who adopts a tone of half-sarcastic alarm, as if he cant decide which is more annoying: the politician he is talking about, or the fact that he has to talk about politicians, Sanneh wrote.

Gutfeld now runs his own late-night show, The Greg Gutfeld Show, which had an average of 2.86 million viewers in April, ahead of Colbert and Jimmy Kimmels late-night shows.

Also read: Move over political comedy, Danish Saits lockdown humour pokes fun at middle-class Indians

Gutfeld likes to identify as a libertarian, but what makes him unique is his inert need to constantly stray away from the popular norms and opinions, even when it comes to comedy. This is what gives Gutfelds comedy a refreshing sense of political realism.

Nothing highlights this better than Gutfelds take on Trumps decision to halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

Describing Trump, Gutfeld opened his show by remarking, Well, the big orange meanie has struck again. Then, reacting to liberal media referring to Trumps decision as obscene and madness, Gutfeld said, Its a reaction we have come to expect from the children in the room, none of whom cared much about the pandemic because they were too busy smoking the crack pipe of impeachment

But are you surprised by Trumps actions? Are you like the media in which every day is the first day of Trumps presidency? No, you get it. Trumps strategy from day one is based on incentives Nothing is off limits, he said, chiding media anchors at CNN and MSNBC.

In contrast, Colbert reacted to the same news by saying, He is defunding the World Health Organization during a global pandemic. Brilliant. Its like when your house is engulfed in flames, first thing you do, burn down the fire department.

Colbert is not wrong, neither is he any less funny, and probably a lot less angry than Gutfeld. But there is something that makes the latter unique, his comedy often gives insight into how Trump thinks, unlike most Left and liberal comics.

Also read: How cancel culture has turned liberals against each other and is rocking newsrooms

Greg Gutfeld is nowhere close to a liberal, and his shows are a window to his politics. For instance, while doing a segment on Trumps infamous rally at Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June, Gutfeld just gave a rundown of what the president spoke, without once commenting on the fact that no social distancing was practised at the rally.

At the end of the day, Gutfeld is a Trump supporter which is not an issue but it often makes him defend preposterous policies of President Trump.

On the recent race protests in the US following the killing of Black American George Floyd by a White policeman, Gutfeld said, When you are having 10 million arrests and something like 15 million police encounters a year, you know ten of these incidents could very easily happen, make 20, twice a month if we treat these the way we treat them now, without context, this country is not gonna survive.

We have to stop making this a Black versus White issue and make it a Black and White issue, he added.

But there is still something unique that Gutfeld brings to the table. During an interview in 2018, Gutfeld tried to shed light on Trumps thought process and his political method.

Speaking about his observations on Trump during the 2016 campaign, Gutfeld said he started to look at him less as a political figure and more as a host of a comedy roast. And what he had done was he had basically redefined every context he was in.

Views are personal.

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube & Telegram

News media is in a crisis & only you can fix it

You are reading this because you value good, intelligent and objective journalism. We thank you for your time and your trust.

You also know that the news media is facing an unprecedented crisis. It is likely that you are also hearing of the brutal layoffs and pay-cuts hitting the industry. There are many reasons why the medias economics is broken. But a big one is that good people are not yet paying enough for good journalism.

We have a newsroom filled with talented young reporters. We also have the countrys most robust editing and fact-checking team, finest news photographers and video professionals. We are building Indias most ambitious and energetic news platform. And we arent even three yet.

At ThePrint, we invest in quality journalists. We pay them fairly and on time even in this difficult period. As you may have noticed, we do not flinch from spending whatever it takes to make sure our reporters reach where the story is. Our stellar coronavirus coverage is a good example. You can check some of it here.

This comes with a sizable cost. For us to continue bringing quality journalism, we need readers like you to pay for it. Because the advertising market is broken too.

If you think we deserve your support, do join us in this endeavour to strengthen fair, free, courageous, and questioning journalism, please click on the link below. Your support will define our journalism, and ThePrints future. It will take just a few seconds of your time.

Support Our Journalism

Continue reading here:

Love him or hate him, but conservative Greg Gutfeld is the ultimate test for liberals - ThePrint

Edmonds’ descriptions of liberals in recent column were shocking – Wyoming Tribune

As a liberal Christian woman of Jewish heritage, I read Harlan Edmonds' words Sunday, July 12, with horror.

Descriptors like ignorant, divisive, treasonous, liars, arrogant and evil are words I have read before. Substitute Jews for liberals, and you have speeches from 1930 Germany. Yes, liberals believe in rights for all people; yes, they see that racism toward Black, Hispanic, Native American or any group based on color, creed or faith as wrong.

Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

kAm%96 =2HD @7 E9:D ?2E:@? D2J D@[ 2?5 D@ 5@ E96 E6?6ED @7 >J 72:E9[ Q=@G6 E9J ?6:893@C]Q ~FC u@F?5:?8 u2E96CD 36=:6G65 😕 y@9? {@4<6VD =:36C2= A9:=@D@A9J] x?96C:E65 H62=E9 @C 5:G:?6 C:89E @7 <:?8D D92== ?@E 2FE@>2E:42==J CF=6[ ?@C D92== 2 DE2E6 49FC49]k^Am

kAm*6E 56DA:E6 E96 9:89 :562=D @7 2== >6? 4C62E65 6BF2= F?56C v@5[ H:E9 E96 C:89ED @7 =:76[ =:36CEJ 2?5 AFCDF:E @7 92AA:?6DD[ E96J H6C6 7=2H65 >6? 2?5 5:5 @H? D=2G6D] p 9:DE@C:42= =6824J E92E DE:==[ E@ @FC D92>6[ 27764ED @FC D@4:6EJ]k^Am

kAm*6E =:36C2=D 92G6 7@F89E 7@C E9@D6 9:89 :562=D @7 E96 7@F?56CD 😕 G@E:?8 C:89ED 7@C H@>6? 2?5 >:?@C:E:6D[ A2DD:?8 E96 r:G:= #:89ED p4E[ :?:E:2E:?8 $@4:2= $64FC:EJ 2?5 |65:42C6 7@C D6?:@CD[ w625 $E2CE 7@C J@F?8 49:=5C6?] xE H2D =:36C2=D E92E A2DD65 4=62? 2:C 2?5 H2E6C 24ED 2?5 D276EJ CF=6D 2?5 C68F=2E:@?D 7@C H@C<6CD]k^Am

kAm{:36C2=D 2?5 2== A6@A=6 @7 8@@5 4@?D4:6?46 42??@E D66 2 49:=5 D9@E 3642FD6 96 AFC492D65 2 H2E6C A:DE@=j 2 J@F?8 t|% H9:=6 2D=66A 😕 365j 2 72E96C @7 E9C66 49@<65 7@C 2=>@DE ?:?6 >:?FE6D[ 4CJ:?8 @FE[ Qx 42?VE 3C62E96[Q 2?5 D@ >2?J >@C6 H:E9@FE 2D<:?8 H92E :D 8@:?8 D@ HC@?8n !C@E64E 2?5 D6CG6n (9@n w@Hn p ?6H 5:2=@8F6 :D 46CE2:?=J H2CC2?E65[ 2?5 H6 =:36C2=D H6=4@>6 :E]k^Am

kAmp?@E96C HC:E6C[ y@9? wFC=6J[ 56D4C:36D 5:C6 4@?D6BF6?46D 7@C H6 2?E:724:DED[ :7 H6 4@?E:?F6 E@ 2D< 7@C 244@F?E23:=:EJ 7C@> E9@D6 H:E9 E96 8F?D DH@C? E@ AC@E64E 2== p>6C:42?D 2?5 E@ D2768F2C5:?8 E9@D6 7@F?5:?8 :562=D @7 6BF2=:EJ[ =:76[ =:36CEJ 2?5 AFCDF:E @7 92AA:?6DD] ~FC 72E96CD 7@F89E 2 H2C 7@C E9@D6 :562=D]k^Am

kAm%@ =@G6 >J ?6:893@C[ E@ 42C6 7@C E96 =62DE @7 E96D6 92G6 366? E96 4@>>2?5>6?ED @7 >J r9C:DE:2? 5:D4:A=6D9:A 2== >J =:76] pD 7@C 6G:=[ x C676C J@F E@ !D2=> ae]k^Am

Visit link:

Edmonds' descriptions of liberals in recent column were shocking - Wyoming Tribune

Liberal churches remain closed, focused on issues of the day – Wyoming Tribune

Sunday morning, I went driving around Cheyenne to see what churches were meeting under the new guidelines the governor put out recently. One observation was evident: The majority of evangelical churches were meeting in person.

Of the 10 liberal churches in town, only one of them was meeting in person. I drove by at the times those churches normally meet, and only one had people who came to assemble themselves together, as Hebrews 10 commands Christians to do. On a number of the reader boards outside these churches, the message said the service was online.

Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

kAm(:E9 E96 762C 6G:56?E 3J =:36C2=D @7 E96 G:CFD[ >J 8F6DD 😀 E92E :E H:== 36 >@?E9D 367@C6 >@DE @7 E96D6 =:36C2= 49FC496D >66E 7@C H@CD9:A] %96 =:36C2= 49FC49 x 8C6H FA 😕 H2D >@C6 =:<6 2 4=F3 E92? 2 49FC49] x :?5D6E @7 E96 =:36C2= 49FC49 G6CJ H6==] %92E G:6H 92D 366? 4@?7:C>65 @G6C E96 =2DE b_ J62CD 2D x 92G6 G:D:E65 6G6CJ =:36C2= 49FC49 😕 E@H? >@C6 E92? @?46]k^Am

kAm%96 D64@?5 @3D6CG2E:@? @7 E96 >@C?:?8 42>6 7C@> E96 7:CDE D6?E6?46 😕 #@586C |4s2?:6=D 4@=F>?i x7 J@FC 49FC49 :D?E E2=<:?8 23@FE C24:2= ;FDE:46 E96D6 52JD[ 7:?5 2 ?6H 49FC49] |J 8F6DD :D E92E ?@ @?6 :? E@H? 7@==@H65 #@586CD 25G:46 2?5 DH:E4965 49FC496D $F?52J]k^Am

kAm{:36C2= A2DE@CD FD6 E96 q:3=6 2D 2 DAC:?83@2C5[ FD:?8 2 76H H@C5D 😕 E96 G6CD6 E@ 86E E96> :?E@ E96 2:C[ 2?5 E96? E96J 8@ 2?JH96C6 E96J H2?E H:E9 E96 D6C>@?[ H:E9 ?@ 4@?46C? 7@C H92E E96 A2DD286 😀 E6249:?8] |J =:36C2= A2DE@C 😕 {FD< H@F=5 7:?5 E96 H@C5D :? E96 E6IE 96 H2?E65 2?5 E96? 8:G6 FD 9:D 9F>2? G:6H @? A@=:E:4D[ E96 H@C=5 D:EF2E:@? @C 9:D @H? A6CD@?2= >@C2=:EJ]k^Am

kAmtG2?86=:42= 49FC496D 92G6 2== ee 3@@6 E@ H2DE6 4@G6C:?8 E96 =2E6DE A@=:E:42= 9@E A@E2E@[ 3FE E96 =:36C2= A2DE@C 92D ?@E9:?8 6=D6 E@ 255C6DD 3FE 8:G6 E96:C 9F>2? G:6H @? E96 ?6H6DE ?2E:@?2= 4@?46C?]k^Am

Read the rest here:

Liberal churches remain closed, focused on issues of the day - Wyoming Tribune

India knows what Bari Weiss is talking about: The intolerance of liberals – Firstpost

Weiss observations hold true for most self-proclaimed liberal newsrooms across the world.

Last year on 5 August, when India mainstreamed its state of Jammu and Kashmir by taking away special status under Article 370, liberal western media erupted with war cries. An unending stream of articles started appearing, targeting India and nationalist Hindus.

None of those pieces took into account that India as a sovereign nation is entitled to grant a part of its territory equal, not inferior, status under law. Or that Article 370 was a tool to egg on separatism and Islamic terrorism in Kashmir. Or that it impinged on the rights of women, Dalits, migrant labourers, and even LGBTQIA persons.

After relentlessly attacking India in its op-eds, when The New York Timesapproached Indias nationalist governments ideological anchor organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), it was met with scorn.

On being told that it never carries the other view,NYT apparently agreed to carry a piece by RSS ideologue Manmohan Vaidya. But senior RSS leaders say that when the piece was submitted on the condition that portions would not be conveniently edited out, it never appeared.

The NYT apparently cited a lone piece by the Indian ambassador to the US to say it had done the needful, implying it would be an excess to give the Indian view any more space. It, however, continues to carry scores of articles from the Left and Islamist anti-India standpoint on Kashmir.

Most Indians, therefore, are not surprised to read Bari Weiss' scorching resignation letter to the NYT, accusing it of the most nauseating, oppressive censorship and bullying in the name of liberalism.

Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions, she writes. My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views. They have called me a Nazi and a racist.

She says her work and character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in. There, some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly inclusive one, while others post ax emojis next to my name.

Weiss observations hold true for most self-proclaimed liberal newsrooms across the world.

Mainly because the very word liberal has been hijacked by the worlds two most illiberal ideologies: Islamism and Communism.

And these two ideologies have systematically taken over campuses in the West and democracies elsewhere, and are now baring their wolf fangs from under their sheep skin of sanctimony and political correctness.

In his piece The Rock That Broke Liberalism in the Dhaka Tribune after Narendra Modis 2019 election sweep, Shafiqur Rahman does some hard analysis on the failure of the liberal order.

Stubborn defence of group identity by Muslims of the world has made upholding group identity respectable for all groups, majority or minority, powerful or weak If Muslims can be unabashedly assertive about the sanctity of their religious identity and traditions, other groups can be unapologetic about their respective identities too, Rahman writes.

In established democracies, Muslims are generally politically allied with liberal progressives, and this alliance has opened liberals up to accusation of double standards in protecting a very illiberal minority identity. Abandoning universalism and embracing identitarianism is hollowing out liberalism from within. Either the principles of liberalism apply for all groups or none at all.

It is this hypocrisy that Weiss repeatedly dwells on while talking about the NYT newsroom.

If a persons ideology is in keeping with the new orthodoxy, they and their work remain unscrutinised. Everyone else lives in fear of the digital thunderdome. Online venom is excused so long as it is directed at the proper targets, she writes.

Indian journalists, students, academicians and intellectuals with a Right-leaning, Indic or nationalistic view have suffered this secular, liberal apartheid for over seven decades. They would be taunted, hounded, denied peer review of their books, called regressive or vernac, not hired in jobs, marginalised or sacked.

On TV, there would be a token dissenting voice in a large panel and the anchor would seldom allow that person to speak uninterrupted even for a short while.

The situation has changed in the last six years, but derogatory labels like sanghi or bhakt or fascist are widely used to cut them down to size and avoid genuine debate on issues.

Such is the intolerance of the Left activists that even basic conservative or nationalist ideas of capitalism, individualism, limited government, strong defence and pride in tradition are portrayed as tyrannical. The Wests new social justice warriors justify violence against those who hold such ideas.

American journalist Sasha Polakow-Suransky argues in his book Go Back To Where You Came From that failure [of liberals] to confront the real tensions and failures of integration, by pretending violent extremism and attacks on free speech were not problems, infuriated many voters and left them feeling abandoned by mainstream parties.

Alexis Levit elaborates on this violent, head-shrinking intolerance on campus in the Stanford Review:Ben Shapiro spoke at Memorial Auditorium in November, causing intense upheaval. Following the speech, Dailyheadlines asked, When will Stanford begin to protect its students? Activists portrayed Shapiro as a cockroach to be exterminated. A large crowd amassed outside Memorial Auditorium to harass attendees, shouting loudly about the lives that had come under attack as a result of Shapiros appearance. Does something so trivial as a speech by a conservative really warrant this type of hysteria and outrage?

Francis Fukuyamas 1989 prediction of the end of history and a permanent liberal order with the collapse of Soviet Union was grossly premature.

By sleeping with the worst illiberals and condoning them, liberals have set off something quite the reverse.

Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.

Excerpt from:

India knows what Bari Weiss is talking about: The intolerance of liberals - Firstpost

Local restaurants making their own policies on masks – 13abc Action News

The latest order by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer leaves staff and business owners in a tough position.

Whitmer's newest order requires businesses to refuse entry to anyone not wearing masks, unless they are under five years old or have a medical condition. It's up to the business to enforce the rule

Pete's Garage has been operating in Monroe, Michigan for more than 40 years. The well-known restaurant, whose owners also run Michigan Bar & Grille, published a Facebook post that is taking heat online, even after being altered multiple times.

The restaurants original post stated:

IF YOU HAVE A MEDICAL CONDITION THAT PREVENTS YOU FROM WEARING A MASK, YOU DONT NEED TO WEAR ONE

IF YOU ARE NOT WEARING ONE, WE WILL ASSUME THIS IS THE CASE. DUE TO HIPPA, AND THE FOURTH AMENDMENT, WE WILL NOT ASK YOU ABOUT YOUR CONDITION.

The restaurant has signs posted on the door for their new guidelines, which also include touchless URL menus on tables, seating 6-feet apart, and parties required to be less than 10 people.

Manager Brittany Van Riper says when it comes to medical conditions that may exempt a customer from wearing a mask, Theres no way of really telling, thats at the trust of our customers and the trust of our staff.

Michigan businesses failing to require masks could face a misdemeanor, a $500 fine, and possibly losing their license.

In Toledo, the Ottawa Tavern and other restaurants on Adams Street took a different approach, with their new slogan: "Mask on your face until your butt is in place."

Ottawa Tavern owner Zack Jacobs says he came up with the phrase. Jacobs says the new signage and blanket policies make the dining experience safer for staff and customers.

Face masks are also offered at the door, costing a dollar.

The official policy of all bars on Adams Street: Mask on your face til your butt is in place!

If you are a person who is compromised and unable to wear a face mask, then maybe going out in public during a pandemic isnt the wisest move for you to begin with, Jacobs said. Consider your own health and safety and making your own good choices for your health and safety before you step out into a local business thats just trying to stay open and serve our customers in a safe way.

Follow this link:

Local restaurants making their own policies on masks - 13abc Action News

Understanding ‘Qualified Immunity’ And Its Place In The Police Reform Debate – WBUR

One area of significant contention in the state senate's recently passed police reform bill was whether to limit "qualified immunity," a legal doctrine that protects police and other public employees from lawsuits.

Qualified immunity has been both a lightning rod in local and national police reform debates, and a source of confusion about what it actually entails.

We turn to Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge, WBUR legal analyst and senior lecturer at Harvard Law School, on what qualified immunity is and why many law enforcement officials are trying to hold on to it.

On how the "qualified immunity" doctrine came about:

"The doctrine is a judge-made doctrine that came about in pretty much the late 1970s and early 1980s. And it was literally a concern that constitutional criminal law, in other words, the ways in which the Constitution limited or affected police behavior that it was unfair because of new developments in constitutional law, to have a police officer bound by those new developments. Famously, one judge said ... a cop on the beat shouldn't have to be reading the advance sheets (the ways in which people get notice of opinions). And it was really phrased in terms of a police officer could not anticipate legal developments. It was focused in on the big and new constitutional changes that were going on after the Warren Court and said, 'How could a police officer know about those kinds of changes?' But over time, it has evolved into something really quite a bit different. It's not just saying a police officer couldn't have known what the Supreme Court decided yesterday about the Fourth Amendment, but it has come to be that the police officer, for him to be held liable, there had to have been an existing precedent on the specific fact in question."

"Let me give you an example: There was a case of a SWAT team that fired tear gas grenades into a house carrying someone they wanted to arrest. That person wasn't there. That caused considerable damage. The Court of Appeals said, 'Well, there's no qualified immunity because there was no precedent involving tear gas and houses.' Now, there was precedent about the scope of searches, etc., but there was no specific precedent that dealt with ... tear gas going into a house, or a case of ... a police officer [who] shot a dog trying to apprehend someone in a backyard, and wound up shooting a young girl. And the court literally said that the child's right not to be accidentally shot in the leg is not clearly established. So [what] I'm saying is, over time this became not 'How could a police officer have known, you know, the latest constitutional issue,' but ... a police officer gets excused if there was not an existing precedent involving the facts that are in his case. Well, there never is an existing precedent involving those specific facts."

On why it's front and center in the current police reform debate:

"Well, what happens is that the 'immunity' entitles a judge to dismiss the case without it ever getting to a jury. While a jury ... might get the issue of what comprises excessive force or what comprises an unfair search, qualified immunity entitles a police officer who's being sued to move to dismiss, and the case is then gone. And it's gone in a way that is particularly troubling. The judge is supposed to decide, or at one point was supposed to decide, was the plaintiff's rights violated? And then the second question is, was the law clearly established? Over time, and because of the Supreme Court, judges no longer ... answer the first question: whether someone's rights were violated. So that meant the law is not ever going to be established even going forward, because case after case was saying, essentially, 'I don'tknow whether [the police officer] did anything wrong, but it wasn't clearly established.' "

On how qualified immunity plays out in lawsuits against law enforcement today:

"The notion that a police officer who does something that comprises a crime will be punished and go to jail is true, although we recognize that that doesn't happen very often, as we saw in the George Floyd case [with criminal charges]. But we're not talking about criminal prosecution here, because that, to some degree, is the most extreme example of wrongful conduct. We're talking about a civil suit, if someone violated your constitutional rights. It may not comprise a crime, but it was essentially violating your constitutional rights. ... [The police officer] did something wrong, he went outside the boundaries of what the Constitution allows. To say that people can sue, yeah, you can sue and it will be dismissed if it doesn't fit [these], in my view, absurd requirements. So it'll be dismissed. ... This is like constitutional malpractice. It's as if saying the only way you can deal with a doctor that left his instruments in your body after the surgery is if it's a crime. Well, we're not talking crime. We're talking about civil damages for violation of a constitutional right. So the fact that people can be sent to jail doesn't control conduct. What controls conduct is lawsuits."

On the argument that eliminating qualified immunity will put undue financial and civil risk on law enforcement, curb their behaviors, and make them overly cautious:

"It is a false argument. Ninety-nine point eight percent of cases that are brought I've looked this up of constitutional claims against police officers are paid for by the government or even sometimes the union. In other words, the municipality or the state will pay whatever damages are assigned to the police officer. So there is really no financial penalty at all. And what you're talking about is having a range of conduct that may well be wrong, that is broader than the range of conduct that we allow now, and allowing those cases to go to go to trial before a jury. So it's really not an impediment to the police at all, any more than malpractice since actions against doctors keep doctors from doing surgery. Good doctors do not have a problem [with that]."

On if the end of qualified immunity could affect police officers decisions:

"That's really the usual kind of scare tactics that the police use whenever there are efforts to curb their power. The fact that those who are engaged in malpractice like a doctor or a lawyer can be sued for it and wind up with damages against them, doesn't stop people to being doctors or lawyers. It makes them exercise more care. And that's exactly what we're trying to do. So that's just simply absurd. If they think twice before they violate someone's constitutional rights, rather than, as Justice Sotomayor just said in a case where she dissented, she says, with qualified immunity ... it's the wrong signal: shoot first and think later, and count on being exonerated."

Link:

Understanding 'Qualified Immunity' And Its Place In The Police Reform Debate - WBUR

How to Watch Comic-Con@Home on IGN Live and the Full Panel Schedule – IGN Southeast Asia

San Diego Comic-Con and IGN are teaming up to bring pop culture and entertainments biggest annual event straight to your screen with a new online virtual event: Comic-Con@Home. For the first time ever, every panel that is normally at SDCC, will be broadcasted live and IGNs hosts will be there to present new trailers, do exclusive interviews, highlight awesome cosplay, and so much more. If youd like to join us for this momentous event and watch some of the biggest panels during the show -- including official Comic-Con@Home panels for The New Mutants, The Boys, The Walking Dead, Bill & Ted Face the Music and more -- heres everything you need to know to tune in.

Asterisks denote official Comic-Con@Home panels. All listed times are in the Pacific timezone.

A look ahead at the biggest panels from Comic-Con@Home with hosts Akeem Lawanson and Sydnee Goodman, and IGN special guests, plus an interview with Rob Liefeld where he calls out Kevin Feige for not using Deadpool before talking about his new Hasbro IDW comic series, Snake Eyes Deadgame.

4:00-4:50pm:GeekEd: Watchmen and the Cruelty of Masks*

HBO's Watchmen put forth the idea that "masks make one cruel". On college campuses, many people, both students and non-students have taken up virtual masks to make statements and take actions that would not be acceptable if done in public. Zoom bombing, doxing, and anonymous threats have caused much dismay, particularly as campuses move to remote learning due to COVID-19. Come hear what educators have to say about the power of masks and how Watchmen and other comics show us a path towards heroism or villainy. Dr. Kalenda Eaton (University of Oklahoma), Dr. David Surratt (University of Oklahoma), Hailey Lopez (UC Berkeley), Robert Hypes (Phoenix Creative Collective), and Alfred Day (UC Berkeley).

4:50-5:00pm:Comic-Con@Home on IGN: Preview Night Post-Show

Join IGN hosts Sydnee Goodman, Akeem Lawanson and Terri Schwartz for a look-ahead at Comic-Con@Home, and share what you are most excited to see using the hashtag #IGNComicCon.

5:00-6:00pm:Up at Noon - Comic-Con@Home Edition

IGN's Max Scoville and Brian Altano host a special Comic-Con@Home edition of our weekly variety show Up at Noon, featuring an exclusive Yakuza: Like a Dragon interview and reveal, as well as collectibles reveals and unboxings.

Star Trek broke barriers when it first premiered more than 50 years ago, inspiring people of all walks of life by championing cultural diversity, scientific advancement, and the exploration of new frontiers. Today, this legacy carries on through the Star Trek series on CBS All Access, where Starfleet and new characters alike take on exciting missions and explore uncharted areas of the universe while keeping true to the ideals of Star Trek that society needs now more than ever. Join us as we virtually bring together the casts and producers from Star Trek: Discovery, new animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Picard.

11:25am-12:00pm:IGN Live: Close Enough Interview

IGN interview with JG Quintel about HBO Max series Close Enough.

12:00-12:52pm: Mattel & WWE Elite Squad Fan Panel*

The superstars of WWE and the Mattel action figure design team reveal the most exciting, authentic, upcoming WWE figure releases. Moderated by "The Last Professional Broadcaster" Sam Roberts, the panel features Mattel Elite Squad members Bill Miekina and Steve Ozer, and WWE Superstars Edge, Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, Rhea Ripley, and Ricochet!

12:52-1:00pm:IGN Live: Nick Frost Truth Seekers Interview

IGN interview with Nick Frost, star, co-writer and co-creator of Amazon Prime Video's Truth Seekers.

1:00-1:53pm:Amazon Prime Video: Utopia*

A twisted, eight-episode thriller about a group of young comic fans who discover the conspiracy in a graphic novel is real, and embark on a high-stakes adventure to save humanity from the end of the world. Join writer and executive producer Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) and series stars John Cusack (High Fidelity), Rainn Wilson (The Office), Sasha Lane (American Honey), Ashleigh LaThrop (Fifty Shades Freed), Dan Byrd (Cougar Town), Desmin Borges (You're The Worst), Javon "Wanna" Walton (Euphoria), and Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day) for a Q&A moderated by Entertainment Weekly's Christian Holub.

1:53-2:00pm:IGN Live

2:00-2:45pm:The New Mutants*

Join Writer/Director Josh Boone and the cast of Twentieth Century Studios and Marvel Entertainments The New Mutants, including: Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga, Blu Hunt and Henry Zaga for a discussion about the upcoming original horror thriller moderated by Ira Madison III.

2:45-3:00pm:IGN Live

3:00-4:00pm:The Boys Season 2*

Join executive producer Eric Kripke, along with series stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capon, Karen Fukuhara, and Aya Cash, with moderator Aisha Tyler, for a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming second season of The Boys. Executive producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg will also make a special appearance. Based on The New York Times best-selling comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, The Boys is a fun and irreverent take on what happens when superheroes - who are as popular as celebrities - abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good. The even more intense, more insane season two finds The Boys on the run from the law, hunted by the Supes, and desperately trying to regroup and fight back against Vought.

4:00-4:43pm:Bugs Bunny's 80th Anniversary Extravaganza*

Take a trip through eight decades of laughs and carrots when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) presents an all-encompassing look at one of the world's most beloved and recognizable stars. Join three of the current voices of Bugs Bunny--Billy West (Space Jam, Futurama, Doug), Jeff Bergman (Tiny Toon Adventures, Our Cartoon President), and Eric Bauza (Looney Tunes Cartoons, Muppet Babies)--alongside Looney Tunes Cartoons executive producer Pete Browngardt (Uncle Grandpa), movie historian, author and TV personality Leonard Maltin (Entertainment Tonight), animation historian and author Jerry Beck (Animation Scoop), and Warner Archive senior vice president George Feltenstein as they cover the gamut of Bugs' history from theatrical shorts to Saturday morning cartoons and the new HBO-MAX series. Actress Yvette Nicole Brown (Community, Avengers: Endgame, DC Super Hero Girls) will moderate the panel.

4:43-5:00pm:IGN Live: The Boys and Upload Interviews

IGN interview with The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke, and interview with creator and stars of Amazon Prime Video's Upload: Greg Daniels, Robbie Amell and Andy Allo.

5:00-5:44pm:Image Comics Spotlight*

Get the exclusive scoop on an exciting new project by a best-selling powerhouse creative team returning to Image for an all-new series.

5:44-6:00pm:IGN Live: Image Comics New Series Interview

IGN interview with Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw about their new Image Comics series.

6:00-6:55pm:Mystery Science Theater 3000: A Panel Panorama*

Erik Adams (The A.V. Club) leads a discussion with MST3K creator Joel Hodgson and former cast members Bill Corbett (Crow T. Robot #2) and J. Elvis Weinstein (Tom Servo #1) as they engage in some good old-fashioned Q&A.

6:55-7:30pm:Comic-Con@Home on IGN: Thursday Post-Show and Cosplay Spotlight

10:00-10:33am:Charlize Theron: Evolution of a Badass*

Actress and producer Charlize Theron reflects on portraying over two decades of action heroes, from on Flux to The Old Guard's Andromache, Mad Max: Fury Road's Furiosa to Atomic Blonde's Lorraine Broughton. In a lengthy retrospective Q&A moderated by IGN's Terri Schwartz, Theron discusses the evolution of the modern female action hero, the roles that inspired her and what drives her to constantly push her limits with fight training.

10:33-11:00am:IGN Live: Project Power interview with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Directors Henry Joost and Rel Schulman

IGN interview with star Joseph Gordon-Levitt and directors Henry Joost and Rel Schulman and an exclusive first look at the new film Project Power.

11:00-11:38am:HBO Max and Cartoon Network Studios: Adventure Time: Distant Lands*

C'mon grab your friends for a special return to the Land of Ooo and beyond with Adventure Time: Distant Lands. Based on the animated series Adventure Time by show creator Pendleton Ward and executive producer Adam Muto, these four specials explore the unseen corners of the world with both familiar and exciting brand-new characters. Join moderator Michaela Dietz, Amethyst from Steven Universe, as she shares all of the ba-nay-nay details about the BMO special from Adam Muto (executive producer), Glory Curda (Y5), Olivia Olson (Marceline), and Niki Yang (BMO). Plus, stick around for a righteous sneak peek of the second special, Obsidian. It's gonna be so spice!

11:38am-12:00pm:IGN Live: Adventure Time: Distant Lands Interview

IGN interview with Adventure Time: Distant Lands executive producer Adam Muto and star Olivia Olson (Marceline).

12:00-12:47pm:Lucasfilm Publishing: Stories From A Galaxy Far, Far Away*

Some of the biggest and best Star Wars authors talk about some of their exciting new projects set in a galaxy far, far away. Featuring Timothy Zahn, Alex Segura, Justina Ireland, George Mann, Preeti Chhibber, Tom Angleberger, Rebecca Roanhorse, Greg Pak, and Alyssa Wong. Moderated by This Week In Star Wars host Kristin Baver and Lucasfilm Publishing senior editor Robert Simpson.

12:47-1:00pm:IGN Live: Star Wars: Darth Vader Greg Pak Interview

IGN interview with Greg Pak about Lucasfilm Publishing's Star Wars: Dark Vader comic series.

1:00-2:00pm:AMC's The Walking Dead*

The Walking Dead will make its 11th San Diego Comic-Con appearance with a panel spotlighting "A Certain Doom, " which will air as a standalone episode later this year. Moderated by Chris Hardwick (Talking Dead), the panel will feature TWDU chief content officer Scott M. Gimple, showrunner and executive producer Angela Kang, executive producer Greg Nicotero, who directed the episode, and cast members Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Lauren Cohan, Josh McDermitt, Seth Gilliam, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton, and Paola Lazaro. In The Walking Dead episode 1016, "A Certain Doom, " Beta engages the final battle of the Whisperer War.

2:00-2:45pm:AMC's The Walking Dead: The World Beyond*

The Walking Dead: World Beyond makes its Comic-Con International debut as the third series in wildly successful The Walking Dead Universe. Moderated by Chris Hardwick, the series' panel will feature TWDU chief content officer Scott M. Gimple, showrunner and executive producer Matt Negrete and cast members Aliyah Royale, Alexa Mansour, Hal Cumpston, Nicholas Cantu, Nico Tortorella, Julia Ormond, and Joe Holt. The Walking Dead: World Beyond delves into a new mythology and story that follows the first generation raised in a surviving civilization of the post-apocalyptic world. Two sisters along with two friends leave a place of safety and comfort to brave dangers, known and unknown, living and undead on an important quest. Pursued by those who wish to protect them and those who wish to harm them, a tale of growing up and transformation unfurls across dangerous terrain, challenging everything they know about the world, themselves and each other. Some will become heroes. Some will become villains. But all of them will find the truths they seek.

2:45-3:00pm:IGN Live

3:00-3:41pm:First Look at Hulu's Helstrom*

Talk about some family drama! Join Helstrom showrunner Paul Zbyszewski and cast--Tom Austen, Sydney Lemmon, Elizabeth Marvel, Robert Wisdom, Ariana Guerra, June Carryl, and Alain Uy--for one hell of a sneak-peek look and conversation around bringing this terror-filled comic to life as Hulu's next horror series. Moderated by IGN's Laura Prudom.

3:41-4:00pm:IGN Live

4:00-4:40pm:Robert Kirkman At Home*

Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible, Fire Power) shares his latest projects and answers your questions!

4:40-5:00pm:IGN Live

5:00-5:43pm:Archer @Home*

Who says staying home is boring? Archer, FXX's award-winning animated comedy, returns for its 11th season later this year and follows Sterling Archer and his return to the spy world after a three-year coma. But first, join the voice cast of Aisha Tyler, Chris Parnell, Judy Greer, Amber Nash, and Lucky Yates, plus executive producer Casey Willis for a lively discussion and the reveal of not-to-be-missed details about the new season!

5:43-6:00pm:IGN Live: Archer Cast Interview

IGN interview with Archer (FXX) stars Aisha Tyler, Chris Parnell and Judy Greer.

6:00-6:45pm:Syfy: TZGZ's Adult Animated Originals*

Prepare to depart on a journey of animated bliss and get the first look at four new originals coming to TZGZ, SYFYs late-night adult animation block! Take a magical trip with the fantastically flustered High Wizard as he transports us into the zany worlds of each new show. Moderated by Baron Vaughn (SYFY WIREs The Great Debate), join the creators and celebrity voices of Wild Life, Hell Den, Magical Girl Friendship Squad, and Devil May Care for an exclusive sneak peek at the future of late-night animation on SYFY.

6:45-7:00pm:Comic-Con@Home on IGN: Friday Post-Show and Cosplay Spotlight

10:00-10:41am:Cosmos: Possible Worlds*

Making its network debut this fall on FOX, the latest installation in the Cosmos franchise, Cosmos: Possible Worlds, takes audiences on a series of spiritual voyages of exploration revealing previously uncharted realms, including lost worlds and worlds to come, and those that we may one day inhabit in a thrilling future we can still have. Join creator, executive producer, director and writer Ann Druyan; host and acclaimed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson; executive producer, director and writer Brannon Braga; executive producer Jason Clark; and visual effects supervisor Jeffrey A. Okun for a conversation about what is in store for the next chapter of Cosmos and a behind-the-scenes look into the making of the series. Featuring an introduction by executive producer Seth MacFarlane and exclusive never-before-seen footage, this panel discussion illustrates why Cosmos has remained relevant for the last 40 years.

10:41-11:00am:IGN Live

11:00-11:50am:DC@Home Day Two*

Be sure to drop in on this panel to hear from DC's hottest talent about their latest works and how they're making DC and The World's Greatest Super Heroes the home for fans of great superhero storytelling worldwide! The creative talent behind some of DC's most popular characters are on hand to give behind the scenes details on their stories and how they put their own unique voices to the heroes and villains that DC fans have come to know and love (and hate)! DC talent to appear: Greg Capullo, Cecil Castellucci, Katana Collins, Kami Garcia, Jorge Jimenez, Daniel Warren Johnson, Dan Jurgens, Jim Lee, Sean Gordon Murphy, Bruno Redondo, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, and Brad Walker.

11:50am-12:00pm:IGN Live

12:00-12:46pm:Constantine: 15th Anniversary Reunion*

Keanu Reeves, director Francis Lawrence, and producer Akiva Goldsman reunite to reflect on the making of the 2005 DC Comics adaptation. Moderated by Collider's editor-in-chief Steven Weintraub.

12:46-1:00pm:IGN Live: The Right Stuff Interview

IGN interview with Colin O'Donoghue and Jake McDorman, stars of the National Geographic series The Right Stuff on Disney +"

1:00-1:56pm:Blast Off With Disney+s The Right Stuff*

From Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way and Warner Horizon Scripted Television, Thie Right Stuff is the first scripted Disney+ original series from National Geographic. The series takes a clear-eyed look at the early days of the US space program. The series follows seven of the military's best pilots become astronauts for the newly-formed NASA at the height of the Cold War. Competing to be the first in space, these ordinary men achieve the extraordinary, inspiring America to turn towards a new horizon of ambition and hope. In this 45-minute panel moderated by former NASA Astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison, you will hear from the cast and crew about making this compelling and cinematically extraordinary series, PLUS an exclusive first look will be revealed!

1:56-2:00pm:IGN Live

2:00-2:39pm:Family Guy*

Cast members Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Mila Kunis, Seth Green, and executive producers Rich Appel, Alec Sulkin, and Kara Vallow from FOX's hit animated comedy Family Guy celebrates 350 episodes with a virtual table read! After, they'll take a look back at some of their favorite moments from the last 18 seasons, plus a special sneak peek at the hilarity and hi-jinx coming up in their 19th season premiering this fall on FOX!

2:39-3:00pm:IGN Live: BOOM!Studios Power Rangers Comic Interview

IGN interview with Ryan Parrott about the new BOOM! Studios Power Rangers comic series following the BOOM! Studios Power Rangers panel.

3:00-3:43pm:Bill & Ted Face the Music*

Cast Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine, William Sadler, director Dean Parisot alongside writers Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson gather for a lively panel moderated by filmmaker and fan Kevin Smith.

3:43-4:00pm:IGN Live: The Simpsons' Al Jean and Matt Selman Interview

IGN interview with The Simpsons executive producers Al Jean and Matt Selman.

4:00-4:45pm:TBA

4:45-5:00pm:IGN Live

5:00-5:33pm:What We Do in the Shadows*

Named "TV's best comedy" by the Hollywood Reporter, What We Do in the Shadows is a documentary-style look into the lives of four vampires and their loyal familiar who, in a surprising twist, is a descendant of famed vampire slayer Van Helsing. Join us in raising a glass of regular human alcohol beer to the sharp-toothed cast--Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Kayvan Novak, Mark Proksch, and Harvey Guilln--and the creative team for a spirited discussion hosted by special guest, Haley Joel Osment.

5:33-6:00pm:IGN Live: What We Do in the Shadows and Wynonna Earp Interviews, and G-Loc First Look

IGN interview with the cast and executive producers of FXX's What We Do in the Shadows: Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Kayvan Novak, Mark Proksch, Harvey Guilln, Paul Simms and Stefani Robinson, an interview with Wynonna Earp stars Tim Rozon and Kat Barrell, and exclusive new look at Lionsgate's sci-fi film G-LOC and interview with stars Stephen Moyer and Casper Van Dien.

6:00-6:45pm:Scary Good TV: A Conversation with Horror's Top Showrunners*

Nick Antosca (Channel Zero), Meredith Averill (Locke & Key), Don Mancini (Chucky), Greg Nicotero (Creepshow), and Jami OBrien (NOS4A2) offer their unique insights on why horror TV is having a moment and what it takes to create the kind of terrifying shows that keep viewers coming back episode after episode. Moderated by screenwriter/educator Tananarive Due (executive producer, Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror). Panel presented by Shudder.

6:45-7:00pm:Comic-Con@Home on IGN: Saturday Post-Show and Cosplay Spotlight

10:00-10:40am:Hoops*

The star-studded voice cast of Hoops, a new adult animated series for Netflix launching this summer from 20th Century Fox Television (The Simpsons, Family Guy, Bob's Burgers), gathered for an irreverent-in-the-best-way conversation about coming together to make this show that follows a foul-mouthed high school basketball coach who is sure he'll hit the big leagues if he can only turn his terrible team around. Voice stars Jake Johnson, Rob Riggle, Ron Funches, Natasha Leggero, Cleo King, and A.D. Miles join creator and executive producer Ben Hoffman and moderator/ guest voice star Max Greenfield (Johnson's former New Girl co-star) for a truly wild and hilarious Q&A. Fans will be treated to an exclusive first look at footage from the premiere episode. Hoops comes from writer-comedian Ben Hoffman (The Late Late Show with James Corden, Archer), Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie), with animation produced by Bento Box (Bob's Burgers).

10:40-11:00am:IGN Live: Hoops Jake Johnson and Ben Hoffman Interview

IGN interview with Jake Johnson and Ben Hoffman, the star and creator of the Netflix animated comedy Hoops from 20th Century Fox Television.

11:00-11:49am:No Tow Trucks Beyond Mars*

Go here to see the original:

How to Watch Comic-Con@Home on IGN Live and the Full Panel Schedule - IGN Southeast Asia

Frantz sentenced to life in prison – Leavenworth Times

A woman has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2017 murder of her estranged husband in Leavenworth.

Barbara M. Frantz will have to serve 25 years in prison before she is eligible for parole.

Frantz, 54, Kansas City, Kansas, was sentenced Tuesday in Leavenworth County District Court for first-degree murder.

She was charged after her estranged husband, Gary, was shot Jan. 27, 2017, in a parking lot in downtown Leavenworth.

She was convicted of the murder charge in 2018.

Before District Judge Michael Gibbens sentenced Frantz, he took up a motion filed by her attorney that requested a continuance.

Defense attorney Greg Robinson said he was at a disadvantage because he was appointed to represent Frantz only about 3.5 weeks ago.

"This case has been going on for a number of years," he said.

He said there are issues in the case that need to be looked at including evidence indicating a sibling of Frantz may have confessed to the murder.

Assistant County Attorney Shawn Boyd noted this evidence had been available to attorneys who previously represented Frantz.

"At no point in time did they bring it up to the court," Boyd said.

He said the evidence concerns emails from a sibling of the defendant who indicated he committed the crime but later recanted, saying he was trying to cover for Frantz.

Robinson said he did not know why the evidence had not been brought to the courts attention much earlier.

The person who reportedly wrote the emails was in the courtroom Tuesday and Robinson called him to testify.

However, the witness said he was exercising his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination and did not testify.

Gibbens said he was denying the motion for a continuance. But he said the ruling does not preclude other procedural remedies from being available to Frantz.

Donna Meyer, sister of the victim, spoke during the sentencing hearing.

Meyer said Frantz took Gary away from his family.

"She took away a son, a father, a brother," Meyer said.

Meyer said Gary was known to his family by the name of Pat.

Boyd acknowledged the case against Frantz was not perfect. But he said the evidence against Frantz was "very, very solid."

He said the evidence included statements Gary made to a police officer and other witnesses that identified Frantz as the person who shot him.

"At no point in time, has she taken any responsibility for her actions," he said.

Boyd noted that during her trial, Frantz blamed the murder on her son.

"She deserves to spend the rest of her life in prison," Boyd said.

Robinson asked the judge to consider giving his client a lighter sentence. Robinson asked Gibbens to consider Frantzs lack of prior criminal history.

The defense attorney also asked Gibbens to consider Frantzs age and medical conditions that she previously has brought to the judges attention.

When given the opportunity to speak, Frantz argued there is a large amount of evidence pointing to a man as the shooter.

Frantz said she believes her husband had been asking for his wife instead of saying she had shot him. She argued that her husband had identified his son as the shooter.

"I am not guilty your honor," she said.

Frantz also accused the Leavenworth Police Department and the County Attorneys Office of misconduct in the case. She alleged they hid and changed evidence.

She also accused her previous attorneys of doing a bad job.

"I should not have to pay for my past attorneys failures," she said.

When imposing a life sentence, Gibbens said he took into consideration Frantzs health issues. But he also took into consideration the fact that a jury found Frantz guilty and that jurors determined the crime was premeditated.

Twitter: @LVTNewsJohnR

See more here:

Frantz sentenced to life in prison - Leavenworth Times

Fowler: A room at the bottom – Amarillo.com

John Boltons new book, "The Room Where it Happened," is a betrayal of the trust Donald Trump placed in him as an adviser and confident. The book in hardback copy sells for $32.50. Judas betrayed Christ for 30 pieces of silver and then hanged himself. I doubt that Bolton plans to hang himself, but he has already hanged himself figuratively, since neither Democrats nor Republicans seem to put much credence in the books veracity.

Without a doubt, the Democrats (Socialists) would have dearly loved to have had the book when they impeached the president. Indeed, it would have been an ideal complement to the fictions they created in their attempt to overthrow the president; however, it is doubtful that the testimony they may have received from Bolton would have been of much value. I suspect that he would have invoked the Fifth Amendment numerous times if he had been subpoenaed because to swear under oath that his testimony was true would have caused him to perjure himself, and he is too smart for that.

Instead, Bolton laid the groundwork for the future "landslide sales" of his tell-all accusations. If such were his intent, Im afraid that he misjudged this potential customers interest. I would much rather spend $32.50 for a more interesting book, such as a good biography or a good novel. However, to be candid, I havent read the book. My knowledge of its content is only that of TV interviews and various excerpts read by analysts. That is enough!

In many ways, Bolton is a tragic figure. His desperate attempt to justify his actions by insinuating that the country would be in much better shape if the president had followed his advice (mainly to go to war with our enemies) reveals a man who sees himself as a guru of extreme national importance, one who should be president instead of the present candidates. To emphasize his importance to the country, he will vote for neither Biden nor Trump and will instead write in a candidate having his conservative values (a never Trumper). We will never know, but I would wager that he will write his own name on the ballot.

One wonders why a man who once enjoyed the highest esteem among the conservative powers in Washington D.C., has chosen to cast that reputation aside. Some pundits surmise that Bolton was so disgruntled with Trumps failure to give him the political position which he coveted as well as Trumps failure to recognize his brilliance, in fact, even ignoring his advice, that he grumpily determined to make sure Trump would be discredited as a credible second-term president. Never mind the fact that Trump, although crudely at times, has already proved himself to be quite capable of running a country, a stark contrast to the previous administration which was more interested in transforming America than in governing it, an administration in which the present Democrat presidential candidate was an integral part.

Disgruntled people seldom approach their decisions with logic. (Note the present-day Democratic Socialists who believe that socialism is superior to capitalism as a national political philosophy notwithstanding all evidence to the contrary.) Accordingly, Bolton has emerged, not as a memorable figure who brought down a president, but as a comic figure who brought himself down instead. This book, then, has the elements of a true drama, containing both tragedy and comedy centered on its author.

I suppose in the grand scheme of things the book is appropriate for its time. If the book had been released during the grand inquisition of Trumps impeachment, and a Bolton subpoena to appear before the inquisition had been issued, the unverifiable events, verified only by statements, such as "In my opinion" and "It seemed to me" would have left more egg on the faces of Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, and Nancy Pelosi, all of whom had enough egg on their faces anyway from their impeachment debacle.

On the other hand, more egg on their faces would have been im-peachy. Sorry! That coined description is a whimsical joke, a bad joke at that, but appropriate, I think, in light of the new face of the Democrat Party whose only agenda is to destroy todays America and create a new one. As the leader of the Black Lives Matter movement in New York City told us, and I paraphrase: We are peaceful protesters, but if we dont get our way, we will burn down America. Now, that statement is a genuine political philosophy, a statement of anarchy, a devastating statement it is true; but, at least, it has more substance than did "The Room Where It Happened."

It is too bad that Bolton didnt close the door to the room when he left.

Carl Fowler is a retired professor of English at Amarillo College and lives in Amarillo

More here:

Fowler: A room at the bottom - Amarillo.com