Select Page ::

2 stocks that intend to just keep winning: National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA), The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (CAKE) – US Post News

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

The recent performance of National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) stock in the market spoke loud and clear to investors as NSA saw more than 366.04K shares in trading volumes in the last trading session, way higher than the average trading volume of 366.04K shares by far recorded in the movement of National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA). At the time the stock opened at the value of $34.97, making it a high for the given period, the value of the stock dropped by -2.32%. After the decrease, NSA touched a low price of $33.78, calling it a day with a closing price of $34.92, which means that the price of NSA went 34.11 below the opening price on the mentioned day.

Given the most recent momentum in the market in the price movement of NSA stock, some strong opinions on the matter of investing in the companys stock started to take shape, which is how analysts are predicting an estimated price of $34.13 for NSA within consensus. The estimated price would demand a set of gains in total of -162645.33%, which goes higher than the most recent closing price, indicating that the stock is in for bullish trends. Other indicators are hinting that the stock could reach an outstanding figure in the market share, which is currently set at 58.76M in the public float and 2.04B US dollars in market capitalization.

When it comes to the technical analysis of NSA stock, there are more than several important indicators on the companys success in the market, one of those being the Relative Strength Indicator (RSI), which can show, just as Stochastic measures, what is going on with the value of the stock beneath the data. This value may also indicate that the stock will go sideways rather than up or down, also indicating that the price could stay where it is for quite some time. When it comes to Stochastic reading, NSA stock are showing 79.89% in results, indicating that the stock is neither overbought or oversold at the moment, providing it with a neutral within Stochastic reading as well. Additionally, NSA with the present state of 200 MA appear to be indicating bullish trends within the movement of the stock in the market. While other metrics within the technical analysis are due to provide an outline into the value of NSA, the general sentiment in the market is inclined toward positive trends.

With the previous 100-day trading volume average of 808335 shares, The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (CAKE) recorded a trading volume of 585880 shares, as the stock started the trading session at the value of $42.01, in the end touching the price of $41.50 after dropping by -1.21%.

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (CAKE) surprised the market during the previous quarter closure with the last reports recording $0.59, compared to the consensus estimation that went to $0.54. The records showing the total in revenues marked the cap of +0.97%, which means that the revenues decreased by -43.49% since the previous quarterly report.

CAKE stock seem to be going ahead the lowest price in the last 52 weeks with the latest change of 15.82%.Then price of CAKE also went backward in oppose to its average movements recorded in the previous 20 days. The price volatility of CAKE stock during the period of the last months recorded 2.16%, whilst it changed for the week, now showing 2.01% of volatility in the last seven days. The trading distance for this period is set at -3.82% and is presently away from its moving average by -0.46% in the last 50 days. During the period of the last 5 days, CAKE stock lost around -2.95% of its value, now recording a dip by -4.98% reaching an average $43.65 in the period of the last 200 days.During the period of the last 12 months, The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (CAKE) dropped by -4.62%.

According to the Barcharts scale, the companys consensus rating was unchanged to 3.35 from 3.35, showing an overall improvement during the course of a single month. Based on the latest results, analysts are suggesting that the target price for CAKE stock should be $41.50 per share in the course of the next 12 months. To achieve the target price as suggested by analysts, CAKE should have a spike by 0% in oppose to its present value in the market. Additionally, the current price showcases a discount of 24.55% when compared to the high consensus price target predicted by analysts.

CAKE shares recorded a trading volume of 578353 shares, compared to the volume of 776.27K shares before the last close, presented as its trading average. With the approaching 2.01% during the last seven days, the volatility of CAKE stock remained at 2.16%. During the last trading session, the lost value that CAKE stock recorded was set at the price of $41.50, while the lowest value in the last 52 weeks was set at $35.83. The recovery of the stock in the market has notably added 15.82% of gains since its low value, also recording -3.62% in the period of the last 1 month.

Link:

2 stocks that intend to just keep winning: National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA), The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (CAKE) - US Post News

NSA Office working with police, INEC on polls – The Nation Newspaper

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

Our Reporter

The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) will continue to work with security agents to ensure violence-free elections, it said in a statement on Thursday.

We are working with law enforcement and security agencies involved in election security to identify gaps, strengthen our collective preparedness and ensure that future elections are safer and conducive. The statement added.

The office said following the meeting of the Inter-Agencies Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) held in Abuja. The Office of the National Security Adviser supports election security coordination, identify challenges and strengthen national capacity to ensure the safety of the electoral process.

It explained that the National Security Adviser Maj. Gen Babagana Munguno did not condemn the gubernatorial elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States and is not in any position to do so. There is no difference between the position of the Nigeria Police Force and the Office of the National Security Adviser on the recent polls. Both agencies have condemned the unfortunate death of Mrs Salome Abuh, in Kogi State.

The Nigeria Police has already made arrests and all security agencies are working to identify other perpetrators of election violence for prosecution. Neither the ICCES nor the Office of the National Security Adviser is in a position to pass verdict over the validity of gubernatorial elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States as some reports suggest.

Only the courts are empowered by law to determine issues arising from the conduct of the elections. The planning and management of the electoral process is a continuous undertaking and through the ICCES, we are identifying the challenges recorded in the recent polls and working with all stakeholders to ensure that the outcomes of future polls are improved.

Go here to read the rest:

NSA Office working with police, INEC on polls - The Nation Newspaper

The Inspector General’s Report on 2016 FBI Spying Reveals a Scandal of Historic Magnitude: Not Only for the FBI but Also the US Media – The Intercept

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

Just as was true when the Mueller investigation closed withouta single American being charged with criminally conspiring with Russia over the 2016 election, Wednesdaysissuance of the long-waited report from the Department of Justices Inspector General reveals that years of major claims and narratives from the U.S. media were utter frauds.

Before evaluating the media component of this scandal, the FBIs gross abuse of its power its serial deceit is sograve and manifest that it requires little effort to demonstrate it. In sum, the IG Report documents multiple instances in which the FBI in order to convince a FISA court to allow it spy on former Trump campaign operative Carter Page during the 2016 election manipulated documents, concealed crucial exonerating evidence, and touted what it knew were unreliable if not outright false claims.

If you dont consider FBI lying, concealment of evidence, and manipulation of documents in order to spy on a U.S. citizen in the middle of a presidential campaign to be a major scandal, what is? But none of this is aberrational: the FBI stillhas its headquarters in a building named after J. Edgar Hoover who constantly blackmailed elected officials with dossiers and tried to blackmail Martin Luther King into killing himself because thats what these security state agencies are. They are out-of-control, virtually unlimited police state factions that lie, abuse their spying and law enforcement powers, and subvert democracy and civic and political freedomsas a matter of course.

In this case, no rational person should allow standard partisan bickering to distort or hide this severe FBI corruption. The IG Report leaves no doubt about it. Its brimming with proof of FBI subterfuge and deceit, all in service of persuading a FISA court of something that was not true: that U.S. citizen and former Trump campaign official Carter Page was an agent of the Russian government and therefore needed to have his communications surveilled.

Just a few excerpts from the report should suffice to end any debate for rational persons about how damning it is. The focus of the first part of the IG Report was on the warrants obtained by the DOJ, at the behest of the FBI, to spy on Carter Page on the grounds that there was probable cause to believe he was an agent of the Russian government. That Page was a Kremlin agent was a widely disseminated media claim typically asserted as fact even though it had no evidence. As a result of this media narrative, the Mueller investigation examined these widespread accusations yet concluded that the investigation did not establish that Page coordinated with the Russian government in its efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.

The IG Report went much further, documenting a multitude of lies and misrepresentations by the FBI to deceive the FISA court into believing that probable cause existed to believe Page was a Kremlin agent. The first FISA warrant to spy on Page was obtained during the 2016 election, after Page had left the Trump campaign but weeks before the election was to be held.

About the warrant application submitted regarding Page, the IG Report, in its own words, found that FBI personnel fell far short of the requirement in FBI policy that they ensure that all factual statements in a FISA application are scrupulously accurate.' Specifically, we identified multiple instances in which factual assertions relied upon in the first FISA application were inaccurate, incomplete, or unsupported by appropriate documentation, based upon information the FBI had in its possession at the time the application was filed.

Its vital to reiterate this because of its gravity:we identified multiple instances in which factual assertions relied upon in the first FISA application were inaccurate, incomplete, or unsupported by appropriate documentation, based upon information the FBI had in its possession at the time the application was filed.

The specifics cited by the IG Report are even more damning. Specifically, based upon the information known to the FBI in October 2016, the first application contained []seven significant inaccuracies and omissions. Among those significant inaccuracies and omissions: the FBI concealed that Page had been working with the CIA in connection with his dealings with Russia and had notified CIA case managers of at least some of those contacts after he was approved as an operational contact' with Russia; the FBI lied about both the timing and substance of Pages relationship with the CIA; vastly overstated the value and corroboration of Steeles prior work for the U.S. Government to make him appear more credible than he was; and concealed from the court serious reasons to doubt the reliability of Steeles key source.

Moreover, the FBIs heavy reliance on the Steele Dossier to obtain the FISA warrant a fact that many leading national security reporters spent two years denying occurred was particularly concerning because, as the IG Report put it, we found that the FBI did not have information corroborating the specific allegations against Carter Page in Steeles reporting when it relied upon his reports in the first FISA application or subsequent renewal applications.

To spy on a U.S. citizen in the middle of an election, one who had just been working with one of the two major presidential campaigns, the FBI touted a gossipy, unverified, unreliable rag that it had no reason to believe and every reason to distrust, but it hid all of that from the FISA court, which it knew needed to believe that the Steele Dossier was something it was not if it were to give the FBI the spying authorization it wanted.

In 2017, the FBI decided to seek reauthorization of the FISA warrant to continue to spy on Page, and sought and obtained it three times: in January, April and June, 2017. Not only, according to the IG Report, did the FBI repeat all of those seven significant inaccuracies and omission, but added ten additional major inaccuracies. As the Report put it: In addition to repeating the seven significant errors contained in the first FISA application and outlined above, we identified 10 additionalsignificant errors in the three renewal applications, based upon information known to the FBI after the first application and before one or more of the renewals.

Among the most significant new acts of deceit was that the FBI omitted the fact that Steeles Primary Subsource, who the FBI found credible, had made statements in January 2017 raising significant questions about the reliability of allegations included in the FISA applications, including, for example, that he/she did not recall any discussion with Person 1 concerning Wikileaks and there was nothing bad about the communications between the Kremlin and the Trump team, and that he/she did not report to Steele in July 2016 that Page had met with Sechin.

In other words, Steeles own key source told the FBI that Steele was lying about what the source said: an obviously critical fact that the FBIsimply concealed from the FISA court because it knew how devastating that would be to being able to continue to spy on Page.As the Report put it, among the most serious of the 10 additional errors we found in the renewal applications was the FBIs failure to advise[DOJ] or the court of the inconsistences, described in detail in Chapter Six, between Steele and his Primary Sub-source on the reporting relied upon in the FISA applications.

The IG Report also found that the FBI hid key information from the court about Steeles motives: for instance, it omitted information obtained from [Bruce] Ohr about Steele and his election reporting, including that (1) Steeles reporting was going to Clintons presidential campaign and others, (2) [Fusion GPSs Glenn] Simpson was paying Steele to discuss his reporting with the media, and (3) Steele was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being the U.S. President.

If it does not bother you to learn that the FBI repeatedly and deliberately deceived the FISA court into granting it permission to spy on a U.S. citizen in the middle of a presidential campaign, then it is virtually certain that you are either someone with no principles, someone who cares only about partisan advantage and nothing about basic civil liberties and the rule of law, or both. There is simply no way for anyone of good faith to read this IG Report and reach any conclusion other than that this is yet another instance of the FBI abusing its power in severe ways to subvert and undermine U.S. democracy. If you dont care about that, what do you care about?

* * * * *

But the revelations of the IG Report are not merely a massive FBI scandal. They are also a massive media scandal, becausethey reveal that so much of what the U.S. media has authoritatively claimed about all of these matters for more than two years is completely false.

Ever since Trumps inauguration, a handful of commentators and journalists Im included among them have been sounding the alarm about the highly dangerous trend of news outlets not merely repeating the mistake of the Iraq War by blindly relying on the claims of security state agents but, far worse, now employing them in their newsrooms to shape the news. As Politicos media writer Jack Shafer wrote in 2018, in an article entitled The Spies Who Came Into the TV Studio:

In the old days, Americas top spies would complete their tenures at the CIA or one of the other Washington puzzle palaces and segue to more ordinary pursuits. Somewrotetheirmemoirs. One ran forpresident. Anotherdieda few months after surrendering his post. But todays national-security establishment retiree has a different game plan. After so many years of brawling in the shadows, he yearns for a second, lucrative career in the public eye. He takes a crash course in speaking in soundbites, refreshes his wardrobe and signs a TV news contract. Then, several times a week, waits for a network limousine to shuttle him to the broadcast news studios where, after a light dusting of foundation and a spritz of hairspray, he takes a supporting role in the anchors nighttime shows. . . .

[T]he downside of outsourcing national security coverage to the TV spies is obvious. They arent in the business of breaking news or uncovering secrets. Their first loyaltyand this is no slamis to the agency from which they hail. Imagine a TV network covering the auto industry through the eyes of dozens of paid former auto executives and you begin to appreciate the current peculiarities.

In a perfect television world, the networks would retire the retired spooks from their payrolls and reallocate those sums to the hiring of independent reporters to cover the national security beat. Let the TV spies become unpaid anonymous sources because when you get down to it, TV spies dont want to make newsthey just want to talk about it.

Its long been the case that CIA, FBI and NSA operatives tried to infiltrate and shape domestic news, but they at least had the decency to do it clandestinely. In 2008, the New York Times David Barstow won the Pulitzer Prize for exposing a secret Pentagon program in which retired Generals and other security state agents would get hired as commentators and analysts and then unbeknownst to their networks coordinate their messaging to ensure that domestic news was being shaped by the propaganda of the military and intelligence communities.

But now its all out in the open. Its virtually impossible to turn on MSNBC or CNN without being bombarded with former Generals, CIA operatives, FBI agents and NSA officials who now work for those networks as commentators and, increasingly, asreporters.

The past three years of Russiagate reporting for which U.S. journalists have lavished themselves with Pulitzers and other prizes despite a multitude of embarrassing and dangerous errors about the Grave Russian Threat has relied almost exclusively on anonymous, uncorroborated claims from Deep State operatives (and yes, thats a term that fully applies to the U.S.). The few exceptions are when these networks feature former high-level security state operatives on camera to spread their false propaganda, as in this enduringly humiliating instance:

All of this has meant that U.S. discourse on these national security questions is shaped almost entirely by the very agencies that are trained to lie: the CIA, the NSA, the Pentagon, the FBI. And their lying has been highly effective.

For years, we were told by the nations leading national security reporters something that was blatantly false: that the FBIs warrants to spy on Carter Page were not based on the Steele Dossier. GOP Congressman Devin Nunes was widely vilified and mocked by the super-smart DC national security reporters for issuing a report claiming that this was the case. The Nunes memo in essence claimed what the IG Report has corroborated: that embedded within the FBIs efforts to obtain FISA court authorization to spy on Carter Page was a series of misrepresentations, falsehoods and concealment of key evidence:

As the Rolling Stones Matt Taibbi one of the few left/liberal journalists with the courage and integrity to dissent from the DNC/MSNBC script on these issues put it in a detailed article: Democrats are not going to want to hear this, since conventional wisdom says former House Intelligence chief Devin Nunes is a conspiratorial evildoer, but the Horowitz report ratifies the major claims of the infamous Nunes memo.

That the Page warrant was based on the Steele Dossier was something that the media servants of the FBI and CIA rushed to deny. Did they have any evidence for those denials? That would be hard to believe, given that the FISA warrant applications are highly classified. It seems far more likely that as usual they were just repeating what the FBI and CIA (and the pathologically dishonest Rep. Adam Schiff) told them to say, like the good and loyal puppets that they are. But either way, what they kept telling the public in highly definitive tones was completely false, as we now know from the IG Report:

Over and over, the IG Report makes clear that, contrary to these denials, the Steele Dossier was indeed crucial to the Page eavesdropping warrant. We determined that the Crossfire Hurricane teams receipt of Steeles election reporting on September 19, 2016 played a central and essential role in the FBIs and Departments decision to seek the FISA order, the IG Report explained.A central and essential role.

It added: in support of the fourth element in the FISA application-Carter Pages alleged coordination with the Russian government on 2016 U.S. presidential election activities, the application relied entirely on the following information from Steele Reports 80, 94, 95, and 102.

Just compare the pompous denials from so many U.S. national security reporters at the nations leading news outlets that the Page warrant was not based on the Steele Dossier to the actual truth that we now know:in support of the fourth element in the FISA application-Carter Pages alleged coordination with the Russian government on 2016 U.S. presidential election activities, the application relied entirely on the following information from Steele Reports 80, 94, 95, and 102 (emphasis added).

Indeed, it was the Steele Dossier that led FBI leadership, including Director James Comey and Deputy Diretor Andrew McCabe, to approve the warrant application in the first place despite concerns raised by other agents that the information was unreliable. Explains the IG Report:

FBI leadership supported relying on Steeles reporting to seek a FISA order on Page after being advised of, and giving consideration to, concerns expressed by Stuart Evans, then NSDs Deputy Assistant Attorney General with oversight responsibility over QI, that Steele may have been hired by someone associated with presidential candidate Clinton or the DNC, and that the foreign intelligence to be collected through the FISA order would probably not be worth the risk of being criticized later for collecting communications of someone (Carter Page) who was politically sensitive.

The narrative manufactured by the security state agencies and laundered by their reliable media servants about these critical matters was a sham, a fraud, a lie. Yet again, U.S. discourse was subsumed by propaganda because the U.S. media and key parts of the security state have decided that subverting the Trump presidency is of such a high priority that their political judgment outweighs the results of the election that everything, including outright lying even to courts let alone the public, is justified because the ends are so noble.

As Taibbi put it: No matter what people think the political meaning of the Horowitz report might be, reporters who read it will know: Anybody who touched this nonsense in print should be embarrassed. No matter how dangerous you believe the Trump presidency to be, this is a grave threat to the pillars of U.S. democracy, a free press, an informed citizenry and the rule of law.

* * * * *

Underlying all of this is another major lie spun over the last three years by the newly-minted media stars and liberal icons from the security state agencies. Ever since the Snowden reporting indeed, prior to that, when the New York Times Eric Lichtblau and Jim Risen (now with the Intercept)revealed in 2005 that the Bush-era NSAwas illegally spying on U.S. citizens without the warrants required by law it was widely understood that the FISA process was a rubber-stamping joke, an illusory safeguard that, in reality, offered no real limits on the ability of the U.S. Government to spy on its own citizens. Back in 2013 at the Guardian, I wrote a long article, based on Snowden documents, revealing what an empty sham this process was.

Sites like Lawfare led by Comey-friend Benjamin Wittes and ex-NSA lawyer Susan Hennessey became Twitter and cable news stars and used their platform to resuscitate what had been a long-discredited lie: namely, that the FISA process is highly rigorous and that the potential for abuse is very low. Liberals, eager to believe that the security state agencies opposed to Trump should be trusted despite their decades of violent lawlessness and systemic lying, came to believe in the sanctity of the NSA and the FISA process.

The IG Report obliterates that carefully cultivated delusion. It lays bare what a sham the whole FISA process is, how easy it is for the NSA and the FBI to obtain from the FISA court whatever authorization it wants to spy on anyAmericans they want regardless of how flimsy is the justification. The ACLU and other civil libertarians had spent years finally getting people to realize this truth, but it was wiped out by the Trump-era veneration of these security state agencies.

In an excellent article on the fallout from the IG Report, the New York Times Charlie Savage, long one of the leading journalistic experts on these debates, makes clear how devastating these revelations are to this concocted narrative designed to lead Americans to trust the FBI and NSAs eavesdropping authorities:

At more than 400 pages, the study amounted to the most searching look ever at the governments secretive system for carrying out national-security surveillance on American soil. And what the report showed was not pretty.

The Justice Departments independent inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, and his team uncovered a staggeringly dysfunctional and error-ridden process in how the F.B.I. went about obtaining and renewing court permission under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser.

The litany of problems with the Carter Page surveillance applications demonstrates how the secrecy shrouding the governments one-sided FISA approval process breeds abuse, said Hina Shamsi, the director of the American Civil Liberties Unions National Security Project. The concerns the inspector general identifies apply to intrusive investigations of others, including especially Muslims, and far better safeguards against abuse are necessary.

His expos left some former officials who generally defend government surveillance practices aghast.

These errors are bad, said David Kris, an expert in FISA who oversaw the Justice Departments National Security Division in the Obama administration. If the broader audit of FISA applications reveals a systematic pattern of errors of this sort that plagued this one, then I would expect very serious consequences and reforms.

Civil libertarians for years have called the surveillance court a rubber stamp because it only rarely rejects wiretap applications. Out of 1,080 requests by the government in 2018, for example,government recordsshowed that the court fully denied only one.

Defenders of the system have argued that the low rejection rate stems in part from how well the Justice Department self-polices and avoids presenting the court with requests that fall short of the legal standard. They have also stressed that officials obey a heightened duty to be candid and provide any mitigating evidence that might undercut their request. . . .

But the inspector general found major errors, material omissions and unsupported statements about Mr. Page in the materials that went to the court. F.B.I. agents cherry-picked the evidence, telling the Justice Department information that made Mr. Page look suspicious and omitting material that cut the other way, and the department passed that misleading portrait onto the court.

This system of unlimited domestic spying was built by both parties, which only rouse themselves to object when the power lies in the other sides hands. Just last year, the vast majority of the GOP caucus joined with a minority of Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schifftohand President Trump all-new domestic spying powers while blocking crucial reforms and safeguards to prevent abuse. The spying machinery that Edward Snowden risked his life and liberty to expose always has been, and still is, a bipartisan creation.

Perhaps these revelations will finally lead to a realization about how rogue, and dangerous, these police state agencies have become, and how urgently needed is serious reform. But if nothing else, it must serve as a tonic to the three years of unrelenting media propaganda that has deceived and misled millions of Americans into believing things that are simply untrue.

None of these journalists have acknowledged an iota of error in the wake of this report because they know that lying is not just permitted but encouraged as long as it pleases and vindicates the political beliefs of their audiences. Until that stops, credibility and faith in journalism will never be restored, and despite how toxic it is to have a media that has no claim on credibility that despised status will be fully deserved.

Read this article:

The Inspector General's Report on 2016 FBI Spying Reveals a Scandal of Historic Magnitude: Not Only for the FBI but Also the US Media - The Intercept

Permanent Record: Snowden reveals why he blew the whistle on Big Brother – Daily Maverick

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

At the heart of Daily Mavericks newsroom, a State Security Agency fly on the wall might be surprised to hear the following statement:

I dont care who taps my phone, I dont have anything on there.

That is not to say that Daily Maverick has a blas approach to sensitive information, quite the opposite. The journalists who worked on the Gupta Leaks were all given air-gapped machines that had never touched the internet, as well as strict instructions to immediately toss said machines out the window if SSA agents came knocking.

While the organisation itself is committed to protecting information by any means necessary, as journalists we can also be a pessimistic bunch. We know with relative certainty that the NSA is still monitoring Americans, that the GCHQ is watching over the British, and that Facebook and Google are keeping tabs on everyone.

And so, I dont have anything on there is more of an understanding that we, as everyday citizens of the world wide web, do not have the capacity to prevent governments and corporations from mining our data, than a flippant lack of regard for the privacy of our sources as journalists. It is an acknowledgement that to keep anything valuable on ones phone is to give everyone access to it.

In his biography, Permanent Record, both loved and hated NSA mass surveillance whistle-blower Edward Snowden explains exactly why the fear of ones information being collected is completely rational.

Snowden reveals the workings behind his decision to equip Americans, and the rest of the world, with the knowledge that they were being watched. In so doing, he gave citizens the power to start challenging governments and corporations control of their data.

Snowden details how he transitioned from growing up in a military household and joining the NSA as a consultant, to blowing the whistle on one of the USs biggest secrets.

Growing up in a military household, Snowden describes his familys first computer as his second sibling and his first love. He set back his family clocks so he could spend more time online, and gamed the school system by figuring out he could pass a class without handing in any homework.

Living in the shadow of NSA headquarters in Maryland, Snowden felt the shock of September 11 2001 intimately. His response was to join the army, but he was invalided out of service following a bad fall. He then became a consultant for the NSA, being granted top-level clearance.

As Snowden describes it, The geek inherited the world.

Through Permanent Record we see he had hoped to serve his country, but found himself working for it instead. This, he says, was not a trivial distinction.

In the preface to his 340-page biography, Snowden aptly explains his experience after being granted unlimited access to the USs secret service.

Deep in a tunnel under a pineapple field a subterranean Pearl Harbor-era former airplane factory I sat at a terminal from which I had practically unlimited access to the communications of nearly every man, woman and child on earth whod ever dialed a phone or touched a computer. Among those were about 320 million of my fellow American citizens, who in the regular conduct of their everyday lives were surveilled in a gross contravention of not just the Constitution of the United States, but the basic values of any free society.

Permanent Record appears to be Snowdens attempt to absolve himself not only of his involvement in the agencies that created the USs mass surveillance economy, but also for his revelation of state secrets to the public.

Immediately after the release of the biography, the Justice Department sued Snowden for violating a non-disclosure agreement he signed with both the CIA and NSA. Snowden is still in exile in Moscow, Russia. Should he return to the US he will face two counts of violating the Espionage Act, as well as stealing government property.

Following 9/11, the US intelligence services jumped to comply with the order of never again. Snowden revealed to the world what never again truly meant for the US public. Whether he should be prosecuted for what he did is up to the reader, although if Donald Trump would have his way Snowden would be executed.

But did his revelation change anything? In 2016/17 the European Union implemented its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), giving citizens more power over their data, while the Investigatory Powers Act in the UK grants a commissioner the power of oversight of the British intelligence agencies.

Our data is still not safe, but we are more aware of the fact that somewhere, in some deep dark recess filled with government hard drives, there is likely to be a video of you using your phone camera to pick food out of your teeth. DM

Please note you must be a Maverick Insider to comment. Sign up here or if you are already an Insider.

Go here to see the original:

Permanent Record: Snowden reveals why he blew the whistle on Big Brother - Daily Maverick

Curly tails, happy pigs and gut health in Pig Progress 10 – Pig Progress

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

The latest edition of Pig Progress is now available online. Between the covers of this edition we look at ways to curb tail biting, a feed additive for happier pigs, and amino acids for gut health.

With the rapid development of pig herd performance over recent decades, it is not uncommon that upwards of 30 piglets are weaned per sow per year. Dr Klausing looks at feeding strategies and feed composition in light of this level of production on pages 6-8.

Only sows that have been specifically fed for their condition are able to produce enough nutritious milk from the very beginning. Photo: Ronald Hissink

Ideally, conventional pig producers must identify a tail-biting problem as early on as possible. In this article on pages 14-16 we understand what to look out for, and what to do about it.

Providing a distraction to a group of pigs is key. It is important to change the type of distraction regularly to keep the pigs interest. Photo: J-Y. Chou

Continuing the subject of tail biting on pages 20-22, in Finland, where tail cutting was banned in 2003, pig producers have shown excellent results of reduced tail biting through optimal feeding conditions.

Straw is given as an additional safeguard against tail biting. Photo: Henk Riswick

According to Russian scientists, the incidence of depression amongst pigs has seen an increase over recent decades. We look at a new feed additive on pages 12-13 that aims to help pigs to combat stress.

Russian scientists have tested a feed additive designed to make pigs happier. Photo: Vladislav Vorotnikov

Piglet gut health takes the limelight as producers are required to reduce the use of antibiotics and zinc oxide whilst maintaining performance. Reducing dietary protein content is an important factor in reducing gut disorders, but we also need to reconsider the way that amino acid nutrition in diet formulation is addressed. Pages 10-11.

A lower supply of dietary protein reduces protein microbial fermentation thereby preventing the development of pathogenic bacteria. Photo: Ajinomoto

Feed intake is dramatically affected by the space given to pigs. It is essential that pigs eat immediately after weaning, and so the need to ensure that pigs have the space to mimic the feeding and drinking behaviour of pen-mates should not be underestimated. Pages 24-25.

Researcher Dr Lindvall has shown that moderate overstocking depresses growth rate and feed intake in the learning phase immediately post weaning. Photo: Henk Riswick.

When an order of pig feed arrives at the farm, producers can access key ingredient data and make calculations quickly and easily with NutriOpt. This goes a long way in helping producers to maximise profits. Pages 26-27.

A smart feed simulation programme eliminates guesswork. Photo: Bart Nijs

A 3-pronged approach in the fight against post-weaning diarrhoea includes the use of undigestible fibre and inflammation biomarkers, as well as adhering to a total health plan. Pages 28-29.

Nutrition should be integrated into an overall health strategy. Photo: Gwenael Saliou

It is becoming clear that zinc cannot be replaced by a single product and that a combination of strategies is needed. Page 31-32.

Not only is zinc involved in protein synthesis and carbohydrate metabolism, but it is also important for skin and wound healing. Photo: Framelco

In the first of a 2-part series, columnist John Gadd discusses mastitis, metritis and agalactia as well as farrowing stress in pigs on page 17.

To view these articles and other editions of Pig Progress online, simply click on the digital magazine section and then on Pig Progress 2019-10 to view this edition. Registration is free.

Continue reading here:

Curly tails, happy pigs and gut health in Pig Progress 10 - Pig Progress

Crime in Progress Tells the Story Behind the Steele Dossier – The New York Times

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

Another line of inquiry into Trumps business deals unearthed a flow of Russian money into his projects, what Fritsch once called a tour de sleaze. Needing a clearer sense of what was happening inside Russia itself, where public records were hard to come by, Fusion reached out to Steele.

The authors chronicle how Steele became so alarmed by what his sources were telling him that he asked Fusions permission to share his raw intelligence notes with the F.B.I. and, later, an adviser to Sen. John McCain.

Steele, Simpson and Fritsch started talking on deep background to journalists, too, though the authors say they took care not to share the dossier with the media before the election, and were furious when BuzzFeed posted the document in January 2017, 10 days before President Trumps inauguration. (They show little love for The Times and its 2016 election coverage, either.) This timeline, they repeatedly argue, is key: Republicans have tried to portray the dossier as a hoax or a dirty trick designed to prejudice the electorate, but how could it have swayed voters if it was kept hidden before the vote?

Simpson and Fritsch are able guides to a byzantine world; their presentation is methodical, almost lawyerly, which isnt as bad as it sounds. When reading a story full of weird financial transactions, narratives and counternarratives, its helpful to have everything laid out as plainly as possible even if the layers of chicanery are sometimes so densely packed that their syntax gets squeezed into ugly shapes. The story described how a former senator from Putins political party who had gone on to run the Central Bank of the Russian Federation was the subject of an investigation in Spain into money laundering by a Russian organized crime syndicate called the Taganskaya Gang, they write, describing a news article; its a sentence only the most grimly determined reader could love.

Simpson and Fritsch try to address conservative conspiracy theorists head on, devoting an entire chapter to their work with a Russian real-estate company named Prevezon and its lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya who, unbeknownst to Fusion at the time, arranged a notorious meeting with the Trump campaign. For a couple of guys who spent their careers investigating how money can shape incentives, or at least appear to, they seemed for a while either defensive or nave when it came to the murkier aspects of their own business model.

Fusions conservative critics doubtless wont be placated by this book, even though the authors say that those critics were ultimately what made the book possible. Only when Republican members of Congress forced Fusion to provide documents and testimony in an attempt to ferret out a vast left-wing conspiracy were Simpson and Fritsch freed to write about interactions they would have otherwise been contractually obligated to keep confidential.

Its a nice bit of irony in a book that reads like a morality tale about unintended consequences. As Simpson told congressional investigators back in 2017: We threw a line in the water and Moby Dick came back.

Read the original:

Crime in Progress Tells the Story Behind the Steele Dossier - The New York Times

H.S. hockey notebook: Discipline a work in progress early in the season – Lewiston Sun Journal

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

Theres obvious excitement at the start of any new sports season, but where theres an influx of exuberance there often times can also be a lack of discipline.

That can spell disaster in hockey, where discipline can be the difference between winning and losing.

Just in the first week of the season, that difference was felt by a few teams, and one team even experienced both sides.

St. Dominic Academy has been burned by opposing power plays twice in its first two games, but only one of those was a loss. The Saints survived three power-play goals in their opener against South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete, butcouldnt do the same while giving up three more to Falmouth.

Its a tough lesson weve had (in) both our games, first-year Saints head coach DanDAuteuilsaid after the loss to Falmouth on Wednesday.

I think its not enough discipline, he added. I think theyve been a little selfish, taking the slashing penalty or macho trying to run somebody, and just not realizing that it puts us down. We skated earlier this week because of it and were probably going to skate some more tomorrow. At some point they got to figure it out.

Mt. Ararat/Lisbon/Morse coach A.J. Kavanaugh called his teams play undisciplined in a 1-0 season-opening loss to Poland/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Gray-New Gloucester on Saturday. The Eagles went on the penalty kill five times, and while they didnt allow a goal down a man, they also couldnt find any offense themselves.

We just spent too much time in our own end because of the man-advantages, Kavanaugh said.

Capital Region was one team that did survive giving up a plethora of power plays, holding the PLOG Kings scoreless despite five man-advantages on Wednesday. Hawks coach Jack Rioux admitted hed rather his team not be shorthanded for as long as they were, but called the penalty kill flawless.

PRIOR POUNDINGS HELP HAWKS

Heading into Wednesdays opener forCapital Region (Maranacook/Winthrop/Madison/Spruce Mountain/Lawrence), the program was used to seeing a high number of shots.

The season opener against the Kings was no different as Thomas Thornton saw 30 shots. There was no panic in the Hawks, as they appeared to know what they were doing in the 1-0 win.

Our (defense) is really solid, Rioux said. This year we have the maturity that we didnt have previously because we have been (a team that sees a lot of shots against) for so long, we know how to play defense now. Now we need to put more offense on the board.

Wednesdays win was led by Thornton, who made 30 saves, and the past three years he had been sitting behind goalie Will Hays, who was outstanding in goal for the Hawks. Thornton didnt look like he was just making his second career varsity start.

He had one last year and following Will Hays, he has some big skates to fill, but he did an excellent job tonight, Rioux said. I couldnt ask more from him, his vision was great, he was tracking (the puck), theres not much there to fix.

Rioux said after Thorntons starting debut last year also against the Kings that it wasmy job is to get him ready for that fornextyear. Thornton certainly looked ready Wednesday.

A NEW SAINTS STAR?

After graduating last years Becky Schaffer Award winner, AveryLutrzykowski, the St. Domsgirlshockey team had a large void to fill in the scoring department.

Its only been three games, but Madi Pelletier has shown a flash of star potential.

The Gray-New Gloucester junior, who spent her first two seasons as part of a co-op with Greely, already has five goals and two assists. Her and the Saints were shut out in their season opener, but Pelletier scored a pair in a win over Yarmouth/Freeport, then tallied a hat trick and assisted on two other goals in a victory over Falmouth.

Saints coach Paul Gosselin called Pelletier a good, strong player.

Just getting her to play to her strengths and its working well, he added.

Invalid username/password.

Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

A disappointing progress report on diversity and inclusion – strategy+business Today

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

Diversity, Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Business

by Pamela Newkirk, Bold Type Books, 2019

Racial and ethnic minorities make up 38.8 percent of the population of the U.S. and a nearly equivalent share of its workforce. But minorities represent only 17 percent of full-time university professors and 16.6 percent of newsroom journalists. They are only 4.5 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs and 16 percent of Fortune 500 boardroom directors. They are 9 percent of law firm partners; 16 percent of museum curators, conservators, educators, and leaders; 13 percent of film directors; and 6 percent of the voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

These discrepancies havent gone unnoticed, but they also havent been effectively addressed. During more than three decades of my professional life, diversity has been a national preoccupation, writes journalist and New York University professor Pamela Newkirk in the second paragraph of the preface to her book Diversity, Inc. Yet despite decades of handwringing, costly initiatives, and uncomfortable conversations, progress in most elite American institutions has been negligible.

Newkirk devotes most of Diversity, Inc., which is heavily focused on racial inequality, and particularly, discrimination against African-Americans, to demonstrating this dismaying reality through a sometimes tangled mix of factoids and anecdotes drawn from the arenas of academia, media, and business. The bigger stories that emerge are all variations on the same theme: The lack of progress by minorities in Americas elite institutions is a function of a political and societal arc that has stretched across a half a century.

It begins in the mid-1960s, when, just years after the infrastructure of segregation had started to be dismantled, President Lyndon Johnson kicked off his Great Society initiative, which, in part, aimed to right the wrongs committed over centuries of racial and ethnic injustice. Deploying an impressive combination of social programs, regulations, and legislation, Johnson sought to provide equal educational and economic opportunities to minorities. It worked for a while: People of color got access to educations and jobs that were previously denied to them.

Twenty years later, Newkirk reports, conservative politicians, with the support of President Ronald Reagan, began attacking the Great Society as an entitlement that the richest nation in the world could no longer afford. They cut program funding and gnawed away at regulations and legislation under the guise of correcting reverse discrimination. The progress by minorities stalled. (Only recently, a decade after additional setbacks in the Great Recession, have some small gains resumed.)

Meanwhile, the corporate demand for diversity and inclusion (D&I) is booming, according to Newkirk. In 2003, an MIT professor estimated that companies were spending US$8 billion annually on diversity efforts. In March 2018, a job site reported that postings for D&I positions had risen 35 percent in the previous two years. In 2019, 234 of the companies in the S&P 500 had diversity professionals 63 percent of whom had been appointed or promoted to their roles in the previous three years. Universities such as Tufts, Cornell, and Georgetown are offering certificate and degree programs in D&I, even as minorities are significantly underrepresented on their faculties. In 2014 and 2015, Google spent $264 million on its diversity programs; yet, in 2019, black employees were only 3.3 percent of the companys workforce and 2.6 percent of its leadership. And so on.

The convoluted raft of facts that Newkirk constructs to indict the D&I industry in the final chapter of Diversity, Inc. barely floats, but she is right. A stroll down the corridors of power in corporate America is all the proof we need: The denizens are slightly more diverse now than in the early 1980s, but they are nowhere near as diverse as the workers in the nations call centers, warehouses, and retail shops, or as the customers they serve.

The convoluted raft of facts that Newkirk constructs to indict the D&I industry in the final chapter of Diversity, Inc. barely floats, but she is right.

Assuming that the will to do something more than admire this problem can be mustered within nondiverse leadership teams (and by no means should that be considered a given), what should that something more be? Newkirk offers a few hints in two chapter-length cases that embody the books shaky prescriptive content: one involves the Coca-Cola Company, the other the National Football League.

The former case dates back to 2000 and a high-profile class-action lawsuit that resulted in Coca-Cola paying a $192.5 million settlement for racial discrimination the largest such settlement in legal history. (The median pay for African-American employees at Coca-Cola was $36,596; for white employees, it was $65,531.) In addition, the company agreed to become the gold standard for diversity in the corporate world. To ensure accountability, a seven-member task force was appointed to oversee Coca-Colas efforts to address endemic racism with a program of systemic and cultural transformation. Over the next four years, explains Newkirk, the climate and composition of Coca-Colas workplace began to change, first gradually, as the task force nudged and sometimes dragged the company into compliance with the court agreement.

The diversity effort really took off with the 2004 appointment of E. Neville Isdell as chairman and CEO. Isdell, who was born in Northern Ireland but grew up in Zambia and spent the first part of his career working for Coca-Cola in Africa, drove the initiative until his retirement in 2008, and then his second-in-command, Muhtar Kent, the U.S.-born son of a Turkish diplomat, picked up the reins until 2017. By 2019, the attention of these two CEOs for 13 years (and James Quincey, CEO since 2017) had driven the minority composition of Coca-Colas 727-member leadership team up to 24.3 percent although that is still not representative of the U.S. population at large or the companys U.S. workforce, which is 32.3 percent minority. The lesson: D&I transformations require committed and long-term leadership from the top.

The National Football League case dates back to 2002, when two African-American head coaches (of five in the 80-year history of the league) were fired in two weeks, leaving just one African-American head coach in a league in which 67 percent of the players were African-American. This prompted civil rights lawyers Cyrus Mehri and Johnnie Cochran, Jr., to commission an analysis of the performance of NFL head coaches. It revealed that African-American coaches, as a group, outperformed white coaches but were consistently passed over for the job. The result was the Rooney Rule, named after former Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, which required that NFL teams interview at least one candidate of color before hiring a new head coach.

Since the rule was adopted, reports Newkirk, the percentage of black and other coaches of color rose from 6 percent or two coaches to a high of 25 percent or eight coaches during a single season. But the Rooney Rules record is spotty at best. In early 2019, for example, seven of eight open head coach openings were filled by white coaches. The lesson: Compliance may jumpstart D&I efforts, but it isnt enough to power them over the long run.

In the end, racial diversity will not be ushered in by pledges, slogans, or well-compensated czars, concludes Newkirk. Yes, change will require resources and resolve, but no amount of money, no degree of effort, will succeed alongside a willful negation of our shared humanity. More than 50 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbade job discrimination, a remedy continues to elude us.

See the original post here:

A disappointing progress report on diversity and inclusion - strategy+business Today

I-74 crews make progress on the bridge arches – WQAD Moline

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

MOLINE, ILLINOIS -- Delayed construction on the new I-74 bridge could mean a new detour for drivers coming into Illinois.The project manager, George Ryan, says the change will keep the bridge on time and on budget. Ryan also says crews are making progress on the arches.

"We are making great progress on the arch," Ryan said. "The arch is a very difficult build, very complicated build, and it takes a lot of time and effort to make sure it's right."

But the difficulty isn't stopping crews. They've laid down the first strut. The strut connects the sides of the arch.

"We've set some pieces," Ryan said. "We're just finishing setting on of the struts that goes between the arches on the Iowa side, and then they will run over and set the strutt on the Illinois side."

Ryan says setting the struts means the arch alignment is good.

"The rumors that they were off substaintly were never true," Ryan said. "Part of the reason that it takes so long to construct the arch is because we are surveying each section of that arch and the contractor is steering it, to make sure we're where we need to be."

The arch is set to be closed in Spring 2020. Then, crews will begin construction on the next arch.

"We wont be able to start on the eastbound arch until we finish the westbound arch," Ryan said.

The Iowa bound bridge was expected to be done by the end of this year, but Ryan says it is now set to be done in 2020.

41.506700-90.515134

See the rest here:

I-74 crews make progress on the bridge arches - WQAD Moline

Progress by Jets has been in short supply – Newsday

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

BALTIMORE John Harbaugh is the coach of the AFCs best team and maybe the best in the NFL. But he couldnt have been more complimentary about the Jets, and almost sounded concerned about facing them Thursday night.

We see a team thats won four of their last five games, the Ravens coach said. This team has found a winning formula. Sam Darnold is playing very well, making plays. Hes a very talented young quarterback. They have really good skill players. I think that theyre a winning team.

The record, of course, says otherwise. The Jets took a 5-8 mark into the game against the 11-2 Ravens.

The Jets have one more win than last season, but no one is calling it progress. The big picture is theyre out of the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season and have underachieved on so many levels.

This year was supposed to be different.

The Jets hired an aggressive offensive-minded head coach whose system was expected to put a lot of points on the board and bring out the best in Darnold.

They brought in a fiery and proven defensive coordinator who was going to make that unit nasty. They signed two marquee free agents one on each side of the ball who had a winning pedigree and were supposed to have major impacts.

In the end, only one of those things have happened. Gregg Williams has done a tremendous job with a banged-up defense.

By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy.

Only two projected preseason starters have played in every game. Linebacker C.J. Mosley, a former Raven, has played in only two games after signing a five-year, $85 million contract.

Yet Williams is overseeing the NFLs No. 2 run defense and was looking forward to trying to slow down MVP front-runner Lamar Jackson and the NFLs No. 1 rushing game Thursday night.

Im a competition-aholic, Williams said.

Adam Gases offense hasnt had Williams type of success this season.

The Jets are 31st in total offense and 29th in scoring, and Gase hasnt turned Darnold into the next great quarterback. Theres no doubt Darnold was set back by his bout with mono that kept him out for three weeks.

Gase also hasnt utilized LeVeon Bell in a way to maximize his skill and talents.

His role and production have fallen far short of expectations after the Jets gave him $52.5 million over four years. Bell has been neither a game-changing playmaker or security blanket for Darnold.

Bell may have lost a step after sitting out last season over a contract dispute with the Steelers. But the Jets offensive line has been a disappointment, and Gase hasnt given Bell the touches he got in Piitsburgh.

Gase prefers a passing offense and using more of a running back by committee approach. Bell is someone who needs the ball and could be getting it from a different quarterback and team next season.

But with three games remaining in this season, the Jets hope to continue to make strides overall. Just as it was at this point last season, Darnolds overall development is the most important thing the Jets can take into next year.

There will be changes all across the team, but Jets CEO Christopher Johnson said Gase would be back. Barring something unexpected, Darnold will get to start out at least one more season in Gases offense.

Going into his third NFL season and second with Gase, Darnolds knowledge and understanding of the system should enable the Jets to move more quickly through some things in the offense during OTAs and training camp.

Darnold has shown signs of improvement since that fateful October night that he was seeing ghosts against New England. He has looked far more comfortable in the offense. Darnold has thrown nine touchdown passes and two interceptions over the last five games before Thursday.

But the Jets final three opponents can present plenty of challenges for quarterbacks of any experience level. The Ravens, Steelers and Bills rank in the top six in total defense and points allowed and are in the top nine in passing defense.

These games can only help Darnolds growth.

I feel like Im recognizing things a lot better than I was last year, Darnold said. I feel like coverages and different pressures that teams bring, I feel a lot more comfortable there. Ive made a jump to that degree.

I feel like I can get a lot better in a lot of different areas. Im going to continue to work on those things and make sure I continue to focus on that every single week.

Griffin goes on IR. Ryan Griffin became the 17th Jet to be placed on injured reserve. The veteran tight end suffered an ankle injury early in last weeks win over the Dolphins.Griffin had a strong first season with the Jets. Signed just before training camp, Griffin caught 34 passes for 320 yards and five touchdowns. The Jets signed him to a three-year extension last month. Offensive linemen Brent Qvale was activated to fill Griffins roster spot.

Work in Progress: Gallows humor, smart writing, and Lilly Wachowski – Vox.com

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

If I told you that Showtimes new series Work in Progress marked the first foray into half-hour television for Lilly Wachowski, one of the visionary directors behind The Matrix trilogy, and Speed Racer, and Bound, and honestly, I could list everything shes ever made you might picture something drastically different from what you will see when you tune in. But you should definitely tune in! Its very, very good.

Instead of a cosmic tale that transcends time and space, Work in Progress is the story of a middle-aged queer woman, one whos gender non-conforming, overweight, and struggling with suicidal ideation while living in Chicago in the late 2010s. If Wachowskis other work tries to find the specific in the universal, Work in Progress finds the universal our sadness and loneliness and fears in the hyper-specific.

But though Wachowski is working as an executive producer, writer, and showrunner on the series, its hyper-specificity comes from its star, co-creator, writer, and co-showrunner Abby McEnany, a comedian and performer from Chicago who has grounded Work in Progress in her very real experiences and life. The opening three minutes of the first episode essentially a very dark comedic sketch are at once some of the most heartbreaking and hilarious Ive seen on television this year.

And everything that follows is thoughtful about a wide range of topics, from gender identity to the intersection of queer identities and mental illness to Julia Sweeney, the Saturday Night Live performer who invented the character of Pat, whose ambiguous gender was the bane of existence for gender non-conforming folks like McEnany. Sweeney even appears in the series as herself.

Work in Progress is smart about all of this stuff and more. And when I found out it started its life as an independently filmed pilot, I wanted to know so much more about how it came to be, how it ended up on a major network like Showtime, and how Lilly Wachowski got involved as a producer. So I jumped at the opportunity to talk with McEnany; her co-creator, director, and co-showrunner Tim Mason; and Wachowski herself (after hyperventilating a little) about the process of making Work in Progress.

A transcript of our conversation lightly edited for length and clarity follows.

So you produced this pilot independently, then Showtime acquired it as a series. Thats a pretty rare way to get a TV show on the air. How did you decide to pursue that strategy?

There was no other way for us to do it. So it was just like, Well, you do it yourself. I dont know how to answer that! We just knew nobody would pick it up, or how [we would find someone who would]. We didnt know anybody. How would we get a meeting? So it just came down to: Well, well just do it ourselves.

We actually were like, What if we shot this and then we put it online in chunks, and itd be a web series? And then we put it into chunks and it really didnt work. It worked as a full pilot. I had been taking general meetings after this short film [a different project], and I told Abby, Im so sick of meetings that dont lead to anything. We didnt get into this to have meetings. We got into it to make stuff. So we looked at the budget and were like, What the hell, lets go do it.

We had to come up with $30,000, and we did.

As someone who enjoys meetings

[imitating Emily] And at that moment, I had nothing in common with the Work in Progress crew. They hate meetings?! Thats a bunch of bullshit!

[all laugh]

Im sorry! I do! When you were making the pilot, though, did you think there might be a platform for it? Or did you just want to make it the best it could be?

The goal was always to make a TV show. Create this thing. Make it as as great as we can on our budget and [with] our limited time. Then the goal is like, Lets try to sell this thing, and how are we going to do that? So the goal was always to create an episodic TV show.

Whats amazing is the favors that we called in for some people, like my editor, some of the cast. You know, like the cast came in, and it was, like, on an ultra-low-budget SAG agreement. So they got paid $125.

Julia Sweeney got $125 for the pilot.

People did it basically as a favor. Now, because Showtimes putting it straight on air, those people became cast members. We were all in together. And so my editor is now coming on as the editor for half of [the series]. The [director of photography]. Everyone. Everyone who gave us favors, we tried to keep in the family.

Lilly, you have a unique perspective on this, having joined the project a little later. [Wachowski joined the pilot on the basis of its first scene, a three-minute act with Abby in therapy.] You must get handed a lot of stuff. What was it about this?

As a viewer and supporter, I was in when I saw the first three minutes a year and a half ago.

We had filmed those first three minutes a year before.

But even before that, I was into Abby, after seeing her one-woman shows. I knew what a brilliant and unique storyteller she was. You dont get opportunities to work with people like that a lot. And so I was like, Ill do whatever I can to help you guys get the show into whatever form its going to take, because I want to see the show. Its amazingly funny and beautiful and touching, and all the things that you want a show to be.

How have you found the process of writing for half-hour television?

There was this investigation that took place to figure out what the thing was. Make the thing, and then figure out what the thing is after. Once they made the pilot, it was just, like, Well, whats going to happen? The pilot has been so perfectly set up with this idea of the person who has suicidal ideations and has given themselves 180 days to live. Its like youve built in this ticking time bomb in the plot of the show.

There was no question in my mind that you had this very A to B structure, which was like, Okay, last episode, no [time] left, what happens? If youre riding a roller coaster, what are the ups and downs? Were trying to find it. Tim is constantly reminding us all the time, Whoa guys, this is a comedy, dont forget. Its supposed to be funny. No, its dark. Heading towards the darkness.

Thats kind of my go-to.

So once you have this whole picture, then you go, where do you make the cuts? And its just like youre telling these acts. So in our case its like an eight-act thing. The first act [the pilot] is done, and then you can make little compartments [for the other acts].

A lot of Work in Progress takes place in the intersection between queer identities and people who have mental illness. What did you find interesting about that intersection? What stories lie there?

I guess Ive always wanted to just tell my truth and be very open about it. I have no shame about telling people that I have mental illness. So I didnt even think [about] it that way. I just think it was, like, tell this story. I really am just constantly trying to figure this shit out. What am I doing? Im trying to be open with that stuff.

In the last few years, to me, just the idea of gender and sexual fluidity has opened up a lot of freedom. To me, my relationship with Chris [a character on the show] is based on a real relationship I had with a young trans man I met. I was in DC for a month, years ago, and I met this lovely man. We dated and then we did long-distance. And this woman who Ive known in the community, was like, Youre dating a trans man? Well, I guess youre not a lesbian anymore. Im like, Who fucking cares? Do you have a list? In my mind, she has this big whiteboard in her home.

So I dont even know. When all the crew heads [met for the first time], Lilly introduced us, and everybody got up and said what they were doing and their pronouns. I was like, She, her, hers. Could change tomorrow. Theres so much more openness now. So youve just got to tell the truth, barf it all out, figure shit out.

You want to honor this ticking clock around the characters suicidal ideation, but Work in Progress is a TV show that might run for many years, so you dont want to treat the topic callously. How do you tell that story responsibly?

That is something thats very concerning. Its a comedy, but we people having suicidal thoughts thats not funny. But its, like, humor [is] the reason that Im still alive. Sometimes its very dark, but thats a mechanism for me and several people to survive. But weve checked in a bunch to make sure, are we honoring that darkness? We dont want it to be glib. This is real shit that people are dealing with. I hope we do it right.

In this show, its coming from a real place. To be able to talk about suicidal ideation and to do it with humor is important. We do enough of not talking about suicidal ideation. So we do it with humor as an entry point for people to enter into this discussion and get seriously involved in this kind of dialogue. When we talk about the character, for me, it super resonates as somebody whos battled depression and my gender dysphoria. Knowing that Abby has gone through her own depression, I think were definitely being sensitive about it. But its more like a welcome mat to start talking about these topics.

The goal is, were not making fun of it. A lot of comedies I love, theres one thing like, God. Really? Its fun to make fun of fat women? Whatever. Everythings great about the show except for that one thing. So hopefully were honoring the experience and not making fun of the people, or the fact that people live through this stuff. Thats like opening conversation. Because its not funny that people are so desperate that they want [to] end their life. Thats not hilarious. It is devastating and tragic and real.

But the way the three of us have created Work in Progress is to talk about it in a way where its all about losing that shame of mental illness, that stigma. People dont talk about it.

I know how these things get sold. This show will be sold as, From Lilly Wachowski, director of The Matrix, etc. People are going to come into it expecting one thing and get something very, very different. So, whats the intersection of the grand cosmic scale that Lillys other projects have been on and this tiny little project?

I think the intersection is that this show is queer as fuck. Queer and trans as fuck. I think all the trans people that come up to me and say, Oh my God, The Matrix! It unlocked so many things for me. Thank you so much. All those people will watch this show. Theyre going to watch the show and theyre going to really like it. Because its sweet and it shows trans people and queer people in a very normalizing and loving way.

As we were working, I was like, Im gonna watch Cloud Atlas. With the budget that Ive been working on for this show, theres nothing like sitting down and watching Cloud Atlas and being like, Oh my God, we are coming from such different filmmaking backgrounds.

At the crew head meeting, we were talking about cross-shooting [shooting scenes between two characters by alternating focus on those characters, with the camera always focused on the person furthest from it], and I said I had had really good luck with it on this crap mac-and-cheese commercial. Lilly was like, Oh well, we did it on Cloud Atlas. [all laugh]

[imitating Tim] Well, on my Cloud Atlas, crap macaroni-and-cheese commercial...

The intersection I see is the respect for the emotional truth that the characters have that exists in those giant, beautiful films of Lillys, and then in this tiny thing. Theres a lot of similarities, that it has to do with how you respect your characters and how you treat your characters.

Well, I will be sure to headline this interview, Work in Progress: Its just like Cloud Atlas.

Work in Progress (a TV series that is exactly like the 2012 Wachowski magnum opus Cloud Atlas) debuted Sunday, December 8 on Showtime. New episodes air Sundays at 11 pm.

Link:

Work in Progress: Gallows humor, smart writing, and Lilly Wachowski - Vox.com

Burgum to highlight progress on Reimagining the Rural West Initiative at Western Governors’ meeting – The Dickinson Press

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

The Western Governors Association provides us with a bipartisan platform for working on shared interests and seeking common ground on addressing the important challenges facing our states, Burgum said. Since launching the Reimagining the Rural West initiative last June, weve made significant progress toward identifying best practices and recommending policies to support vibrant rural communities in the West, with a focus on creating new economic opportunities, expanding connectivity and building great places where people want to live and work. Im deeply grateful for my fellow governors efforts on this initiative.

Stakeholders and policymakers have gathered at workshops this fall in North Dakota, New Mexico and Idaho to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing rural communities, with a fourth workshop planned for March in Oregon, home of the WGAs current vice chair, Gov. Kate Brown. Results of the first years work of the initiative, as well as proposed next steps, will be released next summer at WGAs 2020 Annual Meeting in Medora, N.D.

Topics of discussion at the 2019 Winter Meeting in Las Vegas will include the need for more effective state-federal partnerships, cutting-edge energy innovations, growing precision agriculture, behavioral health in education, cybersecurity, and bipartisan efforts to address the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women, with North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission Executive Director Scott Davis among the panelists.

Among the featured speakers will be Land OLakes President and CEO Beth Ford and Segway inventor Dean Kamen, whose FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) organization aims to inspire young people to enter STEM fields.

Western Governors joining Burgum at the meeting include Brown, Sisolak, Doug Ducey of Arizona, Jared Polis of Colorado, David Ige of Hawaii, Brad Little of Idaho, Steve Bullock of Montana, Steve Sisolak of Nevada, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, Kristi Noem of South Dakota and Gary Herbert of Utah.

The WGA represents the governors of 19 western states and three U.S. territories, supporting bipartisan policy development, the exchange of best practices and ideas, and collective action on issues of critical importance to the western United States such as agriculture, energy, water economic development and natural resource development.

Read the original here:

Burgum to highlight progress on Reimagining the Rural West Initiative at Western Governors' meeting - The Dickinson Press

Progress Isn’t Always Progress – Caffeinated Thoughts

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

I have never cared for the left hijacking the word progress. When those on the left use the word progressive to define themselves it, by design, implies those of us who are on the right are against progress.

Which isnt always true, it depends on what you see as progress. I was reminded today of this quote by C.S. Lewis in The Case for Christianity that illustrates that if we are going down the wrong road (or toward the wrong policy) it isnt progress.

We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. There is nothing progressive about being pig-headed and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world its pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. Were on the wrong road. And if that is so we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on, Lewis wrote.

These words penned in 1943 are true today. We can look at the present state of the world and see that its pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. Lewis was in the throes of World War II as the United Kingdom and her allies were at war with Nazi Germany with the future of Europe at stake. Today, we have our own challenges.

I am a fan of progress. I am excited by progress we make in medicine, technology, etc. I am a fan of moving forward provided we are moving toward what is good and right (or at least amoral). Then there is personal progress toward a goal, a milestone, or some achievement.

When we are heading down a wrong road culturally, where the left often want to take us, that is not progress. In that sense conservatives are the true progressives when we attempt to turn things around.

See the original post here:

Progress Isn't Always Progress - Caffeinated Thoughts

State of the Nova Nation: Big 5 Revenge, Progress Report, Blue Hen Battle, and More! – VU Hoops

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

Weve got a lot to catch up on. First episode in just over a week, as Eugene comes back from being sick, and Chris Lane joins the show for the first time in two seasons!

The podcast is also available for free on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Stitcher and Spotify (a bit later in the day)! You may also listen to the newest episode at the bottom of the post.

Episode Description: Weve got a lot to catch up on! Chris Lane joins the show, as we recap the Penn Quakers and Saint Josephs Hawks Big 5 matchups. The Villanova Wildcats are now 3-0 in Big 5 play, and theres been a lot of free time with huge gaps in between games, so we take a look back at some of the younger guys and some impressions of the team from their previous two wins. Also, we preview the upcoming game against the Delaware Blue Hens, reminisce on some cold, and good Villanova basketball games of the past, sift through a full mailbag of questions, and more!

Here is the original post:

State of the Nova Nation: Big 5 Revenge, Progress Report, Blue Hen Battle, and More! - VU Hoops

Trumpet Shares 2019 Progress and Plans for Further Expansion in 2020 – P&T Community

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

LAKEWOOD, Colo., Dec. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Trumpet Behavioral Health ("Trumpet") provides high-quality autism treatment to children, adolescents, and teens across the country. Throughout 2019, Trumpet has made significant investments to expand their service areas in California, Arizona, Ohio, and Colorado, helping more families gain access to scientifically-supported and family-centered autism care.

Trumpet moved into a new treatment center in San Jose, California, and expanded service areas to include South Orange County, Whittier, West LA, and El Cajon. At the same time, Trumpet entered into a new partnership with Easterseals Southern California, which allows Trumpet to serve the growing population of clients in San Diego County, Los Angeles County, and Orange County.

In Arizona, Trumpet broadened their services to include Ahwatukee, Mesa, San Tan Valley, and Flagstaff. In early 2020, Trumpet will also open a new autism center in Tucson. Given the rapid growth in the Phoenix area and an increasing need for quality autism treatment, these expansions ensure all families can receive the care they need.

In Ohio, Trumpet brought their services to Cleveland and opened a new center in Columbus. Another center, based in Cincinnati, will open in early 2020. While the clinic is being completed, Cincinnati families will still be able to receive home-based autism services.

In its home state of Colorado, Trumpet began serving families in Fountain and Castle Rock in late 2019, and new clinics in Aurora and Lakewood are set to open early in 2020. Now, these communities can benefit from receiving quality autism care in their own neighborhoods instead of traveling for treatment.

"By building new centers and expanding our existing service areas, 2019 marked a year of rapid growth for Trumpet Behavioral Health," says Trumpet CEO Ned Carlson. "As we enter 2020, we look forward to making high-quality autism treatment accessible to even more families, and serving our new clients with the same level of professionalism, care, and compassion that our current clients have come to expect."

About Trumpet Behavioral Health

Trumpet Behavioral Health offers evidence-based applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy to children, adolescents, and young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Trumpet's team of dedicated and highly-skilled individuals provide center, home, school, and community-based services throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas. For more information, please visit https://www.tbh.com/.

Media contact: Josh Sleeper, Chief Operating Officer, (855) 824-5669.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/trumpet-shares-2019-progress-and-plans-for-further-expansion-in-2020-300974012.html

SOURCE Trumpet Behavioral Health

See the rest here:

Trumpet Shares 2019 Progress and Plans for Further Expansion in 2020 - P&T Community

Stephen M. Ansell, MD, PhD, on Progress of CAR T-Cell Therapy – Cancer Network

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

At the 2019 ASH Annual Meeting, Stephen M. Ansell, MD, PhD, from Mayo Clinic, discussed a plenary session presentation focused on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, and the excitement surround new bio-specific agents that will be available for patients.

Transcription:I think there's been a lot of really encouraging data from ASH 2019 for large cell lymphoma, particularly in the relapsed/refractory space. So, I think we're learning a lot more about CAR T cells. But I think the most interesting data was data that was in the plenary session, looking at a bio-specific antibody targeting CD 20, and CD 3. So, basically taking the tumor cell and T cells and bringing them into close proximity with a very encouraging promising response rate, a little early data, so we still need longer follow up. But I think what was interesting is in CAR T cell failures, where we really are challenged for options to treat those patients, they showed that in those patients, kind of repurposing the T cells and bringing them back into close contact with the tumor but using the bio-specific antibody actually resulted in high response rates. So, I think this is a very encouraging space to watch as new agents become available, but particularly the bio-specific therapies, there are other bio-specifics that are similar, also with very good results. So, I think as a class this is a very promising approach.

River Authority Shows Progress on Construction of San Pedro Creek Culture Park – Rivard Report

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

Standing on dirt and loose rocks along West Houston Street, Kerry Averyt explained that the San Antonio River Authority has tried to be a good neighbor during construction of San Pedro Creek Culture Park.

Construction of the linear park has required many road closures downtown, impacting area businesses. The river authority keeps an updated webpage of road closures on the San Pedro Creek Culture Park site.

We affect businesses along Houston Street and theres no question, theres some impact there, said Averyt, the river authoritys senior engineer. But we keep working and coordinating with all of our stakeholders up and down the creek to minimize it as much as possible.

Averyt led a tour Thursday of a segment of San Pedro Creek Culture Park stretching from Houston to Nueva streets. Phase 1s second segment is targeted for completion in November 2021. The price tag for Phases 1 and 2 of four planned phases is $260 million, Averyt said.

Historic preservation and respect for archeological exploration have influenced construction in a segment of the project that includes two historical landmarks: the 1949 Alameda Theater and the 18th-century Spanish Governors Palace. Construction has had to adapt to the occasional archeological dig, Project Manager Ryan Silbernagel said; there have been three digs in Calder Alley and one by the Spanish Governors Palace.

But the digs dont delay construction, as archeologists are able to set up alongside construction, Silbernagel said.

There havent been any major significant finds, Silbernagel said. Mostly a lot of pottery shards.

Some of the more interesting cultural artifacts will eventually be displayed as part of the San Pedro Creek Culture Park, Averyt said.

Designers and engineers have also maintained many historic elements throughout the project. Averyt pointed to a fire escape on the side of the Alameda Theater that they decided to keep through its renovation.

Originally we wanted to take that fire escape down, but this is a historic building, a historic structure, he said. It was a lot less complicated to leave that in place if we could.

Bonnie Arbittier / Rivard Report

The original fire escape is preserved on the side of the Alameda Theater next to the future entertainment plaza.

The Historic and Design Review Commission approved the final renovation design for the theater in October; work is expected to begin early next year.

About 30 percent of a retaining wall in Calder Alley was salvaged to use in the creek project too, Silbernagel added.

This segment of the linear park will include two permanent art installations. In November, Bexar County commissioners selected Brooklyn artist Adam Franks design for an interactive light installation at a water wall along one of the paseos. A microphone picks up close-range sound, and people can manipulate the light reaction with what kind of noises they make. And further down the creek, the river authority is looking for artists to paint a five-panel mural, public art curator Carrie Brown said.

We are just now starting the selection process but were working closely with Bexar County to frame what the mural content will be, Brown said.

The segment also will have an entertainment plaza by the Alameda Theater that can be utilized in many different ways, Brown said. Designers had considered building an amphitheater, but that would not have been as useful, she added.

When you have an amphitheater, its an amphitheater, and thats how you have to use it, Brown said. Now that we have a plaza, its much more flexible. We didnt want to build something that wouldnt be functional for people who would use it.

Funding sources for Phases 3 and 4 of the San Pedro Creek project are still being identified by the river authority. Those phases are being planned and would extend the linear park to South Alamo Street. Bexar County has paid for the bulk of the project, while the 2017 municipal bond allocated $19.5 million to the linear park. The county also expects to receive some federal dollars from the Mission Reach projects federal reimbursement.

View original post here:

River Authority Shows Progress on Construction of San Pedro Creek Culture Park - Rivard Report

Progress and missteps marked 2019 in Bay Area art – San Francisco Chronicle

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

Zanele Muholis Bona, Charlottesville (2015) was included in the Contemporary Jewish Museum exhibition Show Me as I Want to Be Seen. Photo: Yancey Richardson

The Bay Area visual art scene in 2019, like seemingly every aspect of life these days, was marked by political considerations once thought outside its boundaries.

In certain aspects, that was a very good thing, as traditional centers of authority ceded a degree of power or, at least, competed to demonstrate to an increasingly diverse community their accessibility and inclusivity. Regardless of the motive, for example, behind adding works by artists of color to our public collections, the net result is that the future will at least know that such artists were here.

Untempered political passion can also have a blinding effect, however, as we saw in several important instances this year. And then there were the choices made, not for the sake of art and its value to community, but out of mere expediency.Those decisions, too, will shape our tomorrows.

When leaders at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art wished to broaden the museums collection to include more works of art by women, LGBTQ artists and artists of color, they decided to employ a venerable museum practice: deaccessioning. Recognizing that they missed the boat when works that now command six- and seven-figure prices were affordable, they decided to effectively trade a pricey object a Mark Rothko painting eventually sold for $50.1 million at auction for strong works of lesser value.

There was pushback, and there were legitimate questions. Some asked, Why not tap those rich trustees? And though the museum has other great Rothkos, was this too good a work to let go? In the end, it was enough for me that rare and major works by Rebecca Belmore, Forrest Bess, Frank Bowling, Leonora Carrington, Lygia Clark, Norman Lewis, Barry McGee, Kay Sage, Alma Thomas and Mickalene Thomas now grace our city.

It wasnt only SFMOMA that made big strides in collection diversity this year. The UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (whose director, Lawrence Rinder, announced his retirement in September) accepted a gift of nearly 3,000 quilts of superb design by African American artists.

Shortly after the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco opened the excellent exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, on view at the de Young through March 15, they announced acquisition of the monumental painting Penumbra (1970) by featured artist Frank Bowling. At nearly 23 feet wide, the vintage masterwork is even larger than SFMOMAs 17-foot Bowling, painted in 2018.

Also of note were the Contemporary Jewish Museums celebration of gender-nonconforming artists and themes, Show Me as I Want to Be Seen, and the Museum of the African Diasporas Black Refractions: Highlights From The Studio Museum in Harlem, both of which were presented in the first half of the year.

Continuing through Jan. 5 is the Sonoma Valley Museum of Arts abbreviated-but-revelatory survey of Abstract Expressionist Bernice Bing, a proud Chinese American lesbian outsider, even in the days of beatnik San Francisco. And still on view through Feb. 14 at SFMOMA, Soft Power examines the approaches of a broader range of socially engaged artists.

CJM, SVMA and SFMOMA developed their own content, while MoAD and the de Young signed on to national tours. The key to the success of all these shows was that they focused first on art of complexity, rather than lazily relying on sloganeering, as the plethora of self-consciously political exhibitions often do.

Several important decisions this year were marred by shortsightedness. In June the San Francisco Board of Education considered complaints from some parents and students that an 83-year-old mural at George Washington High School causes psychic harm. It depicts such despicable institutions as slavery and the slaughter of Native Americans in the pursuit of our so-called manifest destiny.

Rather than seeing an educational opportunity in the murals content, which plainly implicates Washington in a shameful period of American history that should never be forgotten, the school board voted to permanently paint it over. After an uproar both local and national, the board backed off. Yet it still plans to censor the work by boarding it up, unless citizen action and promised lawsuits prevail.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco Arts Commission, a group that calls itself the city agency that champions the arts, once again showed its cowardice when art was under attack. Its Visual Arts Committee knuckled under when county Supervisor Catherine Stefani demanded rejection of a winning design for a sculpture of poet Maya Angelou.

Berkeley artist Lava Thomas, who is African American, won the competition for the public monument fair and square, with a 9-foot bronze representation of a book bearing Angelous face and a quotation from her work. But Stefani, after the fact, insisted that only a statue-type figure would do and the committee went meekly along.

And speaking ofa failure of courage, one can hardly ignore the announcement in July by Napas di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art that it would abandon its founding mission, selling off most of the 1,600 works of art in its fabled collection of works by Bay Area artists. The centers board and its director said, in short, that it is just too hard to raise $3 million a year, or to trim programs to fit its resources.

Outraged artists, many of whom thought their legacy would be preserved at di Rosa, say they donated or deeply discounted the works now destined for the auction block. Their appeal that center officials identify an alternative institution to house, preserve and appropriately utilize this unique collection has fallen on deaf ears.

In the final days of November, a letter signed by center director Robert Sain came to light. Quietly circulated among commercial galleries and auction houses, it offered for sale 18 important works from the collection. Near the top of the list: a 31-foot-high monumental sculpture by Mark di Suvero titled For Veronica, dedicated to the wife of the centers late founder.

See the rest here:

Progress and missteps marked 2019 in Bay Area art - San Francisco Chronicle

Covering The Opioid Beat: ‘There is Progress’ – Crime Report

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

By Crime and Justice News | December 12, 2019

Cincinnati Enquirer drug reporter Terry DeMio writes about her years covering the opioid epidemic. In 2012, the opioid epidemic had been snaking through local communities for about a dozen years, but this was when accidental overdose deaths started outnumbering traffic fatalities. What about fentanyl? Its been on the streets about half as long as DeMio has had this beat. Part of that catastrophe came from another synthetic opiate that was new to the streets, carfentanil. An expert told DeMio it was a large-animal opioid. Horse? she asked. Elephant, he said. The Enquirer dubbed it the elephant opioid, which was picked up by national and international media.

Meanwhile, cops and medics were taking care of little children whose parents were not waking up when the children found them. One child in our region called a relative to say his parents seemed frozen at the dinner table. They were dead from an overdose. There is progress now, DeMio says.More people are recognizing the threat of addiction and how it can happen to anyone and that there is no place for discrimination and bias against these victims of a chronic health condition. Theres a nod to the need for more recovery support. Certified peer mentors help guide people in recovery. More programs try to keep families together by providing in-home care. Overdose deaths, for the first time in years, dropped in Ohio and Kentucky in 2018. The outcry for help from the opioid-epidemic warriors the people living the nightmare has been heard.

Covering The Opioid Beat: 'There is Progress' - Crime Report

Academic Futures year 3: Progress on our priorities | CU Boulder Today – CU Boulder Today

Posted on December 13, 2019 by Danzig

At the start of the fall semester, campus kicked off year three of Academic Futures by integrating the strategic initiatives into the implementation of our priority themes and projects. At the heart of this process is our commitment to furthering the public good by embracing our role as Colorados leading national public research university.

Read aboutthe progress so far this year on the campuss four priority themes and projects, along with concurrent work on other Academic Futures themes and projects.

On Nov. 20, the Academic Futures Interdisciplinary Education, Research and Creative Works Committee submitted its final report (PDF)and the response from campus to Provost Russell Moore.

Both are currently under review by the provost and Chief Operating Officer Kelly Fox.

The report has some compelling ideas and suggestions for moving ahead in an area in which we have a long record of doing exciting work, said Moore. The campus response gives us just a taste of the facultys strong appetite for engaging in interdisciplinary research, teaching and scholarship in new ways, as well as by enhancing existing efforts.

Moore said he and Fox would announce early in the spring semester a path forward on the reports recommendations.

Responding to the Foundations of Excellence initiative, the campus is implementing a first-year advising model, under Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education Mary Kraus, that embeds first-year advisors in colleges, schools and programs, networked together under a common structure and budget. Hiring is underway to add more first-year advisors across all of CU Boulder colleges and schools, and implementation will be complete as of July 1, 2020. CU Boulder leadership continues to consider the recommendations of the First-Year Experience Committee report for funding and implementation.

Associate Vice Provost for Advising and Exploratory Studies Shelly Bacon says the first-year advising model is one of several advising-related initiatives that are underway.

As we work toward implementation, we are involving campus stakeholders in important conversations about how best to honor students local disciplinary contexts while ensuring a consistent experience for our students across colleges and schools, Bacon said.

Its wonderful to see advising being valued as a key contributor to student success, and I look forward to the progress I know well make as an advising community over the next few years, said Bacon.

The Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL), which will soon announce a lead for inclusive pedagogy, is offering workshops to build inclusive communities of practice in partnership with the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement (ODECE).

CTLs pilot projects this spring include a series for faculty on graduate student mentoring co-sponsored with the Graduate School and a conference for graduate students on career paths, including the entrepreneurial path, with the Research & Innovation Office (RIO).

I am very excited to see that our strategic vision announced back in October is really taking shape and serving our campus community, said Kirk Ambrose, director of CTL. This spring, I look forward to having our full staff team in place and to continuing our work with partners across campus in advancing a common student-centered approach to learning through new and innovative offerings.

The fall 2019 semester saw several milestones in the work of making excellence inclusive campuswide. The publication of the finalized version of the IDEA Plan took place Oct. 30, marking the first comprehensive diversity plan of its scope for CU Boulder.

Following the momentum of the IDEA Plans release, the campus saw record attendance at the 29th annual Diversity and Inclusion Summit. The event featured two days of workshops and campus addresses focused on building community, fostering diversity and inclusion. Allied student groups partnered with the Diversity and Inclusion Summit Planning Committee to coordinate several sessions, including the Leadership Unplugged conversation at which diverse members of the campus community engaged in honest dialogue.

Following a well-attended fall summit, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement is now gearing up for the spring summit, which will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020.

This is an exciting time, said Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement Bob Boswell. We recognize that the activities weve been engaged in are bringing more people together than ever before, helping us to move toward making excellence inclusive. During the spring semester, departments and units across campus will move from inspiration to action as they tailor the IDEA Plan to their localized units.

To help provide initial guidance on IDEA Plan implementation, a transition working group, led by Vice Chancellor Bob Boswell, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Deputy Chief HR Officer Merna Jacobsen and Arts & Sciences Associate Dean for Student Success Daryl Maeda, held its first meeting in November.

Additional updates regarding the rollout of activities stemming from the IDEA Plans recommendations will be forthcoming in the spring semester.

Provost Russell Moore has received threeworking group reports on online and distance education.

The first two reportson creating a plan to move from the current state of online education to a desired future state and to consider new possibilities for continuing education as a program innovatorwere submitted to campus leadership in October.

The third reportto create infrastructure and resources for online/continuing educationwas submitted on Friday, Dec. 6, and is under review.

Putting these recommendations together will help us chart a course of action on online and distance education that will begin to take shape in the spring semester, said Moore.

The universitys evaluation for reaffirmation of accreditation is underway with an external review team from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) on campus holding drop-in sessions and open forums for faculty, staff and students.

As we complete our site visit with HLC this week, I want to thank everyone for their input and support, said Katherine Eggert, senior vice provost for academic planning and assessment. This was a full-campus lift, and I am proud of our collective accomplishment.

HLC will take action on the universitys reaccreditation in early 2020.

We continue to work with schools and colleges to develop a more robust governance ecosystem, ensuring more direct representation of faculty across campus.

The efforts of the Strategic Facilities Visioning (SFV) team have culminated with the delivery of a dynamic digital planning tool, PREVIEW, that is on the cutting edge for facilities evaluation in institutions of higher education. This tool will prove integral in helping campus leadership make the most meaningful and impactful infrastructure investment decisions in support of the campus mission and priorities emanating from Academic Futures.

PREVIEW (Planning for Research and Education: Visioning Information Explorer WebApp) is the final deliverable of the 15-month SFVprocess. SFV, informed by the other major campus strategic initiatives, drew collaborative input from more than 180 visionaries representing 30-plus colleges, schools, institutes and major support units across campus.

The tool implements the future vision for space types and functions articulated by these visionaries and incorporates a wealth of campus data on space and programming, enabling campus planners to test different planning scenarios for leadership.

The Office of Planning, Design and Construction is now in the process of integrating the tool into its workflows as the university prepares to embark on creation of the next campus master plan due in 2021.

PREVIEW comes at a pivotal time for our campus as we plan for the future, and it represents a truly innovative approach to space planning in higher education, said David Kang, vice chancellor for infrastructure and sustainability. Shaped by the thoughtful work of our SFV visionaries, the tool will bring an unprecedented level of data validation to our infrastructure decisions.

The goal of PREVIEW is multi-faceted and will enable leadership to do the following:

While aggregating a wealth of data sources from across campus into its functionality is a key component of PREVIEW, the form and intent of the tool were driven largely by the work of the SFV visionaries during the scenario planning phase.

Scenario planning entailed visionaries working in interdisciplinary groups to develop and test future infrastructure scenarios relating to identified university requirements and the evolving landscape of education and research. While each of the six teams focused on distinct topics, their proposed strategies and goals aimed for alignment with the chancellors strategic imperatives and ultimately converged on a vision of human-centered campus planning.

Key findings across the scenario planning teams articulated the spatial components and strategies necessary to achieve university strategic goals. That phase culminated in the development of building templates for unique building typologies across campus, each of which applies a mixed-use approach to campus programming to facilitate an enhanced experience for all students, faculty and staff.

Our scenario planning teams ultimately created a vision for the campus on the building, neighborhood, campus and university scales that helped mold the PREVIEW tool, Kang said.

The result is a tool that helps ensure future space decisions meet programmatic needs while also meeting the holistic, university-first vision for campus infrastructure.

Colorado statutes require CU Boulder update its campus master plan every 10 years, with the next due in 2021. Housing and transportation master planning efforts to help inform the next campus master plan are currently underway, and an energy master plan initiative with the same aims will begin soon.

This initiative, embedded inAcademic Futures, is integrated in our daily activities of research, scholarship, creative work, teaching and service. These activities further the public good by providing new knowledge, discoveries and creative works that directly serve communities. Progress on this initiative will be announced in the spring semester.

Under theIDEA Plan, we are creating commitments to diversity, equity and inclusive excellence that will sustain, support and inspire our research, scholarship, creative work, teaching and service. ThroughStrategic Facilities Visioning, we are transforming the universitys physical infrastructure to support learning, teaching, research and community interaction.

Read the rest here:

Academic Futures year 3: Progress on our priorities | CU Boulder Today - CU Boulder Today

Select Page ::