Mysterious comet predicted to trigger outburst of meteors Thursday night – WHIO

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Published: Thursday, November 21, 2019 @ 12:50 AMBy: McCall Vrydaghs-Storm Center 7 Chief Meteorologist

Two well known meteor scientists are predicting the outburst of the alpha Monocerotid meteor shower tonight, with as many as 400 to 1,000 meteors per hour possible.

The last time an outburst occurred was in 1995, which produced up to 400 meteors per hour.

The outburst is forecast to reach its climax around 11:50 p.m., according to the American Meteor Society.

Unfortunately, a passing cold front will bring widespread cloud cover to the Miami Valley during the peak of this potential outburst.

>>7 must-see photos of natures light show: Leonid meteor shower

Peter Jenniskens and Esko Lyytinen have made calculations for the outburst after studying the meteor shower for years.

However, there is some speculation as to whether this outburst will happen.

According to NASA scientists, the intensity of an outburst depends on the size of the parent comets orbit and how close Earth is to the comet as it passes through the Monocerotid meteor stream.

And since we have not yet discovered this mysterious parent comet, who knows how close the estimate of the orbit is to the actual, said Bill Cooke, the lead of NASAs Meteoroid Environment Office.

>>Track the conditions with Live Doppler 7 Radar

The cool thing is that if an outburst does occur, we will have a pretty good idea of the orbit of this comet not from observing the comet with telescopes, but by counting its debris as they burn up in our atmosphere, Cook said.

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Mysterious comet predicted to trigger outburst of meteors Thursday night - WHIO

Rocket vs. Comets recap: Third-period outburst propels Laval past Utica – Habs Eyes on the Prize

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When the Laval Rocket shut out the Bridgeport Sound Tigers last weekend, it looked like the perfect launching point for another lengthy win streak. However, against a now Sheldon Keefe-less Marlies side on Wednesday, they managed just one point, dropping the game in overtime. The team played well, but lacked a bit of finish in the loss to their rivals. Perhaps more concerning, they also lost star forward Alex Belzile to a dirty hit from behind.

Noah Juulsen did return to the lineup, and at a perfect time as the Utica Comets strolled into town boasting an offence capable of exploding at any second. Reid Boucher was leading the AHL in goals with 13 on the year, but opposing him in net for the Rocket was rookie sensation Cayden Primeau who was among the leagues best at stopping pucks this year.

The Rocket grabbed the first good chance of the game when Jake Evans collected a pass from Anton Waked and broke in on a short breakaway. Zane McIntyre stood tall, fighting off Evanss shot with his shoulder to keep it scoreless.

That was not the case for long as a hooking call on Maxim Lamarche put Laval on an early penalty kill. After fending off a few prime looks, the Rocket left a bit too much space and Francis Perron jumped all over a rebound that he tucked by a sprawling Primeau to make it 1-0 Utica.

The Rocket had a power play of their own after Dylan Blujus was caught hooking a Laval forward behind the play, but without Xavier Ouellet, Charles Hudon and Belzile, the man advantage was lacking bite. The power play wasnt able to convert, but it did breathe some life back into the Rocket, helping them overcome a sluggish start.

Before the period was over, Laval finally found the back of the net thanks to a big solo effort from Josh Brook. The rookie defender picked up a puck with speed through the neutral zone, flying into Uticas end and leaving Jalen Chatfield scrambling to get over to cover him. Brook snapped off a quick wrist shot that flew by McIntyre and tied the game wiith about three minutes left in the first.

After another man advantage failed to make a big impact, at even strength the Rocket got the job done once again. An offensive-zone draw came to Juulsen, who flung a pass across the zone to Gustav Olofsson. He found Riley Barber all alone, and the veteran forward fired a shot off Michael McCarron in front, making it 2-1 Rocket.

Laval had to jump back on the penalty kill shortly after as Kevin Lynch was whistled for tripping with nine minutes gone in the period. After allowing a power-play marker in the first period, the penalty-killers locked down the Comets, and generated a few scoring chances of their own.

Out of the box, Lynch threaded a perfect two-on-one pass to Ryan Poehling, who was denied by McIntyre at the goal line. Poehling followed that up by working out of the corner for another great look.

With the period almost over, the Comets flipped the puck out of their zone to relieve the pressure, and Lamarche went back to collect it. He quickly turned and fired a long stretch pass up to NIkita Jevpalovs, who in turn went across the zone to Barber. As Barber cut to the net he lost the puck, but Evans was there to pick it up and shovel it in to send Laval to the intermission leading by two.

Another early penalty sent the Rocket to another power play, and again they did not convert despite McCarron and Matthew Pecas best efforts in the early going. However, as the trend had gone all night, the Rocket struck moments after their advantage expired. Otto Leskinen took a pass from Evans and waited patiently before walking off the blue line and blasting his first North American goal by McIntyre to make it 4-1.

Leskinen gave one goal back though, as he took a hooking penalty, which allowed Lukas Jasek the opportunity to bury a huge rebound to get the Comets back into the game.

The Rocket did not allow that to happen as 40 seconds later, Baber finally scored a power-play marker. Just a minute after that, Poehling chipped a shot on net that sat right in the crease, and he circled the net and swatted his own chance home to make it a four-goal lead early in the third period.

Some late discipline issues ended up costing the Rocket as the final minutes approached. McCarron tried to avoid contact but ran over a Comets player, and then when he was being pulled away turned and slashed him, cancelling the Rocket power play. It took just four seconds for the Comets to strike on the four-on-four situation, making it a 6-3 game. A soft boarding call on Juulsen kept the Utica advantage going, and with 19 seconds left, Jonah Gadjovich made it 6-4. Primeau kept that scoreline for the remainder of the game, and a made it a third straight game with points for Laval.

These two teams will square off again this afternoon in the annual Teddy Bear Toss game. Charlie Lindgren is the expected starter.

1. Riley Barber (One Goal, Two Assists)

2. Jake Evans (One Goal, One Assist)

3. Otto Leskinen (One Goal)

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Rocket vs. Comets recap: Third-period outburst propels Laval past Utica - Habs Eyes on the Prize

Hard Kaur: Artists need to be respected for freedom of expression – indica News

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IANS-

Rapper and controversys favorite child Hard Kaur, whose real name is Taran Kaur Dhillon, has come up with a new song titled Kashmir2Khalistan. Known for being blatantly vocal, she says a real artist needs to be respected for his or her freedom of expression.

Thats how it should be. As artists we shouldnt be pressured into making club bangers and commercial songs all the time. A real artist needs to be respected for his freedom of expression. When thats taken away or overtaken with business and money it puts very difficult choices in front of an artist, Hard Kaur told IANS from London.

Its hip-hop. It was invented to speak against the wrongs in society, to raise voice for the innocent and it being such a powerful technique of words and delivery its has brought big changes in the world, she added.

The Char baj gaye rapper said that hip-hop has proven again and again that its not just music. Its a whole different way of existing.

The new track, Hard Kaur says is a song for the times we are living in.

Its my way of raising awareness as an artist through my music as. Being a Sikh, its my duty to stand up against oppression and protect humanity especially when its my land, my people, my country, she added.

The track has real footage. The Sherni rapper says it is because she is not very financially stable at the moment, as everything has stopped.

I knew the consequences my actions will have and I will lose a lot but I have no regrets. The song covers so many issues, so it only made sense to clearly show the people what I am trying to say through real footage, she added.

In June, she had been booked for sedition for posting allegedly objectionable remarks against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on social media.

Her social media handles were suspended in the country after she posted videos in which she was seen using abusive words for the government.

She says she misses her land.

Does she fear for her life in India, as she has constantly got death threats on social media by users?

One should only fear god and I am smart. I have learned from history that I can do more for my country and people by staying alive, she replied.

She is looking forward to next year.

In 2020, my album will be released The Road To Khalistan as well as a couple of collaborations. Ill also be featuring Asian MCs from around the world as well as Econ whos a Kashmiri rapper. He sent me his verse for The Rising Mixtape Vol 2, which I had started work on just a few days before the lockdown. Ill feature his verse on one of the songs. Ill be dropping a few singles too, she revealed her plans for next year.

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Hard Kaur: Artists need to be respected for freedom of expression - indica News

Freedom Teams picked to win NWC – Taylorsville Times

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Members of the Unifour media recently cast votes in the NW 3A/4A Basketball Conference Preseason Poll. The Freedom Patriots Mens and Womens Teams were chosen as preseason favorites to capture the NWC crowns. The Freedom men earned six first-place votes, while Hickory was picked to finish second with four first-place votes. Alexander Central is picked to place third in the mens conference. Freedoms James Freeman is the top pick as Preseason Player of the Year. In womens basketball, Freedom claimed all 10 first place votes and is picked as the preseason favorite. Watauga is picked to place second, while the ACHS Lady Cougars are picked for the leagues seventh spot. Lady Patriot Blaikley Crooks is the medias Preseason Womens Player of the Year.MEN(First-place votes in parentheses)1. Freedom(6), 662. Hickory (4), 633. Alexander Central 454. Watauga335. McDowell276. St. Stephens227. South Caldwell21Player of the Year votes: James Freeman (Freedom) 5, Cody Young (Hickory) 2, Davis Amos (Hickory) 1, Jem Lowrance (Alexander Central) 1.

WOMEN1. Freedom (10), 702. Watauga543. Hickory 534. McDowell385. South Caldwell276. St. Stephens207. Alexander Central18Player of the Year votes: Blaikley Crooks (Freedom) 6, Brooke Byrd (Watauga) 1, Adair Garrison (Freedom) 1, Makenna Parkins (McDowell) 1.

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Freedom Teams picked to win NWC - Taylorsville Times

Bills Today | Freedom in route running has helped John Brown excel in Buffalo – BuffaloBills.com

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1. Freedom in route running has helped John Brown excel in Buffalo

John Brown has been the top wide receiver in the AFC this season. His 817 receiving yards rank first among all wide receivers and second overall only behind Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Part of that success has been the freedom Brown has to run more routes in Brian Dabolls offense.

"I've been running routes since high school. Certain offenses that I got put in they liked me to go deep, so I was doing what I was told to do. Now I'm here and they let me run routes, Brown said onWGR 550Howard and Jeremy show. Routes underneath, getting open on short routes, so I'm just happy that I'm able to show that I'm an all-around athlete as a receiver. Even though it came kind of late in my career, I'm still just thankful that I'm able to show that I'm not just a deep threat."

But Brown has to be on the same page as Josh Allen. The two have taken extra time during practice to get timing down in their first season playing together.

"We take time out, even at practice when the defense is going, we'll run a few routes, Brown said. He gives me a couple of signals, and I give him a signal back to let him know whether I like it or not. If he gives it to me, we show body language and things like that, but it's getting better every week."

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Bills Today | Freedom in route running has helped John Brown excel in Buffalo - BuffaloBills.com

In context: Freedom of information reform – Holyrood

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"In January, it will be 15 years since the law came into effect, and its time to look at whether its still fit for the modern world" the information commissioner has said What's it all about?

Freedom of information law in Scotland is being reviewed.

A Scottish Government consultation on the need to extend the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) to cover a wider range of bodies involved in providing services on behalf of the public sector closed last Friday.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Parliaments Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee has, since March 2019, been looking into the effectiveness of FOISA. The committee has taken evidence from journalists, campaigners and the public on the scope of the law and the compliance of public authorities with it, with a view to improving the act to increase transparency in public services.

The decision to re-examine FOISA came after journalists and campaigners highlighted frequent failings on the part of public authorities to meet the statutory requirements of the act, as well as instances of apparent mishandling of information requests by the Scottish Government.

There are also concerns about record-keeping practices and the ability of public authorities to meet increasing demand with existing resources.

In January, it will be 15 years since the law came into effect, and its time to look at whether its still fit for the modern world. It is easy to take the availability of information for granted, but such openness was not the norm prior to 2005 and it is not the norm elsewhere.

- The Scottish Information Commissioner

The act came into force in 2005 and is enforced by the Scottish Information Commissioner. Under FOISA, any person who requests information from a public authority is entitled to be given that information.

The law applies to recorded information, that is, information that is stored in some way, whether physically or digitally.

There are some limitations on what type of and how much information can be released on request, including certain exemptions and a cost threshold.

FOISA also puts a duty on public authorities to proactively publish information that is of public interest.

The Scottish Government has made three extensions to FOISA, most recently to cover registered social landlords, which came into force on 11 November.

According to the Information Commissioners annual report, published in October, public authorities are receiving a record number of information requests. Almost 84,000 requests were submitted in 2018/19, something the commissioner has welcomed.

But the report also highlighted concerning trends, such as the increasing number of failures to respond to requests within the statutory 20 working-day period. The research also highlighted disappointing levels of confidence among the public on authorities ability to respond on time.

An increase in the number of appeals made to the commissioner was also seen from requesters unhappy with the response they received from authorities. In over three-quarters of those cases, the commissioner ruled in favour of the requesters, leading to the release of information.

In 2017 the commissioner launched an investigation after journalists highlighted repeated examples of Scottish Government departments treating journalists requests improperly. The issue was twice debated in parliament, and a motion was agreed to launch an inquiry, which lead to the Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee review this year.

More recently, controversy over the First Ministers use of non-government email accounts to conduct items of government business and her offices practice of destroying hand-written notes has forced the First Minister and Permanent Secretary to reaffirm a commitment to FOISA good practice.

83,963 The number of information requests made to public authorities in Scotland in 2018/19

10.3% of these requests were for environmental information

75% of requests to public authorities resulted in full or partial disclosure of information to the requester

0.7% of total requests to Scottish public bodies were appealed to the commissioner

560 appeals to the commissioner, a 10 per cent increase on 507 in the previous year

21% of the commissioners decisions were about environmental information

64% of appeals followed requests made to local, or central government

64% of the commissioners decisions found wholly or partially in favour of the requester

26% of valid appeals to the commissioner were about an authoritys failure to respond to requests

75% of appeals to the commissioner were made by members of the public

- The Scottish Information Commissioner's annual report 2019

While journalists are in favour of reforming FOISA to broaden its coverage and make it easier to enforce compliance, some public authorities have expressed a desire to relax the laws.

Two groups representing local council leaders SOLAR (Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators in Scotland) and SOLACE (the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers) submitted written evidence to the committees enquiry.

The organisations said that there was a downside to FOISA, specifically, the resource implications of an increasing number of requests and the misuse of laws by commercial actors and disgruntled individuals.

They recommended lowering the cost threshold and making it easier to class requests as vexatious, therefore making them easier to reject.

The Information Commissioner, in his evidence to the committee, expressed a different view, writing: to allow authorities to refuse a request on the basis that it is not sufficiently serious would be a major retrograde step... It is sometimes only by asking the daft questions that matters of true public importance are revealed.

Pressure on public authorities could be alleviated, some argue, simply by publishing more without being asked.

The commissioner recommended reforming the act to introduce a statutory duty to publish information, supported by a new legally enforceable Code of Practice on Publication.

The First Ministers veto power should also be removed, because it is contrary to the fundamental principles of FOISA, the commissioner said.

But while strengthening the laws could lead to greater transparency, it has been stressed by many expert witnesses that the biggest improvements would come from a culture of good practice within public authorities.

The issue of freedom of information reform will be scrutinised in detail atHolyrood's annual Freedom of Information conference on Tuesday 26 November 2019.

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In context: Freedom of information reform - Holyrood

Climate, freedom and denial: What Green Thatcherism teaches us today – The Economist

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Rightly, the world has been celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. On November 9th 1989 the communist government of East Germany announced that its security forces would no longer prevent people from visiting West Berlin. Quickly, delirious Berliners surged through the old checkpoints or clambered over the wall. Soon the hammers and pick-axes were out, precipitating the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

For the two leaders of the West during the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, the breaching of the wall was a vindication of years of ideological struggle against the evil empire. Reagan had already retired, succeeded as president by George Bush, but Thatcher was in New York, where the previous day, November 8th, she had addressed the United Nations.

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The Iron Lady was no fan of the UN; she hadnt spoken there for four years. But now she had an issue to address that had grown clearer than any other in both urgency and importance, and she needed the whole world to listen. Not the end of communism, or even history itself, as was the fashion, but the threat to our global environment.

Thatcher thus became the first prominent political leader to warn the world about the danger of climate change, and to outline a strategy to deal with it. The timing of her speech, as communism was crumbling, was no coincidence: she cast climate change as the successor menace to socialism and nuclear annihilation. What she characterised as these conventional political dangers appeared to be receding, but now, instead, lay the prospect of irretrievable damage to the atmosphere, to the oceans, to the earth itself.

Thatchers UN speech was not just a one-off either, but the final part of a trilogy that had begun just over a year earlier at the Royal Society in London. Proud of her membership of Britains most prestigious scientific body, and of being one of very few world leaders ever to have studied and trained as a scientist (she worked as a research chemist), the prime minister had enthusiastically accepted an invitation to speak at the societys annual dinner at Fishmongers Hall in the City.

Her advisers cast around for a suitable subject, but it was Thatcher herself who came up with the threat from greenhouse gases and the large hole in the ozone layer. The second speech in her trilogy was delivered to the Tory party conference in October 1988, a month after the Royal Society talk. She prided herself on mastering the science of climate change. As Jon Agar, professor of science and technology studies at University College London observes, Thatcher even asked for the exact chemical formulas that were used to analyse acid rain, which she then went through herself.

Thatcher had a galvanising effect on the environmental debate, and in greening mainstream politics. Jonathan Porritt, head of Friends of the Earth in the late 1980s, has argued that she did more than anyone in the last 60 years to put green issues on the national agenda. She also put her governments money where her mouth was. Thatcher ensured that the Treasury invested in the supercomputers to model climate change at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, still one of the worlds leading outfits for such modelling. After she resigned in 1990 she was invited to become a sort of world climate tsar, heading a new institute to spread the word; she was tempted, but eventually turned it down.

Yet whereas Thatchers hostility to communism and socialism seemed to be a straightforward battle between good and evil, liberty and oppression, her call to arms on climate change sowed the seeds of an ideological battle that clouds thinking on the subject to this day.

For although she argued for continued economic growth via free enterprise capitalism at the UN, she also suggested that free markets are not an end in themselves, but only a means to an end; contingent upon producing a sustainable environment. They would defeat their object,'' she continued, if by their output they did more damage to the quality of life through pollution than the well-being they achieve by the production of goods and services.

This ideacall it Green Thatcherismwas heresy to many of her admirers and ideological bedfellows. All the more so as she further argued that a threat as dangerous as climate change could only be dealt with through multilateral institutions and new international conventions. For this seemed to invite exactly the kind of bureaucratic regulations, official meddling and collectivist thinking that her supporters had spent a lifetime overcoming with the fall of the Berlin Wall. It appeared to be Socialism through the back door,'' as she herself characterised her objections to an increasingly ambitious European Union in 1988.

Thus her legacy on this issue, unfortunately, remains extremely confused. A few have been inspired by her greenery, and taken her advice to use markets and free enterprise to search for solutions. Many on the left, however, have ignored her perfectly sensible suggestions because they cannot acknowledge that such a hate-figure for people on the left could have contributed anything to the green debate.

This is the wishful thinking of the left. Yet many of her former colleagues and admirers are equally guilty, challenging or denying the science in order to resist the extra regulations and taxes that are required to reduce global warming. This inverts her original argument. Reared on decades of fighting for individual liberty and capitalism against dictatorships and collectivism since the 1930s, their politics moulded by the spectre of Auschwitz and the gulags, such ideological defensiveness is perhaps understandable. Thatcher was reared on exactly the same stuff. But her fellow travellers on the right resist the ideological sacrifices that Thatcher suggested may be necessary for such a threat as global warming.

Thus, for instance, rather than regard climate change as the successor menace to communism, as Thatcher originally did, her erstwhile chancellor, Nigel Lawson, has argued consistently that the quasi-religion of green alarmism, as he calls it, has replaced the needs for transcendent values that communism once provided, leading to all the same evils. Thus this prominent climate sceptic will refight the old battles, dismissing the science to do so.

And much as Eurosceptics have expended a lot of energy poring over a few speeches of Winston Churchill to claim him for their cause, so Thatcherites have parsed her words to try to show that she was never that green in the first place, eager to prove that her Green Period was merely a blemish on an otherwise spotless record. It helps that Thatcher herself, under different influences, later seemed to endorse the climate change is socialism line. But as her latest and most comprehensive biographer, Charles Moore, reminds readers, she really did don the green mantle on the world stage, and, moreover, wore it with panache and sincerity.

Mark Littlewood, head of Thatchers favourite think-tank, the Institute of Economic Affairs, acknowledges that in prioritising ideology over the science, the free-market right has often been guilty of just wishing away all the bad news about climate change in a manner that Thatcher would never have countenanced. Such wishful thinking, of course, permeates the present Trump administration, which routinely trashes the science in order to escape the regulatory consequences of accepting the science. Hence Americas withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement in the name of sovereignty.

Yet, as Thatcher argues in her speeches, this extremism is unnecessarythe free-market system can offer perfectly good solutions to climate-change adaptation, more so, often, than other ideological systems, providing there are incentives to do so and a political will. Harder for the climate sceptics to accept, perhaps, especially in this age of nationalism, is the potential loss of sovereignty involved in the sort of target-setting and politicking envisaged by Paris and other international climate accords.

It is possible to accuse Thatcher of a dismal lack of consistency on sovereignty; she rebelled against the EU, for instance, over the loss of British sovereignty, but was prepared to cede sovereignty to supranational bodies to mitigate climate change.

Yet it was these very inconsistencies that made her such a successful politician and a visionary leader. She herself later swallowed the flattering illusion that she had always been ideologically consistent, to feed the Iron Lady mythbut it is just that, a myth.

The fact is that if both sides removed their ideological blinkers, as Thatcher, remarkably perhaps, managed to do, then her trilogy of speeches in the late 1980s still offer some of the best and clearest thinking on the subject. Indeed, 30 years on, again, she has largely been vindicated by events.

The left might learn that private enterprise can and indeed does produce many of the technical solutions to climate change. Economic growth continues to lift millions out of poverty; richer countries, such as those in the EU, have also done the most to curb carbon emissions over the past few decades. But the right must also reflect that it is a global problem that will only be solved by global co-operation, just as multilateral Western institutions such as NATO, Five Eyes intelligence sharing and the IMF helped to defeat communism.

This is the essence of Green Thatcherism; when the Iron Lady went from seeing red to greenforget the hammer, embrace the sickle. Green Thatcherism is as relevant today as Cold War Warrior Thatcherism was in the 1980s. Perhaps even more so.

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Climate, freedom and denial: What Green Thatcherism teaches us today - The Economist

We met with Vice President Pence to talk about press freedom. Heres why its important. – USA TODAY

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Joel Simon, Opinion contributor Published 7:00 a.m. ET Nov. 20, 2019

Mike Pence and Adam Schiff once served as co-chairs of the Freedom of the Press Caucus. Now Pence serves a president who threatens press freedom.

The extent to which the defense of press freedom has been a bipartisan concern is suggested by the fact that as a member of Congress, Mike Pence served as the co-chair of the Freedom of the Press Caucus along with Adam Schiff.

"If you believe in limited government, you understand that the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press, Pence said on the floor of the House in 2005, when he was pushing for legislation to protect journalists and their sources.

Today, of course, Schiff is leading the congressional impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump, and Pence is the vice president in an administration that has waged a relentless war on the press.

Trumps attacks on the news media, while divisive and polarizing in the United States, are doing far worse damage in places around the world where authoritarian governments are jailing journalists in record number or, as was the case with Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, murdering them with impunity.

On Monday, I went to see Vice President Pence with a group of courageous journalists from Pakistan, Nicaragua, Tanzania, Indiaand Brazil. These journalists were in the United States to receive press freedom prizes from the Committee to Protect Journalists, the organization I lead. We are honoring them for putting their lives on the line to bring us the news.

The journalists shared a variety of experiences. Neha Dixit described the onslaught of hate she has endured in India about publishing stories on sex trafficking and other sensitive issues. Patrcia Campos Mello, who has reported on alleged corruption in Brazil, saidPresident Jair Bolsonarohas emulated Trumps rhetoric, unleashing a torrent of online death threats and harassment. Bolsonaro even went so far as to cancel the governments subscription to her publication, Folha de S.Paulo, after Trump banned The New York Times and The Washington Post from the White House.

Northwestern journalism dean: 'Give the young people a break'in the Sessions story

Several of the journalists raised concern about the proliferation of laws criminalizing fake news and the ways these laws are used to target critical media.

Zaffar Abbas, the editor of the Dawn, one of Pakistans top newspapers, called on Pence to stand up for journalists working in developing democracies around the world.

Meanwhile, Miguel Mora and Lucia Pineda, who were jailed in Nicaragua in reprisal for their critical reporting, thanked Pence for the support they had received from the U.S. government, which they said helped get them out of prison.

The vice president was deeply engaged by these storiesand reaffirmed his commitment to press freedom. Thats important, but the reality is that the impeachment inquiry is polarizing, and its hard to imagine our political leaders coming together again to defend this critical principle.

Thats why the American people should.

Vice President Mike Pence(Photo: Drew Angerer, Getty Images)

Regardless of how you feel about the impeachment proceedings, many Americans are glued to the news, and wewant to know and understand whats transpiring in Washington. Thats the role of a free press, which is facing new challenges in this country, from the decline in local news to legal action targeting journalists sources.

This month, along with our partners at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and more than 40 media organizations around the country, we launched a new campaign called Protect Press Freedom. The campaign seeks to educate Americans about the threats to press freedom, celebrate the diverse journalism that keeps the public informedand mobilize citizens to stand up for freedom of the press no matter what news is important to them.

Theres another reason that we are calling on all Americans to stand firm for press freedom, and thats to bolster journalists around the world who work without the protection of the First Amendment. Their reporting not only informs their own societiesbut also reaches a global audience. The journalists who met with Vice President Pence told him they would like the United Statesto be an ally and an inspiration. Heseemed to get this. Lets hope he can persuadehis boss.

Joel Simon is executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Follow him on Twitter @Joelcpj

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We met with Vice President Pence to talk about press freedom. Heres why its important. - USA TODAY

Revolutions of our time: Freedom without US leadership | TheHill – The Hill

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A number of recent reports paint a grim picture for the future of global democracy. According to democracy and human-rights watchdog Freedom House, 2018 marked the 13th consecutive year of decline in global freedom.

Since 1994, according to the New York Times, 75 countries have taken steps toward authoritarianism. It is easy to conclude an inevitable, continued decline lies ahead, especially as the U.S. government steps away from its role as the global champion of democracy.

But it is important not to overlook an important piece of the global landscape. Though authoritarianism is on the rise, so are the number of people taking to the streets demanding greater freedom, accountability and transparency from their governments.

In far-flung locales, from Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Venezuela and Algeria to Poland and Sudan, citizens have used nonviolent action to push back against corruption, cronyism and rigid laws and to overthrow ossified autocrats.

Together, these movements tell a different and deeply encouraging story of a democratic resurgence that probably wont be driven by partner nations, heads of state or U.S. leadership. Instead, it will come from people themselves, who have imbibed the powerful ideas and values of democracy and are demanding that vision for themselves.

Remarkably, and against great odds, some of these movements are creating transformational change. In Sudan earlier this year, a popular movement challenged an entrenched military junta, prompting accused war criminal Omar Bashir to step down and ushering in a political transition.

Massive non-violent demonstrations in Armenia forced that countrys leader to resign in 2018. The Peoples Peace Movement in Afghanistans Helmand province where efforts culminated in a 300-mile march to Kabul to demand a ceasefire and talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban ultimately helped jumpstart recent peace talks. And in Algeria, the countrys longest-serving head of state stepped down after tens of thousands of Algerians took to the streets demanding change.

Moreover, research indicates that nonviolent action can be an important indicator that democracy will take hold, bolstered by the very action of civil resistance. Why Civil Resistance Works, co-authored by U.S. Institute of Peace Director of Nonviolent Action Maria Stephan, found that political transitions driven by civil resistance led to democratic outcomes 57 percent of the time, versus 6 percent for transitions driven by armed insurgencies.

The authors concluded that the skills associated with nonviolent organizing, negotiating differences, building coalitions, and collective action reinforce democratic norms and behaviors.

Tunisia is a powerful example of this, where the determined action of civil society groups, human rights activists, labor unions and lawyers resulted in the only Middle East country that has continued on its pathway to democracy after the tumult of the Arab Spring. A quartet of Tunisian leaders rightfully earned a Nobel Prize in 2015, representing the actions and commitments of tens of thousands who joined together to march, negotiate and demand democracy.

There are plenty of examples in which nonviolent resistance failed to lead to democracy. It is difficult for movements to maintain the discipline of nonviolence and, once violence takes hold, movements quickly lose legitimacy and the ability to attract the broadest swath of supporters, from grandmothers to police officers.

It is not enough to topple a dictator; citizens need the support and space to resolve conflicts and build more responsible governance for the long-term.

The heartbreak of courageous movements that failed as they did in Egypt, Yemen and, most tragically, Syria underscores how tenuous gains can be. However, even with these cautionary tales still fresh and potent, the latest wave of movements has not been deterred, illuminating how deeply and broadly the values of democracy and freedom have taken root.

This is where the international community can and should make a difference. Arguably, more important than world leaders taking the helm is the international commitment to provide the tools, training and guidance necessary to support the discipline of nonviolence, capitalize on the determination and energy of these movements, and build in greater systems of accountability

There is much cause for alarm with the current turn toward authoritarianism. However, if we look more carefully, there also is great inspiration in the nonviolent movements that have risen up, even in deeply repressive environments.

The values that are shared throughout the community of democracies, enshrined in the foundation of the U.S. and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are now animating citizens around the world to stand up to corrupt, repressive regimes.

The courage and determination of these citizens to attain the promise of a democracy that delivers is carrying forward the vision and filling the void of U.S. global leadership which is the core of the democratic ideal itself.

Nancy Lindborg is president and CEO of the United States Institute of Peace, an independent, nonpartisan federal institute that promotes global conflict resolution and training in diplomacy and peace-building initiatives.

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Revolutions of our time: Freedom without US leadership | TheHill - The Hill

When robots need the freedom to maneuver – C4ISRNet

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For robots to survive on future battlefields, they must go wherever people go.

Practically, this means the robots must have legs, or backpackable flying bodies, or other ways to tag along with infantry. When it comes to sensors and software, it means robots must have the freedom to operate almost as independently as humans.

How do you access an area that is GPS denied, electronically denied with equipment that is heavily reliant on [those services], asked Brandon Tseng, chief operating officer and co-founder of Shield AI. You cant, but with AI for maneuver, you open up a set of operations that give freedom to maneuver on the battlefield, to gain the intelligence you need, to conduct operations as required in these traditionally denied areas.

Tseng was speaking as part of a Nov. 20 panel on AI and autonomous capabilities at the 2019 AI and Autonomy symposium, put on by the Association of the United States Army in Detroit, Michigan. As Tseng outlined it, AI for maneuver is specifically about the software and sensors that grant autonomy in denied spaces. This is one of the driving forces behind the military adoption of autonomy writ large.

The greatest promise of machine autonomy is that it will lead to greater freedom for the humans commanding and fighting alongside the robots. Tseng said the goal is to shift from 50 soldiers supporting a single drone, or ground robot, or water robot, to a paradigm where one human supports 50 robots.

An ability for machines to operate despite GPS or electromagnetic denial means machines moving through risky areas with some assurance. Autonomy does not prevent the risk of a kinetic response, of drones shot down or blown apart with missiles, but it does make that outcome explicit and harder to deny. This could be preferred to the ambiguity of a drone loss from jamming that could read like mechanical failure.

In this era of massive political risk, what AI for maneuver does is opens up aperture of what missions we can accept because they are inherently very low political risk because they involve unmanned systems, Tseng said.

Unspoken, but underlying the remarks, was the Navys loss of a Global Hawk in the Strait of Hormuz in June. That incident did not devolve into a more traditional kinetic war or lead to human death, a fact thats led to the perception of drones as more-expendable assets.

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Trusting AI to maneuver surveillance and reconnaissance platforms into place means giving commanders and, ultimately, policy makers, information despite jamming, and despite a risk of loss. With drones, it is a shift from operating in climates of aerial superiority to ones of aerial expendability.

What is missing from the emphasis on denied environments, or asset projection, is what happens when those machines want to communicate back with human controllers. An ISR asset that can navigate denied space but not transmit what it observes is, at best, a liability. If the uncrewed, autonomous platform is carrying deadlier payloads than just sensors, more human control is needed and therefore autonomy in maneuver is insufficient for meeting both its operational needs and its likely battlefield uses.

Still, the concept is useful for orienting how policymakers and force planners think about what they want robots to do in battle. If autonomy is fundamentally about maneuver, then what autonomous machines do depends, to a great deal, on how those robots respond to command, and how they operate when beyond control.

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Witnessing Climate Thuggery in Germany – Somewhat Reasonable – Heartland Institute

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Billy Aouste

Billy Aouste is a media specialist for The Heartland Institute. Aouste is a graduate from DePaul University with a BA in Political Science.

If you dont visit Freedom Puband theHeartlanderdigital magazine every day, youre missing out on some of the best news and commentary on liberty and free markets you can find. But worry not, freedom lovers! Heartland Weekly is here for you every Monday with a highlight show.Subscribe to the email today, and read this weeks edition below.

Fossil Fuels Create Millions of JobsPeter FerraraWashington TimesPresident Trumps energy deregulation has created a huge boom in jobs and higher wages for blue-collar working people who used to be the backbone of the Democratic Party.

Climate Thuggery in GermanyJames TaylorTownhallMore than 200 people, including dozens of scientists and Heartlands James Taylor, were forced into hiding this week in Germany because of threats by fascist climate thugs.

Family Friendly Schools Act Far From ItChris TalgoThe HillSen. Kamala Harriss so-called Family Friendly Schools Act would do irreparable harm to an already failing institution: the sacred American family.

10th Anniversary of ClimategateHost: H. Sterling BurnettGuest: Paul DriessenPolicy Analyst Paul Driessen explains how 10 years after Climategate little has changed. The offending scientists have continued to manipulate data and hide research from the light of day.

Health Reimbursement AccountsHost: AnneMarie SchieberGuest: William SweetnamWilliam Sweetnam of the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation discusses how HRAs could be a game changer for how employers provide health insurance to their employees.

In the Tank Ep. 218Host: Donald KendalGuests: Jim Lakely and Justin HaskinsThe trio talk about the recent Soho Forum on the topic of socialism vs. capitalism. They also give a sneak peek at an upcoming Heartland/Rasmussen poll on the publics views on socialism.

Public Schools Are Failing StudentsTeresa MullDaily CallerNew standardized test scores have been released, and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called the results of the federally mandated NAEP exam for public schools devastating.

Ethics and Morality of the MarketplaceRichard EbelingFreedom PubWho do people consider to be less ethical or honest than either telemarketers or used car salesman? If you said Washington politicians, youd be right on the button.Medicare for Illegals is ImmoralChris TalgoAmerican ThinkerStrangely most Democrats running for the partys 2020 presidential nomination, including Bernie Sanders obviously, support Medicare for All, even for illegal immigrants.

On Demand Climate Crisis ConcernsCharles BattigFreedom PubLiving-in-the-moment mentality cannot distinguish between weather and climate. Panicked claims of a climate crisis do not easily succumb to clear scientific facts.

The State Is Not Your ProxyJeffrey TuckerAIERIm struck by the sheer materialism of the socialist outlook. Somehow it all comes down to who owns what and how much they control, as if this is the very essence of life itself.

Title X Grant Comes with Price TagMark BlocherHealth Care NewsThe changing political winds of Washington, DC and in state legislatures seem to have forced Title X recipients to participate in politics as part of their survival.

Fracking Saved $1.1 Trillion over DecadeTim BensonResearch & CommentaryA new report prepared by Kleinhenz & Associates for the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program shows fracking has saved Americans $1.1 trillion since 2008.

EPA Backs Off Transparency RulesKenneth ArtzEnvironment & Climate NewsThe government is full of swampy people, making it quite challenging to make substantial reforms at EPA, which has at most a handful of Trump people in place.

More Fiddling While Forests BurnGreg WalcherThe Heartland InstituteWhat if someone said they planned to burn down your house, but its for your own good? They need to study how houses burn, so in the future they might help you.

Witnessing Climate Thuggery in Germany was last modified: November 25th, 2019 by Billy Aouste

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Uri Regev: Religious freedom is important to Israelis, and could bring down Netanyahu – The Jewish News of Northern California

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Israel will next March almost certainly hold its third round of elections in less than a year, but Rabbi Uri Regev says thats not necessarily a bad thing.

Ive heard words of despair from American Jews [saying] nothing has changed between the first elections [in April] and the second [in September], Regev said Nov. 21 in a talk at Temple Isaiah in Lafayette.

But thats not true. Likud lost tens of thousands of votes between April and September, and Blue and White gained tens of thousands. [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu managed to get 60 Knesset seats in April, and just 55 in September. I believe those gains will be even greater in a third election.

Regev is the CEO of Hiddush, an Israeli nonprofit he founded 10 years ago to advocate for religious freedoms and social equality in the Jewish state. A longtime leader in the Reform movement in Israel and around the world, Regev decided in 2009 to broaden his outreach beyond his countrys relatively small Reform community to take advantage of what he describes as Israels unique character.

Until recent decades, there was in Israel, as in most Western countries, a correlation between the political right and the religious right, and between the political left and the religious left. That is, however, no longer true.

Israels once-dominant political left is now decimated, he said, with just 15-16 percent of Israeli Jews describing themselves as to the left versus more than 65 percent who say they support the political right. Continued security concerns and no apparent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict contribute to that rightward drift, he said.

Meanwhile, he continued, several studies, including one in 2016 from the Pew Research Center, show that two-thirds of Israeli Jews support a separation between state and religion. In the 2019 Israel Religion and State Index, commissioned by Hiddush, 69 percent of Israeli Jews said it was important that the party they vote for support religious freedoms, notably the freedom to marry whom they choose, and public transit on Shabbat, as well as social equality including an end to draft exemptions for yeshiva students.

So what we have is two-thirds of Israelis on the political right, and two-thirds supporting religious freedoms and social equality, he said. No study shows different figures.

Both Likud, on the right, and Blue and White, a center-right party, satisfy voters security concerns, he said. But whereas Netanyahu has allied himself politically with the haredi parties, which support the religious status quo, Blue and White has included in its platform the key religious freedoms supported by most Israelis.

So those of you who think issues of religion and state are not important to Israelis, the September elections show they are front and center

And that, he stated with some relish, is why support for Likud is slipping, and why support for Blue and White will continue to grow.

Avigdor Lieberman, the former defense minister, emerged this year as the canary in the coal mine. His political views are to the right, Regev reminded the crowd, but he and his party, Yisrael Beiteinu, strongly oppose the ultra-Orthodox control over religious life. Lieberman just squeezed into the Knesset in the April elections, with five seats. But over the summer he made his support for religious freedoms the linchpin of his campaign.

The result? His party netted eight seats in the September elections. And his popularity seems to be growing.

So those of you who think issues of religion and state are not important to Israelis, the September elections show they are front and center, Regev concluded.

But Israelis are concerned about different issues than those championed by American Reform and Conservative Jews, he explained. Egalitarian prayer at the Kotel? A recent poll showed it was of concern to just 4 percent of Israeli Jews.

So his advice to this audience gathered in a Reform synagogue in California was, yes, speak up. You have a stake in how Jewish life is lived, how Judaism is practiced, in the Jewish state. But understand what it is that Israeli Jews want.

If we focus our battle on egalitarian worship at the Kotel, we marginalize ourselves rather than aligning with the concerns of mainstream Israeli Jews, he said.

Regevs talk was the last of several he gave in local Reform synagogues, and it came the same day that Israels attorney general publicly charged Netanyahu with bribery, fraud and breach of public trust.

Three elections in 11 months? Well, Regev said, if it brings the right result the beginning of an end to the ultra-Orthodox control over religious life then thats the silver lining, he said.

I see already the progress made between April and September, and there will be further progress by March, he said. Im encouraged by the tremendous growth in public support, the emergence of a clear majority on the same page as we are.

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Uri Regev: Religious freedom is important to Israelis, and could bring down Netanyahu - The Jewish News of Northern California

Farm Freedom And Safety Act Introduced To Protect Farmers – StrathmoreNow.com

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Bill 26, also known as theFarm Freedom and Safety Act, has been introduced to address how employment standards, workers compensation, labour relations, and occupational health and safety laws that apply to farms and ranches. The bill was developed following extensive consultation with farmers, ranchers and workers. It recognizes thatfarms are unlike other businesses and need more flexibility to balance the unique economic pressures of farming with the need for a common-sense farm safety regime.

Devin Dreeshen, Alberta's Minister of Agriculture and Forestry said, We promised Albertans we would consult first and legislate second and thats exactly what we did. Weve taken this feedback and built common-sense farm workplace legislation that works for people, not against them.

The proposed legislation fulfills the governments commitment to consult with farmers and ranchers to build farm workplace legislation that works for them. The government is committed to restoring balance, fairness and common sense to the regulation of Albertas agriculture sector by repealing and replacing the previous governments failed Bill 6 legislation.

Rhonda Mulligan from Tri M Farms said, Farmers asked for these changes to give us the flexibility to run our businesses and build a program collectively that works for everybody. This government has really listened to and responded to our concerns. Modern farms are highly safety-conscious operations and we take care of our farm workers like they are family.

Tom Steve, Alberta Wheat and Barley Commission/general manager of Alberta Barley said, In terms of the overall shape of the industry, consultation has been a critical feature of the new government for Bill 6 and theFarm Freedom and Safety Act. We didnt have that under the previous government in 2015 when those changes were rolled out. We are very encouraged and optimistic about the future shape of farm safety legislation in Alberta.

Grassroots conversations, industry meetings, engagement sessions and an online survey were just some of the ways Albertas farmers and ranchers gave their input on practical farm workplace rules.

Albert Cramer, president of the Alberta Greenhouse Growers Association said, The greenhouse industry is very thankful to the Government of Alberta and, in particular, to Minister Dreeshen for his support in recognizing greenhouses as farms. Being excluded from the definition of farms under the Employment Standards Code was a huge challenge for our industry and we are grateful that this has been rectified in theFarm Freedom and Safety Act.

Some of the changes theFarm Freedom and Safety Actwould bring would be, allowing employers to have a choice when it comes to workplace insurance, protecting family farms from legislated and regulatory cost increases, ensuring basic safety standards on all farms and others that would protect and benefit farmers.

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Farm Freedom And Safety Act Introduced To Protect Farmers - StrathmoreNow.com

Turkish Constitutional Court: Dismantling of Turkish-Armenian friendship statue violation of freedom of expression – Information-Analytic Agency…

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The Turkish Constitutional Court has ruled that the freedom of expression of famous Turkish-Armenian sculptor Mehmet Aksoy has been violated. Aksoy is the creator of the Statue of Humanity, which was placed in Armenias bordering Kars and was dismantled after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan referred to the statue as perverse and disgusting and called on removing it and building a garden in its place.

The Turkish Supreme Court had ordered to pay 20,000 Liras ($3483) as compensation to the sculpture for dismantling his statue, reports Ahval.

Aksoy had appealed to the Turkish Constitutional Court and made a reference to the restriction on his freedom of expression. The Court on Monday ruled that the authorities had overlooked the constitutional provisions concerning freedom of expression.

The verdict was announced in accordance with the Turkish courts decision of 2015 according to which Erdogan had to pay Aksoy $4,000 as compensation.

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Turkish Constitutional Court: Dismantling of Turkish-Armenian friendship statue violation of freedom of expression - Information-Analytic Agency...

Threat against freedom and transparency – MENAFN.COM

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(MENAFN - Newsroom Panama) The following editorial published on Monday, November 25 in Panama's leading newspaper. which has won numerous awards for its investigative journalism and has pulled back the covers on multiple State and business corruption scandals is a "must-read" for all who value free speech. The perpetrator of the latest attacks who boasts he has the power and money will not be hard to identify

LA PRENSA was born in the middle of the military dictatorship, to fight for the recovery of freedom of expression and the right to information of all Panamanians, as the foundations of democracy. From our first edition, the tyrant and his successors bothered with this newspaper, harassed and, censored, us and vandalized our facilities and, finally, we were closed.

With the restoration of democracy, each of the Presidents of the Republic sought ways to pressure and influence La Prensa. Our cartoonists, photographers, reporters and managers have been singled out and even become defendants, but La Prensa has won over every effort to silence it, thanks to the commitment of our associates, and the loyalty of readers, subscribers and advertisers.

Now, again, not only La Prensa - but also the freedom of expression and the right to information of all Panamanians - faces a new threat that previously failed in its very open attempts to silence us. The new strategy is the use of judicial terrorism and economic defamation.

This is a company with solid financial fundamentals, that punctually fulfills its obligations with all its associates, suppliers, the State and social security. Like all global media companies, and many companies in Panama, we have had to make adjustments in the face of accelerated technological change and a slow-growing economic environment.

However, this is by no means the end of La Prensa.

Never before in the history of Panama, have the networks of political corruption and organized crime appropriated media. They were acquired with suspicious funds and their operation financed with state advertising, which also served to reward the aligned media and punish critics.

Precisely because of the independent exercise of our journalism, these networks of corruption know that La Prensa is an obstacle against their perverse ends. For this reason, they sue us and complain against us recklessly, with the purpose of defaming , label at the level of the audience and produce fear and self-censorship internally.

This judicial terrorism is accompanied by a concerted propaganda effort against this newspaper in the media and social networks controlled by this corruption network. Repeatedly and insistently they persist in inventing rumors that this newspaper will cease to circulate, or manufacture lies to defame our journalists and executives, even getting to muddle our investigative reputation characterizing it as a collaboration with the State security apparatus.

Right now, that overseas aspects of the regime of extortion and blackmail that ruled us begin to reveal themselves, those threatened against this newspaper are getting worse. They warn us that they will not have rested until they close us. For our part, we will not rest either; and we will continue publishing what you want to hide and bringing to light what you want to keep in the dark. We will continue fighting for the freedom of expression and the right to information of all Panamanians, so that this country is a territory where integrity and transparency shine as fundamental qualities of the State and of the whole society.

T

MENAFN2511201902180000ID1099325243

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Threat against freedom and transparency - MENAFN.COM

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly: Reaction To Farm Freedom And Safety Act – StrathmoreNow.com

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While Alberta farm groups are congratulating the UCP Government on their new Farm Freedom and Safety Act, the proposed legislation doesn't sit well with the Alberta Federation of Labour.

The new act set to replace the NDP's contentious Bill 6 includes an exemption for small farm employers, takes away farm workers' ability to form a union, and allows larger employers to choose between Worker's Compensation Board coverage or private insurance.

In a statement, Alberta Federation of Labour President, Gil McGowan, says it's a giant step backwards for farm and ranch employees.

McGowan says they're now back to no longer having the basic workplace rights enjoyed by their counterparts in every other province.

"Removing mandatory Workers Compensation coverage sets a horrible precedent," he said. "Albertans will no longer be able to track farm and ranch injury rates for the province and farms with private insurance will be a risk for lawsuits."

In the meantime, Team Alberta representing the Province's four crop commissions, is welcoming the legislation, saying the Government of Alberta is focusing on education over legislation when it comes to farm and ranch safety.

They're commending both the Agriculture Minister and Associate Minister of Red Tape Reduction on implementing what they heard from farmers during the consultations over the summer, and creating a new "common sense and flexible" farm safety regime.

The farm groups says while there are exemptions for smaller operations, the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act will remain as a strong baseline of safety standards while reducing burdensome regulatory requirements they say often dont apply to small farms.

"The focus on education and best management practices will help address labour shortages and other regulatory requirements that dont improve safety practices," Team Alberta said in a statement.

The Farm Freedom and Safety Act was tabled in the Alberta legislature by Agriculture Minister, Devin Dreeshen, on Wednesday, November 20.

When Dreeshen announced the legislation earlier this week, he was asked what his response would be to critics concerned about a division in farm workers by allowing smaller operations to be exempt, but workers employed by larger operations will still have insurance coverage.

"I would say that the critics don't understand agriculture," Dreeshen said.

He says what farmers are telling them is, smaller, mostly family farms are unique, as the extra regulation and costs stress their margins.

"This is the Government of Alberta understanding that, respecting that, and that's why we went down this path."

If passed, all the changes will be in effect as of March 1, 2020.

Read more: Legislation Tabled To Repeal And Replace Bill 6

Read more: WCB Or Not To Be? That Is The Farm Safety Tour Question

Send your news tips, story ideas and comments to [emailprotected]

Follow on Twitter @GoldenWestABAg @JessicaR_Giles

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The Good, The Bad And The Ugly: Reaction To Farm Freedom And Safety Act - StrathmoreNow.com

‘Significant reduction’ in Freedom of Information backlog says PSNI – The Irish News

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THE PSNI is "working extremely hard" to eliminate its backlog of unanswered Freedom of Information requests, a senior police officer has said.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd there has been a "significant reduction" after recruiting new staff, and police are providing the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) watchdog with monthly updates.

Last year it emerged police had amassed a backlog of nearly 300 unanswered FOIs amounting to more than a fifth of requests received at the time.

It prompted concerns from politicians and transparency campaigners who warned that it impacted scrutiny of policing if problems continued.

FOI legislation gives people a right of access to an array of information held by public bodies and has often been used by campaigners and journalists to expose issues, such as the MPs' expenses scandal.

Under the law, public bodies must reply to FOI requests promptly and within 20 working days, but there have been significant delays to many police FOI responses.

Last year's backlog of 273 requests which had not been responded to within the legislative timescale has since been reduced to 69.

Mr Todd said the PSNI received 1,459 FOI requests in 2018 and 1,389 in 2019 so far.

He said the PSNI's Corporate Information Branch now has 21 full-time staff attached to it, with 10 new employees joining since last year.

"In total 163 requests remain outstanding, of which 83 are actively being processed. Of those outstanding requests, 69 have not been responded to within the 20 day timescale set out by section 10 of the Freedom of Information Act," he said.

Mr Todd said the PSNI meets with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and provides the watchdog with monthly updates on the progress on delivering an action plan to eradicate the backlog.

He added: "The Police Service of Northern Ireland has been working extremely hard to eradicate its backlogs including resourcing new staff, implementing training and working closely with the Information Commissioner's Office in keeping them updated on progress.

"Whilst backlog numbers have fallen, we will continue to advance this work until all requests received by us are answered promptly and in line with legislative timescales.

"PSNI takes its obligations toward request handling very seriously and understands that the Freedom of Information legislation provides an important framework for the public to access information held by public authorities and fosters a culture of transparency and accountability in all public bodies including PSNI."

An ICO spokesman said: "Following advice and engagement from the ICO, Police Service Northern Ireland has been making progress in dealing with a backlog of delayed responses to Freedom of Information requests.

"While such improvement is welcome, the ICO will continue to monitor the force's performance in order to assist it to make necessary further improvements and achieve compliance with its statutory responsibilities."

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'Significant reduction' in Freedom of Information backlog says PSNI - The Irish News

Krishna C. Mukherjee Continues to Advance Organizations with AI and Automation – Yahoo Finance

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Former Microsoft Corporation Executive Takes Lead in AI (photo: Kevin Ku)

By Oliver Estreich

The world is at the cusp of the fourth industrial revolution, also referred to as Industry 4.0. Disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, Internet of Things (IoT) and Virtual Reality (VR)are changing the way we live and work. AI is evolving at a rapid pace. Organizations are using AI to perform a variety of useful functions. Countries are discovering new ways to transform themselves using AI. The AI technologies are becoming firmly embedded in our lives. The question is no longer whether we use AI or not, but rather how we can better collaborate with it. The management of risks around AI are also a key feature of robust corporate governance.

Some of the worlds greatest minds have devoted themselves to usher in this technological revolution. It has taken them many years of hard work and tireless dedication to bring the human civilization to the present era of technology. CorpGov spoke to Krishna C. Mukherjee, who figures prominently among the leaders who have contributed significantly to the advancement of technology and business. He has devoted a large part of his career to the research and development of AI.

Early stages of AI development

Krishna C. Mukherjee has an excellent educational background. He studied engineering at the elite Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). In 1988, he was recruited by Microsoft from IIT Kanpur to create architectures, and design and develop software products. At that time, he was completing his Masters degree in Computer Science and Engineering, with specialization in AI and Robotics. He had conducted excellent research, written a thesis on AI and published papers in AI conferences. He graduated at the top of his class. Soon thereafter, he joined Microsoft at the companys headquarters in Redmond, Washington, USA.

Krishna C. Mukherjee served as Principal Architect and Lead Software Engineer for Microsoft. He played a vital role in the architecture, design and development of the Microsoft Office suite of applications and the Microsoft Windows operating system. From 1988 to 2004, he designed and developed key features and technologies for Microsoft. He introduced AI at Microsoft. He oversaw the creation of AI-based features, including AutoFormat and IntelliSense, that have become integral part of Microsoft products.

In the earlier Graphical User Interface (GUI) frameworks, there was no separation between what an application looks like and how it behaves. Both the user interface and its behavior had to be programmed in imperative languages such as C#. Krishna C. Mukherjee created AI-based architectures to separate the appearance and behavior of GUI applications. He invented the concept of using declarative mark-up languages to generate advanced user interfaces. Under his leadership, Microsoft developed innovative technologies: Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML).

Throughout his career, Krishna C. Mukherjee has been a driving force behind Microsofts success. He has contributed energy, skills and talent towards the success of Microsoft. His accomplishments have helped Microsoft to become a leader in the technology industry and one of the most valuable companies in the world. He received many awards and honors from Microsoft.

AI for Workflow Automation

While Krishna C. Mukherjee was working to increase Microsofts strength in AI technologies, he was also inventing other strategies to commercialize AI. In the late 1990s, he created the Intelligent Filling Manager, popularly known as INTELLIFM, to automate the workflow systems that organizations use regularly. INTELLIFM, an AI-based technology, disrupted many industries including insurance, legal, finance and health care. With INTELLIFM, Mukherjee introduced a high degree of collaboration between cross-functional teams, and thus greatly improved the efficiency of business processes. In fact, this cross-functional collaboration is the key to Agile software development that has become popular since its inception in 2001.

From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Krishna C. Mukherjee developed and established his Software as a Service (SaaS) model that gives organizations the ability to perform complex business transactions on the Internet, or the cloud. During these creation years, he served as the Chief Information Officer for Wolters Kluwer. In this role, he transitioned the companys traditional paper-based methods to automated electronic processes. He spearheaded the creation of the heavily used, award-winning SaaS applications CTAdvantage.com, hCue.com, MediRegs.com and LienSolutions.com. Customers use the SaaS applications on a subscription basis from Wolters Kluwer to manage their data and automate their enterprise workflows.The SaaS applications generate recurring revenue for Wolters Kluwer and also save costs for its customers.

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Krishna C. Mukherjee made invited presentations on INTELLIFM, distributed computing and Microsoft technologies at AI conferences. He selected Microsoft Windows servers to host the SaaS applications for Wolters Kluwer N.V. He built strategic partnership between Microsoft and Wolters Kluwer. Through his efforts, he helped Microsoft gain recognition in the field of AI and get established in the enterprise software market. He enabled Wolters Kluwer to become a global provider of information services. Mukherjee received the Highest Achievement Award from Wolters Kluwer for his outstanding contributions to the success of the company.

AI in the Finance Industry

Krishna C. Mukherjee advanced his career from 2004 to 2011 in the finance industry. He worked in Directorial positions for Citadel, Bloomberg and UBS Group AG three of the most well-known companies in the finance industry. He provided strategic direction to these finance companies. They experienced remarkable progress after Mr. Mukherjee infused advanced technology into their financial systems.

By using Microsofts WPF and XAML technologies that Mr. Mukherjee pioneered, software developers are able to work collaboratively with designers to create financial applications that are information-rich and have minimum code complexity. This collaboration is essential in a rapidly changing environment because it shortens the time from concept to delivery of the financial applications. The applications have elegant user interfaces that meet the expectations of technology-savvy financial users. The applications can process large volumes of data in real-time, and satisfy the high-performance and security needs of the finance industry.

One of Mr. Mukherjees most important contributions to the finance industry is the architecture, design and development of the Bloomberg Valuation Service, popularly known as BVAL. Previously, prices were determined on the basis of models that considered market opinions and comparable securities. Hence, these prices were subjective and inaccurate. The investment decisions, based on these prices, were speculative and not scientific. Mr. Mukherjee designed BVAL to provide accurate valuations with the help of sophisticated algorithms and AI. He ensured that BVAL uses the highest quality data for algorithmically computing prices of financial instruments. Moreover, he created a scalable architecture for BVAL. Today, BVAL prices millions of financial instruments across multiple asset classes. It provides the finance industry with rigorous, transparent and defensible valuations.

Mr. Mukherjee instilled new life in the finance industry with his AI-driven approach. He made the finance industry objective and reliable. He helped to build the foundation of modern financial technology or FinTech.

Krishna C. Mukherjee

AI in the Retail Industry

The collection of huge amounts of data and the usage of AI techniques to analyze data have brought a new perception paradigm. This phenomenon lets us understand a larger part of the world through its projection on the data space. Highly skilled resources are needed to manage data and capitalize on the opportunities it offers. Electronic commerce (e-commerce) has become a necessity for businesses. Retail companies need experts like Mr. Mukherjee who can integrate modern technology into existing business environments.

After his success in the finance industry, Mr. Mukherjee set his focus on the retail industry. He linked up with Icon Parking Systems, popularly known as Icon. The company is a leader in branded parking services with more than three hundred locations in Manhattan and surrounding areas. More than forty thousand cars are parked daily at Icons locations. As the Head of Software Development, Mukherjee transitioned Icons business from VAX mainframe to a hybrid cloud environment. He also directed the development of the heavily used e-commerce site IconParkingSystems.com.

Mr. Mukherjee also advanced other areas of Icons technological work-frame. He directed the development of an internal web-based accounting system. Icons employees use this internal system to enter and update customer information, post recurring charges, issue debits and credits, view ledger balances, prepare monthly and new customer billing, generate invoices and perform other business critical activities.

While modernizing Icon, Mr. Mukherjee identified a very important problem: Customers were reluctant to make payments without confirmation that their money was going to be handled promptly and securely. In 2012, he created the AutoPay platform to solve this problem. AutoPay allows customers to schedule payments from their bank accounts or cards for paying recurring bills. The relevant funds get automatically deducted on specific days. AutoPay is secure, convenient and fast. It saves time and effort for customers, and helps them to streamline their finances. They do not miss a payment or incur late fees.

Mr. Mukherjees e-commerce strategy worked like magic for Icon. The companys customers, who are individuals and organizations, use IconParkingSystems.com to sign up for monthly, daily and hourly parking at premier locations. They pay their bills using electronic checks (ACH), debit and credit cards via the AutoPay system. In return, Icon receives payments on time. The company no longer has to handle an excessive amount of paperwork for processing paper checks and cash. Electronic payments made by customers are automatically processed and posted to Icons ledger. Mukherjees AutoPay has been adopted widely. Today, many companies in retail and other industries offer AutoPay to their customers.

Under Mr. Mukherjees leadership, Icon became highly efficient and profitable. The company acquired new locations and re-opened old locations that it had to close. Mukherjee chose Microsoft technologies to create the e-commerce presence for Icon. Thus, he helped Microsoft to gain business in the competitive cloud market.

The popularity of e-commerce has changed the way retail companies operate. Customers shop in a variety of ways. They may look at reviews of a product or brand, visit a store in person, and then buy through the retailers website. Omni-channel allows retailers to create a unified and holistic experience with their brand, services and products. With this in mind, Mr. Mukherjee has worked on advancing omni-channel retailing with superior technology and AI. His portfolio now includes mobile applications that implement contactless digital wallets, such as Apple Pay, for enhanced security and privacy. He has been incorporating AI-based recommendation engines into retailing applications to generate personalized ensembles of products for shoppers. His goal is to optimize the shopping experience of customers and also meet the business objectives of retailers in the best possible way.

AI for Customer Service

During his work with advanced technologies, Krishna C. Mukherjee has zoned in on a key focal point for distributed and cloud-based systems: These systems must be efficient, robust and reliable. Accordingly, he continues to create AI-based architectures and designs when building distributed and cloud-based systems for enterprises. He ensures that state-of-the-art error handling capabilities are built into these systems. The error notifications, such as emails, phone calls, pager alerts and instant messages, are sent to support teams immediately when any error happens at runtime. The AI-based auto-correction capabilities enable the enterprise systems to fix the errors automatically, without the need for human intervention.

Mr. Mukherjee has also been designing Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems to service and direct high volumes of phone calls. The IVR systems interact with the customers, and only if necessary, transfer the calls to the human agents. Mukherjee has been researching the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) to improve the IVR systems. His goal is to simulate real, two-way conversations by giving the customers more control over the call flows. He aims to use NLP to make the IVR systems more dynamic so that customers do not have to go through a menu of options that may be irrelevant to their enquiries. Further, by using NLP, Mr. Mukherjee plans to analyze sentiments of callers. He feels that insights gained through sentiment analysis help organizations to identify and act on the root causes of issues and mitigate problems before they become serious. Additionally, Mr. Mukherjee has been researching the application of Machine Learning (ML) to implement predictive routing of customer calls. He has been applying ML to build IVR systems that can anticipate the reasons for a call and rout the customer to the best matching agent.

For many years, IVR has been unchallenged in the customer service domain. More recently, however, the chatbot has been vying for the top spot. Mr. Mukherjee has been researching chatbots and how they can better apply decision-tree logic, or more complex AI, to improve customer experience. The field is open from an enterprise perspective. As one would expect, chatbots are showing good results in the e-commerce and retail world that Mukherjee has transformed. Mukherjee feels that both IVR systems and chatbots can be used for providing superior customer service. Customers, who prefer to call, can be connected by the IVR system to the best human agent. Others, who approach online, can be greeted by a friendly chatbot.

Through his innovative work, Mukherjee has been helping organizations to become more profitable by providing excellent customer experience and by increasing employee efficiency.

Optimism about AI and Automation

A business can grow earnings by increasing the topline with organic growth, by improving the bottom-line through higher efficiency and by cultivating inorganic growth through acquisitions. As a Senior Executive, Mr. Mukherjee has been focusing on all the three aspects. His illustrious professional career spans for more than three decades. His innovations have automated workflows and maximized efficiency of many businesses across industries. His software architectures and domain-driven designs have been adopted to create many new products and services. He has enabled organizations to improve their level of compliance with ever-changing regulatory requirements. Customer service has become excellent with the AI-based systems that he has designed.

In August of 2019, the prestigious publication Marquis Whos Whohonored Mr. Mukherjee with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his incredible accomplishments in the field of technology. This award endorsed and solidified what experts have known for a long time: Krishna C. Mukherjee has shaped the world as we know it.

Mr. Mukherjee has used AI and automation to help organizations increase sales and improve customer service, eliminate repetitive tasks and increase productivity, analyze data and improve prediction capabilities, expedite important decisions and actions, and enhance business agility. He has shown to the world that technological advancements are extremely beneficial to society. He is optimistic about the future of AI and automation. He says, Forward-thinking organizations that implement AI and automation are sure to succeed and exceed our expectations.

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Krishna C. Mukherjee Continues to Advance Organizations with AI and Automation - Yahoo Finance

What Should the Government Do About the Coming Automation Apocalypse? – FedTech Magazine

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Automation is commonly thought of as an attempt by rich companies to get richer. Instead, its often an effort to cut costs when the future of the economy looks bleak. Take, for example, the economic slump of the 1950s. Though 13 million jobs were ultimately destroyed during the decade, an astounding 20 million new ones were created thanks, in large part, to technological advancements such as automation.

With visions of the next recession already clouding the horizon for many Americans, we can bet on a sweeping wave of automation technology to shake up the workforce once again. Only this time with technology thats advanced by leaps and bounds since the 50s the disruption will be stronger and reach further than ever before.

A 2011 study evaluated how the Great Recession impacted structural unemployment in the United States. The studys authors reported that the structural unemployment rate rose by nearly 2 percentage points between the end of 2006 and 2010. It was enough to disrupt industries and permanently alter local economies, but the next recession could be far worse.

Over the past decade, companies have made huge strides in automation. Consider that innovations like self-driving cars, which used to be the stuff of fantasies, are already becoming a reality. As a lesson in history plays out before us, the next recession will cause companies to reach for more cost-cutting automation, which will likely lead to larger job losses than in previous recessions.

The availability and maturity of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies could be the catalyst for a massive wave of automation in all kinds of industries. In a recession where profits dip and human labor becomes one of a businesss biggest expenses, the incentive for companies to pursue automation will drastically increase.

To make matters worse, automation disproportionately affects economically vulnerable workers because simple, repetitive tasks are the most likely to be automated. Employment will primarily contract in industries such as food service, manufacturing and transportation, where workers struggle to make a living even under ideal employment circumstances.

The good news is that other fields will be starving for employees, but it will take purposeful policy changes to prepare displaced workers.

MORE FROM FEDTECH: Discover why feds see promise in robotic process automation.

Although most employees understand the need to learn new skills and data from the Pew Research Center suggests that 49 percent of Americans anticipate reduced job security by 2050 that doesnt mean they have access to the resources necessary to pursue new employment avenues. At present, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warns that the employees who need training the most are the least likely to receive it, setting the stage for alarming levels of unemployment.

Governments, however, have the power to quell this growing issue by aiding workers growth. Here are two ways they can start:

Thankfully, government doesnt need to reinvent the wheel when it comes time to map out these programs. If they dont have the infrastructure in place to help workers learn new skills already, they can partner with pre-existing training organizations to achieve worker security and strengthen community roots.

Finding ways to support or partner with employers making strides to do this is a viable way to encourage on-the-job learning opportunities. This approach is already tried and tested as well: In July 2018, the federal government announced a partnership with 23 organizations to further an apprenticeship and employee reskilling initiative.

Its true that automation has historically created more jobs than its eliminated, but it still causes incredible upheaval for the millions of workers who are left looking for new employment. If the federal government wants to reduce the fallout from the next major wave of automation, it must implement training programs that prepare employees for the next chapter in their careers.

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What Should the Government Do About the Coming Automation Apocalypse? - FedTech Magazine

STMicroelectronics and maxon Collaborate on Precision Motor Control for Robotics and Automation – Financialbuzz.com

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P4213D Nov 25 2019 STSPIN ROBOT eval kit_IMAGE

Geneva and Sachseln, Switzerland, November 25, 2019 STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, is working with maxon, a leading precision-motor provider and a member of the ST Partner Program, to accelerate the design of robotics applications and industrial servo drives. The companies will demonstrate a jointly developed servo control kit at sps 2019 trade show in Nuremberg, November 26-28 (Booth 10.1/138).

The EVALKIT-ROBOT-1 is a plug-and-play solution aimed to help users easily approach the world of precise positioning and high-end motion in servo drives and robotics. A maxon 100-Watt BLDC motor with built-on 1024-pulse incremental encoder is included in the kit, embodying the companys expertise in magnetic design in motors that ensures smoothness and balance to allow fine control even at low rotor speeds.

The servo control board supplied with the kit contains STs STSPIN32F0A intelligent 3-phase motor controller and a complete inverter stage built with ST power transistors ready to connect to the motor. Motor-control firmware is also included, making it easy for users to start the motor and begin sending commands.

Our motors are trusted worldwide to deliver high quality, precision, and accuracy, said Felix Herger, Head of Business Development Industrial Automation, maxon motor. Teaming with ST has created a platform that makes these attributes more easily accessible to a wider variety of product designers.

Designing high-end motion controls with accurate positioning capabilities is complex and time-consuming, demanding specialist skills. Working with maxon, we have now put those skills in a box for our customers, said Branimir Ivetic, Motion Control Product Marketing Manager, STMicroelectronics. The EVALKIT-ROBOT-1 kit accelerates development of next-generation robotics and automation that delivers advanced capabilities and dexterity with excellent reliability and ease of use.

The kit is available now at http://www.st.com, priced at $129.00.

Further technical information:

STs STSPIN32F0A system-in package contains critical circuitry for motor control, including an STM32F031C6* microcontroller and three-phase inverter driver in a compact 7mm x 7mm VFQFPN package. The microcontroller comes loaded with plug-and-play firmware for MODBUS communication and field-oriented control (FOC) with precise positioning capabilities. Power management and current sensing circuitry are also embedded in the device making it more flexible and versatile.

The maxon EC-i 40, 40mm-diameter, 100-Watt brushless (BLDC) motor embeds a maxon ENX 16 EASY 1024-pulse incremental encoder for precision control. Hall sensors for detecting rotor position are included. The motor features an optimized design for high output torque with low cogging torque, which permits smooth motion across the speed range and enhances positioning precision.

The 3-phase BLDC inverter power stage features STs STL7DN6LF3 60V, low on-resistance, N-channel MOSFETs, capable of 6A maximum output for driving the motor.

* STM32 is a registered and/or unregistered trademark of STMicroelectronics International NV or its affiliates in the EU and/or elsewhere. In particular, STM32 is registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office.

About maxonmaxon motor is a developer and manufacturer of brushed and brushless DC motors, as well as gearheads, encoders, controllers, and entire mechatronic systems. maxon drives are used wherever the requirements are particularly high, such as in NASAs Mars rovers, in surgical power tools, in humanoid robots, and in precision industrial applications. To maintain its leadership in this demanding market, the company invests a high percent of its annual revenue in research and development. Worldwide, maxon has 3000 employees at nine production sites and is represented by sales companies in nearly 40 countries.

About STMicroelectronicsST is a global semiconductor leader delivering intelligent and energy-efficient products and solutions that power the electronics at the heart of everyday life. STs products are found everywhere today, and together with our customers, we are enabling smarter driving and smarter factories, cities and homes, along with the next generation of mobile and Internet of Things devices.

By getting more from technology to get more from life, ST stands for life.augmented.

In 2018, the Companys net revenues were $9.66 billion, serving more than 100,000 customers worldwide. Further information can be found at http://www.st.com

For Press Information Contact:

Michael MarkowitzDirector Technical Media Relations STMicroelectronics Tel: +1 781 591 0354Email: michael.markowitz@st.com

Felix HergerHead of Business Development Industrial Automationmaxon motor agTel.: +41 41 666 15 69E-mail: felix.herger@maxongroup.com

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STMicroelectronics and maxon Collaborate on Precision Motor Control for Robotics and Automation - Financialbuzz.com