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Report: Brockton lawmaker is ‘big winner’ from legislative pay raise vote – Enterprise News

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

Information received through a Freedom of Information Act request shows that a state lawmaker representing Brockton received a pay increase from $67,232 to $107,547 from the pay raise that she and other legislators voter for earlier this year. Mass Fiscal Alliance dubbed state Rep. Claire Cronin, D-Easton, "the big winner" in The House from the pay hike vote held on Beacon Hill in January this year.

BROCKTON A state lawmaker representing Brockton was the big winner in the House of Representatives from pay raises that legislators gave themselves in a vote earlier this year, according to the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

The Beacon Hill group, which calls itself a nonpartisan advocate for fiscal responsibility and transparency, published the findings of a Freedom of Information Act request for payroll records of state lawmakers before and after they passed a legislative pay raise in January.

State Rep. Claire Cronin, D-Easton, who represents part of Brockton, received the largest percentage increase 60 percent in the House of Representatives, the group said.

The information published by the group shows that Cronins raise went from $67,232 in total take home pay in 2016, to $107,547 in 2017.

That included $30,000 in additional leadership pay, which is additional compensation for state lawmakers with various leadership roles. Cronin is the chairperson for the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, according to her legislative profile.

Cronin and others also received additional compensation for office expenses, varying depending on the lawmakers distance from home to Boston. Cronin and other lawmakers in Brockton received an additional $15,000 for this in 2017, compared to the $7,200 they received in the previous year.

Cronins base pay also increased by about $2,500.

Cronin and all other state lawmakers representing Brockton voted to give themselves the pay raise, justifying the pay increase with a bipartisan report authored in 2014 that recommended additional compensation. They also pointed to the lack of a legislative leadership stipend increase since 1982.

Cronin provided a statement to The Enterprise on Thursday celebrating her new leadership position the primary reason for her pay increase and she commented on the added work that it entails.

"This year I was proud to receive a promotion, being named the first woman House chair of the Judiciary Committee," Cronin said. "With this promotion, I have increased responsibilities, including hearing and considering nearly 800 pieces of legislation, among them bills dealing with criminal justice reform, a priority of the speaker, Senate president and governor. There are more bills and more hearings in the Judiciary Committee than any other committee in the Legislature."

However, advocates from groups like Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance are not buying the explanations from local politicians, and they argue that state lawmakers are trying to downplay the pay raises they gave themselves.

The slippery stories legislators are telling about this vote are outrageous, said Paul Craney, a spokesperson for Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. Only the professional politicians win when information like this is kept secret. We think people deserve the truth.

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Report: Brockton lawmaker is 'big winner' from legislative pay raise vote - Enterprise News

Watchdogs Raise Concerns Over Budget ‘Earmarks’ | 90.5 WESA – 90.5 WESA

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

Its been nearly a month since the state Senate voted through a revenue plan that would fund the state budgetif the House agrees to it.

But Harrisburg watchdogs are still poring over it to figure out where money is going.

The right-leaning Commonwealth Foundation has released a report detailing instances where senators slipped spending into a bill meant to fund the budget.

All told, the chambers fiscal code bill includes $65 million thats split up among several dozen groups deemed worthy of the money.

The process is colloquially called earmarking.

Commonwealth Foundation Director Nathan Benefield said recipientslike hospitals, schools, or townsare hard to determine, because they arent listed by name.

It says like, well this is open to any organization thats in a third-class county, in a second-class city, with a population of 35,000, Benefield said. And its only one organization that fits that definition.

The foundation is on a multi-year quest to make so-called earmarks more transparent. Benefield said this year, they spent several weeks studying the fiscal code and still werent totally able to figure out where all the earmarked money was going.

He added, putting spending into the fiscal code makes it easier to use taxpayer dollars as political collateral.

Lawmakers who vote the right way or vote the way leadership wants them to are going to get earmarks in their districtand those earmarks are traded, basically, for votes on legislation, he said.

Lawmakers have defended their freedom to have some discretionary spending. And Senate GOP spokeswoman Jenn Kocher noted, the process for allocating the money isnt without oversight measures.

People have to make applications for them, they have to go through and publicly apply and fulfill all the requirements from the specific departments from which theyre receiving the money, she said.

The Commonwealth Foundation wants the earmarks to be itemized in the actual budget spending plan instead of the fiscal codesaying that would better-ensure the allocations are fair.

The Senate plans earmarks include money for certain state parks, community colleges, and autism services, among other things.

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Watchdogs Raise Concerns Over Budget 'Earmarks' | 90.5 WESA - 90.5 WESA

Updated | Delia ‘categorically denies’ holding Jersey offshore bank account – MaltaToday

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

PN leadership contender Adrian Delia has not declared owning an offshore bank account in Jersey, according to Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia

Adrian Delia denied being the owner of an offshore bank account

But in a statement posted on Facebook, Delia has categorically denied the claims made by Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who published his account number of an alleged Barclays International account on Jersey, a tax haven.

I repeat that I have no monies in any other jurisdiction except Malta, and that I never had money in Barclays, as alleged by Caruana Galizia, or any other foreign bank.

Delia said he would file a defamation case against Caruana Galizia.

Delia has already denied holding any such offshore assets in an interview with MaltaToday. When asked on Wednesdayby Caruana Galizia, Delia also denied holding an offshore bank account, but the columnist has insisted that Delia, a litigation lawyer, is the owner of a bank account with Barclays International of Jersey, and published his account number.

When asked as to whether he owned such an account, a spokesperson for Delia told Caruana Galizia no, never.

What is the extent of Adrian Delias banking liabilities? Full data here

On Sunday, Delia told MaltaToday that he did not have any companies abroad; overseas accounts; nominee-ships abroad; I dont have people fronting me abroad, when queried about his financial interests.

Delia has been cagey about giving a full declaration of assets after Nationalist MP Chris Said and outgoing PN treasurer Alex Perici Calascione presented their own declarations.

Delia was later revealed to have been assigned a constitution of debt by HSBC Malta of 7.2 million for loans taken out by Mgarr Developments Ltd, a company in which he holds a 9% interest. The other shareholders are two companies, one of which is owned by Delias legal firms partner, Georg Sapiano. The company acquired the former Mgarr Hotel to be redeveloped into a 40-apartment complex.

When asked to declare his assets on Sunday, Delia said:

I have my house in Main Street, Siggiewi a couple of rooms with some fields in Siggiewi, limits of Rabat a 40% shareholding in a small company called Carnaby: we import wines and sell them. Ive already said I have a 9% share in Mgarr Developments Ltd: which has one development in Gozo...

When asked about the 7.2 million debt, Delia said that he will be selling off his stake in the company once the properties are sold off and the debt can be repaid.

Originally posted here:

Updated | Delia 'categorically denies' holding Jersey offshore bank account - MaltaToday

Report: IRS Assumes All Individuals With Offshore Accounts Are Suspect of Fraudulent Activity – Washington Free Beacon

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson / Getty Images

BY: Ali Meyer August 23, 2017 11:50 am

The Taxpayer Advocate Service, a division of the IRS, says the agency assumes individuals with offshore accounts are suspect of fraudulent activity.

"The National Taxpayer Advocate has previously raised a number of issues regarding implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the IRS's international withholding and refund policies," the division states in its report to Congress.

This act, according to the IRS, is an effort to prevent tax evasion by individuals who have financial assets and other accounts offshore. For those who have assets more than $50,000 offshore, the act requires that they report information about them on their tax return.

The National Taxpayer Advocate says individuals who are subject to this law are treated by the IRS as if they are suspected of fraud: "Lacking either statistically valid data or analytical justification, the IRS has adopted a coercive approach to international taxpayers, reflecting an assumption that all such taxpayers are suspect of fraudulent activity."

"Financial organizations face substantial record-keeping burdens and economic risks as a result of the manner in which the IRS has implemented FATCA," the report continues. "This has prompted some financial organizations and their representatives to energetically seek repeal of the legislation."

In addition, "A return by the IRS from its current withholding and enforcement orientation to its prior information gathering approach would reduce the burdens placed on FFIs and potentially minimize some of the remaining FATCA opposition."

Chris Edwards, director of Tax Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, says the act should be repealed: "Not just the IRS, but Congress, seems to assume that Americans are guilty just because they hold foreign financial accounts. But holding foreign accounts is integral to international business activities and foreign trade. FATCA is a bureaucratic abomination, and should be repealed."

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Report: IRS Assumes All Individuals With Offshore Accounts Are Suspect of Fraudulent Activity - Washington Free Beacon

ACT offers to resettle refugees held in ‘inhumane’ offshore detention centres – The Guardian

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

Refugees and asylum seekers protest inside the Manus Island detention centre. The ACT government has passed a motion describing offshore processing centres as unsafe and degrading.

The ACT government has offered to resettle refugees from Australias offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru.

A motion passed the unicameral ACT legislative assembly, without division, declaring that the ACT government is willing and ready to settle refugees and asylum seekers from Manus Island and Nauru in Canberra as part of a national program of resettlement.

The motion, put by Greens MLA and minister for justice Shane Rattenbury, said the offshore processing centres were inhumane and degrading and had been unequivocally shown to be unsafe.

Refugees in these processing centres have been subjected to violent attacks, sexual violence, inadequate medical care, and harassment of mothers, fathers and children as young as six.

The motion was unanimously supported by Labor and Greens members in the chamber. Liberal members did not rise against it or call a vote, effectively abstaining.

The ACT is the only Australian state or territory to have declared itself a refugee welcome zone, one of 148 zones across Australia, including shires and councils from every state.

The declaration is likely to have little practical impact. Decisions on granting visas are the bailiwick of the commonwealth, not state or territory governments. Amnesty International Australia said it hoped the ACTs commitment would establish a precedent for other states and territories.

This sends a strong message to prime minister Turnbull and immigration minister Dutton that their deliberately abusive policies are not welcome and that they must come to an end, Amnesty refugee campaigner Ming Yu Hah said.

Refugees and people seeking asylum who Australia has trapped on Nauru and Manus Island are not safe and further tragedy is inevitable unless Australia acts responsibly.

About 2,000 refugees and asylum seekers are held on Australias offshore immigration islands of Nauru and Manus, either in the regional processing centres or in communities.

Three pregnant refugees held on Nauru who have requested terminations and have been recommended by doctors for transfer to Australia, remain on the island, after being refused transfers by the Nauru hospital overseas medical referral (OMR) committee.

More than 50 refugees and asylum seekers are on the OMR list but have been refused transfers or not considered, raising concerns among medical and departmental staff.

There is particular medical disquiet over pregnancy terminations being referred to the OMR committee. Pregnancy terminations are illegal on devoutly Christian Nauru, and the hospitals doctors are essentially being asked to approve a procedure overseas that is illegal on the island.

Psychiatrists treating the pregnant women have raised concerns the women may self-harm, commit suicide, or attempt a home abortion if they are denied access to the procedure.

The Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians have both said refugees and asylum seekers needing advanced medical care should immediately be brought to Australia.

The opposition immigration spokesman Shayne Neumann and Labor senator Lisa Singh, have both written to the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, over the delayed medical transfers.

Neumann wrote he was concerned by the imposition of an additional step reference to the hospital OMR committee for politically sensitive medical transfers.

I seek your urgent assurance that asylum seekers and refugees residing in Australian-funded offshore processing centres, in particular women and children in Nauru, will have access to medical transfers when required.

Singh wrote the Australian government was aware refugees and asylum seekers held offshore were consistently exposed to harm, violence and abuse and questioned, too, the involvement of the OMR committee in approving terminations.

What is the rationale for this decision by the Australian immigration department, that seems only to serve as a political means of preventing these women from being brought to Australia for medical care? What outcome does your department expect from this looming tragedy?

The Guardian has sought comment from the office of the immigration minister .

ACT offers to resettle refugees held in 'inhumane' offshore detention centres - The Guardian

Atwood Oceanics reaches agreement with Australian offshore employees – Splash 247

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

August 24th, 2017 Jason Jiang Americas, Offshore 0 comments

Offshore driller Atwood Oceanics has come to an agreement with the offshore employees of its Australian operating subsidiary for a new four year enterprise bargaining agreement .

The agreement provides clarity on working conditions for Atwood Oceanics Australian offshore employees and resets wage levels to better align with current offshore market conditions.

The agreement is anticipated to be approved by the Australian Fair Work Commission in September and will take effect upon the expiry of the nominal term of the current EBA on November 24.

Through application of cost reduction initiatives and innovative approaches to offshore employment, this agreement will reduce offshore personnel costs by more than 19% in its first year and will allow Atwood Oceanics to provide our clients in Australia superior drilling services at more competitive day rates over the next years. We have operated in Australia since 1972, and we look forward to a bright future in this important offshore energy market, said Rob Saltiel, President and Chief Executive Officer of Atwood Oceanics.

Jason Jiang

Jason worked for a number of logistics firms following his English degree, then switched this hands-on experience to writing and has since become one the most prolific writers on the diverse China logistics industry writing for a host of titles including Supply Chain Asia, Cargo Facts and Air Cargo Week. Jasons access to the biggest shippers with business in China has proved an invaluable source of exclusives.

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Atwood Oceanics reaches agreement with Australian offshore employees - Splash 247

Oil and gas companies begin evacuations of offshore rigs as tropical storm Harvey looms – CBC.ca

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

Tropical storm Harvey has gained strength over the Gulf of Mexico and is still forecast to develop into a hurricane on Friday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest update.

The storm, located about 600 kmsoutheast of Port Mansfield, Texas with maximum sustained winds of 70 km/ris likely to approach the Texas coast on Friday, the NHC said on Thursday.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the State Operations Center to elevate its readiness level, making state resources available for possible rescue and recovery actions. Abbott also pre-emptively declared a state of disaster for 30 counties on or near the coast to speed deployment of state resources to any areas affected.

"Heavy rainfall is likely to spread across portions of eastern Texas, Louisiana, and the lower Mississippi Valley from Friday through early next week and could cause life-threatening flooding," the NHC said.

Emergency officials asked residents along the upper Texas coastline to move or prepare to move inland. Those in low-lying areas were urged to seek higher ground, and those elsewhere were told to monitor official announcements closely.

On South Padre Island, people filled sandbags and loaded them into cars and vans to take to protect exposed homes and businesses. Others in the forecast path of the storm sought out generators, plywood and other goods from hardware stores.

Rainfall totals of 25 to 38 cmwere possible over the middle and upper Texas coast and southwest Louisiana through Tuesday, the Miami-based hurricane centresaid.

Royal Dutch Shell, Anadarko Petroleum and Exxon Mobil announced they were curbing some oil and gas output on at facilities in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of Harvey.

Leo Sermiento, left, and Emilio Gutierrez, right, fill sandbags on South Padre Island, Texas. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the State Operations Center to elevate its readiness level and is making state resources available for preparation and possible rescue and recovery actions. (Jason Hoekema/The Brownsville Herald/Associated Press)

Shell said it was evacuating all personnel from the roughly 100,000 barrel-per-day Perdido oil and gas production platform as a precaution. Anadarko said it had shut in production and was evacuating workers from its Boomvang, Gunnison, Lucius and Nansen platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Exxon was in the process of reducing production at its Hoover facility in the Gulf of Mexico, company spokeswoman Suann Guthrie said. The company said it was also working on transportation plans for staged evacuation of its personnel from its offshore facilities, expected to be in the path of the storm, to shore.

The U.S. Gulf of Mexico is home to about 17 per cent of Americancrude oil output and 5 per cent of dry natural gas output, according to the U.S. Energy InformationAdministration. More than 45 per cent of the nation's oil refining capacity is along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

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Oil and gas companies begin evacuations of offshore rigs as tropical storm Harvey looms - CBC.ca

USC mascot squabble: Trojan horse for political correctness? – Fox News

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

In California, the raging U.S. cultural battle over Civil War icons has spread to the names of horses.

At the University of Southern California, a student group has declared the equine mascot of the schools Trojans football team to be a symbol of white supremacy.

Why? Because the horse bears a name similar to that of a steed that belonged to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The USC football horse is called Traveler (one L), while Lees horse was known as Traveller (two Ls).

The student groups leader voiced her disapproval of the home team horses name earlier this week, at an on-campus rally to protest last weeks violence in Charlottesville, Va.

Defensive back Adoree Jackson's touchdown last season is part of the long and storied football tradition at the University of Southern California. (USA Today Sports)

White supremacy hits close to home, Saphia Jackson, co-director of the USC Black Student Assembly,told fellowstudents, in pointing out the similarity in the horses names, student newspaper the Daily Trojan reported.

The Black Student Assembly didnt respond to a Fox News inquiry on whether the group wanted Traveler renamed or removed.

The renewed debate on public symbols of the Confederacy has sparked a discussion at USC on whether the horse mascots name is a coincidence, or possibly a nod to its namers sympathy to the Southern cause.

Naming the USC mascot Traveler started nearly 56 years ago, after a rideron horseback galloped acrossthe Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum field during a Trojans home game. It was supposed to be a one-time stunt, but quickly became a school tradition, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The original rider of Traveler, Richard Saukko, died in 1992 -- withoutofficially confirming whether the name Traveler was intended as a homage toLees horse.

His widow, Patricia Saukko, however, denied the accusations, calling the kerfuffleabout the name a hysteria and a political issue.

The problem is this: Maybe three weeks ago it was fine, she told the L.A. Times. So now the flavor of the day is ... we all have to be in hysteria....Its more of a political issue. The horse isnt political and neither am I.

Over at USC theyre nonpolitical about their horse, she added. What if their name would be Lee? Would they want to change it? It doesn't make any difference. ...Hes a wonderful horse and a great mascot.

The widow also notedthat the spelling of the name is different -- andwhen her husband bought the horse in 1958, the name had already been picked.

USC mascot squabble: Trojan horse for political correctness? - Fox News

Congressman, Native American: When political correctness runs … – Fox News

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

The conversation happening in our nation in light of recent events is more about political correctness than the issue at hand. Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and terrorists are bad people. The ideals of these groups are in opposition to everything our nation stands for and everything that holds true to our founding principles. Their hatred of people dissimilar to them is un-American and it should not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Days ago, my colleague in the Senate, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, announced that he plans to introduce legislation that would remove all of the statues in the U.S. Capitol that honored Confederate soldiers. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has also called for the elimination of such statues. I respect their rights as elected officials to put forth legislation they believe is in the best interest of their constituents, however I simply do not agree.

As a Cherokee, I can attest to the fact that Native Americans have been on the losing side of history. Our rights have been infringed upon, our treaties have been broken, our culture has been stolen, and our tribes have been decimated at the hands of our own United States government. Native Americans have faced centuries of atrocities to their people, their land, and their culture all under various presidents who took an oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

When we censor our history by disguising our scars, we belittle the struggles our ancestors fought so hard to overcome. America doesn't cower behind political correctness. It defiantly and courageously moves forward, with its history as a reminder of where we have been.

Under President Andrew Jackson in 1830, our government passed the Indian Removal Act that drove thousands of Native Americans out of their homes on the treacherous journey better known as the Trail of Tears. Under President Franklin Pierce in 1854, parts of Indian Territory were stolen from tribes to create the Kansas and Nebraska Territories. Under President Abraham Lincoln, the Sand Creek massacre occurred in 1864 when the U.S. Army attacked the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes unprovoked, killing about 250 Native Americans. The Dawes Act of 1887 gave President Grover Cleveland the power to take back tribal land and redistribute the land to native people as individuals, not as tribal members. Under President Benjamin Harrison in 1890, the Wounded Knee massacre took the lives of 150 Native Americans. Under President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907, Indian and Oklahoma territories were unified to create the state of Oklahoma after Congress refused to consider a petition to make Indian Territory a separate state. President Roosevelt is even quoted as saying: I dont go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every 10 are.

Let me ask you this: Is history not an opportunity to learn from ones mistakes? When we fall short of the high standard we set for our nation and its citizens, we make mistakes. What's most important is that our nation remembers and learns from them. As soon as we forget about our history, we are bound to repeat the same errors.

Still, we have professional athletes like Colin Kaepernick who refuse to stand during the national anthem and others who stand in solidarity with him in protest of the United States. To what end? To protest this country, a country that I love and my friends have died to defend? As an American, you have the right to protest me, or another individual, or a group, but I believe that protesting the United States for the mistakes it has made when it gave you the freedom to do so in the first place is disrespectful. Any attempt to coerce the United States into erasing our history is disingenuous. Especially, when our country has learned from the mistakes it has made and is determined not to repeat them.

Should we erase our history in the name of being politically correct? Can we not all agree that it is what shaped our country to be the great nation it is today? One that we know to be full of freedoms, liberties, and rights that other nations only dream of?

The removal of Confederate statues in the U.S. Capitol doesnt change our history. The removal of these statues merely attempts to disguise our ugly scars by hiding these statues out of plain sight. In an imperfect world, full of imperfect leaders, there are countless statues that may not live up to our American values. The statues of President Jackson and President Lincoln, both fervent oppressors of Native Americans, stand tall in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Still, these statues tell the history of the good and the bad of our nation.

America is and will always be a success story. We have African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and members of other ethnic groups elected to positions inside our governments. The American free enterprise system is the greatest tool to lift people out of poverty ever created in human history and when applied properly, does not discriminate by race, religion, or skin color. When we censor our history by disguising our scars, we belittle this process and the struggles our ancestors fought so hard to overcome. America doesn't cower behind political correctness. It defiantly and courageously moves forward, with its history as a reminder of where we have been. Let us look boldly into our history and learn the lessons that made us the shining city on the hill and the example for all other peoples.

Republican Markwayne Mullin represents Oklahomas 2nd congressional district.

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Congressman, Native American: When political correctness runs ... - Fox News

ESPN took political correctness to a ridiculous low – New York Post

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

Its the biggest unforced error of the week and in this political climate, thats saying a lot.

ESPN became a laughingstock Wednesday for pulling veteran announcer Robert Lee off a University of Virginia football game because his name is too close to Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general dead for nearly 150 years.

We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, ESPN said, simply because of the coincidence of his name.

Simply because of the coincidence of his name. This is the height of C-suite media condescension, though its unclear whos being condescended to: Is it red-state Trump voters? Does the network regard them as lumpen, half-wit knuckle-draggers who might take Lees presence as a tacit endorsement of white supremacy? Or is it the coastal, liberal elite that the network regards as babyish, too hyper-attuned to triggers and identity politics, ready to take offense at the inoffensive?

What if Robert went by Bob?

Within hours of ESPNs announcement, their Robert Lee was trending on Twitter. Democratic Rep. Rick Larsen weighed in. If this isnt the same Lee that led the Confederate Army, he tweeted, ESPN needs to reverse this idiocy.

Lee is Asian-American. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has extensive experience in both business and broadcasting. He graduated Syracuse University in 1999 with a B.S. in broadcast journalism. His most recent location is Albany. He speaks Mandarin. He describes himself as a team player . . . who meshes well with coworkers, customers and clients.

This is hardly the stuff of controversy. The networks overreaction only reminds us of its sad downward spiral: the bloodbath of over 100 employees fired in April; the flight of 10 million subscribers since 2011; the belief among liberal viewers that ESPN panders to conservatives and the belief among conservatives that ESPN is too liberal.

In trying to offend no one, theyve offended just about everyone. The networks tone-deafness extends to their statement. Its a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play-by-play for a football game has become an issue.

Indeed. If only they knew whom to blame.

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ESPN took political correctness to a ridiculous low - New York Post

How to Be Politically Correct (with Pictures) – wikiHow

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

Edit Article

Three Parts:Becoming More Conscious of Political CorrectnessChoosing Respectful LanguageSpeaking with Individuals or GroupsCommunity Q&A

"Politically correct" is a bit of a misnomerit isn't about being right, it's about being respectful and considerate. Being politically correct means that you avoid expressions and actions that may exclude, marginalize, or offend a particular group of people. The term first became popular during the 1970s and 1980s.[1] Political correctness has an important purpose: it promotes equality by demonstrating an understanding that all people and groups are valuable to society regardless of race, culture, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

Check with various communities about what language is appropriate, and what is hurtful.

Apply your knowledge. In conversations or discussions with groups or individuals, remember what you've learned while working on yourself. Your goal is not to knowingly hurt or offend any person or group of people with your language or actions.

Avoid segregating language. When speaking to or about other groups, refrain from unnecessarily using the words "we" or "they." This suggests a separation instead of equality and inclusion.

Focus on valuing diversity. Your first reaction to someone who is different may be confusion or fearso take a deep breath, remember that the other person matters, and let your second reaction be one of acceptance and respect. Work on viewing individual differences as important and meaningful.

What if I want to do the opposite of 90% of this?

wikiHow Contributor

Then you do not want to be politically correct.

What if I don't care that you have 80 genders?

wikiHow Contributor

The main thing is to remember that other points of view are valid as well. You don't need to bend over backwards, but be respectful.

What if a person is using their individuality as a means of getting out of any sort of trouble, such as calling you sexist if you get upset over her literally grabbing your dick?

wikiHow Contributor

Stay away from this person. Grabbing your private parts without permission is sexual assault, and people of any gender have the right to have their boundaries respected. Set clear boundaries (such as "I am not okay with you touching my pants") and reiterate them if needed. If you're getting accusations, say "I'm not okay with people of any gender touching my private parts without permission." Having boundaries is reasonable, and if this person continues violating them, talk to an authority figure about how to deal with this.

What f I don't appreciate being called a homophobic because it goes against the natural laws God has put into His creation?

If you voice an opinion, especially a hurtful one, don't be surprised if other people voice their opinions, too. When you tell people that they're going against God, you're imposing your beliefs onto their personal lives. It's disrespectful to tell other people that their personal lives need to conform to your religious beliefs. Muslims can't stop non-Muslims from eating pork, Buddhists can't shave the heads of non-Buddhists, etc.

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How to Be Politically Correct (with Pictures) - wikiHow

Congressman, Native American: When political correctness runs …

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

Republican Markwayne Mullin represents Oklahomas 2nd congressional district.

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Congressman, Native American: When political correctness runs ...

Statues Be Warned: Political Correctness Is Afoot as Australia Seeks to Remove Captain Cook and Arthur Phillip – The Whole Story

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

Statues of historical figures around the world are likely to be targeted by political correctness following the protests in the US about statues of Confederate generals.

With the Charlottesville protests regarding the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee and a statue in Ohio being damaged by vandals who took its head from a cemetery, Australian Sydney City Council is now seeking advice on whether the statue of Captain Cook should be removed.

The ABCs indigenous affairs editor Stan Grant wrote an analysis on the issue on Friday and argued the statue represented a damaging myth that Captain Cook discovered Australia.

Sydneys Lord Mayor Clover Moore is now seeking further discussion over the 126-year-old statue. Another statue of Captain Arthur Phillip could also be removed.

Shooters and Fishers MP Robert Borsak stated in the newspaper The Daily Telegraph Attempts to rewrite our public history for the sake of political correctness which is what these activists want to do is little better than Stalin erasing his political opponent from photographs,

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Statues Be Warned: Political Correctness Is Afoot as Australia Seeks to Remove Captain Cook and Arthur Phillip - The Whole Story

When political correctness runs amok erasing our history doesn’t … – Claremore Daily Progress

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

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When political correctness runs amok erasing our history doesn't ... - Claremore Daily Progress

Donald Trump and the Sad Triumph of Right-Wing Political … – Reason (blog)

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

Time.comBack at the 2015 event at which Donald Trump announced his bid for the presidency, his daughter Ivanka introduced her father as, first and foremost, an implacable foe of political correctness. "My father is the opposite of politically correct. He says what he means and he means what he says," she said, shortly before Trump characterized Mexican immigrants as disease-ridden, drug-smuggling rapists ("Some, I assume, are good people," he granted). In the first Republican primary debate, held in August of 2015, Trump himself reiterated that being anti-P.C. would be the hallmark of his political life, declaring, "I don't frankly have time for total political correctness."

It's ironic, then, that perhaps Trump's greatest accomplishment so far as president is to make it OKor maybe even mandatoryfor his followers to engage in the worst excesses of political correctness, especially its attempts to shut down debate and heterodox opinions through bullying, appeals to ad hominem attacks, and unthinking "whataboutism."

Among the Trump faithful, there are never legitimate grounds upon which to disagree with anything the billionaire says or does. If Barack Obama's most strident defenders were sometimes quick to claim any criticism of him was racist, thereby delegitimating honest disagreement, Trump's supporters are equally quick to denounce any dissent as proof positive of secret membership in Antifa, a pro-Hillary voting record, or a desperate attempt to look good among the communists who run the much-discussed-yet-little-seen Washington, D.C. cocktail party circuit.

And thus it has come to pass that the president of these United States, who hates political correctness at his very core, didn't "frankly have time" to immediately and unambiguously denounce by name violent right-wing protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia who last week carried torches and Nazi flags (complete with swastikas) around town while chanting "Jews will not replace us" and the Hitlerian slogan of "blood and soil." Sure, Trump had time to talk to the public. But even after a car ran into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring 19 others, the president only issued a statement vaguely condemning "this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides." Reportedly pushed by advisers, including his daughter Ivanka, he eventually called out the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists specifically and boldly averred that "racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs." Within a few hours of delivering those remarks to generally poor reviews, even among his fellow Republicans and conservatives, the president whined via Twitter that "once again the #Fake News Media will never be satisfied...truly bad people!"

But the president wasn't finished with disquisitions on Charlottesville. He called a press conference on August 15 at which he rendered his second, explicitly anti-Nazi statement inoperative by stressing the presence and violence of left-wing protesters, the bias of the media, and the pressing need to preserve statues commemorating Confederate war heroes (a cause that was not mentioned in the posters recruiting protesters for the Unite the Right rally).

IMGFLIP.comAs Allahpundit of the conservative site Hot Air summarized:

Short of [Trump] overtly endorsing the alt-right, which he can't do (I think?), I don't know what more he could have said here to make them happy. He stressed that not everyone who was at the demonstration in front of the Robert E. Lee statue on Friday night was a white nationalist, that some perfectly decent people were part of the group. This group? The one carrying torches and chanting things like "blood and soil" and "Jews will not replace us"?

Trump's last comments on the matter drew praise from former KKK leader David Duke, who tweeted "Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa," and ethno-nationalist Richard Spencer, who texted The Atlantic's Rosie Gray to gush, "Really proud of him."

Is it politically correct to expect the president of the United States to unequivocally denounce the racial theories and violence of neo-Nazis and white supremacists? For Donald Trump and his supporters, the answer is unambiguously yes and so even libertarian critics of the president who are unsurpassed in their contempt for collectivist racial theories and their defense of free speech (something Trump himself is not so good on) must be attacked for calling out Nazis as stupid, bigoted, and, well, definitionally un-American (didn't we fight a war against Nazism?). Don't you understand, Trump's supporters insist, that we need to fight progressives with the same tactics they use? If you hold him to basic standards of decency, competence, or comportment, they continue, you're as bad as the left (typically defined as libertarian-leaning Republican Sen. Jeff Flake and anyone to his left).

That sort of thinking may keep Trump happy and insulated in the Oval Office and his fans energized and ill-tempered online, but it also means there will over time be fewer and fewer of them. In fact, Trump's approval ratings, never good to begin with, continue to set negative records. According to Marist, just 35 percent of Americans approve of the job he is doing and his support among Republicans has dropped 12 percentage points since June, to a new low of 79 percent. It seems unlikely that Republicans, who voted overwhelmingly for him, would be bamboozled by media bias, doesn't it? Perhaps Trump's falling approval rating has less to do with President Obama, the press, or the supposed power of Black Lives Matter to somehow cloud our minds and more to do with his inability to get much of anything done, to turn around the economy (the recent claim that he created an "unprecedented" number of jobs in the first six months of his presidency is flatly wrong), or to speak bluntly and honestly to the American people. On that last score, a recent poll for CNN found that just "36% of respondents said Trump was honest and trustworthy, while 60% answered that the description 'does not apply.'"

Yeah, yeah, I hear you already, Trump's P.C. loyalists: CNN is biased, what about all the people killed by Black Lives Matter at its rallies (zero, in truth), your gal HILLARY CLINTON would have been worse, why aren't you condemning Antifa and left-wing violence (been there, done that, and will continue to do so)!?!?

You are playing not a dangerous game so much as a losing one (as Trump's adviser Steve Bannon says, the alt-right is filled with "losers" and "clowns"). "The Left" is hardly ascendant in American life, especially if you use the imprecise measure of the number of Democrats who hold office in the United States; certainly Democrats in Congress aren't the reason why the GOP and the president can't produce balanced budgets, entitlement reform, or market-oriented health-care legislation. (Of course, from a libertarian viewpoint, we've got plenty of statists around, but they hail from all points on the conventional political spectrum, and that's a different argument altogether.)

Confidence in major American institutions (including the presidency and Congress, held by the GOP) are at or near historic lows and Trump's brain farts on Twitter and at press conferences aren't the tonic needed to change any of that. You're forgetting that most Americans actively despise left-wing political correctness for all the ways that it chokes off even the possibility of meaningful debate about all sorts of issues that matter to us all. Far from wanting a right-wing variant that squelches discussions before they can even get going, we want a social sphere we can talk honestly, work toward common ground, and agree to disagree.

You're not offering any of that, which helps explain why your man in the White House's numbers are sinking. Nor are you offering a positive vision of the future. Instead, you're merely standing athwart over Confederate statues, free trade, and economic innovation, and continuing ethnic diversification yelling Stop! Good luck with all that, but when you fail, please remember not to blame anyone but yourselves. For a change.

Related Video: "Trump Denounces Racism in Charlottesville. Too Little, Too Late."

See the rest here:

Donald Trump and the Sad Triumph of Right-Wing Political ... - Reason (blog)

Integrative medicine residency program flourishes – Medical Xpress

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

August 23, 2017

Faculty at the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and their collaborators successfully demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of an online approach to train more family medicine residents in integrative medicine.

The American Board of Physician Specialties defines integrative medicine "as the practice of medicine that reaffirms the importance of the relationship between practitioner and patient, focuses on the whole person, is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapeutic approaches, healthcare professionals and disciplines to achieve optimal health and healing."

Effective online training in integrative medicine is important given the increased demand for physicians with expertise in integrative medicine coupled with the call from medical and public health organizations for alternatives to traditional medical approaches to such matters as pain management.

With that in mind, Dr. Patricia Lebensohn, professor of Family and Community Medicine at the UA College of Medicine-Tucson, directed the development of an Integrative Medicine in Residency program, a robust, online curriculum with the aim of establishing integrative medicine as a routine part of family medicine residency education throughout the country.

An in-depth evaluation of the project and its results was published in the July-August 2017 issue of the journal Family Medicine.

The study tested a 200-hour online curriculum, at eight sites offering integrative medicine residencies across the United States. Study subjects included 186 family medicine residents who participated in the IMR and 53 residents in other programs without integrative medicine training who served as controls.

Of the 186 IMR residents, 77 percent completed the program and tested significantly higher in their medical knowledge of integrative medicine than the control residents.

"Despite how busy the residents were, there was a very high completion rate," says Dr. Victoria Maizes, executive director of UACIM. "The level of knowledge improves in those who complete the curriculum and doesn't change in those who don't."

"When we started this study in 2008, it was a novel idea to deliver common curriculum online across eight sites," says Maizes. "This curriculum is now shared at 75 residencies and has expanded well beyond family medicine. We started with this project in family medicine. Now, we're in pediatrics, internal medicine, preventive medicine and we have a pilot program in psychiatry."

"I am pleased with the results of the residents' evaluation of the high clinical utility of the curriculum and the ease of navigating the online delivery," says Lebensohn. "Most of the residents in an exit survey stated that they intend to utilize integrative medicine approaches in their future practice of family medicine."

Explore further: BUSM identifies barriers to implementing complimentary medicine curricula into residency

Despite the fact that nearly two million women every year reach menopause (that's equivalent to 6,000 women each day), many experts agree that OB/GYN residents are not being properly prepared to address menopause-related ...

Integrative medicine is a quickly expanding field of health care that emphasizes nutrition as a key component. Dietitians and nutritionists have an opportunity to meet workforce demands by practicing dietetics and integrative ...

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Medicine a family affair for young future physician – Winnipeg Free Press

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

The youngest member of the University of Manitobas newest cohort of medical students is just 19 years old.

The fresh-faced teenager shrugged on his first white coat Wednesday as part of the universitys annual white-coat ceremony, a symbolic start to medical school where some of the provinces big-name health officials applaud their future colleagues.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Henry Li, 19, is one of the 110 students of the Class of 2021 that were formally cloaked in their first white coats at the Max Rady College of Medicine.

In four years, Henry Li will get to add the letters M.D. to his name. Hell be 23 and a doctor.

But standing in the foyer of the Max Rady College of Medicine surrounded by more than 100 of his classmates, Li isnt quite ready to jump that far forward yet. He also isnt quite ready to pin down what kind of doctor he wants to be.

"Theres a lot of time. Im keeping an open mind and well see what happens," he said.

Medicine is a Li family affair.

Lis father Mingyi Li was a family physician in China, while his brother Junli Li is a fourth-year medical resident at the University of Manitoba who wants to specialize in radiology.

But despite sharing their passion for medicine, Li said he never felt "gosh, I need to be a doctor."

"It was kind of a gradual decision. Its always been something in the back of my mind, and I think as I matured it became more and more something that I wanted to do, something I committed to do," he said.

The appeal is in the multidimensional nature of the work.

"You can carry out research, you can teach and, of course, the clinical aspect," Li said. "I think this is something unique to the field of medicine and to the role of a physician you can do all of these things and you arent restricted."

Traditionally, medical students are at least 22 or older, having finished an undergraduate degree first.

Li skipped first grade and then doubled up on advanced placement courses in high school that would count for university credit. He graduated from Richmond Collegiate in 2015 and finished a University of Manitoba science degree focusing on microbiology and biology in just two years.

Now, Li is one of 110 students who will make up the universitys class of 2021. His group is the second since the U of M began making a concerted effort to make sure the future physicians it's training are ethnically and socio-economically diverse.

Li is part of the 95 per cent of this years class that are Manitoban. The majority of the group are women, with a third having some form of rural connection, and nearly a dozen self-declaring Indigenous ancestry.

Watching them all put on their white coats and reciting the physicians Hippocratic Oath was motivating, Li said.

"Its really awe inspiring seeing all these people that have committed themselves and dedicated themselves to this long path of learning and serving others."

For at least one of his classmates, the decision to become a doctor has less to do with medicine and more to do with community.

Justin Feilberg wants to work as a family doctor in rural Manitoba, a position almost always in high demand.

"I think the best way to get physicians practising in rural communities is to get students from those rural communities into the medical profession," said the 33-year-old married father of one. Committing to practising medicine in a rural area when you're originally from a more urban centre can be "daunting," he said, but not for him. Feilberg, who lives in Steinbach and plans to commute daily, was raised in East Braintree near the Ontario border.

"Access to medicine can be a very difficult challenge for some people, and I feel it would be a great way for me to help give back to the communities that helped shape me and made me who I am," he said.

jane.gerster@freepress.mb.ca

Originally posted here:

Medicine a family affair for young future physician - Winnipeg Free Press

Jay Ellis Talks ‘Hard Medicine’ Comedy Series & Dismantling Hypermasculinity On ‘Insecure’ – Vibe

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

Onscreen, people recognize him as the f**k n***a that thinks hes a good guy, thanks to Lawrences surprising storyline in season two of Insecure. But in real life, actor Jay Ellis is nothing more than a tireless, hard-working, good guy.

With the exception of the Lawrence Hive (who vigorouslystand in solitude with their fierce leader episode after episode), many fans of HBOs hit series haveturned their back on Issas ex-boyfriend. But theres plenty of reasons outside of the show, why we should be turning the spotlight on Ellis. The 35-year-old star wears multiple hats, as an actor by day and an executive producer by night for Hard Medicine, a new comedy series centered around a small medical clinic.

READ: Jay Ellis Says A Fan Cursed Him Out Because Of His Character On Insecure

Hard Medicine first premiered on Ellis Facebook page at the beginning of Aug. 2017. The show, which was created by Melissa Eno Effa (who also plays Clarice on screen), follows a quirky, yet beloved Dr. Harriet Moore (Nicole Slaughter) who is tasked with managing a team and caring for her patients at a low-income clinic.

Its subject matter is timely considering Trumps mission to repeal and replace Obamacare, potentially leaving millions without proper healthcare. But its humor and tone add a bit of comedic relief we so desperately need in our nations current political climate. More importantly, its story is told through the lens of black caregivers. Sure weve seen African-Americans behind surgical tables in shows before, but not in a story arc that is so authentic and truthful to the communitys actual experiences. What we get to do thats a bit different is bring an arc and a journey thats typically not seen, Ellis tells VIBE. Comedy wise, I see us in the same place as a lot of thoseprograms, but we get to do it with people of color that have the very best interest in the community theyre serving.

As EP on this rapidly growing project, Ellis says he has served as the big brother, working through scripts, scrubbing scenes, and polishing each episode. And with the help of his team, the show has accumulated more than one million viewers in a matter of weeks. Now, its found a homeon Urban Movie Channel (UMC), and Ellis only hopes that is just the beginning.

READ:Hella Happy: Insecure Will Return For A Third Season

VIBE chatted with Jay Ellis over the phone about Hard Medicine, Lawrences downward spiral, and the challenges with masculinity in the blackcommunity.

A new episode of Hard Medicine streams on UMC every Wednesday.

VIBE: Tell us about Hard Medicine and what peaked your interest in joining the project. Jay Ellis: Hard Medicine is Scrubs meets Parks and Recreation or The Office. Its the same kind of mockumentary style. We as black people havent seen ourselves use that style of comedy yet. So I was excited to see that same filmmaking being used with people of color. And then on top of that, its a medical setting where were not seen that often. And it wasnt in some big hospital with a multimillion dollar budget; it was a small community clinic. They have to fight for every dollar to stay open and to take care of its patients in the neighborhood. I fell in love with the character Dr. Moore, the story and staff, and her struggle. There was something that was aproposabout our healthcare system trying to be defunded by this guy who is currently running this country. And we now get to show that in some way in this series with a comedic tone, but stillhits to the centerof losing funding.

There are a number of medicine shows out there Scrubs, Greys Anatomy to name a few. Where do you think Hard Medicine fits in on that spectrum of medicine-based shows? Tonally, were rightthere with The Office. But I think what we get to do thats a bit different is bring an arc and a journey and community thats typically not seen. We get to have an authentic story and a world that hasnt been discovered. Comedy wise, I see us in the same place as a lot of those programs, but we get to do it with people of color that have the very best interest in the community that theyre serving and the patients theyre serving.

READ: We Want Everyone To Love Chewing Gums Michaela Coel The Way Jay Ellis Does

We commonly see artists balancing between being on screen and behind the screen as producers and directors. What was the experience like for you being in front of the camera on Insecureand jumping behind the scene as EP for Hard Medicine? Its a balancing act for sure. Im very fortunate that I have some great partners to pick up the slack when Im not able to be there. My mom produced the series with me, and I work with another producing partner as well. But I go from reading the script of Insecure to reading the script of Hard Medicine. And once we have episodes, editing Hard Medicine to working on another script. Youre wearing a lot of hats. But the really cool thing is youre constantly working with professionals. Whether thats the actors or my producers, Im working with people who are really good at what they do. They make the balancing act easy for me. I know exactly where I need to be, exactly what Im looking for, and I can make sure a voice is being preserved and that a story is being told [properly]. But its a lot; I wont lie. Its more than I could have ever thought it wouldve been, but I love it.

What is your favorite aspect of being part of bringing this story to life? Watching people fall in love with it. Knowing that we told a really good story, that we shot this on a shoestring budget, and knowing that we were able to put something together thats special, and people responded to it. I put this first episode on my Facebook, and within a week, we had over a million views. In that same amount of time, UMC called and said, we want this. This is great for us. For something like that to happen for a digital series, is what we all dream of. So to see it come full circle and see Angela and her team Theyve been so great at moving really fast on this. Because I preempted by posting that first episode, the precedent was set that another episode was going to come out every Wednesday. And literally in two weeks, their team has been able to turn around assets for us for promo and for pictures and press. But also, working with a young talented voice and making sure that she gets her story told is probably my favorite part. Its making sure we are making these unique, authentic voices come to life and were not trying to water them down or change them.

READ: Jay Ellis Discusses The Plight Behind Africas Child Sex Slavery Shown In Like Cotton Twines

That has to be exciting, whether youre an EP or an actor, just seeing the gradual hype surrounding a project. In my mind, Ive never thought about fame. Ive thought about fame in that I am so grateful for every single person who shows up for me and supports me. But I think the icing on the cake is when people relate to it and they love and feel one way or another about it, whether theyre mad at it or theyre happy. The emotional connection, the involvement with the material, thats the win. All the other things will come because the fans are tied to it. All those things are built in when people relate to the work and it touches them in a way.

The characters in Hard Medicine arent your picture perfect, clean-cut people. Theyre messy and awkward. Weve seen how TV is moving in a direction of building characters that have more flaws, but how would you say HMs particular storytelling and character development benefits its audience? Its more relatable. We may have aspirations of perfection or not being messy or being bourgeois. We all try, but were human and we make bad decisions. We overlook things, and I think thats just who we are as people. Theres something about embracing that and telling it from an honest perspective that is so relatable and real that people want to be a part of that and watch. Watching the perfect person isnt who we are every day. If we were, that would be boring as hell. I love every bad decision I mean, not every bad decision Ive made but Im grateful for some of the bad decisions Ive made because they helped me be who I am today.

What are you most looking forward to in this new chapter of Hard Medicine after finding a home on UMC? Watching [more] people find it and fall in love with it. Whether they heard it from word of mouth or just stumbled upon it, I love when people find good material and fall in love with it. [The black community] issuch a good community for supporting each other and our work and the things that are for the culture. And honestly, were looking forward to UMC cutting a check for the second season.

READ: Jay Ellis Admits To Being A Lovable Loser In Issa Raes Insecure

Transitioning to Insecure, obviously, the Lawrence Hive is very deep this season. But theres also a lot of people who would rather see him balled up in a corner and lonely for the rest of his life. How do you see Lawrence is he the villain or just a heartbroken dude trying to bounce back? The biggest thing is that hes heartbroken. Hes lost, confused, and hes running from dealing with whats happening and also not taking responsibility. I think those are things we all can relate to even if we dont want to. Hes not a bad guy; hes not doing anything malicious. I dont think hes meaning to break hearts or not perform in threesomes, but I think it [shows] his loss and not willing to confront where hes at. Men, especially black men, are beat over the head with masculinity, and I feel like no one tells us how to communicate. No one says, You got to use your words if you want to keep the people in your life that you love. You got to find a compromise. You got to be willing to be vulnerable and to open up. I think Lawrence doesnt know how to do those things. I hope that he finds them sooner or later.

Thats kind of a great parallel between Insecure and Hard Medicine. Both sets of characters are so vulnerable and in a sense broken. But particularly speaking on fragile masculinity, in the black community, that is such a frowned upon image and often covered up onscreen. Being a black man yourself, do you find that its hard to break down those barriers or tradition for a role? Hell yeah! I dont want to be vulnerable more than any other guy out there. Im a part of that generation, but what I love about this character is Ive never seen a black man this vulnerable on television before. Ive never seen a black male whos confused and not sure which way to go. Ive never seen a black man on TV have to go through all those layers and live through all that. Buthaving to go through all that as an actor is what you ask for. Getting to do it for a character on television when theres never been a representation of a millennial black man or any black man like that before, is such an honor. Fortunate for me, I get to work through some stuff through my work as an actor as well.

And on top of those challenges,you have all these people against you, which cant be easy to digest at times. I dont love when people yell f**k you when I walk down the street, but what I do know is that it made them feel something. And that to me, is the most important thing. I would like a little more love though.

READ: Issa Rae Says Insecure Will Do Better To Address The Issue Of Condoms

Just look up the Lawrence Hive on Twitter. Thats all the love you could ever need. The Lawrence Hive has my back. Theyre legit. I think a lot of that comes from [the fact that]young black men have not been represented, A) very well, B) very much. This is a dude that a lot of young black men can relate to because theyve never seen somebody that goes through all this in TV and film.

So the condoms situation. Whats your take on the controversy? Its something weve talked about on set. Like Issa [Rae] said, we know we have to do better. A lot of our sets in our show have time jumps, so there is a thought that our characters could have made the smart choice and put on condoms. And as someone who is an ambassador for amfARand talks about AIDS and HIV very often, its something thats super important to me. Its something that well make sure to do better [in the future]. Butkudos and mad respect to Issa for even putting that out there because most show-runners wouldnt have done that. She knows that this is for the culture and that means all those things have to be taken into consideration.

See the article here:

Jay Ellis Talks 'Hard Medicine' Comedy Series & Dismantling Hypermasculinity On 'Insecure' - Vibe

Harvard’s Continued Embrace of Integrative Medicine Finds a Partner and a New Conflict of Interest – American Council on Science and Health

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

The Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Harvards outreach into complementary medicine recently announced a partnership where three researchers associated with the Harvard Osher Center will each summarize a top recent publication from the burgeoning mind-body literature and provide commentary on why they chose to shine a light on it. Harvard is not alone in this effort. Just Tuesday Wolters Kluver announced Ovid Insights,a current awareness service, citing the exponentially expanding volume of research.

As the volume of research worldwide continues to increase, staying current on the latest medical findings and practice guidelines is an overwhelming, yet necessary, task for healthcare professionals.

Ironically, the academics first filled, in the sense of a firehouse filling a cup, the journals with studies predicated on the concept of publish or perish. And having overwhelmed our attention, they now introduce a solution, the era of curated journal reading.

Harvards collaborative partner is the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (JACM) considered to be in the top quartile of journals covering this area. To give you a sense of the journals academic reach you might considertwo reported measures of citation rates. The SJR, a size independent measure of scientific influence is 0.581, for comparison, the New England Journal of Medicine's (NEJM) is 17.736. The SJR puts JACM 17th among their peers (96 journals) after the Journal of Natural Products and Journal of Ginseng Research. Citations per document reflect how often a journal is cited; it is a commonly used measure of the journals impact on research. Here JACM has a value of 1.537 (the NEJM is 33.902) placing it 22nd amongst its peers, just after Chiropractic and Manual Therapies but before Chinese Medicine [1]

The three Harvard faculty members [2], all JACM associate editors, select a theme and then choose one study from the literature to abstract and to comment upon. I read the articles they presented, while they are a bit too touchy feely for me, and have the usual problems that plague the literature (small sample size, p-hacking, and data mining), they were all thoughtful articles to read and consider. My concern was the descriptions of studies within their abstracts, for example:

Cherkin and colleagues' beautiful randomized prospective studyThis powerful study demonstrates

In an elegantly designed and rigorously conducted comparative effectiveness trial supported by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)/National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Stephen Ross and colleagues conducted a small but methodologically elegant double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial

Perhaps it is me, but I detect a tone of advocacy, and with advocacy comes conflicted interests. I have no issue with knowledgeable people suggesting reading, but there is a fine line between organizing and sorting of information dispassionately and content curation that is, an editorial process. It's a mix of art and science. It requires a clear and definable voice,and editorial mission,and an understanding of your audience and community.[3] Can we reliably expect these academics to cite articles that do not favor alternative and complementary medicine? So far, in the year of this collaboration, no article they have chosen has taken an unfavorable view. Are the Harvard faculty acting as fair witness or advocates, do they shed light or only increase the echo? The goals of JACMs editor, John Weeks, JACMs editor, provides additional clues when he states that his goal that JACM becomes an arbiter of the conversation and content that shapes the course of healthcare. Perhaps I am mistaken, but I want my journals to provide me with unbiased research so that I can form my own view and be the arbiter of my conversations.

[1] The SCImago Journal & Country Rank is a publicly available portal that includes the journals and country scientific indicators [that] can be used to assess and analyze scientific domains.

[2] Osher Center's Director of Research Peter Wayne, PhD, Gloria Yeh, MD, MPH, Research Fellowship Director, and Darshan Mehta, MD, MPH, the center's Director of Education

[3] Is Curation Overused? The Votes Are In

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Harvard's Continued Embrace of Integrative Medicine Finds a Partner and a New Conflict of Interest - American Council on Science and Health

This Mom Always Kisses Her Daughter in Public to Show That Psoriasis Isn’t Contagious – SELF

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Danzig

Most parents arent afraid to show their children affection in public. But Arizona mom Ashley Nagy says she makes a special point to kiss and cuddle her 19-month-old daughter Charlie when the two are out and about because Charlie suffers from psoriasis , a chronic autoimmune disease that speeds up the growth of skin cellsand Nagy says she wants to make sure people know it isnt contagious .

For the most part, Nagy tells SELF that strangers on the playground have been inquisitive, often simply asking, "What does she have? But some of the "ruder comments are Oh my goshyour daughter is sunburned . I cant believe you have her out in public or I dont want to see that, she says. She's also noticed that other kids or mothers will stare at Charlie, and some parents will even keep their kids away from her daughter for fear of catching psoriasis. When that happens, I just pick her up and kiss her neck or cheeks, or rub her arm, Nagy says. Its my way of not confronting them, but showing that shes not contagious.

Nagy says that shes grateful that Charlie is so young that she doesnt realize whats happening. I just hope that Ive done a good [enough] job that when she starts to realize shes different, she has enough confidence to face people and not take what they say to heart, she says. Youre going to have random people who are mean and cruelyou cant control them, but you can control how you react to them.

About 7.5 million people in the U.S. have psoriasis, according to the American Academy of Dermatology . The condition is largely caused by genetics, but having genes associated with psoriasis doesnt mean youll actually develop the condition. In fact, at least 10 percent of people inherit one or more of the genes that can eventually lead to psoriasis, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation , but only 2 to 3 percent of people actually develop the disease.

That's because, in order to actually develop the condition, you need to have a combination of the genes that cause it and to be exposed to particular triggers, such as stress, an injury to the skin (e.g. a sunburn), allergies , diet, an infection, certain medications (including lithium and the heart medication quinidine), and even the weather, the NPF says.

Although people of any age can have the condition, its primarily seen in adults. Charlies symptoms first began soon after she was born, Nagy says, and she was diagnosed with psoriasis when she was 4 months old. People were shocked at how young she was when she was diagnosed, Nagy says.

People who suffer from psoriasis may experience flare-ups in which they have the characteristic red, itchy, scaly skin patches, but in between flare-ups their skin may look normal. Charlie is now on an anti-inflammatory diet that also avoids gluten and dairy to help try to ward off flare-ups. That seems to help a lot, Nagy says. But Charlie still suffers from flare-ups, which cause her to develop red patches all over her body that itch. Shell point to her marks and say, Ouchies, ouchies, Nagy says. When Charlie has a flare-up, shes itchy and uncomfortable all day, and has trouble sleeping at night. But, when shes not suffering from a flare-up, her condition doesnt really impact her, Nagy says.

Psoriasis is caused by inflammation and not an infection, so it's not contagious at all, Gary Goldenberg , M.D., assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, tells SELF. Luckily, there are several treatments for psoriasis, and the best one for each patient depends on how severe their symptoms are. Mild psoriasis can be treated with creams and lotions, or over-the-counter medication like steroid creams, Dr. Goldenberg says.

Petrolatum-based moisturizers are often the most helpful because they form a protective seal over the skin to keep it hydrated while also minimizing the appearance of flakes on the skin, Joshua Zeichner , M.D., a New York City-based board-certified dermatologist, tells SELF. People can also develop psoriasis on their scalp, which can be treated with over-the-counter medicated shampoos, such as Neutrogena T/Gel shampoo , Dr. Zeichner says.

For people with more severe cases, there are biologic immune-modifying medications that alter the immune system reactions that lead to psoriasis, Cynthia Bailey, M.D., a diplomate of the American Board of Dermatology and president and CEO of Advanced Skin Care and Dermatology Inc. , tells SELF. That includes infliximab, for instance, which reduces the effects of substances in the body that can cause inflammation.

While it can be treated, it cannot be cured, Dr. Goldenberg says. Some patients can experience a remission of their disease that can last years, but this is unpredictable and rare. In most cases, patients need to keep treating their psoriasis for the rest of their lives to avoid flare-ups. We can help reduce signs of the disease on the skin, however the rash often reappears if you stop treating it, Dr. Zeichner says.

If psoriasis runs in your family, you can develop it at any point in your life, Dr. Bailey says, and its more likely to show up as you age. Although we don't know exactly why, it "probably has something to do with the process of aging and how it impacts the immune system, Dr. Bailey says. If psoriasis runs in your family, she recommends limiting your alcohol intake, maintaining a healthy diet, and getting regular exercise to lower your odds of developing the condition.

Charlie used to have to see her doctor every two weeks to have her blood drawn for testing and monitoring purposes, Nagy says, but now she goes to the doctor every four months for her condition. Weve been keeping it at bay with her diet and bath regimen, she says. Nagy has started a GoFundMe to help pay for her daughters medical bills. A lot of people see ads on TV for psoriasis medications, but they dont actually know what psoriasis is, Nagy says. I want them to see what it looks like firsthandand to show that its not contagious.

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This Mom Always Kisses Her Daughter in Public to Show That Psoriasis Isn't Contagious - SELF

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