Belleville News-Democrat | Air Force leaders discuss the future of air, space power Belleville News-Democrat ... the most obvious readiness need is munitions. In the fight against ISIS, the Air Force has delivered approximately 56,000 direct-attack munitions, more than it used in all of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The fiscal 18 budget funds maximum factory ... |
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Air Force leaders discuss the future of air, space power - Belleville News-Democrat
CONCORD, N.H.
An $11.7 billion fiscal 2018-2019 state budget is on its way to Gov. Chris Sununu for his signature into law.
Thursday morning, the state Senate passed a House-Senate committee of conference compromise plan on a party line vote of 14-9. All Republicans voted in favor and all Democrats voted against it.
The House followed about an hour later, passing the budget on a roll call of 198-169. A week ago, the fate of the budget in the House was uncertain. But in the key vote Thursday only 14 Republicans voted in opposition. Five Democrats supported it.
For the bill roll call on the budget bill, House Bill 144, click here. The House currently has 221 Republican, 170 Democratic and two Libertarian members.
The initial House leadership budget failed in April, primarily because of staunch conservative opposition. But the new plan appealed to most members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and House Republican Alliance, who credit the work of the Senate Republican leadership in adding business tax cuts.
The Senate also passed by the same 14-9 margin a companion bill that made policy changes reflected in the budget. The House followed by passing that bill, 212-161.
John DiStaso/WMUR
Included in the companion bill are a phase-in of business tax cuts, elimination of the electricity consumption tax, potential changes to the Medicaid expansion program and authorization of online lottery games.
The budget will take effect on July 1, the first day of the new state fiscal year.
In a statement after the budget votes, Sununu praised the Republican legislative majorities:
New Hampshire is on a pathway to prosperity, and Republicans are leading the way.
"Granite Staters sent us to Concord to take action and to address New Hampshires most critical public policy and program priorities. I am proud to say that we have delivered results for the people of New Hampshire.
"This is a fiscally responsible budget that lives within our means, promotes job creation through tax cuts, reforms the Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), and funds our broken mental health system.
Sununu added: "Our budget is a bold step in the right direction a step toward restoring the New Hampshire advantage, and reaffirming the commitment we made to the people to provide tax relief that boosts our economy and returns money to your pocket. From business tax cuts to eliminating the Electricity Consumption Tax, our budget empowers small business owners to reinvest, which will reinvigorate and grow our economy.
Sununu and GOP lawmakers gathered in the Executive Council chambers shortly after the House vote to celebrate passage of the key budget and trailer bills.
But New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley blasted Sununu and his fellow Republicans.
"Gov. Sununu's reckless and dangerous budget will take New Hampshire's progress and turn it into disrepair," Buckley said. "The governor wants to give corporations a tax cut they never asked for. By doing so, he's denying businesses the workforce training they did ask for.
"These tax cuts are paid for by under-funding programs like the alcohol fund, DCYF, and the developmental disability wait list. The governor may think these tax cuts are no big deal, but they're a big deal to the people in the state who are seeking refuge from abuse and addiction or who need help with a disability," said Buckley.
Later Thursday, the House and Senate will take up a plan to boost funding for local kindergarten programs by more than $10 million a year with revenue from legalized Keno.
WEBVTT MAINE JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER.BREAKING NEWS FROM CONCORD,HOUSE HAS PASSED THE BUDGET BYWIN98-168 -- 198168 VOTE.THEY CRAFTED THIS $11 BILLIONSPENDING BILL EARLY THISMORNING.STATE REPS STARTED OFF BYAPPROVING A LAST-MINUTE FIX TOTHE FETAL HOMICIDE BILL THEYPASSED EARLIER THIS SESSION.THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THE BILLACCIDENTALLY INCLUDED LANGUAGETHAT WOULD HAVE ALLOWED PREGNANTWOMEN TO COMMIT MURDER WITHOUTANY CONSEQUENCES.
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Allstate agency owner Bill Baker recently secured a $1,000 Allstate Foundation Helping Hands in the Community grant to support Personal Energy Transportation of Southwest Missouris efforts to provide the gift of mobility to thousands of mobility challenged people around the world.
As a volunteer with PET, Baker joins thousands of Allstate agency owners and financial specialists around the country who aim to improve their communities by supporting important local causes, such as raising money for domestic violence programs and empowering youth to reach their full potential.
As a small business owner in Aurora, I see firsthand the opportunities and challenges facing our area, Baker said. Giving back is tremendously rewarding and gives me a sense of purpose. I believe that when we help others, we can be a positive force for change in our communities, which is why Im proud to support PETs work.
PET is one of thousands of organizations this year that will receive Allstate Foundation Helping Hands in the Community grants secured by agency owners and financial specialists on behalf of the nonprofit where they volunteer. The grants support organizations addressing domestic violence, youth empowerment, disaster preparedness, hunger and other causes.
The Helping Hands in the Community grants are one example of The Allstate Foundations legacy of service and giving.
Since The Allstate Foundation was founded in 1952, it has contributed $400 million to support community nonprofits.
In 2016, The Allstate Foundation gave more than $25 million to charitable causes.
About the Allstate Foundation
Established in 1952, The Allstate Foundation is an independent, charitable organization made possible by subsidiaries of The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL). Through partnerships with nonprofit organizations across the country, The Allstate Foundation brings the relationships, reputation and resources of Allstate to support innovative and lasting solutions that enhance peoples well-being and prosperity. With a focus on building financial independence for domestic violence survivors, empowering youth and celebrating the charitable community involvement of Allstate agency owners and employees, The Allstate Foundation works to bring out the good in peoples lives. For more information, visit http://www.AllstateFoundation.org.
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On Hong Kong Island most visitors will gravitate towards the cluster of international clubs in Shuang Wan, Central and its frenetic nightlife hub, Lan Kwai Fong. Another large cluster of island venues is located between Wanchai and Causeway Bay, discreetly hidden away in commercial buildings.
Over in colorful Kowloon, which has a dense collection of easy-to-access gay clubs along the MTR corridor, crowds throng through neon-lit high-rise canyons, going to/from shopping, eating or partying at innumerable entertainment venues from Tsim Sha Tsui up to Prince Edward. If you are looking for a bit of old Hong Kong, take a taxi to Kowloon City where traditional shops and restaurants are still managing (barely) to fend off encroaching redevelopment.
Hong Kongs population is nearing 8 million (thats over 300,000 Utopians).
Navigating the local gay scene is easy with our interactive Utopia Map of Gay & Lesbian Hong Kong:
Fruits in Suits (FinS) is an informal, gay professional networking event on each 3rd Tue of every month. Like-minded people mostly professional expats (but they welcome all local professionals to join in) come together in an exclusive private area for food, drinks and to chat, socialise with new people, network and promote LGBT rights in the territory. Add your review, comment, or correction
Founded by Filipino and Hong Kong GLBT, this club hosts meetings of the their GLBT Society and the 1000 strong Hong Kong Labour Party. They offer free legal advice and support service through sympathetic lawyers in Hong Kong and the Philippines. Utopia Member Benefit: DISCOUNTS on facility private hire, FREE legal advice, FREE meeting venue for GLBT societies. Add your review, comment, or correction
Pink Alliance aims to link LGBT organizations operating in Hong Kong, to assist them in their work and to provide a network for information in both Chinese and English. Pink Alliance also researches and campaigns on issues of key importance, as well as organising events to promote awareness of LGBT issues. Monthly meetings. Add your review, comment, or correction
Hong Kongs first gay social services center. The government funded center provides counseling, training workshops and a hotline to provide peer support for gay men. Closed Tue and public holidays. Add your review, comment, or correction
Gay and lesbian activities, support and services. Has the only face-to-face free counseling service for Gay people. Chinese only. Add your review, comment, or correction
A Hongkong-based non profit-making, non-governmental organization, established on 1st July 2003. They defend the human rights of sexuality minorities facing discrimination due to their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. WCHK effects this mission through advocacy, documentation, public education, oral history, cultural development, AIDS education on WSW (women having sex with women) and hosting monthly gatherings for lesbian, bisexual women and transgenders. Add your review, comment, or correction
Gay bookshop with large selection of local and imported books, magazines and videos to choose from as well as pride gifts. Add your review, comment, or correction
Gay-owned Koru Contemporary Art, specializing in modern sculpture, was established in 2001 to present a diverse range of contemporary international artists. A large selection of art featuring wood, bronze, stone, metal, glass, ceramic and mixed media sculpture, fine art, painting, prints and photography, may be found in their two gallery spaces, with a combined exhibition area of over 7,500sqf. Utopia Member Benefit: 5% DISCOUNT on art. Add your review, comment, or correction
Mainly gay, esp. weekends. Take a bus to Repulse Bay and then a ten minute walk, past the Welcome supermarket, to South Bay. The gay area is in front of the 40-story Ruby Court Bld. Some cruising around. Swimming possible. Bring insect repellent. UTOPIAN VERIFIED JUN 2014 Add your review, comment, or correction
This area seems to concentrate more gay-only men. Some nude sun-bathing (illegal) and action in the bushes (also illegal). Approach from South Bay Road. Steep path on the right-hand (sea side). Middle Bay is now so well-known that it is dangerous. For safetys sake it is better to make the 1-hour trip to Lantau Island and walk to the rather remote Cheung Sha Beach. UTOPIAN VERIFIED JUN 2014 Add your review, comment, or correction
MTR: TST or Jordan. Several cruisy facilities and lots of garden pathways. Most action takes place after 11pm. The park closes at midnight, but you can always leave (and enter) through the gate at Austin Rd (all other gates are closed after midnight). So dont panic when you are late and think you are locked up in the park. Mostly Asian guys under 40 years old. Add your review, comment, or correction
HONG KONG ISLAND Central, Lan Kwai Fong
Round-the-clock gay-friendly eatery with handsome staff. Popular for breakfast on Sun morning for those who have danced-til-dawn the night before. Add your review, comment, or correction
On any given Fri or Sat night after midnight, this Chinese fast food place (fried rice, fried noodles) is about 70% gay. When the clock hits 2am, the percentage rises up to 90%. Coming to Tsui Wah has become something of a ritual for late night partiers. Fish ball noodles are the signature dish here, and they also have simple sandwiches (i.e. two slices of white bread with luncheon meat and egg), steak, and acquired tastes such as stir-fried spaghetti! Add your review, comment, or correction
Large, bustling local eatery popular with groups of gays because of its inexpensive food and location close to the bars. Add your review, comment, or correction
KOWLOON Jordan, Mongkok, Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Ma Tei
Foodie Alert! This tiny hole-in-the-wall has a disproportionate amount of international fame after recommendations by Newsweek, Time Out and celebrity chefs. Excellent dim sum at a reasonable price. Their dessert specialty is a succulent poached pear, so leave room. Sister branches in Jordan, Wanchai and TST. Add your review, comment, or correction
KOWLOON Tsim Sha Tsui, Yau Ma Tei
Located in east Kowloon, well off the tourist track (and overlooked by most locals), this quaint neighborhood stretch of eateries is certainly destined to be torn down and rebuilt into something gleaming, clean and modern. Too bad. Catch this slice-of-life from Kowloons past for cheap eats and loads of character while you still can. Add your review, comment, or correction
Pronounced dai gor, meaning big brother). A gay-owned, online menswear store aimed at the gay male market and at guys who like their t-shirts nicely fitted. Daigo is inspired by the beautiful and fashionable bros in Asia. They aim to provide great customer satisfaction by offering high quality and unique t-shirt designs that will be part of gay Asia and the gay community as a whole. Add your review, comment, or correction
Above Bohemian shop (take the stairway in the alley to the mezzanine floor). Gay mens undergear and clothing shop offers exclusive premium brand underwear, tanks, swimwear, shirts, and more including Andrew Christian (USA), 2EROS (Australia), Addicted (Spain) and NEWURBANMALE (Singapore). Utopia Member Benefit: 10% DISCOUNT. Add your review, comment, or correction
Look for the stairway entry marked #83 and 85, next to Express Korea Fast Food and walk up to 1/F. Gay-owned shop offering sexy branded undergear, toys, SM equipment, magazines, pride gifts and other rainbow merchandise. Open 5-9pm Mon-Sat (closed Sun). Utopia Member Benefit: 10% DISCOUNT. Add your review, comment, or correction
Gay-owned tanning studio established in 2004. They offer state-of-the-art tanning and collagenic equipment from Dr Muller, Germany. Tanning Studio was a sponsor of the Mr. Asia contest (2011, 2012, 2013). Utopia Member Benefit: 10% DISCOUNT on all tanning packages and lotions. Add your review, comment, or correction
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Travel & Resources: HONG KONG Gay Asia and Utopia
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Serena Ryder, shown here performing at the 2013 Juno Awards in Regina, will be back in the Queen City on June 25 at the Conexus Arts Centre. CARAS photo / iPhoto
Canadian songstress Serena Ryder just released her sixth album, Utopia, a fresh and funky follow-up to her gold-selling, Juno-winning release, Harmony. Punchy new songs like Got Your Number and Electric Love reflect her rekindled passion for rhythm, she tells Postmedias Lynn Saxberg, while a quick recording job meant she never lost sight of the groove. Heres more from the interview with Ryder, who performs at the Conexus Arts Centre on June 25.
Q: Its been five years since your last record. Whats been happening?
A: Well, it was five years but I toured it for three years so really its only been two years for me. And then just a lot of writing. I was living in L.A. for a couple of years, and writing so much. I just started doing it for fun because I love it. I wanted to write for other people, try other things. I was not even thinking about a record because I just finished my album cycle. It was super cool, way less pressure. Not like, This song is going to be on the radio, it has to mean something for you and you have to sing it over and over again.
Q: But then you ended up keeping the songs for yourself anyway?
A: I fell in love with a lot of the songs I was writing because they were from a personal place. I always write from a very personal spot. And I started playing the drums and writing songs on the drums in my apartment. I wrote almost 100 songs.
Q: Plus you did some touring. Were you road-testing songs?
A: I went to the U.K. and worked with a few people there, and did some writing and touring in Australia. But the songs didnt change. Whats been happening with me is Ill write a song and record it in the same day, in, like, a few hours, and thats what goes on the record.
Q: Wow, thats different.
A: Its so different now from what it used to be like for me, when youd write a song and then hire a studio band to go in and get a bunch of different takes of it. For me, the energy of right when youre finished writing is so exciting and to be able to record it, its like being in the moment. It used to be such a long waiting process. It was almost like the life in it was gone for me because it was so processed.
Q: That must be why the music feels so fresh and immediate.
A: I think so. We didnt go over and over and over with the different versions.
Q: The songs also have a lot of rhythm, and you mentioned writing on drums. Is that new for you?
A: Yeah, all the rest of my stuff has been based on guitar parts. Ive dabbled on the drums for a while. I wouldnt say Im a drummer but the rhythm is what makes me excited to write a song so a lot of the sessions would start with a beat, and a rhythmic kind of vibe. When I get excited about the beat, thats when I start playing melodies and guitar parts. I love that pulse that moves. Its the music of your body.
Q: Whats the significance of the title, Utopia?
A: I like to create my future by coming up with mantras for myself. What do I want to repeat to myself? The last record was Harmony, and that was about finding balance in everything. My new record is about finding my dream. Whats my fantasy? What reality do I want to create?
Q: And? Whats your definition of utopia?
A: Right now (on a warm, summery day in downtown Ottawa), mine would definitely be a cottage with an amazing dock, warm water, an ice-cold beer and a bunch of books and magazines and board games.
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Serena Ryder has moved on from Harmony to Utopia with new album - Regina Leader-Post
Did history begin anew last Nov. 8?
"When the blessings of American freedom get parceled out, WHAMs (white, heterosexual American males) are accustomed to standing at the head of the line," writes Andrew Bacevich. Here, Vice President Mike Pence meets with the House Freedom Caucus to discuss health care on March 23, 2017. (White House photo tweeted by Vice President Mike Pence)
This post originally appeared at TomDispatch.
Forgive me for complaining, but recent decades have not been easy ones for my peeps. I am from birth a member of the WHAM tribe, that once proud, but now embattled conglomeration of white, heterosexual American males. We have long been theres no denying it a privileged group.When the blessings of American freedom get parceled out, WHAMs are accustomed to standing at the head of the line. Those not enjoying the trifecta of being white, heterosexual and male get whats left.
Fair?No, but from time immemorial those have been the rules.Anyway, no real American would carp.After all, the whole idea of America derives from the conviction that some people (us) deserve more than others (all those who are not us). Its Gods will so at least the great majority of Americans have believed since the Pilgrims set up shop just about 400 years ago.
Lately, however, the rules have been changing in ways that many WHAMs find disconcerting. True, some of my brethren lets call them 1 percenters have adapted to those changes and continue to do very well indeed.Wherever corporate CEOs, hedge fund managers, investment bankers, tech gurus, university presidents, publishers, politicians and generals congregate to pat each other on the back, you can count on WHAMs reciting bromides about the importance of diversity! being amply represented.
BY Tamara Draut | November 14, 2016
Yet beneath this upper crust, a different picture emerges. Further down the socioeconomic ladder, being a WHAM carries with it disadvantages.The good, steady jobs once implicitly reserved for us lunch-pail stuff, yes, but enough to keep food in the family larder are increasingly hard to come by. As those jobs have disappeared, so too have the ancillary benefits they conferred, self-respect not least among them.Especially galling to some WHAMs is being exiled to the back of the cultural bus.When it comes to art, music, literature and fashion, the doings of blacks, Hispanics, Asians, gays and women generate buzz.By comparison, white heterosexual males seem bland, uncool and pass, or worst of all, simply boring.
The mandate of Heaven, which members of my tribe once took as theirs by right, has been cruelly withdrawn.History itself has betrayed us.
All of which is nonsense, of course, except perhaps as a reason to reflect on whether history can help explain why, today, WHAMs have worked themselves into such a funk in Donald Trumps America. Can history provide answers? Or has history itself become part of the problem?
Paging Professor Becker
For all practical purposes history is, for us and for the time being, what we know it to be. SoremarkedCarl Becker in 1931 at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association.Professor Becker, a towering figure among historians of his day, was president of the AHA that year.His message to his colleagues amounted to a warning of sorts:Dont think youre so smart.The study of the past may reveal truths, he allowed, but those truths are contingent, incomplete and valid only for the time being.
Put another way, historical perspectives conceived in what Becker termed the specious present have a sell-by date.Beyond their time, they become stale and outmoded, and so should be revised or discarded. This process of rejecting truths previously treated as authoritative is inexorable and essential. Yet it also tends to be fiercely contentious.The present may be specious, but it confers real privileges, which a particular reading of the past can sustain or undermine. Becker believed it inevitable that our now valid versions of history will in due course be relegated to the category of discarded myths.It was no less inevitable that beneficiaries of the prevailing version of truth should fight to preserve it.
Who exercises the authority to relegate?Who gets to decide when a historical truth no longer qualifies as true?Here, Becker insisted that Mr. Everyman plays a crucial role. For Becker, Mr. Everyman was Joe Doakes, John Q. Public, or the man in the street.He was every normal person, a phrase broad enough to include all manner of people.Yet nothing in Beckers presentation suggested that he had the slightest interest in race, sexuality or gender. His Mr. Everyman belonged to the tribe of WHAM.
BY Bill Moyers | January 20, 2017
In order to live in a world of semblance more spacious and satisfying than is to be found within the narrow confines of the fleeting present moment, Becker emphasized, Mr. Everyman needs a past larger than his own individual past.An awareness of things said and done long ago provides him with an artificial extension of memory and a direction.
Memories, whether directly or vicariously acquired, are necessary to orient us in our little world of endeavor.Yet the specious present that we inhabit is inherently unstable and constantly in flux, which means that history itself must be pliable.Crafting history necessarily becomes an exercise in imaginative creation in which all participate. However unconsciously, Everyman adapts the past to serve his most pressing needs, thereby functioning as his own historian.
Yet he does so in collaboration with others. Since time immemorial, purveyors of the past the ancient and honorable company of wise men of the tribe, of bards and storytellers and minstrels, of soothsayers and priests, to whom in successive ages has been entrusted the keeping of the useful myths have enabled him to hold in memory those things only which can be related with some reasonable degree of relevance to his own experience and aspirations.In Beckers lifetime it had become incumbent upon members of the professoriate, successors to the bards and minstrels of yesteryear, to enlarge and enrich the specious present common to us all to the end that society (the tribe, the nation, or all mankind) may judge of what it is doing in the light of what it has done and what it hopes to do.
Yet Becker took pains to emphasize that professional historians disdained Mr. Everyman at their peril:
Berate him as we will for not reading our books, Mr. Everyman is stronger than we are, and sooner or later we must adapt our knowledge to his necessities. Otherwise he will leave us to our own devices The history that does work in the world, the history that influences the course of history, is living history It is for this reason that the history of history is a record of the new history that in every age rises to confound and supplant the old.
Becker stressed that the process of formulating new history to supplant the old is organic rather than contrived; it comes from the bottom up, not the top down. We, historians by profession, share in this necessary effort, he concluded.But we do not impose our version of the human story on Mr. Everyman; in the end it is rather Mr. Everyman who imposes his version on us.
Donald Trump as Everymans Champion?
Becker offered his reflections on Everyman His Own Historian in the midst of the Great Depression.Perhaps because that economic crisis found so many Americans burdened with deprivation and uncertainty, he implicitly attributed to his everyman a unitary perspective, as if shared distress imbued members of the public with a common outlook.That was not, in fact, the case in 1931 and is, if anything, even less so in our own day.
Still, Beckers construct retains considerable utility.Today finds more than a few white heterosexual American males, our own equivalent of Mr. Everyman, in a state of high dudgeon.From their perspective, the specious present has not panned out as it was supposed to. As a consequence, they are pissed.In November 2016, to make clear just how pissed they were, they elected Donald Trump as president of the United States.
Both sides agree on one point only: that history began anew last Nov. 8, when (take your pick) America either took leave of its senses or chose greatness. Its almost as if the years and decades that had preceded Trumps election had all disappeared into some vast sinkhole.
This was, to put it mildly, not supposed to happen.For months prior to the election, the custodians of the past in its now valid version had judged the prospect all but inconceivable.Yet WHAMs (with shocking support from other tribes) intervened to decide otherwise.Rarely has a single event so thoroughly confounded historys self-assigned proctors.One can imagine the shade of Professor Becker whispering, I warned you, didnt I?
Those deeply invested in drawing a straight line from the specious present into the indefinite future blame Trump himself for having knocked history off its prescribed course. Remove Trump from the scene, they appear to believe, and all will once again be well. The urgent imperative of doing just that immediately, now, no later than this afternoon has produced whatNew York Times columnist Charles Blow aptlycallsa throbbing anxiety among those who (like Blow himself) find the relentless onslaught of awfulness erupting from this White House intolerable. They will not rest until Trump is gone.
Thiside fixe, reinforced on a daily basis by ever more preposterous presidential antics, finds the nation trapped in a sort of bizarre do-loop.The medias obsession with Trump reinforces his obsession with the media and between them they simply crowd out all possibility of thoughtful reflection. Their fetish is his and his theirs.The result is a cycle of mutual contempt that only deepens the longer it persists.
Both sides agree on one point only: that history began anew last Nov. 8, when (take your pick) America either took leave of its senses or chose greatness. How the United States got to Nov. 8 qualifies, at best, as an afterthought or curiosity. Its almost as if the years and decades that had preceded Trumps election had all disappeared into some vast sinkhole.
Where, then, are we to turn for counsel?For my money, Charles Blow is no more reliable as a guide to the past or the future than is Donald Trump himself.Much the same could be said of most other newspaper columnists, talking heads and online commentators (contributors toTomDispatch notably excepted, of course). As for politicians of either party, they have as a class long since forfeited any right to expect a respectful hearing.
God knows Americans today do not lack for information or opinion.On screens, over the airways and in print, the voices competing for our attention create a relentless cacophony. Yet the correlation between insight and noise is discouragingly low.
What would Carl Becker make of our predicament? He would, I think, see it as an opportunity to enlarge and enrich the specious present by recasting and reinvigorating history.Yet doing so, he would insist, requires taking seriously the complaints that led our latter day Everyman to throw himself into the arms of Donald Trump in the first place.Doingthat implies a willingness to engage with ordinary Americans on a respectful basis.
Unlike President Trump, I do not pretend to speak for Everyman or for his female counterpart.Yet my sense is that many Americans have an inkling that history of late has played them for suckers.This is notably true with respect to the post-Cold War era, in which the glories of openness, diversity and neoliberal economics, of advanced technology and unparalleled US military power all promised in combination to produce something like a new utopia in which Americans would indisputably enjoy a privileged status globally.
In almost every respect, those expectations remain painfully unfulfilled.The history that served for the time being and was endlessly reiterated during the presidencies of Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43 and Obama no longer serves. It has yielded a mess of pottage: grotesque inequality, worrisome insecurity, moral confusion, an epidemic of self-destructive behavior, endless wars and basic institutions that work poorly if at all.Nor is it just WHAMs who have suffered the consequences.The history with which Americans are familiar cannot explain this outcome.
BY Henry Giroux | December 16, 2016
Alas, little reason exists to expect Beckers successors in the guild of professional historians to join with ordinary Americans in formulating an explanation.Few academic historians today see Everyman as a worthy interlocutor. Rather than berating him for not reading their books, they ignore him.Their preference is to address one another.
By and large, he returns the favor, endorsing the self-marginalization of the contemporary historical profession.Contrast the influence wielded by prominent historians in Beckers day during the first third of the 20th century, they included, along with Becker, such formidables as Henry Adams, Charles and Mary Beard, Alfred Thayer Mahan and Frederick Jackson Turner with the role played by historians today.The issue here is not erudition, which todays scholars possess in abundance, but impact.On that score, the disparity between then and now is immense.
In effect, professional historians have ceded the field to a new group of bards and minstrels.So the bestselling historian in the United States today is Bill OReilly, whose books routinely sell more than a million copieseach. Were Donald Trump given to reading books, he would likely find OReillys both accessible and agreeable. But OReilly is in the entertainment business.He has neither any interest nor the genuine ability to create what Becker called history that does work in the world.
Still, history itself works in mysterious ways known only to God or to providence. Only after the fact do its purposes become evident.It may yet surprise us.
Owing his election in large part to my fellow WHAMs, Donald Trump is now expected to repay that support by putting things right.Yet as events make it apparent that Trump is no more able to run a government than Bill OReilly is able to write history, they may well decide that he is not their friend after all.With that, their patience is likely to run short.It is hardly implausible that Trumps assigned role in history will be once and for all to bring down the curtain on our specious present, demonstrating definitively just how bankrupt all the triumphalist hokum of the past quarter-century the history that served for the time being has become.
When that happens, when promises of American greatness restored prove empty, there will be hell to pay. Joe Doakes, John Q. Public and the man in the street will be even more pissed. Should that moment arrive, historians would do well to listen seriously to what Everyman has to say.
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New Llano has a unique, 100-year-old, history. It is arguably the longest-lived socialist community in the United States.
New Llano has a unique, 100-year-old, history. It is arguably the longest-lived socialist community in the United States.
Originally established in 1917 as a Utopian community, people came from all walks of life, and from all over the world to New Llano. They were seeking a paradise where you produce for use, not profit;" where all members did equal work for equal benefits in a self-sufficient cooperative.
The first colony in California, called the Llano del Rio Cooperative Colony, was established by Job Harriman, in 1914. It was abandoned just four years later. Llano del Rio turned out to be too far from other settlements to develop a sustaining economy, and it had an unreliable water supply.
In 1917, 200 of the original 600 California colonists chartered a train and moved the experimental colony to Louisiana. They settled into the former lumber town of Stables, and changed its name to New Llano.
For the next 20 years, the colony evolved its own brand of "cooperativism," southern-style. Everyone over the age of 18 had a job. Usually jobs were assigned, but people were allowed to change occupations if they were competent.Life at the colony was not easy, but no one starved physically or intellectually.
In the early 1900's, lumber workers in Louisiana had faced many conflicts with big lumber interests in the state. This made the politics of a co-operative society appealing to them.
The socialist concept had much popular support in the United States, during the late 19th and early 20th century. Utopian colonies were scattered throughout the country during the industrial age, as the working class struggled to gain rights.
The New Llano Colony has often been dubbed a "socialist commune," however, this is not entirely accurate.
Although Harriman and many of the long-time colonists were Socialists, it was not a requirement for membership. Members simply had to agree to live co-operatively and abide by the Golden Rule-- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Many of the ideals, which were promoted within the Utopian community, were a source of pride, and have been instituted in today's American society. These include minimum wage, Social Security, low-cost housing, old-age pensions, equal rights for women, welfare, and a move toward universal health care.
Members collectively owned all industries, which they ran themselves, including water and electricity for their homes. The group produced many high-quality items, from shoes to machine tools, and popular food products.
New Llano was once home to a broom factory, sawmill, ice plant, sheet metal factory, and the leading national socialist newspaper.
The colony was one of the first groups in America to adopt the Montessori teaching method. Theodore Cuno, one of the founders of Labor Day, made New Llano his home until his death. Cuno endowed the colony with a substantial library, one of the best in Louisiana. Colony orchestras and theatrical groups performed on a roof garden, free of charge, to fellow colonists and their neighbors.
Everyone worked together to produce whatever they needed.
Eventually, in 1939, a series of financial problems and internal dissent forced the colony into receivership.
Documentary filmmakers Beverly Lewis and Rick Blackwood produced the 1994 film, "American Utopia," about the Llano del Rio Cooperative Colony in Vernon Parish.
The Town of New Llano is celebrating the 100-year anniversary with a two-day festival-style celebration, featuring live music and vendors selling arts and crafts, food and drinks.
The event runs Friday, June 30 - Saturday, July 1 at the park on Stanton Street. It will get started both days at 8 a.m. The celebration will will close at 6 p.m. on Friday. A fireworks display will take place on Saturday at 9 p.m.
Alcoholic beverages and pets are prohibited at the celebration.
The Museum of the New Llano Colony Museum will be open during the event. It is located at 211 Stanton Street, and is regularly open Tuesday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. (closed from noon - 1 p.m.).
Read this article:
The Town of New Llano is celebrating its 100th anniversary - Beauregard Daily News
The compound called Orange Acres is arranged in four quadrants. At the bottom of the sloping property, abutting U.S. 93, used cars are parked in grassy rows. Next to the cars, the first strawberries of the year are ripening in a garden. Uphill of the garden is owner Jeffrey-James Halvorson's single-story house. And across from his house, Halvorson has converted an old tannery into what's most simply described as a guesthouse.
Flagpoles flank the junction at the center of Halvorson's property. A flag showing a smiley face with the words "Peace, love and happiness" flaps atop one. From the other flies the yellow "Don't Tread On Me" banner of American revolutionaries, its coiled rattlesnake ready to strike.
Halvorson is Orange Acres' only permanent resident, but he likes company. He's variously advertised this 8.36-acre strip of land south of Arlee as a commune, couchsurfing community center, nerd colony, dharma station and free guest ranch. The Missoulian called it "peculiar." A couchsurfing Mother Jones reporter noted the unconventional house rules (dreadlocked guests must provide their own pillowcase) and the assault rifle Halvorson claims to keep on the premises.
In his late 30s and sturdily built, Halvorson smiles like an old friend as a reporter pulls up, stepping away from the yellow refrigerator that he and a preppy, twentysomething man named Wes are lugging across the yard. At the same time, a lanky, older guest turns off the lawnmower he's been pushing beside his motorhome. The sound of the engine gives way to wind chimes dancing in a summer breeze. The breeze blows open the doors to an outdoor cupboard, exposing stacks of dishware to the sun.
Halvorson is, in no particular order, an ambassador for couchsurfing, an ordained minister (credentialed online) and a used-car salesman. To the extent that others might see contradictions among those personas, he is unfazed. One minute Halvorson is explaining his spiritual mission to give food and shelter to veterans, homeless people and pretty much anyone who isn't drunk and wants a place to rest. The next, he's saying that Missoula County officials should be jailed for what he considers their campaign over the last six years to stop him. The minute after that, he's sprinkling "be-back" dust on a potential buyer whose first offer is too low.
A self-described Libertarian, Halvorson likes to demonstrate taxation policy by passing around a dollar bill and cutting off a third of it with each exchange. Pretty soon the whole dollar is gone, but what's really diminished is liberty.
"We started as a country where we left (England) so people could have their freedom to farm, to live, to thrive, to practice their religion," he says. "To practice who they are."
One of those Puritans, John Winthrop, famously imagined his colony "a city upon a hill." He was quoting the Book of Matthew, in which Jesus describes his followers as "the salt of the earth" and the "light of the world." The new world, Winthrop meant, would offer more than a chance for his fellow nonconformists to flee a king. It would carry the promise, and the baggage, of righteousness.
Nearly 400 years later, two poles of American righteousness are staked out on this gentle slope south of Arlee: the hippie and the rattler, the "take and eat" of Matthew meets the "Come and take it!" of battle and self-determination. In the middle is Jeff. Standing on his hill.
Jay Lewellen found Orange Acres on Craigslist, where it was listed as a "nerd colony, free guest ranch, for young adults." The post explained that people willing to pull their weight could stay for up to 20 days, maybe longer. The listing featured a photo of people in Stormtrooper helmets posing next to a black limousine.
"We are not a cult," the ad promised.
Lewellen is 29 years old, originally from Florida, with twin neck tattoos that depict a pot leaf folded into a peace sign and a skeleton hand flashing the sign of the horns. He was planting dragon fruit in the Philippines earlier this year when he decided to move to Montana. He doesn't consider himself a nerd, but figured rent-free temporary housing would buy him time to find his footing in a new city.
His plane landed in Missoula at midnight. Halvorson met him at the airport. After a quick tour of the Orange Acres property, Lewellen laid down in a recycled-wood cabin barely bigger than the mattress inside it. He couldn't sleep because of strange rustling sounds on the other side of the wall. "It was kind of like The Hills Have Eyes," Lewellen says.
Halvorson had forgotten to mention his sheep.
Missoula residents familiar with Halvorson likely know his name from the newspaper, where he's a frequent flyer on the Missoulian's letters page, and from that paper's coverage of Missoula County's controversial crackdown on land-use violations, which landed him in court. But most people who meet Halvorson are introduced to him online, through Couchsurfing.com and other sites that cater to people in search of a free place to sleep.
Couchsurfing is for idealists, strangers who trust one another to open their homes to fellow humans without recompense. This experiment in generosity and sharing has since been co-opted and commodified by Airbnb, but commercialized hospitality is sterile compared to couchsurfing havens like Orange Acres, where host and guest alike wear their eccentricities on their sleeves. Halvorson introduces himself in his Couchsurfing.com profile as a "rebel, do-gooder" who is "out to right the wrongs of the world." Then he lists the details: Guests staying more than one night have to pitch in on chores. No crackheads, Sierra Club members, haters or meanies allowed. Dogs and children are welcome if they're leashed. No one goes hungry, but if Halvorson catches you spending money on alcohol instead of food, you'll be asked to leave. Surfers without references must complete a lengthy questionnaire that asks whether they've ever clubbed baby seals and what they'd miss most about life if they died today.
Couchsurfing is a natural fit for Halvorson, who says he'd like to meet every person on Earth, if only he could live long enough to do it. He admits to being the guy who tries to strike up a conversation in the grocery line. His worst nightmare is being trapped alone on an island with $1 million and a direct line to an Amazon drone, because he'd have no one to share the deliveries with.
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Oceania Cruises Cruise Destinations
Cruise with Oceania Cruises to exotic, historic and alluring destinations all over the world. Featuring longer itineraries, incredible extended overnight stays in the most intriguing destinations and the capability to visit smaller ports-of-call, Oceania really focuses on immersing each passenger in the destination. Discover unique cultures and special people in Africa. Kick back and soak in the tropics during a cruise to the Caribbean or South Pacific. Enrich your body, mind and soul with a voyage to the Mediterranean or Northern Europe. Choose Oceania Cruises, and anything is possible. Your World. Your Way.
Views of the African wilderness will inspire you during a cruise to Africa, where youll be accepted by a kind and giving people with open arms.
Step away from your everyday life to embrace the beautiful wildlife and scenery that Alaska has to offer on an Alaska cruise vacation.
Explore the best of Asia with Oceania Cruises from ancient shrines and towering temples to quaint villages and peaceful gardens.
Be bold and try new and exciting things like exploring the Great Barrier Reef and learning the sport of cricket during a cruise to Australia and New Zealand.
Delight in the sunshine and explore the rich culture of the Caribbean with Oceania Cruises.
Travel through an intimate region full of fresh food and wine with a Mediterranean cruise vacation.
History. Beer and wine. Medieval art. Those are just a few features of a cruise to Northern Europe and Scandinavia.
Sail through history when you traverse the incredible Panama Canal with Oceania Cruises.
Buenos Aires stunning culture and the raw natural beauty of Costa Rica are amazing parts of a cruise to South America.
Sail away to a paradise full of clear blue ocean waters, hot sunny days and sparkling island sunsets with a South Pacific cruise.
If you love the peak of fall when the leaves change colors and the scenery paints the perfect picture, take a cruise to Canada and New England along U.S. Atlantic coast.
With the increased length of a Grand Voyage or a full World Cruise, youll find more time to explore the most special historical attractions around the world.
Sail around the world in style with Oceania Cruises. With a handful of ships Oceania has itineraries leaving from ports across the globe. In Asia there are cruises from Papeete in the South Pacific and Hong Kong in China. In Europe, London, Copenhagen, Venice and Athens are key ports. Of course the Caribbean is always a popular itinerary with many of their itineraries leaving from Miami. If you are interested in an Oceania Cruise speak with one of The Cruise Webs expert consultants, who can walk you through their itineraries and find a perfect match for your vacation criteria.
With Amsterdams beautiful canals and an open attitude youll find no shortage of interesting attractions in the capital of The Netherlands.
The mild temperatures in Auckland enhance an outdoorsy cruise destination. Tour the many beaches, hike beautiful mountain ranges or just wander Aucklands city streets.
For decades Bali has lured visitors with its beautiful beaches, forests and mountains and a culture that is devoted to the arts.
A visit to Bangkok is a must as this city has a unique blend of old and new world attractions to keep visitors both enlightened and intrigued.
Discover imaginative architecture, impressive Spanish dishes and beautiful excursions into nature when you cruise to Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia.
Beijing is quickly modernizing with new buildings going up daily, but the city retains its historical importance with sites like the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China.
Get a taste of some of the best cuisine in Spain when visiting Bilbao as well as discover some amazing beaches, museums, restaurants and shops.
Barbados, where the weather is impeccable, the beaches are beautiful and the food is fantastically fresh.
Buenos Aires is a charming European style city with the perfect combination of new world characteristics mixed with old world history and culture.
The historical port city of Callao welcomes visitors with great beaches, rich history and open arms.
See the beautiful sights of Cape Town, South Africas most visited city, which offers cruisers natural beauty, plentiful wine, historical significance and a sense of peace.
A cruise to Civitavecchia is a chance for you to hop a quick train to Rome and explore the enormous history through ruins, galleries and The Vatican museums.
Copenhagen is a delightful city with some of the worlds most interesting places, like the longest pedestrian street and one of the oldest amusement parks in the world.
Dubai is a modern city that people from all nationalities flock towards to indulge in designer clothes, fancy hotels and the high life.
Dublins streets are filled with interesting stories and charming people, including a long, celebrated line of writers. Cruise to Dublin and youll find something interesting around each corner of this Irish jewel.
One of the worlds most exciting modern cities, Hong Kong offers a true East meets West experience where you can shop for traditional Chinese cure-alls and attend high tea all in the same afternoon.
Honolulu, with its near perfect weather every day and beautiful mountains and tropical landscapes, is a destination not to be missed.
Lisbon has deep cultural roots that are exposed through ruins and museum artifacts. Cruise to Lisbon and discover the culture and history of Portugal in its capital city.
The possibilities are endless when cruising to or from the City of Angels. Let your inner rock star shine as you explore the many wonders of Los Angeles, California.
In Miami, youll enjoy a small taste of the tropical weather many of you will experience during your cruise, and youll see why Miami is one of the most popular places to live in America.
Experience the life of the rich and famous with a trip to the glamorous spots of Monte Carlo in the tiny constitutional monarch of Monaco.
Montreal combines Old World style and New World cosmopolitan inspirations, along with a French culture, for a beautiful all-encompassing city and cruise destination.
Mumbai is a bustling city where youll find packed trains, towering skyscrapers and a vibrant population that continues to grow.
Take in the incredible art scene of New York City, expand your cultural horizons in the citys diverse neighborhoods and marvel at the architectural wonders.
Enjoy the great outdoors in Oslo, the beautiful and spacious capital of Norway, where the city includes lakes, forests and lots of history.
This picture-perfect island is everything you ever dreamt of, from lush greenery inland and perfectly clear turquoise waters to the scent of gardenia from the coconut groves.
Learn about the Greek gods and the early philosophy of Socrates when you visit the incredible ruins left in Athens, Greece. At night, go out and take in the culture with the modern Athenians.
Reykjavik was just a small village until seeing a major expansion after World War II, but this popular cruise destination still offers a small town feel different than any other European capital.
Rio de Janeiro, one of the most visited cities in the southern hemisphere, has numerous activities for every desire. Cruise to Rio for the Carnival celebrations, natural environment, beautiful beaches and famous landmarks.
Situated on the Pacific Ocean, San Diego is known for its near perfect weather, beautiful beaches and abundance of activities.
On a cruise from San Francisco you can experience all that the City by the Bay has to offer, from its artistic, forward-looking culture to the beautiful coastline.
Known as The Emerald City, Seattle is a beautiful, luscious city with incredible views of the Cascade Mountains and Elliott Bay. The city is full of activities for both water lovers and outdoor enthusiasts.
Shanghai is the cultural and economic center of East Asia and is drawing more and more attention from all over the world as it is becoming a renowned international metropolis.
Southeast Asias most modern city, Singapore, also contains a lot of history and treasures from the past, along with a perfect tropical climate all making Singapore a wonderful destination year round.
The cruise port of Southampton features tons of diverse attractions that provide insight into Englands culture and storied past, including fortresses, gardens and national parks.
Whether looking out into the citys waterways, ancient castles or modern buildings, youll always have a great view when cruising to Stockholm, Sweden.
The near perfect days, beautiful scenery, pristine beaches and sparkling water offer the perfect backdrop for any dream adventure in Sydney, Australia.
Tokyo is a dazzling city where you might be overwhelmed at first by its modernity but will find lots of interesting subcultures in its various neighborhoods.
Valparaiso, the oldest city in Chile, is a beautiful urban town full of old Victorian homes and cobbled stone streets bordered by the Pacific Ocean and steep hills.
Whether its your cruise destination or a launching point, Vancouver is a beautiful destination in itself with a sophisticated downtown and lots of natural elements to explore.
Experience the serene, romantic splendor of Venice, but dont forget to check out its wonderful museums and neighborhoods located off the Grand Canal.
See Japanese history in person as you discover Yokohama, Japans biggest port city, where the country was first opened to outside trade after more than 200 years of seclusion.
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Oceania Cruises, 2017 and 2018 Cruise Deals, Destinations ...
STU PIDDINGTON
Last updated17:38, June 22 2017
JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAX NZ
Sprinter athlete Anna Hayward is excited to be representing New Zealand for the first time.
South Canterbury sprinter athleteAnnaHayward is looking forward to her busy schedule at theOceania Area and Combined Events Championships in Fiji.
Hayward is set to run the 100m and 200m sprints plus the 400m in Suva.
"It is really exciting, I can't wait."
JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAX NZ
Winter training in all weather has been a hard slog for Anna Hayward, but she was rewarded with selection to the New Zealand team for the first time.
It the first time the 17-year-old has represented New Zealand.
She departs on Sunday with her first event on Thursday.
Hayward's busy schedule could even get more hectic if she is selected in relay team.
Athletics New Zealand has already invited her to join their expanded relay squad, which trains for major events.
Hayward has been doing athletics since was 10, but has really come to the fore over the past couple of seasons.
Her favoured event is the 400m.
"I like it as it is much more of a challenge, I am not sure why, but it is a hard race and it takes a bit to recover."
Hayward said she was not sure who she would be up against.
"There will be Australians and quite a few of the island nations represented."
Her goal is to put her best foot forward and look to lower her personal best times.
"I'm not sure of anyone else'stimes."
Hayward's selection came after putting in the hardworkoverthe winter, which she admitted at time had been quite tough inthe cold.
"Mylast competition was the beginning of April."
She was thankful to walker Alice Ritchie, who had at times trained with her.
Hayward's dedication however saw her pull out of the Craighead senior hockey team to concentrate on athletics.
"I wanted to giveit my full focus and didn't want to sustain an injury."
The Craighead runner wasone of 55 Kiwi athletes named to go butis the only one from South Canterbury attending the the five-day championships, which features senior, under-20 and under-18 competitions.
She has trained six days a week with on Fridays off.
Coach Grant Lord said Hayward was deserving of selection.
"She had worked really hard. It is also great she has been included in the wider New Zealand relay squad, a bit like Jacob Matson was a couple of years ago."
Lord said South Canterbury had a proud record when it came to young athletes going to Oceania.
"Anna has kept that going and I am she she will perform very well."
-Stuff
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Sprinter Anna Hayward set for Oceania championships - Timaru Herald
The Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) has been accepted as a member of the United States Tour Operator Association, USTOA.
Through this membership, the Seychelles tourism marketing body seeks to establish strategic relationships with key organizations within the travel trade community in North America.
USTOA was created in 1972 by a small group of California tour operators, with the aim of having a unified voice to protect the traveling public, as well as to represent the interests of tour operators.
Today, the New York based organization brings together some of the top names in travel and tourism. It also accounts for a large share of the tour operator market in North America.
The membership will hence allow the Seychelles Tourism Board to connect with these industry leaders that represent top destinations and suppliers from around the world.
The STB Director for Africa & the Americas David Germain who spearheaded the initiative to have the membership application processed and approved, said benefits to Seychelles include participation in all events organized by USTOA throughout the year.
Through publications, meetings, conferences, discussions and exhibitions, the STB will be able to stay up to date on the latest travel industry research, gain market intelligence and travel trends in North America, said Mr. Germain.
One of USTOAs main event is the Annual Conference & Marketplace which brings together leading North American travel companies with tourism suppliers and destinations from around the globe in an intimate and exclusive setting. The event is set for November 27 to December 1, 2017.
The Seychelles Tourism Board is intensifying its effort in North America as demand for long-haul travel and flights to the Seychelles continue to increase. The aim is to position the island destination as a destination of choice among the North American travelers.
To date, the National Bureau of Statistics has recorded a 67 percent increase in visitors arrival from America to Seychelles, compared to the same period last year.
The Seychelles Tourism Board is also a member of the Association for the Promotion of Tourism to Africa, APTA, which also facilitates partnerships and education of members throughout North America.
Read more here:
Alex Treadway
Want to visit a Caribbean Island but don't feel like rubbing shoulders with hundreds of sunburned American tourists? Go to Tobago.
Perhaps youve heard of the Caribbean, the beach-filled, sunny, and resort-laden destination for cruise ships and tan-seeking vacationers? Maybe youve considered being one of those vacationers?
Heres the upside: Its easy and affordable to get there. And then the problem: Most popular spots within the Caribbeanlike Turks and Caicos and Saint Thomasare perpetually overrun by tourists (like you).
There is, luckily, an alternative to packing yourself into a Caribbean beach filled with hundreds of other sunscreen-soaked Americans. Let me introduce you to Tobago,the lesser-known sibling island to Trinidad. Its the place you go when you want to sit on a quiet beach in the Caribbean and not be surrounded by yachts or spring breakers. From a lot of major cities, theres a direct flight to Trinidad; from there, just hop on a quick 15-minute flight (very cheap and leaves every 30 minutes), and youre in Tobago.
The island is intimate, the culture is chill, the locals are friendly, and its very easy to get around. Super developed, Tobago is not. Compared with its Caribbean cousins, the place is bare of malls and brand-name hotels. Youre coming to Tobago, instead, because youre looking for unadulterated nature and a slow-going place to laze on the beach with friends.
And because its not yet a tourist town, the food caters to the localsmeaning youre not getting watered-down resort fare. Youll find spicey and chile-laden goat curry spots, as well as Italian food in tree houses, excellent takeout kebab, and freshly grilled seafood served beachside.
Tobago is so low-key that there are essentially no travel books available on the country. So heres your beginners guide to the Caribbean gem.
There are some hotels and resorts on the island, but most are still pretty rudimentary. Your best bet for comfy digs is to rent a condo or a house on HomeAway or VRBO, which will likely be both less expensive and more comfortable than the area hotels. Go for the properties right on the beach.
Like most beach vacations, Tobago is best experienced in five days to a week. Lucky for those who have to endure chilly winters, the best time to visit is between January and March, when the weather there is temperate and not too humid.
Spend a chill day at the beach The beaches in Tobago are pristineyou cant go wrong making a pit stop at whatever beaches you spot in your area. The most popular is Mount Irvine Beach, adjacent to a golf course and known for its excellent surfing. Englishmans Bay is another good option, a crescent-shaped beach where you can spot leatherback turtles chilling on the sands. If youre looking for hidden treasure, drive 45 minutes up to Castara, a tiny but stunning spot with gorgeous views of the forests below.
Visit Pigeon Point Heritage Park This family-friendly enclave offers multiple activities in one spotthere are cute little shops, lots of great cafes for snacking, and a lifeguard-tended beach area, complete with a highly Instagrammable thatched-roof jetty.
Go around Buccoo Reef Book a glass-bottom boat from Pigeon Point Heritage Park, and you can spend a day going around Buccoo Reef, a designated marine park containing hundreds of colorful species of fish and coral (Jacques Cousteau named it the third most spectacular reef in the world). Theres loads to see, so its the ideal spot to go snorkeling. Make sure your boat makes a stop at the surreal Nylon Pool, a one-meter deep enclave in the middle of the reef whose sheer waters and white sand prompted Britains Princess Margaret to name the pool after her nylon stockings.
Hike through the Tobago Forest Reserve As the oldest protected forest reserve in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, this is the spot to go on a hike in Tobago. The main trek is short and accessible, weaving through a few miles of untouched forest. Its worth hiring a trained guide who can point out the various herbs, spices, and native fruit trees that are abundant throughout the trail. The hike ends at Argyle Falls, where you can lounge in natural rock tubs surrounded by idyllically green trees.
Doubles Truck Doubles Truck is what I am calling the unmarked white van that parks outside a clothing shop called Chadijas around lunchtime, serving up one of the signature dishes of the island: doubles. Its a messy dish of two interlocking pieces of fried dough filled with mildly sweet stewed chickpeas and a generous dousing of green chile sauce. Theyre wrapped in white paper and cost about 20 cents a pop. Wash yours down with fresh coconut water from the fruit stand a few feet away.
Kariwak Village A very vibe-y open-air restaurant with a thatched roof serving Caribbean food thats all made from the on-site garden. Get the spicy crab stew and be prepared to go home very satisfied, but with chile and turmeric stains all over your shirt.
Jemma's Seaview Kitchen Treehouse Located right on the beach, this picturesque spot specializes in seafood prepared Caribbean style: fish thats been breaded, fried, and dressed in a tangy sweet-and-sour sauce; curried goat; and shrimp drenched in herbs and garlic then grilled over an open fire.
La Tartaruga An Italian restaurant situated in a tall treehouse, La Tartaruga will easily be one of the most joyful dining experiences you have in Tobago. This is thanks, in large part, to the exceedingly friendly and enthusiastic chef/owner Gabriele, who treats every guest like a long-lost sibling. The restaurant serves excellent Italian wines and specialties like freshly made tagliatelle dressed in pesto and potatoes, and meatballs stuffed with polenta, mozzarella, and spicy tomato sauce. It is the perfect marriage of Italian food and the breezy culture of Tobago.
Skewers This is a local haunt for kebabs (the best are the lamb and the chicken), which are ideal for lunch and dinner to goor a late-night snack. The meats are grilled til exceedingly juicy, the herby salads are fresh and fragrant, and though the food is decidedly Middle Eastern, it has pleasant local toucheslike the various handcrafted hot sauces made with the fruity peppers of the region.
MORE STORIES LIKE THIS ONE
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A Travel Guide to Tobago, the Caribbean's Chillest Island | GQ - GQ Magazine
Spending on travel has held up well in recent years, a trend that has supported strong growth for Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) and other cruise providers. The worlds consumers may be cutting back on some things, but demand for cruises remains solid, says Richard Moroney, editor of Dow Theory Forecast.
From 2009 through 2017, the number of ocean cruise passengers has increased at an annualized rate of 5.7%, according to the Cruise Lines International Association.
The count has risen every year during that seven year period, and the organization expects passenger counts to increase another 4.5% this year.
Royal Caribbean, which holds about a 25% share of the global cruise market, stands to benefit from the industrywide trends, as well some encouraging company-specific developments.
With Royal Caribbean shares fetching just 16 times expected 2017 profits, 27% below the median for hotel and cruise companies in the S&P 1500 Index, we like the price of this ticket. Royal Caribbean, which earns a Quadrix Overall score of 97 and yields 1.7%, is a Buy and a Long-Term Buy.
In April, Royal Caribbean reported better-than-expected profit growth and boosted its full-year guidance for earnings.
Among the takeaways from the March-quarter report were record bookings, a 4.4% decline in net cruise costs excluding fuel, better-than-expected net yields (cruise revenue divided by available passenger cruise days), and a $500 million share-buyback authorization.
Both occupancy rates and prices have increased from last year.
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Cruising for Profits: Royal Caribbean - Moneyshow.com (registration)
The Last Thunder Dump!
This is the last Thursday Thunder Dump. After looking at my news dumps as a weekly chore lately, Ive come to the conclusion that doing these posts are now... Well, Ill let British butter spokesperson, Johnny Rotten and the rest of the Pistols explain:
First, my sincere thanks to myjah for giving me the space to do TTDs all this time. They were a blast to do, but time has a way of eroding things and I feel like I need to move on from them. Dont worry though, wherever birds are attacking Denard Span, Ill be there. Whenever someone asks, Whats Manny Ramirez up to? Well, Ill be there. And wherever a Japanese angler fish mascot regurgitates its own skeleton, Ill be there too, just not on Thursday Thunder Dump.
If you didnt like TTD, some other Twins news link will replace it that youll like better. If you did like them, thanks and be happy - TTDs rotting corpse will nourish the blowflies and buckthorn brambles for years to come!
In case you havent heard, the Twins will play two games in San Juan, Puerto Rico against the Cleveland Indians early in the 2018 season on April 17-18. The Twins will be considered the home team. They have three players that are from the island; Jose Berrios, Kennys Vargas and Eddie Rosario. The Indians Francisco Lindor is from there too.
City Pages is reporting not everyone is treasuring their purple Purple Rain rain umbrella they got as a giveaway at a Twins game celebrating Prince last Saturday. Many are showing upon eBay, most are going for $150 but one college student was asking for $25,000. He must have gotten a really, really good one.
Cut4 has six hidden ballpark treasures and one is at Target Field. No, its not Carl Pohlads rumored secret vault of gold coins and art the Pohlads acquired from Depression era foreclosures. Its Sue Nelson, the organist at the Two Gingers Pub in Target Field. Mystery solved. Now, where the heck is Two Gingers Pub?
Royals Twitter account was showing off Drew Buteras hair flip a few days ago.
Luv ya Drew, but I think Doze did it better.
VIDEO: Tim Tebow's bat flip and strikeout in HD. Even more impressive when you can actually see how far that thing flies pic.twitter.com/aOYlctOs5X
Cut4 has a video of former Twin and current Texas Ranger, Carlos Gomez wearing his new Superman shoes and hitting a home run against the Blue Jays on Tuesday. Is kryptonite on a baseball considered a foreign substance?
The big Finnisher
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The Twins, the Caribbean, and stories about treasures - Twinkie Town
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Bahamas All-Inclusive Vacation Packages, Resorts & Hotels ...
Canada will begin its road to qualification for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Halifax.
Canada Basketball announced Thursday that the Canadians will host the Bahamas on Nov. 24 at Scotiabank Centre to kick off the first phase of qualifying for the World Cup.
The Canadians will play home and away games against the Bahamas, Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the first phase. The top three teams in the pool following move onto a second phase of competition against three new FIBA Americas opponents.
The top seven teams overall in the Americas Region will advance to the World Cup, which starts Aug. 31, 2019 in China.
Canada is currently ranked 24th in the world and eighth in the Americas Region.
"Canada Basketball is excited to begin our road to China by hosting our first qualifying game in Halifax," presidentand CEO ofCanada Basketball Michele O'Keefesaid in a statement. "The introduction of the new FIBA system allows us to showcase our national team to Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast and put Canada on display as a world-class destination for international basketball events."
The Canadian Press
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Canada to start road to basketball World Cup against the Bahamas in Halifax - BarrieToday
This month the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Developments (OECD) proudly announced that the Bahamas was the latest tax haven to make the decision to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters:
"We very much welcome that The Bahamas has now officially expressed a strong interest in joining the Convention. Signing and ratifying the Convention will be a very significant step forward in implementing its commitment to tax transparency and effective exchange of information, in particular under the OECD/G20 Common Reporting Standard"
Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the OECDs Centre for Tax Policy and Administration
The Bahamas indication that they intend to implement the treaty (note that nothing has in fact been signed) follows significant pressure exerted on the archipelago by the OECD to honour its commitments under the Common Reporting Standards (CRS) which require financial institutions to automatically exchange information regarding their clients to their clients local tax authorities. The Convention is seen to be the gold standard measure for tax-cooperation and key to the fight against global tax evasion and avoidance. 111 countries have now signed up to the convention with 52 Countries (including the UK) commencing automatic exchange of information with other jurisdictions in September 2017 (see our related blog: 'United Arab Emirates the latest tax haven to sign up to enhanced tax transparency' ).
That the OECD has felt the need to publish the decision to sign the convention follows extended political wrangling between the OECD and the Bahamas Government. The OECD was not happy that, although the Bahamas was part of the CRS, they had chosen to implement bi-lateral treaties on a country by country basis rather than the all-encompassing multi-lateral version. The Bahamas argument against a multilateral approach related to concerns over security and data leaks. However this received short shrift from the OECD. Following negotiations with the Bahamian cabinet last year Mr Saint-Amans announced, if they play games they will lose. Their reputation will be hit.
It seems his words were headed by the campaign group the Tax Justice Network (TJN) who describe the Bahamas as a major wrecking-ball threatening global efforts to clamp down on cross-border financial secrecy, elaborating further that the Bahamas decision not to sign up to the multi-national convention makes it the dirty-money centre of choice. Indeed, historical links to Meyer Lansky (Al Capones accountant) who invested significantly in the Bahamas and the fact that the archipelago does not recognise tax evasion as a predicate offence for money laundering, makes the Bahamas reputation a vulnerable target.
However, it is too simplistic to suggest that multilateral convention and the CRS should be implemented come what may. Genuine concerns regarding privacy and data protection leaks are entirely legitimate in a situation where hundreds of nations will be sharing significant amounts of personal data multilaterally. There are undoubtedly going to be problems with so much information being shared in one go and all states (including those rich nations of the OECD) would do well to ensure that they are not at the wrong end of a massive data protection breach.
Finally, the elephant in the room: The OECD continues to put pressure on a number of offshore and developing nations to ensure compliance with the CRS. However its richest member, the USA, has not signed up to the CRS at all. The argument - because they have already implemented the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) which requires financial firms around the world to report accounts held by US citizens to the Internal Revenue Service - it is not necessary. But what about disclosure of information held by financial institutions based in the US? US officials have an answer to that too - individual agreements to disclose information with other jurisdictions will be signed on a bilateral basis I am sure that idea has been suggested somewhere before.
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Christian slund/Greenpeace
A ship operates an air gun array while looking for oil deposits off the coast of Greenland.
Powerful sound waves created during offshore surveys for oil and gas can kill microscopic animals at the base of the ocean food chain, according to a new study. And these lethal effects travel much farther than ecologists had previously assumed. Researchers fear that damage to these animals, collectively known as zooplankton, could harm top predators and commercially important species of fish that depend on such species for food.
Seismic surveys blast compressed air to produce pulses of sound that can probe the sea floor thousands of metres down for natural resources. At 220250 decibels, the pulses produced by these air guns are louder than a Saturn V rocket during launch. Scientists have known for decades that whales and other marine mammals that use sound to communicate change their behaviour in response to such noise1. There is increasing evidence that seismic surveys also affect fish2 and marine invertebrates3. And now, researchers have found that the noise from air-gun blasts can kill zooplankton at distances of up to 1.2 kilometres away more than two orders of magnitude farther than previously thought. They reported their results4 on 22 June in Nature Ecology and Evolution.
We were quite gobsmacked, says lead author Jayson Semmens, a marine biologist at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia.
Semmens and his team conducted their study off the southeastern coast of Tasmania in 2015. They used sonar and nets to assess populations of zooplankton, including krill larvae and tiny crustaceans called copepods, before and after firing a series of air-gun shots. The team found that zooplankton abundance dropped by 64% within one hour of the blasts. And the proportion of dead zooplankton increased by 200300% as far away as 1.2 kilometres the maximum distance the researchers sampled. This suggests that the impact of the blasts could extend well beyond such distances, Semmens says.
Wim Van Egmond/SPL
Sea urchin larvae are one of many zooplankton groups harmed by air gun blasts.
Dead bodies in net tows don't lie, says Doug Nowacek, a marine ecologist at Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, North Carolina, who was not involved in the study. He suggests the next question for researchers is figuring out what this means for the ocean ecosystem. If you start impacting the zooplankton population, that can cause a serious cascade through the food web.
The results come as US President Donald Trump proposes opening up large swathes of the Atlantic coast of the United States to seismic surveys. The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is considering permit requests from six companies to conduct seismic surveys that were denied under former President Barack Obama. As part of that process, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) must also evaluate permit requests from those companies since their proposed activities could affect marine mammals. The NOAA permit requests are open for public comment until 6 July.
Although it's unclear if the companies will be able to start seismic surveys, initiating the permit process is part of a larger effort laid out in an executive order that Trump issued in April to expand US offshore energy development.
The study didn't pin down precisely how air-gun blasts kill zooplankton, Semmens says, but the noise they produce probably damages the highly sensitive hair-like receptors that the animals use to navigate. The blast might not kill them all directly, but it could disorient them and make it harder for them to survive.
Semmens is planning a follow-on study with a full seismic air gun set-up similar to that used in industrial activities to determine how far the effects of the noise extend. He and his team also want to look at what these blasts do to zooplankton physically. Although most research has focused on the impact of air-gun blasts on marine mammals, Semmens notes, perhaps its the invertebrates that are most at risk. It could be that our focus has kind of been blinkered because its been on whales, he says. Invertebrates are the forgotten ones.
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Air guns used in offshore oil exploration can kill tiny marine life ... - Nature.com
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How to protect offshore oil platforms from roaming icebergs - The Economist
Jordan Lee shares the football jig nuances that helped him become the Bassmaster Classic champion.
Football jigs are certainly old standby lures for bass fisherman once bass move from the shallows to their offshore summer homes. Bassmaster Classic champion Jordan Lee can speak to this, as he is somewhat of a football jig aficionado.
Growing up fishing for offshore bass in Alabamas Lake Guntersville taught Lee the key nuances of a football jig. These 3 simple, yet important tips have helped him catch more and bigger bass no matter where in the country he is fishing.
?Jordan Lee came up through the Carhartt college series and has taken the professional fishing world by storm the past three years. Oddly enough, Lee attributes much of his success to keeping his fishing style simple. So it comes as no surprise to learn Lee practices this same approach when it comes to football jig colors.
There are all kind of color combinations that bass will eat but I keep it pretty simple, Lee explained. I try to not get too caught up in the specific color of a jig; its more about the size and profile to me. You want to match the size of the bluegill or crawfish you think bass are eating before worrying too much about color.
Lee said he sees a lot of anglers getting too worried about the intricacies of the color(s) they fish. Hinting that the spot youre fishing will typically always be more important than the color of lure youre fishing with.
I stick to natural colors nearly 100 percent of the time, Lee said. Colors like browns, green pumpkin, maybe something with a little purple, along with good old black and blue. More often than not, I choose colors I think mimic bluegill down there deep on an offshore spot. For trailers I stay with similar colors. Strike Kings Summer Craw and Plum Crazy are the two I use most in the summertime. Match your trailer color somewhat closely with your jig color and get to dragging.
Just like many anglers opt for larger-than-usual spoons, crankbaits, worms or swimbaits, Lee likes to show bass an oversized football jig when they move offshore throughout the summer months.
Summer is the time of year to throw big baits, Lee said. Whether its a 10-inch worm, an oversized crankbait or a big jig, you want to present a hearty meal to offshore bass. Those big lure presentations are going to catch better-than-average fish, too. Fishing professionally, a lot of times Im not looking for 2-pound bites, I need those 3 to 5-pound bites to be competitive. By using a big football jig, I know I am hunting the bites I need to win a tournament or earn a check.
Lees jig selection isnt out of the ordinary. He predominately depends on a 3/4-ounce Strike King Tour Grade Football Jigwith a silicone skirt, or a 3/4-ounce jig with a living rubber skirt.
A 3/4-ounce jig is a good all-purpose size for a football jig, Lee said. Its an effective presentation you can fish at any depth, from 3 feet to 30 feet deep. If I had to choose one size to fish in all scenarios, that would be it.
The reigning Bassmaster Classic champ uses his soft plastic trailers to beef up the profile of his football jigs. Lee prefers trailers that not only have a lot of action, but also trailers that add size and bulk to his jig for summertime bass fishing.
I typically only use two different soft plastic trailers when the bass go deep, Lee admitted. A Rage Tail Space Monkeyand a full-size Rage Tail Craw. Both are big chunks of plastic, which move a lot of water, but just as importantly they add a lot of bulk to my jigs profile. Ive caught a lot of fish over the years with this setup and that large profile gives me a lot of confidence that bass will be able to find my jig in deep water.
Rod:Quantum Tour PT 7-foot, 4-inch heavy
Reel:7.3:1 gear ratioQuantum Smoke HD
Line: 17-pound Seaguar AbrazX Fluorocarbon
Even though baitfish and bass are active this time of year, Lee urges anglers to slow down your presentation with a football jig. Lee explained he might stroke a jig to fire up an offshore schoolif they are inactive, but he spends most of his time slowly dragging a football jig during the summer months.
Usually Im not going to use a football jig to find offshore schools of bass, Lee said. Ill use a deep diving crankbait or a swimbait to cover water and find fish. Once I have a few areas found and I know Im around some fish, thats when Ill slow down with a jig. A football jig gives me the confidence to fish painfully slow and milk a spot for all its worth.
Lee explained that how he works a football jig chiefly depends on the mood of the fish, but on the whole, he feels anglers tend to move a jig too fast when fishing offshore.
This years Bassmaster Classic on Conroe was a perfect example of how slowing down can pay off, Lee said. Due to mechanical issues, I was forced to sit on one offshore spot all day. Since I legitimately had no other options, I pulled out a football jig and slowed myself way down. I ended up catching over 27 pounds with that jig off of one little 30-yard area and the rest is history. The whole experience reminded me just how important slowing down can be.
Heed Jordan Lees tips and add a few football jigs as well as some big, bulky trailers to your tacklebox if you plan to target offshore bass this summer. It might not be the best way to catch huge numbers of fish, but this kind of jig could easily garner a bite from a kicker fish in a tournament or even the biggest bass of your life.
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