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Community invited to explore botanical and culinary medicine – HSC Newsbeat

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

UNM's Simply Spicy Symposium July 8-9

A state-of-the-art, two-day symposium on herbs and spices used in health and medicine is scheduled in Taos, July 8-9, at the Sagebrush Inn & Suites. The public is welcome to learn about herbs and spices used in the management of most common medical conditions, while networking with physicians, nurses, dieticians, pharmacists and other professional health practitioners. Admittance is $150.

The symposium, hosted by the UNM School of Medicine Section of Integrative Medicine, will feature interactive spice demos, cooking demonstrations and a healthy recipe contest. The symposium opens Saturday morning with sunrise yoga 6:30-7:30 a.m. and finishes with a cooking demonstration from 4-5 p.m. Sunday opens with sunrise yoga and concludes with a question-and-answer session and closing ceremony. Lunch is provided both days.

Plenary presentations include:

Workshops provide knowledge in areas such as herbs and spices for common infections, Native American ceremonial herbs and spices, spices for womens health, medicinal Chinese spices and optimizing gut health.

For more information on Simply Spicy, visit http://som.unm.edu/education/cme/2017/simply-spicy.html, contact Kathy Breckenridge at kbreckenridge@salud.unm.edu or call (505) 272-3942.

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Community invited to explore botanical and culinary medicine - HSC Newsbeat

Valley doctor putting residency on hold to study medicine in Mars – ABC15 Arizona

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

Heat Advisoryissued June 19 at 2:34PM MST expiring June 22 at 8:00PM MST in effect for: Apache, Coconino, Navajo, Yavapai

Excessive Heat Warningissued June 19 at 2:34PM MST expiring June 23 at 8:00PM MST in effect for: Coconino

Excessive Heat Warningissued June 19 at 2:34PM MST expiring June 23 at 8:00PM MST in effect for: Coconino, Yavapai

Excessive Heat Warningissued June 19 at 2:34PM MST expiring June 22 at 8:00PM MST in effect for: Coconino, Gila, Yavapai

Excessive Heat Warningissued June 17 at 3:01PM MST expiring June 22 at 8:00PM MST in effect for: Coconino, Gila, Yavapai

Heat Advisoryissued June 17 at 3:01PM MST expiring June 22 at 8:00PM MST in effect for: Yavapai

Heat Advisoryissued June 17 at 3:01PM MST expiring June 22 at 8:00PM MST in effect for: Apache, Coconino, Navajo

Excessive Heat Warningissued June 17 at 2:15AM MST expiring June 22 at 8:00PM MST in effect for: Coconino

Excessive Heat Warningissued June 14 at 2:52PM MST expiring June 20 at 8:00PM MST in effect for: Gila, Yavapai

Excessive Heat Watchissued June 14 at 3:18AM MST expiring June 20 at 8:00PM MST in effect for: Coconino, Gila, Yavapai

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Valley doctor putting residency on hold to study medicine in Mars - ABC15 Arizona

Bakersfield man pleads no contest to practicing medicine without a license – The Bakersfield Californian

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

For the second time in five years, Alberto Gonzalez has been convicted of practicing medicine without a license.

Gonzalez pleaded no contest Monday to the felony charge and faces two years in custody. Three misdemeanors were dismissed under the plea agreement.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 17.

According to the state Department of Consumer Affairs, Gonzalez ran a business in Lamont where he practiced as a doctor and administered injections to patients. He also admitted upon his October 2016 arrest to treating people in the Monterey and Seaside areas.

Prosecutor Kacie Spenst said she hopes "the people of Lamont are protected by this conviction."

In 2012, Gonzalez was investigated by the Bakersfield Police Department when they learned he had been practicing medicine inside of his home.

Police reports filed in court said Esther Diaz Figueroa contacted authorities on Oct. 21 of that year and said she had gone to see a doctor who claimed to be from Los Angeles. Figueroa, worried she was diabetic, said the doctor, later identified as Gonzalez, injected her with four syringes of medicine and charged her $400.

Figueroa told police she began to suspect that the "medicine" was in fact just water or a saline solution, the reports said.

Officers went to Gonzalez's residence in the 5700 block of Monitor Street and found 10 people waiting at the front door. Police said a patient directed officers to a bedroom where they found several vials of prescription medication and an uncovered trash can with used syringes.

Several of the syringes were marked "Testosterone," according to the reports. When police asked Gonzalez where he got his medication, he told them he got most of it from salesmen who came to his home.

There were also several vials of blood in a bag in the living room from patients with high blood pressure, the reports said. Gonzalez told officers he diluted the blood with water and dumped it in the backyard.

Police found two guns in the home, one reported stolen out of Los Angeles County.

Gonzalez, in that case, also pleaded no contest to practicing medicine without a license and received a two-year sentence.

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Bakersfield man pleads no contest to practicing medicine without a license - The Bakersfield Californian

Mayo medical school part of $52.5 million initiative – Post-Bulletin

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

The Mayo Clinic School of Medicine has been selected to take part in a new national collaborative aimed at transforming medical education.

The $52.5 million initiative called the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Institute for the Transformation of Medical Education (Kern Institute) was announced Thursday with seven of the nation's top medical schools collaborating to "transform medical education across the continuum from premedical school to physician practice," Mayo said in a release.

The other schools taking part include: Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth; University of California; San Francisco School of Medicine; University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical Center; University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health; and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Wisconsin hosts the Kern Institute and will lead the collaboration.

"We must redefine medical education and advance innovative medical education models if we are to meet the needs of patients and society in the 21st century," said Dr. Fredric Meyer, Juanita Kious Waugh executive dean for dducation at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. "The Kern Institute and the National Transformation Network demonstrate the transformative impact that strategic philanthropy, dedicated leadership and aligned infrastructure can make in advancing innovation in medical education."

That ambitious goal has been debated across the country since it was first pushed forward by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in 2008 under the guise of Triple Aim. The program sought to advance three main priorities: enhancing patient experience, improving population health and reducing cost.

Some feel Triple Aim helped shape the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The new Kern Institute initiative seeks to apply similar principles character, competence and caring to medical education.

Mayo says that the collaborating schools "believe these elements of physician development are critical to partnering with patients, families, and communities for compassionate, evidence-based care that is delivered with integrity."

"We are delighted to be working with our colleagues at the Kern Institute and the Network schools," said Dr. Stephanie Starr, who is leading the collaboration for Mayo Clinic School of Medicine. "Together, and with the support of the Kern Family Foundation, we have a unique opportunity to ensure all graduates from our seven schools possess the character, competence and caring approach that every patient can and should expect. This initiative expands on our core Mayo Clinic value: The needs of the patient come first."

The Mayo Clinic School of Medicine was established in Rochester in 1972. It now boasts campuses in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota and is ranked among the Top 20 medical schools in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. It's considered one of the toughest medical schools to gain admittance.

Funding for the new collaborative is being supplied by a combination of gifts from the Kern Family and Kern Family Foundation, along with monetary support from the seven collaborating schools and other philanthropic support.

The Kern family has previously donated $100 million to Mayo Clinic, including $87 million to fund the creation of the Center for Science of Health Care Delivery, which was named in honor of Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern.

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Mayo medical school part of $52.5 million initiative - Post-Bulletin

New Camp Gives Kids a Glimpse of Medical School – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

WATCH LIVE

A summer camp in Fort Worth wrapped up its inaugural week, and what the Fort Worth Independent School District students accomplished is something good.

The 27 seventh and eighth graders from the Young Womens Leadership Academy, Young Mens Leadership Academy and J.P. Elder Middle School were the first to attend the first-ever Junior Medical School summer camp.

They graduated Friday after spending five days getting a glimpse of the medical field. They learned lessons about how to scrub their fingers and hands clean for the operating room, to dissecting an eye, and interacting with doctors.

The students week at Junior Medical School is meant to simulate a traditional college experience, complete with acceptance letters, scrubs for each student to keep and a white coat ceremony," said Alli Haltom, a spokeswoman for the TCU and UNT Health Science Center School of Medicine, which hosted the camp.

"Our goal is to create an exciting environment that continues to inspire these students to pursue higher education and learn more about the fields of science and medicine," Haltom said.

The new School of Medicine will open in the fall of 2019.

Tell Me Something Good airs every weekday morning on NBC 5 Today. Share your story and pictures at iSee@nbcdfw.com.

Published at 8:31 AM CDT on Jun 19, 2017

McGill medical school to reach out to Indigenous, low-income students after missing diversity goals – The Globe and Mail

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

McGill University will intensify its efforts to keep Indigenous and lower-income high-school and university students in science and math classes after a national accreditation body said the universitys medical school is falling short of its diversity goals.

We have a new structure in place, we are doing consultations to better understand the needs of our community, said David Eidelman, the dean of medicine at McGill University. When we talk to Indigenous communities in our area they tell us that their big struggle is to keep students engaged all the way through high school so they can go on to have the prerequisites to get into med school, or any other of the health professions.

Last week, the school was taken off probation by the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS). It had been on probation since June, 2015, after CACMS and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education the equivalent American accreditation body found issues in 24 areas, including overwork and inadequate supervision of medical residents.

McGill has since implemented changes, including anonymous reporting of overwork or harassment, a workload policy that specifies a maximum number of student placement hours and a new curriculum that links medical practice to health policy and community needs.

We have counsellors that are specifically for medical students, a place to go for their mental health. That has been a significant change, said Xin Mei Liu, the executive president of the Medical Students Society of McGill University.

The current review found only two areas the supervision of medical students doing clinical placements and diversity were still unsatisfactory. In fact, fewer students in the Surgery stream were satisfied with their supervision and responsibility levels in 2017 than in 2015.

McGill must submit progress reports in these areas within three years.

The school has hired a co-ordinator for its diversity efforts and is reaching out to Indigenous students in high school or even earlier to help them maintain their interest in science, Dr. Eidelman said.

This past spring, the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada urged all medical schools to help advance Indigenous health, including through specific admission policies that recruit aboriginal students.

But each school decides what its specific diversity targets will be and how it will achieve them, said Danielle Blouin, the secretary of CACMS and a professor of medicine at Queens University. It can be difficult to see fast change on diversity measures, she added, but its not enough to voice goals.

A review of the University of Calgarys medicine school in 2016 also found unsatisfactory progress toward a more diverse community.

The schools have to state how they define diversity, the outcome measures they will be monitoring, Dr. Blouin said.

Among the student body at McGill, diversity is still lacking, the report also found. Low-income, rural and black and Filipino students are underrepresented compared with Montreal census data.

Medical students are trying to change that, speaking to high-school students in underprivileged areas of Montreal and Quebec, for example.

We raise awareness that they have the potential to go to McGill Medicine, or McGill Nursing, Ms. Liu said.

McGills medical school is the last to have its accreditation fully vetted by both the Canadian and American accreditation groups. Two years ago, the process was partly separated, with a new element of social accountability introduced in Canada, which includes measuring a schools student and faculty diversity. The University of Calgary and the University of British Columbia were accredited through the process.

All medical schools in North America are reaccredited every eight years. Dalhousie University will see its medical school receive an accreditation decision this fall.

Follow Simona Chiose on Twitter: @srchiose

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McGill medical school to reach out to Indigenous, low-income students after missing diversity goals - The Globe and Mail

Statue of Liberty finally free of oil tycoon’s mega-yacht – New York Post

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

New York Post

Statue of Liberty finally free of oil tycoon's mega-yacht
New York Post
Just days after The Post aired locals' grievances over Russian-American oil tycoon Eugene Shvidler parking his luxury vessel, Le Grand Bleu, in front of Lady Liberty, the boat weighed anchor Monday, photos show. According to tracking data, the yacht ...

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Statue of Liberty finally free of oil tycoon's mega-yacht - New York Post

Morning Call all-area boys tennis: Liberty is team of year – Allentown Morning Call

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

Loaded with experience and strong leadership, the Liberty boys tennis team set the bar high coming into the spring season.

The Hurricanes lived up to the expectations as they ran through the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference with an unblemished 14-0 record, then went on to claim gold in the District 11 Class 3A team tournament.

In singles districts, Dan Lynn finished runner-up, while Louis Gruber reached the semifinals and Jacob Berg was a quarterfinalist. Lynn and Gruber rode that momentum into the district doubles tournament, where they knocked off teammates Luke Conrad and David Lynn in the championship.

For its outstanding achievements, Liberty is The Morning Call Boys Tennis Team of the Year.

"Being the only Liberty tennis team to ever win a team district title was truly a team effort," Liberty coach Leo Schnalzer said. "Having success in any program is a positive. As far as Liberty's boys program this year, it's added a lot of conversation both at Liberty and the community. That's been fun for everyone because it brings pride to the school and team."

Schnalzer described singles players Lynn, Gruber, and Berg as the backbone of the team with a fine supporting cast from the doubles players. The three singles players contributed heavily to the team's success as they combined for a 66-6 record this season.

The doubles teams of Luke Conrad-David Lynn and Duke Jin-Gavin Snyder provided depth and experience for the Hurricanes. Conrad-Lynn turned some heads in the district doubles tournament when they knocked off the No. 2 seed from Parkland in the semifinals.

Schnalzer knew he had a talented team on his hands before the season started. The majority of Liberty's players have a strong foundation in tennis, having played at various clubs throughout the Lehigh Valley. Schnalzer also credits his assistants Chris Conrad and Dawn Ketterman-Benner for the team's success.

The Hurricanes will lose two senior starters in Dan Lynn and Conrad, but should remain in the hunt for another EPC and district title next year.

"Those seniors will be missed next year for a variety of reasons," Schnalzer said. "Their quality of play, leadership and just fine individuals. I will certainly miss them."

Dante Terenzio is a freelance writer.

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Morning Call all-area boys tennis: Liberty is team of year - Allentown Morning Call

Liberty National 100 days away from Presidents Cup – FOXSports.com

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) The trucks loaded with materials started arriving at Liberty National Golf Club a couple of weeks ago. Preparations for the Presidents Cup in late September have started.

The flooring is down, the media center is almost finished and the scaffolds for the stands around the first tee were up on Monday.

Its roughly 100 days and counting until the United States takes on the International Team on a course that offers tremendous views of the New York City skyline and the Statue of Liberty.

If you watched Brooks Koepka win the U.S. Open at Erin Hills in Wisconsin over the weekend, Liberty National has some similar characteristics. Its long at 7,387 yards. The fairways are a little narrower and they are lined with that troublesome fescue. The greens are undulating and there are runoff areas to the sides of them.

Add in a wind off the harbor that blows one way in the morning and another way in the afternoon, and water that runs the length of some holes, and it should be fun to watch, especially in match play.

This will be the third major event at the course, which is now managed by the PGA. The Barclays was held there in 2009 and 13.

We want it to be a great challenge for the best players in the world, considering the conditions, including the wind, moisture level and the format, too, Derek Sprague, managing director for the PGA at the site, said Monday. The fescue, the rough and the greens will all be the same regardless of the format. We can change the tees and the pin placements, but the conditioning will be pretty much the same.

One thing that is going to change: how the holes are numbered on the course designed by Tom Kite and Bob Cupp.

In an attempt to bring the signature holes into play every round, No. 5 will serve as the first hole in the competition and everything will follow. No. 6 is the second hole and so on.

Matches that go 18 holes will have a somewhat odd finish because two of the final three holes will be par 3s.

With the course starting at No. 5, there will be four par 5s on the front side and only one par 3, which will play at 250 yards.

The back side will have three par 3s and no par 5s.

Having had two FedEx playoff events here, the Barclays in 2009 and `13, its pretty recent. So it is fresh in our minds where we will put things and what were good holes for viewing, Sprague said. Were in good shape in that regard.

For the next three months, workers will transform the $250 million club co-founded by Paul and Dan Fireman into a small city that will have 25,000 spectators on each of the four days of play, plus volunteers, vendors and corporate hospitality.

The United States has won the Presidents Cup six straight times, winning the last 15+ -14+ in South Korea in 2015. It was the closest competition in 10 years.

Liberty National 100 days away from Presidents Cup - FOXSports.com

Liberty cancels Hardin sewer pact – Chron.com

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

By Vanesa Brashier, vbrashier@hcnonline.com

The Liberty City Council at its June 13 meeting voted to terminate its contract with the City of Hardin for wastewater disposal. Repeated overages flowing into the City of Liberty's wastewater plant prompted the cancelation, according to Liberty City Manager Gary Broz.

"In the certified letter we sent to the City of Hardin, it states that if they fix everything in their system, there is an opportunity to come back," Broz said. "The overages the City of Hardin are sending us every time it rains are causing a strain on our system."

The contract between the two cities allows Hardin to send a daily maximum of 200,000 gallons of wastewater, which is run through an extensive sewer system that stretches from Hardin to Liberty along SH 146. The June statement from Liberty shows that Hardin exceeded the limit four times in the month of May, with the largest increase on May 5 when Hardin sent a total of 500,000 gallons of wastewater down the pipes to Liberty.

Hardin is charged $0.75 per 1,000 gallons for the first 200,000 gallons of wastewater per day. The overages alone cost the City of Hardin an additional $5,426 on the June statement.

"The overages the City of Hardin are sending us every time it rains are causing a strain on our system." - Gary Broz, Liberty city manager

"Every time it rains, we are seeing overages," Broz said. "The City of Liberty is permitted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to process 2.5 million gallons of wastewater per day."

On May 5, Hardin, with its 900 residents, produced one-fifth of the total capacity of wastewater permitted by Liberty, a city of 9,000 residents.

"We have to protect our sewer plant," Broz said. "That's where we are unfortunately with Hardin."

The termination will not be immediate though. The contract has a five-year termination agreement, so Hardin has time to get its sewer problems sorted.

Broz said the top priority for Hardin should be fixing its manholes, which are flooding the sewer system instead of diverting the water to drains.

In the meantime, Liberty is projecting to spend a total of $22 million over the next few years on repairs and upgrades to its sewer system.

The project will be accomplished in three phases with the first expected to cost $7 million.

The Dayton News tried to contact Hardin Mayor Stephanie Blume for comment, but phone calls to the mayor went unanswered.

In other news from the June 13 meeting, council heard a presentation from Cory Stull of the consulting firm, Freese Nichols.

Stull explained the firm's recommendations for a possible levee project that would protect the city from future floods.

On May 15, 2015, the city's current levee was threatened by flood. Emergency repairs kept the waters from breaching the levee.

According to Stull, the city can apply for two grants of approximately $2.1 million each.

The city would have to match 25 percent of each grant, but there is a possibility of folding the projects into one and reducing the costs by $1 million.

The grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency wouldf cover trash racks, culverts and paved concrete slopes on the levee.

The National Resource Conservation Service grant would fund earthwork, riprap on the new levee, extend the outfall pipes of the electric pump station to match the new levee grade extension and elevate the diesel pump outfall structure to match the new levee grade elevation.

Bishops’ concerns for religious liberty, health care echo at assembly – CatholicPhilly.com

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

By Catholic News Service Posted June 19, 2017

INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) Reflecting their concern that religious liberty at home and abroad remains a top priority, the U.S. bishops during their spring general assembly in Indianapolis voted to make permanent their Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty.

Voting 132-53 with five abstentions June 15, the second day of the assembly, the bishops action came less than a week before the start of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops fifth annual Fortnight for Freedom June 21-July 4. The observance is a two-week period of prayer, advocacy and education on religious freedom.

The bishops also reiterated that their efforts are focused on ensuring the fundamental right of medical care for all people as the U.S. Senate worked in mid-June on a plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act after the U.S. House of Representatives had passed its own measure, the American Health Care Act.

The chairman of the National Review Board, which works to respond to and prevent sexual abuse by clergy and other church personnel, updated the bishops June 14 on the boards work and presented key points of the recently issued 14th annual report on diocesan compliance with the U.S. Catholic Churchs Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

In a related event, the bishops celebrated a liturgy last evening in response to a call from Pope Francis to episcopal conferences around the world to observe a Day of Prayer and Penance for survivors of sexual abuse within the church.

The bishops also heard reports from the chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace about international persecution and human rights violations; final plans for the July 1-4 Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel in America in Orlando, Florida; and the progress of a working group on migrants and refugees.

Before the vote on making the Committee on Religious Liberty permanent, Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, committee chairman, said the need for the body stretches beyond the specific legal and public policy issues challenging religious freedom that continue to emerge.

Archbishop Lori expressed hope that the committees work would help plant the seeds of a movement for religious freedom, which will take years of watering and weeding in order for it to grow, to grow strong and to bear fruit.

Worldwide, Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico, international policy committee chairman, said in a June 15 report that religious persecution includes both social hostilities and government restrictions.

It finds expression in physical assaults, arrests and detentions, desecration of holy sites, and in discrimination against religious groups in employment, education, housing, the selection of a marriage partner and whether you are considered a citizen.

He said the committee respects the approaches adopted by the local church. Like a physician, our first duty is to do no harm. We adopt strategies that complement the work of the local church.

The USCCB reinforced its stand that the American Health Care Act passed by the House of Representatives May 4 needs major reform to provide quality health care for the voiceless, especially children, the elderly, the poor, immigrants and the seriously ill.

We find ourselves in a time marked by a deep sense of urgency and gravity, said Bishop George L. Thomas of Helena, Montana, in remarks to the assembly. Within two weeks, we may see a federal budgetary action with potentially catastrophic effects on the lives of our people, most especially children and the elderly, the seriously ill, the immigrant and our nations working poor.

Referring to the House bill and its plan to eliminate $880 billion from Medicaid over the next decade, Bishop Thomas said, If left unchallenged or unmodified, this budget will destabilize our own Catholic health care apostolates, take food from the mouths of school-aged children and the homebound, and deny already scarce medical resources to the nations neediest in every state across the land.

His comments followed a report on health care reform by Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, chairman of the USCCBs Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

Bishop Dewane focused on the Senates work to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

The Catholic Church remains committed to ensuring the fundamental right to medical care, a right which is in keeping with the God-given dignity of every person, Bishop Dewane said. He told his fellow bishops that the USCCB has been in contact with members of Congress. Noting that the USCCB sent a letter to U.S. senators June 1, Bishop Dewane said, It called on the Senate to strip away harmful promises of the AHCA or start anew with a better bill.

Meanwhile, the bishops working group on migrants and refugees was set to complete its work by the spring assembly, but Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, USCCB president, announced June 15 he was extending the group recognizing the continued urgency so many migration and refugee issues present.

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, USCCB vice president and the groups chairman, and Bishop Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, Texas, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, outlined the working groups origins, activities and next steps on issues.

Francesco Cesareo, chairman of the National Review Board, urged the bishops June 14 to continue their commitment to stopping clergy sexual abuse and supporting victims of abuse at the forefront of their ministry.

He said sexual abuse of minors by clergy is not a thing of past and stressed the bishops have to always be vigilant and be sure to not let complacency set in in their efforts to stop it.

At a Mass as part of a Day of Prayer and Penance June 14 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral some 200 bishops heard Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory said during his homily that we can never say that we are sorry enough for the share that we have had in this tragedy of broken fidelity and trust in the clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

Cardinal DiNardo, the principal celebrant, spoke about the popes call at the liturgys start.

In solidarity with our brother bishops around the world, we acknowledge the sins that have occurred and ask forgiveness from and healing of those who have suffered abuse at the hands of those who should have been protecting and caring for them, he said.

At the end of the Mass, the bishops, in a sign of penance, knelt while praying a prayer of healing and forgiveness for the victims of sexual abuse in the church.

The spiritual life of young people also was discussed during the opening day of the assembly.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, and Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia opened the discussion with a presentation on the consultations and questions for the bishops to consider in preparing for the October 2018 Synod of Bishops on youth and vocations.

The synod indeed comes at a critical time, Cardinal Tobin said. We know that there are both challenges and opportunities here in the U.S. The increased amount of disconnected millennials is certainly a concern for us, as is the decline and the delay of marriage among young people. Still there are various positive signs to build upon.

Those signs, he said, include the high interest among millennials during the liturgical seasons of Advent and Lent and the continued importance in our ministries and outreach to young people which have a positive effect on vocational discernment.

The church in the U.S. is poised to engage this conversation for and with young people, he added.

The bishops were reminded June 15 that the historic Convocation of Catholic Leaders was nearing by Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo, New York, chairman of the bishops Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth. He noted that it will be the largest gathering sponsored by U.S. bishops and will be a time to show the unity of the church.

The convocation, an invitation-only event, is meant to give the 3,000 participants expected to attend a better understanding of what it means to be missionary disciples in todays world through workshop presentations, keynote addresses and prayer.

In his address to the assembly Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., called the bishops to be missionary disciples through listening and fostering solidarity and a culture of encounter. He encouraged the bishops to view current challenges as a time of grace.

Take courage, he said, when the tasks of the new evangelization and of building a culture of encounter and solidarity seem daunting.

He reminded the bishops of Pope Francis call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the peripheries in need of the light of the Gospel and noted that many of them will be discussing this more at the convocation of Catholic leaders in Orlando, Florida, in July.

The USCCB overwhelmingly approved revisions to the guidelines governing the celebration of sacraments for people with disabilities that take into account medical and technological developments. Passed 180-1 June 14, the revisions in the Guidelines for the Celebration of Sacraments with Persons with Disabilities updates a document that was adopted in 1995.

The guidelines were developed as a tool to improve access to the sacraments by persons with disabilities and reduce inconsistencies in pastoral practice.

In other votes, the bishops approved a new translation of the Order of Blessing the Oil of Catechumens and of the Sick and of Consecrating the Chrism, 178-3. The ritual is used each year at diocesan chrism Masses. It will be sent to the Vaticans Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments for its recognitio, or final approval.

However, the bishops approval of a collection of blessings in Spanish for use in the U.S. that complement English texts included in the Book of Blessings fell one vote short of reaching the threshold necessary to send it to the Vatican congregation for the recognitio.

The vote on the Bendicional: Sexta Parte (Part VI) was 171-2, with two abstentions. Voting will be completed by mail ballot with the Latin-rite bishops who did not attending the assembly.

***

Sean Gallagher, Natalie Hoefer and John Shaughnessy contributed to this story.

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Bishops' concerns for religious liberty, health care echo at assembly - CatholicPhilly.com

Pearl developer tries again to rehab former Liberty Bar – mySanAntonio.com

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

Photo: San Antonio Express-News File Photo

The historic Boehler/Liberty Bar building

On Wednesday, HDRC will also consider GrayStreet Partners plan to renovate the downtown Light building into creative office space.

GrayStreet plans to replace one side of the Light building with a wall of glass and to add a small tower to one corner of its roof, to match the towers on the other corners.

City staff recommends approving GrayStreets proposal as long as the firm doesnt add the new tower and it changes the material it would use for the exterior of the new structure.

Pearl developer tries again to rehab former Liberty Bar

Pearl developer Silver Ventures is taking another swing at rehabilitating the former Liberty Bar, the now-boarded-up 19th-century building that sits with a fun-house lean at Josephine Street just off the exit ramp from U.S. 281.

The citys Historic and Design Review Commission on Wednesday will consider the firms request to move the building about 250 feet to Grayson Street and Avenue A. The building, constructed in 1890, is known for its slant caused by a flood in 1921 and neglect since then.

The HDRC denied a similar request in May 2014 out of concern that moving the building would diminish its historic value. But Silver Ventures spokeswoman Elizabeth Fauerso thinks the new proposal has a better chance because the firm wants to shift the building to another side of the same block, whereas it previously proposed moving it several blocks.

Silver Ventures wants the building to be closer to the heart of the Pearls culinary scene, Fauerso said. The building now sits next to the exit ramp for U.S. 281 and across the street from a pharmaceutical company.

We want the facade to relate to a corner that has a neighborhood life, as it once did, she said. This is a very special building with a special history that relates to the Pearl. We are taking pieces of our history and breathing new life into them.

The building, which was constructed by former Pearl Brewery brewmaster Fritz Boehler, was a beer garden for decades. It then served as the location of the Liberty Bar from 1985 to 2008, and local chef Andrew Weissman operated his restaurant Minnies Tavern & Rye House there until Silver Ventures bought the property in 2014.

Silver Ventures also wants to renovate a small house and move it next door to Boehlers building. The two buildings would be part of the same restaurant and would face a courtyard with tables, HDRC renderings show.

The firm doesnt have a particular restaurant in mind for the buildings, Fauerso said.

Were open to multiple concepts, she said. We want it to be an anchor in the neighborhood, as it once was.

The buildings current locations would become a parking lot, an idea that was met with public outcry when it was first floated by Silver Ventures in 2014. Fauerso said the project would replace an existing parking lot at Grayson and Avenue A. The firm plans to hire an artist to create a sculpture for a corner of the lot to mark the entrance of the Pearl from U.S. 281, she said.

City staff recommended that the HDRC grant preliminary approval to Silver Ventures plans. The firm would have to return with more detailed plans for final approval.

On Wednesday, the HDRC will also consider GrayStreet Partners plan to renovate the downtown Light building into creative office space. GrayStreet, one of the most active developers downtown, bought the Depression-era building in December from Hearst, the parent company of the San Antonio Express-News, and plans to turn it into 60,000 square feet of upscale office space with a rooftop restaurant.

GrayStreet wants to remove a skybridge connecting the Light building with a three-story annex built in the 1960s, according to documents from the HDRC. In its place, the firm has proposed to build a five-story structure connecting the two buildings.

It also wants to replace one side of the Light building with a wall of glass and to add a small tower to one corner of its roof, to match the towers on the other corners.

City staff recommended approving GrayStreets proposal as long as the firm doesnt add the new tower and it changes the material it would use for the exterior of the new structure. Kevin Covey, the firms managing partner, didnt respond to a request for comment.

Another downtown project is on Wednesdays HDRC agenda: Local development firm Crockett Urban Ventures is asking for final approval to rehabilitate the Witte building on the River Walk, at 135 E. Commerce St. The firm wants to turn the buildings River Walk level and ground floor into restaurant space and the top two floors into four apartments, the firms president, Patrick Shearer, said Monday.

Crockett Urban is applying for state and federal historic tax credits for the project, Shearer said. In response to feedback from state and federal officials, the firm changed the exterior of an elevator tower it wants to construct alongside the building. City staff didnt like the new exterior and sided against the project.

Were doing our best to have the design be acceptable to both the local historic staff as well as the state historic staff, Shearer said. I think well ultimately be able to achieve that.

The Witte project would contribute to the revitalization of that block of Commerce Street, which is now largely vacant. Crockett Urban is also building the Canopy by Hilton hotel a few doors down, and another local developer, Keller Henderson, plans to build the Floodgate luxury apartment building between the two projects.

rwebner@express-news.net

@rwebner

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Pearl developer tries again to rehab former Liberty Bar - mySanAntonio.com

Liberty Bell replica – Madison.com

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

The Capitol holds a replica of the Liberty Bell, given to Wisconsin by France in 1950 as part of a savings bond drive and quite a bit of controversy.

The 2,045-pound bell, 85 percent of which is copper, is the same weight and size of the original but has no crack and is on display on the second floor of the Capitol rotunda.

The bell was first housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society but was later moved to the State School for Girls in Oregon where it was discovered in 1968 in rough shape and missing its clapper.

The framework was repaired and the clapper replaced with the bell moved to Fountain Park in Sheboygan, where it was rung each Fourth of July. The bell was supposed to be in Sheboygan for only about a year but wasn't moved back to Madison until 1975.

The move, designed to help the state celebrate the country's Bicentennial in 1976, was preceded by heated letters from Sheboygan officials who wanted the bell to remain in their city and an executive order from Mayor Richard Suscha making it illegal for anyone to set foot in the park for the purpose of removing the bell.

The state threatened legal action, Suscha rescinded his executive order and, after two years of haggling, the bell was returned to Madison.

"I can assure you that on my many trips to Madison I will keep a wary eye on the Liberty Bell and make sure it does not get shoved off in some corner of the Capitol unnoticed by residents of the state," Suscha wrote in a letter to the state in March 1975. "I may have lost the battle of the bell, but I have not lost the war."

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Liberty Bell replica - Madison.com

‘Democracy In Chains’ Traces The Rise Of American Libertarianism – WPSU

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

Obscuring census data to give "conservative districts more than their fair share of representation." Preventing access to the vote. Decrying "socialized medicine." Trying to end Social Security using dishonest vocabulary like "strengthened." Lionizing Lenin. Attempting to institute voucher programs to "get out of the business of public education." Increasing corporatization of higher education. Harboring a desire, at heart, to change the Constitution itself.

This unsettling list could be 2017 Bingo. In fact, it's from half a century earlier, when economist James Buchanan an early herald of libertarianism began to cultivate a group of like-minded thinkers with the goal of changing government. This ideology eventually reached the billionaire Charles Koch; the rest is, well, 2017 Bingo.

This sixty-year campaign to make libertarianism mainstream and eventually take the government itself is at the heart of Democracy in Chains. It's grim going; this isn't the first time Nancy MacLean has investigated the dark side of the American conservative movement (she also wrote Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan), but it's the one that feels like it was written with a clock ticking down.

Still, it takes the time to meticulously trace how we got here from there. Charles and his brother David Koch have been pushing the libertarian agenda for more than 20 years. A generation before them, Buchanan founded a series of enclaves to study ways to make government bend. Before that, critic and historian Donald Davidson coined the term "Leviathan" in the 1930s for the federal government, and blamed northeasterners for "pushing workers' rights and federal regulations. Such ideas could never arise from American soil, Davidson insisted. They were 'alien' European imports brought by baleful characters." And going back another century, the book locates the movement's center in the fundamentalism of Vice President John C. Calhoun, for whom the ideas of capital and self-worth were inextricably intertwined. (Spoilers: It was about slavery.)

Buchanan headed a group of radical thinkers (he told his allies "conspiratorial secrecy is at all times essential"), who worked to centralize power in states like Virginia. They eschewed empirical research. They termed taxes "slavery." They tried repeatedly to strike down progressive action school integration, Social Security claiming it wasn't economically sound. And they had the patience and the money to weather failures in their quest to win.

As MacLean lays out in their own words, these men developed a strategy of misinformation and lying about outcomes until they had enough power that the public couldn't retaliate against policies libertarians knew were destructive. (Look no further than Flint, MacLean says, where the Koch-funded Mackinac Center was behind policies that led to the water crisis.) And it's painstakingly laid out. This is a book written for the skeptic; MacLean's dedicated to connecting the dots.

She gives full due to the men's intellectual rigor; Buchanan won the Nobel for economics, and it's hard to deny that he and the Koch brothers have had some success. (Alongside players like Dick Armey and Tyler Cowen, there are cameos from Newt Gingrich, John Kasich, Mitt Romney, and Antonin Scalia.) But this isn't a biography. Besides occasional asides, MacLean's much more concerned with ideology and policy. By the time we reach Buchanan's role in the rise of Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet (which backfired so badly on the people of Chile that Buchanan remained silent about it for the rest of his life), that's all you need to know about who Buchanan was.

If you're worried about what all this means for America's future, you should be. The clear and present danger is hard to ignore. When nearly every radical belief the Buchanan school ever floated is held by a member of the current administration, it's bad news.

But it's worth noting that the primary practice outlined in this book is the leveraging of money to protect money and the counter-practice is the vocal and sustained will of the people. We are, Democracy in Chains is clear, at a precipice. At the moment, the first practice is winning. If you don't like it, now's the time to try the second. And if someone you know isn't convinced, you have just the book to hand them.

Genevieve Valentine's latest novel is Icon.

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'Democracy In Chains' Traces The Rise Of American Libertarianism - WPSU

The Grenfell Tower Fire and Political Libertarianism – Patheos (blog)

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

I would have been fourteen or fifteen. I was at summer camp, and cabin inspections generated intense competition. And no wonderthe cabin with the lowest cabin inspection score each dayhad to clean the bathrooms at 11 p.m., while everyone else was in bed. One morningone of the boys cabins disabled their cabins fire detector, taking out the battery and labeling it an OSHA violation. Oh boy did they get cabin inspection points for that.As the week went on, rigging an OSHA violation before cabin inspections became a matter of course.

Perhaps I should explain. This was no ordinary summer camp. It was a camp that combined fundamentalist Christianity with libertarian political views. At the campfire each night wesang songs that made fun of the United Nation. In our daily sessions we learned that social security was an unsustainable Ponzi scheme, thatenvironmental protection regulations were a plot by the UN to turn the world into a dictatorship ultimately led by the Antichrist, and that farmers whoencounterendangered species on their land should shoot, shovel, and shut up to avoid losing use of their land.

But today, my mind is drawn to the disabled fire detectorand the praise the boys in that cabin received for their innovation in rigging up an OSHA violation. And my mind is drawn to something elsethe dozens of lives lost inGrenfell Tower, lives that might have been saved had the building had functioning alarm and sprinkler systems.

With Grenfell Tower, weve seen what ripping up red tape really looks like, George Monboit wrote on Thursday in an opinion piece in The Guardian. Grenfell Tower will forever stand as a rebuke to the right, Jonathan Freedland declared in the same publication a day later.It seems that in 2014, the U.K. minister of housing declined to require sprinklersbecause the Tory Government had committed to reduce regulations.We believe that it is the responsibility of the fire industry, rather than the Government, to market fire sprinkler systems effectively and to encourage their wider installation, he said.

I grew up in the U.S., not the U.K., but this rhetoric isachingly familiar.

One would think that the Grenfell Tower fire, with its colossal loss of life,would make clear the necessity of basic safety requirements like sprinklers. Not so.On Friday, U.S. libertarian journalist Megan McArdle wrote an opinion piece in Bloomberg. Perhaps safety rules could have saved some residents, she wrote.But at what cost to others lives? Theres always a trade-off. Hereis the core of McArdles argument:

If it costs more to build buildings, then rents will rise. People will be forced to live in smaller spaces, perhaps farther away. Some of them, in fact, may be forced to commute by automobile, and then die in a car accident. We dont see those costs in the same way as we see a fires victims; we will never know the name of the guy who was killed in a car accident because he had to live far from work because rents rose because regulators required sprinkler systems.

When it comes to many regulations, it is best to leave such calculations of benefit and cost to the market, rather than the government. People can make their own assessments of the risks, and the price theyre willing to pay to allay them, rather than substituting the judgment of some politician or bureaucrat who will not receive the benefit or pay the cost.

Its possible that by allowing large residential buildings to operate without sprinkler systems, the British government has prevented untold thousands of people from being driven into homelessness by higher housing costs. Hold these possibilities in mind before condemning those who chose to spend government resources on other priorities. Regulatory decisions are never without costs, and sometimes their benefits are invisible.

McArdle still believes that sprinkler systems should be optional. But in her insistence that people can make their own assessments of the risk shes ignoring something elsethat the residents at Grenfell Tower wanted a sprinkler system. They organized and made demandsdemands that, if met, would have saved lives in last weeks fire. They were ignored. This isnt a case where people happily chose to live in a dangerous building because its rents were lower.

Im going to hazard a guess that no one wants to live in a firetrap, no matter how low the rents are. We as a society benefit from ensuring a certain minimum standard for our housing. Certainly, we can talk about overregulation. Where I live, I am required by city codeto obtain a permit to build so much as a porch. But requiring sprinklers in high-rises is not overregulation, and McArdles solution to homelessness appears to be dangerous slums.

Interestingly,experts have notedthatif the Grenfell Tower had been built four years earlier, it would likely have collapsed during the blaze, costing only more lives. After a gas explosion caused a high rise to collapse, new building requirements were put in place to ensure that a structure would not collapse in case of fire or a blast. Built several years later, the Grenfell Tower was constructed in accordance with thenewregulations, and thus did not collapse.

There are societal benefits to having minimum housing standards. Chicago learned this in 1871, when a single fire spread quickly due to substandard (or nonexistent)fire safety standards, destroying over three square miles of the city and taking 300 lives. A fire in one building can spread to another, meaning thatfire safety standards affect whole communities, not individual buildings alone. The same is true of indoor plumbing and disease, which like fire can easily spread.

Making safety standards optional leads to a system where low rent buildings are firetrapsone where only those with the ability to pay can avoid living in dangerous conditions. McArdle acknowledges this when she states that requiring builders to abide by minimum safety standards raises rents and makes people homeless. But while most respond to high rents with various rent reduction proposals, and to homelessness with shelters and transition to housing proposals, McArdle responds to both by suggesting that those who cannot afford to live elsewhere should be forced to live in firetraps.

McArdle frames the issue as one of personal choice. People can make their own assessments of the risks, and the price theyre willing to pay to allay them, she writes. This assumes that people have enough money to choose, which she admits (in her reference to homelessness) that they often do not. Thisadmission betrays her insistence on personal choice.

We can both ensure minimum safety standards in building housing and find ways to offset rising rents.We can both ensure that buildings have sprinkler systems and find ways to address homelessness. McArdle suggests that we handle homelessness and high rents by bringing back slums, but we live in a society that has the resources to upholdbasic safety standards while ensuring that affordable housing is available for those who need it. We have a social responsibility to do more than wash our hands of the issue and shrug when a high-rise fire claimsover sixdozen lives.

That camp I attended as a teen still takes place every summer, impartingthe samelibertarianmission and vision to new groups of children. It pains me to realize this, but it is unlikely that the Grenfell Tower fire will result in any change in whatstudents there are taught. For those who runthe camp, as for McArdle, it is government regulationand not fire, collapse, or diseasethat is the enemy.

Perhaps even now, as I write, campers are preparing for cabin inspection bydisabling their fire detectors and labeling OSHA violations.

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The Grenfell Tower Fire and Political Libertarianism - Patheos (blog)

Alex Jones does NOT represent libertarians – Conservative Review

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

Conservative Review

Alex Jones does NOT represent libertarians
Conservative Review
Megyn Kelly made headlines this week for her interview with controversial broadcaster Alex Jones, a self-described libertarian. For someone like me, this is distressing for a number of reasons. First, there's just the shameless appeal to sensationalism ...

Marxism Returns to the UK The Right Engle – Being Libertarian

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

Being Libertarian

Marxism Returns to the UK The Right Engle
Being Libertarian
For the past few decades it seemed like hardcore socialism was a thing of the past in the United Kingdom. The Conservative and Labour parties had both accepted a liberal consensus that markets were good, and that aggressive redistributive policies and ...

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Marxism Returns to the UK The Right Engle - Being Libertarian

New Study Shows What Really Happened in the 2016 Election – New York Magazine

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

Photo: Sandy Huffaker/AFP/Getty Images

The Democracy Fund Voter Study Group has a new survey of the electorate that explodes many of the myths that we believe about American politics. Lee Drutman has a fascinating report delving into the data. I want to highlight a few of the most interesting conclusions in the survey.

1. The Democratic Party is not really divided on economics. You think the Bernie Sanders movement was about socialism? Not really. Sanders voters have the same beliefs about economic equality and government intervention as Hillary Clinton supporters. On the importance of Social Security and Medicare, Sanders voters actually have more conservative views:

Where they mainly differ is on international trade and the question of whether politics is a rigged game. The ideological content of Sanderss platform is not what drew voters. It was, instead, his counter-positioning to Clinton as a clean, uncorrupted outsider.

2. Fiscal conservativesocial liberals are overrepresented. The study breaks down the beliefs of voters in both parties by income. The parties tend to cohere pretty tightly rich Republicans are much closer to poor Republicans than either is to the Democrats; and rich Democrats and poor Democrats share more in common than either does with Republicans.

Still, there are important differences. The richest members of both parties have more economically conservative and socially liberal views than the poorest members. That gives them disproportionate influence over their agendas and priorities.

3. Libertarians dont exist. Well, obviously, they exist just not in any remotely large enough numbers to form a constituency. Its not just hardcore libertarians who are absent. Even vaguely libertarian-ish voters are functionally nonexistent.

The study breaks down voters into four quadrants, defined by both social and economic liberalism. But virtually everybody falls into three quadrants: socially liberal/economically liberal; socially conservative/economically conservative; and socially conservative/economically liberal. The fourth quadrant, socially liberal/economically conservative, is empty:

The libertarian movement has a lot of money and hardcore activist and intellectual support, which allows it to punch way above its weight. Libertarian organs like Reason regularly churn out polemics and studies designed to show that libertarianism is a huge new trend and the wave of the future. Sometimes, mainstream news organizations buy what theyre selling. But the truth is that the underrepresented cohort in American politics is the opposite of libertarians: people with right-wing social views who support big government on the economy.

4. Trump won by dominating with populists. Republicans always need to do reasonably well with populists, which is why theres always a tension between the pro-government leanings of a large number of their voters and the anti-government tilt of the party agenda. The key to Trumps success was to win more populists than Mitt Romney had managed. The issues where 2012 Obama voters who defected to Trump diverge from the ones who stayed and voted for Clinton are overwhelmingly related to race and identity.

As Drutman notes, Among populists who voted for Obama, Clinton did terribly. She held onto only 6 in 10 of these voters (59 percent). Trump picked up 27 percent of these voters, and the remaining 14 percent didnt vote for either major party candidate. What makes this result fascinating is that, in 2008, Clinton had positioned herself as the candidate of the white working class and she dominated the white socially conservative wing of her party. But she lost that identity so thoroughly that she couldnt even replicate the performance of a president who had become synonymous with elite social liberalism.

Every election is different. But to the extent that 2016 has an ideological lesson for Democrats, it is that the subject the party is currently debating within itself whether or how far left to move on economics is irrelevant to its electoral predicament. The issue space where Clinton lost voters who had supported Obama was in the array of social-identity questions, revolving around patriotism and identity.

They may not need to solve this problem Trumps failures may well solve it for them. And to some extent, moral commitments to social justice may preclude the party from moving to the center on some or all of their social policies. But to the extent Democrats want to optimize their party profile to make Trump a one-term president, the social issues are where they need to focus.

Assads decision to test U.S. pilots last weekend suggests we cant keep the U.S. fight against ISIS separate from the Syrian conflict any longer.

The press secretary may no longer be doing his daily briefings.

Otto Warmbier came back to the United States last week in a coma, after being imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months.

The court handed down rulings that could make the Washington Redskins and anyone blocked on Twitter by Donald Trump very happy.

The GOP leader is trying to keep everyone guessingmost recently with reports the Senate will vote on health care legislation next week.

Jon Ossoffs race against Karen Handel in Georgia is the first test.

The defender of the citys old guard is anonymous no more.

It is well established that states cannot draw district lines to disadvantage racial minorities. Political minorities have no such protection yet.

As the special counsel looks into Kushners finances, the White House adviser is searching to add a courtroom litigator to his legal team.

The suspect is reportedly dead, but no cops or bystanders were harmed.

Time to scratch at least he wont start a war with Russia from your list of upsides to the Trump presidency.

Ten people were injured and one death at the scene may be related to the attack. Witnesses said the driver shouted that he wanted to kill Muslims.

The production closed Sunday night.

A Seattle mother reports a burglary. Police shoot her. Meanwhile, Trump wants to stop reforms of police brutality.

Critics said the edited version offered a decent overview of the Infowars host but still had journalistic shortcomings.

En Marche defeated the two establishment parties, though turnout was at a record low.

A new survey of the electorate explodes many of the myths we believe about American politics.

In a race thats too close to call, both parties are seeing a potential harbinger for what will happen in the 2018 midterms.

Sunday saw some unprecedented escalations in Syrias long conflict, including a cross-border Iranian ballistic missile strike on ISIS.

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New Study Shows What Really Happened in the 2016 Election - New York Magazine

‘Democracy In Chains’ Traces The Rise Of American Libertarianism – NPR

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

It's grim going; this isn't the first time Nancy MacLean has investigated the dark side of the American conservative movement ... but it's the one that feels like it was written with a clock ticking down.

We are, 'Democracy in Chains' is clear, at a precipice.

Genevieve Valentine's latest novel is Icon.

Link:

'Democracy In Chains' Traces The Rise Of American Libertarianism - NPR

Tropical Storm Bret Spreading Heavy Rain, Gusty Winds Across Windward Islands, Northeastern Venezuela – The Weather Channel

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Danzig

Story Highlights

Tropical Storm Bret formed Monday afternoon in the open Atlantic Ocean.

Tropical storm warnings are in effect for portions of the southern Windward Islands and northeastern Venezuela.

Heavy rain and gusty winds are expected in these areas into Tuesday.

Tropical Storm Bret will spread heavy rain and gusty winds across the southern Windward Islands and northeastern Venezuela into Tuesday.

(MORE: 5 Changes to Hurricane Season Forecasts)

Here's the latest from the National Hurricane Center:

Little change in strength is expected during the next 12 to 24 hours.

After passing through the Windward Islands, the forecast calls for this systemto weaken into a tropical depression on Wednesday, due to increasing southerly wind shear and land interaction with Venezuela.

(MORE: Hurricane Season Outlook |Hurricane Central)

Tropical storm conditions, including gusty winds and heavy rain,have likely begun in portions of the southern Windward Islands and the northeastern coast of Venezuela, making outside preparations difficult or dangerous.

Total rainfall accumulations of 2 to 4 inches are currently expected over the Windward Islands and the eastern coast of Venezuela into Tuesday.

Tropical storm warnings remain in effect for Trinidad, Tobago,Grenada and Venezuela (Pedernales to Cumana, including Isla de Margarita). A tropical storm watch is in effect for Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

This portion of the Atlantic Basin is an unusual spot for tropical development this early in the season.

Tropical Storm Bret isan outlier that is only joined by a few tropical systems that have formed in June in the open Atlantic. The system is also somewhat odd because it formed farther south than most tropical cyclones around the globe.

The western Caribbean andGulf of Mexicoare two of the areas we typically look for the development of tropical storms in June.

Any storms that do form typically track north or northeastward, which brings the Gulf Coast and the Southeast coast in play for potential impacts.

On average, there's onenamed storm in June in the Atlantic, Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico every one to twoyears.

Tropical development in the open Atlantic only happens about once per decade.

Last Junewas an outlier, when Bonnie, Colin and Danielle all spun through the Atlantic Basin as tropical storms.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM:Life and Landfall of Hurricane Hermine: Africa to North Atlantic

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Tropical Storm Bret Spreading Heavy Rain, Gusty Winds Across Windward Islands, Northeastern Venezuela - The Weather Channel

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