U.S. News & World Report | Egypt arrests dozens ahead of proposed protests McClatchy Washington Bureau "The government has chosen more oppression rather than dialogue," said Eid, one of the two lawyers. "The arrests are meant to distract anyone who intends to protest tomorrow and sow confusion in the ranks of the opposition." Meanwhile, eight people ... Egyptians protest plan to cede islands to Saudi |
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Egypt arrests dozens ahead of proposed protests - McClatchy Washington Bureau
Doth Protest Too Much: Australia's Communist Collusion Being Libertarian you may ask, but David, besides the strict regulations on firearms, the heavy taxation rates and failing war on drugs, how are the Australian people remotely subject to government oppression?! The ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Operation ... |
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Doth Protest Too Much: Australia's Communist Collusion - Being Libertarian
Earlier this month, the Philadelphia rock-and-roll band the War on Drugs announced the follow-up to 2014s Lost in the Dream, with Holding On, a six-minute American epic shimmering with rhythm and melody and delightful shades of early Springsteen. The song is from the forthcoming album A Deeper Understanding, and, yesterday, the band dbuted its new video, starring Frankie Faison, best known for his role as Deputy Commissioner Ervin Burrell, in David Simons The Wire.
The video, directed by Brett Haley, is a plainspoken, cinematic tribute to love, interracial marriage, and small-town American values. Faison appears as a widower struggling to break a cycle of boredom in his golden years. The concept was developed by the actress Krysten Ritter, who is dating the bands front man, Adam Granduciel. I went out to get our weekend coffees and when I came back Krysten had written up a whole treatment of her own and pitched me her idea, he wrote in an e-mail. I thought it was really great from the second she delivered it. Ritter had recently finished a movie with Haley, and she and Granduciel both suggested the director at the same time. They started shooting in Brewster, New York, just ten days later.
This week marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Courts Loving v. Virginia decision, which struck down anti-miscegenation laws in America. Interracial couples are celebrating the landmark case by sharing personal stories and testimonials online. The Holding On video, already a tearjerker, is a powerful addition to those contributions.
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Watch a Tribute to the Loving Decision by the War on Drugs - The New Yorker
The medical marijuana community in Maine is hoping that Trump will respect the 10th amendment (state's rights).
Whatever happened to the Republicans supposed enduringlove for states rights? This is a question worth asking because Jeff Sessions latest move to impede states from legal medical and recreational marijuana use demonstratesthe exact opposite. In May, he asked Congress to allow him lift the Rohrabacher-Farr amendmentin order to prosecute medical marijuana providers stating that it would inhibit (the Justice Departments) authority to enforce the Controlled Substances Act. This will have a deleterious impact on a number of lawful marijuana growers and medical providers around the country. And in Maine, people are really worried.
If Congress supports the request from Sessions, thousands of medical marijuana providers and related businesses that support an estimated 50,000 medical marijuana patients in Maine could face federal criminal prosecution or other sanctions.
Waitin addition to this being federal overreach into states rights, arent Republicans supposed to be the party that supports local businesses? And the rights of patients to make their own medical decisions? Talk about hypocrisy. But none of that willstop Sessions. Hes still trying to make the case that this is about stopping illegal drug use and drug trafficking. Except it wont. Medical marijuana, in particular, has been helpful in stopping prescription drug abuse as well as helping to treat individuals with a number of chronic medical conditions. And marijuana advocates know that this is shameful and misguided.
[Catherine Lewis, chairwoman for the Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine] who called Sessions and the Trump administration uneducated for associating marijuana with the opiate addiction epidemic said Sessions request wasnt a surprise, but was met with dismay and disappointment by caregivers and patients with whom she has spoken.
Its downright frightening. Without us here, there are people who will suffer, there are children who will have untreatable seizures, she said. There will be parents and grandparents who could go to jail for doing nothing more than trying to saved loves ones.
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I was driving taxi in the dead of night, five to 10 years ago, carrying several young men. One was telling about a party he had attended. It had "sex and any drug you wanted; the highest class party." The taxi fell silent, of course, as people reacted to such a confidence being voiced behind the ears of an unknown cabbie.
Do you recognize drug pushing when you see it? Like a Tupperware party or a Pampered Chef presentation, it has a multi-level retail structure. After he has partied often enough, the host asks him to start paying; or get free drugs by giving sex or bringing friends. These friends, in their turn, will give sex or bring friends. Friend-to-friend sales are the most effective kind.
There's a technique for recruiting beyond one's circles of influence. The gang will watch a target, and see who her friends are, and learn her interests. They'll befriend her, "We have so much in common!" Of course, they'll introduce a new interest - drugs. Friend-to-friend.
There's drug pushing in the legal market, too. Purdue Pharma marketed an addictive drug, saying it was non-addictive. Naive doctors prescribed too freely. Of course addictions happened.
That was bad enough, but then the drug warriors - rogue federal agents - did real damage by threatening to arrest the doctors, and forcing these new addicts out onto the black market: requiring sex, drug pushing and crime. And causing 59,000 overdose deaths in 2016.
The "war on drugs" increases the rates of new addictions, overdoses and crime; it's dirty, destructive and evil. Stop it.
Return the addicts to the doctor's office, to be stabilized, kept alive, and successful in their life pursuits.
More here:
Letter: War on drugs destructive and evil - Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Regina Reyes, head of ABS-CBN Integrated News and Current Affairs receives the SOPA 2017 award for Excellence in Human Rights Reporting.
MANILA (UPDATE) - ABS-CBN News' six-part series on victims of the war on drugs in the Philippines took home the award for Excellence in Human Rights Reporting at the Society of Publishers in Asia's (SOPA) 2017 Awards for Editorial Excellence.
The ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group's War On Drugs: The Unheard Voices bested entries from Channel News Asia and humanitarian news agency IRIN.
The report, developed for the web by ABS-CBN News Digital Media's multimedia unit, tells the stories of slain drug suspects and the families they left behind. It was published on October 27, 2016 on news.abs-cbn.com.
ABS-CBN Integrated News and Current Affairs head Regina Reyes received the prize during the SOPA Awards Gala Dinner at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre Thursday night.
The series also received Honorable Mention for Excellence in Investigative Reporting.
SOPA was founded in 1982 to champion freedom of the press, promote excellence in journalism and endorse best practices for all local and regional publishing platforms in the Asia Pacific region, according to the organization.
It is a not-for-profit organization based in Hong Kong and representing international, regional and local media companies across Asia.
The annual SOPA Awards for Editorial Excellence serve as the world-class benchmark for quality journalism in the region, organizers said.
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ABS-CBN report on drug war victims wins plum Asia journalism ... - ABS-CBN News
NARELLE HENSON
Last updated12:00, June 16 2017
123RF
Euthanasia is a contentious issue, the world over.
OPINION: The euthanasia debate is back on and if there is one thing we can't afford to do, it is to sit on the sidelines.
What I mean by that, of course, is wriggling out of the debate by saying "oh, I feel a little uncomfortable with it myself, but if others want do it that's up to them".
I have heard that line probably more than any other in the discussions I've had about euthanasia. Many of us feel a bit icky about the idea, and yet think that we have no right to interfere if others want to be euthanased.
It's their choice, after all, isn't it? And who are we to get in between another human being and what they want?
Aside from the fact that it defeats the point of a democratic society, there is another problem to deal with.
We interfere with individual freedom all the time. And we do it because we believe that individual freedom has to be balanced against a thing called the "social good", which means "what is best for the rest of us".
We do not give individuals the freedom to take anything they see and happen to like. We call that stealing and it is a crime. We do not give individuals the freedom to have sex with whomever they would like, whenever they would like. We call that rape, or incest, or abuse depending on the situation. And they are crimes.
And at present we do not give anyone the right to kill, or help to kill, someone. We call that murder. And it is a crime.
Any change to murder laws, and you and I ought to be on high alert. We ought to be looking very carefully at what is changing, and why.
We ought to be looking at what has happened overseas, we ought to especially be looking at the risks involved, but most of all we ought to be looking at who loses out with such laws. After all, for every social change we make there are people who benefit and people who are harmed.
In this case, harm means murder. And that is very serious because once we are dead, we cannot come back.
So if euthanasia laws do result in some people being harmed, saying that we personally feel a bit unsure but we're happy to let others do what they please is a little like saying we're not sure about slavery laws, but we're happy to let others do as they please.
It is unethical, because our silence may be creating victims.
On the other hand, if your reading makes you certain such laws are what is best for our society, why would you want to stay silent? Surely, we should all speak up for what is good, right and best for all of us.
It is no secret I believe that euthanasia laws absolutely will create victims. That is to say, based on the evidence from overseas, safeguards like consent, age restrictions and illness restrictions will gradually be eroded. And, of course, a law without safeguards is by definition not safe.
That matters to me because I have a vested interest in the future. I have a little boy whom these laws will affect in one way or another. And that is the point. We are all connected, and our actions do impact other people, as much as we like to imagine that they don't.
So we can all keep pretending ethics are personal opinion, but the fact remains that the victims of bad laws are real.
That alone should be enough to convince us that the sidelines are not an option in a debate about death.
-Stuff
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Narelle Henson: Step off sidelines in euthanasia debate - Waikato Times
June 15 is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Timed to coincide with this international day, the Australian Law Reform Commission has released its final report into a long-running inquiry on Elder Abuse and the Law.
Running to 432 pages, the report takes a comprehensive look at the legal landscape across Australia and argues for a comprehensive nation-wide approach to tackling Elder Abuse. While looking mainly at the law, it also looks at abuse in Aged Care settings and argues for an overhaul of staffing, staff training, recruitment and mandatory reporting type structures to protect people.
The report also looks at training for lawyers and medical professionals.
What is elder abuse?
The World Health Organisation describes Elder Abuse as: a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person
It is recognized to take various forms, such as physical abuse, psychological or emotional abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. The World Health Organization has estimated that the prevalence rate of elder abuse in high-or middle-income countries ranges from 2% to 14% of people usually defined as over the age of 60 or 65 years.
The WHO also noted that research in other predominantly high-income countries has found wide variation in rates of abuse in the preceding 12 months among adults aged over 60 years, ranging from 0.8% in Spain and 2.6% in the United Kingdom to upwards of 18% in Israel, 23.8% in Austria and 32% in Belgium.
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Whether there is a connection between the extremely high rate of Elder Abuse in Belgium and the existence of their euthanasia regime can only be guessed at, though intuitively one could easily develop a best guess argument based on culture alone.
The report notes that vulnerability to such abuse is not necessarily related to the age of the person. However, the effects of aging, broadly understood, can make our elders vulnerable to such abuse. There is also a connection to disability as noted in the report:
While older people should not be considered vulnerable merely because of their age, some factors commonly associated with age can make certain older people more vulnerable to abuse. Disability, for example, is more common among older people. More than 80% of people aged 85 years or over have some disability. While fewer than one in 20 Australians under 55 years have severe or profound core activity limitations, almost one-third of people aged 75 years or over have such limitations. The authors go on to add: Vulnerability does not only stem from intrinsic factors such as health, but also from social or structural factors, like isolation and community attitudes such as ageism. All of these factors contribute to elder abuse.
We have discussed ageism before in terms of the dominant meme that elderly people are burdens. Similar observations can be made in respect to ableism and disability.
By way of explanation a simple anecdote:
Dr. Kevin Fitzpatrick OBE and I shared a podium in Ireland a few years ago. Kevin became a paraplegic after an incident 40 years previous. He asked the audience to imagine that he and I separately visit our doctor; both of us displaying suicidal tendencies. Kevin observed that, in my case, I would be offered all sorts of support and interventions under suicide prevention strategies. In his case (as had been his experience) he said that the doctor would say that they understood why he wanted to kill himself because he had such a difficult life.
As Liz Carr recently observed, treating each of us differently based on disability is scary in terms of assisted suicide and euthanasia and is one of the reasons why many people living with disability do not want such laws. They already experience discrimination in medical care and recognise the potential that such discrimination will also be present in discussions on this subject.
LifeNews Note: Based in Australia, Paul Russell is a leading campaigner against euthanasia.
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Elder Abuse is a Clear Consequence When Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Are Legalized - LifeNews.com
One year, perhaps 2,000 deaths and several unresolved issues.
As Canada passes the June 17 one-year anniversary of the day Parliament briskly made assisted suicide and euthanasia legal, the debate around medical killing is anything but settled. Thats not to suggest the law may be reversed. Tragically, there is little public support or political will to make that happen. When Canada joined a small list of nations to permit death by doctor, it crossed a moral Rubicon that is without a foreseeable retreat.
But still unanswered is how far Canadian society will push the envelope in terms of who qualifies for assisted dying, and to what extent society will insist that every person who rejects assisted dying have the option of palliative and hospice care to assure them a dignified, natural death.
These vital matters went unaddressed as Parliament scrambled after the 2015 election to draft a law and meet a Supreme Court deadline. It was always unrealistic to expect lawmakers to unravel this complex issue in mere months. Instead, they shrugged and set aside some key questions.
Prominent among these was whether assisted suicide should be offered to teenagers and children, and to the mentally disabled, and should people in the early stages of disease be able to give an advance directive to be killed at a future date when they would be unable to give informed consent. A panel is studying these questions and will submit a report next year.
It is similar for palliative and hospice care.The government has committed to expanding these services but how much and when remain open questions. Meantime, societys benign acceptance of assisted suicide is quickly growing. Its as if now that it is legal, people believe it must be moral.
As Canadian society distances itself from believing that life, all life, is sacred, whats left to determine is which lives are worth preserving. That unsettling debate is now underway, and only a giddy optimist would predict that courts and lawmakers will accept the existing boundaries.
Then there is the matter of reporting, specifically, creating a national framework to provide critical province-by-province data on exactly how often assisted suicide and euthanasia are being requested and performed. Comprehensive and transparent record-keeping is essential to flagging abuse. Also, scrupulous monitoring reflects the seriousness of passing laws that make it acceptable in specific circumstances for one human to end the life of another.
Like so much around this issue, national reporting is a work in progress that wont be settled before next year. Meantime, although estimates put the number somewhere between 1,800 and 2,000, its unknown exactly how many assisted suicides were carried out in the past year.
As anniversaries go, there is nothing happy about this one.
More here:
Editorial: Canada's sad euthanasia anniversary - The Catholic Register
A MAN has been jailed for 12 months after police found more than 130 indecent images of children photos and videos on his mobile phone.
Maxwell Djan, 30, was arrested at work at a supermarket distribution depot, on April 10 this year, after police had earlier raided his home at The Courtlands, Greenmeadow, Cwmbran.
No indecent images were found on any of the computer equipment seized there, but on the mobile phone Djan had with him when he was arrested, police found 132 indecent images of children.
Eighty-seven of these were in the form of videos, and 52 of these fell into the most serious category A.
There were 34 video deemed to be category B, and one in category C.
Twenty-four of the 45 photographs were classed as category A, 17 were in Category B, and four in category C.
Prosecuting counsel Sarah Waters told Newport Crown Court that Djan admitted to police that he accessed an internet chat room group, people would send him links, and he would open them and the images would be there.
He had been adamant that he had never looked for such images, and had no interest in it, but was conscious that they had been downloaded and, added Ms Waters, he had made no attempt to delete them or dissociate himself from the group.
Defence counsel Gareth Williams told the court that Djan, who was born in Ghana but had been living in South Wales for 20 years, had a huge amount of regret over the matter.
But he added that it must be tempered by the fact that he had not deleted the images.
Djan pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to three charges of possession of indecent still images, three charges of possession of indecent moving images, and one charge each of possession of extreme pornography and possession of a prohibited image of a child.
Judge Jeremy Jenkins sentenced Djan to 12 months in prison on the category A image offences, with a range of shorter sentences for the other offences to run concurrently.
He told Djan that he had not committed victimless crimes, and it is people like him who are prepared to download such images who contribute to the pain and suffering of the children involved.
Link:
Man had indecent images of children on his mobile phone - South Wales Argus
SENSELESS vandalism of Richardson Park in Sawtell has left local sports clubs reeling and the council counting the cost of repairing the playing fields.
Over the long weekend, vandals forced their way into the ground and then used a vehicle to totally destroy the playing surface.
"We are very angry and upset at the repeated destruction and vandalism to the playing surface at Richardson Park over the long weekend," Alex Pearson, President Sawtell/Toormina AFL said.
"We are somewhat fortunate that we have an away game this weekend. Howeverthe damage to the playing surface affects our home games in the following weeks and will most definitely affect our ability to train.
"These actions by reckless individuals show a lack of respect, not only to the Sawtell/ Toormina AFL club, but to all Sawtell sporting groups that use Richardson Park and the local community that use the ground for recreational activities."
Rod Buckle, President of Sawtell Cricket Club, said his members were also very disappointed.
"The fact they had to take the effort to remove a fence to do it and then to come back and do it again makes it even less understandable. I am sure these people would know someone they have affected in either the cricket club or the local AFL club," Mr Buckle said.
"The fact they are old enough to hold a licence and still have the lack of judgement to think this would be a good idea in a small community beggar's belief.
"They seem to think these are victimless crimes, but they effect more than just the clubs. It affects the community, the players, the supporters, the sponsors and all the volunteers that put time into making what are great local clubs."
Council is urging any residents who witnessed the damage to the Park to report it to Police.
"What people don't realise is that this sort of reckless behaviour causes more than just damage to the grass," the council's Section Leader for Stadium and Major Events Daniel Heather said.
"The fields at Richardson Park now require significant remediation work, which is ultimately paid for by the community. It takes resources off other community projects and, most significantly, the damage leaves local sports and other users - including local schools - without grounds."
Vandalism across the Coffs Coast, particularly at public sport facilities, is a problem and Council is grateful for the support of the local Police command in helping tackle and deal with this behaviour.
Anyone that witnesses vandalism should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, Coffs Harbour Police Station on 02 6652 0299 or 131 444 (after hours).
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Sporting clubs devastated by senseless vandalism - Coffs Coast Advocate
A Castle Rock man was sentenced to spend the next three years of his life in prison Wednesday for leaving the scene of an Interstate 5 collision that killed a Chehalis motorcyclist in April.
Had David L. Huisenga, 44, stayed at the scene, rather than leaving and attempting to cover up his involvement by setting fire to his truck, he likely wouldnt have even received a traffic citation, Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said.
To me that is just telling, Meyer said. The defendant made a stupid decision.
Huisenga pleaded guilty in separate hearings Wednesday in Lewis County Superior Court for hit and run with a death and second-degree arson.
Meyers office and Huisengas attorney, Don Blair, jointly recommended a sentence of 31 months, the low end of the standard sentencing range given Huisengas limited criminal history.
After hearing arguments from both attorneys and input from the motorcyclists family, Superior Court Judge Andrew Toynbee imposed a sentence of 36 months.
This isnt just a regular hit and run involving a death, Toynbee said. I do this in part because Mr. Huisenga didnt just leave the scene. He did more than that; he tried to cover his tracks.
In a separate hearing immediately following the first, Superior Court Judge Joely ORourke imposed a sentence of 12 months in prison for the arson charge, to run concurrently with the longer sentence.
Meyer said he split the crimes into separate case numbers because he viewed the hit and run and arson as separate crimes.
The Washington State Patrol received a report just after 5 a.m. April 25 of a crash involving multiple vehicles at milepost 80 of northbound Interstate 5 in Centralia.
According to a report from the State Patrol, Michael T. Fields, 57, of Chehalis, was driving northbound when his motorcycle crashed and slid across a freeway lane into the shoulder. He was ejected and hit by a 2018 Freightliner semi truck killing him at the scene.
Several friends and family members spoke Wednesday at Huisengas sentencing hearing.
I was one of Mikes work family, said David Roose. I cannot tell you what a loss this is.
Tami Hodgins, longtime partner of Fields, described him as a kind and generous man.
Mostly my heart is broken, she said. Physically I have a hard time getting things done. Other times I just feel plain angry he was taken from me.
The State Patrol learned that a red 2001 Chevrolet Silverado truck registered to Huisenga was in some way involved in the crash after finding a license plate at the scene. Detectives asked members of the public to come forward with any information they might have about the crash.
Meyer told The Chronicle Wednesday Fields motorcycle actually hit Huisengas truck. After his arrest, Huisenga reported he was changing lanes at the time the vehicles collided, after seeing the motorcycle coming up behind him.
Meanwhile, at about 9:15 a.m. that morning, a Washington State Department of Transportation worker saw smoke coming from an area near Exit 63 of I-5 south of Chehalis.
Fire crews responded and found a vehicle on fire. While the vehicle was destroyed, crews found a license plate matching the one left at the scene of the crash, identifying it as Huisengas truck.
Fire investigators determined the truck was intentionally set on fire, according to court documents.
That afternoon, Huisenga walked into the Castle Rock Police Department to report his truck stolen. He later admitted to setting fire to it after the collision, then walking south to Castle Rock.
Toynbee and both attorneys noted that, according to state law, hit and run, even when involving a fatality, is not considered a crime against a person. Huisenga pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of the crash, not causing the other mans death.
These cases are never easy to address and this partIcular crime has been troubling to those of us who have been on the prosecution side, Toynbee said. The crime is leaving the scene.
Meyer said he plans to work to change the law classifying hit and run as a victimless crime.
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Man Sentenced to 3 Years in Crash That Killed Chehalis Motorcyclist - Centralia Chronicle
Rare.us | Students For Liberty's Ethan Pritchard wants students to have carry-conceal on campus Rare.us Owning a Taser, owning a can of mace, these are all victimless crimes, said Pritchard in an interview last year. Using it, especially if you're the aggressor, that's not okay. We try to divorce the idea that just because something is legal means ... |
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Students For Liberty's Ethan Pritchard wants students to have carry-conceal on campus - Rare.us
The Jerusalem Post | Tech Talk: Israel's Fortune 500 companies The Jerusalem Post The award was developed, according to Boaz Arad, executive director of Ayn Rand Center Israel, in recognition of the entrepreneurial spirit which creates wealth that improves our lives, and we wanted to recognize and show appreciation to those people ... |
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Tech Talk: Israel's Fortune 500 companies - The Jerusalem Post
By day, Rob Eldridge adopts the mantle of teacher and boys varsity soccer coach at South Fayette High School. By night, he morphs into a musician for Steelesque, which will release its latest CD, Toro Toro, at a bash set for 8 p.m. June 23 at Cefalos Banquet & Event Center in Carnegie.
Im absolutely a goal-oriented person, whether its developing a strong soccer program that is competing for WPIAL or state titles, or leading a group of musicians in creating art and producing a finished product that we can be proud of, Eldridge said.
As a songwriter, Rob Eldridge is no Bob Dylan, but he advises budding bards to put the ROLL in their rock. The South Fayette resident recommends reading, observing, living and learning to aspiring lyricists
An avid reader, Eldgridge enjoys historical fiction to fantasy. No one particular genre of literature, he said. He likes the classics. His favorite authors include Stephen King, Michael Crichton and Ayn Rand while his best book is The Fountainhead.
Ill read anything placed in front of me. If I get through the first couple of chapters, Ill pretty much read the whole thing.
A lot of my songs are from personal experiences and some are based on stories that I have read, he continued. Living every day also inspires me to be creative.
I like books and observing people. Going into the city and visiting museums and seeing the art, he added.
Hanging out with the master for a day also helped Eldridge. In 1994, he spent 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. with Dylan as his runner when the Nobel Prize winner appeared in Burlington, Vt.
It was surreal, Eldridge said of the experience. Of Dylan, he added, He was a kind man, small in stature but he had an aura that filled an arena.
While Eldridge hopes to fill Cefalos Banquet and Event Center in Carnegie on Jun 23 with fans to hear the release of his CD Toro Toro, he knows songwriting is no easy task.
There is no set recipe or ingredients, he said. Its about expression and interpretation. Writing on you own is a process that is lonely. You spend many hours and days with your song. Sometimes it talks back to you and tells you where it wants to go and other times it remains a puzzle unwilling to be solved.
Yet Eldridge is happy to be able to help solve issues for others and fuel their creative juices. As a teacher, who also happens to coach soccer, in a school district that appreciates the arts, he is grateful to work in a supportive environment.
Sports are important but the arts are too, he said. Our superintendent (Bille Rondinelli) champions the arts, and we are fortunate here at South Fayette that she is behind them and that we have her guidance and leadership to make sure that the arts are an important part of the education and that they dont go away like whats been happening at other places.
I have no illusions of being on a tour bus with U2, he added. Im happy to be an inspiration to young men and women at school and on the soccer field, and to be creative with my band and writing songs.
By Eleanor Bailey
I have a strong competitive spirit, and sometimes that needs to be calmed, he added. I do that by reading, songwriting and through my music. For me, its the yin and yang of life. It works well together.
Throughout his life, Eldridge weaved sports and music together successfully. A Vermont native, he started skiing at age 5. He began playing soccer at 7 and evolved into an All-American while excelling on the Johnson State College team that competed in national championships. While earning his masters degree in education, Eldridge helped coach the James Madison University mens soccer team.
At that Harrisonburg, Va., school, he met his wife, Kim. When she took the lacrosse coaching gig at Duquesne University, the Eldridge family moved to Pittsburgh, where Rob took the assistant coaching job with the Dukes mens soccer squad in 1996.
In addition, he joined the Beadling Soccer Club as a head coach, directing teams to multiple state championships and one regional title. From 2002-07, he served as Peters Township head coach, guiding the Indians to three section banners, one WPIAL championship and two district runner-up titles.
Since 2007, he has been at South Fayette, claiming several Coach of the Year laurels in consistently guiding the Lions to the district and state playoffs. The Lions won a WPIAL title in 2015.
Music has been with Eldridge every step of the way. Raised in a classical formal tradition, as his maternal grandparents, Elizabeth and Herbet Kenyon, were a concert pianist and opera singer, respectively, Eldridge taught himself how to play various instruments, including piano, bass and electric guitar, which he plays on stage. Never took formal lessons, he said.
Eldridge said he started playing because he had written songs he has more than 100 published pieces so he decided to learn the instruments to be in a position to write better what I wanted to sing.
While his mother, Roxy, is a classical vocalist, his father, Bob, introduced him to the sound he prefers and performs.
He exposed me to all the 60s, 70s and 80s music, Eldridge said. I caught the rock n roll bug from him. Hes an artist, painter and illustrator. He designed the cover for the release.
Toro Toro features six songs written by Eldridge. The CD was recorded by Mike Ofca from Innovation Studio in Steubenville, Ohio, and Eldridge at his in-home studio, dubbed Sonic Planet Studios.
Eldridge is the lead vocalist. He plays guitar, keys and banjo. His next-door-neighbor, Sam Baldigowski, excels on the mandolin and lap steel. Ron Castelluci (percussion and noise makers), Jerry Courtney (bass guitar and backing vocals), Eric Drake (lead guitar and back vocals) and Bruce Virtue (drums) complete the band, which Eldridge started three years ago in Pittsburgh.
Weve had a couple of different lineups, but its mostly made up of professionals and buddies, all accomplished musicians. I know they were auditioning me as much as I was auditioning them, Eldridge said of the players, most of whom hail from Weirton, W.Va.
Featuring a blend of genres, Eldridge described the CD as rock n roll with blues elements. The six-piece ensemble delivers the swagger of bands from days gone by while echoing its own influences. If it has a sound similar to British blues and the Rolling Stones, there is good reason: Mick Jagger and the boys are Eldridges favorite.
I only wish I could perform like Mick, he laughed. Usually I have a guitar around my shoulder, so I am unable to move around the way he does.
During his youth, Eldridge moved around a bit. He started with The Warehouse Band playing music from a range of bands like the Hollies, Stones, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Led Zeppelin, The Cult and Tom Petty. He moved on to the Voodoo Dolls, which included one member that currently plays bass for the Jersey Boys production in Las Vegas. The Voodoo Dolls covered more recent bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Janes Addiction and supported national acts like Govt Mule, the Jayhawks, Blue Rodeo and Edgar Winter. One of his biggest groups was the Spring Heeled Jacks.
Eldridges experiences have included encounters with Mick Taylor, who replaced founder Brian Jones in the Rolling Stones after he mysteriously drowned, along with Bob Dylan, Frankie Vallie and Govt Mule frontman Warren Haynes, who also played with the Allman Brothers and Phil Lesh and Friends.
I met a lot of awesome musicians, said Eldridge, and its been wonderful, but not my real desire.
As he aged, Eldridge said his goals changed. While he has released a solo record on vinyl that can be heard on Pandora and Spotify, written background music for independent films and documentaries, and provided soundtracks for a local outdoor adventure show produced by Joe Rossi of Peters Township, Eldridges main focus is his family.
He is a father to three sons. His eldest, Ray, plays football. Heading into his senior season, he already has 15 Division I scholarship offers.
Hes a self-made kid, good student, hard worker, said Eldridge. He did all the right things and followed Joe Rossis ground rules, and that had a big payoff.
Eldridges two other boys Gavin, a sophomore, and Chad, a freshman have followed in their fathers footsteps and play soccer.
I have been driven by raising my sons, Eldridge said.
Through his music, he is driven to expose others to the art of writing songs and performing. Eldridge says that there are other things he wants to do, but sharing is foremost on his list. While hes excited about his CD release and calls it a celebration and culmination of the process, he is pushing for other endeavors.
I have an opportunity to help other artists, he said. You know, it only takes one song.
Link:
South Fayette educator and coach has the music in him - Observer-Reporter
Reprinted with permission from MediaMatters. ByBRETT ROBERTSON
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her department have pushed for an expansion of privatized school choice programs in the proposed budget for fiscal year 2018, particularly in the form of private school vouchers. Now a propagandistic three-part documentary series called School Inc.will help DeVos in her efforts to gain public support for expanded private school choice options. The series has alreadyaired on PBS stations insome markets and will be shown on more this month,
A majority of people across the partisan spectrum oppose private school vouchers, programs that redirect public education money to pay for private school tuition. Vouchers are problematic for many reasons, including their history of allowing for discrimination against LGBTQ, disabled, and special education students, their impact on reducing public education funding, and their ineffectiveness in boosting academic achievement.
Despite these problems, private school vouchers are a long-standing priority of the corporations and right-wing funders backing the education privatization movement. The late Andrew Coulson, long-time head of the Cato Institutes Center for Educational Freedom, was the driving force behind School Inc. The Cato Institute is a right-wing, libertarian think-tank that calls for the elimination of public schools in support of greater educational freedom to choose from a free market of privately run schools.
In addition to School Inc.s roots in the radical, libertarian Cato Institute, education historian and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch found that the film was funded by a number of arch-conservative foundations with ties to the dark money ATM DonorsTrust and the Ayn Rand Institute. Ravitch has prescreened School Inc. and provided this scathing review to The Washington Post:
This program is paid propaganda. It does not search for the truth. It does not present opposing points of view. It is an advertisement for the demolition of public education and for an unregulated free market in education. PBS might have aired a program that debates these issues, but School Inc. does not.
Why would a public broadcast channel air a documentary that is produced by a right-wing think tank and funded by ultra-conservative donors, and that presents a single point of view without meaningful critique, all the while denigrating public education? PBS responded in part with a statement to the Post, saying,PBS and local member stations aim to offer programs that reflect diverse viewpoints and promote civic dialogue on important topics affecting local communities.
However, as Ravitch notes, when a documentary fails to objectively present information about a topic that may not be well understood by the general public, the result is unlikely to promote civic dialogue. And when major media outlets uncritically provide a platform to right-wing ideologues, they further misinform and polarize the debate around important issues such as public education.
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PBS Is Airing Right-Wing-Sponsored School Privatization Propaganda - The National Memo (blog)
I feel like my arm is all warmed up and I dont have a game to pitch. I was primed to review "Atlas Shrugged." I figured it might provide a parable of Ayn Rands philosophy that I could discuss. For me, that philosophy reduces itself to: "Im on board; pull up the lifeline." There are however people who take Ayn Rand even more seriously than comic-book fans take "Watchmen." I expect to receive learned and sarcastic lectures on the pathetic failings of my review.
And now I am faced with this movie, the most anticlimactic non-event since Geraldo Rivera broke into Al Capones vault. I suspect only someone very familiar with Rands 1957 novel could understand the film at all, and I doubt they will be happy with it. For the rest of us, it involves a series of business meetings in luxurious retro leather-and-brass board rooms and offices, and restaurants and bedrooms that look borrowed from a hotel no doubt known as the Robber Baron Arms.
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During these meetings, everybody drinks. More wine is poured and sipped in this film than at a convention of oenophiliacs. There are conversations in English after which I sometimes found myself asking, "What did they just say?" The dialogue seems to have been ripped throbbing with passion from the pages of Investors Business Daily. Much of the excitement centers on the tensile strength of steel.
The story involves Dagny Taggart (Taylor Schilling), a young woman who controls a railroad company named Taggart Transcontinental (its motto: "Ocean to Ocean"). She is a fearless and visionary entrepreneur, who is determined to use a revolutionary new steel to repair her train tracks. Vast forces seem to conspire against her.
Its a few years in the future. America has become a state in which mediocrity is the goal, and high-achieving individuals the enemy. Laws have been passed prohibiting companies from owning other companies. Dagnys new steel, which is produced by her sometime lover, Hank Rearden (Grant Bowler), has been legislated against because its better than other steels. The Union of Railroad Engineers has decided it will not operate Dagnys trains. Just to show you how bad things have become, a government minister announces "a tax will be applied to the state of Colorado, in order to equalize our national economy." So you see how governments and unions are the enemy of visionary entrepreneurs.
But youre thinking, railroads? Yes, although airplanes exist in this future, trains are where its at. When I was 6, my Aunt Martha brought me to Chicago to attend the great Railroad Fair of 1948, at which the nations rail companies celebrated the wonders that were on the way. They didnt quite foresee mass air transportation. "Atlas Shrugged" seems to buy into the fairs glowing vision of the future of trains. Rarely, perhaps never, has television news covered the laying of new railroad track with the breathless urgency of the news channels shown in this movie.
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So OK. Lets say you know the novel, you agree with Ayn Rand, youre an objectivist or a libertarian, and youve been waiting eagerly for this movie. Man, are you going to get a letdown. Its not enough that a movie agree with you, in however an incoherent and murky fashion. It would help if it were like, you know, entertaining?
The movie is constructed of a few kinds of scenes: (1) People sipping their drinks in clubby surroundings and exchanging dialogue that sounds like corporate lingo; (2) railroads, and lots of em; (3) limousines driving through cities in ruin and arriving at ornate buildings; (4) city skylines; (5) the beauties of Colorado. There is also a love scene, which is shown not merely from the waist up but from the ears up. The man keeps his shirt on. This may be disappointing for libertarians, who I believe enjoy rumpy-pumpy as much as anyone.
Oh, and there is Wisconsin. Dagny and Hank ride blissfully in Taggarts new high-speed train, and then Hank suggests they take a trip to Wisconsin, where the states policies caused the suppression of an engine that runs on the ozone in the air, or something (the films detailed explanation wont clear this up). They decide to drive there. Thats when youll enjoy the beautiful landscape photography of the deserts of Wisconsin. My advice to the filmmakers: If you want to use a desert, why not just refer to Wisconsin as "New Mexico"?
"Atlas Shrugged" closes with a title card saying, "End of Part 1." Frequently throughout the film, characters repeat the phrase, "Who is John Galt?" Well they might ask. A man in black, always shot in shadow, is apparently John Galt. If you want to get a good look at him and find out why everybody is asking, I hope you can find out in Part 2. I dont think you can hold out for Part 3.
See the article here:
Atlas Shrugged Movie Review & Film Summary (2011 ... - Roger ...
Anyone who has experienced modern dating - i.e. dating since the advent of online dating - has likely experienced some dreaded form of ghosting, icing, or simmering. In other words, without explanation, someone you've gone on a couple dates with (and whom you may have been physically intimate) suddenly disappears (ghosting), or becomes "so busy" they can't make time on their calendar (icing), or simply starts to see you less and less frequently, without explanation (simmering).
You're left with too many questions. What happened? Was it something you said or did? You start rewinding the tape and playing it back, searching for a misstep.
In the case of ghosting, there's the shortest period of time when hope still hangs by a thread, before it plunges to its untimely death. In the cases of simmering and icing, the window of hope stretches a bit longer, as you attempt to justify their cooled behavior. Perhaps they really are busy with work/their friends in town/that big project. But then the spinning begins. The questions whip around your brain, the frustration and resentment bubble up and you're a mess of disappointment, confusion and anger. In any case, it's over. And you're forced to not only deal with the loss of that potential romance but also with the way it ended.
What baffles me most is not that every single solitary person I speak to about this tells me that they don't want to experience any of this array of terrible ending options, it's that so many of them engage in this behavior themselves.
It goes without saying that modern dating creates the perfect space for this disrespect -- anonymity and seemingly endless options are a breeding ground for it. When someone's social circle doesn't intersect with yours and when you'll likely never bump into them on the street, the risk of any negative repercussions of bad behavior are limited at best.
But what happened to do unto others as you would have them do unto you?
The problem I see with a lot of my coaching clients is that once they have been treated to one of these unhappy endings, they feel more entitled to do it themselves.
"It's just the way things are," one tells me. "No I don't like it but it's how dating works these days."
But, you see, its not. It's certainly not the way anyone wants it to be. And it takes one person at a time to fix the collective apathy we have for each other's delicate feelings and tender hearts.
Some friends tell me that my expectations in this arena are too high. "If you just go on one or two dates," a friend tries to sway me, "then you don't owe anyone anything."
But again, I disagree. This logic suggests that we only owe respect and consideration to people who cross a certain threshold -- whether it be physical intimacy or a prescribed number of dates.
Where do you draw the line then?
I believe you get what you give. You want respect? You show respect. You want to be treated kindly? Be kind. You want clarity, an explanation, an ending tied in a bow? Then be clear, explain yourself, and wrap it up respectfully without leaving unnecessary confusion and hurt.
Were all out there putting our hearts on the line. Were all afraid of rejection and uncomfortable with uncertainty. We all want people to respect us, consider our feelings, and treat us kindly. We want to love and be loved. And we want the process of finding a partner to be as painless and ease-filled as possible.
So be the person you want to date. It's just that simple.
To get support or ask questions about dating or relationships, connect with Alexis here.
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New York Times | In Congressman's Shooting, a Like-Minded Gunman Shakes a Liberal Enclave New York Times The colorful neighborhood of Del Ray is very quiet, very charming and very liberal. But the neighborhood was shaken by an outsider who was very destructive, very unwelcome and very liberal. The shooting Wednesday morning at the Eugene Simpson ... |
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In Congressman's Shooting, a Like-Minded Gunman Shakes a Liberal Enclave - New York Times
Attorney General Jeff Sessions displayed flashes of anger during questioning by Sen. Ron Wyden when the senator pressed him about suggestions that he had failed to provide full disclosure about his meetings with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. USA TODAY
Each week, USA TODAY's On Politics blog will take a look at how media from the left and the right reacted to one of the week's top political news stories, giving liberals and conservatives a taste of life in the other's media bubble.
This week, we look at the articles and opinion pieces that got political junkies' attention on social media that were written about Attorney General Jeff Sessions' testimony before the Senate IntelligenceCommittee Tuesday.
Political pundit Charles Krauthammer spoke for many conservatives who thought Sessions crushed it during his Senate testimony. Krauthammer said the attorney general "exposed the absurdity of the whole exercise"about alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
"I mean this is supposed to be about Russia meddlingin our election. That wasn't even an issue,"Krauthammer said during an interview with Fox News. "Then it was supposed to be about the collusion. There's not an ounce of evidence."
The conservative commentator called the efforts to build a case of impeachment against Trump"un-American" and said that Sessions testimony was a "side show of a side show."
For many liberals, the hearing was all about Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
"California Sen. Kamala Harris has once again shown a room of old white men how to do their damn jobs,"wroteJezebel reporter Prachi Guptain apost headlined, "Kamala Harris just handed Jeff Sessions his a--."
She tried to pin Sessions down on what notes he tookcalendar appointments, memos, emailsabout these critical conversations and meetings, and asked him to submit them to the committee. He dodged, eventually giving a wishy-washy assurance that he will give documents pending a conversation with lawyers as to what is appropriate.
Then came the moment that grabbed the most attention on left-leaning media: the exchange between Harris and Sessions over his claims he couldn't talk about his conversations with President Trump:
It was at this point, in her last question, when other Senators interrupted her to come to the defense of the poor old white guy with the bad memory. They did not, of course, so rudely cut off any of the men who spoke beyond their allotted time before her.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions says Senator Kamala Harris' speedy pace of questioning "makes him nervous." USA TODAY
A post on Sean Hannity's website lauded Sessions for slamming "leakers and themedia overfalse news reports and innuendos."
Attorney General Jeff Sessions lashed out at federal leakers who spread false rumors, saying they will not intimidate him from fulfilling his responsibilities at the Department of Justice.
During the hearing, Democratic senators like Harris challenged Sessions' claims that there is a Justice Department policy which prevents him from sharing the details of his conversations with the president. And several pieces from the liberal press backed up their skeptism about Sessions' assertion.
Vox's Sean Illing said he reached out to 10 legal experts to ask if "Sessions' claim that hes protecting the president's constitutional right to executive privilege makes any sense."
All but one of the experts rejected Sessionss argument on its face, insisting that Sessions is legally permitted to discuss conversations with the president, provided the president hasnt yet invoked executive privilege (which he hasnt). One expert believes there is a precedent for Sessionss actions, but that Congress can and should compel him to answer their questions.
Not all conservatives thought Sessions' performance inthe hearing was a total success. While Sessions was effective in arguing he colluded with the Russians, he "did little todispel" the evidence that Trump "tried to interfere" in the Russia investigation," wroteThe Weekly Standard's Michael Warren.
Sessions was unable to provide any more context to this question: Did Trump fire Comey because of, or in response to, the FBI director's refusal to "let go" of the investigation into Trump's national security adviser, Mike Flynn? Because this question has gotten reasonably complicated.
Sessions' refusal to talk about his conversations with Trump may have meant there were no major revelations from the attorney general's testimony, but he did admit to a stunning lack of curiosity about Russian efforts to interfere in the election,wrote David Corn for Mother Jones.
So the person picked to be attorney generalone of the chief national security officials in the US governmenthad not bothered to educate himself about the Russian operation. He had not even read the public report issued by the intelligence community. This seemed a strong indication that the Trump camp really didnt give a damn about Putins clandestine effort to undermine American democracy.
Read more:
Sessions: Any suggestion I colluded with Russia is 'detestable lie'
Analysis: AG Jeff Sessions defends Jeff Sessions. But what about Donald Trump?
GOP: Testimony shows Sessions integrity
Jeff Sessions' testimony was unconvincing
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The Bubble: How conservative and liberal media reacted to Sessions' testimony - USA TODAY