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City labels Landing owner as obstacle for progress – First Coast News

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Andrew Wulfeck, WTLV 12:35 AM. EDT June 16, 2017

Jacksonville Landing (Photo: Roger Weeder)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Hours after the owner of the Jacksonville Landing released a letter that warned the retail landmark was at a crossroads for redevelopment, the mayors office responded with a blistering statement identifying Sleiman Enterprises as an obstacle and claimed the Landing suffered from mismanagement.

The Jacksonville Landing has been a landmark in Jacksonville since opening in 1987 and has tried to take part in the conversation concerning the Northbanks redevelopment.

During the spring of 2015, First Coast News reported about the most recent plan by a Georgia-based company to attract more people to The Landing. The plan included apartments to aide in foot traffic at the riverfront property but so far no visible changes have resulted from workshops with the firm.

A complication with any type of redevelopment is that city would need to agree on the terms, sinceSleimanEnterprises owns the buildings at the Landing andthe city owns the land the buildings sit on.

Sleiman Enterprises has argued that a full redevelopment of the Landing is crucial for the retail centers success but says none of the previous plans regarding revitalization have taken place because of lip service by city leaders.

First Coast News reached out to the mayors office statement and received the following response: Since taking office, Mayor Lenny Curry has continued to demonstrate his commitment to the development and improvement of downtown Jacksonville. As a notable and recognized landmark, the Landing should be flourishing and contributing to the areas economic growth and success. The mayor and his administration have met with Mr. Sleiman on several occasions to discuss opportunities and options for improvement. Sleiman Enterprises has demonstrated no interest in our offer and solution. Sleiman Enterprises is the obstacle. It is clear that the Landing is being mismanaged. The Mayor will not ask taxpayers to bail out a mismanaged development. Because there is pending litigation, there is no additional information to provide at this time.- Marsha Oliver, Director, Public Affairs

Full letter by Sleiman Enterprises: Nearly 15 years ago when Sleiman Enterprises bought the Jacksonville Landing, there was all kinds of excitement. While were still excited about Jacksonvilles iconic venues potential, our hands are tied by politics and external forces that dont want progress.

We are now at a critical point in the Landings life cycle. We must either undertake a complete redevelopment of the property or enter into new long-term leases of the current facilities to maintain the Landings economic viability. The two options are incompatible with one another.

We agree with most civic leaders that a complete redevelopment of the Jacksonville Landing is best for our city and for the Landing. However, without the support of the city of Jacksonville, no redevelopment can take place. Since the city owns the land and we lease the building, we must collaborate.

For 15 years, weve worked with the city to try to make the Jacksonville Landing great. While downtown is always an administrative priority, the Landing seems to get more lip service than actual support.That lack of political support is the reason that the original developer, Rouse, sold us the Landing for pennies on the dollar.

Our company, Sleiman Enterprises, has invested more than $1.5 million in past redevelopment efforts. We even supported the city's most recent 2015 redevelopment plans.

In our companys 60 years of history, weve made significant contributions to our local retail industry and economic development. We want to do the same thing at the Landing.

If the public agrees that a full redevelopment of the Jacksonville Landing is best for the city, we ask that people communicate that to their city council representatives. If the city does not get behind redevelopment right away, the opportunity will be lost for another 1015 years because signing new long-term leases will prevent redevelopment.

Sincerely, Toney, Eli and Joe Sleiman, Partners Sleiman Enterprises, Jacksonville

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City labels Landing owner as obstacle for progress - First Coast News

Russia making progress on racism before World Cup report – FOXSports.com

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

MOSCOW (AP) Russia has made progress fighting soccer racism ahead of next years World Cup, but players, coaches and fans still risk abuse, a new report says.

There were 89 racist and far-right incidents at Russian games in the 2016-17 season, slightly below the two previous seasons, according to Thursdays report by European anti-discrimination group FARE and Russia-based SOVA.

In one case, an African player complained of racist abuse by an opponent during a Russian Premier League game. In another case, a hardline fan group segregated part of a stadium for people of Slavic appearance, the report alleges. Fans of Russian champion Spartak Moscow flew anti-Semitic banners.

The Russian Football Unions disciplinary committee, however, has said it didnt detect a single racist incident in any of the top three divisions this season.

The report comes ahead of the Confederations Cup, starting Saturday, and a year ahead of the World Cup.

The Russian football authorities and the government authorities have realized the way both of these competitions will be tarnished by the fear of racism occurring and theyve taken some quite strong measures, FAREs executive director Piara Powar told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. There still remains the danger of some isolated incidents taking place.

Russian authorities have taken measures to blacklist at least 191 fans from attending sports events, while the RFU ejected an influential fan leader, Alexander Shprygin, from its organization. He was deported twice from France last year following violence around Russias match with England at the European Championship, and has been accused of posting far-right symbols on social media, a charge he denied.

Shprygin was dragged out of a bathroom at an RFU conference in September by police and detained, reportedly in connection with an investigation into fan violence.

FARE says Russia has made some progress, and that it didnt observe monkey chants or openly Nazi flags in any top-flight games this season. However, it warns far-right fans instead fly banners with concealed messages such as runes and number codes used by Nazi and ultranationalist groups.

The RFU punished two clubs in the 2015-16 season for such banners, but didnt pursue any such cases this season something which Powar says indicates it may be turning a blind eye.

That was despite cases of anti-Semitic banners being flown by Spartak fans, including taunts aimed at rival CSKA Moscow, whose club president and then-coach are both Jewish. Another Spartak banner showed a Russian rock singer caricaturized as an Orthodox Jew, accompanied by personal abuse.

CSKA fans also targeted their own coach, Leonid Slutsky now at Englands Hull City with a banner linking his Jewish faith to poor results.

FARE says the number of violent racist incidents fell from five to two last season compared to the year before. There was also no repeat of large-scale violent attacks on foreign fans, such as those which took place between Russian and English fans in Marseille a year ago during the European Championship.

However, there are indications that football-related violence between different ethnic groups in Russia is becoming more entrenched, with fans from Russias largely Muslim regions in the North Caucasus forming fan groups which adopt football hooligans rules and initiate fights with Moscow teams.

In another case last month at a playoff game for a place in the Russian Premier League, one fan group from the Yenisei Krasnoyarsk team issued a statement on social media saying that its sector of the stadium was only available to fans of Slavic appearance.

A member of the group, Artyom Kirillov, suggested the group had been misunderstood. A lot was made up in local media reports of the incident, he told the AP. We are loyal to all Russian citizens.

FIFA said Wednesday that Confederations Cup games will use a three-stage process in the event of fan racism. Referees will first request a public announcement, then suspend the game if the behavior doesnt stop. If racist incidents still persist, they can stop the game.

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Russia making progress on racism before World Cup report - FOXSports.com

Cities Can Jump-start Climate Progress by Plugging in Their Vehicles – DeSmog (blog)

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

DeSmog (blog)

Cities Can Jump-start Climate Progress by Plugging in Their Vehicles
DeSmog (blog)
President Donald Trump's decision to exit the Paris climate agreement reaffirmed what was already clear: The federal government is no longer leading American efforts to shrink our carbon footprint. But many state and local governments along with ...

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Cities Can Jump-start Climate Progress by Plugging in Their Vehicles - DeSmog (blog)

With one day left in special session, little public progress on budget – Alaska Public Radio Network

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Senate President Pete Kelly gives a statement on the budget on Thursday. Kelly wants legislative leaders to focus on the budget. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO and Alaska Public Media)

Leaders from both chambers of the Legislature met behind closed doors Thursday as they tried to reach a budget agreement.

But there was little public progress.

Listen now

The 30-day special session will end Friday and the House and Senate majorities remained far apart.

Fairbanks Republican Senate President Pete Kelly saidleaders should focus on the budget.

The highest priority we have in the Senate is to avoid a government shutdown and that means we have to pass an operating budget, Kelly said. The consequences of a government shutdown are devastating. A lot of people think it just affects the public sector, but thats not true. Its the private sector as well.

Kelly singled out the states fishing industry as an example of an important business sector likely to be damaged by a shutdown.

Dillingham Democratic House Speaker Bryce Edgmon was in a caucus meeting Thursday afternoon. On Wednesday evening, he said the House majority wanted to reach an agreement on a long-term plan to balance the amount the state government spends with what it receives.

Our caucus has taken a very difficult, but we think appropriate, position in that we want to get a responsible budget in place this year, Edgmon said. We do not want a shutdown. But we also do not want to be back in this situation again next year.

Kelly saidits still possible to reach an agreement tonight and tomorrow.

If that doesnt happen, Gov. Bill Walker is likely to call lawmakers into another special session. The Legislature must pass a budget before July 1 to prevent a shutdown.

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With one day left in special session, little public progress on budget - Alaska Public Radio Network

Map reveals where billionaires are stockpiling land that could be used in the apocalypse – SFGate

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Photo: Evan Vucci, Associated Press

In this Dec. 14, 2016, file photo, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos speaks during a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump and technology industry leaders at Trump Tower in New York.

Forbes ranks the world's billionaires.

Name: David Koch - 10

This year's net worth: $39.6

Source: Koch Industries

Country: U.S.

Name: David Koch - 10

This year's net worth: $39.6

Source: Koch Industries

Country: U.S.

Name: Charles Koch - 9

This year's net worth: $39.6

Source: Koch Industries

Country: U.S.

Name: Charles Koch - 9

This year's net worth: $39.6

Source: Koch Industries

Country: U.S.

Name: Michael Bloomberg - 8

This year's net worth: $40 billion

Source: Bloomberg LP

Country: U.S.

Name: Michael Bloomberg - 8

This year's net worth: $40 billion

Source: Bloomberg LP

Country: U.S.

Name: Larry Ellison - 7

This year's net worth: $43.6 billion

Source: Oracle

Country: U.S.

Name: Larry Ellison - 7

This year's net worth: $43.6 billion

Source: Oracle

Country: U.S.

Name: Mark Zuckerberg - 6

This year's net worth: $44.6 billion

Source: Facebook

Country: U.S.

Name: Mark Zuckerberg - 6

This year's net worth: $44.6 billion

Source: Facebook

Country: U.S.

Name: Jeff Bezos - 5

This year's net worth: $45.2 billion

Source: Amazon.com

Country: U.S.

Name: Jeff Bezos - 5

This year's net worth: $45.2 billion

Source: Amazon.com

Country: U.S.

Name: Carlos Slim - 4

This year's net worth: $50 billion

Source: Telecom

Country: Mexico

Name: Carlos Slim - 4

This year's net worth: $50 billion

Source: Telecom

Country: Mexico

Name: Warren Buffett - 3

This year's net worth: $60.8 billion

Source: Berkshire Hathaway

Country: U.S.

Name: Warren Buffett - 3

This year's net worth: $60.8 billion

Source: Berkshire Hathaway

Country: U.S.

Name: Amancio Ortega - 2

This year's net worth: $67

Source: Retail

Country: Spain

Name: Amancio Ortega - 2

This year's net worth: $67

Source: Retail

Country: Spain

Name: Bill Gates - 1

This year's net worth: $75 billion

Source: Microsoft

Country: U.S.

Name: Bill Gates - 1

This year's net worth: $75 billion

Source: Microsoft

Country: U.S.

Map reveals where billionaires are stockpiling land that could be used in the apocalypse

When the apocalypse arrives, life goes on. That's the possibility some are preparing for, at least.

A new article in Forbes suggests the USbillionairesare making significant land grabs in America's heartland, where the climate is mild and the locations are conducive to survivalism and living on the land. The Midwest ishome to several fortified shelters and vacation homes where the super-richcould happily live out their post-doomsday (or retirement) days.

Reid Hoffman, the cofounder of LinkedIn and a notable investor,told The New Yorker earlier this year he estimated more than 50% of Silicon Valley billionaires had bought some level of "apocalypse insurance," like a bunker.

Fortified shelters, built to withstand catastrophic events from viral epidemic to nuclear war, seem to be experiencing a wave of interest in general as hints of a nuclear conflict ramp up.

Real estate developersare capitalizing on the moment with luxuryunderground doomsday shelters that cost as much as$3 million. These post-apocalyptic homes, often built onretired military bases or in missile silos, includeluxury amenities and safety featureslike nuclear blast doors, armored trucks, and massive storesof food and water.

The map below reveals where American billionaires are stockpiling land that could be used in the apocalypse.

Skye Gould/Business Insider

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Film Review: ‘All Eyez on Me’ – Variety

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Sleekly shaven-headed, with a pirate bandana, a gangstas dripped-in-death tattoos, and the liquid stare of an Arabian prince, Tupac Shakur was the matinee idol of hip-hop superstars: not the fiercest rapper, not the most virtuosic or visionary, but a figure of hard ferocity who elevated street nihilism by fusing it with a certain lovesexy bravura. For a while, he was as much a movie star as he was a rap star (and he would have been a bigger one had his legal troubles not scared off the Hollywood establishment). On some level, Tupacs life always seemed like a movie playing out in front of you not just the hair triggers of bloodshed, but his whole contradictory dance of activism and thuggery, commitment and celebrity.

All Eyez on Me, the messy, hugely flawed, but fascinating biographical drama that has now been made about him, channels those contradictions, even if it doesnt always know what to do with them. Comprehensive but sketchy, richly atmospheric but often under-dramatized, it is not, in the end, a very good movie (there are a few scenes, like Tupacs initial meeting with Ted Field of Interscope Records, that are embarrassingly bad). Yet its highly worth seeing, because in its volatility and hunger, and the desperation of its violence, it captures something about the space in which Tupac Shakur lived: a place that wanted to be all about pride and power, but was really about flying over the abyss.

The film is 2 hours and 20 minutes long, and considering that Tupac was only 25 years old when he was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas on Sept. 7, 1996, that should be enough time to tell his story with intimacy and flow. Yet All Eyez on Me, directed by the music-video veteran Benny Boom, is an old-school biopic that reminds you why old-school biopics faded: It has that overly sprawling, one-thing-after-another quality that can make you feel like youre seeing the cinematic version of a Wikipedia entry.

That said, Demetrius Shipp Jr., who plays Tupac, carries you through. He looks astonishingly like the rap star, but Shipp also fills out Tupac emotionally, showing us the smiley high-school student who prided himself on his success in the theater we see him cast as the lead in Hamlet as well as the surly, neglected adolescent who was raised by his mother, the former Black Panther Afeni Shakur, to take a never-ending stance of defiance. Afeni is played by Danai Gurira (who would have been perfect as Nina Simone), and Gurira makes her a ruthlessly intelligent analyst of the white power structure who is nevertheless consumed by a rage that has no outlet (at one point, she turns to crack).

Its no wonder that Tupac grows up to be a militant without a cause. He can see the injustice around him, and when hes arrested in Oakland for jaywalking (when was the last time a white person got arrested for jaywalking? Answer: never), the sadism of the police is like a nightstick to the soul. Yet each new way that he chooses to define his manhood as a rap star; as a fighter with thug-life cred who will walk, lips snarled, into any confrontation; as a stud; as an activist leader in the new era of rap-as-racial-politics it becomes, for him, a highly self-conscious performance. He turns into a badass outlaw hip-hop demigod who is playing the role of a badass outlaw hip-hop demigod.

Theres a facile framing device, with Tupac explaining (and defending) his life in a prison interview that takes place during the nine months he spent at the Clinton Correctional Facility in 1995. The movie than flashes back to his New York childhood, his jarring moves to Baltimore and Oakland, the close friendship he formed in his teens with Jada Pinkett (Kat Graham), his shot at stardom when he was asked to join Digital Underground, his 1992 role as a stone-cold sociopath in Juice (a role he acted brilliantly, and that was said by some to have had an influence on his off-screen behavior), and his mesmerizing early solo videos for tracks like Same Song (his first lead with Digital Underground) and the scabrous social-protest rap Brendas Got a Baby. But its only after he goes to jail that the movie finds its footing.

All Eyez on Me presents the incident that resulted in rape charges that were brought against Tupac and members of his entourage (he was convicted of first-degree sexual abuse) in a way that completely exonerates him; the truth may have been murkier. Once hes in prison, however, his life and career look like theyre in ruins. Tosave himself, he signs a deal with the devil: Marion Suge Knight, the fearsome 350-pound giant-cigar-chomping entrepreneur of Death Row Records, who enjoys a supreme distinction among the rappers and producers he employs and lords it over hes the only one among them who isnt playing at being a gangsta.

Dominic L. Santana, who plays Knight, captures the underworld moguls self-righteous menace, and the second half of the movie, in which Shakur finds his greatest success, records his greatest song (the momentous California Love), and experiences his greatest existential confusion while at Death Row, is the ominous heart of All Eyez on Me. Its not just that hes surrounded by back-stabbers and glad-handers, as well as musicians like Dr. Dre (Harold House Moore, in an underwritten role) and Snoop Dogg (Jarrett Ellis, who gets the voice but not the snakish cunning). In essence, Tupac is still in prison, trapped not just in a three-album contract but in a stance of outlaw brutishness thats become, in his own mind, political: the only stance the white man will allow him.

But his mother said it best: This is really the systems way of handing him the tools to destroy himself. Once his friendship with Biggie Smalls (Jamal Woolard) breaks down, the fabled East CoastWest Coast rap war becomes, in the movies view, a violent form of tap-dancing, with Tupac and Biggie deluded into thinking that their taunts and boasts mean something.

Who killed Tupac Shakur? All Eyez on Me doesnt say, but it least it spares us the soul-sapping diversion of conspiracy theory. In all likelihood, Tupac was killed in a tit-for-tat piece of gang violence that had nothing to do with the rap wars. What the movie captures is that Tupacs absorption through showbiz, then through the empire of Suge Knight into the role of gangsta sociopath was the insidious illusion that sealed his fate. It was a role he relished playing, and he did it brilliantly; he convinced the toughest audience there was himself. But the only thing about the role that was entirely real was his death.

Reviewed at Magno, New York, June 14, 2017. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 140 MIN.

A Summit Entertainment/Lionsgate release of a Morgan Creek Productions, Program Pictures, Codeblack Films production. Producers: David T. Robinson, L.T. Hutton, James G. Robinson. Executive producer: Wayne Morris.

Director: Benny Boom. Screenplay: Jeremy Haft, Eddie Gonzalez, Steven Bagatourian. Camera (color, widescreen): Peter Menzies Jr. Editor: Joel Cox.

Demetrius Shipp Jr., Danai Gurira, Kat Graham, Dominic L. Santana, Jamal Woolard, Jarrett Ellis, Brandon Suave, Harold House Moore, Lauren Cohan, Hill Harper.

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Film Review: 'All Eyez on Me' - Variety

Review: True to the original, ‘Cabaret’ revival trades in hedonism, horror – Seattle Times

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

The touring production now at the Paramount in Seattle reels you in with its classic mix of jaunty numbers at the Weimar-era Kit Kat Klub and foreshadowing of the terror to come.

There arent many moments in musical theater that stick in your craw like the rug-pulling finish of If You Could See Her from Cabaret, in which a playful tune about a romance with a gorilla turns suddenly poisonous.

The John Kander and Fred Ebb musical, with a book by Joe Masteroff that traces back to a Christopher Isherwood novel, has the ability like no other to follow a shot of razzle-dazzle with a deeply discomfiting chaser.

The latest national tour, now on stage at the Paramount, is proof enough. At a recent performance, laughs and applause had a way of dissolving into uneasy quiet as the shows depictions of fascism and hate revealed themselves, smuggled in discreetly under cover of hedonistic decadence.

by John Kander, Fred Ebb and Joe Masteroff. Through June 25, Paramount Theatre, Seattle; tickets from $30 (800-745-3000 or stgpresents.org).

This production by Roundabout Theatre Company (last seen in Seattle with an effervescent tour of Anything Goes at the 5th in 2013) brings to the stage Sam Mendes and Rob Marshalls 2014 Broadway revival, a re-creation of their 1998 Broadway revival, which was, in turn, based on Mendes 1993 London production.

So yeah, this Cabaret has been around.

Why shouldnt it stick around? Its got the goods, reeling you in from the first strains of Willkommen, set inside the never-ending party of the Kit Kat Klub in Weimar-era Berlin. Were welcomed by the Emcee (Jon Peterson), whose leering naughtiness is matched by the dancers around him. (Peterson keeps upping the ante, going right up to the edge of too self-aware of his giggly kinkiness.)

This is the kind of place where sexual adventures of all kinds can help shut out the horrors of the surrounding world until, of course, they cant anymore.

Its also the meeting place for Sally Bowles (Leigh Ann Larkin, whose tremendous voice covers for some over-emoted line readings) and Cliff Bradshaw (Benjamin Eakeley, appropriately Boy-Scout-stiff).

Shes an unsuccessful British singer and hes an unsuccessful American novelist, and together, they engage in a bit of amour fou while the world still allows them to. (Cliff is portrayed differently in different stagings; here, he seems to be openly, if a bit reluctantly, bisexual.)

Also playing out: A more sensible but similarly fated romance between Cliffs landlady, Frulein Schneider (Mary Gordon Murray) and Jewish fruit dealer Herr Schultz (Scott Robertson).

Like most revivals of Cabaret, this one has a score that cuts some original numbers and incorporates some from Bob Fosses stellar film adaptation. Good thing Larkins raucous Mein Herr and plaintive Maybe This Time are standouts.

Even in scenes outside the nightclub, Mendes and Marshall ensure its presence is felt, with Petersons ever-watchful Emcee eyeing the proceedings, often perched atop an upper level that houses the band (many doing double duty as members of the ensemble).

The encroaching threat of Nazism is communicated overtly in Masteroffs book and in Marshalls choreography, like when a chorus kick line seamlessly transitions into a goose step.

But even more potent is the sudden awareness that those previously jaunty club numbers have been drained of any sense of carefree fun, with lighting and costume shifts to match.

By the time Sally reaches the shows titular song, the lurid flashbulb lighting has gone out, replaced with just a single spot on a minimally adorned Larkin.

Life is a cabaret, old chum is a lyric with enough irony baked in that it doesnt require the blunt visual rejoinder, but the strategy is plenty effective just the same.

That also goes for a finale that employs concentration-camp imagery and a thundering wall of sound to hammer home one more moment of unease and a crystal-clear message.

The partys over.

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Review: True to the original, 'Cabaret' revival trades in hedonism, horror - Seattle Times

Honey-glazed, hedonistic, and hyper-real – Cherwell Online

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

In the summer of 2013, I hadnt yet been kissed or gotten drunk, I could count the friends I had on one hand with several fingers to spare, and I spent most of my time visiting my beloved grandpa in hospital. But whilst my reality was filled with NHS wards, tea from paper cups and religiously completed Times crossword puzzles, my imaginary life was lines of coke off a dashboard, sitting in the lap of a sugar daddy, Californian sunsets, gambling and sweeps of silky straight hair. I had discovered Lana Del Rey, and she was giving me the gift that she continues to reliably provide: the summer you would have, were your moral standards and instinct for self-preservation several notches lower, if you had never heard of feminism and if, crucially, her brand of honey-glazed hedonism could actually exist as a reality.

Sceptics will say that Lana Del Rey produces the same album every two years, and fans agree, yet continue to glug it down like the Diet Mountain Dew she immortalises in Born To Die: it may not be nourishing or good for you, but its teeth-rotting sweetness cannot be resisted. She cherry-picks motifs from hip hop and rock, siphoning off the best of superficial cool from both genres to feed her persona. Breathy, slow vocals, building over rich soundscapes, sing of manicured degeneracy where Rey again and again stars as the wronged heroine, devoted only to her bad-boy lover and the wild American road. She presents the 18-rated version of a Disney story, as she plays the role of the adored princess. Although she has candy necklaces sticking to the skin instead of a tiara, and her Prince Charming arrives on a motorbike rather than a white horse, the fantasy of feminine passivity lives on. If I get a little prettier can I be your baby?; I can be your china doll if you want to see me fall; Im your jazz singer and youre my cult leader: Beyonces Flawless is certainly not playing on Reys speakers on the beach, as she instead decides to hark back to an age where womens liberation was as far off as heathaze over the sea, and similarly impalpable.

Related Preview: Accidental Death of an Anarchist

However, even as a seasoned, strident Angry Feminist, I cannot drag myself away from her mythic world, where submission is glamour and pain is beauty. In the long, indulgent, spoken-word piece of the Ride video, Rey proclaims I believe in the country America used to be. As problematic and rage-inducing as this isremember segregation, Lana? Where does that fit into your rose-tinted view of the past?what she really means is, I believe in the country America never was. It is a hand-clapping, I do believe in fairies, I do, I do moment, as her will to live in this romanticised American dream creates and keeps alive a version of it in her music.

She is the master of creating a fantasy, as vivid settings spring into life from a few choice words: Glass room, perfume, cognac, lilac fumes creates the heady casino of Off to the Races, whilst blue hydrangeas, cold cash divine, cashmere, cologne and white sunshine conjures a picket-fenced, Gatsbyesque mansion for Old Money.

This talent for visuals comes across in her distinctive aesthetic. Her fashion is predominately 1960s prom queen, but with an edge of trailer-park princess. Gucci shoes encrusted with lacquer cherries will be downplayed by loose cotton dresses, the leather jackets and band t-shirts may be Chanel and Yves St Laurent, but whos to know she didnt pick them up from WalMartthe key is making her low-fi, lazy summer vibe seem effortless. Instagram videos seem to capture moments when she is off-guard, singing along to her own music in the car or simply blinking languidly, listening to Joni Mitchell: the implication is that she drives to the shops in extravagant old Hollywood fake eyelashes, and never snaps out of moody, melancholic nostalgia. On winning the Brit Award for International Solo Artist in 2013, she used her acceptance speech to thank her managers and her label for helping her turn her life into a work of art, and it does seem as if her every move consolidates the image of herself presented in her songs: if there are edges to her persona, they are safely out of public sight.

Related Kate is no oil painting

In a recent interview for Elle, Rey ominously claimed that her new album would be more political. That, combined with a recent Instagram speech about North Korea, suggests that she might be finally waking from her opiated dreams and dipping a tentative, kitten-heeled toe into the real world. I cant help but be suspicious of the prospectas the world rolls to hell in a handcart, she provides a much needed summer holiday from real life.

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Honey-glazed, hedonistic, and hyper-real - Cherwell Online

On ‘Ti Amo’, Phoenix Combat Dark Times with Fun and Gelato – Vulture

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Thomas Mars of Phoenix. Photo: ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images

For their sixth LP, Ti Amo, the French band Phoenix looked to the Italian lifestyle for inspiration. Blending shimmering disco pop with a smattering of Italian phrases, Phoenix created a colorful, occasionally decadent sonic trip that manages to be optimistic even in these troubled times.

Apparently inspired by gelato, and all the connotations the notoriously rich form of ice cream might bring, Phoenix recorded the album without much rehearsal time. We tried to keep the first take, and the first emotion [we experienced], says front man Thomas Mars. We wanted to keep the first awkward, unconscious chemistry that was happening between the four of us.

During a visit to New York, Mars and bassist Deck DArcy spoke with Vulture about finding inspiration in hedonism, and why it felt important to create a fantasy for their listeners.

How did you land on Ti Amo as an album title? Thomas Mars: One of the working titles for our previous record Bankrupt! was Je taime. Maybe people dont know [in the U.S.], but for a French band, its extremely ballsy to call your album Je taime. Its not something you do and we wanted to do it, but the songs and the title didnt go together. [Je taime] isnt very unique. Its something thats used by a lot of people. So its hard to appropriate it theres a bit of work that you need to make it yours. And slowly, while writing the songs, we embraced some of our own language, which had mostly English, but French and Italian. And then we shifted: Je taime became Ti Amo and it felt like a natural choice. It felt like the record sounded like Ti Amo; the [music and title] matched. And that helped us choose the direction of which songs would be on the [album].

Why did a fantasized version of Italy become the focus for the record? TM: When we first wrote the songs, it sounded like a mumble. The words came, and they didnt really make sense, but there were a few words here and there that popped, and they were written in Italian. Then we embraced it: We tried to keep the first take and the first emotion [we experienced]. We wanted to keep the first awkward, unconscious chemistry that was happening between the four of us. Italy was a part of it because of a few trips and a few influences. But it popped out really strongly because I think [Italian] is not really being used a lot in contemporary music, and its always interesting for us to find things that no one taps into for some reason. People seem to drink from the same water. We went just a little bit outside and we found a giant oasis of fresh water.

What accounts for the romantic, carefree-sounding record? TM: Its romantic, but at the same time, while recording, we were the first ones surprised by the fact that it was light, carefree, and hedonistic. Because around us, there was not a lot of pleasure. I think that any artist would have you ask themselves, What was really the point of [making this record] when the atmosphere in Paris was really dark? So we all were a little bit surprised that we did something that opposite.

So is it a form of escapism? TM: You know, people are gonna write protest songs its that time. But music shouldnt be one thing. We went into [making music] in its most precious and simple form, which is just a fantasy, pure and detached, but not escapism.

Deck DArcy: A lot of our favorite artists turn darkness into light. From Prince to Hank Williams. You know, [Princes] Sign O the Times? The song has a darkness: Its a questioning song, but then at the same time, theres a lot of light, and a strong, new sound. Theres something new about it that I love.

What were you listening to when you made this record? TM: Tons of things, but nothing specific. Maybe Italian music more, like Lucio Battisti, Franco Battiato. But then we have to find a common language; we have to make them fit into the same [music]. The less inbred, the better.

The less inbred? TM: Were Frenchmen, so it would be inbred to be inspired by a French artist. The more foreign in time and distance like Monteverdi, thats perfect: 1500s Italian music. Thats really far from us we can easily steal from that.

Is this a concept record? TM: Not on paper, but maybe. The word concept has a bit of a negative twist for me somehow, but at the same time, every album is a concept, because we see it as a book. With every single song that you hear, we want each of them to have a strong identity.

DD: Its more coherence than concept. Concept sometimes goes against freedom. And the way we made it was free-spirited for a while. At least there was no concept at the beginning

Judging by the titles of the songs, Europe was a huge influence. How did you land on those titles? TM: The thing is, we are a European band as well. Even in our previous albums, we talk about the European roots, and then we sing in English. And actually what we sing about is our European roots. But we probably pushed it even farther this time.

How? DD: There are songs in Italian, like Thomas was saying. Telefono and Fior di Latte. The song is named after a kind of sweet milk. Its actually the flavor of a very good ice cream. We were thinking a lot about ice cream and gelato while we were doing this album. That was the concept.

TM: Melting, always melting.

DD: Melting gelato.

TM: It had to melt. Otherwise, it helps when youre in this industry to have a few words whenever youre surrounded by instruments, and you have to choose something to fit in a song. If you have a word that you can think of, it helps to make that decision. I know in movies they do that. Every day they have to take that: We want this shot to be green or white. And then, if milk is part of one of those words, you go with white it helps create a coherent identity. So in that way, [the album] is maybe a little bit conceptual.

So is the theme of the album melted gelato, then? TM: It is! Yeah! What would you say?

I would say, like, love and passion? TM: Yeah. Melted gelato theres an erotic quality in gelato, and in food in general.

How many gelatos did you have while making this record? TM: None, but you fantasize about them. No, actually, we had a few the Fior di Latte one has this pure quality. Its hard to analyze I read recently a really good quote from Mike Nichols, who was quoting someone else. But hes trying to explain his work, and hes saying, Im a bird, not an ornithologist. And I think it explains really well how incapable people are at analyzing their own work. We are the bird.

Other than gelato, how did you immerse yourself in Italy and Europe in general to create the record? Did you go to any specific places to gain inspiration? TM: We did, but we werent looking for authenticity. We were looking for this distortion; we we were looking for mistakes and imperfection. With this record, were almost happy to stay as tourists to get the distorted feeling. Similar to the way that we sing in English, we dont want to make perfect American songs with American accents. We love that our brain cells and connections are French, and it makes something cool that sometimes people dont get. But I think it makes the music unique. So its the same way with Italian, we just used it as a vehicle to create a tone.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Jay and I are also fools for our daughters. Although, hes going to have me beat once those twins show up.

Seth Meyers used the immortal words of DJ Khaled to prove how Trump set in motion a chain of events that would lead him to be under investigation.

What do we think historians will be saying about these tweets? I like that you think there will be historians in the future.

A sensitive and insightful episode about racist policing.

Its the latest release from their upcoming EP, Kaleidoscope.

To this day, Hales parents still dont think its funny.

As far as Im concerned, making out on set is not cheating, and eating Pop-Tarts on set is not calories.

Production on the Bachelor spinoff recently shut down after an alleged sexual assault.

Jack Antonoff co-produced it and Robyn was an influence.

The Fargo co-stars had very different paths to the craft.

The possible scenarios.

What it says is you dont think that America is smart enough to handle real dialogue.

Im going to be a little coy about sharing my own personal interpretation.

A motion for a mistrial was denied, and the jury has been ordered to return to deliberations.

Her album is out this September.

This movie isnt just bad its nonfunctional.

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On 'Ti Amo', Phoenix Combat Dark Times with Fun and Gelato - Vulture

God has spoken through the Bible | Faith | frontiersman.com – Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Romans chapter 1 says that we can look at the world around us and know that God exists and that he is very, very powerful. In my backyard are chickens, ducks, swans, sandhill cranes and moose. All of this points to the glory of God. If there is a painting, there must be a painter. If there is a building, there must be a builder. If there is a creation, there must be a creator.

If God exists (and he does), has he spoken? Yes! God has spoken to you and me through the Bible. Unfortunately, there are many wrong attitudes toward the Bible. One wrong attitude toward the Bible is rationalism. Rationalism says that the mind is supreme. People say, I think or, The Bible doesnt make sense to me. Extreme Rationalism is atheism or agnosticism. Gods Word is supreme.

Another wrong attitude is mysticism. Mysticism says that experience is supreme. Mysticism claims that experience is the final authority. A mystic says, If it fits my experience, it is correct and valid but if it doesnt fit my experience, it is invalid. No. The Bible is the final authority and all our experiences must be judged by Scripture. Experience is not the final authority for determining what is true and what is false.

Another wrong attitude toward the Bible is that of the cults. The cults teach that the Bible plus some other writing is supreme. The key mark of a cult is that while they affirm that the Bible is the Word of God they also affirm another writing as having equal inspiration.

The right attitude is the orthodox attitude. The Bible alone is the final authority and must be obeyed. Why do we believe the Bible? We believe the Bible based upon evidence. There is both internal and external evidence that the Bible is supernatural. The internal evidence is that the Bible claims to be inspired by God. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, All Scripture is inspired by God. Inspired means God breathed. Scripture is the product of the breath of God. He is the source of the very words themselves.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:18, For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled. Jesus said, The entire universe can go out of existence before the smallest letter or stroke of the Old Testament will fail. It is permanent. It is unchanging. It is unwavering. It is eternal. It has authority. It is forever relevant and forever authoritative.

We also believe the Bible because of external evidence. God used forty different authors over sixteen hundred years in three different languages in six different parts of the world to write the Bible and yet there are no errors and no contradictions. Take any other subject, such as science, and choose forty authors who wrote over sixteen hundred years. Would there be any real unity? Of course not! The Koran was written by only one author- Mohammed. The continuity of the Bible is evidence of its supernatural origin.

No other book contains fulfilled prophecy like the Bible. The Bible predicted the birth of the messiah in Bethlehem six hundred years before his birth (Micah 5). The Bible predicted the death of the messiah by crucifixion one thousand years before his death (Psalm 22). The Bible predicted the messiah, Jesus, would come from the tribe of Judah seventeen hundred years before he came (Genesis 49).

One person said, The Bible is not a book we could write if we would, nor is the Bible a book man would write if he could. Best of all, the Bible points to Jesus. Only the Bible spells out sin for what it really is- rebellion against God. Only the Bible presents a cure that truly and honestly works- the substitutionary atonement of Jesus. Many, many people have experienced the supernatural working of Scripture in their lives. Charles Spurgeon said, The Word of God is like a lion. You dont have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself. Read the Bible, obey the Bible and watch the power of God flow through your life!

Ethan Hansen is the pastor of Faith Bible Fellowship in Big Lake.

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God has spoken through the Bible | Faith | frontiersman.com - Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman

Worry over no clear plan for closing schools – GO! & Express – GO! and Express

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Education lobby group Equal Education says they are concerned the departments of education and transport are failing to plan for pupils when rationalising schools.

The NGO said education was failing to carry out proper consultations in some areas, while transport openly admitted their budget would not meet the increased need for scholar transport.

The education lobby group yesterday hosted a seminar aimed at reflecting on the progress made on the school rationalisation and realignment programme in the province.

The seminar which saw discussions around the progress of rationalisation with the focus on provision of school infrastructure and scholar transport was held in King Williams Town.

The department is in the process of closing 1902 schools with fewer than 135 pupils and merging them with more viable schools that have more pupils. The department earlier this year announced plans to close 136 schools by the end of this year.

Attending the seminar was a representative from the National Treasurys government technical assistant centre (GTAC), Phaphama Mfenyana, EE and community members.

EE deputy head Masixole Booi said they supported the provinces school rationalism and realignment if it was done in a consultative, democratic manner and was aimed at fixing schools and realising the deadlines outlined by the norms and standards for school infrastructure.

No seat of learning

According to the South African Schools Act, the MEC must complete a proper consultation process before closing a public school.

After a school is closed, all assets and liabilities of the school owned by the state must go back to the department of public works to serve other purposes.

The lobby group said community members had complained about a lack of consultation in this process. Early this year, community members, parents and teachers in different areas where their schools are rationalised have complained about the lack of consultation and community engagement from the department.

There is no clear plan about things such as scholar transport, which means pupils are forced to walk long distances from home to their new schools, said Booi.

The Dispatch last week reported about parents from Mhala Public School in Tsholomnqa, who said their children were dropped by the system when the education department closed their school and merged it with a school 7km away without providing them with transport.

Drop-outs drag pass rate down

Some pupils had no choice but to walk to their new school after the old one closed at the end of May.

The parents from Mhala said that even though they were aware the school was listed for closure, they were not informed when the school would close.

Booi said that at a meeting on education district configuration that was held in Port Elizabeth earlier this year, MEC Mandla Makupula had acknowledged that in some areas the process was not communicated well to affected parties.

This is particularly worrisome, given the immediate challenge of not only school infrastructure in the province but also scholar transport, said Booi.

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Worry over no clear plan for closing schools - GO! & Express - GO! and Express

New President for new India – The Indian Express

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Written by Dr Rakesh Sinha | Updated: June 16, 2017 1:13 am No one knows who the next President will be, but the likelihood of a contest based on entrenched positions certainly undermines the prestige of Rashtrapati Bhavan. (Illustration: C R Sasikumar)

The BJP has formed a three-member committee consisting of senior cabinet ministers, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu to examine the possibility of a consensus candidate for the President of India. This marks a moral victory for the ruling party against forces in the Opposition, which include political parties and the predominantly left- liberal intelligentsia. Their quest for a presidential nominee is not based on the moral significance of this august office, but rather, on vendetta politics. It is no secret that they see the presidential election as an opportunity to fix both Narendra Modi and Hindutva politics.

No one knows who the next President will be, but the likelihood of a contest based on entrenched positions certainly undermines the prestige of Rashtrapati Bhavan. It is a truism that no presidential election has been without contest. But political binaries have led to the devaluation of the office. The 1969 election between Neelam Sanjiva Reddy and V.V. Giri was not merely a face-off between two individuals, but between two ideologies on the one hand, and the claim to be genuine heirs of the Indian National Congress, on the other. The election witnessed fierce public debate and unprecedented polarisation in the media. Giris victory vindicated Indira Gandhi and her ideology. But it did not add value to the presidency. Rather, it heralded the notion of a rubber stamp president. Since then, the choice of a candidate became a matter of political permutations and combinations, and the election, a game of dice.

This goes against the vision of the founding fathers of the Indian Constitution, who espoused that the President should not be a symbol of partisan politics. The first President of India, Rajendra Prasad, reaffirmed that the office ought not to be a reason for instability in our parliamentary democracy. During the political confrontations between the communist government in Kerala and the Congress party, Prasad made it clear in his letter to Gyanvati Darbar on July 10, 1959, that there had been a certain misunderstanding regarding the position of the President. Probably, many people feel that the President can intervene and exert influence on one side or the other. That is an incorrect view I cannot take sides I have to act on advice and cannot act on my own. Let me keep myself above all these differences I cannot have any viewpoint which is not for the country as a whole but for any group or party only.

Whomsoever becomes President, he or she cannot alter the requirements and prerequisites of the office, or the essential features of Indias parliamentary democracy. The office does, however, have the potential to circumvent unnecessary controversies, particularly so in the present context: The rise of an alternative ideology and leadership have yet to be reconciled to by the elites which enjoyed status and privileges and considered themselves authors of the destiny of modern India.

The current situation is a replica of 1922, when, for the first time, nationalists became ministers in the provinces under the Government of India Act 1919. The colonial bureaucracy, along with governors of the provinces, were not merely unsympathetic but also contemptuous of them. In contemporary India, secularist forces are not prepared to relate Hindutva with secular, liberal and democratic principles. They unfailingly cling to their self-made belief that it is communal, intolerant and fascist. They are victims of the ossification which has set in within Left-liberal ideologies, a solidification of the mind which keeps them dogmatic and unable to re-examine their own position.

Therefore, the presidential election assumes significance for more than one reason: The office is not merely a constitutional head. It becomes a decisive player in democratic causality. There are instances of such situations the fall of the Janata Party government in 1979 made the role of Rashtrapati Bhavan crucial. Yet, there is a definite limit of presidential adventurism, even in times of political crises. Its importance lies in appealing beyond conventional politics or constitutional morality. Free from political compulsions or executive burdens, the President can act as an agent of redefining the idea of India, which is essential to restore the post-colonial identity of the Indian people.

This process was initiated by Rajendra Prasad, which led to a great confrontation with the then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Prasad, who confirmed the President should not intervene in executive and legislative business, also unfolded his role in discovering the soul of India. His confrontation with Nehru was not a battle for power, but a battle of ideas to rebuild India.

In his letter to chief ministers on August 1, 1951, Nehru stated that: It is little realised here what great injuries to our credit abroad is done by the communal organisations of India because they represent just the things which a Western mind dislikes intensely and can not understand. The recent inauguration of [the] Somnath temple with pomp and ceremony created a very bad impression abroad about India and her professions.

Prasad, differing outright with the PM, wrote to him, saying, By rising from its ashes again, this temple of Somnath is proclaiming to the world that no man and no power in the world can destroy that for which people have boundless faith and love in their hearts. Today, our attempt is not to rectify history. Our only aim is to proclaim anew our attachment to the faith, convictions and the values on which our religion has rested since immemorial ages India being a civilisational nation cant be provincialised, its roots go to hundreds and thousands of years celebrating umpteen diversities. The present challenge is to regain Indias identity through contextualising her age-old past.

Prasads letter to Gyanvati Darbar on March 26, 1959, unravels the civilisational role of the President of India: In the age of rationalism, where everything smacking of anything like religion and spiritualism is looked at askance, and when a wave of scepticism is carrying everything before it, at any rate, in the so-called educated and advanced and progressive people, it will be no small service if anything could be done to catch up with the spirit which made greater India, of which we are all proud, and of which we could get a glimpse in Cambodia, in Japan and even in Indonesia in ceremonies not in India but someday, we shall certainly regain and recover our balance.

A new President of India has to begin where Prasad left his great ideological legacies. In this regard, the election is not merely a political game of dice, but also a battle of ideologies. The office should be filled not with sectarian or other narrow considerations, but with an intent to privilege it with a philosopher-king. He must represent the soul of India, not a secularist soul. She should address not merely the present but posterity too. Besides constitutional requirements, his words and actions should be indicative of civilisational imperatives.

Rajendra Prasad aptly said, the country may throw out the ministry, not the president, for views. It is essential that the presidential candidate is not compromised, or used for the rehabilitation of a tired politician, but rather, is a positive mind who embraces the arduous task of the decolonisation of the Indian mind.The opposition parties and their intellectuals have lost their gravity and are

The opposition parties and their intellectuals have lost their gravity and are now defined more by what they oppose than what they support. Prime Minister Modi has combined the spirit of cultural legacies in his speeches, which are an assertion of a genuine idea of India, in the midst of ceaseless opposition from secularist forces. Therefore, the Presidents election would be far more than merely a defeat of the Opposition; it would be the resurrection of the spirit of Rajendra Prasad.

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New President for new India - The Indian Express

Salma Hayek is mournfully radiant in the gentle parable Beatriz at Dinner – The Denver Post

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Two stars. Rated R. In English and some Spanish with subtitles. 83 minutes.

Salma Hayek is virtually unrecognizable in Beatriz at Dinner, a sad-eyed parable in which she plays a massage therapist and healer in Southern California whose car breaks down at the home of a wealthy client, pushing her into an Alice-like plunge through the looking glass of race and class, friendship and professionalism, and liberal earnestness and hypocrisy.

As the movie opens, Hayeks title character can be seen praying in front of a shrine that includes photos of her ancestors and a beloved pet goat, whose untimely demise plays an unlikely role in the day that unfolds. After seeing clients at a clinic for cancer treatment, she makes her way to a house call in Newport Beach, where her client Cathy (Connie Britton) lives in a sprawling McMansion with her husband, Grant (David Warshofsky). When Beatrizs car goes on the blink, Cathy insists she attend the small dinner party theyre throwing to celebrate a recent real estate deal that Grant has struck with a developer named Doug Strutt (John Lithgow) and a young legal eagle named Alex (Jay Duplass).

What ensues is an awkward evening that only gets weirder as Beatriz, emboldened by several glasses of wine, confronts the assembled guests with their unexamined privilege and, when it comes to the aptly named Strutt, predatory pursuit of wealth and comfort. In contrast to the brittle, superficial tribe she has temporarily infiltrated, Beatriz is a hugger, a deep empath and, when aroused, a fierce teller-of-truth-to-power. In a way, shes Wonder Womans modern-day Mexican-American cousin, a woman who cant witness injustice or pain without doing something about it, even if its only to raise an anguished cry.

Written by Mike White and directed by Miguel Arteta, Beatriz at Dinner is suffused with the same Bressonlike sense of stoic humanism that has characterized their past work together, including Chuck & Buck and The Good Girl. Here, Arteta styles and photographs Hayek to resemble Maria Falconetti in Carl Theodor Dreyers The Passion of Joan of Arc, her limpid eyes and iconlike features taking on the contours of a holy martyr who only grows more enraptured the less she is understood.

As touching as Hayeks performance is, Beatriz at Dinner too often forsakes nuance for caricature, especially when it comes to Strutt, who emerges as the one person who comprehends and even applauds Beatrizs chutzpah, but who ultimately feels more like a convenient billboard than a fully realized, contradictory character. Similarly, the rest of the dinner guests, who include wives played by Chlo Sevigny and Amy Landecker, never come into focus as individuals. Rather, theyre a well-dressed, indistinct mass of insensitivity and cluelessness.

Beatriz at Dinner is a delicate, mournful, mystical little movie about the porous membrane that defines all our bubbles, and how tenuous its surface tension can be when severely tested. Once it pops, comedy or tragedy or maybe clarity are sure to ensue. In Beatriz at Dinner, it turns out to be a little bit of all three.

Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time.

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Salma Hayek is mournfully radiant in the gentle parable Beatriz at Dinner - The Denver Post

Enhancing Life Project links scholars across diverse fields of study – UChicago News

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

With the advancement of technology and biological breakthroughs, life expectancy for human beings has dramatically increased in the 20thand 21stcenturies. But for researchers taking part in The Enhancing Life Project, the question isnt how long we might live, but how well.

The Enhancing Life Project is a collaboration between the University of Chicago and Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany. Thanks to a $4.6 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, 35 scholars from diverse academic backgrounds have spent two years researching issues ranging from urban nature to Islam to medicine.

The results of the project will be presented Aug. 4-6 during a public capstone conference at the Gleacher Center.

One of the reasons this project got off the ground is we live in a culture constantly trying to make things better, said William Schweiker, the Edward L. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor of Theological Ethics and one of the principal investigators of the project. Faster communications, curing disease, there is even a movement called post-humanism meant to escape the limits of human existenceall these forms claim to enhance life, but as a culture we have no clear definition.

Over the course of three two-week summer residency seminars, researchers met to discuss their individual work in order to discover overlap and areas for collaboration. The final conference in August will be a chance to both reflect and look ahead.

Too often the humanities look backwards, Schweiker said. So this project, linking all these disciplines, has asked in what ways does humanist discourse lead to future discoveries.

In addition to keynote lectures and research discussions, those attending the conference will have a chance to have an open dialogue with researchers on topics of public relevance as well as how other disciplines can become involved in enhancing life.

An evening session with graduate students from around the world will look at the future of enhancing life as an academic field of study.

The hope is that the research of The Enhancing Life Project will lay the groundwork forenhancing life studies, providing a framework to scholars throughout the academy to test, analyze and assess what enhances life, said Sara Bigger, associate director of the Enhancing Life Project.

In her project, Lea Schweitz, PhD08, an associate professor of systematic theology and religion and science at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, looked at the ways to revitalize how city dwellers can interact with urban nature.

Im really trying to tell the stories of nature spaces in the city, Schweitz said. The project focuses on case studies, including a repurposed meatpacking plant and an urban prairie preserve, and it culminates in a proposal for an alternate taxonomy of urban space and an outline of a new theology of urban nature.

Aasim Padela, associate professor of medicine and director for the Initiative on Islam and Medicine at the UChicago Pritzker School of Medicine, has used his time with the project to work on creating a new model of discourse between Islamic theology and biomedicine.

Padela said his project has benefited greatly from working alongside those from other fields of study.

The ties that bind me are religious studies, medicine and ethics, Padela said. But the benefit of the project is there have been many different disciplines of scholars coming together to bounce ideas off each other. Its been a fruitful forum for thinking about ways to approach your own subject but also sensitizing you to other fields.

After two years of deep thinking and research, the residents are excited to share their findings during Augusts conference.

Its kind of like a fireworks display, all these projects that have been culminating for the past two years, Schweitz said. Im really excited to see how they have all come together.

Learn more and register for the 2017 capstone conference here.

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Enhancing Life Project links scholars across diverse fields of study - UChicago News

Facebook Aims to Start Debate on Censorship, Fake News – Variety

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Variety

Facebook Aims to Start Debate on Censorship, Fake News
Variety
Facebook is getting ready to explain itself. The social media juggernaut kick-started an effort to more openly debate questions of free speech and censorship, false and misleading news and the impact social media has on democracy Thursday, announcing a ...
Facebook requests input on hard questions about censorship and ...TechCrunch
Facebook Wants Users' Help With 'Hard Questions' On Content, Censorship And SafetyForbes
Facebook wants your inputs regarding censorship, false news, and ...The Tech Portal
Facebook Newsroom -Facebook Newsroom
all 14 news articles »

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Facebook Aims to Start Debate on Censorship, Fake News - Variety

Trump censorship: Wall HS to get new yearbooks – Asbury Park Press – Asbury Park Press

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Grant Berardo, a Wall High School junior, saw his image digitally altered with a plain black T-shirt in his yearbook. Mike Davis

Wall Township High School junior Grant Berardo's T-shirt was digitally altered in the school's yearbook. He wore a Donald Trump campaign shirt for his portrait.(Photo: Courtesy of Joseph Berardo, Jr.)

WALL High school yearbooks that featured digitally-altered photographs of students supporting President Donald Trump will be reissued, according to the district superintendent.

In a letter to parents issued Thursday evening, Superintendent Cheryl Dyer outlined a series of "mistakes," including the intentional alteration of a student's T-shirt to remove a Trump campaign logo.

Other mistakes were unintentional, likely due to"carelessness or lack of attention to detail or lack of sufficient proofreading," she said.

ICYMI: Wall High teacher suspended over alleged Trump yearbook censorship

MORE INFO: Wall teen's Trump shirt censored in yearbook

"Ido not believe that it is possible to create a yearbook of 248 pages, thousands of pictures, names, and lines of text and have it be error free," Dyer said. "That being said, I cannot allow the intentional change that was not based on dress code to be ignored. I am the Chief School Administrator in this district and I take responsibility for the actions of those who are employed here.

"Therefore, I have determined that a reissuance of the yearbook is necessary," she continued.

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The new yearbooks will be available in about two weeks, Dyer said. The school's commencement ceremony for seniors is scheduled for Friday.

Wall High School has grabbed national attention over the last week after three students reported that their images or words supporting Trump had been altered in the yearbook.

Grant Berardo, a junior at the school, took his school pictures wearing a navy blue "Make America Great Again" shirt from the campaign. In the yearbook, his photo had been digitally altered so it resembled a nondescript black T-shirt, which you can see in the video at the top of the story.

DISAFFECTED:Trump supporters at the Shore 'want their country back'

TRUMP BUDGET:A guide for the Shore

It was Photoshopped," Grant said in an interview on Friday. "I sent it to my mom and dad, just like You wont believe this. I was just overall disappointed.

"I like Trump, but its history too. Wearing that shirt memorializes the time," he said.

In her letter, Dyer said this alteration was "intentional."

Wall High School(Photo: File photo)

But it's not yet clear whether aquote attributed to Trump was purposely left out of a section dedicated to Montana Dobrovich-Fago's role as freshman class president, Dyer said.

Traditionally, class presidents pick a quote to accompany their picture."I like thinking big. If you are going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big," Trump's quote read.

The quote was submitted before a deadline but did not appear in the yearbook.

ELSEWHERE: Bleeding liberal blue in red Jackson

Montana's older brother, Wyatt Dobrovich-Fago, wore a sweater vest with a Trump logo for his school pictures. The logo was cropped out of the photograph in the yearbook, but Dyer said it was done in "the same manner as all of the underclass photos."

It did not appear to be intentional, she said.

According to Dyer, other errors in the yearbook included:

Digital media teacher Susan Parsons, also the yearbook adviser, was suspended with pay due to the incident. The school board is expected to discuss further discipline at its June 20 meeting.

She has not returned multiple calls seeking comment.

MORE: Trump yearbook censor is registered Democrat

Mike Davis: 732-643-4223; mdavis@gannettnj.com

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Trump censorship: Wall HS to get new yearbooks - Asbury Park Press - Asbury Park Press

Blood Drive Creator Talks Grindhouse, Censorship, Cop Erections – Den of Geek US

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

There a lot of shows that call themselves groundbreaking, but the 13 episodes of Blood Drivereally will test the barriers of speed, tone, and language.

While many shows that would tout themselves as groundbreaking might take that role seriously, Blood Drive takes itself ridiculously. This is part of what makes it so different. Sure, the series from Syfy and Universal Cable Productions takes on such weighty subjects as fracking, corporate greed and police brutality, but it never gets heavy enough to slow the pace, gasps or laughs.

Den of Geek spoke with the driving forces behind Blood Drive before the checkered flag drops. Lead actors Christina Ochoa, Colin Cunningham, and Alan Ritchson parked themselves long enough to discuss characters, themes, and production notes. But they all did it with the enthusiastic giggles of artists given a chance to go full throttle.

They were given the keys to this monstrous machine by the shows creator and writer James Roland, who was getting coffee on shows like Mad Men and Weeds before this, and showrunner John Hlavin, best known for writing the screenplay for Underworld Awakening and episodes of The Shield. Between gales of laughter, heres what they told us.

Den of Geek: Ill be asking this to everyone: How many times did you have to take the driving test before you passed?

James Roland: It was actually who we had to kill. John had me kill somebody.

Did Syfy give you any shit about language? The first episode is called The Fucking Cop and theres one episode called The Fucking Dead. Was there a problem with that? Because when we turn on cable and hit the info button, we see these things.

James: They were cool about it

John Hlavin: That one in particular, because the title we knew we would be on DVRs, we were somewhat concerned but, honestly, Syfy from a content standpoint, really gave us quite a bit of rope. Wouldnt you say, James?

James: Yeah, we talked about it at first, saying uh oh, what are you going to do? It was like real far out. But once they started seeing the cuts and they started getting into it, I remember at one point S&P said something like give us a couple weeks, we need to wrap our heads around this. I think of all the battles they had to fight, that became the one they didnt even have to worry about. So they were pretty great about it. I think were going to be the first, on their network at least, show that doesnt bleep fuck. Thats what I heard, I dont have that confirmed. So, yeah, it was kind of a free-for-all with the language. It was great.

I can bleep out the unconfirmed bit later. So there werent intense production note sessions like the ones between Slink and Heart Enterprises?

James: Theres a lot of fun stuff with that. Almost everything Slink says, I think youre referring specifically to episode three?

Yes.

James: Almost everything thats on those note calls is our twisted variation on actual notes calls. All the stuff with the executives throughout the show, its all based in truth. But also totally focused through our crazy lens.

I love the way you play with censorship. You use visual puns. My favorite is the cops erections. How much leeway are you really giving him?

John: First off, can we just say, please put that in your article, that you have stated that that is your favorite part. The thing is, it made the show feel more salacious than it was. There were times we were covering up things that actually, probably, could have been okay, and there were times we did it to get around things. There were times we were gonna do things that we ended up not doing, but we were having a lot of fun with pulling that ride on that bar, playing with censors. We were very lucky, in this regard, at Syfy and UCP. They were really supportive of the vision of what the show was and how it evolved as we moved forward into a kind of a commentary on what its like to make a television show. They were really gracious about it.

Also, to James point, we were very aware of the fact when they were giving us notes that there was an excellent chance those notes were going to wind up in some form or another coming out of Slinks mouth in a critical, critical way.

James: Later on Slink starts really interacting more with the executives at Heart. We were originally spoofing, giving these Easter Egg references to our executives and we had trouble clearing those names. Then we just said, what are we hiding the salami for? Lets just call them the names of our executives. Then it be became, not to give away too many spoilers, but a lot of those executives dont make it. We were afraid how they would take it. Like, oh my god, are we crossing a line, killing off our executives? And they loved it and then it became a request. They started asking can so and so get in the show? Can you kill this person? They loved it.

Okay, I want to work at Heart Enterprises. What should I put on my resume?

James: The fact that you want to work there alone is almost enough to get you in.

John: Yeah, you probably better talk to your bosses about that.

James: Well, we talked a lot about that. We actually had an ethos for Heart Enterprises, to put a method behind the madness. Cos its so easy to just have a Machiavellian villain, you see this in comic book movies, you think, why are they going about things this way, when it would be more convenient for the sake of plot. We really talked about how, because they are so evil, they dont care if they have a faulty product. If their iPhones blow up and kill ninety people, they say great. Like the same way they did with the Joker from The Dark Knight, where he works for Chaos and goes about things that might actually destroy him just because he has that methodology. Thats what were talking about with Heart. Its about the amount of chaos. Its the collateral damage that makes the company what it is.

At one point we talked about an intern seeing that first day at Heart Enterprises and what it takes to get in. But they literally, youll find this out a little later in the show, they actually do recruit psychos. They talk about their hiring practices. Some of that will be in the show in later episodes.

Will they be working on their dental plan?

James: Exactly. Theyll have to have a good one to keep up.

You mention that Slink is a Machiavellian character, or is he the ultimate company man?

James: Youll have to find out. In the first couple episode one of the things that was fun was putting such a powerful character. Hes a god to the racers. But whos the god to the god? Whos the step above that? We had a lot of fun with that. Whenever you see Slink at Heart Enterprises you get to see people that actually have more power than him, and what thats like. It actually makes him more of a dimensional character, too, than just the standard villain.

John: A lot of what we realized after we cast Colin and started to watch him work that there was a lot more to play in that character. A lot of credit goes to Colin as well for really finding who he was and letting us play with it once we realized that his voice was so specific. He did a truly amazing job bringing that guy to life. Theres a lot of ways he could have gone with that character and he went a way we didnt see coming even though James had written very interesting ideas, he found layers that made him more interesting than we had even thought of. So, many kudos to Colin for that.

Have you ever grossed yourself out with an effect you thought up yourself?

[Evil laughter] James: I wanted really badly, but we couldnt afford it, to make a perfect human rubber filled with strawberry jam to feed into the engine so we could see the whole thing from start to finish. But even what we ended up with was pretty horrible, a man getting his head chewed up. What the show did to Christopher in that chamber, I think in episode 4.

John: Episode 4 was our point of no return.

James: That wasnt an effect but, James Roday directed that episode, some of that was hard to watch.

Yeah, some of the stuff they were throwing up against the walls...

John: Kudos, by the way, to both those actors. They just showed up and fucking grabbed these parts and got inside of them, James was on set the entire time in Cape Town. We were always blown away here in LA, wed get the dailies and there just wasnt a bad performance. Everybody really embraced their roles and James Roday did a great job in bringing them out and capturing them. We were really, from the very first set of dailies, we heard from UCP that day, and Syfy, and they said Holy shit. I dont think they expected it to be as good as we thought could be. And then it was actually better than we all expected.

I love how you go from monster-of-the-week episodes, to changing styles from one style of grindhouse to the next. How did you come up with those dynamics?

James: That was almost an accident. When I pitched the premise to my manager, before it was even written, I phrased it as a grindhouse TV show, Road Trip Through a Grindhouse World, and he lit up and said write that, write that. I had the premise before that but never thought of it in that way. Then it naturally leaned into, if youre going to have a road trip, you might as well have a story of the week. It seemed very natural.

Grindhouse isnt a cinematic movement or genre. It was specifically a place that played exploitation films. Its endless the amount of styles and artistry that was going into that, good or bad. It was a really fertile ground to pick from. So how do we control that? Each week they just drive into a different movie. That seemed to click with everybody. It helped them wrap their heads around the world that we created.

The next challenge was how to fuck people up, especially on a lower budget. Kudos to the crew down there, and our directors, David Straiton really helped form the whole world. David directed four of the 13 episodes. But he was also down there every day as an executive producer and he really worked to form not only the look of the show, but how we went about shooting it, and how we went about creating a different look and a different vibe for each episode.

We were also in a place, I think a lot of shows tell their crews and tell their guest directors, we want your thumb print to be on this show, but they dont really mean it. For us, it was totally the case. I saw a lot of wide-eyed directors down there filled with excitement and fear. They were given the reins artistically. In episode 5 there was a whole set that was built that defies gravity. It switches gravitational pull into different directions. None of that was scripted. The director in that episode worked with the production designer to create this whole concept. He took a scene that was a pretty straightforward scene and turned it into this little miracle, an awesome moment. I dont think theres a lot of shows that give their directors or their department heads creative freedom like that. It just let people off the hook. Our costume designer, Danielle Knox, and our production designer, Andrew Orlando, come from this grindhousy kind of world. They love those kinds of movies so they just pulled it off fast. They really leaned into the challenge of making a 45-minute movie of a different genre every week and god knows how they managed to pull it off.

James: Yes, we talked about Videodrome in the writers room. We talked a lot about Cronenberg. We really described the world as if Roger Corman and David Cronenberg helped god create the world. Because Roger Corman is a visionary in a lot of ways. He gets knocked down a lot because of the quality of his pictures, but a lot of them are better than people give him credit for. I just saw The Man With the X-Ray Eyes at a little festival and its the damnedest film. Even though some of its pretty dated and the low budget.

But then you take Cronenberg who lived in this world of schlocky, weird shit, man, but theres an intelligence to it. No matter how silly it got theres always a gravity that would kind of surprise you, or an imagery that would unsettle you and was very striking. And that was, especially in the side of the world that Christopher [Thomas Dominique] and Aki [Marama Corlett] and Heart Enterprises have, we talked about Cronenberg quite a bit.

I spoke with Corman for the newest Death Race reboot, and he saw it as a social commentary, so Im wondering: The Scar is caused by fracking, is this ultimately ecologically conscious grindhouse?

John: Truthfully, not really as much as you think. I mean were always in the room, certainly thinking about the world at large, but we werent necessarily trying to make an allegory. The number one rule for us was entertain, and if there was a chance to have a little fun with satire, we would lean into that direction. Certainly in the world that James created where gas is extraordinarily expensive, you see that water is being fought over. We never thinking of it as a future dystopia, we were always framed it as a stark vision of 1999.

The fracking thing, at the time of the writing, it was kind of on the decline. It may increase again under the new administration. But we heard all the horror stories of what could happen with fracking. It made a great place to indicate that to be so dependent on these fossil fuels is inherently evil because eventually theyll be gone and then what will happen?

James: The scar also is something that evolved for us.

John: So we put those together. The stuff coming out of the Scar went beyond oil. For the basis of that need to destroy something so you can live for a time in greater comfort, the stuff coming out of the scar was perfect. Its just pure evil. Its selfishness and greed and all those things. Theres nothing altruistic about it. It takes you to your worst place.

James: The concept of fracking, which just personifies the way we treat the world, were hurdling through space on this thing we call our home and were cracking it and breaking it and sucking it dry. I understand why we need oil for stuff like that. Im not crazy, but from the other perspective, its like, what the fuck are we doing? So when we struck upon that idea, even calling it the Scar was intentional. We have to face the fact that weve permanently hurt ourselves. All of that stuff was intentional, but Johns right. Ultimately, theres not much we can do about this, so lets have fun with it.

I also saw commentary in small details, like how the cops make their quotas in teeth. Did that come from living in LA?

James: Yeah, all that stuff, like the cameras being judge, jury and executioner, was from how everyone thought mounted cameras have been shown statistically to make everything better. All the interactions between policemen and civilians go smoother because everyones being watched and everyones on their best behavior. But that could so easily shift, because if one side controls where that data goes, then who is actually watching and who is supervising? We tried to pull all of those things. Things that are actually going on in our world and try and twist it and make it as terrible as possible.

Christina Orchoas great uncle is a Nobel prize-winning biochemist. Were you tempted to go to him for the science behind running a car on human blood?

James: We dont need to go to him. We can go to her, man. Shes one of the smartest people Ive ever met. She had some fun with that. She runs in very elite scientific circles. At least elite by my standards. At some point she actually did have somebody working on whether it was possible, and the answer is no. We always knew that. There is going to be a certain amount of people who watch the show who go its impossible for cars to run on human blood. But its impossible for a person to turn into a wolf and run around during the full moon too. Monsters have always been metaphors and these cars, theyre just the monsters of the show, in many ways. But she totally went down that road too and had a lot of fun with it.

Which character best represents you on the show?

James: John you go first.

John: Oh my god. I guess, probably as the showrunner, when you see Slink arguing with executives or putting up with whatever he puts up with, when we were in the room, those things we discussed. But honestly, all these things came out of Rolands insane head. You wouldnt know that from meeting James, hes the nicest guy in the world, but theres some dark shit up there.

James: My wife always likes to say that I split myself in half and one half was Arthur and the other half was Slink, which is weird. I think Arthur kinds of clings to his morality and his demanding of rules and that chaos shouldnt be going on. Even in the face of impossible odds. Our show is a David and Goliath story and theres no fucking way Goliath would have lost. Lets face it. Its a myth for a reason. I basically took that part of my personality and put it into a body I will never have and that would be Arthur. And all of the writers and key creators of the show are connected with Slink in that kind of way because everybody is scared of this thing that they create. That this thing they put all this work into is going to go out there and everyones going to tear it apart and shit on it or not like it. Try to make it their own. Every artists feels that way when theyre creating something.

So Slink was a way to live out those dark desires. We see that in the first trailer, you try to give me notes and Im going to throw a knife in your chest. It sounds creepy to say, but its wish fulfillment. Im friends with all our executives, we have a great working relationship. Its not to say that that obviously is all hyperbole and ridiculousness. But when you like somebody and they hesitate and go, ah, but lets talk about things I dont like, that always sucks. Theres no way that doesnt suck. It makes sense that writers and creators really connect with Slink.

Is there really much difference between making a show like this and working on Shield or Madmen?

John: Well theres a huge budgetary difference. For my part, Im not sure now, the Blood Drive experience was very different. Because every time you have an idea, we have great writers on this show and we would sit in a room together and, normally, when youre writing a show, someone will say oh this is a crazy idea, we could never use this. That was always the idea on Blood Drive we would end up using. There was no boundary to what we could do, as long as we hung on to the narrative of the story, we had a lot of freedom.

The downside to that is, if the canvass is too big, you can end up being a little sloppy. I think we guarded against that by making sure we never did quote unquote gags or went to an easy gag. We always tried to keep it connected to our world. I would say and I dont think this is hyperbole there is nothing like Blood Drive on the air, at least not to my knowledge. And I cant even remember a time when it was. Its sort of a one-hour action-drama with a lot of comedy but its also inside of a genre that for some reason, I dont think even Netflix has a comparison, there nothing that does grindhouse. And James will tell you that when we were premiering this thing at the Egyptian he made the point that was really smart. When youre making a show for this little money its not grindhouse, it forces to you have to make grindhouse decisions. We didnt have the money to shoot certain things so we had to figure it out the way they had to figure it out in the 70s and the 80s, when they didnt have the money.

If you freeze screen the first episode youll see that theres a guy driving early on. It was fairly obviously a male driver with a wig and a goatee, not Christina. And we were going back and forth on what to do and James emailed us and said, hey if this is grindhouse we leave it. You just have to defend your buddy. Like other shows Ive worked on, in terms of another show Im running now, youd would always fix it. You would worry that these little details would ruin the experience but on Blood Drive those little details actually enhance the experience.

James: Well, on those other shows, I was grabbing coffee. But all of that rings true. That was the challenge and the hurdle we faced every week in the writers room was how crazy can we get? Great. We always said lets use the crazy a safety net never as a crutch, because if we fail on a scene its gonna be weird enough with tension to be enjoyable, but you never want to depend on that. you want to try and build up a character-driven scene in the middle of an action sequence just like any other show.

Stunt driving, is it any easier now than it was in the seventies because of the effects they didnt have then?

John: Roland, go ahead.

James: One of the things that saved us was being able to do all the car stuff on a sound stage, but also we knew, even on Madmen. I loved Madmen, and there werent many shows that looked as good as Madmen, and yet when they did driving, and it was green-screen driving you could very much tell that it was green-screen driving. It was the best green screen driving on TV, but it was still green screen driving. We went the other way. We actually used rear projection for the driving and used a videogame engine to generate the exteriors. We could alter the angles of the sun. We could alter everything in that environment around those cars at a reasonable price because we also blew it out and did these cool silver things. So it didnt have to be 100 percent photorealistic David Straiton and our EVP Huroan LEay came up with this amazing way to kind of shoot through glass and these weird filters to give this really cool effect to the inside of the car. That saved our ass.

In the seventies, theyd be shooting this thing for real. With a guy in the back seat with a mounted camera or it you would have to make a process trailer, which takes forever. So, yeah, I think that definitely saved our ass and modern technology saved our ass. We always said that it would. We look at 16 millimeter film through this nostalgic lens and it certainly looks beautiful, but if Corman had a digital camera they would have grabbed it in an instant. As long as the aesthetic was okay, and they didnt care about aesthetic to a certain degree but ultimately it was how do we get this done. We couldnt have made this show if we didnt have modern technology.

I have a sense that the 10 million is a bait and switch. Im afraid to ask, but is the Blood Drive a larger audition that theyre on?

John: Its gonna take you to a place where, we felt when we got to the end of this thing, there were some surprises for us. James came in with a five-year plan for the show and at the end of the season we always get to a more interesting place if it sticks to James original vision. After this whole thing has made its run, lets get on the phone again and talk about it.

Do you remember your first cars?

John: Mine was a 1988 honda Civic. 1980.

James: Better than mine, I dont know year but I had a 3 cylindar Geo Metro, I didnt even know it was possible. It was basically a golf cart.

John: James was in such a daze when he got back from Cape Town, cos he had just gotten a new car that had been in a car in a garage for six months that, the first time you drove it, didnt you crash it?

James: Yeah, I pulled out to the end of the driveway. Looked left, looked right and pulled right in front of somebody, It was a pretty fitting welcome home to America after leaving to film car insanity.

I take it that neither of you were big drag racers.

John: Theres not much drag racing in Clevland, Ohio.

James: I think the reason why we focused on Classic American Cars as much as possible is the artistry, I love them. The Camero is a gorgeous piece of art. Its incredible. Weve gotten away from that, to a certain degree. But also somebody asked me, one of the writers, you must be really into cars and stuff. I said, well, I wrote a show where cars literally destroy the world and then turn into monsters. Car culture is a two headed beast. I love vehicles as much as any other red-blooded American but theres a price for that. The pride that we put into these things literally emit poisons as you drive them., Were seeing the long-term ramifications of that. That was always the metaphor: a beautiful red Camero and when you open the hood, theres something dark underneath.

Blood Drivepremieres on Syfy on June 14th.

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Blood Drive Creator Talks Grindhouse, Censorship, Cop Erections - Den of Geek US

National Coalition Against Censorship criticizes Walker for decision … – Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Photo credit: Anthony Souffle for Star Tribune

Now that Scaffold has come down andplans for what to do with the wood are underway, several organizations are publicly criticizing the Walker Art Centers actions in the case.

In astatement issued June 9, a group led by the National Coalition Against Censorship took issue with both the outcome and the process by which theWalker agreed to dismantle "Scaffold," which began on Friday, June 2, only seven days after Walker executive director Olga Viso opened public discussion about the sculpture by posting an open letter to the American Indian community.

"The Walkers decision to destroy Scaffold as a way to respond to protests sets an ominous precedent: not only does it weaken the institutions position in future programming but sends a chill over artists and other cultural institutions commitment to creating and exhibiting political, socially relevant work," said the statement from NCAC, which represents more than 50 organizations. The statement also was endorsed by the literary organizationPEN America, the International Association of Art Critics, Observatoire de la libert de cration (France), International Art Rights Advisors, Freemuse defending artistic freedom, Index on Censorship and Stichting In den Vreemde.

Moreover, the statement said, "The hasty decision did not allow for time to obtain meaningful feedback from the broader community or consider various options to respond to the concerns raised by Dakota leaders."

Recognizing theneed for cultural organizations and artists to respond in "creative ways" to such controversies, the coalition had reached out to the Walker, according toJoy Garnett, Arts Advocacy Program Associate at NCAC.

We were in communication with the Walker after the controversy erupted, Garnett said. We decided we might offer our assistance or sounding board we know that these things can be very complex. [The Walker] didnt take our advice to move more slowly. They moved quickly.

The timing of the protests wasinopportune for the Walker, which had planned the sculpture as part of the June 3 reopening of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. It made another fast decision: topush back the openinguntil June 10.

Sam Durants Scaffold was a large wooden-and-steel structure composite of the gallows used in seven U.S.-state sanctioned executions, including the abolitionist John Brown (1859), the Dakota 38 (1862), the Lincoln Conspirators (1865), Saddam Hussein (2006), and several others. Facing starvation, a number of Dakota took up arms in 1862 after being forced onto reservations and cheated out of money they were owed. The six-week U.S.-Dakota War cost the lives of an estimated 600 white settlers and soldiers, and 100 Dakota warriors. The Dakota 38 was the largest mass execution in U.S. history.

Protests over the works placement in the Minneapolis Sculpture Gardenbegan on Friday, May 27after Walker Director Olga Viso posted an open letter to The Circle, an American Indian newspaper in St. Paul.The Walkers decision todismantle and remove the sculpturehappenedthe next day, Saturday May 27. One week later, on Friday, June 2,the piece was dismantledin a ceremony with Dakota elders and spiritual leaders.

The Dakota communityhasput a hold on any proposed burning, taking time to reconvene in-person with elders and spiritual leaders from different parts of North America. They willmeet on June 25to decide what to do with the wood, which is being held in an undisclosed location within the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

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National Coalition Against Censorship criticizes Walker for decision ... - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Free speech, the great American right – The College Fix

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Free speech, the great American right

We should be relentlessly vigilant against attempts to curtail it

Free speech is a bedrock constitutional right, perhaps the crown jewel among American civil liberties, and a necessary component to any free societyand so it makes perfect sense that so many people, campus radicals chief among them, would wish to curtail or destroy it. The latest such effort comes from the University of Maryland, where a student group, seizing upon the tragedy of a murdered young black man, have demanded that the schools administration treat hate speech like cult activity and regulate it accordingly.

This is a by-now familiar type of demand: there is not a single pretext to which a certain kind of college student will not resort in order to quash free speech. Note, of course, the glaringly practical flaw to this proposal: even if the university were permitted to regulate hate speech (its not; see Constitution, United States, Amd. 1), there is no indication that hate speech, on or off campus, had anything to do with this murder, or that clamping down on it, however that would work, would have any genuine effect on preventing another such crime in the future.

But the point of anti-free-speech efforts isnt to achieve some measurable outcome; its to stifle free speech. Indeed, it is highly unlikely that even the exercised and agitated student activists at the University of Maryland believe that hate speech is itself a genuine threat that must be treated like cult activity. Rather, they just wish to shut people up with whom they dont agree. In a sense this is perfectly understandable; nobody wants to hear unpleasant things. But just because someone says something unpleasant doesnt mean they dont have the right to do so.

Once upon a time students might have known this. These days, its apparently not as clear. Nearly three-quarters of college students, for instance, believe that colleges should be able to restrict slurs and other language on campus that is intentionally offensive to certain groups. The failure of our students to grasp the basic precepts of free speech is staggering. It is a failure not just at the college level, but through high school on down: where our educational system might have once inculcated in the studentry a healthy civic respect for American speech freedoms, we now have seven out of every ten young adults believing that universities should be permitted to muzzle offensive language. Something has gone terribly wrong here.

It is likely that the University of Maryland will not, in fact, make any moves to classify any kind of hate speech as cult activity. But dont worry: the university is looking to strengthen sanctions for hate and bias. So perhaps it will come to the same thing, in which case anti-speech student groups will be satisfiedand everyone else will be muzzled.

MORE:An inside look at the Free Speech class UCLA blocked students from taking

MORE:Berkeley op-ed: safety of marginalized more important than free speech

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Free speech, the great American right - The College Fix

At least 1 arrested as free speech rally at Evergreen College sees counter-protests – RT

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Danzig

Police arrested at least one person at a free speech rally organized to oppose political correctness at Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington. Clashes marked the gathering, as black-clad counter-protesters arrived with silly string and pepper spray.

Riot police flanked protesters from both sides of the political spectrum gathered at The Evergreen State College, as the liberal arts institution was otherwise closed and all campus activities were suspended Thursday.

On one side, the Patriot Prayer conservative group gathered to protest the colleges Day of Absence, a long-time annual event that came with a twist this year. Instead of a voluntary boycott by a particular minority such as women or immigrants this time students demanded a day without white people be enforced. In May, protests erupted after a white professor at the college refused to participate. Dozens of students later demanded the professors resignation after he wrote an email about the incident, which they deemed to be racist.

The Patriot Prayer group is calling for the colleges funding to be cut since they say it has been taken over by political correctness and hatred.

You cannot ask students and professors to leave campus because of the color of their skin, the groups Facebook page said.

On the other side, counter-protesters often referred to as anti-fascists, were dressed all in black, with black masks and black hats.

The Puget Sound Anarchists website called for people to come protest the Patriot Prayer rally, saying the group works closely with explicit fascists, and white supremacists.

Both groups were met by around 65 Washington State troopers armed with rifles and dressed in riot gear, according to the Olympian.

At one point, the counter-protesters began spraying the free speech protesters with silly string.

Joey Gibson, the leader of the Patriot Prayer group, was seen being escorted away from the event after he claimed he approached the counter-protesters and tried to shake hands with them. Gibson said he was called a racist and a fascist and someone dressed in black hit him in the face with a can and pepper-sprayed him.

Not one person shook my hand, not one. I just wanted to have a conversation, Gibson said. They act like theyre against hate, theres no way. If theyre against hate then they would have taken my hand and shaken it like a man. Thats all Im asking for.

Upon leaving the protest, Gibson also allegedly had his tires slashed, along with several other protesters.

Washington State Patrol confirmed that a 25-year-old man was arrested for disorderly conduct during the event. No other arrests were made.

No other details were provided about the individual who was arrested, however, one user posted an image on Twitter, showing two men fighting on the ground, along with a caption that said, Patriot Prayer supporter wrestles man with a knife at Evergreen State College. They handed him over to state troopers.

Other users also confirmed that someone at the event had a knife and was tackled.

At the end of the day, the protesters left without any major incidents or injuries reported. As one Twitter user said, This is an actual conversation happening between 2 sides that hasn't gotten ugly.

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At least 1 arrested as free speech rally at Evergreen College sees counter-protests - RT

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