Aerospace giant Boeing announces plans to build first European factory in Sheffield – The Sun

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AEROSPACEgiant Boeing has announced plans to build its first European factory in Sheffield.

The 20 million facility will manufacture parts and systems used on aeroplane wings for the companys aircraft.

AP:Associated Press

The firm will also initiate a major research and development programme with the University of Sheffields Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) to develop new manufacturing techniques.

The proposed 2,300 sq m factory will be built alongside the AMRC, between Sheffield and Rotherham.

It is expected to begin hiring next year.

The facility, to be named Boeing Sheffield, will manufacture key high-tech actuation components and systems, used in Boeings Next-Generation 737, 737 MAX and 777 aircraft, in-house.

The announcement comes just weeks after new AMRC partner McLaren Automotive revealed plans for a new chassis manufacturing facility in the Sheffield City Region.

The AMRC was co-founded by the University of Sheffield and Boeing in 2001 as a centre for collaborative research.

It has since grown to include more than 90 industrial partners from sectors such as aerospace, medical, automotive and construction, and has become a model worldwide in how to conduct collaborative research to develop new manufacturing techniques and technologies.

Sir Michael Arthur, president of Boeing Europe and managing director of Boeing UK and Ireland, said: The UK provides Boeing with the talent and infrastructure we need to grow and maintain a high level of productivity and quality to meet our significant order book.

We are proud to expand our relationship with the UK still further with Boeing Sheffield. Our decision to start manufacturing high-value components in the UK is a step-change in our engagement and a further example of Boeings commitment to grow here, supporting the UKs long-term prosperity.

Professor Keith Ridgway, executive dean of the AMRC said: It has always been our ambition that one day Boeing would open a manufacturing facility in Sheffield.

This announcement is the culmination of a successful relationship that has developed since the AMRC with Boeing was founded 16 years ago.

We look forward to supporting Boeing and continuing to ensure that UK manufacturers remain competitive, through access to our expertise here at the AMRC.

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The role of weight in postmenopausal women's longevity … – Science Daily

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In a large multiethnic study, being underweight was linked with an increased risk of early death among postmenopausal women. Also, a higher waist circumference -- but not being overweight or slightly obese -- was associated with premature mortality, indicating that abdominal fat is more deadly than carrying excess weight.

Interestingly, Hispanic women in the study had a lower mortality rate at any given body mass index or waist circumference compared with non-Hispanic whites or African-Americans.

"We have used data from the large prospective cohort of the US Women's Health Initiative to add evidence on the relationship of general and central obesity with all-cause mortality in older women, especially in African American and Hispanic American older women, who have not been well represented in previous research on this topic," said Dr. Zhao Chen, lead author of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society study. "Our study findings have called public health attention to reduce central obesity in older women from different racial/ethnic groups and to reconsider recommendations on the range of healthy body mass index in older women."

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Patterns of protein synthesis associated with increased longevity discovered – Science Daily

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Aging is a complex process that involves multiple metabolic and regulatory pathways. Previous studies have identified hundreds of genes whose deletion can significantly increase lifespan in model organisms. Yet, how these different aging genes and pathways are interconnected remains poorly understood.

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have uncovered new regulatory factors that link gene expression profiles with aging. The study, which appears in the journal Cell Reports, could help identify new therapeutic targets for potential interventions for human diseases associated with old age, such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and cardiovascular disease.

Using a technique called ribosome profiling or Ribo-seq, the researchers identified common and unique patterns of protein synthesis associated with increased longevity.

"Hundreds of genes are known to affect aging and one of the major challenges now is to understand how different aging genes and pathways are interconnected. These findings could provide us a better view on what aging is and how we can manipulate some of these factors to improve the quality of life in older age," explained corresponding author Vyacheslav Labunskyy, PhD, assistant professor of dermatology at BUSM.

According to the researchers by expanding this analysis to dozens of additional mutants, they hope to build a comprehensive interaction network linking regulatory factors with aging-associated genes. "Given that many of these genes and pathways are present in higher species including mammals, such studies could help identify new therapeutic targets for potential interventions for human diseases associated with aging. However, more research is needed to study how activity of these regulatory factors and signaling networks changes with age.

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Genetic engineering could become terrorist weapon Bill Gates … – InterAksyon

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MUNICH Microsoft founder Bill Gates said at the Munich Security Conference that genetic engineering could be a terrorist weapon and may kill tens of millions of people.

The next epidemic could originate on the computer screen of a terrorist intent on using genetic engineering to create a synthetic version of the smallpox virus or a super contagious and deadly strain of the flu, Gates made the remarks on Saturday.

Having spent billions of U.S. dollars in a philanthropic drive to improve health worldwide, Gates said that bio-terrorism could kill more than 30 million people in less than a year.

Furthermore, he predicted that there is a possibility our globe will experience such an outbreak in the next 10 to 15 years.

Some intelligence agencies have noticed that the Islamic State has been trying to develop biological weapons at its bases in Syria and Iraq, according to the Guardian.

Although the threat seems tiny due to technological support and manpower, the pressure from bio-terrorism has become more and more realistic in the past years.

Getting ready for a global pandemic is every bit as important as nuclear deterrence and avoiding a climate catastrophe. Innovation, cooperation and careful planning can dramatically mitigate the risks presented by each of these threats, said Gates.

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Success at Regional Science Fair, several students headed to State – Crookston Daily Times

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Eleven St. Marys junior high students competed in the Regional Science Fair and brought home a variety of ribbons and awards.

Eleven St. Marys junior high students competed in the Regional Science Fair in Mankato on Saturday, Feb. 19 and brought home a variety of ribbons and awards. Eight students were awarded Purple and White Ribbons, earning advancement to the Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair in Minneapolis March 25 to 27.

The three seventh grade students will advance to State, and each earned additional awards.

Natalie MartiTurn Milk into Plastic: Purple and White Ribbons, Broadcam Masters award, Most Outstanding Exhibits in Materials Science, Naval Science Excellence Award, Thin Film Scholar Award.

Maddie HoseThe Effects of the Angle of the Sun on Solar Power: Purple and White Ribbons, Thin Film Scholar Award, CSETAchievement Award for Energy.

Sophie KyllonenThe Effects of Straw Diameter on the Strength of a Mechanical Hand: Purple and White Ribbons, Broadcam Masters award, Naval Science Excellence Award, Thin Film Scholar Award.

Five eighth grade students also advance to state (the Purple and White Ribbon award winners.)

Braden HansenThe Power of Geothermal Energy: Purple and White Ribbons.

Anthony HelgetHydraulics: Purple and White Ribbons.

Patrick Hoffmann and Jacob LuxConverting a Four Stroke Engine to an Air Compressed Engine: Blue Ribbon.

Joey FischerPsychological Tendencies: Purple and White Ribbons, American Psychological Association for Research Award.

Regina SurprenantElectromagnetic Radiations Effect of Phaseolus vulgaris: Red Ribbon.

John BalkoElectric Motor Performance with Batteries: Purple and White Ribbons.

Abby St. PeterThe Effects of Stress on Short Term Memory: Purple and White Ribbons, CSET Achievement Award for Behavioral Science.

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Success at Regional Science Fair, several students headed to State - Crookston Daily Times

Leading Integrative Medicine Institute Reveals the Single Unifying … – Yahoo Finance

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CHICAGO, Feb. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In physics the search goes on to find the one unified theory of how all forces in the universe originate from a single field, a single unifying force. Einstein sought after the "theory of everything" until his death but never found it. What if there is a grand unified theory of how all disease begins? Dr. Keith Nemec, the director of Total Health Institute, an alternative and integrative medical facility in Chicago and a graduate of University of South Florida's Morsani College of Medicine, believes that this unifying cause of all disease is inflammation at the cellular level.

Dr. Nemec has begun his preparatory Ph.D. research in Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine focusing on the underlying cause of health and disease. According to Dr. Nemec, "All disease starts with cellular inflammation. Whether you have cancer, heart disease, diabetes, digestive disorders, autoimmune disease or Alzheimer's, it all starts with inflammation at the cellular level which leads to either early cell death translating into specific organ or gland disease or into cancer stem cell stimulation which fuels cancer cell growth and metastasis."

Dr. Nemec explains that disease cannot be resolved by looking at the disease and trying to cure it, but by looking at the environment that allows all disease to form and changing that instead. According to Dr. Nemec, "If you put garbage on your driveway it will attract flies. If you want to get rid of the flies how many cans of insecticide will you need? The answer is infinite because no matter how many flies you kill more will come because you have an environment (the garbage) that enables them to grow. When you change the environment (get rid of the garbage) the flies will be gone and so will the disease, all disease."

Dr. Nemec states, "All cells need four basic elements to live and thrive. Oxygen in, water in, food in and waste products out. If these are done on a timely basis the cells will live very long. The human body was designed by God to live well over a hundred years in health but this can only be achieved when these four elements are efficiently maintained. If there is a breakdown of any of these four at the cellular level, this is when inflammation, the precursor to all disease, begins."

Dr. Nemec's vision is catching on as people are traveling from around the globe to Total Health Institute to change their cellular environment with the Institute's treatment and teaching programs.

Dr. Nemec is an author, and lecturer in the field of diet and nutritional medicine. Dr. Nemec is a board-certified diplomate of American Board of Anti-Aging Health Practitioners. This is a certification program of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. Dr. Keith Nemec also holds his fellowship in Integrative Cancer Therapy through American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine.

Dr. Nemec can be contacted through the Total Health Institute's website totalhealthinstitute.com.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leading-integrative-medicine-institute-reveals-the-single-unifying-cause-of-all-disease-300410468.html

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Learn more about carboxytherapy – Palm Beach Post

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Question: What is carboxytherapy?

Answer: Carboxytherapy is a treatment that uses carbon dioxide in controlled doses to treat a number of aesthetic conditions. It was first discovered in 1946 in France, when physicians noticed that patients with circulation problems improved in the carbon dioxide-rich thermal waters of Royat.

The indications for this therapy have extended since then from treating medical problems to its application in aesthetic medicine as an effective treatment for stretch marks, cellulite, localized fat deposits, scars, hair loss, improvement of skin laxity, wrinkles and dark circle under the eyes.

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring gas that the body produces as a byproduct of respiration and cellular metabolism. As such, it is safe to use; in fact, it is used extensively in medicine every day, such as in colonoscopies and laparoscopic surgery. Carbone dioxide has no toxicity even in elevated doses.

As a result of aging, we may have decreased blood flow and oxygen delivery to the tissues. When carbon dioxide is injected into the treated area, your body detects a lack of oxygen in that area and reacts by dilating your capillaries, thereby improving blood flow and oxygen delivery. This stimulates fat cell and scar tissue breakdown, while simultaneously increasing collagen production. The procedure uses a small needle to infuse the carbon dioxide gas under the skin. It usually requires a series of treatments for optimal results and there is no downtime. For more information visitwww.drdadurian.com or call 561-655-6325 for a complimentary consultation.

Daniela Dadurian, M.D., specializes in anti-aging medicine and is an expert in non-surgical body-contouring techniques. She received her medical degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine and has traveled the world researching the safest and latest technologies on the market.

______________________________________

MD Beauty Labs Medical Spa and Wellness Center

320 S. Quadrille Blvd. West Palm Beach

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Laser Therapy Health & Wellness Center, Inc Hallandale, Florida … – Yahoo Finance

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HALLANDALE, Fla., Feb. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --KRISTAN WEINSTEIN-ANP-BC IS RECOGNIZED AS A GRADUATE OF THE INSTITUTE FOR FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE'S CERTIFICATION PROGRAM by A4M. Ms. Weinstein Joins the Elite Group of A4M Certified Practitioners.

As a Cancer survivor and a mother of three beautiful, healthy children, Kristan's passion for functional medicine and early detection of "Dis-ease" in the body lead her to this point. "Health is truly your wealth," says Weinstein. "I was diagnosed with lymphoma when I was in nursing school. I was fortunate enough to be under the care of medical professionals that were using stem cell transplantation, a more progressive approach to treating cancer at the time. They saved my life. From that point forward, I knew that I needed to stay current and involved in creating a path for my future that would eventually enable me to treat patients preventatively. Often times we are treating the symptoms, when in fact there is so much evidence based science that tells us now, how to treat the cause or the 'dis-ease' before the disease itself takes over. This is why our expansion of 'Timeless Age Medical Group' was born."

About Functional Medicine Of total healthcare costs in the United States, more than 75% is due to chronic conditions. The key to reversing the rapidly spreading epidemic of chronic disease is to address the underlying causes and solutions for chronic disease, which are primarily driven by the lifelong, daily interaction among an individual's genetics, environment, and lifestyle choices. Functional medicine not only incorporates the latest in genetic science and systems biology, but it also enables health care practitioners to practice proactive, predictive, personalized medicine while empowering patients to take an active role in their own health. Kristan Weinstein-ANP-BC, is uniquely trained in the functional medicine model to identify and treat the root causes of chronic disease. In order to achieve the designation of A4M- Certified Practitioner, Kristan has completed 7 onsite training seminars and passed stringent written and case study evaluations. Weinstein joins an elite group of practitioners who fully certified in functional medicine

About A4MThe American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) is a US federally registered 501(c) 3 non-profit organization comprised of over 26,000 members including: physicians, health care practitioners, scientists, governmental officials, and members of the general public, representing over 120 nations.

The A4M is dedicated to the advancement of technology to detect, prevent, and treat aging related disease and to promote research into methods to optimize the human aging process. The A4M is also dedicated to educating physicians, scientists, and members of the public on biomedical sciences, breaking technologies, and anti-aging issues.

The A4M is comprised of over 26,000 members from 120 nations worldwide.

Expansion Phase for Timeless Age MedicalLaser Therapy Health & Wellness Center, formerly Laser Therapy Spa, LLC and, Inc has been in business over five years with over six thousand patients to date. With the expansion and upcoming launch of "Timeless Age Medical Group" we plan on serving our patients with the latest 21st century evidence based patient care well into future. Patient health and patient outcome remain our primary concern.

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How Rodrigo Duterte’s War On Drugs Looks In Colombia – Worldcrunch

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-OpEd-

BOGOT Any Colombian observing Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs might remember our former president Csar Gaviria.

Gaviria, who governed in some of the worst days of our drug violence, is a lightweight compared to Duterte. The highly popular Filipino leader has no qualms about employing language that few presidents would use. He used expletives in describing former U.S. president, Barack Obama, and has said some nasty stuff about the Pope too. Its nice to see our Colombian leaders outdone in brutality for a change.

In spite of my animosity toward Gaviria's administration, I cannot place him on the same level as Duterte and his program. Gaviria's war on drugs did not include a brazen call to physically eliminate drug users and small-time dealers as Duterte did in his campaign with frightening results. Amnesty International estimates there are more than 1,000 extrajudicial killings a month in the Philippines.

Inevitably, when you give state agencies carte blanche to kill over and above the established, official targets (which is horrible enough), opportunistic violence proliferates. Recently Filipino police kidnapped, tortured and killed a Korean businessman; policemen had apparently sought to involve him in drug dealing in order to extort money from him.

Csar Gaviria in Mexico, in 2015 Photo: Ivan Stephens/El Universal/ZUMA

There is another way to view this. The Philippines has a different culture to Colombia and half its GDP per person. It has suffered lengthy periods of internal fighting and faces two significant insurgencies: one of Maoist guerrilla groups and the other Islamist (or an amalgam of radical Islamist groups). The government is talking to both.

Earlier this year when Duterte began formal dialogue with the Maoists, the first point of discussion was farming and land, much like in Colombia. But Duterte was prepared to take his reformist agenda much further than his Colombian counterparts have in their wildest moments of generosity. In the Philippines, the government is considering a rearrangement of the countryside as a key component of long-term national growth.

This suggests that the affairs of distant countries may not be as different as they seem from afar. Peacemaking does not need a dogmatic outlook but it needs basic understanding. This goes further in resolving, or at least improving the solutions to, our problems.

The sociologist Tzvetan Todorov, who recently died in Paris, understood this. He rejected the now prevalent idea that anything attractive must be right and true. For Todorov, heroes are not people who sacrifice their lives but those who can recover other people's fragile, passing humanity. I couldn't agree more.

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Philippine citizens protest Duterte’s drug war on anniversary of dictatorship overthrow – Deutsche Welle

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Thousands of people protested on Saturdayagainst Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly war on drugs after the arrest of his most high-profile critic.

Duterte's political opponents and left-wing activists transformed a traditional celebration of a "People Power" uprising against dictatorship three decades ago in Manila into a protest march condemning his war on drugs.

The group warned thatDuterte's authoritarian rule could return the country to a dictatorship, demanding an end to the extrajudicial killings thathave claimed more than 7,700 lives in the past seven months.

The military-backed dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos was toppled in a bloodless "People Power" revolution 31 years ago to the day.

"We are taking the matter seriously. We are warning our people about the threat of rising fascism," Bonifacio Ilagan, who led one of the protests, told news agency AFP.

Protesters warned of a return to conditions under the dictator Ferdinand Marcos

Senator imprisoned

The protesters gathered outside the national police headquarters, where opposition figure Senator Leila de Lima was detained two days ago on charges that she took bribes from imprisoned drug traffickers.

"There is a president who is threatening to reimpose martial law and openly support the killings of thousands of people," de Lima said in a message from her detention cell a day after she was arrested.

"The grim truth: In the last seven months under Duterte, there were more deaths compared to the 14 years of martial law under the Marcos regime."

The former human rights commissioner said her arrest was an effort to silence her and an act of revenge for her decade-long efforts to expose Duterte as the leader of death squads during his time as mayor of the southern city of Davao.

"President Duterte is effectively expanding his drug war from the urban poor to the legislative branch of government," Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

Protester Ilagan, a playwright who suffered horrific torture over two years in a police prison under Marcos' martial rule in the 1970s, cited to AFP the "culture of impunity" engendered by Duterte's anti-drug crackdown. More rallies in support of de Lima were organized for later in the evening.

aw/tj (AFP, Reuters)

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Video game gambling arrives in Atlantic City – NorthJersey.com – NorthJersey.com

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Pharaoh's Secret Temple video gaming machine at Tropicana Casino. Noah K. Murray/Special for the Record(Photo: Noah K. Murray/Special to NorthJersey.com)

These video game gambling machines - such as Danger Zone - in Atlantic City are the first of their kind in the U.S.(Photo: Noah K. Murray/Special for the Record)

Thousands of slot machines stillawait visitors to any Atlantic City casino, as they have for almost 40 years.

But at Tropicana and the three Caesars Entertainment casinos, a handful of new machines amidthe slots areintended to lure those seeking a different gambling experience.

The words VIDEO GAME GAMBLING on the sides of the Danger Arena and Pharaohs Secret Temple games beckon patrons, andlast week, the games the first such skill-based gamesat any casinos in North America,game maker GameCo Inc. said attracted some novices.

"Danger Arena is a first-person action game that appeals to a more 'core' gamer audience, similar to XBox games like Call of Duty," said GameCo founder Blaine Graboyes. "Pharaoh's Secret Temple appeals to a more casual audience and is similar to mobile 'match 3' games such as Candy Crush."

VIDEO GAME GAMBLING: Heres what's next in video game gambling in AC

ATLANTIC CITY:World's first skill-based video game gambling to debut next week

GAMBLING:How the house wins in new Atlantic City casino video game gambling

Danger Arena machines debuted in October, while the latter game was just installed at Tropicana last week. Both are now offered at each of the four casinos, with a total of 30 machines.

Part of the goal of the casinos is to getmillennials many of whom play video and social media games regularly but arent attracted to slot machines to spend more time and money because oftheir enjoyment of the games. Atlantic City casinos are eager to find new profit sourcesbecause the city's combined casino revenuehasfallenby more than 50 percent since Pennsylvania and New York opened their casinos near the New Jersey border in 2006. The number of casinos has declined to sevenfrom 12 in 2014.The video games are an example of efforts by state regulators to consider a variety of gambling options to help boostAtlantic City casinos and raise more tax revenue.

Reaching millennials is not just a concern in Atlantic City. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority saidthe percentage of visitors there who gambled had declined to 71 percent in 2014from 87 percent in 2006. The percentages of those who gamble by age group is telling. Seventy-eightpercent of baby-boomer visitors to Las Vegas gamble, followed by 68 percent ofGeneration Xand 63 percent of millennials.

Graboyessaidvideo games have been around so long that even somepeople in their 40s and 50s are experienced players. (Duringseveral hours at Tropicana and Caesars, no senior citizens were observedeven considering playing the video games.)

"We staff brand ambassadors at the games to answer questions and collect exit interviews, and from that we know that 60 percent of players so far have been under 40 years old," Graboyes said. Graboyes, who founded GameCoin 2015, said in September that the company had raised $8.3 million in venture capital to fund the launch at the Atlantic City casinos.

Peak activity, not surprisingly, has been nights and weekends. Half of the players interviewed said they would not have gambled if not for the video game machines, which Graboyes said bodes well for casino revenue. About 90 percent of the money gambled has gone back to the players, Graboyes added, which is similar to what casinos pay back on slot machines.

Atlantic City was chosen as the first location for the games,Graboyes said, to pay homage to his childhood visits to Atlantic City from Bucks County, Pa.

This is the first time Ive seen something like this, so I figured Id give it a try it looks kind of fun, said Kayla Jones, 30, of New Haven, Conn., after a couple of rounds of Danger Arena. Guys will definitely like this.

Another millennial, Mike Wasyliszyn of Carteret, looked over the Danger Arena games but then walked away.

I like to gamble, but I wouldnt gamble over video games its two totally separate things, Wasyliszyn said. I play Xbox and I like video games, but if I want to do that, Ill just stay home. Here, I prefer games like blackjack or craps.

Justin Miele, 38, of New Rochelle, New York, perused the games as well but said he declined because he is not a big video gamer.

I have some friends who would be interested in this, though, Miele said. Thing is, I havent seen anyone actually playing it yet.

Indeed, the games drew little notice at Tropicana at lunchtime on Feb. 17, a Friday, even with the PresidentsDay holiday weekend ahead.

Carlyn Davis of Queens, though, did take a chance on Pharaohs Secret Temple.

Ive played this type of game on my [smart]phone, Davis said. I have younger relatives who play slots, but theywould prefer to do this, I think.

I like to gamble, but I wouldnt gamble over video games its two totally separate things. I play Xbox and I like video games, but if I want to do that, Ill just stay home. Here, I prefer games like blackjack or craps.

Yeong Kim, who was visiting from Fairfax, Virginia, said he didnt much care for Pharaohs Secret Temple after a few tries at Caesars. (Ballys and Harrahs also offer the games).

My wife likes it more she says its like Candy Crush, Kim said. My kids would love it, though;they are 27 and 25. Ill tell them about it.

David Gargaro of Baltimore found that the Temple game reminded him of Bejeweled, another popular video game.

But theres too much skill involved, Gargaro, 30, said with a laugh. Its more daunting when youre gambling with real money, I suppose.

Only Jason Mejzak, 42, of Williamstown,in Gloucester County, found his experience so unappealing that he has written off the games for good.

The screen doesnt work, its too greasy, Mejzak said.

Players can choose five price points from 50 cents to $20 with either game. With Danger Arena, players must wipe out seven 'botsin 45 seconds to break even while knocking off 10 of the cartoon robots gets you 25 times your money.

There are 10,000 unique maps, or virtual locations, with Danger Arena each with a different level of difficulty. That means that as with poker and blackjack, luck as well as skill plays a role because an easy board could lead to easy money, while even a very skilled player could be overmatched by one of the most difficult maps. The maximum payout in one game on Danger Arena is $5,500,if a player lucks into the maximum instant cash prize of $5,000, then bets $20 and knocks off 10 or more 'bots to win 25 times his or her bet.

Graboyes said he plans to roll out more new games racing and martial arts fighting are among the other types and inmore locations overthe course of the year. Some of the new sites will be other Atlantic City casinos.

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BioEdge: Should Quebec’s Alzheimer’s patients be eligible for … – BioEdge

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Quebec is about to embark upon a debate on the involuntary euthanasia of demented elderly after a 55-year-old man in Montreal allegedly smothered his Alzheimers stricken wife and posted what he had done on Facebook. Michel Cadotte was charged with second-degree murder after his 60-year-old wife died in an assisted care facility.

He said on Facebook that he had "cracked" and "consented to her demands to help her die." Although the facts are not clear yet, the media has reported that the woman requested medical aid in dying but was refused.

Under Quebecs 2015 law, euthanasia for the demented is specifically excluded. A person who makes a request for medical assistance in dying must be capable of consent, Jean-Pierre Mnard, a Montreal medical lawyer, told the Montreal Gazette. This means the patient must understand their state of health and can express their will. A patient with advanced Alzheimers no longer has the capacity to consent, no longer has the cognitive capacity to understand.

The Gazette reports that Quebec parliamentarians now want to open a public debate on legalizing euthanasia for persons unable to give informed consent. This debate about extending eligibility for euthanasia is happening just a bit more than a year after the law came into effect.

The Quebec Alzheimers Society contends that demented patients need to be protected. "It's very difficult with the complexity of dementia to know for sure what a person with dementia would want today," April Hayward, of the Society told CTV News. "They may have expressed a wish ten years ago and do we know for certain that's what they would want today?"

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Pike County animal shelter reduces euthanasia rates – WYMT News (press release)

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PIKE COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - The Pike County Animal Shelter has been able to reduce their euthanasia rates to eight percent.

"It took a lot of burden off the people that have to do the bad thing. And now we don't have to hardly do it anymore," Jason Burke, animal control officer, said.

The Appalachian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and the Pike County Fiscal Court are covering each animal's expenses.

"That means that you'll get an animal that's spayed and neutered, vaccine, I mean, de-wormed, and everything," Burke said.

92 percent of animals that come to the shelter are released to adoption and rescues.

James and Whitney Whaley adopted their puppy, Dobby, on Valentine's Day.

"When you adopt from a shelter, it's kind of good you already have a dog that's established and you get to take them out of a bad situation and put them in a better situation," Whitney Whaley, owner of an adopted dog, said.

For the Whaley's, adopting their dog was one of the best decisions they made.

"It's now the three of us, while he's still definitely a dog, I mean, he's still kind of a part of the family," Whitney Whaley said.

Officials at the shelter, shared about 10 to 12 animals are adopted each and every day.

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Pike County animal shelter reduces euthanasia rates - WYMT News (press release)

APA Position on Medical Euthanasia – Psychiatric Times

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Early in December 2016, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Board of Trustees passed an historic Position Statement that originated in the Assembly and was unanimously supported by the APA Ethics Committee:

The APA, in concert with the American Medical Associations position on Medical Euthanasia, holds that a psychiatrist should not prescribe or administer any intervention to a non-terminally ill person for the purpose of causing death.

This position is now one of the strongest of any medical organization in the world regarding the practice of physician-assisted suicide by prescription medication or euthanasia by lethal injection (PAS/E) for those with non- terminal conditions. This is not just a theoretical possibility that might occur along a slippery slope following legalization of PAS/E for terminal illnesses. People with non-terminal illnesses have been legally euthanized at their own request in several countries for nearly 15 years. This has included certain eligible patients who have only psychiatric disorders.

In 2002, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg removed any distinctions between terminal and non-terminal conditions, and between physical suffering and mental suffering, for legally permitted PAS/E. That was when patients with psychiatric disorders became eligible for this right in these countries. Independent consultants have to declare their condition untreatable, and the patient needs to declare it to be insufferable.

In the Netherlands, for example, for psychiatric-only cases, at least 1 consultant is required, but 3 are suggested. At least one should be a psychiatrist but does not have to be.

However, the patient can weigh in regarding the untreatable criterion as well. It is not based solely on what physicians have to offer, but on what the patient wishes to accept. For example, though potentially effective treatments may be offered, such as ECT, MAOIs, residential treatment, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and vagus nerve stimulation, competent patients may refuse these offers. That choice could make their case untreatable. So patients can rule on both the untreatable and insufferable axes; physicians can only opine on the former.

In the Netherlands, lethal injections are the most commonly used method to fulfill an approved patients death wish. This is often administered by the patients treating psychiatrist at home, in the office, or in specialized Levenseinde Klinieks (End of Life Clinics). Between 2008 and 2014, more than 200 psychiatric patients were euthanized by their own request in the Netherlands (1% of all euthanasia in that country): 52% had a diagnosis of personality disorder, 56% refused one or more offered treatments, and 20% had never even had an inpatient stay (one indication of previous treatment intensity). When asked the primary reason for seeking PAS/E, 66% cited social isolation and loneliness. Despite the legal requirement for agreement between outside consultants, for 24% of psychiatric patients euthanized, at least one outside consultant disagreed.

Some remarkable stories have been profiled in the Dutch media. For example, a woman was granted euthanasia for chronic PTSD due to childhood sexual abuse. The arguments based on personal autonomy to justify such access to PAS/E are being pushed even further in the Netherlands. Ministers of Health and Justice have proposed to their Parliament that criteria not be limited to medical conditions, but be extended to average citizens who feel they have lived completed lives.

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APA Position on Medical Euthanasia - Psychiatric Times

Once Euthanasia Voluntary, It’ll Become Irresistible, Ask the Dutch; Real Humility; and More! – National Catholic Register (blog)

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Once Euthanasia Voluntary, It'll Become Irresistible, Ask the Dutch; Real Humility; and More! - National Catholic Register (blog)

Drug addict Lucas Niewiem had cannabis farm above child’s bedroom AND stole railway cable – Derby Telegraph

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A drug and gambling addict who brought misery to thousands of rail passengers across the East Midlands has been jailed for 26 months.

Lucas Niewiem, 35, was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court for stealing cable from the railway line in the Long Eaton and Nottingham areas on eight occasions in March and April last year.

Niewiem, who had previously admitted to using an axe to chop the cable from live lines, pocketed a total of just 1,000 for his crimes by selling the cable to a scrap metal dealer. His actions, however, resulted in 3,267 minutes of delays to trains in the East Midlands, and cost Network Rail over 164,500.

The thefts took place at Lenton Junction in Nottingham, Meadow Lane in Long Eaton, Netherfield Railway Station in Nottingham, and the Glaisdale Industrial Estate in Wollaton.

Niewiem was arrested at his home address in Lawton Close, Nottingham, on April 28 after he was identified through forensic evidence left at the scene.

When officers searched his house, a cannabis farm was discovered above a child's bedroom in the loft. Twenty four plants cultivating cannabis with a street value of 24,000 were found, which Niewiem claimed to be growing for personal use.

Detective Inspector Gareth Davies said: "Niewiem's drug and gambling addition led him to risk his life to target the railway to steal cable to fund his habit and lifestyle. His selfish actions resulted in misery for thousands of passengers who were left stranded on platforms waiting for delayed trains throughout the East Midlands area in March and April last year."

Niewiem was given a 26-month jail term, 16 for the theft of cable, eight months behind bars for cannabis production and a further two months term for an unrelated theft, drugs and breach of a non-molestation order from January.

DI Davies added: "Cable theft is not a victimless crime - it costs the rail industry millions of pounds each year and disrupts passenger journeys and busy lives.

"We take this type of crime extremely seriously, and we will do all we can to bring offenders to justice. We worked closely with Network Rail and East Midlands Trains to secure today's sentence against Niewem which we hope sends act as a deterrent to others."

Hayley Bull, community safety manager at Network Rail, said: "This case demonstrates just how costly cable theft from the railway can be. Trespassing onto the network for any reason is extremely dangerous, as well as being illegal.

"This incident shows how cable theft can end up costing the taxpayer huge sums of money to put right, as well as causing mass disruption to passengers trying to go about their daily lives. It also causes delays to improvement work, which is vital to create a more reliable railway.

"We are continually developing better ways to protect the railway from cable thieves and will continue to work with the British Transport Police to prosecute anyone caught carrying out such a mindless act of vandalism."

Sarah Potts, crime and security strategy manager for East Midlands Trains, said: "We are delighted with this result as cable theft not only costs the railway industry a lot of money but can cause significant disruption for travelling customers.

"The jail term demonstrates that we take cable theft seriously and will continue to support our partners at BTP and Network Rail in seeking convictions for individuals who selfishly inconvenience our customers."

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Drug addict Lucas Niewiem had cannabis farm above child's bedroom AND stole railway cable - Derby Telegraph

Measuring life by the Golden Rule … not a cellphone app – Bristol Herald Courier (press release) (blog)

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We were sitting in front of the fireplace, relaxing in the warm glow, each reading some light material, almost dozing. Outside our den windows, the sun had retreated and swept away the last beautiful tones of a lingering sunset. Suddenly the serene darkness was interrupted by the sound of raindrops on our roof.

In unison, Sammie and I raised our heads from the books in which we had been engrossed and looked at each other. First to speak, she addressed me with a simple question. Is that rain? she asked quietly.

After a slight pause in the conversation a chance to make a decision of whether to drag myself from the comfort of my chair, force myself to take the half-dozen steps across the room, turn on the back porch light, peer through the glass at the drops of water bouncing off the deck or not I answered.

Just a minute, Hon. I dug into my pocket. Let me check the Weather Channel App on my phone and Ill see what its doing.

Of course I was at least half kidding in an attempt to entertain my wife, who seemed to be getting a bit bored with her book. On the other hand, I was only half kidding. I knew we were getting precipitation in the Fairmount hood, but before we began our discussion of the weather, I thought it might be wise to check the weather app for the forecast. The current temperature, the expected overnight low, predictions for hourly conditions over the next forty-eight hours, projections for the next fifteen days, and maybe even what those same projections were for the cities where all of our relatives reside.

Could I get you to participate in a very unscientific experiment with me? Take a simple survey. One question. If youd like to be a part of this study email your answer to me at the address below. Heres the question: Do you believe we the people have become too dependent on our technical device? (Emphasis is on the word Too.) Please send your response ASAP so I can tally the results. I will be watching my phone for your Yes or No by email.

Seriously nowdo you ever see people sitting together in a restaurant, texting instead of carrying on a conversation? Maybe theyre checking their email, watching the news or a ballgame, or playing a game? Perhaps they are texting the person sitting across the table.

How many times have you seen someone texting or watching a movie while they drive? Scary, huh? Have you ever done any of the above? Honestly! Okay! I have done some of those things, but I have never texted while driving. Maybe Ive read a text while sitting at a red light, but I didnt send a text and I always put my phone down when the impolite driver behind me blew his horn impatiently.

Here are a couple of thoughts for you while you prepare to take the survey:

First, the Golden Rule says, Do to others as you would have them do to you. (NIV)

Second, humans can predict the weather, but we cant control it. Matthew 5:45 tells us that God sends sunshine on the good and evil alike and He causes it to rain on the righteous as well as the unrighteous. And in John 3:8 we find these words, The wind blows where it wishes and you hear it, but you cant tell where it comes from or where its going. (Prognosticate means to offer an educated guess.)

As the weather goes, I must agree with Mark Twain (or maybe it was Charles Dudley Warner), when he said, Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.

As far as the Golden Rule goes, our world would be a better place if we would just do it!

We talk about the weather more than we discuss the Golden Rule. Just remember: you cant do anything about the weather, but you can do something about the way you treat other peoplewhether on an electronic device, driving or just living in general!

Steve Playl is chaplain at Bristol Regional Medical Center. He may be contacted at playlsr@yahoo.com.

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Measuring life by the Golden Rule ... not a cellphone app - Bristol Herald Courier (press release) (blog)

Outgrowing the cosmetic left: A liberal plea for fake liberalism to grow up – Salon

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We tell ourselves stories in order to live. Joan Didion said that in 1979, and it is the phrase Ive had pounding in my head as America endures the early stages of the Trump administration. An uncharitable reading of Didions statement is We lie to ourselves to feel important but that feels reductive. Lies are tiny mistruths, told for profit or to shift blame. Stories are necessary fictions, and the meanings they create are as valid as the truths created from chaos. But which stories we tell ourselves matter. Occasionally, our stories get repeated so often, we forget to challenge them.

For instance, youve heard this one,that 2016 was the worst year in human history! Yes, in 2016 the death camps of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen were in full effect, the American slave trade raged on, manifest destiny created the Trail of Tears, the World Trade Center imploded, the trench warfare of the first world war kills thousands every day, as Pol Pot, Josef Stalin and Chairman Mao murder millions of dissenters, and that was before an assassins bullet passed through Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, before lodging itself into the gas tank of the plane carrying Richie Valens, the Big Bopper and Buddy Holly, which then exploded into the city of Hiroshima incinerating thousands. Im not positive that all of those events happened in 2016, but George Michael died, and that caused a lot of well-paid pundits to declare it the worst year in history.

Of course, we all know 2016s mortal sin. Donald Trump promised the world an ocean of shit, and America decided to snorkel in it. President Barack Obama was an imperfect leader heading an imperfect system, but even his critics concede hes intelligent, thoughtful and doesnt routinely talk about how badly he wants to have sex with his children. We traded that for a man who treats women the way an arcade claw treats a stuffed animal.

Since the inauguration, great swaths of the left have accomplishedimpressive feats. The width and breadth of the protests has been staggering. The town hall protests are enlivening and reinvigorating debate. Still, while actual liberals are forming a resistance to Donald Trumps America, the fake liberalism of the cosmetic left as represented and served back to its audience by many online-media platforms, including at times this lovely website here tells us to double down on what weve been doing all along. Sure, it may not help anyone, but at least we can warm ourselves in the beaming light of our own smirk.

The legacy of the 2016 election is that it turned too many of us into a nation of children. Its hard to argue for our nations maturity when our leader tweets like an unmedicated preteen and thinks, No puppet! Youre the puppet! is a cogent debate response. But leftists have acted as tribal as conservatives. Am I saying liberals are more childish than conservatives? No, but if our reaction is They did it first it doesnt help our argument. But I am saying if liberals dont change who we are forget about the right-wingers were doomed to look back at 2016 as a golden age of nuance and tolerance. We are telling ourselves the wrong stories.

* * *

Donald Trump is a child, but he was elected because too many of us became children. How many times did you hear harmonica-playing Tim Kaine being called Americas stepfather? Or how Hillary Clinton talked to the electorate like a substitute teacher? Pundits say this with a smirk: The humor stems entirely from the assumption that we share their upper-class urban backgrounds. Every time I would hear this, Iwould look at the newscaster and think, But youre 40. Why are you talking like a child? Why do we look to the authority figures of our childhood when we talk about politics? Because, like children, we observe society and wait for it to be handed to us.

Our politicians treat us like children, our media talks to us like children, and so how does the cosmetic left react? By rolling their eyes and saying Ugh! and Thats not OK! With think pieces about multicultural emojis and by reveling in how many famous people agree with them. You know, like adults.

After President Barack Obama was re-elected, Republicans did an election postmortem and came up with a strategy to appeal to a broader base. They then ignored it and won with Donald Trump. Forthe 2016 postmortem, liberals, because we tend to lean toward compassion, blamed the poor. We didnt phrase it that way, of course. We blamed hillbillies, rednecks, trailer trash, as though this hasnt always been prep-school code for poor people. How, we asked, could they vote for someone so opposed to their own interests?

I dont understand why we look down on people who vote against their own interests. For one, why do you assume you know their interests? If you believe every abortion is the systemic murder of a child by the state, then whether you get an earned income credit on your taxes seems unimportant. Also, putting the good of the country ahead of your own pocketbook? I salute you, my noble friend, and wish you had a less idiotic idea of whats good for the country.

Because we are inundated with childish stories, we interpret reality in childish ways. Conservatives werent the people who disagree with us. In superhero movies or cowboy melodramas set in space, the bad guys dont disagree with the good guys as much as they want them sacrificed to their dark lord. Because were certain were the heroes, the election becomes about defeating an evil culture.

Culture matters. In fact, in politics, its all that matters. How many positions would Trump have to change for you to vote for him? When Trump said hed replace Obamacare with health care for everybody, did your mind change? We vote to tell others the sort of person we want to be. Thats why pollsters know who youre voting for by the music you listen to, the neighborhood you live in and a thousand other elements that have nothing to do with whether or not you read the news. Its why the next time Beyonc releases an album or Woody Allen releases a movie, you already know how your favorite websites will react. In art criticism, the aesthetic quality of the work matters less than what our opinion of the art says about us. In politics, the policy doesnt matter; its what our vote says about us.

* * *

Are people who voted for Donald Trump racist? Its tempting to look at a Confederate flag at a Trump rally and extrapolate that to symbolizing everyone there. When a couple of Bernie Sanders supporters waved a hammer and sickle flag to protest a Trump speech, did that delegitimize Sanders message? If people think Bernie Sanders is advocating communism and point to that hammer and sickle flag as proof, wed call that hysteria.

Trumps supporters say they are worried about jobs, about economic insecurity, but we, the enlightened we, know better. Really, they are racists, whether they know it or not. We have reached the saturation point of calling things we dont like racist, but havent offered a succinct, coherent definition of racist. All people have inherent biases, which surface even when we fight against them. If thats the qualification for racism, then the word racist is a useless adjective, as it can apply to any person or piece of art. It also defangs the word. Trump still believes the Central Park Five are guilty even after they were exonerated. That is so racist. Like in the way A Christmas Story was racist? Or are we talking white-women-who-belly-dance levels of racism?

Look, Donald Trump has been an asshole ever since he crawled out of his mothers asshole. Im not forgiving the racism of the Muslim ban, the border wall or his equivocating on David Duke. But the Washington Redskins have a racist name, and that doesnt mean their fans are racist. To say everyone who voted for Trump is racist is the logical equivalent of saying, If you voted for Clinton, you support the Iraq War. Maybe you personally didnt support the Iraq War, but by voting for a woman who voted for the war, you support carpet bombings and drone strikes. Its worth noting that as toxic as Donald Trump has been, he has not as of yet done anything as bad as voting for the Iraq War.

* * *

On her first show after the election, Samantha Bee, the comedic equivalent of a Facebook share if you agree post, said, America has done the diplomatic equivalent of installing an above-ground pool. Even in the best case scenario and it doesnt seep into the foundation, our neighbors will never look at us in the same way again.

Who has above-ground pools? Poor people of all races. Rural people with yards. The joke is simply Poor people who try to act rich are tacky. People who dont have the money to get a proper pool are an embarrassment, and they should be more concerned with the judgment of neighbors than their own happiness.

Does that attitude matter to people? One of my best friends a woman from West Virginia who organizes labor unions and has received commendations from the Obama White House said when she heard Bees above-ground pool joke, she instantly felt like the poorest kid in class. She organizes unions and had everything at stake in Clinton winning, but to Bee she was just the stupid, poor kid from astupid, poor state. That is the flip side of identity politics. It doesnt matter what she does only who she is.

Obviously, whites arent underserved by the media. But rural people who arent just white, Im embarrassed to have to remind the press are wildly underserved by the media.

Do you remember the storms last summer in Washington that caused flash flooding, killing 23 people and destroyed 1,200 homes? No? Because it didnt happen in Washington; it happened in West Virginia. As such, it was the fourth leading story on CNN, and it disappeared from the national news in a day.

But do you remember Hurricane Sandy battering New York and New Jersey four years ago? The storm that not only helped alter the 2012 election, but also the 2016 Republican primary? The one that led coverage of every TV channel and was on the cover of Time despite it being right before a presidential election? Of course you do because it happened to New York. Thirty-seven people died in Hurricane Sandy, and I dont want to minimize that loss but isnt there something unequal about the attention paid to an urban tragedy and to a rural tragedy? A neutral observer would conclude that a city life is more valuable than a country life.

The media is created in a few pockets of America but only in cities. If an actor plays a character from South Boston with a Worcester accent, they get savaged by critics and professional wiseasses for years. Yet when actors play characters from anywhere from southern Maryland to San Antonio, they throw the exact same accent think Foghorn Leghorn after drinking a bourbon laced with Rohypnol that no human has ever had and they walk away with Oscars. These are small slights, but they matter. These are subtle ways to tell people theyre unworthy of accurate representation.

The great secret about the white working class is that it doesnt exist. It is an arbitrarily divided subset of the working class, akin to the right-handed working class. Donald Trump did better with blacks and Latinos than Mitt Romney. Trump did worse with whites than Barack Obama. Im not dismissing the role race played in this election, but when we think about it in simplistic terms my side versus racists we tell ourselves a false story. We identify false separations: the white working class versus the black working class versus the Hispanic working class. We neglect the very real division between urban and rural or wealthy and the poor.

The rich people who run your favorite left-wing websites arent really liberal. At best, theyre progressive fashion police. Constant carping about which movies get awarded, which jokes are acceptable, which millionaire celebrities we lionize isnt about improving anyones lives. Its about identifying a uniform.

Uniforms are childish. They invite judgment and show pride. Our culture is our uniform, but what has our cosmetic-left culture given us? Half-wit comedians making endless jokes about poor people, dumbass websites that repost celebrity gossip as breaking news, flaccid sarcasm, corporate feminist lip service, circle-jerk op-eds about Star Wars and Ghostbusters? All of which are so persuasive that we have Donald Trump as our president? Im a liberal, but I dont want to wear this liberals uniform.

* * *

So what now? While smoke was still rising from the wreckage of the election, they told us to fight. Dont give an inch. Stay strong and fight. The people asking us to fight are the same people who lost the election. The method of fighting involves giving money.

Im done fighting. Im done with militaristic language. When we give our police tanks and automatic weapons and treat them like soldiers, they think the neighborhoods they police are war zones. If we talk about politics as a war zone, then we think of the other side as our enemy. Im fine regarding Donald Trump as my enemy. But what about someone who feels left out of the Obama recovery or who disagrees about the carbon tax? What about someone who hasnt forgiven Clinton for her Iraq War vote, or someone who, already insecure about her place in society, felt insulted when Clinton said deplorable? I disagree, but they arent my enemy.

Id rather work than fight. How do you work for a more humane, interesting and complex leftism? The same way you fight for it which is to say, I dont know. Theres a reason why the details of the fight turn as foggy as dreams as soon as anyone asks for specifics. Because they are basically telling you to keep doing what youre doing. Dig deeper into your culture. Feel more pride.

The cosmetic liberal believes this kiddie-pool tidal wave of snark, outrage and self-gratification is the only thing holding back the abyss. But if the fight consists of watching TV and yelling problematic! then what good is our fight?

On Sunday during the Oscars, we will more likely hear from someone who believes that the intergalactical lord Xenu sent aliens down to populate the Earth than hear from someone who supports Trump. You already know the jokes tiny hands, weird hair, Yuuuge and you already know the headlines. Celebrity DESTROYS Donald Trump. You also know no one will challenge the crowd or show actual courage.

When Meryl Streep lambasted Donald Trump at the Golden Globes, did she risk anything? She spoke to a crowd of people whoidolize her and already agree with her. That doesnt make her wrong but dont pretend she showed an iota of courage. But where this sort of fight turns from useless to insidious is when Streep takes pains to insult football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts. I plead ignorance to mixed martial arts, but I imagine the practitioners are born with natural gifts and then work to hone their talents until they can ply their trade professionally. That is no different than what an actor or a football player or a writer or a drummer or a dancer does. Why does Streep exclude football players and martial artists? Because their art makes too much of a difference, it touches too many people, many of whom dont already agree with her. Streep is the greatest actor Hollywood has ever produced, but does she think more people watch Florence Foster Jenkins than a random Week 7football game? Football has millions more blue-collar fans, more black fans, more female fans, more Hispanic fans, more gay fans than August: Osage County or whatever semi-compelling Oscar-bait movie shell be nominated for next year. But to reach them, we have to respect them enough to persuade them. That takes effort, so its better to dismiss that art and that culture.

Ive always thought that conservatives lived in a bubble. They do. That bubble isnt so close to reality that it brings the property values down, but its the suburb of realitys city. But this election has made me know I live in a bubble as well. My bubble is in reality (close, at least our kids go to the same school and we see each other in the grocery store) but it distorts my thinking. Understanding that and knowing that my story is subjective, I can meet the Trump administration like an adult.

Ultimately, thats the lesson of our election. Our media and our politicians treat us like children, and we subsequently act like children. Those squabbling about Ghostbusters or the Oscars, who genuinely think theyre improving the world by doing so, may be right or wrong, but they are childish. If we tell ourselves stories in order to live, lets also tell ourselves stories in order to grow.

When we blame a year, were blaming ghosts. When we regard our opponents as devils, were engaging in magic. I dont know the efficacy of marches or sit-ins. I dont know if financial boycotts will work, but if refusing to stay at Trump hotels, or not buying any product that advertises on far-right websites, or hiring Polish rather than Russian prostitutes to pee on you makes you a kinder and more complex person, then follow that path. I can say an activism that consists of hashtags, catchphrases, GIFs, celebrity worship and disdain for the poor is neither liberal nor effective. The cosmetic left needs to grow the fuck up.

Donald Trump isnt something that happened to us; its something we created. The Americans who disagree with you arent your enemies but your co-authors. Theyre struggling through the current moment as well, but whatever we create together, we will own forever. Instead of creating a false world of self-congratulations, of the personal affirmation of the like button, instead of the relentless promotion of who we are, lets talk about what we do. The cosmetic left embraced the simple story, with flawless heroes, predictable jokes and snarling villains. But if America is our creation and we are flawed but honest storytellers it deserves a complicated story rather than a morality tale.

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Outgrowing the cosmetic left: A liberal plea for fake liberalism to grow up - Salon

Tom Perez Isn’t As Liberal As Keith Ellison, But He’s Still Pretty Progressive – FiveThirtyEight

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Feb. 25, 2017 at 4:27 PM

Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez was elected Democratic National Committee chair Saturday.

The race for chair of the Democratic National Committee came to an end today in Atlanta when former Labor Secretary Tom Perez was elected to the position, beating out Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison in a race that had come to be framed as a battle between the partys Obama-era establishment and the burgeoning progressive wing of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Conceding the race, Ellison, who was backed by Sanders, pleaded with his supporters to give everything youve got to support Chairman Perez. Some Ellison backers in the room, wearing the candidates green T-shirts and upset by the vote, chanted in protest.

The former labor secretary had appeared to be ahead, if only by a slim margin, in the final days before the election, which gave the party time to fret about potentially angry reactions from Sanders voters. Perhaps inevitably, given the power vacuum in the Democratic Party following the presidential election, the race became freighted with deeper meaning and led Sanders to condemn a failed status-quo approach embodied by Perez, who served under Obama. Well aware of the raw feelings lingering from a hotly contested presidential primary season, the two front-runners have been publicly adulating of one another and were spotted out to dinner in Washington the week before the election. Saturdays messages of unity were almost certainly planned ones.

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But Perezs win deals an undeniable morale blow to the Sanders-supporting wing of the Democratic Party, which feels that the partys loss in November was something of a referendum on the status quo. Nina Turner, a prominent Sanders-turned-Ellison surrogate, told The Washington Posts Dave Weigel that if Ellison lost, the future of the Democratic Party will walk away.

The argument from the partys Sanders wing was that Ellison was the best choice to put forth a message of progressivism that would reinvigorate the partys base, implying that Perez was something of an establishment centrist. But Perez and Ellison laid out essentially identical visions for the party during the DNC race. Both called for a more decentralized organization that placed greater emphasis on the particular political climates and needs of each state, better candidate recruitment, and well-honed messages of economic populism that would speak to the partys traditional base and beyond.

And both Perez and Ellison are well to the left of center on the spectrum of beliefs within the Democratic Party, though Ellisons views are more deeply left. In fact, hes more liberal than 90 percent of House Democrats, according to FiveThirtyEight ideological ratings that look at congressional voting records, donors and public statements. Ellison scores a -57 in our ratings (-100 is most liberal; +100 is most conservative). The average Democratic member of the House in the 114th Congress (2015-16) had a congressional record voting score of -40. Perez never served in Congress, but he did make an abbreviated run for attorney general of Maryland and has made public statements on political issues. Using these, we estimated his average score at -45, which is not as liberal as Ellisons but indicates that he may be further to the left than the average Democratic member of the House.

Taking the podium in the afternoon after hours of balloting and his win, Perez motioned for Ellison to be appointed deputy chair. The party, it seems, is looking to move past the drama.

Harry Enten provided analysis.

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Tom Perez Isn't As Liberal As Keith Ellison, But He's Still Pretty Progressive - FiveThirtyEight

Russia’s Liberal Media’s Foreign Sponsors – Center for Research on Globalization

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The hysteria concerning the alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election appears to be a mirror projection of techniques that have been used against Russia, with little or no success, with the aim of interfering in its political processes. While the propaganda campaign aimed at Russia has sought to foster the impression that the countrys media is strictly controlled, in actuality the liberal opposition newspapers and radio stations have in the past run articles and stories that, due to their nature, would be unthinkable in the free West. Controversial stories over the last few years have included:

These media outlets main audience is not the Russian public but rather Western funders and supporters. Novaya Gazeta funding sources include the Netherlands and the Soros Foundation. The Dozhd TV Channel financing is opaqueits owners claim they are financing the project using own funds, which must be bottomless considering the channel has not turned a profit since it began operating. Ekho Moskvy is receiving financial support from the Voice of America Broadcasting Board of Governors, which is also supporting other liberal news outlets. These and other Russian media outlets figure prominently in the Fiscal Year 2017 proposed federal budget appropriation for the US State Department. Moreover, journalists working for these outlets have received a broad array of awards for journalism issued by a number of Western governments and West-controlled so-called non-governmental organizations.

Another example of a Internet media outlet created in order to push the pro-liberal agenda is Meduza. It was financed by opposition oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovskiy and so-called anonymous investors. In spite of Meduza being registered and based in Latvia, it focuses on the Russian audience and is promoting globalist agenda in Russia.

In addition to resources which are openly promoting anti-Russian propaganda, there is an array of major media outlets whose informational policy demonstrates they are pursuing political goals quite divorced from Russias interests as a sovereign state.

In the meantime, genuinely accomplished investigative journalists such as Julian Assange are facing politically motivated prosecutions, and there are efforts to exclude English-language Russia-based media such as RT and Sputnik from Western markets for allegedly spreading propaganda.

This state of affairs also raises the question why is the Russian government tolerant of media beholden to foreign sponsors. Part of the answer lies with the guarantees of the freedom of speech and press contained in the Russian Constitution, though the support of these outlets by important factions of the economic and political elite also plays a rolethe Ekho Moskvy radio station is part of the Gazprom Media Holding, for example. Ultimately, however, the relatively unfettered existence of these media is a reflection of the Russian governments confidence in its policies and its popular support, in sharp contrast to the panicked fake news reaction to the loss of Hillary Clinton that resulted in widespread calls to limit the freedom of speech in Western countries, lest the wrong candidates win elections.

Still, this is an intolerable state of affairs, a leftover from the 1990s era of Russias political and economic weakness, when it seemed it might become nothing more than a politically impotent supplier of raw materials to the West. Any genuine reset of Russia-West relations will require the West to respect the inviolability of Russias political institutions and processes in the same way that the West demands respect for theirs.

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Russia's Liberal Media's Foreign Sponsors - Center for Research on Globalization