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Study: Mexican Military Should Not Have Intervened In Country’s … – Fronteras: The Changing America Desk

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

A new study commissioned by the Mexican Senate found that the Mexican military shouldnt have intervened in the countrys nearly decade-long war against drug traffickers.

Since early in Mexicos war on drugs, the government deployed its biggest possible hammer: the army and the navy.

But a new report from the Mexican Senates internal research office, the Belisario Dominguez Institute, is questioning the rationale behind that decision.

The takeaway is that there was never any evidence showing the military would help violence decline.

Froylan Enciso is a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, a think tank. He said independent research has already made similar conclusions.

"What is new now is that the Belisario Dominguez Institute is systematizing this evidence and putting together, like, a really good intellectual product for Mexican congressman," Enciso said.

The study concludes that lawmakers have tended to rely more on personal conviction than facts.

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Study: Mexican Military Should Not Have Intervened In Country's ... - Fronteras: The Changing America Desk

How Did a Euthanasia Drug End Up in Dog Food? – Care2.com

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

On New Years Eve, Nikki Mael of Washougal, Wash., fed her four pugs Evangers Hunk of Beef Au Jus canned dog food. Within 15 minutes the dogs began acting drunk, she said. They staggeredaround, having difficulty keeping their balance.

Mael rushed them to an emergency animal hospital. One pug, Talula, died. The other dogs survived, but one of them suffered from seizures.

A necroposy performed on Talula found large amounts of pentobarbital, a sedative used to euthanize animals and execute humans, in her stomach. Pentobarbital was also found in the dog food.

Earlier this month, Evangers Dog & Cat Food Co. announced a voluntary recall of one lot of Hunk of Beef Au Jus out of what it called an abundance of caution. The company said it sources all of its raw materials from USDA-inspected facilities.

We feel that we have been let down by our supplier, and in reference to the possible presence of pentobarbital, we have let down our customers, it stated on its website. Despite having a relationship for 40 years with the supplier of this specific beef, who also services many other pet food companies, we have terminated our relationship with them.

A week later, another dog food company, Against the Grain, also announced a voluntary recall of one lot of its Pulled Beef with Gravy Dinner for Dogs, distributed two years ago, because it could also contain pentobarbital. According to Food Safety News, both Evangers and Against the Grain may be owned by members of the same family.

Trace Amounts of Pentobarbital Not Uncommon in Dry Dog Food

How did a euthanasia drug end up in dog food? Believe it or not, trace amounts are not exactly uncommon in pet food, based on a 2001 FDA report. Tests conducted at the time discovered pentobarbital in samples of dry dog food from familiar brands like Nutro, Gravy Train, Kibbles n Bits and OlRoy (sold by Walmart).

We were unaware of the problem of pentobarbital in the pet food industry because it is most pervasive in dry foods that source most of their ingredients from rendering plants, unlike Evangers, which mainly manufactures canned foods that would not have any rendered materials in its supply chain, the company stated on its website.

In response to criticism of Evangers on social media, corporate secretary Brett Sher and his twin sister Chelsea appeared in a video posted on the companys website. In it they say that pentobarbital can be found in dry pet foods made with meat from cows that have been euthanized, and there are currently no regulations that require veterinarians to tag the meat.

The Sher siblings said the death of Talula and the sickening of the other dogs has inspired them to advocate for more oversight and regulation of how slaughtered animals enterthe animal-food stream. Evangerspaid the veterinary bills for Maels five pugs and made a donation to a local shelter in Talulas memory.

Watch What Your Dog Eats

According to TruthAboutPetFood.com, Evangers Dog & Cat Food Co.manufactures food for other pet food companies. The company uses a unique semi-circle shape instead of a straight line for the lot code stamps on cans, which makes it easy for dog owners to determine if a particular brand was manufactured by Evangers.

When its ingested, pentobarbital can cause symptoms including drowsiness, dizziness, excitement and loss of balance. If your dog shows any of these signs after eating, rush your pet to your veterinarian or closest emergency animal hospital right away.

Photo credit: Thinkstock

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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How Did a Euthanasia Drug End Up in Dog Food? - Care2.com

Jimmy Kimmel says not everyone in Hollywood is ‘very liberal’ – Fox News

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

As Jimmy Kimmel prepares to host the Oscars on Sunday, he got candid on whether audiences can expect politically-fueledspeeches this year.

It depends on the speech, you know? he told The Hollywood Reporter. I think that youve got a group of people who are largely very liberal, although I will say, the first time I hosted the Emmys, I had a joke about there being no Republicans in the room, and a surprisingly big group of people clapped when I asked if there were Republicans, and I was a little bit thrown by it.

JIMMY KIMMEL REVEALS HIS LOW OSCARS HOST SALARY

So I dont think the audience in its entirety is as liberal as people in Middle America imagine it is, added the 49-year-old TV host. But the celebrities, most of them are pretty liberal.

However, Kimmel said that Democrats in Hollywood may have a hard time outshining one leading lady with their speeches.

If I was nominated and I was going to stand on that stage, I think Id be intimidated by how good Meryl Streeps [Golden Globes] speech was, so Id probably keep my mouth shut when it comes down to it, he said.

COUNTRY STARS READ 'MEAN TWEETS' ON 'JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE'

The 67-year-old actress is nominated for her 20th Oscar.

The Academy Awards will be televised Feb. 26.

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Jimmy Kimmel says not everyone in Hollywood is 'very liberal' - Fox News

Liberal backbenchers, Tory leadership hopefuls among Parliament’s biggest dissenters – CBC.ca

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

Members of Parliament might feelpressure to toe the party line and maintain party unity in the House of Commons. But a few MPs have stood out for their willingness to rise and vote "Yea" when the rest of their colleagues vote "Nay."

Still, this breaking of the ranks is rare: even the biggest rebel in Parliament votes along party lines 87 per cent of the time.

The "party line" is not always clearcut, and MPs are sometimes given free rein by their parties to vote how they like. For the purposes of this analysis, the party line has been defined as the way in which the prime minister and his cabinet vote (for the Liberals)and the way in which the majority of MPs in an opposition party have voted.

The data was compiled from voting records maintained by openparliament.ca.

In the 198 votes held in the House of Commons from the beginning of the session in December 2015, through to Feb. 14 all Liberal MPs have voted the same way79 per cent of the time. That's a lower level of unanimous voting thanany of the other parties in the House.

This is partly due to the prime minister's position on whipped votes. Liberal MPs are only required to vote the party line onelection commitments, charter issues and matters of confidence in the government, such as budget bills.

On the other side of the aisle, the Conservatives have all voted unanimously 87 per cent of the time, the New Democrats 95 per cent of the timeand the Bloc Qubcois 98 per cent of thetime.

Two Liberal backbench MPs are the most frequent dissenters from the party line: Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (22 votes) and Robert-Falcon Ouellette (17 votes).

That represents 13 per cent of all votes cast by Erskine-Smithand nine per cent of Ouellette's voting in the House of Commons.

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith is the MP that has broken party ranks most often in the House of Commons. (Provided/Nathaniel Erskine-Smith)

"Constituents want strong local representation," Erskine-Smith said in an interview with CBC News. "Reasonable disagreements are the foundations of democracy."

The Toronto MP says he "consults constituents, evidence and one's own conscience" when deciding how to vote the only pressures exerted on him, he says, are the personal pressures of being a member of a team.

(Natalie Holdway / CBC News)

When not voting with the rest of his party, Erskine-Smith has most often voted with the New Democrats (18 times) and the Green Party (17), and less often with the Conservatives (nine).

Winnipeg MP Ouellette, who also frequently voted with the Green Party and the NDP, wasmore likely to vote with the Conservatives (13 out of 17 break-rank votes) thanhis other frequently dissenting Liberal colleagues.

These included Rob Oliphant (12 votes),Pam Damoff (11) andRen Arseneault (10). Still, these three voted with the rest of the Liberal Party at least 94 per cent of the time.

The NDP MP who dissented most often from her party's line was Christine Moore, voting differently from her colleagues three times.

The threeConservatives who voted most often against the majority of the party's MPs were Peter Kent (13 times), Michael Chong (12) and Sylvie Boucher (11).

Chong is a candidate for his party's leadership (and Kent has endorsed him). In the last Parliament, he passeda private member's bill, called the Reform Act, to give more power and independence to MPs.

Chongwas more likely to vote with the Liberals than the other opposition parties, while Kent voted equally as often with the Liberals, the Green Party and the NDPinstead of the majority of Conservative MPs.

"I vote based on the views of my constituents and conservativeprinciples," Chong said in an email.

With the exception of Brad Trost, who has been present for 175 of the 198 votes held through to Feb. 14, Chong is also the leadership candidate who has been most present in the House of Commons.

Contenders Kellie Leitch, Maxime Bernier and Deepak Obhrai have missed the most votes.

When present, Obhrai, who has voted 101 times, dissented with the majority of his party more often than Chong. He voted with the minority of Conservative MPs on eight occasions, representing eight per cent of his votes (Chong's minority votes, meanwhile, represent seven per cent of his total).

Lisa Raitt and Steven Blaneyvoted with the minority of Conservative MPs on only four occasions, Trostthree times, and Bernier twice.

Scheer, Leitch and Erin O'Toolehave voted with the majority of Conservative MPs every time they were in the House.

Erin O'Toole, Andrew Scheer and Kellie Leitch have voted with a majority of Conservative MPs throughout this session. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

Scheer and O'Toole are among the candidates for the leadership who are aiming to be a consensus second choice for party members an important factor in a vote that will be decided by a ranked ballot. Chong, however, is running on his party's left flank which aligns with his voting record in the House.

"I'm running in this leadership race to reduce the power of party leaders, particularly the [Prime Minister's Office], to control MPs," says Chong. "The fight to pass the Reform Act taught me that being party leader is the only way to achieve more ambitious reforms to Parliament and to political parties."

For now, however, all of these dissenting MPs appear destined to remain exceptions to the rule of party discipline in the House of Commons. And that might not be what Canadians want.

In the MyDemocracy.ca survey conducted by the government last year, 83 per cent of respondents agreed that MPs"should always act in the interests of their constituents, even if it means going against their own party."

The survey had been conducted as part of the government's abandoned pledge to reform the electoral system. Considering his independent voting record, it was perhaps fitting that Erskine-Smiththen feltcompelled to apologizeto Canadians for Justin Trudeau'sbreaking of that particular campaign promise.

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Liberal backbenchers, Tory leadership hopefuls among Parliament's biggest dissenters - CBC.ca

The arrogant thinking of liberal sports writers – The Week Magazine

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

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"Today, sports writing is basically a liberal profession, practiced by liberals who enforce an unapologetically liberal code," writes Bryan Curtis at The Ringer. He's right.

You can see it in the way sportswriters police a consensus against the Washington Redskins' name, or for on-field political activism. They tweet against President Trump, and for undocumented immigrants. They pile on populist loudmouths like former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, and may even be punishing him for his politics with their Hall of Fame ballots. They proudly admit that they are at a remove from their readers. HardballTalk's Craig Calcaterra owns it: "It's folly for any of us to think we're speaking for the common fan."

Curtis is generally pleased with sports journalism's leftward shift, and treats the possibility of non-conforming writers as a potentially amusing but unnecessary curio. "Would it be nice to have a David Frum or Ross Douthat of sports writing, making wrongheaded-but-interesting arguments about NCAA amateurism?" he asks. "Sure. As long as nobody believed them."

Well, I think I may be this curio myself.

I run a subscription newsletter about baseball The Slurve that is deliberately constructed to be an escape from politics for my readers (and for me). But I'm still a conservative who does a lot of sports writing. Besides The Slurve, I've written a few sports pieces in ESPN Magazine, and occasionally inflict my wrongheaded (but interesting!) sports arguments on readers here at The Week.

Predictably (and perhaps self-interestedly), I think the increasing ideological uniformity of sports writing is bad for sports journalism and for sports themselves. And in the way that it encourages conformism and intellectual laziness, it is probably bad for causes dear to liberals in sports.

Calcaterra is right that liberal sports writers aren't speaking "for the common fan." More often they are speaking at the common fan, or even just at a caricature of a fan that they assembled from the most voluble sports talk radio callers and the obscure Twitter accounts that jeer their work. The liberalism on offer on sports pages is rather infatuated with the norms and aspirations of the class of people from which journalists are drawn. And this narrowness usually puts them in an antagonistic position not just with fans, but with the entire sports culture beyond journalism.

The recent self-consciousness of progressive sports writers also misleads many of them into thinking all their quarrels are with conservative ideas, when they are in fact just arguing with the voluble and inarticulate. Sports radio hosts and their callers are often (wrongly) taken as the stand-in for opposing ideas.

Some of the debates in baseball in particular are given ideological or racial names, when in fact they are generational. Take the debate about bat-flips, which is often cast as one between stodgy white conservatives and fun multicultural liberals who prefer a Latin game. There is a reason why older Baby Boomer writers, who are themselves veterans of a deeply hierarchical system that rewarded time-serving veterans who spent decades writing formulaic gamers, are more likely to admire and defend the hierarchical culture among athletes that includes hazing a rookie, or letting expressive or cocky young players know they have to earn their place in the pecking order. And it's not a surprise that younger writers who smashed through to national audiences through opinionated new digital platforms admire the more expressive players.

But there's only so much that this new crop of sports writers can truly identify with the players they admire. Socially cosseted with other journalists, liberal sports writers increasingly identify with the only set of actors in the sports world that come from a cultural milieu relatable to their own: the new class of rationalizing, brainy executives. In another generation, sports writers dreamed futilely of being Willie Mays or Gordie Howe. Now they want to be Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey. And their copy and concerns increasingly seem to be written for each other and for these analytics-loving general managers.

Sometimes the problems this produces aren't strictly political. Brian Kenny, the loudest of the sports rationalizers, once asked if anyone should care about no-hitters anymore. After all, nine innings is just a small sample size, and throwing a no-hitter can be a bit flukish. No one thinks that the last person to throw a no-hitter is, by definition, the best pitcher in the game. Kenny used the political-ish rhetoric of liberals to make this point. He was advocating a modern, progressive, and data-driven view of baseball against "antiquated" and misguided "values."

Kenny's argument wasn't wrong as much as it was wrong-footed. He wasn't advocating a progressive view, just the general managers' view that a single game isn't useful for ranking a player or determining his next contract or his trade value. But fans (and players) can still enjoy games as individual dramatic events, apart from the fact that they add a marginal amount of new data to an evaluative spreadsheet. And don't forget, a big story of the last decade has been the humbling of the clever-dick sabermetricians and the journalists who championed them, as new forms of data and deeper insights into front offices confirm some of the once-scorned wisdom of the ages.

The pattern of over-identifying with general managers is endemic to liberal sports journalism, and the not-so-secret truth is that liberal sportswriters increasingly hold the culture that produces athletes and their fans in contempt, or even find it dangerous and threatening. Fans are treated as a distracting nuisance, in thrall to their tribal affinities and over-invested in homegrown players or even in winning itself. How quaint.

The culture of athletes is treated as alien and toxic, a kind of pit in which womanizing bros, aggressive rageaholics, and icky religious freaks are allowed to flourish and enjoy a high income and status that would be justly denied to people who act and think in this way in any other profession. When macho athletes like Yasiel Puig are profiled, it is often in a superficial way in which their background is mined for all political resonance and dramatic tension, but the actual personality is carefully obscured. Athletes are famously hard to get to know, but sportswriters often just seem incapable of getting their head into a macho, competitive, aggressive culture. And sometimes, sports writers seem to be appealing to the general manager or team HR departments to enforce liberal norms on their highly paid assets.

The smaller portion of athletes who happen to share cultural affinities or political commitments with liberal sports writers are given glowing, intimate, get-to-know-you portraits. Stories like "How Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin a bike-riding, socially conscious, Animal Collective-loving hipster is redefining what it means to be a football player." I wonder if there was a follow-up asking all other football players whether they were redefined by Barwin's presence. It's notable that journalists who do seem to get along with average athletes, like Bill Simmons or even Stephen A. Smith, are treated with a little bit of suspicion by the rest of the sports writer tribe

The almost hegemonic liberalism in sports journalism is due to many factors. It's a product of the culture of prestige journalism, which is becoming more rarefied and conformist. It's also a product of the digital age, in which straight-down-the-line game stories aren't enough to feed the content maw of the internet. It's a product of athletes partially retreating from journalists for fear of being hurt with their sponsors, and journalists needing more than ever to create more colorful human interest stories without that access.

It's also true that conservative ideas tend to be slower off the block. Because they are defenders of tradition, conservatives' arguments often strike liberals as either an unreflective devotion to the way things are (or were), or as being too subtle to be credible. One progressive baseball writer confessed to me privately that my traditionalist argument against expanding the designated hitter to the National League struck him as "koan-like" and that he had trouble deciding whether it was inarguably true or pure nonsense.

The lack of intelligent conservatives in sports, or at least their relative shyness about their ideas, also allows progressive sportswriters to advance ideas without challenge, sometimes all the way into dead ends. Take the debate about Native American mascots in logos. Of course it makes perfect sense to remove or alter any logos that offend people. But all mascots are reductive caricatures. Was the problem that the logos were offensive or that there is so little representation of Native Americans in our culture that their presence as mascots seems mocking by default? Has no one stopped to notice there is something odd about an anti-racism that will cause an evermore diverse country to declare rooting for white-faced mascots the only safe thing to do? How will this deletion of all non-white faces look in 50 years?

The more astonishing piece of conventional wisdom generated by younger self-styled progressive sports writers was their argument against "PED hysteria." Many writers simply said fans didn't care enough, and many liked the results of a juiced game anyway. Some even took it to the logical conclusion: that sports leagues should preside over a free-for-all with performance-enhancing drugs. This is a strangely anti-labor and anti-regulation stance for liberals. It gives tacit encouragement for athletes to ignore both federal laws and their own health interests because of what the market demands. And it wouldn't solve the problem of marginal players taking PEDs to hang on. It would only make them turn to more exotic and dangerous drugs.

And that brings us to a stranger irony for progressive sports writers. Having committed themselves so thoroughly to arguments against "moralizing" or against "tradition," they actually become handmaidens for the interests of owners and capital. Having demythologized all values that are not purely rationalistic, making themselves deaf to arguments for some abstract "integrity of the game," they can mount no principled objection to, for example, commercial advertising being imposed on the bases in baseball. They will be met with their own favorite arguments that "the sky didn't fall" the last time traditionalists objected to some alteration. And in this respect it is notable that the NBA, whose writers tend to be even more progressive than the norm among sports writers, was the first major American sports league to announce that it would sell advertising space on player jerseys.

Similarly, if MLB commissioner Rob Manfred says that a pitch clock and starting a man on second base in extra innings would be good for the game, liberal sports writers would have already debarred themselves from the kind of arguments that would preserve continuity between the game of Mel Ott and Mike Trout.

Liberal sports writers do a lot of good. But they should be a little more analytical when it comes to their own position, and their own culture, and whether it is encouraging sloppiness and arrogance in their thinking, whether it is causing them to broadcast their disdain for the very people they cover, and whether it is fostering in them a charmless contempt for a huge portion of their readers that they can't hide and we can't unsee.

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The arrogant thinking of liberal sports writers - The Week Magazine

Malcolm Turnbull says WA deal doesn’t mean Liberal party supports One Nation – The Guardian

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

Malcolm Turnbull says preference allocations, such as the WA governments deal with One Nation, are not value judgments. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Malcolm Turnbull says entering a preference deal with One Nation doesnt mean the Liberal party supports One Nation, as a new poll shows a majority of voters disapprove of a deal between the Liberals and Pauline Hansons party in Western Australia.

Turnbull told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday that preference allocations were political calculations designed to maximise the performance of the Liberal party, not value judgments.

Asked about the Liberal partys decision in WA to preference One Nation ahead of its alliance partner, the Nationals, in some areas, the prime minister said: Well its important to understand ... that in most parts of Australia we have a compulsory preferential voting system, where you have to number a square next to each candidate on the ballot paper so there will always be the allocation of preferences.

But just because preferences are directed to a party doesnt mean that you support them quite the contrary.

His comments come as the latest Guardian Essential poll says 38% of people disapprove of the deal between the Liberal party and One Nation in WA, while 29% approve. But, among Liberal voters, 43% approved of the arrangement and 25% disapproved.

The deal in the west has also been criticised by the federal Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce. In an interview with Guardian Australia last week, Joyce warned that anti-Islamic statements, such as the ones espoused by One Nation, could harm Australian trade deals.

He said he would give instructions not to preference Hansons party before the Liberal party in federal seats.

The deal in WA parts ways with John Howards dictum in 2001 that One Nation should be put last on Liberal how-to-vote cards and some Liberal moderates are concerned preferencing One Nation will help entrench Hanson in the Australian political mainstream, creating a long-term problem for the Coalition parties.

The Australian on Tuesday reported that One Nations Queensland leader, Steve Dickson, wanted positions in the ministry in return for supporting the LNP in the state election, which is expected later this year.

Dickson, who recently defected from the LNP to lead One Nation in Queensland, said policy and positions would be a condition of support for an LNP minority government in the state.

One Nations strong performance in recent polls suggests the party will do well in Queensland. A recent poll had the party on track to better its result of 11 seats in the 1998 state election.

Howard last week abandoned his own 2001 instruction to put Hanson last, saying he fully understood the decision in Western Australia for the state election.

Everyone changes in 16 years, he said. Trying to understand that decision and decisions that were taken by various iterations of the Liberal party 15 or 16 years ago is ridiculous.

This is a different set of circumstances. I think its entirely sensible that the party has done whats its done.

Since the deal was struck in WA, a number of federal ministers have lined up in support, with some advancing arguments that One Nation is more sophisticated than it was 20 years ago.

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Malcolm Turnbull says WA deal doesn't mean Liberal party supports One Nation - The Guardian

Liberals butcher Bollywood One More Time – WAtoday

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

Just when you thought the WA Liberal's cringe worthy and hilarious dance moves couldn't get any worse, it appears party members are serial offenders when it comes to busting out awkward moves on the dance floor.

At the Liberal's campaign launch on Sunday, members can be seen clumsily cutting a rug and clapping out of sync to Daft Punk's One More Time.

The daggy dancing was only elevated slightly thanks to Liberal deputy leader Liza Harvey doing what could only be described as a robotic and rigid impersonation of the Twist.

Now a video has emerged of Liberal MP's boogieing to Bollywood-style tunes at a fundraiser for wannabe pollie Jim Seth who is running for the party in the seat of Bassendean.

And TreasurerMike Nahan, who foxtrotted to back of the corny choreography at the Liberal launch, is on the stage leading the charge in theBollywood Dance Workshop fundraiser filmed in December.

We are just not sure what he is doing.

At one-stage it looks like the Riverton MP is trying to put a fire out on his left arm, then he whoops it by creating his own dance move which we will dub, ringing the church bells.

The Treasurer'sown version of Dirty Dancing doesn't end there as he wiggles his hips and does a half-version of the sprinkler, before it looks like he pops out a hip.

Meanwhile Ms Harvey, Planning Minister Donna Faragher, Attorney General Michael Mischin and Parliamentary Speaker Michael Sutherland are waving their arms in the air, just like they just don't care.

It's just their cavorting isn't coordinated.

We are not suggesting the Liberals got stuck into any exotic Indian drinks, but it does seem a few might be a little tipsy while tripping the light fantastic.

At one point in the video, Mr Seth can be seen walking off the dance floor. We are not sure if decided to head home after watching his Liberal mates bust out the whitest moves ever.

And it also clears up the mystery who the man with the giant ribbon with the words "I'm Jim" on it was on stage during the Liberals' butchering of One More Time.

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Liberals butcher Bollywood One More Time - WAtoday

Liberal Arts College Students Are Getting Less Artsy – Inside Higher Ed

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

Liberal Arts College Students Are Getting Less Artsy
Inside Higher Ed
Liberal arts colleges promise students a well-rounded education in core disciplines that will prepare them for a variety of careers and lifelong learning not just a first job. Increasingly, though, even attending a liberal arts institution doesn't ...

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Liberal Arts College Students Are Getting Less Artsy - Inside Higher Ed

GOP lawmaker town halls face liberal discontent – The Detroit News

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

LaTrice Watkins, 38, of Detroit, wears a chicken suit as she and others peacefully protest along E. Big Beaver as they do The Chicken Dance during their rally outside the Troy office of GOP Rep. Dave Trott earlier this month.(Photo: Todd McInturf / The Detroit News)Buy Photo

Constituents of Republican Rep. Dave Trott of Birmingham are planning town hall meetings in his district this week, although hes out of the country and wont attend.

Residents in the district of GOP Rochester Rep. Mike Bishop are inviting him to a town hall during the April congressional recess, saying theyll stand up a cardboard cutout of his likeness if he doesnt show.

Activists rallied with signs outside Trotts office in Troy and Bishops in Brighton in recent weeks, as well as the offices of Republican Reps. Bill Huizenga in Grandville and Tim Walberg in Jackson, where demonstrators left behind bags of candy conversation hearts on Valentines Day. And a crowd of more than 600 showed up this month at a town hall in Grand Rapids hosted by GOP Rep. Justin Amash.

The protests and town halls, as well as a flood of calls to congressional offices in the last month, are part of a nationwide uptick in Democratic activism that is borrowing tactics from the conservative tea party, which grew to a mass movement in 2009.

Organizers want face time with their members of Congress to discuss the Trump administrations plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act and the Republican presidents controversial ban on travelers and refugees, among other topics.

Several Michigan activists said they got ideas from an advocacy guide published online by the Indivisible network, which pledges to resist the Trump agenda. Dozens of groups in Metro Detroit have registered on the Indivisible site, which was assembled by former Democratic congressional staffers.

I wasnt active politically before, said Gretchen Hertz of Brighton, who is organizing a town hall for April 11 and inviting Bishop. People want him to know that were not really that happy with everything that Trump is doing, and we dont want you to rubber stamp it.

Rep. Justin Amash, right, speaks to people being turned away at the door because of overcrowding before the start of a town hall meeting at City High Middle School in Grand Rapids on Feb. 9.(Photo: Mike Clark / AP)

Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican strategist in Austin, Texas, said the activity is reminiscent of when grassroots conservatives protested the government stimulus, the Affordable Care Act and other initiatives in the early days of the Obama administration.

An early organizer with the tea party movement, Steinhauser says he came up with the idea of bringing a cardboard cutout of a congressman to a town hall, then calling the media to report he didnt show up.

This is about being out of power, Steinhauser said of the activism. Its a combination of losing the election and also the fear of the policies coming out of Washington. Unfortunately, people tend to not rally or protest their legislators when they want to do something positive. They protest and call legislators to stop ideas or policies that they disagree with.

The protest uprisings have their differences. President Barack Obama had a seven-month honeymoon before protesters descended in large numbers on town halls during the August 2009 congressional recess to complain about the Democratic presidents plans to enact a sweeping health care law.

The rumblings of the liberal backlash against Republican members started before Trump took office last month with promises to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act within three months.

Facing the constituents

Like with the tea party movement, the activity has sent congressional staffers scrambling meeting with protesters and trying to respond to the influx of calls and emails.

Huizenga is planning a town hall Saturday in Lake County and is searching for a venue that holds more than 500 in the southern part of his district for the first week in March, spokesman Brian Patrick said.

Huizenga has hosted tele-town halls this year, taking questions by phone, and has previously used Facebooks Live video feature for question-and-answer sessions.

We understand there are people who do not support Congressman Huizenga, do not support President Trump. We want to hear their opinions, as well, Patrick said.

Bishops office has logged more than 2,300 calls and sent more than 5,000 emails and nearly 1,300 letters in response to constituent concerns since Jan. 1, according to his office.

Congressman Bishop is in session this week but is aware of the protests and fully hears the concerns voiced by those who are participating, spokeswoman Kelli Ford said last week during the fifth protest this year at Bishops Brighton office.

Congress has had votes 23 out of 46 days this year. He has been working around that and is connecting with constituents as much as possible.

Bishop recently hosted two calls when he took questions by phone. His office says this method reaches thousands more people than could fit into an in-person town hall and is better for seniors with limited transportation, especially in winter.

Dating to his days as a state lawmaker, Amash has taken a different approach than his colleagues. He has held two town halls so far this year, despite the busy voting schedule in Washington.

At the last one, Amash was booed for his support for GOP plans to repeal Obamacare. But the frequent Trump critic was cheered for issues on which he diverges with the president, such as arguing Trump should release his tax returns.

Amash said that while confrontation might make some of his colleagues uncomfortable, its important to engage face to face and to listen without any screens.

These are people you represent, and you should be willing to engage with them and discuss ideas and learn, he said in an interview.

At times, youll find that there are people who have misunderstandings of your own positions, and you can help clarify your positions by holding town halls. Its a positive thing to be out there.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush tweeted in agreement: @justinamash is setting the right example. Conservatives should be ready (and eager) to defend and discuss our positions with everyone.

Where is Dave Trott?

Scott Pickett, a research analyst in Plymouth Township, said he helped start the website wheresdavetrott.com after calls and emails by him and some neighbors to Trotts office went unanswered, save for a form-letter response.

We want an opportunity to talk to him and hear his explanations for positions, said Pickett, a Democrat. Amid all the activity thats happening, we wanted to be assured that our voice is being heard.

At the U.S. Capitol last week, Trott told The Detroit News he plans to have an in-person town hall in the future. He hosted a tele-town hall this month.

Weve been in Washington more at this point in the session than the past several Congresses. So, where is Dave Trott? Im in Washington voting, Trott said, steps from the House chamber.

Most of the people demanding town hall meetings arent even from my district, OK?

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has suggested that anti-Trump protests are a very paid, AstroTurf-type movement.

Pickett says hes not paid for his efforts, and he lives in Trotts district.

Bryan Watson, a retired consultant in West Bloomfield, also lives in Trotts district and says no one is paying him. He saw the hashtag #wheresdavetrott on Twitter and decided to organize a Tuesday town hall at his public library.

Leslie Rzeznik of Plymouth, who is unpaid, connected on Facebook with other Trott constituents to plan a Thursday town hall in Novi. They recently partnered with the group Michigan Peoples Campaign.

This is an example of a totally organic, grassroots effort, Rzeznik said.

Trott, a sophomore representative, said he hosted town halls during his first term and intends to hold more, though hes wary, alluding to heckling by protesters at other GOP town halls.

If the purpose of the new town hall is to be disruptive and draw attention to peoples concerns over the replacement for the Affordable Care Act or President Trumps immigration policies, I dont know that a town hall is going to be particularly productive, because Ive heard those concerns, said Trott, who supports Trumps travel ban and repealing Obamacare.

Watson was disappointed to learn last week that Trott will be part of a congressional delegation to India and would not attend his town hall. Watson intends to go ahead without Trott, expecting about 50 people.

Im not affiliating myself with any groups. Once I put someone elses banner on this, then its just a partisan shout match, said Watson, a Democrat.

Id like to have a conversation. ... I know this district is heavily Republican. Maybe they dont know about the benefits of the Affordable Care Act.

After learning of Trotts India trip, the Michigan Peoples Campaign event is still on, with organizers inviting business owners and immigrants from the district to speak.

The great thing about the 11th District is there is so much global diversity, said Meredith Loomis Quinlan, who works for the Michigan Peoples Campaign and does not live in Trotts district.

We wanted to highlight that he doesnt need to globeTrott emphasis on the Trott to find people with whom to build relationships with, said Loomis Quinlan.

He can come home to his own district and talk to his constituents.

mburke@detroitnews.com

(202) 662-8736

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GOP lawmaker town halls face liberal discontent - The Detroit News

India’s economic freedom plunge | Business Standard News – Business Standard

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

For a government so devoted to rankings and ratings, India dropping 20 places to 143 in the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom must have been a bummer. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi felt it worthwhile to approvingly cite Indias 19-place improvement in the World Banks Logistics Performance Index, surely such a dramatic fall in economic freedom should send alarm bells ringing? Compiled by the conservative Washington DC-based Heritage Foundation, the Index of Economic Freedom has an unambiguous free-market tilt. It ranks countries based on 12 factors:

And on the face of it, India seems to have taken quite a hit:

Now you might say that these indices are arbitrary, opaque or irrelevant, and you would have a point. Heritage doesnt tell us how these scores are calculated, and only five of the 12 variables are drawn from concrete data, as opposed to more subjective surveys by the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, Transparency International etc. The way the index is calculated, modest changes in one or two variables can send a country up or down five to 10 places.

Since many of these appear to be subjective measures (e.g. property rights, judicial effectiveness, government integrity), small rank changes could simply reflect random measurement error. Furthermore, its debatable whether saying that India ranks three spots higher than Brazil under property rights is truly meaningful.

There are conceptual issues too. If you give Sudan, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo top billing under government spending and code the welfare states of Finland, France and Denmark as low in this case, are you not implausibly suggesting that weak government capacity produces prosperity?

More broadly, a 2012 paper by economists Aleksander Keeljevi? and Rok Spruk finds that country rankings can change once you account for endogeneity the fact that richer countries will already tend to be freer economically as well as for how various components of the index affect prosperity differently (e.g. fiscal and monetary variables have a bigger impact than rule-of-law variables).

Amitabh Dubey | Chunauti.org

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Kellogg column: Our culture must shift from dependent to interdependent – Glenwood Springs Post Independent

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

Making America great again requires changing the dependent culture that has been cultivated in the United States. Since the founding, the federal government has expanded beyond constitutional limits at the expense of our liberty, prosperity and values. We must return to the principles of federalism, freedom and fiscal responsibility. That will take development of new leaders with the skills and habits to change our culture from within.

The Constitution of the United States instituted the principle of federalism to preserve the liberty of the people. Constitutional powers of the federal government are few and enumerated, predominantly in Article 1, Section 8.

Most governing authority was intended for the states, other than certain powers expressly prohibited by Article 1, Section 10. Beyond that, Amendment 10 in the Bill of Rights stipulates, The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

James Madison, the father of the Constitution, wrote, The public good is the supreme object to be pursued; and no form of government whatever has any other value than as it may be fitted for the attainment of this object. Originally, this was borne out with limited government and prominent character-forming institutions of families, churches and schools that cultivated the virtues of our society. Free citizens and these institutions were interdependent, and government provided security.

Unfortunately, the federal government incrementally expanded at the expense of citizens and the states. This began in earnest in 1913. The 16th Amendment was ratified to give Congress the new power to assess a federal income tax on citizens. That same year, the 17th Amendment stipulated direct election of U.S. senators instead of appointment by the state legislatures. Senators effectively became agents of the federal government instead of their home states.

In 1913 the Federal Reserve (the Fed), a group of private banks with no reserves, was created to assert control over our monetary system. The federal government began writing rubber checks to the Fed in exchange for newly minted dollars not backed by gold. Much of this conjured cash was injected into the national banks. Thanks to fractional reserve banking, these banks were authorized to lend 10 times more money than they had in reserve. The free money enticed Americans into adopting a culture independent of our character-forming institutions.

This new false sense of financial security ushered in the Great Depression. Thanks to the Fed, the federal government had free money to come to the rescue with new social programs. Income tax levied on citizens was used to pay interest to the Fed for manufactured money lent to the government. To enable the scheme, President Franklin Roosevelt took our currency off the gold standard in 1933. Meanwhile, Social Security and the New Deal expanded government into every part of society. America entered a new era with citizens increasingly dependent on government.

President Lyndon Johnson capitalized on this dependent mindset with his Great Society. Federal government expansion included the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the Food Stamp Act of 1964, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, and the Social Security Amendments of 1965 (Medicare and Medicaid). Since all this federal control was over-reaching and unaffordable, the next president, Richard Nixon, unilaterally canceled the direct convertibility of the U.S. dollar to gold in 1971.

In just 60 years, the federal government grew into a monster that swallowed federalism, individual liberty and fiscal responsibility. The states became subservient administrative arms of national government. A significant fraction of American citizens (and now non-citizens) were transformed into dependents. We are servants of centralized government, living in a society burdened by taxes, regulations and debt. Americans accept dependency because government has conditioned us to seek comfort instead of change.

The only way to make America great again is by developing a new corps of leaders who can change our culture from within. This starts by re-establishing the roles of families, churches and schools in building the character of our culture. These institutions are critical to instill the purpose, knowledge and habits of true leaders. Our journey back from dependent stagnation to interdependent liberty will not be easy. Read Right Angles next month to learn how we can develop the leaders to guide us.

James D. Kellogg is an engineering consultant and the author of Radical Action: A Colt Kelley Thriller. Look for the novel on amazon.com and visit JamesDKellogg.com or email james@jamesdkellogg.com.

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Kellogg column: Our culture must shift from dependent to interdependent - Glenwood Springs Post Independent

County Commission Backs Medical Marijuana, Opposes School Vouchers – Memphis Daily News

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

VOL. 132 | NO. 37 | Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Shelby County Commissioners endorsed state legislation Monday, Feb. 20, that would legalize marijuana for medical purposes, came out against a school voucher bill by state Senator Brian Kelsey of Germantown and turned away a social media use policy for county employees.

The commissions 9-2 vote to back the medical marijuana bill sponsored in the Tennessee Legislature by state Rep. Jeremy Faison came without debate one in a series of votes that are part of the commissions group of positions on legislature pending in Nashville.

Commissioners Mark Billingsley and Heidi Shafer voted no with commissioner George Chism absent and commissioner Justin Ford not in the commission chambers when the vote was taken.

In December, the same commission defeated an ordinance on final reading that would have allowed Shelby County Sheriffs deputies to write a civil citation or ticket for possession of half an ounce or less of pot.

There was much more debate among commissioners Monday on the social media policy changes prompted by a November post from Shelby County Corrections Center Deputy Director David Barber that the Klan is more American than then-President Barack Obama, on his personal Facebook page. The page listed his job with Shelby County government. Barber retired during furor over the post.

The policy amendment proposed said an employees personal social media use should not be attributable to an agency of county government.

Be aware if you identify yourself as an employee of SCG (Shelby County Government) or an affiliate organization/department on your personal social profile, any information you post will be held to a higher level of scrutiny, the amendment read. And you should determine how you wish to present yourself as a SCG professional, appropriate with the public trust associated with our position, and conforms to the policies and procedures of SCG and its officials.

Commissioners had lots of questions about Facebook posts by county employees who dont show where they work but who are outed as a county employee by others. Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Kim Hackney said any county action would depend heavily on the posting and how that relates to other county government policies against racial, religious and gender discrimination.

This is a first line of defense, commissioner Mark Billingsley said. It provides clarity around our countys values and culture.

Commissioner Terry Roland, however, said the policy is wrong and that county government would quickly become entangled in questions of Constitutional law and freedom of expression.

The social media thing, I think, is wrong, he said. You cannot tell somebody how to think. There are so many variables. What if I get tagged?

Roland acknowledged social media posts by him in recent weeks have been highly critical of Planned Parenthood.

I dont give a damn who watches mine. Next theyll be looking at your emails, he said. Were starting to take right away from people.

The amended social media policy would not have applied to elected officials just as the current policy does not.

Commissioner Walter Bailey who is politically the opposite of Roland on many issues, agreed with Roland in his position as well as being a vocal critic of the rule.

I think we expose ourselves to litigation, he said. Thats their privacy.

Bailey called the policy change a slippery slope that could have the effect of putting a chill on free speech and expression.

The resolution on the policy change fell one vote short of the seven votes needed for approval. Commissioners Bailey, Roland, Steve Basar and chairman Melvin Burgess voted no.

The commission also approved Monday a resolution coming out against Kelseys school voucher bill which would apply only to Shelby County.

The 10-0 vote, with Shafer abstaining, came the same day that a fiscal note attached to the legislation in Nashville by the General Assemblys Fiscal Review Committee estimated Shelby County Schools would lose $18.6 million in revenue a year as a result, starting in 2019.

I dont know why he continues his assault on education in Shelby County, when his constituents and our constituents do not support it, commissioner David Reaves said. If this goes through, I think we need to be prepared to challenge it. Even our municipal districts, it will continue to expand and eat away at education funding.

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County Commission Backs Medical Marijuana, Opposes School Vouchers - Memphis Daily News

International Financial Reporting Standards – Wikipedia

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are designed as a common global language for business affairs so that company accounts are understandable and comparable across international boundaries. They are a consequence of growing international shareholding and trade and are particularly important for companies that have dealings in several countries. They are progressively replacing the many different national accounting standards. They are the rules to be followed by accountants to maintain books of accounts which are comparable, understandable, reliable and relevant as per the users internal or external.

IFRS, with the exception of IAS 29 Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies and IFRIC 7 Applying the Restatement Approach under IAS 29, are authorized in terms of the historical cost paradigm. IAS 29 and IFRIC 7 are authorized in terms of the units of constant purchasing power paradigm.[1][2]

IFRS began as an attempt to harmonize accounting across the European Union but the value of harmonization quickly made the concept attractive around the world. However, it has been debated whether or not de facto harmonization has occurred. Standards that were issued by IASC (the predecessor of IASB) are still within use today and go by the name International Accounting Standards (IAS), while standards issued by IASB are called IFRS. IAS were issued between 1973 and 2001 by the Board of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). On 1 April 2001, the new International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) took over from the IASC the responsibility for setting International Accounting Standards. During its first meeting the new Board adopted existing IAS and Standing Interpretations Committee standards (SICs). The IASB has continued to develop standards calling the new standards "International Financial Reporting Standards".

In the absence of a Standard or an Interpretation that specifically applies to a transaction, management must use its judgement in developing and applying an accounting policy that results in information that is relevant and reliable. In making that judgement, IAS 8.11 requires management to consider the definitions, recognition criteria, and measurement concepts for assets, liabilities, income, and expenses in the Framework.

Criticisms of IFRS are (1) that they are not being adopted in the US (see GAAP), (2) a number of criticisms from France and (3) that IAS 29 Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies had no positive effect at all during 6 years in Zimbabwe's hyperinflationary economy. The IASB offered responses to the first two criticisms, but has offered no response to the last criticism while IAS 29 was as of March 2014 being implemented in its original ineffective form in Venezuela and Belarus.

Financial statements are a structured representation of the financial positions and financial performance of an entity. The objective of financial statements is to provide information about the financial position, financial performance and cash flows of an entity that is useful to a wide range of users in making economic decisions. Financial statements also show the results of the management's stewardship of the resources entrusted to it.[3]

To meet this objective, financial statements provide information about an entity's:

This information, along with other information in the notes, assists users of financial statements in predicting the entity's future cash flows and, in particular, their timing and certainty.[3]

The following are the general features in IFRS:

Fundamental qualitative characteristics of financial information include:

Enhancing qualitative characteristics include:

The elements directly related to the measurement of the statement of financial position include:

The financial performance of an entity is presented in the statement of comprehensive income, which consists of the income statement (Statement of Profit/Loss) and the statement of other comprehensive income[16] (usually presented in two separate statements). Financial performance includes the following elements (which are recognised in the income statement or other comprehensive income as required by the applicable IFRS standard):

Results recognised in other comprehensive income are limited to the following specific circumstances:

The statement of changes in equity consists of a reconciliation of the changes in equity in which the following information is provided:

Statement of Cash Flows

Notes to the Financial Statements: These shall (a) present information about the basis of preparation of the financial statements and the specific accounting policies used; (b) disclose the information required by IFRSs that is not presented elsewhere in the financial statements; and (c) provide information that is not presented elsewhere in the financial statements, but is relevant to an understanding of any of them.[28]

An item is recognized in the financial statements when:[29]

In some cases specific standards add additional conditions before recognition is possible or prohibit recognition altogether.

An example is the recognition of internally generated brands, mastheads, publishing titles, customer lists and items similar in substance, for which recognition is prohibited by IAS 38.[30] In addition research and development expenses can only be recognised as an intangible asset if they cross the threshold of being classified as 'development cost'.[31]

Whilst the standard on provisions, IAS 37, prohibits the recognition of a provision for contingent liabilities,[32] this prohibition is not applicable to the accounting for contingent liabilities in a business combination. In that case the acquirer shall recognise a contingent liability even if it is not probable that an outflow of resources embodying economic benefits will be required.[33]

Par. 102. A financial concept of capital is adopted by most entities in preparing their financial statements. Under a financial concept of capital, such as invested money or invested purchasing power, capital is synonymous with the net assets or equity of the entity. Under a physical concept of capital, such as operating capability, capital is regarded as the productive capacity of the entity based on, for example, units of output per day.

Par. 103. The selection of the appropriate concept of capital by an entity should be based on the needs of the users of its financial statements. Thus, a financial concept of capital should be adopted if the users of financial statements are primarily concerned with the maintenance of nominal invested capital or the purchasing power of invested capital. If, however, the main concern of users is with the operating capability of the entity, a physical concept of capital should be used. The concept chosen indicates the goal to be attained in determining profit, even though there may be some measurement difficulties in making the concept operational.

Par. 104. The concepts of capital in paragraph 102 give rise to the following two concepts of capital maintenance:

(a) Financial capital maintenance. Under this concept a profit is earned only if the financial (or money) amount of the net assets at the end of the period exceeds the financial (or money) amount of net assets at the beginning of the period, after excluding any distributions to, and contributions from, owners during the period. Financial capital maintenance can be measured in either nominal monetary units or units of constant purchasing power.

(b) Physical capital maintenance. Under this concept a profit is earned only if the physical productive capacity (or operating capability) of the entity (or the resources or funds needed to achieve that capacity) at the end of the period exceeds the physical productive capacity at the beginning of the period, after excluding any distributions to, and contributions from, owners during the period.

The concepts of capital in paragraph 102 give rise to the following three concepts of capital during low inflation and deflation:

The concepts of capital in paragraph 102 give rise to the following three concepts of capital maintenance during low inflation and deflation:

Par. 105. The concept of capital maintenance is concerned with how an entity defines the capital that it seeks to maintain. It provides the linkage between the concepts of capital and the concepts of profit because it provides the point of reference by which profit is measured; it is a prerequisite for distinguishing between an entity's return on capital and its return of capital; only inflows of assets in excess of amounts needed to maintain capital may be regarded as profit and therefore as a return on capital. Hence, profit is the residual amount that remains after expenses (including capital maintenance adjustments, where appropriate) have been deducted from income. If expenses exceed income the residual amount is a loss.

Par. 106. The physical capital maintenance concept requires the adoption of the current cost basis of measurement. The financial capital maintenance concept, however, does not require the use of a particular basis of measurement. Selection of the basis under this concept is dependent on the type of financial capital that the entity is seeking to maintain.

Par. 107. The principal difference between the two concepts of capital maintenance is the treatment of the effects of changes in the prices of assets and liabilities of the entity. In general terms, an entity has maintained its capital if it has as much capital at the end of the period as it had at the beginning of the period. Any amount over and above that required to maintain the capital at the beginning of the period is profit.

Par. 108. Under the concept of financial capital maintenance where capital is defined in terms of nominal monetary units, profit represents the increase in nominal money capital over the period. Thus, increases in the prices of assets held over the period, conventionally referred to as holding gains, are, conceptually, profits. They may not be recognised as such, however, until the assets are disposed of in an exchange transaction. When the concept of financial capital maintenance is defined in terms of constant purchasing power units, profit represents the increase in invested purchasing power over the period. Thus, only that part of the increase in the prices of assets that exceeds the increase in the general level of prices is regarded as profit. The rest of the increase is treated as a capital maintenance adjustment and, hence, as part of equity.

Par. 109. Under the concept of physical capital maintenance when capital is defined in terms of the physical productive capacity, profit represents the increase in that capital over the period. All price changes affecting the assets and liabilities of the entity are viewed as changes in the measurement of the physical productive capacity of the entity; hence, they are treated as capital maintenance adjustments that are part of equity and not as profit.

Par. 110. The selection of the measurement bases and concept of capital maintenance will determine the accounting model used in the preparation of the financial statements. Different accounting models exhibit different degrees of relevance and reliability and, as in other areas, management must seek a balance between relevance and reliability. This Framework is applicable to a range of accounting models and provides guidance on preparing and presenting the financial statements constructed under the chosen model. At the present time, it is not the intention of the Board of IASC to prescribe a particular model other than in exceptional circumstances, such as for those entities reporting in the currency of a hyperinflationary economy. This intention will, however, be reviewed in the light of world developments.[40]

IFRS financial statements consist of (IAS1.8)

Comparative information is required for the prior reporting period (IAS 1.36). An entity preparing IFRS accounts for the first time must apply IFRS in full for the current and comparative period although there are transitional exemptions (IFRS1.7).

On 6 September 2007, the IASB issued a revised IAS 1 Presentation of Financial Statements. The main changes from the previous version are to require that an entity must:

The revised IAS 1 is effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2009. Early adoption is permitted.

In 2012 the US Securities and Exchange Commission Staff issued a 127-page report of potential issues with IFRS that would need to be addressed before adoption by the United States.[41] The staff of the IFRS Foundation provided a detailed answer on the main criticisms in the SEC staff report.[42]

A number of criticisms were voiced in the beginning of 2013 in the French media to which the IASB Board member Philippe Danjou responded in his document 'An Update on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs).' [43]

It is widely acknowledged that IAS 29 Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies had no positive effect during the six years it was implemented during hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. [7][citation needed] This led people[who?] to ask the purpose of IAS 29.[citation needed] As of March 2014, IAS 29 was being implemented in its original ineffective form[citation needed] in Venezuela and Belarus. It was suggested to the IASB in 2012[by whom?] that IAS 29 should be corrected to require daily indexation which would result in effective constant purchasing power accounting and would stabilize the non-monetary economy during hyperinflation. The IASB has offered no response to date (March 2014) to this criticism and has not yet altered IAS 29 to require daily indexation.

IFRS are used in many parts of the world, including the South Korea, European Union, India, Hong Kong, Australia, Malaysia, Pakistan, GCC countries, Russia, Chile, Philippines, South Africa, Singapore and Turkey, but not in the United States. Please refer to PricewaterhouseCoopers' "IFRS by country" publication for a detailed explanation of the level of IFRS adoption per country.[44] 140 Jurisdiction profiles are available online.[45]

It is generally expected that IFRS adoption worldwide will be beneficial to investors and other users of financial statements, by reducing the costs of comparing alternative investments and increasing the quality of information.[46] Companies are also expected to benefit, as investors will be more willing to provide financing.[46] Companies that have high levels of international activities are among the group that would benefit from a switch to IFRS. Companies that are involved in foreign activities and investing benefit from the switch due to the increased comparability of a set accounting standard.[47] However, Ray J. Ball has expressed some skepticism of the overall cost of the international standard; he argues that the enforcement of the standards could be lax, and the regional differences in accounting could become obscured behind a label. He also expressed concerns about the fair value emphasis of IFRS and the influence of accountants from non-common-law regions, where losses have been recognized in a less timely manner.[46]

To assess progress towards the goal of a single set global accounting standards, the IFRS Foundation has developed and posted profiles about the use of IFRSs in individual jurisdictions. These were based on information from various sources. The starting point was the responses provided by standard-setting and other relevant bodies to a survey that the IFRS Foundation conducted. Currently, profiles are completed for 124 jurisdictions, including all of the G20 jurisdictions plus 104 others. Eventually, the plan is to have a profile for every jurisdiction that has adopted IFRSs, or is on a programme toward adoption of IFRSs.[48]

The Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) has issued 'Australian equivalents to IFRS' (A-IFRS), numbering IFRS standards as AASB 18 and IAS standards as AASB 101141. Australian equivalents to SIC and IFRIC Interpretations have also been issued, along with a number of 'domestic' standards and interpretations. These pronouncements replaced previous Australian generally accepted accounting principles with effect from annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2005 (i.e. 30 June 2006 was the first report prepared under IFRS-equivalent standards for June year ends). To this end, Australia, along with Europe and a few other countries, was one of the initial adopters of IFRS for domestic purposes (in the developed world). It must be acknowledged, however, that IFRS and primarily IAS have been part and parcel of accounting standard package in the developing world for many years since the relevant accounting bodies were more open to adoption of international standards for many reasons including that of capability.

The AASB has made certain amendments to the IASB pronouncements in making A-IFRS, however these generally have the effect of eliminating an option under IFRS, introducing additional disclosures or implementing requirements for not-for-profit entities, rather than departing from IFRS for Australian entities. Accordingly, for-profit entities that prepare financial statements in accordance with A-IFRS are able to make an unreserved statement of compliance with IFRS.

The AASB continues to mirror changes made by the IASB as local pronouncements. In addition, over recent years, the AASB has issued so-called 'Amending Standards' to reverse some of the initial changes made to the IFRS text for local terminology differences, to reinstate options and eliminate some Australian-specific disclosure. There are some calls for Australia to simply adopt IFRS without 'Australianising' them and this has resulted in the AASB itself looking at alternative ways of adopting IFRS in Australia.

Brazil has already adopted IFRS for all companies whose securities are publicly traded and for most financial institutions whose securities are not publicly traded, for both consolidated and separate (individual) company financial statements.[49]

The use of IFRS became a requirement for Canadian publicly accountable profit-oriented enterprises for financial periods beginning on or after 1 January 2011. This includes public companies and other "profit-oriented enterprises that are responsible to large or diverse groups of shareholders."[50]

In 2002 the European Union agreed that from 1 January 2005 International Accounting Standards / International Financial Reporting Standards would apply for the consolidated accounts of the EU listed companies.[51]

In order to be approved for use in the EU, standards must be endorsed by the Accounting Regulatory Committee (ARC), which includes representatives of member state governments and is advised by a group of accounting experts known as the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group. As a result, IFRS as applied in the EU may differ from that used elsewhere.

Parts of the standard IAS 39: Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement were not originally approved by the ARC. IAS 39 was subsequently amended, removing the option to record financial liabilities at fair value, and the ARC approved the amended version. The IASB is working with the EU to find an acceptable way to remove a remaining anomaly in respect of hedge accounting. The World Bank Centre for Financial Reporting Reform is working with countries in the ECA region to facilitate the adoption of IFRS and IFRS for SMEs.

Whilst the IASB set the effective dates for the new consolidation standards IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements, IFRS 11 Joint Arrangements and IFRS 12 Disclosure of Interests in Other Entities at 1 January 2013, the ARC decided to delay the mandatory effective date for the companies listed in the European Union by one year. The standards therefore only became effective on 1 January 2014.[52]

The European Commission has launched a general analysis of the impacts of 8 years of use of international financial reporting standards (IFRSs) in the EU for preparers and users of financial statements from the private sector. The study will include an overall assessment of whether the Regulation 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and the Council ('IAS Regulation') has met the two-fold initial objectives of ensuring a high degree of transparency and comparability of the financial statements of European companies and an efficient functioning of the market, in comparison with the situation before IFRS implementation in 2005. It will also include a cost-benefit analysis and an assessment and analysis of the benefits and drawbacks brought by the IAS Regulation for different stakeholder groups.[53]

Ghana transitioned from the Ghana Accounting Standards (GAS) to adopt the IFRS on January 1, 2007.[54] As of 2008 and beyond, a legislative injunction has been imposed on the Bank of Ghana to prepare financial statements in accordance with IFRS; thereby making it mandatory for all public entities in the country.[55]

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has announced that IFRS will be mandatory in India for financial statements for the periods beginning on or after 1 April 2016 in a phased manner. There is a roadmap issued by MCA for adoption of IFRS.

Reserve Bank of India has stated that financial statements of banks need to be IFRS-compliant for periods beginning on or after 1 April 2011.

The ICAI has also stated that IFRS will be applied to companies above INR 1000 crore (INR 10 billion) from April 2011. Phase wise applicability details for different companies in India:

Phase 1: Opening balance sheet as at 1 April 2011* i. Companies which are part of NSE Index Nifty 50 ii. Companies which are part of BSE Index Sensex 30

a. Companies whose shares or other securities are listed on a stock exchange outside India

b. Companies, whether listed or not, having net worth of more than INR 1000 crore (INR 10 billion)

Phase 2: Opening balance sheet as at 1 April 2012*

Companies not covered in phase 1 and having net worth exceeding INR 500 crore (INR 5 billion)

Phase 3: Opening balance sheet as at 1 April 2014*

Listed companies not covered in the earlier phases * If the financial year of a company commences at a date other than 1 April, then it shall prepare its opening balance sheet at the commencement of immediately following financial year.

On 22 January 2010, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs issued the road map for transition to IFRS. It is clear that India has deferred transition to IFRS by a year. In the first phase, companies included in Nifty 50 or BSE Sensex, and companies whose securities are listed on stock exchanges outside India and all other companies having net worth of INR 10billion will prepare and present financial statements using Indian Accounting Standards converged with IFRS. According to the press note issued by the government, those companies will convert their first balance sheet as at 1 April 2011, applying accounting standards convergent with IFRS if the accounting year ends on 31 March. This implies that the transition date will be 1 April 2011. According to the earlier plan, the transition date was fixed at 1 April 2010.

The press note does not clarify whether the full set of financial statements for the year 201112 will be prepared by applying accounting standards convergent with IFRS. The deferment of the transition may make companies happy, but it will undermine India's position. Presumably, lack of preparedness of Indian companies has led to the decision to defer the adoption of IFRS for a year. This is unfortunate that India, which boasts for its IT and accounting skills, could not prepare itself for the transition to IFRS over last four years. But that might be the ground reality. Transition in phases Companies, whether listed or not, having net worth of more than INR 5billion will convert their opening balance sheet as at 1 April 2013. Listed companies having net worth of INR 5billion or less will convert their opening balance sheet as at 1 April 2014. Un-listed companies having net worth of Rs5billion or less will continue to apply existing accounting standards, which might be modified from time to time. Transition to IFRS in phases is a smart move. The transition cost for smaller companies will be much lower because large companies will bear the initial cost of learning and smaller companies will not be required to reinvent the wheel. However, this will happen only if a significant number of large companies engage Indian accounting firms to provide them support in their transition to IFRS. If, most large companies, which will comply with Indian accounting standards convergent with IFRS in the first phase, choose one of the international firms, Indian accounting firms and smaller companies will not benefit from the learning in the first phase of the transition to IFRS. It is likely that international firms will protect their learning to retain their competitive advantage. Therefore, it is for the benefit of the country that each company makes judicious choice of the accounting firm as its partner without limiting its choice to international accounting firms. Public sector companies should take the lead and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) should develop a clear strategy to diffuse the learning. Size of companies The government has decided to measure the size of companies in terms of net worth. This is not the ideal unit to measure the size of a company. Net worth in the balance sheet is determined by accounting principles and methods. Therefore, it does not include the value of intangible assets. Moreover, as most assets and liabilities are measured at historical cost, the net worth does not reflect the current value of those assets and liabilities. Market capitalisation is a better measure of the size of a company. But it is difficult to estimate market capitalisation or fundamental value of unlisted companies. This might be the reason that the government has decided to use 'net worth' to measure size of companies. Some companies, which are large in terms of fundamental value or which intend to attract foreign capital, might prefer to use Indian accounting standards convergent with IFRS earlier than required under the road map presented by the government. The government should provide that choice.[56]

The minister for Financial Services in Japan announced in late June 2011 that mandatory application of the IFRS should not take place from fiscal year-ending March 2015; five to seven years should be required for preparation if mandatory application is decided; and to permit the use of U.S. GAAP beyond the fiscal year ending 31 March 2016.[57]

Montenegro gained independence from Serbia in 2006. Its accounting standard setter is the Institute of Accountants and Auditors of Montenegro (IAAM).[58]:2 In 2005, IAAM adopted a revised version of the 2002 "Law on Accounting and Auditing" which authorized the use of IFRS for all entities.[58]:18 IFRS is currently required for all consolidated and standalone financial statements, however, enforcement is not effective except in the banking sector.[58]:18 Financial statements for banks in Montenegro are, generally, of high quality and can be compared to those of the European Union.[58]:3 Foreign companies listed on Montenegro's two stock exchanges (Montenegro Stock Exchange and NEX Stock Exchange) are also required to apply IFRS in their financial statements.[59] Montenegro does not have a national GAAP.[58]:18 Currently, no Montenegrin translation of IFRS exists, and because of this Montenegro applies the Serbian translation from 2010.[60]:20 IFRS for SMEs is not currently applied in Montenegro.[60]:20

In Nepal the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) is in charge of standard setting. Nepal closely models its Financial Reporting Standards (FRS) according to the IFRS, with appropriate changes made to suit the Nepalese context. It has issued Nepal Financial Reporting Standards in 2013. The 2013 version of standards almost resembles IFRS with slight modification.

All listed companies must follow all issued IAS/IFRS except the following: IAS 39 and IAS 41: Implementation of these standards has been held in abeyance by State Bank of Pakistan for Banks and DFIs IFRS-1: Effective for the annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2004. This IFRS is being considered for adoption for all companies other than banks and DFIs. IFRS-9: Under consideration of the relevant Committee of the Institutes (ICAP & ICMAP). This IFRS will be effective for the annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013.

The government of Russia has been implementing a program to harmonize its national accounting standards with IFRS since 1998. Since then twenty new accounting standards were issued by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation aiming to align accounting practices with IFRS. Despite these efforts essential differences between Russian accounting standards and IFRS remain. Since 2004 all commercial banks have been obliged to prepare financial statements in accordance with both Russian accounting standards and IFRS. Full transition to IFRS is delayed but starting 2012 new modifications making Russian GAAP converging to IFRS have been made. They notably include the booking of reserves for bad debts and contingent liabilities and the devaluation of inventory and financial assets.

Still, several differences between the two sets of account still remain. Major reasons for deviation between Russian GAAP and IFRS / US-GAAP (e.g. when the Russian affiliate of a larger group need to be consolidated to the mother company) are the following:

In Singapore the Accounting Standards Committee (ASC) is in charge of standard setting. Singapore closely models its Financial Reporting Standards (FRS) according to the IFRS, with appropriate changes made to suit the Singapore context. Before a standard is enacted, consultations with the IASB are made to ensure consistency of core principles.[61]

All companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange have been required to comply with the requirements of International Financial Reporting Standards since 1 January 2005.

The IFRS for SMEs may be applied by 'limited interest companies', as defined in the South African Corporate Laws Amendment Act of 2006 (that is, they are not 'widely held'), if they do not have public accountability (that is, not listed and not a financial institution). Alternatively, the company may choose to apply full South African Statements of GAAP or IFRS.

South African Statements of GAAP are entirely consistent with IFRS, although there may be a delay between issuance of an IFRS and the equivalent SA Statement of GAAP (can affect voluntary early adoption).

(1) Phase I companies: listed companies and financial institutions supervised by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), except for credit cooperatives, credit card companies and insurance intermediaries:

(2) Phase II companies: unlisted public companies, credit cooperatives and credit card companies:

(3) Pre-disclosure about the IFRS adoption plan, and the impact of adoption

To prepare properly for IFRS adoption, domestic companies should propose an IFRS adoption plan and establish a specific taskforce. They should also disclose the related information from 2 years prior to adoption, as follows:

2008

2009~2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

(1) More efficient formulation of domestic accounting standards, improvement of their international image, and enhancement of the global rankings and international competitiveness of our local capital markets;

(2) Better comparability between the financial statements of local and foreign companies;

(3) No need for restatement of financial statements when local companies wish to issue overseas securities, resulting in reduction in the cost of raising capital overseas;

(4) For local companies with investments overseas, use of a single set of accounting standards will reduce the cost of account conversions and improve corporate efficiency.

Above is quoted from Accounting Research and Development Foundation, with the original "here" (PDF).(18.9 KB) .

The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency and Capital Markets Board of Turkey translated IFRS into Turkish in 2002. Banks and Turkish companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange are required to prepare IFRS reports since then. The Turkish Accounting Standards Board (called the Public Oversight Authority after 2011) also translated IFRS in 2005. The new Commercial Code came into force in 2012. The Public Oversight Authority is the only authorized board regarding auditing and financial reporting standards. Most businesses authorized by the Council of Ministers in addition to banks and Turkish companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange are required to prepare IFRS reports since 2012.

Zimbabwe also adopted IFRS.

See the article here:

International Financial Reporting Standards - Wikipedia

Chuck Huckelberry: Pima County sees the world as it is – Arizona Daily Star

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

The Arizona Daily Stars new Libertarian columnist suffers from a utopian worldview he sees the world as he wishes it to be, not as it is. (Jonathan Hoffman: Governments need to be reined in as matter of policy, Feb. 11).

Utopia is not reality. In the real world, economic development requires public-private partnerships to create job growth and community prosperity. The private sector will not be, and has not been, solely responsible for a communitys economic health.

I agree with Mr. Hoffman that it would be great if our nations corporations made expansion and relocation decisions based solely on the quality of a community and its benefit to their bottom line, and they invested their own money in infrastructure improvements such as new roads and utilities. But that is not reality, nor is it practical.

Economic growth is not solely one of providing incentives, either. It also requires community investment. Across the country, nearly every local community offers incentives, tax breaks and other deals to companies in an effort to retain employers and jobs and to attract new companies and new jobs to their communities. But the most successful communities are making considerable public investments in amenities and infrastructure, often through public-private partnerships.

Incentives are only one small part of the comprehensive economic-development plan the county is following to diversify and grow our local economy. We are making investments in infrastructure, workforce development, tourism amenities and more.

Critics of Pima County often make comparisons between Pima Countys and Maricopa Countys economies. Those critics should look at how much money local and state governments in Maricopa County are spending to achieve growth there. Over the past five years, hundreds of millions of dollars in state and local economic incentives have been given to large corporations in exchange for job growth there. Billions of public dollars are being invested in roads, light rail and airports, and Arizona State University is incubating new technology and bioscience companies across the Phoenix valley.

This is the world as it exists and this is the world in which we in Pima County must compete.

Mr. Hoffman and a few others are obsessed with the countys World View agreement in which the near-space technology company is leasing from the county a manufacturing and headquarters building and managing the countys new Spaceport Tucson. Was our World View agreement legal? Absolutely. We followed all state laws governing economic development. We are now defending that action in court after the Goldwater Institute sued us. I believe we will prevail on appeal.

Mr. Hoffman and others conveniently ignore that the county used a similar lease with Caterpillar. Moreover, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, Scottsdale and Peoria all signed agreements with private companies totaling more than $100 million that are very similar to our $15 million World View agreement, yet Goldwater didnt sue them.

The local debate over the World View agreement is all about local politics and last years election, and those politics are blinding some to the bigger picture. World View is part of a larger economic-development strategy to capitalize on our existing economic strengths to grow our economy.

Aerospace, defense manufacturing, technology and logistics are among our regions greatest economic strengths and we are working to develop the area around Tucson International Airport as an economic-development and high-wage employment center. The county and the entire metro community, including the airport authority, Tucson, the Pima Association of Governments and Tucson Electric Power have taken numerous steps over the past four years to remove barriers to economic expansion in this area and to build new roads and utilities to make the area shovel-ready for new employers.

That effort is paying off. Raytheon announced it is adding 2,000 new jobs to its already considerable local workforce. In the space technology sector, World View is adding 400 jobs and Vector Space is adding 200 jobs.

Pima County sees the world as it is. We know we need community investment and public-private partnerships to compete for jobs and prosperity in the real world.

Chuck Huckelberry is the Pima County administrator.

Chuck Huckelberry: Pima County sees the world as it is - Arizona Daily Star

Utopia Opera Presents THE GRAND DUKE, 3/3-3/11 – Broadway World

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

On March 3, 4, 10, & 11 at 7:30pm,, Utopia Opera presents THE GRAND DUKE (words by W.S. Gilbert, music by Arthur Sullivan) in a fully-staged production performed with an 20-piece orchestra at the Ida K. Lang Recital Hall at Hunter College (695 Park Avenue). Utopia founder and artistic director, and Gilbert & Sullivan specialist, William Remmers, stage and music directs.

THE GRAND DUKE, the rarely-performed final Gilbert & Sullivan collaboration, features a discontented troupe of actors-come-revolutionaries planning a coup d'tat to replace their despotic leader with their theatre's manager. He's the most qualified man for the job because 1) he already knows how to run a business (and surely that's the same thing) and 2) because he has agreed to give his troupe the highest positions in his court in exchange for their support. The modern relevance should be self-apparent. Along the way, we see two duels, one ghost, four weddings (all with the same groom), a rigged roulette table, and bottles upon bottles of free wine. "It pulls out all the stops," says director William Remmers. "It's a show about performance, in theatre and in life, and it takes this theme to those two opposite ends: On one hand, given that most of the characters are actors, the jokes are faster, funnier, more stylized, and more dependent on the manipulation of language than in Gilbert's earlier work; the political satire is still bitingly relevant, but the soul of the show's humor lies in vaudeville routines and Wildean displays of repartee, all too believable coming out of the mouths of these thespians. On the other hand, the philosophical implications of subscribing to your role and committing to your part pose dark questions: must we always stick to the script that life has given us, even when we know it will have negative effects on the lives of others? The show's adventurous duality is matched, or perhaps even exceeded, by Sullivan's music. The score features late romantic harmonies, Viennese waltzes, French chanson, and comedy numbers that anticipate, with telescopic clairvoyance, the advent of modern musical theatre. It's pure fin de sicle decadence and a both a fitting send-off to the greatest musical Theatre Partnership of the 19th century and a sign of things to come in the 20th."

About Utopia Opera

Utopia Opera was founded in 2011 by artistic and musical director William Remmers. Striving to present the most entertaining operatic performances possible (for audiences and performers alike) while also maintaining a high standard of musical integrity, Utopia Opera is quickly establishing itself as a young and vibrant addition to New York City's vast operatic landscape, and was recently featured with two other indie companies on the cover of the August 2016 issue of Opera News.

In addition to providing young singers with performance opportunities, Utopia aims to share opera with a general audience and to reveal its modern relevance. A central part of that mission is realized through giving its audience and performers a stake in the direction of the company. Now in its sixth season, the company's past four seasons were chosen through votes cast on its Facebook page. Their 6th season began in September with Sondheim's ASSASSINS, which received more votes than any show in the company's history, and will conclude with Moore's The Ballad of Baby Doe and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. The seventh season vote is currently active on Utopia's Facebook page.

Tickets ($20 for general admission) are available online (with card) and at the door (card/check/cash). Tickets are available online at: TheGrandDuke.brownpapertickets.com

For press tickets, please contact info@utopiaopera.org

CAST

Ludwig: Ben Cohen Lisa: Kat Liu Julia: Hannah Spierman Ernest: Matthew Hughes Dr. Tannhuser: Kevin miller Grand Duke Rudolph: Martin Everall Baroness von Krakenfeldt: Hanne Dollase The Prince of Monte Carlo: David Tillistrand The Princess of Monte Carlo: Allyson Herman The Herald: Evan Henke The Costumier: Gary Slavin Gretchen: Ali Roselle Elsa: Emily Hughes Bertha: Nicholle Bittlingmeyer Olga: Catherine Leech A Hildebrand Noble: Ben Spierman A Windsor Noble: Roman Laba A German Noble: Matthew Walsh A D.C. Noble: Johari Frasier An Italian Noble: Eric Lamp An Aesthetic Noble: Sarah Marvel Bleasdale

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Utopia Opera Presents THE GRAND DUKE, 3/3-3/11 - Broadway World

Door open for Oceania athletes to compete at 2022 Asian Games – Insidethegames.biz

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

Athletes from Oceania could compete at the summer Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou in 2022, Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah revealed here today.

Athletes from Australia and New Zealand are currently participating on a "guest" basis at the Asian Winter Games here.

They are not eligible to win medals but did march alongside 29 Asian National Olympic Committee at the Opening Ceremony.

They are also staying at the same hotels and enjoying many of the same facilities as those from their neighbouring continent.

All 18 Oceania NOCs are then set for full participation at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat in September.

Sheikh Ahmad sees this as a step-by-step process to widen their inclusion but at the same time cited the importance of Oceania's individual sporting identity.

If Oceanian countries so wished, they could consequently compete at the Asian Games.

It could be discussed at the OCA General Assembly in Ashgabat during the Indoor and Martial Games.

Next year's event in Jakarta is considered too soon, however.

"We are willing to put it into our agenda [at this year's OCA General Assembly in Ashgabat] to see future participation," Sheikh Ahmad toldinsidethegames.

"I believe not Jakarta 2018.

"It is too short a timeframe and we have already decided the team, sports and Athletes' Village.

"If we speak we will speak about the 2022 and 2026 Games."

Hangzhou in China was named host of the 2022 edition in 2015 while Aichi and Nagoya in Japan were awarded the 2026 event last year.

Australia became a member of the Asian Football Confederation in 2006, leaving the rest of Oceania in a bid to gain more experience in a higher calibre of competition.

In 2007, the OCA rejected a proposal to allow Australia to participate at Incheon 2014, with Sheikh Ahmad claiming then that, while Australia would add good value to the Asian Games, it would be unfair to the other NOCs in Oceania.

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Door open for Oceania athletes to compete at 2022 Asian Games - Insidethegames.biz

Another open Oceania Rocket League comp kicks off soon – Gameplanet

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

Digital storage company Seagate Technology is running an Oceania Rocket League competition that kicks off next month.

The Seagate FireCuda Cup will consist of three divisions professional, main, and amateur with a prize pool more than AU$5000 plus product prizes from sponsors.

In addition to the championship titles, prizes and awards will be on offer for the best plays including best goals and best saves.

These top highlights will be shared in videos through @SeagateANZ on Twitter.

Qualifiers are tomorrow night (February 22) at 9pm, and will be hosted by CyberGamer.

The top 8 teams of the region will be selected for the Professional division (prize pool AU$3200), and the following 8 will be invited to the Main division (prize pool AU$1300).

Entry to the Amateur division, which has a prize pool of AU$700, is open to all.

You can register here, but everyone in your team needs a CyberGamer Premium Subscription, which start from AU$12.50 a month.

The season commences on March 1 and runs for seven weeks, with finals taking place April 19.

Matches will be held Wednesday nights from 9pm, and will be streamed live on the official Twitch channel.

"The FireCuda Cup represents the exciting elements of the FireCuda SSHD itself - high speed, allowing excellent gameplay and the best saves," said Seagate.

For more information, head to CyberGamer.

Another open Oceania Rocket League comp kicks off soon - Gameplanet

Air Seychelles touches down for first time in Durban – eTurboNews

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

The Indian Ocean island of Seychelles has the potential to become a strategic springboard for KwaZulu-Natal, particularly for Durban as a premier east-coast commercial and logistics hub of three million people, when Air Seychelles touches down for the first time later next month, writes Marlan Padayachy, a South Africa journalist, writes.

He continues: Seychelles foray into this geo-political region earmarked for massive economic overhaul and growth is likely to push back the frontiers of tourism, travel, trade and socio-cultural between these unique multicultural tourism hotspots.

Stakeholders behind the wheel of driving closer socio-economic cooperation with the independent island nation strategically situated in the heart of the Indian Ocean Rim are optimistic about this inter-regional development.

Beyond the direct route, between Mahe and Durban, ushering a string of tourism, cultural and sports events, politically-connected Seychellois Hindus, are keen to foster socio-religious and cultural links with Indian citizens here. These Indian Ocean Rim neighbors could become a microcosm for multicultural social cohesion and cooperation, hence the significance the arrival of the Airbus A320 jetliner bringing passengers on the inaugural flight to King Shaka International Airport on March 30.

Historically, South Africa and Seychelles have not been close, unlike the Durban-Mauritius relationship. A new era of diplomatic relations began with iconic president Nelson Mandela welcoming world and regional leaders to the new South Africa in 1994.

In the 1980s, both independent island nations were controversially interlocked with the apartheid South Africa.

In 1981, South African mercenaries stormed Seychelles to stage a coup dtat that went horribly wrong, resulting in the mercenaries hijacking an Air India 707 Boeing plane and commandeered it to Durban.

In 1987, SAA Boeing 747 flight 295 from Taiwan crashed over Mauritius after an in-flight cargo fire downed the Helderberg, killing all passengers and crew.

Now a refreshing new era is unfurling its colorful flags in the Southern African Development Community and Indian Ocean Rim.

Air Seychelles will now compete directly with Air Mauritius for bums on seats. Port Louis was once the popular stopover to India and favorite resort destination for all-race South Africans.

Air Seychelles, flying five times a week out of OR Tambo International Airport, has flown 10 000 South Africans to Mahe, the islands capital, an almost 20% increase last year.

The direct flight is expected to increase significantly once King Shaka is on the flight plan.

Airline and tourism officials said the Airbus A320 jetliner will seat 120 economy class passengers and 16 in business class, in a twin-cabin configuration and flying time between Durban and the mid-ocean paradise island would be five hours.

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Air Seychelles touches down for first time in Durban - eTurboNews

New Seychelles Diary blog enhancing tourism – eTurboNews

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

A new blog designed by Seychelles Tourism was created to engage with readers and drive tourism business to the destination.

As part of its ongoing drive to raise its profile across social media platforms and fill the all-important knowledge gap about the islands, the Seychelles Tourism Board has launched a new blog.

We are always looking for new ways to create interest about our islands, explains the manager of the digital marketing section, Vahid Jacob.

Blogging has become a very effective way of reaching our audience as it touches consumers at a very personal level, allowing us to impart knowledge about Seychelles and what it offers to tourists in a way that they can relate to, and also react to, by leaving comments on the blog.

The new Seychelles Diary blog presents a fresh, user-friendly interface with a category section for quick identification of the readers specific interests and a galley featuring enticing images of the destination.

Resources allows access to various downloads and tips while the latest tweets about Seychelles appear conveniently in a box along with all of the islands social media platforms.

Completing the comprehensive design of the landing page is information about visitor arrivals to the archipelago and also an archive section. Every week, a new article covering the many attributes of the destination will be posted to the blog.

We are confident that this new additional to our social media arsenal will become an important influencer when it comes to choosing a tourism destination, adds Mr Jacob.

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New Seychelles Diary blog enhancing tourism - eTurboNews

Horses on the Caribbean Track – Scuttlebutt Sailing News

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

Antigua, West Indies (February 20, 2017) The ninth edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 started today in sparkling conditions with the largest ever offshore fleet assembled in the Caribbean. A southeasterly breeze, occasionally gusting up to 15 knots, and a relatively calm sea state provided the landscape for the 80-boats to begin their 600 nm tour of 11 islands.

This fleet is awe inspiring because of the quality of the boats and you can see that by the competition at the start to get close to the cliffs, noted Eddie Warden Owen, RORC Chief Executive. From the first gun, people were pushing hard to win the race. The RORC Caribbean 600 has grown, year after year and we just love it, it is the perfect playground for offshore racing.

The MOD70 battle for multihull line honours has already kicked off. Lloyd Thornburgs Phaedo3 pulled away from Giovanni Soldinis Maserati at the upwind start but as the two cracked sheets at Green Island, Maserati deployed their foils and took up the lead. Two hours into the race, the two flying trimarans were approaching the Barbuda mark touching 18 knots of boat speed.

Battle of the MOD70s: Giovanni Soldinis Maserati (ITA) and Lloyd Thornburgs Phaedo3 (USA) RORC/Tim Wright

George Davids American Rambler 88 at the start of the RORC Caribbean 600 RORC/Tim Wright

George Davids Rambler 88 got away to a terrific start and leads the monohull fleet on the water by almost three miles on approach to Barbuda. However, three hours into the race and after IRC time correction, George Sakellaris Proteus is estimated to be leading overall with Hap Fauths Bella Mente second and Rambler 88 third.

IRC Canting Keel and IRC Zero produced a thrilling start. Among the two Maxi72s, Proteus was perilously close to the line at the start and boldly sailed Bella Mente towards the cliffs. You could hear Bella Mente calling for water from the cliff top and within less than a boat length of the rocky shoreline, Proteus tacked, leaving Bella Mente no option but to tack into their dirty air.

It is likely that the two Maxi72s will be having a close quarters battle throughout the race. Proteus passed Green Island just 26 seconds ahead of Bella Mente. The two powerful yachts hoisted spinnakers, accelerating through the Caribbean swell and Proteus showed a better turn of speed opening a lead of several miles on the way to Barbuda.

Proteus, winner of the 2016 RORC Caribbean 600 and Hap Fauths Bella Mente RORC Tim Wright

Ed Fishwicks J/122 Redshift on El Ocaso nailed the pin end at the first start which saw the combined IRC Two & IRC 3 classes away clear. This year with softer winds predicted, perhaps one of these yachts will win the overall prize of the RORC Caribbean 600 Trophy.

Redshift on El Ocaso was leading on the water at Green Island but two hours into the race, Sailing Logics First 40, Joanna of Cowes, skippered by James Sweetman, was estimated to be leading IRC Two after time correction. In IRC Three, Jonty Layfields Swan 48 Sleeper X held a two mile lead on the American Swan 48, Isbjorn and was estimated to be leading on corrected time. However the entire class of nine yachts are all very close on the water.

The Class40 Division are enjoying incredibly close racing. Peter Hardings Ph-orty leads, Catherine Pourres Erendil and Halvard Mabires Campagne de France are both within one mile. The pack of Class40s have the magnificent sight of the 182ft twin-masted schooner Adela ahead of them. Cressida Robinson reporting from Carl Wilcoxs Nisida: We have had everything from 15 knots gusting up to 30 and spotted a water spout on the way to Barbuda.

Ed Fishwicks J/122 Redshift on El Ocaso nailed the pin end at the first start which saw the combined IRC Two & IRC 3 fleet RORC/Tim Wright

Transpac 52 Heartbreaker (USA), Mike Slades Farr 100, Leopard (GBR), George Davids Rambler 88(USA) and Hap Fauths JV 72, Bella Mente (USA) RORC/Tim Wright

RORC Commodore, Michael Boyd was hoping to compete on Giles Redpaths Pata Negra, but due to business commitments had to watch the start from ashore this year. It was almost as nerve racking to be up at Fort Charlotte as on the water, and of course we are all hurlers from the ditch telling them to get closer to the cliffs. It was a fascinating start from an amazing and historic vantage point to see these wonderful boats take off. Everything went very smoothly, which is a great tribute to our professional race management team and our volunteers. This was quite an emotional moment for me and we will of course be wishing them all well for the next few days and a safe return.

Hundreds of spectator watch Phaedo3 and Maserati head off towards Barbuda after the start Rachel Fallon-Langdon / Team Phaedo

Event details Tracker Notice of Race Entry list

Background: The 9th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600 starts from Antigua on Monday February 20, 2017. The 600nm course circumnavigates 11 Caribbean Islands starting from Fort Charlotte, English Harbour, Antigua and heads north as far as St Martin and south to Guadeloupe taking in Barbuda, Nevis, St Kitts, Saba and St Barths.

Source: Royal Ocean Racing Club

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Horses on the Caribbean Track - Scuttlebutt Sailing News

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