Monthly Archives: March 2017

Philharmonic program celebrates passion, youth – Albuquerque Journal

Posted: March 5, 2017 at 4:02 pm

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Cellist Edvard Pogossian will join the New Mexico Philharmonic as the featured guest.

Cellist Edvard Pogossian of the Juilliard School will join the musicians on Josef Haydns Cello Concerto in C Major on Sunday at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Musicologists knew Haydn had written a second cello concerto, but the score remained undiscovered until 1961, guest conductor Oriol Sans said. The composer had written the beginning of the principal theme of the first movement in his draft catalog in 1765.

The music was discovered in a library in Prague, Sans said.

Oriol Sans will be guest conductor for Sundays concert.

Whats funny is it has become more famous than the other one, he said. Its one of the first great cello concertos.

The concert will open with Piazzollas Meloda en La menor (Melody in A minor). Piazzolla is considered one of the masters of tango.

The composer penned the piece during a love affair that dissolved, Sans said. He had originally called the piece October Sky.

He had to change it because he was upset with her, Sans said. It has a beautiful melody with very typical Piazzola rhythms that remind us of tango.

Haydns Symphony No. 49, La passione, was written in 1768 during his Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) period. The movement encouraged extremes of emotion in response to the confines of rationalism.

We are not sure why it has this name, Sans said. Some people think it comes from this piece being used at Easter celebrations.

The concert will end with Mendelssohns Sinfonia No. 7 in D minor, written when the composer was just 12.

Mendelssohn was one of the most amazing prodigies in the history of music, Sans said.

His wealthy parents provided him with his own orchestra.

They had money, Sans said. Besides that, he had talent.

Its kind of like an exercise, but he has that incredibly beautiful music. Its packed with ideas like a young composer was practicing what hes learned.

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Philharmonic program celebrates passion, youth - Albuquerque Journal

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Legislation Proposed in Four States to Protect Free Speech at Public Universities – Breitbart News

Posted: at 4:01 pm

Bills are being introduced in state legislatures around the country in an attempt to curb the increasing restrictions being placed on political speech at state-funded campuses.

College should be a place where all opinions, popular or not, should be able to be freely expressed, Texas State Representative Briscoe Cain argued. Students have the right to free speech and HB 2527 will help protect the constitutional rights of students and student organizations.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walkers recent budget proposal includes a $10,000 allocation that would go towards academic freedom initiatives in the University of Wisconsin system.

It is not the proper role of the board or any institution or college campus to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive, the Wisconsin legislation states. The board and each institution and college campus has a responsibility not only to promote a lively and fearless freedom of debate and deliberationbut also to protect that freedom when others attempt to restrict it.

Several other states have proposed legislation that would protect free speech rights at public universities. Those states include North Carolina, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about education and social justice for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com

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CSULA Embraces Free Speech After Threat of Lawsuit – legal Insurrection (blog)

Posted: at 4:01 pm

This is another win for Ben Shapiro and Young Americas Foundation.

The Daily Caller reported:

California University Embraces Free Speech After Threatened With Lawsuit

A university has updated its free speech policies following a lawsuit filed by a conservative speaker whose event was almost cancelled at the school.

Ben Shapiro, Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Wire and his partner organization, Young Americas Foundation, sued California State University, Los Angeles, after a virtual riot broke out at his scheduled speaking engagement. Shapiro was met by a mob of violent protesters who had blocked entrances to the event, physically attacked attendees, and blocked entrances to the speech, according to The Daily Wire.

Shapiro and Young Americas Foundation dismissed the lawsuit after the school made some changes to its free speech policies, as noted in The Daily Signal.

California State University, Los Angeles, pledged to not impose any fees, including security fees, based upon the viewpoint of the speech at future events. The school also pledged to not unilaterally refuse to schedule or cancel any scheduled event based upon the viewpoint of the speech that is to take place, adding that it will enforce terms of its Administrative Policy on Time, Place, and Manner of Free Expression P007 in a viewpoint-neutral manner, as reported by Young Americas Foundation.

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CSULA Embraces Free Speech After Threat of Lawsuit - legal Insurrection (blog)

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Duterte public attacks has chilling effect on free speech US State Department – Philippine Star

Posted: at 4:01 pm

MANILA, Philippines The US State Department in a report said President RodrigoDutertespublic attacks against critics of his policies had a chilling effect on free speech.

In its annual human rights report released on its website Friday, the US State Department said that individuals could criticize the government publicly or privately and even discuss matters of general public interest. However,Dutertespublic attacks on individuals and international bodies who have criticized his policies had a chilling effect on free speech and expression.

The US State Department cited as an exampleDutertes public accusations against Sen. Leila De Lima. The accusations were already thrown even before a formal government investigations occurred.

It said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) only launched a probe after the president claimed De Lima received benefits from the drug trade during her term as commissioner of human rights and justice secretary. Due to this, the US State Department questioned the timeliness of Dutertes claims against De Lima.

Dutertes allegations came at the same time that De Lima began hearings into alleged extrajudicial killings in the governments anti-drug campaign as chairperson of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human rights, the report read.

The report also cited that De Lima was ousted as the chairperson of the Senate committee after she called as a witness self-confessed hitman Edgar Matobato to testify regardingDutertes direct involvement in alleged extrajudicial killings during his tenure as Davao City mayor. It noted that the senator was replaced by someone considered as Dutertes ally, Sen. Richard Gordon.

Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

Last October, however, Gordon denied that he is an ally of Duterte.

Why do you keep on saying Im an ally of the president? Am I PDP-laban (ruling political party)? Am I? Gordon was quoted by reports.

The US State Department said that when Gordon led the hearings into drug-related killings, he concluded that there was no proof that Duterte had personal involvement in extrajudicial killings. It added that as of November 21, the DOJ continued to investigate De Limas alleged ties to illegal narcotics but has not found sufficient evidence to file a criminal indictment.

De Lima, nevertheless, was recently detained. She was accused by the DOJ of violating Section 5 (sale) in relation to Section 3 (jj trading), Section 26 (b) and Section 28 or the criminal liability of government officials and employees underthe Republic Act 9165 also known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 for allegedly allowing the proliferation of the drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison during her stint as justice secretary.

Like De Lima, the US State Department report noted that journalists also faced harassment and threats of violence, including from politicians and government authorities critical of their reporting. It cited that in April 2016,Duterte, then a presidential candidate, threatened that journalists could be assassinated if they were corrupt.

In April then candidate Duterte drew widespread criticism after he told the media that journalists should enjoy no special protections and could be 'assassinated' if they were 'corrupt' and took money from politicians. Human rights NGOs frequently criticized the government for failing to protect journalists, the report read.

The US State Department added that several journalists reported an uptick in online threats, including threats of violence and harassment, in response to articles posted online that were critical of the government.

Journalists critical of the government reported that they did not yet feel that threats to their personal safety were credible but they were concerned about losing access to the president and presidential palace if they were seen as overly critical, it said.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016demonstrate the United States unwavering commitment to advancing liberty, human dignity and global prosperity.

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Duterte public attacks has chilling effect on free speech US State Department - Philippine Star

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JNU’s Umar Khalid hosts a seminar on Atheism with Dawkins & Harris, says ‘A’theism means One God – Firstpost (satire)

Posted: at 4:00 pm

New Delhi: JNUs Umar Khalid is all set to unleash his atheist ideas onto the nation. In that line, he has hosted a seminar on Atheism with global atheist stalwarts, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris.

Umar Khalid shot to fame last yearwhen as a student of JNU, he and Kanhaiyya shouted Bharat tere tukde hoge, which resulted in a surge of outrage from his co-ideologists from journalist and political spheres. While Umar Khalid was targeted for his religion, he shot back saying that he is an Atheist. It has been a year since and Umar was blamed for not sharing anything related to Atheism in his Facebook timeline.

To put an end to all controversy around my atheism, I am hosting this session, said Umar from the seminar stage. Richard Dawkins was seated on his left and Sam Harris was seated on his right. Today, I am going to discuss atheism. I call upon my brothers and sisters of India to walk out of their Hinduismand embrace atheism. Before our other members could open their mouth, let me explain what my Atheism is.

Taking a look at the audience from left to right, Umar uttered these words, Atheism is a combination of two words A and Theism. It means there can be only one God. And He is watching us every day. And there can be only one Prophet(saw).

Turning back to Dawkins and Harris, Umar bent his head and asked, Do you agree to what I say?. Both of them looked shocked and shook their heads from left to right. Umar continued, Let me explain. Take 5th chapter, 23rd page, 432nd verse, 2nd line. What does it say? It says Immediately, the crowd went into cheer as goatee grew out of Umars chin. His glasses rim turned more translucent and a skull cap came out of nowhere. It was not Umar Khalid but Zakir Naik they saw there on the stage. While Umar was turning into Zakir, the seminar was turning into a seminary.

A conch blew from somewhere and Umar Khalid who is now Zakir Naik kept on growing in size uttering verses after verses. With his head touching ceiling, he then turned to the atheist duo, Do you not see who I am, O Infidels?, after which Harris and Dawkins ran from the stage to Delhi airport.

A visibly cheerful fan of Umar shouted from the audience, If a Zakir Naik is banned from India, thousands of Zakir Naiks will come out.

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JNU's Umar Khalid hosts a seminar on Atheism with Dawkins & Harris, says 'A'theism means One God - Firstpost (satire)

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The Hubble telescope won’t crash into Mars, but it may look that way – USA TODAY

Posted: at 3:58 pm

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The Hubble Space Telescope will pass in front of Mars on Friday night and because of our depth perception it will look like the decades-old telescope is slamming into the Red Planet.

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USA Today Network Bernie Badger Published 11:40 a.m. ET March 3, 2017 | Updated 3:17 p.m. ET March 3, 2017

NASA released the largest photo ever of the Andromeda Galaxy. The panoramic image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope is 1.5 billion pixels. 1-20-15

In this image released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Hubble Space Telescope is backdropped against black space.(Photo: Getty Images/file)

The Hubble Space Telescope will pass in front of Mars on Friday night and because of our depth perception it will look like the decades-old telescope is slamming into the Red Planet.

The Hubble's expected pathputs it right in front of Mars at 7:58:42 p.m.People think that they can see in 3-D, but this isnt true. Our retinas are fundamentally two-dimensional. We see light in different positions but not truly at different depths.

So, thanks to our lack of true depth perception, we'll see the illusion of a Mars-Hubble collision, even though Mars is about 140 million miles from Earth.

Scientists find incredible fountains shooting from Jupiter's moon

If you are looking through the observatory telescope, you may or may not see the Hubble Space Telescope zoom through the field of view. I cannot predict it with that much accuracy. A low power eyepiece will offer the best chance. But for anyone looking without optical aid, you should see the Hubble Space Telescope glide right over Mars. No explosions will ensue but perhaps a feeling that the Red Planet has just dodged a bullet.

The Hubble, according to NASA, was launched in 1990 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Since then it's been orbiting Earth, snapping photos and collecting data that has been used in more than 14,000 scientific papers. It's roughly the size of a school bus and moves orbits at a speed of about 17,000 miles per hour. So far, it's traveled more than 3 billion miles.

Far out: Most distant galaxy cluster discovered

The Hubble Space Telescope will pass in front of Mars on Friday evening.(Photo: USA TODAY)

Mr. Badger is Project Coordinator at the Eastern Florida State College Planetarium in Cocoa. Send questions, suggestions, or comments tobadgerb@easternflorida.edu

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The Hubble telescope won't crash into Mars, but it may look that way - USA TODAY

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NASA’s Hubble telescope captures image of UGC 12591 galaxy – BGR India

Posted: at 3:58 pm

The Hubble space telescope has captured an image to showcase an incredible massive galaxy, UGC 12591, that lies just under 400 million light-years away from the Earth. The galaxy and its halo together contain several hundred billion times the mass of the Sun four times the mass of the Milky Way, NASA said in a statement on Friday. It also whirls round extremely quickly, rotating at speeds of up to 1.8 million kilometers per hour, it added.

UGC 12591 sits somewhere between a lenticular and a spiral. It lies in the westernmost region of the Pisces-Perseus Supercluster, a long chain of galaxy clusters that stretches out for hundreds of light-years ? one of the largest known structures in the cosmos. Observations with Hubble are helping astronomers to understand the mass of UGC 12591, and to determine whether the galaxy simply formed and grew slowly over time, or whether it might have grown unusually massive by colliding and merging with another large galaxy at some point in its past, NASA said. The Hubble Space Telescope is collaboration between NASA and European Space Agency (ESA).

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Former NATO commander says US military will likely be surpassed by Russia and China – New York Daily News

Posted: at 3:58 pm

Ex-NATO commander says Russia, China will surpass U.S. military

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Sunday, March 5, 2017, 11:42 AM

A prominent retired general said Sunday that the U.S. military was in decline and indicated that not even President Trump's proposed $54 billion increase in defense spending was likely to prevent it from soon being surpassed by those of Russia and China.

Former NATO Commander Gen. Wesley Clark, a Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, told John Catsimatidis on the "Cats Roundtable" radio program on AM 970 in New York that, "if you look at what's happened over 25 years, the United States has mostly put its military modernization on warm idle."

"We've looked at what we need. But we have not bought the stuff that is cutting-edge We are spending our money on ordinance, on bombers, on missiles that are blowing holes in the ground and sometimes hitting terrorists," he said. "But Russia, they have produced a new generation of armored forces."

Clark said the Russian military has tanks "we'd like to have in 2030."

James Clapper shuts down Trumps claim that Obama ordered wiretap

"We are that far behindThat's worrisome," he said, adding that the U.S. is also "behind on the nuclear side."

U.S. air, satellite and drone systems are "all vulnerable to electro-magnetic pulse and electromagnetic warfare disruption."

"We build very sophisticated systems, but they have very obvious vulnerabilities," he said.

Last month, news emerged that Trump's proposed budget would make deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and a host of other federal agencies while boosting military spending by $54 billion

Trump's understanding of national security probes is troubling

But not even that would suffice, Clark contended.

"Unfortunately, the new $54 billion (that would be) going into the Defense budget doesn't really deliver sufficient funds to meet the need," he said. "We need more money than that on a sustained basis."

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Former NATO commander says US military will likely be surpassed by Russia and China - New York Daily News

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Don’t be fooled by Trump’s claim about whipping NATO into shape – Vox

Posted: at 3:58 pm

Donald Trumps rhetoric on NATO during Tuesday nights congressional address seemed to offer something new to the public one of only a few parts of the speech that did. His words on the military alliance sounded a bit more optimistic than usual, but it turns out that Trumps good cheer about NATO mainly served to make a self-congratulatory claim of leadership that isnt true.

We strongly support NATO, an alliance forged through the bonds of two world wars and the Cold War and defeated communism, he said to hearty applause from Congress.

As he has many times in the past, he called for NATO member countries to fulfill their financial obligations to the post-World War II military alliance. But this time, he was feeling better about that prospect. Why? According to him, his tough talk on NATO members pulling their weight had already begun to inspire them to clean up their acts and start contributing more to their defense budgets just 40 days into his presidency.

Now, based on our very strong and frank discussions, they are beginning to do just that, he said. "In fact, I can tell you, the money is pouring in."

"Very nice," he added.

The only problem is, NATO members decisions to start increasing their defense spending began before Trump entered office.

As CNN reports, NATO members that were failing to live up to their agreement to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defense made a commitment to do so back in 2014. And they began to take steps toward that commitment (which only five of 28 members currently fulfill). In 2015, the alliances overall defense spending rose for the first time in 20 years. In 2016, 22 of 28 NATO members saw an increase in their defense budgets, CNN notes.

In other words, NATO members had already begun to pick up their defense spending under then-President Barack Obama, who had himself persistently called for NATO members to meet their required contributions. Theres no evidence at the moment that Trump has done anything to accelerate that dynamic. In fact, the foreign minister of Germany the richest country in Europe cast doubt on the reality of a 2 percent target on Wednesday, and described it as more of a goal than a binding obligation.

Its not the first time Trumps tried claiming undeserved credit for improving NATO. Last year, during the campaign, he argued that his criticism of NATO as ill-suited to combat terrorism caused the organization to ramp up counter-terrorism efforts. That was also untrue.

The presidents slightly more sanguine rhetoric on NATO Tuesday might be an attempt to move past his administrations threatening and inconsistent positioning on the issue.

By claiming that NATO is getting back into shape, Trump could be trying to create a basis to pivot from being coercive on NATO funding to being a bit more traditionally whiny about it, as previous administrations have been. And along the way, he gets to claim credit for achieving something he had no role in.

Then again, its important to not read too much into any remark Trump makes. One of his few consistent traits is that he is utterly inconsistent, and his administrations attitude toward NATO fits that pattern perfectly. Well have to take his position on this issue just as the USs allies in Europe do: day by day.

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Trump’s attacks on the NSA are actively harming morale, report … – BGR

Posted: at 3:57 pm

BGR	Trump's attacks on the NSA are actively harming morale, report ... BGR The intelligence community has come under fire from newly sworn-in President Donald Trump for what he perceives to be attacks on his own credibility. Now ... and more »

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Monthly Archives: March 2017

Philharmonic program celebrates passion, youth – Albuquerque Journal

Legislation Proposed in Four States to Protect Free Speech at Public Universities – Breitbart News

CSULA Embraces Free Speech After Threat of Lawsuit – legal Insurrection (blog)

Duterte public attacks has chilling effect on free speech US State Department – Philippine Star

JNU’s Umar Khalid hosts a seminar on Atheism with Dawkins & Harris, says ‘A’theism means One God – Firstpost (satire)

The Hubble telescope won’t crash into Mars, but it may look that way – USA TODAY

NASA’s Hubble telescope captures image of UGC 12591 galaxy – BGR India

Former NATO commander says US military will likely be surpassed by Russia and China – New York Daily News

Don’t be fooled by Trump’s claim about whipping NATO into shape – Vox

Trump’s attacks on the NSA are actively harming morale, report … – BGR

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