Monthly Archives: May 2017

Health Care Will Determine Progress of Rest of Agenda – Roll Call

Posted: May 9, 2017 at 3:21 pm

Last weeks legislative victories finishing an omnibus spending bill and getting the rollback of the 2010 health care law through the House arethe foundation for the months of battles to come on Capitol Hill.

Appropriators can begin to turn their attention toward the first full fiscal year of Donald Trumps presidency, but their Senate colleagues will also have to deal with the procedural morass that comes with trying to reinvent the health care system through budget reconciliation.

Indeed, the fate of the health care measure will likely determine what sort of progress can be made on everything Congress faces this year, from the basic task of funding the government to the more herculean one of rewriting the tax code, all in a time of increasing partisan tension in Washington.

After the House vote, Senate Finance Chairman Orrin G. Hatchsaid the chamber would focus on goals of reducing costs and increasing choice in health care, all with an eye toward majority support. At the same time, the Utah Republicanacknowledged there would need to be compromises, which have been elusive so far.

Coupled with the constraints imposed by the budget reconciliation process, we must manage expectations and remain focused on the art of the doable as we move forward, he said.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn said last week there was no timeline for moving forward with a Senate version of legislation to partially repeal and replace the Obama-era health care law, but the Texas Republican added that once they had 51 votes, the Senate would proceed.

That wont happen until senators and staff receive cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office and understand the effectof the House-passed bill. This is because, in part, it would seem impossible to know if budgetary effects violate the Byrd Rule, which is key to reconciliations expedited floor procedure that allows a measure to pass the Senate without having to navigate a filibuster.

All that could take weeks, and it is during thistime that lawmakers are likely to see the presentation of the Trump administrations first fully detailed budget request, with work beginning on fiscal 2018 spending on a truncated timeline.

I think that they are going to have a heck of a time coming to an agreement on their budget outline. Put aside the issues of whats going to be put into the reconciliation package in some ways that may be the easier part for them than actually putting the budget together, Sen. Chris Van Hollensaid of the 2018 work.

The Maryland Democrat, who joined the Appropriations Committee upon arrival in the Senate in January and who previously led Democrats on the House Budget Committee, questioned the feasibility of moving ahead on fiscal 2018 spending bills without a budget resolution.

The timing of the fiscal 2018 budget resolution depends on what happens in health care debate. Thats because Republican leaders chose to use the fiscal 2017 budget resolution and the subsequent reconciliation instructions as the vehicle for their health care measure. If they were to pass a fiscal 2018 budget resolution, it could obviate the fiscal 2017 resolution. Thats important, because they want to use the fiscal 2018 resolution and its subsequent reconciliation process to tackle changing the tax code. In essence, health care needs to happen first, and it needs to happen before the current fiscal year is over Sept. 30, when the fiscal 2017 resolution expires. But its complicated because the fiscal 2018 budget resolution sets the top-line numbers for the appropriations process.

So the process might be disjointed for as long as the health care debate goes on. Further complicating matters is that absent a new budget resolutions top-line numbers, the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration bounce back, which would slash spending below levels generally acceptable to most members on both sides of the aisle.

But Sen. Roy Blunt, the chairman of the Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee of Appropriations, suggested that members of that committee may get to work on the 12 Appropriations bills after Memorial Day.

The Missouri Republicansaid he thought the process of crafting the fiscal 2017 omnibus was useful for the chairmen and vice chairmen at the Appropriations Committees on both sides of the Capitol because it handed them, an opportunity to really work together and figure out how to negotiate a bill, which hadnt happened in a while.

Cornyn echoed that sentiment, suggesting it might bode well for future spending discussions.

I think we should acknowledge that it actually represents a win, because it demonstrates the ability to negotiate something with Democrats in both houses of Congress that the White House agrees with, and theres a lot of good things in there, the Texas Republicansaid. Its always easy to find things to criticize in spending bills, but weve been forced to do this through an omnibus by the Democrats and this is the hand weve been dealt.

Cornyn was one of several Republicans to chastise Democrats for their opposition to calling up a standalone bill funding the Pentagon this year.

Its not that I blame Mitch McConnell or anybody else. The Democrats would not allow us to move forward on the Defense appropriations bill. Thats got to stop. So, I just want everybody to have their say, have their amendments, get a vote and go back to normal order, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee chairman. Were all in the same boat together. Its not a good way to govern the country.

The South Carolinian ended up being one of the GOP appropriators to vote against the omnibus, citing key local concerns, including the status of the Export-Import Bank.

Its the nature of McConnell, who for years led Republicans on the subcommittee funding foreign operations, to want to prioritize appropriations bills, and Blunt said he expect the same in the upcoming summer when the Senate is not mired in the health care debate.

Many of the members will feel good about the ability to explain how weve prioritized. And I hope it drives more of an interest to have these bills actually on the floor, Blunt said. Some of our bills, I think, still could be ready to be on the floor in the June timeframe, and my guess is Sen. McConnell will want to allocate a lot of time to the appropriations process.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, the top Democrat on the Appropriations panel, signaled that he would be on board with such an effort.

It is my goal to return to regular order, where we consider each appropriations bill in committee, debate each one publicly on the floor, and pass them individually. That is the way we should operate, the longtime Vermont lawmakersaid Thursday. That is what the American people deserve. I look forward to working with the chairman to make this a reality when we turn, in very short order, to the fiscal year 2018 bills.

For Democrats, the wildcard wont be Republican appropriators, but the Trump budget request and the president himself.

I will say that its alarming to hear this president talk about a good government shutdown. There are no good government shutdowns, Van Hollen said, referring to a recent Trump tweet. Normally, you would think only a hostile foreign power would want the United States government to shut down. It cost our economy $24 billion a few years ago for a 16-day shutdown.

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Health Care Will Determine Progress of Rest of Agenda - Roll Call

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Crosslakers Progress Report: Expect routine updates on progress – The Lake Country Echo

Posted: at 3:21 pm

It was quite a grassroots process. In a series of public meetings, citizens identified the town's strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. Then they identified key areas of improvement and/or development they would like to see occur in the future.

After the citizens of Crosslake had weighed in, the MDT reviewed the findings of the town meetings and visited Crosslake for several days where the team members worked with the local volunteers who organized the effort and held two more public meetings, the second of which was an unveiling of potential projects the city might want to consider based on the data mined from the town meetings.

You probably haven't heard much about the project since then. But just because there's been no Crosslakers news to read doesn't mean there hasn't been a great deal of progress made since the MDT went home last fall.

Here's why: All of the work done on this project has been carried out by volunteers. Nobody has been paid a dime. There is no executive director, no paid coordinator and no paid staff member, just a band of very hard-working volunteers with full-time jobs of their own who care a lot about their town.

Just recently, however, some new volunteers with communication experience volunteered, and now you will be seeing and hearing more about this great project in the coming weeks and months.

Part of the new communication push is this column, called Crosslakers Progress Report. It's not a very flashy title, but the words were carefully chosen for a purpose:

"Crosslakers" because we will be writing about the community of Crosslake and all the area it serves and interacts with. "Progress" because there has been significant progress made with more on the way. And "report" because we believe it is the responsibility of the project to transparently report to the public on the project's successes, challenges, progress and needs.

A special thanks to this publication for publishing the column to help keep you informed. To those of you who signed up to volunteer to help with the project last fall, please be patient. We appreciate your willingness to help and we will be contacting you soon.

For everyone else, as you read about the project, if you see an area where you think you can help, please step up and join us. To get involved, email crosslakerinfo@gmail.com.

This column was submitted by the Crosslakers group.

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Are you ready when disaster strikes? These Minnesota doomsday preppers are – The Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Posted: at 3:18 pm

COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. (TNS) The tiny house that Bryan Korbel is building in his Columbia Heights driveway will have all the comforts of a 260-square-foot home.

Therell be a shower with an on-demand water heater, a microwave oven, stove, composting toilet, satellite dish and power provided by solar panels. Its being built on a trailer, so it can be towed anywhere.

Korbels self-sufficient micro-cottage isnt being built out of a Thoreau-esque desire to simplify, simplify, or to achieve a chic Dwell magazine minimalist aesthetic.

Hes building it for the end of the world.

When all hell breaks loose war, natural disaster, a breakdown in civil society Korbel will hitch his house on wheels to a 1972 Ford F100 pickup. (Thats before the advent of computerized car systems, which Korbel says will be fried by the electromagnetic pulse created by a nuclear blast.)

Hell haul the structure and his family to a patch of land he has north of Hinckley, Minn., stopping to get supplies hes cached along the way in PVC tubes buried underground. Hes prepared, he believes, to ride out anything that man or nature might throw at him.

Korbel, 53, is a prepper, of course, that breed of person who stockpiles food, toilet paper and ammunition to last not days, but months just in case.

Preppers see themselves as prudent, sensible ants in a world of feckless grasshoppers, even while they recognize that others consider them paranoid conspiracy theorists and doomsday prophets.

My wife gave me the nickname Mad Max, Korbel said. My brother, he thinks its nuts. Hes lazy. I already know hes going to be knocking on my door.

Predictions that the end is near are as old as Noah. More modern manifestations have included people who felt the need to build home fallout shelters during the Cold War and pessimists who feared the worst from a Y2K collapse. Events such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina have continued to fuel fears.

The latest bad news: This year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists decided to reset its famous Doomsday Clock a universally recognized indicator of the worlds vulnerability to catastrophe from three minutes to only 2 1/2 minutes before midnight.

The scientific worrywarts cited tensions between the U.S. and Russia, North Korean nuclear tests, climate change, a rise in strident nationalism and intemperate statements from President Donald Trump and even lethal autonomous weapons systems yeah, killer robots among the looming existential threats to humanity.

According to the Bulletin scientists, in the 70-year history of the Doomsday Clock, the last time things have been this bad for the planet was 1953, just after the U.S. and the Soviet Union developed the first hydrogen bombs. At that time, the scientists deemed we were only two minutes to apocalypse.

No wonder Costco is selling $3,399.99 packages of freeze-dried and dehydrated emergency foods that promise 31,500 total servings, enough to feed four people for a year, with a shelf life of up to 25 years. The food shipment arrives on a pallet that is black-wrapped for security and privacy.

Or you could buy end-of-the-world supplies from a specialty retailer such as Safecastle.com.

Safecastle was started by Prior Lake resident Vic Rantala after 9/11 because he saw a niche for an online source of affordable, quality, long-term stored food.

The company has since branched out to sell surveillance robots, radiation detectors, folding bug-out bicycles intended for paratroopers and a 35-piece pet survival kit designed for a CATastrophe.

We sell stuff nobody else sells, Rantala said.

You can even buy an underground fallout shelter that costs more than $100,000.

We early on developed a relationship with a steel plate shelter builder in Louisiana, Rantala said. Our builder has done seven-figure bunkers for people.

He said his best-seller is something homier: canned, cooked bacon with a shelf life of more than 10 years.

Rantala, 59, said his background has included service in the Army, intelligence work for the government and communications and consulting for corporations. But selling prepping gear has become kind of like a lifes mission.

The shelters hes sold have saved lives in tornadoes, he said. Some of the food hes sold to preppers ended up being eaten when the disaster turned out to be a job loss.

We sell peace of mind to people, Rantala said.

Even though he sold the company a couple of years ago, he continues to work for it. He said sales are close to $50 million a year.

He estimates that as many as 10 percent of the population are into prepping these days, although he admits figures can be fuzzy because preppers are notoriously secretive about their preparations.

Sometimes you dont even tell your family members, he said. It can be a little bit of an obsession, I have to admit.

Its good to have something stored away, said Peter Behrens, a psychologist who recently retired as a professor at Penn State University in Lehigh Valley, Pa. Some 72 hours worth of food is great.

But he said prepping can turn into a non-substance pathology, similar to hoarding and excessive gambling, when taken to the extreme.

A lot of people get into this as a pastime, he said. But he said, Its a slippery slope to becoming irrational and aggressive.

Behrens said prepping is cause for concern if a person starts hoarding firearms and ammunition and if more than 10 percent of a persons income is devoted to prepping. And he warns that prepping can be similar to being in a cult if a person gives up long-standing relationships with friends and family members to associate only with other preppers.

This is a situation that revolves around anxiety, he said. It doesnt match with rational behavior.

But Richard G. Mitchell, who studied survivalists as a sociology professor at Oregon State University, said preppers are people who may just want to resist a humdrum life of comfort and consumption. They want to create a personal narrative of themselves as the rugged individual whos going to survive disaster.

They want a place where they feel meaningful, he said. Survivalism is a storytelling process. Theres a certain satisfaction to that.

He added, These are people who are hobbyists. Theyre amused by the process. Theyre entertained by it. Theyre proud of it. Theyre nuts in the sense that theyve not accepted the status quo.

Korbel has stored enough beans, lentils, rice, pasta and soup to feed his wife and their two sons still living at home for a year and a half. Hes prepared to grow his own vegetables, mill his own grain and vacuum-seal the foods hes preserving.

These are good for 50 years, Korbel said, showing off the homemade pemmican balls hes made of beef, peanut butter and nuts.

He stores a couple hundred gallons of water and enough gasoline to fill his truck tank three times. Hes got gas masks that he bought at Fleet Farm, and suits to protect against a chemical attack that he bought online. There are weather radios, two-way radios and first aid kits on every level of his house. The upper floor has escape ladders.

He lives about 4 1/2 miles from the center of Minneapolis, a little too close in case a nuclear bomb goes off in the city center. Ten miles would be better, he said. But his wife is happy living in Columbia Heights, and the mortgage is almost paid off.

Yeah, thered be severe burns, structures coming down. But still survivable, he said.

Among the things that worry him are tornadoes, civil unrest, racial tensions, terrorists, conflict with Russia, a government that goes rogue.

I wouldnt consider myself a conspiracy theorist. But I do think about it a lot, he said. If a comet lands on me, Im not going to worry about it.

My worst fear would be a financial breakdown and a collapse of the monetary system, he said. Youve got people bartering in gold, silver, jewels. Or ammunition.

Korbel has set aside some of that as well, along with handguns, rifles and shotguns.

I also have compound bows. My boys, theyve trained in compound bows. My wife is trained in that, he said.

You need to defend your property and yourself, he said. But he said, Im not prepping for a war. Im not trying to hide anything. Im not trying to overthrow the government. I dont want to get shot. I dont want to shoot anyone.

Korbel is a Metro Transit driver and an Army veteran who used to work as a carpenter, a contractor and a semitrailer truck driver. Hes been married 25 years, and his wife is a nurse.

He likes to be our protector, Betsy Korbel said. Theres a lot worse things to be doing.

Korbel said hes been a prepper about 12 years. Last year, he estimates, he spent about $7,000 on the activity.

When I turn 80, I might turn around and look at this stuff and I might say, OK, maybe I bought too much, he said.

But he said he pays for prepping with side income he gets from recycling metals from old laptops and wires and driving for a food delivery service.

I love it, Korbel said of his preoccupation with preparing. Its something I enjoy.

I know Im going to be able to survive, he said.

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Ghost Rider De-Mystified Part 1 – Movie TV Tech Geeks News

Posted: at 3:17 pm

Agents of SHIELD Season 4 is coming to a close and what a season it is. What made it really cool is its Ghost Rider and Framework arcs. The LMD arc is okay too. We wouldnt have the framework if it werent for that. As Season 4 wraps up and ABC is keeping everyone in suspense regarding Season 5, Ghost Rider is slated to return on the season finale which could turn a fascinating finale even cooler. As a fan, Im more concerned with Ghost Rider, hoping he goes on to Season 5 or gets a spinoff series as earlier speculated.

Lets talk more about the Ghost Rider character I fell in love with including his history. If Im to be asked who my favorite superhero is, it would be Ghost Rider. No, not Superman, not Batman, not Iron Man and not Spider-Man. Admittedly, I consider myself a vengeful guy. Im a very nice and pleasant guy but cross me, and shit goes down. I believe in the acceleration of karma on evildoers but was raised not to actually pursue it. Ghost Rider is the one that does that.

Ghost Rider is my all-time favorite superhero at least, the Danny Ketch version which re-popularized the mantle; but Ive grown to like Johnny Blaze as well. Theres more than one? Isnt Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze in the movies, now its Robbie Reyes on TV? Yes, but later on that. Ever since I saw Ghost Rider on a bootleg Flair Card during the trading card days of the 90s, I took a liking to this intensely interesting hero. He has the makings of a villain, the burning skull, the leather, the jeans and the spikes; he wasnt like all other heroes in spandex that I knew at the time, like Batman or Superman. (Note the year)

And his bike was a sight to behold though Ive always wondered why it looks so technological despite Ghost Riders mystical nature. But it looked badass just the same.

Ghost Rider Volume 3, Issue 34 was the first issue of Ghost Rider I read. I immediately liked the arts dark tone, but earlier issues by other artists were actually better. The following issue fixed my concerns with the bike, but other artists still drew it the modern way. Note I also like occult-oriented TV shows and books which is also a reason why I took an immediate liking to Ghost Rider.

Ghost Riders in Comics

Now, this article is for the benefit of everyone who wants to know more about Ghost Rider and are confused about Ghost Riders story, including those who know him from the 2007 movie starring Nicholas Cage and stumbled upon the convoluted world of Ghost Riders in the comics. Yes, theres more than one Ghost Rider.

Lets get the various versions out of the way before moving on to demystify the Ghost Rider character.

Everyone Knows About Ghost Rider in Film

Now, except for the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider, the others are somewhat inter-related. With regards to the story of the Ghost Riders, lets begin with the perspective of the 2007 movie for the benefit of non-fans. Also, this seeks to resolve some confusion about the mess of stories regarding the Ghost Rider which began about two-thirds of the Danny Ketch stories.

The 2007 movie centered on the most popular version, that of Johnny Blaze, who was also the current Ghost Rider at the time the movie was made. The movies origin story was close to the comics but not quite. In the comics, Johnny was indeed the son of Barton Blaze and Naomi Kale. Naomi left her family, and Barton later died doing a stunt when Johnny was still young. Johnny was adopted by stunt cyclist Crash Simpson who became a father figure to him. Simpsons daughter Roxanne later became Johnnys love interest.

In the movie, Roxanne was simply a local girl who fell in love with Johnny. Barton Blaze took on Crash Simpsons role from the comics. When Barton was dying of cancer, Johnny made a deal with the devil (Mephisto, short for Mephistopheles which is another name for the devil) so Barton would be cured. Barton was indeed cured but instead died doing a stunt. Blaze was angry at Mephisto for tricking him, but Mephisto was determined to get Johnnys soul. In the movie, Mephisto imbued Johnny with the power of the Ghost Rider.

Things were different in the comics. Bartons dead, Crash was dying of cancer. Blaze made the deal. Crash still dies. Mephisto claims Johnnys soul, but Roxanne intervenes and identifies herself as a pure soul that drives away the devil. Mephisto angrily retreats but not before bonding Johnny Blaze with a demon which would later turn him into the motorcycle-riding, flaming-skulled, hellfire-powered Ghost Rider at night. This Ghost Rider doesnt have a flaming motorcycle though his bike does have special properties, He doesnt use a chain nor does he have a penance stare like in the 2007 movie. His costume resembles that of a stunt cyclist. Tights instead of leathers as seen below.

Johnny Blaze, Daniel Ketch and Howard Mackie

The demon bonded to Johnny would later be known as Zarathos who would increasingly try to take over him. In the span of Johnnys adventures, he would later meet the villain named Centurious, a seemingly immortal being who has a grudge on Zarathos. Blaze gets rid of Zarathos using an artifact called the soul crystal. Centurious and Zarathos are both trapped and seemingly end up fighting each other in the crystal forever. Blaze moves on, marries Roxanne and raises a family. Happy ending? Not quite.

Years later, teenager Danny Ketch and his sister Barbara walks inside Cypress Hills Cemetery, New York and become caught in a crossfire between two criminal organizations. Barbara is mortally wounded by an arrow to the chest, and Daniel carries her to a nearby junkyard. Threatened with death and desperate for help, Danny finds a junked motorcycle with a glowing gas cap. When his blood soaked hands touches the gas cap, he became Ghost Rider.

This Ghost Riders powers and appearance, his bike as well as his obsession with vengeance and innocent blood became an instant hit with fans and me as well. He became so popular that he was featured in most Marvel comic books and animated series. He also revived interest in Marvels supernatural lineup made up of Blade and the Nightstalkers, Morbius the Living Vampire and the Darkhold Redeemers.

This Ghost Rider goes on to fight his own villain lineup while trying to find out his true identity. He doesnt remember who he is but blindly goes about his purpose of avenging the spilling of innocent blood. His story eventually leads to his connection to Zarathos starting with the return of John Blaze.

John Blaze returns to destroy the demon that haunted him in order for him to have peace of mind but later finds out that the spirit inside Danny Ketch is not Zarathos but something entirely different. However, it doesnt mean its the end of Zarathos story. John then gains his own powers after being exposed to Ghost Riders hellfire. He is able to channel hellfire through his shotgun (as seen in the 2007 movie) and command a hellfire bike with flaming wheels of his own. John later gets involved in Ghost Riders adventures leading to a spinoff called Spirits of Vengeance. The spirits of vengeance, along with Marvels other supernatural heroes then fight an ancient evil called Lilith, mother of demons and succeed.

Writer Howard Mackie, who was involved since the first issue wanted to connect the stories of this Ghost Rider and Zarathos. First, Danny meets up with a character named Caretaker, a member of an ancient race called The Blood seeking to mentor the spirit within Danny. The Caretaker in the 2007 movie was a nod to this character but was made into Carter Slade a nod to Marvels first Ghost Rider. Danny later learns that he can summon Ghost Rider at will as opposed to him needing to touch his bikes gas cap.

Then, a mysterious villain orchestrates attacks on Ghost Rider and Blaze. Besides, the mysterious villain, Mephisto gets involved and introduces Vengeance. A more menacing Ghost Rider look-alike akin to Spider-Mans Venom. Vengeance wants revenge on Zarathos for an unknown reason and like Blaze goes after Ghost Rider.

The mysterious villain attacks Blazes Quentin Carnival which Blaze inherited from the Simpsons and Vengeance joins in. Blaze and Ghost Rider temporarily are taken away from the battle by Mephisto who is also curious as to Ghost Riders identity which confirms that Ghost Rider, at least in Mephistos eyes isnt Zarathos. Both make it back. The battle seems hopeless until one of Blazes carnival staff magically destroys the attackers and almost destroys Vengeance. The mysterious villain later reveals himself as Centurious who somehow got out of the Soul Crystal. Lilith returns and then teams up with Centurious, both wanting an artifact called the Medallion of Power.

Caretaker describes the medallion as a powerful magical artifact which was used by The Blood with the help of some spirits of vengeance in the fight against a once-powerful Zarathos. Zarathos was then a powerful demon who competes with Mephisto in the collection of souls. Mephisto then enslaved Zarathos when he was weakened in battle with the Blood and the Spirits of Vengeance. The Medallion was later broken into four pieces and given to several families to be kept through the generations.

Lilith and Centurious attack Ghost Rider and Blaze. In a subsequent battle, Blaze defeats Vengeance then Caretaker later convinces Vengeance to go with him. Through Centurious, they find out that shards of the Medallion of power was within Blaze and Ketch. Blaze, Ketch and Vengeance team up to defeat Lilith and Centurious. When Centurious is defeated, a newly-reformed and powerful Zarathos appears, all the time hiding within Centurious piggy-backing in his escape from the soul crystal. Ghost Rider and the others escape, and through Caretaker, Blaze and Ketch find out that theyre actually brothers.

When Caretaker explained the origin of the medallion and the Spirits of Vengeance, a panel shows more than three spirits which teased fans that there could be more than three (excluding the Phantom Rider type). This would haunt fans for the rest of the series and would later be resolved.

The Danny Ketch story is integral here as it plays a large part of how the rest of Ghost Riders story goes. So far so good, the story seems to be solid. Why did Vengeance team up with Ghost Rider and Blaze? When Blaze fought vengeance and almost killed him, Vengeance turned out to be a cop name Michael Badilino, the son of an earlier Badilino who was fried by the earlier Ghost Rider (Blaze/Zarathos) and went crazy and killed his family. Driven by revenge, Michael made a deal with Mephisto to get revenge on Ghost Rider. Mephisto actually knew a part of the medallion was in Michael and the demon simply awakened the spirit within Michael which was bonded to the piece. Writer Howard Mackie made the story as if Mephisto had long orchestrated for the Medallion of Power to be brought together, all the way back since he first approached John Blaze. Dan and Johnny each held a piece within themselves.

In the 90s while Marvels mutants and the Avengers were fighting Onslaught, Marvels supernatural heroes including Dr. Strange were busy fighting Lilith and Zarathos forces. Lilith and her Lilin were defeated when the Spirits of Vengeance used the Medallion of Power to send them back to their dimension but unfortunately brought back Zarathos own followers known as the Fallen, powerful former members of the Blood. Long story short, the heroes which include Blaze, Vengeance, Morbius, Blade, Doctor Strange, Hannibal King, Frank Drake seemingly kill Zarathos and the Fallen but Dan and Ghost Rider die in the end. Vengeance temporarily takes the Ghost Rider mantle.

A new villain, Anton Hellgate resurrects Ghost Rider by bombarding Cypress Hills cemetery with mysterious energies. He later reveals himself to the spirits of vengeance and inadvertently causes the death of Johns wife Roxanne, and their children go missing. John gets despondent, and the spirits go their separate ways. After this, the medallion ceases to matter for now as Ghost Rider moves on to a different path without writer Howard Mackie.

The Divergence and Ivan Velez

Blaze goes on his own adventures in search of his missing kids who were taken by another Blood member named Regent. It turns out that Roxanne, before dying promised the children to him in some kind of deal. Blaze escapes the limelight after this. Vengeance also goes his separate way but goes crazy later on in a mission for SHIELD against the organization known as The Hand. This is the part where things change from a seemingly concrete Ghost Rider origin to a confusing one.

The writer who replaced Howard Mackie begins to set up Ghost Riders origin when Ghost Rider and Blaze reconcile to go after a crazy Vengeance on a murder spree. Ghost Rider and Vengeance fight and while fighting, Vengeance uses the penance stare on Ghost Rider which results in a strange effect. Ghost Rider sees a woman being burned at the stake which he considers as his sin. Gaining some sanity, Vengeance destroys himself and takes Hellgate and his minions with him leaving Ghost Rider unstable.

Because of the resurgence of the suppressed memory, powerful spirits known as the Furies are released tasked to kill Ghost Rider. The furies were apparently summoned as a curse by the burning woman. Ghost Rider and Blaze later find out about the burning woman with the help of Dr. Strange and sorceress Jennifer Kale. The burning woman was actually Ghost Riders wife, Magdalene. Ghost Rider was then known as a man named Noble Kale and the period was during early colonial America.

This is where writer Howard Mackie and Ivan Velezs stories begin to get conflicted. Left me scratching my head for sure. Caretaker described earlier that Ghost Rider and Zarathos history go back for millennia. The events described here go back only a few hundred years. This is where Ghost Rider lost me and probably a lot of Howard Mackie/Ghost Rider fans. Now, a writer has to be given a certain degree of freedom to do his job effectively. Ivan Velez had been okay so far, up to the final issue of Volume 3. What this reader doesnt appreciate is him ignoring what Howard Mackie had built since issue 1. For me, Salvador Laroccas art improved a lot during his run. Unfortunately, the series went downhill after another artist change.

Before, despite the story, the art was intense under Salvador Larocca who went on to pencil the X-Men. However, manga and anime came into popularity and creeped into the comics scene. Uncanny X-Men was great under Joe Madureira, but Ghost Rider suffered under artist Pop Mahn. I hated to admit it, but the art sucked. I could live with the new costume and even thought that it would be cool as a manifestation of a higher power level for the character, like in Dragonball Z, in case Ghost Rider fought toucher opponents. But the art really sucked. Id rather if Brett Blevins returned who was the guy who penciled the first Ghost Rider issue I ever bought which was Ghost Rider 34. The return of the original artist Mark Texeira (Issue 1-26) unfortunately didnt help the failing book. The book was eventually cancelled before the final issue due to Marvel Comics almost going into bankruptcy. Issue 94 was a victim of Marvels financial dilemma as Marvel had to go anorexic and go bare-bones (pun intended). The final issue of volume 3 was never published until years later as part of marketing the 2007 Ghost Rider film.

Back to the story, they discover that Ghost Rider was actually a man named Noble Kale son of a pastor of a small town. A woman named Magdalena came to town during a harsh winter as part of an older version of the Quentin Carnival. She later stayed to become Nobles wife. The two later had a child. One night, Magdalena discovers that the pastor was actually a warlock who uses dark magic to ensure the towns prosperity. To hide his secret, the pastor accused her of witchcraft and was to be burned at the stake. Noble tried to stop it but was tortured and kept away. Magdalena was burned at the stake but not before cursing the town by summoning the Furies. The first victim was Nobles little brother. To stop the furies, Pastor Kale made a deal with Mephisto in exchange for Nobles soul. Noble was imbued with the power of the spirit of vengeance and became Ghost Rider and defeated the furies. Pastor Kale then offered Nobles son to the Ghost Rider to eat, but Noble would rather kill himself than do the horrible act. Mephisto then set to claim Nobles soul but instead was stopped by the archangel Uriel because Nobles soul was too pure for hell. They settled for a compromise where Noble would stay in a void and inhabit the bodies of his bloodline to mete vengeance whenever innocent blood is spilled.

This origin story by writer Ivan Velez sought to bring Judeo-Christianity back into the Ghost Rider mythos.

Its not exactly new since it was explored also in the Johnny Blaze (Volume 2) stories. The 70s was a time when the horror theme was quite popular with news of Satanism up til the early 80s. Its a bit of struggle to pinpoint where Gods pantheon exists within the Marvel universe of cosmic beings, Beyonders, Celestials, Asgard, Olympus and other pantheons. Heck, even angel Angela from Image Comics Spawn series came to Marvel and became Thors sister. Her Heven, is described to be a detached 10th realm from the original nine realms of Asgardian mythology. Since Angela is identified as an angel in the Image Comics universe, Heven would be synonymous with the Judeo-Christian heaven and at the same time, be the detached tenth realm. Marvel prefers not to describe everything in detail since these issues can rub certain people the wrong way. Before we go crazy here, lets move on.

This story is later expanded to Dan and Johnnys real mother Naomi Kale who was a Ghost Rider herself. Its unknown though if Noble is aware of himself within Naomi or he is as amnesiac as he is with Danny. Naomi left the family in order to find a way to release Johnny of the curse. She made an unknown deal where Johnny would become free of the curse but she didnt know that despite her efforts, Barbara would be next in line and that Johnny would later become a different Ghost Rider himself. Naomi dies presumably from cancer and was forgotten until the final issues of Danny Ketch Ghost Rider.

Ghost Rider, with the help of Blaze managed to stop The Furies and is again alone until Blackheart, current ruler of hell hatched a plan to destroy Ghost Rider by creating more spirits of vengeance. Pao Fu, from an unfortunate Chinese illegal immigrant; Wallow, from a suicide victim suffering from depression which is very different from the Wallow from the first Ghost Rider film, and Doghead from a Latino immigrant and his dog. They attacked Ghost Rider, seemingly killed him and brought him to Hell.

In hell, Ghost Rider is revived by a kiss from Black Rose (the corrupted form of deceased Roxanne Blaze). Blackheart separated the spirit of Noble Kale and Danny Ketch leaving Dan on Earth while for some reason, Blackheart sought to marry Noble Kale with Pao Fu and Black Rose. On Earth, everything seemed to be fine for Dan until Ghost Riders memories start to overwhelm him and for some unknown reason, Naomis spirit needed those memories to be brought to Noble Kale. Off to hell they go. The marriage in hell turned out to be a farce and Blackheart actually wanted to play with his food before killing it. With the help of Dan, Naomi and the hellbound Vengeance, they thwarted Blackhearts plan to ruin the prophecy wherein the angel of Death is sent to end the ruler of Hell, who happens to be Blackheart. Dan returns Noble Kales memories to Ghost Rider who remembers that he is, in fact, the angel of death and proceeds to kill Blackheart. With Blackheart gone, Noble Kale, Ghost Rider, becomes the ruler of Hell. Dan returns to Earth to live a normal life. Roxanne is resurrected and returned to Blaze. Roxanne becomes short-lived though as future writers didnt have this final issue to work from. Noble Kale goes back to Earth in order to find himself and continue his adventures as Ghost Rider. Vengeance becomes ruler of hell by proxy.

After this, I tried so hard to search on when Mephisto actually returned to hell after he was killed by Blackheart in the trade paperback The Dark Design. That story featured Ghost Rider, Wolverine and Punisher. Mephisto just came back, end of story. Blackheart is also inexplicably alive again in some other comic. Well, thats Marvel.

The franchise seemed dead for the rest of the 90s until they brought back John Blaze as the Ghost Rider in a series called Hammer Lane. According to a blog I read earlier, Danny Ketch, formerly a license to print money became a toxic character within the company despite his Ghost Riders costume and power set getting used in the Ghost Rider film. Because the last issue of Danny Ketchs Ghost Rider wasnt published, Roxanne didnt make it in this series and is presumed dead which extends all the way to Blazes long-running series Vicious Cycle. Lets assume she died in-between these events. So did Blazes kids, Craig and Emma despite him finding them at the end of his short-lived ongoing Blaze series. It also wasnt explained how he returned to having the flaming skull while having a similar costume and power set like Dans. Zarathos, who supposedly died has reconstituted within Johnny, and the spirit that resided in him when Zarathos was absent is inexplicably gone. I will have to speculate that the power Blaze had was simply residual energy from the part of the medallion that was within him. Anyway, Zarathos is back but in a minor capacity, no longer the godlike being he was when he first returned. It was on and off when it came to Johnny Blaze in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Check out Part 2 of Ghost Rider De-mystified here to continue on.

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The Beautiful Nihilism of Breath of the Wild – GameSpew

Posted: at 3:17 pm

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a tremendous achievement.

Not just in its ability to effortlessly blend its systems and design choices in ways that feel like they should have been obvious to developers for years, but in its incredible storytelling which relies more on the density and variety of Hyrule and its people than it does on overproduced cutscenes and dialogue.

The story of Courage and Wisdoms never-ending struggle with Power has always been the centrepiece of Zeldas narrative; a heros journey worthy of Joseph Campbells ridiculous cult of the monomyth. Breath of the Wild doesnt do much to tamper with this formula although it offers some compelling alterations that make Princess Zelda the most formidable and self-reliant she has ever been and placed Ganon at the peak of his menace. Rather, it expands upon established mythos by an insight into Hyrule and its people, the downtrodden populace of a world constantly beset upon by the literal embodiment of calamity. Hyrule should be a world of constant sorrow and depression and yet there is so much hope.

The thing that struck me most about the world that Breath of the Wild takes place in is that all of its citizens seem to be aware of the cross-dimensional struggle between the three aspects of the Triforce throughout time and space. They know there has always been a Ganon, that a hero of time will always rise to oppose him, and that victory for the hero is never assured. One day the hero will fail, calamity Ganon will win, and the world will be destroyed. It is inevitable.

Breath of the Wilds vast, beautiful wilderness filled with signs and wonders is an allegory for the nihilistic futility present in all that is temporal, only its monsters and heroic trials have no tendency towards the symbolic. Hyrule is a place that constantly threatens an untimely death at the hands of some grotesque horror or natural wonder that you are ill-equipped to manage. You could fall to your death or freeze solid in some far-flung tundra, cross the path of a savage Lynel or overextend a trip to the border of Death Mountain; and above it all the threat of Calamity Ganon looms large, ready to swallow the light in yawning darkness should your feet make their carriage too slow.

But then this has all happened before. In another time, another place, the light of courage and wisdom was snuffed out by overwhelming power and yet the hero has returned, reborn each once again.

And thats what I love about Breath of the Wilds lovely cast of background talent. Think about the world they live in. Theyre meagre pawns born into the humdrum sideline of a battle between the fates; a battle which was almost lost a century before; a battle with consequences that have already begun to manifest in the blight of their flora and the corruption of their fauna. These stalwart pedants have lived in the shadow of encroaching oblivion for one hundred years as monsters and titans have roamed their lands, threatening their children for at least a generation. Yet they persist. Even as their princess has levelled ceaseless single combat against the object of their disillusionment they have gone about their day to day, not with somber resignation but, in many cases, with cheerful enthusiasm that borders on child-like ignorance.

Because what else can they do? What can any of us do?

We are born to die. The world that breathes life into our stardust bones will one day take its gift away and leave us in the ground without a thought. The citizens of Hyrule know this better than we because theyve lived with Damocles sword perched high atop their capital for one hundred years. But they still love, they still seek out their lifes great purpose, and arrow girl still just wants to get nocked so, so bad.

We could all learn a thing or two from them. Keep calm. Carry on. Every ending informs the next. Play the game, man. Play the game.

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Here comes the science bit: why music festivals are going geek – The Guardian

Posted: at 3:16 pm

Festivals have long been cosmic experiences havens of music and hedonism designed to whisk you away from reality for 72 hours. Of course, those mind-melting moments usually arrive at 6am in the dance tent rather than watching someone in a lab coat wielding a telescope. Not so in 2017. Blame Brian Cox, blame The Big Bang Theory, but music festivals have gone giddy for geekery.

It simply isnt enough to put bands on in a field anymore, says Paul Reed, general manager of the Association of Independent Festivals. Anyone with money who wants to take a huge gamble can do that. He says areas such as science are a natural step for experiential boutique festivals, which offer alternative activities alongside the music, and who are keen to broaden their audiences and offer them a more cerebral experience.

One such festival is Deer Shed in North Yorkshire. Since 2013 its science tent has gradually grown into a phantasmagoria of dorky delights, mostly geared towards children. This year forensics and slime-making workshops sit alongside live spectrograms, which allow you to see your own voice, modular synth-making sessions and another in which you can solder your own lie detector perfect for nippers and hungover parents alike.

According to its Deer Sheds organisers, the science are has become increasingly popular. Not all kids are arty, not all kids are sporty or into music, explains Oliver Jones, the festivals co-founder. Some kids will spend their whole weekend in the science tent. Thats a mentality also shared by Latitude festival: their Wildlife, Weird Science & Adventure kids area features everything from astronomy classes to a School Of Noise where future Aphex Twins can make their own experimental electronic beats.

Its not just children reaping the benefits of the boom in scientific festivals. Events such as Also festival in Warwickshire and Bluedot at Jodrell Bank observatory are aimed more at adults. The former has been billed as a small festival with big ideas and also been likened to Ted talks in a field. Bluedot, meanwhile, returns this year after its 2016 debut with an astronomy-heavy lineup alongside the musical bill. Its science programme includes talks on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the future of humans in space and the anatomy of a solar eclipse as if the complex time signatures of musical headliners Alt-J werent boggling enough.

Talks such as these bring some sense, says its organisers, to our unsteady world. People are much more interested in science and its place in our lives; were all aware that science and technology will shape the future, says Prof Tessa Anderson, science-culture director of Bluedot. It really expresses a new zeitgeist; [science] is the natural counterbalance to the post-truth manipulation of information.

There are few stars who bridge the worlds of science and music quite like Brian May, who has both Queen guitarist and PhD in astrophysics on his CV. Four years ago he teamed up with fellow astrophysicist Garik Israelian to create Starmus festival in Norway, designed to enhance our knowledge of the universe via science and the arts.

As a child I was forced to choose between art and science as if they were mutually incompatible, says May. I never believed it. I think the Victorians got it right: to be complete human beings, we need an appreciation of everything the universe has to offer. As for what Starmus has to offer, therell be headline talks from Stephen Hawking, Buzz Aldrin and Brian Eno, and performances from guitar hero Steve Vai and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.

Elsewhere, dance music festivals have taken the tech up a notch to explore the relationship between listening to and making music. North Carolinas Moogfest has hundreds of sessions with geektastic names such as For the Love of Audio Gear and 3D Audio Space Jam, while, in the UK, Sheffields No Bounds preps for the main October event with a launch party in June where therell be coding workshops followed by shedding some cells to a set by DJs Nina Kraviz and Helena Hauff.

Creative director Liam O Shea says: No Bounds is about moving beyond boundaries. Its about change, growth, movement and hopefully progress. A little highfalutin it might be, but events such as these hark back to the hippy days when festivals were seen as incubators of change: beards and weirds coming together in an attempt to create accord during difficult times.

If the geek will indeed inherit the Earth, then, it looks like their benign takeover starts with its festivals.

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Cartoonist Kills Pepe The Frog Character After Stoner Icon Co-Opted By Alt-Right – CBS San Francisco Bay Area

Posted: at 3:16 pm

May 8, 2017 2:21 PM

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) With the same comic cool with which he created him, cartoonist Matt Furie has killed off his character, Pepe the Frog after the carefree amphibian was hijacked by far-right extremists.

In a one-page strip in Fantagraphics Free Comic Book Day offering, Worlds Greatest Cartoonists, Pepes stoner-bro roommates, Andy, Brett and Landwolf toast him as he lies dead in an open casket.

(Fantagraphics, Free Comic Book Day)

The quartet of slackers were part of Furies Boys Club series that debuted in a 2006 comic book and shot to meteoric comic book fame. Fans identified with the comical vignettes combining laconic psychedelia, childlike enchantment, drug-fueled hedonism, and impish mischief, according to the blurb on Amazon Books.

Years later, Pepe would spawn a fan base that Furie never anticipated. His beloved chill frog-dude would be dubbed a symbol of hate.

Internet memes showing Pepe adorned with swastikas, mocking progressives, and making racist and sexist and anti-Semitic remarks were plastered across social media.

Hillary Clinton condemned the meme during her 2016 election bid and it was designated a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League.

There were so many Pepe memes promoting Donald Trumps presidential campaign that Trump himself tweeted an image that morphed his likeness with Furies green frog.

In retaliation, Furie mounted a campaign to #SavePepe.

In a video, Pepe the Frog: From Innocent Meme to Hate Symbol, Furie says, Pepe is just basically a chill frog. He likes to do nothing, just basically hang out with his bros, watch tv, eat snacks, chill out, occasionally smoke various plants.

It just kind of melts my spirit a little bit because a cartoon that I made had evolved to become somebodys symbol for hate.

Furie would spend months trying to spin his dilemma into something positive, teaming up with the ADL, and even coming out in support of Clinton in 2016.

Lifes too short to be a hater, says Furie in the video. Apparently, he has opted to cut Pepes life short to keep the green icon from being just that.

No doubt, haters will continue to exploit Pepe, but for Furie, it appears his chill-frog dudes soul can finally rest in peace.

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The Forgotten Hayek: An Antidote For The New Populism? – Forbes

Posted: at 3:16 pm


Forbes
The Forgotten Hayek: An Antidote For The New Populism?
Forbes
At the first MPS meeting, 70 years ago, Hayek warned about an intolerant and fierce rationalism which in particular is responsible for the gulf which particularly on the [European] Continent has for several generations driven most religious people ...

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Ray Goodlass’ Ray’s Reasoning | OPINION, May 9, 2017 – Daily Advertiser

Posted: at 3:16 pm

9 May 2017, 8 p.m.

The system of higher education in Australia is anything but efficient.

LASTweek the pre-budget announcements were coming in thick and fast, to soften us up for todays bad news, and saw Messrs Turnbull & Co clear the decks of two thorny education issues, school and university funding.

Both were exercises in spin designed to fool the gullible, with the prize going to schools funding, though the propaganda that universities could afford the proposed cuts made it a close second.

The government will cut university funding by 2.5 per cent, a decision they have based on the findings of a Deloitte report, which showed that between 2010-15 the cost of course delivery increased by 9.5 per cent, while revenue grew by 15 per cent.

So many, but by no means all, universities are running healthy surpluses and, according to Simon Birmingham, Minister for Education, they can take a haircut.

This has been called an "efficiency dividend" but the system of higher education in Australia is anything but efficient.

Even thougheconomic rationalism suggests that competition generates efficiency what passes for efficiency usually compromises the quality of education.

It can mean giving students fewer curriculum choices, increasing class sizes, reducing face-to-face hours, teaching them with casual staff and substituting classroom teaching with "digital delivery".

All of these have happened and continue to do so at our own local Charles Sturt University.

If staff and undergraduates are being short-changed, where is the money going?

Im indebted to George Morgan, Associate Professor at the School of Humanities and Communication Arts and the Institute for Culture and Societyat Western Sydney University for suggesting three main avenues.

In the first instance many universities cross subsidise research with the public money they receive for undergraduate teaching largely because the federal government underfunds research.

Secondly, some universities have undertaken ambitious capital works programs, erecting what are in effect "signature" buildings such as Frank Gehry designed building at UTS, no doubt to communicate the new university's cultural and intellectual importance.

Thirdly, administrative costs continue to grow inexorably. Most universities employ more administrators than academics

Given all this, what the university system requires is political and economic change, not short term and crude fiscal shocks.

The university community (including both students and staff) needs to be given more power over institutional affairs to provide more democratic checks and balances over the excesses, caprice and follies of managerialism.

As to Turnbulls declaration last week that he will "bring the school funding wars to an end" in a stunning turnaround that will see the government pump an extra $19 billion into schools over the next decade, Im tempted to agree with Greens Education spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young.

"We'll look at the detail of this announcement, but what we know is that Australia's school funding system is broken. It's time our children's education was prioritised in Australia. It's a sad reality that many of our kids are being left behind, Hanson-Young said

This will certainly be the case as the governments proposal means that less than half of additional federal funding over the next 10 years will go to public schools, compared to 80 per cent under the Gonski agreements.

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NON-FICTION: MISGUIDED INTERPRETATIONS – DAWN.com

Posted: at 3:16 pm

The intellectual, religious and educational movements of the 18th and 19th centuries in Muslim societies shaped what we today call the Muslim world. Colonialism and the rise of the West triggered processes of internal transformation in Muslim societies, that had multiple expressions ranging from the revival of political systems, selective Westernisation and inner purification through Sufism to socio-cultural reformations.

These processes of reformation and moderation were not only constructing new Muslim societies, but also intellectual discourses. In different Muslims societies, thinking processes were producing almost similar intellectual trends that were difficult for Western and even Muslim scholars to accurately describe. However, in the Indian subcontinent, the transformation discourse was largely educational in nature and did not create much trouble for the colonial rulers. Various educational movements associated with the names of cities, places and institutions, such as Deoband, Aligarh and Bareilly, etc, emerged. Western scholars, particularly, were interested in the interpretations of Islam emerging from North Africa and Ottoman Asia. The terms Salafi and Salafiyya referred to these interpretations of mainly neo-Hanbali theology.

French Orientalist Louis Massignon, who was studying reformist movements, thought the terms Salafi or Salafiyya referred to a coherent reform movement. Massignons notion swiftly became popular among Western and Muslims scholars. Still, many ambiguities surrounded the less-explored term of Salafism. Henri Lauzire, an assistant professor of history at Northwestern University, has resolved the issue in his well-researched book, The Making of Salafism: Islamic Reform in the 20th Century.

Tracing and understanding the making of Salafism was not an easy task. For that Lauzire followed the intellectual journey of the Moroccan Salafi and globetrotter Muhammad Taqi al-Din al-Hilali, a former Sufi of the Tijani order. According to Lauzire, Al-Hilali embraced what he later called Salafism in 1921 and embarked on a lifelong mission to study, teach and defend the primary textual sources of Islam on three different continents.

It is particularly interesting to learn how an academic Islamic journal, Al-Majalla al-Salafiyya, from Cairo, edited by Abd al-Fattah Qatlan, played a significant role in spreading the word Salafiyya overseas. Al-Majalla al-Salafiyya contoured the concept of Salafiyya mostly in a theological context.Lauzire discovered the fact when the first issue of the journal reached the office of the Revue du Monde Musulman in Paris, to which the French scholar of Islam, Massignon, was a major contributor. Massignon wrongly conceived of Salafiyya as an intellectual movement. Later, Arab social intellectuals and journalists created conditions conducive to the misinterpretation. Though Massignon played a leading role in labellingIslamic modernists Salafi, the definition provided useful context to Western scholars who were looking for a conceptual box in which they could place Muslim figures such as Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, and their epigones, who all seemed inclined toward a scripturalist understanding of Islam, but proved open to rationalism and Western modernity.

Lauzires contribution is important because, as cited earlier, there was confusion around the term Salafism and Muslim scholars referred to it in two contrary perspectives. Some considered Salafism an innovative and rationalist movement and others conceived of it as anti-rationalist; the view of Salafism as purist evolution is a result of decolonisation.

Lauzire notes that from the medieval period until the beginning of the 20th century, Muslim scholars and activists referred to themselves and to others as Salafis only to signal their adherence to the Hanbali theology espoused by Ibn Taymiyyah and other theologians of his tradition. The 20th century Islamic modernist reform movements were labelled Salafism because of their reformists Salafi credentials. Lauzire has also probed the roots of different Salafi traditions, including the one focusing on doctrinal purity and characterised by adherence to neo-Hanbali theology. The 20th century reform movements later triggered an ecumenical approach towards other Muslims among neo-Hanbalis and made Salafism compatible with emerging Muslim nationalism concepts. Both tendencies nurtured another stream of purification. This trend emerged in Morocco and was hallmarked by such figures as Muhammad Allal al-Fasi.

Lauzires critical appraisal of the term Salafism is a commendable effort; it not only removes confusions surrounding it, but also helps in understanding the construct of Islamic thought in contemporary times. He explains that prior to the 20th century, Salafism was not part of the typological lexicon of traditional Islamic science. The growth of colonialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries entailed greater interaction between native and non-native people. So, too, did it favour cross-pollination between indigenous and non-indigenous ways of thinking about Islam. He argues that the concept of purist Salafism did not initially entail a complete rejection of religious compromise.

The process of purification took place between the 1920s and the 1950s, mainly to accommodate political considerations and to increase the likelihood of achieving political independence from colonial powers.Lauzire explains how this process expanded the meaning of Salafi and Salafism beyond the confines of theology and constructed a rigorist notion of Salafism in the hopes of strengthening and uniting Muslims of different regions and cultural backgrounds under a common standard of Islamic purity.

Lauzire also discusses the new challenges facing the adherents of Salafism. Apart from the violent expressions, the most important question for purist and modernist Salafis regards their participation in the political process. Lauzire lists some questions that he believes dominate contemporary Salafi discourse: should they establish political parties at the risk of creating divisions? Should they run for [public] offices at the risk of legitimising democracy? Should they take to the streets at the risk of encouraging social and political instability? He argues: For the most part, these questions fall under the purview of the Salafi method because they pertain to neither orthodoxy nor orthopraxy in a strict sense. Under specific circumstances, different Salafis have, therefore, been providing different answers depending on their understanding of the Manhaj [Method].

One important chapter of the book discusses Rashid Ridas engagement with the Wahhabis and its consequences. Rida, a Syrian-born Islamic scholar who formulated an intellectual response to the pressures of the modern Western world, had offered his unconditional support to Abd al-Aziz al-Saud. The fall of the Ottoman Empire, the failure of Faisal ibn Hussein ibn Alis Arab kingdom in 1920, the loss of Iraq and Greater Syria to the mandatory powers, the triumph of secular Kemalism in Turkey and the abolition of the caliphate in 1924 had created enormous challenges for Muslim political, religious and intellectual leaderships. Ridas initial response was not to support one group or one doctrine in particular for he believed that factionalism and sectarianism could only weaken the already fragile Islamic community. Later, the circumstances that finally caused Rida to lend his full support to the Saudis resulted from Sharif Husayns self-proclamation as caliph two days after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk abolished the institution in March, 1924. This event confirmed Husayns arrogance in the eyes of Rida, for whom the offence had particular significance. Ridas challenge was two-fold: first, to transform the new state according to his concept of the caliphate. Second, to rationalise Wahhabi thought. Rida explained that even though Wahhabis were Salafi in creed, they often ignored the significance of modern science and opposed modernist ideas. However, he failed to transform the Saudi clergy that was critical towards his new ideas of theological rationalism and tolerance of religious error.

Lauzires scholarship on Salafism is commendable and an example for young Muslim scholars on how to pursue intellectual queries. His journey to exploring the dynamics of Islamic reform movements still continues. He considers Salafism a useful category as long as scholars refrain from using it imprudently.

The reviewer is a security analyst and director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, Islamabad

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