Monthly Archives: January 2021

Are the Visegrad Group Countries a Success Story? – Visegrad Insight

Posted: January 21, 2021 at 3:07 pm

The economies of Central and Eastern Europe have shown no signs of any development miracle or a regional category jump to high-income countries. Instead, there is the passive acceptance of low-end manufacturing, state-capture by oligarchs and regions emptying out of young people.

The author of this present piece firmly believes that the objective of economic growth should be shunned if we are to achieve the CO2 emissions goals of the Paris Treaty and reverse the environmental devastation we have caused on this planet.

The decoupling of environmental devastation from economic growth is a myth. Balkans citizens now live around the global average, Visegrad and Baltic societies above it.

We should not aim for higher GDP, in fact, Western Europe should engage in degrowth. The social problems of our region should be handled through more equitable social redistribution, not growth.

With the above caveat, let us address the question in the title on its own terms. Can we consider the region a socio-economic success story? The default go-to indicator in our growth-obsessed world would be the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The first comparison we can make is a long term historical one, using Angus Maddisons famous database.

Chart 1 GDP/capita in the Visegrad countries in comparison to Western Europe, the World Average and China (Source: The Maddison Database)

What we see on this chart is that at the end of reconstruction after the Second World War, the Visegrad region was somewhat above the world average, and at around 50 to 75 per cent of Western Europe (defined by Maddison as Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom).

Western Europe is chosen as a benchmark because it has been the age-old point of comparison in Central and Eastern Europe. As we can see, China was way below the world average at this point, at less than a quarter.

Under a Soviet-style economic system, the Visegrad countries basically preserved their advantage compared to the global average. Poland collapsed by the 1980s and even proceeded to dip below the global average. Hungary and Czechoslovakia peaked in the eighties. They have both preserved their positions compared to the global average by the end of the Soviet-style economy.

Hungary also managed to preserve its position vis--vis the West, but Czechoslovakia slipped in this comparison. No country in the region has achieved convergence with the West during this period. A purchasing power parity comparison (not available from Maddison) would be favourable to the Visegrad states, but would still reveal at best their maintained positions vis--vis the West for the group as a whole.

The rise of China begins at around this time, in the eighties, with Deng Xiaopings famous reform and opening. (As well shall soon see, other Asian Tigers that China was learning from, such as Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea, had by this time demonstrated even more astounding growth rates.)

The devastating consequences of economic transition are clear to see in the case of the former Eastern Bloc. Hungary dips to the world average, Poland below it.

By the time of the Visegrad Group countries accession to the European Union, they had, by and large, managed to regain their previous long term global position somewhat above the global average. This position is similar to the one after the Second World War, or the one in the eighties.

What is striking from this graph is that China was already approximating the global average by this time.

In sharp contrast to Visegrad, there was simply no transition depression to speak of in the case of China, even though in spite of official rhetoric Beijing was in fact transitioning from a fully nationalised, planned economy to a partially privatised, partially planned capitalist development state, similar to the Far Eastern Development model characteristic of its wider region. This comparison of Visegrad transition with China is striking.

A comparison with Western Europe is also revealing. At the eve of EU accession, the Visegrad Group was further away than ever from Western Europe during the entire period under discussion.

As we have seen so far, the Central Eastern European region seems to be stuck in the category just above the global average.

The Visegrad group is part of an upper-middle-income group, while the Balkans are part of a lower-middle-income group, however, their global positions hardly change. There is definitely no category jump.

This contrasts sharply with the economic history of the East Asian region after the Second World War. The so-called Asian Tiger economies were examples of exactly the kind of category leap that has been missing from Central and Eastern Europe.

Let us take a look at their achievements:

Chart 2 The Asian Tiger economies made several category jumps in short decades, sometimes from lower-income to high-income (Source: Maddison Database)

As we can see, these tiger economies have made several category jumps, and in very brief periods of time. Perhaps the most successful country has been Singapore. It started off at levels comparable to the global average, but with gigantic hindrances: it had to be created as a brand-new state from a mostly illiterate, massively conflictual multi-ethnic and multireligious mix.

Clearly, this was a far worse starting point than in the case of any of the Visegrad states. Yet Singapore made it from the middle-income category into the high income one roughly from 1970 to around 1990, that is, in about two decades. Since then, it has become significantly richer than the Western European average.

Two other examples are Taiwan and South Korea, both of which started off in the low-income category, significantly below the world average, and even further below the Visegrad economies. Yet, they achieved a category jump from low income to middle income in the sixties, and then from middle income to high income by around the nineties.

The Peoples Republic of China is the latest arrival, from extremely low income as late as the eighties, to middle income by today.

What accounts for the disparity that Visegrad has not been able to carry out a quantitative leap, whereas the Asian Tigers have achieved several? The so-called Varieties of Capitalism literature provides us with a clear answer. Visegrad has attempted to compete with a so-called Foreign Direct Investment Dependent Competition State.

What this complicated name entails is the fact that these states have competed against each other with low wages, weak trade unions and low taxes to attract as much foreign direct investment as possible, in the process essentially becoming the economic hinterland of the German economy. They are stuck in what is called the middle-income trap.

By contrast, the developmental state model of East Asia has relied on domestically owned multinationals, state-led banks and technology policy, industrial policy, massive state investments into infrastructure and human capital.

East Asia was the only region of the world that has been able to resist Western neoliberal pressure and has achieved great success by doing so.

Let us now examine the period since European Union accession. In terms of their economic weight in the world, the Visegrad Group has pretty much managed to hold on to its position:

Chart 3 The world share of GDP of the Visegrad Group has stayed stable since EU accession in 2004

In the same period, Chinas share of global GDP increased almost four times over:

Chart 4 From 2004 to 2018, Chinas share of global GDP increased almost four times over

Where does this leave the Visegrad Group globally? This time we use GDP per capita data from the World Bank. It must be clear that this series is not comparable with Maddisons previous ones.

Chart 5 GDP per capita, Visegrad economies compared to Western Europe and World Average, as well as China, 2004-2019 (Source: World Bank)

What is clear from this graph is that the Visegrad group is still holding on to its permanent position in the upper-middle-income group: just above the global average, but far below Western Europe (defined as the same group of countries that Maddison uses).

This in spite of the fact that Western Europe now entails a number of rather damaged economies, such as Italy, France and the United Kingdom. Once again, the trends are clear to see: there has been no category jump for Visegrad since EU accession in 2004.

These are, admittedly, rather crude calculations. Many refinements can be made. One could use purchasing power adjustments for local price levels. However, these are not available for the Maddison data and, in the case of the World Bank data, they open up a pandoras box of troublesome methodological issues.

One could also take into account the fact that different countries have different wages shares of gross domestic product, and those in Visegrad economies, unfortunately, tend to be significantly lower:

Chart 6 The wage share in the Visegrad countries (red) and selected Western European (blue) countries (Source: ILO)

Not only is the wage share significantly higher in Western Europe than in the Visegrad Group countries, but the social welfare state is also dramatically more generous.

In fact, in several Visegrad states welfare provisions have all but disappeared. Several leading Visegrad politicians have openly declared themselves enemies of the welfare state.

There are additional complications: how do you factor in developments such as the 27,000 kilometres of clean, cheap and superfast high-speed trains that have been built in China in the matter of about a decade? By contrast, most of Central and Eastern Europe is still cut off from the Western European high-speed train network, with the exception of some lines in Poland.

Map 1 One decade of improvement in the Chinese high-speed train network

Similar improvements have been made in the Chinese highway system, hospitals, metro systems in major urban centres, airports, etc. Public infrastructure even in Western Europe has not been able to match these.

Similar public goods abound in the East Asia region: from the famed urban infrastructure and showcase airport in Singapore, through the global trailblazer internet speed of South Korea to human capital formation and innovation in Taiwan.

The above methodological additions are important, but they do not change the overall picture significantly. The Visegrad Group countries have not achieved a category jump in the last decade and a half since EU accession, or indeed since transition three decades ago. Almost everyone acknowledges this, though some still beg for patience.

As far as ordinary people are concerned, however, politicians have been asking for patience in this part of the world for far too long. The promise of a better future has been on the horizon for long generations, and it never arrived. It did in East Asia.

The same thirty years that was available for Visegrad to make a change was enough for China to rise from one of the poorest counties in the world to a middle-income one. Three decades had been enough for Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan to rise from misery to high-income status, rivalling or even exceeding Western Europe.

Elites in Visegrad still try to claim a success story, but ordinary people have had enough. They do not see a future for themselves in this region and are increasingly voting with their feet. It has beenwidely reported that all ten of the fastest declining countries in the world are in Eastern Europe.

At least 11 countries in Eastern Europe have shrunk by more than ten per cent since the political and economic transition in 1989, including Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania. Latvia has lost 27 per cent of its population, Lithuania 23 per cent, Bulgaria and Bosnia 21 per cent. But Poland and Hungary are also amongst the major losers.

Map 2 Maps published by Eurostat show the region emptying out

Maps published by the European Commission show the entire region emptying out, except for metropolitan centres. The major gainers from this migration flood have been Germany and Austria, and before Brexit, the UK.

By contrast, it is well known that the coastal developmental regions of China are experiencing enormous migration inflow from the mainland, equivalent in scale to the entire population of the European Union. Dynamic regions can be easily recognised by peoples desire to move there, and not away.

The population of Singapore has increased sixfold since its founding. That of Taiwan tripled in the same time period, that of South Korea increase more than two and a half times.

As it was stressed at the beginning, this author believes in degrowth. However, astonishing their development miracles have been, most people in Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea are now living beyond the planetary ecological boundary.

China has managed to lift some 800 million people roughly to the level of the global average.

The situation in Central and Eastern Europe, however, is not better. Stagnation is not the same as degrowth. Degrowth is an orderly transition to no population growth and a stable state economy. There is nothing planned for the economies of Central and Eastern Europe.

These economies have come about through the passive acceptance of low-end manufacturing, primary by German firms. We are not seeing a transition here to a sustainable society, but a slow-motion collapse, where fear-mongering and hate-filled political climates hide the fact that states are captured by corrupt oligarchs, with young people slowly but surely preferring to start their lives in Western Europe.

No, the Visegrad countries have not been a success story.

The article is part of the New Europe 100 project supported by the International Visegrad Fund.

Find out more about the New Europe 100 network here. For updates, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Is Roulette the Same Today as It Was in the Past? – Techstory

Posted: at 3:05 pm

As the casino industry continues to grow, it seems as if the traditionally iconic games are no longer the same. For instance, old-fashioned slot machines now live alongside online slots due to the emergence of remote gambling. In fact, pretty much every activity is available online if you have an internet connection.

On the surface, roulette continues to appear the same. There are cultural differences, of course US casinos use 0 and double 0, whereas British establishments dont yet the foundation of the game is still intact. However, if you delve deeper, youll notice that everything isnt as it seems. Even though it is hard to tell, the reality is that roulette has changed quite a bit.

Source: Pixabay

Roulette remained the same for so many years because the foundation of the industry never altered. Then, the introduction of the internet and mobile gaming came to the forefront of society and the changes were very sudden. Previously, roulette was only playable on casino floors in specific environments.

Now, roulette is available via a mobile device, which involves a different approach. For instance, the fact that roulette is accessible anywhere in the world means thatonline roulettegames such as Spread-Bet Roulette and Quantum Roulette are must-haves as they appeal to a wider audience, improving the industrys bottom line.

To highlight this, roulette software is now a staple of digital organizations. While digital roulette is almost identical in many ways, the use of a random number generator, for instance, is a clear distinction that makes the game ideal for mobile users. It shouldnt be shocking to learn that the remote European and American versions of the game are the most popular options inside any online casino, as a result.

Source: Pixabay

One of the biggest changes is the introduction of new variants that never existed before. In the past, American and European roulette had a monopoly on the game since it was hard to add any more elements. After all, space restrictions meant that there wasnt much room to get creative.

The internet has changed this as virtual platforms are not limited by land space. As a result, there has been an emergence of multi-wheel roulette, a version that lets players pick numbers on up to six different wheels at a time. And, this is only one area where there has been a marked evolution due to the impact of the internet.

Another example is the push towards roulette games that simulate the in-person experience while eliminating the kinks. Examples include on-live, virtual andlive automaticroulette. The latter is a prime example of the evolution of roulette as the game is programmed to emulate real-life physics, such as the speed and deceleration of the ball.

Roulette isnt the same today as it was previously, and its down to the rise of the internet. As the demand for online games grew, the need to tweak classic casino games like roulette became inevitable. Therefore, standard features include new rules multi-wheel roulette and rule variations, such as making roulette more palatable for mobile devices.

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Rockets expectations, rotational roulette, the injury bug – The Athletic

Posted: at 3:05 pm

HOUSTON Im chilling!

Chris Pauls words to Rockets lead assistant John Lucas as he walked away from their pregame midcourt reunion said as much about Pauls current situation as it did about where the Rockets are right now as an organization.

The Phoenix Suns have enjoyed a bright start to the season playing an exciting brand of basketball, are currently 4th in the West at 8-5 and boast a formidable big 3 in Paul, Devin Booker, and Deandre Ayton in addition to the ever-improving Mikal Bridges. On the other hand, the Rockets are 4-9. Theyre 14th in the Western Conference. Theyre currently riding a three-game losing streak, have won just one game out of their last six, and look like they could five losses in a row by the end of the week. Since last Sunday, the team is 28th in offensive rating, 15th in defensive rating, and 26th in net rating.

Seeing Houston in this state having covered them during...

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Rockets expectations, rotational roulette, the injury bug - The Athletic

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Netflix Is Finally Adding a Streaming Roulette Feature as It Clinches 200 Million Subscriptions – Gizmodo

Posted: at 3:05 pm

Image: Pascal Le Segretain (Getty Images)

Netflix has officially amassed 200 million subscribers, but the company isnt planning to rest on its laurels.

As it continues to compete with services like Disney+ and HBO Max, Netflix plans to continue to improve its user experience to keep viewers returning. It introduced its worth the wait, top 10, and new and popular sections last year to help with discovery, and Netflix says its preparing to roll out another new feature as well. In the first half of this year, the service will add a tool to allow Netflix to pick a title based on a users preferences rather than requiring them to browse for something to watch.

Our members can basically indicate to us that they want to skip browsing entirely, click one button, and well pick a title for them just to instantly play. And thats a great mechanism thats worked quite for members in that situation, COO and chief product officer Greg Peters said during an earnings Q&A. Asked whether the service was going to call the tool Im feeling lucky, Peters said it would be called something different at launch.

Weve reached out to Netflix for more information about how titles are suggested and will update this post when we hear back.

Netflix said in its fourth-quarter shareholders letter released Tuesday that it managed to secure 8.5 million more paid subscriptions to help the streaming giant cross the 200 million mark. All told, the company added a total of 37 million paid subscriptions during 2020, no doubt helped by the surge in TV viewing and streaming that resulted from lockdown orders and quarantine measures amid the coronavirus pandemic. For some context, Netflix says memberships were up 23 percent from the previous year in the fourth quarter.

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With the arrival of so many new streaming services competing for consumer money and viewing time, Netflix has more competition than ever before. But the company says its been expecting this new competitionincluding from heavyweights like Disney and WarnerMediafor many years. Key to its response is its head-spinning churn of original content and latest successes like the most recent season of The Crown, Barbarians, and Selena: The Series.

Its content strategy is also boosted with the release of its international films in outside markets. The company specifically cited an example of the French heist film Lupin, which enjoyed a no. 2 spot in its U.S. top 10 list. In 2020, the company also released a number of highly successful originals during the year that enjoyed critical claim and cultural impact. Tiger King, Queens Gambit, and Bridgerton were three such home runs, the company said.

Even with the pandemic significantly delaying production timelines and release dates, Netflix says its still on track to release at least one original film every week of 2021. Plus, the company said it has a staggering 500-plus titles either in post-production or ready to hit its service.

Most surprising, though, was Netflixs claim that it is very close to being cash-flow positive and no longer needs to raise external financing. Additionally, the company plans on repaying the bond at maturity out of cash on hand, as we are currently well above our minimum cash needs. More information on this front will likely be shared during its investors call later today.

All in all, its been an incredible year for Netflix. And it seems that in spite of the number of competitors whod like to swipe its crown, Netflix remains king in the streaming spacefor now, anyway.

This post has been updated to add additional information from Netflixs earnings call.

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Maltas Construction Sector Is Playing Russian Roulette With Peoples Lives, Miriam Pace Report Warns – Lovin Malta

Posted: at 3:05 pm

A report into the construction industry following Miriam Paces death has warned that the sector, and in particular excavation works, was playing Russian roulette with peoples lives.

Prime Minister Robert Abela, who had set up the expert committee to author the report, tabled the document during a parliamentary sitting discussing a wide-ranging bill to hopefully bring the construction industry in line.

The committee, Judge Lawrence Quintano, geotechnical engineer Adrian Mifsud, architect Mario Cassar and lawyer Mark Simiana, were clear that the sector is ultimately plagued by deep-rooted problems and recommended a slew of changes.. Some will become law.

A key proposal is creating the Building and Construction Authority, which will regulate and enforce the whole sector. Meanwhile, it aims to provide residents with the power to demand an independent architects report into a neighbouring project at the developers expense.

However, the report shed light on some growing issues in the sector that also need to be addressed.

Most notably, they warned that the construction industrys pervasive use of cutting rock flush with a chainsaw was a very dangerous activity that few dared to question.

The report says that such cuts are done under the pretext that these are necessary to isolate the neighbouring building from excessive vibration. However, it is done when it is simply impossible to identify the degree of fissuring in the rock, implying that this activity can significantly weaken the rock even before the actual excavation has started.

The state of safety of the neighbouring structures is therefore left to chance because it is very difficult to predict the nature of the fissures before these are finally exposed. This is nothing short of playing Russian roulette with the lives of third parties, the report said.

Excavations were a clear problem with untrained, unlicensed or unregulated individuals leading the practice. The committee was clear that it should be on the onus of both the developer and their architect to prove that excavation or a proposed construction is safe at all stages of its execution.

The committee considers of concern, those instances where the conduct of the excavation process is left to the whims of the excavation contractor, under the guise of temporary work. This happens when excavation contractors are not registered in any way, and when their level of competence is not checked or regulated by anybody, the committee said.

Modern construction projects are much too complex to expect responsibility to be borne by a single person when there are so many different roles, and when regulation leaves much to be desired, leading to ambiguous situations of unclear or split responsibilities.

Still, they noted that while more training is needed to improve the situation, architects should still be responsible for identifying dangerous geotechnical issues and solving them.

This cannot be left to chance, the report said.

The report said excavation should also be limited to certain hours of the day to safeguard residents health.

Enforcement, unsurprisingly, was identified as a key issue by the community.

The report noted that enforcement was weak with the main players quickly disregarding measures once they realised they were never checked upon.

The committee was insistent that checks and balances were crucial to the process, and it is the states duty to ensure that they were enforced. A well-equipped, competent and proper-functioning Building and Construction Agency that acts as the main enforcing arm would be vital in achieving it.

Crucially, the committee called for the introduction of a building permit, which would be entirely autonomous from the planning permit. A building permit will cover how the applicant will carry out a development, whether thats a house, apartment, or entire block.

The committee found that the Site Technical Officers role, which was introduced after a series of collapses in 2019, falls short of providing the required technical authority and participation which is required in certain building projects.

This shortcoming is in part because the admissibility criteria for a person to be allowed to act as STO do not raise the bar sufficiently, and in part also because the current functions of the STO are not clearly defined, and in some instances overlap with those of the other parties involved in the excavation and/or building project.

Ultimately, the committee believed that the STOs role would be better off re-dimensioned to become a BCA officer.

In an address in Parliament, Prime Minister Robert Abela said that he hoped that the proposed regulations served as a warning to the construction industry that no one is above the law. Both the Malta Developers Association and Chamber of Architects have backed the proposals.

Lets hope new laws impose sustained change.

What do you think of the proposals? Comment below

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Camas native, singer Jimmie Rodgers dies at 87 – The Columbian

Posted: at 3:05 pm

The legend is that local folks were knocked out by Rodgers talent and took up a collection to send him to perform on TVs Arthur Godfrey talent show, Michele said, where he immediately got signed to Roulette Records.

Rodgers first big hit, the boppy singalong Honeycomb, came in the summer of 1957, swiftly followed by Kisses Sweeter Than Wine, Oh-Oh, Im Falling In Love Again, Secretly and Are You Really Mine? He made the rounds of TV variety shows with these hits in the late 1950s, and he scored several more before his career started to slow down.

Another series of successes came in the late 1960s with more mature material, like Its Over and Child of Clay, but those were Rodgers final hit songs.

His life took a hard and violent turn after that. In 1967 Rodgers suffered serious head injuries in a mysterious roadway incident in Los Angeles that he couldnt remember, other than being pulled over by a car with flashing lights. Lawsuits and countersuits alleged police brutality and slander, but all were dropped when the city of Los Angeles settled the matter for $200,000. While the incident remains ambiguous, some industry insiders have claimed Rodgers was attacked by hired thugs who were off-duty police officers for demanding the royalties he was owed by Roulette Records. Roulette was notoriously tied to the New York mafia.

Rodgers recovered from those head injuries, according to Michele, but had to endure three brain surgeries. His clear, sweet singing voice was eventually blocked by a vocal-cord problem called spasmodic dysphonia. Thats when he got into songwriting and record production, said Michele, who benefited from her fathers expertise as she launched her own Nashville-based music career. He also developed heart and kidney problems as well as COVID-19 at the very end, Michele said.

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Camas native, singer Jimmie Rodgers dies at 87 - The Columbian

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Top 5 courses with a casino in Australia and the US – National Club Golfer

Posted: at 3:05 pm

One could argue that there are no two hobbies as dissimilar as golf and gambling. When you go on a course, youre expecting a relaxed time with a friend or two, even if the game isnt going that well for you. At a casino parlor, youre probably going to have an emotional roller-coaster of an evening, filled with adrenaline.

However, even these two opposites can coexist in harmony. There are some establishments that give to each their own by offering both a golf course and a casino on the premises. And despite what myths about the US would have you believe, its not the only place in the world to host such clubs. As AussieCasinoHex reports, there are golf clubs that have a casino in Australia as well. Heres a list of the top 5 establishments like that.

Despite its generic-sounding name, this is not just a country club. This is a venue with the official name Country Club that can boast an 18-hole course, a small casino inside, a hotel, and a number of other retreats. Its one of the two Tasmanias casinos and a really good one at that.

Apart from the golf course designed by a British Open Champion, this venue also offers a tennis court, horseback riding facility, and a bike rental that allows visitors to roam free in the countryside. Add the fact that the Tasmanian Country Club hosts concerts, has a gambling lounge, and offers high cuisine, and you have a place fit for all walks of life.

Though not as close to home as Tasmania, this resort in the state of Indiana also has some amazing views to attract audiences. The town of French Lick is situated on the verge of a national forest, the golf course of the French Lick Resort is a short drive into that forest. After you soak in the beautiful scenery and finish the 18-hole course designed by Pete Dye, a renowned American golf course builder, you can get back to town and enjoy an evening of gambling.

The French Lick Casino is surprisingly big for a town that small. Its designed to look like a Vegas casino, and even though the number of slot machines and poker tables is a fair bit smaller than what youd expect to see on the Strip, its enough to satisfy the crowds coming into French Lick. In addition to this casino, the resort has two hotels and a spa complex.

This resort has been open for almost as much as the US exists, since 1778. Located in the aptly named little town of White Sulfur Springs, this venue attracted wealthy Southerners to take a break from the heat of the lowlands. This influenced the design of the grand hotel known as The Old White a foreigner may think its the White House itself.

There are four golf courses on the premises, including ones that opened as long ago as the 1830s and as recently as 2010. The casino is a fairly new addition to this traditional resort. It was opened in 2009 and boasts over 300 slot machines and 37 tables for roulette, blackjack, and other classic casino games.

However, golf and gambling are not the only pastimes available in this 200-year-old resort. Thanks to the proximity to a national park, there are multiple trails available, including bike and jeep trails. For visitors who are not that outdoorsy, there are plenty of spa options.

Despite being in the Deep South, this resort does not have an antebellum aesthetic of The Greenbrier. Its a relatively modern recreational complex that was opened in 1999. The main building of the resorts combines a hotel with over 1,7000 rooms with a casino floor. The latter has both smoke-free slot machine zones, roulette tables, and poker rooms. The casino often gives free gambling lessons so look out for those opportunities.

Beau Rivage golf course, Fallen Oak, which is a classic 18-hole par-72 course, was designed by Tom Fazio, a renowned American architect. Its fair to say this course is unique it features centuries-old oaks, streams crossing the fairway, and a tee box inside elevate terrain that will challenge you on the last hole.

As for other entertainment options, Beau Rivage is a center of nightlife in Biloxi. Youll find plenty of clubs and concert venues on the facilitys ground.

You may not be able to tell from the picture above, but this lush 18-hole course is situated between an auto repair shop and a 7/11 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Whats the catch? This luxurious golf course was built in the middle of the desert by MGM Resorts, a company that owns several casinos and hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. The course is available for all guests of MGM-owned casinos.

The course is designed by Tom Fazio and is constantly featured in the top 10 lists of golf courses. Its an expensive one, for sure, but to get away to the oasis in Nevada heat and to play the same course Tiger Woods played is worth it.

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How Republicans Are Warping Reality Around the Capitol Attack – The New York Times

Posted: January 19, 2021 at 9:39 am

Immediately after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, all corners of the political spectrum repudiated the mob of President Trumps supporters. Yet within days, prominent Republicans, party officials, conservative media voices and rank-and-file voters began making a rhetorical shift to try to downplay the groups violent actions.

In one of the ultimate dont-believe-your-eyes moments of the Trump era, these Republicans have retreated to the ranks of misinformation, claiming it was Black Lives Matter protesters and far-left groups like antifa who stormed the Capitol in spite of the pro-Trump flags and QAnon symbology in the crowd. Others have argued that the attack was no worse than the rioting and looting in cities during the Black Lives Matter movement, often exaggerating the unrest last summer while minimizing a mobs attempt to overturn an election.

The shift is revealing about how conspiracy theories, deflection and political incentives play off one another in Mr. Trumps G.O.P. For a brief time, Republican officials seemed perhaps open to grappling with what their partys leader had wrought violence in the name of their Electoral College fight. But any window of reflection now seems to be closing as Republicans try to pass blame and to compare last summers lawlessness, which was condemned by Democrats, to an attack on Congress, which was inspired by Mr. Trump.

The violence at the Capitol was shameful, Rudolph W. Giuliani, the presidents lawyer, tweeted at 6:55 a.m. the morning after the attack. Our movement values respect for law and order and for the police. But now, in a new video titled What Really Happened on January 6th? Mr. Giuliani is among those who are back to emphasizing conspiracy theories.

The riot was preplanned, said Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City. This was an attempt to slander Trump. He added, The evidence is coming out.

For months, Republicans have used last summers protests as a political catchall, highlighting isolated instances of property destruction and calls to defund the police to motivate their base in November. The tactic proved somewhat effective on Election Day: Democrats lost ground in the House of Representatives, with Republican challengers hammering a message of liberal lawlessness.

About nine of every 10 voters said the protests had been a factor in their voting, according to estimates from A.P. VoteCast, a large voter survey conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago. Nearly half of those respondents backed Mr. Trump, with some saying they worried that the unrest could disrupt their communities.

Republicans are now using the looting to try to explain away the Capitol attack. The result, for some Republican voters, ranges from doubt to conspiratorial thinking.

Suzanne Doherty, 67, who traveled from Michigan to be in Washington on Jan. 6 to support Mr. Trump, came away feeling confused and depressed over the invasion of the Capitol and not trusting the images of the mob.

I heard that on antifa websites, people were invited to go to the rally and dress up like Trump supporters, but Im not sure what to believe anymore, she said. There were people there only to wreak havoc. All I know is that there was a whole gamut of people there, but the rioters were not us. Maybe they were antifa. Maybe they were B.L.M. Maybe they were extreme right militants.

The conjecture that the mob was infiltrated by Black Lives Matter and antifa has been metastasizing from the dark corners of the pro-Trump internet to the floors of Congress and the Republican base, even as law enforcement officials say there is no evidence to support it. The authorities are now flagging threats of violence and rioting leading up to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.s inauguration.

That has not stopped Republican lawmakers and some of their constituents from pushing these narratives to defend Mr. Trump.

Interviews with voters this week in Kenosha, the southeast Wisconsin city that was roiled by a high-profile police shooting last summer, captured the yawning split along ideological and racial lines. Democrats pointed to the differences in motivation between the Capitol mob and the mass protests of the Black Lives Matter movement, which was not seeking to overturn an election or being incited by the president. Republicans saw the Capitol attack as the work of outsiders or as justified by the summers isolated incidents of looting and property destruction.

I think the goal was to try to put some final nails in the coffin of Donald Trump, said Dale Rovik, a 59-year-old who supports Mr. Trump and is a native of Kenosha. I think its pretty clear that they did that to make him look bad and to accuse him and, of course, to try and impeach him again. That certainly is pretty clear to me.

Joe Pillizzi, a 67-year-old retired salesman in Kenosha who supports Mr. Trump, said he believed last summers looting and rioting had put a seed in the minds of the mob that attacked the Capitol.

If the Black Lives Matter didnt do what they did, I dont think the Capitol attack would have happened, he said.

Democrats have also seized on a point of conservative hypocrisy. For all the talk of supporting law and order, this months attacks pitted a violent mob against Capitol Hill law enforcement personnel, and a police officer was killed.

Dominique Pritchett, a 36-year-old mental health therapist in Kenosha who supports Black Lives Matter, said the events of the summer were being portrayed inaccurately by the right, while the Capitol rioters were treated far more softly by the police than peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters were.

No, the protests did not turn violent; the looting and rioting started, she said. No violence is acceptable; I think we all can agree to that. Referring to the Capitol rioters, she said: They are tearing up one of the most protected and prestigious places in the United States because No. 45 lost. Someone lost an election, versus Black and brown people getting gunned down and killed every day.

The misinformation on the right reflects the mood of Mr. Trumps most ardent base, the collection of elected officials in deep-red America who have consistently rationalized his behavior in crises. But other signs indicate that some Republicans are exasperated by Mr. Trump and his actions in a way not seen since he entered office.

A new Pew Research poll released Friday showed the presidents approval rating dropping sharply among Republicans since he inspired the mob violence, cratering to an all-time low of 60 percent, more than 14 percentage points lower than his previous nadir. Among Americans at large, Mr. Trumps approval rating was 29 percent, a low since he took office in 2017, and he had a 68 percent disapproval rating his highest recorded number.

In the House, 10 Republicans voted to impeach Mr. Trump for a second time, making it the most bipartisan effort of any impeachment effort in the countrys history. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, has signaled a desire to rid the party of Mr. Trump. And in recent days in Washington, some Republicans spoke out about the misinformation that had spread through the ranks of the partys base and its elected officials.

Representative Peter Meijer, a Republican freshman who voted to impeach Mr. Trump, said in an interview with The Daily, the New York Times audio podcast, that the prevalence of false information among the base had created two worlds among congressional Republicans one that is based in reality and another grounded in conspiracy.

The world that said this was actually a landslide victory for Donald Trump, but it was all stolen away and changed and votes were flipped and Dominion Voting Systems, Mr. Meijer said, describing what he called a fever swamp of conspiracy theories.

In a video news conference Friday, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina also made a direct appeal to Republicans still in doubt. Biden actually won, he said. The election wasnt rigged.

Their words, contrasted with Mr. Trumps own message and that of many supporters, highlight a challenge for the Republican Party. The rioters targeted law enforcement personnel, members of Congress and even Vice President Mike Pence. However, much of the partys base and many of its leaders at the local and state levels remain loyal to Mr. Trump.

Another Republican who backed impeachment, Representative Tom Rice of South Carolina, acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that he was likely to face a G.O.P. primary challenger in his 2022 re-election effort because of his vote a threat the other nine Republicans who voted for impeachment will probably face as well.

FIRST G.O.P. Primary Challenger Announces Run in Michigan Against Freshman Rep. Meijer One of 10 G.O.P. Turncoats, read a headline from The Gateway Pundit, a right-wing and often conspiratorial news outlet that has amassed influence among Mr. Trumps base.

Reached by email, the site's founder, Jim Hoft, did not reply to questions but did send along several of his own news articles related to claims of antifa involvement in the Capitol attack citing the case of a man named John Sullivan, whom the right-wing media has dubbed an antifa leader in efforts to prove its theory of infiltration. He was the same man cited by Mr. Giuliani in tweets that threatened to expose and place total blame on John and the 226 members of antifa that instigated the Capitol riot.

Interviews with local and state Republican officials show the long-term effects that the amplification of misinformation has among the party. While few members of Congress have agreed with Mr. Trumps assertion that his actions were totally appropriate, several party officials did. And while many Republicans condemned violence, attacks on law enforcement personnel and the killing of a Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, they did not agree that those things were the work of pro-Trump mobs acting in the presidents name, as is the consensus among law enforcement officials.

I do not believe President Trump should be blamed for what happened in D.C. on Jan. 6 any more than the media should be blamed for the carnage in Minneapolis, Portland, Dallas or Seattle, said Ed Henry, a former campaign chair for Mr. Trump in Alabama. The attack on the Capitol has not shaken my confidence in President Trump. I still support him.

Eileen Grossman, a Republican activist from Rhode Island who worked on Mr. Trumps campaign, dismissed the violence as the work of outside agitators.

I know that the violence was caused by bad actors from antifa and liberal progressives as well as Black Lives Matter, Ms. Grossman said, without citing any evidence. She added, using an acronym for Republicans in name only, that the Republicans who voted for impeachment would face primary challengers. They are RINOs and traitors.

Ms. Grossman has recently left Rhode Island because, in her words, she wanted to live in a red state. She moved to Georgia, a historically Republican state that in the last three months has voted for Mr. Biden in the presidential election and sent two Democratic candidates to the Senate.

Obviously I chose poorly, she said.

Reporting was contributed by Lisa Lerer in New York, Reid J. Epstein in Washington, Tom Kertscher in Milwaukee and Kathleen Gray in Port Huron, Mich.

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How Republicans Are Warping Reality Around the Capitol Attack - The New York Times

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Chilling posters reveal Antifa is planning to clash with Trump fans at Inauguration Day riots – The Sun

Posted: at 9:39 am

ANTIFA are planning clashes with pro-Trump supporters at Inauguration Day riots, flyers reveal.

The events are being organised to confront pro-Trump protesters who are headed to capitols across the US.

* Read our US Politics live blog for the latest news on Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Wednesday's inauguration

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Cities have readied themselves for the threat of violence by erecting barriers and deploying thousands of National Guard troops ahead of the inauguration of Joe Biden.

But counter demonstrations are now being planned for Seattle, Portland, Denver and Sacramento.

Flyers for events circulating were highlighted by conservative journalist Andy Ngo who is a fierce critic of Antifa and has posted videos of violent clashes its supporters have been involved in.

He tweeted: #Antifa are continuing to put out the call for riots throughout the U.S. on 20 Jan. These are some of their flyers for Seattle, northern California & Denver.

Ngo also pointed to an event organised by the Pacific Northwest Youth Liberation Front.

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The group was last year blamed for playing a major role in the months ofunrestinPortland.

According to the Seattle Times the group was emerging as a persistent militant voice in the city.

The paper reported that the group has anonymous leaders and considers itself anti-fascist and anti-capitalist with its goal the overthrowing of the US political system.

Earlier this month, in a foretaste of what could unfold, Antifa used chemical spray on pro-Trump supporters, who had gathered for a march.

As the two sides squared up to each on the boardwalk in Pacific Beach,California,video shows a black clad Antifa supporter pulling out a canister and spraying the MAGA fans.

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Security across the country has now been increased leading up to the big day after theFBIwarned of armed protests in all 50 US states.

Right-wing protesters were seen outside statehouses on Sunday with some of carrying rifles.

However, some militia groups told followers not to attend over fears the planned events were really police traps.

The protests came as former FBI boss James Comey warnedJoe Biden'sinauguration isunder threat from "armed, disturbed" people following the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.

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National Guard troops were being activated in the days leading up toInauguration Day.

Approximately 19 states, including Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin, activated Guardsmen to their capitol cities.

Last week, anintelligence report warned that militia mobs, white supremacists, and QAnon obsessives inspired by the Capitol riots pose a greater terror threatin the US thanISISthis year.

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Chilling posters reveal Antifa is planning to clash with Trump fans at Inauguration Day riots - The Sun

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Andy Ngos antifa book No. 1 weeks before release – Washington Examiner

Posted: at 9:39 am

Andy Ngo, the chronicler of violent antifa and Black Lives Matter riots, has broken the code on selling books.

A full three weeks before its Feb. 2 release, his Unmasked: Inside Antifa's Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy spent much of this week on Amazon as the No. 1 bestseller, a rarity for books not written by longtime authors and presidents.

In a note to Secrets, he said, I just thank everyone who responded to the antifa smears and threats by ordering the book. This is a tough economic time for many Americans and yet they see the importance of Unmasked.

He was referencing the attacks on social media from journalists and others who do not like his coverage of antifa and the riots they were involved in last year, especially in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington.

The protests to his book have been so hot that the popular seller Powells in Oregon decried the book and banned it from its shelves, though it will offer it online.

Unmasked held the No. 1 spot on Amazon for much of the week, before slipping to No. 2 Friday.

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Andy Ngos antifa book No. 1 weeks before release - Washington Examiner

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