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The Biggest Challenges Startups Face Include Getting the Idea Right, Customer Acquisition, Strategy, Hiring, Culture, and Funding – Then Keeping it Going! As someone that has run four different tech startups, including QuestFusion, and invested in or bought a number of others, I have seen a lot of the biggest challenges startups face in getting their businesses established, but also in continuing to grow their companies into successful enterprises. As I look over the last couple of decades, there are a handful of key issues that all startups have faced, and I’ve tried to give you some of the best ideas that I have seen to mitigate these challenges. Getting the Idea Right Getting the idea right is an essential part of the entrepreneurial process, and one of the biggest challenges startups face. Before jumping right into your product or service, I think it is critically important to first dig deep into the problem that you’re trying to solve for your customers. Many entrepreneurs start with the solution, and have a sense of the problem they are solving, but don’t really dig deep into the customer-related aspects. You really need to answer these questions: Is this an important problem for the customer? Is the customer desperate to solve this problem? Is my idea vastly superior to the alternative ways this problem is being addressed? Great entrepreneurs start with the problem they are trying to solve, and only then propose a unique and creative solution. If your idea does not have value to a customer, if someone is not willing to pay for it, then obviously you can’t build a business around it. Your idea MUST have a Unique Value Proposition. Any kind of market that’s attractive will attract competition, even if you’re the first company to have a solution based on your idea. What is your competitive advantage and is it sustainable? The final thing we’ll talk about with respect to your idea is the concept of idea refinement. You might have a great idea, but having a feedback loop based on interaction with customers in your target market will help you to refine your idea and thus make it even more valuable. Customer Acquisition People want to understand, “What’s in it for me?” Even in a corporate environment, there needs to be a “personal win” and a “corporate win” to close a sale. Many technical founders would like to focus on the product, it’s features, and how awesome it is. While the product may be awesome, for someone to buy anything, they need to see the value for them, and be convinced that it is in their best interest to make a decision in favor of using it, whatever “it” is. Before you can sell anything, you need to understand your customer. What are their interests? What are their problems? What do they lose sleep over? The best way to understand these things is by asking open-ended questions. An open-ended question is one that cannot be answered simply by saying “yes” or “no”. With any prospective “buyer” of anything, you should focus on user benefits, not product features. You should give just enough facts that allow the client to justify the decision. In other words, you need to first convince their “head”. Next, you need to arousing desire by pointing out the lack of benefits today and your solution filling that void. This is called winning over their “heart”. This may all seem like BS to you if you are an engineer or scientist, but I can guarantee you that you need to win the head and the heart to close business. You should use stories, word pictures, and analogies to help in the process. Even after you win over the head and the heart, you need to get a decision. This is the art of closing. If you don’t close the prospect, then you are leaving them in a state of indecisiveness, which is not a nice thing to do. If what you have has value, then you are doing your client a great favor by closing them. Developing a Clear Strategy & Plan of Execution Developing a clear strategy all starts with a clear understanding of your markets, customers, and competitors, and how you expect them to evolve over time is another one of the biggest challenges startups face. Next you look at a reasonable set of financial constraints and goals, and what you can reasonably expect to accomplish over the next few years with that set of constraints. Then you look at the “gap” from Point A, where you’re at today, to Point B, where you want to go over the next three years, and formulate ways to resolve those gaps. I cover this in detail in my blog post, Essential Elements of a Fundable Startup Business. If you’re climbing a mountain or going on a long hike, then you need to understand the terrain; the likely obstacles and how much ground you need to cover to reach your goal. You need to plan-out your provisions. How much food and water will you need? What kind of clothing and shelter? That’s the same thing as a strategic plan in business. It’s not a super complicated thing but it does take detailed analysis. As Yogi Berra said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else.” That’s definitely been the experience of a lot of people that I know. Strategy without execution is worthless and meaningless. As a leader of an organization, you need to provide alignment, incentives, and resources to the team. Just as important, you need to have a team that is passionate and believes in the idea. Zealousness is required to make a startup successful. Building the Team & Culture Your team must have the passion, focus and drive. Building a great team involves scouting, recruiting, hiring, on-boarding, and providing ongoing leadership, management and direction. The leader provides the ultimate direction, but listens to the team, the customers, and other key stakeholders. Startups should make a concerted effort to focus on culture early-on in the life of the company. Make a conscious effort to create your culture because it is going to be created anyway. Both process-oriented/rigid cultures, and free-thinking/flexible cultures can be successful. Bottom line, companies want to get results, and employees want to have a place where they love to work. There is a “what” and a “how” of corporate culture. The “what” of a good corporate culture starts with values and operating principles. The “how” is about the way that people in the organization interact with each other, the structure in which they operate, how people in the organization hold each other accountable, how they run meetings, and how they make decisions. A culture builds with momentum. Find areas of common ground where the principles can agree. Start and build from there. You don’t have to have the whole thing figured-out in the beginning. Hire for talent, but also consider personality. You need to manage with fluidity and agility. Raising the Proper Amount of Funding As a leader, you need to look over the horizon and make sure the team has the needed provisions and support to do their jobs. You need to raise a sufficient amount of money to allow the team to do their jobs. There will be challenges and there will be adversity. Keeping it Going

This Meatless Monday encore post originally ran May 30, 2011. If you want to find justification in the Bible for any sort of behavior, it’s in there. It’s just a matter of interpretation, from when the earth will end to what a supreme being had in mind for us to eat. In Genesis 1:29, the Word, as Adam and Eve got it, was, “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree bearing seed, to you it shall be for food.” You can read that and conclude God wants us to be meatless. Then you can read Genesis 9:3 in which God tells Noah, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things,” and conclude God’s given us the okay for animal. Or you can reckon, as I do, that Noah was a whiner. That he yammered and yammered and said, But I don’t like seeds and herbs and we’re stuck here in the rain on this stupid boat and I’m hungry. God just gave in and said, all right, already, eat what you like, let it be on your head. I’m a little skeptical about Peter, who in Acts 10:9-15, hears a voice telling him nothing is forbidden him to eat. Some religious pros believe the voice to be God’s, but we weren’t there, who knows, maybe Peter was just crazed with hunger and suffering auditory hallucinations. So we go back to Genesis 1:28, the bit where the Lord gave man dominion over all the animals. Yes, but that doesn’t say we should eat them, too. Dominion is not the same as domination. I prefer to think the interpretation here is, we are custodians of our fellow animals, and since we have this fairly well developed cerebral cortex that puts us in charge, it’s our job to look after them. With compassion, not cruelty. And without making them dinner. Those made nervous by a meatless diet like to cite Romans 14:1-23 - “The weak person eats only vegetables,” and though I’ve read an interpretation saying, oh, the Bible doesn’t really mean it, even I’ve got to say that sounds pretty definitive. But then the scripture reads, “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.” And there’s Corinthians 8:1, which says, “Meat commendeth us not to God.” Look, I’m not a Bible scholar. I’m a Sunday school dropout and an agnostic. I think if there is a God, it’s a big-hearted being, despite our quirks and our craziness, able to focus on the big picture, see what we’re doing and basically shrug and say, Oy, what can you do. God laid down a scant few rules — ten of ‘em. We have a hard enough time following these (some kind of design flaw). How many elected officials alone have skirted or shrugged off three of your basic commandments — thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery? So am I questioning God? No. I’m questioning us. Because while the message might be a little confusing, basically God says we can choose what we eat. The question becomes, what do we choose? I choose compassion, towards animals of all kinds. Including — though it’s sometimes a struggle — my own kind, the human kind. Which brings me to one of my Biblical faves, Proverbs 15:17: “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it.” The way I interpret the Bible is the way I choose to live — with a supersized portion of compassion, hold the meat, hold the side of hatred. And don’t forget the wine — it gets a big Biblical seal of approval, and who are we to argue with that? Biblical Barley and Herb Salad I was noodling over what sort of recipe to include for this and I figured it had to have some Biblical reference — so I went with barley. Cheap, fortifying and loaded with fiber, it feeds 5,000 in the Book of John and is a hit in the Old Testament, too. Most often, we consider it the stuff in a warming winter bowl of mushroom barley soup, but barley, an ancient whole grain, goes tabboulified and loaded with herbs (and love — see Proverbs quote above) with this warm weather makeover. Nice as part of a Biblical mezze (selection of tasty little plates — Middle Eastern tapas, if you will) with a blob of hummus and flatbread or with roasted eggplant. 1 cup barley 2 cups water or vegetable broth 1 big bunch mint, chopped (about 3/4 cup, loosely packed) 1 big bunch cilantro, chopped (about 3/4 cup, loosely packed) 1 big bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped (about 3/4 cup, loosely packed) 3 scallions, chopped 1 tomato diced juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons lemon juice) 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon cumin 1 pinch red pepper flakes 1/2 teaspoon agave 1 handful kalamata olives 2 tablespoons tahini for drizzling sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste Bring water or vegetable broth to boil in a large pot. Add barley, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until grains are tender and all liquid is absorbed. Set aside to cool (may be made a day ahead, then covered and refrigerated). Fluff barley, so there are no clumps, then stir in all the chopped herbs, scallions, and tomatoes. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, red pepper flakes, and agave. Pour over barley and stir to blend. Add kalamatas. Chill at least two hours or up to overnight. The dressing will have softened and moistened the barley. Season to taste. The kalamatas add some saltiness of their own, so don’t salt until serving. Drizzle tahini over all and enjoy. Serve cool or even better, at room temperature. Serves 4 to 6.

Michael Avenatti ― the lawyer representing Stephanie Clifford, more widely known as Stormy Daniels ― said he “will run” for president in 2020 if there’s no other suitable challenger to President Donald Trump. After tweeting that “only a street fighter has a chance at displacing the ‘King,’” Avenatti was asked when he would announce a 2020 run. “IF (big) he seeks re-election, I will run, but only if I think that there is no other candidate in the race that has a REAL chance at beating him,” Avenatti replied. “We can’t relive 2016. I love this country, our values and our people too much to sit by while they are destroyed.” IF (big) he seeks re-election, I will run, but only if I think that there is no other candidate in the race that has a REAL chance at beating him. We can't relive 2016. I love this country, our values and our people too much to sit by while they are destroyed. #FightClub #Basta — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) July 4, 2018 Avenatti argued he could win in 2020, telling those who knocked his lack of experience to look to the president as an example of an outsider who succeeded in electoral politics. “To those that claim that only a traditional politician with ‘experience’ can beat Trump, go back & look at the results from 2016,” Avenatti tweeted. “He beat all 15 of those candidates that he faced (crushed many).” To those that claim that only a traditional politician with "experience" can beat Trump, go back & look at the results from 2016. He beat all 15 of those candidates that he faced (crushed many). If we go down the same path and are not smart, don't be surprised with the result. — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) July 4, 2018 On “Real Time With Bill Maher” in late April, Avenatti dodged a question from the host about a future in politics, saying he was focused on another “small matter.” Avenatti is representing Daniels in her legal fight against Trump and his former attorney Michael Cohen.

Fingerprints have been used as evidence in criminal trials for over 100 years now, with the first case in the United States taking place in 1911. Whilst for much of those 100 or so years the fingerprint has been seen as a pretty infallible item of evidence, cracks have begun to appear in recent times. A team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Michigan State University have developed an algorithm to automatically check fingerprints in an attempt to remove the potential for errors. "We know that when humans analyze a crime scene fingerprint, the process is inherently subjective," the authors say in a recently published paper. "By reducing the human subjectivity, we can make fingerprint analysis more reliable and more efficient." Variable quality Fingerprint analysis is made difficult by the variable quality of the prints found at crime scenes. They are usually significantly poorer quality than those produced at police stations, and often partial, distorted or smudged. Often, therefore, the first step is to actually figure out what can and cannot be used. It's this step that the team hope to automate with their algorithm, with the system then submitting any approved prints to an Automated Fingerprint Identification System, which then searchers the database for potential matches that the investigators can examine. It makes what was previously a very subjective process very consistent and repeatable, whilst also making things considerably more efficient. With a considerable backlog, this should make police forces more effective at tackling crimes. Machine learning was used to train the algorithm, with 31 human experts analyzing hundreds of prints to provide each with a quality score with which to train the system. The system was then put to the test on a new series of fingerprints, with the scores submitted to a database of over 250,000 prints, within which there was a match for the test prints given to the system to analyze. Despite a relatively small dataset to train the algorithm, it still managed to outperform the human experts used in the study, albeit by a relatively minor amount. The researchers hope to provide the system with even more data to improve the performance of the algorithm still further, but they need cooperation from police forces to do this. For this particular study, the team worked with Michigan State Police, who provided them with the data having first removed any identifying data from the fingerprints, thus preventing any privacy concerns. "We've run our algorithm against a database of 250,000 prints, but we need to run it against millions," the authors conclude. "An algorithm like this has to be extremely reliable, because lives and liberty are at stake."

The perfect way to keep attendees inside the show or bring them to your booth, goCharge’s cell phone charging kiosks are essential at Trade Shows, Conferences, and Conventions because they offer a unique and exceptional sponsorship opportunity. Let’s go through the top five ways goCharge’s cell phone charging stations can improve your next event. 1. Offer a unique space for your sponsors. Cell phone charging kiosks are one of the most innovative and popular opportunities for sponsor advertising and branding. Consumers are engaged and have long dwell-time, meaning that instead of walking past an ad, they’ll stop, look, and even interact with the ad for much longer than normal. Consumers will wait as long as they need to until their phone is charged — resulting in more valuable time spent engaging with them. 2. Use the cell phone charging station as a magnet for your vendor booths. Looking for a universal offering everyone can use to grab attendees’ attention? Many mobile devices will be drained of batteries at trade shows due to long days and few outlets. Offering a free charge for everyone’s cell phones and tablets is the perfect way to grab their attention and increase the chance of making a sale. 3. Turn cell phone charging stations into a brand activation. Get the most out of all cell phone charging stations have to offer by getting creative (and goCharge loves to help with that). We can build and design custom charging stations so your target audience can use the charging stations in ways that go beyond just charging their phone. A great example: MLB approached goCharge with a vision of custom cell phone charging stations at MLB stadiums across the nation. Within a few short months, goCharge designed and deployed The MLB Table into 19 stadiums around the Nation. Today, goCharge is operational in 27 of the 30 ballparks, a definite home-run! 4. Help attendees help you promote your show. “If it’s not on social media, it didn’t happen.” It’s a saying that rings true these days, and we all know that posting on social media is impossible with a low or dead cell phone battery. Keep your attendees satisfied and charged up—and boost your event's user generated content—by providing ample cell phone charging stations throughout the space. 5. Lock in brand partnerships for next year. Each year, lock in new recurring partnerships and sponsorships by pleasing your advertisers with great results. Your trade show or event will grow and expand with each new and innovative advertising opportunity you offer for your sponsors. Cell phone charging stations are multi functional and yield outstanding benefits and engagement results, which increases your chance or long-standing partnerships for years to come.

Since the dawn of recorded history, humanity has suffered through great wars, marveled at incredible scientific discoveries, and dressed up in bunny costumes that scare children. No one has so definitively ranked the most well known instances of humans wearing bunny costumes. Until now. 5. Sean Spicer as the Easter Bunny It was almost the final straw in the Easter basket when we discovered that Sean Spicer was the Easter Bunny. After laying so many eggs for us on live television, press secretary Spicer decided to lay the ultimate one. And still, we can’t in good conscience put him higher than the bottom of this list. White House 4. Elle Woods from “Legally Blonde” This is an important moment in bunny suit history. Elle is told she’ll be attending a costume party, and is briefly mortified when she discovers it’s a joke on her ― no one else at the party is in costume. Despite being the butt of a joke, she walks out with her ears held high. And impressive feat for someone dressed like a bunny. 3. Frank from “Donnie Darko” It’s a bunny perhaps more in line with what one would expect from a Donald Trump administration, but no, pictured below is the creepy and ominous Frank from the film “Donnie Darko.” He represents the other acceptable reason to wear a bunny suit: to give people the willies. Jerritt Clark via Getty Images 2. Regina George from “Mean Girls” Regina George ranks higher than Frank from “Donnie Darko” for the simple reason that she is scarier and more intimidating. 1. Ralphie from “A Christmas Story” Ralphie in “A Christmas Story,” donning the present from his Aunt Clara, is the ultimate human-in-a-bunny-suit. He wears it involuntarily and with no expression of joy whatsoever, the way people are meant to wear bunny suits.

A study published this week demonstrated that breast cancer death rates, already low, are improving even more. But one thing was missing from the hopeful headlines: There’s a major gap in mortality between black and white women. According to a new report from the American Cancer Society, breast cancer death rates declined 39 percent between 1989 and 2015. As of 2015, white women have a 39 percent greater chance of surviving the disease than black women do. That racial disparity emerged in the early ’80s, widened through 2015 and has remained steady since, the report says. Meanwhile, Native American, Latina and Asian women have lower rates of breast cancer and death from breast cancer than white women. CA: A Cancer Journal For Journalists Non-hispanic black women (NHB) have the highest rates of breast cancer mortality while non-hispanic white women (NHW) have the highest rates of breast cancer incidence. Experts say that biological differences in breast cancer tumors, along with health care policy, keep the gap wide. Black women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive form that’s harder to treat. And tamoxifen, a drug that’s hugely responsible for the overall improvement in death rates, treats another type of breast cancer, called hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer, that black women are less likely to get. Unequal access to preventive screenings and treatment is another reason for the difference in death rates between white and black women. Black women get mammograms slightly more often than white women nowadays, but they had lower screening rates in the past, which “may be one possible reason for the difference in survival rates today,” according to the Susan G. Komen website. Access to follow-up care can also differ among the races, they add. Less access to screening means black women might wait longer between mammograms, be diagnosed late or be unable to follow up altogether when a mammogram comes back abnormal, said Beth Glenn, associate director for the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity. For black women who live in poverty, clinics might be too far away. Poverty indeed blocks some black women from care, said Christine Ambrosone, a cancer prevention chair at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. “Things like transportation for cancer treatment can be a barrier,” she told HuffPost, “particularly for women who need radiation therapy, a treatment that needs to be given daily, and who cannot get that time off from work.” But even when economics is controlled for, black women face barriers due to the biological factors mentioned above, as well as racial discrimination in health care settings. Interestingly, the report mentions three U.S. states ― Massachusetts, Connecticut and Delaware ― that have managed to close the gap, likely by widening health care access so it’s easier for everyone to get treatment when they need it. The prime example is Massachusetts, which passed a health care reform law in 2006 requiring all residents to have health insurance and offering free health insurance to poor residents who qualify. “In general, states with more coverage for low-income women tend to have better outcomes” regarding breast cancer deaths, Glenn said. Wide-ranging health insurance laws aren’t the only way states can improve mortality rates for black women with breast cancer, Carol Desantis, the report’s lead author and a director at the ACS, told HuffPost. Targeted investments in breast cancer programs could go a long way to helping patients get the care they need, too. Glenn pointed to programs like the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, a government program that helps low-income women get access to screenings. While these federal government programs do exist, she said, ultimately states control how they’re enacted. States could give more funding to these programs to help close the gap. They could also pass policies requiring insurance companies to pay for all recommended breast cancer treatments and making it easier for patients to get insurance authorizations for the treatments they need. Ambrosone said speaking up about racial differences is key, too.

I want to blog. I want to share. But I don’t want to share everything, all the time. I don’t want to spend my time turning my life into content. I don’t want to share the contents of my life. I want to share the insights I’m gaining from those contents. When I started this blog, I was deep into the world of online content and social media. I had built an entire business around it. Freelancing for clients and creating social media content for them. Teaching my coaching clients how to brand their voice and show up online for their people. And in order to promote my services, I had to lead by example. I had to practice what I was preaching. So I posted. And shared. And posted. And shared. All. Day. Long. At first, it was pretty fun. Coming up with content and taking pretty pictures and gaining followers. It felt good. But over time, that faded. I began to resent my work. I developed a deep resentment for social media. It all felt so pointless. And that made it very hard to do my job. How was I supposed to teach other people to show up online and write content for them when I thought it was all a bunch of BS? So, I took a break. I didn’t know how long the break would be. I had taken breaks before for a week at a time, but always found my way back. Not this time. I have been dark now for about 6 months. And I don’t have any plans of returning. Which leads me to my current dilemma. I want to blog. But I don’t want to be online. How can I make this work? I’m not a lifestyle blogger. I’m not a fashion blogger. I’m not a beauty blogger or mommy blogger or business blogger or fitness blogger. So the question is, can I still be a blogger without labeling myself and presenting myself within the confines of that label? I am a person. A woman. A stepmom. A fur mom. A wife. A daughter. A friend. A writer. A neighbor. A vegetarian. A traveler. A joker. A napper. A yogi. A Netflixer. A thinker. An over-thinker. A reader. A lover. I can drape myself in a self-sewn quilt of different labels. I want to share. Or, rather, I need to share. As I’ve been in the process of recovering from anxiety and depression, talk therapy has been an enormous help. I sit down and talk to my therapist once a week or so and she listens without judgement and lets me unpack my messy bags. Talking it out has become my medicine. Prescribed. The thing is, I can’t go to therapy every day. All day. And the therapy helps, in the moment. Like the short-lived high of a strong drug. Right to the blood stream. Euphoria. All the problems disappear. So much clarity. Until I walk out the door and get back into my car. And the phone rings. Or the day ends. And everyone comes home. And unpacks their bags. Filling mine back up. What I mean to say is, the help is good but it doesn’t last. Its as if as soon as I’m done unpacking, someone else is close behind refilling my bag. So I need an outlet to share. To talk. More frequently. Without judgement. Without fear of how I’m coming off. How I sound. If I’m making sense. We’re all doing it anyway, right? Sharing. Over sharing. Dumping out our bags all over the Internet, ala Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club. We all get it now. For every smiling baby picture, we know there’s a sleep deprived mom posting online to regain some connection with the world. For every “I’m so lucky and happy and great” there’s an insecure heart guiding hollow hands over a keyboard, desperate to turn those words to truth. Why not share the truth? We’re sharing anyway. Constantly. Minute by minute. Crafting. Curating. Showing off. Reaching. Grasping. Desperate for connection. Why can’t we just start sharing the truth? The truth is, life is fucking hard. For everyone. Everyone has their own hard. And it feels just as dark and real and heavy and suffocating and endless as everyone else’s. Our biggest mistake is in believing we’re alone. As if our own stories are unique. As if we aren’t all inherently intertwined and interconnected. As if we don’t all have something to learn from one another. But life is hard because its also beautiful and miraculous and divine. We need the bad in order to appreciate the good. So, I am re-dedicating myself to this little corner of the Internet in an effort to learn. To learn from my experiences and to learn from yours. I would love for this to become a space for us to talk and share with each other. And until then, I will be unpacking my bags and exploring what comes tumbling out. If you’d like to follow along, I invite you to subscribe to the blog. You’ll get an email whenever a new post goes live. You can also follow on Bloglovin’ (this is where I’ve turned to consume my online content without having to sign into my social media accounts).

When was the last time you thought about the economy? Chances are unless you are an economist or some sort of financial advisor you don’t give it much thought. But if you are running your own business or doing your own investing you can’t afford not to think about the economy. What is happening in the economy has a direct relation to how well your business or investments will do going forward, and ignoring economic indicators is a good way to put yourself into an unfavorable situation. In business knowing which way the economy is headed can help you make better decisions about whether to grow your business or whether to downsize. It can even help you determine what kind of business would be best to open up. Imagine you are planning to open up a fancy French restaurant with white linens and live music and the whole nine yards. Such undertakings are notoriously expensive - there’s a good chance you won’t turn a profit for the first two or three years in the best of circumstances. If the economy is growing strong and people have plenty of money to spend you could go for it and end up building a great business. Now imagine you’ve looked at the economic indicators like housing sales and foreclosures and they paint a grim picture. People aren’t buying homes and there are more foreclosures than ever before. Does opening that fancy French restaurant still sound like a good idea? Probably not. People still eat during a recession and they may even go out to eat, but they aren’t going to a fancy place with linens. They are going to places like burger joints, pizza places, and diners. Opening a business, even a restaurant, in an economic downturn is difficult but not impossible if you plan things right. So how do you make sense of economic indices if you aren’t an economist? You have to be able to figure out a little bit of context. Why do homes get foreclosed? Why do people declare bankruptcy? What causes consumer financial stress? Lack of jobs or lack of well paying jobs can be a major contributing factor to all those issues. When people have trouble making enough money to pay their bills the whole economy suffers. But what if there are conflicting economic indicators? Again, a little context can help you make sense of things. If jobs numbers look good but there are higher than usual foreclosures, it can send mixed signals about what is actually happening in the economy. A composite index, like legal indices, can help make sense of the data. Legal indices add data about how many lawyers are being hired in a given timeframe, which is an indicator that people are ready to take care of their problems and move on.

The Facebook post read “Thoughts and prayers for everyone impacted by the terrible tragedy in Las Vegas.” It had appeared on my page because an old friend I remain connected with on social media had “liked” it. At the time, I perceived the sentiment as having been posted by my friend. It was the day after the shooting and posts were appearing exponentially, the vast majority expressing “thoughts and prayers.” Becoming weary of such posts,” I shared the following sentiment: Thoughts and prayers, in and of themselves and unaccompanied by action, do little to actively help victims of traumatic events. Tangible help frequently comes in the form of: compassionate, competent, and altruistically motivated trauma informed professionals; an effective and ethical system to oversee the distribution of monetary and other donations to their intended recipients; friends and family who can organize food trains and ongoing assistance with other essentials such as lawn mowing, carpooling, shopping, picking up relatives at airport, child care…etc; politicians and public figures who honor the victim’s personal stories and feelings and who will campaign on their behalf for laws that work to prevent these events from continuing; someone to keep the trolls at bay; and, compassionate friends and family who offer enduring and unconditional support and who take the time to learn about trauma and grief .(i.e. what not to say, recognizing signs of clinical depression and that people do not “get over it” with time). I later learned, after logging back on to find a larger than normal number of notifications, that I had posted this comment not on my friend’s page, but on the page of one of her “likes:” a media/news company called “U Catholic.” The wrath was swift and strident. “Who are you and why are you here if you don’t believe in prayer! Go away!” “Prayer is a lot more effective than people like you with your political agendas!” “I live in Australia and I know that prayer is the more effective than anything!” Reverend Ed Bacon, retired rector of All Saints in Church in Pasadena, visited Newtown, Connecticut, where I liveshortly after the Sandy Hook Elementary School murders. He spoke to and met with with members of the community impacted by the tragedy. Many found the visit comforting and helpful. Following the shootings in Las Vegas Reverend Bacon tweeted: “Taking action on what you just prayed for IS a part of the prayer. Praying without action is magical thinking.” Deliberate efforts to more deeply connect with or understand a child, extending kindness to a difficult colleague or neighbor or taking a class in Mental Health First Aid are actions no less valuable than taking to the streets, engaging with representatives or donating to worthy organizations. Our collective thoughts no doubt influence our reality, indeed, science is demonstrating as much, particularly when it comes to the power of mindfulness and meditation. Nonetheless, it’s not enough. When our children are in crises, we immediately take action. While certain rapacious and cowardly politicians offer rehearsed, perfunctory and useless condolences, individuals and grassroots organizations can and hopefully will make a dent. Below are a few action oriented organizations that would welcome participation: The Ana Grace Project: Promoting love, community and connection for every child and family through three lead initiatives: partner schools, professional development, and music & arts. The Avielle Foundation: Preventing violence and building compassion through neuroscience research, community engagement, and education. Ben’s Lighthouse: Establishes programs that empower young people to develop the self-awareness, empathy and social connections they need to find and share their own light. Ben’s Bells: To inspire, educate, and motivate people to realize the impact of intentional kindness, and to empower individuals to act according to that awareness, thereby strengthening ourselves, our relationships and our communities. Mental Health First Aid: Mental Health First Aid teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders in your community. Everytown for Gun Safety: A movement of Americans working together to end gun violence and build safer communities. Newtown Action Alliance: Providing comfort, education, scholarship and other support and resources to people and communities impacted by or living in the aftermath of gun violence in American society, and to help them lead the way toward positive cultural change.

If sound health is the state in which the physical body feels totally relaxed, when energy flows without inhibition, the body is in a state of homeostasis and body, mind and spirit are in unison. Only then, can we unlock this state by using sound? I have been researching areas such as brain entrainment, neuroacoustics, photic stimulation and binaural beats as a mode to aid, help, heal and return our body to homeostasis. “A solemn air [melody], and the best comforter to an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains...” — Shakespeare, The Tempest. The word health, comes from the old English word hal, a root word signifying whole, healing, hale, and inhaling. Heal, means “to make sound or healthy again. Therefore, my quest has been to explore sound- a modality to bring about wellbeing and vitality. Growing up in India, I had grown up listening to my parents chant their daily prayers and mantras. Therefore, I started my quest with understanding the influence of classical Indian music, Hindu and Buddhist chanting. Over the years I have made nature and silence my own mediation practice. Quoting Rumi, “Silence is the language of god, all else is poor translation.” I have been fascinated by the profound influence of sound and silence in enabling my own meditation practice. As human beings we are intrinsically connected and one with the Universe and the nature that surrounds us! Through evolution inherently in each of us, there is the mineral, plant, animal and human eco-system. Therefore it makes sense that when we are back in touch with nature, we find ourselves in harmony with the orchestra of the oceans, rivers, streams, and waterfalls, the wind, forests, songs of birds, cries of animals and singing of the human voice. Hence, it makes sense that we as human beings are a multitude of frequencies from the molecular levels up to the bio-energetic fields that envelope us. I have been immersed in the book by Deepak Chopra, MD., “You Are The Universe”, and the principle of Qualia. We are defined by experience, and what we are experiencing today is a profound “human experience” and intrinsically connected to every other species specific to Qualia. The very word ‘universe” can be defined as, “turning the One” from uni =”one” and verse = “a tune”. Therefore as a human being, we are tuning into the one verse or sound. If we research the ancient wisdom traditions of the east, this equates to AUM. In St.John’s Gospel, The New Testament it states, “In the beginning was the World and the Word was with God and the Word was God”. In the Book of Genesis, the creator conceived a fundamental phenomenon in our world – Light. In order to manifest it , the creator had to intone a sound. “And God said, Let there be Light and there was Light.” The Hindus embody this concept in the expression “Nada Brahma”. These Sanskrit words translate as Nada, “sound” and Brahma, “both the creator God and the universe”, indicating the supreme being. Accordingly, sound can truly change the way we see the world. In that event we can say at a very basic level we are all connected to the sound of the universe. Alfred Tomatis, MD had stated , “The vocal nourishment that the mother provides to her child is just as important to the child’s development as her milk.” Quoting an excerpt from the “Mozard Effect”: The enhanced effects of music, especially Mozart and his contemporaries, on creativity, learning, health, and healing have become more widely appreciated: In monasteries in Brittany, monks play music to the animals in their care and have found that cows serenaded with Mozart give more milk. In Washington State Immigration Department officials play Mozart and Baroque music during English classes for new arrivals from Cambodia, Laos, and other Asian countries and report that it speeds up their learning. “Beethoven Bread”—set to rise to Symphony No. 6 for 72 hours—is offered as a specialty item by a bakery in Nagoya. At Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, patients in critical care units listen to classical music. “Half an hour of music produced the same effect as ten milligrams of Valium,” Dr. Raymond Bahr, director of the coronary care unit, reports. The city of Edmonton, Canada, pipes in Mozart string quartets in the city squares to calm pedestrian traffic, and, as a result, drug dealings have lessened. In Tokyo, noodle makers sell “Musical Udon” made with tapes of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and the chirping of birds playing in the background. In northern Japan, Ohara Brewery finds that Mozart makes the best sake. The density of yeast used for brewing the traditional Japanese rice wine—a measure of quality—increases by a factor of ten. In recent years we have see how binaural-beat technology provides access to many beneficial first-person experiences of consciousness. The binaural-beat process offers a wide variety of applications which include, but are not limited to: relaxation, meditation, enhanced creativity, intuition development, enriched learning, improved sleep, wellness, and the personal exploration of expanded states of consciousness (https://www.hemi-sync.com/). We have also seen how brainwave entrainment which refers to the use of rhythmic stimuli with the intention of producing a frequency-following response of brainwaves to match the frequency of the stimuli. The stimulus is usually either visual (flashing lights) or auditory (pulsating tones). Brainwave entrainment has been used as an effective therapeutic tool. People suffering from cognitive functioning deficits, stress, pain, headache/migraines, PMS, and behavioral problems have benefited from brainwave entrainment (https://www.deepakchopradreamweaver.com/).

A third of the board members of The Weinstein Company have resigned their positions in light of the sexual harassment allegations made against CEO Harvey Weinstein, according to several news reports. Dirk Ziff, a billionaire investor, was the first board member reported to have resigned from his post on Friday, according to the New York Times and entertainment new sites The Wrap and Deadline. Ziff’s resignation was followed by reports of the departures of Technicolor executive Tim Sarnoff and hedge fund billionaire Marc Lasry. The board members fled the company after the Times on Thursday published a searing report about the company’s founder Weinstein, detailing numerous accusations of sexual harassment by actresses, associates, and current and former employees of the Hollywood mogul. The Weinstein Company’s board, which consists only of men, issued a statement Friday ordering an independent investigation into the allegations against Weinstein. The board also stated that they have retained outside lawyers to assist with the situation. In the Times’ report, actress Ashley Judd described how Weinstein allegedly called her up to his hotel room, still early on in her career, and pressured her to watch him shower and give him a massage. The article also mentioned a police report accusing Weinstein of grabbing Italian model Ambra Battilana’s breasts and putting his hands up her skirt. After the Times’ story was published, actress Rose McGowan tweeted of “complicity” and called for women to “fight on.” Weinstein reportedly settled with McGowan for $100,000 two decades ago, according to the report. Women fight on. And to the men out there, stand up. We need you as allies. #bebrave — rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 5, 2017 Anyone who does business with __ is complicit. And deep down you know you are even dirtier. Cleanse yourselves. — rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 5, 2017 Deadline noted that the board’s statement was signed by four of the board’s nine original members: Bob Weinstein, Tarak Ben Ammar, Lance Maerov and Richard Koenigsberg. Paul Tudor Jones, the eigth board member, did not sign the statement. Harvey Weinstein, who is the ninth member of the board, is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the Weinstein Company. After the Times’ report was published Thursday, Weinstein issued a statement on the accusations apologizing for his behavior, which he said “caused a lot of pain.” He also vowed to channel his anger at the National Rifle Association.

I have plenty of family and friends who may not have been stoked on the idea of a Donald Trump presidency, but voted for him all the same. I have family and friends who claimed the “there’s no good option here” of the 2016 election and yet managed to choose one. And I have plenty of family and friend who, in the aftermath of the election, were upset people assumed unkind things of them, appalled they were considered to be of the same morality of Donald Trump simply because they cast a vote for them. Dear friends and family, there are arguments to be made about that. But this is not the time. This is the time for you to embrace the fact you voted this man into office. You were part of the 46% that gave him and his ideas one of the most powerful seats in the world. And so we need you - you, those who voted for Donald Trump; you, those who are the reason he is sitting in the oval office; you, those whose community make up his base of supporters - to be braver than our President. We need you to do what he seemingly cannot. We need you to say the words white supremacy. We need you to say the word Nazis. We need you to say the word terrorism. And then we need you to denounce these things. We need you to deem them evil. We need you to stand on your platforms, stand in the midst of your communities, stand in your red hats, and say they are wrong. Audibly, loudly, clearly say they are wrong. We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2017 Is that so hard?? I’m hoping it isn’t. I’m hoping the kind, decent people who were so upset last November for being “unfairly” judged by the candidate they voted for are still kind, decent people - the kind who are against white supremacy. The kind who recognize what masses of white men carrying torches stand for; the kind of people who see this is not okay. The kind that will speak up and say this is not okay. I’m hoping that, although we don’t agree on much, we can agree Nazis shouldn’t be marching in our streets. We can agree the war fought over this ideology (you know which war I’m talking about? It involved the entire world) was the right thing to do. We can agree there is no room for these kinds of beliefs in 2017. As there shouldn’t have been in 1939. We can agree we need to put a stop to these beliefs. I’m hoping you can see a car intentionally driving into a crowd of people as blatant terrorism. As it was in France. As it was in Britain. And as it now is, in America. I’m hoping you can say that word terrorism, and apply it to a white man. I’m hoping you can see that terrorism isn’t a byproduct of Islam. I’m hoping you can see a white American terrorist killed more people this year than any refugees. I’m hoping you can see these labels matter, these words we use matter. I’m hoping you use them accordingly. I’m hoping you have the bravery and courage that our current president does not - to use words that have consequences. Words with consequences are easy when we label Black Lives Matter protests as “violent”, when we label Colin Kaepernick’s actions as “too political”. Words with consequences get harder when we call a white supremacy protest an “alt-right rally”. Words are easy when any violence connected to a Muslim is automatically terrorism, when any black person shot by police is deemed a thug. Words get harder when the terrorist is the white boy from Ohio, when there are Nazis walking the streets in polo shirts. Words, seemingly, are easy for our President to use to defend sexual assault, mock people with disabilities, make assumptions about people of other nationalities, define women by their looks, and attempt to start nuclear wars via Twitter. Yet words, apparently, are a lot harder for him where racism runs rampant, hatred runs deep, and evil runs free. We need your words and we need your action. If this is not the America you desire, we need you to say so. If you don’t support this, you need to denounce it. If you don’t back this, you need to stand against it. Silence is not an option. Silence is standing with the oppressor. We no longer have to guess if we, too, would be marching in the streets during the Civil Rights Movement. We no longer have to guess if we, too, would be willing to hide Jews in Nazi Germany. We no longer have to guess if we would be the disciples weeping at Jesus’ feet or the ones in the crowd yelling to crucify him.

Who is to blame? When we encounter painful events like those in Charlottesville, Virginia this weekend, it’s easier to focus on finding a culprit than to digest the tragic nature of what happened. Finding someone to blame gives us the illusion of being on a path to resolution. Unfortunately, that’s a short-lived cover-up at best. In the short term, assigning blame attenuates the feeling of vulnerability that most humans experience when we witness acts of violence. But it can bring much more harm in the long run: it perpetuates the chain of violence and blinds us to the solution. The media plays an important role in assigning blame, or not, in every story. It can inform readers in ways that further violence or help resolve it by fostering responsible, critical thinking. Unfortunately, the Charlottesville coverage contained much of the same thinking that can further it. Three outlets we analyzed — Fox News, The New York Times and The Washington Post — featured mostly biased sources, which blamed one or more parties in the conflict. The reporters from the latter two outlets also included their own partial opinions on who was to blame. Here’s a condensed view of the main sides and finger pointing — in other words, “who’s to blame”: “White nationalists” and their views Most of the onlookers, counter-protesters and elected officials blamed the “Unite the Right” protesters for the violence. For example, the Post wrote, “Elected leaders in Virginia and elsewhere urged peace, blasting the white supremacist views on display in Charlottesville as ugly.” Counter-protesters Attendees of the “Unite the Right” rally, in turn, blamed the other group of protesters, with one rally organizer saying his group was “forced into a very chaotic situation,” according to the Times. Charlottesville Police The news outlets and witnesses suggested law enforcement should have done more to stop the violence, and is therefore to blame. For instance, the Times wrote, “Still, officials allowed the Saturday protest to go on — until the injuries began piling up.” At least one protest leader also blamed the police, saying his group had come “in peace, and the state cracked down” on them. President Trump Protesters cited Trump’s campaign promises as justification for their actions, while others, including Charlottesville’s mayor, said the president was to blame “for inflaming racial prejudices during his campaign,” according to Fox. The Times and the Post also wrote that, when questioned about the events in Virginia, Trump didn’t single out the protesters, implying he should have. The White House issued a statement on Sunday “condemn[ing] ‘white supremacists’ for the violence that led to one death,” according to the Times. Confederate relics Even the statues of confederate generals or, as the Times wrote, “a series of tense dramas unfolding across the United States,” were blamed as the source of the disputes. How can they all be right? They can’t, and there’s a logical explanation for this. Blame is inherently flawed as a logical construction: it’s partial, telling only one part of a multi-faceted story, and it’s ultimately the product of faulty reasoning. There’s an easy way to test this: Take the statues and assume they’re to blame — they’re what started the problem. What’s an easy fix? Eliminate all the confederate statues in the country. Would that stop people from being violent? You can apply the same reasoning with any of the subjects in question — protesters on both sides, law enforcement and the president. As tempting as it is to think one person or group is the root of the issue, it’s not true. We all are. As much as some may espouse hate or bigotry, they don’t exist in a vacuum; we all participate in some way. There’s a saying, “Opportunity makes the thief.” One interpretation of this is that opportunity didn’t “turn” the person into a thief, it only inspired him or her to express something that was already there. The same may be true for those who engaged in violence in Charlottesville. The more that media promotes blame, bias and similar forms of thinking, the further we get from solving problems like violence. We all face a choice, and the media does too: through our thinking and conduct we can strengthen the chain of blame, or break it. If we are to break it, the first step is acknowledging our own participation in creating a world where violence exists.

Parents often make the choice to divorce when they realize that their unhappy marriage isn’t healthy for them or their children, but there’s still no such thing as a clean break when kids are involved. “This is a wound and depending on how the wound is cared for it can get infected and spread and cause major systemic damage,” Don Shifrin, clinical professor pediatrics at the University of Washington and Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told Fatherly. “Or it can be healed as rapidly as possible, but it is still going to leave a scar.” This is a rather harsh way of making a good point: There are children’s health implications to divorce so parents should talk about it with their child’s physician.

I recently came across an Indian business executive by the name of Kartikeya Sharma. Mr. Sharma is best known for being the founder of the ITV Media Network, an Indian news network. He is also the founder of Prosportify, a sporting organization that recently teamed up with the Wrestling Federation of India to launch the Pro Wrestling League. Let us take a deeper look into the life of Kartikeya Sharma in the hope that his achievements may inspire us to grow and become as successful as he is. ITV Media Network The ITV Network (Information TV) is a news company based in India. This news network is made up of television news, as well as newspaper and online publications. Kartikeya Sharma launched the ITV Network back in 2007. Its primary television channel was India News, a 24-hour Hindi news channel. What started off as a National news channel that would, later on, develop into five more Regional news channels. In 2012, Sharma acquired NewsX, a 24-hour English-language news channel. This is currently India's only English free to air news channel. Besides being the recipient of many international awards, NewsX also serves as an online publication. A very impressive online publication too, with plenty of content that's focused mostly on Indian news. Another online portal within the ITV umbrella is Inkhabar, a Hindi online news publication. Kartikeya Sharma was also instrumental in acquiring more media businesses to include within his ITV network of news channels. Two of which being newspaper publications in the form of The Sunday Guardian and Aaj Samaj. The Sunday Guardian, launched in 2010, serves as an independent Sunday newspaper and is published in English. Aaj Samaj is a daily newspaper that is distributed all over India. This Hindi newspaper was launched back in 2007. So in total, the ITV Media Network is made up of 3 National news channels, 5 Regional news channels, 2 Newspapers, and 2 Online portals. The company also employs around 2025 people in many offices and bureaus across India. All of this is due to Kartikeya Sharma’s dynamism which is evident by his ability to progressively expand his businesses. As of 2015, Sharma has successfully launched 5 regional TV channels through his India News network. These channels currently broadcast across Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Punjab. Sharma’s iTV Network also acquired a major stake in a broadcasting management firm; Trilogic Digital Media LTD. TDML manages the complete operations of Hindi entertainment channel, Sahara One. Pro Wrestling League In 2015, Kartikeya Sharma introduced Pro Sportify, a local sporting initiative. This program aims to strengthen the level at which sports and athletics are being played in India. We all know that there are vast amounts of new talent being produced in this largely populated continent. But most of that talent is squandered away due to poor playing conditions and little support from communities. Pro Sportify hopes to fix this by encouraging athletes to continue with their dreams in the hope of reaching international levels. More on the business side of things, Sharma's Pro Sportify, together with the Wrestling Federation of India, introduced the Pro Wrestling League. The Pro Wrestling League (PWL) is similar in stature to another famous sporting event, the IPL (Indian Premier League, an international cricket league). The PWL consists of 6 franchise teams with 9 players each, 5 men and 4 women. The players are made up of international players as well as local Indian players. One of the league’s most notable players is three-time world champion Adeline Gray from the USA. The IPL is an ultra-successful league that is known for being among the highest paid leagues in the world. Some of the biggest international cricket stars compete in this league which also has exhibition matches and tournaments in other countries besides India. The PWL has its sights set on similar accomplishments to that of the IPL. Even with the fact that wrestling isn't as popular as cricket in India, the PWL did manage to produce two superb seasons of wrestling. Season 2 recently concluded with the NCR Punjab Royals being crowned champions of the league. The prize money for this event is estimated at 300000 dollars. More on Sharma

The title for “best dad ever” just got some tough competition. On Friday, Ben Sowards, an artist, author and father from Utah, got a call from his wife that their 6-year-old daughter, Valerie, had “an accident” at school and needed to be picked up. “Honestly, I knew she was mortified, but I thought if I could make her laugh everything would be fine,” Sowards told the Huffington Post. And just like that, he got a brilliant idea. He decided to pick up Valerie from school looking like this: Valerie was waiting for her dad in the principal’s office when Sowards quietly came in and asked to borrow Valerie’s book bag so he could hide something. Valerie was confused by his request, until she saw her dad’s damp slacks. Lucinda Sowards Why Sowards needed Valerie's book bag. “She was totally exasperated. But, once she saw my pants, I got that look from her where I knew everything was OK. All dads know what look I’m talking about,” Sowards said. “And we just strolled out of the school like nothing was happening.” Lucinda Sowards All smiles. When the two got home, Sowards’ 17-year-old daughter, Lucinda, took a few photos of them. Sowards thought she was snapping the pictures and just sending them to his wife, but Lucinda had bigger plans. She posted the photos to Twitter, where they made a huge splash — receiving over 253,000 likes and 62,000 retweets. Lucinda Sowards Lucinda with Valerie. After the post went viral, many people pointed out the similarity between what Sowards did and a scene in the movie “Billy Madison,” in which the title character wets his pants with water when he discovers a boy he has become friends with had an accident. Madison then plays it off like peeing your pants is a cool thing to do. “I remember the movie and that may have been somewhere in my subconscious,” Sowards told HuffPost. “But when you’re a parent you work on instinct.” Lucinda backs up her dad’s claim. She said it’s in her dad’s nature to use humor whenever one of his kids is having a rough time, recalling a time four years ago when she fell while skating on a school trip. “I got a massive black eye and he FaceTimed me and had vividly painted a black eye that matched mine on himself,” she said. As for Valerie and all the attention the photos got, Lucinda and Sowards reassured HuffPost that she’s doing just fine. “She’s doing great,” Lucinda said. “She’s learned to laugh about it and thinks what my dad did was hilarious.”

It seems impossible to condense the diverse experiences of married life into just 140 characters or less. But somehow these husbands and wives did it ― and with humor too!

“Mr. Bannon is adored by white supremacists, white nationalists, anti-Semites, neo-Nazis, and the KKK. It’s not hard to see why. If the President-elect is serious about rejecting bigotry, hatred, and violence from his supporters, he must rescind Stephen Bannon’s appointment. This man shouldn’t be allowed to visit the White House ― let alone run it.”

Jack Of None recently dropped a new album, called Who Shot Bukowski? And it’s hecka-good, as in lit! The band is split between Manila, Philippines and Chicago, Illinois. Jack Of None consists of three siblings: A.G. Syjuco on guitar, bass and synths; Maxine Syjuco, poet-songwriter and vocalist; and Julian Syjuco on guitar. Stylistically, Jack Of None is billed as an experimental rock/art band, but there’s a lot more to their sound than experimental rock and art. First of all, it’s extremely sui generis, emanating a distinctive sonic quality unlike anything else. Yet at the same time, there’s an elusive familiarity to it, providing it with a mainstream flavor that separates it from the usual cacophony of experimental rock. Secondly, it contains elements of electronic music, garage rock, blues and new wave. All these elements combine to produce music jam-packed with a raw, rude, harsh-textured energy, almost palpable with dark resolves expanding on numerous sonic axes. Who Shot Bukowski? contains ten tracks. The first track is “Strangest Bedfellows,” which begins immediately, without an intro. A harsh, mechanical groove sets the beat while Maxine’s resonant voice rides over the melody, which is unrelenting in its intensity. Electronic background harmonics give breath to scurrilous conjectures, while adding depth and layering. The intro to “Sticks and Stones” consists of an early warning beep, followed by a melody that borders on chaotic, heavy with an industrial feel. The guitar solo, enveloped in Maxine’s staccato vocals, is raw and viciously evocative. “Sticks and Stones” is one of my favorites on the album. “X-Y-Sex” starts off with a dark guitar-driven melody riding on industrialized percussive effects. There’s a hint of new wave running through the melody at subterranean levels. The lyrics convey the disparate status of sex in today’s world: “When the woes of the real / Are writing out our whens / While the whys / Oh the whys / Wretchedly unwind / All the virtues of our sins / Just like bleeding violins.” Photo Credit: Jack Of None “Dear Georges (Vous Petit Monstre)” begins with tick-tock percussion, followed by discordant mechanized synth effects that provide secretive resonance to the tune. When the guitars ramp up, the intensity of the melody increases, as does the psychic aura of Maxine’s wicked-sounding voice, a voice that descends to an impervious whisper. “The Brainwashers” presents a passionately strident melody that radiates an exacting actinic tinge. Harmonics from the synth mingle with Maxine’s severely tight sighing vocals, as the lyrics flow with a muscular hip-hop-like cadence. “Polyamorous Serial Monogamist” blends a new wave sensibility with fusion jazz elements, coalescing into a melody of cogent simplicity that’s charmingly malevolent. Thick guitars punctuate the melody periodically, providing an encrusted effect. Maxine’s sing-song articulation complements the melody with convulsive intensity. “The Princess and the Pistol” exudes a sense of imminence as the melody rides a shrill guitar and synth effects, like an incubator for a collection of neuroses. Maxine’s mesmerizing voice adds to the eccentricity of the music’s opaque density. “Little Devil Girl’ opens with a stylish guitar and a thumping groove that echoes mechanical sound effects. The mechanical/industrial feel of the song is almost desiccated, yet still emanates a bizarre multiplicity of layering that really works. This is another of my personal favorites because there’s a monster-like sonority flowing out of the music. The last track on the album is “Tenderly, She Said,” riding a slightly jarring groove and a fuzzy, filtered guitar that’s bright with intensity. Maxine’s whispered vocals mirror and balance the chiming background synth. In fact, Maxine’s voice is indispensable throughout the ten songs on the album. It oozes with the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention. Put simply, it’s an extraordinary voice, capriciously devious, but beautiful. Jack Of None has it going on! Cogent melodies shaded with new wave, industrial resonance, lyrics replete with extravagant tropes, excellent arrangements and Maxine’s waspishly attractive vocals make Who Shot Bukowski? a winner. Find out more about Jack Of None here and here.

When 12 junior and senior girls from San Fernando High School in California received a grant to develop an invention to solve a real-world problem, they decided to create a solar-powered shelter to help the homeless. Now for over a year, the girls have been working after school and over their winter and spring breaks to complete their project. “They have this amazing internal drive that I’ve never seen in any individual,” Violet Mardirosian, a math teacher and magnet coordinator at San Fernando High, who has worked with the team since the beginning of the project told The Huffington Post. “I thought at the beginning that maybe some of them would give up, say ‘I didn’t anticipate this much work,’ but they’re not. They’re just working hard and they’re not giving up and they’re super excited.” As residents of a low-income community, the girls have seen the problem of homelessness first-hand, which is why they chose that population to create a product for. Many of them are also from immigrant families and hoped the shelter, which is powered by rechargeable solar panels, would help refugees. Seventeen-year-old Maggie Mejia told the Huffington Post that while she had no prior engineering experience, the girls figured out as a team how to create the prototype, using how-to videos and books that taught them how to code. But the most important lesson she’s learned over the course of the project isn’t technical. “I’ve learned a lot about helping others, helping the community and being selfless and showing a better world to other people and changing someone else’s life,” she said. The girls have been invited to MIT to showcase their invention in June and are raising money on Gofundme in hopes that the whole team can attend. “In order not to put any pressure on the parents, we’d like to finance their trip. We want all 12 girls to be able to go because every single student has had some input into creating this incredible product,” Mardirosian said. The school applied for the grant in conjunction with DIY Girls, a nonprofit that provides STEAM experiences to girls. Mardirosian says all the participating students have expressed interest in going into STEAM fields and that students from lower grades are already expressing interest in being involved next year.

(Parashat Re’eh, Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25) By Rabbi Adam Lavitt, Rab`12, MJEd`12 A few weeks ago, the largest glacier ever broke off the Antarctic ice shelf. As global temperatures soar and shorelines shrink at an accelerated rate, we become more aware of ways in which our resources are limited. This is compounded by our reactions to these realities. We fear the instability we are witnessing around the world and feel compelled to hold onto whatever resources might help us maintain our sense of safety, however illusory, for a little bit longer. In this week’s Torah portion, Moses addresses the Israelites before they cross the Jordan River and enter the promised land: “See, this day I set before you blessing and curse…” The people will receive blessing if they follow God’s commandments, and curse if they abandon these sacred community norms. They are being asked to imagine together, after forty years of wandering in the wilderness, how to properly relate to having a fixed place. The medieval Italian rabbi and commentator, Ovadia Sforno, explains Moses’ opening words. Sforno says that the word “see” means “pay good attention so that you will not...relate to everything half-heartedly.” We must become fully present to and accepting of the lives we have. How are we to do this? According to Sforno, the rest of our verse gives us this guidance. On the words “this day I set before you”, he comments: Remember that I present you this day with the choice of two extremes, opposites. The blessing is an extreme in that it provides you with more than you need, whereas the curse is another extreme making sure that you have less than your basic needs. You have the choice of both before you; all you have to do is make a choice. According to Sforno, Moses opens his speech by demanding the Israelites relate wholeheartedly to their world, and to the new life they will embody as they enter the promised land, finally arriving at a place of protection, power and privilege after a lifetime of living day-to-day in the desert. Moses is saying, as we come to this juncture, we can easily allow our historical experience to cause us to focus exclusively on what we lack. This way of living brings about the “curse” of disconnection from the web of life and makes us feel we have less than we need. Alternately, we can choose to acknowledge what we have, and joyfully receive the overabundance of gifts that are all around us. The path of blessing, of choosing to frame our experiences in a way that allows us to recognize the gifts that we have, leads to a feeling of joy. This quality of joyful “seeing” is central to Moses’ address: the word sameach, “joyful” appears only one time in each of the other five books of the Torah, but twelve times in Deuteronomy, and seven in this portion alone. How can we demonstrate this recognition? Moses goes on to describe the joy of bringing a portion of the harvest the people will be blessed with to the priests, and feasting on it with neighbors, including those who dwell at the margins of society: “You and the Levite and the stranger living among you shall rejoice (v’samachta) in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household” (26:11). Later, Moses says curses will befall the nation not because they served idols or abandoned God but “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy (b’simcha) and gladness out of the abundance of all things” (28:47). In this sense, joy is the reward of seeking to give joy to others. Moses suggests that we can embody the “blessing” of having enough in our lives by approaching others with generosity of heart. In my work as a chaplain, I see the power of the choice Moses offers every day. Recently, I visited a dying woman I had never met before. Her son said she had been a difficult mother, and was often unkind to him and to his siblings. Given his mother’s treatment of him, I was surprised to see how tenderly he stroked his mother’s hair, and how kindly he spoke to her. When I commented on the generosity of heart he extended to his mother, he said it was a healing gift for him to be able to be with his mother this way in their final days together. He chose the path of blessing, extending his care beyond the boundaries of his logical desire to protect himself, and harvesting the joy available to him there. We always have this choice. As we relate wholeheartedly to the life we have, we gain a joyful awareness of the blessings that surround us. At the very end of the Torah portion, Moses imagines his people living within this framework of abundance. As he instructs the Israelites about the three pilgrimage festivals during which they must bring offerings to the Temple, he says, Three times a year—on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the Feast of Weeks, and on the Feast of Booths—all…shall appear before God in the place that God will choose. They shall not appear before God empty-handed, but each with [their] own gift, according to the blessing God has bestowed upon you. (16:16-17). Here the people practice generosity as a way to see how much they have. They could settle for self-preservation, and hold onto the harvest that, after all, grew in their field and only emerged through the labor of their hands. Instead, they are to bring a tithe, a tenth of their harvest, moving beyond a sense of ownership to acknowledge the Source that provided this abundance to them. This offering is an expression of the generosity of spirit that arises from this kind of attention. This spiritual work is the foundation for counteracting the greed that we encounter in our public sphere. It allows us to see the blessings that surround us, and to acknowledge that we do actually have the resources to feed and shelter everyone. We just need redistribution of resources, which requires acknowledging what we have, and extending it to others with a newfound generosity of heart. After all, what we have does not just belong to each individual, but to the seven billion people on this planet, to the earth itself, and to the Source of life that animates the earth and all that dwells on it. As we choose the path of blessing, we will discover the bounteous harvest within our lives. This is already a material reality, but we need to make it our spiritual reality. Rabbi Adam Lavitt is Rabbi-Chaplain at Hebrew SeniorLife. He graduated from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College in 2012, and served assistant rabbi at Congregation Dorshei Tzedek, and campus rabbi at Swarthmore College. He has been a CLAL Rabbis Without Borders Fellow and a JOIN for Justice Clergy Fellow, and recently became a Jewish spiritual director through the Bekhol Levavkha at Hebrew Union College. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island with his partner Alex.

President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming press secretary, Sean Spicer, wants Americans to focus more on the DNC’s cybersecurity efforts than Russia’s role in a recent cyberattack against U.S. government servers. Spicer chose to dance around questions regarding Kremlin involvement in the attack on a Monday “Fox & Friends” appearance. When asked point-blank if Russia was behind the hacking, he failed to formulate a coherent response. He stumbled on his words: But a question ― there’s a difference between whether they were behind ― look, every ― look, there’s of ― you know ― “probing” is the actual word when you go out and try to go to various sites ― whether or not they were hacked and they did anything is a completely different story. After several seconds of unintelligible mumbling, Spicer decided to side step the question altogether and suggested Russian involvement is irrelevant if it didn’t effectively influence the election. “The way the mainstream media is playing this up is that they had an influence in the election,” Spicer said. “There is zero evidence they actually influenced the election.” But a joint report released last week from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security directly blamed Russian intelligence services for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Still, Spicer implied the president-elect isn’t concerned with mounting evidence naming Russia as the culprit behind the attack. He suggested the DNC’s cybersecurity strategy ― not a foreign adversary’s illegal attempt to swing the U.S. election ― is the larger issue at hand. “Frankly, and I don’t mean to be disrespectful because hacking is wrong,” Spicer said. “But that 13-page report is more of a ‘how-to’ manual for the DNC as to how they can improve their IT security.” The report followed Russian sanctions imposed by President Barack Obama, which expel 35 Russian diplomats and bar several Russian intelligence agencies and officers from traveling to the U.S and doing business with American companies. In a Sunday interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Spicer said he thought the president’s course of action might be too harsh. He questioned whether the penalties imposed were an appropriate response to Russia’s unprecedented act of cyberwarfare. “One of the questions that we have is, why the magnitude of this? I mean, you look at 35 people being expelled, two sites being closed down, the question is, is that response in proportion to the actions taken?” Spicer said. “Maybe it was; maybe it wasn’t but you have to think about that.” Several other members of Trump’s inner circle have also spoken out against Obama’s sanctions ― not to oppose punishment, but to call for stricter penalties. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called the sanctions a “good initial step,” but said a stronger response to the attack must be made. On “Fox & Friends” last week, former UN Ambassador John Bolton warned against Republicans brushing off the Russian hacking. “The fact that Russian efforts were incompetent or insufficient shouldn’t make us feel better,” he said. “If Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor and all of its bombs and torpedoes had missed, no Americans killed, no ships sunk, would we have said no harm, no foul? No, it’s the effort that they made, if this is accurate, that should trouble us. Not the fact that it failed.”

In recent days, Israeli settlement activity has been the focus of considerable attention, condemned in a United Nations Resolution which the Obama Administration did not veto but abstained from supporting and in an impassioned speech by Secretary of State John Kerry who warned that settlement activities were rapidly making a future "two-state" solution impossible to achieve. Both the abstention and the speech were sharply attacked by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as well as members of Congress from both sides of the aisle and a number of American Jewish organizations. And President- Elect Trump made it clear that his administration would treat the Israelis totally differently, asking them to "stay strong" until he takes office. Whether or not one agrees with the UN actions or all of the elements of Kerry's speech, one should recognize the importance of one ongoing development that Kerry briefly referred to. Israel's religious nationalists, like the Jewish Home Party headed by Naftali Bennett, and other right wing Israeli groups, powerful members of Prime Minister Netanyahu's governing coalition, are using settlement expansion as part of a strategy ultimately to incorporate the West Bank -what they call Judea and Samaria - into a biblically inspired "Greater Israel." And, disappointingly, in Trump's choice of bankruptcy attorney David Friedman as his Ambassador to Israel, he has selected an avowed supporter of Israel settlement expansion who is hostile to a two-state solution and argues that it would not be illegal for Israel to annex the West Bank. Thus, settlement expansion has become the means to two ends: to preclude a two state solution and to carry out annexation. There are now about 570,000 Jewish settlers living over the "Green Line" ((pre) 1967 borders.) The problematic number is not settlements in East Jerusalem (200,000 representing 35.1% of settlers over the Green line) or settlements in lands that will end up as part of Israel in a land swap (large settlement blocks and land adjacent to the Green Line with a population of 260,000 representing 45.6% of settlers). It is the small and isolated settlements in the mountain ridge, east of the separation barrier created by Israel, with a population already of 103,000 people (representing 18.2% of settlers; not including 6,500 Israelis living in settlements in the Jordan Valley) that present the major and growing problem. These settlements are being placed in the heart of the West Bank, on land that must remain part of any Palestinian state for it to have the contiguity that allows it to function effectively as a state. Recognizing the enormous difficulty in the past of moving even a few hundred settlers, imagine the impossibility of moving thousands of committed settlers who refuse to leave and whose rabbis tell the Israeli troops to disobey orders to force them out. After expanding settlements throughout Palestinian lands, the nationalists plan to annex the West Bank (and perhaps even Gaza) and put Israel in a position of either accepting the millions of Palestinian residents as full citizens in a bi-national state which, because of the disproportionate numbers of Palestinians and their higher birth rates, will not be Jewish (a course they have no intention of following) or applying apartheid principles to treat them as second class denizens in Greater Israel or try to force them out of their ancestral lands altogether to another country, (the Gaza population to Egypt and the West Bankers to Jordan or another state.). Until now, as a supporter of Israel and like most American Jews involved in Jewish organizational life, I have been reading and listening to discussions about these developments simply from the perspective of their effect on Israel. I have been an ardent Zionist from a very early age, continuing through my service in a number of American Jewish organizations and I still serve as a Board member of the Israel Policy Forum, which I helped found at the request of then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Not only did I consistently support Israel politically, I headed a major business in Israel investing millions of dollars and creating numbers of jobs there. In all of my thinking, then, I focused on the implications for Israel of settlement expansion and the end of a two-state solution. And, as I have written before, I concluded that such a program would destroy the Zionist dream of what Israel could and should be. But, recently, I asked myself a different question: what are the potential consequences - benefits or detriments - to the United States of Israel's continued expansion of settlements and are there any implications from these consequences for the American Jewish community? To start, I can see absolutely no benefits that would accrue to the United States from Israel expanding its settlements into the West Bank but I can clearly see detriments to the United States from the failure of a two-state solution. Israel's annexation of the West Bank and treatment of the 2.6 million Palestinians living there and what actions it may take against the 1.4 million Palestinians living in Gaza, could end Israel's position as the only democracy in the Middle East. If having it as a democratic ally is now so valuable to the United States interests as to warrant, for example, $38 billion in American military aid, the converse is also true - not having a democratic ally would be a heavy loss to the United States. Moreover, the proposed treatment of the Palestinian population by the nationalists would end up in violent reactions against Israel directly from Palestinians and then from other Arabs, including Jihadists, and quickly would be matched by attacks on American interests - of the country most supportive of Israel. It is too optimistic to expect that these attacks would be limited to the Middle East and not end up on our own shores. Meanwhile, as Thomas Friedman points out in his column "Bibi Makes Trump His Chump" (NY Times, December 28, 2016 p.A21) all of this would greatly benefit Iran and ISIS and enable Iran "to present America's Sunni Arab allies as lackeys of an extremist Israel." These developments would take their toll on the American Jewish community in a number of ways. Anti-democratic Israeli actions would open the door for challenges in our country to the high levels of economic and other support given to Israel. This would include the very people who voted Donald Trump into office who, together with other American voters, might find it difficult to understand why billions of dollars are going to an undemocratic Israel while they continue to suffer job losses and reductions in health care and in social security. When those in the Jewish community seek to defend Israeli actions, as they always do, that would open the door to attacks on them and provide fodder for increased anti-Semitism here in the United States. One of the most grievous impacts of this scenario is the effect on young American Jews. Many American Jews, like me, had hoped that Israel would be a beacon, attracting younger generations of Jews to the Jewish heritage, culture and religion. Already, rather than being a source of pride, many Jewish college students are seeing Israel attacked on their campuses. At the same time, younger American Jews, some the children and grandchildren of committed supporters of Israel, are disavowing Israel and decrying its actions. One can imagine the reactions of the younger Jews if Israel engages in apartheid activities or forced transfer of Palestinians off their ancestral land. At the end of the day, only the Israelis can decide on the course of action that their country will take. And I recognize full well that Israelis today generally have little regard for the opinions of American Jews. I do hope they will understand the implications of their actions on their own future. At present, as Secretary Kerry has pointed out, the two- state solution is in "serious jeopardy" and some experts, like Stephen A. Cook, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, argue that it is already dead. But there is a group of approximately 240 former IDF generals, heads of Israel intelligence services like Mossad, Shabak and Police equivalents, who have joined together under the banner "Commanders For Israel's Security" (CIS) who still hold out hope. They are working to make a two-state result a reality through a pro-active political and security plan that they have developed and publicly presented. Maybe, that kind of leadership can prevail to help their fellow Israelis see the light. The alternative is very painful to contemplate!

© REDPIXEL - Fotolia.com Brenda Stoltz There’s a lot of content out there that is written to help small business owners do their own marketing, but it’s often written by marketers who are adept in things like analytics, content marketing, and technical jargon. It may be written using terms you don’t understand and business processes you’re not familiar with, and then you’re left with no clue how to start marketing your brand. If you own a small business, or are responsible for marketing one, you need to know how to be effective in your market without the hoity-toity language of marketing. You need marketing for beginners. Here, in a nutshell, are four simple things you can do right now to grow your brand: 1. Develop buyer personas As a brand, you’re speaking to human beings who share your ideals, and who want or need your product or service. If you don’t know who you’re talking to, you’ll have trouble reaching your audience. Creating a buyer persona brings those individuals to life and helps you figure out how to market to them. A buyer persona is simply a description of the person you’re trying to reach. You might have several. Give the persona a name. Write out the features of that person (“Sally has a master’s degree and likes buying organic food”) to illustrate her and get to know her. Then, when you do your marketing, keep that “person” in mind and address your messaging to her specifically. 2. Establish your tone of voice How you communicate your marketing message is referred to as the tone of voice you use. It might be professional, casual, or even funny. The tone you use should resonate with your audience. For example, if you’re a B2B firm, you might do better using a more formal tone than a casual one peppered with teen-friendly acronyms. Just make sure to choose a tone that is consistent across all marketing channels. If you’re outsourcing your content, your writers will need to use your brand’s voice as if it were second nature. Help them by creating a document with your brand guidelines, meeting with them, answering their questions, and giving them examples of the tone you are going for. 3. Know your brand’s values Establishing what your brand stands for can help you immensely in your marketing because you can then communicate those values to your customers. How can you do this? Jot down the things that are important to your company. For example, do you care about the environment? If you do, let people know about the choices you make that align with this value, like using green energy in your office, only buying recyclable or reusable office supplies, or volunteering to clean up your community. 4. Blog consistently Blogs are hugely important to your marketing strategy: 81% of Americans trust the information they read in blogs. They can take you further than any ad campaign. Write about things that matter to your customers: write about topics that they have questions about or that can enhance their lives in some way. And if you really don’t have time to blog, hire someone to do it for you. Don’t know what to write about? Come up with a list of questions you’ve been asked by prospects and clients. Google other brands in your industry and see what they write about. Keep a spreadsheet of topics so you always have one to write about. These four easy tips will help you attract more customers and build trust with them. Other articles from AllBusiness.com:

Mario Tama via Getty Images An inmate in the Anisio Jobim penitentiary complex on February 17, 2016 in Manaus, Brazil. Media reported that at least 50 people were killed in a riot at a Manaus prison on Monday. BRASILIA, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Around 60 people have been killed in a bloody prison riot sparked by a war between rival drug gangs in the Amazon jungle city of Manaus, officials said on Monday, in some of the worst violence in years in Brazil’s overcrowded penitentiary system. The head of security for Amazonas state, Sergio Fontes, told a news conference that the death toll could rise as authorities get a clearer idea of the scale of the rebellion sparked by a fight between rival drug gangs. Manaus’ Em Tempo newspaper reported that several of the dead had their decapitated bodies thrown over the prison wall. The riot began late Sunday and was brought under control by around 7 a.m. on Monday, Fontes said. Authorities were still counting the prisoners to determine how many had escaped, he added. International watchdog groups sharply criticize Brazil for its prison system, where overcrowding is the norm and deadly riots routinely break out. The massacre was the latest clash between inmates aligned with the Sao Paulo-based First Capital Command (PCC) drug gang, Brazil’s most powerful, and a local Manaus criminal group known as the North Family. The Manaus-based gang is widely believed to be attacking PCC inmates at the behest of the Rio de Janeiro-based Red Command (CV) drug gang, Brazil’s second largest. Security analysts have said that a truce that held for years between the PCC and CV was broken last year, resulting in months of deadly prison battles between the gangs and sparking fears that chaos will spread to other prisons. In the latest riot, a group of inmates exchanged gunfire with police and held 12 prison guards hostage late on Sunday in the largest prison in Manaus, an industrial city on the banks of the Amazon River, Globo TV reported. Fontes said that 74 prisoners were taken hostage during the riot, with some executed and some released. A video posted on the website of the Manaus-based newspaper Em Tempo showed dozens of bloodied and mutilated bodies piled atop each other on the prison floor as other inmates milled about. Brazil’s prison system is precariously overcrowded and conditions in many institutions are horrific. That has sparked a rash of deadly riots in recent years.

Dave Kotinsky / Getty Images New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed bills allowing birth and death certificates for transgender residents to be amended to reflect their gender identity and establishing the Transgender Equality Task Force. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed three bills into law on Tuesday that offer more rights and protections for the LGBTQ community. The first two measures, SB478 and SB493, allow birth and death certificates for transgender residents to be amended to reflect their gender identity. People may identify themselves as female, male or undesignated. Previously, transgender or genderqueer residents had to undergo gender confirmation surgery and obtain proof from their doctor to update their birth certificate. The third bill, SB705, establishes the Transgender Equality Task Force, which will ensure that protections are put in place for the trans community andoversee those efforts. According to the measure, the group, consisting of 17 members, will provide “recommendations to the Legislature and the Governor on how to ensure equality and improve the lives of transgender individuals, with particular attention to the following areas: healthcare, long term care, education, higher education, housing, employment and criminal justice.” Murphy applauded the new law in a statement on Tuesday. “Today is an important day for New Jersey as we continue to strive toward equality for all of our residents, regardless of sex or gender expression,” he said. “Allowing vital records to match gender identity is an important step forward that will allow transgender individuals to control the disclosure of their transgender status,” Murphy continued. “And by creating a Transgender Equality Task Force, New Jersey can ensure that all residents receive the protections they deserve. New Jersey will continue to stand with our LGBTQ residents in the continued pursuit of similar rights nationwide.”

It’s true now more than ever that customer reviews can increase foot traffic, site traffic and improve your business’s reputation. After all, 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations according to Search Engine Land. And 86% of shoppers will hesitate to purchase from a business with negative reviews. The beauty of online reviews is that they are authentic, and therefore more trusted by current and future customers. The biggest hurdle to building your business’s online reputation is a willingness to be vulnerable, and not afraid of a few bad ratings. Those reviews will be outweighed by the positive ones simply by making it easy for happy customers to weigh in. Most importantly, believing that your customer service is so good that customer reviews will take care of themselves, is a dumpster fire waiting to happen. So let’s cover some straightforward reviews Dos and Don’ts that you can start on today. DO: Incentivize customers to write reviews. Offer a coupon, discount or future benefit of filling out a survey. This is an easy way to get feedback and encourage future sales. DON’T: Annoy customers by badgering them with surveys or to write reviews. The last thing you want to do is frustrate customers right before they do a write up. The optimal prompt happens during or right after the sales transaction. The more personal it is, the higher the likelihood is of a response. DO: Embrace your product. It’s important that you stay focused on the key benefits of your product or service, and let your customer’s know how it can transform your daily life. That way, you can increase positive reviews by managing expectations. DON’T: Try to be something you’re not. If you set your customers up to believe that your vacuum robot also cooks breakfast, they will let you know how disappointed they are. The best way to acquire genuine reviews is to provide a genuine experience. DO: Act and react. Respond to reviews, positive and negative, with detailed rhetoric, openness and enthusiasm. This is a great way to bolster good comments and squash the rough ones. DON’T: overreact to negative reviews. Every company has unhappy customers, and those customers are the most likely to reply. Take a deep breath and respond openly and offer a way to reconcile the situation. Other customers will see that you responded in a professional way to get the problem resolved. DO: Simplify the process. Use online platforms to make it easy for your customers to make reviews, and for you to manage them. Resources like Demandforce, Customer Lobby and PowerReviews will contact your customers for you. DON'T: Rely on outsourced services to be the face of your company or to produce positive reviews. The work still has to be done on your part. These services can be helpful, but timely surveys on your site and reaching out to happy customers are still essential practices. DO: Send the right message. Fully craft the copy in your messaging statements and review prompts so that customers feel empowered. Be friendly and cater automated responses separately to both positive and negative intenders. DON'T: Annoy customers with overly ambitious surveys or copy. They should not be prompted every time they visit a new page. And they shouldn’t have to exit out of prompt screens after they’ve already responded. DO: Be vulnerable. Put yourself out there. Set up a profile page on Yelp, Google Local, Yahoo Local, Foursquare, Merchant Circle and Angie’s list. DON'T: Post fake reviews. It seems shady, but it can be tempting. Remember, customers on widely reputable sites like Yelp will see right through this strategy.

With immigration featuring prominently in Donald Trump’s presidency, an anxious America awaits the Administration’s next steps. Having already introduced a travel ban, promised a wall between the United States and Mexico, and emboldened immigration and enforcement officials throughout the country, President Trump has made it clear that only those born in America are truly welcome. But can he unmake America—a tapestry of races, religions, languages and ethnicities? We need to show that diversity works. With one million immigrants making their home in the United States each year, it’s urgent that those who believe deeply in America and the notion of diversity as a core American value, find ways to push back against the rising tide of discrimination against “the other.” The challenge for all of us now is to look, state-by-state, at how our communities are responding to immigration, and find the good news stories that epitomize the value of immigration and the bridges that have been built between immigrant and non-immigrant communities. A good place to start is Maine—one of the whitest states in America. Since 2015, I along with our documentary filmmaking team, have been following a group of female students—some new immigrants— some not, in South Portland as they navigate life in a public school. I co-directed, along with Abigail Tannebaum Sharon, the new documentary, “Maine Girls” which just premiered at the 2017 Camden International Film Festival and is now on the festival circuit and picked up for distribution by Kanopy - follows immigrant girls from the Congo, Jamaica, Somalia and Vietnam. What’s inspiring about these girls is that, even in this anti-immigration environment, teenagers will be teenagers. Through hip hop, culture, and common experiences in a Maine public school, the American and immigrant girls develop trust—with the help of a school curriculum built around tolerance and acceptance who end up enriching life in South Portland. We've received requests to show the film in schools across the nation as a model for how to build positive relationships in contentious times.

Mario Tama via Getty Images An inmate in the Anisio Jobim penitentiary complex on February 17, 2016 in Manaus, Brazil. Media reported that at least 50 people were killed in a riot at a Manaus prison on Monday. BRASILIA, Jan 2 (Reuters) - At least 50 people have been killed in a bloody prison riot in the Amazon jungle city of Manaus, a Brazilian security official told the Globo TV network on Monday. Sergio Fontes, the head of security for Amazonas state, told Globo he fears that more dead will be found as authorities get a clearer idea of the extent of the rebellion that began late on Sunday, sparked by a fight between rival drug gangs.

Grace Kelly’s beauty lives on. Camille Gottlieb, the late princess of Monaco’s 19-year-old granddaughter, bears a rather striking resemblance to her. The likeness has never been more obvious than in a recent Instagram, in which Gottlieb posed in a pouty, cigarette-in-mouth manner that looks like Kelly in the Alfred Hitchcock film “Rear Window.” A post shared by Cam🖤 (@camillerosegottlieb) on Sep 28, 2017 at 6:41am PDT Here it is in action: Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images On set of "Rear Window." Gottlieb is the youngest child of Kelly’s daughter, Monaco’s Princess Stéphanie. At the time of Gottlieb’s birth, her father’s name was not put on the birth certificate. But she goes by the last name of former palace guard Jean-Raymond Gottlieb, with whom Princess Stéphanie had a relationship. A glance at Gottlieb’s Instagram feed proves their similarities go far beyond one photo. She has Kelly’s striking blue eyes, similarly colored hair, the arched brows and a face that’s clearly comfortable in photos. Bettmann via Getty Images Gorgeous. A post shared by Cam🖤 (@camillerosegottlieb) on Aug 11, 2017 at 2:01pm PDT Bettmann via Getty Images Those brows. A post shared by Cam🖤 (@camillerosegottlieb) on Aug 21, 2017 at 12:26pm PDT Sunset Boulevard via Getty Images Promoting "To Catch a Thief." A post shared by Cam🖤 (@camillerosegottlieb) on Jun 26, 2017 at 2:31pm PDT Sunset Boulevard via Getty Images A post shared by Cam🖤 (@camillerosegottlieb) on Dec 27, 2016 at 9:14am PST Come to Gottlieb’s page for the uncanny comparisons, stay for the adorable pups.

This post first appeared at BillMoyers.com. Puerto Rico is devastated. Two hurricanes plunged the island into darkness and despair. Crops perish in the fields. The landscape of ruined buildings and towns resemble Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped on it. Over 3 million people are desperate for food, water, electricity and shelter. After a slow start, the Trump administration is now speeding up the flow of supplies to the island. A top US general has been given command of the relief efforts. And, like so many others, Yarimar Bonilla watches with a broken heart as her native Puerto Rico struggles. This noted social anthropologist — a scholar on Caribbean societies — says the hurricanes have made an already bad fiscal and economic crisis worse, and she sees darker times ahead unless major changes are made in the structure of power and in Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States. Last night on NBC, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz made a spontaneous statement expressing her frustration with insufficient relief efforts that went viral. Before you read my interview with Yarimar Bonilla please take two minutes to watch this video. You will understand even more clearly Ms. Bonilla’s explainer of what is happening in Puerto Rico. — Bill Moyers San Juan mayor pleads for federal help after hurricane: "We are dying here" Read more: https://t.co/MaHffyRIKK pic.twitter.com/LPqpXaFP21 — NBC News (@NBCNews) September 30, 2017 Bill Moyers: What’s the first thing you would want us to know about Puerto Rico? Yarimar Bonilla: That it is a US territory — as are the Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Guam. That it has a greater population than 21 other states — more residents than Utah, Iowa or Nevada — and is geographically larger than Delaware or Rhode Island. However, rather than wanting folks to know something in particular, I would want them to ask why is Puerto Rico part of the United States, to investigate the question and come up with their own answers. I think it would be more interesting for people to start out wherever they are — be it with no knowledge at all — or people who grew up in Puerto Rico and have long lived this political relationship without fully understanding it, to ask themselves why the island is part of the United States and what explains the particular ambiguity of its situation today. Moyers: What’s your personal connection to Puerto Rico, and how did you come to devote so much of your life to studying Caribbean societies? Bonilla: I was born in Puerto Rico, although my mom says that I can choose if I want to be an Island Puerto Rican or a Diasporican because now I’ve spent pretty much equal time in the United States and in Puerto Rico proper. Moyers: I dare say that until the hurricanes the popular image of Puerto Rico in this country was the epitome of prosperity. You know, all the ads on television and in magazines touting pleasure and escape — the resorts, the bright sun, the white beaches, the blue water, the rum and tonic, the sexy bikinis, the smiling locals. Bonilla: Well, it’s funny, I had a colleague, a fellow anthropologist, with whom I joked about wanting one day for us to write an ethnography of the Puerto Rico that exists in tourist ads. Because it’s a place that we’ve never really visited or known. Moyers: But doesn’t this distorted view make it more difficult for regular Americans to connect to the devastation today? Bonilla: Perhaps. But I think even more than the tourist ads, what makes it difficult for Americans to connect is the deep ignorance that exists about the political relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. Most folks in the US don’t even know how to orient themselves towards Puerto Rico. How should they feel about it? Should they support statehood, should they support independence? They’re unable to reconcile the political history of Puerto Rico with the history that they are taught in schools about the United States. Moyers: You’ve said that Puerto Rico was in trouble long before the hurricane. Bonilla: Puerto Rico’s been in an economic recession for over a decade. The great American recession that was so debated in the United States during the early Obama administration after the collapse of the banks in the US — all of that started in Puerto Rico much earlier, and whereas the US is said to have recovered to some extent for certain populations, Puerto Rico’s recession has only deepened. That is in part due to the lack of a strong economic base and to tax incentives that were put in place to bring foreign — “foreign” meaning US companies — to Puerto Rico. After the crash a lot of companies left and a base of employment in Puerto Rico was gone. So even before this last hurricane, already Puerto Rico had huge unemployment, huge poverty rates — poverty rates that double any poverty rate in the US, even that of the poorest states of the US — and a very neglected infrastructure that was not ready for the storms. Moyers: Donald Trump tweeted, “Texas and Florida are doing great after their hurricanes, but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure and massive debt, is in deep trouble.” And that seems to echo what you’ve just said and what you wrote in The Washington Post — that a state of emergency existed well before the hurricane hit. Bonilla: I’m curious about that statement from Donald Trump. I wonder who in Florida and Texas is doing great and who is not. So that would be my first question. But you know, that’s for other folks to answer. Moyers: Why was the inequality in Puerto Rico so great? Bonilla: Because there’s been an erosion of the middle class. And so you have a lot of people at the bottom who can’t find work, who can’t start their own businesses. Many of them depend on government assistance, but there’s also a huge number who are working poor, who live paycheck to paycheck, who are supplementing their incomes with the gig economy. Retailers like Walmart offer no job security. Most of the people working for them can’t predict their shifts — their shifts change from week to week. They have to keep their schedules completely open. They are paid for part-time labor, but have to be available full-time. And so all of this means that leading up to the storm, people already did not have enough money to prepare, to buy the supplies that they needed. Ideally, you would prepare for a storm of this nature by having a well-stocked pantry, plenty of water, lots of batteries, and if you can afford it, a generator. Also, your car would be full of gas and you would have a good amount of cash, because as can be expected and as we’re seeing now, ATMs are down. People who are just making ends meet, they don’t have the kind of money that is necessary to prepare for these storms. There’s a lot of talk about the island’s environmental precarity and vulnerability. It’s true that the Caribbean is on the front lines of effects from climate change. But there are other forms of vulnerability, like socioeconomic vulnerability. And also a political vulnerability because Puerto Ricans don’t really have anyone in Congress advocating for them. They’re nobody’s constituents. They have no representation and no one who can leverage votes and trade deals with other states in order to get things expedited on the ground there. Moyers: You’ve described these Caribbean societies, including Puerto Rico, as protected markets for national corporations. Bonilla: Yes. If you look at the Jones Act, the only goods that can arrive in Puerto Rico have to be on US-made ships, and owned by US citizens, with a US crew flying a US flag. So this means that if the Dominican Republic wants to sell food to Puerto Rico, which it does, it has to send that food first to Jacksonville, Florida, unload it, put it on another ship that is allowed to bring it to Puerto Rico. So this makes it very difficult for Puerto Rico to engage in trade with other countries. We’re not an independent nation, so we can’t make our own trade arrangements. And that means that we have to buy mostly from the US. Moyers: I understand the Jones Act goes way back to World War I, when German submarines were sinking so many American ships that Congress decreed the US maintain a shipbuilding industry second to none, with, as you say, ships carrying provisions to be owned, manned and built by America. This not only strangles Puerto Rico’s economy, but one writer called it a shakedown, a mob protection racket, with Puerto Rico as a captive market. Puerto Ricans have to buy mainly American products and pass the higher cost on to the consumers, who are then paying higher prices. Donald Trump has temporarily suspended the Jones Act, as you know. Bonilla: That will help momentarily in terms of letting a few ships arrive and letting Puerto Ricans find more inexpensive methods of procuring the items that they need right now. A lot of us are very offended that it was only lifted for 10 days, as if you could resolve the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico, which is of a devastating scale — as if you could resolve that in 10 days. It’s absolutely offensive for it to be so limited. A small crumb. What I hope is that there are now a lot of people who have become educated about the Jones Act. Most people in the United States didn’t know anything about it before this. Maybe now there can be enough pressure to fully repeal it. Moyers: You have described Puerto Rico and the other Caribbean societies as important economic cover for their colonial centers. What do you mean? Bonilla: I mean that a lot of things happen in these places that aren’t supposed to happen — that’s what I mean by cover. The United States can claim to offer certain kinds of guarantees to its citizens, but those guarantees are suspended when it comes to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. So veterans benefits are less, guarantees of health care are less, guarantees of public education — all these things are reduced. And in addition, wealthy people who are supposed to pay their share, they’re able to completely evade their taxes and not contribute to the national interest by setting up companies in Puerto Rico. Moyers: So things were really made worse by tax incentives to wealthy investors. I believe Puerto Rico’s Act #22 allows wealthy investors to evade both federal and local income tax by spending a minimum of 183 nights a year on the island. Bonilla: Yes, it’s true. It’s hard to comprehend, but it’s true. You have a lot of wealthy Americans who say, “Oh, this is great for us, it’s the thing that can get you out from under the US Internal Revenue Service without having to renounce your citizenship.” So they retain their American voting rights, they retain all their benefits of US citizenship, but they do not contribute anything to the US, nor do they contribute anything to Puerto Rico because they’re also not paying local taxes. Moyers: How did Puerto Rico get its unique privilege to offer triple tax-exempt bonds? Bonilla: It’s basically written into its constitution. When Congress established Puerto Rico’s civil government in 1917 it decreed that any bonds issued by its government would be free from taxation. In addition, it is written into the 1952 constitution that the repayment of any kind of public debt must take priority over financing public services. In 1952, when Puerto Rican politicians tried to convince Puerto Ricans that they were no longer a colony, and they convinced the United Nations to take Puerto Rico off the list of non-self-governing societies, this constitution was put into place and one of its founding principles was that Puerto Rico was going to be a site for US economic investment. And so you can purchase these triple tax-exempt bonds and not pay any federal tax, any tax in Puerto Rico, or any tax in the municipality in which you live. This made these bonds incredibly seductive for US. I urge everyone to read the great story in The New York Times “The Bonds That Broke Puerto Rico.” Moyers: Earlier this year Puerto Rico officially became the largest bankruptcy case in the history of the American public bond market. In another tweetTrump points out how indebted Puerto Rico is to Wall Street and the banks and reminds Puerto Ricans that it “sadly must be dealt with.” He’s acknowledging this is the first thing Puerto Rico taxpayers have to do. Bonilla: It was so offensive. Puerto Ricans have been kicked by Irma, then kicked by Maria, and now kicked by Trump. We’re really suffering. In the middle of our humanitarian crisis, he tells us, “It’s a shame but you have to pay back that debt.” It’s clear that was a message to Wall Street not to worry, they’ll get paid back. Puerto Ricans need to worry, however. Moyers: Something I’ve learned from you: Walmart and Walgreens have more stores per square mile in Puerto Rico than anywhere else in the world. How did that come about? Bonilla: Walmart has negotiated a series of benefits from the Puerto Rican government such as free or subsidized land to build on, subsidies for their payroll, and for the training of new employees. So they basically get to set up shop almost for free. In addition, we are a captive market. There’s not a lot of competition for them. So they’re the biggest employer, and the biggest retailer. Also, Walmart USA sells to Walmart Puerto Rico, at surprisingly inflated prices so that then it appears as if Walmart Puerto Rico doesn’t have much profit, which means they pay very little taxes to the Puerto Rican government. The Puerto Rican government wanted to raise the taxes but Walmart threatened to sue and leave and then a federal judge decided that the tax would be discriminatory because Walmart was the only operator of the scale to which these taxes would apply. Moyers: So when the government tries to raise taxes on goods brought to the island from foreign sources because those taxes would help local improvement, the companies threaten to leave? Bonilla: Yes, exactly. They don’t want to pay the government any of the profits that they’re making off the Puerto Rican people. Moyers: So does this helps explain why the infrastructure in Puerto Rico has been so long neglected — the first priority is to serve this foreign debt and tax breaks for the wealthy? Bonilla: Absolutely, and it’s only going to get worse because of the PROMESA Act [NB: Passed by Congress to deal with the financial crisis and bankruptcy]. Some critics have dared to describe it as a kind of bailout or aid package, but that’s not so. There is absolutely no transfer of money from the federal government to Puerto Rico as part of the PROMESA Act. If anything, there’s an imposition of an economic burden on the Puerto Rican government which now has to pay the overhead of the PROMESA board — which is estimated to cost $200 million in its first year alone — and an astronomical, unjustifiable salary of over half a million dollars a year to its manager Natalie Jaresko. This completely overpaid expensive board arrives in Puerto Rico and the first thing that they say is that everyone has to tighten their belts. There are “furloughs” of government workers, the government has to reduce its payroll by about 30 percent. Now they are going to privatize a lot of the services. The first target was the University of Puerto Rico, which they completely gutted leading to a massive strike at the university. Moyers: And as you wrote in The Washington Post, the PROMESA Act imposed a fiscal control board focused on the short-term austerity policies in order to restore the country’s market rating, which means lower wages and tax increases for the working poor and tax breaks and other incentives for the rich investors. Why did Congress do that? Bonilla: They didn’t want to seem like they were “bailing out” quote/unquote a community of people who are not imagined to be Americans. So a lot of senators and congressmen wanted to assure their folks in their home states that the money of hardworking Americans were not going to bail out Puerto Ricans, who are not seen as “Americans.” That’s the reason. [laughs] Moyers: You laugh, but it hurts. Bonilla: Absolutely, absolutely. One must laugh to keep from crying in the face of such cynicism. And especially right now in the moment of this crisis where a lot of people are saying that Puerto Rico does not deserve the same kind of aid that US states deserve — Florida and Texas, you know — because it’s a territory. There’s also been a lot of debate about whether when you get FEMA packages, the government will do matching funds. So several folks have asked for the government to lift that requirement. The bondholders of the electric company, said, “Oh, don’t worry, we’ll let you borrow more so that you can pay the matching funds.” Clearly the only solution being imagined for Puerto Rico’s economic future is permanent and sustained indebtment. Moyers: Well, our federal government’s own financial control board is saying that the island’s debt is not payable, and the governor of the island of Puerto Rico is talking about selling all utilities to private owners — electricity, water and sewers, the public transit. Will these drastic measures help the problem? Bonilla: Absolutely not. Some have described these privatization schemes as if you are selling off your house to pay your credit card bill. So okay, you do a fire sale on your home, you pay your Visa, you pay your MasterCard, but then you have nowhere to live. Then what do you do? I think some people have been so frustrated with the kind of public services they’ve been receiving from this ever-shrinking government that they say, “Yes, okay, let’s privatize it.” But privatizing is not going to make things any better and it’s certainly not going to help Puerto Rico in the long term. We talked previously about inequality and about the high levels of income disparity in Puerto Rico. This means that there are very wealthy people who to a great extent don’t need public services. They have gas generators and water tanks. Some of them even have helipads. The people who need the government services are the poor. They’re the ones who are going to suffer the most. So instead of implementing progressive measures that tax the wealthy in Puerto Rico, the opposite is being done. Moyers: Trump is tweeting that help is coming. The Fiscal Oversight Board says reconstruction projects will be accelerated, emergency funds will be flowing to the people, the checks are in the mail. Will all this emergency help produce solutions to the structural problems we’ve been talking about? Will Puerto Rico emerge with chances for an economy that works for everyone? Bonilla: I would love to say yes. I was very closely connected to the events in Haiti, the Haitian earthquake there. And I remember how so many people talked about how we were going to rebuild Haiti better, we were going to finally fix the long structural problems that that country had faced. This wasn’t to be. I recommend people watch this movie by Raoul Peck, Fatal Assistance, about how all the aid that was sent to Haiti, in the end it did not help. One big problem is that donors want to aid small scale organizations. And there’s good reason for that. But the problem is, that when you need to rebuild something like an electricity grid or a public water system, you can’t do it in a patchy way. In Haiti, a lot of money was sent to organizations like the Red Cross that was kept for overhead and not used for what was promised. But then a lot of people, to avoid that kind of thing, would send money directly to a community that would build just one school. So you have this kind of patchy education system. You have communities that have wells that don’t connect to each other. You have roads that are built to go from one town to the church that helped build them but that doesn’t lead to a national roadway system. What you need is a systematic process of rebuilding by a government that has decided what kind of society they want to rebuild and in what way. If you also look at a place like New Orleans and what has happened after Katrina, we know already that in other disaster situations, the preexisting inequalities just get exacerbated. And so the folks who were already suffering the most in these places are the ones who will benefit the least from the reconstruction. I really fear that there’s going to be a mass exodus from Puerto Rico — basically what Aimé Césaire once described as genocide by substitution. Puerto Ricans are going to leave and FEMA workers brought in from the US are going to arrive. More wealthy investors are going to come and Puerto Rico is no longer going to belong to Puerto Ricans. It will look more and more like Hawaii. When we talk about rebuilding we have to think about why rebuild an energy sector that is not based on renewable sources when you can rebuild with solar power, for example. But we also have to think about rebuilding for whom, who is going to remain on the island and what role are they going to play in Puerto Rico’s reconstruction? Bonilla: Absolutely, and we see it playing out. We see it playing out right now. When I was in Puerto Rico this summer — before the hurricanes — I talked to a wealth adviser at an investment center where rich Puerto Ricans go to create college funds for their kids and buy insurance and secure their retirements. She was very smart. Folks like her working in the banking industry and in investment and knew that bankruptcy and fiscal austerity was coming down the pike. The story was underreported so that there wouldn’t be a bank run. But folks like her told their clients to pull their money out of Puerto Rican bonds and put it into other sources. Most of her clients, their investments are in US stocks. So she said, “They’re doing great! Since Donald Trump was elected, stocks are high.” And then she said, “All we need now is a hurricane.” (Pause) This was last summer. I was naturally shocked to hear this because all I could imagine was the destruction that hurricanes bring. But of course what she was thinking about was how in a disaster the funds that flow in help precisely the kind of companies that her clients are investing in — say, Home Depot, the construction industry in the United States, wealthy contractors. She represents the kind of people who are going to benefit and profit and do very well in this post-hurricane economy at the expense of the folks who are now trapped in their homes without food, without water, without gasoline. So the suffering that people are experiencing right now could prove to be of economic benefit to a chosen few. Moyers: The vulture capitalists, as they are sometimes called. Bonilla: Absolutely. There’s no other way to talk about it, especially in a context where you literally have people dying in the hospital because there’s no energy to sustain their life-support systems. Moyers: Most of us have a little bit of the vulture in us, so the question arises, who’s at fault when this happens? Did local politicians and local people just get too greedy or is this simply the way the Wall Street economy works — barracuda capitalism, so called? Or is what’s happening in Puerto Rico the inheritance of colonialism? Bonilla: That’s an important question and something that really needs to be thought about carefully because there are so many contributors. We like to write simple articles that show simple causality, but you have wealthy folks like this investment manager, who is Puerto Rican, contributing to the situation. You have politicians — we see this in every disaster — you have politicians who are more focused on photo ops and political capital than they are really in doing what needs to be done in these moments. I think one thing that has been really problematic in Puerto Rico is the way that the political parties are organized. They’re organized around the relationship to the United States. So some folks describe this as a kind of left/right political spectrum with independence on the left, statehood on the right and advocates of commonwealth status fashioning themselves as a kind of centrist party. There’s some truth in this description but it’s complicated because within the statehood party you have folks who are progressive, who supported Bernie Sanders, for example. You have folks who see statehood as a form of decolonization, who see it as the possibility of greater solidarity with continental US minority groups. Similarly, even though there is a very progressive pro-independence sector, when you look at what nationalist elites have brought to other Caribbean nations, and the kind of racial and economic disparities that characterize independent nations across the Americas, one can see that independence is not a guarantee of progressive politics. My hope is that because this is such a deep political crisis, it will generate more than a banal optimism that simply says “Oh, let’s build better,” and stops there. I hope that it will lead to a profound grass-roots social movement — a movement of people sick of the government and sick of the limits of the political relationship that Puerto Rico has with the United States, which produced a delayed response by Washington to the devastation after the last hurricane. Perhaps right now, when people feel so exposed, so left out in the rain, literally, by the US government, we might get a push for a political change. Moyers: The journalist Kate Aronoff reminds us Puerto Rico suffered from two massive storms many years ago, one in 1928 that is still considered the second deadliest natural disaster in US history, and another in 1932 that killed over 250 people and destroyed more than 40,000 buildings. Between those two disasters the stock market collapsed and Puerto Ricans were knocked off their feet, like so many others. But they got up and with the help of the New Deal, they came back. What do you see as the path to recovery now? Bonilla: I’m so excited you brought up those two storms. Indeed, the enactment of the New Deal and the assistance the United States was able to provide Puerto Rico at that time paved the way for the establishment of the commonwealth status. At that time many Puerto Ricans felt the new relationship with the United States would be good for them. Not only because it happened as the New Deal grappled with the Great Depression but it happened at a moment when Puerto Rico had the strongest momentum in terms of the nationalist movement. In addition, the storm totally wiped out local crops and devastated farmers. As a result they were encouraged to sell their lands to the US government and to US corporations, which is part of why we ended up where we are now, importing most of our food on these very expensive ships — we no longer have food sovereignty. With this current storm I have been wondering if this will be a moment in which, as the farmers did back then, we will just sell everything off and privatize the rest of what we have. However, here’s where the US government’s response and Trump’s response could lead in a completely different direction if people realize that that United States does not in fact see us as part of the nation, does not see us as full Americans worthy of aid, does not think that our lives matter, literally. When Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast, Trump quickly suspended the Jones Act so that oil could be supplied to the pipelines; he did it immediately. After Irma hit Puerto Rico, however, it took eight days for the president to even consider suspending it, and he only did so for ten days, for an island completely dependent on importing its food. I think this has made it really clear for Puerto Ricans where they stand in terms of US priorities.

Forget the NBA finals. The biggest story in basketball right now is whether Bryan Colangelo, president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers, has spent the past two years using burner Twitter accounts to roast his own players, including superstar forward Joel Embiid and point guard Markelle Fultz, the No. 1 overall pick in last June’s NBA draft. On Tuesday night, The Ringer strongly suggested that Colangelo secretly operated a series of sock-puppet accounts that pumped up his role in turning the Sixers into a playoff team, disclosed medical information about players whom the team was trying to trade and trash-talked current and former players. The accounts interacted with reporters who cover the NBA, bloggers who cover the Sixers and other random Twitter users. The sports website’s report drew links between Colangelo, who took over the 76ers in 2016, and at least five burner accounts. Colangelo has admitted, via a statement from the Sixers, to controlling one of them. He used the account “phila1234567” to “monitor our industry and other current events,” he said. But Colangelo denied any involvement with the other four accounts unearthed by The Ringer’s Ben Detrick and said he didn’t know “who is behind them or what their motives may be in using them.” The story’s publication set off a furious round of internet sleuthing, which has only deepened the mystery. The funniest of the accounts’ tweets defend Colangelo’s preference for high-collared dress shirts, with one such post coming from the account “Enoughunkownsources.” Screenshot via The Ringer If the tweets had stopped there, the story might be little more than a larky addendum to Golden State Warriors superstar Kevin Durant’s use of burner accounts to defend himself from critics. But the accounts that The Ringer linked to Colangelo routinely criticized current and former Sixers players and the team’s former general manager Sam Hinkie. Hinkie was the brains behind the organization’s burn-it-all-down rebuilding strategy whereby the team lost a lot of games for a few years in the hopes of securing high draft picks. He left the franchise shortly after Colangelo arrived. The accounts accused former Sixers player Jahlil Okafor, for instance, of failing a physical, thereby scuttling a potential trade to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2017. Amid criticism of the botched trade, an account known as “Eric jr” urged Sixers bloggers and beat reporters to ask the team ― and Okafor ― about the allegedly failed physical. It has never been reported that Okafor failed a physical. If the Twitter accounts do indeed belong to Colangelo, that would mean an NBA executive had disclosed sensitive medical information about a player via social media. (The Sixers eventually traded Okafor to the Brooklyn Nets.) The accounts repeatedly took aim at Embiid, drafted third overall in 2014, who has become one of the Sixers’ brightest stars over the past two seasons. Enoughunkownsources accused the center of “playing like a toddler having tantrums” in November 2017. The Eric jr. account tweeted at a national NBA reporter that Embiid “should be called out” over his behavior. The accounts also criticized Fultz ― who missed all but 14 games of his rookie season amid shooting woes and a mysterious shoulder injury ― for relying on his own shooting coach outside the franchise. Former Sixers player Nerlens Noel, who was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 2017, was another frequent target. The accounts referred to Noel, a former NBA lottery pick, as a “selfish punk” and a “vulture” whom coach Brett Brown wanted to trade. Colangelo’s alleged burner accounts also had a habit of pitching trade ideas to basketball reporters and bloggers, suggesting that the executive may have been sharing his team-building and business strategies with the public. Embiid told ESPN that he talked to Colangelo on Tuesday night after The Ringer story was published and that Colangelo denied posting any of the critical statements about him. “If true though, that would be really bad,” Embiid said. Sixers All-Star center Joel Embiid tells ESPN on Bryan Colangelo: “I talked to him and he said that he didn’t say that. He called me just to deny the story. Gotta believe him until proven otherwise. If true though, that would be really bad.” — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 30, 2018 Embiid, a prolific Twitter jokester, made light of the story on his own account, before adding that he didn’t believe Colangelo was behind the accounts. Joel told me that @samhinkie IS BETTER AND SMARTER THAN YOU @AlVic40117560 #BurnerAccount — Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) May 30, 2018 The Sixers announced Wednesday that they would launch an investigation into the accounts and whether they were linked to Colangelo. The Ringer’s story makes the case that all five accounts were tied to Colangelo. The website reported that it was tipped off by an anonymous source who claimed to have used a data analysis tool to link all five accounts “through commonalities including similarities in who the accounts followed and linguistic quirks.” For example, the source explained, all five follow accounts tied to Sixers players, members of the Philly front office, and beat reporters who cover the team; Toronto Raptors writers; Canadian high school basketball; and University of Chicago basketball. Colangelo was previously general manager for the Toronto Raptors and his son plays for the University of Chicago basketball team. The Ringer continued: They discuss the same topics, use strikingly similar phrasing, and, at times, have tweeted out identical media images. But not all of the accounts used similar language or covered the same topic areas. The phila1234567 account ― the one that Colangelo acknowledged was his ― “never tweets,” as The Ringer’s story acknowledges. This distinction between phila1234567 and the other four accounts mentioned in the story became more pronounced as internet detectives arrived on the scene following The Ringer’s post. A few Twitter sleuths attempted to change the passwords for the accounts, in the process learning that three of five accounts were linked to a phone number with the last two digits of 91. The phone number attached to the acknowledged Colangelo account, however, ends in 75, and Bucks County Courier Times sports columnist Tom Moore said those are also the final two digits of the number he has for Colangelo. The Ringer admitted in the story that it couldn’t verify the identity of its source. So as it stands, the only evidence linking the five accounts are the accounts they all follow, the word of an unverified source and the curious fact that three of them went private after The Ringer inquired about the other two, phila1234567 and Eric jr. If you’re confused, that means you haven’t spent the past 12 hours thinking only about this. It’s possible the source account that tipped off The Ringer is one that goes by the name “Enough Sixers” and counts Detrick, the story’s writer, and Chris Ryan, The Ringer’s editorial director, among its handful of followers. The egg account ― one that still uses Twitter’s default profile picture ― has tweeted just once, to ask Detrick to follow it back so they can direct-message each other about an article. Pretty sure this is the “egg” account that dm’d the ringer guys .. since this account only follows 2 people and is also followed by both of them 🤔 @CrossingBroad @wojespn pic.twitter.com/M9WLG0q7N2 — Colangelos Collar (@NewmansBdayWish) May 30, 2018

I just saw a handwritten note from Galileo. He was under house arrest for believing we’re not the center of everything. Now behind me, in the park, a dozen beginners, of all ages, learning how to juggle. We have to start somewhere. The young man who’s so magical at this is asked to instruct. He smiles, “You have to keep trying. Just not the same thing.” Earlier, I leaned over a letter from Lincoln to a dead soldier’s mother. This, just weeks after losing Susan’s mother, sweet Eleanor. I keep saying her name to strangers. You see, we all have to juggle joy and sorrow. Not to do it well—we always drop something—but when the up and down of life are leaving one hand and not yet land- ing in the other, then we glow, like a mystical molecule hovering between birth and death, ready to kiss anything. A Question to Walk With: In conversation with a friend or loved one, discuss how you each juggle joy and sorrow. This excerpt is from my book, The Way Under The Way: The Place of True Meeting (Sounds True, 2016). For more poetry for the soul, click here.

If you’re an introvert, you likely value your alone time . You think before you speak. You’d much rather socialize one-on-one than in a group. A phone call is probably your worst nightmare. But most of all, you are silently strong . It can be tough to prefer to be alone in a world that values boldness and extroversion. But take heart, quiet types: Twitter has your back. Each month, we round up spot-on tweets that capture what it’s like to be an introvert. Scroll down for our latest batch.

Before buckling down for the back to school year, gather the family for a last minute vacation. Now’s a good time to relax at a beach, visit exotic islands, and explore foreign cities. The sights you see may even come in handy during the school year. Your kids can share stories about sea lion rookeries in Mexico or wildlife in Alaska. They won’t need a map to know the location of Tokyo or Toronto after visiting these exciting cities. And a Caribbean cruise is more than good times on a fun-filled ship. It’s an opportunity to soak up sun and history while cruising islands near the equator. Chances are the kids won’t be thinking about lessons learned at the time. But travel is always an enriching experience that stays with your forever. Even when you’re back to the daily routine of school and work. Todos Santos, Baja California Sur Mexico About an hour’s drive from Cabo, this under-the-radar, quaint beach town offers a relaxing last minute vacation. Before the kids head back to school, build sandcastles and splash in shallow water at sunny beaches. Visit sea lion rookeries and explore the colonial town’s galleries. More activities include kayaking and hiking in the Sierra Laguna Mountains. Carnival Cruise Vista, Miami, FL For an action-packed last minute vacation, sail on Carnival Cruise Vista to the Southern Caribbean. Back to school stress evaporates in Grand Turk, Curaçao, Aruba and La Romana, and during three days at sea. While you’re at the spa or pool, rest assured your kids are enjoying age-appropriate activities in youth programs. For little ones there’s a Dr. Seuss-themed parade, story time, and a green eggs and ham breakfast. Unique family activities include SkyRide, a pedal-powered open-air sky course, and IMAX Theater. Denali National Park, Alaska For a wild last minute vacation, think Alaska. Kids will thrill peers with stories of wildlife and adventure when they head back to school after visiting Alaska. The park is home to wolves, caribou, moose, Dall’s sheep, Golden Eagles and more. Summer is ideal for visiting the sled dog kennels and hiking with a ranger to explore Alaska’s wilderness. Toronto, Canada Oh Canada, you’re so welcoming for a last minute vacation before the kids go back to school. The walkable city of Toronto has several kid-friendly museums and amusement parks. Ride thrilling coasters at Canada’s Wonderland, and hop aboard a ferry to Centreville Amusement Park. Must do things include standing on CN Tower’s glass floor high above the city – if you dare! For yummy dining options, stroll through Toronto’s ethnic neighborhoods. Tokyo, Japan Tasty food, great infrastructure and tons of attractions make Tokyo a diverse and cultural choice for a last minute vacation. From pop culture and neon streetscapes to historic temples, Toyko has something for all ages. Anime fans will adore Takeshita Street while history buffs will be impressed with the Meiji Shrine. Pamper your palate with sushi, ramen, and a visit to the Tsukiji Fish Market. Short on time before the kids go back to school? Take in sights on a city bus tour. Mimi Slawoff of Planetfamilytravel contributed this to MiniTime. She is a Los Angeles-based journalist and a seasoned family travel expert who explores the world with her three children and writes about their journeys.

Two Sentence Horror Story Creator Vera Miao Vera Miao is fresh and new in every way, but don’t call her Gay or Lesbian. “If you need to identify Vera can you please identify her as Queer?,” Stage 13’s publicist, Hanna Bolte, told me after the interview. Miao wanted to make sure I used the right moniker as we had talked about “openly gay” becoming my first name in the 90s and beyond as an Out man in media. However this young lady wants to be identified the one clear thing is that she is part of an exciting new crop of Queer filmmakers bringing their voices, their visions to television, OTT and web; this time she is coming to light with the help of Warner Bros. Digital Networks brand Stage 13 and Verizon’s go90. So how did a nice working daughter of a Chinese immigrant mother (both Vera and mom were born in the USA) end up a show runner on one of the oldest and biggest film lots in the world? Like most millennials, she found it online. “I found the posting on a list server that target female directors,” she told me on my daily Karel Cast. “To Stage 13 and Warner Bros. credit they really wanted to cast their net as wide as possible. They posted a very generally-worded call looking for diverse filmmakers for an unnamed network, unnamed project, you know, so I threw it over that cliff and never really thought about it. And then, within weeks, I was on the Warner Bros. lot pitching a project. I had been on the lot as an actor, but not as writer/producer/director and it was quite an experience walking on to pitch my own series,” she continued. That series would become “Two Sentence Horror Stories,” a horror anthology much like Black Mirror, but shorter, and with a variety of diverse story lines woven in the terror. “‘San Junipero’ and ‘Black Mirror’ has been a massive inspiration for me and the series,” she gushed, after I gushed to her about the miraculous “San Junipero” from that anthology winning an Emmy. I knew when I saw it was something special, and so did Miao and Emmy voters, “The content, as a filmmaker and the diversity of the stories, I can’t rave enough. ‘San Junipero’ came out of left field and breaks the ‘Black Mirror’ mold, a great love story, so emotional, it’s no wonder it won the Emmy. That win certainly makes our job a little easier,” she added. But make no mistake; she’s not about taking the easy way out. Her “Two Sentence Horror Stories” are brash, inventive, and very, very diverse. I recently watched several, including “Ma,” a story of a traditional mother, a not-so-traditional daughter and the horror that ensues. I sat wondering, how does one pitch this to an executive in today’s world? And was this autobiographical? “I didn’t pitch ‘Ma,’” Miao laughed. “I pitched an anthology series where each horror story is told in two sentences and is visually beautiful an emotionally developed, characters that we love, and that at the center had Queer people and people of color. That was the pitch. And yes, I suppose it is emotionally autobiographical in a sense, traditional mom, nontraditional daughter,” she laughed. And it worked. When Senior VP and General Manager of Stage 13 Diana Mogollón heard it, she was in. “Two Sentence Horror Stories is a brilliant Horror anthology created by Vera Miao, a vital new voice in the genre,” Mogollón told me via email from a business trip. “Miao brings a unique storytelling style that weaves in cultural issues, the human condition and the reality of our world that at times can be scarier than genre itself. Stage 13 is proud to launch this scripted Horror Anthology with go90,” the Senior VP and General Manager of Stage 13 Diana Mogollón stated. Vera Miao at Tribeca But in a time when there were only two visible Asian Americans at Emmy (BD Wong and Riz Ahmed), and a smattering of Queer and Women, has Hollywood caught up to society? Or is the job of Hollywood to catch up, or the job of Queer, Women, Hispanic, Asian and other filmmakers to break down the doors? “Hollywood is trying to catch up to where society is…,” Miao started. “But it’s up to both Hollywood and us to be Hollywood. Hollywood is not its own animal, it’s a gathering of people who write the stories, who make the movies, and move the money around and get the stories out there. I don’t see a separation between Hollywood and those of us trying to get the stories out, we are part of in, it is part of us and we have to function in it. “ But in a world that increasingly devalues art, wants music, movies and entertainment for free, it almost seems like a schizophrenic relationship. The United States exports more music, movies, TV and art than any other country, it’s our main product when you crunch the numbers, entertainment, yet, we don’t fund or respect those that make it. “It is a schizophrenic relationship, but isn’t that capitalism? Capitalism always creates schizophrenic relationships, particularly when we merge it with Art,” Miao stated. “You take it all when you go into it, because at the end of the day, we’re crazy because we love this so much. We can’t do anything else, so we have to make it work, right?” Indeed, as a person genetically engineered to be in front of cameras, microphones and people, the insanity of not being able to do anything else is dealt with on a daily basis by so many, including myself. But it’s a lot different behind the camera than in front, but like a few women before her (Streisand blazed that trail) she moves effortlessly from behind to in front. “I love being an actor, and it made me a better showrunner,” she stated, “On a personal level, I understand what they’re going through, I understand actors, I understand how to talk to actors, in terms of helping them, directing them, helping them understand what’s going on in a scene. And also, straight up, I have mad deep respect for actors and acting. It’s an honorable way of storytelling. We as a society and as a people couldn’t exists without folks that are brave enough to stand up in front of other people that stand up for your judgment, for your approval. That takes guts,” she added. And if being a Queer daughter of Taiwanese immigrants isn’t enough hurdles for Hollywood, when you add in she’s a woman in a genre that doesn’t see many of them except as victims to be stabbed, choked, dismembered or some other horror, she truly is blazing new trails. “You know there’s a lot of women who love the Horror Genre and there’s a lot of rad women out there who are making their way through the Genre,” Miao stated. “ I’m not going to say anything new to any other part of this industry, right? Yes, traditionally, historically and even now a lot of the people that make the stories tend to look a certain kind of way and look a certain way, particularly straight White men. That’s not new, that’s just a fact. At Two Sentence Horror Stories we hope to change that,” she added. As for the future, at her young age and the pace she’s ascending the Hollywood ladder, things are popping. Lots of things are in development and for a change that’s fabulous,” she laughed. “Seriously though, I hope that people embrace Season One of ‘Two Sentence Horror Stories’ and that gives us a second season to get even more diverse story lines out there.” Given the quality and content of the anthology series, true fans of horror will only benefit from the series lasting. And diverse people from all areas of life will see themselves reflected in storylines not as victims for a change, but as richly developed characters and all within 15 minutes or so. Of course, when the conversation turns to current social issues, Presidents and such, Miao agrees. “There’s a lot out there that’s even more frightening than fiction. We will draw on some of those absurdities, those fears, those circumstances, but for someone like me, real life sometimes seems more horrifying than anything on screen.” Amen.

“Many people think that what the addict needs is willpower, but nothing could be further from the truth.” — Arnold M. Washton, Ph.D. If you want to make any permanent change in your life, willpower won’t get you there. Whether you want to get healthier, stop using social media so much, improve your relationships, be happier, write a book, or start a business — willpower won’t help you with any of these things. Personal progress and achieving success are best approached like you’re overcoming addiction. Because, quite literally, that’s what you’re doing. As human-beings, we all have addictions. I openly admit being addicted to social media, my current belief system, my comfort zone, and my excuses. I’m also addicted to a lot of other behaviors that contradict my goals. We are all addicted. And the cognitive dissonance is numbing. If you’re serious about the changes you want to make, willpower won’t be enough. Quite the opposite. Willpower is what’s holding you back. Willpower is a broken approach to thriving and success “Willpower is for people who are still uncertain about what they want to do.” — Helia If you’re required to exert willpower to do something, there is an obvious internal conflict. You want to eat the cookie, but you also want to be healthy. Environment versus goal. The tension is mounting… !!! What are you going to do? Are you going to be strong this time and resist? Or are you going to crumble? According to psychological research, your willpower is like a muscle. It’s a finite resource that depletes with use. As a result, by the end of your strenuous days, your willpower muscles are exhausted and you’re left to your naked and defenseless self — with zero control to stop the night-time munchies and time wasters. At least, that’s what you’ve been taught. Clearly, the research on willpower explains human behavior. But only on the surface level — the effects. The very fact that willpower is required comes from two more fundamental sources — the causes: 1. You don’t know what you want, and are thus internally conflicted. 2. You haven’t committed to something and created conditions that facilitate your commitment. What do you really want? “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” — RalphWaldo Emerson If your life requires willpower, you haven’t fully determined what you want. Because once you make a decision, the internal debate is over. As Michael Jordan has said, “Once I made a decision, I never thought about it again.” After you decide what you want, the decision is made. Thus, all future decisions regarding that matter have also been made. No questions. So, are you serious about this? Or are you just talking? Are you still on the fence, or have you decided? Until you decide, you’ll be required to use willpower, and will continue making minimal progress. Are you committed? What is commitment? How do you know if you’re truly committed to something? When it comes to achieving goals, commitment involves: Investing upfront Making it public Setting a timeline Installing several forms of feedback/accountability Removing or altering everything in your environment that opposes your commitment If you’re truly committed to something, in your mind, it’s as though you’ve already succeeded. All doubt and disbelief are gone. If you’re committed to running a marathon, you’re going to put everything in place to make sure it happens. You’re not going to leave it up to chance. You’re going to start by signing up for a race (investment). You’re going to make it public (phase one of accountability). You’re going to get a running partner who holds you accountable. You’re going to track your progress (feedback) and account your progress to your accountability partner. Lastly, you’re going to remove things in your life that keep you from running. Commitment means you build external defense systems around your goals. Your internal resolve, naked to an undefended and opposing environment is not commitment. Creating conditions that make success inevitable “The addict only needs to change one thing… their whole damn life.” — Ben Hill, Ph.D. No matter how much internal resolve you have, you will fail to change your life if you don’t change your environment. This is where the willpower approach fails. The willpower approach doesn’t focus on changing the environment, but instead, on increasing personal efforts to overcome the current environment. What ends up happening?Eventually you succumb to your environment despite your greatest efforts to resist. The environment is more powerful than your internal resolve. As a human-being, you always take on the form of the environments you continually place yourself. Consequently, the best use of your choices is consciously designing environments that facilitate your commitments. Actually, if you’re really committed to something, this is exactly what you’ll do. If you’re trying to stop drinking alcohol, you must stop being 1) around people that drink alcohol and 2) at places that serve alcohol. Your willpower will fail if you don’t. You need to truly decide you’re done, to commit, and then to create an environment to make the success of your commitment inevitable. If you want to become a professional rock-climber, you need to surround yourself with professional rock-climbers and orient your whole lifestyle to that goal. This is how evolution works. We adapt to our environments. Thus, conscious evolution involves purposefully choosing or creating environments that mold us into the person we want to become. Everything in life is a natural and organic process. We adapt and evolve based on the environments we select. You are who you are because of your environment. Want to change? Then change your environment. Stop the willpower madness already. Conclusion Napoleon Hill once said, “When your desires are strong enough, you will appear to possess superhuman powers to achieve.” In a similar way, Bill Walsh said, “If your why is strong enough you will figure out how!” If you’re required to use willpower: You haven’t made up your mind. Your desire (your “why”) for your goals isn’t strong enough. You haven’t fully committed to what you’re going to do. Your environment opposes your goals. Thus, you haven’t created an environment that makes your goals inevitable. Willpower sucks. Forget about it.

“First of all, I would like to say that what she said was blatantly the definition of racism. Very black and white,” said the show’s co-host, referring specifically to Barr’s tweet in which she equated former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett with an ape. McCain, who is the daughter of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), also took President Donald Trump and his administration to task. “I have been so disheartened by what is acceptable in the world right now, what’s acceptable in the White House, and it’s refreshing to see someone take a stand and say, ‘No. Not at ABC, not at this company. This is not acceptable rhetoric,’” she said. “And it’s interesting that ABC holds a higher standard to their employees than apparently the White House does.” Paula Lobo via Getty Images Roseanne Barr, along with castmates John Goodman and Sara Gilbert, during an appearance on "The View" in March. Other conservatives have defended Barr by either downplaying the racist nature of her remarks or claiming the revival of her sitcom, “Roseanne,” was axed because of political correctness. McCain took issue with that argument, and said she had previously been a fan of the new “Roseanne” and its portrayal of middle America. “I don’t want network television to stay away from reflecting blue-collar people in the middle of the country, and I hope somebody who just isn’t a crazy racist can make a show that’s reflective of that, as well,” she said. Co-host Whoopi Goldberg also had some strong words for Barr. On Tuesday, Barr attempted to put attention on the outspoken liberal by posting a highly edited photo of Goldberg wearing a T-shirt featuring a violent image of Trump.

At least 27 girls and women said disgraced USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar sexually assaulted them while he was under FBI investigation for similar behavior, according to a new Saturday report from The New York Times. Nassar first came under FBI suspicion in July 2015 after the agency received complaints from three top-tier female athletes, including two Olympic gymnasts. He was permitted to continue practicing medicine until September 2016, when the Indianapolis Star published damning accusations against him. The sluggish pace of the FBI investigation ― split between agents in three cities ― allowed Nassar’s abuse to continue unnecessarily, the Times suggested. In a statement, the FBI responded, saying its investigation “transcended jurisdictions,” pointing to bureaucratic inefficiency as a possible explanation for the slow pace. (Bureaus in Indiana, Michigan and Texas were involved in the case.) The list of young women accusing the now-convicted doctor of sexual abuse currently stands at 265. Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison on seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in January, and he is currently awaiting sentencing on another three counts. His case has prompted furious questions from accusers and their family members demanding to know why Nassar’s abuse continued for more than two decades. The FBI investigation was slow from the start. USA Gymnastics officials first alerted agents about Nassar’s behavior 41 days after they were told a coach overheard a conversation between gymnast Maggie Nichols and Olympian about the doctor’s uncomfortable techniques. Nassar was then a respected sports physician who worked at Michigan State University and traveled with USA Gymnastics. A third gymnast, Olympian McKayla Maroney, then emerged as a “central complainant,” per the Times. The information was quickly shared with the gymnasts’ parents and officials at USA Gymnastics, but it took more than a month for it to land at the FBI. Nichols’ mother told the Times that now-former USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny repeatedly asked her to keep the matter quiet as the organization figured out what to do.

I am not talking about weight gain. There is a ubiquitous view that success requires blood, sweat, and tears. It cannot be easy! I absolutely believe that success does require effort and engagement, but I don't agree that effort and engagement need to be hard and painful. In most areas of life, pain is recognized as a healthy feedback mechanism that lets us know something is wrong. We override it at our peril. I learned this in my twenties when I used a garlic poultice to treat a rash on my chest. It hurt like hell, but I persisted because I thought it must was working. I pushed through the pain and left it on for the recommended time. I ended up with a second-degree burn on my chest! I used to be good at ignoring pain and going forward anyway. I did not see it as idiotic and reckless. I learned to not listen to my discomfort. My compass point was working hard and ignoring feedback from my thoughts, feelings, and body telling me to do otherwise. I saw it as strength. It worked until it didn't. I would be full on, until I would crash and need to be fully off for a while. Fortunately, I was always able to recuperate and start again, but my method was not efficient. Pushing through discomfort took up bandwidth that was not being used to create. I recognize that I get far more done now than I did when I felt like I was busy pushing myself. As I approach my work now and look at what I want to create, relaxation, fun and enjoyment are the compass points I use to let me know if I am on track. This does not impair my productivity. It improves it. The difference now is I am better at listening to and trusting my wisdom. Previously, I was more inclined to look outside of myself and follow a formula based on someone else's success. So, even if my insides were screaming "No!", I would forge ahead trusting that the outside authority knew better than I. I did not realize success couldn’t be reduced to a generic process. One size certainly does not fit all. What I missed was my capacity to be curious and find enjoyable ways to stay engaged that were in alignment for me. Instead, I followed what other people were inspired to do rather than listening for my own inspiration. It is easy to give up or burn out when we don't listen to our inspiration. We conclude that something isn't for us because we don't like the process we think it takes to be successful. We don't see there are infinite ways to get there, and we can each find our own way. I have had numerous conversations with people who decided coaching wasn't for them because they didn't like the process of building a practice. They had reasons like: I don't like the hype, I don't want to charge high fees, and I don't like setting up numerous conversations. These were all potentially excellent coaches. They just had not found the business development model that they could get behind. Instead, they thought they didn't have what it took to be a coach. They took their lack of motivation as a sign that the work was not for them, rather than it being feedback that they needed to find other ways to engage. It is always exciting to help someone see they can have something they want but have dismissed. It is as simple as pointing out the infinite capacity we all have to come up with new ideas about how to approach our goals. It easy to have an open-minded approach toward engaging when it is aligned with our deeper knowing. There may not be a one size fits all formula for success, but we each have the real-time feedback of our wisdom and inspiration. If success requires engagement, we are far more likely to engage when something feels right and good to us. I know for myself I enjoy putting effort into my work. It doesn't feel hard, and it is easy for me to be consistent in this way. It makes sense that people get a lot more done when it doesn't feel hard. I am not saying it is possible to always feel good. I know the human emotional experience is variable. I am saying that I don't think it helps success and productivity to push ourselves harder when we are down or to endure chronic states of stress and anxiety. We are susceptible to this when we try to do something that does not line up inside of us. I might enjoy an adrenaline rush once and awhile, but it is not how I want to live my life. It certainly didn't work for me as a long-term strategy for success. It resulted in burnout and an epic internal destabilization that impacted all areas of my life. What if success is the result of inspired action that feels good and is informed by our own wisdom -- tailor made for us? What if achievement simply requires staying engaged in a way that feels fun and enjoyable? What if progress does not require pushing ourselves beyond our comfort zone and forcing ourselves to take action in ways we don't want to? I am not talking about living a small life limited by fear and insecurity. I am saying the best way to live beyond our current limitations is to trust our innate wisdom. We don't need to force ourselves to push beyond our insecurities because we are naturally designed to grow in consciousness and understanding. We can't make that happen faster by working harder. Just like we don't grow taller by eating more. There is an innate wisdom unfolding inside of each one of us revealing itself to us in our daily life. This wisdom feels good. It is for us. It is aligned with the heart. Authentic success is simply the result of listening to and acting on our wisdom rather than pushing from the fear and insecurity of the ego. This is the space that Barb Patterson and I engage from in the Solopreneur Mastermind we co-facilitate. It is an engaged space where participants listen more deeply to their wisdom and act from there. A space where experimentation, exploration, and fun are valued. An environment that nurtures the spark of inspiration rather than letting it be extinguished by reason and logic. What if success is the natural by-product of our own self-realization and divinely guided rather than solely human made? Regarding my business, my intention is to listen to the calling of my heart and share what comes forward in service to others. I know it can be done in alignment with my wellbeing, and I recognize the timing is not on me. I can't force myself into an insight and seeing more than I currently do. I know that greater success comes from greater insight, not the other way around. I do better when I know better. As my understanding goes up, I see more opportunities and ways to act on them that were invisible to me before. Working harder of following someone else's plan would not have revealed them to me sooner. So I make the most of what makes sense to me in the moment. I am never at a loss as to how to stay engaged and in the game of creation. I know more will be revealed to me as I go along not because I make it happen, but because I know that as a spiritual being having a human experience I am designed, as we all are, to wake up more fully to the truth of who I am and what is. We may as well relax and enjoy the ride of our own awakening. The kind of success I am interested in is the by-product of expressing my true nature more fully for the pure joy of it. As Howard Thurman said, "Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

The New York Post called out President Donald Trump and reality TV star Kim Kardashian over their meeting at the White House on Wednesday. But the newspaper ended up getting called out by critics on Twitter instead. Trump and Kardashian met to discuss criminal justice reform, an issue Kardashian has become passionate about over the past year. However, the Post mocked her as “Kim Thong Un” and referred to the meeting as “The Other Big Ass Summit” on its front page: Tomorrow's cover: Kim Kardashian visits the White House to discuss prison reform with President Trump https://t.co/1N3bNkVmK7 pic.twitter.com/yPaL93Tyhe — New York Post (@nypost) May 30, 2018 Some loved the Post’s tabloid take on the meeting: Might have to get a keep sake copy of tomorrow’s paper https://t.co/czMz56H13u — Conor Duffy (@conorduffynews) May 30, 2018 Kim Thong Un 😅😅😅 — mallory (@malzygirl) May 30, 2018 Best everrrrrrrr, in the history of the world! Best thing I’ve ever seen on the internets! — Wall of Worry! (@wallOfWorryFL) May 30, 2018 But many others weren’t happy about the coverage at all. Even readers who admit they’re fans of neither the reality TV star nor the president are calling out the newspaper: Y’all really gonna make me go to bat for Kim K, eh? “The Other Big Ass Summit” Just in case readers interpret this double entendre to be referring to their common personality traits, you reference Kim’s butt 3 more times. This is too trite, even for you all. https://t.co/lRRhqweZgs — Rashona (@Rashona) May 30, 2018 You know, I’m not a fan of @KimKardashian, not even a tiny bit, but she’s trying to do what she thinks is right and will help people in the long run. I can respect that. — Moe (@ViciousHeathen) May 30, 2018 This cover is sexist and pathetic. Do better @nypost. https://t.co/RxJcm8K34s — Brian Kosciesza (@BrianKosh) May 31, 2018 I don't care for the Kardashians but this is over the top. She is still a person. — Andrew Donaldson (@four4thefire) May 31, 2018 Everyone is pressed about her talking about prison reform, but um what are you doing about it 🧐 damned if you do damned if you don't https://t.co/uDqDwhHQpJ — Wascar Algenis (@Wascarrrr) May 30, 2018 This seems very mean spirited against someone who was just trying to advocate for criminal justice reform https://t.co/Cr7hG5iOAX — Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) May 30, 2018 That’s a bit rude isn’t it? — Geoff Quattromani (@GQuattromani) May 31, 2018 This is disgraceful for a cover . And I saying when I am not fan of Kim or Trump... — betterminded (@betterminded1) May 31, 2018 woman uses her considerable celebrity influence to talk directly to the president about important and vital prison reform@nypost: yeah but did you see her bum???https://t.co/RpzjFHEnLl — Alex Bruce-Smith (@alexbrucesmith) May 30, 2018 Ya know, kardshian is trying to accomplish something if substance. I'm not a fan of either Trump nor Kardashian. While this is funny, it's also keeps you as a sub-par news rag, suited to line catboxes — Jeremy DuBrul (@DuBrulJ) May 31, 2018 i hate this Administration, but even this newspaper cover is fucking dumber than hell — Andrew Michael Flynn (@OHPFstory) May 31, 2018 I’m not the biggest Kim K fan, but this is in poor taste and sexist. — Amineh (@ZanesMyBae) May 31, 2018 I'm not a fan or either of them, but the personal remarks about her are on the line if not over it. — Tom Gladstone (@TomGladstone) May 31, 2018 The hypocrisy here is palpable. Y’all are garbage for making fun of her for doing something so good — Kelly Smith (@kellysmithmeow) May 31, 2018 So, are your editors going to blame Ambien for this cover? — Hubert Vigilla (@HubertVigilla) May 31, 2018 And at least one person saw both sides of the issue:

BOSTON - (April 17, 2017) - The elevator door swung open on the fifth floor of the Sheraton Boston hotel and Kathrine Switzer, age 70, strode down the hallway with a purpose. With an adidas rolling bag behind her, she walked quickly as there were people to see and interviews to do. Her schedule resembled that of the the busiest executive on State St. or maybe, even, a Head of State like the Queen of England. On this week, leading into the 121st running of the Boston Marathon, Switzer was celebrating and being celebrated for her historic efforts 50 years ago. For the past week, Kathrine Switzer was the popular Queen of Boston. Photo: Courtesy 261 Fearless Switzer, left at Boston marathon starting line in Hopkinton, Mass, accompanied by Rosy Sprager, a 261 Fearless team member. As it's been chronicled so thoroughly this week, Switzer signed up for the 1967 Boston Marathon as K.V. Switzer at a time female participants were not welcome to run. When race director Jock Semple caught wind of the fact he’d overlooked the entry from the first woman to ever “successfully” register for the grueling road race. When old Jock saw the woman in full stride, he hopped off a press bus and accosted her, attempting to rip off her race bib No. 261. A few of the male runners alongside Switzer, including her big, burly then-boyfriend, former Syracuse All-American football and track man “Big Tom” Miller body-blocked the angry race official as he was shouting at Switzer. The rest is history, as they say, but it’s a history that Switzer prefers to project to the present and the short and longterm future. She settled into a conference room at the hotel and calmly opened her bag, itself a rolling office and work station, all week, for her 261 Fearless organization. She casually opened an old plastic shopping bag and out came original copies of the newspapers of Thursday, April 20th, 1967, the day after the race and carefully laid-out the Boston Globe and Record-American, among a few others, the edges frayed and yellowing. Dressed in her 261 Fearless running gear which was more Harvard Crimson than Syracuse Orange, she sat down with ARD-TV of Germany to begin a full day of interviews and appearances in Boston. Only two weeks ago, Switzer was conducting interviews and conference calls from her New Zealand residence where she spends half the year before moving the operation to New Paltz, New York. Very capably and professionally, Switzer’s 261 Feaarless CEO, Edith Zuschmann, was orchestrating plans from Austria. Switzer’s small, buttoned-up organization, just recently launched, was prepping to hit a springboard at and around the events in Boston this month. It would vault her organization to truly global standing and stature, all in a purpose to create a different kind of not-for-profit in the running industry. The 261 Fearless mantra is all about encouragement and inclusion. It’s not about time and performance rates. Rather, Switzer is sending some mojo and a message to (mostly) women, but also to few good men to symbolize the assist Miller gave to her back in the spring of ’67, and the message is one of hope and determination, along with instructions to simply RUN. She wants people to run for their lives. Not in a fight or fright kind of way, but rather in a mind-clearing, healthy, change your life for the better kind of way. Too often, the running industry stresses the improvement of time or the increase of distance, rather than the life-changing Rx of a simple run. Too often, runners are told to buy the most advanced shoe or hook-up a wearable to gauge time, distance and heart rate. Maybe, the serenity of a run might be more beneficial if you could blend in some camaraderie and sheer fun? It sounds too simple, but in an age of constant competition and a human culture to always ask ‘What’s next,” a run with some friends and feeling the right way simply being part of a welcoming group of fellow 261ers, might just be the right remedy for what is ailing so many of us in this ever increasing stressful world in which we live. Switzer sat down with dozens, if not hundreds of journalists and television crews to recall memories of 50 years ago, all amazingly vivid to her. She answer questions about ‘The Incident,” and generally celebrate women’s running and the extension to women’s sports. The enthusiasm began to shine through, speaking first to ARD’s Ole Zeisler who had flown in from Hamburg to conduct the nearly hour long sit-down. Afterward, leaving her prized newspaper stash with a producer she had just met, Switzer and Zeisler headed out from the hotel to Boylston Street, to take in the final stretch of the marathon route and film some candids and cut-aways. They ended up on the finish line, chatting it up like old friends. Soon, she was off to an official press function conducted by the Boston Athletic Association. At that event, the BAA announced that they were “officially retiring" Race Bib No. 261. Later, phone calls were made to Runner’s World for a podcast, to Running Magazine in Germany, to the Daily Telegraph in England, to WBUR-Radio the public station which seerves Boston and to its parent, NPR in DC and a lengthy list of others fell into place, like clockwork. In-depth interviews were done with CBS This Morning and CNN. She found time for Syracuse University, her alma later and for an old friend, Cristina Mitre who flew in from Spain to conduct a more “fashion than sports” photography shoot, calling on Ms. Mitre’s experience at Elle. That was done at the AT&T Store on Boylston where Switzer signed copies of her book, “Marathon Woman,” before grabbing a 10-minute rest on a comfy couch, exhausted but not deterred. Some members of the 261 Fearless team passed along some nutritious concoction of nuts and who knows what to fuel her still-sleek-after-all-these-years body. Zuschmann sat down quietly next to her colleague and they ran through the agenda for a special event on the second floor loft of the AT&T Store, hosted by sponsors adidas and Bose after her healthy hand-off from Boston Magazine’s marketing team. Switzer’s husband, Roger Robinson, emcee’d an hour-long, story-telling reenactment of the famed incident, with first-hand anecdotes from Frank Litsky, the New York Times reporter on the press truck that day, John Leonard, the last surviving member of the Syracuse track team of ’67 and Dave McKenzie of New Zealand, the race champion that April day. The hectic pace continued all weekend, with Switzer joining her old friend Amby Burfoot, the 1968 Boston champion who will follow Switzer’s experience and celebrate the 50th anniversary of his win a year from now. Burfoot, the longtime editor-at-large at Runner’s World magazine, is running today as a member of the 261 Fearless team, in support of his friend. Photo by T. Peter Lyons Switzer at Fenway Park Switzer lined up for the Marathon, conducted a slew of other interviews for the BAA at the Hopkinton starting line, then performed an honor reserved for the best of the best by sending the “elite” women’s runners off on their quest to win today’s race. To that end, Geoffrey Kirui of Kenya won the men’s division and Edna Kiplagat, also from Kenya, took the women’s honors. Switzer and 13,696 other women, just under half of the marathon’s 30,074 participants, followed the elites. At age 70, and in prime, mid-life like condition, Switzer was not looking at her stopwatch as she raced through the tough Boston course and the legendary Heartbreak Hill path through Newton and into Boston. When she crossed the line, it was graciousness and sheer appreciation to her team of runners who raised money for the launch of the global organization to live-on for the next 50 years or more, in her name. "I'd like to thanks all teh people on the streets of Boston. I am so grateful for being able to run the Boston Marathon 50 years after my first one,” said Switzer after the race today. "I’d like to thank the BAA and everyone involved for their amazing support this entire weekend. I’d also like to send special thanks to the members of our 261 Fearless Boston Marathon team who have helped empower women globally through running.” Switzer crossed the finish line to thunderous applause and into the arms of race officials and her husband, all while a huge contingent of media jockeyed for position to capture the moment. She ran the race in an official time of 4:44:31. It was her ninth Boston Marathon, the last to ever see the bib No. 261 participate.

How many “experts” does it take to offer commentary and advice on a customer service catastrophe? The apparent answer is, “All of them.” This post, however, isn’t about what United Airlines did right or wrong on flight 3411. It is about the lessons you should learn and changes you need to make today to avoid alienating your current and potential customers in the future. Why You Should Care This was an incident no one wanted to happen. That reality should scare everyone who leads a business or team. You can’t write off the entire incident as a few bad apples. The staff and crew working United 3411 didn’t wake up on Sunday, April 8 thinking, “Let’s make the world hate us because of our bad service.” Likewise, the airport security officers weren’t looking for someone to injure. The passenger involved certainly wasn’t thinking, “My trip will be complete if I can be dragged off my flight and need reconstructive surgery.” Lessons You Should Learn Your business is an unfortunate turn of events on a slow news day from being the next viral sensation. Here are five lessons to take away from what happened on United 3411: 1. How you do things is important. Airlines have involuntarily bumped passengers from flights since at least the 1950s. In 2016, the numbers are less than 1 in every 10,000 passengers. United Airlines removed passengers at a rate of 0.43 times per 10,000 passengers. American and Southwest Airlines both had higher bump numbers and higher customer satisfaction ratings last year than United. When it comes to managing the customer experience, how you do it is crucial. 2. You can follow the rules and still be wrong. United CEO Oscar Munoz probably earned points with his staff when he supported them for following procedures. Unfortunately, he made things worse with the public. In this case, the problem wasn’t that people didn’t follow the rules. It was that the rules were out of touch with what it takes to create a compelling customer experience. 3. Your reputation matters. United’s current blunder is amplified by its past. The company refused to allow two teenage girls to fly on a non-revenue employee/family pass less than a month before this incident. Even though United was within its rights, public reaction was brutal. In 2009, singer Dave Carroll posted a song on YouTube titled, “United Breaks Guitars.” To date, it has logged over 17 million views and spawned two additional videos with over 2 million and 900 thousand respective views. Dave Carroll has even written a book and speaks around the world on the customer service lessons from his experience. Every screw up is magnified when you have a questionable reputation. 4. Your true culture is revealed in the tough times. Munoz has taken responsibility for system failures that prevented front-line leaders from exercising common sense. His acknowledgements reflect a deeper problem – a culture where the company’s leaders believe that rules take precedence over common sense and compassion. Every company can show a positive culture when things go right. Your response when things go wrong is the true test. 5. If your name is on it, you own it. None of the flight staff, crew, or security officers involved in this event were actually United employees. The flight was operated by Republic Airlines, a regional partner. The security officers worked for the Chicago Department of Aviation. It doesn’t matter. United Airlines is on the side of the airplane. They own every piece of the interaction. It’s the same with your company. It is still your responsibility if there is something wrong with your product or service ... even if it was someone else’s error. What To Do Now The first thing you should do is to say a private “thank you” that your company has not spent the past week feeling the public’s wrath. After that, here are three ideas: 1. Rethink what’s important. Results still rule, but the days of blind devotion to profit at any cost are gone. Flawless execution is the minimum to be in the game. Continuously improving the status quo will keep your product and service relevant, but even that is not enough. Every consideration of what’s important must include valuing people – all people including your customers, team members, and the whole of society. 2. Refine every process and system. Process and system create habits, and your habits define your culture. Reexamine every area of your operation to ensure that it consistently and flawlessly turns your intention about what’s important into action. 3. Refocus on leadership at every level. Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper famously said, “You manage things. You lead people.” The challenges you face to flourish in the future require more leadership than management. Now is the time to double down on your commitment to growing and empowering leaders to do what’s right. The present should be guided more by the future than the past. You can learn from the United’s recent missteps to flourish. Isn’t it time to begin?

There’s been so much written over the past forty-eight hours about the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia that I feel as if we are suffering from a flood of thoughts and opinions. That’s not a bad thing, per se. People should take time and space to process these kinds of events, to respond to them with their experiences and beliefs, and engage in meaningful dialogue about how to stop this sort of senseless terrorism from happening again. But because so much of the content produced by Black women has been largely drowned out by the flood of media, I’m not going to attempt to rehash any of the myriad arguments around the role of whiteness in causing this confrontation, the boiling racial tensions which culminated in the election of President Trump, or the President’s obstinate refusal to decisively and unilaterally condemn neo-Nazis and the KKK. I’m not going to take words out of these writers’ mouths about the role of white allies in this struggle either. After all, these authors know far better than I the consequences of being Black in a country which treasures their suppression and encodes it in its very artistic and sociopolitical DNA - and the best ways to counter that. Instead, I want to focus on the consequences and symbolic reality of taking down Confederate statues across the country - and why we can’t simply stop there if we want to change things permanently. Back in 2015, activist Bree Newsome removed the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse, sparking a nationwide conversation on the role of the iconography of the Civil War in America (something that Black activists had been discussing for about as long as Confederate flags were flown, it should be noted). The resulting firestorm culminated in the removal of many flags from government buildings and other publicly owned spaces as a kind of atonement. Clearly, the long term consequences of this action have been minimal. Even the Confederate flag debate was subject to infinite articles, conversations, and protests on both sides of the issue. White people did not take the removal of these flags well at all. The Confederate flag, for many white people, was simply a piece of fabric, representative of some abstract time painted in contrasting, broad strokes. For Black Americans and their openly racist white counterparts, the flag was indicative of an era of ritualized lynchings, systematic subjugation, and political and social disenfranchisement. The difference between the two groups, of course, was that one wanted to reject that past and the other wanted to reignite it. As the election of President Trump has emboldened anti-Semitic actions around the country and more racially motivated hate crimes, neo-Nazis and their allies have moved from the shadows into the light - the tiki torch light, to be more exact. No longer afraid of ramifications, these men and women marched with a chilling boldness through the streets demanding what was never theirs to begin with be given back to them. This, combined with the terrorist attack at Friday’s protest resulting in over a dozen injuries and the death of Heather Heyer, galvanized people into taking action. So far, that action seems to be a concerted effort to remove emblems of the Confederacy - mostly in the form of statues - all throughout the United States. Symbolically, this is a meaningful gesture. Removing these statues and placing them in a context appropriate to their historical creation - one that sends the clear message that the Confederacy and what it stood for was morally abhorrent - will help to visually move the era into the past. But realistically speaking, it does little. The ideology that allowed these statues to stand for a century or more will still persist. The stone forms may be destroyed, but the belief system that acted as an invisible scaffolding supporting their weight will remain intact, rendering them ever present.

President Donald Trump’s strategy of threatening North Korea could set “the stage for successful diplomacy” to limit the hermit nation’s nuclear program, William J. Perry, Bill Clinton’s second secretary of defense, told The Huffington Post in an interview Friday. Perry, who endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race, has been advising presidents on nuclear activity since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. A mathematician by trade, he has devoted much of his time since his government work to nuclear disarmament through the William J. Perry Project, a nonprofit he founded. The U.S. came close to nuclear confrontation with North Korea in 1994, during Perry’s tenure as defense secretary. Diplomacy was the key in avoiding a crisis, he said. But the U.S. needs to be seen as a credible threat to North Korea for diplomacy to be an option, he argued. By sending North Korea a message that a military strike is indeed on the table, Trump could create an environment where diplomacy might be possible — and limit the cooperation between the country and China, Perry argued. Trump sent Navy carrier USS Carl Vinson to the Korean Peninsula last week, and said he is open to considering a sudden strike on North Korea in response to missile tests, a person familiar with the White House’s thinking told Bloomberg. And Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Seoul, South Korea, over the weekend to remind the region of U.S. military might. “North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in this region,” Pence said of Trump. Pyongyang tested a missile Sunday morning, but it failed almost immediately after launch. The first step to a successful North Korea strategy is leading the country to “believe that we’re serious about military action,” Perry said. “They did not believe that during the Obama or the Bush administrations. They believe it now.” Their objective was to sustain their regime and they have succeeded, and they think that their nuclear program has played a big role." William J. Perry, former secretary of defense Trump has appealed to China to play a greater role in containing North Korea, and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-A-Lago last weekend to discuss cooperation. Trump made it clear that he would welcome Beijing’s help, but has warned that he’s prepared to act alone ― though he hasn’t specified what action he’s prepared to take. But his bluster seems to be working, Perry said. “We have never been able to get China to cooperate with us in the past, but China now is fully convinced that North Korea’s action is posing dangers to their own security.” The facts on the ground have also changed. For many years, China didn’t think Pyongyang was capable of building a sizable nuclear arsenal, Perry noted. “That was wrong,” he said. “In addition, North Korean aggression could propel South Korea and Japan to build their own nuclear weapons,” he said, “which would be very undesirable to [China].” China is responsible for so much of North Korea’s economy ― it is North Korea’s largest trade partner, and 90 percent of North Korean oil imports come from China ― that any Chinese pressure could bring results, Perry said. Bonnie Glaser, senior Asia adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a think tank, agrees that Trump’s strategy could trigger increased Chinese pressure on North Korea. “I hope it’s a rare opportunity for some China-North Korea diplomacy,” she said. The Chinese would have to roll back their relationship with Pyongyang, which would entail shutting down the banks and front companies in northeastern China that do business with North Korea, putting an end to Chinese oil imports to North Korea, preventing tourist activity and reducing trade. North Korean leaders are rational enough to respond to Chinese pressure, Perry argued: They may be reckless, but they are shrewd. “They’ve taken a very weak hand and they’ve played it very shrewdly,” he said. “Their objective was to sustain their regime and they have succeeded, and they think that their nuclear program has played a big role.” Damir Sagolj / Reuters Military officers visit the birthplace of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, a day before the 105th anniversary of his birth, in Mangyongdae, just outside Pyongyang, North Korea, on April 14. Glaser thinks the Chinese will end up doing more to pressure North Korea because of how important Beijing’s relationship with Washington is. “The U.S. has made this a litmus test of the U.S.-China relationship,” she said. “So the Chinese will assess what’s the minimum they can do and they will probably do that for a short period of time.” Chinese help is “necessary but not sufficient” to restraining North Korea, Glaser added. “We obviously need to have our own strategy as well and eventually move towards diplomacy.” And she is skeptical that China is genuinely prepared to roll back its relationship with North Korea. “Chinese interests don’t change with changes in American presidential administrations,” she said. “And U.S. and Chinese interests just do not coincide.”

“Adulthood is bullshit,” multi-hyphenate creative Hunter Schafer told Dazed when she was selected as one of the Dazed 100, a list that highlights the next generation of youth culture. “And I think some of the most successful and radiant people are those who have been able to get back to that instinctive and child-like part of their selves again.” It’s an amusing comment coming from someone who, at 18 years old, has accomplished more than many twice her age. Schafer, who has been drawing since she can remember, is a gifted illustrator and comic artist, tweaking the styles of influences like Tim Burton and Skottie Young to create aqueous ink and watercolor images that combine moody fantasy with teen angst. “My parents were really good about not sitting me down in front of a TV,” Schafer told The Huffington Post. “They really nurtured the creative part of me.” When Schafer got an Instagram account, she started exploring the potentials of photography. Today, with almost 5,000 followers, she uses the platform to hone her artistic vision and weave visual stories about herself and her community. “I became more aware of an aesthetic that I was interested in and wanted to uphold,” she explained. “I realized that just drawing things wasn’t enough for me; I could convey my voice artistically through other mediums outside of two-dimensional, surface work.” Hunter Schafer Influenced by David Bowie, Schafer is a quickly evolving artist driven by experimentation, self-discovery and play. Her works break down binaries of all kinds ― between exterior and interior, personal and political, authentic and artificial, serious and fun. Schafer is also an activist, specifically advocating for trans youth. Having transitioned at 14 years old, Schafer has actively protested North Carolina’s House Bill 2, which forces transgender individuals to use bathrooms that don’t reflect their gender identity. After the bill passed, Schafer joined a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and began sharing her experiences through art and writing. Though HB2 was technically repealed in March, the compromise passed in its place perpetuates the discriminatory views that propelled the original law, and does nothing to protect trans populations from prejudice or abuse. As a high school student based in North Carolina, Schafer has firsthand knowledge of the emotional damage and physical danger inflicted upon trans teens when they are denied the basic liberty of using a bathroom. “Every time I use a public bathroom, I have to make a choice,” she wrote for Teen Vogue. “Do I break the law, or do I disregard my comfort and face the risk of harassment and violence?” Hunter Schafer Close SUBSCRIBE TO & FOLLOW CULTURE SHIFT Level up. Read THIS and be the most interesting person at your dinner party. Learn more Newsletter 477 K Podcast Add us Initially, Schafer viewed art and activism as separate parts of her life. But more recently, she’s begun to experiment with the ways creative expression and political resistance can bolster one another. For her high school senior thesis project, Schafer is working on a series of garments aimed to fight discrimination against trans communities, exploring how imagination can wrestle the body away from binary understandings of gender. One of Schafer’s recent wearable creations is a pair of bulky red underwear with two large hands covering up the wearer’s genitals. Lettering across the unorthodox undergarments reads: “Peel away every perception.” On the item’s backside is a black-and-white line drawing of a wrinkled face, lips pursed in what resembles judgment. The garment speaks to the absurdity of discerning one’s identity with one particular body part we rarely even, if ever, see. “The piece is dealing with how people perceive me versus how I feel,” Schafer said. “I am encountering new facets of being trans every day. I need to process that through my work. They’re almost like journal entries.” Hunter Schafer Another biographical ensemble, titled ““Pubescent,” is a yellow two-piece featuring felt cutouts of writhing torsos placed atop the wearer’s breasts. The outfit, with its exaggerated, proportions, visualizes the changes a body undergoes during puberty, or gender transition. Awkward, unruly and ultimately beautiful, the outfit visualizes the experience of inhabiting a changing body. Schafer also communicates her personal experiences through illustrations, like this 2015 series on Rookie, which navigates the difficulty of dressing up for formal events like school dances, where a strict gender binary was especially enforced. “I longed to escape, and to express what I felt inside me — not what was expected of me,” she said in a statement. So far, Schafer has enjoyed incorporating the spirit of activism into her art. “I want to do something meaningful with my work,” she said. “Being able to translate my experiences as a trans person into my artwork, and using my work as a platform to support marginalized communities in general, those are things that are really important to me now. They’re definitely becoming part of my artistic identity.” Hunter Schafer Aside from the many media she’s already successfully dipped into, Schafer is beginning to explore modeling and modern dance as other modes of storytelling. In part, she credits the internet for eliminating rigid boundaries between artistic disciplines and encouraging young artists to create without limitations. “The internet is changing the young artistic scene because we have such a fast way to share and react and create our own platforms,” Schafer said. “I think the internet has empowered young artists to create these online personas and carry out aesthetics that they want to try out. We can receive direct feedback from other young artists, react to them, and share and spread our ideas. It’s completely youth led and that’s what is so wonderful.” Schafer, who was recently nominated as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts by the National YoungArts Foundation, is currently finishing up her final year of high school and is planning to take a gap year before college to live and make work in New York City. Her contributions as an artist and activist are wildly impressive, regardless of the fact that Schafer is still a teenager. Thankfully, the young creative force shows no signs of slowing down or growing up anytime soon.

When making a vegetable risotto, I favor grating some of the vegetable in question or otherwise reducing it to a near-puree and cooking it along with the rice. This adds a more luxurious consistency and infuses flavor right into the grain. Freshness and texture can then come from chunks or dice of the same vegetable added toward the end of cooking. I’ve taken this approach for mushroom risottos, but never to quite the extent that I did the other day, when I used a total of a pound and a quarter (570 g) of mushrooms for just enough risotto to feed Jackie and me plus a friend. I began with a clump of hen-of-the-woods (maitake) weighing around 10 ounces (285 g). I cut the numerous caps from the stalk and set them aside, then chopped the stalk and simmered it in a quart (liter) of diluted chicken stock, along with a sprinkle of salt, a scrap of kombu for extra savoriness/umami and a few sage leaves to remind myself that an Italian-style dish was in the offing. When this had simmered for half an hour, I left it to steep until tepid, then strained it. As it was cooling, it occurred to me that this prospective risotto – which would be subtly mushroomy – would benefit from the intensified flavor of mushroom mush cooked along with the rice. So I went to the supermarket on our corner and bought a 10-ounce (285 g) package of ordinary white mushrooms. I wiped them (fairly) clean and finely minced them in the food processor with a couple of leaves of sage; they were just about pureed. After melting a tablespoon of butter in a skillet, I added the pureed mushrooms and some salt and cooked them over medium heat, stirring frequently, until they had reduced to a thick, brown mass – in effect, an allium-free duxelles. Mushrooms being what they are (mostly water), even this dense, thickened, delicious puree remained very moist. (Remember: Ordinary mushrooms are wonderful things – it’s nice to have the exotica, but I’d use the everyday variety for this entire dish. In a flash.) To make the risotto I used the old-fashioned method of constant stirring. Nothing new here: I sweated a big shallot, minced, in olive oil; stirred in the rice (something less than a cup of the carnaroli variety – say 225 ml by volume – for the three of us) and cooked it in the oil for half a minute before adding a scant quarter cup (50 ml, say) white wine and reducing it. I then incorporated all of the mushroom puree and began the pleasant task of adding heated-up mushroom-scented stock a little at a time and stirring the risotto energetically. Et cetera: see any old-fashioned risotto recipe or take a look at the story I wrote after a risotto lesson in Venice. While this was happening, I gave the maitake caps a sauté in minimal olive oil, using highish heat to slightly crisp their edges; they cooked quickly: compared with the stalk, the caps are very tender. You could do this before starting the rice if you’re uneasy about stirring and sautéing at the same time. When the rice was done, I checked for seasoning (pepper was called for), added the sautéed maitake caps, covered the pan and left it alone for three minutes, at which point I vigorously stirred in a scant ounce (20 or 25 g) of butter and a small handful of a mixture of parsley and sage, chopped. Parsley alone would be fine, and, throughout the recipe, you could use a wee bit of thyme in place of the sage, but only a wee bit lest it take control of the entire dish. At this point I also beat in a little more stock to attain a properly fluid consistency – this may be unnecessary, but be ready for the possibility. Between all those mushrooms and the kombu-tinged stock, the risotto was so savory that I added no grated parmesan. But I did bring some to the table; after experimental spoonsful, everyone agreed that cheese would be superfluous. But offering it would be neighborly, so you might as well give people the option. When the Great Mushroom Varieties are available – porcini, chanterelles and a few others – we eat wonderful risottos at home and, occasionally, in restaurants. But they rarely beat this one, with its supermarket-mushroom base. Edward Schneider Stalk of hen-of-the-woods mushroom (maitake) with sage and kombu Edward Schneider Simmered and steeped in chicken stock: a mushroomy broth for the risotto Edward Schneider Ten ounces of supermarket mushrooms, food-processed with parsley and sage, and cooking down with butter Edward Schneider After twenty minutes or so, an intense mushroom puree Edward Schneider The puree goes into the risotto right after the rice and white wine

"Afterglow," an off-broadway show by S. Asher Gelman at the Davenport Theatre, represents the latest installment of a recent trend in the past year of productions that specifically focus on the gay male experience, often the urban gay experience. Together shows like "Significant Other" (Joshua Harmon), "DADA WOOF PAPA HOT" (Peter Parnell), and "Straight" (Scott Elmegreen and Drew Fornarola), these all combine to form something of a new gay theatrical canon. This is in response to the older "original" gay Broadway canon--think "The Boys in the Band" (Matt Crowley), "Love! Valor! Compassion!" (Terrence McNally), and "The Normal Heart" (Larry Kramer). However, what is interesting about the sudden emergence of this new gay theatrical canon, is the parallel trend of revivals of works from the older canon. Recently on Broadway and in London's West End there have been major revivals of classic gay works like last year's "Falsettos" (James Lapine and William Finn), the current "Angels in America" (Tony Kushner), and the upcoming "Torch Song Trilogy" (Harvey Fierstein). So what is the cause of this sudden trend of putting gay issues (both old and new) on Broadway? The current political climate is an easy answer, as is the prevalence of queer people (artists, playwrights, directors, designers, producers, actors, and musicians) in the Broadway community. Whatever the reason, it is great to have these two canons on the stage. Broadway audiences have a larger amount of affluent older people and families from the tristate area, often who are unaware and otherwise uninterested in queer identities, issues, people, and politics. However, when these people go to see a Broadway show like "Falsettos" or "Significant Other" simply because they have been buzzed about and advertised, they will not only be entertained but get a little education on the queer experience. Although the older gay theatrical canon has always served this purpose, and it is proven that audiences love revivals, the slow creation of a new canon is so important, because it is the new shows that updated to current issues, technologies, situations, and politics. In many ways they are not only more modern but more relatable. The depiction of the AIDS crisis in "The Normal Heart," "Angels in America," and "Falsettos" is touching and emotional, but recent and topical issues like same-sex marriage and gay parenting, as seen in "DADA WOOF PAPA HOT" resonate more with today's audiences. Enter "Afterglow," an almost extremely modern gay play that deals with Grindr, open relationships, threesomes, surrogacy, and a potential throuple. Though "Afterglow" is definitively part of this new gay canon and does in fact explore modern gay issues, it is certainly the least successful, significant, and wide-reaching of the bunch. Overall the show is a bit too melodramtic, oversimplified, and erotic to make any claims at having serious commentary on queerness. In addition, the play's largest flaw is it's audience of exclusively gay men. Although audience love the show every night, the play's off-broadway status limits it's audience size and reach, and therefore no one is going and learning about the gay experience. Audience all may laugh and nod and relate to the characters, but this is not exactly political and important compared to the large audiences of "Significant Other" that had to consider (probably for the first time) how lonely and depressed gay men often are and how exclusionary straight weddings can be. "Afterglow" is not necessarily a bad show, but it's biggest faults are its lack of nuance and its lack of impact.

Bill Maher took aim at House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) on Friday night’s broadcast of “Real Time.” Maher suggested that a memo drafted by Nunes’ staff which alleges the FBI and the Justice Department inappropriately spied on President Donald Trump’s campaign team was “not an intelligence document.” Instead, Maher likened the dossier — which Nunes released Friday after Trump declassified it — to “a Facebook post that you briefly skim before clicking unfriend.” “Republicans talk about this memo like it’s some smoking gun piece of evidence that they uncovered,” said Maher. “No. They wrote it. They uncovered it in their printer.” Check out the full monologue above.

As Democrats topple Republicans in deep-red districts from Alabama to Pennsylvania, progressives are seizing on the party’s momentum to move it a bit to the left. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), an anti-abortion Democrat who refused to endorse President Barack Obama in 2012, could be casualty of the anti-Trump resistance movement on Tuesday night. Lipinski faces off in a primary race on Tuesday against challenger Marie Newman, a progressive businesswoman who supports a $15 per hour minimum wage and has hit Lipinski on his votes against reproductive rights, the DREAM Act, LGBTQ rights, and the Affordable Care Act. “He likes to say he’s a centrist, he’s not. He is a Republican,” Newman told Vox. “There is not a division in the Democratic Party — he just is a dinosaur.” Lipinski, co-chair of policy for the Blue Dog Democrats in Congress, touts the importance of bipartisan compromise and has characterized Newman as being part of a “Tea Party of the left.” “What we need to do is sit down and work out some compromise,” he said in a February debate. “Compromise has become a dirty word in Washington.” Tom Williams/Getty Images Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) is facing a challenge from businesswoman Marie Newman in the Democratic primary. The primary race has divided the Democratic Party. Several progressive members of Congress, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), along with women’s rights groups like EMILY’s List and NARAL, have endorsed Newman. Anti-abortion groups and establishment Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, are backing Lipinski. Pelosi said last year that the Democratic Party should not have a litmus test on issues like abortion. “This is not a rubber-stamp party,” she said. Newman and Lipinski are running neck and neck. The race to represent the southwest Chicago district turned ugly over the weekend as Lipinski backers sent out controversial text messages to some of the representative’s constituents. Some Newman supporters say they received texts suggesting Newman is a “Holocaust denier.” Other Chicagoans received texts on St. Patrick’s Day claiming Newman is “crazy anti-Catholic” and “supports laws that would jail nuns.” The No Labels group, a centrist political organization that backs Lipinski, said it had hired volunteers to send the texts and that one volunteer mistakenly conflated Newman with the Republican in the race, neo-Nazi Art Jones. “This is the only instance where we are aware of this happening,” the group told HuffPost. “We have since ended this program.” No Labels said it had nothing to do with the nun text, which is likely a reference to Little Sisters of the Poor, the group that challenged Obama’s health care law because it required them to cover birth control in their health insurance plans. Newman’s campaign decried the false texts, and the candidate says she believes her views on abortion are more closely aligned with the district’s than those of Lipinski, who was one of five Democrats to vote for the GOP’s 20-week abortion ban.

New Study Shows Increases in Alcoholism National data show Americans are consuming more alcohol, with many more meeting criteria for alcoholism, or Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) in the clinical parlance. Bridget Grant, Ph.D. and colleagues published the study last week in JAMA Psychiatry, uncovering some remarkable patterns of hazardous drinking, which has actually doubled in certain subgroups. With so much focus on the opioid crisis, perhaps a parallel alcohol crisis has gone unnoticed until now. In light of these concerning patterns, I interviewed Marc A. Schuckit, MD, alcohol researcher whose ground-breaking studies in the 1970’s first demonstrated the heritability of alcoholism from parent-to-child, showing that alcoholism is not just a “moral flaw.” Dr. Schuckit authored an editorial in response to Dr. Grant’s study and gave some very frank warnings about the findings it contained. Commenting about the quality of the research, Dr. Schuckit remarked, “This was a superb study. This type of work is extremely difficult to do, completing 2 identical surveys of 40,000 people.” Data from Grant et al., 2017 The number of Americans with risky drinking and alcohol use disorder (alcoholism) has increased dramatically over the past decade. From 2002-2013, number of American adults who consume alcohol increased, from about 65% to 73%. The more concerning finding is that the number of drinkers who display hazardous drinking increased 30% over this period. Hazardous (or “high-risk”) drinking is defined as 4 or more drinks for women and 5 or more drinks for men on a single day. In the short-term, those who drink at these levels are statistically more likely to have injuries, engage in risky sexual behavior, or experience violent behavior (including suicide). Long-term, high-risk drinking can lead to higher risk for heart attack, stroke, memory and other neurological problems due to vitamin deficiencies, various cancers, pregnancy complications, and affects relationships and employment. As a legal drug, it may be difficult to understand the concern posed by these statistics. One might say, “Everyone I know drinks this much.” The odds of that being true have increased, with 12.6% of American adults now drinking at hazardous levels. Not all people with high-risk drinking would be considered alcoholics (that is, having an AUD), but about 10% would. Centers for Disease Control Excessive Alcohol Use. Modified from CDC Fact Sheet. According to the JAMA Study, the number of US alcoholics increased almost 50% during this 10-year period. Historically, there are two groups with consistently lower rates of alcoholism than the general population: women and Blacks/African-Americans. The reasons for this are not clear, but what is striking from this study is that the number of women meeting criteria for an AUD increased almost 84%, with the number Blacks meeting criteria increasing almost 93%. Perhaps even more concerning is that the number of older adult alcoholics increased 106% in the last decade, a group that is already at higher risk for heart attack, stroke, falls, and cancer. Understanding the Genetics of Alcoholism Dr. Schuckit’s research has given insight into the heritability of alcoholism passed by fathers not only to sons, but also to daughters. In regard to the sharper increase in drinking among women, Schuckit responded, “There are genetic influences, but environmental factors are responsible for half the risk. In the past, society frowned more on women who appeared ‘tipsy.’ While a tipsy man might be considered “cute,” it wasn’t considered acceptable for a woman. Environmental forces were thereby ‘keeping it in check.’ There has been a societal change in this perception, along with a series of other wonderful changes, but I am theorizing that this has influenced the amount women drink.” Among older adults, Dr. Grant and colleagues are estimating that the number of people with alcohol problems will increase from 40 million to 80 million by the year 2030. Dr. Schuckit points out, “Alcohol problems often start when young people are in their 20’s and 30’s. As with most genetic disorders, the severity increases with age. Older adults will also have a higher blood alcohol concentration than their younger counterparts for any given dose of alcohol. With all these factors, we are seeing an increase in the prevalence of alcohol use disorders among older individuals.” High Tolerance to Alcohol Increases Alcoholism Risk “If you can drink others ‘under the table,’ you are at higher risk for developing alcoholism.” - Marc A. Schuckit, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, UC San Diego School of Medicine Among the risk factors for alcoholism is the level of response (LR) to alcohol use. A low LR to alcohol, or high tolerance, is a risk factor for developing an AUD. “If you can drink others ‘under the table,’ you are at a higher risk of developing alcoholism,” Schuckit says, “The level of response to alcohol is genetically-influenced, and we see this low level of response more frequently in the children of alcoholics.” He also warns that the children of alcoholics are four times more likely to develop an alcohol problem. Dr. Schuckit’s team put these findings to practical use in a prevention program for college students. In their 2016 study, an internet-delivered video series explained the risk of low LR for alcoholism. When compared to standard “state of the art” general education (or no intervention), the students who received video training on the risks of high alcohol tolerance, and had low LR themselves, showed the greatest reduction in drinking over a 1-year period. These are powerfully targeted results. Those at the highest risk for alcoholism reduced their drinking the most, through a low-cost internet-delivered solution. Alcohol Policy, Research, and Economics Given America’s dramatic increase in drinking over the past decade, I inquired what policies we should be considering at a national level. “The policies are awesome, but the funding is not,” Schuckit contends, “There is a need to focus our research efforts on prevention and treatment.” He praised the Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and George Koob, Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, for their direction and leadership in the field. “The emphasis is being placed on the right things, but without stable funding for this research, it becomes almost impossible to recruit young researchers.” He mentions how longitudinal research, like his work following several generations of families with AUDs, so critical to genetic studies, needs to be able to weather the ebb and flow of government funding. “We really need funding to at least keep up with inflation. We need to plan for the future and consider how we will recruit young researchers to continue work in this field.” When asked about our knowledge gaps in alcohol research, Dr. Schuckit explains, “I spent the last month reviewing all the published literature that deals with specific genes related to low sensitivity to alcohol. What is needed is to look at levels of response, how genes interact with genes, and how genes interact with the environment.” He was very forthcoming about his research targets, “Some people may think that researchers are siloed and never share their work with one another. That’s not the case at all. We talk. I have marvelous colleagues in this field, and we’ve been working together to understand these complex phenomena.” Policy and Funding in Alcohol Research “The emphasis is being placed on the right things, but without stable funding for this research, it becomes almost impossible to recruit young researchers.” - Marc A. Schuckit, M.D. From an economic standpoint, Dr. Grant commented that reductions in the relative cost of alcohol have led to some of the increase in American drinking. For cigarette smoking, taxes are known to be the most effective deterrent. Increased taxes on alcohol sales may be one way to reduce the public health impact. Setting a higher minimum dollar amount for alcoholic beverages is another strategy. Further studies are needed to examine the behavioral economics of alcohol use. I suspect that in coming years, interest in this area will increase as we deal with the societal effects of heavier drinking.

James Parenti’s Dreamy Third Studio Album While the title of singer/songwriter James Parenti’s new album, You Look Like Hell might suggest a noisy explosion of snarling electronica, it turns out to be a sensual heart-spinner all done up in fingerpicked guitars and moody reverb. Photo by Trish Phelps The album’s opener, “Brownout,” creeps in like a vengeful fog as though Jeff Buckley had risen from the grave. Parenti’s delicate tenor voice sails carefully over splashes of cymbals and earthy guitars. While the lyrical content sometimes walks a path that is decidedly independent from heavily structured melody, the big picture of You Look Like Hell is an emotionally tranquilizing phantasmagoria. Parenti’s vocals are sublimely soft, carefully treading the album’s mysterious narrative. “I’m not trying to be obtuse,” Parenti says of his songwriting. “I want it to be a thing that can grow. It allows my relationship with the songs to change. And trusting the subconscious. Allowing something to resonate in a gut way that can be deeper than conscious understanding and trusting that it's ‘right’ without being able to articulate exactly what it means.” It’s no wonder that the haunting simmer of the title track feels like the soundtrack to a horror film, since Parenti drew his inspiration from a screenplay of the same name written by his wife. The script, which centers on a grieving young woman who literally transforms into a monster, served as a true north from which all of the remaining tunes were born. Through his attentive effort, he skillfully uses compassion to navigate anguish. “I wanted to make a record that deals with trauma,” he says. Beneath the dark, layered rhapsodic waxing, the twelve melancholic tracks of You Look Like Hell showcase a songwriter aching to soothe a wound with poetry. You Look Like Hell is available on iTunes.

The British royal family celebrated Easter together on Sunday, but if we didn’t know any better we might think the Duchess of Cambridge was dressed as a first lady for Halloween. The media phenomenon formerly known as Kate Middleton gave us major Jackie Kennedy vibes in a cream dress coat, pillbox hat and matching pumps. Samir Hussein via Getty Images Jackie or Kate? Max Mumby/Indigo via Getty Images So classic. The sweet hat, which she wore over a rare updo, was adorably adorned with a bow in the back. Samir Hussein via Getty Images It's just as pretty close up, no? Max Mumby/Indigo via Getty Images Want. That. Updo. Seriously, the similarities are pretty uncanny. Bert Morgan via Getty Images Jackie Kennedy in 1961. Swoon. Check out the rest of the family below. Max Mumby/Indigo via Getty Images Peter and Autumn Phillips and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Peter Nicholls / Reuters Princess Anne and Timothy Laurence JONATHAN BRADY via Getty Images Sophie, Countess of Wessex and her son James Max Mumby/Indigo via Getty Images Lady Louise Windsor

What are the best tricks to take over a room, in the charismatic sense? originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Andrew Frawley, Marketing Overlord at SherpaDesk, on Quora: If you want to take social command of a room, get momentum early. After walking into a room, it takes no more than a few moments to determine how our night is going to go. Far too often we arrive at events, check-in at the front without a word and silently make our way through coat check, then enter the event, being as forgettable as the next person handing off their jacket. We then walk in awkwardly and feel an instant shock of “oh crap I don’t recognize anyone now what do I do.” We still haven’t said a word as we scan the room for a familiar face because we are uncomfortable and hopefully they will help us warm up to this social thing. If we know someone, we latch onto them and since we are totally dry we say something boring like “what’s up with you?” as we scramble to jump start small talk. If we don’t know someone, we stare in discomfort, then make our way to the bar like a cocktail is our secret sauce to a great night. One cocktail or four, we begin to realize that alcohol isn’t changing anything. This has been me a million times. I am a social guy and often assume I can just go to any party dead ass sober alone and be a star. “I don’t need to warm up” … “I am a social person, this is easy” Then, there I am at 2 am walking home thinking “good god that was awful” I am indeed social but the loud music, the dark lights and well-lubricated, tightly woven social circles make it much harder. Starting your social momentum is insanely difficult at the main event. This is why pregames exist. My answer isn’t to go to pregames, although that could help, but garner social momentum before you arrive. I’ve learned there is no one single trick that makes you the life of the party. WE ALL have had moments where we run the spotlight of our social circle. It could be family or friends, whatever. We have all told captivating stories. The thing is is that in those scenarios we are just comfortable enough to be ourselves. Everyone is interesting if they feel confident enough to speak their mind. With social confidence I have seen tons of “introverted” or “boring” friends take the spotlight and never look back. Once they were on, they were on. They didn’t need someone to tell them how. Here are ways I have started to get social momentum early Spend the day of a big event out doing other social activities (sports, comedy, arcade) Chatting up my Uber driver. Going to a pregame. Chatting up people in line. Chatting up people at baggage check. Just think back to that one time you owned the spotlight in a social situation. Did someone whisper to you an hour before how to be funny? No. You already knew how. You just needed the confidence to deliver on it in that moment. Be that brave soul who asks inappropriate questions and laughs at all the wrong times. We yearn for you.

A lesbian police officer might have helped save his life, but House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana is still planning to speak at a conference for an anti-gay group. Scalise will address the Family Research Council’s annual Values Voter Summit on Oct. 13 in Washington, D.C. The FRC is an anti-abortion, anti-gay conservative group and lobbying organization. FRC’s President Tony Perkins wrote a memo about the upcoming appearance, referencing the June shooting at a Virginia baseball field where Scalise and other Republicans were practicing for an upcoming charity game. The congressman was shot in the hip. “There were times when we wondered if House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) would ever speak at VVS again,” the memo read. “But next week, the miraculous recovery of my good friend will literally take center stage, as Steve makes a return trip to the biggest gathering of pro-family conservatives in the country after a shooting that rocked the country. For so many Americans, seeing him back at work, defending our values, has been an answer to prayer ― and we look forward to celebrating his incredible journey back to health.” One of those credited with helping save Scalise’s life and the lives of others in June was Officer Crystal Griner, an openly gay member of the Capitol Police Department, who was working as part of Scalise’s security detail along with Officer David Bailey. Griner was shot in the ankle while on duty that day, and was later hailed as a hero for her service. “Many lives would have been lost if not for the heroic actions of the two Capitol Police officers who took down the gunman despite sustaining gunshot wounds during a very, very brutal assault,” President Donald Trump said at the time. Griner, who lives in Maryland with her wife, was given the Medal of Valor during a ceremony in July. SAUL LOEB via Getty Images Win McNamee via Getty Images Scalise called the officers his “family” and “heroes.” David Bailey and Crystal Griner have been part of our family for years, and they are my heroes. https://t.co/BrVijXTmnL — Rep. Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) August 15, 2017 The FRC, for its part, writes on its website that “homosexual conduct is harmful to the persons who engage in it and to society at large, and can never be affirmed,” adding that it is “associated with negative physical and psychological health effects.”

One muggy afternoon in 2014, while walking to lunch in Birmingham, Alabama, my partner received a call from a number he didn’t recognize. The number had the same area code as his hometown, Columbus, Ohio, so he picked up. I could tell the call wasn’t from someone he knew. He answered a handful of questions, some biographical and others about his voting habits, then hung up. The call was over in three minutes. “Who was that?” I asked. It was pollster wanting opinions on political issues and candidates in Ohio. “You mean strangers just call you up and ask you about your political beliefs? Isn’t that invasive?” Traditional Southern culture dictates religion and politics are not to be discussed in “polite company,” and while those antiquated social conventions are falling by the wayside, I was still a little surprised. “Not at all. It’s an important part of the political process,” he said. “If you don’t answer questions, your voice isn’t counted in polls, so it’s a way to have your voice heard. You don’t have to answer, but if you do and you do so honestly, someone hears you.” If polls via phone surveys are an important part of the political process, I wondered why, as a registered Democrat who had been voting for several years, I’d never been called. “It happens all the time in Ohio because it’s a swing state,” my partner said. That explains it, then. Why call a Democrat in Alabama, who would have no pull in a solidly conservative state, when you could call an Ohio voter and get something done? It was then I realized the party I’d voted for every time I went to the polls––the only party I feel is a viable option given my beliefs––doesn’t care about me. It’s a bitter truth, like so many of the emotions that accompany living in and being from a place where you live counter to the dominant narrative. Being liberal in the South dredges up conflicting sentiments on a near daily basis: Do I save myself and move somewhere I’d be happier, where there are more people who believe as I do? Or do I stay and try to change this place from within, because it’ll never change if progressives move away? Having lived the first 25 years of my life in Alabama, there’s one thing I know for sure––Trump’s America is nothing new. As a liberal Southerner, my home is a battleground. You can love a place for its potential to be different, yet not want to be complicit in the corruption home invites upon itself. Loving Alabama is akin to loving an unrelenting addict, intent on her own demise. I moved to Ohio two years ago with the hope of living in a blue state for the first time, but I wasn’t so lucky. The political pendulum that is the swing state I now call home elected Trump. “As Ohio goes, so goes the nation,” the old adage says. I left Alabama, forgetting that Alabama is everywhere. A state isn’t relegated to its borders––Alabama is an attitude and a culture that can arise in any place, at any time. I have always known that Republicans, particularly the sort who would ally themselves with Trump, are out of touch with the lived experiences of people different from them, but now I know why. It became clear the day my partner received that call from the pollster. Liberals in majority conservative states are disregarded. Democrats don’t want to spend money in solidly conservative states, yet there’s little room for those states to be anything but solidly conservative if people feel ignored by the other major party. As was the case with me, the liberal ignored in a near-blanket red state is the same liberal voter later courted to further a political agenda in a swing state. All it took was moving, a decidedly common experience. How I wish I were an isolated incident; one person who fell through the cracks by complete accident. I want to believe there are Southern liberals being asked to share their opinions and who are having their voices heard. I hope, but don’t believe, I’m the exception and not the rule. These days, if I were to receive a phone call from a political pollster, I’m not sure how I’d feel. I would probably answer and I’d ask why they only care about me now that I live in a swing state. I’d ask them why they think they’re worthy of my time, attention, and political capital now when they didn’t think twice about ignoring me before. But this won’t get me anywhere. So I’ll sigh in exasperation when I login to Twitter and punch a pillow when I turn on the news. And I’ll vote, I’ll write, and I’ll call my representatives, and hope that somehow, somewhere, someone will hear and it’ll make a difference. There was a time when I wrote my representatives with frequency and fervor and kept abreast of the issues. But after years of receiving snarky, demeaning, or evasive replies, if I received a response at all, I more or less gave up. The now-Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, was my senator for much of the time I lived in Alabama and most of his peers in the legislature were just as insensitive and small-minded as he is. My small––but brightly electric––blue dot made little difference in the crimson tide that is Alabama and thus I became complacent. I’m one person and one person can only do so much. But that is exactly how they want me to feel. As a middle class white woman, the option to be complacent is a luxury afforded to me by my privilege and choosing to be politically inactive is a display of that privilege. It’s easy to look the other way when your livelihood isn’t being directly and immediately threatened. Even with a fair amount of privilege, being bisexual, atheist, and liberal made me an ideological minority in the Bible Belt. There was always the underlying knowledge that the place of my birth is incongruent to my values and the reality of my existence, but because the things that made me an ideological minority in the South are easily hidden, it was easy to escape the wrath of the majority. As long as I didn’t speak out too loudly, I could live more or less undeterred. My bisexuality, atheism, and liberalism can be hidden when it suits me, so I can choose not to be bothered with fighting back. That is another display of privilege. Even with this choice available to me, I shouldn’t have to feel like I’d be better off hiding some of the most essential parts of my identity as a tactic of self-preservation. Still, this pales in comparison to what people of color, people with visible disabilities, people whose religion is outwardly represented by a garment on their person, and others whose identities cannot easily be hidden face each day, especially in the South. Though I can choose not to be politically inactive, that’s not what I want or what I think is best. But it has been, at times, what I felt was the only viable option when faced with the alternative, which is exerting myself––mentally, physically, and emotionally––only to be ignored. I would rather take a break from being politically active than to let resentment for the Democratic party consume me. For that, I have seen, is one way Republicans are made. I may not swing an election, but my voice matters. Yours, too. I wish I could say I knew how to make a quiet voice heard. I don’t have the answers and perhaps no one does, which speaks to the gravity of the problem.

The world’s oceans facilitate global transportation. They also offer a unique source of food: one that continues to give. Provided we manage this source responsibly, of course. Sustainable harvest must be combined with prudent conservation. 7 Bølger, Peter Prokosch Grid Arendal Based on an American initiative, the world’s maritime nations came together yesterday and today (Oct 5 and 6) for the 4th annual Our Oceans conference to discuss how to achieve this balance. The United States has hosted twice. This year, the chair is held by Malta, a country surrounded by the waters of the Mediterranean. As an ocean nation, Norway takes great interest in this series of conferences. Our maritime areas cover around two million square kilometers – more than 770,000 square miles. That is more than five times the size of our land mass. Or nearly three times larger than Texas, perhaps an easier comparison. More than 80% of Norway’s oceans are in the Arctic. But oceans are interconnected. What happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic. People far beyond our own borders are affected by what we do in our national waters. Further, Norway and Norwegians depend greatly on the ocean. More than two thirds of our export income stem from ocean-based industries, in the food, energy and marine transportation sectors. Our welfare and living standards would not be at the same level without them. Norway cannot take lightly the responsibility that comes with managing such a resource. And we don’t. Two recent government documents outline Norway’s plans and principles for continued responsible management of our marine areas: A white paper on the role that the oceans play in Norway´s foreign and development policy, and an oceans strategy aimed at domestic developments. Important principles in our oceans policy include strengthening and further developing the Law of the Sea, the sustainable use of resources, and ensuring that policy?decisions are based on the best available scientific knowledge. Our oceans border seven other nations. We have concluded agreements on maritime boundaries with all of them, most recently with Russia in the Barents Sea: in 2010, an agreement was reached on a sea boundary of almost 1700 kilometers (more than 1000 miles). Looking ahead, it seems clear that climate change represents a major challenge to the future management of oceans. Developing and maintaining the scientific and managerial capacity to understand and adopt to these changes is critical to Norway. Our marine science community is currently hard at work addressing these issues. I am proud that our new ice-capable research vessel R/V Crown Prince Haakon will become operative next year and enhance our research capacity in the Arctic Ocean. In a wider perspective, promoting the Sustainable Development Goals for the oceans (SDG 14) is the overarching, global job #1 for the next decade and up to 2030. Achieving the ambitions spelled out here will bring healthy oceans, contribute to food security, and ensure conservation and sustainable use of marine resources. Norway intends to contribute to this effort, and welcomes international partnerships and cooperation to that end.

They say big things happen in Texas, from serving sizes to state fairs. That’s why it’s best to plan accordingly -- and pack loosely fitting clothing. Located in north part of the state, Dallas is well-known for its football team and central location to and from most North American destinations. And while Austin receives ample applaud for its cool kid vibe and growing culinary scene -- just under three hours north of is a populous city with just as much to offer in its sprawling, diverse communities. From natural landscapes, historical architecture, to slabs of ribs you just wont’ forget, here are some memorable things to do, deep in the heart of (central) Texas. Go On Food Adventures Food lovers will delight in Dallas’ culinary offerings: from fresh seafood to caloric concoctions like mezcal key lime pie. Some notable establishments worth visiting include Water Grill for its raw bar selection (try the king crab nuggets and otherworldly dover sole) and Stirr for its lively atmosphere, cocktails, and tapas that are a perfect pre-sports game warm up. BBQ lovers will provide a long list of recommendations in Dallas (GatorPit, Lockhart, Cattleback), but it’s Pecan Lodge that you’ll consistently read and hear about. Lines build before the doors open at this local and tourist favorite in Dallas’ Deep Ellum neighborhood. Come hungry. Order the beef bbq ribs and the hot mess: a sweet potato filled to the brim with Colby and cheddar cheese, barbacoa brisket, chipotle sour cream, bacon, and green onions for good measure. You should be prepared to take a nap after this endeavor— but not before you stop next door at Emporium Pies for a slice of their Buttermilk Pie. Besides, you’ve come to far now to slow down on this delicious food train. Flora Street Cafe The coveted lobster tamale pie from Flora Street Cafe. For less downhome and more refined, Flora Street Cafe offers contemporary twists on classic Mexican food dishes. Chef Stephen Pyles received a five star rating from the Dallas Morning News, and for good reason. Revel in the lobster tamale pie, which is a deconstructed dish of butter poached Maine lobster, pickled corn, black garlic purée, and caviar on top of a sweet corn custard. Explore The Neighborhoods Dallas has a fascinating history, including its ever changing neighborhoods. Deep Ellum, once the center of a flourishing African-American community and mecca of jazz, continues to be a center for the arts and growing restaurant scene. There are also a number of galleries to visit, including Barry Whistler Gallery and CentralTrak. In downtown Dallas, enjoy the weekly farmer’s market. Art lovers will be inspired at Dallas Museum of Art and Yayoi Kusama’s current pumpkin exhibit, just in time for fall. The ever popular Uptown neighborhood is just north of downtown and full of places to visit. Satiate your shopping bug in the West Village and enjoy a beer at a local favorite -- The Rustic. Street art in Dallas’ Deep Ellum neighborhood. If you’re in town in October, don’t miss the annual Texas State Fair with your family-- one of the oldest and largest fairs in the country-- and full of more fried foods than you could imagine. In East Dallas, the Arboretum and Botanical Garden is 66-acres of lush gardens and educational programs for children and adults. Their recently opened food garden, called A Tasteful Place, promotes healthy and sustainable food with daily tastings, cooking classes, and gardening education. Lounge In A Dallas Classic The darkly lit Mansion Bar at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek epitomizes classic Dallas -- locals and hotel guests alike imbibe over seasonal cocktails and savory bites surrounded by Texan design. Cognac leather and equestrian accents exude cowboy cool. The historical mansion was built in 1925 and has been restored to maintain its original lure. Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek

You have come out from under your white hoods, emboldened by unchecked populist rhetoric and demagoguery. You rally behind the "Make America Great Again" slogan, but what you really mean is "Make America White Again." But you do not represent America or American values. You carry the confederate flat, a flag of treason. You don a swastika, the emblem of the Nazi Party, a regime that waged a war that claimed the lives of 419,400 American and over 60 million people. You claim to be patriots, but you are nothing more than home grown terrorists. While I believe in the First Amendment and your right to Free Speech and right to Peaceably Assemble, the tenets of the First Amendment end when it comes to inciting violence. In Charlottesville, Virginia, the home grown terrorists, while wielding torches, chanted "you will not replace us," "white lives matter," and the Nazi-associated phrase "blood and soil." Such speech has no other aim but to be so offensive as to provoke a violent reaction. Speech deliberately tailored to incite violence is not protected under the First Amendment (Brandenburg v. Ohio). Three people died and dozens more were injured in relation to the Charlottesville hate-fueled "demonstrations." (Two members of the Virginia police force, Lieutenant Cullen and Trooper Bates, died in a helicopter accident while conducting aerial surveillance on the violent demonstrations.) You are emboldened today. Perhaps in part due to a backlash to having a black president, the legalization of same-sex marriage, and a host of other progressive ideals that have spurred our nation forward over the past decade. But this is your last stand. America was made great on June 4, 1919 when the ratification of the 19th Amendment secured women's right to vote. America was made great on May 17, 1954 when the Supreme Court ended segregation in public schools in its landmark decision Brown v. Board of Education, which declared separate but equal "inherently unequal." America was made great on July 2, 1964 when congress passed The Civil Rights Act outlawing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. America was made great on June 26, 2015 when the fundamental right to marry was granted to same-sex couples. And America was made great on countless other days when equality won the day. America rejects all that you supposedly stand for. We reject your hate. We reject your racism. We reject your bigotry. We reject the full scope of your ideology. And above all: we reject your supremacy. We the people stand for equality, diversity, and human rights.

Alec Baldwin was back as Donald Trump — under the covers, tweeting — in a “Saturday Night Live” cold open that skewered “Fox & Friends” and the FBI-attacking memo released by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). The sketch started with Alex Moffat (playing Steve Doocy), Heidi Gardner (as Ainsley Earhardt) and Beck Bennett (as Brian Kilmeade) in the studio of “Fox & Friends” and talking with White House communications director Hope Hicks (Cecily Strong). Bennett points out her amazing career trajectory from working for Ivanka Trump’s company to the White House. A ditzed-out Strong responds: “There are no real jobs here, you know? Every day feels like when a group of strangers suddenly work together to push a beached whale back into the sea.” Then “Trump,” munching an Egg McMuffin and listening to his Fox “intelligence breifing,” calls in to tout his State of the Union speech, which pulled in a cool “10 billion viewers” — and it was better than Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Dream of Jeannie” speech. “Now they say there’s only 7 billion people on earth so where did other 3 billion come from?” he asks. “Illegals? I don’t know.” Even more exciting was the Nunes memo, he adds. “This memo might be the best memo since the Declaration of Independence. I don’t know. I haven’t read either of them.” The Fox crew hails him as the “most innocent guy in the whole wide world.” “Daddy needed that. He needed that,” Baldwin says.

Four people were found dead in a South Carolina home on New Year’s Day in what authorities believe was a murder-suicide. The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department initially released a photo of 25-year-old Jorge Luis Chavez on Sunday night, confirming an “active search” in connection to the shooting. But the local coroner later said that Chavez was among the dead, WLOX reports. We're actively searching for Jorge Luis Chavez in connection to the incident on Old Barnwell Rd. Send all tips to Crime Stoppers. #LESM pic.twitter.com/aHRvBluID4 — Lexington Sheriff (@LCSD_News) January 2, 2017 Police tweeted that the search for a suspect was over and the situation “appears to be a murder-suicide.” Chavez, 26-year-old Marissa Hope Reynoso and their two daughters, ages 1 and 4, were found dead just after 8 p.m. All of them were shot. Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher told WLOX that Reynoso had an older child who wasn’t home at the time and is reportedly safe.

Of all the questions I field from friends coming to town , I think the most common one is “what can I do in NYC for free or on a budget?” That’s not to say that they don’t come in with plans that get expensive, but if you have a week in NYC and you’re blowing most of your budget on 3 days, having a couple of resources to help you run around town for the other 4 and have a great time without going over budget or having to eat ramen for every meal on your last day can be clutch. Here are just a couple of resources that I use every week which can help you to navigate and explore the city while doing the sort of things that feed your Instagram and make your Facebook friends jealous without dropping much if any money. These aren’t necessarily the first sites that would pop up on a google search (with the exception of TimeOutNY), but I find that places like TripAdvisor, while great when you’re blowing through a small town in Ecuador, just won’t give you the in-depth information and feel that local writers regularly contributing and going out on their suggestions will. If you’re interested, I have a few more resources on my site (shameless self promotion: NYCNomadic): 1. The Skint The Skint, British slang for “cheap”, says of itself “Two underemployed friends used to tip each other off to cool bargains and free goodies they'd hear about. now we list them here. We'd like to think that the skint proves you don't need to be rich to enjoy the best of the city.” The Skint is a great place to go to for last minute ideas. While they have a recurring events section where you can often find some cool weekend events, often the events here are listed the day of, so you’ll probably want to check the site early the day of when you want to go out. The really nice thing about this site is that, if you’re restless and ready to go, they’ve got a place for you to run to somewhere. 2. NYCGovParks.org NYCGovParks.org/events has the best listing of free stuff to do in the Spring and Summer. From outdoor movies to kayaking on the Hudson and East River to yoga on the beach in Rockaway, they have dozens of suggestions for free activities every day in every burrough. Want to do a free fencing class in Bryant Park outside of one of the world’s most beautiful libraries right on 5th Avenue? How about a martial arts fitness class out on the pier? Feel like catching La La Land with a couple hundred people after missing it in the theater, or are you looking to sing along to Bohemian Rhapsody with Wayne, Garth and a hundred hipsters outside in Williamsburg? It’s all there. 3. Meetup Meetup a great website or app to go for listings of things that you can do for free or cheap with a group anywhere, sure, but in NYC we have a critical mass of eclectic tastes that gives you a far greater selection: I find way more Meetups here that match my taste for gaming, martial arts, languages, comic books, hiking, surfing or whatever it is that I’m looking for. This site is more for people who want to go out with a group of new people to do something. For example, I’d hit a bar to watch a UFC alone, but why not with the MMA in NYC Meetup group and have more experienced martial arts analysts give you an excited breakdown or predictions as the fight is going? Or there are also the language meetups I occasionally hit to brush up on Japanese, German or Spanish, none of which I could practice speaking very well on my own. Of course, don’t limit yourself to my humble suggestions, just hit up the site and plug in whatever outlandish interest you have and, chances are, there are other New Yorkers that have it too. 4. TimeOutNY (TONY) TimeOutNY is a site that, if you’re looking for things to do in NYC, you’ve likely heard of. It’s one of the big sites like TripAdvisor that operate in several cities, but TONY definitely digs in a bit deeper with their own contributors who make great recommendations. They have great suggestions for every month and week, and if you’re really stuck on what to do I’d recommend taking a look at their bucket lists. In fact, swiping items from other people’s bucket lists is a great practice since there are a few of them out there with some great recommendations for NYC.

You could hear the deep sadness in the preacher’s voice as he named “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today ― my own government.” With those words, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., launched a scathing indictment of America’s war in Vietnam. It was April 4, 1967. That first antiwar sermon of his seemed to signal a new high tide of opposition to a brutal set of American policies in Southeast Asia. Just 11 days later, unexpectedly large crowds would come out in New York and San Francisco for the first truly massive antiwar rallies. Back then, a protest of at least a quarter of a million seemed yuge. King signaled another turning point when he concluded his speech by bringing up “something even more disturbing” ― something that would deeply disturb the developing antiwar movement as well. “The war in Vietnam,” he said, “is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit.” Many of those who gathered at antiwar rallies days later were already beginning to suspect the same thing. Even if they could actually force their government to end its war in Vietnam, they would be healing only a symptom of a far more profound illness. With that realization came a shift in consciousness, the clearest sign of which could be found in the sizeable contingent of countercultural hippies who began joining those protests. While antiwar radicals were challenging the unjust political and military policies of their government, the counterculturists were focused on something bigger: trying to revolutionize the whole fabric of American society. Why recall this history exactly 50 years later, in the age of Donald Trump? Curiously enough, King offered at least a partial answer to that question in his 1967 warning about the deeper malady. “If we ignore this sobering reality,” he said, “we will find ourselves... marching... and attending rallies without end.” The alternative? “We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values.” Like many of my generation, I feel as if, in lieu of that radical revolution, I have indeed been marching and attending rallies for the last half-century, even if there were also long fallow periods of inactivity. (In those quiet times, of course, there was always organizing and activism going on behind the scenes, preparing for the next wave of marches and demonstrations in response to the next set of obvious outrages.) If the arc of history bends toward justice, as King claimed, it’s been a strange journey, a bizarre twisting and turning as if we were all on some crazed roller-coaster ride. The Trump era already seems like the most bizarre twist of all, leaving us little choice but to march and rally at a quickening pace for years to come. A radical revolution in values? Unless you’re thinking of Trump’s plutocrats and environment wreckers, not so much. If anything, the nation once again finds itself facing an exaggerated symptom of a far deeper malady. Perhaps one day, like the antiwar protestors of 1967, anti-Trump protestors will say: If the American system we live under can create this atrocity, there must be something wrong with the whole thing. But that’s the future. At present, the resistance movement, though as unexpectedly large as the movement of 1967, is still focused mainly on symptoms, the expanding list of inhumane 1% policies the Republicans (themselves in chaos) are preparing to foist on the nation. Yet to come up are the crucial questions: What’s wrong with our system? How could it produce a President Trump, a Republican hegemony, and the society-wrecking policies that go with them both? What would a radically new direction mean and how would we head there? In 1967, antiwar activists were groping their way toward answers to similar questions. At least we have one advantage. We can look back at their answers and use them to help make sense of our own situation. As it happens, theirs are still depressingly relevant because the systemic malady that produced the Vietnam War is a close cousin to the one that has now given us President Trump. Diagnosing Our Deep Sickness The Sixties spawned many analyses of the ills of the American system. The ones that marked that era as revolutionary concluded that the heart of the problem was a distinctive mode of consciousness ― a way of seeing, experiencing, interpreting, and being in the world. Political and cultural radicals converged, as historian Todd Gitlin concluded, in their demand for a transformation of “national if not global (or cosmic) consciousness.” Nor was such a system uniquely American, they discovered. It was nothing less than the hallmark of Western modernity. In exploring the nature of that “far deeper malady,” Martin Luther King, for instance, turned to the European philosopher Martin Buber, who found the root of that consciousness in modernity’s “I-It” attitude. From early childhood, he suggested, we learn to see other people as mere objects (“its”) with no inherent relation to us. In the process, we easily lose sight of their full humanity. That, in turn, allows us free rein to manipulate others (or as in Vietnam simply destroy them) for our own imagined benefit. King particularly decried such dehumanization as it played itself out in American racism: “Segregation substitutes an ‘I-it’ relationship for the ‘I-thou’ relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things.” But he condemned it no less strongly in the economic sphere, where it affected people of all races. “The profit motive, when it is the sole basis of an economic system,” he said, “encourages a cutthroat competition and selfish ambition that inspire men to be more I-centered than thou-centered... Capitalism fails to realize that life is social.” Another influential thinker of that era was a German-American philosopher, Herbert Marcuse. (Some radicals even marched in rallies carrying signs reading “Marx, Mao, Marcuse.”) For him, the dehumanization of modernity was rooted in the way science and technology led us to view nature as a mere collection of “things” having no inherent relation to us ― things to be analyzed, controlled, and if necessary destroyed for our own benefit. Capitalists use technology, he explained, to build machines that take charge both of the workers who run them and of aspects of the natural world. The capitalists then treat those workers as so many things, not people. And the same hierarchy ― boss up here, bossed down there ― shows up at every level of society from the nuclear family to the international family of nations (with its nuclear arsenals). In a society riddled with structures of domination, it was no accident that the U.S. was pouring so much lethal effort into devastating Vietnam. As Marcuse saw it, however, the worst trick those bosses play on us is to manipulate our consciousness, to seduce us into thinking that the whole system makes sense and is for our own good. When those machines are cranking out products that make workers’ lives more comfortable, most of them are willing to embrace and perpetuate a system that treats them as dominated objects. Marcuse would not have been surprised to see so many workers voting for Donald Trump, a candidate who built his campaign on promises of ever more intensified domination ― of marginalized people at home, of “bad hombres” needing to be destroyed abroad, and of course, of nature itself, especially in the form of fossil fuels on a planet where the very processes he championed ensured a future of utter devastation. One explanation for the electoral success of Trump was the way he appealed to heartland white working-class voters who saw their standard of living and sense of social status steadily eroding. Living in a world in which hierarchy and domination are taken for granted, it’s hardly surprising that many of them took it for granted as well that the only choice available was either to be a dominator or to be dominated. Vote for me, the billionaire businessman (famed for the phrase “You’re fired!”) implicitly promised and you, too, will be one of the dominators. Vote against me and you’re doomed to remain among the dominated. Like so many other tricks of the system, this one defied reality but worked anyway. Many Trump voters who bought into the system will find themselves facing even harsher domination by the 1%. And as the Trumpian fantasy of man dominating nature triggers inevitable twenty-first-century blowback on a planetary scale, count on growing environmental and social disasters to bring disproportionate pain to those already suffering most under the present system. In every arena, as Marcuse explained back in the 1960s, the system of hierarchy and domination remains self-perpetuating and self-escalating. “The Long and Bitter But Beautiful Struggle for a New World” What’s the remedy for this malady, now as lethally obvious at home as it once was in Vietnam? “The end of domination [is] the only truly revolutionary exigency,” Marcuse wrote. True freedom, he thought, means freeing humanity from the hierarchical system that locks us into the daily struggle to earn a living by selling our labor. Freedom means liberating our consciousness to search for our own goals and being able to pursue them freely. In Martin Luther King’s words, freedom is “the opportunity to fulfill my total capacity untrammeled by any artificial barrier.” How to put an end not only to America’s war in Vietnam, but to a whole culture built on domination? King’s answer on that April 4th was deceptively simple: “Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door... The first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word.” The simplicity in that statement was deceptive because love is itself such a complicated word. King often explained that the Greeks had three words for love: eros (aesthetic or romantic love), philia (friendship), and agape (self-sacrificing devotion to others). He left no doubt that he considered agape far superior to the other two. The emerging counterculture of those years certainly agreed with him on the centrality of love to human liberation. After all, it was “the love generation.” But its mantra ― “If it feels good, do it” ― made King’s rejection of eros in the name of self-negating agape a non-starter for them. King, however, offered another view of love, which was far more congenial to the counterculture. Love unites whatever is separated, he preached. This is the kind of love that God uses in his work. We, in turn, are always called upon to imitate God and so to transform our society into what King called a “beloved community.” Though few people at the time made the connection, King’s Christian understanding of love was strikingly similar to Marcuse’s secular view of erotic love. Marcuse saw eros as the fulfillment of desire. He also saw it as anything but selfish, since it flows from what Freud called the id, which always wants to abolish ego boundaries and recover that sense of oneness with everything we all had as infants. When we experience anyone or anything erotically, we feel that we are inherently interconnected, “tied together in a single garment of destiny,” as King so eloquently put it. When boundaries and separation dissolve, there can be no question of hierarchy or domination. Every moment that hints at such unification brings us pleasure. In a revolutionary society that eschews structures of domination for the ideal of unification, all policies are geared toward creating more moments of unity and pleasure. Think of this as the deep-thought revolution of the Sixties: radically transformed minds would create a radically transformed society. Revolutionaries of that time were, in fact, trying to wage the very utopian struggle that King summoned all Americans to in his April 4th speech, “the long and bitter but beautiful struggle for a new world.” 50 Years Later: The Thread That Binds At this very moment 50 years ago, a movement resisting a brutal war of domination in a distant land was giving birth to a movement calling for the creation of a new consciousness to heal our ailing society. Will the resistance movement of 2017 head in a similar direction? At first glance, it seems unlikely. After all, ever since the Vietnam War ended, progressives have had a tendency to focus on single issues of injustice or laundry lists of problems. They have rarely imagined the American system as anything more than a collection of wrong-headed policies and wrong-hearted politicians. In addition, after years of resisting the right wing as it won victory after victory, and of watching the Democrats morph into a neoliberal crew and then into a failing party with its own dreary laundry lists of issues and personalities, the capacity to hope for fundamental change may have gone the way of Herbert Marcuse and Martin Luther King. Still, for those looking hard, a thread of hope exists. Today’s marches, rallies, and town halls are packed with veterans of the Sixties who can remember, if we try, what it felt like to believe we were fighting not only to stop a war but to start a revolution in consciousness. No question about it, we made plenty of mistakes back then. Now, with so much more experience (however grim) in our memory banks, perhaps we might develop more flexible strategies and a certain faith in taking a more patient, long-term approach to organizing for change. Don’t forget as well that, whatever our failings and the failings of other past movements, we also have a deep foundation of victories (along with defeats) to build on. No, there was no full-scale revolution in our society ― no surprise there. But in so many facets of our world, advances happened nonetheless. Think of how, in those 50 years just past, views on diversity, social equality, the environment, healthcare, and so many other issues, which once existed only on the fringes of our world, have become thoroughly mainstream. Taken as a whole, they represent a partial but still profound and significant set of changes in American consciousness. Of course, the Sixties not only can’t be resurrected, but shouldn’t be. (After all, it should never be forgotten that what they led to wasn’t a dreamed of new society but the “Reagan revolution,” as the arc of justice took the first of its many grim twists and turns.) At best, the Sixties critique of the system would have to be updated to include many new developments. Even the methods of those Sixties radicals would need major revisions, given that our world, especially of communication, now relies so heavily on blindingly fast changes in technology. But every time we log onto the Internet and browse the web, it should remind us that ― shades of the past ― across this embattled Earth of ours, we’re all tied together in a single worldwide web of relations and of destiny. It’s either going to be one for all and all for one, or it’s going to be none for 7.4 billion on a planet heading for hell. Today is different, too, because our movement was not born out of protest against an odious policy, but against an odious mindset embodied in a deplorable person who nonetheless managed to take the Oval Office. He’s so obviously a symptom of something larger and deeper that perhaps the protesters of this generation will grasp more quickly than the radicals of the Vietnam era that America’s underlying disease is a destructive mode of consciousness (and not just a bad combover). The move from resisting individual policies to transforming American consciousness may already have begun in small ways. After all, “love trumps hate” has become the most common slogan of the progressive movement. And the word love is being heard in hard-edged political discourse, not only on the left, but among mainstream political voices like Van Jones and Cory Booker. Once again, there is even talk of “revolutionary love.” Of course, the specific policies of the Republicans and this president (including his developing war policies) must be resisted and the bleeding of the immediate moment staunched. Yet the urgent question of the late 1960s remains: What can be done when there are so many fronts on which to struggle and the entire system demands constant vigilant attention? In the age of a president who regularly sucks all the air out of the room, how do we even talk about all of this without being overwhelmed? In many ways, the current wave of regressive change and increasing chaos in Washington should be treated as a caricature of the system that we all have been living under for so long. Turn to that broader dimension and the quest for a new consciousness may prove the thread that, though hardly noticed, already ties together the many facets of the developing resistance movement. The largest mobilization for progressive politics since the Vietnam era offers a unique opportunity to go beyond simply treating symptoms and start offering cures for the underlying illness. If this opportunity is missed, versions of the same symptoms are likely to recur, while unpredictable new ones will undoubtedly emerge for the next 50 years, and as Martin Luther King predicted, we will go on marching without end. Surely we deserve a better future and a better fate.

The red carpet style at the 2017 Teen Choice Awards was bold, colorful and a little bit bonkers ― just the way we like it. Zendaya nailed a striped pajamas look, while “Stranger Things” star Millie Bobby Brown brought the ’90s back with a pair of tiny sunglasses. Rita Ora’s outfit was one of the brightest of the night, as her yellow hair and flashy pink dress caused quite the stir on the carpet, which was actually blue. Bella Thorne’s glittery face paint and Victoria Justice’s white, one-shoulder cape also kept the carpet fun, just as the Teen Choice awards should be. Check out the looks below:

A new website is taking a dig at President Donald Trump’s frequent, costly trips to his Mar-a-Lago resort and suggesting how the money might be better spent. The site IsTrumpAtMarALago.org, launched on Friday by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, tracks how many weekends Trump has spent there and what the estimated cost has been for taxpayers. As of Monday morning, he had gone to the resort seven out of his 13 weekends as president, costing taxpayers an estimated $25 million. IsTrumpAtMarALago.org also provides a list of programs that could have used that money, specifically citing those facing Trump-proposed cuts, such as public school funding and aid for the homeless. “It’s supremely hypocritical of Donald Trump to spend millions of government dollars at Mar-a-Lago while crusading to cut vital programs such as Meals on Wheels,” CAP Action spokeswoman Morgan Finkelstein said in a press release. “Our tracker will provide context and keep Trump accountable for his out-of-control spending at taxpayers’ expense.” To calculate costs, the website estimates Trump’s resort visits at around $3.6 million per trip, pointing to an unidentified Government Accountability Office report. The GAO report commonly cited for that estimate looked at a 2013 Palm Beach, Florida, visit by President Barack Obama and, as The Washington Post has pointed out, costs can be complicated to estimate. The website adds to a mounting chorus of criticism around Trump’s visits to Mar-a-Lago. Some have focused on the costs for these trips, while others have noted the need for improved security measures at the resort. Many people have also noted the irony of Trump heading to golf clubs so often ― 12 times in the first nine weeks of his presidency ― after he repeatedly criticized Obama for golfing during his time in office. @realDonaldTrump Will you talk about how many times you've played golf and complained about Obama playing golf? pic.twitter.com/kE5Po4U0Zd — Rod Blackhurst (@rodblackhurst) March 15, 2017 With the money spent on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago visits, the site calculates the government could have funded a year’s worth of meals for 9,000 Meals on Wheels recipients, six years of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, or 7,000 Pell grants to help low-income students pay for college, among other options. While CAP Action said in its release that the site specifically lists “programs that Trump wants to cut,” it glosses over some nuances of those budget proposals. For instance, the site says Pell grants “have been on Trump’s chopping block.” In fact, the president’s proposed budget would continue to fund Pell grants at the same level. However, in order to do so, it would pull $3.9 billion from the program’s surplus, which advocates had hoped would be preserved as a cushion or used to strengthen or expand the grants, according to Inside Higher Ed. Similarly, the site says the president “wants to slash” Meals on Wheels funding. But the block grants targeted in Trump’s budget aren’t the main source of federal funding for that program. It is unclear how much Meals on Wheels funding would actually be affected by the proposed budget, although Trump’s budget director did appear to criticize the program to reporters, citing it as an example of efforts that “sound good” but “don’t work.”

Guess how much training new teachers in UK get to learn about special needs? You may think that this extremely important area of teaching would get quality instruction. So perhaps out of a 3 year course, at least a block of say 3 months. No. What about 3 weeks. No guess again. 3 days. No try 1 day. Yes that’s right. ONE DAY. I kid you not. I have questioned many new, young teachers and they all report the same. It’s like giving a doctor one day’s training on administering injections. Or a pilot one day’s training on landing a plane. What about one day’s training for a dentist on tooth extraction. Would this happen? Of course not. Because these elements of a job are vital to that professions. Within each class there will be perhaps 10% of children with some kind of additional or special need. It may be dyslexia, autism, attention deficit behaviour disorder, Down’s syndrome, developmental delay or speech and language difficulty. So why do teachers get so little formal training in these areas. Why is it given just a cursory glance? And with these conditions comes a critical element of effective behaviour management. I cannot understand. I can only guess at the answer. Perhaps successive Governments think knowledge of these conditions will just come with experience. Perhaps successive Governments feel that behaviour management will too come with experience. Maybe the successive Governments feel emphasis should be training new teachers to focus on the 90% of the class to reach desired targets. In my book ‘5 Reasons Why Most School Fail Your Child With Special Needs’ I devote a whole chapter about targets and the negative affect they have on our special children. Targets really do matter too much. In a first world society, why on earth do we not train teachers so that ALL children in their care are able to reach their full potential? I have worked with some incredible young teachers who just get it. They plan, implement and deliver a varied curriculum and naturally understand the differing needs of children in their care. However, there are many who just don’t get it. I hear horror stories from parents who have to battle with the special needs coordinator just to get the smallest of concessions. Many children resort to unacceptable, challenging behaviour to communicate to the adults that something is wrong. It is up to the adults to figure out what this is and to make positive changes to their own behaviour, attitude or the environment. It could be as simple as using a specialist piece of equipment, finding a quiet space to work, using positive, encouraging language. But teachers are so busy worrying about targets, levels and delivering a packed curriculum that there is no time for a quick chat to see how a child is feeling. Many teachers fail to notice or understand that by checking in with a child every day can make a massive difference to a child’s emotional well-being. They have not been trained to recognise special needs or what to do about it. Last week I delivered some training to a nursery setting. It went well and I received some fantastic feedback. But it astounds me that the basic principles of listening to the children and to work out why there is challenging behaviour are overlooked. It shouldn’t be a situation that in nurseries and schools across the country we are crossing our fingers and hoping that staff have received additional training in special needs and behaviour management. And the result of this lack of training: Children with low self-worth and poor emotional health as they feel useless and naughty Frazzled staff who feel like they’re putting out fires without getting to the source of the difficulty Disgruntled parents who have to endure daily accounts of bad behaviour and poor standards of work It really doesn’t have to be this way. Teachers need better training. Better understanding. More tricks up their sleeves. Simple techniques that can have a massive impact on the whole of a class. Disruptive children disrupt the learning of everyone. Teach the teachers how to handle the situation and then everyone can reach their full potential. We don’t have to just hope that our child’s new teacher will get it. Go armed to your school in September with information, ideas and practical suggestions. Do not take no for an answer. Simple techniques work and can be the difference between a happy child or a child who is suffering.

The free service has wonderful content and is well worth a look. If you have not checked out Tubi TV then you are missing out on one of the most compelling and best-streaming video services on the market today. First off it is free, which clearly makes it worthy of your consideration. Tubi TV first launched back 2014 and it has shown impressive growth in the past three years. In a strong move earlier this summer, the San Francisco-based video service was able to raise $20 million round of funding. THIS WEEKS STREAM ON PODCAST WITH TUBI TV'S JONATHON BARBATO They are one of the top five streaming video downloaded video apps on iTunes and can boast more subscribers than HBO Now and CBS All Access, combined. During this week’s Stream On podcast Tubi TV’s, Advisor on Content Partnerships, Jonathon Barbato spoke about their growth and the importance of the over 200 partnerships that assures them of an impressive library of worldwide content. Barbato made it clear that they won’t be investing in original programming. He strongly feels there are plenty of content out there that streamers have not yet seen. So, investing in existing programming is the winning formula for Tubi TV and should serve them well in the future. The service has some impressive content and they should be commended for their dedication to variety. From Merlin to Dog the Bounty Hunter there really is something for everyone to watch. For instance,Tubi TV has a strong collection of Anime with one of the largest collections of any streaming service. Now that we are in October and Halloween right around the corner their collection of horror films is also quite impressive. But there is also plenty of romantic comedies, dramas, mysteries and television programming on Tubi TV to keep you entertained for hours. That content comes from their strong partnerships with known programming outlets like Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Starz and others, bringing its catalog of shows and movies to over 50,000 titles, with over 7,500 programs and movies in rotation at any given time. But Tubi TV also wants to make sure that once you visit the service, that you return often. Once you sample their content they use some very impressive analytics to make sure you don’t have to do a great deal of searching for something to watch. Say you are a fan of British television watching shows like Cold Feet, Vera or The Royal. There will be a quick profile that pops up offering you more compelling content that will suit your tastes. You can build a play list and customize Tubi TV to fit your viewing tastes and habits. I know you have seen that before on other streaming services and yes so have I, but the Tubi TV folks take it to another level with their data mining. TUBI They use their high tech, deep data mining and its proprietary TV analytics platform with the robust content offering from its studio partners. This unique blend of product and technology allows Tubi TV to stay ahead of the curve in meeting consumer demand. So have Tubi TV as part of your roster of streaming services, they are too good to pass up and did I mention they are free.

AOL Instant Messenger has g2g ― forever. The online messaging app, often referred to as just AIM, will be discontinued on Dec. 15, as Michael Albers, vice president of communications product at Oath, announced Friday. “AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift, but the way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed,” Albers wrote. “As a result we’ve made the decision that we will be discontinuing AIM effective December 15, 2017.” (AOL is now part of Oath, which owns HuffPost.) All good things come to an end. On Dec 15, we'll bid farewell to AIM. Thank you to all our users! #AIMemories https://t.co/b6cjR2tSuU pic.twitter.com/V09Fl7EPMx — AIM (@aim) October 6, 2017 AIM was originally introduced as part of a chat app built into the AOL desktop. It launched on its own in 1997, and remained dominant even when competitors like Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger came along. But by 2011, Facebook and Google’s email chat, known as Google Chat or “Gchat” for short, had gained a significant edge. “If you were a 90’s kid, chances are there was a point in time when AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was a huge part of your life,” Albers wrote. “You likely remember the CD, your first screenname, your carefully curated away messages, and how you organized your buddy lists.” “In the late 1990’s, the world had never seen anything like it,” he added. “And it captivated all of us.” Twitter users almost immediately began sharing their most cherished AIM memories. Others expressed shock that the application is actually still around. #InMemorAIM In honor of the end of AOL AIM, here's my screen name: ColMiTierra88 (i haven't changed 🇨🇴 ) — Carolina J. Moreno (@CaritoJuliette) October 6, 2017 lmaoo nooooooooo 😩😩😩 had all my baes on AIM https://t.co/Qwv4JSf4Jx — frank (@yo_itsFrankie) October 6, 2017 Who remembers when "A/S/L" was all the info you needed? #InMemorAIM #AIM — Veronica (@veronicaraye) October 6, 2017 My AIM name was KNULPREK, which was @greenday's 2nd album, Kerplunk, spelled backwards. Basically sums my high school self up #AIMemories — Jason Feifer (@heyfeifer) October 6, 2017 My screen name was javamuppet and I regret nothing. #InMemorAIM — Christy Havranek (@diopter) October 6, 2017 I asked out my first girlfriend in middle school via AIM away message and yes I hate myself — Brett S. Vergara (@BrettSVergara) October 6, 2017 ~**//wHaT's the WoRsT that I CaN sAy, ThInGs are BeTtEr if I sTaY, so LoNg and gOoDnIgHt, sooo lOnG and GoOdNiGhT\\**~ #AIMemories https://t.co/xBEQDbjKxJ — Jeanne Fennell (@jeanbean23) October 6, 2017 Tbh shocked it was still operating. — he loox Dead (@its_helixD) October 6, 2017 The end of an era. pic.twitter.com/BBID3LyYsl — Stephen Hackett (@ismh) October 6, 2017

It’s been almost three weeks since Melania Trump last appeared in public, raising concerns about her health following an operation. But the first lady apparently is doing OK, according to a tweet she posted Wednesday afternoon. Trump had surgery to treat what the White House called a “benign kidney condition,” which usually requires only a few days of recuperation. Her continued absence from the public eye, however, has caused a raft of conspiracy theories to foment, as Politico noted. Some have speculated that Melania has moved back to New York. Others say she’s cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller. And there’s one doozy that conjectures she’s working on a tell-all Trump book with the help of the Obamas. The first lady sought to nip the rumors in the bud with this tweet: I see the media is working overtime speculating where I am & what I'm doing. Rest assured, I'm here at the @WhiteHouse w my family, feeling great, & working hard on behalf of children & the American people! — Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) May 30, 2018 The tweet did little to stop some Twitter users from doubting that she wrote it. I find it highly unlikely that @FLOTUS wrote this, highly unlikely — Ted Roberts (@TedWinemark3) May 30, 2018 "rest assured" doesn't sound at all like Trump wrote this. — Pesach 'Pace' Lattin 🔴 (@pacelattin) May 30, 2018 does not sound like she wrote it! — Jutta von Sivers (@JUTTAV) May 30, 2018 I wish her well, I honestly do. She seems lovely - But who stole her phone? — Sonja Torkelsen🇳🇴🦋 (@SonjaTorkelsen) May 30, 2018 Some needed more convincing than a mere tweet. Please show us a photo of yourself holding up today's newspaper with the date visible, we want to know you are ok. Blink us a message. — ariagray (@ariagray34) May 30, 2018 Others devised new theories. I see Melania left Donald the password to this account in the divorce — F.H. (@MrsH___) May 30, 2018 Some felt verification was in order, with one making a reference to her address at the 2016 Republican National Convention that included a passage lifted from a Michelle Obama speech.

NOW PLAYING Racist Driver Goes Off On Asian-American Family A woman driving in Half Moon Bay, California told an Asian-American family to “go back to your country” while their kids were in the car.

I read an article about school children practicing exiting their school. It wasn’t a fire drill, this was to prepare for a gunman roaming their hallways; the children were being trained to climb out windows and run. At first I thought, “How sad, that we have to prepare kids to live in such a world.” Many people commenting on the article felt the same. But then I remembered my own childhood, and all I lived through. When I was young, students practiced “Duck and Cover,” the act of getting under our desks in case of a nuclear war with Russia. My entire class was fingerprinted, because the Atlanta Child Murders were scaring the collective crap out of America. 38 million people watched the movie Adam, and America’s Most Wanted was born from the aftermath of the horrific event of child abduction that inspired said movie. Hospitals volunteered to x-ray Halloween candy, because the idea a razorblade could be inside an apple sent the country into such a tailspin that for a good many years trick-or-treating took place in daylight hours. I realized that while times change, raising children to live with fear has always been the norm. Before my generation, it was The Red Menace, and before that polio. And so on back through time. Life has always been about fear, it’s just that adults tend to forget what we went through and want to protect the current generation from what they’re experiencing. The reality is: the children of today will survive the pressures of fear just as my generation did, just as every generation has. Not that fear isn’t real. It is. I’m writing this at 2 AM because irrational fear shot me awake. I was lying in bed, attempting to fall asleep, and suddenly: bam! There it was, the most evil thought possible, making my stomach churn. “What if something happened to my children?” I was awake in an instant, and for over an hour I’ve been trying to calm myself and get the evil out of my head. If something happened to my daughter, I don’t think I’d survive. I wouldn’t want to. But I would have to, for my son. Likewise, if something happened to my son, I’d have to carry on for the sake of my daughter. Thankfully, the evil thoughts are rare. Like most people, 99% of the time I’m aware the world is by-and-large is inhabited by good folks. But when malevolent thoughts pop in uninvited, they can be crippling. The important thing, I believe, is my guidance as a parent. If I lament the teachings of safety and instill worry into my children, they will grow up flinching at shadows. If I am straightforward, and treat preparing for danger as a simple fact of life, they will do the like. They will understand that as a whole, the planet is a good place, but that you do have to keep your eyes open and radar up. Such, as they say, is life.

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Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein warned Friday that the Trump administration may be ushering in the darkest days in America since Joe McCarthy. Bernstein blasted Donald Trump’s White House and Republicans like Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) who helped release a GOP memo on Friday attacking the FBI and Justice Department investigation of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Bernstein called the memo a “disingenuous partisan document.” “We may well have not seen such dark days for American democracy and its institutions since the days of Joe McCarthy,” Bernstein told CNN’s Jake Tapper, referring to the notorious communist “witch hunts” orchestrated by the Wisconsin Republican senator in the 1950s. “In the case of McCarthy, it was a senator, not the president of the United States, who was a demagogic authoritarian.” The GOP memo alleges that the FBI and Justice Department misled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain a warrant against Page last October. The memo, written by GOP staffers, claims that the court was unaware that a dossier of alleged Trump-Russia connections was gathered by a former British intelligence agent working for a company doing opposition research on Trump for the Democrats. Bernstein said he believes the memo, which did not contain all of the information that led to the warrant, is a “red herring” intended to derail special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election and possible collusion by the Trump campaign. Trump should have “enough confidence in our institutions” to let them investigate Russian activity and determine “whether or not the Trump Organization, the president of the United States, his family and aides were involved in some way,” Bernstein said. “Right now, we have the unprecedented situation of one of the major political parties ... backing the president in showing and believing that he is above the law.” He later added, “In the whole Cold War, the Russians were not able to do what [Vladimir] Putin has done through Donald Trump — to destabilize the United States and its democratic institutions. It’s stunning. It’s ruinous.” Bernstein said he hoped the Republicans, who have always had a reputation as being toughest on the Russians, will stop following the president in “lockstep” and “get hold of their senses.”

It was the summer of 1979 when I first heard Tom Petty on the radio: I was talking with a friend of mine Said a woman had hurt his pride Told him that she loved him so Turned around and let him go… “Don’t Do Me Like That” was my favorite song for a while, and the radio would always be my favorite way to hear Tom Petty. I never owned a TP album; I just caught him on the airwaves for what feels like my whole life. And it occurred to me, thinking back now about all those TP singles, that one of their defining qualities was a recurring reverence for women and what it was like to love and admire them. Much rock music throughout history has been male-focused if not straight out misogynistic. Sexism is an accepted part of the Rock & Roll mythos, and it was certainly prevalent in the latter decades of the 20th century and into the new millennium. And Tom Petty, for all those years, kept threading his library of songs with women in respectful and realistic roles while remaining true to the grit and groove of Rock & Roll. There’s songs like “Don’t Do Me Like That” where women had power; they could break your heart, so watch out boy! Continuing this theme was “A Woman In Love (It’s Not Me)” and “Even the Losers.” He wrote love songs wrapped in bravado: “Here Comes My Girl” “Yer so Bad” and “You Wreck Me.” And when he went tender, as in “Wildflowers” he did so with elegiac beauty. There were songs when love was shared and pure (“The Waiting”) and when things done gone bad (“Stop Dragging My Heart Around” with Stevie Nicks). But Tom Petty was best when singing the songs of women from a third person point of view, as an observer of humanity’s better half and more complicated creature, such as in “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” “Free Fallin’” and arguably TP’s signature song and first hit… Last Thanksgiving morning, I was busy in my kitchen with the radio on (well, Pandora), in the company of my teenage daughter, Sophia, and our teenage cousins Cate and Madelyn, when “American Girl” came on. I knew it from the opening “Chhh” and got my head going with the swirling guitar riff as I continued to prep the meal and wait for the killer first line. And much to my absolute fucking delight, said line was delivered not just by Tom Petty but my daughter and our two cousins, a song known by heart by three teenage girls a full 40 years after its debut on American radio: Well, she was an American girl Raised on promises… I let them sing alone; it was their song after all.

There’s a “Game of Thrones”-sized hole in our hearts and the final season isn’t coming back to fill it for a long, long time. Luckily these pint-size cosplayers are around to remind us how good it feels to curl up on the couch with our favorites from the Westeros crew. Sure, kids can’t actually watch “Game of Thrones,” what with all the violence, nudity and sexual content. But that doesn’t mean they can’t channel the spirit of the show for some Halloween fun. Below are some really amazing photos of families and kids rocking GOT garb this Halloween season. Like this family, who is basically all the #goals: Costume Works photo via Costume Works I mean, just look at the little dragons! Costume Works photo via Costume Works Costume Works photo via Costume Works Or this family: Costume Works photo via Costume Works This kid, who has his own iron throne: Costume Works photo via Costume Works Alllll the dragon queens: Costume Works photo via Costume Works Costume Works photo via Costume Works Including this one, who truly loves her dragon like a mother should: Costume Works photo via Costume Works And this one, who got her little brothers involved: Sarah Husser photo via Sarah Husser And don’t forget the mini Jon Snows: Costume Works photo via Costume Works Costume Works photo via Costume Works And just in case you thought only boys could be King in the North, check out this little lady totally nailing the hair: Costume Works photo via Costume Works And her mom even dressed up as Melisandre: Costume Works photo via Costume Works

Scrolling Facebook this weekend, I noticed that many residents of my hometown—Muskegon, MI—dismiss the notion that the candidacy and election of President Donald Trump has led to increased incidents (and the normalization) of racism and hate throughout both America and Muskegon County. To these individuals, I would plead: “Wake up, please.” A noose hung from a swing set at the Glenside Early Childhood Center in Muskegon, MI. As I will attempt to indicate below, circumstances have now become such that continuing to deny a correlation between Donald Trump and the new rise of white supremacy in America is akin to Germans explaining away anti-Semitic propaganda during the ascent of Hitler. Today we refer to those Germans as “Nazi sympathizers”. So to a Muskegon resident, and the 7 individuals adding a ‘like”, who responded to the above photo on Facebook with: “To tie this to our President shows a special kind of stupid.”, I present the following linked and annotated facts. I hope he/she reads them objectively and to completion. *This weekend a noose was found hanging from a swing set at the Glenside Early Childhood Elementary Center in Muskegon, Michigan. The pre-kindergarten student body at Glenside Elementary is largely African American. A mother taking her child to play first discovered the noose, photographed it, and posted it on Facebook. *This Saturday (8/12/17) in Charlottesville, Virginia a group of white males gathered with torches, Nazi and Confederate flags to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from the campus of the University of Virginia. This group of white males identified themselves as White Nationalists and were seen throughout the course of the rally giving Nazi salutes while shouting “Heil Trump” in the same manner and inflection that Nazi soldiers reserved for the recognition of Adolf Hitler. *This Saturday (8/12/17), at approximately 1:45pm, 20 year-old Ohio resident James Alex Fields—seen in a photograph taken earlier in the day alongside members of the White Nationalist organization Vanguard of America—ran his car into a group of counter-protesters in Charlottesville, killing 32-year old Heather Heyer. * A 1990 article in the magazine Vanity Fair explains that President Donald Trump’s then wife, Ivana, divulged to her lawyer, Michael Kennedy, “that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler’s collected speeches, My New Order, which he (President Trump) keeps in a cabinet by his bed.” * Here is video of a February 2016 interview with President Donald Trump. President Trump is asked if he renounces the support of the Ku Klux Klan. He claims to not know who the organization is. * The UK publication “The Independent” reported yesterday that President Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump, was arrested at a 1927 Ku Klux Klan rally in Jamaica, Queens. The rally featured 1,000 white-robed Klansmen marching through neighborhoods until a brawl broke out. Though the nature of President Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump’s, involvement is not known, it should be noted that he was represented by the same attorney that the only six other individuals arrested at the riot were. * Here is a video detailing the extent of support President Donald Trump has from the Ku Klux Klan and other White Supremacist Groups in the United States. On Saturday, August 12th, 15 minutes after Heather Heyer was killed by James Alex Fields, the former president of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke Tweeted to President Donald Trump: “I would recommend you take a good look in the mirror & remember it was White Americans who put you in the presidency, not radical leftists.” This is a video of an African American protester at a March 10th rally for President Donald Trump being sucker-punched by a white man in the crowd. This is a video of an African American protester being beaten and dragged from a 2016 Las Vegas, NV rally for President Donald Trump. In the background of the video you can hear a white man yell “Sieg Heil” while another yells “Burn the motherfucker”. This is a recent picture of the 2017 Montague Varsity football team posing proudly with President Donald Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” sign after a summer practice. Montague is a predominantly white, rural township in Muskegon County. The Montague varsity football team holds a sign supporting Donald Trump after a summer practice.

In honor of the Sikh holiday of Vaisakhi, more than 500 Sikh volunteers gathered in New York City’s Times Square on Saturday to teach tourists and passers-by about their faith in a memorable way. The volunteers claim to have tied 8,000 turbans during the event. Turban Day 2017, organized by Sikhs of New York, sought to educate Americans about Sikhism, a faith practiced by 25 million people in the world. The campaign is the brainchild of Chanpreet Singh, the 24-year-old founder of Sikhs of New York. The group got its start as a student club at Baruch College, Singh’s alma mater. The first Turban Day took place at the university five years ago, and the event has been growing ever since. Pacific Press via Getty Images Sikhs of New York organized a Turban Day in Times Square. Volunteers were on hand to help tie traditional Sikh turbans for all, some followers of the religion, others not. Singh said the idea for an event to educate people about Sikhism came from his personal experiences. “I’ve been called names like terrorist, ISIS. I’ve heard things like ‘Go back to your country,’” he told HuffPost. “All throughout high school and middle school.” He believes it’s up to Sikhs to educate others about their religion. “I take the fault on ourselves. We haven’t done enough to educate.” Chanpreet Singh Volunteers tied turbans and educated participants about the Sikh faith. The religion’s roots can be traced back to Guru Nanak Dev Ji, a 15th century spiritual leader who lived in the Punjab region, which lies in modern-day India and Pakistan. In those days, a turban was often worn by members of the rich, upper class. Guru Nanak encouraged all his followers to wear turbans, as a symbol of devotion and to promote equality. Sikhs have been part of America’s religious landscape for over 100 years. Yet, many Americans are unfamiliar with the religion, or confuse Sikhs with Muslims. A 2015 survey from the National Sikh Campaign, which partnered with Sikhs of New York for Turban Day, found that 60 percent of Americans said they knew nothing at all about Sikh Americans. Americans were more likely to assume that a man wearing a turban was Muslim (20 percent) or of Middle Eastern descent (28 percent), than they were to assume the turbaned man was Sikh (11 percent). Chanpreet Singh Sikhs have also been victims of discrimination and hate crimes, often because of the turbans they wear as part of their faith. About 67 percent of turbaned Sikh youth in Massachusetts, Indiana, Washington, and California say they’ve been bullied. Singh hopes that Turban Day will help educate people about his religion. It takes between two to five minutes for each turban to be wrapped properly. During that time, a Sikh volunteer presents information about Turban Day and about Sikhism. After the turban is tied, the volunteer asks for reactions and fields any lingering questions. “I thought, how about giving the firsthand experience of what a turban feels like. If someone takes a turban away with them, they’ll always remember that it was a Sikh person who gave it to them,” Singh said. Since he started the project five years ago, Singh said that it has expanded tremendously. Singh said that at the last Turban Day, held in 2015, his team tied 3,500 turbans. Chanpreet Singh Participants pose after having turbans tied for Turban Day 2017. Singh said that the event has received some critical feedback from Sikhs who wondered whether the participants would walk away with a full understanding of what a turban means in the Sikh religion. Singh said that his team tries to address this by asking participants to treat the turban as an honor and a crown, and to refrain from smoking and drinking alcohol while wearing it.

The 139th annual White House Easter Egg Roll kicked off Monday morning with a furry friend that the internet found mildly disturbing. Thousands of adults and children came to the South Lawn to participate as the formal event, which began in 1870s on the grounds of the Capitol, kicked off at 7:30 a.m. ET. Various other activities and entertainment accompanied the actual egg roll, a game where children race wooden eggs with spoons. Per tradition that began during the Nixon administration, there is also a costumed Easter bunny to aid in the celebrations. But this year, the bespeckled bunny that made an appearance had viewers, uh, perplexed. The suit, mouth agape, had Twitter users all over making comparisons to a character in the 2001 cult-classic film “Donnie Darko.”

Cross posted from UN Women. Hajiya Amina Ahmed is a peacebuilder from Nigeria who works across religious and ethnic lines to empower women and build peaceful communities. During a recent visit to a rural community, she, along with other women peacebuilders, convinced the community leader to appoint women in the traditional councils. Hajiya Amina Ahmed. Photo: UN Women/Ladi Eguche Women are typically the most-affected in conflict situations, but are excluded from decision-making processes concerning peace and security. Why is it so? If I am on the receiving end of violence, should I not be included in the discussions to end it? Women are leaders; we are peacemakers. When women are educated and enlightened, we have the potential to become models in our community. I have been working in peace and conflict transformation since the 2001 ethno-religious crisis in Jos (Plateau State). My work involves countering violence against women and girls and promoting their involvement in development processes. This is something I am passionate about. I want us to move away from treating women as second-class citizens. I want to reach a point where the prejudices against women are reduced to the barest minimum, if not completely wiped off. Many areas in Plateau State are still polarized and divided along ethnic and religious lines. Tensions in some communities are high. Recently, I led a team of Women Peace Mentors to Jenta Adamu, a predominantly Christian community for a meeting on women’s engagement in peace processes. Since I am a Muslim, the community gatekeepers felt that I should not be the one leading the delegation. Using the skills that we had learned during our training with UN Women, we were able to shift their focus from what divides to what unites us. We were granted entry into the community and met with the leader. He was receptive to our suggestions of including women in their traditional and community institutions. He committed to appointing two women into his Traditional Council.” Hajiya Amina Ahmed, 44, is the Executive Director of the Women Initiative for Sustainable Community Development in Plateau State, Nigeria. She is one of the 121 Women Peace Mentors trained by UN Women as part of the European Union-funded “Northern Nigeria Women, Peace and Security Programme”, which aims to strengthen women’s leadership and engagement in peacebuilding efforts. Since the meeting with the women mentors, the leader of the Jenta Adamu community has appointed two women into his Traditional Council. Hajiya Amina Ahmed’s work contributes to SDG 16, which promotes peaceful and inclusive societies, and SDG 5 on gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.

WASHINGTON ― More than 48 hours after white supremacist groups sparked deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, President Donald Trump denounced them under public pressure to do so. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this display of hatred, bigotry and violence,” he said in an impromptu statement on Monday after returning to the White House from his golf club in New Jersey. “Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, Neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to what we hold dear as Americans,” he added. On Sunday, White House officials clarified that Trump was referring to “white supremacists, KKK, Neo-Nazi and all extremist groups,” in his previous remark, but the statement notably did not come from Trump himself and was attributed to an unnamed spokesperson. Other members of the Trump administration, including Vice President Mike Pence, attempted to clarify Trump’s Saturday statement by claiming that he meant to condemn extremist groups. But until his statement on Monday, Trump had remained silent, even tweeting Monday morning about a range of topics other than the weekend’s events. One tweet took aim at a CEO who stepped down from a White House manufacturing panel, protesting Trump’s response to the Charlottesville violence. According to CNN’s Jeff Zeleny, a White House aide said Trump “insisted” on making remarks about the economy at the beginning of his Monday statement. Per @jeffzeleny Pres Trump "insisted" on economic remarks at the top of his statement- per WH aide, POTUS wanted to give his "full picture" — Dianne Gallagher (@DianneG) August 14, 2017

My husband and I recently transferred to California for his job. I lived in the Sunshine State for many years so housing prices seemed normal to me, but he has never lived in California so he had to get over the sticker shock and the worry of “if we’re buying at an all-time high, what if it goes down?” I am not downplaying his concerns; I know how cyclical the housing and economic markets are. But I also know that buying a home can be financially better than renting (and if you need proof, Investors.com has it). And while we were shopping for personal property, I will admit upfront that I am real estate investor. But I treat my real estate holdings much like I do stocks: I buy both as long-term investments and buy ones that generate income while I hold them. This worked well for me in the downturn of 2000 and during and after the crash in 2008. Experts have predicted another bubble burst though they disagree about when. Wolf Richter wrote in Business Insider in June that the United States is certainly in a housing bubble (and prices have only gone up in most areas in the last quarter) though he says predicting when the market will begin to deflate is difficult. Teo Nicolais at Harvard predicts the current cycle to peak around 2024, barring a major war or other cataclysmic event. If he’s correct, that’s another six plus years to invest and make a profit. U.S. Army Captain Lee Escobar, author of Rich Soldier: Mission Financial Freedom, and a real estate investor who has purchased over 100 properties and has participated in some fashion in the purchase of hundreds of more properties, says that knowing when to buy, hold and sell is mostly about education and if it’s your personal property versus an investment. “The proper financial education combined with proven systems creates a recession-proof real estate investing model. Whether the market is going up, down or sideways, smart investors always prosper,” Escobar says. Financial website The Balance explains four basic ways to make money from real estate: appreciation of the real estate holding, cash flow income (from rent, storage units, car washes, etc.), real estate related income (acting as a broker, for example) and ancillary real estate investment income (such as vending machines or laundry facilities in an apartment building). Making steady money in real estate—regardless of what part of the cycle the housing market and economy is in—involves a combination of at least two of the above ways. And while we were buying a house for our personal use this time, we also considered if what we were buying would make a good rental unit and how the area was appreciating—looking at it with real estate investment mindset. Successful real estate investors treat their investments as a business, says Escobar, not as a hobby. “While the market is up, intelligent investors also prepare for the inevitable downturn. While it’s down, we can also prepare for it to inevitably go up.” He credits his own success with having the right education, plus “having the right mentors and coaches for accountability and support.”

As “promposals” go, this one was a bust ― literally. A police dash cam video posted on Facebook Friday shows a Georgia police officer stopping two teens in a white pickup truck in Peachtree City. The video shows the officer explaining that he pulled the truck over because a decal was obstructing the tag. He also mentions the department has had “a little history on the truck” after a previous stop. “Have you ever been stopped before in this truck,” the officer asks. “Do you have any siblings? Do you ever let friends drive the truck?” The officer asks the people in the truck to get out. The driver is a teenage boy and his passenger is a girl around the same age. The officer asks and is given permission to search the vehicle. He returns and seems very angry. “If you lie to me, I run out of options, all right,” the officer says. “You work with me, I’ve done this a thousand times, I can normally work with folks but the thing I can’t work with is dishonesty.” When the male driver refuses to provide any further information, the officer places him in handcuffs. Facebook At that point, the girl starts to look worried. Very worried. Then the officer comes back with bags of what he claims appears to be marijuana. Both teens deny the drugs are theirs so the officer then hands a bag containing a small slip of paper to the girl and asks, “Does that look like weed to you?” After looking at the note, a large smile crosses her face. “Oh my God, this is not funny,” she says laughing, the driver still in handcuffs. The boy then brings out a sign that says, “Prom? Say yes or you’re under arrest!” Facebook Spoiler alert: She did say yes, though she still seemed freaked out by the elaborate charade. Although this video seems to be a perfect example of how not to do a promposal, the Peachtree City Police Department said the parents of the teens gave the department permission to post it on its Facebook page.

Thinking about the Trumpian decision last week to drop an enormous bomb on one of the world’s poorest country I can’t help but flash back to that now infamous photo op of the leader of the free world at the wheel of mammoth tractor-trailer. What that picture indelibly captured was the extent to which we are being governed by an id-controlled man-child. What that bomb made clear is how horrifying, how deadly, how dangerous, that is on a global stage. Let’s recap: A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb – nicknamed the ‘Mother of All Bombs’ (MOAB) – was dropped at 7 p.m. local time Thursday, April 13 in Afghanistan. That is all that we know for sure, we the taxpayers who spent upwards of $300 million to develop this monstrosity, the largest non-nuclear bomb in arsenal. The rest, well we don’t know much at all beyond that the target was supposedly a series of caves and tunnels and that allegedly “a number of Islamic militants” were killed in the attack Also that Trump claimed it was “a very, very successful mission,” despite the fact that it now seems the bomb used was not actually designed to penetrate bunkers like the ones allegedly targeted. Donald Trump is a serial liar. But in this case he may not have been blatantly twisting the truth so much as inventing it. Because, according to actual credible sources, fighting on the ground has prevented local authorities from getting to the bombed site to see what happened and who was really killed. So Trump has no idea, in fact, if this expensive, massive destruction was indeed successful in whatever way he defines that term. No one does. There are, however, a few things we do know for sure. We know that Afghanistan is one of the poorest nations in the world. Its cities are crumbling. Its people are living with infrastructure from a century the West has long ago left behind. Its children are growing up without hope for the future. You do not have to take my word for it. You can see it in our film, Rethink Afghanistan. Take a look at how people are living. These are the conditions that allow violent extremism to take hold and to flourish. These are the conditions that make us unsafe. For every multi-million dollar bomb we drop, we become even more unsafe. For each explosion is followed by a thousand whispers into the ears of impressionable children watching the fire and smoke from their villages without clean running water. “See what these monsters do? See why we must wipe them off the face of the earth? See why you must join us?” Then there is the “collateral damage,” the ugliest of euphemisms that encompasses dead parents, dead cousins, dead lovers and dead friends and dead teachers and dead soccer coaches. If fear and despair does not work in recruiting ISIS fighters, sadness and anger just might. We don’t know yet who the dead are in this most recent bombing, but we can freely assume that there were innocents among them. We can also rest assured that they will not be the last to die by incompetence or indifference. While this latest bomb had superlatives of size attached, the reign of terror has been going on practically since Trump took office and began treating deadly drones like Tonka Trucks. Drone strikes are up 43 percent since January 2017. The body count of noncombatants no doubt in line with that figure. In this latest attack, there is some question as to whether Trump actually knew anything about the mission beforehand. He has not said yes or no. But he has said proudly and emphatically that he trusts military leaders to make decisions. In doing so he has made an overarching decision. He has decided that our problems will be solved with violence, as have the administrations before him, and he is escalating that violence. So it is irrelevant whether he knows the details of this attack or the next or the one after that. He is responsible for them all.

AT&T, which recently acquired Time Warner in a landmark merger, is hiking up the prices for some DirecTV customers, even after telling a federal judge earlier this year that the merger could lower prices for its customers. The company’s streaming service DirecTV NOW, which it owned before the merger, will now cost new and existing customers $5 more per month, bringing the service’s cheapest package up to $40 per month and the most expensive package to $75. AT&T explained the increase in a statement provided to Cord Cutter News, which first reported it: “To continue delivering the best possible streaming experience for both new and existing customers, we’re bringing the cost of this service in line with the market — which starts at a $40 price point.” Other online streaming services have recently increased their prices, including Dish Network’s Sling TV (which is hiking its Sling Orange package from $5 to $25 per month) and YouTube TV (which went from $5 to $40 per month in March), according to the Washington Post. AT&T’s DirecTV price increase begins on July 26 for new customers and, according to USA Today, it’s not the company’s only price hike. AT&T also increased its monthly “administrative fee” twice in the most recent quarter, hiking up the fee 76 cents to a total of $1.99 per month for cellphone bills, USA Today reported. The telecom company also updated two of its unlimited mobile plans last week, tacking on $5 to its cheapest plan (for a total of $70) while dropping a subscription to HBO which it previously offered for free, according to Ars Technica. The Justice Department attempted to block AT&T’s purchase of Time Warner in federal court, arguing in an antitrust case that the merger would create a media monopoly and lead to higher prices for consumers. Three weeks ago, Judge Richard Leon sided with AT&T, allowing the telecom giant to move forward with its $85.4 billion deal to acquire Time Warner. The acquisition gives AT&T ownership of HBO, Warner Bros. film and television studios, DC Entertainment, Cartoon Network, TBS, CNN and the cable network giant Turner Broadcasting.

New York’s July radio ratings include a number that is wonderfully satisfying for everyone who ever got discarded from a job because the bosses wanted to go young. Widely respected radio veteran Scott Shannon, who left the morning show at WPLJ (95.5 FM) in early 2014 amidst an unspoken sense that management felt he’d aged beyond the audience, just hit number one in the mornings at WCBS-FM (101.1), the station that had quickly scarfed him up. WCBS-FM Scott Shannon. Purely as a radio story, this is impressive because in New York, the 6-10 a.m. period for years has been owned by all-news WINS (1010 AM) – a solid, reliable one-stop for headlines, weather and traffic/transit. So it’s rare for any music station to reach No. 1, which was also true back when Howard Stern was consistently the leader. WCBS-FM is a music station that plays “classic hits,” focusing on the ‘80s and ‘90s. It also subscribes to a classic philosophy about DJs. It wants them to have personalities. DJs used to be your friend, talking to you and even referencing the music they played. More often these days, DJs chime in only long enough to say, “And now, 12 in a row.” Radio programmers will tell you that’s what today’s listener wants. It’s frustrating for those of us who always heard radio as more than a jukebox. Not that there are a lot of jukeboxes any more, either. Happily, morning shows have remained a last haven for conversation, and Shannon is among those who will even talk about the music, which he knows back to Elvis and Buddy Holly. His New York career started in 1983, when he revived the dormant top-40 format at WHTZ (100.3 FM, Z-100), taking the new stationi “from worst to first” in his initial ratings quarter. After a brief trip to L.A., he returned to New York in 1991 and settled in at WPLJ for almost 23 years, which in radio is the equivalent of four or five centuries. So it was puzzling to listeners when, in February 2014, he left rather abruptly. There were no official statements on either side, but it was clear WPLJ’s owners, Cumulus, made no real effort to keep him. Let’s just say we all know people who could still do their jobs, but maybe made a little too much money for the corporate budget and were seen more as a part of yesterday than tomorrow. However it went down, Shannon was not ready to switch off his microphone, and weeks later he was hired for mornings at WCBS-FM. Since then, WCBS-FM has consolidated its position as a market powerhouse – a tribute to Program Director Jim Ryan and veteran city DJs like Dan Taylor, Broadway Bill Lee and Joe Causi. And to Shannon, who rehired his long-time WPLJ sidekick Patty Steele and has clearly reconnected with a lot of folks who grew up hearing him on Z-100. As for his show reaching No. 1, it should be noted that radio ratings are more fragmented than a smashed watermelon. Station execs will tell you the overall ratings are a “beauty contest,” because what sells advertising is a station’s performance in a specific demographic – 18 to 34 or 25 to 54 or whatever. Strictly in a business sense, that’s true, and radio is a business. But it’s not meaningless that Shannon’s Big Show is the most popular morning program in New York among all the people who listen to the radio, which is a huge number. WCBS-FM alone is heard by upwards of four million people a week. So demos, schmemos. If you’ve ever been told you’re old and in the way, this is a moment to savor.

*For more on this topic, check out the full Sports collection* I was a gymnast for 15 years, my husband was a wrestler, and we both competed collegiately at Rutgers University. Obviously we are advocates of organized sports. We firmly believe that sports (when balanced with other activities) gives children the opportunity to grow into well-rounded, confident, hard-working adults. Here are 10 reasons that playing sports can be great for kids… They might love it! My son started playing in a soccer league when he was four. Over the summer, he did a camp where he played 15 hours of soccer in one week. He had soccer practice once a week and a game every Sunday. To some this might sound a little nuts, but he loved it! The only time he has cried about soccer practice was when it was cancelled b/c of rain. When I would pick him up at camp after 3 hours of playing soccer, he would still be running around with a grin on his face. I was so glad to be able to give him this amazing outlet for fun and exercise! Since then, he has wanted to try other sports & activities; & we give him the space to explore those interests. There is a way to be age-appropriate. Involving your kid in sports at a young age does not mean that they are going to be taken out of your home and moved across the country to train to be a world-class athlete at the age of five. It is up to you as the parent to keep tabs on what is reasonable for you particular child and their personality. It’s okay to push your kids a little bit. We shouldn’t always shy away from pushing our children when they need a nudge. We certainly encourage our children to read, write, and learn math. We don’t think twice about making them go to school every single morning. Yet when it comes to sports (that can also be very valuable to their development) we shy away from regular practices. Signing up for competitive/successful teams has benefits. If your child is going to put in the time & effort, why not make sure that they are getting the most out of it that they can? I want my children surrounded by knowledgeable coaches & motivated peers. I want them to learn core skills that will help them down the road. There are incredible life lessons to be learned. My firstborn is a perfectionist, like many other firstborns; and he puts a lot of pressure on himself to do well. However, sports have been an amazing learning experience for him and a way to work on those struggles. We are able to talk about the importance of hard work and also losing gracefully. He is able to see first-hand that the more he practices, the better he gets. Doors will open to unique opportunities. As a gymnast I traveled to California, Colorado, Puerto Rico, and many other places. I would not have had those opportunities otherwise! Throughout my years, I met world-class gymnasts and was able to learn from them. I was able to gain perspective and maturity at a much younger age than most of my peers thanks to the experiences that sports gave me. What else are they going to be doing with that time? Be honest… if your child did not go to sports practice, what would they be doing? In our house, they would probably be watching TV, bickering, or jumping off the furniture. I would so much rather my son be out in the fresh air at soccer practice, running around, and learning the value of teamwork! Sports remain incredibly important as they grow into teenagers as well and put their time and effort into something productive. They will not be missing out. I did not go to prom in high school because I was competing at Nationals for gymnastics. While my peers were dancing awkwardly or trying to figure out how to sneak in alcohol, I was tumbling on a four inch wide beam with the best gymnasts in the country. There is not an ounce of me that ever felt like I missed out. I spent my teenage years in the gym, learning the value of commitment and dedication instead of ogling crushes at the mall. College scholarships are a reality. Because of my commitment and dedication, I received scholarships to help pay for my college education. I was able to instantly connect with teammates when I headed off to college so that there was less of an adjustment period. The long hours of training can pay off in a very real way! Teammates become family. I happened to meet up with an old teammate at the beach this summer, and it was so incredible to see her again. Everything felt the same as it always was, and it was a beautiful reminder of what felt like a different life. We had spent over 20 hours a week together for years, and that bond doesn’t just go away.

A “Deadpool 2” stunt driver has reportedly died on set after a motorcycle accident Monday morning in downtown Vancouver. According to reports, the female stunt driver crashed through a window of Shaw Tower. Her identity has not yet been released. “Vancouver Police can confirm that a female stunt driver has died on the set of ‘Deadpool’ during a stunt on a motorcycle,” police said in a statement, per The Hollywood Reporter. While the Vancouver Police Department also confirmed the news on Twitter, a representative told HuffPost over the phone that an official press release is forthcoming. A stunt driver has died on the set of Deadpool during a stunt on a motorcycle. VPD & @WorkSafeBC investigators are at the scene. — Vancouver Police (@VancouverPD) August 14, 2017 The incident is currently under investigation. Stunt accident on set of Deadpool 2. Witnesses say motorcycle crashed through window of Shaw Tower near Jack Poole Plaza. @CTVVancouver pic.twitter.com/TJoLYRHcHT — Ben Miljure (@CTVNewsBen) August 14, 2017 Production on “Deadpool 2” began in late June, and the movie is scheduled for release in 2018.

We are living in a new generation of business, where customers drive the experience, and highly engaged employees are required to keep up with customer expectations. Traditional business leadership practices, including autocratic, reactive, and narcissistic, aren’t working. Only 13 percent of workers are fully engaged, and half have left a job because they hated their boss. We have all heard the examples of the great new company cultures, popularized by Google, Zappos, and Facebook, which seem to imply that company perks are the secret to success. Of course, these are great, but they don’t happen without enlightened leadership coming first. I believe that business cultures are a function of people and leadership, more than programs. As a business advisor, I’m always looking for guidance on leadership practices that work, and I was impressed with a recent book, “The Leadership Mind Switch,” by D. A. Benton and Kylie Wright-Ford. Their experience as executive coaches and entrepreneurs gives real credibility to their assessment of some new leadership approaches that are required in business today. In my view, every aspiring business leader and entrepreneur needs to understand their seven leadership initiatives, as summarized and paraphrased here: True blue: stay trustworthy beyond reproach. Trust is still at the top of the required list in a leader. New leaders need to remember that trust works two ways – you need to be trusted so people will choose to follow you, and you need to be able to trust people you work with. “True blue” is a step beyond trust, adding authenticity and transparency. Kindly confident: project and inspire confidence. Leaders today must always project confidence and help others develop confidence, courage, and curiosity. Everyone needs to take the necessary action, despite their fears, to continuously explore new ideas. Combining courage and curiosity creates a confident unstoppable leader and team. Enlightened: open your mind and constantly learn. Enlightenment refers to an interest in staying informed and approaching every interaction free of prejudice. An effective leader is intellectually curious, constantly learning, and genuinely in pursuit of wisdom about people, places, technologies, scientific advances, economies and cultures. Tenacious: be persistent in your pursuits. True leaders are tenacious, determined, and self-starting. They can take a tough situation and fix it. They might retrench, reiterate, reconvene, or pivot more often than others, but they keep at it, instead of stalling when something becomes difficult. They know that nothing significant happens with little effort. Be uber-communicative: use all channels to connect. Effective communication is critically important for a leader – for two purposes; to deliver the right message, and to establish a common understanding of the message by everyone. Assuring mindshare and connection is the new challenge is this world of distractions and multitasking. Be dynamic: enable change in yourself and others. Dynamic leadership refers to an energy or force that is spirited and magnetic. Leaders must continuously change and advance, with behaviors that require substance as well as style. More importantly, dynamic leaders always support individuals, and enable others to reach their goals. Be playful: have fun and try new things. Increasingly, as your work and personal lives blend into each other, it is important to bring levity into the workplace, while making it enjoyable for others to be around you. Learning to be more flexible in your thought processes and actions will get you one step closer to a full leadership mind switch. Compared to what I most often see today, these approaches represent a “leadership mind switch” in the way entrepreneurs need to think about their behaviors to generate the level of employee engagement required to keep up with rapid market changes and customer demands.

I had my dream job. After college, I had a great career working as a location manager and scout for film and TV. The work was dynamic, challenging, fantastic fodder for dinner party stories, and easily the most interesting thing about me. Unfortunately, it was also ruining my life. I’d been involved in theater since I was a kid, but the pace of the film industry electrified me. Everyone was so driven and focused, working together toward a single goal. I was inspired. I threw myself into it with everything I had. I mostly worked in the Locations Department, which meant my co-workers and I were responsible for finding and securing all of the filming locations for whatever project I was working on. We were also responsible for permitting, support needs for the production cast and crew, and anything logistical that nobody else wanted to do. It was kinda like being a wedding planner but rather than having brides as my clients, I had white dudes in baseball hats. Since this is already an exercise in narcissism, I don’t mind saying that my favorite part of my job was how good I was at it. I had a knack for the multitasking and juggling that came along with the work, and even though I couldn’t find a date, do laundry more than once a month, or sleep more than five hours a night, I never dropped the ball. Get to set at 3 a.m. to make sure the trucks park in the right spot? I’m on it! Drive to eastern Long Island every day for a week (sometimes multiple times a day!) to find the perfect beach club to play as a restaurant in LA in the 1930s? That sounds fun! Get lost in East New York trying to track down an ice cream truck driver who extorted $500 from me on set by refusing to turn off his music even though he had no customers? SCARY, BUT I DID IT! Each day presented me with an unpredictable set of challenges, and for the most part I always rose to the occasion. But it wasn’t all 3 a.m. call times and trying not to fall asleep at the wheel on the Long Island Expressway. There were bad parts, too. There were the TV directors who needed to see every bland apartment in Queens before picking the right one to discover the dead body in. And I had one day to find it. Oh, actually, the director wants to see more choices, can you work on Saturday? Then there were the intractable government employees who seemed to take great pleasure in having me fill out the same permit application six times just so they could reject it because I didn’t submit it in time. Did I mention that the entire production and several hundred employees would have to shut down for the day without that permit? No pressure, though. On paper, I had the coolest job ever. (If you ever want people to ask you about your job, just tell them it has anything to do with celebrities.) None of my friends had better work stories: I got kicked out of the Scientology center, I’ve seen the secret MTA tunnels, I shared a piece of pizza with Matt Damon! I was doing exactly what I said I wanted to do and doing it really well. But, it was driving me insane. Courtesy of Victoria Carter With Matt Damon and my amazing department on the last day of filming on “The Adjustment Bureau” I would tell myself that I wouldn’t have to work this hard or feel this level of stress forever. But when I looked at my bosses and their bosses, I realized that it was only going to get worse. I’m trying really hard not to quote Spiderman here, but that thing about responsibility and power going hand in hand is totally true. I saw bosses go to the hospital for stress. I talked to producers who saw their kids once a month. I had a conversation with a director about how sleep wasn’t actually necessary every night. It wasn’t just his personal coping strategy for his unreasonable workload; he just didn’t think sleeping every night was a must. Was this really what I wanted? I was tired of not being able to make plans because I didn’t know how long we were going to film that night, and I didn’t want to keep having work nightmares about not finding the right location and having my permits denied. Was it really worth it to do all of this without the benefit of health insurance, sick days, paid vacation and lunch breaks ― the stuff my friends with “normal” jobs had? That’s right, as a nonunion employee in the industry, I literally had no benefits other than a paycheck and a rental car. Super glamorous, right? I looked around my industry and saw people being killed by their work, literally. After camera assistant Sarah Jones died in a horrific train accident on a film set, I asked myself if I’d let myself get into a situation like that. The truth of the matter was, I already had. Working an 18-hour day on six hours of sleep and then getting behind the wheel of a car is hardly safe or wise, but it’s an everyday occurrence in the film and TV industry. When asked to describe ourselves, we lead with our jobs. But I just can’t believe that there’s nothing more to me than what I do. In early 2016, I was working on a movie that seemed to be poisoning me. The production had seemed cursed from the get-go with a crazy-ambitious script, difficult schedule and minute budget. Nothing was going right, and a lot of it was falling on my shoulders. I couldn’t keep solid food down, my ulcer was flaring (all 32-year-olds have stress-related ulcers, right?), and yet for some reason, I was bereft at the prospect of losing this job. The job that was ruining my life. So I made the decision to leave. I left the job, I left the industry, I left New York, and, most painfully, I left my dream. I put my stuff in storage and moved in with my parents to figure out what else I might like to do. They’d retired to idyllic California wine country, which seemed as good a place as any for a premature midlife crisis. I got a job working at a restaurant, tried to focus on writing, learned to talk nonsense about pinot noir, and floundered my way forward in a manner generally reserved for rich kids in their early 20s. I still get sad sometimes when I think about what might’ve been if I had stuck it out, but ultimately, I stand by my choice. It’s not always easy; we live in a country where our worth is directly tied to our productivity. When asked to describe ourselves, we lead with our jobs. But I just can’t believe that there’s nothing more to me than what I do. I have to remind myself I am more, and that it’s possible to find meaning in life in other ways. I’m not gonna wrap this up with a tidy bow and say I’ve found my true calling as a whatever since moving back to California, because the truth of the matter is that I don’t really know what I’m doing with my life. The uncertainty is unfamiliar and often unwelcome. The clarity of vision that came with knowing what I wanted to be was a gift, and I never appreciated its value until I didn’t have it anymore. I might not currently have an answer for “What do you want to be when you grow up?” but I do know that the stressors in my life now are mine, and it’s a lot easier to sleep through the night knowing the only problems I have to solve are the ones I create for myself.

An aid worker in the besieged Syrian region of eastern Ghouta has spoken of the anguish and hopelessness felt by many trapped by airstrikes and unable to escape, saying it is a “wholesale slaughter witnessed by a motionless world.” Ghouta, a region bordering the capital, Damascus, has been targeted by government forces since 2013 as part of the Syrian civil war in an effort to flush out rebel and opposition forces garrisoned in the area. The government launched an operation to retake rebel-held areas of Ghouta in February, ramping up a bombing campaign and blocking medical help and food from entering the region. HASAN MOHAMED/AFP via Getty Images Children walk among the rubble after an airstrike in Douma, in the eastern Ghouta region of Syria, on Monday. The latest strikes killed at least 13 people overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Amnesty International claims more than 500 civilians have been killed in recent months in a “catastrophic humanitarian situation,” while thousands more have been injured. The Syrian Network for Human Rights, based in Britain, claimed in a February report that nearly 13,000 people had been killed in the region since 2011. Hospitals, schools and places of worship are among the buildings that have been damaged by bombings. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said last month that the 400,000 people trapped in eastern Ghouta were living “in hell on earth,” as the U.N. unanimously voted in support of a 30-day ceasefire in Syria and the lifting of the siege on Ghouta. However, calls for a cease-fire have been ignored ― indeed, reports claimed more than 100 were killed in the week following the resolution. Abdelkarim Ibrahim, an aid worker partnered with Save the Children, is working in eastern Ghouta to distribute winter kits to civilians. Through a translator, he told HuffPost of the “hysterical panic” experienced by people trapped in the region in the face of “constant airstrikes, barrel bombs and artillery bombardment.” “There has been a devastating deterioration in quality of life for Ghouta’s population,” he said from Syria. “The civilians of eastern Ghouta have never witnessed such a battering campaign where ... more than 4,200 airstrikes over the city of eastern Ghouta were launched. A city with a total area of 107 square kilometers [about 41 square miles] and 400,000 inhabitants has been battered by more than 4,200 airstrikes.” Ammar Al-Bushy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Smoke rises after airstrikes on eastern Ghouta's town of Kafr Batna in Syria on Friday. Ibrahim says the cease-fire conditions have effectively been trimmed back to just a two-hour window each day before military action resumes. He said this was not enough time for aid workers to enter and bring medical help or food. Civilians are sheltering from bombs in inadequate, overcrowded and unsanitary basements. “The internal refugees lack the minimal essentials of human life ― food, medicine and clothes. Currently, all the people of Ghouta live in basements unequipped with the basics needed for living,” he said. “The basements are prisons for the masses ... . Such abject lack of cleanliness and health care facilities, such as water and personal hygiene equipment, have led to the spread of epidemics and other related issues, such as lice among children. The shortage of medicine for people with chronic diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, has led to deaths. People with kidney disease are unable to have lifesaving dialysis sessions in Ghouta. “There is difficulty in burying dead bodies. The city’s graveyards are among the targeted areas by the bombardment, which makes it impossible for people to bury the bodies of the dead. In Douma people had to bury the dead in public parks and in the backyards of houses because it was not possible for them to make it to the city’s graveyard.” Ammar Al-Bushy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Smoke rises over Kafr Batna on Friday. Ibrahim claimed people around the world had ignored the situation in Syria, saying the aid being pledged to, and reaching, eastern Ghouta was “an embarrassment to the world.” He claimed assistance reaching those in Ghouta was enough for only 6 percent of the city’s population. “There is a growing inability of local aid agencies to provide aid to civilians. Food and medicine stores have been bombarded, and the work locations of humanitarian organisations have been targeted by attacking forces,” he said, adding that food stores and medical facilities had been damaged. “It is an option for people in other countries of the world to pressure their governments and the human rights organizations into taking a collaborative stand against the mass killing of civilians in Eastern Ghouta. Their success would save hundreds of thousands of people from the wholesale slaughter witnessed by a motionless world.

Sutton Foster’s family just got a bit bigger. According to People, the Tony award-winning actress and singer and her husband since 2014, screenwriter Ted Griffin, adopted a daughter named Emily Dale Griffin, who was born on March 5. Foster dropped the big news Friday night during her Lincoln Center’s American Songbook show at the center’s Alice Tully Hall. On the day of her performance, the actress posted a photo of herself with friends on Instagram that has since been flooded with congratulatory comments about her new addition. Walter McBride via Getty Images Tony award-winning actress and singer Sutton Foster and screenwriter Ted Griffin announced they adopted a baby girl. They've been married since 2014. Foster, who has starred on Broadway for years, plays a mother on the TV Land show “Younger,” and in February 2016, she said she and Griffin were discussing the possibility of starting a family. As People reports, Foster said her and her husband’s lives are “forever changed” and their “hearts are exploding” with happiness, thanks to their daughter. Congratulations to the couple!

Image courtesy of The Japan Times Earlier today, former Vice President Joe Biden in a very somber tone warned that President Trump’s foreign policies, his ill-advised and ill-informed rhetoric has our nation headed down “a very dark path that isolates the United States on the world stage and, as a consequence, endangers – not strengthens – endangers American interests and the American people.” We have seen the impact that Trump’s presidency and open support of the alt-right is doing to already strained race relations in America. We have seen his supporters feel emboldened enough to wear their racism like a medal of honor. In Trump’s America being a bigot is not something one has to be ashamed of, but, rather, something they are proudest of. We see it in our news media, online and to the majority of us (I hope) it symbolizes a period in our history we do not want to return to, where church bombings and lynchings are so normal and commonplace that 2017 looks more like 1917. It is painfully clear Donald Trump does not see any of the damage caused by his tiny hands on the trigger of hatred in America. He can’t see it and he doesn’t care; neither do his supporters. However, to the rest of the world, whose media is not afraid of angering Trump, the view of him, his presidency and of Americans, in general, very different. If you belong to one of the marginalized groups Trump has attacked, know that you are not only unsafe at home, 45 has made the entire world unsafe for you as well. Tori Scott is in her early twenties, studying abroad in Europe. Multiracial, she embodies the very harmony we would hope to see in ourselves and in generations to come. Recently, after celebrating a birthday with a friend in London, Tori and her friend were verbally accosted by a man for being American. Tori, who spent a good portion of her life between Europe and the States, has family throughout England and was even educated there, was taken aback. “I was just sitting at the bus stop and guy came up to me. He started yelling at me, ‘where are you from?’ I told him, I’m American and English. He then said something about Donald Trump that I didn’t catch, but then got really aggressive, in my face screaming ‘you should talk to your President about what he’s doing in your country.’ He said this as if I knew Trump personally. He asked my friend where she was from. When she said, ‘South America,’ he said it was basically the same thing. Something about the word ‘American’ and that we were American really set him off.” The encounter lasted about 20 minutes with the man yelling at Tori and her friend before he was dragged away by a stranger who intervened. “There was an Indian man sitting next to me and after the guy was gone, he looked at me and said, ‘it’s just ignorance.’ It was interesting because I said to my friend, ‘I feel like I’m in America.’ This first time where I felt and understood being discriminated against. I’m mixed race, but this was the first time I ever experienced that directly. It’s like you can change the color of your skin, but I realize that with most people who are doing it, and discriminating against others, there’s not a logical reason for it.” When asked if she felt the world has changed since Trump was not only elected, but took office, Tori said, “it’s weird when Obama came in, he made so much progress and now, it’s like all of that is gone, it’s just gone. I think part of the reason for it is lack of education; they get very selective about what they want to teach people. They don’t want you to know certain things. My dad sent me to a boarding school. He spent a lot of money on my education, even if he didn’t always have it. I’m grateful for that and really sympathize with people who experience a lack of education.” Many have pointed to Trump’s divisiveness, that he purposefully uses code language and trigger words to divide this nation and is now beginning to divide the world. On that point and how he differed from his predecessor, Tori was very clear: “Obama brought people together, yet some people felt their backwards rights were taken away. What going on now, what Trump is doing, It’s very juvenile. It is a very strange way of behaving and so much to do with ego. I come from a very spiritual place, so I look at it another way. This happens every day. There are a lot of people here who are extremely racist and people in office will bring that out in people if it gets them elected. It’s just a very strange time. Everybody is more on edge right now. Even me, I’m not violent, but my body was reacting because I don’t like when people yell at me.” At the close of his speech today, Joe Biden said, “so far President Trump has been unwilling to call out Putin for Russia’s meddling, even in our own democratic process, or criticise his action. Think of that. Think of the signal it sends around the world, for God’s sake.” The world is not taking this country seriously right now. It is unfathomable to most that the leader of a country can be this unprepared, unqualified, undignified and unfit to do the job he was elected to do. Being that we are the only nation using the electoral college the way that we do, it is also assumed that if Trump became President it is because he won the popular vote (which he didn’t) and that the majority of Americans think and behave like his supporters (which, we don’t). Like Tori said, it is a very confusing time and “the bottom line is that we cannot coexist without each other. I don’t like to sit and not say anything it’s an insult not to say anything. The world is millions of years old and people need to roll with the times. I don’t think we have a choice to be quiet now.”

TONIGHT: Stephen can hardly contain his excitement as the Trump family hosts French President Macron and his wife for this administration's first White House state dinner. #LSSC pic.twitter.com/M1ysoJDNan

President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday about ABC’s decision to pull the plug on its “Roseanne” reboot in light of star Roseanne Barr’s recent racist and offensive tweets. Trump suggested he was disappointed he’d never received a call from Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company, about “the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC.” Former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, the subject of some of Barr’s tweets, said she received a call from Iger Tuesday informing her of the show’s cancellation. Disney owns ABC. Bob Iger of ABC called Valerie Jarrett to let her know that “ABC does not tolerate comments like those” made by Roseanne Barr. Gee, he never called President Donald J. Trump to apologize for the HORRIBLE statements made and said about me on ABC. Maybe I just didn’t get the call? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018 ABC announced the cancellation of “Roseanne” Tuesday after Barr fired off a series of offensive tweets about Jarrett, billionaire George Soros and former first daughter Chelsea Clinton. “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj,” Barr tweeted in reference to Jarrett, who is black and was born in Iran to American parents. She also linked Clinton to Soros, who she falsely claimed was a Nazi collaborator. ABC disavowed Barr’s comments and said they prompted a cancellation of the show, a wildly successful reboot of the original 1990s series that has garnered praise from Trump. “Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show,” the network said Tuesday in a statement.

Congress recently approved the federal right-to-try bill after a months-long standoff in the House, and President Donald Trump signed it into law on Wednesday. The measure allows people with life-threatening diseases to bypass the Food and Drug Administration to obtain experimental drugs. The right-to-try movement is nothing if not well-intentioned, inspired by high-profile patient cases ― mostly desperately ill children ― whose stories struck a nerve with the nation. Much of the public, enamored by the undeniable surface-level appeal of right-to-try legislation, embraced this movement. But those with a deeper understanding of the drug development process ― medical professionals, ethicists and regulators ― have been publicly skeptical. The truth is this legislation will do almost nothing to help terminally ill patients. That’s because the entire right-to-try approach is based on a myth: that the FDA is the rate-limiting middleman preventing patients from receiving potentially life-saving drugs. Over the last four years, right-to-try legislation has gained momentum and is already the law in 40 states. The laws grant terminally ill patients who have exhausted other treatment options the right to request access to potentially life-saving drugs that have cleared Phase I clinical trials without approval or oversight by the FDA. The real gatekeepers to expedited access are pharmaceutical companies. Josh Hardy was one of the very first right-to-try patients. The 7-year-old boy received an experimental drug in 2014 that ultimately cured him of a life-threatening viral infection. The experimental antiviral treatment was in the middle of its manufacturer’s Phase 3 clinical trial at the time. The company’s board repeatedly denied requests by Josh’s doctors and parents to use the drug on the grounds that it was in the best interest of the greatest number of patients to devote the company’s finite resources to the clinical trial ― which, if successful, would lead to FDA approval and make the drug available to thousands of more patients in need. But the company’s then-chairman, under the pressure of a fierce social media campaign, made a landmark decision to diverge from the company’s board and ultimately sent the drug to Josh in the name of compassionate use. Josh’s story inspired a wave of well-meaning right-to-try legislation advocates who believe such laws will ensure terminally ill patients with even the slimmest of hopes of benefiting from experimental therapies have access to these drugs. But the FDA has already consistently demonstrated its commitment to the compassionate use of experimental therapies. Three decades ago, it launched the expanded access program that allows for compassionate use of drugs for patients with life-threatening illnesses through a case-by-case approval process. In 2015, the FDA streamlined the previously cumbersome application process, and today the form takes only about 45 minutes to complete. The agency responds in an average of four days with a 99 percent approval rate. In emergency situations, it responds to requests within 24 hours. The entire right-to-try approach is based on a myth. The reality is, the real gatekeepers to expedited access ― as Josh Hardy’s family encountered ― are pharmaceutical companies. And this new right-to-try bill does nothing to compel manufacturers to grant patients access to experimental drugs. In a meager attempt to nudge companies to authorize more compassionate use cases, the federal right-to-try bill offers companies immunity from legal recourse should drug-related adverse events occur. It also prohibits the FDA from considering these events during its approval process. But drug manufacturers face other concerns, like spooking investors or inciting a PR catastrophe should unexpected adverse events occur. They may also worry that the legwork required to grant access to individual patients could slow efforts to get the drug approved for all patients in need ― an argument that holds ethical merit. Often, companies don’t have enough extra product to give away, especially while clinical trials are underway. Put simply, right-to-try laws, though applauded by many, don’t actually give patients the “right” to try experimental therapies. They simply support a right patients already have: the right, as Josh Hardy’s parents exercised, to plead. Indeed, since Colorado in 2014 became the first state with a right-to-try law, researchers have yet to identify a single patient who has received access to an experimental drug due to a right-to-try law that would not have been attainable through the FDA’s expanded access program. But right-to-try legislation isn’t just superfluous ― it may also create a new type of inequality among the terminally ill. To rally drug companies to provide experimental therapies, patients and their families often need to be well-connected, relatively affluent or adept at navigating social media to put drug companies under pressure. Those without the resources or know-how may never receive access to experimental therapies. This legislation will do almost nothing to help terminally ill patients. Plus, in discarding FDA involvement in the compassionate use process, the right-to-try approach may also be dangerous. In a recent review of expanded access proposals reviewed by the FDA, the agency recommended changes to dosing, safety monitoring or informed consent in 11 percent of cases. Bypassing this step, which involves expert review of information from early-phase clinical trials often only available to the FDA, robs patients of safety protections afforded by the agency’s guidance. Instead of using federal right-to-try legislation to sidestep the FDA, the medical community should focus on facilitating access to experimental drugs through the existing channel: the expanded access program. We must explore new ways to make compassionate use more feasible ― and appealing ― to drug companies and provide better education to patients and physicians when navigating the application process. And drug companies should take an active role in encouraging patients interested in experimental treatment to continue to seek FDA involvement, a precedent set publicly by Johnson & Johnson. At a time when innovation in medical research is offering new hope to patients suffering from terminal conditions ranging from cancer to infectious diseases, there is an urgent need for fair, consistent processes to support compassionate use and guide the allocation of experimental therapies. Unfortunately, the federal right-to-try bill contributes little ― if anything ― toward this objective.

I can understand why you feel Washington is a place of “petty nonsense,” as you said Wednesday when you called a news conference to rebut charges that you called Trump a moron last summer after a meeting of national security officials at the Pentagon. I’m also reasonably sure you called him a moron, which doesn’t make Washington any less petty. You probably called him a moron because almost all of us out here in the rest of America routinely call him that. But you’re right: There are far more important issues than the epithet you likely used to describe your boss. On the other hand, your calling him a moron wouldn’t itself have mushroomed into a headline issue – even in petty Washington – if there weren’t deep concerns about the president’s state of mind to begin with. I bet every cabinet secretary has, from time-to-time, called his boss a moron. I was a cabinet secretary once, and although I don’t recall ever saying Bill Clinton was a moron, I might have thought it, especially when I found out about Monica Lewinsky. But Bill Clinton was no moron. The reason your moronic comment about Trump made the headlines is that Trump really is a moron, in the sense you probably meant it: He’s impulsive, mercurial, often cruel, and pathologically narcissistic. Some psychologists who have studied his behavior have concluded he’s a sociopath. Washington is petty, but it’s not nonsensical. It latches on to gaffes only when they reveal something important. As journalist Michael Kinsey once said, “A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth ― some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say.” Face it. You are Secretary of State ― the nation’s chief diplomat ― under a president who’s dangerously nuts. Last weekend, for example, Trump publicly said you were wasting your time trying to open talks with North Korea. Does he have a better idea? Any rational president would ask his Secretary of State to try to talk with Kim Jong-Un. And there’s Iran. You and Defense Secretary James Mattis have both stated the nuclear agreement should be retained. That, too, is only rational. The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran has been honoring the agreement. Without it, Iran would restart its nuclear program. But Trump is on the verge of decertifying the agreement in order to save face (in the 2016 campaign he called it an “embarrassment to America”) and further puncture Barack Obama’s legacy. His narcissism is endangering the world. You tried to mediate the dispute between Qatar and its Arab neighbors. That, too, was the reasonable thing to do. But then Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner sided with the United Arab Emirates, where they have business interests. Less than one hour after you called for a “calm and thoughtful dialogue” between Qatar and its neighbors, Trump blasted Qatar for financing terrorism. That was also nuts. You are rightly appalled at Trump’s behavior. I can understand why you distanced yourself when Trump blamed “both sides” for violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. And why you were horrified when Trump gave a wildly partisan speech to the Boy Scouts of America, which you once headed. Given all this, I’m not surprised to hear that you’ve talked about resigning, but that Mattis and John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, have talked you out of it. I urge you not to resign. America and the world need sane voices speaking into the ear of our Narcissist-in-Chief. As Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee said recently, it’s you, Mattis, and Kelly who “help separate our country from chaos.” I don’t think Corker was referring to chaos abroad. Let Trump fire you if he wants to. That would further reveal what a moron he is. But if you really did want to serve the best interests of this nation, there’s another option you might want to consider. Quietly meet with Mattis, Kelly, and Vice President Pence. Come up with a plan for getting most of the cabinet to join in a letter to Congress saying Trump is unable to discharge the duties of his office. Under the 25th Amendment, that would mean Trump is fired.

Early in August, Quinnipiac put President Donald Trump’s job approval rating at 33%; the latest Gallup had it at 36. These are historically low numbers for the end of the first six months in office and this may be a good time to put them into context. Since the mid-1940s pollsters have tracked presidential approval with standard questions posed to significant samples of American adults. We have reliable numbers for more than 70 years and for 13 occupants of the Oval Office. Approval numbers rise and fall, but a few patterns persist. For example, first terms are better than second terms. All the presidents after FDR who served more than four years had a better average approval number in the period before election to a second term than in the period after. The drops were very small for Reagan and Clinton, but significant for six others. Every modern president before Trump had at least one approval number above 50%; and, with the exception of JFK, all of them eventually earned an approval number below 50%. According to Gallup, Eisenhower’s low was 48; the others dipped to some number in the 30s or 20s. Over time, presidential job approval tends to decline, often from a high point earned at inauguration when the voters who preferred another candidate give the victor a new look. Though decline is the norm, it is not universal. In terms of public approval there are two categories of recent presidents: “sliders” and “risers.” The sliders (by far the larger group) achieve their highest approval rating on arrival in the White House or sometime during their first year in office. Then they fall. That pattern describes Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, W. Bush and Obama. Four of our recent leaders—Eisenhower, Reagan, H. W. Bush and Clinton—are risers who earned their highest approval number sometime after their first year in office. Trump, thus far, is highly unusual because he has never had a Gallup job approval number above 50%. He began his administration with approval in the high 40s and has since slipped into the mid-30s. If he continues to be a slider, he will be the first president in the history of national polling to never earn the support of a majority of Americans—a remarkable distinction. And why do approval numbers slide? Low approval is often accompanied by one or more of the following conditions: weak economic performance, unpopular overseas conflicts, and/or solid evidence of high level scandal. Carter reached a low point after oil shocks and inflation created economic hardship and uncertainty. Truman, Johnson and W. Bush suffered for Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. Nixon got his lowest numbers at the height of Watergate revelations. Low numbers are often easy to explain. The unusual thing about Trump is that he has earned low approval at a time when economic metrics are good, when our Middle East military commitments have diminished, and when no proof has yet emerged that there are actual witches in the “witch hunt” over Russia. What will happen if bad news arrives in the Trump Oval Office? Odds are that Trump’s low numbers go lower, but we can’t count out the possibility that he will be a riser. What accounts for presidential approval going up? In many cases, the uplifting factors are the opposites of the causes of decline. When the country comes out of a recession and the economy feels like it is getting better, presidents get higher approval numbers. This happened for Reagan after the deep recession early in his first term and for Clinton throughout much of the 1990s. Though the long-term effects of overseas conflict on presidential approval are often negative, at the outset of a crisis the public tends to support their leader. The two Bush presidents shot up in public appeal when the US fought the first war against Saddam Hussein and when the country was attacked on 9/11. Even a foreign policy disaster—the Bay of Pigs for Kennedy or the taking of hostages in Iran for Carter—can cause Americans to temporarily rally a round an embattled commander in chief. Scandals that damage, but don’t destroy, a presidency—Reagan’s Iran-Contra or Clinton’s impeachment—often end with modest improvement in public approval. Will the Trump presidency see better economic numbers, an overseas crisis that does not become a controversial conflict, or final resolution of the current investigations? Perhaps. But a more likely prediction would be that Trump, like most presidents, will experience a decline from his initial approval numbers. If that is true, it raises an awkward question: how low can Trump go when his current job approval is weaker than any we have ever seen six months into a new administration? How do you move downstairs when you already live in the basement?

The policy of guaranteeing every citizen a universal basic income is gaining support around the world, as automation increasingly makes jobs obsolete. But can it be funded without raising taxes or triggering hyperinflation? In a panel I was on at the NexusEarth cryptocurrency conference in Aspen September 21-23rd, most participants said no. This is my rebuttal. In May 2017, a team of researchers at the University of Oxford published the results of a survey of the world’s best artificial intelligence experts, who predicted that there was a 50 percent chance of AI outperforming humans in all tasks within 45 years. All human jobs were expected to be automated in 120 years, with Asian respondents expecting these dates much sooner than North Americans. In theory, that means we could all retire and enjoy the promised age of universal leisure. But the immediate concern for most people is that they will be losing their jobs to machines. Welfare can encourage laziness, because benefits go down as earned income goes up. But studies have shown that a UBI distributed equally regardless of income does not have that result. In 1968, President Richard Nixon initiated a successful trial showing that the money had little impact on the recipients’ working hours. People who did reduce the time they worked engaged in other socially valuable pursuits, and young people who were not working spent more time getting an education. Analysis of a similar Canadian trial found that employment rates among young adults did not change, high-school completion rates increased, and hospitalization rates dropped by 8.5 percent. Larger experiments in India have reached similar results. Studies have also shown that it would actually be cheaper to distribute funds to the entire population than to run the welfare services governments engage in now. It has been calculated that if the UK’s welfare budget were split among the country’s 50 million adults, each of them would get £5,160 a year. But that is not enough to cover basic survival needs in a modern economy. Taxes would need to be raised, additional debt incurred, or other programs slashed; and these are solutions on which governments are generally unwilling to embark. The other option is “qualitative easing,” a form of central bank quantitative easing in which the money flows directly into the real economy rather than simply into banks. In Europe, politicians are taking another look at this once-derided “helicopter money.” A UBI is being proposed as monetary policy that would stimulate productivity without increasing taxes. As Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, former senior vice president of the World Bank, explains: . . . [W]hen the government spends more and invests in the economy, that money circulates, and recirculates again and again. So not only does it create jobs once: the investment creates jobs multiple times. The result of that is that the economy grows by a multiple of the initial spending, and public finances turn out to be stronger: as the economy grows, fiscal revenues increase, and demands for the government to pay unemployment benefits, or fund social programmes to help the poor and needy, go down. As tax revenues go up as a result of growth, and as these expenditures decrease, the government’s fiscal position strengthens. Why “QE for the People” Need Not Be Inflationary The objection to any sort of quantitative easing in which new money gets into the real economy is that when the money supply grows too large and consumer prices shoot up, the process cannot be reversed. If the money is spent on a national dividend, infrastructure, or the government’s budget, it will be out circulating in the economy and will not be retrievable by the central bank. But the government does not need to rely on the central bank to pull the money back when hyperinflation hits (assuming it ever does – it has not hit after nearly nine years and $3.7 trillion in quantitative easing). As Prof. Stiglitz observes, the money issued by the government will return to it simply through an increase in fiscal revenues generated by the UBI itself. This is due to the “velocity of money” – the number of times a dollar is traded in a year, from farmer to grocer to landlord, etc. In a good economy, the velocity of the M1 money stock (coins, dollar bills, demand deposits and checkable deposits) is about seven; and each recipient will pay taxes on this same dollar as it changes hands. According to the Heritage Foundation, total tax revenue as a percentage of GDP is now 26 percent. Thus one dollar of new GDP results in about 26 cents of increased tax revenue. Assuming each of the seven trades is for taxable GDP, $1.00 changing hands seven times can increase tax revenue by $7.00 x 26 percent = $1.82. In theory, then, the government could get more back in taxes than it paid out. In practice, there will be a fair amount of leakage in these returns due to loopholes and deductions for costs. But any shortfall can be made up in other ways, including closing tax loopholes, taxing the $21 trillion or more hidden in offshore tax havens, or setting up a system of public banks that would collect interest that came back to the government. A working paper published by the San Francisco Federal Reserve in 2012 found that one dollar invested in infrastructure generates at least two dollars in “GSP” (GDP for states), and “roughly four times more than average” during economic downturns. Whether that means $4 or $8 is unclear, but assume it’s only $4. Multiplying $4 by $0.26 in taxes would return the entire dollar originally spent on infrastructure to the government, year after year. For precedent, consider the G.I. Bill, which is estimated to have cost $50 billion in today’s dollars and to have returned $350 billion to the economy, a nearly sevenfold return. What of the inflation formula typically taught in economics class? In a May 2011 Forbes article titled “Money Growth Does Not Cause Inflation!”, Prof. John Harvey demonstrated that its assumptions are invalid. The formula is “MV = Py,” meaning that when the velocity of money (V) and the quantity of goods sold (y) are constant, adding money (M) must drive up prices (P). But as Harvey pointed out, V and y are not constant. As people have more money to spend (M), more money will change hands (V), and more goods and services will get sold (y). Demand and supply will rise together, keeping prices stable. The reverse is also true. If demand (money) is not increased, supply or GDP will not go up. New demand needs to precede new supply. The money must be out there searching for goods and services before employers will add the workers needed to create more supply. Only when demand is saturated and productivity is at full capacity will consumer prices be driven up; and they are not near those limits yet, despite some misleading official figures that omit people who have quit looking for work or are working only part-time. As of January 2017, an estimated 9.4 percent of the US population remained unemployed or underemployed. Beyond that, there is the vast expanding potential of robots, computers and innovations such as 3D printers, which can work 24 hours a day without overtime pay or medical insurance. The specter invariably raised to block legislators and voters from injecting new money into the system is the fear of repeating the notorious hyperinflations of history – those in Weimer Germany, Zimbabwe and elsewhere. But according to Professor Michael Hudson, who has studied the question extensively, those disasters were not due to government money-printing to stimulate the economy. He writes: Every hyperinflation in history has been caused by foreign debt service collapsing the exchange rate. The problem almost always has resulted from wartime foreign currency strains, not domestic spending. The dynamics of hyperinflation traced in such classics as Salomon Flink’s The Reichsbank and Economic Germany (1931) have been confirmed by studies of the Chilean and other Third World inflations. First the exchange rate plunges as economies pay for foreign military spending during the war, and then – in Germany’s case – reparations after the war ends. These payments led the exchange rate to fall, increasing the price in domestic currency of buying imports priced in hard currencies. This price rise for imported goods creates a price umbrella for domestic prices to follow suit. More domestic money is needed to finance economic activity at the higher price level. This German experience provides the classic example.

Most kids want to feel they fit in and have a sense of belonging in school. Their experiences vary depending on whether they are in primary or secondary school. Primary School Engagement with peers starts each day on the bus ride and continues throughout all the classroom hours, recess, and lunch. Even in elementary school by about third grade, there is a sense of what it means to be ‘popular’ and kids often don’t have the confidence to feel a sense of strength in their individuality to not want to feel a part of this acclaimed group. This is where parents come in. It helps to share the value with your kids early on that friendship involves trust and compatibility, not who is favored by a group. Mutual loyalty among peers is slow to evolve, but when it does, it gives your child the opportunity to feel comfortable in their own skin in their own school. This is the goal, not peer pressure. Discuss with your child the term, peer pressure, and ask them if they feel burdened by demands of other kids. If so, ask them what they hope to gain from their companions and buddies and teach them how to meet new kids. Let them know that listening to others and sharing is a great way to make friends. While your child may be a leader or follower or somewhere in between at different times, he or she needs to build self-confidence in order to develop their own interests that they share with others. Parents play a big role in providing time at home for play dates, encouraging activities with others, and also prizing time spent enjoying one’s time alone. Offer your non-judgmental support for your child to make friends in his or her own way, without succumbing to the pressures of their peers to conform in certain ways. Your loving support anchors your child and you can encourage them to share their peer experiences with you, so they know they are not alone. Secondary School Once in middle and high school peer pressure can be a whole new ball of wax. Drugs and sex can take center stage for some kids. Some kids hang out in groups while others begin to date one on one. Our role as parents is to support our kids values—that is help them form their own value system rather than succumb to a ‘popular’ crowd’s view of how to get along with others. Help your child know they are important within themselves, not based on who they hang out with. Finding one’s own interests and sharing them with trusted companions is by far more satisfying and comfortable than trying to be part of some specific circle or group of kids. Let your child know you support them and be available to discuss their social life when they wish. Knowing you are their ally no matter what successes and mistakes they make socially makes a big difference for both awkward and comfortable kids. Building a strong parent-child bond early on paves the way for a strong parent-teen connection that helps kids negotiate peer pressure because they know they have you to depend on when they get confused or feel like an outsider. Respect your child and let them know you have faith in them. This goes a long way towards pleasant peer relations.