text:
Posts Tagged 'Vietnam war'
One November's Dead: The American War Dead Disappear into the Darkness
by Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com, Dec 7, 2010
America's heroes? Not so much. Not anymore. Not when they're dead, anyway.
Remember as the invasion of Iraq was about to begin, when the Bush administration decided to seriously enforce a Pentagon ban, in existence since the first Gulf War, on media coverage and images of the American dead arriving home at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware? In fact, the Bush-era ban did more than that. As the Washington Post's Dana Milbank wrote then, it "ended the public dissemination of such images by banning news coverage and photography of dead soldiers' homecomings on all military bases."
For those whose lives were formed in the crucible of the Vietnam years, including the civilian and military leadership of the Bush era, the dead, whether ours or the enemy's, were seen as a potential minefield when it came to antiwar opposition or simply the loss of public support in the opinion polls. Admittedly, many of the so-called lessons of the Vietnam War were often based on half-truths or pure mythology, but they were no less powerful or influential for that.
Continues >>
Tags:American dead, American soldiers, body bags, Iraq war, Vietnam war
Posted in Afghanistan, Commentary, imperialism, Iraq, Uncategorized, US policy, USA, war | Leave a Comment »
Kolko: 35 Years Since the Fall of Saigon
Why the U.S. Still Doesn't Get the Message
By Gabriel Kolko, Counterpunch, May 3, 2010
The United States' wars have always been very expensive and capital-intensive, fought with the most modern weapons available and assuming a modern, concentrated enemy such as the Soviet Union. The ever-growing Pentagon budget is virtually the only issue both Republicans and Democrats agree upon. But there are major economic and social liabilities in increasingly expensive, protracted wars, and these—as in the case of Vietnam—eventually proved decisive.
The U.S. wars since 1950 have been against decentralized enemies in situations without clearly defined fronts, as exist in conventional wars. Faced with high firepower, in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, even Iraq, America's adversaries disperse — they fight from caves, behind jungle foliage, etc.,– using cheap, relatively primitive military technology against the most advanced U.S. artillery, tanks, helicopters, and air power. In the end, its adversaries' patience and ingenuity, and willingness to make sacrifices, succeed in winning wars, not battles. Its enemies never stand and fight on U.S. terms, offering targets. The war in Vietnam was very protracted and expensive, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are also prolonged—and increasingly a political liability to the party in power in Washington. This has repeatedly illustrated the limits of American power, and the Korean war established the first precedent.
When the Korean war ended, the U.S. leaders swore they would never fight another land war in Asia. The Korean war was fought to a draw, basically a defeat for U.S. objectives to reunite the country. Vietnam proved yet again that the U.S. could not win a land war—and it failed entirely there, at least in the military sense. Their ultimate success was due to the confusion of the Vietnamese Communists themselves, not the success of the Saigon regime or American arms. The U.S. has always been vulnerable militarily precisely because its enemies have been primarily poor and compelled the adapt to the limits of their power.
After its defeat in Vietnam in 1975 the U.S. leaders once again resolved yet again never to fight a land war without massive military power from the inception of a conflict and the support of the American people — which gradually eroded during the Vietnam war. The Weinberger doctrine in 1984 enshrined this principle. The U.S. has won wars against small, relatively weak enemies, as in Nicaragua, but in both Iraq and Afghanistan it has made the mistakes of the Korea and Vietnam wars all over again. It still wishes to be the "indispensable power," to quote former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, but it cannot win the victories it covets. Like a drunken person, it no longer controls itself, its environments, or makes its actions conform to its perceptions. It is therefore a danger both to itself and the world.
Gabriel Kolko is the leading historian of modern warfare. He is the author of the classic Century of War: Politics, Conflicts and Society Since 1914, Another Century of War? and The Age of War: the US Confronts the World and After Socialism. He has also written the best history of the Vietnam War, Anatomy of a War: Vietnam, the US and the Modern Historical Experience. His latest book is World in Crisis.
Tags:Gabriel Kolko, Korean war, United States' wars, Vietnam war, Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Posted in Commentary, imperialism, Uncategorized, US policy, USA, war | Leave a Comment »
Cynthia McKinney to President Obama: Turn Away From War
Open Letter From the Peace Movement to President Obama on His Upcoming Decision Regarding the Afghan War
By Cynthia McKinney, Information Clearing House, Nov. 15, 2009
According to press reports, you intend to decide between November 7 and November 11 whether or not to send tens of thousands of American soldiers to Afghanistan. We are writing in advance of that decision to add our voice to those of Sen. Feingold, many House Democrats, and of a clear majority of Americans in urging you not to escalate this war, but rather to announce an immediate cease-fire followed by a withdrawal of all US troops in the fastest way consistent with the safety of our forces. We urge you to end the policy of using Predator drones to assassinate Pakistani civilians on the territory of their own country, in defiance of all concepts of international law. We also call upon you to cease all covert CIA and Pentagon operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran.
No vital American interest is at stake in Afghanistan. Former Marine and State Department official Matthew Hoh is right: the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan have come to be viewed as invaders and occupiers, and the resistance they encounter has nothing to do with international terrorism. This war is futile, and now doomed to failure. There is no military solution to the problems that beset Afghanistan. Afghanistan and the rest of this tragically war-torn region need a Marshall Plan of peaceful economic development, through which some of the 15 million unemployed workers in our own country could find productive jobs. We have no confidence in the advice being given to you by military leaders like Gen. McChrystal, who has been implicated in torture in Iraq.
We supported your candidacy because we viewed you as the best chance for ending the wars of the Bush era. We applauded your rejection of the rhetoric of fear and division that was the stock in trade of Bush and Cheney. We are alarmed by the way that rhetoric has crept into your public pronouncements since your August address in Phoenix. Your decision on Afghanistan will represent the decisive turning point of your presidency. If you turn away from war, you will provide a profile in courage that will solidify your support and open up a new perspective for progressive reforms in our country. You will honor the spirit of John F. Kennedy, who was searching for an exit strategy from the Vietnam war. If you opt for a wider war, the resulting heavy casualties will destroy confidence in your leadership among your own most devoted advocates. Hundreds of billions of dollars will be poured down a rat hole, and will no longer be available for any reform and renovation of American society, which will increasingly fall behind the economic strength of other countries. Your domestic agenda will be halted, in the same way your predecessor Lyndon B. Johnson was crippled by the Vietnam war. Escalation of the Afghan war, in short, would be an act of political suicide for you, and of national suicide for our country.
We are keenly aware of the difficulties and animosities you face, and we have long done everything possible to give your administration the benefit of the doubt, even in the face of repeated disappointments. But we now approach the moment of truth: will you be a great progressive president, or will you prove too weak to turn away from the bankrupt policies institutionalized and entrenched under Bush and Cheney. Therefore, we want you to know our attitude before you decide on the proposed Afghan escalation. If you choose to escalate, we will oppose this policy with all the energy we possess. We will act to mobilize the largest possible anti-war demonstration in Washington DC and other cities before the end of 2009, and continuously thereafter. We will support anti-war candidates of any party in the 2010 elections. If you are still waging the Afghan war in 2011, we will be forced to seriously consider backing an explicitly anti-war primary candidate to challenge you during the Democratic primaries.
We therefore respectfully urge you to act in the spirit of your 2008 campaign – the spirit of hope and change, neither of which can survive the continuation or expansion of the hopeless Afghan war.
Cynthia McKinney, DIGNITY
Tags:Afghan war, CIA and Pentagon operations, Cynthia McKinney, Gen. McChrystal and torture in Iraq, killing Pakistani civilians, Peace Movement, Predator drone, President Obam, Vietnam war, withdrawal of all US troops
Posted in Afghanistan, crime, Pakistan, President Barack Obama, Uncategorized, US policy, USA, war, warmongers | Leave a Comment »
CNN Poll: Will Afghanistan turn into another Vietnam?
CNN, October 19th, 2009 12:34 PM ET
From CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser
Will Afghanistan turn into another Vietnam?
WASHINGTON (CNN) – A slight majority of Americans think that the war in Afghanistan is turning into another Vietnam, according to a new national poll which also indicates that nearly six in 10 oppose sending more U.S. troops to the conflict.
Fifty-two percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday say the eight year long conflict has turned into a situation like the U.S. faced in the Vietnam War, with 46 percent disagreeing.
According to the poll, 59 percent of people questioned opposed sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan with 39 percent in favor. Of the 59 percent opposed, 28 percent want Washington to withdraw all U.S troops, 21 percent are calling for a partial American pullout, and 8 percent say the number of troops should remain the same.
"Has Afghanistan turned into Barack Obama's Vietnam? Most Americans think so, and that may be one reason why they oppose sending more U.S. troops to that country," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Older Americans are most likely to see parallels between Afghanistan and Vietnam – possibly because they remember the Vietnam War, rather than reading about it in textbooks."
President Barack Obama and his top military, national security and foreign policy advisers are conducting an intensive strategic review of the U.S. military presence in the war-torn country. The president is weighing a suggestion by the top American military commander in Afghanistan to increase force levels by as many as 40,000 troops.
More than two-thirds of people polled say it's unlikely Afghanistan will have stable government in the next few years. And that was before Monday's release of a United Nations report alleging widespread fraud in the recent Afghanistan elections. According to the survey, around two-thirds also feel that its unlikely that without American assistance, the Afghan military and police will be able to keep their country safe and secure or prevent terrorists from using Afghanistan as a base of operations for planning attacks against the U.S.
The poll indicates that six in 10 Americans feel it's necessary to keep U.S. forces in Afghanistan in order to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States. And a similar number say the conflict in Afghanistan is part of the war against terrorism which began with the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
"That's probably the reason why Afghanistan is still more popular than the war in Iraq," Say Holland. "Many Americans make the connection between 9/11 and Afghanistan, and the public recognizes that there is little chance that the Afghan government can deal with terrorists on its own."
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted Friday through Sunday, with 1,038 adult Americans questioned by telephone.
The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Tags:Afghanistan, CNN poll, U.S. troops, United States, Vietnam war, war in Afghanistan
Posted in Afghanistan, Commentary, Uncategorized, US policy, USA, war | Leave a Comment »
Stanley I. Kutler: Obama's Afghanistan Dilemma
History News Network
Source: TruthDig.com (10-1-09)
[Stanley Kutler is the author of "The Wars of Watergate" and other writings.]
During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama repeatedly called for expanding the war in Afghanistan. Be careful what you wish for.
The bells of Afghanistan echo the Vietnam War. Like then, we have a powerful military establishment linked to civilian foreign and defense intellectuals clamoring for an expansive military adventure to protect us from an onrushing enemy. The pressure on President Barack Obama to substantially increase troop levels in Afghanistan is enhanced by a high-powered, hardly subtle campaign.
Tags:Barack Obama, Gen. Stanley McChrystal calls for more troops, Stanley Kutler, Vietnam war, war in Afghanistan
Posted in Afghanistan, Commentary, imperialism, President Barack Obama, Uncategorized, US policy, USA, war | Leave a Comment »
A Lesson From Vietnam for Obama's War in Afghanistan
by Joe Galloway, Antiwar.com, July 18, 2009
Email This | Print This | Share This | Comment | Antiwar Forum
It was half a century ago, on the night of July 8, 1959, that the first two American soldiers to die in the Vietnam War were slain when guerrillas surrounded and shot up a small mess hall where half a dozen advisers were watching a movie after dinner.
Master Sgt. Chester Ovnand of Copperas Cove, Texas, and Maj. Dale Buis of Imperial Beach, Calif., would become the first two names chiseled on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial — the first of 58,261 Americans who died in Vietnam during the next 16 years.
The deaths of Ovnand and Buis went largely unnoticed at the time, simply a small beginning of what would become a huge national tragedy.
Presidents from Harry Truman to Dwight Eisenhower to John F. Kennedy to Lyndon B. Johnson to Richard M. Nixon to Gerald R. Ford made decisions — some small and incremental, some large and disastrous — in building us so costly and tragic a war.
The national security handmaidens of those presidents, especially those who served Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford, were supposedly the best and brightest that Harvard and Yale and Princeton could contribute.
Presidents right up to today's like to surround themselves with such self-assured and certain men, men whose eagerness to find war the answer to most problems often grows in direct proportion to their lack of experience in uniform or combat.
This small history lesson can be read as a cautionary tale to President Barack Obama's team as they oversee an excruciating slow-motion end of one war, Iraq, and a pell-mell rush to wade ever deeper into another one in the mountains and deserts of remote and tribal Afghanistan.
The story grows out of a battle in the very beginning of the American takeover of the war in South Vietnam in the fall of 1965 when a defense secretary, Robert S. McNamara, counted the bodies and the beans and offered his president two directly opposing options.
In the wake of the Ia Drang Valley battles of November 1965 — the first major collision between an experimental airmobile division of the U.S. Army and regular soldiers in division strength from the People's Army of North Vietnam — President Johnson ordered McNamara to rush to Vietnam and assess what had happened and what was going to happen.
Up till then, just more than 1,000 Americans, mostly advisers and pilots, had been killed in Vietnam since Ovnand and Buis. Then, in just five days 234 more Americans had been killed and hundreds wounded in the Ia Drang. There weren't even enough military coffins in the country to handle the dead.
McNamara took briefings from Gen. William Westmoreland, the top U.S. commander in Vietnam, and from Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge and assorted spy chiefs and diplomats. Then he flew to An Khe in the Central Highlands and was briefed on the Ia Drang battles by then Lt. Col. Hal Moore, who had commanded on the ground in Landing Zone XRAY in the Ia Drang.
On the plane home to Washington, McNamara dictated a Top Secret/Eyes Only memo to President Johnson dated Nov. 30, 1965. In that report he stated that the enemy had not only met but had exceeded our escalation of the war and we had reached a decision point. In his view there were two options:
–Option One: We could arrange whatever diplomatic cover we could arrange and pull out of South Vietnam.
–Option Two: We could give Gen. Westmoreland the 200,000 more U.S. troops he was asking for, in which case by early 1967 we would have more than 500,000 Americans on the ground and they would be dying at the rate of 1,000 a month. (He was wrong; the death toll would reach more than 3,000 a month at the height of the war). "All we can possibly achieve (by this) is a military stalemate at a much higher level of violence," McNamara wrote.
On Dec. 15, 1965, the president assembled what he called the "wise men" for a brainstorming session on Vietnam. He entered the Cabinet room holding McNamara's memo. He shook it at McNamara and asked: "Bob, you mean to tell me no matter what I do I can't win in Vietnam?" McNamara nodded yes; that was precisely what he meant.
The wise men sat in session for two days. Participants say there was no real discussion of McNamara's Option One — it would have sent the wrong message to our Cold War allies — and at the end there was a unanimous vote in favor of Option Two — escalating and continuing a war that our leaders now knew we could not win.
Remember. This was 1965, 10 years before the last helicopter lifted off that roof in Saigon. It's a hell of a lot easier to get sucked into a war or jump feet first into a war than it is to get out of a war.
There's no question that President Obama inherited these two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, from the Bush/Cheney administration. But the buildup in Afghanistan and the change in strategy belong to Obama and his version of the best and brightest.
The new administration has dictated an escalation from 30,000 U.S. troops to more than 60,000, and even before most of them have actually arrived commanders on the ground are already back asking for more, and why not? When you are a hammer everything around you looks like a nail.
Some smart veterans of both Iraq and Afghanistan, on the ground now or just back, say that at this rate we will inevitably lose the war in Afghanistan; that the situation on the ground now is far worse than Iraq was at its lowest point in 2006 and early 2007. They talk of a costly effort both in lives and national treasure that will stretch out past the Obama administration and maybe the two administrations after that.
President Obama needs to call in the "wise men and women" for a fish-or-cut-bait meeting on his two ongoing wars. Let's hope that this time around, there's an absence of the arrogance and certainty of previous generations of advisers.
Let's hope that they choose to speed up the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq and get out before the Iraqi people and leaders order us to leave.
Let's hope, too, that they weigh very carefully all the costs of another decade or two of war in Afghanistan.
Failing that, they should at the very least begin an immediate drive to increase the number of available beds in military and Veterans Administration hospitals, and expand Arlington National Cemetery and the national military cemeteries nationwide.
(C) 2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
Tags:American soldiers, Iraq and Afghan wars, President Barack Obama, President Obama, Robert S. McNamara, Vietnam war, war escalation
Obama must call off this folly before Afghanistan becomes his Vietnam
Senseless slaughter and anti-western hysteria are all America and Britain's billions have paid for in a counterproductive war
Simon Jenkins | guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 June 2009 22.00 BST
If good intentions ever paved a road to hell, they are doing so in Afghanistan. History rarely declares when folly turns to disaster, but it does so now. Barack Obama and his amanuensis, Gordon Brown, are uncannily repeating the route taken by American leaders in Vietnam from 1963 to 1975. Galbraith once said that the best thing about the Great Depression was that it warned against another. Does the same apply to Vietnam?
Vietnam began with Kennedy's noble 1963 intervention, to keep the communist menace at bay and thus make the world safe for democracy. That is what George Bush and Tony Blair said of terrorism and Afghanistan. Vietnam escalated as the Diem regime in Saigon failed to contain Vietcong aggression and was deposed with American collusion. By 1965, despite Congress scepticism, American advisers, then planes, then ground forces were deployed. Allies were begged to join but few agreed – and not Britain.
The presence of Americans on Asian soil turned a local insurgency into a regional crusade. Foreign aid rallied to the Vietcong cause to resist what was seen as a neo-imperialist invasion. The hard-pressed Americans resorted to ever more extensive bombing, deep inside neighbouring countries, despite evidence that it was ineffective and politically counterproductive.
No amount of superior firepower could quell a peasant army that came and went by night and could terrorise or merge into the local population. Tales of American atrocities rolled in each month. The army counted success not in territory held but in enemy dead. A desperate attempt to "train and equip" a new Vietnamese army made it as corrupt as it was unreliable. Billions of dollars were wasted. A treaty with the Vietcong in 1973 did little to hide the humiliation of eventual defeat.
Every one of these steps is being re-enacted in Afghanistan. Every sane observer, even serving generals and diplomats, admit that "we are not winning" and show no sign of doing so. The head of the British army, Sir Richard Dannatt, remarked recently on the "mistakes" of Iraq as metaphor for Afghanistan. He has been supported by warnings from his officers on the ground.
Last year's denial of reinforcements to Helmand is an open secret. Ever since the then defence secretary, John Reid, issued his 2006 "London diktats", described in a recent British Army Review as "casual, naive and a comprehensive failure", intelligence warnings of Taliban strength have been ignored. The army proceeded with a policy of disrupting the opium trade, neglecting hearts and minds and using US air power against "blind" targets. All have proved potent weapons in the Taliban armoury.
Generals are entitled to plead for more resources and yet claim that victory is just round the corner, even when they know it is not. They must lead men into battle. A heavier guilt lies with liberal apologists for this war on both sides of the Atlantic who continue to invent excuses for its failure and offer glib preconditions for victory.
A classic is a long editorial in Monday's New York Times, congratulating Barack Obama on "sending more troops to the fight" but claiming that there were still not enough. In addition there were too many corrupt politicians, too many drugs, too many weapons in the wrong hands, too small a local army, too few police and not enough "trainers". The place was damnably unlike Connecticut.
Strategy, declared the sages of Manhattan, should be "to confront the Taliban head on", as if this had not been tried before. Afghanistan needed "a functioning army and national police that can hold back the insurgents". The way to achieve victory was for the Pentagon, already spending a stupefying $60bn in Afghanistan, to spend a further $20bn – increasing the size of the Afghan army from 90,000 to 250,000. This was because ordinary Afghans "must begin to trust their own government".
These lines might have been written in 1972 by General Westmoreland in his Saigon bunker. The New York Times has clearly never seen the Afghan army, or police, in action. Eight years of training costing $15bn have been near useless, when men simply decline to fight except to defend their homes. Any Afghan pundit will attest that training a Pashtun to fight a Pashtun is a waste of money, while training a Tajik to the same end is a waste of time. Since the Pentagon originally armed and trained the Taliban to fight the Soviets, this must be the first war where it has trained both sides.
Neither the Pentagon nor the British Ministry of Defence will win Afghanistan through firepower. The strategy of "hearts and minds plus" cannot be realistic, turning Afghanistan into a vast and indefinite barracks with hundreds of thousands of western soldiers sitting atop a colonial Babel of administrators and professionals. It will never be secure. It offers Afghanistan a promise only of relentless war, one that Afghans outside Kabul know that warlords, drug cartels and Taliban sympathisers are winning.
The 2001 policy of invading, capturing Osama bin Laden and ridding the region of terrorist bases has been tested to destruction and failed. Strategy is reduced to the senseless slaughter of hundreds of young western soldiers and thousands of Afghans. Troops are being sent out because Labour ministers lack the guts to admit that Blair's bid to quell the Islamist menace by force of arms was crazy. They parrot the line that they are making "the streets of London safe", but they know they are doing the opposite.
Vietnam destroyed two presidents, Johnson and Nixon, and destroyed the global confidence of a generation of young Americans. Afghanistan – obscenely dubbed the "good war" – could do the same. There will soon be 68,000 American troops in that country, making a mockery of Donald Rumsfeld's 2001 tactic of hit and run, which at least had the virtue of coherence.
This is set fair to be a war of awful proportions, cockpit for the feared clash of civilisations. Each new foreign battalion taps more cash for the Taliban from the Gulf. Each new massacre from the air recruits more youths from the madrasas. The sheer counterproductivity of the war has been devastatingly analysed by David Kilcullen, adviser to Obama's key general – David Petraeus – no less.
Obama is trapped by past policy mistakes as were Kennedy and Johnson, cheered by an offstage chorus crying, "if only" and "not enough" and "just one more surge". He and Petraeus have to find a means and a language to disengage from Afghanistan, to allow the anti-western hysteria of the Muslim world – which the west has done so much to foster – now to cool. It is hard to imagine a greater tragedy than for the most exciting American president in a generation to be led by a senseless intervention into a repeat of America's greatest postwar debacle.
As for British politicians, they seek a proxy for their negligence in Afghanistan by staging a show trial of their negligence in Iraq. Why do they fiddle while Helmand burns? Might they at least ask how they can spend £40bn a year on defence yet watch a mere 8,000 troops on their one active front having to be rescued by Americans?
Tags:Afghanistan, American atrocities, American troops in Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, Helmand, Simon Jenkins, Vietnam war, war
The March of Folly, Continued
Norman Solomon | The Huffington Post, May 22, 2009
To understand what's up with President Obama as he escalates the war in Afghanistan, there may be no better place to look than a book published 25 years ago. The March of Folly, by historian Barbara Tuchman, is a chilling assessment of how very smart people in power can do very stupid things — how a war effort, ordered from on high, goes from tic to repetition compulsion to obsession — and how we, with undue deference and lethal restraint, pay our respects to the dominant moral torpor to such an extent that mass slaughter becomes normalized in our names.
What happens among policymakers is a "process of self-hypnosis," Tuchman writes. After recounting examples from the Trojan War to the British moves against rebellious American colonists, she devotes the closing chapters of The March of Folly to the long arc of the U.S. war in Vietnam. The parallels with the current escalation of the war in Afghanistan are more than uncanny; they speak of deeply rooted patterns.
With clarity facing backward, President Obama can make many wise comments about international affairs while proceeding with actual policies largely unfettered by the wisdom. From the outset of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, Tuchman observes, vital lessons were "stated" but "not learned."
As with John Kennedy — another young president whose administration "came into office equipped with brain power" and "more pragmatism than ideology" — Obama's policy adrenalin is now surging to engorge something called counterinsurgency.
"Although the doctrine emphasized political measures, counterinsurgency in practice was military," Tuchman writes, an observation that applies all too well to the emerging Obama enthusiasm for counterinsurgency. And "counterinsurgency in operation did not live up to the high-minded zeal of the theory. All the talk was of 'winning the allegiance' of the people to their government, but a government for which allegiance had to be won by outsiders was not a good gamble."
Now, as during the escalation of the Vietnam War — despite all the front-paged articles and news bulletins emphasizing line items for civic aid from Washington — the spending for U.S. warfare in Afghanistan is overwhelmingly military.
Perhaps overeager to assume that the context of bombing campaigns ordered by President Obama is humanitarian purpose, many Americans of antiwar inclinations have yet to come to terms with central realities of the war effort — for instance, the destructive trajectory of the budgeting for the war, which spends 10 dollars toward destruction for every dollar spent on humanitarian programs.
From the top of the current administration — as the U.S. troop deployments in Afghanistan continue to rise along with the American air-strike rates — there is consistent messaging about the need to "stay the course," even while bypassing such tainted phrases.
The dynamic that Tuchman describes as operative in the first years of the 1960s, while the Vietnam War gained momentum, is no less relevant today: "For the ruler it is easier, once he has entered a policy box, to stay inside. For the lesser official it is better, for the sake of his position, not to make waves, not to press evidence that the chief will find painful to accept. Psychologists call the process of screening out discordant information 'cognitive dissonance,' an academic disguise for 'Don't confuse me with the facts.'" Along the way, cognitive dissonance "causes alternatives to be 'deselected since even thinking about them entails conflicts.'"
Such a psycho-political process inside the White House has no use for the report from the Congressional Progressive Caucus that came out of the caucus's six-part forum on Capitol Hill this spring, "Afghanistan: A Road Map for Progress."
Souped up and devouring fuel, the war train cannot slow down for the Progressive Caucus report's recommendation that "an 80-20 ratio (political-military) should be the formula for funding our efforts in the region with oversight by a special inspector general to ensure compliance." Or that "U.S. troop presence in the region must be oriented toward training and support roles for Afghan security forces and not for U.S.-led counterinsurgency efforts."
Or that "the immediate cessation of drone attacks should be required." Or that "all aid dollars should be required to have a majority percentage of dollars tied or guaranteed to local Afghan institutions and organizations, to ensure countrywide job mapping, assessment and workforce development process to directly benefit the Afghan people."
The policymakers who are gunning the war train can't be bothered with such ideas. After all, if the solution is — rhetoric aside — assumed to be largely military, why dilute the potency of the solution? Especially when, as we're repeatedly made to understand, there's so much at stake.
During the mid-1960s, while American troops poured into Vietnam, "enormity of the stakes was the new self-hypnosis," Tuchman comments. She quotes the wisdom — conventional and self-evident — of New York Times military correspondent Hanson Baldwin, who wrote in 1966 that U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam would bring "political, psychological and military catastrophe," signaling that the United States "had decided to abdicate as a great power."
Many Americans are eager to think of our nation as supremely civilized even in warfare; the conceits of noble self-restraint have been trumpeted by many a president even while the Pentagon's carnage apparatus kept spinning into overdrive. "Limited war is not nicer or kinder or more just than all-out war, as its proponents would have it," Tuchman notes. "It kills with the same finality."
For a president, with so much military power under his command, frustrations call for more of the same. The seductive allure of counterinsurgency is apt to heighten the appeal of "warnography" for the commander in chief; whatever the earlier resolve to maintain restraint, the ineffectiveness of more violence invites still more — in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
"The American mentality counted on superior might," Tuchman commented, "but a tank cannot disperse wasps." In Vietnam, the independent journalist Michael Herr wrote, the U.S. military's violent capacities were awesome: "Our machine was devastating. And versatile. It could do everything but stop."
And that is true, routinely, of a war-making administration.
The grim and ultimately unhinged process that Barbara Tuchman charts is in evidence with President Obama and his approach to the Afghan war: "In its first stage, mental standstill fixes the principles and boundaries governing a political problem. In the second stage, when dissonances and failing function begin to appear, the initial principles rigidify. This is the period when, if wisdom were operative, re-examination and re-thinking and a change of course are possible, but they are rare as rubies in a backyard. Rigidifying leads to increase of investment and the need to protect egos; policy founded upon error multiplies, never retreats. The greater the investment and the more involved in it the sponsor's ego, the more unacceptable is disengagement."
A week ago, one out of seven members of the House of Representatives voted against a supplemental appropriations bill providing $81.3 billion to the Pentagon, mainly for warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan. An opponent of the funding, Congressman John Conyers, pointed out that "the president has not challenged our most pervasive and dangerous national hubris: the foolhardy belief that we can erect the foundations of civil society through the judicious use of our many high-tech instruments of violence."
Conyers continued: "That belief, promoted by the previous administration in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, assumes that the United States possesses the capacity and also has a duty to determine the fate of nations in the greater Middle East.
"I oppose this supplemental war funding bill because I believe that we are not bound by such a duty. In fact, I believe the policies of empire are counterproductive in our struggle against the forces of radical religious extremism. For example, U.S. strikes from unmanned Predator Drones and other aircraft produced 64 percent of all civilian deaths caused by the U.S., NATO and Afghan forces in 2008. Just this week, U.S. air strikes took another 100 lives, according to Afghan officials on the ground. If it is our goal to strengthen the average Afghan or Pakistani citizen and to weaken the radicals that threaten stability in the region, bombing villages is clearly counterproductive. For every family broken apart by an incident of 'collateral damage,' seeds of hate and enmity are sown against our nation. . . .
"Should we support this measure, we risk dooming our nation to a fate similar to Sisyphus and his boulder: to being trapped in a stalemate of unending frustration and misery, as our mistakes inevitably lead us to the same failed outcomes. Let us step back; let us remember the mistakes and heartbreak of our recent misadventures in the streets of Fallujah and Baghdad. If we honor the ties that bind us to one another, we cannot in good faith send our fellow citizens on this errand of folly. It is still not too late to turn away from this path."
Norman Solomon is the author of a dozen books including "War Made Easy."
Tags:Barbara Tuchman, Congressman John Conyers, Norman Solomon, Obama's policy, policymakers, U.S. air strikes, United States, Vietnam war, war, war in Afgnaistan
Posted in Afghanistan, Commentary, imperialism, US policy, USA, warmongers | Leave a Comment »
America's Imperial Wars: We Need to See the Horrors
By Dave Lindorff | Counterpunch, April 10 – 12, 2009
When I was a 17-year-old kid in my senior year of high school, I didn't think much about Vietnam. It was 1967, the war was raging, but I didn't personally know anyone who was over there, Tet hadn't happened yet. If anything, the excitement of jungle warfare attracted my interest more than anything (I had a .22 cal rifle, and liked to go off in the woods and shoot at things, often, I'll admit, imagining it was an armed enemy.)
But then I had to do a major project in my humanities program and I chose the Vietnam War. As I started researching this paper, which was supposed to be a multi-media presentation, I ran across a series of photos of civilian victims of American napalm bombing. These victims, often, were women and children—even babies.
The project opened my eyes to something that had never occurred to me: my country's army was killing civilians. And it wasn't just killing them. It was killing them, and maiming them, in ways that were almost unimaginable in their horror: napalm, phosphorus, anti-personnel bombs that threw out spinning flechettes that ripped through the flesh like tiny buzz saws. I learned that scientists like what I at the time wanted to become were actually working on projects to make these weapons even more lethal, for example trying to make napalm more sticky so it would burn longer on exposed flesh.
By the time I had finished my project, I had actively joined the anti-war movement, and later that year, when I turned 18 and had to register for the draft, I made the decision that no way was I going to allow myself to participate in that war.
A key reason my—and millions of other Americans'–eyes were opened to what the US was up to in Indochina was that the media at that time, at least by 1967, had begun to show Americans the reality of that war. I didn't have to look too hard to find the photos of napalm victims, or to read about the true nature of the weapons that our forces were using.
Today, while the internet makes it possible to find similar information about the conflicts in the world in which the US is participating, either as primary combatant or as the chief provider of arms, as in Gaza, one actually has to make a concerted effort to look for them. The corporate media which provide the information that most Americans simply receive passively on the evening news or at breakfast over coffee carefully avoid showing us most of the graphic horror inflicted by our military machine.
We may read the cold fact that the US military, after initial denials, admits that its forces killed not four enemy combatants in an assault on a house in Afghanistan, but rather five civilians—including a man, a female teacher, a 10-year-old girl, a 15-year-old boy and a tiny baby. But we don't see pictures of their shattered bodies, no doubt shredded by the high-powered automatic rifles typically used by American forces.
We may read about wedding parties that are bombed by American forces—something that has happened with some frequency in both Iraq and Afghanistan– where the death toll is tallied in dozens, but we are, as a rule, not provided with photos that would likely show bodies torn apart by anti-personnel bombs—a favored weapon for such attacks on groups of supposed enemy "fighters." (A giveaway that such weapons are being used is a typically high death count with only a few wounded.)
Obviously one reason for this is that the US military no longer gives US journalists, including photo journalists, free reign on the battlefield. Those who travel with troops are under the control of those troops and generally aren't allowed to photograph the scenes of devastation, and sites of such "mishaps" are generally ruled off limits until the evidence has been cleared away.
But another reason is that the media themselves sanitize their pages and their broadcasts. It isn't just American dead that we don't get to see. It's the civilian dead—at least if our guys do it. We are not spared gruesome images following attacks on civilians by Iraqi insurgent groups, or by Taliban forces in Afghanistan. But we don't get the same kind of photos when it's our forces doing the slaughtering. Because often the photos and video images do exist—taken by foreign reporters who take the risk of going where the US military doesn't want them.
No wonder that even today, most Americans oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan not because of sympathy with the long-suffering peoples of those two lands, but because of the hardships faced by our own forces, and the financial cost of the two wars.
For some real information on the horror that is being perpetrated on one of the poorest countries in the world by the greatest military power the world has ever known, check out the excellent work by Professor Marc Herold at the University of New Hampshire (http://cursor.org/ and http://www.rawa.org/).
Dave Lindorff is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. His latest book is "The Case for Impeachment" (St. Martin's Press, 2006 and now available in paperback). He can be reached at dlindorff@mindspring.com
Tags:Dave Lindorff, Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan, killing civilians, napalm, phosphorus, photos and video images, slaughtering, United States, US military, Vietnam war
Posted in Afghanistan, Human rights, Iraq, US policy, warmongers | Leave a Comment »
Tribute to Peter DeMott, an antiwar activist
Socialist Worker, March 31, 2009
Peter DeMott
ON TUESDAY, March 17, antiwar and social justice activists in Ithaca, N.Y., gathered to watch the documentary film The Trial of the St. Patrick's Four.
The film was screened to mark the sixth anniversary of an action of civil disobedience by four Ithaca Catholic Workers at an army recruiting center days before the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The gathering also served as a mournful tribute to one of the four activists who participated in the action, Peter DeMott, who died February 19 in a tragic accident.
To a room packed with 200 people, the documentary illustrated the nonviolent yet courageous ways that Peter DeMott confronted the U.S. war machine for over two decades. Peter's commitment to opposing U.S. imperialism since his days in the Vietnam war has served as a source of inspiration to current Iraq Veterans Against the War members, as well as to community activists.
To send condolences or donations to the DeMott-Grady family please contact: Ithaca Catholic Worker, 133 Sheffield Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850.
Peter's relentless commitment and personal sacrifice left the audience committed to building the antiwar movement. Through the documentary, one gets a glimpse of the inspiring and conscientious person that he was, and how his political firmness led him to oppose not only one war in Iraq, but the whole for-profit system that is behind it.
Peter DeMott will be remembered as a gentle husband, father, brother, uncle, friend and a firm civil objector. His brave example will live on to inspire present and future antiwar activists.
Héctor Tarrido-Picart and Nevin Sabet, Ithaca, N.Y.
Tags:antiwar activist, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Peter DeMott, US imperialism, Vietnam war
Posted in Human rights, imperialism, Peace Movement, Uncategorized, USA | Leave a Comment »


text:
The Artistree > Entertainment > Paurashpur: Rebellious Women Against The Patriarchy
Paurashpur: Rebellious Women Against The Patriarchy
Ever since the initial release of the trailer on 8th December, the show 'Paurashpur' has hit the headlines and managed to be a topic of attention. The following article contains 18+ references about an adult-centric show. Minors shouldn't delve into it. The show is set against the backdrop of the 17th century in a fictional kingdom of Paurashpur. The story is set to turn the tables of history we've been following and believing, where men were the actual rulers. The show sheds a spotlight on a misogynistic dynasty where human greed, crime, corruption, and power abuse prevails. It shows how women in that era were ready to fight for equality and their place in the patriarchy. How women, if wounded, can bring the entire kingdom down on its knees.
The trailer of the show manages to do justice to one of the most anticipated shows of the year. Full of intense drama and notions about the topic it revolves around, the trailer manages to introduce the audience to the lead characters.
Starting with the king of Paurashpur, Raja Bhadrapratap is a masochist who weds women every now and then only to end up abusing them. If ever a woman fails to please him, her life is put to an end with utter brutality. The character is played by Annu Kapoor and looks quite promising.
Then comes the queen Meerawati, the iron lady. She uses her wit to stay alive in the kingdom and owns her game to bring the patriarchy down. She is a rebellious queen and believes "raaj toh aurat hi karti hai: a woman always rules." The character played by Shilpa Shinde as a fearless queen has been the most talked-about element of the show, and we can't wait more to witness it on our screens.
Another eye-grabbing element of the show is Veer Singh, played by the heartthrob of Indian Television-Shaheer Sheikh. He has always been playing the character of a boy next door, but his charisma in the erotic period drama as a flamboyant warrior doesn't seem to fade. The mysterious warrior has no intentions of losing and is ready to go to any stretch to win his goals. He is ready to dethrone the abusive men of the kingdom, and we can't get over his iconic appearance in the trailer where he says- "Paurashpur girega, humara pyaar use girayega: Paurashpur will witness a downfall, our love will do the same."
Other than the mentioned character revelations, Milind Suman plays the character of a transgender man, who makes his entry with the dialogue "hum na raja na praja, hum Boris hain: I'm neither the king nor the people of the kingdom, I'm Boris." He is a eunuch who believes in equality of both the genders and challenges the patriarchy and the kingdom openly. He is the sole support of women and is ready to be a savior. But will he be successful in his ambitions?
Also Read: Hotstar's Web Series Hundred Season 2: The Latest Updates
The story of the missing queens and an oppressive kingdom full of lust, rape, and political conspiracies looks quite promising if people are looking for an unusual period drama. The kingdom where women are objectified and used solely for satisfying the needs of men is likely to witness a downfall that will leave the men on the thrones in awe. The viewers will witness a battle of genders to determine their power and dominance in the kingdom. The show appears as a powerful element in the world of web series. Paurashpur is ready to premiere on 29 December 2020 on the Zee5 and ALT Balaji apps. The show starts with Shilpa Shinde, Shaheer Sheikh, Annu Kapoor, Milind Suman, Poulomi Das, Flora Saini, Sahil Salathia, Aditya Lal in the lead.
Suhani Rajpoot
I'm Suhani Rajpoot, an 18-year-old teen. I hail from Lucknow. I'm an aspiring pilot and a keen artist. I find poetry and writing as a way of self-exploration and a way to express different emotions through my eyes. My world revolves around my family, my hobbies, and a bunch of my friends.
Previous Article Swamp Thing Season 2: Any Chances of Renewal?
Next Article Akudama Drive Season 1 Recap, Possibility of Season 2
Attack on Titan Season 4 Episode 7: Preview And Recap
Indian Shows You Can't Miss on Amazon Prime Video

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Controversy as North West Health department suspends le...
Controversy as North West Health department suspends leading doctor
Professor Ebrahim Variava (A photo from Klerksdorp Record Midweek)
By Ufrieda Ho for Spotlight
As Covid-19 cases begin to surge in North West, in a "bizarre" move the provincial health department suspended one of the province's leading clinicians for reasons that are unclear.
When a suspension letter arrived on Monday for Professor Ebrahim Variava, the head of internal medicine at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp, the specialist doctor was in the midst of treating a Covid-19 patient and training doctors in the province on intubation procedures.
His suspension has been called "bewildering and bizarre" not just because the charges against him have been flimsy, his supporters say, but because the move is completely out of step with an "all hands on deck" strategy to combat the pandemic.
By Tuesday the province had 1,281 confirmed cases and five deaths.
Variava had for weeks been warning that North West is far from ready to deal with the Covid-19 crisis. He's also flagged that a locally appropriate response strategy for the province remains absent even at lockdown Level 3. Variava and senior specialists in his department had on their own volition launched the intubation training programme to familiarise doctors from across the province on specialised ICU ventilation procedures that will be needed as possible life-saving intervention in severe Covid-19 cases.
The three-page suspension letter does not set out exactly what Variava is under investigation for or what specific allegations have been made against him.
The letter is signed by Polaki Mokatsane, the province's Deputy Director-General of Hospitals and Clinical Support Services. Mokatsane was CEO of Tshepong Hospital until September 2019.
The letter states that Variava is suspended on full pay pending an investigation into "serious allegations of impropriety during a Zoom meeting on 8 June". Mokatsane was present during this Zoom meeting. Other allegations against Variava include allegations by "various colleagues for acting in a manner that compromised the principles of medical ethics; failure to exercise his duty to his colleagues and thus acting in contravention of the healthcare profession; and conduct that has brought the North West Department of Health and the medical profession into disrepute".
Suspicions are that Variava's challenge of the DDG's plan of action for Covid-19 preparedness put him in his crosshairs and marked him as a "troublemaker".
Blowing the whistle
Variava was part of a group of 78 doctors who wrote an open letter of concern in April 2018 outlining multiple crises impacting the North West healthcare system.
He also recently raised the alarm over medicines shortages from the Essential Drugs Lists being out of stock in the province intermittently for at least the last two years. It hit a crunch in May (when Spotlight reported on it). Among the drugs not available were those needed to sedate and intubate patients in the event of patients needing to be put on ventilators. Variava was one of four doctors who spoke to Spotlight at the time.
After the article was published, several other doctors came forward corroborating the deepening crisis which Mokatsane called, when he was interviewed at the time, "a challenge, not a crisis".
Variava and those who spoke to Spotlight said they had exhausted the usual internal channels to raise the issues of intermittent drug shortages and turned to the media as a last resort. They, however, said they believed firmly that in the aftermath of the Life Esidimeni tragedy, doctors have a duty to speak out to save lives.
Mokatsane added at the time: "We have one specialist, who is Professor Variava, who feels he is the only person who is the advocate for patients across the province."
In the weeks before his suspension, Variava was removed from a department WhatsApp group set up to deal with the Covid-19 crisis. He had also been asked to leave Zoom meetings or told to keep quiet even as he tried to outline the unique scenario at Tshepong hospital.
Long career
Variava has worked at Tshepong hospital for 19 years and is also a senior lecturer and researcher at Wits University. Responding to his suspension, Variava says he "remains a committed clinician" and remains unapologetic, fighting for patients' rights and teaching young doctors to fight for patient empowerment.
"I believe that this has become a personal attack and I will work to have my suspension cancelled and I intend challenging this move because I need to get back to my patients," he said.
At the time he left Gauteng to work in the North West hospital, he was the facility's only registered specialist. Today his team has 10 specialists, and are training 10 registrars, 14 interns and 10 medical officers. He oversees the largest drug-resistant TB unit in the country and the unit continues to undertake groundbreaking research. Variava has published over 90 peer-reviewed articles in international journals.
Variava has also launched smaller interventions that have added to making Tshepong Hospital what the North West Department of Health itself calls a "Centre of Excellence". The introduction of a patient booklet system, for example, has allowed all patients to keep an exercise book with all their medical details with notes from doctors, traditional healers and nurses they've ever consulted. The booklet becomes an important reference document when hospital files can't be located or when patients move to other areas.
Widespread support for Variava
Since news circulated on Tuesday of Variava's suspension there has been mounting pressure on Mokatsane to withdraw the suspension.
Professor Neil Martinson of the Perinatal HIV Research Unit (PHRU) launched a petition on Tuesday calling for the withdrawal of the suspension. By Wednesday morning the petition had been signed by 250 health professionals, including many leading researchers and public sector clinicians.
The PHRU's accompanying statement reads: "We feel none of the poorly drafted charges bear any relation to Professor Variava's conduct and dedication to both patient care and academia." It also details Variava's contribution to studies on the treatment and epidemiology of HIV, TB and drug resistant TB.
"In North West province, almost all Covid-19 patients are admitted to the Internal Medicine Department at Tshepong Hospital. It is extremely worrying that at the precise time when the epidemic is rapidly rising, that the leader of this department is suspended," says Martinson. "Patient care will be compromised and, in this time of crisis, why would you cut off your leg to run a race?"
The South African HIV Clinicians Society also issued a statement saying they are "dismayed at the suspension". In calling for its withdrawal they said, "Prof Variava is known to be a principled clinical activist, who is dedicated to his patients, as well as a passionate academic, internationally renowned for his cutting edge research… the best interests of the patients, the hospital and its community are clearly not served by the suspension of Prof Variava."
The Infectious Diseases Society of Southern Africa said in its statement: "His suspension adds to the severe deficit in leadership at this time and leaves patients and medical doctors without supervision and access to a dedicated specialist in an already service delivery constrained part of the country."
In its response, the North West Department of Health denies that a personality clash is what led to the suspension. Spokesperson Tebogo Lekgethwane says the suspension is "a precaution, pending an investigation" but couldn't give a timeframe for when investigations are expected to be concluded. "Like all other disease burden contributors, Covid-19 is managed in a team context and is not dependent on any one person," Lekgethwane said. DM/MC
This article was produced by Spotlight – health journalism in the public interest. Sign up for our newsletter and stay informed.
Ebrahim Variava
Tshepong Hospital


Are Industrial Automation companies good candidates for the S4 Open products?
Absolutely. Industrial HMI (Human Machine Interface) Manufacturers like Rockwell Automation (RS View), GE Fanuc (Cimplicity, iFIX), Invensys (Wonderware), TI, Iconics (Genesis32), Advantech (A-Studio), Indusoft (Studio) are all pushing into the building automation space.
These products all use the OPC communications protocol standard so they are likely candidates for the S4 Open: OPC-N2 Router.
We are performing interoperability testing with each of the above products, and many others, to make the sales process smoother.
Whenever possible we are generating case studies of completed projects so check our site for similar projects to the one you are proposing.
Their channel partners are the system integrators and resellers who we want to partner with and should be our sales targets. Ask for the person responsible for 3rd party product integration or integration to Building Automation Systems.
We want to be listed on their web sites, join their partner programs, possibly do joint marketing. If you find opportunities for this kind of marketing exposure please let us know.


Microsoft® Excel® 2010 Expert teaches the information worker how to work with a variety of intermediate and advanced features to create and edit more complex spreadsheets for a variety of purposes and situations. Some topics may appear to be basic skill sets but designed to be used as a review prior to exploring the advanced options that can be chosen or applied for that skill set.
Please note this title will be printed in Black & White.


text:
BUDDY GAMES Review
Rating - 1 / 5
TITLE: Buddy Games
DIRECTOR: Josh Duhamel
SCREENWRITER: Josh Duhamel, Bob Schwartz, Jude Weng
STARTING: Josh Duhamel, Olivia Munn, Dax Shepard
RUNTIME: 90 mins
CINEMATIC RELEASE DATES: 7th January 2021 (Australia)
HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASE DATES: 24th November 2020 (USA), 30th November 2020 (UK)
CLASSIFICATIONS: MA15+ (Australia), R (USA)
Films don't get much worse than Buddy Games. Now I am not some wowser that only likes 'arthouse' films. I will admit that there are some pretty juvenile films out there that I love. I will happily sit down and laugh like a teenager at Scary Movie or There's Something About Mary and I would probably say that Not Another Teen Movie is probably one of my favourite films of all time.
But having said all that – Buddy Games just takes the cake for me. This is a film so juvenile that honestly if I hadn't been reviewing the film I would have walked out and asked for a refund for my ticket.
Directed by Josh Duhamel in his directional debut the film centres around six friends – Shelly (Dan Bakkedahl – The Heat), Bender (Nick Swardson – Just Go With It), Doc (Kevin Dillon – Entourage), Durfy (Dax Shepherd – Hit And Run), Zane (James Roday Rodriguez – Gamer) and Bob (Josh Duhamel – Transformers) – life-long friends who get together once a year for a 'party' and a series of games that sees one of them crowned King.
However, things go horribly wrong one year and after Shelly rubs in his dominance of the events it becomes bullying of Bender and the result is Shelly being shot in the testicles by a paint ball while he is tea-bagging a victim.
Five years later life is very different for Bob. He has sold his company for $100s of millions of dollars and has started a relationship with the beautiful Tiffany (Olivia Munn – X-Men: Apocalypse). Suddenly he gets a call out of the blue: Shelly has been depressed since he lost both of his testicles and the only way he will snap out of his suicidal state is if he something to live for again – the rebirth of the Buddy Games.
I don't know how to be anything but brutally honest about this film. It is a lot worse than anything Adam Sandler or Kevin James has dreamed up – it is actually one of the worst films I have ever seen. Very few of the jokes ever land the way they are supposed and while you chuckle once or twice while watching the film for the most part you are groaning and wishing the film would end.
There are few characters that you will actually like. I'll admit that early on I had a bit of a soft spot for Bender but for some weird reason the script suddenly labels him the bad guy. Strange considering as far as I am concerned he could have mercilessly tortured Shelly for weeks before drowning him in the lake and I still would have thought that Shelly got what he deserved.
When I think of films like American Pie I think of characters that start off juvenile and then grow as the film (or the franchise) goes on. That isn't the case here – in fact at times it feels like these characters actually become more juvenile and stupid as the film plays out. There is no moral here other than the very stupid supposed message of being a dickhead is cool.
Buddy Games has very few redeeming qualities to it, in fact as I walked away from the cinema all I could think was how could Duhamel, Munn and Shepard lower themselves to be in something so bad.
Buddy Games, Comedy, Dan Bakkedahl, Dax Shepherd, Featured, James Roday Rodriguez, Josh Duhamel, Kevin Dillon, NickSwardson, Olivia Munn, Review
PrevPreviousGO/DON'T GO – Alex Knapp Interview
NextTHE MIDNIGHT SKY ReviewNext


text:
Stibara suturalis is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Charles Joseph Gahan in 1890. It is known from India.

References

Saperdini
Beetles described in 1890

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Bravo Company USA Inc. (BCM) has been innovating AR-15 parts and components for a long time. One of their most popular products is the BCM GUNFIGHTER" line of Charging Handles. While this Charging Handle is offered with several latch sizes, the MOD3 (Large) latch version is one of the most popular. With mission critical applications in mind, the VLTOR patented internal design reduces stress on the roll pins which ensures a long reliable lifespan even with repeated hand manipulation from the support side. This design also ensures that when the handle is pulled directly to the rear, it moves in a linear fashion and does not angle off to the outboard side.
The product page for the 7.62 charging handles lists the models known to be compatible with our charging handle. Unlike the milspec AR-15 platform, no such standard exists for the AR-10s, and there are dozens of variances between manufacturers. Since AR-10 models change constantly, it may work on your weapon, though we cannot guarantee fitment.


Multicoloured leather floral embellished pool slides from Dolce & Gabbana featuring a slip-on style, a brand embossed insole, a flat rubber sole and multicolour floral and shell embellishment.
Dolce & Gabbana Embellished Slides - Opt for Dolce & Gabbana's Italian glamour with these stellar slides.
Dolce & Gabbana Embellished Heart Slides - 90% Rubber, 10% Fabric. Made in Italy.
Pale pink raffia embellished slides from Dolce & Gabbana featuring an open toe, crystal embellishments, a branded insole, a slip-on style and a rubber sole.
Dolce & Gabbana Embellished Lace Slides - 50% Fabric, 50% Rubber. Made in Italy.


2008 Mazda3 GT hatchback with 153,500kms. Comes standard with tinted windows, heated seats, sunroof, rain sensing wipers and all power features. Just bought brand new all season tires on Enkei wheels this Spring (in pictures) also have a set of studded winter tires on factory alloy wheels that are included. Have kept up to date on all servicing and have records since I have owned it. Great fuel efficient car that is super fun to drive! Local Okanagan vehicle with no accidents.


text:
The worst manifestation in our country of gender discrimination is female foeticide. Unfortunately, female foeticide is committed not only by the illiterate and the impoverished, it is being committed in cities and among the educated and well-to-do. It is shocking that there are higher incidents of female foeticide in the more developed districts and regions of our country. Society has to be made aware that a girl child is a boon and a gift."Hon'ble President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, at the 17th convocation of Mother Teresa Women's University
Inaugurating a function "Kanyabhrun Hatya Ke Khilaf Sarvdharm Maha Abhiyan Samaroh" organized by National Integration Committee the Vice President of India Mohd. Hamid Ansari called upon the people to change their attitude towards female child and reiterated that the age long problem of female foeticide should be rooted out completely from our society as it is a curse.
The unacceptable crime of female foeticide, being encouraged by the widespread misuse of modern technology and its mindless commercial exploitation must be stopped. We should come forward to put an end to this Misuse of medical technology. Hazardous effect of this practice is already there for us to see in some of our most developed states like Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi" The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh said addressing a national conference on 'Role of Women in Nation Building'
The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh has given a clarion call for a mass movement for the protection of the girl child, especially in Punjab, where the sex ratio was skewed.
I sincerely request the Chief Ministers of all the States to give topmost priority to this issue in view of less time left out to take measures to reverse the child sex ratio. I also earnestly urge the medical fraternity to refrain from falling prey to consumerist attitude. I sincerely request the Health Ministers of all the States to give topmost priority to this issue in view of less time left out to take measures to reverse the child sex ratio." -Hon'ble Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr Anbumani Ramadoss
"You will agree that law alone will not be able to solve the problem and each one of us has to play our role to curb this practice – as parents, family members, siblings and friends. And as professionals whether teachers, doctor, lawyers, judges, administrators, law enforcement personnel, elected representative, journalist, writers, artist all of us have to work together to create a gender balanced society."-Minister of State Of Health and Family Welfare, Smt. Panabakka Lakshmi
Shabana Azmi,- In a recent article in Hindustan Times. What then will the structure of society be with a paucity of women? What will the consequences be for the family and community, and what of the institution of marriage? Imagine the plight of women forced into polyandrous marriages. I shudder when I think of how much more vulnerable a woman would be to sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS. What of the increase in violence against women? One can only conjecture, but the possible scenarios are frightening.
When There Is Going To Be No Girl Child On Earth, Who Will Nurture The Earth? Since She Is The Producer, Nurturer And Preserver, Without Her How Do You Expect The Earth To Exist ?? - Joy Sen Gupta, Theatre And Film Personality.
Pooja Bhatt, Film Actor/Director - Sex selection is just a more sophisticated form of female infanticide, which has been in our country from time immemorial. Today when girls have reached the stars people are worried about family name and the last rites to be performed by the son! What an irony…


text:
Katrina Kaif and Prakash Jha to team up again?
John Abraham's dance numbers!
Rockstar rocks Mirchi Music Awards 2012
Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar sweeped the Radio Mirchi Music Awards which were held in Mumbai last night. Oscar winner A.R. Rahman's music in the movie was a huge hit and won almost all the major music awards this year. Rockstar won 5 awards including the awards for the best music director and best album of the […][Read more]
TB Birthday Special : Celebrating Rani's finest performances
Rani Mukherjee is often called the Queen Bee of Bollywood and why not after all there was a time when she ruled the Indian film industry like no other. Today the newer actresses have more films, are more successful but Rani Mukherjee is still one of the best that we have in Bollywood. After making […][Read more]
Sonam sportive enough to accept Ghanta Award!
Sonam Kapoor is one sportive girl. The actress was the only one from Bollywood to attend the second annual Ghanta Awards – celebrating the worst in Bollywood. All film awards honor the best in Bollywood however Ghanta Awards are one of its kind, they give awards to the worst in Bollywood! The awards make fun […][Read more]
Is Anushka Sharma dating cricketer Suresh Raina?
Only two things are hugely popular in India – Bollywood and cricket and over the years we have seen some strong link ups between the two. Cricketers marrying/dating actress is not a new thing, in fact it goes back to the times of Vivian Richards who had an affair with Indian actress Neena Gupta. Though the two […][Read more]
Rani Mukherjee celebrates her 34th Birthday today
Bong beauty Rani Mukherjee celebrates her 34th birthday today. The actress has no big plans for her birthday celebration and will apparently keep the day simple, probably spending some quality time with family and close friends. Rani made her acting debut with Raja Ki Ayegi Baraat in 1997. The actress became popular after the success of Shahrukh Khan, Kajol starrer Kuch Kuch Hota […][Read more]
Celina Jaitley delivers twins
Bollywood wishes a happy Navratri/Ugadi/Gudi Padwa!
Sachin Tendulkar thanks Abhishek Bachchan! – Video
Abhishek Bachcan is a big Mumbai Indians fan and with IPL 5 just around the corner, the actor has been actively supporting the Mumbai team. Abhishek was in for a big surprise when he saw a video from none other than the cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar thanking him for his constant support to the team. […][Read more]
Priyanka Chopra is India's glam diva!
Shahrukh Khan to play Jawaharlal Nehru?


text:
import os

from .sound import Record, DataBase

STYLE = 'ADS'

def _parse_speaker_info(line):
    l = line.strip().split()
    spkr_id, age, genre, accent = l[:4]
    return spkr_id, {
        'age': age,
        'genre': genre,
        'accent': accent,
        'region': ' '.join(l[4:])
        }

def _files_in(dirname, extension):
    """Returns list of files in given directory,
    eventually filter by extension.
    """
    file_paths = [os.path.join(dirname, f) for f in os.listdir(dirname)]
    filt = lambda path: (
        os.path.isfile(path)
        and os.path.splitext(path)[-1].lower()[1:] == extension
        )
    return filter(filt, file_paths)

def _speaker_names_from(path):
    """Get a list of speakers from directory names in path.
    """
    directories = filter(lambda p: os.path.isdir(os.path.join(path, p)),
                         os.listdir(path))
    return [d[1:] for d in directories if d[0] == 'p']

def _records_list_from(path, ext):
    try:
        files = _files_in(path, ext)
    except OSError:
        return []
    return [f.split('_')[-1].split('.')[0] for f in files]

class VCTKDB(DataBase):

    WAV_DIR = 'wav48'
    TXT_DIR = 'txt'
    SPKR_FILE = 'speaker-info.txt'

    def __init__(self):
        DataBase.__init__(self)

    def from_db_root(self, root, speakers='sound'):
        """
        @param version: Acorns version, 1 for year 1, 2 for year 2 (default)
        @param speakers: sound | info | text | everything (default)
            (has sound | has info | has transcriptions | has everything)
        """
        root = os.path.abspath(root)
        self.root = root
        speakers_info = self._parse_speakers_info()
        speakers_in_wav = _speaker_names_from(os.path.join(self.root,
                                                           self.WAV_DIR))
        speakers_in_txt = _speaker_names_from(os.path.join(self.root,
                                                           self.TXT_DIR))
        if speakers == 'sound':
            speakers = speakers_in_wav
        elif speakers == 'text':
            speakers = speakers_in_txt
        elif speakers == 'info':
            speakers = speakers_info.keys()
        elif speakers == 'everything':
            speakers = set(speakers_info.keys).intersection(
                set(speakers_in_wav)).intersection(set(speakers_in_txt))
        else:
            raise ValueError
        for s in sorted(speakers):
            spkr_id = self.add_speaker(s, speakers_info.get(s, None))
            # Enumerate wavs and / or transcriptions
            snd_records = _records_list_from(self.get_wav_dir(spkr_id), 'wav')
            txt_records = _records_list_from(self.get_txt_dir(spkr_id), 'txt')
            for r in sorted(set(snd_records).union(txt_records)):
                self._build_record(r, spkr_id)

    def _build_record(self, name, speaker_id):
        prefix = self._get_speaker_dir(speaker_id) + '_' + name
        txt_path = os.path.join(self.get_txt_dir(speaker_id), prefix + '.txt')
        try:
            with open(txt_path, 'r') as f:
                transcription = f.read()
        except IOError:
            transcription = None
        audio = prefix + '.wav'
        full_audio_path = os.path.join(self.get_wav_dir(speaker_id), audio)
        if not os.path.exists(full_audio_path):
            audio = None
        tags = []  # TODO: eventually extract words / radicals
        r = Record(self, speaker_id, audio, tags, transcription, STYLE)
        self.add_record(r)

    def _get_speaker_dir(self, speaker_id):
        return 'p' + self.spkrs[speaker_id]

    def get_wav_dir(self, speaker_id):
        return os.path.join(self.root, self.WAV_DIR,
                            self._get_speaker_dir(speaker_id))

    def get_txt_dir(self, speaker_id):
        return os.path.join(self.root, self.TXT_DIR,
                            self._get_speaker_dir(speaker_id))

    def _parse_speakers_info(self):
        with open(os.path.join(self.root, self.SPKR_FILE), 'r') as f:
            return dict([_parse_speaker_info(l) for l in f.readlines()])

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Dealing with Problematic Athletes
It can be challenging when athletes aren't compliant or lack motivation, but it can also be a great opportunity for change or growth.
Joe Friel refers to his colleague Gordo Byrn, a former pro triathlete and coach with a fresh take on client retention. Check out Making Money as a Coach to hear more on this topic of dealing with difficult athletes (around 10:38 in the video).
NEXT: Building an Inclusive Endurance Community
Joe Friel 00:02
One of the common problems I always ran into was the athlete who just didn't do the workouts, didn't follow the plans, had perhaps their own idea of how to do things. It was really difficult to coach because the athlete and I weren't on the same page. We weren't working the same direction, we had the same goal, but we were going two different directions to get there. Is there anything like that for either of you that you've dealt with with athletes?
How to Deal with a Stubborn Athlete
Ryan Kohler 00:33
For that really stubborn athlete where they're just not going to do what you do… my initial steps are always, "Hey, let's talk about this."
For one, find out, "Do you want all those green days? Are you okay with green, yellow, and red mixtures?" Like, let's find out what, what's reasonable for them. But if they're the ones where they're just not going to do anything I'll have that discussion to see if we have a reason for this, are we both in alignment on it? If not, why, but then a question I wanted to throw back out to both of you is, yeah, if you get that stubborn athlete, where you've kind of done your troubleshooting, you know, is there a point where you just kind of let them hang themselves out to dry a bit? I know I've done that with a few athletes.
Yeah, good point.
Alison Freeman 01:16
It is an interesting question. I do find it fascinating that you have athletes that hire a coach, and then don't want to listen to what the coach tells them to do. You really kind of wonder, like, what the psychology is behind that. But I mean, I definitely start by trying to get them on the same page. Maybe they're just like you said, stubborn, and they have their own thoughts about how you go about training or the proper way to execute a bike ride or whatever that is. I had an athlete, I have an athlete, who I think he thinks he's a cyclist. But he signs up for triathlon. So he rides like a cyclist, which would be fine, if those were the races he was signing up for. So we've had to work, I mean, I've worked with him for months to get him to ride consistent effort level and not surge and rest, surge and rest. He did come around, but I think it took four to six months of kind of consistently badgering him. But I think that there was a point that I did actually throw up my hands, and I was like, "I've told you five times, this is how you're supposed to ride a triathlon-style bike ride. If you're not going to do it, then yeah, I'll just let you go blow out your legs, and we'll see what happens."
Would you ever end the relationship with that athlete over such situations?
When to End a Coaching Relationship
That's a really good question. I think just the question in general of when do you terminate a coach-athlete relationship is a really complicated one. I think that at the point that, if he was getting frustrated for lack of progress, but not acknowledging that he wasn't making progress because he wasn't listening to what I was telling him, then at that point, then I would have terminated him and been like, "We're not finding common ground," and the relationship isn't functional at that point.
That's an opportunity. I think I've used that a few times just to ask, "Are things going the way you're expecting them [to go]? Or do we need to change them or end them?"
Letting an Athlete Go Could Be a Good Thing
Interesting conversation here. I had a friend of mine who is a coach, also from Boulder, Colorado. I was talking to him about this topic. At one point he said, "Actually, I think it's a good thing." He says when you come to the point where you realize this athlete and you just aren't on the same page, it's time to separate because this now opens up an opportunity for you to find a better athlete–as opposed to working with an athlete who is not compliant, who makes your your job more difficult than it should be. This is an opportunity to end that relationship and have reason for it, and then find somebody who's better. But along the way, what you did was you learned something, you learned how to screen your athletes, to make sure you get athletes who are compatible with you and the way you coach. I thought that was a unique way of seeing it because most of us take just the opposite position. We don't want to lose an athlete because it's very difficult to get a new athlete. His position always was let them go. Let them go because this is an opportunity.


You know you have a positive attitude when the armored personnel carrier you are riding hits a mine, vaulting you 50 feet in the air and causing you to break your back when you return to earth, and you consider yourself lucky.
That's what happened to Bill Ryan 37 years ago in Vietnam and he still considers himself lucky to have survived, despite the three back surgeries and all the pain that his fused spine has caused him since.
His service-related back injury led Ryan to a career in teaching. He taught agriculture for 26 years at Paynesville Area High School, but now he is retiring, also on account of his back.
Ryan recently learned that he qualified for 100 percent disability from the Veteran's Administration, prompting his retirement. Because of the special circumstances surrounding his retirement, it occurred during the summer, not at the end of the school year as most school retirements do.
On full disability, Ryan cannot make any other income, so he has to retire from teaching. And he also has to retire from the Roseville Township Board of Supervisors. Ryan has mixed emotion about retirement. While he will miss the students and his colleagues, he knows he physically cannot handle the job anymore. "It's been a long time coming, but the back and legs can't take it anymore," he said.
"Paynesville has the most fantastic kids in the world. It's going to be hard. When the first day of school rolls around, my thoughts are going to be with the kids. I can't put it into words how wonderful the kids here are. That's why I've stayed here for 26 years. That's why I'm going to retire and stay here," he explained.
"What I think about first when I think of Bill Ryan is his attitude," said high school principal John Janotta. "I have never met a person quite like Bill, who never complained about the pain that he has. He was always upbeat and maintained a great sense of humor."
"He is an inspiration to all staff, students, and parents who work with him or who are simply around him," continued Janotta. "He will do anything for anyone. We can all take a lesson from Bill. We will miss him greatly here at the high school." Ryan has "probably taught the kids more about life than they'll ever read out of books," superintendent Todd Burlingame told the school board last week after they approved Ryan's retirement.
Ryan has been considered 60 percent disabled by the Veteran's Administration since returning from Vietnam in 1967 with a broken back and splinters of bone still lodged in his spine.
He underwent surgery in Saigon to remove bone fragments pressing against his spine and a second surgery stateside to remove more and fuse his back. After that, he spent a year in a hospital and had to learn to walk again.
But when he got out, he had trouble finding work. Nobody wanted to hire someone with a broken back, he said. He worked for six years for the federal government in a munitions plant in the tabulation department, a job he hated, and then worked for nearly four years as a parts manager, a job he liked because it involves dealing with people.
But with his G.I. Bill getting close to expiring, he decided he'd try to go to college. With his wife Pat - who was engaged to him before he left for Vietnam and stood by him throughout his hospitalization, missing only one weekend visit in that entire year despite a 200-mile drive - as his tutor, he graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in ag and ag education.
He is still grateful to former superintendent Don Torbenson for hiring him in Paynesville. "After all the times that I'd been turned down because of my broken back... someone wanted me," he explained.
Having attended school himself taught by strict nuns in Illinois, Ryan always tried to teach with the motto that learning can be fun. "What you say to kids can be positive or negative, and they're going to carry that around for the rest of their lives," he explained.
Ryan still remembers a card on a plant his students gave him years ago the day after his high school friend committed suicide, causing him to feel blue. "When our best friend hurts," the card from his students said, "we hurt, too."
One thing he is not going to miss are graduation standards, which he laments for having no personality. Everyone learns, and teaches, differently because they have their own personality. And having kids trust you, having them confide in you, "means more than any book in the world," said Ryan.
Ryan taught agriculture classes, including an introdution to agriculture, ag shop, and animal science. Ag classes, though, have changed during his tenure, from a focus solely on farming to the greater ag industry, since fewer students are planning to farm while more are looking at other agribusiness careers. "Teaching ag classes now is not cows and plows," he said.
Another of his classes used to be called dairy science and used to cover just dairying, but now it is called animal science and covers all types of animals, including nonagriculture uses like pets and zoos.
Ag shop still teaches skills needed on the farm -Êwelding, working with metal and wood, etc. - but the projects are not strictly for agriculture. And natural resources looks at agriculture and its effects on the environment but also examines other land use issues and prepares students for land stewardship beyond the farm.
He is pleased to have taught two generations of students in Paynes-ville, being able to recognize students by their resemblances to their parents who he might have had in class two decades ago. "You can look at their faces and say, 'That's gotta be a Leyendecker. That's gotta be a Lieser. That's gotta be a Magedanz," he said with a laugh.
Teaching two generations at PAHS is enough, though, he added with a bigger laugh.
After his most recent back surgery, his third, in 1999, causing him to miss most of the 1999-00 school year, he felt good for a year. But then the numbness in his feet returned and the pain grew. He can't lift. He can't swing a golf club anymore (though he still putts a little and likes riding along and being with friends). And he walks with a more pronounced stoop because that is the most comfortable position, he said.
He has been pursuing full disability for the past three years, knowing that his body was having a harder and harder time teaching. His social worker got his case reopened. And the deterioration of his physical condition, which includes being a diabetic after exposure to Agent Orange, led to his full disability. While it took until now to get full disability, Ryan is just grateful. "There ain't no country that I'd like to live in except the United States," he said. "I know the federal government works slow, but they've taken care of me."
Anybody with complaints, Ryan said, should visit either Camp Courage (which works with kids with disabilities) or a reception room at a Veteran's Administration hospital, where he estimates that he has made 25 trips in the past year.
"All good things come to an end," said Ryan of his teaching career. "This is a very happy ending. I just can't tell you how much the community of Paynesville and the school district have meant to me and my family."
Bill and Pat - who have three grown children - plan to continue to reside in Paynesville. Bill hopes to read, travel, and volunteer more in his retirement.
While he will miss teaching, he does plan to look at the alarm clock between 8:10 a.m. (when the bell rings at PAHS telling students to get to their first class) and 8:15 a.m. (when first hour starts) on opening day of school on Thursday, Sept. 2.
Then he plans to roll over and go back to sleep.


On Sept. 26th, fourteen international students looking for a job in Yamagata Prefecture participated in "Bus tour in Yamagata Company for international students", and visited three companies. Three companies were Yamaguchi Mechatronics Company Co.,Ltd., Komori Machinery Co.,Ltd.,and Juji Electronics Co.,LTD. They got the overview and the description of merchandise and working, and deepened their understanding of those companies.
YU will keep supporting international students to better understand the Japanese companies and assisting thier job hunting activities in Japan.
※This tour was held by supports of The Nakajima Foundation(Project of JASSO) and Project for securing overseas expansion staffs and supports(Yamagata Prefecture).
▲A Visit to Yamaguchi Mechatronics Company Co.,Ltd.
▲A Visit to Komori Machinery Co.,Ltd.
▲A Visit to Juji Electronic Co.,Ltd.


Narrative Podcasting | Learning Out Loud – Hello, I'm DK – justadandak.com – creative producer and speaker coach.
February 1, 2015 in category insights, podcasts, random, smile, think tags Alex Blumberg, dennis hodges, learning, narrative, podcasting, podcasts, Storytelling. types and 0 comments.
I produced my first podcast nearly a decade ago. I went on to create over 200 more plus taught hundreds / thousands of others how to do it themselves via my social media courses / masterclasses.
Over the New Year break I spent some time unlearning what I know from this Alex Blumberg "Power Your Podcast with Storytelling" Creative Live course. Once you acclimatise to the nervous teaching style (sorry), there's some fantastic gems for those who are new to this narrative style via Alex's huge pedigree in this space (award-winning reporter and producer for This American Life and co-host of NPR's Planet Money plus his new Startup podcast series).
As I'm highly kinaesthetic in my learning style I've been doing to learn.
editing takes forever: seriously, ages!
Narrative—heavily edited and crafted. Emphasis is on the storytelling and clarity of theme / subject matter.
Each have their place although the latter is gaining more traction although it's obviously the hardest to do well with it's focus on crafting something the listener consumes as a cognitive or emotional journey.
So feel free to critique and offer ideas / guidance on the above.
It's a first offering and an attempt to 'learn out loud' so approach with kindness which I'm sure you will. Thanks in advance.
Thanks to @foomandoonian for suggesting the 'group' type.


text:
Email rival Slack says it has 10 mln daily active users
Jan 29 (Reuters) - Slack, the business messaging service challenging email, now has more than 10 million daily active users, its parent company said on Tuesday.
The number of paying customers using Slack has risen by more than 50 percent over the past five years to over 85,000, Slack Technologies Inc said in a blog post here
Slack, launched in 2013, allows teams and businesses to communicate through groups and has quickly replaced email at many companies, although email is still the dominant medium of communication in workplaces.
Slack's closest competitor is Microsoft Teams, a free chat add-on for users of Microsoft's Office365. Microsoft has not disclosed daily user figures for Teams but reports suggest about 329,000 organizations use the service.
Reuters reported this month that Slack was "seriously" considering making its stock market debut through a direct listing. (Reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar)


text:
Fu il primo frate francescano nominato arcivescovo di Milano. Con questa nomina, papa Gregorio IX portò a compimento un progetto meditato da anni: l'inserimento di frati minori nelle alte cariche della Chiesa di Roma.

Biografia
Leone da Perego resse l'arcidiocesi ambrosiana dal 1241 al 1257. Durante il suo arcivescovado visse per lungo tempo a Legnano.

Il 3 febbraio 1253 partì con un largo seguito di prelati e cittadini, alla volta di Roma per perorare presso la Santa Sede la causa di canonizzazione di Pietro da Verona.

Il 21 maggio 1254 lasciò definitivamente Milano per trasferirsi nei suoi domini di Seprio e Martesana, da dove continuò ad amministrare l'arcidiocesi milanese per i tre anni successivi.

Il 5 febbraio 1255 Leone da Perego si recò nuovamente a Roma per chiedere al nuovo papa l'autorizzazione a provvedere alla situazione difficile della sua sede, alienando molti beni che l'arcivescovado possedeva in diverse diocesi lontane per comprare terre più utili nel contado milanese.

Le sue ambizioni politiche, e la volontà di escludere il popolo dal governo del Comune di Milano, portarono all'insurrezione del Commune populi nel luglio 1257 ed alla successiva cacciata del ceto nobiliare dalla città; le tensioni giunsero al culmine nell'agosto dello stesso anno, quando tra il Seprio e la Burgaria, nell'attuale Altomilanese, si mossero gli eserciti delle due fazioni. La guerra civile venne scongiurata in data 29 agosto, con la firma della Tregua di Parabiago.

Leone da Perego, malato fin dal luglio del 1257, morì il 14 ottobre nel proprio palazzo a Legnano. In un primo momento fu sepolto nella chiesa di Sant'Ambrogio, poi la salma scomparve. Si è ritenuto da parte di alcuni che la salma sia stata fatta giungere da San Carlo Borromeo a Rho, perché le veniva tributato un culto non permesso. Durante i lavori di demolizione della vecchia chiesa prepositurale di San Vittore di Rho, intorno al 1830, fu trovata nella soffitta una salma sconosciuta che si ritenne essere quella di Leone da Perego; esposta nel cimitero locale, divenne una delle principali attrazioni della cittadina e oggetto di rinnovato culto. Quando si tentò di accertarne l'identità essa era ormai decomposta a tal punto da essere irriconoscibile: non si poté mai verificare la veridicità della notizia.

Recentemente (2016) l'esame del DNA antico condotto sulla mummia conservata in un loculo del cimitero di Rho ha dimostrato la sua compatibilità con quella di un nobile che vive a Cremnago e si ritiene discendente dell'arcivescovo. Piero Airaghi nel 2017 ha allestito una mostra a Rho aggiornando le vicende dell'arcivescovo morto a Legnano nel 1257.

Note

Bibliografia
Gaetano Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da San Pietro sino ai nostri giorni, 1879, Venezia, Tip. Emiliana
Alberto Maria Ghisalberti, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Massimiliano Pavan, Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 1960, Milano
Lodovico Antonio Muratori, Annali d'Italia, dal principio dell'era volgare sino all'anno MDCCL

Voci correlate
 Palazzo Leone da Perego
 Arcidiocesi di Milano

Collegamenti esterni

Vescovi e arcivescovi di Milano
Vescovi francescani


text:
Underwater Exploration: Key Largo, The Dive Capital of the World
Frequently called the diving capitalof the world, Key Largo, which runs from mile marker 90 to 112, has all the underwater flair you'd expect including sunken ships, statues and coral reefs you have to see to believe.
Marine conservation, including protection from spearfishing and coral collection, has deep roots in Key Largo. Back in 1960, the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the country's first undersea preserve was created. Next in 1975, the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary was established to protect 103 square nautical miles of coral reef habitat off of Pennekamp State Park.
Click here for the Key Largo Slideshow
Nowadays the sanctuary is a significant portion of the 2,900-square-nautical-mile Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. There are six Sanctuary Preservation Areas (SPA's) in Key Largo where hook and line fishing is prohibited.
Before you dive, make sure you're knowledgeable about dive etiquette. For example, it's illegal to harvest coral in Florida; you shouldn't feed the fish since it destroys their natural feeding; and avoid touching or standing on coral, since even the lightest touch can damage it.
Not sure what fish you see in the area? Check out this Key Largo fish tutorial, courtesy of the Fish House, showcasing popular Hogfish, as well as Amberjack and Wahoo.
Whether you want to explore Key Largo by diving, snorkeling or swimming, you're in for a treat. The local and national commitment to environmental protection means Key Largo's waters are clean, full of sea life and color, and ready to be enjoyed. Pack your camera and prepare for an underwater adventure!
Scuba Diving Course Florida
Watch the video: The Florida Keys, The Overseas Highway, u0026 Key West (January 2022).
9 Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes
5 Luxury Watches Worth Investing in Right Now
Yemenite Green Hot Sauce (Zhug)
Post blackness
Pork neck with sausages, potatoes and baked beer
Baker Creek Keeps History Alive Through Seeds
9 Things You Didn't Know About Sonic Drive-In
Apple and Ginger Eccles Cakes recipe
Copyright 2022 \ Underwater Exploration: Key Largo, The Dive Capital of the World...


Scratch (freeware) http://lib.giveawayoftheday.com/SCRATCH_61198/ is innovative software specially created to introduce kids into the complex world of programming. Its programming environment is completely graphical. Games created with this software are built through elements that you can drag and paste as if they were LEGO pieces. Thus, creating a small program is a simple and fun process. Most people think that programming is a specialized and tedious activity, and in fact, many traditional programming languages are difficult to learn. But Scratch is a new graphical programming language that is trying to change that concept. For example, in order to create programs, you will need to make colorful blocks fit creating piles with them. These blocks are designed to fit with each other, but they will only fit if their programming syntax is correct. Besides, the blocks are classified by different activities like motion, looks, sound, sensing, control, etc. To sum up, with this application you will be able to create programs that control and mix graphical animations, music and sounds. Moreover, Scratch is able to manage advanced filters for images like Photoshop, and many other complex activities. And finally, you will be able to share your projects with the Scratch community on its web portal. « less Review licensed from Publisher description Scratch is a free, downloadable application that lets users combine graphics, photos, music, and sound to create simple interactive animations, games, and slide shows. Users create scripts by dragging and dropping graphical blocks that snap together like puzzle pieces. They can then post their creations on the Scratch site, where others can view and download them. This MIT effort is named after scratching, the technique hip-hop DJs use to create music by combining turntable manipulation with prerecorded clips and synthesizers.