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Former AHL President Jack Butterfield dies at 91
Jack Butterfield, whose six decades of service to the American Hockey League included a record 28-year term as president, passed away on Saturday morning in Springfield, Mass. He was 91 years old.
A native of Regina, Sask., Butterfield was given his start in the AHL by his uncle, hockey legend Eddie Shore, but wasted little time establishing his own legacy. After serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, Butterfield worked for Shore's New Haven Eagles as a public relations executive and trainer. Following stints in the USHL and WHL, Butterfield returned to the AHL with the Springfield Indians, for whom he later served as both coach and general manager. He remains the only GM in league history to oversee three consecutive Calder Cup championships (1960, 1961, 1962).
Butterfield assumed the AHL presidency in 1966 and is widely credited with keeping the league alive during the difficult period of NHL expansion and the conflict created by the formation of the World Hockey Association in the 1970s.
"Our deepest sympathies are extended to Jack's wife Nina and the entire Butterfield family," said AHL president and CEO David Andrews, who assumed the role when Butterfield stepped down in 1994. "The American Hockey League would not exist today were it not for the efforts of Jack Butterfield during his tenure as president. He is a hockey legend and his contributions will forever be honored by the AHL."
A 1980 inductee to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder, Butterfield later received the NHL's prestigious Lester Patrick Award in 1985 for outstanding service to hockey in the United States. He was a two-time winner (1971, 1984) of the AHL's James C. Hendy Award as the league's outstanding executive; the inaugural winner of the AHL's Thomas Ebright Award in 1988 for career contributions to the league; and since 1984, the AHL's Calder Cup Playoffs MVP award has been named in Butterfield's honor.
Butterfield received the league's highest recognition in 2006 when he was inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame as a member of the inaugural class of honorees.
Funeral arrangements are pending.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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I'm Pleased With Every Aspect Of The Game - Keith Hill
Manager Keith Hill has praised "every aspect" of Dale's performance in Saturday's 3-0 win over Southend United at the Crown Oil Arena.
Goals from Niall Cananvan, Calvin Andrew and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing earned Rochdale a well-deserved three points, as Dale extended their winning run to six games in all competitions.
"The game had everything you can ask for as a manager," said Hill.
"There was a lot of discipline and we played well. I thought we controlled the pace of the game and we controlled the opposition when they started going long after bringing Nile Ranger on.
"I'm really pleased with every aspect of the game today - we kept a clean sheet and we scored three goals.
"We had some young players out there and I think they showed some really good discipline."
16-year-old Aaron Morley, who made his debut in Tuesday night's Checkatrade Trophy tie against Notts County, was handed his first league start for the club, playing 69 minutes in the victory.
Hill says he deserved his opportunity.
"Aaron is ready to play because of what he does on the training pitch. It's not just me who selects him, the players respect him because of what he does on our training pitch.
"Now that's he playing for the first team, the other players are embracing it and players like Calvin Andrew and Keith Keane will look after him.
"I'm not just playing him for the sake of it and the rest of the players are [questioning that]. They're embracing it because it's right for him to play."
Calvin Andrew netted his third goal in four league games and was awarded Man of the Match for his performance. Hill has praised the impact he has both on and off the pitch.
"He's in good goal scoring form playing as a wide striker. His goal today was absolutely superb.
"He's a keen leader and he's respected by everybody at the football club. The young lads, especially, lean on him when I'm giving them a telling off, and why not because he definitely sings my song."
Dale have now won six on the bounce and are unbeaten eight, after a fantastic turnaround of form.
Hill says the win over Fleetwood Town on September 17th brought about the good run of form that his side are in.
"We knew we were making mistakes and we had become a little bit anxious, but oncee we got those three points on the board it was then about revisiting what we've always done, which was getting results. I'm really pleased with that."
The full interview is on Dale PlayerHD.


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Front Page » Archives » December 2019 »
" Articles in Category: West Virginia	"
'Green News Report' - December 19, 2019
With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
By Desi Doyen on 12/19/2019 11:00am PT
IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Australia swelters through hottest day ever recorded Down Under; November 2019 was second hottest November on record; Ocean acidification accelerating off U.S. West Coast; Fracking costs far outweigh economic benefits, new study finds; PLUS: Goldman Sachs just says no to drilling in the Arctic... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO HELP US WITH A (MUCH-NEEDED) DONATION to celebrate 1000+ episodes of independent, listener-supported climate, energy and environmental news! Thank you!
Listen online here, or Download MP3 (6 mins)...
Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.
IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Rich people and racing horses all made out better than renewable energy in Congress' budget deal; Coal baron Robert Murray funded climate denial as his company spiraled into bankruptcy; Puting pressure on the finance world could be one of the most effective ways to fight climate change; Trump's crude bailout of dirty power plants failed, but a subtler bailout is underway; 20 carbon majors responsible for more than 20 percent of ocean acidification... PLUS: As corals suffer around the world, those in French Polynesia thrive... and much, MUCH more! ...
Article Categories: Ohio, California, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Environment, Green News, Fracking, Natural gas, Oil, Climate change, Extreme weather, Australia, Oceans, Transportation, Arctic, NOAA, Carbon Tax, Pollution
WV Smartphone Voting Threatens Midterms, Offers False Promise of Security, Auditability: 'BradCast' 10/17/2018
Guest: Voting systems expert Dr. David Jefferson on the myth of 'secure' blockchain voting; Also: Suppression continues in GA, ND, elsewhere...
On today's BradCast: Debunking the myth of "secure" Internet Voting schemes --- even with "blockchain" technology --- as West Virginia allows overseas military voters to use their mobile phones to vote for the first time in a general election. What could possibly go wrong? [Audio link to show follows below.]
But first up today, plenty is already going wrong for voters hoping to participate in midterm elections, whether via hand-marked paper ballot or, as in Georgia, where early voting began this week, on 100% unverifiable touchscreen voting systems at the polling place. We've been closely following voting in the Peach State recently, given the many voter suppression schemes that have come to light in the state this year, such as the recent purging of hundreds of thousands of voters from the rolls, the suspensions of more than 50,000 registrations for failing to exactly match names or addresses, down to the letter or punctuation, and an abnormally high rate of rejected absentee mail-in ballots.
Thus, it was disturbing to see a busload of elderly African-Americans from a county-run senior center blocked from voting on Monday (someone didn't like the "Black Voters Matter" bus they were using) in Jefferson County, and three-hour long lines to vote near Atlanta, on just the third official day of advance voting in the state. While some may see the reportedly huge early turnout as good news, there are also reasons to be concerned that state election officials, led by Republican Sec. of State and Gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp, are under-prepared for what could be enormous turnout on Election Day. Several new lawsuits have now been filed against Kemp charging racially discriminatory election practices, as his race for Governor against Democrat Stacey Abrams, an African-American, is believed to be very tight.
Meanwhile, in North Dakota, Native American voting rights advocates say they will be posted outside of polling places with laptop computers in hand, ready to assign official addresses and new Tribal IDs to thousands of Native Americans who will now not otherwise be allowed to vote. The effort is in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week which permitted a last minute change to ID requirements sought by state Republicans hoping to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp this year. Some 5,000 voters who live on tribal reservations using P.O. boxes, rather than street addresses, are now blocked from voting under the new law, enacted in the wake of Heitkamp's 2012 victory by less than 3,000 votes.
But in West Virginia, officials believe they've got a sure-fire way to make sure overseas military voters are able to cast votes this year: Internet Voting via smartphone! The state is the first in the nation to allow such voters to cast a ballot via smartphone --- on a mobile app called Voatz, created by a private Boston-based technology firm --- in a live (and crucial!) general election. But, don't worry! The state and the Voatz company are quick to claim that their scheme is completely secure, since it "employs blockchain technology to ensure that, once submitted, votes are verified and immutably stored on multiple, geographically diverse verifying servers."
Blockchain, in short, is a widely distributed public ledger, or database, that is used to track Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But, as long time voting system expert and Internet Voting critic DR. DAVID JEFFERSON of Livermore National Laboratory and of Verified Voting explains on today's show, the technology solves none of the many problems with using the Internet to cast votes in American elections, as he recently detailed at the non-partisan Verified Voting site.
Jefferson, an internationally recognized expert on voting systems and elections technology, has spent much of the past two decades advising five successive California Secretaries of State on voting technology. He has also been instrumental in helping to block a number of attempted Internet Voting schemes, including one he helped analyze (and stop in its tracks) as devised by the Pentagon during the George W. Bush era.
Today, he explains why use of blockchain technology, which he describes as a "fad", fails to make the Internet any more secure or auditable when it comes to American democratic elections. "All of the most serious threats to Internet voting occur before the ballot even ever gets back to the database or the blockchain," he tells me, detailing how malware on smartphones can change votes, how the authentication of the voter is also endangered by the use of such schemes and how, despite claims to the contrary by advocates of such technologies, the accuracy of results based on votes cast via the Internet can never be audited by the public after an election.
He's hardly the only technologist to decry the scheme. TechCrunch for example, recently called the Voatz app "a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad idea", and Vanity Fair cited experts who describe the plan as a "horrifically bad idea". But, none of that has stopped either WV or Voatz from pressing ahead, even with this year's midterms (and potentially control of the U.S. House and Senate) on the line.
"The blockchain back end of it doesn't do anything more to secure an election than any of the other technologies do," Jefferson argues. "It doesn't even play a role until the very last stage of balloting --- after you've authenticated yourself, after you've made your ballot choices, after you've transmitted them back, only then does the blockchain play any role." And by then, he says, your vote may have been tampered with, and it's unlikely that you or anybody else would ever know.
"What if there is malware on the phone or the computer that the person is voting from? Malware that is exposing the person's vote to some third party, or is modifying the vote, or is just throwing the vote away without telling the voter, making him think he's voted but he hasn't voted. That malware is not affected by, and cannot be detected by, the blockchain or the back end at all."
"That vote may be blocked or thrown away, or otherwise disturbed by a denial of service attack, for example, on the server. A blockchain server is no more invulnerable to a denial of service attack than any other service," he warns, adding "there just isn't any possibility of auditability in any online voting system, and blockchains don't change that fact."
Jefferson's preferred technology for elections: "Hand-marked paper ballots." He details why on today's program, and also notes that newer technologies, such as Ballot Marking Devices (BMDs) that require voters to use touchscreen computers to print out their selections on a paper ballot --- which many jurisdictions (including Los Angeles, the largest in the nation) are moving towards --- present similar dangers when it comes to the authentication and public auditability of election results.
"I endorse your idea that if you're going to vote in person at the precinct, the best system is to use is hand-mark a paper ballot," he explains near the end of our conversation, allowing --- as I do --- that some voters may need assistive technology to vote, but that most voters do not. And worse, as we saw today at early voting cites near Atlanta, when computers are needed to vote, it can result in long lines and suppressed votes at the precinct.
"Only three or four voters per precinct can be voting simultaneously when you only have three or four ballot marking devices. With hand-marked paper ballots, you can get twenty voters voting in parallel if you have cardboard privacy booths around, and twenty cheap pencils. There are far fewer lines built up, and the cost is so radically reduced."
Finally today, a word or two from some older voters who would really REALLY prefer if young people did not bother to vote at all this year...
Article Categories: Election Reform, West Virginia, Georgia, BRAD BLOG Media Appearance, Virginia, Election Fraud, National Security, Rights And Freedoms, Voter ID, Touch-Screen DREs/BMDs, Voter Registration, U.S. Supreme Court, Vote-by-Mail, Internet Voting, Voting System Standards, KPFK, North Dakota, BradCast, Race, Native Americans, Election 2018, Brian Kemp, Heidi Heitkamp, Stacey Abrams, Voatz
Repubs Attempt State Supreme Court Coups in FL, WV as SCOTUS May Have Stolen U.S. Senate: 'BradCast' 10/16/2018
Guest: Slate's Mark Joseph Stern; Also: Early voting fails on first day in GA; Adelson now owns the GOP; Death toll rising after Michael...
On today's BradCast: If you think the way the Republican Party has rigged and stolen the U.S. Supreme Court is appalling, just wait until you see what they're trying to do of late at a few of the state Supreme Courts! [Audio link to show is posted below.]
But, first up today: Donald Trump says the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia told him he had nothing to do with the disappearance --- and, likely, murder --- of Washington Post journalist, Saudi citizen and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey. The Prince's word appears to be good enough for Trump, who went on to compare the situation to the allegations of sexual assault against now-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh
Meanwhile, the midterm elections are now exactly three weeks away and early voting got underway on Monday in Georgia where, you'll be shocked to learn, it didn't go well. After our previous coverage of ongoing racially disproportionate voter suppression schemes under the command of GA Sec. of State and Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp (who is in a tight election contest with Democrat Stacey Abrams), and after very serious and years-long concerns about their completely unsecure, wildly hackable, and 100% unverifiable touchscreen voting systems, it appears that the electronic pollbook systems failed across Fulton County (Atlanta) on the first day of early voting.
In not entirely unrelated news, the GOP appears to now be a wholly owned subsidiary of Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson.
Then, we move to some of the insanity of several attempted state Supreme Court coups this week with Slate's legal reporter MARK JOSEPH STERN. Stern joins us to detail both some good news from the Florida state Supreme Court, regarding that state's Supreme Court, and an apparent Constitutional Crisis in West Virginia after a decision by that state's Supreme Court, regarding their state Supreme Court. If it all sounds nuts, it's because it is.
First, in Florida, outgoing Republican Gov. Rick Scott had vowed to name three new Justices to the Court, even though the Democratic-appointed Justices he planned to replace will not be vacating their seats, because of term limits, until after Scott officially leaves office in January. Stern reports the largely good news --- with a caveat or two --- regarding the Sunshine State's Supreme Court's unambiguous ruling last week that will leave the job of appointing three new Justice to Scott's successor instead (who will be either Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum or Republican Ron DeSantis, depending on how things go on November 6th.)
Then, things get far crazier at the West Virginia state Supreme Court, where the Republican state legislature, along with Republican Gov. Jim Justice, have been attempting a coup by impeachment of all five Justices on the state's 3 to 2 Democratic-majority Court. This story has more jaw-dropping twists and turns in it than I can possibly describe here --- including five temporary replacement Justices determining that at least one of the impeachments was unconstitutional under state law and the GOP-majority state Senate which hopes to move forward with a trial anyway...if only they could only find a Justice willing to preside over it, as required by the state Constitution.
Just tune in for the insane details on how, as in Florida, West Virginia Republicans are doing anything and everything they can to blatantly steal a Democratic-majority high court.
And, as if that's not enough, Stern then reports on the wildly hypocritical decision by the U.S. Supreme Court last week that will leave a new voter suppression law --- enacted by North Dakota Republicans --- in place for the November midterms. The ruling effectively changes the state's election law at the last minute before this year's general election and is likely to disenfranchise thousands of Native American voters. The ruling threatens to undermine this year's re-election chances of Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, who won her previous election in 2012 by just 3,000 votes, and could assure Republicans hold their control of the U.S. Senate along with it.
Yes, elections and Supreme Courts --- be they at the federal or state level --- matter!
Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report, as the long road to recovery begins and the death toll increases after the catastrophic Hurricane Michael, and as a bought-and-sold Republican Party --- from Marco Rubio in Florida to Donald Trump in the White House --- continue to deny the deadly and costly impacts of climate change on behalf of their fossil-fueled corporate owners...
Article Categories: Election Irregularities, Florida, West Virginia, Georgia, BRAD BLOG Media Appearance, Impeachment, Accountability, U.S. House, U.S. Senate, Voter Registration, Republicans, U.S. Supreme Court, Turkey, KPFK, Donald Trump, North Dakota, Climate change, Rick Scott, BradCast, Saudi Arabia, Sheldon Adelson, Native Americans, Election 2018, Brian Kemp, Jim Justice, Heidi Heitkamp, Stacey Abrams, Brett Kavanaugh, Andrew Gillum, Ron DeSantis, Hurricane Michael, Jamal Khashoggi
'A Scary Time': Hurricane Michael; Exxon's Carbon Tax Scam; The Fight to Vote in ND, MO, GA: 'BradCast' 10/10/2018
Among the many stories covered on today's BradCast, with vigor and no small amount of occasional vitriol. [Audio link to show follows below.]...
The catastrophic and climate change-fueled Hurricane Michael made landfall in Florida on Wednesday as a deadly and unprecedented Category 4, the strongest ever to strike the Panhandle since record keeping began in 1851;
In not unrelated news, another major coal company, one of the nation's oldest, declares bankruptcy. It's the fourth to do so in the past three years;
ExxonMobil gets some great publicity from Bloomberg by spending just $1 million (which they generated every two minutes in 2017) in pretending to support a carbon tax scheme (that would benefit them anyway);
The U.S. Supreme Court allows a lower court's voter ID ruling to stand in North Dakota, despite the fact that the rule is a change from voting laws used during the April primary and is now likely to result in the disenfranchisement of thousands of Native Americans in a state where Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp faces re-election after winning by just 3,000 votes in 2012. (Here's the ridiculous effort that thousands of Native Americans without a residential address, as now required by ND law to vote, must now go through to get one registered somehow before November 6th.);
A state court in Missouri blocks part of their new voter ID law for being "contradictory and misleading" and "impermissibly infring[ing] on a citizen's right to vote" in the state where Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill is in a very close re-election battle. Her opponent, Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley is defending the law and is likely to seek an appeal from a higher state court;
After Georgia's Republican Sec. of State Brian Kemp was found to have purged hundreds of thousands of voters from the rolls over the past several years, AP finds that some 53,000 voter registrations are currently in a suspended state due to GA's "exact match" rule, which allows election officials to block registrants whose names aren't listed identically to the way they are on found on file at either the state's Department of Driver Services or the Social Security Administration. A missing hyphen or a typo by officials entering a name into one of the databases is enough to result in a suspension which, the AP finds, is disproportionately keeping black voters off the rolls. 70% of those blocked are African-Americans, even though GA's population is just 32% black. Kemp is currently running for Governor against Stacey Abrams who, if successful on November 6th, would become the nation's first African-American female Governor;
Some listener mail on a recent show regarding West Virginia's Sen. Joe Manchin, who voted in favor of Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court last weekend, as the coal state Democrat faces re-election after WV voted for Trump by 42 points in 2016;
And, finally, a viral musical ditty to close us out today on the "very scary time for young men," as Donald Trump appallingly described it, following the multiple credible allegations of sexual assault by now-Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh...
Article Categories: Florida, Election Reform, West Virginia, BRAD BLOG Media Appearance, Missouri, Rights And Freedoms, Photo ID Laws, Mainstream Media Failure, Environment, Voter Registration, Vote Caging, Democrats, U.S. Supreme Court, KPFK, Donald Trump, Coal, North Dakota, Climate change, Rick Scott, Extreme weather, BradCast, Exxon Mobil, Native Americans, Election 2018, Joe Manchin, Claire McCaskill, Brian Kemp, Heidi Heitkamp, Stacey Abrams, Hurricane Michael, Carbon Tax
Haunted by Manchin and Other Tough Choices for Progressives Placing Patriotism Over Partisanship: 'BradCast' 10/8/2018
Guest: WV's Bob Kincaid: Also: With Kavanaugh on SCOTUS, a hurricane headed toward FL, UN releases a stark new report on climate change...
By Brad Friedman on 10/8/2018 6:40pm PT
On today's BradCast: In case it wasn't clear until now, the stakes for November's midterms couldn't be higher --- for the nation and for the planet --- leading to what might be a difficult choice for some voters. At this point, however, at least in my opinion --- as discussed at the opening of thd show today --- the choices are not difficult at all. [Audio link to show follows below.]
It's now official. Judge Brett Kavanaugh --- alleged sexual assaulter and demonstrably repeated perjurer --- is now Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Supreme Court. That means that all five serving Republican appointees on the (currently) nine-person Court, serve under one cloud of illegitimacy or another. That said, while there are ways to reverse the terrifying course the nation (and planet) are now on --- including a difficult path towards restoring a majority to the stolen Court that might actually represent the majority of the country --- it will be neither easy nor painless. Nonetheless, the first major step on that path is the November 6th, 2018 midterm elections less than one month away, and now more crucial than ever.
As if another violent reminder of dangers that now lie ahead, Hurricane Michael is now barreling toward the Florida Gulf Coast, threatening to make landfall in the next day or two, and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a chilling new report on Monday, warning the worst effects of global warming are now set to arrive far sooner than previously predicted by the conservative scientific body. The new report details, among other things, the enormous contrast in impacts based on the half of a degree Celsius difference between holding the earth's warming to 1.5 degrees over pre-industrial times versus the 2 degrees or more where we are almost certainly headed unless very serious changes --- with "no documented historic precedent" --- are made by civilization, very quickly over the next 10 years. Are the corporate media up to the task of covering this? Much less civilization doing what is now needed?
With all of that (and much more) at stake, we are joined today by the inimitable BOB KINCAID of West Virginia's Coal River Mountain Watch and the Head-On Radio Network (HORN) to discuss WV Senator Joe Manchin's weekend vote in favor of Kavanaugh. He was the only Democratic Senator to do so, despite the nearly 10 point average lead he currently enjoys over his Republican re-election opponent in pre-election polling. Specifically, we focus on why Manchin voted the way he did and, more importantly, the difficult choice that voters like Kincaid now face in choosing between the barely Democratic Senator and his far-right, Trump-endorsed challenger Pat Morrissey.
With hopes of regaining control of one or both houses of Congress now the only way to begin putting the brakes on our Trump/GOP-inflicted national emergency, will progressives be able to hold their nose and vote for some candidates who they would never have even considered voting for during a primary season in which the Democratic Party was finally forced, at least a little bit, towards the progressive left? It's a question that many progressives --- not just in West Virginia --- will now have to seriously ask themselves before November, with many less-than-perfect Democrats on the ballot, but the very fate of the Republic and the planet now clearly on the line.
"Joe Manchin is a 'pro-life' Democrat from way back, going way back to when he was just a little, bitty, grasping, ambition-driven state senator," Kincaid argues, charging that both he and Kavanaugh are hard-core Roman Catholics" and that "He voted the Church doctrine. It's just clear as day."
Kincaid, who comes from generations of WV coal miners, is nonetheless a dyed-in-the-wool progressive who, on previous appearances on the show, has both strongly criticized Manchin and explained how difficult it would be to even consider voting for him in the midterm. The last time Kincaid was on, back in April, he described Manchin thusly: "This is really difficult for me, because Joe's a Democrat the way I'm Neptune, Lord of the Deep. Ya know, not at all."
Today, he says, for those who wonder how Manchin could "dismiss the experiences and the suffering of so many women and vote for a guy credibly accused of sexual assault? Let me explain to you: Joe Manchin has sat around for at least eight years, fully knowing what the toxic consequences are of mountaintop removal on babies in the womb, pregnant mothers, grandmothers, grandsons, sons, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, possums, everything. He has known that it poisons his own constituents, kills his own constituents, and yet he has slavishly continued to support that practice and ignored every bit of the science around it." He adds that "We have about a thousand deaths a year in the counties in West Virginia where mountaintop removal is practiced."
"I say all that," he tells me, "hoping that people will understand that I do not come to a decision about Joe Manchin lightly. I would not trust Joe Manchin with the carcass of a run-over skunk."
So, with the stakes now as high as they are, does he still find himself unable to vote for Manchin? And what of other progressives who may still believe that sitting this one out or voting "third party" or staying home instead of voting is the only way to cleanse the Democratic Party of its overly-conservative, overly-corporatist establishment? Please tune in for this important conversation with Kincaid today, that, he says, "he spent a long time thinking about" after he and I had a private discussion over the weekend, begging the question: "Do I vote as an American first, or a West Virginian first?"
Please listen to today's show and let me know, in comments below, how you feel about either his points or mine.
Finally, as voter registration deadlines end this week in more than a third of the states, the disturbingly high purge rates of voting rolls in a number of them continues. Particularly of concern are states with a history of racial discrimination at the polling place, who --- until the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013 --- had been required to receive preclearance from the federal government for such purges. A new list of purged GA voters has finally been obtained by reporter Greg Palast, who has created a searchable database for hundreds of thousands of purged GA voters, but the deadline to re-register is Tuesday. And the lists from other states are not as easily accessible. Please go to your state and/or county website to register or check your status as soon --- and as often --- as possible between now and November 6th! Yes, the fate of the planet now rests on it...
Article Categories: Election Irregularities, Florida, North Carolina, West Virginia, BRAD BLOG Media Appearance, United Nations, Environment, Voter Registration, Democrats, Republicans, U.S. Supreme Court, Bush Legacy, Clarence Thomas, KPFK, Coal, Voting Rights Act, Extreme weather, BradCast, Election 2018, Joe Manchin, Brett Kavanaugh, Hurricane Michael
Kavanaugh Confirmation All But Certain and the SCOTUS Case Cited as a Reason for the Rush: 'BradCast' 10/5/2018
Guest: Fordham Law's Jed Shugerman; Also: More reported vote.org registration probs; Vote-flipping in MO; Willie Nelson's 'Vote 'em Out!'...
On today's BradCast, the GOP's far-right take-over of the U.S. Supreme Court for generations --- including one blatantly stolen seat and two men accused of sexual misconduct and/or assault --- is now all but complete, and we discuss an upcoming SCOTUS case that some have cited as reason for the Trump/GOP panic to get their man on the bench as soon as possible. [Audio link to show is posted below.]
On Friday, the four theoretically previously-undecided U.S. Senators announced how they planned to vote on the confirmation of accused sexual assaulter and confirmed liar Brett Kavanaugh for his lifetime appointment to SCOTUS. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska announced her intention to vote against him, while Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Democrat Joe Manchin all declared they will vote in favor of the most contentious nominee to the high court, perhaps in U.S. history. We discuss what all of that means today, moving forward, as the far-right cements its stolen majority. As you might imagine, both Desi and I have some thoughts on all of that today.
Then, we're joined by legal historian and Fordham Law School professor JED SHUGERMAN, author of The People's Courts, to discuss the upcoming Supreme Court case that many Trump opponents have cited in recent days as one of the explanations for Republicans' apparent panic to seat Kavanaugh on the Court as quickly as possible. The case, Gamble v. U.S., involves what some on both the Right and civil libertarian Left consider to be unconstitutional double jeopardy regarding an Alabama man who was convicted at both the state and federal levels for unlawful possession of a firearm. Some Trump critics have suggested, depended on how its decided, that the case could result in states being barred from prosecuting Donald Trump, his associates, or his family members in the event that they are pardoned at the federal level.
Shugerman --- who was one of more than 2,400 legal professors to sign on to a recent letter published by the New York Times calling on the Senate to reject Kavanaugh's nomination due to his lack of appropriate judicial temperament --- explains why he believes the Gamble case poses no threat to state prosecutions of Trump and/or his associates, nor to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and prosecution of Team Trump.
He also explains today why he signed the public letter opposing Kavanaugh, how it now may affect lawyers who signed it when arguing cases before Justice Kavanaugh, why he believes the GOP has been in such a hurry to seat Kavanaugh, and the "completely unprecedented" public opposition to him by former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
Shugerman also describes some of his major concerns for the Court once Kavanaugh is finally in place: how Chief Justice John Roberts is going to be forced to deal with it. "How is he going to manage this explosive controversy and the unprofessional conduct, the injudicious conduct, of Judge Kavanaugh? How will he restore consensus to this Court? How will he manage Judge Kavanaugh, given that he should have reason to fear that Judge Kavanaugh cannot be balanced, and won't be perceived to be balanced when he's on the Court?"
Finally today, some listener mail regarding more voter registration problems via the vote.org service (we recommend registering either in-person or via your Sec. of State or County website, rather than via third-party app, is possible); the first reports of 100% unverifiable touchscreen vote-flipping in the general election (in the very close U.S. Senate race in Missouri between Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill and her GOP challenger Josh Hawley); and Willie Nelson's new song, Vote 'em Out!, debuted for the first time at last weekend's 55,000-person rally in Texas, in support of Democratic Congressman Beto O'Rourke's surging campaign against Lone Star State Republican Sen. Ted Cruz...
Article Categories: West Virginia, Texas, BRAD BLOG Media Appearance, Missouri, Rights And Freedoms, U.S. Constitution, Touch-Screen DREs/BMDs, Accountability, U.S. Senate, Voter Registration, Democrats, Republicans, U.S. Supreme Court, Lisa Murkowski, KPFK, Ted Cruz, BradCast, John Roberts, Susan Collins, Jeff Flake, Joe Manchin, Claire McCaskill, Robert Mueller, John Paul Stevens, Beto O'Rourke, Brett Kavanaugh
Hurricanes Florence, Olivia ... and Donald: 'BradCast' 9/10/2018
Deadly storms --- political and otherwise --- on every front and taking calls from listeners on all of it; Plus: Some bona fide good news out of CA!...
We catch up with quite a bit on today's BradCast, after being buried for much of last week in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for dishonest and disingenuous GOP operative, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, as Donald Trump's pick to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy in the "swing vote" seat on the GOP's already-stolen U.S. Supreme Court. [Audio link to full show is posted below.]
We discuss that as well today (and whether Democrats should pack the Court if they ever return to power, as we discussed with David Faris on last Wednesday's show) and much more with tons of callers.
But first, we lead off with the latest on the fearsome Category 4 Hurricane Florence now barreling toward the U.S. Eastern seaboard, fueled by record warm waters, and currently projected to slam the Carolinas with, potentially, as much as four feet of rain as the storm is predicted to stall near the coast.
At the same time, Hawaii is facing down Hurricane Tropical Storm Olivia this week, just two weeks or so after Hurricane Lane dumped record rainfall on the islands, in the second worst rainfall event in recorded U.S. history (second only to Hurricane Harvey in Houston just last year.)
We also have some much brighter news, however, for our climate-changed world out of California today, as Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB-100, a landmark measure to require the state (with the world's fifth largest economy) to transition to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2045. Along with it, Brown also signed an executive order that would result in carbon-neutral energy production and use for the entire state (including cars!) by 2045 as well!
With that bit of brief, albeit very good news out of the way, we turn to catching up with an Administration (still) in crisis upon the release of Bob Woodward's new book, FEAR: Trump in the White House and the anonymous op-ed purported to have been penned by a senior Trump Administration official last week, claiming that senior insiders have been secretly blocking the worst of Trump's most dangerous impulses and, last year, even considered invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the President.
We open up the phone lines today to all of the above, for tons of interesting thoughts from listeners on the op-ed (is the writer a hero or a coward --- or a scammer?), the Kavanaugh hearings and the Democrats' surprisingly unified response to the GOP rush to confirm him before they may lose their slim Senate majority in the upcoming midterms, and much more, as Hurricane Donald continues to lay waste --- or, at least, tries to --- to much of our nation...
Article Categories: California, North Carolina, West Virginia, BRAD BLOG Media Appearance, Virginia, New Hampshire, Accountability, U.S. Senate, Barack Obama, South Carolina, Democrats, Republicans, U.S. Supreme Court, Hawaii, KPFK, Donald Trump, Climate change, Extreme weather, Jerry Brown, BradCast, Election 2018, Brett Kavanaugh, Hurricane Florence, Bob Woodward
'Absolutely Doable': California to Move to 100% 'Carbon-Free' Electricity by 2045 (Probably): 'BradCast' 8/30/2018
Guest: David Roberts of Vox; Also: Trump cancels pay raise for federal workers; Felonious coal-baron Blankenship nixed (again) from WV ballot...
We start off with some very good news on today's BradCast, for a change. (The less good news comes later...but it's nowhere near as bad as the good news is good.) On Wednesday, the California state legislature adopted a measure that will require the state to use only 100% "carbon-free" electricity by 2045. The landmark climate change bill, which state lawmakers have been debating for two years, now awaits the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown. [Audio link to full show is posted below.]
We're joined by Vox.com's environment and energy journalist DAVID ROBERTS to discuss what that actually means, if the goal is feasible, and what could prevent Brown from signing the landmark measure. (For a complete and, yes, wonky explanation of the debate over a separate if related measure that could hold up Brown's signature on this one, see Roberts' recent article here.)
Roberts breaks down what the legislation's change from 100% "renewable" to 100% "carbon-free" electricity means and why the entire effort is such a huge frickin' deal that deserves more coverage than its likely to get right now. Last year, the state of Hawaii lead the way by adopting a similar measure, but with California as the world's 5th largest economy, this move, as the Los Angeles Times recently reported, would truly turn the Golden State into a world leader on climate change action.
"If you put together the size of the economy, the nearness of the targets, and the ambition, I think this is as big as anyone has gone. I think this is as big as it gets," Roberts tells me. "I don't think there's another economy in the world that is comparably large and carbon-intensive, that has anything close to comparably ambitious goals."
The measure also increases the state's current goal of moving to 50% renewable energy by 2030, up to 60% by the same year. That, as Roberts explains, because California has almost reached its previous goal already, years earlier than planned! "They'll probably beat these targets, too," he says. "One of the reasons this is happening is most utilities in California are closing in on their 2030 targets already, and its 2018."
As usual, Roberts makes all of this otherwise-wonky stuff accessible to mere mortals --- and actually enjoyable. Well, at least I enjoyed it. Hope you will too!
Then, back to some less good news of the day. On Thursday, President Trump informed Congress that he wants to cancel the scheduled pay raise for federal workers that is due them in January, charging "Federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases". That, after giving a $1.5 trillion tax cut to corporations and the wealthy last December and signing a $717 billion defense appropriation bill just weeks ago. Both have resulted in what even the White House now admits will be unprecedented year-after-year trillion dollar deficits. Trump and Republicans now hope to force the "forgotten men and women" of the working class, that he pretended to care about during the 2016 election, to pay the price for it, even though non-military federal workers have already seen pay and benefits cuts of more than $200 billion since 2011 and now earn 5% less than they did at the start of the decade.
In West Virginia, coal baron and convicted felon Don Blankenship will not be allowed to run for the U.S. Senate this year on the Constitution Party's ballot line. The state's Supreme Court (or what's sufficing for it at the moment, with two of its five members recently resigned and the three others facing impeachment by the GOP state legislature --- see my conversation with Slate's Mark Joseph Stern about that earlier this week), agreed with their Sec. of State that Blankenship's candidacy would run afoul of the state's "sore loser" statute after he placed third last May in the Republican primary contest for that party's Senate nomination. The ruling is good news for the state's Attorney General and GOP Senate nominee Patrick Morrisey, as Blankenship might have siphoned off some of his support. Morrisey hopes to unseat the conservative incumbent Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin, this November.
Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report, with more on today's encouraging news out of California, some bad news for those who live in areas with high air pollution, and the disturbing news that Puerto Rico's Hurricane Maria is now officially the deadliest U.S. natural disaster in more than 100 years --- though Donald Trump still thinks he did a heckuva job in his response to it...
Article Categories: California, West Virginia, BRAD BLOG Media Appearance, Environment, U.S. Senate, Hawaii, KPFK, Donald Trump, Natural gas, Coal, Wind, Solar, Climate change, Jerry Brown, BradCast, Donald Blankenship, Gavin Newsom, Puerto Rico, Election 2018, Joe Manchin, Hurricane Maria, Kevin de León
GOP's Partisan Gerrymandering in NC Could Result in a New U.S. House Map for 2018 Midterms: 'BradCast' 8/28/2018
Guest: Slate's Mark Joseph Stern on that and WV GOP's state Supreme Court coup; Also: Massive voting system failures in AZ primary...
On today's BradCast: Details on the extraordinary court ruling out of North Carolina on Monday, and the judicial coup being staged in West Virginia. But first, voters went to the polls for Tuesday's primary elections in Arizona and Florida and in Oklahoma for primary runoff elections. It did not go well in Arizona. [Audio link to full show is posted below.]
Maricopa County (Phoenix)'s paper ballot optical-scan computer systems failed in at least 100 precincts, according to the County Recorder. Many polling places were closed entirely this morning, and it was nearly noon before the systems were said to finally be working in all precincts. It's still unclear what the precise failure was, but the new County Recorder Adrian Fontes (who won his election after the previous, long-time Recorder was booted out for shutting polling places during the 2016 Primaries), tied it to pre-election tests that failed on Monday, and then a lack of contractors from the voting machine company (Dominion Voting) on hand to properly set up the systems before polls were to open today. "The contractor responsible for the voting machines was supposed to provide more than 100 technicians to assist with issues, but only 70 were available," the Arizona Republic reports Fontes as telling them at a news conference this morning. If we learn more, of course, we'll share it on tomorrow's show along with noteworthy problems and results in all three states holding elections today.
Then, following up on a story that broke minutes before airtime on Monday, we're joined today by Slate's excellent legal reporter MARK JOSEPH STERN to detail the extraordinary ruling issued by a three judge federal court panel finding all of North Carolina's U.S. House districts --- for a second time --- to be partisan gerrymanders in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Remarkably, the judges are considering ordering new maps to be drawn up before this November's elections, after already having found last January that Republicans had unlawfully gerrymandered the state's U.S. House districts. That ruling, however, was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which punted in June by ordering the lower court to review matters of standing. After having done so, the three-judge panel found the same Constitutional infirmities.
"The real villain here, in a sense --- aside from the Republicans, who obviously drew these incredibly gerrymandered maps --- is the Supreme Court and Justice Anthony Kennedy," says Stern. "A virtually identical ruling came down in January, at which point the US Supreme Court could have and should have acted on this question of partisan gerrymandering. Instead, the Supreme Court punted [and] sent this case back down for reconsideration. Now the [lower] court has reached the same conclusion it did in January."
The map in question was the one drawn up in 2016 after the state's previous GOP-drawn map, used in 2012 and 2014, was found to have been an unlawful racial gerrymander. So, Stern explains, the federal judges in North Carolina seem to have had enough and may now order new maps "on this incredibly compressed timetable where the election is looming" in just over 70 days, ballots need to go out to overseas voters 45 days in advance, and the state's primaries were already been held in May.
The unconstitutional maps have resulted in a wildly unbalanced 10 to 3 GOP majority in the state's Congressional delegations, despite North Carolina's status as a very divided swing state which narrowly elected Obama in 2008, Trump in 2016, and a Democrat to be its Governor in that same election. If the matter is appealed to SCOTUS by the state (as it almost certainly will be), the Supremes could deadlock 4 to 4, if Justice Kennedy's seat has yet to be filled, and the lower court ruling would stand. We could be in for a lot of chaos ahead (as if we need any more this year.)
Stern also explains the astonishing situation in West Virginia, where that state's Republican-majority House of Delegates recently impeached all four sitting members of the state's Supreme Court. (Its 5th member had already resigned after been charged with a felony crime.) The move, Stern reports, was timed in such a way to avoid allowing voters to replace the justices at the ballot box this year. That means the previously 3 to 2 Democratic-leaning court may soon become a 5 to 0 Republican court, and stay that way through 2020. Following impeachment trials of the justices in the state Senate, any vacancies will be filled by the appointments of Trump-loving Republican Gov. Jim Justice, a Democrat when he ran and won the Governor's race in 2016, but who flipped parties shortly thereafter.
"There are no good guys, per se, in this story," Stern notes. However, it serves as yet another example of Republicans blatantly hoping to pack the courts, and could prove to be another useful example that Democrats could cite in the future. If they ever re-take control of the U.S. House, Senate and White House, they'll be able to cite such moves when and if they decide to move to add seats to the U.S. Supreme Court in order to restore a majority that should have been theirs, until Senate Republicans stole a vacant seat in 2017 after holding it open for nearly a year following the early 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Speaking of that stolen U.S. Supreme Court, Stern also offers his thoughts on whether Senate Democrats will be able to block --- or even stall --- the seating of Donald Trump's second nominee to the Court. Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Senate Judiciary Confirmation hearings are currently scheduled to begin next week and, Stern argues, "he owes an explanation as to why he thinks it's perfectly valid and legitimate and acceptable to be nominated by a racist and openly corrupted President to the Supreme Court."
Finally, we're joined by Desi Doyen for our latest Green News Report on, among other things, the record rainfall in Hawaii following Hurricane Lane over the weekend, and the complicated climate legacy of the late Republican U.S. Senator and former GOP Presidential nominee, John McCain.
(And, on a related note, next week will be our 900th episode of the GNR! If you have not contributed lately to our efforts to continue connecting the climate change dots over your public airwaves for the past 10 years --- along with all else that we do --- please consider doing so now by stopping by BradBlog.com/Donate! Thanks! We rely only on you to keep going! But, don't do it for me! Do it for Desi! Pretty please?)
Article Categories: Election Irregularities, Election Reform, Sequoia Voting Systems, North Carolina, West Virginia, BRAD BLOG Media Appearance, Virginia, Rights And Freedoms, Impeachment, In Memoriam, U.S. House, Environment, U.S. Senate, John McCain, Democrats, Republicans, Hawaii, Dominion Voting, KPFK, Climate change, Extreme weather, BradCast, Anthony Kennedy, Puerto Rico, Maricopa County, Election 2018, Jim Justice, Hurricane Maria, Gerrymandering, Brett Kavanaugh, Hurricane Lane
'Green News Report' - June 21, 2018
By Desi Doyen on 6/21/2018 11:18am PT
IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Blocked water study finally released by Trump Administration, reveals widespread chemical contamination; Increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reduces the nutritional value of food crops; Trump rescinds Obama's protections for oceans and Great Lakes; PLUS: It's been thirty years since Dr. James Hansen first warned Congress about climate change... All that and more in today's Green News Report!
IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Looking for signs of global warming? They're all around you; Climate scientists have been remarkably accurate on global warming; GOP senators challenge funding for global warming education program for local TV meteorologists; "Obama sided with Canada": A 'new' image for owners of Detroit toll bridge; HFCs: A climate policy even Trump can support?; New York sues 3M, five others over toxic chemical contamination; Battery Boom: World to get half of electricity from wind, solar by 2050; Colorado to adopt California's stricter car pollution rules; Microsoft has big power needs and wants to harness the ocean to satisfy them... PLUS: A giant wave of plastic garbage could flood the U.S., a study says... and much, MUCH more! ...
Article Categories: West Virginia, Environment, Green News, BP Oil Disaster, EPA, Donald Trump, Natural gas, Coal, Oil, Climate change, NASA, Agriculture, Oceans, Water, James Hansen
The 'American Carnage' Continues: 'BradCast' 5/21/2018
Guest: Author, columnist, gun safety advocate Cliff Schecter on recent mass shootings in Texas, Florida, Vegas; Also: Trump remains dangerously clueless in advance of planned summit with North Korea...
On today's BradCast: The shootings and body counts mount while GOP politicians refuse to take action and rightwing media fan the flames. [Audio link to show follows below.]
First up today (after a quick thanks to In Deep Radio's Angie Coiro for covering for us late last week so I could "enjoy" some emergency oral surgery), a quick preview of Tuesday's primary elections in Arkansas, Kentucky and Georgia and primary run-offs in Texas, where the internecine battles between progressives and establishment Democrats continue to shake out.
Also, news that Don Blankenship, West Virginia coal baron and former federal felon (convicted for his role in safety violations resulting in the 2010 deaths of 29 minors in one of his mines in 2010) announces his plan to run on the Constitution Party ticket for U.S. Senate this November after coming in third in WV's GOP U.S. Senate primary two weeks ago.
Then, new details on the politically brain-addled man who opened fire inside the Trump National Doral Miami resort in South Florida on Friday, and a trove of witness statements are released related to the October 2017 massacre in Las Vegas where a gunman opened fire on outdoor concert goers on the Strip, killing 58 and wounded more than 800 in a matter of minutes. Though officials never declared a motive for that shooting, the newly released statements suggest the shooter was an anti-government fanatic who had cited longtime Fox "News" and Rightwing talk radio tropes such as Waco, Ruby Ridge and FEMA camps in the days before the massacre.
Then, in a sadly similar vein, we're joined by author, Daily Beast columnist, podcaster and longtime gun legislation advocate CLIFF SCHECTER on fallout following Friday's mass shooting at Santa Fe High School outside of Houston, where a 17-year old student killed 10 and wounded at least 10 others. With the US now averaging at least one school shooting per week in 2018, we discuss who is to blame, what (if anything) can finally be done about any of it, and how Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo has courageously taken a very hard stand against the years-long failure of NRA-backed Republican politicians who offer "thoughts and prayers", but no actual action to try and help curb the nation's continuing, tragic and obscene gun epidemic.
"In Western European countries, you certainly have these radical rightwing groups like you do here," Schecter argues. "The key is they don't all have access to guns. They do here. That's what we're seeing. We're seeing white men radicalized and then armed. This is the predictable result of that."
"You're never going to prevent everything. There's still one shooting or two in Canada, and they've got much more stringent gun control. The key here is when you look at a public health crisis, you say 'What are the various ways, through regulations, policy, cultural change, shaming and the rest, that we can get to a place where people take this more seriously?'" Schecter goes on to explain how recent changes to gun laws have decreased gun violence, despite the idiotic statements of folks like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and others who suggest that gun regulations make things worse, and how citizen ballot initiatives can be used to work around intransigent politicians.
Finally today, some thoughts on the perilously planned June summit between North Korea's Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, and the embarrassingly plain fact that Trump has absolutely no idea what he is doing, as revealed (once again) following National Security Adviser John Bolton's ridiculously ill-advised "Libyan model" comments...
Article Categories: Fox 'News', Florida, West Virginia, Texas, BRAD BLOG Media Appearance, Virginia, National Security, North Korea, John Bolton, Accountability, Democrats, Republicans, Libya, KPFK, Donald Trump, NRA/Gun Violence, BradCast, John Oliver, Donald Blankenship, Ken Paxton, Election 2018, Joe Manchin, Las Vegas Massacre, DCCC
O Gina, O Michael, O Voters!: 'BradCast' 5/9/2018
Guest-host Angie Coiro with guests Marcy Wheeler, Jed Shugerman, Beth Becker, Deborah Rhode...
By Angie Coiro on 5/9/2018 6:45pm PT
On today's BradCast, I'm sitting in for Brad again on a very, very busy news day. Strap in!
Top of the hour we swing right into a conversation about Gina Haspel's Senate Intelligence Committee Hearing. Her best qualification to head the CIA might be her complete refusal to share any real information with anyone - including something as simple as whether she's met alone with Donald Trump. Marcy Wheeler of Emptywheel is back on the BradCast, with her impressions from watching the hearing, and a lot of questions that didn't get asked - at least, in the short window between the first question and the doors closing for private interrogation.
We're running out of people who haven't given money to Michael Cohen. Add to previous lists AT&T, Novartis, and one of Vladimir Putin's close (and apparently quite dangerous) buddies. AT&T says it paid not for access, but to "learn how Trump's mind works" (note the "how" - "whether" didn't come up, apparently). Legal scholar Jed Shugerman, who blogs at Shugerblog, puts these new revelations into the long Russia/Trump timeline and says - while that elusive smoking gun isn't flashing on the horizon yet - collusion charges seem a little bit closer.
Digital strategist Beth Becker reads the tea leaves from this week's elections, to see what we can glean for the next go-round. She has a dismaying but all too likely prediction: some very good, highly qualified liberal candidate will have to go down in flames before the center-to-Left Americans will finally see the value in unifying. In other words, the Bernie Bros and Crooked Hillary contingents need to stand down and deal. She has a great albeit tentative prediction for Hillary, though. Beth conducts digital strategy bootcamps around the country. You can check out the next dates here.
Finally, something a bit bigger picture: whither ethics in the morass of politicians for sale, corporate lies, candidate lies, voter interference - where do we learn honesty? How? Who gets it and who doesn't? The show wraps up with excerpts from discussion all about honesty in America, featuring Stanford's Deborah Rhode. You can hear the whole one hour panel at website for my show, In Deep with Angie Coiro.
Article Categories: Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, CIA, War On Terror, Accountability, Hillary Clinton, Guantanamo Bay, Democrats, Republicans, Torture, CNBC, Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Russia, Vladimir Putin, BradCast, Election 2018, Election 2017, Michael Cohen, Gina Haspel
'Dark Lord of Coal Country' Rising, GOP Panicking Before U.S. Senate Primary in West Virginia: 'BradCast' 4/18/2018
Guest: West Virginia's Bob Kincaid; Also: McConnell says no to protecting Mueller, Mattis got Trumped on Syria, Kobach found in contempt (again) in KS, and Cuomo expands voting rights in NY...
Yes, my guest argues on today's BradCast, West Virginia Republicans may very well nominate a man just out of jail on charges related to the deaths of 29 coal miners to be their nominee for the U.S. Senate this year. [Audio link to show is posted below below.]
But, before we head down to Coal County for that conversation today, a few news headlines...Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is vowing to prevent a bi-partisan proposal for protecting Special Counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by Donald Trump, from coming to the Senate floor for a full vote, even if, as now appears likely, the bill is approved by the GOP-lead Senate Judiciary Committee.
The notoriously obstructionist McConnell also appears ready to block any new Congressional military Authorization for the Use of Force --- as currently being considered in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee --- citing, along with GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan, the AUMFs from 2001 and 2002, for authorization of war against al-Qaeda, the Taliban and Iraq after 9/11, as valid enough approval for Trump to bomb Syria, however he sees fit. Speaking of which, the NYTimes is reporting that Defense Secretary James Mattis had tried to insist that Trump obtain Congressional authorization before attacking Syria last week, but was overruled by the President.
Meanwhile, in Kansas today, a federal judge found GOP Sec. of State Kris Kobach in contempt of court, amidst the long-watched ACLU cases challenging a state law he'd championed, which has kept thousands of otherwise valid voters off the rolls for failing to provide proof of citizenship documents to the state. Kobach, one of the nation's leading Republican "voter fraud" fraudsters, was slapped by the George W. Bush-appointed federal judge in her ruling [PDF] and ordered to pay the ACLU's legal fees for the contempt hearing. This is the second time that Kobach, now a candidate for the 2018 Republican nomination for Governor in Kansas, has been found in contempt.
Also today, in more good news for voters, New York's Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, facing a primary challenge from progressive actress and activist Cynthia Nixon, announced a plan to immediately restore voting rights to some 35,000 parolees by executive order.
Then, we're joined by West Virginia's own BOB KINCAID, the always-colorful, long-time radio host and President of West Virginia's Coal River Mountain Watch, to discuss the remarkable re-emergence of disgraced coal baron Don Blankenship, the former Massey Energy CEO who was released from prison last year following a one-year sentence for his involvement in safety violations at the company's Upper Big Branch Mine, where an explosion killed 29 workers in 2010.
Blankenship, to the supposed horror of establishment GOPers, is running for the party's nomination for the U.S. Senate in the state's May 8th primary, in hopes of taking on incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. Remarkably, Blankenship's fortunes appear to be rising, just three weeks out from a contest against a number of very Trumpy primary opponents. That has now forced the national GOPers to form a "local" PAC to purchase ads that take on Blankenship by pretending to be against Massey's coal-related pollution of drinking water in the state. In return, Blankenship is now firing back at his former ally Mitch McConnell.
"It's all swamp," Kincaid says. "Don Blankenship is the ultimate swamp. If McConnell is a swamp Captain, then Don Blankenship is a swamp Field Marshal. Remember, [McConnell] got behind a Supreme Court candidate in this state some years back solely so that he could protect Massey Energy from a jury verdict that they deserved --- trying to make sure that verdict would be overturned once it got to the [state] Supreme Court. That's swampy behavior if anything is."
Kincaid details the once-wildly powerful Blankenship's deadly background and the contours of the now-bizarre race --- which is beginning to echo Roy Moore's disastrous GOP run for the U.S. Senate in Alabama last December --- in a state where Trump won by some 40 points in 2016 and the conservative Manchin is considered to be amongst the most vulnerable Democratic Senators up for re-election this year.
"They really don't know quite what to do with him because, frankly, Don Blankenship doesn't give a damn. He has that in common with Geezer Disgustus over in the White House. It seems like everything just bounces of off him. Mainly because he can just push it off to one side, he can run his own ads, he can finance his own campaign. There's a certain element of people in this state who would vote for the Devil himself --- and Blankenship is pretty close --- if he said 'I hate that Obama'," argues Kincaid, adding, "There's a whole lot of white-lash still left in West Virginia."
We also discuss what progressives --- whose own Democratic primary candidate, Paula Jean Swearengin, does not appear to be gaining traction in the state --- ought to do this November, if faced with a choice between a vote for the coal-loving corporatist Manchin and whoever becomes the GOP nominee amid our ever-deepening, Trump-induced national emergency.
"The fact of the matter is, we've been in a Constitutional crisis ever since the Electoral College failed to do that which the Framers said the Electoral College was designed to do. And if you let this Congress continue, there is no hope whatsoever of saving the Republic," he warns...
Article Categories: Election Reform, West Virginia, BRAD BLOG Media Appearance, New York, Rights And Freedoms, Kansas, Accountability, U.S. Senate, Voter Registration, Dept. of Defense, Democrats, Republicans, KPFK, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Coal, Syria, NVRA, Kris Kobach, BradCast, Donald Blankenship, Andrew Cuomo, James Mattis, Election 2018, Joe Manchin, Robert Mueller, ACLU, AUMF, Cynthia Nixon
Rising Up Against the Rightwing Takeover of Public Airwaves, Education, Lands and More: 'BradCast' 4/5/2018
On today's BradCast: While everything still sucks, there are, nonetheless, a growing number of encouraging signs that Americans --- even those in so-called "red" states --- have had just about enough of the rightwing Republican corporate takeover and ravaging of this country and so much that we hold dear. [Audio link to show is posted below.]
Among the stories covered towards that end on today's program...
A record-breaking number of women are now running for Congress, and the filing deadlines haven't even passed in half of the states;
Sinclair Broadcasting Group's insidious misuse of our public airwaves for rightwing pro-Trump propaganda purposes finally begins to catch the attention of Democrats in Congress, as company executives mouth off with pathetic excuses, former employees speak out, some staffers resign in protest, and others, while embarrassed by being forced to read on-air nonsense from their owners, find reasonable excuses for not quitting (such as outrageously onerous contract terms) at once-respected TV news outlets now controlled by the nation's largest owner of television stations;
Teachers in so-called "red" states like Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arizona and West Virginia continue walkouts to push back against state education budgets that have been slashed in recent years to pay for huge tax cuts to wealthy corporations in failed experiments with supposedly "pro-growth" Reaganomics;
And while Republican officials in those states have made clear they were only pretending to give a damn about kids, their pretend love for coal miners has also been exposed as a lie in Kentucky, where lawmakers just made it much more difficult for miners to receive compensation amid an epidemic surge of deadly black lung disease cases;
The jaw-dropping corruption scandals of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt continue to be revealed on a daily basis. So, will Donald Trump finally find the courage to fire him?;
And, finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report, in which Mobil Oil joins Exxon in being revealed as having been fully aware, decades ago, that the burning of fossil fuels is causing civilization-threatening climate change, and Americans tell Ryan Zinke and his Interior Department to take a hike over huge proposed increases to entry fees at our national parks...
Article Categories: West Virginia, Mainstream Corporate Media, Arizona, BRAD BLOG Media Appearance, Kansas, Journalist Intimidation, Accountability, U.S. House, Environment, Education, Kentucky, Sam Brownback, Democrats, Republicans, FCC, EPA, KPFK, Donald Trump, Coal, Climate change, Oklahoma, IRS/Taxes, BradCast, Exxon Mobil, Dept. of Interior, Scott Pruitt, Sinclair Broadcasting, Public lands, Election 2018, Mary Fallin
The Battle Against Barcoded 'Paper Ballots' in GA, L.A. and Everywhere Else: 'BradCast' 3/12/2018
Guest: Jennifer Cohn on the deceptive dangers of the move to computer-marked 'paper ballots'; Also: Callers ring on that, Kim/Trump, more...
On today's BradCast: The fight for Election Integrity is often one step forward and two steps back. Don't be fooled by what many are deceptively describing as a move to "paper ballots", when those "paper ballots" aren't really what they are being sold as. [Audio link to show follows below.]
First up today: A quick preview of the U.S. House Special Election in Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District on Tuesday, where voters will, shamefully, once again cast their votes in the crucial race on 100% unverifiable touch-screen Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting systems.
At the same time, lawmakers in the state of Georgia, which has disastrously used similarly unverifiable DREs for the past 15 years, are moving a deceptively described "paper ballot" bill forward in the legislature. However, what those lawmakers are not making clear (and some may not even understand) is that the bill would fund new computer-marked paper ballot systems, known as Ballot Marking Devices (BMD)s, across the state. Such systems also require voters to use a touch-screen device to vote and, like DREs, also cannot be verified after an election as reflecting the intent of any voter.
Worse still, rather than use the human-readable information printed out by the computers onto the "paper ballot" at the end of the process, BMDs use optical scanners which tally results read from barcodes or QR codes printed on the ballot that are NOT human readable!
And, it's not only Republican-leaning Georgia that is quickly hoping to move to such unverifiable systems. So is the largest voting jurisdiction in the nation, Los Angeles County! Also, counties in Texas and Tennessee are already using them and other states are looking to purchase them as well. Indeed, many supposedly progressive organizations and Democrats are actually recommending them, without understanding the very real dangers of BMDs!
We're joined today by attorney-turned-journalist JENNIFER COHN to discuss her well-researched and documented concerns, as detailed by voting system and computer security experts, regarding the nation's dangerous and disturbing lurch towards what she describes as expensive "electric pencils", otherwise known as BMDs. Cohn explained those concerns in simple, layman's language in a recent post at The BRAD BLOG.
As we discuss on the show: No, "paper ballots" are not enough! We need HAND-MARKED paper ballots that are known to have been verified by the voters, if we are going to even have a chance of restoring publicly verifiable democratic elections in the U.S.
Cohn details both in her article and on today's show, a number of academic studies finding that most voters do not check computer printouts and summaries at the end of the voting process, and of the minority who do, some 60% or more don't even notice when the computer has flipped their vote!
PLEASE tune in for this important conversation, because Americans must begin to understand the dangers presenting by these deceptively described "paper ballots", which are coming to a voting jurisdiction near you!
Then, we open up the phone lines today to callers on that issue, as well as some of my thoughts from last Friday's show regarding the supposed face-to-face meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and even crazier U.S. leader Donald Trump, regarding the North's nuclear weapons program...
Article Categories: Diebold/Premier, ES&S, Election Irregularities, Election Reform, West Virginia, Texas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Georgia, BRAD BLOG Media Appearance, Election Fraud, Paper Ballots Legislation, North Korea, Touch-Screen DREs/BMDs, U.S. House, Democrats, Los Angeles, Dominion Voting, KPFK, Donald Trump, Nuclear power/weapons, NRA/Gun Violence, BradCast, Election 2018, Election 2020
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Q: Meteorjs Accounts.config sendVerificationEmail option doesn't have any effect I'm doing account creation without accounts.ui package, just with accounts-base/accounts-password. I have a code on server side
Accounts.config({
  sendVerificationEmail: true,
  forbidClientAccountCreation: true // cause we call it from server code
});

Then later on signup form submit I call
Accounts.createUser({User account document where `email` field is set to actual email});

It creates user (I can login with this user later) without an issue or errors except it doesn't send any email messages to me.
I have meteor email package installed and I don't have email URL configured so it supposed to print message in standard output that doesn't happen.
I can use post user create hook and send email manually but I suppose it should work without this additional effort as described in docs.
Meteor version is 1.0.3.1

A: I'm facing the same issue, however it works on a different project I have.
There is a workaround which is using a hook (https://github.com/Meteor-Community-Packages/meteor-collection-hooks).
Add the package with meteor add matb33:collection-hooks
Then import it on the server side import { CollectionHooks } from 'meteor/matb33:collection-hooks';
Finally, in your Meteor.starup you can add the following code:
Meteor.users.after.insert((userId, doc) => {
    Accounts.sendVerificationEmail(doc._id);
});

I also tried sending the email verification on Accounts.onCreateUser, but, it seems that the user hasn't been stored in the database yet, hence it fails.
Using Meteor 1.8.3.
UPDATE: After reading the code I found that sendVerificationEmail is valid only when the user registers on the client side (which is not your case and not my case as both of us forbid it).
You can check account_commons.js and check that they have a comment for that:
// - sendVerificationEmail {Boolean}
//     Send email address verification emails to new users created from
//     client signups.

Now you can continue using your hook in peace.

A: Following this step-by-step should get you going:
https://gentlenode.com/journal/meteor-20-verify-an-email-with-meteor-accounts/42

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Today I am looking at BAE Systems (LSE: BA) (NASDAQOTH: BAESY.US) and assessing whether the positives surrounding the firm's investment case outweigh the negatives.
The global defence sector has been fighting a rearguard battle in recent years, as the consequences of the 2008/2009 banking sector have smashed government armaments budgets, particularly in the key markets of North America and the UK — BAE Systems sources more than 35% of group sales from the US alone.
However, news last week that US legislators had agreed to raise the defence budget to $520.5bn in 2014 extinguished fears of heavy near-term cuts, and is up from $518bn this year. Signs that the US economy is finally on the mend also bodes well for future budgets and thus earnings potential for the world's arms builders.
Further afield, however, the company's fortunes in the Middle East took a bit of a hiding this week. Firstly, BAE Systems announced that the United Arab Emirates had withdrew from discussions with the British Government concerning the sale of Eurofighter Typhoon aeroplanes, a development that could cost the firm billions of pounds in revenues.
As well, BAE Systems announced that it had still not resolved price negotiations with Saudi Arabia over the previous sale of Typhoon jets under the Salam agreement. The company confirmed that this will adversely affect earnings to the tune of 6p to 7p per share in 2013.
Still, the weapons builder continues to roll off the contract wins in these exciting new geographies, and inked a £1.5bn deal with the Saudis earlier this month for the supply of guided weapons as well as service and parts for the country's Typhoon fleet.
BAE Systems is also making huge headway in other emerging markets, and advised in its latest interims that "international market activity remains vibrant with multiple opportunities being pursued," the firm having etched out £5bn worth of new orders from March to the start of October. With three of its home markets outside of the US and UK — that is, India, Australia and Saudi Arabia — the firm is clearly banking on fresh markets to deliver future growth.
In my opinion, BAE Systems is a great pick for those seeking an excellent growth play at great value, the company trading at rock-bottom P/E multiples of 10.2 and 10.5 for 2013 and 2014 respectively. I believe that the firm's position as a class-leading defence play should keep its stream of contract wins running, increasingly so from red-hot emerging markets, and thus drive earnings higher well into the long term.
But whether or not you fancy stashing your cash in BAE Systems, and are looking to realise chunky returns elsewhere, I would strongly urge you to check out the Fool's latest wealth report which highlights how you can make a packet from investing in the best income stocks around.


Farmers in Maharashtra have reasons to worry as the first advance estimates of the National Horticulture Board have revealed that the state may register a drop in its fruit and vegetable production in the 2018-19 crop year (July-June).
Fruit production in the 2018-19 crop year is likely to drop to 99.92 lakh tonnes from 117 lakh tonnes in 2017-18. Vegetable production may fall by 7 lakh tonnes (to 116 lakh tonnes) in 2018-19 as against last crop year's 123 lakh tonnes. Experts are unanimous that drought conditions and changing weather scenario in the state are the main reasons for the possible drop in the vegetable and fruit production. Erratic weather changes affect crops in several ways, besides impacting their flowering and fruiting. Delayed monsoon, long dry spells during the monsoon, ill-timed rain, extreme temperatures during flowering and fruit growth and hailstorms adversely impact crops.
An agriculture department official said the drought-like situation in Maharashtra was the biggest factor that pulled down fruit and vegetable production, affecting major crops such as chili, onions, tomatoes and potatoes. "Sowing did not take place in many locations in the absence of water and and other irrigationNSE 2.63 % sources. Sowing of rabi grain also registered a 59% drop in comparison to the average level," the official said.
Sahyadri Farmer Producer Group director Vilas Shinde told TOI, "Many farmers are shifting from vegetables and fruits because of the inconsistent market conditions. There are years when a commodity sells for a high price, while the prices hit the rock bottom in other years. As a result, the farmers shift to secured crops like sugar cane, maize and soybean." Vegetable Growers Association of India president Shriram Gadhave said the past one year has seen a lot of extremes in temperature, affecting fruits and vegetable crops. "The winter in 2018-19 was very extreme, with frost and ice sheets forming over vegetables and fruits at night in parts of the state. February saw record low temperatures. Now, the March heat is becoming unbearable. Temperatures have already started crossing the 40°C mark in many places. This usually happens in April or May," he said.


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how it impacts business fundamentally on all levels.
we will provide you with a step-up model for digital transformation.
As a tool to manage organizational awareness and then adoption.
marketing, and management in this section.
how does it fit into an overall business strategy?
infrastructure to use digital technology.
provide an overall better customer experience.
That all business and technologies leaders should consider as they embark.
On digital transformation, and developing their own digital transformation strategy.
These digital transformation elements are often cited.
workforce enablement, and digital technology integration.
have access to technology capability.
the IT departments of very large organizations, only a decade ago.
That's what we call the consumerization of information technology.
Think how email, the web, and smartphones have changed the way we live.
the cycle of information technology that's emerging in the consumer market.
And then spreading to business and government organizations.
devices, and services at home, and then introducing them into the workplace.
technologies can have on the enterprise organization.
new technologies and models that originate and develop in the consumer's space.
designs to focus on, and market to, the end-user as an individual consumer.
designed for business-to-business or business-to-government sales.
That is driven by an ongoing engagement with customers.
we optimize our operations for agility and learning.
ongoing engagement of customers to make sure that we start the cycle again.
The first step is business as usual.
This starts to increase awareness and initial activity.
When leadership starts to endorse the bold activities for the organization to learn.
transformation journey, followed by strategic embrace.
leverage the synergies and the insights out of those experiments.
And we're going then to a converged environment.
a team that is owning the strategy implementation.
Across the organizations of those technologies.
This is where the digital transformation has been fully embraced and implemented.
And all business function and has become part of the organization's culture.
I get often asked, I don't know if I'm ready.
How can my business have something digital transformed like this?
It depends on your current state of the business.
infrastructure is supported, and how you leverage data to make decisions.
customer focus is always a key component across all the business stages.
From creation, distribution, adoption, and monetization.
supported by technology, are the winning recipe.
And the digital transformation is only accelerating this dynamic.
It's not the technology itself that completely creates a new business.
It is the customer focus and what technology can do for it.
much much better business model really made the difference here.
is the biggest threat to any existing businesses from their competitors.
they expect interaction through the channels they choose.
they buy across multiple communication channels.
We call this the omnichannel customer experience.
digital mobile apps, to customer relationship management and email.
in the store, create immersive experiences for the customers.
monetization models across the digital and the physical environments.
It's really combining digital and physical worlds, bringing them together.
to companies that are using digital technologies, like Uber and Airbnb.
To unlock the potential of real world and physical assets.
One thing they all have in common, is the user experience needs to be outstanding.
unleashing the customers' and our workforce's potential.
stepping up the maturity within our organization.
and definitely not the first time.
Alibaba have clearly understood this.
They know that innovation requires learning through mistakes.
And that technology decisions are driven by the business requirements first.
The more you know and experiment and learn about the ongoing digital revolution.
to meet your customers' needs.
But you will often face critical questions and resistance to the change.
In this course, we will frequently look beyond the technologies themself.
to join in on the digital transformation journey.
and we all can learn together how to address them most effectively.


· this video show several clips of joy mining machinery's continuous miner prodcuts in operation underground.
coal mining began in ohio during the 1810s and 1820s. most of ohio's coal mines existed in eastern and southern parts of the state. prior to the 1810s, most ohioans heated their homes or operated their machinery with firewood.
coal mining disasters. from coal mining accidents can occur in the process of mining coal, errors from improperly used or malfunctioning mining equipment.
the introduction of mining machinery powered by electricity or compressed air changed the way coal miners worked. these pages show mining machines, and offer some information about the introduction of machinery into mining.
west ia office of miners' health safety and coal mining company in kanawha as director of the office of miners' health safety and training.
for low seam coal mining, ge's fairchild underground mining equipment helps to maximize operational efficiency. the 35clv ac and 35c ls dc low vein battery powered scoops can operate under the harshest conditions.
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This web page is meant to give you a general idea of your household's Federal Poverty Level (FPL). The only way to know your household's Federal Poverty Level or to see if you are eligible for health insurance or health services is to apply. Staff at health safety net organizations or with the government-sponsored health insurance programs will ask you to complete a financial screening process to be sure you qualify for services.
How do I know what percentage of the Federal Poverty Level (% FPL) my household income is?
The number of people in the "Household" (see below for the definition of a household). Take note: a household does not necessarily mean all the people who live in a house or apartment.
The combined income that the household members earn. You can use the monthly or yearly income amounts. Household income is usually calculated using gross income (the before-tax amount).
Because each of the programs and services for the uninsured has its own eligibility requirements, you'll need to check out each program separately. Click on the program that you are interested in below and you will see information about income levels for eligibility.
Medicaid/FAMIS (Virginia's State-sponsored Health Insurance programs) Virginia has health insurance programs for eligible adults, children, and pregnant women. There are no enrollment costs and no monthly premiums for these specific types of health insurance.
Health Insurance with Federal Financial Help Virginians can buy health insurance on the Health Insurance Marketplace. Eligible individuals can get financial help to make health insurance more affordable. You can see the various insurance plans and how much help is available to you at the Health Insurance Marketplace.
People who live in the same home or apartment, but are not officially connected in one of the ways listed above are not considered a "household." Three friends sharing an apartment, for example, are three separate households.


Are you looking for new homes or homes for sale in the suburbs or the city?
The debate between city life and suburban life is ever-changing and never-ending. While many will challenge that one is far superior to the other, it truly comes down to preference and future goals. Are you planning to have a family? Do you prefer to live on your own? What is your line of work? Do you have playful pets? The list goes on and on. City life and suburban life do boast two very different things and finding the one that works best for you lies in the details of life-needs. However, one thing is for sure; living in the suburbs offers residents a plethora of benefits. If you are looking for home builders and homes for sale in Murfreesboro, TN, Nashville, Mt. Juliet or Smyrna, TN, contact Landmark Homes of Tennessee today. Landmark Homes has been listening to their customers and building new homes tailored to their specific needs since 1988. Learn more about our Communities, Available Homes and Models and Plans.
In the confines of a city, it's quite likely that townhouses, apartments, and condos boast much smaller living spaces than ones in the suburbs. Not to mention, the money you would spend on a small, one bedroom apartment in the city could get you a beautiful 2-3 bedroom home in the suburbs. Of course, this is all relative to the state you reside in. Regardless, city apartments that are close to the affordable side of living tend to be a bit cramped–requiring residents to practice organizational minimalism to make the most of their available space. On the other hand, suburban homes offer much more living space.
Whether you have a pet, children, or simply love to entertain, having a spacious backyard is essential. Unfortunately, for city-dwellers, a sizable backyard is very hard to come by. While some city apartments offer rooftop access for entertainment purposes, there's no guarantee that it won't be in use by another tenant. Now, the suburbs are widely known for their sprawling lawns and sweeping backyards, providing homeowners the opportunity to do just about anything with it. Pool, fire pit, patio, you name it, it can be created in a suburban backyard; if you have the budget for it, of course.
While the hustle and bustle of the city might be appealing to some, nothing quite beats the peacefulness that many suburban areas provide. By nature, suburban areas are less crowded than cities, with fewer people per square mile. Many families and individuals prefer this over the city since there is much less traffic congestion, making travel far easier. Not to mention, a large suburban area allows schools to avoid things like overcrowding or having poor teacher-to-student ratios. This is important to keep in mind in the event you hope to start a family soon.
While crime happens all around us, suburban areas typically have lower crime rates than cities. With lower crime rates, residents are able to have better peace of mind.
The decision between city-life and suburban-life is one that can be quite difficult to make, but an important one nonetheless. While preference plays a key role in the decision-making, if you are planning to start or extend your family in the near future, it's very important to take the above-mentioned facts into careful consideration.


When the wind blows hard, golfers anticipate high scores and sailors brace for high waves.
Nov. 13, 2014 5:06 a.m.
Tim Weis counts on low electricity prices.
The Alberta director for the Canadian Wind Energy Association said gusty conditions mean the province's wind turbines are producing a surge of power for Alberta's electrical grid that drives prices down.
Fossil fuel generators can vary production in response to such price fluctuations, reducing their fuel costs in the process. Wind generators have no such flexibility.
Another challenge facing the wind energy industry in Alberta's deregulated electricity market is the uncertainty of future prices. That makes it tough to raise the capital to develop wind farms.
"It's hard to get that 20-year loan form the banks, given the volatility we've seen," said Weis.
At 1,400 megawatts (MW), wind energy accounts for about five per cent of the Alberta market, putting the province behind only Ontario and Quebec. But new development is trending in the wrong direction.
"We're actually seeing people pull out of Alberta right now," said Weis, noting that there was 5,690 MW of new wind energy production proposed for the province in May 2012, but only 2,350 MW as of September of this year.
"There's more wind than you could ever possible conceive of developing in Alberta," said Weis, adding that the province's geology and demographics also give it an advantage over other parts of Canada.
Expanding Alberta's wind energy footprint would help spread out production and reduce wind-driven price drops, since weather patterns vary from region to region.
The Canadian Wind Energy Association has proposed strategies to help its Alberta producers overcome a deregulated electricity market that favours fossil fuel generation. These include a "clean electricity standard" that would place a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and encourage electricity retailers to utilize renewable energy, and an increase in the carbon levy that heavy greenhouse gas emitters in Alberta are required to pay.
The association would like to see 20 per cent of Alberta's electricity generated from wind. That objective is not unrealistic, said Weis, considering that Iowa and South Dakota are at 27.4 per cent and 26 per cent respectively, and Denmark is up to 40 per cent.
The opportunity is there, he noted, since many of Alberta's coal-fired generators — which currently produce 65 per cent of the province's electricity — are scheduled to come off line over the next several decades. Meanwhile, demand for energy is expected to grow.
Natural gas will play a big role, acknowledged Weis. But wind energy could complement that source of electricity.
He pointed out that wind energy is second only to natural gas when it comes cost-competitiveness.
Health Canada has rejected claims that wind turbines create health problems for people living nearby, and concerns about bird fatalities have been overstated, said Weis. He cited Environment Canada statistics that indicate 16,700 birds are killed by wind turbines each year, as compared with 196 million by cats, 25.6 million by transmission lines, 22.4 million by house windows, and 13.8 million by vehicles.
Weis said he's encouraged that the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) is considering ways to better integrate wind energy into its system, and the provincial government is working on an Alternative and Renewable Energy Strategy.


text:
Q: If I need to access memory cell by cell, should I shift or index? I have a piece of memory which I need to access cell by cell:
parameter RAM_LENGTH = 1024;
reg [7:0] mem [RAM_LENGTH - 1:0];

I need to iterate cells sequentially. It looks like there are at least two ways to do this. The first approach is to index memory as if it were C array of bytes:
reg [7:0] ram_addr = 0;
reg [7:0] current;

and then
current = mem[ram_addr];
ram_addr = ram_addr + 1;

This is cheap for CPU. But what if Verilog builder will attempt to build a 1024 channel 8 byte width multiplexer for me? This would be a digital circuit of tremendous size that this memory may not deserve. Or is the Verilog builder smart enough to implement access by index more reasonably?
The alternative approach would be to shift the cells every time the value is needed:
current <= mem[0];
for (i = 1; i < RAM_LENGTH; i++)
  mem[i] <= mem[i-1];

in this case, I would hope from the builder to generate a shift register rather than overgrown multiplexer, as all values that define the loop are constants.
Which approach is more reasonable and would be typically used by an experienced Verlilog developer?

A: Both approaches are viable, depending on what you want the synthesized implementation to be.
The indexed version would typically be used if you want the memory to be implemented using the internal block ram in the target device.  In this case, the clock speed is limited by the memory access time.
The shift register version will use the registers in the logic cells, or in the case of Xilinx could use the SRL shift register mode of the LUTs.  The shift register mode could potentially be faster, but it will use more routing and LUT resources.
In any case, you can always directly instantiate FPGA specific logic blocks in order to remove any ambiguity about how things get synthesized.  The "generate custom IP" functions of FPGA development environments allow you to generate custom sized memories, FIFOs, shift registers, etc.

A: Use block RAM to construct a FIFO buffer. All of the FPGA vendors have a "wizard" of some sort to help configure FIFOs, since it's such a commonly-used subcircuit.


PDS Tech, Inc. is seeking a Supply Chain Management Analyst in Everett, WA.
Guides integrated product design/build teams by independently representing Supply Chain Management (SCM) plans and strategies to arrive at optimal solutions.
Leads cross-functional teams in the introduction of new tools and techniques.
Presents analysis of performance measurements to senior managers. Investigates complex ordering conditions.
Develops and implements new ordering methodologies.
Ensures organizational compliance with inventory management policies, contractual requirements and governmental regulations.
Develops materials management estimates and schedules for new business proposals. Identifies, analyzes, develops and implements best practices, processes and procedures for SCM.
Recommends changes to new or existing corporate and divisional policies. Leads teams and is responsible for overseeing, documenting, implementing and maintaining the improvements they contribute. Works under minimal direction.
Bachelor's degree and typically 10 or more years' related work experience, a Master's degree and typically 8 or more years' related work experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.