text:
« Atiku Vs Buhari: INEC Must Produce Presidential Election Server – Peter Obi Insists | Actress Halima Abubakar In Tears As Rugged Man Organizes 34th Birthday Bash For Her »
Protest In Asaba As A 52-Year-Old Man Rap3s A 2-Year-Old Girl (Pictures)
By Ofofoloaded on June 17th, 2019. News
Protest In Asaba As A 52-Year-Old Man Rap3s A 2-Year-Old Girl (Pictures) MP3 Download
A non-government organisation, Behind Bars Rights Foundation (BBRF), on Monday in Asaba staged a peaceful protest against the alleged defilement of a two-year girl, Goodnews (surname withheld) by a 52-year landlord, one Okwuosa.
The defilement reportedly happened at Nsukwa in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State.
The victim's father had left home on the fateful day in search of his daily bread leaving his daughter under the care of his 12-year old son, Sunday.
But the randy landlord, who is now in police custody, took advantage of the situation, as he purportedly sent Sunday on an errand to carry out his evil plan.
On his return from the errand, Sunday met the suspect with little Goodnews who was crying and bleeding from the private part.
Director General of BBRF, Harrison Gwamnishu who led the peaceful protest across major streets in Asaba, the state capital, alleged that when the matter was reported at the divisional police station, Nsukwa, the 12-year old Sunday was allegedly detained for five days.
In a petition to the state Commissioner of Police signed by Gwamnashu and the state director of the foundation, Ikechukwu Omenogor, the group alleged that the police tortured Sunday by hitting his leg with a baton.
The petition added that Goodnews was later taken back to the hospital where the doctor frowned at the shoddy investigation carried out by the police, adding that the situation led to the arrest of the suspect.
According to the petitioners, parents of the victim have spent money traveling to Asaba without any sign of justice, hence, the protest for the police authorities to take action.
"Sir, we call on you to get fully involved in this case for proper investigation in the interest of justice, equity and good conscience,� the petition added.
Besides, Omenogor on his part, urged the state government to consider the payment of compensation to rape victims, noting that getting justice was no longer enough in view of the stigmatisation such victims face in the society.
Senior Political Adviser to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Mr. Funkekeme Solomon who received the protesters at the Government House, Asaba, promised to take the message to his principal for action.
C.O.U.R.T : Career Opportunities Universities Recreational Tour
BREAKING: Ademola Adeleke sacked by Tribunal as Governor of Osun state, Declares APC's Oyetola Winner of Governorship Election
Biography: Marc Xs (Musical Artist)
Bigval (Musical Artist) Biography
BIOGRAPHY: Àre (Musical Artist)


On 8/6/12, I wrote an article for MedicalSpaMD. The point here was to give readers a chance to download BD icons and a chance to match them up with their other social media buttons (such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube). Click the picture above to be transported to the actual article.
This page was made as a resource for other plastic surgeons, dermatologists, and aesthetic physicians who have webpages.
Get more traffic from your own patients to go to your own web page - each time they need to print out BD coupons, they will revisit your webpage again.
New patients may recognize the symbol and pick your practice.
Feel free to copy these BD buttons for use on your webpage.
The Brilliant Distinctions Logos were given to me by the marketing department at Allergan and I've made minor modifications to them to match Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social medial "buttons."
I have no working relationship with Facebook (logos used above as examples of matching size), and my only working relationship with Allergan is that I am a Physician Speaker for their product Latisse.
This Surgical Artistry webpage is for information only, not medical advice.


text:
HomeRecent QuestionsQuestion #31857Law17079888
Course Code and Title LAW 2000: Business Law
Assessment Case study assignment
Learning Outcomes 1. Explain what the law is and the role that the law plays in wider society and in the business environment
3. Identify the role of contract law in business activity and explain the elements needed to create and enforce a valid contract
4. Define an agency relationship and explain the legal implications of such a relationship
5. Identify and define the different types of property including intellectual property and analyse the importance to business of such property and how the law protects such property
Submission 11:55pm AEST/AEDT Sunday of week 8
Why are you doing in this assignment?
In this assignment students will demonstrate their understanding and application of the key steps in the formula for answering case study questions. The case study questions reflect real life legal problems.
This assignment consists of five case study questions. A fact scenario is provided and your task is to identify the legal issues that arise in the case studies, state the law, apply the law to the facts of the case study and reach a conclusion. The conclusion that you reach will be the advice that you can provide to the participants in the case study.
The following substantive areas of law will be dealt with in the Assignment – they comprise the content of Modules 2-8 of this subject:
• Contract law
• The law of agency
• Property law – both real property and intellectual property.
This written assignment should comprise no more than 2000 words. You will be required to apply a formula for answering case study questions. There is a Flow Chart that shows the steps involved in this formula. There is also a narrated Powerpoint presentation that summarises the key steps in the formula:
• Identify the area of law that requires discussion.
• Identify the key legal issue or issues in the case study.
• State the applicable law.
• Apply the law to the facts of the case study.
• Reach a conclusion – this will involve advising the parties in the case study.
How would this assignment be used in the workplace?
The Case Studies that you will consider are all examples of legal disputes that could arise in the real world. Working in the commercial world it is likely that you will be confronted with such scenarios. Completing the Case Studies will provide you with practice in applying the law to real word examples.
Read the facts of each Case Study carefully.
Identify the area of law that requires discussion e.g. contract law.
Identify the legal issue in the Case Study e.g. Is there a contract? Has a contract been broken? Etc
State the law. If you are stating a legal principle that comes from case law state the case and the citation that you are using as authority for the legal principle. If you are relying on a statute for legal authority then state the section number and name of the statute that is relevant.
1. Jennifer aged 25 years is the granddaughter of Betty who lives by herself in Mount Gambier. Jennifer has just completed a degree in Psychology at the University of South Australia. Betty promises Jennifer that if she leaves Adelaide and moves to Mount Gambier to live with her she will transfer her house into Jennifer's name. Jennifer leaves her mum and dad, boyfriend and a job she held at the Service to Youth Council. She arrives in Mount Gambier and cannot find any work as a psychologist but she obtains work part time as a waitress in a café. Betty refuses to honour her promise regarding transferring the house to Jennifer who wants to sue her grandmother for breach of contract. Advise Jennifer.
2. On 1 February 2015 Sanche writes to Richard offering to sell him his 1974 Holden Monaro for $60,000, 'the offer will remain open until 5pm on 3 February 2015'. Richard receives the letter at 10 am on 3 February and tries immediately to phone Sanche. He does not answer and Richard leaves a message on his Message Bank saying he was interested in buying the Monaro but was only willing to pay $55,000. At 10.30 am the same morning, Richard changes his mind about how much he is willing to pay for the car. He sends an email to Sanche saying, 'Disregard, my earlier phone message. I accept your offer to sell your 1974 Monaro car for $60,000'. Sanche does not check his email at all on the 3 February but does check his phone Message Bank. He listens to the voice message from Richard and
immediately sells the petrol to Bradley who he has also been negotiating with. On 4 February at 9 am he opens his emails and reads Richard's message. Advise the parties.
3. Kevin is an antique dealer. He appoints Ravi to sell furniture on his behalf. One of the items Kevin wants sold is a twelve seater oak dining table. He instructs Ravi that he will not accept less than $7,000 for the table. Ravi places an advertisement in a local newspaper advertising the table for $7,000. Theresa responds to the advertisement. She has recently renovated a period home and the table would be perfect for the formal dining room.
Theresa offers Ravi $6,500 which Ravi promptly accepts. All along, Theresa is unaware that Kevin is the owner of the table. When she takes delivery of the table there is large scratch on the top of the table. Theresa is furious and advises Ravi that she does not want the table now that it is not in the condition it was in when she inspected it previously. Ravi advises her that it is not his problem because he is not the owner of the table. Advise the parties.
4. Trevor composes music on his computer using a software program called 'Sibelius'. He sometimes plays music he has composed to his friends before they are released for sale.
After Trevor has composed music he sends it to a distributor who sells it in Europe. Trevor plays an unreleased composition to a group of friends including Declan. After hearing this composition, Declan goes home and composes a piece of music that sounds virtually identical to Trevor's, particularly the chorus. Declan then sends it to a distributor who releases a CD in Europe. It is a huge hit and Declan makes a large amount of money from CD sales.
Trevor is furious and accuses Declan of stealing his composition. Advise the parties.
5. Clare runs a very successful hairdressing business on Unley Road in Adelaide. It has taken her five years to build up the business. She decides to sell the business and enters into a contract of sale with Maddie. There is a clause in the contract that states that: 'Clare will not for a period of ten years from the date of this agreement set up any business in Adelaide'. The contract of sale is finalised and Maddie takes over the business. Clare wants to operate another business and decides to open a café on King William Road, Hyde Park.
Approximately one year after selling her hairdressing business she opens her new café. A lot of her old customers are now regulars at the new café.
Maddie is outraged and claims that Clare is in breach of her contract for the sale of the hairdressing business. Advise the parties.
• Demonstrates a capacity to identify legal issues from a set of facts
• Demonstrates knowledge and understanding of substantive areas of law including contract, agency and property law
• Shows an ability state legal principles supported by appropriate legal authority • Demonstrates a capacity to apply legal principles to the facts of a case study.
• Addresses General assessment criteria:
o shows a sophisticated understanding of the key issues o demonstrates a capacity to explain and apply relevant concepts o shows evidence of reading beyond the key reading
o justifies any conclusions reached with well-formed arguments not merely assertion o provides a conclusion or summary
o use of academic writing and presentation and grammar:
? complies with normal academic standards of legibility, referencing and bibliographical details (including reference list).
? is written clearly with accurate spelling, grammar and sentence and paragraph construction
? appropriate citation and referencing used (using Australian Legal Citation Guide)
Learning Rubrics
Assessment Attributes Fail 1
(Unacceptable) 0-34 Fail 2
(Poor)
35-49 Pass
(Functional)
50-64 Credit
(Proficient)
65-74 Distinction
75-84 High Distinction
(Exceptional)
Evidence of unsatisfactory achievement of one or more of the learning objectives of the course, insufficient understanding of
the course content and/or unsatisfactory level of skill development. Evidence of satisfactory achievement of course
learning objectives, the
development of relevant
skills to a competent level, and adequate
interpretation and critical analysis skills. Evidence of a good level of understanding, knowledge and skill development in relation to the content of the course or work of a superior quality on the majority of the learning objectives of the course. Demonstration of a high level of interpretation and critical analysis skills.
Evidence of a high level of achievement of the learning
objectives of the course
demonstrated in such areas as
interpretation and critical analysis,
logical argument,
use of methodology and communication
skills. Evidence of an exceptional level of achievement of learning objectives across the entire content of the course demonstrated in
such areas as interpretation and critical analysis, logical argument, creativity, originality, use of
methodology and communication skills.
1. Content, Audience and Purpose
General description of the level of attainment Does not meet minimum standard
Demonstrates no capacity to identify relevant legal issues in the case studies. Meets minimum standard
Demonstrates limited ability to identify relevant legal issues in the case studies. Moves beyond minimum
Demonstrates consistent capacity to identify relevant legal issues in the case studies.
Exceeds minimum
Demonstrates an advanced and integrated understanding and capacity to identify relevant legal issues in the case studies.
Exceeds minimum standard and exhibits
high levels of
Consistently demonstrates a systematic and critical understanding and capacity to identify relevant legal issues in the case studies.
2. Knowledge and understanding
Demonstrates Limited understanding of substantive areas of law
Knowledge/understanding of substantive areas of law.
Thorough knowledge/understanding of substantive areas of law. Supports personal Highly developed understanding of the substantive areas of law. A sophisticated understanding of the substantive areas of law.
knowledge and understanding of substantive areas of law including contract, agency and property law.
shows a sophisticated understanding of the legal issues raised in the Case Study
Key legal issues of case study are not identified nor addressed.
Often conflates/confuses assertion of personal opinion with information substantiated by evidence from cases and legislation. opinion and information substantiated by evidence from relevant cases and legislation.
Demonstrates a capacity to explain and apply relevant legal concepts.
Discriminates between assertion of personal opinion and information substantiated by robust evidence from relevant cases and legislation.
Well demonstrated capacity to explain and apply relevant legal concepts.
Systematically and critically discriminates between assertion of personal opinion and information substantiated by robust evidence from relevant cases and legislation.
Mastery of concepts and application to new situations/further learning.
3. Analysis and application with synthesis of new knowledge
Shows an ability to apply relevant legal principles to the facts of the case study. Limited synthesis and analysis.
Limited application of relevant legal principles to the facts of the case study. Demonstrated application of relevant legal principles to the facts of the case study.
Shows the ability to interpret relevant case law and statutes.
Well-developed analysis and synthesis with application of relevant legal principles to the facts of the case study. Thoroughly developed and creative analysis of relevant legal principles to the facts of the case study.. Highly sophisticated and creative analysis of relevant legal principles to the facts of the case study.
Recommendations are clearly justified based on the analysis/synthesis.
Applying knowledge to new situations/other cases.
4. Effective communication
Demonstrates a capacity to explain and apply Difficult to understand for audience, no logical/clear structure, poor flow of ideas, argument lacks supporting evidence.
No effort is made to keep audience engaged. Audience cannot follow the line Information, arguments and evidence are presented in a way that is not always clear and logical.
Information, arguments and evidence are well presented, mostly clear flow of ideas and arguments.
Information, arguments and evidence are very well presented. the presentation is logical, clear and Expertly presented; the presentation is logical, persuasive, and well supported by evidence, demonstrating a clear flow of ideas and
relevant legal concepts
Justifies any conclusions reached with wellformed arguments not merely assertion
Provides a conclusion or summary
of reasoning.
Little use of presentation aids, or the presentation aids and material used are irrelevant. Attempts are made to keep the audience engaged, but not always successful. Line of reasoning is often difficult to follow.
Presentation aids are used more for effect than relevance.
The audience is mostly engaged, line of reasoning is easy to follow.
Effective use of presentation aids. well supported by evidence.
Engages the audience, demonstrates cultural sensitivity.
Carefully and well prepared presentations aids are used. arguments.
Engages and sustains audience's interest in the topic, demonstrates high levels of cultural sensitivity
Effective use of diverse presentation aids, including graphics and multi-media.
5. Use of academic and discipline conventions and sources of
Addresses General assessment criteria:
shows evidence of reading beyond the key reading
use of academic writing and presentation and grammar:
complies with normal academic standards of legibility, referencing and bibliographical details Poorly written with errors in spelling, grammar.
There are mistakes in using the Australian Guide to Legal Citation. Is written according to academic genre (e.g. with introduction, conclusion or summary) and has
Demonstrates consistent use of credible and relevant cases and legislation to support and develop ideas, but these are not always explicit or well developed.
There are no mistakes in using the Australian Guide to Legal Citation. Is well-written and adheres to the academic genre (e.g. with introduction, conclusion or summary).
Demonstrates consistent use of high quality, credible and relevant cases and legislation to support and develop ideas.
There are no mistakes in using the Australian Guide to Legal Citation. Is very well-written and adheres to the academic genre.
There are no mistakes in using the Australian Guide to Legal Citation.
Demonstrates expert use of high-quality, credible and relevant cases and legislation to support and develop arguments and position statements. Shows extensive evidence of reading beyond the key
(including reference list).
is written clearly with accurate spelling, grammar and sentence and paragraph construction
appropriate citation and referencing used (using the Australian Guide to
Legal Citation.)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Brian Regan at Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre
Brian Regan Tickets
King of Stand-up comedy, Brian Regan, is coming to Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre on Saturday 25th June 2022 as part of his 2022 North American Tour. The tour begins on 6th May 2022 and will conclude on 11th December at The Criterion, Oklahoma. The almost eight-month trek is highly awaited by all Brian Regan fans who cannot wait to hear some of his clumsiest stories, narrated in his unique, hilarious style. The tour includes some of the most notable destinations in the country, such as Seattle, Boston, Nashville and many others. Regan has gained widespread popularity recently, especially after his work on Netflix, and fans are looking forward to seeing him live. Get your tickets right now before they are sold out!
American stand-up comedian Brian Regan is known for his self-deprecating humour and casual punch lines that make him one of the most attractive brands of comedy in the country. He stays away from profanity or any controversial topics, which makes his events an ideal occasion for families. Regan understands stand-up comedy's challenges, but his entire stint rarely has a dull moment. He loves interacting with the audience and is always willing to take some of his jokes to them.
He released his debut album, Brian Regan: Live, in 1997, and it was an instant hit. The comedian has since then released eight albums. His latest album was On The Rocks, which came out in 2021 to critical acclaim. The album came out on Netflix and became hugely popular on the hit streaming platform. Regan has also been a part of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. The best part about Regan is his body language and how he brings incredible stage presence, which further makes him a fan favourite. Catch him live at the Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre on 25th June 2022. Ticket demand is on the rise, so get your tickets right now before they are sold out!


text:
'I'm as happy changing nappies as as I am on rugby pitch' says Una Foden's husband Ben
Singer Una Healy of The Saturdays and her husband rugby player Ben Foden
By David Bauder
Ben Foden has revealed he is as happy changing nappies as he is on the rugby pitch - as he fronts a drive encouraging fathers to play a bigger role in raising their babies.
Foden (29) and his popstar wife Una from The Saturdays, have teamed up with the UK government to promote shared parental leave.
"In this day and age women can just as easily be the main breadwinner as men. Why should they have to give up their careers when they have children?" asked the England fullback.
The couple, who married in June 2012, have a two-year-old daughter Aoife Belle and another child on the way.
While rugby may have a reputation for attracting hard-drinking macho men, Foden revealed that many of players are happy to roll their sleeves up and be hands-on dads.
"Being rugby players we are used to sweat, spit and rolling around in the mud, so no one has a problem about getting their hands dirty changing nappies," he said.


text:
Q: Transistor IRF520N not working as expected Please be gentle as I am a total newbie with electronics.
I recently bought an Arduino beginners kit. In that kit was a 9V motor with the proper transistor (I think these are also called MOSFET?). The printing  on the transistor reads IRF520N IOR P533B D5A2 (see picture left). I have started my own little project and bought a 12V pump and hooked it up just as I previously did with the motor from the kit and it worked perfectly (see picture). Since then I decided I wanted to buy more transistors of the same type and I found one which I thought was the same. It is labeled IRF520N IOR P702D AP9Q (see picture right) but when I use that transistor the pump doesn't start pumping.
Apparently the two transistors are not completely identical. I found the datasheet to the newly acquired transistor (listed on the page of the online store I bought it from) but I don't really understand anything it's trying to tell me. Also I couldn't find the datasheet for the one delivered with the Arduino.
So my questions are:

*

*Why is that transistor not working?

*Could you point out which values in the datasheet are important to me so I can pay attention to those when I look for another transistor?

*What does the transistor actually do which I bought and can I still use it for something (I actually bought quite a lot of them..)?

If I missed any important information please ask in the comments and I will include it in my post. I included a schematic at the bottom.
Edit #1:
As joren vaes suggested I used the new transistors with the old motor and a 9V power supply. To my surprise that actually made the motor spin. So it looks like the new transistor can't handle the 12V?
Edit #2:
I did some experimentation with pump, 9V and older/newer transistor.
Using the 9V batterie with the 12V pump works fine but only with the old transistor. With the new transistor the pump moves super slow and the transistor got worryingly hot. The old transistor doesn't heat up noticeably. As suggested by joren vaes i made another photo of the setup which shows the wiring properly and photos (first page, second page) of the instructions which came along in the kit. There isn't really any more valuable information about the transistors which came along if you were hoping for that.
Also the Arduino supplies 5V and the code I uploaded just sets the transistor pin HIGH when the button is pressed. I know that I wouldn't need an Arduino for that ;)
Edit 3: Included schematic. I hope I didn't do anything wrong..

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

A: *

*I agree with JorenVaes that for most purposes (yours included) an IRF520N "is an IRF520N". HOWEVER, there is a slight possibility that the one you bought has different pin assignments than the original, so you might have it wired wrong.

*On a datasheet, the values that you'll be looking at the most (for an N-channel MOSFET, like the IRF520Ns we're talking about here) are:

*

*Id "Continuous Drain Current" -- how much current you can put through the transistor before things start melting or blowing up

*Vds "drain-source voltage" how much voltage the transistor can effectively block. hitting it with more voltage than this will cause it to fail in one of 3 ways (let power through, but not enough to harm it {very rare}, melt {done it}, or explode {done it})

*Rds(on) -- How much resistance the transistor causes when it's "turned on" ... this tells you how much voltage you're going to lose across the transistor per amount of current you ask it to pass, and how much power it's going to be dissipating (which heats it up)

*Vgs(max) -- Same as Vds, except that it tells you how much voltage you can send to the gate pin (the one that controls the transistor)

*Vgs(threshold) -- Tells you how much voltage you have to send to the gate before the transistor will start letting current flow through it.

*Ptot "Power Dissipation" -- tells you how much total power (heat) the transistor can handle before it dies/melts/blows up (NOTE: this isn't how much power can "pass through" it, just how much power can be "lost" in it. i.e. it's the limit for current * voltage drop across the transistor.)

A: I will not repeat RobhercKV5ROB's nice summery of the important specs.
I would just like to add that another very important bit of information in the datasheet is the pinout - in our case the Gate is pin 1, Drain is pin 2, Source is pin 3. The big metal tab is also connected to the Drain terminal, internally (so watch out when working with the transistor, since this metal piece is at the same voltage as part of your circuit!). This pinout is different for different parts and different manufacturers, so it's a good idea to verify this from the manufacturers' datasheet every time you are using a new part.
The IRF520N is rated for a \$V_{GS}\$ of +-20V. This means that you can apply up to 20V difference between pin 1 and 3 on the device - as you mention you were using a 9V battery or a 12V supply, neither of which come close to this maximum rating. This cannot be our problem.
I also checked your picture, and it seems like you wired the transistor up correctly. I would say, take some more pictures of the different setups so we can have a look at those, to try and find out what's going on here. Perhaps also point to the location of the tutorial you started out with, telling you how to wire up the mosfet in the original experiment.
What does the IRF520N actually do:
The IRF520N is (in full fancy words) an "Enhancement-mode n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor"*. Most people just write N-MOS (and pronounce it as "en-moss") or N-Channel MOSFET. I would usually link to the wikipage, but unfortunatly the one on MOSFETs is really quite complicated and I fear it will do more harm than good.
In very simple terms, as you already discovered, a MOSFET (just like any other transistor) is a electronic switch. The switch is located "between" the "Drain" and the "Source" terminals. The voltage difference between the "Gate" and the "Source" pin determines how hard this switch is turned on. If this difference is smaller than the "threshold voltage", found in the datasheet, the switch is "off". If we go above the threshold, the transistor is turns on. Take note that this is not a very "binary" behavior - it's not like a physical switch that's either all the way on or all the way off - it's a more gradual transition.
These are very usefull parts, and people use them all the time. In fact, I have a bag of almost 50 IRF540N's (a slightly bigger version of your transistor) laying around here in my lab...somewhere...
*Enhancement mode means that the transistor is "off" when no voltage is applied between gate and source, and turns on when this is increased. There also exist "depletion mode" transistors - here the transistor is already turned on at 0V! applying a positive voltage will turn it on even harder, and to turn it off, we need to apply a negative voltage. Depletionmode MOSFETs are very uncommon outside of specialized scenarios - so much so that most people in the last years of the EE bachelors won't even know they exist, but I felt it was worth mentioning them here, for completeness sake.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
L'areng gràcil (Spratelloides gracilis) és una espècie de peix pertanyent a la família dels clupeids.

Descripció
 Pot arribar a fer 10,5 cm de llargària màxima.
 12-13 radis tous a l'aleta dorsal i 12-13 a l'anal.

Depredadors
A Salomó és depredat per Tylosurus crocodilus crocodilus i al Japó per Fistularia commersonii.

Hàbitat
És un peix marí, pelàgic-nerític i de clima tropical (40°N-28°S, 31°E-134°W).

Distribució geogràfica
Es troba des del mar Roig fins a Zanzíbar i el Pacífic occidental (des del Japó fins a les illes Filipines, Austràlia, Samoa, les illes Tuamotu, Palau i les illes Marshall).

Ús comercial
Es comercialitza fresc i en salaó. És emprat també com a esquer en la pesca de la tonyina.

Observacions
És inofensiu per als humans.

Referències

Enllaços externs

 AQUATAB
 BioLib

gracilis

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


And one dumb idea that Apple itself came up with.
Apple's Split View: why not just call it Snap?
Make your cursor bigger by shaking it. Oh-kay.
You can send directions from Apple Maps to your phone. Yay?
Apple launched "OS X 10.11 El Capitan" on Wednesday, an alphanumerical/geographical mishmash that deliciously contradicts Apple's self-proclaimed minimalism in seventeen characters.
We don't usually pay a whole lot of thought to Apple's OS upgrades, aside from firing off snarky "It just works!" messages to our Macworld colleagues as they complain about the latest iOS updates. So when we started flipping through the latest features in the "El Cap" upgrade, it hit us: Haven't we seen this before?
Yes, we have. So, being the lazy sods we are, we simply took that slideshow and made our own captions. Thanks, Macworld!
A low-level API that allows the operating system to take advantage of the system's GPU hardware? Fantastic! Apple's Metal API promises drastically reduced overhead, graphics and compute capabilities, and so on and so on. Well, that's lovely—except Microsoft launched DirectX 12 on July 29.
But Metal! It was launched earlier, in iOS 8! Yes, yes. But y'know, if we're going to talk about GPU acceleration in Windows, we should go all the way back to Windows 7—October 2009, to be specific. That's when Microsoft added GPU acceleration to Windows.
Oh, do you know what else happened in 2009? Apple sued Psystar out of existence. You know, the company that tried to copy them?
"Split view in El Capitan makes full-screen mode twice as useful by letting you split your screen between two apps," MacWorld writes.
Oooooh. How many apps? Two? Oooooh.
Of course, if you want to get some real work done, you could buy yourself a Windows 10 PC, a nice monitor, and open up four windows on a single monitor with Windows Snap. And then get another monitor and do it again. But good try, Apple.
Hmm, a way to look at all your open windows on the desktop, all at once? And flip through them? Where have we seen this before?
Well, the Apple fans cry, you saw this in Expose, which gave rise to Task View in OS X 10.3. And Expose debuted in 2003! Well yes, but Alt-Tab debuted in 1990. With Windows 3.0. And anyway, Apple's Task View sort of stinks compared to the Windows 10 Task View. I mean, if you're going to rip off the name, Apple, try to do it without coming off as a cheap imitation.
Well, we're just going to say it: We're just kind of embarrassed for you, Apple. No, Windows doesn't do this. But Windows didn't make a name for itself selling fart apps, either.
Siri? Siri? See-reee... where arrrrrrre you... You could spend all day poring through El Capitan for Siri, Apple's digital assistant. But she's not there!
Instead, Windows users have to make do with Cortana, a full-fledged digital assistant who can actually do stuff—answer questions, set reminders, and the like. One day Apple will be bold enough to put Siri on the Mac. One day.
What am I doing? Oh, just going through my Windows 10 Mail app. You know, the one that highlights contacts and dates, and adds them to your Calendar if you so choose. Oh, I see you do that now too, Apple Mail. That's adorable.
Hey, did you know that Mac OS X El Capitan Westworld 10.4e5 has Mail gestures? Yes! You can actually swipe left or right on an email and stuff happens! Of course, you can do this on Windows 10 Mail—and, get this—you can actually do it on the screen. Because Windows has touchscreens. Macs, well, don't. Unless you call them Retina Displays and try to balance them without kickstands. Because ergonomics.
So Apple Maps now charts directions using public transportation in "select" cities, and then sends that information to your phone.
Let's just pause here for a second.
So one, Apple can't be bothered to dig out public transportation directions for more than a handful of cities. Listen, you elitists, schlepping it from bus to train to skateboard is the only way your customers can afford your $4,000 Intel PC. And now you want them to have to move somewhere your maps actually cover?
And two, can we be sure now that Apple will actually provide accurate directions, or will they route you from Penn Station to Coney Island by way of Atlantis?
Meanwhile, in Windows land, we just ask Cortana for directions on our phone. I know, I know—boring.
Universal Windows apps have a fairly low-key option that you can find in the Settings: the ability to swap between a dark (black) and light (white) background. Lo and behold, that option is now in El Capitan, too.
There's also an option to hide the menu bar in Mac apps. If your 5K (is that the price, or the resolution?) monitor isn't big enough, that might come in handy. But hiding the menu bar (or Ribbon) has been a feature of Microsoft Office for some time, and you can do the same in Internet Explorer. Try again, Apple.
Edit: Some of you have pointed out that dark mode was released as part of OS X "Yosemite" in Oct. 2014, predating Windows 10. Fair enough. Microsoft, however, created a dark mode for Windows XP, dubbed Royale Noir.
Okay, okay, you got us. Apple stole this one from Google, not Windows.
You may or not be aware that Chrome offers a "pin tab" option. (Right-click a tab to see this option.) Pinning a tab keeps the tab active, but shrinks the tab's presence down to an icon—and removes the "X", so you can't accidentally close them, either.
Browse our comment threads, and sooner or later our writers will be accused of being Apple haters. We're not. We have nothing against Apple. But someone needs to point out that the features Apple touts as being game-changing, worthy of praise and national attention, largely have been done before. Apple just created its own Beats 1 radio station, for Pete's sake, and caused the Internet to fall all over itself critically analyzing its social impact. A radio station.
There was a time when Microsoft had stagnated, when it coasted on its legacy of being the PC operating system. That time is ending. Now Apple is the one playing catchup.


text:
Fire Safety Solutions for a Large-Scale Clubhouse in a Residential Community
The CFC team is thrilled to have designed and implemented fire safety solutions for a large-scale clubhouse in a residential community, a new construction project located in Tampa, Florida. The construction process for this high-end, multi-purpose building began in the spring of 2020, with its completion on track for early 2021.
The clubhouse plays an integral role within its residential community, serving as a restaurant, event space, pool house, fitness center, and social gathering space. Indeed, the single-story structure is expansive in its layout and functions. Among its many facilities are two kitchens, a dining area attached to a pre-function area, and a sports lounge. A central focus of ours throughout the project was the large social hall with five entry and exit doors, two dressing rooms, and a stage for entertaining. Other amenities that warranted careful consideration included a game room, arts and crafts space, massage room, and exercise studio.
The structure also housed many critical adjoining spaces that improved all amenities' functions, including four mechanical rooms, two electric rooms, five restrooms, and two locker rooms. From a fire safety perspective, the clubhouse was built to meet or exceed current code requirements. Given that the building hosts such a wide variety of activities and large groups of people at a time, it was critical that the fire safety solution was individualized and tailored to the project from the outset.
CFC's Services & Fire Safety Solutions
Commercial Fire and Communications worked directly with the General Contractor on this project from start to finish. We were contracted to install multiple systems throughout the clubhouse, and our team had a hand in every step of the fire safety solution from permitting, design, and installation processes. All of the systems that we installed were engineered by our in-house engineering team and permitted through Hillsborough County.
Additionally, we're proud to say that our capable team met the client's aggressive schedule through every phase of the project. CFC has prioritized every one of our clients' specific time constraints since our start because we understand that people's health, safety, and livelihoods depend on speedy fire safety technology implementation.
For this specific clubhouse project, we installed a wet sprinkler system that consisted of the main riser with a water flow and tamper switch as well as concealed and pendent mount heads, a spare headbox, spare heads, and a wrench. CFC also installed a complete fire alarm system, including both initiation and notification devices. The panel was fully addressable and, due to the occupancy load of the building, a voice evacuation system was required.
Lastly, our experts installed a commercial-grade security system that integrated multiple devices such as keypads, motion detectors, door contacts, glass breaks, and sirens. Like all other fire safety and security components on the project site, the security system was responsive to the clubhouse's specific layout and function. Another facet of our holistic approach to building security in this location and context was installing a card access system that restricted access to the clubhouse and pool areas. The access system was networked to the guard shack located approximately ¼ mile away.
Our team provided monitoring services for both the fire alarm and security systems for this site. We installed and programmed cellular dialers capable of reporting to the central station in a contact ID format. Prior to the final inspection, the Commercial Fire and Communications team provided a complete bi-directional antenna (BDA) survey, which measured the signal strength throughout the building for first responders and ensured that all fire safety and security system components were in working order. This property presented an expansive and nuanced challenge for the CFC team, and our team of experts excelled at working at this scale and level.


Greetings. Far and away the most popular watches at the site at the moment, the Novus range.
This is another belter – Novus in gold, with the Novus logo emblazoned on the face in white. If you fancy these watches, I suggest you add your name to the mailing list at the bottom of the page. Mailing list subscribers get first chance to buy.
Great LED display on this piece… pin-sharp and gorgeous red plastic display in front of it. Branded strap just reeks of the 1970's.


Browse the article Can online scheduling services save time and money?
Appointment Quest is just one of dozens of online scheduling programs available on the Web.
As people have become more familiar with the Internet, Web services have flourished. Whether it's the explosion of social networks or the evolution of the software as a service (SaaS) business model, people are using the Web more than ever. Companies are taking advantage of this trend in many ways, one of which is online scheduling.
At its most basic level, online scheduling is an interface in which multiple parties can make appointments or schedule tasks over an Internet connection. It can take many different forms. Coupled with services like e-mail and calendar software, online scheduling can streamline administrative duties and free up employees to attend to other tasks.
There are two major categories of online scheduling: internal and external scheduling systems. Companies use internal systems to allocate resources and assign tasks for work within the company itself. By contrast, an external system serves as an interface between a company and its customer base.
Many companies rely on third party vendors to provide online scheduling services. In some cases, a company will purchase software and run it on its own computer servers. A few companies commission customized systems designed for their specific industry's needs. Other companies subscribe to services hosted on the vendor's own Web servers.
There's no shortage of online scheduling vendors on the market. Each company offers a suite of applications designed to make scheduling simple and organized. Some focus on specific industries, while others take a more general approach. There are proprietary products as well as open source approaches available. Some have subscription fees, some have a one-time purchase price and some are free of charge. It's up to the customer to research products and compare them against his or her needs.
For some companies, the most important consideration regarding online scheduling is financial. Can online scheduling save money? If leveraged properly, a well-designed online scheduling system can help administrators cut costs and make better use of their resources. The key is to implement a system that's easy to use and maintain.
How are companies using online scheduling systems to handle complicated internal scheduling? Keep reading to find out.
Schedulebook offers several options in online scheduling services.
Why might a company use an online scheduling service for internal scheduling? For one thing, it gives employees the chance to create and view schedules even when they aren't in the office. This comes in handy for people who are on business trips or need to check resource availability from home.
Online scheduling services also can create centralized scheduling systems that span multiple divisions or departments. In some companies, different segments of the organization don't know what's going on with other parts of the business. A centralized system makes it easier for different departments to collaborate on projects together. It reduces the need to reconcile one department's schedule against another.
While there are plenty of offline scheduling systems that can also complete these tasks, they normally lack the accessibility of online systems.
Online scheduling systems are particularly well suited for certain industries. One in particular is the nursing industry. Nurses tend to work long shifts. Their shifts can vary a great deal -- they might work a day shift on one day and a night shift later in the week. Often, individual nurses will want a specific shift more than another. As a result, many hospitals allow nurses to trade shifts with each other, or to pick up extra shifts.
As you can imagine, this becomes a scheduling nightmare. An administrator has to make sure that each shift has the proper coverage. If the administrator needs to fill a shift and can't get in touch with a nurse who wants it, he or she might have to hire a temporary nurse. Sometimes, that also means that someone has to train the temp so that he or she knows how to follow the proper procedures. Even if there are available nurses on staff, those nurses might not have the skill set necessary to qualify for certain shifts. Keeping the schedule organized and filled is time consuming and challenging.
A few hospitals have implemented online scheduling systems as a way to address this complicated issue. Nurses can log into the system from home to select shifts and contact each other to make trades or cover another nurse's shift. Because they no longer have to relay schedule changes through another human being, everyone can spend more time focusing on other job duties. Some hospitals report that they don't have to hire temp nurses to cover empty shifts as often. A few have customized systems that allow a nurse to cover a shift only if he or she meets specific qualifications.
The result means less paperwork for the nursing administrators and more freedom for the nurses. Some of the hospitals saw a rise in nurse morale and job satisfaction as a result. Also, because the hospitals saw a reduction in the need for temporary workers, they saved money [source: Incentive Magazine].
While the nursing industry is in many ways unique, other industries can also benefit from an online scheduling system. Companies need to educate employees on the system and make sure it fits the needs of their organizations before implementation. It's not realistic to think that just by installing an online scheduling system, everything will work out fine.
What about companies that use external online scheduling systems? How are they used, and why? Find out in the next section.
Companies that use online scheduling with external customers usually do so as a supplement to traditional scheduling systems. For example, a car dealership might allow customers to schedule a service center appointment online. Customers wouldn't have to call in to the center and speak with a representative. Instead, they would first register an account on the dealership's Web site. Then, they'd open the schedule and choose a time slot. The system might ask them about the nature of the service. At that point, the system would either send an e-mail to the customer or a representative would call to confirm the appointment.
One of the considerations companies must make when implementing such a system is how much time it takes to complete a given task. While an appointment might have a specific time limit, that doesn't necessarily mean the business can accommodate two appointments back to back. That's why most online scheduling systems allow businesses to create time buckets. The bucket acts like a buffer, giving the business a little spare time on either end of an appointment. Subsequent appointments can't overlap the buffer. This helps keep all appointments on time and decreases delays.
Online scheduling can also give business owners an idea about how close to capacity they'll operate on a day-to-day basis. Using this information, owners can rearrange employee schedules to maximize efficiency. When coupled with an internal scheduling system, owners can balance customer needs and employee satisfaction.
Most businesses don't abandon traditional scheduling systems completely for online ones. They don't want to neglect customers who are unable or unwilling to use the Web to make appointments. In that respect, they consider online scheduling to be a convenience feature rather than a pivotal business function.
Customers' adoption of online systems depends on several factors. Those include technical, regional, generational and cultural traits. It's entirely feasible for a company with offices in different cities to see dramatically different usage levels of online scheduling among customer bases. For example, a chain of restaurants might have a lot of customers who prefer to schedule reservations online for restaurants in big cities, but see very few online reservations for locations in rural areas.
Just as companies need to consider if an internal online scheduling system makes sense for their business, they need to take these factors into consideration for external systems. It's important to keep in mind that such systems are supplemental. While they might make it easier to stay organized and reduce customer calls, they won't entirely replace traditional scheduling.
To learn more about online scheduling and other topics, schedule some time with the links on the next page.
Anderson, Mary Alice. "E-Scheduling." MultiMedia & Internet@Schools. Mar/Apr. 2007. Vol. 14, Issue 2, pp. 29-31.
"AutoRevenue Announces @utoScheduler 2.0." PR Newswire. New York. Jan. 29, 2008.
Beene, Ryan. "Online scheduling, parts sales build service work." Automotive News. Feb. 2008. Vol. 82, Issue 6293, p. 20.
Davis, Bruce. "Few tire dealers try online scheduling." Tire Business. March 2008. Vol. 25, Issue 24, pp. 21-24.
Howard, Courtney E. "Save time, schedule online." Electronic Publishing. March 2001. pp. 57-58.
"Online Scheduling Speeds it Up." Ward's Dealer Business. Dec. 2007. p. 46.
Palmer, Alex. "Right on Schedule." Incentive Magazine. Feb. 2008. Vol. 182, Issue 2, pp. 38-40.


This label, whose wines are all crafted by the talented Simon Fell, perennially overachieves in the value-for-money stakes. This rendition has an attractively austere bent. Dry, with a greenish, herbal flavour profile, it is acid-driven with a minerally texture. Another wine that cries out for kai moana.


Based on our Heron Plan from our Smart Collection this new show home has all you need for modern family living. Four double bedrooms, two bathrooms and a generous walk-in wardrobe.
Our Smart Collection is designed to provide great great value for money while also containing all the key things you expect in a new home. They are modern, warm, light, low maintenance and built from quality materials, sourced from New Zealand's leading suppliers and manufacturers.
Drop into our showhome for inspiration and ideas on how to build your home, your way with Signature Homes.


text:
Media Winter Redux
Spin Stops Print Edition
By Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke • 12/21/12 2:06pm
Just in time for the holidays, Spin's printing presses have officially stopped spinning. The music magazine, which started way back in 1985, announced today that print edition is officially no more.
After the magazine was acquired by Buzzmedia in July, they announced that there would be no November/December issue but affirmed the importance of print.
"We believe print is important for Spin," Buzzmedia CEO Tyler Goldman told the Times in July. "As we continue to invest in the platform, we're going to look at defining what that role is."
Well, it appears that print isn't that important for Spin. Subscribers to Spin's print publication can look forward to Car and Driver for the remaining term of their subscription to the music magazine–because there is a large overlap between the two readerships? We aren't actually sure what the logic is there, but we hope that the fans of the music review mag also like cars! And driving!
Filed Under: Media, Spin, Media Winter Redux
SEE ALSO: Disney Out-Performs Expectations to Provide a Ray of Entertainment Optimism


text:
Election Day Countdown
Time to choose
advertising Books branding Communications Crisis Culture Cwazy Quotes Diversion Diversity education Ethics film Free speech Fun Government Humor international Journalism Kickass journalism language leadership Marketing Media Messaging More Blogs We Dig Overhead Politics Pop culture PR PRSA Public relations research round-up Service advisories Social Media Speaking and presentations Speeches Speechwriting sports Suggested reading Technology Writing
RUMINATIONS AND FULMINATIONS ON COMMUNICATION
Dennis Lang on Trump Launches Operation Bannarossa
Jon Austin on Trump Launches Operation Bannarossa
Sally Bower Maenner on Trump Launches Operation Bannarossa
Gary Gilson on Trump Launches Operation Bannarossa
Mike Kennedy on Trump Launches Operation Bannarossa
Minnesota Blogs
Across The Great Divide
Braublog – David Brauer (MinnPost)
Mercury Rising
Minnesota Monitor
Strib's Hot Dish Politics
The McGill Report
The Uptake
Wry Wing Politics
More Blogs We Dig
Ad Age – Bob Garfield Reviews
Calling John Galt
Content Bridges
Idea Peepshow
McGuire on Media
Newsy.com
NPR On the Media
Pew Center for People and the Press
Poynter Institute
PR Watch
PressThink
Red State Update
The Kadet Communications Blog
The Same Rowdy Crowd
Ruminations and Fulminations
Trump Launches Operation Bannarossa
August 18, 2017 August 18, 2017 Jon AustinBreitbart, Donald Trump, Germany, HR McMaster, James Mattis, Jeff Sessions, John Kelly, Joseph Dunford, Joshua Green, Napoleon, nazis, Operation Barbarossa, Rebekah Mercer, Robert Mercer, Russia, Soviet Union, Stephen Bannon10 Comments
Donald Trump is surrounded by – and apparently admires and respects – generals. His chief of staff, John Kelly, is a retired four-star Marine general. His Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, is also a retired four-star Marine general. His national security adviser, H. R. McMaster, is an active three-star Army general. And then there's the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, who is also a four-star Marine general. He could walk out of any door in the Oval Office and would trip over a general. A couple of them – McMaster and Mattis – are known as intellectuals and students of history.
Since Mr. Trump seems to have some sort of soft spot for fascists, white nationalists and neo-Nazis, he should ask any of those generals about Operation Barbarossa and how it worked out for Germany's Nazis. Today, with the shit-canning of the lumpy, oatmeal-ish, slovenly Steve Bannon, Trump is making the same strategic blunder. Let's call it Operation Bannarossa.
Now, please don't think for a second that 1) I'm unhappy about Mr. Bannon's departure or 2) that I feel sorry for Mr. Trump that he's made a decision of such epic stupidity that it compares to the decision that ultimately caused the death of millions, caused Germany to lose the war and led to the division of Europe for almost half a century. I am, actually, almost gleeful (more on that below). Instead, I'm writing today because this marks what may well be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency.
For those too lazy to click on the link or who are too far removed from their high school history class, Operation Barbarossa was the name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June of 1941. It was – and remains – the largest military operation in history, involving 4 million men, an 1,800-mile front, 600,000 motor vehicles and 600,000 to 700,000 horses for non-combat operations. It also opened a second front in Germany's war, one that ultimately sucked dry the German war machine. The horrific and protracted fighting lasted for four years and directly contributed to the ability of the Allies on the western front to reclaim the countries of western Europe that had been conquered earlier in the war.
There's some debate among students of history whether Germany had to invade the western part of the Soviet Union as a source of manpower and natural resources, but there's little debate – at least that I can find – that the actual invasion was incredibly stupid. It was based on overly optimistic assessments of German military effectiveness, the weakness of the Soviet military and the strength of its political leadership. It ignored the lessons learned by one of the great tacticians of all time, Napoleon Bonaparte, who invaded Russia in 1812 with an army of 422,000 soldiers and came home in 1813 with 10,000 men marching behind him (see the graphic below).
What Trump has done today is pretty much the same thing. By firing Steve, he has opened up a new front in his war with…pretty much everyone. Yesterday, his strategic map looked like this:
In the first seven months of his administration, Mr. Trump managed to go to war with almost everyone who wasn't in his "base." Whether deliberately or through ineptitude (my leading theory) he has managed to alienate both those he might have persuaded (Independents, moderate Democrats, the intelligence community) and those he should have been able to hold close like Senate Republicans, his only reliable support has been those loyal supporters on the right who – for a variety of reasons – responded to his populist/nationalist message. There are enough of these people to keep Mr. Trump's rallies full and to enforce a little discipline on Congressional Republicans who are scared that they might be primaried by unhappy Trump voters.
Today, with the launch of Operation Bannarossa, Mr. Trump's strategic map looks like this:
With this firing, Mr. Trump has opened up another front that will, I believe, cost him a substantial part of his remaining support. He has 1) pissed off and embarrassed Steve Bannon 2) freed him to "let Bannon be Bannon" 3) angered all those who think of Mr. Bannon as their guy inside this White House. High among those are the billionaire Mercer family, which has bankrolled Breitbart and Mr. Bannon and, of course, Breitbart itself. These people believe – with good reason – that they made Donald J. Trump's unlikely victory and they can, by God, take it away.
Lest you think I'm exaggerating how this move is being perceived by Mr. Bannon's allies, his former colleagues at Breitbart sent out a one-word Tweet upon hearing the news:
And, lest you think I'm exaggerating the amount of effort Steve Bannon and his Breitbart colleagues poured into promoting Mr. Trump, I highly recommend the just-published Devil's Bargain by Joshua Green that details how Bannon was pushing the Trump candidacy long before joining the campaign in August 2016. Consider, for example, Bannon's efforts in February 2016 to convince then-Senator Jeff Sessions to endorse Trump:
As Joshua Green wrote in "Devil's Bargain," Sessions, then a senator from Alabama, was unsure if Trump could secure the Republican nomination, and knew that being the first senator to endorse Trump could further curtail his political future if Trump, the Republican frontrunner at the time, lost.
The day before Sessions endorsed Trump at a Madison, Alabama rally in February 2016, then-Breitbart News chairman Bannon told Sessions that it was "do or die" time and that "this is the moment" to endorse.
"Trump is a great advocate for our ideas," Sessions told Bannon. "But can he win?"
"100%," Bannon said. "If he can stick to your message and personify this stuff, there's not a doubt in my mind."
Sessions then noted that the GOP already denied him the chairmanship of the Budget Committee, and that "if I do this endorsement and it doesn't work, it's the end of my career in the Republican Party."
"It's do or die," Bannon replied. "This is it. This is the moment."
That moment was just days before what are known as the "SEC" primaries — a series of primary contests concentrated throughout the South. Bannon told Sessions that his endorsement could push Trump over the hump in many of those contests and essentially seal up the Republican nomination.
"Okay, I'm all-in," Sessions said. "But if he doesn't win, it's over for me."
And, lest you think I'm exaggerating the importance of Breitbart in setting the agenda of American conservatives and in controlling what they read, watch and listen to, I refer you to a recent study by a Harvard/MIT team which reached the following conclusion:
Our own study of over 1.25 million stories published online between April 1, 2015 and Election Day shows that a right-wing media network anchored around Breitbart developed as a distinct and insulated media system, using social media as a backbone to transmit a hyper-partisan perspective to the world. This pro-Trump media sphere appears to have not only successfully set the agenda for the conservative media sphere, but also strongly influenced the broader media agenda, in particular coverage of Hillary Clinton.
The research team visualized Breitbart's impact by looking at how many postings to Facebook come from the various media sources. By far, the largest star in the conservative universe – the one that bends light because of its gravitational field – is Breitbart. Bigger than Fox, bigger than the Daily Caller or any other outlet combined.
And Donald Trump just went to war with them. Good luck with that.
As an aside, if you want an in-depth look at Breitbart, I recommend this week's New York Times magazine cover story.
Now, some will take issue with the near-glee I feel at the prospect of watching Mr. Trump's approval ratings go into the 20s (near certain IMHO) and the steady procession of Congressional denouncements (again a near-certainty) and staff and Cabinet resignations (likely but not certain because some will have no place else to go – the spittle-chinned Stephen Miller for example – or are so thoroughly stained – I'm looking at you @kellyannepolls – that there's no reason to leave). It is unpatriotic to root for our president to fail, they'll argue, and in general I agree.
But, this isn't the general case; Donald Trump is the black swan sort of case. After watching the damage he's done to our country over the last seven months, convinced that he will never, ever, EVER change, I'm convinced that we need him to leave office as soon as possible whether through resignation, impeachment, use of the 25th Amendment or taking him up on his offer to go away for five billion dollars. We cannot survive a full term of this man.
Operation Bannarossa…may it do for Donald Trump what Operation Barbarossa did for the Nazis. Faster.
A Not-So-Implausible Conspiracy Theory
July 19, 2017 Jon AustinAnatoli Samochornov, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., G20, Irakly Kaveladzeare, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Melania Trump, Michael Flynn, Mitch McConnell, Natalia Veselnitskaya, Paul Manafort, Rinat Akhmetshin, Rob Goldstone, Russia, Sergey Gorkov, Sergey Kislyak, Sergey Lavrov, syria, Tiffany Trump, Ukraine, United States, Vladimir Putin12 Comments
The June 2016 meeting between the Trumps and the Russians is the subject of ongoing scrutiny by the media, the public and – it appears – the special counsel appointed to look into the question of Russian involvement in the 2016 election. Much more effort will likely be expended in this area, trying to suss out what happened in that 20-30 minute meeting.
Those efforts are important, but here's reality: The moment the Trumps' visitors stepped off the elevator on the 25th floor of their tower to sit down with Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, the Trumps became pawns of the Russians. It doesn't matter what was actually said or done.
By way of explanation, consider who was on the field that day: Starting with the visiting team, we have Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian attorney with close ties to the Russian elite, two people, Rob Goldstone and Irakly Kaveladzeare beholden to the Agalarov family, a former Soviet counter-intelligence officer, Rinat Akhmetshin, and a translator, Anatoli Samochornov.
Playing for the home team, we have the aforementioned Trump, Kushner and Manafort.
Now, if I were the kind of guy who was a former intelligence officer who used to catch and run spies for one of the most vicious (and effective) intelligence agencies in the world, the kind of guy who has been in power for nearly two decades and runs his country like a private bank for himself and his friends, the kind of guy whose political opponents serendipitously end up dead – if, in other words, I was Vladimir Putin – I would view this meeting as a lever. I could – with very little effort I suspect – convince the visitors – all of whom are tied to me, my country or my friends – to tell any story I wanted about what was said, what documents were provided, how the home team reacted.
Absolutely anything.
If I were Vladimir Putin's kind of guy, I could probably get the visitors to swear that Ms. Veselnitskaya promised the Russians would arrange for the release thousands of Clinton campaign e-mails if Don Jr. promised that his dad would look the other way on Ukraine. Or that the Trump organization would wire $100 million to a Cayman Islands bank in exchange for help. Or that he'd pimp out Melania, Ivanka or Tiffany.
Or anything else. Let your imagination run.
Lest you think this is unrealistic, consider this thought experiment: sooner or later, the visiting team is going to be called to testify before Congress. If all five participants come to the witness table and in shaky, tremulous voices describe a more-or-less consistent version of what happened in that meeting, who can rebut them? After a solid year of lying, dissembling, omitting, misdirections, incomplete answers, amended forms and convenient forgetfulness, can anyone honestly claim that Don Jr., Jared and Paul have MORE credibility than five earnest people who haven't spent all that time lying in public on a near-daily basis?
What if someone on the visiting team happened to record the meeting? Or at least has a recording that purports to be from the meeting? Before you say no way could something like that be faked, read this article.
Of course, the beauty of a lever like this is that you don't actually have to use it in order to make it effective. All you have to do is let your opponents know that you have the lever and that you're prepared to use it. You would also offer them a carrot in the form of a "promise" that the visiting team would continue to be helpful in terms of denying anything untoward happened as long as the Trump administration continued to cooperate.
Now, when could the Russians have let the Trumps know of the existence of such a carrot-and-stick arrangement? Could they have told them…
During the undisclosed conversations between Mike Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak?
During the undisclosed meetings between Jeff Sessions and Kislyak?
During the undisclosed meeting between Jared Kushner and Kislyak?
During the undisclosed meeting between Kushner and Russian banker Sergey Gorkov, the head of Vnesheconombank?
During President Trump's unpublicized meeting in the Oval Office with Kislyak and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov?
During the 2:15 meeting between President Trump and Putin at the G20?
During the just-disclosed one-on-one meeting between the two at the G20 dinner?
Those are just a few of the possibilities. Turns out there's a Wikipedia page dedicated to cataloging the many ways information like this might have flowed to the Trumps.
"The Russians are not our friends," said Mitch McConnell. Similarly, Vladimir Putin does not admire, respect or want to be friends with Donald Trump. Everything I've ever read about the man suggests that people are important to him only to the extent that they're useful to him. The Trumps, through ineptitude, greed or entitlement, have made themselves extraordinarily useful. As I'm putting the finishing touches on this article, I'm seeing reports that the Trump administration has ended its program to supply arms to anti-Assad rebels in Syria, something long sought by Moscow. As one current official described the decision, "Putin won in Syria."
See how useful the Trumps can be?
The Arrogance of Donald Trump
May 10, 2017 May 10, 2017 Jon AustinDonald Trump, James Comey, Keith Schiller12 Comments
I'll leave it to the elephants to trample the grass around the firing of FBI Director James Comey – except to agree with the obvious point that this clearly wasn't about the Director's handling of the Hillary Clinton e-mail issue – but I do want to call out one telling detail of yesterday's drama: Mr. Trump sent his longtime bodyguard – Keith Schiller – to hand carry the letter of dismissal to Director Comey's office. That wasn't an accident and reveals the petty cruelty and arrogance of Mr. Trump.
For those unfamiliar with Mr. Schiller, he has been part of the Trump Organization since 1999 when he signed on as a part-time bodyguard. In 2005, he became Trump's head of security. If you've ever watched a Trump rally, you've probably seen Mr. Schiller as he's rarely far from his boss.
Schiller served in the New York Police Department and in the Navy so he has law enforcement experience, but his primary qualification for his job is his unwavering loyalty to Trump. Sending him to "fire" James Comey – someone who has worked for decades in the highest levels of our nation's law enforcement – is a calculated insult akin to sending a first-year medical student to pull a neurosurgeon out of an operating room.
In plain language, it's a dick move by a low-class bully who probably fouled the Oval Office by giggling about how clever he was.
This detail changes nothing about how I feel about Mr. Trump and I suspect that it won't change anyone's opinion of the man. If, however, someone tells you about the "warm and gracious" Trump that no one sees on camera, remember this counterpoint. This is the real Donald Trump and these are the people he wants around him.
High-Risk Pools, Pre-Existing Conditions and Other Lies: Why Tomorrow's Health Care Vote Matters
May 3, 2017 May 3, 2017 Jon AustinAffordable Care Act, Donald Trump, health care, House of Representatives, paul ryan7 Comments
Word this evening is that the House Republican leadership has set a vote for tomorrow on the latest version of "Repeal and Replace." Insiders and observers are saying that this is a sign Speaker Ryan and his whips have found the requisite number of "yeas" to get the bill out of the House and on to the Senate.
On the one hand, tomorrow's vote doesn't really matter. Whatever Frankenbill they cobbled together won't last a day in the Senate before it gets shredded. And, whatever the Senate sends back to the House will be a non-starter for the lower house. So tomorrow is a little meaningless skirmish in a larger war. It will give the Umber Jackhole residing at 1600 Pennsylvania an empty victory he will claim in Tweet and incoherent interview alike but nothing much else.
On the other hand, the hand I care about this evening, tomorrow's vote matters a lot. The Republican legislation – to the extent anyone knows what's actually in it – substantially weakens the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. The authors of the bill know this. The administration knows this. Donald Trump doesn't care what it does as long as it passes.
And yet all of these people are saying just the opposite and are thus perpetrating a fraud on the American people and on that basis, tomorrow's vote matters very much. It is a test of whether our system still works, an opportunity to say, "Hell no" to this level of mendacity and grifter behavior.
If you're already convinced on this point, you can skip the rest of this post and simply stop here with this call to action: Please call, email or visit your Congressperson tomorrow. Do it more than once. The main phone number is (202) 224-3121. You can find a list of Congressional offices (most with links to their direct phone numbers and emails) here. Don't know how your Representative is? Look it up here. Tweet at them, post on their Facebook pages. Share this with your friends and ask them to do the same. Ask your Representative to reject this legislation.
If, however, you're unconvinced that tomorrow's vote is worth your time or if some of your friends need more than just an ask from some random person on their Facebook feed, the rest of this post is for you and them.
At the core of the bill being voted on tomorrow is a set of changes that will allow insurers to return to many of their pre-ACA behaviors including greater price discrimination by age, the promotion of substandard plans, as well as cuts to Medicaid and – as has been much discussed – will create a pathway for the elimination of coverage for pre-existing conditions.
As I understand the proposed legislation, if a state asks the federal government for a waiver, insurers in that state can refuse to cover pre-existing conditions if 1) the insured person lets his or her coverage lapse and 2) the state sets up a "high-risk" pool or reinsurance program as a safety net. This is pretty much the way things worked in the pre-ACA days when – according to the New York Times – 35 states had such mechanisms.
So…let's contemplate for a second how many Republican governors there are – 33. How many state legislatures are controlled by the GOP – 32. How many of those politicians have pledged their undying, unyielding hatred of Obamacare. Suddenly, that hurdle doesn't seem so high.
The process for granting a waiver? Under the current Trump administration, I'm guessing that will be something that can be completed on a postcard and approved with a "looks good to me" review.
I'll leave it to you to contemplate all the ways you can lose coverage in today's world of economic dislocation. Suffice it to say shit happens.
"But wait! Wait," the apologists will claim. Even if you're right, those people will still have access to care. Through the high-risk pools.
Yeah, let's talk about that idea.
Historically, as the Times article notes, those pools have been wildly underfunded, charged participants much, much higher premiums than the prevailing market, were capped in terms of how many people they would accept and how much they would pay out either in a year or a lifetime. As the Times noted, California had an annual cap of $75,000 per person and across all the plans – in all 35 states – a grand total of 230,000 people were able to get coverage.
230,000 people out of 321,000,000. Less than 1/10 of 1 percent of the population.
Needless to say the number of people with pre-existing conditions is substantially bigger than 1/10th of 1 percent. How much bigger? Try 270 times bigger. And, depending on where you live, a lot bigger.
That's not hyperbole. That's actual verified data, the stuff we used to call "facts" in the old days. Based on an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 27 percent of the people under 65 have a pre-existing condition. Add it all up, according to Kaiser, and you come up with more than 52,000,000 people who might find themselves with no coverage, unaffordable coverage or substandard coverage.
And, of course, as you get older, the prevalence of pre-existing conditions increases. The graphic from AARP below illustrates, the percentage of people in the 50-64 age bracket with a pre-existing condition ranges from 32 percent on the low end to 52 percent on the high end.
You might not have a pre-existing condition, but if you live in a family of four chances are someone in your family does. If your block has 12 families on it, three of them might be uninsurable under a loosened standard of coverage and could be bankrupted by the cost of care. As Jimmy Kimmel tearfully noted, even newborns come with pre-existing conditions and a family without insurance – or an insurance plan with a lifetime or annual cap – can find itself have to choose between caring for their newborn or sending him to college, owning a home or a retirement.
In case you're interested in exactly what constitutes a pre-existing condition, you might be surprised to learn that you could pretty easily fall in that category. Pre-ACA, the list of conditions considered pre-existing included:
Arthritis (rheumatoid), fibromyalgia, other inflammatory joint disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/emphysema
Coronary artery/heart disease, bypass surgery
Crohn's disease/ ulcerative colitis
Kidney disease, renal failure
Mental disorders (severe, e.g. bipolar, eating disorder)
Pending surgery or hospitalization
Pneumocystic pneumonia
Pregnancy or expectant parent
Pre-existing conditions could also injuries, previous surgical procedures and more.
I'm not alone in opposing this, of course, and neither is it a liberal thing. The famously conservative American Medical Association? Against it. Also the American Psychiatric Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Osteopathic Association and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. So too is the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, JDRF, March of Dimes, the National Organization for Rare Disorders, the National MS Society and others. The American Hospital Association? A no vote. Ditto for the Children's Hospital Association and AARP. For too many reasons to enumerate, these organizations know the scam that's being pulled and are screaming about it:
"None of the legislative tweaks under consideration changes the serious harm to patients and the health care delivery system if AHCA passes. Proposed changes to the bill tinker at the edges without remedying the fundamental failing of the bill – that millions of Americans will lose their health insurance as a direct result of this proposal.
"High-risk pools are not a new idea. Prior to the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, 35 states operated high-risk pools, and they were not a panacea for Americans with pre-existing medical conditions. The history of high-risk pools demonstrates that Americans with pre-existing conditions will be stuck in second-class health care coverage – if they are able to obtain coverage at all.
"Not only would the AHCA eliminate health insurance coverage for millions of Americans, the legislation would, in many cases, eliminate the ban against charging those with underlying medical conditions vastly more for their coverage."
– American Medical Association President Andrew W. Gurman, M.D
Again, the authors of this bill also know all this. They know that they're opening an easy pathway to exclusion of pre-existing conditions. They know the money they've set aside to support high-risk pools is inadequate for its intended purpose. They know the extra $8 billion they dramatically added to the bill today does nothing to change these calculations.
And yet they look us in the eye and tell us exactly the opposite. We cannot, should not, let this go unnoticed and unopposed. To the contrary, I hope that every Member of Congress goes to vote tomorrow with the credo of Anonymous echoing in his or her mind: We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.
That's why tomorrow's vote is important. Spread the word.
WWASD?
April 7, 2017 April 7, 2017 Jon Austinaaron Sorkin, Andrew Shepherd, Donald Trump, syria11 Comments
"What would Andrew Shepherd do?"
Liberals (or "hyper liberals" as I was recently called) of a certain age have something of a wet dream fantasy about the 1990s movie The American President. For those of you who haven't seen it or have forgotten it, it's the gauzy reimagining of the Clinton presidency without the messy bits of scandal and – prominently – without the First Lady. With snappier dialogue, better cheekbones and a tragicom plot line of the widowed President Andrew Shepherd raising a daughter and finding love in the Lincoln bedroom, it's a reliable feel-good movie on a lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon. Spoiler alert: turns out it's possible to be an ethical, honest elected official, speak the truth, fix the economy, settle the debate on gun control, eviscerate the politics of division and get the girl.
Thus, in times of controversy, we liberals of a certain age are prone to ask the question, "What would Andrew Shepherd do?"
Fortunately, Aaron Sorkin anticipated just the sort of event we've seen play out this week and it's an instructional – albeit fictional – bit of content:
INT. THE SITUATION ROOM – NIGHT. SHEPHERD, A.J., the SECRETARY OF STATE, the SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, and about a dozen or so Pentagon, Security Council, and Joint Chiefs OFFICIALS are doing exactly what they're trained for.
CHAIRMAN (continuing) "…The F-18's are fired up on the Kimitz and the Kitty Hawk. They're just waiting for your attack order, Mr. President."
SHEPHERD "And we're gonna hit Libyan Intelligence Headquarters?"
MAN "The N.S.A. confirmed they're the ones who planned the bombing."
CHIEF OF STAFF "What's the estimate?"
GENERAL "We'll level the building."
SHEPHERD "Libyan I.H.Q's in the middle of downtown Tripoli — are we gonna hit anything else?"
GENERAL "Only if we miss."
SHEPHERD "Are we gonna miss?"
GENERAL "No, sir."
SHEPHERD "How many people work in that building?"
CHAIRMAN "We've been all through–"
SHEPHERD "How many people work in the damn building?"
DEPUTY "I've got those number here. There are three shifts, so it–"
SHEPHERD "The fewest. What shift puts the fewest people in the building? The night shift, right?"
DEPUTY "By far. Mostly custodial staff and a few–"
SHEPHERD "What time does the night crew go on?"
DEPUTY "They're on now, sir."
SHEPHERD "A.J.?"
CHIEF OF STAFF: "It's immediate, it's decisive, it's low risk, and it's a proportional response."
SHEPHERD Someday somebody's going to have to explain to me the virtue of a proportional response.
There's a SILENCE. SHEPHERD gets up and starts to head out the door.
CHAIRMAN "Mr. President?"
SHEPHERD "Attack."
CUT TO: INT. OVAL OFFICE – NIGHT
SHEPHERD is with CHIEF OF STAFF and a couple of AIDES, all of whom look as though they've been called out of their homes in the middle of the night.
CHIEF OF STAFF "Robin, as soon as our planes have cleared Libyan airspace, you can call the press. I don't know when we'll have the full B.D.A.–"
AIDE 1 "General Rork says around O-Eight Hundred."
AIDE 2 "Sir, what do you think about a national address?"
SHEPHERD "The last thing I want to do is put the Libyans center stage."
AIDE 3 "I think it's a great idea, sir. You know Rumson's gonna be talking about your lack of military service."
SHEPHERD "This isn't about Rumson. What I did tonight was not about political gain."
AIDE 3 "But it can be, sir. What you did tonight was very presidential."
SHEPHERD "Leon, somewhere in Libyan right now there's a janitor working the night shift at the Libyan Intelligence Headquarters. He's going about his job 'cause he has no idea that in about an hour he's gonna die in a massive explosion. He's just going about his job 'cause he has no idea that an hour ago I gave an order to have him killed. You just saw me do the least presidential thing I do."
AIDE 3 "Yes, sir."
I've never been in the White House situation room. I've never been a part of a decision like this. I can't say definitively what President Trump's decision making process was in terms of if and how we should respond to Syria's gassing of its citizens. I can only judge by what I can observe from afar, what I know of Mr. Trump by studying him over the last year or so and what's reported in the not-fake news. Based on those sources, it appears to me that Mr. Trump's decision to dramatically increase our engagement in one of the most difficult geopolitical issues in the world went something like this:
""Oh, look at what's on TV now…That's terrible…this Assad guy is a bad dude…I want to punch him in the nose…that'll show him who's in charge…I'll tell the generals….oh, look at what's on TV now…"
I also suspect that President Trump does not see his decision as "the least presidential thing I do" but just the opposite. My profound fear is that he enjoyed this exercise of presidential power – 59 cruise missiles is a pretty substantial mood shifter – and that it felt good. I fear that he's right now watching television again and seeing people across the political spectrum praise him (or at least not criticize him so robustly as on other issues) and thinking, "That worked…people like it…we have lots of those missiles…nobody likes that North Korean guy…I want to punch him in the nose…that'll show him who's in charge…China will respect us…I'll tell the generals…."
In other words, not an Andrew Shepherd moment.
Minnesota Has Seen This Movie
March 25, 2017 March 26, 2017 Jon AustinDonald Trump, Freedom Caucus, Gary Cohn, Jesse Ventura, paul ryan, Rick Snyder, Scott Walker, Steve Mnuchin, Steve Sviggum10 Comments
As I watched the dramatic collapse of Trumpcare today, I was reminded that Minnesotans have seen this Happy Gilmoresque movie before: Before there was "Trump: The President" there was "Ventura: The Governor."
For those younger than me – approximately all of you – you might not remember that in 1998, sober, sane, proud-of-our-good-government-instincts Minnesota elected a former professional wrestler – surely the forerunners of today's reality stars – and bit-player actor ("I ain't got time to bleed.") as its governor. While this decision looks positively brilliant next to Mr. Trump's election – Ventura had at least served in the military and had held elective office – it was an electoral exercise in "what-the-fuck" voting as two uninspiring mainstream candidates drove down their turnout and allowed a third party candidate to eke out a narrow victory.
Two things saved Mr. Ventura's tenure from immediately becoming the smoldering crater that is the Trump Administration after just 64 days. First, and most obviously, is the fact that we elected a buffoon to the Governor's Office instead of the Oval Office thus limiting the damage that even the most inept office holder can do (though one should never underestimate what a motivated governor can do – I'm looking at you Scott Lets-Gut-Public-Unions Walker and you Rick Let-Them-Drink-Lead Snyder). Second, as MPR notes, Jesse "The Body" Ventura was lucky enough to come into office with a $4 billion tax surplus (which it also notes he turned into a $4.5 billion deficit) and a blessedly quiet period in Minnesota when the most difficult public policy questions consisted of everyone asking, "What should we do with all this extra money?" Even Jesse Ventura – who had the not-very-original-or-smart- but-defensible position of rebating the surplus to taxpayers – could manage not to screw things up too bad in a political environment that marshmallowly.
As an aside, while I was reading the MPR story mentioned above to refresh my memory of what happened – and didn't – during The Body's time in office, I was struck by this passage:
Republican House Speaker Steve Sviggum says Ventura's relationship with key lawmakers was hot and cold.
"There are times he just charmed you tremendously. You know, just very, very charming," Sviggum said. "And in the next minute, you'll be shaking your head and saying, 'you know, I don't want anything to do with the individual.'"
Gee, who does that remind me of? Wait, wait…it'll come to me.
Unfortunately, shit got real for Minnesota in the last year or so of Governor Ventura's term when the money ran out and actually governing and legislating had to be done. Mr. Ventura, after making some nominal efforts to participate in the process, checked out and left it to the legislature to work it out. I seem to recall he spent his time – while in office – being the MC for something called the XFL, junketing to China and Cuba and feuding with the media (the more things change…).
This trip down memory lane is more than just an old fart's reminiscences; it bears on today's debacle – and that's an insult to the other debacles – in terms of what happened today and – more importantly – what's going to happen next.
Today, Mr. Trump's efforts at playing the role of President were exposed as the fraud many of us have believed it would be and is. The master negotiator got rolled by two dozen guys in $200 Men's Wearhouse poly-blend suits. The "closer" discovered he's a "c" short. The Great Leader turned around and discovered the parade was a bit shorter than he'd promised and that nobody seems terribly worried about crossing him. In short, he got the shit kicked out of him and even if he can't admit it, looked hopelessly out his depth.
Who knew health care was so complicated? I mean, gee Wally, I guess being a grown up is harder than it looks.
My prediction is that Mr. Trump – who is so thin-skinned he makes Mr. Ventura look positively indifferent to criticism – will do exactly what the governor did back in 2001; he'll pull back from all this "governing stuff" and leave it to the Congress – and maybe his cabinet members – to deal with. Having suffered a body-blow of a loss, Mr. Trump will retreat to what he likes best – ceremonial photo ops with truckers, bikers, CEOs who announce jobs (real or not), rallies (though I'll be interested to see how those crowds hold up for a guy who lent his name to a bill supported by 17 percent of voters), Mar-a-Lago and Twitter. The billionaire president is going to be positively cheap when it comes to spending whatever political capital he has left.
We'll be able to assess the accuracy of my prediction in short order because in just a few weeks Congress will have to vote to increase the debt limit or risk a default by the U.S. government. The adults in the room – reported to be Mnuchin and Cohn when it comes to economics – will start issuing warnings. Speaker Ryan, cindered up to his well-toned biceps from the last 18 days, will be as firm as Jello and mostly ignored. Mitch McConnell will say…something. The Freedom Caucus will announce its unalterable opposition to raising the debt limit (but will back-channel that it can be bought for some draconian price), the Democrats will take the understandable (albeit not very grown up) position that since it's the Republicans who control both both houses and the White House, it's their responsibility to lead on the issue.
My guess – based on what I know of Mr. Trump and what the lesson of Jesse Ventura tells me – is that while the risk of default builds, President Trump will hit the links, meet with Bill Gates (again), Kanye, the border patrol union, seventeen guys in the construction business and a collection of country-and-western stars. He'll Tweet out stream-of-consciousness thoughts as he watches Fox & Friends and let Congress and his surrogates work it out (though he will never, ever again own their actions). If they're able to work out a deal, then – and only then – will he show up for work. I suspect he'll re-create the boardroom set from The Apprentice and make Ryan, McConnell and a player to be named later have to come pitch him to save the country's credit rating. He'll do it live. Steve Bannon will get a producer's credit. The other Steve – the one with the bulging eyes and the spittle – will do the script.
What a profile in courage. What a change agent. And it's only two months in. Forty-six more to go.
Hillary — Meet the Press, Dammit
August 25, 2016 August 25, 2016 Bruce BenidtChris Wallace, Donald Trump, Geraldine Ferraro, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, news conference, Press conference2 Comments
Let's just say it out loud: Hillary Clinton is wrong, selfish, stupid and irresponsible to not hold regular press conferences. Or at least one for goodness sake.
She is either a coward, or her ambition has crowded out her soul and what shreds of ethics she may still keep in a jar by the door.
If you read Carl Bernstein's book A Woman in Charge, you'll take this great journalist's view that her ambition leads her to do whatever it takes to get to where she wants to go. Whatever it takes.
Including spurning much of the media. She hasn't had a news conference in almost nine months. Yes she does some interviews one-on-one. Yes she calls in to some chosen news shows. Yes she sat down with Chris Wallace of Fox, one of the best, most fair and toughest interviewers out there. And she stuck her foot in her mouth.
But this is part of how you let America see you. You meet the press. This is part of what we voters deserve. To see how you handle tough inquiries from reporters in an uncontrollable scrum. Unruly? Sure. Unpredictable? Yes, thank god. And an important part of democracy. The media is not part of your marketing department, Madame Secretary. I've worked with a few public relations clients who felt that way. It's wrong. It's cynical.
Listening to Clinton answer journalists like Anderson Cooper's questions on why she doesn't hold a press conference is excruciating. If Clinton listens to herself she must shiver like someone tasting spoiled milk, or like John McCain every night when he realizes he's gone another day without retracting his endorsement of Donald Trump. "Well Anderson I talk to lots of reporters, as I am right now with you, and I have done hundreds of interviews and…" blah blah blah. Answer the question. Answer them all.
Are you a less-skilled communicator than Geraldine Ferraro, Walter Mondale's VP nominee, who in 1984 took questions from 200 reporters for nearly two hours about shady financial dealings she and her husband were accused of? She stood there and took everything they could throw at her. And here's Ragan's PR Daily's assessment of the outcome, from a 2011 piece on Ferraro's death:
It helped reverse the narrative that she was not transparent;
It turned her into a more sympathetic figure;
It offered Ferraro a vital opportunity to show her mettle as a female candidate who could endure the intensity of the media's scrutiny.
Don't you have Ferraro's guts, don't you have what it takes, Madame Secretary? Is that why you're hiding?
I'm a former daily newspaper reporter and a former college journalism teacher and I believe deeply in the role of the free press in helping us make crucial civic decisions. Those who avoid the press, who seek only to manipulate it and use it for their own ends, are putting their own interests before the best interests of the country. It's wrong. It's pathetic. Stop hiding, Hillary. Let us see how you handle tough times. Yes, we've seen you stand up to tough questioning before, as with the House Benghazi committee. Get out there again. Regularly.
Your failure to meet the press undermines any criticism you rightly make about Donald Trump's despicable and willful refusal to release his tax returns. His failure is greater, but it's on the same scale of cowardly hiding of what the public has a right and duty to know and understand.
Some people in your campaign are saying you're playing a "run down the clock" campaign now, lying low to not blow your lead. If you are doing that, you risk my vote. I'm very liberal, I agree with you on most policy positions, but your actions are showing deep character flaws. I hope you thank god every night that the idiot Republicans have put up a barbarian to run against you. An actual human being would defeat you. And you'd deserve it.
— Bruce Benidt