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Top Aide In Durham's Russia Probe Resigns Amid Concerns Over Pressure From Barr
Shane T. McCoy/U.S. Marshals / CC BY 2.0 / Flickr (cropped)
Nora Dannehy resigned amid concerns that the team is under political pressure to produce a result before the election.
According to The Hartford Courant, federal prosecutor Nora Dannehy has resigned from her position as a top aide to U.S. Attorney John H. Durham in his Trump-Russia investigation, reportedly amid concerns that the team is under political pressure to produce results before the election.
The Courant reports:
Dannehy, a highly regarded prosecutor who has worked with or for Durham for decades, informed colleagues in the U.S. Attorney's office in New Haven of her resignation from the Department of Justice by email Thursday evening. The short email was a brief farewell message and said nothing about political pressure, her work for Durham or what the Durham team has produced, according to people who received it.
Durham recruited Dannehy to join his team after he was appointed by Attorney General William Barr more than a year and a half ago to examine the the FBI's legal justification for a disputed counterintelligence investigation that looked for ties between President Donald J. Trump's 2016 campaign and Russian efforts to meddle in the election.
Colleagues said Dannehy is not a supporter of President Donald J. Trump and has been concerned in recent weeks by what she believed was pressure from Barr - who appointed Durham - to produce results before the election. They said she has been considering resignation for weeks, conflicted by loyalty to Durham and concern about politics.
Durham is notoriously circumspect and neither he nor members of his team have revealed anything about the direction of their work. But Durham associates, none of whom have specific knowledge of the investigation, have said recently that it is their belief he is under pressure to produce something - perhaps some sort of report - before the presidential election in November.
The Courant noted that Durham's investigation "produced its first public result in August with the arrest or former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who is accused of doctoring email from the CIA about a former Trump campaign adviser who was a target of secret FBI surveillance, according to documents filed in Washington's federal court."


For studying microbubbles in a medical ultrasound field (ultrasound frequency between 0.5 and 5 MHz) ultra high-speed imaging camera is required. The ultrasound typically lasts 3 - 20 cycles during which the response of the microbubbles can be highly non-linear. The frame rate of such a high-speed camera therefore should exceed 10 million frames per second (Mfps). The number of frames should be sufficient to record the whole process, therefore, more than 100 frames are desirable. In this manuscript we describe a digital ultra high-speed camera system which combines the superior flexibility and sensitivity of CCD detectors with the high number of frames available in rotating mirror cameras. In a standard run the "BRANDARIS 128" camera records a full sequence of 128 digital images at a frame rate of 25 Mfps.


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Be Careful What You Master
Bob Gardner
You have already created and mastered the ability to suffer. That's the bad news.
But there's a reason that should be celebrated, not condemned.
Today, I want to teach you how to turn this skill you've already mastered into a superpower so you can conquer any situation you face.
Here Are The Show Highlights:
How to better understand what your emotions are trying to tell you (11:49)
The "Emotional Jiu Jitsu" method for not being a helpless victim to your emotions (12:03)
Why letting your environment dictate your emotions is dangerous – especially if your environment makes you happy (13:36)
Why all of your suffering is your creation and why you should celebrate it (14:14)
How you've unintentionally mastered the skill of sabotaging yourself and what to do about it (14:55)
The unlikely superpower you've developed "on accident" from your addictions (15:58)
If you or somebody you know is looking to drop the 'F' Bomb of freedom in your life and break free from addiction, depression, anxiety or anything that's making you feel flat-out stuck, head over to www.liberateaman.com and book a call where we can look at your unique situation and give you the roadmap you've been missing.
It's time to rip the cover off what really works to ditch addiction, depression, anger, anxiety, and all other kinds of human suffering. No, not sobriety. We're talking the "F Word" here - Freedom. We'll share, straight from the trenches, what we have learned from leaving our own addictions behind, and coaching hundreds of others to do the same, and since it's such a heavy topic, we might as well have a good time while we're at it.
Bob: Back in old Japan, when Samurai used to run around and you had these traveling ronin and other people that were just busy - some of them, not all of them, were these enlightened individuals, obviously. Some of them were out picking fights and trying to prove their ego and their skills and what not. Others were seeking deeper pursuits. It just sort of depended on the person. Well, there was this great famous tea master, and if you understand Japanese arts, Zen is sort of inside of a lot of them. [0:01:01.8]
Zen is a practice of direct pointing to the true self and understanding your true nature. This came out of India eventually, through a man by the name of Bodhidharma, who we have already talked about, whose teachings when they got to Japan, he became known as Daruma and it went from Dhyana in Sanskrit to Chan in Chinese to Zen in Japanese. And this is a deep, self-reflection. Self-reflection, not on like thinking about yourself, but actually seeing and perceiving the truth about your original nature. So many, many of the arts and skills and practices in old Japan have been touched by this. Some of the major ones are things like flower arranging, archery, swordsmanship, tea, calligraphy - these are some of the major, major ones. There was a man by the … I forget his name…but he was a famous tea master, chanoyu…cha is the Japanese for tea and I probably said it wrong because I don't speak Japanese so I just have read these stories many, many times. [0:02:04.6]
And he was a famous tea master to the shogun and he was wandering through town one day and absent-mindedly or whatever, just was paying attention to something and bumped a group of traveling ronin, right, these masterless samurai that are running around. And he bumped into one of them, and he was a young buck, the ronin was and he got all up in this tea master's face and he was like, "How dare you insult someone like me! You're just wandering through town, not paying attention. You should show me more respect. I'm a samurai!" And again, there's a little bit of a class system going on here in Japan, like there have been in many Eastern countries. And so he believes that he's better than anything and the tea master is really trying not to pick a fight here because he doesn't know anything about swordsmanship. Then he says, "No. I didn't mean to. My apologies. I was just walking," and the ronin just wouldn't have it. Obviously, he wanted to pick a fight. And he's like, "No. You don't get any excuses. There's no excuse for you. Let's prove this here and now." [0:03:00.0]
And the sword master is like, "Wait. I don't know anything about this." He's like, fine, I'll give you until such and such a time - I don't remember if it was noon the next day or something. "You meet me at the bridge outside of town and we will have it out." And there have been a number of…actually, like I've seen a really beautiful take on this done on, I think it was a YouTube video or something, like kind of a short film made off of this story. There have been a number of different variations of this. So this is basically what happens - this tea master then is freaking out because he doesn't know anything about swordsmanship at all. He's a tea master. And he's one of the most renowned in the entire area, in the entire region. I mean, he's the tea master to the Shogun to give them an experience of taking tea that brings them into deeper and deeper meditative states and the capacity to really perhaps feel something deeper about life and their true nature. So he doesn't know what to do. He has his duties, but this is a life and death situation. So he runs to find the nearest samurai school, where there's a good teacher that he knows that's in the area and he runs up and he begs the teacher, "Please, please, please. You have to teach me how to do something. I don't want to die, but this samurai has come and he's challenged me to a duel. I'm just a lowly tea master." [0:04:10.9]
And the samurai teacher, he looks at the tea master. He says, "Okay, so you're a tea master?" "Yes, yes." "Alright. I will teach you on one condition." The tea master says, "Okay, what's the condition?" "I will teach you if you will first do a tea ceremony for me tonight, this afternoon." And the tea master's a little bit like frantic and frazzled by this. He's like, "Well, you don't understand. I don't have a lot of time. I only have until tomorrow at noon to meet this samurai out there by the bridge and you're telling me that you need me to spend several hours giving you a tea ceremony," because the tea ceremony does take several hours to do. In fact, when I was at the University of Washington, one of the classes you could in artistry was the tea ceremony. It was a class where you would learn all about all of the background behind it and then go experience a tea ceremony, kneeling for that long, taking tea with them. [0:05:01.1]
So it was tea ceremony and he's a little bit frantic about this and samurai teacher won't budge. He says, nope - unless you do this for me, I won't teach you anything. So finally, the tea master submits and he says look, I just…this is your art. I want you to do the tea ceremony for me as if it was the last time you were ever going to be able to do it, the best that you've ever done, just do the tea ceremony the way that you would do it normally. The tea master's like, fine. So they set everything up and he goes through the tea ceremony with such presence, such focus, such precision that the samurai is blown away by just how good a master. I mean, he'd heard stories about this tea master in the past, but he had never seen such art within in as he was experiencing at this point in time. So he goes through the entire ceremony and it's such a sublime experience and when they finish, the samurai looks at the tea master and says, "You already are a master and you just don't know it." And the only thing that will make you win tomorrow isn't sword techniques, but if you can display the same level of concentration that you displayed to me just now, there will be nothing that your opponent will be able to do to defeat you. [0:06:15.2]
So here's what I want you to do. I want you to go to the bridge early tomorrow and when your opponent comes and he's ready, what you need to do is remove your outer cloak and fold it just the way you did here. Then I want you to do a little bit of a tiny ceremony in this manner," and he showed him a couple of things, "And then get yourself into the same place that you would be as if you were about to serve tea to the Shogun. As you're doing that, I want you to raise your sword over your head and wait in total concentration to the point where when you hear him yell as he comes across the bridge to cut you down, at that very moment, slice in this manner with your sword *whoosh* and that assuredly will win you the match." [0:07:01.9]
The tea master is a little bit confused about this, but whatever, the samurai won't give him anymore explanations about it. So he goes on and he practices all of these different little tiny things that the samurai master had taught him - how to slice with the sword, how to hold it in concentration and all of these different things. The concentration piece was not difficult. He had spent his entire life cultivating the capacity of total focus, poised, relaxed, ready, but focused, not too lax. Right? He goes the next day to the bridge and there at the bridge on one side stands the ronin. The tea master had shown up early and was prepared. As the ronin came, he said, look - hold on a second - let me just prepare myself." The ronin is laughing, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! You already know you're going to die, old man. Sure, do your last rites. Do whatever you need to." So the tea master then pulls himself aside. The ronin thinks this is going to be an easy kill. Obviously, he's picking on people who don't have any skill whatsoever at the sword. [0:08:00.9]
But see, the reason he had picked on him in the first place is because as part of the tea ceremony, you have to wear a sword. So he had kind of picked on him in an intelligent way at first - it was reactive. He saw the swords and thought, okay, here's a samurai, we can go this way. It's a tea master. Obviously, he's picking for easy wins. So, the tea master goes and he sets aside his robe. He sets aside his swords. He gets everything prepared in the way that he had practiced and the way that he had done. Prepares himself as if he's going to give a tea ceremony to the Shogun. At that moment, he pulls the sword up over his head and stands in total preparation, total waiting, just poised and ready. And he stands there for what seems like hours to him, even though it's not that long, but it seems like a long time, until finally, when he can't bear it anymore because he's not sure what's going to happen, he opens his eyes and he sees that the ronin has fled because you see, there was a chink in the ronin's armor. The ronin hadn't cultivated his own inner awareness and confidence, so as he raised his sword to come at this tea master, who had no sword skill whatsoever, as he came, he could feel the fierce concentration and readied poise of the man. [0:09:13.9]
He could feel it emanating from his body and he couldn't find a chink in that armor. He couldn't find a way where he felt comfortable enough to go and win. And so, recognizing that he had come up against a much more formidable opponent than he had even thought, he went his own way and left the tea master alive, to where the tea master won without a fight.
If you, or someone you know, is looking to drop the F Bomb of Freedom in your life, whether that's from addiction or depression and anxiety or just anything that's making you feel flat out stuck, but you have no clue how to shake it and just want help doing it, head on over to LiberateaMan.com and book a call, where we can look at your unique situation and give you the roadmap you've been missing.
Bob:	Now, why do I tell you this story? This is a story about a man who had mastered something that he didn't even realize he had known. You know, there are a great many gifts that come in a life and a lot of times, we look at ourselves and we look at our situations and we think, "I am helpless against this. I don't have the skills that it takes to win. I don't have what it takes to make a better situation out of this one. I'm a victim of this. Like everything goes wrong; nothing goes my way. Nothing ever works out for me. I'm helpless here," and we have these stories show up anytime we run into new situations sometimes. Especially if you're a person who's been dealing with depression or addiction or anxiety, the same rehearsed feeling that you have mastered inside of yourself of helplessness shows up. See, most of us, throughout our lives, have rehearsed and developed the habit of creating situations in our mind and experiences - okay? [0:11:06.3]
So we have rehearsed, for instance, as someone who's been through my life, I have mastered the ability of suffering in many, many ways. I have mastered the capacity to have something happen in my life, to look at it and choose to make that a reason to make myself suffer and to have an emotional response to it, and then choose from that emotional response to behave in certain ways or allow that emotional response to control my behavior in certain ways that I don't control anymore. I have created and mastered the ability to suffer, and this has become abundantly clearer for me over the last week, as I've been really paying attention to it, over and over and over again because what I tell people often, especially the clients that we're working with is, if you're having an emotion, it's an indication you're body's telling you what happened in your mind without you being aware of it, without your control. And you want to get to the point where it doesn't matter where you are, what's going on, your happiness is not dependent on that situation. [0:12:03.1]
We teach them skills like emotional Ninjitsu and the delete button and the hips and some of the other skill sets that we have developed to help them and give them the capacity that they can practice to develop the ability to not be controlled by their emotional state, but it goes even deeper. You see, if you get into a situation where in that situation you feel like this is something you need to deal with and use skills to get happy again, that means that that situation has already controlled you. The fact that you believe a situation needs to be dealt with is already an indication that some part of your own happiness is caught up in it. And I don't mean like a situation needs to be dealt with as in like, ok, yeah, my finger is cut and yes, that … I definitely don't want to bleed out, so let me go fix that. I mean like an emotional situation needs to be dealt with. So this is a really powerful thing to be aware of. For instance, sometimes I go to church meetings for some reason. I mean, we go every Sunday, but like sometimes when I go to church meetings, I feel stuffed in there. Other times, you know, I have powerful experiences inside of the meetings and sometimes I feel really stuffy in there or I'm irritated at the conversation or something else that's going on. [0:13:13.8]
And I had an experience where I was feeling that way and then I went outside and I was experiencing this total awe at the quiet of the sun raking across the grass and hitting the tops of the mountains nearby and the clouds streaming across the sky, a slight chill in the air, and I remember feeling this total sense of inner silence, inner peace, total awe and calm. And then I realized, oh my goodness - I'm still being controlled by my environment. I've mastered the ability so well that it took me this long to recognize that I mastered the ability to let my environment dictate just how happy I am. And how many other things have you mastered in your life? We can celebrate the fact that you are a master at creating it. You're having an experience. [0:14:01.0]
What do you hold to be the cause of that experience? What have you created in your mind as a reason to have that experience? And then, take a moment and glory in the fact and celebrate the fact that this is something that you created. You've created your suffering. You may not have created the event itself. That's … so there's a lot of variables. But the suffering from that event is all your own creation, all of my own creation and we know this because if you were unconscious, you wouldn't be suffering it. If I were unconscious, I wouldn't be suffering it. The fact that we're conscious and that the suffering comes when we're conscious, that means that our consciousness is bringing the suffering to it. If you're cut, you can be unconscious and still be cut, but you can't be unconscious and still suffer. I'm not talking about REM sleep, you know, and dreams. I'm talking about literally unconscious, like comatose. So as we're dealing with this, this recognition of creation, the recognition that you have mastered the skill of suffering, mastered the skill of pain, mastered the skill of irritation, of victimhood, of blame, of guilt, of shame, of pointing the finger, of feeling helpless, of feeling like nothing works out - mastered the skill of beating yourself up - mastered the skill of sabotaging yourself - you've mastered this. [0:15:17.6]
We are all hidden masters. Every single one of us are masters. It's just that the people we want to call master are the ones that have mastered something that we wish we had mastered. Right? But I want you to look deeper. There are superpowers that have been developed within you by your mastery. Just like the tea master had developed a skill of total presence and concentration that could not be shaken by doing something totally different that prepared him to be able to handle the situation with the ronin, you and I - same thing - even in all this suffering, we have mastered certain skills. For instance, somebody who's stuck inside of a porn addiction habit and this is the same for just about anyone on the planet - porn addiction got to the point where a person can imagine something to the point where they have a physical reaction to it. [0:16:05.7]
Now, this isn't just porn addicts. This is a lot of people on the planet; most suffering is happening this way, but you can make something so vivid in your mind that it feels like it's really happening to you. That is a superpower because what would happen if you decided to use that superpower instead of creating suffering to create other types of experiences that can feel so vivid that they feel equally real to you, but they are powerful empowering experiences? What about a will to end it and a will to finally be done that's developed by beating yourself against the wall so much that you're finally fed up? That resolve that's created, if you use that resolve to create something powerful in your life, what could you do with that? See, the thing is you and I have both mastered the ability to make our lives powerful. We have mastered the ability to make our lives happy and joyful and full of love. [0:17:01.7]
We have already mastered it. It's just that we haven't been using the skill to create that. We have been using our skills to create other things, and other experiences. And if you want to, after you're done celebrating your own mastery, the next question then becomes, "What do I want to do with this now? Do I want to continue to create this? Do I want to find another form of suffering? What decision do I want to make at this moment that will allow me to use my mastery and my ability to create in a way that fills me up and brings me happiness?" I'm not saying that it's the easiest switch on the planet, but the first awareness has to come from the fact that you and I have both created our suffering and we have mastered that as a skill. And that's something worth celebrating - the level of mastery that we have because it's an indicator that we have just as much mastery to create something totally new and totally different and equally fulfilling and what's needed to move in that direction is a decision and permission. [0:18:03.6]
Now, you and I may not have a samurai master to help us see that, so I am here, standing in that place today, in that spot, saying, "Look, you just use the same skill you've already developed at suffering, at misery, at feeling like you're a victim, but instead, I want you to do it in this manner, which is take the environment around you, use it as an excuse to feel a certain way, but use it as an excuse to feel incredible, and out of that incredible feeling, then go create your life."
So, that's a wrap for today. As we move on next time, we're going to start talking about trust and what it means, what trust is and should you trust people. That's the question. Alright. Until then.
And that's it for today's Alive and Free Podcast. If you enjoyed this show and want some more freedom bombs landing in your ear buds, subscribe right now at wherever you get your podcasts from, and while you're at it, give us a rating and a review. It'll help us keep delivering great stuff to you, and plus, it's just nice to be nice.
Time to rip the cover off what really works to ditch addiction, depression, anger, anxiety, and all other kinds of human suffering. No, not sobriety. We're talking the "F" word here – Freedom. We'll share straight from the trenches what we've learned from leaving our own addictions behind and coaching hundreds of others to do the same. And since it's such a heavy topic, we might as well have a good time while we're at it.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Home > Insurance > The role of the Foundation Medavie : supporting young
The role of the Foundation Medavie : supporting young
Alain Thériault
Photo : Jesús Rodríguez (Unsplash)
Bernard Lord has given an example in montreal the Foundation Medavie health can do to help in the development of initiatives related to health. He mentioned the body In the street, among those supported by the Foundation.
In may 2017, the Foundation Medavie has awarded 780 000 $ to the community organization to improve the services for young homeless people. The project should last for four years, and will be focused on the prevention, early detection, rapid response, and social inclusion by the provision of a comprehensive support in mental health with homeless youth and at-risk aged 12 to 25 years.
The Foundation explains that young people at risk or experiencing homelessness will have access to better mental health support, is aimed at faster processing of psychological distress and help them to make the transition to stable housing. She reports that approximately 76 % of young people who are using the body In the street are reported to be in poor or very poor mental health.
"One of the priorities of the Foundation is to give young Canadians the support they need to live the best possible, said Mr. Lord. Ensuring that at-risk youth and homeless persons have access to care and mental health services adequate to the time and place where they need it, we can guide them toward the path of autonomy. It is also an example of another type of health care, which does not begin in the office of a physician, but rather, in our community centres and our streets. "
The Foundation Medavie health also based in Quebec, Revive, Balance and the Foundation's Young people in mind. Medavie has also supported The Foundation Jovia by a limited partnership of Medavie Blue Cross.
The natural disasters of 2018 had the least of losses since 2005
The digital experience of the insurers is deficient, says J. D. Power


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The New York Yankees: History, Nostalgia, America's Team
By CJujitsu May 17, 2013 Sports
Anyone who ever visited the original Yankee Stadium understood the history and the memories that can never be replaced. Having said that, the new stadium standing across the street from a park where the old stadium once stood, is an impressive tribute to that icon stadium. So many memories were made there and yet the new stadium carries much of the old feeling, so one doesn't feel nostalgic. It's a wonderful combination of old and new. I have been fortunate enough to have attended some of the most memorable games of my generation, most notably, game four of the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. While smoke still billowed from Ground Zero, Tino Martinez tied the game in the ninth inning and the "Captain" Derek Jeter won it in the 10th with a two out home run to right field. There will never again be a sporting event that matched the excitement and jubilation of everyone in that stadium. Following the worst act of terrorism in our history, it was as if all of the fear, anger, anguish and sorrow, was released with one swing of the bat. The stadium was vibrating and swaying with more than 55,000 human beings collectively jumping up and down, none of us wanting to leave. The excitement and drama of that early morning home run will never be repeated. I am happy to say the joyous memory of that game, has long since replaced the memory of the first plane striking the World Trade Center. One other notable fact about that game; it was the first time in history that baseball was played in November. The game started on October 31st and ended on November 1st. As incredible as the team's 27 World Championships, is the fact that no other team in history, in any sport, has had the quantity of star players; a who's who of baseball greats; Ruth, DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, Maris, Nettles, Ford, Guidry, Gossage, Rivera. The list would go on and on. But even more important than great players and great memories, and one of the least understood and most important parts of baseball, is the tradition of father and son, father and daughter, watching the Yankees or any major league team for that matter. The passing down of America's pastime is an American tradition. So last night, as we have done many times, my youngest son and I, went to see the Yankees. And although they lost, once again they have a competitive team that will only improve. That's far more than can be said about the team from Queens. Hopefully Jeter is back before long as his presence is missed both on and off the field. Last night's game was slow and uneventful as baseball can often be, so the highlight for my son and everyone around us, was rapper Jay-Z, who was sitting two rows in front of us. As I was sitting there, people taking pictures of him and whispering, I thought, that sums up the Yankees; even when losing, as they did last night, they still manage to stay in the spotlight. The New York Yankees are Americas team!


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Added on 01/09/2011 Ramzy Baroud Afghanistan , Al Qaeda , Algeria , Arabic media , Barack Obama , Democracy , George W. Bush , Hillary Clinton , Iraq , James Stavridis , Libya , Moammar Ghaddafi , National Transitional Council , NATO , North Atlantic Treaty Organization , President , Secretary of State , Syria , The New York Times , Tripoli , United Nations , United States , Yugoslavia
Libya & NATO: "To the Victor the Spoils"?
At a press conference in Tripoli on Aug. 26, a statement read aloud by top Libyan rebel commander Abdel Hakim Belhadj was reassuring. Just a few months ago, disorganized and leaderless rebel fighters seemed to have little chance at ousting Libyan dictator Moammar Ghaddafi and his unruly sons.
But despite vague references to "pockets of resistance" throughout Tripoli, and stiffer battles elsewhere, Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) is moving forward to extend its rule as the caretaker of Libyan affairs. In his conference, Belhadj declared full control over Tripoli, and the unification of all rebel fighter groups under the command of the military council.
Listening to upbeat statements by rebel military commanders, and optimistic assessments of NTC members, one gets the impression that the future of Libya is being entirely formulated by the new Libyan leadership. Arab media, led by Al Jazeera, seemed at times to entirely neglect that there was a third and most powerful party involved in the battle between freedom-seeking Libyans and the obstinate dictator. It is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, whose decisive and financially costly military intervention was not charitable, nor was it a moral act.
It was a politically and strategically calculated endeavor, with multifaceted objectives that simply cannot be scrutinized in one article.
However, one needs to follow the intense discussion under way in Western media to realize the nature of NATO's true intentions, their expectations and the bleak possibilities awaiting Libya if the new leadership doesn't quickly remove itself from this dangerous NATO alliance.
While Libyans fought against brutality, guided by a once distant hope of freedom, democracy and liberation from the grip of a clownish and delusional dictator, NATO calculations had nothing but a self-serving agenda in mind.
In his brilliant and newly released book, "Postmodern Imperialism: Geopolitics and the Great Game," Eric Walberg astutely charts NATO's role following the end of the Cold War. NATO "has become the centerpiece of the (U.S.) empire's military presence around the world, moving quickly to respond to U.S. needs to intervene where the U.N. won't as in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and now Libya."
The massive NATO expansion in the last two decades, to include new members, to enter into new "Partnerships for Peace," and to carry out various "Dialogue" with entities outside its immediate geographic sphere required the constant reinvention of NATO and the redefinition of its role around the globe. "NATO's victory" in Libya — a "regime change from the air" as described by some — is certain to ignite the imagination of the relatively dormant neoconservative ideas of regime change at any cost.
Indeed, it might not be long before NATO's intervention in Libya becomes a political-military doctrine in its own right. U.S. President Barack Obama, and other Western leaders are already offering clues regarding the nature of that doctrine. In a statement issued Aug. 22 from Martha's Vineyard, where Obama was vacationing, the U.S. president said: "NATO has once more proven that it is the most capable alliance in the world and that its strength comes from both its firepower and the power of our democratic ideals." It's difficult to underline with any certainty how this gung-ho mentality coupled with democracy rhetoric is any different from President George W. Bush's justification of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Many commentators in the U.S. and other NATO countries are already treating Libya as another military conquest, similar to that of Afghanistan and Iraq, a claim that Libyans would find most objectionable. Such ideas are not forged haphazardly, however, since the language used by NATO leaders and their treatment of post-Ghaddafi Libya seem largely consistent with their attitude toward other invaded Muslim countries.
In a written statement cited widely in the media, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began laying down the rules, by which the "new Libya" will be judged before the international community (meaning the U.S., NATO and their allies.)
"We will look to them to ensure that Libya fulfills its treaty responsibilities, that it ensures that its weapons stockpiles do not threaten its neighbors or fall into the wrong hands, and that it takes a firm stand against violent extremism."
Worse, the al-Qaida card had already been placed into NATO's new game. The centrality of that card will be determined based on the political attitude of the new Libyan leadership.
The insinuation of al-Qaida's involvement in the Libyan uprising is not new, of course; it dates back to March when "top NATO commander and U.S. Adm. James Stavridis said he had seen 'flickers' of an al-Qaida presence among the rebels," reported the British Telegraph (Aug. 26).
Now, Algeria, a U.S.-ally in the so-called war on terror is waving that very card to justify its refusal to recognize the NTC.
Injection of "fighting extremism" as a condition for further U.S. and NATO support, and the refusal of access to tens of billions of dollars in Western bank accounts, could prove the biggest challenge to the new Libyan leadership, one that is greater than Ghaddafi's audio rants or any other.
NATO understands well that a "failure" in its new Libya project could spoil a whole array of interests in the Arab region, and could hinder future use of Obama's blend of firepower and democracy ideals. Mainstream intellectuals are busy drawing parallels between Libya and other NATO adventures.
John F. Burns, writing in the New York Times (Aug. 22), discussed some of the seemingly eerie similarities between post-Ghaddafi Libya and post-Saddam Iraq. In an article titled: "Parallels Between Qaddafi and Hussein Raise Anxiety for Western Leaders," Burns wrote: "The list (of parallels between both experiences) sounded like a rule book built on the mistakes critics have identified as central to the American experience in Iraq." Burn's line of logic is consistent with a whole new media discourse that is building momentum by the day.
Tuning back to Arabic media however, one is confronted with almost an entirely different discourse, one that refers to NATO as "friends," to whom the Libyan people are "grateful" and "indebted." Some pan-Arab TV channels have been more instrumental than others in introducing that faulty line of logic, which could ultimately bode terrible consequences for Syria, and eventually turn the Arab Spring into an infinite winter.
The Libya that inspired the world is capable of overcoming NATO's stratagems, if it becomes aware of NATO's true intentions in Libya and the desperate attempt to thwart or hijack Arab revolts.
NATO: A North American Strike Force? FRANCIS MATTHEW: It is sad young Arabs and Muslims see NATO as an expeditionary force striking at the convenience of the White House...
West's 1% salivates over spoils of the Libyan 99% MONDOWEISS, MATTHEW TAYLOR: Whatever one thinks of The West's role in this revolution, it should not have a free pass to engage in more oil imperialism....
Libya Woes An Opportunity to Extend U.S Influence? RAMZY BAROUD: There is a lot of discussion and political calculation bouncing around the corridors of power in Washington about Libya. ...
What Shape Should "the New Libya" Take? DR GHASSAN MICHEL RUBEIZ: It's understandable that there will be significant differences in how various parties see Libya's future. There are, though, important areas where agreement is needed ...
Is Syria Set to Become 'the new Libya'? CHRIS KEELER: Non-violent protest appears to be nearing its end in Syria and there are signs that groups are organising an armed resistance against the regime. ...
Algeria & Libya: The Big Questions To Answer TMND: It's becoming clearer by the day that Algeria played a key role in supporting the Qadhafi regime, particularly in its dark, late days. The Algerians face some very uncomfortable questions ...
by Ramzy Baroud
Palestinian-American journalist, author and former Al-Jazeera producer, Ramzy Baroud taught Mass Communication at Australia's Curtin University of Technology, and is Editor-in-Chief of the Palestine Chronicle. Baroud's work has been published in The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and is regularly published in newspapers across the Middle East.


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Mini Cooper D
Posted by Nikolai Kalenski on 16 January 2007, 03:46 PM
The new MINI hatch line-up will soon be complete, when the new MINI One and MINI Cooper D models are unveiled to the public at the International Geneva Motor Show on 8 March 2007. The entry-level One features a perky 95hp 1.4-litre petrol engine, while the Cooper D boasts performance and fuel efficiency from an all-new 1.6-litre 110hp turbodiesel powerplant.
A Cooper-badged MINI diesel hints at the sporty nature of the new model. MINI fans will be equally excited at the prospect of the Cooper D promising to be the most fuel-efficient and cleanest MINI ever built. In comparison to the outgoing MINI One D's combined fuel consumption of 58.9mpg, the Cooper D is capable of 64.2mpg. A CO2 figure of just 118 g/km puts the car in tax band B.
MINI One also benefits from a significant improvement in both fuel consumption and emissions over the outgoing model. 49.6mpg is achievable from the One's new 1.4-litre unit, compared to 41.5mpg from its predecessor. CO2 emissions are now 138g/km, against 164g/km produced by the previous model.
The MINI One will cost £11,595 on the road, and the MINI Cooper D will be £14,190. Both models will be on sale from April 2007.
Both models feature the new body shape already seen on the recently launched MINI Cooper and Cooper S models. Interior quality enhancements and unique design features remain key characteristics of the One and Cooper D. However, several individual highlights set the cars apart.
MINI One: Technology highlights
The 1.4-litre four-cylinder engine in the MINI One is derived from the 1.6-litre unit that features in the current Cooper model. Smooth power delivery and maximum efficiency are achieved using fully variable valve control, through a system based on BMW Group's unique VALVETRONIC technology.
Maximum output of 95hp at 6,000rpm is produced by the compact engine, which is constructed from lightweight aluminium. The 5hp power increase on its predecessor leads to a peak torque figure of 140Nm at 4,000rpm.
The innovative powertrain is key to the MINI One's ability to ensure a grin-inducing driving experience, yet offers the driver outstanding fuel economy and low emissions. A 0-62mph time of 10.9 seconds and top speed of 115mph are complemented by an average fuel consumption figure of 49.6mpg – an efficiency increase of 15 per cent compared to the outgoing model.
MINI Cooper D: Technology highlights
The MINI Cooper D's brand new turbocharged diesel engine develops 110hp at 4,000rpm. Under normal conditions peak torque of 240Nm is achieved between 1,750 and 2,000rpm. Deploying the engine's Overboost function gives the Cooper D an additional 20Nm of torque, meaning the driver will experience 260Nm at 2,000rpm. MINI enthusiasts will recognise this torque figure is identical to that produced by the new MINI Cooper S.
The turbocharger system features variable turbine geometry, ensuring optimum smoothness, efficiency and response even at low engine speeds.
Second-generation common rail diesel technology operating at a maximum pressure of 1,600 bar is key to the new diesel engine's combustion process. Additionally, refinement is achieved using a precise multiple-injection process for each operating cycle. The combustion chambers have been optimised in their shape and dimensions to prevent unwanted turbulence and maintain a smooth and consistent combustion process at all times.
A diesel particulate filter almost eliminates diesel exhaust emissions and helps to make the MINI diesel engine one of the most environmentally friendly engines in its class.
Six-speed gearbox as standard
The new MINI One and new MINI Cooper D both come as standard with a six-speed manual gearbox. Dynamic acceleration is a result of the precise shift control provided by carbon friction plates and helical gears operating within an optimised syncromesh. With its long transmission ratio, the sixth gear allows optimum fuel economy, even at high speeds.
The MINI One will be available to customers with the option of a six-speed automatic transmission. A key feature is the Steptronic function, which allows the driver to shift gears in sequence using the gear lever or the standard-fit paddles on the steering wheel. For keener drivers, a Sports Button is available as an option for even shorter gearshift times and faster throttle response.
Features including a black finish to the car's radiator grille bars, door mirrors and tailgate handle are exclusive to the MINI One. The new MINI Cooper D's sporting prowess is underlined by the addition of a pronounced power dome on the car's bonnet. A discernibly larger air intake than on other MINI models features on the Cooper D, as does a crossbar in body colour on the lower intake.
The go-kart driving experience is enhanced in the new MINI One and Cooper D through a new suspension set-up, as introduced on the MINI Cooper and Cooper S. MINI is the only car in its segment to be fitted with a central-arm rear axle featuring elaborate kinematics for optimum tyre-to-road contact.
Electrical Power Assisted Steering (EPAS) incorporating modern mechanical control gives the driver increased precision feedback. Variable power assistance dependent on speed ensures MINI drivers are guaranteed an involving drive every time they step into the car.
The new MINI Cooper and Cooper S went on sale in the UK on 18 November 2006. By the end of the year, close to 7,000 orders were taken for the new models. With sales looking strong into the New Year and the launch of the new MINI Convertible Sidewalk taking place in the spring, MINI is set for another great year at home on British roads.
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Game of Thrones walking tour is popular in Croatia, as a private television series was filmed in the heritage sites of Dubrovnik. Since then, it has become a theme tour location in Croatia. It is advisable to book your Dubrovnik tour in advance online. You can get some discounts and offers. Croatia is a tourist friendly place. It has excellent tourist amenities and facilities. It is the best for game of throne series lovers to take a tour to the entire game of thrones filming locations in Croatia. It will be better to read some Dubrovnik game of thrones blogs and reviews online to know better about this TV series.
You can recollect the games of thrones Dubrovnik scenes after visiting this place, where real shooting was taken place. You can get the Dubrovnik game of thrones locations map online. You can note them well to know much about this location.
The Game of Thrones walking tour is available here daily. It hardly takes a 2-hour time to complete this walking tour in Dubrovnik. It depends on how speed you can walk and climb the steps and un-even terrain. The people with arthritis problems are not advisable to come for this kind of walking tour. This is like a historic and adventure tour based on a TV series, which became a popular destination to tour for that TV series lovers.
The Game of Thrones walking tour with a professional guide will be better to take. You can know the facts and the TV series scenes taken from the heritage and cultural locations in Dubrovnik. You must check in advance with your travel ad tour operator for a guided tour. It is advisable to hire an English-speaking guide with you.
The best time to visit Dubrovnik is from March to October in a year. This place comes under the Mediterranean climate zone. It is advisable to come in the summer season than the cold winter seasons in Croatia.
Dubrovnik Airport is just 12-miles away from the Dubrovnik city, Croatia. You can get a taxi to visit this old and new town areas. Locally, you can find boat services too.
Game of Thrones walking tour is popular since the HBO channel series was shot in this place. You must book Dubrovnik hotels in Croatia in advance, as this place is always busy with international tourists. It will be better to book the best game of thrones tour Dubrovnik. Their all-inclusive pack will include food, stay and travel. You can be away from the last hour rush by booking online in advance. Dubrovnik is a UNESCO site in Croatia for preserving its rich heritage and culture.


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Santiago Calatrava, from the Canary Islands to Manhattan Island
Santiago Calatrava's opera house at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands is dominated by a winglike canopy nearly 200 feet tall.
Published in The New York Times, October 26, 2003
Walking around Santiago Calatrava's Park Avenue town house is like helicoptering over some of the world's most striking buildings. On one pedestal is a bronze sculpture that resembles the architect's birdlike addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum. In another room, an assemblage of steel cables and ebony cubes echoes his twisting apartment tower in Malmo, Sweden. And upstairs is a bronze sculpture in the form of a long, curved wing. "This one," he says, "is Tenerife."
Mr. Calatrava is just back from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the largest city on the largest of the seven Canary Islands. There, off the northwest coast of Africa, he has produced an astonishingly photogenic opera house. Above its main space - a 1,600-seat auditorium in the shape of a tilted cone - a winglike canopy rises almost 200 feet before swooping back to earth. The building can look like a turtle, a crescent moon, an eyelid, a cresting wave, a helmet, a palm frond or an erotic Georgia O'Keeffe flower.
That representational quality - everyone who sees the opera house wants to compare it to something - helps explain Mr. Calatrava's success. (At 52, he has completed 60 buildings, including train stations and airports throughout Europe, and has dozens more in the works.) "People need symbols, and Calatrava's buildings provide them," says David Marks, the London architect who with his wife designed the Eye - that city's sleek, popular Ferris wheel.
And now Mr. Calatrava has a chance to create a symbol for New York. Last summer, he was commissioned to design a $2 billion transportation hub at the World Trade Center site. In The New York Times, Herbert Muschamp called that commission "the clearest sign yet that the rebuilding of ground zero will be an achievement of cosmopolitan dimensions."
For the moment, Mr. Calatrava is speaking about the project only in general terms, under the watchful eye of his client, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. But clearly he has grand ambitions for the station. "It has to feel as important as Grand Central, or the old Penn Station," he says. It is also likely to have echoes of two other important New York structures: Eero Saarinen's T.W.A. terminal at Kennedy Airport and Pier Luigi Nervi's bus terminal at the George Washington Bridge (which Mr. Calatrava says he has investigated from every angle). Both make startling use of poured concrete, the material Mr. Calatrava has formed into buildings and bridges as if it were Silly Putty.
Like Nervi, Mr. Calatrava is an engineer by training, and that makes it possible for him to construct the ambitious buildings he calls "penetrable sculptures." When his addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum was in trouble a couple of years ago - no one could figure out how to build the movable "sunshades" that Mr. Calatrava insisted on - he became a licensed engineer in Wisconsin, then arranged to have the pieces made in Spain and flown over on a Soviet transport plane.
Mr. Calatrava's current projects include bridges in Jerusalem, Dallas and Venice; a new hall for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; an 86-acre cultural center in Spain; and a series of projects for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. As a result, he is away more than he's home, often sleeping on airplanes. His Swedish-Italian wife, Robertina, runs the firm's three offices (in Valencia, Mr. Calatrava's hometown in Spain, Paris and Zurich) from their Manhattan residence, while keeping tabs on the couple's four children.
On a rare morning in New York, just before leaving for a meeting with the Port Authority, Mr. Calatrava bounds up and down the stairs of his town house like an eager graduate student. His conversations - conducted in seven languages, sometimes three or four per sentence - are laden with references to poetry, philosophy and music. When he says Mendelssohn, does he mean the composer, Felix, or the architect Erich Mendelsohn? No matter - he has ideas about both. Equally fluent with a pencil, he sketches constantly, more often to illustrate points than to record ideas (of which he appears to have a surplus).
A new book by Franklin Toker about Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater suggests that the anti-Semitism of Pittsburgh society is what motivated Wright's patron, Edgar Kaufmann, to build what he hoped would be one of the world's great houses. In that case, just imagine what Mr. Calatrava's background might produce: in 1691, Raphael Valls, a prominent rabbi, was burned at the stake in Palma de Majorca, Spain. Mr. Calatrava's mother (still living in Valencia) believes she is descended from the rabbi; Santiago grew up knowing that his family had been chuetas, from the Spanish word for pig: Jews who "proved" they weren't Jews by eating pork in public. (While many Spanish Jews became Catholics during the Inquisition, Mr. Calatrava says his family "never really" converted.)
On the other side of the family, Mr. Calatrava's father, grandfather and uncles, who were in the export business, were imprisoned by Francisco Franco in the 1930's. "The war marked them in a tragic way," Mr. Calatrava says. Wanting to escape the stifling atmosphere in his home country, Mr. Calatrava moved to Zurich to study engineering; he was particularly interested in the streamlined concrete bridges of the Swiss engineer Robert Maillart. He would have gone on to Princeton - to study with the Maillart devotee David Billington - had he not met Robertina, then a law student in Zurich.
While living in a Zurich dormitory, he helped a veterinary student with drawings for his dissertation. In exchange, the veterinarian gave him the skeleton of a dog, which the Calatravas' oldest son, Rafael, now 23, named Fifi. Mr. Calatrava hung the skeleton in his Zurich office.
It proved a fitting gift. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1980, he quickly won a commission to design a train station in Zurich. That building introduced the skeletonlike forms that became his trademark. Studying spinal columns, birds in flight and even fluttering eyelids, Mr. Calatrava had found a way to create buildings that suggested movement - perfect for airports, train stations and bridges. (Mr. Muschamp has since called Mr. Calatrava "the world's leading poet of transportation architecture.") Then, in the 1980's, he began working on the $350 million City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia (where the last structure, an opera house, will be completed in 2005).
In the 1990's, Mr. Calatrava arrived in New York with a plan for completing the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, a show at the Museum of Modern Art and a millennial time capsule - a project for The New York Times Magazine and now on view outside the American Museum of Natural History.
Gambling that the city would embrace him, Mr. Calatrava reportedly spent $7 million for the town house, its interior now stripped down as a backdrop for his sculptures and watercolors. (He also bought the house next door, reportedly for another $7 million.) Then came 9/11, the date on which he said New York joined Jerusalem, Rome and Athens on his list of "heroic cities." By beginning the ground zero project just as the cultural center in his hometown wraps up, Mr. Calatrava is literally moving from the old world to the new. And that's where Tenerife comes in, because - as Mr. Calatrava said in a series of conversations during a weekend of inaugural festivities - the Canary Islands have been a bridge between civilizations: the place Columbus stopped to provision his ships on his way west.
Mr. Calatrava had that history, and the island's dramatic topography, in mind when he designed the $80 million opera house. Without the wing, he said, the building would have been "too small a gesture" for its site: the base of the volcano Teide, the tallest mountain in Spanish territory. And so the concert hall, largely completed in 2000, wasn't opened until the 3,500-ton wing could be constructed - which added three years and millions of dollars to the cost. As in Milwaukee, he stuck it out.
Even now, the wing isn't perfect, with what looks like a white pipe connecting it to the roof of the concert hall below. The pipe was a compromise, Mr. Calatrava says later over coffee in Manhattan. Immediately he begins sketching a more elegant version of the connector, which he says he will take up with the Tenerife contractors.
The imperfection may be the inevitable result of his extravagant ambitions. Until now, Mr. Calatrava's curves were mostly the curves of individual structural elements, which, one could choose to believe, were the product of an engineer's calculations, looking the way they did because they had to. But in Tenerife, the spectacular arc is the end, not the means. Mr. Calatrava has defied the key precept of modernist architecture, that form must follow function. Instead he is following his own aesthetic predilections. For that he owes one debt to Antonio Gaud�, the Catalan master of undulating forms, and - with his turtle-helmet-eyelid dominating the Tenerife coast - another to Salvador Dal�.
OF course there are detractors. The British architecture writer Hugh Aldersey-Williams said, "architects sneer that Calatrava is an engineer, while engineers dismiss him as a sculptor." David Cohn, an American architecture critic living in Madrid, says of the Tenerife auditorium: "What is this large tongue or tentacle looming over the whole work? Is it an orchid? A sea monster? Calatrava doesn't take artistic control of the subliminal suggestions these works provoke." He adds that giving the wing a purpose would have improved it. "Function," he says, "disciplines expression."
Peter Reed, curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, disagrees. "If you're going to criticize Calatrava," he said, "you need to criticize a lot of other people, including Frank Gehry, on the same grounds." Mr. Calatrava's buildings "make you aware you're someplace special," he added, and praised Mr. Calatrava for bringing inspiring architecture to the civic realm. "It's refreshing that his buildings aren't Prada boutiques, but places for the public," he said.
And if the public loves them, Mr. Calatrava always sees something he could have done better. "Buildings," he says, joking, "never look as good as Fifi."
But his buildings may come closer than anyone's; they are the stars of "Zoomorphic," a current exhibition at London's Victoria and Albert Museum that focuses on a supposed "new wave" of animal-inspired buildings. In the show's catalog, Mr. Aldersey-Williams compares the Milwaukee museum to a "shark's gill basket" and Mr. Calatrava's Lyon station to an anteater's snout.
Asked about the comparisons, Mr. Calatrava steers the conversation to Picasso. "Even at his most abstract he was a figurative painter," he says. "But the objects he painted were a means to an end. The paintings were really about his feelings. I'm doing the same with architecture - making it an abstract figurative art."
Picasso has particular meaning for him. "The artists of my parents' generation" - he cites Picasso, Mir� and the poet Antonio Machado - "had to build a Spain outside Spain. My generation is making up for lost time." He says the exuberance of the opera house, then, is a direct response to the repression of the Franco era. Not to mention the the Inquisition.
But Mr. Calatrava is also working outside Spain - on a global scale. Even Saarinen didn't have the success that Mr. Calatrava is having, and Nervi (whom Mr. Calatrava calls "the father of us all") is hardly known to the public. Over lunch at the restaurant La Cazuela in Santa Cruz, Mr. Calatrava begins naming great architects who died ignominiously (Gaudi, hit by a streetcar and taken, unrecognized, to a hospital for indigents; Louis Kahn, who collapsed in Pennsylvania Station in New York).
What does it mean that he has achieved so much recognition in his lifetime, when many of his idols struggled?
"It's a bad sign," says Mr. Calatrava, while signing autographs for the restaurant's owner. He adds, eyes twinkling: "It makes you grateful for your detractors."


HUBBARD - Audrey E. Sawaska, 70, passed away peacefully Tuesday morning, Feb. 12, 2019, at her home.
Audrey was born Aug. 22, 1948, in Youngstown, a daughter of the late James and Kathryn Griffiths, and was a lifelong area resident.
Audrey worked many jobs throughout her life. Most recently, she was employed at Infocision in Austintown.
She greatly enjoyed her family and spending time with her children and grandchildren.
Audrey was a very loving woman with a kind and compassionate spirit. She tried to help anyone that needed help in any way possible, if she could. Audrey will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.
She leaves to cherish her memory her children, Bill (Carly) Sawaska of Hubbard, Ashley Santisi of Hubbard, Danny of South Carolina, and Tracy of DuBois, Pa.; her very best friend, Cookie Bratton of Hubbard; eight grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; a brother, Paul Griffiths; and many nieces, nephews, and extended family members.
A daughter, Katie Sawaska, and three brothers, Jim, Chuck, and Wayne Griffiths, preceded Audrey in death.
Family and friends are invited to attended a small celebration of life dinner which will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16, at Hubbard Church of the Nazarene, 1815 Cherry Lane, Hubbard.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Kinnick Funeral Home, 222 S. State St., Girard.


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{Blog Tour} The Bastard's Bargain - Katee Robert (Review)
Have you Pre-ordered THE BASTARD'S BARGAIN YET?
Do it. Dmitri will be yours forever.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Katee Robert delivers the final installment in her sizzling O'Malleys family series, hailed as "The Godfather meets Romeo & Juliet." In THE BASTARD'S BARGAIN Dmitri Romanov must use his legendary focus and control to stay one step ahead of everyone else in the ever-shifting power plays of New York City.
"The Bastard's Bargain presents a seductive escape and a fulfilling fantasy for that bad boy craving a girl can never outgrow."—Isha at Book Likes
"Keira and Dmitri are everything. What develops between them is raw and carnal and wanton. The way they need each other and the way they connect is beyond sexy. It's something deep and dark and heartbreakingly beautiful."—Eva, Goodreads Reviewer
Meet Dmitri and Keira!
Pre-order THE BASTARD'S BARGAIN and add it to your TBR pile on Goodreads! Then keep reading to get a sneak peek excerpt and to enter the giveaway for a $50 Amazon gift card and Dmitri Romanov scented candle!
Title: The Bastard's Bargain
Author: Katee Robert
Genre: Dark Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Grand Central/Forever
Series: The O'Malleys
Format: Digitial and Print
ASIN: B071ZYWPL5
Married to the enemy
When Keira O'Malley was a child, she used to picture her perfect wedding. The flowers. The dress. Her husband. But nothing could have prepared her for saying "I do" to Dmitri Romanov-cold, domineering, and always one step ahead of everyone else in the ever-shifting power plays of New York City. She agreed to his bargain to secure peace for her family, and she may want the bastard more than she'd ever admit, but she'll be damned if she'll make this marriage easy for him.
Dmitri knows better than to underestimate Keira for one second. Molten desire smolders between them, a dangerous addiction neither can resist. But his enemies are already on the move, and he needs every ounce of his legendary focus and control to keep them alive. Keira could just be his secret weapon-if she doesn't bring him to his knees first.
Order at:
Amazon: http://bit.ly/OMalley6Amazon
B&N: http://bit.ly/OMalley6BN
iBook: http://bit.ly/OMalley6iBooks
Kobo: http://bit.ly/OMalley6Kobo
This book contains adult themes.
I love the O'Malley series by Katee Robert. This was the 6th book in the series and my guess the final book since all the characters have had a book. This was one of my top books I wanted to read in 2018 and I was not disappointed.
This book follows Keira the youngest O'Malley sibling and Dmitri who is the head of the Romanov family. The story picks up right where the last book left off with Dmitri taking Keira. Keira and Dmitri end up getting married quickly in the book and now need to figure out a life together. Keira is used as pawn so she is always trying to keep herself one step ahead of the game and brings her own set of knowledge and experience to the situation.
I loved that the book was told in dual POV's. We get to see the relationship between Keira and Dmitri unfold. Keira has her guard completely up and doesn't even realize that Dmitri is turned on by her being so strong.
Keira turned out to be my favorite female lead of the series. She is so strong, but doesn't see it due to her dependency on drugs and alcohol. I love when she is forced to get sober that you can see she is fit for this world that she lives in and can take control of all situations. Keira comes into her own throughout this book.
Dmitri was an interesting character in all the books in the series so I was very intrigued that the last book was going to be specifically about him. We did get a little more backstory on how he became to be, but the story was more focused on developing a relationship with Keira. Dmitri is a complicated man, but he does keep himself somewhat honest in the book and we do get a refreshing look at him.
The story line is great for this book. We get a great look at the relationship between Dmitri and Keira from the beginning. My second favorite part is seeing Keira begin to recover and her realizing what is wrong with her. I loved the way the author handled addiction because it is not over when you are simply recovered.
My one complaint would be the lack of action in this book. Other books in the series have hard more action in them and this one felt a good portion of the buildup was happening during the story and there was only a mild amount of actual action that happened towards the end of the book. I felt that the focus of this book was more on the relationship between Keira and Dmitri versus the overall O'Malley story. My other complaint is I wish they brought all the siblings back together one last time I missed Sloan.
I would suggest this as a weekend read. I got totally sucked in as I knew I would and couldn't put the book down. The story line does have some parts where you can stop reading, but I found it very challenging to take a break because I just wanted to know what was going to happen.
I received a copy of this book from Barclay Publicity to provide an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book.
Enter to win a grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card and Dmitri Romanov scented candle!
The Bastard's Bargain Excerpt
Copyright © 2018 Katee Robert
It wasn't until the front door closed behind Ivan that the reality of her situation sank in. Dmitri was furious. He might have faked it for his friend, but he stood next to her, a pillar of stone with anger coming off him in waves. His grip on her elbow didn't hurt, but if she'd tried to leave, he would have restrained her.
She should be afraid. She should be terrified.
Keira's heartbeat picked up, adrenaline kicking in. She swung to face him with a fierce smile on her face. "You didn't compliment me on my dress." It was a work of fucking art. She smoothed her free hand over her hip and up her side. "Actually, you called me a high-class sex worker. Is that any way to speak to your beloved wife?"
His gray eyes followed the movement, a muscle ticking in his jaw when she cupped her breast. "I meant it when I said you're playing with fire."
That wasn't just anger on his face now. No, it was rapidly being overtaken by sheer lust. An answering feeling sent a bolt straight to her core. She stepped back, and he released her instantly. A strange feeling coursed through her, straightening her spine and making her want to laugh out loud. Power. This is what power feels like.
He wanted her. He wanted her so badly, he had his hands clenched at his sides to keep from touching her again. But he wouldn't until she gave the green light. Keira took another step back. "I have a hypothetical question."
"Ask." His voice was rough. The way he watched her made her feel like prey, and she liked it far more than she should—because she wasn't prey. Keira had her own teeth and claws, and Dmitri would learn that as time went on.
"Hypothetical, if I said yes tonight…how do you imagine that would go?"
He stared at her a long moment. "Nyet. I'm not playing this game with you." She blinked and he was on her, one hand snaking around to press against the exposed small of her back, the other tangling in her hair. "We are not children, moya koroleva. These games don't become us."
He kissed her. There was no cautious exploration or easing into it. Dmitri kissed her like a conquering warlord who was sure of his welcome because he owned everything in the room—including her. There was no fighting this. She didn't even want to try. Keira slid her arms around his neck and pressed herself more firmly against him. His cock was a hard length with too many layers between them. She rolled her hips, an invitation she wasn't sure she was ready to follow through on.
Dmitri slid his hand down to cup her ass, guiding her movements. Long slides up the length of his cock and back down again. The stupid goddamn dress kept her from spreading her legs wider, from getting him exactly where she needed him. Her nipples rubbed against his shirt, the silk incredibly decadent across her sensitized skin.
"Keira. Moya koroleva." He kissed down her jawline, tilting her head back until she had to arch her spine to accommodate the position. "Did you enjoy their eyes on you? Ivan's. The men who owe allegiance to me. Anyone who cared to look."
It took her desire-drugged brain a beat to catch up, but by then he was already growling out more words against her skin. "Did it make you feel powerful to know they were imagining stroking the nipples you flash with such impunity?" He moved his hand from her ass to do exactly that, dragging a finger over her puckered nipple. "They wanted the body you so proudly put on display." His voice roughened. "They wanted what's mine."
ve in tonight and then it will all be over.
He moved his hand to her back and bent her until she relied solely on his strength to keep her off the ground. And then Dmitri's wicked, wicked mouth closed around her nipple. The weight of the beaded design seemed heavier with his tongue flicking the engorged bud, making his touch that much hotter. She couldn't hold back a moan as he moved to her other breast.
Dmitri dragged his mouth up the center of her chest, the only part of her not caged in the dress, stopping at the thick collar. He flicked the hollow of her throat with his tongue. "This is my favorite part of the dress." He ran his thumb over it. "This, more than anything else, marks you as mine."
A collar for a kept pet.
It was as if he'd doused her in icy water. Keira went rigid and shoved Dmitri away. She almost fell when he released her, but she regained her balance at the last second. They stood mere feet apart, breathing hard and staring at each other. I am no one's pet. She slashed her hand through the air. "I might be your wife, Russian, but I'm not yours. I'll never be yours."
Read all the books in The O'Malleys Series
THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT
THE WEDDING PACT
AN INDECENT PROPOSAL
FORBIDDEN PROMISES
UNDERCOVER ATTRACTION
THE BASTARD'S BARGAIN
About Katee Robert
New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Katee Robert learned to tell her stories at her grandpa's knee. Her 2015 title, The Marriage Contract, was a RITA finalist, and RT Book Reviews named it 'a compulsively readable book with just the right amount of suspense and tension." When not writing sexy contemporary and romantic suspense, she spends her time playing imaginary games with her children, driving her husband batty with what-if questions, and planning for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.
Connect with Katee at: Website | Facebook | Twitter| GoodReads | Instagram
Labels: Contemporary, Romance
Alyssa Susanna February 8, 2018 at 6:53 AM
I am so glad you enjoyed this book! I'll be reading it this weekend and I'm so excited. Dmitri is already a fav!!!
Have a lovely day, Kristyn. =)
Reading Tounwind February 12, 2018 at 3:44 PM
I hope you enjoyed this one! Have a great day Alyssa!
L February 9, 2018 at 11:24 PM
The O'Malley series has been popping up on my radar a lot lately! I assume that's because a new book is coming out/came out, but it looks interesting!
You said there was a "lack of action," which worries me. I'm always hesitant to start a series that has SO MANY BOOKS, and action is kind of needed to keep things going.
Do You Dog-ear?
This book was more background story and I enjoyed reading it, but there is more action in the other books of the series. Thank you for stopping by!
Grace @ RebelMommyBookBlog February 12, 2018 at 4:17 PM
I haven't read this series but love a dual POV. Sorry there wasn't more action int his one. Great review!
Sam Kozbial February 12, 2018 at 7:36 PM
I have been hearing great things about this series. I don't think I have ever read a crime romance, but I think I have to check this one out. Great review!
Reading Tounwind February 13, 2018 at 9:44 AM
It is a great series! Thank you for stopping by!
Great review! I'm glad you enjoyed the read! I like books with likeable characters, makes the read more enjoyable :-)
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Someone is stockpiling an awful lot of copper with the state-owned enterprises of the Chinese government the most likely suspects, and the trade war with the U.S. the most likely cause.
What's happened, and there isn't yet a clear-cut explanation, is that copper held in the warehouses of the major metal-trading markets in the U.S., Britain and China has been disappearing much faster than it could be consumed.
A tell-tale indication of unusual copper-market activity is that since the end of March, as the price of copper has been falling by around 10% the combined stockpiles of the London Metal Exchange, the Shanghai Futures Exchange and the U.S. Comex market have dropped by 47%.
Normally, a big fall in stockpiles on metal exchanges is matched by a rise in the price of the commodity.
Why that hasn't happened with copper has seasoned observers wondering whether there is a big speculative play underway, which has happened before in copper.
Or whether the metal is simply being shifted out of sight into private warehouses.
The fact that stockpile are depleting, without a corresponding rise in the price of copper, indicates that some sort of government-sponsored activity is underway because while copper is a widely-used metal in construction, electrical grids and appliances, and vehicles, it is also a strategic metal with multiple military uses.
Other important metals, including nickel and aluminium, have also seen a steady decline in stockpiles since the U.S. v China trade war started earlier this year, but like copper there has not been a significant price reaction.
Macquarie Bank was the first to note the fall in metal exchange stocks without a price reaction, but it concluded that the metal had not been consumed, it had simply been shifted out of sight.
"Copper stocks in exchange warehouses have been on a roller coaster ride this year," Macquarie said in a research note.
"Stocks started the year at 550,000 tons, peaked at just over 900,000 tons at the end of March and have since been falling, reaching 462,000 tons last Friday.
"It's the Shanghai Futures Exchange stocks in China that have led the decline, with the level now nearing one-third of their peak in March."
In its attempt to work out where the copper had gone Macquarie examined Chinese government data and metal exchange numbers to conclude that apparent copper consumption rose by 12.3% in the seven months to the end of July, an unlikely result.
That led to a question as to whether it was reasonable to suppose that China's copper consumption grew by more than 12% year-on-year in the first seven months of 2018, and that consumption had absorbed all imported material and absorbed futures exchange stocks?
"The lackluster Chinese economy suggested that is preposterous," Macquarie said.
After examining weak spending on the national electricity grid, flat car production, erratic appliance production, feeble infrastructure but firm construction spending the bank said a copper consumption growth rate of 4% was more likely.
Price Premiums In China And The U.S.
Another test to link changes in the copper market to the trade war was to look at regional premiums charged for metal, an additional charge unique in certain areas with copper in both China and the U.S. attracting a price premium.
"These two nations are of course lining up for a trade war, so there may be some impact on premiums from expected tariffs on metal flows," the bank said.
"Notably, European premiums are undisturbed."
Boiled down, copper appears to be in motion, moving from visible metal-exchange controlled warehouses into another warehouse -- but precisely who's loading up with copper is a question yet to be answered.


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