The district's Board of Education recognized Junior-Senior High School's winter athletic teams, student athletes and coaches at their most recent meeting.
With a successful winter season, the district honored and congratulated the varsity cheerleading and girls varsity basketball teams for each earning the distinction as New York State Scholar-Athlete Team. The prestigious state award is presented to teams who cumulatively achieved a 90 percent grade point average or better during the competing season.
Individual athletes were also recognized for earning the distinction of being named New York State Scholar-Athlete, which is earned by student athletes who maintain a minimum of 90 percent GPA during the season. This includes Brooke DeGiulio and Juliet McCarthy for girls varsity basketball, Chris Levins for boys varsity basketball, Sharon Oosterwijk for girls varsity cheerleading, and Hunter Vertuccio for boys basketball. DeGiulio was also honored for scoring 1,085 points in her high school career.
In addition, the board also highlighted the accomplishments and dedication of two coaches. Varsity boys basketball coach Joe Lores was honored for his recent induction into the Basketball Coaches Association of New York Hall of Fame, and girls basketball coach Karin Leary, who is retiring, was recognized for her 19 years of dedication to the program.
Rhame Avenue School's poet-tree has fully blossomed since the beginning of Poetry Month on April 1. During the month, students discovered their creativity and skills in writing poetry in many forms.
Set up by Mrs. Diane Dorato, students were excited to fill the tree with leaves that included their original poems and reflected their unique creativity. Alexis Martinez, in Mrs. Beyer's third grade class, is shown putting up one of her poems.
Centre Avenue's first graders dove into literature by reading Arnold Lobel's "Frog and Toad Are Friends" and Thelma Lynne Godin's "How to Dress a Dragon." For the unit, students are practicing skills such as sequencing, character traits, and cause and effect.
In relation to "How to Dress a Dragon," Junior-Senior High School senior Giana Donald interned with the class to work with students on creating flow maps to sequence steps on how to dress a dragon.
The district has once again been named Best Community for Music Education by the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation for 2019. This is the fourth year in a row the district has received the designation.
This prestigious distinction is earned by school districts across the nation that exhibit exceptional efforts and commitment toward maintaining music education, excel in their instruction of music and in their extensive array of music programs offered to students.
Junior-Senior High School students in Ms. Perrone's English class were tasked with creating a commercial for a product using their knowledge of the rhetorical triangle, modes of persuasion and logical fallacies.
Students worked in groups to plan out their scripts and employed devices learned to sell their product to their target audiences. After creating the scripts, groups performed their commercials while classmates watched and provided feedback on the effectiveness of their persuasive tactics.
Students at East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School participated in the annual schoolwide Poetry Madness Competition, for which they wrote poems following this year's theme of "empowerment."
After several rounds, the top eight students were selected and invited to read their poems in front of the school during an assembly. The eight finalists were seniors Anjali Baloy, Jiggy Kelly, Osmin Mayorga and Emma Neary, juniors Farha Khan and Gabe Padiernos, sophomore Daniella Pedi and freshman Madeleine Prucha.
If you are interested in becoming a candidate for the Board of Education, you must file your petition with the District Clerk no later than 5:00 pm on Monday, April 22, 2019. The District Clerk will be available on April 22nd to accept petitions. School is closed for spring recess starting April 17, 2019. Nominating Petitions are available in the District Clerk's Office through April 16, 2019. Please contact Ms. Fazi, District Clerk, at (516) 887-8300 Ext. 1-553 for more information regarding the Nominating Petition.
East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School is proud to announce seniors Laura Millar as valedictorian and Scott Buzzolani as salutatorian for the Class of 2019.
Millar weighted GPA is 104.8, with an intended major English/Journalism. Along with her academic feats, she has also proven herself to be an extraordinary musician as a NYSSMA All-State finalist, a talented athlete and a dependable, motivating leader as president of her class.
Millar participates in a variety of extracurricular activities, including being president of the Student Council, the National Honor Society and NHS quiz bowl. She was also vice president for NJHS and contributor to The Gull Student Newspaper. In addition, she plays clarinet, bass clarinet and tenor saxophone, is vice president of jazz band, clarinet section leader for the marching band and is also a member of the Nassau Suffolk Honor Band. Her athletic abilities include being on the school's varsity badminton, soccer and lacrosse teams, where she was named All-Conference in badminton, and All-Conference and All-Scholastic in soccer. She's also a member of the CYO swimming and volleyball teams, and Lynbrook East Rockaway travel soccer team.
With this, Millar has accomplished many other academic awards and achievements, such as earning AP Scholar with Honors, the Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony Award, Student of the Year for 2014 and 2017, Supermaster of Regents, All-County Band, and a candidate for a Special Scholarship through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Millar's community service efforts include participating in the Lupus Walk Fundraiser, Canstruction, Island Harvest Empty Bowls and American Cancer Society walk. Her work experience includes New York Times Summer Writer's Workshop.
Buzzolani has a weighted GPA of 102.4 and intends to major in chemistry education. He has been an integral part of the school's Science Research program and spent last summer researching at the "Living by the Bay" Summer Science Research at a local college.
Buzzolani has a tremendous influence on the music department, participating in jazz band, the musical, Nassau County Musical Festival, and Tri-M Music Honor Society. Other extracurricular activities Buzzolani participates in include being a member of the National Junior Honor Society and National Honor Society, the chess club and regional quiz bowl participant.
For his academic efforts, Buzzolani earned several awards, including the Bausch + Lomb Honorary Science Award, the St. Michaels College book award for Academic Achievement and Social Conscience, and was also the winner of the East Rockaway's first Research Symposium Science Research Program at Hofstra University.
He also dedicates his free time to community service work by tutoring younger students in music and chemistry and participating in several charity walks.
The district congratulates Millar and Buzzolani for this achievement and wishes them the very best in their future endeavors.
East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School students in AP Government and AP U.S. History took a trip to Hofstra University to attend the eighth annual Evaluation of Presidential Leadership Symposium for High School Students.
Junior Zackary Hirashima was presented with an Award of Excellence for an essay he wrote on topics related to presidents and politics. Students listened to a debate between former Vermont Governor Howard Dean and Republican campaign strategist Ed Rollins.
Rhame Avenue School students completed the St. Jude Math-A-Thon, where students competed to see which class could raise the most for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. This year, Rhame students exceeded their goal by raising a total of $7,618 in funding.
The winning class was Mrs. Heidi Kreit's third-grade class with a total of $3,535. A special thanks to Francesca Bocchetti who raised $3,025 by setting up a table at her grandma's deli, Arata's Deli, in Sea Cliff.
For more than 30 years, St. Jude Math-A-Thon has been America's largest education-based fundraiser. It includes a free math curriculum supplement for kindergarten through eighth grades, which students complete after obtaining sponsorships from friends and family.
Rhame's math action team held a kickoff assembly in February, where students were educated on Math-a-thon and how the donations help the children at the hospital. With last year's fundraising coming to $3,693, the school has raised a total of $11,311 in the past two years for the hospital.
The students at Rhame look forward to participating again in future Math-A-Thons.
Students at Centre and Rhame Avenue Elementary schools were awarded for their participation in the Kindness Challenge.
Rhame students were Molly Brown, who showed kindness by helping her mom with the dishes, playing with someone who had no one to play with, helping someone who was crying and cleaning up after herself; Ellia DeCrescenzo, who showed kindness by helping someone up when they fell down, having a smile on her face every day, being respectful, not littering, giving a seat on the bus to someone and helping her sisters with their homework; and Ethan Baiza, who showed kindness by giving chocolate to a crossing guard.
At Centre, George Espinoza was awarded for his kindness in helping his friend pack up, washing plates at home, listening to his teachers and saying thank-you to someone who held the door for him. Steven James Jr. was awarded for his kindness in sitting with a new group of kids at lunch and helping a younger student with homework.
The members of Centre Avenue School's K-Kids of the East Rockaway School District volunteered their time to support community members at the Education Foundation 5k Run/ Walk. During the event, students set up a refreshment stand that was stocked with water, apples, bananas and more. Students passed out refreshments at the finish line, while cheering on local participants.
Members of the Junior-Senior High School's dignity club, key club and other East Rockaway students met at Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream for "Superheroes Against Bullying." The event was an indoor winter walk sponsored by New Horizons Counseling Center.
New Horizons counsels and provides services for victims of bullying, as well as those with anxiety and depression. The students represented East Rockaway while earning community service hours. The event was a great success and the district is proud of these "superhero" students.
Eighth-grade ENL students in Ms. Isik's common core class participated in a read aloud of Sandra Cisneros' bilingual version of "Hairs." During the reading, the class was interactive and used role cards to make spontaneous responses. Students formed predictions, connections, summaries, and questions about the text, and enjoyed hearing the vignette in English and Spanish. With that, they used "Hairs" as a model to write their own vignettes.
Fifth-grade students at Centre Avenue School also got the chance to participate in Beautiful Me, a self-esteem program designed to educate and empower female students.
The students discussed alternate views of beauty, distorted views of beauty from the media, and learned how to respect themselves and develop healthy relationships. They also engaged in activities that focused on self-esteem, values, problem-solving and positive motivation. Each student was provided with a paper hand and a paper doll where they wrote down the personality traits that make them beautiful on the inside. In addition, they were also provided with a compliment box and were encouraged to identify and write a meaningful, genuine and honest compliment for each member of the group. With that, they shared their compliments with each other.
The East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School music department kicked off Music in Our Schools Month with the 2019 sixth-grade music orientation. Forty-seven students from the sixth-grade band, chorus and orchestra worked with a select number of high school students to prepare a piece from their own upcoming concert.
High school student-mentors assisted the young performers with the necessary skills and techniques required for their performances. All ensembles worked with their current music teacher and a high school music teacher. The event included icebreakers, rehearsals and performances from each of the three groups.
The senior class of the East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School were the reigning champions of the coveted silver cup for the district's 83rd annual Rock Rivalry. The night was alive with singing, dancing and comedy, as each class battled for the best performance.
The freshman class took the audience to Nashville, Texas, with their "Winner Takes it Y'all" theme, which told a story about following one's dreams. After that, the sophomore class performed balance of power between Greek gods in their "Zeus on the Loose" theme. For their "A Liege of Their Own" theme, the junior class battled for the greater good in the "United Realms." The senior class wrapped up the night where they fought crime in France with their "Mastermimes" theme.
Students earned points for various components, including their entrances and sportsmanship. Leading up to the big night, students also participated in quiz bowl, sports night, and boys and girls volleyball games. They also created murals and stands as part of the interdisciplinary competition.
The district congratulates the seniors for conquering the cup!
Sixth-grade student council members at Rhame Avenue School discussed character traits of a good leader with younger grade levels. Working in groups, students created slideshows and skits about the qualities of being a good leader and then shared their presentations with kindergarten, first-, second- and third-grade classes. After that, sixth-graders engaged the classes with a question-and-answer session. This activity benefited members of the student council as well as the students in the younger grades.
East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School had the opportunity to host the VEX Robotics State Championships for the Southern New York State Region. Over 30 teams from Westchester, New York City, Nassau and Suffolk counties competed in this massive event.
East Rockaway engineering students Joseph Amabile, Bryan Morgenthaler, Grace DelValle, Cole Keller, Nick Becker, Zane Zeilberger and William Sporre had the opportunity to compete in this event. The district would like to thank faculty members Hugh Howard, Nick Cimorelli, Michelle Healy and more for organizing and running the event.
East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School eighth-grader Nicholas Stebner received the prestigious honor to participate in the American Choral Director's Association National Middle School/Junior High Honor Choir. The Honor Choir was held in Kansas City, Missouri, and was a part of the ACDA's 60th anniversary Jubilee National Conference.
Stebner joined students from around the country to rehearse with the esteemed conductor, Dr. Derrick Fox. At the end of the conference, students gave a performance in the state-of-the-art Kauffman Performance Center.
The National Honor Choir is an auditioned ensemble that performs every two years. This is the first time the district has had a student selected for the National Honor Choir. The music department is proud of this achievement and applauds the dedication and practice that Stebner demonstrated while preparing for this event.
Mrs. Beyrer and Mrs. Beufve's third-grade class at Rhame Avenue learned about engineering and programming robots from Mrs. Healy, district STEAM program advisor. Students applied what they learned to race cars and were given the opportunity to design a Mars rover with a motion sensor. Throughout the assignment, students were engaged and applied the coding they learned from the six-week session to their robots.
Mr. Tesoriero's U.S. History students took on the role of lawyers, judges and women's rights activists, such as Susan B. Anthony, in a mock trial centered around the 14th and 15th Amendments and the women's suffrage movement. Students had time to prepare their arguments and stance on Constitutional interpretation and then present their arguments to the class. With that, they were able to build on each other's presentations and develop a claim surrounding the 14th Amendment and the idea of universal suffrage.
Centre Avenue's fifth-grade students in Mrs. Donald's and Mrs. Ranieri's classes swapped classrooms to share their personal narratives with one another. During this end-of-unit writing celebration, students read each other's work and gave insightful feedback by using the rubric-based language. With that, students arrived back to their classrooms to review the "glows" and "grows" they received as final reflections.
Junior-Senior High School's students certified as Peer AIDS Educators visited Rhame Avenue and Centre Avenue schools to present to the district's sixth-grade students on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. The Peer AIDS Educators Program is a joint effort between the district, North Shore University Hospital's Center for AIDS Research and Treatment, and the Department of Professional and Public Health Education.
High school students from participating districts across Long Island were selected to attend an intensive HIV/AIDS education training program at North Shore Hospital, which prepared them with the knowledge and skills necessary to educate youth on the topic. After completing the training, students were involved in planning and implementing HIV/AIDS presentations and classroom activities, as part of the district's fifth- and sixth-grade health curriculum.
The Junior-Senior High School Peer AIDS Educators program, which is facilitated by social worker Kristen Mednick and Director of Athletics David Barth, will return to Rhame and Centre in the spring to present the lesson to fifth-grade students.
The district is proud to announce that East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School senior Chris Levins has been named the recipient of the News12 Scholar Athlete Award, after being nominated by basketball coach Paul Collins.
Each week, News12 honors a senior athlete who has been successful in athletics, academics and other extracurricular activities inside and outside school. He is among 30 student-athletes from across Long Island being honored this year.
Chris is the captain of the soccer and basketball teams and has earned All-Conference honors in both sports. In addition to his athletic career, he is also the trumpet section leader for the high school band and a member of the school's construction club. Outside school, Chris is a member of the Nassau County Athletic Leadership Committee and recently became an Eagle Scout for the Scouts BSA Troop 121 in East Rockaway.
As part of this recognition, Chris will receive a $1,000 scholarship and will attend a luncheon in June honoring all the 2018-2019 recipients.
The district congratulates Chris on this tremendous honor.
Students at Centre Avenue and Rhame Avenue elementary schools were presented with certificate awards during the Board of Education meeting for their participation in this year's PTA Reflections Arts Program.
Run by the National PTA, the acclaimed student recognition program is a volunteer arts program and contest that encourages artistic creativity in the classroom and at home. With this year's theme "Heroes Around Me," student participants created original works of art within several categories, such as dance, choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography and visual arts.
From the 47 students who participated in the program, 15 of them advanced to the Nassau County level. The Rhame Avenue students who advanced are Ayesha Aibani, Adriana DeMatteo, Isabella Gallina, Amy Gamache, Vanessa Hansraj, Joven Lancelot, Maya Motherway, Joseph Petraro and Christopher Sugrue. The Centre students who advanced are Edwin Espinoza, Atticus Gamache, Eileen Harvey, Mary Harvey, Kaitlyn Lewald and Julia Sidelman.
"The creativity that was demonstrated by our students was amazing," said Centre Principal Sherry Ma.
The district also recognized judges Michaeline Cooper, Town of Hempstead Councilman Anthony D'Esposito, Heather Massa and Dr. Richard Meagher for their efforts.
District board members and administration recognized retirees senior typist clerk Kathy Keating and Junior-Senior High School principal typist clerk Marilyn Brekke for their years of service at the Feb. 26 board meeting.
Marilyn began her career with the district in 1992, where she started as a lunch monitor at Rhame Avenue School. In addition to her 26 years serving the district, Marilyn was also one of the two monitors at the Junior-Senior High School, a senior clerk typist and a summer school secretary before retiring as principal typist clerk at the high school's attendance office in December 2018. Speaking on behalf of Superintendent of School Lisa Ruiz and the board, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Mona Hecht described Marilyn as someone who took pride in her work and went the extra mile to complete every task.
Kathy, a senior typist clerk in the district's facilities department, began her career with the district in 1991 and held positions of monitor, substitute clerical, part-time typist clerk and full-time typist clerk. She started as senior typist clerk in 2004, where she supported the district's facilities director until her retirement in December 2018. She was also in-district coordinator for nonpublic school text books from 1997 to 2016 and managed in-district transportation. Ms. Hecht said that Kathy's clerical skills, professionalism and knowledge of the community helped the district function effectively throughout the years.
Superintendent Ruiz said that both retirees will be greatly missed, and wished them a long, happy and healthy retirement.
Two robotics teams from the district had the honor of competing in the Vex IQ Southern New York State Vex Robotics Championship in New York City.
A combined seventh- and eighth-grade team comprised of Nicholas Alter, Andrew Calise, Everett Gamache, Peter Kaplan, Jordan Lu, John O'Hanlon and Louis Perri qualified for the event early in the school year by stunning the competition in the first meet of the season.
The second team is comprised of sixth-grade Rhame Avenue Elementary School students Zachary Arnold, Alex Calise, Michael Cambridge and Jeremy Carman. This was the first time the East Rockaway Middle School Robotics Team had a rookie elementary school team qualify for a state championship. The team qualified for the competition by consistently improving their driving and programming skills throughout the season. Their perseverance certainly paid off, as they finished in 15th place overall out of the best teams in the region.
Mr. Nick Cimorelli and Mrs. Michelle Healy, who coach the elementary team, are very proud of this accomplishment, and the perseverance of all students in the club who continued to work collaboratively and improve their robots throughout the competition season. They look forward to continued success next year.


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Visitors walk through a "pop-up forest" that stood for three weeks in New York's Times Square. Cities are working to reintroduce nature into the urban environment, sometimes in unexpected ways.
Photograph by Richard Levine, Alamy
Urban Expeditions
Five Trends Influencing the Future of Our Cities
Urban plans balance climate change solutions and the well-being of residents.
ByAmy Kolczak
When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency removed its climate change hub from public view earlier this year, 17 cities had a response: Each posted the information on city government sites.
The move was symbolic of a quiet revolution: Environmental, social, and economic change is increasingly centered at the city level.
Innovation in cities was on display at a recent Greenbuild, an event devoted to green building and sustainable development that draws a diverse roster of attendees, from architects and engineers to school and hospital administrators.
Some solutions were novel: A unit in the Boston mayor's office called New Urban Mechanics that specializes in using low-cost hacks and technology to improve urban living highlighted city hall's Stairs of Fabulousness. Created with simple rainbow-hued tape, the design—purported by its author to make the Brutalist building 400 percent more fabulous—was the result of a public space invitational to temporarily transform spots around the city. Other projects go deeper, but the stairs exemplify the group's mission to delight and engage citizens—and a larger effort to refocus urban design around people. Here's how that trend and four others are defining the cities of the future.
Building for People
Cars no longer drive urban planning—today it's "people-oriented design," says Neil Angus, a Boston environmental planner who specializes in implementing the LEED neighborhood-focused sustainability standard. "That still accommodates cars, but people come first."
"It's design on a pedestrian scale, with narrower streets, and pushing buildings closer to the street and to each other," says Angus. "That in turn brings people closer together—the front porch concept." Other aspects include a grocery store within walking distance, proximity to transit, high-performing green buildings, green space and trees along streets, and space for cyclists.
In Boston's diverse Dorchester neighborhood, the 13-block Talbot-Norfolk Triangle (TNT) is piloting that model of transformation in a historically underserved area. "We flipped the script," says David Queeley of the area's redevelopment corporation. "Why can't this happen in low-income neighborhoods?"
Spurred in part by the arrival of a commuter rail line along one of its borders, the community is converting vacant buildings and aging housing while building on economic opportunities that transit connectivity and revitalization bring—without displacing longtime residents. At least 100 affordable housing units have been built.
"Boston has the largest income disparity of any city and it's the fastest gentrifying," says Queeley. "If we don't do something differently, it's going to look homogenous."
Inclusivity and innovation define renewal efforts. "We layer different sustainability strategies," says Queeley. The Men of Color Initiative tackles TNT's unemployment rate for men, which approaches 50 percent. Energy efficiency was improved by retrofitting more than 500 homes. For a safer pedestrian zone, TNT is part of Boston's Slow Streets initiative, which enforces a neighborhood speed limit of 20 miles per hour. Residents and activists have helped create a sense of place with a park that's become a hub for activity, mural projects, and an urban agriculture site. Bus shelters were outfitted with green roofs, a greenway trail system is under way, and a tree-planting program has also led to jobs through horticulture training.
With 90 percent of our time spent indoors, building design and its impact in the workplace, schools, and even hospital settings has been an emerging area of research.
Studies conducted by Harvard's Healthy Buildings center found that in green buildings with enhanced ventilation and optimal thermal conditions, participants scored 26 percent higher on cognitive function tests and had fewer symptoms of sick building syndrome. Exposure to daylight and brighter, blue-enriched lighting, which best mimics natural light, was also associated with better sleep quality.
Chemicals used in building materials and furnishings that are known to accumulate in both humans and the environment are coming under closer scrutiny by researchers, and Harvard is practicing what it teaches: The university's purchasing community is working to reduce "chemicals of concern" throughout the campus, starting with buying furniture that's free of flame retardants.
Facebook and Kaiser Permanente have made similar pledges, and at Google—where cofounder Larry Page has been known to carry a particulate counter to monitor pollutants—a team is steering its global offices and vendors toward safer options, potentially extending the company's influence with a database that scores products for health impacts and transparency. Perkins+Will architects urges designers to follow recommendations in a "precautionary list," which includes substances such as antimicrobial agents.
Test your knowledge of how buildings impact health.
Urban planners continually find more creative ways to weave nature into the city, particularly with space at a premium. It doesn't necessarily have to take the form of sprawling parks. Jonce Walker, who works in sustainable design in New York City, sees pockets of nature functioning like "acupuncture" for residents. "Small, strategic interventions offer relief to people who live in cities," says Walker. "We must be careful not to erase nature out of cities, and work on putting nature back in."
The best of these spots, he says, have the element of surprise—encountering nature where one might least expect it—and offer "dwell time," a way to linger and admire it.
Walker points to projects such as Paley Park and PARK(ing) Day, a movement to convert metered parking spots into temporary public spaces that began in San Francisco and spread to other cities. In New York, it's similarly represented by Street Seats, a seasonal program allowing benches and chairs, surrounded by landscaping, to be installed on streets. "It's taking back part of the street for cars and giving it to people," says Walker. In Brooklyn, the 2,000 Gallon Project uses dumpsters planted with trees and vegetation to divert stormwater that might ordinarily overflow with sewage into Gowanus Canal. The display "integrates nature into a very industrial place—and it's moveable," he says.
Planting trees is a more permanent solution. Washington, D.C., and a dozen other cities have committed to a 40 percent canopy cover goal. D.C. is already close—about 38.7 percent—and it's moved to protect "heritage trees" whose trunks are 100 inches or more in circumference, says Luke Cole of the city's environment and energy department. About 12,000 trees were planted over the last year as part of the effort. Citizens are in on it too: A program offers a consult for residential property owners and subsidies for incorporating shade trees, rain gardens, and native plants, which help reduce storm runoff. The program contributes up to 8 percent of the city's new trees.
(See innovative green space in Singapore, the leading biophilic city.)
Planning for Climate Change
Superstorm Sandy's crippling effect on Manhattan in 2012 propelled cities to launch resilience plans that anticipate rising seas, more frequent storms, and flooding. In 2014 San Francisco became the first to designate a climate resilience officer, and at least 84 other global cities have followed. In the wake of recent hurricanes impacting Houston, Miami, and Puerto Rico—the most expensive hurricane season in U.S. history—efforts have accelerated.
At the confluence of two rivers, Washington, D.C., is battling both sinking and sea-level rise—levels have risen 11 inches over the past century, with 40 inches projected by 2080.
Climate Ready DC outlines measures for coping with those, along with more intense rainfall and storm surge, and highlights neighborhoods at risk. The plan's 77 actions range from increasing the number of green roofs (already incentivized), collecting stormwater, creating micro-grids for energy and water, incorporating resilience in building and zoning codes, and identifying "cooling centers" where those who may not have access to air conditioning could retreat during scorching summer heat—the city projects two to three times as many dangerously hot days.
The plan also calls for "a communications exercise," a strategy for reaching different segments of the city, says Perkins+Will architect Jon Penndorf, who was part of a team that developed the plan. That includes outreach to lower income and less mobile populations, who are often in the most vulnerable parts of the city, by enlisting existing channels, such as churches and other community groups, and messaging for tourists too, he says.
The Net-Zero Standard
Net-zero waste, water, and energy have been called the sustainable trifecta, creating "living buildings." Seattle's Bullitt Center, for example, has a rooftop rainwater harvesting system and composting toilets and taps solar energy for its needs.
As of 2016, about 200 commercial buildings in the U.S. claimed the net-zero energy standard, which means the building generates all its own power through on-site renewable sources. Schools and campuses are increasingly incorporating net-zero energy systems—and using them as a teaching tool. (See a gallery of innovative educational facilities.)
In Oregon, where buildings consume 30 percent of the state's energy use, it may soon be the norm. By October 2023, all new homes must be "zero-energy ready"—equipped for solar panel installation. Residents of the 50 U.S. states and Germany can now see the solar potential of their own homes by street address in Google's Project Sunroof.
Zero waste is somewhat of a misnomer: It means that 90 percent has been diverted from landfills, by prevention, reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting. Facilities, universities, and dozens of cities are getting in on the effort too, committing to reaching zero waste within the next two decades. Ljubljana, Slovenia, is leading the way in Europe while in the U.S. San Francisco may be the first to reach the target, aiming for 2020, through its "fantastic three"—separate composting, recycling, and trash bins for residents. (Read about cyclists helping Austin to reach zero waste.)
This article is part of our Urban Expeditions series, an initiative made possible by a grant from United Technologies to the National Geographic Society.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Q: ar() time series function in R, manually checking the residuals/predicted values I am using the ar() function to fit an AR model to some data, and this object will return the in sample residuals. I also know the syntax for how to get the corresponding predicted values, but I want to compute these predicted values manually (just to check my own understanding) for a simple AR(1) example.
My problem is that my manually computed residuals (based on my manually computed predictions) do not match the in sample residuals stored in the ar object (well the 1st residual does match, but not the rest).
From the documentation, I see that
x[t]  = m + a[1]*(x[t-1] - m)

where m is the sample mean of the series. Here is an example of what I am doing manually.
# Create some true AR(1) data
set.seed(123)
x = w = rnorm(30) + 3 ; for (t in 2:30) x[t] = .60*x[t-1] + w[t]
# Fit an ar model
x.model = ar(x) # coefficient is .49, mean value of x is 6.98
# Manually create predictions
x.MyPred = rep(0,30) ; x.MyPred[1] = x[1]
for (t in 2:30) x.MyPred[t] = 6.984234 + .4988327*(x.MyPred[t-1] - 6.984234)
MyResid = x - x.MyPred
cbind(MyResid, x.model$res) # does not match

And interestingly, the first residual (at observation 2) does match, but the rest do not. Thanks in advance.
Update
The answer given below is basically highlighting the difference between so called static forecasting and dynamic forecasting, here are a few more details.
The two possible choices to make the fitted values are
# Method 1:
for (t in 2:30) x.MyPred[t] = 6.984234 + .4988327*(x.MyPred[t-1] - 6.984234)

# Method 2:
for (t in 2:30) x.MyPred[t] = 6.984234 + .4988327*(x[t-1] - 6.984234)

Method 1 is taking the forecasted value from the previous step and using this to plug in for the lagged values on the RHS.
This could feasibly be used to create out of sample predictions forever. Also, depending on what time point you start to make predictions, the resulting predictions for a given time period can be different.
Method 2 is taking the actual known historical values to plug in for the lagged values on the RHS. It will never be able to forecast more than 1 step out of sample. Also, the forecast values will always be the same no matter where you start.
Both of these will give the same 1 step ahead forecast value. Method 2 is what produces the residuals returned in the ar() object.
The Eviews software documentation has a good discussion of this. This R documentation was problematic in not specifying which of the x values are fitted values versus known historical values. A better expression to show in the documentation would be
\hat{x}[t]  = m + a[1]*(x[t-1] - m)

and, dare I say, possibly a few sentences on this very topic. But good documentation is hardly something to expect in R.

A: The reason is that you are using x.MyPred[t-1] when you should use x[t-1]. What you are doing is creating a series of predictions over the entire sample period, with only the initial value given. The residuals are one-step ahead predictions, meaning that the lagged value is taken as given.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Browse all Martial Arts & Self Defence Schools & Supplies in Sutherland NSW.


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July 2017 at Policy Integrity:
National Monuments Under Threat
Pruitt's Lawless Actions
Science Article on Toxic Contaminants
Defending the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases
Regulatory Review at Federal Agencies
Staff Spotlight: Jeffrey Shrader
Bears Ears National Monument, one monument designation under review. Creative Commons photo credit: John Fowler.
The Trump administration is undertaking a review of lands designated as national monuments with an eye toward revoking or revising the monument status in some areas, and opening some of these lands to energy and mineral extraction. Our recent comments to the Department of the Interior argue that the executive branch lacks the authority to revoke, reduce the size of, or otherwise diminish the protections for existing national monuments. And while the administration has cited potential job growth from increased domestic energy development on these public lands, our comments show that national monuments deliver significant, sustained economic benefits to nearby communities, in contrast to the "boom-and-bust" cycles historically associated with fossil fuel development.
Scott Pruitt. Photo from the White House.
In the News: Pruitt's Lawless Actions
Six months into the job, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt has suspended, delayed, or otherwise blocked numerous environmental regulations, often through legally questionable means. In a new piece in Slate, Richard Revesz and Bethany Davis Noll claim that courts will likely halt many of these efforts since "[Pruitt] has pursued them in a lawless fashion, cutting corners and ignoring fundamental legal requirements." Pruitt recently lost his first court challenge when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down an attempt to delay a Clean Air Act regulation that limits methane leaks from oil and gas facilities. The piece cites other deregulatory interventions that are vulnerable, arguing that many of these actions will not survive legal challenges.
EPA toxicology researcher. Photo from the Environmental Protection Agency.
SCIENCE Article on Regulating Toxic Contaminants
Science recently published an article that Richard Revesz co-authored, among others, with Al McGartland, Director of EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics, and Tracey Woodruff, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California at San Francisco. It challenges the current approach to the regulation of toxic pollutants other than carcinogens, which are generally treated as if they had a population threshold below which there are no adverse health effects. This assumption is questionable for most contaminants, as recognized by the National Academy of Sciences almost a decade ago, but nonetheless it continues to be widely used by regulatory agencies. In turn, this scientific shortcoming skews the cost-benefit analysis of regulation leading to a systematic underestimate of the benefits of pollution reduction. The article also takes issue with the treatment of contaminants for which the evidence of adverse health effects fall short of near-certainty. Even though individuals have a willingness to pay to reduce the concentrations of such pollutants, the current analytical techniques assign no value to such reductions.
Efforts to quantify the costs of climate change for policymaking are under threat in the wake of a recent executive order (EO) that withdrew federal guidance on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases developed during the Obama administration. Some see this move as a mandate to bar the use of the Interagency Working Group's social cost of carbon (SCC) estimates in federal or state policymaking, but we argue that (1) the EO does not preclude continued use of the SCC or consideration of climate impacts in cost-benefit analyses, and (2) government agencies should continue using this federal guidance as it remains the best available estimate of societal damage caused by greenhouse gasses. Following the Forest Service's decision to exclude climate impacts in its cost-benefit analysis for expanding an existing coal mine, we submitted joint comments with several environmental organizations making these arguments.
While the EO has limited legal significance, a recent House bill would bar certain uses of the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases in agency analyses. In advance of a hearing on this bill, we provided materials about the SCC to the House Subcommittee on Energy & Mineral Resources. We also submitted our arguments to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission as it reconsidered its use of the SCC in public utilities planning. The Commission decided not only to continue using the SCC despite the EO, but it also updated its SCC calculation to a higher figure, reflecting more recent Interagency Working Group estimates.
Federal agencies continue to seek public suggestions for rules to repeal or reform, largely in response to an earlier executive order calling for reduced regulatory burden on industry. So far, we have submitted 11 sets of comments to agencies to counter the narrative that regulations stifle economic growth and provide minimal benefits to the public. In July, we submitted comments to the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Treasury, and the General Services Administration. We argue that regulatory review efforts should consider the public benefits of regulation, not just the costs to regulated industries, and should prioritize review of rules for which actual costs and benefits diverge significantly from predicted costs and benefits.
Jeffrey Shrader is Policy Integrity's newest Economic Fellow. His research focuses on econometric identification and empirical analysis of questions in environmental and labor economics including the impacts of climate change, environmental effects on worker productivity, and business responses to environmental changes. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego and a B.A., magna cum laude, from Columbia University. In 2018, he will join the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University as an Assistant Professor.


When I was growing up, books were my friends. When I didn't have friends, I had books. And one of the greatest pleasures I have right now in life is to be reading a really good book, and to know that I have a good book after that book to read. So I love books. I think that books open windows to the world for all of us. Reading Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" was the first time I encountered a book about a person who looked like, sounded like and felt like myself. It was transforming to know that the life I was leading and could relate to so well was considered important enough to be written about. James Weldon Johnson's "God's Trombone," seven sermons beginning with the Creation and ending with Judgment Day: I learned every word of each sermon when I was 14 and spoke Sunday after Sunday in every black church in Nashville reciting them for years. I had a mini speaking career derived from those sermons. It's how and why I became so comfortable speaking in front of audiences.


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Q: Android Logcat message: I have a simple Fragment Android project. I have 2 fragments off the the Main Activity. I keep getting these messages in my Logcat when I run the app. I don't know what the problem is with it.
 E/AndroidRuntime(819): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.agora.TractFragment/com.agora.TractFragment.MainActivity}: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #7: Error inflating class fragment
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2211)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2261)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.app.ActivityThread.access$600(ActivityThread.java:141)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1256)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5103)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:525)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:737)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:553)
 02-17 16:22:28.317: E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819): Caused by: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #7: Error inflating class fragment E/AndroidRuntime(819):    at android.view.LayoutInflater.createViewFromTag(LayoutInflater.java:713)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflate(LayoutInflater.java:755)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:492)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:397)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:353)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.setContentView(PhoneWindow.java:267)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.app.Activity.setContentView(Activity.java:1895)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at com.agora.TractFragment.MainActivity.onCreate(MainActivity.java:15)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:5133)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1087)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2175)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     ... 11 more
 E/AndroidRuntime(819): Caused by: android.app.Fragment$InstantiationException: Unable to instantiate fragment com.android.listfragment.ListFragment: make sure class name exists, is public, and has an empty constructor that is public
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.app.Fragment.instantiate(Fragment.java:592)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.app.Fragment.instantiate(Fragment.java:560)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.app.Activity.onCreateView(Activity.java:4738)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.createViewFromTag(LayoutInflater.java:689)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     ... 21 more
 E/AndroidRuntime(819): Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.android.listfragment.ListFragment" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.agora.TractFragment-1.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app-lib/com.agora.TractFragment-1, /system/lib]]
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.findClass(BaseDexClassLoader.java:53)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:501)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:461)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     at android.app.Fragment.instantiate(Fragment.java:582)
 E/AndroidRuntime(819):     ... 24 more

Thanks!!!!

 activity_main:

    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:background="#5f5951"
    android:orientation="horizontal" >

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/listFragment"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_marginBottom="?android:attr/actionBarSize"
        android:layout_marginTop="?android:attr/actionBarSize"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        class="com.android.listfragment.ListFragment" >
    </fragment>

    <FrameLayout
        android:id="@+id/detailFragment"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_weight="2" >
    </FrameLayout>

MainActivity.java:

package com.agora.TractFragment;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.FragmentManager;
import android.app.FragmentTransaction;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class MainActivity extends Activity implements
ListFragment.OnItemSelectedListener {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
}

@Override
public void onRssItemSelected(String link)
{
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
FragmentManager fragmentManager = getFragmentManager();
FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction = fragmentManager.beginTransaction();

DoYouKnow_Fragment layout1; //Fragment 1
Ten_Reasons_Fragment layout2; //Fragment 2
//Layout3 layout3; //Fragment 3
//Layout4 layout4; //Fragment 4

if (link.equals("layout1")) {
layout1 = new DoYouKnow_Fragment ();
fragmentTransaction.replace(R.id.detailFragment, layout1);
fragmentTransaction.commit();
} else if (link.equals("layout2")) {
layout2 = new Ten_Reasons_Fragment();
fragmentTransaction.replace(R.id.detailFragment, layout2);
fragmentTransaction.commit();
//} else if (link.equals("layout3")) {
//layout3 = new Layout3();
//fragmentTransaction.replace(R.id.detailFragment, layout3);
//fragmentTransaction.commit();
//} else if (link.equals("layout4")) {
//layout4 = new Layout4();
//fragmentTransaction.replace(R.id.detailFragment, layout4);
//fragmentTransaction.commit();
}
}
}

A: Your layout XML has
<fragment
    android:id="@+id/listFragment"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_marginBottom="?android:attr/actionBarSize"
    android:layout_marginTop="?android:attr/actionBarSize"
    android:layout_weight="1"
    class="com.android.listfragment.ListFragment" >
</fragment>

which refers to the class com.android.listfragment.ListFragment that does not exist. That's what's causing the exception.
In the code you don't seem to be using this fragment for anything. You can probably remove the fragment from the layout XML altogether.


text:
Composer /
Composer and musician Rebecca Brandt mixes electro-acoustic, contemporary classical and electronic sounds. "Numbers & Shapes" is Rebecca's debut album. She also scores a variety of film projects.
News / View All
Original Piece for "Project Three" Premieres Nov. 21
Tonight, Friday Nov. 21, is the premiere of "Project Three," a new music collaboration with the Ecouter Ensemble. I am one of 7 composers to have written an original piece that will be accompanied by a film created to fit the music. It will be an exciting night of new music and film, and I hope to see you all there!
Spectrum NYC at 7pm. $15 tickets, $5 drinks. Purchase tickets here.
You can also hear/see a preview of the performance in the Project Three trailer, which features music by yours truly.
Collaboration with hip-hop artist Tibetan
I had the opportunity to write a new track called "Nibiru" with hip-hop artist Tibetan, which was just released on his latest record Hydra. Tibetan is an incredibly talented artist and working together on this song was super easy and fun. You can listen to our track here and check out the entire album on Bandcamp.
Composing for Ecouter Ensemble's "Project Three"
I am stoked to have been selected as a composer for Ecouter Ensemble's Project Three, a live music and film project featuring composers from around the world. My piece was inspired by mountains and hills, and this theme will be reflected in an animated film projected during the performances. Performances are scheduled in Montreal, Ottawa, Scotland, Toronto and New York in November and December 2014.
More info on performances to come!
Copyright © Rebecca Brandt, 2019


text:
A 21ª edição do Campeonato Africano de Atletismo foi organizado pela Confederação Africana de Atletismo no período de 1 de agosto a 5 de agosto de 2018 no Estádio Stephen Keshi, em Asaba, na Nigéria. Foram disputadas 44 provas, tendo como destaque o Quênia com 19 medalhas, sendo 11 de ouro.

Eventos
44 eventos foram disputados ao longo de cinco dias de provas.

Medalhistas
Esses foram os resultados do campeonato.

Masculino

* Indica que o atleta só competiu nas baterias e recebeu medalhas.

Feminino

† Houve um erro nos resultados oficiais mostrando Ghizlane Siba como vencedora. Este artigo e esta foto mostram que o ouro foi realmente ganho por Erika Nonhlanhla Seyama da Suazilândia, seguido por Hoda Hagras do Egito e Ariyat Dibow da Etiópia. A tabela de medalhas foi ajustada para mostrar essa correção.

Quadro de medalhas

Ligações externas
 Site da Confederação Africana de Atletismo (CAA)
 Site oficial do evento

África
Desporto na Nigéria em 2018
África

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Contemporary 33-story Hotel located 5 minutes from l'Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysees and La Defense financial district.
In Paris, 220 miles from Lille. Porte Maillot. just minutes from both the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees.


Keep sticky notes always on top. Pin sticky notes on top of other programs/windows.
Notezilla, lets you pin sticky notes on top of other program windows so that they are always visible while working with other apps.
This may seem a very simple feature, but it is highly convenient and a must-have feature for your productivity.
Having a sticky note always visible while working inside other programs avoids the hassle of switching between the program & sticky note, minimizing windows & setting focus at different locations. All such trivial, tedious tasks vanish away when you have the sticky note pinned on top.
Watch a short video (39s) demonstrating this feature.


For years fans have wanted to do more.
For years we have complained not enough gets done to promote games which is now the focal point of the owner wanting to take more home games away from Gosford and into North Sydney.
We all want what's best for the Mariners, but at what cost?
Moving more "home" games away from our region for many fans is the wrong move and will drive fans away, not get them in.
Stand up for the Mariners is all about getting everyone to our HOME game on the 27th of December against Brisbane Roar. For more informtion and to join in the movement. click here to follow the facebook page.


text:
Stephen Colbert On Sarah Palin's Endorsement of Donald Trump & Conflict In The GOP
January 22, 2016 — Ron Chusid
While the Democratic race has become more competitive, Donald Trump continues to dominate the Republican race. The big news of the week was that he received the endorsement of Sarah Palin, helping Trump win the idiot vote. ("You're fired." "I quit.") Stephen Colbert discussed the endorsement in the video above, starting out by exclaiming "God, I have missed you." It was a great day for comedians, except possibly for Tina Fey who might not want to be dragged back into that role.
Colbert showed how it would sound if Palin endorsed every candidate, after he tased the part of his brain that understands sentence structure.
Trump appears to be consolidating support among the GOP establishment, which appears to hate Ted Cruz even more than Trump. The exception is the National Review, which is going all out to try in stop Trump. In response, the Republican National Committee has disinvited them from an invitation to co-host a debate next month.
Posted in Donald Trump, Humor and Satire, Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz, Television. Tags: Donald Trump, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Stephen Colbert, Ted Cruz, Tina Fey. No Comments »
Obama and Clinton Again Top Gallup's List Of Most Admired
December 28, 2015 — Ron Chusid
Gallup has released their annual lists of the most admired women and men for 2015. These are basically measures of name recognition, with The New York Times discussing the methodology:
The poll tends to reflect names of people who have recently appeared in news headlines, said Frank M. Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll. Rather than choose from a list of names, poll respondents offer whichever comes to mind.
"It very much reflects who has been in the news, and who people can recall at a short period of time when an interviewer asks them," Mr. Newport said.
The sitting president is generally the most admired man, and with all the publicity surrounding her Hillary Clinton has dominated the list for most admired woman in recent years. Here is this year's list:
This is hardly meaningful other than as a test of who is in the news. While Hillary Clinton is well ahead, she was still only mentioned by thirteen percent of those responding. As usual, the sitting president is on top of the men's list, with seventeen percent mentioning him. Pope Francis was next after Obama at five percent, and then we see the effects of this year's presidential race. Donald Trump edged Bernie Sanders, which is inconsistent with the polls showing that Sanders would beat Trump by a landslide margin.
The list of women is less dominated by political leaders for obvious reasons, with Malala Yousafzai coming in second after Clinton. Sarah Palin is still in the minds of some conservatives, with her being mentioned by one percent. Elizabeth Warren was also in a group of five mentioned by one percent. I imagine that, considering how much Palin has been worshiped on the right, Warren is doing well to tie her in this type of poll which rewards name recognition over other attributes.
Posted in Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, Polls, Sarah Palin. Tags: Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, Polls, Sarah Palin. No Comments »
Donald Trump's Great Plans
August 28, 2015 — Ron Chusid
Jimmy Kimmel Live! presents their take on Donald Trump's first ad will be, making fun of the fact that we really don't know what Trump plans to do as president other than building that wall.
The biggest problem I see with Trump building a wall on the border is that it might get in the way of people trying to escape a United States under the rule of Donald Trump.
Maybe we will learn more about Trump's ideas. Sarah Palin is interviewing Donald Trump tonight. I can imagine the first two question:
Question #1. Why are you so awesome?
Question #2. Will I be able to see the wall from my house?
And coming soon, something big from Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he and Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), also a GOP candidate, are joining forces to do "something very big over the next two weeks in Washington."
Speaking to reporters following a campaign rally in South Carolina, Trump said the event will essentially be a "protest" of the Obama administration's "totally incompetent" nuclear deal with Iran. He also called Cruz a "friend of mine" and a good guy."
Those who believe "it can't happen here" have never heard of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, or Sarah Palin.
Posted in Donald Trump, Humor and Satire, Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz, Television. Tags: Donald Trump, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz. 3 Comments »
Martin O'Malley and Jim Webb Faced The Media But Hillary Clinton Continues To Avoid The Press
Martin O'Malley appeared on Face the Nation today, telling Bob Schieffer that he plans to decide by the end of May as to whether he plans to run against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Schieffer asked him why he plans to run:
O'MALLEY: Because I believe that our country faces big challenges.
And I know that leadership is important, if we're going to turn these challenges into opportunities. I have 15 years of executive experience as a big city mayor and as a governor bringing people together to get things done. And I believe that I have the ideas that will help our country move forward to a time when our economy is actually working for all of us again, instead of wages declining.
There has been repeated mention in the media as to how Clinton has taken the unusual course of not meeting with the press (see here and here). O'Malley did not take advantage of this opportunity to criticize Clinton:
SCHIEFFER: What do you think of way she launched her campaign? All these Republicans are up there making speeches, kind of doing it the old-fashioned way. She gets in this little van and drives all the way out there. She's given no interviews, as far as I can tell. She hasn't had a news conference. Can you get the nomination that way? And how will you do it?
O'MALLEY: Well, look, I will let others talk — second-guess her strategies and tactics. And she can certainly defend herself. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Secretary Clinton.
I believe that the best way to campaign is one-on-one with people. You can't forge a new sort of consensus, you can't forge public opinion by following public opinion. And you have to engage with people in living room after living room, in luncheonettes and lunch counters. I think that is the best type of campaign is the one- on-one contact, where we actually talk about the better choices we need to make to get earnings to rise again.
So far Clinton has only received gentle criticism for the manner in which she has avoided the press, but if she keeps this up I would expect the press to discuss this more, as back in 2008 when Sarah Palin was hiding from the press. The Washington Post noted that O'Malley and James Webb appeared on the Sunday interview shows but Clinton was only represented by stand-ins.
The full transcript of Face the Nation is available here.
Posted in Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley, News Media, Sarah Palin. Tags: Hillary Clinton, Jim Webb, Martin O'Malley, Sarah Palin. No Comments »
Great News For Late Night Comedians: Donald Trump Appears To Actually Be Running This Time
Donald Trump spoke of running for president before but many did not take him seriously, seeing it as a publicity stunt or ego boost. Earlier this year he claimed he was serious but few believed him, with most assuming he would continue with The Apprentice. The New Hampshire Union Leader now reports that Trump is dropping The Apprentice and is setting up an exploratory committee:
Donald Trump will launch a presidential exploratory committee Wednesday, the eve of the business mogul's return to New Hampshire.
A senior adviser tells the New Hampshire Union Leader that Trump will not be renewing his contract with NBC for the reality television "Apprentice" series.
Combined with staff hires, Trump's announcement that he will form an exploratory committee for the first time is a sign the billionaire is seriously considering running for the Republican nomination.
Trump as released this announcement:
I have a great love for our country, but it is a country that is in serious trouble. We have lost the respect of the entire world. Americans deserve better than what they get from their politicians – who are all talk and no action! I have built a great company, created thousands of jobs and built a tremendous net worth with some of the finest and most prestigious assets in the world – and very little debt! All Americans deserve the same opportunity. Our real unemployment rate is staggering while our manufacturing base is eroding on a daily basis. We must rebuild our infrastructure, control our borders, support local control of education, greatly strengthen our military, care for our veterans and put Americans back to work! We must stop other countries from totally taking advantage of our representatives who are being out-negotiated at every turn. I am the only one who can make America truly great again!
This reminds me of what Andy Borowitz once said: "If Trump can do the same magic that he did for NBC, the USA will be the #4 country in the world."
To his credit, Trump was often critical of George Bush, but during the Obama presidency his political views aligned with the extreme right. He has provided far more material for comedians than serious political comment. He was a strong Birther, claiming Obama was not born in the United States. Jimmy Fallon was among the late night comedians who mocked Trump on this: "Hey, Congratulations to Donald Trump, who just welcomed his fourth grandchild! You could tell it was Trump?s grandchild because as soon as it came out, it demanded to see its own birth certificate." Jimmy Kimmel quipped, "President Obama celebrated Passover with a Seder at the White House. This morning, Donald Trump demanded to see Obama's Bar Mitzvah certificate." Conan O'Brien added, "On Fox News, Donald Trump said Obama's birth certificate could indicate that he's a Muslim. Trump said he doesn't trust anyone with a foreign-sounding name, and neither does his daughter Ivanka."
Obama mocked him at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner:
"Donald Trump is here tonight," the comedian in chief said, grinning. "Now, I know that he's taken some flak lately, but no one is prouder to put this birth certificate to rest than The Donald. Now he can get to focusing on the issues that matter. Like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened at Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?"
Seth Meyers also joked about Trump at the dinner, including one joke which also mocked John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as running mate. He noted that Trump owns the Miss USA Pageant, "which is great for Republicans because it will streamline the search for a vice president."
David Letterman mocked the idea of a Republican race with both Donald Trump and Sarah Palin in it in 2010:
Sarah Palin says she's going to run for President in 2012. 2012. Donald Trump said he's going to run for President in 2012 against Sarah Palin. Nice to know there will somebody equally unqualified…Now that would be some presidential race. You've got Donald Trump and Sarah Palin and the debates. Get there early and get some seats down front for those debates. 'You're fired, you becha.'
Trump later canceled an appearance with David Letterman in 2011 after Letterman mocked Trump's attacks on Obama, saying they "smack of racism."
Trump joined the Global Warming denialists by asking, "It's cold outside…so where's the global warming?" He changed from pro-choice to opposing abortion. "People change their positions all the time, the way they change their wives,'' according to the executive vice president of the Trump Organization.
Donald Trump will clearly make the Republican circus more amusing.
Posted in Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Humor and Satire, Sarah Palin, Television. Tags: Abortion, Andy Borowitz, Barack Obama, Birthers, Climate Change, Conan O'Brien, David Letterman, Donald Trump, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Palin, Seth Meyers. No Comments »
Clinton's Use Of Private Email Suggests Democrats Need To Consider A Plan B For 2016
March 4, 2015 — Ron Chusid
The reports I discussed yesterday regarding Hillary Clinton using private email as Secretary of State are leading some, such as Frank Rich, to wonder if Democrats need a backup plan for 2016. A follow up story in The New York Times reports how Clinton used her private email to thwart requests for information, including requests from Congress and Freedom of Information requests from journalists. These ethical breaches by Hillary Clinton are of particular concern taking place so soon after scandals in the Bush administration regarding private use of email, making many liberals besides myself question why Clinton could have done something so foolish.
As The Guardian summarized the significance of the news:
It leaves Clinton vulnerable to at least three lines of criticism: that she potentially broke fundamental rules governing the handling and security of state secrets; that she skirted around guidelines put in place to ensure historical accountability and transparency within high public office; and the political attack that she must have had something to hide.
Perhaps the most serious accusation facing Clinton is that she may have breached one of the fundamental tenets of classified information. J William Leonard, former director of the body that keeps watch over executive branch secrets, the Information Security Oversight Office, told the Guardian that if Clinton had dealt with confidential government matters through her personal email, that would have been problematic. "There is no such thing as personal copies of classified information. All classified information belongs to the US government and it should never leave the control of the government."
The Associated Press is considering legal action in response to her failure to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests for email:
The unusual practice of a Cabinet-level official running her own email server would have given Clinton — who is expected to run for president in the 2016 campaign — significant control over limiting access to her message archives.
It also would complicate the State Department's legal responsibilities in finding and turning over official emails in response to any investigations, lawsuits or public records requests. The department would be the position of accepting Clinton's assurances she was surrendering everything required that was in her control…
The AP said Wednesday it was considering taking legal action against the State Department for failing to turn over some emails covering Clinton's tenure as the nation's top diplomat after waiting more than one year. The department has failed to meet several self-imposed deadlines but has never suggested that it doesn't possess all Clinton's emails.
Having checked more coverage in the media and blogosphere since my initial post, I was pleased to see that most liberal bloggers I read did question Clinton's conduct. For example, rather than a partisan defense Steve Benen's post raised the same objective points:
There's no shortage of problematic angles to this. Obviously, there's the question of transparency and compliance with the Federal Records Act. Clinton wasn't the first Secretary of State to make use of a personal email account – Colin Powell did the same thing during his tenure in the Bush/Cheney administration – but preservation rules have changed and Clinton apparently faced more stringent requirements.
There's also the matter of security: as Secretary of State, Clinton sent and received highly sensitive information on a daily basis, including classified materials, from officials around the world. By relying on private email, instead of an encrypted State Department account, Clinton may have created a security risk.
Other liberal bloggers have been far harder on Clinton. Clinton is also receiving criticism on MSNBC, as opposed to the partisan defense we would expect in the reverse situation from Fox. Needless to say, conservatives tended to be quite critical, and hypocritical, usually ignoring the comparable use of private email by many Republicans, including officials in the Bush administration, Chris Christie, and Sarah Palin.
It was disappointing but not surprising to see that the Clintonistas did quickly get some writers out to defend Clinton. Typically their defenses were no more honest than a report from Fox. Defenses of Clinton tended to concentrate on the arguing that Clinton did not actually break the law. This is definitely a case of moving the goal posts and possibly also incorrect. The initial articles raising these concerns did note that Clinton may have broken the law and with the complexity of the regulations involved avoided a definite conclusion, but it was her conduct and judgment, not whether she was in violation of the law, which is the heart of the issue. The defenses of Clinton point out that Colin Powell used private email, but ignore the changes in regulations made in 2009 which "required that all emails be preserved as part of an agency's record-keeping system." Her defenders have also ignored the more stringent requirements put into place in 2011. As a consequence of these rules changes, John Kerry has used government email for his communications, as has Barack Obama since taking office in 2009.
Many of the other defenses of Clinton are rather trivial attacks on the journalist who wrote the story. The statements that these revelations came out as part of the Benghazi hearings is contradicted with finding a journalist who had reported on this previously. This is analogous to the debates as to who discovered America. Finding that someone had previously reported on Clinton's private email does not change the substance of this story any more than discovering that Vikings beat Columbus to America substantially other facts regarding American history post-Columbus.
The rapid release of such dishonest defenses of Clinton by her allies is yet another reason why I would hate to see Hillary Clinton as president. I have always been disturbed by the degree of secrecy when she was working on health care reform, her push for war against Iraq based upon fictitious claims of ties between Saddam and al Qaeda, along with many questionable statements I've heard from her over the years. Electing Clinton would be a great blow to honesty and transparency in government. Democrats should be able to do better.
There is no question that Clinton was at least skirting the rules in effect when she became Secretary of State, if not outright breaking them. Her honesty has already been a serious question. Someone with a reputation for dishonesty and lack of transparency should have realized that this would only make matters worse. Her credibility, already in question, will be even lower when there is always the question of secret emails looming. Republicans will be able to drag out their hearings on Benghazi even longer because of this. If she runs against Jeb Bush she would be on the defensive over transparency after the release of his emails. Clinton has never been a very good campaigner, and her lack of judgment in this matter only raise.
Update: Hillary Clinton On Private Email 2007 And 2015
Posted in Barack Obama, Chris Christie, George Bush, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Jeb Bush, John Kerry, Politics, Sarah Palin, Scandals. Tags: al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Chris Christie, George Bush, Health Care Reform, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Jeb Bush, John Kerry. 2 Comments »
Did Hillary Clinton Learn Anything During All Her Years In Politics?
The report in The New York Times that Hillary Clinton used a private email account while Secretary of State, possibly violating the law, has me wondering whether Hillary Clinton has learned anything during her years in public life. There is no doubt that the majority of attacks on Clinton from the right are bogus. To a certain degree these attacks even give her some protection among thinking people who have seen right wing attacks and conspiracy theories, such as those over Benghazi, constantly being debunked. However this does not mean that there are not people beyond the Fox sheep, including myself, who still have concerns regarding the judgement and integrity of Hillary Clinton. This only increases such concerns, along with concerns about secrecy and lack of transparency on the part of the Clintons.
Hillary Clinton followed the same procedures as Colin Powell before her, and many other politicians, such as Chris Christie and Sarah Palin, have had problems with using private email accounts. In contrast, John Kerry and Barack Obama use secure government email systems. Clinton's actions look worse in historical context, following the scandals and reckless disregard for transparency during the Bush administration, just before she became Secretary of State. It is also reasonable to hold a Secretary of State, with aspirations to become president, to a higher standard than a corrupt Governor of New Jersey and the incompetent half-term former governor of Alaska. We have low expectations of people such as Christie and Palin, but should expect more of a potential Democratic candidate for president.
Hillary Clinton, if she has any real awareness of her public reputation, should have been aware of how this would have looked. Beyond the legal and security issues this raises, there is the simple question of whether she should have known better, even if no evidence of actual dishonesty is uncovered. Democrats should also have learned something about Clinton in light of her conduct during her 2008 campaign. In retrospect. Jeb Bush now looks far smarter for having released his email, despite the embarrassment of including some private information on constituents which should have been redacted.
Update: Clinton's Use Of Private Email Suggests Democrats Need To Consider A Plan B For 2016. Plus response to the initial reports, and concerns over national security and use of private email to avoid Freedom of Information Act requests.
Posted in Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Chris Christie, George Bush, Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, John Kerry, Sarah Palin, Scandals. Tags: Barack Obama, Benghazi, Colin Powell, George Bush, Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, Sarah Palin. No Comments »
A Day In Conservative Stupidity: Three Examples
February 18, 2015 — Ron Chusid
The conservative movement has become totally divorced from reality, often denying science and facts to make their positions. Here's just three examples from the past day.
Conservatives Hate Historical Facts
Conservatives hate actual American history as the facts contradict so many of their claims. As Joseph Ellis has explained, the Founding Fathers established a secular state with overlapping sources of authority and a blurring of jurisdiction between federal and state power. Conservative claims of states' rights and claims that the United States was founded as a Christian nation do not hold up. Oklahoma has a unique answer to teaching all those inconvenient facts in Advanced Placement History classes. Republicans there want to eliminate the AP classes and replace them classes which include the Ten Commandments and three speeches by Ronald Reagan.
Some Conservatives Still Think Obama Is A Muslim
The American Thinker is still making the conservative claim that Obama is a Muslim. Their evidence is a picture of Obama with a raised finger:
Is President Obama a Muslim? A lot has been written about this, but if photographs speak louder than words, then a photo taken at last August's U.S.-African Leaders' Summit in Washington D.C. might shed considerable light.
It shows Barack Hussein Obama flashing the one-finger affirmation of Islamic faith to dozens of African delegates.
Steve M. gathered pictures of several other people who are also Muslims by this logic. The pictures include: Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, Andrew Breitbart, and Pam Geller. Who knew that the conservative movement was infiltrated by Muslims to this degree.
Conservatives Still Lack Any Actual Facts To Support Their Arguments Against Obamacare
Bill Maher called them Zombie Lies. Conservatives lack any real facts to dispute what a tremendous success Obamacare has become so they tell the same lies over and over, even when repeatedly proven to be lies. They are lies which just don't die, because conservatives don't care about facts. Jonathan Chait reviewed the latest claims from Stephen Moore, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation. See the full article to see how Chait shows that Moore's claims are demonstrably wrong and that, "There is not a single substantive claim in this column that appears to be true."
Posted in Barack Obama, Ben Carson, Education, Health Care, Religion, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Scott Walker, Separation of Church and State. Tags: Andrew Breitbart, Barack Obama, Ben Carson, Bill Maher, Health Care Reform, Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Scott Walker, Sean Hannity, Separation Of Church And State. 1 Comment »
SciFi Weekend: Agents of SHIELD; The 100; Supergirl; Person of Interest; The End of Parenthood and Parks and Recreation & The Decline of NBC; 12 Monkeys; Netflix Marvel Series; The Americans; Sleepy Hollow; The End of The Marvel Universe; The Humor Of Sarah Palin; Mellisa Raunch Sex Scene
Agents of SHIELD has come a long way from the first season. While they always hinted there was something special about Skye, they didn't have the payoff on this plotline until the midseason finale with her conversion to an Inhuman. This might have major ramifications for her relationship with Coulson:
Executive producer Jeph Loeb says that the current Inhumans plotline has always been the plan for "Agents of SHIELD." Like they always knew that Grant Ward was going to be HYDRA in Season 1, the seeds of Skye being something other were planned in the pilot.
"Once we started down that road hopefully you were coming along for the adventure, and now that you've come along for the adventure one of the things that's so amazing about what's happening on that show is so now we know she has gone through a transformation," he says. "How is everyone going to react to that? And in the same kind of way you're asking as an audience member, one of the things that I think is really valuable and one of the things that I think Jed [Whedon] and Maurissa [Tancharoen] and Jeff Bell and the writing staff really do have a great feeling for is they are audience members. The writers room sits around and tries to come up with, 'What is it that you think we're going to do and how can we then turn that on its ear in a way that makes it feel like it's fun and valuable?'"
Blood says "SHIELD" has often gone in a different ways from what he expected. He says the latest script he read "just turned another corner," and that audiences will "be surprised of a lot of stuff that's coming up." Because the SHIELD team doesn't know about the term "Inhumans" like audiences do, Blood says "it's going to be something that is unraveled." He has yet to find out where the storyline is going.
The obvious turn would be that Coulson helps Skye — someone Gregg says is the "the person he cares about most" — through her transformation into an Inhuman. But what if he views her as a threat instead of an ally because of her new powers?
"His no. 1 job is to be responsible for SHIELD, which he views as being responsible for the safety of billions of people from things they don't know about. That's what SHIELD is. No matter how much he loves Skye — and it's as much as you can love somebody — it's the closest thing to a daughter he has. That's a sacred trust," Gregg says. "I hope he doesn't get put in that situation [where she is a threat] because it would mess him up."
He teases there will be trouble within SHIELD in the aftermath of Trip's death and Skye's transformation. "I don't think the whole team is going to be unified behind what just went on, and it's hard to blame them. He's got a couple of people that he's come to really trust," Gregg says. "One of my favorite things about this season is that everybody comes up to me on the street really worried about Fitz and these new characters we introduced this year. Coulson also has these new people … he doesn't have the same type of history with those people. It's going to be hard to hold the baby brand new, on the run SHIELD together in the wake of what just happened."
There's also the question of Bobbi's secret, which Blood says is as big a mystery in the second half of Season 2 as who the man with no eyes is. "I honestly think people are going to freak when they see some of the stuff we've been filming recently," he says.
The 100 returned last week and the events of the fall finale continued to have a major impact on the characters. While I originally did not watch this show, thinking it was another CW show putting attractive young people in a sci-fi scenario which has been done before, I found that this was far better done than I anticipated.
Yes, it does have its attractive young cast members, led by Eliza Taylor as Clarke Griffin, who does an excellent job in the role. (Having binged on the first one and one-half seasons over a weekend, I did notice that Eliza Taylor does show less cleavage in the second season, which must have been a conscious decision by the producers considering that the characters couldn't just run out to clothing stores in this post-apocalyptic world to change their wardrobe). There are also the CW love triangles, but they do not distract from the stories. Both the characterization and plot lines have been strong, even when going where other shows have gone before. Bustle and The Mary Sue both have posts on why you should watch the show.
CBS has chosen Melissa Benoist to play the lead role on Supergirl. Previous reports on the show have described it as more of a CBS procedural with Supergirl as a feminist investigating crimes, but with cross overs possible with the CW shows Arrow and The Flash.
CBS is showing success with another mixture between procedural and genre with Person of Interest. The show started out as a procedural show with a science fiction gimmick to propel it, and has evolved to what might be seen in the future as "a modern sci-fi epic that is considered a must-see show along the lines of Firefly or Battlestar Galactica…"
Many blogs and podcasts, along with this thread on Reddit, have looked at the question of how someone could get caught up with the show without watching all the old episodes. The purely procedural episodes of the first two seasons are mostly unnecessary to appreciate the more recent episodes since the show evolved into a more significant science fiction series, but it is hard to say exactly what can be skipped and must be watched as often early episodes would have a few minute segment towards the end to slowly develop the mythology in addition to the number of the week story.
There have been some posts, such as here and here, which might help in listing some of the more essential episodes. It would really be helpful if some of the other mythology segments which are only small parts of other episodes could be accumulated in a video.
Time looked at the politics of Parks and Recreation, which is concluding its run on NBC.
But there's a big idea in Parks' small-scale vision. In the frame of today's politics, it might be a liberal notion, but it's one that for much of the 20th century was centrist, and even championed by Republicans like park lover Teddy Roosevelt: that we need government to do things the private sector can't or won't, like preserving public spaces.
Shockingly, Parks has dared to suggest that while some civil servants might be bumbling–sorry, Jerry!–they can also be well-intentioned and competent. (This too wasn't considered a liberal notion before the era when Ronald Reagan joked that "the nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'") Leslie is comically tenacious–Poehler plays her as a cheerfully overprepared super-wonk–but she's good at what she does and is driven by a fierce love for her hometown as well as its famous waffles…
Leslie can't do it alone, though: she's assisted by a network of co-workers and friends (played by a comedy-powerhouse cast, many of whom–like Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza and Aziz Ansari–have deservingly become stars). Even her former supervisor Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) admires Leslie's commitment, even though he's so libertarian, he once illustrated the evils of taxation to a fourth grader by eating 40% of her lunch. Parks argues not only that we need our neighbors' help but that helping makes us better ourselves; it's in the small-town, populist tradition of Friday Night Lights and It's a Wonderful Life.
When I recently posted my list of top television shows of the year, I noted how little representation the major broadcast networks had on the list. Perhaps the biggest decline is being seen at NBC. They will soon be without two of their highest quality returning shows. Besides trying to run through Parks and Recreation as quickly as possible, Parenthood concludes this week, apparently with Lorelei Gilmore marrying Ray Romano. If it ends with Zeke dying, I'm imaging angry mobs storming Rockefeller Center. After these are gone they will still have some shows worth watching, most notably Hannibal, which I'm amazed a network is broadcasting, but the lineup of quality shows will sure be thin. Their announcements of upcoming shows is being greeted with far more snark than interest.
In the past NBC would often be the home of some of the highest quality drama shows on television, such as The West Wing, Friday Night Lights, I'll Fly Away, and St. Elsewhere. They probably had better ratings success with some, but not all of their sitcoms, which included shows such as Cheers, Frasier, Friends, Community, 30 Rock, and Will and Grace. Going further back, it was also the home of some classic genre shows such as the original Star Trek and The Man From UNCLE. (We won't talk about some of their more recent attempts at genre such as Revolution, The Cape and Heroes after the first season.)
So, what happened to NBC? I suspect that that it is a victim of otherwise good changes in television. Writers and producers for many high quality shows are now going to cable and streaming networks, where they can develop an audience without the need for netw0rk-level ratings. (In the case of Community, it is moving directly from NBC following cancellation by NBC, with the first two episodes to be streamed by Yahoo! on March 17.) It will be a challenge for NBC to attract this type of quality show in the future, and it is questionable as to whether they even care considering that lower quality shows will probably deliver higher ratings.
Increasingly cable or smaller networks owned by the major networks are offering higher quality shows than the major networks. FX and FXX are offering some of the best shows on basic cable. CBS has Showtime and CW, with The CW Network turning into one of the strongest networks, especially for genre, as it attracts a totally different audience than CBS. NBC/Universal have even lagged behind other cable networks which have produced better science fiction than its Syfy Network.
Syfy is finally trying to compete with hard science fiction. 12 Monkeys remains promising after the second episode, which aired Friday and was available for streaming last week. With Leland Goines dead, his daughter Jennifer becomes a major character. Her character in an insane asylum serves as an alternate version of the Brad Pitt character in the movie. As discussed previously, the television show can cover far more ground with changes such as having the ability to change time and with the Army of the 12 Monkeys playing a more significant role.
I saw a posted link here which supposedly allows streaming of the third episode for cable subscribers in the United States but it would not allow viewing through either my Charter or Xfinity account. I'm posting the link in case it works for other cable systems, or if it becomes active later. The first two episodes are available for streaming there.
Netflix has released a brief synopsis for their upcoming Marvel shows. While previous reports suggested that we might have to wait a year between shows, it looks like the Jessica Jones show (staring Krysten Ritter) will be out sometime later this year.
"Marvel's Daredevil" is a live action series that follows the journey of attorney Matt Murdock, who in a tragic accident was blinded as a boy but imbued with extraordinary senses. Murdock sets up practice in his old neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, New York where he now fights against injustice as a respected lawyer by day and masked vigilante at night. Coming April 10
Working as a private investigator in New York's Hell's Kitchen, a troubled ex-superhero's past comes back to haunt her in the live-action series, "Marvel's A.K.A. Jessica Jones." Coming 2015
"Marvel's Iron Fist" follows superhero and martial arts master Danny Rand in the upcoming live-action series. Coming soon
In this Marvel live-action series, a street-fighting ex-con battles crime in New York's Hell's Kitchen as the superhero Luke Cage. Coming soon
"Marvel's The Defenders" brings together Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage in an epic superhero team-up in New York City. Coming soon
The Americans returns this week. Unreality Primetime has a couple spoilers on upcoming episodes. The season three trailer is above.
Can Henry be redeemed? The cast of Sleepy Hollow answer questions such as this in videos available here.
The Marvel universe ends as we know it in the comics this spring.
Who needs Tina Fey to mock Sarah Palin? Her own words are ridiculous enough. Check out the reaction to her latest speech from Twitter.
Melissa Raunch of The Big Bang Theory has received a lot of attention at Sundance for her raunchy sex scene in The Bronze.
"The Bronze" kicked off the 2015 edition of the Sundance Film Festival on a foul-mouthed note Thursday, sticking a dagger through the concept of hometown heroes and providing one of the raunchiest sex sequences in movie history.
The scene in question, one that involves pole vaults, cartwheels and pirouettes, was a constant source of amusement during a question and answer period immediately following the film's premiere at the Eccles Theater.
"Right after this there's going to be an audition for the sex scene in the sequel," joked director Bryan Buckley.
Melissa Rauch, the star of the film and its cowriter along with husband Winston Rauch, said, "As for the sex scene, you write what you know."
Her husband added that it gave the couple a chance to "show you what we do in our bedroom."
Posted in Sarah Palin, Science Fiction, Television. Tags: 12 Monkeys, Agents of SHIELD, Arrow, Aubrey Plaza, Battlestar Galactica, Chloe Bennet, Community, Daredevil, Eliza Taylor, Firefly, Friday Night Lights, Hannibal, Heroes, Inhumans, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Krysten Ritter, Lauren Graham, Luke Cage, Man From UNCLE, Melissa Benoist, Melissa Raunch, Parks and Recreation, Person of Interest, Revolution, Sarah Palin, Science Fiction, Sleepy Hollow, Star Trek, Supergirl, The 100, The Americans, The Big Bang Theory, The Bronze, The Cape, The Defenders, The Flash, The West Wing, Tina Fey, Will and Grace. No Comments »
Obama Approval Reaches 48%
Gallup reports that President Obama's job approval has increased to 48 percent, the highest since August, 2013. This matches his disapproval rate, being the first time this gap has not been negative since September, 2013. They don't give firm data to explain this improvement, but note that this partially can be explained by an improvement among Hispanics. They further speculate that the increase might be due to improved views on the economy, as well as people being more generous in their ratings around Christmas.
I wonder if other factors are involved, including his recent successes on foreign policy, the disappearance of the Ebola crisis in the United States which Republicans spread considerable misinformation about prior to the midterm elections, and the success of the Affordable Care Act.
As a sign of how desperate conservatives are to deny the considerable success of Obamacare in both expanding insurance coverage and making it more affordable, they are going further in cherry picking and distorting statements from Jonathan Gruber going back to 2009, with many conservative sites falsely calling him both the architect of Obamacare and its leading spokesman. Strangely, they don't pay any attention to the far greater statements from him on the benefits of the Affordable Care Act. The Tea Party New Network, which is essentially a dishonest propaganda outlet like Fox but more honest about its political position, even defends Sarah Palin for her rants about death panels, and repeats all the other claims greatly distorted by conservatives. Their complaints about Obama's poorly worded statements about keeping one's own doctor or insurance are hardly meaningful considering that their policies would greatly increase the likelihood that people would lose their doctor and insurance, while Obamacare (even if unable to guarantee this will never happen in a market-based system) greatly reduces this risk.
Obama's improvement in the polls could be a consequence of him becoming more aggressive after the midterm elections, no longer being fearful of taking actions which might place Democratic candidates at risk in red states (a foolish plan which backfired when it led to Democrats staying home). I believe that the Democrats would have still lost seats because of the seats which were up for grabs in 2014, but would have done better if they hadn't run as Republican-lite. On the other hand, Dan Pfeiffer told Huffington Post that he believes that if Obama had not waited until after the election, his actions would have been overwhelmed by politics.
The big question is whether this is a transient bounce or if this improvement will continue. Either way his approval is certainly far greater than for Congress. The Republican Congress might give Obama an opportunity to gain further public support if the Republicans actually proceed to pass legislation pushing many elements of their agenda which will be unpopular with a majority of American voters.
Posted in Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, Economy, Health Care, Politics, Polls, Sarah Palin. Tags: Barack Obama, Ebola, Fox, Health Care Reform, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Tea Party. 2 Comments »
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