text:
But The System Reminded You
Labels: Micro blogging, News, People, Race
REMEMBER THOSE WHO SACRIFICED ALL!
A priest, a doctor, and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers. The engineer fumed, "What's with those guys? We must have been waiting for fifteen minutes!"
The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such inept golfers!"
The priest said, "Here comes the green-keeper. Let's have a word with him."
He said, "Hello George, what's wrong with that group ahead of us? They're rather... slow, aren't they?"
The green-keeper replied, "Oh, yes. That's a group of blind firemen. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime."
The group fell silent for a moment.
The priest said, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight."
The doctor said, "Good idea. I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist colleague and see if there's anything he can do for them."
The engineer said, "Why can't they play at night?"
Everyone enjoy this holiday weekend!
Let's Really Make America Great Again (Here's How)
Labels: Economics, Micro blogging, News, Politics
Innocent,but Still Guilty
While we were all watching Donald Trump's Shenanigans...Betty Shelby, the police officer who shot Terrence Crutcher last year ,while his hands were up was acquitted of Manslaughter charges...
Of course she used the excuse...The textbook excuse...I was afraid for my life of the scary and big black man..And a jury of nine whites and three blacks went along with it....
"The jury concluded that any officer put in that situation at that exact moment and regardless of the skin color, gender or size of the suspect, would have performed the same way, which is in accordance with their law enforcement training," wrote the foreman, who was not identified by name.
The foreman emphasized officer Betty Shelby's training throughout the three-page letter, which was made public through the court system "to placate the desire of various media members to interview members of the jury."
Betty Shelby had been charged with felony manslaughter in the September 16, 2016, death of Terrence Crutcher -- a shooting captured on video and seen across the nation. She was found not guilty on Wednesday of last week.
Could Taser have been used?
The jurors -- nine white and three black -- deliberated nine hours. They asked the judge to allow them to explain their thinking in open court but he said they could do that after court adjourned.
Agreement did not come easy, the foreperson wrote.
Some jurors "could never get comfortable" with saying Shelby was blameless in the death because it appeared she could have used a Taser in the moments before Crutcher reached into the vehicle, the letter said.I'm not comfortable with this!
"However, there was no evidence presented that her extensive training allowed such an option," the letter said. "The jury could not, beyond a reasonable doubt, conclude that she did anything outside of her duties and training as a police officer in that situation." BULLSHIT!!!
During cross-examination, Assistant Tulsa County District Attorney Kevin Gray asked Shelby why she didn't use her Taser.
Shelby said she believed her gun was an appropriate level of force. She said she "thought he [Crutcher] had a gun" because he repeatedly put his hands in and out of his pockets and reached inside of his car window. Shelby said she "didn't have time to pull out her Taser." Again..I call BULLSHIT!
The jury foreman's letter said the shooting was "unfortunate and tragic, but justifiable due to the actions of the suspect." And for the third time I call BULLSHIT!! When will they stop with this madness?
''Show me your hands''
The shooting happened after Crutcher's SUV was found stalled in the middle of the street. A witness called 911 and said a man was running away from the vehicle, warning it was going to blow up.
Officer Shelby testified she arrived on the scene and approached the vehicle and cleared it, not seeing anyone inside.
As she turned back to her patrol car, she saw Crutcher walking toward her, alternately putting his hands in his pockets and in the air, she said.
Crutcher did not comply with her commands to "show me your hands," she testified. She also said he was sweating heavily and smelled of PCP chemicals. I didn't know that you could smell PCP!
Crutcher ignored orders from Shelby and another officer on the scene, Tyler Turnbough, according to Shelby's testimony. She testified that Crutcher put his hands on the SUV and moved to reach into the vehicle.
Her police training taught her that "if a suspect reaches their hands inside of a car, don't let them pull them out," she testified. There was blood smeared on the window...Showing the window was up and he could not have been reaching inside for anything!
At that point, Shelby fired her weapon and Turnbough fired his Taser, she testified. Crutcher, 40, was found to be unarmed after the shooting.
Back to work....
Officer Shelby will return to work with the Tulsa police effective Sunday, department spokeswoman Jeanne MacKenzie told CNN on Friday. She will be assigned a non-patrol position.
If she'd been convicted, Shelby could have been sentenced to between four years and life in prison in the death of Crutcher, a father of four girls.
The killing of Crutcher was one of a number of police shootings of unarmed black men across the United States in recent years that have heightened concerns about possible police misconduct.
BLACK LIVES STILL MATTER!
Labels: News, People, Race
Then Think Again
Are You Sleeping Better America?
I'M NOT!
In a long line of people waiting for a bank teller, one guy suddenly started massaging the back of the person in front of him.
Surprised, the man in front turned and snarled, "Just what the hell are you doing?"
"Well," said the guy, "You see, I'm a massage therapist and I could see that you were tense, so I had to massage your back. Sometimes I just can't help practicing my art!"
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" the guy replied.
"I work for the IRS. Do you see me screwing the guy in front of me?"
EVERYBODY HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
Recently, a number of Statues that remember the old south...The Civil War....The Confederacy have been removed....For the most part this has been done with little fanfare or hue and cry, but in some places...Resistance to this has grown....A group of torch bearing folks recently surrounded one such Confederate statue and refused to allow it to be removed...
They screamed that they were ''Destroying our history" Really? I wonder if they realize ,the south lost the Civil War?
After hours of at times emotional debate, the Louisiana House voted Monday in favor of a bill aimed at protecting Confederate monuments across the state.
The Bill, sponsored by Rep. Thomas Carmody, R-Shreveport, advanced with a vote of 65-31. The entire Legislative Black Caucus voted against it.
Carmody's bill bars local governments and municipalities from removing plaques and statues to military figures and events. The monuments could only be torn down following a vote by the public.
"My bill in its current posture is a perfect exercise of democracy. It allows for the people to have their input in the decision to remove military monuments from the public spaces in which they live," Carmody argued on the House floor.
Just recently, New Orleans tore down the first two of four Confederate monuments after a vote by the City Council.
Several Democrats - especially members of the black caucus - spoke out against the Carmody's bill, calling it "offensive."
For the Sake of Argument...I wonder if Germany has any monuments to Adolf Hitler? He's part of their history..
"In my city, the City of New Orleans, should we have a statue or memorial for someone who fought for my enslavement? Who fought for my disenfranchisement?" asked Rep. Gary Carter, D-New Orleans. "That's what you're saying, that those people ought to be honored and recognized?"
After the vote, all African American members walked off the House floor in protest.
The black caucus planned a news conference yesterday morning. The legislation now goes to the state Senate.
White House In Peril
He fired FBI Director James Comey last week...Then had two Russian officials at the White House in a closed door meeting the NEXT DAY...and now it is alleged that he told them confidential information..
Seems like every week the barometer of crazy gets higher with this guy and it's only been little over 100 days...
I'm already exhausted...How about you?
The Trump White House is dealing with its second crisis in one week, now that President Trump has basically confirmed that he shared highly classified information with Russia.
As we move forward and the White House seeks to explain itself, here are three key takeaways.
1) The White House is treading water badly — and the problem is largely Donald Trump himself
Chaos has long reigned in the White House. And never has that been truer than in the past week.
President Trump badly mismanaged the firing of FBI Director James B. Comey and the explanations that followed. His spokespeople offered polar-opposite versions of both the motive (first it was Comey's handling of the Clinton investigation, then Trump admitted that the Russia probe was on his mind) and how the decision was made (first it was the Justice Department's call, then Trump said he had made up his mind to fire Comey regardless).
We see a strikingly similar script this week, with top national security aides saying Monday night that The Washington Post's reporting was wrong, and then Trump tacitly acknowledging it was accurate first thing Tuesday morning.
The common thread here is clear: No matter how much planning goes into the White House's actions and messaging — and I'm not really sure there's a ton of it, to be honest — President Trump is liable to blow it up at a moment's notice.
Get this, President Trump(God, I hate saying that!) is reportedly considering a staff shake-up to address the White House's current problems, but is a different cast of characters really going to be able to change things?
President Trump first got them into these messes by firing Comey in a questionable manner, and then, the very next day, sharing classified information with none other than Russia. He then compounded those mistakes by contradicting his own staff in both cases.
What really needs changing is President Trump's tendency to fly off the handle and then contradict his own staff, his own spokespeople. And the only staff that are going to be successful with him are the ones who can actually rein him in and convince him that he needs to listen to someone not named Donald Trump. I'm not sure those people exist.
"Who can check me boo?" comes to mind!
2) There is no good defense for what Trump did
Trump's defense of what he did Tuesday morning seemed to boil down to this: The president has broad authority to share such information.
And this is true. President Trump very likely didn't break the law. But this is also a red herring.
Even in the story Monday, The Washington Post's Greg Miller and Greg Jaffe acknowledged that President Trump probably didn't break any laws.
The reason this is a big deal to the intelligence community sources they spoke to is because it risks jeopardizing a key tool in the fight against the Islamic State by tipping Russia off to this information.
By discussing a specific ISIS plot and the city in which it was detected, the officials say, it's quite possible Russia could surmise the source and methods used to collect that information.
In addition to aiding an adversarial foreign power like Russia and potentially jeopardizing a key source, it could also give other allies cold feet about working with the U.S. government, for fear that their identities won't be closely safeguarded by the president and his administration.
3.) The impeachment push will grow, almost definitely in vain
A couple of House Democrats have now called for Trump's impeachment — Reps. Maxine Waters (Calif.) and Al Green (Tex.) — and a number of others are talking openly about the possibility, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and the former front-runner for the Democratic National Committee chairmanship, Rep. Keith Ellison (Minn.).
(CNN's K-File has the growing list Democrats who have invoked the i-word.)
Democratic leaders will certainly be wary of all this, given that Republicans paid a price in the late 1990s for their overzealous impeachment of Bill Clinton. And trying to impeach Trump while in the minority is almost definitely a fool's errand. But the big question here is whether they can hold off their base's growing demand for it.
A new survey from Democratic-leaning automated pollster Public Policy Polling released Tuesday, in fact, showed that 48 percent of registered voters in North Carolina support bringing impeachment proceedings against Trump, vs. 41 percent who opposed it. Three-fourths of Democrats (75 percent) were in favor.
As The Post's Philip Bump noted on Twitter, there is reason to believe these numbers overshoot actual support for impeachment — specifically the fact that the poll shows 12 percent of Trump voters support impeachment — but it's clear that there is a healthy amount of momentum behind impeachment on the left.
We saw during the Supreme Court debate what that pressure from the base can do. Democrats were essentially forced into a symbolic filibuster against Neil M. Gorsuch that they knew would just lead Republicans to nuke the filibuster for SCOTUS nominations. And now they don't have the filibuster for future, more consequential fights.
Sharing classified information with Russia that risks jeopardizing a key tool in the fight against ISIS would seem to be a uniquely galvanizing event for the pro-impeachment crowd.
And the Lawfare blog recapped the legal case for it late Monday, pointing to the Presidential Oath of Office. This is a lot of info, but it's well worth a read:
If the President gave this information away through carelessness or neglect, he has arguably breached his oath of office. As Quinta and Ben have elaborated on in some detail, in taking the oath President Trump swore to "faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States" and to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" to the best of his ability. It's very hard to argue that carelessly giving away highly sensitive material to an adversary foreign power constitutes a faithful execution of the office of President.
Violating the oath of office does not require violating a criminal statute. If the President decided to write the nuclear codes on a sticky note on his desk and then took a photo of it and tweeted it, he would not technically have violated any criminal law — just as he hasn't here. He has the constitutional authority to dictate that the safeguarding of nuclear materials shall be done through sticky notes in plain sight and tweeted, even the authority to declassify the codes outright. Yet, we would all understand this degree of negligence to be a gross violation of his oath of office.
Congress has alleged oath violations — albeit violations tied to criminal allegations or breaches of statutory obligations — all three times it has passed or considered seriously articles of impeachment against presidents: against Andrew Johnson ("unmindful of the high duties of his oath of office"), Richard Nixon ("contrary to his oath"), and Bill Clinton ("in violation of his constitutional oath"). Further, two of the three articles of impeachment against Nixon alleged no direct violation of the law. Instead, they concerned Nixon's abuse of his power as President, which, like the President putting the nuclear codes on Twitter, is an offense that can only be committed by the President and has thus never been explicitly prohibited in criminal law.
There's thus no reason why Congress couldn't consider a grotesque violation of the President's oath as a stand-alone basis for impeachment — a high crime and misdemeanor in and of itself. This is particularly plausible in a case like this, where the oath violation involves giving sensitive information to an adversary foreign power. That's getting relatively close to the "treason" language in the impeachment clauses; it's pretty easy to imagine a hybrid impeachment article alleging a violation of the oath in service of a hostile foreign power. So legally speaking, the matter could be very grave for Trump even though there is no criminal exposure.
It's not hard to imagine Democrats reading that and getting very enthused about impeachment.
Only Republicans can stop Trump! It's up to the rest of us to see to it that they do!
Labels: News, People, Politics
And This Might Bury Him
President Trump asked the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Mr. Trump's former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in an Oval Office meeting in February, according to a memo that Mr. Comey wrote shortly after the meeting.
"I hope you can let this go," the president told Mr. Comey, according to the memo.
The existence of Mr. Trump's request is the clearest evidence that the president has tried to directly influence the Justice Department and F.B.I. investigation into links between Mr. Trump's associates and Russia.
Mr. Comey wrote the memo detailing his conversation with the president immediately after the meeting, which took place the day after Mr. Flynn resigned, according to two people who read the memo. The memo was part of a paper trail Mr. Comey created documenting what he perceived as the president's improper efforts to influence an ongoing investigation. An F.B.I. agent's contemporaneous notes are widely held up in court as credible evidence of conversations.
Mr. Comey shared the existence of the memo with senior F.B.I. officials and close associates. The New York Times has not viewed a copy of the memo, which is unclassified, but one of Mr. Comey's associates read parts of the memo to a Times reporter.
"I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go," Mr. Trump told Mr. Comey, according to the memo. "He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go."
Mr. Trump told Mr. Comey that Mr. Flynn had done nothing wrong, according to the memo.
Mr. Comey did not say anything to Mr. Trump about curtailing the investigation, only replying: "I agree he is a good guy."
In a statement, the White House denied the version of events in the memo.
"While the president has repeatedly expressed his view that General Flynn is a decent man who served and protected our country, the president has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn," the statement said. "The president has the utmost respect for our law enforcement agencies, and all investigations. This is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and Mr. Comey."
In testimony to the Senate last week, the acting F.B.I. director, Andrew G. McCabe, said, "There has been no effort to impede our investigation to date."
A spokesman for the F.B.I. declined to comment.
Mr. Comey created similar memos — including some that are classified — about every phone call and meeting he had with the president, the two people said. It is unclear whether Mr. Comey told the Justice Department about the conversation or his memos.
Mr. Trump fired Mr. Comey last week. Trump administration officials have provided multiple, conflicting accounts of the reasoning behind Mr. Comey's dismissal. Mr. Trump said in a television interview that one of the reasons was because he believed "this Russia thing" was a "made-up story."
The Feb. 14 meeting took place just a day after Mr. Flynn was forced out of his job after it was revealed he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of phone conversations he had had with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
Despite the conversation between Mr. Trump and Mr. Comey, the investigation of Mr. Flynn has proceeded. In Virginia, a federal grand jury has issued subpoenas in recent weeks for records related to Mr. Flynn. Part of the Flynn investigation is centered on his financial ties to Russia and Turkey.
Mr. Comey had been in the Oval Office that day with other senior national security officials for a terrorism threat briefing. When the meeting ended, Mr. Trump told those present — including Mr. Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions — to leave the room except for Mr. Comey.
Alone in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump began the discussion by condemning leaks to the news media, saying that Mr. Comey should consider putting reporters in prison for publishing classified information, according to one of Mr. Comey's associates.
Mr. Trump then turned the discussion to Mr. Flynn.
After writing up a memo that outlined the meeting, Mr. Comey shared it with senior F.B.I. officials. Mr. Comey and his aides perceived Mr. Trump's comments as an effort to influence the investigation, but they decided that they would try to keep the conversation secret — even from the F.B.I. agents working on the Russia investigation — so the details of the conversation would not affect the investigation.
Mr. Comey was known among his closest advisers to document conversations that he believed would later be called into question, according to two former confidants, who said Mr. Comey was uncomfortable at times with his relationship with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Comey's recollection has been bolstered in the past by F.B.I. notes. In 2007, he told Congress about a now-famous showdown with senior White House officials over the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. The White House disputed Mr. Comey's account, but the F.B.I. director at the time, Robert S. Mueller III, kept notes that backed up Mr. Comey's story.
The White House has repeatedly crossed lines that other administrations have been reluctant to cross when discussing politically charged criminal investigations. Mr. Trump has disparaged the ongoing F.B.I. investigation as a hoax and called for an investigation into his political rivals. His representatives have taken the unusual step of declaring no need for a special prosecutor to investigate the president's associates.
The Oval Office meeting occurred a little more than two weeks after Mr. Trump summoned Mr. Comey to the White House for a lengthy, one-on-one dinner in the residence. At that dinner, on Jan. 27, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Comey at least two times for a pledge of loyalty — which Mr. Comey declined, according to one of Mr. Comey's associates.
In a Twitter posting on Friday, Mr. Trump said that "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"
After the meeting, Mr. Comey's associates did not believe there was any way to corroborate Mr. Trump's statements. But Mr. Trump's suggestion last week that he was keeping tapes has made them wonder whether there are tapes that back up Mr. Comey's account.
The Jan. 27 dinner came a day after White House officials learned that Mr. Flynn had been interviewed by F.B.I. agents about his phone calls with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak. On Jan. 26, Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates told the White House counsel about the interview, and said Mr. Flynn could be subject to blackmail by the Russians because they knew he had lied about the content of the calls.
After you've taken all of this in...Think about this...If this was Former President Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton...or hell, former President Bill Clinton...Republicans would be foaming at the mouth and demanding impeachment...They impeached Bill Clinton for a sexual indiscretion....This smacks of Treason and Obstruction of Justice and not a Republican is saying a word... Further more, Trump's dumb ass followers are trying to justify it...
I said that this testimony might bury Trump....I doubt it...
How Stupid Does He Think We Are?
So Let's Do it Again
At school Little Johnny was told by a classmate that most adults are hiding at least one dark secret, and that this makes it very easy to blackmail them by saying, "I know the whole truth."
Little Johnny decides to go home and try it out.
He goes home, and as he is greeted by his mother he says, "I know the whole truth."
His mother quickly hands him $20 and says, "Just don't tell your father."
Quite pleased, the boy waits for his father to get home from work, and greets him with, "I know the whole truth."
The father promptly hands him $40 and says, "Please don't say a word to your mother."
Very pleased, the boy is on his way to school the next day when he sees the mailman at his front door.
The boy greets him by saying, "I know the whole truth."
The mailman immediately drops the mail, opens his arms, and says, "Then come give your real father a big hug."
Everybody have a sexilicious weekend!
Comey,You're Fired
Let me start by saying....I was no fan of James Comey...I thought what he did in October of last year,re-opening Hillary Clinton's emails and possibly shifting the election in Donald Trump's favor, disgusting...I thought President Obama should have fired him then....
So yesterday,when President Donald Trump(God,I hate saying that!) fired him,I shed no tears..As my cousin stated..."They used him like a paper cup and everybody knows you don't keep paper cups.."
President Donald Trump weighed firing his FBI director for more than a week. When he finally pulled the trigger Tuesday afternoon, he didn't call James Comey. He sent his longtime private security guard to deliver the termination letter in a manila folder to FBI headquarters.
He had grown enraged by the Russia investigation, two advisers said, frustrated by his inability to control the mushrooming narrative around Russia. He repeatedly asked aides why the Russia investigation wouldn't disappear and demanded they speak out for him. He would sometimes scream at television clips about the probe, one adviser said.
Trump's firing of the high-profile FBI director on the 110th day since taking office marked another sudden turn for an administration that has fired its acting attorney general, national security adviser and now its FBI director, who Trump had praised until recent weeks and even blew a kiss to during a January appearance.
The news stunned James Comey, who saw his dismissal on TV while speaking inside the FBI office in Los Angeles.
It startled all but the uppermost ring of White House advisers, who said grumbling about Comey hadn't dominated their own morning senior staff meetings.
Other top officials learned just before it happened and were unaware he was considering firing Comey. "Nobody really knew," one senior White House official said. "Our phones all buzzed and people said, What?"
By ousting the FBI director investigating his campaign and associates, Trump may have added more fuel to the fire he is furiously trying to contain — and he was quickly criticized by a chorus of Republicans and Democrats as well. "The timing of this firing was very troubling," said Sen. Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican.
Donald Trump had grown angry with the Russia investigation — particularly James Comey admitting in front of the Senate that the FBI was investigating his campaign — and that the FBI director wouldn't support his claims that President Barack Obama had tapped his phones in Trump Tower.
Bipartisan criticism of James Comey had mounted since last summer after his lengthy statement outlining why he was closing the investigation into Clinton's private email server.
But the fallout seemed to take the White House by surprise. Donald Trump made a round of calls around 5 p.m., asking for support from senators. White House officials believed it would be a "win-win" because Republicans and Democrats alike have problems with the FBI director, one person briefed on their deliberations said.
Instead, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told him he was making a big mistake — and Donald Trump seemed "taken aback," according to a person familiar with the call.
By Tuesday evening, the president was watching the coverage of his decision and frustrated no one was on TV defending him, a White House official said. He wanted surrogates out there beating the drum.
Instead, advisers were attacking each other for not realizing the gravity of the situation as events blew up. "How are you not defending your position for three solid hours on TV?" the White House aide said.
Two White House officials said there was little communications strategy in handling the firing, and that staffers were given talking points late Tuesday for hastily arranged media appearances. Aides soon circulated previous quotes from Schumer hitting James Comey. After Schumer called for a special prosecutor, the White House huddled in press secretary Sean Spicer's office to devise a strategy and sent "fresh faces" to TV, one White House official said.
By Tuesday night, aides were using TV appearances to spin the firing as a simple bureaucratic matter and call for an end to the investigation. "It's time to move on," Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the deputy press secretary, said on Fox News.
In his letter dismissing Comey, Trump said the FBI director had given him three private assurances that he wasn't under investigation. The White House declined to say when those conversations happened — or why Comey would volunteer such information. It is not the first time Trump has publicly commented on an ongoing investigation — typically a no-no for presidents. He said earlier this month that Comey had done Clinton a favor by letting her off easy.
Trump received letters from Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, calling for Comey's dismissal, on Tuesday, a spokesman said. The president then decided to fire him based on the recommendations and moved quickly. The spokesman said Trump did not ask for the letters in advance, and that White House officials had no idea they were coming.
But several other people familiar with the events said Trump had talked about the firing for over a week, and the letters were written to give him rationale to fire Comey.
The decision marked a turnabout for Donald Trump. On the campaign trail, the candidate led chants of "Lock her up!" and praised Comey's "guts" in October for reopening the probe into her email server.
He joked openly with Comey at the White House two days after the inauguration.
Trump, as one White House official noted, believed Comey was too soft on Clinton — not too unfair, as Rosenstein's letter Tuesday indicated.
At FBI headquarters, one senior official said the bureau was essentially in lockdown, not answering calls flooding in and referring all questions to the Justice Department. "I got nothing for you. Sorry," said the official. "We were caught totally off guard. But we are not commenting in any kind of way, and referring calls to DOJ."
James Comey had flown on an FBI plane to Los Angeles for a "diversity and recruiting" event. Trump's director of Oval Office operations, longtime security aide Keith Schiller, hand-delivered the dismissal letter to FBI headquarters.
By Tuesday evening, the shock that had spread throughout the ranks of current and former FBI officials was mixed with a growing sense of anger among the many Comey loyalists, and demands for answers as to why the director had been fired — and why now.
"We just have no idea why this happened. No idea," said one recently retired top FBI official who worked closely with Comey on many high-profile investigations. "No one knew this was coming. Everyone is just shocked that this happened."
There was no immediate front-runner for the job, one White House official said. "If there's a list, I haven't seen it," said one senior White House official.
While shock dominated much of the FBI and the White House, the mood was more elated at Roger Stone's house in Florida. Several Stone allies and friends said Stone, who has been frequently mentioned in the investigation, encouraged the president to fire Comey in conversations in recent weeks.
On Twitter, Stone signaled praise for the move by posting an image of Trump from The Apprentice saying "You're fired."
Stone declined to comment Tuesday night but said he was enjoying a fine cigar.
You know these crooked bastards have got to slip up eventually.....
To Destroy a Country
Under Trump's New Tax Plan
Labels: Economics, Micro blogging, People, Politics
France Got It Right
As of this writing, France has had it's election....Unlike the U.S. They did not elect "Trump in a skirt" or any form of Trump...They elected a liberal globalist candidate...
France on Sunday shrugged off the siren call of right-wing populism that enchanted voters in the United States and United Kingdom, rejecting anti-E.U. firebrand Marine Le Pen and choosing as its next president Emmanuel Macron, a centrist political neophyte who has pledged to revive both his struggling country and the flailing continent.
The result brought to a close a tumultuous and polarized campaign that defied prediction at nearly every turn, though not at the end. Pre-election polls had forecast a sizable Macron victory, and he appeared to have delivered, with projections issued after polls closed showing him with around 65 percent of the vote.
In a speech to the nation, Macron said the country had "Turned a new page in our long history. I want it to be a page of renewed hope and trust."
The president-elect also reached out to Le Pen voters, saying he could understand their anger, while vowing to defend both France and Europe. "This is our civilization that's at stake, our way of life," he said.
Macron was expected to speak again later Sunday night in the grand courtyard of Paris's Louvre Museum, where news of his win spawned raucous cheers among thousands of flag-waving Macron backers.
"I feel relieved," said Valentin Coutouly, a 23-year-old student who described himself as "European to the core" and who was celebrating on a chilly May night. "I think we were all afraid that Le Pen could actually win. We realized in the end that it was possible."
At her own gathering at a Paris restaurant, a downcast Le Pen conceded defeat, telling her demoralized supporters that the country had "chosen continuity" and said the election had drawn clear lines between "the patriots and the globalists."
The outcome — the latest blow in 2017 for far-right movements that had seemed to be on the march last year — will soothe Europe's anxious political establishment. Across the continent, mainstream politicians had feared that a Le Pen victory would throw in reverse decades of efforts to forge continental integration.
But the outcome instantly puts pressure on Macron to deliver on promises made to an unhappy French electorate, including reform of two institutions notoriously resistant to change: the European Union and the French bureaucracy.
At 39, the trim, blue-eyed and square-jawed Macron will become France's youngest leader since Napoleon when he is inaugurated this weekend, and his election caps an astonishing rise.
With a background in investment banking and a turn as economy minister under a historically unpopular president, he may have seemed an ill fit for the anti-establishment anger coursing through Western politics.
But by bucking France's traditional parties and launching his own movement – En Marche, or Onward -- Macron managed to cast himself as the outsider the country needs. And by unapologetically embracing the European Union, immigration and the multicultural tableau of modern France, he positioned himself as the optimistic and progressive antidote to the dark and reactionary vision of Le Pen's National Front.
Le Pen, 48, has long sought to become the first far-right leader elected in Western Europe's post-war history. Sunday's vote frustrated those ambitions, but is unlikely to end them.
By winning around 35 percent of the vote, she nearly doubled the share won by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in the 2002 election, the only other time the National Front's candidate has made it to the second round. The result seemed to cement the party's long march from the political fringe to the center of the nation's discontented political discourse, if not the pinnacle of its power.
Struggling with chronically high unemployment and recurrent terrorist attacks, France's mood on the day of its presidential vote was reflected in the dark clouds and chilly spring rains that blanketed much of the country.
Nonetheless, the public voted at a rate that would be the envy of many Western democracies: From the chic neighborhoods of Paris to the struggling post-industrial towns of the French countryside, turnout nationwide was expected to reach 75 percent, down slightly from previous votes.
No matter whom French voters picked, the choice was bound to be historic.
The dominant two parties of France's Fifth Republic were both eliminated in the first round. The center-left Socialists were decimated, brought low by the failure of current President Francois Hollandeto turn around the economy or to prevent a succession of mass-casualty terrorist attacks.
The center-right Republicans, meanwhile, missed what was once seen as a sure-fire bet at returning to power after their candidate, former prime minister Francois Fillon, was hobbled by a series of corruption allegations.
The two candidates who remained, Le Pen and Macron, both traced an outsider's path as they sought residence at the Élysée Palace.
Of the two, Macron had the more direct route. But his campaign still had to overcome all the usual challenges of a start-up, plus some extraordinary ones — including the publication online Friday night of thousands of hacked campaign documents in a cyber-attack that aroused suspicions of Russian meddling.
The outcome of Sunday's vote will have profound implications not only for France's 67 million citizens, but also for the future of Europe and for the political trajectory across the Western world.
After a pair of dramatic triumphs for the populist right in 2016 – with Brexit in the U.K., and Donald Trump in the U.S. – France's vote was viewed as a test of whether the political mainstream could beat back a rising tide.
Many of Europe's mainstream leaders -- both center-right and center-left – lined up to cheer Macron on after he punched his ticket to the second round in a vote last month. The endorsements were a break from protocol for presidents and prime ministers who normally stay out of each other's domestic elections.
But they reflected the gravity of the choice that France faced. A victory by Le Pen was seen as a possible market-rattling death blow to decades of efforts to draw Europe more closely together, with the country's new president expected to lead campaigns to take the country out of both the E.U. and the euro.
Former U.S. president Barack Obama had also endorsed Macron, and the young French politician often appeared to be trying to emulate the magic of Obama's 2008 campaign with speeches that appealed to hope, change and unity -- while eliding many of the details of his policies.
The current White House occupant, Trump, was cagey about his choice, saying before the first round that Le Pen was "the strongest on borders and she's the strongest on what's been going on in France." He predicted that she would do well, but stopped short of endorsing her.
After Macron's victory, Trump tweeted congratulations shortly after 3 p.m. Washington time on "his big win today as the next President of France. I look very much forward to working with him!"
On the campaign trail this spring, Le Pen's rhetoric had often echoed Trump's, with vows to put "France first" and to defend "the forgotten France." She also condemned globalist cosmopolitans – Macron chief among them -- who she said did not have the nation's interests at heart.
But she had distanced herself from Trump since his inauguration, often declining to mention him by name, and analysts said her association with the unpopular American president may have hurt her among French voters.
Macron shares almost nothing with Trump except one key fact: Like the New York real estate tycoon, Macron became president of his country on his first run for elective office.
The son of doctors who was raised in the northern city of Amiens, Macron had to teach himself the basics of campaigning on the fly in the white-hot glare of a presidential race.
Vowing repeatedly during the campaign to borrow from both left and right, he will now have to learn how to govern a country without the backing of any of its traditional parties.
Instead, he has a movement that he built from scratch, and now faces the immediate challenge of getting En Marche allies elected to the National Assembly.
That vote, due next month, will determine whether Macron has the parliamentary support he needs to enact an agenda of sweeping economic reforms, many of which are likely to unsettle the country's deeply entrenched labor unions.
Despite his victory, pre-election polls showed that most of Macron's supporters saw themselves voting against Le Pen rather than for him.
That was reflected on the streets Sunday, with voters even in well-to-do and heavily pro-Macron neighborhoods of Paris saying they felt more resigned than excited.
"On the one hand you have a far-right party that will take us straight to disaster," said Gilbert Cohen, a retired 82-year-old engineer who cast his ballot amid the vaulted ceilings of Paris's 17th century Place des Vosges, a former royal residence that was also home to Victor Hugo. "On the other, you have the candidate who's the only reasonable choice we have."
Cohen described Macron as "brilliant." But, he said, the new boy wonder of French politics "can't govern by himself."
Elsewhere in France, the mood was even more markedly downbeat. In Laon, a small and struggling city 90 miles north of Paris, many voters said they were so disillusioned by the choice that they would cast a blank ballot.
Others said their disenchantment had led them to Le Pen – and a hope that, despite the polls, she could still eke out a victory that would bring the radical break for France that they crave.
"We've had 50 years of rule from the left and the right," said Francis Morel, a 54-year-old bread maker who cast his ballot for Le Pen. "Nothing has changed."
The mood was considerably more upbeat Sunday night at the Louvre, where Macron supporters gathered in what was once the seat of French kings for their candidate's victory celebration.
Stéphanie Ninel, 31, a technician, said she had been at the Louvre since just after lunchtime, braving the chilly weather to snag a prime position in the crowd.
"I've been old enough to vote in three elections now," she said. "But this is the first time I feel I've been able to vote for someone with actual conviction. He's a new person, and he demands a new politics."
Thank you France for doing what we should have done in the United States and what the British should have done in the Brexit Vote.
Labels: News, People, Politics, World
He Who Laughs Last
They are laughing....Look at them...All of them...White men, well off...Members of the House Of Represenatives...Republicans all!
Why are they laughing?
They just gutted the Affordable Care Act....also known as "Obamacare" and possibly doomed several hundred Americans or more to being without coverage...Among other things..
And they're laughing...
These Clowns Had the Nerve to have Beer delivered to the White House after they gutted the Affordable Care Act today...Take a good look at everyone laughing in this photo...When they come up for re-election...Let's take that laugh off of their faces..See if they want some brew then?
I mean who does this? Who celebrates throwing people off of health insurance coverage?
They and their loved ones are covered...They have the best health care plan....
To hell with you and me...
No one knows better than House Democrats how a contentious health care vote can exact a steep political price — losing control of the House in the first midterm election of an untested new president's tenure for example.
As they hooted derisively at their Republican colleagues on Thursday after a narrow, party-line approval of legislation to roll back the Obama-era health care law, Democrats glimpsed the mirror image of their own politically disastrous health care experience.
They also saw a prime opportunity to avenge their ugly 2010 loss and possibly recapture the House majority.
"I think they are staring death in the face," Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Democrat of Virginia, said about the political prospects of dozens of House Republicans who were persuaded to back the bill by Republican leaders eager to deliver a legislative win. "They asked their vulnerable members to take an enormous gamble and risk on an act of faith that I guarantee will not pay off."
Relieved Republicans celebrated on the House floor and at the White House and said they had been in danger of retaliation from their own conservative base if they had not delivered on the pledge to repeal the law they had been promising to strike from the books for seven years.
They say their candidates will have the experience and resources to fight off Democratic challengers.
But Democrats were confident many colleagues across the aisle would come to regret this vote, particularly in an election cycle where the president's party is typically on the defensive and when Republicans will need to protect nearly two dozen districts carried by Hillary Clinton last year. Those districts alone, including some in places like California, Texas and Illinois, are almost enough to determine who runs the House.
"Republicans kicked a hornet's nest, and it is not too soon to begin saying goodbye to some of my Republican colleagues from moderate districts, because this will cost them dearly," said Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez, Democrat of Illinois.
The 2018 campaign is only now beginning, and the political climate is highly volatile. The outlook for the House bill in the Senate is uncertain, and it could be significantly rewritten. But Democrats believe that the potential ramifications of the House-passed measure — millions losing insurance coverage, a diminished array of benefits, no definite guarantee of coverage for those with pre-existing conditions — provide them with powerful ammunition against Republicans.
Democrats point out that Republicans will have to defend a reduction in federal help for people who have come to rely on it. That is a most unusual position for politicians since federal benefit programs are rarely scaled back once they are established — certainly not a program with the reach of the health care law.
"It is a pretty big mistake," Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat, said about the Republican bill. "They are taking something away."
It wasn't just Democrats who were complaining about retrenching on health benefits. In a statement that might well resurface in Democratic campaigns, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican who is retiring, delivered a blistering critique of the bill, saying it has "potential to severely harm the health and lives of people in South Florida."
"My constituents should not have to take a step backward in their ability to obtain treatment for any illness," she said.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen was among 20 Republicans who opposed the legislation, most of them in politically divided districts where they hoped their "no" vote might insulate them from any voter fury. But that might not be a successful strategy since it could alienate Republican supporters while failing to win over Democrats.
The fate of Democrats who opposed the Affordable Care Act is instructive and shows that bucking the party on a difficult vote doesn't necessarily protect a lawmaker in the next election. Of 34 House Democrats who opposed the health law in 2010, half still lost their re-elections that November.
"Every Republican is going to have to carry the burden of this," said Rep. Rick Larsen, Democrat of Washington.
House Democrats have struggled since losing the majority in 2010, failing to capitalize on opportunities to expand their numbers. There is no guarantee that they can take full advantage of these circumstances. But top Democrats point to one promising development: They say they are seeing new enthusiasm among possible candidates rather than having to search for contenders.
"We have too many wanting to run," Mr. Hoyer said. "They are just coming out of the woodwork because they smell victory in the air and they are angry about what the Republicans are doing."
Even as they saw the advantages, some Democrats were careful to say they would have preferred that the repeal bill had failed rather than provide them with a political upper hand.
"They will pay the political consequences, but it would be better if it didn't pass," said Rep. Kathy Castor, Democrat of Florida.
The similarity to past defining votes in the House was unmistakable. While Republicans cheered their win, Democrats, in a bit of precooked theater, chanted "na na na na, hey hey, goodbye" from the 1969 song to give voice to their view that multiple Republicans were goners after the vote.
The scene brought to mind the 1993 Clinton administration budget clash: Republicans chanted "Goodbye Marjorie" when Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, Democrat of Pennsylvania, cast the deciding vote.
She later lost her seat. In a 2009 climate vote pushed by House Democrats, Republicans offered the refrain "BTU" to remind Democrats of a 1993 energy vote that hurt their party.
This time, Democrats say they will have the last word. They believe that in delivering a win demanded by President Trump, House Republicans have opened the door to Democratic control of the House, a reversal that would put them in a position to challenge Mr. Trump in a way that would be impossible were they kept in the minority.
Sooooooooooooooo..Take a good look at everyone laughing in this photo...When they come up for re-election...Let's take that laugh off of their faces..See if they want some brew then? He who laughs last....laughs best!
Labels: Health, News, People, Politics
Three girls died and were brought to the gates of heaven. Upon entering the gate, they were halted by St. Peter and his obedient angel.
St. Peter asked the girls, "Before entering you must answer this simple question."
"Which is ...?", they replied in unison.
"Have you been a good girl ?", he asked the first girl.
"Oh yes", she said. "I was a virgin before I got married and was still virgin even after I got married."
"Very good", said St. Peter. "Angel, give this girl... the golden key."
"Have you been a good girl?", he asked the second girl.
"Oh, quite good", she said. "I was a virgin before I got married but was not after I got married."
"Very good", said St. Peter. "Angel, give this girl... the silver key."
"Have you been a good girl?", he asked the third girl.
"Oh no, not at all", she said. "I practically have sex with every guy I met before and after I got married. Anywhere, anytime."
"Very good", said St. Peter. "Angel, give this girl... my room key."
Betwixt A Tweet!
I don't know what President Trump's Iphone looks like..In other words..I don't know the model...but he is causing a stir on Capital Hill and not just from Democrats...but from his own Republican Party...
Washington policymakers have a time-tested method for rolling out new ideas: float a trial balloon. Spread rumors of a policy change or selectively leak it to the press, then see how it plays and proceed only if it looks doable.
President Donald Trump has flipped that script...Or so it appears..
Big and startling ideas fly out of his mouth or from his Twitter feed.
Then the rest of his administration scrambles to catch up — and to figure out when his statements signal new presidential policies and when they're offhand remarks that mean little.
In the past week alone, Trump has suggested he's open to higher gas taxes, tweeted that a government shutdown could be a good thing and called North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un a "smart cookie" whom he'd be honored to meet under the right conditions.
Trump also invited Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte, with a troubling human rights record, to visit the White House and insisted the GOP health plan would provide coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions, even though an ironclad guarantee is not reflected in the latest version of the legislation.
Such pronouncements sometimes force Trump's top policy advisers to try to adjust administration policy to sync with the president's remarks. His communications aides contort themselves to explain away inconsistencies in administration messages.
And blindsided GOP congressional leaders have to decide when to realign their positions and when to stay the course.
"It's a scramble drill in the White House every day, and certainly a scramble drill in Trump's mind every day," says Calvin Jillson, a presidential scholar at Southern Methodist University.
The frustration of Republican legislators was clear when Trump tweeted Tuesday that the government "needs a good shutdown" in September to fix the "mess," after Democrats prevailed on a number of spending issues in a bipartisan budget bill designed to keep the government open.
"I do wish somebody would take his iPhone away from him," said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
"I wish he'd think twice before tweeting," seconded Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
House Speaker Paul Ryan wondered aloud: "How many times have I had this, 'Do you agree with the tweet this morning?'"
Ryan said he shared the president's aggravation with Democrats over the spending negotiations. But he also defended the budget deal, telling reporters it was an "important first step in the right direction."
On North Korea, Trump seemed to recognize the startling nature of his conciliatory comments about Kim in which he told CBS on Sunday that he would be "honored" to meet the leader if circumstances were right. The president labeled his own comments "breaking news."
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer quickly stressed that Trump wouldn't meet with the North Korean leader unless he changed course and showed "signs of good faith."
Asked how Trump could be honored to meet with someone who's threatened to destroy the U.S., Spicer said that because Kim was a head of state, "there's a diplomatic piece to this." Oh is that what it is?
Likewise, it fell to Spicer to tamp down expectations after Trump told Bloomberg in an interview that he would "certainly consider" generating more money for his big infrastructure plan by raising gasoline and diesel fuel taxes. The idea of raising taxes is a no-go zone for most Republican legislators.
Spicer said Trump was merely showing "respect" for an idea that had been raised by industry groups and "there was no endorsement of it or no support of it."
Trump's interviews sometimes make news to his own team.
When Trump promised an AP interviewer last month that he'd roll out his tax plan the following week, officials at the White House and Treasury Department, as well as Republicans on Capitol Hill, were caught off guard. The announcement sent aides scrambling to put together a one-sheet outline of a tax plan by the president's surprise deadline.
Trump's Twitter feed is an ongoing source of surprise, perhaps most notably his March accusation that President Barack Obama had him wiretapped during the presidential campaign. That triggered an all-out effort by aides to find ways to justify the claim.
Jillson allowed that sometimes Trump may appear to be winging it when his statements are planned, such as the president's phone conversation during the transition with the president of Taiwan. The call generated speculation that Trump had unthinkingly broken longstanding U.S. policy but appears to have been part of a calculated effort to throw China off-balance, Jillson said.
Trump's White House invitation to Duterte, whose record includes extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers and users, caught key players at the State Department unaware and left White House officials trying to explain why it would be a good idea.
White House chief of staff Reince Priebus framed the president's invitation as part of an effort to counter the military threat of North Korea, adding that "it doesn't mean that human rights don't matter."
Jillson said that while administration officials may feel compelled to align the policies they're developing with Trump's latest statements, GOP members of Congress are becoming more discriminating about when they need to sync up with the president's pronouncements and when they can disregard them.
On the bipartisan budget deal, he said, congressional Republicans and Democrats "forgot about Trump for enough time to craft a deal, almost without reference to him, and got a win."
"They're learning to let this stuff wash off their backs and continue to try to think systematically," Jillson said.
So much spin....Admit it...This guy is in ,wayyyyy over his head...He has no idea what he is doing and he is an international embarrassment to America...
It's just that right now ,only a few brave souls will admit it!
A Word From Our Sponser
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10.I have two voices in my head...One that says...You're going to be 60 next year...You're old...And another voice that says...Ahhh knock it off...Be glad you're still alive to worry about it!
Gotta Love Mark Twain
Let's Really Make America Great Again (Here's How)...


text:
The Cost of Kindness: Changing the Stigma of Homelessness
Kim and David celebrating reaching their GoFundMe goal © Image Courtesy of Andrew Embury
By Raye Mocioiu
"I feel that most people view homelessness as the kind of problem where, if they don't acknowledge it, it doesn't exist," says Kim Cormier.
"For example, if you don't make eye contact with the man sitting outside of the grocery store with a sign that says 'Looking for money or food,' then he won't talk to you. In reality, he is just trying to feed himself."
Often, prejudiced assumptions are made about people experiencing homelessness—assumptions that come from a place of fear. Kim has long held that it costs nothing to be kind and costs little to help someone out. That message, taught by her father, led her to change the life of a man she now considers family.
A Chance Encounter
Kim met David McDonald by chance, but their encounter blossomed into a strong friendship.
David, who once owned a gas station in Kingston, has been intermittently homeless since 2016. Around the same time that he lost his gas station in 2010, his long-term relationship ended. He recalls feeling like he had lost everything.
The next decade was tumultuous for David. When his daughter moved out of their Toronto apartment, David took a Greyhound bus to Vancouver, where he experienced homelessness for the first time. Less than a year later, afraid he would die in B.C., David walked and cycled more than 3,000 kilometres back to Ontario.
David has since spent time living in parks and with strangers in rental apartments—which he shares were miserable experiences, filled with theft and violent threats.
"It's a hard life. There is theft among the homeless," David says. "You have to always watch your back, your belongings, and who you trust."
Earlier this summer, he passed Kim's Kingston home on his e-scooter while she worked on her laptop outside. He blew a tire and asked Kim if she would mind watching his belongings while he went to Canadian Tire for a new inner tube.
When he returned from the store, Kim invited him to stay for dinner with her and her partner. From then on, their friendship quickly grew.
"When you are homeless, people look at you more like a criminal and that you have 'done something' to be in this situation," shares David. "Kim proved that some people see past that, are curious to know your story—and I've been told I tell great stories. She also showed me that there are second chances."
Small Home, Big Impact
The solution to homelessness has been called "deceptively simple." It comes down to providing stable housing for people experiencing homelessness.
In September, Kim and Andrew invited David to move into their backyard, in a three-season tent with a queen-sized mattress, a sofa, a fridge and carpeting. The arrangement led Kim to find an even better idea.
"I found out about these beautiful micro homes from a steering committee called "Our Liveable Solutions" and their main contact Chrystal Wilson," Kim shares. "I reached out to them regarding their design of the homes and was able to learn more."
Andrew agreed that hosting a micro home in their backyard would be a legal solution that would help David and encouraged Kim to make a plan.
"I didn't have much faith in asking social media for help, but I hoped that David's story would catch the right people's attention. In 11 days, we hit our GoFundMe goal of $18,000 and together, we were able to purchase David's Micro Home.
"All it took was an action plan and believing that people cared enough about David's story to share."
FINCA clients innovate in the face of a pandemic
Cuban zoo helps deaf visitors experience the wild
Chile changing: transgender student leader lends voice to renewed protests
#RISINGYOUTH: RESPONDING TO COMMUNITY NEEDS DURING COVID-19
Help a local family
'Glimmer of hope': Beirut seeks Christmas cheer after difficult year

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


is there any negative impact on the turnkey hub when Amazon will change the ID format?
Here is the original message from Amazon.
I haven't discussed it with Alon yet, but I'm sure that he's aware of it so either it doesn't have an impact or he is working on (or perhaps has even implemented) a fix/workaround.
Regardless I'll get in touch with him and get a clear answer.


text:
You are at:Home»Cruise Lines»Holland America»Holland America Line hold steel cutting ceremony for new Pinnacle Class ship
Holland America Line hold steel cutting ceremony for new Pinnacle Class ship
By C1AU Digital Marketing on	 18 February 2014 Holland America, New Ships
Officials hosted ceremony to celebrate construction milestone
Often regarded as a significant construction millstone, the first steel cutting for a new ship is usually marked with an official ceremony.
The first steel cutting for Holland America's new Pinnacle Class ship was no exception, and Holland America's president and CEO Stein Kruse hosted an event earlier this month to mark the official start to construction of the yet-to-be-named ship at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy.
The steel cutting ceremony marked the culmination of an intensive design and development period.
Speaking at the ceremony, Kruse said:
"This is a proud day for Holland America Line as we officially begin construction on our new Pinnacle Class ship.
We're thrilled to be back at Fincantieri for such a milestone, and the next two years are going to be exciting as we unveil a host of new features that will be found onboard.
This is the 15th ship built for Holland America Line by Italian shipyard Fincantieri, which most recently constructed ms Nieuw Amsterdam that was delivered in July 2010."
Antonio Quintano, director of Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard and co-host of the steel cutting ceremony also had a few words to mark the occasion:
"Construction of this new Pinnacle Class ship marks our second decade of building vessels for Holland America Line. Starting with ms Statendam in 1993, our relationship with Holland America Line has evolved even as cruise ships have evolved over the past 20 years."
About the Pinnacle Class:
Back in October 2012, Holland America Line announced a whole new class of ship, the first of which is due to set sail in February 2016. At the time, the cruise line said:
"The Pinnacle class will have exciting new culinary and entertainment venues, will take our premium accommodations to an even higher level and will include many energy savings measures that will enable us to achieve significant fuel efficiencies."
Since, the company have put "blood, sweat and tears" into planning the new features.
The ship currently being built at the Italian shipyard will weight 99,500-ton and host 2,648 passengers. She will be the largest ever built for the line. She'll also be the first vessel in the line's new Pinnacle Class.
The Pinnacle ship will have a beam of 35 metres and will comply with the New Panamax dimensions, allowing her to cruise through the new wider locks currently under construction at the Panama Canal.
Additionally, the ship will have 12 enclosed passenger decks according to reports.
No further information is currently available about the new Pinnacle Class ship, but it's expected a series of new features will be unveiled over the coming two years.
Carnival Splendor to Call Sydney Its Homebase in December 2019
Holland America Recognised as World's Most Ethical Cruise Line


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text:
Q: PHP problem with date format and strange errors I need to work on 2 errors.
The first one is the date: it shows a very rare date format: "Fecha de vuelta: 1637794800". It should show the date you put + 10 days.
The second one are the 2 things Visual Studio Code says are wrong: .length and isNaN

        <title>lapuente_de la pena_blanca_ModuloDWES_TareaEvaluativa02.php</title>

        <?php
        if (isset($_GET['enviar'])) {

            if (isset($_GET['fechaalquiler']) && ($_GET['fechaalquiler']!==null) && ($_GET['fechaalquiler']!=='')) {
                echo "Fecha de vuelta: ".gmdate(strtotime($_GET['fechaalquiler']."+ 10 days"))."
";      // XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
            } else {echo "Fecha no introducida
";}

            if (isset($_GET['dni']) && ($_GET['dni']!==null) && ($_GET['dni']!=='') && substr("TRWAGMYFPDXBNJZSQVHLCKEO", (int)(substr(($_GET['dni']), 0, 8)) % 23, 1)==substr(($_GET['dni']), 8, 1)) {
                echo "DNI correcto";
            } else if (!$_GET['dni']) {
                echo "DNI no introducido";
            } else if ($_GET['dni'].length!==9 || isNaN(substr(($_GET['dni']), 0, 8))) {    // XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
                echo "DNI incorrecto";
            } else {
                echo "DNI incorrecto; la letra correcta sería ".substr("TRWAGMYFPDXBNJZSQVHLCKEO", (int)(substr(($_GET['dni']), 0, 8)) % 23, 1);
            }

        } ?>
             <form name="input" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];?>" method="get">

                Fecha alquiler
                <input name="fechaalquiler" type="date">
                <?php echo "
"?>

                DNI
                <input name="dni" type="text">

                <input type="submit" value="Enviar" name="enviar"/>
             </form>

A: Thanks to the comments, I could resolve the questions
For the first error: date('Y-m-d H:i:s', strtotime($_GET['fechaalquiler']."+ 10 days"))
For the second errors: strlen($_GET['dni'])!==9 and !is_numeric(substr(($_GET['dni']), 0, 8))

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Antonio Giovinazzi Believes He Must Beat Kimi Raikkonen in 2020 for His "Dreams to Continue"
Ronan Carvalho
Teams and drivers are gearing up for F1's restart in Austria on the 5th of July. This year's midfield battle is set to be an intense one. While the likes of McLaren, Racing Point, and Renault would be expected to finish behind the 'Big Three,' Alfa Romeo will also be looking want to push higher up in the table.
2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen will partner Antonio Giovinazzi, behind the steering wheel of the C39 again. Many have touted that this could be the Finn's last year in F1. However, his teammate doesn't want any favors from Kimi when it comes to securing his own future in F1.
Antonio Giovinazzi thinks that beating Kimi Raikkonen will go a long way in assuring his place in F1 next year
image source: Autosport.com
Swiss news publication Blick quoted the Italian driver. Giovinazzi was raring to hit the track again with Alfa Romeo. He said, "After the hard enforced break in Italy, getting into a Formula 1 car feels like returning to normal. I cannot wait."
Furthermore, he was honest in saying that the writing on the wall was clear for him if he doesn't do well this year. "If my dreams are to continue, I have to beat Kimi this year." Added the Italian. Although Giovinazzi is Ferrari's reserve driver this year, the chances of him driving for the team in the future are slim to none. Especially considering that they have already locked in Carlos Sainz for next year.
Giovinazzi endured a disappointing season last year at Alfa Romeo. He only mustered up 14 points and finished a lowly 17th on the Drivers' championship standings. He only finished ahead of Haas's Romain Grosjean (8 pts) and both the Williams drivers, Robert Kubica 1 pt) and George Russell (0 pts).
Whereas his teammate, the 'Iceman' finished 12th in the standings. Kimi also bagged a solid 43 points, 31 of which came during the first 12 races.
"The long break was a great chance to finally dedicate more to the family. Now everyone has a strange feeling their stepping on the gas again. But I believe we quickly forget all restrictions outside in the cockpit." Kimi was quoted saying by Blick.
The Alfa Romeo team will be hoping they put on a better performance as compared to last season. They would be hoping to finish higher than 8th place on the Constructors' championship standings this year.
Tags: Alfa RomeoAntonio GiovinazziCarlos SainzF1Kimi Raikkonen


In a tiny hall in Nasarallah, a poor agricultural village in the hills beyond Tunisia's historic Islamic city of Kairouan, Jamila Brahid is irate. Sitting in a huddle of country women wearing traditional rural headscarves, the 50-year-old villager is proud to have had a primary school education in a place where many of her female friends – mostly seasonal fruit-pickers – cannot read or write. A carpet-weaver who owed debts on wool and has never married because of her obligations looking after elderly relatives, she gives thanks for Tunisia's prized status as the most feminist country in the Arab world. But, she says, Sunday's elections will be the true test.
"The men are all sitting in cafes. The women do all the work, in the fields, as well as the home, earning money, making bread, providing for and taking care of the whole family," she says. "At least now we've got freedom of speech. Who says poor rural women aren't interested and won't vote? We're mobilised. We've been oppressed for too long."
The future of Tunisian women is a key issue in the elections – the first vote of the Arab spring. Tunisia's famously advanced women's rights are at the heart of secular nervousness over whether this open, liberal society will vote in huge numbers for the Islamist An-Nahda party, and whether that party, which says it is moderate and devoted to women's equality, could begin to chip away at women's status.
Tunisia, the only Arab country to ban polygamy, prides itself as the most feminist country in the region. In 1956, after independence from the French, women's rights were enshrined in law, banning multiple marriages and forced unilateral divorce. There is a minimum marriage age of 18 and rights for divorced women which are unprecedented in the Arab world. Women in headscarves rub shoulders with others in tight jeans and loose hair. More than 80% of adult females are literate, the contraception rate is high and women make up half the student population, a third of magistrates and a quarter of the diplomatic corps.
Tunisia's elections should be a great day for Arab women, but feminists are deeply anxious. Much-vaunted electoral rules on running equal numbers of men and women candidates have been downplayed by parties who suggest that in Tunisia's first ever free elections, voters simply "prefer" men to women candidates. This means the new assembly which will rewrite the constitution could be more than ever dominated by men.
Kairouan, the picturesque holy city and the first Islamic city in the Maghreb, is surrounded by poor, isolated villages where literacy is low and people make a scarce living from olives and citrus fruit. Typically of Tunisia, families are a patchwork: atheist communist women with loose hair have relatives who wear a headscarf and intend to vote Islamist.
"Don't sell your vote, vote from your heart, I'm speaking from mine when I say we need equality," Fathia Mahfoudhi, a secondary school sports teacher, tells the women gathered in the village hall in Nasarallah. She is standing for the Modernist Democratic Pole, a coalition of leftists, independents and feminists who seek to counter An-Nahda, saying religion and politics don't mix.
Mahfoudhi makes a moving speech with no notes. But outside, a male relative complains that as a man, he should have written her speech for her.
Later, an all-women group of campaigners and candidates decide not to have lunch openly in a restaurant. "People might not vote for us if we do. That's the reality of conservative village life," one says.
The commission reforming Tunisia's electoral landscape for the elections ruled earlier this year that there must be 50% parity between men and women on electoral lists – and not just women on the bottom rung: they must alternate with male candidates from the top of each party selection and share the most important roles. In the event this has not worked. Women make up only 6% of the leading candidates at the top of party selections, which means very few have a chance of winning a seat. Only the Modernist Democratic Pole has an equal number of women to men in top positions.
This is catastrophic, warns Sana Ben Achour of Tunisia's influential Association of Women Democrats. Women had been key players in the uprising which launched the Arab spring: from the highly-educated female elite of doctors, barristers and university professors to the huge numbers of unemployed female graduates. Most assumed they would easily take their place in the new democracy.
Many parties insist that people prefer to vote for men, including the centrist secular PDP, which is running few women at the head of its lists. An-Nahda is only running two leading women out of a total of 33 constituencies. The most high-profile is Souad Abderrahim, a pharmacist who does not wear a headscarf, running in a key Tunis constituency where leading figures from secular parties are standing. It is a public relations coup for a party which wants to show it is moderate. But Rachid Ghannouchi, the party leader, has spoken of a "reality" in which "the Tunisian woman has not yet acquired leadership status".
Anissa Saidi, a feminist and philosophy teacher running for the Modernist Democratic Pole in Kairouan, says: "We want equality enshrined in the constitution, we want laws against domestic violence." She fears An-Nahda's moderate discourse in support of women's rights might mask a fundamentalist strain which wants to make women work part-time to ease unemployment, or lessen education for girls.
Said Ferjani, of An-Nahda's central political bureau, says women's rights and education are paramount. "And in our programme it states we should not compel women to wear any kind of clothing, it's up to women to choose to put on a scarf or not, that's her business," he adds.
Even among secularists the feminist struggle in Tunisia is far from over. Of the country's young, well-educated unemployed' whose grievances sparked the uprising' two-thirds are women. There is still gross inequality in inheritance laws favouring sons and inequality of pay.
After the revolution feminists don't want women's rights to once again be used as a front.
Under Ben Ali feminism had become a double-edged sword. He headed the most repressive police state in the region, but if challenged on human rights abuses, horrific torture and a terrifying secret police, he would use his favourite calling card to the west: Tunisia was a modern "feminist state" where women were free, so things couldn't be that bad. He would argue that he had liberated women from the clutches of Islamism and sharia law. His wife, Leila Trabelsi, a hated figure who symbolised nepotism and corruption, headed several official women's rights bodies, awarding herself prizes for feminism, while grassroots feminist democracy campaigners were beaten in the street by police.
In Kairouan, Ahmed Kilan, the human rights activist who now heads the local arm of Tunisia's election body, says: "Some things in Tunisia just can't be touched. If anyone insisted women here must wear the veil, it's simple, people would be straight out onto the streets in protest."


Download "SAGINAW TOWNSHIP RECREATION EIGHT PLAYER ADULT FLAG FOOTBALL RULES"
1 SAGINAW TOWNSHIP RECREATION EIGHT PLAYER ADULT FLAG FOOTBALL RULES RULE I - PLAYERS, REGISTRATION, FEES AND CONDUCT 1. All fees must be paid by the first game. FEE REFUND POLICY: Team registration fees will be refunded less $10 provided request for refund is filed at least one week prior to the official closing date of registration. Request for refund filed in the last week of registration will result in forfeiture of 25% of team fee. Requests for refund filed after schedules are drawn or league season begins will result in 100% forfeiture of team fee. 2. AGES - Adult Leagues - Minimum age is 18 by October 1st of the current year. 3. Player's name, address and birth date must be entered on the Official Team Roster before he is eligible to play. Also, the player's individual fee must be paid. RULE 2 - EQUIPMENT AND FIELDS 1. No regular football equipment may be worn except short (1/2 inch limit) molded cleats are allowed. Soccer shoes or multi-purpose shoes are allowed as well as conventional street shoes or tennis shoes. 2. Illegal equipment includes: Any hard or unyielding substance on the hands, wrist, forearms or elbows, no matter how covered or padded; and any projection of metal or hard substance from a player's person or clothing. 3. TEAM AREA: Coaches and substitutes must remain between the two 30 yard lines. Officials have the right to forfeit game if coach or team members display repeated unsportsmanlike conduct. 4. Team losing pre-game toss gets choice in the second half. Teams change goals at half time only. RULE 3 - TIMES 1. Forfeit time is ten (10) minutes past scheduled starting time. Team must have at least six (6) players to start and continue. 2. The length of a game is 48 minutes (running time), divided into four quarters of 12 minutes each. There is one (1) time out per half. 3. One minute rest between quarters. Three minute rest at halftime.
2 4. After ball is declared "ready-for-play", offense has 25 seconds to put it into play. PENALTY FOR DELAY OF GAME: LOSS OF DOWN AND FIVE YARDS. RULE 4 - PLAYING RULES Generally, High School Rules will govern, exceptions are noted as follows: 1. The ball carrier is downed when one of his flags is missing from his belt. Defensive players pulling flags should hold them up for the officials to see. Ball carrier is also "downed" if any part of this body other than hands or feet touches the ground. DEFENSE MAY NOT PUSH BALL CARRIER OUT OF BOUNDS UNLESS IT IS IN THE PROCESS OF A LEGITIMATE ATTEMPT TO PULL A FLAG. (Penalty: 15 yards). 2. Runner shall not be thrown to the ground. 15 YARD PENALTY. 3. No stiff-arming by runner. Runner shall not use his hand or arm to ward off or push opponent and he shall not grasp a teammate. 15 YARD PENALTY. 4. Free substitution is allowed. 5. Field will be 100 yards divided into five (5) 20 yard zones. 6. NO 3 POINT OR 4 POINT STANCES. 7. AT LEAST 3 ON OFFENSIVE LINE. 8. All offensive players must be "set" for 1 second before snap. (Exception: Offense may have only one (1) backfield player in motion laterally or backwards at time of snap). ON DEFENSE: Linemen shall not make abrupt or menacing motions designed to cause offense to move or jump offsides. PENALTY 5 YARDS. RULE 5 - PASSING 1. All players are eligible to catch a forward pass, including the player of offense who first receives the snap for center. 2. Offense may make only one (1) forward pass which goes beyond the line of scrimmage. Each forward pass must be thrown from behind the line of scrimmage. PENALTY: 5 YARDS AND LOSS OF DOWN. 3. FORWARD PASS INTERFERENCE: If interference is by Defense, ball is placed at point of foul, (or 15 yards in advance of line of scrimmage, whichever benefits the offense most) and is awarded a first down. If interference is by Offense, penalty is 15 yards from the line of scrimmage and loss of down. 4. Defense may run an intercepted pass out of its endzone if they so desire. 5. DEAD BALL: Any fumble or bad pass which touches the ground is "dead".
3 RULE 6 - PUNTS 1. Offense, if it wishes, may announce to referee it will punt. Punt must then be made. If punt is announced both teams maintain at least three (3) players on the line of scrimmage and no one on either team may cross the line of scrimmage until the ball is punted. 2. BLOCKED PUNTS: (When a team does not "announce" punt) All blocked punts (whether blocked by defense or offense), are "dead" if they touch the ground. Ball belongs at that point to defense if punt was on the 4th down. 3. ALL KICKS - IMPORTANT: Punts which touch anything while the kicked ball is on or behind the receiver's goal line (plane) cause the ball to become "dead". It is a TOUCH-BACK (no points) and ball is placed on the 20 yard line where it is a 1st down. RULE 7 - BLOCKING: USE OF HANDS 1. Blocker is allowed to contact only that portion of the opponent's body above the waist. 2. In all instances a blocker must be on his feet when blocking. No player shall block in a manner that would cause his feet, knees or legs to strike an opponent. 4. In blocking, hands and arms shall be kept in a elbows shall NOT be further apart than blocker's shoulders. 5 PENALTY FOR ILLEGAL BLOCK OR ILLEGAL USE OF HANDS - 15 YARDS. 6 No "Dumping" or roughing of center. PENALTY - 15 YARDS. RULE 8 - PENALTIES 1. Remember, the purpose of this program is to have fun. Since most of us also have to go to work or school, let's just play the game. 2. Severe, unnecessary roughness or unsportsmanlike conduct will result in the player being ejected from the game. (A player ejected has to sit out as least his team's next game). 3. Any player striking an official will be automatically suspended from the league. Repeated incidents may cause a team to be dropped also. 4. A player cursing or using abusive language will be ejected from the game. Managers will be held responsible for the conduct of their players.
4 5. There shall be no tackling, blocking or tripping of the ball carrier, passer or kicker. Unnecessary roughness such as attempting to run over or batter down an opponent will not be allowed. Also, there is to be no unnecessary hard pushing of the runner out of bounds. We wish to re-emphasize all sections of this rule and advise all teams that they will be rigidly enforced. Our officials will be advised to call games closely and repeated violations of this rule definitely result in suspensions. 6. FIVE YARD PENALTIES INCLUDE: Delay of game (also loss of down) Offside of encroachment Too many players on the field Illegal motion of offensive player Defense using tactics or movements designed to "draw" offense offside or cause them to "jump" before snap Offense player being closer than 5 yards from sidelines before snap Illegal forward pass (also loss of down). Includes intentional grounding ball Less than 3 players on offensive line Punting situation violations (other than roughing the punter). 7. FIFTEEN YARD PENALTIES INCLUDE: Blocking below opponents waist Anyone (except center) getting into 3 or 4 point stance for final 1 second before snap Rough play (tackling, tripping, elbowing, stiff-arming etc.) Illegal use of hands or arms, or holding (No automatic 1st down) Clipping Roughing the passer Leaving the feet when blocking, or using a rolling or crossing block Throwing a block at the ball-carrier Forward pass interference by defense (results in placing ball at spot of foul or at least 15 yards beyond line of scrimmage and awarding offense 1st down) Fair catch interference. (While any kick is in flight, no member of the kicking team shall touch the ball or a receiver, nor obstruct a receiver's path to the ball). Abusive language or conduct 8. No player shall contact an opponent obviously out of the play either before or after the ball is declared "dead".
5 9. PENALTIES WHICH RESULT IN AUTOMATIC 1ST DOWN OR LOSS OF DOWN INCLUDE: Automatic 1st down - Defense past interference Roughing the punter Loss of down - Offense pass interference Offense delay of game Illegal forward pass 10. CLIPPING DEFINED: No player on offense or defense may clip. "Clipping" is throwing the body across the back of the leg of an opponent or falling into the back of an opponent. Doubtful cases involving a side block of the opponent turning his back to a blocker ar to be judged according to whether the opponent was able to see or ward off the blocker. 11. ADMINISTRATION OF PENALTIES: All penalties involving yardage will be stepped off from the line of scrimmage or the point of the foul (whichever hurts the offending team the most). 12. DOUBLE FOUL: Penalties offset each other. Occurs when both teams commit a foul during the same play. The play does not count. 13. FOUL: During a down in which possession changes hands, team which ends up with the ball gets to keep the ball. UNLESS THAT TEAM FOULED BEFORE IT FINALLY GAINED POSSESSION. Example 1: Team A throws pass, which is intercepted by B. Team B clips during the runback. Ruling: Penalize B 15 yards and it is B's ball, 1st down. Example 2: Team B is offside at snap. B then intercepts a pass. Ruling: Bring ball back to line of scrimmage, Penalize B 5 yards and ball still belongs to A. Example 3: Team A is offside. Team B then intercepts a pass during its runback B clips. Ruling: Ball belongs to team B after B is penalized 15 yards. Disregard A's offside penalty. 14. If a penalty occurs on the final play of a quarter, this is procedure: If the foul is on the offense, or if there is a double foul (a foul by each team) the period is ended. The line exception is when a member of a kicking team commits "fair catch interference". If the foul is on the Defense only and the penalty is accepted the period is extended by one play.
4 on 4 Flag Football Tournament DEADLINE: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER, 201 AT 5:00 P.M.
This document should not be used in place of the NIRSA rule book. It should be used in conjunction with the rule book.
with the ball or chose direction. The team that losses the coin toss will choose the other. Teams will switch direction and possession at half time.
2017 Bellevue Flag Football Rules I. Governing Rules: Play will be governed by the NIRSA 2016-2017 National Touch and Flag Football rules. The following are modifications and highlights of these rules.
E. All players and coaches from each team must remain in the team box during games. 1. The team box is between the yard lines.
NFHS 2015 Football Exam Part II (No Answers) The exam to follow will have 100 questions. You may Flag a question for review. At the end of the exam you will have an opportunity to review the flagged questions.
2011/2012 New Rules... 1. A, 3/10 @ B-25... Team A s tight end catches a pass for a touchdown. Immediately after the score the BJ sees that the tight end is wearing red gloves that match his jersey. A.
South Dakota High School Activities Association October 18, 2017 Author: Buck Timmins Thank You The football season is an extremely busy time for every one of you. It takes hard work to become a good official.
2016 CFOA Rules Test. 1. The referee may call an official's timeout to allow guard A66 time to put on his kicking shoe. A. True B.
LSA Flag Football League Rules For K-2 Grade Division I. Game 1. At the start of each game, captains from both teams shall meet at midfield for the coin toss to determine who shall start with the ball.
Marshfield Area Youth Flag Football Rules Grades 3 & 4 I. Game 1. At the start of each game, captains from both teams shall meet at midfield for the coin toss to determine who shall start with the ball.
New paragraph e: e. Two players playing the same position may not wear the same number during the game.
Passing Plays Dallas Football Officials Association New Members Training Objective The intent of this training session is to help you understand and familiarize you with the rules pertaining to Football.
Department of Recreational Sports INTRAMURAL SPORTS 4-on-4 FLAG FOOTBALL THE FIELD THE PLAYERS Penalty: Illegal Substitution - 3 yards.
REGULAR SEASON RULE BOOK TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Rules... 3 II. Terminology... 4 III. Eligibility... 5 IV. Equipment... 5 V. Field... 6 VI. Rosters... 6 VII. Timing and Overtime... 7 VIII. Scoring... 8 IX.
G e o r g e M a s o n U n i v e r s i t y 7 v 7 Flag Football League - Rules Each player must present a valid Mason G Card before each contest to be eligible to participate. No ID No Play No Exceptions!
i. Rules... 3 ii. Terminology... 4 iii. Eligibility... 5 iv. Equipment... 5 v. Field... 6 vi. Rosters... 7 vii. Timing and Overtime... 7 viii.
1. Players can compete on only one team regardless of league classification.
5. Use of communication devices by players, except during authorized conferences outside the 9-yard marks, is prohibited.


Help Us Grow into a Truly Wonderful Community Recreation Facility.
2019 Garden Registration is underway. Registration will open to new gardeners on April 1st, please check back to see what plots are remaining for the 2019 growing season.
If you would like to be placed on the wait list to automatically received an email during open registration, please use the email form on the Contact Us page.
The Community Garden at the West Medicine Lake Community Club is made up of 40 garden plots available for rent each season. We are looking forward to a wonderful season.
Tilling Service will no longer be offered as of the 2018 gardening season.
Green spaces show Reserved/Sold plots. Blue spaces are Still Available.
If you have questions, please use the Contact us form to send an email.


Golf course opening! An official communication!
We received and official communication from Corvera Golf and Country Club, and naturally we want to share it with you. Especially since it's good news! The full letter is below. See you soon!
We are very pleased to inform you that in line with the constant progression of the resort our 18 hole GOLF COURSE WILL OFFICIALLY OPEN ON THE 9th OF NOVEMBER. Designed by the prestigious Jose Maria Olazabal it will be the winter headquarters of the European PGA and will be commercially known as "Corvera Golf Club".
We would also like to take this opportunity to inform you that a "MINI MARKET-COFFEE SHOP", more commonly known as "Miguel´s Corner Shop", is now open. It can be found opposite the Customer services department.
We would like to remind you that you can contact our offices within the resort for any of the following services provided: Private golf classes, Paddle tennis, horse riding and tennis, reservations of the different sporting facilities. On offer we also have other services like housekeeping, laundry, swimming pool maintenance, gardening, food packs, cot and high-chair hire, internet, days out, airing and property supervision, key holding and car hire.
From the 9th of November until the 31st of December 2009.
Throughout this period only "property owners" and their guests can make use of this offer. They must have the same tee-time.
The "property owner" must show their resident's card at the pro-shop. This card is given once completed.
Each "property" has 4 Free green fees per day, either 18 or 9 hole, to be enjoyed maximum 2 tee times per day. One of the players each time must be an owner.
The Management reserves the right to invite "non-residents" if need be for commercial reasons throughout this period.


When cats aren't sleeping, they have to do something to pass the time. If left unchecked, cats tend to climb on furniture and scratch your belongings. Head off this type of bad behavior by investing in some fun cat toys. Continue reading to learn some excellent advice on how to raise the best cat.
Put a heated tile beneath the bed of an older cat. You can do this simply with a terra cotta tile measuring a square foot. Heated in your oven around 200 degrees, it can be ready in as little as 15 minutes. Cover with a small blanket or towel, then place it beneath your pet's bed. Change every few hours if you like.
Nice furniture and cat claws don't get along very well. If you are having problems with your cat clawing up furniture, then purchase a scratching post or kitty tower. Encourage them to scratch that instead. This approach takes time, but it usually works.
A lot of cat owners have a hard time keeping their cats off the counter. Cats like to be up high, where they can watch everything going on. You can get your cat to quit doing this if you make areas that it can climb up to. One way to keep your cats from continuously jumping on the counter is to install a cat tower near the problem counter.
Most cats are very nocturnal. In other words, they'll be up and about late into the night. If your cats keep you up late at night, you should close the bedroom door. This will ensure you sleep much better, without cats jumping into bed with you.
Feeding your male cat the proper food can help prevent crystals from forming in his urine. Passing stones or crystals hurts and can cost you a ton in vet bills if they don't come out naturally. Choose a low magnesium food. Consult the ingredient list. You will notice that fish-based foods and products are higher in levels of magnesium than anything sourced from poultry.
Felines can be bundles of energy, and when you need to focus it, choose a favorite toy. Keep cats amused and entertained. You should take cue from this article and do not let your cat destroy your property.