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odkrycia-nauce-i-foldery-online · 10 days ago

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Adventure fiction, particularly science fiction, has often been penned by scientists who draw inspiration from their expertise and the possibilities of scientific advancement. These authors bring a unique perspective to their stories, blending imaginative narratives with plausible scientific concepts.

Here are some notable examples:

Several German authors have made significant contributions to adventure and zoology writing. Karl May is renowned for his adventure novels, particularly those set in the American West and the Orient. Alfred Edmund Brehm was a prominent zoologist and writer who authored the popular "Brehm's Life of Animals". Additionally, Robert Kraft and F.W. Mader wrote adventure and science fiction stories, sometimes compared to Jules Verne.

Ron Perlman - IMDb

Adventure Writers:

Karl May: Known for his adventure novels, especially those featuring characters like Winnetou and Old Shatterhand, set in the Wild West and other exotic locations.

Robert Kraft: Often called the "German Jules Verne," he wrote numerous adventure and science fiction novels.

F.W. Mader: Another German author of adventure and science fiction stories.

Zoology Writers:

Alfred Edmund Brehm: A renowned zoologist and writer, famous for his comprehensive work, "Brehm's Life of Animals".

Bernhard Grzimek: A German zoo director, zoologist, author, and conservationist.

Ernst Haeckel: An influential German zoologist and evolutionary theorist, known for his work in morphology and his role in establishing the Phyletisches Museum in Jena.

Other Notable Mentions:

Yoko Tawada: While known for fantastical stories, her "Memoirs of a Polar Bear" incorporates elements of zoology and explores themes of family and identity through the lens of polar bears.

Andrea Wulf: While primarily known for her non-fiction works on science and nature, her book, "The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt," explores the life and work of the famed explorer and scientist.

The Brothers Grimm: While primarily known for their fairy tales, they also collected and published folklore, including stories with animal characters, which contributed to the understanding of German folklore and natural history.

British-speaking Authors and Works in science adventures and popularizing science:

Arthur C. Clarke: A British science fiction writer, futurist, and inventor, Clarke is known for his works that explore space exploration and scientific progress, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Childhood's End. Clarke was also a lifelong proponent of space travel and joined the British Interplanetary Society in 1934.

Isaac Asimov: An russo-american writer and professor of biochemistry, Asimov is renowned for his science fiction works like the Foundation series and the Robot series. He was also one of the "Big Three" of science fiction, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke.

Michael Crichton: Known for his science-based thrillers and adventure stories, Crichton often incorporated scientific concepts into his narratives. Some of his popular works include Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, and Sphere.

Greg Egan: An Australian science fiction author known for his hard science fiction and exploration of complex mathematical and philosophical ideas, Egan's works often delve into the nature of reality and consciousness.

Carl Sagan: While primarily known as an astronomer and cosmologist, Sagan also wrote the novel Contact, which was later adapted into a film. He was also a science communicator and popularizer of science, using his platform to promote scientific literacy.

James Blish: An American science fiction author, Blish was also a trained scientist and worked as a microbiologist. His work often reflected his scientific background.

H.G. Wells: Often considered the "father of science fiction", Wells had a background in biology and his novels, like The Time Machine, Island of Dr. Moreau and The War of the Worlds, incorporated scientific concepts into thrilling narratives.

100 Interesting Pirates - Dndspeak

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European adventure fiction featuring scientists often includes classic works like Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", which features Captain Nemo and his submarine, the Nautilus, exploring the depths of the ocean. Another notable example is Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," a foundational work of science fiction that explores the consequences of scientific ambition. More contemporary works include "Solaris" by Stanisław Lem, which delves into the psychological and philosophical implications of encountering a sentient alien ocean, and "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin, a dystopian novel that critiques totalitarian regimes and the suppression of individuality.

Here's a more detailed look at some key examples:

Jules Verne: Verne, a French author, is known as the "Father of Science Fiction" for works like "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". His stories often feature fantastical inventions and explorations, blending adventure with scientific concepts.

Mary Shelley: "Frankenstein" explores the ethical implications of scientific creation and the dangers of unchecked ambition, making it a cornerstone of the science fiction genre.

Stanisław Lem: This Polish author is celebrated for his thought-provoking science fiction, including "Solaris", which challenges readers to consider the nature of consciousness and reality.

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky: The Russian brothers wrote "Roadside Picnic," a post-apocalyptic story about the aftermath of an alien visitation, and "Hard to Be a God," which explores themes of interference in a pre-industrial society.

Yevgeny Zamyatin: His novel "We" is a dystopian masterpiece that foreshadows themes of totalitarian control and the suppression of personal freedom explored in later works like George Orwell's "1984".

Karel Čapek: Čapek, a Czech writer, is known for "War with the Newts," a satirical novel about the dangers of unchecked scientific progress and the potential for human folly.

Italian adventure fiction often features scientists and scientific concepts, drawing inspiration from Italy's rich history and culture. Authors like Italo Calvino and Emilio Salgari, though in different ways, have incorporated scientific elements into their works, blending adventure with intellectual curiosity.

Here's a closer look:

1. Italo Calvino: A prominent figure in Italian literature, Calvino's works often explore scientific themes in a fantastical and imaginative way. His "Cosmicomics" series, for instance, uses scientific concepts like the Big Bang and evolution as a backdrop for whimsical and philosophical stories.

2. Emilio Salgari: While known for his adventure novels featuring pirates and explorers, Salgari's stories also touch upon scientific ideas, particularly through the lens of technology and exploration.

3. Other notable Italian science fiction authors:

Dino Buzzati: Known for his fantastic and allegorical tales, Buzzati's works often incorporate elements of science fiction.

Tommaso Landolfi: Similar to Buzzati, Landolfi's fiction often blends fantastic and scientific elements.

Primo Levi: While not strictly a science fiction author, Levi's allegorical and historical works often engage with scientific themes and concepts.

Nicoletta Vallorani: A contemporary Italian sci-fi author, Vallorani is known for her works exploring futuristic and speculative themes.

Vittorio Catani and Valerio Evangelisti: These authors also contributed to Italian science fiction in the late 20th century.

4. Italian Science Fiction in Context: Italian science fiction has had a unique trajectory, with a focus on more highbrow versions of the genre and an attempt to integrate it into the cultural landscape.

5. Key themes: Italian adventure fiction often explores themes of exploration, technology, and the human condition, often intertwined with historical and cultural elements specific to Italy.

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Swedish literature includes a strong tradition of adventure and nature writing, with authors like Selma Lagerlöf and Astrid Lindgren exploring themes of exploration, geography, and the natural world. Lagerlöf's "Nils Holgersson" is a classic example of a journey narrative with a zoological element, while Lindgren's works often feature strong connections to nature and animals.

Adventure and Nature Writing in Swedish Literature:

Selma Lagerlöf: Known for her novel "Nils Holgersson's Wonderful Journey," which follows a boy's adventure across Sweden with a flock of wild geese, blending geography and zoology.

Astrid Lindgren: Author of numerous children's books, including "Pippi Longstocking," which features independent characters and explores themes of freedom and nature.

Fredrik Sjöberg: A contemporary author who gained recognition for his book "The Fly Trap," a memoir-like exploration of his life on the island of Runmarö, with a focus on nature and insects.

Iwan T Aminoff (Radscha):A prolific writer who explored various genres, including historical adventures and dystopian fiction.

Swedish Literature in General:

Swedish writers have made significant contributions to various genres, including: adventure, children's literature, crime fiction, historical fiction, and science fiction.

Many Swedish authors have gained international recognition: Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, Jan Guillou, and others have achieved global success with their novels.

In the context of Wysowa-Zdrój, Poland, which is near the border with Slovakia, it's interesting to note:

The influence of Swedish literature on Polish literature: Polish readers have enjoyed Swedish authors, and Swedish literature has influenced Polish writers.

The cultural exchange: The proximity of Wysowa-Zdrój to the border provides opportunities for cultural exchange and appreciation of different literary traditions.

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These authors and their works demonstrate the rich history of science fiction in Europe, with many exploring themes of scientific advancement, societal impact, and the human condition.

Why Scientists Make Good Adventure Fiction Writers:

Familiarity with Scientific Concepts:Scientists bring a deep understanding of scientific principles, which allows them to create believable and engaging fictional worlds.

Inspiration from Scientific Discoveries:Their work often draws inspiration from ongoing scientific research and technological advancements, leading to innovative and thought-provoking stories.

Exploration of the Unknown:Scientists are accustomed to exploring the unknown and pushing the boundaries of human knowledge, which translates into exciting and imaginative adventure narratives.

Sense of Wonder and Discovery:Their passion for scientific discovery often translates into a sense of wonder and exploration, which resonates with readers of adventure fiction.

This information has been generated by Google AI and thanks for good people for work for international cooperation.

posted: thomasz pietrzak

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cantsayidont · 2 years ago

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I'm always irrationally pleased when someone remembers the now-ancient Victory Games JAMES BOND 007 game, which is a very interesting system with many novel features. (Designer Greg Gorden was later one of the designers of the Mayfair Games DC HEROES game, which includes variations of some of the same concepts.)

In its day, what really stood out about this game was its attention to detail in establishing mechanics for non-combat scenarios, such as casino gambling, seducing NPCs, and other such Bond film staples. There's an unusual semi-abstract bidding system for chases, which gives the edge to the character willing to take the most daring chances, and a deliberately unrealistic combat system weighted to enable individual characters with handguns to fight their way past guards and soldiers with rifles and machine guns while limiting player character casualties. Also, because the characters are presumed to be on an unlimited expense account, money is completely irrelevant to gameplay except in very unusual circumstances!

Probably the game's biggest downside is that it's relatively complex and table-heavy (if you don't have the official Gamemaster Screen, you'd be well-advised to make one), with certain aspects that now feel overly fussy, like a five-tiered Wound Status system that's less flexible than hit points. Nonetheless, it's a fascinating exercise in tailoring game rules to replicate a specific genre and vibe, and well worth studying from a game design perspective.

In principle, the game is designed to emulate the Bond films rather than the books, although James Talbot's illustrations depict a hybrid Bond inspired by the descriptions in the Fleming novels rather than any of the actors, and as OP mentions, Ernst Stavro Blofeld and SPECTRE are omitted because of rights issues, save for one passing reference. In practice, the RPG most closely approximates the more straight-faced of the Roger Moore movies (and THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, which arrived after the game had been discontinued) — it doesn't try to replicate the tongue-in-cheek quality of the Connery movies. Victory Games didn't have the rights to reference material in the contemporary John Gardner Bond novels, which was unfortunate insofar as they soon ran thin on material to adapt for supplement books. (The 1986 VILLAINS box set presented an array of original Bondian villains not based on the films or books, but while superbly executed, it didn't seem to have caught on.)

That may have been why the game was surprisingly short-lived, lasting for only about three and a half years. I assume that it was an expensive license, and with the slow pace of new movies coming out to drive tie-in module sales, it probably became unsustainable. It was successful enough in its short heyday that it's not hugely difficult to find now, although some of the individual supplements are fairly rare.

(The adventure modules are primarily a curiosity, so if you just want the rules, the Basic Game is perfectly adequate, although Q MANUAL is highly recommended (providing game statistics for just about every weapon, vehicle, or gadget to appear in any of the films) and FOR YOUR INFORMATION has some additional material that can be useful. THRILLING LOCATIONS and VILLAINS are not strictly necessary, but have a wealth of ideas for antagonists and NPCs.)

Here’s Victory Games’ James Bond 007: Role Playing in Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1983), probably the most popular espionage RPG of the 80s.

Character creation is a point-buy system, complete with disadvantages (here called weaknesses, like Bond’s weakness for beautiful women). Skills are tested using a resolution table; something of average difficulty looks at the central column, an easier task shifts down a number of columns, a harder task shifts up, a clear inspiration for the Universal Table in Marvel Super Heroes and maybe Fudge? If you succeed, you check the result on an additional table (so many charts in the 80s!), which determines the level of success. James Bond 007 has four degrees of success — acceptable, good, very good and excellent. Up to now, skill tests were binary results — pass/fail. This works to the player’s advantage. The rules explicitly state that, unlike most other RPGs, GMs should give every advantage to the players, letting the dice determine their failures rather than plot contrivances, something mechanically supported by the tiers of success. This leads to play that is snappy and cinematic, which is amplified by the use of hero points, a luck mechanic that allows players to alter outcomes at a cost. Most unusual, Bond is designed for small groups; it never says so explicitly, but the rules seem well-suited for duet play — one player and a GM.

Weird thing: Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his organization SPECTRE isn’t in the game, thanks to a decades long rights dispute involving the film Thunderball (1961). Instead, we get Karl Ferenc Skorpios, his pet greyhound and his Tarot-card themed organization T.A.R.O.T. (Technological Accession, Revenge and Organized Terrorism), which is arguably superior. Cats are obviously more villainous than dogs, but the Tarot theme and its implied hierarchy is a good deal spookier than SPECTRE, which unfortunately has nothing to do with actual ghosts. And, is it me, or does it look like Grand Admiral Thrawn took a little inspiration from him?

#James Bond #Victory Games #TTRPG #games #james bond 007 #greg gorden #james talbot #ian fleming #john gardner #roger moore

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greatdrams · 5 years ago

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Scottish Whiskies: Ten unexpected malts you have to try

let’s begin

There are so many amazing Scottish Whiskies out there it is no wonder some may slip through the cracks.

We’ve brought together a list of some incredible Scottish Whiskies out there, from brands and distilleries that you may not have heard so much about in the past.

These are definitely worth an exploration into!

Buy Now

Deanston 9 Year Old

Bottle cost: £49.96

From the Highland distillery of Deanston, which is currently owned by Burn Stewert Distillers, this brand is probably not very well known, but certyianly makes a champion dram. This expression has been matured in Bordeaux Red Wine casks and bursts with fruit flavours. Summer berries, ripe apples and tangy oranges all come out, smothered with thick honey and oak wood. It has a lovely floral undertone and a little hint of creamy butter.

Buy Now

Mackinlay’s Shackleton Rare Old Highland Malt

Bottle cost: £104.78

Named after the explorer Sir Ernst Shackleton, who completed a somewhat fraught mission to Antartica in the early 1900s, this malt is an homage to a previous recreation os the malt that Shackleton actually took with him. It has been created by Richard Paterson, Whisky legend and current Dalmore Master Distiller. This malt is full of peat smoke and citrus fruits. Oranges, pears and apples abound, with lots of malted grains and pastry.

Buy Now

Benrinnes 15 Year Old Flora & Fauna

Bottle cost: £49.95

This Speyside malt has been triple distilled to give it a smooth mouth feel, similar to Irish Whiskies and many Lowland malts. It is packed with malted grains and vanilla, with a lovely floral note from the beginning. Heather, cherry blossom, rose petals and lavender are all present and somewhat subtle. They are accompanied by a gentle peat smoke that wraps everything up.

Buy Now

Tamdhu 10 Year Old

Bottle cost: £28.25

Tamdhu Distillery, in the town of Knockando, near Aberlour, has recently gone through a rebrand, seeking to bring back a little bit of their past into the future. This 10 Year Old malt has become their flagship and certainly represents a brand going in the right direction. It has been matued in Sherry casks and is packed with oranges, cinnamon and sweet nuts. Marzipan and tart lemon curd come through as well, adding a lovely sweetness offset by the citrus tang. It finishes on a lovely spicy ginger note.28

Buy Now

Glen Garioch 12 Year Old

Bottle cost: £40.84

Currently owned by Morrison Bowmore and dating back to the 1700s, Glen Garioch is a well-established brand based in the Highlands. This malt was released in 2010 and has won several gold medals at competitions around the world. It has been matured in ex-Bourbon and Sherry casks and is a real exploration in sweetness and spice. Vanilla and cinnamon take the lead, with lots of dried fruits and citrus zest coming in as well. Oak wood is perfect throughout and there is a gentle hint of burnt sugar to really get the taste buds going.

Buy Now

Tomatin Virtues Water

Bottle cost: £47.95

Based in the Highlands, Tomatin is an old distillery that has recently gone through a revamp. They produce some quality Scottish Whiskies, and their Virtues series celebrates the five things that contribute to Whisky – Metal, Water, Earth, Fire and Wood. Water is a particularly fine expression and has been matured in Sherry butts and ex-Bourbon casks. It is packed with sweet caramels and crisp apples. Honey and oak wood with a hint of malted cereals and sweet nuts are present on the palate and finish with a lovely vanilla warmth.

Buy Now

Springbank 18 Year Old

Bottle cost: £119.95

One of only three distilleries left in Campbeltown, Springbank is an intriguing distillery. They produce three brands, using different levels of peated and non-peated malt. They also vary how many times they distil their malt, between three, two and a half and two times. Their 18 Year Old is an exceptional dram and has won plenty of awards to prove it. It begins with exotic fruits, caramel and a hint of sea salt. It becomes spicier on the palate, alongside a tang of citrus fruit and sweet note of chocolate.

Buy Now

Craigellachie 17 Year Old

Bottle cost: £79.08

Part of Bacardi’s Malts portfolio of brands, Craigellachie was launched in market in 2014. They now have a core range that includes a 13 Year Old, 17 Year Old, 19 Year Old and 23 Year Old. The 17 Year Old is an award-winning dram that is brimming with really rich flavours. It starts with tart apples and malted grains. There s a soft note of peat throughout, which goes well with the limes and pineapples that come through.

Buy Now

Balblair 2005

Bottle cost: £37.46

First opened in 1790, Balblair s one of Scotland’s oldest distilleries. Despite this and making excellent Scottish Whiskies, it is not very well known. They have a core range of vintages, of which the 2005 is one. This Highland malt was distilled in 2005 (as the vintage would suggest) and matured in ex-Bourbon barrels. It is full of chocolate, malted barley and a little hint of smoke. The palate brings in some lovely charcoal notes as well, with a subtle zest of lemon and lime in the background.

Buy Now

The Deveron 18 Year Old

Bottle cost: £64.95

Hailing from the Macduff Distillery, The Deveron is one of the their brands named after the River Deveron, with the other being Glen Deveron. The Deveron brand itself has only existed since 2015 and features some really stand out malt. The 18 Year Old opens with dried fruits, sweet nuts and vanilla. It is wonderfully sweet, with lots of caramel on the palate and a hint of warm pastry. A slightly bitter dark chocolate and orange flavour also appears.

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below and let’s have a chat!

The post Scottish Whiskies: Ten unexpected malts you have to try appeared first on GreatDrams.

from GreatDrams https://ift.tt/32igxVW Greg

#whisky #GreatDrams

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essentialfsi · 3 years ago

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Why Shadow Administration Continues To Grow In Importance

Institutional investors continue to demand more from their hedge fund managers in every facet of their business, whether that be a better understanding of their investment strategy, a more robust cybersecurity infrastructure or a more comprehensive disaster recovery plan. Fund administration is no different, and shadow administration services continue to grow in importance for investors looking to verify data coming from their hedge fund managers. AlphaWeek’s Greg Winterton caught up with Anthony Mascia, Managing Member of New York-based admin firm EFSI to learn more about the importance of the space.

GREG WINTERTON: Anthony, most start-up hedge fund managers need significant capital to sustain their businesses for a few years as they build a track record. Adding shadow administration services adds yet another layer of cost. Why is it important to do this from the get-go?

ANTHONY MASCIA: Hi Greg. It is important for any individual starting any type of business that they make sure to put their best foot forward. As a fund manager, it is extremely important that they understand the costs involved in owning, managing, and operating a fund. You need to make sure that what you represent is true and transparent; allocators’ reporting expectations are evolving – they want more information, and they want it delivered faster.

Over the last decade, an increasing number of funds have adopted “shadow accounting” — keeping a complete separate set of fund records for the sole purpose of finding and correcting mistakes — in order to enhance the accuracy and integrity of their data. Some fund managers perform shadow accounting in-house which can overload the fund’s financial, IT, and HR departments. As a result of that and because of increasing regulations and investor demand for transparency, hiring a third-party administrator has become industry standard. By outsourcing the shadow accounting responsibility, a fund manager can focus on managing the portfolio and raising assets.

An Ernst & Young 2012 Global Hedge Fund and Investor survey stated that nine in 10 investors believe that shadow accounting is “highly beneficial to accurate valuation and reporting.” As competition has increased for institutional assets, outsourced shadow-accounting capability is becoming a “must have�� especially for the start-up/emerging space. The ability to shadow is in fact a necessary capability for firms to attract certain types of capital, manage ongoing operations, and secure growth over time.

GREG WINTERTON: Hedge fund managers looking to add a shadow administration function have the option of full or partial shadow administration. Tell us which option is most applicable to which managers, and why.

ANTHONY MASCIA: I think this really comes down to budget – as I mentioned in the previous question, you are starting a business and need to prioritize your spend. As a start-up manager, your focus should be, first and foremost, your trading strategy and how to prove the returns, but a close second is focusing on how to keep the lights on. Funny enough, in this post-COVID world, working remotely has changed our views on office space and needing the expensive city office. This actually is beneficial to the manager and their investors. The less the manager needs to spend on “keeping the lights on”, the more the manager can focus on building the fund’s track record.

I would suggest that on day one, a fund should always have a full services administrator in place to be the official books and records of the fund, but if they cannot and need to self-administer, then shadow administration is the next best option.

When you say full or partial, then in my opinion, there is not really a big difference in the fact that shadow administration is exactly what it means – it is shadowing the books of another group or individual. Most fund managers nowadays typically hire an administrator to perform a full service, which will include full fund accounting and investor services/treasury functions. Having an administrator on the hedge fund side has been best practice for a long time.

Most hedge fund managers don’t even consider administering inhouse and outsourcing shadow – they just start with a full-service admin shop out of the gate. Sometimes they will have an administrator in place and then pay for shadow services from another provider. This keeps the administrator on their toes because if the shadow admin keeps finding mistakes, guess what happens?

GREG WINTERTON: OK. What are some of the most common mistakes that an outsourced shadow administration function would catch?

ANTHONY MASCIA: I would say the most common mistakes are as follows:

• Incorrect or inconsistent security pricing • Breaks in cash or securities reporting • Differences in the accrual accounting for income and expenses (i.e. – dividend and interest accruals and fund expenses) • Management and performance fees calculated incorrectly • Profits and losses not allocated correctly • Capital activity not processed correctly or processed in an incorrect period • Entries posted to incorrect general ledger accounts This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it is the main ones.

GREG WINTERTON: Back to costs. What’s the impact of shadow accounting from a cost perspective?

ANTHONY MASCIA: As I mentioned in my first two answers, cost is always a factor, but to have an investor’s peace of mind, what is that worth to you? Typically, shadow admin is a fraction of what full-service administration costs. If you start a fund and fear the costs associated with it, then you probably shouldn’t be starting one in the first place.

GREG WINTERTON: To those managers who are still unconvinced about adding a shadow accounting function, what’s your message?

ANTHONY MASCIA: Having a shadow accounting function is best for the fund manager who has a few years under his/her belt. By that, I mean the fund has a somewhat established track record and is ready for ‘prime time’. They are making some traction with investors and have service providers in place and have established a working relationship with them.

That’s the time, in my opinion, to test the work of those service providers. Are you receiving the right service and are they providing you with correct information/reporting? The worst thing is having an established relationship with a service provider and come to find out that they’ve been messing up because it could negatively reflect on you and your fund.

#essential fund services international #hedge fund administration

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newstfionline · 3 years ago

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Sunday, April 24, 2022

Canada draws 1 mln travelers in one week for first time since pandemic (Reuters) Canada attracted more than one million travelers in a week for the first time since the pandemic, government data showed on Friday, as easing of COVID-19 border restrictions encouraged visitors back into the country. As Canada heads into its peak summer holiday season, tour operators are betting the revival seen in the first week of April would gather pace. Tourism was among the worst sectors to be hit by the pandemic. Canada had imposed some of the strictest border measures to stop the spread of COVID-19, but after Ottawa dropped the requirement for COVID tests for vaccinated travelers starting April, tour companies began to see an uptick in bookings.

Why many employers have ditched 4-year degree requirements (Yahoo Money) John Williams heard about the apprenticeship through his former high school and decided to give it a shot. At the time, Williams, now 22, was finishing up his associate degree in computer science at Wilbur Wright College in Chicago and working part-time at a restaurant. He was accepted at that apprenticeship, which is run by the global professional services company Accenture, as part of its efforts to ramp up hiring based on skills rather than just higher education. “I was an apprentice for one year starting in July 2019,” Williams told Yahoo Money. “After completing the program, I was hired as a full-time employee, and, last November was promoted to the position of information technology analyst.” In recent years, major employers, including Accenture, AT&T, Dell, Google, Hilton Hotels, Ernst & Young, Oracle, IBM and Intel hired more workers, like Williams, without four-year college degrees. The movement away from the four-year degree prerequisite is growing. With close to two open jobs for each of the 6 million unemployed workers that the Labor Department counted in February, employers struggle to find skilled workers. This reshuffle could have major implications for how employers open opportunities for an additional 1.4 million jobs for workers without college degrees over the next five years, according to the researchers.

Profits and the pandemic (Brookings) “Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented the country’s leading companies with a historic opportunity to reverse the decades-long trends of widening inequality and shareholder primacy, making change for workers seem possible.” Brookings looked at the top 22 companies that employ frontline workers to see how they did. “Far from curbing inequality, the modest gains to workers were dwarfed by the gains to already wealthy shareholders, including executives and billionaires. The 22 companies’ shareholders grew $1.5 trillion richer, while their 7 million workers (more than half of whom are nonwhite) received $27 billion in additional pay—less than 2% of shareholders’ gains. At seven of these companies, the wealth of 13 billionaire founders and heirs alone would have grown by nearly $160 billion since the start of the pandemic—more than 12 times all extra pay to the 3.4 million U.S. workers those companies employed.”

Border backup (Foreign Policy) Strict inspection requirements that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott imposed on truck shipments entering the United States from Mexico this month backed up traffic for miles at the U.S.-Mexico border and lost Texas’s economy more than $4 billion, according to the economics research body Perryman Group. Abbott imposed the new rules as part of a tough-on-immigration platform ahead of gubernatorial elections in November, but they caused widespread protests in the business community and diplomatic objections from Mexico City. The inspection requirements were finally ended last Friday. Avocados and auto parts are now moving regularly again.

Cyber attack causes chaos in Costa Rica government systems (AP) Nearly a week into a ransomware attack that has crippled Costa Rican government computer systems, the country refused to pay a ransom as it struggled to implement workarounds and braced itself as hackers began publishing stolen information. The Finance Ministry was the first to report problems Monday. A number of its systems have been affected from tax collection to importation and exportation processes through the customs agency. Attacks on the social security agency’s human resources system and on the Labor Ministry, as well as others followed. The initial attack forced the Finance Ministry to shut down for several hours the system responsible for the payment of a good part of the country’s public employees, which also handles government pension payments. It also has had to grant extensions for tax payments. Costa Rican businesses fretted over confidential information provided to the government that could be published and used against them, while average citizens worried that personal financial information could be used to clean out their bank accounts.

E.U. asks people to work remotely, reduce air conditioning to foil Putin (Washington Post) Work from home, lower your speed on highways and take the train instead of a plane if you want to save energy and beat Russian President Vladimir Putin, the European Commission advised citizens, as part of recommendations to reduce reliance on Russian oil. The range of “simple steps” outlined in the Playing My Part plan on Thursday could save a typical household on average almost 500 euros ($540) a year and 220 million barrels of oil a year for all of the European Union, according to the commission and the Paris-based International Energy Agency. The actions are “designed to help Ukraine by cutting the EU’s reliance on Russian fuel, and also to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” the bodies said in a statement.

Russians Seize 42 Towns in Eastern Ukraine as Fighting Intensifies (NYT) Ukrainian officials acknowledged Friday that Russian forces had taken more than three dozen small towns in their initial drive this week to seize eastern Ukraine, offering the first glimpse of what promises to be a grinding brawl by the Kremlin to achieve broader territorial gains in a new phase of the two-month-old war. The fighting in the east—along increasingly fortified lines that stretch across more than 300 miles—intensified as a Russian commander signaled even wider ambitions, warning that the Kremlin’s forces aimed to take “full control” of southern Ukraine all the way to Moldova, Ukraine’s southwest neighbor.

More than 20,000 troops killed or missing, Russian officials appear to admit (Telegraph) More than 20,000 Russian troops are dead or missing in Ukraine, Kremlin officials have reportedly admitted as the "second phase" of the war centres on the country's south and east. The pro-Kremlin website Readovka wrote on VK, a Russian social media network, that 13,400 Russian troops had been killed during the war and a further 7,000 could be missing in action. The report, which was hastily deleted, said the casualties were announced at a closed briefing of the Russian Ministry of Defence. The figures have not been verified but would be a stark increase on the previous troop toll announced by the Russian ministry on March 25, of 1,351 killed and 3,825 wounded. Readovka reported that among the new casualties were 116 sailors who died when missiles hit Moscow's Moskva warship in the Black Sea, with another 100 crew still missing after it sank.

Hackers Claim to Target Russian Institutions in Barrage of Cyberattacks and Leaks (NYT) Hackers claim to have broken into dozens of Russian institutions over the past two months, including the Kremlin’s internet censor and one of its primary intelligence services, leaking emails and internal documents to the public in an apparent hack-and-leak campaign that is remarkable in its scope. The hacking operation comes as the Ukrainian government appears to have begun a parallel effort to punish Russia by publishing the names of supposed Russian soldiers who operated in Bucha, the site of a massacre of civilians, and agents of the F.S.B., a major Russian intelligence agency, along with identifying information like dates of birth and passport numbers. Much of the data released by the hackers and the Ukrainian government is by its nature impossible to verify. As an intelligence agency, the F.S.B. would never confirm a list of its officers. Even the groups distributing the data have warned that the files swiped from Russian institutions could contain malware, manipulated or faked information, and other tripwires. But the hacking effort appears to be part of a campaign by those opposing the Kremlin to help in the war effort by making it extremely difficult for Russian spies to operate abroad and by planting a seed of fear in the minds of soldiers that they could be held to account for human rights abuses.

Death toll in Afghan mosque bombing rises to 33, Taliban say (AP) A Taliban official says a bombing at a mosque and religious school in northern Afghanistan on Friday killed at least 33 people, including students of a religious school. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s deputy culture and information minister, said the bombing in the town of Imam Saheb, in Kunduz Province, also wounded another 43 people, many of them students. No one immediately claimed responsibility, but Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate on Friday claimed a series of bombings that happened a day earlier, the worst of which was an attack on a Shiite mosque in northern Mazar-e-Sharif that killed at least 12 Shiite Muslim worshippers and wounded scores more.

Israel closes crossing to Gaza workers after rockets (AP) Israel said Saturday that it would close its crossing to thousands of Gaza workers after a series of rockets were fired from the territory ruled by the militant Hamas group in recent days. The rocket fire came amid near-daily clashes at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site over the past week, with Palestinians hurling stones and fireworks and Israeli police entering the compound and firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades. The violence in Jerusalem, and a string of deadly attacks inside Israel and raids across the occupied West Bank, have raised fears of another war between Israel and Hamas like the one that broke out under similar circumstances last year.

South Africa’s Durban still recovering from deadly floods (AP) Grief-stricken South Africans are still searching for family members swept away by last week’s floods in which 435 people died and more than 40,000 were made homeless in the coastal city of Durban and the surrounding KwaZulu-Natal province. The South African army has deployed 10,000 troops to help find those missing, rebuild roads, bridges and utilities, and distribute emergency aid to families made destitute by the deluge. The government has allocated $67 million in relief aid for affected families.

#headlines #news

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patriotsnet · 4 years ago

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Do The Republicans Have The House

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/do-the-republicans-have-the-house/

Do The Republicans Have The House

I Do Not Buy That A Social Media Ban Hurts Trumps 2024 Aspirations: Nate Silver

Midterm elections: Do Republicans have a chance of keeping the House?

sarah: Yeah, Democrats might not have their worst Senate map in 2022, but it will by no means be easy, and how they fare will have a lot to do with the national environment. And as we touched on earlier, Bidens overall approval rating will also make a big difference in Democrats midterm chances.

nrakich: Yeah, if the national environment is even a bit Republican-leaning, that could be enough to allow solid Republican recruits to flip even Nevada and New Hampshire. And then it wouldnt even matter if Democrats win Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

One thing is for sure, though whichever party wins the Senate will have only a narrow majority, so I think were stuck in this era of moderates like Sens. Joe Manchin and Lisa Murkowski controlling every bills fate for at least a while longer.;

sarah: Lets talk about big picture strategy, then, and where that leaves us moving forward. Its still early and far too easy to prescribe election narratives that arent grounded in anything, but one gambit the Republican Party seems to be making at this point is that attacking the Democratic Party for being too progressive or woke will help them win.

What do we make of that playbook headed into 2022? Likewise, as the party in charge, what are Democrats planning for?

With that being said, the GOPs strategies could still gin up turnout among its base, in particular, but its hard to separate that from general dissatisfaction with Biden.

Many Republicans Mobilizing Against Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

The bipartisan group of senators who crafted the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is preparing to take a victory lap as the Senate moves toward passing the bill in the coming days.

But a large number of Republicans are mobilizing against the bill that includes $1.2 trillion of spending and $550 billion in new spending on hard infrastructure projects, such as rail, ports, electric vehicle charging stations, and broadband.

Right after the group of bipartisan senators introduced the bills text on Sunday night, Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee gave a long floor speech in opposition to the legislation, arguing that the Constitution does not give Congress to go out and spend money on anything that we deem appropriate and that the price tag is too high.

Shame on us for making poor and middle-class Americans poorer so that we can bring praise and adulation to ourselves and more money to a small handful of wealthy, well-connected interests in America, Lee said.

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said that he would vote against the bill, sharing an article that called it an epic binge of green subsidies and more handouts for states and localities.

Several Republicans in the House are also stating their opposition to the bill.

No one should support something that will serve as a trojan horse for the Democrats reconciliation package, which the White House wants to use to pass massive amnesty, the RSC memo read.

Washington Examiner Videos

Is A Dream A Lie If It Dont Come True

Americas various disproportional representations are the result of winner-takes-all voting and a two-party system where party allegiance and geography have become surprisingly highly correlated. Places where people live close together vote Democratic, places where they live farther apart vote Republican . Under some electoral systems this would not matter very much. Under Americas it has come to matter a lot, in part because of an anti-party constitution.

Americas founders wanted power to be hard to concentrate, and for people who held some powers to be structurally at odds with those who held others. To this end they created a system in which distinct branches and levels of government provided checks and balances on each other. They hoped these arrangements would be sufficient to hobble any factions which sought to co-ordinate their actions across various levels and branches of government. The first two presidents, George Washington and John Adams, both warned that a two-party system, in particular, would be anathema to the model of government they were trying to build.

Take the Senate. To make sure the largest states do not dominate the rest, the constitution provides equal representation for all the states, large and small alike. This builds in an over-representation for people in small or sparsely populated places.

Don’t Miss: How Many Republicans Caucused In Iowa

Key Points From This Article

Single-member districts, natural sorting, and gerrymandering are the origins of bias in the House of Representatives.

One form of bias consistently helps House Republicans, vindicating liberal concerns of a structural imbalance. Another form of bias reliably benefits the party that wins control of the House, disrupting claims of a Democratic disadvantage.

If Democrats keep their current 7.6% lead in the two-party Generic Ballot through November 2020, they will probably hold the House and win more than the proportionate 53.8% of House seats .

Redistricting Is The Next Step On A Path To One

The redistricting process kicked off this week in Washington. The Census Bureau released initial data from the 2020 census Monday afternoon, , which means that congressional district boundaries will soon be redrawn to account for changes in population.

These changes will probably tend to benefit the Republican Party, as conservative states will get more seats for instance, Texas will gain two seats, while New York, California, and Illinois will all lose one. Republicans are also certain to use the process to try to gerrymander themselves as many additional congressional seats as possible by leveraging their control of a majority of state legislatures. And that is just the opening tactic in a long-term strategy to abolish American democracy and set up one-party rule.

Today in Michigan, gerrymandering means Republicans enjoy a 3.4-point handicap in the state House and a 10.7-point handicap in the state Senate; in Pennsylvania, it’s a 3.1-point handicap in the House and a 5.9-point handicap in the Senate; and in Wisconsin, a 7.1-point handicap in the House and a 10.1-point handicap in the Senate.

It’s impossible to gerrymander the Senate, of course, but luckily for Republicans that chamber is inherently gerrymandered due to the large number of disproportionately white, low-population rural states that lean conservative. The swing seat in the Senate is biased something like 7 points to the right.

Also Check: What Do Democrats Believe Vs Republicans

Are Senators Chosen By Popular Vote

Beginning with the 1914 general election, all U.S. senators have been chosen by direct popular election. The Seventeenth Amendment also provided for the appointment of senators to fill vacancies. There have been many landmark contests, such as the election of Hiram Revels, the first African American senator, in 1870.

Ernst Promises To Make Washington Squeal After Senate Win

In Louisiana, Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu was forced into a December runoff with Republican Bill Cassidy. In Georgia, Republican David Perdue cleared the 50 percent threshold to avoid a runoff.

Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas beat independent Greg Orman, who had refused to say which party he would vote with. For a time, it appeared he alone might determine the Senate majority. It ultimately didnt matter.

Obama, with a new Congress to deal with, invited leaders of both parties and both chambers to the White House on Friday for a post-election meeting, a White House official told NBC News. The presidents approval rating has bounced around the low 40s all year 42 percent in the final reading before Election Day.

Almost across the board, Republicans sought to tie their Democratic opponents to the president throughout the campaign. And the president mostly stayed away from states with close races, knowing his presence could hinder vulnerable Democrats seeking to distance themselves from the leader of their party.

The Republican takeover of the Senate will force Obama to use his veto power more often he has wielded it only twice in six years and could complicate his efforts to make judicial appointments, including to the Supreme Court.

Incumbent republican Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania was ousted by Democrat Tom Wolf. In Texas, Republican Greg Abbott beat Democrat Wendy Davis, who gained national fame last year by filibustering an abortion bill.

Also Check: What Is The Number Of Republicans And Democrats In Congress

Republicans Control Both Houses Of Congress; Democrats The Presidency: So What Does The Future Hold

After the 2008 election, Republicans vowed to do everything to obstruct President Obama and keep anything he supported from passing. When they lost again in 2012, they doubled down on this philosophy. Unfortunately for the country, this strategy, coupled with falsehoods about Democratic programs and the Democrats cowardly showing in 2014, Republicans now control both the House and the Senate.

The question facing Republicans now is what to do with this power. If they continue their obstruction and do nothing, they will not be able to shift the blame to Obama and the Democrats. If they yield to their conservative base, Obama will veto whatever they propose and two more years will pass with nothing being accomplished. If they work with Obama, their conservative base will rebel causing internal turmoil and damage to their brand going into the 2016 election.

On the other hand, the Democrats have to prove to their once loyal base, that they still stand for middle class values, job creation and strong financial reform. Their quietness in 2014 and lack of support for their president was a huge tactical error. As Obama angers the Republicans by passing immigration reform, opening diplomatic relations with Cuba and maybe vetoing the Keystone Pipeline, the Republicans have to prove they have workable ideas that will create jobs, improve the economy for everyone and that they can govern and get things done.

Explaining The Seat Bonus Bias

Republicans maintain control of the House and the Senate

To explain the seat bonus, we need to know what dynamics boost a partys share of House seats relative to its share of the national popular vote. Such explanations revolve around overperformance in swing seats. This is because small improvements in close races could push a party over the top to win these districts while barely registering in the national popular vote. Imagine that Democrats got a 3% boost in their 10 closest losses of 2018. They would have won each of those districts, increasing their House representation by 2% while boosting their national popular vote total less than 0.1% : a seat bonus of 2.9%. So, what could cause this kind of overperformance in swing seats?

One lies in the sheer number of swing seats, defined here as those won by either party by less than 10%. This range from +10% Democratic to +10% Republican covers a scope of 20%. There were 88 such districts in 2018. Election margins on the whole can range from 100% Democratic to 100% Republican, a scope of 200%. Our definition of swing seats accounts for 10% of all possible results. The 88 swing seats of 2018, though, make up 20% of all 435 House seats. This overrepresentation of competitive districts means that a small increase of a partys national popular vote could flip a disproportionate number of close races.

Each of these factors the incumbency advantage, the overrepresentation of swing seats and elasticity and more contribute to the Seat Bonus Bias.

Recommended Reading: How Many Republicans In Congress Support Trump

Four Flips For Democrats One For Republicans

Going into the election, the Democrats held 47 seats in the U.S. Senate while the Republicans held 53.

The Democrats have succeeded in flipping four seats: in Colorado, where former Governor John Hickenlooper easily ousted incumbent Cory Gardner, in Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly defeated incumbent Martha McSally, and in Georgia, where Raphael Warnock defeated incumbent Kelly Loeffler and Jon Ossoff defeated incumbent David Perdue.

The Republicans have wrested back one previously Democratic seat in Alabama, where one-term incumbent Doug Jones was emphatically denied a second term by Tommy Tuberville, a former college head football coach, most recently at the University of Cincinnati.

Outgoing freshman Sens. Jones and Gardner were both considered vulnerable, as each was elected with less than 50% of the vote in 2018.

Republican Thom Tilliss victory over Cal Cunningham in North Carolinaby less than 2 percentage points according to the North Carolina Secretary of States latest tallyis one of several close Senate races that were not called until after election night. In addition to the seats from Georgia, close races also include the victories of incumbent senators Gary Peters and Susan Collins , which were not called until Nov. 4.

Republicans Win Fewer Votes But More Seats Than Democrats

Republicans controlled the post2010 redistricting process in the four states, and drew new lines that helped the GOP win the bulk of the House delegation in each. Republicans captured 13 of 18 seats in Pennsylvania, 12 of 16 in Ohio, nine of 14 in Michigan, and five of eight in Wisconsin. Added together, that was 39 seats for the Republicans and 17 seats for the Democrats in the four proObama states.

The key to GOP congressional success was to cluster the Democratic vote into a handful of districts, while spreading out the Republican vote elsewhere. In Pennsylvania, for example, Republicans won nine of their 13 House seats with less than 60% of the vote, while Democrats carried three of their five with more than 75%.

One of the latter was the Philadelphiabased 2nd District, where 356,386 votes for Congress were tallied. Not only was it the highest number of ballots cast in any district in the state, but Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah won 318,176 of the votes. It was the largest number received by any House candidate in the country in 2012, Democrat or Republican. If some of these Democratic votes had been unclustered and distributed to other districts nearby, the party might have won a couple more seats in the Philadelphia area alone.

The Closest House Races of 2012

NARROW DEMOCRATIC WINNERS

Recommended Reading: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Democrats Got Millions More Votes So How Did Republicans Win The Senate

Senate electoral process means although Democrats received more overall votes for the Senate than Republicans, that does not translate to more seats

Follow live updates on US politics

The 2018 midterm elections brought significant gains for Democrats, who retook the House of Representatives and snatched several governorships from the grip of Republicans.

But some were left questioning why Democrats suffered a series of setbacks that prevented the party from picking up even more seats and, perhaps most consequentially, left the US Senate in Republican hands.

Among the most eye-catching was a statistic showing Democrats led Republicans by more than 12 million votes in Senate races, and yet still suffered losses on the night and failed to win a majority of seats in the chamber.

Constitutional experts said the discrepancy between votes cast and seats won was the result of misplaced ire that ignored the Senate electoral process.

Because each state gets two senators, irrespective of population, states such as Wyoming have as many seats as California, despite the latter having more than 60 times the population. The smaller states also tend to be the more rural, and rural areas traditionally favor Republicans.

This year, because Democrats were defending more seats, including California, they received more overall votes for the Senate than Republicans, but that does not translate to more seats.

The rise of minority rule in America is now unmistakable

The Fossil Fuel Industrys Funding Of Denial

CAPs analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics shows that these 139 climate science deniers have accepted more than $61 million in lifetime direct contributions from the oil, gas, and coal industries, which comes out to an average of $442,293 per elected official of Congress that denies climate change. This figure includes all contributions above the Federal Election Commissions mandated reporting threshold of $200 from management, employees, and political action committees in the fossil fuel industries. Not included in this data are the many other avenues available to fossil fuel interests to influence campaigns and elected officials. For example, oil, gas, and coal companies spent heavily during the 2020 election cycle to keep the Senate under the control of former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a known climate denierwith major oil companies like Valero, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips contributing more than $1 million each to the conservative Senate Leadership Fund.

This analysis only shows direct, publicly disclosed contributions to federal candidates. The fossil fuel industry regularly spends millions of dollars of dark money advertising to the public; shaping corporate decisions; lobbying members of Congress; and otherwise funding the infrastructure that makes climate denial politically feasible and even profitable.

Read Also: How Many Republicans Voted To Impeach Trump In The House

Also Check: How Many Republicans Are Against Trump

What The Midterms Mean For President Obama And 2016

Only one in three voters in exit polls said the country was on the right track, and one in five said the government in Washington could never be trusted to do whats right. Two-thirds said the economic system is unfair.

The Republican swing fit a historical pattern: The last three two-term presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all served their last two years with the opposing party controlling both houses of Congress.

And the party controlling the White House has lost seats in the House in the midterm election every time but twice since World War II.

In the Senate, Democrat Mark Pryor of Arkansas was ousted by Rep. Tom Cotton, and Mark Udall of Colorado was bounced by Rep. Cory Gardner. Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan lost her seat to Thom Tillis.

Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire held off a furious challenge by ex-Sen. Scott Brown.

Republicans Joni Ernst in Iowa, Steve Daines in Montana, Mike Rounds in South Dakota and Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia all captured seats held by retiring Democrats.

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thehuskerrumble · 4 years ago

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Huskers win third straight by pummeling Lexington

(Written by W.K.)

Lexington 1 Higginsville 11

You can call it a rivalry, a Highway 13 showdown, or the Battle for which town is truly the County Seat; but whatever you call it, Higginsville versus Lexington is sure to get the competitive juices flowing no matter which sport it is. This matchup left no doubt where the hub of Lafayette County is as the Huskers needed only five innings (plus three innings of JV) to dispatch the Minuteman bus northbound with an 11-1 drubbing.

Rumsey’s got his groove back

Lexington’s leadoff batter was gifted first base with an error, stole 2nd , and the Minutemen were immediately threatening. A ground ball out moved him to 3rd , and what turned out to be the only hit for Lexington (and it could be up for debate on hit/error) scored him to give them a 1-0 lead. Husker starting pitcher Mason Rumsey did his part in the bottom half of the inning by landing a yard dart behind 2nd base for a hit. Rumsey scored on a throwing error to tie it 1-1. Camden Russell followed with a single and scored when Nick Herrera came through with an RBI single to make it 2-1. Cade Limback reached on a fielder’s choice, stole 2nd , and eventually scored on a bad pickoff attempt to give the Blue and Gold a 3-1 lead after one inning.

Get em on, get em over, get em in, baseball 101

Lexington drew a walk to start the 2nd , but Rumsey buckled down after that and would record outs with the next 9 batters in a row. Higginsville continued the pressure in the home half of the 2 nd with a hit by Garrett Pemberton and a hit by pitch to Micah Graham (he was smiling after this one; not so much two nights later in Wellington). Rumsey drove them both in with a double over the left fielder’s head for a 5-1 lead and would later score on a sacrifice fly by Herrera for a 6-1 lead. Coach Figg’s squad would tack on one more in the 3rd with a little small ball; Kelan Ernst worked a walk, Jackson Kouril sacrifice bunted him over, and Pemberton delivered another hit to score Ernst to take a 7-1 lead into the 4th.

Wait for it...wait for it...and go!

Rumsey was pitching on cruise control at this point, but didn’t want the outfielders to get too bored in the 4th inning as Russell made a great diving catch for the first out and Jackson Kouril decided not to dive but made a nice running catch to end the top half of the inning. There was no mercy shown by the Huskers as six in a row would reach with an error (Herrera) and 4 singles in a row (Cade Limback, Ernst, Kouril-RBI, and Pemberton-2RBI) and a walk to Graham. Jace Kerley had a sac fly RBI to make it 11-1 heading to the 5th.

Guess who’s back, back again, Golden’s back, tell a friend

Rumsey was done pitching due to conserving pitch count and Josiah Golden made his return to action in the bottom of the 5th (at the mound) and proceeded to get a 1-2-3 clean inning with 2 of them strikeouts. Technically this game only went 4 ½ innings due to the 10-run rule, which is less innings than most (age) 10u baseball games go (see Stranger Things below). The Huskers have won 3 straight conference games and seem to be building confidence. Next up is a non-conference matchup with Wellington.

Kelan’s weird slide was also a key to victory

Keys to victory: Bat on ball! The Huskers kept strikeouts to a minimum (3) and put the ball in play with a combination of hard hits, sacrifices, and putting pressure on the defense to make a play. Oh, and pitching! Mason Rumsey was dealing nasty and allowed only 1 hit while fanning five batters during his 4 innings of work, including sitting down the last seven in a row that he faced. Josiah Golden looked like the 2015 version of Greg Holland closing out the game in the 5th.

You know I didn’t get a pic of the diving catch, so this will have to do

Web Gem:

In the top of the 4th , Camden Russell added his name to the list of historically studly Husker outfielders by tracking down a liner with a diving catch to deflate any chance of momentum for the Visitors.

Pemberton pounds out 3 hits

Sheriff’s Report:

An APB (All Pitchers Beware) has been issued for Garrett Pemberton after he ruthlessly unleashed 3 line-drive hits at innocent kids wearing blue shirts in the park. He showed no remorse and should be considered armed and dangerous. He was last seen wearing a yellow shirt with a #12 on the back.

Stranger Things:

During the middle of the 3rd … a white, round leather cannon ball was fired by a Minuteman soldier (infielder) and connected with the back of the head of the field umpire in the vicinity of first base. He could be heard muttering something like “Sweet Jesus, this is High School Baseball. Throw the ball and catch it. It’s not 10u”. I was personally taught to never turn your back on those little white cannon balls, but I digress…

Rumblin’, Stumblin’ Crash Report:

Nothing to really report here; unless you count the warm-up throw from Lexington crashing into the ump’s head. He saw some stars but was fine (and didn’t blow any calls). Trainer Brian Henry and Coroner David Pulliam were on hand… just in case.

JV Game

Lexington 0 Higginsville 1

Blake “the Rake” Mauzey sends the Huskers home happy

The JV team shutout the Minutemen 1-0 behind stellar pitching from Garrett Pemberton and Quinn Frank. The details were fuzzy, Blake Mauzey said he hit a walk-off which scored Jackson Kouril. That’s a first person account so we’re going to print it. (Certified: Mauzey brings home the bacon with a walk-off single into centerfield).

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justinspoliticalcorner · 8 months ago

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Giulia Carbonaro at Newsweek:

Trump has staged a historic comeback in his third presidential bid, overcoming multiple legal actions to become the first president to serve two nonconsecutive terms since Grover Cleveland won again in 1892. But after being elected as 47th and 45th presidents, he cannot run again. So who will step up to replace him, to fill the metaphorically giant shoes of a man who single-handedly transformed his own party? While much can change within the next four years, below is a list of possible Republican presidential candidates in 2028, based on the Republican primaries for 2024 and other factors.

With Donald Trump not eligible to run again in 2028, the Republicans will have a wide field to determine their nominee.

Some of the names that could take that leap of faith include:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Ohio Sen. and VP-elect JD Vance

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

recently converted Republican and 2020 Democratic candidate Tulsi Gabbard

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Maybe a Trump family member runs, most likely either Lara or Donald Jr.

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo

Florida Rep. Byron Donalds

South Carolina Sen. and 2024 Republican candidate Tim Scott

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt

2016 Republican candidate and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley

2024 Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy

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leanpick · 5 years ago

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Fracking Firms Fail, Rewarding Executives and Raising Climate Fears Based on the new estimates, MDC, the company that paid its C.E.O. the $8.5 million in consulting fees, could require more than $40 million to clean up its 140 wells if they are permanently closed, according to an analysis by Greg Rogers, a co-author of the report and a former adviser to BP and its auditors, Ernst & Young.

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techmaqofficial · 5 years ago

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Fracking Firms Fail, Rewarding Executives and Raising Climate Fears

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Based on the new estimates, MDC, the company that paid its C.E.O. the $8.5 million in consulting fees, could require more than $40 million to clean up its 140 wells if they are permanently closed, according to an analysis by Greg Rogers, a co-author of the report and a former adviser to BP and its auditors, Ernst & Young.

Extraction Oil & Gas’s cleanup costs for its 1,000 wells could…

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sinrau · 5 years ago

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President Trump delivers an “Address to Young Americans” at the Dream City Church in Phoenix on Tuesday. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Opinion by Eugene Robinson

June 25, 2020 at 5:19 PM EDT

Let me summarize the Republican platform for the coming election:

We are the party of white racial grievance. We believe those marching in Black Lives Matter protests are “thugs.” We see the term “systemic racism” as an unfair attack on white people. We support keeping Confederate monuments on their pedestals, and we have no idea why anyone would consider Confederate flags a problem. We are equal-opportunity racists. We see Latino immigrants as “bad hombres.” And we believe that using the racist term “kung flu” to describe covid-19 is hilarious, not least because we are convinced the covid-19 pandemic is basically over, anyway. Who cares what pointy-headed “experts” might say — we know in our hearts that patriotic Americans don’t wear masks.

Support our journalism. Subscribe today.arrow-right

Those are some of the views Republicans endorse by uncritically embracing and supporting President Trump. He is leading his party down a sewer of unabashed racism and willful ignorance, and all who follow him — and I mean all — deserve to feel the mighty wrath of voters in November.

I’m talking to you, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. And you, Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado. And you, Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Martha McSally of Arizona, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Steve Daines of Montana, Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and John Cornyn of Texas. And while those of you in deep-red states whose reelection ordinarily would be seen as a mere formality may not see the giant millstones you’ve hung around your necks as a real risk, think again. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina and even Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, you should look at the numbers and realize you are putting your Senate seats — and the slim GOP majority — in dire jeopardy.

You can run and hide from reporters asking you about Trump’s latest statements or tweets. You can pretend not to hear shouted questions as you hurry down Capitol hallways. You can take out your cellphones and feign being engrossed in a terribly important call. Ultimately, you’re going to have to answer to voters — and in the meantime you have decided to let Trump speak for you. Best of luck with that.

It is not really surprising that Trump, with his poll numbers falling and his reelection in serious jeopardy, would decide to use race and public health as wedge issues to inflame his loyal base. That’s all he knows how to do.

Most politicians would see plunging poll numbers as a warning to try a different approach; Trump takes them as a sign to do more of the same — more race-baiting, more authoritarian “law and order” posturing, more see-no-evil denial of a raging pandemic that has cost more than 120,000 American lives.

Racism is a feature of the Trump shtick, not a bug. He sees the nationwide protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd as an opportunity not for healing and reform, but to stir anger and resentment among his overwhelmingly white voting base. Trump wants no part of the reckoning with history the country seems to crave.

This week, city officials in Charleston, S.C. — the place where the Civil War began — took down a statue of John C. Calhoun, a leading 19th-century politician and fierce defender of slavery, from its 115-foot column in Marion Square and hauled it away to a warehouse. Also this week, Trump reportedly demanded that the District’s monument to Confederate Gen. Albert Pike, toppled last week by protesters, be cleaned up and reinstalled exactly as it was.

What changes do you hope will come out of protests and debates about police and race? Write to The Post .

Trump went to Arizona not just to falsely claim great progress on building his promised border wall, intended to keep out the “hombres,” but also to delight fervent young supporters by referring to covid-19 as “kung flu.” Weeks ago, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said that racist term was clearly offensive and unacceptable. But since Trump has made it into a red-meat applause line, Conway now apparently thinks it’s a perfectly legitimate way to identify the virus’s country of origin.

All the other Republicans who fail to speak up while Trump runs the most nakedly racist presidential campaign since George Wallace in 1968 shouldn’t kid themselves. Their silence amounts to agreement. Perhaps there’s enough white bitterness out there to carry the Republican Party to another narrow win. But that’s not what the polls say.

Trump’s antics are self-defeating. He’ll put on a racist show for a shrinking audience, but he won’t wear the masks that could allow the economic reopening he desperately wants. He may be able to avoid reality, but the Republican governors — including Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida — scrambling desperately to contain new outbreaks cannot.

It’s almost as though Trump is determined to destroy the Republican Party. Let’s give him his wish.

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patriotsnet · 4 years ago

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When Is The Last Time Republicans Controlled Congress

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/when-is-the-last-time-republicans-controlled-congress/

When Is The Last Time Republicans Controlled Congress

Who Controlled The House And Senate In 2001

4.4/5

107th United States Congress 100 senators 435 members of the House 5 non-voting delegates Senate Majority Democratic Republican Democratic House Majority

Bush. It was composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The apportionment of seats in the House was based on the 2000 U.S. Census. The Democratic Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.

Also Know, who controlled the Senate in 2000? 2000 United States Senate elections

Leader 54

Keeping this in consideration, who controlled the House and Senate from 2000 to 2008?

The apportionment of seats in the House was based on the 2000 U.S. Census. In the November 2008 elections, the Democratic Party increased its majorities in both chambers, giving President Obama a Democratic majority in the legislature for the first two years of his presidency.

Who controlled the Senate in 2003?

108th United States Congress 1st: January 7, 2003 December 8, 2003 2nd: January 20, 2004 December 9, 2004

Democrat Jon Ossoff Claims Victory Over David Perdue In Georgia Runoff

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York is expected to replace GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell as majority leader and will determine which bills come to the floor for votes.

The ambitious proposals addressing climate change and health care and other domestic priorities touted by Biden and Harris will be difficult, if impossible, to advance with more moderate Democrats especially those facing competitive 2022 midterm reelection campaigns reluctant to sign onto partisan proposals. The much House Democratic majority compounds the challenge for the party.

Instead, Biden will need to consider which domestic priorities can get bipartisan support since Senate rules now require anything to get 60 votes to advance. The president-elect has already indicated that additional coronavirus relief will be his first priority, but he has also said he plans to unveil an infrastructure plan that could get support from Republicans.

In a statement Wednesday, Biden said that “Georgia’s voters delivered a resounding message yesterday: they want action on the crises we face and they want it right now. On COVID-19, on economic relief, on climate, on racial justice, on voting rights and so much more. They want us to move, but move together.”

The president-elect also spoke to Democrats’ potential total control of Washington.

Democrats Managed To Hold Onto Nevada But Only Picked Up One Seat From Republicans

Nevada, a Democratic open-seat contest where Rep. Joe Heck ran against former state Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto was called in Cortez Mastos . Prior to the release of the where Trump bragged about sexual assault, Heck had led Cortez Masto in the polls, but after Heck renounced his support for Trump , Cortez Masto was able to earn enough votes to allow Democrats to hang onto Nevada.

Illinois, where Kirk lost the seat to Duckworth, tipped to Democrats. Throughout the Illinois race, Duckworth led Kirk in the polls, but only in recent weeks did her lead break double digits. Duckworths victory gave Democrats one of five seats they needed to pick up to regain control in the Senate.

Republicans Rule House And Senate For First Time In 8 Years

Republicans captured total control of Congress on Tuesday, riding a wave of voter discontent to take the Senate for the first time in eight years and expand its majority in the House, according to NBC News projections.

The vote will recalibrate the balance of power for President Barack Obamas final two years in office as attention begins to turn to who will succeed him.

NBC News projections showed Republicans picking up Senate seats held by Democrats in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia one more than the six they needed to take the chamber.

In the House, Republicans were projected to finish the night with an advantage of 246-189, plus or minus six seats, well ahead of their current edge of 233-199.

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky survived a challenge from Alison Lundergan Grimes and appeared poised to achieve his dream of becoming majority leader.

Party Divisions Of United States Congresses

Party divisions of United States Congresses have played a central role in the organization and operations of both chambers of the United States Congressthe and the House of Representativessince its establishment as the legislature of the Federal government of the United States in 1789. Political parties had not been anticipated when the U.S. Constitution was drafted in 1787, nor did they exist at the time the first Senate elections and House elections occurred in 1788 and 1789. Organized political parties developed in the U.S. in the 1790s, but political factionsfrom which organized parties evolvedbegan to appear almost immediately after the 1st Congress convened. Those who supported the Washington administration were referred to as “pro-administration” and would eventually form the Federalist Party, while those in opposition joined the emerging Democratic-Republican Party.

There Were 26 Additional Seats Up For Election But None Of These Seats Changed Parties Louisiana Could Still Switch But We Wont Know Until December And It Wont Make A Difference To Democrats

The rest of the Senate races didnt switch parties this year. This includes 16 seats held by Republicans and nine held by Democrats. We still dont know the outcome of the Senate race in Louisiana as it has moved to a run-off that will be decided in December.

The open seat of Sen. David Vitter could now end up Democrat, but it still wont matter for Democrats when it comes to control of the Senate. The two candidates on the Louisiana ballot to fill Vitters open seat are Louisiana state Treasurer John Kennedy and Foster Campbell .

But this wasnt always the case: Up until a few weeks ago, Senate seats in Florida, Arizona, and Ohio were seen as pretty competitive races. The races only began to open up in recent days.

In Florida, Sen. Marco Rubio had a 3.7-point lead over challenger Patrick Murphy heading into Election Day. And in the other two states, incumbent Republicans John McCain and Rob Portman both enjoyed double-digit leads over their opponents, securing easy Republican victories.

Will you support Voxs explanatory journalism?

Millions turn to Vox to understand whats happening in the news. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today from as little as $3.

Republicans Can Win The Next Elections Through Gerrymandering Alone

Even if voting patterns remain the same, Republicans could still win more seats in Congress through redistricting

In Washington, the real insiders know that the true outrages are whats perfectly legal and that its simply a gaffe when someone accidentally blurts out something honest.

And so it barely made a ripple last week when a Texas congressman said aloud whats supposed to be kept to a backroom whisper: Republicans intend to retake the US House of Representatives in 2022 through gerrymandering.

We have redistricting coming up and the Republicans control most of that process in most of the states around the country, Representative Ronny Jackson told a conference of religious conservatives. That alone should get us the majority back.

Hes right. Republicans wont have to win more votes next year to claim the US House.

In fact, everyone could vote the exact same way for Congress next year as they did in 2020 when Democratic candidates nationwide won more than 4.7m votes than Republicans and narrowly held the chamber but under the new maps that will be in place, the Republican party would take control.

If Republicans aggressively maximize every advantage and crash through any of the usual guardrails and they have given every indication that they will theres little Democrats can do. And after a 2019 US supreme court decision declared partisan gerrymandering a non-justiciable political issue, the federal courts will be powerless as well.

Ernst Promises To Make Washington Squeal After Senate Win

In Louisiana, Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu was forced into a December runoff with Republican Bill Cassidy. In Georgia, Republican David Perdue cleared the 50 percent threshold to avoid a runoff.

New Members Of Congress

See also: New members elected in 2018 congressional elections

In the 2018 Senate and House elections, nine new members were elected to the Senate and 93 new members were elected to the House. These new members of Congress defeated incumbents or competed for open seats as a result of appointments to state and executive offices, resignations, and retirements. Here are some facts about the new members of Congress.

Five incumbent senatorsfour Democrats and one Republicanwere defeated in general elections. Senators who defeated incumbents were Mike Braun , Kevin Cramer , Josh Hawley , Jacky Rosen, and Rick Scott .

Three senators, all Republican, did not seek re-election in 2018. They were replaced by two Republicans and a Democrat. Sen. Thad Cochran also retired early, leaving his seat vacant. Cindy Hyde-Smith was elected to complete his term.

Fifty-two members of the U.S. House did not seek re-election in 2018. The 34 outgoing Republicans were replaced by 24 Republicans and 10 Democrats. The 18 outgoing Democrats were replaced by 15 Democrats and three Republicans.

Four members of the U.S. Housetwo Democrats and two Republicanswere defeated in primary elections in 2018. They were replaced by three Democrats and one Republican.

Thirty members of the U.S. House, all Republicans, were defeated in the general election by Democrats.

Changes To House Rules

After took control of the House in the 116th Congress, they voted to change some rules from the previous session of Congress when were in control. Some of the changes appear below.

PAYGO: Democrats approved PAYGO, a provision that requires legislation that would increase the deficit to be offset by spending cuts or revenue increases.

Ethics: Democrats made changes to House ethics rules that required all House members to take ethics training, not just new members. The rules also required members to reimburse taxpayers for settlements that that result from a members discrimination of someone based on race, religion, sex, national origin, or disability, among other things. Lawmakers were also prohibited from sitting on corporate boards.

Climate change committee: Democrats created a new climate change committee to address the issue. The committee was not given subpoena power or the ability to bring bills to the floor.

A full explanation of the rules changes can be viewed .

Incoming Biden Administration And Democratic House Wont Have To Deal With A Republican

Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff wave to supporters during a joint rally on Nov. 15 in Marietta, Ga.

Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have defeated Georgias two incumbent Republican U.S. senators in the states runoff elections, the Associated Press said Wednesday, in a development that gives their party effective control of the Senate.

Ossoff and Warnock were projected the winners over Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler by the AP following campaigns that drew massive spending and worldwide attention because the runoffs were set to determine the balance of power in Washington. The AP , at about 2 a.m. Eastern, then followed with the call for Ossoff over Perdue on Wednesday afternoon.

President-elect Joe Bidens incoming administration and the Democratic-run House of Representatives now wont face the same checks on their policy priorities that they would have faced with a Republican-controlled Senate, though analysts have said the slim Democratic majority in the chamber could mean more power for moderate senators from either party.

See:With sweep expected in Georgia Senate races, Democrats have high hopes for what Biden can do

It is looking like the Democratic campaign machine was more effective at driving turnout than the Republican one, said Eurasia Group analyst Jon Lieber in a note late Tuesday.

Warnock then made just before 8 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.

How Long Has The Senate Been Controlled By Republicans

4.6/5RepublicansRepublicanscontrolledSenate

Senators elected to regular terms in 2008 were in the last two years of those terms during this Congress. The Senate had a Democratic majority, while the House had a Republican majority. As of 2019, this is the last Congress in which Democrats controlled the Senate.

Secondly, which party controlled the Senate before elections? Republicans, having won a majority of seats in the Senate in 2014, held the Senate majority with 54 seats before this election. Although Democrats made a net gain of two seats and did not lose any of their seats, Republicans retained control of the Senate for the 115th United States Congress.

Then, which party controls the Senate 2019?

116th United States Congress 1st: January 3, 2019 January 3, 2020 2nd: January 3, 2020 present

Which party has had control of Congress the most?

However, after the Democratic Party again won back control in the elections of 1954, it was the majority party in both houses of Congress for most of the next forty years.

Partisan Control Of Congress

This table shows the number of Congresses in which a party controlled either the House, the Senate, or the presidency.

Party

U.S. Senate: Party Divisions

The Anti-Administration Party was not a formal political party but rather a faction opposed to the policies of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. The faction eventually coalesced into the Democratic-Republican Party.

The Pro-Administration Party was not a formal political party but rather a faction supportive of the policies of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. The faction eventually coalesced into the Federalist Party.

^ Though Washington never formally joined a party, he was broadly sympathetic to the coalition which later became the Federalist Party.

Washington disapproved of formal political parties and refused to join either party, though he became a symbol of the Federalist Party.

^ The Democratic-Republican Party broke up into two competing parties during the 1820s, but there is no official date of dissolution for the Democratic-Republicans. During the presidency of John Quincy Adams, Congress became divided between a group that favored Adams and a group that favored Andrew Jackson. After Adams left office, Congress was divided into a group that supported the Jackson administration and a group that opposed it. During Jackson’s presidency, the pro-Jackson group coalesced into the Democratic Party, while the anti-Jackson group joined with the Anti-Masonic Party and other groups to form the Whig Party.

Gop Senator Says Republicans Didn’t Control Senate When They Held Majority

Michael Burke

Sen.Ron Johnson said Sunday that Republicans didn’t control Congress during the first two years of President Trump

Johnson said that while the GOP had a majority in the Senate during Trump’s first two years in office, they didn’t control the chamber since Democrats had a large minority.

You said we controlled both chambers. We didnt,” Johnson told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd, who questioned why Republicans didn’t approve funding for Trump’s proposed border wall while they had those majorities.

“We had a majority in the Senate.So you dont control it. We needed Democrats to support us and theyve been unified in trying to thwart this presidents No. 1 issue in the campaign, which was to secure the borders,” Johnson said.

“So no, we didnt have control,” he continued. “We needed Democrats, we never had any cooperation from Democrats, which is regrettable.

Republicans were in the majority in both the House and the Senate during the first two years of the Trump presidency, but they only held a slight advantage in the Senate.

They began Trump’s presidency with a 52-48 margin, but that shrunk to 51-49 at the end of 2017 with Democrat Doug Jones’s shocking win in a special Senate election in Alabama.

Republicans expanded their edge in the Senate to 53-47 inNovember but lost control of the House to Democrats.

Th United States Congress

January 3, 2015 January 3, 2017 Members 1st: January 6, 2015 December 18, 20152nd: January 4, 2016 January 3, 2017

The 114th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 2015, to January 3, 2017, during the final two years of Barack Obama’s presidency. The seats in the House were based on the 2010 United States Census.

The 2014 elections gave the Republicans control of the Senate and the House for the first time since the 109th Congress. With 248 seats in the House of Representatives and 54 seats in the , this Congress began with the largest majority since the 71st Congress of 19291931. As of 2021, this is the most recent session of Congress in which Republicans and Democrats held any seats in New Hampshire and , respectively, and the last in which Republicans held a Senate seat in .

Mcconnell Not Backing Down From Obama In Victory Speech

I dont expect the president to wake up tomorrow and view the world any differently than he did when he woke up this morning. He knows I wont either, McConnell said. But I do think we have an obligation to work together on issues where we can agree. I think we have a duty to. Just because we have a two-party system doesnt mean we have to be in perpetual conflict.

Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democrat who will lose his job as majority leader, said in a statement: The message from voters is clear: they want us to work together. I look forward to working with Senator McConnell to get things done for the middle class.

Pre-election polls showed a record low level of interest in the election, and those who did show up were not happy. Exit polls showed that 54 percent of voters disapprove of Obamas performance, and 79 percent gave the thumbs down to Congress.

In 18 Months Republicans Are Very Likely To Control Congress Being In Denial Makes It Worse

To prevent such disastrous results, Democrats would need to replicate what happened the last time the presidents party didnt lose House or Senate seats in a midterm election.

Since the Civil War, midterm elections have enabled the presidents party to gain ground in the House of Representatives only three times, and those were in single digits. The last few midterms have been typical: In 2006, with Republican George W. Bush in the White House, his party lost 31 House seats. Under Democrat Barack Obama, his party lost 63 seats in 2010 and then 13 seats in 2014. Under Donald Trump, in 2018, Republicans lost 41 seats. Overall, since World War II, losses haveaveraged 27 seats in the House.

Next year, if Republicans gain just five House seats, Rep. Kevin McCarthy or some other right-wing ideologue will become the House speaker, giving the GOP control over all committees and legislation. In the Senate, where the historic midterm pattern has been similar, a Republican gain of just one seat will reinstall Mitch McConnell as Senate majority leader.

Its not just history that foreshadows a return to Capitol power for the likes of McCarthy and McConnell. All year, Republican officeholders have been methodically doing all they can to asphyxiate democracy. And they can do a lot more.

FALL FUNDRAISER

Current Leadership Of Key Offices

One year of a Democratic trifectaTwelve years of Republican trifectasScroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year

Who Runs the States Report Background Main Page Part One: State Partisanship Partisanship Results Infographic Part Two: State Quality of Life Index Part Three: Overlaying Results Part 1 Executive Summary State Partisanship Analysis Partisan Control of Governorships Partisan Control of State Legislatures Partisan Control of State Senates Partisan Control of State Houses State Government Trifectas Overall Partisan Control: Bright, Medium and Soft States Changes of Partisan Domination over 22 years Year-to-Year Changes in State Partisan Control Trifectas and Presidential Election Patterns Appendix A Appendix B Part 2 Executive Summary State Quality of Life Index About the Index Overall Rankings Dramatic Changes from 1st Half to 2nd Half Individual Indicators Part 3 Comparing Partisanship and the State Quality of Life Index Rankings Description of the data Trends and correlations Key Values for Fifty-State Regressions State Reports

Green Light For Biden’s Nominees

While the filibuster will be a continued thorn in Democratic sides when it comes to legislation, it no longer applies to presidential nominations. That means Biden’s selection for his administration, from the Cabinet on down, can be confirmed solely with Democratic votes . That’s good news for nominees who might have been controversial, like Neera Tanden, Biden’s budget office pick.

Since several centrist Republicans have already said they will usually defer to the new president’s appointments, it should be smooth sailing for most of his nominees.

The same goes for Biden’s judicial appointments, including any Supreme Court vacancies that open up in the near future. Donald Trump in his four years placed 234 judges on the federal bench, including three to the Supreme Court. That has given him a political legacy that will long outlast his one term in office. Biden, thanks to Georgia, should have the opportunity to start rolling back some of those gains.

Partisan Composition Of State Legislatures

Partisan composition of state legislatures Legislatures New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota West Virginia See also

The partisan composition of state legislatures refers to which political party holds the majority of seats in the State Senate and State House. Altogether, there are 1,972 state senators and 5,411 state representatives.The breakdown of chamber control after the November 2020 election is as follows:

37 chambers

One chamber with power sharing between the parties

The breakdown of chamber control prior to the November 2020 election was as follows:

39 chambers

See also: Partisan composition of state houses and Partisan composition of state senates

Sixty-one state legislative chambers around the country have an even number of members, raising the possibility of a tie between the two major parties. In some instances, a bipartisan coalition of legislators is formed to act as leadership. This tactic has not been the universal approach, however; some legislative bodies have used a coin toss, gubernatorial choice, shared time, choosing co-leaders, or dividing chairperson positions between the parties.

state government trifecta

As of August 15, 2021, there are 23 Republican trifectas, 15 Democratic trifectas, and 12 divided governments where neither party holds trifecta control.

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tellusepisode · 5 years ago

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State of Play (2009)

Crime, Drama, Mystery |

State of Play is a political thriller film directed by Kevin Macdonald. It is based on the 2003 British television serial of the same name.

The film tells of a journalist’s probe into the suspicious death of a congressman’s mistress. The supporting cast includes Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright and Jeff Daniels. Macdonald said that State of Play is influenced by the films of the 1970s and explores the subject of privatization of American Homeland Security and to a minor extent journalistic independence, along with the relationship between politicians and the press. It was released in North America on April 17, 2009. The film received generally positive reviews.

One night, a thief fleeing through Georgetown in Washington, D.C., is shot by a man carrying a briefcase. A deliveryman who witnesses the incident is also shot by the killer and is left in a coma. The following morning, a young woman is killed by a Washington Metro train in what seems to be suicide. Congressman Stephen Collins is distraught to hear that the woman was Sonia Baker, a researcher on his staff. Collins, who has military experience, is leading an investigation into PointCorp, a private defense contractor with controversial operations involving mercenaries. Collins tells his college roommate and old friend Cal McAffrey, an investigative reporter, that he had been having an affair with Sonia and that she had sent him a cheerful video message on the morning of her death, which he says is inconsistent and unusual behavior for someone about to commit suicide.

Director: Kevin Macdonald

Writers: Matthew Michael Carnahan (screenplay), Tony Gilroy (screenplay), Billy Ray (screenplay), Paul Abbott (television series)

Stars: Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright, Jason Bateman, Jeff Daniels

youtube

►Cast:

Russell Crowe…Cal McAffreyBen Affleck…Stephen CollinsRachel McAdams…Della FryeHelen Mirren…Cameron LynneRobin Wright…Anne Collins (as Robin Wright Penn)Jason Bateman…Dominic FoyJeff Daniels…George FergusMichael Berresse…Robert BinghamHarry Lennix…Detective BellJosh Mostel…PeteMichael Weston…HankBarry Shabaka Henley…Gene StavitzViola Davis…Dr. Judith FranklinDavid Harbour…PointCorp InsiderSarah Lord…MandiTuck Milligan…PointCorp ExecutiveSteve Park…Chris Kawai (as Stephen Park)Brennan Brown…Andrew PellMaria Thayer…Sonia BakerWendy Makkena…Greer ThorntonZoe Lister-Jones…JessyMichael Jace…Officer BrownRob Benedict…MiltLaDell Preston…Deshaun StaggDan Brown…Vernon SandoKaty Mixon…Rhonda SilverShane Edelman…D.A. PurcellMaurice Burnice Harcum…Ben’s CashierCornell Womack…Junior Detective #1Nat Benchley…Junior Detective #2Gregg Binkley…FerrisTrula M. Marcus…Carol (as Trula Marcus)Carolyn Barrett…Policewoman Escorting DellaWil Love…Iowan CongressmanDavid E. Goodman…Graves (as David Copeland Goodman)John Badila…Mr. JamesBrigid Cleary…Mrs. JamesJoy Spears…Waitress / Dancer #1Brandi Oglesby…Waitress / Dancer #2Stacey Walker…Waitress / Dancer #3R.B. Brenner…Globe Production ManagerLucía Navarro…Telemundo ReporterChris Matthews…MSNBC ReporterLou Dobbs…CNN ReporterJames Vance III…ReporterSharon Dugan…Business WomanNoel Werking…Business ManRose Coleman…JackieLee von Ernst…ICU NurseRichard Ruyle…Karaoke SingerStuart Brazell…Karaoke Bar HostessHerbert Gordon…News Reporter #1Keith Anthony Garvin…News Reporter #2Julie Carey…News Reporter #3Eun Yang…News Reporter #4Denae D’Arcy…News Reporter #5Natasha Chughtai…News Reporter #6Greg Graham…The WolfEric Hatch…PeterJosh Rhodes…The HunterDon Abernathy…Hospital EmployeeMichael Alban…Man in Market PlaceTex Allen…Investigative ReporterParisa Amira…PedestrianWoody Andrews…WitnessKevin Bangos…Foreign Press WriterScott Barry…ShopperNora Bauer…ReporterAshley Bell…Voice (voice)Christie Beran…PedestrianRobert Bizik…PhysicianBill Blair…Newspaper EmployeeMichael Blumenstock…Camera ManLaura Bryce…ShopperKyle Burgess…Congressional AideMargaret Carlson…ExtraJuan Eloy Carrera…Washington LobbyistLarry Carter…SenatorRobert Randolph Caton…Washington AttorneySteve Clemons…ExtraThomas Joe Craig…Manchester K-9 PolicemanBruce Allen Dawson…DetectivePaul Dietz…WaiterE.J. Dionne Jr.…ExtraPatricia DiZebba…Senate StaffJohn Doty…CommuterMatt J. Doyle…PoliticianRichard El Khazen…PatronFrancesca Ellana…Student on MetroLourdes Faberes…ReporterPaul Fahrenkopf…Hearing AttendeeLiam Ferguson…Newspaper ReporterDavid Foster…TV CameramanAlexis Fowlkes…GirlMariano Gowland…News ReporterEileen Grubba…PeggyMarcus Nel-Jamal Hamm…Capitol Police OfficerFrank Herzog…Congressman JohnsonKen Holliday…PointCorp ExecutiveCarol Ilku…Reporter

Sources: imdb & wikipedia

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#Crime #Drama #Movies #Mystery #Ben Affleck #Billy Ray #Helen Mirren #Jason Bateman #Jeff Daniels #Ke

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dailykhaleej · 5 years ago

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Microsoft unveils cloud tools tailored for health-care systems

Microsoft Corp. unveiled a package deal of cloud software program designed for health-care systems, beginning with a free trial to assist the {industry} climate a viral pandemic that’s each growing the necessity for know-how options and placing hospitals in monetary peril.

Microsoft Cloud for health-care contains tools that enable for digital triage, telemedicine and coordination of care utilizing internet-based companies, chat and conferencing apps. The product, unveiled Tuesday as a part of a digital model of the corporate’s annual Construct convention for software program builders, is Microsoft’s first industry-specific cloud-computing providing. It is accessible now by way of a preview and free trial for the subsequent six months.

The package deal combines Microsoft’s Azure cloud service “- which helps organizations run programs and store and analyze data “- with the Groups communication app and developer tools for creating purposes. Microsoft, the second-biggest cloud infrastructure supplier behind Amazon.com Inc., has made the health-care {industry} a spotlight because it tries to realize prospects. Among the tools Microsoft has been engaged on for a number of years, together with synthetic intelligence and automated chat-bot software program for speaking with sufferers, have gained traction because the Covid-19 outbreak has health-care {industry} prospects trying for methods to trace the unfold of the virus, predict gear wants and join sufferers and docs on-line.

“At this particular time there’s the increased demand to go virtual and have connectivity, while needing to pay attention to the bottom line so they can continue to serve,” stated Greg Moore, company vice chairman of Microsoft Well being. “This is a time for Microsoft to come in and help what are already our deep partners in health care.” Hospitals have been hit particularly laborious, with prices rising as they care for Covid-19 sufferers whereas income plunges as a result of different procedures have been delayed.

Windfall St. Joseph Well being, a series with hospitals in seven Western states, has used a model of Microsoft’s health-care chat bot to display sufferers for Covid-19 and funnel those that want care to a supplier or a telemedicine session, Moore stated. In whole greater than 1,600 Covid-19 care bots are in use that depend on Microsoft’s software program, largely as a instrument to cut back pressure on emergency hotlines. They’re deployed in 23 nations in cities from Copenhagen to Tel Aviv, together with a Covid evaluation bot from the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.

In the meantime, St. Luke’s College Well being Community and components of the UK’s Nationwide Well being Service have used Groups chat software program for telemedicine appointments. Thirty-four million health-care conferences, together with appointments, have been held in Groups within the 4 weeks ended April 25, Microsoft stated.

In November, the corporate introduced a brand new Bookings app in Groups to let medical suppliers schedule, conduct and transcribe safe digital appointments by way of Microsoft’s chat and video-conferencing program. The plan was to attempt it out as Microsoft normally does for early-stage software program “- with a pair dozen key prospects supervised by the software program maker. Then the virus hit and demand accelerated for this sort of product, so Microsoft let some 483 hospitals and suppliers attempt the app.

“When Covid happened we weren’t quite ready to make it generally available yet but we knew there was such an imminent need,” stated Kristina Behr, a basic supervisor at Microsoft. “We felt a sense of urgency to help.”

Now the app will probably be launched publicly, letting particular person docs’ workplaces or smaller practices use it. Subsequent, the corporate will roll out the reserving software to different industries. Already financial-services corporations try it for appointments with advisers, and authorities companies are additionally “- think about an internet appointment to deal with a parking ticket. Sooner or later, Microsoft could mix the app with digital-signature capabilities for such duties as on-line mortgage-signing appointments, Behr stated.

On the convention, Microsoft additionally deliberate to announce different tools for software program builders and new merchandise, together with:

* A set of three tool-kits for making synthetic intelligence fashions extra explainable, truthful and personal. The tools will probably be a part of Azure’s machine studying service and are additionally accessible on GitHub for anybody to make use of. One package, known as InterpretML, helps information scientists decide why a machine studying mannequin is drawing sure conclusions and which parameters are driving the prediction. That is key for figuring out whether or not an AI algorithm is making choices based mostly on unfair or discriminatory data. A second tool-kit, known as Fairlearn, helps builders perceive whether or not the AI mannequin is counting on information in a biased means. Ernst & Younger used it to seek out that their automated-lending algorithm gave a 15% benefit to males. And WhiteNoise is a brand new characteristic for making information extra personal inside AI fashions.

* Microsoft stated it constructed a strong AI supercomputer utilizing Azure in collaboration with and for the unique use of OpenAI, the analysis group engaged on synthetic basic intelligence that Microsoft invested $1 billion in final 12 months. The supercomputer will probably be used to coach large AI fashions.

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