#presidential physical fitness award

[peteneems]

[patriottruth]

Every male trump voter in the United States is about to learn the truth about the deeply-rooted genetic rage that all living American women and girls of all ages have toward any and every male who voted, or who even would vote, for donald j. trump...

Luke 11:51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.

Every generation of American women have been victimized by trash like donald j. trump, nick fuentes, and every worthless piece of shit like them. It's like in Kamala Harris' presidential campaign vs. donald trump's presidential campaign:

Is her laugh perfect? Are her hair, clothes, and makeup flawless and has she avoided wearing a similar-looking outfit and/or fashion accessory more than once? Is she physically fit and pretty? Is she perfectly spoken at all times while being simultaneously pleasant and non-offensive? Is she enunciating perfectly at all times? Is she presenting herself in a refined, sophisticated, and high-class manner at all times, while simultaneously coming across as a lady of the common folks, without sounding fake, forced, condescending, or patronizing?

But donald trump? Lazy, fat slob with caked and greasy spray-on fecal application, wearing the same thing every time, and then there's all of that no-class, low-class, low-IQ, no-IQ, uneducated, boorish, word-slurring, mindnumbingly boring, retarded screaming-at-clouds, hateful Nazi grandpa routine showcasing extreme cognitive decline...and he and everyone like him in the United States gets a free pass, patted on the back, congratulated, awarded, rewarded, glorified, and celebrated as the living avatar of "American Exceptionalism" and genetic perfection while calling any women they work with their "work-wives" and expecting them to dress and act as a 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's wife should for her "loving" husband (whom she's entirely dependent on and thankful for).

Kamala Harris is being brutalized and treated as if she's the worst failure in American history, yet, if we can actually trust the swing state results, it's possible that trump may have only won each of the swing states by tens of thousands to less than 150,000 in most cases; and at this time, donald trump only has around 3,000,000 more popular votes than Kamala Harris nationwide (Hillary Clinton beat donald trump by 3,000,000 popular votes in 2016 with 5,000,000 less votes than Kamala Harris received in 2024). Why wasn't donald trump brutalized in all the same ways for losing to Hillary Clinton by 3,000,000 votes in 2016?

And then there's the lie that no one showed up to vote for Kamala Harris because of a whole host of reasons you normally hear coming out of the mouths of male domestic abusers; but it's coming from men and women talking heads at the main media outlets. And let's not forget about how those domestic abuser insults include being incapable of managing money (a man's job, a breadwinner's job, but never a woman's job or entitlement). Kamala Harris is receiving massive 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's misogynistic abuse from every possible outlet that was cordial to her until the last poll closed on November 5, 2024.

American Women Have Only Had a Legal/Constitutional Right to Vote to Advance the Human and Civil Rights of All American Women and Girls Since August 26, 1920 (104 years).

American Women and Girls Have Only Had Access to Real Financial Independence Since October 28, 1974 (50 years).

American Women and Girls Have Only Had Access to Real Business Ownership Since October 25, 1988 (36 years).

The entire American story of real human and civil rights for American women and girls is only as old as most living American grandmothers and their daughters, granddaughters, and great granddaughters.

American males of all ages are about to be tested for their character, qualities, truth, and honor; and the ones who fail the tests they'll never realize they're taking won't be reproducing more donald trumps, nick fuentes', and trump voters.

There are stories all over Reddit about American Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers being cancelled and people cutting trump-voting family members and former friends out of their lives for voting to end their human and civil rights, freedoms, privileges, and entitlements that American women and girls of all ages have only started to really enjoy for the last 50 years.

American women in their 90's and 80's placed all their hopes and dreams in their daughters who are now in their 60's and 50's; and those daughters placed all of their and their mother's hopes and dreams into their daughters who are now in their 30's and 20's; and those daughters placed all of their hopes and dreams into their daughters; but because of every last trump-voting male in the United States, all of those American women and girls' hopes and dreams are in the process of being completely and permanently destroyed; and all of those pre-K and K-12 daughters now have less rights than their great grandmothers.

You can't treat other human beings that way and think they're not gonig to feel certain ways about it.

I really wouldn't want to be a male trump voter right about now...

After nick fuentes made his little "Your Body, My Choice," "Men Win," and "There Will Never Be a Female President...NEVER" speech, women doxxed him, showed up at his house, he pepper-sprayed one and kicked her down a flight of brick stairs, police and EMS showed up to care for the woman, and now little nick fuentes is hiding in his mommy's basement so she can protect his "Alpha Male" self.

Fool around and find out is definitely the phrase of the day.

[darkmaga-returns]

On a frigid February morning in 1963, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy set out to hike 50 miles from Great Falls, Virginia to Camp David. He walked along the C&O Canal for 17 hours and 50 minutes, trekking through slushy conditions in dress shoes.

Kennedy reached his 50-mile goal in West Virginia, requiring a drive to Camp David. But he fulfilled an even larger mission than completing an arduous hike: He drew nationwide attention to efforts by his brother, President John F. Kennedy, to encourage physical fitness.

President Kennedy, building on President Eisenhower’s initiative, rolled out a splashy media campaign encouraging Americans to get fit. During this project, Kennedy joked that his staff should be able to accomplish the same 50-mile hike required of the Marines. His brother took this as a challenge.

Three years later, under the Johnson administration, the Presidential Fitness Test was born. For more than 50 years, thousands of public school students participated annually in sprints, pull-ups, curl-ups, and the sit-and-reach, among other challenges. Students who scored at the 85th percentile or higher in all of the tasks were awarded the Presidential Physical Fitness Award.

The test was inherently competitive and public. Students in gym classes watched one other attempt each exercise and knew where they ranked among their peers. As progressivism took hold over education, anything that separated students by ability had to go. It is no surprise that a test that rewards excellence did not survive the era of participation trophies.

[dyingroses]

Lol, haven't been in my physical prime since I was like 10 I could do all sorts of flips and stuff without pain and got presidential fitness awards

[paaxindigenouswitchcraft]

[craigsumter-justice]

My Legal Battle with my Family and their Co-horts / Co-conspirators (68):

So, after I was first molested by my mother, Gloria Sumter, in the bathroom at our Louisville, KY home when I was nine (9) years old, then about a month later by my father, Leonard Sumter Jr., also in the bathroom at our Louisville, KY home, I didn’t initially tell anyone.  I was very confused and then the physical abuse and physical beatings began.  My father, Leonard Sumter Jr., would a few times a week make me come into my parents bedroom where he would bend me over the bed and get his leather belt from his chest (armoire), he would fold the belt so that the tip and the buckle were together (perfectly folded in half) and proceed to beat me for an extended period of time while I would cry and yell for him to please stop.  This was despite me doing nothing to warrant these beatings.  I did absolutely nothing.  I was always completely respectful of my parents and made nothing but nearly always straight A’s in school.  An occasional B, that was it. When I finished the 5th grade I was even awarded the “Presidential Academic Fitness Award.”  And when I graduated highschool, I was awarded a $50,000 scholarship in Computer Engineering to the school of my choice.  Even if I had “misbehaved” this punishment would still have been abusive, but the punishment (which took me several years to understand) was in direct link to the fact that he and my mother were molesting me and they were trying to keep me from telling anyone and to frighten me.

[thechronologicalsuperman]

The Chronological Superman 1969-1971

“Superboy” and “Supergirl,” accompanied by a particularly cuddly “Krypto,” make an appearance in this promotional advertisement for the then-recently-minted Presidential Physical Fitness Award.

[things2mustdo]

Face it, the mainstream media is not only full of contradictions, but deep-seated, institutionalized biases. When a male or conservative does something, it is often considered horrendous. Yet when a female, liberal or a member of another “special” group does the same thing, passes are given or journalists’ eyes are averted.

Social media users with common sense political opinions have already started to compile these glaring double standards. Return Of Kings and its supporters should continue doing the same thing.

So here are five of the most egregious recent examples of hypocritical mainstream media madness:

1. Use of dead veterans’ families at political rallies or conventions

When Khizr and Ghazala Khan appeared at the Democratic National Convention to lambaste Donald Trump for his views on Muslim immigration and supposed behavior, commentators and journalists went wild with fanfare. Their son Humayun, a Muslim soldier, had died in Iraq. Trump was attacked for allegedly grandstanding about and minimizing Humayun’s death.

Meanwhile, many of these same newsmen and women, including Rachel Maddow’s stooge Steve Benen, derided the Republicans for featuring Pat Smith, mother of Benghazi fatality Sean Smith, as a speaker at their own Convention. Mrs. Smith had laid into Hillary Clinton over the latter’s role in and perceived indifference to her son’s death in Libya. So one family became heroes to the media for going public after their tragic loss, while another was portrayed as so weak in their grief that they were manipulated by big, bad Republicans into talking.

Moreover, Trump had nothing to do with Sean Smith’s death. Compare this to Clinton, who was the Secretary of State at the time of the American deaths at Benghazi and whose State Department had received numerous calls for assistance. Considering that Sean Smith and others died alongside U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, the first American ambassador to be killed whilst serving since 1979, the woefully insufficient security precautions taken by the Obama Administration and Secretary Clinton should not have transpired. But this spotlight on Clinton does not make for good (liberal) news.

2. Psychiatric records for a war hero vs. medical records of a pathological liar

Countless liberals, both in the media and within other leftist cabals like mainstream Hollywood, have attacked those questioning Hillary Clinton’s health as “misogynists,” “sexists” and other undesirables. When these tags are unable to be used, leftists claim that even piecemeal doubts about her physical condition are nothing but conspiracy theories on par with Roswell UFOs and lizard people running the world.

Yet eight years ago, these same people were frothing at the bit to out John McCain for his supposedly poor health. Most perversely of all, they homed in on his decorated military service, suggesting he had Presidentially disqualifying mental health conditions from his service in the Vietnam War and the multiple years he spent as a prisoner-of-war. “Where are his psychiatric records?” bellowed one piece from Salon, in addition to a number of other articles that more than hinted at the same topic.

Whilst I, like many of you, revile his putrid, watered-down “Republican” policies on many issues, McCain had gargantuan balls in Vietnam. Here is a man who spent more time as a tortured prisoner-of-war, including a stay in the notorious Hanoi Hilton, than Barack Obama spent in the US Senate. As the son of the commander of US forces in Vietnam, McCain received numerous offers of repatriation from the North Vietnamese. He refused and would only accept being returned home once fellow American soldiers captured before him were released. By contrast, Hillary lacks the mental fortitude to tell the truth most of the time, not even after she’s had seizures, coughing fits, and dramatic collapses on camera!

3. Sexualizing political candidates (and removing their genitals)

When an artist by the name of Lushsux painted a mural of a scantily-clad Hillary Clinton, a local Melbourne, Australia council and numerous global commentators derided it as “misogyny” and “sexual objectification.” “Take female politicians seriously!” was the crux of their shrill arguments against the rendering. Lushsux then trolled his critics by repainting the mural so Hillary was dressed in an Islamic burqa. Soon after, multiple statues of a nude and testicle-less Donald Trump appeared in American cities. Unlike the Hillary artwork, the proliferation created huge fanfare and delight amongst both prominent leftists and run-of-the-mill liberal voters. Why is one act so offensive and the other so funny, particularly in age where body-shaming and mocking someone’s appearance is meant to be so taboo?

Most of the critical commentaries about the Trump statues that appeared in the mainstream media, of which there were few, failed to take into account one glaring significance of the testicle-less Trump. Short of them being violently taken or hacked off, how exactly could Trump have no balls? Imagine the furore if a statue, mural or other representation of Hillary Clinton had lacked breasts or shown her vagina circumcised/mutilated. “They’re condoning violence against women!” would be the stock-standard answer from liberals and their even more deranged SJW cousins.

4. Lesbian’s Olympic marriage proposal vs. heterosexual male’s Olympic marriage proposal

This is bad and misogynistic:

This is love and should be applauded:

Leftists rejoiced when Olympic official Marjorie Enya asked her partner, rugby sevens player Isadora Cerullo, to marry her using a microphone. Love wins, right, especially when it’s gay love? But when Chinese athlete Qin Kai asked silver medalist He Zi to marry him, the knives from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) came out. The BBC, unfortunately taxpayer-funded, published an article insinuating that Qin Kai was attempting to control He Zi with the very public marriage proposal. Not only could it be control, it could be awfully pernicious “male control.” Coverage of Enya’s proposal to Cerullo, however, got the broadcaster’s tick of approval.

If either of the two proposals is a form of control or narcissistic, it was the lesbian one. Unlike the Chinese diver, who was competing individually, the lesbian proposed to was part of the Brazilian team, which had not even been awarded a medal. Brazil had come ninth and that night Australia had beaten New Zealand for the gold medal. He Zi may not have won the gold medal, but she had actually participated in the final. But do not let facts get in the way of a good male-bashing.

5. Objectifying men vs. objectifying women

Cosmopolitan has established itself as a dual enabler of both ditzy female airheads and SJW political freaks. Over time, the magazine has come out strongly against countless normal displays of male sexuality, admonishing men who appreciate female breasts and buttocks for being “horrible.” Of the many Cosmopolitan pieces to take this line, an article in mid-2014 takes the cake for its ridiculous shaming of harmless, healthy behaviors. Ironically, though, covers for this publication feature the same sorts of thin, healthy women that men desire most in the first place.

Fast-forward a mere two years and Cosmopolitan went to the extraordinary effort of cataloguing 36 men whose crotch bulges tickled their fancy. Of course, numerous other articles during that time had objectified men in a way considered misogynistic when males do it to women, but the timing was amusing. After so much talk of valuing female athletes, whose physical accomplishments are far less than men, for their work and not their bodies, Cosmopolitan celebrated the years of sacrifice of male athletes by effectively taking photos of their barely clothed genitalia.

We could keep on going

Many other hypocritical pieces were penned about these situations, not just the ones I have referenced. Then there’s the great number of other articles we could assess and critique on separate issues. You may be convinced, and rightfully so, that the mainstream media is inherently biased. But we need to take this to the next level and disseminate the proof to wider audiences.

Journalists and commentators will continue their bad habits, that much is clear. What matters now is fighting back. Complaining about double standards only goes so far. Exposing them in an organized fashion stands a better much chance in helping us to arrest and then reverse this institutional bias.

As Return Of Kings readers, you are our extra eyes and ears. If you find more examples of extreme leftist media bias, bring it to our attention.

https://www.returnofkings.com/19995/anti-female-stem-bias-a-bayesian-explanation

The New York Times recently ran a long piece exploring the history of women in STEM fields and attempting to explain the ever-present difference between men and women in performance and participation in these fields. The article begins by citing research on perceptions of female aptitude in math and science:

“Researchers at Yale published a study proving that physicists, chemists and biologists are likely to view a young male scientist more favorably than a woman with the same qualifications. Presented with identical summaries of the accomplishments of two imaginary applicants, professors at six major research institutions were significantly more willing to offer the man a job. “

She shares an anecdote that is supposed to display the prejudice of professors against females in the field, but instead illustrates one valid reason for the bias displayed by the Yale study:

“Other women chimed in to say that their teachers were the ones who teased them the most. In one physics class, the teacher announced that the boys would be graded on the “boy curve,” while the one girl would be graded on the “girl curve”; when asked why, the teacher explained that he couldn’t reasonably expect a girl to compete in physics on equal terms with boys.”

Enter Bayes’ Theorem

Bayes’s theorem is a foundational principle of statistics and probability that allows us to update our estimations about the trueness of a fact based on new evidence. The math of Bayes’ theorem is simple and elegant, and the overarching idea is powerful — we can use evidence in a formalized manner to change the probability that something may be true, and this can often have non-intuitive results.

The classic example of Bayes in action is medical tests — for example, if 1% of women have breast cancer, and a mammogram detects the cancer 80% of the time with a 10% false positive rate, what is the probability that a positive result means the woman has cancer? If a mammogram is positive, the chance of cancer is less than 8% due to the presence of false positives, as well as the low baseline population rate of cancer.

What does this have to do with women and STEM fields? Readers of this site are familiar with the allure that even a plain looking girl can have at the height of her availability and youth. This isn’t just a factor when getting free drinks at the bar – it extends to the classroom, hiring for jobs, treatment in everyday life, and many other areas. Girls in primary and secondary school are judged to be better students, despite boys showing a significant advantage in standardized tests starting around middle school. The article highlights the ways that women are supposedly discouraged by the system, but makes no mention of the advantages they enjoy.

Put simply, women are more likely to be handed accomplishments without having to work for them, both due to the power of their sexuality and as unconscious overcorrection for their supposed disadvantages in opportunity. Given an applicant with a certain pedigree – a Ph.D, say, from a top graduate program —we will have a certain estimation of that person’s intelligence and aptitude. However, the “false positive” rate on those qualifications identifying extremely high aptitude is likely to be much lower for a man, who has not enjoyed the advantages of a feminized education system, catch-up programs, and the hint of his sexuality influencing the evaluations of his superiors.

The bias against hiring a woman whose qualifications are equal to a man, and their subsequent lower salary offer, is simply a use of Bayesian inference. It accounts for the implicit probability that the female will not be as good as her résumé suggests, to say nothing of the chance that she will leave her job to begin a family and leave her employer empty-handed at some point in the future. If, as the example above states, both men and women implicitly behave as if men are superior in math and science, we must give some consideration that this is a possibility.

If Men Are Better At Math/Science — What’s The Big Deal?

The media is encouraged to sing the praises of women where they excel compared to men, and females indeed show demonstrated advantages in many cognitive areas. They are better at language acquisition, picking up on non-verbal cues, and we are all familiar with their evolved capacity for psychological manipulation. Many would suggest that women have better organizational skills. They are incarcerated for violent crimes less often, are less prone to risky behavior, and are more resilient to psychological trauma such as PTSD.

But when it comes to exploring why men have long-demonstrated advantages in certain disciplines, the media scrabbles to ascribe the boogeyman of injustice perpetrated on the protected class. The article is quick to dismiss the repeatable and longitudinal difference between males in females in standardized testing, a long-standing form of evaluation that every college and grad school uses to give out valuable admissions spots. It also does not mention the lack of female representation in technology entrepreneurship, a field that is less dependent on credentials and more on individual drive, creativity, and aptitude.

It could certainly be true that women are discriminated against AND that they are simply less common at the far right of the aptitude bell curve necessary for competitive positions in academia. But I challenge you to find this idea entertained in any mainstream publication despite the mountains of circumstantial evidence. Larry Summers was tarred and feathered for even mentioning research on population dynamics as a potential driver of this difference. The lesson here is that, when you begin an “inquiry” by presupposing the conclusion, you will end up with a politically correct and eminently intellectually dishonest worldview.

Read More: The Anti-Male Commercial

[newstfionline]

Sunday, April 18, 2021

Biden’s Afghanistan plan a plus to some vets (AP) Patrick Proctor Brown says the war in Afghanistan was lost within a year of its start. The suburban Milwaukee lawyer, who was an infantry captain in Iraq, said the trillions of dollars spent and the thousands of lives lost, including a lieutenant he trained with, make it “a tragedy.” “And the Taliban will be back in power in a year,” said Brown, 35, who also studied diplomacy at Norwich, a military university in Vermont. “It’s insane.” Brown supports President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, and by voting for the Democrat, he represents a subtle but potent shift in the voting behavior of some in the military. Voters who served in the military have long leaned toward Republicans. But there are signs that Biden may have cut into that advantage. “This president has got to end these wars,” said Jon Soltz, a former Army tank captain who formed the Democratic-leaning VoteVets.org in 2006. “He’s got to fulfill some of these promises. There’s a war-weariness in the military.”

Riot declared after windows smashed in Portland protests (AP) Police in Portland, Oregon, declared a riot Friday night after authorities said protesters smashed windows and burglarized businesses during demonstrations that started earlier in the day after police fatally shot a man while responding to reports of a person with a gun. The vandalism downtown came after the Friday morning police shooting but also was part of vigils and demonstrations already planned for the night in the name of people killed in other police shootings nationwide. They include 13-year-old Adam Toledo of Chicago and Daunte Wright, a Black man in a Minneapolis suburb. Deputy Police Chief Chris Davis told reporters earlier in the day that a white man in his 30s was shot and killed by police, who opened fire with a gun and weapons that fire non-lethal projectiles. A witness who spoke to reporters at the scene said the man, who had removed his shirt and was blocking an intersection, appeared to be in a mental health crisis.

Castro era in Cuba to end as Raul confirms he’s retiring (Reuters) Raul Castro confirmed he was handing over the leadership of the Cuban Communist Party to a younger generation at its congress that kicked off on Friday, ending six decades of rule by himself and older brother Fidel. In a speech opening the four-day event, Castro, 89, said the new leadership would be party loyalists with decades of experience working their way up the ranks and were “full of passion and anti-imperialist spirit.” The new generation of leaders, which did not forge itself through rebellion, has no easy task. The transition comes as Cuba faces the worst economic crisis since the collapse of former benefactor the Soviet Union, while there are signs of growing frustration, especially among younger Cubans. A tightening of the decades-old U.S. trade embargo and the coronavirus pandemic have exacerbated a liquidity crisis in Cuba’s ailing centrally planned economy. Shortages of even basic goods mean Cubans spend hours lining up to buy groceries.

Argentina closes schools, imposes curfew in Buenos Aires as COVID-19 cases spike (Reuters) Argentina’s government will tighten pandemic restrictions in and around the capital Buenos Aires to rein in a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases, including shutting schools and imposing a curfew from 8pm to limit social activity. President Alberto Fernández, 62, given his all-clear earlier in the day after he was infected with the virus, said the South American country needed to “gain time” in the fight against COVID-19 after daily cases hit a record this week. The measures will see schools closed in Greater Buenos Aires from Monday, and the suspension of indoor sports, recreational, religious and cultural activities until April 30.

The queen says goodbye to Philip, continues her reign alone (AP) Sitting by herself at the funeral of Prince Philip on Saturday, Queen Elizabeth cut a regal, but solitary figure: still the monarch, but now alone. The queen sat apart from family members at the simple but somber ceremony in accordance with strict social distancing rules during the coronavirus pandemic. But if the ceremony had been for anyone else, at her side would have been her husband of 73 years, who gave a lifetime of service to the crown. The monarch’s four children and eight grandchildren sat in small groups nearby, during a stripped-back service at Windsor Castle that made their loss somehow more personal for people who often live their lives in public. The service was quiet and without excessive pageantry. Philip was deeply involved in planning the ceremony. At his request, there was no sermon. There were also no eulogies or readings, in keeping with royal tradition. Former Bishop of London Richard Chartres, who knew Philip well, said the 50-minute service reflected the preferences of the prince, who was a man of faith but liked things to be succinct. “He was at home with broad church, high church and low church, but what he really liked was short church,” Chartres told the BBC.

Philip’s legacy lives in chef who traded prison for kitchen LONDON (AP)—Jon Watts was 18 years old when he woke up in a prison cell and decided he had to change. He enrolled in every course he could find, from mathematics to business. But he says it was a program founded by Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, that gave him a “passion for food” and a career as a chef when he got out of prison 3 1/2 years later. “I was a young boy in prison,” Watts, now 32, told The Associated Press. “It helped mold me to be what I like to think is a good person, and it set me up to believe in myself, to believe that I can achieve things.” After Philip’s death last week at age 99, politicians and world leaders rushed to eulogize his lifetime of service to his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, and to the British nation. For many people across the country, though, his greatest contribution was the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a program which seeks to give young people the skills and confidence they need to succeed. Participants in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award must complete volunteer work, improve their physical fitness, learn new skills, and go on expeditions to earn each of three progressively more difficult levels of achievement—bronze, silver and gold. More than 6.7 million people between the ages of 14 and 24 have taken part in the U.K., and the program has expanded to 130 countries since Philip founded it in 1956.

A Bitter Family Feud Dominates the Race to Replace Merkel (NYT) With less than six months to go before Germans cast their ballots for a new chancellor, the political vacuum Angela Merkel leaves behind after 16 years of consensus-oriented leadership is coming more sharply into focus. A rare and rancorous power struggle has gripped Germany’s conservatives this week as two rivals vie to replace her, threatening to further hobble her Christian Democratic Union, which is already sliding in the polls. Normally, Armin Laschet, 60, who was elected in January to lead the party, would almost assuredly be the heir apparent to Ms. Merkel. Instead, he finds himself unexpectedly pitted against his biggest rival, Markus Söder, the more popular head of a smaller, Bavaria-only party, the Christian Social Union, in a kind of conservative family feud. Experts and party members alike are calling for the dispute to be resolved within the coming days, as it risks damaging the reputation of the two conservative parties, jointly referred to as the Union. Because the two parties operate as one on the national stage, they must choose one candidate for chancellor.

Russia to expel 10 US diplomats in response to Biden actions (AP) On Thursday, the Biden administration announced sanctions on Russia for interfering in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and involvement in the SolarWind hack of federal agencies—activities Moscow has denied. The U.S. ordered 10 Russian diplomats expelled, targeted dozens of companies and people, and imposed new curbs on Russia’s ability to borrow money. Russia responded by saying it would expel 10 U.S. diplomats and take other retaliatory moves in a tense showdown with Washington. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said Moscow will move to shut down those U.S. nongovernment organizations that remain in Russia to end what he described as their meddling in Russia’s politics. The top Russian diplomat said the Kremlin suggested that U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan follow the example of his Russian counterpart and head home for consultations. Russia will also deny the U.S. Embassy the possibility of hiring personnel from Russia and third countries as support staff, limit visits by U.S. diplomats serving short-term stints at the embassy, and tighten requirements for U.S. diplomats’ travel in the country.

Russia’s surveillance state (Washington Post) Russian authorities are ramping up the use of facial recognition technology to track opposition protesters to their homes and arrest them—a powerful new Kremlin tool to crush opposition. But when state security agents are suspected of murders or attacks on journalists and opposition activists, surveillance cameras have at times been switched off or “malfunction.” And the system is so leaky that surveillance data on individuals can be bought for a small sum on Russia’s notorious black market in data, along with all kinds of other personal information. There is even a name for the clandestine cyber-bazaar: probiv. China leads the world in rolling out a vast network of facial recognition technology, including a system to track and repress its Uyghur minority. But Putin’s Russia is racing to catch up. Russian firms such as NtechLab produce some of the world’s most sophisticated facial recognition software as authorities grapple with counterpunches by the opposition, including using social media to expose Russia’s kleptocracy such as extravagances by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s political allies. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the facial recognition system—rolled out in Moscow en masse in January 2020 and expanded to at least 10 other Russian cities—is now used in 70 percent of crime investigations. Moscow has more than 189,000 cameras with facial recognition capabilities, as well as more than 12,300 on subway cars in Moscow’s Metro.

Health care: The medical cost crisis will outlast COVID (The Week) Few would disagree that “much-reviled Big Pharma pulled off one of the great achievements in medical history,” said Geoff Colvin at Fortune—quickly developing multiple effective COVID-19 vaccines. Hospital workers, too, “have been heroes in the truest sense” in the fight against the pandemic. These are not groups America “wants to punish” right now. But something has to give. A system of “perverse incentives,” from drug distribution to insurance rebates, has made health-care costs “maddeningly untamable.” In the six years since the Affordable Care Act was passed, health-care spending per capita has increased faster than it did in the six years prior. Three-quarters of Americans say that the quality of the health care they get isn’t worth what they are paying for it. Big Hospitals and Big Pharma are “at each other’s throats” over who is to blame, but the trend in costs “isn’t about to reverse.” Poorer hospitals have “limped through the year,” straining under the costs of COVID, said Jordan Rau and Christine Spolar at Kaiser Health News, but many wealthier ones have done just fine. The U.S. has budgeted $178 billion in aid for health-care providers, and even profitable hospitals have gotten help. After receiving $454 million in federal aid, Baylor, the biggest nonprofit hospital system in Texas, “accumulated an $815 million surplus, $20 million more than it had in 2019.” Despite this, hospitals have devised ways to pass on costs, said Sarah Kliff at The New York Times. Lenox Hill, one of the oldest and best-known hospitals in New York City, has “repeatedly billed patients more than $3,000 for the routine nasal swab test” for COVID, “about 30 times the test’s typical cost.” The hospital “advertised its COVID-19 testing on a large blue-and-white banner,” then charged each visit as an emergency room procedure. Federal legislation mandated that coronavirus testing be free for patients. “But eventually, American patients bear the costs in the form of higher insurance premiums.”

[writingislike-blog]

Writing a blog and starting is like-

[whileiamdying]

Kirk Douglas, whose masculine energy powered scores of film roles, dies at 103

Kirk Douglas, whose masculine energy powered scores of film roles, dies at 103

By Louie Estrada Feb. 5, 2020 at 5:27 p.m. MST

Kirk Douglas, the Hollywood actor with the distinctive cleft chin, raspy voice and highly charged dramatic energy whose starring roles in “Spartacus,” “Lust For Life,” “Champion,” “Ace in the Hole” and “Paths of Glory” helped him become one of Hollywood’s foremost leading men and enduring stars, died Feb. 5 at 103.

His son Michael Douglas, an Oscar-winning actor and producer, announced the death but did not provide further details. Mr. Douglas’s health worsened after injuries suffered in a helicopter crash in 1991, followed by a debilitating stroke in 1996.

Mr. Douglas, who amassed nearly 90 screen credits, entered Hollywood in 1946 as a product of the studio system and later made the risky transition to being an independent producer and star performer as the system crumbled.

Beyond his screen work, Mr. Douglas produced and directed films; helped put an end to the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s; wrote memoirs, novels and children’s books; and with his second wife, Anne Douglas, ran a project to improve school playgrounds in underprivileged neighborhoods.

Kirk Douglas and Jean Simmons in "Spartacus." (AFP/Getty Images)

Starting in the 1960s, he traveled around the world as a State Department “goodwill” ambassador, which sparked an interest in politics and brought him friendships with nearly every president since John F. Kennedy. In 1981, President Jimmy Carter awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

In the prime of his acting career, Mr. Douglas was a dashing figure, a golden-haired hunk with chiseled facial features, steely blue eyes, a distinctive low guttural voice and pearly white teeth that gleamed behind a disarming smile. He had a muscular build stretched over a 5-foot-10 frame, trim and fit from years as an accomplished high school and collegiate wrestler.

Built upon his raw physical strength were an intelligence and intensity that he infused into his movie characters. Many of them were unscrupulous, stubborn, even diabolical. Mr. Douglas once summarized his on-screen personas this way: “I’ve made a career of playing sons of bitches.”

Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas dies at 103

1955 | The son of a rag collector, Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch Demsky on Dec. 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, N.Y., where he was the youngest child and only son in a family of seven children. (1955 | The son of a rag collector, Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch Demsky on Dec. 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, N.Y., where he was the youngest child and only son in a family of seven children. The Washington Post)

For some movie critics, his acting seemed one-dimensional, easily parodied by comics. Mr. Douglas tackled the slight head-on as host of a “Saturday Night Live” episode in 1980.

In one skit, he impersonated Kirk Douglas impersonators. Another skit parodied how Hollywood manufactures celebrity images and featured cast member Gilda Radner escorting her mother backstage to meet the legendary actor, only to be shocked that he stood just four feet tall.

To Mr. Douglas, the seriousness and approach to the craft of acting never wavered. Indeed, Mr. Douglas always followed a simple formula. “When you play a strong character, find his weakness,” he once said. “If you play a weak character, find his strength.”

Whether in major motion pictures or made-for-TV movies, Mr. Douglas worked with many of the best-known stars and directors of his generation. His work covered a range of genres, from westerns and epic dramas to romances and action adventures.

In Mr. Douglas’s earliest movies, “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” (1946) and “Out of the Past” (1947), he was cast in the unlikely role of smarmy weakling. His breakout role came in 1949 when he played a self-absorbed boxer in “Champion,” based on a Ring Lardner story of a restless young man who alienates those closest to him as he pursues a prizefighting career.

He went on to play a troubled musician character based on the jazz trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke in “Young Man With a Horn” (1950); an obsessed detective with violent tendencies in “Detective Story” (1951); and an unscrupulous newspaper reporter in director Billy Wilder’s “Ace in the Hole” (1951), which bombed with audiences at the time but has since become a critical favorite.

Mr. Douglas also portrayed a manipulative Hollywood producer in “The Bad and the Beautiful” (1952); played a Kentucky frontiersman in “The Big Sky” (1952); sang as Ned Land opposite James Mason’s Capt. Nemo in “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1954); portrayed Vincent Van Gogh in “Lust For Life” (1956); played the gunslinger “Doc” Holliday in “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” (1957); and appeared as a World War I French colonel in Stanley Kubrick’s scathing antiwar movie “Paths of Glory” (1957).

The son of a rag collector, Mr. Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch Demsky on Dec. 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, N.Y., where he was the youngest child and only son in a family of seven children.

On a wrestling scholarship, he entered St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., and worked as a janitor to help with tuition. After graduating in 1938, he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and made his Broadway debut as a singing Western Union boy in “Spring Again” (1941).

At the start of World War II, he enlisted in the Navy and served as a communications officer with an anti-submarine unit. Before he could be sent to combat duty, a bout with amoebic dysentery led to an honorable discharge in 1944.

After a brief return to the New York acting scene, he won the attention of Hollywood producer Hal Wallis on the recommendation of Lauren Bacall, a former classmate at the academy.

In “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers,” Mr. Douglas played Barbara Stanwyck’s alcoholic and scheming husband, followed by a role as a gangster outfoxed by Robert Mitchum in “Out of the Past.”

Unsure about his career prospects, Mr. Douglas said later that he could easily identify with his character in “Champion” as someone ultimately struggling for respectability.

“Reading the script, I thought, what other actor can say the lines, ‘I don’t want to be a “Hey you” all my life,’ ” he wrote in his 1997 memoir, “Climbing the Mountain.” “I want to hear people call me Mister.”

“That role was made for me — a chance to express the turbulent feelings inside me,” Mr. Douglas said.

He added that his agent did not want him to appear in “Champion” because it was a small film made by a then-obscure independent film company headed by then-unknown producer Stanley Kramer and screenwriter Carl Foreman.

His agency had lined up Douglas for a better-paying supporting role in MGM’s “The Great Sinner,” starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. But Mr. Douglas so longed to play the antihero lead in “Champion” that when he met with Kramer and Foreman he ripped off his shirt to show his chest muscles and cried out, “I can do it! You know I can do it!”

He got the part, his first starring role.

The small-budget independent movie emerged as a surprise hit, receiving six Academy Award nominations, including a best actor nod for Mr. Douglas. He lost to Broderick Crawford, who played a self-made, self-aggrandizing populist politician modeled on Louisiana’s Huey Long in “All the King’s Men.”

Mr. Douglas went on to establish himself as an actor with a prowess for roles requiring great physicality and unsympathetic characters driven by self-interest.

The 1950s proved to be a banner decade for Mr. Douglas, who received two more best actor Oscar nominations while establishing a film-production company, Bryna Productions, named after his mother, Bryna Sanglel, a Russian Jewish immigrant. His nominations were for “The Bad and the Beautiful” and “Lust for Life,” the second a stark departure from the strong macho parts coveted by Hollywood’s leading men in the post-World War II era.

Mr. Douglas began to seek out complex characters wrought with inner demons and insecurities, but he still is best remembered for his tough-guy roles.

Mr. Douglas and Burt Lancaster developed a close friendship after the filming of “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral,” in which Lancaster played the lawman Wyatt Earp. The two reunited in “Tough Guys” (1986), about old-time gangsters released after 30 years in prison who attempt another heist.

At a tribute for Mr. Douglas at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Lancaster poked fun at Mr. Douglas’s reputation as a demanding actor. “Kirk would be the first person to tell you he’s a very difficult man,” Lancaster told the crowd. “And I would be the second.”

Mr. Douglas developed a reputation for brooking little criticism. But the film scholar David Shipman quoted a movie critic’s suggestion that his “cocky magnetism” was useful in creating a commanding screen presence.

Mr. Douglas rejected the idea that he was difficult to work with on a movie set. He considered himself a thinking man’s actor who suggested script changes when he thought a story line was weak or refused to film scenes he believed were too dangerous.

For example, during the filming of “Detective Story,” Mr. Douglas balked at doing a scene that called for the actor Joseph Wiseman to shoot him at close range with a handgun loaded with a blank.

To demonstrate his concern, Mr. Douglas asked the film crew to fire the gun at a piece of cheesecloth at twice the distance at which Wiseman’s character was to shoot Mr. Douglas.

The cheesecloth was torn to shreds by the blast.

“How would my face look if that hit me?” Mr. Douglas said.

In later interviews, he said his proudest professional achievement was his contribution to ending the Hollywood blacklist. That came about when Mr. Douglas, as executive producer of the big-budget epic “Spartacus” (1960), publicly credited Dalton Trumbo as the author of the screenplay.

Trumbo was one of 10 prominent screenwriters and directors who had been blacklisted for refusing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Until “Spartacus,” Trumbo had been forced to write under pseudonyms.

“Spartacus,” which starred Mr. Douglas in the title role as the leader of a Roman slave revolt and received four Oscars, led to Trumbo’s reinstatement as a member of the Writers Guild.

Trumbo went on to write “Lonely Are the Brave” (1962), in which Mr. Douglas plays a defiant, old-fashioned cowboy in modern New Mexico who becomes a fugitive from the law. Although it received excellent reviews, the film did little business, but Mr. Douglas said it was his favorite movie.

Mr. Douglas’s lone Oscar came in 1996 when he was given a lifetime achievement award for his influence as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community.

“There’s a single thread drawing all his characters together,” the director Steven Spielberg said when the Oscar was presented. “It’s called conscience. Every person he ever played had one. . . . Kirk Douglas never made his characters simple. No good guys or bad guys. He shaded heroics with self-doubt and shaped his villainy with compassion.”

Mr. Douglas dedicated the Oscar to his wife, Anne, in his acceptance speech. He spoke in slurred speech, demonstrating the effects of the stroke a few months earlier.

About that time, he fell into a severe depression and considered ending his life, a heart-wrenching period he wrote about in his book “My Stroke of Luck” (2002).

He came close, placing a loaded a gun — the same one he used in “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” — in his mouth. But when he smacked his teeth with the pistol’s barrel, the pain was so excruciating, he removed the gun and began chuckling, he recalled in his book.

“A toothache delayed my death,” he said in an interview. “I laughed hysterically.”

Mr. Douglas became an advocate for stroke survivors, relaying his own struggles and triumphs, as a way to raise public awareness about stroke symptoms, treatment and rehabilitation.

His first marriage, to the former Diana Dill, ended in divorce in large measure because of his rampant philandering. In 1954, he married Anne Buydens, and their marriage endured despite his carousing.

In addition to his wife and son Michael from his first marriage, survivors include another son from his first marriage, Joel Douglas; and a son from his second marriage, Peter Douglas. A son from Buydens, Eric Douglas, died in 2004 of a drug overdose.

One of Kirk Douglas’s final film roles was “It Runs in the Family” (2003), a comedic melodrama co-featuring his first wife and Michael Douglas. The film also was the only time father and son appeared in the same movie.

Mr. Douglas told People in 1988 that he seldom worried about his screen legacy, saying he had been “more adventurous in my choice of roles than most stars of my generation.” Nor did he fret much about the other kind of immortality, through dying.

“When a dog dies,” he said, “does he go to heaven? Why should we think we’re so special that we cannot just die? No, you only go around once and just hope you get the brass ring. The rest is ego.”

Estrada is a former Washington Post staff writer. Staff writer Adam Bernstein and former Post staff writer Glenn Frankel contributed to this report.

Read more Washington Post obituaries

[thecloserkin]

book review: Mira Grant, Feed (2010)

Genre: Sci-Fi

Is it the main pairing: Yes

Is it canon: No

Is it explicit: No

Is it endgame: Yes

Is it shippable: Hell to the yes

Bottom line: Creepily Codependent Siblings Survive the Zombie Apocalypse! They are adopted but the way they refer to each other as “my brother” and “my sister” when they could have used given names instead? I am here for it. While tight plotting is not one of this book’s strengths, you should slog through the infodumps to the ending which packs one hydrogen bomb of an emotional wallop.

This is the first book in the “Newsflash” trilogy about a pair of journalists, Georgia and Shaun Mason, who begin by blogging out of their parents’ basement and end by uncovering a vast governmental conspiracy subtended by various alphabet-soup agencies. The zombie apocalypse itself happened 23 years ago, and it happened the way these things invariably happen: Scientists try to cure cancer/the common cold, unleash freak virus on humanity, cue end of the world as we know it. Georgia and Shaun are the paradigmic products of this remade world: They, like many children born in and around the chaos of the outbreak, were orphans. On their adoption papers their birthdays are given as the same day—an arbitrary made-up date, but it makes them twins even if George is def a few months older. She acts older too, acting as the business brains of their fledgling journalistic operation while Shaun’s job is to “poke dead things with sticks” and look good while doing it. There is a performative aspect to Shaun’s mugging for the camera and flirting with anything in a skirt. He’s doing it because outrageous behavior garners them more hits, obviously, but he’s also doing it for George who gets a kick out of watching him charm the pants off people. She is bemused but not remotely threatened. George is all-business all the time, emotionally guarded and wary of physical contact, and one time when someone tried to hug her Shaun smoothly stepped up to intercept the hug to spare her the discomfort of enduring it. I SCREAMED. Note that George doesn’t mind being touched if it’s Shaun doing it:

I shuddered. Shaun caught the gesture and put a hand at the small of my back, steadying me. I flashed him a smile.

Shaun put a hand on my knee, steadying me, and I covered it with my own.

These small moments of tenderness punctuate an endearingly banterful sibling rapport. This is them reacting to the news of their big break—they’ve been tapped to cover the presidential campaign of an idealistic Wyoming senator:

Shaun was sure we’d get it. I was sure we wouldn’t. Now, staring at the monitor, Shaun said, “George?” “Yeah?” “You owe me twenty bucks.”

This is George shooing Shaun out of her room so she can change her clothes:

I pointed to the door. “Get out. There’s about to be nudity, and you’ll just complicate things.” “Finally, adult content! Should I turn the webcams on?”

This is big sister Georgia mocking Shaun for his youthful indiscretions:

”Remember how pissed you got when we had to do all that reading about the Rising back in sixth grade? I thought you were going to get us both expelled.”

In conclusion I love them sfm they are perfect.

As an aside, the people tagging this book “horror” on Goodreads have either not read the book (which is legit, TBR piles are a thing) or don’t understand what horror is? It’s like they saw the word “zombies” and just auto-completed the genre. What defines horror is not blood, gore, or violence but the fear and loss of agency engendered by that violence. That’s why so many horror film protagonists are women, who experience loss of agency in large and small ways on a daily basis and must learn to survive in the face of it; it’s cathartic to watch them take back control. The point of this digression is that THIS IS NOT A HORROR NOVEL. It’s not about that kind of fear!!! This is a political thriller so buckle in kids we’re going for a ride.

Twenty-three years ago during the outbreak, Georgia and Shaun’s parents lost their eight-year-old biological son. He was bitten by the neighbors’ dog. This was before it was widely understood that the virus could jump between mammalian species, and that anything surpassing the 40 pound threshold was susceptible to its effects. The dog weighed over 40 pounds. The Masons, who were award-winning reporters in their own right, dealt with their grief by channeling their emotional resources into chasing the news ratings. They continued to be phenomenally successful journalists as well as shitty parents to Shaun and Georgia, whom they seem to have adopted entirely for publicity purposes. The narrative invites us to draw the comparison between George and Shaun, who have chosen to pursue this career out of a thirst for THE TRUTH, and their parents who have less lofty motivations. Not to put too fine a point on it but their parents are mercenary motherfuckers. These kids survived their childhood by building an emotional bunker that they never learned to climb out of. This line from the very first chapter is so telling because they’re out in the field and Shaun is being chased by a zombie right?:

I screamed, images of my inevitable future as an only child filling my mind.

When Shaun’s in mortal peril, Georgia doesn’t think of him as “the center of my universe”— which he is—she thinks of the void that would result in the loss of her brother. That’s how they fit together, that’s what they are to each other, and all the other stuff is layered on top of the shared trauma of their childhood. Ffs they even have a ritual for administering each other’s blood tests—you know that thing at wedding toasts where the bride and groom loop their arms together and tip the champagne flute into the other’s mouth? Like that:

Moving with synchronicity born of long practice, we broke the biohazard seals and popped the plastic lids off our testing units

So the protocol for taking blood tests, which everyone has to do all day long to prove they’re not infected, is to come into the foyer/antechamber/vestibule one at a time and once you test clean you proceed into the building while the next person cycles into the chamber. That way, if anyone is found to be infected, they can be isolated. Georgia and Shaun have never once complied with this rule:

Our next-door-neighbor used to call Child Protective Services every six months because our folks wouldn’t stop us from coming in together. But what’s the point of life if you can’t take risks now and then, like coming into the damn house with your brother?

Implying that if one of them ever got bitten by a zombie the other one would rather spend the rest of their short life trapped in a garage with the shambling corpse of their sibling than die in their sleep at a ripe old age. Talk about ride or die.

I said before that this presidential campaign, this is their big break as much as it is the candidate’s. Up till now George and Shaun have been blogging under the umbrella of news aggregation entities (sort of like how BuzzFeed and HuffPost and Medium are populated by user-generated content that isn’t necessarily making the content creator an appreciable pile of money), but now they’ve finally landed the story that will let them strike out on their own. One of the sharpest things about this book is how it depicts journalism as a job, and a tough one to do right. Nashville does the same thing for the music industry, and as over-the-top as that show is, it shows you the nuts and bolts of success in a profession where practitioners are supposedly driven by “passion” alone. Here the distribution of labor is skewed pretty heavily towards George:

I get the administrative junk that Shaun’s too much of a jerk and Buffy’s too much of a flake to deal with.

Buffy is their business partner and some kind of auteur hacker + tech whiz. Shaun is the public face of their media brand. But make no mistake, George is the heart and soul and brains of this operation. You see her business acumen in drive-by observations like “Replacing that much equipment would kill our operating budget for months,” or when she talks about i n s u r a n c e. And George talks about insurance a lot. She mentions how a certain camera covered in zombie body fluids is an insurance write-off, how being present in designated high-risk zones during certain times of day can triple your insurance premium, how a certain treatment for her chronic vision condition isn’t covered by health insurance. I … just wanna point out that the human race has survived a flippin’ zombie apocalypse, but the United States remains wedded to private for-profit health insurance where who and what are “covered” remains a game of Russian roulette?!! Whoever said it was “easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism” was onto something. This society is functioning cohesively enough that elections are a thing (thus, nation-states are still a thing). If you want to tell me our fragmented, inefficient, fee-for service model of paying for medical care that routinely bankrupts & kills our citizens has weathered the end of civlization and emerged intact from its ashes, you better look me dead in the eye and bring receipts.

What’s really impressive about Georgia is she’ll rattle off exactly what kind of activities (those forbidden by her journalistic licensing) will invalidate her life insurance if she’s stupid enough to get killed while doing them. From which I surmise that she and Shaun are both covered by pretty hefty policies of which they are each other’s sole beneficiary. Which makes sense, they’re in a dangerous line of work, but I feel like it’s a poor investment since whoever was left behind would be doing their damnedest to climb into the grave next to their sibling lol.

Another little requirement of the household insurance—since we leave safe zones all the time in order to do our jobs, we have to be able to prove we’ve been properly sterilized, and that means logged computer verification of our sterilizations.

George is talking about the AI that is apparently located in her showerhead that douses her with a bleach & antiseptic compound when she comes back from being in the field?? That sounds painful but what concerns me is the breathtaking scope of the Internet of Things’ penetration into her life. The AI is in the bathroom. It knows exactly where she’s been bc ofc her GPS location can be tracked via her phone, and it’s merrily sending packets of information off to …. somewhere, where it will doubtless be aggregated with all the data collected about George from other sources, and combed for patterns to predict future behavior. That’s how surveillance capitalism works. if this sounds chillingly familiar it’s because it’s already happening, it’s what the tech giants are already doing—gobbling up as much data about as many people in as many contexts as possible—and leveraging that data for profit. Privacy is a joke. George is not unaware of this, but what choice does she have? It’s either install the damn AI in her showerhead or get her parents’ homeowners’ insurance policy cancelled for being too “high risk.”

I want to circle back to George’s chronic medical condition for a sec. She’s got a disability—what’s a called a “reservoir condition” where the virus takes up residence in a body organ, in her case the retina—meaning essentially that she has zombie vision; she can see ridiculously well in low light situations but direct sunlight will blind her. She has to wear shades even indoors and is literally incapable of crying since her tear ducts are inoperative. So there’s a testy situation where a federal agent tries to get her to take off her sunglasses so he can verify her identity with a retinal scan right? And because they’re standing outside this is obviously a recipe for permanent blindness, quite aside from the fact you wouldn’t be able to get a valid scan anyway due to the virus over-dilating George pupils. But instead of checking George’s files, where her disability & its effects are prominently listed, this grunt insists on making her remove her glasses because Procedure. It’s a pretty tense moment. Shaun goes ballistic. He doesn’t physically threaten the dude, or insult his mom or anything. No, Shaun understands that he needs to make this pencil-pusher more afraid of the consequences of taking George’s glasses than of Not Following Procedure. And it works. YEET.

On the campaign trail the Senator’s aides arrange for sex-segregated hotel rooms but Shaun and George are having none of it:

On the few occasions when I’ve tried sleeping without Shaun in the next room, well, let’s just say that I can go a long way on a six-pack of Coke.

The ostensible reason the sleeping arrangements need to be reshuffled is, Buffy can’t sleep without a nightlight and George’s eyes can’t tolerate a nightlight. Clearly the real reason is George and Shaun are c l i n g y and codependent as FUCK. One night after a zombie attack and the long grueling hours of cleanup/decontamination that followed it, they actually climb into the same bed—I guess this room only had a double instead of two singles?? The scene the next morning, the two of them having predictably overslept:

“Fuck a duck, Buffy, what are you trying to do, blind her?” … Shaun, clad only in his boxer shorts, staring at an unrepentant Buffy.

So Shaun’s beef with Buffy is not that she barged in on them while they were asleep & half-naked but that she opened the curtains, thereby triggering a painful migraine for George’s sensitive eyes. Buffy explains she didn’t shake them awake because they both sleep armed, lmao. George’s disability and Shaun’s practiced ability to help her maneuver around it (like a trusty prosthetic, he’s an extension of herself) serves to highlight how in this partnership they are one unit and they know each other inside out. This is them after their close shave with the dunce who tried to take George’s glasses:

“Fuck you, too,” I muttered as Shaun got his arm around me and hoisted me away from the barn. “You kiss our mother with that mouth?” “Our mother and you both, dickhead. Give me my sunglasses.”

And this is George waking up in their hotel room, eyes squeezed shut against the glare of multiple computer screens:

He touched my hand with the tips of his fingers before he pressed my sunglasses against my palm.

This is absurdly, spine-tinglingly intimate. First he touches her hand with the tip of his fingers, the most fleeting of touches to let her know it’s him, and then he presses the glasses into her palm to restore her agency so she can, you know, open her eyes. And that earlier scene with him guiding her by the elbow in broad daylight!!! I’M NOT CRYING YOU’RE CRYING

Sometimes I can hardly believe that George and Shaun are twenty-three years old. When I was twenty-three I … was not adulting half so well as these kids. But then, giving their barbarous upbringing, that’s not surprising; my parents loved and nurtured me. When I look at George and Shaun and the successful business they’ve built and the professional relationships they’ve cultivated and their expertise and their bravery I just feel this proud parental glow you know?

I want to say a word about Senator Ryman before we move onto spoiler territory. There’s a big controversy initially about whether the Senator is “genuine” or not (spoiler alert: he is). But what does that even mean, genuine? He’s a good egg, sure, but what are his policies, none of which are explored in depth except his support for horse farms??? I’m not kidding. In a world where any animal weighing over 40 pounds is a zombie outbreak waiting to happen, it’s a controversial position to say people should be able to keep pets in residential zones. Here is how George describes our Candidate:

He’s like a big, friendly Boy Scout who just woke up one day and decided to become the President of the United States of America.

I see two major problems with this: One, they say “Personnel is Policy” so who the hell is he planning to appoint to key Cabinet positions and can he trust them to pursue rather than undermine his objectives (and does he even have a deep enough bench of people to draw on)? Two, the Boy Scouts of America are not exactly, er, unproblematic, and while it’s safe to say our faves are always problematic, I think “Boy Scout” is shorthand here for “no skeletons in his closet,” which again puts the focus squarely on his personal qualities rather than what policies he espouses. It’s great that he hasn’t cheated on his wife or his taxes. But morality and ethics are not the same thing:

Morals are how you treat people you know. Ethics are how you treat people you don’t know. Your morality is what makes you a good spouse/friend … Your ethics are what makes you a good politician … Morality dictates that you take care of your family, friends and even acquaintances first … For a large society—a society where you can’t know everyone—to work, ethics must come before morality, or ethics and morality must have a great deal of overlap. By acting morally, you must be able to act ethically.

I think we can all agree that this does not describe how our society is currently constituted, and it doesn’t describe George and Shaun’s America either. So this narrow fixation on whether individual candidates are “genuine” or corrupt imo kinda misses the point. George says:

I haven’t even been able to find proof that his campaign received funding from the tobacco companies, and everyone’s campaign receives funding from the tobacco companies.

I don’t want to undersell how important it is the guy is not taking tobacco money. But is he also eschewing Wall Street money, Big Pharma money, defense contractor money? How could George possibly have time to investigate all this dark money if she is supposed to be covering the actual campaign? Seems like it would be a lot easier to reform the campaign finance laws than to vet every single single candidate’s funding sources.

I think one reason the Senator is long on identity & personal charisma and short on policy is that he’s up against an opponent whose base of support is millenarian-fundamentalist “the Rapture is here, we’re all going to hell”:

it was either Ryman’s brand of “we should all get along while we’re here,” or Tate’s hellfire and damnation.

If that is the main faultline in society, I guess half the voters don’t really wanna hear how a given politician is planning to make a material difference in their lives, since they’ve already got eyes on the prize aka the next life.

So there you have it. George and Shaun are scrappy independent muckrakers digging for the truth. Time and again their allegiance to that holy grail overrides their concern for trivial aims like idk personal safety. There’s a vast, shady conspiracy afoot, and as our heroes get closer to it they start getting shot at. They lose comrades. None of this deters them because they are after THE TRUTH. Oh wait there is in fact one thing George values more than the truth:

”You’re more interested in your brother than figuring out the truth?” “Shaun’s the only thing that concerns me more than the truth does.”

And later:

The sight of him was enough to make my heart beat faster and my throat get tight. I knew he was wearing Kevlar underneath his clothes, but Kevlar wouldn’t protect him from a headshot.

Her first concern is always, always, for him.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

George gets infected. That’s the denouement. George is infected and Shaun has to shoot her before she turns all the way. Every single person who makes it to this scene is just bawling by the end of it:

His lips brushed the top of my head as he bent forward and pressed them to my hair. I wanted to yell at him to get away from me, but I didn’t. The barrel of the gun remained a cool, constant pressure on the back of my neck. When I turned, when I stopped being me, he would end it. He loved me enough to end it. Has any girl ever been luckier than I am?

The reassuring pressure of the gun on the base of her neck??? Has there been a more romantic moment in cinematic history??? I THINK NOT. Shaun is a crack shot—he’s the kind of guy who caresses his guns, names them after pretty women, causes his sister to grouse about digging through a suitcaseful of his weaponry to find her clothes—and yet here he is using his gun to kill the woman he loves most in the world.

It was supposed to be Shaun. They both took it as a given that Shaun would be the one to die first. Now he has to find a reason to continue living other than the obvious (vengeance). Stay tuned for the next installment, narrated by Shaun!

[tdupere772]

Profile: Lula da Silva

Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Siva

(https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45168837)

     Lula da Silva is seen by many as a savior to Brazilian Democratic politics. His charismatic and influential behavior promised change to the “people” of Brazil. His followers showed signs of some of the most loyal and supportive people in history, as they physically defended him until the moment he surrendered to authorities, and even still so today as he remains behind bars. During Lula’s reign as president (2003-2011), he was most famously known for removing 30 to 40 million people out of poverty, and for relating to his people as “one of them.”

Life Before Politics/ Early Political Stages

     Lula comes from a lower class family, where he worked as a shoe shiner, factory worker, and street vendor as a child to help his family make financial ends meet. Following the military coup that ended in 64, Lula sought out work at Villares Metalwork in São Bernardo do Campo. Soon after, he became part of the Metalworker’s union, eventually leading him into the role as the union’s president in 1975. His socioeconomic background led to his national attention, as he led his first movement against the military regime’s economic policy. He was also noticed for being a founder of the Workers Party (PT). According to BBC, “It was a long struggle to the top. Lula ran for president unsuccessfully three times before eventually being elected in 2002.”

     After taking office in January 2003, Lula sought to improve the economy, enact social reforms, and end government corruption. Some of his efforts in helping the poor include, a Zero Hunger scheme to assure minimum sustenance to every Brazilian, or monthly cash transfers to mothers in the lowest income strata if providing proof of sending their children to school and getting their health checked. The symbolic message behind these efforts are what stuck out as some of Lula’s best political assets.  The message was that “the state cares for the lot of every Brazilian, no matter how wretched or downtrodden, as citizens with social rights in their country.” Lula led the country during a period of “unprecedented economic growth.”

Corruption Scandals

     Lula, who led Brazil from 2003 to 2011, as the head of the left-wing Workers’ Party, is not only “one of the most charismatic public figures in Latin America but is still the most popular politician in Brazil.” However, Lula still ended up at the heart of corruption, which eventually led to him stepping down and surrendering to authorities. Lula is currently serving a 12-year sentence in prison, for being found guilty of money laundering and bribery. Lula is best known for his corruption scandal in “Operation Car Wash.” BBC describes the scandal as followed, “Operation Car Wash began in March 2014 as an investigation into allegations that executives at the state oil company Petrobras had accepted bribes from construction firms in return for awarding them contracts at inflated prices.” On top of that, there were allegations that some of the money was used to buy off politicians and to buy their votes. Lula still denies all accusations on the scandal and with his ties to the OAS construction firm. However, because of his conviction, he was no longer eligible for the presidential election of 2018. Even behind bars Lula still advocating for his ideas. BBC quoted Lula as he said, “There is no point in trying to end my ideas, they are already lingering in the air and you can't arrest them.”

Media Involvement

https://twitter.com/lulaoficial?lang=en

     Lula shows heavy involvement on both Twitter and Facebook, with over 4 million Facebook followers, and over 600 thousand Twitter followers. Although Lula is currently in prison, his campaign and followers still post daily tweets and statuses under the official verified accounts. Below is an example of a translated Facebook status posted today:

(https://www.facebook.com/Lula/)

     His legacy and beliefs seem to be carried out and reinforced by his followers on social media and in real life. News websites such as BBC, also have videos displaying the support Lula is backed up with, even until the very moments of his surrender. This article, features a video of Lula forcing himself through a crowd of his supporters to turn himself in. According to the Journalism In The America’s Blog, “The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) and the National Federation of Journalists (Fenaj) have classified as censorship and a restriction on journalism the decisions of Federal Supreme Court Ministers Luiz Fux and Dias Toffoli, which prohibit former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from granting a press interview from prison.” There have also been restrictions against the Brazilian Constitution that prohibits journalists from interviewing the former president.  

Frameworks of Populism

     Mudde and Kaltwasser outline Latin American populism in three waves. The third wave ( current) claims to “fight the free market and aim to construct a new development model that will bring real progress to the poor” (Mudde and Kaltwasser, 2017, pg. 31). Many believe that Lula did just this. He pulled millions out of poverty and stood behind the idea of “bringing sovereignty back to the people.” Mudde and Kaltwasser continue in later chapters to explain different types of populist leaders. Page 68, outlines the “vox populi” a.k.a, the voice of the people. The major distinctions of a vox populi are that there is a (1) clear separation from the elites and (2) connection to the people (Mudde and Kaltwasser, 2017, pg.68) Coming from a poor background with no political family history, Lula fits right into this type of populist. BBC quoted that, "They [Brazilians] identify with Lula because he's one of them, coming from poorer parts, then becoming a metal worker, and then all the way to the presidency, without departing from these origins." Finchelstein makes an important note on populism stating that,

        “ On a global scale, populism is not a pathology of democracy but a political form that thrives in democracies that are particularly unequal, that is, in places where the income gap has increased and the legitimacy of democratic representation has decreased” (Finchelstein, 2017, pg. 5).

In the case of Lula, it is interesting because he founded a populist party (Workers Party) and continued to be supported by them throughout his presidency. According to A “Left Turn” in Latin America? Populism, Socialism, and Democratic Institutions, “it is a party that emerged from the ashes of labor-based traditions associated with President Getúlio Vargas (1930–45; 1950–54). Yet the PT’s fiscal discipline since taking office in 2003 means that it cannot be considered populist” (Schamis, 2006, pg. 21). We don’t often see populist party candidates winning presidential elections and when we do there is a fine line of what happens to that populism, and whether that party continues to exist or not. Regardless of Lula’s current status and separation from politics, his wise words and actions appear to live on throughout his supporters, and it will be interesting to see history unfold as Brazil continues under its new far-right president, Bolsonaro.

     E. Schamis, Hector. (2006). Populism, Socialism, and Democratic Institutions. Journal of Democracy. 17. 20-34. 10.1353/jod.2006.0072.

     Finchelstein, F. (2017). From fascism to populism in history. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.

     Mudde, C., & Kaltwasser, C. R. (2017). Populism: A very short introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

[jbrookspress]

“In 1966 the Presidential Physical Fitness Award was created. To win the award a participant had to place in the top 85% of students participating. The award was based on 5 challenges: long jump distance, shuttle run, number of pull ups, softball throw distance, and mile run time.” 

[prwizard]

Dr. Vijay D Bajaj & Dr.Jyoti V.Bajaj: A brain Activation coach and educator

In the latest interaction with Dr. Vijay D Bajaj & Dr. Jyoti V. Bajaj, the Founder and President of WAC People Council (World against Corruption), co-founder of WAC Global Human Rights Foundation, Editor of WAC Book of Records International, Chief Editor of the WAC Global book of records, and Founder and President of Child Brain Gym ( CBG Edu International Pvt. Ltd.).

Naturally, a child's mental needs are equally vital, just like their physical needs. It is essential to develop their social skills, clarity of thought, and comprehensive learning of a new skill. Just like the movement of the physical body; through various activities builds a healthy body of a child. Training, multiple activities leads to the development of brain structure which helps with brain activation. And this is an area where a brain activation coach assists in developing the child's mental growth through a variety of activities.

Dr. Vijay D Bajaj & Dr. Jyoti V. Bajaj is such a brain activation coach and educator whose mission is to reach each child globally to show them the power of Brain activation. Besides this, their goal is to give access to strength one can gain with the help of brain activation along with the promotion and recognition of each person working in the field. Dr. Vijay & Dr. Jyoti as brain activation coach and educator made an effort to perform to the best professional abilities, knowledge, and experience with the up-gradation of a child's current skills. Where they could specialize in terms of learning and teaching something new with an experience which in turn could give an added advantage in the growth and success of the organization and benefit all the children in the development of their mental growth. They stated, “As a brain activation coach and educator, we have two strategic visions firstly we pledge to make each child mentally and morally activated and self-dependent to face the day-to-day activities. and secondly, every child has their hidden strength, so we want to make them aware of their hidden strength by helping them recognize their point of strength." Dr. Vijay D Bajaj‘s National and International Organization Positions: - Dean and Country Head - United College of Brazil - Goodwill Ambassador for Anti-Corruption - Worlds sports Martial Arts Council, USA - Representative Asia Region -Arbitrators Media Information, Nigeria - Secretary Central Board in India - World Anti- Narcotics Council, Indonesia - Honorary Member – World International Economic Group - Country Head, India – LEAD Philippines - World peace Ambassador – Humanity Protection Trust - Ambassador -Asian continent –Global Socio-Economic and Financial Evolution Network - National President India – Shri Dada Saheb Phalke International Award Film Foundation, India -Climate Action Advocate – Climate Action through Education, Philippines - Commander in Chief Asia Region – International Crimefighters and Allies, Ghana (West Africa) - Country Head, India – African Festival Foundation, Ghana (West Africa) - Board of Directors, Director of Innovation – Virtual University for International Relations - International Advisor – International Security and strategy studies College Nigeria

Dr.Jyoti V.Bajaj's National and International Organization Achievements : 1. PhD in Humanitarian Services by INTERNATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY HEALTH PEACE AND SCIENCE, USA 2. National Co-ordinator India - Shri Dada Saheb Phalke International Awards Film Foundation. 3. Country Vice President India - LEAD, Philippines 4. Rewarded with the Certificate of Appreciation by the Presidential Advisory Board, USA for recognition of her Services promoting humanity and Peace. 5. Goodwill Ambassador for Social Welfare - WORLD SPORTS MARTIAL ARTS COUNCIL -                                       USA                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  CLAIM TO FAME -Felicitated as Presidential Youth Fitness Award by the former president of the USA, Hon. Donald Trump. -Rewarded with the certificate of Appreciation by the Presidential Advisory Board, USA for recognition of his services promoting humanity and peace. - Honoured with the Certificate of Appreciation by Federal Police Chaplain International (USA) for contribution by promoting humanity and peace to society worldwide. - Recipient of Identity Card by various National and International Organizations as proof of qualification. - Appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for Anti-corruption by World Sports Martial Arts Council - Honoured with Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of the valuable contribution by the World Sports Martial Arts Council. -Honoured with the letter of Appreciation for Voluntary service towards Humanity and Peace by the Minister of Youth Affairs and sports of the Government International United Kingdom Association Commonwealth. - Ranked as the honorary Lt Colonel of India by International Police Forum for contribution by promoting humanity and peace to society worldwide. - Appointed by Arbitrators Media Information as Representative of their Arbitration, Mediation, and Media Information Agency. - Recipient of seven Honorary Doctorate Awards by seven different National and International Organizations.

Dr. Vijay’s & Dr. Jyoti's contribution to society knows no bound. Even during Pandemic,  They conducted various online Global conferences on behalf of the World Against Corruption People Council (WAC) on multiple themes such as Pollution Free World, Women in leadership and protection of Girl Child, corruption awareness campaign, Nature awareness campaign, and so on. The Jaw-dropping contribution of Dr. Vijay & Dr. Jyoti in the society worldwide is paving a path of rising in peace amidst the global Pandemic and significant changes. Even in the future, they pledge to continue to do their best by playing a constructive role for the peace and humanity of the entire world. https://wacindia.org/ http://childbraingym.com/

[t98rehab]

Exercise Your Options: A Lesson in Pain Reduction

You may remember your grammar school gym class where the PE teacher would lead you in jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups and arm circles. If you’re like a lot of baby boomers, you probably look back and assume it really didn’t do much for the health of the students — just kept the class busy for an hour.

Elementary school days may be way behind you, but exercise carries many benefits now that it couldn’t offer a younger you, especially if you’re battling pain from an injury or chronic condition.

The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics published a report on randomized controlled trials, or RCTs, looking at the result of exercise as treatment for patients experiencing intense pain from soft tissue injuries in the hip, thigh or knee. Success was measured by the following factors:

Intensity of pain

Recovery

Quality of life

Psychological outcomes

Adverse events

“One RCT found statistically significant improvements in pain and function favoring clinic-based progressive combined exercises over a ‘wait and see’ approach for patellofemoral (anterior knee) pain syndrome,” the study says. “Patients with patellofemoral pain syndrome or groin pain had the best results with clinic-based exercise programs.”

Chiropractic Journey

An ABC News blog posted an article about a study comparing the outcome of three different forms of treatment for pain. Results show that both the patients treated by chiropractic professionals and the individuals who received home exercise advice, referred to as HEA, had higher rates of success than those who turned to medication for relief. Just 13 percent of the patients who took medication reported a satisfactory reduction in pain, whereas, about two-thirds of those who were treated through either chiropractic care or HEA said they were pain-free.

A total of 272 patients, age 18-65, who were suffering from recent-onset neck pain took part in the study, which the National Institutes of Health spearheaded.

“I always prescribe exercises and/or physical therapy for neck pain,” wrote Dr. John Messmer from Penn State College of Medicine. “I also tell patients that the exercises are the treatment and the drugs are for the symptoms.”

Dr. Lee Green, professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan, also talked to ABC News about the study.

“Doesn’t surprise me a bit,” Dr. Green said. “Neck pain is a mechanical problem, and it makes sense that mechanical treatment works better than a chemical one.”

The study, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, singles out the effectiveness of spinal manipulation therapy, or SMT, to provide relief for patients with neck pain. Researchers found that in both the short-term and long-term statistics, SMT had the most effective outcome. The report adds that HEA proved equally effective at some points in the study.

Participants rated their pain at several intervals: 2, 4, 8, 26, and 52 weeks. This enabled scientists to draw specific conclusions, such as the evidence showing that 12 weeks of SMT provided greater pain relief than up to one year of medication.

Exercise Works

Your chiropractic professional can guide you in choosing exercises that target the areas you need treating. Chiropractic visits, in addition to home exercise practices, are a way to double down on your odds of successful treatment.

According to the Mayo Clinic website, there are multiple benefits to using exercise for your joints, as well as improving general wellness. Exercise serves to:

Strengthen the muscles around your joints

Help you maintain bone strength

Give you more energy to get through the day

Make it easier to get a good night’s sleep

Improve your balance

We’re not talking about the kind of punishing calisthenics that win you the Presidential Physical Fitness Award, but something to just curb your symptoms and add some range of motion. Consulting with a chiropractor to incorporate some exercise seems to be the best way to get a passing grade in pain relief.

The following article Exercise Your Options: A Lesson in Pain Reduction is republished from t98rehab.com