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Wouldn't it be nice if we could just get all the Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump garbage out in the open now, pour it in some toxic news dump and sift through it for a week, air out all the shiny pieces, then go back to talking for six months about which policies are better for America?

If your answer is no, that would be boring, you're in luck.

These past two weeks, essentially the first in the general election campaign, Trump has taken us back to the 1990s, the Bill Clinton presidency, especially Clinton's extramarital affairs, even an unsubstantiated rape allegation and the nutty idea that Bill and Hillary had their friend Vince Foster iced. Bill Clinton has sometimes been a distraction when stumping for his wife's presidential campaign, and he arguably does more harm than good.

But Donald Trump has his own Bill Clinton problems, and refighting the political wars from the 1990s won't fix them. To begin with, as Paul Waldman notes, these scandals were endlessly litigated in the 1990s, and Clinton essentially won.

That's in part because many voters saw impeachment as an overreach, even though Clinton had lied (or relied on an obscure definition of "sexual relations") under oath about an affair with an intern during a six-year, $50 million taxpayer-funded investigation into a 1980s failed Arkansas land deal. (Yes, that is the Whitewater affair that Trump's campaign accidentally disclosed it will be dredging up to attack Hillary Clinton.) It's also because his main Republican antagonists in the impeachment trial — House Speakers Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingston, and (we now know) Dennis Hastert, plus Sen. Henry Hyde — each had their own history of illicit sexual encounters; Gingrich was having an affair while pushing to impeach Clinton.

And that brings us to Donald Trump's first Bill Clinton problem:

1. Trump has no business attacking Clinton's affairs.

Is that because Trump, too, has had extramarital affairs? Sure. Is it because he has called Bill a friend, "a terrific guy," who did "a terrific job" as president? Kind of. But the big problem for Trump is that he has already exonerated Clinton for any peccadilloes in the 1990s.

In an August 1998 interview, for example — the one where Trump called Clinton accuser Paula Jones "a loser" — Chris Matthews asked Trump if he would ever run for president. Trump said no, "can you imagine how controversial that'd be? You think about [Clinton] with the women. How about me with the women? Can you imagine...." Matthews made a cigar joke, and Trump reconsidered: "Well, they might like my women better, too, you know." As late as 2008, Trump called the Lewinsky affair "something that was totally unimportant," and argued in 2001 that Bill Clinton's big mistake is that he didn't take invoke his Fifth Amendment right to stay silent during the questioning about Lewinsky.

Changing your opinion of a friend is very different than suddenly expressing horror at sexual activity you already called "totally unimportant." At The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf points out that there are really only two explanations for Trump's pivot:

Perhaps Donald Trump truly believes that Bill Clinton is a rapist, or at best "one of the worst abusers of women" in U.S. history, as he said. And therefore, Trump invited a man he believes to be a rapist to his wedding, where Trump had his new wife pose beside the ostensible abuser, Trump smiling as the man he believed to be a sexual predator posed with his arm encircling his new bride's waist. Or maybe Trump doesn't actually believe that Bill Clinton is a rapist, or one of the worst abusers of women in history. Rather, he is cynically and falsely publicizing a rape accusation, knowing the accused may well be innocent, because spreading it will help Trump to win power. A frivolous or disingenuous rape accusation would typically make Trump supporters apoplectic.... They regard false rape accusations as serious if not unforgivable transgressions. [The Atlantic]

Neither option looks very good for Trump. And yet he soldiers on, "a walking contradiction," as Chuck Todd said on Wednesday's NBC Today. "He has contradicted every single attack he's made on the Clintons. You can find sound to contradict it. It doesn't touch him."

Trump's rationale, Todd said, is that he was a private citizen, not a politician, when he said nice things about the Clintons, and that being nice to powerful people is good for business. Which brings us to Trump's second Bill Clinton problem:

2. Talking about Clinton makes Trump looking like a lying, misogynist jerk.

When explaining why he is talking differently about Bill Clinton now, Trump is essentially saying that he used to be a private-sector liar, but now that he's a politician, he's a truth-teller. That's counterintuitive, but that's the campaign's story and they're sticking to it. When CNN's Chris Cuomo asked Trump's longtime attorney and political adviser, Michael Cohen, at what point Trump was lying about Bill Clinton, in the 1990s or now, Cohen replied: "He was not lying. He was protecting a friend. There's a difference."

What's that difference? Cuomo asked. Trump "was being a true friend," Cohen said. He elaborated: "He was a private citizen who was friendly with the Clintons, and he was trying to protect a friend, all right. Now, it's a different game. It's 2016." Cuomo pressed on, asking: "Why would I trust you if you say all the things you said then were false?" Trump "was a private individual," Cohen said. When he was bad-mouthing the women accusing Clinton of sexual misconduct, Cohen suggested, Trump "was standing up for a man who he considered to be a friend at the time."

That's essentially the "bros-before-hos" defense, and it's an interesting strategy for raising Trump's dismal favorability numbers with women.

3. Trump wants spouses to be untouchable, except Hillary Clinton's.

Two of Trump's rockiest moments this campaign are when a Ted Cruz super PAC ran an ad showing a scantily clad Melania Trump, and when GQ published a long profile of Trump's wife. In the first instance, Donald Trump retweeted an unflattering photo of Heidi Cruz to his legions of Twitter followers. After the GQ article, Trump said to leave his wife out of this. George Stephanopoulos asked the obvious follow-up.

"There was an article in GQ about your wife Melania this week," he told Trump on ABC News earlier this month. "And you said that spouses should be off the table, but you are willing to talk about Bill Clinton. Should he be off the table as well?" Trump eventually got to no. "It depends if he's involved in the campaign," he said. "I think if he's involved in the campaign, he shouldn't be. And I — he probably will be involved. I think he gets involved when she plays the women's card."

Now this is nonsense, on its face. First of all, Melania Trump is involved in Trump's campaign — she appears with him at campaign events, she has been interviewed about the campaign on TV, and she has stumped for her husband. If Bill Clinton's participation in his wife's campaign makes him a target, Trump's exemption of his wife makes no sense. Second of all, Hillary Clinton pointing out the offensive things Trump has really said about women doesn't have anything to do with Bill Clinton.

Trump's response is that Hillary Clinton is an "enabler." Or as he told Stephanopoulos: "Hillary Clinton's husband abused women more than any man that we know of in the history of politics, right. She's married to a man who was the worst abuser of women in the history of politics. She's married to a man who hurt many women." But surely Trump would be outraged if anyone in the Clinton camp called Ivana Trump, his first wife and mother of his children, an "enabler" of Donald Trump's affair with the future second Mrs. Trump, Marla Maples, when he was still married.

If only some spouses are off-limits, then Trump has to come up with a better explanation why his wife is untouchable — not that anyone in the Clinton camp is attacking her — and Bill Clinton is not. Otherwise he's playing his own "woman's card." Which brings us to Trump's final Bill Clinton problem:

4. Trump is trying to get in the Clintons' heads, and its backfiring.

Bill Clinton's extramarital dalliances are "fair game," as Slate's Jim Newell points out, but it's a time-tested electoral dud. Did Trump really think the Clintons didn't expect this? So far, when confronted with Trump's taunts, neither Clinton has taken the bait. In fact, bringing up Bill Clinton and women only highlights Donald Trump's Mad Men-era way of talking about women, and as Newell contends, plausibly, it reminds even many politically moderate women why they don't like Trump's party in the first place — restricting access to contraception, attacking Planned Parenthood, scrapping WIC benefits. Talking about the "women's card," he says, "only reinforces how clueless the party is about the ill will such policymaking priorities created, especially among unmarried women."

Donald Trump fashions himself as a "counter-puncher," by which he means he only hits people who attack him first, and often he tries to hit them harder. He appears to be serious about this, even proud of it; to him, it sounds chivalrous, just like treating your date nicely is a sign that you are pro-woman. It's actually pretty juvenile, the grown-up version of the 5-year-old's lament: "But, she started it!" (It also is a terrible trait for a presidential candidate — would you really want a thin-skinned, egocentric commander-in-chief going nuclear if he perceives a slight from a foreign leader?)

Trump has the political bully's instinct to attack his opponent's perceived strengths — "Trusted" Ted Cruz became Lyin' Ted, smart and wonky Jeb Bush became Low-energy Jeb — and Bill Clinton will be one of Hillary's assets in the general election. Bill is "the most gifted politician of the baby boomer generation," said none other than Kenneth Starr — yes, the one from the Whitewater/Lewinsky prosecution — to The New York Times this week. "His genuine empathy for human beings is absolutely clear.... The 'I feel your pain' is absolutely genuine."

So it's not foolhardy to try and "muddy up the image of the fondly remembered former president, Hillary Clinton's most effective proxy," as Slate's Newell puts it. "If you can turn Bill Clinton into a liability, you've greatly increased your chances of defeating Hillary Clinton."

But it also carries risks, especially for Trump. That old saying about throwing stones from glass houses? Donald Trump has a glass tower with his name in big gold letters, and Bill Clinton has good aim.


Regardless, what is made abundantly clear on Pixelapse's website is that drawing coherent illustrations was not a business need for their company. This must be true more broadly, because Dropbox themselves acquired Pixelapse even though they could not competently draw a box.

Another reason that many disparage visual design is that there is real incentive to distancing oneself from it. Many rightly realize that the quickest way to guarantee not getting respect is if their job title includes the word "creative." Thus there is a compensatory advantage to marginalizing visual design and thus proving one's dedication to doing the 'real work.' Daniel Burka of Google Ventures found "Even among designers of similar seniority, there is marked difference in compensation for UX Design, UI Design, and Visual Design," with salaries tending to descend in that order.

Paul Rand once claimed "A bad design is irrelevant, superficial…basically like all the stuff you see out there today." In the years since, he has not been alone in promoting this sentiment. In the introduction to Humanist Interface, I note that designers at prominent companies like Apple, Amazon, and Facebook argue that design used to be a trivial coat of paint.

Since that writing, Facebook's Director of Product Design, Maria Guidice chided designers who "like to make things pretty, a term I like to refer to as 'aesthetic masturbation.'" Today we are told we can rest assured that visual design is no longer so vacuous and superficial, due to the advent of flat design.

I take a different stance. 'Pure veneer' is not an insult in my book. Quite the opposite, it is the very definition of visual design. Thinking visual design is anything but superficial not only requires a profound level of ignorance, but it indicates an incredibly limited view of what visual communication can accomplish.

These rationalizations by newly turned modern minimalists are incredibly telling. If prominent practitioners are being honest with us in claiming that visual design was plagued by harmful decoration only up until the advent of flat design, then they are admitting that for years, for the history of the GUI, and perhaps even the entire history of design itself, designers have been putting on a sham project in order to dupe corporations.

Worse still, claims of visual design's insignificance tell us that design leaders never took their craft seriously. It truly undermines their credibility that it took the arrival of flat design for them to treat the entire spectrum of roles in product design with respect. Of course, as soon as that happened, they graduated from respecting traditional interface design principles.

This so-called 'maturation' in the vast majority of the design industry is in this way a major indictment of the professional history of these practitioners. If anyone should be condemned, it should not be those accused of the crime of visual design, but those practitioners who treat their job as frivolous.

Perhaps the design world breeds a form of narcissism due to its nature as a winner-take-all economy. That would explain the logic of this race to the bottom in which designers feel compelled to attack their craft before others assume they are 'bullshitters' too. In the words of Dr. Sam Vaknin:

By pre-empting society’s punitive measures and by self-flagellating, the narcissist is actually saying: 'If I am to suffer unjustly, it will be only by my own hand and no one else's.'

It is this masochistic status-striving that I find so ugly in this industry. That he who discredits his own craft is the most pious. That the most respected designer is the one who disowns beauty. This perpetual need to be the first to assign irrelevancy to one's own professional practice is the true impetus behind much of the puritanism of modern minimalist avant gardism.


Just days after the racism-fueled Charleston massacre, in which young white supremacist Dylann Roof took the lives of nine black churchgoers, a woman in Texarkana, Texas is being called out on social media for trying to incite racist attacks against the black community.

Texarkana resident Ashley M. recently posted photos of herself on Facebook after reportedly being “jumped by 3 African Americans ourside [sic] of the as [sic] Walmart.” In the photos, she appears to be sporting two black eyes and a bloody nose and lip.

The problem? The wounds were obviously poorly-applied makeup. In fact, it pretty much looks like Ashley snuck a piece of charcoal into her purse at the last barbecue she attended and then just rubbed it all over her eyes.

Ashley M./Facebook

Yup, she went there.

The Daily Dot called the Texas-side Walmart (Texarkana shares a border with the Arkansas town of the same name) where the alleged attack took place. We spoke with a security worker who said no incidents had been reported there within the past week.

We also showed the photos to Texarkana Police Department public information officer Mike Jones, who responded with an emailed statement.

“I’ve talked to our detective Sergeant. He has reviewed all of the reports from the weekend and there is no report of this incident,” wrote Jones. “There is also no report in our system from a person with the poster’s name. We are confident is stating that this incident, if it did occur, has not been reported to this department.”

The Texarkana Police Department also posted public statements regarding Ashley’s claims on its Facebook page. The post stated that police officials “believe the post to be fake” and that “the injuries… are highly questionable.” The post has since been taken down.

Ashley’s Facebook post has also gone viral on Twitter, after Twitter user and ownyourblackness.com owner @missjia tweeted a screengrab. The responses were both damning and also kinda hilarious.

@missjia she wasted so much makeup doing this. Smh — … (@__hbritt) June 22, 2015

@missjia So she went with the raccoon eye contouring method….I 👀 ya see Miss. Deranged White Lady — TeamNoChill (@MsRita73) June 22, 2015

@meoskop I did exactly this eye for a drunk clown skit in high school… — Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) June 22, 2015

In response to being mocked on Twitter, Ashley posted another photo of her “beaten” face on her Instagram profile. She has since taken the photo down.

In the caption for the photo, Ashley continued to stick to her story:

“Here is your police report. Sorry I got jumped by three African American young men. I have 2 black eyes and nose still is bleeding, and somehow I am in the wrong. Enough for people to say it was makeup, how embarassing and very rude quite frankly. I don’t want you pitty (sic) attention anything. I’m just warning there are dangerous people in Texarkana be careful. They did this to me for no reason in front of my 3 year old. At Texas side Walmart.”

By 11am Monday morning, both Ashley’s Facebook and Instagram accounts have either been either removed or made private. Nonetheless, her story about being supposedly attacked by three black men has outraged the Internet.

Sadly, Ashley’s attempt to frame black men as dangerous criminals hasn’t been the only one in recent days, following the massacre at the Charleston church.

An image is currently circulating on Facebook of a young black man holding what appears to be two guns with the caption: “Young men get your guns and kill them white ass policemen. Do not think about it just do it. Call them bitchs (sic) out set them up with two in the head.”

Police in Daytona Beach, Florida told WFTV that they had received more than 500 emails about the post by June 11. While officials were quoted as saying the photo “might be fake,” they also said they were conducting an investigation along with the FBI and ATF, and that the man in the picture was holding “two assault rifles.”

Daytona Beach might want to send those officers back to the police academy for more training. Because it’s pretty clear from the gas station-like background and the coiled plastic cables attached to both guns that the guy—who also looks young enough to be a teenager or possibly a college student—is posing for a photo in a store, not trying to start a big, scary race war.

Update 12:21pm CT, June 22: When asked why the Texarkana Police Department had taken down its statement on Ashley’s Facebook post, a representative from the police department responded via email with the following statement:

I was just informed by my social media manager that he was contacted by a friend of the original poster. We were informed that she is emotionally disturbed and that they are attempting to get her the assistance that she needs. We have removed the post to avoid contributing to her difficult struggle.

Update 8:58am CT, June 23: An earlier version of this article speculated that the guns in the above viral Facebook photo were from a video game. But many gun enthusiasts on social media have pointed out that the trigger locks and security cable visible in the photo indicate that the photo depicts real guns, but was likely taken in a store.

Editor’s note: In light of the subject’s potential mental instability, this story has been updated to remove her last name from the text and related images.

H/T @missjia/Twitter | Photo via startupphotos/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) | Remix by Fernando Alfonso III


Sleep is present and tightly regulated in every vertebrate species in which it has been carefully investigated, but what sleep is for remains a mystery. Sleep is also present in invertebrates, and an extensive analysis in Drosophila melanogaster has shown that sleep in fruit flies shows most of the fundamental features that characterize sleep in mammals. In Drosophila, sleep consists of sustained periods of quiescence associated with an increased arousal threshold. Fly sleep is modulated by several of the same stimulants and hypnotics that affect mammalian sleep. Moreover, like in mammals, fly sleep shows remarkable interindividual variability. The expression of several genes involved in energy metabolism, synaptic plasticity, and the response to cellular stress varies in Drosophila between sleep and wakefulness, and the same occurs in rodents. Brain activity also changes in flies as a function of behavioral state. Furthermore, Drosophila sleep is tightly regulated in a circadian and homeostatic manner, and the homeostatic regulation is largely independent of the circadian regulation. After sleep deprivation, recovery sleep in flies is longer in duration and more consolidated, indicated by an increase in arousal threshold and fewer brief awakenings. Finally, sleep deprivation in flies impairs vigilance and performance. Because of the extensive similarities between flies and mammals, Drosophila is now being used as a promising model system for the genetic dissection of sleep. Over the last few years, mutagenesis screens have isolated several short sleeping mutants, a demonstration that single genes can have a powerful effect on a complex trait like sleep.


The former boarding house was due to hose 64 asylum seekers. Photo: Stian Strand / NTB scanpix

Early on Tuesday morning, a fire broke out a planned asylum centre in Hol Municipality in Hallingdal that left the building completely destroyed.

Police were notified of the fire at 4.52am on Tuesday.

“The building has suffered great damage but it hasn’t burned completely down. It’s possible the fire brigade will monitor a controlled burn,” police spokesman Ole Kristian Nerby told NTB.

Nerby said it was too early to say anything about the cause of the fire but confirmed that no one was in the building when the fire was discovered.

The building was approved for use as an asylum centre in January. The former boarding house was due to host 64 asylum seekers.


It’s a common theme among many small apparel brands, and women’s-specific brands in particular: a frustration with the current state of the market. Not happy with choosing from the limited selection of gear that’s available, a passionate individual (or group of individuals) sets out to change the status quo. It was no different in the case of Femme Velo.

“When I started shopping for gear and clothing I was underwhelmed and increasingly disappointed by my lack of options,” Nicole said. “The jerseys I found were an atrocious shade of pink or baby blue, which just wasn’t for me.

“I’m the kind of person that if I see something that can be better I don’t wait around for someone else to fix it — I jump right in and fix it myself. Both my parents were entrepreneurs and so starting a business of my own never seemed far-fetched.

“When I had the dismal experience of trying to find kit I liked and that I could do long rides in without it literally being a pain in my ass, I decided, why not make it better?”

When she was still new to the sport, Nicole found out that while riding alone can be hugely rewarding, it’s the social nature of the sport that binds us to our bikes. It provides the motivation to get out of bed when it’s still cold and dark outside.

Femme Velo initially began as a yearly women’s cycling sportive in 2012, before launching its line of apparel earlier this year.

“I love where we came from in this sport,” Nicole tells us. “Femme Velo isn’t about empowering women, because women don’t need brands to empower them. Women need brands that complement them, that fit into their lifestyle, and most importantly women need choices.

“That’s who we are and what we stand for and if we can get one more woman to walk past a bike shop and wonder at the possibility of what might come if she gets on bike and starts riding, then we’ve done something great with our voice and our brand.”


The Freedom From Religion Foundation will be running a full-page ad in Sunday's Tulsa (Okla.) World and Wichita (Kan.) Eagle asking the question, "What does the bible really say about abortion?"

The answer is (as the ad puts it): "There is no biblical justification for the assault on women's reproductive rights."

The advertisement features a compelling portrait of birth control crusader Margaret Sanger, and her quote: "No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body." It documents that the bible does not condemn abortion and, in fact, "shows an utter disregard for human life." The ad reminds the reader: "We live under a secular Constitution that wisely separates religion from government, and protects women's reproductive rights."

The ad is funded and was largely written by Brian Bolton, a retired professor and Life Member of FFRF, in memory of FFRF's principal founder Anne Nicol Gaylor (1926-2015), who was propelled into freethought activism by her experiences working to legalize abortion in the late 1960s and early '70s. Gaylor observed that the battle for women's rights "would never end" until the root cause of women's oppression, "religion and its control of our government," is challenged.

The ad refers the reader for more information to Bolton's article, "God is So Not Pro-Life" and FFRF's nontract "What Does the Bible Say About abortion?"

The ad first debuted earlier this spring in the Austin American-Statesman and will appear later this month in the Houston Chronicle.

FFRF warmly thanks Brian Bolton, who lives in Texas, for his generous support and commitment. Bolton additionally sponsors FFRF's annual graduate student essay contest.

For more information on bible sexism and its reach into civil law, also see Woe to the Women: The Bible Tells Me So, by Annie Laurie Gaylor, published by FFRF.


Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize By Worker Bee

Conventional wisdom (our dear, dear friend) tells us that without the constant application of skin creams and face lotions and mineral moisturizers, we’ll become haggard parchment people with wrinkled mugs that’d put an elderly Sharpei to shame. It seems to have worked, too. Most bathroom mirrors conceal impressive caches of creams, lotions, and oils, and many people instinctively and compulsively lather the stuff on any chance they get (similar to our infatuation with Purell, but that’s another post altogether). But, as we’ve often wondered, is confronting a totally natural occurrence – dry skin – with unnatural methods and products really such a good idea?

As you know, we here at Mark’s Daily Apple tend to prefer the natural to the artificial – but that’s only because we’ve found that following nature’s way and listening to biology and evolution often go hand in hand. It’s not a dogmatic ideology of naturalism we espouse here; it is a pragmatic approach to life that tells us the natural way most often is the best way, but that also allows the use of artificial aids, if they are safe and effective. With that in mind, we weren’t all that surprised to read about a recent scientific study that discovered using lotions and skin creams can actually weaken your skin’s resistance to the elements and create a dependency on skin products.

Swedish scientist Izabela Buraczewska found that creams can actually make the skin drier in the long run. Basically, once you start using a cream or lotion to combat dry skin, you have to keep using it or your skin will regress to a point even drier than it was before you started using the cream. She used several different kind of creams and oils to test her results, and she found that even different pH levels didn’t change the effects on the skin. Both mineral and vegetable oil were tried, and both resulted in the skin having less resistance to drying elements. Strangely enough, however, using a complex cream had less of a drying effect. To Buraczewska, this meant that a blanket assignation of blame to all creams and lotions simply isn’t realistic. The problem wasn’t with the idea of artificial skin creams; the problem was that an effective skin cream simply hadn’t been created that could deal with the drying effects.

Tissue samples taken from patients suggest that the application of skin creams affects the activity of certain genes that regulate the production of skin fats, which figure prominently in the skin’s moisture levels. If we can isolate the compounds in the creams that do dry the skin, perhaps new moisturizers can be developed without the bad stuff.

So maybe smearing raw avocado and palm oil on your body isn’t the best Primal moisturizer. Maybe using unnatural oils and creams will eventually be a better way to fight dry skin. There’s a lot of things you can call us, but rigid isn’t one of them. Better living through rigorously tested and nearly perfected chemistry? Sure, we’ll take that every time.

only alice Flickr Photo (CC)

Further Reading:

We Like Drugs – Fair and Balanced

How to Get that Natural Glow

10 Rules of Aging Well

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Image caption John Hemming MP said he would raise the matter in Parliament

An MP is to raise the case of a woman who he says had her baby forcibly removed by Caesarean section, and taken by social services in Essex.

Liberal Democrat John Hemming said the Italian woman had had a panic attack linked to her bipolar disorder and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

She was sedated after authorities obtained a court order.

Essex County Council, which allegedly took the baby into care, said it could not comment on "ongoing" cases.

It is understood the woman was pregnant when she came to the UK to work for Stansted Airport in 2012.

Up for adoption

Mr Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley and chairman of the Justice for Families Campaign, said he planned to raise the case in Parliament.

He claims to have seen documents proving Essex social services obtained a court order for a Caesarean section, and for the child to be taken into care.

He said the girl, who is now 15 months old, was still in the care of Essex social services and was being put up for adoption.

Solicitor Brendan Fleming issued a statement in which he said he had been instructed by the woman's lawyers but would not discuss the case.

"We remain committed to fighting for our clients and shall fight tooth and nail to help mother be reunited with her baby," it said.

A council spokesperson said: "Essex County Council does not comment on the circumstances of ongoing individual cases involving vulnerable people and children."


When Rand Paul dropped out of the presidential race in February 2016, the self-described "libertarianish" senator from Kentucky vowed: "I will continue to fight for criminal justice reform, for privacy, and your Fourth Amendment rights. I will continue to champion due process over indefinite detention." On Thursday, amid the hullaballoo of former FBI director James Comey's dramatic testimony on Capitol Hill, Paul brought a handful of libertarian reporters inside his Senate office to discuss his recent work on these projects.

Front and center is a new piece of legislation, introduced this week, to once and for all ban indefinite detention. With the working title of "The Sixth Amendment Preservation Act," Paul's bill "prevents any future military force authorization from being used to justify indefinite detention without trial," according to a summary prepared by his office. More from that:

Section 1021 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act unconstitutionally declares that the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force allows our Armed Forces to indefinitely detain citizens, legal residents, and foreign nationals who are alleged to have engaged in hostilities against the United States. This means U.S. citizens apprehended within the boundaries of the U.S. could be held indefinitely without trial. The Sixth Amendment Preservation Act repeals section 1021 making it clear that no military force resolution can legalize indefinite detention without a trial and seeks to restore our constitutional commitment to individual liberty.

Emphasis in original. "You never know who could be in the White House," Paul explained Thursday. "Could someone be there that would actually take away all of our rights and begin arresting us for who we are, what we are, what we think, what we read? And so I consider this to be one of the most important pieces of legislation that we'll put forward."

Also covered in the discussion: the senator's efforts to vote down the recent blockbuster arms sale to Saudi Arabia ("winning a battle like this would send a huge message out there"), the Trump administration's tough-on-crime posture ("I think there's very little of this attorney general, this Department of Justice, doing anything favorable towards criminal justice or towards civil liberties"), criticism of Paul's vote to confirm Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and his reaction to the Comey hearing, which we teased out yesterday.

Produced and edited by Todd Krainin. Cameras by Krainin and Mark McDaniel.

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The internet is a refuge for scorned groups, from furries to mommy bloggers, and atheists have found a home there as well. “Reddit Atheist” has become shorthand for a subculture with its own memes, slang, rivalries, and parodies. While the internet has been a source of comfort for the irreligious, it has also intensified a stereotype about atheists’ self-righteous arrogance.

Despite the dominance of digital atheism, the community hasn’t made the same impact on the mobile web. The online atheism community hasn’t produced many apps of its own. Many of them are mainly collections of Richard Dawkins quotes in horrible fonts; others, like the Atheist Pocket Debater, are explicitly designed to needle Christians. While there are atheist apps, most of them are terrible, or promote arguing.

“I think the faithful have been propagating a narrative of the angry atheist for so long, and I think that there’s some legitimacy to that,” said Peter Boghossian, who teaches at Portland State University and has worked with inmates in Oregon, teaching critical thinking and moral reasoning. Boghossian, with the Richard Dawkins Foundation, created an app called Atheos to help us atheists change our reputation for being condescending doctrinaires. “I wanted to give people a tool, so if they’re approached by somebody, and instead of saying ‘delusional maniac’ and then swearing, they can explore the reasons for their beliefs,” he said.

It’s markedly different from other atheist apps in that it explicitly emphasizes not being rude to religious people. “The larger problem in society is an increasing incivility among different people holding different beliefs. I think it’s really important to have civil, respectful dialogue with people, and we just haven’t been doing that,” he told me. “So that’s a main thrust of the app.”

“None of us want this to be Iraq, right? Sunni and Shia divisions, people shooting each other because of different metaphysical beliefs about the world,” he said.

Though Boghossian used an inappropriately extreme example of religious conflict to compare, it is true that atheists are not well liked in America. A 2014 Pew Research Center survey found that Americans rated atheism far lower than all major belief systems except Islam. It’s also simply not cool to be atheist. Justin Bieber worships in shredded Japanese denim alongside Kevin Durant at Hillsong. Kanye raps about God dreams. Who do atheists have? Penn Jillette, Arian Foster, and the late Christopher “Women Aren’t Funny but the Iraq War Is for Sure Good” Hitchens. It’s grim. I’m an atheist, and I am sorry to confirm that we are the pedantic neckbeards of American culture, skulking around the Sam Harris section at Barnes & Noble and telling anyone who’ll listen that Thomas Jefferson was actually a deist.

This is not helped by reports that some atheists repurpose religious apps to fight about belief; in 2013, for example, The Washington Post reported that a regular free Bible app had gained an unusual following among nonbelievers. Another atheist has made money off of a Bible app he sells to Spanish believers. One diabolical-sounding atheist said he used a Bible app every night to “engage believers in verse-on-verse debates via Twitter.”

Atheos is meant as a corrective to the apps that encourage dismissive behavior toward believers. It’s a multilevel, multiple-choice quiz game; players select canned retorts to statements like, “You atheists are evil.” There’s a section on how to engage door-to-door Mormon missionaries, and another on disabusing Scientologists of Scientology. “The believer is going to think you’re not taking them seriously if you compare their faith to gay-dar,” one tip intones. Players are advised to refrain from asking Scientologists if they are taking any medications.

If you are looking for the world’s most accurate simulator of an interminable, politely fractitious seminar debate between Epistemology 101 students, you are in tremendous luck. Playing Atheos feels like completing homework for an online course in Atheism Studies. The glossary, which provides short definitions for jargon like “Fragenblitzen,” reinforces the scholarly vibe. The levels are divided into “caves.” It’s free, but after the first level is completed, the rest of the content is accessible only with a $5 purchase. I guess you could say it’s like Westworld, in that it’s a game about the nature of reality. I also guess you could say it’s like Westworld, because it could inspire insufferable dorm-room conversations.

While Atheos has overtures toward civility, its endgame is to make interlocutors doubtful about their most deeply held beliefs, and there’s something inherently confrontational about that. I don’t see how an app that encourages atheists to practice rebuttals and argument-hole-poking will help relationships between believers and nonbelievers. Atheos might be more useful for atheists engaging in conversation with believers if the screen simply flashed the words Maybe switch the topic to prestige TV??? anytime its sensors picked up voices using the terms “God,” “religion,” or “Neil deGrasse Tyson.” Maybe the reason there are no good apps for atheists is you just can’t make one. Atheos certainly tries, but at the crux of all these apps is either engaging in fruitless argument or strategically avoiding discussion of the very thing you downloaded an app for.

“All this back-and-forth sniping serves to do is to make us feel a sense of superiority to the person making the claims and does nothing for them except leave them with a smugness about their assumption that ‘atheists are all mean,’” former atheist blogger Martin Pribble wrote in 2013. “Faith overrides knowledge and truth in any situation, so arguing with a theist is akin to banging your head against a brick wall: You will injure yourself and achieve little.”


I haven’t posted on here in quite a long while. I feel like life took me by surprise and dragged me for months. But I’m here now, and lately I’ve felt the need to blog. To write in this blog and converse with others. I recently got laid off from my job due to lack of work. There are so many things wrong with the U.S. economy, but this isn’t the blog for that kind of talk.

I’ve fallen into a hole and I seem to not be able to climb out of it. I used to be completely optimistic and cheery. Lately things have changed and I’m quite the opposite. I stopped practicing yoga, meditating, working out, eating the way I should be and I’ve started being lazy and doing things that do not make me happy for fulfilled. It was a downward spiral and I needed to tighten my grip on reality.

I realize that no one is going to change anything for me. It’s entirely up to myself to change the negative thoughts to positive and to go out and practice kindness and happiness everywhere I go. I can’t lay down on my bed anymore and wait for something good to happen. Good things are happening all around and I haven’t opened my eyes to see them. If you want to see good in the world, like really concentrate on the good in people, you will see it. The same goes for the bad in the world. The bad is easier to see because the world is becoming more cynical and selfish.

I’m really motivated about spreading kindness and happiness. I want to show others that there is a reason to be positive even when there are a thousand negative issues going on. That there are kind people out there even if they can’t seem to find them. That just because you’ve hit a major setback in your life, it doesn’t mean it’s the end or even near the end. I want to spread good in the world.


Apparently, Color War isn’t just for kids anymore.

During a recent visiting day at her three children’s sleepaway camp in Maine, “Odd Mom Out” creator and star Jill Kargman watched as parents brought out the big guns in an all-out-battle for public affection, Upper East Side-style.

“Someone had a red wheelbarrow, pulling all the presents … There were people with Nobu sushi and I said to these moms, ‘How is that fresh?’ and they were like, ‘Oh, we were only wheels up an hour ago and we have ice packs,’” Kargman says of the private-jet-loving parents. “Someone brought a whole thing of [Chinese food from] Mr. Chow because their kids ‘missed ethnic.’”

“I know you’re happy to see your kids and it’s a big three weeks not seeing them, but it seems excessive,” says Kargman, 42, who lives in Manhattan.

Sleepaway camp is a rite of passage for many city tots. And with camps ranging from $8,000 to $13,000 for a full seven-week term, it’s an expensive one. But, for some parents, it’s not enough to send their kids away to lavish rural retreats. They hire professional packers to ensure their children’s trunks are perfectly assembled, send them off on private planes with platters of Zabar’s smoked salmon and even bring the household staff to visiting day to dust bust the cabin while the parents and kids reconnect after a grueling 3 ½ weeks apart.

“Visiting day is a whole beast in itself,” says Jodi Zgodny, co-founder of Love, Laura Gifts, which assembles extravagant baskets for the annual event. “Parents definitely want the gifts wrapped and ready to go.”

Zgodny says parents will shell out $70 for candy-covered lacrosse sticks and more than $100 for cellophane-wrapped, candy-filled packages outfitted in camp-colored ribbons. Then, there are the all-important bunk gifts — small, often custom, presents for the entire group — which can cost upward of $25 per kid (most bunks have around 10 kids).

Sometimes, the bunk gifts get even pricier.

“There might have been a rumor that somebody gave iPod shuffles to every girl in the bunk one year,” a director of an all-girls camp in New York coyly told The Post.

The camp banished the tradition five years ago after gifts became too excessive.

“It wasn’t in line with our values,” says the director, who asked to remain anonymous.

Leslie Venokur, founder of Big City Moms, a parenting Web site, sends her 8-year-old daughter, Sami, to Camp Pontiac in the Berkshires. Venokur says the girls’ beds are covered in gifts and food by the end of visiting day — no matter that all edible contraband is typically thrown out or donated after 24 hours.

“A lot of people go to their country clubs the day before and have them make their sushi platters and bring them up,” says Venokur, who lives on the Upper East Side.

“My daughter’s favorite food is steak. She loves it and I know she doesn’t have it at camp. My husband is crazy, and so he brought up a steak from Wolfgang’s on visiting day.”

For many parents, such as Upper West Sider Allysa Goldman, the excess is a way to show their love for their children.

“I was completely borderline certifiable,” says Goldman of her first year sending her now 19-year-old and 16-year-old sons to Camp Starlight in Pennsylvania (the youngest one is going for his final year this summer).

“We were notorious because we brought up so much stuff the first year and piled it up into the car and we realized we had no way of getting it all into camp,” says Goldman. “So we had to drive into town and buy those huge, huge garbage cans with wheels to put everything in it and drag everything up.”

But plain black bins didn’t cut it for Goldman.

“I went and bought stickers to decorate the garbage cans and put their names on them,” she says, with a laugh.

Some parents even take their domestic staff to visiting day.

“Every year, there are parents who bring their housekeepers to [clean],” says Goldman. “They’re there wiping the floors and spraying the Lysol.”

The third-season premiere of Kargman’s show, airing 10 p.m. July 12 on Bravo, centers around the absurdities of camp visiting day. She says nannies are more rare, but do make a cameo or two each summer. She recalls one set of parents who wouldn’t let their nanny dress down for the occasion.

“They made her wear the white Red Kap outfit,” she says. “I was like, ‘Give her a break, can’t she wear her dungarees? It’s f–king Maine. But she’s in uniform?’”

Goldman says some families will even pay to drive out all the “bunk junk” and food separately.

Flying private to visiting day is the new norm for the elite.

“The [hired help] will set everything up on the grass with a little tent and everything and leave,” says Goldman.

This sort of over-the-top behavior starts well before visiting day.

Parents shell out thousands of dollars for customized camp gear ranging from $100 splatter-painted sleeping bags to $175 Uggs with their children’s name spray-painted on.

And, then, there are the professional packers.

Zgodny’s company offers packing services at $100 an hour with a three-hour minimum.

“[My employees] bring Ziplocs and containers and Sharpies and label everything,” says Zgodny.

“They’ll put dryer sheets between each layer of clothes, so when they come to camp, it smells good. And they’ll put a nice gift on top, too,” she says of the new trend of a “trunk gift.”

Of course, parents save some extravagances for themselves, too.

Flying private to visiting day is the new norm for the elite who want to skirt a hellish 5-hour-plus drive to Maine and other out-of-the-way locales.

For those who don’t have their own jets, there’s Blade, which first launched private plane service to five camps last summer. This summer, they have expanded to 20 top camps in the Upper New York region, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Maine. One-way seats cost $425 to $525, according to Blade general manager Evan Licht, who says they’ve already sold out of certain flights.

Kargman says two parents offered her and her husband a ride home on their jet after last year’s visiting day.

“I was like, ‘Well, we have our car so that doesn’t work.’ And she says, ‘Send your people for it.’

“I’m like, ‘I don’t have people.’”


ERBIL, Iraq — As Iraqi Kurdistan heads to a controversial independence referendum on Sept. 25, divisions are running deep in the Turkmen community, which, like the Kurds, has claims over the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Turkey's official policy terms Kirkuk “a Turkmen city,” and many Turks generally think that all Turkmens are on the same page. But the reality on the ground is different. To start with, the Turkmens in Erbil and Kirkuk differ in their stances on the prospect of Kurdish independence. Some Turkmens insist on the territorial integrity of Iraq, but others argue that cohabitation with the Kurds is easier. The Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), the largest party representing the Turkmens, is opposed to the referendum, while the Turkmen Development Party, founded by a group that split from the ITF, backs the referendum, arguing that Kurdistan is already a de facto state dealing directly with foreign countries.

Turkey’s and Iran’s policies are another factor swaying Turkmen positions. For quite a while, Turkey has been advising the Turkmens to stay on good terms with the Kurds, which is contributing to the divergence of positions. Shiite Turkmens, meanwhile, have turned increasingly to Baghdad since the Islamic State’s (IS) onslaught in 2014.

Based on their reactions to the referendum, two major trends are discernible among the Turkmens. For those who live in Erbil, the Kurdistan project is not much of a problem. They argue they have been able to preserve their language and culture in Kurdistan, while Turkmens in the rest of Iraq have been obliterated. The Turkmens in Kirkuk, meanwhile, are worried that an independent Kurdistan would lead to the fragmentation of Turkmen areas, with the city of Kirkuk probably going to Kurdistan and towns such as Taza Khormato, Tal Afar, Tuz Khormato, Amerli, Qarah Tabbah and Jalawla staying with Iraq. This would mean an end to the dream of a Turkmen homeland, idealized in nationalist quarters.

ITF member Aydin Maruf, one of the five Turkmens in the Kurdistan parliament, paints a tough outlook for a community hit by geographical and sectarian divisions and relying on different powers for protection.

Maruf told Al-Monitor that “Baghdad’s sectarian polices” had pushed the Kurds to seek independence, arguing that the Iraqi Kurdistan Region had progressed both politically and democratically. “Holding a referendum is a right. Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens alike can do that,” he said.

Maruf said the referendum was causing problems mostly in Kirkuk and Mosul. “In the disputed areas, neither Turkmens nor Arabs accept the referendum, and 70% of Turkmens live in the disputed areas,” he said, stressing that the Kurds should have sought dialogue with other ethnic groups, including the Turkmens, before making the move.

He said that according to the Iraqi Constitution, Kirkuk, Tuz Khormato, Taza Khormato and Tal Afar do not belong to the Kurdistan region. “Their status must be resolved within a constitutional framework. That’s why the Iraqi Turkmen Front does not accept holding the referendum in the disputed areas,” he said.

“We have never opposed the rights of the Kurds,” Maruf said. “We are living together. When the Baath regime [stormed the region] in 1991, the bombs rained on all of us. Our destiny is one. If there is a [Kurdish] state, we will be in that state, and if there is a war, we will be in that war as well. I’m talking about Erbil here. The situation is different for those in Kirkuk and Mosul. If Iraq disintegrates, will it be only Kurdistan seceding? The Sunni Arabs might secede as well. Then, what will happen to the Turkmens in Mosul and Tal Afar?”

While some Turkmens charge that the Kurds have been trying to Kurdicize Kirkuk and cannot be trusted, the Kurds argue that Kurdistan is the best guarantee of Turkmen rights. According to prominent Kurdish commentator Massoud Abdulkhaliq, Kirkuk’s Turkmens would be better off as part of Kurdistan. “The Turkmens used to have presence in all provinces and districts of Iraq. Now it is only in Kurdistan, which means they get along better with the Kurds than with the Arabs. No one is harassing them here,” he told Al-Monitor in Erbil. “They insist that Kirkuk remain attached to Baghdad, but if it does, they will be finished in Kirkuk, too, as they were in other regions.”

The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) rejects accusations that the Turkmens have been subjected to ethnic cleansing and excluded from the administration.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Mohammed Khurshid, the KDP head in Kirkuk, described a tradition of cultural diversity involving Kurds, Turkmens, Jews and Christians. That is why Kirkuk natives are called “quadrilinguals,” he said.

Khurshid continued, “After 1930, Bedouin Arabs were settled in Hawija to the south of Kirkuk. In 1963, the Arabs of Hawija attacked the Kurds, setting 300 villages ablaze. Hawija has always been a threat to Kirkuk. They attacked Turkmen villages as well. The Arabs of Hawija seized Turkmen lands. The [Arabization] project accelerated after 1974 under Saddam Hussein. In 1988, all Kurdish villages in Kirkuk were burned and destroyed. A total of 758 villages were either destroyed or resettled with Arabs. The people exiled from Kirkuk settled in Dahuk and Erbil.”

Khurshid denied any deliberate Kurdish policy to drive the Turkmens out of Kirkuk. “I don’t say there are no assassinations and explosions, but no Kurdish group has a policy of denial vis-a-vis the Turkmens,” he said. “Before 2003, there was not even one Turkmen school in the city. Thanks to the Kurdish government, the Turkmens have opened several schools. They are even using the Latin alphabet. The Iraqi government does not accept that, but we do.” Khurshid drew a comparison to Erbil, where, he said, Turkmens had a school before 2003. He argued that Kurds had been supportive of the idea that Turkmens hold senior administrative posts.

The status of Kurds who were driven out of rural Kirkuk is an issue. Khurshid said the Iraqi government failed to provide support to revive the old villages. “As a result, the people settled not in the villages but in the cities. The Turkmens are now complaining that the Kurds have settled in urban centers. … The Kurds moved to lands allocated by the government, not to other people’s homes,” he said, adding that Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who served as president of Iraq, built 1,000 homes in the town of Bashir, near Kirkuk, and gave them away to Turkmen returnees.

“In our view, Kirkuk belongs to all of us. It’s a city of all nationalities and religions,” Khurshid said. He referred also to a proposal he had drawn up at the request of Kurdish leaders for a special status for Kirkuk within Kurdistan. The proposal, presented to representatives of other groups on July 30, outlines a power-sharing formula according to which the bloc that comes out first in the elections gets the governor’s post, the second the post of provincial council speaker, the third the deputy governor’s post and the fourth the deputy speaker’s post. Given the demographic structure, the governor’s post would likely go to the Kurds, the speaker’s post to the Arabs, the deputy governor’s post to the Turkmens and the deputy speaker’s post to the Christians, Khurshid said. “Yet,” he added, “the Turkmens demand that the third ticket gets both the deputy governor’s and deputy speaker’s posts. We reject that because the Christians would be cast out.”

Beyond those disagreements, another important factor has changed Turkmen perspectives. Because they see Turkey as a protector and guarantor, Turkmens used to say they did not need to arm themselves. Yet at least 12,000 Turkmens have joined the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) since the force was created in 2014 to fight IS, and now many believe that the PMU would fight for the Turkmens if need be.

The fear of an armed conflict with the PMU is rife among the Kurds. Recalling the 2015 flare-up between the Kurdish peshmerga forces and the PMU in Tuz Khormato, Abdulkhaliq said, “In Mosul, [the PMU] controls 12 of the 16 disputed areas, while the remaining four are in peshmerga hands. The danger of clashes is more serious in Tuz Khormato and to the south of Kirkuk.”

Former KDP lawmaker Aso Karim drew attention to the PMU’s Iranian connections. “[The PMU] is growing and could step into action to retake the disputed areas. Iran is influential here,” he said.

In an interview in Sulaimaniyah, Jalal Jawhar, a senior member of the Movement for Change (Gorran), also voiced concern that actors opposed to Kurdistan could start clashes in the disputed areas.

The referendum may be a natural right of the Kurds, but myriad uncertainties engulf the day after. The Kurds might still be able to avoid disaster scenarios if they follow more inclusive, flexible and prudent policies.


CLEVELAND (AP) -- Shaquille O'Neal's curious about one aspect of LeBron James' impending return to face angry Cavaliers fans -- the pregame ritual.

"I'm a silly fan,'' O'Neal said. "I'm anxious to see if he's going to do that powder thing.''

James' homecoming on Thursday, his first game in Cleveland since deciding to join the Miami Heat this summer, may be the most anticipated matchup on the NBA schedule this season. Cavaliers fans are expected to mercilessly boo James, whose departure impacted the city's economy and psyche.

During his seven seasons in Cleveland, James developed a routine -- before home and away games -- of filling his hands with a white powdered rosin and tossing it above his head just before tip-off, creating a dust cloud that has become as much his signature as any powerful dunk.

On Tuesday, James seemed unsure if he would do it in front of fans who may no longer appreciate the snow-like spectacle.

"The powder? I probably will,'' James said after practice in Miami on Tuesday. "That's just a ritual for myself, a routine that I've always done, I've done on the road. I don't know. We'll see. I may change. I don't know.''

O'Neal, who has felt the wrath of fans after leaving Orlando and Los Angeles, can't wait to find out.

"We have bets that he doesn't do it,'' said O'Neal, in town with the Boston Celtics to play the Cavaliers.

Dwyane Wade believes his Miami teammate will stick with his pregame powder ceremony.

"I wouldn't expect him to do anything different,'' Wade said. "He's done it for every game he's played. So why change it just for one game? If he doesn't throw it up, I'll throw it up for him. That's what he does. You cannot stop doing what you do. Moreso than anything, that's his ritual. That's what gets him ready for the game.

"No one's going to know until tip-off. And we'll be excited to see.''


Bray Wyatt has qualified to feature in the Money In The Bank WWE Title Ladder Match, besting Dean Ambrose in a qualifier match at the June 10th SmackDown tapings. We can also report that John Cena is scheduled to be added to the title match at some point, according to an update at F4wonline. That would make the line up to six big stars fighting for the title on June 29th, Cesaro vs Sheamus vs Orton vs Del Rio vs Cena vs Wyatt. Apparently WWE have already decided on who will be the new champion, and the company are also mulling over a second ladder match for the traditional MITB briefcase title shot. An argument could be made that Money In The Bank 2014 is in fact now stronger from Daniel Bryan's absence. His scheduled match against Kane was hardly a big sell to begin with. Instead we now have six of WWE's biggest stars fighting it out to be the new WWE Champion and a possible second ladder match on the show. Wyatt beat Ambrose in the SmackDown match after Seth Rollins ran in to distract the Shield member. It looks as if we will get Ambrose vs Rollins in a one on one undercard match at the pay per view, with Roman Reigns possibly doing nothing more than acting as enforcer at ringside. Overall the Money In The Bank pay per view is shaping up to be a great show, the addition of Wyatt into the title equation is exciting, we now await the final qualifier which will probably be Cena next week on Raw.


Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

June 5, 2014, 3:16 PM GMT / Updated June 5, 2014, 3:58 PM GMT

A senior politician from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party has been quoted saying that sometimes rape is "right," sparking renewed outrage about rampant sexual assault in that country.

"This is a social crime which depends on men and women. Sometimes it's right, sometimes it's wrong," Babulal Gaur, home minister of Madhya Pradesh state, was quoted as saying in the Hindustan Times. "Until there's a complaint, nothing can happen."

Gaur is from Prime Minister Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Modi has so far been silent about the May 26 gang rape and murder of two teenage girls in the north of the country. Three men later confessed to the attacks, which ended with the girls being hung from a mango tree.

The 14- and 15-year-old cousins were from a poor family without operating toilets in their home and disappeared after going into fields to relieve themselves.


One of the most important things determining the quality of a photo is the angle from which it was taken. Even if you have a really interesting subject and you follow the most important composition guidelines, you still need to find that unique and interesting angle to really make your photo shine.

In this article I’m going to share my 9 best tips for finding the perfect angle so that your iPhone photos really stand out and look as great as they possibly can…

1. Move around to improve composition

Whenever you’re trying to pick the best angle for a photo, you should always think about balancing the composition, and the angle that you shoot from makes a huge difference for the horizontal and vertical balance of the photo. Let me show you what I mean with an example.

In this photo my subjects are the tree in the foreground and the mountain in the background. The photo is balanced horizontally as the two subjects are at the opposite sides of the frame. However, it’s not balanced vertically as there is nothing of interest in the top half of the frame, and all visual weight is concentrated at the bottom half of the frame.

Now let’s look at the same scene from a different angle. The next photo was shot from the same location with the iPhone positioned higher and the lens directed more towards the ground.

Here you can see pretty much the opposite – there’s nothing of interest at the bottom half of the frame, and all visual weight is concentrated at the top. It’s tempting to think that the best solution would be aligning both the tree and the mountain centrally, but then all visual weight would be in the middle, and the top and the bottom would then look empty.

However, I was able to balance this image by walking closer to the tree so that the shadow is also included in the composition. Now the tree takes up the top and central parts of the image, the mountain is in the central part, and the shadow fills up the bottom third of the image. I hope this example shows you how easy it can be to adjust composition by just moving around a little.

2. Shoot from the height of your subject

We look at the world from the height of our eyes, and thus it’s only natural to also take photos from the same height. However, in many photography situations – such as taking photos of children, pets or plants – shooting from the height of your eyes will almost always result in bad photos.

When photographing children and animals, you should take photos from their height and thus capture the world from their point of view. If you just shoot from the height of your own eyes, your subjects will literally look like they’ve been tossed on the ground.

3. Get close… and even closer

A great way to make your photos more intimate is to get closer to your subjects – even closer than you would feel comfortable. That way your photos can convey the kind of intimacy that is normally only found in real life.

Did you notice that this photo is shot from the height of the cat?

4. Add perspective to your photos

When possible, try to choose an angle that will show perspective in your photos. There are a few different ways you can do this. If your subject is far away, one simple way to show perspective is to juxtapose it with larger-looking objects in the foreground as seen below.

If the view extends into the distance, you can show perspective by shooting from a higher angle as seen in the next photo. I took this photo from a staircase so that my main subject – the silhouette of a women – is situated against the street extending far into the background.

Another great way to show perspective is to get really low with your iPhone. That creates an exaggerated perspective by making the objects in the foreground look massive, which can be used to emphasize details on the ground level and make the image more immersive.

5. Include interesting reflections

An easy way to greatly improve your photos and make mundane scenes exciting is to include reflections in your photos. While you can find reflections on many different surfaces, water is perhaps the most obvious medium for interesting and unique reflections.

In general, I prefer to include both the actual subjects and their refections in the photo, and I like to make the reflections equally or more prominent than the other parts of the photo. Often the only way you can do this is by placing the lens of your iPhone just a little bit above the water. If the iPhone is even an inch higher, you probably won’t be able to frame the photo as needed.

Another great reason to place the iPhone within an inch above the water is that even the tiniest waves – which you can also create yourself – will look massive and distort the reflection, which of course also adds perspective to the photo. This is something you can only do with a smartphone since in traditional cameras the lens is placed much higher from the bottom of the camera.

6. Include shadows in the composition

Many photos can be greatly enhanced by also including shadows in the composition. This works particularly well if you shoot within the so-called golden hour, which is the hour before sunset (or after sunrise) when the shadows are longer and much more pronounced.

To make sure that the shadows fit in with the rest of the composition, treat them like you would treat any other photography subject. Quite often it means that your photos with shadows should be shot from the top with the ground taking up a large part of the composition.

7. Shoot from the hip

Shooting from hip height is one of the best ways to improve your street photos and other photos of people that are not portraits. By changing the angle like this you can make the photo more dynamic and interesting just because we normally don’t look at other people from that angle.

You could either get down on your knees to maintain full control over the process, or you can just lower your iPhone and literally shoot from the hip to add some randomness to your photos.

8. Tilt your photos for a more dynamic look

Who said you should always keep your iPhone straight and take perfectly horizontal photos? For some reason that’s exactly what we end up doing 99% of the time. However, there are situations when tilting the iPhone a little will result in a far more interesting and unique photos.

This is one of my favorite iPhone photos, and it’s made much more interesting by the subtle but perceptible tilting of the frame. Of course, the subjects couldn’t walk like this in real life, thus making this photo a bit surreal.

9. Always keep experimenting

You should always keep experimenting and looking for a unique and interesting angle for your photos. Don’t just take a photo the way you see the scene, try to change the angle and see how that changes the photo. Don’t just settle for the first version of what could be a great photo.

Maybe you want to get down on your knees, maybe you want to climb the nearby stairs and take the photo from there, or maybe you want to get closer to your subject. Always keep experimenting with unique shooting angles, and you won’t be disappointed with the results.

Emil Pakarklis is the founder of iPhone Photography School, a website that helps people take better photos with the iPhone.

All photos in this article were shot and edited with iPhone 4S.


Yeast. They already participate in producing some of the most popular pain-killing substances around: beer and wine. Now, scientists have engineered yeast that can also make one of the most powerful analgesics: morphine. Their work is in the journal Nature Chemical Biology. [Kate Thodey, Stephanie Galanie and Christina D. Smolke, A microbial biomanufacturing platform for natural and semisynthetic opioids]

Opiates like morphine and codeine are essential for treating severe pain. But making these meds isn’t easy. All are derived from opium poppies, and tens to hundreds of thousands of tons are needed to meet global needs. The crops can also be affected by climate, disease and even political turmoil in the countries where the plants are grown, which further limits commercial production.

To get around these potential challenges, researchers have turned to yeast, an organism that can be grown easily on industrial scales.

The scientists inserted into yeast cells a handful of genes isolated from the opium poppy. These genes encode the enzymes the plants use to produce opiates. After tweaking the system to adjust the relative amounts of the enzymes, the researchers could feed their yeast a precursor chemical called thebaine, and get pure morphine in return.

The yeast can’t yet make opiates from scratch. But with a bit more effort and a few more enzymes, yeast may produce painkillers that are prescription strength.

—Karen Hopkin

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]

[Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.]


Since the Pac-12 expanded to 12 teams in 2011, the annual showdown between Oregon and Stanford hasn't been as much a North Division game as an annual coronation. Four of the last five times these teams met, the winner would go on to win the Pac-12 championship.

And once they got to the league's title game, they typically dominated their South brethren. The first five Pac-12 championship games have been won by either Oregon or Stanford by an average of three touchdowns. It was a shared dynasty that was the envy of the league's 10 other programs.

Oregon has a 3-6 record and may miss playing in a bowl game for the first time in a dozen years. Chris Williams/Icon Sportswire

Stanford travels to Oregon on Saturday, only this time the duo's monopoly on conference titles was broken up weeks ago. Regardless of the outcome, neither will win the conference. And neither will win the North. Both programs have yielded to the gentlemen from the great state of Washington … or the great Washington State. The Cougars and Huskies swept the Cardinal and Ducks in blowout victories, effectively marking the end of one epoch and trumpeting in the Pac-12's Age of Apples.

The Oregon-Stanford matchup has traditionally influenced playoff and BCS tides. But this year it wouldn't make a ripple in a kiddie pool. The once-ordained have been reduced to ordinary.

Yet while there are no national stakes at play for either team, there is still plenty worth investing in. The Cardinal (6-3, 4-3) -- despite their injuries and stilted offense -- still have a shot at a nine-win season and a mid-tier bowl game.

Oregon (3-6, 1-5) needs to win to keep its slim hopes of making the postseason alive. The Ducks have lost six of their last seven and are in danger of missing a bowl game for the first time since 2004.

This has traditionally been a game of competing philosophies: Oregon with its up-tempo, high-scoring brand of offense against Stanford's stalwart defense. And that still holds true. The Ducks are No. 4 in the league in scoring offense at 38.2 points per game. Stanford has the league's No. 3 scoring defense, yielding just 18.6 points per game.

But there's another contrast this year. Oregon's defense can't stop hemorrhaging points. Stanford's offense can't find any. The Ducks are 11th in the league in scoring defense. Stanford is last in offense.

EDITOR'S PICKS Week 10 Pac-12 Power Rankings

College GameDay travels to Seattle to see the two hottest teams in the Pac-12 face off in Washington and USC.

It's the stoppable force versus the movable object.

Last year was the only time the winner of this game didn't win the league title. Oregon pulled out a tight 38-36 victory at Stanford, eliminating the Cardinal from playoff contention. But Stanford still went on to win the conference and roll through the Rose Bowl.

That's been a theme in this matchup -- one knocking the other out of something significant. In 2012, it was the Cardinal who topped the Ducks in Eugene in overtime, spoiling an undefeated season and paving the way for that barn-burning Notre Dame-Alabama BCS championship. A year later the Cardinal again topped an undefeated Oregon team. And then in 2015, it was the Ducks who bounced the Cardinal from playoff consideration.

Oregon has won the last two, but three of the last four meetings have come down to one possession.

This game also features two of the league's preseason Heisman favorites -- running backs Christian McCaffrey from Stanford and Royce Freeman from Oregon. Both were coming off outstanding, record-breaking seasons in 2015. But injuries have slowed them statistically and negatively impacted their teams.

It's a situation neither of these teams wanted to be in Week 11. This is the game that's always been circled as an exhibition of the Pac-12's best and brightest. Heismans have been won and lost in this game. Opinions have been molded. National landscapes have been altered.

But not this year. Every game is important and every game matters. You won't find a player in either locker room who doesn't care about the outcome. This is just the first time in a long time that the rest of the country won't be watching. Because this time around it's not a coronation. It's just another North Division game.


(Image: Oli Scarff/Getty)

It may look like a sci-fi movie prop, but it could be a glimpse at the future of prosthetics.

3D printing can render everyday artefacts in clear plastic, so we can see in unprecedented detail how they work – and this exquisite model of a prosthetic arm is a brilliant example. It is one of the highlights at the London Science Museum’s 3D printing exhibition, which features more than 600 printed objects.

Designed by Richard Hague, director of the Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Research Group at the University of Nottingham, UK, and his students the arm shows how the printers can create strong structure, mobile joints and delicate sensors – like spiral-shaped metal touch-detectors – all in one process.

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“It’s a mock-up but it shows circuits that sense temperature, feel objects and control the arm’s movement,” says Hague. “3D printing gives us the freedom to make complex, optimised shapes, and our research aim is focused on printing-in electrical, optical or even biological functions.”

Such techniques are also bringing prosthetics to people who previously could not afford them. For instance, the open-source “robohand” project, pioneered by South African carpenter Richard Van As, aims to print cheap, plastic customised prostheses for people who have lost fingers, or who were born with some digits missing or malformed. Some of his work – with the designs available online – is also on show at the Science Museum.

See more: “What our 3D-printed future looks like“


How To Fight Like Saenchai

Watch and Learn Saenchai’s Best Muay Thai Techniques and Tricks

Observing Saenchai’s skills in person is mentally exhausting.

His raw talent is just mind-blowing and it’s nearly impossible to figure out how he fights so perfectly. I was blessed to watch him teach a session at Phoenix MMA (Bournemouth, UK) and managed to film a lot of the techniques and drills he was demonstrating.

Saenchai has been my idol since I started Muay Thai, so it’s my absolute privilege to share his favourite techniques with you. Whilst they are mechanically quite simple, the timing and precision he performs them with is what makes them so effective:

#1. Saenchai’s Kicks

His unique flexibility allows him to bring his chamber up high with amazing speed and control. When he raises his thigh for a round kick, you have NO idea whether you’re about to get booted in the leg or take a shin to the head:

Question Mark Kick

Start by swinging your kick at your opponent’s leg, then at the last minute elevate your chamber and smash your foot into their confused face. The final blow may end up as more of a karate/tkd-esque flick (which finishes at the target) than a traditional Muay Thai round kick (which goes through the target).

Key points – Make sure you pop up hard onto the toes of your standing leg to help achieve a good snap in the kick and to help it reach the head. Saenchai makes it look so easy mainly because he has such loose hip flexors, better get stretching if you want to throw it as smoothly as he does.

Flying Switch Teep

Once you understand the quick footwork required, this highly explosive teep combination will send your opponent flying across the ring whilst making you look like an absolute baller: Throw a front leg teep, then as it lands back on the floor, quickly drag your rear foot up to the front. Now throw your front knee up and jump up off your rear foot. As you’re in mid-air, throw the rear teep. Having blasted your opponent with your rear foot, bring it back behind you so that you land in your normal stance.

Key point – Throw the front knee as high as you can before executing the kick to make yourself look as G as possible.

Fake Round Kick Into Teep

Saenchai uses this classic technique better than anyone: Deceitfully throw a rear round kick chamber out wide to draw a front leg check from your opponent. As they are balanced on one leg, lean back and extend your foot straight down the middle to send them collapsing into a puddle of gullible shame.

Key point – Exaggerate and sell the initial round kick chamber to force a check.

#2. How to Miss/Avoid a Kick

Missing A Kick By staying face on to your opponent after you throw and miss a kick, you’re telling the judges that you have complete control of your movements. Also, if you’re looking at your opponent after a miss, it’s easier to detect any incoming counter attacks (sorry to state the painfully obvious). So, next time you miss a kick and swing around in a full circle whilst raising an anticipatory check in foolish panic as you present your back to your opponent, slap yourself. Saenchai would not be pleased.

P.S. There’s a reason Saenchai struts around like he’s just fucked the entire Playboy Mansion: Muay Thai judges favor ring authority and aggression so his confrontational and arrogant swagger tells the judges he’s commanding the situation.

Key Point – Develop your own ring character (and definitely don’t copy his, or any fighter’s, because people will just laugh at your unoriginality)

The Lean Back

No one pulls this off more stylishly than Saenchai. You’ll see videos of him bending backwards to the point he’s basically entering the matrix, but you don’t actually need to be that flexible to do this move efficiently. The evasiveness of the technique comes from stepping back with your rear foot and leaning back just enough to avoid the kick. Making a more minimal movement will also allow you to counter more efficiently.

Key points – Stepping back enough with the rear foot and not bending back too much.

#3. Elbows Notice how small his movements are when he throws his elbow strikes. When timed properly, elbows do enough damage without the need to dedicate your entire body weight and mortgage behind the shot. You unnecessarily risk losing balance if you over commit. Rear Cross Elbow Watch how he steps out at a 45 degree angle with his lead foot. This allows the elbow to travel in a wider arc and build more momentum which will create a more powerful blow. Most people make the mistake of stepping straight forward when throwing the elbow which limits the strike’s power. Key point – Step out at 45 degrees. Countering Knee With Up-Elbow Watch how he waits for Pakorn to commit to the knee before stepping in with his own elbow counter. This strike is best thrown as a counter against your opponent’s movement. Key point – He doesn’t just blindly throw the strike hoping it will hit. Countering Hook With Up-Elbow Key point – Reach out and meet the punch to prevent your opponent locking on a collar tie. #4. The Clinch Fuck clinching with Saenchai. Ever. Duck under A powerful position to obtain. This essentially turns your opponent into your bitch. Notice how Saenchai blocks Pakorn’s elbow after clearing the arm to avoid being struck by it? Ensure you also pull your opponent at a downward 45 degree angle to break their balance. Key point – block the elbow and take a big step with your rear knee to load up the strike. Cross face As your opponent reaches to collar tie you, duck under their arm and push their face in the opposite direction to lock out their arm and completely fuck with their body’s mechanics. It’s essential to pull this move off quickly to avoid being countered as you do it. Key point – do it fast. Body head knee combo This isn’t related to clinch, but it’s a wicked combination I wanted to share. Key point – Exaggerate the duck down as you throw the overhand to sell it like a body shot, this will help lower your opponent’s guard and increase your chances of putting him to bed. (Thank you to Yokkao for putting this seminar together and allowing me to film. To all the Pakorn fans wondering why I left him out, it’s because he didn’t do any teaching. He’s still a legend in his own right, he just didn’t have any relevance to this article!) Bonus Saenchai Technique Breakdown Video

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Author Profile Sam Razvi Sam is a travelling fighter/journalist from England. He backpacked to Thailand to learn Muay Thai when he was 18 where he ended up having 4 professional fights. He then trained kickboxing in Holland where he learned how much it sucks to not take a leg kick properly. Having also performed stand-up comedy he likes to think he's funny, so please forgive him for any ridiculous jokes (and for the audacity of writing about himself in the 3rd person). Check his travelling fight blog here - http://www.pineapplesamurai.com. Latest entries Author Archives Culture Western Muay Thai vs Thailand Muay Thai

Western Muay Thai vs Thailand Muay Thai Technique How To Fight Like Saenchai

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With Brisbane Festival in full swing, we round up the best places cheap cafes and restaurants in the city – whether you fancy a big bowl of ramen, delicate French pastries or beer and burgers

Mrs Luu's Vietnamese Canteen

This is not your traditional-style Vietnamese restaurant. The family who own Mrs Luu's used to run one of the most popular Vietnamese restaurants in Brisbane, but for this latest venture, they have taken just a handful of favourites and given them a contemporary twist. The "three little piggies'" banh mi (Vietnamese baguette sandwich) is a combination of barbecued pork, Vietnamese-style ham and their own porchetta, piled high with crunchy, fragrant salad ($7). There are six varieties of goi cuon rice paper rolls (two for $6) and daily blackboard specials, such as green papaya salad with king prawns and pork belly, or Mrs Luu's own pho thai nam (rare beef brisket and noodle soup). Cash only, but there is an ATM on the premises.

• 25 Railway Terrace, Milton, +61 (0) 7 3369 5760

Little Greek Taverna

Little Greek Taverna, Brisbane

It's bustling, rowdy and a bit rough-and-ready, and that's all part of the appeal. This family-run restaurant is hard to beat when it comes to hearty, home-style Greek fare. Select from a list of mezedes, which includes homemade dips, classic zucchini fritters with tzatziki and Aunty Thea Ellie's tiropita (crisp, golden pastry filled with a mixture of warm feta and ricotta cheese, $6). Generous servings of souvlaki come with salad for $15, or $5 per skewer. In addition to traditional yiros (kebabs) at $10 a plate, there's a range of grilled seafood, including octopus, prawns, calamari and scallops (all under $20). You can bring your own wine (corkage $2) and they'll throw in the party atmosphere for free.

• 1 Browning St West End, +61 (0) 7 3255 2215, www.littlegreektaverna.com.au

Double Shot Espresso

The guys who run this pint-sized neighbourhood cafe have been in the hospitality game for many years and it shows. Chef Michael manages to turn out an array of perfect cakes, tarts, terrines, sandwiches and innovative breakfast fare from the minuscule kitchen, while Ross manages front-of-house with unflappable cheer, despite how hectic it can be on weekends. You can't beat their banoffee pie. The espresso here is well-made, and as strong as the cafe's name suggests. There simply isn't a dud option on the menu, with everything under $20. Be sure to take cash as there are no card facilities.

• 125 Oxlade Drive New Farm, +61 (0) 7 3358 6556.

Jan Powers Farmers Market, Brisbane City

A salad from Nom Noms

This normally drab corner of the concrete jungle is transformed every Wednesday, bringing a little bit of the Queensland country to the Central Business District. Farmers and producers peddle their delicious wares to a bustling crowd of city workers, students and visitors. For around $10 (£6), you can take your pick from hand-crafted dumplings, German Bratwurst and tasty vegetarian options from the Nom Noms stall. This is also the place for hunting and gathering locally made cheese, hot-smoked salmon, artisan sourdough, macaroons, brownies and ginger beer – all the makings of a perfect riverside picnic in the nearby botanical gardens.

• Reddacliff Place (top of the Queen St Mall), George St, Brisbane, every Wednesday; janpowersfarmersmarkets.com.au.

Swamp Dog

Smoked sardines, toasted sourdough, feta and dried tomatoes from Swampdog

At this edgy little South Brisbane fish and chippery, it's all about sustainable seafood, with an emphasis on locally caught fish. Pull up a stool at the big communal table and help yourself to homemade lemonade, or order a takeaway and head down to nearby South Bank Parklands. Sample Moreton Bay mullet and chips ($10.90) or salt-and-pepper calamari with preserved lemon aioli and chips ($12.90). Our favourites are the mackerel cutlet with zingy pineapple and coriander salsa ($16.90) and the tempura whiting with ginger prawn mousse and fragrant, crunchy Viet-style salad ($14.90).

• 186 Vulture St South Brisbane, +61 (0) 7 3255 3715, swampdog.com.au.

Sourced Grocer

It's the city's hippest market cafe, offering a simple, produce-driven menu, served against an industrial-chic backdrop of gourmet goodies, cut flowers and some of the best fresh produce around. The simple menu is handwritten on the white subway-tiled wall and reads like a who's who of local artisan producers. Food is as wholesome as it is delicious – salads such as the Noosa smokehouse salmon, freekeh tabbouleh, pistachio, grapes and goat's cheese ($12) will keep the taste buds and the scales happy. The bircher muesli and smashed avocado on sourdough are some of the best you'll find.

• 11 Florence St Newstead, +61 (0) 7 3852 6734, sourcedgrocer.com.au

The Bun Mobile

bun mobile

Brisbane's first food truck set the bar high. This is fast food with class, offering simple, freshly steamed Chinese-style buns packed with flavoursome fillings. Buns are $8 each ($10 for the daily special), and there are always vegetarian and gluten-free options. Slow-cooked Wagyu beef with soy-pickled shitake mushrooms is a menu staple, as is the char-grilled teriyaki chicken with carrot and mint 'slaw and Japanese mayo. The twice-cooked pork version with hoisin and sakura-pickled cucumber is worth crossing town for – check the location calendar on their website as these buns get around.

• +61 (0) 401 420 922, thebunmobile.com.au

Taro's Ramen

Taro's Ramen, Brisbane

The ground floor of an office tower in the Central Business District seems an unlikely spot for what is undoubtedly the city's best ramen, but it's worth battling the lunchtime crush for a bowl of their signature Red Tonkatsu Ramen ($15.90). Made from Bangalow pork bones, the rich stock has been bubbling away for two days by the time it's ladled into your bowl with tender, slow-roasted char siu pork, noodles, nori, seasoned egg and shallots. Naturally, noodles are made on the premises. For a tamer option, the shoyu ramen broth is a balanced blend of vegetable, chicken and seafood – or try "golden triple soup" with aged soy for a delectable umami hit ($13.90).

• 363 Adelaide St Brisbane, +61 (0) 7 3832 6358, taros.com.au.

Chouquette

First-time visitors stare agape at the baskets of traditional baguettes, golden croissants and exquisitely delicate cakes on display in this little New Farm establishment. With a host of French-born and –trained pastry chefs in the kitchen and cafe, all rattling off orders to one another in French, this is the most authentic boulangerie-patisserie experience this side of Paris. Best of all, despite the commitment to traditional slow-fermentation bread-baking methods and quality ingredients, you can eat like a French queen here for surprisingly little. Take your pick from any of the picture-perfect pastries – the chocolate torsade and almond croissant are standouts; add a well-made espresso and expect to hand over a meagre $10 for the pleasure.

• 19 Barker St New Farm, +61 (0) 7 3358 6336, chouquette.com.au

Tippler's Tap

Tippler's Tap, Brisbane

This is Brisbane's unofficial craft beer headquarters. A dark, hip little hideaway in Newstead with a staggering array of craft beers and fantastic, Chicago-style bar food. Whether your chosen tipple is a Bacchus Queensland Ale or My Wife's Bitter from Burleigh Brewing Company on the Gold Coast, the bar snacks are a drawcard in themselves. Order a hearty bowl of Grandma Kennedy's chilli with crusty organic sourdough, or share a 1kg serving of Buffalo wings with blue cheese sauce and celery sticks (both $10). Sliders are some of the best around. It's impossible to choose between the classic beef-cheese-onion-mustard combination and the pork belly, caramel star-anise, pickled cucumber and cilantro, so hedge your bets and go with the five for $20 deal.

• 22 Masters St Newstead, tipplerstap.com.au.

Morag writes for extravirgin.net.au. She also hosts a food tour of Queensland on 612 ABC Evenings (Wednesdays 8.15pm).


Pick virtually any issue facing America today, and you will find a generous collection of Republican lies on the subject. Some are actually well-crafted lies, difficult to disprove, but some are so totally over the edge that a fifth grader could expose them, like this one, so why do they do it?

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., delivered one of her signature hard-hitting speeches at the Values Voter Summit, a conference for socially conservative activists on Sept. 17, 2010. At one point, Bachmann took a shot at the woman who leads her chamber, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Pelosi, Bachmann said, "has been busy sticking the taxpayer with her $100,000 bar tab for alcohol on the military jets that she’s flying." Bachmann was referring to the Air Force jets that Pelosi uses to fly internationally and back to her home in San Francisco. (Her Republican predecessor, Dennis Hastert of Illinois, used them as well, under a program approved under President George W. Bush.) Bachman’s claim drew a rapid counterattack from the Speaker’s office, as aides revived arguments they’d used when the allegation first surfaced months earlier. Among other things, Pelosi’s office noted that the Speaker "does not drink alcohol" and that there "is no alcohol service on the domestic flights the Air Force operates for travel from Washington to San Francisco for the Speaker."… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Politifact>

Of course Batshit Bachmann was busted on her lie, as she has been dozens of times before. So why bother? Two paradigms come into play here.

First, if Republicans told the truth, nobody would vote for them, except for the richest and most hate filled in our culture.


A medical worker has been suspended from duty after an allegation that she smacked a four-year-old child in front of his mother.

A medical worker has been suspended from duty after an allegation that she smacked a four-year-old child in front of his mother.

The HSE has confirmed that an investigation is under way into the alleged incident and gardai may become involved.

The child's mother claimed the incident happened at Letterkenny General Hospital at the weekend. She has made a statement claiming her child was slapped on the bottom.

In a statement to the Irish Independent, a hospital spokeswoman confirmed the parent had made a formal complaint.

The medical worker has been suspended while the incident is investigated.

"Letterkenny General Hospital is investigating a 'trust in care' incident concerning a child who was attending the hospital, accompanied by its parent," said the spokeswoman.

She said the hospital was guided by two policies when dealing with such incidents.

RESPONSIBILITY

"The 'Children First' policy states that the key principles informing best practice are that the welfare of children is of paramount importance and that all personnel and health professionals, irrespective of the position held within the organisation, have a responsibility towards child protection and welfare," she said.

"The 'Trust in Care' policy aims to ensure that any allegations or complaints against a member of staff are thoroughly investigated.

"This policy states that 'at an appropriate stage in the process, management should take whatever protective measures are necessary to ensure that no patient/client or staff member is exposed to unacceptable risk.

"'These protective measures are not disciplinary measures and may include putting the staff member off duty with pay pending the outcome of the investigation'."

In the statement the hospital also said: "In the interests of fairness and to ensure due process, the nature of any investigation is not discussed with third parties not associated with the alleged incident."

The spokeswoman added: "When the results of the investigation are known, appropriate action is taken – up to and including disciplinary action and, where appropriate, the reporting of the incident to external authorities."

Irish Independent


Felicia Pearson (born May 18, 1980) is an American actress. She played a character of the same name, Felicia "Snoop" Pearson, on The Wire. She wrote a memoir titled Grace After Midnight detailing her troubled childhood and time spent in prison for second-degree murder.

Early life [ edit ]

Pearson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of two incarcerated drug addicts, and was raised in an East Baltimore foster home. Born a premature crack baby and weighing only three pounds, she was not expected to live.[1] She was so small that she was fed with an eyedropper until she could be fed normally.[1] According to her memoir, Grace After Midnight, she met her biological parents very few times; her mother was a crack addict and her father was an armed robber. She thus decided to go by her foster family's surname. She was a tomboy from a young age.

Pearson worked as a drug dealer. At the age of 14, she was convicted of second degree murder after the shooting of a girl named Okia Toomer, and was sentenced to two eight-year terms, to be served consecutively, at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup, Maryland.[2] She was released after six and a half years.

Pearson said her life turned around at the age of 18 when Arnold Loney, a local drug dealer who looked out for her and sent her money in prison, was shot and killed.[1] He was the one who gave her the nickname Snoop because she reminded him of Charlie Brown's beagle Snoopy in the comic strip Peanuts.[1] While in prison, she earned her GED and was released in 2000.[1] She landed a local job fabricating car bumpers, but was fired after only two weeks when her employer learned she had a prison record.

Career [ edit ]

Acting & Reality Television [ edit ]

Pearson met Michael K. Williams, who played Omar Little on The Wire, in a Baltimore club. He invited her to come to the set one day. He introduced her to the writers and the producers, and after subsequent auditions, she was offered a role in the series.[1] She has appeared in videos of R&B singer Lil' Mo's "Dem Boyz," rapper Rick Ross' "The Boss," "Here I Am," as well as "Cash Flow" by rapper Ace Hood and "Shabba (feat ASAP Rocky)" by A$AP Ferg.[citation needed].

For her performance in The Wire, Stephen King called her "perhaps the most terrifying female villain to ever appear in a television series."[3]

In February 2015, Pearson appeared in Da Sweet Blood of Jesus as Lucky Mays.[4]

In December 2015, Pearson appeared in Spike Lee's movie Chi-Raq as Dania.[5]

In 2016, she played the role of Roxy Barnes in "Good Cop Bad Cop", the 2nd episode of the 7th season of the CBS police procedural drama Blue Bloods.[6]

In 2016, Felicia also joined the cast of VH1's Love & Hip Hop: New York, a reality tv series which documents the personal lives, relationships and careers of individuals who have a history in the hip-hop world.

Music [ edit ]

Pearson was featured in the song "It's A Stick Up" with Tony Yayo and Mazaradi Fox. The music video for the song featured clips from The Wire. She has also discussed her plans for forthcoming musical projects in a number of interviews.[7][8] She has the only speaking part in Snoop Dogg’s "So Many Pros," and appears in three "roles" in the video (a live-action montage of fake movie posters).

Philanthropy [ edit ]

Pearson has also volunteered as a prison visitor and worked on anti-violence and literary campaigns for youths, and supported The Stay Strong Foundation.[9][10][11]

Personal life [ edit ]

On March 10, 2011, Pearson was arrested along with 60 others and charged with drug offenses. The arrest was made during a predawn raid at her home in Baltimore following a five-month DEA operation.[12] At the first hearing after her arrest, Judge John Addison Howard denied Pearson bail due to her acting ability: "Well, you can change your appearance, I've seen the episodes of The Wire in which you appear. You look very different than you do here today, and I'm not talking about the jumpsuit, I'm talking about your general appearance."[13] After a month in jail, Pearson was offered bail of $50,000 on April 8, 2011.[14] In August 2011, she pleaded guilty to the charges a day before her trial was to begin.[15] She was sentenced to a suspended seven-year prison term, with credit for time served, and given three years of supervised probation.[16]

References [ edit ]

Further reading [ edit ]