[Written by Stephen Wright] Bermudian boxer Saundre “Dash” Simmons will fight overseas for the first time when he faces Mexican Victor Aceves in Tijuana, Mexico, on May 19. Simmons, who will meet Aceves in a four-round cruiserweight contest, will be aiming for his fourth straight victory as a professional. The 26-year-old has only completed one […]

[Written by Stephen Wright] Bermudian boxer Saundre “Dash” Simmons has described himself as a “road warrior” as he prepares for his first fight outside the United States against Victor Aceves in Tijuana, Mexico, on Sunday [May 19]. Although Simmons will step into a ring on foreign soil for the first time, the cruiserweight has fought […]

[Written by Stephen Wright] Boxer Andre Lambe has spent the past few months training in Orlando, Florida, at various professional gyms to prepare for his fight against American Kenny Paklos at The Shed in Dockyard on Saturday [May 25]. Lambe was due to face the undefeated Paklos in March; however, the fight was postponed, with […]

Bermudian boxer Saundre “Dash” Simmons will aim for his fifth straight victory in the professional ranks when he returns to the ring on October 26 in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It will be Simmons’s first outing since beating Mexican Victor Aceves via a knockout in Tijuana, Mexico, in May. The 27-year-old [4-0] wrote on social media: […]

[Written by Stephen Wright] Bermudian boxer Saundre “Dash” Simmons is determined to seize the moment as he prepares to face Nigerian fighter Nosa Divine Nehikhare in Houston, Texas, on Friday, [November 1]. The light heavyweight match-up, set to take place at the Red Owl Boxing Arena, will be featured on the undercard of a show […]

[Updated with video] Saundre ‘Dash’ Simmons made his return to the boxing ring at the Red Owl Boxing Arena, in Houston, Texas, claiming yet another victory. “The hard-hitting, knockout artist Dash Simmons [5-0, 5 KOs] remained true to his reputation with a fourth-round TKO victory over Nosa Divine Nehikhare [5-2] in a 185-pound fight. Nehikhare became […]

[Written by Stephen Wright] Bermudian boxer Saundre “Dash” Simmons believes his stoppage victory over Nosa Divine Nehikhare represents a significant step forward in his burgeoning professional career. Simmons showcased his rising talent by defeating the Nigerian southpaw with a fourth-round stoppage in Houston, Texas, on Friday, [November 1]. He remains undefeated after five professional bouts. […]

Kentish singer’s second crack at a music career may lead to rich rewards.

An album that has to be heard to be believed.

We're into the home stretch ahead of the holiday season, and many Canadians are preparing to carry out their annual traditions or start new ones. What's a new custom you've adopted, or a tired tradition you want to get rid of?

From the war in Ukraine, to unprecedented protests in Ottawa, and record-breaking inflation — 2022 was an eventful year. As we enter the new year, we're looking back once more at the stories that hit home for Canadians.

Aug. 22, 2022

Aug. 29, 2022

Monday, Nov. 13, 2017

Monday, Oct. 8, 2018

T-Mobile heeft de bereikbaarheid van haar glasvezel dienstverlening deze week in één klap uitgebreid met meer dan 310.000 adressen. Nadat de provider eerder al een overeenkomst sloot met DELTA Fiber voor het leveren van glasvezeldiensten op elkaars netwerken, is nu een vergelijkbare deal gesloten met Glaspoort.

Met een nieuwe positionering en een productaanbod dat helemaal aansluit op de klantwensen gaat T-Mobile Nederland vanaf vandaag verder onder de naam Odido. Het bedrijf werd twee jaar geleden overgenomen door investeerders, maar mocht de T-Mobile-naam nog beperkte tijd gebruiken.

A calmer-than-usual concept set from the virtuoso saxophonist.

Ellington et al would be proud of Carrington’s 21st century reinterpretations.

Animated and unrelenting debut set from London electro-rock quartet.

Radiohead frontman remains instantly recognisable despite electronic disguise.

The catalyst of creation located in the power of psychic persuasion.

A second solo set that’s bold of ambition, but flawed of execution.

Struggles to strike the right balance between street cred and pop appeal.

An impeccably-crafted soundscape that hints at quiet violence and unresolved tensions.

A well-researched soundtrack piece full of memorable melodies.

A partial victory, and one buoyed by some outstanding surprise turns.

The French undead inspire another very much alive Mogwai album.

As retailers accelerate into the ‘golden quarter’ new YouGov research finds nearly half of consumers (48%) that buy Christmas gifts say they are not influenced by Black Friday, Cyber Monday or any other last-minute deals.

“We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails,” Dolly Parton once said. In the face of uncertainty and disruption, all we can do is adapt. This rings especially true for the logistics industry, which has been subject to major disruption over the last five years. Here, Dave Walsha, sales and marketing director at drive system supplier EMS, explores how robotics could streamline internal logistics operations.

The document by the Justice Department helped provide an after-the-fact rationale for harsh procedures used by C.I.A. on high-level leaders of Al Qaeda.

While it is unclear whether Michael Moore's film will influence swing voters, the first wave of the movie's attendees was solidly anti-Bush.

The advertising push behind Michael Moore's new documentary is angering some Republicans, who say it is little more than a commercial campaign devised to help Senator John Kerry.

The Law and Political Economy Project at Yale Law School is hosting the following panel:

The Political Economy of Inequality, Democracy & Oligarchy, on Friday, November 13, 2020 at 5:00 pm eastern time.

This panel discussion will focus upon the erosion of democratic institutions and the rise of oligarchy that has followed in the wake of unprecedented economic inequality. The panel will address elite efforts to entrench themselves politically as well as economically, including the consequences of such efforts in terms of human development. The panel will focus upon the specific context of election 2020 and the uncertainty it is creating. The subversion of democracy and the law governing our democracy naturally holds many costs, and each panelist will address such costs. Each panelist will also seek to articulate some mechanism for a path forward.  Register here

PANELISTS:

Emma Coleman Jordan, Georgetown Law Center

andré douglas pond cummings, Univ. of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law

Atiba Ellis, Marquette University Law School

Steven Ramirez, Loyola University of Chicago School of Law

Gerald Torres, Yale Law School

In 2020, pivotal events ushered in a season of antiracism rhetoric in the U.S. The brutal deaths of unarmed black Americans at the hands of police officers and white vigilantes, and the disproportionately harsh impact of COVID-19 in the black American community, launched the nation into a discussion about systemic racism. Unfortunately, it seems likely that the 2020 antiracism discourse was merely seasonal rather than enduring, and unlikely to result in meaningful change. 

Black American’s vulnerability in the face of systemic racism is not limited to death, sickness and injury as a result of COVID-19 or antiblack bias in police departments. Our vulnerability is precipitated by things like lack of access to nonpredatory financial services. This is just one of the contexts that compromise black Americans’ economic survival. Unacknowledged systemic racism destroys the wealth and wellbeing of black individuals, families and communities, sometimes causing working and middle-class black Americans to plummet into poverty. As 2020 comes to a close, an election that threatened democracy in the U.S. and the existential threats of an uncontrolled pandemic, eclipse a system of intentional antiblack racism on the part of the financial institutions that engaged in predatory mortgage lending in the years leading up to and beyond the 2008 recession. It is now well documented that lenders, brokers, and mortgage servicers engaged in conduct that was fraudulent and misleading. The mortgage market charged excessively high rates and fees, engaged in high-pressure sales tactics, imposed unnecessarily harsh prepayment penalties, and distorted loan structures to avoid the application of consumer protection statutes.  But, more than a decade later, many black Americans are still fighting to prevent financial institutions from taking away their homes. 

In a book I coauthored with Dr. Janis Sarra, a law professor at the University of British Columbia, Predatory Lending and the Destruction of the African American Dream (Cambridge University Press, 2020), we describe new iterations of predation that continue to target black consumers years after financial institutions settled litigation that alleged pervasive fraud on their part for steering black Americans into predatory subprime loans. But these renovated predatory practices are obscured by the nation’s focus on COVID-19 and a vitriolic election season. Meanwhile, more black Americans will lose their homes even after investing all or most of their wealth in attempts to keep them. This reality requires the calls for moratoriums on mortgage foreclosures to be answered in the affirmative.

On December 1st, 2020, Nasdaq filed a proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt additional listing rules requiring enhanced board diversity and disclosure of firm diversity efforts.  The new listing rules require Nasdaq-listed companies to have on their board of directors, at least two diverse directors, including one who self-identifies as female and one who self-identifies as an underrepresented minority or LGBTQ+.  If the firm does not meet this listing requirement, it must explain why they do not have at least two diverse directors sitting on their board.  Additionally, the new listing rules require Nasdaq-listed companies to publicly disclose consistent, transparent diversity statistics regarding its board of directors.  Nasdaq defines underrepresented minorities to include Black or African America, Hispanic or Latinx, Asian, Native American or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, two or more races or ethnicities.  Smaller reporting companies and foreign companies have additional flexibility in satisfying these new listing requirements by seating at least two female directors.  These new listing rules require approval from the SEC.

NASDAQ's stated goal for requiring diversity among its listed companies board makeups is to provide the investing public with a "better understanding of the company's current board composition and enhance investor confidence that all listed companies are considering diversity in the context of selecting directors, either by including at least two diverse directors on their boards or explaining their rationale for not meeting that objective." To support this new listing requirement, Nasdaq pointed to over 24 studies that found a link between diverse board and more robust financial performance with better corporate governance.  Under this proposal, Nasdaq-listed companies are required to publicly disclose board-level diversity statistics within one year of the SEC's approval of the rule.

CNN reports that Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman stated, "Nasdaq's purpose is to champion inclusive growth and prosperity to power stronger economies." Non compliance by Nasdaq-listed companies could lead to delisting.  

Nasdaq's move is part of a growing momentum to see that corporate board diversity is taken seriously across the United States.  California has for two years been requiring gender diversity on corporate boards and has recently begun requiring racial and ethnic diversity on California boards as well.  Goldman Sachs has recently announced that it will require any company that it assists in taking public must include at least one diverse board member. 

The Corporate Justice Blog has long advocated for board diversity as a priority for expanding human capital and realizing greater financial benefits for the firms and its shareholders. We argue that a commitment to diversifying the board, both in gender and racial diversity as well as worldview diversity enhances the performance of the corporations that so commit.  See here, here, here and here.

hat tip:  Deepali Lal, 3L, Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law 

photo: courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Eyewitness accounts regarding the events of January 6, 2021 give us the most reliable version of what happened that dark day. Particularly those eyewitnesses from the Republican Party who do not seek partisan advantage. For example:

"What happened here today was an insurrection incited by the President of the United States."

Republican Senator & former Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney, Jan. 6, 2021. 

"Today’s violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump. His use of the presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice."

Former Trump Defense Secretary and Marine Corps General James Mattis, Jan. 6, 2021.

"The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like."

GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Jan. 19, 2021

"Today was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol… We condemn the violence that took place here in the strongest possible terms… To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins."

Trump Vice-President Mike Pence, January 6, 2021.

"These men and women in the uniform, they got overrun. One officer got killed…they got broken arms. You don’t understand what was transpiring at that moment and that time. . . . People brought ropes. . .[T]hey were well planned for it. They scaled walls. . . . They, they overtook the place.”

"Let me be clear: Last week’s violent attack on the Capitol was undemocratic, un-American and criminal…And make no mistake: Those who are responsible for Wednesday’s chaos will be brought to justice…The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters."

GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Jan. 13, 2021 

"Today, the people's House was attacked, which is an attack on the Republic itself. There is no excuse for it. A women died. And people need to go to jail. And the President should never have spun up certain Americans to believe something that simply cannot be."

GOP Rep. Chip Roy, Jan. 6, 2021.

WOW!  The US Capitol became a combat zone on January 6.

The legal upshot of the above is Trump and his cultists levied war against the US in violation of 18 USC section 2381! They engaged in an insurrection in violation 18 USC section 2383!

These provisions carry severe criminal sanctions and section 2383 prohibits insurrectionists from ever holding federal office again. Trump also disqualified himself from federal office under the Fourteenth Amendment, section 3. As painful as it may be, the Biden Administration has little choice but to fully investigate these potential violations of law immediately. Donald Trump in particular must face swift justice. .

In his unending fantasy and lies of victory, President Donald Trump unleashed a violent coup on our democracy, our constitutional republic and ultimately our freedom in the lawless pursuit of autocracy, dictatorship, and dimwitted megalomania. 

This directly aided and abetted the ongoing efforts of Vladimir Putin to use Russian New Generation Warfare (RNGW) to weaken, undermine, subvert, and diminish the power of the USA to defend itself and its interests and allies across the world. As Lt. General H.R. McMaster explains RNGW aims to weaken the US and other democratic societies through the sustained use of misinformation. They seek to “disrupt, divide and weaken” American democracy. Yet, again the Trumpists continue to toss the nation and its people into bloody pitched battle with each other while doing the bidding of Putin.

Addendum:

"[T]here can be no soft-pedaling what happened and no absolution for those who planned, encouraged and aided the attempt to overthrow our democracy, Love of country demands nothing less. That’s true patriotism.” 

Karl Rove, writing in the Wall Street Journal, Former Republican Political Operative, January, 6, 2022.

"The importance of January 6th as an historic event cannot be overstated. I was honored and proud to join my daughter on the House floor to recognize this anniversary, to commend the heroic actions of law enforcement that day, and to reaffirm our dedication to the Constitution.  I am deeply disappointed at the failure of many members of my party to recognize the grave nature of the January 6 attacks and the ongoing threat to our nation.”

Former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, January 6, 2022. 

January 6th, 2021 was a dark day for Congress and our country. The United States Capitol, the seat of the first branch of our federal government, was stormed by criminals who brutalized police officers and used force to try to stop Congress from doing its job. This disgraceful scene was antithetical to the rule of law. One year later, I am as grateful as ever for the brave men and women of the U.S. Capitol Police who served our institution bravely that day and every day since. I continue to support justice for those who broke the law.

GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, January 6, 2022. 

On the first anniversary of January 6, GOP Senator Ted Cruz and Trump-appointed FBI Director Christopher Wray called the violence "a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol" and "domestic terrorism," respectively.

The Biden administration's nomination of and subsequent Senate confirmation of Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is a monumentally important moment in our nation's history.  Secretary Haaland becomes the first Cabinet level Secretary of Native American descent in the history of the nation.  This after Ms. Haaland served as the first native Congressperson (along with Sharice Davids of Kansas, both elected in 2018) in U.S. history.  This nomination and confirmation is critical for many reasons, including according to Secretary Haaland herself:  “A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior,” she wrote on Twitter before the vote. “Growing up in my mother’s Pueblo household made me fierce. I’ll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land.”

The New York Times reports:  "Representative Deb Haaland of New Mexico made history on Monday when the Senate confirmed her as President Biden’s secretary of the Interior, making her the first Native American to lead a cabinet agency.  Ms. Haaland in 2018 became one of the first two Native American women elected to the House. But her new position is particularly redolent of history because the department she now leads has spent much of its history abusing or neglecting America’s Indigenous people.  Beyond the Interior Department’s responsibility for the well-being of the nation’s 1.9 million Native people, it oversees about 500 million acres of public land, federal waters off the United States coastline, a huge system of dams and reservoirs across the Western United States and the protection of thousands of endangered species."

Secretary Haaland said the following at her Senate confirmation hearing:  “You’ve heard the Earth referred to as Mother Earth, it’s difficult to not feel obligated to protect this land. And I feel every Indigenous person in the country understands that.”

Again, per the NY Times: "Ms. Haaland will quite likely assume a central role in realizing Mr. Biden’s promise to make racial equity a theme in his administration. Ms. Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo who identifies herself as a 35th-generation New Mexican, will assume control of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education, where she can address the needs of a population that has suffered from abuse and dislocation at the hands of the United States government for generations, and that has been disproportionately devastated by the coronavirus."

A hearty congratulations to Secretary Haaland on this momentous appointment, to President Biden for the foresight to seize this moment, and for an appointment that was far too long in the making.

photo in the public domain

After 6 years The Internet Monthly podcast is shutting down on this blog, but exactly the same content can be found elsewhere online as the Zen Monthly podcast

The post The Internet Monthly Podcast No-more appeared first on Richard Farrar.

They are the first all boys school to take out the NSW mountain biking title — but now they have set their sights on winning at Nationals.

Step aside Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, the world could potentially have a new martial arts movie star and he is from the north shore.

AN ASSOCIATE of the Rebels Outlaw Motorcycle Gang and his girlfriend have been charged with firearms offences.

ONE year since dubbing Kingsgrove the “new Alexandria”, one business has had to move out of the largely industrial suburb to make way for the new M5 tunnels.

SARAH HAY is the deputy principal of a public school but she’s more at home as a jouster. In fact, she’s the world’s No. 1 and is relocating to the Middle East where she can enjoy more of her sport.