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Spain’s Labor Migration Policies in the Aftermath of Economic Crisis

A relatively new destination for immigrants, Spain has developed a labor migration system that builds on longstanding relationships with countries outside the European Union and that actively involves employers, trade unions, and regional governments. This report examines how this legal framework has evolved in recent decades, and how it could serve as a model for EU policymakers in admitting non-EU workers.




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Upskilling the U.S. Labor Force: Mapping the Credentials of Immigrant-Origin Workers

This webinar discusses the first-ever profile of the 30 million immigrant-origin adults in the United States who lack a postsecondary credential such as a college degree, apprenticeship certificate, or occupational license. The researchers discuss their findings and policy implications with leading experts.




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The Right Way to Talk across Divides

“Conversational receptiveness” can be learned

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com



  • Mind
  • Behavior & Society

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Post-Traumatic Growth: Finding Meaning and Creativity in Adversity

Resilience and strength can often be attained through unexpected routes

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com




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Psychological Trauma Is the Next Crisis for Coronavirus Health Workers

Hero worship alone doesn’t protect frontline clinicians from distress

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com




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In Crises, People Tend to Live, or Die, Together

How the disaster starts does not matter: It could be a plane crashing into the World Trade Center, it could be the sea receding rapidly ahead of an advancing tsunami, it could be smoke billowing through a nightclub.




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Lessons in Forced Democracy

Four years ago, during a speech in Manila, President Bush drew an analogy between the history of the Philippines and the history he was rewriting in Iraq.




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Obama's Iowa Victory Fits Democratic Trend

According to conventional wisdom, front-runners win presidential nominations. Democrats and Republicans who start the race for a presidential nomination with the largest amount of money and the best poll numbers are supposed to be the ones most likely to walk away with victory months later.




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Who Are the Better Managers -- Political Appointees or Career Bureaucrats?

Every time the White House changes hands between the Democrats and the Republicans, the outgoing party quickly sees the virtues of staffing government departments with competent managers. The incoming party invariably seeks to reward loyal campaign operatives with political appointments.




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High-Status Criminals Face Greatest Public Wrath

Let's say the FBI hears a senior elected official on a tapped telephone line demanding kickbacks in exchange for favors and shaking down donors for campaign contributions in exchange for plum contracts.




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CROSSWORD! (or: Diversion as a vehicle for conversation on power and usage)

There is so much that is peculiar, irregular, silly, or downright twisted in mathematical verbiage that, certainly, we could all benefit from some soul-searching on the language of our culture. Some of mathematics usage is confusing (e. g. overuse of … Continue reading




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The Role of Think Tanks in Times of (Migration) Crisis: A Transatlantic Perspective

As European policymakers and publics continue to grapple with the migration crisis, this conversation offers an opportunity to reflect on the role and responsibility of experts in these politically sensitive debates.




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Cracked Foundation, Uncertain Future: Structural Weaknesses in the Common European Asylum System

During the 2015–16 migration crisis, European asylum systems were stretched to a breaking point. Yet many of the structural issues that contributed to failures to register newcomers, insufficient reception capacity, and growing backlogs of asylum cases existed before—and many remain unresolved. This report critically evaluates Common European Asylum System legal and operational shortcomings at a time when reform is on the table.




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Turkey-Style Deals Will Not Solve the Next EU Migration Crisis

The EU-Turkey deal has been credited with helping to end the migration crisis of 2015-16, and after two years in force it has fostered a myth that such deals are cure-alls. They are not, as this MPI Europe commentary explores. Recent EU responses place great emphasis on transit routes to Europe. But what if the next major event is a different kind of shock altogether?




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Social Innovation for Refugee Inclusion Conference Report: Maintaining Momentum and Creating Lasting Change

Fostering the social and economic inclusion of refugees has long been the domain of governments and NGOs. In the wake of the 2015–16 European migration and refugee crisis, however, new actors have emerged and taken on important roles in integrating newcomers. This report describes key discussions and takeaways from an MPI Europe conference on these developments.




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After the Storm: Learning from the EU Response to the Migration Crisis

As maritime arrivals climbed in 2015, EU policymakers struggled to mount a coordinated response. A range of ad hoc crisis-response tools emerged, but many officials worry that if another migration emergency were to hit Europe, the European Union may still be unprepared. This report traces the evolution of the EU response to the 2015–16 crisis and lays out recommendations to lock in progress and shore up weaknesses.




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The COVID-19 Pandemic Suggests the Lessons Learned by European Asylum Policymakers After the 2015 Migration Crisis Are Fading

As European asylum systems are tested again by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has injected the need for social distancing during processing and in reception centers, it appears lessons learned during the 2015-16 migration and refugee crisis may be fading. Chief among them: A number of Member States have phased out their buffer capacity. This MPI Europe commentary explores the diametrically different approaches taken to asylum during the pandemic.




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Creating a Home in Canada: Refugee Housing Challenges and Potential Policy Solutions

One of the major challenges Canada faced during its extraordinary push to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees during a four-month period was to find housing for these newcomers. This report explores how the government, resettlement case workers, and private citizens tackled this challenge—balancing cost and location, access to services, and more—and how lessons learned can improve refugee housing practices for other countries going forward.




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Reducing Integration Barriers Facing Foreign-Trained Immigrants: Policy and Practice Lessons from Across the United States

Marking the release of an MPI report, researchers and practitioners on this webinar discuss brain waste among college-educated immigrants and initiatives that ease the barriers foreign-educated newcomers confront with regards to credential recognition, employment, and relicensure, as well as recent policy developments and ongoing challenges in the field.




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Reducing Integration Barriers Facing Foreign-Trained Immigrants: Policy and Practice Lessons from Across the United States

Marking the release of a report on the barriers foreign-trained high-skilled immigrants face in the United States, this webinar examines programs and initiatives that assist with credential recognition, employment, and relicensure, as well as recent policy developments. Discussants review recommendations for community-based organizations, employers, and policymakers to expand successful efforts aimed at preventing brain waste. 




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Credentials for the Future: Mapping the Potential for Immigrant-Origin Adults in the United States

As the U.S. workforce ages and the economy becomes ever more knowledge-based, policymakers face a key question: Do workers have the skills to meet tomorrow's demands? This report examines how immigrants and their children—the primary source of future labor-market growth—fit into the discussion. The report offers a first-ever profile of the 30 million immigrant-origin adults without a postsecondary credential.




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Upskilling the U.S. Labor Force: Mapping the Credentials of Immigrant-Origin Workers

This webinar discusses the first-ever profile of the 30 million immigrant-origin adults in the United States who lack a postsecondary credential and offers analysis of the significant payoff credentials could bring in terms of workforce participation and wages.




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Immigrant-Origin Adults without Postsecondary Credentials: A 50-State Profile

With immigrants and their U.S.-born children poised to be the main source of labor-force growth, these adults are an important target for efforts to build the skills of the U.S. workforce to meet the knowledge-based economy of tomorrow. This fact sheet and state data snapshots explore the characteristics of adults without an academic degree or professional credential, by immigrant generation, race/ethnicity, and more.




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Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism, by Franklin Newton Painter

“As a rule,” urges Franklin Newton Painter in his critically acclaimed classic, Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism,  “we should read only books of recognized excellence, and read them with sympathetic intelligence. Trashy books, whatever pleasure they may give, add but little to knowledge or culture; and immoral books often leave an ineradicable stain upon the soul.”

The ideas of “recognized excellence,” “sympathetic intelligence” and “ineradicable stain upon the soul” make one wonder about the criteria by which Painter determines and advocates such notions. Although the criteria for evaluating literature are as old as Homer, they have undergone massive expansion in the 20th century. Besides, in view of new trends in literary theory and criticism, it is also worth pausing for a moment to reconsider the meaning of "theory" itself. According to the Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, today the term "theory" entails a mode of questioning and analysis that goes beyond the earlier criteria of "literariness" of literature.  To an earlier generation, it seems that theory is more of an advocacy rather than a disinterested, objective inquiry into poetics of literature. Because of the effects new social movements, especially the women's and civil rights movements, theory now entails skepticism towards previously taken for granted systems, institutions, and norms. Now theory shows a readiness to take critical stands and to engage in resistance, an interest in blind spots, contradictions, and distortions,  and a habit of linking local and personal practices to the larger economic, political, historical, and ethical forces of culture. How and why did that happen in the world of literature?

Please join us at Brooklyn Book Talk, as we compare Painter’s classical criteria from the beginnings of the 20th century to newer perspectives such as formalism, Marxism,  psychoanalysis, structuralism, post-structuralism, reader-response , feminism, deconstruction, queer theory, cultural studies, new historicism, post-colonial, race, and ethnicity studies, etcetera.

The electronic version of Painter's Elementary Guide to Literary Criticism is in the public domain and can be accessed from Project Gutenberg online at:

 




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Rebuilding Community after Crisis: Striking a New Social Contract for Diverse Societies (Transatlantic Council Statement)

Addressing the deep-rooted integration challenges unearthed by large-scale migration and rapid social change will require a combination of strategies. Governments in Europe and North America must create a new social contract for increasingly diverse societies that are confronting cycles of disruption. This report sketches a blueprint for an adaptive process oriented by skill needs rather than national origins.




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Grilled calamari, watermelon, olives, goat's curd and crispy vine leaves

This recipe was featured on Foodie Tuesday, a weekly segment with Raf Epstein on Drive, 774 ABC Melbourne, 3:30 PM, courtesy of George Calombaris. George's new book is called "Greek."





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Greek chicken with polenta and sumac crumb

6 chicken thighs 1 egg 1/2 cup polenta 1 tbsp. sumac 1 tsp cumin seeds salt flakes and freshly ground pepper, to season 60 ml (1/4 cup) pomegranate molasses Avocado Tzatziki: 1 cup)Greek-style yoghurt 1 ripe avocado, flesh coarsely mashed with a fork 3 Lebanese cucumbers, grated, squeeze to remove excess liquid 3 garlic cloves, crushed 1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves 1 tbsp. chopped mint leaves juice of 1/2 lime pinch of Himalayan salt




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Slow-cooked pork shoulder with apples and crackling

This recipe features on Foodie Tuesday, a weekly segment on 774 Drive with Raf Epstein, 3.30PM, courtesy of Justine Schofield. Justine's latest book is "Dinner With Justine".




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Marinated crispy skinned salmon fillets

4 salmon fillets, skin on (175g per portion) 2 tbs soy sauce 1 tbs rice wine vinegar 1 tbs olive oil 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tbs ginger, mined 1 small red chilli 1 lime, juiced





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Chicken, chestnut and apple savoury crumble

A savoury crumble seems very odd at first but makes a lot of delicious sense when you eat it! Using dried chestnuts, which are available from good Italian grocers reduces the preparation time.




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Chocolate brownies with crystallised ginger and macadamia nuts

140g unsalted butter 200g dark chocolate 100g light brown sugar 100g caster sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 eggs 1 egg yolk 85g plain flour 55g macadamia nuts, lightly toasted, chopped 30g crystallised ginger, chopped Sifted cocoa powder, to dust




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Choux puffs, lemon curd and whipped cream

This recipe features on Foodie Tuesday, a weekly segment on 774 Drive with Raf Epstein, 3.30PM, courtesy of Nicky Riemer at Union Dining.




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Creamy Mushroom Soup

This recipe features on Foodie Tuesday, a weekly segment on 774 Drive with Raf Epstein, 3.30PM, courtesy of Alice Zaslavsky,




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Freshly shucked oysters with spanner crab salad and green nam jim

This recipe features on Foodie Tuesday, a weekly segment on 774 Drive with Raf Epstein, 3.30PM, courtesy of Tony Twitchett, Taxi Kitchen




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Greek sesame crusted feta wih honey

250g Greek feta cheese 2 eggs 1 tsp. of smoked paprika 1 tsp. of freshly ground pepper 1/2 cup plain flour, enough to coat the feta 60g sesame seeds Sunflower oil for frying 4 tbsps. of local honey




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Cracked pepper tagliatelle with wild boar

This recipe features on Foodie Tuesday, a weekly segment on 774 Drive with Raf Epstein, 3.30PM, courtesy of Daniel Lucas Tonin, Pasta Classica




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Prosciutto and cheese croquettes

75g butter 75g (1/2 cup) plain flour 500ml (2 cups) milk 75g finely grated parmesan 1 small red onion, finely diced 200g prosciutto, finely chopped 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 3 eggs, lightly whisked 1 cup plain flour 270g (3 cups) dried breadcrumbs Vegetable oil, to deep-fry




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Local Pecan & Carrot Cake with cheats Caramelised Fig Vanilla Ice Cream

I love a carrot cake . Usually walnuts are used however who doesn't want to take advantage of the local new season pecans at our local markets . Happy baking!





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Wintery roasted root crumble

500g turnip, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks 500g parsnip, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks 500g swede, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks 500g Brussel sprouts, peeled and halved 2 onions, sliced 3 generous tbsp. wholegrain mustard 3 tbsp. honey 4 tbsp. olive oil 1 tbsp. chopped rosemary 1 1/2 cups cream Salt and freshly ground black pepper For the topping: 1 good handful porridge oats 4 thick slices stale bread, whizzed to coarse crumbs in a processor or panko crumbs 1 handful toasted walnuts or hazelnuts, roughly chopped 25g unsalted butter, melted 30g strong Cheddar, grated




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Flinders island lamb saddle, crushed peppered turnip, fried salt bush

This recipe features on Foodie Tuesday, a weekly segment on 774 Drive with Raf Epstein, 3.30PM, courtesy of David Hall of Pure South Dining




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Brussels Sprout Caesar with Croutons, Borlotti Beans and Sunflower Seeds

This recipe features on Foodie Tuesday, a weekly segment on 774 Drive with Raf Epstein, 3.30PM, shared by Hetty McKinnon, founder of Surry Hills community kitchen Arthur Street Kitchen and author of 'Neighbourhood'.




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Cres with passionfruit and cottage cheese

Guaranteed to tempt fussy eaters, with lots of hidden nutrients.




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MACADAMIA PESTO POTATO SALAD WITH CRISPY PROSCIUTTO AND MARKET CHERRY TOMATOES

Love this time of year where our makers are abundant with the sweet aroma of fresh basil . Here is my take on a fancy potato salad of macadamia pesto , crispy prosciutto, sweet cherry tomatoes






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Barramundi with crushed peas and sour cream

This recipe features on Foodie Tuesday, a weekly segment on 774 Drive with Raf Epstein, 3.30PM, shared by John Susman.




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Chocolate and almond torte with amaretto cream and fresh market raspberries

This is the biscuit base to sprinkle in top of the cake Make enough to accomodate 22 cm round tin 50 g Unsalted Butter 50 g Raw Sugar 50 g Almond Meal 8 g of Coco Powder Pinch of Salt 40 g plain Flour Beat all ingredients together in machine with k beater Roll into oblong wrap in glad and freeze Cake mix 250 g eggs or 5 x large eggs 75 g of local honey 125 g castor sugar beat all ingredients together 75 g Almond Meal 120 g plain Flour 25 g coco powder 8 g Baking powder sieve ingredients Add to egg mix then add 120 ml of double Cream Melt together 70 g 70% best quality chocolate 75 g unsalted butter