La empresa Impoamericana Rogers SAS, la que le vendió los carrotanques a la UNGR por $46 mil millones, registró como domicilio comercial una dirección en Cúcuta en la que no existe ninguna empresa.

Gerson Chaverra Castro presidente de la Corte Suprema de Justicia señaló que la elección demostró su unidad y robustez institucional con la elección de la nueva fiscal General.

En 6am analizamos el uso de las banderas del M19 en espacios públicos

En Caracol Radio estuvo Alejandro Ospina, presidente de la Unión de Trabajadores de la Industria Petrolera y energética de Colombia.

En 6AM de Caracol Radio estuvo la concejal de Bogotá por el Centro Democrático, Diana Diago, para hablar sobre las zonas más afectadas por los “motoladrones” en Bogotá y cuál ha sido la respuesta de las autoridades.

David Camilo Rodríguez, seguidor de The Beatles, estuvo en 6AM para abordar la coyuntura previa al concierto de esta leyenda británica en Colombia.

We’re digging into the Piedmont blues, a rich style that mixes ragtime, old-time country music, jazz, gospel, hollers, and historic popular songs. A conversation and music with two younger players […]

The post American Routes – Piedmont Blues with Jontavious Willis & Andrew Alli and The Stooges Brass Band Live from New Orleans appeared first on KKFI.

Internetvergelijker Breedbandwinkel bestaat deze maand 21 jaar en trakteert: klanten ontvangen tot en met 31 oktober minimaal 21,00 euro cashback bij iedere bestelling, een Pathé Thuis film cadeau en kans op één van de zes mooie prijzen.

Las emisiones mundiales de dióxido de carbono (CO2) debidas a la energía fósil, el principal factor de calentamiento de la Tierra, siguen sin tocar techo. via Pocket

"I'm just bitter and fuming this time, instead of annoyed and amused like last time."

Rocky Flats Stewardship Council met regularly to monitor testing data at former nuke weapons site.

The racing legend is a 16-time NHRA champion and the owner of a record eight Funny Car wins on Thunder Mountain

The mountains forged Leah Pruett into the racer she is today.

"It just goes to show, out here at Bandimere, it's a community, but it's more than that -- it's a big family."

MORRISON -- On Sunday afternoon, fans simply sat back and appreciated Bandimere Speedway's final moments.

The show is currently in production in Los Angeles.

The Butterfield Front Street Mile in Hamilton got underway on Friday night with stirring performances by the Bermuda Regiment Band and the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band. Hundreds of spectators lined the city’s main street to enjoy the Regiment band, decked out in full regalia, and the soothing sounds of the pipe band. In the event’s […]

31 abandoned and derelict boats –  located in areas including Mullet Bay, Ferry Reach, Coney Island, Stovell Bay and more –  will be “removed and discarded,” the Government has advised. These 31 boats are addition to the notices earlier this year about 54 abandoned vessels, with the Government having previously issued two notices of boats set […]

The Abandoned Boats Project –  a joint initiative between Keep Bermuda Beautiful [KBB] and the Government — has removed 55 abandoned and derelict marine vessels from local waters since May 2022. A spokesperson said, “The project, which aims to clean up the local marine environment, reduce environmental hazards and minimise safety risks for boaters and […]

A watercraft that washed up on Bermuda’s shore may have originated in Cuba, according to Keep Bermuda Beautiful [KBB]. In a post on Instagram, Keep Bermuda Beautiful said, “Where in the world did this wreckage wash up from? “CUBA is the suspected answer and this DIY watercraft might have been used by refugees. Research into […]

Troubled Musicians: Bands/Groups (Not open for application) The following fanlistings are scheduled for removal on November 14, 2024. If your fanlisting is listed below, please fix the problem/send in a finished form and reply to the troubles email! Pending Removal – Overdue SR-71; Wallflowers, The

Upcoming Musicians: Bands/Groups D’espairsRay; Kagrra,; Loona; Rentrer en Soi; Rise Against; tripleS Finished Musicians: Bands/Groups SR-71; Wallflowers, The Moved Musicians: Bands/Groups No moved forms have been received since the last update. Closed Musicians: Bands/Groups (Open for application) No closed forms have been received since the last update. Overdue Musicians: Bands/Groups No overdue fanlistings. Overdue: Temporary […]

Finished Songs: Bands/Groups N-Z Cover Girl (New Kids On The Block); Games (New Kids On The Block); Hangin’ Tough (New Kids On The Block); I’ll Be Loving You (Forever) (New Kids On The Block); Please Don’t Go Girl (New Kids On The Block); Step by Step (New Kids On The Block)

Our Republican leaders don’t believe they have the authority, they don’t believe they’re legitimate, they don’t see the threat. They don’t want to see the threat because they know they can’t face the mob. They know they’re too weak. And so they offer trinkets and hope the mob will go away, but it won’t. Mobs can’t be sated. We thought Republicans understood that. That’s why we supported them. But this crisis has revealed the truth. Now we know who they are. It could not be clearer and now it’s time to find new leaders. Continue reading →

1. Cindy Crossthwaite's estranged husband faces Supreme Court murder trial over mother of three's death  ABC News
2. 'Deep-seated hatred' for estranged wife led to killing, jury told  9News
3. 'Deep-seated hatred' for estranged wife led to killing, court hears  9News

Wicked Abandoned A New England Horror Writers Anthology Edited by Rob Smales and Scott T. Goudsward Published by Wicked Creative, LLC  (September 25, 2024) Reviewed by Carson Buckingham All I have to say is that New England sure grows a bunch of great writers! Wicked Abandoned is one of the best anthologies I’ve read in […]

The rules will be One hour wargames, and it's interesting to see the small size of the warband. Then again it is a skirmish game.

The reelection of Donald Trump as president last week brought a wave of jubilation to X (formerly Twitter). The influencers and megadonors who supported the Republican nominee delighted in the defeat of his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, while giddily speculating about the extremist…

Show notes: In Episode 5 of The Internet Musician Podcast, we talk through the first two stages in my 8-step process to create a music website–including how to choose a band name and how to buy a domain name for your band’s website. Towards the end of the episode, we also examine several band names to […]

The post Abandoned Power Plant in Abkhazia appeared first on English Russia.

The post Abandoned Fairy Tale House appeared first on English Russia.

The post Abandoned Bus Depot in Bishkek appeared first on English Russia.

Federal authorities are grappling with the aftermath of an illegal sheep cloning operation that has scattered hundreds of contraband hybrid animals across multiple states, following the sentencing of the scheme's mastermind. Montana rancher Arthur Schubarth received a six-month prison term for cloning a near-threatened Marco Polo argali sheep from tissue illegally imported from Kyrgyzstan. The cloned animal, named Montana Mountain King, was used to inseminate over 100 ewes, creating a network of unauthorized hybrid offspring. Court documents reveal that Schubarth sold these hybrids to big game hunting enthusiasts, with prices reaching $10,000 per animal. While the original cloned sheep is now housed at New York's Rosamond Gifford Zoo, authorities cannot account for most of its descendants.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

They will be performing one final time at this year's Remembrance Sunday commemorations in Dagenham.

In conversation with David Miliband: Finding a new approach to tackle conflict, climate and extreme poverty 11 September 2024 — 5:00PM TO 5:45PM Anonymous (not verified) 15 August 2024 Chatham House and Online

David Miliband discusses how the climate crisis, extreme poverty and conflict are becoming inextricably linked and how the global community must respond.

Combatting the climate crisis, ending protracted conflicts, and alleviating poverty are three of the greatest priorities for international action. However, these three challenges become increasingly concentrated in a handful of countries. The subsequent feedback loop makes addressing these challenges even more complex.

The International Rescue Committee’s (IRC’s) work in crisis-affected communities highlights this new geography of crisis. Just 16 countries, which are both climate-vulnerable and conflict-affected. This represents 43% of all people living in extreme poverty, 44% of all people affected by natural disasters and 79% of all people in humanitarian need. This trend towards the concentration of crisis is only deepening. In three decades, the number of conflict-affected, climate-vulnerable states has increased from 44% to more than two-thirds.

Affected countries - like Sudan, Myanmar, and Syria - are also among the least supported financially. Debt burdens are siphoning away critical resources needed for adaptation and resilience. Humanitarian aid budgets are being slashed by donor governments. The private sector refuses to invest in these communities they view as too risky. And the international financial institutions meant to alleviate poverty and spur climate action are not well-designed to work with crisis-affected states or local communities. With the upcoming COP29 Summit in Azerbaijan focused on the New Collective Quantified Goal for climate finance, vulnerable communities will be watching closely whether they will get support in their fight against the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

Conflict, the climate crisis, and extreme poverty are taking their toll. But how can the world best respond?

Key questions to be discussed during the session include:

• At a time of political disruption, how does the West engage with vulnerable countries? What actions should be prioritised in providing support to such countries?
• Can global institutions evolve to better protect vulnerable and displaced people from conflict and climate-risk, particularly as geopolitical rivalries reduce space for cooperation?
• What is the UK’s role in supporting climate action in fragile states and how does this align with its agenda on the Sustainable Development Goals and extreme poverty?

A. B. Bogatyrev
Trans. Moscow Math. Soc. 83 (), 217-225.
Abstract, references and article information

Review: One-man bandwagons The World Today rsoppelsa.drupal 25 May 2022

The ills of strongman politics are diagnosed sharply in this accessible overview – but a cure is nowhere to be found, says Natasha Lindstaedt

The Age of the Strongman: How the Cult of the Leader Threatens Democracy around the World
Gideon Rachman, Bodley Head, £20.00

For anyone reading the headlines, it should come as no surprise that democracy has regressed to where it was in 1989. The profound geopolitical and technological changes in the post-Cold World era have led to chaos, polarization, nationalist backlash and nostalgia for strong leadership in democracies. 

Countries such as Russia and China have provided a new model for leadership that has become frighteningly infectious – the strongman. 

Gideon Rachman charts this new era, offering an accessible overview of 14 examples, including Britain’s Boris Johnson, Donald Trump of the United States, Narendra Modi of India, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Viktor Orbán of Hungary, Xi Jinping of China and – the archetype – Vladmir Putin of Russia.

The idea that we are living in the age of strongman politics is not particularly novel. Scholars of authoritarian politics have noted for years that there has been a steady rise in ‘personalist’ dictatorship and personalism in democracy in general. Nearly 40 per cent of all dictatorships are personalist, meaning domination by a single person, compared with 23 per cent in 1988. Autocracies have become increasingly aggressive, using sharp power to undermine democracy, which signals a shift. 

Autocracies used to focus on their own stability and didn’t interfere with democracies.

Rachman focuses on this threat that the strongman poses to democracy while macho one-man rule spreads across the globe. He provides a well-written, clear overview of why each leader fits the strongman label, what explains their appeal and what informs their worldview. 

Where Rachman is effective is in weaving together the commonalities of these strongmen – and they are all men – and their relationship to each other. Despite their ultra-nationalism, they have created an unofficial, multilateral network of mutual support. This includes leaders whose religious convictions may appear to be in conflict – such as Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Muhammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. 

This is not just a network of dictators – autocratic-style leaders of democratic countries have been welcomed to the club. In this system, strongmen openly admire each other, revel in their disdain for liberalism and human rights, and share advice and inspiration. 

This contrasts with western European leaders who fail to build such iron-clad bonds.

Each chapter is peppered with anecdotes about Rachman’s first-hand impressions of some of these leaders and other notables in positions of power gained from his decades as a foreign correspondent and analyst. His colourful commentary complements his understanding of how they operate. 

A common theme throughout is that the strongman’s appeal appears as a breath of fresh air for democracy, liberalism or peace. They are often labelled as anti-elitist and men of the people. This honeymoon period ends when each leader shows their true colours: attacking political opponents, sometimes in ruthless purges, disregarding the rule of law, weakening the courts and vilifying or controlling the media. 

A well-placed quote from Recep Erdogan sums this up: ‘Democracy is like a tram you ride until you arrive at your destination.’

Genuine public support exists for these manoeuvres. Dislocation from unmanaged globalization and economic crises has created an audience for political entrepreneurs. Strongman leaders have earned the distinction of being relatable and telling it like it is, despite many being considered to be liars and often filthy rich. 

Their ability to tap into people’s fears of the West, crime, immigrants or other ethnic and religious groups has helped gain them a fiercely loyal following. According to Rachman, strongman politics is linked to fear that a majority group that was once dominant is being threatened – something leaders such as Donald Trump have astutely tapped into.

Unlike some of the kleptocratic regimes of the 1970s and 1980s that were the embodiment of venal opportunists – think of Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Mobutu of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Jean-Claude Duvalier of Haiti – the strongmen of today have been inspired by the ideology of hyper-nationalism and anti-liberalism. 

Rachman links strongmen to the work of Carl Schmitt, a Nazi Party member, who was a vociferous critic of parliamentary democracy and cosmopolitanism, while touting the importance of illiberal norms to exercise power. Rachman argues that we are in a war of ideas, with liberalism under attack. He hones in on the perennial target George Soros, and how his support for liberal democracy has garnered the unwanted attention from the world’s right-wing ideologues and strongmen.

Social media has been usurped by these leaders and their regimes to forge closer, direct relationships with their supporters, to churn out fake news and create dangerous echo chambers. They are snake oil salesmen, making huge promises but offering very little in practice. They are never as they initially appear, and their images are carefully crafted.

Another theme emerges on the career pathway. Many served as a mayor of a cosmopolitan city. An interesting chapter on Johnson explains how he comes across like a relatable ‘good chap’, being able to handle embarrassing photo-ops. He was also a devoted Europhile, attended Eton and Oxford, and championed multi-culturalism as Mayor of London. Always the opportunist, Johnson had few qualms about campaigning for Brexit, and then later breaking the law to make it happen.

Yet there are some gaps in Rachman’s analysis.

It is never made clear why leaders such as Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and Kim Jong-un of North Korea are largely missing, or a number of other strongman dictators in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Though there is a chapter devoted to Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, along with a few paragraphs devoted to Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Meles Zenawi also of Ethiopia, Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe and Jacob Zuma of South Africa, the chapter on African strongmen does not acknowledge that this is the only continent where the regional trend is not as depressing. 

Rachman only occasionally engages with data on dictatorships to verify some of the patterns that he explores in the book. And his work would benefit from an examination of the institutional factors that may explain the rise of strongman politics, such as the pre-existing weakness of parties, parliaments and courts. 

Nor does he go in depth into how strongmen interact with their institutions and what the implications of this brand of politics are for conflict and development. The failures of strongmen to address Covid-19 are mentioned, but it is never explained why they may be so poorly equipped to govern. 

So, is democracy dead? Though Rachman is largely pessimistic, he acknowledges that politics tends to go in waves. There is little advice about how the West can expedite the end of this particular wave. 

The one positive Rachman offers is that strongman rule cannot deal with succession. This is largely true, though handovers have taken place, such as with the Kim dynasty. 

But there are definitely more questions raised than answers provided. What is left after strongmen are no longer in power? What must democracies do to undermine strongmen or prevent their rise? Where will the next strongman appear? 

Rachman’s book doesn’t provide these answers, but he does offer an interesting overview of the leaders dominating the headlines.
 

Rhode Island Governor Gina M. Raimondo announced a new effort to bring computer science classes to every public school in the state by the end of 2017.

As evidence mounts that the cardiac-sympathetic nervous system reacts to challenging cognitive settings, we ask if these responses are epiphenomenal companions or if there is evidence suggesting a more intertwined role of this system with cognitive function. Healthy male and female human participants performed an approach-avoidance paradigm, trading off monetary reward for painful electric shock, while we recorded simultaneous electroencephalographic and cardiac-sympathetic signals. Participants were reward sensitive but also experienced approach-avoidance "conflict" when the subjective appeal of the reward was near equivalent to the revulsion of the cost. Drift-diffusion model parameters suggested that participants managed conflict in part by integrating larger volumes of evidence into choices (wider decision boundaries). Late alpha-band (neural) dynamics were consistent with widening decision boundaries serving to combat reward sensitivity and spread attention more fairly to all dimensions of available information. Independently, wider boundaries were also associated with cardiac "contractility" (an index of sympathetically mediated positive inotropy). We also saw evidence of conflict-specific "collaboration" between the neural and cardiac-sympathetic signals. In states of high conflict, the alignment (i.e., product) of alpha dynamics and contractility were associated with a further widening of the boundary, independent of either signal's singular association. Cross-trial coherence analyses provided additional evidence that the autonomic systems controlling cardiac-sympathetics might influence the assessment of information streams during conflict by disrupting or overriding reward processing. We conclude that cardiac-sympathetic control might play a critical role, in collaboration with cognitive processes, during the approach-avoidance conflict in humans.

Credit: David Marshall, University of Bristol