Daily Archives: June 27, 2017

Liberal and conservative biking across the country to encourage political unity – WBIR-TV

Posted: June 27, 2017 at 7:40 am

June 26, 2017: Two Knoxville men with completely opposing political views are on a 3,200-mile bike ride to inspire unity across the country.

Leslie Ackerson, WBIR 11:46 PM. EDT June 26, 2017

Andre Block and Jonathan Williams Courtesy Facebook The Unity Ride

KNOXVILLE - Biking 3,200 miles across the country, could you do it?

Its an impressive trek, and its one two Knoxville men are tackling.

The other challenge? The have different political views.

I voted for Trump, said Jonathan Williams.

And ... I did not vote for Trump, said Andre Block.

Williams and Block share a laugh.

The unlikely duo has embarked on a "unity ride" across the country. They say its an opportunity to show that people can come together whether they lean to the left or right.

"I feel in America we are sitting around complaining. I hope with what we are doing I can encourage people to get up and do something, said Block.

The pair started in California on Memorial Day, stopping in places like Colorado and Utah. They reached Knoxville on Monday and invited other bikers along for a 6-mile ride.

The plan is to finish in Washington D.C. on July 4.

"One of the things we talk about on this trip is the gray areas. You have people who live in the gray, you have some people very hard conservative, very liberal, explained Williams. Most of us live in the middle. If we can put those differences aside and just love one another. It all boils down to we are people.

Williams and Block stop in Knoxville on their journey.

From sea to shining sea, Block and Williams are biking their way across America to encourage people to move past political stereotypes.

It just brings together people with different backgrounds for one cause, to exercise and learn about one another, said cyclist Amanda Fox who joined Mondays night ride.

I think its especially important right now in the world, all aspects of the climate these days, said Meghan Goyer, another cyclist.

Beneath the spacious skies and purple mountain majesties, Williams and Block have learned the power of togetherness.

"We have actually talked about politics very little this entire trip, because we are out here trying to achieve a goal and working together to accomplish it is more important, said Williams.

"Its like as soon as you focus on those things we can agree on all the things we disagree on disappear, said Block.

The pair has a camera crew following them from start to finish. At the end of the journey, they plan on piecing together that footage to make a documentary so they can continue to share their vision with others.

You can follow their adventures on Facebook and Instagram.

2017 WBIR.COM

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ESPN Says They Aren’t Liberal Because Hank Williams, Jr. Sings MNF Open – Outkick the Coverage

Posted: at 7:40 am

Posted on June 26, 2017 by Clay Travis - OKTC

Its no great surprise that ESPN finally decided to fire back at Outkick over our articles about ESPNs audience collapsing this year they hit a ten year ratings low as their number of subscribers also tanks down 13 million in the past six years, and accelerating rapidly, but it is a surprise that they would say they arent liberal because they hired Hank Williams, Jr. back to sing an opening for Monday Night Football.

Yet thats exactly what they argued in the Sports Business Journals evisceration of ESPNs business model that went up online today.

If ESPN decides to give Hank Williams, Jr. a TV show to combat the daily left wing rhetoric their programs toss around then maybe there will be one conservative viewpoint to combat the dozens of liberal ones, but until then hes just a guy singing a two minute introductory song. Hes not an opinionist, hes an entertainer.

Id encourage you to go read the SBJ cover storyon ESPN since its basically an endorsement of everything Outkick has been writing over the past several years, but the article that wont get as much attention as this one is in the same issue headlined, ESPN executive calls out competitor for giving voice to claims of liberal bias.

Since Im specifically named in the SBJ article Im going to pull some quotes from the article placed in bold and respond here. (Here is my Periscope from today as well. Youll enjoy my response.)

The whole narrative (that ESPN is liberal) is a false one that was seeded and perpetuated primarily by a direct business competitor, said Burke Magnus, ESPNs executive vice president of programming and scheduling. We have no political agenda whatsoever.

First, ESPN has a clear political agenda. They are liberal. Their top program, SportsCenter, is literally brought to you by MSNBC.

Thats fine, but the result, which is proven by clear data here, has been conservatives abandoning network viewership in droves.

Second, no executive at Fox Sports has ever suggested to me that ESPN was liberal. Not once. Fox executives have zero to do with my opinions at Outkick or my opinions on the radio. Whats more, I have no idea how Fox Sports could perpetuate this opinion when they have not controlled the distribution of my content for years.

I understand why my critics want to pretend that Im speaking for someone other than myself, but its just not true.

Full disclosure: I run Outkick as a 100% independent sports site. I make $0 from Fox Sports and have zero contractual relationship with anyone at Fox Sports right now. This is by my choice. I turned down my own TV show on FS1 this spring to stay independent and remain in Nashville instead of moving to LA and doing TV. Im happy here and making a good living. I love running the website, doing daily morning radio and controlling all content on my Periscope and Facebook Live shows. You can call me an idiot for turning down my own TV show and you can certainly criticize my opinions on issues, but you need to know that Im 100% independent and no one tells me what to say, think, or write. I own 100% of Outkick. For better or worse all opinions are my own.

Hell, no one else has even so much as edited my Outkick column for six years. I write and publish whatever I want when I want to publish it.

Now, its true that I have a radio contract, but Fox Sports Radio isnt owned by Fox Sports. Theres a licensing agreement between Fox Sports and Iheartradio to allow the Fox Sports name to be used by iheart. The only contract I have with any media company is with Iheart for radio. (And it represents about 25% of my overall income. The vast majority of my pay comes from Outkick and Outkick related events.)

And while my radio bosses are fabulous, they have never, in nearly a year of shows, told me what to say on any subject. And they certainly havent come to me to tell me to attack ESPN for being liberal. The idea itself is just preposterous.

Here are some additional quotes in the article.

It would be foolish in the business that were in to take sides on the political arena, Magnus said. Our business competitor perpetuates this narrative because in this highly partisan time, it suits them to highlight this distinction, even when it doesnt exist.

This is just not true, ESPN is liberal and Ill explain why below. But the most important thing for you to realize is how dumb they think you are. They are saying that the only reason you believe MSESPN is liberal is because I say it. Not because you see it with your own eyes, but because I say it. Frankly, its an incredibly insulting position to take, that you guys arent smart enough to make up your minds.

Remember that ESPN gave Caitlyn Jenner an ESPY for courage, treated Michael Sam as a modern day Jackie Robinson and has lauded Colin Kaepernick as a modern day Nelson Mandela for his anthem protest. Those are all incredibly liberal positions endorsed by the network. And to rebut that assertion they offer, what? The fact that Hank Williams, Jr. is singing, Are you ready for some football, for two minutes 15 times a week? Nope, not buying it. ESPN is a liberal network. This is a fact. As is clearly demonstrated by their programming.

I am flattered, however, if ESPN intends to consider Outkick to be a business competitor.

Right now I like the odds that we are still profitable in five years, unlike ESPN.

ESPN executives say the people who focus on a liberal bias ignore things like the recent rehiring of Hank Williams Jr. to sing the Monday Night Football opening

But this also comes amid reports and speculation that Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger is considering a run for president in 2020.

While ESPN executives dismiss the notion that the company is too liberal, sources said ESPN President John Skipper, himself a liberal-leaning executive, has made a point to meet with employees to let them know that nobody at ESPN will be punished for holding a political viewpoint.

The reason why the president of ESPN has to meet with employees to let them know that nobody at ESPN will be punished for holding a political viewpoint, is because conservatives have already been punished for holding political viewpoints, see Curt Schilling, while liberals are rewarded.

Indeed, ESPN just appointed a new executive as number two in the company who has publicly ridiculed Donald Trump on Twitter, and Tweeted that Trump discriminates against gays, women, and minorities.

The reason why ESPN is having this meeting?

Because there are many conservative people at ESPN many of whom are covertly reading this article at ESPN right now who are terrified to be outed publicly as conservative.

ESPN is a liberal company with collapsing ratings, fleeing subscribers, and an employee base that believes its bosses are complete and total idiots.

But at least they hired Hank Williams, Jr, yall.

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Fired black liberal professor who mocked white people goes on unhinged rant, cries ‘racism’ – TheBlaze.com

Posted: at 7:40 am

Essex County College professor Lisa Durdens explosive debate with Fox News Tucker Carlson resulted in her eventual firing from the higher learning institution, but she wasnt going out without a bang.

In the segment which aired in early June with Carlson, Durden mocked white people over Black Lives Matters blacks-only Memorial Day party.

What I say to that is boo-hoo-hoo, you white people are angry because you couldnt use your white privilege card to get invited to the Black Lives Matters all-black Memorial Day celebration! Wow! she spat.

During their exchange, Carlson eventually cut the activists microphone, who insisted on interrupting him, disrespecting him, and mocking his comments.

Durden was initially suspended after the Carlson fracas, which she claims was done with no reason.

They did this to humiliate me, Durden said about the suspension. Essex County College publicly lynched me in front of my students.

After her suspension, Durden was fired on Friday.

In a statement from Essex County College President Anthony E. Munroe, Munroe revealed that a fair and thorough review of Durdens comments was assessed, and the end result was that the college came to the decision that they could no longer maintain an employment relationship with the adjunct.

About Durdens remarks directly, Munroe said, Racism cannot be fought with more racism.

During a Monday appearance with Roland Martin on News One, however, Durden was asked by the host if she felt remorse over the remarks that eventually saw her firing and wondered if she would consider apologizing.

No, she said, I am not going to.

She then went off on a rant about racism, and compared her rant to something Judge Jeanine Pirro would say on television.

I wasnt there to play games, I was there to take a bite out of crime, Durden said. When a black woman is on television who is direct, who is aggressive, were angry. Well, when Jeanine Pirro is on TV pointing and screaming and yelling, shes intelligent.

She added, Why cant I come on there and be aggressive and talk in the same vein as any expert in the fields of pop culture, politics and social issues? So now when I do it, Im not intelligent. When [white women] do it, theyre amazing, theyre intelligent, theyre fantastic!

See Durdens full explosive rant in the video below.

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House GOP puts final touches on budget deal – NBC Montana

Posted: at 7:40 am

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(CNN) - House Republicans are putting the final touches on a budget proposal they will roll out later this week that would boost military spending beyond what President Donald Trump wants and slash billions from welfare and other entitlement programs.

Threading the needle of getting defense hawks, fiscal conservatives and those steering tax reform within his own party has been a difficult task, but House Speaker Paul Ryan has reminded House GOP members that this year's budget is critical for getting top priorities like tax reform through both chambers.

It's unlikely any Democrats will back the fiscal blueprint, so Republican leaders are locking down support from the various factions of their conference. They plan to hold up the proposal as evidence they are following through on the promise of GOP control of the White House and the Capitol intent on reshaping the federal government.

The fiscal blueprint is expected to propose more than $1.1 trillion for the next fiscal year and would provide more money for the military and domestic spending than President Donald Trump requested in his budget, which he sent to the Hill in May, according to several congressional aides familiar with the proposal.

Republicans reached an agreement on the discretionary funding levels for the Pentagon and domestic agencies, and the last sticking point Republican leaders had to overcome was over how much deficit-reduction should be taken out of mandatory programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

The budget plan would provide $621.5 billion in base defense spending, as well as $75 billion in war funding, known as Overseas Contingency Operations, sources told CNN. That's $28.5 billion more than the President requested --- $18.5 in the base budget and $10 billion extra in war dollars.

The House budget blueprint would set domestic discretionary spending at $511 billion, an increase compared to the Trump administration's $462 billion budget request, which proposed deep cuts to agencies like the State Department and EPA.

When President Barack Obama was in the White House, final spending deals in recent years included equal increases for defense and domestic spending, but Republicans are trying to move away from that construct now that they control the legislative and executive branches.

While the budget agreement will likely will have enough votes to get those spending bills through the House, Senate Democrats are likely to filibuster them, making a final deal uncertain ahead of a September deadline to keep the government from shutting down.

This emerging budget deal lays out the GOP wish list, but an agreement that funds federal agencies will be tougher to hammer out. Republicans have had to rely on Democrats to pass those in recent years, so they may need to give in on the split between defense and other domestic programs.

Another problem the House faces with the emerging budget agreement is that the defense funding violates spending caps established by the 2011 Budget Control Act. The defense cap for 2018 is $549 billion, and if the cap is not changed, the Pentagon would be subject to across-the-board cuts known as sequestration.

Republican defense hawks want to repeal the budget caps for defense, as Trump has requested, but Democrats won't go along unless the cap is also removed for domestic spending.

For defense hawks, the $621.5 billion topline for defense is a compromise, as House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry and Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain have been pressing for at least $640 billion for the military.

The difficulties in creating a budget deal in the House have also made for a topsy-turvy process crafting individual authorization and appropriation bills. Both Thornberry and Rep. Kay Granger, the chairwoman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, were preparing their defense bills at different levels --- Thornberry's at $37 billion more than the Trump request and Granger's at the same level as Trump's.

But with a budget deal near, the House's defense authorization and appropriations bills were finalized at the same level as the emerging budget agreement.

Thornberry told reporters last week that he was willing to come down from $640 billion, but he would need assurances there would be future growth for military spending in future years.

The final sticking point to getting House Republicans on the same page was negotiating how much money the plan would cut from the mandatory side of the ledger. Programs like Social Security and Medicare that are funded through mandatory spending account for about two-thirds of the total budget, but they are difficult to reduce because any change requires Congress to pass a new law.

With divided government in recent years, Republicans in Congress have been unable to make a dent in this area. But House GOP members are looking to get some significant savings from changes to some programs that fall under the Agriculture Department, like food stamps, or other welfare programs.

The House GOP budget is expected to direct several committees to come up with roughly $200 billion in deficit savings. Some in the House Freedom Caucus were hoping they could get a significantly higher number, and House Budget Chair Diane Black also appealed to top GOP leaders to make those savings a major component of the final deal, according to several House Republican sources.

Rep. Mark Meadows, the leader of the Freedom Caucus, said there was not a budget deal he could agree to yet.

Meadows said he wasn't concerned with the numbers in the agreement, but rather the details when it came to how the deficit reduction was achieved.

The budget proposal does not provide details on how each committee could achieve these savings targets, but including the provision in the budget resolution gives Republicans in Congress the ability to say they are following through on their pledge to reduce the size of the federal government.

Ryan, a former budget chair, has been sympathetic to those pressing for major deficit reduction, but he is also balancing the challenge of shepherding a major overhaul of the tax code through the House. Leaders wanted to reach agreement on a savings number they felt was manageable for the House Ways and Means Committee to meet as it evaluates what various changes to the tax rates and exemptions will mean for the overall budget.

Republicans don't need to pass a budget --- the various spending bills that detail how much each agency will get for federal programs are the measures that keep the government operating. But as they did with health care, GOP leaders are using this vehicle so they can use a tool known as "budget reconciliation" to pass a tax reform package through the Senate with a simple majority, avoiding a Democratic filibuster.

Democrats are expected to be united against the package.

Kentucky Rep. John Yarmuth, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, hasn't seen the details, but is already arguing that it's the same as the Trump administration's version sent to the Hill in May.

"The reports on the Republican budget proposal indicate that they are embracing much of the Trump budget," Yarmuth said in a written statement to CNN. "Instead of investing in American families and the future of our nation, it appears they are prepared to undermine our country's economic progress, health security, and safety just so they can give massive tax breaks for millionaires and corporations. We will fight this irresponsible proposal every step of the way."

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Can we count on utopian dreamers to change the world? – New Scientist

Posted: at 7:37 am

The rise of the machines creates complex questions for society

Colin Anderson/Getty

By Ben Collyer

Aristotle wrote in his Politics that if machines could be made to obey or anticipate the will of humans and then function untended, chief workmen would not want servants, nor masters slaves. The ancient Greeks were pretty handy with labour-saving devices, and although Aristotle was not predicting the imminent end of slavery in the 4th century BC, his logic remains impeccable.

Yet history has revealed barriers to the adoption of automation: if human labour is cheap, why invest in machines? And when technology is adopted, what happens to the servants or slaves? Throughout the medieval period, the only investments that interested squabbling feudal landowners were related to war. It took the profit motive of 18th-century capital investors to sponsor innovators and weigh the fine financial balance between machines and humans in producing everyday goods.

But as we know, the gains made by ordinary workers in the industrial period came only through bitter struggle and upheaval. Now in 2017, we are struggling again with newer disruptions and inequalities brought on by imbalances between humans and machines.

Enter Dutch thinker Rutger Bregman, whose debut book Utopia for Realists has become an unexpected bestseller. Bregman accepts that many new jobs have emerged since early automation in the 1800s, but suggests that the pace of technological advance has now passed a threshold and the rate of creation is now falling. He cites Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee at the MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who coined the term the great decoupling to describe this most recent phase, in which wages no longer even partially keep step with technical productivity.

How is it that real incomes have barely risen since the 1970s, despite the most rapid technical advances in human history? Instead, inequality has grown to levels similar to those of the Roman Empire. The answer, suggests Bregman, is twofold: the output of modern automation is not met by adequate purchasing power, and labour has been drawn increasingly into administrative and transactional work that delivers no direct improvement in living standards.

To resolve these problems, first, if machines increasingly make more of the things that meet our needs, then a universal basic income (UBI) is no longer a pipe dream, but essential to permit us to buy those machine-made goods. Its an old idea, toyed with by such unlikely fellow proponents as the 18th-century author of Rights of Man, Thomas Paine, and US president Richard Nixon. Now, argues Bregman, its time has finally come.

Second, the advantages of technology would be enhanced still further if futile admin could be reduced, and labour mainly refocused on activities that directly meet human needs. Bregman makes the argument vigorously, if perhaps a little unsympathetically, to those who, in search of a job, have found themselves in the financial sector.

In the banks, he says, clever minds concoct myriad, complex financial products that dont create wealth, but destroy it. These products are, essentially, like a tax on the rest of the population. Who do you think is paying for all those custom-tailored suits, sprawling mansions, and luxury yachts?

Bregmans Utopia is light on discussion about how the UBI is to be funded, though. Money creation by central banks is already practised through quantitative easing (QE), but it goes to the commercial banks, in a largely futile effort to stimulate the economy with yet more debt. As a result, the idea of QE for the people is already appearing in political manifestos, in line with Bregmans argument, as a source of UBI.

If all this happens, we will need to watch for inflation. When the new UBI is spent, what will people buy? Will the industries that produce these goods or services have adequate investment to gear up? And can progressive governments ensure an orderly reorientation of labour, especially in the corporate sector?

As with previous historic efforts at imagining UBI, the changes that Bregman proposes will meet political resistance from vested interests and risk popular alarm if not carefully planned. Global corporations and their owners, the pension and insurance funds, will need to be persuaded by the economic restructuring implied the shrinking of bank profit and transactional activity, and the need for capital assets, training and recruitment to be redirected to productive sectors.

The questions that Bregman poses must be addressed, and urgently: thought-through projections will be essential soon. It is possible that a modest UBI alone might jump-start a move in the right direction. Too large an amount, and an unprepared productive sector will not have enough capacity to meet the new demand, resulting in inflation and disappointment.

A more detailed treatment of the history, theory and political prospects for UBI is offered by Philippe Van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght, who also believe its time has come. They begin to address the complex social issues it raises in their book, Basic Income who receives UBI, at what age, and can we avoid triggering unwanted cross-border migration?

Their work will be essential for the ongoing debate, but by their own admission, leaves much to tackle with regard to macroeconomic and corporate governance issues.

So, to guarantee that UBI doesnt become a flash in the pan and ensure the smoothest possible transition away from dysfunctional modern economics, writers and thinkers will need to engage the public and professional imagination.

These authors make a brilliant start though after all, how on Earth are we to pay for goods made by robots, and wouldnt a world composed entirely of wealth-creating bankers starve to death?

Utopia for Realists: And how we can get there

Rutger Bregman

Bloomsbury Publishing

Basic Income: A radical proposal for a free society and a sane economy

Philippe Van Parijs and Yannick Vanderborght

Harvard University Press

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Oceania Boxing Championships set to begin in Gold Coast – Loop PNG

Posted: at 7:37 am

It is the last of the five Continental Championships that serve as direct qualification routes to the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) World Boxing Championships, due to be held in the German city of Hamburg between August 25 and September 2.

The two finalists in each of the ten weight categories will secure their places in Hamburg.

Action is due to begin today with finals scheduled for Thursday (June 29).

Vanuatu number one Boe Warawara will be aiming to defend his continental bantamweight title.

He went on to compete at the 2015 AIBA World Championships in Doha, losing in the round-of-16, and last year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Warawara lost his first round bout to Russia's Vladimir Nikitin in Brazil.

Australian super heavyweight Joseph Goodall won silver at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and will have his sights set on gold.

Australia's AIBA Youth World Championship bronze medallist Sam Goodman is due to compete at bantamweight, while his compatriot, former AIBA junior world champion Clay Waterman, will enter the light heavyweight event.

New Zealander David Nyika impressed at heavyweight with the British Lionhearts during the recent World Series of Boxing season and will be full of confidence heading to the Gold Coast.

Papua New Guinea's defending flyweight champion Charles Keama and Rio 2016 Olympian Thadius Katua will also be hopeful of success.

Katua won the gold medal at the 2015 Pacific Games on home soil in Port Moresby but was knocked out of the lightweight event at Rio 2016 in the round-of-32.

Fiji's hopes rest on the shoulders of their Rio 2016 Olympian Winston Hill.The 23-year-old lost in the round-of-32 in Brazil and will compete in the welterweight competition this week..

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Festival brings taste of the Caribbean to Pembroke Pines – Sun … – Sun Sentinel

Posted: at 7:35 am

A Caribbean festival brought a taste of the islands to Pembroke Pines on Saturday.

The event part of Caribbean American Heritage month at the Pembroke Pines City Center had music, free food samples and several vendors, as well as family activities.

It attracted people looking to learn or celebrate Caribbean American culture for a $10 entry fee.

Samantha Wang said she enjoyed the Caribbean music, which could be heard throughout the festival from the small stage adorned with flags of the Caribbean islands.

I came out here today to learn about Caribbean culture, she said. The 36-year-old drove from Hallandale Beach to experience the music, flavors and atmosphere of the Caribbean, she said. The food here is really good I got this huge plate of fish for like $10.

She sat beside Odetta Grey, a 41-year-old living in Sunrise but originally from Guyana, on one of the courtyards few benches, though the two had never met. The colors of Greys outfit matched the red, green and yellow of the flag.

Barbara Lue and Jean Senior came prepared for the festival with folding chairs. They sat on the edge of the courtyard, swaying to the music.

We go to these festivals all the time, to celebrate our culture and listen to the music, Lue, 57, said.

Lue lives in Hollywood and Senior, also 57, lives in Miami Gardens. Their Jamaican heritage unites them, Lue said.

Inside the City Center building, vendors sold handbags, jewelry and crafts. Some offered complimentary tea tasting or a sample of rambutan, a tropical spiny red fruit.

Outside, food trucks lined the perimeter, and children played in a bounce house, had their faces painted or ran around the festival with balloon swords and animals.

Brooke Baitinger: bbaitinger@sun-sentinel.com, 561-243-6648 or Twitter: @BaitingerBrooke

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Royal Caribbean announces 2018 President’s Cruise sailing – Royal Caribbean Blog (blog)

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Tourist Shot in the Caribbean Flown to Fort Lauderdale Hospital – NBC 6 South Florida

Posted: at 7:35 am

An American tourist who was shot during an armed robbery while vacationing in Turks and Caicos was recovering at a Fort Lauderdale Hospital Monday.

Family members said Kevin Newman was on vacation with his wife and son when he was shot early Friday. The Alabama man underwent surgery before he was flown to the U.S. and admitted to Broward Health Medical Center, where he remained in serious condition.

In a Facebook post early Monday, wife Tiffany Newman said her husband was off a ventilator and was able to communicate.

"He was very emotional and tearful. He seems to have a VERY clear memory of what happened to him and I can only imagine the terror of this ordeal," she wrote.

Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police officials said officers responded to the shooting around 1:43 a.m. Friday in the Grace Bay area of Providenciales. Police said Newman was shot in the abdominal area.

"It caused damage to his liver, but the main issue was that it hit his inferior vena cava and right kidney vein. He lost a very large amount of blood so he received lots of transfusions," Tiffany Newman said in a statement.

Newman underwent surgery and had been in a medically-induced coma at the islands' Cheshire Hall Medical Center before he was flown to South Florida, according to a GoFundMe posting.

Police said no arrests have been made in the shooting, which remains under investigation.

Officials with the Turks and Caicos Ministry of Tourism released a statement about the shooting Monday.

"We are shocked and saddened regarding the incident that occurred on one of our islands, in the early morning of June 23, involving a visitor to the destination. He and his family continue to be in our thoughts and prayers while doctors continue to monitor his recovery," the statement read. "A criminal act, whether against a resident or visitor, is never something taken lightly and there is a heightened and concentrated effort to identify the individual(s) responsible. The Turks and Caicos Islands are a popular and peaceful destination known for its pristine beaches and relaxed atmosphere and this type of occurrence sends a ripple through the entire community. The safety of all those on these islands is always our top priority and remains as such. The Ministry of Tourism is in complete cooperation with our acting police commissioner who has increased visible security."

Officials said a member of the tourist board stayed by Tiffany Newman's side until her husband was flown to the U.S. and that they remain in constant contact with the family. They also made travel arrangements for Newman's son, Gavin, to return to the U.S.

"Words can't begin to express how thankful we are to each and every person that has given anything to our family. This has been so traumatic, but it has also been so comforting knowing we have so much love, support, and prayers for us," Tiffany Newman said in the statement.

Published at 1:29 PM EDT on Jun 26, 2017 | Updated at 9:00 PM EDT on Jun 26, 2017

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Table Tennis Making History In The Bahamas – Bahamas Tribune

Posted: at 7:35 am

The International Table Tennis Federation hosted a press conference Friday to introduce future plans for the table sport. Pictured (l-r) are Adrain Rolins, Keith Saunder, Shameka Fernander, Geoffrey McPhee, Richard McAfee, Wellington Miller and Carl

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas and the sport of table tennis itself made history.

The Bahamas Table Tennis Federation became one of the final four countries in the world to join the International Table Tennis Federation. With the additions of the Bahamas, Cape Verde, Eritrea and Guinea Bissau, the ITTF became the only sport in the world to have every country as a member federation. Global membership of the organisation now stands at 226 countries.

The ITTF international course conductor, Richard McAfee, officially represented the international governing body at a press conference to announce the partnership. ITTF is very proud to be the first international federation on earth to have every country in the world as a member. The Bahamas was one of the last four to come in and in honour of that the ITTF has launched a developmental project, which will last about a year in the country, he said. They have already sent in an equipment package, we will be hiring a local developmental officer and hopefully we will get table tennis back to the glory days you have had here before, but this time it is going to be interconnected to the ITTF and programmes around the world. Hopefully we will be able to raise it to a new height and support it in a lot of different ways.

The goal of the BTTF is to encourage, promote and control the sport of table tennis throughout the country.

To that end, the Bahamas hosted a two-day club coaching course, taught by McAfee at the home of table tennis, the YWCA on Dolphin Drive.

BTTF secretary Shameka Fernander said the organisation seeks to educate the public on the sport.

We want to give special thanks to the Bahamas Olympic Committee for assisting us in this process. Table tennis has been around in the Bahamas for a very long time and The Nassau Table Tennis Club has been playing for over 40 years. Our home is at the YWCA on Dolphin Drive and a lot of people dont know about it, but we want to increase the amount of players, clubs, she said.

One of our first projects is to integrate table tennis into the schools so we are hosting a course with the Ministry of Education teachers and we are very excited to have that.

Table tennis was once one of the leading sports in The Bahamas, and the sport is a part of the curriculum in schools. The BTTF has taken part and won numerous awards from prestigious tournaments around the region, and on the international circuit.

Said BTTF president Geoffrey McPhee: We hope the country can pick up the enthusiasm we have for the sport and we now have to share it with a younger generation. We want the younger kids to know there is an even greater sport they can participate in so we can grow this sport to the level of others in the country.

Bahamas Olympic Committee president Wellington Miller said it was a step in the right direction to have another sport join the Olympic movement.

This discussion started last year in Rio. We sat down and went through it. We figured that if it was properly organised, everyone will be able to benefit from it. We look forward to the day when table tennis can benefit and be on our national teams, he said.

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Table Tennis Making History In The Bahamas - Bahamas Tribune

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