Category Archives: Politically Incorrect

The Democratic Party, with the narrowest of majorities, is trying to pass two bills through Congress that, in their current form, would increase federal spending by roughly $4.5 trillion with an as-yet indeterminate amount of compensating revenue increases. At the same time, the Democrats also want to boost the party's popularity heading into the 2022 midterms and, ultimately, the 2024 presidential election.

If a recent Matthew Yglesias Substack post is right, it might not be possible to do both.

That's because, as Yglesias argues, the median voter in America is a 50-something white person who didn't graduate from college and lives in the suburbs of an unfashionable American city. And this median voter is unlikely to support policies favored by the party's progressive caucus, which has so far had the biggest say on what's in these bills. That means that the Democrats are spending months trying to pass legislation that's well to the left of the median American voter when appealing to the median voter is the best, and perhaps only, way to increase the political power of Democrats in Washington over the next few election cycles.

Now, of course this doesn't mean the Dems should mimic Republicans and pass a big tax cut and support no new significant spending. Yglesias' median voter theorem applies most powerfully to culture-war issues, and some of the policy proposals in the two spending bills hard infrastructure (roads and bridges), for example, as well as regulations on prescription drug pricing are quite broadly popular. The Democrats would be foolish not to pass and run on these initiatives in 2022 and beyond.

But much of the rest of what's in especially the second, much larger ($3.5 trillion) bill? It's a mixed bag, like the bill itself. Some items poll well, others less so. But as progressive pundit Eric Levitz admits, the enormous spending Congress passed early on in the Biden presidency (including substantial checks sent to many millions of Americans) didn't do much of anything to boost Biden's approval rating. So whether any item in the current spending bills does anything to help Democrats is unclear. But what is clear is that the enormous overall price tag will almost certainly be hung around the party's neck by Republicans as the country heads into the midterms.

That won't hurt progressive members of the Democratic caucus in the House, who in most cases come from safely blue districts. But Democrats from purple districts, like many Democratic senators up for re-election next year, could find themselves running headlong into a Republican buzz saw if Biden ends up signing the larger bill in its current form.

It certainly wouldn't be the first time Democrats traded a progressive victory on policy for broader popularity and future power.

Read more:
Democrats scare off the median voter - The Week Magazine

In the wake of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the presence of another radical Islamic organisation, the Islamic State Khorasan Province or ISKP, has become a matter of worry across the world. The ISKP had claimed the attack on the Kabul airport last month. The group, being ideologically opposed to the Taliban, has a vision of the region with much bigger implications for India.

The ISKP envisions the creation of a historical region that went by the name of Khorasan. Historically, the region being referred to as Khorasan had varying borders depending on its political rulers. But scholars do agree that the origins of the term, which means rising sun, lies in the Sasanian Empire in what is modern day Iran. Khorasan, under the Sassanians, comprised the north eastern part of Iran. At the same time, there was a persistent notion of a Greater Khorasan, comprising large parts south of the Aral Sea.

Theoretically, then, the eastern frontier of Khurasan went as far as China, but in fact it seldom extended very far past Balkh into the district known as Turkharistan (roughly analogous to ancient Bactria), writes historian Elton L. Daniel in his book, The political and social history of Khurasan under Abbasid rule, 747-820 (1979). So, despite its varying notions in the Islamic world, Khorasan seldom crossed beyond the region that is modern day Afghanistan.

In recent years, the first time the term Khorasan was adopted by a radical Islamic group was in 1996 by Osama Bin Laden of Al-Qaeda. At this point, Afghanistan was the base of operations for the larger goals of establishing an Islamic Caliphate after driving the United States out of Saudi Arabia and destroying Israel. Bin Laden, operating from Afghanistan, proclaimed that he had found a safe refuge in Khorasan. Later, the same term was adopted by the ISKP, which claimed Khorasan to be the land encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Central Asian republics, northwestern or sometimes all of India, and Russia.

Both Al-Qaeda and the ISKP are in fact not based in Khorasan. Historically speaking, Khorasan never went south of the Hindu Kush. But the allies of Al-Qaeda and ISKP are Pakistani Jihadi groups who wish to include Kashmir in their area of operations. They are not interested in the Arab world issues, and are rather looking east, explains Dr. Amin Tarzi, director of Middle Eastern Studies at Marine Corps University, in an interview with Indianepxress.com. Consequently, these groups hark back to Islamic history to find political currency in the significance of Khorasan. Indeed there was much to appropriate here, as the region of Khorasan is of special significance in the political and cultural history of Islam as well as in Islamic theology.

Modern scholars of Islamic history agree on this idea that between the seventh century CE when the Sasanian Empire collapsed with the Muslim conquest and the 13th century CE, Khorasan went from being in the margins of empire to becoming the centre and then again withdrawing to the margins. Its very name (literally Khurasan means the land of the rising sun) hints at its marginal position vis-a-vis the centre of the Sasanian Empire, which was first in Fars, then in Iraq, writes historian of medieval Iran David Durand Guedy in his article, Pre-Mongol Khurasan: A historical introduction (2015).

The Encyclopaedia Iranica notes that during the Arab Islamic invasion, Khorasan seemed to have corresponded to an abstract geographical entity. The Arab armies did not limit their conquest to the boundaries of Sasanian Khorasan, but rapidly passed the Oxus River through the Kara Kum desert and advanced through Sogdiana toward the northeast, to stop later on the Talas River around 750 CE, it suggests.

In his article, Guedy explains that the biggest impact of the Arab conquest was the unification of the territories that were previously divided under the common umbrella term called Khorasan. He also writes that unlike other provinces, Khurasan also saw the massive installation of Arab settlers, perhaps as many as 250,000, which reflects both its strategic importance as well as its potential wealth. He adds: Logically the the conversion of the local population to Islam began there earlier.

Rocco Rante, archaeologist at the department of Islamic Art in the Louvre Museum says that excavations in the area show cultural and technological similarities, proving that the Greater Khorasan area came to be unified from Herat to Balkh. Sometimes we can find similar objects from the other side of the Oxus River as well.

Speaking about the strategic importance of the Khorasan region to the Islamic Caliphate, Daniel says, All the major trade routes went through this area. Controlling it was important to control the world economy. Politically, he says, the area was crucial to the Caliphate because it was the military frontier for Islamic expansion eastwards. Khorasan was also the richest province in terms of the amount of taxes it paid to the Caliphate. Financially, militarily, and commercially, this area was critical for the Caliphate, says Daniel who is Director at Ehsan Yarshater Center For Iranian Studies in Columbia University.

The importance of this area also stems from the fact that it was the cradle of the Abbasid Revolution, a critical moment in Islamic history. Hitherto the Islamic world was ruled by the Umayyads, an Arab dynasty. Non-Arabs in the region, including those who had converted to Islam, were particularly distressed by the discriminatory treatment meted out to them under the Umayyads. The Abbasid dynasty that stood up in opposition to them claimed descent from al-Abbas, an uncle of the Prophet. Under the leadership of Abu Muslim, a Persian general, the Abbasids toppled the Umayyad dynasty.

This was an extremely significant event because this is when the idea that in order to be Muslim one also had to be Arab is rejected. The idea of Islam as a multi-national, multi-ethnic religion grew out of these events, says Daniel.

Thereafter, leaders of the Caliphate were no longer Arabs. They were Iranians and other Easterners drawn in from Central Asia. The centre of the Muslim world shifted from Baghdad to Khorasan region, that now became the linchpin of the Muslim Empire.

Under the Abbasids this region acquired a newfound cultural significance. Rante explains that it would be incorrect to assume that the material cultural productions at Khorasan were superior to that in other parts of the Muslim world. However, after the Abbasid revolution, Khorasan assumed a political role way more important than what it was before.

The Encyclopaedia Iranica suggests that it was from the provinces association with the Abbasids that hadiths or traditions came into circulation like the one attributed to the Prophet: Khorasan is Gods quiver; when He becomes angry with a people, he launches at them the Khorasanis.

Consequently, Khorasan also became a space for intellectual productions, with the city of Nishapur at the centre of it. The multi-ethnic nature of Islam here was one of main reasons behind the region producing exciting new works in philosophy, science, and literature.

Nishapurs lively intellectual climate was not solely the product of legal and theological disputes and civil strife. The presence there of articulate Zoroastrians and Christians also played a role, as did, the submerged traditions of Buddhism and the ongoing intellectual contacts with India, writes S.Frederick Starr, an expert on Russian and Eurasian affairs in his book, Lost Enlightenment: Central Asias Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane (2013).

One of the first philosophers to emerge here was a polymath by the name Abul-Abbas Iranshahri who brought to his philosophy a deep knowledge of Christianity and Zoroastrianism. He is known to have produced works on astronomy as well and firmly believed in the rational intellect of humans to approach questions of existence.

One of Iranshahris students, Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, is noted by Starr in his book as being the greatest medical clinician of all times. Then there was the ninth century scholar, Jabir Ibn Hayyan who is known to have authored an enormous volume of works dealing with Chemistry, alchemy, magic and religion.

Khurasan produced more than its share of skeptics and radical freethinkers, writes Starr. This was no surprise as people of this region were reading, editing and translating religious texts for a while now. Several of these freethinkers focused their attack squarely on Islam.

For instance, there was Abu Hasan Ahmad Ibn Al-Rawandi born around 820 CE in Lesser Merv (what is now northern Afghanistan). As Starr writes, Rawandi used logic and reason to plumb the nature of religion and is supposed to have mastered the art of using the Bible against the Bible and the Quran against the Quran to show The Futility of Divine Wisdom, the title of one of his diatribes against all revealed religions. He wrote close to 114 books and treatises on philosophy, politics, music, grammar, but none of them survive today, nor does any of his poetry.

No discussion of intellectual productions in Khorasan is complete without referring to the Shahnameh, an epic written by the Persian poet Firdawsi in the 10th century CE. The Shahnameh provides a mythical and historical account of the Persian Empire. It is believed to be one of the longest epic poems of the world, and is deemed to be part of global cultural heritage.

When the Abbasids were defeated by the Mongols in the 13th century, the Khorasan region once again lost its centrality and went into the periphery. The next time this region becomes important is under the Timurids. But by now the name Khorasan is no longer in usage. The centre of the empire shifted to Bukhara (in present day Uzbekistan) and Balkh (in present day Afghanistan) and the region of Khorasan lost the political significance it had before, says Tarzi. It had to do with geopolitics and changing of the empires.

The next time that the term Khorasan emerged in popular consciousness was in 1932 when the prominent Afghan historian and politician Mir Ghulam Muhammad Ghobar in his writings, called Afghanistan as Aryana (land of the Aryans) in pre-Islamic times and as Khorasan after the Islamic conquests. After modern Afghanistan is born the Afghans proclaim Abu Muslim, the Abbasid general as their hero. This was done not for religious reasons but for a nationalist cause to stand up against the Arabs, says Tarzi. The Afghans even changed the birthplace of Abu Moslem to a village in Afghanistan called Sar-e-Pol rather than the conventional location near Isfahan in Iran. Tarzi explains that in the mid-20th century several books and historians in Afghanistan repeatedly referred to their country as Khorasan, much of which, he says, was based on very thin historical evidence.

In the 1980s and 90s, the term emerged once again, this time though it is Islamic extremism that usurps its symbolism. Tarzi in an article published in 2020 explains that from the initial phases of the Afghan Mujahideen political campaigns against the Soviets (1979-89) to the internal conflict with the Taliban (1994-2001), Khorasan became a term of reference used by some of the local, mainly non-Pashtun groups to propagate the idea that their armed struggle went beyond freeing the country from the foreign yoke and communism or the Taliban. For them, it was a call to return the country to its pre-1747 political makeup, the time before modern-day Afghanistan emerged as a political unit ruled by Dorrani.

After the departure of the Soviets from Afghanistan, the focus of the Al-Qaeda formed in the 1980s shifted to a more global jihadist agenda. Afghanistan served as the base for Bin Laden and it was from here that he proclaimed his safe refuge in Khorasan. Scholars explain that the theological aspect of the Al-Qaedas use of the Khorasan symbolism is based on a few hadiths (traditions or sayings of the Prophet) that associated the region with future events. The most referenced hadith, of which there are several renditions, conveys the message that there would emerge from Khorasan an army carrying black banners that no one would repel until it raised its banners Ilia (the name used in early Muslim sources for Jerusalem), writes Tarzi.

Taken in this context, perhaps it is no surprise as to why Al-Qaeda chose to represent itself with a black flag. They even published a magazine, Talai i Khorasan (Vanguard of Khorasan) detailing the virtues and significance of Khorasan in Islamic thought.

With the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Jihadish organisations, including many in the ranks of Al-Qaeda were prompted to shift focus westwards. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was formed, which no longer looked east to fulfill its destiny and the idea of Khorasan once again waned. It emerged once again in 2015 when the ISKP was born. To them, Khorasan, the region, encompassed the fluid borders between Afghanistan and Pakistan and went on to include countries like Iran, other Central Asian republics, parts of Russia and parts of India. Members of the group, explains Tarzi, included disgruntled jihadists in Afghanistan who were against Pashtun nationalism and those in Pakistan working against India to occupy Kashmir.

Even though the ISKP claims to be an offshoot of ISIS and while they both wish to create an Islamic world, in their aims and vision they both are remarkably different. The ISKP is clearly looking towards India. Their map of Khorasan includes large parts of north India where the Mughals ruled and they do not include most of southern India, says Tarzi. He reiterates that even in the heyday of Islamic rule in India, it was never called Khorasan India was called Al-Hind.

Speaking about the implications of the ISKPs vision for India, Tarzi explains that firstly one needs to see to what extent their ideology resonates with radical Islamic groups within India. Secondly, they would need support from a different country to germinate further. This is dependent on international relations among countries in the region. So, if Indias relations with one of its neighbouring countries deteriorates they might find support there, says Tarzi.

At present the ISKP stands firmly diminished in the wake of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. This is one of the reasons for the Taliban finding favourability among the Chinese and the Russians. While the Talibans extremist ideology is definitely seen as worrying, it is recognised as being restricted to Afghanistan, while the ISKP is seen as a much bigger regional threat.

It is indeed interesting that the symbol of Khorasan that the radical Islamic groups employ harks back to a time and space of intellectual enlightenment and cultural productions. It is true that Islam has made so many positive contributions to the history and development of this region, says Tarzi. These extremist organisations do not have that kind of a vision. Their only vision is to create fear and work for whoever pays them.

Further reading:

Elton L. Daniel, The political and social history of Khurasan under Abbasid rule, 747-820,Bibliotheca Islamica, 1979

Rocco Rante (ed.),Greater Khorasan: History, Geography, archaeology and material culture,De Gruyter, 2015

S. Frederick Starr, Lost Enlightenment: Central Asias Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane, Princeton University Press, 2015

Amin Tarzi,Khorasan in modern Islamist ideology,in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Brill Publishers, Fascicle XVI/6, 2020

Link:
Why Islamic State in Afghanistan harks on the concept of Khorasan and what it means for India - The Indian Express

He always felt like an outsider, was always the weird kid from another country.

It was very valuable as an artist to grow up outside one of the centres of the world

Classmates would ask, Do you have telephones in Zimbabwe? (Yes!) or Are there lions wandering down the high street? (Yes!) Really? (No!)

To be clear, there were streets and phones and TVs, but only two TV stations, So we had whatever cheap TV we could afford from the rest of the world.

The result: Red Dwarf, but also Santa Barbara (a lurid American soap opera) and weird European football roundup shows from which he would learn about the academy system in Yugoslavia from Gillette World Sport Special.

Yet, he says, It was very valuable as an artist to grow up outside one of the centres of the world. Being an outsider, he says, was key to making him an actor. Hed always had to think who hed need to be in order to fit in.

Coat, 5,740. Shirt, 520. Trousers, 680. Boots, 590. All by Alexander McQueen. alexandermcqueen.com. Socks by Falke, 13. falke.com

You know, he says, I was a loud kid this is not hard to believe so Ive always been expressive and I would think to myself, Why am I weird once Ive come to the UK? Whats different about me? And so he realised, If I was this guy, Id get access here; if I was this guy, people will accept me in this way... Its code-switching, but then taken into subcultures.

He joined a punk band for similar reasons. For him, a self-confessed nerd and good boy, punk was socially acceptable rebellion, a way to play someone else, he says, one set at a time. Well, that and it was the desire to yell at people. Like, youre a teenager, youre going to be irresponsible and unreasonable, and I was like, Whats an acceptable way to slam the bedroom door that wont get me into trouble? Ah, thats what people do in rock bands! Excellent. So I joined a rock band instead of slamming doors. I jumped around on stage and yelled at people while I tried to figure out how the world worked for a while.

When he lived in Los Angeles, in his twenties, he was an outsider again and so wanted to know the difference in language. Between Brentwood and Inglewood, say, or what Van Nuys meant, or the difference between the Eastside and the Westside. When he took LA Ubers hed take different accents out for a spin with every ride.

Generally Ill stay undercover and put on a New York accent or a West Coast accent. It is, he says, like scales in the morning, if youre a pianist. In the rehearsal room, actors give each other a lot of slack. But if youre not confident ordering a coffee in that accent, in the place that accent is from, then thats not good enough to go on screen.

Read more:
Reg-Jean Page: The reason you think history is white is because youve been lied to - British GQ

The study found that in a group of eight laymen, there was no statistically significant difference between crowd performance and a particular fact checker. When the group reached up to 22 people, it actually started to outpace the fact checkers significantly. (These numbers represent the results when the layman was informed of the source of the article. If he didnt know the source, the crowd would be slightly worse.) Perhaps most importantly, as the laymans crowd Its the most dramatic surpass of fact checkers in categorized stories. It is political. Because these stories are where fact checkers are most likely to disagree with each other. Political fact checking is really difficult.

It may seem impossible for a random group of people to go beyond the work of a trained fact checker, especially just by knowing the headlines, the first sentence, and the publication. But that is the overall idea behind the wisdom of the crowd. If you gather enough people and act independently, their results will beat the experts.

Our sense of whats happening is that people read this and ask themselves,How well does this match everything else I know? Land said. Here comes the wisdom of the crowd. Not everyone needs to know whats going on. By averaging the ratings, the noise is offset and the signal has a much higher resolution than the individual. can be obtained.

This is not the same as the Reddit-style positive and negative voting system. Its also not a citizen editors Wikipedia model. In such cases, a small, non-representative subset of users can self-select to curate the material and each can see what the other person is doing. The wisdom of the crowd is only realized when the groups are diverse and the individuals make independent decisions. And relying on a randomly gathered, politically balanced group rather than a corps of volunteers makes it much harder to game a researchers approach. (It also explains why the experimental approach is different from Twitters Birdwatch. Its a pilot program that writes notes to users explaining why a particular tweet is misleading.)

The main conclusion of this treatise is straightforward. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can use cloud-based systems to dramatically and inexpensively scale up fact-checking operations without sacrificing accuracy. (The surveys general public is paid $ 9 per hour, which is equivalent to a cost of about $ 90 per article.) The cloud sourcing approach is easy to assemble and increases confidence in the process. Researchers claim that it is also useful. A group of amateurs who are politically balanced and difficult to blame for partisan prejudice. (Republicans overwhelmingly believe that fact checkers tend to favor one, according to a 2019 Pew survey.) Facebook has already debuted something similar and most obvious to a group of users. Work as a researcher or support other claims to find information that may conflict with online hoaxes. But that effort does not reinforce the work of official fact-checking partners, but informs them. The purpose is to do.

Scaled up fact checking is one thing. A much more interesting question is how the platform should use it. Should stories labeled false be banned? What about a misleading or operational story that may not contain objectively incorrect information?

Researchers argue that the platform should stay away from true / false binaries and either leave them alone or flag them. Instead, the platform proposes to incorporate continuous crowdsourcing accuracy assessment into the ranking algorithm. Instead of having a single true / false cutoff, treating everything above it one way, and everything below it another way, the platform makes certain links stand out in the user feed. The crowd-assigned scores should be proportionately incorporated when deciding whether to be displayed. In other words, the more the crowd decides the story is inaccurate, the lower the rank of the algorithm.

Does the wisdom of the crowd help solve social media trust issues?

Source link Does the wisdom of the crowd help solve social media trust issues?

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Does the wisdom of the crowd help solve social media trust issues? - Texasnewstoday.com

180 episodes of gut-busting laughs are joining Netflix next month.

The show I'm referring to is Seinfeld, the legendary sitcom starring comedian Jerry Seinfeld, and his iconic gang of friends Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), George (Jason Alexander) and Kramer (Michael Richards). The show is coming to Netflix on October 1, 2021, and will hopefully be available for the foreseeable future.

This is a fantastic acquisition for Netflix, a service that has been bereft of classic sitcoms since The Office, Parks and Recreation and Cheers all bolted for other services. As much as I love New Girl and Community, Seinfeld takes Netflix's selection to the next level, and helps me tie up a loose end that I've been waiting to complete for months.

If you're one of the more regular listeners of "The Drive", then you may remember that I was binge-watching Seinfeld a few months ago. Let me tell you, I was COOKING through episodes. I would return home from doing our show, make dinner, and watch Seinfeld while perusing the night's sports action. I was nearly through the show's nine-season, 180 episode run before Hulu removed the show from their service.

Needless to say, I was devastated.

I searched high and low for the next service on which Seinfeld would appear, only to be left with no answers. Then, my girlfriend Taylor sends me this tweet...

Just like that, my life has meaning again. I can once again immerse myself in the hilarious chatter from the coffee shop, ride the rollercoaster of emotions that accompany Jerry's trials and tribulations with dating, and yes, finally watch The Merv Griffin Show episode. I never reached that one.

As it turns out, Seinfeld's debut was among a number of exciting announcements by the streaming service, including but not limited to Season 3 of "You" dropping later that month, as well.

So, as the warm summer days turn to chilly fall nights, Netflix subscribers will be left entertained for hours.

How long it takes to binge 'The Office,' 'Game of Thrones,' and 50 other famous TV shows

The Cast of 'Friends': Then & Now

Excerpt from:
An Iconic New York Sitcom is Finally Streaming Next Month - WTMM 104.5 The Team - ESPN Radio

Molan alleges Daily Mail Australia portrayed her as 'a racist', which the publication in its defence argued was substantially true.

The document filed with the Federal Court on Monday cited more than 20 instances of Molan engaging in racist behaviour on the show in 2017 to 2020.

March 18, 2017

Ray Hadley:You know what you haven't done for a long time. You haven't done all your accents. Have you done for Erin your accents?

Erin Molan:Yeah, show me, show me.

Darryl Brohman: [American accent] How you doin? Sexy lady.

Ray Hadley: Now your Chinese one.

Darryl Brohman: [Chinese accent] Ho herroo... [Erin Molan and others laugh]

Ray Hadley: Japanese? Japanese please.

Darryl Brohman: Ha oh double herroo [others laugh]

Ray Hadley: It's the same.

Darryl Brohman: [Indian accent] No, thank you very much. [others laugh]

Erin Molan: Someone will write in now and say we're being racist. I think it's hilarious.

April 1, 2017

Ray Hadley: And now, why don't we have a conversation with Darryl doing his Chinese and Erin doing her Chinese. God you're so good looking.

Erin Molan: Herro, I wery goo looking [unclear] [in Chinese accent].

Ray Hadley: Just do one for me 'I love you long time', just do that for me.

Erin Molan: I wuv you wery long tiyme, wery handsome man, ohhh, you like to walk with me in a circle. [in Chinese accent] [Erin Molan and others laugh] I don't know what that means.

May 13, 2017

Erin Molan: Bunt-ay.Bunty.

Darryl Brohman: Why are you saying Bunt-ay?

Erin Molan: I'm just trying to think if he had a different last name.

Darryl Brohman: His last name's Afoa, it's not Bunt-ay.

Erin Molan: Yeah I know but I'm just thinking of different last names it might be funny. I wasn't gonna share them I was just thinking in my head. [Erin Molan laughs] Sorry. Back to you.Buntay. Is it Buntay or Bunty?

July 1, 2017

Mark Levy: Mate I went up on Parramatta road yesterday. I said to the Indian bloke, I said 'Chedwash me car, don't take me money'. [Others laugh]

Erin Molan: You can't say that.

Mark Levy: What do you mean I can't say it? He was an Indian bloke. [Erin Molan laughs]

Bob Fulton: What did he say to you? What did he say? We need an accent here. [Erin Molan and others laugh]

Erin Molan: That's where you'll get in trouble. [Erin Molan and others laugh]

April 19, 2017

In a discussion of the popularity of the Fijian name 'Nakubuwai', Molan suddenly started singing 1961 song The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

September 2, 2017

While discussing six members of the same family playing for the Highlanders rugby team in New Zealand.

Erin Molan: I think you look like a great group of men. [Erin Molan laughs]

Darryl Brohman: Also got a lovely bunch of coconuts [in accent] [Erin Molan and others laugh]

Erin Molan: A lovely bu [Erin Molan laughs] Is that racist?

Darryl Brohman: No.

Erin Molan: Oh [Erin Molan laughs].

Darryl Brohman: It's a song, you idiot. I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts. [Erin Molan laughs].

Bob Fulton: I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts [Others sing with accent]. [Erin Molan and others laugh]

Erin Molan: I thought you meant 'cause there were Islanders there. [Erin Molan and others laugh]

March 17, 2018

Erin Molan: Oh yor soh goo [Asian accent] [Erin Molan and others laugh]

Erin Molan: You like raw feesh [Asian accent] [Erin Molan and others laugh] Sorry, was that racist?

Bob Fulton:Yeahit wasn't good.

April 7, 2018

Darryl Brohman: But you'd think one of them would say [Jamaican accent] 'Hey mahn, this is a long way. We're at the Gold Coast mahn.' [Erin Molan laughs]

Erin Molan: Where's Sanka mahn [Erin Molan laughs]

Darryl Brohman: 'Where ya going mahn? You're going the wrong way mahn?' [Erin Molan and others laugh]

Erin Molan: 'Turn left Sanka' [Jamaican accent]

Bob Fulton: I think it was a ladies' volleyball team, so they wouldn't be going [Jamaican accent] 'Hey mahn'

Erin Molan: [Jamaican accent] Hey mahn! Hey mahn!

Darryl Brohman: You don't think the Western Indian ladies talk like that? Course they do.

Erin Molan: Daltedalte.datcho No that's Indian [Erin Molan laughs]

Darryl Brohman: They don't say bro.

Erin Molan: 'I think we gonna miss our beach volleyball, bro.' [Jamaican accent] Churrr. Like a tiger. [Erin Molan and others laugh]

August 18, 2018

Erin Molan: [American accent] Hello, hello y'all, hello. Hello and welcome to Channel Nine Football right here on Channel Nine. It's Saturday night everybody. Get your party hats on ye-haw. [Asian accent] Like a tyga. Like a tyga

Bob Fulton: What? You've gone Indian?

Erin Molan: [Asian accent] I like your hair

Bob Fulton: We've got an American Indian. [Erin Molan and others laugh]

Mark Levy: [stereotypical native American war cry]

Erin Molan: I don't know what's PC or not anymore. I can't laugh. [Erin Molan laughs]

Mark Levy: Stuff the PC brigade. That's what we're saying. [Erin Molan laughs]

August 18, 2018

Ray Warren: Corey Harawira-Naera, Darryl, will start at block with Kaide Ellis joining the bench in 18. So luckily you don't have to call that one

Darryl Brohman: I might have a drink with him tonight. G'day Corey Harawira-Naera. Well that's how I will be talking by the end of the night [mumbles] Corey Harawira-Naera [mock slurring of name].

Erin Molan: [Erin Molan and others laugh] Rrrrr.

September 8, 2018

During a discussion on pronouncing Maori names, with many instances of the hosts making allegedly crude jokes about them:

Erin Molan: It's Foo-seh-too-a-ya-ya-ya.

[...]

Darryl Brohman: So what about his surname, what do you call him, Kata or Katar.

Erin Molan: Qatar is a city in the middle east.

Ray Hadley: It's Kwi-tar. [Erin Molan laughs]

Erin Molan: Same difference.

May 18, 2019

Discussing a trip she and Brohman took to Bali, Molan put on an 'Indonesian' accent to describe being approached at the beach by local women offering massages.

Darryl Brohman: 'Haaa I got the saucy guy so goo, so big' [in Asian accent] [Erin Molan and others laugh].

Erin Molan: Ray, I've been at the beach with Big Marn when they've approached and it was more like 'ohhh loo big Aussie mahn, we charge four time amountttt'. [in Asian accent] [Erin Molan and others laugh]

Ray Hadley: I know what you would have said 'hey girls, we want 8 of you over here, one start that end, the other start this end', 'we found one over here', 'this will be a all-dayer' [Erin Molan and others laugh]

Darryl Brohman: Not necessarily. [Erin Molan and others laugh]. As soon as I got there Ray it was like a moth to the plague wasn't it.

Erin Molan: It's because 'yore big whyte Aussie mahn. You sucka'. [in Asian accent]

July 13, 2019

Darryl Brohman: I say 'Dat fity dolla, you like, like free bowl with it, that fityfive. Fityfive dolla.' [Asian accent]

Erin Molan: [Erin Molan laughs] It's not free. If it's 55, it's not free.

Darryl Brohman: They won't know! They're putting it on a credit card. [Erin Molan and others laugh]

Bob Fulton: That's fraud! [Erin Molan and others laugh]

Darryl Brohman: 'Dat fityfive dolla, fityfive dolla if you want special.'

August 10, 2019

Darryl Brohman: I can do Chinese Survivor.

Erin Molan: Go do it then [Erin Molan laughs]

Mark Levy: Go on, Chinese.come on.

Darryl Brohman: [Oriental music playing in background] 'Pwevioshly on ShurvivorChinese Shurvivor.' [Chinese accent] [Erin Molan laughs] Ah cookie boy Look at dis guy Look at dis [unclear] [Chinese accent] [Erin Molan and others laugh]

Mark Levy: You've got to speak Chinese! Not a cross!

Erin Molan: Ching-hao [Chinese accent] [Erin Molan and others laugh]

Darryl Brohman: Look at dis bloke You gotta climb dat polehe can't get up that pole. It's a gweasy pole. He can't get up, he's a big fattyshould be doing some westling. [Chinese accent] [Erin Molan laughs]

Bob Fulton: Hey cookie boy [others laugh].

Erin Molan: What about Indian Survivor?

Read this article:
Erin Molan admits that anyone who mocks Pacific Islander names is unfit to be an NRL commentator - nation.lk - The Nation Newspaper

EM history, EM jobs, CMGs:

The original cover of the book by James Keaney, MD.

I had drinks with a legend of emergency medicine in Honolulu in 1994. I met him the evening before when he addressed the Hawaii chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Everyone in the room was blown away by his talk, and I was fortunate to be included at a small dinner with him the following evening.

He regaled us with stories about the old days of emergency medicine in his thick Boston accent. I doubt he remembers that evening, but I will never forget it.

Two years earlier, I was a nave second-year resident. I was trying to grasp the nature of how to do my job, and it was difficult for me to consider what was going on in the post-residency world of emergency medicine. Our specialty was still young. The majority of EPs were salty veterans of emergency rooms.

This group included a lot of physicians who had drifted into the specialty for less than glamorous reasons. Some had been kicked out of residency or had too many malpractice claims. Others had substance abuse issues. Many had little to no formal training in emergency medicine, which had only been recognized as a specialty 12 years earlier. Residency-trained, board-certified emergency physicians were in the minority.

There was a lot of buzz around that time about a book that satirized the business practices of emergency medicine. It was so scandalous the author published under an alias: the Phoenix. That book was The Rape of Emergency Medicine, and the author was James Keaney, MD. Despite the politically incorrect title, it remains essential reading for understanding how emergency medicine became the first medical specialty to be commoditized in the 1980s.

I recently reread the book that made Dr. Keaney famous. It is a hilarious story with a cast of fantastic characters, including scrubs, suits, kitchen schedulers, Crips, Bloods, big cats, mosquitoes, pledge drivers, Weasel, Monk, and Cro-Magnon. The text drips with sarcasm and details the evolution of the emergency medicine business model, an endless turf battle to acquire management contracts for hospital emergency departments while filling shifts with any available clinician. All the while, the contract managers (AKA the suits) developed marketing campaigns that emphasized the quality of their services with slick, glossy handouts and receptions for hospital administrators supplying ample amounts of food, beverages, and gifts.

Shortly after the book's publication, Dr. Keaney was featured in Emergency Medicine News and then part of a feature story on 60 Minutes. The legendarily tough Mike Wallace interviewed him in a piece that brought to light the staffing models for emergency departments of that era.

The great irony is that 30 years later emergency physicians face a new challenge influenced in part by corporate medicine. Residency-trained, board-certified emergency physicians in the 1980s and 1990s were in short supply, and every business-savvy person knows that scarcity creates value. Entrepreneurs set up corporations that moved around a collection of physicians with varying levels of competence to staff the nation's emergency departments.

These corporations merged and changed into new companies many times over, but a version of that business model continues to be utilized today at many hospitals. The big difference, of course, is now we have more than enough residency-trained, board-certified emergency physicians. The scarcity that created the market in the first place no longer exists.

With this in mind, how does a company staffing emergency departments continue to prosper when the value of its service goes down? It drops the price to increase sales volume or finds a cheaper way to supply the service. Enter the nonphysician provider.

Of course, the trick now (as it was then) is to convince the consumer (hospital administrators) that your service continues to offer the same (or at least acceptable) level of quality with cheaper labor. You bring in the marketing department to produce more slick advertising that features the quality of your nurse practitioners and physician assistants at a fraction of the cost. (Read The Corporatization of EM Education for an example of this strategy: EMN. 2021;43[7]:1; https://bit.ly/3jzTUae.)

The net result now (as it was then) is the loss of some of our professional independence. Corporations create standardized processes that can improve quality in the emergency department, but these processes need to balance quality of care with fiscal responsibility. This goal can be extremely tough when other physician specialists providing care at a hospital have the negotiating power to dictate the terms of their compensation because of their professional independence. This dilemma can push hospital administrations to look elsewhere for savings, and that search might end up in the emergency department.

After the publication of his book, Dr. Keaney became a founding member and the first president of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine. This organization has been at the forefront of calling attention to questionable business practices in emergency medicine for nearly three decades. You can download a free copy of Dr. Keaney's book on the AAEM website: https://bit.ly/2UssEQq.

Reading this book provides residents and attendings alike with an essential historical reference for our specialty. It is a call to action for us to advocate for safe clinical environments and fair business practices. I encourage all residents to read his work and think about its impact on their future careers.

Dr. Cookis the program director of the emergency medicine residency at Prisma Health in Columbia, SC. He is also the founder of 3rd Rock Ultrasound (http://emergencyultrasound.com). Friend him atwww.facebook.com/3rdRockUltrasound, follow him on Twitter@3rdRockUS, and read his past columns athttp://bit.ly/EMN-Match.

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After the Match: Emergency Medicine's Past Plagues Its... : Emergency Medicine News - LWW Journals

Vaccines and masks will help end this pandemic

Recently I was in a local supermarket and was absolutely appalled at the number of people without masks. On Aug. 17, I was at a different market waiting to get my booster shot and decided to note the number of people I saw without masks. I have estimated the age group best I could but feel I am fairly accurate.

Three young couples with small children. Three obese women over 50 years old. Four women under 30 years. Six women between 40 to 60 years old. Fifteen men between 30 to 50 years old. Four men over age 60 - two of whom had obvious health issues.

Thats 38 people I noted in 30 minutes and only in a small area of the store. I would really like to be politically incorrect when describing these stupid people but this is a family paper. I cannot remember if there was an uproar when I was a child and got all my immunizations and then as a young mother when my children got the polio vaccine, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and the measles-mumps-rubella shots.

Please get the vaccine and wear your masks to help us end this pandemic.

Sandi Simpson, Lakeland

More: Voice of the People: 'My body, my choice' except for masks

More: Voice of the People: Moral leadership and dedication to truth lacking on Polk Commission

More: Voice of the People: Zoning change on Crystal Beach Road doesn't fit rural community

Mandatory COVID-19 vaccination would likely be unnecessary if mandatory masking were allowed. Stop whining about infringement on personal rights. Do your part to protect yourself, your family and your community.

Stop making unfounded statements questioning COVID-19 vaccine safety. The vaccine was appropriately studied and tested before widespread distribution. It is as safe as any other vaccine. It is certainly safer than the adverse health effects of COVID-19 infection.

A new report indicates that COVID-19 can be eradicated, just like smallpox and polio. The only way to achieve eradication is through public acceptance of infection control measures. That means vaccination and, for now, face mask and social distancing. This is not political; it is public health.

Mavra Kear, Ph.D., APRN, Lakeland

Don't blame President Joe Biden. He is president in name only. He does what they tell him to do, and who they are I dont know for sure. I would guess its the people that would want to bring America to its knees and it looks they might succeed this time.

If only we had any military people that knew what was going on and had the guts to step in and right a wrong and worry what would happen later. But we dont.

I feel like I served for nothing. I also feel like at my age I may never see the country return to normal.

Afghanistan run by Taliban, America run by Democrats - same thing.

Claud Lynn, Lakeland

The Ledger encourages its readers to share their opinions through letters to the editor. Submit your letter byclicking here, or send it tovoice@theledger.com. Include your name, street address, a phone number and an email address. Only your name and city of residence will be printed. Letters are limited to 200 words or less and are subject to editing.

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Voice of the People: Vaccines and masks will help end this pandemic - The Ledger

Festival season was in full swing in August 2000, with crowds expected in Castletownroche, Ballylanders, Coolagown and Lismore. Castletownroche looked forward to the Welcome Home Weekend, while over in Ballylanders locals were anticipating Pattern Day. In Lismore, eight days of craic was culminating in a family fun day in St Carthages, and Coolagown was celebrating its first ever Old Time Threshing and Vintage Display. Here, attendees were warned about the politically incorrect and incorrigible Bachelors in Trouble opening act.

Fermoy was all set for File Fhearmui 2000, the traditional music festival. The weeks schedule included set dancing cilis, pub trailsand a concert in the park. Contingency plans included the gigs taking place in the Rowing Club, in case of inclement weather.

In Fermoy, the new pay parking was finally in place, with empty parking spaces in the town indicating it was working well or keeping shoppers at bay. Time would tell of the success of the scheme. Also in the town, the IDA announced a plan to build a 1 million business park at the site of the old Army camp.

Mitchelstown, though celebrating the biggest ever music festival, expected losses of 5,000. Overhead costs were increasingand it was now a big-time event with small-time sponsorship. Jack L was touted as the highlight act of the weekend. Meanwhile, in the Castle Gardens in the town, plans were afoot by owner Michael White to construct three self-catering chalets to meet the accommodation needs of tourists to the town.

The village of Araglin was in demand by the County Councils of both South Tipperary and Cork, as Cllr Mattie McGrath called for the Vehicles Office to desist from forcing Araglin residents to register their cars in Cork as Araglin is, of course, in another county altogether. The council had confirmed by letter that Araglin was definitely in Tipperary!

Rumours abounded in Tallow that George Best, legendary footballer, was looking to buy an English-style thatched cottage in the town. However, in Lismore, hopes were dashed when it was revealed that newly weds Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt would not be honeymooning in the castle quarters, contrary to popular rumour.

However, celebrities were to be found closer to home as Ballylanders John Gallahue and Glanworths Darren Dennigan were set to star in an RT documentary, Hearts on their Sleeves. The boys were members of the Irish Skills Team, who had competed in the 35th Skills Olympics.

Elsewhere, at a function in Maryborough House Hotel, Ballyduff man Kevin Condonwas celebratingafter winning the first prize in Joinery in the National Apprentice Competitions 2000.

In Fermoy, chef Denise Dingivan was awarded a bronze medal at the Sodexho Irish Chef of the Year competition, for her Innovative Salad entry.

31 years ago this month in 1990, Lazarus Mick Meaney rose from his coffin, having been buried alive for two hours in Kilworth something recalled in anAugust 1999 edition of The Avondhu.

In other stories of triumphant rising, the Kildorrery Juvenile GAA boys qualified for the North Cork final against Mallow following a replay against Sean Clarachs. They won the match 5-18 to 2-1.

Over in Fermoy GAA, the junior A footballers defeated Rathluirc Rovers after a tough, dour encounter in front of a handful of spectators. However, the article highlighted the achievements of Adrian OFarrell and Brian OCallaghan, playing his first championship game since a serious leg injury three years previous.

Castletownroche recounted a subdued victory over Killavullen for the junior A hurlers. Although the team won the match, and tributes were paid to players including Donal Relihanand Jonathan OConnor, the writer noted that the performances left a lot to be desired, with an unsubtle reminder that training would recommence that Friday!

The Kilworth U14 footballers were crowned North Cork champions in August 2000, beating Clyda Rovers to take the Rev Burns Cup home.

Fanahan McSweeney AC were continuing their unstoppable success, as Karen Considine brought home gold as a member of the Irish team that won in the Celtic Games in Scotland. Meanwhile, for Grange/Fermoy AC, Tullamore was the site of victory as the U10 girls team of Roisin Howard, Kate Sheehan, Tracey Clancy, Aisling Hutchings, and sub Karen Geary, brought home silver.

Fermoy Cycling Club were looking forward to the Crotty Cup races and the Comeragh 100 Cycle Challenge. In the Junior Tour of Ireland, the team would be represented by Frank Doyle for six days of tough racing.

On the water, Fermoy Rowing Club were looking forward to their first At Home regatta since the 1960s.

See the article here:
Memories from the Archives - August 2000 - The Avondhu Press

Theres a dark joke about this years extreme temperatures that has been haunting me for weeks: This is the coldest summer of the rest of our lives.

The prospect is nothing short of terrifying given what this year has wrought.

In June, sky-high temperatures in the Pacific Northwest killed as many as 600 people. Several hikers have been found dead in California in recent weeks, most likely because of temperatures that were above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Globally, July ranked as the hottest month in recorded human history.

So, from my Los Angeles apartment that regularly crosses 85 degrees indoors, I called some climate scientists and asked them, Is every upcoming summer going to be even hotter than this one?

The short answer was: Yes, generally.

Vijay Limaye, a climate and health scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, told me that each recent decade had been unmistakably warmer than the one before it, so its highly probable that future years will continue to break heat records.

We should act like thats going to be the case: that this will be the coldest summer when we look forward, he said.

A United Nations report this month found that the Earth is locked into intensifying global warming for the next 30 years because countries have delayed curbing their fossil-fuel emissions for so long. Preventing further warming is within reach, but would require a coordinated and immediate worldwide effort, the report found.

The effects of climate change can be seen locally. The average high temperature in July in L.A. has risen by more than two degrees since the 1960s, as it has in Boston, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and several other cities.

And it will probably keep climbing. In Los Angeles County in 1990, the average annual maximum temperature an average of the high each day was 74 degrees. In 2090, the average maximum temperature will be somewhere between 80 and 82 degrees, according to state projections.

The climate that your children are going to experience is different than any climate that you have experienced, Paul Ullrich, a U.C. Davis professor of regional and global climate modeling. There was no possibility in your life span for the types of temperature that your children are going to be experiencing on average.

But still, that doesnt mean that 2022 in your city will definitely be warmer than 2021 has been. There are year-to-year fluctuations within this overall warming, especially at the local level. In California, for example, the climate phenomenon El Nio could make for an unusually chilly year.

Its really important not to set up these falsely simplistic expectations for the public, said Julien Emile-Geay, climate scientist at the University of Southern California. If we do put out the expectation that everything is gradually getting warmer, and then next year if its cooler, people will say, Ha ha, climate change doesnt exist.

Heres another way of thinking about this: The hottest year on record worldwide was 2016, followed by 2020, so its not as if each consecutive year is warmer than the one that came before it.

But the larger trend is clear. The top seven warmest years on Earth were in the past seven years.

For more:

A guide from The Times on how to reduce your carbon footprint.

Between wildfires, drought and a resurgent virus, this summer has been rough. Is this the beginning of the end of summer as weve known it? My colleague Shawn Hubler reports.

The Times created this tool a few years ago that allows you to track warming in your hometown. (I learned that Thousand Oaks, where I grew up, experienced around 20 days of 90-plus degree weather annually in the early 1990s, but now sees closer to 30.)

Thirteen American military personnel were killed in the Kabul airport attack last week some of the last casualties of Americas longest war. President Biden flew to Delaware to witness the transfer of remains on Sunday.

Of the 13 killed, 10 were based at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County and several were originally from California. Read more about them.

California

Caldor fire: Smoke is overwhelming Lake Tahoe and confounding the thousands of newcomers who fled there in recent months to escape the coronavirus, The Times reports. Plus, theres new research on the effects that wildfire smoke and ash have on your skin. (Its not pretty.)

As of Sunday evening, fire crews were fighting to beat back the Caldor fire to prevent it from spreading to the Tahoe Basin, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. The blaze was 19 percent contained.

Covid-19 in schools: An unvaccinated, unmasked teacher in Marin County infected 12 of the 24 students in her elementary school classroom with the coronavirus, revealing how easily the virus can spread inside schools when people dont wear masks.

Doctors spreading misinformation: Theres a growing call to discipline physicians disseminating incorrect information about the coronavirus and the vaccines. Earlier this year, a San Francisco doctor who falsely claimed that 5G technology caused the pandemic surrendered his license.

Those California commutes: The number of so-called supercommuters, people who travel 90 minutes or more in each direction to work, has increased by 45 percent over the past decade. Five of the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of supercommuters nationwide were in California, with Stockton at the top of the list.

If California goes red: With Democrats holding supermajorities in both houses of the State Legislature, any Republican who may beat Gov. Gavin Newsom in the recall election would be parachuting into politically hostile territory. Newsoms successor could find that winning the race proves easier than governing a state thats become the cornerstone of Americas liberal agenda, Politico reports.

Drug overdoses: California wants to become the first state to pay people with addictions to stay sober, a program that the federal government has already shown to be effective for military veterans, reports NPR.

Water rights: A lucky few California farmers are immune to emergency water cuts under the states complicated water rights system, which some experts say is ripe for reform as extreme drought magnifies the inequities within it, reports The Los Angeles Times.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Mountain lion: A 65-pound mountain lion seriously injured a boy in his front yard in Calabasas last week. The lion was shot and killed by a wildlife officer on Saturday, NBC Los Angeles reports.

Vaccine protest: Several hundred people gathered near Santa Monicas pier on Sunday to push back against proposed Covid-19 vaccination mandates, reports The Los Angeles Times.

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

Heat and poor air quality: Fresno residents are urged to avoid or limit their time outdoors over the next few days because of triple-digit temperatures and poor air quality from wildfires burning nearby, reports The Fresno Bee.

Cantaloupe country: Mendota is a small town in the Central Valley that advertises itself as the Cantaloupe Center of the World. But the melons are disappearing as farmers let portions of their melon fields lie fallow amid the drought or abandon fields where theyve already been planted because theres not enough water for the fruit to survive, The Washington Post reports.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

A hometown under attack: A Times reporter returned to the place she grew up, a valley in Plumas County that has been hit hard by the Dixie fire. The rodeo campgrounds have been covered with the tents of National Guard troops, and the fairgrounds have become the base camp for hundreds of firefighters, she writes.

Rural California battered by virus: Mortuaries and hospitals are filled beyond capacity in rural, northern parts of the state, where inoculation rates are low, The Los Angeles Times reports.

In her latest newsletter, The Timess California restaurant critic, Tejal Rao, offers three zucchini recipes that celebrate the summer vegetables versatility.

Todays California travel tip comes from Joe Vela, who recommends Ao Nuevo State Park, one of the nations largest breeding grounds for northern elephant seals.

The park in San Mateo County is allowing visitors to take self-guided walks to view the seals between Friday and Monday. A free permit is required to visit the preserve.

How do I check to see if Im registered to vote?

You can check whether youre registered to vote here. If youre not registered within 14 days of an election, in California, you can also register the day of the vote. (So, in this case, on Sept. 14.) You can learn more about same-day voter registration here.

Read answers to more of your frequently asked questions about the California recall election here.

Tell us what else you want to know about the recall. Email your questions to CAtoday@nytimes.com.

For years, the Dumbarton Quarry in Fremont was a giant hole in the ground that had once supplied the rocks used to build Bay Area roads and bridges in the 1950s.

But on Friday, the site along the San Francisco Bay reopened as a campground, one of the largest new campsites in California in decades.

Visit the East Bay Regional Park District site for more details.

Thanks for reading. Ill be back tomorrow. Soumya

P.S. Heres todays Mini Crossword, and a clue: Ending with black, blue or straw (5 letters).

Briana Scalia and Miles McKinley contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com.

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Is This the Coldest Summer of the Rest of Our Lives? - The New York Times