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MacArthur President Robert Gallucci spoke to 325 guests of the City Club of Chicago, addressing critical issues facing Chicago, the nation, and the world. Specifically, he highlighted the local challenges of reducing violence and improving education; the need for national progress on fiscal issues and a stronger democracy; and the threat of global nuclear terrorism. The speech was followed by a wide-ranging question-and-answer session.
Read the full speech transcript below.
Thanks very much. Thanks. Thank you very much. Thank you all for coming today. Thank you for inviting me to come today. I think it's traditional to give a speech when you stand behind a podium in front of a couple hundred people. And I had, in fact, planned on giving a speech. And I'll tell you what the speech was going to be. The speech was going to be advice for the new administration. I thought that was a terrific idea. And then I got to thinking about it, first, the speech part and I thought I had given probably enough speeches. And I suspected that you all had heard more than enough speeches. So I wasn't too taken with the kind of prepared speech part. Then I thought about the second part where I give advice to the new administration. And I thought it was a little presumptuous, just a tad, maybe for me to be giving advice to the administration. I thought it was truly crazy to think that they would like some. So I've abandoned the speech idea and the advice idea.
Instead I think what I have for you at lunch are some thoughts about what I think are some of the most important issues we face as citizens of this city – I'll do this once Tony – this county, the nation, and the world: things we worry about, things we think about, and I want to share those thoughts with you and say these are things I think we all ought to be thinking about. So one way of characterizing this is that, in a modest sort of way, is how we can work together to save the republic, make the city even greater, and make the world safer. We have kind of small objectives at the MacArthur Foundation. [Laughter]
First nationally, when I look at our country, the republic, the first thing that strikes me is that our political system doesn't seem to work terribly well. I know you all disagree and think it works perfectly but I don't. If we look at the problems that we face and you've heard the shorthand from our fiscal future, climate change, what to do about it, energy policy, healthcare, our infrastructure, one could keep going. We don't have the sense, or at least I don't have the sense, that we're really dealing with these problems adequately. Why would that be? I want to propose to you a couple of thoughts about why that is.
The first is structural thought that we have gotten to a place where in the United States our political culture no longer supports our political institutions. And that's because our political institutions were designed, and I know probably everybody in this room has read the Federalist Papers or know about them and know about the separation of powers and division of powers, and instinctively know that the way the system is supposed to work is on compromise because it's a very diverse nation. That's the way it's supposed to work. But we have a culture which has come to the point, not for everybody, but for an awful lot of people who define who's actually in Washington, and I am talking about Washington now, a culture that shuns compromise, actually that regards it as unethical and unprincipled. And that makes it hard to get things done that are in the national interest, a gap between political culture and political institutions.
The second thing I point to is the quality of our discourse on public issues, which I think has gradually but continually gotten worse and worse, that it is utterly inadequate the way we talk about things publicly. And that has resulted from a number of things, not the least of which is a media that captures an awful lot of people and provides a lot of heat in very little light, as they say, on substance, campaigns, and we've just gone through another fueled by a couple of billion dollars aimed at a country that these people must think are filled with people with ADD, or at least very, very short attention spans. When I think about this I think about how it's manifest in some of the debates we have. Think about where we are, and don't dwell on this, but think about where we are on the fiscal cliff issue. We are on the verge of triggering some truly devastating cuts in our programs, cuts in revenues, but yes, in defense, but I'm right now thinking of social programs, truly devastating cuts, and, of course, doing away with the Bush era tax cuts that would mean increased taxes, not only for the rich, but the poor as well, and the middle class. That it's called a cliff, and that's probably not entirely accurate. I think before you start thinking wait a minute if there's a fiscal problem we'll cut expenditures and we'll cut – and we'll increase taxes, and that'll solve the problem, but it is just too dramatic. It will lead to a recession. And instead of thinking of a happy cliff, think Thelma and Louis in slow motion, right, that's better imagery.
I heard on the radio in a taxicab two nights ago, Mitch McConnell talking about the situation and he said it's all up to President Obama. It's all up to him. That is like asking him to do the tango alone. And I don't think that's possible. I much prefer the characterization I heard from Senator Durbin a couple of weeks ago. He is one of the leaders in the group of; I guess now, eight trying to come to a conclusion, some sort of a grand bargain, or at least the first phase of a grand bargain. And I applaud that but he's working in a context in which far too many senators and congressman are afraid to do the right thing for the country because they might get caught at doing it which is a bizarre phenomenon and a function of American politics these days. And I mean both Democrats and Republicans.
Another manifestation of the nation's condition right now that worries me, and I think should worry all of you, is the extraordinary, indeed, unique concentration of wealth and income in this country in a very, very small number of people. Not since the period immediately before the Great Depression have we seen anything like this. And this is worse than that in terms of the concentration. I'm not going to do a lot of numbers here but just think about this for a second. There's a – we have data on a twenty-five year block of time and we know how much income was increased to whom over this period. And you take this twenty-five year period it turns out that twenty percent of all the income increase gains over that period went to the top tenth of one percent of Americans. That's three hundred thousand people. At the same time, somewhat phenomenally, substantially less, thirteen point five percent of the income gained, went to the bottom sixty percent. That's 180 million people. This trend isn't, I would submit to you on its face, healthy for the country. It has hollowed out the middle class. And that ought to trouble you in my view for ethical reasons and other reasons but it also should trouble you if you're just concerned about the economy because recoveries are built on middle class demand.
Why did this happen? There are different theories about it but certainly one theory is that with the way money has been injected into politics the political system has responded to those who have the money. And we therefore have a tax system and other bits of policy that have preserved and channeled wealth to a small number of people who have the most influence. There are other arguments that economists like that go to the globalization of the economy. But I don't want to pick and choose among them. I do want to note that what is resulting, a lot of people have observed—social commentators—is the creation of a new kind of elite who is unconnected, who are unconnected to this country in a lot of ways and therefore aren't invested in it. They're not invested in the infrastructure because they don't use the roads and the rails. They're not connected to the educational system because their kids are not in public schools, state universities, or community colleges. And in fact, in some important ways, they're not even connected to the domestic economy of the United States of America because the world now is globalized and they go elsewhere with their wealth.
This is not a complaint here about wealthy people. I like wealthy people. [Laughter] I, like everybody else, would like to be one. In fact, that's one of the truths. Americans, even poor, poor Americans, typically, classically, unlike Europeans to put it bluntly, are not hostile to wealthy Americans, other Americans who have wealth because they have traditionally always seen themselves as potentially getting wealthy. I mean how do you have a public support for doing away with an inheritance tax or a death tax, excuse me? Well, because some day I could be wealthy and I don't want to have that tax, alright. So that's the American dream, that's the equality of opportunity, that's social mobility. What I'm telling you here isn't what – I've got me worried about this – is that that's what's going. It's not the equality of condition I yearn for. It's the equality of opportunity to change your condition that I'm worried about us losing. We are now, by the way statistics in the OECD, the least socially mobile country in the whole collection of countries that make up the OECD. That's extraordinary. It shouldn't be that if you want to enjoy the American dream you have to go to Denmark. That's not a good plan. [Laughter]
So what do we do? I think what we want to aim for in our republic is first an informed electorate so that discussion of issues is substantive and sophisticated and subtle and fair and accurate, and then we want that electorate to vote for people. We want all of them, as many as possible, to get out and vote for people. And we want the people they elect to understand that they can compromise and not be punished for it in a primary system. We want them to engage in serious discussion and then we want solid policy produced that's in the national interest. How does that happen? We work on all these issues at MacArthur and at the other foundations who are represented here. We are particularly concerned about quality media because we think that goes to the quality of the discourse in the electorate. So we support NPR and public broadcasting, and I know you're all familiar with the verdant world that we advocate. [Laughter] We favor quality documentaries; do everything to accuracy and media, another area in which we're very active. We do what we think is going to produce that collection of connections between good electorate, good elections, good elected officials engaging in serious policy. We favor campaign finance reform; even in the wake of Citizens' United decision we think that's possible. We support research that will inform the discourse. I talked about our fiscal future. Well, we actually sponsored the research by the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Administration that, in 2007, produced the book about our fiscal future that the Simpson-Bowles Commission relied upon. I mean, I was in Bowles' office and he had a dog-eared copy of that commission report and that still may be the closest thing to a blueprint we have. And that's still vibrant. I mean front page New York Times these guys are, I think the number was, making forty thousand dollars each for speeches. Not so bad! Now we just have to translate that into Washington somehow.
So I think we have to be concerned about these things. I think we need to study why we have the concentration of wealth and income, what its implications are, what we ought to do about it, and we're sponsoring that kind of research. So my first point about the country is we have problems that are quite serious, quite deep, but I also think there are solutions and we're working on it. What about Chicago? Chicago is for me the great American city but I worry and I think you should worry about at least two things which I think undercut that image. One is the degree of violence in this city, the number of people who die by homicide. And the second is our public education system in Chicago. These are not just Chicago's problems, neither one of them. However, I would note to you that they are particularly severe here. Nationally there's a twenty year trend of a decline in violence in American cities. We are going the other way. We have, or on track right now to have, the year end with 500 homicides in Chicago, which would be a high over the last four years. Yeah, we had a good October but that doesn't – that's not quite enough. And with respect to our school systems I'm virtually a visitor compared to all of you here but I've been in this city for over three years. We have some of the best public schools in the country and probably some of the worst. We have to figure this out.
I don't want to spend a lot of time on proving to you that these are important problems. Let's make believe we're all lawyers, it's close to that in this audience I've noticed, and we'll just stipulate that, okay. Let's take violence. What can we do about that? I've been impressed with what is happening on the subject of violence. I've been impressed with some of the stuff which is short term, which is aimed on the suppression of violence, the work that's being done by the Chicago Police Department, the U.S Attorney's Office, States Attorney's Office, and our Department of Corrections, all of them following in the first instance a program developed by David Kennedy at John J. College which aims to hold whole gangs responsible for individual acts of violence. And it's a complicated strategy but one that seems to be paying off. There's a Cease Fire program that has former gang members intervene in the interest of suppressing violence. More long term, there are other programs. There is the Becoming a Man program which I've found particularly interesting because it goes back to middle school. And it aims to teach kids how to deal with conflict without resorting to violence. And there is our own superintendent leading the Chicago Police Department in reform so that that department works more effectively with neighborhoods particularly, neighborhoods with a lot of minority citizens so we get better policing at the end of the day, and more respect for the police function. Again, our foundation, MacArthur, supports all of this sometimes with studies, sometimes with evaluations, various ways and I'm very happy that we do, and it gives me hope.
In education, the first question I have is what do we know about education here in Chicago? First, I think we know that there's a connection between the violence I talked about and the education system. Lots of ways probably they connect but one of the most obvious is that when a kid is killed, is shot, and he goes to a public school, that has an impact on school the next day, and who shows up to school and all that. It interferes with school. Also when kids drop out of our school system they are much more likely to be in that violence equation either as the shooter or the victim. So there's a connection. We can reduce violence if we could have better schools, if we could keep kids in school. A second thing we know is that there's a correlation between poverty and poor schools: that it is harder to run a school well and get good outcomes, educational outcomes, in the poorest sections of the city. A third thing we know is the very best schools in this city have good teachers and very good principals and follow an excellent curriculum.
So certainly I think it's easy to say that we might want to work to recruit and retain the very best teachers and the very best principals that we can. And second that we might want to work to eradicate poverty. I'm for all that. But okay, while we're doing that I think we need to be doing other things. And that's what we have been doing at MacArthur, thinking about what other things we want to do. I am not dismissing what I just said. I'm just saying that takes a long time. There's a reason why that movie that was so popular; many of you must have seen it, Waiting for Superman. [Laughter] That movie Waiting for Superman, whatever you may think of the movie think of the image, waiting for superman takes a long time, right? So what we have been looking at is how kids learn. We were involved in, I think, what I would call traditional education at the Foundation before I got there, and it changed its focus to an understanding literally of how kids were learning these days. And to me that's been very interesting.
This is where I sort of came in at MacArthur. We've learned a number of things that kids learn both inside of school and outside of school. We've learned that kids learn about things they're interested in, and some of the things they're interested in they get interested in because their peers are interested in it. And some of the things they get interested in because teachers and their parents actually have an impact on them. It's what we would generally call education. And a lot of time, even in the poorest neighborhoods, is spent by these kids with digital media of one kind or another, social media, or games to put it bluntly. So what we've been trying to do, one way of capturing what we're trying to do is put all this together for a kind of educational intervention that has a different center of gravity than traditional educational reform.
First, we've done some work at a small enterprise in New York City, a quest school in New York with a few grades. And then we've supported the opening of a charter school here in Chicago just north of here on the border of Cabrini Green and Old Town that would be from six to twelve with an education philosophy we call connected learning. That is to say trying, in fact, to engage kids in what they want to get engaged in in a way that challenges them to integrate what they're learning so that they don't move from history to mathematics to English. But it's more systemic. It challenges them the way a game challenges a kid. And they're evaluated in the course of doing the work, the way a game evaluates you. You can't move to the next level unless you're successful at this level. It's connection. It's systemic. And it's organic evaluation built in. And there is some digital media. We call the program Digital Media and Learning. It doesn't do away with the need for good teachers, good principals. And it certainly will only succeed if it also meets the marks that you would traditionally have to meet in the core curriculum. But this may be a way of asking more from our kids in order to get more from our kids.
So I would say about this, I'm not claiming right now that you all have to drink the Kool-aid with me but I am saying that we're excited by this. It may change us from a slope to a step function in terms of moving. There's a lot of activity that involves these, that we're engaged in involving this type of learning. It involves cultural institutions in this city. Some of them are represented her, Steppenwolf, the Art Institute, and others, so kids are connected; we call it hive learning, to these cultural institutions. At the same time particularly focused on libraries and we have at Central Library the new media space, and we're building that out. And we're going to many cities around the country doing the same thing. This is being embraced nationally as a way of bringing kids out and having them learn at times when they're not just in the classroom. So I think there's something there. And what I'm telling you here is this is not an easy problem or it would have been solved. But I'm very excited by this intervention.
Well, I want to move now from improving the city and saving the country to saving the world, so. And I'm going to end on this. So if you think back, and I don't think you could remember this, but the last three presidents were all asked more than once what is the most critical national security threat to the United States of America or international security? They all said the same thing. And by the way, the people they ran against for office, right, each of them twice, all agreed that this was the most important issue; international nuclear terrorism. You haven't heard much about that, the most important issue, because they don't have much to say. And that's why it's on my list right here. This is a very hard problem. What's the problem? The problem is very simple, that terrorists are going to be with us for a long time, in case you didn't get that. We may defeat Al Qaeda here but there'll always be terrorists and we will always be a target. And the quintessential terrorist act is a detonation of a nuclear weapon in an American city. That's fact.
The question is, is it plausible? Is it just a movie theme or can it happen? And what I'm here to tell you is this – I have no expertise in anything I've talked about till this moment. [Laughter] This is the one thing I know about, okay. And what I'm telling you is it is – it's not – to me it would not be shocking if we lost an American city tomorrow morning. It's shocking in the sense of I would be surprised. I am stunned it hasn't happened already. The interest is there. We have no way of – how come we didn't blow ourselves up during all those years with the Soviet Union? Because we had deterrents, we deterred them. We told them if you hurt us we'll hurt you back. So they didn't hurt us. That's what we think anyway. But we can't do that with terrorists. We don't know where they live very often and sometimes they don't care. They actually embrace death in a way we generally don't. So how do you deter them? How do you defend against terrorists? We don't have a really good way which we should be confident works to keep terrorists out of America. You may have noticed that. So what they're aiming for, if we're not careful, is what happened to us on September 11th, 2001. We will be surprised. We will be surprised but we'll be surprised times a hundred, right. Three thousand people roughly died on 9/11. I'm not talking about thirty thousand. I'm talking about three hundred thousand people, in the business, called prompt deaths. That means people who die within hours of the detonation. That's a very big deal. And you don't slide up to that. you don't get – well, we'll get four thousand. It happens instantly. And I'm very worried about this.
I'll tell you briefly it might be a nuclear weapon that's already manufactured but much more likely among, in the intelligence community, it's the possibility of an improvised nuclear device using the one thing that's the hardest thing to get and why it probably hasn't happened, the fissile material. It's either plutonium or highly-enriched uranium – hard to get but you don't have to get much. That weapon that will kill three hundred thousand people will have a core, this fissile material that would fit in that water glass. And the whole bomb that would devastate this city built by a non-expert, an improvised device, would be about the size of this podium we think because we've actually modeled this. So we got to keep that out continually. So at MacArthur we are focused on this too. We are focused on the idea that we have to control this material, we have to limit it, and even eliminate it. There's no real need for this fissile material anymore to exist on the planet. We are dealing with the hard cases, the Pakistan, the North Korea, and the Iran. And we're dealing with some of the worst ideas about how to enjoy the benefits of nuclear energy. I know, let's use plutonium as a fuel. Bad idea, but it's out there. So I like what we're doing in this area too, very hard problem, but it also can be addressed.
So I have been advocating to you in these uplifting remarks that you worry about democracy in America, you worry about violence and education in Chicago, and you worry about nuclear terrorism but I'm optimistic. Why would I be optimistic? Last month, five weeks ago or so, our son and our daughter-in-law delivered to us our first grandchildren, twin boys, Will and Ben. [Applause] Thank you. I had nothing to do with it. And when I think about them I think about the challenges I've been talking about which will confront the world that they grow up in. And I just got to believe we can do something about meeting those challenges. Thank you all very much!
Moderator: So it's my honor to ask the questions so I hope you all have more. Carlos Ponce [ph] – there we go. It's not political discourse in – is not political discourse and compromise a factor of our representative selection process a process that gerrymandering distorts and frustrates the ability of communities to organize. Shouldn't redistricting reform be the first step in political reform?
Robert Gallucci: That's one. So yes, I'm not sure it's a first step but it's a step. We have been – you know every ten years you get an opportunity to do this after the census and I have to make just two points about it. One, it's a little more complicated than you might think because there are some people who actually get representatives only because of redistricting. And so you got to be careful. Second, both sides redistrict for their own reasons so it requires a bit of strong political will. California has been doing some of this and it's happened elsewhere. But it's not that simple. It's also not the only thing you can do to get at the problem which was in the antecedent in that question or statement, and it is – you can do things about primary elections too that will help a great deal to stop the movement to both extremes and drive people more to the center. But certainly I'm in favor of more rational redistricting.
Moderator: Thank you. You left out any discussion about our state. With the…. [Laughter] With the ongoing fiscal crisis in the state what are your thoughts about reforms to improve our state's condition? How can the city improve its conditions without the state showing similar improvement?
Robert Gallucci: I don't know if I'm yet in enough trouble so let me get into some more trouble. [Laughter] I think for – I have no expertise here. I'm a newspaper reader on this subject. But it would seem to me that this state has a serious problem and there are some difficult things politically that should be done. And I hope we get on with it. There is analytically, politically, the kind of problem that we face nationally and we face it – Illinois is in very serious straits. And we need political will in order to make the changes that we need to make. I know that's a flash to all of you.
Moderator: I'm sorry. Glen Mazadi [ph], is that Glen?
Glen Mazadi: Mazadi…
Moderator: Mazadi – sorry, I didn't credit you with your question. Tony Irving from the governor's office; if terrorism is defined as violence and intimidation in pursuit of political aims would you consider the gang related violence in urban areas as terrorism and, if so, how does it change your approach?
Robert Gallucci: One can have any number of definitions for terrorism and the most useful definition that we work internationally is one that excludes anything the United States of America may ever do. [Laughter] I generally would not – I think there are aspects of terrorism that or qualities of international terrorism that you can find in any situation. You can find it, your worst cases, in your office environment where someone is terrorized for some reason by someone else. You can find it in your community, in your neighborhood, and certainly gangs can terrorize. I'm not at all sure that after recognizing that that one leaps to the application of the solution you set upon internationally with a problem that you have in a city or a neighborhood. So I'd be a little careful about that. At the intellectual level are people terrorized in somewhat the same way nationally and internationally? I would say yes.
Moderator: What should the Obama administration do about North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan's nuclear programs? [Laughter]
Robert Gallucci: Different things…. [Laughter] Very, very, very briefly, the most dangerous country in the world for the United States of America in my view is Pakistan. And I say that not because I think that current Pakistani government wishes us ill. I do not think that. I think, and I know, that Pakistan has an enormous nuclear weapons program much greater than I would venture anybody but a few experts I see around the room would know, enormous program that is going to overtake some of the more traditional nuclear weapon states like France and Britain - has already gone beyond that of Israel. So this is a very serious weapons program in a country in which political control is sometimes a thing and iffy in more ways than one, and in which the military engages in a kind of activity that is provocative to their neighbor, India. So we are concerned about a Pak-India war. We're concerned about Pakistani control, just maintaining control of the material I talked about that would fit in that glass or the actual weapons themselves. So we have a lot to worry about. Plus, there are those in Pakistan that embrace the most extreme versions of Islam and certainly do wish us ill. So Pakistan is an enormous problem. Iran could well become that for us. It is not yet. Iran, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't have a centile of that fissile material. All you hear about Iran is that it may produce highly-enriched uranium. It hasn't yet. If it does, it'll be a problem guaranteed for transfer to a terrorist group or for the provocation in the region the Middle East. North Korea, a country I worked with or on for a couple of years or so, is a country with nuclear weapons. They did something truly extraordinary. They actually went and tried to build one of these fissile material production facilities in Syria, not necessarily the most stable place on the planet and suffered no consequences. So I worry about North Korea not only because of the threat it poses to two treaty allies, South Korea and Japan, but because it might actually end up transferring this material to terrorists who might act directly against us. So the answer to all these for me from the administration is in the first instance try to engage them either openly, diplomatically, or in a more quiet way, and never take the possibility of the use of force off the table. A cliché but I will tell you from the perspective of the countries we say that to they don't dismiss that phrase and neither should you.
Moderator: Joan Stevenson – With much of the public policy going to media that reinforces – with much of the public going to media that reinforces their own political beliefs that is Fox News, internet sites, and so on, responsible reporting gets lost in the noise. How can we fix this?
Robert Gallucci: Great question! In fact, the data does support the proposition that we all like to reduce dissonance and therefore we all like to listen to people who will agree with us whether in the left perspective or the right. Unless you want information then the data shows, for example, if there's a hurricane or an earthquake, or something you care about in the world a lot, you do not go to MSNBC or Fox News; you go to CNN, which I find interesting. That means intellectually you know this but emotionally you'd rather not deal with that. You'd rather go somewhere else. For us, I think at MacArthur what we want to do is make sure that what we have available is robust and of the highest quality, the person that said that's the NPR, National Public Radio, stuff and others for sure. And the second thing is we want to call to account those who are in a public sphere actually speak inaccurately, particularly when we're pretty certain they know they are so they are purposely misleading. That's the accuracy part where we support people who go after accuracy and media. At the end of the day the better educated people are the more interested they are in a serious policy debate, the more likely they are to look for that and the market will work. My problem right now is, and your problem right now is, the market is working. [Laughter]
Moderator: There don't appear to be other questions.
Robert Gallucci: Wonderful!
Moderator: I'm going to give you an opportunity to talk to him afterwards. [Laughter]
Robert Gallucci: So apparently some people at the MacArthur Foundation where I work have not been, let's say, responsive to phone calls. And I want you to know… [Laughter] I will talk to them about that. Thank you. Thank you all.


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Peer-Reviewed Publications
Found 3 resultsTitle
Filters: Author is Haarbauer-Krupa, Juliet [Clear All Filters]
Risk of Repeat Concussion Among Patients Diagnosed at a Pediatric Care Network." J. Pediatr.. 2019."
Variations in Mechanisms of Injury for Children with Concussion." J. Pediatr.. 2018."
Point of Health Care Entry for Youth With Concussion Within a Large Pediatric Care Network." JAMA Pediatr. 2016:e160294."

subset: commoncrawl


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Yet More Evidence Shows No Link Between Video Games And Actual Violence
from the outlier deptWell, well, well. With the NRA planning to blame violent video games and movies, and eager grandstanding politicians, pundits and some members of an angry public ready to do the same, it seems like it might be useful to look at some actual data.
Senator Jay Rockefeller -- one of the grandstandingest grandstanders on this particular issue -- has already introduced a bill demanding that the National Academy of Sciences "study the impact of violent video games and other content on children." The speed with which this was introduced suggests that it was already sitting in a desk drawer, just waiting for a tragedy to exploit.
But, the thing is, we've got a ton of evidence already. The moral panic crew always claims that there are studies that support their argument that violent video games are bad, but that's not true. Every single study they cite tends to either have serious methodological problems, or to show something other than claimed (such as the fact that immediately after playing a violent video game, gamers may feel slightly more aggressive -- but with no evidence this lasts or leads to violence). A few years ago, a very thorough review of all of the research trying to connect video games to violence showed that there was no real evidence of any real world impact. Instead, what they found was that some studies used "poorly standardized and unreliable measure of aggression" to make their arguments, but that no study had shown any real world impact. Furthermore, in going through all the research, they concluded that "Overall, effects were negligible, and we conclude that media violence generally has little demonstrable effect on aggressive behavior."
Even the American Psychological Association, who had, in the past, warned about violent video games, recently walked back that warning, after it, too, reviewed a whole bunch of studies and found nothing to support the claims that violent video games lead to increased violence. The one possible exception was that for "a small minority with pre-existing personality or mental health problems," video games might possibly exacerbate the condition. But, the problem there was more on the mental health side, rather than the video game side:
"Violent video games are like peanut butter," said Christopher J. Ferguson, of Texas A&M International University. "They are harmless for the vast majority of kids but are harmful to a small minority with pre-existing personality or mental health problems."That same study also showed that much of the research shows that video games can actually be quite useful to children.
He added that studies have revealed that violent games have not created a generation of problem youngsters.
"Recent research has shown that as video games have become more popular, children in the United States and Europe are having fewer behavior problems, are less violent and score better on standardized tests," Ferguson, a guest editor for the journal, explained.
Finally, the Washington Post recently published a Ten-country comparison of video game spending to gun-related murders. Let me know if you can spot the outlier.
Filed Under: research, studies, video games, violence


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Moth portrait
Arctiinae moth
March fly (bibionidae)
Red eyed mantis
Possible Stagmatoptera species
Parasitic wasp grooming
Dispute of Ponerinae ants
Predator ants foaming venom while they fight one another
Sabethini mosquito bite
Ceratitis capitata
Fruit fly that resembles a jumping spider, but not necessarily a mimic
Grasshopper profile
Plant hopper seeming to mimic jumping spider eyes
Tapiraí, São Paulo, Brazil
Predator ant (ponerinae)
Stagmatoptera sp.
Praying mantis
Parasitic wasps
Inspecting the eggs belonging to a hemipteran bug (possibly Sphictyrtus chryseis).
Sorocaba, SP, Brasil
Wax weevil (Camarotus species)
The strong colors are not actual part of it's body, which is black, but a layer wax that this beetle produces.
Ilha do Cardoso, SP, Brasil
Derbid planthopper
Ilha do Cardoso, SP, Brasil
Acromyrmex ants (leafcutters)
Piedade, SP, Brasil


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Dialog and Google Innovation in Government
Dialog regularly hosts interesting industry focused seminars showcasing the innovative use of Google technologies.
Dialog is the Google Cloud Premier Partner in Australasia. Delivering Google Maps, Cloud and G Suite licensing and solutions for many of the region's largest Corporations and Government Agencies. Dialog specialises in deploying and integrating Google technologies with legacy corporate systems and platforms for our clients, providing scalable, robust and secure solutions that are popular with their users.
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Phone: 1800 491 710
Address: 35 Boundary Street
South Brisbane QLD 4101
For Customers with Support Arrangements


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Fungi, Octopi, What's the Plural of Bus? (Part I
When you board a bus for a long trip, it's every man, woman, and screaming, kicking, crying child for themselves.
Taking a bus is rarely the most convenient way to get where you're going. And it is almost never the fastest. But it is usually the cheapest, making it the travel method of choice for college students, the unemployed, and burgeoning young columnists. And because bus companies understand that people who take their buses are doing so out of necessity, buses cut corners more often than they turn them. I recently sat on a bus for four hours, staring at a blank TV screen. How expensive could it have been to rent a copy of Die Hard? If I knew bus companies couldn't afford movies, I'd have brought one.
But before you get on the bus, you have to get to the bus, and that is never easy. Sometimes, even the bus drivers can't find the bus on time, which is why it always leaves late. Unless you are late - then the bus leaves exactly on schedule.
Bus stations usually have buses with the same schedules leave out of the same gate. In other words, most Fridays, the 6:30 PM express bus to Boston will leave out of gate 84, making it much easier to find, and helping you avoid information desk-induced lateness. But the problem with "usually†and "most†is that you need to plan for "occassionally.†See, something gets screwed up "occasionally†and all the buses are moved down a gate or two gates or four gates. So unless you check on your gate every single time, you will end up in Cleveland. Unless you were trying to go to Cleveland. Then you will have gotten on the 6:30 PM express bus to Boston.
People behind the information desk can be friendly, in the way that July can be cold. It has been known to happen, but don't plan your trip around it. Expect short, gruff answers, and never remind them that it is their job to give you information. They think it is their job to stand there and be short and gruff, and a sudden jolt of reality could alter the time and space continuum in ways you can not imagine. Like making all of the buses arrive on time. Scary, I know.
Once you find out what gate you're supposed to go to (and how to get there), one of two things will happen. Either you will be first in line and you will be annoyed that you must wait to board the bus until everyone else gets there, or you will be last in line and you will be annoyed that you weren't first. The problem with having to go to the information desk is that being annoyed is contagious, and you just caught a giant case of short and gruff.
After the driver tells you that the bus you just bought a ticket for has already been filled and you wait for a second bus, you are finally allowed to board. And then you must choose your fate.
First, you have the option to hold your luggage or stow it beneath the bus, crushed by everyone else's that is also somehow being crushed by yours. The process of bags simultaneously crushing each other is very complicated and scientific and involves spliced atoms, wind tunnels, and rhesus monkeys (but not Reeces Pieces, or they'd get crushed). If you don't stow your bag, you will never be able to find a place to put it in an overhead compartment that is too small to even fit your monkey. And if you do stow your bag, you will no longer have your magazine/CDs/Reeces Pieces to keep you company through your trip. One day, humans will grow smart enough to remember to remove their magazines from their bag before stowing it, but that day is too far into the future to discuss now.
Your next choice is where to sit. Since it took so long to stow your bag, Mr. and Mrs. Carryon have already boarded ahead of you, and now half the benches are empty and half already have one person sitting there. (Mr. and Mrs. Carryon are sitting separately, never traveling in the same set of seats. For their protection, of course). And you must decide how important getting a bench to yourself is. Is it worth risking letting someone else choose you? Wouldn't it be safer to just find the smallest, most polite person and take the seat next to them? Or is it worth risking having someone so large and obnoxious next to you that their elbow is jabbing your left side the whole trip, even though they're sitting to your right? Yes. So you put your jacket on the seat next to you in order to discourage the fat guy from sitting there. Really, you're just letting him sit on your jacket.
When the driver finally gets there (remember, you were early this time), the bus takes off towards your destination or Cleveland. And though you're finally on your way, the trip and the inanity isn't close to over. But this column is. Shhh…Die Hard is starting.


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< Back to Theatre
Brassed Off: Dartford
Grimley Colliery Brass band has been in existence for a century - as long as Grimley mine itself. But times are changing, and with the miners having to decide whether they should fight to keep the pit open, the future for town and band looks bleak.
The arrival of flugelhorn player Gloria gives the band members' spirits a boost, and bandleader Danny exhorts them to press on in a national brass band competition. But tensions are all too evident - and whose side is Gloria really on?
Staged to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the miners strike, this adaptation of much-loved Britflick of Brassed Off is directed by Damian Cruden (Director of Olivier Award winning The Railway Children) and stars John McArdle (Brookside) and Andrew Dunn (Dinner Ladies and Coronation Street).
Set against the backdrop of the collapse of the mining industry in Thatcher's Britain, Brassed Off is a moving but uplifting celebration of the power of human endeavor and creativity against adversity, that benefits hugely from the participation of Essex's real-life Thundersley Brass Band.
Show Information
Saturday, 5th April 2014
Saturday, 5th April 2014
Venue Information
The Orchard Theatre
The Orchard Theatre, Home Gardens
Map | Seating Plan


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DES MOINES - A 15-year-old central Iowa girl who was abducted after getting off her school bus was still missing Tuesday, and authorities said a massive search was under way. Meanwhile, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said the man who is suspected of taking her and another girl committed suicide.
Dozens of federal, state and local law enforcement officials are searching by air, land and water for Kathlynn Shepard. She and a 12-year-old girl, who are friends, were taken Monday afternoon shortly after stepping off a school bus in the small town of Dayton, about 60 miles northwest of Des Moines. The younger girl, who was later able to escape, told authorities the girls had accepted a ride from a stranger.
DCI Special Agent Bill Kietzman said Tuesday the body of 42-year-old suspect Michael Klunder was found Monday night with a red Toyota Tundra pickup at a rural property northeast of Dayton.
Kietzman said authorities have begun focusing their search for Shepard to locations within 20 miles of Dayton, including Klunder's residence. Previously, the search covered up to 100 square miles of mostly rural areas.
Authorities also have coordinated with the FBI to update electronic billboards around the state with information about the search.
Kietzman would not elaborate on the likelihood of finding Shepard alive, though he remains optimistic.
"Time obviously is not your friend in these kinds of situations," he said at a news conference. "Our plan is that we're going to find her alive. That's our hope."
The 12-year-old girl, who has not been identified, told investigators she and Shepard were taken to an agricultural facility. But she was able to escape a short time later and ran to a rural residence for help, Kietzman said. She then was taken to a Fort Dodge hospital and released.
The abduction spanned several hours, officials said, with Klunder's body being discovered nearly four hours after the girls were taken.
Shepard is described as being 5-feet-6-inches tall and 160 pounds. She has blond hair, blue eyes and braces. She was last seen wearing jeans, a gray hooded sweatshirt and a Minnesota Vikings baseball cap.
"The response by volunteers has been outstanding," DCI Director Charis Paulson said.
Jessica Lown with the Iowa Department of Public Safety said authorities have been in contact with Kathlynn's family and they have declined to comment.
"They're continuing to search for the girl under the assumption that she is still alive because right at this point in time we don't have information indicating otherwise," Lown said. "That's the way these things work for all missing children and missing person cases. We search until we find them."
Klunder is listed on the state's sex offender registry, prison records show. He spent several years in prison after being convicted on kidnapping and assault charges, including the 1991 abduction and assault of a Rudd woman and the kidnapping of two toddlers from an apartment complex in Charles City. The girls, both 3, were found alive inside a dumpster.
He was released from a work release program in February 2011.
The abduction comes less than a year after the high-profile disappearance of two cousins in Evansdale, about 90 miles east of Dayton. Lyric Cook, 10, and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins disappeared while riding their bikes last July. Hunters found their bodies in a remote, wooded area in December.
Evansdale Police Chief Kent Smock said investigators are looking into whether Klunder was involved in the kidnappings and deaths of Cook and Collins.


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Dallas County Sheriff
Detention Centers
The Dallas County Sheriff's Department is charged with the care, control and custody of individuals who have committed a crime. People charged with these offenses range from a Class "C" misdemeanor (usually outstanding traffic citation) to capital murder.There are three types of individuals incarcerated in the Dallas County Jail:
There are six detention facilities within the Dallas County Sheriff's Department. These facilities can house more than 7,100 inmates with a detention staff of 900 employees. The Dallas County detention facilities are self sufficient and operate 24-hours a day 365 days a year.


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Yellowknife is located on the northern shore of the Great Slave Lake in Northwest Territories and it experiences very cold winters with average temps around −27 °C (−17 °F). This harsh climate necessitates a strong reliance on fuel oil to stay warm during the winter. ModHome Developments is working to build energy-efficient homes in the area, and they recently completed their first project, a modular, prefab duplex on the north side of the city. SMPL Design Studio designed the modular home based on their SMPLyMod prefab construction system.
The homes in the duplex are each 1,301 sq ft and they have 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms all wrapped up in a tidy energy-efficient package. The modules were fabricated in factories North of Edmonton, Alberta and feature super efficient wall and roof assemblies and a tight envelope to minimize energy loss. Passive solar design provides additional heating in the winter and daylighting inside the homes. On-demand hot water heaters, a Heat Recovery Ventilator, and 95.4% efficient propane furnace ensure energy efficiency and reduce reliance on expensive fuels. The interior of the home is finished with sustainably grown, harvested and manufactured bamboo flooring and the exterior features a zero maintenance exterior made from metal and cement board. The Yellowknife Duplex received a score of 82 through Canada's EnerGuide rating system, which means it uses 55% less energy to heat and power the home than other buildings of its kind.
Images ©SMPL Design Studio


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Announcing "The Joe Bonham Project," An Exhibition Curated by James Panero
The Joe Bonham Project
an exhibition curated by James Panero
featuring portraits of injured US service personnel by members of the International Society of War Artists and the Society of Illustrators
Opening Reception:
Thursday, September 1, 6-9PM
BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN – Storefront (16 Wilson Avenue, Brooklyn) is pleased to announce the final installment of its ambitious summer exhibition schedule featuring THE JOE BONHAM PROJECT, an exhibition organized by guest curator James Panero. Post 9/11, the exhibition brings together the work of wartime illustrators featuring portraits of injured US service personnel by members of the International Society of War Artists and the Society of Illustrators. These works are documentative, accurate, and gripping, yet offer a sensitivity and awareness to the causalities and sacrifice of war.
Artists featured in Panero's selection include: Lance Corporal Robert Bates, USMC; Peter Buotte; CWO2 Michael D. Fay, USMC (retired); Jeffrey Fisher; Roman Genn; Bill Harris; Richard Johnson; and Victor Juhasz.
The show opens with a reception, Thursday, September 1, 6-9PM and will be on view through September 18. For more information, contact Jason Andrew ator visit www.storefrontbk.com
THE JOE BONHAM PROJECT represents the efforts of wartime illustrators to document the struggles of U.S. service personnel undergoing rehabilitation after traumatic front-line injury. Formed in early 2011 by Michael D. Fay, the Project takes its name from the central character in Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo's 1938 novel of a World War I soldier unable to communicate with the outside world due to the extent of his wounds. Scheduled to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, the exhibition will mark the silent sacrifices of American soldiers in the ensuing decade-long conflict.
James Panero is Managing Editor and art critic at The New Criterion and writes about art and culture for several publications. This is his first curated exhibition.
STOREFRONT was started by Jason Andrew and Deborah Brown. It is Bushwick's leading gallery presenting both emerging young talent and established historically significant artists. Its exhibition program has been the featured in ARTNET MAGAZINE, THE CITYist, TIME OUT NEW YORK, NEW YORK MAGAZINE, NEW YORK PRESS, NEW YORK POST, THE NEW CRITERION, L MAGAZINE, THE BROOKLYN RAIL, THE NEW YORK TIMES, WNYC, and written about locally including BUSHWICKBK, GREENPOINT GAZETTE, WILLIAMSBURG GREENPOINT NEWS + ARTS.
HOURS: Weekends 1:00-6:00PM or by appointment.
DIRECTIONS: L train to Brooklyn. Morgan Avenue stop. Walk four blocks on Morgan to Flushing Avenue. Cross Flushing Avenue to Wilson Avenue. The gallery is located between Noll and George Streets.
Lance Cpl. Tyler Huffman by Richard Johnson
Sgt Jason Ross by Victor Juhasz
Sgt Than Naign by Robert Bates
Cpl Matthew Bowman by Robert Bates
Lance Cpl. Tyler Huffman by Michael D. Fay


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This fully stand-alone module bases the shipping on the addition to the price method to your shop.
Total based shipping calculates shipping rates based on the total value of the cart.
different price total sum-based rates can be created by separating the rates with commas.
E.g. 39.99:4,100000:0 means that up to 40.00 (Euro/Dollar/Pounds) the fee is 4.00 (Euro/Dollar/Pounds) and above 40 EUR/Dollar/Pound cart value shipping is for free.
It is easy to set up (see pictures), e.g. for every zone you can set different fees
This module does not modify any file of OpenCart.


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A Tacoma, Wash. seventh grader was questioned by the U.S. Secret Service after his Facebook post warning President Barack Obama of possible retaliation by Osama bin Laden supporters was considered a national security threat.
Vito Lapinta, Jr., 13, posted a status update on Facebook saying he was concerned about the president and possible retaliation for the planned killing of bin Laden. A week later, on May 13, the boy was called into the principal's office where a man who identified himself as a Secret Service agent told him that the post was considered a threat to Obama, according to Today.
At the end of the May 13 interview, the federal agent told Lapinta he was free to go. His mother, Timi Robertson, said she wasn't informed of the interrogation until "a school security guard tipped her off," according to reports. She arrived a half-hour after the interview began, she told a reporter.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
For those of you out there who still think only your selected friends are reading your status updates, think again. You may want to keep your most controversial thoughts to yourself.


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Essendon's decision to pursue a court injunction against the supplements investigation last week was popularly viewed as an attempt to wriggle out of a tight spot on a technicality. But should that still be the case?
Given the events of the past few days, isn't this now about an organisation showing understandable reticence to deal with a process flawed from the beginning in terms of evidence, procedure and, it now emerges, ethics as well?
Because what has transpired since last Thursday makes it increasingly apparent the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority – the body set to deliver judgement on 34 Essendon players – is in no position to be running a school cake stall, let alone determining the careers and livelihoods of professional athletes.
The prevailing view was that Essendon's players should, regardless of their belief in their innocence, take the "candy" of the six-month suspensions offered to them by new ASADA chief executive Ben McDevitt.
Surely that can't be on the basis they'll be treated fairly, of which there's been precious little evidence.
If McDevitt's round of media appearances last week were supposed to give the impression of an ASADA sheriff firmly in control, they did the exact opposite.
First, McDevitt blithely announced that AOD-9604 – the very substance upon which most of the public crucifixion of the Essendon players had rested for a year-and-a-half – was no longer part of the rap sheet.
Then, incredibly, he conceded he wasn't even sure what the burden of proof was for ASADA to reach a point of invoking suspensions.
He went on to offer that if Essendon players accepted their guilt, they would receive a 75 per cent reduction in what for so long were being touted as mandatory maximum sentences.
That didn't seem to betray a lot of confidence in the strength of evidence gathered.
But at least McDevitt wasn't in the chair when ASADA colluded with the AFL to pre-determine that Essendon players would not be sanctioned individually (confirmed in leaked emails), and the basis on which they agreed to co-operate. A deal on which ASADA subsequently welched just two weeks later.
Is it any surprise given that catalogue of contradictions, ignorance and lies that the players now are reluctant to listen to anything ASADA has to say?
McDevitt's attempt to plea bargain clearly implied guilt, something Essendon's players still vigorously deny.
Then they were accused of holding the game to ransom, despite being the pawns in the continual blundering and politicking by a range of bodies, including their own club, supposedly looking after their interests.
Don't they at least deserve the right to be able to view the alleged evidence against them without a presumption of guilt from the very body that would determine their fate? Not that the players haven't already been tried and sentenced in the court of public opinion.
Ask Jobe Watson about that one. For the past year he has had to shrug not only at the same cat-calling levelled at his teammates, but demands that he be stripped of his 2012 Brownlow Medal for allegedly using a substance that this investigation is no longer interested in.
Watson was hung out to dry. Particularly by ASADA, which presumably knew for a year that it could not prosecute him for something not banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency until two months after the investigation began.
That protracted confusion between ASADA and its world parent body over AOD-9604's status serves as yet another example of the Australian chapter's incompetence. Not that there's not some serious doubts about WADA's credibility either.
As sports lawyer and general secretary of the Australian Athletes' Alliance, Brendan Schwab, said on Monday, WADA's modus operandi is political coercion, governments and sporting bodies alike fearful of being excluded from the Olympics if they don't comply.
WADA's "one-size-fits-all" code is ill-suited to team sports, particularly in this case, where Essendon's players were following the instructions of their employer, which assured them what they were taking was both legal and safe.
No one, not even Essendon, disputes how shoddy its supplements program was run. But that lack of appropriate governance has already been dealt with via the heftiest team and club penalties in AFL history.
Why should the club's players, kicked from pillar to post these past couple of years, be pawns yet again in a game of double jeopardy?
Essendon's players have been the patsy in this soap opera from the word go, and ASADA has been complicit in the undermining of not only their reputations, but their mental health as well.
Take six months? Surely no one in the position of the Essendon players would be answering that question with anything other than: "Take a hike."


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If I have a house with large lawns someday, I surely will get a malamute.
At first I couldn't differentiate between huskies and malamutes. The first time I saw a malamute was when I queued at my dentist's. His neighbour came driving and went into his own house while two big dogs looking at me through the rear car window. I was thinking, was a husky supposed to be that big? About the other dog, it was a pitbull or a boxer, his body was hidden behind his adoptive brother's, so I didn't get a clear look.
But then this breed came out under the spotlight, and then all of a sudden Youtube was full of their videos. Some were showing malamutes and huskies playing side-by-side. And the differences becae apparent.
Huskies are generally smaller than malamutes. Malamutes' fluffy tails strangely remided me of those of pomeranians', but enlarged with 5x zoom. Unlike malamutes (and pomeranians), huskies' tails do not arch above their bodies.
While huskies have the infamous look of a dissatisfied, sour, middle-aged college teacher teaching Algebra, the expression on malamutes' faces are a lot warmer. Maybe it's due to their size. I am a sucker for large dogs. Looking at a malamute is almost like looking at a German shepherd cosplaying a husky. A fully grown up husky is about three-fourth of a malamute.
Or maybe it's due to Malamutes' faces are generally rounder than the huskies' ones.
One may also want to pay attention to the color of the eyes. If the dog's eyes are blue, it is a pure-breed husky. Malamutes' eyes are brown.


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Courtesy of Hector Barajas
Expelled to Mexico from the United States after serving in the American military, veterans Fabian Rebolledo (first from the left), Juan Jose Sotomayor (third from the left) and Hector Barajas fourth from the left) are waging a legal battle for medical benefits and, perhaps, a return home. Tony Lamson, (second from the left), is a missionary helping the veterans
Five ex-American service members are mashed into a two-bedroom apartment in the Mexican border town of Rosarito Beach — a place of last stand, a foreign exile they've dubbed the "support house for banished veterans."
All five were deported from the United States after being convicted of unrelated crimes — including nonviolent offenses — committed after serving their nation, both in war and peace. They're using their cramped hub to push for veterans' medical benefits and lobby for a Congressional hearing to examine their expulsions. Yet there's an even more pressing matter: more ex-U.S. troops are headed their way following similar deportations.
"It's just a matter of time before I get two or three more guys. We don't have the room. I guess we'll put up some tents outside," said Hector Barajas, 36, leader of the house and an Army paratrooper from 1995 to 2001. He immigrated from Mexico with his family when he was a child, growing up in Compton, Calif. Soon after his service, he pleaded guilty to firing a gun into a vehicle. No one was hurt. He served two years. In 2004, he was deported to Mexico.
"I paid my debt. When I enlisted, I swore to defend the Constitution and defend the United States against all foreign threats, Mexico as well. I was wiling to go to war with Mexico. I'm still willing to do that," said Barajas, who, like the other members of the house, had green cards when they enlisted in the U.S. military. "I've got bad knees from being a paratrooper but I can't access (Veterans Affairs) benefits."
Numbers on deported veterans are, at best, guesswork. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not currently track what portion of the individuals removed from the United States are military veterans. At the California detention center where Barajas was held a decade ago, he counted 17 fellow veterans, which led him to roughly calculate that among 250 such centers across the country, there are perhaps more than 4,000 veterans set to be expelled at any given time after their criminal convictions.
"We don't know how many," said Craig Shagin, a lawyer in Harrisburg, Pa., now representing three veterans facing deportation and who has had 14 other veteran-clients booted out of the United States to Great Britain, Italy, Jamaica, Uruguay and other countries. "You'd think if we were proud of this kind of thing, we'd be keeping the records."
Since September 2001, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service has naturalized 74,977 members of the military, with 9,773 of those service members becoming citizens. They originally came from 27 countries including: Afghanistan, China (Hong Kong), Cuba (Guantanamo), Iraq, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
The deportations of veterans may follow convictions of felonies such as homicides or sexual assaults, but, as Shagin said, "they don't have to be felonies at all. They often are misdemeanors or unclassified crimes. Of course, I don't look at the crime. They were punished for the crimes, whatever they were. As veterans who served this country, they should not face deportation.
"But yes, minor, minor, crimes can lead to deportation," Shagin added. "Under U.S. immigration law, there are certain offenses — most notably crimes of theft and crimes of violence — that become aggravated when the alien is sentenced for a year or more in prison. And that's even if the sentence was suspended (or reduced).
"These polices are not liberal or conservative, not pro-immigration or anti-immigration, they're just plain stupid. It's awfully hard to live with this blatant stupidity," Shagin said.
Said ICE spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs: "ICE carefully reviews any potential enforcement action involving a veteran. Prior to removing an alien with military service, agents must first receive authorization from senior leadership in a field office, following an evaluation by local counsel. ICE exercises prosecutorial discretion for members of the armed forces who have honorably served our country on a case-by-case basis when appropriate and (ICE) Director (John) Morton's June 2011 memo on prosecutorial discretion specifically identifies service in the U.S. military as a positive factor that should be considered when deciding whether prosecutorial discretion is appropriate."
Courtesy of Hector Barajas
Hector Barajas when he served as a U.S. Army paratrooper.
One of Barajas' housemates, Fabian Rebolledo, a former Army paratrooper who served eight months in Kosovo, was convicted on an insufficient funds charge after writing a $750 check. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison — triggering, he said, an automatic deportation — even though he served only eight months.
Rebolledo spent most of his life in California after coming to America with his family at age 13. He was deported in 2010.
"Ever since then, I'm here," said Rebolledo, 37. "We are expanding. We are telling everybody about our cause. Every single place we go here, we talk about this. When I joined the military, I was promised my citizenship. My recruiter lied to me."
Groups pushing to halt illegal immigration and stiffen border security, like the nonprofit Federation for American Immigrant Reform (FAIR), insist that veterans like Rebolledo and Barajas all agreed to a sacred accord when they crossed into U.S. soil: obey the laws or return to their places of origin.
"When you come to the United States as a legal immigrant, the bargain is you are not going to get into trouble. It's a conditional agreement. We allow you to come here and pursue life, liberty and happiness and, in return, we expect you're not going to commit felonies," said Ira Mehlman, the spokesman for FAIR. "They served in the military but that doesn't exempt one from complying with the law."
"It's a question of loyalty," responded attorney Shagin. "Loyalty is a reciprocal concept — it goes both ways. You can't say to somebody, 'You will be loyal to us' and then not give them a basic benefit of that loyalty. That does not mean they should get off for crimes that they committed. If you commit rape, murder, treason, you're punished just like I would be. But if you served in the armed forces, you should not also lose the country that you served."


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Crossing Florida: Part 1
Exploring Palmettos & Pines
The idea was to traverse from west to east across the Florida Peninsula, traveling many dirt trails and exploring historical and interesting sites along the way. With a good variety of rigs of all shapes and sizes, the 11-vehicle caravan planned to expedition 'wheel for four days, camping along the way as they ran across Florida.
When good friend Mike Marrero, from the Florida Expedition Wheelers, asked if I wanted to join him and a crew of wheelers exploring a section of middle Florida, I jumped at the chance. We set out on a clear March day, headed into the palmettos and pines in the Sunshine State.
Our trip started slightly inland on the east side of the Florida Peninsula. We wheeled into the sandy trails of Scottsmoor, which is largely made up of decomposed Coquina shell. A maze of trails runs all over this area, weaving through huge fields of palmettos and varieties of palm trees. While more commonly an ATV area, we crawled some of the narrow trails in 4WDs.
We ventured into Tiger Bay State Forest, which is home to a large swamp area lying between two historic dunes, the Deland Ridge and the Daytona Ridge. Here, there is also remnants of the Pershing Highway, an old brick road constructed in 1917 that connected DeLand to Daytona Beach. Terrain is a mix between swamp and pine islands.
As we ran backroads, we found interesting sites and historic locations. One was the Fort Gates Ferry that crosses the St. Johns River, the longest river in Florida. The ferry began service in 1853 and is the oldest ferry in Florida. It has transported farmers, soldiers, livestock, wagons, and vehicles between Salt Springs in the Ocala National Forest and the communities on the east bank of the river. The establishment of Fort Gates served as a federal encampment during the Second Seminole War (1835 to 1842), the longest Indian uprising in U.S. history.
We followed fire roads and dirt trails through the Ocala National Forest, a huge expanse of Florida pines, scattered with more than 6,000 lakes, rivers, and streams. Our first days were cool ones as the spring was unseasonably chilly. We tent camped as we went and covered a wide expanse of the middle peninsula. We stuck to dirt where we could, but added some highway miles as well. This is the first half of our expedition. The second half took us to more trails and interesting places. The fun continues in our story next month.


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Barnes & Noble has a pre-order up for a SIGNED copy of Thomas Harris' new one, CARI MORA.
Pub. (May 21) priced at $29, it's on pre-order for $20.30...which is what I paid yesterday, and was thrilled to do so. But it's even better today, as they have a 10% coupon with code JUST4YOU, which would bring it down to $18.27...for a signed 1st HC Thomas Harris book!
I still have trouble believing this is real, given Harris' notorious reluctance to sign, tour, market his public persona, etc., but given that it's B&N it appears legit. Even if you're skeptical, it's worth the gamble...I didn't hesitate for a second yesterday, and I'm anxious for May to roll around so I can see if my faith in B&N paid off.
I wouldn't wait long as I've no idea how many he signed, but given Harris' past aversion to signing I can't imagine it's too many.


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The Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series of Hope College will feature fiction and non-fiction writer Benjamin Percy on Monday, March 28, at 7 p.m. at the Knickerbocker Theatre in downtown Holland.
Percy will also participate in a question-and-answer session on Monday, March 28, at 3:30 p.m. in the DeWitt Center Herrick Room, and present a lecture on craft in fiction on Tuesday, March 29, at 3:30 p.m. in the Fried/Hemenway Auditorium of the Martha Miller Center for Global Communication.
The public is invited to all three events. Admission is free.
"I admire the work of Benjamin Percy for its sheer ferocity and compassion, for its deep empathy for people at the hard edges of rage and grief and fear," said Dan Chaon, author of "Among the Missing" and "You Remind Me of Me." "The stories in 'Refresh, Refresh' are big-hearted and dangerous, and there's a heightened, unnerving vibe as you travel through Percy's world."
Percy teaches creative writing (fiction and nonfiction) in the MFA program at IowaStateUniversity. Prior to joining the IowaStateUniversity faculty, he taught at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and MarquetteUniversity. Percy is also a faculty member at the Low-Res MFA program at PacificUniversity.
Percy is the author of two novels, "Red Moon" (forthcoming from Grand Central/Hachette in 2002) and "The Wilding" (Graywolf, 2010), and two books of short stories, "Refresh, Refresh" (Graywolf, 2007) and "The Language of Elk" (Carnegie Mellon, 2006). His fiction and nonfiction have been read on National Public Radio, performed at Symphony Space, and published by "Esquire," "Men's Journal," "Outside," "Paris Review," "Chicago Tribune," "Glimmer Train," "The Wall Street Journal" and many other publications.
Percy's many awards include: the Whiting Award, The Whiting Foundation, 2008; the Ann Powers Book-length Fiction Award, Council for Wisconsin Writers, 2008; The Pushcart Prize Fellowship, 2007; the John Gardner Fellowship in Fiction, Breadloaf Writer's Conference, Summer 2007; the Tennessee Williams Scholarship, 2003 Sewanee Writers' Conference; the Plimpton Prize, The Paris Review, 2007; the 2002 Chicago Tribune Nelson Algren Award; and inclusion in the Best American and Pushcart Prize anthologies.
Additional information about the Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series may be obtained online by going to www.hope.edu/vws.
A performance by a Hope jazz group will precede the reading beginning at 6:30 p.m.
The DeWitt Center is located at 141 E. 12th St., facing Columbia Avenue at 12th Street. The Knickerbocker Theatre is located at 86 E. Eighth St. The Martha Miller Center for Global Communication is located at 257 Columbia Ave., on Columbia Avenue at 10th Street.


text:
G.I. Joe Roundtable, Part 1: Hama, Dixon, Gage & More
Earlier this year, when it was announced that IDW had obtained the license for Hasbro's G.I. Joe, a vast number of questions were raised; anything from concerns of continuity regarding the last license holder, Devil's Due, and Larry Hama's involvement to reprints of the original Marvel work. Initial questions were answered in San Diego—but now, IDW has assembled their own elite strike force—for not one…but three books which launch at the beginning of 2009.
Newsarama contacted IDW and their elite cadre of professionals to discuss the reboot of G.I. Joe in a two-part interview.
Newsarama: First off, let's start by talking about the make-up of the books that IDW is going to be launching--care to give readers a taste?
Andy Schmidt: Yeah, there are three books launching. The #0 issue out in October gives readers a taste of all three series and for only $1. That's it! Spend a buck and get three brand new stories introducing the new world of G.I. Joe. And there's cool back up material in it too including interviews with the writers, character designs with commentary by Robert Atkins and so on...
But the three books break down like this:
Larry Hama and Tom Feister bring you G.I. Joe: Origins. This is exactly what it sounds like--the origin of the GI Joe team. Has Hama done this before--not exactly. This is a new JOE and he's writing something that I know--not think--I know will surprise new readers and long-time fans alike. This lays the foundation for the Joe universe.
Chuck Dixon and Robert Atkins are doing the book simply titled G.I. Joe and it's the meat and potatoes Joe book. You get your action and your intrigue and the larger cast of characters here. I really couldn't be happier with what these two guys are doing.
And the last of the books, written by Mike Costa and Christos Gage and illustrated by Antonio Fuso with colors by Chris Chuckry, is the thriller JOE book. It's the darkest and the most emotionally intense. It's got a film noir thing going on that's awesome. But most importantly, this is the book that brings the reader behind the curtain of the COBRA organization. And it's not pretty back there.
Rounding out our creative teams are cover artists Dave Johnson (100 Bullets), Andrea DiVito (Annihilation, Thor), Howard Chaykin (Every awesome book ever), and the special wrap around cover by Gabriele Dell'Otto for issue #1 of the Dixon/Atkins book.
NRAMA: Chris, how does it feel to control the childhoods of so many children of the '80's? Transformers...and now GI Joe...when does the reversion to childhood and megalomania ensue...or has it already?
Chris Ryall: The full reversion happens when I work on new ROM, Spaceknight comics... and maybe Stretch Armstrong, too. But this reality will suffice nicely in place of that fantasy world.
NRAMA: Andy, how involved was the task of organizing the impressive roster of talent for the launch of this new line from IDW? Who are some of the artists that are going to be joining the likes of Larry Hama, Chuck Dixon, Christos Gage and Mike Costa?
AS: Organizing this whole thing was a bear but it's well worth it. We toyed with a bunch of ideas on how to do this, but we decided that the three book approach was the way to go. We wanted some things to make core fans happy and we want to attract new readers as well. Larry was the first phone call. Then artist Robert Atkins was on board next and he started doing design work.
I then reached out to Chuck Dixon after reading what he did for the GI Joe Movie Prequel comics. Holy crap, he's good. I'd never worked with Chuck before, but I'm loving his scripts. When we decided that Dixon's book was going to be the more mainstream one, Robert moved over to it.
Then I called Chris Gage who was, frankly, to busy to do the COBRA book but he introduced me to Mike Costa who has been outstanding not only on COBRA but also just contributing to all our discussions. Mike is a guy you're going to want to keep your eye on. Chris got so excited by what we were all talking about that he was happy to make time to co-write it with Mike.
Tom Feister got the call for Origins because he's got a really unique and timeless style that fits perfectly with what Larry is doing there. Tom won his first Eisner working on Ex Machina with Tony Harris and now he's struck out on his own doing pencils and color.
And lastly, I went to Italy to capture that film noir feeling for the COBRA book. Antonio Fuso is the perfect choice and despite his Italian roots, he's actually a big Joe fan which kind of cracks me up.
NRAMA: Let's have the writers of each book tell us some information about their projects. What can readers expect from each of these new titles?
Larry Hama: Origins is gonna be just that. It's not just a retelling, of how the team got together, but a re-imagining of it as if it took place in the real world. I'm trying to keep it as gritty as anybody will let me.
Chuck Dixon: I'm doing a movie-related prequel mini in addition to the "kitchen sink" comic with all the Joes in it. The mini will be four issues each featuring a standalone story of four different characters. Duke, Destro, Baroness and Snake Eyes. The main book will be the Joes moving forward in uncovering a vast, global criminal conspiracy.
Mike Costa: Our title is very much about the underbelly of the Joe universe. It's about a double-agent infiltrating a group of bad people doing bad things and losing his soul, inch by inch. It's a lot like The Departed, or a one of the grittier, less-operatic HK crime-thrillers.
In that respect, it's a lot darker than the other Joe books, and probably darker than fans are gonna expect. We'll turn some heads with this one, but hey, it's about nasty people – it's supposed to be nasty!
NRAMA: IDW has decided to scrap all the prior stories and permutations of GI Joe from previous publishers to start fresh--certainly there will be nuances from these other books--what do each of think is crucial when you consider the challenge of capturing a new slant on this tenured concept and its illustrious past?
CD: The biggest (and smartest) change to my mind is the slower reveal on the nature of Cobra. These characters are universally recognized by a huge audience. That lets us play more with expectations and approach. We have a luxury that Larry didn't have when he created this franchise. He had to roll the good guys and the bad guys out simultaneously 'cause there were toys to be sold, dammit! Now that he's done all the hard work and gave the comic a life of its own far beyond a mere product tie-in book, we can mess with what Larry's done. The coolest part is that Larry's playing with us and working all new riffs on his stuff.MC: I think it'll be interesting for the fans, because some characters haven't changed at all really, while others have been almost totally re-imagined from the ground up.
For Chris and I, whenever we had an idea to really shake-up an established character, we always used the original characterization as a launch-pad. We were really serious about maintaining the core "truth" of that character. I even went so far as to read the original character cards from the back of the action-figures to make sure we're staying true to who these people really were. If a character's specialty used to be listed as "assassin" then rest assured he's not going to show up as a helicopter pilot (unless that helicopter pilot assassinates somebody.)
Ultimately I think readers are going to be surprised at some of the characters we're working with in our book, but we're really only extrapolating what's already there. The Joes in our main cast were always listed for either undercover or intelligence work – they've just never really been utilized in this way.
LH: Events and continuity never meant anything to me. The important thing was the characters, and the stupidly simple fact that if you make the characterizations extremely consistent, you can create an alternate verisimilar universe despite lasers and day-glo and Cobra-La.
AS: Fearlessness. It is tempting and would be easy to regurgitate old stories and familiar tropes. But that would also be kind of stagnant, I think. Doesn't mean our characters aren't going to be recognizable as themselves but it does mean that we're going to move in other directions and explore new ways of expressing how cool these guys and ladies are.
NRAMA: Is there a natural tendency to lean towards the pre-created (and marketable) iconic looks of these characters--or are readers going to see markedly re-invented concepts for these characters?
Antonio Fuso: I think readers are going to be surprised by the new Cobra's suit I have designed. Let me explain myself a little bit better: Imagine Teletubbies with a big pink Cobra logo on the chest! Amazing, isn't it? (Don't worry Guys, I'm just kidding!)
Talking seriously, all the people involved with these books are big fans and we are going to respect everything that makes GI JOE the fantastic concept that it is.
Robert Atkins: I'm pretty sure we had some wiggle room with the character designs; however, I decided to keep them as recognizable as possible. I used the classic designs as a springboard and went on to make them more contemporary when needed—some more than others. For example, Cobra Commander's original design embodies that character. While others looked like they just walked out of a WHAM! video.
Tom Feister: Personally, I think GI Joe should look like the characters from the toys and cartoon and the Marvel Comics series. At this point, Robert is leading the way on the look of the characters. He's got the longest track record with the books. The biggest change I'm aware of is that Hawk now has dark brown hair and looks less like Duke.
The Origins series focuses on the early days of the Joe team so I'll be looking to have less fully formed "costumes" for the characters. Snake-Eyes will look like Snake-Eyes but he might not have the same type of gear with him when we first meet him than he does in Robert's book that takes place a few years later. I think there's a learning curve and these highly trained professionals are constantly adapting and upgrading their gear.
These books are in the hands of people that are genuinely fans and we're going to protect the integrity of the characters and the concept. Having said that I think there is certainly a place for Elseworlds type stories of the GI Joe characters.
NRAMA: Andy, will these three books be interwoven in the same continuity? Or will the IDW GI Joe line have several different continuities like the Transformers line from IDW?
AS: The only other continuity that will exist is the movie continuity. Those books will be clearly labeled as such with a different logo treatment and all that.
The three books we've been talking about here so far are all a part of the same world. But we're intentionally leaving some wiggle room. For example, Origins obviously takes place earliest in history. But how long before the other two series is a question we're leaving unanswered. There are gaps we're leaving not to be vague but because we've got plans on how to fill them that will blow your mind.
You're going to like your new Joe.


text:
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Man accused of terrorizing Asians in three separate incidents in Ballard
Suspect sought in deadly shooting outside of Tacoma business
Emilio Calvillo: Detectives arrest man wanted in Tacoma murder case
Tacoma Police: Three arrested in double shooting that killed one, injured another
Eddie Sulcer: Police searching for suspect charged in murder of 22-year-old SeaTac man
Man killed in Federal Way drive-by shooting
Man with history of domestic violence accused of shooting, killing wife in Thurston County
Tacoma Police seek ID of suspect in fatal shooting of Tony Haggard
Police arrest Washington man accused of shooting woman with bow and arrow
Gary Bowlin: Convicted felon, gang member part of crew accused of armed home invasion, threatening victims to 'keep it on the street'
Teen with prior manslaughter conviction arrested in SeaTac homicide
Police: Child rape suspect killed after leading deputies on high-speed chase near Eatonville
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Area happenings
FARM Transition workshop for farmers/landowners from 6 to 8:30 p.m. July 16 at Onslow Multipurpose Complex. Free. Call 910-455-5873.
JACKSONVILLE-Onslow Economic Development hosts a Town Hall meeting at 1:30 p.m. July 16 with N.C. Dept of Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker at the city hall, 815 New Bridge St.
GEORGETOWN High School meets at 7 p.m. July 16 at Kerr Street Recreation Center.
BLOOD DRIVE from 1 to 7 p.m. July 16 at Pink Hill UM Church.
SEMPER Fidelis Lodge No. 680 will confer the Entered Apprentice Degree at 7:30 p.m. July 17 with refreshments before and after degree.
SINGLES Support Group meets at 6:30 p.m. July 17 at Credo�s Pizza, 150 Western Blvd. Call 910-455-2089.
SAND Sculpting for Teens at 11:30 a.m. July 17 at Sneads Ferry Branch Library with sand artist Sandi Adams with hands-on lessons on sandcastles. Registration at 910-455-7350.
4-H HEALTHY Living for youth ages 10-14 years from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 17 at Onslow Multipurpose Complex. Cost $10. Call 910-455-5873.
HAPPENINGS DEADLINE: Churches, clubs, civic groups and other nonprofit organizations can publicize their activities free in the Area Happenings and Church Happenings columns. All announcements must be submitted in writing, e-mail or fax. Notices may be mailed to The Daily News at P.O. Box 196, Jacksonville, NC 28541-0196, e-mailed to email@example.com, fax to 910-353-7316 or hand-delivered to the newsroom at The Daily News, 724 Bell Fork Road. Information is due by noon at least three days before the event.