#Help I drew this in March and have been meaning to ID and post it ever since and I blinked and it’s November | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

emerxshiu · 1 month

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FORGOTTEN LAND'S SECOND ANNIVERSARY :3

I AM SOOOO BACK

I started this drawing yesterday around afternoon and finished it just a few minutes earlier.

I went with a messier type of drawing instead of more clean like the elfilin one from yesterday, i find it fun doing it like this, mostly cause i dont have to worry about making it perfectly so i dont get as frustrated as normal. Id place this one as my second best digital drawing. im pretty sure i havent posted what i consider my best digital drawing here, tho i do have it in instagram, i might post it here one day, tho these two are way too tied up, i love how this came out, its not exactly like how i imagined it but its really close to it, and also itd say that since i dont tend to play around lighting that much, this was such a joy to draw and i cant help but stare at it a lot, at least until i start hating it because i made quite a lot of errors. i also changed my elfilis gijinka just a tad bit from last time, but its not that big of a difference, mostly.

ofc i had to draw elfilis for forgotten land's anniversary, i tend to deny it in my head but yeah they're my fave of the kirby characters even tho i hate them a bit. I wanted to draw some more doodles, like, elfilis eating cake, kirby car, a bunch of other stuff (not elfilin cuz i already drew him yesterday) but when i tried i couldnt draw anything more, guess this drawing burned me out a lot, huh?

you can definitly tell i spent all the efforts on him cuz if you look a bit closer to the bottom part you'll see its almost barely detailed, but i mean, they're the focus so make sense i guess for me not add that much detail there. um also, maybe because i dunno i had OVER 130 LAYERS jeez no wonder firealpaca was slowing down so much, i need to manage my layers better next time, tho i did do something i keep forgetting, wich is naming them (most of them at least) that was a real life saver

Also, antares (fecto elfilis' spear/cadaceus), as always, was a pain to draw, but this time its probably been draw the most accurate out of every other drawing ive made with it in it, i didnt notice it was like, a little curved when it reached the blade

some close ups since his face is a bit hard to see

silly :3

fun fact! actually, this is technically a redraw, somewhere around between february and march i started a fecto elfilis drawing for the first anniversary, but i couldnt finish it in time, and i never finished it

thats...quite the improvement! (i remember being so proud of it)

also his wings are like that cuz i did not want to draw the pattern, its way too hard, i literally copy pasted it, wait, i was talking about the 2024 version but i looked at the 2023 one and i just noticed it also has the pattern copy pasted, i guess some stuff never changes since i still abuse the ctrl+c ctrl+v to this day

Also i ended up making a huge error there, i was planing to add the phantom spears from orbital pulsar (the attack he does first when you battle them at lab discovera) but theres an innacuracy, when they do the attack, they always close their eyes, i had actually sketched him (well i mean both these drawings are basically the first sketch (2023) or second sketch(2024) with some color, shadows and lighting. i didnt do lineart in the 2024 one cuz i wanted to be a bit like the og i made (too bad i sketched that one with black since the og was sketched with white due to me drawing the bg first)) with his eyes closed but them decided to make them open for a reason i cant remember, maybe i thought itd look nicer? idk

ive had the idea of redrawing this for quite some month now so it was kinda already planned

background cuz i think it came out really pretty

doesnt have the little stars since without elfilis and the structures it looks fucked up. the actual sky in game is more blue, but the clouds have some orange, in the 2023 ver. i made the sky orange, and in the 2024 ver i wanted it more accurate, but i didnt wanna loose the orange sky, so i did a gradient. pretty...

also here's a screenshot i took when i was like halfway trough it, its barely noticeable but i changed his mouth in the final drawing

I really love katfl, like a buncha whole lot, its basically almost my first mainline kirby game. 100% the demo, finished the game in almost one day, i literally play it monthly, like, every month i put the card in my switch, start it up, get morpho sword, and go shred elfilis in lab discovera. i would probably not even be here on tumblr and the kirby fandom if it werent for it. and i love it so much i genuinly cannot express how much i like it and treasure it with words or anything

Thank you for reading my unnecesarily long rambles lol

I hope i'll post tomorrow and dont forget like usual

Jambuhbye!

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beebuus · 1 month

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hello everyone! today i bring you: the ides of march, bugified!

here is some context: each insect species from our reality has their own tribe in bugworld (theres no canon name for it, been refering to it as either contoworld or contoverse because of my first character's name, contosho) and in every tribe, there's a emperor (used as a gender neutral term). besides the name, the emperor holds little actual power/control over other residents, it is more of a honorary title than an actual real emperor thing. the only benefits of actually being an emperor is being unable to age (most bugs are ok with death, not a huge deal) and growing bigger and bigger through the years (kinda makes you need other bugs to help you with daily stuff), and the duties are different, including organizing festivals and big hunts. but just like any other relationship between people, there can be manipulation that turns most people's lives miserable.

one of such shitty emperors is juliu sisa (def not inspired by anyone), from the Pheidole servilia tribe (species picked for their name, servilia, which was the mother of brutus), who has been demanding every individual of the tribe to dance in a almost unending performance, until the emperor sleeps and they can go satiate their hunger/thirst and then rest, or until they collapse on the ground, in which the emperor themself gives the civilian a "final rest", if you get what i mean.

that's where conto comes in! they were such a victim of shitty emperors, and wishes to end that across other tribes. by the way, the only way of transferring power between people is to eat a emperor's heart. only then the more wowzer abilities transfer.

either way, there are also certain individuals called "vessels", they aren't bugs or animals, they would be more comparable to an elemental... except, there are some weirder ones (the vessel or conches, vessel of blades, etc). either way, there is only one of each element, and they take the shape of bugs most of the time for less confusion. and they also have their own personalities (the vessel of water is very quiet and reclusive, although she loves to watch stories unfold). the vessel of blades specifically, loves some stabby action.

and then there's this new guy! never drew them before. they're an aphid possessed by the spirit in the sword (spirits are a field of scientific study in this world), who likes to smell the impending violence that sprouts here and there, and then partaking in said violence.

the bug's name is suika, they were from a small family of merchant aphids that sold oils from exotic plants. the sword's spirit's name is komput'limé (kompu for short), a brave and ruthless warrior who had quite simple intentions, just the strength of said ambitions were so strong that they could inhabit their own sword in death.

either way, before i end this post, I'd like to ask any and all who have questions about this world (anything ranging from "what animals are there?" to more complex questions) in my asks! they're very open and very welcoming to any of your (not too) weird questions of my weird world.

#bugs tw #bugs #bug #bugblr #ides of march #art #digital art #furry #my art #world building #worldbuilding #aphids #julius caesar #julius ceaser #beware the ides of march

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resetpermalik · 3 years

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Mass Music Measurements Survey Form

A freeCodeCampChallenge

Gaining Speed

This marks my second freeCodeCamp challenge. As I mentioned in my after action report from the first FCC challenge (tribute page), it took some time to finally gain traction and fully complete that project. That was a problem with (one) unnecessary complexity of design and (two) a lack of planning (before I began to code.) It was my assumption that if I laced the project with many working parts, I would learn much, much faster; also, that by getting right to the code, I could pick up the syntax, semantics and general knack for writing (code) in less time. And wow, I was very incorrect in thinking so.

As a response to my previous poor start (with my tribute page,) this time I was better able to address some lessons which had only occurred to me when halfway through the last project. So this time, I really dialed in the importance of streamlining my initial paperwork designs, learning how to more proficiently use Figma and some of its tools, how to better approach icon design with Photoshop and vastly improve my entire workflow. This provided (not only) an easier build, but also a more efficient angle by which I was empowered to catch more lessons along the way.

In the next few paragraphs, I will detail just which specific advantages I picked up in terms of HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript capability. In addition, I will move through some of the tactics I employed to help me finish this challenge with much more confidence than the last.

Planning Stages

When I set out to hand-write the marked goals (set down by FCC’s challenge,) I do find it tedious. The thing is, I am copying (in my own words) precisely what the challenge is demanding of me. Let me elaborate…

With every line, I am telling myself that I really do not need to do this. I mean, I can pretty easily peer over at the other browser window (when necessary) and see exactly what my marching orders are. Though albeit true, there are a couple of key differences in (one) reading from FCC and (two) writing/reading my own notes.

As I write out every expected step of my project, I can build an image immediately for how I would like my creation to take shape. This falls in line with the visual aspects and design, the color scheme, the functionality of each element and the code itself. It is a powerful method to which I will pay better respect going forward. (I already have plenty of ideas on how to implement more potent procedures — like larger drafting paper, (which will allow for a greater landscape on my pages, maybe using a tablet for notation and perhaps a few voice recordings along the way)). Now, I may be getting ahead of myself! Back to the plans..

And so writing out the objectives is terrific for lots of reasons, but moving to the drawn design itself — this may be the most crucial bit yet. Here’s the deal. When I physically drew the (expected) survey form, I may have well completed the whole project. So what does that mean?

I took so much liberty in imagining what the design should resemble. More specifically, I let my mind wander and allowed thoughts to spill out onto the legal pad before me. This (in combination with my understanding of how everything needed be expressed in code) let me structure my rough draft with such a degree that the next step made the actual coding like an exercise in copy and paste. I’ll expound…

I was drawing parts which were effectively elements of HTML. This was followed by some (more precise) markings of pseudo-code (which amounted to about all of the HTML I required to code for the whole challenge.) So, when I say the planning has proved to be useful, this would be an undestatement. This attention to planning has made it possible for me to avoid the ‘nuts and bolts’ in my code editor. Now, this advancement is massive, because the saved time and effort was a testement to why I was then able to better learn more intricate detail when coding. And now let’s get to those lessons and the code at large.

Within Earshot of Paper and Pencil

My goal is not to elaborate on the use of specific technologies, but more-so the process itself. however, I will briefly touch on Figma and Photoshop…

Using Figma helped me focus on each element and understand how they more literally fit together in the puzzle. I was able to name every piece such that it would show me what my HTML element should be in code and how each need be named. Also, I took those separate entities and grouped them such that I could postion everything exactly as I wished. My next goal with Figma will be to utilize the ‘component’ feature and truly unroll some strong functionality of the software.

Regarding Photoshop, I made a logo for my survey and spun it into a favicon with relative ease. In an attempt to create animations and advertisements for my affiliate site, I have better come to understand Photoshop’s effectiveness. Thereby, building my icon was fairly straightforward. I simply pieced it together with a couple of layers and exported the PNG. I still want to be able to employ SVGs for this application; but until now, I haven’t perfected the craft. I will leave that for the coming FCC challenge. Onward!

Coding the Beast

The first topic to address here is quite obvious for me… SUITE TESTING.

When I began coding this project, I wrote my HTML boilerplate and immediately tied in the FCC testing script so I could begin verifying my code at every turn. I’ll elaborate…

I ran into a few issues with debugging throughout my last project; those were problems which resulted in code errors piling up on me simultaneously. And, while an error (for which you don’t know the remedy) is frustrating…several of those errors (all at once) becomes infuriating. Luckily, I ran into a great solution. Unit testing.

By instantiating the FCC test suite before I began coding the bulk of my project, I was then gifted the opportunity of verifying each of the sixteen goal posts.

In more detail, nearly no problems snuck up on me while coding the breadth of this project because I was adamant on addressing them in real time (as they appeared). What a true life-saver...

Input Text (element, attribute)

I found it repetitive and annoying at first, when the 10th goal of this challenge asked me to give both the input and label elements their own respective and corresponding ids. This was because I (very simply) did not understand the request. Along with that, I definitely didn’t understand why it was being asked (to begin with.)

That said, I now realize that the goal was to identify the label for the text field, in addition to the field itself. In understanding this distinction, I have now been able to find value in this very feature.

By giving ids to both my labels and input texts, I was then able to style each distinctly and find them with more ease (while peering though my HTML.) Now here’s real solid tip which I will not soon forget.

Don’t Pick More Than One Option!

So, I was writing the code for my radio buttons and what happened next is certainly a rookie mistake. When I navigated to my browser (in order to test the options,) I found that EVERY one of my buttons was clickable. And this, for obvious reasons, is not ideal.

This solution was super easy. All I needed to do was unify (or make each value the same for) the input-radio buttons. After I placed cloned values for each radio button, only one option could then be chosen. Success!

Nitpick the Name and Ids

This is something which should possibly be glossed over. But, when working with various input fields, I was asked to employ many names and ids for each.

While I’m not entirely certain (even now) whether there is a standard for which comes first, I have come to realize that name attributes should possibly supercede id attributes.

Using Visual Studio Code, it seems to like placing names before ids. And in a real life estimation, using name over id seems to be old-fashioned, but admirable.

More seriously, I understand in code, name will be less subjective (while more actionable) and ids will more far more particular and prone to alteration.

Dropdown

I was in a position to use dropdown boxes twice in this project. The problem I came across was that my options continued to begin with the default option as selectable. While I learned the solution quickly and with ease, I believe it should be recorded as vital.

When inserting a placeholder option in a dropdown box, in order to keep it from being a clickable entity, you have to style it as such.

I called the id of the option in my CSS sheet and set its display as none. That easy.

Pseudo Class and Element Selectors

Very little of my experience with this challenge dealt with pseudo class or pseudo element selectors. But, I will cover (in short) what I did learn (with these topics in mind.)

Using a pseudo element selector is the best (or maybe only) way to call an attribute from an HTML element and style with CSS.

This is how I was able to change the appearance of my placeholder text in each input-text.

I know pseudo class selectors are the way to alter elements (in a certain state) like ‘hover’ or ‘before’, but I haven’t used them enough to expand this monologue. That said, I’ll press on…

Attribute Selectors

In confluence with my previous words, I may have provided a misnomer to exactly what was being modified with pseudo-elements. But, I digress (and hopefully you see what I mean).

Using attribute selectors is quite different from other selectors, because you will be placing true brackets in as your selector which house your attribute, followed by an equal sign and a set of quotations (housing your value.)

Looks like this [attribute=“value”]. And that’s that!

Media Queries

While I employed media queries for this project, I have yet to fully grasp exactly how to use them (in reference to appropriation and context.) Therefore, I will not go into detail; but, only mention that I used them to alter my CTA button across pixel-widths. Also, I realized that setting a new media query works better when starting with the immediate values from your last screen size.

A Bit of JavaScript

The big task I pushed for in this project was this: change the client-side font family for a text area as the user types. And by big, I mean, it took me about as long as the rest of the whole challenge to learn this functionality with JavaScript. That said, I now understand much better how JS semantics are employed. And, that’s pretty priceless…

For this goal, I inserted a script with an event listener. First, I started with DOMContentLoaded, which allows for firing without the images or styling need be loaded.

The next bit lets my document be called by its (element) id.

Then, it states that my id will be triggered by any input (via an eventListener) and will force my later instantiated function.

The function declared will let the charCode number equal a string which will be console.log(ed) out as my target.value (of Nunito, sans-serif) with proper style.fontFamily.

Conclusion

Attempting to wrap this project up in a nice bow is difficult, as I have onboarded a great deal of information (from one simple survey page.) After completing this task, I am left with a split-brain. While I have learned so much from something, seemingly straightforward, now I am thrilled to make it to the next project and take on those new expectations.

I suppose my takeaway is that I should fine-tune my HTML and CSS understanding and seriously crack open all that is JavaScript. All which, can wait until tomorrow. Cheers!

#freecodecamp #html5 #css3 #javascript #design #coding

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yobaba30 · 4 years

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A thread by Seth Abramson (Attorney. Newsweek columnist. Professor.

This thread summarizes the major-media investigative reporting on the TRUMP-CHINA SCANDAL, a bribery scandal involving Trump's hunt for dirt on Joe Biden in China, his debts to the Chinese government, and his decision to ignore life-saving COVID-19 intel.

We begin with the context: Trump's history of viewing his endeavors as entwined and mutually reinforcing. For instance, despite contest-rigging being a felony, Trump has been accused of picking Miss Universe finalists based on where his businesses are.

Just so, the Trump-Russia scandal was at its heart a *bribery* scandal: Trump's pre-election establishment of a pro-Russia foreign policy in conjunction with secretly pursuing the most lucrative deal of his professional life: a Kremlin-blessed deal for a "Trump Tower Moscow."

The Trump-Ukraine scandal was another bribery scandal—Trump receiving illegal foreign donations and false statements on Biden from corrupt Ukrainians in exchange for military aid, a White House visit, and help toppling the anti-Kremlin CEO of Ukraine's state-owned energy firm.

Trump's hasty retreat from Syria—the Trump-Turkey scandal—was likewise underwritten by bribery: Trump's major business interests in Turkey interfering first in the federal prosecution of the Turkish Halkbank and then in his capitulation to an illegal Turkish invasion of Syria.

The Trump-Saudi, Trump-UAE, and Trump-Israel scandals—which all saw Trump receive illegal aid from these nations pre-election in exchange for favorable policy post-election —were *likewise* accompanied by Trump pursuing business deals in these nations.

It's important to underscore that Trump has confessed to almost all of this. For instance, he confessed pre-election that if he ever had to set policy with respect to Turkey post-election—which of course he would—he would have a "conflict of interest."

trump has called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act—which prevents businessmen like him from participating in bribery schemes with foreign nations—a "horrible" and "unfair" law that he wants repealed by Congress. And he's made efforts to orchestrate it: his own officials—even ones loyal to him—talk openly about his conflicts of interest, which see him commingling his business interests and U.S. policy and (with persistence and impunity) acting to advance his interests. Bolton and Barr both agree on it. trump no longer even pretends to deny that he was seeking a major tower deal in Moscow while running for president—co-mingling his business interests with foreign policy decisions he'd have to make as POTUS. It's key context for the Trump-China scandal.

Presented by ABC News with a hypothetical in which he participates in a bribery scheme—a foreign government offering him a personal political benefit even as he is setting U.S. foreign policy with respect to that country—Trump said he would go for it. (Stephanopoulos interview … “I think I’d take it”. https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/id-exclusive-interview-trump-listen-foreigners-offered-dirt-63669304 )

In the Ukraine scandal, Trump simply drew *no distinction* between official acts he'd taken to benefit himself personally and the idea that a president must work on the nation's behalf—a novel claim his trial attorney then explicitly and publicly made.

COVID-19 has stopped none of this. During the pandemic, even as Europe—per reporting by the NYT—was the actual source of the new February infections in NYC, Trump issued a European travel "ban" in March that excluded any country he had golf courses in.

No one disagrees that—per endless major-media reporting—in Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, other nations like Egypt, his pageants and more, Trump cross-pollinates his operations so that everything works hand-in-glove with everything else to make him money.

Trump told Cohen—per Michael Cohen's congressional testimony, un-contradicted on this—that Trump's POTUS run was intended as an "infomercial" for his "brand" (i.e., domestic/foreign actors would later pay him based on what he included—like policy—in the brand).

The Steele dossier was not the first—or the *twentieth*—document to claim Trump's business dealings in *China* significantly *supersede* in size and scope his many failed dealings in Russia, his many failed dealings in Ukraine in the 2000s, or his Middle Eastern golf courses.

You can read all about Trump's conflicts of interest in China here—mind you, just a *few* of the ones we know about, as most are hidden within Trump's tax returns. The most obvious piece is scores of valuable trademarks timed to Trump policy decisions. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/news/2017/06/14/433915/trumps-conflicts-interest-china/

That's right: Trump—and Ivanka—get valuable Chinese trademarks in a way that appears timed to coincide with Trump's decisions on issues in which the Chinese government is invested. In this we see the *same trend* as with his pro-Kremlin foreign policy.

But it's more than just trademarks: Trump *owes the Chinese government hundreds of millions of dollars*. And the Trump-China scandal coincides with some of those debts coming due and some of Trump's income *from* China entering a period of uncertainty.

It was in this context—in the middle of a trade war with China *Trump started*—that Trump spoke with Chinese president Xi Jinping in June 2019 and did something a U.S. president never does: discussed *both* U.S. policy and his political rival (Biden).

Two notes about this CNN report: Trump's call with Xi came not long after his hand-picked AG "exculpated" him of wrongdoing in Russia—meaning he felt free to exchange in such conduct again. Trump's team *hid the transcript of the Trump-Xi call*.

If you track the calls we know Trump improperly used the NSC ("NICE") archive to hide from even his own administration—calls with Putin, MBS and Xi, plus the call with Zelensky that got him impeached—you can see that Trump *knows* when he's done wrong.

So in June 2019, Trump had a call with Chinese president Xi Jinping in which he talked about a trade war he (Trump) had started—a war which gave him leverage over China—and Biden's political prospects. And then Trump's team worked feverishly to hide what Trump had said to Xi.

We don't have to *wonder* what the connection is between Trump's trade war and Biden—Trump told us in October 2019. In that month, he discussed—in the same 30 seconds—his *leverage* with China and his request for Biden dirt from China. Watch the video: https://c-span.org/video/?464931-

So the question is not whether Trump commingled the trade war and Biden; or whether he wanted to hide that fact; or whether what he wanted from his "leverage" with China was dirt on Biden. All that is clear—and public. The question is: did Trump get the deal that he demanded?

The answer is *yes*. One of Trump's top men on trade negotiations in China, Michael Pillsbury, said he received *dirt on Biden* from *the Chinese government* the *very same week* Trump tied his "leverage" with the Chinese to his demand for Biden dirt.

Pillsbury: "I got quite a bit of background on Hunter Biden from the Chinese." The FINANCIAL TIMES reports "[it] relate[ed] to a $1.5bn payment from the Bank of China"—which "matches the amount Trump last week claimed Hunter Biden received from China."

In Trump's public statements, he has said that the money Hunter Biden received in China somehow implicates Joe Biden in corruption involving the Chinese government—an accusation that follows Trump's career-long pattern of accusing others of whatever he himself has been doing.

As the summary of Trump's conflicts of interest by the Center for American Progress details, when Trump made his demand of the Chinese not only did he have "leverage" from the trade war he started to consider—a war which has hurt Americans—but also his rent at NYC properties.

Trump makes tens of millions of dollars renting to the Chinese—and one of his biggest payments was up for renegotiation in October '19, the month he talked about leverage over the Chinese and demanded dirt on his top political rival. But there's some context to consider here.

Remember that Trump and his family had long ago learned from major-media reporting that the Chinese were actively looking for clandestine ways to shift Trump's China policy using the business/personal interests of him and his family. All D.C. knew it.

Consider, then, that the $200+ million Trump owes the Chinese government is due "soon," per POLITICO, meaning Trump knows he has China's support for his re-election—as it has leverage over him it wants to keep—*and* that now is his time to cut a deal.

It is in this context—(1) Trump owing the Chinese $200+ million; (2) having them as a major renter bringing him tens of millions; (3) he and his family knowing they want to cut a clandestine deal; (4) him having coupled personal and U.S. policy and tried to hide it... (5) Pillsbury getting Biden dirt from the Chinese during the same 7-day period Trump demands it; and (6) Trump warning the Chinese that he has "leverage" to get what he wants because of the trade war *he* started—at the moment coronavirus appears in China in November 2019.

In November 2019, just a few weeks after Trump gets the Biden dirt he demanded from China, U.S. intelligence tells Trump that there is a virus emerging in China that could be dangerous. The intelligence is urgent and comes from multiple U.S. agencies.

Trump inexplicably rejects the intelligence. Indeed, his administration has so little interest in hearing the intelligence that *U.S. intelligence agencies* must focus on sharing the intelligence with NATO and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), instead.

But here's the rub: Trump receives intelligence on the novel coronavirus *as he's in the middle of trade negotiations* with the Chinese. And weeks after Trump learns of the virus, he makes the most stunning decision imaginable with respect to those negotiations—and the virus.

At a time Trump knew of the virus, per the senior White House correspondent at HUFFPOST China inserted in its trade negotiation with him an exceedingly rare trade-deal clause that excused China from compliance in the event of—for instance—a pandemic.

So at a time the Trump administration had received *and rejected* urgent U.S. intelligence on the coronavirus, it received from *China* a request for an exceptional, entirely unexplained "out" clause that would cover a pandemic. And what did Trump do? Nothing—he permitted it.

But he didn't just permit it—though he knew from the DHHS Crimson Contagion simulation, the NSC pandemic playbook, and papers submitted by White House economists that the virus he'd learned of in November could devastate the US, he sent China our PPEs.

WP: "US manufacturers shipped millions of dollars of face masks and other PPEs to China in January and February with encouragement from the federal government—a move that underscores the Trump administration’s failure to recognize and prepare for the growing pandemic threat."

It was *after* that WASHINGTON POST report, of course, that we learned from ABC and THE TIMES OF ISRAEL that in fact Trump's team *did* recognize the growing pandemic threat—in November 2019—it's just that it did nothing about it (nor China's pandemic-oriented trade demands).

But it's more than this: Trump was being told by a cadre of Americans at the World Health Organization in December that there was a virus in China that could come to the U.S. and be devastating—further confirming the intel reports from 2 U.S. agencies.

It's with all of this in mind that we must consider the *80-day lapse* from Trump receiving intelligence about the virus in November 2019 from multiple agencies and the February 2 execution of Trump's China travel "ban"—which 40,000 got through no problem after it was issued.

Why did Trump reject—for *80 days*—bad news involving a nation he was involved in clandestine dealings with, despite having been told that the toll for his decision could be millions of US lives? What could've been worth so much to him? The same thing as ever—money and power.

There are so many details I've not included here. For instance, Pillsbury knew his revelation to FT that he secretly received Biden dirt from China was such a screwup, he *lied publicly* and said he'd never told FT *any* such thing. Then FT revealed they'd kept his emails

The pattern of conduct here is of course *identical* to every *other* Trump bribery scandal: secret communications; destruction/hiding of evidence; public lies about meetings or exchanges; inexplicable official acts; public and private demands for illegal election assistance.

But there's a difference this time: 52,000 Americans (and counting) are *dead*. Many of them because Trump's response to the COVID-19 threat began in earnest in *mid-March 2020* rather than *mid-November 2019*. A fact that appears attributable to his deals with the Chinese.

For years, criminal attorneys online and off have been warning America that when the most powerful man in the world can be bribed with money, land deals, and promises of illegal election assistance, the result will be stolen elections, policies that harm America... and *war*.

We already hit Stage 1: as detailed in my books PROOF OF COLLUSION and PROOF OF CONSPIRACY (which combined have 7,500 in-text major-media citations), Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Israel aided Trump in 2016. The Ukraine scandal was—and is—about getting such aid for 2020.

Stage 2 of the threat America was warned about: a bribery scandal that costs us dearly on domestic policy. We're here now: a pandemic Trump didn't fight because he wanted a deal with China. Trump *thanked* Xi on COVID-19 in January/February even as US intel said Xi was lying.

CONCLUSION/ A significant percentage of the U.S. COVID-19 outbreak is attributable to a federal response hobbled by Trump's secret side communications with China. That changed only in March—after it was too late. And the next time Trump is bribed, America is likely to go to war.

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patriotsnet · 3 years

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Who Are The Republicans Running For President

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-are-the-republicans-running-for-president/

Who Are The Republicans Running For President

List Of United States Republican Party Presidential Tickets

Republican Lawmakers Are Terrified Of Trump Running For President Again

This is a list of the candidates for the offices of President of the United States and Vice President of the United States of the Republican Party, either duly preselected and nominated, or the presumptive nominees of a future preselection and election. Opponents who received over one percent of the popular vote or ran an official campaign that received Electoral College votes are listed. Offices held prior to Election Day are included, and those held on Election Day have an italicized end date.

Sen Josh Hawley Of Missouri

Though controversial, Hawley, 41, is a fundraising machine and hes quickly made a name for himself. The blowback Hawley faced for objecting to Bidens Electoral College win included a lost book deal and calls for him to resign from students at the law school where he previously taught. His mentor, former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, said that supporting Hawley was the biggest mistake Ive ever made in my life.

Still, he brought in more than $1.5 million between Jan. 1 and March 5, according to Axios, and fundraising appeals in his name from the National Republican Senatorial Committee brought in more cash than any other Republican except NRSC Chair Sen. Rick Scott of Florida. Just because youre toxic in Washington doesnt mean you cant build a meaningful base of support nationally.

One Republican strategist compared the possibility of Hawley 2024 to Cruz in 2016. Hes not especially well-liked by his colleagues , but hes built a national profile for himself and become a leading Republican voice opposed to big technology companies.

Hawley and his wife, Erin, have three children. He got his start in politics as Missouri attorney general before being elected to the Senate in 2018. Hawley graduated from Stanford and Yale Law.

Trump Is Planning To Visit Iowa

If youre a politician with even an ounce of presidential ambition, you will find a reason to get to the state that hosts the first presidential caucus.

Trump signaled his intention to head to Iowa a week ago Monday, telling conservative talk radio show host Todd Starnes hes planning upcoming rallies in states including Iowa and Georgia. The Des Moines Register reported Tuesday that Trump will hold his rally Oct. 9 at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, his first visit to the state since the 2020 campaign.

Save America, Trumps PAC, has also made moves in Iowa, hiring two Republican operatives last month. Having a strong operation in place for the first caucus could be crucial if Trump wants a big win right out of the gate. He finished second in Iowa in 2016 to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Don’t Miss: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Two Republicans One Backed By Trump Head To Runoff In Texas Special Congressional Election

A plane flies across the sky beside the U.S. Capitol dome in Washington, U.S., January 15, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo

WASHINGTON, May 2 A Texas Republican backed by former President Donald Trump has advanced to a runoff election to fill a U.S. House of Representatives vacancy left by the death of her husband, while Democrats were shut out of the contest.

Susan Wright, whose husband Ron Wright in February became the first sitting member of Congress to die of COVID-19, was the top vote-getter on Saturday in a crowded field of 23 candidates vying to represent the states 6th Congressional District. read more

Wright was headed to a runoff against another Republican in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs, a longtime Republican-held district.

Democrats had hoped to pick up the seat to expand their slim House majority. But they conceded Sunday they had missed the chance.

Wright received 19.2% of the vote, followed by former military fighter pilot Jake Ellzey, another Republican, who drew 13.8%, according to the Texas secretary of states office. Just 354 votes and less than half a percentage point separated Ellzey from Democrat Jana Lynne Sanchez, who was in third place with 13.4%.

Democrats have come a long way toward competing in Texas, but we still have a long way to go, Sanchez, the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, said in a statement. Two Republicans will be competing to represent this congressional district.

Former President Donald Trump

The biggest question mark for Republicans is if Trump will run for president in 2024. He hasnt exactly frozen the field, since Republicans are already positioning themselves to run, but perhaps hes refrigerated it a bit?

Trump is the 800-pound gorilla, said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor. Trump has got command of the organs of the party and is going to have an enormous amount of resources and name ID and the ability to throw these rallies in the fall of 2022. I think that sets him up very well to being pole position for 2024 if he wants.

Trump, 74, is currently bettors top candidate on PredictIt, an online prediction market, and hes also led in several early polls, including a February Morning Consult/Politico poll. The poll found 54% of Republican voters would back Trump if the 2024 primary were held today. Those kinds of numbers would mean game over in a primary, but they also suggest many Republicans are eager for a new face.

During a recent podcast interview, Trump said he would make his decision on whether he will run in the 2024 presidential election sometime later, and after being asked which Republicans he thought represented the future of the party, he listed off some of the politicians youll see later on this list, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.

Also Check: What Is The Lapel Pin The Republicans Are Wearing

Cancellation Of State Caucuses Or Primaries

The Washington Examiner reported on December 19, 2018, that the South Carolina Republican Party had not ruled out forgoing a primary contest to protect Trump from any primary challengers. Party chairman Drew McKissick stated, “Considering the fact that the entire party supports the president, we’ll end up doing what’s in the president’s best interest.” On January 24, another Washington Examiner report indicated that the Kansas Republican Party was “likely” to scrap its presidential caucus to “save resources”.

In August 2019, the Associated Press reported that the Nevada Republican Party was also contemplating canceling their caucuses, with the state party spokesman, Keith Schipper, saying it “isn’t about any kind of conspiracy theory about protecting the president;… He’s going to be the nominee;… This is about protecting resources to make sure that the president wins in Nevada and that Republicans up and down the ballot win in 2020.”

Kansas, Nevada and South Carolina’s state committees officially voted on September 7, 2019, to cancel their caucus and primary. The Arizona state Republican Party indicated two days later that it will not hold a primary. These four were joined by the Alaska state Republican party on September 21, when its central committee announced they would not hold a presidential primary.

Virginia Republicans decided to allocate delegates at the state convention.

Emboldened Unchanged Trump Looks To Re

The set of advisers around Trump now is a familiar mix of his top 2020 campaign aides and others who have moved in and out of his orbit over time. They include Miller, Susie Wiles, Bill Stepien, Justin Clark, Corey Lewandowski and Brad Parscale.

While his schedule isnt set yet, according to Trumps camp, his coming stops are likely to include efforts to help Ohio congressional candidate Max Miller, a former White House aide looking to win a primary against Rep. Anthony Gonzales, who voted to impeach Trump this year; Jody Hice, who is trying to unseat fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger as Georgia secretary of state after Raffensperger defied Trump and validated the states electoral votes; and Alabama Senate candidate Mo Brooks, according to Trumps camp.

Trumps ongoing influence with Republican voters helps explain why most GOP officeholders stick so closely to him. Republicans spared him a conviction in the Senate after the House impeached him for stoking the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, House GOP leaders have made it clear that they view his engagement as essential to their hopes of retaking the chamber, and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., was deposed as Republican Conference Chair this year over her repeated rebukes of Trump.

Those numbers suggest that Trump could be in a strong position to win a Republican primary but lose the general election in 3½ years. A former Trump campaign operative made that case while discussing Trumps ambitions.

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Key Votes: 115th Congress 2017

For detailed information about each vote, click here.

Voted Yea on:;Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018

;Bill Passed on December 12, 2018

Proposed providing funding for commodity support, conservation, trade and international food aid, nutrition assistance, farm credit, rural development, research and extension activities, forestry, horticulture, and crop insurance through fiscal year 2023.

Voted Nay on:;Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 )

;Bill Passed on June 21, 2018

Voted Nay on:;Securing Americas Future Act of 2018

;Bill Failed on June 21, 2018

Proposed funding a border wall, limiting legal immigration, a mandatory worker verification program, allowing DACA recipients to apply for legal status, and preventing separation of families at the border.

Voted Yea on:;Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018

;Bill Passed on December 12, 2018

Reauthorizes through FY2023 and modifies some Department of Agriculture programs.

Voted Nay on:;Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

Voted Nay on:;Kate’s Law

Voted Nay on:;No Sanctuary for Criminals Act

Voted Nay on:;American Health Care Act of 2017

Did not vote on:;Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

The Us Presidential Primary Process Explained

4 Republicans Who Should NOT Run For President

The presidential primaries are one of the most important elements of the American constitutional order. Given that general elections give voters just two starkly opposed choices, it’s largely through the primaries that nuance enters the political process. Parties define themselves by whom they select to run for president, and the ideological alignments that result end up defining the contours of political conflict.

And yet, despite primaries’ central role, nothing about them is laid out in the Constitution.

In fact, the framers didn’t envision American politics taking the form of two-party competition, so they gave no thought to how parties would select their candidates.

This, in turn, is part of what makes the primaries so fascinating. While the Constitution itself is incredibly difficult to change, party nominating rules and state laws are much more flexible.

Consequently, the presidential nomination process is one of the elements of the American political system that’s changed the most and often in ways that aren’t anticipated by the people driving the change.

Which leads to the last thing that makes primaries so fascinating: They are genuinely unpredictable. Conceivably almost anything could happen.

Also Check: Who Leads The Republican Presidential Race

Fragment Of Lincoln Speech To Kentuckians

A fragment of President Lincolnâs First Inaugural Address is attached to this speech intended for Kentuckians, indicating that it was prepared prior to his journey from Springfield to Washington. The assumption is that Lincoln either planned to receive a delegation from Kentucky during his stop in Cincinnati, or to make a quick excursion into his home state to deliver the speech. The speech itself confirms Lincolnâs belief that there was nothing he could say to appease the South without betraying the principles upon which he had been elected.

Abraham Lincoln. Speech intended for Kentuckians, February 1861. Holograph letter. Robert Todd Lincoln Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Digital ID # al0082p1, al0082p2

Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/lincoln/the-run-for-president.html#obj23

Wheres Kamala Last Person In Room Harris Silent 6 Days Amid Afghan Pullout Chaos

Democrats are increasingly fearful Vice President Kamala Harris missteps will open the door for Republicans to regain the White House, a new report said Friday.

Dems, including senior White House officials, fear that Harris will lose to any Republican she faces including former President Donald Trump if President Biden does not seek reelection in 2024, Axios reported.

At 56, Harris is more than two decades Bidens junior and has been considered the heir apparent to the 46th president since he selected her to be his running mate last year.

While Harris will still be the presumptive nominee if Biden becomes the first president since Lyndon Johnson to not seek a second full term, Axios reports that a series of blunders have left officials and operatives concerned.

Right now, one operative told Axios, the feeling among Democrats isnt Oh, no, our heir apparent is fing up, what are we gonna do? Its more that people think, Oh, shes fing up, maybe she shouldnt be the heir apparent.

Harris has repeatedly been criticized for her handling of the illegal immigration crisis along the US-Mexico border, a problem Biden dumped in her lap in March by tasking her to deal with the root causes of the issue.

According to Axios, several White House officials have also described Harris office as a shtshow, poorly managed, and staffed with people who dont know the vice president well.

Dont Miss: Are There Any Republicans Running Against Trump

Recommended Reading: Top Republicans In Congress

Benjamin Harrison: Campaigns And Elections

The Campaign and Election of 1888:

In the Mugwump revolt of reform Republicans against the candidacy of Senator James G. Blaine of Maine in 1884, Benjamin Harrison carefully walked the middle ground. Refusing to put his hat in the presidential ring, he eventually supported Blaine with energy and enthusiasm. In February 1887, Harrison lost reelection to the United States Senate in the new Democrat-controlled state legislature. One year later, Harrison announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, declaring himself a “living and rejuvenated Republican.” The words “Rejuvenated Republicanism” became the slogan of his presidential campaign.

At the Republican convention in Chicago in the summer of 1888, front-runner James G. Blaine, unable to secure the nomination for himself, threw his support to Harrison in the hope of uniting the party against the Democratic incumbent, Grover Cleveland. In the hotly contested nomination fight that followed, Harrison became everyone’s second choice in a field of seven candidates. When Senator John Sherman of Ohio, the first choice, faltered in the balloting, Harrison’s support surged ahead, winning him the nomination on the eighth ballot. The convention picked banker Levi P. Morton of New York as Harrison’s running mate. The Democrats, at their national convention in St. Louis, rallied behind incumbent Grover Cleveland of New York and his running mate, Allen G. Thurman, the senator from Ohio.

Opinion Polling For The 2020 Republican Party Presidential Primaries

This is a list of nationwide and statewide public opinion polls that have been conducted relating to the Republican primaries for the 2020 United States presidential election. The persons named in the polls are declared candidates or have received media speculation about their possible candidacy. The polls included are among Republicans or Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. If multiple versions of polls are provided, the version among likely voters is prioritized, then registered voters, then adults.

Also Check: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Consider Candidates Track Record And Party Service In Allocating Debate Slots

For a variety of legal and political reasons, the parties authority over their own debates is constrained.44 Yet debates are very important for introducing voters to the partys candidates. They are an essential aspect of the winnowing process. Selecting invitees is particularly challenging when the candidate field is large, as became evident in the Republican nominating cycle four years ago, when the candidates were so numerous that those who fell below a national poll threshold of 3.5% had to attend an undercard debate instead of the main attraction. One consequence was to favor a reality-television celebrity over veterans like Sen. Lindsey Graham, an expert on foreign affairs who had served South Carolina in the Congress since 1993. That seemed shortsighted and unreasonable at the time, and it seems all the more so in hindsight.

The California Recall And Its Very Real Political Consequences Explained

It’s a tactic that experts said is leading to threats against election workers, but also one they now expect to continue moving forward.

“I’m just kind of hanging on for ’22 and ’24, because I don’t think this is going anywhere anytime soon,” said Neal Kelley, registrar of voters in California’s Orange County and a Republican.

There has never been evidence to support the claim that widespread fraud affected the results of the 2020 election, but a wide majority of Republican voters still believe that they were. A recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll, for instance, found that 66% of GOP voters said last year’s election was stolen.

That conspiracy theory is taking a toll on voting officials, who now have to administer the country’s elections while also being subject to death threats and intense pressure.

One recent survey found that a third of election administrators nationwide felt unsafe while doing their jobs during the last election cycle.

You May Like: Projected Republican Nominee

Allegations Of Inciting Violence

Research suggests Trump’s rhetoric caused an increased incidence of hate crimes. During his 2016 campaign, he urged or praised physical attacks against protesters or reporters. Since then, some defendants prosecuted for hate crimes or violent acts cited Trump’s rhetoric in arguing that they were not culpable or should receive a lighter sentence. In May 2020, a nationwide review by ABC News identified at least 54 criminal cases from August 2015 to April 2020 in which Trump was invoked in direct connection with violence or threats of violence by mostly white men against mostly members of minority groups. On January 13, 2021, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for incitement of insurrection for his actions prior to the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob of his supporters who acted in his name.

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gokul2181 · 4 years

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Hockey Pro League: No team bus, use personal cars: Netherlands set to begin hockey life in Covid era | Hockey News

New Post has been published on https://jordarnews.in/hockey-pro-league-no-team-bus-use-personal-cars-netherlands-set-to-begin-hockey-life-in-covid-era-hockey-news/

Hockey Pro League: No team bus, use personal cars: Netherlands set to begin hockey life in Covid era | Hockey News

NEW DELHI: It wasn’t expected to be that long a way away from the pitch when the Covid saga began earlier this year. It was mid-February 2020. The Netherlands team was in Argentina for an away leg in the Pro League. They drew both the games, then won both the shootouts to be on the happier side. But little did coach Max Caldas‘s team know that it will be more than eight months before they would play another international. The coronavirus was declared a pandemic in March and all hell broke loose. Postponement of the Tokyo Olympics to 2021 headlined the list of cancelled events. For close to four months, sports at every level across the world came to a screeching halt. The Pro League wasn’t spared. Safety became a priority and the International Hockey Federation (FIH) postponed it indefinitely. In September, though, international hockey resumed, when Germany hosted world champions Belgium for two Pro League games. It remained incident-free, while a lot changed in terms of do’s and don’ts around a hockey match. To play in the Covid era, a new set of SOPs had to be followed. Personal water bottles, face masks, sanitizers, basically ‘no outside contact’ became the name of the game. Fist-bumps are fine but high-fives will have to wait. It was sports’ introduction to a biosecure bubble. Amid similar conditions, and with a few add-ons by the Dutch federation, the Netherlands team will briefly come out of its bio-bubble to host Great Britain at Amstelveen – first on October 27 and then on the 29th. And to travel to the ground from the hotel and back, there will be no team bus to ferry the Dutch squad. The players and the coaching staff will use their personal cars. For the record, the new normal will be an equal challenge to adopt for the British team. They too played their last Pro League game more than eight months ago.

(File Photo – Twitter) Dutch coach Caldas says “understanding the rules of engagement” is one of the toughest parts of playing in the Covid era. During a recent interview with hockey.nl, Caldas said “it’s like we are playing in Bhubaneswar”. On their visits to the Odisha capital over the recent past, the current world No. 3 Dutch team had been very strict about their do’s and don’ts; and Caldas suggested that the players will have to maintain a similar level of strictness. Timesofindia.com got in touch with Caldas in the Netherlands, and the coach shed light on how his team is shaping up to make their first appearance since February in a drastically changed world. Excerpts… What has struck you the most while preparing for this return to international hockey next week? Well, the world has changed quite a bit since we last played in the HPL (Hockey Pro League) versus Argentina. You need to be very flexible and adapt to changing rules at all times. You might not get the regular competition that helps you, amongst other things, understand where you are at that moment in your programme. But the guys have been very helpful and eager to be together. How were these past eight months for you personally in terms of getting through a tough phase that none of us have ever experienced before? It has given me the time to be with the family much more in quantity and quality time than what my job sometimes allows me to. But I have experienced it with a clear head, being present and not getting carried away with the overkill in information that can happen. Respect the rules, control what you can and learn to live with the current times. Did hockey take a backseat for you altogether during lockdown in terms of coaching or did you remain connected to it and the players. If yes, how? Not really, actually. It makes way for different ways to stay connected, approach some topics that you would normally not have time for. We have had the luxury of not being fully in lockdown in Holland, so we could be creative while respecting the rules to get in touch with players and staff members. What in your opinion is the best approach to maintain focus on the game and not the situation (pandemic) in which it is being played? Well, stay away from social media and the TV, only at night with the kids we watched the news. Every day in the gym. Work-wise (it) was the chance to rethink the strategies in our programme too. So very valuable time.

(File Photo – Twitter) What has been the toughest part in the build-up to the day when the Dutch team will be back on the pitch after six months? Understanding the rules of engagement. What can we do? How can we get together? What does it mean for our home situation? Choosing for a slow start to protect the players’ body (when they always want to go hard). Things like these. What are the key features of the Covid protocol that the Dutch federation and you as coach have put together before entering the games against Great Britain and Belgium? We came into a bubble on Sunday (Oct 25), and we will stay there until after the second game versus GB. Testing protocols, meeting rooms, where we eat, our rooms are off limits to the rest of the hotel guests and outsiders. No bus to the games, we go in our own cars, you get the drift, right? And these rules might also change per country too — the do’s and don’ts. Belgium has other rules, for example. So we will stay in Holland until game day and then be in Belgium for about 6-8 hours maximum (during Netherlands’ away tie of the Pro League next in neighbouring Belgium). A lot has been said and written about the mental health of players and the burnout effect of bio-bubbles if it continues for long. What are your thoughts on that? We will go into ours for five days and then three days on the second one. So I guess we will be fine. I think this is a question for sports that have endured a longer period in a bubble. GB have had a good head-to-head record against the Netherlands in the last four matches, winning two, drawing one and losing one. While those are just numbers, what targets have you set for the team in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics next year? We play each game for its own merits. Don’t think we have to dwell too much over what happened in the past. I mean GB will always be a very tough match regardless of what happened in the previous game. So it is about getting up and running for Tuesday (October 27) and then again for Thursday (October 29). We have for sure adjusted things about our programme, having the chance to rethink about the OG (Olympic Games) with its postponement. But then again, the world changes every day at the moment, so we will try to be light-footed and flexible as we move along. Tokyo for us is where we will be at our absolute best, but we will not pass any opportunity to be good at every chance that we have (before the Olympics).

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clarencevancleave · 4 years

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Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: Stephen Arifin from The Closing Docs

In our latest real estate tech entrepreneur interview, we’re speaking with Stephen Arifin from The Closing Docs.

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Stephen Arifin and I am one of the founders of The Closing Docs. Prior to serving as a software engineer at Microsoft, I had launched and supported several other revenue generating software tools. I am the technical founder and lead for our company. I graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Texas at Austin. I love bringing new technology and creative ideas into outdated industries, and that’s exactly what we’ve done with The Closing Docs. Our automation has streamlined the income verification process for companies managing more than 635,000 units.

What problem does your product/service solve?

The Closing Docs provides automated income verification to property managers and lenders. Historically, screeners and underwriters are collecting paper pay stubs and bank statements from applicants. This manual process is ripe for fraud, is really cumbersome and is burdened by many start/stop cycles in the set of related activities. By expediting deal closings and eliminating fraud, we have significantly compressed vacancy periods and underwriting cycles, getting applicants approved in minutes, not days or weeks. We provide a real solution to a very real and cascading problem. Even before COVID-19, pay stub fraud was on the march. And now, with rampant job loss, fraudulent pay stub and bank statement submittals are apt to increase in prevalence significantly. With the current rate of unemployment announcements, it is more important than ever to have a clear view of applicant income. The outdated method to verify an applicant’s income involves scanning or taking pictures of bank statements, W-2’s, and pay stubs. This form of income verification was a very manual process, which involved screeners deciphering bank statements and playing detective investigating whether the documents were falsified. Each applicant’s income documents arrived in a different format, which led to huge inefficiencies in approving a rental applicant. Many property managers also call the applicant’s employer, which can take days to get a hold of the right person in HR to confirm employment. Each day it takes to approve a tenant means your property is remaining vacant and not generating income. Using The Closing Docs, we pull the applicant’s bank statement data directly from the applicant’s bank account, with their permission. Since our data comes directly from the bank, our income verification completely eliminates fraud. Once the applicant decides to share the data, a standardized report is generated for the property manager instantly, verifying the applicant’s income in minutes rather than days. That means shorter vacancy periods, more income, and faster, more accurate data.

What are you most excited about right now?

Well, implementing new customers on first phone calls and inside of 30 minutes is pretty exciting – I’ve never experienced that before now! Property managers know how painful the income verification process is, and when they finally find a product that makes it easier by light years, their eyes spark up. It’s really fun to know you have true product market fit.

What’s next for you?

Growth, growth, growth. With the customer adoption and retention we’re experiencing, it’s time to grow the business hockey-stick style. We’re leveraging sales channels through integrations with a bunch of property management software programs, like Appfolio, Buildium, Yardi, and Propertyware, and we also support Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge browsers for our integrations. We’re focused on increasing our sales and have expanded our marketing budget to expedite uptake.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

Being an entrepreneur myself, I’m extremely passionate about helping other entrepreneurs succeed. The best place I’ve found to give back in this way is through Seattle’s Community Carrot program.It takes another founder that’s been in the trenches to truly understand what starting a business is like. While building The Closing Docs, I’ve received a tremendous amount of support from my friends and family, along with other like-minded founders and mentors. Now, I am happy to step out of my way to help other aspiring entrepreneurs achieve their dreams.

Thanks to Stephen for sharing his story. If you’d like to connect, find him on LinkedIn here.

We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop me a line (drew @ geekestatelabs dot com).

The post Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: Stephen Arifin from The Closing Docs appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

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timclymer · 4 years

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jk144 · 4 years

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Former FBI chief Andrew McCabe faced scorching criticism and potential criminal prosecution for changing his story about a conversation he had with a Wall Street Journal reporter. Now newly released interview transcripts show McCabe expressed remorse to internal FBI investigators when they pressed him on the about-face. The FBI released the documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). They provide fresh details about the investigation into a leak to the Journal, McCabe's role in it, and the reaction of agents who investigated it.In the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, the Journal broke news about an FBI investigation involving then-candidate Hillary Clinton, describing internal discussions among senior FBI officials.The apparent leak drew scrutiny from the bureau’s internal investigation team, which interviewed McCabe on May 9, 2017, the day President Donald Trump fired James Comey from his post as FBI director. The agents interviewed him as part of an investigation regarding a different media leak to the online publication Circa, and also asked him about the Journal story. In that interview, McCabe said he did not know how the Journal story came to be. But a few months later, his story changed after he reviewed his answer. On Aug. 18, FBI officials met with McCabe in an attempt to work through what they said was “conflicting information” they had gathered about the possible leak to the Journal.“I need to know from you,” an agent said he told McCabe in a sit-down meeting, “did you authorize this article? Were you aware of it? Did you authorize it?” McCabe then looked at the story he had reviewed months earlier. The FBI investigator described his response this way: “And as nice as could be, he said, yep. Yep I did.”The investigator then said that “things had suddenly changed 180 degrees with this.” The interviewers stopped taking notes on what McCabe was saying, and the agent indicated their view of McCabe had changed: He was no longer a witness or victim. “In our business, we stop and say, look, now we’re getting into an area for due process,” the agent said.But the agent said that the team did not raise that line of thought with McCabe. “I was very careful to say… with all due respect, this is what you told us. This has caused us some kind of, you know, sidetracking here now with some information other people have told us.”The agent’s next comments to McCabe took on a frustrated tone.“I remember saying to him, at, I said, sir, you understand that we’ve put a lot of work into this based on what you told us,” the agent said. “I mean, and I even said, long nights and weekends working on this, trying to find out who amongst your ranks of trusted people would, would do something like that. And he kind of just looked down, kind of nodded, and said yeah I’m sorry.”McCabe’s lawyer has said his story changed because in the initial interview he wasn’t prepared for the question. The question surprised him, and he didn’t give his answer a second thought because Comey was fired shortly after the interview concluded and his world turned upside down. McCabe, who became acting director of the FBI after Trump fired Comey, was fired in March 2018, two days before he was expected to retire. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he was axing McCabe because of the leak investigation’s findings. McCabe, who had been assailed by Trump over and over again on Twitter over the Russia investigation, denied wrongdoing and alleged his firing was politically motivated. In August, he sued DOJ for wrongful termination and has since accused the Trump administration of withholding evidence that would help his case.The DOJ Inspector General, meanwhile, later accused McCabe of lying to investigators multiple times. After that report came out, McCabe’s lawyer said it was “far less fair than he deserved,” and “utterly failed to support the decision to terminate Mr. McCabe.” Lying to federal investigators is a crime, and the Inspector General referred its investigation of McCabe to the U.S. Attorney’s office for Washington D.C. McCabe has not been charged with any crime––despite numerous Trump tweets calling him a criminal. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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torentialtribute · 5 years

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Life without Steve Smith is a real headache for Australia… they are mentally by his withdrawal

Australia's second wicket fell at 2.20 pm on Thursday. Usually this would be a source of fear for the English, perhaps even a moment of regret.

That's the problem with Ashes cricket this summer. You cannot play the Australian team without taking that second wicket. And you can't take that second wicket without bringing Steve Smith to the fold.

His style frustrates and makes him angry, his steady accumulation badly the rhythm of even the most cocksure bowler. And with Lord, just when you think you're rid of him, he comes back. But not on Thursdays. Not this time.

Australia's middle order collapsed without Steve Smith's calming presence on Thursday

Smith is still recovering from a concussion of Jofra Archer and his absence from Australia has been robbed. As Usman drew Khawaja back to the pavilion, there was no Smith to cheerfully rescue Australia, step across the outfield, and make his way to the latest mighty accumulation.

Neither Smith to dig through a collapse, nor Smith with his exaggerated leaves and funky inexplicable movement that defies any coach manual, yet brings an unbalanced calm to the center of the pressure cooker. Marnus Labuschagne was his replacement and he did very well. But he is not Smith. Australia knew that and didn't like it either.

Joe Root, the captain of England, also knew, so he did not politely claim that this was an old player and not an old space on the team magazine. . He did not offer the commonplace that Australia would be the same regardless of who was there, because it is clearly untrue.

& # 39; It will be huge shoes to fill, & # 39; he said. "You get these swings every now and then in a big series, and if you get the chance, you have to jump on them."

And for this purpose he was as good as his word. . Root won the pitch and put Australia in it. Would he have been as brave as Smith could march in and take the day away from England? Unlikely.

Australia is robbed without Smith, who is recovering from a concussion by Jofra Archer

When Australia brought in England to Lord & # 39; s, this was an indication of their appearance in Edgbaston. Thursday's decision was a combination of bad weather and a missing Talisman batsman. Root had seen weakness on day five with Lord. Now, if this Ashes series turns to Headingley, it will not only be about what England has achieved in Archer's bowling pace – who took a beautiful six for 45, confirmed his status as the superstar of the sporting summer – but what Australia have lost too.

Smith returns for the fourth test in Old Trafford – but in this short period of respite England made hay. Confident enough to put Australia in – a plan that seemed to have failed before wumbling late in the day made the right decision.

Australia is strongly tactically, technically but especially spiritually diminished by the withdrawal of Smith. It is not only the weight of the runs he delivers – although that is clearly important – but the swagger that his presence entails. Australia has an undeserved, undeserved insurance policy if it is in the area. It's like having the biggest boy in the playground as his best friend, or as the pipsqueak member of the most difficult gang.

Australia's top order gazes behind Smith's mighty shoulders, grinning and growling.

Australia was 25 for two, later lost three wickets for three runs and ended the day completely. Archer was wonderful. Yet we will never know what difference Smith would have made in similar circumstances, as he changed 122 for eight to 284 at Edgbaston. England, of course, did not have Archer in that test.

Travis Head and Matthew Wade (photo) went for ducks during Headingley

While Marnus Labuschagne fought playfully over Smith & # 39; s 39; s role, it did not bear the same threat

But the fact that Travis Head and Matthew Wade are here After David Warner Ha fell, a nod to the influence of Smith went. Both scored significantly in collaboration with Smith in the first two tests, but were sent quickly. True, Head got the ball of the day from Stuart Broad, while Wade was unlucky to continue playing, but the middle-order implosion of Australia is the kind of crisis Smith is sending his country through.

He only needs a companion to wrinkle his damage. In the first innings of the first test in Edgbaston, he doubled the total of Australia more than in the company of the lowest-order batsmen, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon.

And while Labuschagne fought conflictingly to play the role of Smith, not the same threat bore. England knew that they were confronted with Smith Lite, and when Labuschagne was rejected by a straight, high full pitch that he completely missed, it only confirmed this.

Bowling Bowling affects the mood in the crowd, and has certainly had a major impact on this game, but it is Smith & # 39; s calculation that has tampered with ghosts in the visitors' team room. Labuschagne was also excellent in Lord & # 39; s, and brave, given the battle he got from Archer. Yet he is not the same.

He digs in like Smith but does not score like him. While toiling playfully and impressively, Australia remained vulnerable. Lionel Messi could not prevent Barcelona from losing to Liverpool; Cristiano Ronaldo could not find the way for Juventus against Ajax.

After the abolition of post 61, the hard work of David Warner on Thursday undermined

Only having Smith on the team does not mean that Australia will always win; no more than finding Archer guarantees 20 wickets for England.

But it helps. Just as throwing the ball at Archer has quickly become Root's standard tactic when the attack begins to stagnate, Smith & # 39; s presence covers countless shortcomings in Australia's top order.

It is hard to remember when Warner last looked out – sorting at the fold as he has on this tour, and it is to his great credit that he scraped himself to pick 61 when he barely clubed on ball could lay in the early overs.

Perhaps with Smith at the fold the pair could have collected a total match change.

Instead, given that Australia has a very credible 136 for two, Warner will have watched in fear as his hard work was undermined.

Australia could not last without their big bully. England must make the most of this opportunity. It probably won't happen again. Not this summer.

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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Trump Makes Clear What Black Voters Had to Lose

“What the hell do you have to lose?” the president asked in the summer of 2016. The answer is now only all too plain.

David A. Graham, Staff writer | Published July 30, 2019 |The Atlantic | Posted July 30, 2019 1:42 PM ET |

Updated on July 30 at 9:32 a.m. ET

In late summer 2016, the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump embarked on what he claimed was an appeal to African American voters. In August, Trump traveled to Michigan for an event that was part of the push, though reporters noted that his speech was actually given in a predominantly white suburb of Lansing.

“What the hell do you have to lose?” Trump said, addressing his question to black voters. The point, he said, was that African American communities were already a shambles, and their condition could only improve. The remarks drew shocked reactions at the time.

Three years later, as the president attacks Representative Elijah Cummings, a Baltimore Democrat, the answer to his question is clear. Trump has sabotaged a law that guaranteed health insurance for many African Americans. He has undermined protections for voting rights. His Justice Department has stopped going after police departments that discriminated against African Americans. He has rolled back environmental protections. Beyond policy, he has used rhetoric that suggests the citizenship of African Americans and other minorities is conditional and less than that of white Americans.

Whenever he is accused of racism, which is frequently, Trump is quick to cite black unemployment rates, which are at historic lows. The president invokes this as if it’s a special favor he has bestowed on African Americans, rather than a self-evident policy goal of the government. Insofar as African American employment has improved, it’s simply as part of a generally growing economy, not targeted policies. Moreover, as Peter Nicholas reports, black unemployment remains twice as high as white rates, and the gap in wages between races is growing. Trump has at other times cited the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal-justice reform law he signed in late 2018. Advocates have widely hailed the law as a positive move.

But in other areas, Trump’s policy record for African Americans is dismal. Begin with policing, a subject of intimate relevance in Baltimore. The city was shaken by protests in April 2015, after the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. It was one in a long string of deaths of people under arrest, and the city convulsed in violence. In the aftermath, the Obama Justice Department probed the Baltimore Police Department and found a horrifying record of racial discrimination and disparate enforcement. Baltimore was one of several cities where DOJ investigated abuses and used consent decrees to force departments to reform amid evidence of widespread abuses of African Americans at the hands of police officers.

But shortly after the Trump administration took over, then–Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Justice Department would no longer pursue such arrangements. “It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies,” he said. “The misdeeds of individual bad actors should not impugn or undermine the legitimate and honorable work that law enforcement officers and agencies perform in keeping American communities safe.” DOJ attempted to undo the already agreed-upon Baltimore consent decree. In a speech on Long Island in 2017, Trump even celebrated roughing up suspects.

The Trump administration has also waged a years-long campaign to undermine the Affordable Care Act. The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation has found that the law significantly increased insurance coverage for African Americans, with uninsured rates falling from 19 percent in 2013 to 11 percent in 2017, but the president has undertaken a number of steps that KFF says will exacerbate racial gaps in health care. In March, the Justice Department reversed its position on a pending case, announcing that it supported a lower-court judge’s ruling that would strike the entire law. Despite promising a better replacement, Trump has not offered a plan to replace the law if it’s struck down, and Congress has given up as well. The administration is also squeezing states that wish to expand Medicaid coverage under the ACA.

When the Trump administration is not working to reduce health-care access for black Americans, it is taking steps that could make more of them sick. The president has sought to undo a range of environmental protections, even as a study of pollution by Trump’s own Environmental Protection Agency found that “results at national, state, and county scales all indicate that non-Whites tend to be burdened disproportionately to Whites.”

The most potent weapon against policies like these, the guarantor of political rights, is the ability to vote. That has also historically been a fragile right for African Americans, often deprived or eroded. Since taking office, Trump has made it harder for black citizens to exercise their right to vote. The Justice Department switched its position in gerrymandering and voter-ID lawsuits, supporting defendant states against plaintiffs challenging laws. Trump has also subscribed to conspiracy theories about massive numbers of illegal votes, all in service of stricter voter laws that depress minority turnout.

Worse, perhaps, than all of these concrete policy effects has been the symbolic message that Trump has sent, deeming African Americans second-class citizens. This has taken several forms in the past month alone: his suggestion that the black and brown women of the “squad” of progressive Democratic representatives “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came” (all four are American citizens, and all but one are native-born); his ratification of a “Send her back” chant at a rally; his attacks on Cummings; and his consistent labeling of people and communities of color as “infested” or “infestations.” These are all, as my colleague Adam Serwer has written, manifestations of “the president’s belief that American citizenship is conditional for people of color, who should be grateful we are even allowed to be here.”

Baltimore certainly has its struggles. Since Gray’s death, the murder rate in the city has surged. The mayor resigned amid corruption allegations in May, the second mayor to step down in a scandal in a decade. Parts of the city struggle with intense poverty. But blaming Cummings for this misses the point in two different ways. The median income in Cummings’s district is, as Nicholas notes, above the national average. Beyond that, Trump seems to misunderstand Cummings’s role: He’s a United States representative, which means that the oversight that has enraged Trump is very much his responsibility, but he is not the mayor, which means that local governance is not within his ambit.

Besides, Trump in 2016 promised the nation that when it came to problems like poverty and squalor in Baltimore, “I alone can fix it.” He specifically criticized Barack Obama for not doing enough for the city. Now, however, Trump wants Baltimore and other major cities—as well as hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico—to fix themselves. When he travels the country, Trump sticks as much as possible to the white, rural districts that elected him, while avoiding the urban and minority-heavy ones that spurned him.

It is true, as Trump noted, that other politicians, including Bernie Sanders, have lamented conditions in Baltimore. Yet Sanders made those comments while demanding that the federal government do better for the city and after touring West Baltimore. Trump made his remarks while writing off a city. He evinces no interest in visiting or improving the city, which he has never bothered to visit as president, even though it’s just 40 miles from Washington, D.C. The struggles of any African American residents there are useful as a political bludgeon, but otherwise they are up to the residents (and their African American congressman) to deal with.

As the 2020 election approaches, Trump’s question to African American voters is no longer a hypothetical or rhetorical question. So what the hell do they have to lose? Just their health, their health insurance, their right not to be abused by police, their right to vote, and their status as full members of the American polity.

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jodyedgarus · 5 years

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Your Guide To The 2019 NCAA Men’s Tournament

The NCAA tournament is finally here! Will we see another No. 16 seed beat a No. 1 seed? Will Gonzaga finally win its first national championship? Will Zion Williamson’s shoe explode again? We can’t tell you exactly what will happen over the next three weeks, but we can help steer you in the right direction when picking your bracket using our March Madness prediction model. You can read about how the system works here, and read on to learn what the model has to say about the top seeds’ fates, dark horses and Cinderellas to watch, and favorites to avoid. Let the madness begin…

East region

Top seed outlook: According to the FiveThirtyEight model, top seed Duke has the best chance of advancing to the Final Four in the entire field (53 percent probability) as well as the best odds of winning the national title (19 percent).

The Blue Devils are led by four soon-to-be first-round draft picks, including Zion Williamson, one of the greatest talents in recent memory. Duke is a walking highlight reel on the offensive end and far stingier on defense than many may realize. This is among Mike Krzyzewski’s most-balanced teams and projects to be his first since 2010 to rank inside the top six in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted offense and defense metrics. That team won the national title.1

What this team lacks, however, is touch along the perimeter. Duke shoots a ghastly 30.2 percent from beyond the arc, the worst mark among tournament-qualifying teams. In an offensive era increasingly dominated by space and perimeter scoring, the Blue Devils could buck the trend punishing the rim.

On the other side of the region is the winner of the Big Ten conference tournament, Michigan State. As their reward, the No. 2 Spartans have the honor of a potential matchup against the top overall seed in the Elite Eight. Head coach Tom Izzo was none too pleased. The Spartans have been pummeled by injuries but remain one of the most balanced teams in the country, ranking inside the top eight in Pomeroy’s adjusted offense and defense metrics.

Sneaky Final Four pick: No. 4 Virginia Tech. Led by the star pairing of Kerry Blackshear Jr. and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, the Hokies are a balanced squad that ranks among Pomeroy’s Top 25 teams on both offense and defense. Although they’ve lost eight times, only two of those were by double-digits. Virginia Tech also has a not-altogether-unfriendly draw, with extremely winnable opening games against Saint Louis (87 percent) and the Mississippi State-Liberty winner (63 percent) before most likely running into Duke’s juggernaut. We give the Hokies a respectable 25 percent chance against the Blue Devils — and a 54 percent chance against whoever emerges from the bottom of the region if they do manage to knock off Duke.

Don’t bet on: No. 3 LSU. With coach Will Wade embroiled in a pay-for-play scandal and his team probably overvalued as a 3-seed, the Bayou Bengals could be ripe for an upset in this tournament. They ranked only 18th in Pomeroy’s ratings — roughly the quality of a No. 5 seed — thanks in large part to a defense that didn’t even crack the nation’s top 60 in adjusted efficiency. (This showed up in the 51 second-half points they allowed to Florida while losing their first game of the SEC tournament.) Their NCAA path isn’t very easy, either: Yale is no pushover as a No. 14 seed, nor is potential second-round opponent Maryland, and we give the Tigers a mere 26 percent chance of beating Michigan State if the teams meet in the Sweet Sixteen. This is easily the lowest-rated top-three seed in the field.

Cinderella watch: No. 11 Belmont. The East is top-heavy, with Duke and Michigan State soaking up most of the Final Four odds. But the Bruins are an intriguing lower-seeded team because of an impressive offense led by do-everything swingman Dylan Windler. According to Pomeroy, Belmont ranks 20th in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency (and second nationally in raw points per game behind Gonzaga), while Windler was one of only three players nationally to average 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. Although the Bruins do have to win a play-in game against Temple just to make the field of 64 — we give them a 59 percent chance — they would have a very competitive 39 percent probability of upsetting Maryland in the first round and an even better chance against the LSU/Yale winner.

Player to watch: Cassius Winston, Michigan State

Three years ago, zzo said he thought his 6-foot-1 freshman could be Michigan State’s best passer since Magic Johnson. The Spartans’ do-everything point guard — one of the best facilitators in the country — is validating his coach’s comment. Only Murray State’s Ja Morant, a surefire lottery pick in this year’s draft, has a higher assist rate than Winston (46.0 percent). And behind Winston, the Spartans assist on the highest rate of field goals in the country.

The junior also happens to be Izzo’s leading scorer and one of the country’s top perimeter threats, shooting better than 40 percent from beyond the arc. As injuries have relentlessly sapped the Spartans of their on-court production, Winston has elevated his game to compensate. As he put it to The Athletic, “I have to do a lot for my team to win.”

Likeliest first-round upsets: No. 9 Central Florida over No. 8 VCU (47 percent); No. 11 Belmont* over No. 6 Maryland (39 percent); No. 10 Minnesota over No. 7 Louisville (34 percent)

(* Must win play-in game first.)

West region

Top seed outlook: Gonzaga is the best team in the West by a considerable margin, but the Zags, despite reaching the final two years ago, haven’t always performed well under the bright lights of the tournament. Still, Gonzaga has a 70 percent probability of reaching the Elite Eight, according to our model, and the third-best odds of any team to reach the national championship game (26 percent).

Should Gonzaga face Syracuse in the second round, the zone defense of the Orange could give the Bulldogs trouble. This is the best offense Mark Few has had in Spokane, but it may be tested by any of the terrific defenses in the West: Four of the top 15 can be found in this region, including the top two in Texas Tech and Michigan.

Sneaky Final Four pick: No. 4 Florida State. A fixture in the KenPom Top 20 for most of the season, the Seminoles are hoping to build on last season’s tournament run, which saw them come within a 4-point margin of making the Final Four. FSU has a dominant defense (No. 9 in Pomeroy’s ratings) and a balanced roster that saw four players accumulate at least 2.5 win shares. This draw isn’t terrible, either: Vermont isn’t especially difficult as a first-round foe, and Marquette is very beatable (more on that below). No. 1 seeded Gonzaga probably looms after that, and we give FSU a 24 percent chance against the Zags — but the Seminoles would have a 48 percent chance of making the Final Four if they were to pull off the upset.

Don’t bet on: No. 5 Marquette. Teams seeded fifth aren’t usually good bets to make it past the Sweet 16 anyway, but Marquette might be an especially bad pick. According to the FiveThirtyEight power ratings, the Golden Eagles are by far the worst No. 5 seed in the field, and a first-round date with breakout mid-major superstar Ja Morant didn’t do them any favors. Marquette has some star power of its own in junior guard Markus Howard, who ranks sixth in the nation with an average of 25 points per game, but this team lost five of its last six games and has a tough tournament road ahead of it.

Cinderella watch: No. 10 Florida. The Gators may have been one of the final bubble teams to sneak into the field of 68, but they could be poised to do some damage now that they are here. They drew Nevada, a so-so No. 7 seed, in the first round, and we give Florida a 42 percent chance of pulling the upset there. Last year’s national runner-up, Michigan, likely waits in Round 2, and that is a tough matchup (23 percent odds for Florida) — but if the Gators win, they have a 38 percent chance of making the Elite Eight. In a region with a number of good-but-flawed options, Florida looks better than the typical 10-seed.

Player to watch: Brandon Clarke, Gonzaga

The linchpin of the Zags isn’t the consensus lottery pick, nor the two veteran guards who have together started 87 percent of Gonzaga’s games over the past two seasons. It’s Brandon Clarke, a transfer from San Jose State who is in his first active season with the team. He’s perhaps the most underappreciated player in the country.

On a team that typically features a 7-footer protecting the rim, it’s Clarke, at 6-foot-8, who is tasked with protecting the paint this season. Clarke has responded by setting a single-season blocks record and posting the highest block rate of any team under Few.

“If I feel like if I can get a good, quick jump first, I’ll pretty much jump with anybody,” Clarke told me. “I mean, I’ve seen Zion (Williamson) coming down through the lane before on TV, and if I can’t jump at the right time, I probably wouldn’t jump with him, but … I don’t really see myself not jumping with anybody.”

Likeliest first-round upsets: No. 9 Baylor over No. 8 Syracuse (48 percent); No. 10 Florida over No. 7 Nevada (42 percent); No. 12 Murray State over No. 5 Marquette (32 percent)

South region

Top seed outlook: Can No. 1 Virginia exorcise last year’s demons now that the team is at full strength? Our model thinks so. The Cavaliers have a 49 percent probability of cracking the Final Four and a 31 percent probability of reaching what would be the program’s first national title game.

With De’Andre Hunter, who wasn’t on the court last year during UVA’s historic loss to No. 16 Maryland Baltimore County, the Cavaliers have been dominant on both ends — the only team ranking in the top five in Pomeroy’s adjusted offense and defense metrics. Once again, Tony Bennett’s pack line defense is suffocating most every offensive opportunity and successfully turning games into rock fights. But this year’s team is even better on the offensive end and should breeze into the Elite Eight, where it could meet Tennessee. Thanks to Grant Williams and the wonderfully named Admiral Schofield, the No. 2 Volunteers are playing their best basketball in program history. We give them a 22 percent probability of reaching the Final Four.

Sneaky Final Four pick: No. 6 Villanova. Is it “sneaky” to pick the team that’s won two of the past three national titles? Maybe not. But this hasn’t been the same team that coach Jay Wright guided to those championships. After losing a ton of its best players from last year’s title-winning team, the Wildcats had an up-and-down year and lost five of their final eight regular-season Big East games. But they also got hot over the past week, capping off a season in which they still won the Big East regular-season and conference-tournament titles — and still had one of the 20 best offenses in the country according to KenPom (powered by an absurd number of 3-pointers). Our power ratings think they’re the fourth-best team in the South despite being the No. 6 seed, and they have a 39 percent chance of at least making it back to the Sweet 16 for a fifth time in the past six seasons.

Don’t bet on: No. 4 Kansas State. Coach Bruce Weber’s Wildcats nearly made the Final Four last season, but they might find it tougher this time around. K-State has an elite defense (it ranks fourth in the country according to Pomeroy’s ratings), but its offense is prone to struggles — and could be down its second-leading scorer, forward Dean Wade, who missed the team’s Big 12 tournament loss to Iowa State with a foot injury. A brutal draw that gives the Wildcats tough No. 13 seed UC Irvine in the first round, then places them opposite the Wisconsin-Oregon winner in Round 2, could limit their potential to advance deep into a second consecutive tournament.

Cinderella watch: No. 12 Oregon. According to our model, the Ducks have the best Sweet 16 odds (24 percent) of any double-digit seed in the tournament, more than twice that of any other candidate. Oregon struggled to string together wins for most of the regular season, and its chances seemed sunk after 7-foot-2 phenom Bol Bol was lost for the season with a foot injury in January. But the Ducks have rallied to win eight straight games heading into the tournament, including a convincing victory in Saturday’s Pac-12 championship. Oregon fits a similar mold as K-State — great defense with a suspect offense — but that’s telling, given that the Ducks are a 12-seed and the Wildcats are a No. 4. If they meet in the Round of 32, we give Oregon a 47 percent chance at the upset.

Player to watch: Grant Williams, Tennessee

The junior has come a long way from being “just a fat boy with some skill.” Williams, the de facto leader of Rick Barnes’s Volunteers, has bullied the SEC over the past two seasons, collecting two consecutive conference player of the year honors.

The Vols might just feature the best offense of Barnes’s coaching career — and we’re talking about a guy who coached Kevin Durant! Much of that offensive potency can be traced to Williams, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, who ranks in the 97th percentile in scoring efficiency, according to data courtesy of Synergy Sports.

Williams possesses an old-man game you might find at a local YMCA, a back-to-the-basket, footwork-proficient offensive assault that manifests primarily in post-ups, where he ranks in the 98th percentile in scoring efficiency and shoots an adjusted field-goal percentage of 56.1. He can get the Volunteers buckets in the waning moments of games, too, as he ranks in the 96th percentile in isolation scoring efficiency.

Likeliest first-round upsets: No. 9 Oklahoma over No. 8 Ole Miss (53 percent); No. 12 Oregon over No. 5 Wisconsin (45 percent); No. 10 Iowa over No. 7 Cincinnati (34 percent)

Midwest region

Top seed outlook: On paper, the Midwest seems to be the most open of the four regions, but we still give No. 1 North Carolina the best odds, with a 35 percent probability of reaching the Final Four and an 18 percent probability of appearing in the national championship game. Those odds are at least 8 percentage points lower than any other No. 1 team in the field, though, and for good reason: North Carolina’s offense depends on turning every play into a fast break. The Tar Heels struggle to get to the free-throw line and give up a ton of shots along the perimeter, which, in a slowed-down, half-court matchup, could be quite problematic.

After getting waxed by Duke to open the season, No. 2 Kentucky has caught fire in recent weeks while finding balance on both ends of the floor and mostly abstaining from the 3-point line. No. 3 Houston, meanwhile, is in the midst of its best season since Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon were revolutionizing college basketball, and they boast a defense that ranks among the very best along and inside the perimeter.

Sneaky Final Four pick: No. 5 Auburn. When the Tigers steamrolled Tennessee 84-64 in Sunday’s SEC title game, it likely got the attention of a lot of bracket-pickers. That wasn’t a one-off — Auburn also beat Tennessee eight days earlier, part of a string of eight straight wins for the Tigers, and 10 in their last 11 games. With an explosive offense (No. 8 in KenPom efficiency) that got more of its points from downtown than any other team in the NCAA field, Auburn can heat up in a hurry. We give the Tigers nearly a coin-flip’s odds of making the Sweet 16 — and a very solid 37 percent chance of beating top-seeded North Carolina if the Tar Heels are waiting for Auburn there. The only kryptonite might be a hypothetical regional-final matchup with No. 2 seed Kentucky, which beat the Tigers by 27 in late February to sweep their season series.

Don’t bet on: No. 4 Kansas. The Jayhawks went into the season ranked No. 1 in the AP’s preseason poll, and they appeared to validate the choice by starting the season 10-0. But a 15-9 record (and some key injuries) since then have cast doubt on Kansas’s NCAA tournament potential. This is a well-balanced team, but to say it doesn’t shoot well from the outside is an understatement — see KU’s 3-for-18 performance from deep in Saturday’s Big 12 ouster against Iowa State. Add an unfavorable draw that puts them on a potential second-round collision course with Auburn (see above), and we give the Jayhawks only an 8 percent chance of making out of the Midwest with their championship hopes intact.

Cinderella watch: No. 11 Ohio State. If a Big Ten team that has made 11 Final Fours can be a Cinderella, then you’re looking at it in these Buckeyes. (Hey, the committee’s increasing tendency to seed underwhelming power-conference schools this way really messes with the definition.) OSU went only 18-13 during the regular season, was defeated in its second Big Ten tournament game and has almost twice as many losses as wins since New Year’s. So why are the Buckeyes a potential Cinderella? Despite the seed, this is still a dangerous team, one that ranks 27th in Pomeroy’s adjusted defensive ratings and has star forward Kaleb Wesson back from suspension. So maybe they’ll give Big 12 champ Iowa State trouble. But mainly this tells you something about the other potential Cinderellas in this region: Seton Hall got a very tough first-round matchup with underseeded Wofford; none of the other low seeds here are world-beaters. That leaves the Buckeyes, a team that did all it could to play its way out of the tournament, but has some upset potential regardless.

Player to watch: Cameron Johnson, UNC

On a team that doesn’t hoist a ton of shots from the perimeter, Johnson is as lethal as they come. Following an injury-riddled campaign in which he barely made more than one-third of his looks from beyond the arc, the grad student is canning 46.5 percent of his attempts, which ranks inside the top 25 nationally.

Johnson has thrived in North Carolina’s every-possession-is-a-transition-opportunity scheme this season. He’s blossomed into one of the best scorers in the ACC, ranking between the 85th and 100th percentiles in scoring efficiency in transition, off screens and on spot-ups.

Johnson has elevated his game in conference play, boasting the ACC’s top offensive rating (132.5) and true shooting percentage (64.6). Suddenly, a player who wasn’t seen as a guaranteed professional now projects to be a second-round pick.

Likeliest first-round upsets: No. 9 Washington over No. 8 Utah State (49 percent); No. 10 Seton Hall over No. 7 Wofford (37 percent); No. 11 Ohio State over No. 6 Iowa State (33 percent)

from News About Sports https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/your-guide-to-the-2019-ncaa-mens-tournament/

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neal-akuma · 5 years

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Artist Asks!

1. Traditional is much quicker or me to get ideas down. Digital allows me to get the art more closely to what I see in my head. I sketch with a pencil and then photograph it with my phone, upload and open in photoshop.

2. 30+ years, but I've only tried doing polished work in the last 8 months or so.

3. Zero, there were no art classes in school beyond one quarter where we made book covers. I didn’t go to college.

4. Yes! Here’s where I post-

https://www.deviantart.com/neal-akuma

https://www.instagram.com/nealakuma/

https://neal-akuma.tumblr.com/

https://twitter.com/nealakuma

https://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=10218273

https://www.artstation.com/nealakuma

5. Happy body horror but it’s not popular and most sites make you put it behind an age gate which means next to no one looks at it.

6. Boring outfits and clothing, buildings and cars.

7. All the time.

8. I’ve only been able to do one commission (this shirt 👇) but I made very little on it. I try and have fun while drawing though.

9. 5-10 hours a day. I try and take one day off but haven’t since August. Even when I was sick during Inktober I still drew.

10. I’m more confident with each month, but that usually get’s tempered by the minimal response I get.

11. On Tumblr @ 2-3.

12. Yeah. I usually try and sketch 5-7 quick compositions for each piece and envision what the final piece will look like. Sketch with a pencil, draw lines in Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint depending on if it’s a painted or lineart piece. Adjust, flip, create selections, lay down flats or local colors, establish a background tone, build form and values, try and use a main light source a secondary and a rim light source. Color grade and adjust levels.

13. Some of the art that I do for myself is like this 👇 I really enjoy being unrestrained. For the free art I’ve done for others, I work as much of my style into them as possible to keep my interest high.

14. Not really.

15. 8-30 hours depending on the detail and amount of components (how many figures, backgrounds etc..)

16. I don’t think I’ve ever gone more than 48 hours without sketching something (maybe when sick). I draw a lot more to make finished polished pieces then ever now.

17. I’ve done it a couple of times on the art pub thread at Resetera( https://www.resetera.com/posts/14065835/ ) to those asking for advice. I don’t know about justified, but I never had any artist’s to bounce off of and people don’t like to interact where I post so I try and help out. I you know of any art communities where members are active and provide advice let me know.

18. Expressions, body language, and a more polished cartoony style.

19. Somber, moody, ethereal.

20. Weird, body horror, psychedelic art.

21. Yes. All the time.

22. Yeah, I can see it. Here’s a piece I did in March and my most recent one-

23. I try for a 50/50 split.

24. Inspired! The only thing I feel jealous about is when other artist’s get hundred or thousands of likes, share, reblog, retweets and comments and piece’s I’m really proud of get 10 or so max. But I internalize that as a failure on my part and my talent.

25. I can’t draw in silence. I listen to music and podcasts. Lately I’ve been listening to Perfume, Goldie and Slayer for the last couple of months.

26. Photoshop and Clip Studio Paint.

27. 10-20 hours for a simple piece and 40-60 for an elaborate one.

28-29. I worked traditional mot of my life. Pencils, multiple types or erasers, light box, rulers and templates, ink and dip pens, brushes, whiteout, Copic markers, workable fixative etc. I’d make tiny sketches, pick the ones I liked and go to the copy store to enlarge them to 11”x17”. Then use a light box to create finished line art. Make multiple copies of that and color with markers, colored pencils and white out.

30. An Impulse to create that I’ve had since I can remember. Art, bead work, baking and more. I want to share my art, have others enjoy it and find a way to make a living from it too.

Thanks for reading! ❤️

#artist asks #art meme #asks #q&a

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techgirlza · 6 years

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I did a favourite finds post a few weeks ago and you loved it. So I’m thinking this needs to be a regularly thing. Mainly because I do find some gems. But to begin, this needs a name! Any suggestions? Drop them in the comments.

I have a few things I want to add to my list of rad geek inspiration and top tech finds this week and I’ve dropped them all below. Some are just funky items you can purchase while others are just rad internet finds I think you need to know about. Take a look:

The new ghd Gold

I actually did a video about my time with the new styler on Tuesday which you can watch here:

I had a chance to try it out and I really did feel a difference. I love the new metallic features but there are also a host of funky tech innovations that you need to pay attention to. It takes only 25 seconds to heat up and I thought it slid through my hair much quicker (while still doing a great styling job). The new ghd Gold has dual zone technology incorporated. This means it now has 2 heat sensors instead of 1 which allows it to control the optimum heat a bit better. I was really impressed with this baby and think if you’re looking for a new styler it is worth the splurge.

Seeing Allred

I mentioned yesterday with my Stationery post that I’ve started investigating the history of feminism a bit more. I’ve had to handle some heat recently when trying to defend the historical divides of gender and the blatant sexism on display in so many majority male industries. It is a tough conversation and I’ll be the first to admit that I feel like my eyes are being opened to a world I don’t really comprehend. The severity of the issues we, as females, face hasn’t hit me as hard as it has recently. In my search for materials to help me better understand the issues at hand I came across a documentary on Netflix called Seeing Allred. Gloria Allred is an extremely prolific women’s rights attorney. The documentary showcases her career and life so far. Watching it is fascinating, inspiring and depressing all at the same time. The public hate and misogyny she faces will make you feel so incredibly helpless and full of despair but her continual fight for equality will also drive you to do better. I think it is a documentary every female needs to watch. It really made me re-examine my own actions and also my own lack of action when it comes to fighting for what is right and just.

Overwatch Jewellery

I’m sure you’ve noticed but I’ve recently been slightly obsessed with Overwatch. I came across some of the best jewelry designs celebrating the game and I had to share. I cannot take credit though. ChipChick found these beauties. My favourite piece is pictured above. Unfortunately if you want to get your hands on these gorgeous designs you’re going to have to ship them in via Amazon. Not always easy but it can potentially be done if you use Aramex Global Shopper.

The Ford LEGO partnership

Call be biased, but I drive a Ford. So when this dropped in my inbox I had to share. LEGO has recently added the M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC rally car kit to its LEGO Speed Champions range and I am kind of obsessed. Its a 203 piece set and you’ll be able to customise wheel trims, change out bonnets and even add your own little race-graphics. For the petrol heads out there this is kind of all sorts of amazing. You’ll only be able to order it from LEGO on 1 March though. Seriously how cute is this kit? I’ve stuck to building Star Wars LEGO sets but I’m seriously considering expanding to the Speed Champions range, if only for the Fiesta and the Mustang (which has also been added to the collection).

#Bites4Bytes

I love chocolate. Like a lot. Cadbury is my favourite. In fact, Cadbury Top Deck is basically my life go to. Besides chocolate I also like blowing ridiculous amounts of money on data. So adding to my favourites list is how these two come together. Till the 30th of April if you buy 5 bars of any of the chocolates pictured above and submit all five barcodes on the wrappers to a number you’re guaranteed data or air time. Basically for every five large bars you get 50MB of Data and for every 5 mini bars you get R5 of air time. It is an excuse to eat more chocolate right?

I still need a name for this little space. Working on that. But for now – those are my favs 😉

More favourite things! Geek inspiration and top tech finds I did a favourite finds post a few weeks ago and you loved it. So I'm thinking this needs to be a regularly thing.

#Ford #GHD #GHD Straightener #GHD Styler #Lego

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15minutesofcreativity · 7 years

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5 Ways to Celebrate Pi Day

Happy Pi Day!

Today, March 14th is Pi Day. While this “Hidden Holiday” isn’t as obscure as some of the other hidden holidays I have discussed in the past, it’s one I celebrate annually with my friends.

How does one celebrate such an obscure holiday? Is there even a creative way to celebrate this great mathematical phenomenon? Well, hopefully these five ways that I’ll suggest to you readers will either inspire you to come up with your own way to celebrate or give you a reason to do something different from your everyday routine.

1. Eat some pie!

This is my favorite way to celebrate with my friends. If you have the entire day free, make your own pie. Unleash your creativity by baking and look online for something delicious to make. If you are extremely skilled in the kitchen, then don’t follow a recipe or change an already existing one to suit your tastes.

By the way, when I say pie. I mean this could be a traditional apple pie or perhaps even a pie of pizza. Pizza is like my absolute favorite pie!

If you don’t have all day to celebrate Pi Day, then you could always just order some pizza or go to a pizza place that you have never been before. It’s a good excuse to try a new restaurant to switch things up and you never know if it’ll soon be your next go-to spot when you want to get food.

2. Have a math-a-thon

Since this is a mathematical holiday, why not do some math? It’s a bit of a nerdy suggestion but I always like to come up with ideas for people with all kinds of unique hobbies. If you ever felt like you never have the chance to just sit down and add a bunch of stuff, well today is your day!

If you want to combine this idea with the previous one. You could always figure out the circumference of the pizza to determine who in the group gets the extra slice!

3. Draw a bunch of circles!

While I draw, I don’t exactly get the opportunity to draw all the time. This in return has made me rusty. If you feel the same way and cannot feel inspired or skilled enough to draw, just draw a bunch of circles!

One of the exercises I did while studying 2D Animation was drawing circles. We could cover pages upon pages with circles. Sometimes they’d be the same circles, sometimes we’d make them thinner or wider. Though the one thing we had to keep in mind as we drew circles was maintaining volume. It certainly added a level of ‘challenge’ to the exercise and it’s perfectly in theme with today’s holiday.

March 2014 Shape Challenge by LuigiL

Straying a little bit from the circle exercise and more towards a more complicated exercise to try out, there are the Shape Challenges created by DeviantArt user LuigiL.

While it does not incorporate just circles into the art challenge, it does force you to think out of the box and be creative. Which after warming up with drawing a ton of circles, you should be able to handle with ease.

4. Make a Snowman

Today I didn’t go to work. Why? Because of a snowstorm that decided to hit my side of the country. So in theme with today’s holiday and my current situation, another way to celebrate Pi Day would be to create a snowman. A basic snowman is consisted of about two to three circles. Which yes, goes hand-in-hand with the overall feeling of Pi Day.

So if you are like me and are buried underneath 12 inches of snow, then here is a new way to celebrate Pi Day. I have a particularly talented friend of mine who likes to go above and beyond when it comes to these awful blizzards.

5. Watch Educational Videos

Whether these videos come from Netflix in the form of fun-ucation documentaries or YouTube Channels that spout out fun facts, learning something new can be a good way to celebrate Pi Day. Pi, after all, is in the realm of education and why not take the time to fill your brain with newfound knowledge?

As discussed in one of my previous posts on 10 Ways to Cure Writer’s Block, research and learning is a good way to cure any kind of creative block you are experiencing. There are several videos on YouTube that discuss the origins of Pi and also fun facts about Pi as well. It’s a good excuse to do something good for your brain and reawaken your curisoity and thirst for knowledge.

I hope this countdown of Pi Day activities has helped insipe you to do something different and fun for this Hidden Holiday.

If you have your own traditions for this holiday, feel free to share them in the comments!

from 5 Ways to Celebrate Pi Day

#5 Ways to Celebrate Pi Day

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