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Friday, October 25, 2013
UFC Fight Night 30 Weigh-Ins Start at 11AM ET
Related Topics: the voice Eiza González USA VS Mexico nadal Angel Dust
Cardinals, Red Sox set to renew October rivalry
BOSTON (AP) — Lance Lynn squeezed through a door leading into the Green Monster, shimmied along a cramped space behind the famed left-field wall and peered out a tiny metal slot in the Fenway Park scoreboard.
"A little snug for me," the burly St. Louis pitcher said.
Plenty of Cardinals got their first look at the century-old ballpark during a workout Tuesday, a day before they opened the World Series against the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox saw a neat sight, too. As they took batting practice at dusk, a giant, vibrant rainbow formed high in the sky beyond center field. Slugger David Ortiz noticed.
"Oh, yeah," he said. "It's a Dominican thing."
Whatever, Big Papi. Something special always seems to happen when the Redbirds and Red Sox meet, from Stan the Man vs. the Splendid Splinter, to Gibby vs. Yaz, to Pedro vs. Pujols.
Now, they're set to meet for the fourth time in "that Octobery kind of air," as Cardinals Game 1 starter Adam Wainwright described it.
Jon Lester will oppose him Wednesday night, facing a lineup that got a late boost. Allen Craig, who hit a major league-leading .454 with runners in scoring position but hasn't played since Sept. 4 because of sprained left foot, is set to return.
"I feel like I'm in a good spot," said the cleanup man, who will be the Cardinals' designated hitter.
Weather could be a factor. Temperatures are supposed to dip into the low 40s and rain is in the forecast.
Boston was listed as a slim favorite in the matchup between teams that tied for the big league lead in wins. The clubs haven't met in the regular season since 2008, and Red Sox speedster Jacoby Ellsbury was looking forward to this pairing that some are billing as the Beards vs. the Birds.
"It will be exciting to see some unfamiliar faces," he said.
Dustin Pedroia, Mike Napoli and many of their scraggly Boston teammates figure to get a good look at the Cardinals' crop of young arms, led by postseason ace Michael Wacha and relievers Trevor Rosenthal, Carlos Martinez and Kevin Siegrist.
Ortiz is the link to the Red Sox team that swept St. Louis in the 2004 Series — Boston never trailed at any point — and ended an 86-year championship drought.
"Obviously I'm aware of the history of the two teams," Ellsbury said. "Once the first pitch happens, all that goes out the window."
The Red Sox are trying to win their third crown in 10 years. St. Louis is aiming to take its second title in three years and third in eight seasons.
"Some of us have some pretty bad memories of being here in 2004, and we're looking to kind of right that ship," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said.
Matheny was the Cardinals' catcher that year, backed up by rookie Yadier Molina. Now Molina is considered the best defensive catcher in baseball, charged with trying to stop Ellsbury and a Red Sox team that's run a lot in the postseason.
"It's fun to be part of this history, to be here in Fenway Park, to be part of this Series against Boston," Molina said.
"It's different to play here overall. Playing defense, offense, pitching. It's different, but at the same time it's fun," he said.
David Freese grew up in St. Louis and became MVP of the 2011 Series. He heard about Stan Musial vs. Ted Williams in 1946, knew about Bob Gibson facing Carl Yastrzemski in '67 and recalled watching on TV when Red Sox reliever Keith Foulke fielded Edgar Renteria's tapper to finish off 2004.
"I remember the comebacker that ended it. The sweep. You don't expect a World Series to end in four games," the 30-year-old third baseman said.
Freese said he'd always hoped to get a chance to play at Fenway, and he got his first look Tuesday.
After Matheny stood near the mound and pointed out the particulars of the dirt triangle in center field, Freese stepped in for batting practice. He launched a long drive that hit high off the Green Monster in left-center, the loud thwack echoing all around the ballpark.
"That's my Wall ball," he hooted to teammate Matt Holliday.
Good for a hitter, maybe not so great for a pitcher.
"A ballgame can change with one swing of the bat in this ballpark," said Wacha, who also climbed into the wall. "It's pretty crazy. Crazy dimensions, that's for sure."
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Report: Memos Unmask Pakistan's Approval Of Drone Strikes
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met with President Obama at the White House on Wednesday.
Dennis Brack/pool/Getty Images
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met with President Obama at the White House on Wednesday.
Dennis Brack/pool/Getty Images
While it is been "one of the more poorly kept national security secrets in Washington and Islamabad" that Pakistani leaders privately endorse U.S. drone strikes aimed at terrorists in their country, The Washington Post says that:
"Top-secret CIA documents and Pakistani diplomatic memos" it has obtained show that "top officials in Pakistan's government have for years secretly endorsed the program and routinely received classified briefings on strikes and casualty counts."
The Post's exclusive, written by intelligence correspondent Greg Miller and investigative legend Bob Woodward of Watergate fame, adds that:
"The files expose the explicit nature of a secret arrangement struck between the two countries at a time when neither was willing to publicly acknowledge the existence of the drone program. The documents detailed at least 65 strikes in Pakistan and were described as 'talking points' for CIA briefings, which occurred with such regularity that they became a matter of diplomatic routine. The documents are marked 'top secret' but cleared for release to Pakistan.
"A spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. A CIA spokesman declined to discuss the documents but did not dispute their authenticity."
The report came just hours after Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met with President Obama at the White House. Voice of America writes that:
"As he has done elsewhere in Washington, Prime Minister Sharif called for an end to drone strikes the United States has used to target al-Qaida and militant figures in Pakistan's tribal areas."
But as NPR's Philip Reeves said Tuesday on Morning Edition:
"There's a difference between the public and the private positions of senior Pakistani government officials on this issue. Some senior figures in government and in the army are known to have in the past privately supported drone strikes. And, indeed, a certain element of the Pakistani public actually feels the same way."
Nawaz is expected to be back in Pakistan on Friday.
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Merkel: US spying has shattered allies' trust
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, is greeted by Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, right, as French President Francois Hollande, left, walks by during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. A two-day summit meeting of EU leaders is likely to be diverted from its official agenda, economic recovery and migration, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel complained to U.S. President Barack Obama that U.S. intelligence may have monitored her mobile phone. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, is greeted by Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, right, as French President Francois Hollande, left, walks by during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. A two-day summit meeting of EU leaders is likely to be diverted from its official agenda, economic recovery and migration, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel complained to U.S. President Barack Obama that U.S. intelligence may have monitored her mobile phone. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
The acting German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (FDP) speaks after his meeting with the US embassador in Germany in the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, 24 October 2013. Westerwelle had invited the US embassador on account of the affair around the possible surveillance of Chancellor Merkel's mobile phone. Photo by: Kay Nietfeld/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
US Ambassador John Emerson, right, gets into his car as he leaves after a meeting with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. Germany summoned the American ambassador Thursday over reports that U.S. intelligence agencies might have targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel ’s cellphone. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
Artist A. Signl, of the artist group Captain Borderline paints the mural 'Surveillance of the fittest' at a wall in Cologne, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. The painting shows an American Bald Eagle with surveillance cameras watching a herd of sheep to draw attention to the spying program of the American National Security Agency. Germany demanded answers to “all open questions” about U.S. surveillance Thursday following allegations that American intelligence may have targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone, and her chief of staff noted that Washington hasn’t denied past snooping. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
French President Francois Hollande, right, speaks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel as they arrive for a round table meeting at an EU summit on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. A two-day summit meeting of EU leaders is likely to be diverted from its official agenda, economic recovery and migration, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel complained to U.S. President Barack Obama that U.S. intelligence may have monitored her mobile phone. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
BRUSSELS (AP) — European leaders united in anger as they attended a summit overshadowed by reports of widespread U.S. spying on its allies — allegations German Chancellor Angela Merkel said had shattered trust in the Obama administration and undermined the crucial trans-Atlantic relationship.
The latest revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency swept up more than 70 million phone records in France and may have tapped Merkel's own cellphone brought denunciations Thursday from the French and German governments.
Merkel's unusually stern remarks as she arrived at the European Union gathering indicated she wasn't placated by a phone conversation she had Wednesday with President Barack Obama, or his personal assurances that the U.S. is not listening in on her calls now.
"We need trust among allies and partners," Merkel told reporters in Brussels. "Such trust now has to be built anew. This is what we have to think about."
"The United States of America and Europe face common challenges. We are allies," the German leader said. "But such an alliance can only be built on trust. That's why I repeat again: spying among friends, that cannot be."
The White House may soon face other irked heads of state and government. The British newspaper The Guardian said Thursday it obtained a confidential memo suggesting the NSA was able to monitor 35 world leaders' communications in 2006. The memo said the NSA encouraged senior officials at the White House, Pentagon and other agencies to share their contacts so the spy agency could add foreign leaders' phone numbers to its surveillance systems, the report said.
The Guardian did not identify who reportedly was eavesdropped on, but said the memo termed the payoff very meager: "Little reportable intelligence" was obtained, it said.
Other European leaders arriving for the 28-nation meeting echoed Merkel's displeasure. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt called it "completely unacceptable" for a country to eavesdrop on an allied leader.
If reports that Merkel's cellphone had been tapped are true, "it is exceptionally serious," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told national broadcaster NOS.
"We want the truth," Italian Premier Enrico Letta told reporters. "It is not in the least bit conceivable that activity of this type could be acceptable."
Echoing Merkel, Austria's foreign minister, Michael Spindelegger, said, "We need to re-establish with the U.S. a relationship of trust, which has certainly suffered from this."
France, which also vocally objected to allies spying on each other, asked that the issue of reinforcing Europeans' privacy in the digital age be added to the agenda of the two-day summit. Before official proceedings got under way, Merkel held a brief one-on-one with French President Francois Hollande, and discussed the spying controversy.
After summit talks that lasted until after 1 a.m. Friday, Herman Van Rompuy, European Council president, announced at a news conference that France and Germany were seeking bilateral talks with the United States to resolve the dispute over electronic spying by "secret services" by the end of this year.
"What is at stake is preserving our relations with the United States," Hollande told reporters at his own early-morning news conference. "They should not be changed because of what has happened. But trust has to be restored and reinforced."
"It's become clear that for the future, something must change — and significantly," Merkel said. "We will put all efforts into forging a joint understanding by the end of the year for the cooperation of the (intelligence) agencies between Germany and the U.S., and France and the U.S., to create a framework for the cooperation."
The Europeans' statements and actions indicated that they hadn't been satisfied with assurances from Washington. On Wednesday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama personally assured Merkel that her phone is not being listened to now and won't be in the future.
"I think we are all outraged, across party lines," Wolfgang Bosbach, a prominent German lawmaker from Merkel's party, told Deutschlandfunk radio. "And that also goes for the response that the chancellor's cellphone is not being monitored — because this sentence says nothing about whether the chancellor was monitored in the past."
"This cannot be justified from any point of view by the fight against international terrorism or by averting danger," Bosbach said.
Asked on hursday whether the Americans had monitored Merkel's previous communications, White House spokesman Carney wouldn't rule it out.
"We are not going to comment publicly on every specified alleged intelligence activity," he said.
But while the White House was staying publicly mum, Carney said the Obama administration was discussing Germany's concerns "through diplomatic channels at the highest level," as it was with other U.S. allies worried about the alleged spying.
Obama adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism Lisa Monaco wrote in an editorial for USA Today that the U.S. government is not operating "unrestrained."
The U.S. intelligence community has more restrictions and oversight than any other country, she wrote. "We are not listening to every phone call or reading every e-mail. Far from it."
Monaco noted that a privacy and civil liberties oversight board is reviewing counterterrorism efforts to ensure that privacy and civil liberties are protected.
"Going forward, we will continue to gather the information we need to keep ourselves and our allies safe, while giving even greater focus to ensuring that we are balancing our security needs with the privacy concerns all people share," she wrote.
In the past, much of the official outrage in Europe about revelations of U.S. communications intercepts leaked by former NSA contract worker Edward Snowden seemed designed for internal political consumption in countries that readily acknowledge conducting major spying operations themselves. But there has been a new discernible vein of anger in Europe as the scale of the NSA's reported operations became known, as well as the possible targeting of a prominent leader like Merkel, presumably for inside political or economic information.
"Nobody in Germany will be able to say any longer that NSA surveillance — which is apparently happening worldwide and millions of times — is serving solely intelligence-gathering or defense against Islamic terror or weapons proliferation," said Hans-Christian Strobele, a member of the German parliamentary oversight committee.
Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, said Europe's undermined confidence in the U.S. meant it should suspend negotiations for a two-way free-trade agreement that would account for almost half of the global economy. The Americans, Schulz said, now must prove they can be trusted.
"Let's be honest. If we go to the negotiations and we have the feeling those people with whom we negotiate know everything that we want to deal with in advance, how can we trust each other?" Schulz said.
European Union Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said for many Europeans, eavesdropping on their phone calls or reading their emails is particularly objectionable because it raises the specter of totalitarian regimes of the recent past.
"At least in Europe, we consider the right to privacy a fundamental right and it is a very serious matter. We cannot, let's say, pretend it is just something accessory," Barroso told a presummit news conference.
Referring to the former East Germany's secret police, the feared Stasi, Barroso said, "to speak about Chancellor Merkel, in Germany there was a part of Germany where there was a political police that was spying on people's lives every day. So we know very recently what totalitarianism means. And we know very well what comes, what happens when the state uses powers that intrude in people's lives. So it is a very important issue, not only for Germany but for Europe in general."
In Berlin, the German Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador to stress how seriously it takes the reported spying on Merkel. Germany's defense minister said his country and Europe can't return "to business as usual" with Washington, given the number of reports that the United States has eavesdropped on allied nations.
A German parliamentary committee that oversees the country's intelligence service met to discuss the spying allegations. Its head, Thomas Oppermann, recalled previous reports to the panel that U.S. authorities had denied violating German interests, and said, "we were apparently deceived by the American side."
Meanwhile, two Western diplomats told The Associated Press that U.S. officials have briefed them on documents obtained by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that might expose their respective countries' levels of intelligence cooperation with the U.S.
The diplomats said the briefings came from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Washington Post said some of the documents Snowden took contain sensitive material about collection programs against adversaries including Iran, Russia and China. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the intelligence briefings publicly.
___
Moulson reported from Berlin. Associated Press writers Raf Casert and Juergen Baetz in Brussels, David Rising in Berlin, Cassandra Vinograd in London and Josh Lederman and Kimberly Dozier in Washington contributed to this report.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-10-25-EU-Germany-US-Spying/id-537cf81005044a43ad5e9a096ff449e3Tags: scarlett johansson auburn football "i Have A Dream" Speech Riley Cooper Racial Slur Video Eileen Brennan
I Do Not Like Miley’s Outfit
Photo silhouette by Slate. Photo by Steve Marcus/Reuters
Scotchgard your skorts. Disinfect your nylons. Purell your disco purse. It’s getting skanky out there … AGAIN!
I’m referring, of course, to the new wave of porn-inspired pop divas who are attempting to sell records by flaunting their private areas and jiggling their fleshy assets with unprecedented abandon.
How did we all get so yeasty and slutty? Why have we chosen to live in a world where hoochie hotness is the only currency? How much is that dildo in the window, the one with the waggly bit on the end?
In order to answer these important questions, we need to go back, way back, to a time when hookers were hookers and pop singers were pop singers and never the twain did meet:
Los Angeles. It’s the late 1970s, and I am watching the girls working the end of my block on Sunset. Wearing bikinis and heels, even in the pouring rain, these drug-addled sex workers are a sorry sight. Donna Summer’s big hit wafts from a passing car:
Bad girls, sad girls
You're such a dirty bad girl
Beep-beep, uh-uh
You’re bad girl, you’re sad girl
You’re such a dirty bad girl
Beep-beep, uh-uh.
Over the subsequent decades, something weird happens. The sad part evaporates, but the bad part lingers. The spotlight focuses upon skank style and begins, slowly but surely, to fetishize, glamorize, and exalt anything remotely connected with pimping, hooking, and stripping. Porno chic is born. Suddenly, shockingly, ball gags are the new fanny packs.
Photo by Mark Mainz/Getty Images
Two decades after Donna Summer’s Bad Girls, in 2002, Christina Aguilera releases her album Stripped, which includes the track titled “Dirrty.” A David LaChapelle–directed video suggests that Ms. Aguilera might well be in need of a medical intervention. Or maybe there is a Taser lodged in her vagina? Either way, she appears to be suffering from some kind of erotic epilepsy. It is a “me-so-horny” act that makes the chick in Full Metal Jacket look like Maria von Trapp. Aguilera’s record company responds to criticism by claiming that their artist was “reaching out for something more real.” The way the video made it look, that “something” was a dose of the clap. No offense.
At the time I sent up many warning flares. I cautioned the world about the effect on Aguilera’s tween audience. Little girls are not supposed to be thrashing around like cracked-out pole dancers. Instead they should be skipping around the lawn in a Ralph Lauren-ish backyard, wearing little bonnets and starched Bonpoint sundresses and singing songs like “Mabel, Mabel, Set the Table.”
Suddenly, shockingly, ball gags are the new fanny packs.
Ever eager to see things from both sides, I also cried foul on behalf of the strippers of the world. Their choreographic repertoire was, courtesy of La Aguilera, being hijacked by little girls. Ditto their clothing. When the entire female population starts dressing and acting like a bunch of strippers, how, pray, are the strippers supposed to dress to attract attention? Loss of earnings! Hello!
After Aguilera there was, give or take a wardrobe malfunction or two, a comparative lull in the porno-pop action. In the intervening years singers like Adele (very Maggie Smith playing Miss Jean Brodie) and Lily Allen (sneakers with maxi skirts) and Florence Welch (pre-Raphaelite patio gowns) strenuously avoided dressing like sex workers. Porno style migrated temporarily away from pop music and found a new petri dish: reality television. Shows like Bad Girls Club and I Love New York—the participants said charming things like, “I’m so ghetto my pussy smells like menthol”—provided a welcoming skank-friendly environment.
Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker/Slate. Photos by Getty.
The reality show milieu could only contain the stripperfest for so long, and now it’s BACK! And nastier than ever. A second wave of porno pop is currently raging across our screens, and Doris Day it ain’t. We are descending into a hoochie hellhole. And most young people—particularly those young gals who cut their teeth on Aguilera’s G-strings—are totally unfazed. Everything seems “totes norms” to them. In fact, so inured are they to our oversexed culture that, when they discover the artists of yore on YouTube, they are totally dumbfounded by the lack of throbbing, overt sexual hotness. Yes, that gal Dusty Springfield has a great voice, but why isn’t she showing more cleavage and buttcrack ? Siouxsie Sioux, Nina Hagen, and Debbie Harry were all so creative, but why all the clothes? Why the lack of pasties? And Joni Mitchell? What’s with the caftans and long skirts? Is she covering up a skin complaint? And that belter Janis Joplin? If she was so wild and groovy, how come she kept her velour, tie-die pantsuits on? The least she could have done was pull out one of her boobies.
If you think I am exaggerating about the current pornsplosion, then you probably have not seen the new erotically sinister, description-defying Rihanna video, the one for her current hit “Pour It Up,” which has been viewed more than 56 million times:
(At the time of this writing, Rihanna is generating more ink. After having viewed a sex show in Phuket, Thailand, during which a lady pulled live animals from her hoo-hah, RiRi tweeted about what she saw, and the promoters were all arrested. Happy entrails!)
And then there’s Britney’s latest offering, entitled “Work Bitch”:
Here our gal BritBrit has taken on the dual role of whore and sadistic oppressor. She dispenses profound and caring nuggets of advice while thrashing other women with whips—You want a Maserati? You better work, bitch!—after which she dynamites large groups of fellow hookers, blowing their bodies to smithereens. Simone De Beauvoir, Kate Millett, and Germaine Greer, eat your hearts out.
Call me crazy, but I always thought of clothing, however minimal, as a simple system of nonverbal communication. It allows us to telegraph whatever we want to the outside world.
A twinset and pearls indicate a certain conservatism. A leather catsuit screams, “I’m a hired assassin!” An Issey Miyake cocoon suggests that you might be an architect or a pretentious poet. And dressing like a porn-slut indicates, loudly and clearly, that you are more than willing to give head in the stationery closet. What does that have to do with being a songstress?
A cursory glance at these porn ’n’ pop mélanges will leave you wondering where it will all end. How far are we from the day when singers will record their songs midshag? Not very. The next time Miley Cyrus appears on an award show, she will doubtless unzip a dude’s pants and go the whole hog. And then what? Bestiality? Not with my Norwich terrier. No way. Put him down, Miley! He’s too old for you, and he’s not in the mood.
Come back, Lawrence Welk! We miss you.
Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/doonan/2013/10/miley_cyrus_scanty_outfits_porn_inspired_pop_divas_should_wear_more_clothes.html
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Calif. community questions shooting of 13-year-old
Students from Elsie Allen High School and Lawrence Cook Middle School march towards the site where 13-year-old Andy Lopez was shot and killed by a Sonoma County sheriff's deputy near the corner of Moorland and West Robles avenues in Santa Rosa, Oct. 23, 2013. ((AP Photo/The Press Democrat, Conner Jay)
Students from Elsie Allen High School and Lawrence Cook Middle School march towards the site where 13-year-old Andy Lopez was shot and killed by a Sonoma County sheriff's deputy near the corner of Moorland and West Robles avenues in Santa Rosa, Oct. 23, 2013. ((AP Photo/The Press Democrat, Conner Jay)
This combination of photos provided by the family via The Press Democrat and the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department shows an undated photo of 13-year-old Andy Lopez and the replica assault rifle he was holding when he was shot and killed by two Sonoma County deputies in Santa Rosa, Calif. on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Family via The Press Democrat, Sonoma County Sheriff's Department)
In this photo taken Tuesday Oct. 22, 2013, law enforcement investigators cover the body of a 13-year-old boy shot and killed by officers in Santa Rosa, Calif. Two California sheriff's deputies saw the boy walking with what appeared to be a high-powered weapon Tuesday, sheriff's Lt. Dennis O'Leary said. The replica gun resembled an AK-47, according to a photograph released by the sheriff's office. Deputies learned after the shooting that it wasn't an actual firearm, according to O'Leary. The teen was pronounced dead at the scene. The deputies, who have not been identified, have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard after a shooting, O'Leary said. (AP Photo/The Press Democrat, Conner Jay)
In this photo taken Tuesday Oct. 22, 2013, law enforcement investigators look over the body of a 13-year-old boy shot and killed by officers in Santa Rosa, Calif. Two California sheriff's deputies saw the boy walking with what appeared to be a high-powered weapon Tuesday, sheriff's Lt. Dennis O'Leary said. The replica gun resembled an AK-47, according to a photograph released by the sheriff's office. Deputies learned after the shooting that it wasn't an actual firearm, according to O'Leary. The teen was pronounced dead at the scene. The deputies, who have not been identified, have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard after a shooting, O'Leary said. (AP Photo/The Press Democrat, Conner Jay)
This image, released by the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department, shows a replica gun that was being carried by a 13-year-old boy in Santa Rosa, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013. Two Sonoma County deputies saw the boy walking with the replica assault weapon at about 3 p.m. local time Tuesday in Santa Rosa. Lt. Dennis O'Leary says they repeatedly ordered him to drop what appeared to be a rifle before firing several rounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene. (AP Photo/Sonoma County Sheriff's Department)
SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) — Residents of a Northern California community expressed skepticism Thursday about a sheriff's deputy's decision to shoot a popular 13-year-old boy who was carrying a pellet gun that looked like an assault rifle.
Dozens of local residents and students visited the field where Andy Lopez was killed Tuesday afternoon. Some lit candles and placed flowers at a makeshift memorial that had printed pictures of the victim, stuffed animals and a balloon that read "RIP Andy L."
"It's very tragic and sad. It just happened so quick," said Noel Nunez, 15, a sophomore at nearby Elsie Allen High School. Still, he said deputies should have been able to tell the difference between a real gun and a replica weapon.
A Sonoma County sheriff's deputy twice told the boy to drop the weapon, but he instead raised it in the deputy's direction, police said at a news conference Wednesday.
"The deputy's mindset was that he was fearful that he was going to be shot," said Santa Rosa police Lt. Paul Henry, whose agency is investigating the shooting in the suburban town of roughly 170,000 people. It's about 50 miles northwest of San Francisco in California's wine country.
The gun looked just like an AK-47 assault rifle, with a black body and ammunition magazine, and a brown butt and grip. Only after the shooting did deputies realize it was a plastic replica, authorities said.
"Nobody should die for a misunderstanding, especially not a young boy who hasn't even started his life. It's just really sad knowing that," said Viviany Diaz Agirra Torres, 17. Torres said she wanted to know whether police gave Andy time to put the gun down before opening fire.
Hundreds of community members marched Wednesday night to remember the teen and protest the shooting, chanting "We need justice," the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa reported.
Police said two deputies were riding in a marked patrol vehicle and were in uniforms when they spotted Andy in a hooded sweatshirt and shorts around 3:15 p.m. Tuesday. His back was turned toward the deputies, and they did not realize he was a boy.
One of the deputies saw what appeared to be an assault rifle similar to an AK-47 in the teen's left hand. The deputies pulled over and took cover behind one of the vehicle's doors, according to police.
A witness reported seeing the patrol car's overhead emergency lights turn on and hearing the chirp of a siren, police said.
One of the deputies twice ordered Andy to drop the weapon, according to a witness, police said.
The teen was about 20 or 30 feet away from the deputies with his back toward them when he began turning around with what one deputy described as the barrel of the rifle rising up and turning in his direction, police said.
The deputy then fired several rounds, striking the boy at least once, Henry said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
At Wednesday's news conference, Santa Rosa police displayed the pellet gun alongside a real AK-47. The two appeared strikingly similar.
Deputies also found a plastic handgun in the boy's waistband, police said.
The pellet gun did not have an orange tip like other replica firearms, including the plastic handgun found in the boy's waistband, police said.
The deputies, who have not been identified, have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard after a shooting, sheriff's officials said.
___
Thanawala reported from San Francisco.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-24-US-Deputies-Shoot-13-Year-Old/id-ea679fe64bd74f1eab00dbeaa0851203Category: silk road CJ Spiller Pope Francis grand theft auto 5 Sloane Stephens
Thursday, October 24, 2013
EUREKA grant to fund development of new 'optogenetic' technique for mapping neural networks at UMMS
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 24-Oct-2013
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ShareContact: Jim Fessenden
james.fessenden@umassmed.edu
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University of Massachusetts Medical School
High-impact research promises new method of studying neuropsychiatric diseases and mapping the relationship between brain activity and behavior
WORCESTER, MA University of Massachusetts Medical School Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Gang Han, PhD, has received a $1.3 million EUREKA (Exceptional Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration) grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to develop light activated nanoparticles that can be used to image live brain tissue. These novel nanoparticles will form the basis of a new "optogenetic" tool that promises to help researchers map and decode previously inaccessible neural circuitry deep in the brain using near infrared light. Insights gleamed from this breakthrough technique will further our understanding of the relationship between neural circuit activity, behavior and neuropsychiatric diseases. The co-investigators on the grant include Carlos Lois MD, PHD, professor of neurobiology and Yang Xiang, PhD, assistant professor of neurobiology.
Understanding how the activities of certain neurons help to mediate behavior and influence disease is a prominent challenge in treating neuropsychiatric disorders. Optogenetics is an emerging technique hoping to address this challenge. It combines recent breakthroughs in both optics and genetics to allow scientists to stimulate the activity of individual neurons in animal models. However, current optogenetic tools rely on fiber optic probes to transmit light and stimulate neurons in vivo. Because these probes have to be surgically inserted into the brain and attached to a power source their practical use in animal models is greatly impeded.
With the EUREKA grant, Dr. Han proposes to develop a wireless optogenetic technique using key advances his lab has made in lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs). The advantage of these nanoparticles is that they can be turned on using low power, tissue-penetrating, near infrared radiation that is then converted to higher energy, visible light that can be seen through deep tissue. This means that they can be activated remotely and safely inside living animal models to stimulate and observe particular neurons or neural circuitry without the need for surgery or restrictive probes. This would provide scientists an important new tool for mapping and understanding the complex interaction between particular neural pathways and behavior.
"This strategy offers a potential paradigm shift to achieve true 'wireless' control of neuron activation and deactivation," said Han. "The impact of such a new technique is impossible to overstate as it would allow us to study the relationship between neural circuitry activation and behavior, a possibility that even a few years ago was hard to image."
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The EUREKA grant is part of a program by the National Institutes of Health to fund exceptionally innovative research projects enabling the establishment of novel concepts and approaches to solve important problems or open new areas for investigation.
About the University of Massachusetts Medical School
The University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), one of five campuses of the University system, is comprised of the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Graduate School of Nursing, a thriving research enterprise and an innovative public service initiative, Commonwealth Medicine. Its mission is to advance the health of the people of the Commonwealth through pioneering education, research, public service and health care delivery with its clinical partner, UMass Memorial Health Care. In doing so, it has built a reputation as a world-class research institution and as a leader in primary care education. The Medical School attracts more than $240 million annually in research funding, placing it among the top 50 medical schools in the nation. In 2006, UMMS's Craig C. Mello, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and the Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with colleague Andrew Z. Fire, PhD, of Stanford University, for their discoveries related to RNA interference (RNAi). The 2013 opening of the Albert Sherman Center ushered in a new era of biomedical research and education on campus. Designed to maximize collaboration across fields, the Sherman Center is home to scientists pursuing novel research in emerging scientific fields with the goal of translating new discoveries into innovative therapies for human diseases.
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 24-Oct-2013
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ShareContact: Jim Fessenden
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University of Massachusetts Medical School
High-impact research promises new method of studying neuropsychiatric diseases and mapping the relationship between brain activity and behavior
WORCESTER, MA University of Massachusetts Medical School Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Gang Han, PhD, has received a $1.3 million EUREKA (Exceptional Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration) grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to develop light activated nanoparticles that can be used to image live brain tissue. These novel nanoparticles will form the basis of a new "optogenetic" tool that promises to help researchers map and decode previously inaccessible neural circuitry deep in the brain using near infrared light. Insights gleamed from this breakthrough technique will further our understanding of the relationship between neural circuit activity, behavior and neuropsychiatric diseases. The co-investigators on the grant include Carlos Lois MD, PHD, professor of neurobiology and Yang Xiang, PhD, assistant professor of neurobiology.
Understanding how the activities of certain neurons help to mediate behavior and influence disease is a prominent challenge in treating neuropsychiatric disorders. Optogenetics is an emerging technique hoping to address this challenge. It combines recent breakthroughs in both optics and genetics to allow scientists to stimulate the activity of individual neurons in animal models. However, current optogenetic tools rely on fiber optic probes to transmit light and stimulate neurons in vivo. Because these probes have to be surgically inserted into the brain and attached to a power source their practical use in animal models is greatly impeded.
With the EUREKA grant, Dr. Han proposes to develop a wireless optogenetic technique using key advances his lab has made in lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs). The advantage of these nanoparticles is that they can be turned on using low power, tissue-penetrating, near infrared radiation that is then converted to higher energy, visible light that can be seen through deep tissue. This means that they can be activated remotely and safely inside living animal models to stimulate and observe particular neurons or neural circuitry without the need for surgery or restrictive probes. This would provide scientists an important new tool for mapping and understanding the complex interaction between particular neural pathways and behavior.
"This strategy offers a potential paradigm shift to achieve true 'wireless' control of neuron activation and deactivation," said Han. "The impact of such a new technique is impossible to overstate as it would allow us to study the relationship between neural circuitry activation and behavior, a possibility that even a few years ago was hard to image."
###
The EUREKA grant is part of a program by the National Institutes of Health to fund exceptionally innovative research projects enabling the establishment of novel concepts and approaches to solve important problems or open new areas for investigation.
About the University of Massachusetts Medical School
The University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), one of five campuses of the University system, is comprised of the School of Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the Graduate School of Nursing, a thriving research enterprise and an innovative public service initiative, Commonwealth Medicine. Its mission is to advance the health of the people of the Commonwealth through pioneering education, research, public service and health care delivery with its clinical partner, UMass Memorial Health Care. In doing so, it has built a reputation as a world-class research institution and as a leader in primary care education. The Medical School attracts more than $240 million annually in research funding, placing it among the top 50 medical schools in the nation. In 2006, UMMS's Craig C. Mello, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and the Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with colleague Andrew Z. Fire, PhD, of Stanford University, for their discoveries related to RNA interference (RNAi). The 2013 opening of the Albert Sherman Center ushered in a new era of biomedical research and education on campus. Designed to maximize collaboration across fields, the Sherman Center is home to scientists pursuing novel research in emerging scientific fields with the goal of translating new discoveries into innovative therapies for human diseases.
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Share]
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/uomm-egt102413.php
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