The other way, the other way, yeah, yeah, great. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Bill Burns and I'm the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. I'm delighted to welcome all of you today and it is a special honor to welcome Secretary of State John Kerry, my former boss, an extraordinary American public servant and a treasured friend. I was extremely fortunate in 33 years as a U.S. diplomat. I had the privilege of serving 10 Secretaries of State and it was a particular privilege to serve as John Kerry's deputy during his first two years in office. My respect and admiration for his skill, tenacity, and commitment to the craft of diplomacy are limitless. Those qualities often meet their ultimate test in the Middle East, a place where pessimists rarely lack for either company or validation, a place where skeptics hardly ever seem wrong. In the face of relentless challenges, Secretary Kerry has never lost his faith in the power of American diplomacy in its enduring value as a tool of first resort for U.S. policy in a region too often afflicted by too many tragedies. Secretary Kerry's tireless efforts to achieve a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran make vivid the purpose and promise of American diplomacy. Here too was a target-rich environment for skeptics. When we started quiet bilateral talks with Iran in early 2013, an agreement seemed remote to put it mildly. But Secretary Kerry, like President Obama, never doubted the importance of doing everything we could to test the proposition. And thanks to his leadership, grit and diplomatic ability, an historic deal was reached. The Iranian nuclear challenges, all of you know very well, is only one of a whole series of formidable problems across the Middle East. The initiative that Carnegie is launching today with the generous support of Aiman Asfari and the Asfari Foundation aims to look beyond today's tumult to the long-term trajectory of this troubled region, its people and its place in the world. By taking a look back at the compelling work done by Arab scholars in the Arab human development reports over a decade ago, whose truths are as evident today as they were then and many of whose authors are a part of this new effort, the Arab World Horizons Project seeks to better understand the deeper drivers of change in the region and help illuminate the path to a more hopeful future. There is no one better to help us think about how American diplomacy can navigate those complicated currents and contribute to a more stable region than Secretary Kerry. No one has pursued that endlessly frustrating and often unforgiving task with greater courage and conviction. And no one has made me prouder to have served as an American diplomat. So, ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to the stage Secretary of State John Kerry. Thank you very much. Thank you all very, very much. Bill, thanks so much for welcoming me to your new home, but thank you for remarkably generous comments. I'm very really touched to hear them from somebody of Bill's caliber, because as all of you know, he really was the State Department's premier career diplomat, par excellence to everybody's standard. And now that you've been away almost a year, Bill, I know you're missing all the travel, the early morning meetings, the late night calls, and you're just dying to return, right? But all kidding aside, ladies and gentlemen, the door of the State Department for Bill Burns is always open. And from President Obama, through the entire security team, to me, to every former Secretary of State, there's no better diplomat, and there's nobody you could be better led by here at the County Foundation for Peace than by Bill Burns. So, Bill, please join me, everybody, in saying thank you for a remarkable career to this man, a remarkable career. Now, if I behave myself, which is never for certain, I'm going to try and restrain my voice, not be as passionate as I want to be about every word that I'm uttering it today, but I'm trying to save a little case of laryngitis and make sure that I don't exacerbate it, because I leave tonight for Vienna for two days of important meetings, and I want to make sure that I can actually talk during those meetings. I appreciate the chance to speak today to you, an audience of experts and students who are on their way to being experts, but all of you who spend an awful lot of time thinking about some very serious issues. And the truth is that for generations, Carnegie has been training the foreign policy leaders of the future and generating at the same time real-time solutions for those of us who are practicing at that time. It's an understatement to say today that we're facing a very different world, a world of remarkable complexity. All of you have probably read Henry Kissinger and Diplomacy or countless other books as I have, and Henry would be the first to tell you. I had the privilege of having a lunch with him in New York during the United Nations meetings that he never had it coming at him with the numbers of different places and crises, and in a world that is as multipolar as now, I mean a bipolar Cold War with the former Soviet Union, the United States and West was pretty clear about what the choices were in many ways. Didn't mean they weren't tense and they weren't difficult and that there weren't some proxy wars as we saw in Vietnam and elsewhere, but it truly was not seeing what we see today, which is a world of violence where it's not state on state with a few exceptions. It's non-state actors who are confounding states and the global order, and that presents a very different challenge. So I can tell you that despite the complexity, and I am certain of this, the United States of America is more deeply engaged today in more places on more important issues with impact than at any time before in our history. And I could document, I'm not going to run around the whole world, but I mean I could start with TPP and I could go to North Korea and I could start talking about South China Sea and then I could roll into Afghanistan and Pakistan and India and roll around the world. I'm not going to do that. I want to focus on one particular and particularly important area of the globe today, and that's the Middle East. And I'm not even going to go into all of the aspects of it. But 20 years ago, next week, after attending a peace rally, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was murdered by an extremist who claimed to be doing God's will. At the funeral, King Hussein of Jordan, Rabin's one-time enemy, turned partner in peace. Declared, I quote, let us not keep silent, let our voices rise high enough to speak of our commitment to peace for all times. And let us tell those who live in darkness, who are the enemies of life and true faith, this is where we stand. This is our camp. At the same ceremony, Rabin's granddaughter, Noah, a teenager, said that quote, others greater than I have already eulogized you, but they never had the pleasure to feel the caresses of your warm, soft hands to merit your warm embrace, to see your half-smile that always told me so much, that same smile which is no longer frozen in the grave with you. Now these quotations remind us that beyond all the cold statistics, beyond the headlines of the daily newspapers, beyond the clapping, talking heads on one show or another and eternally perpetual talk show circuits, the impact of violence in the Middle East, there is humanity. There is a humanity of people just like us who yearn simply to help one another and to share affection from one generation to the next. And beyond all the complexities in the region, there is also something fairly basic going on, a struggle between people who are intent on opening wounds or leaving them open and those who want to close them and who want to heal and build a future. It is this struggle between destroyers and builders that informs every aspect of American policy in the Middle East. Now this is the glue that holds the components of our strategy together, and we do have a strategy. Whether we're backing an electoral process in Tunisia, mobilizing a coalition against terrorists, trying to halt the sudden outbreak of violence as I was last weekend with respect to the Temple Mount Haramal Sharif, or striving to put in place new foundations for prosperity and stability. Our goal is to help ensure that builders and healers throughout the region have the chance that they need to accomplish their tasks.  After all, we're on the verge of energy independence, so why don't we just walk away? And the answer is that it would be directly and profoundly contrary to our nation's interests to try and do that. We have to remember that the Middle East is home to some of America's oldest friends, including our ally Israel, but also our many Arab partners in this now more complicated world. We also learned from 9-11 that regional threats become global very quickly. And we have seen that ideas transmitted by terrorists in Raqqa and Mosul can reach impressionable minds in Minneapolis and Mississippi. We are aware as well that events in the Middle East can affect perceptions on every single continent, because people on every continent are influenced by the spiritual and ethical traditions that have their roots in those ancient lands. I hear about this everywhere I go. People are amazed. That's good to see the former prime minister here. I'm amazed. He knows what I'm talking about all over the world. Foreign ministers, prime ministers, finance ministers, presidents say to me when I visit, no matter where I am, you've got to do something about the Middle East. You have to change this because it affects us. Now it is true, of course, that we rely less on Middle East oil than we used to. But it's also true that the energy market is global. And any serious disruption of Gulf oil supplies could quickly harm our financial systems, lower exports, cost millions of jobs. That's an interest. So the Middle East matters, and it matters way beyond oil, my friends. It matters a lot in the context of this world where we are trying to bring people together to seize a future. That's why it is so appropriate that Carnegie is launching this ambitious project this week called Arab World Horizons to examine trends that will shape the Middle East for decades to come. And I encourage you to begin this project with a help-feed degree of optimism. And before you conclude that I've had too much caffeine, let me emphasize I mean what I just said. I mean it. A couple of years ago, we asked the McKinsey Company to study the economic prospects of Jordan, Syria, Israel, Egypt, and the West Bank. And a good starting place for all of you is to go back to the Arab report, study report on economic growth of the number of years ago, which was stark in its appraisal of what had not happened that should have happened in many of the Arab countries in the region. But interestingly, my good friend, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Abdullah bin Zayed, recently also commissioned a separate study, which similarly showed what we looked at through McKinsey Company, where we looked at every sector from farming to tourism. My friends, the potential for growth is simply extraordinary. The potential of this region to be a driving financial center, harnessing the incredible technology and capacity of peoples in many of the countries, is simply extraordinary. Just imagine a future where people from the Nile to the Jordan to the Euphrates are free to live and work and travel as they choose, where every boy and girl has access to a quality education, where visitors are able to flock without fear to the world's greatest tourist attractions. I mean, think of that, the world's greatest tourist attractions. I've driven by them. I haven't even had time to stop at some of them. The place where John the Baptist, you know, christened so many people, including Jesus, the temple near it, a Muslim mosque, which is one of the oldest in the region and most important. The extraordinary history of the generations of struggle that have taken place in the Middle East. There is something there for everybody. Even an atheist as a budding architect would have trouble not having an interesting time. And where you have neighboring countries are actually eager to trade. I hear this from the ministers in each of the surrounding countries. How much they wish things could just change so they could begin to engage in the normal commerce of the region and ready to cooperate on projects that actually link their economies together. Now, sadly, we have become so accustomed to dwelling on the problems of the Middle East that we sometimes forget that staring us in the face are some incredible opportunities. And we all ought to be doing more to focus on those opportunities because the people in all the countries are beginning to simply lose belief in any of their leaders. Palestinians don't have belief, Israelis don't have belief, and people in the surrounding Arab countries don't have belief. And what it takes is real leadership and real decisions and real events on the ground to begin to change those hopes. So we ought to be doing more, all of us. And here I specifically include governments in the region need to take advantage of these huge opportunities that exist today. Now let's be honest with each other. Apart from petroleum, Middle Eastern countries right now simply don't produce enough of what the rest of the world wants. They don't trade efficiently even among themselves. And they aren't making wise use of their human capital. Only about one woman in four participates in the economy, and youth unemployment is at 25% or higher. This leaves millions of unhappy young people who because of the pervasiveness of social media are completely aware of what everybody else in the world has, and they don't. Everybody's connected 24-7. You can be impoverished, and they still have a smartphone, and they can still Google, and they can still Facebook, and they still figure out what the other person has, and they can talk to those people, and they do in very simple declarative sentences. So what happens to all that energy and ambition? In the United States, the average age is 35. In the Middle East and North Africa, it's under 25. And many of those countries have populations where it's 60, 65% under the age of 30, 35. So the region's future really depends on the choices that these young men and women are going to get to make. But who are they going to listen to? You need to talk about that as you have this conference. What ideas will command their loyalty? What might excite their imagination? Individually, each one of these young people is a story that will end either in frustration or in opportunity. And collectively, they present a profound challenge because the outcome of that race between frustration and opportunity will do everything to define tomorrow's Middle East. So to be clear, there's no single way. There's no just one way to win this race. Governments in the region have to look both inward at their own policies, and they have to look outward in order to compete in the global economy. And boy, do they have to start making a lot tougher decisions than they seem to have been willing to make. You can't fake it. You just can't drift along and pretend somehow it's going to resolve itself. Business people have to help bridge the gap between what graduates actually know when they leave school and the skills that they need to have in order to get a good job. And by the way, that's the same right here in the United States of America and every other modern country today. Women and girls have to be given an equal chance to compete in the classroom and in the workplace. And civil society has to have the right to voice new ideas, advocate for reform and hold leaders accountable. Now the United States believes deeply in the future of the region. That's why we remain so engaged. And that is why we have invested in a variety of worthwhile programs. Everything from the rule of law initiatives in Jordan to public private partnerships in the Palestinian Authority, where some fired work so hard and I had the pleasure of working with them to try to implement. But we also know that the pace of progress will depend in part on improved security. And that is a major goal of U.S. policy in the Middle East. And we don't just mean security for one country another. Israelis have to be secure. Palestinians have to be secure. The people in Gaza have to be secure. Everybody has to be secure. And it's our common enterprise now to fight for that security. So here I go back to the struggle that I mentioned earlier about the destroyers and the builders. If the builders are going to succeed, they're going to have to be protected from the dangers that are posed by terrorists, by strife, by violence, by weapons of mass destruction. And America's security strategy in the Middle East is precisely designed to try to aid in each of these areas. That's why President Obama placed such importance on achieving a negotiated solution to Iran's nuclear program. As all of you know, this man over here, Bill Burns, played a critical role in helping to get those talks with Iran off the ground and in helping to forge the interim plan that set the stage for the final agreement that we've reached. And that is an agreement that is imposing dramatic constraints on all aspects of Iran's nuclear activities. Ten days ago, the deal became official, and the implementation began. And that implementation will require the mothballing of two-thirds of Iran's centrifuges, the shipment abroad of 98 percent of its stockpile of enriched uranium, the destruction of the core of its heavy-water nuclear plutonium reactor, the whole process will be monitored by the IAEA, and no sanctions will be lifted until that agency verifies that Iran has done exactly what it promised to do. Now, this gives Iran every incentive to live up to its commitments, just as it did, by the way, during the 18 months leading up to the final agreement. People don't realize this, that almost, I think more than two years now, just about two years exactly, of Iran's compliance with the interim agreement has now taken place. And you haven't heard of major breaches or anything because it's been adhered to. So I hope now that everyone who was for the agreement and everyone who was against it will come together to support its full and verifiable implementation. That's the goal. And I promise you, I am absolutely convinced that the United States will be safer, our allies will be safer, and the world will be safer if Iran doesn't have and isn't anywhere close to getting a nuclear weapon. And we believe, as our energy department, our intelligence community and our military know, that because of the verification measures and transparency of this agreement, we will know whether or not they are. Now, as you recall, when negotiations were going on, there was speculation about what an agreement might mean for relations between Washington and Tehran. Was it possible that a breakthrough on the nuclear issue would be able to open the door to broader cooperation? Some welcomed that prospect and some, to be truthful, were alarmed by that prospect. So I want to be clear that we meant exactly what we said. The Iran deal was considered on its own terms. Not what is it going to do here. It was just nuclear, nuclear terms. It was the right thing to do whether or not it leads to other areas of cooperation. Now, we're not making any assumptions about Iran's future policies because we base our approach on observable facts. And what we see, obviously, is that Iran continues to engage in playing to sectarian divisions in the region, and it continues to detain several American citizens in our estimation without justification. And Tehran's policies are one reason that we are working so closely and so supportively with our partners in the region, including the Gulf States and Israel. In fact, we have established an unprecedented level of cooperation with Israel on military and intelligence issues, and we are coordinating in enforcing sanctions and in trying to stop terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah from getting the financing and the weapons that they seek. We also support Israel's right to defend itself and its citizens, and we do that in many ways. We also support all of the GCC countries in the work we did at Camp David and in Doha, and that we will continue to do and that I even reaffirmed when I was out in the region just a couple of days ago. Within the past week, I have met with Prime Minister Netanyahu, with President Abbas, with King Abdullah, with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, others, and we all agreed on the importance of ending the violence in Israel, Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank, and of making it clear that the status quo at the Temple Mount Haramah Sharif will not be changed. Now, I want to be clear that the kind of violence that we have been seeing in recent weeks hurts everyone. The innocent victims and their families, the Jewish and Arab residents of Israel, the Palestinians who yearn to have their aspirations realized, hurts everyone. And this is yet another indication of the folly of believing that efforts at permanent peace and reconciliation are somehow not worth pursuing. I can't imagine the notion of just throwing up your hands and walking away and saying, good luck. The current situation is simply not sustainable. President Obama has said that publicly many times. I've said it publicly. And it is absolutely vital for Israel to take steps that empower Palestinian leaders to improve economic opportunities and the quality of life for their people on a day-to-day basis. And it is equally important, equally important for Palestinian leaders to cease the incitement of violence and to offer something more than rhetoric. Instead, propose solutions that will contribute in a real way to the improvement of life, to the reduction of violence, and to safety and security of Israelis. Firm and creative leadership on both sides is absolutely essential. A two-state solution with strong security protections remains the only viable alternative. And for anybody who thinks otherwise, you can measure what unitary looks like by just looking at what's been going on in the last weeks. The United States absolutely remains prepared to do what we can to make that two-state, two peoples living side by side in peace and security to make it possible. Now another core element of our security strategy in the Middle East is centered on the coalition that we have mobilized to counter and defeat the group known as ISIL or Daesh. The list of crimes for which Daesh is responsible is truly mind-boggling.   Nothing said, nothing done just because they're different. In Iraq, Daesh has been auctioning off women and girls teaching people that the rape of underage non-Muslim females is a form of prayer. According to Daesh's online propaganda, their militants supposedly live in virtual paradise, but we're beginning to see how different the reality really is. There are multiple reports of Daesh executing fighters who signed up and then had second thoughts and were trying to get out. Consider the case of a teenage boy who had been recruited in Syria and sent to Iraq. One morning, he approached a Shiite mosque in Baghdad. He unbuttoned his jacket, opened it up, told the guards, I'm wearing a suicide vest, but I don't want to blow myself up. The boy said later that he had volunteered to wear the vest because it was the only way that he could think of to escape. He had joined Daesh to serve his religion and fight Assad, but when he witnessed the execution of a young person very much like himself, he decided to reverse course and get out.  They destroyed the Roman arch, as you know. They blew up historic tombs and destroyed a 2,000-year-old temple. Then they seized the city's director of antiquities, the man who was trying to protect history, and they made him kneel in a public square and they cut off his head. The man was 83 years old and spent a lifetime saving history. He'd been in charge of preserving Palmyra's cultural heritage for more than 50 years. My friends, between this Saturday night and Sunday morning, we're all going to be turning our clocks back one hour. Daesh and groups like it want to turn the clock of civilization back a millennium or more. We simply cannot allow this to continue. And that is why President Obama is ratcheting up what we are doing. Under President Obama's leadership, we have led a 65-member coalition to take on Daesh. For more than a year, we've been doing that. And we have saved communities, Kobani and Abaya and Tikrit. Tikrit has seen 100,000 Sunni be able to return to their homes. And we've said from the beginning that this would be a multi-year effort. I think we've already accomplished a lot. We've launched more than 7,300 airstrikes. We've forced Daesh to change how it conducts military operations. We've impeded its command and control from the critical border town of Kobani all the way to Tikrit. We have liberated communities and made a difference in the nature of this battlefield. I spoke earlier about the impact of our policies on ordinary lives. Last week, just to underscore to you the degree to which we are ready to take this fight and the degree to which we are raising our capacity. A U.S. Special Forces operation carried out a rescue directed against a Daesh prison in northern Iraq. Our troops freed 69 hostages who were about to be executed one by one with a mass grave that had already been dug. Now, I've spoken to our people in our embassy. I talked to actually with our special envoy who's in Baghdad, even as I speak to you right now. I talked to him last night. He told me when visited these people had been released. He said you could not imagine the emotion, their expression of gratitude to President Obama and to the American people. And they told us of the enormous debt they feel to the family of Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler, who gave his life in that operation. I think that's a debt that we all owe. And I will say to you what I have said many, many times throughout my life that we are deeply privileged to be represented and protected by the quality and caliber of the men and women of the armed forces of the United States. And we express our gratitude to them. Meanwhile, I want you to know that the combination of coalition air power and the Iraqi ground forces is being felt. We're supplying Iraq with armored bulldozers and mine clearing equipment that's making it much harder for Daesh to resupply its fighters in Ramadi. An Iraqi force just retook the Baiji oil refinery strategically located on the road that links Baghdad and Mosul. In northern Syria, the coalition and his partners have pushed Daesh out of more than 17,000 square kilometers of territory. And we have secured the Turkish-Syrian border east of the Euphrates River. That's about 85% of the Turkish border. And the president is authorizing further activities to secure the rest. Now looking ahead, we know that some of our key allies, including the British, the French, and the Turks are stepping up even more with their help. And President Obama recently gave a green light to send more ammunition and other aid to our allies on the ground. The president has made clear that we are determined to degrade Daesh more rapidly. Now I want to underscore as well that military operations are but one of the many components of what the coalition is doing. We're working hard to counter Daesh's propaganda and to deter potential foreign fighters from joining it. In partnership with the UAE, we have established a center in Abu Dhabi that is offering positive messages across the region on the internet and all through social media, talking about politics, religion, and the responsibilities of faith. And we're striving to cut off Daesh's funding so that it becomes bankrupt politically just as it is morally. But ultimately, to defeat Daesh, we have to end the war in Syria. And that is America's goal. In thinking about how to do this, you have to think about how the conflict began. Early in 2011, toward the start of the Arab Spring, a popular uprising challenged the Assad regime, which father and son had ruled for more than four decades, 40 years, folks. Assad sent thugs to beat up the young people who were protesting in the streets and looking for jobs, looking for a future. That's all they wanted.  And when the parents got angry at the fact that their kids were met with thugs, they went out and they were met with bullets and bombs. That's how this started. So having made peaceful change impossible, Assad made war inevitable, and he soon turned to Hezbollah for help and Iran and Russia. And this exacerbated tensions between Sunni and Shia communities, and it paved the way for Daesh to emerge. The result has been four and a half years of nonstop horror. This is a human catastrophe unfolding before our eyes in the 21st century. You all know the numbers. We have a fundamental responsibility to try to do something about it. One Syrian in 20 has been killed or wounded. One in five is a refugee. One in two has been displaced. The average life expectancy in Syria has dropped by 20 years. My friends, the challenge that we face in Syria today is nothing less than to chart a course out of hell. To do that, we have to employ a two-pronged approach, intensifying our counter-Daesh campaign and, on the other side, our diplomatic efforts to try to bring the conflict to a close. These steps are actually mutually reinforcing, and that is why we are stepping up the fight against Daesh by resupplying the moderate opposition fighters in northern Syria to help them consolidate the gains that they have made across broad swaths of territory and to begin to pressure the chief city of ISIL, which is Iraq. We're also enhancing our air campaign in order to help drive Daesh, which once dominated the Syria-Turkey border, out of the last 70-mile stretch that it controls. But at the end of the day, nothing would do more to bolster the fight against Daesh than a political transition that sidelines Assad so that we can unite more of the country against extremism. We have to eliminate the mindset, which was encouraged from the beginning by both Assad and Daesh, that the only choice Syrians have is between the two of them. You either have terrorists or you have Assad. No, no, that's not the choice.  And this is the mindset that has transformed Syria into a killing field. We have a different vision. I just returned from meetings in Vienna that included a remarkable session that broke some new ground where we had the quartet of Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United States. And I will head back to Vienna tonight to take the next step in our discussions with representatives from an ever-broadening group of nations, including Iran, which will join one of these multilateral gatherings for the first time. And while finding a way forward on Syria will not be easy, it's not going to be automatic. It is the most promising opportunity for a political opening where recognizing what is happening, that Syria is being destroyed, that Europe is being deeply impacted, that Jordan is being greatly put under enormous pressure. Lebanon, Turkey, the region, and so many millions of Syrians are displaced within Syria itself, most compelling of all, the tragedy that Syrians are living every single day. The best opportunity we have is to try to come to the table and recognize there has to be the political solution that everybody has talked about. As part of this diplomacy, I've had many conversations with my Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. And as everyone here knows, Russian air strikes in Syria began about four weeks ago. So there's a fundamental choice here. Is Russia there just to shore up Assad? Or is Russia there to actually help bring about a solution? We'll know. We'll put that to the test. And contrary to the claims of officials in Moscow, it has to be underscored that most of the strikes thus far have been directed not against Ash, but against the opponents of the Assad regime. So that is not in our view the way to try to bring the war to a close. But that will be part of the discussion that we have in the course of our Vienna meetings. The likely results of that strategy, by the way, will be to further radicalize the population, prolong the fighting, and perhaps even strengthen the illusion on Assad's part that he can just indefinitely maintain his hold on power. And if that's what he thinks, I got news. There's no way that a number of the other countries involved in this coalition are going to let up or stop. It won't happen. There's another thing that's critical, though. Russia, the United States, and others share an amazing amount of common ground on this. We actually all agree that the status quo is untenable. We all agree that we need to find a way to have a political solution. We all agree that a victory by Daesh or any other terrorist group absolutely has to be prevented. We all agree that it's imperative to save the state of Syria and the institutions on which it is built and preserve a united and secular Syria. We all agree that we have to create the conditions for the return to displaced persons and the refugees. We agree on the right of the Syrian people to choose their leadership through transparent, free, and fair elections with a new constitution and protections for all minorities in the country. We agree on all that. Surely we can find a place where one man does not stand in the way of the possibilities of peace. So we agree that all of these steps can only be achieved in Syria, can only be saved through a political settlement. So my message to Foreign Minister Lavrov, to President Putin, to all concerned governments is that we each have a responsibility here to contribute to an early end to this Syrian disaster through a transition already agreed upon in the context of the Geneva communique that will unite the country and enable this beleaguered country to rehabilitate itself, bring back its citizens, and live in peace. That is the purpose of the inclusive diplomatic process that we're continuing to pursue beginning with this trip back across the Atlantic this evening. And before closing, I just want to make two additional points quickly. First, two skeptics who say that democracy can't make it in the Middle East. And North Africa, I reply with one word, Tunisia. Here where the Arab Spring was born, we're not finding a paradise. But we're finding a place where leaders from opposing factions have been willing to put the interests of their nation above personal ambitions, where civil society played a vital role in spurring political dialogue, where power was transferred peacefully from one leader to the next in accordance with the rule of law, and where diverse perspectives, including both secular and religion, are not being repressed, but they're actually being encouraged and taken into account. What is happening in Tunisia is important for the people there, obviously, but guess what? It is instructive for the entire region. Tunisia is showing what it means to be builders in the Middle East. My second point is more of a plea. Please do not accept the view of some that the Middle East must inevitably be divided along sectarian lines, especially between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Nothing fuels the propaganda of Daesh and other terrorist organizations more than this myth. This simplistic and cynical view is not only not true, historically, it's not true today. After all, the coalition to defeat Daesh includes virtually every Sunni-majority nation in the Middle East, and Daesh, as we know, is made up of Sunni. And last June, when Daesh suicide bombers attacked and killed 27 Shia Muslims while they were praying in Kuwait right at the start of Ramadan and 27 were killed, what happened? The emir and the speaker of the parliament, both Sunni, immediately rushed to the site of the tragedy. 1,300 people volunteered to give blood on the first day. Sunni religious leaders urged their followers to show solidarity by praying at Shia mosques. The government flew the bodies of the victims to Najab for burial in accordance with family wishes. And back in Kuwait, 35,000 people of every single sect, tribe, came together and attended a funeral for others who were killed. The emir stood up and said the mosque will be rebuilt and a Sunni businessman volunteered to do the job for nothing. Daesh will rise or fall on its ability to drive good people apart. And that is precisely why I say it will fail. On that horrible evening, 20 years ago, when Yitzhak Rabin descended the city hall steps, in Tel Aviv, and he walked towards his car and towards his killer, there was a sheet of paper in his pocket that would soon be stained with blood. And on the paper were the words to Shia Lashalom, the song of peace, words that warn of the permanence of death and hence the imperative of replacing hate with something better. The Middle East today, my friends, is still marred by the sounds and spectacle of violence, but it need not be. Because the region is also pulsating with life. It is the home of populations that are energetic, youthful, forward looking, and far more interested in plugging into the world economy than slugging it out with historic foes. It is in them that we place our faith. It is for them and for their horizons that we dedicate collective efforts. And it is with them that the United States of America is determined to turn back the destroyers and build a future that is characterized by prosperity, by peace, and by dignity for all people. That is a worthy fight. Thank you all very, very much. Thank you.


Okay, so welcome everybody today is Wednesday the 31st of March and this is the house transportation committee and welcome all anyone that's watching in. We're going to do a little bit of bill introduction this morning by the members that have bills on the wall in our committee. And so so welcome and welcome to everybody. So, members are going to start this and we have promised representative Smith and McCormick they would go first this morning. And that's what we'll do. But just, we really don't need just just for everybody's edification, just just a high level overview of your bill. And should the committee decided to take up any of our bills will have an idea walk us through the bill when the time comes to have more discussions on it. So this is really a sales call for everybody today, selling a bill to the committee to see if we can see if you can generate some interest within the committee. So, so with that, any questions before we get started this morning. And you guys are pretty easy. So, so good so representative Smith, representative Smith and representative McCormick have 262 and we know how to get there it's it's on our committee page under bills in committee, or members we have a document that Lori sent to us a week to maybe a little bit longer than that ago that if you decide to go to that document it has a link to the bills in the document. I was lucky I was able to get it over to my one drive so that's where I have mine labeled but everybody has their own so if everybody's ready and has a copy of the bill in front of them. We'll get started. So representative Smith would you like to take us through your bill with the system. I would I'll start and Kurt can fill in the blanks that I miss. I mean representative McCormick for record representative Brian Smith. I'm introducing House bill 262. I believe it's for the third time. And I think I've got it tweaked so that I'm hoping that this bill will be successful and going through our committee. To start with, I would like to read I resubmitted my resident registration for my truck the other day.  I'm still going to read what the state of Vermont thinks about this texting and driving is one of the most dangerous forms of distracted driving. At any given moment across America, approximately 660,000 drivers are using manipulating electronic devices while driving. A number that is health study since 2010 distracted driving has become a deadly epidemic on America's roadways and distracted drivers aren't just a threat to themselves or a danger to everyone else on the road. In Vermont texting while driving carries a fine of $230 and five points for the first offense. And that fine increases to $479 for the second and subsequent offenses. Please remember text one or call should wreck it all. This is what the state of Vermont is putting on these right here. So, that being said, everyone has seen a lot of the advertising done on television about texting and driving. And I think it's a very serious problem. And I think we need to sink some teeth into this bell and stiffen the penalties. 262. I sent a comparison sheet to members yesterday. That and the ascent to me. And if you do have it, you can see the differences in the price in the fines and in the point that increases. For the young drivers, the fines are reduced. I don't think it's the money factor that is going to affect these kids as much as the point structure will. They're more concerned even and adults as well more concerned about losing their license than they are paying a fine. I spoke with. I was reading the paper that in Hardwick and St. John's Refugee Departments are picking up the pace a little bit in their communities. And they're ticketing distracted drivers and texting and driving. And I spoke with the chief Cochran of hardwick, and I explained my bill to him. He was in agreement with me. He thought he's going to have to come to Montpelier to testify. And I explained to him, he could do it over zoom if he if he wishes. And he indicated to me that his feelings were the fines. It's kind of a tough time right now for Vermont is while COVID-19 is shutting down a lot of things and killing a lot of jobs. He'd rather see the points attacked and increased. And I wouldn't have a problem. I think I spoke with you represent McCormick about this. I wouldn't have a problem holding off on the fines until like July 2022 July 22, I mean, but I think it's an important bill that we, we stiffen things up and make people aware that we want to stop people dying on the highway. And that's pretty much what the bill does and when and the I want to read through it. My little sentence that I wrote here. If we're serious about reducing accidents, serious injuries and or death on Vermont highways, and we need to toughen up our existing laws. That's my pitch. I think everybody heard it that was in transportation they heard it last year. I seriously sincerely hope that the committee will consider this serious enough to push through to the Senate. Thank you. Representative McCormick. You're muted. Thank you. Yeah, I'm remembering the debate last year and some of the testimony on number of public safety came in and they were neutral. Last year, whereas a year before they were opposed to it, I believe, and last year they were neutral. And the only thing they said, you know, negative about it was they were concerned that people, you know, would not be able to afford it. You and maybe even lose their licenses.  And ultimately could be a concern in a court. But it's my opinion that public safety should be concerned with public safety and enforcing the law and carrying out the law so that those that was the gist of their testimony is as I recall I'm assuming also memory is different that would be in the 2019 session. No, it's 2020 session, I guess, while we were in while we were together. And I heard statistic just the other day that nationwide car registrations miles driven are still dropping. Yet, accident death, crossing accidents are rising. So it's an interesting change. You know, fewer miles being driven out there, and more deadly accidents. I would think that's got to be attributable to to the hand devices because that's that's what's changed. The downward trend and and car registrations and miles began around 2001, and it goes up a little bit when the when the price of gas. But it's still generally down and yet accidents are generally up. I don't know about Vermont. And you guys probably had that testimony that I probably that's back and I'm starting to echo. You may have gotten that testimony this year that I may have missed for for Vermont, when you when you had the safety people and, but that's what I heard tapping nationwide and I don't know if tapping in Vermont but I would think that it would be we are not that far out of these trends usually. It might satisfy a lot of people if we, if we did not raise the penalties but raise the points. So that the that would be the penalty that would be raised not not the monetary. And I you know I gave a my pitch yesterday about what how I noticed it here in Burlington, perhaps more than some of you might in your districts, because of all the stop signs here and all the lights and you know you just see people lined up keeping at the first car because the first car is on the telephone and the lights turn green. That's just a nuisance, but I guess not so dangerous but it is it is dangerous. I tell you I've seen a number of cars literally rolling at stop signs, slowly but rolling out into the intersection, while the young man's head is down in this phone. Thank you, representative McCormick. And I did note that the information that represent Smith sent us I was really notified, looking at you have some of the monetary finds you've reduced considerably, but the points are up, and I think that we could have a conversation on as as we move forward and I think it points to what representative Cormick just said that we're looking at points more than money. And will that gets people's attention. I agree with representative Cormick that I have seen in my work, just people totally ignoring the highway in texting. So this is a serious problem. So anybody have any questions for either either one of our two committee mates. I got to get to my questions log here. Oh, I see representative McCoy then representative Burke. Thank you. How many points do you lose your license and for how long. I can't remember. I know that when you get to 10 points. It's a loss of license and I, I think 30 days fatty. Okay, representative I'm, I'm not positive I think and theater better answer that. Okay, and additionally, I think it's lower for teenagers. It's not 10 points. It may be six points or five points or something.  Yeah. Okay, part of this bill reduces the monetary part of the fine to junior operators as well. Okay. All right. Representative Burke. Yeah, I'm just curious. Do we do they have the must have statistics on how many accidents are caused by by texting and work and or phones or and especially like how many fatal accidents or just just be helpful to have that information. If we're trying to, if you would like me to try to find that for your representative I will. I just think, you know, if we're going to move this bill ahead that that might be questions that that other people have. I mean, I, it's not that I'm against this I just thought would be helpful to have some data. Yep. Sounds like homework for the sponsors. Yes, it does. I love homework. Yeah. Good. You all set representative. Representative Savage. I just a quick comment. As recently as Monday morning. I almost got into a head on collision with somebody as she was texting into his on my side of the, of the road. I had no place to go.  So I just stopped. And she blew my horn she finally got her attention and she looked up surprised like, oh, and she stopped in time but it was close, but that was right on my street. It's out there. Nice and sober. No, I was too upset. I would add that. I have been very persistent about this bill. And I think I explained committee last year. Probably four years ago, I was riding my motorcycle through island pond. And there's some corners on the other side of island pond. Small car was straddling the line. And if I'd been in a car, I would have been hit. Because I wouldn't have been able to get far enough over so this guy would miss me but when he went by me, it was a young young person when he went by me, he was he wasn't even looking when he went by me. And I really don't want to die when I'm riding a car or motorcycle or car or driving car in the road. I don't want to die because of somebody else's inability to keep their eyes on the road. And that's the importance of this bill. Thank you. Representative way. Thank you. Chairman shot. Sorry. I appreciate this bill representative Smith and I agree with a lot of it. I think something that makes me a little bit uncomfortable with moving it forward is it seems like generally we've been trying to move away from fines or point systems that remove someone's license because we've realized the ramifications of someone losing their license has just a very big effect on their life that impacts their ability to work a job ability to see to get food security in some situations. And it just has like this really long term trickle down effect. So I just want to put that out there if you had any thoughts on how we balance the potential for someone to lose a license or their inability to use a car with the public safety aspect. So I just want to consider that as you've drafted the bill. I did. Oh, did we apologize if we did. Well, can we can we just take take a little break right here and that's a great question. Representative white, because we're just in a like a little fact finding thing today. I, I, if it's okay with everybody. I think if we could just kind of get a feeling by a show of hands or something that we have some interest in this bill and would like to take a little more testimony or have further discussion. Is that something everybody's comfortable with doing right now. Do you have enough information to feel good about moving on along. We could just kind of like raise your hand or something and we'll, we'll kind of mark it down that. So the majority wants to hear a little bit more about this so, so represent a Smith and represent McCormick thank you, and we will. We'll have another stab at this at a little later date, just trying to thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I just wanted to respond to that.  When you think about it, right, if somebody gets five points on their license, aren't they going to really think twice about doing it again and getting another five points.  I guess we have like a, I don't know unless first offence is five point second offence is another three, you know, to get somebody close to it. I, I'm just, I know we don't want to discuss it right now but I'm just saying that I think that it should be a wake up call to somebody. It's not like they lose their license immediately. I think they almost do if I recall for the junior operator they have that quirk in there that they lose it a lot quicker I think five Mike. They lose it. Yeah, they do. They do further and, you know, testimony. Good. So we will take more tests. Testimony underserved further conversation as, as we move forward and when we get should we decide to keep going with it when we get to primary public safety in here they'll certainly be able to help us for those stats. All right. Thank you. Thank you.


كثير من الوقت بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم is mentioned in the Qur'an 114 times among of the surahs in the Qur'an which surah has no bismillah الرحمن الرحيم surah tawbah which means repentance surah number nine among the surahs of Qur'an which surah has two bismillah الرحمن الرحيم which means and in the Qur'an how many stories are mentioned 268 stories name of which lady was mentioned in the Qur'an the only lady name which mentioned in the Qur'an is Sayyidah Maryam who was the mother of Prophet Isa how many times name of the Prophet Musa is mentioned in the Qur'an Karim 136 times according to the Qur'an Karim which Prophet used for first time بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Prophet Sulaiman A.S. according to the Qur'an Karim which lady got a baby without marriage lady Maryam by miracle of Allah سبحانه وتعالى got baby without getting any marriage name brother of the Prophet Musa Prophet Haroon A.S. how many times word of Bismillah is mentioned in the Qur'an word of Bismillah is mentioned in the Qur'an for 115 times name a surah that goes by the name of the medal surah الحديد which means iron may Allah سبحانه وتعالى increase our knowledge about Qur'an Karim السلام عليكم ورحمة الله


2nd lead syndrome, wanting so desperately for the lead actress of a drama to end up with a better guy. But you always know she's going to end up with the lead bad guy in the end, usually going with the feelings of either wanting to curl up and cry over you ramen, knock someone's teeth in, or both. There have been many dramas in the past that have given the audience feelings of 2nd lead syndrome or SLS. But no drama comes close to start up. No biggest case of 2nd lead syndrome in history. Start up is the hottest new drama in the K drama scene. With the first episode airing in October 17th, it has since blown up reaching the front page of everyone's Netflix. For those who are unfamiliar with start up, it begins with two sisters, so Talmi and so Inje. A divorce causes the two sisters to separate. Talmi leads a poor life raised by her grandma, while Inje leads this luxurious, rich life with her mom and stepdad. In an effort to help with Talmi's loneliness, a poor orphan boy named Han Jipyeong writes her letters under the pseudonym Namdo-san, thus giving her a close friend in her time of despair and need. As an orphan, Jipyeong finds his only family and mother figure in Talmi's grandmother, who provides him with food, shelter and love. He grows to love her and would do anything to repay the debt to Talmi's grandmother. After the course of a year of exchanging letters with Talmi, Talmi falls in love with Jipyeong and his letters. They shared their dreams, their hardships and their affection. Fast forward 15 years, Talmi, played by former Miss A idol Suzy, still has never had a boyfriend. Forever waiting for that Namdo-san from the letters, her first true love. Eventually she meets another Namdo-san, Talmi falls in love with the new Do-san under the guise that he was her first love and they start a successful business together. But in reality, Namdo-san from the letters is her business mentor, Han Jipyeong. She comes to a point where she has to choose between the Do-san of the present or the Do-san of the past, Han Jipyeong. Now if you know nothing about this drama, you would assume that Han Jipyeong is the main lead. But he's not. Now Namjuhuk, the actor who plays Namdo-san, is officially credited as the first lead, while Kim Son-ho, who plays Han Jipyeong, is officially credited as the second lead. Which just by going by normal K-drama standards, there's a 99% chance that Do-san's gonna end up with the girl. There have been dramas in the past where the second lead does end up with the main girl but those dramas are far and few in between. But what happened was something that TVN never expected. Instead of rooting for the first lead, Do-san, as you would expect and naturally would, nearly all of Korea and the online K-drama community has rallied behind Han Jipyeong. Never before has the second lead been so disproportionately liked in comparison to the first lead than there has in startup. So why Han Jipyeong? What do the audience love about him? This is the case for Han Jipyeong. Now let me be clear, this is not an attack on Namjuhuk. He has been a phenomenal actor and is simply reading the lines and playing the part that he was hired to do. He's been an amazing actor. This is simply an analysis of the fake fictional character Nam Do-san and Han Jipyeong. Number one, selflessness. Han Jipyeong is by far the most selfless person in the world. He would do anything for Taemil and grandmother. If it came to Taemil's happiness or his own, he would pick Taemil ten out of ten times. At the networking party, Han Jipyeong jumped through hoops to make sure that Taemil was happy. Jipyeong drove all the way to Gapyeong to pick up Taemil in the middle of nowhere going out of his way. When Taemil's shoes were covered in poop, he bought her new slippers. There was a time that Jipyeong promised Taemil that if Samsung Tech failed to secure investors, he would beat a safety net, personally investing in Samsung Tech. Even though he did not believe in the business model and he knew that he would lose out money. Number two, chemistry. Taemil and Jipyeong share such a great connection. They definitely butt-head sometimes, a lot actually, but their arguments and conversations help each other grow and open up in a way that lets them grow off each other. Taemil understands Jipyeong when they were playing Ghost Stop. She was the only one that understood his dreams, whereas Do-san just seems like an accessory to Taemil. Just level 99 simp energy. Number three, why does Do-san even like Taemil? There's still not a clear explanation for this. It seems like Do-san only likes Taemil for superficial reasons. He's never had a girlfriend and Suzy is, well, really, really attractive. He's not wrong. Number four, sandbox. Jipyeong is the sandbox. When Taemil was growing up, when she was a little girl, her father would put down sand at the bottom of her swing. This was so that she could have fun and symbolically enjoy life, take risks, without getting hurt. Han Jipyeong is that sandbox. Making sure that if she did fall, she wouldn't get hurt. And Taemil would always have a safety net. The last and biggest factor on this list, you guessed it, the letters. For 15 years, or at the end of the series, 18 years, Taemil has saved herself not getting into a relationship once because she wanted her first and true love, Nam Do-san. Nam Do-san from the letters, aka Han Jipyeong. When she was at her lowest point in life, her most desolate time, she found solace in the heartwarming words of Han Jipyeong. She shared her hopes, her dreams, her fears, her trials. They shared their memories and he provided her with love, care, charity, and most importantly, he gave her a friend. In episode four, Nam Do-san asks, what do you like about me? To which Taemil responds, you're my first love. Your letters comforted me for a long time. After all these years, you're still brilliant and cool. All of which are attributes of Jipyeong. The reason Taemil even gives Do-san a chance was because she believed that these were all qualities of the real Nam Do-san. Finally, as the last reason, she states, you have nice big hands. Do-san, even at the end of the series, is an empty shell of a static character. He has little personality and almost no character development. If you had to describe Do-san's character to a third-party unfamiliar with startup, what do you even say? He's a programmer, he's really smart, and he likes Taemil. What connection exactly do Taemil and Do-san even have? What makes the audience want to even root for them? Because he's really attractive? I mean, that's a pretty shallow answer. He's extremely immature. When Tu-Sto bought Samsung Tech, Jipyeong was asked to give an honest evaluation of what happened and what they could do. Jipyeong gives an honest evaluation, and Do-san, of course, being the bigger man, physically attacks Jipyeong for literally doing what they asked him to do five minutes ago. And boy, does he like to cry a lot. Like this dude literally cries four times an episode, like props to Nam Joo-hyuk for being such an amazing actor, but his character never stops crying.  And the writers want us to believe that after not dating a soul for 18 years, because she was saving herself for her first and true love, the man that comforted her in her lowest point in life, the man that she was madly in love with her whole entire life, Taemil would simply throw it all away for some random dude she has no connection with with big hands. And those points seem to have really connected with the audiences at home. Anyone with their grandma, especially their grandma, loves Han Jipyeong. He is by far the most popular second lead in K-drama history. In a neighbor poll, the question was asked, Nam Do-san vs. Han Jipyeong, who would you choose if you're so downing? 46,000 people voted in this poll, and overwhelming 81% of the votes won Han Jipyeong. The top netizens in comments, I'm surprised Nam Do-san got even 18%. I thought Han Jipyeong would win by 98%. To be honest, who would choose Nam Do-san? He's not charming at all. I really think Nam Do-san's character has nothing charming about him. He's like a totally old car. I don't know why the writer gave all the good characteristics to Han Jipyeong, but made Nam Do-san the male lead. In a similar poll in kpopmat.com, 76% again chose Han Jipyeong. In another poll by pet ph, a primarily Filipino audience, 76% voted for Han Jipyeong, and 60% voted for Do-san, with 8% stating that she doesn't need a band. Just give Jipyeong and Do-san to us. But votes can be manipulated and brigated, right? Well, what do the stats and trends say about it? I searched up the popularity of the hashtags Han Jipyeong and Nam Do-san. 89% of the mentions were Han Jipyeong. The hashtag Han Jipyeong was 9 times more popular than the hashtag Nam Do-san. Other results for the search term Han Jipyeong and Nam Do-san. Team Jipyeong and hashtag Team Do-san, 81%. I even searched the Hangul spelling of each character. Once again, 64% for Jipyeong. On Instagram, hashtag Team Jipyeong had 5,000 mentions when hashtag Team Do-san had only 1,000. Simply put, nobody wants to see Ta-mi and the Bu-do-san. Yet the writers keep trying to feed us this washed up, nonsensical narrative that Do-san is the right man for Ta-mi. He's not. He's simply wronged for every blog, news article, opinion piece, Reddit posts, advocating for the end game to be Ta-mi and Jipyeong. Jipyeong is an orphan who grew up with nothing. No riches, no family, and no home. And if Ta-mi is taken away from him, he will once again have nothing. He is the second lead that was written as a first lead. Han Jipyeong is a fan favorite. The people's champ, the good boy, Ta-mi's first and true love. Honestly, they should just make the last episode like a choose-your-own-adventure. You know, like Black Mirror's banner snatch? You know, at the end of the episode you can choose which person you want Ta-mi to end up with and then just let the audience choose. Hey, I hope you guys liked the video and if you did, remember to subscribe. If you guys want to help us out in any way, click on the Ko-fi link below and buy us a coffee. And remember, why search for answers that don't exist. So instead of searching for answers, make choices.


projects have different steps and the first one for me starts with an invitation. Somebody in the community invites you in and that happened for me several months ago when neighbors started talking to me after my last project and said hey could we do something like this in this neighborhood. Second step is contact. So that's when you reach out to everybody you want to work with and introduce yourself and explain what you're doing and everybody says I love this idea or who the heck are you why are you here and so and then the next step is research. So we're right in between contact and research. So research is learning about the place, learning what people value, asking questions about their ideas. For the research that we're doing here the thing that I'm really interested right now is where can the mural go. We have a really large neighborhood there's probably about a thousand residences in this neighborhood. It includes students and seniors and families. It includes assisted living and people living independently. It includes affordable housing and single-family homes and we share these pedestrian pathways as well as our streets. So the question is where would people like a mural and and if we're gonna make public art together where should it go where is it welcome and some people in the neighborhood welcome it and some people don't. So where do those people live and why did they feel the way they do. So those are some of the research questions I'm asking. What would the mural at this site do? What stories do you have about this place? Who would be the mural's audience and what concerns do we have at this site? So that's there too but just conceptually that's what interested me about that spot. This is such a neat way to bring people together with the art and different ages. What's special about the people in this neighborhood? What makes you feel welcome in your neighborhood? All the love your neighbor signs. Neighborhood watch, we protect each other. What friends a smile to your face? What would they like to do in the mural? What did they like to do in the neighborhood? Some people love to forage in the green belt and how did they want to feel when they visited the mural? They wanted to feel friendly and a love of nature. They wanted to feel happy there and some of the other people they saw in the neighborhood were seniors and people playing Pokemon Go. So those were some of the ideas that came last time and then what we did was we sorted those ideas right picked up all the papers and moved them around into themes and themes started to develop. Some of those things were all these ideas about neighbors and celebrating each other's cultures. Interestingly I don't see a lot of drawings about that so this is an idea that people could really develop with some drawings today and that would be wonderful. Like the idea of having elements in the mural that are intergenerational so that we are really inclusive and so that over the years children who are growing up with this mural can be a part of creating it and then looking back on it you know many many years later. When were the saleboats? Because saleboats won't go well. But then it goes into the hacienda and it becomes a tree so there's your trunk of the tree and the branches are spiraling out but in the black you'll see it's also allowed. For us today and I have three designs that are all based on your beautiful drawings. Each one has a different story. They come with similar ideas that came from the neighborhood. Concepts like loving your neighbors, spirals, the power of water, the power of love, some of the drawings that individual people made or concepts that came from them. Each one of them has a theme that became the main theme and other themes that became minor themes within each one and so I'll take a little while to take you into each one of the worlds and then we'll divide up in groups and chat and then vote. There is the option for people to go absentee this time so we're definitely going to eliminate one by the end of today so we'll be down to two. The pieces I've done in the past some people remember the story and it's important to them and what's especially the most important to them though is the story of the people whose drawings they remember right? Like that's in a way more important than the story of whether it's about elements or whether it's about love or whether it's about the river is that when we walk through it we remember the drawings and the relationships that we built both when we designed it and when we paint it. It incorporates a lot of different cultural symbols different ideas just from around people in the neighborhood. So this whole project has kind of been an amazing way for this community to get together and kind of just join and work on something collaboratively so yeah it's been pretty awesome. It's one of the great things about the project is that it was so everyone was so welcoming and they really brought out the best in everyone and let us all participate no matter what our artistic talents are. Yeah I've got two kids here they were also involved right from the beginning so they were cutting out the stencils and now and the pride they get as they see the bits they say I did that bit I did that bit that's kind of a and it'll be here for 10 years they'll see they'll be she'll be going to college and she'll still see art out here and that's quite cool. Happy that I got to be a part of this and I hope that maybe we do something like this in my neighborhood one day. All the different ages of people coming from all different streets and just coming out to participate in something that will be of benefit to everybody. It's been the most exciting thing is that it's it was such a community effort. Danielle was especially impressive because she gathered everybody around and huddled up and seemed pretty calm and you talk about a leader where she just said yeah this is easy we got this and she wanted to make sure everybody was emotionally okay and if there were any frustrations or fears to voice them and that made all the difference and I think it's showing.


The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many people to limit their physical activities due to social distancing measures. Despite this, some individuals have taken advantage of the situation and increased their exercise routines. This study examined the effects of the pandemic on exercise habits in Indonesia. It found that almost half of those surveyed increased the intensity and frequency of their workouts, while one third reported no changes. Additionally, one fifth of respondents who had never exercised prior to the pandemic began doing so. The results suggest that the pandemic may have had a positive impact on exercise habits, with people taking advantage of the opportunity to stay fit and healthy. Nevertheless, it is important to maintain proper hygiene protocols to avoid further spread of the virus. This article was authored by Maria Uniticido-Hang and Machamed Wahewgani.


YouTube team keep it clean. What's going on? It's engraving here with another video and in this video Shout out to my guy East Abdullah You engraving can you please do a video on our undrafted running back out of Michigan State? LJ Scott Thank you Big G Engraving we signed LJ Scott. That's Levy on Bell reincarnated Okay My boy Ray Sean Thomas. He said what about LJ Scott? So you see once again? there seems to be a common theme with people and Another guy who they have had their eyes on an undrafted free agent rookie an undrafted rookie free agent that the Raven signed LJ Scott So just like with Gerald Willis so just like with Antoine Wesley We went to the film and really really quick again. I really appreciate all y'all so much Thank you the We had a things I had an all-time high right now and I It ain't nobody it ain't nobody deserves a credit be all straight up I even know what to say because the credit certainly don't go to me. It's y'all This y'all y'all been showing support y'all been buying the merch that's at the bottom of the video y'all been subscribing Obviously y'all been telling your friends some even family y'all been just spreading team keeping clean like no other One of my guys who's up in a new New Jersey? No Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo who's up in Buffalo My god fear Ravens who've been subscribed for oh man a super long time since the old channel But he told me that um He got some of the team keeping clean shirts And he said he wore them and there were other people that actually knew what that was It was like oh you watch him too and when he told me that was like wow man and Just seeing all you guys comments and stuff all the support is Like like I always say man, it's I see it and I appreciate it and I thank you Because this is team keep it clean. This is not me. This is team keep it clean. This is all of us so Look forward to the flag football game coming up in a month from today Before to everybody's that's gonna come out there with a positive vibe But until then we got LJ Scott to talk about Now LJ Scott didn't leave me on bail go to the school too didn't he go to Michigan State too? Let me look it up right now because The reason I say that is because he does He runs like exactly like Levy on bail to me Yeah, he went to Michigan State. Okay, maybe they teach them all all the running backs Did they teach him how to run the exact same way with the exact same style? Because he did really look like Levy on bail I love his He's not he doesn't have this breakaway speed, but he's not slow But he doesn't have like elite speed or But he could be a home run hitter. He looked like he could take some runs the distance If given open space because he looked like he was like slower than the Justice Hill faster than August Edwards Faster than a Mark Ingram Just to compare him to the running backs that's on our roster the Lance Turner. I'm not sure I feel like I haven't seen enough of the Lance Turner to really judge how fast he is I know some of y'all are telling me he ran like a 4 3 9 And I don't know I didn't know if that's the case I didn't know But I feel like I haven't got to see enough of the Lance Turner I haven't really got to see him get too many opportunities I did see him in the Miami preseason game that was down here by the way shout out to him But when he broke off that like 60 some yard touchdown, which was a beautiful thing But I've only gotten to see a sample size of him, so I can't really compare their speeds but He just he everything he did reminded me of a levy on bail He reminded me of levy on bail and the reason that I say that is because Just his style just to go go to those Can I talk this video, but that's really every video Just to go through some different things that I saw from him Without the ball in his hand He was lined up at receiver. He was lined up on the outside He was lined up in a slot He was of course lined up in the backfield him being a running back. So he was all over. He was lined up all over Just like a levy on bail and again, maybe this is just something that they teach at Michigan State Maybe this is in the curriculum like hey, if you're gonna you wouldn't what position you want to play? Oh, I want to be a running back. Oh, you want to be a running back? Okay, we're gonna have to line up all over the field. Okay, I'll do it. Okay, great So he was everywhere With blocking um with blocking I saw that he He's not afraid to block He wasn't the best block in the world But he did this thing. He he wasn't a bad blocker But he he held up whether it be the linebacker or corner safety, whoever bliss will whoever he needed to block He he got in their way Think that's the best way to say he got in their way And he did enough to give the quarterback a decent amount a decent enough amount of time So the quarterback could make a decision on where he wanted to throw the ball whether want to take off a run and keep it Whatever he did that So that was that was good. So it's blocking his blockers. All right He's catching catching out of the backfield. He caught the ball smoothly. Just like a levy on bail I didn't see too many contested catches Catches with guys draped over many things most of the catches that I saw from what I watched was him catching out of the backfield Where he would be pretty open He might catch it in the flats or something or catch on a quick little wheel ride or something like that just a short pace but Catching the ball didn't look like it was an awkward feeling for him It didn't look like he was uncomfortable catching the ball. It looked like it's it's just routine. It's like, okay Ball's coming my way. Let me take off So that was good. Um Something else that I like that I liked a lot from him, which again, they reminded me of levy on bail Um shout out to the guy who said it's like levy on bail re not reincarnated even though levy on bail didn't die We ain't getting into all that stuff. Anyway, all that anyway, um With he has really good ballots He has really really good ballots That's something that I saw and I like that a lot from him It's very very good balance um, but also he uh again and It feels like we're making a video about levy on bail. I mean, we didn't made enough over the past year, but he Excuse me. He um He's patient. He's a very patient runner extremely patient runner Again like like levy on I saw when he good when he would get the handoff He wouldn't just get the handoff and and take off He would get the handoff and wait a little bit He didn't seem as patient as a levy on bail But maybe levy on bail just got even more patient over time And maybe he realized like hey man, I really want to take care of my body I'm trying to cash in over these years and I still want to pursue my rap career So, you know what? I'm gonna become an even more patient runner. I'm gonna wait for these line I mean these offensive linemen to open up holes for me So then I can have a clear lane to that end zone So maybe that's how levy on bail got to be such a patient runner But this guy he's a patient runner But like I said, just not the level of patience is not on that of a levy on bail But he waits a little bit and then then he takes off um, so that was good uh On contact I I did see him I did see him break away From contact a little bit. He knows how to make some people miss Was no crazy jokes or anything like that, but he knows how to make some people miss Um, because like I said, he doesn't have it ain't like he got crazy speed But he got he got a decent amount of speed to where I said he can he can break alone He can break alone and if he's an open if he's an open field Especially if it's enough open field. Yeah, he'll be fine.  So it's it's been in for a couple hours But anyway, I think it will be very hard for him to make this roster. He's gonna have to really show out Um, if he were to make the roster because he is going up against a lot At running back at the runner back position like he's going up against a lot He's going against mark angrily. You know mark angrily was making it. He's going against gust elves You know gust elves isn't just making it. He's going against justice hill You know justice hill is making it so now the guys who I would say are on the bubble So you already got three running backs out of making You already got three running backs that are guaranteed to make the roster Only way they don't make the roster is if is there's an injury That's it So you got those guys and then the guys who I will say were on the bubble You got kinnith dixon Another guy on the bubble would be the lance turner another guy on the bubble would be lj scott so um He is going to have to really really show something to make them keep Four running backs they did at that time last year Um, but he is really going to have to show something to make them do that While the running game is going to be a huge part of the raven's offense this year. Um It's They can only split up the carries so so by so much They can only split up the carries by so much And like I said gust mark and justice they're locks They are locks to make this roster I know some people gonna say only well justice. He's not a lot. He's a lock He's a lock Um So with lj scott We're exactly what he fit in Special teams Because the running back rotation is it's gonna be it's crowded It's crowded because there's only so many carries to go around It all depends on the game plan because Right like it's already crowded It's crowded and then the style too with his style his style is like I feel like his style of running is like right in between Right in the middle of gust evers and mark ingram Injustice here right in the middle of those three So gust evers and mark anymore one side and justice here on this side and then right there in the middle you got lj Because he doesn't have speed it ain't justice he'll speed but he still got some speed Uh and he does he has he has that bruising ability He has that ability to run somebody over give him a stiff arm and be be a physical running back too I don't think he's on the level of those guys, but it's up there. It's pretty good That's why I say he's right in the middle of both of those right in the middle That's what he fits So it's gonna be an uphill climb for him to make this team I think it's gonna be extremely tough But His career goes anything like The other running back whose name we mentioned about 83 times in this one video From michigan state He'll be just fine I think for him If he doesn't happen to make the ravens uh roster I know a lot there's a lot of people think he will So we're gonna see it's gonna be a fighter with them running back. It is going to be a fight I hope they don't throw hands with each other, but anyway, um If he doesn't make the ravens roster He will definitely be getting looks he will definitely be getting looks just because of his running style Um, because if if you were one of the 31 other teams that were really 30 other teams because Steelers ain't one But if you were one of the 30 other teams that want to lay me on bail and you couldn't afford them and you didn't get them Well, hey You got him right here in an even younger version With less wear and tear you got him right here. If you couldn't get laid me on bail before you can get him now You can get him now minus the huge deal So if he don't make the ravens team, he's gonna get picked up I am very confident in that he will get picked up Because he's a running back that can line up at different places on the field line up in different positions on the offense and contribute You get him the ball you get him in open space. You're good to go.  I really I really want to see this guy I really want to see him in the nfl. I really want to see it And I can't wait anyway team keep it clean appreciate y'all if there's anybody else that you want me to look at some film on So we can break it down and all on team keep it clean kind of way Y'all let me know keep letting me know continue to let me know Because these videos are coming because of you guys because it's what you guys requested because his team keep it clean It's not me. It's you guys appreciate y'all And like lj scott is with michigan state I'm out