The next one is quite exciting for those that like to play around with the DHS2 API or have found themselves needing to play around with the DHS2 API. And this one is the OpenAPI 3 specification. So for a long time, we've had an API in DHS2. It's been quite extensive. It still is quite extensive and very powerful. But sometimes it's too extensive and it's hard to really figure out what's going on, what's available, what's where. Most things are documented, but some things are a little bit harder to determine. It's difficult to inspect or to automatically kind of generate clients or those types of things for the very extensive DHS2 API. And so in version 40, we're very excited to release a specification for the entire DHS2 API in the OpenAPI 3 specification format. So you can download that API specification from your DHS2 instance in version 40 and above. You can also download subsections of that API because it is quite big and that can be problematic for some clients. So you can actually download a section of that specification. So only the specification for the user's portion of the API, for example, using a different URL. Both JSON and YAML formats are available. This is an API feature, so it's kind of behind the scenes. But you can also visualize and see what that API looks like using an OpenAPI specification browser. And there will be one linked shortly to docs.dhs2.org, and soon also will be available as a DHS2 application embedded in DHS2 itself to be able to see and explore the API within the instance that you have running. This is just an example of an OpenAPI specification browser called Spotlight, which allows you to use that specification document in JSON and to explore visually what different end points are available, what options they take, what HTTP methods that are available, and what type that would return. And this also gives you examples of how to authenticate with this API and how to use Curl to test it out and many other things. So we're excited to explore more ways to expand this API specification visualization tool to expose it in docs.dhs2.org as well as in DHS2 instances themselves.


This video will show you how to add images to your Google Slides presentation. First, make sure your Google Slide presentation is open. Then, open a new tab in your browser. Go to pixabay.com. Type in the search term for the picture that you would like to find. I'm going to look for a picture of puppies. Press Enter to search. The first row of images are not free, so you do not want to use those. Scroll through the images to find the picture that you want to use. When you have found your picture, right click on the image and select Copy Image. Then go back to your presentation, right click on the slide, and select Paste. Your image will appear in the middle of the slide. To make the image larger or smaller, grab the corner with your mouse and drag it out or in. You can move the image on your slide by clicking on it and dragging and dropping it anywhere on your slide. To search for a new image, go back to pixabay and type a new search term in the search bar. Now I'm going to look for kittens. Remember, the first row is not free. You do not want to use those images. Find the image that you like, right click, copy image, then go back to your presentation, right click, and paste the image. That is how you add images to your Google Slides presentation.


Your coca-cola bottler presents Claudia Claudia based on the play and novels by Rose Franken brought to you transcribed Monday through Friday by your friendly neighbor who bottles coca-cola Relax and while you're listening refresh yourself Have a coke and now Claudia Have to growl any more bluff because we are gonna move to the country just as soon as we take David to lunch with Hartley It's all going to be forgotten. David promised to listen to Hartley's advice. Oh I hope he won't be too disappointed when he hears it Taxi are you taking David? I mean, yes, sir. I mean no, sir Hey, since when is our convertible a taxi? That's fine taxi I I want you to drive me three times around the park and then take me to the Calumet Club And I have to be there in three minutes, but no no no don't hurry jump right in sir I Have I don't know how you talk me into letting you take you take the car I thought we agreed you weren't going to do any more driving.  I'm through lunch Dying to hear what Hartley's gonna say about the house What's so worth dying about and what Hartley says? Well, I think Hartley's pretty smart about houses and things like that I know, but I've been thinking about it all morning and I don't exactly see why we should be too upset Just because Hartley doesn't like it But David you said at breakfast that Hartley's very smart about investments and money and all that That's what buying a house is isn't it? Well, it is and besides if we're going to be married to the soil like real farmers I think the least you can do is ask your brother about taking someone new into the family Hartley really wouldn't care who we brought into the family except for you As far as Hartley's concerned there are only two kinds of people the people who have stomach trouble and other people That's a very nice way to talk about your brother.  Not particularly. You know you would I would well we'll listen to what Hartley says and use our own judgment But I hope you won't be too disappointed if he thinks we shouldn't buy it. Oh David I know I won't be disappointed. I hope you won't be don't worry about me David why does Hartley belong to a club? Why can't men read their newspapers at home? They get asked too many questions. I think they'd love to be asked questions. Do you? Of course. People only ask questions when they think you know the answers Nobody ever asked me any. I wonder why. I wonder Well, here we are at the Calumet Club. Just pull over driver and let me out. Here you are, sir Many thanks driver. Oh, sir, you're too generous Now you go right on home and don't drive around give Hartley my love and David Good luck. Good afternoon, sir Good afternoon. I'm the guest of mr. Norton. Mr.  Norton. I'm afraid has not come in you. Oh, well, I'll I'll wait for him here Wouldn't you prefer to wait for mr. Norton in the lounge certainly if that's all right? I'm not a member, you know quite all right, sir. If you will follow me Just this way, sir. I hope I don't wake anyone. I think we should be all right, sir Now if you will walk right in thanks very much I'll wait for mr. Norton in here then. I'll tell him you are here, sir I don't know golden The evening David, I'm very sorry to be late. Hello Hartley. It's all right. I just got here If they bound and gagged you you don't have to be afraid to talk up I've been afraid of waking up some of the gentlemen in the arm chairs. Oh those They'd like it. I guess I think they're only happy when there's somebody to glare at Let's go right downstairs Now David, I can't see why you won't join here. It's really a very nice club. Oh, I'm sure of that Hartley seem very nice Excellent chef, too. The doctor sends him a copy of my diet directly. Well, here we are Yes, Albert right here, mr. Norton by the window, sir, will this be all right all right for you David It's excellent. You certainly have a fine view of the park here Well David, we haven't had lunch together in a long time. Have we or have we I can't remember when the last time was actually I think it was just before I got married and you went abroad It's quite a view of the park, isn't it? By the way, what's this story Julia was telling me about a farm in Connecticut? What story Hartley Julia said something about meeting Claudia Claudia saying that you were about to buy a little farm in Connecticut She seemed to think that you were planning to live there. I told her somebody got something mixed up Someone certainly did. It's not a little place at all. It's 80 acres 80 acres Mm-hmm. That's a good-sized farm for Connecticut rather large for weekends, isn't it? Can't see what you need with such a place now me the conjuator We're not going up for weekends, Hartley. We're planning to live there all the time live there You mean you're serious about it. We certainly are Why don't you think it's a good idea? Well, it's a little sudden And then you're buying at the top of the market as a matter of fact I think we can get a bargain Hartley the man who owns it wants to sell it for personal reasons Place has been in his family for generations. Well, some of those very old colonial houses have very fine lines Their temptation to people from New York to come up and play cute all over the place I must say I don't like that What about the grounds? You got a better view than this than Central Park you mean and Park doesn't give one any trouble It's not up to me to get a gardener to keep the grounds clean David whenever I've bought a place. I've regretted it. The trouble is that you think of grounds Hartley and we're thinking of land You think we're buying a place to sit on and be looked at We're thinking of buying a place to work on to make claim as our own you sound serious David This quality of water do it as much as you Yes Well, my experience is a little bit different Tell me about your ground Your land Well, we've got a little bit of everything Hartley hill with a walnut grove on top of it Fields on the slope and grazing land. You haven't got a brook. Have you we have with a gravity spring If I had a place I'd want a brook But Julia says they're very messy Always overflow than the spring frogs and so on I've always wanted one anyway.  Oh, I think we'll start off with one cow better feel your way along with the farming Tell me about that hill of yours. What can you see from the top? We've got a real Connecticut view Fairly broad valley.  I don't know hardly. They're just neighbors. I guess You didn't see any brand-new station wagons. Did you with elegant names painted on them? No, not the other day No, or any very low license numbers either. You're sure those farms you saw aren't really golf clubs And when you talk about farming you don't mean getting in about 60 other people to do the work I do not you're not planning to make the barn into a studio and the horse stall into a bar room and the garden patch into a Tennis course. No, we aren't Well, and this isn't the fact isn't it's not just more of the same. No hardly it it isn't How much are they asking 15 I I want to offer 10. That's what I wanted to see you about you think it's too much I don't think it is May not even be enough You're ready to bid as much as you have to you have the money left from father's estate, haven't you? And of course I have hardly well, what's the matter? You old fox you had me completely bewildered. How's that? Well ever since I came in here. We've been fencing back and forth like a couple of strangers You started by telling me that we were buying at the top of the market Then you threw a lot of cold water on us Then you end up by telling me to go out and pay more than I wanted to in the first place Well, I didn't know what you wanted the place for David If it was just a place to go weekends I think it's too much money, and I hate to see you and Claudia get that rough You don't belong in it But if it's for land and not grounds if this is the way you and Claudia want to live Then you ought to grab it I'd rather you see you waste a dollar than a minute hardly I Well, it's one of those moments when I feel as though I found a brother. I feel the same David I Suppose it's a shame to that we both sound so surprised surprised Say Claudia will really be surprised when she hears what you've been saying You haven't any idea how excited and happy it's going to make her hardly go call her right now And tell her what a lucky husband. I think she has David don't try to answer this But do you know how lucky you are? Now get to that phone. It's just behind that. I'm getting Plaza five five nine seven please The farmer takes oh hello Hello, darling. Did bluff get the car home all right? Yeah, of course, that's why I called and to tell you thanks for suggesting this talk with Hartley He made everything very clear Yes, darling thanks to you. I'm taking Hartley's advice and we're going right ahead. I'm sending in my bid tonight We're going to buy the farm Claudia Claudia Claudia what's wrong? There's something happened. Are you all right? This broadcast of Claudia was supervised and directed by William Brown Maloney Sociability flourishes when coke is passed around no need to bother with glasses Just bring on the frosty bottles and an opener and guests are all set for the pause that refreshes But be sure you have plenty of coca-cola in the refrigerator because it always goes fast Ask the man of the house to have a case put in the car next time he stops at the service station or order a case from your grocer Every day Monday through Friday. Claudia comes to you transcribed with the best wishes of your friendly neighbor who bottles coca-cola So listen again tomorrow at the same time And now this is Joe King saying or of war and remember Whoever you are whatever you do wherever you may be When you think of refreshment think of coca-cola for ice-cold coca-cola makes any pause The pause that refreshes


Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre also leads the region's quasi-cabinet on sustainable development and climate change. During the regional launch of the United Nations Early Warning for All initiative on February 6, Prime Minister Pierre advances his advocacy for the implementation and integration of early warning systems into the national disaster preparedness plans of Caribbean nations. It is also known that in 2017, the 20th century season was the costliest on record with close to US 300 billion in damages. And so disaster risk reduction, mitigation, middle resilience and recovery have become top priority action areas for the survival of the Caribbean states. Target G of the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction is to, and I quote, substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard warning systems and disaster information and assessments to people by 2040, not the emphasis on the world people. This is critical in the management of complex hazards which are experienced by our Caribbean states and compounded by the negative impact of climate change. The UN General Secretary, Early Warnings for All initiative, with the focus on multi-hazards. This multi-hazard early warning system correctly places emphasis on the safety of people. Early warning systems do not only save lives, but also provide vast economic benefits. Guided by the empirical data, the Prime Minister urged regional governments to employ early warning systems as its effective usage can save lives, minimize loss and damage of property and infrastructure and improve resilience to natural hazards. With hazards ranging from hurricanes, earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruptions, health pandemics and those related to pests and diseases on crops and livestock, there is no doubt that a multi-hazard approach is necessary involving coordination across numerous national ministries and agencies and also regional agencies. All effectively operating early warning systems to adjust the onslaught of hazards to which the Caribbean region is exposed. The Caribbean region must continue to implement measures to change our fortunes to become more resilient to natural disasters. The regional comprehensive disaster management strategy is the Caribbean vehicle for the implementation of the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction. From the Office of the Prime Minister, Rihania Zudo


Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States and Mrs. Reagan presentation of the colors Please remain standing. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you very much, David Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. It's great to be here Thank you please Hey It's great to be here tonight, and I'm delighted to see so many old friends And now let's get right to it. First, there's the INF Treaty How do you think I felt when Gorbachev called a week and a half ago and asked me if our first group of on-site inspectors Could be the Denver Broncos past defense Then along came the House vote on contra aid I felt so terrible I nearly called Dan Reeves and John Elway to tell them What a rough week I'd had But seriously while the Denver Broncos are all terrific athletes and people each one of us has to congratulate the Washington Redskins Believe me the house action on the contra vote was a missed chance at a victory for peace in Central America It's great to know there are some people in Washington who play to win and believe me I'll be getting back to that topic in a few minutes By the way, something odd happened just before I got here tonight that I think you should know about I Got a message from Dave Keane reminding me that this was the eve of Lincoln's birthday and Suggesting I go upstairs and check on the ghost in Lincoln's bedroom. I Did What do you know? There was Stan Evans dressed as Abe Lincoln and he kept saying listen to Jesse Helms Actually, I do want to thank you for that warm welcome, but I hope tonight isn't going to be like Well, what happened to that fella? I knew back in Hollywood in those movie days, you know, I hope I haven't told you this one before We had an actor that was in Hollywood. He was only there long enough to get enough money to go to Italy because he aspired to an operatic career and Then after some time there at Milan Italy where he was studying He was invited to sing at La Scala the very spiritual fountain head of opera They were doing paliacci and he sang the beautiful aria vesti la giuba And he received such thunderous and sustained applause from the balconies in the orchestra seats that he had to repeat the aria as an encore and Again the same sustained thunderous applause and again He sang vesti la giuba and this went on until finally he motioned for quiet And he tried to tell them how full his heart was at that reception his first time out But he said I have sung vesti la giuba nine times now my voice is gone I cannot do it again and a voice from the balcony said you will do it till you get it right Let's get it right tonight and let's start where we should start a couple of weeks ago I talked about the state of our union and tonight. I'd like to talk about something that I think in many ways is synonymous the state of our movement during the past year plenty of questions have been asked about the conservative movement by some people who were surprised to find out back in 1980 there was such a thing I Mean a powerful new political movement capable of running a victorious national campaign Based on an unabashed appeal of the American people for conservative ideas and principles Well, we conservatives have been in Washington now for a while and we occasionally need to remind ourselves what brought us here in the first place our unshakable root deep all-encompassing skepticism about the capital city's answer to the UFO that Bazaar ever tottering but ever flickering saucer in the sky called the prevailing Washington wisdom and Right now some of the Potomac Sears are saying we conservatives are tired Or they're saying we don't have a candidate that we don't know what to do with ourselves this year I even hear some of those candidates in the other party saying how easy it's going to be to win the presidency for their liberal agenda Because they can run on of all things this administration's economic record Boy, have I got news for them? They're seeing flying saucers again I've even got a quote for them. It's from Napoleon the morning of Waterloo at breakfast with his generals This is true. He said I tell you what Wellington is a bad general the English or bad trips We'll settle the matter by lunchtime Well, my fellow conservatives. I think that's exactly what this year is about Settling the matter by lunchtime Letting the liberals in Washington discover once again the lesson they refuse to learn Letting them know just how big our election year will be Because of booming economic growth and individual opportunity and how big an election year ball and chain They've given themselves with a seven-year record of opposition to the real record But most of all letting them know that the real friends of the conservative movement Aren't those entrenched in the capital city for 50 years? The real friends of the conservative movement are an entity that gets heard from in a big way every four years And who I promise you are going to be heard from this year I'm talking about those who if the case is aggressively put before them will vote for limited government Family values and a tough strong foreign policy every single time I'm I'm talking about those believers in common sense and sound values your friends and mine the American people You see those who underestimate the conservative movement of the same people who always underestimate the American people Take the latest instant as I mentioned in recent months some people and I'm not mentioning any names because I Don't want to build up any candidacies before New Hampshire But you know who they are have actually taken on themselves of proving to the American people that they've been worse off Under this administration, then they were back in the Carter years of the 70s Now I agree with you this takes some doing How do they manage it? Well, you see any statistical comparison of the two recent administrations would start with 1977 to 1981 as the budget years of the last administration and 1981 to 1987 as the pertinent years for this one now that sounds reasonable enough But our opponents have a new approach one that would have embarrassed even the emperors tailors They take the years 1977 go up to 1983 and then they stop So you see not only do 1984 1985 not get counted in their database But they include in this administration's economic record four years of the last Democratic administration As Colin has Warren Brooks pointed out in an article published in the Washington Times this week All of the four shortened Reagan gains are nullified by the Carter losses So they look like no gains at all or worse losses Our successes in short are statistically buried under the last administration's failures But the truth is otherwise Because under the last administration Real per capita disposable income rose at only one percent annual rate Only half the two percent rate of increase under this administration a Gain that is total twelve point four percent in six years under the last administration Median family income declined 6.8 percent While under this administration it went up 9.1 percent Or take real after-tax labor income per hour if you use the approach adopted by our liberal critics You see a four and a half percent decline But the truth is that that figure fell eight and a half percent under the last administration And we turned this around and accounted for an eight point nine percent increase Under the last administration the average weekly wage went down an incredible ten percent in real terms Which accounted for the worst drop in post-war history Here again, we've stopped the decline And that's not to mention what all this has meant in terms of opportunity for women But blacks and minorities the very groups our opponents say they most want to help Well since the recovery began 70% of the new jobs have been translated into opportunities for women and Black and other minority employment has risen twice as fast as all other groups Minority family income has also increased at a rate over 40 percent faster than other groups in addition since 1983 2.9 million people have climbed out of poverty and the poverty rate has declined at the fastest rate in more than 10 years So think for a moment on what these statistics mean and the kind of political nerve And desperation it takes to try to sell the American people on the idea that in the 1980s they never had it so bad The truth is we're in the 63rd month of this non-stop expansion Real gross national product growth for 1987 was 3.8 percent Defying the pessimists and even exceeding our own forecast which was criticized as being too rosy at the time by more than one half percent Inflation is down from 13 and a half percent in 1980 Do only around four percent or less this year and there's over 15 million new jobs So believe me I welcome this approach by the opposition and I promise you every time they use it I'll just tell the story of a friend of mine who was asked to a costume ball a short time ago He slapped some egg on his face and went as a liberal economist Now the reason I spell out these statistics and stress this economic issue should be very clear You know some cynics like to say that the people vote their pocketbook, but that's not quite the point Economic issues are important to the people not simply for reasons of self-interest. They know the whole body politic Depends on economic stability The great crises have come for democracies when taxes and inflation ran out of control and Undermine social relations and basic institutions The American people know what limited government tax cuts Deregulation and the move toward privatization have meant It's meant the largest peacetime expansion in our history and I can guarantee you They won't want to throw that away for a return to budgets beholden to the liberal special interests No, I think the economic record of conservatives in power is going to speak for itself But now let's turn to another area for two decades We've been talking about getting justices on the Supreme Court who cared less about criminals and more about the victims of crime Justices who knew that the words original intent Referred to something more than New Year's resolutions and fad diets and Then seven months ago a seat opened on the Supreme Court and even before our first nominee was announced a Campaign was planned unlike any that has ever been waged for or against a judicial nominee in the history of our country And let me acknowledge once again my admiration for one of the courageous defenders Not only in our time, but in all time of the principles of our Constitution Yes of its original intent Judge Robert Bork One one of America's most cherished principles the independence and integrity of our judiciary was under siege and the American people Who have always been the ultimate guarantors of the Constitution began to say with clarity and finality It must never happen again so when I Nominated a judge who could as easily have been my first nominee There was hardly a peep of protest and judge Kennedy is now going to be justice Kennedy And since our opponents won't I'll let you in on a secret Judge Kennedy would be just the kind of justice that you and I have been determined to put on the court Anyway any man who teaches law school in a tricorner hat and a powdered wig is okay by me on original intent Let's look at how far and how successfully we've carried the battle into the lower courts Just look at the statistics on criminal sentencing In few places can you see more clearly the collapse of the liberal stranglehold on our courts? the most recent statistics show federal judges Imposed prison sentences that averaged 32 percent longer than those handed down during 1979 Robbery sentences were 10 percent longer drug offenses 38 percent longer and weapons offenses 41 percent longer The great legal debates of the past two decades over criminal justice have at their root been debates over a strict versus expansive construction of the Constitution The Constitution has originally intended by the framers is itself tough on crime and protective of the victims of crime For so long the liberal message to our national culture was tune in turn on let it all hang out And now they see conservatives taking the lead as our nation says no to drugs and Yes to family and absolutely to schools that teach basic skills basic values and basic discipline and It's no wonder that our nation admires a man who believes in teaching values in education and Talks turkey to teachers parents and educators such as our secretary of education bill Bennett And so I say to you tonight that the vision and record that we will take aggressively to the American people this November is A vision that all Americans accept a few on the left share a vision of a nation that believes in the heroism of ordinary people living ordinary lives of Tough courts and safe streets of a drug-free America where schools teach honesty respect love of learning and yes, love of country a Vision of a land where families can grow in love and safety and where dreams are made with opportunity This is the vision. This is the record This is the agenda for victory this year Well, that's the record then on the economy and the social issues Now let's turn to foreign policy. I want to be clear tonight about the vote on contra aid It was a setback to the national security interest of the United States and a sad moment for the cause of peace and freedom in Central America Until now the carrot and stick approach has worked in forcing a communist regime to relax some of its repression But now the action by the House of Representatives Removes one part of that formula and goes only with the carrot The effect of this vote then was to trust the promises of democracy of the Sandinista communists The kind of promises that no communist regime in history has ever carried out and that this Regime was likely to carry out only under continued pressure The effect of this vote was to rest the hopes for peace and democracy in Central America purely and simply on the word of the communist regime in Managua This course is and I repeat a risk to America's national security But you know, I read something the other day and it's worth a note Here one of those opposing aid to the freedom fighter said it was important to get a 20-vote Well, as you know, it was nothing like that if we could have turned around four or five votes We would have won last week's vote was not the final word Only a pause last week the bad news was the lost vote in the house But the good news was our support in the Senate and the overwhelming number of House Republicans Who voted with us and those 47 Democrats who braved the threats of reprisals to vote for contra aid So let me make this pledge to you tonight We're not giving up on those who are fighting for their freedom and they aren't giving up either I'll have more to say on this in a few weeks for now. I'll leave it at this Get ready. The curtain hasn't fallen. The drama continues While we're on foreign policy, let me turn for just a moment to what I said in that December interview while mr. Gorbachev was here You know Ben Wattenberg was one of the journalists there And he brought up a speech that I made back in 1982 to the British Parliament And he asked me if what I really was saying was what I said in England That if the West remained resolute the Soviets would have to at some point Deal with its own internal problems and crises that the tides of history are shifting in favor of the cause of freedom Well, I believe then and I believe now That we must consider what we're seeing or the steps in that direction the hardly mean this hardly means Accepting the Soviets at face value Few of us can forget what that has led to in the past FDR was quoted as saying during his dealings With Stalin the Soviets in 44 Stalin doesn't want anything but security for his country And I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask nothing from him in return No, bless oblige. He won't try to annex anything and will work with me for a world democracy and peace Well, no, there is no room for illusion Our guard is up our watch is careful We shall not be led by or misled by Atmospherics we came to Washington with a common-sense message that the world is a dangerous place Where the only sure route to peace and the protection of freedom is through American strength In no place has this pieces of this thesis of peace through strength Been tested more than on the matter of intermediate range nuclear forces INF in Deploying over 400 SS 20s with over 1200 warheads Against our friends and allies in Europe and Asia over the past decade the Soviets were playing a high-stakes game of geopolitical blackjack The prize was Europe the strategy discredited America's deterrence and undermine the NATO Alliance but We and our allies turned over a winning hand Deploying in Europe perching to and ground-launch cruise missiles that provided an effective counter to the new Soviet missiles and Moscow finally stopped upping the stakes What I would like to see is for some of those who've been praising our INF Treaty to show They've learned its true lesson and vote to maintain an adequate defense budget our work on a strategic defense against ballistic missiles and yes aid to the freedom fighters in Nicaragua and while we're on the subject of our nation's defense You know there's a man I want to talk about tonight who said once that the definition of happiness was service to a noble cause No one has done that better and tonight. I salute cap Weinberger for all he's done But at the same time we must not look at any single step alone We must not see not just the INF Treaty But also the advance of SDI and most important the growing democratic revolution around the globe against totalitarian regimes We should engage the Soviets in negotiations to deter war and keep the peace But at the same time we must make clear our own position as I have throughout these negotiations and setting down to these negotiations We accept no moral equivalency between the cause of freedom and the rule of totalitarianism And we understand that the most important change of all is this that Containment is no longer enough That we no longer can be satisfied with an endless stalemate between liberty and repression That arms reduction negotiations Development and testing of SDI and our help for freedom fighters around the globe Must express the clear goal of American foreign policy To deter war. Yes to further world peace. Yes But most of all to advance and protect the cause of world freedom So that someday every man woman and child on this earth has as a birthright the full blessings of liberty We've seen dramatic change in these seven years Who would have guessed seven years ago that we would see tax rates drop from 70 percent to 28 percent The longest peacetime economic boom in our history or a massive shift in world opinion Toward the ideas of free enterprise and political freedom. I Know some of you were impatient with the pace of this change But if I might repeat a story I told when I addressed you for the first time as president. I Had the pleasure in appearing before a Senate committee once while I was still governor And I was challenged there because there was a Republican president in the White House at the time who'd been there for some time and Hadn't we corrected everything that had gone wrong? And the only way I could think to answer him is I told him about a ranch many years ago that Nancy and I acquired it at a barn with eight stalls in in it in which they kept cattle cows We wanted to keep horses well the Accumulation within the stalls had built up the floor to the place that it wasn't even tall enough for horses in there and So I was day after day with a pick and shovel lowering the level of those stalls Which had accumulated over the years and I told this senator who'd asked that question that I discovered That you didn't undo in a relatively short time what it had taken some 15 years to accumulate We have been not only undoing the damage of the past We've put this nation on the upward road again and in the process the differences between the liberals and conservatives Have become clear to the American people We want to keep taxes low. They want to raise them We send in budgets with spending cuts and they want to ignore them We want the balanced budget amendment and the line item veto and they oppose them We want tough judges and tough anti-crime legislation. They hold them both up in the Congress You'd be surprised how many judges are waiting out there before they so that they have to Pass on them before they can take the their office and they've been waiting for months We want a prayer amendment. They won't let it come to a vote in the house We stress firmness with the Soviets They try to pass legislation that would tie our hands in arms negotiations and endanger our defenses But I say we have a program and a plan for the American people a Program to protect American jobs by fighting the menace of protectionism to move forward at flank speed with SDI to call America to conscience on the issue of abortion on Demand to mention as I did in my state of the union address the overwhelming importance of family life and family values That's a case to take to the American people. That's a fighting agenda I intend to campaign vigorously for whoever our nominee is and tonight I ask each of you to join me in this important crusade What four more years of economic progress and the March of World Freedom? They must help us this year help us settle the matter before lunch time Help make 1988 the year of the Waterloo liberal. I Just have to add here when you look at the figures overall that they have the nerve even to still be out there in campaigning We mustn't just think that electing the president is enough. We've been doing that for more than half a century we have in the 50 years between 1931 and 1980 Only four years in that period Or there are a Republican majority in both houses of the Congress two years in Eisenhower's regime two years in Truman's But for 46 of those 50 years, they controlled the Congress Every Democrat president except for those two years had a Democratic Congress Every Republican president had a Democratic Congress except for those two years in Eisenhower's regime And now in the last seven years added to that. Yes for six of those years. We had one house But except for the four years for 58 years it will be our opponents holding the House of Representatives where so much legislation and Authorization for spending and so forth comes in and in all those 58 years There have only been eight single years in which there was a balanced budget So who's at fault for the deficit today? Back when the great society when the war on poverty began Which poverty won? From 1965 1965 to 1980 in those 15 years The federal budget increased to five times what it had been in 65 and the deficit increased to 38 times What it had been just 15 years before it's built in it's structural and you and I need to get representatives not only in the executive branch, but out there in the legislature so that we Can change that structure that is so built in and that threatens us with so much harm Well, I've gone on too long for all of you here, but I just want to I couldn't resist because You're the troops. You're out there on the on the frontier of freedom One young soldier over there in Korea one of our men saluted me when I visited there and very proudly said mr. President We're on the frontier of freedom. Well, so are you Thank you. God bless you all


Good morning, Ken. No, you're all set. OK, I have to read my little blurb. Hang on a minute. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the Mass General Act of 2021, this meeting will be conducted via remote means. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted. But every effort will be made to ensure the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so for reasons of economic hardships or despite best efforts, we will post on the Amherst Town Government website at www.amherstma.gov, an audio or video recording transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible for the meeting. And we go to, I think, the first item is consideration of the minutes. Call to order, actually. Can you see my screen? Yeah, I see it. Can you can can you? Wow. They got bigger? Yeah, I'll do my best. Yeah, that doesn't work. All right, there you go. There you go. Not enough in the. All right, I call it a little bit more. Paul, your screen wider some way. There you go. Can you just stretch your screen out? I count, actually. OK. I call the meeting to order. And gentlemen, have you had a chance to review the minutes of September 9th, 2021? Yes. Yep. So move. We approve them. Second, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. OK. Do we have any members of the public here, David? Not that I'm seeing anywhere. Just the five of us? Just yes. OK. So the meeting is yours, David. All right. Well, basically, we're just going to start out with the usual motor vehicle access abatements. And as you can see, there's two groups there for the week of 823 to 827, 98 to 910. So it's the first one is $3,398.86. And the second one is $6,284. And there's nothing out of the ordinary on the reasons. It's usual reasons for incorrect garageing or people who've traded their vehicles or total cars. Teresa included the paperwork. Have you ever had a chance to look at the paperwork? Yeah. I think if you scroll down, you can see there they are. OK. So let's take the first one. What week is that? That's the 20th, the 24th. That's the 23rd, the 27th of August. I move to approve those motor vehicle abatements. Second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. OK. And the next one is September 8th. September 10th. OK. And that has a total of $622.84, I believe. Correct. All right. That OK. All those in favor of approving those motor vehicle abatements, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Right. And the general purpose of this meeting is we're going to jump straight into giving an overview of what we're going to be presenting on the fourth to the council. Now I want to say before we go along that the numbers for the tax rate are going to change slightly. We were using estimates so I can get this out to you. And I used $21.32. But we believe it's going to be closer to $21.27. There's going to be a bit less. And I will adjust that before we get to the hearing so they can see it all on the spread on the file. So that's an increase on the rate of how much? That's not an increase. It's a reduction of 55 cents. Oh, OK. Which is actually a good question. And the reason I should I would want to remind them that we have raised values this year on the residential portions. And even at that, the residential market is still far outstripping the assessments based on what we're seeing in 2021. So we'll probably have to raise them again yet again next year. What percentage did they get raised overall? About 8 percent, Ken. That was Ken, right? Yeah, thank you. The reason for it was obviously the market. And the other reason is that I had hoped not to do anything until 2022. But I don't want to see a double digit and raising FY22. If we are 23, if we can avoid it, it's just an awful big jump. So that's one of the things we'll be talking about when we get to the meeting. I won't mention it. It's not on the screen, but we'll mention it. So there's a way of why we did it and why the tax rate has dropped. We didn't do commercial. And the reason for that was we haven't. We haven't had many commercial complaints, but we see a lot more vacancy at the moment in town. So we've got to think that the COVID has had some sort of an impact. So rather than trying to deal with abatements, we're hoping that the fact that we don't change the values and that the tax rate is lower. So therefore, the commercial properties are paying less tax that it'll mitigate any abatements we have for next year. So that's the logic behind it so far. Did we have many abatements this year? We didn't for commercial, did we? No, not for commercial. We only had three or four. Okay. I think we had about 40 for the residential. But really the classification hearing is the same as usual. There's the load-in that you can see from the public hearing. We're asking them for the tax policy options. Then the overview of what's happening, how the assessors' values are determined, which is probably where I'll mention the increase in value. Then we have to have the public hearing and all the usual. This is really the same as last year. And then we're going to talk about what exempts, the way they have to do it every year and the law that we have. Now, we might have a few questions there because I think we've got some new councillors or people who may be councillors will probably be listening in. So we'll explain that a little bit if they ask, okay? What time is this soon? 6.30, Kim. Okay. Then there's the tax classification hearing. I was passed in 1978 on the four classes of property and the definitions for each. I will spend more time with them by the way. Oh, this is all the same from last year. There seems to be some confusion in town. I've noticed already about whether you can tax apartment buildings differently than one family home. So that may come up. Well, yeah, we do tax them differently. We'll talk a little bit about that. Yeah, okay. And then you can just see the breakdown of the distribution of the valuations. And obviously we've got a huge percentage that's residential. So is that a black color? Is that black? Black or brown, I'm not sure. Okay. Well, maybe red. No, it's not red. Oh, no, it's not red. No. Hey, I'm colorblind. Stop picking on me. I've never seen anybody pick black for a pie chart, but that's okay. Any changes in the percentages? No, the residential has gone up slightly because we've raised the value as opposed to the commercial. And we've also had some commercial tear downs this year and conversions. You're talking dollar numbers, right, David? Yes. Yeah, okay. We're gonna have some more lower values on the commercials next year. There's quite a few properties that are due for demolition and most of them are commercials. I have never seen so much demolition going on in the last 30 years, as we're gonna see this year. And the commercials will be replaced either by straightforward apartments or by mixed use. So again, the increase will be on the residential base next year. We just don't have a commercial base, it's that simple. And as a factor of what happens when we split the tax rates, single-tag, everybody gets the same tax rate. If we use the factor less than one, which will be 0.937909, if we use it, it would shift the burden onto the commercials by 50%. And completely the other way, if we raise the more than one, it would then impact the residential more than the commercial. So the chances of doing that are fairly negligible, I would think. And here's the impact of the split tax rate. And that's at a rate of 2046. Sorry, is that what we were using? No, that's not right, hold on. This is what might change. No, we have planned on 2132. If we split the tax rate, it would go to 2046 and 3198. Okay. And that's gonna change because as I said, we're gonna use 2127 instead of 2132. So this will have to be updated right now. Yeah, I think it's gonna change about 1995, but it didn't change it yet this morning. Yeah. And so the residential would see a decrease, an average single family home would decrease at $534. And the commercial industry would see an increase of about 5,600 on the average commercial property. So it's a 10 times the difference, if you will. And then that's just the piece about how many communities have the split rate and don't, and that's why they have the split rate. And all the exemptions we're gonna mention here, the residential exemption, we're not gonna discuss it yet. We will discuss the small commercial, which we don't have enough of. And now at that point, we're gonna go into this presentation by Sean and I of the residential exemption where I expect we're gonna have most of the questions and does anyone disagree with that? So this is the residential exemption study that Sean and I put together. We'll describe what it is, the study process, the data we have and the key points and the next steps. I'm hoping Sean's there, but he's, they just had a baby on Saturday, so I don't know if he's gonna be at the meeting or not. He's kind of want to break. That's what I would think, yeah. A week, I mean a week, that's plenty of time. Can worst of old school. So this is what the residential exemption is and what the council must hold on ordinarily and the maximum they can do and how many communities do it. And that's the study process. Those numbers are the 764 and 376 that are proximate because we've had a few more filtering onsens then, but we haven't changed the number. So I'm just gonna leave that for now. And we'd mentioned that we're working with you guys because in fact, this is about as close as I've ever worked with the Board of Assessors on anything. So it's been really good. And I hope the new assessor is part of this so she can see what we're doing. When these are the community. Do we have to go out and search for Zoom or will we get an invite from Theresa? Oh, no, you're gonna get an invite, I've already got. Thank you. Richard. Yes? I thought you had a question. Well, I was gonna say, I suppose we might anticipate that we're gonna get candidates for the council who may have questions. That's what I'm expecting, yeah. And I suppose they'll be getting an invite as well, I would imagine. I think this list of communities is extremely helpful because it really does give you an idea of sort of geographically and also, if you know the Cape, that also helps to understand that we're really quite distinguishable from the list here. Yeah, yeah. Dave, when you explain and describe the communities, will you also, at the same time, explain why that has an impact on the decision? Yeah, on why, if you have a large commercial base, it would impact how you're gonna decide the exemption. Yeah, we can, yes. That's a little bit more complicated than I wanna get involved in, but that's all right. I'd like questions drive you there, David. You think so? Yeah, it gets really complicated with split rates. A lot of these communities have split rates, and therefore, I mean, I don't know, it's up to you, but I would start digging out a hole because... No, I prefer to respond to questions than I do to put things right there. It gets really complicated. I mean, the thing that we're very familiar, I mean, like a lot of these have high rental properties or a high rental number of rentals. That's where we do fall in line with some of these. Yeah, but as you say, we've absolutely not much in the commercial base. Yeah. I just got done paying a week's rental on the Cape, and I have a sense that a split rate there or a residential exemption there is operates to drive up vacation rentals, which the community is very, very eager to collect, so yeah. Well, that's basically how they came about. People were saying their values driven up by people coming into town who were only living there three or four months of the year. Yeah. And so they spread the tax burden a bit more effectively for them. So on the pie chart, you can see the number of, at the time, the non-owner occupied, as opposed to the owner occupied. And that's a nice pink color this time, yeah. Yeah, that's better than black. How do you know it's pink? How do you know it's pink? Sean told me. Oh. And there's the example we'll have in the 15%. And others at the moment, we have a residential valuation at two points, almost 2.4 billion. The total number of parcels, so the average is that, and that's what 15% of that would be. Who checks the math on these tables? Whoever wants to, I did the math. Okay. So the total amount of the valuation of the exemption would be that, 244.  And then that gives you the new tax rate of 23.95 within the residential tax rate. And for this particular study, we were using 21.46, which is what the residential tax rate would have been. So as you can see, it went up $2.49, or almost 10% actually, which is pretty down close. And this is just a breakdown of what would happen to them by the change in the tax bill of $1,000 or more, reduction in these first three lanes, two lanes are in production, and then the increase for all the others over and above that. And we've put down where the break even is. And at that point, I'll explain what the break even is. It's not self-explanatory, sometimes people get confused. And it'll give me a chance to talk about how the, we only use the average value and everybody gets the same exemption. It's not 15% of the assessed valuation. It's 15% of the average value of assessed, as you know. So that should be a good place. I would think that I'll talk to them about that. And then there's just the key points that you're all familiar with. So unless there's a question, I'm not gonna go over those with you. I guess the last bullet, David, I mean, I sort of say this policy will increase the residential tax rate. So what?  Oh, I see what you're saying. Yes, we can do that. I don't care what the tax rate is, how much money? You might expand that bullet just to say, but will not increase, because a lot of people will read that and think they'll collect more taxes. It's funny you should say that because I was reading the newspaper this morning and it really sounded like on the blog, there was a blog over there in her Nick Gravy. And it's really almost saying like, if we raise the tax rate, we're raising taxes. And you're quite right, people don't understand. So yeah, we should add something there just to let them know. I mean, but will not increase total residential taxes collected maybe. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Yeah, Sean, I think I'll see Sean tomorrow so we'll change it then. Okay. Any other questions there? That's a good point. So then there's just the key points. The Sassage Office, for the first year we definitely would need some additional resources just to get everything started right. What would a more robust mechanism look like? Basically, some sort of reporting system so people can let us know each year if our residential owner, occupant or not, some sort of survey each year. I think after the first year it would be limited to properties that sell during the year because we've got all the elders already in place. But if you wanted to, it was you could send them to everybody but it's an awful lot of work. Yeah, that's the hard thing, processing. I mean, most cities that have this have some kind of form that people have to fill out. Yeah. And then somebody's got to process it. So it does take time. And you're talking, it's not just like for like exemptions so people who only have a couple of hundred do the process. You have seven, close to 6,300 you have to deal with. So it's a lot of entry each year. And basically then we're putting it on the council for them to consider what they're hoped to achieve. And one thing I want to stress in there is that they'll have to do it. It's going to come back to them every year and doing it one year and then changing it to the next year. In my opinion, just not up and down. No. And the recommendations for the time manager, unless... Yeah, that last page, David. Yes, sir. I don't know. I was thinking maybe you can just say this verbally but I think it needs to be real. I was thinking maybe adding a bullet but maybe you can just say it verbally. I mean, somebody needs to stress here saying, council, we need a vote by you by December 1st or whatever the date is. Well, I'm starting to hope we get a vote from them by... We're scheduled a follow up for October 18th. Okay, then October 18th. I'm concerned that some council people might read say, if yes, public engagement. They're thinking they can do these public engagement sessions before they need to vote and that's not true. Yeah, I think, yeah, get it after. Yeah, they got a vote by whatever date you want to put down there, but... Yeah, that too is a good point. We'll put that on there. I think I'll put it on the bullet because I would probably forget. Okay, yeah, I put it as the last bullet then council must take a vote by October, whatever. Yeah. So they don't... If yes, that's not really an option this year, the public engagement. It's really, okay, if you want to have public engagement the next year, you should instruct people to do it. Yeah. But you can't do it this year. Well, it would have to be something that they were working on through the whole next calendar year, I would assume. That's right. With a lot of... I mean, that's where I reached it. The assessment office and whoever working on it, we reached the end of the road. You need a broader outreach in the community if you want to do anything more. Yeah, you do. You definitely have to get it out there. Yeah, and that takes a year at least. So, and then we just throw it over to questions and I was gonna just... I wasn't gonna let them or ask, sorry. So I was gonna ask them not to have questions after the first part and do it all at the end here for the classification and everything else. But we can just see what they do. So then you're gonna flip back now to the classification. Yeah, we can. Well, you've got a slide in there that calls for questions at the end of classification, right? They're required by law to hold a vote when? Yearly, in particular time, before we set the tax rate. So it could be any time between now and Christmas, right? Oh, Christ, no, because we have to get the tax bill to end of November. End of November, okay, thank you. Yeah. David, if you don't want questions on classification until the end, then maybe that slides you come out. Yeah. That one. Yeah, yeah, and maybe I'll put something there instead that says, could you hold? We would wait until the end of the presentation for questions. It was a residential exemption presentation for questions. And then we could do it all at one time. Yeah, I think you have to see what the flow is going. I mean, if they're asking a lot of questions about the residential exemption, I think you need to let it flow. Yeah. Because you don't want to have them hold it and come back to that after you go through the rest of this. So would you suggest we do the residential exemption, or the classification questions here and then do the residential exemption separately? Yes. Yeah, I'm thinking about it, that makes sense. Yeah. All right, then we'll just leave that on and that's what we'll do. I mean, it doesn't matter to us really because it's going to be the same questions no matter what happens. Yeah. You want to make sure the slides flow right? You don't want to, because I know how the slides get messed up sometimes. You don't want to be going back and forth. I don't know what, you know, like this. Yeah, you're right. Then we could just do it. I want to put them all right next to each other. Otherwise, it doesn't work well at council. We see it's all true. Yeah, we're not at council. You're on Zoom, so it works better on Zoom. Yeah, I mean, it's all true. Jesus fault. No, not Teresa. Whoever's doing the slide. I got Teresa only did what I asked her. Past years, it's been crazy. Who's been putting up slides. We'll have to try not to do that. So my question is, does the residential exemption usually accompany the split rate, a split rate? Oh, no. No. There's been many communities. Many communities have done the split rate and not done the community residential exemption. Okay. But how about vice versa, a residential exemption without a split rate? It's very 12 out of 15 do have a split rate. Yeah. So the other way, they very likely have a split rate because they have a lot of commercial. So on that list of communities that we saw, there's only three that do it without a split rate. Yeah. Okay. You know, a lot of the kids doesn't have any, doesn't have any commercial base either. Right. David, are you allocated time? I mean, We've got a time certain to start at 6.30 Lee. But the variable there is whether it's after public comment. If it's after public comment and there's something that's hot, you have to wait for the public comment to get done. Yeah. Well, no, Lee, we don't have a designated amount of time. No. Okay. Do you remember how much it is? We don't have one. Okay. Well, hopefully we don't get pushed to the end of the agenda like last year. Remember what, the 9.30? They flipped us. I'm trying to forget that. But we'll see what we can do. Maybe I'll try and talk to Paul as we can talk to Levin so we can get it done right away. I mean, we were first on the agenda. I forget. We were pushed off to the end then. I'm trying to forget. Some council person had a question that we... Yes. She wanted to do it at the end or something. I don't know. So I guess we can't help that if that's what happens. So that's the presentations. I need to go back to the agenda and I shall consider it. I think we're done. I think not. I don't think there's anything else that we have. Well, just the update. I will be in here early tomorrow morning. Kim is stopping in. Kim, Kim McDonnell Muse is a new lady. She's the assessor. Was the assessor on Green Twin? I think whoever was on the panel last time talked to her. Yes, we did. Yeah. And I only... I once saw her and knew who she was, but I can't know from where. But I think she's very personable. And I think after her night talk of it, she's a much better understanding of the runnings of the office. I'm not sure about her experience with commercial, but we'll see. And as I remember, she was relatively new. She was about four years in the job now. So I just wanted to let you know that she will be here tomorrow morning at 30. I'll talk with her and maybe once she starts, we can set up a time when we can all meet in person. Sounds good. Over coffee.  I forget whether we sit. I see Paul and Amherst coffee almost every morning. I forget whether we can actually have a meet without an open meeting law problem. Now, we'll think about that. Maybe we'll post a meeting at the Black Sheep. There you go. No reason why not. Give a Black Sheep still open. Sad about Judy. Yeah, I think she thinks she was ready to retire. Yeah, but you think somebody will take over the restaurant and operate like it is? I hope so. OK, we're still being reported. So let's do we have anything else to talk about? No. OK. So, David, do you think this is your last meeting? No, I'll probably be at the one in October, at least. OK, so our next meeting, did we agree on a date? I think the next meeting is the October 14th, I think. I think we decided on a October 14th. Is that is that going to work for the other two members? I'm what am I doing that day? And that's what I have the 14th. Oh, yeah, I guess that's going to. Yeah, OK. If somehow I don't show, it's because I'm chauffeuring somebody back and forth to Boston. But I think if we meet at 11 on that Thursday, it's a Thursday, right? Yeah. Yeah, I think I'll be OK. But if the other two gentlemen are there, they'll be a quorum. So I'm sure Kim has probably better knowledge of how to use them than I do. She may be the host, but I will be on the meeting. OK. All right. Well, that's great. We look forward to that. And so, David, we thank you for your help. Thank you. And Theresa, thank you for these packages so organized. Oh, you're welcome. Whatever makes your life easier. It's a lot easier. It's really great. We really appreciate it. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you. And then you adjourn. Eventually, we're going to meet in person, I guess, although maybe not this year. I don't know about that. I think there's some discussion this Monday night at the console. Tonight, actually, I think there's some discussion. I'm not sure. OK. All right. OK. All right. I move to adjourn. Second. All right. All those in favor say aye. David, Theresa, gentlemen, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. OK, I'll see you in a week. Yeah, good night.


Julie Walker is the phantom hey guys welcome back to Comic N TV we're all key culture collides if you're new to the channel don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on future videos today on the show we're gonna be taking a look at Julie Walker is the phantom from Moonstone Publishing as you can see this is cover B very nice and before we get started let me turn over to comic vine from GameSpot and read you a kind of summarized version of Julie Walker's biography sometime in the 19th century the 16 phantom ancestor of the current 21st phantom had twins a boy and a girl the boy Kit Walker became the 17th phantom of course but once when he became ill Julie took his place to maintain peace and order in the jungles of Bengala all right guys so according to here according to comic line Julie Walker's first appearance was in phantom in number one nine eight five two five as Julie it doesn't say when her first parents was as the phantom according to this her first out of costume appearance was in phantom in one nine eight five two five so I think what Moonstone did here was redo several of the phantoms earlier stories because this is pretty much the exact story as her earlier appearances from what I've read in my research of the phantom I am a big fan of the phantom however I have not collected the old stories but as you can see here very nice artwork on the front the binding is worn but I would say this is in fair condition Elizabeth Massey Paul Daley and of course this phantom does wear gloves the rest of the costume is the same except for the gloves it's been a while since I've read this issue written by Elizabeth Massey with additional input by Raphael Naves art by Paul Daley colored by Stephen Downer letter by Josh 8 kin edited by Joe Gentile cover A and C by J Anthony Cozar and cover B and D by Paul Daley with Jason Jensen special thanks to our phantom consultant Ed Rhodes and the Karen Moy at King Features as you can see here there's the 17th phantom Kit Walker his twin sister Julie and as with every incarnation of the phantom he when he's in the form of Kit Walker he doesn't usually show his entire face he's usually wearing like sunglasses or a hat or something to kind of conceal his full features very nice artwork glossy pages and in this if I recall correctly this lady here she's a journalist and her life's in danger Kit Walker of course becomes ill so Julie has to take up the mantle of the phantom for her brother she sneaks aboard the ship to protect the lady yeah I'm definitely gonna have to reread this I really like what Moonstone did with the phantom I really like the art our style is very nice I like that they even though she's the phantom in this she's wearing a hood and cape a cloak to also kind of conceal herself as well which I've always felt that the phantom should probably wear a hood at least possibly a cape but at least a hood I don't know what it is about the phantom I was drawn to the phantom by the animated series phantom 2040 way back in the 90s and then when Billy Zane's phantom movie came out I got even more hooked you know it's just something about the character I don't know what it is there it's nothing there's nothing really super special about the character no superpowers just an ordinary human being who spent their life training very similar to Batman even though phantom came first just something about the phantom has always drawn me to the character I like that it's a legacy he's a legacy hero very nice Moonstone did a great job with the phantom dynamite comics is also doing a fantastic job with the phantom in their king features stories such as King Quest and King's Cross those others very nice I would highly recommend you guys pick up an issue of Julie Walker is the phantom from Moonstone comics or any of the phantom comics for that matter Moonstone did a very good job with the design with the drawing the design elements the art style in the comics very nice I would have probably though given the time that Julie Walker was supposed to be around I would have maybe shaped her body a little bit differently though I would have maybe given her a little bit bigger hips she's supposed to have the same training as Kit Walker so she would have needed a more athletic build for that time for that era so maybe a little bit bigger hips maybe a thicker waist not too thick not to where she should look like a weightlifter or bodybuilder anything but definitely maybe a little bit thicker waist and the breasts I think for the design of this character are probably perfect for the era not too large like the way they're drawn nowadays but yeah I really like the artwork I like the story I really like what Moonstone and dynamite have done with the phantom character so yeah if you guys see any phantom comics pick them up very good comics they're not really superhero style comics they're more pulpish but they're pulp but they're not pulp if that makes sense they're in between they're in that in-between place between pulp western and superhero kind of all three combined together if that makes any sense whatsoever also if you have a chance make sure you check out this series phantom 2040 I'm not sure if it's on DVD or not I think you can probably find the entire series on YouTube though but you have to pay for it now also check out the Billy Zane phantom movie as well as the sci-fi miniseries the phantom I'm Shannon for come again TV don't forget to like subscribe comment and share take care everyone


because, you know, I just might crash and burn in the middle of this, I don't know. Hey guys, so in today's video I'm going to be completing a puzzle from another brand that I have not tried before. And thanks to all of you who voted on my last community post on which one I should do next. I don't know why, I really had a hard time trying to pick which one I wanted to try. I've heard so many great things about Robinsburger and as well as Cobble Hill, so thank you for making that choice for me, because for some reason I just couldn't do it. So the winner of that poll was the puzzle from the company Cobble Hill. And this one is called Venetian Cafe. It is 1,000 pieces and it is 26.625 by 19.25 inches when it's completed. The box itself is quite large, but the back does have a little information on the company itself. And it does mention how this company does use the finest inks and varnishes. And they feature linen textured paper and premium grade blue board and use 100% recycled chipboard. And another thing that they mentioned is really interesting to me is that it says no two pieces are alike. They are all random shaped pieces. And it does show you on the bottom here the different random shapes that they have. I kind of feel like just from that alone this is gonna take me a little longer than what a typical 1,000 piece puzzle would take me. I really can't wait to open this one up and see what they look like. Will they be as crazy as the ones from Donald? I don't know, we'll see. That's quite exciting. I'm telling you, I've become so hooked on trying different brands and seeing what each one kind of offers in the puzzle experience. I already can't wait for the next puzzle brand that I'm gonna try. But anyways, back to Cobble Hill. Now, first impressions on this image. Now, if you saw my puzzle shop with me video this is when I picked up this puzzle set and there was tons of other Cobble Hill sets that I could have chosen. But this one really caught my eye. I mean, come on, take a look at this image. This is Venice. This specific scene at this specific moment is so peaceful, there's nobody around. My gondola is parked at the water here waiting for me to finish eating at this little trattoria on the side because you know, who wouldn't wanna stop for something to eat or drink when you're taking a little boat ride around town, right?  I can literally just sit here all day eating and drinking and just people watch. Even though there's really no people here but you know what I mean.  I don't like to be stared at when I'm eating.  Or you know what, even better. That may very well be my apartment. But then again, I'm not too sure because those flowers up above in the window look too nice. I don't have much of a green thumb. So it's very possible it might not be my apartment. But then again, who knows? I might have enough money that I can hire someone to take care of them for me. Now in terms of completion process with this I kind of feel like judging from the image I don't necessarily feel like this is gonna be extremely difficult. Yes, there's random cut pieces but I'm talking in terms of the image itself here. Honestly, I feel like I'm not gonna have the most difficult time sorting this. I could do a tray for the buildings. I could do a tray for like the area where the Tritoria is. I could do a tray for the water. I may even do a tray for like flowers and plants in general just to kind of keep those grouped together and then fill in the gaps after completing the buildings. Now the box does give me the average piece size and it doesn't seem too small in my opinion. So I feel like I'm gonna be able to make out what is actually printed on these pieces pretty well. In general, I feel like the colors are very vibrant. But then again, we'll see. The puzzle pieces might have a blurry print on them. I don't know, I've never tried Cobble Hill. But judging from what you've all have said I kind of feel like this is gonna be good. Honestly, I think I'm feeling pretty confident about this one. But then again, I gotta stop thinking too much about my puzzle skills because you know, I just might crash and burn in the middle of this, I don't know. I don't know, maybe I'm just too excited about this image. Like I totally see myself in here. So I'm super excited to get this one started.  Let's open this up and let's see what it's gonna be like. All right, let's open this one up. Now this one does come in plastic wrap. So let's get this off first. So we have it in a plastic bag and here is your, oh, I'm dropping things, poster. Nothing on the back. This is quite a, paper has a nice feel to it. Doesn't feel like you can easily tear. It feels like pretty good quality paper here. But look at that image guys, that's a nice print. It's gonna be super useful whilst we're completing the puzzle. Get rid of this box and let's get to the pieces. The bag itself does have quite a bit of puzzle dust inside it but hopefully that's all that there is. Let's check out these pieces here. Ooh, these feel really nice. Let's see, did I get dust on the table? No, not really. It looks like a majority of the dust. That was from the dowel puzzle. I forgot to take it off after I removed the puzzle but that's okay. These feel pretty solid compared to other puzzle brands that I've tried. They're really hard, which is nice. Even like the tab areas, they don't feel very weak. Even when I'm trying to put a little bit of my force on it, which you know, don't do that. But you know, I'm just trying to test it out. I'm really loving the way these pieces feel. The print on it seems really good as well. And they're calling this chipboard, got that blueboard which is probably what's giving it kind of like that hard or feel to it compared to like, let's say for example, a seco piece which is more like a almost like compressed cardboard if that's how you would describe it. These are probably the most solid feeling pieces I have felt with compared to all the puzzle brands that I've tried so far to be honest. The size is not too bad. It's pretty good. And you know, it's true what they say. Look at all these different pieces. No two pieces are alike. So that's gonna be super fun. I'm also really liking the vibrant color on this image print here. I mean, look at these pieces. Nothing looks blurry. Everything looks very solid. You don't have any dull colored prints here. Everything is vibrant. This looks fantastic. Now I really feel confident that I can get through this puzzle pretty easily. But then again, we'll see. And I'm really curious as to how well these are gonna snap into each other as well. I'm trying to figure out the glare situation with these pieces though. Yeah, you're gonna have a little bit of glare on these but to be honest, obviously if you have the light directly on top of your puzzles, you're gonna get glare. But I mean, I'm not getting like that off sheen really when I look straight at it. I kind of feel like this glare is really not too bad on this set. I don't know, it could just be my lighting today. I still have some natural light coming from my window. So that could be playing a role in it. Again, with the size and the quality of the color of the image print on these pieces, even if there is quite a glare when I start it, I don't really think it's gonna be a very big issue in terms of China, you know, make out what I'm seeing on these pieces. I'll say it again, I'm feeling really good about this one. So you know what, let's stop talking and let's start puzzling. Okie dokes, let's have a quick chat about how I sorted these pieces. Tray number one had, of course, the edges. Second tray was for the buildings. Third tray was for the plants. Fourth tray was for the sky. Fifth tray had pieces of the actual cafe building. Tray six had the table area. The seventh tray contained pieces that looked to be the boat, the water, the fence that's along the edge of the water and the lamppost. And then the eighth tray, I just kind of left it for pieces that I couldn't figure out where to put them, kind of like my random tray. But I knew that as I moved along, completing this puzzle, that I would have to resort my trays. If you're new here, be sure to let me know down below if you are a sorter or not. Now, during my sorting process, I did find two pieces that had a little bit of damage to them, kind of like the print was peeling off, which wasn't a big deal. At this point, I'm more surprised now if I find a puzzle set with no damaged pieces to it. Now, I did realize as I was doing this that I wasn't doing the greatest job. And I also noted this when I started the edge pieces because I was missing a few edges and I wasn't surprised by this as well because of all the random shaped pieces. And this reminded me a lot of the dowel puzzle that I just did, the beauty and the beast one, where some of the what I thought were edge pieces were actually slightly sloped and ended up somewhere else on the puzzle. So I knew I must have put actual edge pieces in the wrong trays, thinking that they belonged somewhere else within the puzzle. But again, no big deal. I knew I'd get to them at some point. Now, at some point, I really started to struggle with the lighting and glare. And this mainly happened when I was working on the puzzle at night. So I had no natural light coming from behind me from the window, which is, for me, it's optimal. It just made it tricky to kind of figure out the detail within the puzzle piece because the overall lighting in my room is pretty bad. I mean, really, I have to change the lighting in my room because I just can't get it right sometimes. And it's so frustrating because just trying to figure out the light situation can be so time consuming. And there were other factors that played a role in this because of the lighting that I needed for filming. So really, my best bet to get through this puzzle quickly was to do it during the daytime where I had the natural light in my room. If any of you have any suggestions on what you do to kind of help your glare situations when doing puzzles, please let me know down below. I'm sure it will not only help me, but other viewers who are having glare issues will read your comments as well. So yeah, these pieces do give off quite a bit of glare. Okay, now I'm gonna be really honest here. I felt like the pieces did not fit very snug. The fit felt a little loose. And I mostly noticed this when I would try to transfer sections that I completed on the side of the table or on a tray. And it would kind of fall apart when I would pick it up. Now my puzzle scoop really did come in handy for moving small sections about, but even if I snagged the edge of a piece, it would kind of mess it up. So be gentle if you plan to move small completed sections around a bit or even move the whole puzzle on your work surface because I didn't really feel like it was a nice fitted fit, if that makes sense. I don't expect puzzles to have a very tight fit, but I wanna feel like they're not gonna come apart easily, almost like the seco puzzles. But I'm not gonna say it's just like a seco puzzle in terms of crumbling to pieces. But from that alone, I kind of feel like this isn't going to stand up to being stored the way I usually prefer to store my puzzles. Which if you haven't seen my puzzle storage videos, I'll leave a link down below so you can kind of see what I'm talking about. Better yet, here's an example of what I'm talking about looks like. But I don't know, maybe it was just an issue with how my set was cut in production. I'm not gonna say that this is a cobble hill thing as I really feel like I need to get another one or two sets completed from this brand before I make my final brand review of cobble hill puzzles. When I do my puzzle review videos, and if it's on a brand that I've never tried before, you're getting my initial honest, genuine, uninfluenced feelings and thoughts with the puzzle and the overall puzzle experience. Now to be honest, I know that most of my glare situation would have been solved if I did my puzzle during the daytime. But you know, sometimes I am persistent and I wanna have puzzle time before bed. And aside from the fact that my lighting is extremely poor at night, it doesn't help that I'm struggling to keep my eyes open because I'm so tired, I'm tired right now. I need to stop puzzling at night. But anyways, now aside from the issues with fit, the feel of these pieces is fantastic. They are sturdy, the print is clear, the colors are bold, they're not blurry at all. So you can really see that detail really well. With the right lighting of course, I do think this puzzle would have taken me less time to complete if it just had, you know, the basic shapes. But honestly, the random cut pieces really made this such a fun challenge. You'd have a really big piece that you know immediately where they'd go, but then you'd get these little itty bitty baby pieces where you couldn't really see what was going on in the actual piece itself. But you know, that's okay. It made the challenge level shift throughout the process. It really did make it exciting. And of course I had the magnifier for my puzzle scoop so it was all good. This puzzle took me about six hours to complete. Hmm, this one took me a while. I have to stop puzzling when I'm tired. But anyways, yeah, I had glare and fit issues, but I still say that I very much enjoyed this cobble hill puzzle. The image is absolutely beautiful. I love their choice of colors and tones and the different shapes made this a fun and interesting challenge. You just can't get bored with it, especially when you have a beautiful image like this. And this set does come with a poster even though it's on the smaller side compared to the other brands that I've done recently. But hey, it's better than nothing. It at least gives you the full image instead of what you see on the box itself which is partially covered by some logos. Any poster is a positive for me. I really do recommend you try a puzzle set from cobble hill. They really are a great value. Be sure to hit that like button if you're a cobble hill fan and be sure to let me know down below what your puzzle experience has been with this brand or share with us which sets you've done. Oh, now I can finally sit and have my coffee and cake. Maybe a soup too if it's on the menu. And then maybe I'll just shoe that cat away before my food comes. Well, if you're new here and you'd like to catch me for another puzzle review or see what else I get up to with puzzles, be sure to subscribe and I'll tell you more crazy stories about me inside my puzzles. Anyways guys, thanks for hanging out with me and I will see you in the next one.


What we are seeing today is the most sort of systematic onslaught on the public sphere. And the public sphere, I think most of you know, is basically that civic sphere in which debate takes place on an out of which crystallizes both the idea of nationhood and idea of where to take your nation. I think that the big difference between the 1970s or 60s and today is that we did have a fairly clear, if not always a productive idea of nationhood at that time. I say not always productive because some of the economic programs that came out of that concept led to very slow growth and in fact responsible for any of the problems we face today. But nonetheless, we were all committed to a certain idea of India. And today what has happened is it is that idea of India itself that is fractured to a point where it's almost non-existent anymore. And a good part of this, the capacity to hold it together through continuous debate and self-examination, which is what the public sphere gives you, is gone. Today there is a strong feeling that Kashmir has no place in India because this government has turned against Muslims. It's communalized India. And how do Kashmiris, the only Muslim-majority state of the country, survive in a communalized India? Now for this I think the media, the visual media are entirely to blame. In the 70s and 80s all of us wrote columns. We were expected to, an idea of an editor who did not write, was unimaginable. Today God helped the editor who writes weekly column. He won't last very long. Look around you and see how many of the editors of the big papers today write. And that's in the print media where there is still competition, there is still freedom for dissent. In the economic, in the TV media it's all gone. Now the impact of finance has been drastically increased by the sudden slowdown in India after 2009. Companies have had to borrow. And the story of TV 18, I think many of you know, borrowed 1700 crores to survive and expand, was used by Mukesh Ambani to buy up in another group. And then in 72 hours notice that 1700 crores was converted into duentions and Mr. Raghavan lost the company in its entirety. There is a similar threat hanging over NDTV. 305 crores borrowed again Mr. Mukesh Ambani to survive the crush in their advertising revenues. And that, I do not say it is the only reason, but I think it's a contributory reason. I regret to say that they are having banned Mr. Chitramanam's interview at the last moment. You can see how it is utterly impossible today to maintain a level of debate in the media, in the print and the audiovisual media. In spite of that, in spite of that you have the express, you have the Hindu. I mean think of just what it takes to bring those two papers out today. And to end, I think however the public sphere does not die so long as democracy does not die. The public sphere is reviving and reviving strongly. It's reviving now and we are at a critical moment in Indian democracy where the democracy of inherited loyalties, caste and community, is giving place to the democracy of class, class loyalties. And that is the turning point that we have to see, work towards promoting and use the media that we have, particularly the online media, in order to foster.


السلام عليكم and welcome dear viewers. زيناب's miracles post mortem. Lady زيناب is even recognized for producing miracles after her death for the numerous people that go to visit her. This phenomenon is so widespread that even one non-Muslim anthropologist has written an article on the phenomenon of miraculous healings caused by the great mother of Masaib. زيناب is represented by responding to invocations in a miraculous way such as healing the sick and the crippled. Sources have detailed many such miracles. A recent miracle that took place in the late 60s and that was reported in the Lebanese newspapers an old lady called Hajja Fawzia was so sick that she could not stand, walk or even see. At the beginning of محرم people were organizing themselves in groups to visit the holy shrine of Lady زيناب. Hajja Fawzia wanted to go with them. She told her brother سبحي that she could hire two women to carry her and help her. But he refused the idea saying that the blessed lady could hear you and help her wherever she was. Hajja Fawzia spent the night crying and listening to the story of the martyrdom of Imam حسين peace be upon him. Then she prayed to Allah the Almighty when invoking the prestigious position of زيناب to heal her. At dawn she was getting ready to pray when she felt a woman taking her hand and telling her stand up on your feet. I am زيناب بنتعلي بن أبي طالب. Your brother has told you that زيناب can heal you if she saw wishes while you are in your house. I did not heal anybody unless Allah the most exalted wants him to be cured. Allah's hand is above mine. Hajja Fawzia replied in astonishment but I can't stand. But Lady زيناب peace be upon her insisted saying get up. The Hajja stood up crying Allah is great. She was completely healed and the story is well known in Lebanon. There are also some other famous miracle There are also some other famous miracle as that of the healing of the only child of the Pakistani merchant Muhammad علي حبيب. The son had polio and all the efforts of the medical doctors were useless. The father upon a visit to the Holy shrine needs Allah to cure his child. At the same night as some sources say the child who was asleep in his room in Pakistan woke up and found able to walk. Following this incident the Pakistani merchant denated the silver cage that still protects the grave. In an article entitled The Anthropologist edits and too documents from several people she had personally interviewed herself who mentioned the miraculous healings from Lady زيناب peace be upon her. She documents a story of a young Syrian convert to Shiazem named Sameer Al-Hussaini who was a young Syrian who had earned his PhD in France in competitive religion. This young man had been rendered mute and had lost the ability to utter any sounds from his vocal cords. Upon returning to Syria from traveling to Iran where he was afflicted with such a disorder he found that his life was gradually being ruined by it. While in Iran he had gone to visit the most professional and highly skilled doctors who were unfortunately unable to do anything for him and had told him he would never speak. He was told the same thing after visiting serious doctors who were of course much less qualified and skilled as the original Iranian doctor he had initially gone to see.  Uttering in his heart اللهم صلي على محمد وآلي محمد and refusing to let go after some time he found that he could physically hear his uttering and was able to speak. Upon returning to Iran for Ziyara he visited Iranian doctors who were shocked that doctors in Syria who were much less killed than they were could be able to fix this problem which seemed unreparable. They asked him for the name of the doctor and he responded it was a doctor namely female doctor They were surprised and naturally the medical industry is much more populated by male specialists than females especially in the Arab world and they asked for her name to which he informed them that it was Lady Zainab peace be upon her.